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  Posted By:
  congobro at 04/14/2008 4:59:29 AM
  Comment:
  Thanks for the article Dr. Harris-Lacewell. It would be great if we were also able to stand with Black women on a global scale, bearing witness to our stories and holding one another accountable. The greatest mass rapes taking place today occur on the African continent in the Congo so that we in the West can benefit from modern amenities such as cell phones, computers and video games. http://www.friendsofthecongo.org/reports/women.php
  
  Let's take the concern and accountability global. contact friends@freindsofcongo.org for more info.
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  Posted By:
  congobro at 04/14/2008 3:57:38 AM
  Comment:
  Thanks for the article Dr. Harris-Lacewell. It would be great if we were also able to stand with Black women on a global scale, bearing witness to our stories and holding one another accountable. The greatest mass rapes taking place today occur on the African continent in the Congo so that we in the West can benefit from modern amenities such as cell phones, computers and video games. http://www.friendsofthecongo.org/reports/women.php
  
  Let's take the concern and accountability global. contact friends@freindsofcongo.org for more info.
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  Posted By:
  Lara Ayad at 04/13/2008 12:16:12 AM
  Comment:
  I want to say first, I am really happy with this whole project, with the article, with the fact that you came out and talked about this. But, but, but, I am sensing here in this article the assumption that black fathers, uncles, brothers, etc. (the men in your lives) don't "typically" rape and molest women in their families/lives. This is a very dangerous assumption. We all know that 80% of rape victims were attacked by men they knew and trusted. Our fathers, brothers, lovers, etc. are VERY accountable for the violence they use upon us. Just because black men are oppressed on account of their race it does NOT mean they do not use their male privilege to abuse and hurt women. No Andre, I am not "feeling" you. Stop trying to tell women to shut up about their experiences, by trying to silence black women, by telling them they should keep this on the down low, you are telling them "their" issues are not as important. I also want to add, I cannot stand the fact that a man who has committed domestic violence, Kevin Powell, can actually constructively speak out against said violence. How can a man that has so much hatred of women to the extent that he would hurt women in his life be effective in speaking out against it? And I also find very dangerous the belief that men should be the ones fighting this "for" women:
  
  "The Brooklyn gathering was a model of how black men can help create safe spaces for us. It was a reminder that men can exert power and reclaim manhood by standing with black women,"
  
  Men cannot create safe spaces for you, women have to create safe woman-only spaces. In our patriarchal culture it is absolutely imperative that women create women-only spaces for them to be safe. And is this what we should care about in the end? Preserving men's masculinity? Is that really the most important thing in the world? Not above women's safety, I don't think :/
  I apologize for coming off as so critical and harsh, because I really do think this project and speaking out and the support of black men are important, but over and over again I keep hearing a "what-about-the-menz" tone in this writing and it is very anti-feminist and very counter-intuitive. If these men truly did care about women's rights and preventing sexual violence they would be willing to sacrifice their male privilege in order to do so. It should not be black women's responsibility to "preserve" black men's "manhood" while trying to fight for their rights.
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  Posted By:
  brownskinblue at 04/12/2008 1:03:08 PM
  Comment:
  The work that both Ms. Simmons and Mr. Powell are doing sounds incredible, and I'm so glad to hear brothas offering their support on this very important topic. I work with young people in the high school environment, and some of the attitudes they have about this very topic reminds me of how big and in-depth the problem is, relative to notions of power and responsibility. Thank you for writing about this--indeed, let's keep this dialogue going!
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  Posted By:
  AJ1970 at 04/12/2008 9:36:21 AM
  Comment:
  Um.. didn't the author say at the beginning that rape has always been a man's narrative in our community? I thought she was critiquing this, but then this story turned out to be all about the righteous men who stand with the women who have been raped. While I am happy to know that such men exist-- even if, like Powell, the may have been violent in the past-- it was a little disheartening to see how an article about black women surviving rape, or talking about rape, ends up being "let's hear it for the boy!"
  
  
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  Posted By:
  ProfChris at 04/11/2008 10:27:57 PM
  Comment:
  I stopped off at Howard University to buy up some tee shirts because I was tired of my wife stealing my Princeton and Georgetown stuff to sleep in. While there I spoke to a student who had been my escort at the bookstore and campus during a recent booksigning. She asked how it was to teach at Georgetown. She told me that at "white schools" there's all this "date rape." I asked her what the situation was at HU. She scrunched up her nose and said there was a 3-1 female-male ratio at the school so why would a boy want to rape anyone? Remembering that she was 19 and didn't know a damn thing about the world, I asked her: "But it happens, right?" She shrugged and said: "I mean, nobody's tearing anyone'sclothes off in an alley. That might go on [across Georgia Ave in the hood] but not on campus." I told her that isn't what date is. It can take a lot of forms. Any sexual activity without your consent/coerced. I got another shrug. Then she bit her lower lip. I nodded, knowingly. Yes, it's time to talk.
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  Posted By:
  ProfChris at 04/11/2008 10:27:45 PM
  Comment:
  I stopped off at Howard University to buy up some tee shirts because I was tired of my wife stealing my Princeton and Georgetown stuff to sleep in. While there I spoke to a student who had been my escort at the bookstore and campus during a recent booksigning. She asked how it was to teach at Georgetown. She told me that at "white schools" there's all this "date rape." I asked her what the situation was at HU. She scrunched up her nose and said there was a 3-1 female-male ratio at the school so why would a boy want to rape anyone? Remembering that she was 19 and didn't know a damn thing about the world, I asked her: "But it happens, right?" She shrugged and said: "I mean, nobody's tearing anyone'sclothes off in an alley. That might go on [across Georgia Ave in the hood] but not on campus." I told her that isn't what date is. It can take a lot of forms. Any sexual activity without your consent/coerced. I got another shrug. Then she bit her lower lip. I nodded, knowingly. Yes, it's time to talk.
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  Posted By:
  ProfChris at 04/11/2008 10:27:03 PM
  Comment:
  I stopped off at Howard University to buy up some tee shirts because I was tired of my wife stealing my Princeton and Georgetown stuff to sleep in. While there I spoke to a student who had been my escort at the bookstore and campus during a recent booksigning. She asked how it was to teach at Georgetown. She told me that at "white schools" there's all this "date rape." I asked her what the situation was at HU. She scrunched up her nose and said there was a 3-1 female-male ratio at the school so why would a boy want to rape anyone? Remembering that she was 19 and didn't know a damn thing about the world, I asked her: "But it happens, right?" She shrugged and said: "I mean, nobody's tearing anyone'sclothes off in an alley. That might go on [across Georgia Ave in the hood] but not on campus." I told her that isn't what date is. It can take a lot of forms. Any sexual activity without your consent/coerced. I got another shrug. Then she bit her lower lip. I nodded, knowingly. Yes, it's time to talk.
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  Posted By:
  duboisist at 04/11/2008 7:19:47 PM
  Comment:
  What are you talking about?
  Because YOU haven't talked about rape doesn't mean that "black people" don't talk about rape (in particular) or crime, violence and/or sexism (in general). There has been decades of both academic research and practical application of this and many other issues that "black people don't talk about" that has been going on for DECADES.
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  Posted By:
  De Hill Man at 04/11/2008 1:27:50 PM
  Comment:
  Its about time that black people open up about a lot. Our semi-shared history had left us trying to protect each other and ourselves from outside dangers but also prevents us from examining whats truly going on in the minds our "our"people and it leaves us at a HUGE disadvantage because we are not being truthful about who we are for fear of "Airing the dirty laundry". We are black people but we are people first and we manifest and are infested and infected by the same glories and Ills of all the other people walking this eart, no matter how hard it is to admit and address. I know more than one black woman who has been sexually assaulted in some way and there need to be a space to speak about it, without having to carry the guilt, image or issues of an entire race into the conversations. Being one and trying to do a good job of being a man, Im a huge advocate of not beating down black men at every turn as i often see, BUT black men also have to be able to speak about the ills, especially if you want to walk around accepting the praises.
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  Posted By:
  G Bitch at 04/10/2008 10:30:10 AM
  Comment:
  We have to look realistically and honestly at who is served by the don't-air-dirty-laundry, you're-making-our-men-look-bad beliefs and hostile confrontations that complicate or prevent this discussion about and solutions to violence against black women by black men--it benefits the rapists and abusers, not women, not the race as a whole. And it serves those abusive men badly by allowing them to stay locked in destructive patterns and drag any number of women and children down with them. No one wins, we all suffer, and we tell each other to shut up. Sad.
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  Posted By:
  charitynation at 04/10/2008 7:59:43 AM
  Comment:
  I found this to be a very powerful article. As a survivor of incest,. one of the things that I found interesting is that other black people would often tell me that while they were happy I shared my abuse, that it wasn't something that should be talked about, say, at a "Take Back the Night" event or even with my family. It's the secrecy of abuse that kills the spirit, and it seems like because our need to protect black men we override our need for individual healing when they are the perpetrators.
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  Posted By:
  blackpearl at 04/10/2008 6:38:01 AM
  Comment:
  It's not just happening here in America, check out The Greatest Silence: Rape in Congo. Black women are victimized all over the globe. Until we are seen as human beings and not second class citizens (to other ethnic groups and to men), this will continue.