Host Kimberlé Crenshaw is joined by authors Jason Stanley and Randi Weingarten to discuss why authoritarians and fascists target education on the path to destabilizing democracy. They unpack how book bans, attacks on teachers, and efforts to erase history from public institutions threaten the democratic project, and what we can do to fight back.
Hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw, produced by Kevin Minofu, Sr. Producer Nicole Edwards, and the team at AAPF
Find more on our show and the African American Policy Forum at aapf.org
News clips from Tamron Hall and WJHL, CTV News
Music by Blue Dot Sessions
Follow the podcast on Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky
Check out our special series on the attack against CRT and DEI called United States of Amnesia: The Real Histories of Critical Race Theory
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70. How Anti-Blackness Destroys Democracy
As we slide into autocracy, disparities impacting Black Americans are being ignored while Black excellence is actively erased from our workplaces, museums, and history books. These attacks are no longer cloaked with dog whistles. They're happening in plain sight, and endangering our health, eliminating our jobs, and gutting our civil rights infrastructure. Despite the scale of this attack, the response remains muted—even within our own communities. What must we do to sound the alarm and ensure that others hear it? Where do we go from here?
Featuring:
Kimberlé Crenshaw, African American Policy Forum
Melanie Campbell, Convener of Black Women's Roundtable
Evelynn Hammonds, Barbara Gutmann Rosenkrantz Professor of the History of Science and Professor of African and African American Studies
Lisa Coleman, President of Adler University
Kaye Wise Whitehead, President & CEO National Coalition on Black Civic Participation (NCBCP)
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Part 2: United States of Amnesia: The Real Histories of CRT - Weaponizing (White) Parents' Rights
In part 2 of this series, host Kimberlé Crenshaw, refutes the myth that book and curricula bans seek to restore “parental choice” over what kids are exposed to, linking attacks on school lessons about race, gender and more to a broader attack against public education and democracy itself. Join as she traces the history of today's prominent, pro-censorship parent groups throughout American history, back to the Daughters of the Confederacy.
Featuring:
- Karen Cox, professor of History at UNC-Charlotte
- David Yacovone, lifetime associate at Harvard University’s Hutchin’s Centre for African and African American Research, and author of author of Teaching White Supremacy
This is an Intersectionality Matters! podcast, produced by the African American Policy Forum.
Hosted and co-written by Kimberlé Crenshaw (@sandylocks)
Sr Producer and co-writer Nicole Edwards
Associate Producers Madison Belo and Sana Hashmi
Mixing by Reza Daya with support from Sean Dunnam
Follow us on Bluesky and Instagram , or via aapf.org
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69. The Battle for America's Memory, Part 2
A special collaboration with Today with Dr. Kaye, this episode was taped live at Busboys and Poets in Washington, D.C.
Host Kimberlé Crenshaw, with Kaye Wise Whitehead and guests Time Wise, Karen Attiah, Melanie Campbell, Janel George, Ambassador Elizabeth McKune, and Barbara Arnwine, discuss the importance of protecting Black American history through fighting for the Smithsonian, and why the struggle to protect museums goes hand in hand with the struggle to protect democracy.
Learn more about the Freedom to Learn Coalition and the annual National Week of Action at freedomtolearn.net
This episode was produced by the team at the African American Policy Forum and the team at Today With Dr. Kaye from WEAA.
Music by Blue Dot Sessions
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68. The Battle for America's Memory
At the Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama, Kimberlé Crenshaw is joined by Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative. They explore how museums shape national identity. They also historicize the current political attacks aiming to erase Black narratives, as institutions like the Smithsonian and Whitney Plantation face censorship and defunding because of executive orders.
This episode outlines why defending America's memory is essential to defending democracy itself.
Dive deeper:
Learn more about The Legacy Museum here: https://legacysites.eji.org/about/museum/
Learn about the Freedom to Learn Network's National Week of Action here: https://www.freedomtolearn.net/
This episode used clips from:
ABC News 7 WJLA
Harvard Historian Responds to Trump’s Order Targeting the Smithsonian | Amanpour and Company
WUSA9 Gov. Moore reacts to changes at Smithsonian
Hosted and co-written by Kimberlé Crenshaw
Sr Producer and co-writer Nicole Edwards
Mixing by Sean Dunnam
Scripting support from Kevin Minofu, Kristin Penner, Meredith Shiner, and Tim Wise.
Music by Blue Dot Sessions
USA