Taking a Stand to Silence Violence
In Frederick, Women in Black Act in Solidarity With Worldwide Peace Movement
(Ricky Carioti - Twp)
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Thursday, March 23, 2006
Every month, at one of Frederick's busiest intersections, a group of women gather at nightfall.
They wear black. They keep silent. Their silence conveys a message.
And month by month, vigil by vigil, these women -- as young as 16, as old as 86 -- join others in public squares around the world who also stand in silent protest against violence. They call themselves Women in Black.
"Okay, so we're all here," said Andrea Norouzi, 55, co-founder of Women in Black Frederick, as more than two dozen women (and two men) gathered at the city's Square Corner last month. Three stragglers arrived from a Women in Black group in Westminster, one of whom resembled Yoko Ono with her dark glasses and large hoop earrings shaped like peace signs.
Norouzi asked the group to take a moment and gather their thoughts. Their theme for the night would be focusing attention on violence against women.
"This is something new we've been trying to do to put us in that space, that kind of sacred space, of women who are silenced," Norouzi said. "We are choosing silence in sympathy for the women who are silenced involuntarily."
Two boys zipped by on scooters as Norouzi lighted candles in four lanterns. The women broke into smaller groups on each corner of the intersection, as a symbol of the four corners of the Earth. They unfurled their signs, and their silence seemed to magnify even the smallest sounds around them.
Melting snow dripped from a bank building's faux Greek facade. Traffic lights cycled through their colors. A candle winked out, and someone re-lighted it. Drivers gawked or honked their horns in a friendly salute.
Randy Royer, a businessman from Jarrettsville, did a double take.
"As I was approaching, I saw a bunch of people in black, and I wasn't sure if it was a funeral gathering or a protest gathering," Royer said.
Joel Petrohilos, 13, of Frederick, dressed like a punker with his green hair and leather jacket, was also uncertain what to make of the group.
"At first I thought they might be grieving the loss of their children in Iraq," he said.
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