Board of Directors
Board of Directors
THE AFRICAN AMERICAN POLICY FORUM
BECOME A
#SAYHERNAME
ADVOCATE
We seek #SayHerName Advocates who will:
BEAR WITNESS to the intersectional realities facing Black women, girls, and femmes, and honor the lives that should have been if they were not lost to state violence.
EDUCATE yourself on the conditions that lead to Black women being victimized by state violence
AMPLIFY the voices and demands of Black women to break the silence about the state violence that they are subjected to.
ACTIVATE those around you and cultivate a sense of responsibility for resisting state violence against Black women.
DONATE to further the work of #SayHerName and its Mothers Network.
The #SayHerName Campaign is so much more than a hashtag. It is a multi-dimensional campaign centered around the experiences and demonstrated needs of the #SayHerName Mothers Network—mothers, sisters, and families who have lost daughters to police violence.
SAY. HER. NAME.
A TIMELINE FOR TAKING ACTION
BEAR WITNESS
EDUCATE
AMPLIFY
ACTIVATE
SUPPORT
Visit https://www.aapf.org/sayhername to read a short history of the #SayHerName Campaign and
mark your calendars for our Anniversary Day of Remembrance which will be held on December 14, 2022.
5 MINUTES
Visit our website https://www.aapf.org/donate to make a donation to the #SayHerName campaign and
buy #SayHerName merch.
BEAR WITNESS
EDUCATE
AMPLIFY
ACTIVATE
SUPPORT
Choose an angelversary for one of the women mentioned in the #SayHerName song and use the day to host a ritual to remember and hold space for all Black women killed by police violence.
Gather with friends and listen to the stories of the “Mothers of the #SayHerName Movement,” on Intersectionality Matters with Kimberlé Crenshaw specifically the following episodes:
Ep. 1: A Mother’s Nightmare: The Life and Death of Korryn Gaines (39 minutes)
Ep. 8: When They See Her: The Story of Michelle Cusseaux (37 minutes)
Ep. 20: India Kager: A Mother’s Story of Loss & Erasure (43 minutes)
Ep. 21: Under the Blacklight: Telling Stories of State Violence & Public Silence (59 minutes)
5 HOURS
Read AAPF’s original #SayHerName Report, which expands the existing public discourse and advocacy to discuss the contours of Black women's vulnerability to state violence.
Tweet a thread, or create a highlight on Instagram about #SayHerName with resources and links to AAPF to educate your networks - and encourage them to do the same!
Share a 30-second video to your social media accounts, tagging the @AAPolicyForum and telling your community why we should all #SayHerName!
Use the #SayHerName song as intro music for an event you are hosting, at a formal or informal gathering.
Write to your local state representative, and congressperson and ask them to support the establishment of a State Database on Police Killings that makes its findings public and accessible to the community and disaggregated by race and gender.
Encourage those around you to support AAPF by visiting our website at https://www.aapf.org/donate and making a monthly donation to the #SayHerName campaign to help us as we develop and drive programs for education, empowerment and advocacy.
Organize a fundraiser through your Instagram/Facebook profile, in the name of @AAPolicyForum.
Register AAPF as a beneficiary charity of your company’s Corporate Giving Program.
BEAR WITNESS
EDUCATE
AMPLIFY
ACTIVATE
SUPPORT
Create public art, in the form of performances, dance, theatre, poetry, graffiti, posters, installations. Do it either by yourself or in partnership with others in your community, to memorialize the lives of Black women who’ve been killed by police in your city or state, and publicly incite people to collectively bear witness to the lives lost.
5 DAYS
Engage with literature that centers on Black women’s experiences of police and state violence in the U.S. AAPF has gathered a non-exhaustive list of interdisciplinary works that can help form a basis for your engagement with the #SayHerName Campaign.
Collaborate with AAPF on its Wikipedia project by building a page for a woman in the #SayHerName database, sharing the story of what happened to her, what actions were taken in response to her death, and any photos or testimonials to her life you’re able to find. Email sayhername@aapf.org with the research you’ve been able to gather after consulting our In Memoriam page, where some preliminary information can be found.
Find out whether your local police publishes demographic and disaggregated data on police-involved fatalities and with that information, organize a petition, draft a policy demand, or help us expand our database of police brutality by adding information from your state.
Organize and host a virtual event or talk on Instagram and/or Facebook Live to engage your social circles in meaningful discussions about the multi-faceted consequences of police violence, emphasizing Black women and girls’ intersectional experiences, imagining local steps for safety that could include self-help groups and local action groups.
Reach out to AAPF if your professional network/company can provide in-kind services to the #SayHerName Mothers Network (for example: legal services, public relations, counseling, social services, wellness advice/treatment for individuals and families, trauma counseling...). Use THIS LINK to sign up or email sayhername@aapf.org with your proposal.
BEAR WITNESS
EDUCATE
AMPLIFY
ACTIVATE
SUPPORT
Organize an evening of Arts & Activism during which members of your community will perform in honor of Black women, girls and femmes. The event should culminate in a moment of communal witness bearing to the lives that should have been.
5 WEEKS
Host a book-club on literature that centers Black women’s experiences and the conditions that make them susceptible to police violence. Use the list the AAPF Team gathered to create a short 5-week syllabus that explores Black women and girls’ intersectional vulnerabilities to state-sanctioned violence and their historical resistance to these oppressive forces.
Research data on police violence against Black women in your city, as well as your local and state policies and mandates related to: policing & mental health, no-knock warrants, qualified immunity and other conditions that contribute to the vulnerability of Black women in your area. Amplify your findings through op-eds, letters to newspaper editors, and planning regular/monthly meetings with other activists in your region.
Host a teach-in on #SayHerName using what you have learned both through your book-club and through your own research to educate your community about #SayHerName and the conditions that cause state violence against Black women, activate your community by considering certain targets that the group would like to meet to push back against the police killing of Black women.
Develop a plan to provide in-kind services to the #SayHerName Mothers Network within your personal networks and communities. In-kind services can include legal services, public relations, counseling, social services, wellness advice/treatment, trauma counseling).
Gather members of your community who have a skillset or goods to offer and organize a donation event (i.e. bake sale, barber cuts, book fair) where people donate either proceeds or make in-kind donations to support the #SayHerNamecampaign. To do so contact us at sayhername@aapf.org!
BEAR WITNESS
EDUCATE
AMPLIFY
ACTIVATE
SUPPORT
Participate in creating a national tapestry of “Artivistic” activations: a national event curated by #SayHerName Advocates across states to honor the lives of those we lost, and to collectively bear witness. This would be the culmination of various “Arts & Activism” events organized across states by advocates, in partnership with AAPF’s #SayHerName campaign.
5 MONTHS
Inform AAPF about the work in your local communities and schedule a discussion about #SayHerName campaign activations within your communities.
Come together as local or regional advocates to uplift your efforts to amplify #SayHerName in your communities and work together to advocate for policies that will prevent the deaths of Black women and girls by the police.
Co-host a AAPF Breaking the Silence Town Hall to uncover the ways that policing and other punitive policies specifically impact Black women, girls, and femmes by reaching out. To do so contact us at sayhername@aapf.org.
Execute and establish a program to provide in-kind services to the #SayHerName Mothers Network (ie. legal, public relations, counseling, social services, wellness advice/treatment)