Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) didn’t just try to steal the show wearing MAGA paraphernalia during the State of the Union address, she stole the phrase “Say Her Name,” created to raise awareness about Black women mistreated by police.
Greene boldly sported the phrase, even shocking President Joe Biden upon his arrival, on a white T-shirt that read, “Say Her Name, Laken Riley.”
She was referring to a University of Georgia nursing student allegedly killed by an undocumented immigrant in Georgia, using a ploy from Republicans to criticize Biden’s handling of border patrol. Greene posted a video on Twitter of her SOTU attire, blaming Biden for what she called a “national security crisis.”
“Joe must go,” she said.
Her rhetoric is another in a long list of Black-owned phrases stolen to reiterate something else—like “Black Lives Matter” now used for “Blue Lives Matter” and “All Lives Matter,” and “woke“—and use them for anti-Black legislation.
The terminology “Say Her Name” was created by civil rights activist, law professor, and executive director of the African American Policy Institute Kimberlé Crenshaw in 2015. After Sandra Bland, a 28-year-old Black woman, was found dead in a Texas jail cell days
after she was arrested during a traffic stop, Crenshaw penned the phrase after her family questioned the circumstances around her death and received little to no answers.When officers of the Louisville Police Department killed Breonna Taylor in May 2020, protests erupted across the country as people wore T-shirts with the exact phrase—just a different name. Statistics have shown Black women are more likely than other women to witness or experience police violence, including death, resulting in severe psychological stress and other adverse health outcomes.
Crenshaw released a statement after seeing Greene mocking the term. In her eyes, Green’s usage “undermines civil rights movements and pushes our democracy closer to the edge.”
“Last night’s use of #SayHerName by Marjorie Taylor Greene during the SOTU Address reflects a deeply offensive trend in right-wing politics—the intentionally misleading appropriation of justice-seeking demands from those who have historically been rendered voiceless,” Crenshaw wrote on Twitter.
“The #SayHerName campaign was founded ten years ago to break the silence around Black women, girls & femmes whose lives have been taken by police. Tanisha Anderson, Korryn Gaines, Shelly Frey, Kayla Moore & Atatiana Jefferson are just some of the many names we uplift.”
While civil rights advocates uplift Riley’s need for justice, they say the GOP usage is disingenuous. “If they were, they wouldn’t be using language they claim not to favor,” author Tamika Mallory said. “They demonize our language, they demonize our organizing style, but they co-opt the language whenever they feel it is a political tool.”