For those who want to read my letter... #tackledomesticviolence I promise to have my own Facebook page up by this afternoon for my campaign. 15 September 2014 Good Day, My name is Rebekah Aitken and I’m writing to express an interest and a challenge to all of the NFL, ESPN, my local church and employer, local news, and radio stations. As a survivor of domestic violence and all of the attention from the NFL on the subject matter, I’m hoping to spread domestic violence awareness in October (Domestic Violence Awareness Month). It is like Mr. Roger Goodell said on September 10th, “We have the responsibility to make a difference.” January 31, 2011, after the NFL ProBowl, my fiancé physically abused me and for the next four hours I fought for my life. It has been a life altering experience that has lead me to know the full impact of this horrible crime. The justice system took roughly 18 months to settle the case and throughout that time I struggled with understanding, PTSD, regret, and many restless days searching for an explanation as to why me, why him, why that night… I knew that the situation was horrible, and I knew I would leave him, and I did. Almost immediately I knew that love wasn’t supposed to involve abuse and I wanted to do something to spread awareness. I researched high and low and what I found was shocking and appalling. The amount of men and women that were impacted by domestic violence averages roughly 1 in 4 people in the world. I also learned that in 2013, South Carolina ranked 8th in the highest amount of reported domestic violence assaults. I’m sending you this letter and sweatband to encourage you to Tackle Domestic Violence while wearing purple in October. For every one person who knows there is an answer to end domestic violence, there’s a chance that one more person becomes a survivor and one less will become a victim. I know that the NFL throughout October wears pink to raise money and awareness for Breast Cancer, but this year I’m hoping that the week of October 26, 2014 that the NFL, ESPN, churches, employers, local news, and radio stations will wear purple to while raising awareness. Mr. Charles Barkley said something that expresses my thoughts perfectly, “But they’re making this thing like domestic violence is about Ray Rice. It’s not about Ray Rice. This thing has been going on for a long time. The NFL has a great opportunity here to talk about this... But now they have a great opportunity to do something good.” I know that I have created my own “Tackle Domestic Violence” awareness bracelets to share throughout my own community. I sincerely thank you for taking the time to read this, what it means to me could never be put into words. Please accept this token of awareness as a thank you for your time. Passionately Tackling Domestic Violence, Rebekah Aitken
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 11:06:12 +0000
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