be bold be brave be red stop the violence
Recent events in the United States have moved us to action. Violence against women is sadly, not a new phenomenon in our country or in the world, however, in the last year women of color have experienced brutal forms of violence, torture, rape and injustice which have gone unnoticed, received little to no media coverage, or a limited community response. We are responding to:
- The brutal and inhumane rape, torture, and kidnapping of Megan Williams in Logan, West Virginia who was held by six assailants for a month.
- Rape survivors in the Dunbar Housing Projects in West Palm Beach, Florida one of whom was forced to perform sexual acts on her own child.
- A 13 year old native American girl was beaten by two white women and has since been harassed by several men yelling “white power” outside of her home
- Seven black lesbian girls attempted to stop an attacker and were latter charged with aggravated assault and are facing up to 11 year prison sentences
In a Litany of Survival, Audre Lorde writes, “When we are silent, we are still afraid. So it is better to speak remembering we were never meant to survive.” These words shape our collective organizing to break the silence surrounding women of color’s stories of violence. We are asking for community groups, grass-root organizations, college campus students and groups, communities of faith, online communities, and individuals to join us in speaking out against violence against women of color. If we speak, we cannot be invisible.
Join us and stand up to violence against women!
- Be bold, be brave, be red. Wear red on October 31, 2007. Take a picture or video of yourself and friends wearing red. Send it to: beboldbered@gmail.com. We’ll post it!
- Take Your Red to the Streets! Know of a location where violence occurred against a woman of color? Have a public location where you feel women of color are often ignored? Make violence against women of color visible by decorating the space in red. Be sure to send us pictures and or video of your display!
- Rally! Gather your friends, family, and community to rally. Check out the Document the Silence website for the litany we’re asking participants to read together on October 31st. Be sure to send us pictures and/or video of the event! You could even gather where you created a display!
For more Information on how to Host a RED Rally, please click on the page “How to Host a Red Rally.”
- Share your story of silence. Share your own story of silence by uploading it to the Document the Silence website (https://documentthesilence.wordpress.com/). You can send a story in any form you’d like – as a written statement, video clip, movie, documentary, or visual art. Our goal is to document the silences within our relationships, homes, families, communities, jobs, schools, faith communities, governments, and within our world. We want you to share your story of injustice. Stories that the media, elected officials, self-appointed leaders, and organizations ignore. To upload videos and visual art pieces, please email them to: beboldbered@gmail.com
- Find an event to attend with an organization for Women of Color on the Document the Silence website.
- Be an ally. Visit the Document the Silence website to download and read resources about how to be an ally and support to women of color in your community.
Download the Be Bold Be Red Flyer and pass it on to many people (i.e. Email it, post it everywhere). Click on the link below to download the flyer, wear_red_flyer1.pd
- Participate in a Stopping the Violence, Finding Strategies for Healing Town Hall Meeting. Individuals and organizations are asked to sponsor discussion groups on how to effectively address and end violence against women of color. Town Hall Meetings are designed to: document the silences surrounding women of color stories of violence; create “safe spaces” for both women and men to share their stories; and outline ways that people can stay in engaged and make a difference within their own communities. To help facilitate these discussions, we are asking organizations and individuals:
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- Show the short movie clip, How Do We Keep a Social Movement Alive?, before beginning the discussion about violence committed against women of color. http://www.jumpcut.com/view?id=E44BFBCE67BF11DC9030000423CF037A
- Download the resources and activities, which can be found on our website.
If it is DIFFICULT TO HOST A Red RALLY/GATHERING, PLEASE WEAR RED, GET WITH YOUR FRIENDS and at 8:00 pm CENTRAL READ in Unison the “OUT OF SILENCE LITANY” BECAUSE PEOPLE FROM ACROSS THE NATION WILL BE DOING THE same thing. Please take Pictures and/or Video and EMAIL us at beboldbered@gmail.com, so that we can upload them on the website. After October 31, 2007, we want to flood the web with pictures and video of Red!!! Download Litany
Stop the violence, End the silence!!!!
Vodpod videos no longer available.
Document the Silence 
Georgia’s Angels said…
Today I’m feeling very emotional.I have been forced to remember October 19, 1964, the day of my 9th grade graduation trip and the day my best friend died. Susie was fourteen and taking a short cut through Branch Brook Park to take film to the drug store of pictures we had taken at the world’s Fair;she was raped and stabbed fourteen times. Over the years violence against girls and women has increased and as back then very little was said about it. I even recall some of the church women asking “what was she doing in the park?”, as if that should justify someone killing her. I believe that unless women take a stand against violence against girls and and women for any reason we will never see and end to this horror. I, my daughter, and granddaughters will wear red. I’m going to wear red in memory of my friend. I’m going to ask everyone I know including some of our female elected officials to participate in this observance. After reading this blog I went to look and see what I owned that was red. I am from the Moses generation, in those days the Pentecostal faith preached against women who wore red. I remember being told once “you got on red shoes and a red dress like a full fledge whore” I was sixteen had no knowledge of what see meant. I stopped wearing red for twenty years after that. I thought about the movie Women of Brewster Place and how Jack’ee was dressed in red when she attracted the attention of the good minister. What I know today that I didn’t know yesterday is that the color of her dress was not the issue, she was vulnerable and he took full advantage of that fact. Yes I’ll wear red from head to toe for all the women that have died without justice,but more for those who will die unless we do something and it needs to happen right away.
[…] On physical forms of violence against women of color and the unnoticed community responses and attention to violence against women of color in the last couple of months, please join Document the Silence Be Bold Be Brave Be Red Stop the Violence on October 31st. […]
Injustice against Black men is fought by Black women, yet many our our Black men are complacent and have become the enemy when it comes to loving, nurturing, protecting, and providing for those of us who have fought for them for so long. Consequently, we can no longer sit and wait for them to “stand up and man up” while we are disrespected, dishonored, and killed by both them and others. This is the “New Age of Enlightenment” and all those who choose to both walk and live in the darkness may continue to do so knowing that, despite, their ignorance and non-compliance with the divinity of our creation, God is on our side! For where there is “right” there is light…and within the light is where many Black women today are choosing to go and remain strong and victorious whether it be with our Black men or without them.
I’ll be sure to spread the word to my students. We should organize a silent protest on campus, in the tradition of Women in Black, except we will be “Women in Red.” Any ideas for guerrilla theatre?
[…] Be bold, be brave, be red. Stop the violence. From the Document the Silence website: […]
[…] The Blog Document the Silence wants to raise support for more action against crimes being perpetuated on women of color in the […]
I wear red for Diane who was physically abused by her husband;
I wear red for Wanda whose children were physically abused by their father;
I wear red for Spicy Fire who was emotionally and verbally abused by her husband;
I wear red for Singing Fire whose son was physically abused by her boyfriend;
I wear red for Sensitive Fire whose husband physically abused her for years;
I wear red for Spanish Fire whose partner abused her;
I wear red because Miles abused Cicely;
I wear red because O.J. abused and killed Nicole;
I wear red for the women who have been raped in Iraq;
I wear red for the women who have been raped in Sudan;
I wear red for the babies in South Africa raped by adult AIDS victims;
I wear red because I was raped by my husband; and
I wear red because I will be silent no more.
I wear red for myself who was assaulted by my ex-husband.
I am so glad someone is finally paying attention to women issues. Volence against women is not just a black thing, it’s helping to women of all races, and it’s time that we as women take the bull by horns ourselves. We have the power within ourselves to change our history of volence and abuse.
This is amazing….I am wearing red for my mother who was abused by my dad.
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.
<a href=”http:www.NOtheRapeDocumentary.org
[…] other procrastinators out there, Boing Boing’s got a pretty good and easy idea for you. Or, you could make a different sort of statement today by wearing red. And for everyone else: are you dressing up? If so, as […]
[…] more info, or ways to participate see the site. Bookmark […]
Kindly upload this movie clip to YouTube.com, if you are willing/able, in order to further its viral effect.
Keep on keepin’ on!
aN
[…] remembering we were never meant to survive.” These words shape the collective organizing of Document the Silence to break the silence surrounding stories of violence. We are asking for community groups, grassroot […]
[…] I said in an earlier post, I support the ongoing efforts of these young activist through Be Bold. Be Brave. Be Red. to raise consciousness and to get women of color to show their solidarity with women everywhere […]
I wear red to symbolize my own story and all of the stories other women have shared that live in me.
[…] Be Bold, Be Red. […]