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NEWS & LETTERS, April 2002
Women build movement at 'Color of Violence'
Starting on Friday, March 15, one of the largest
gatherings of women of color took place at the University of Illinois Chicago.
This historic event lasted three days and drew 1,400 women from the Americas,
Africa, Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, South Pacific and Canada. The Color
of Violence Conference was organized by Incite! Women of Color Against Violence.
The first conference took place in April 2000 in Santa Cruz, California. Incite! is a national activist organization of radical
feminists of color advancing a movement to end violence against women of color
and their communities through direct action, critical dialogue, and grassroots
organizing. The main theme of this year's conference was "Building a
Movement." Although topics of plenaries and workshops like
"Organizing in Communities of Color" and "Re-politicizing the
Movement" seem straightforward, the theme of the conference seemed to be
about how to overcome the varying obstacles facing women of color, the
incarnations of violent war tactics used against our different cultures to
create impediments to any revolutionary movement before it is born. As a sister of color interested in change, I will
discuss the important message I got out of the three-day conference. Even
though I have, from the time I was very young resisted the effects of racist
tactics, I had not always been able to recognize them as so. I know that many, like myself have been purposely denied
access to the vocabulary, awareness, and critique needed to validate the
soul-felt desire for Revolution. We have been, through the churches we trust and
the public education system we rely on, taught to doubt and reject the very
ideas designed to help us. The first time I became aware of the true nature of
racism, the epiphany hit me like this, "Racism isn't about me being less
intelligent, less capable, or emotionally impotent; racism isn't about African
Americans being evil, violent, irresponsible and incapable of addressing the
needs of the diverse body of humanity. Racism is about losing a war waged
against a people who are advanced enough to always be perceived as a threat if
ever they were to regain their power." Creating awareness of the many incarnations of violence,
to encourage resistance and solidarity across unique particulars through the
venue of healing spaces, is truly radical. |
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