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Gen. Mike Minihan, Commander of Air Mobility Command, visits the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station June 8, 2024.

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Clothesline Project held at Niagara

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Kevin Nichols
  • 914th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
NIAGARA FALLS AIR RESERVE STATION, N.Y. --  April is Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month (SAAPM), and to help raise awareness of this important issue the 914th Airlift Wing held an event called the Clothesline Project here April 6.

The Clothesline Project, one of several SAAPM events held at Niagara through the efforts of Sexual Assault Response Coordinator Nikki Slaughter, uses the concept of creating and hanging shirts on a clothesline as a vehicle for raising awareness about the issue of personal violence.

Base personnel gathered together to individually create their own unique T-shirt with art work and messages of strength, hope and solidarity.

The history of the Clothesline Project goes back to a small group of women, many of whom had experienced some form of personal violence, wanting to find a unique way to take staggering, mind-numbing statistics and turn them into a provocative, "in-your-face" educational and healing tool.

One of the women, visual artist Rachel Carey-Harper, moved by the power of the AIDS quilt, presented the concept of using shirts - hanging on a clothesline - as the means to raise awareness about this issue.  The idea of using a clothesline was a natural to her.  Doing the laundry was always considered women's work and in the days of close-knit neighborhoods women often exchanged information over backyard fences while hanging their clothes out to dry.

April 2015 marks the 14th observance of SAAPM.  It is recognized nationally and internationally by military and civilian communities.  In the late 1980s, the National Coalition Against Sexual Assault (NCASA) led an initiative to select a designated time period to promote awareness.  In 2001, the teal ribbon was used as a national symbol, and in 2015, the DoD expanded the title of the month to include prevention.

The 2015 DoD SAAPM theme is "Eliminate Sexual Assault, Know Your Part, Do Your Part."