A lot of people who have never once seemed to care about victims of sexual violence care a lot about us all of a sudden about us because Jacob Blake had a warrant out on a sexual violence charge. Here are thoughts, from someone who has both been victimized & worked with victims:

Do you know what is absolutely awful for people who experience gender-based violence? The thought that if you call the police for help, someone might end up hurt or killed.

Most people who have experienced harm just want to be safe. Very often, we don't wish for any sort of serious harm to come to the person who hurt us. A lot of times, that person is someone we know and may have even loved. We don't want them hurt. We want them to stop hurting us.

As an advocate, I have worked with so many people––most of them Black, Brown, and Indigenous women––who have explicitly expressed that calling the police didn't feel like an available option because they had no idea what the police were going to do to them or their partner.

Placing victims of DV/SA in fear like that helps NO ONE. Traumatizing DV/SA victims by showing up and SHOOTING someone seven times helps NO ONE. Pretending what happened to Jacob Blake was acceptable because he had a certain warrant out helps NO ONE.

What happened to Jacob Blake would likely never happen to the person who I reported for a sexual assault, because he is a wealthy white man. But if it had? I would be horrified. Outraged. Traumatized.

Protesting for Jacob Blake means we are sick of seeing Black people killed by police. But it can also mean that we are sick of a system in which this––a lacking, traumatic, violent response––is the one of the only things available for victims of DV/SA who seek help.

Protesting police violence and supporting victims of crime are not mutually exclusive. If they seem to be to you, there is likely something you're missing.

Finally, if you only care about victims of sexual harm when we are helpful to make some other point for you, you are using and abusing us, too. Stop.