By Shaniece Curry

In her piece “Why Intersectionality Can’t Wait” Kimberle Crenshaw stresses the urgency of understanding intersectionality. The term intersectionality was coined by Crenshaw as a young law professor to show how race and gender discrimination intersected, especially in relation to Black women. Intersectionality, as Crenshaw explains “was my attempt to make feminism, anti-racist activism, and anti-discrimination law do what I thought they should — highlight the multiple avenues through which racial and gender oppression were experienced so that the problems would be easier to discuss and understand.” Her main argument is that if Black women and girls continue to be made invisible within the framework then the purpose of intersectionality has been lost.

One of the insights I gained from the readings was the current argument against intersectionality. One argument being an obsession with identity politics, and the other being that intersectional somehow creates an environment of bullying and privilege checking. However Crenshaw argues that we cannot afford to have movements that are not intersectional. The need for intersectionality is highlighted through the need of a “Say Her Name” campaign stemming from Black Lives Matter. Throughout this course we have examined Black Lives Matter and tried to understand the broader movement of liberation through the intersections of race, class, gender, nation, sexuality and culture. This article was a great way to tie up the course because it reflected on why the term was made in the first place and its vitality still today to understand relationships of power. Reed once argued that the Black Power movements demise was in part of the leaders inability to understand the power structure and share ways to dismantle it with the larger community. Crenshaw does just that by continuing to stress the urgency of intersectionality today.