To the Editors:

I would like to emphasize that the issues of race, of sexual violence and of support are so incredibly serious and important, and that they are complex as well.

I think it is unfortunate that these issues have been reduced to an “unfounded perception” or even to an accusation of perpetuating bigotry. I appreciate the attempt to bring visibility to these issues and create constructive dialogue around them; however, I am unsure of how productive such instances are when everyone does not take responsibility for their engagement in dialogue.

Specifically, I am referring to people’s knowledge and experience with issues of race and sexual violence. I believe that if one is going to assert themselves into a dialogue, in order to be respectful of both the issue and the people immersed in it, one should take the time to learn about the context and history of what is at stake.

There is always room to learn more about an issue and it is extremely important for us all to challenge ourselves to do so, especially regarding sexual violence and racism. I encourage everyone to do so.

I think while this learning is taking place and we are at different stages, it is difficult for us to engage in productive dialogue. It is still important to have the dialogue and so I ask that people be reflective of where they are coming from as they engage their voice in the conversation. I am more than happy to implicate mysel, and share where I am coming from.

In past years at Oberlin, I was the Sexual Assault Prevention Education Coordinator Intern and also an active member of SAST, facilitating workshops, organizing Take Back the Night and speaking at it every year.

Beyond Oberlin, I have worked in D.C. and New York at API-DVRP (Asian Pacific Islander Domestic Violence Resource Project) and SAFER (Students Active for Ending Rape). I also co-facilitated a workshop at a conference in Vancouver called “Culture, Violence, Identity: Intertwining Manifestations,” in addition to attending various conferences with people addressing these issues as survivors, activists and scholars.

My point is that for years I have done my best to make sense of the violence I have experienced and of the violence that so many people experience in similar yet different ways. I have tried my best on this campus and beyond to educate myself as well as to help bring awareness to the many layers of the horror and scope of sexual violence and domestic violence.

I understand how my argument (and those similar to mine) could be misconstrued as hatred and bigotry. In fact, it is very common for the act of pointing at injustice to itself be deemed an act of injustice. I think the anger I expressed was a catalyst in how people dismissed or misunderstood what I said. I don’t apologize for my anger. I acknowledge anger can often be coming from a place of hatred, but I assure you my anger is coming from a place of love and pain.

This love and pain is rooted in the conviction that all survivors of violence need and should get support. The anger comes from the fact that there are people who consciously and unconsciously are barriers to that support. (I said “white people” in my previous letter, but “white-oriented institutionalized structure” is more accurate. Both white people and people of color can be complicit in this structure and challenge it.)

Let’s work to change this. Let’s work to support people not in spite of who they are, but in light of who they are. Acknowledge difference not to discriminate but to be accessible.

Why is there an African-American outreach team at Nord Rape Crisis? It is because the services in place were not reaching that community.

Let’s learn from these models and make them even better; let’s make services accessible from the start so that there is no need to create separate teams after the fact. Let’s integrate people of color communities into the service instead of pushing these issues and us aside. Too much is at stake if we don’t.

–Julie Dulani
College senior