In observance of April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month, the YWCA of Greater Lawrence and the City of Lawrence Mayor’s Health Task Force, in collaboration with the Merrimack Valley YMCA, will host the third annual “Take Back the Night Walk” to denounce sexual violence and all violence in the community.
The walk will begin on Thursday, April 14, at 6:00 p.m. at the YWCA of Greater Lawrence at 38 Lawrence Street. It will kick off with a performance by Lawrence Public School students from the Performing and Fine Arts High School. From there, the group will walk to Essex Street, Broadway and Haverhill Street, returning to the YWCA gymnasium for a vigil and brief program.
The statistics provided by the YWCA are chilling: One in five women and one in 71 men will be raped at some point in their life, according to the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.
91% of victims of rape are female, and 9% male, according to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs.
One in five women and one in 16 men are sexually assaulted while in college, according to the National Criminal Justice Reference Service.
Rape is the most under-reported crime; 63 % of rapes are not reported to police; only 12% of sexual assaults on children are reported.
For several years now, organized by Delamano, during the month of October hundreds walk through city streets dressed in brides gowns the women and the men in black. They march in memory of a Dominican immigrant, Gladys Ricart, killed by her former boyfriend on her wedding day. At the end of the march, candles are lit in memory of Gladys and of those who has lost their lives victims of violence during the current year. Correct us if we are wrong, but it seems that every year more candles are needed.
Same situation with the Day of Remembrance initiated by Lee Fickenworth in memory of her son a victim of violence. What started 2 years ago, at the last event, 133 balloons were released every name was named. Unfortunately, the majority of those names, if not all, were young.
Marches, vigils, masses are good and needed for the soul, unfortunately haven’t stopped the massacre. Our young generation is killing each other, if not by bullets, by drugs.
What is the solution? We don’t know. Do you?
