In her new book, Kimberlé Crenshaw is highlighting the stories of Black women and girls killed by police.
The book is titled “#SayHerName: Black Women’s Stories of State Violence and Public Silence.” It honors a total of 177 Black women killed between 1975 and 2022. It specifically features nine stories told by the loved ones of the lost women.
The book features commentary from Crenshaw and numerous statistics that detail the troubling number of deaths of unarmed Black women and girls.
Crenshaw delves into the topic of anti-Blackness and the ways that Black women have worked to challenge it. The book also explores the topics of intersectionality and conversations around the inclusivity of social movements aimed at addressing topics like racism and anti-Blackness.
“If we can’t hold Black women who’ve been killed by police with the same care and concern as we hold our brothers and our sons,” Crenshaw told Elle in an interview, “if we can’t do it for them, then we can’t do it for any set of issues in which Black women are marginalized and challenged.”
Crenshaw co-authored the book with her social justice think tank, the African American Policy Forum. It is named after the hashtag and social movement that Crenshaw founded with AAPF back in December 2014.
Artist Janelle Monáe wrote the foreword for the book.
Crenshaw is hopeful the book will bring more focus on the stories of Black women and girls killed by police.
“I hope that it allows people the space and grace to ask themselves, ‘Why didn’t I know this?” she said. “‘I care about racial justice. I care about Black people. I care about all of these things. Why is it that I didn’t know the name of India Kager, or why didn’t I know the name of Michelle Cusseaux?’”