Kimberlé Crenshaw spoke at GW’s virtualDiversity Summit, read excerpts from our WLP student responses below:
One aspect of Kimberlé Crenshaw’s talk that resonated with me was when Ms. Crenshaw spoke about how we can’t build the society we want and need until we understand the society we are. This reminded me of Nikole Hannah-Jones’s talk, earlier this semester, and her work with the 1619 Project. Hannah-Jones’s emphasized the need for reframing how slavery is taught and understood in America. I think that the 1619 Project goes along with Crenshaw’s advocacy, as Hannah-Jones’s work aims to help people understand the society we have built and how that society has affected black Americans.
We need to understand America as it is in order to effectively dismantle this country’s systems of oppression. Until we understand how those systems came to be, we can’t take them down. I really resonated with Crenshaw’s statement for this reason.
- Elisabeth Kleidon
I absolutely loved having the opportunity to attend the Diversity Summit with Dayna Bowen Matthews and Kimberlé Crenshaw. Both speakers covered incredibly influential topics that made one question the ‘normative’ elements of society. Crenshaw alludes to changing the system on a local level. it is more about learning how others come to a decision and identifying environmental and social factors that may have contributed to the building of a perspective. One should not be scared of discourse. I try to think of all gatherings not as battlegrounds, but as cafes open for discussion.
- Eugenie Pflieger