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This Women’s History Month, the nation will reflect on the contributions and accomplishments of women. We will hail women who have overcome great odds and influenced change. We’ll hear names such as Oprah, Gloria Steinem, Michelle Obama, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, etc. But what we will not hear and see are the women on the frontlines fighting and absorbing the cost of gun violence. We will not hear of the voices of mothers, sisters, aunties, friends who suffer unimaginably due to gun violence. The impact of gun violence on Black women, particularly, will likely go unheard of this month.

But perhaps this Women’s History Month, we should flip the script. We should name the women working on the frontlines to make our communities safer. This topic takes on particular resonance as the nation reels from the horrific shooting of eight members of the Asian community in Atlanta.

The term "gun violence" conjures numerous images depending on who you are and where you come from. For a lot of people, when they hear the term, they think of Black men and boys as the primary victims and purveyors of crime. For people disconnected from communities where gun violence occurs daily, when they hear the term, they may think of mass shootings, and even more so in the context of what happened in Atlanta at several spas owned by members of the Asian community.

Even as these shootings are horrific, they are part of a broader pattern of violence. Yet when many congressional leaders develop public policy to address gun violence, they are all too quick to include white-led organizations and erase directly impacted people altogether. Not only are there glaring omissions when this happens, but women, including women of color, are erased from the conversation.

Black women especially are uniquely burdened by gun violence. Everything from life expectancy, to police shootings, to intimate partner violence to neighborhood violence has a unique impact on Black women. Even reproductive justice for Black women is compromised in areas with high incidences of gun violence. Sistersong has asserted that reproductive justice legislation must include provisions that address the causes of gun violence. They have noted that the ability to raise families in safe environments, free from the fear of violence, is in fact a reproductive justice issue.

While viral hashtags of Black men and boys killed by police are commonplace, Black women suffer terribly at the hands of racist police as well. Breonna Taylor’s killing by Louisville police received more attention than many Black female victims, but the attention doesn’t erase the trauma her family, former partner and friends experience.

Academic and author Kimberle Crenshaw has challenged the erasure of Black women and girls from the narrative around fatal police shootings and police brutality for years. In 2014, the African American Policy Forum, which Crenshaw co-founded and leads, and Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies, launched the #SayHerName campaign to highlight the often invisible names and stories of Black women and girls who have been victimized by police. In addition to the #SayHerName campaign, Crenshaw also developed the concept of “intersectionality,” or the theory that Black women experience intersecting oppressions of gender, race, class, sexual orientation, etc. From her work, we know the importance of addressing racism from an intersectional lens. She understands, as do I, that telling the full story of police violence takes nothing away from Black male victims but creates space to bring solutions that benefit us all.

But even when police violence is not in the equation, Black women still suffer from gun violence — many are often left to bury their brothers, boyfriends, husbands, sons, nephews and daughters when they have become the victims of gun violence. Just as there are unenviable clubs of Black mothers whose children have died due to police violence, in many communities across the country, Black women who have lost loved ones to gun violence have created support groups to help each other heal and organize for reforms.

To further contextualize the impact of gun violence on Black women, consider that Black women experience high rates of domestic violence and are killed by guns themselves. The Blackburn Center reported that “more than 40% of Black women will experience domestic violence in their lifetime, according to the Institute of Women’s Policy Research’s Status of Black Women in the United States. In comparison, 31.5% of all women will experience domestic violence … Black women are 2.5 times more likely to be murdered by men than white women.”

In a July 28, 2020, opinion piece for Essence, former Ohio 10th Congressional District candidate Desiree Tims noted, “Equally as troubling, Black women die from gun related domestic partner abuse at disproportionately higher rates than any other group.”

Citing research from the Violence Policy Center, the Amsterdam News had a similar assessment, “When murdered by men, nine out of 10 Black women are almost always likely to be killed by someone they know, usually with a gun according to a study by the VPC in its September 2020 issue of ‘When Men Murder Women.’”

The takeaway is that Black women are victimized by guns at every turn. They are also leading the charge to challenge gun violence and must be resourced. For instance, the organization I founded, Community Justice Action Fund, has worked for years to center the experience of directly impacted people and push for policy reforms that spring from this community specifically. Erica Ford, who founded and runs Life Camp, has for 30 years worked to prevent gun violence, address the trauma associated with it, and provide hope and healing to children and families. And Allayah Eastmond, a Parkland High School shooting survivor and gun control advocate, has been a leader with Team Enough, and has worked to influence and impact change. These women are emblematic of the hard work Black women are doing around gun violence. These are the stories we should be lifting up during Women’s History Month. Black women have even worked to support passage of H.R.8, the background check bill for firearm sales, and should be recognized on this front as well.

Unfortunately, Black women, and many Black people, feel our voices are ignored. In research commissioned by the Community Justice Action Fund, Lake Research Partners found that African American and Latinx adults feel that their voices are ignored when it comes to reducing gun violence. Though the facts show these communities are disproportionately affected by gun violence, more than six in 10 African American (64%) and Latinx (61%) adults feel “when it comes to reducing gun violence, voices like mine are ignored.”

If our nation is serious about reducing gun violence, it must address the root causes of violence while including the perspective and expertise of directly impacted people. It must make space for the leadership of Black women given our direct impact and history of work trying to make our communities safer. And guess what? That includes women.

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Amber K. Goodwin is a law student and founding director of the Community Justice Action Fund.

Amber Goodwin

Writing since February 2022 · 1 story contributed