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NEWS & LETTERS, July 2002
Protest celebrity rapist
Memphis, Tenn.—The prize fight in Memphis between
Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson was not without protest. Our WAC (Women's Action
Coalition) leaflet stated in part: "We're here to protest the city's
sponsorship of a fight featuring a convicted rapist who happens to also be
notoriously anti-woman and anti-gay. The city is profiting from promoting an act
of violence....It's wrong to profit from this kind of exploitation, and it's
wrong to make a hero out of a sports figure who rapes women, makes homophobic
slurs, threatens children and destroys lives. ." Representatives from WAC, News & Letters, Memphis
Areas Gay Youth, Equality Tennessee, and the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center
were joined in our protests by Peter Tatchell, longtime gay rights activist from
Britain, who came to Memphis specifically to dog Mike Tyson's footsteps and to
castigate him for his homophobic remarks about Lewis and other boxers. Those of us in WAC and several of the other
organizations realize the limitations of a media-only campaign, and were
frustrated that despite a few moments on the news, the police, the city and most
local media were pretty much successful in keeping our message from getting out
to more people in Memphis. —Memphis WAC-ers |
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