Every day of Women’s History Month the MSU Women*s Student Services have been posting to their instagram different women that have had an impact. Here is the link to Kimberlé Crenshaw’s Virtual Trading Card.
Kimberlé Crenshaw, better known as the woman, who coined the term intersectionality and critical race theory, has introduced the feminist world to the masses through her papers, research, and theory. She is a professor of law at UCLA and Columbia. She also leads in the areas of civil rights, Black feminist legal thoery, and race and racism in law.
“We have to move back to the idea that education isn’t about teaching people to bow to rigid rules. That’s not what democracy is about.”
– Kimberlé Crenshaw
In October 2016, Crenshaw spoke at the official TED conference where she gave her legendary and celebrated speech “The Urgency of Intersectionality.” The description states, “now more than ever, it’s important to look boldly at the reality of race and gender bias – and understand how the two can combine to create even more harm… if you’re standing in the path of multiple forms of exclusion, you’re likely to get hit by both.”
The TED Talk starts with Crenshaw asking those that are able to stand up and to sit when they hear a name they don’t recognize. They continue this exercise with a second set of names. The first time more than half of the crowd remained standing, but the second time only four of those remained. These names are Black people that have been murdered by the police; the only difference, however, is the second set of names are Black women.
Around the 3:55 minute mark, Crenshaw asks, “… why does a frame matter? I mean, after all, an issue that affects Black people and an issue that affects women, wouldn’t that necessarily include Black people who are women and women who are Black people?” She continues by adding, “Well, the simple answer is that this is a trickle-down approach to social justice, and many times it just doesn’t work. Without frames that allow us to see how social problems impact all the members of a targeted group, many will fall through the cracks of our movements, left to suffer in virtual isolation. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Many years ago, I began to use the term “intersectionality” to deal with the fact that many of our social justice problems like racism and sexism are often overlapping, creating multiple levels of social injustice.”
I implore you all to continue this TED Talk as there is a discussion of a Black women fighting this legally and a beautiful song sung about various Black women who have been killed.
“If we aren’t intersectional, some of us, the most vulnerable, are going to fall through the cracks.”
– Kimberlé Crenshaw
So, why is Kimberlé Crenshaw so important?Honestly, I hope this has already been answered. But, if you haven’t yet gotten it: she is pioneering feminist work and theories.