In honor of the coming weeks of discussions and events on sexual assault, I want to take a moment to talk about violence. I know, we talk about it a lot. In crime, in relationships, in the home, in bad parts of town, in humanitarian injustice, and in war. We talk about it physically, or structurally, or even intellectually (i.e. "doing violence to texts"). So, it seems, many of us have a pretty clear idea of what it means. I did, until I heard a simple sentence that wholly and completely dismantled my conception of violence.
Visiting an anti-violence NGO called Sou da Paz that works in Brazilian favelas, our presenter was speaking about cultures of violence, and how we are all responsible. It was her next remark that convicted me, and caught me red handed. She said, “When you knock into someone on a crowded subway, and you do not say excuse me, you are contributing to the culture of violence."
Wait, what?
