An Open Letter to Survivors of Sexual Violence and Community Members who attend Take Back the Night

This year, Take Back the Night, has become a con­ver­sa­tion about polic­ing in Hamil­ton. For this, we deeply apol­o­gize. Months of inten­tion­al plan­ning, com­mu­ni­ty build­ing and cre­ativ­i­ty has gone into mak­ing this evening one of Joy­ful Rev­o­lu­tion. With integri­ty and a deter­mi­na­tion to find jus­tice amongst the cement ter­rain, we set for­ward to pro­vide an evening in which we could gath­er, ral­ly and march to assert our­selves as the pow­er­ful peo­ple that we are. 

After weeks of con­tro­ver­sy and con­fu­sion, we want to set things straight. Our respon­si­bil­i­ty is to the com­mu­ni­ty first, and fore­most. So, please read fur­ther to learn about SACHA’s deci­sion not to lead a march through the streets of Hamil­ton and our next steps.

Our rad­i­cal imag­i­na­tion is a tool for decol­o­niza­tion, for reclaim­ing our right to shape our lived real­i­ty. — Adri­enne Maree Brown

What has informed our decision

Dish With One Spoon teach­ings
This intel­li­gent design is a core part of our orga­niz­ing as we seek trans­for­ma­tive jus­tice for par­tic­i­pants of Take Back the Night. The Dish With One Spoon teach­es us three core prin­ci­ples: peace, respect and friend­ship. These wampum agree­ments are liv­ing doc­u­ments, not only mat­ter for land acknowl­edg­ments. The real work comes when we live the agree­ments in practice. 

SACHA’s Mis­sion, Vision and Values

SACHA envi­sions a world free of vio­lence and oppression.

Mis­sion:

SACHA is a fem­i­nist, non-prof­it, com­mu­ni­ty-based orga­ni­za­tion that pro­vides sup­ports to peo­ple who have expe­ri­enced sex­u­al­ized vio­lence at any point in their lives. We work to end vio­lence and oppres­sion through edu­ca­tion, advo­ca­cy, out­reach, coali­tion build­ing, com­mu­ni­ty part­ner­ships, and activism.

Val­ues:

SACHA will chal­lenge social and polit­i­cal struc­tures and sys­tems that con­tribute to the expe­ri­ence of vio­lence, oppres­sion, and exploita­tion of all people.

Expe­ri­ences of Sur­vivors of Sex­u­al Vio­lence and Envi­sion­ing a New Future

Every year, Take Back the Night atten­dees pro­vide feed­back that hav­ing police at TBTN means that can’t par­tic­i­pate. We under­stand that some folks have good expe­ri­ences with the police but that is over­whelm­ing­ly not the case in Hamil­ton. Less than 10% of sur­vivors report their expe­ri­ence to the police.

We believe sur­vivors. We respect the com­mu­ni­ty voic­es that have respond­ed since our announce­ment not to march. A bet­ter world is possible.

With­in the para­me­ters of the non prof­it world, we attempt to nav­i­gate the spaces for impact­ful advo­ca­cy in Hamil­ton, Ontario, we envi­sion a world with­out oppres­sion, and we work towards Joy­ful Rev­o­lu­tion Always. These visions become real­i­ty with con­tin­ued deter­mi­na­tion, com­mu­ni­ty build­ing and decol­o­niza­tion of our hearts and minds. With­in this same para­me­ters of the non prof­it world, SACHA also acknowl­edges bar­ri­ers in our abil­i­ty to lead this work. 

Our deci­sion not to march

Fol­low­ing the response to our announce­ment not to march (link here), we felt the dis­ap­point­ment, the right­eous indig­na­tion, the sad­ness, from the com­mu­ni­ty. For this rea­son, we asked the City and Hamil­ton Police Ser­vices (HPS) for anoth­er meet­ing. Maybe we could bro­ker an agree­ment that would see the march hap­pen in a good way. We had faith and we had hope. 

After months of failed com­mu­ni­ca­tion, on Mon­day, Sep­tem­ber 16, we sat in the meet­ing room, and many of us felt excite­ment for the first time in weeks. Per­haps, the march could hap­pen. It had appeared that HPS would agree to a min­i­mal police pres­ence, one that was ​“assured­ly out of the way and didn’t inter­fere with our cel­e­bra­tion or march.” 

In the spir­it of peace, respect and friend­ship, SACHA attempt­ed an agree­ment to move ahead with the march. This agree­ment would include our usu­al route with a max­i­mum of sev­en police offi­cers in four lanes of traf­fic instead of one lane. We were guar­an­teed respect and hon­ourable rela­tions. We had hope. How­ev­er, by Tues­day morn­ing, agree­ments were already being strained, sud­den­ly police are talk­ing about mount­ed offi­cers, eight offi­cers need­ed and an aux­il­iary force for any folks oth­er than SACHA marching.

And so, we stand by our deci­sion not to march. 

We con­tin­ue to have con­ver­sa­tions about what is best for TBTN, Hamil­ton, and sur­vivors. As orga­niz­ers of Take Back the Night, we are con­stant­ly pulled in all direc­tions to be many things to many peo­ple. Safe, rev­o­lu­tion­ary, trans­for­ma­tive, but above all we seek to remain account­able to our community. 

We are mak­ing more space for those who are most at risk of police vio­lence. We are prac­tic­ing good con­sent, ask­ing for what we need and say­ing ​‘no’ when folks don’t fol­low through on their words with actions. 

But that’s not all. We refuse for that to be all! 

For sur­vivors of sex­u­al vio­lence, for racial­ized women, queer and trans com­mu­ni­ties, for stolen chil­dren, for heal­ing, for joy, we will con­tin­ue to pro­vide space for Joy­ful Rev­o­lu­tion. If only for one night, let us all come togeth­er and enjoy the fes­tiv­i­ties that we have curat­ed for you. 

A march is only one way to reclaim space and assert your pow­er. We encour­age you to con­tin­ue explor­ing those jour­neys because some­times, it’s only the vision of a brighter future that can keep us going. 

We believe in you. We sup­port you. We appre­ci­ate you. 

Sin­cere­ly,
Danielle Bois­soneau
Take Back the Night Coor­di­na­tor 2019 

6pm – the par­ty starts
6:30 – 7:30pm – per­for­mances includ­ing spo­ken word, acoustic gui­tar, drums and song
7:30 – 9pm – ral­ly, speak­ers and snacks

All the while, there will be over 25 com­mu­ni­ty orga­ni­za­tions shar­ing the infor­ma­tion, there will be screen print­ing and a film screen­ing, there’s a chill space and but­ton making.