Kimberle Williams Crenshaw

“Our democracy cannot be left in the hands of those who would rather watch or participate in a train wreck than stop it.”

“We might have to broaden our scope of how we think about where women are vulnerable, because different things make different women vulnerable.”

“We have to move back to the idea that education isn't about teaching people to bow to rigid rules. That's not what democracy is about.”

“There are many, many different kinds of intersectional exclusions - not just black women but other women of color. Not just people of color, but people with disabilities. Immigrants. LGBTQ people. Indigenous people.”

“Suspension and expulsion are tied to a host of short- and long-term consequences. For some students, zero-tolerance policies in schools lead directly to involvement in the criminal justice system.”

“Feminists must denounce the use of white insecurity - whether in relation to white womanhood, white neighborhoods, white politics, or white wealth - to justify the brutal assaults against black people of all genders.”

“The point of feminism is you shouldn't have to be a man to be treated with equal respect.”

“The better we understand how identities and power work together from one context to another, the less likely our movements for change are to fracture.”

“What many people, I think, don't really understand is how much their rights really turn on the interpretation of the Supreme Court.”

“Clearly, we must denounce militaristic approaches to global unrest and find life-affirming ways to end repressive cycles of violence rooted in discrimination, humiliation, and despair.”

“At the core of conservative social policy about race are old ideas that link racial inequality to non-traditional family formation and its attendant culture of poverty.”

“Social media makes it possible to go underneath a story, which sometimes abruptly ends.”

“We must begin to tell black women's stories because, without them, we cannot tell the story of black men, white men, white women, or anyone else in this country. The story of black women is critical because those who don't know their history are doomed to repeat it.”

“When we advocate for violence against women to be eliminated on campuses, we say, 'Well, actually, it's not just on campuses we have to worry about.' We might have to worry about high schools. We might have to worry about police precincts and cars. We might have to worry about public housing.”

“It's hard not to question whether the harsh verdict of Winnie Mandela is a reflection of discomfort with women warriors or, more broadly, with the militant ethos that ultimately became a foil for the popularized representation of Nelson Mandela as the open-armed father of a non-racial nation.”

“Some of the worst racist tragedies in history have been perfectly legal.”