Wednesday, September 16, 2009

StilettoGOP: Heather's Tree Update





September 11th marked the second anniversary of Heather Spencer's tragic beating and murder. In an effort to keep her memory alive, HeathersTree.org is hosting the 2nd annual "Soulshine Memorial Concert" on October 17th at Hal & Mals. A silent auction will be held as well. All proceeds will be donated to the Mississippi Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

This is where the Jackson Jambalaya readers come into play. I'm challenging our local business owners to either donate an item for the silent auction or make donations of any kind. Go to heatherstree.org for details, as they are accepting items now. Also, anyone can easily make a donation on the website using PayPal. Easy as eBay!

I did not know Heather, or anyone involved and am not associated with Heather's Tree. Yet this case, like all domestic violence cases, pulls at my heart and strikes a nerve with me that I cannot explain. I know the same goes for a lot of JJ followers here. So let's not just talk about how it's such a shame while saying "gosh, I wish there was some way I could help", but rather actually DO something. It is estimated that 1 in every 4 women in Mississippi are victims of these pathetic abusers. Until I can personally travel the state and individually kick every one of THEIR asses (sorry), let's do all we can to promote awareness and eradicate domestic abuse while honoring Heather's memory. Pony up, business owners.

(And the video? one of my favorite songs, enjoy...)

27 comments:

Paul Mitchell said...

Dang, Nickleback? Wow.

Anonymous said...

One thing many of us can do is educate our sons and daughters! I am the Mother of 2 sons ages 13 and 16 and they have been taught to RESPECT women! They witness it in our family and we expect it in their behavior with their future girlfriends/wives!

Anonymous said...

Amen sister! Our oldest son is in his mid-20s. Since high school every single female acquaintance he has ever brought into our home has been told, friendly but point blank, that if he isn't treating her right and properly to let us know immediately. Because we won't stand for it. I'm sure he warns them about the first time meeting us and what we might say but that is good too because it means he understands we are serious about treating women with respect. We've also told him that if he is EVER arrested for any type of abuse of a female that we will not bail him out of jail.

Anonymous said...

Interesting dichotomy with the video posted below regarding the ACORN lady setting up and killing her husband. Just saying.

Anonymous said...

Good job ladies! I'm afraid too many mothers cater to their sons from the time they throw their first tantrum. Their sons can do no wrong . They smooth out every frustration their sons experience. If things don't go his way, it's someone else's fault. They make excuses for his bad behavior. They rescue him from every difficulty.

That's what some of us thought Robbie was doing.

A tantrum at 2 is annoying. A tantrum at 22 can be dangerous. Teaching your children to control their emotions starts early.

Anonymous said...

It is hard to imagine 1 in 3
women in the world have been
'beaten,coered into sex or otherwise abused ' I realize some cultures around the world
dont hold women with any status. I would like to hope that in America , the magnitude is lower.


Just want to add, I dislike
the music (lyrics, style music , etc) used in this video. Really quite bad and I dont understand how someone or an organization can
think this is an effective piece.

Anonymous said...

The tragedy of Heather is not lost here.

What I am unsure of with all the statistics is which is it? 20-50% of women subject to DV or 0.2% in 2001? I guess reporting has dramatically increased, or is DV broadly interpreted in the Unicef number?

Then I wonder, is violence overall up? I thought I saw the FBI stats the other day and it seems to contradict increases in violence.

Anonymous said...

"Just want to add, I dislike
the music (lyrics, style music , etc) used in this video. Really quite bad and I dont understand how someone or an organization can
think this is an effective piece."

The style of music appeals to an age group and type of demographic. It's used to grab their attention. Nickelback is a very popular rock band and a lot of young men and women will relate to that. It's only one of several video types used, with a diverse selection of music.

Kingfish said...

Stiletto is not affiliated with that Org. in any way. Neither am I. She wanted to promote the concert and fight against domestic violence so I let her post. I liked the video and thought it deserved a look. Its disturbing but then I thought domestic violence IS disturbing.

Anonymous said...

I understand that in most cases domestic violence is the husband against the wife but there are many cases where wives batter the husband. Parents should teach their daughters/ sons that violence should not be done or tolerated--period. I was in an abusive relationship for too long--married for 30 years to a woman that was abusive.

Anonymous said...

Amen 11:51 - She hit me once, she was drunk/high, I was asleep. I left.

Anonymous said...

Very Chilling Video. The song and video are appropriate for the subject. By the way, I am over the age and not in the usual demographic for Nickelback. When Garth Brooks' "Thunder Rolls" came out people were shocked. What should shock them is them is the amount of violence in our homes. But instead the focus is on the music used in a video.

stilettoGOP said...

Regarding the video/song.. again, if you dislike the vid, language, whatever, blame me.


I personally think it sparks anger. Nickelback's song (paul I'll get to you in a minute) actually has an interesting history, and has been highly controversial. Take how it says "she's 'just' a woman", I think that's very tongue in cheek. No such thing as JUST a woman, and the woman in the song ends up defending herself quite well in my opinion. Anyhow, we all express our frustrations in different ways, and that's ok.

Paul- I'll be pretty pissed if I go down as being some uber Nickelback fan lol. Am partial to that particular song because the lyrics fire me up. Hence the purpose of the post; to get people to DO SOMETHING AND DONATE. ;)

Just saw the comments above, YEP.. There are some crazy women out there, too.

Anonymous said...

From the guy who doesnt like the music:

No blame to be heaped, just making the comment that I don't care for the music track and it struck me as an odd connection to the subject. I am 1000% against the kind of senseless abuse the campaign is highlighting.

Anonymous said...

The first "boyfriend" I had was oh so nice for about 6 months. Then he started beating me, and drove his point home by beating me in public at a lake in front of about 100 people. I recall one female coming to my defense and all the guys scattering like ants. He kept me quiet by threatening to kill my family. After the public beating of course I believed him. I was 14 years old. We had him arrested finally, twice, both times his boss and family would swear he "was not there". Even though this took less than a year of my life, 40 years later, I am still deeply affected by this. My standard rule now is just like the one from The X-files: Trust No One.

Mary Ann, HeathersTREE member said...

Stiletto, thank you. I am a producer of the Soulshine Memorial Concert as well as a founding committee member of Heathers TREE. Last year due to the generous patronage and support of our event, we were able to provide $10,000 in funds for shelter outreach and education to the Mississippi Coalition Against Domestic Violence. It's grassroots efforts like this that can have tremendous impact on our society. It's saying nothing that will yield catastrophic outcomes and further entrench us in our standing as #2 in the nation for domestic violence. Regardless of the lyrics, the message is CLEAR...and if we don't rise up and stomp our feet about it then it will never change. So on behalf of Heathers TREE and in memory of Heather Spencer I humbly extend my heartfelt gratitude to you for being a staunch ambassador for the right of violence free relationships. I also thank anyone that rises to your challenge. As part of the Heather's TREE mission, let's all work together to end domestic violence.

Anonymous said...

The video, which I thought well done, is to raise money for a women's shelter in Jackson...a worthwhile cause.

I'm certain men are abused by women as well in higher numbers than reported. If there is a need for a men's shelter in Jackson, we can discuss that and start a fund raising drive if needed.

But, I'm at a loss as to why one would nitpick at a video for such a good cause. Do we have to argue about or find fault with EVERYTHING?

By the way, GOP Stilletto, thanks for the info and thanks to Mary Ann for her good works on behalf of our community.

Anonymous said...

Interesting dichotomy with the video posted below regarding the ACORN lady setting up and killing her husband. Just saying.

My comment is in response to the above comment.
Haven't you heard that this was a hoax?

Kingfish said...

What was a hoax?

Anonymous said...

The story about the ACORN lady setting up and killing her husband is apparently a hoax.

Anonymous said...

The story about the ACORN lady setting up and killing her husband is apparently a hoax.

Kingfish said...

I wouldn't say the whole video was a hoax but her story about her husband was. if it had been me, I would've gotten a police report or newspaper article showing he was killed before I included that part of it. Saw it last night.

Anonymous said...

yep, your right. I only heard that the part about her killing her husband I can't comment on the rest of the video.

Anonymous said...

Not a hoax. It was a false boast. Big difference.

Anonymous said...

It is still an interesting dichotomy.

How many times are the DV laws used in Divorce cases to gain an advantage over the opposing actor?

This woman "boasted" in a manner that has become atypical of most aggressive divorce actions that want to win at any cost.

As I heard a divorce attorney say one time regarding a filing where the client asked not to put in certain false claims, "It doesn't matter if its true, its all subject to interpretation."

I will say that I give kudos to the Police who now take both actors involved in any DV situation where it is not obvious who was the violator. I think we saw an instance of this with a dentist recently???

Kingfish said...

I've also seen some judges delay the criminal trial until the divorce was adjudicated.

Becca said...

I'm glad you challenged your readers to do this! See you guys there!


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