Domestic Violence Awareness March in St. Helens on Oct. 18

Columbia County’s first Domestic Violence Awareness March will take place Saturday, Oct. 18. The march starts at 10 a.m. at McCormick Park in St. Helens and ends at St. Helens Library. Speakers and information tables of local resources, such as SAFE (Stop Abuse For Everyone) of Columbia County and Amani Center, will be on site. Attendees are encouraged to wear purple, the color associated with DV awareness and is sometimes known to represent “courage, survival, and the fight against abuse.”

One of the organizers said, “We hope this march will mark the beginning of our community standing together against Domestic Violence (DV) and help spread awareness of the ugly truths victims face everyday when caught in the cycles of abuse. We also hope the information shared will help show victims that they are not alone in their battles and that the community will stand by them as they face their abusers… As survivors, we look forward to seeing our neighbors come together to take a stand against abusers and set the standard that domestic violence will not be tolerated in our community.”

The inspiration behind organizing this event stems from community members and advocates who have witnessed and experienced the challenges victims of DV face when seeking support, being believed, and seeing the appropriate justice come to pass. Stories shared during interviews for this article highlighted frustrations navigating the court system and presenting evidence of emotional and psychological abuse and the lack of understanding of the impact of the collective trauma and harm.

Erin Hass, one of the organizers who serves as executive director/advocate for the Columbia County Victims Assistance Office, said, “So many people are affected and nobody understands, or even knows, how many people get affected by domestic abuse.”

Domestic violence and abuse goes beyond physical abuse and can constitute a combination of emotional, psychological, financial, technological, and even spiritual abuses. Sharing her own experience, one survivor noted the jury “didn't quite comprehend the build-up of the abuse” when she was trying to describe things of the psychological and the mental nature of what was happening. The survivor went on to say, “Trying to explain that to a jury was very concerning...You would say things and they would just look at you, like, ‘Okay, what's the big deal?’ It just made me realize people in the community don't understand.”

According to statistics cited by the National Domestic Violence Hotline, “intimate partner violence alone affects more than 12 million people every year” and “almost half of all women and men in the US have experienced psychological aggression by an intimate partner in their lifetime.” Domestic violence in the home doesn’t just impact adults; it impacts children and can have life-long effects. The same organization cites, “Children witnessed violence in nearly one in four intimate partner violence cases filed in state courts” and “30 to 60 percent of intimate partner violence perpetrators also abuse children in the household.”

When asked what they hope the DV Awareness March will accomplish, an organizer said, “I hope to accomplish, obviously, awareness and I hope to accomplish education. I hope that people stop looking at it so black and white. I look at trying to give hope that it does get better. It might not be the fairytale ‘get better’ when you get out. It never is. There is secondary abuse where they continue to pull games through the court systems or try to defame you publicly with your friends and your family and harassment. You know it keeps happening, but you're not part of the main course anymore. The thing is just realizing it does get better…I can't change the past of things that have happened to me, but I know I can change the story of my future.”

The Domestic Violence Awareness March starts Saturday, Oct. 18 at 10 a.m. at McCormick Park, located at 475 S. 18th Street in St. Helens.