About the Book
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.
About the Author :
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.
Review :
"The lack of visibility of Black women has changed--and the incredible work of Kimberlé Crenshaw, African American Policy Forum, and the #SayHerName campaign are examples of this. So is this powerful book."
--Janelle Monáe, from the Foreword
"Kimberlé Crenshaw is a national treasure."
--Kerry Washington
"The United States does not value Black life--and white supremacy threatens all of humanity. The Black women's stories of state violence and public silence featured in this powerful and inspiring book are extremely important. We bear children, so when they are robbed from us, it's like our own breath is taken away. We thank the #SayHerName campaign and Kimberlé Crenshaw and Janelle Monáe for uplifting our stories. The African American Policy Forum is a vital platform for Black voices."
--Samaria Rice, founder, Tamir Rice Foundation, and mother of Tamir Rice
"Reading #SayHerName is an act of solidarity, refusal, and love. Every piercing story in this book, every Black woman heartlessly murdered by the police, had a mother, a sister, a family, a community. Every one of them matters."
--V (formerly Eve Ensler), author of The Vagina Monologues and Reckoning
