A lot of people are going to be blogging today about the gang-rape that occurred outside a school dance in California. The one where a teenage girl was brutally assaulted and repeatedly raped by up to 15 teenage boys for over two hours. And for over two hours, no one called the police or stepped in to try and stop what was happening. Not only that, but people came to see what was going on and then started to assault and rape her as well.

I’m not up for this today; I can’t think of anything illuminating to say, the whole thing just makes me feel seriously ill. So I’m going to go in other direction. While reading more about the story at Jezebel, I found the tiniest bit of relief in the words of the commenters who shared my rage and sadness. One of the commenters mentioned a project s/he is involved with called Green Dot Kentucky. I checked it out and am somewhat in love with it and wanted to share.

Created by Dorothy Edwards, director of the Violence Intervention and Prevention Center at the University of Kentucky, Green Dot Kentucky is basically a state-wide bystander intervention and awareness campaign. From the Green Dot Kentucky homepage:

“Visualize for a moment that unforgettable image of small red–dots spreading across a computer generated map of the US‚ symbolizing the spread of some terrible epidemic – with each tiny red dot representing an individual case. With disturbing speed‚ the three or four single dots multiply and spread until the whole map emits a red glow comprised of a zillion tiny dots.”

“Now, imagine a map of Kentucky filled with red dots. Each red dot on this map represents an act of power-based personal violence (interpersonal violence‚ sexual violence, child abuse or stalking) – or a choice to tolerate‚ justify or perpetuate this violence. A red dot is a rape – a red dot is a hit – a red dot is a threat – a red dot is a “blame the victim” statement – a red dot is an individual choice to do nothing in the face of a high risk situation. It’s hard to know exactly how many red dots are on our map at any given moment – but we do know there have been enough red dots to create a culture that sustains a rate of 36.4% of Kentucky women becoming victims of interpersonal violence during their lifetimes and more than 14,000 substantiated reports of child abuse in a year’s time.”

Now imagine adding a green dot in the middle of all those red dots on our Kentucky map. A green dot is any behavior‚ choice‚ word‚ or attitude that promotes safety for all our citizens and communicates utter intolerance for violence.”

…Green Dot Kentucky is a community level approach to violence prevention that capitalizes on the power of peer and cultural influence. Informed by social change theory, the model targets all community members as potential bystanders, and seeks to engage them, through awareness, education and skills-practice, in proactive behaviors that establish intolerance of violence as the norm, as well as reactive interventions in high-risk situations – resulting in the ultimate reduction of violence.

The site gives a ton of examples of how to add your green dots to the map, splitting up green dot ideas by category, like Green Dots for Men, Green Dots for Health Care Providers, and Green Dots for Those Who Party Hard. Some of the Green Dots for College and High School students:

• Visit the center on your campus or in your community that addresses violence against women or power-based personal violence and volunteer for one hour.

• If you are concerned that a friend of yours might be a victim of violence, gently ask if you can help and respect their answer.

• Attend a program or event designed to raise awareness about violence.

• Create a fund-raiser for a campus or community organization that works to address violence.

• Look out for friends at parties or where alcohol is involved to ensure everyone comes and goes together.

• Work to bring an education program to your class or group.

• Print off one of the posters in the resource section and hang it on your wall.

Lots of small steps are huge. I’m impressed, Kentucky.