On Saturday, July 9, the fifth annual Connect to End Violence event was held at the seawall in Vineyard Haven, just before the drawbridge, to raise awareness of domestic and sexual violence perpetrated against women and children.
In a phone conversation with The Times, Jennifer Neary, program director of Connect to End Violence, located in Edgartown, said this was the most successful seawall event to date. Between 13 and 16 men, including members of the Martha’s Vineyard high school hockey team, stood on the wall holding placards from 11 am to 2 pm. Written on the placards were personal messages such as “My future daughter,” “Mom,” “Jane Doe,” “Sarah,” or “Love.”
“Most violence against women comes from men,” said Ms. Neary, “and we wanted to make this a human issue, not just a women’s issue.”
As cars drove by the men on the wall, they often honked their horns or shouted out words of encouragement.
“It was great to see how engaged people were,” said Ms. Neary. “Some would actually get out of their cars and root the guys on.”
The MV Sharks baseball team showed their support for Connect by holding up placards before their home game on Thursday, July 7. Normally they would have been on the wall, but they had an away game on Saturday.
Bob Ogden of West Tisbury, currently a candidate for Sheriff of Dukes County, had personal reasons for participating in the event. “As a survivor of child abuse,” he said, “I feel very strongly about ending the silence and stigma surrounding domestic violence, to bring to light the despair, frustration, and guilt of the victims, whose only crime is being married to or born into violent families.”
In addition to the seawall event, Connect holds a domestic violence awareness walk in October and a sexual assault awareness walk in April.