ENCORE: 54. #SayHerName - the Art of Bearing Witness on the Page and Stage

Intersectionality Matters!

Intersectionality Matters with Kimberlé Crenshaw

News

4.7 • 814 Ratings

🗓️ 5 December 2025

⏱️ 67 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It's the 11th anniversary of the #SayHerName Campaign. To commemorate, we're uplifting a favourite #SayHerName episode from our archive. Please join us on Dec 8 in NYC for a staged reading of #SayHerName - The Lives That Should have been, featuring a star-studded cast of performers, a talkback with the mothers of the #SayHerName Mothers Network, and a post-show party with performances by special guests. Get your tickets here. This episode highlights a new milestone for the #SayHerName campaign: a new book, entitled #SayHerName: Black Women’s Stories of Police Violence and Public Silence. Co-authored by podcast host Kimberlé Crenshaw and the team at the African American Policy Forum, this book helps readers better understand Black women's susceptibility to police brutality and state-sanctioned violence. It explains —through Black feminist storytelling and ritual — how we can effectively mobilize various communities and empower them to advocate for racial justice for Black women, girls, and femmes. In this podcast episode, you'll hear incredible performances from actors at each of our #SayHerName book tour stops in Philadelphia, Washington D.C., and Baltimore. You'll also hear from members from the #SayHerName Mothers Network, a sisterhood of women who have lost other women, girls and femmes in their family to police violence. You'll also hear from Dr. Kaye Wise Whitehead, Dr. Dorothy Roberts, and Kali Holloway, each of whom served as cohosts at book tour stops in their respective cities. They reflected with Dr. Crenshaw on the power of the tour, the calls to action from the book, and the urgency of the lessons the book contains. Centering Black women’s experiences in police and gender violence discourses sends the powerful message that, in fact, all #BlackLivesMatter, and that the police cannot kill without consequence. Supporting AAPF ensures that this important research and testimony continues to inspire change. To purchase your copy, click ⁠here⁠. Hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw (@sandylocks), with Dorothy Roberts @DorothyERoberts, Kaye Wise Whitehead @kayewhitehead, and Kali Holloway @kalihollowayftw. Produced by Nicole Edwards and the team at the African American Policy Forum. Mixing by Sean Dunnam Music by Blue Dot Sessions Follow us on Bluesky, Facebook, and Instagram.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Today, I'm pleased to present one of the most powerful episodes in our archive, Say Her Name, Bearing Witness on the page and stage.
0:09.9	We originally aired this episode during the Say Her Name book tour last year.
0:14.9	It features compelling testimony from the women of the Say Her Name Mother's Network, all of whom have lost a daughter or loved one to state violence.
0:23.6	You'll also hear some of the country's best artivists recite passages from the book
0:28.6	and listen to highlights from talkbacks, featuring brilliant scholars, professors, and journalists
0:34.6	who join me on stage at each tour stop.
0:38.3	This project was a labor of love, one done in the face of massive retrenchment everywhere.
0:45.3	So is our annual ritual of remembrance, where we say the names of every black woman we know of who has died at the hands of the police. This year's ritual will
0:56.8	blend that tradition and artivism into a special event in New York City on Monday, December 8th at
1:03.1	6.30 p.m. at the Atlantic Theater Company. And you're invited. It's hard to believe that just five
1:10.7	years ago, we witnessed a global outpouring of support
1:14.9	for dismantling structural racism bolstered by the largest protests we've ever had in the United
1:20.6	States.
1:21.6	That momentum has quickly evaporated, and in its place, we're seeing a head-spinning reversal of the hard-fought civil rights gains of the last century.
1:31.3	We're producing this anniversary commemoration to make a statement and make it loud and clear.
1:37.3	We are not stepping back and we refuse to bend the knee.
1:42.3	Our hope is that this performance will provide a template for using
1:46.6	the arts to speak truth to power in ways that can be replicated around the country. The event is
1:54.6	called Bridges and Gatherings. It will feature a stage reading of the play, say her name, the lives
2:00.6	that should have been. Please join our fantastic group of a It will feature a stage reading of the play, Say Her Name, The Lives That Should Have Been.
2:02.9	Please join our fantastic group of award-winning artists helmed by M.C.
2:08.0	and Tony Award-winning actor Kara Young.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Intersectionality Matters with Kimberlé Crenshaw, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Intersectionality Matters with Kimberlé Crenshaw and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.