Those who wish to raise awareness about domestic violence and how it affects the lives of Virgin Islanders will march through Frederiksted and Charlotte Amalie on Thursday.
For organizers from the Women’s Coalition on St. Croix and the Family Resource Center on St. Thomas, 2022 marks the first year for Take Back the Night marches to put their feet back on the street after two years of pandemic restrictions.
Advocates promoting peace and safety among families living together say they will assemble at 5:30 p.m. and start to march around 6 p.m. On St. Croix, the Women’s Coalition and their supporters will assemble at the Frederiksted Fish Market. From there, they will march to the Eliza McBean Clock Tower and rally at Buddhoe Park.
On St. Thomas, organizers with the Family Resource Center plan to march from Emile Griffith Park on Veterans Drive to Emancipation Garden for a rally with speakers and poetry readings. Resource Center Executive Director Anya Stuart said Thursday’s event puts the agency back on track with its public outreach goals.
“We are going to join hands with everybody we’ve made contact with; local agencies, the schools … some said they can’t make it but they would send some students, and I reached out to a few people,” Stuart said.
The director also announced the 2022 theme for the march: Not Just Surviving, but Thriving. Having experienced domestic violence in her own family, Stuart said she wanted to spread a message of hope for better days to come.
October is observed as Domestic Violence Awareness Month across the United States.
Marches against domestic violence have been taking place in the Virgin Islands for 30 years on St. Croix. Women’s Coalition crisis counselor Sheelene Gumbs said the need for advocacy is as great as ever. Gumbs noted that in 2020 and 2021, when the COVID-19 health emergency kept victims and perpetrators together at home, the number of reported cases rose.
“Our numbers were really increased because of the COVID; not just our numbers. The police department put out a press release saying the numbers were up as well. We get (complaints from) the people who won’t go to the police,” Gumbs said.
In a March 26, 2020, joint statement from the district police chiefs on St. Thomas and St. Croix, authorities urged families to find alternative ways to resolve conflicts. “The Virgin Islands Police Department has noticed an increase in the number of calls for service for domestic violence as Virgin Islanders stay at home, heeding Governor Albert Bryan’s orders to avoid the spread of COVID-19 in the territory,” the statement said at the time.
Stuart said she spent the height of the pandemic counseling victims who turned to the resource center for advice. “I spoke to some people who told me that it was the most difficult moment in their lives, sitting at home with their perpetrators … and I told them ‘take it as an opportunity to learn to do something else, to spend more time with your children — just try it.’
“And for some people, it worked,” she said.
As a way to offer support under the circumstances, the resource center and the coalition held virtual Take Back the Night events in those years. In 2021, Stuart said supporters assembled in one spot along Veterans Drive, holding signs reminding passersby that domestic violence still threatened peace in the home.
Thursday’s marches and rallies also give advocates another chance to put a face on those who suffer from domestic violence, and those who suffer no longer. A memorial is planned to remember those who have been killed.
A display of empty shoes is planned in Frederiksted to symbolize the losses, Gumbs said.
