Additional information
by Kimberlé Crenshaw (Author), Forum Policy American African (Author), Monáe Janelle (Foreword by)
Since the movement's founding in 2014, #SayHerName has gained international attention and has served as both a rallying cry and organizing principle in the aftermath of police killings of Black women, including, most recently, the police killing of Breonna Taylor.
Black women, girls, and femmes as young as seven and as old as ninety-three have been killed by the police, though we rarely hear their names or learn their stories. Breonna Taylor, Alberta Spruill, Rekia Boyd, Shantel Davis, Shelly Frey, Kayla Moore, Kyam Livingston, Miriam Carey, Michelle Cusseaux, and Tanisha Anderson are among the many lives that should have been. The #SayHerName campaign lifts up the stories of these women and girls in order to build a gender-inclusive framework for understanding, discussing, and combating police violence.
Without this knowledge, we cannot have a full understanding of the wide-ranging circumstances that make Black bodies disproportionately subject to police violence, and we cannot understand the ways in which racialized policing and gendered violence intersect and produce lethal consequences. #SayHerName provides an analytical framework for understanding Black women's susceptibility to police brutality and state-sanctioned violence, and it explains how--through black feminist storytelling and ritual--we can effectively mobilize various communities and empower them to advocate for racial justice.
Including Black women in police violence and gender violence discourses sends the powerful message that, in fact, all Black lives matter and that the police cannot kill without consequence.This is a powerful story of Black feminist practice, community-building, enablement, and Black feminist reckoning.
Author Biography
Kimberlé Crenshaw, Professor of Law at UCLA and Columbia Law School, is a leading authority in the area of Civil Rights, Black feminist legal theory, and race, racism, and the law. Her work has been foundational in two fields of study that have come to be known by terms that she coined: Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality. She co-founded and serves as the Executive Director of the African American Policy Forum
Founded in 1996, The African American Policy Forum is an innovative think tank that connects academics, activists and policy-makers to promote efforts to dismantle structural inequality. We utilize new ideas and innovative perspectives to transform public discourse and policy. AAPF promotes frameworks and strategies that address a vision of racial justice that embraces the intersections of race, gender, class, and the array of barriers that disempower those who are marginalized in society. AAPF is dedicated to advancing and expanding racial justice, gender equality, and the indivisibility of all human rights, both in the United States and internationally.
Janelle Monáe is a Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter, performer, producer, actor, and activist.
