Women Hold Rally to Raise Awareness on Domestic Violence

The T-shirts were decorated with bright paint, feathers and pieces of fabric, but the cheerful designs belied the somber messages they carried:

“Talk to me, don’t hit me,” read one.

“I am not a victim. I am a survivor,” was written in a circle coming from the mouth of a rag-doll figure on another garment.

Dozens of the shirts, each designed by a survivor of violence, were pinned to clotheslines and carried down Main Street in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday as part of a campaign to raise awareness about violence committed against women.

Sponsored by the YWCA and the Los Angeles City Commission on the Status of Women, the “Confront Violence Against Women Clothesline March and Rally” marked the third day of events scheduled citywide for a “Week Without Violence.”

Wednesday’s march, which started at Olvera Street and concluded at City Hall, drew about 100 women, many of whom lived through violent situations.

“I was beaten by my boyfriend since I was 16 years old,” Maria Burboa, 29, said as she marched, sometimes chanting, “Stop the violence, increase the peace.”

Burboa said she was recently able to break off the relationship with her abusive boyfriend, whom she said is serving a prison sentence for stalking her and pulling a gun on her.

“I’m happy. It feels good to be out here,” Burboa said.

Wearing a “Remember Nicole” button, referring to Nicole Brown Simpson, Maria Del Mar St. John said that she decided to participate in the march to encourage more battered women to step forward.

For about a year, St. John said, she has been forced to live in hiding because she is afraid of her ex-husband, who once threw her through a window.

St. John added that she was disappointed in the turnout for the Wednesday event.

“I wish there were more women here. We need more. But I guess this is the beginning of letting women know it’s OK to talk about violence,” she said.

At a pre-march rally, U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) commended the women for staging the march.

“By doing this, you are speaking for at least 2 million women who are battered every year,” Boxer told the crowd.

Also participating in the event was Las Aldelitas, an all-female mariachi band, Paula Petrotta, executive director of the Commission on the Status of Women, and City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, who was once a victim of a violent attack. Galanter’s throat was slashed in 1987 during a robbery at her Venice home.