Women go topless to protest against police brutality against Black women

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On May 20th topless women blocked traffic in downtown San Francisco to protest against police brutality against Black women.

The topless demonstrations were part of a national campaign to protest the police killings of Tanisha Anderson, Rekia Boyd, Aiyana Jones, Yvette Smith, along with numerous other females killed by police.

The national demonstrations came on the heels of a report released Wednesday by the African American Policy Forum titled Say Her Name: Resisting Police Brutality Against Black Women. The forum is dedicated to telling the stories of a number of Black women who were victims of police brutality.

Women go topless to protest police brutality (Photo: Vox.com)

The organizations behind the report, which was co-authored by UCLA professor Kimberlé Crenshaw, and supporters of its message have used the hashtag #SayHerName to draw attention to its mission.

The names Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice and Freddie Grayhave become well-known because their recent deaths at the hands of local police sparked protests, elicited media attention, and continue to inspire policy debates.

But the organizations and activists behind #SayHerName point out that during this time, far less attention has been paid to women who have been killed by law enforcement.

“Although Black women are routinely killed, raped and beaten by the police, their experiences are rarely foregrounded in popular understandings of police brutality,” Crenshaw said in a statement Wednesday.

“Yet, inclusion of Black women’s experiences in social movements, media narratives, and policy demands around policing and police brutality is critical to effectively combating racialized state violence for black communities and other communities of color.”

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