Students raise awareness of rape

by Clayton Woullard
The Metropolitan

As dusk settled on the Auraria campus, more than 50 people came together Friday, Sept. 17 to decry rape and the society that supports it.

Organized by the Metro student protest organization Creative Resistance area on campus, the "Take Back the Night" event held at the Flagpole sought to raise issues about rape, especially in light of events that have taken precedence in the local media in the past year.

(Tara Pearce / The Metropolitan)
The Singin' Grannies perform at the "Take Back the Night" rally Friday, Sept. 17.

Metro student Zo‰ Williams, who was the main organizer of the event, stressed that rape is not just an individual crime against a person.

"Rape is not an individual act of hate," Williams said. "It is a systematically supported crime against humanity and it is a form of gender persecution."

"Take Back the Night" events first started in the United States in 1978 in an attempt to bring local communities together to raise awareness of violence against women and children.

A group of more than 30 students, community members and local activists took to the streets in a march up and down the 16th Street Mall. During the march, protesters chanted messages such as, "Whatever we wear, wherever we go, yes means yes, no means no."

But the protesters didn't carry signs stating the purpose of the march, which caused confusion among bystanders.

"What are they saying?" asked one woman walking down 16th Street.

One man yelled at the procession, "Four more years," while another woman questioned the reason for the rally.

"You need a rally against rape because it is too common and it's condoned by society," said Creative Resistance member Denice Dorchak-Ochola. "The idea that a girl can't wear a short skirt without fearing being raped is ridiculous."

Williams said "Take Back the Night" marches are more for empowering women to feel safe to go out into the night and take back their rights.

Josh Devitt, a 24-year-old local activist who participated in the march, said the rally was mostly for the people who were a part of it.

"I always see marches as more for the participants than (for) making change," Devitt said.

He said he felt compelled to come and speak out against a culture that produces rapists and lets them off easily.

"As a male, I maybe don't have as much right to be here," he said, "but I feel I should be out here to abolish this culture."

In a speech before the march, Williams demanded for an end to a system that systematically supports rapists and violates the rights of rape victims.

"We must dismantle this system," she said. "Safety and autonomy are our right and it's not something you ask for. It's something we demand and we will take back."

She also gave examples of living in a rape state, referring to the case of Los Angeles Lakers player Kobe Bryant, in which he was accused of raping a 19-year-old Eagle woman last summer. The criminal case was dismissed earlier this month.

"We saw that woman's sexual history used against her, for making legitimate sexual decisions, for making social decisions, we saw her medical records get brought up against her," Williams said. "That is a sign of a rape state."

Several other speakers discussed violence against women and children before the march.

Among them was Denise de Percin, Executive Director of the Colorado Anti-Violence Program, who said that after all the time "Take Back The Night" rallies have been held, not enough has been done to end violence against women and children.

"Twenty-five years is long enough to make some progress and we have made some progress but we haven't made nearly enough progress," de Percin said.

She also read off a list of things she would like to take back including the media, the state and U.S. legislatures and the right to her own body.

"It's my body actually," she said, "and I can't figure out why the conservative right wants the government out of everything except for my uterus."

Metro political science professor Dr. Oneida Meranto also spoke and said while "Take Back The Night" rallies have aimed to end violence against women, she said sadly that is not the case as it has increased during the past 25 years.

"They (the events) do encourage women and get support to women that they should continue to report these kind of incidences," Meranto said. "We also hope to raise the level of consciousness about abuse throughout the world."

She said a large part of the rape problem in American culture has to do with political systems and how the two political parties, Democrat and Republican, have tried to end abuse.

"The Democrats do see abuse of women and children as a problem and historically how they've tried to solve it is throw money at us," she said. "They may do very little to really solve the problem, but...they do assist us with the victims in shelters and food and education."

She said Republicans on the other hand, don't try to do anything.

"The Republicans believe the free market will solve virtually every problem we have in this country," she said. "They would not even define that there is a problem and that abuse is a problem."

Creative Resistance member Mikel Stone said the rally definitely was a community-building event, but that it also was to affect change.

"I think the more we make a ruckus, the greater chance we have to wake people up to dissent," Stone said.