Survivors of sexual assault shared an important and powerful message on Thursday night in D.C. as thousands of Donald Trump supporters entered the city for his inauguration on Jan. 20.
The creative activist organization FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture set up an installation outside of a convention center several blocks from Union Station, with a projection of quotes and photos provided by people who have been victims of sexual violence.
The slideshow, which lasted nearly 45 minutes, featured words and photos from survivors of sexual assault who had a message for the people who elected Donald Trump. Paired with the hashtag #WeWillNotBeSilent messages read, "This man has the grabbing hands of the stranger when I was five."
Other projections read, "In this man I see my abuser," and "In this man, I see violence."
Rebecca Nagle, a co-director of FORCE told ThinkProgress, "As a native woman, as a queer woman, as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and intimate parter violence, there’s so much that is traumatic about seeing my country support somebody that represents violence against all of those things."
Nagle explained, "The racism and the misogyny that [Trump] represents is bigger than just him as a person and a figurehead, but is something that is deeply embedded in American culture."
As for the mission of the projections, Nagle stated the importance of uplifting "survivors voices at a time that a lot of people are normalizing Trump’s behavior."
