Author: Halley Shaw
Join us July 13 at Gathering For Awareness – an event being held at Bidwell Park showing support for those impacted by recent assaults on women in Buffalo. The past few weeks there have been an alarming number of reported rapes and sexual assaults in the city’s West Side. These crimes have left its residents shaken – especially the women who commute by bus, bike, blades, or boot.
In typical fashion, articles written on the subject have closed with the classic safety tips for women: don’t travel alone after dark, refrain from staring at your cell phone instead of being aware of your surroundings, and even the advisory to urinate or vomit on an attacker. Naturally, it falls on women to be responsible for ensuring their personal safety as it would be too much to expect of men to simply not engage in rape, sexual assault or other forms of violation (such as street-harassment, a.k.a. “cat-calling”).
Those of us who live to love the city that we love to live in feel strongly that focusing solely on precautionary measures reinforces a culture of fear. Kara Kenney and I created the Gathering For Awareness event to provide support for one another while creating a healthy, open dialogue about the impact that these acts of violence have had on our community rather than perpetuating victimization. We will explore our city’s strengths and perseverance while creating a safe space.
Attendees will gather at Bidwell Park (west side of Elmwood) at 4:00 PM. There will be a performance by local slam poet Edwin Gomez as well as a self-defense tutorial by Bobby Gott. Survivors will be sharing stories to help educate others. If you are a survivor and would like to tell your story, please send an e-mail to HMShaw430@gmail.com. Also see Facebook.