Social Justice Council Overview & Mission

Kimberlé Crenshaw is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the African American Policy Forum, the host of the podcast Intersectionality Matters!, the moderator of the webinar series Under The Blacklight, and a Professor of Law at UCLA and Columbia Law School. She is popularly known for her development of “intersectionality,” “Critical Race Theory,” and the #SayHerName campaign, and is a leading authority on Civil Rights, Black feminist legal theory, and race, racism and the law. She is the most cited woman legal scholar in the history of the law, and was named one of the ten most important thinkers in the world by Prospect Magazine in 2019.

Carolyn DeWitt is the President and Executive Director of Rock the Vote, the largest national organization focused on building long-term political power for this country’s most diverse youth generation. Carolyn is a nationally recognized advocate for young people, featured in publications and media outlets such as The Washington Post, The New York Times, Hill TV, CNN, MSNBC, Teen Vogue, and Billboard. Today, Rock the Vote is a powerhouse for mobilizing youth through effective and timely civic education resources, innovative programs that meet young people wherever they are, and authentic messaging through trusted partners to ensure young voters understand and use their political power.

Alicia Garza is an author, political strategist, organizer, and the co-creator of #BlackLivesMatter and the Black Lives Matter Global Network — an international organizing project to end state violence and oppression against Black people. The Black Lives Matter Global Network now has 40 chapters in four countries. She also serves as the Strategy & Partnerships Director for the National Domestic Workers Alliance, the nation’s premier voice for millions of domestic workers in the United States. Additionally, Alicia is the co-founder of Supermajority, a new home for women’s activism.

Raquel Willis is a Black transgender activist, writer, and media strategist dedicated to elevating the dignity of marginalized people, particularly Black transgender people. She was recently announced as the new Director of Communications for The Ms. Foundation. She is the former executive editor of Out magazine and a former national organizer for Transgender Law Center (TLC). In 2018, she founded Black Trans Circles, a project of TLC, focused on developing the leadership of Black trans women in the South and Midwest by creating healing justice spaces to work through oppression-based trauma and incubating community organizing efforts to address anti-trans murder and violence. She will be releasing The Risk It Took to Bloom, her debut essay collection about her coming of identity and activism with St. Martin’s Press in 2021.