Where are All the Jobs? Unemployment and Labor Exploitation Facing Black Women in DC (ASPE)
Learning lessons from Black women in the Black Panther Party, local struggles in DC, and international liberation movements for alternatives
As unemployment, unaffordability, and displacement continue to deepen across Washington, DC, Black women remain among the most exploited and economically marginalized sectors of the working class. These conditions are not accidental but rooted in a long history of racial capitalism that pushed Black women into low-paying, unstable labor while excluding them from wealth, protections, and economic control.
This Assata Shakur Popular Education (ASPE) session will examine how the exploitation of Black women’s labor impacts entire communities, including the ability to care for families, the expansion of state surveillance through child welfare systems, and broader systems of incarceration and displacement. Drawing from the organizing traditions of Black women in the Black Panther Party, local struggles in DC, and international liberation movements, we will explore what democratic, participatory, and community-controlled alternatives could look like—from worker cooperatives and guaranteed childcare to women-led organizing structures capable of transforming our communities.
Food will be provided!
APSE sessions are hybrid with the option to participation in-person or via Zoom. When registering you are given the option to choose.