#BREAKINGTHESILENCE

AAPF extended its signature “Breaking the Silence” Town Hall Series to uplift the discriminatory experiences of women and girls of color facing life altering challenges such as school push out, incarceration, state-sanctioned violence, domestic violence, foster care, trafficking, and housing discrimination. In 2015 we partnered with local organizations to bring town halls to New Orleans, Miami, Baltimore, Washington D.C., and Philadelphia. Furthermore, over the summer we convened an intergenerational group of women and girls of color from across the country for “Breaking Silence: An Arts, Action, and Healing Summer Camp.” The Summer Camp provided an unprecedented opportunity for participants in the Town Hall Series to share stories, uplift spirits, and fight for justice using artistic modes of expression.

BODIES OF REVOLUTION

On December 5, AAPF and One Billion Rising partnered to bring together a formidable group of activists for an event exploring the ties between state violence against women in the United States and in conflict zones around the world. Women activists from countries including the US, Colombia, India, Afghanistan and Palestine came together to explore the ties between imperialism, racism, sexism, and neo-colonialism and to make visible their resistance efforts. The audience drew people from all walks of life who came together for a full day to listen, to ask questions, and to become better informed advocates for peace and well being in their communities.

#WHYWECANTWAIT

AAPF continues its work on #WhyWeCantWait, a campaign calling for the inclusion of women and girls of color – along with their male counterparts -- at the center of racial justice policy initiatives. Over the course of this campaign, we have released open letters, written op-eds, done TV and radio interviews and produced a series of nationally-broadcast webinars.   In order to address the many knowledge and resource gaps pertaining to women and girls of color, AAPF, in partnership with the Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies, launched a research consortium in May 2015 at Columbia Law School. Academics and researchers whose work focuses on women and girls of color came together to advocate for increased research support in this arena, and to put a research plan in motion.

In November, after over a year of vibrant advocacy expousing why we cannot wait to support women and girls of color--including  op-eds written by AAPF’s Kimberlé Crenshaw in the New York Times and the Washington Post--the White House launched an $118 million initiative that targets women and girls of color.

VIRTUAL ADVOCACY

AAPF also continues to organize timely virtual events that garner hundreds of attendees. #HerDreamDeferred, a weeklong webinar series on the status of Black women in American society, reached over 1000 attendees.  The  five-day series  focused on state violence, interpersonal violence, health disparities, the wealth gap, and barriers to higher education.   Our Spring Valley is Everywhere webinar responded to the brutal assault on a young African American girl by a School Resource Officer.  We centered the voices of young Black women to demonstrate that they too are subject to punitive disciplinary policies in this arena, and to call for a fundamental realignment of zero tolerance policies. Our webinar Holtzclaw Trial: It’s Not Over Yet  featured Oklahoma City activists Grace Franklin and Candace Liger, who have been mobilizing to support the 13 Black women who were assaulted by former OKC police officer Daniel Holtzclaw.   Participants discussed how sexual assault is one of the leading abuses faced by women of color in their interactions with the police.  The webinar set the groundwork for increased advocacy to make this problem visible and to hold police departments accountable for their multiple failures to eradicate sexually predatory behavior among police officers.

SPEAKING AND FACILITATING EVENTS ON INTERSECTIONALITY

10th ANNIVERSARY WRITERS RETREAT

AAPF held the 10th Anniversary convening of its Social Justice Writers Retreat in Negril, Jamaica in 2015. The retreat provides writers interested in racial justice concerns a setting within which to share and constructively critique works in progress. Last year cofounders Crenshaw and Harris, AAPF staff, and workshop participants conceived of the idea for The Charleston Imperative  -- a statement ultimately signed by over 3,000 concerned individuals in the wake of the shooting in Charleston, South Carolina. Signees included writers, social justice advocates and others drawn from feminist and antiracist mobilizations such as Alice Walker, Eve Ensler, Kiese Laymon, Gloria Steinem, Darnell Moore, Brittney Cooper, Marlon Peterson and Jane Fonda. See, "The Charleston Imperative,” Ms. Magazine Blog; and "The Charleston Imperative," The Huffington Post. The retreat attendees included, among others, Barbara Arnwine, Janine Jackson, Devon Carbado, George Lipsitz, Sumi Cho, Steven Cohen, Paul Butler, Alvin Starks, Barbara Tomlinson, and Laura Flanders.

THANK YOU!

We are immensely grateful for the supporters who have helped make our work possible. Your contributions allow AAPF to make unprecedented progress in broadening and deepening social justice research and advocacy. We know that efforts to make the concerns of women and girls of color visible within racial justice discourses require sustained advocacy and accessible frameworks.  

We will carry this work into 2016 and beyond. Won’t you join us? Any tax deductible donation before the new year can make a difference.