Me Too Survivors' March

As we watch more and more survivors come forward about sexual assault through the ME TOO campaign, we see that it's time to take action!

Many of us have felt that sexual assault is something to be ashamed of, but no more! We are not to blame and it's time that we stop normalizing rape culture.

QUOTE from #MeToo movement founder TARANA BURKE:
“For every Harvey Weinstein, there’s a hundred more men in the neighborhood who are doing the exact same thing. The conversation around harassment in Hollywood will broaden to include other industries if we force it to! It’s not going to do it on its own. Sexual violence really doesn’t know a race, a class, a gender. It can happen to anybody. The response to sexual violence, on the other hand, can be highly racialized and highly gendered. What we’re seeing, at least for now, is a unity of survivors, a community of survivors that have grown out of this #MeToo viral moment, that I’m just hoping and praying that we can sustain.”

On November 12, we will come together and stand with survivors of sexual assault! The #MeTooMarch coalition is working hard to ensure that a wide range of issues are represented. If you have a perspective that you'd like to see addressed, or if you know of an organization we should be in contact with, please reach out. Below are our confirmed speakers so far.

SPEAKERS:

TARANA BURKE
Ten years before the allegations against Harvey Weinstein became public knowledge, Tarana Burke was already helping young women talk about sexual assault. Working with girls at an organization she co-founded called Just Be Inc., she heard a lot of reports of sexual violence, and she wanted to offer young survivors what she needed in the aftermath of her own assault: empathy. So she started the Me Too campaign “to spread a message for survivors: You’re heard, you’re understood.”

JASMYNE CANNICK
Jasmyne is a nationally known writer and media commentator on political, race and social issues. A well known communications strategist, she’s worked in Congress, California State Assembly and at the local level advocating for underrepresented and marginalized communities. "Through her journalism, Ms. Cannick has been the driving force behind calling attention to the story of the death of Gemmel Moore at Democratic donor Ed Buck's home and the numerous allegations made against Buck by young Black gay men."

IVY QUICHO
Ivy is a rape survivor and the AF3IRM National Chairperson, a transnational feminist, anti-imperialist organization of women dedicated to the struggle of women’s liberation and the fight against oppression in all its forms. AF3IRM has been hosting the Purple Rose Day campaign for more than 18 years to stand up “against the capitalist assault on women’s bodies and speaking out against the trafficking and commodification of women and children’s bodies.

JAYDA RASBERRY
Jayda is the Organizing Director for Dignity and Power Now (DPN) is a grassroots organization based in LA that fights for the dignity and power of incarcerated people, their families, and communities. In 2006 she was sentenced to Valley State Prison for Women where she would spend 6 years of her life. She's now educating community members and making them aware of what is happening behind jail walls. As a formerly incarcerated person and a queer woman of color she believes that it is important to be a voice of change in directly impacted communities.

CHELSEA BYERS
Chelsea is the Chair of the Campaign to End the Statute of Limitations on Rape and Sexual Assault #EndRapeSOL - the ongoing effort to abolish timelines for reporting violent sexual crimes. She is a Beautiful Trouble trainer on creative nonviolent action and she has supported human rights and anti-militarism campaigns for the last decade. In January 2016, Chelsea forced Donald Trump to end his Las Vegas campaign rally early after she disrupted his hateful speech. Trump said of Chelsea, “That’s a young woman that doesn’t know... She’s Lost... To hell with her.”

FRANCES FISHER
Ms. Fisher’s activism runs the gamut from supporting the Cancer Support Community Benjamin Center, to Peace Over Violence, BOO2Bullying, Stand For The Silent, Environment California, Race to Erase MS & Survivor Mitzvah. She is a member of Artists for Human Rights, People for the American Way and The Hollywood Food Guild. She is an executive board member of the Environmental Media Association and is serving as a National board member of SAG-AFTRA. As an Ambassador for the NWHM, she is working with an amazing group of women to create a National Women’s History Museum in Washington, DC. Ms. Fisher was a surrogate for Bernie Sanders and spent time at Standing Rock supporting the Water Protectors. #StandingRockIsEverywhere.

LEESH BEE
Aleesha Barlow (Leesh Bee), was molested by her maternal grandfather when she was a child. At age 6, she told her mom and her two aunts, that their dad was touching her inappropriately. They made her promise not to tell anyone, especially the police, and her own father. They told Aleesha not to worry, and that they would make sure her grandfather would stop. They promised that they would send him to jail if it continued. Aleesha did not tell anyone, and the molestation continued. 20 Years Later, Aleesha created Tell Somebody Inc., an organization that works toward ending child abuse of any kind. Her new book "Tell Somebody: Volume.1 - The Basics," for children and "End Silenced Abuse" is out now.

HEATHER S. MICHAELS
Heather is a TV and Media Broadcast personality, and humanitarian. She has been a high profile advocate for the community and the news industry for over 25 years. She speaks out on a multitude of issues that confront modern society, from Human Rights, Environmental and Animal Welfare concerns, and many things that affect us all but are often overlooked. She uses her VOICE to inspire Awareness and Change. She passionately speak out against sexual harassment and human trafficking, and work to eradicate these and other atrocities. She is also a survivor herself.

BRENDA GUTIERREZ
Brenda Gutierrez is the lead organizer of the Me Too Survivors' March, and is a rape and assault survivor. She is an activist and grassroots organizer with California for Progress, and has an AA in drug and alcohol counseling and medical assisting. As she saw her Facebook newsfeed get fill up with "Me Too" statuses, she realized that we have to speak up. We should not allow ourselves to be silenced any longer. This goes beyond Hollywood, and now is our time.

SAMUEL LlOYD
Samuel is the best friend of Gemmel Moore, 26, a Black gay male escort who was found dead on July 27 in prominent Democratic donor Ed Buck’s West Hollywood apartment under suspicious circumstances. Several other young gay black men, have come forward as victims of Ed Buck, who's white. Samuel has dedicated himself to finding #Justice4Gemmel.

HUSSAIN TURK
Hussain is a survivor of rape and sexual battery. Hussain is also a queer HIV+ Pakistani Muslim attorney and community organizer whose lawyering prioritizes the empowerment and advancement of migrants and sex workers living with HIV. As the child of Muslim migrants, Hussain has long advocated for the civil rights of Muslims in the West and for the liberation of Muslims abroad living under Israeli apartheid and U.S. American military occupation.

SUPPORTING ORGANIZATIONS:
FestForums
Chicoindie.com
The Rainbow Sisters Project
CODEPINK
Indivisible Suffragists
ART NOT WAR / Humanity for Progress
Workers World Party
International Action Center
HEART Women & Girls
Familial
LA4Palestine
AIM SoCal
Hollywood NOW
East LA Women's Center
Tell Somebody, Inc
Schwarzenegger as Sexual Predator
Peace Over Violence
Bernie's Coffee Shop
Center for the Pacific Asian Family
Project Caged Birds, Inc.
Rising Hearts
I Love Me Foundation
Silvernight Peace Project
Project Sister Family Services
Pathfinder Center
Justice4Gemmel+ All of Ed Buck's Victims
ANSWER Coalition
Beauty Speaks
Our Revolution Los Angeles
SameSide
LA LGBT Center - Youth Center on Highland
Southwest Asian & North Afrikan - Los Angeles (SWANA-LA)
East LA Women's Center
Party for Socialism and Liberation
DSA-LA
AF3IRM LA
Grassroots AIM
Refuse Fascism Los Angeles
Moral Mondays LA

** Please fill out this form if your organization would like to endorse the march or have a table at the rally:
https://goo.gl/forms/8TOabF0XFHAyioWj2

MORE INFORMATION:

PARKING
https://www.yelp.com/biz/hollywood-and-highland-parking-structure-los-angeles

METRO
http://media.metro.net/riding_metro/maps/images/7_11-1521_blt_Hollywood.pdf

We are doing outreach to groups who work on workplace assault, assault in the military, missing indigenous women, campus assault, the risks of assault while living on the street, assault in the prisons, statutes of limitations, issues specific to transgender people, children, assault by family members, and more.

This event is being organized in solidarity with the Take Back The Workplace March. We will assemble with their crowd at 10am, march to CNN at 11am for a press conference on workplace assault, and the our crowd will march back to Hollywood and Highland for our 1pm #MeToo rally!

Link to the Take Back The Workplace March:
https://www.facebook.com/events/824877381022921/

DAY OF ACTION SCHEDULE:

10am - assemble at H&H under the ME TOO banner
11am - march to CNN
12pm - press conference
12:30 - march back to H&H
1pm - ME TOO rally starts
3pm - ME TOO rally ends

In order to help the community understand the depth and magnitude of this issue, Bernie's Coffee Shop Volunteer Office hosted 3 movie screenings over the last month. We recommend watching these films if you are seeking a broader picture of the pervasive nature of sexual violence.

**PAST SCREENINGS**
11/5/17 @ 8pm
#MeTooMovies Screening #3: "I Am Jane Doe"
EVENT LINK: https://www.facebook.com/events/285821491910084

10/22/17 @ 8pm
#MeTooMovies Screening #1: "Audrie & Daisy"
EVENT LINK: https://www.facebook.com/events/919131874894542/?ti=cl

10/29/17 @ 8pm
#MeTooMovies Screening #2: "The Hunting Ground"
EVENT LINK: https://www.facebook.com/events/178960605994426