Silence is violence.

Why Walnut Avenue Family & Women’s Center
(Walnut Avenue) supports Black Lives Matter
as both a movement and a principle.

Since 1933, our family center has been providing grassroots human services to individuals and families in Santa Cruz County. In addition to ongoing work with local youth and providing high quality early education for low-income families, in the 90’s Walnut Avenue directed our attention towards individuals and families experiencing domestic violence. One of our core values is safety. Walnut Avenue believes that all individuals deserve to live their lives free from violence, aggression, and oppression.

Domestic violence (which includes intimate partner violence, child maltreatment within the family system, elder abuse within the family, and teen dating violence) can manifest in a variety of ways, including but not limited to the emotional, mental, spiritual, financial, physical, and sexual. It’s also inherently political: that is, it’s based on the ways in which our society understands gender, sexuality, race, and other forms of identity. Unfortunately, much of that is based on differences of power - who has it (and is entitled it) and who does not (and has not “earned” it).

Domestic violence is, at its core, about power and control. Domestic violence occurs where there is opportunity for one person to gain power over another without significant consequences. This is similar to the way unequal power dynamics work between groups with different identities, such as gender and race: who has power at the cost of the well-being of others.

We also know, based on peer-reviewed research over many years as well as from the stories of survivors here in our own county, that the more vulnerable a person is to oppression, the more likely they are to experience interpersonal violence. This is because systemic oppressions like misogyny, racism, xenophobia, ableism, ageism, anti-Semitism, classism, transphobia, queerphobia, and other forms of discrimination make it harder for survivors to find the resources and support they need, or those necessary services may not even exist at all.

More information on what we mean by “privilege” and “oppression” is available here.

Because these oppressions have become such a common part of general American society, people with greater social privileges are taught (sometimes in actual words, and sometimes less directly through media, the actions of the people around them, and other sources) that unequal power between people is normal. It’s less likely that someone with greater privilege will face significant, appropriate consequences for their choice to cause harm. If you’ve ever seen two people of different race or ethnicity face very different kinds of punishment from the law for the same crimes, then you’ve seen some of this in action already.

In addition to services for survivors, Walnut Avenue has, for over 40 years, been providing high quality early education and care for children ages 0-5 for low-income families and families with teenage parents at our Early Education Center. Even when domestic violence is not in the home, additional formal research has demonstrated how injustices like racism also impact the economic opportunities of a family, child development, educational performance, and the school-to-prison pipeline. Walnut Avenue also seeks to address the ways in which a person might be barred from high-quality education based on their identity and lived experience.

All this is to say that Walnut Avenue, as a community-based family-focused agency, cannot claim to fight for gender justice and healthier opportunities for families without also fighting for racial justice.

This 2019 study from Blue Shield of California includes discussion on the ways in which systemic oppression is directly correlated to domestic and family violence. Violence in the home can be experienced by any person and be caused by any person, regardless of gender, culture, or other privileges, but the parallels and statistical correlation between domestic violence and political violence are not coincidental.

For information on Black Lives Matter, including methods of support and additional resources, visit BlackLivesMatter.com. For other ways of participating in local, crowdsourced community resiliency and networks, consider checking out Santa Cruz County Mutual Aid or the Santa Cruz chapter of Food Not Bombs.

How Walnut Avenue Supports BLM

We know that while statements are powerful, action is better. Here are some of the ways in which Walnut Avenue is committing to concrete action with the understanding that there is always room for growth and change based on the effectiveness of these actions:

Being consistent and regular in reviewing policies and procedures for their effectiveness in lowering barriers for Black staff and program participants;
Being clear in what the confidential feedback process is so that Black staff, volunteers, and participants can be honest in their experience with Walnut Avenue without fear of punishment, for the purpose of Walnut Avenue remaining adaptable to people’s needs over time;
Ensuring that all agency trainings, including its certified domestic violence advocacy training, involve anti-racist education relevant to the training’s purpose;
Better incorporating anti-racist resources into its social media campaigns;
Collaborating with individuals, groups, and other organizations on projects which are within our scope of service and resources which center the specific needs of Black community members;
Exploring ways in which we can expand on education, resources, and services for Black residents in Santa Cruz County;
Demonstrating no tolerance for racism and discrimination in all of our practices, collaborations, and communication, and having clear recourse for those occasions in which it does inevitably happen.

Below are our answers to some questions that are often asked of people and organizations who support the Black Lives Matter movement. We’ve included links to a variety of sources that help explain some of the language we use or why we make a particular claim. These responses are meant to summarize Walnut Avenue’s perspective as an organization.

“What does racism and anti-Blackness have to do with your organization?”

All of our services, such as our domestic violence crisis intervention hotline, our supplemental food program, our Early Education Center, and others, are held together by the single goal of helping members of our community thrive. This means recognizing the ways in which social and political harms of all kinds impact the people we serve in Santa Cruz County as well as our own staff and volunteers.

Racism, like domestic violence, has the ultimate potential of resulting in murder, either directly (as by individual hate crimes or confrontation with law enforcement) or indirectly (as by discriminatory laws and policies). The violence of such an act not only ends the life of a human being but also traumatizes the victim’s loved ones and members of their community. It contributes to the intergenerational violence and ancestral traumas, such as America’s legacy of anti-Black racism, that feed into our system in which some people have power and control over others. A large part of that system of power and control is state-sanctioned violence against Black people, the exact thing which Black Lives Matter is seeking to abolish.

To learn more, you can visit these introductions on “intersectionality” and “kyriarchy.”

Walnut Avenue sees the ways in which inequity continues to exist, not only in domestic violence and the fact that Black women and femmes face higher rates of abuse and homicide than other groups, but also in the areas of incarceration, healthcare, housing, education and other elements of American life. We cannot fully embody our values as an organization and not speak out against racism.

“If you support BLM, does that mean you’re anti-law enforcement?”

It depends on the actions that our local law enforcement chooses to take moving forward. Many survivors choose to (or are forced to) use the legal system as part of their personal safety plan; Walnut Avenue must and will remain available to them as a resource as well as to survivors who, for any number of personal reasons, prefer not to engage with the legal system.

In domestic violence advocacy, we believe that violence is a learned behavior, not an innate one. This means it can be unlearned, but only under some specific conditions:

The person understands that their choices caused harm.
They take personal responsibility for their choices.
They actively want to learn how to make safer, healthier choices.
They are proactively involved in their own process of learning how to do better.
There are concrete consequences for going back to old forms of behavior.

Unfortunately, institutions aren’t individual people, and so the process of change is more complicated and takes even more time, resources, and dedication from a larger number of people. For as long as our nation continues to rely on models of policing which foster violent environments and outcomes, Walnut Avenue will continue to:

Seek alternatives to the legal system for the benefit of our participants who identify that as part of their personal plan, which is an option that has always been part of our trauma-informed, survivor-driven services;
Call on law enforcement agencies and other legal bodies to recognize the ways in which their actions contribute to the oppression of vulnerable people, particularly people who are Black, Brown and/or Indigenous; and to either make concrete, institutional changes to end police violence or, failing that, to recognize that policing is not a viable form of ensuring community safety.

This same call for change applies to any group, organization, or institution whose chosen practices have been demonstrated to cause harm, even within our own realm of social services. Holding on to ways of doing things just because “that’s how we’ve always done it” is both untrue and unhelpful, and it’s a belief that stifles our creativity in collaborating on newer, better, and healthier ways of improving our community’s holistic well-being.

As advocates, our job is to provide domestic violence survivors with all their options and support them to make their own decisions for their own lives. This means that we will never tell survivors how or in what ways they should or should not engage with law enforcement, courts, social services, or other institutions.

“Do you support #DefundThePolice?”

Walnut Avenue supports criminal law reforms, transformative justice practices, and the equitable provision of human services to all people. We believe first and foremost in investing in Santa Cruz County’s healthcare, education, and community programs which offer measurable, long-term benefit to the people they serve.

Investing directly into the community increases the likelihood of a) having the most appropriate people respond to specific situations, b) having resources that actively and accurately meet existing community needs, and c) building up the kind of mutual social support that helps lower the occurrence of violence in the first place as a result of mutual trust, respect and accountability.

Walnut Avenue wants to help create a system which makes budget decisions based on what is the most effective method to achieve the desired goals. We know that incarceration and law enforcement tactics do not effectively decrease the rates of interpersonal violence. We need to collaborate on establishing more effective, equitable systems by acknowledging what works and what doesn’t in practice, not theory; centering the needs of the most vulnerable in Santa Cruz County; and seeking the input of the individuals and organizations with the most relevant training, lived experience, and skill sets to address specific areas of a much larger problem.

For as long as Santa Cruz County’s law enforcement chooses to make concrete, good faith efforts towards nonviolent and community-oriented action, Walnut Avenue will continue to offer education and training opportunities for law enforcement. We will also continue to provide survivor-led advocacy for survivors who are navigating the legal system.

“Are you anti-white supremacy?”

Yes.

“Are you racist against white people?”

No. Supporting Black Lives Matter and recognizing the ways in which “all lives matter” derails the conversation from addressing anti-Black racism is parallel to the same reasoning of why we use “feminism” when fighting for gender equity: the people who are most vulnerable to the specific kind of violence being addressed are centered in the conversation. But this doesn’t mean ‘switching roles’ in terms of power and putting white people (or men) in a position of inferiority or discrimination: it means eliminating the imbalance of power altogether. “Reverse racism” (i.e. racism against white people) doesn’t exist, by definition.

All of our services are for people of any race and ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexuality, age, ability, and other categories of lived experience and identity. Our domestic violence services do not ask for any proof of citizenship status, social security numbers, sex assigned at birth, insurance, minimum or maximum income level, housing status, substance use status, or any other qualifier beyond currently or recently experiencing domestic violence.

“If you support BLM, does that mean you support violent protest?”

Recognizing the value of Black lives is not the same as endorsing (or condemning) violence. It means understanding that Black people of all genders, ages, abilities, and backgrounds experience far greater rates of violence than non-Black folks, and that this reality is unfair, unjust, and systemic.

Over the course of Summer 2020, during the protests sparked by the murder of George Floyd, the vast majority of physical violence (actions which resulted in significant damage to property or living people) was caused by law enforcement and anti-BLM counter-protesters and civilian militias. There is no verified data that support the claim that BLM protesters are initiating any significant portion of physical violence.

“Are you antifa?”

Yes. “Antifa” is shorthand for “anti-fascist.” It is the name of a social movement, not the name of any organization or a specific political group. Anyone who actively opposes fascism, regardless of the political label they choose to wear, would be considered anti-fascist, i.e. antifa.

Because fascism is a model of government that typically involves ultra-nationalism, contempt for critical analysis, fixation on “purity” (of gender, race, physical appearance or ability, etc), and other elements of authoritarianism and abuse of power, Walnut Avenue denounces all forms of fascism and aligns itself with the fight for equity among all people.

“I have questions that aren’t answered here/feedback on what’s been said.”

You may contact us at info@wafwc.org to have your questions or feedback answered.

From Our Teachers & Advocates