Police Violence

From Reckoning to Backlash, Black Women Reflect on the Stakes of the Moment

PUBLISHED 6/11/2025 by

In 2020, the killing of George Floyd shocked Americans into action and into the streets by the millions, protesting the unrelenting killing of Black people by police. 

The moment sparked a nascent reckoning in America around systemic racism and institutional inequality—in many cases, with Black women at the center. Already the backbone of our democracy, many were called on to also be a bridge to racial healing.

Five years later, many of these same Black women find themselves at the center of a backlash, confronted with attacks on the diversity, equity and inclusion efforts that were previously championed.

‘Rape Club’: Trial Set for Prison Guard Accused of Sexual Abuse in Notorious California Women’s Prison

PUBLISHED 4/25/2025 by

Earlier this month, a jury of ten men and two women was unable to come to a unanimous decision after a week’s deliberation. They were judging the trial of former correctional officer Darrell Wayne Smith, nicknamed “Dirty Dick,” accused of 15 counts of sexual misconduct. Smith was the last correctional officer to be charged with abuse at the now-shut-down FCI Dublin, as part of a sprawling federal investigation that convicted seven officers, including the prison’s warden and chaplain.

Sixty Years After Bloody Sunday, the Fight for Justice Continues

PUBLISHED 3/7/2025 by

Sixty years after the Selma to Montgomery marches, the lessons of Bloody Sunday remain urgent. The brutal attack on marchers fighting for voting rights in 1965 exposed how laws can be weaponized to uphold inequality—a reality that persists today. From efforts to suppress voting rights to attacks on academic freedom, the struggle for justice continues. As history warns, democracy and the rule of law must be actively defended, not just written on paper.

There Can Be No Debate Over Asylum

PUBLISHED 10/3/2024 by and

Tuesday’s vice presidential debate brought exchanges over the question of asylum and border security, with Sen. JD Vance lying—without real-time fact-checking—about the ease of obtaining asylum. He offered a baseless assertion that people can be “granted legal status at the wave of a Kamala Harris open border wand.”

Winning asylum is extremely difficult, and the horrific conditions forcing women to seek protection from gender-based violence in Central America and Mexico show no signs of abating.

The Sonya Massey Case Was a Microcosm of Systemic Failures and Mistrust in Law Enforcement

PUBLISHED 9/10/2024 by and

The tragic shooting of Sonya Massey underscored profound systemic issues within law enforcement—especially police conduct and excessive force when it comes to Black women.

Massey, a Black woman with a known mental health condition, was shot and killed by a deputy from the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office in Springfield, Ill. This incident has intensified scrutiny of racial bias, inadequate mental health crisis responses and the erosion of trust between marginalized communities and police. 

War on Women Report: As Iowa’s Six-Week Ban Takes Effect, a Trump-Vance Ticket Poses Further Threat to Abortion Rights; ‘Where Is the Humanity’ for Sonya Massey?

PUBLISHED 7/30/2024 by and

U.S. patriarchal authoritarianism is on the rise, and democracy is on the decline. But day after day, we stay vigilant in our goals to dismantle patriarchy at every turn. The fight is far from over. We are watching, and we refuse to go back. This is the War on Women Report.

Since our last report: RFK’s historic mistreatment of women; the Trump-Vance ticket comes into focus; Biden passes the torch to Kamala Harris; rest in power, Sonya Massey; Iowa becomes the 17th state with an extreme abortion ban; and more.

The Abolitionist Aesthetics of Patrisse Cullors, Co-Founder of Black Lives Matter

PUBLISHED 6/14/2024 by

“Imagine if culturally we understood that protecting Black women meant protecting all of us,” said Patrisse Cullors, renowned for her activist work with Black Lives Matter, a global network she co-founded in 2013 with Alicia Garza and Ayo Tometi. “I think that’s what this show means to me.”

The show referenced here, “dedicated to all Black women and femmes around the world,” is the exhibit Between the Warp and Weft: Weaving Shields of Strength and Spirituality—an introduction to Cullors as an artist wielding her protection spell over Black women. The exhibit opens Saturday, June 15, at the Charlie James Gallery in downtown Los Angeles.

The Women of Black Lives Matter

PUBLISHED 5/17/2024 by

From the Winter 2015 issue of Ms.: Patrisse Cullors, along with Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi, created the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag and organized the Black Lives Matter campaign after the 2012 killing of the unarmed young Floridian Trayvon Martin by a self-appointed vigilante.

“Movement and change take a significant amount of time,” said Cullors. “We are in a state of emergency, [but] things take decades, centuries to change. To unearth those systems––racism, patriarchy, transphobia––takes consistency and perseverance.” 

(For more ground-breaking stories like this, order 50 YEARS OF Ms.: THE BEST OF THE PATHFINDING MAGAZINE THAT IGNITED A REVOLUTION, Alfred A. Knopf—a collection of the most audacious, norm-breaking coverage Ms. has published.)