Project Sanctuary aired the coast”s dirty laundry on its front lawn on Franklin Street in Fort Bragg earlier this month, an act intended to both awaken the community and celebrate victims” ability to finally speak out.
Clotheslines jammed full of colorful T-shirts with provocative messages covered the front landscaping and the inside of the office of the domestic violence prevention agency on Wednesday and Thursday.
One shirt read “My brother molested me and my sister. My daughter was molested by her stepfather. I stopped the pain of destruction.”
The Clothesline Project is part of a national effort that both gives voice to victims and opens the hamper on an issue often overlooked or deliberately ignored by sleepy communities like Fort Bragg and Mendocino.
Victims of domestic violence create the T-shirts, a kind of therapy that helps with closure and assertiveness. More than 300 shirts were created by Mendocino Coast survivors.
The shirts are color-coded to indicate the type of abuse, ranging from physical battery to abuse based on sexual orientation. Local survivors made each shirt, with white in memory of someone who died because of domestic violence, red, pink or orange for rape and sexual assault victims, battered victims decorated yellow to brown shirts, and those who had experienced incest or child abuse decorated blue or green T-shirts. Those attacked because of their sexual orientation decorated purple or lavender shirts.
The Clothesline Project was begun in 1990 in the Cape Cod area and spread nationwide, boldly illustrating a problem kept hidden in most communities.
Last year, a program featuring testimonials and government officials was held at Fort Bragg Town Hall, but this year”s Project Clothesline was much lower key.
Lucille Garcia, coast director of Project Sanctuary, said this year”s event was meant to coincide with a statewide focus on domestic violence on Oct. 11. Because the special day was a Wednesday, another event at Town Hall was ruled out. The California Attorney General”s office teamed up with local and statewide domestic violence organizations and other state agencies to host a Statewide Day of Awareness — Californians Uniting to End Domestic Violence with events at the State Capitol in Sacramento.
Although named Project Sanctuary, the only shelter for victims who must leave their homes is actually in Ukiah. Most people experiencing domestic violence in Fort Bragg can”t make the move to the county seat, an hour-and-a-half drive requiring a sturdy car. Abused women on the coast can get only very temporary, emergency shelter.
Garcia said one way domestic violence has changed is that men now seek the agency”s help due to abuse by female partners. Ten years ago there were no such clients, she said. Men make up less than 5 percent of the agency”s workload. Garcia said about 200 coast victims seek help, with maybe a half dozen men among those.
