Legal scholar Kimberle Crenshaw talks about her new book, 'Backtalker'

"So our one friend was so proud of being one of the first Black members ever of the Fly Club. As a celebration for the end of the semester, he invited us to go. And my other friend and I - we weren't so sure that we really wanted to go to the Fly Club. But we said, whatever happens, we're not going to take any disrespect. So when we got to the Fly Club and we knocked on the door, our friend came out. And our friend said, I just forgot to tell you that because Kim is a woman, she has to go through the back door. We don't allow women to come through the front door."

"That's when I realized that there was fine print. Our solidarity extends to the things that treat us with disrespec"

"Whether you know the name Kimberle Crenshaw or not, you probably know her work. That's because her work as a foundational legal theorist of the concepts of intersectionality and critical race theory have become pivotal to some in understanding the forces that shape their lives and a political weapon in the hands of others - a symbol of liberal insanity."

"Your memoir is very plain-spoken. Anybody can understand what you're saying in the stories that you tell. You describe just incidents in your life, starting from when you were a little kid, that made you realize that your girlness and your race were connected."

A memoir traces how race and gender become inseparable through specific childhood and young adult experiences. A Harvard social club episode shows exclusion based on both being Black and being a woman, including being told to enter through a back door. The account frames discrimination as “fine print” embedded in institutions, even when friends claim belonging or pride. The narrative connects personal incidents to broader theoretical concepts, presenting intersectionality as a way to understand how overlapping identities shape treatment and access. It also emphasizes solidarity and the refusal to accept disrespect, linking private moments to political and intellectual work.

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