The urgency of intersectionality
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0:01 - 0:03I'd like to try something new.
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0:03 - 0:05Those of you who are able,
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0:05 - 0:06please stand up.
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0:08 - 0:12OK, so I'm going to name some names.
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0:12 - 0:14When you hear a name
that you don't recognize, -
0:14 - 0:16you can't tell me anything about them,
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0:16 - 0:18I'd like you to take a seat
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0:18 - 0:19and stay seated.
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0:20 - 0:24The last person standing,
we're going to see what they know. OK? -
0:24 - 0:25(Laughter)
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0:25 - 0:27All right.
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0:27 - 0:28Eric Garner.
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0:30 - 0:32Mike Brown.
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0:35 - 0:37Tamir Rice.
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0:40 - 0:41Freddie Gray.
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0:44 - 0:46So those of you who are still standing,
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0:46 - 0:48I'd like you to turn around
and take a look. -
0:48 - 0:52I'd say half to most of the people
are still standing. -
0:53 - 0:54So let's continue.
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0:56 - 0:57Michelle Cusseaux.
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1:04 - 1:06Tanisha Anderson.
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1:10 - 1:12Aura Rosser.
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1:16 - 1:17Meagan Hockaday.
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1:19 - 1:20So if we look around again,
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1:20 - 1:23there are about four people
still standing, -
1:23 - 1:26and actually I'm not going
to put you on the spot. -
1:26 - 1:30I just say that to encourage transparency,
so you can be seated. -
1:30 - 1:31(Laughter)
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1:33 - 1:36So those of you who recognized
the first group of names know -
1:36 - 1:40that these were African-Americans
who have been killed by the police -
1:40 - 1:42over the last two and a half years.
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1:43 - 1:44What you may not know
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1:44 - 1:50is that the other list
is also African-Americans -
1:50 - 1:55who have been killed
within the last two years. -
1:56 - 2:00Only one thing distinguishes
the names that you know -
2:00 - 2:01from the names that you don't know:
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2:02 - 2:04gender.
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2:05 - 2:11So let me first let you know
that there's nothing at all distinct -
2:11 - 2:12about this audience
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2:12 - 2:16that explains the pattern of recognition
that we've just seen. -
2:16 - 2:21I've done this exercise
dozens of times around the country. -
2:21 - 2:23I've done it to women's
rights organizations. -
2:23 - 2:25I've done it with civil rights groups.
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2:25 - 2:28I've done it with professors.
I've done it with students. -
2:28 - 2:33I've done it with psychologists.
I've done it with sociologists. -
2:33 - 2:36I've done it even with
progressive members of Congress. -
2:36 - 2:41And everywhere, the awareness
of the level of police violence -
2:41 - 2:42that black women experience
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2:43 - 2:45is exceedingly low.
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2:46 - 2:49Now, it is surprising, isn't it,
that this would be the case. -
2:49 - 2:51I mean, there are two issues
involved here. -
2:51 - 2:54There's police violence
against African-Americans, -
2:54 - 2:56and there's violence against women,
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2:56 - 2:59two issues that have been
talked about a lot lately. -
3:00 - 3:06But when we think about
who is implicated by these problems, -
3:06 - 3:10when we think about
who is victimized by these problems, -
3:10 - 3:13the names of these black women
never come to mind. -
3:14 - 3:16Now, communications experts tell us
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3:16 - 3:21that when facts do not fit
with the available frames, -
3:21 - 3:25people have a difficult time
incorporating new facts -
3:25 - 3:28into their way of thinking
about a problem. -
3:29 - 3:32These women's names
have slipped through our consciousness -
3:32 - 3:36because there are no frames
for us to see them, -
3:36 - 3:38no frames for us to remember them,
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3:38 - 3:40no frames for us to hold them.
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3:41 - 3:43As a consequence,
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3:44 - 3:45reporters don't lead with them,
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3:46 - 3:49policymakers don't think about them,
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3:49 - 3:55and politicians aren't encouraged
or demanded that they speak to them. -
3:56 - 3:57Now, you might ask,
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3:57 - 3:59why does a frame matter?
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3:59 - 4:01I mean, after all,
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4:01 - 4:06an issue that affects black people
and an issue that affects women, -
4:06 - 4:10wouldn't that necessarily include
black people who are women -
4:10 - 4:13and women who are black people?
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4:14 - 4:19Well, the simple answer is that this is
a trickle-down approach to social justice, -
4:19 - 4:22and many times it just doesn't work.
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4:22 - 4:25Without frames that allow us to see
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4:25 - 4:30how social problems impact
all the members of a targeted group, -
4:30 - 4:33many will fall through the cracks
of our movements, -
4:33 - 4:36left to suffer in virtual isolation.
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4:37 - 4:41But it doesn't have to be this way.
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4:42 - 4:47Many years ago, I began to use
the term "intersectionality" -
4:47 - 4:51to deal with the fact
that many of our social justice problems -
4:51 - 4:53like racism and sexism
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4:53 - 4:55are often overlapping,
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4:56 - 5:00creating multiple levels
of social injustice. -
5:01 - 5:06Now, the experience
that gave rise to intersectionality -
5:06 - 5:11was my chance encounter
with a woman named Emma DeGraffenreid. -
5:12 - 5:16Emma DeGraffenreid
was an African-American woman, -
5:16 - 5:19a working wife and a mother.
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5:19 - 5:24I actually read about Emma's story
from the pages of a legal opinion -
5:24 - 5:28written by a judge
who had dismissed Emma's claim -
5:28 - 5:30of race and gender discrimination
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5:31 - 5:35against a local car manufacturing plant.
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5:35 - 5:39Emma, like so many African-American women,
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5:39 - 5:43sought better employment
for her family and for others. -
5:43 - 5:47She wanted to create a better life
for her children and for her family. -
5:47 - 5:50But she applied for a job,
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5:50 - 5:51and she was not hired,
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5:51 - 5:55and she believed that she was not hired
because she was a black woman. -
5:56 - 6:00Now, the judge in question
dismissed Emma's suit, -
6:00 - 6:03and the argument
for dismissing the suit was -
6:03 - 6:07that the employer
did hire African-Americans -
6:07 - 6:10and the employer hired women.
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6:11 - 6:15The real problem, though, that the judge
was not willing to acknowledge -
6:15 - 6:19was what Emma was actually trying to say,
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6:19 - 6:22that the African-Americans
that were hired, -
6:22 - 6:26usually for industrial jobs,
maintenance jobs, were all men. -
6:27 - 6:29And the women that were hired,
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6:29 - 6:33usually for secretarial
or front-office work, -
6:33 - 6:34were all white.
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6:35 - 6:39Only if the court was able to see
how these policies came together -
6:39 - 6:43would he be able to see
the double discrimination -
6:43 - 6:46that Emma DeGraffenreid was facing.
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6:47 - 6:52But the court refused to allow Emma
to put two causes of action together -
6:52 - 6:54to tell her story
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6:54 - 6:58because he believed that,
by allowing her to do that, -
6:58 - 7:02she would be able
to have preferential treatment. -
7:02 - 7:07She would have an advantage
by having two swings at the bat, -
7:07 - 7:12when African-American men and white women
only had one swing at the bat. -
7:12 - 7:17But of course, neither
African-American men or white women -
7:17 - 7:22needed to combine a race
and gender discrimination claim -
7:22 - 7:26to tell the story of the discrimination
they were experiencing. -
7:27 - 7:30Why wasn't the real unfairness
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7:31 - 7:35law's refusal to protect
African-American women -
7:35 - 7:39simply because their experiences
weren't exactly the same -
7:39 - 7:43as white women and African-American men?
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7:43 - 7:49Rather than broadening the frame
to include African-American women, -
7:49 - 7:53the court simply tossed their case
completely out of court. -
7:54 - 7:58Now, as a student
of antidiscrimination law, -
7:58 - 8:00as a feminist,
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8:00 - 8:02as an antiracist,
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8:02 - 8:05I was struck by this case.
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8:05 - 8:10It felt to me like injustice squared.
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8:10 - 8:12So first of all,
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8:12 - 8:15black women weren't allowed
to work at the plant. -
8:16 - 8:20Second of all, the court
doubled down on this exclusion -
8:20 - 8:23by making it legally inconsequential.
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8:23 - 8:27And to boot, there was
no name for this problem. -
8:28 - 8:31And we all know that,
where there's no name for a problem, -
8:31 - 8:32you can't see a problem,
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8:32 - 8:37and when you can't see a problem,
you pretty much can't solve it. -
8:38 - 8:41Many years later, I had come to recognize
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8:41 - 8:46that the problem that Emma was facing
was a framing problem. -
8:47 - 8:49The frame that the court was using
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8:49 - 8:54to see gender discrimination
or to see race discrimination -
8:54 - 8:57was partial, and it was distorting.
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8:58 - 9:01For me, the challenge that I faced was
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9:01 - 9:06trying to figure out whether
there was an alternative narrative, -
9:06 - 9:10a prism that would allow us
to see Emma's dilemma, -
9:10 - 9:16a prism that would allow us
to rescue her from the cracks in the law, -
9:16 - 9:20that would allow judges to see her story.
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9:21 - 9:23So it occurred to me,
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9:23 - 9:28maybe a simple analogy to an intersection
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9:28 - 9:32might allow judges
to better see Emma's dilemma. -
9:33 - 9:38So if we think about this intersection,
the roads to the intersection would be -
9:38 - 9:44the way that the workforce
was structured by race and by gender. -
9:44 - 9:49And then the traffic in those roads
would be the hiring policies -
9:49 - 9:53and the other practices
that ran through those roads. -
9:53 - 9:58Now, because Emma
was both black and female, -
9:58 - 10:03she was positioned precisely
where those roads overlapped, -
10:04 - 10:08experiencing the simultaneous impact
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10:08 - 10:12of the company's gender and race traffic.
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10:13 - 10:19The law -- the law is
like that ambulance that shows up -
10:19 - 10:23and is ready to treat Emma
only if it can be shown -
10:23 - 10:27that she was harmed
on the race road or on the gender road -
10:27 - 10:31but not where those roads intersected.
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10:32 - 10:37So what do you call
being impacted by multiple forces -
10:37 - 10:41and then abandoned to fend for yourself?
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10:42 - 10:44Intersectionality seemed to do it for me.
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10:46 - 10:51I would go on to learn
that African-American women, -
10:51 - 10:53like other women of color,
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10:53 - 10:57like other socially marginalized people
all over the world, -
10:57 - 11:01were facing all kinds
of dilemmas and challenges -
11:01 - 11:04as a consequence of intersectionality,
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11:04 - 11:08intersections of race and gender,
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11:08 - 11:13of heterosexism, transphobia,
xenophobia, ableism, -
11:13 - 11:17all of these social dynamics come together
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11:17 - 11:22and create challenges
that are sometimes quite unique. -
11:23 - 11:25But in the same way
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11:25 - 11:26that intersectionality
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11:27 - 11:32raised our awareness to the way
that black women live their lives, -
11:33 - 11:37it also exposes the tragic circumstances
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11:37 - 11:41under which African-American women die.
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11:42 - 11:45Police violence against black women
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11:46 - 11:47is very real.
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11:48 - 11:51The level of violence
that black women face -
11:51 - 11:53is such that it's not surprising
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11:54 - 11:58that some of them do not survive
their encounters with police. -
11:59 - 12:03Black girls as young as seven,
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12:03 - 12:06great grandmothers as old as 95
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12:08 - 12:09have been killed by the police.
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12:10 - 12:12They've been killed in their living rooms,
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12:13 - 12:14in their bedrooms.
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12:15 - 12:17They've been killed in their cars.
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12:18 - 12:20They've been killed on the street.
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12:20 - 12:23They've been killed
in front of their parents -
12:23 - 12:25and they've been killed
in front of their children. -
12:26 - 12:28They have been shot to death.
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12:29 - 12:31They have been stomped to death.
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12:32 - 12:34They have been suffocated to death.
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12:35 - 12:37They have been manhandled to death.
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12:38 - 12:40They have been tasered to death.
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12:41 - 12:44They've been killed
when they've called for help. -
12:46 - 12:49They've been killed when they were alone,
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12:49 - 12:52and they've been killed
when they were with others. -
12:53 - 12:56They've been killed shopping while black,
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12:57 - 12:58driving while black,
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12:59 - 13:03having a mental disability while black,
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13:03 - 13:06having a domestic disturbance while black.
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13:07 - 13:11They've even been killed
being homeless while black. -
13:12 - 13:15They've been killed
talking on the cell phone, -
13:15 - 13:17laughing with friends,
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13:17 - 13:20sitting in a car reported as stolen
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13:20 - 13:24and making a U-turn
in front of the White House -
13:24 - 13:27with an infant strapped
in the backseat of the car. -
13:28 - 13:30Why don't we know these stories?
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13:33 - 13:36Why is it that their lost lives
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13:36 - 13:41don't generate the same amount
of media attention and communal outcry -
13:41 - 13:44as the lost lives
of their fallen brothers? -
13:46 - 13:48It's time for a change.
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13:51 - 13:52So what can we do?
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13:55 - 14:00In 2014, the African-American
Policy Forum began to demand -
14:00 - 14:02that we "say her name"
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14:04 - 14:07at rallies, at protests,
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14:08 - 14:11at conferences, at meetings,
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14:11 - 14:13anywhere and everywhere
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14:13 - 14:17that state violence against black bodies
is being discussed. -
14:19 - 14:21But saying her name is not enough.
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14:21 - 14:24We have to be willing to do more.
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14:24 - 14:27We have to be willing to bear witness,
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14:27 - 14:31to bear witness
to the often painful realities -
14:31 - 14:34that we would just rather not confront,
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14:34 - 14:40the everyday violence and humiliation
that many black women have had to face, -
14:40 - 14:43black women across color,
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14:43 - 14:45age, gender expression,
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14:45 - 14:47sexuality and ability.
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14:49 - 14:53So we have the opportunity right now --
-
14:53 - 14:57bearing in mind that some of the images
that I'm about to share with you -
14:57 - 14:59may be triggering for some --
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15:00 - 15:05to collectively bear witness
to some of this violence. -
15:06 - 15:10We're going to hear the voice
of the phenomenal Abby Dobson. -
15:11 - 15:14And as we sit with these women,
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15:15 - 15:20some who have experienced violence
and some who have not survived them, -
15:21 - 15:23we have an opportunity
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15:23 - 15:27to reverse what happened
at the beginning of this talk, -
15:27 - 15:29when we could not stand for these women
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15:29 - 15:33because we did not know their names.
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15:34 - 15:37So at the end of this clip,
there's going to be a roll call. -
15:39 - 15:41Several black women's names will come up.
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15:43 - 15:48I'd like those of you who are able
to join us in saying these names -
15:48 - 15:50as loud as you can,
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15:50 - 15:53randomly, disorderly.
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15:53 - 15:56Let's create a cacophony of sound
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15:57 - 15:59to represent our intention
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15:59 - 16:02to hold these women up,
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16:02 - 16:04to sit with them,
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16:04 - 16:06to bear witness to them,
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16:07 - 16:09to bring them into the light.
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16:16 - 16:23(Singing) Abby Dobson: Say,
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16:23 - 16:29say her name.
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16:31 - 16:37Say,
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16:38 - 16:42say her name.
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16:42 - 16:43(Audience) Shelly!
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16:45 - 16:46(Audience) Kayla!
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16:46 - 16:52AD: Oh,
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16:54 - 17:00say her name.
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17:00 - 17:02(Audience shouting names)
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17:02 - 17:09Say, say,
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17:10 - 17:16say her name.
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17:17 - 17:23Say her name.
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17:23 - 17:26For all the names
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17:26 - 17:31I'll never know,
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17:33 - 17:36say her name.
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17:36 - 17:39KC: Aiyanna Stanley Jones,
Janisha Fonville, -
17:39 - 17:41Kathryn Johnston, Kayla Moore,
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17:41 - 17:44Michelle Cusseaux, Rekia Boyd,
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17:44 - 17:48Shelly Frey, Tarika, Yvette Smith.
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17:49 - 17:56AD: Say her name.
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17:59 - 18:02KC: So I said at the beginning,
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18:02 - 18:05if we can't see a problem,
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18:06 - 18:07we can't fix a problem.
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18:09 - 18:12Together, we've come together
to bear witness -
18:12 - 18:14to these women's lost lives.
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18:15 - 18:18But the time now is to move
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18:18 - 18:20from mourning and grief
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18:20 - 18:23to action and transformation.
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18:24 - 18:26This is something that we can do.
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18:27 - 18:29It's up to us.
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18:31 - 18:33Thank you for joining us.
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18:33 - 18:34Thank you.
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18:34 - 18:36(Applause)
- Title:
- The urgency of intersectionality
- Speaker:
- Kimberlé Crenshaw
- Description:
-
Now more than ever, it's important to look boldly at the reality of race and gender bias -- and learn how the two biases can combine to create even more harm. Kimberlé Crenshaw uses the term "intersectionality" to describe this phenomenon; as she says, if you're standing in the path of multiple forms of exclusion, you're likely to get hit by both. In this moving talk, she calls on us to bear witness to this reality and speak up for victims of prejudice.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 18:49
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for The urgency of intersectionality | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for The urgency of intersectionality | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for The urgency of intersectionality | ||
Brian Greene approved English subtitles for The urgency of intersectionality | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for The urgency of intersectionality | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for The urgency of intersectionality | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for The urgency of intersectionality | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz accepted English subtitles for The urgency of intersectionality |