releases: https://robinkelly.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/what-we-want-black-women-are-setting-their-policy-agenda-for-2018
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| https://robinkelly.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/what-we-want-black-women-are-setting-their-policy-agenda-for-2018 | What We Want: Black Women Are Setting Their Policy Agenda For 2018 | 2017-12-19 | 2017 | 2017-12 | Democrat | House | IL | Robin Kelly | K000385 | robinkelly.house.gov | legacy | Niya Kenny had never visited Capitol Hill until last week, yet the millennial found a welcoming space of sisterhood in whichto share her story during a Congressional roundtable focused on Black women and girls. Leading from the Black: How Black Women Lead Even When Ignored, was hosted by the year-old Congressional Caucus on Black Women & Girls in tandem with the Democratic Womens Working Group. The packed Dec. 13 event, open to the public, drew a multigenerational crowd, who had the ear ofAfrican American womenlawmakers during the listening session. Among the guests was 20-year-old Kenny, who gained national attention following a widely publicized police incident back in 2015 at a Columbia, South Carolina high school. On the viral video, a White deputy was shown yanking a Black student from her desk and tossing the teen across the room following a classroom dispute with a teacher. Kenny protested the officers aggressive manner towards her classmateand filmedthe drama on her cell phoneas it unfolded. She was arrested soon-after. I sat in handcuffs for an hour and was taken to an adult jail, the young woman tearfully told the attendees oftheforum. Kenny and her classmate were both charged under South Carolina'sdisturbing schools law which criminalizes such behavior as loitering or acting obnoxious. In 2016, the ACLU filed a federal lawsuit (Kenny is the lead plaintiff) related to the statute, which has reportedly impacted thousands of Black youth in the state, some in elementary school. In March, a federal judge dismissed the case, but lawyers are appealing. Kenny left school and later earned her G.E.D. While the charges were dropped, theres lingering trauma even as she rebuilds her life. Im thinking about going to college, maybe an HBCU, she told ESSENCE, but sometimes just the thought of being back in a classroom scares me. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), who co-chairs the Black Women & Girls caucus with Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY) and Rep. Robin Kelly (D-IL), said they convened the event to hearsuch stories and take steps toaddressthe issues behind them. Black women have long been on the forefront of change and progress in this country, said Watson Coleman. Sadly, we are so often left on the sidelines of critical discussions and policymaking that disparately impacts us and the communities we support. The wide-ranging dialogue moderated byDr. KimberlCrenshaw, a law professor and executive director of the African American Policy Forum in New York explored a range oftopics. Theyran the gamut from Black womens health care access, to the #MeToo Movement around sexual harassment and the history of assaults on Black womens bodies dating back to slavery. The panel included several legal minds: Barbara Arnwine, attorney and president of theTransformative Justice Coalition; Tanya Clay House, an attorney and consultant who formerly served in the U.S. Department of Education; and Ifeoma Ike, attorney and a co-founder of the #SheWoke Committee, whose advocacy helped lead to the creation of the caucus on Black women and girls. Rounding out the group of experts were activists and advocates: Janaye Ingram, who oversaw logistics for the Womens March, and Dr. Avis Jones-DeWeever, Editor-in-Chief of Black Women in the U.S. 2017, a report released in tandem with the Black Women's Roundtable. There was alsodiscussion of the keyrole that African American women voters played in Democrats winning a U.S. Senate seat in Alabama this month,and the importance of carving out a collective policy agenda for the midterms and 2020 presidential election. To that end, Rev. Leah Daughtry (who served as CEO of the 2016 DNC Convention Committee) told those assembledabout plans for the inauguralPower Rising Summit, a Black womens conclaveslated for February 2018 in Atlanta. Its time for us to have our own convention, she said. The event closed with theotherlawmakers present among them,Reps.Barbara Lee (D-CA),Gwen Moore (D-WI),Sheila Jackson Lee (TX),Terri Sewell (D-AL),Brenda Lawrence (D-MI) andLisa Blunt Rochester (DE)vowing with the caucusto commit themselves to minimizing and eliminating barriers for Black women and girls. Im already thinking about future legislation, said Congresswoman Jackson Lee. | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |