Take Back the Night!

On the evening of August 21st 2006 the Downtown Women’s Action Coalition launched its first Take Back the Night! Take Back the Night is an international rally and march
that is organized in local communities with the purpose of unifying women, men, and children in an awareness of violence against women, children and families. Take Back the Night rallies and marches began in England as a protest against the fear that women encountered walking the streets at night. The United States hosted its first Take Back the Night in San Francisco in 1978. Downtown residents and workers marched in solidarity showing that we do not tolerate violence and to confront the rapes, sexual violence, domestic violence, and other violence against women and children here in our community.

DWAC—responding to an alarming statistic that seven out of ten women in our community has been subjected to interpersonal violence in their lifetimes—set out on an aggressive campaign last September to end violence against women in our community. DWAC has taken the message to the streets, hotels and shelters that we will no longer tolerate violence against women. Throughout the year, DWAC has connected with international events such as White Ribbon Day--which is the largest effort led by men working in partnership and solidarity with women to end men’s violence against women worldwide; produced a community-based version of Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues to help bring the community and its many supporters face-to-face with the realities of pain, joy and strength that are shared by women; and built a community-based infrastructure that can adequately respond to the unacceptable levels of violence which led to the convening of trainings that will increase the capacity of an entire community to deal with violence.

After these successful events, we thought we’d try to Take Back the Night. There were so many people in “7 out of 10” white t-shirts in the street! Everyone who came and also joined the march along the way was so positive. It was great how so many people participated in the speak-out at the end of the march, in which some shared their stories of loved ones they lost to violence or as victims themselves. Now that we have started, it will become an annual event! This is a time to say "we are here to assert that all human beings have the right to be free from violence, the right to be heard, and the right to reclaim those rights if they are violated."