About Ending Colonial Legacies III

October 5th - 7th, 2007
Belmar Center
405 S. Teller
Lakewood, CO (near downtown Denver)

INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence, is a national activist organization of radical feminists of color advancing a movement to end violence against women of color and their communities through direct action, critical dialogue and grassroots organizing. Ending Colonial Legacies (ECL) is a Colorado based, women of color led initiative that has worked toward dismantling the legacy of colonialism & eventual abolishment of Columbus Day through non-violent resistance and political education.

The gathering will center the experiences of Indigenous women from tribal nations located within the Southwestern United States. Violence against Native women is at epidemic proportions, yet is an issue that remains hidden within the mainstream anti-violence and American Indian movements. According to Amnesty International's 113-page report, ''Maze of Injustice - The Failure to Protect Indigenous Women from Sexual Violence in the USA,” American Indian and Alaska Native women are nearly three times more likely to be raped or sexually assaulted in their lifetimes. According to the U.S. Department of Justice 86% of the reported cases of rapes and sexual assaults are committed by non-Native men. There are approximately 44,000 American Indians (self-identified including mixed race) who reside throughout Colorado, of which approximately 21,000 live in the Denver-metro area. Many American Indians live below the national and state poverty level, have the lowest rate of individuals attaining a higher education, and have the highest suicide rate among all Americans. The gathering also strives to elevate the voices of Indigenous women as the transmitters of tradition, the catalysts for healing, and the cultivators of matrilineal leadership traditions disrupted by the encroachment of patriarchy, an essential building block of colonization.

State violence against immigrant women of color will also be a key focus where issues involving immigration, border violence, and the militarization of Indian Country intersect. The Southwest region is a strategic militarized zone where the U.S. government centers its border militarization strategy that has resulted in the deaths of 5000+ border crossers since 1996. The southwest region is also where interior enforcement strategies are first piloted for use in other regions and is the focal point for deportation strategies. The Border Patrol, the largest armed federal enforcement body in the U.S., implements strategies that have caused trauma in communities, and subjects immigrant women to both state and interpersonal violence hidden within the larger enforcement and profiling strategy of immigration law.

The goal of the gathering is to strengthen and mobilize INCITE!’s organizing base through a regional organizing strategy. Discussion and organizing topics will also include law enforcement violence, gender/trans justice and solidarity, Palestinian Women’s Indigenous Rights, the Boarding School Healing Project, Indigenous-Chicana dialogue, and women in the Red Power movement. The first two days will be open to the public. The third day will be open only to women of color and trans people of color with a focus on strengthening INCITE! chapters and affiliates. In addition, an evening Denver book launch and community discussion will be held featuring INCITE’s latest book, The Revolution Will Not Be Funded: Beyond the Nonprofit Industrial Complex. INCITE!’s books, t-shirts and posters will be available for purchase at all venues.

To register please visit
http://www.incite-national.org/conf/swrg.html