Day of Blog Silence: Honoring The Victims of Violence

In honor of the Blog Day of Silence, in which I will personally honor victims of needless violence around the world, tomorrow, April 30th, 2007, this blog will be silent.

For information on why I’m doing this, read April 30: A Day of Silence on the Blogosphere and especially Silence is a Memoriam, Not a Reason to Stop Blogging.

My blog is silent tomorrow as a tribute and memorial, not because I have nothing to say. Trust me, I have plenty to say on the issue. I will use my mouth, not my fingers, tomorrow to speak out on the issue. I will spend time with my family and friends and listen to their feelings on the issue, many who have also been victims of violence. I give my time to them in honor of this day, when thousands on the web will also be honoring the death and victimization of so many for no good reason.

On May 1, I will return to blogging about blogging and WordPress, but know that my work against violence, rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment, women’s rights, children’s rights, human trafficking, and prejudice continues, as it always has, even if it isn’t for public consumption on this blog.

Thank you. Thank you for listening. Thank you for participating. And even if you don’t, thank you for speaking out. The issue of this Blog Day of Silence has generated more talk about violence and human rights than most news reports. We need to keep talking. We must keep talking. If we are talking about it, hopefully we’ll be too busy to be hurting each other.

I have one last thought on this issue to share with you. For many years I’ve taught sexual assault prevention education to women – teaching women to fight back and protect themselves – and I always end my programs with this thought.

I have a dream. It’s a simple dream. One day, a little girl will come up to me and tug on my shirt.

“Auntie ‘relle, what’s rape?”

Hand in hand, we’ll go to the dictionary and open it up, running our fingers down R…Ra…Rap… — and it won’t be there.

She’ll look up at me with innocent eyes. “What’s rape mean?”

I’ll explain that it is something men used to do to women that was very bad.

She’ll look at me in shock and ask, “Why?”

For this moment, a day of silence I give.