“Still I rise” – and we will

Bianca Todd writes: I, together with thousands of other women have lost faith in the police.

There isn’t a woman who hasn’t experienced putting her hand in her pocket, to hold her keys tightly, just in case the footsteps behind her, attack her. We think about the clothes we wear, the route home we walk and where we place our drinks, just in case.

Sarah Everard did everything that all women were taught when they were girls to keep safe, but unfortunately that wasn’t enough.

It was for that reason that women across the country wanted to come together, not to protest but to remember Sarah and to share our stories of feeling unsafe on our streets, to reach out to our fathers, brothers and sons and remind them that we need them now to change this, that it can’t continue.

Unfortunately as the organiser of the Northampton vigil I was threatened with a £10,000 fine, there was no room for compromise, to create a space where we could come together safely. Luckily in Northampton we were able to create a connected space virtually.

Sadly this was not the case in London. Women came together in grief, the flowers they brought to remember and for respect were trampled on. Worst than that women, who shared a story of experiencing male violence were then violently arrested by the Metropolitan Police Force.

This action by the police perpetuates the narrative that we as women know, that it is not safe on our streets for us, rape and violent crime against us increases, but prosecutions decrease. The failure of the police to communicate, their failure to compromise, their failure to help, that legacy will run deep into the hearts of women across the country.

On a day, when women were consumed with sadness, when sharing our stories, the police made us all feel less safe. There are serious questions to be answered around the difference in approach that has been taken by the police, when in male dominated spaces, such as football, supporters were allowed to gather – we have to ask what lead the actions of the police? We know the answer- the police fail to keep us safe. There is a wider question of how we can make the streets safer and the government’s suggestion of extending CCTV and increasing undercover police, who can join women in bars completely fails in understanding that the issue of safety is deeply rooted in every element of society. The fightback needs to begin with education and conversation, it needs to follow up with a greater understanding of the consequences of the funding strategies of both local and national government and look at how we move from a police force to a police service and the principles that underpin that service.

As the struggle continues and women continue to navigate sharing their stories we are mindful of those sisters who are feeling despair and sadness, let us be mindful of the words of Maya Angelou “still I rise” – and we will.