To end the violence

To end the silence

To end our complicity

Violence against women, here in the US andthe world over, is not new. But much of it – perhaps most especially violence against women of color, poor women, queer women, sex workers – has gone undetected, unaddressed. In an effort to address the deafening silence, Document the Silence has called for a day of wearing red to “be bold be brave be red stop the violence.”

Audre Lord: When we speak, we are afraid our words will not be heard or welcomed. But when we are silent we are still afraid. So it is better to speak.

Aishah Shahidah Simmons (in a comment): 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.