Prisoners of Injustice

I couldn’t help but wonder what our nation has turned into. The once beautiful nation that illuminated the importance of peace, oneness and respect for humanity has rather turned into a field of violence and human degradation; jading away the values and beauty we once prided ourselves with.   Injustice and violence has seemed to become common in our land; as justice has become yet another relative and antiquated term. We roam the streets with no certainty as to what the day beholds. Today we see news of murder, tomorrow of sexual violence and the next of something that continues to impact both our lives and rights negatively. But the question remains; where is our justice?
As the famous adage statement goes; ‘To deny them human rights is to challenge their humanity’. It is without a doubt that justice has been denied and our rights have been inflicted, as state actors continue to turn a blind eye to the numerous gender based violence incidents accumulating within our communities- negating our sisters and friends the justice they deserve. As their perpetrators continue to roam the streets, it is sad to say that our system has failed us and yet every day we continue to lose lives, and have dignities torn into pieces.
I was baffled and still am at the rate that our nation has recorded incidents relating to sexual violence, earning itself an unimpressible title of being known as a rape nation as some quite prefer to describe it. However, despite the rise of such mundane behaviour, the state continues to remain inactive in getting the perpetrators to book, but chooses to criticize the victims. It tends to focus more on the actions of the victim, negating from the fact that the victim too deserves justice and justice is not termed by their manner of behaviour.
Therefore, victims have simply become prisoners of injustice; as they have been deemed to be perpetrators who intentionally lured their perpetrator and the perpetrator deemed as a victim of indecent clothing or actions as they describe. This however, has and continues to be an impediment to justice; as more and more women continue to remain silent; fearing to be ridiculed and name shammed by those who are entrusted with their justice.
As more and more news circulated the nation; making today’s news interesting whilst making yesterday’s news history; a history we couldn’t afford to loose, yet every day we forgot the pain and the fight for justice not only for those we lost but, also for those imprisoned by injustice. We forgot to do what was right for the sake of humanity, we forgot their shame and the tears no one saw. We forgot the devastating tentacles the abuse had on these women and the nation. But the time has come to break the silence, and set our sisters free from the shackles of abuse and injustice; an elucidated insight that was unraveled by a young woman who decided to break the silence and tell her story. Her story was powerful; powerful in the sense that it manifested the power of unison as a nation and gave power and strength to other young women who suffered the same predicament to share their stories as well; which was a light in a dark tunnel to the citizenry and state actors that more needed to be done in order to eliminate violence at all levels.  
The voyage to ending violence cannot be achieved unless there are collective efforts, it is at this very moment that we need to realise that what affects one, affects us all. Therefore, in conclusion, I say let us rise and stand together for the journey is a long one; but together can we can make it. Break the silence and set us free from fear, injustice and abuse.