Grassroots Solutions for Safer Streets in Philadelphia

graceyrself:

theoreticalgirl:

Yesterday something pretty terrible happened in Philadelphia. Sabina Rose O’Donnell, 21, was assaulted and murdered outside her NoLibs home; her nude body was discarded in a vacant lot next door. I did not know Sabina, but we knew a lot of the same people. She worked at PYT, so it’s very likely that she had served me.

I don’t think you need to know the victim of this senseless crime to feel outraged, upset, or any combination of emotions. As a single lady who enjoys going out on the weekends, I’ve experienced my fair share of going home alone late at night. Everytime I crawl into bed, I’m thankful for making it home safely — especially when I’ve had friends bail on me or I was clearly too intoxicated to be on my own. But the time in between having fun and being home is never pleasant. You can’t ever assume that you’ll make it home and you’re constantly on the defensive. I’m already an anxiety-filled person, and this experience really puts me on edge.

I’ve longed for a service similar to RightRides for a while now, but until that happens, let’s see how we can collectively work on making getting home at night safer for everyone. So I hope you’ll consider joining the FB group.

The secondary issue here — and by secondary, I don’t mean any less important — is that violent behavior towards and inflicted upon women is still acceptable to some. It’s not. We still need to change this.