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2 — Wednesday, April 7, 2021 

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The famous murals along West Hubbard Street in Chicago’s West Loop neighborhood remind me of the famous graffiti alley on East Liberty Street, and both feel like home.

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ANN ARBOR
Take Back the Night rally seeks to raise 
awareness of sexual violence, calls for action
Event returned in-person for 43rd annual protest on behalf of survivors

On an unseasonably brisk 

Thursday night, Take Back 
the Night Ann Arbor — an 
organization 
dedicated 
to 

advocating for survivors of 
sexual violence — hosted its 
43rd annual rally April 2 to 
educate community members 
on sexual violence and to 
encourage action.

About 50 student volunteers 

and 
community 
members 

donning purple “Take Back 
the Night” sweatshirts and 
bundled up scarves and mittens 
formed 
a 
loose 
semicircle 

before the steps of Hatcher 
Graduate Library to begin the 
rally. A Youtube live stream 
of the event was also made 
available to allow visibility for 
those unable to attend due to 
COVID-19 restrictions. 

Pam Swider, Take Back the 

Night Ann Arbor community 
leader, told the crowd that 
this year marks her 13th year 
running the annual rally and 
march. As a survivor of sexual 
violence 
herself, 
Swider 
is 

also the founder and executive 
director of Standing Tough 
Against Rape Society. 

Swider works directly with 

University 
Students 
Against 

Rape, 
an 
organization 
on 

campus 
aimed 
at 
raising 

awareness of sexual assault 
and violence through rallies, 
marches 
and 
prevention 

events. She was also involved 
in acquiring a city permit to 
march Thursday evening amid 
the 
pandemic 
and 
ensured 

COVID-19 safety precautions 
were followed by volunteers 
and attendees. 

“I 
started 
becoming 
so 

concerned 
because 
I 
knew 

how it was affecting survivors, 
especially 
those 
who 
have 

to spend the pandemic with 
their perpetrators, or around 
people who have no idea how 
to 
support 
them,” 
Swider 

said in an interview with The 
Michigan 
Daily 
before 
the 

event. 

According to a Centers for 

Disease Control and Prevention 
report, one in five women 
and one in 38 men experience 

completed or attempted rape 
in their lifetime in the United 
States. The report also found 
that one in three women and 
one in four men experience at 
least one incident of some form 
of sexual violence in their lives. 

26.4% 
of 
undergraduate 

women experience rape or 
sexual 
assault, 
according 

to the Rape, Abuse & Incest 
National 
Network. 
Swider 

said 
marginalized 
groups, 

such as people of color — in 
particular Black women — and 
the LGBTQ+ community need 
allies and supporters in the 
fight against sexual violence. 

“We 
need 
to 
use 
the 

privileges that we have to 
speak when they can’t,” Swider 
said. “We need to let them 
know that they are not alone.” 

Because 
of 
the 

intensification of sexual and 
domestic 
violence 
against 

women during the pandemic, 
Swider 
said 
she 
found 
it 

incredibly important to try to 
make this an in-person event 
after last year’s virtual rally. 
Considering how quarantine 
and physical isolation have had 
a negative impact on domestic 
violence in the past year due 
to individuals being forced to 
stay home with their abusers, 
Swider said Take Back the 
Night Ann Arbor decided on 
the theme “take action” for 
this year. 

Recent 
University 
alum 

Emma Wellman was a student 
leader who helped organize 
this event, ensure distancing 
guidelines were followed and 
raise funding for the speakers’ 
equipment. 

Though adjusting to the 

pandemic was a challenge, 
Wellman said she was proud of 
the adaptability and progress 
she made alongside her team 
members 
throughout 
the 

past year to successfully put 
together a safe in-person rally.

”What I’m most proud of 

is 
everybody 
really 
came 

together,” Wellman said. “My 
biggest hope is just that people 
feel really empowered.”

USAR 
student 
leader 

Kaitlyn Colyer, LSA junior, 
said adjusting to a virtual 
environment 
and 
in-person 

restrictions this year required 
a lot of planning on how to still 

make the event impactful.

“This issue very much still 

matters,” Coyler said. “We’re 
seeing it in the news today that 
sexual violence is something 
that happens to everyone, and 
it doesn’t matter your identity. 
So it’s important to us that 
we’re uplifting survivor voices 
and also making them stand 
against what’s going on.”

Nicole Denson, event MC 

and 
MOSAIC 
Collective 

Consulting, 
LLC 
founder, 

spoke to the crowd about 
how Take Back the Night has 
become a global movement 
to 
raise 
awareness 
around 

the 
prevalence 
of 
sexual 

violence while also providing 
a forum for survivors of sexual 
violence. 

Denson 
said 
she 
still 

remembers 
her 
first 
Take 

Back the Night when she was 
a student at Michigan State 
University, 
which 
helped 

launch her passion for activism. 

“I saw people being brave 

and 
speaking 
their 
truth,” 

Denson said. “And from where 
I came, that was something 
that I could only dream about. 
And that was the start of my 
activism.”

Ann 
Arbor 
Mayor 

Christopher Taylor also spoke 
at the event, saying that the city 
plans to declare a proclamation 
that says April will now be 
Sexual 
Assault 
Awareness 

Month in Ann Arbor. 

“We 
support 
survivors 

everywhere,” Taylor said. “We 
(want to) ensure that those 
who choose to come forward 
are treated with seriousness 
and 
compassion. 
Sexual 

harassment and violence by 
men burdens and devastates 
the lives of women and girls 
and children every single day.”

Karasten Birge, also on the 

STARS board of directors, 
explained 
how 
her 
own 

experiences 
as 
a 
survivor 

inspired her to help create 
the new program “Sweaters 
for Survivors,” which donates 
comfortable clothes and other 
personal care items that will 
then be provided to examiners 
to give to survivors to wear 
home. 

Birge shared that after she 

was sexually assaulted, she 
was brought to the hospital and 
asked to provide her statement 
multiple times, making her 
uncomfortable. 

“I 
was 
given 
disposable 

scratchy 
hospital 
scrubs,” 

Birge said. “I had no bra or 
underwear. It would be nice 
for a hospital to be able to 
give 
survivors 
something 

warm 
to 
put 
on 
like 
a 

sweatshirt, sweatpants, new 
undergarments 
and 
a 
care 

package with soap, toothbrush 
or toothpaste. Those are the 
little things that are big things 
after going through something 
so awful.” 

STARS is partnering with 

St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor in 
Washtenaw County and Avalon 

Healing 
Center 
in 
Wayne 

County to create “Sweatshirts 
for Survivors.”

“This will give them back 

some dignity and grace they 
so desperately deserve after 
making that brave choice to 
just get justice for the violence 
that was committed against 
them,” Swider said.

The rally’s keynote speaker 

was feminist author Jaclyn 
Friedman, 
who 
shared 
a 

prerecorded 
Zoom 
message 

about her experiences with 
advocacy and gave advice to 
the 
audience 
on 
authentic 

leadership and activism for 
survivors. 

“We want to be really, really 

clear about something (about) 
being a survivor,” Friedman 
said. “It doesn’t obligate you to 
anything. So, you don’t have to 
do or be any kind of way to be a 
valid, important survivor who 
is worthy of love and justice 
and care.”

Friedman also said there 

are many ways to help uplift 
sexual 
violence 
survivors, 

specifically finding a smaller 
sub-issue that is more feasible 
to tackle. She gave advice on 
how to effectively take care of 
mental health concerns that 
come with a sensitive topic like 
sexual violence. 

“It’s so important for all 

of us to make time to rest for 
healing for self-care, yes, but 
also community care when 
we take care of each other,” 
Friedman said. “We all grow 
stronger together, rest and heal 
and take care of each other and 
ourselves.” 

Armed with bucket drums, 

megaphones and homemade 
signs, students and community 
members first marched west 
on South University Avenue 
towards State Street. Police 
in 
cars 
and 
motorcycles 

bookended 
the 
protestors, 

flashing blue and red lights. 

Students took turns leading 

chants, such as “What do we 
want? Safe streets! When do we 
want it? Now!” As the crowd 
began turning north on State 
St., another chant rang out: 
“However we dress, wherever 
we go, yes means yes, No 
means no!” When the march 
reached 
Williams 
St., 
the 

crowd held a moment of silence 
for victims of sexual assault. 
Afterward, 
the 
protestors 

resumed chanting ”2,4,6,8 No 
more violence, no more hate!”

When addressing the crowd, 

Swider discussed what she 
hopes participants take away 
from the rally.

“We 
hope 
that 
we 
can 

educate you and inspire you, 
empower you,” Swider said. 
“And for those of you who are 
survivors, let you know that 
healing is possible and that you 
are never alone.” 

Daily 
Staff 
Reporters 
Nina 

Molina and Nirali Patel can be 
reached at nimolina@umich.
edu and nirpat@umich.edu.

NINA MOLINA &
NIRALI PATEL
Daily Staff Reporters

Courtesy of Nirali Patel

PHOTO

