Why I Refuse to be Silent Anymore

My story used to be a secret. Now it’s a mission. I'm breaking free.

For a long time, silence felt safer. It was how I survived.

I learned early that speaking up didn’t always bring protection. Sometimes, it actually made things worse.

I was twelve years old when the abuse began. And when I finally spoke out, the doors that should have opened... slammed shut.

The legal system told me it was too late. Family members told me to forgive and forget. And the people I trusted most protected him, not me.

For years, I carried that silence like armor. Heavy. Suffocating. Exhausting... until recently, when I lost my mother.

She spent her life guarding the man who hurt me, and there is a huge part of me that believes not because she wanted to, but because he silenced her too. And while I mourn the mother I loved, I also mourn the little girl who never got her protection.

I can’t stay silent anymore. I won't stay silent anymore.

This is why I’m launching S.A.V.E. Survivors. Advocates. Voices. Emerging. A movement for those who were silenced. A movement for those still waiting to be heard. A movement for real justice, not excuses, not cover-ups.

S.A.V.E. is about believing survivors, supporting advocates, and demanding changes to broken laws.

We shouldn't have to race against arbitrary deadlines to tell the truth, and we shouldn't be punished for surviving the only way we knew how, in silence.

This is my war for truth. This is my stand against silence. If you’re a survivor... if you’re an ally... if you believe it’s time for the world to stop protecting abusers and start protecting children, then welcome to S.A.V.E.

This is just the beginning.

– Samira Jones