About 100 people, including students and legislators, participated in a rally Friday to end violence against women and girls.
Freda Westman is the program coordinator for the Alaska Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. She said the event, called One Billion Rising, is a global movement and allowed people to come together and stand up for survivors.
“Together we are so much stronger than if we are alone and in a corner somewhere hurt, but coming together we can overcome this violence in our lives,” Westman said.
Community groups organized a march through downtown from Marine Park to Rockwell where people sang, danced and listened to speakers like Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott.
Chantel Eckland, 18, had the day off from school. She says One Billion Rising is an important way to educate people on the prevalence of violence toward females.
“It’s kind of like an uncomfortable topic to talk about for some people and I think, like, making it more public and getting more people involved will make a difference,” Eckland says.
This was the third year Juneau has participated in One Billion Rising.