Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

We – the members of The Pittsburgh Women’s Blogging Socity – are saddened and outraged and fed up that yet another one of our sisters in Pitttsburgh has lost her life to domestic violence. 33 year old Ka’Sandra Wade – mother, employee, daughter, student and so much more – was murdered by her ex who was also the father of her 11 year old son, Zaire. The situation is complicated and tragic and has generated an outcry from the community to push for better investigation of domestic violence allegations, stronger laws to protect women and more awareness on the part of the community. We invite you to join us in a cyber vigil to make sure her name is not forgotten!

Too often in similar situations, the attention – the names we remember are those of the murderers. After Newtown, people called out to remember the names of the shooting victims, not the shooter. We believe that MUST be true in domestic incidents as well – it is tragic that so many headlines about the murder of Kassandra Perkins at the hands of her boyfriend, NFL player Jevon Belcher didn’t even mention her name. He murdered the mother of his son, then himself – and the headlines focused on his name and his final moments and his teammates. That’s not acceptable.

Ka’Sandra’s coworkers at Action United have been tireless advocates for her family during this terribe time – and for months beforehand as she fought to escape the violence and begin a new life. They have organized a vigil this Saturday, January 12 at 4 PM.

We are asking you to join a Cyber Vigil Saturday January 12 – to use your blog, Facebook, Twitter or other social media tools to remind the world that her name was Ka’Sandra Wade. We urge you to write whatever is on your heart – but to use her name. How does this story resonate with you? What should be done? Do you know how to help another woman in a similar situation? What can we do with our social media tools to help? Whatever resonates with you … it can be personal, political, both, neither or something entirely else.

If you plan to participate, please email pghwomen@gmail.com with your blog name, URL or your Twitter/Facebook URL. We will keep a list on our blog, The Pittsburgh Women’s Blogging Society. (If you tweet, please use the hashtag #RememberHerName)

We have a button you can post

• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story on the life of Ka’Sandra Wade
• Information on domestic violence and resources from the Women Center & Shelter of Pittsburgh and The Center for Victims

Finally, we ask that you mention that a fund has been set up for Zaire, Ka’Sandra’s son – donations can be sent to made payable to Sharon Jordan to this address: Sharon Jordan, c/o ACTION United, 5907 Penn Ave, Suite 300, Pittsburgh, PA 15206. Sharon is Ka’Sandra’s mother and she is now raising Zaire. You can also make a donation to the Zaire Brown Trust Fund at any branch of PNC.The family may have other needs – please contact ACTION United if you would like to help. The number is 412-567-7275.

Please join us in reminding the world that her name was Ka’Sandra Wade.

Thank you,

The Pittsburgh Women’s Blogging Society