Saturday afternoon, in the 43-degree weather, more than 100 people gathered at Showers Plaza outside City Hall to raise awareness of sexual assault.
Rachel Himsel, a Bloomington resident and singer, was performing the song for the beginning of Hands Across the Trail, an event put on by Middle Way House to promote safety in public spaces and an end to sexual violence.
Middle Way House is a resource center where women and children who have suffered domestic abuse go for support and information.
Himsel said the song is a constant reminder for her about what still needs to be done by every member of the community.
“Am I perfect?” Himsel said. “No, but I’m trying to be better every day.”
Musicians, speakers and poets all came together on Saturday to help Middle Way manage the event. Actor Jesse Eisenberg was also in attendance and played the drums as a band member.
Hands Across the Trail was meant to help bring people together and say sexual assault and violence in public spaces is not acceptable, Himsel said.
“We’re here to say enough is enough,” Himsel said.
Himsel said she had her own stories of sexual assault and understood what it was like to feel helpless. She said she was on a red eye flight when the man next to her brought his hand up to her inner thigh during the flight.
“It happens to too many people,” Himsel said.
The event started off as an idea from a Facebook post by Aubrey Seader, a Bloomington resident, who said she had to find a way to deal with her fear and anger.
Seader recalled a rape reported during the middle of the day before on the same trail the event was being taken place. Seader said she was shocked and appalled from the initial news.
“In broad daylight on a public trail, I had to worry about being raped,” Seader said.
Seader said the next time she wanted to go outside and workout, she just felt this cold fear settle in and she was tired of that feeling. She said she could not go on living in a city where public spaces were not safe.
“I would no longer accept a Bloomington where acts like that could happen,” Seader said.
Donna Storm, an employee at Middle Way for 11 years, also said how happy she was people had come out to the event but that she wished the event was unnecessary.
“I think it’s troubling we even have to have this event,” Storm said.
Storm said she thought the key to coming together and ending violence, especially sexual violence, was by using empathy and being willing to call out people who perpetuate the culture with their words or actions.
“We need to put ourselves in other people’s shoes,” Storm said. “The root of respect is empathy.”
The event was also designed to be non-partisan. Seader said the event is just about coming together and it is not about which political party you support.
“It’s not a partisan issue,” Seader said. “No matter what side of the aisle divides us, we all want to come together.
