 I am Councilwoman and Mayor Pro Tem Tamika Isaac Devine and it is my pleasure and honor to welcome you guys to the 12th annual Mayor's Walk Against Domestic Violence. Before we get started with some remarks, I'm going to ask if we could bring forward Chief Aubrey Jenkins, Deacon Aubrey Jenkins to bring forward the opening prayer and then we'll get started. Let's all pray. All dear Heavenly Father, we thank you right now for this occasion, Lord. We thank you, Lord, for just blessing us to be here. We pray, Lord, that all things that are said and done through this walk, Lord, that we bring in more awareness to domestic violence, Lord. We pray, Lord, for those victims that have been affected by this, not only the victims, Lord, but the families as well. So we ask you, Lord, to please bless, heal, touch, and deliver, Lord, and just give us the victory. In Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you, Chief Jenkins. And also, I just want to recognize, because I know Chief Jenkins has another engagement. Want us to all thank him. The Columbia Richland Fire Department has donated the water for our walkers today, so we want to thank you so much. Y'all help me. Thank you. All right. Now, so I am excited about today. Every year, this is just an amazing, amazing event. Some years we have rained like last year. Some years it's cold. Today we've got beautiful bright, sunny skies. We have good temperature, good weather. But most importantly, we have amazing people here. It is my duty to preside over this program, but also to bring you some remarks about the facts and the purpose of the walk. And I share with a couple people, most people who've seen me speak, I usually kind of speak off the cuff. I've actually written down some notes today because I've really, I've been praying about what I was going to say today to you guys, because I just think about us coming out here every year and where we are in South Carolina when it comes to domestic violence. Just for those of you who don't know my history, a lot of times when I do the interviews, people ask, you know, are you a survivor? You've ever been a victim of domestic violence? And I'll say, you know, by the grace of God, I have not. But that doesn't mean make the issue less important for me. It is very important for me, particularly as someone, my first job at a law school, well actually I'll go back prior to law school, when I was in law school, I met an amazing woman sitting behind me, Nancy Barton, who was looking for volunteers to go into the prisons to work with women who were victims of domestic violence, who had killed their abusers. And that was my first introduction to domestic violence. Right out of law school, I became a violence against women prosecutor, and that I was a violence against women legal services attorney. And then I went on to the state attorney general's office and was a prosecutor. And so that's kind of where my history in domestic violence is. And we come out here and we walk and we raise awareness and it's always a great day. And I always give you the stats and where we are in South Carolina and then encourage you to go out and do something. But quite honestly, I feel like that's not enough. You know, I always kind of tip-toe, I give the facts, but those of you who are out here, you know the facts. You know the stats. Those of you who are out here have been affected personally. You've got family members or sisters or girlfriends who have been affected personally. You have seen it. So you know the facts. So I don't need to preach to you and share with you statistics because you have lived the facts. But what I did want to do today before I bring my speakers up here for remarks was just, you know, when you think about really the last two years in this country, most importantly or especially the last two weeks, I don't know about you guys, but I mean I just get frustrated. I wake up and I read the paper or watch the news and I hear remarks about people and I'm not saying whatever is on their heart, but you know, well-meaning, well-intentioned or not, what they say and what they do do not so support for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. And it has been frustrating because I feel like, you know, we tell people, you know, we tell everybody, you know, our voices can be heard. This walk and other things like that are ways that our voices can be heard. And they are. So don't get me wrong. Don't say okay, I'm not coming to the 13th annual one because Tamika said our voices are heard through the walk. I want you out here, but I want us to also realize that this is just a symbol of the bigger thing that we can do and that we need to be doing in our communities. But there are a lot of more important things, oh, not more important. There are a lot other things that we can be doing to complement our presence here at the walk. And so I just wanted to share with you guys that thought and challenge the folks here as you listen to our speakers who are going to come forward, as you hear the story of our survivor, as you walk with your team that you came out here and you're walking through the beautiful, you know, greenway and thinking about what are your next steps today? You're physically taking steps, but what are your next steps after today? And I really just challenge us that we have to we have to be ever more vigilant. You know, the Violence Policy Center came out this year. We're six in the nation. You know, we've been as high as one several years. We've been as low as nine, but we're always in the top 10. And that just shows me we've got to do something different, guys. There's something that has to be different. And I'm not trying to be political and talk, you know, Republican, Democrat, man, woman, although I will say we need more women in elected office. But I'm saying we've got to have people who not only understand the issues that are plaguing our community, but we have to have people who are willing to make a difference. And so I am going to be political in that. I'm going to tell you today is one month, one month away from Election Day. And we have people all up and down the ballot from congressional candidates to our state offices, to our local offices like Solicitor and County Council. And, you know, we have to have people all up and down the ballot that understand our issues and not only understand them, but also understand and recognize when they don't know an issue and they don't recognize an issue that they talk to people who make, who have the information. And so I just wrote down three things. You know, I go to a Baptist Church. I'm a big about, you know, three points so people can remember. So I just wrote down three things. One is vote. And I don't mean just, you know, we always hear people say vote, vote, vote. I wore my pin today about voting just to remind you guys about voting. But today, starting on Monday, you can early voting or we don't have early voting in our state, which is another issue that the people that we elect can change. But the people that we currently have in office don't allow us to early vote, but we can vote in-person absentee starting on Monday. And so I want to challenge us to vote and get other people to vote. We got to make sure that we're educated about who we're voting for and who we're putting in office and that our voices are heard. That when they make decisions, and I told you guys about my history and working my first two jobs, my first two jobs were funded by the Violence Against Women Act that went in effect. It was written by then Senator Joe Biden, went in effect in 1993. It effectively expired last week. However, the president has extended it to the end of December or to the beginning of December. And so those folks up there in Washington have the ability to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act or not. When it passed the first time, when it was reauthorized, the second time it was bipartisan support to reauthorize it. The last time it was reauthorized, there were a lot of people who didn't, a lot of elected people who didn't support it because they didn't support some of the people who were being protected under the Violence Against Women Act. So to me, that means for you guys, it's important who we send to Congress because it's important that we have people who authorize the money that come to our state to fund prosecutors, to fund victim advocates, to vote law enforcement, to help combat domestic violence in our community. So we gotta vote and we gotta make sure our friends vote. Secondly, we need to hold our elected officials accountable. Whether you voted for them or not, whether you voted for me or not, you should be able to call me any time and say, Tamika, I wanna know what is the city doing about domestic violence? What is the city doing about this issue? You should be able to call your solicitor, your congressman, your county council person, your governor's office. You should be able to call them any time and say, what are you doing? And I wanna hold you accountable. I wanna know how are you making this issue important in our state? We gotta hold people accountable. And for people to say voices don't matter, we look at whether you're happy or not happy about the way the vote went yesterday in Congress and will likely go today, a week ago, two women stood and talked to their congressperson and said, I am a survivor. I am a survivor of sexual assault. And I want you to hear my story and I want you to take a pause. And he did take a pause. Now, we can argue whether or not that made a difference. I'm not gonna get into that debate. But it did, those two women, their voices were heard. What would it do if all of us called our congresspeople? If we were calling them, we were calling Senator Graham and Senator Scott and Joe Wilson and saying, this is my story and I want you to hear it. And I want you to do something about it. And then when they don't do what we think they should do, then we need to hold them accountable. Which means we need to be rallying people and voting them out of office. So that is our second thing. We need to hold all elected officials accountable. I don't care if they're Republican or Democrat. If they represent South Carolina, if they represent Richland County, Karshaw County, whatever, they represent all of us. And they need to be held accountable to us. And then my third thing is we need to continue to be an advocate. I listened to the debate yesterday. I was disappointed by some of the remarks I've heard in the last week. I have called my congresspeople and expressed my disappointment. But instead of being disappointed and mad and frustrated, I am using that energy to be more of an advocate. And that's what all of us need to do. That's number three. We need to be an advocate. It doesn't need to be just the first Saturday of October that we come out here, we put on our purple, we feel good, and we walk. But we need to be calling people. We need to be when an abuser is let out on a PR bond. We need to be there holding people accountable. When money is cut from domestic violence shelters, we need to be out there being an advocate, holding people accountable. We need to continue to be an advocate 365 days of the year, not just today. And so I'm going to get off my preachy. But that was on my heart, and I just had to say it. I just had to say it because I don't want to feel like we come out here, we feel good, we walk, but then what? We don't do anything else. So my challenge to you guys as you listen to our fabulous speakers today is to take those three things and go out there and you continue to take steps against domestic violence and do what you can do because we all can do something. Some of us are elected and appointed and policymakers and we do things there. Some of us are advocates and we work in that field. Some of us are PTO moms and church leaders and we can do our work there, but we all can do something. So with that said, I am going to shut up and I'm going to go back and put on my mistress a ceremonies hat and I am going to introduce you another fabulous, amazing advocate, Sara Barber who is the executive director of the South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. I know that there are some of you in here that I've talked to about how do I be an advocate? How can I do this? How can I do that? Well, Sara is a person, her organization is the umbrella organization for our state. They have been working hard in the trenches for many, many years and she can help them point you to the resources necessary to elevate your advocacy in this issue. And so if you all would please help me and join me and welcome Sara Barber. Thank you, Tamika. First of all, I'd like to echo what Tamika said and that Senator Scott and Graham expect my call. They expect to hear from me every day but if they expect all your calls too we may actually start to get some change and they may listen to all of us in a way that maybe sometimes they don't listen to just me. Unlike Tamika, I don't speak off the cuff so I have some prepared remarks about what October and what these kind of events mean to me. So every October 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. Every October we pause to recognize that homicides are only the horrific tip of the iceberg of domestic violence in our state. But as terrible as statistics are sometimes they can obscure the lives they represent. The lives impacted and lost to the many types of abuse that form the pattern of domestic violence that sears through our families and communities. Individual stories get lost in numbers. So today rather than talk about statistics I want to focus on two stories that have impacted me. So the work I do as an advocate, the hope I carry is rooted in the legacy of Marva. I met Marva when I was first starting to work with a program that intervened with offenders. Her husband had attempted to kill himself and then assaulted her in the emergency room in front of several doctors. After being arrested and spending some time in jail he was referred to our program. Then a few weeks later he assaulted Marva again and I started talking to her pretty much every day, talking to her about her possible options, about safety planning, trying to engage her in services with sister care. After a couple of weeks her husband moved back in the house, the call stopped and I think I just can't imagine how terrible those few days were for her. The next time I saw Marva's name was in the newspaper a short while later. Her husband had turned gasoline over her and let her on fire while her son watched. She died a few weeks later, 15 years on and I still think about her every single day and although it may seem strange to say that the hope I carry is inspired by her, it is because her story carries forward the urgency of the work we do, the work we need to do as a community and so nobody else has to enjoy what she and her family did. My hope is also found in the story of Scott, a man who abused his family for years reducing his wife in his own words to rubble and who was then mad at her because she was in that state, because of what he had done. Scott made a decision to acknowledge his responsibility for the abuse and to make the changes in his behavior and beliefs that would enable his family to be a place of safety rather than fear. His wife and adult sons attested a positive impact of the changes he chose to make, how it transformed their lives and in their voices we hear the value of this work. So there's two stories with two very different endings and to me, in that difference lies the essence of hope. People can choose to change, communities can choose to focus on prevention, to teach everybody about healthy relationships and the unacceptability of violence as a tool to control the ones we say we love. We can choose to stop this before it begins. So this October, we can choose to use this domestic violence awareness month to say that the city of Columbia is ready for change. It's really hard work. It's gonna be long work and it's gonna make people uncomfortable and it's gonna make some people angry. But it is possible. So I ask you most of all to make sure that South Carolina's past and all communities' past on the issue of domestic violence is not our future because we can do so much better. Thank you. Thank you, Sarin. Thank you for sharing those stories. Our next speaker really needs no introduction. If anybody is remotely aware of domestic violence issue and the work that's being done in our community, then you know Nancy Barton. Nancy Barton is the Executive Director of Sistercare who is our local shelter. And Sistercare and Nancy have been working in the trenches for ever. I told you guys Nancy was the first person that I worked with when I was working. She got together volunteers to go in the prisons and work with women who had killed their abusers. And so instead of their abusers being penalized and gone, prosecuted for the abuse to their wives, their wives were actually in prison because they had finally fought out in the only way they knew and it ended in the death of their abuser. And so Nancy has seen everything. There's probably nothing in this world that can shock Nancy as it relates to domestic violence. And to work in this field so long and continue the fight that she does is just awesome. It is amazing and I'm always in awe of her strength and just happy to be around her. So if you guys would please help me and join me in welcoming Nancy Barton. Thank you so much Tamika. You're right about not much shocks me anymore but I tell you it still breaks my heart. It breaks my heart every day. So I'm glad that so many of you are here today giving up your early Saturday to show your numbers and presence. I want to introduce our survivor speaker, Yakisha Means who is a long-term and very special volunteer of sister care and we work with survivors of domestic violence and their children in the Midlands. Yakisha has developed and founded her own business, a better you. She's a licensed professional counselor. She's a public speaker and personal coach, motivational in her words and her experience, professional experience in part has been in the juvenile correctional system as well as working with service people and their families. I know Yakisha because of her big heart and what she does to help tell her story in an effort to try to make a difference and hopefully change some thinking and understanding on the issue of domestic violence, dating violence, stalking and harassment. So if you would please join me in welcoming Yakisha. I first became a victim of domestic violence. When I was lying in bed probably at the age of three or four was my older sister at one end of our trailer and our parents' bedroom was at the other end of our trailer. And when I first noticed that this was my world was when I was awakened by the screams of my mother. Sean, Sean come and help me. Paul, what are you doing this? Stop. And my sister would urge me, Sean, go help mama. I'm only three or four. She's eight and a half years older than me. But see my father and I, we shared this funny relationship. He called me his lady. He doted upon me. And so here I am, this little girl with long pigtails in her pajamas. It could be three a.m., two a.m. or five a.m. And I'd get up out of bed hearing the bumps up against the wooden panel walls in their bathroom continuing to hear her screams to stop. And I would walk down this hallway, this dark long hallway and I would slowly enter the entering of their bedroom. And he would stop what he was doing and he would look at me and then he would come and sit down on the edge of the bed with his bloodshot red eyes. And he would say they messing with me, lady. I never knew who they was because there was nobody else in the room. I don't know if he was in a drunken state or if he was hearing voices, I don't know. But all I know at that age was the only thing that I could do to help my mama was to show up in that room and I would pat him on the back and he would say everything is gonna be all right, lady. And sometimes when he was sitting there on the edge of the bed, my father, he would have his 32 gun in his hand. And there was always three guns in the house. His 38 would be on the counter. He would have his 32 in a holster and he would have a shotgun in a closet. And that is where my mother had to lay her head every night. Can you imagine being held hostage, knowing that there are three guns that can take you out in any moment? That's the world of domestic violence. The fear, the anxiety. Not knowing as my sister and I laid in bed every night that he abused our mother, if this was gonna be the night that he actually ended up killing her, if this was gonna be the night after he had sexually assaulted her, after the physical abuse when he fell asleep and when my mother would come and shake us, y'all wake up, wake up. We're going to your grandmother's in town. If he was gonna catch us and not only kill our mother, but also kill us too. And most times, where did my sister and I have to go? After being up all night hearing that, we went to school. Sometimes it was on the weekends and my mother would get up and cook breakfast. She would have a knot on her head. She would have a black eye or a bruise right here on the side of her mouth. And guess what? Like most families, we pretended that the night before had never happened. The denial, the secrets. That is the world that most of us at this place today we grew up in. Also, my father, he ended up going to prison. And you would think life was about to get better for us. By this time, my sister had moved on into the Air Force, she got out of there. My mother and I was left, but I was missing something. At the age of 15, I was missing that closeness that I had with my dad. All that chaos that I was accustomed to. The love I thought a man had to physically abuse me. So I got involved with a 20-something-year-old man at the age of 15 who treated me like my dad treated my mother. Because that, to me, as a child, learned behavior. That is what love looks like. That is what love feels like. And one night I ended up shooting and killing this man. And I went to Department of Juvenile Justice. So my father and I were riding each other. We're gonna take on the world once we got out. And so I went from being a victim to being an aggressor. But while I was there, I started my journey to becoming a survivor. To dealing with everything that I had been impacted by as a child. And so my father got out before me, and then I got out into an independent living program in West Columbia. One of the teachers, Nellie Hart, so helped me get into Columbia College. Things are looking up. My father remarried to his mistress that he had had children with while he was married to my mother. But yet, he still was calling her. He was still stalking her in our little town of Union. A lot of people didn't know that. That's something that we found out later on. So here we are, you know, I'm getting ready to go to Asbury Hall in August. And my dad called me one Saturday and he said, Lady, I'm thinking about capping your mama. And I said, Daddy, don't talk like that. And he said, like he had always said years ago, everything is gonna be all right. That Sunday, my mother came down to go to church with me. We went out to Quincy's, had a good time. You know, back then Quincy's had all those cookies, you know, and those rolls. So we got, you know, our napkins and put up some of our purses. We had a great time, right? And so I told her what my daddy said. And she said, I'm not running no more. If it's time for me to go, it's time for me to go. And we hugged and we kissed and she got in her car and she went back home. And I went to my 4 to 12 shift at Babcock Center. You never have that feeling that you're not physically sick, but it's something in your spirit that's not right. For eight hours, I wasn't physically sick, but I felt like something wasn't right. And all my coworkers, they kept asking me, Keisha, what, I mean, you need to go home. What's wrong with you? And I said, you know, I mean, I don't feel like I gotta throw up or anything. I just, I don't know, just something off. Well, when I got off, I got to my godmother's house and I was on the phone with a friend of mine. He was like, you don't sound like yourself. And it was back then that you had them rotary phones and used to get beats. Well, I got a beat. And it was my aunt Tutu from Saluda, one of my daddy's older sisters. And I'm not very close to her. So immediately when I heard her voice, I'm like, oh my God, I got to get home to Wallace Thompson Hospital because I know my daddy and beat up my mama real bad and she's probably plugged up to all these machines and beat up really bad. And then she says, Sean, you have a car, right? And I said, yes. And I'm preparing to, you know, jumping my car and head home. And then she finished her sentence. Well, you need to get home. Your daddy then killed your mom and killed himself. And I'm thinking, God, why now? After all these years, he didn't remarry. He didn't remarry. This woman that he had kids with. I'm about to start college so that I can do better with myself to get her out of union. She was even thinking about moving down here and she was gonna get a job at Babcock. She's getting her GED. Why now, God, why now? That phone call ripped my heart to pieces. It dropped me to my knees and all I could do was scream. Why now, why God, why? That phone call is a phone call that many of you in this audience have received. That phone call is a phone call that many of you have had to make in this audience today. Some of you may have had a knock at your door like the mother of this recent 17-year-old girl. The police came to her door to inform her what had happened to her daughter. And I came here today with my aunt and my cousin that we don't want any more of those phone calls to have to be made. No more of those phone calls need to be made. And I stand here today to be transparent on how serious it is for us to move from survivors to becoming more advocates, advocates to be a voice for those who no longer have a voice. What does that look like? That looks like your churches, your schools, your sororities, your fraternities. That looks like calling in people to educate young teams about healthy and toxic relationships for them to be able to differentiate what does that look like? What does that sound like? When your boyfriend say he don't know what he would do without you, well, let's go further with that. What do you mean you don't know what to do? I will hope you will move on to the next female or the next male. I will hope that means that we go our separate ways without you calling me a hundred times a day, without you popping up at my job, at my school. Let them know what the red flags are. If he or she wants you to quit all your sports, don't want you to have anything to do with your family or friends, that's the red flags, that's not cute, that's not love. He wants you all to himself so he can have control and power over you. But also, we have to show them in our own relationships because they're watching us, they're learning from us. How do we operate in our romantic relationships? Are we cursing, are we fighting? What are we doing in front of these kids? What does being an advocate mean? It means moving from being a survivor, having had something done and managing and overcoming to being active in it, doing something about it, calling the needed people, forming, I don't know what, I mean, relationships with people in other states to where we can have somebody transferred over to another state to achieve a new identity if need be depending upon the severity of the danger because leaving your abuser or a batter is the most dangerous place, it's the most dangerous time. My mother, you would think she would have been safe, my daddy's a remarried. However, he still thought what? My mother belonged to him and if he couldn't have her, he was gonna make sure that nobody else could. So I stand here today, no more phone calls. It's each one of our responsibility, as Ms. Devine said, to move forward and do something and become more active and to preventing us from being another top 10 of women killed by their abusers in the state of South Carolina for next year. Thank you. Thank you so much, Shakisha. So next I am going to introduce two ladies to you and I will let them come first, Stacy, then Tashima, but at the city of Columbia, we take this issue very seriously. As you can tell, we've done this walk, we have advocates and our law enforcement officers, they get training above and beyond what's required by the law so that they can address these issues. No, we're not perfect. Yes, there's always work that needs to be done, but we are dedicated to this issue and so I wanna introduce to you guys Sergeant Stacy Walker from the Columbia Police Department and then after Stacy, I will have Tashima Martin who is a victim advocate with the Columbia Police Department come forward. Thank you. Good morning, everyone. I'm still trying to get the tears from my eyes after hearing all of that and I really... Don't know what to say. Thank you, thank you for sharing. Thank you for expressing that the way that you did. Again, I'm Sergeant Stacy Walker, City of Columbia Police Department. I have been actually a former DV investigator, so I do know firsthand and witnessed some of the things that she has spoke of. To say the least, that it is very challenging for young ladies to actually speak up and I commend you for that. I know it is a very difficult but we need to stop that. We need to end that and we all have a part to play in that. Not just law enforcement, as she said. Everyone is an advocate. So let's diligently do our part to combat this epidemic that's truly affecting every community, every walk of life. Anyone can be a victim. It doesn't matter where you work, where you live, who you are. You too can be a victim. Now, we all have a part to play. All I can speak on today is of that of law enforcement. With law enforcement, I think the key thing for us is awareness. We are aware of what you guys are going through. We are always training and doing what we can do to bring you the best service that we can. When we come to the scenes or incident, we try to accurately put all the information and stuff in the reports that we can but we are only as good as the information that we are given. So when we come, when we're there, be open, be honest. If you feel like you can't talk to us and I'm not gonna go stuff my her toes too much, we have phenomenal victim advocates in place for you to talk to. Phenomenal. They have plenty of resources and stuff. I'm sure Mr. Sheba Martin is gonna expand on that. Again, I don't wanna step on her toes. But again, I just wanna thank you for allowing me to be here. I'm gonna be walking with you guys and if you wanna just stop and talk, we will, I mean, we're happy to do so. Okay, thank you. Good morning. My name is Tashima Martin. I'm a victim advocate with the City of Columbia Police Department. I'm gonna briefly explain to you what a victim advocate is and what we do. A victim advocate is a professional trained to support victims of crime. Advocates offer information, emotional support and help finding resources and assist victims throughout the judicial process. I have, I started my journey as a victim advocate with Sister Care. One of the reasons why I wanted to become a victim advocate cause like our survivor, I am a child of domestic violence. I grew up listening to my parents fight and breaking up fights and calling the police and it wasn't as many resources back then from my mother as it is today. So part of my therapy, my healing was to try to help the women in this community be able to combat domestic violence in the men in this community cause domestic violence is not just about women. Men are also victims of domestic violence. When I started this journey, I didn't know how it was gonna impact me. It was definitely a form of therapy and counseling for me cause it gave me an opportunity to help victims of domestic violence be able to move past these situations and every time I helped a woman of domestic violence or a male of domestic violence, I thought about my mother and it empowered me. I grew up to be a victim of domestic violence partially because of what I was exposed to and what I've experienced. And I was fortunate enough to be able to recognize and to get out of that situation before it got too bad. But if I could give advice to anyone dealing with domestic violence or who grew up in a household with domestic violence, the same where we're out here to walk and we do things to take care of our bodies, we eat well, we exercise, we have to take care of our minds as well. And one of the things that greatly helped me was counseling and doing this work, giving back, volunteering and trying to make a difference. As an advocate, we offer a number of different services from assistant victims with filing for order of protections, assist going to court with them, transitional housing, helping them to get in safe houses. We work with a number of different of community partners to assist us in being able to help victims. We also, we do court accompaniment, we do a number of different things. So like Sergeant Walker said, if you don't feel comfortable speaking to the officer or you have additional questions and you just wanna have an idea of what your rights are as a victim because you do have rights, there is a victim bill of rights. You can ask to speak to your victim advocate. Victim advocates start from bond court all the way up throughout the entire judicial process. Again, I appreciate you all being out here for showing support for domestic violence is something that's very personal to me and I wanna see everyone to continue to give back and assist us in assisting you all to get out of these type of situations. Thank you. So as we are about to get ready to close and have Reverend slash commissioner Aaron Bishop come forward to pray for our walk and pray for all victims and survivors out there. Do wanna just couple closing remarks. I would like to, so reminding you guys my three points, we're going to vote. Remember, you can start Monday to vote in person absentee but also encourage other people to vote. There are so many people who feel like my vote doesn't matter, my voice doesn't matter and we need to show them that it does. So make sure that you come out and vote we're a month away from our general elections. With that said, I do and this walk has always been nonpartisan. We've always had different folks today. We do have, I know two candidates with us. I see Sean Kerrigan, Sean raise your hand. Sean Kerrigan is a candidate for the US House of Representatives. So thank you Sean for being here and I think you've been with us in the past and I mentioned to you guys about the Violence Against Women Act which was, you know, started being supported nonpartisan back in 1993. Unfortunately over the years it has gotten very partisan and now it is due to be reauthorized. And so if it's not reauthorized by the beginning of December then millions of dollars that have come to this state to help fund sister care and prosecutors and victim advocates may no longer be available. So we need people in Washington who understand the importance of supporting survivors. So I thank you Sean for being here. We also have with us actually a very good friend of mine who has always been an advocate and has been out with us before but I think this is the very first time you've been out here as a candidate. We've got Byron Gibson who is a candidate for Solicitor for Richland and Kershaw County. Byron raise your hand. Byron and I in law school work together and he's always been an advocate for victims and survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault and our Solicitor will make the choices of prosecuting these cases whether or not to have a no-drop policy and other things. So thank you Byron for being here. And then I saw Judge Milton Kimson. He's on the phone. Judge Kimson is out here. He's always been out here. So we thank you for being out here as well. I also wanna thank our volunteers. We've got so many volunteers who help us. The domestic violence walk is a walk that all of the logistics are supported by a city of Columbia. We couldn't put it on without volunteers. So I wanna thank all of our volunteers for out here. We also have some students from WG Sanders. You guys raise your hands for me. So thank you guys. And so I just wanna brag on them a little bit because I'm a mama of a WG Sanders student but brag on them because they are always working in the community. But these young people also recognize although they are not eligible to vote yet they are eligible. They are able to make their voices heard and so they are at domestic violence walks and the peace walk and other things making sure their voices are heard. So that inspires me and encourages me and I thank you guys for being here. I thank the public relations, media and marketing staff for the city of Columbia. Most of them are working but you guys raise your hand. Yay, over here. They help us get the word out. They help us get the volunteers. I already mentioned the fire department who's donated the water. The police department who are providing our escorts during the walk. I see they're scattered through here and I think some of them are already out there but y'all when you see our CPD officers please thank them for what they do today and every day. And our Parks and Recreation staff and Ms. Wanda Austin is here and others the Parks and Rec staff help us tremendously. So now we will have Reverend Aaron Bishop who is a commissioner for Richland School District I and I'll also kind of brag on that role that he plays as well because we think about the effects of domestic violence within our community and it's seen in a huge way when our young people go to school and so it is important that everyone from our commissioners and our superintendent down to every teacher and social worker within the school district be aware of how this affects students and how they can support young people who come to school that are witnessing violence within the homes and so we always thank Aaron for being here with us in that capacity and as the pastor of Grace Christian Church. So I'm gonna ask Reverend Bishop to come up and give our benediction and pray for our walkers and our victims and survivors. And then after Reverend Bishop speaks, Jessica Jeter who is the fitness coordinator at the Catherine Belfield Book of Washington Heights Center for the city of Columbia and an amazing, amazing personal trainer and fitness instructor will do our warm up. We don't want people to get, although you're like, oh yeah, it's just a walk. You can, if you're not warmed up properly, you can hurt yourself. So we wanna make sure we're warmed up properly and then we will kick off our walk over here. So Reverend Bishop, please. Good morning. I wanna first just take the moment in liberty to thank the city of Columbia, Mayor Benjamin, the city council, and especially city councilman, woman, Tameka Isaac for taking this courageous stance to do this public awareness. Can we celebrate their leadership real quick with a hand clap for appreciation and to that powerful testimony of becoming a survivor? As a quote that says, when two elephants fight, the grass withers. So as we get ready to pray, we pray that our grass grows again, that we grow in joy, happiness, and peace. Let us pray. Good morning, Lord, who looks low but sits high. Thank you, Lord, that you have come to govern our hearts and minds because you have bound, binded up the broken hearted and healed our wounds. Lord, today as we walk, we walk with the authority to find peace that passes all understanding, to remain with joy that has been given through the testimonies of people who have overcome domestic violence. Now, Lord, as we go forth, send your angels to give charge over our life, Lord, that though the devil has a agenda to rob, kill, and destroy, your son Jesus came to give us life and life more abundantly. So we walk in the abundance of our life today to walk away from the pain and agony because although we may have seen defeat, we didn't suffer defeat. Thank you, Lord, that today this walk will give us the ability to heal wounds and go forth and become courageous advocates of what is a victory that's already been given to us. Now, Lord, as the battle continues on, vengeance is yours, but the victory is ours. So thank you, Lord, that the healing of our infirmities, our challenges will take place today going forth. That as we walk, Lord, there will be no injuries physically because we're being healed spiritually. Is your son named that we pray? Amen.