African American Policy Forum

The African American Policy Forum (AAPF) is a United States-based social-justice think tank and advocacy organization founded in 1996 by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw and political scientist Luke Charles Harris. It was created to advance racial justice while centering the experiences of women and girls of color, particularly where racial inequality intersects with gender, class, sexuality, disability, immigration status, and other forms of marginalization. AAPF’s work is grounded in intersectional analysis. Rather than treating race and gender as separate policy categories, the organization examines how legal systems, public institutions, economic arrangements, education policies, policing, and cultural narratives can produce distinct harms for people located at multiple social intersections. Its stated approach combines academic research with community organizing, public education, artistic expression, and policy advocacy. The organization seeks to translate critical race and feminist theory into practical frameworks that can influence public debate and institutional decision-making. A major part of AAPF’s public profile has come from initiatives focused on Black women and girls. In 2014, it launched the Breaking the Silence town-hall series, which brought local partners and women and girls of color together to discuss policy priorities and community experiences. Related programming included arts-based summer camps intended to provide intergenerational spaces for storytelling, healing, and organizing. AAPF also helped develop the #BlackGirlsMatter campaign and published research on the disproportionate disciplining, surveillance, and school exclusion experienced by Black girls. The campaign challenged policy discussions that focused on boys and men of color while neglecting girls and women in the same communities. AAPF’s #WhyWeCantWait initiative addressed the same representational gap in national youth policy. In 2014, the organization helped organize open letters urging the expansion of the My Brother’s Keeper initiative so that it would explicitly include girls and women of color. The campaign brought together women and men of color, scholars, artists, and activists to argue that community-wide racial justice policies must account for gendered experiences. The organization is especially associated with #SayHerName, a campaign created in 2015 to draw attention to Black women and girls affected by police brutality and other forms of state-sanctioned violence. AAPF’s report Say Her Name: Resisting Police Brutality Against Black Women documented cases that were often absent from dominant accounts of police violence and supplied a framework for understanding how gender shapes encounters with policing, surveillance, and state power. Vigils, performances, teach-ins, and other public events helped expand the campaign beyond a report and hashtag into a broader movement for recognition and accountability. AAPF has also organized the Her Dream Deferred series, an annual or recurring set of online and public programs addressing issues including economic inequality, sexual and domestic violence, school pushout, health disparities, higher education, the criminalization of Black girls, Black single mothers, Black women veterans, media representation, and international struggles involving Afro-descendant women. Its research collaborations have brought together academics, service providers, and advocates to identify weaknesses in data collection, research funding, institutional information-sharing, and evidence-based policy development. AAPF is not a conventional consumer brand. Its principal offerings are research reports, public campaigns, educational events, town halls, training and discussion materials, media appearances, and policy frameworks. Its brand identity is associated with intersectionality, Black feminist thought, racial justice, gender-inclusive policy, and the use of arts and public storytelling as tools for social change. The organization’s work has had influence in academic, nonprofit, media, and activist settings in the United States, while its concepts and campaigns have circulated internationally.

The African American Policy Forum was co-founded in 1996 by Kimberlé Crenshaw and Luke Charles Harris. Its institutional origins lie in efforts to connect civil-rights advocacy with women’s rights and to make visible forms of discrimination that conventional single-axis frameworks could overlook. Crenshaw’s scholarship on critical race theory and intersectionality provided an important intellectual foundation, while Harris contributed expertise in political science, race theory, and democratic participation. From its beginning, AAPF positioned itself between an academic research center, a policy organization, and an activist platform. The organization’s mission has been to use innovative ideas and public-facing strategies to change policy debates concerning racial inequality, gender justice, and the rights of marginalized communities. Its method has included reports, public forums, partnerships with community organizations, media work, artistic projects, and collaborations among researchers and advocates. AAPF became increasingly visible in the 2010s through initiatives concerning women and girls of color. In 2014, its Breaking the Silence town-hall series created spaces where local communities could identify policy problems affecting women and girls of color and develop gender-inclusive racial-justice agendas. Events were held with local partners in cities including New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, Washington, Baltimore, Miami, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Oakland, and Greensboro. A related summer-camp program used arts, storytelling, and intergenerational exchange as tools for healing and organizing. The organization also challenged the gender assumptions of national discussions about youth of color. Its #WhyWeCantWait initiative emerged in 2014 through open letters to President Barack Obama and advocacy around My Brother’s Keeper. The letters argued that programs designed around boys and men of color should also address girls and women living in the same families, neighborhoods, and institutions. AAPF supported public discussion involving scholars, artists, organizers, and community leaders. In February 2015, AAPF and Columbia Law School’s Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies released Black Girls Matter: Pushed Out, Overpoliced, and Underprotected. Drawing on education data and interviews, the report examined school discipline and institutional treatment affecting Black girls. It argued that Black girls were frequently subjected to exclusionary discipline, criminalization, and inadequate protection, while public policy often treated racial disparities through a male-centered lens. AAPF’s best-known campaign, #SayHerName, began in 2015. The hashtag and accompanying report sought to correct the underrepresentation of Black women in public accounts of police killings and state violence. The campaign documented individual stories, developed an intersectional analysis of policing and gender, and encouraged communities to organize vigils, teach-ins, artistic events, and other forms of remembrance and action. A May 2015 New York vigil was followed by later events in Los Angeles and New York, including art and action programs and collaborations with other racial-justice and anti-violence organizations. During the same period, AAPF developed Her Dream Deferred, a series devoted to the political and social status of Black women. Programming addressed violence, economic inequality, education, health, incarceration and criminalization, media representation, technology activism, and the experiences of Black women in different regional and international contexts. The series also helped support advocacy for recognition of Black women’s history and contributions in public institutions. AAPF has continued to combine research with coalition-building. A 2015 researchers’ collaborative brought together scholars, service providers, and advocates working on intersectional issues affecting women of color. Participants identified barriers including weak data collection, limited targeted funding, institutional isolation, and insufficient demand for evidence-based programs. Across its initiatives, AAPF has treated knowledge production, public narrative, and community organizing as connected parts of structural change. The organization remains associated with intersectionality, Black feminist policy analysis, racial justice, and gender-inclusive approaches to social policy.

• 2016

  Kimberlé Crenshaw presents The Urgency of Intersectionality

  [4]The Urgency of Intersectionality, Kimberlé Crenshaw TED Talkyoutube.com

  The AAPF co-founder gave a TED presentation that helped popularize intersectionality in public discourse.

• 2015

  Black Girls Matter report released

  [1]African American Policy Forumen.wikipedia.org

  AAPF and a Columbia Law School research center published a report on the educational exclusion, over-policing, and underprotection of Black girls.

• 2015

  #SayHerName introduced

  [1]African American Policy Forumen.wikipedia.org

  AAPF coined the hashtag and developed a research and organizing framework concerning Black women and girls affected by police violence.

• 2015

  First #SayHerName vigil held

  [1]African American Policy Forumen.wikipedia.org

  AAPF convened families and supporters in New York City to remember Black women killed by police and bring their stories into public discussion.

• 2014

  Breaking the Silence town-hall series begins

  [1]African American Policy Forumen.wikipedia.org

  AAPF launched a national town-hall program focused on the experiences and policy priorities of women and girls of color.

• 2014

  #WhyWeCantWait campaign announced

  [1]African American Policy Forumen.wikipedia.org

  AAPF supported open letters calling for girls and women of color to be included in My Brother’s Keeper and similar youth initiatives.

• 1996

  African American Policy Forum founded

  [1]African American Policy Forumen.wikipedia.org

  Kimberlé Crenshaw and Luke Charles Harris co-founded AAPF to connect racial-justice advocacy with women’s rights and intersectional policy analysis.

An intersectional racial-justice think tank and advocacy platform centered on Black women and girls and on the connections among race, gender, class, and structural oppression.

• Research and publications

  Policy research reports

  AAPF produces public-facing research and analytical reports on racial justice, gender inequality, policing, education, and the experiences of women and girls of color. These publications combine data, legal and social analysis, personal testimony, and policy recommendations.

• Research report and advocacy framework · 2015

  Say Her Name: Resisting Police Brutality Against Black Women

  This report documents Black women affected by police brutality and state-sanctioned violence while explaining why gender must be included in accounts of racialized policing. It became a central research and organizing resource for the #SayHerName campaign.

• Education policy report · 2015

  Black Girls Matter: Pushed Out, Overpoliced, and Underprotected

  Produced with Columbia Law School’s Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies, this report examines racial and gender disparities in school discipline and the institutional treatment of Black girls in New York City, Boston, and the wider United States.

• Town-hall and community program · 2014

  Breaking the Silence

  A national series of town halls and related arts-based programs designed to elevate the experiences of women and girls of color and help local communities build agendas for gender-inclusive racial justice.

• 2015#BlackGirlsMatter

  United States

  This campaign highlighted the school discipline, surveillance, criminalization, and lack of protection experienced by Black girls, drawing on AAPF research and education-policy advocacy.

  Outcome. It broadened public discussion of racial disparities in education by emphasizing the distinct experiences of Black girls.

  Source
• 2015#SayHerName

  United States · International social-media and activist networks

  AAPF created the hashtag and accompanying report, vigils, performances, and teach-ins to center Black women and girls affected by police brutality and anti-Black state violence.

  Outcome. The hashtag became widely used in racial-justice activism and helped make Black women’s experiences more visible in debates about police violence.

  Source
• 2015#HerDreamDeferred

  United States · Online and international advocacy networks

  AAPF and partner organizations held a week-long series during Women’s History Month addressing violence, economic inequality, education, health, higher education, and other challenges facing Black women and girls.

  Outcome. The series was reconvened in later years and expanded to include public programs, performances, and international perspectives.

  Source
• 2014#WhyWeCantWait

  United States

  AAPF organized and publicized open letters urging the inclusion of girls and women of color in My Brother’s Keeper and other youth policies. The campaign argued that racial-justice interventions should address entire communities rather than focus exclusively on boys and men.

  Outcome. The campaign generated public discussion, coalition activity, and advocacy for gender-inclusive youth policy.

  Source
• 2014#BreakingTheSilence

  United States

  AAPF launched a town-hall series with local organizations to bring the experiences of women and girls of color into policy debates and support community-led agendas.

  Outcome. The program expanded across multiple U.S. cities and led to related arts, action, and healing activities.

  Source

• 2015

  Center Black women in police-violence analysisOther

  Background

  Mainstream discussions of police brutality frequently underrepresented Black women and girls and tended to frame state violence through male-centered narratives.

  Action taken

  AAPF created #SayHerName, published a supporting report, and organized vigils and public events focused on the experiences of Black women and girls.

  Aftermath

  The campaign became a durable organizing framework and circulated widely in racial-justice advocacy.

  Source

• 2014

  Advocate for gender-inclusive youth policyStrategy

  Background

  AAPF argued that My Brother’s Keeper and related interventions addressing youth of color did not sufficiently account for girls and women of color.

  Action taken

  Through #WhyWeCantWait, AAPF supported open letters and public conversations calling for explicit inclusion of girls and women.

  Aftermath

  The initiative helped bring gender and intersectionality into public debate about national racial-justice programs.

  Source

1. 1African American Policy Forumen.wikipedia.org
2. 2African American Policy Forum official websiteaapf.org
3. 3AAPF publicationsaapf.org
4. 4The Urgency of Intersectionality, Kimberlé Crenshaw TED Talkyoutube.com