Don McPherson said he usually stands with the privilege of being a former football player, but on Wednesday night, he stood inside Hendricks Chapel with the privilege of being a man.

McPherson, a Class of 1987 Syracuse University alumnus and captain of SU’s football team during his senior year, said he usually carries the privileges of a man with him everyday, but his privilege was especially apparent to him on Wednesday night.

As the keynote speaker at SU’s annual Take Back the Night event, McPherson spoke to a full house inside Hendricks — which has a capacity of about 1,100 people — about the importance of taking action against sexual assault and relationship violence.

The Take Back the Night event was the first event to kick-start the “It’s On Us” Week of Action, which will continue on April 4. In November, Vice President Joe Biden spoke at SU about sexual assault and relationship violence prevention on college campuses. Biden’s address was part of a four-stop college tour for the White House’s “It’s On Us” campaign.

During his speech, McPherson, who has called himself an “outspoken male feminist,” talked about some of his experiences when his privilege was most apparent to him.

Jess Sheldon | Staff Photographer

Growing up with a father who was a police officer in New York City, McPherson said he remembers his father always telling his sisters what they should do to be safe at night.

“‘Carry mace. Carry pepper spray. Walk in well-lit areas. Watch your drinks,’” his father would say.

He said women are provided with this list of things to do in order to prevent rape and sexual assault, and added that if a woman doesn’t do one of them, they are blamed for the violence of men.

McPherson said he never had to do any of the things his father told his sisters to do to be safe. And that’s when he realized his privilege.

“We have the privilege as men to not have to think about it, to not have to talk about it, to not have to examine it,” McPherson said. “I’m speaking to the men in this room. It is not enough for you to be here tonight, to simply stand and support the women who are courageous enough to tell you their stories. We as men have to go back and address the culture of sexism and misogyny that lives in our culture of masculinity.”

The solution, McPherson said, is correcting the violence from where it begins.

When McPherson played in the Canadian Football League, he lived in Burlington, Ontario. While there, he often frequented a local restaurant that was mostly employed by college-aged women. He said it was a “great place to hang out” and a “cool place to be.”

But during the summer of 1991, a young woman in the area had been abducted, raped and murdered. Soon after, a 15-year-old girl from Burlington was abducted, raped and murdered. The man responsible for these crimes, McPherson said, was known to drive a yellow Camaro, but he had not been caught yet.

One day, the yellow Camaro was parked outside of the local restaurant McPherson frequented. He said the people inside the restaurant were scared, but he didn’t understand why they felt unsafe.

His privilege prevented him from seeing this issue, he said, because the reality was he had more in common with the rapist than he did with the victims.

Until men begin to realize the privilege that comes from their masculinity and address that, McPherson said the problem will not be solved.

He added that people need to start having constructive conversations about these issues.

“If we cared as much about this issue as we do about basketball, the dialogue would be different,” McPherson said.

Jess Sheldon | Staff Photographer

In addition to McPherson’s keynote speech, other short speeches and a spoken word piece were presented at the event. Samantha Skaller, a junior at SU who was selected to serve on the national “It’s On Us” Student Advisory Committee, highlighted the upcoming “It’s On Us” Week of Action events.

The week’s events will continue with a screening of “The Hunting Ground,” a documentary about sexual assault on college campuses, on April 4 and end on April 8 with a workshop on how gender norms are linked to sexual assault and other forms of violence.

After the Take Back the Night rally inside Hendricks, the organizers of the event led the crowd of students in a march around the SU campus.

The crowd was encouraged to chant phrases like “Hey, hey, ho, ho, this rape culture has got to go” and “We have the power, we have the right, the streets are ours, take back the night.”

The large group of students marched from Hendricks to Marshall Street and then across Walnut Park. From there, the students walked up past the Schine Student Center and the Hall of Languages to finish back at Hendricks.

The event ended with a speak-out portion during which individuals could share their thoughts and stories. This portion of the event was closed to the media due to its sensitive nature.

Published on March 30, 2016 at 11:24 pm

Contact Sara: smswann@syr.edu | @saramswann