Oct. 09--Vanessa Russell brought her 11-year-old daughter to Bolingbrook's rally against domestic abuse Thursday night.
"Nowadays there's a lot of bullying with school-age kids," said Russell, 31. "This gives them an opportunity to realize not to do it, to stand up for your friends."
The two were part of a crowd of more than 100 people who turned out for Bolingbrook's Citizens Against Abuse 17th annual rally and march at the DuPage County Levy Center. The event started in the late 1990s as part of the Take Back the Night movement, standing up to violence against women. The Bolingbrook rally now seeks to publicize abuse in all generations of the family, from elder to child abuse, as well as bullying.
At the rally, life-sized wooden cutouts -- tall figures painted red for adults and short silhouettes colored white for children -- wore cards telling stories of victims' deaths at the hands of family members and significant others.
Leroy Brown, Bolingbrook deputy mayor, said he was part of the group of eight that organized the first march 17 years ago. He was proud of the way it has grown, and Thursday night rounded up the crowd for the flashlight march.
"My mother was involved in a very bad marriage. It was pretty violent," Brown said. "We had to do something to let women know there is support."
James Glasgow, Will County state's attorney, stressed to the crowd the importance of raising money as state government funding dries up -- to keep helping domestic violence victims trying to escape a dangerous situation.
"If we ask someone to walk away from a situation, how are they going to eat? Where are they going to live?" Glasgow asked.
If a woman's life it wrapped up in that of her abuser's -- which it often is, if the abuser is her husband -- she will need help at first meeting those basic needs, he said.
Glasgow suggested reaching out to landlords whose apartment complexes aren't full and other community members to help provide temporary housing and other support.
Russell's daughter, Derriona Irons, 11, said she came out to help her teacher at Jane Addams Middle School in Bolingbrook.
But she and her friend, Kimora Haynes, 11, said they did learn a few things: "Domestic violence is not nice," Irons said.
"We should speak up and say something," Haynes said.
The rally benefited Lamb's Fold Center for Women and Children in Joliet; Rebecca's House Foundation in Bolingbrook; and Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana.
gbookwalter@tribpub.com
