AAPF Presents Under the Blacklight Series in Oak Bluffs on Anti-Wokeness and the Attack on Black Women

August 12th – In the Bullseye of Backlash: Anti-Wokeness and the Attack on Black Women

In March earlier this year AAPF convened an urgent panel as part of our Her Dream Deferred series to bring together Black women from a variety of sectors to sound the alarm about Black women’s vulnerability to these attacks in the war on woke and discuss how we should see the long-term efforts to undermine Black women’s place in society as part of a larger assault on civil rights and democracy. Since that conversation the continued attack on Black women in universities, politics and businesses has continued unabated. From the cynical coopting of anti-discrimination law to target the Black women owned and funding, Fearless Fund, to the defamation of DEI used to force Claudine Gay out of her historic position as Harvard president, to the countless Black women being scrutinized and silenced in workplaces across the country under the DEI witchhunt, it is evident that this crisis is rapidly escalating. It is also important to highlight that the fuel used to stoke this fire targeted ideas produced by Black women in this country which has been labeled as divisive and dangerous – whether this is Black feminism, intersectionality, critical race theory or the 1619 project. The storm that has been created by the demonization of DEI, rollback of affirmative action and backlash against racial justice has found Black women at the center. This urgent panel will bring together Kimberle Crenshaw, Karen Attiah, Janel George, Beverly Guy Sheftall, and Evelyn Hammonds who will draw from the long tradition of Black women’s resistance to not only make sense of these intersectional attacks but outline the necessary steps to defend Black women and our communities.