About AAPF

Founded in 1996, The African American Policy Forum (AAPF) 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. We promote 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 U.S. and internationally. Find out more at www.aapf.org

www.aapf.org | info@aapf.org | (212) 854-3049 | 435 West 116th Street New York, NY 10027

About AAPF

OUR MISSION

OUR VISION

OUR VALUES

Utilizing new ideas and innovative perspectives to transform public discourse and policy, the African American Policy Forum (AAPF) promotes frameworks and strategies that reflect a vision of racial justice that embraces the intersections of race, gender, class, and other barriers that continue to disempower marginalized communities. We are dedicated to advancing and expanding racial justice and gender equality and to defending the indivisibility of all human rights while empowering the next generation to expand democracy, both in the United States and internationally.

At the core of our vision is a deep and firm commitment to knowledge as a means of advancing social justice and creating transformational institutional change. By bringing to the forefront pathbreaking innovative perspectives on equity and equality on behalf of those whose lives have been marginalized or distorted within the traditional boundaries of public discourse, we seek to introduce counter-narratives to the conventional perspectives that normally dominate mainstream debates.

We seek to reveal and clarify the truths that educate, inspire and empower us to create a more equal and just future. AAPF foregrounds critical perspectives on our democracy in crisis. It is vital to understand that the current crisis facing our democracy starts with a deliberate intentionality in terms of the undermining of racial and gender justice. We see this ideology exhibited in the suppression of protest and political participation and in the widespread efforts to ban public discourse of concepts such as intersectionality and structural racism.

WHO AND HOW WE SERVE

AAPF is an essential intellectual hub for social and racial justice movements. We are the movement home for Intersectionality and Critical Race Theory. With our 25-year history of scholarship, activism, and grassroots organizing, we are a go-to source for research, message clarity, and movement strategy. Our ongoing research programs provide the foundation for all of our work, enabling us to apply the insights of intersectionality to respond to current conditions, to anticipate future conflicts, and to play a significant role in shaping the discourses surrounding them. We resource public policy advocates, educators, students, parents, legislators, academics, activists, decision makers and vulnerable communities through our public education initiatives like our #SayHerName Campaign and the Under the Blacklight conversation series. Since March 25, 2020, for instance, our Under the Blacklight (UTB) series has focused attention on the disastrous and inequitable impact of COVID-19 on communities of color. Our public education outreach includes a Critical Race Theory Summer School, the annual Her Dream Deferred week addressing the condition of Black women and girls, free videos, and accessible research reports. The AAPF social justice writers’ retreats foster new insights and new voices. Our Breaking the Silence Town Hall Series teaches vulnerable communities to empower themselves and engage with their local governments. And our extensive media campaigns keep AAPF at the center of the conversation. We promote intersectionality for more than our network of collaborators, constituents, and partners. We mobilize the resources of intersectional organizing to strengthen and reclaim our multiracial democracy and empower the next generation.

You can find more materials at AAPF’s website, aapf.org. You can also follow us on our social channels on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Knowing this—and better understanding their identity—is not only respectful, but also a way to elevate their stories and portray the staggering circumstances that make Black women disproportionately victimized by police violence. To combat this and illuminate the plight that these women face, we need to know who they are, how they lived and why they suffered at the hands of police. Much of the work of the #SayHerName Campaign is informed by the Mothers Network, a community of mothers, sisters, daughters and other family members of those lost to police violence. The #SayHerName Mothers Network’s mission is to provide support to the families who have been harmed by racist police violence. It also works to bring about reforms in social, judicial and law enforcement practices that can ensure humane, just and empathetic change in communities across the nation. #SayHerName: Black Women’s Stories of Police Violence and Public Silence , written by Kimberlé Crenshaw and the African American Policy Forum and officially released on July 18th, 2023, moving testimonies from our Mothers Network. Their stories, together with those of the many other Black women who have been killed by police violence, form the heartbeat of this essential act of testimony, remembrance and action. This book is also in the memory of the members of the Mothers Network that we have lost, including Vicky Coles-McAdory, Cassandra Johnson and Amber Carr. Including Black women and girls in police violence and gender violence discourses sends the powerful message that all Black lives matter. If our collective outrage is meant to serve as a warning to the state that its agents cannot kill without consequence, our silence around the cases of Black women and girls sends the message that certain deaths do not merit repercussion. Please join us in our efforts to advance a gender-inclusive narrative in the movement for Black lives and become a #SayHerName advocates by BEARING WITNESS, EDUCATE, AMPLIFY, ACTIVATE and DONATE . For more information on how to get involved visit the aapf.org to learn about our 5x5 Advocacy Timeline.

IMPORTANT STATISTICS

Black women and girls as young as seven and as old as 93 have been killed by the police, though we rarely hear their names. The Fatal Interactions with Police Study (FIPS) research project, published in 2018 by Washington University in St. Louis, reported that between May 1, 2013, to January 1, 2015, 57% of Black women nationwide who were killed by police were unarmed .

You can find more materials on #SayHerName at AAPF's website www.aapf.org/sayhername You can also follow us on our social channels on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn @aapolicyforum

AAPF Young Scholars Program

The fi rst phase of the program is an intensive six-week internship during which AAPF works with the YSP interns (ages 17-22) to develop programming for girls grounded in a multidisciplinary and intersectional approach to assessing the conditions of Black girls’ lives. This summer research immersion course puts forth intersectionality as a theoretical and analytical tool for data gathering, data analysis, and interpretations, and contextualizing Black girls’ and women’s research performances. During the second phase of YSP, returning scholars provide peer mentoring to the incoming cohort, participate in additional research opportunities, receive assistance with drafting conference proposals or presentations, and make contributions to the YSP website.With the assistance of AAPF sta ff members representing various interdisciplinary backgrounds, the year-long program provides diverse resources to our youth participants that helps them achieve their educational and career goals. Previous YSP participants have studied topics related to the lack of diversity in the teacher workforce, the school- to-prison pipeline, disparate impact of the COVID 19 health pandemic, adolescent pregnancy, and spirituality and mental health. They have also utilized oral history techniques to study Black women elders of the Civil Rights Movement, conducted research projects that are featured on Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw’s Intersectionality Matters! podcast, published in a research journal, and participated in CRT Summer School as teaching assistants and learners.

INFORMATION

Launched in 2020, AAPF’s Young Scholars Program (YSP) is a multi-phased leadership opportunity that organizes a cohort of young Black women and girls to develop their empirical research and policy analysis skills. The program operates from the principle that young Black women are the best informants and intermediaries in providing experience-based support systems, guidance, and mentoring for the next generation of Black girls. Centering Black girls’ lived experiences and insights, YSP participants explore intersectionality as a theoretical and analytical tool for understanding Black women and girls’ interpretations of historical and contemporary events.

Program initiatives and activities focus on the following questions throughout their training: 1. What is the role of intersectionality as a research paradigm in better understanding and addressing the social, political, and economic trends shaping Black girls’ and women’s lives? 2. How do Black women and girls make sense out of their lived experiences, and how might intersectional research be used to inform social policy, public discourse, and the public imagination? 3. What are some of the theoretical and methodological assumptions underlying the intellectual and political traditions of Black feminist thought, critical race theory, and intersectionality?

As we continue to expand the AAPF Young Scholars Program, participants will gain:

• Access to world-renowned critical race legal, gender, and educational scholars. • Opportunities to grow con fi dence in research and writing skills. • Knowledge of Black feminism, intersectionality, and gender policy advocacy. • A community of Black women and girls committed to advocacy, activism, and organizing.

AAPF

AAPF.ORG | INFO@AAPF.ORG | @AAPOLICYFORUM

Under The Blacklight

INFORMATION

Hosted by Executive Director Kimberlé Crenshaw

AAPF created the Under the Blacklight series in March 2020 as a means to spotlight the intersection of pre-existing social inequalities and opportunistic disease. We hoped to foster understanding in the moment of crisis that was the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic. Soon the focus of the series broadened to examine anti-Black racism, police violence, and other pressing socio- political issues. Now, Under the Blacklight has become a powerful public education vehicle for AAPF’s response to the democratic crisis typi fi ed by January 6 and the attacks on Critical Race Theory and anti-racism. Since its creation in March 2020, Under the Blacklight has engaged a cross-generational and transnational audience across platforms with informative conversations. With thousands of regular viewers across the globe, Under the Blacklight provides a free critical forum for all engaged in the fi ght for a more just and equitable world. The series has delivered a diverse range of episodes related to the disproportionate impact of the Covid pandemic, the racial uprising of 2020, Black women’s precarity, Black political participation, the Supreme Court, the crackdown on anti-racism in education, the legacies of the January 6th insurrection, and more. With this broad scope, Under the Blacklight serves as a central public education tool for AAPF. As Under the Blacklight has taken on issues around the attacks on anti-racism, education, and multiracial democracy, AAPF has stood steadfast to our promise to de fi ne and reclaim, rather than de fl ect. That is to say, Under the Blacklight has been a powerful means to assert our right to teach and learn, to not cede territory to disinformation and bad faith. In this way, Under the Blacklight has represented a return to AAPF’s

the series—presented as live events, and later edited as podcasts on the Intersectionality Matters! podcast feed— has featured a long list of prominent guests including Sherriyn I fi ll, Jelani Cobb, Cornel West, Osita Nwanevu, Jill Abramson, Paul Butler, Alexis McGill Johnson, Rashad Robinson, Viet Thanh Nguyen, David Blight, Bryan Stevenson, Barbara Arnwine, Carol Anderson, Alicia Garza, Eddie Glaude Jr., Rep. Barbara Lee, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, State’s Atty. Kim Foxx, Kiese Laymon, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Naomi Klein, Marc Lamont Hill, Ibram X. Kendi, Arundhati Roy, N.K. Jemisin, and Saidiya Hartman, among many others.

roots as the movement home of Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality.

In recognition of its distinctive voice in the online media sphere, Under the Blacklight earned a Webby nomination in the area of public service and activism. The series has received high praise for facilitating cross-cultural dialogues, providing intersectional insights, and promoting fresh, cross-sectoral thinking among elected o ffi cials, thought leaders, scholars, authors, activists, and stakeholders. This year we look forward to continuing to o ff er a mixed in- person and virtual format for our Under The Blacklight episodes from locations across the country. And as the series continues to grow, we will look to utilize the platform to deepen our connections with partners who often look to us as subject matter experts. All Under the Blacklight episodes can be watched in their entirety for free on AAPF’s YouTube channel. More information and links to all episodes, please visit aapf.org/blacklight.

AAPF

AAPF.ORG | INFO@AAPF.ORG | @AAPOLICYFORUM

In October 2020, The African American Policy Forum (AAPF) launched the #TruthBeTold Campaign, a coalitional initiative to push back against Executive Order 13950 and the effort to silence those advancing honest conversations about the implications of America’s unequal past. After unprecedented global protests for racial justice following the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, right-wing groups across America instigated and intensified a well-funded disinformation campaign against Critical Race Theory, intersectionality, and other forms of racial and gender justice. Starting with Donald Trump’s equity gag order (EO 13950) banning federal agencies, contractors, and grant recipients from conducting training sessions and programs that address systemic racism and sexism, this campaign has now morphed into a full-on war against racial and gender justice itself. Since EO 13950’s rescission at the federal level, twenty-three (23) states (AL, AR, AZ, CT, FL, GA, IA, ID, IN, KY, LA, MS, MT, NC, ND, NH, OK, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA) have enacted racial and gender equity prohibitions. Across the country, this moral panic over what and how we learn about history has led to teachers being fired, courses canceled, and books authored by Black and LGBTQ+ authors banned. More books are being banned in schools and libraries than 10, 20, or 50 years ago. According to a report by PEN America, 1,648 unique book titles were banned from July 2021 to June 2022. The movement to stop educators from teaching history and structural racism in our classrooms comes from the same white-supremacist principles as the Jim Crow laws that sought to segregate Black children into underfunded schools. Banning books and classroom teachings about racial injustice are not new tactics, they are the latest round in a long campaign to prevent social progress from eliminating structural inequalities. Attacks on thought and reading are part of a larger assault on our democracy that includes rampant voter suppression efforts directed at communities of color and the proliferation of lies about the integrity of our electoral system. It is no surprise that the same forces funding these anti-democratic efforts with millions of dollars are also behind attempts to further marginalize LGBTQ+ students and suppress the teaching of gender equality and sexual education; these are branches of the same poisonous vine. The hateful drive to suppress, punish, and silence Black voices stretches from the earliest days of enslavement to current efforts to ban Critical Race Theory, The 1619 Project, and other Black literature. To learn more and to get involved , scan the QR codes below and visit www.aapf.org/truthbetold, www.booksunbanned.org, and www.freedomtolearn.net. Scan the QR code to read our #TBT report – How the Attack on Critical Race Theory and Anti-Racism is a Threat to Our Democracy .

BOOKS LINKTREE

F2L LINKTREE

#TBT WEBSITE

#TBT REPORT

The Books Unbanned™: From Freedom Riders to Freedom Readers Initiative started In October 2022 when The African American Policy Forum (AAPF) partnered with the Transformative Justice Coalition (TJC) for a two-week bus tour to fight back against book bans and voter suppression across the country. Following the tour, AAPF’s Books Unbanned™ installation has brought attention to the banning of books and providing communities throughout America with free copies of banned books—especially those by Black and Queer authors. In 2023, we kicked off the Annual Banned Books Week (October 1-7, 2023) by launching our 2023 Books Unbanned Tour™ in partnership with The New Republic ’s (TNR) “Banned Books Tour 2023” Bookmobile. Currently, forty-seven (47) U.S. states have introduced legislation, administrative rules, executive orders, or binding state attorney general opinions restricting what can be taught in public schools about systemic forms of racism. Twenty-three (23) 1 have enacted curriculum prohibitions in K-12 and higher education classrooms. These bans were developed in the name of eliminating “wokeness” or “Critical Race Theory.” But it’s become quite clear that these bans translate to a campaign to stamp out Black history, Black knowledge, and Black resistance to structural discrimination. Moreover, state restrictions on “Critical Race Theory” paved the way for “Don’t Say Gay'' legislation, banning the discussion of LGBTQ+ topics in public schools. As the American Library Association (ALA) and PEN America have reported, book bans are proliferating at unprecedented levels. Although 95% of all fiction books published in the U.S. between 1950-2018 were by white authors, book bans have disproportionately targeted Black authors. The Washington Post reported that of the ten most challenged books in the country, three were by Black authors . And 40% of books banned featured primary characters that were people of color, nearly 50% featured LGBTQ characters, and 6% challenged feature both LGBTQ and race themes.

40% of books banned featured primary characters that were people of color, nearly 50% featured LGBTQ characters, and 6% challenged feature both LGBTQ and race themes

July 1, 2022, to June 31, 2023, PEN America 2 recorded 3,362 instances of book bans in US public school classrooms and libraries

Scan Below for More Info

2 https://pen.org/report/book-bans-pressure-to-censor/ 1 AL, AR, AZ, CT, FL, GA, IA, ID, IN, KY, LA, MS, MT, NC, ND, NH, OK, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA

The Freedom to Learn (F2L) network is a coalition of the United States’ leading Black scholars, top civil rights organizations, national teachers unions, students, and people and organizations across the world, all united against the widespread attempts to ban access to books and antiracist education in schools. The F2L’s National Day of Action on May 3, 2023 was designed to make clear that we reject the current assaults on Black history, Black voices and Black lives by both extremists in Florida’s state government and enablers like the College Board. These struggles are deeply connected and we must fight back against related attacks on the LGBTQ+ community through repressive “Don’t Say Gay'' laws reshaping public education. With over 140 concurrent activations on May 3rd, we loudly stated that now is the time to build a broad network of people to strengthen our democracy and advance values of equity, inclusion, and social justice . Book bans and classroom censorship are expected to be a top election issue for candidates in 2024. The 2024 presidential elections are an opportunity to elect politicians across the country who believe in the freedom to learn and who will strengthen democracy by legislating that truth be taught, spoken and read in this nation. F2L’s May 3rd Day of Action was only the beginning of a concerted effort to show the nation that we will not remain passive while the enemies of equity continue their attacks. We are taking back our power to organize, educate, and resist. To learn more about the Freedom to Learn network and how you can get involved, visit www.freedomtolearn.net and scan the QR codes below.

FREEDOM TO LEARN NETWORK MEMBERS (PARTIAL LISTING)

FREEDOM TO LEARN RESOURCES

Freedom To Learn WEBSITE, scan the QR code to the left. ←

Freedom To Learn LINKTREE, scan the QR code to the right. →

The Forum is a source of reporting and commentary deploying the insights of critical race theory, and supplying the materials and organizing strategies to re-envision American democracy from the ground up.

OUR FOCUS

The Forum ’s goal is to fi ll in the gaping blindspots of a broken media ecosystem by centering the urgent demands of racial justice and democracy in the public discourse. As one of our major parties has descended into racialized and antidemocratic political violence, the nation’s corporate—and complicit—press consensus has worked to normalize the grave threat to our democracy as just a series of normal skirmishes to be assessed on an undeviating grid of news-cycle wins and losses. We aim to counteract this with writing that explores the grassroots mandates of democratic reform in our multiracial society; we treat politics not as the sport of elite insiders or as fodder for culture-war clickbait, but rather as the urgent business before us all as Americans seeking to redeem the battered promise of expansive, truly democratic self-rule and solidarity. The Forum is dedicated to blocking the current bad-faith authoritarian putsch everywhere it may surface—from the conspiracy-addled corners of social media to the highest reaches of conservative power. We’re committed to defending democratic values, economic equity, and racial inclusion against the rising tide of authoritarian bigotry and hatred and anti-intellectual reaction. As our name shows, we are also dedicated to becoming a meeting place for freedom-loving journalists, scholars, and organizers to discuss the ideas being viciously purged from major media outlets, universities, and public school classrooms. The stakes of defending and sustaining intellectual freedom—like the freedom to speak openly and think deeply about our racial past and present, and encouraging students to do likewise—have never been higher.

A critical race theory analysis of today’s political, educational and cultural scene—and a chronicle of the fi ght against resurgent white nationalism on the right

Dispatches from the battle to teach our true racial history—and to preserve and sustain the place of public education in American democracy

Reports on the struggle to safeguard the right to vote in a time of antidemocratic reaction

Reckonings with the decisive role of race and social power in America’s history and present

Cultural commentary from a CRT perspective

Intersectionality Matters! with Kimberlé Crenshaw Podcast

INFORMATION

OUR VALUES ABOUT Intersectionality Matters! with Kimberlé Crenshaw is an African American Policy Forum podcast. The show brings intersectionality to life by exploring the hidden dimensions of today's most pressing issues, from Say Her Name, to the war on Critical Race Theory (CRT), and the global rise of fascism. Each episode explores the work of leading activists, artists, and scholars and helps listeners understand politics, the law, social movements, and even their own lives in deeper, more nuanced ways. Previous guests on the podcast include Bob the Drag Queen, N.K. Jemisin, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Bryan Stevenson, George M Johnson, Jelani Cobb, Anita Hill, Ibram X. Kendi, Soledad O’Brien, W. Kamau Bell, Cliff Albright and many more visionary activists, artists and scholars.

Thirty years ago, Dr. Crenshaw (@sandylocks) developed the theory of intersectionality to explain the way social justice problems, like racism and sexism, have compound effects on the lives of many Americans — often exposing them to multiple levels of social injustice at once. Particularly since the 2016 presidential election, usage of the term has ballooned; especially within the feminist community. Since then, valuable explorations of systems of power, and the complex ways in which they converge to shape the experience of marginalized groups, have happened around the world. Leading that trend, the Intersectionality Matters! podcast brings the concept to life for listeners through stories about identity, privilege and power, with an aim to build more resilient social movements, and find solutions to critical problems in the world.

GET CONNECTED

WAYS TO LISTEN Head to bit.ly/AAPF_IMKC, or search the show name wherever you get your podcasts! KEEP IN TOUCH Twitter - @IMKC_podcast

Instagram - @intersectionalitymatters Email - intersectionalitymatters@aapf.org

You can find more materials at AAPF’s website, aapf.org. You can also follow us on our social channels on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Founded in 1996, The African American Policy Forum (AAPF) 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. As part of this effort, AAPF’s Summer Fellowship Program is a project-based program committed to providing meaningful research and advocacy opportunities to dedicated individuals. Each project area is dedicated to promoting 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. Fellows will be assigned to specific AAPF campaigns and initiatives most aligned with their academic background, interests and professional experiences. Fellows will work closely with project leads and members of the AAPF team to advance work related to their assigned project(s). Under the mentorship and guidance of the program director and other leadership, Fellows will have the opportunity, as well as the responsibility, to explore areas of personal and professional interests. Some duties and responsibilities include: ● Contributing to AAPF initiatives and campaigns through research, program planning, and/or digital media; ● Assisting in production of AAPF’s events, retreats, and outward facing programming; ● Supporting the Executive Director and other leadership for various projects such as speech-writing, media appearance preparation, and op-eds; ● Full participation in brainstorming sessions with the AAPF team; ● Preparing communications such as memos, emails, newsletters, reports, and other correspondence. Project Areas ● #TruthBeTold Campaign/FreedomtoLearn ● Critical Race Theory Summer School ● The Forum Digital News ● Digital/Arts & Media + Intersectionality Matters Podcast with Kimberlé Crenshaw ● Race and Gender Initiatives

○ #SayHerName Campaign ○ Black Girls Matter Report ○ Young Scholars Program

You can find more materials at AAPF’s website https://www.aapf.org. You can also follow us on our social channels on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.

www.aapf.org | info@aapf.org | (212) 854-3049 | 435 West 116th Street New York, NY 10027

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