Athletes, co-workers and others Walk in Her Shoes for domestic violence awareness
Oct. 6—Red high heels worn by four Hilldale High School football players on Thursday matched their Hornets football jerseys.
"Their little legs are going to get a workout today," Hilldale High School librarian Christina Bolen said. "But they're tough boys."
The Hornet football players — Jacob Jones, Mason Forhan, Ty Wilson, Matthew McCoy— joined dozens of others in Walk in Her Shoes, an annual walk to raise awareness of domestic abuse and prevention. Walkers, who included athletes from Warner High and Connors State College, went from Muskogee County Courthouse to Muskogee Civic Center, where speakers talked about what's happening around Muskogee.
Hilldale Football Coach David Blevins said he hoped the walk opened students' eyes about the extent of domestic abuse.
Muskogee Deputy Mayor Derrick Reed read a proclamation noting that domestic violence crosses all economic, racial, gender, educational, religious and social barriers."
The proclamation said the Women in Safe Home, "contacted 314 victims of domestic violence and provided shelter for 79 women and 56 children in the year 2023."
City of Muskogee employees walked to remember Julie Whorton, a public works employee who was killed July 18. Several carried a banner in remembrance of Whorton, while one walker carried a life-sized red silhouette bearing her name.
"She was a very beautiful person, always had a smile on her face. I just loved working with her," said coworker Ashley Wallace.
Muskogee Police Chief Johnny Teehee, one of the speakers, said "we live in a broken world."
"If this ceremony helps one person walk away from the domestic violence that they're enduring, then we've accomplished something," Teehee said. "We can keep having these every year, and if we can't encourage someone to walk away, what are we accomplishing?"
Warner High student Ty Vinson equated domestic violence with bullying. He said Oklahoma "leads the nation in domestic violence issues."
"Looking at the facts, 20 people every minute are abused by a partner, which amounts to one every three seconds," Vinson said. "And 22 percent of American students report being bullied, according to the National Bullying Prevention Center. These are such alarming statistics because this link has developed between domestic violence and bullying, and what we've started to see is that people who are exposed to domestic violence in the home will bully people at school at much higher rates. Kids who get away with bullying at school are more likely to commit violence in the future."
