Clothesline Project

On Friday, before I got a horrible headache, I went over to the UVSC campus because of a newspaper article. The article talked about the Clothesline Project. It is a way to combat and bring attention to violence of all different kinds. The project at UVSC seemed to be focused on rape and domestic abuse against women and children. There were so many horrible stories on these t-shirts, but there were also stories of hope for the future and overcoming pain. The picture included show just a few of these shirts. There were tables where, if you had a story or something to say, you could make a t-shirt.

Each color of t-shirt stood for something different. The following are the colors and what they stand for: white for those who died because of the violence, yellow for survivors of physical assault, red for survivors of rape or sexual assault, blue or green for survivors of incest or childhood sexual assault, purple for attacks based on sexual orientation, black for those physically disabled because of violence, and grey or brown for survivors of emotional or verbal abuse. It made me sick how many white, red, and blue shirts there were. How can people hurt those who they are supposed to love? There were two rows of clotheslines inside, then ten under a tent outside. So many shirts. I left sobered and sad, but glad that people were talking about this problem.