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Silent rally, speak-out event planned for Wednesday

By Alyssa Choiniere achoiniere@heraldstandard.Com 4 min read
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Fayette County has a voice, and locals will be using it to stand up for victims and spread awareness of sexual violence, child abuse, school violence and other violent crimes Wednesday.

The Crime Victims’ Center of Fayette County is hosting a silent rally followed by an end to the silence where former victims, advocates and local officials will discuss their experiences, warning signs for violent crimes and educate the public.

“We’re trying to encourage people and empower people to say something and not stay silent,” said Maria Oppman, a counselor at the center.

The theme, Fayette Has a Voice, will encourage people to stand up for what is right and speak out against what is wrong.

“The easiest thing is to stay silent, and it takes a lot of strength to come forward,” Oppman said.

The event will be held at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus, in the Swimmer Hall auditorium of the Williams Building. It is free and open to the public, and parents are encouraged to bring children. Attendees are encouraged to make a sign for the silent protest and use the hashtag #FayetteHasAVoice on social media.

The speakers will include victims of school violence, child abuse and sexual assault, along with local officials. Attendees will learn to recognize the signs of child abuse and warning signs. Children are encouraged to attend because some child victims only disclose they are victimized to their friends.

“They might tell one of their little friends at school, or show a mark on them that they might not show an adult,” said Linda O’Keefe, victim advocate at the center.

Attendees will also hear audio of statements perpetrators made to their victims, spoken by the victims, and hear first-hand accounts of their experiences. Parts of victim impact statements will be on display to highlight the trauma they experienced.

“To be honest, if some of you existed in my reality, I can guarantee you would be struggling to breathe, down on your knees, writhing,” one victim impact statement says. “I know because I lived it.”

The woman explained her daily struggle dealing with residual trauma, shattered trust and sense of safety. She wrote the legal system had failed her.

“It leaves the victim to feel even more helpless and hopeless, and when you statistically review how many crimes, rapes, molestations and assaults do not get reported, I entirely understand how and why,” she wrote.

One in five women have experienced rape or attempted rape in their lives, and one in six boys is sexually abused before age 16, according to data from the National Sexual Violence Resource Center. An estimated 67.5 rapes are unreported. Only 26.2 percent of boys who experienced sexual abuse disclosed it at the time, and fewer than 5 percent of rapes or attempted rapes on college campuses were reported to law enforcement, the data said.

“Sexual violence thrives when it is not taken seriously and victim blaming goes unchecked,” the data sheet said.

In a small, rural county, where many people know one another, O’Keefe said it is just as important, if not more important, to highlight the impact of violent crimes and spread awareness than in major cities.

“These things happen in Fayette County,” she said. “It might be even more important in a place like this,” she said.

The center is also hosting a change drive called Change for Change, where local businesses are collecting change in jars to support the nonprofit center.

The center offers a 24-hour hotline, crisis intervention and accompaniment to hospitals and legal proceedings. The center also offers counseling to victims and their families and hosts prevention education, parenting classes and a truancy program.

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