MEET THE GREEN DOT -- via video of Dorothy Edwards, green dot creator. Video may take just a second to load...
“Visualize for a moment that unforgettable image of small red–dots spreading across a computer generated map of the US‚ symbolizing the spread of some terrible epidemic – with each tiny red dot representing an individual case. With disturbing speed‚ the three or four single dots multiply and spread until the whole map emits a red glow comprised of a zillion tiny dots.”
“Now, imagine a map of Kentucky filled with red dots. Each red dot on this map represents an act of power-based personal violence (interpersonal violence‚ sexual violence, child abuse or stalking) – or a choice to tolerate‚ justify or perpetuate this violence. A red dot is a rape – a red dot is a hit – a red dot is a threat – a red dot is a “blame the victim” statement – a red dot is an individual choice to do nothing in the face of a high risk situation. It’s hard to know exactly how many red dots are on our map at any given moment – but we do know there have been enough red dots to create a culture that sustains a rate of 36.4% of Kentucky women becoming victims of interpersonal violence during their lifetimes and more than 14,000 substantiated reports of child abuse in a year’s time.”
Now imagine adding a green dot in the middle of all those red dots on our Kentucky map. A green dot is any behavior‚ choice‚ word‚ or attitude that promotes safety for all our citizens and communicates utter intolerance for violence.”
“A green dot is pulling a friend out of a high risk situation”
“A green dot is responding to a victim blaming statement with words of support”
“A green dot is donating a few dollars to your local center”
“A green dot is displaying an awareness poster in your store or office”
“A green dot is noticing a change in a child’s behavior and making a referral”
“A green dot is striking up a conversation with a friend or family member about how much this issue matters to you”
A green dot is simply your individual choice at any given moment to make our state safer. How many green dots will it take to begin reducing power-based personal violence in our state? How many of us need to add 2 or 3 or 7 or 50 dots to this map to begin to make a difference and begin to outshine and displace those red dots? We cannot know the exact number‚ but we do know this: if most of us choose inaction – if most of us choose to close our eyes to this issue – if most of us choose apathy and indifference – then the red dots stand! If we do not begin replacing moments of violence and victim blaming with moments of support and safety‚ then we will surely continue to have more than 1 in 3 women and countless children become victims of violence. That is not OK. That must not be OK with any of us.