Color of Violence: The INCITE! Anthology

336 Pages·2006·36.96 MB·English

by  Incite! Women of Color Against Violence

Praise for Color of Violence: The INCITE! Anthology
“Color of Violence is a fantastic anthology from an amazing organization — it’s a
must-read for academics, activists, and everyone in between!”
— J essica Valenti, author of Full Frontal Feminism
and co-founder of feministing.com
“Anyone who’s complacent about the successes of the feminist movement should dip
into this collection . . . about the women left behind, left out, or simply forgotten.”
— Publishers Weekly
“Color of Violence . . . boldly challenges conventional feminist thought and contem-
porary antiviolence initiatives. . . . [Its] contributors reveal necessary truths about
the failures of traditional social service and criminal justice–oriented approaches
to ending violence against women. . . . INCITE! challenges us to look beyond the
conventional doctrine on violence against women that has influenced and some-
times hindered contemporary antiviolence organizing to establish a new frame-
work for activism that acknowledges and incorporates our diverse, sometimes
divergent, perspectives as women of color.”
— Keidra Chaney, Bitch
“This anthology would serve as an invaluable classroom source on Third Wave
feminism, antiracist social movements, and social justice movements in the United
States in the twenty-first century.”
— Sharmila Rudrappa, Journal of American Ethnic History
“These compelling essays are written by women who bring passion, energy, anger,
and insight to an injustice that has taken a back seat to other social justice issues:
violence perpetrated on women of color. The writings are impressively compre-
hensive in their global scope, historical insight, and unyielding passion. The book
reminds readers that the antiviolence movement, although perhaps once at risk of
fading, remains profoundly important, especially to women, and most especially
to women of color. . . . These bold women occasionally shame, always inform, and
often challenge readers to finish the book and embark on the cause of finally end-
ing the violence that women of color have too long endured.”
— D. A. Mathews, Choice
“A deeply thoughtful contribution to radical antiviolence activism . . . Color of
Violence engages a complex and diverse dialogue about forms of violence, resistance,
and movement building. . . . [It] does a skilled job of instigating a thoughtful and
complex discussion on a topic that has not received adequate attention even among
radicals.”
— Chloe Tribich, Against the Current
“Consistently, the articles discuss the importance of and strategies around move-
ment-building among communities of color, specifically radical women of color,
in their shared struggles for liberation. They also speak to a great need for activ-
ists to learn about intersecting forms of oppression that may be undervalued or
ignored. . . . And lest we forget, the book does not stand alone. The women of
Color of Violence: The INCITE! Anthology are not only writers, speakers, poets,
and academics but also activists, concerned with bringing about the change that
they write. We can be part of their liberation, and our own, by listening to their
voices.”
— Katie Seitz, Off Our Backs
“Every essay in this collection reveals another critical aspect of being a woman of
color in the United States today. . . . It is an excellent starting point for understand-
ing some of the issues today for women of color actively working for social change.”
— Rachel Pepper, Curve
“Color of Violence . . . challenges every reader to recognize and fight the subtle and
not so subtle forms of violence that manifests and is inflicted upon women of
color.”
— Vernetta K. Williams, Callaloo
Color of Violence

COLOR
OF VIOLENCE
The INCITE! Anthology
Edited by
INCITE!
Women of Color Against Violence
duke university press
durham and london
© 2016 INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence
Originally published by South End Press, Cambridge, MA, 2006
Republished by Duke University Press, 2016
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper ∞
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Incite! Women of Color Against Violence.
Title: Color of violence : the INCITE! anthology /
INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence.
Description: Durham : Duke University Press, 2016. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016019869 |
ISBN 9780822363057 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN 9780822362951 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN 9780822373445 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Women — Crimes against. |
Minority women — Crimes against. | Feminism.
Classification: LCC HV6250.4.W65 C627 2016 |
DDC 362.88082—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016019869
Cover art by Cristy C. Road
Contents
Introduction
I. ReconceptualizingA ntiviolence Strategies
1 Rethinking Antiviolence Strategies: 1-essons from
the Black Women's Movement in Britain Julia Sudbury 13
2 Disability in the New World Order Nirmala Erevelles 25
3 Federal Indian Law and Violent Crime Sarah Deer 32
4 Feminism, Race, and Adoption Policy Dorothy Roberts 42
5 The Color of Choice: White Supremacy and
Reproductive Justice Loretta j. Ross 53
6 Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy:
Rethinking Women of Color Organizing Andrea Smith 66
7 A Call for Consistency: Palestinian Resistance and Radical
US Women of Color Nadine Naber 74
11. Forms of Violence
8 The Color of Violence Haunani-Kay Trask 81
9 Four Generations in Resistance Dana Erekat 88
10 The War to Be Human 1
Becoming Human in a Time of War Neferti Tadiar 92
11 The Forgotten "-ismn: An Arab American Women's Perspective on Zionism,
Racism, and Sexism Nadine Naber, Eman Desouky, and Lina Baroudi
for Arab Women? Solidarity Association, San Francisco Chapter 97
12 Reflections in a Time of War: A Letter to My Sisters Dena Al-Adeeb 11 3
13 Don't Liberate Me S. R. 118
14 "National Securitys and the Violation of Women: Militarized
Border Rape at the US-Mexico Border Syluanna Falcon 11 9
15 The Complexities of "Feminicide" on the Border Rosa Linda Fregoso 130
16 INS Raids and How Immigrant Women are
Fighting Back Renee Saucedo 1 35
17 Law Enforcement Violence Against Women of Color Andrea J. Ritchie 138
18 Crime, Punishment, and Economic Violence Patricia Allard 157
19 Pomo Woman, Ex-Prisoner, Speaks Out Stormy Ogden 164
20 The War Against Black Women, and the Making of NO! Aishah Simmons 170
21 Medical Violence Against People of Color and
the Medicalization of Domestic Violence Ana Clarissa Rojas Durazo 179
Ill. Building Movement
22 Unite and Rebel! Challenges and Strategies in
Building Alliances Elizabeth "Betita"M artinez 191
23 Sistas Makin' Moves: Collective Leadership for Personal
Transformation and Social Justice Sista ZZ Sista 196
24 Disloyal to Feminism: Abuse of Survivors
within the Domestic Violence Shelter System Emi Koyama 208
25 Gender Violence and the Prison-Industrial Complex
Critical Resistance and INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence 223
26 Trans Action for Social and Economic Justice Transjustice 227
27 "The Personal is the Private is the Cultural": South Asian Women
Organizing Against Domestic Violence Puneet Kaur Chawla Sahota 231
28 An Antiracist Christian Ethical Approach to
Violence Resistance Traci C. West 243
29 Taking Risks: Implementing Grassroots Community Accountability
Strategies Communities Against Rape and Abuse (CAM) 250
30 poem on trying to love without fear maiana minahal267
Endnotes and Works Cited
Index
About the Contributors
Acknowledgments
INCITE! would like to thank all the women of color who continue to orga-
nize against violence and fight for a more just world. Without this movement,
this anthology would not exist. We thank the countless women of color who
have attended color of violence conferences, organize in local chapters, support
INCITE! financially and politically. We thank all the contributors to this anthol-
ogy, including those we could not include because of space constraints.
South End Press has been fabulous to work with. We are so impressed with
its political integrity and commitment to social justice movement-building. Jill
Petty, who served as our editor, worked countless hours to help shape this anthol-
ogy. We thank her, and wish her all the best in her new life path.
We would particularly like to acknowledge all the women who have served
on INCITE!'s national steering committee since its inception: Val Kanuha, Kata
Issari, Sherry Wilson, Loretta Rivera, Mimi Kim, Isabel Kang, Beth Richie, Cla-
rissa Rojas, Andrea Smith, Simmi Gandhi, Paula Rojas, Barbara Smith, Elham
Bayour, Jamie Lee Evans, Jamie Jimenez, Andrea Ritchie, Nadine Naber, Michelle
Erai, Julia Sudbury, Ann Caton, Prosh Sherkarloo, Tammy KO Robinson, Janelle
White, Nan Stoops, Shana Griffin, Inhe Choi, Ije Ude, Nada Elia, Eunice Cho,
Kabzuag Vaj, Trishala Deb, and Alisa Bierria. Those who served as coeditors for
the anthology include: Andrea Smith, Nadine Naber, Andrea Ritchie, and Clar-
issa Rojas. Those involved as coeditors at other stages include Beth Richie, Julia
Sudbury, Val Kanuha, Michelle Erai, and Isabel Kang.
The following chapters were published previously:
The essays by Sarah Deer, Haunani-Kay Trask, and Stormy Odgen appeared
in a special issue of Socialjustice, "Native Women and State Violence" (eds. Andrea
Smith and Luana Ross), vol. 31, no. 4, 2004.
Dorothy Roberts's essay is a version of an earlier piece, "Feminism, Race, and
Adoption Policy," from Adoption Matters: Philosophical and Feminist Essays, edited
by Sally Haslanger and Charlotte Witt (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press),
2004.
A previous version of "The Forgotten '-ism': An Arab American Women's Per-
spective on Zionism, Racism, and Sexism," written under the auspices of the Arab
Women's Solidarity Association, San Francisco Chapter, appeared in Time to Rise,
edited by Maylei Blackwell, Linda, Burnham, and Jung Hee Choi (Berkeley, CA:
Women of Color Resource Center), 2001.
Rosalinda Fregoso's essay is a version of an earlier piece, "Toward a Planetary
Civil Society," from Mexicana Encounters: 7he Making of Social Identities on the
Borderlands (Los Angeles: University of California Press), 2003.
Traci West's essay is a version of an earlier piece in Wounds of the Spirit (New
York: New York University Press), 1999.