When Denise Brown found out that her sister Nicole Brown Simpson was murdered on June 12, 1994, she was devastated and confused.

“I had lost my best friend,” Brown said. “My sister Nicole, who I had been extremely close to my whole life, was dead. I also was the first to say that she wasn’t a battered woman, but I didn’t know everything that she was keeping from me.”

However, Brown decided to take an active role in the prevention of domestic abuse after her sister’s death.

“I looked at her diary and I was shocked at what she’d been hiding,” Brown said. “There was a cycle of violence involved with her relationship that I didn’t know existed – we hadn’t been raised in an environment like that. Unfortunately, it took my sister’s life ending to wake me up to domestic abuse.”

Services Offering Safety (SOS), the local domestic abuse prevention and education group, hosted Brown and Emporia High School Thespians’ production of “dont u luv me?” at the Granada theatre Monday night.

“I thought it was a great presentation and it’s great that (Brown) is spreading the word about domestic abuse,” said Jessica Fleming, freshman criminal justice and sociology major. “I have been in an abusive relationship and this sort of presentation needs to be done more often. I wish it’d been there for me.”

The presentation began with the Emporia High School Thespian’s performance of “dont u luv me?” which portrayed an abusive high school relationship. The play utilized modern text messaging, language and cyber stalking to demonstrate what an abusive high school relationship may look like.

“I thought the play was fantastic,” said Cody Pritchard, junior math secondary education major. “It’s modern and that kind of thing happens every day. The young people watching may not have known what abuse looked like.”

After the play, Brown began her presentation on the necessity of strong community bonds and communication to prevent domestic abuse. Her sister’s story was an example of poor communication about domestic abuse, Brown said.

“It takes a lot of courage for someone to be willing to talk to you about domestic abuse,” Brown said. “If you make the call on their behalf you may be saving their life, and I wish I got to talk to my sister about what was happening to her.”

Brown also praised SOS and its program for being more proactive about domestic abuse than many programs around the nation.

“You guys do some really impressive work in Kansas,” Brown said. “I am really impressed, and I hope that other counties or states will follow your lead.”

Brown also mentioned the transfer of Domestic Abuse Awareness Month from October to May.

Brown concluded her presentation by explaining her view on the necessity of involving every member of society in the process of ending domestic violence. Brown put a particular emphasis on young men and boys.

“I love the ‘Hands Are Not For Hurting’ program that many schools have instituted,” Brown said. “My nephew still remembers learning the program as a child, and he’s a man now.”

A key point of Brown’s lecture was the importance of getting men in positions of power to encourage better legislation for Domestic Abuse victims and abusers.

“I agree with her that that’s the key,” said Joel Wilburn, junior secondary education major. “Men still have a lot of authority in some positions, and they need to help out just as much as women do.”

Brown’s final statements encouraged involvement by all members of a community.

“Get involved before it’s too late,” Brown said. “Get involved before it happens to your family, or get involved before it happens to someone that you love. Let’s not let evil prevail. We must meet the challenge of doing what’s right every day.”

Josh Johnson/The Bulletin

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CECE Bake Sale

The Center for Early Childhood Education will host a bake sale on the mornings of Monday, April 27 and Tuesday, April 28. The sale will take place at Visser Hall and Butcher and there will also be a mobile unit around campus.

Parents of the students are providing baked goods like brownies, muffins, breads, puppy chow and cookies.

The money from the bake sale will go toward a new playground for the older children in the CECE and playground additions for the toddler playground. The total costs are about $64,000, said Jenny Williams, a Toddler I teacher. This is the last fundraising event of the semester for CECE and cash or checks will be accepted. A 50 cent minimum donation is encouraged.

Denise Brown

Denise Brown, sister of Nichole Brown-Simpson, will speak at 7:30 p.m. April 27 at the Granada Theatre. Student tickets are available free of charge at the Center for Student Involvement.

Brown is hosted by Services Offering Safety (S.O.S.). According to a press release, Brown will speak about ways to detect and prevent domestic abuse.

Nichole Brown-Simpson was murdered in 1994. O.J. Simpson, the primary suspect in the case, was eventually declared innocent.

Local help for domestic violence can be reached by calling 342-1870.

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At last Wednesday’s press conference, Services Offering Safety (S.O.S.) announced that they will host Denise Brown, sister of the late Nichole Brown-Simpson, at 7 p.m. April 27 at the Granada Theatre.

“We’re bringing her here because this message needs to be heard,” said Sandra Kramer, SOS development director. “There needs to be an awareness of the impact of interpersonal violence in this world and, of ten times, it’s a message that people don’t want to hear. We’re bringing her here because she lends a lot of credibility through personal experience. The tremendous impact this can have on the family and on the individuals throughout their lifetime.”

Brown will speak about ways to detect and prevent domestic abuse.

“And it’s not about someone has been hit or abused or whatever,” said Jodi Ek, program chair for the Denise Brown task force and administration officer at Emporia State. “It’s about how you can become aware of that and I think that’s why it’s good that we’re having all the different age groups because kids can be violent. It starts at a young age and you have to stop it sometime.”

Brown’s personal experience with domestic violence came as a result of her sister Nichole’s murder in 1994. O.J. Simpson, who was the primary suspect in the case, was eventually declared innocent.

“She has a unique voice to bring, because of her experience,” said Lori Moore, SOS community relations director. “She breaks through the stereotypes of what a family dealing with domestic violence looks like and I think that’s an important thing to bring forward because, too often, we stereotype what a victim looks like and certainly, prior to this, no one thought it would look like Nicole Simpson.”

S.O.S. started working to bring Brown to Emporia about six weeks ago and have put together a work force of about 30 volunteers to make sure the event goes smoothly.

“I was very impressed with that she had to say,” Kramer said, who has seen Denise Brown speak on television. “She has a message that, of course, is tied to O.J. Simpson… but she doesn’t concentrate on O.J. Simpson. She concentrates on the message that she has and that’s what’s creating the awareness, the impact of domestic violence and what this whole thing did to her family.”

Brown is speaking not only to call out to battered wives and children, but to end what she considers to be an, “international epidemic,” according to her Web site.

“She’s not just going to come and talk and I think that’s what I’m most impressed about,” Kramer said. “I think you can find someone like this that would just talk about the famous person and she really focuses on the impact of this violence upon not only her sister, but her entire family.”

S.O.S. is an organization dedicated to helping women and children in need. Their mission statement, according to their Web site, states that their mission is “to end sexual and domestic violence, abuse and neglect through service, education, and advocacy.”

“Part of our role at S.O.S. is to bring the message to the forefront,” Moore said. “It doesn’t need to be a secret if it’s happening. There’s no shame in coming forward to say that you need help.”

Presentation tickets are $15 and the event open to all ages.

Alex Pedersen/The Bulletin

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