The DAY oF RED: Oct. 31,2007– Remember to Send us your Videos and Pictures of Your Day of Red and email all Pictures, Words, Images, and Videos to beboldbered@gmail.com!!!
Posted by fal25 on October 31, 2007
We want to say thank you for all the women of color, comrades, and allies who wore red, hosted rallies, and read the litany at 8:00 pm/central to make public and private statements that violence against women of color must end. More things to come regarding the Be Bold Be Red campaign will be posted next week, November 10, 2007.
You can email your photos and videos to beboldbered@gmail.com!!
(After October 31, 2007, with your permission we want to “flood” the web with pictures, stories, and videos of RED. We expect to get the most pictures and video tomorrow, November 1-5, 2007)
Also, you can see people dressed in RED, by clicking on the page “Red Pictures TODAY.” These pictures were sent to us by people from across the nation committed to ending violence against women of color.
Please Read why people wore red and will continue to wear red by clicking on “Why Are You Wearing Red?”
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Important Statement
Additionally, there are many stories of violence against women of color we did not highlight in our initial move clip, “How do you keep a Social Movement Alive?” Therefore, in the next coming weeks we will begin updating the movie clip with stories of violence that go unheard that affect various women of color communities as well as highlighting specific ways in which state violence and citizenship makes it very difficult for immigrant women of color to speak their stories of violence.
More things to come regarding the Be Bold Be Red campaign will be posted next week, November 10, 2007.
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Urgent Press Release about Violence Against a Woman of Color
From: Aishah Shahidah Simmons
I am wearing red because I am a survivor of incest and rape.
I am wearing red because I live in a City (Philadelphia) where a White Woman Judge Terri Carr Deni dropped all rape and assault charges in the case of a woman gang-raped at gunpoint. Because the woman was working as a prostitute, Judge Deni decided that she could not have been raped and changed the charge to “theft of services.” Deni later said that this case “minimizes true rape cases and demeans women who are really raped.”
On Thursday, November 1, 2007, in Philadelphia, there will be a Press Conference at 1pm Outside Municipal Court (Criminal Justice Center)1301 Filbert St. On November 6, 2007, I will voice my opinion to Judge Deni by voting “NO!” on her retention as Judge in the Municipal Court of Philadelphia.
I am wearing red because I am very clear that it doesn’t matter if you’re a stripper, a prostitute, a lesbian, a bisexual woman, a heterosexual woman, a single mother (especially with several children from different fathers), on welfare, a high school drop out, college educated, working in corporate America, working at a minimum wage job with no health insurance, or working in the film/music/television entertainment industry. Yes, I placed what some people would view as very different/distinct categories of women of Color in the same category because history has consistently shown me and all of us that if any of the aforementioned Black women are at the wrong place at the wrong time (which could be at any time), we, women of Color, will be left to heal our very public wounds alone.
http://www.notherapedocumentary.org/
October 31, 2007 at 3:18 pm
Greetings ~
I know most of you do not live in Philadelphia . However, I’m sure there at least some of you who know folks who live and/or work in Philadelphia . If you do, please spread the word and encourage folks to attend the press conference and equally if not more importantly encourage folks to voice their opinions at the polls, in Philadelphia , on Tuesday, November 6, 2007.
THE FOLLOWING IS BEYOND OUTRAGEOUS and Judge Teres Carr Deni should not be allowed to serve another day in court.
In Struggle,
Aishah
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PRESS CONFERENCE
Thursday November 1, 2007
1pm
Outside Municipal Court ( Criminal Justice Center )
1301 Filbert St , Philadelphia
Monday October 29, 2007
To the Editor:
We were appalled to learn that on Oct 4 Municipal Judge Teresa Carr Deni dropped all rape and assault charges in the case of a woman gang-raped at gunpoint. Because the woman was working as a prostitute, Judge Deni decided that she could not have been raped and changed the charge to “theft of services.” Deni later said that this case “minimizes true rape cases and demeans women who are really raped.”
As groups organizing against rape and in support of victims, we could not disagree more. All women have the right to protection from violence. The idea that any woman is “asking for it” is a lie that we fought for decades to destroy. It is especially offensive to see it revived by a female judge, who reached her position as a result of the women’s movement and is now using her power to deny justice to the most vulnerable women.
Deni told Daily News columnist Jill Porter that the victim met another client before reporting the rape. We have learned that this is completely untrue; the transcript of the hearing proves it. For a judge to make a false (and self-serving) accusation against a victim in the press, in addition to her prejudiced and reckless contempt for women’s safety, confirms that she is unfit to serve. The outcry following Deni’s decision shows how out of step with public opinion she is and that most people believe that prostitute women deserve the same protection from violence that we all have a right to expect.
No woman is safe when prostitute women aren’t safe. Serial rapi sts and murderers often target prostitute women knowing that they are more likely to get away with it. Labeled criminals by the prostitution laws, women are less likely to report violence for fear of arrest themselves. When sex workers do report, the violence is often dismissed. Here, the same man and his friends gang-raped another woman four days later. Decisions like Deni’s are a green light for further attacks.
The victim in this case was a Black single mother with a young child. In Philadelphia , where one in four people lives in poverty and welfare has been almost completely dismantled, many women have been forced into prostitution to survive. This should not make them fair game for rapi sts .
We are glad that the District Attorney is pursuing the original rape charges. The public can make our voices heard in the November 6 election: vote “No” on the retention of Teresa Carr Deni as Judge of the Municipal Court of Philadelphia.
Mary Kalyna
On behalf of
Global Women’s Strike
Philadelphia , PA
and
Women Against Rape
US PROStitutes Collective
Black Women’s Rape Action Project (BWRAP)
Legal Action for Women
Every Mother is a Working Mother Network
Wages Due Lesbians
Payday Men’s Network