Oct. 22: When Truth Is Justice: Narratives of Black Women and Sexual Assault Across Generations

WHEN: Thursday, October 22, 2015, 6 - 8 PM

WHERE: Jerome Greene Hall, 435 West 116th Street, Room 103

THIS EVENT IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC,
BUT IF YOU ARE A COLUMBIA COMMUNITY MEMBER AND
WOULD LIKE TO COUNT THIS EVENING AS YOUR
REQUIRED SEXUAL RESPECT INITIATIVE PARTICIPATION,
PLEASE RSVP

The U.S. is one of the few places in the world where mass rapes have occurred systematically against an entire race of people and particularly the women—generations of Black/African American women, and yet there has been no outcry by human rights communities, no processes for justice, and little recognition of such violations or their impact on survivors. Join us for a strategic dialogue about the necessities of a Black Women’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (BWTRC) in this country. The first of its kind to focus on Black women and their experiences with rape in the U.S. the BWTRC is an independent body, led by civil society. It is using innovative strategies to engage survivors in healing, collecting narratives, confronting the ever shifting nature of rape culture and sexual violence against Black women in this country and mobilizing Black women around their articulated visions for justice.

Farah Tanis is a women’s human rights activist and co-founder, Executive Director of Black Women’s Blueprint. Tanis launched and chairs the first Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the U.S. ever to focus on Black women and their historical and contemporary experiences with sexual assault. Tanis is a NoVo Foundation - Move to End Violence Program Movement Maker, a U.S. Human Rights Institute Fellow (USHRN), and a member of the Task Force on the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

SPONSORS: This talk is part of the Paul F. Lazarsfeld Lecture Series, co-sponsored by the Columbia Center for Oral History Research (CCOHR), the Office of University Life (UL), and the Oral History Master of Arts Program (OHMA). Support from the Interdisciplinary Center for Innovative Theory and Empirics (INCITE) is provided for programming that embodies late Professor Paul Lazarsfeld’s commitment to improving methodological approaches that address concerns of vital cultural and social significance.

INFORMATION: For more information, please email Amy Starecheski at aas39(at)columbia.edu

THIS EVENT IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

THIS EVENT IS OFFERED AS AN OPTION FOR COLUMBIA'S SEXUAL RESPECT INITIATIVE

REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED