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To end rape culture

N.C.-based coalition calls march

Published Apr 1, 2007 11:57 PM

On March 13, 2006, a woman of color who is a mother, veteran, honor student and sex worker was raped and sodomized in Durham, N.C. The survivor was assaulted at a party thrown by members of the Duke University lacrosse team. She and another entertainer were hired to dance at the party and instead were subjected to sexual assault and racial slurs.

She reported the assault shortly after the incident. Instead of being believed and supported, this survivor was faced with accusations, blame and disbelief, like so many survivors before her. Communities were shaken by the event and the responses that followed. Frustrations built and the country was divided over details of the assault instead of being united to combat rape culture as a whole. Many of the accused perpetrators, who are white males, have since been welcomed back to Duke University and the lacrosse team. Some these men are seen as victims of false accusations and slander, taking the focus off of the survivor and the assault itself.

A little more than a year after the infamous Duke lacrosse rape case, a coalition of eight organizations in North Carolina are working together to create a world free from sexual violence and all other forms of oppression.

A march, entitled “Creating a World Without Sexual Violence, National Day of Truthtelling,” is to take place in Durham, N.C., on April 28. The organizations responsible for this day of action are Raleigh FIST (Fight Imperialism, Stand Together), UBUNTU, Men Against Rape Culture, SpiritHouse, Southerners On New Ground, Independent Voices, Black Workers For Justice and the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

Messages of the day include “We Believe Survivors” and “End Rape Culture”. The coalition leading this effort to end rape culture is led mostly by survivors, women of color and individuals who are or once were in the sex work industry. This dynamic is to address how one cannot battle sexual violence without understanding the influence of racism, sexism, imperialism and capitalism on rape culture.

Organize within your community to join this effort to bring rape culture to an end on April 28 in Durham, N.C. For more information, including how to endorse this event, visit [email protected] or email the coalition at [email protected]

The writer is a member of the Raleigh FIST—Fight Imperialism, Stand Together—youth group.