quilt squares on the lawn
By Maya Dusenbery • @mayadusenbery • 9 years ago

Photo of the Day: “Monument Quilt” sends messages of solidarity to Marissa Alexander

Monument Quilt with words: "Not alone"After 4-and-a-half years of legal battle for firing a warning shot into a wall in self-defense against her abusive husband, Marissa Alexander is expected to be released from jail today, though she’ll likely remain under house arrest for two more years — which, as Maya Schenwar notes, means “she won’t be free.” 

Activists from FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture and the Free Marissa Now campaign have teamed up to ensure that when Alexander arrives for her sentencing hearing at the Duval County Courthouse in Jacksonville, she’ll be greeted by messages of solidarity from other domestic violence survivors across the country.

“350 quilt squares containing stories from survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault will blanket the Duval County Courthouse lawn to let Jacksonville and the world know Marissa is NOT ALONE, ” the Facebook page for the Monument Quilt explains. “The Monument Quilt display at Marissa Alexander’s trial will continue to draw attention to the deep injustice she has experienced, first as a survivor of domestic violence and second as a victim the of the racist US legal system.”

Free Marissa Now

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people sewing quilt squares

Images via ThinkProgress and Autostraddle

St. Paul, MN

Maya Dusenbery is executive director in charge of editorial at Feministing. She is the author of the forthcoming book Doing Harm: The Truth About How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick (HarperOne, March 2018). She has been a fellow at Mother Jones magazine and a columnist at Pacific Standard magazine. Her work has appeared in publications like Cosmopolitan.com, TheAtlantic.com, Bitch Magazine, as well as the anthology The Feminist Utopia Project. Before become a full-time journalist, she worked at the National Institute for Reproductive Health. A Minnesota native, she received her B.A. from Carleton College in 2008. After living in Brooklyn, Oakland, and Atlanta, she is currently based in the Twin Cities.

Maya Dusenbery is an executive director of Feministing and author of the forthcoming book Doing Harm on sexism in medicine.

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