 Your presence here helps bring awareness around domestic violence and that we as a community are standing up against domestic violence. We want to start with the invocation and so I want to invite Dr. Cynthia Walters who is the Associate Minister of Zion Baptist Church to start us off with invocation. This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. Let us pray. Our God and our Father, today we stand against all types of domestic violence and abuse within families. We bind every evil spirit associated with dreadful condition. We pray that any and everything that destroys a person's self-respect, self-worth and confidence and leaves them with feelings of low self-esteem and depression be removed today in the name of Jesus and replaced with courage. Lord, I pray for the many people who live in darkness as a result of this abusive relationship. Enlighten them and provide them with wisdom to see when things are not right within their relationships, where frustration and confusion exists and even when they feel powerless or fearful, Lord grant them your peace. Uphold them with your mighty and victorious right hand. Father, allow those who have been abused to heal and forgive. Show them that a person as a person they deserve to be respected, to feel safe and valued. We pray for the abusers. Heavenly Father, have your way with them so they will not have the desire to control and manipulate others. Lead them to your word where they will be purified and made right in your sight. Embed them with your word in their hearts so that they will live in harmony and have perfect and constant peace within themselves and in turn with their partners. Now, Lord, I ask that you bless the leaders of this walk. Restore to them in abundance all they have given to make this walk successful. Provide safety for those who will walk and let no harm or danger come near them. Lord, we thank you right now for being our God and we ask that you will be done on earth as it is in heaven. In the name of Jesus we pray, amen, amen, and amen. Every year when we do this walk, I always get asked why do we do it as a free walk? There's lots of walks throughout the community that charge a registration fee. And we always say we don't want to have any impediments for people participating and that's why we don't do a registration fee. We think having opportunity to just understand how we all can play a role in combatting domestic violence in our community and bring awareness around the resources that are out there are enough. When we talk about resources that are out there, our community is blessed because South Carolina has a statewide organization, the South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. Many people call it SCADVASA that's run by Sara Barber. And also in this community, the Midlands have an amazing, amazing resource in sister care. Sister care was probably my first introduction in what people can do as far as combatting domestic violence. And it's run by Nancy Barton who has been a staunch advocate in the area of domestic violence for many, many years. So it's my pleasure to present both of these ladies and their organizations with a proclamation and I want to just read it for you. Whereas we recognize that domestic violence is a problem that plagues our community and our neighborhoods. And whereas South Carolina was ranked in the top five states in the nation for the rate of women killed by men according to the recent statistics released from the Violence Policy Center's report on homicide data. And whereas females ages 18 to 34 generally experience the highest rates of intimate partner violence. And whereas men who as children witness their parents domestic violence are twice as likely to abuse their own wives than sons of nonviolent parents. And whereas domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women more than car accidents, muggings and rapes combined. And whereas the city of Columbia recognizes the commitment of sister care and Sked Vasa to provide life saving resources to domestic violence victims and their families. Now therefore on behalf of the mayor Stephen K. Benjamin, mayor of the city of Columbia, along with all the members of Columbia City Council, we do hereby proclaim October 2019 as domestic violence month in the city of Columbia. And we urge all of our citizens to recognize and participate in its observance. So Sara and Nancy would you come forward please. Thank you ladies so much for what you and your organizations do to this community. We know that you couldn't do it. Well, we could not do what we do without your dedication. And I know sometimes it's really hard because you're not only our lobbying to bring awareness towards this information to this situation. But you're also on the front lines in helping victims and survivors of domestic violence. So we thank you. We appreciate you. And we encourage all of you to support both of these organizations. So we know that combating domestic violence takes lots of things. First it takes awareness. It also takes people to report whether it is victims coming forward. Or it is a concern family or community members sing that something is not right and making sure that something has happened. Then when there is a charge we need the legal system to prosecute and make sure that offenders are dealt with appropriately. And also that there are treatment services that are available that they connect them with. Here in Richland County we are blessed to have a solicitor that not only understands the importance that his office plays in the whole process but he also understands that not just prosecuting a case is not the only thing that he can do but making sure that resources are available in our community and that we have men who stand up for domestic violence or against domestic violence. So at this time I would like to invite our solicitor the Fifth Circuit solicitor Byron Gibson to the stage for some remarks. In 2017 52 women in South Carolina were murdered. 8% of those women were under the age of 18. 13% of those women were under the age of 65 were over the age of 65. And the average age of those murdered was 39 years old. I'll say that one more time the average age was 39 years old. Look around you see what the devastation see the devastation that occurs when domestic violence happens in our families and our communities in our city and our state. It devastates everybody. I can guarantee you that none of us are more than two degrees of separation from somebody who we know or have seen who has experienced domestic violence. I had the opportunity this past Tuesday to go to the to the walk at the State House where where our Attorney General spoke about domestic violence and we heard from victims of domestic violence who witnessed parents being killed by their partners by husbands by boyfriends by others. And just to see the sheer number of folks who have died as a result of domestic violence is one of the more humbling things that you'll ever see. But what I'll tell you today is that we all know that domestic violence is unacceptable. And it is up to us to begin having the dialogue with our families with our communities with our churches grassroots organizations and others about how unacceptable it is. And it has to start with with our families and understanding that we can no longer stand for something like this to take place. But I'll tell you that events like this shed light on the devastating effects that domestic violence has and how it affects our mothers our sisters our daughters our aunts our uncles our brothers. And as Councilwoman Isaac Devine mentioned when men see domestic violence happening when boys see domestic violence happening in the household that is a trait that oftentimes they will repeat in their own relationships. So teaching about healthy relationships is something that we all must invest time in because as men it is unacceptable for us to allow those things to happen in our households or in our loved ones households. As a part of the Fifth Circuit Solicitors Office we have a special victims prosecution team and part of what they do is prosecute domestic violence cases. One of the hurdles that come that we come across many times is that after an incident takes place witnesses do not want to come forward and sometimes victims decide hey you know the person was just having a bad day. And so you know it'll get better we don't want to prosecute we don't want them to have anything on their record we think it'll get better. But folks I tell you if it happens once it can happen twice and as you see that number of 52 people in 2017 that were murdered 52 women those are things that happen if we don't nip this in the bud. Nipping in the bud means prosecuting it vigorously but also offering services to those who are both victims and those who are the batterers. In terms of victims we have victim support services that the Councilman Isaac Devine has mentioned to you with sister care and other organizations locally that are willing to come and help. But we also need to talk about funding and for transitional housing so the people understand that if I am in an abusive relationship that there is some place that I can go and I can be there for long term without worrying about being homeless. Or I don't have to stay in a bad situation just because I don't have somewhere to go. That's something that we have to do as a community to get better funding and to continue to fund those organizations that are willing to help us house folks who are victims of domestic violence. We also all need to make sure that we are offering programs and the people know of the programs that are available for both victims and for batterers. One thing that I'll ask is if you know somebody who is a batterer or if you yourself have laid your hands on an intimate partner we'll ask that you consider just seeking help yourself. For men there are programs like the Midlands Fatherhood Coalition that are willing to help you with counseling and to help you with those types of issues that you may have. And the phone number for them is 933-0052. If there's somebody here who needs that help or you know someone who needs that help tell them to go to the Midlands Fatherhood Coalition or even the Domestic Abuse Center that number is 791-1322. Those are organizations that are willing to help if you have an issue if you know there's an issue if you don't have the wherewithal to get counseling yourself just seek that help. Because those are things that will ultimately help to reduce those numbers that we talked about. As a solicitor yes it is our job to prosecute but when we can offer information that can help you get yourself out of a situation or can help those who are actually in a situation or who are batterers to do things differently. That is what we're called upon to do as well and that is my pledge to you that we will do our best to bring our community to a higher level and we will do it hand in hand. Partnering with law enforcement partnering with all of the organizations that are here to make a difference in Columbia and in the Fifth Circuit. I believe that this city has endless potential but it starts with our families and if we can eradicate domestic violence within our families we can now begin to reach the true potential that we have. So stand with me and stand with all of the folks who are here on the stage today with combating domestic violence and finding help for those who need it so that we can reach the potential that we truly have. Thank you. Probably one of my first introductions to really working with the city of Columbia before I was elected was as a prosecutor who did domestic violence cases for the state attorney general's office. We train law enforcement officers throughout the state on domestic violence how to handle calls how to make sure that they know what to say to victims and perpetrators how to make sure you're prosecuting those cases how to make sure that you are getting the evidence necessary to prosecute those cases. And although that was almost 20 years ago I will tell you that it had a lasting impact on me because a lot of times we would go to law enforcement agencies throughout this state and we were met with a lot of resistance. We were met with a lot of people who were responding to these cases who blamed victims and did not want to treat those cases like a crime like any other crime that they would be responding to. It was very sobering to understand as I went into the city of Columbia and did trainings that not only did we need leadership at the top who understood but once we had leadership at the top it would go down throughout the ranks and that we certainly would be responding to domestic violence cases in the appropriate manner. I am so honored to say that we have that leader at the city of Columbia Police Department. I tell people all the time I am president of the Skip Hope Brook fan club because I think that we have an amazing amazing police chief not only who understands what his law enforcement officers need to be doing and being educated but also he is so open to concern criticism comments because he always wants to make sure that his officers and his department is doing better. In the last couple of years not only have they been doing things internally but they've also reached out and partnered like with Richland One and they have where we heard before when children are in abusive homes and there might be something happening at night. Most people don't understand that that child goes to school that next day and you see that child acting out and people see a bad child but what they should see is what is going on. There might be something that happened that is causing this child to act out. So City of Columbia Police Department has been doing that and they have made sure that they have resources to address adverse childhood experiences and make sure that as working together with the school districts that those children have the resources, community resources necessary. So I could go on and on about how amazing this man is but I'm going to stop and I'm going to invite Chief Skip Hope Brook for a few remarks. I hope you all were as encouraged as I was to listen to what our solicitor had to say. I can tell you that it's been incredibly refreshing and encouraging to see his leadership in the short time that he's been in the solicitor's office. We've seen a profound culture change and it's just been a tremendous relationship from the very beginning so thank you for what you're doing and what you will be doing. So good morning. So let me first say the budgets are tight. The police department did the upgrade this morning for the temperature. We had them lower the temperature. We asked the fire department to contribute for the upgrade for the sunshine. They failed. Okay. It is, it feels great out here. Hopefully the rain is going to hold off so we can have a great walk together. But you know what I would say simply is we've got work to do. We know we have work to do. And this has been an incredible week. We had the Silent Witness event at the State House. We had an event at Brooklyn and at those events what you know obviously it brings awareness to this incredibly important important cause. We've heard from courageous survivors. We know there are survivors amongst us today. We also know that there are folks that are in abusive relationships and we hope that one thing that you take away from today is there is hope that there are people to stand with you, encourage you, help you get out of that situation. We know we have to get better. We know we have work to do at the police department. I'll tell you I was greeted this morning by a survivor that was not where she needed to be with how the police handled her situation. And we talked about that and that's important and we know that we have to get better. We've got incredible victim advocates here today and our special victims unit. They do an incredibly tough job. But I hear time and time again just how special our advocates are and how important they have been in somebody's very difficult situation. I'm very pleased I see a lot of friendly faces in the audience that I know have overcome some difficult circumstances and I know there's plenty of people out there that I have not had the pleasure of meeting and I hope I do meet you. I look forward to standing with you today and walking with you today and I am always open and ready to be at your side to help you overcome a difficult situation and get out of an abusive relationship. Thank you again. Have a good day. Good morning everyone and thank you to both Chief Holbrook and Solista Gibson and to Councilwoman Tamika Design. Divine for the work that they do to keep awareness and response to these crimes in our city so on target. I always read Romari remarks introvert thing so this is the fourth year I've spoken at this event and the fourth year that I try to think of ways to say the same thing differently. It's hard to do this and it's frustrating because I know I'm speaking to the people who care the people who know the people for whom my words affirm their knowledge and their experience. But I have to ask where is everyone else. Every October for domestic violence awareness month we gather to remember the dead those who have been killed by abusive partners during the previous year. And every October we recoil from statistics that show our state to be one of the most dangerous in which a woman can live with a female homicide victimization rate that is about twice the national average. And although we might not be worse state anymore the rate of lethal violence is rising here and across the nation. So every October we pause to recognize that these homicides are only the horrific tip of domestic violence in our state. The CDC estimates that over 40 percent of South Carolina women have experienced sexual assault severe physical violence and or stalking that's around one million women. Look around you and think how many here are one of that million as this violence sears our communities in ways that we don't even fully see or understand individual stories get lost in the numbers. Ebony Claire Marva Grayson Joseph James Shari Bradley and Nevae Adams. I am saddened when I read names such as these knowing the loss that their deaths carry. But I'm also angry that such loss is the only time that domestic violence makes the news and is then easily forgotten by the next news cycle. Everyone standing here wants change and to make change even in the midst of that despair we have to hope. How do we fulfill that hope. So an ally and another solicitor in this work always quotes Margaret Mead when talking about building change and how that change starts with you. That quote is never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it's the only thing that ever has you. Everyone here today are those thoughtful committed citizens. So today I think we all need to further commit to taking the awareness that is here in this park and move it out into the community. Let us find the ways together that we can make change contagious and use our hope to inspire others to join us. Thank you. Our local shelter of sister care sister care always can take donations. They have volunteers. So please reach out the sister care and see how you can help be that change. That's all I talked about. Now I would like to invite a very very special guest to bring you some remarks. Dr. Sonia Davis Lewis who is a survivor and she is going to share her story with us. As as Mr. Vine just said I am Sonia Davis Lewis and I am a survivor. Thank you. I can finally say that without shame as if the burden of the shame was mine to bear. Being victimized and treated like you're less than human is something nobody wants to share that we want to keep it in silence and in secret because we don't want anybody to think that we're weak. And that's the perception of most victims because I often hear people say oh that wouldn't happen to me. Or that couldn't happen to me. How could you stay and I stayed for 18 years. But I'll say this and I often say this to people who ask that question. I didn't become a victim by happenstance. I was conditioned to be a victim. You see I was sexually molested at eight years old by somebody that I trusted. I watched domestic violence in my home and in my family for most of my life. So that was normal to me. Domestic violence equated to love for me. So that's why I stayed. I'm going to share a story one story with you. I was at the Columbia Mall in the early 2000s shopping for Easter for my boys. As I perused through the store my abuser came up behind me and grabbed me by the back of my shirt and drug me out of the mall. As I tried to ditch the things that I had in my hand because I didn't want to be accused of stealing. I was a drug out of the store and into the mall parking lot where I was punched in the face. I was slapped. I was kicked. I was down on the ground crouching against my car. When all of a sudden I saw four legs come up and I thought to myself somebody is here to help me. And I was so grateful because I was in so much pain and more than the pain was the shame that somebody was going to recognize me. And see me. All of a sudden these two security guards from the mall grabbed my abuser and they were holding his arms. And I was able to brace myself and stand up. And they said to him you can't do that here. You have to take her home to do that. How many of you know that that's exactly what he did? He took me home and he finished what he started. What set that off? He said that I was smiling at a clerk that if you offered me a million dollars I couldn't tell you who he was talking about. But you see there's no rationalization to domestic violence. It's as if they all read from the same book because the behaviors are all the same. It's never about what you do or what you don't do. You can't fix them. And that was always my thought. That if I just loved him a little more, if I just took care of the kids a little better, if I just cooked dinner every day and kept the house clean that it would be better. But in 18 years it never got better. I went to work every day. Black eyes and bruises. My coworkers made fun of me. They laughed. They told jokes. When I walked in the cafeteria I was the butt of jokes. But I made it through all of that because when I was in grad school one night I was leaving class and see I had to rush home because he knew at time I got out of class and he knew how long it took me to drive from the campus of Webster University to my home up in the summit. So I was hesitant when my instructor asked me to stay after class because she wanted to talk to me. So I was rushing to get out and there was somebody else taking her time and talking to her and I went to walk past her and all she did was slip me something in my hand. And I took it and went to my car and when I got there it was a car that says sister care. The very next Saturday morning I was punched in the face because I wanted to go to a soccer game for my goddaughter. And I took that opportunity to take that card that I had hidden away in my book bag and I contacted sister care. And they helped me. She helped me develop a safety plan so that I could leave. She went to court with me so that I could get my restraining order. And I'm so thankful for organizations like sister care and the sheriff's department. They gave me an advocate and they stood with me. And people think I'm 15 years removed from my domestic violence. 15 years a survivor but it's not over. It's not over. I battle every day. My abuser often says to other people why can't she just get over it. It's been 15 years. Why can't she just get over it. But some things hit you so hard and they hurt you so bad you'll never get over it. I'm irreverently broken. But I hear I am. I'm surviving and I'm thriving and I'm determined to move forward each and every day. That's why I had to get over the shame of it and stand here and say that's not my shame to bear. But I got out and I survived and you can too. And I want to encourage anybody that's in that situation because see I wore it well. Two things that victims of domestic violence are great at keeping secrets and telling lies. In my house it was always told to me what goes on in this house it stays in this house. But see I got two daughters and I didn't carry on that tradition. I told my two girls if something is hurting you you better come tell me because I'm going to fix it. You don't go home home is supposed to be security and safety. It's not supposed to be a place where you drive down the street and you cry because you're almost there. I am an example. That's why I'm willing to put myself out here to tell my story to get over the shame and the humiliation I felt at being a victim. Because I know that I'm not the only one. I used to believe that I was but today I know I'm not the only one. But I got out and I'm thanking God every day for those advocates at Richland County Sheriff Department for sister care who stood beside me every step of the way. And as I said 15 years removed I'm still in counseling for ever suffering from PTSD. But yeah here I am. I'm here. I wake up every morning and I give myself a hug because I made it. I'm my own hero. So I say to anybody else out there who's suffering and going through what I went through you to there are people and places that can help you. You can reach out to me. I'm on Facebook. I'm always an open book willing and able to help. And there are other places such as sister care. And I know there are many other places but that was where I found my freedom. And that's why I will forever be thankful to them. And I hope I'm encouraging somebody to step up and step out today. Find you and fall in love with you. And then you can walk your path and live your truth. Thank you. Thank you Sonya so much for sharing that was that was that was a blessing to us. And thank you. So just in closing we are going to have Jessica Jeter come forward with a mini workout just to kind of get ourselves ready for the walk. And then after that we will have our bike patrol will be at the beginning of the path to start us and the walk is through the greenway through under the tunnel and then we'll come back. So it's not a very long walk but it is an opportunity for us to march together and take steps against domestic violence. I would like to thank all of you again for being here. Encourage you guys to continue to stand out and speak out against domestic violence. I also have to say standing up here and looking out and seeing so many men here. I am so thankful because people think this is a women's issue. It is not. It's a community issue. And I want to thank all of you so much for being here. And don't forget to subscribe. Also while you're here be sure to check out one of our other videos or follow on our social media platforms. Thanks again and remember we are Columbia.