Annual march and vigil raises domestic violence awareness
Since 1989, October has been nationally designated to be a month to raise awareness and our voices in support of victims and survivors of domestic violence. For over two decades North Brooklyn has participated in a double march that converges at the NYPD 90th Precinct. During the marches (one coming from the east and one coming from the west) chants like “No more silence, no more violence” echo in English and Spanish. Once both marches have arrived at the precinct a candlelight vigil begins and testimony is given from current survivors and those who speak on behalf of those who didn’t survive.
The east march begins at 140 Johnson Avenue, in front of an apartment building named after Emma Feliciano. She was a mother, daughter, friend, community activist, and social worker. She fought for decent homes, a safe community for her family, her neighbors, and for those with special needs. She lost her life on September 2, 2000, at the hands of her abusive husband. She worked for St. Nicks Alliance, who named the building after her and honored her memory with a plaque in the lobby. St. Nicks Alliance leads this leg of the march along United Neighbors Organization (UNO) and other partners.
The west march is led by Southside United HDFC – Los Sures and begins at a hub of the Williamsburg Bridge.
North Brooklyn Coalition Against Violence oversees the event, organizes the speakers at the precinct, and marches with both groups.
Leana Pardo, executive director of North Brooklyn Coalition Against Violence, officially welcomes everyone and introduces the speakers. She also speaks on her own behalf, as she can relate first hand. She tells her story of surviving a cycle of domestic violence in her twenties and thirties, and it was with the help of therapy and support organizations that she had the ability to leave abusive relationships in her past.
Among the speakers was Janice McKnight, of St. Nicks Alliance. She told the stories of two colleagues, Emma Feliciano and Nancy DesGrottes, who were killed by their partners over twenty years ago. St. Nicks Alliance has named a building for each and was inspired to start a community march.
Juan Ramos, executive director of Southside United HFDC – Los Sures said, “If you think that domestic violence isn’t going to impact you, you got another think coming to you. Because domestic violence touches all of our lives. It touches your life when you hear your neighbors fighting, it touches your lives when you are wondering why that young person in school is acting up and being violent toward his colleagues in school, it shows up in your life if you walk into that supermarket and see something wrong with that woman who is looking at you for help in that aisle, it touches your life if you know your local precinct is always responding to this issue on a daily basis, it touches your lives when you have coworkers like our two organizations St. Nicks Alliance and Los Sures and had to find out tragically when they lost members.” He also addressed the men in attendance, acknowledging that although there were several there should be more standing up and saying this is wrong.
A representative from NYS Senator Julia Salazar’s office spoke about Senate Bill S214A, which expands eligibility for victims and survivors of crime to access victim compensation funds and was signed into law last December. In addition, Salazar introduced Senate Bill S9358 in May of this year, which if passed will require the New York state office for the prevention of domestic violence to establish trauma-informed standards for domestic violence abuse intervention programs; establishes requirements for such standards.
NYS Assembly Member Emily Gallagher and NYC Council Member Lincoln Restler were in attendance.
Restler called attention to the effects of domestic violence such as it’s the number one reason families enter the shelter system. He also mentioned in the Mayor’s original budget funding for Safe Horizons, a crime victim assistance organization, was cut, which could remove on-site advocates at 20 police precincts.
NYPD’s 90th Precinct does have a domestic violence unit and this issue hits close to home for its commanding officer, Captain Joseph J. Wernersbach. “My mother was in a domestic violence household. Her attacker was her boyfriend at the time, and I remember what she went through.”
Joseph Yanis, chief of staff for NYS Assembly Member Maritza Davila, spoke on her behalf, “She was a victim of domestic violence and her philosophy has always been, ‘tell your story because no one is going to tell it for you.”
“To all the victims who haven’t survived to tell your stories, poems, or show their healed bruises we don’t use your names in vain. We learn from the pain.” This excerpt from a poem authored by a survivor who is a poet and closed the event.
If you or you know someone in a domestic violence situation you can reach out to the North Brooklyn Coalition at: 718-302-4073, help@northbrooklyncoalition.org, or visit: www.northbrooklyncoalition.org .
The Greenline 