Annual talent event draws attention to relationship violence
Education, empowerment and entertainment were the words Jasmine Gant used to describe “One Mic,” an annual talent exposition to raise domestic violence awareness.
Hosted by the Association of Minority Pre-Health Students, Alpha Kappa Alpha and the Sexual Assault Violence Intervention Prevention Office, the event attracted a crowd in the Russell House Theater. It allowed both women and men to express their feelings and experiences with domestic violence.
“It’s a healing process for some people, [and] we have a lot of survivors that perform,” said Gant, a fourth-year public health student. “If we can help facilitate that, then I’m all for it.”
Corey Ingram, a SAVIP representative, gave a presentation on sexual assault. He emphasized that students and visitors sitting in the crowd should take the time to think about why and how sexual assault begins.
“Men and women, we have different thought processes,” Ingram said. “How do you get a woman to teach a man how to be a man. … When you really think about that, you need men to be advocates for men to show them the proper processes and procedures of moving forward.”
The idea behind this concept is what led to a program called “True Strength” which offers man-to-man mentoring and guidance on how to overcome domestic violence.
Sistercare, a local women’s and children’s shelter, was also represented at the event. Like SAVIP, Sistercare reaches out to both men and women to continue the fight against domestic violence. A representative from the shelter shared a story about a woman who experienced domestic abuse for 15 years, her son witnessing the violence and living with the effects all his life.
More female participants shared their stories of domestic violence through music and song, performing covers of selections such as Pink’s “Perfect” and India Arie’s “Good Man.”
One woman performed a spoken word piece called “Snapped,” which described the difficulty of leaving a violent five-year relationship and how good it felt for her to finally fight back and run freely.
“My eyes lost their shine,” said the performer, who was only identified as Leslie. “It’s so hard to put the pieces back together after they’ve been snapped.”
South Carolina is consistently rated among the worst states for sexual and domestic violence. Nationally, college-aged women are at the highest risk for domestic violence, according to statistics from the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. One in four women have been the victim of severe physical violence by an intimate partner, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“People are more likely to fake their own death than to report an actual assault,” Gant said. “This is a serious issue that affects people even in this room.”
Though women’s stories dominated the event, Donovan German, a fourth-year mass communications student from Winthrop University, shared a spoken word piece about empowering women to know their worth.
“God gives us angels at various points in our lives,” said German, who wrote, “Broken Wings,” “Realize your beauty. You’re deserving of the best.”