WEBVTT 00:00:00.760 --> 00:00:02.520 I'd like to try something new. 00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:04.736 Those of you who are able, 00:00:04.760 --> 00:00:05.960 please stand up. 00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:11.600 OK, so I'm going to name some names. 00:00:12.080 --> 00:00:14.456 When you hear a name that you don't recognize, 00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:16.335 you can't tell me anything about them, 00:00:16.360 --> 00:00:18.136 I'd like you to take a seat 00:00:18.160 --> 00:00:19.480 and stay seated. 00:00:20.240 --> 00:00:23.856 The last person standing, we're going to see what they know. OK? NOTE Paragraph 00:00:23.880 --> 00:00:25.456 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:00:25.480 --> 00:00:26.680 All right. 00:00:27.160 --> 00:00:28.360 Eric Garner. 00:00:30.480 --> 00:00:31.760 Mike Brown. 00:00:35.160 --> 00:00:36.520 Tamir Rice. 00:00:39.760 --> 00:00:40.960 Freddie Gray. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:44.240 --> 00:00:46.136 So those of you who are still standing, 00:00:46.160 --> 00:00:48.256 I'd like you to turn around and take a look. 00:00:48.280 --> 00:00:52.280 I'd say half to most of the people are still standing. 00:00:52.920 --> 00:00:54.120 So let's continue. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:55.640 --> 00:00:57.000 Michelle Cusseaux. 00:01:03.720 --> 00:01:05.640 Tanisha Anderson. 00:01:10.400 --> 00:01:11.640 Aura Rosser. 00:01:15.560 --> 00:01:16.800 Meagan Hockaday. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:18.760 --> 00:01:20.216 So if we look around again, 00:01:20.240 --> 00:01:23.256 there are about four people still standing, 00:01:23.280 --> 00:01:25.976 and actually I'm not going to put you on the spot. 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:29.576 I just say that to encourage transparency, so you can be seated. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:29.600 --> 00:01:31.280 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:01:32.560 --> 00:01:35.776 So those of you who recognized the first group of names know 00:01:35.800 --> 00:01:39.696 that these were African-Americans who have been killed by the police 00:01:39.720 --> 00:01:41.920 over the last two and a half years. 00:01:43.160 --> 00:01:44.416 What you may not know 00:01:44.440 --> 00:01:49.856 is that the other list is also African-Americans 00:01:49.880 --> 00:01:54.680 who have been killed within the last two years. 00:01:55.680 --> 00:01:59.656 Only one thing distinguishes the names that you know 00:01:59.680 --> 00:02:01.360 from the names that you don't know: 00:02:02.320 --> 00:02:03.520 gender. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:04.720 --> 00:02:10.536 So let me first let you know that there's nothing at all distinct 00:02:10.560 --> 00:02:12.336 about this audience 00:02:12.360 --> 00:02:16.176 that explains the pattern of recognition that we've just seen. 00:02:16.200 --> 00:02:20.696 I've done this exercise dozens of times around the country. 00:02:20.720 --> 00:02:23.296 I've done it to women's rights organizations. 00:02:23.320 --> 00:02:25.456 I've done it with civil rights groups. 00:02:25.480 --> 00:02:28.456 I've done it with professors. I've done it with students. 00:02:28.480 --> 00:02:32.736 I've done it with psychologists. I've done it with sociologists. 00:02:32.760 --> 00:02:36.256 I've done it even with progressive members of Congress. 00:02:36.280 --> 00:02:40.576 And everywhere, the awareness of the level of police violence 00:02:40.600 --> 00:02:42.496 that black women experience 00:02:42.520 --> 00:02:44.520 is exceedingly low. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:45.600 --> 00:02:49.176 Now, it is surprising, isn't it, that this would be the case. 00:02:49.200 --> 00:02:51.216 I mean, there are two issues involved here. 00:02:51.240 --> 00:02:54.336 There's police violence against African-Americans, 00:02:54.360 --> 00:02:56.416 and there's violence against women, 00:02:56.440 --> 00:02:59.400 two issues that have been talked about a lot lately. 00:03:00.120 --> 00:03:06.096 But when we think about who is implicated by these problems, 00:03:06.120 --> 00:03:09.616 when we think about who is victimized by these problems, 00:03:09.640 --> 00:03:12.720 the names of these black women never come to mind. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:13.680 --> 00:03:16.416 Now, communications experts tell us 00:03:16.440 --> 00:03:20.896 that when facts do not fit with the available frames, 00:03:20.920 --> 00:03:24.656 people have a difficult time incorporating new facts 00:03:24.680 --> 00:03:27.960 into their way of thinking about a problem. 00:03:29.040 --> 00:03:32.336 These women's names have slipped through our consciousness 00:03:32.360 --> 00:03:35.776 because there are no frames for us to see them, 00:03:35.800 --> 00:03:38.096 no frames for us to remember them, 00:03:38.120 --> 00:03:40.080 no frames for us to hold them. 00:03:41.480 --> 00:03:42.840 As a consequence, 00:03:43.720 --> 00:03:45.440 reporters don't lead with them, 00:03:46.320 --> 00:03:49.376 policymakers don't think about them, 00:03:49.400 --> 00:03:54.800 and politicians aren't encouraged or demanded that they speak to them. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:55.800 --> 00:03:57.416 Now, you might ask, 00:03:57.440 --> 00:03:59.016 why does a frame matter? 00:03:59.040 --> 00:04:00.856 I mean, after all, 00:04:00.880 --> 00:04:06.176 an issue that affects black people and an issue that affects women, 00:04:06.200 --> 00:04:10.256 wouldn't that necessarily include black people who are women 00:04:10.280 --> 00:04:12.560 and women who are black people? 00:04:13.520 --> 00:04:18.776 Well, the simple answer is that this is a trickle-down approach to social justice, 00:04:18.800 --> 00:04:21.800 and many times it just doesn't work. 00:04:22.280 --> 00:04:24.776 Without frames that allow us to see 00:04:24.800 --> 00:04:29.536 how social problems impact all the members of a targeted group, 00:04:29.560 --> 00:04:32.776 many will fall through the cracks of our movements, 00:04:32.800 --> 00:04:36.240 left to suffer in virtual isolation. 00:04:37.360 --> 00:04:41.280 But it doesn't have to be this way. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:42.080 --> 00:04:47.216 Many years ago, I began to use the term "intersectionality" 00:04:47.240 --> 00:04:51.336 to deal with the fact that many of our social justice problems 00:04:51.360 --> 00:04:53.256 like racism and sexism 00:04:53.280 --> 00:04:55.480 are often overlapping, 00:04:56.000 --> 00:05:00.040 creating multiple levels of social injustice. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:01.240 --> 00:05:06.416 Now, the experience that gave rise to intersectionality 00:05:06.440 --> 00:05:11.400 was my chance encounter with a woman named Emma DeGraffenreid. 00:05:12.240 --> 00:05:16.056 Emma DeGraffenreid was an African-American woman, 00:05:16.080 --> 00:05:18.776 a working wife and a mother. 00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:24.216 I actually read about Emma's story from the pages of a legal opinion 00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:28.376 written by a judge who had dismissed Emma's claim 00:05:28.400 --> 00:05:30.496 of race and gender discrimination 00:05:30.520 --> 00:05:34.720 against a local car manufacturing plant. 00:05:35.440 --> 00:05:39.176 Emma, like so many African-American women, 00:05:39.200 --> 00:05:42.976 sought better employment for her family and for others. 00:05:43.000 --> 00:05:47.416 She wanted to create a better life for her children and for her family. 00:05:47.440 --> 00:05:49.656 But she applied for a job, 00:05:49.680 --> 00:05:51.376 and she was not hired, 00:05:51.400 --> 00:05:55.040 and she believed that she was not hired because she was a black woman. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:55.800 --> 00:06:00.416 Now, the judge in question dismissed Emma's suit, 00:06:00.440 --> 00:06:03.016 and the argument for dismissing the suit was 00:06:03.040 --> 00:06:07.376 that the employer did hire African-Americans 00:06:07.400 --> 00:06:09.760 and the employer hired women. 00:06:11.360 --> 00:06:15.416 The real problem, though, that the judge was not willing to acknowledge 00:06:15.440 --> 00:06:18.616 was what Emma was actually trying to say, 00:06:18.640 --> 00:06:21.536 that the African-Americans that were hired, 00:06:21.560 --> 00:06:26.320 usually for industrial jobs, maintenance jobs, were all men. 00:06:27.320 --> 00:06:29.216 And the women that were hired, 00:06:29.240 --> 00:06:32.856 usually for secretarial or front-office work, 00:06:32.880 --> 00:06:34.080 were all white. 00:06:34.840 --> 00:06:39.456 Only if the court was able to see how these policies came together 00:06:39.480 --> 00:06:43.136 would he be able to see the double discrimination 00:06:43.160 --> 00:06:46.280 that Emma DeGraffenreid was facing. 00:06:46.960 --> 00:06:52.456 But the court refused to allow Emma to put two causes of action together 00:06:52.480 --> 00:06:53.856 to tell her story 00:06:53.880 --> 00:06:57.816 because he believed that, by allowing her to do that, 00:06:57.840 --> 00:07:01.776 she would be able to have preferential treatment. 00:07:01.800 --> 00:07:07.016 She would have an advantage by having two swings at the bat, 00:07:07.040 --> 00:07:11.680 when African-American men and white women only had one swing at the bat. 00:07:12.360 --> 00:07:17.456 But of course, neither African-American men or white women 00:07:17.480 --> 00:07:22.056 needed to combine a race and gender discrimination claim 00:07:22.080 --> 00:07:26.440 to tell the story of the discrimination they were experiencing. 00:07:27.280 --> 00:07:30.496 Why wasn't the real unfairness 00:07:30.520 --> 00:07:34.656 law's refusal to protect African-American women 00:07:34.680 --> 00:07:38.776 simply because their experiences weren't exactly the same 00:07:38.800 --> 00:07:42.560 as white women and African-American men? 00:07:43.280 --> 00:07:48.536 Rather than broadening the frame to include African-American women, 00:07:48.560 --> 00:07:52.840 the court simply tossed their case completely out of court. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:54.080 --> 00:07:58.056 Now, as a student of antidiscrimination law, 00:07:58.080 --> 00:07:59.536 as a feminist, 00:07:59.560 --> 00:08:01.936 as an antiracist, 00:08:01.960 --> 00:08:05.176 I was struck by this case. 00:08:05.200 --> 00:08:09.856 It felt to me like injustice squared. 00:08:09.880 --> 00:08:11.976 So first of all, 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:14.840 black women weren't allowed to work at the plant. 00:08:15.520 --> 00:08:19.616 Second of all, the court doubled down on this exclusion 00:08:19.640 --> 00:08:23.000 by making it legally inconsequential. 00:08:23.480 --> 00:08:26.880 And to boot, there was no name for this problem. 00:08:27.600 --> 00:08:31.096 And we all know that, where there's no name for a problem, 00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:32.376 you can't see a problem, 00:08:32.400 --> 00:08:36.600 and when you can't see a problem, you pretty much can't solve it. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:38.159 --> 00:08:40.775 Many years later, I had come to recognize 00:08:40.799 --> 00:08:46.400 that the problem that Emma was facing was a framing problem. 00:08:47.160 --> 00:08:49.096 The frame that the court was using 00:08:49.120 --> 00:08:54.096 to see gender discrimination or to see race discrimination 00:08:54.120 --> 00:08:57.040 was partial, and it was distorting. 00:08:58.000 --> 00:09:00.776 For me, the challenge that I faced was 00:09:00.800 --> 00:09:05.616 trying to figure out whether there was an alternative narrative, 00:09:05.640 --> 00:09:10.336 a prism that would allow us to see Emma's dilemma, 00:09:10.360 --> 00:09:16.296 a prism that would allow us to rescue her from the cracks in the law, 00:09:16.320 --> 00:09:19.600 that would allow judges to see her story. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:21.000 --> 00:09:22.896 So it occurred to me, 00:09:22.920 --> 00:09:27.936 maybe a simple analogy to an intersection 00:09:27.960 --> 00:09:32.240 might allow judges to better see Emma's dilemma. 00:09:32.840 --> 00:09:37.696 So if we think about this intersection, the roads to the intersection would be 00:09:37.720 --> 00:09:43.640 the way that the workforce was structured by race and by gender. 00:09:44.480 --> 00:09:48.856 And then the traffic in those roads would be the hiring policies 00:09:48.880 --> 00:09:53.416 and the other practices that ran through those roads. 00:09:53.440 --> 00:09:58.376 Now, because Emma was both black and female, 00:09:58.400 --> 00:10:03.080 she was positioned precisely where those roads overlapped, 00:10:03.760 --> 00:10:07.976 experiencing the simultaneous impact 00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:11.960 of the company's gender and race traffic. 00:10:13.400 --> 00:10:19.176 The law -- the law is like that ambulance that shows up 00:10:19.200 --> 00:10:22.616 and is ready to treat Emma only if it can be shown 00:10:22.640 --> 00:10:27.256 that she was harmed on the race road or on the gender road 00:10:27.280 --> 00:10:31.120 but not where those roads intersected. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:31.920 --> 00:10:37.176 So what do you call being impacted by multiple forces 00:10:37.200 --> 00:10:40.760 and then abandoned to fend for yourself? 00:10:41.720 --> 00:10:44.360 Intersectionality seemed to do it for me. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:46.120 --> 00:10:50.776 I would go on to learn that African-American women, 00:10:50.800 --> 00:10:52.736 like other women of color, 00:10:52.760 --> 00:10:56.816 like other socially marginalized people all over the world, 00:10:56.840 --> 00:11:00.816 were facing all kinds of dilemmas and challenges 00:11:00.840 --> 00:11:03.936 as a consequence of intersectionality, 00:11:03.960 --> 00:11:07.536 intersections of race and gender, 00:11:07.560 --> 00:11:12.776 of heterosexism, transphobia, xenophobia, ableism, 00:11:12.800 --> 00:11:17.376 all of these social dynamics come together 00:11:17.400 --> 00:11:21.640 and create challenges that are sometimes quite unique. 00:11:23.040 --> 00:11:24.856 But in the same way 00:11:24.880 --> 00:11:26.440 that intersectionality 00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:32.280 raised our awareness to the way that black women live their lives, 00:11:33.280 --> 00:11:37.416 it also exposes the tragic circumstances 00:11:37.440 --> 00:11:40.600 under which African-American women die. NOTE Paragraph 00:11:42.240 --> 00:11:44.960 Police violence against black women 00:11:46.120 --> 00:11:47.320 is very real. 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:50.576 The level of violence that black women face 00:11:50.600 --> 00:11:52.760 is such that it's not surprising 00:11:53.640 --> 00:11:57.960 that some of them do not survive their encounters with police. 00:11:59.200 --> 00:12:02.656 Black girls as young as seven, 00:12:02.680 --> 00:12:06.400 great grandmothers as old as 95 00:12:07.520 --> 00:12:09.280 have been killed by the police. 00:12:09.960 --> 00:12:12.000 They've been killed in their living rooms, 00:12:12.760 --> 00:12:14.000 in their bedrooms. 00:12:14.800 --> 00:12:16.720 They've been killed in their cars. 00:12:17.800 --> 00:12:19.736 They've been killed on the street. 00:12:19.760 --> 00:12:22.616 They've been killed in front of their parents 00:12:22.640 --> 00:12:25.440 and they've been killed in front of their children. 00:12:26.120 --> 00:12:27.800 They have been shot to death. 00:12:29.080 --> 00:12:30.960 They have been stomped to death. 00:12:31.960 --> 00:12:33.840 They have been suffocated to death. 00:12:34.560 --> 00:12:37.496 They have been manhandled to death. 00:12:37.520 --> 00:12:40.000 They have been tasered to death. 00:12:41.160 --> 00:12:44.160 They've been killed when they've called for help. 00:12:45.560 --> 00:12:48.656 They've been killed when they were alone, 00:12:48.680 --> 00:12:51.800 and they've been killed when they were with others. 00:12:52.880 --> 00:12:55.640 They've been killed shopping while black, 00:12:56.520 --> 00:12:58.000 driving while black, 00:12:59.400 --> 00:13:02.520 having a mental disability while black, 00:13:03.120 --> 00:13:05.920 having a domestic disturbance while black. 00:13:07.200 --> 00:13:11.080 They've even been killed being homeless while black. 00:13:12.200 --> 00:13:14.816 They've been killed talking on the cell phone, 00:13:14.840 --> 00:13:17.216 laughing with friends, 00:13:17.240 --> 00:13:20.296 sitting in a car reported as stolen 00:13:20.320 --> 00:13:23.936 and making a U-turn in front of the White House 00:13:23.960 --> 00:13:26.800 with an infant strapped in the backseat of the car. 00:13:28.040 --> 00:13:29.840 Why don't we know these stories? 00:13:32.640 --> 00:13:35.640 Why is it that their lost lives 00:13:36.440 --> 00:13:41.176 don't generate the same amount of media attention and communal outcry 00:13:41.200 --> 00:13:44.360 as the lost lives of their fallen brothers? 00:13:45.800 --> 00:13:47.760 It's time for a change. NOTE Paragraph 00:13:51.040 --> 00:13:52.480 So what can we do? 00:13:54.800 --> 00:14:00.176 In 2014, the African-American Policy Forum began to demand 00:14:00.200 --> 00:14:02.440 that we "say her name" 00:14:04.360 --> 00:14:07.200 at rallies, at protests, 00:14:07.960 --> 00:14:10.616 at conferences, at meetings, 00:14:10.640 --> 00:14:13.256 anywhere and everywhere 00:14:13.280 --> 00:14:17.280 that state violence against black bodies is being discussed. 00:14:18.800 --> 00:14:21.456 But saying her name is not enough. 00:14:21.480 --> 00:14:24.056 We have to be willing to do more. 00:14:24.080 --> 00:14:27.296 We have to be willing to bear witness, 00:14:27.320 --> 00:14:30.936 to bear witness to the often painful realities 00:14:30.960 --> 00:14:33.696 that we would just rather not confront, 00:14:33.720 --> 00:14:40.176 the everyday violence and humiliation that many black women have had to face, 00:14:40.200 --> 00:14:42.576 black women across color, 00:14:42.600 --> 00:14:45.016 age, gender expression, 00:14:45.040 --> 00:14:47.320 sexuality and ability. NOTE Paragraph 00:14:49.040 --> 00:14:53.216 So we have the opportunity right now -- 00:14:53.240 --> 00:14:57.256 bearing in mind that some of the images that I'm about to share with you 00:14:57.280 --> 00:14:59.000 may be triggering for some -- 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:04.600 to collectively bear witness to some of this violence. 00:15:06.120 --> 00:15:10.400 We're going to hear the voice of the phenomenal Abby Dobson. 00:15:11.160 --> 00:15:14.160 And as we sit with these women, 00:15:14.760 --> 00:15:19.960 some who have experienced violence and some who have not survived them, 00:15:21.280 --> 00:15:22.896 we have an opportunity 00:15:22.920 --> 00:15:26.656 to reverse what happened at the beginning of this talk, 00:15:26.680 --> 00:15:29.376 when we could not stand for these women 00:15:29.400 --> 00:15:32.760 because we did not know their names. NOTE Paragraph 00:15:33.640 --> 00:15:37.040 So at the end of this clip, there's going to be a roll call. 00:15:38.560 --> 00:15:41.160 Several black women's names will come up. 00:15:42.800 --> 00:15:47.736 I'd like those of you who are able to join us in saying these names 00:15:47.760 --> 00:15:50.136 as loud as you can, 00:15:50.160 --> 00:15:52.896 randomly, disorderly. 00:15:52.920 --> 00:15:55.720 Let's create a cacophony of sound 00:15:56.600 --> 00:15:58.720 to represent our intention 00:15:59.480 --> 00:16:01.520 to hold these women up, 00:16:02.320 --> 00:16:03.936 to sit with them, 00:16:03.960 --> 00:16:05.680 to bear witness to them, 00:16:06.640 --> 00:16:09.240 to bring them into the light. NOTE Paragraph 00:16:16.160 --> 00:16:22.920 (Singing) Abby Dobson: Say, 00:16:23.360 --> 00:16:29.360 say her name. NOTE Paragraph 00:16:30.640 --> 00:16:36.760 Say, 00:16:38.080 --> 00:16:42.256 say her name. NOTE Paragraph 00:16:42.280 --> 00:16:43.480 (Audience) Shelly! NOTE Paragraph 00:16:44.600 --> 00:16:45.816 (Audience) Kayla! NOTE Paragraph 00:16:45.840 --> 00:16:52.280 AD: Oh, 00:16:53.680 --> 00:16:59.856 say her name. NOTE Paragraph 00:16:59.880 --> 00:17:02.416 (Audience shouting names) NOTE Paragraph 00:17:02.440 --> 00:17:09.400 Say, say, 00:17:09.760 --> 00:17:15.520 say her name. NOTE Paragraph 00:17:17.160 --> 00:17:22.656 Say her name. NOTE Paragraph 00:17:22.680 --> 00:17:25.536 For all the names 00:17:25.560 --> 00:17:30.880 I'll never know, NOTE Paragraph 00:17:32.680 --> 00:17:35.776 say her name. NOTE Paragraph 00:17:35.800 --> 00:17:38.576 KC: Aiyanna Stanley Jones, Janisha Fonville, 00:17:38.600 --> 00:17:40.936 Kathryn Johnston, Kayla Moore, 00:17:40.960 --> 00:17:43.816 Michelle Cusseaux, Rekia Boyd, 00:17:43.840 --> 00:17:48.280 Shelly Frey, Tarika, Yvette Smith. NOTE Paragraph 00:17:48.880 --> 00:17:55.520 AD: Say her name. NOTE Paragraph 00:17:59.040 --> 00:18:01.896 KC: So I said at the beginning, 00:18:01.920 --> 00:18:04.680 if we can't see a problem, 00:18:05.800 --> 00:18:07.320 we can't fix a problem. 00:18:08.560 --> 00:18:11.976 Together, we've come together to bear witness 00:18:12.000 --> 00:18:14.080 to these women's lost lives. 00:18:15.160 --> 00:18:17.616 But the time now is to move 00:18:17.640 --> 00:18:20.136 from mourning and grief 00:18:20.160 --> 00:18:22.920 to action and transformation. 00:18:24.120 --> 00:18:26.360 This is something that we can do. 00:18:27.440 --> 00:18:28.840 It's up to us. NOTE Paragraph 00:18:30.840 --> 00:18:32.736 Thank you for joining us. 00:18:32.760 --> 00:18:33.976 Thank you. NOTE Paragraph 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:36.320 (Applause)