I wish to address the recent open letter written by Lauren Chief Elk to Eve Ensler. In it, Lauren Chief Elk alleges that Eve Ensler's organization, V-Day, "bulldozed" Indigenous women in Canada and accuses it of being “racist and dismissive of Indigenous people.” As I am intimately involved with V-Day and was the Coordinator of the One Billion Rising (OBR) campaign in Canada, and no effort was made to discuss this issue with me before this letter was written and published, I am compelled to address it. The first allegation made against us is that a photo of a Native woman was used for our National Spotlight ad image without permission. That photograph was found on a webpage of publicly available photos. The decision to use that photo was solely mine and had anyone contacted us requesting its removal from our Facebook page, it would have been done immediately. That did not happen. To the contrary, Ashley Callingbull herself remarked on the photo, stating on January 18, “Amazing to see my photo being used to empower women!” The photo, a powerful image of Ashley with a man's hand covering her mouth, represented the Native women who have disappeared or been murdered but whose voices have fallen on the deaf ears of law enforcement and the justice system. It was not a suggestion that Native women cannot speak for themselves or do not have autonomy. It was an indictment of the disturbing fact that for many years, the disappearances and deaths of these women have been met with a response tantamount to “Your voices do not matter”.
The second allegation – one which stunned me to the very core – was that OBR Canada was dismissive of Indigenous women. It is almost difficult to know where to begin to address a comment so shocking and unfounded.
In January of this year, a representative of the Women's Memorial March (WMM) reached out to OBR requesting, due to the history of the WMM on February 14th, that OBR Canada highlight and promote these events in tandem. Together, on a call with Eve Ensler and the representative of the WMM we had a very positive conversation about OBR highlighting the ongoing injustice toward Native women, a call that was followed shortly thereafter by an email from the organizers reiterating their support of the creation of the Spotlight. All OBR organizers in cities that host WMM reached out to the local march organizers in their towns. The organizer of OBR Vancouver – birthplace of the WMM – informed me of a mutually supportive exchange going on between her and the march organizers there.
Unfortunately, OBR Toronto's attempt to reach out to the local WMM was not met with the same camaraderie. Our intention was to connect, promote, and increase awareness of both events, however despite the initial support of WMM, some negative comments began to surface on Facebook. These comments became increasingly hostile as OBR gained momentum, specifically about the overlap in start times for the Toronto WMM and OBR's community rally. OBR's rally had been booked for the noon-2pm slot at Nathan Phillips Square, that time had been allocated to us by city council and was unchangeable. In order to raise as much awareness as possible, we recognized both events as risings in our city and promoted the Toronto WMM, encouraging people to support one or both events.
Despite these efforts to work together, some members of the February 14th Organizing Committee began publically accusing OBR of trying to usurp the WMM by having an event with a Spotlight on Native women on the same day. This accusation was made despite the fact that it was a representative of the committee that had asked OBR to spotlight Native women. The idea of protest through dance was called meaningless and "not real feminism". Does “real feminism” not advocate for and extole choice? Who ever stated that bringing attention to violence against women could only be done in one way? You march, we dance. We are all women exercising freedom of expression, no? **
Lauren Chief Elk claims in her letter that criticisms of OBR Toronto and OBR Canada on our Facebook walls were erased. While we absolutely encourage discussion and debate on the pages, when constructive criticism disintegrated into deliberately hurtful rhetoric, those comments were most certainly taken down. As OBR Coordinator for the region, I would not condone having the hard work being done by activists in over 100 locations across the country subject to undue vitriol on our own pages.
What became very clear to us is that the Toronto WMM's support for OBR was predicated on one very specific thing – us choosing to attend their march and abandon the planning of our own OBR events. For us this was not an option. OBR Canada was rebuked for holding our event on an “iconic” day for Native women, because the WMM has been taking place annually in Toronto on that date for eight years. V-Day events have been held around the world on February 14th for fifteen years. V-Day is in part named for Valentine's Day – it is a very significant date for the organization. Thousands of V-Day events take place on February 14th every year, however V-Day would never ask or expect another group – especially an anti-violence initiative, to not hold events on that day. Lauren Chief Elk said that when V-Day's managing director was told about the special meaning of that date for Aboriginal women in Canada, she stated that “every date on the calendar has significance”. Lauren Chief Elk then said that “this is not an acceptable response”. It was absolutely the best and truest response.
EVERY date on the calendar WILL have significance to a particular group. One Billion Rising was not a Canadian event. It was a global event, occurring simultaneously in 207 countries. Valentine's Day, being the “birthday” of V-Day, was chosen as the date for this global action. Which date on the calendar would NOT have had special meaning to a specific group somewhere in the world? We could have held OBR on January 23 or October 9 or today, and there would a group of people somewhere on Earth for whom that day would already be associated with a special or sacred observance. No singular group can claim ownership of a date.
Lauren Chief Elk stated that being a good ally to Aboriginal women would have meant “stepping back, giving up the V-Day platform, and attending the marches and vigils. It would have meant putting aside the One Billion Rising privilege and participating in what the Indigenous women felt was important.”
But Lauren Chief Elk was personally quoted in media outlets supporting One Billion Rising.
Indian Country Today – “My co-founder; Jessa Rae Growing Thunder, decided we needed to put out a call to action to Indian Country to rise on V-Day, because what better way for us as people to stop violence against us than to dance it away. Dancing is how we heal, pray, socialize and tell stories so it's important for us to include our voice in 1 Billion Rising. All Nations Rising was created so people could find out what events were happening in their community, or post their events for others to see.” - Lauren Chief Elk, co-founder of Save Wiyabi Project.
Public Radio International - Q: Do you think this project will have impact beyond today?
A: I think for Indian Country it will. Indigenous women's voices in Canada and in the U.S. are finally being heard and I think this movement will only inspire us to take more action in our own communities. – Lauren Chief Elk
One Billion Rising was not solely about Aboriginal women. Yes, we were and are very supportive of our Indigenous sisters. That is a given. This movement has for the last 15 years raised money for women's shelters in Canada, including many Aboriginal women's shelters. OBR Canada, at the request of the WMM and with shared horror at the injustice for the Stolen Sisters, chose to try to bring increased attention to this issue because we believe to the core that violence committed against our country's First Nations women is violence against the Mothers of our nation. However, our focus is broader than one community. One Billion Rising was and is about acknowledging and standing up against violence perpetrated on ALL women, everywhere on the planet. One Billion Rising is its own distinct movement, with its own distinct voice. Lauren Chief Elk speaks of us showing disrespect by holding an event at the same time as the WMM – what about respect for the other women who OBR represented? To have cancelled our events or made OBR strictly about marching with the Memorial March would have been to betray the very mandate of OBR. It was about EVERY woman. How would cancelling our events to focus solely on Native women have shown anything but disrespect for non-Native women, whose experience of violence is equally real?
In an attack that was shockingly personal, Lauren Chief Elk referred to Eve Ensler's “white, colonial feminism” and stated that “I do not want to be part of the white savior industrial complex”. As someone who has been part of V-Day for 7.5 years, I can say with more vehemence than I have ever spoken with in my life that the person you describe is NOT Eve Ensler. Nor is the organization that you describe V-Day – in ANY way, shape or form. It is bizarre that these comments would be made about an organization that just held the most multinational, culturally diverse action EVER to end violence against women.
OBR was spearheaded around the world by women of ALL races, extending themselves in community and in love to other women. I headed OBR in this country. I am a Black Canadian of Caribbean descent. The head of OBR Toronto is Iranian, the majority of the Toronto committee Middle Eastern and South Asian. Caucasian women were by far the minority, but were our staunch sisters in the cause and gave as much of their hearts and their commitment to the OBR mandate as anyone else. We mistreated Aboriginal women? Really? To cite the historical implications of colonialism, as you did, is always valid and Eve Ensler speaks constantly of this reality and its devastating effects on an international scale. However to imply in any way that anything other than a call to basic humanity is behind V-Day is profoundly incorrect and misinformed. With regards to “One Billion Rising privilege” -- what is that, exactly? The majority of OBR Coordinators and activists around the world, Lauren Chief Elk, are brilliant women (and men) - from across Asia, Africa, Central and South and North America, and Europe. Are you saying that they are the bamboozled minions of a racist, insincere organization? Or are they intelligent women of various races and cultures, also with their own agency, who have chosen to work for and with a movement that embodies the virtues of justice, fortitude, compassion and perseverance?
As someone who has met many of these women, and who has witnessed Eve Ensler learning from them, communing with them, embracing them, crying with them, shouting loudly with them and marching with them, I can inform you that they are the latter. Your impressions of V-Day, its staff, its activists and its founder are – quite simply – wrong. To direct anger at a movement fuelled by women of every race, who have given their time and talents to fighting the victimization of women on every corner of the globe, is stupifying to me. And to suggest that Eve Ensler is somehow misguided, naive or destructive by sheer nature of her race is heartbreaking, to say the least. It confounds me that such a comment, one steeped in racism itself, could be made while accusing her and V-Day of the same thing. It is one thing to say “I didn't like that this thing happened.” It is quite another to attack someone's life's work, and their very moral fibre. To incorrectly and publicly label someone as racist – one of the ugliest things a human being can be – is an attempt at character assassination, pure and simple. For ANY conscious feminist to suggest that Eve Ensler is creating more violence in the world is egregious. Would Lauren Chief Elk have criticized another woman, doing exactly the same grassroots work around the globe, who was NOT white?
You accuse Eve, V-Day and OBR of racism and dismissiveness towards Aboriginal women. It is ironic and sad that a person claiming to speak up for justice could make the most unjust statement I have ever heard.
I would never say that I can truly know the pain that Indigenous women in Canada feel at having fought for the Stolen Sisters for so very long. It is a national travesty on an epic scale. Now 20 years in to the annual WMM in Vancouver, there is still no justice. I can however understand, on a very personal basis, the experiences of both violence against women AND racism. I would never, EVER, align myself with an organization that was not deeply committed – at a cellular level – to passionately fighting both.
Peace & Progress,
Tanisha Taitt
National Coordinator | Canadian Region
One Billion Rising
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** The original version of this letter stated that members of the February 14th Organizing Committee (the organizers of the March) contacted VAW organizations aligned with OBR and asked them to withdraw their support for the event. We have recently learned that while these efforts did exist, they were not instigated by the February 14th Committee but by other parties. Sincere apologies for the inaccuracy of that statement and any upset or misrepresentation that it caused.
