T-Shirts Illustrate Stark Tales of Domestic Violence

Displays Aim to Raise Awareness

T-shirts designed by victims of domestic violence will be displayed in public buildings across Prince Frederick this month to encourage other victims to speak out.

The T-shirts at the district and circuit courthouses and the town library are part of National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, which is being observed with events across Southern Maryland.

"It's to break the silence and the stigma of domestic violence," said Tracy Palmer, who heads the Calvert County Commission for Women. "It is not these victims' fault."

From July 1, 2006, to June 30, 2007, three people were killed as a result of domestic violence in Southern Maryland, according to statistics from the Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence. The three deaths were in St. Mary's County.

In the same period, 139 final protective orders were granted at 497 hearings in the Calvert, St. Mary's and Charles counties, statistics show.

That means domestic violence is a major problem for the region, said Laura Joyce, executive director of the Southern Maryland Center for Family Advocacy. With limited money available for shelters and advocacy groups, it's a problem that is not likely to go away soon, she said.

"It's severe," Joyce said. "It's like the homelessness problems and other similar problems." The funding "is never enough," she said.

St. Mary's lacks a domestic violence shelter, Joyce said. Calvert and Charles have shelters, although there never seem to be enough beds, she said. Last week, Joyce said, she paid for a hotel room for a family on the run from an abuser.

"I'm not saying I do that all the time. Sometimes a case comes along where you couldn't live with yourself if you didn't do something," Joyce said. "I mean, the other option is to send her back to where the husband knows where she is. That didn't seem like a good option."

The problem is acute in Southern Maryland because it has been difficult to overcome a prevailing attitude that domestic violence is "a private matter, between a man and his wife," Joyce said.

"And people are hesitant to get involved," she said. "It gets into really tricky stuff, like not letting a father see his children."

That's where the T-shirts come in, Palmer said. They tell intensely personal stories through pictures drawn by victims of domestic violence, and are meant to help other victims realize "they're not alone."

One shirt, Palmer said, shows a house with bars and a line through a telephone -- symbols that a woman was essentially a prisoner in her own home, unable to even phone the outside world. Those real emotions, Palmer said, might persuade others to come forward.

Victims of domestic violence seeking help can call the Southern Maryland Center for Family Advocacy at 301-373-4141 or Calvert County Crisis Intervention at 301-855-1075.