Women and men in the Boone are invited to take a stand and raise awareness against violence against women on Wednesday.

Marg McKinney and Rebecca Gummere will lead the efforts by dressing in black to stand in front of the Jones House on King Street at 1 p.m. The Women in Black focuses primarily on violence against women during times of war abroad, but Wednesday will be dedicated to the women of the High Country that have been, or continue to be, victims of violence in the home or sexual assault.

"You don't have to look across the ocean to see violence against women," said Gummere, associate director of OASIS, the Watauga County organization that helps victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. In the past year, OASIS helped 232 domestic violence victims and 26 sexual assault victims, two of which were male.

Women in Black has been holding silent vigil every Friday at the Jones House ever since the first day Baghdad was bombed, drawing attention to the problem of violence against women. This week the vigil takes place two days early to coincide with the United Nations' International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

"It will be the usual silent vigil, with people from OASIS," said McKinney, a long-standing participant of Women In Black, a loose organization of about 15 locals. "One of the important things we have tried to emphasize is that violence is right here and this is not just about some issue that doesn't directly involve us."

"We know there are people suffering abuse who are afraid to report [it] or get help, or who feel the abuse or assault is somehow their fault." Gummere said. "Our culture continues to hold victim-blaming attitudes when it comes to gender-based violence."

Gummere and McKinney said the purpose is to "stand there and speak for people who don't have voices."