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One Billion Rising: Campaign Against Violence
You see the smiles on their faces and the rhythm in their feet, but their campaign is against a dark epidemic they say impacts “One Billion Rising.”
More than a hundred students at the University of Illinois Springfield are so concerned with sexual assault and abuse they spent hours working on a dance just to get their cause noticed. And while it is an issue most people think impacts women, it is the men who can also make a difference.
“It is a women's issue, but it is a world issue," One Billion Rising activist Zach Berillo said. "It's a men's issue just as much."
He is one of more than a hundred students, faculty and other activists who are trying to fight a startling statistic.
“With the planet's population over 7 billion, we know that at least one billion women and girls now walking the Earth have been or will be raped, beaten or killed," UIS Women’s Center Director Lynn Otterson said. "This is happening in 200 countries today.”
The moves here are choreographed by UIS students. A college campus is an appropriate setting since it is a place where sexual assaults commonly happen.
“They'll be empowered to step in and say 'You're not going home with him,' or 'You're not leaving this party alone,'" Otterson said.
Otterson is working on stopping this issue not only by dancing but by urging students to sign a pledge written by Berillo.
Berillo said his pledge is specifically targeted to men, who he encourages never to stay silent in the face of inequality.
“It's not a day event," Berillo said. "This is an event that needs to keep happening. People need to keep talking about it."
While this issue affects people all over the world, the United States harbors some pretty scary statistics. Among them: every two minutes, someone in our country is sexually assaulted. That averages out to more than 207,000 people a year.
Click here for more information on the global One Billion Rising campaign.
Click here to visit the website of Sojourn Shelter and Services, a local domestic violence and sexual assault crisis center.
Click here to visit the website of the Prairie Center Against Sexual Assault.
