Kimberly Williams Crenshaw

the hierarchies that were created between white people and everybody else.

Where these ideas are expressed, they are framed as divisive.

They are framed as making white children feel bad.

They're framed as being un-American, even though this is telling a story that is deeply American, and it's a story that involves white people who actually came together

with Black people and others to fight against these injustices.

So it's a storyline that they do not want told.

There aren't a lot of moments in my life that I can say that was a disillusioning moment.

But the Clarence Thomas and Nita Hill moment, that one really stands out.

I was there when Clarence Thomas denounced the hearing as a high-tech lynching for black people who dared to think independently.

And I thought, that's not going to fly.

People know that.

Clarence Thomas has been an anti-civil rights figure for some time.

He's been an anti-woman figure.

He's talked negatively about his sister, you know, with all the stereotypes and the tropes of a black welfare queen.

And finally, the fact that this was a black woman who was talking about her experiences.

There has never been a case on record that I knew of where a black woman's allegation had led to the lynching of anybody.

So I thought at that moment, all right, we're ready to rock and roll.

Come on, black people.

Come on, African-American men.

So we put out a call for African-American men to speak up, speak out, talk back.