Patrisse Cullors, a performance artist and award-winning organizer from Los Angeles, is one of the most effective and influential movement builders of our era. She was a key figure in the fight to force the creation of the first civilian oversight commission of LA’s Sheriff’s Department, but is most widely known as one of the three original co-founders of Black Lives Matter and for her recent, best-selling book, “When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir.”

In this talk, she explores the contributions women have made to the movement for Black lives historically and in the present; the institutional racism that still permeates our society, causing mass incarceration and high rates of maternal mortality in African-American communities; and the diverse ways women have been criminalized and have fought back to change the course of history.

Introduction by Sonia Sanjeeta Balajee, Founder and Creative Director of Our Bodhi Project. (Patrisse Cullors presentation begins at 5:00 in the video)

This speech was given at the 2018 Bioneers Conference. Read the full text version.

To learn more about the work of Patrisse Cullors, visit Black Lives Matter.

View more keynotes, transcripts, and more from the 2018 Bioneers Conference.