AFRICAN AMERICAN POLICY FORUM

In order to strive for a vision of racial justice that centers all of us the African American Policy Forum continues its work to engender every level of racial justice discourse -- from activism to media coverage to policy decisions. We are pleased to share with you the projects that AAPF has recently been involved in. Thank you for your support of our work. BREAKING SILENCE: AN ARTS, ACTION AND HEALING SUMMER CAMP From July 30th to August 3rd, AAPF and the Colin Powell School at CUNY convened an intergenerational group of women and girls of color from across the country for our seminal "Breaking Silence: An Arts, Action, and Healing Summer Camp" -- a collaborative program designed to advance an intersectional approach to racial justice. At the Breaking Silence Summer Camp we demonstrated what a racial justice movement that places women and girls at its center can look and feel like. We created an unprecedented space to share our stories, and uplift our spirits using artistic modes of expression to amplify our voices and to fight for justice. The camp gave us the opportunity to: Advance personal healing and transformation amongst a cross-generational group of women and girls who experience racism and patriarchy; Develop expressive testimonies about the intersections of racism and patriarchy through art forms such as spoken word, dramatic performance, extemporaneous presentation, and documentary filmmaking; Create an organizing and activist agenda to advance the needs of women and girls of color; Develop a national network of women and girls of color committed to working together to advance a gender-inclusive racial justice agenda; and Prepare interested organizers and testifiers to hold future town halls. During the Breaking Silence Summer Camp we shared an unbreakable bond of sisterhood based on a deep commitment to #SayHerName. Take a look at the videos, pictures and more from the summer camp HERE. THE CHARLESTON IMPERATIVE   As the tragedy in Charleston fades from the headlines, it is critical that those who are committed to racial and gender justice send a message that this brutal massacre will not be forgotten. Beyond the vexing questions of forgiveness and grace, we must address what Roof's heinous act and the subsequent assaults on Black churches call upon us to do. Two things are clear: feminists of all races and genders must aggressively denounce and repudiate Dylann Roof's murderous embodiment of racist patriarchy. White women cannot allow one shred of legitimacy to rest upon Roof's claims that these nine murders were undertaken in their name. At the same time, all antiracists must see in Roofs' rampage the fact that Black women are also targets of patriarchal racism. We can no longer give mere lip service to intersectionality and the indivisibility of social justice. The struggle against patriarchy and racism must be substantively robust and inextricably intertwined. Please consider signing The Charleston Imperative and sharing it widely with your networks. CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE STATEMENT #SAYHERNAME   The African American Policy Forum continues its efforts to engender the movement to combat anti-Black police violence. To this end, on May 20, AAPF held #SayHerName: A Vigil in Remembrance of Black Women and Girls Killed by the Police. On that day, we released a new report: Say Her Name: Resisting Police Brutality Against Black Women. The July 2015 updated version of this report -- including stories about Sandra Bland as well as photos from the vigil -- is available here along with a Say Her Name Social Media Guide. We are moved by the widespread media coverage our #SayHerName campaign has generated. Help us continue to bring the names of Black women killed by the police out of the shadows and into our collective concern by reading and sharing the following stories: Time, "Sandra Bland's Not the First Black Woman to Experience Police Violence," by Charlotte Alter, available here. LA Times, "Female Black Lives Matter Too," by Tina Susman, available here. The Marshall Project, "The Sandra Bland Breakthrough," by Maura Ewing, available here. WHYY Radio, "The Death of Sandra Bland," available here. Huffington Post, "Driving While Black, Female and Fearless," by Sikivu Hutchinson, available here. Ebony, "Will You Finally 'Say Her Name?' Black Women Subject to Police Violence at Alarming Rates, by AAPF staff writer Rachel Anspach, available here. Democracy Now, "Say Her Name: Families Seek Justice in Overlooked Police Killings of African American Women," available here. Democracy Now, "Illinois Judge Calls Police Killing of Rekia Boyd 'Beyond Reckless' But Acquits Cop on Technicality," available here. Huffington Post, "#SayHerName: Why We Should Declare That Black Women And Girls Matter, Too," by Lilly Workneh, available here. Huffington Post Live, "Remembering Black Women Lost to Police Violence," available here. Washington Post, "Black lives matter — including black women’s, activists remind nation," by Marcia Davis, available here. Colorlines, "We're Dying Too," by Say Her Name co-author Andrea Ritchie, available here. Huffington Post, "Poet Aja Monet Confronts Police Brutality Against Black Women With #SayHerName," by Maddie Crum and Irina Dvalidze available here. Gawker, "For Rekia, LeVena, and Shereese: The Importance of #SayHerName," by Marlon Peterson, available here. Time Magazine, "Topless Women Stage #SayHerName Rally Against Perceived Police Brutality," by Helen Regan, available here. Takepart, "'Say Her Name' Turns Spotlight on Black Women and Girls Killed by Police," by Britini Danielle, available here. Mic, "Black Women Are Getting Killed by Police Too — So Why Aren’t More People Discussing It?," by Derrick Clifton, available here. The Feminist Wire, "Beyond Saying Her Name," by Andrea Ritchie, available here. #BREAKINGTHESILENCE TOWN HALL SERIES New Orleans: On June 18, AAPF called attention to the realities facing Black women in post-Katrina New Orleans. The event was hosted at the National Organization for Women's annual conference. Miami: On May 28, AAPF partnered with organizations in Miami to uplift the local experiences of women and girls of color. The audience of approximately 300 experienced a moving evening of women and girls breaking the silence and sharing their stories along with performances by local feminist artists of color. Baltimore: On April 25, AAPF held a town hall hearing which shed light on the barriers to equality experienced by women and girls of color in Baltimore. The hearing uplifted critical gendered dimensions of racial inequities in the city. Washington, DC: On April 20, AAPF partnered with women and girls of color in our nation's capital to hold a town hall hearing. This event was of particular import given that DC is a primary stakeholder in President Obama’s My Brother's Keeper Community Challenge. Part of this initiative is a $20 million investment in an all-boys public high school while no parallel efforts are in place for girls of color. #HERDREAMDEFERRED   Many of you participated in #HerDreamDeferred, our five day online series on the status of Black women held the week of March 30. Each day we lifted up an issue confronting Black women in American society. The topics covered included state violence, interpersonal violence, health disparities, the wealth gap and educational barriers. Nearly 1,500 people participated in the week's events, demonstrating that many DO care about the hardships Black women face and DO wish to find genuinely inclusive solutions to racial inequality. RESEARCHERS CONVENING   On May 21, AAPF held a seminal convening at the Columbia Law School for Black researchers whose work is focused on Black women and girls. The convening brought together 30 researchers ranging from  talented graduate students to distinguished scholars. Together they developed an agenda to hold a series of gatherings designed to focus on the crisis faced by Black women and girls in the United States. In the near future, the group will issue a statement calling for the federal government to mandate the compiling of disaggregated data by race and gender so as to promote a genuinely inclusive vision of racial justice.

GET INVOLVED WITH OUR WORK Partner with us by making a tax deductible donation to sustain our work. We depend on your continued support to advance our work advocating for an intersectional politics and racial justice agenda that centers all lives equally. You can donate by clicking here.Remember all gifts make a difference. Stay tuned for more updates, and don't forget to download Say Her Name: Resisting Police Brutality Against Black Women and its accompanying social media guide at bit.ly/sayhernamebrief. Email us at info@aapf.org with any questions  you might have.

#BLACKGIRLSMATTER

Please Join the African American Policy Forum for the Next Two Events in Our National Town Hall Series on Women and Girls of Color    Washington DC Town Hall Date: Monday, April 20 Time: 5pm-8pm  Location: Howard Middle School of Mathematics and Science Theatre 405 Howard Pl NW  Washington DC 20001   Baltimore Town Hall Date: Saturday, April 25 Time: 12pm-4pm  Location: Morgan State University Student Theater 1700 East Cold Spring Lane Baltimore, MD 21251 REGISTER FOR WASHINGTON DC TOWNHALL REGISTER FOR BALTIMORE TOWNHALL In 2014, AAPF launched a town hall series on women and girls of color in cities throughout the country. Thus far, hearings have been held in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City, with each convening gathering between 50 and 350 participants. To see a preview of the series, please click here.  Our commitment in hosting these hearings is to bring the circumstances facing girls and women of color out of the shadows and squarely into public policy debates. Women and girls of color will provide testimony across a range of issue areas, including school push-out, incarceration, public and private violence, trafficking, foster care, economic wellbeing and homelessness. Key decision makers will participate in the hearings as commissioners to suggest and advance tangible interventions. Historically, government hearings have been held on men and boys of color, generating a deeper understanding among stakeholders of their specific needs. These hearings have led to increased public will and ultimately, the development of the black male achievement landscape we see today. Through hosting similar hearings on women and girls of color, we hope to increase our nation’s collective understanding of the disparities they experience, both those that are common to and different from their male counterparts. Please join us in calling for a comprehensive and gender inclusive racial justice agenda!  If you have any questions, or if would like to share your story at the town hall, please contact info@aapf.org

COLONIAL LIFE

     In 1607, the first English settlement in America was established in Jamestown, Virginia. The settlers were desperate for labor needed to push inland to clear forests and cultivate the land.

     A short-lived attempt to use Indians as laborers proved unsuccessful; the Indians were not able to adopt to large-scale farming operations and many died in the fields.

     The search for labor then focused upon White Englishmen who were brought to the colonies as indentured servants. Most of them were poor. Others were convicted felons who signed contracts as servants to escape imprisonment. In return for passage to America they agreed to serve as bondsmen for seven years.

     As the colonies grew and prospered it became increasingly clear that the supply of bondsmen would be inadequate.

     Then in 1619, a Dutch war ship sailed into Jamestown harbor. The captain needed food for his crew. To pay for the food, he offered the colonists 20 
Africans. The colonists quickly accepted because there was much work to be done.

    It should be noted, and emphasized here, that those 20 human beings came ashore as bondsmen. They were consigned as indentured servants with the same contracts for servitude to work as the White Englishmen. That is, that after a period of seven years they would be released.

     Bondsmen, by law, had certain rights. They were not chattels in the same sense as those who were slaves. They could be (and often were) traded and sold to new holders.  In the case of those who were sold to new holders who attempted, by various devices, to lengthen their period of bound service, they could sue for illegal detention. A slave, under then existing English laws, had no legal status; he could not sue, be sued, or give testimony.
     
     This fact is supported by Virginia court records which documents that in 1624, John Phillips, one of the 20 Africans, was a witness in  a lawsuit. This firmly establishes that Black people came to the shores of America, and lived during  early colonial times as indentured servants, and not as slaves.

     Anthony Johnson, for example, came to Virginia as an indentured servant. In time he became free and even brought White indentured servants from England to work  for him.

   

IN THE BEGINNING...

     The genesis of the Black community started aboard the slave ships transporting enslaved Africans from their homeland to America. In Africa, they had lived a varied life. Women, as well as, men were skilled farmers and traders.

They played interesting kinds of music. Their story-tellers passed along famous tales and poems in the oral tradition. African artists made beautiful masks, statues, and gold jewelry.

In the early 1400s, Europeans began traveling beyond their own lands looking for new wealth. The Portuguese began trading for gold in West Africa. But then, they discovered something worth more than gold. They began trading the Africans as slaves to plantation owners in the New World.

Soon the slave trade became a big business. Local African tribal chiefs captured their own people from neighboring tribes and traded with the Europeans from England, Holland, Spain, and Portugal for knives, cloth, guns, and other cheap goods.

The captured Africans were chained together and packed on narrow wooded shelves on board the ship. The filth and stench was terrible, and thousands of Africans died from diseases. The trip across the Atlantic took two months or more.


From about 1492 to 1776, more than 6.5 million people traveled across the Atlantic to the so-called New World. Millions more died during this terrible journey across the ocean, which is now called The Middle Passage.


Yet it was here that the Black community began, because despite their African tribal differences, including language and cultural traditions, they all had one thing in common:

They were being taken away from their homeland against their will. So they came together based on this commonality and decided how they would deal with it.

 Most often they rebelled by jumping into the ocean to their deaths, choosing to die rather than be enslaved. Those who did not, bonded together and helped each other to survive the arduous trip across the Atlantic. They shared food, water  and prayers to their gods, and  by whatever means they could, they made it to the other side.