Equity and Justice in Our Everyday Work: A Toolkit for Rape Crisis Centers to Implement Transformative Change
INTRODUCTION: WHO ARE WE?
Are we people who patch people up and send them on their way or do we challenge abuses of power? In order to do anti-oppression work, we must be invested in and committed to challenging systems of power.
Do you believe you should be doing anti-oppression work?
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The Reckoning
While it is simultaneously evident that our social movements have reached new levels of power and effectiveness and reach, many people feel individually fatigued and powerless. We must subvert the systems of oppression that influence and impact our daily lives and are institutionalized within our movement organizations; and simultaneously unlearn the horizontal violence and psychological harm that plague our movements for justice. Collectively, we can deepen practices of principled struggle, working in coalition, and collective governance, so that we are able to ‘build the new world in the shell of the old.
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Theory of Change
While we see Rape Crisis Centers (sometimes called sexual assault programs) as our home audience, most of this toolkit will be equally relevant to programs addressing domestic violence and other organizations that seek to operate from an equity and justice lens. We believe that a close look at the intersection of sexual violence with various forms of oppression is of value to anyone involved in intervening in or preventing violence: not only sexual assault programs, but also organizations focused on youth and community violence; racial and economic justice; health equity; support for immigrants, LGBTQ+ folks, sex workers, those who are homeless or unhoused, and incarcerated people; disability rights; mental health advocacy and treatment; and substance reduction work. Addressing sexual violence is part of all of this work – and if it is not, it certainly should be.
We recognize that incorporating equity and justice in our everyday anti-violence work requires a fresh, tough look at how we function. In 2020, a group of sexual assault and domestic violence state coalitions signed on to the “Moment of Truth” letter, acknowledging “the ways in which this movement, and particularly the white leadership within this movement, has repeatedly failed Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) survivors, leaders, organizations, and movements, specifically by such actions as investing significantly “in the criminal legal system, despite knowing that the vast majority of survivors choose not to engage with it and that those who do are often re-traumatized by it.”
We are seeing more clearly that certain structures and behaviors that are taught by dominant culture must be unlearned to achieve the goal of obtaining justice for survivors and equity for those who work in our field (many of whom are also survivors). As we acknowledge that we are all unconsciously socialized to see certain things through the lens of the white middle class, we realize that those norms can easily permeate our organizational cultures. This toolkit offers opportunities for learning and practical change so that we can live our values as we do our work. To reiterate VALOR’s stance, “This is a time for us as a movement, experts who are positioned to understand the many intersecting forms of trauma and violence inflicted on our communities, to continue stepping up and speaking out” ( CALCASA [Now Valor] Stands in Solidarity with Racial Justice Advocates: Criminalization Will NOT end Sexual Violence). Together, we will learn how to transform our organizations and become more responsive to diverse communities.
Rape Crisis Centers arose from grassroots organizing, with a wariness about partnering with the state and other oppressive systems to intervene and provide solutions to sexual violence. It is very difficult to maintain equity and justice inside of oppressive systems. As a result, the anti-sexual violence movement and field have participated in and benefited from upholding violent norms and perpetuating systems of oppression, and things need to change.
There are several practical benefits to using this toolkit. It can be extremely useful for organizations in meeting training requirements and standards set by state funders and accreditation processes. The activities in the toolkit can build a sense of community within the organization and ultimately help align individual and organizational values. In addition, this process can improve consistency and continuity in agency programming, operations, and strategic planning.
This is not a quick-fix manual, but rather a framework for a deep dive into the ways that oppression may show up in our work and the ideological and practical changes necessary to work toward justice and equity. We are for preventing violence, promoting health, advancing equity, transformation, and the growth of our movement. We also want healthy organizations with healthy staff. The materials and suggestions in this toolkit are in service of those goals. Oppression and inequity interfere with achieving those goals.
You can be part of the advocacy field or part of a specific discipline (such as mental health or social services), but if you want to be part of the movement, you have to do this work. Working through this toolkit requires a commitment to have an open mind and to devote the necessary time and energy to make your efforts worthwhile. Additional and ongoing work will also be needed. One single toolkit or resource will never be the complete solution to these complex issues. This toolkit is one resource to get the work started and to move us several steps closer to our vision of justice and equity.
How to Use This Toolkit
This toolkit is intended for anyone who works in an organization focused on the elimination of violence – not only managers, executive leaders, and board members, but also advocates and volunteers. Within your organization, the toolkit may be used for a specific program or department, but it will be much more effective if the whole organization is on board and participating.
We know that organizations may be at different points in their life cycles, and these activities may be used in different ways depending on the stage.
An Anti-Oppression Framework for Organizational Change
As a society, and specifically in the anti-sexual violence field, we have come to realize that we cannot separate our work from the need to address oppression. We care about promoting equity in society, as a means of responding to the needs of survivors and changing the conditions that make violence possible. We need to be intentional about eliminating the barriers to equity, which requires an anti-oppression lens in our work.
As we commit to addressing our individual implicit bias and lack of awareness of our own privilege, we recognize that our organizations are not immune from these barriers to equity.
An anti-oppression framework seeks to comprehensively eliminate barriers that reinforce marginalization, exclusion, and disenfranchisement…Simultaneously, we actively challenge imbalances and abuses of power, while working to rebuild systems with equity at their centers so that everyone has access and opportunity…The first step in doing so is to see where we fit into the picture…rape crisis and domestic violence organizations are not immune to the influence and power of oppression, as we do not operate outside of society and culture. In one sense, our social justice goals begin with our own liberation from the ways in which we, as anti-sexual/domestic violence movements, participate in and benefit from interlocking systems of oppression (Valor, 2021, Support for Survivors).
This work is challenging but vital, and it requires turning our focus inward toward our own organizations so that we can adapt to establish generational and social relevance in the field as society shifts and changes. We must reevaluate our grassroots movement values and reintegrate them into our field. Anti-oppression work cannot simply be window dressing; it requires fundamental honesty and change at all levels of our organizations. This toolkit is designed to guide you through this work.
Readiness Questions
Are you ready to make changes based on what you find?
Do you have resources and/or a team in place to make these changes?
Are you prepared to address any conflict or tension that may be brought to the surface?
