The African American Policy Forum, co-founded by Crenshaw, started the #SayHerName hashtag in late 2014. In May 2015, it released a report, Say Her Name: Resisting Police Brutality Against Black Women, with the Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies at Columbia Law School. The report argued that police violence against Black women was often invisible in both media coverage and racial justice campaigns.
The campaign applies intersectionality, the idea that racism and sexism combine to create distinct harms. Black women face police violence in forms such as sexual assault, deaths in custody and killings during raids or mental health calls. Sandra Bland died in a Texas jail in 2015 after a traffic stop. Breonna Taylor was killed by Louisville police during a no-knock raid in March 2020.
The campaign holds vigils, collects stories and pushes for policy change. After Taylor's death, Louisville banned no-knock warrants under a law named Breonna's Law.