I came across a copy of Hands Off!! A Quarterly Forum of Bay Area Women Against Rape from Fall 1981. It was fascinating to read in part because it is unfathomable that any of the articles would appear in a newsletter of today’s mainstream anti-sexual assault or domestic violence organizations. It highlights the difference between an anti-violence movement and what we have today which is a social service field. Throughout the publication, there is an explicit effort to downplay involvement and cooperation with law enforcement. Times have surely changed… Regular readers are well aware of my thoughts about the anti gender-based violence “movement’s” embrace of the carceral state. The article below featuring information about the Black Women’s Anti-Violence Project underscores the reality that community accountability approaches for addressing harm are not new.

It’s 11:30 p.m. — the crisis line rings. A panicky Elaine C. explains as small, shrieking voices confirm the scene: someone’s beaten her, raped her. She’s badly bruised, bleeding, hurting all over.

Embarrassed witnesses turn away; friends sympathize, but can’t see a way to help. Nowhere to turn.

But Elaine’s seen a number — 652-0339 — the Black Women’s Anti-Violence Project, organized by Black women for Black women who experience rape, incest or beatings. She called.

The Problem

Combating violence against Black women is a complicated matter. A Black woman’s initial response to violence, generally, is to turn to police systems — an historical enemy. For a Black woman, calling the police amounts to compounding the violence, confronting authorities that rarely help, confuse issues and generally aggravate an already bad situation.

But now there is an alternative: The Black Women’s Anti-Violence Project (BWAVP), a group of East Bay women who believe it takes Black women — with knowledge of community resources and response strategies — to help other Black women.

Mary Mathis, project co-founder, explained: “There are enemies in our communities. Black women are not one of them. And we cannot afford to cast Black men as an enemy, either. Black women are the only people with legitimate motives, perspective and information to address the rising incidence of violence against us.”

Mathis continued: “The daily Black experience confirms and contributes to growing fears, resentments, frustration and rage. Oftentimes that emotion wells over into violence generally targeting those even more vulnerable: Black women and Black children.”

But there is another important reason to stop the violence that goes beyond even the critical concern for individual safety and family unity.

“Violence against Black women serves the broad purpose of supremacists thought: as long as Black men and Black women battle one another, a People remain divided. A People, so preoccupied, cannot focus attention on their true enemy. So a divided people, in essential terms, is a conquered People. We must face this; we must stop this,” Mathis concluded.

Services

BWAVP assists Black women survivors of incest, rape and battery in three ways: (1) by offering counseling that meets personal needs for support, self-validation and objective insight; (2) by presenting self-protection and self-help workshops as a means of ending the violent embrace; and (3) by directing women to specific resources serving targeted needs.

The Project crisis line connects callers with trained Black women ready to deal with current violence and help identify ways to prevent future violence.

“Many of our Project volunteers are survivors of rape, incest or beatings who found ways to protect themselves. We’ve organized to share strategies with women who aren’t aware of ways to protect themselves,” commented Joyce Penalver, Project co-founder.

BWAVP offers callers a complete picture of community services and resources, but certain involvements, such as police system involvements, are downplayed.

“The Project emphasizes strategies to heighten community awareness of the impact of rape, incest, and battery and to refocus this aggression on its true target,” stated Joyletta Alice, Project co-founder. “It would be self-sabotage and patently ridiculous to encourage involvements serving non-productive purposes.”

BWAVP provides free, confidential information and services to Black women of all ages, communities, and lifestyles. The goal is to unite Black women around a shared concern: violence against our person.

BWAVP is recruiting Black women interested in acting for the benefit of all Black women. Call 652-0339 for service information, counseling and details on how to get involved.

One immediately notices the importance placed on the fact that BWAVP volunteers are survivors of violence. This is seen as a value-added. Today, the anti-violence field has become so professionalized that some agencies actually discourage survivor disclosures. Also, the BWAVP welcomes survivors of sexual AND domestic violence. This seems quaint today but there was a time when women tried to address violence holistically. Today we have rape crisis centers and domestic violence organizations who operate separately and rarely intersect. In real life though, most of us do not experience violence in silos… The excerpt is so rich that I can go on for several more paragraphs analyzing it but I will stop here.

My friend, the brilliant Dr. Beth Richie, has written a wonderful book titled Arrested Justice: Black Women, Violence, and America’s Prison Nation. The book addresses the anti-violence against women & girls movement’s embrace of the carceral state. You can watch Beth speaking last week at a conference at the University of Berkeley about these issues: