Domestic Abuse Awareness Month

Domestic abuse survivors come from every part of society and have multi-layered characteristics and experiences. This vastly impacts the response, care, support and justice a survivor receives. Because domestic abuse is deeply rooted in oppression, inequality and privilege, each survivor will face unique personal and systemic biases and barriers.

By working together, we can lift the structural obstacles that feed into individual challenges for so many survivors and create better communities for everyone.

Here are five ways you can help:

• CELEBRATE the inherent value, dignity and rights of everyone.
• CALL OUT inequity and inequality wherever you see them particularly in conversations with family and friends.
• RECOGNIZE and SPEAK OUT against the harmful impact of sexism, racism, ableism, ageism and other forms of oppression.
• BUILD stronger communities through empathy, equality, respect, kindness and inclusivity.
• JOURNEY toward a time when all the colors of humankind will gather together to become one circle.

To solve domestic abuse and other societal problems, pledge to work together to elevate the status and dignity of all people.  Together we can rise to new heights.

     

Women’s Resource Center of Northern Michigan  – Call 24/7 (800) 275-1995 or (231) 347-0082 • wrcnm.org

Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians – Call Monday-Friday 8-5 (231) 242-1628 • ltbbodawa-nsn.gov

Resources for better understanding:

What is Intersectionality?

Kimberlé Crenshaw’s TEDx Talk on the Urgency of Intersectionality.

Now more than ever, it’s important to look boldly at the reality of race and gender bias – and understand how the two can combine to create even more harm. Kimberlé Crenshaw uses the term “intersectionality” to describe this phenomenon; as she says, if you’re standing in the path of multiple forms of exclusion, you’re likely to get hit by both. In this moving talk, she calls on us to bear witness to this reality and speak up for victims of prejudice.

Domestic Abuse Awareness Month poster

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