Speaking Out
In 2020, in the aftermath of Vanessa Guillen’s murder, Tamekiah Aguirre co-founded an organization called “Our Sister’s Keeper,” dedicated to raising awareness to military sexual trauma, advocating for other survivors of sexual assault in the military, and protesting, speaking out, and advocating for policy change.
There's so much work out here that needs to be done. And that's where I found my voice. My voice was found during the missing time of Vanessa Guillen. The young soldier who was at Fort Hood who went missing in April of 2020, and I remember the day like it happened yesterday—the news came on, and this beautiful young lady was there. I mean, just beautiful. And the more I kept looking at that child—because I'm old enough to be Vanessa's mother—I saw myself all over again. I saw myself all over again, and I cried so much for Vanessa, and I still do. I cry for Gloria Guillen, who we call Mama Guillen. I cry for her father. I cry for Myra Lupe, the entire Guillen family for what that young lady went through. They definitely betrayed her. They failed her. They failed her in so many ways. In so many ways.
But that young lady's story is what gave me the strength to be transparent and tell my truth outside of that military arena, outside of that court martial. I have been able to talk about it now and not feel ashamed and not feel alone because when that hashtag came out, #IAmVanessaGuillen, there were so many of us. There were so many of us, and we just got to a point where we were like, we're not gonna be silent anymore. Her death led to a protest. That's how Our Sister’s Keeper came about. Thirteen women we're just chit– chitchatting and talking about this story on Facebook. The next thing you know, we had a whole movement . . . We made history on August the first of 2020. We made history, and we vowed . . . to make sure there is never another Vanessa Guillen. How do you get murdered on a military installation and you're in an arms room? How does that happen? Make it make all kinds of sense, but it will never make sense. It will never make sense to a military sexual trauma survivor. It will never make sense to the Guillen family. It will never make sense to the lawyer who is representing that family. It's never going to make sense to anyone until somebody is completely held accountable.”
This page has paths:
- Tamekiah Aguirre Jason Higgins
- Women, Gender, and Sexuality in the US Military Jason Higgins