Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Brides March to Raise Awareness for Domestic Violence

By Gustavo Solis | September 26, 2014 7:15pm
 Hundreds march to raise awareness for domestic violence Friday Sept. 26.
Brides March
View Full Caption

EAST HARLEM — As Thomasita Moore marched toward the DMV on East 125th Street Friday afternoon her heart began to pound.

Her blood pressure rose as she got flashbacks of the last time she was there with her ex-fiancé three weeks ago.

“He almost killed me,” she said. “He grabbed me by the throat and started punching me in the eye.”

Moore, 36, joined hundreds in raising awareness for domestic violence during a 7-mile Brides March from Washington Heights through the South Bronx and ending in East Harlem Friday.

Many of the women in the march wore wedding dresses as a tribute to Gladys Ricart, who was killed by an ex-boyfriend on her wedding day Sept. 26, 1999. Since 2001, the Bride March happens every Sept. 26.

“I’m happy to tell my story so the next person can do something when they see the signs,” Moore said. “Don’t ignore the signs. I ignored the signs.”

Moore’s former fiancé began beating her after seeing her talking to another man outside the DMV. He had always been violently jealous, Moore said.

He would tell her where to go, what to wear and who to talk to. He would keep a stopwatch to make sure she didn’t take too long at the store. She should have walked away sooner, she said.

The man is now in jail, she added

“It’s empowering to be here,” Rebecca Ramos, another domestic violence survivor, said at the march. “It’s emotional to be here. This is my third march. I’m going to keep marching until domestic violence doesn’t exist anymore.”

Many of the women marched with support groups they meet with every month. They beat on drums and chanted, "Hey hey, ho ho, domestic violence has got to go," as they walked through Washington Heights, the South Bronx and Harlem.

It is important to have a group of people who love you, said Elena Jimenez, who marched with a group from her church.

"When it happened I thought it was the end of the world," she said in Spanish. "Then I left the house and found support."

There were 62 family related homicides in the city in 2013. That is less than 76 in 2012, 92 in 2011 and 77 in 2010, according to data from the Mayor’s Office to Combat Domestic Violence.

Several domestic violence awareness organizations participated in the bride march, including the Mercy Center, which distributed informational fliers in Spanish and English.