Tuesday, May 28, 1996
Misdirected focus on race and greeks only served to divide
womenBy Robin Caine
I refused to walk in last Thursday’s "Take Back the Night" event
sponsored by the Women of Color Coalition and the Panhellenic
Council for many reasons. I had high expectations as I walked
towards the "Take Back the Night" festivities, talking with several
women about the need for such a night dedicated to positive
feminine unity. The night was created to shed light on serious
issues such as rape, campus safety and promoting women’s views at
UCLA.
As a woman, I do fear the nightmares darkness enshrouds. I hate
the fact that I can’t walk safely alone after sunset. I hate the
fact that several of my friends have been raped in the blanket of
night. And I hate the fact that women are victims to these dark
tales of "man"ipulation.
I listened intently to a passionate speaker representing the
African American women on campus as she demanded change, unleashing
her energy on the crowd. Women from other backgrounds such as the
Asian Pacific Coalition and Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de
Aztlán (MEChA) spoke next. I found myself tensing up, folding
my arms, wanting to grab the microphone and impart a few words of
my own. Pensively, I weighed these views, targeted only toward
specific groups, in my mind. The second speaker advocated the idea
that the crowd of women was not a homogeneous group and we needed
to focus on our separate cultures to render strength. The
atmosphere quickly heated, taking on a racially charged, grotesque
form as a previously idealistic crowd grew hostile, hot and
defensive.
Incredulously, I listened as a speaker accused the "back of the
crowd" Â referring to the large number of greek-affiliated
women, who represent a positive example of unified, strong women
 of things which did not promote female oneness. I won’t
resort to repeating all of these accusations, but I was deeply
offended. Offended, not because my so-coined "white elitist"
feelings were hurt, but because we were no longer a group of women,
but a group of distinct ethnicities battling in the midst of
attempted unity. At one point, a speaker proceeded to ask the greek
women to leave, implying greek women had not suffered enough; they
were not "worthy" enough to walk with the rest of the group.
Spewing angry words from clenched teeth, one speaker mocked
greek women for all having doctors as mothers, whereas mothers of
minority women had toiled for survival. This comment not only
defeated the entire purpose of the night, provoking division, but
undermined the prospects of advancement in society for women. As a
collective entity, I WANT women to be doctors and succeed
professionally in all realms. There was no need to tear down the
achievements of mothers, regardless of their backgrounds, who have
transcended major obstacles imposed by a male-oriented society.
Women are not only defined by gender  we bear the
consequences of our sex, and here we were bashing each other.
Attempting to provide an alternative viewpoint, I asked the woman
in charge of the "Night" if I could speak, only to be denied. When
someone silences me, I need to know why. Why is there all this
dissension?
After the speakers stopped espousing their one-faceted views, I
left, attempting to calm my festering thoughts. Naively, I had
believed that even though we were from different cultures and
backgrounds we could walk together against the horrors that strip
women of their strength. Fearful that verbal artillery would be
whipped out, degrading us all in one pitiful, disjointed mob
stumbling through Westwood, I walked away. I didn’t want to be part
of a group that used fraternities, which represent only one segment
of the male population, as scapegoats for their fears. I abstained
from walking in the name of a group of people affiliated with sick
hypocrisy and hatred. So I walked away, stomping in a different
direction.
Division is the plague of all of society, afflicting the African
American population, Chicanas/os, Caucasians and women. No, I
didn’t expect us to all hold hands and dance around in a happy aura
of togetherness to the beat of a cheery tune, but I did expect that
we could put racial feelings aside and join together as women
nurturing change.
The only thing that "Take Back the Night" took was my idealistic
view that we can collectively make a difference. In the midst of
this female clashing, I felt threatened. The one thing I realized
was that I am only threatened by my race or by my gender when I
allow it; when I compromise my strength, letting oppressive people,
men and women, claw out my inner strength as an individual.
I did relinquish my strength to anger at a rally dedicated to
doing just the opposite. The strength that comes from within, not
from angry lashing words or in the incense provoked by a fraternity
song book. We did not take back the night, we just went back;
suffocating, choking in the darkness that we, as women, let envelop
us in a cloud of icy bitterness.
We let that night rape us of our chance for solidarity. We need
to look seriously at the reality of problems that won’t be solved
as long as one person or group or woman holds the microphone on a
stage set for bashing, not edifying.
Caine is a second-year English student.
FRED HE/Daily Bruin
While some sorority women marched along Bruin Walk toward
Fraternity Row during "Take Back the Night" (above), others refused
to participate and left in protest.SUSIE CHU/Daily Bruin
Melanie Tendido, a fifth-year Asian American
studies/anthropology student, participated in the "Unity Clap"
during the rally in Westwood Plaza.