Jim Andris, Facebook

WOMEN TAKE BACK THE NIGHT, 1979

some thoughts by Clare

This is a section of the article "Take Back the Night" in Moonstorm #22 Oct 80

Probably the largest attended feminist event here in recent years was the June 9th WTBN march and rally. 1200 women gathered in Forest Park, marched through the park and the West End and got a lot of media attention. The publicity for the march emphasized that the issue of violence against women crosses racial and class lines and as with many feminist events recently, the mostly white planning committee made an effort to publicize in the Black media. Still, 95% of the women attending the march were white. The racial make-up indicates to me that groups that are dominated by white feminists are not going to succeed in organizing events that Black women identify with, even if the issue "crosses racial lines".

If we think about it, we can see how the planning of the march shows a lack of consciousness about racism. Since no other strategy for ending violence against women was presented, "law and order" crackdowns can be the implied solution called for by this type of demonstration. But the police and criminal justice system are so laced with racism that they cannot be seen as a solution to the violence in Black women’s lives. The facts are that violence against women is a serious problem for all women, but the racism of the white women’s movement prevents much unified action by Black and white women.

Most people recognize blatant racism when they see it, but the more subtle racism of ignoring everything that happens in the Black community is harder for us to come to terms with. As an example, at the same time as the WTBN was being planned and carried out, a serious blow was leveled at the Black community of St. Louis. On April 17th, 1979 the Mayor announced that the city was going to close Homer G. Phillips Hospital, pretty much the only full health care facility serving the entire predominately Black North Side. Since that April 17th date continuous organizing has been going on to force the Mayor to reverse his decision. Because the public health care system both employs and serves a lot of women, the employee and communitee support is largely from women. It is definitely an issue that Black women are organizing around. In fact, Black women activists have been saying for years that health care is a crucial issue, yet their words seem to be falling on deaf ears in the white feminist community.