Pull out your calendars…

We’ve got two Save the Dates for you!

*Seattle Young People's Project Auction*
Save the Date for our Annual Auction!

*Saturday,  May 8th 2010
Asian Resource Center
5-9pm

*We're looking for Table Captains, Dessert Donor, Volunteers!
Email Jeremy (jeremy@sypp.org) or Sahar (sahar@sypp.org)
to sign up! Or call us at (206) 860-9606

and...

*CARA's Annual Wine & Roses Fundraiser*
*Sat. May 29, 2010
7-9pm (doors open at 6pm)
NW African American Museum
2300 S Massachusetts St. Seattle, WA  98144 

http://naamnw.org/directions.html

$45 per person
Honored Guest: Dr. Maxine Mimm* Join us as we commemorate another
year of grassroots anti-violence activism! We will honor our
legacy as a black women led organization with a community award
to Dr. Maxine Mimms. Dr. Mimms' pioneering work led to the founding
of the Tacoma Campus of Evergreen State College. She is known to
many black women for her passion and perseverance. CARA is very
pleased to have this legendary community beacon as our honored
guest of the evening. We will also celebrate the organizations
that have significantly supported CARA over the last year.

RSVP early! Send your checks to CARA, c/o Wine & Roses
801-23rd Ave S, Suite G-1, Seattle, WA 98144.

									

Precious Teach-In Flyer

BTS Statement on the Vagina Monologues

Dear Seattle University and community members,

As you may be aware, Seattle University is sponsoring a production of Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues (VM) and is donating the proceeds to the Northwest Network. Break the Silence is a club on campus that supports  self-determination, destigmatizing sexuality, anti-oppression advocacy and activism, and working against sexualized violence. We support community-based efforts that prioritize the liberation of all peoples, especially organizing occurring within our local community. Examples of this work include: Communities Against Rape and Abuse, the Asian & Pacific Islander Women & Family Safety Center and the Northwest Network of Bi, Trans, Lesbian and Gay Survivors of Abuse.

However, in light of Domestic Violence Awareness Week here at Seattle University, we are compelled to issue the following statement:

In light of our commitment to the principles and organizing efforts listed above, Break the Silence does not support or endorse the Vagina Monologues as a means of advocacy and activism. Across the United States and specifically at Seattle University, productions of the VM have continued to cast white women as women of color and gender normative women as trans women. Ensler’s Vagina Monologues itself fundamentally distorts the voices of marginalized women by allowing women with relative privilege to speak for them, which falsely sends the message that marginalized populations need people with privilege to speak on their behalf.  Break the Silence takes the position that it is problematic to have a cast of actresses playing roles that they do not identify as or fully understand.  Additionally, by not providing adequate context for the complex struggles facing marginalized people, the Monologues enhance highly oppressive stereotypes, for example, the docility of Korean comfort women, the aggressive sexuality of Black populations, the victimizing of Muslim women and the sexual deviancy of queer/trans folks.   As VM seek to showcase the experience of the ‘other’, these voices are tokenized and are ultimately produced for a white gender-normative American audience.

We support Domestic Violence Awareness Week but do not support any production of Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues.

In struggle,
the Break the Silence Collective

A Precious Moment: A Teach-In About the Film Precious

SAVE the DATE:

Wednesday March 3rd, 2009 at 6:3
Seattle University(Exact Location TBA)

There will be a panel covering a variety of perspectives on the film, including social work, health care, anti-racism education, and community organizing.

Panelists will be including:

Aaliyah Messiah
Program Director at Konnect II at People of Color Against Aids Network
www.pocaan.org/konnect

Amber Rasberry
Creative Executive for 34th Street Films with Tyler Perry Studios

Dr. Mako Fitts
Seattle University Sociologist & Board President with Communities Against Rape and Abuse
www.cara-seattle.org

Scott Winn, MSW
UW Social Work Professor & Community Activist with the Coalition of Anti-Racist Whites