Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, and I will be spending a part of it at the Women's Memorial March, honoring the sixty-nine plus women missing and murdered from the downtown East side of Vancouver.
Many were First Nation women. All were sex trade workers. They were easy targets because they could be missing for days, weeks, even months before anyone would notice. They were faces, bodies without names. Without stories. Without relationships to anyone outside of their own communities. They made no contribution to society that was valued and recognized.
At least this is what we tell ourselves.
But the truth is that each one was someone's daughter, mother, sister, friend. They were born like you and I; innocent, beautiful, loved if even for a brief time. They played with dolls, giggled and laughed with their friends, put bows in their hair, chased butterflies and dreamed dreams. Somewhere along the line, somehow, things went horribly wrong. But the line between her and I is so very fine.
And I am ashamed to face the truth that if there were sixty-nine women abducted and murdered from any other neighborhood, any other suburb in this city, it would not be tolerated. They would be missed. Justice would be demanded, and it would be delivered.
Look around. The nameless, faceless, voiceless are in your city too. They are nameless, voiceless because we have made them so. But that can change. Begin today. Look for the faceless, listen for the nameless, the voiceless. Give hon our to each story. Not because it is the nice thing to do, not because it is the charitable thing to do. But because it is right. It is just. And because her story is in your story, and yours is in hers.
I feel a mixture of humility and privilege and sadness tonight as I think about tomorrow's march. But I will be there. To see, to hear, and to honor.
Thank you for giving them this honor.
Posted by: stephanie | February 14, 2006 at 05:50 AM
After watching the 60 seconds they gave this on the evening news I am confused. There is a candlelight service every year for the women "with potential" killed in Montreal, but these 50+ women receiving only a passing glance. That makes me angry because it tells more of the story of how little dignity these beautiful women from the Eastside are given.
Thank you for being there and for giving them honor.
Posted by: stephanie | February 15, 2006 at 07:45 AM
69+ women...how unbelievably sad. I had no idea. Thank you for all the work you do there to make a difference.
Posted by: Deb | February 15, 2006 at 03:07 PM