Staff Reports
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LIMA – Ohio State Lima’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion teams up with the Crossroads Crisis Center to host the Ninth Annual Take Back the Night event at 6 p.m., Thu., Oct. 6, 2016, beginning in the Martha W. Farmer Theatre for the Performing Arts. The focus for the event this year is sexual assault and human trafficking and the goal is prevention through education. Human trafficking survivor Jennifer Kempton will be the keynote speaker at the welcoming ceremony.
Kempton is a survivor of human trafficking who uses her experience to promote awareness and advocate for social change. During her horrific time on the streets she was branded and sold by her abusers. After obtaining her freedom, these marks became constant reminders of her abuse until she was given a gift of a tattoo cover-up. The liberation she experienced through covering her brands inspired her to found Survivor’s Ink.
According to its website, Survivor’s Ink exists to raise awareness and to empower human trafficking victims by breaking the psychological chains of enslavement through beautifying, removing or covering their physical scars, markings and brandings that are constant reminders of a violent past. Survivor’s Ink offers full scholarships to survivors of human trafficking and sexual exploitation to have their branding tattoo’s covered or removed.
Following the welcoming ceremony, Take Back the Night will proceed through various stations on campus. Each station will highlight an avenue of awareness. Two new stations have been added for 2016 – “Bringing in the Bystander” and “Cultural Bias Against Women in Advertising.”
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