2Leaf Press Celebrates Women’s History Month By Promoting The Say Her Name Campaign

2leaf Press launches its month-long Say Her Name campaign to commemorate Women’s History Month. Since 1987, the month of March has been designated Women’s History Month to celebrate and encourage the study, observance and celebration of women’s vital role in American history. 2Leaf Press, a Black/Brown female-led press, felt it was fitting to use its social media outreach to reiterate the importance of the Say Her Name campaign’s mission to raise awareness of Black women victims of police brutality and anti-Black violence. It is 2Leaf Press’ belief the Say Your Name campaign is a woman’s problem that should be supported by all women, regardless of race.

Philando Castile, Eric Garner and George Floyd. The deaths of these Black men at the hands of police have fueled outrage over police brutality and systemic racism. Men make up the vast majority of people shot and killed by police. But the names of Black women who were also killed are generally missing from Americans’ collective memories. The term and hashtag #SayHerName was conceived by Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, a leading scholar of critical race theory who coined the term “intersectionality” to describe how overlapping identities, particularly marginalized identities, relate to systems of oppression. Recognizing the need to amplify the names and narratives of Black women and girls in mainstream media who have been victims of police killings, the African American Policy Forum (AAPF) and Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies (CISPS) formally launched the #SayHerName campaign in February 2015 to right this wrong as well as provide support to their families.

“I understand that Women’s History Month was created as a celebratory event,” says Gabrielle David, publisher of 2Leaf Press. “But it also provides an opportunity to remind the public of some of the women’s issues we continue to face today, such as reproductive rights, domestic violence, economic injustice, and gender rights. Yet for some reason, racial justice is often left out of this equation. So we felt it was imperative to use this opportunity to address the invisibleness of Black women with the Say Her Name campaign to remind everyone that this is not just a ‘Black’ problem, it’s a ‘women’s’ problem as well.”

Sandra Bland, Breonna Taylor, April Webster, and Tracy Wade are just a few of the women that 2Leaf Press will highlight during its Say Her Name campaign for Women’s History Month. Unfortunately, this list of Black women and girls victimized by police violence stretches on endlessly. 2Leaf Press believes the simple act of speaking their names has power. It symbolizes a refusal to forget these women and who they were. And it is a resounding indictment of a police state where the deaths of Black women are seen as collateral damage. While 2Leaf Press encourages everyone to honor the lives these women have lived, we hope this campaign will implore people, especially women, to outwardly support police reform nationwide.