Author Archives: witness1

Louisa’s Story

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Louisa_ManceyLouisa Mancey
When I heard about the campaign I was happy for the opportunity to express my strong dissatisfaction with not only the act of harassment that has become common place, but also for persons attitude toward it. The most memorable experience for me with harassment is on one occasion walking downtown with my sister. A man made a rude comment about the appearance of my crotch and what he would like to do to me. This was not altogether uncommon. We promptly let him know that this was very disgusting comment and not acceptable. What was very surprising though, was that another passer-by, a man, promptly stepped in to defend him and his behavior. This was a shock to me, that persons really don’t get it! It’s not cool! They actually think they are doing us a favor by letting us know that we are desirable. I think it’s time to let them know that we don’t need every Tom, Dick and Harry on the road watching us up and down lusting… Every man that does that immediately loses my respect.

Do you have a story to tell? Submit Your Story Here.

Venus’s Story

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Venus_PersaudVenus Persaud
Countless times I’ve walked down the streets of my home town, of the capital and other parts of Guyana and felt unsafe. Why do I feel unsafe, this is my home. Street harassment is a revolting act that has become the norm for an alarming percentage of men of our society. I always think to myself, do these guys actually think that this is what it means to charm a woman, to shout cat calls and insulting comments when I don’t respond to them, what was wrong with their upbringing to make them feel like this is okay? IT IS NOT OKAY. We are not your prey, we are not objects, we are disgusted by this behavior and we won’t tolerate it. It has to stop, NO TOLERANCE, WE DO NOT LIKE IT, IT IS NOT OKAY.

Do you have a story to tell? Submit Your Story Here.

Akilah’s Story

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Akilah_ManceyAkilah Mancey
My name is Akilah. In my 26 years of life my experience with street harassment has been a troubling one. I’ve seen others subjected to this and I have been a recipient of this unwanted sexual harassment. I will not repeat all the vile and offensive things spat at me by various men but I would like to express my utter disgust and revulsion. It makes me sick and angry that men feel somehow they have the right and permission to just say what they please to women as we go about our days trying to make the best of life just like everyone else. Not only do we have other inequalities to face but we also have to be told abhorrent sexual things as we too struggle with life. It’s not fair. I have taken to wearing head phones or just not walking about as I would like to deal in order to avoid street harassment. There are no words I can use to express just how much I hate street harassment. It is NOT attractive and NOT wanted. STOP street harassment. It is just not OK.

Do you have a story to tell? Submit Your Story Here.

Verney’s Story

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Verney_HenryVerney Henry

Have you ever been so angry that you felt like hurting someone – in the worst way possible? This is how I feel about street harassment when random people tell you unwanted things then insult you when you do not respond.

This act is sickening and disgusting! How can some men/boys be so inconsiderate and heartless? They can change a person’s mood in so many ways. Here are a  few experience that I’ve had: Imagine that you and your mom have just had a conflict and you come out on the road to get some fresh air. The first thing you hear is, “Hey sexy, you looking thick!”

I recall another time where I was hanging out with some friends and a group of men looked at me and said. “I’m watching you, you are shaping up just fine.”  These comments not only upset me but scare me. As a young lady, I do not want to walk to go anywhere. I am scared. Will these acts of street harassment ever stop? Will ever feel safe walking from my home to a nearby shop?

Do you have a story to tell? Submit Your Story Here.

Anisa’s Story

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Anisa_ManceyAnisa Mancey
Sometimes I would like to walk down the street and get my errands done without some random stranger calling out to me just to harass me. It doesn’t make me feel nice and it often just annoys me. It doesn’t make me want to get to know these guys at all if that’s how they call out to women. It doesn’t make them look cool or interesting; it really makes me feel like I need to get far away.

Do you have a story to tell? Submit Your Story Here.

WITNESS Project Presents at Ridgefield CT Library, Oct 5th

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WITNESS Project Sunday October 5, 2014 2:00 PM until 4:00 PM

WITNESS Project International will present a talk/screening focusing on our youth’s massive, public space photography project in partnership with French Urban Artist JR’s Inside Out Global Arts Project. Our project generated social awareness and change through the arts, and was followed by other creative public works that used writing, storytelling, and an award winning short film by the WITNESS youth.

Anyone near Ridgefield Conn U.S. tomorrow, Oct 5th, stop by the Ridgefield Library @ 2:00pm to hear about our collaboration with JR/Inside Out  – and see our award winning short film ‘Rebecca’s Story’ – here’s a link to the trailer.
For more information & directions to the Library go HERE.

Final Day of our Summer Project

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final dayToday was my final day with the WITNESS Project youth, and we switched gears from stenciling walls to talking about our next poster project. Over the past few months, our group of young artists have been working on a series of public service announcements to address the problem of street harassment. They have written and filmed the PSA’s and are now getting ready to edit them. We wanted to coordinate the launching of these announcements with another poster campaign that would address the same issue. So today we worked on that project.

We spent the morning talking about how marketing can effect society both for good and for bad. We saw some examples of ad campaigns that subtly reinforced the notion that street harassment was somehow acceptable behavior. Looking at these ads got the group thinking about how powerful advertising really is and how they can use the same techniques to get their message across.

We divided into groups and answered questions about who we should direct our message to, what we want them to think, how we want them to feel, and how we want them to behave. We also talked about positive vs negative messaging.

The groups came up with some great ideas for the poster campaign and then presented or pitched their idea to the rest of the group. All the ideas were very good, so I know as they continue to refine their ideas in the next few months, I am confident that they will put together an effective campaign. It should be a great project and I am eager to see what they come up with.

We ended our time with ice-cream and good-bye hugs. It’s been a great week and I look forward to working together on our next project.

Rebecca’s Story Receives Paul Robeson Honorable Mention for a Short Narrative Award from the Newark Black Film Festival.

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Newark Black Film Festival

Morgan Riles and Margaret Clemons attending the Newark Black Film Festival award ceremony.


Last week Morgan Riles accepted the prestigious Paul Robeson Honorable Mention for a Short Narrative Award (Rebecca’s Story) from the Newark Black Film Festival. The Festival celebrated its 40th year of recognizing worthy films this year. It is part of the Newark Museum. The evening began with a reception at the Newark Museum main hall followed by the awards ceremony in the Museum’s auditorium. Morgan spoke beautifully and received the award on behalf of the WITNESS Project youths and MCF. The award included a beautiful glass plaque AND a monetary award made payable to MCF.

What an incredible evening! Following the awards we drove to Newark’s City Plex Cinemas and there watched Rebecca’s Story on a HUGE screen in a large theatre.

We were so proud to see the hard work of our young team up on that huge screen and so grateful that this hard work has been recognized and honored. We are absolutely overjoyed for our wonderful team! It’s a challenge to get accepted to screen a film at any of these film festivals let alone receive such an honor! We have been accepted at a number of film festivals AND now we can refer to RS as an award winning film!

Congratulations to everyone!

WITNESS Project team begins filming PSA series

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Using the knowledge gained last summer during our short film production, our team is moving forward to produce Public Service Announcements that will be shown in Georgetown, Guyana. These photos were taken during the first day on the set. We are excited for the opportunity to use the medium of television to bring our message of positive change to more people.