Kayla connecting issues at UCT and UCOnn

Today I had the privilege of attending a UCT march that was intended to protest the way the college administration has been responding to rape victims. UCT students are speaking out against victims being forced to have conversations with their rapists to “mediate” the situation, victims being dissuaded from reporting their assault to the police, and victims being denied adequate medical attention. Do these issues sound familiar? That is because students at UConn are speaking out against the EXACT same issues.

Coming to the march, I knew UCT students were dissatisfied with the way the school administration were handling rape cases. Yet once I began talking to students about the actual ways the school was responding to students, I honestly was so shocked by the clear similarities between the issues at UCT and UConn. I couldn’t believe that two student bodies on different continents could be facing the exact same issues. Upon reflection, this makes complete sense because whether a university is in South Africa or in the United States it’s aim is to make profit in order to attract more students (“customers”) then making the crime rate on campus appear low is in the school’s best financial interest.

I came to the march with my internship (The Rape Crisis Centre) to provide materials about the center’s services so that if the students are being denied proper care at the university, they may know about our free, comprehensive services. I was with Emily one of my fellow co-educators and a woman who works at my office, both of whom are white. When we arrived, we asked if it was okay for us to be there and the leaders of the group seemed happy to have us there. However, when we began asking students about the issues and what exactly was happening on campus, a white student amidst a group of black students turned to us and said: “How come everyone who came here is white? Who are you to be asking a group of black women about their experience with rape?”. The students around her nodded in agreement.

I was somewhat offended by that comment because I’m not white. It is also possible for me to be subject to being in a place of lesser power due to my race. Overall, I have some mixed feelings about this encounter. I understand race is clearly relevant in rape because rape is all about power relations, making race a clear component. However, white and black students are being subject to the same substandard services at UCT. Therefore, I would imagine the march would be more welcoming to us. On the other hand, I can also see how a group of lighter skinned individuals coming with a type of relief could come off as the white savior complex. Finally, isn’t the fact that the white student was almost speaking on behalf of the black students representative of race power relations as well?

Overall, going to the march was really eye opening to many different issues. I found clear similarities between UCT’s issues and UConn’s issues. However, at UConn protests against rape it is much more unified amongst all races than that at UCT. This is clearly due to the nation’s complicated history surrounding race and power issues. Mainly what this experience taught me was how multilayered issues can be and how race is prevalent in almost all issues here including housing, income inequality, etc.