Why Did We Burn Our Bras?

ATTENTION: This article and corresponding post contains material of a highly sensitive nature including domestic violence that may be triggering for some individuals.

At the Washoe County Commission meeting, Mariluz Garcia stated Tuesday, May 28, 2024 that she had received a curveball regarding Agenda Item 10, the approval of agreements with RISE, Volunteers of America, and Karma Box Project at the Nevada Cares Campus. 

We sort of think Garcia threw a curveball right back at the residents of Washoe County, when she supported the three agreements being approved after allegations regarding Karma Box Project.

Isn’t Garcia the same commissioner who commented her 2022 election gave her PTSD, she moved into a home on a cul-de-sac so she can better monitor the comings and goings of people so she cannot be followed or harassed, and media has questioned if she had a tracker on her car. Would you not think this commissioner might be the most responsive, the most compassionate, willing to listen to the woman who spoke at public comment about possible domestic violence she experienced from the Executive Director of Karma Box Project.

The commissioner with the most compassion was the only male on the dais, Mike Clark who wanted these allegations investigated before he voted on the Karma Box agreement.

Picon remembers a vote in 2023 regarding the Safe Embrace Domestic Violence Shelter in Sparks and it was clear the nonprofit had been a bad neighbor over a number of years. They hadn’t followed through on many occasions with their neighbors on the street, yet the Washoe County Commissioners thought the importance of the existence of the shelter outweighed the neighbors’ complaints. Today, when the commissioners were confronted with an individual speaking about alleged domestic violence all four female commissioners turned a deaf ear. The woman who was addressing the commissioners is that very person, that very women, the Safe Embrace shelter was saved to protect.

Commissioner’s Herman, Hill, Garcia, and Andriola voted to approve a new agreement with Karma Box Project after allegations had been made about possible domestic violence and without an investigation, which DA Mary Kandaras had mentioned could take place. Why not just table the Karma Box agreement, approve RISE and Volunteers of America, as Commissioner Clark beseeched Chair Hill, so the allegations could be investigated and then all could move forward comfortably in a couple of weeks.

After viewing the Larry Nasar sentencing hearings, one hoped, this might have raised public awareness not only about workplace harassment, domestic violence, and sexual abuse, but also about how routinely women survivors face a Gaslight-style gauntlet of doubt, disbelief, and outright dismissal of their stories. This pattern is disturbing in the justice system, where women face a legal twilight zone: laws meant to protect them and deter further abuse often fail to achieve their purpose, because women telling the stories of abuse by their male partners are simply not believed. We sure witnessed that in Washoe County Tuesday. How could four female commissioners be so callous?

Discrediting of survivors constitutes its own psychic injury – betrayal that echoes the psychological abuse women suffer at the hands of individual perpetrators. Why does society continue to devalue women’s testimony? Dismissals harm so many other women who resist the abusive exercise of male power, from survivors of workplace harassment to victims of sexual assault.

Picon applauds Our Town Reno who covered the commission meeting Tuesday and reported. What we have done is pull three videos from the meeting, so you can draw your own conclusions.

The individual who made the allegation of domestic violence is our first video clip.

The discussion and vote by the commissioners is our second video clip.

The public comment at the end of the commission meeting by Penny Brock, a contributor to Picon, who verbally shamed the four female commissioners, and inquired why we all “burned our bras” – that would be back in the 1960s is our third video clip.

Over fifty years ago, there was a protest against the Miss American beauty pageant in New Jersey which led to the mythical image of the “bra-burning feminist.” A group of women hurled mops, lipsticks, and high heels into a “Freedom Trash Can.” Symbolically throwing away things that oppressed women. One woman took off her bra, wiggled it out from under her shirt and threw it into the trash can. The gesture made headlines around the world.

Tuesday’s vote by the four female Washoe County Commissioner should make some headlines since it was an abuse of power.

Two of the commissioners, Chair Alexis Hill and Appointed Commission Clara Andriola both are faced with campaigns. Hill does not have a primary but will face a Republican in the general election. Andriola has a primary and is challenged by four Republican candidates. These two commissioners who voted to keep a domestic violence shelter open yet refused to listen Tuesday to an alleged victim of domestic violence surprised even Picon.