VTMBH Article: Body
Dressed as brides and widows, but wearing sneakers for the walk, hundreds of women marched yesterday in New York to protest the increase in domestic violence and to commemorate the third anniversary of the death of Gladys Ricart.
Known as the March of the Brides, the event was organized by New York Latinas Against Domestic Violence, (NYLADV), a coalition of community organizations and defending womens rights.
In 1999, Gladys Ricart was shot by her ex-boyfriend, Agustin Garcia, a prominent Dominican businessman, on her wedding day to another man. The couple had been in a turbulent relationship which culminated from the womans death in front of her family.
We are committed to commemorating the death of Gladys every year and the hundreds of women who die everyday as victims of domestic violence, said Mireya Cruz, one of the event organizers while she helped the women with last minute details with their dresses, many donated by Marie Claire magazine.
The idea was inspired by Josie Ashton, a Miami resident who promoted the walk from the victims home in New Jersey to the church in Flushing, where she was going to get married. Ashton reaffirmed her protest against the tragic events by walking from New York to Miami, which took almost a month.
In the past year there has been a reported 290,000 cases of domestic violence in the city and 100 women have died. The majority are women of color.
Puerto Rican Edna Cuevas Gambina, 38, is the mother of two. She has been a victim of violence since she was a child and by the two men she last shared her life with. I do not want to live like this anymore, always afraid, unappreciated and beaten. The violence must stop and this is a way to do it.
Many of these women attended this event frightened of their men and some suffer in silence the abuse in their homes because they are undocumented or because of their economic dependence.
Lethy Dennisse Liriano, 20, is the niece of Gladys Riscat, and a student at Columbia University. She arrived very early to the event. I will never be a victim of violence like my aunt. The crime was so unexpected and violent that it traumatized the whole family. But I have realized that it isnt only about her case. Men are not toys. They can kill you, said the young woman as she was picking up the train of her dress.
The commissioner of HRS, Verna Eggleston was present and City Councilmembers Manuel Martinez and Margarita Lopez.
I never thought Id ever dress up as a bride but today I do it for the Latina woman. To stain the white dress of a bride is to stain love itself. The violence is a thing of the past, said Lopez as she walked to the dressing room.
Known as the March of the Brides, the event was organized by New York Latinas Against Domestic Violence, (NYLADV), a coalition of community organizations and defending womens rights.
In 1999, Gladys Ricart was shot by her ex-boyfriend, Agustin Garcia, a prominent Dominican businessman, on her wedding day to another man. The couple had been in a turbulent relationship which culminated from the womans death in front of her family.
We are committed to commemorating the death of Gladys every year and the hundreds of women who die everyday as victims of domestic violence, said Mireya Cruz, one of the event organizers while she helped the women with last minute details with their dresses, many donated by Marie Claire magazine.
The idea was inspired by Josie Ashton, a Miami resident who promoted the walk from the victims home in New Jersey to the church in Flushing, where she was going to get married. Ashton reaffirmed her protest against the tragic events by walking from New York to Miami, which took almost a month.
In the past year there has been a reported 290,000 cases of domestic violence in the city and 100 women have died. The majority are women of color.
Puerto Rican Edna Cuevas Gambina, 38, is the mother of two. She has been a victim of violence since she was a child and by the two men she last shared her life with. I do not want to live like this anymore, always afraid, unappreciated and beaten. The violence must stop and this is a way to do it.
Many of these women attended this event frightened of their men and some suffer in silence the abuse in their homes because they are undocumented or because of their economic dependence.
Lethy Dennisse Liriano, 20, is the niece of Gladys Riscat, and a student at Columbia University. She arrived very early to the event. I will never be a victim of violence like my aunt. The crime was so unexpected and violent that it traumatized the whole family. But I have realized that it isnt only about her case. Men are not toys. They can kill you, said the young woman as she was picking up the train of her dress.
The commissioner of HRS, Verna Eggleston was present and City Councilmembers Manuel Martinez and Margarita Lopez.
I never thought Id ever dress up as a bride but today I do it for the Latina woman. To stain the white dress of a bride is to stain love itself. The violence is a thing of the past, said Lopez as she walked to the dressing room.