America Goddam: Violence, Black Women, and the Struggle for Justice, ft. Dr. Treva B. Lindsey

Black women and girls are often erased or overlooked in conversations about policing, criminalization, mass incarceration, and other forms of anti-Black violence. But we know that Black women and girls are overrepresented in the criminal legal system: Black women are fatally shot by police at rates higher than that of their white peers. In 2020, the imprisonment rate for Black women was 1.7 times the rate of imprisonment for white women. Black girls are 3 times as likely than their white counterparts to be incarcerated, and while 14% of the U.S. population is Black, 43% of girls in youth detention are Black.

Although Black women have been at the forefront of Black freedom movements throughout history, we have rarely been the focus of said movements. But Black women and girls have persisted and created their own visions of liberation and freedom. Dr. Treva B. Lindsey in her new book "America, Goddam" demands that we support and believe that Black women and girls are already laying the groundwork for liberation, and she offers a call to action in our collective journey toward just futures.

Sydney McKinney, executive director of the National Black Women’s Justice Institute, spoke with Dr. Treva B. Lindsey, associate professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Ohio State University, to discuss violence against Black women and girls in the United States, the gender dynamics of anti-Black violence, and the fight for liberation.

Dr. Lindsey is a professor at The Ohio State University, co-founder of Black Feminist Night School at Zora’s House and founder of the Transformative Black Feminisms Initiative at OSU. Her research and teaching interests include African American women’s history, black popular and expressive culture, black feminism(s), hip hop studies, critical race and gender theory, and sexual politics.