The UIS Women’s Center hosted their annual Silent Witness event in honor of Domestic Violence Awareness month on Friday, October 25th. The Women’s Center collaborated with Sojourn Shelter & Services, a local domestic violence center. The event was held in two parts: first a tabling event from 10am-2pm in the Student Union, and second a Feminist Friday event dedicated to the topic.
At the Student Union, members from Sojourn set up their Silent Witness display. This display consisted of a handful of domestic violence stories that ended in homicide.
According to Riley, a staff member at Sojourn Shelter & Services, all of these stories “are local and within the past few years to show that it happens here, and it happens often.”
Along with the display was a table with marketing products and resources for the shelter. These resources included the local domestic violence hotline number and healthy and unhealthy relationships signs, which were discussed in detail during the second event of the day.
At the Feminist Friday event, Riley spoke about the ten healthy signs and ten unhealthy signs of relationships. Behaviors such as moving at a comfortable pace, trust, and honesty are signs of a healthy relationship, whereas intensity, possessiveness, and manipulation are examples of signs in an unhealthy relationship.
Riley then told a personal story about what inspired her to get involved with the work she does at Sojourn. Before beginning the story, she wondered “If someone came in and gave this presentation would my friend have gone through what she went through?”
After sharing the story, Riley loaded an online interactivity titled In Their Shoes. In this activity, students were able to select someone’s personal journey to go through. The slides showed the victim’s perspective, along with the abuser’s perspective, and students selected which actions they wanted to move forward with throughout the journey. Based on real stories, the outcome was revealed at the end of each journey and varied from victims getting justice to homicide.
Reflecting on the different roles family and friends played in each journey, as well as her own personal connection Riley stated, “The thing we say at Sojourn is to not judge anyone…We want to give them the tools they need to move forward, and the last thing we want to do is make decisions for them.”
Silent Witness is a national program that takes place at varying times during October. The exhibits feature life-sized silhouettes of victims with stories connected that describe their situation and death. The goal of these displays is to raise awareness, connect people with resources, and advocate for change.
