The root word of advocacy in the latin is advocare:
to summon,
or to call to one’s aide publicly;
to back;
to support;
to champion;
to speak for;
to speak on behalf of;
to enforce;
to call for action.
To advocate is to act.
How, if, and when you act as an advocate for the abused is up to you.
Permission for advocacy is not required — oppression is.
We do not need to advocate for those who can do so for themselves.
We do, however, need to speak for those who cannot.
See something?
Say something.
Know something?
Ensure others know too.
To be abused is to be exiled and eviscerated. All advocacy embraces the victim into community while putting the offender (offending organization) on public notice.
To be abused is to be expendable to one.
To be communally ignored is to be expendable to all.
Apathy is the enemy of advocacy.
Private thoughts and prayers are cold comfort to the publicly humiliated.
All advocacy must have a public element.
To be abused is to be marginalized by the malfeasance of a more powerful another.
To be advocated for is to be publicly restored to humanity as a being of matter, worth, and value — someone worth fighting for.
Abuse is propagated by predatory individuals
— most often backed by powerful institutions.
Advocacy backs the powerless and the preyed upon
— harnessing the power of collectively to level the preying field. Publicly.
The power of collective advocacy moves abuse as a private matter into the public domain for discourse as a social issue. Advocates confer solutions to the problem of #metoo #churchtoo and #AbuseofPower while rallying public support.
This collective action empowers victims.
Advocates influence public opinion and policy about abuse as a social issue.
Advocating for another is not only SPEAKING UP on their behalf — it is also raising the critical consciousness of the public and mobilizing others to public action.
Everyone can be an advocate for the abused.
While there are high profile advocates, (and I am grateful for them) what the abused also need is the everyday, average person to engage in small acts of advocacy. How can you act as an advocate for others today?
One way to advocate is to collectively demand public answers and accountability
— then act if your demands are not met. Your advocacy and action must match your individual and collective power. In what ways do you have have power?
If “all it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing,” then all it will take for goodness to triumph is for good people to do something.