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Activist Gordon Braxton will speak on “Building Bridges: A Journey Through Issues of Oppression, Sexual Assault, and Diversity,” 8 p.m. Wednesday in the Oechsle Hall auditorium as part of Lafayette’s annual Take Back the Night activities.
Braxton will talk about topics of gender violence, racism, and sexism. Take Back the Night also will include a candlelight vigil and march through campus, beginning 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the steps of the Farinon Center. A speak-out and discussion will take place 9 p.m. in the Farinon Center’s Marlo Room.
Take Back the Night takes place on campuses nationwide to raise awareness of the issue of sexual assault. Rallies and marches began in England to counteract the fear that women encountered walking the streets at night. The first Take Back the Night in the United States occurred in San Francisco in 1978.
The observance at Lafayette is organized by Association of Lafayette Feminists (ALF), and sponsored by ALF, Questioning Established Sexual Taboos, Students for Social Justice, Lafayette Intercultural Networking Council, and the English, philosophy, biology, and geology & environmental geosciences departments.
Braxton’s talk will draw on the similarities between the experiences of persons of color and women in an attempt to find common ground. The presentation will center on his journey from an African-American male committed to ending racial oppression to someone opposing oppression in all of its forms. He also will discuss the role of whites and men in ending oppression, and the occurrence and effects of sexual assault.
A recent graduate of the University of Virginia, Gordon received the 2002 Men of Vision Award from Virginians Aligned Against Sexual Assault and the 2002 Algernon Sidney Sullivan Award for humanitarian service from UVA.