With recent high-profile cases of domestic violence surfacing among professional sports, the Middlesex, Massachusetts, District Attorney's Office and Middlesex Partnership for Youth Inc. are trying to make a change, using the Envisioning a Future Without Violence Conference.
"The NFL has really been really in the spotlight with a lot incidents, but what's important not to lose sight of is how far we really have come," said DA Marian Ryan. "This kind of meeting, with this kind of collaboration, would have been unheard of 20 years ago."
Massachusetts First Lady Diane Patrick gave a heartfelt keynote speech that told details of a seven-year battle of domestic violence from her previous husband.
"I was afraid to leave because I had a gun pointed to my head and told what would happen to me if I left," she said.
Patrick told the audience she received the courage to get out from none other than Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick.
"He had the empathy to listen and then, ultimately, to tell me that I didn't have to be afraid, that I had a voice, that I had strength, that I had courage and I just needed to find it," she said.
But so many others still choose to stay in the battle.
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"It's prevalent, it's everywhere," said Jacquelin Apsler of Domestic Violence Network. "It's next door, it's in your neighborhood. It's in every possible community and culture."
And First Lady Patrick had one request from those listening in the audience.
"Please, no more silence," she said. "No more silence."
The conference organizers want leaders to take this conversation back to their perspective communities in hopes of stopping domestic violence.
