CHICAGO
Young South Asian artists and advocates, members of the Pomegranate Tree Group community organization, held a three-day program to address violence in the lives of young women, including forced marriage, gender-based violence, racism and patriarchy, from Jan, 21 to 23.
“Honoring Our Heartbeats: A Tour to End Forced Marriage in the U.S.” in partnership with the national not-for-profit Tahirih Justice Center held three events: a multimedia performance, a forced marriage training workshop for service providers, and an issue briefing about efforts to foster a coordinated, national response to forced marriage in the U.S. The six-city tour is inspired by a comic book, “Heartbeats: The IZZAT Project,” which the women wrote to celebrate resiliency in the face of violence in their personal lives.
“The truth is that forced marriage survivors need their power restored,” Kathana Ratnakara told service providers during the Heartbeats training workshop downtown at Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights Jan. 22. Ratnakara, a performer with Pomegranate Tree Group, is one of the authors of the “Heartbeats” comic book.
The Tahirih Justice Center helps immigrant women and girls who refuse to be victims of violence by providing holistic legal services and advocacy in courts, communities and the U.S. Congress. The U.S. government recognizes forced marriage as a violation of human rights, and a 2011 national survey by Tahirih identified as many as 3,000 cases in a two-year period. Yet forced marriage remains a hidden and neglected problem in this country, it contends. Individuals at risk have few places to turn for help and service providers are not equipped to recognize and respond. Experts from Tahirih’s Forced Marriage Initiative were on hand to raise awareness to end such violations.
“Our stop in Chicago sparked nuanced and important conversations about the problem of forced marriage in the U.S., and we left knowing that people in Chicago are eager to continue the conversation about how we can end this human rights violation,” Heather Heiman, Forced Marriage Initiative project manager and TJC Senior Public Policy Attorney told Desi Talk.
The Jan. 23 multimedia performance kicked off with the play “When We Leave” and the film “Caged” by the comic-book authors, followed by Q&A and reception, where free copies of the “Heartbeats” were made available.
“It’s imperative we provide supportive services and for agencies to make exceptions for forced marriage clients,” Hajira Mahdi, manager of Advocacy Services at the Chicago-based Apna Ghar, told attendants at the issue briefing at Mayer Brown LLP on the first day of the three-day awareness-raising conference.