AAPF sends our deepest condolences to the families of the ten Black Americans murdered in the racially motivated attack this past weekend.

Today, on this Presidents Day 2022, while we honor the aspirations of the Constitution to “establish Justice … and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity,” we see gag laws being enacted and open threats to the honest teaching of the history of our nation in our public schools and universities. If left unchecked, this censorship will undermine our multiracial democracy. We can meet these challenges only if Truth Be Told. At a press conference Friday, Te

Last week, the US Congress failed to advance urgently needed protections of the right to vote, leaving the fate of our multiracial democracy very much in doubt. The Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act sought to restore full and fair access to the ballot in the wake of the US Supreme Court’s disastrous 2013 ruling in Shelby County v. Holder. That decision dismantled preclearance requirements for voting jurisdictions that fell under the 1965 Vot

Tennessee teacher Matthew Hawn was fired in May this year, after he’d assigned an article by Ta-Nehisi Coates, “The First White President,” and showed Kyla Jenée Lacey’s poem “White Privilege” to students in his contemporary issues class at Sullivan Central High School in Blountville, TN. In the wake of last summer’s worldwide Black Lives Matter protests—and after the uprising over the police shooting of Jacob Blake, an unarmed Black man in Kenosha, WI—Hawn wanted to explore

AAPF Denounces the Supreme Court’s Refusal To Intervene in Texas’ “Flagrantly Unconstitutional” Abortion Law September 7, 2021 Today we stand in solidarity with all those in Texas who have been harmed by the Supreme Court’s decision to allow Texas to ban safe and legal abortion. The full sweep of the rightwing putsch for coercive control of women’s bodies and decision making has come into view. This law must be understood as part and parcel of a whole body of legislation the

Juneteenth Must Be More Than a Symbol: The African American Policy Forum’s Statement on Anti-Racism Education in Schools and Colleges June 19, 2021 Today, we commend President Biden and Congress for enacting the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act. We hasten to add that our new national holiday cannot stand as a mere symbolic gesture or a cynical cover for those who are actively attempting to censor the very history that Juneteenth represents. We therefore applaud the Am

The African American Policy Forum's Statement on Anti-Racism Education in Schools and Colleges Today, we commend President Biden and Congress for enacting the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act. We hasten to add that our new national holiday cannot stand as a mere symbolic gesture or a cynical cover for those who are actively attempting to censor the very history that Juneteenth represents. We therefore applaud the American Federation of Teachers and National Education

As this somber day comes to a close, we write with grief and resolve to reflect on the first anniversary of George Floyd’s death. Floyd’s murder by the Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin catalyzed months of mass mobilization and ushered in a new era in the struggle for racial justice. This once-in-a-generation mobilization that activated millions of Americans from all races and genders has led to new and powerful demands for accountability and justice across American in

On Wednesday, December 2nd, the African American Policy Forum hosted a very special 20th episode of our hit series Under the Blacklight titled, “#TruthBeTold: The Destructiveness of Trump's Equity Gag Order & What Biden Must Do Now.” This episode chronicled the impact and history of the Trump Administration's Executive Order 13950—an order also known as the Equity Gag Order—which prohibits federal agencies, contractors, and grant recipients from facilitating workplace diversi

PRESIDENT TRUMP’S PERVERSE EQUITY GAG ORDER IS ANTITHETICAL TO RACIAL PROGRESS AND A ‘MORE PERFECT UNION’ Labeling anti-racist and anti-sexist training as “un-American,” the Trump Administration’s “Executive Order on Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping” has placed a gag order on diversity, inclusion and equity work, as well as discussions of racism, sexism, and structural violence more broadly. On September 4th, the Trump Administration took action to stop workplace training