Domestic Violence Vigil
October 29, 1997
Thank you, Charlie. It's a great privilege for me to be here today, but I stand here as just a humble observer.
As governor, I give speeches every day about the family. Families are the foundation, I say, and when they crumble...so does America.
There's never been any doubt in my mind about that, but experiences like this certainly remove any doubt from my heart.
Hearing what many of you have had to endure, as survivors and witnesses of domestic violence, I'd like nothing better right now, quite honestly, than to run home to my wife and kids and throw my arms around them and tell them I love them.
There's no more poignant illustration of how devastating a shattered family can be than right here.
You just have to look out on these 40 silhouettes. These cut-outs represent the casualties of war...the destruction that comes when home becomes battlefield.
You can read each of their stories in horrible detail from that book in your hands: "strangled to death in her bedroom," "shot in the forehead as her children watched," "doused in kerosene and set aflame," "pistol-whipped." It's devastating.
One grieving mother wrote that "the person (her daughter) gave so much to...in return took her life." Her 21-year-old child was stabbed to death by the same man who vowed to love, honor and cherish her.
Truly, these women suffered the worst fate imaginable...to be killed by someone they once deeply loved and trusted...to see the hands that once held them in love rise up against them in rage. Nothing could give a human being more heartbreak.
So today we mourn the loss of these vibrant young lives...and the loss of families destroyed from within.
But perhaps these are the lucky ones. At long last, these women have escaped their attackers. And it is our hope that today theyıve found rest in the shelter of a loving God...in a place where they are safe, comforted and dearly loved.
Now our prayer goes out to the thousands of women who remain...who live every minute vulnerable and fearful of what will come. We pray that God's hand of protection will be on them and keep them safe from harm.
But as those placed in positions of leadership, it is also our calling to actively seek justice on their behalf.
I can tell you that we are working diligently to make the victim's voice heard: to stop stalkers in their tracks, to help law enforcement crack down on domestic disputes, to make the rights of the afflicted our very first priority.
But it is also our calling, as loving neighbors, to consider the walking wounded...the children and loved ones left behind...and seek for them healing.
Many of you have been eyewitnesses to a nightmare, to the slaps, the black eyes, the drunken rages. Maybe it was you who made the 911 call. Maybe it was you who saw the bullet leave the gun and rip your home apart.
There's nothing any of us can ever do to erase those images from your minds. But perhaps together as friends and family and community, we can begin to bring healing to your hearts...so you'll never have to see the pattern of violence repeated.
You're hearing right now the sound of a cycle that must be broken. Every time you've heard the bell ringing in the background, a woman has been brutalized by her husband or boyfriend. Every 12 seconds.
And so we remember today the 39 women whose stories we know...and the countless others whose stories remain untold. And we make our pledge.
These women are now silent, but we will not be. They are no longer with us, but we live on. And with vision and courage, we will give them voice.