Be bold



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 later charged with aggravated assault and are facing up to 11 year prison sentences.

We are asking the Christian faith community, particularly women of color ministers, seminarians and laypersons, to wear RED and join us in speaking out against violence against women of color on October 31, 2007. By standing in solidarity, we are committing to breaking the silence in our churches, in our communities, in our country and the world. 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. If we speak, we cannot be invisible.

Our Goals

▪ To bring more visibility to the issue of violence against women of color.

▪ To garner support for women of color organizations who address violence against women daily.

▪ To document women of color experiences with violence in order to hold our elected and self-appointed leaders accountable for their silence.

Ways to take action on October 31:

▪ Be bold, be brave, be red. Wear red on October 31, 2007.

▪ Read the LITANY during your Wednesday night Bible study or mid-week worship service on October 31. Across the country, women will be reading with you. We will not be silent! The litany can be found on page 4.

▪ Have a Bible study focused on the topic of women and violence. Use the listed resources on page 3 as guides.

▪ Organize Women in Red Against Violence small groups through your church women’s ministry. Use the small groups as a way of providing consistent “safe space” for women to speak openly about their experiences with violence after October 31. Invite women of color organizations that address issues of violence to make presentations during small group discussions.

▪ After raising awareness at your church, make a donation in support of women of color victims of violence or organize an ongoing outreach project at a women’s shelter in your area. See page 2 for donation information.

Ways to document the silence:

▪ Share your story of silence. Women in your congregation, seminary and community can share their own stories of silence by uploading them to the Document the Silence website (). You can send a story in any form you’d like, ie. 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@

▪ Participate in a Stopping the Violence, Finding Strategies for Healing Town Hall Meeting. Sponsor meeting 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 show the short movie clip, How Do We Keep a Social Movement Alive?, before beginning the discussion about violence committed against women of color. This clip can be downloaded through the following link:

▪

Important Side Notes:

▪ October 31, 2007 is a significant date for this campaign. It is a day when much of the nation is focused on “fake” and “imagined” terrors. But on this day, we want to bring attention to the very REAL terror of violence inflicted upon women of color across this country everyday.

▪ The coalition of women who are working on the Be Bold. Be Brave. Be Red Stop the Violence campaign are an ad hoc group dedicated to amplifying and making visible the work that so many women of color organizations engage in daily to end violence against women of color.

Donation Information

▪ Donations for Megan Williams:

Please make checks in the name of Megan Walana Williams Trust. You can deposit your check at any Chase Bank nationwide. According to the family representative, this is the only place where Megan is to receive funds.

▪ Donations for the Dunbar Village Survivors:

Checks can be made payable to the Dunbar Village Victim Assistance Fund-St. Ann. They can be dropped off at any Wachovia branch or mailed to: St. Ann Catholic Church, 310 N. Olive Ave., West Palm Beach, FL 33401. The church’s phone number is (561) 832-3757.

Resources for Bible Studies and Small Group Discussions

▪ Monica A. Coleman.

The Dinah Project: A Handbook for Congregational Response to Sexual Violence. The Pilgrim Press. 2004.

▪ Marie M. Fortune. Keeping the Faith: Guidance for Christian Women Facing Abuse.

HarperOne. 1995.

▪ Al Miles.

Domestic Violence: What Every Pastor Needs to Know. Augsburg Fortress Publishers. 2000.

▪ Pamela Cooper-White.

The Cry of Tamar: Violence Against Women and the Church’s Response. Augsburg Fortress Publishers. 2006.

▪ Renita J. Weems.

Battered Love: Marriage, Sex, and Violence in the Hebrew Prophets. Fortress Press. 1995.

▪ Traci West.

Wounds of the Spirit: Black Women, Violence and Resistance Ethics. NYU Press. 1999.

▪ Black Church and Domestic Violence Institute Website



These resources are by no means an exhaustive list of resources on the topic of women, violence and religion/the church. Feel free to use these resources as a way of beginning your research and exploration of this topic.

WE WILL CRY OUT: A LITANY AGAINST SILENCE

Leader:

Oh God, our Creator, our Liberator, our Healer

One who takes away of the sins of the world

The People:

There is a sound of wailing women in the land

They are dark and beautiful women who cry out: wanting to testify to the rape, wanting to mourn over the torture, wanting to show witness to the abuse

But because we are a people who have eyes, but do not see and who have ears, but do not hear

wailing women are crying out in the silence

Leader:

From West Palm Beach, Florida to Logan, West Virginia, from Newark, New Jersey to Lewiston, Idaho, our silence is deafening. It is “heard” reverberating through the television, the music, and the internet. The silence enshrouds our churches, our homes, and our schools.

The People:

Yet, though we are silent, women of color are still being wounded by violence and injustice:

the physical pain

the emotional shame

the auction block

Leader:

Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of my poor people not been restored?

The People:

There is a balm in Gilead

A balm that restores our sight, a balm that restores our hearing

There is a balm in Gilead

A balm that restores the wounded, making them whole

Leader:

Once immobilized by silence, the balm mobilizes us in collective voice and action

In honor of our ancestors, our grandmothers, our mothers, our sisters, our daughters

We will hear the cries of the women and we will join them in prayer, in mourning and in testifying against the violence against women.

The People:

To the thick drumbeat of the struggle, O God, we will sing of your steadfast love and justice forever. We will cry out against the violence. We will not be silent.

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