2 — Friday, April 3, 2020
News
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
The Take Back The Night
rally, usually held every year
in Ann Arbor, was broadcasted
on Thursday in a 29-minute
YouTube video, including clips
from keynote speaker Jaclyn
Friedman, an activist for sexual
violence awareness.
Presented by the Standing
Tough Against Rape Society and
the University Students Against
Rape,
the
video
contained
messages
from
student
organizers as well as from
Pam Swider, STARS executive
director and founder.
The rally began with a message
from Swider
addressing
the different
format
of
the
event.
She
said
she
hoped
the
video
would uplift
survivors
and
others
tuning in.
“Things
are
a
bit
different this
year,” Swider
said.
“And
though we’re
not in the Michigan League
ballroom like we planned, we
are still here to come together
to raise awareness about sexual
violence, and most importantly,
to uplift survivors and give
them and you all watching hope
during this time.”
Friedman acknowledged the
fearful feelings of many in the
public right now due to the
current COVID-19 health crisis.
She said the situation may be
reminiscent of trauma to some
viewers.
“This is probably rhyming
with trauma, right?” Friedman
said. “A lot of us feel out of
control; we feel like men we
don’t trust have a lot of control
over our lives. It’s scary; it’s
really scary. Some of us are in
close quarters and can’t live
with people who are not safe to
us. So I don’t in any way want to
minimize what we’re all going
through right now.”
Friedman said survivors can
utilize strength gained from
past events during this time of
stress.
“We
are
survivors,
and
that means we know how to
survive,” Friedman said. “So I
want to really encourage you
to spend some time taking care
of yourself, and reflecting on
what got you through the things
you’ve survived already? What
are the lessons you learned from
that, that you can apply now?”
The
event
also
included
informational
clips
recorded
by members of USAR meant
to
inform
the
audience
on
the different forms of sexual
violence, such as trafficking,
indecent exposure or sexual
abuse.
LSA junior Shreya Mullapudi,
USAR’s grants writer, said sexual
violence
disproportionately
affects certain groups, such as
those from minority groups.
“Sexual
violence
pervades
specific communities at higher
rates,” Mullapudi said. “People
in
the
LGBTQ+
community,
people of color, people with
disabilities, Native Americans,
students
in
Greek
life
and
many other people who sit at an
intersection of these identities
have a disproportionately higher
risk
of
experiencing
sexual
violence in their lives.”
Additionally,
the
video
featured a poetry reading from
a volunteer member from USAR
and a performance from the
Detroit Women’s Chorus.
Art & Design senior Ariel
Friedlander,
senior student
leader
of
USAR,
thanked the
sponsors
of
the
event
including
Planned
Parenthood,
Drifter
Coffee,
Ann
Arbor
Tortilla
Factory
and Literati
Bookstore.
Friedlander
also acknowledged Swider and
her husband Tom Swider for
founding this event 12 years ago.
“They have been such an
incredible
resource
when
it
comes
to
knowledge,
inspiration, courage, and just
overall
emotional
support,”
Friedlander
said.
“They’ve
allowed us to hold this event and
also so many others and they are
the glue that keeps Take Back
The Night Ann Arbor together,
and we just cannot appreciate
them enough.”
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DOMINICK SOKOTOFF/Daily
Ian Shackelford, assistant distiller at the Ann Arbor Distilling company, mixes ingredients together to make hand sanitizer Thursday in
response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Annual rally, march against
sexual violence moves online
Forty-second year of ‘Take Back the Night’ features local activists,
performances including spoken word poetry also to take place
We are survivors, and that means we know how
to survive. So I want to really encourage you to
spend some time taking care of yourself, and
reflecting on what got you through the things
you’ve survived already? What are the lessons
you learned from that, that you can apply now?