Intersectionality Matters!

On this installment of Under the Blacklight, Kimberlé Crenshaw sits down with Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Rep. Barbara Lee, and State’s Attorney Kim Foxx to discuss their experiences at the intersection of grassroots activism and electoral politics. Together, they speak about the mothers who raised them, the work they're doing to combat the twin pandemics of COVID and racial inequity, and the dynamic tensions that lie between their progressive values and the political institutions they've chosen to work within. By pulling back the curtain to hear their stories and heed their calls, we all have the opportunity to become better partners, constituents, and torchbearers for those in the struggle. With: STATE'S ATTY. KIM FOXX - State's Attorney for Cook County, Illinois
 REP. BARBARA LEE - U.S. Representative for California's 13th congressional district REP. AYANNA PRESSLEY - U.S. Representative for Massachusetts's 7th congressional district Hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw (@sandylocks) 
Produced and Edited by Julia Sharpe-Levine
 Additional support provided by Loulou Batta, Alexandra Moore, Whitney Thomas, and the African American Policy Forum 
 Music by Blue Dot Sessions 
Follow us at @intersectionalitymatters, @IMKC_podcast

As the vicious spike in COVID’s case count rocks the nation, this installment of “Under the Blacklight” focuses on the off-staging of race after weeks of protests about racial injustice. We ask: What has become of the supposed reckoning with white supremacy since George Floyd’s death? After weeks of uncovering the legacies of racism, are we at the bottom of a Sisyphusian hill again in insisting that race is as newsworthy in the disproportionate deaths of African Americans to COVID as it has been in the weeks of protest over police violence? And why has it been so difficult to connect the two?   With: BARBARA ARNWINE - President and Founder of the Transformative Justice Coalition; President Emeritus of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law CAMARA PHYLLIS JONES -  Fellow, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard; Senior Fellow, Cardiovascular Research Institute at the Morehouse School of Medicine JONATHAN METZL - Professor of Sociology and Psychiatry, Vanderbilt; Author, Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment is Killing America’s Heartland KEEANGA-YAMAHTTA TAYLOR - Assistant professor of African American studies, Princeton University; Author of Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership Hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw (@sandylocks)
 Produced and Edited by Julia Sharpe-Levine Additional support provided by Awoye Timpo, Emmett O’Malley, Michael Kramer, Gregory Bernstein Alanna Kane, Ricardo Guthrie
 Music by Blue Dot Sessions
 Follow us at @intersectionalitymatters, @IMKC_podcast

On this installment of "Under the Blacklight," the mothers and sisters of the #SayHerName Movement -- Fran Garrett, Rhanda Dormeus, Maria Moore, Sharon Cooper, Gina Best, and Sharon Wilkerson -- join Kimberlé Crenshaw for a very special episode. Through telling the stories of their loved ones, the women weave together the experiences that bring them together in a sisterhood of both sorrow and strength. Support the #SayHerName Campaign: aapf.org/supportshn Support Say Her Name: The Lives That Should Have Been (Original Play): http://bit.ly/shnplay Speakers: GINA BEST - Mother of India Kager, killed by Virginia Beach police in 2015 SHARON COOPER - Sister of Sandra Bland, killed in custody in Waller County TX in 2015 RHANDA DORMEUS - Mother of Korryn Gaines, killed by Baltimore police in 2016 FRAN GARRETT - Mother of Michelle Cusseaux, killed by Phoenix police in 2014 MARIA MOORE - Sister of Kayla Moore, killed by Berkeley police in 2013 SHARON WILKERSON - Mother of Shelly Frey, killed by Houston police in 2012 Hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw (@sandylocks)
 Produced and Edited by Julia Sharpe-Levine Additional support provided by Jade Allen, Loulou Batta, Ivory Fu, Alexandra Moore, Whitney Thomas, and the African American Policy Forum
 Music by Blue Dot Sessions
 Follow us at @intersectionalitymatters, @IMKC_podcast

On September 5, 2015, India Kager and Angelo Perry drove to Virginia Beach to introduce their 4-month-old baby Roman, to Angelo’s family. Unbeknownst to them, Virginia Beach police were tailing their car and while India, Angelo, and Roman were parked at 7/11, a SWAT team threw a flash bang grenade and opened fire on their car. 4 officers fired over 51 rifle rounds into India’s car, while baby Roman sat in the back seat, killing Angelo and India within seconds. Virginia Beach police Chief Jim Cervera would later say India’s killing was an accident.  In this episode of Intersectionality Matters!host Kimberlé Crenshaw speaks with India Kager’s mother, Gina Best, about her memories of India, a “beautiful, soft-spoken poet.” She describes the anguish of never hearing from the police except to receive a bill for the destruction of the car her daughter was murdered in. While she waited for a call that would never come, officers pulled her daughter’s body out of the car and left it on the cold ground overnight. As India’s family desperately sought out information on his whereabouts, police handed India’s baby, Roman, over to foster parents. Learn More About & Support the #SayHerName Movement: aapf.org/supportshn Hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw
 Produced by Julia Sharpe-Levine
 Edited by Julia Sharpe-Levine and Rebecca Scheckman 
 Additional support provided by the African American Policy Forum: Shermena M. Nelson, Emmett O’Malley, Michael Kramer, Awoye Timpo, Gregory Bernstein, Alanna Kane,
 Vineeta Singh
 Music by Blue Dot Sessions

 Graphics by Julia Sharpe-Levine
 Follow us at @intersectionalitymatters, @IMKC_podcast

Alicia Garza, Robin D.G. Kelley, Devon Carbado, Maria Moore, and special guest AG Keith Ellison join Kimberlé Crenshaw for an emergency episode of “Under the Blacklight”, the 10th in the series, to address this historic moment of social and political mobilization ignited by George Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis police just two weeks ago. Hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw (@sandylocks)
 Produced by Julia Sharpe-Levine Edited by Julia Sharpe-Levine and Sarah Ventre
 Additional support provided by Awoye Timpo, Shermena M. Nelson, Emmett O’Malley, Michael Kramer, Gregory Bernstein, Alanna Kane
 Music by Blue Dot Sessions
 Graphics by Julia Sharpe-Levine
 Follow us at @intersectionalitymatters, @IMKC_podcast Full bios: aapf.org/ep10-utb

Kiese Laymon, Viet Thanh Nguyen, and Arundhati Roy join Kimberlé Crenshaw for the 9th installment of "Under the Blacklight." Together, they mine the complexities of narrative construction amid disaster, and shine the blacklight on the stories and counter-stories that shape the future and make meaning of the past. Hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw (@sandylocks) 
Produced and Edited by Julia Sharpe-Levine
 Additional support provided by Awoye Timpo, Emmett O’Malley, Michael Kramer, Gregory Bernstein Alanna Kane
 Music by Blue Dot Sessions

 Graphics by Julia Sharpe-Levine Follow us at @intersectionalitymatters, @IMKC_podcast Bios available here: aapf.org/ep9-utb

On Pt 8 of “Under The Blacklight,” LaTosha Brown, Anoa Changa, Crystal Feimster, Talitha LeFlouria and Emery Wright join together to discuss vote suppression, state violence, vigilantism, and fatal public health experiments in the state of Georgia. With:
 LATOSHA BROWN — Award-winning organizer, political strategist, jazz singer; Co-Founder of the Black Voters Matters Fund ANOA CHANGA - Electoral justice reporter for Prism; Organizer; Lawyer; Host of “The Way with Anoa” CRYSTAL FEIMSTER — Professor, Yale; Author of Southern Horrors: Women and the Politics of Rape and Lynching
 TALITHA LEFLOURIA — Professor, UVA; Author of Chained in Silence: Black Women and Convict Labor in the New South
 EMERY WRIGHT — Political Organizer; Educator; Co-Director, Project South (Read full bios here: aapf.org/under-the-blacklight-covid19) Hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw (@sandylocks)
 Produced by Julia Sharpe-Levine
 Edited by Julia Sharpe-Levine and Raffi Marhaba 
 Additional support provided by Awoye Timpo, Emmett O’Malley, Michael Kramer, Gregory Bernstein Alanna Kane

 Music by Blue Dot Sessions

 Follow us at @intersectionalitymatters, @IMKC_podcast

On Episode Seven of “Under The Blacklight,” Carol Anderson, Alex DiBranco, Joseph Lowndes, Mab Segrest, Dorian Warren, and Jason Wilson unpack the central role that ideological Whiteness continues to play in the US response to COVID-19, including ongoing efforts -- on the part of individuals and institutions alike -- to unlock the lockdown. With: CAROL ANDERSON — Chair & Professor of African American Studies, Emory University; Author of White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Nation's Divide ALEX DIBRANCO - Co-founder and Executive Director of the Institute for Research on Male Supremacism JOSEPH LOWNDES — Professor of Political Science, UOregon; Co-author of Producers, Parasites, Patriots: Race and the New Right-Wing Politics of Precarity MAB SEGREST — Professor emeritus of Gender and Women’s Studies, Connecticut College; Organizer with Southerners on New Ground (SONG), Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) DORIAN WARREN — President of the Center for Community Change Action (CCCA) and Vice-President of the Center for Community Change (CCC) JASON WILSON — Journalist who specializes in far-right, white supremacist, and right-wing movements; Writes for The Guardian (Read full bios here: aapf.org/under-the-blacklight-covid19) Hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw (@sandylocks) 
Produced by Julia Sharpe-Levine Edited by Julia Sharpe-Levine and Sarah Ventre
 Additional support provided by Awoye Timpo, Emmett O’Malley, Michael Kramer, Alanna Kane 
Music by Blue Dot Sessions
 Follow us at @intersectionalitymatters, @IMKC_podcast

On Episode Six of “Under The Blacklight,” Josie Duffy Rice, Nina A. Kohn, Marc Lamont Hill, Rebecca Nagle, Ravi Ragbir, and Alyosxa Tudor map the devastating path of COVID through various locations of confinement — including prisons and jails, immigration detention centers, Native country, nursing homes, and the home — and examine the historical precedents, ideological frameworks, and surprising intersections between these seemingly separate sites that inform this movement and offer us a path forward. Speakers: JOSIE DUFFY RICE -- Journalist and Lawyer; President of The Appeal; Host of Justice in America NINA A. KOHN -- Visiting Professor of Law, Yale; Professor of Law,, Syracuse University; Elder Rights Advocate MARC LAMONT HILL -- Best-selling author and journalist; Professor, Temple University; Host, BET News REBECCA NAGLE -- Writer and community organizer; Host of This Land Podcast RAVI RAGBIR --Immigrant rights activist; Executive Director, New Sanctuary Coalition of New York ALYOSXA TUDOR -- Senior Lecturer in Gender Studies, the Centre for Gender Studies at SOAS, University of London (Read full bios here: aapf.org/under-the-blacklight-covid19) Hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw (@sandylocks)
Produced and Edited by Julia Sharpe-Levine
Additional support provided by Awoye Timpo, Emmett O’Malley, Michael Kramer, Alanna Kane
Music by Blue Dot Sessions
Follow us at @intersectionalitymatters, @IMKC_podcast

On Episode Five of “Under The Blacklight,” David Blight, Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, William Darity Jr., Ibram X. Kendi, and Kate Manne navigate the historical contours of the pandemic, and the pre-existing inequalities that shape its impact. Building on last week’s interrogation of “disaster white supremacy”, this week's conversation explores how intersecting systems of capitalism, patriarchy, racism, and nationalism have converged to define another dark moment in American history. In the coming weeks, we'll continue hosting live events that bring together artists, activists, thought leaders, scholars, service-providers and others on the frontlines of the fight against COVID-19. Each Wednesday we’ll bring you a virtual conversation over Zoom, which will be released as an episode of Intersectionality Matters! the following week. Speakers: DAVID BLIGHT — Professor, Yale University; Pulitzer Prize Winning Author of Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom EDUARDO BONILLA-SILVA — Professor, Duke University; President of the American Sociological Association; Author of Racism Without Racists WILLIAM DARITY JR. — Economist; Professor, Duke University; Director, Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity IBRAM X. KENDI — Professor, American University; Author of Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America KATE MANNE — Professor, Cornell University; Author of Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny (Read full bios of panelists here: aapf.org/under-the-blacklight-covid19) Hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw (@sandylocks)
 Produced and Edited by Julia Sharpe-Levine 
Additional support provided by Andrew Sun, Emmett O’Malley, Michael Kramer, Alanna Kane
 Music by Blue Dot Sessions
 Follow us at @intersectionalitymatters, @IMKC_podcast