They read the 88 names. I’m glad they addressed this. But it’s the tip of the iceberg.
I
wonder if they read the 888 names of every pre-born Downs child who was murdered in 2017 as well?
As you read the story below, replace each occurrence of the 88 murdered with murdered Downs children. Via the Daily News:
Community holds vigil to remember those killed by family member, caregiver
Rev. Elizabeth Stevens of the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Palouse and about 15 others gathered Saturday at Friendship Square in Moscow to honor people with disabilities who have been murdered by a family member or caregiver.
The vigil was in response to the national Disability Day of Mourning, which occurred Thursday.
A woman read 88 names of people with disabilities who were killed by a relative or caregiver last year in the U.S. After each name was read, Stevens gently hit a Buddhist singing bowl with a mallet and the group recited, “You are not forgotten.” Another person turned on 88 LED light candles one-by-one during the ceremony to represent the lives lost.
“Each of these names represents a life, a person with likes and dislikes, gifts and challenges,” Stevens said. “Each of these names holds a story, a story that will break your heart.”Stevens told the small crowd trying to stay warm on a chilly and somewhat windy morning that they gathered for two reasons.
“First, we want to affirm that there are as many ways of being human as there are humans,” Stevens said. “Some of us have bodies that work differently than others. Some of us have minds that work differently. Normal is only a setting on the clothes dryer.”
She said they were also there to remember the victims of filicide, a term used when talking about a parent or other relative murdering a child or adult relative with a disability.
“It’s so very sad to think about the people with disabilities who were killed by family members or caregivers,” Stevens said. “But it’s important to acknowledge that their lives were precious and that their deaths were not isolated incidents but symptoms of a larger problem, which is not just lack of social support for people with disabilities and their families, but a lack of respect for the sacred humanity of all people.”