Please forward widely…
For all those who know that “it is better to speak…”
A CALL TO ACTION
Creating a World without Sexual Violence
National Day of Truthtelling
April 28th, 2007
Durham, North Carolina
For all who ARE survivors of sexual violence…
For all who choose to BELIEVE survivors of sexual violence…
For all who KNOW WE CAN end rape culture…
…join us on April 28th, 2007, in Durham, North Carolina, as we come together—across divisions and disempowering silences—to create a world full of the safety, possibility, dignity, justice, and peace that we all deserve. Stand with us as we dare to imagine a world free from sexual violence and ALL forms of oppression.
Meet us in Durham to speak, teach, learn, demonstrate, and tell the truth. Together, WE can make this world a reality!!!
Questions? Contact us at dayoftruthtelling@gmail.com or check us out on My Space at www.myspace.com/ubuntunc
This event is being organized by: the North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault, the North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Ubuntu, Men Against Rape Culture, SpiritHouse, Raleigh Fight Imperialism Stand Together, Southerners on New Ground, Independent Voices, Black Workers for Justice, and Freedom Road Socialist Organization/OSCL.
“What would happen if one woman told the truth about her life?
The world would split open.”
- From: “Kathe Kollwitz” by Muriel Rukeseyer
10 comments
Comments feed for this article
March 24, 2007 at 9:04 am
skye
It is a shame you left your credibility at 601 N. Buchanan last year . Our cause needs voices but not discredited and tainted ones . When will you demonstrate the humanity to apologise or are you one of those who can always justify away your mistakes . I pray for you Manju …that you can grow and mature from this . May peace be with you .
March 26, 2007 at 1:52 pm
Dannette
I’m assuming Manju’s “mistakes” in question revolve around asserting that sexual violence occured against the woman involved in the Duke lacrosse case. I’m amazed that it’s still necessary to remind people that this case has not been resolved and none but those directly involved can speak certainly about what did or didn’t happen. I would add to this, that, anyone espousing to champion the “cause” of ending sexual violence should, in my opinion, dig a little deeper into the concept of what it means to believe the word of survivors. To me, it is a critical choice that creates vital political space and empowers victims to speak up when they have been violated. The importance of vocally, publically, and unequivocably supporting survivors can not be overstated. And in doing so, in the face of direct violent threats and verbal attacks, Manju has been very courageous and principled.
Additionally, many of the women, children, and other people who face sexual violence and speak up about it are considered “tainted” and “uncredible”. Indeed, some of the ‘most vulnerable’ to sexual violence are women of color, poor women, sex workers, and transgendered people… people who have, for one reason or another, already been devalued and deemed as less-than by a society that castes social power and privilege along race, class, sexuality, and gender norms. Black women in particular historically face the stigma of being seen as “unrapeable”, due to our supposed innate sexual natures and desire for white male interest. Then, when we add to this construct the wrong-headed assumption that sexual violence is a reasonable (and acceptable) hazard of certain kinds of labor, we end up with the very kind of thinking that I read in Skye’s words. Which is that, in order to enjoy ones right to protection and justice around sexual violence, one has to be above all reproach, lily-white in innocence, “important” in society, “normal”, fault-less, and pure as the driven snow.
Well, I am none of those things. I am made of flesh and have made more than a few bad choices in life. And I’m not the only one. The untainted female is a bogus construct, and really dangerous, in that it makes invisible the suffering of those deemed below “the norm” and it undermines our right to protection and justice against sexual violence. The “untainted” woman myth has LONG been used to terrorize and repress real women, non-white women, and people who don’t fit the gender binary. I just hope that, anyone reading this who has suffered sexual violence and is terrified of not being believed because they are black or fat or ugly or locked up or poor or strippin’ or drinkin’ or slutty or “foreign” or what have you, please know that many of us believe you. And will be vocal about believing you. You haven’t said anything yet, and we already believe you. Because we know how hard it is to speak. Because we know what a struggle it is to trust that you deserve to be believed and that people will stand by you. And that people will defend your right to justice. For what it’s worth, I believe you. I believe you. I believe the word of survivors because that is the right thing to do.
Thanks Manju! Love you girl!
March 26, 2007 at 8:38 pm
Kriti
When we stood in front of 610 N Buchanan, we chanted a simple poem led by Manju: “Whatever we wear,
wherever we go,
yes means yes,
and no means no.”
Simple. True. Not a mistake.
When a friend of mine tells me that they have been held at gunpoint, or robbed, or beaten, or mugged, I don’t say, “Listen, about this crime that you alleged happened to you, I’ll get back to you after the case goes through the courts. We can still be friends if the judge is on your side, so I know that you weren’t lying.” I say, “How awful. What do you need from me?” I say the same thing when a friend of mine tells me that they have been sexually violated. And then, lovingly and clearly, to assure my friend that there is nothing they could have done to deserve the violence done to them, I say something like,
“Whatever you wear,
wherever you go,
yes means yes,
and no means no.”
What else happened that day? For the sake of those who weren’t there: there were drummers drumming. There were pots and pans clanging. There were people sharing their emotions around sexual violence. There was a song sung and tears shed. There was a poem chanted.
Of the many women I know, trust, and love, only a few have not been survivors of sexual violence in the form of rape, molestation, coercion, abuse, and more. When one makes oneself open enough to hear people’s experiences of sexual violence, one notices that the voices are coming from everywhere. For many who are not survivors in our society, and even for survivors, it takes a process of opening up in order to really be able to hear survivor’s experiences. This is because we have been taught that sexual violence is some kind of mass hallucination, some kind of collective nightmare that thousands of survivors dream. It takes a process of centering, of turning down the loud voices on our radios and in our minds that demand accusingly and sarcastically, “What was she…?” and “Where was she…?” and “Didn’t she…?” and “How could she…?” in order to be able to hear someone say, “This is what happened to me.”
Together at 610 N Buchanan, we were starting that process. We were opening ourselves up to be able to hear stories from our friends, our families, our community members, ourselves, about sexual violence – stories that have always been among us, with us, waiting for a space in which to be told. Far too often, survivors are told, “I’m sorry, I can’t hear you, the patriarchy is on too loud.” So we said instead,
“Whatever we wear,
wherever we go,
yes means yes,
and no means no.”
We will chant our poems. We will exercise this small dignity.
April 11, 2007 at 1:40 pm
Tara
What you did at 610 N. Buchanan was cross burning on someone’s front lawn ( only without the sheets on ) . Your activism obfuscated your objectivity and compassion . Surely you have the decency to apologise for your false accusations towards these people .
April 11, 2007 at 4:24 pm
Yolanda
Tara, you have some gall to compare a survivor-led protest to a KKK cross-burning. The people who showed up at that house in March 2006 have nothing to apologize for. Women who speak up about rape need to be believed, point blank. We’ve demonized and shamed rape survivors for too damn long, and we ain’t going back.
Those of us with compassion and credibility will be reserving it for the survivors of violence and oppression everywhere.
April 11, 2007 at 9:27 pm
JT
Take up another cause if you are interested in anti-violence folks (Darfur would be a good one). Ubuntu is a silly mean-spirited group with no credibility who won’t admit they showed themselves for what they are when they should have dropped their attacks on the Duke students back in April when the first DNA tests came back.
April 25, 2007 at 5:35 pm
Aaron Roffman
Tara. Yolanda is right. You have some gall to compare a survivor led protest to a KKK cross burning. The protest was much closer to a Hilter youth rally. And Yolanda. The credibility of the March 2006 protesters in non-existant. Now shine my shoes.
May 22, 2007 at 8:28 am
Nevada
Yolanda, Kriti, Dannette (and Manju, and all the others who speak out)…Thanks for saying what you’ve said. I’m glad I live in a world with people like you. I just wish there were more.
August 4, 2007 at 3:50 pm
John Steed
Respose to Kriti:
“When we stood in front of 610 N. Buchanan, we chanted a simple poem led by Manju:
“Whatever we wear,
wherever we go,
yes means yes,
and no means no.”
We will chant our poems. We will exercise this small dignity.”
—————————————————————————————
Here’s another poem that you, Manju and the potbangers chanted that day (as it appeared on pre-printed ‘chant sheets’) while displaying their “Castrate!!” and “Confess” banners:
“Who’s being Silent?
They’re being silent!
Whose protecting rapists?
They’re protecting rapist!
So, who are the rapists?
They must be the rapists!”
“Out of the house!
Out of the town!
We don’t want,
You around!”
Was that an “exercise of small dignity” too? Or an exercise of lynch-mob fascism?
Apologize to the students whom you falsely accused, and then apologize to the serious opponents of sexual violence whose cause you have so badly discredited.
December 31, 2008 at 7:15 am
envedgehipskige
fxrezvqdhwnwbsddwell, hi admin adn people nice forum indeed. how’s life? hope it’s introduce branch