Black Words Literature Circle 2017

Step Forward Sexual Harassment Prevention Campaign video

Students from Gardena HS' and King-Drew Magnet of Medicine and Science WLP 2015-2016 program discuss the impact of sexual and street harassment on African American girls and women.

WLP Alumni Achievements: 2016

Congratulations to WLP alum-interns Clay Wesley & Lizeth Soria, recipients of the L.A. Urban Policy Roundtable's Spirit of the Kings' award for their work w/foster care & undocumented youth. 

Women's Leadership Project alumnus Miani Giron, will be attending UCLA Medical School in the Fall of 2016.  Miani is a 2016 graduate of Syracuse University and a 2012 alumnus of Gardena High School. Miani was president of WLP from 2011-2012 and is the first in her family to go to college. She wrote this piece about WLP for The Feminist Wire in 2012:

Coming into Consciousness

http://www.thefeministwire.com/2012/03/coming-into-consciousness/

By Miani Giron

In the three years that I’ve been involved in the Women’s Leadership Project (WLP) my awareness and outlook on social issues have been positively impacted. Before I joined I was unaware of issues like HIV/AIDS, domestic violence, and de facto segregation and how they directly affect my community. I’m not embarrassed to admit that I was ignorant of the issues that have the potential to destroy my community, because it’s not my fault that no one ever took the time to educate me on these matters.  WLP has made me aware of issues that degrade women; as a result, not only am I conscious, but I am outraged and determined to actively do something about it. My participation in WLP increased my interest in talking to young women in my community to raise awareness. I’m encouraged to advocate and be active in my own school-community.

While all the social issues we discuss in WLP are of great importance to me, the issue of mainstream media and female representation really concerns me... 

WLP Kicks Off Step Up/Step Back sexual harassment & sexual violence campaign

WLP & Young Male Scholars GHS present @ Sexual violence & media forum

Women's Day King-Drew present @ Sexual violence & media forum

WLP GHS discussing Step Up campaign

WLP 2014-2015

By Issachar Curbeon

We are excited about putting together a powerful visual project to spread awareness about the sexual harassment and verbal abuse young Black women are experiencing in the LAUSD. The campaign will be developed during January-March 2016 and will include Gardena HS, King-Drew Medical Magnet and Crenshaw HS.

To provoke conversation In November 2015, during our first session with Women’s Leadership Project's Women of Color in the U.S. class, we administered a survey to gauge the self-esteem of the girls in the class. The survey was designed to find out if young women felt safe, supported and respected on campus. 

Unfortunately, we were not surprised when the survey revealed that more than half of the girls had been sexually harassed on campus or in their communities; and that more than half of the class recognized disrespect towards Black girls as a major issue on campus. 

To create a sense of sisterhood among the girls we decided to do an adaptation of an exercise called Step Forward, Step Back tailored to show them that they were not alone in their experiences of harassment on campus. 

Step Forward, Step Back is traditionally a privilege exercise where participants stand in a straight line in the middle of an empty space and respond to statements about their personal social class experiences. With each true statement (i.e ‘step forward if your parents went to college) individuals either step forward representing experiences and circumstances that have afforded wealth, education, health, and wellbeing; or step backward representing experiences that frustrate educational, economic and social advancement. 

The exercise reveals that success in our society is not an equal race, there are in fact, experiences that marginalized people face due to racism, sexism and economic inequality that act as major obstacles to resources and opportunities to succeed. 

The campaign will involve the following elements:

Ongoing 

Slogan tweets and posts (via Instagram and Twitter)

·         Descriptions of forms of sexual harassment

·         Responses to harassers

·         Images on street harassment, sexual harassment and sexual violence

·         Stats on sexual violence affecting Black girls, Latinas and other girls of color

·         Short video clip observations on what can be done to stop harassment

Short blog articles (via Facebook and WLP blog)

·         Reflections on a harassment experience

·         Poems and spoken word challenging harassment and the responsibility of men/boys to get involved as allies*

Interviews

I.                    February 23-25 (King-Drew Medical Magnet & GHS)

Hip Hop, Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment Forum

·         Student-facilitated discussion on sexual harassment, sexual violence and media images in hip hop and popular culture

o   Participants:

§  Women’s Leadership Project/Women’s Day

§  Young Male Scholars

§  Media Done Responsibly

II.                  February 11-March 10th

Video piece

·         Small group discussion about images of Black women and women of color in the media

·         One-on-one interviews about WLP members’ perspectives

·         Whole group “Step up/Step Back” exercise with filmmaker Elizabeth Bayne