HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- “Is she okay?” “Wait, did that guy have a black eye?” “Who did you pick a fight with?” “Someone must have checked on them already?” “I don’t want to embarrass them.”
These are just a few of the many questions people may have asked themselves during Holloman’s Black Eye Campaign on Oct. 24, 2017.
Six volunteers were given moulage black eyes and sent across base to gauge the response from those around them including friends, family, coworkers and strangers.
“Once you become a victim, your whole world changes,” said Jerold Wiley, 49th Medical Group Family Advocacy Program outreach manager. “I wanted to be sure that they knew things were going to be different. People were going to approach them differently, or may not approach them at all.”
Emotional trauma can pose as much, if not more, of a health risk to victims of domestic abuse. That trauma could be lessened with a simple question, “are you ok?”
“How are you going to feel when your best friend doesn’t say a word to you,” Wiley explained. “For me, that was devastating. I did it for myself and I was shocked at the people who didn’t say a word to me. People are afraid to get involved. We need to stop being afraid, we need to stop just worrying about ourselves and start caring about each other.”
Not ignoring warning signs is an important step to overcoming abuse.
“Being able to recognize the warning signs of abuse is only the first step,” said Ted Brinegar, 49th Wing violence prevention integrator. “And a black eye, how much more obvious can it get?”
Even though intervening in these situations can be awkward, it is the best way to help.
“If we are going to get ahead of these personal challenges we have to come up with responses that are realistic for us,” Brinegar said. “I would like to encourage people, if it’s too much for you to directly approach, then you can delegate that. Recognize something is going on and go find a professional or a friend that can deal with the situation.”
One of the worst case scenarios for victims of abuse is to be trapped with no help or way out.
“I think for the people that saw us, they didn’t know how to react to it,” said Airman Lucero Rodriguez, Black Eye Campaign volunteer. “Not everyone wants to talk to you or get into your business. It made me want to take off the makeup, I wanted to not do it anymore but this is something that needs to be shown and talked about.”