To Address Violence Abroad, We Must Start at Home

We at ZeroV are dedicated to supporting survivors and ending intimate partner violence, and we understand this work requires us to address the root causes of all violence. We reject any language that strips people of their humanity, and we condemn all acts of violence that deny people the ability to live, grow, and thrive.

This is why, as the war between Israel and Hamas continues to cause unfathomable suffering, we mourn for the Palestinians and Israelis who have been killed, cry with those who have lost loved ones, and ache for everyone still held hostage, cut off from humanitarian aid, or under constant threat of bombing. We believe that everyone who has been killed is worthy of our grief and that everyone alive is worthy of safety and peace. 

It is painful and unsettling to witness the atrocities happening in the Middle East, as well as other places around the globe, and feel powerless to stop them. Feeling powerless makes it easy to feel hopeless about the state of the world and our efforts to make it a safer place. But we are not powerless, and we cannot allow ourselves to give in to despair.  

While we may not be able to stop the violence our Palestinian and Jewish neighbors are experiencing, or that people around the world in similar situations are experiencing, we can work against the violence in our own communities. We can continue to support and empower survivors as they build lives free from abuse, keep educating ourselves and our communities about systems of power and oppression, and persist in our efforts to shift the cultural and social norms that allow and sanction violence at the individual and societal scales.  

We only have a chance of ending violence at the global level when we commit to ending violence at the local level. Along with hundreds of thousands of others around the world, ZeroV stands with and holds the humanity of our Palestinian and Jewish neighbors by mourning with them, standing firm in our belief that everyone is worthy of safety and peace, and continuing to work against violence here in Kentucky.