WHAT COUNTS AS "VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN?"
Resource Spotlight: INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence
INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence is a national activist organization of radical feminists of color advancing a movement to end violence against women of color and our communities through direct action, critical dialogue and grassroots organizing.
From the INCITE! website…
INCITE! identifies "violence against women of color" as a combination of "violence directed at communities," such as police violence, war, and colonialism, and "violence within communities," such as rape and domestic violence.
We are told to call the police and rely on the criminal justice system to address violence within our communities. However, if police and prisons facilitate or perpetrate violence against us rather than increase our safety, how do we re-imagine a radical anti-violence movement?
Fact: Although the US has the highest incarceration rate in the world, the mass proliferation of prisons has not lead to a decrease in crime rates, or to a decrease in the amount of violence perpetrated against women. Prisons have never had an effect on decreasing crime in society.
Fact: Over $100 billion is spent each year to support a prison industrial complex from funds that could otherwise go to support education and social services. This money almost equals the amount spent to support the US military industrial complex.
Fact: Communities of color are disproportionately impacted by the criminal justice system. People of color constitute over 70 percent of state and federal prisoners. Over 2/3 of men of color in California between the ages of 18 and 30 have been arrested.
For more information on INCITE! visit: http://www.incite-national.
Also, check out the INCITE! Anthology at the UCSD Women’s Center library….
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