The City of Cambridge and Transition House held its annual Domestic Violence Awareness Month vigil outside Cambridge City Hall on Wednesday night to honor lives lost to domestic violence.
Along with the vigil, the Domestic and Gender Based Violence Prevention Initiative created ‘The Silent Witness Exhibit,’ a display of 11 red silhouettes representing each of the Massachusetts women who died from domestic violence in the past year. The exhibit will be presented in the City Hall for the rest of the month.
The vigil began with a live cello performance by Boston-based musician Cherry Kim. Local artist PHEEBZ created a painting during the vigil which will hang in City Hall through the month.
Shameka Gregory, coordinator of the DGBVPI, said the 11 victims left behind 10 children. Two of the children were orphaned, and two were home when their mothers were killed.
Within a year, five of the men who killed their partner committed suicide.
Gregory said she didn’t share this information to shock the audience, but to emphasize that the trauma can linger long after the abuse ends.
“I say this to ground us in the reality of these people, including the children, who will live with this reality for the rest of their lives,” she said.
Gregory practiced what to say to a victim of domestic violence so the audience would know how to support someone in need, noting “all of us have parts to play.”
“We have to be willing to say, ‘I see this happening and I don’t like it,’” Gregory said. “We have to give voice to these things.”
Christine Elow, commissioner of the Cambridge Police Department, spoke during the vigil to represent the police’s involvement with domestic violence.
“I’m grateful to be part of this vigil and part of a city that recognizes that domestic violence is not a private issue, but a public one, a community one and, most importantly, a human one,” Elow said.
Elow recognized calling the police isn’t always the solution for domestic violence survivors, but assured the audience there are still other ways to get help.
“We understand that survivors have very real concerns about safety, finances, children or immigration status,” Elow said. “Together with the city and our community partners, many of whom are here tonight, we work to ensure those concerns are met with compassion, resources and long-term pathways to safety and stability, because this is not just police work. This is community work.”
The vigil ended with the ringing of the City Hall bells — 11 times for each life lost — and a final cello performance by Kim. Each attendee held up their purple candle to commemorate the women who passed.
Jennifer Shakespeare, director of the Community Support Partnership at Transition House and emcee of the event, said the vigil was crucial because “this is the time where we’re very visible as a collective in the community.”
Emily Rothman, a professor and chair of occupational therapy in Sargent College, said domestic violence prevention programs are being threatened by federal funding cuts.
“A lot of the squeeze is really on these programs,” said Rothman. “There’s a lot of hardship.”
Still, the City of Cambridge and its associates are continuing their battle to support and uplift survivors of domestic abuse.
“We have to give them the gravity and the weight and understanding and the grace that they deserve,” Gregory said. “Hold them as if they’re precious, because they are.”