Andrea Ritchie
Biography
Ritchie is a Black lesbian immigrant survivor whose work spans legal advocacy, research, organizing, writing, and movement building. She earned her law degree from Howard University School of Law and clerked for U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan. She practiced law for 15 years, focusing on police profiling and brutality against women and LGBTQ+ people of color, including legal advocacy and litigation involving policing in New York City.
Ritchie is the author of Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color (2017) and Practicing New Worlds: Abolition & Emergent Strategies (2023). She co-authored Queer (In)Justice: The Criminalization of LGBT People in the United States and No More Police: A Case for Abolition with Mariame Kaba. She also co-founded the Interrupting Criminalization initiative and the In Our Names Network, which brings organizations together to challenge police violence against Black women, girls, trans people, and gender-nonconforming people.
Her professional history includes substantial work in New York City, including 15 years of legal practice focused on policing and work with Communities United for Police Reform. Her broader work has addressed criminalization, policing, and state violence affecting women and LGBTQ+ people of color across the United States.
Ritchie currently works as a writer, organizer, researcher, and network weaver. Her work includes hosting Invest/Divest Learning Communities through the Community Resource Hub and supporting organizations developing strategies to divest from policing and invest in community safety.
BQW Impact
Ritchie's work has helped make the experiences of Black women and Black LGBTQ+ people more visible within conversations about policing, criminalization, and state violence. Invisible No More documents the distinct ways Black women and women of color experience policing and challenges narratives that center police violence primarily through the experiences of men.
Her legal advocacy, research, and organizing connect Black feminist and queer perspectives to abolitionist movements. Through projects such as In Our Names Network and Interrupting Criminalization, she has helped center Black women, girls, trans people, and gender-nonconforming people in discussions of safety, justice, and alternatives to policing.
Notable Works
Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color (2017)
Book documenting policing and state violence affecting Black women and women of color.
No More Police: A Case for Abolition (2022)
Co-authored with Mariame Kaba, presenting an abolitionist case for moving beyond policing as the primary response to harm and violence.
Practicing New Worlds: Abolition & Emergent Strategies (2023)
Book exploring abolitionist strategies and practices for building new approaches to collective safety and social organization.