BLACKSBURG-- The twenty-first annual Take Back the Night Rally and March in Blacksburg will be held on Thursday, March 25, in loving memory of Morgan Harrington. Morgan disappeared on October 17, 2009, outside a Metallica concert in Charlottesville. In January her body was found on a farm about 10 miles south of where she was last seen.
The purpose of this rally and candlelight march is to bring our community together to protest violence against women and to promote awareness of attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors that perpetuate this violence. Womanspace, which organizes this event, encourages everyone to take action to change our society -- a society in which women have reason to fear being out alone at night.
Participants will assemble between 6:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. on the Drillfield in front of the chapel at Virginia Tech. The rally will be held between 7:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Participants will then march through campus and downtown Blacksburg, returning to the Drillfield for a closing celebration. The march route is accessible for disabled persons. (The rain location is the Wesley Foundation at the corner of Roanoke and Otey Streets.)
The first Take Back the Night event was held in Germany in 1973 in response to a series of sexual assaults, rapes, and murders. Five years later in the U.S., a Take Back the Night march was held in San Francisco; over 5,000 women from 30 states participated. Since then, marches have been held in many cities throughout the U.S., Canada, Latin America, India, and Europe. In Virginia, Take Back the Night marches have been held in Richmond and Charlottesville, and at Hollins University, Radford University, Roanoke College, and Virginia Tech.
Marchers have called attention to violence against women -- the sexual harassment, misogyny, rapes, and murders. This violence affects both individuals in the community and the community as a whole.
Women and men of all ages are encouraged to join in the March 25 event, which is part of Women’s Month 2010. Each participant is asked to wear a purple ribbon tied with a knot for every friend or family member who has been sexually assaulted. Ribbons will be worn throughout Women’s Month to show support for victims and to protest sexual violence against all people. Purple ribbons will be available at information tables at Take Back the Night and each weekday at the Women’s Center at Virginia Tech, located at 206 Washington Street.
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