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See Something, Say Something
Red Flag Campaign encourages bystanders to speak up at first signs of interpersonal violence
By Stephanie Smaglo | October 12, 2015
Emani Thomas thought she’d found love, but it wasn’t long until her high school boyfriend turned adoration into abuse. Thomas eventually built up the courage to walk away from her emotionally and physically abusive relationship, and today the Virginia Wesleyan College junior and president of the Red Flag Campaign Club is helping others do the same.
In her role as president, Thomas has helped bring the domestic violence awareness movement, The Red Flag Campaign, to Virginia Wesleyan this fall. This is the fourth year the College has participated in the nationwide campaign, which uses a bystander intervention strategy to encourage campus community members to say something when they see warning signs for interpersonal violence. Among these “red flags” are coercion, emotional abuse, sexual assault, victim blaming, excessive jealousy, isolation, and stalking.
“I know firsthand how it feels to be a woman in that type of situation,” says Thomas, a political science major and business minor. “I’m here to give support to any person who’s going through it. I want to show people that they’re not alone. Most people feel that way. I know I felt that way.”
Though it is a year-round program, the Red Flag Campaign is more visible at Virginia Wesleyan in October as part of Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Events have been planned by the Red Flag Campaign Club in collaboration with students in professor Alison Marganski’s “Family Violence” course, as well as other student and faculty groups.
“The Red Flag Campaign can make a difference on a community level in raising awareness about dating violence,” says Marganski, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice and faculty advisor to the Red Flag Campaign Club. “It can also make a difference at an individual level by helping students understand red flags in relationships and seek support. In all, it is about awareness, prevention, and intervention.”
Red Flag Campaign events have already included the Oct. 6 planting of more than 200 red flags between Boyd Dining Center and Hofheimer Library and will continue with placement of campaign posters on Oct. 13 (12 p.m., Marlin Grille); a Relationships Poetry Slam on Oct. 15 (4-6 p.m., Marlin Grille); and a Red Flag Movie Night on Oct. 29 (8 p.m., Blocker Auditorium). The Red Flag Campaign Club holds weekly meetings on Thursdays throughout the academic year (7 p.m., Batten 228).
“Family Violence” students have taken the lead on a second domestic violence awareness effort—The Clothesline Project/Love Shouldn't Hurt. The class will host an information table in the student conference room inside the Jane P. Batten Student Center from October 19-22 (10 a.m.-6 p.m.); and a Clothesline Project t-shirt display from October 23-30 on the pathway between Boyd Dining Center and Hofheimer Library.
Through these events, Emani Thomas hopes to communicate an important message to domestic violence sufferers:
“You are not alone. Being in this relationship is not your only option. This is not your life."