What is the state of racial (in)justice against the backdrop of authoritarian tendencies in the US and Germany? Exclusionary nationalism, the securitization and suppression of protests, and anti-migrant policies are exacerbating long-standing racial inequalities. At the same time, the space for academic freedom and civil society is shrinking, curtailing the very legal frameworks designed to combat racial inequalities. As a co-founder of Critical Race Theory, Prof. Kimberlé W. Crenshaw played a pivotal role in shaping the concept of intersectionality, which describes how various forms of inequality and discrimination (such as racism and sexism) overlap. At HAU, she will address attacks on this very theory and processes of legal regression, while also discussing selected chapters from her newly published memoir, *Backtalker*.