Backtalking to Save Democracy with Kimberlé Crenshaw
On March 23, 2026, the Centre for the Study of the United States at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy welcomed renowned legal scholar and civil rights advocate Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw for a sold‑out public lecture at the Isabel Bader Theatre. Backtalking to Save Democracy was an urgent and wide‑ranging reflection on truth‑telling, justice, and democratic possibility.
The lecture also offered a preview of Crenshaw’s forthcoming memoir, Backtalker: An American Memoir (out May 2026), which explores how dissent, refusal, and speaking back have shaped her intellectual and political journey. Moving between personal narrative and collective history, she emphasized that while changing hearts matters, it is naming harms clearly that creates the conditions for changing laws and lives.
Moderated by University of Toronto philosopher William Paris, the evening included a rich conversation on democracy under pressure, the global implications of intersectional vulnerability, and the role of scholars, students, and institutions in resisting erasure.
