Intersectionality Matters‪!‬ African American Policy Forum

This episode marks the beginning of a new IMKC series called Author Talks, where host Kimberlé Crenshaw sits down with the authors of books banned by anti-CRT legislation. They break down why the featured author’s work is so crucial to an understanding of America's racial history, and why its opponents have labeled the work’s subject matter as forbidden knowledge.

On this episode, Kim is joined by Ibram X. Kendi, founding Director of Boston University Center for Anti-Racist Research, and the youngest winner of the National Book Award for his non-fiction work Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America. They discuss the importance of talking to kids about racism, and unpack the fear-mongering around Kendi’s critically acclaimed books about racism for kids, including Stamped: Racism, Anti-racism, and You, and Stamped (For Kids), both co-authored by Jason Reynolds. These vital books have been challenged or pulled from school libraries across the country.

To attend the next Author Talk, sign up for updates about the African American Policy Forum’s new book club, called Books Unbanned: From Freedom Riders to Freedom Readers Book Club. Learn about our Reading Circles for kids and adults, Author Talks, and more by clicking here: bit.ly/3On4miA

This episode features:

Ibram X. Kendi, National Book Award-winning and #1 New York Times bestselling author of six books for adults, and five books for children.

Hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw (@sandylocks).

Produced, mixed and edited by Nicole Edwards.

Support provided by Kevin Minofu, and the team at the African American Policy Forum.

Music by Blue Dot Sessions

Follow us at @intersectionalitymatters, @IMKC_podcast

Host Kimberlé Crenshaw is joined by Cliff Albright, cofounder of Black Voters Matter. Together, Crenshaw and Albright discuss voter suppression, gerrymandering and intimidation tactics -- and the ways they intersect to suppress the voices of Black communities today, and throughout history. They reminisce about their recent cross-country tour, bearing witness to erasure of history at stops along the way -- like the fact that there is not so much as a plaque at the site of a Black newspaper that was burned to the ground during the Wilmington coup in 1898. Listen as Crenshaw and Albright unpack how these moments, when they're erased, separate Black history from American history, and how the struggle for democracy and the struggle against racial suppression are one and the same.

To learn more about the Books Unbanned: From Freedom Riders to Freedom Readers Tour, and our new book club, visit www.booksunbanned.org

This episode features:

Cliff Albright, Cofounder, Black Voters Matter

Hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw (@sandylocks)

Produced and edited by Nicole Edwards

Mixed by Sean Dunnam

Support provided by Kevin Minofu, Rebecca Scheckman, Alex van Biema, Nadia Ncube

Music by Blue Dot Sessions

Follow us at @intersectionalitymatters, @IMKC_podcast

From October 8th to the 21st, we’re hitting the road with the 10 Million More Black Voters initiative. We call our tour Books Unbanned: From Freedom Riders to Freedom Readers, and we're handing out 6,000 copies of books banned by anti-CRT laws across the country. This effort is to ensure that everyone has access to critical literature — especially stories that teach America's true racial history.

Host Kimberlé Crenshaw is joined by friend and collaborator Barbara Arnwine, president and founder of the Transformative Justice Coalition. They unpack the connection between these banned books, voter suppression, and the vital importance of the upcoming midterm elections.

To learn more about the Books Unbanned: From Freedom Riders to Freedom Readers tour, visit www.booksunbanned.org

This episode features:
Barbara Arnwine, Founder/President, Transformative Justice Coalition

Hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw (@sandylocks)

Produced and edited by Nicole Edwards
Mixed by Sean Dunnam
Support provided by Kevin Minofu and Julia Sharpe-Levine

Music by Blue Dot Sessions

Follow us at @intersectionalitymatters, @IMKC_podcast

Drawing on the history of Freedom Summer, the African American Policy Forum launched its Critical Race Theory Summer School in 2020 as a response to the state-sanctioned murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and countless Black lives that spurred the subsequent summer of racial reckoning. Next week (7/18-22), in the face of a rapidly advancing assault on racial justice, we convene for another edition of Summer School under the theme: “Teaching Truth to Power”. The program will take place over the course of 5 jam-packed days, and will feature 100 instructors, 21 channels and 85+ classes.

In anticipation of next week’s gathering, which we encourage all listeners to attend, we’re going to spend today’s episode taking a stroll down memory lane. For the last two years, Intersectionality Matters! has been tracking and analyzing the right wing attacks on CRT and other social justice education. Listen along as Kimberlé revisits our continuing coverage of this backlash- pulling out some of her favorite clips from past episodes to elevate how CRT offers a prism that allows us to see what is truly at stake. In addition to resurfacing highlights from past episodes like Story of Us, The Insurgent Origins of Critical Race Theory, Educators Ungagged, and Having Our Say, this episode also shares information about some of the fascinating classes lined up to be taught next week by a Who’s Who cast of academics, activists and advocates committed to defending and expanding our multiracial democracy.

Check out our website to register now! https://www.aapf.org/crtsummerschool.

CRT Summer School is running from July 18-22, 2022 and all content for our students will be available on demand until September. There’s a sliding scale for tuition, group rates, and scholarships so everyone can attend. CE/CLE/CTLE credits are available. There is no daylight between democracy and antiracism, and CRT Summer School could not come at a more important or poignant moment than now to show us exactly why that is.

Today’s episode features:
DAVID BLIGHT - Professor of American History, Yale University; Author, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom
SUMI CHO - Director of Strategic Initiatives, AAPF; Former law professor who taught CRT for 25 years
ALICIA GARZA - Co-Founder, Black Lives Matter; Principal, Black Futures Lab
MATTHEW HAWN - 10-year educator and baseball coach; Former teacher at Sullivan Central High School in Blountville, Tennessee
GLORIA LADSON-BILLINGS - Pedagogical theorist & educator; Author, The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African American Children
KIRSTEN WEST SAVALI - VP, Content: iOne Digital
BRYAN STEVENSON - Founder and Executive Director, Equal Justice Initiative; Author, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption

Hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw (@sandylocks)
Produced and edited by Julia Sharpe-Levine
Co-produced by Ashley Julien
Supported provided by Destiny Spruill, Kevin Minofu, Rebecca Scheckman, and the African American Policy Forum
Music by Blue Dot Sessions
Follow us at @intersectionalitymatters, @IMKC_podcast

In this episode, Kimberlé is joined by W. Kamau Bell, director of the four-part documentary series We Need to Talk About Cosby. Together, the two use an intersectional lens to explore Bill Cosby's descent from his seemingly immovable status as "America's Dad.” Unpacking the complex interactions of race and gender that enabled Cosby's alleged sexual violence, this conversation brings a new dimension to the exploration of the mogul's tarnished legacy and the subsequent range of responses from the Black community and beyond. From respectability politics to the emotional reconciliation needed for processing allegations made against our once-heroes, this episode covers it all and reminds audiences that the denial of and ignorance around gendered abuse come from silence and our nation's great, persisting short-term memory.

With:
W. KAMAU BELL - Director and Executive Producer, We Need to Talk About Cosby; Host and Executive Producer, United Shades of America, CNN

Hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw (@sandylocks)
Produced by Julia Sharpe-Levine and Ashley Julien
Edited by Julia Sharpe-Levine
Supported provided by Destiny Spruill, Rebecca Scheckman, and the African American Policy Forum
Music by Blue Dot Sessions
Follow us at @intersectionalitymatters, @IMKC_podcast

In this episode, Kimberlé is joined by thought leaders Jelani Cobb, Sherrilyn Ifill, and Cornel West, who share their perspectives on the threats to Black history and realization of Black freedom. The conversation is anchored in the question, "Was 2022 the last Black History Month?” and makes explicit why we must to fight to ensure it was not. Revisiting the crucial insights they raised as part of the MasterClass series, “Black History, Black Freedom, and Black Love,” each guest discusses what lessons we can learn from Black history in this renewed period of racial backlash. With anti-Critical Race Theory bills assaulting curricula in classrooms and gagging conversations about racism across the country, this conversation addresses the urgent need to push back against the reconfiguration of right wing organizing. Having endured the first Black history month commemorated under the vice grip of this anti-truth campaign, this episode invites us into a timely conversation about the past, present, and future of our collective struggle.

With:
JELANI COBB - Professor, Columbia School of Journalism; Staff writer, New Yorker; Author, "The Matter of Black Lives: Writing From The New Yorker"

SHERRILYN IFILL - Former President & Director-Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund; Author, "On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the Twenty-First Century"

CORNEL WEST - Professor, Union Theological Seminary; Author, "Race Matters" and "Democracy Matters"

Hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw (@sandylocks)
Produced and edited by Julia Sharpe-Levine
Co-produced by Ashley Julien
Supported provided by Destiny Spruill, Rebecca Scheckman, and the African American Policy Forum
Music by Blue Dot Sessions
Follow us at @intersectionalitymatters, @IMKC_podcast