African American Policy Forum

Founded in 1996, The African American Policy Forum (AAPF) is an innovative think tank that connects academics, activists and policy-makers to promote efforts to dismantle structural inequality. We utilize new ideas and innovative perspectives to transform public discourse and policy. We promote frameworks and strategies that address a vision of racial justice that embraces the intersections of race, gender, class, and the array of barriers that disempower those who are marginalized in society. AAPF is dedicated to advancing and expanding racial justice, gender equality, and the indivisibility of all human rights, both in the U.S. and internationally.

Visit our website: www.aapf.org

With your support, we can continue putting intersectionality into action through our major programs and initiatives, including: 

The #SayHerName Campaign: #SayHerName is more than a hashtag. Since its founding in 2014, the AAPF’s signature campaign has elevated the names and stories of Black women, girls, and femmes who have been victims of police violence, and provides support for their families. The campaign provides an intersectional framework for understanding Black women’s susceptibility to police brutality and state-sanctioned violence. The #SayHerName Mothers Network—a community for mothers of Black women lost to police violence—has played an integral role in the campaign’s evolution, turning grief into activism while providing a model for social movements that are currently searching for sustainable approaches to advocacy and reform.

Under the Blacklight: AAPF launched this informative virtual conversation series in March to examine the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on the most marginalized. Soon, the tragic police killings of Black Americans forced Under the Blacklight to enter a new phase, broadening its focus to include both the virus and anti-Black state violence— what we began to call the “twin pandemics” of the moment. Since then, Under the Blacklight has continued to provide uniquely insightful analysis of the ongoing political and social crises grounded in an intersectional perspective.

The #TruthBeTold Campaign: #TruthBeTold is AAPF’s newest public education and advocacy campaign that aims to push back against the White House’s attempts to silence honest discussions about racism, sexism, and structural violence. We believe that those discussions are crucial to our hopes of a more perfect union, and attempts to muzzle people having those discussions are unlawful and authoritarian. The ability for advocates of diversity and equality to tell an inclusive national story is essential in the fight ahead, and AAPF and #TruthBeTold will be leaders in that fight. 

Click to read AAPF's #TruthBeTold report.