For once, something worthwhile comes from the Texas Capitol

victims of family violence, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

I met this family on the steps of the capitol today. I could see all these red figures from my office window, so I wandered over after work. Turns out each one commemorates a woman who was killed by someone she was close to, usually a husband or boyfriend. Inside each Texas silhouette is a brief rundown of the crime that took her life. It's part of the Texas Conference on Family Violence.

This little girl had lost her mother. "Here she is! We found her! We found her!" she was saying as I walked up. "Okay, go stand next to Mommy," the woman with her said. I never got their names or the circumstances of the mother's death, since the family was gathered around the placard and I didn't want to invade their privacy. I offered to snap a photo with their camera of all three of them next to the memorial (along with this one for Austinist) and then went on my way.