WASHINGTON, D.C. — Crime survivors from across the nation traveled to Washington, D.C. this week to join the first-ever Crime Survivors Speak march, rally and candlelight vigil.

The event was organized by Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice, a national network of more than 180,000 of crime survivors and their family members. About 3,000 people were expected to join the march on the National Mall on Sept. 24.

Participants at the march called for policy changes at the federal level and more resources for crime victims, including funding trauma recovery centers and victim compensation.

“Those funds are needed for people like myself and others to be able to move forward in life, whether it comes from mental health or the burial expenses and stuff like that. Nobody should have to worry about how to bury their loved ones in the midst of all this pain,” said Dion Green of Dayton, Ohio.

Green was standing next to his father, Derek Fudge, when Fudge was shot and killed in the 2019 mass shooting in Dayton.

Green founded the FUDGE Foundation to support people recovering from traumatic events, especially gun violence. He is also currently running to represent Ohio’s 39^th state district.

Green led a bus of about 32 people who drove together to the march from Springfield, Ohio. Several Springfield residents said recent national attention on the Haitian immigrant community in their city was a distraction from real policies that could prevent crime and break the cycle of violence.

“It's overwhelming to see so many people affected by the choices that other people make. And it's just it needs to stop,” said Stacy Cameron, whose 31-year-old daughter Shauna Cameron was shot and killed while riding in a car on Mother’s Day in 2022. “We have to do something  to stop this epidemic of violence in our nation. It's just ridiculous. And if we can't stop it, then at least support the people who want to help those who go through it.”

While in the capital, the group met with White House officials and lawmakers. (Photo courtesy Stephen Massey, director of Trauma Recovery Center at Citilookout)

Survivors said coming together also helped them heal. Even Percy Donaldson, a 6-year-old whose father was shot and killed in Columbus, Ohio in 2019, said he felt welcome at the march.

“It makes me happy. I’m so glad that people are standing on their feet and supporting people,” he said. “I lost my dad to gun violence by the store. That was in 2019. I was one-year-old… You see people crying because they lost their loved ones. People, the ones that killed them, they’re just going to laugh about it. And that’s not right.”

The event fell on the 40^th anniversary of the Victims of Crime Act, the 30th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act and the 20th anniversary of the Crime Victims’ Rights Act. 

Participants said the timing also fell perfectly just before the presidential election, so that their voices could be part of the national conversation at the peak of election season.