Source: Steph Yin / Steph Yin
In recent years, the phrase #SayHerName has become a powerful global rallying cry and social media hashtag in the fight for racial justice, bringing attention to the often overlooked stories of Black women who suffer from police violence and systemic oppression. While the phrase is now widely recognized, its roots lie in a long history of grief and pain.
As we mark the 10th anniversary of this vital movement, it’s important to reflect on the journey that brought us to this point.
Coined by civil rights activist and African American Policy Forum (AAPF) founder Kimberlé Crenshaw in 2014, #SayHerName was born out of the urgent need to center the experiences of Black women victimized by police brutality and violence. While the Black Lives Matter movement had been widely recognized for drawing attention to the murders of Black men like Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Eric Garner, the stories of Black women were often overshadowed.
In 2014, an alarming number of Black women died at the hands of law enforcement, including Tanisha Anderson, a 37-year-old mother who passed away after she was slammed on the pavement outside of her home as Cleveland police were apprehending her. Aura Rosser was another painful story that went underreported. The 40-year-old Black woman was tased and then killed by a police officer who entered her home in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Rosser and Anderson’s exclusion from media reports was especially painful for families and activists who understood that Black women, too, were disproportionately affected by state-sanctioned violence, impacting Black women and girls as young as 7 and as old as 93. Crenshaw knew she had to do something to address the glaring issue.
“We wanted to provide an opportunity for the mothers, the sisters, and the daughters of women who were killed by the police to erase one part of the loss that we do have control over, and that is the loss of the story, the loss of the recognition,” Crenshaw told Forbes of #SayHerName’s origin story. “The erasure of that loss is something we can do something about. Having a record of it, having their voices reproduced in the text, is a way of creating a testament and broadening the access to their story.”
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The #SayHerName campaign emerged as a powerful response to the growing need to highlight the experiences of Black women who have been victims of police brutality and state-sanctioned violence. Gaining national prominence in 2015, the movement was catalyzed by the tragic death of Sandra Bland, a 28-year-old Black woman found dead in her jail cell in Texas several days after being arrested, following a routine traffic stop. Bland’s death, ruled a suicide by hanging, prompted widespread outrage, particularly as it exposed the systemic issues surrounding the treatment of Black women by law enforcement. For many, Bland’s case symbolized how Black women’s experiences were often ignored in broader discussions about police violence.
While the deaths of Black men like Michael Brown and Eric Garner had sparked protests and calls for justice, the stories of Black women who suffered similar fates were not given the same attention. Activists argued that the names of Black women like Sandra Bland, deserved to be spoken as loudly as those of their male counterparts.
In May 2015, the African American Policy Forum (AAPF) hosted a pivotal event in Union Square, New York City, called “#SayHerName: A Vigil in Memory of Black Women and Girls Killed by the Police.” The vigil brought together the families of women whose lives had been lost due to police violence, including Alberta Spruill, Rekia Boyd, Shantel Davis, Shelly Frey, Kayla Moore, Kyam Livingston, Miriam Carey, Michelle Cusseaux, and Tanisha Anderson, according to the organization’s website.
This powerful gathering not only honored their memories but also created space for family members to share their grief and demand justice. The #SayHerName campaign quickly became a viral movement online, amplifying these women’s stories on social media. Activists, organizations, and everyday people began to share images, articles, and personal stories, ensuring that the names of these victims were not forgotten. This digital movement drew attention to the ways in which Black women were disproportionately affected by police violence and other forms of state-sanctioned abuse.
The same week of the vigil, AAPF released a report titled Say Her Name: Resisting Police Brutality Against Black Women, which outlined the movement’s objectives and provided an intersectional framework for understanding the unique vulnerabilities that Black women face in a system that routinely devalues their lives. The report also highlighted the need for direct action and grassroots advocacy to ensure that these women’s experiences were no longer overlooked.
Over time, the #SayHerName movement became synonymous with the lives of several Black women who faced violence at the hands of law enforcement, both before and after its inception. Some of the most well-known names connected to the movement include Breonna Taylor, who was fatally shot by Louisville police during a botched raid on her apartment in March 2020, and Atatiana Jefferson, who was killed by Fort Worth police while playing video games with her nephew in 2019.
While Atatiana Jefferson’s killer was held accountable and received jail time, the pursuit of justice for Breonna Taylor is still ongoing, with the officers yet to face full accountability. Still, the #SayHerName movement played a critical role in amplifying these disparities, bringing attention to the injustices faced by Black women at the hands of law enforcement. By highlighting the cases of women like Taylor and Jefferson, #SayHerName pushed these inequities into the public consciousness, forcing them to be discussed and examined on a global scale. Without this movement, their stories might have remained overlooked, but through activism and advocacy, they were able to stand trial in the court of public opinion — and in the criminal justice system.
Source: Steph Yin / Steph Yin
The #SayHerName movement is not just about remembering the names of those who have been lost; it is about ensuring their stories inspire lasting change. It is a call to action, demanding justice, accountability, and a reimagining of how law enforcement interacts with marginalized communities. Throughout their “Say Her Name” advocates, the movement fights for reforms such as improved accountability for law enforcement, community-based solutions, and policy changes that directly address police violence. The #SayHerName campaign has significantly reshaped the conversation about police brutality, gender, and race, empowering a new generation of activists to continue pushing for systemic changes that better protect Black women and girls.
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