Month: February 2017

A powerful hashtag is here to remind us that love is diverse and beautiful.

Last year, the Twitter account @BeautyInColor created the hashtag #POCInLove to bring visibility to relationships between people of color. Last week, the 23-year-old behind the account revived the hashtag for Valentine’s Day.

The photos tweeted by couples so far are unbelievably sweet: 

Really, could these two be any cuter? 

Some tweets are poetry-filled: 

Other people talk about how they had to cross a cultural divide to be together: 

The woman behind the hashtag told The Huffington Post that she created the hashtag as a response to the lack of couples of color and LGBT couples portrayed in movies and TV. 

“It’s important all types of love are celebrated,” she said. “Relationships are hard as it is but it’s even harder when you’re dealing with racism, homophobia or your families not accepting your partner.”

With this hashtag, “it’s just nice for people to show off the person they’re with and possibly had to fight to be with.” 

See more of the adorable couples below: 

Us right now: 

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices

An interracial couple whose Connecticut home was vandalized last month with a racial slur is refusing to erase the obscenity until Stamford police “do their job” and find the vandals, even as the city fines them $100 a day.

Heather Lindsay, who is white, and her common-law husband Lexene Charles, who is black, expressed their frustration with the fine to the Stamford Advocate Monday, sharing that this is not the first time someone in the neighborhood has harassed them over their race.

The difference this time, they said, is they’re insisting police make their case a priority. The graffiti has been on the couple’s garage door since Jan. 14, and they say they’re not removing it.

“[Authorities should] not just cover it up and sweep it under the table as they have done in the past,” Lindsay told the local news site.

Members of the local NAACP chapter agree.

“We think the police should open up a live investigation, and that means they should interview people,” Darnell Crosland, from the Connecticut NAACP, told ABC 7 during a press conference Monday.

“They should create a police report, and they should have a case number. I don’t even know if this situation has a case number yet, and I think that is an affront to all of us,” he added.

City and police officials told the local ABC station they are working on the case but have been unable to find witnesses or video evidence of the culprits.

The police department has offered to remove the slur but the couple has refused, the Stamford Advocate reported. According to NBC New York, Stamford Police Chief Jonathan Fontneau visited the home and said that the couple faces arrest, in addition to the daily $100 blight citation, if the slur stays on their garage door.

The couple said they’ll go to court if they have to.

“I’d like to find out who did it because it has to stop,” Charles told ABC 7.

The Stamford police did not immediately return a request for comment.

The police department’s website stresses the harm graffiti has on communities.

“Its existence has serious economic as well as psychological consequences in neighborhoods and communicates alarm,” the website reads. It further encourages the removal of graffiti within 24-48 hours to “prevent the vandals from receiving the recognition they desire.”

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices

Maya Angelou was one phenomenal woman.

Angelou rose to fame during a tumultuous time in America’s racial history and broke barriers for black women through her legendary contributions to art and culture. Now, a new documentary is airing on PBS on Tuesday titled “American Masters ― Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise” takes an in-depth look at Angelou’s life and legacy and how she inspired millions around the world with her work.

Angelou was an actor, singer, playwright, poet, author, teacher, dancer and advocate, but Rita Colburn Whack, the co-director and co-producer of the film, says she hopes viewers see Angelou’s full humanity. 

“[She was also] a human being with wants, desires, struggles and fears and…she [was] determined to overcome them,” Whack told The Huffington Post. “Maya Angelou was a woman who decided to overcome every obstacle set in front of her during a time when black girls and later black women were ignored, abused and dismissed,” she added.

The film, which is largely told from Angelou’s perspective through recordings taped before her May 2014 death, also includes commentary from some of her close friends and family members including her son Guy Johnson, actors Cicely Tyson and Alfre Woodard, Louis Gossett Jr. and politicians like Bill and Hillary Clinton.

From her early days as a mute and timid pre-teen to her rise as a legendary storyteller, the documentary explores how Angelou lived a life that impressed and inspired many. However, the film, which goes into great detail about many aspects of Angelou’s life, also shares some interesting little-known facts about her from over the years. We’ve shared some of these facts below and encourage you to watch the film to learn more about Angelou’s iconic legacy: 

1. One of the earliest memories she had was being sent to live with her grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas at the age of 3.

Maya’s father and mother sent her and her brother Bailey to live with their grandmother Annie Henderson in Stamps, Arkansas when Angelou was the tender age of three. In the film, Angelou recounts how they boarded the train to their grandmother’s house with no adult supervision and the resentment she felt towards her parents for sending them away.

2. Her grandmother ran the only black-owned store in the town and taught her to read.

Annie Henderson, who Angelou referred to as “Momma,” was the child of a former slave and the only black person in Stamps, Arkansas to own a general store at the time Angelou was sent to live with her. Henderson taught Angelou how to read and would often bring back books from the local white schools in town for Angelou and her brother to indulge in.

3. Her brother Bailey further encouraged her to read and absorb everything she could.

In the film, Angelou said that, growing up, her brother Bailey played a big role in encouraging her to read and learn. “Just learn everything, put it in your brain. You’re smarter than everybody around here, except me of course,” she recalled him telling her with laughter. “And he was right, he was smart. But he was also protective of me.”

4. Her family was terrorized by the Ku Klux Klan growing up.

Growing up black in Stamps, Arkansas amid the racial terror that swept the nation was painful and difficult, Angelou said in the film. She reflected on one fearful night in her childhood involving her Uncle Willie, who was crippled and had been accused by a white girl who claimed she attempted to touch him. In an effort to help keep him safe from the Ku Klux Klan, Angelou, who said the KKK rode on their horses past her grandmother’s store in search of her uncle, helped to hide him in the den of the store and bury him in a box beneath dozens of onions and potatoes. 

5. Angelou was raped at the age of seven. She didn’t speak for five years after. 

Angelou and her brother temporarily moved to St. Louis to live with their mother who was dating a man. Angelou said he was “intoxicated” with her mother and later raped Angelou when she was seven years-old. Police later found him killed and it had appeared he had been kicked to death. Angelou, who shared the name of her rapist to her brother, felt guilt and anguish from his death, so much so her “7-year-old logic told me that my voice had killed a man,” she says in the film. “So I stopped speaking for five years.”

Angelou was eventually sent back to live with her grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas where she said she spent her time reading every book in the black school library and all the books she could get from the white school library, memorizing the works of famous poets like Paul Laurence Dunbar, Langston Hughes, Edgar Allen Poe, Shakespeare and more. 

6. Angelou was always truthful and honest ― even when it came to sex. 

Angelou was a beautiful, towering teenager who had attracted the attention of a young boy who had expressed sexual interest in her. One day, Angelou, who said she had seen films about sex that spiked her curiosity, said she approached the young boy and the two had sex at a friend’s house. Although it was her first time having sexual intercourse, Angelou admitted that the experience had been underwhelming. “I asked him ‘Is that all there is?” she said in the film. “So I said, ‘Ok, bye.’ And a month later I found out I was pregnant.”

7. She has had two interracial marriages, both of which ended shortly after they began. 

Maya Angelou met and wed Tosh Angelos in 1951. He was a Greek sailor who had shared a deep love for reading. This was a significant deal at the time considering the racial tensions that existed and the polarizing issues around interracial marriages. She said her mother had initially been disgusted with her for marrying a white man, and later fell for him, even expressing disappointment when the couple divorced less than five years later. She later wed Paul du Feu, a white writer, in 1973 but divorced less than a decade later.

8. She worked in nightclubs and quickly gained exposure for her singing and dancing. She soon became known as Ms. Calypso. 

In the 1950s, Angelou worked in nightclubs and strip clubs in San Francisco. While she didn’t strip off her clothes, she did show off her fabulous dance moves and would sing Calypso songs whenever she went out. She was later invited to sing Calypso at local venues and became known as Ms. Calpyso, performing in venues at a time when stars like Harry Belafonte, Lena Horne, Sammy Davis Jr. hit their peak.

9. Angelou was heartbroken after not landing a big role on Broadway.

In 1967, Angelou was considered to be actress Pearl Bailey’s understudy in the Broadway play “Hello Dolly.” It was a dream opportunity for Angelou and one that would allow her to better financially support her son. However, while the director and producer of the play both loved her, Angelou’s son claims in one heartbreaking part of the film that it was Bailey who said: “Oh no — I ain’t gonna have this big old ugly girl be my understudy.’” Later in life, Bailey received a Lifetime Achievement Award and dedicated the honor to Angelou.

10. She was invited to New York by Langston Hughes where she met other famous black writers.

Shortly after her rejection from Broadway, Angelou began writing and befriended famous black writers like Langston Hughes who persuaded her to move to New York to join the Harlem Writers Guild, which is now the oldest organization of African American writers. She soon met writer James Baldwin, and the two grew to be close friends who had much respect and love for each other.

11. She portrayed a white queen in a play alongside Cicely Tyson and Louis Gossett Jr.

In 1960, Angelou, alongside other popular black actors Cicely Tyson, Louis Gossett Jr.  and James Earl Jones, starred in a play titled “The Blacks,” which featured an all-black cast with half of the cast portraying white characters. The play was polarizing and offered various statements on the state of race. Angelou portrayed a white queen, a role that was “quite fascinating,” as Tyson describes in the film.”[The play] was a piece that shook everyone.”

12. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed on her birthday.

Dr. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, which marked Angelou’s 40th birthday. His death rocked Angelou so much so she said she fell into a brief stage of mutism again. After about five days, she said Baldwin knocked on her door and ordered her to go with him to their friend’s home, Jules and Judy Feiffer, to share company and conversation. That night, Angelou told so many great stories about her life, that Judy Feiffer called Robert Loomis, an editor at Random House, and insisted that she had a book in her of some kind.

13. She turned down the opportunity to write an autobiography several times.  

Loomis had called Angelou several times and tried to implore her to write an autobiography, a request she declined for months. She said she had been more interesting in writing plays and poetry. “Finally he said, ‘Ms. Angelou, I won’t call you again because writing autobiography as literature is almost impossible,’” she recalled in the film. “I said, ‘Well, in that case, I’ll try.’” So, she started to write and soon published her first novel “I know why the Caged Bird Sings” in 1969,  a very important and successful novel that marked a landmark moment in literature. 

14. She once had a heart-to-heart discussion with Tupac that prompted his mother Afeni Shakur to write Angelou a thank you note.

Director John Singleton invited Angelou to be a part of his iconic 1993 film “Poetic Justice” featuring rapper Tupac Shakur and singer Janet Jackson. Angelou, who made a cameo in the movie, talked about how she met Shakur for the first time on the set of the film for one day while he was in the midst of a cursing spree. Angelou, who had no idea who the rapper was at the time, took him on a walk and moved him to tears by telling him an empowering story about black people in America. “You’re the best we have, we need you desperately,” she told him. Shakur’s mother, Afeni Shakur, later wrote a letter expressing her gratitude towards Angelou for teaching her son a valuable lesson.

15. She was the first black poet to present at a presidential inauguration.

President Bill Clinton invited Angelou to present at his 1993 inauguration where she became the first black person and the first female to ever speak on the inaugural stage. Angelou delivered an original and riveting poem titled “On The Pulse of Morning.” 

16. Angelou aged gracefully, never giving up on or stopping her mission.

Angelou became more visibly challenged as she aged. She suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and was wheel-chair bound. But she never let that ruin her mission to teach, inspire and share her love. “She knew that if she didn’t continue to go, she would stop,” Cicely Tyson said in the film. “She had this incredible love for people.”

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Source: HuffPost Black Voices

Linda Nieves-Powell wants to give trailblazing Latinas the credit they’ve long deserved. 

The New York-based photographer, writer and director began documenting iconic Latinas last fall with a photo project that honored Rita Moreno, Frida Kahlo and more. But for Black History Month, Nieves-Powell decided to focus on seven Afro-Latinas that have left their mark on the music industry. 

“Afro-Latina excellence is not highlighted enough,” the Puerto Rican photographer told The Huffington  Post. “Latina trailblazers should not be forgotten. They somehow managed to negotiate their success in light of all the obstacles they had to endure in their time. We can learn from that and use that as a source of encouragement and a guide to fulfilling our own dreams.”

The tribute photo series debuted on Feb. 15 and features seven models being transformed into iconic Afro-Latina artists, including Celia Cruz, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, La Lupe. 

“I feel that it is very important to continue to highlight our unique beauty, especially today when our President and his administration is working to ostracize people of color,” Nieves-Powell told HuffPost. “There is something compelling about seeing a powerful representation of yourself. It validates you and offers a sense of identity. Because the dominant culture’s standard of beauty often doesn’t celebrate our authenticity and diversity.”

In the photo series, Nieves-Powell also transformed transgender model Marizol Leyva, sister of actress Selenis Leyva (”Orange Is The New Black”), into Salsa singer La India. 

“It was very important for me to include [Marizol], as the LBGTQ community has also been under assault by mainstream culture that would prefer that they remain in the shadows,” the photographer said. “Beauty is transcendent. I choose to celebrate authentic beauty in our community.” 

The boricua said she hopes her project shows the community that these women achieved greatness on their own terms. 

“My message has been consistent throughout my career, and that is that Latinas should create their own idea of what a Latina is,” she said. “They shouldn’t be told who they are by media or even their community.” 

Take a look at how Nieves-Powell transformed seven models into seven Afro-Latina music icons, below: 

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices

The term “Hollywood elitist” has followed George Clooney for over a decade, as his fame rose along with his interest in supporting humanitarian and liberal efforts. Also, his father, Nick Clooney, arguably lost a campaign for Congress in 2004 after attack ads labeled him with that derogatory moniker. Despite an early lead, the race became known as “Heartland vs. Hollywood,” as Republicans repeatedly brought up that his son is, well, George Clooney.

So it likely comes with extra frustration to Clooney that President Donald Trump keeps attacking Hollywood elitists when he is actually one himself.

Speaking with French journalist Laurent Weil, Clooney explained how Trump is a “demagogue” and hypocrite.

“There’s a really interesting argument, this is the part that makes you a little crazy,” said Clooney, before bringing up Meryl Streep’s now famous speech at the Golden Globes on Trump’s policies. “When Meryl spoke, everyone on that one side was, ‘Well that’s elitist Hollywood speaking.’ Donald Trump has 22 acting credits in television … He collects $120,000 a year in his Screen Actors Guild pension fund. Uhh?! He is a Hollywood elitist.”

Trump’s financial disclosure during the campaign revealed a $110,228 pension from SAG. The IMDb credits for the current president are many and varied.

Clooney added that Streep “has every right to speak up” since “she was an American citizen long before she was an icon.”

Donald Trump has 22 acting credits in television … He collects $120,000 a year in his Screen Actors Guild pension fund. Uhh?! He is a Hollywood elitist.
George Clooney

The conversation with Weil took place in anticipation of the César Awards’ plans to honor the actor this weekend.

Before the topic changed, Clooney also went in on Trump’s infamous advisor, Steve Bannon. Here’s some of what he had to say:

Steve Bannon is a failed film writer and director. That’s the truth, that’s what he’s done. He wrote a Shakespearean rap musical about the LA riots that he couldn’t get made. He made a lot of money off of “Seinfeld.” He’s elitist Hollywood, I mean that’s the reality.

Clooney actively campaigned for candidate Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election, so his feelings on Trump’s rise to power run deep.

“We have Donald Trump which is …” Clooney said before pausing, “… hard to imagine. It catches in your throat. But we’ll fix it. We have to.”

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices

This piece by Tina Horn, part of an ongoing podcast and essay series called “Why Are People Into That?!,” originally appeared on The Establishment, an independent multimedia site founded and run by women.

I really hate having my picture taken. I don’t like holding still. I have never figured out how to freeze my face in a way that looks like I intensely care and couldn’t care less that you’re looking at me.

Modeling is an illusion, but I’ve always depended on language and movement to glamour my own victims. Like many things we expect women to do well in order to show their worth, the talent, skill, and craft of modeling is sorely undervalued. We envy models who “get paid just to stand there.”

Nope. You try creating simultaneous grace and alertness in your figure. You try contorting your body into a silhouette that compresses your three-dimensional complexity into a two-dimensional shape that pleases the eye. It’s really fucking hard, and it’s even harder when you just don’t know how to harness your power while standing perfectly still.

Modeling is an illusion, but I’ve always depended on language and movement to glamour my own victims.

Modeling was a necessary evil when I became a sex worker, however. We had to create advertising images of ourselves specific enough to be distinctive, but generic enough for a client to project his desires. When I got my start in the mid-aughts  ―  not that long ago!  ― you couldn’t simply snap an iPhone photo, place a filter on it, and watch your inbox fill up with potential clients. If you wanted to display your professionalism, you needed a photographer.

So I, like many hos of that era, connected with photographers on Model Mayhem. Many of them were lousy men with expensive gear who presented themselves as professionals, but just wanted to be around sexy women. A friend of mine who studied photography in art school said something wise to me. I wanted to work with a particular male photographer  ― even though he gave me the creeps  ―  because he once photographed Bob Dylan. My friend said, “Taking a picture of an interesting person does not mean you have taken an interesting picture, and it doesn’t make you interesting either.”

After I moved to NYC, I was lucky to meet an interesting person who takes very interesting pictures of interesting people. Ellen Stagg has been taking portraits of porn stars, burlesque performers, pro-domes, and fetish models for a decade. You can see her commercial and safe for work pictures here, but if you want to see the nipples and the leg spreads, you can subscribe to Stagg Street or buy her new book the Dirty Girl Collection.

“I’m a pervert,” Ellen grins when I ask her why she has chosen naked women as her main photography subject. She claims to be much more of a voyeur than an exhibitionist. She likes living vicariously through her models, creating a space for them to be the center of attention.

I loved talking to Ellen about her work, because as a female photographer of naked female bodies, she has a unique perspective on issues of objectification. Ellen is a striking woman herself, with long blonde hair and longer legs. Every time I see her she is wearing something rose colored. She doesn’t exactly seem like someone who is going to launch into a discussion of vulva diversity, so sometimes she catches even a devoted vulgarian like me delightfully off guard.

Taking a picture of an interesting person does not mean you have taken an interesting picture.

I asked Ellen what she thinks her Stagg Street members love about her nude stills as opposed to, say, hardcore porn. We discussed curiosity about bodies, and the transgression of looking at something that’s supposed to be private. The voyeur can imagine being with the model, and they can imagine being the model. Photography will always have the allure of a window into another world, a tease at something to which you may be permitted access, or possibly just a peek into something that could never be yours.

This is something, I’ll confess, I’ve never really related to about naked pictures. I project all kinds of things into models and performers in hardcore porn  ―  who they are, why they want what they want, which one I am or wish I was  ― and that identification shifts from moment to moment. Even if I find the model in a still picture sexy, I almost never find her arousing. A picture might make me wish I knew what it was like to be in that model’s skin, or to see her in action, but I don’t know if I have ever masturbated just looking at a picture of a naked woman.

Ellen knows that people masturbate to her photos. But having shot some spread spreads for Penthouse, she makes a distinction between porn and erotica. It has less to do with perception and everything to do with the artist’s intention. If she’s making porn, she knows there’s certain things people will expect to see. But her own art is her own art. Sometimes women get naked, sometimes they spread, sometimes they touch themselves, sometimes they have sex. It’s always a collaboration.

I would be skeptical of this, except I found it to be true.

Ellen and I did a photoshoot together a few years ago, in her friend’s spacious apartment in Bushwick. I can’t quite explain to you what Ellen did to make me comfortable, but they are some of my favorite pictures of me anyone has ever taken. She knows I like natural light, so she asked me to stand by the window, somehow making me look coquettishly alluring. She knew I wanted some more rich bitch dominatrix shots, so she let me throw on a blazer and chew on a cigar I had brought back from Brazil. Instinctively, she grabbed her friend’s digital projector and lit me with a nourish blue light. I knew how to play within her dramatic instinct. I saw the narrative potential in her sense of style.

Ellen said we had time for one more look. I threw on everything I had worn to the shoot except my pants and shirt, and climbed on top of a giant guitar amp. In cotton panties, leather boots, and a baseball cap, I writhed around, somehow able to express myself in a way that Ellen could capture.

One of those pictures eventually became the logo for Why Are People Into That?!

“Why Are People Into That?!” is a podcast hosted by educator, activist, and media maven Tina Horn. In addition to sharing Tina’s juicy interviews and between-the-sheet tales, The Establishment is also providing exclusive first-person essays by Tina, the culture eviscerator, as she traverses the shoals of sex work and social justice.

Be sure to check out the leather-studded world of BDSM with dominatrix Troy Orleans, and the kinky sadomasochistic undertones of getting tattooed with Tamara Santibañez.

You can listen to the full interview with Ellen Stagg here and support The Establishment’s diverse journalism by making a donation here or purchasing a “Member of the Resistance” t-shirt.

Other recent stories include:

More Muslim Stories Were Always Needed, Even Before The Travel Ban

Why Do We Care Whether Trump Is Into Pee? A Sex Workers Roundtable

We Are The Scientists Against A Fascist Government

The Agony And Ecstasy Of Masturbation

How To Look Like A Reddit Troll’s Worst Nightmare

Feminist Hacking Group Helps Women Send Safer Nudes

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices

With a Feb. 22 evacuation deadline quickly approaching, the women of the Standing Rock Sioux have a simple request. They need help, and they need it now. 

In a video, shared Monday by journalist Shaun King on Twitter, the indigenous women of Standing Rock stress that demonstrations against the Dakota Access Pipeline are about much more than water.

“In the history of colonization, they’ve always given us two options: Give up our land or go to jail. Give up our rights or go to jail,” one woman says in the video. “And now, give up our water or go to jail. We are not criminals.” 

Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota signed an emergency evacuation order on Feb. 15, reaffirming a Feb. 22 deadline for protestors to leave the Oceti Sakowin camp. The governor’s statement claims that safety concerns are behind the evacuation order. 

“Warm temperatures have accelerated snowmelt in the area of the Oceti Sakowin protest camp, and the National Weather Service reports that the Cannonball River should be on the watch for rising water levels and an increased risk of ice jams later this week,” according to a statement from Burgum’s office. “Due to these conditions, the governor’s emergency order addresses safety concerns to human life as anyone in the floodplain is at risk for possible injury or death.”

They don’t understand people are willing to die here.”
Woman at the Oceti Sakowin camp

President Donald Trump also signed executive orders during his first week in office enabling resumed construction of the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines. But protestors have stood their ground.

“They don’t understand people are willing to die here,” a 90-year-old woman told The Intercept. “They don’t understand we will not back down. We have our ancestors with us and we are in prayer that Tunkashila (Great Spirit in Lakota) will guide us in our freedom.”

As one woman says in the video: “They’ve been trying to take us down for hundreds of years. They can keep trying, and we’re still going to be here, and we need help. There aren’t many of us left.”

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Source: HuffPost Black Voices

Amber Rose and Wiz Khalifa threw their son a super birthday party and offered an important lesson in co-parenting all at the same time.

This week, both parents posted photos on Instagram of the superhero-themed birthday party they threw for their 4-year-old son, Sebastian. For part of the celebration, the former couple dressed as Batgirl and Batman, while Sebastian opted for a Catboy costume from the series “PJ Masks.”

Followers on Instagram applauded the parents for celebrating their son’s big day together.

“Much respect to you … great example of co-parenting,” one commenter wrote. “This is unconditional love and sacrifice for your child. You guys look more like ‘The Incredibles.’ Too cute!” wrote another.

Rose has been open in the past about co-parenting her son with Khalifa. In an interview with People, she said they “try to have family days with him.” And in 2015, she told MTV News that co-parenting certainly takes work, but is worth it. 

“You have to do what’s best for your baby,” she said. “That’s the most important thing.”

The HuffPost Parents newsletter offers a daily dose of personal stories, helpful advice and comedic takes on what it’s like to raise kids today. Sign up here.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Source: HuffPost Black Voices

PORTLAND, Maine — On a chilly December evening, King Middle School students and their families streamed into Ocean Gateway, a party space with sweeping views of Casco Bay. They had come to celebrate the culmination of a school project on freedom, just as many of the families were getting a taste of liberty themselves.

The students, a number of whom are Muslim immigrants from Somalia, had created posters and written essays that proclaimed their vision of American ideals. Some of their families had fled the war-torn nation that became subject to the ban announced by President Donald Trump in late January for travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations.

In a divisive political climate, public schools are taking on the challenge of helping refugees who feel unsafe in a country that seems increasingly intolerant of them. The students’ work took on an even deeper meaning after a January 27 racially charged assault near Casco Bay High School, which spurred pro-immigrant rallies throughout the city.

“Islam is blamed for terrorism, but Christianity isn’t blamed for radical groups like the KKK,” said eighth-grader Zakaria Ali, 13, a student of Somali heritage who argued in his project that Muslims lose their freedom when Americans equate Islam with terror.

Portland is a progressive coastal city of trendy restaurants and Victorian homes, as well as housing projects and homeless shelters, in one of the whitest states in the country. Its diversity is evident — from the assistant principal at Deering High School, who is a Somali immigrant, to the former student and current math teacher at King Middle School, a Ugandan immigrant, to the Somali restauranteur whose son is studying for his law school entrance exams. Republican governor Paul LePage has said he supports President Trump’s travel ban and has sought to deny government benefits to asylum seekers, but Portland city officials have proclaimed support for their immigrant community.

“It’s a lightning-rod issue,” said Judy Katzel, a spokesperson for Catholic Charities Maine, the agency that resettles refugees in the state. “But welcoming refugees is not a political issue. It’s about people.”

Students said King Middle School feels like a safe haven, but added that the world outside the school building has lately felt more dangerous. They hear their parents talking about being accosted in the street and worrying about relatives abroad who may be affected by the ban. (A federal appeals court has upheld a temporary order blocking the ban, but the Trump administration is considering an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.)

leThe school’s freedom project, which is in its 19th year, is based on President Franklin Roosevelt’s World War II concept of the “four freedoms” that everyone in the world is entitled to enjoy. The students initially explored these concepts — freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear — through the oil paintings of the quintessential American painter Norman Rockwell, and then deepened their understanding through individual research projects and field trips. This year in the project, which encompassed social studies, English, math and science, the topic of Islamophobia was popular.

Umulker Ugas, 13, an eighth-grader whose family fled Somalia for Kenya before she was born, wears a hijab and goes to a mosque after school to study the Koran. In her project on freedom of worship, she focused on discrimination against women who wear the hijab in the workplace.

“I feel like it’s not fair,” she said. “Not everyone from the countries they are banning is starting trouble.”

Related: Muslim girls in Trump’s America: ‘I’m not going to cower into fear’

The federal government has resettled about 3 million refugees since Congress passed the Refugee Act of 1980, according to the Pew Research Center. Roughly 44,000 immigrants, including refugees, have made their homes in Maine, according to Catholic Charities Maine. In the 1980s, most refugees were from Vietnam; now the majority come from Africa and the Middle East.

Most Somalis arrived in the United States after 1991, when their government collapsed, civil war broke out and the country faced famine and anarchy. United Nations estimates showed that roughly 150,000 Somali immigrants were living in the United States in 2015, according to the Pew Research Center.

Last year, at Ohio State University, a Somali refugee, apparently inspired by the Islamic State terrorist group, rammed a car into pedestrians and then stabbed people with a butcher knife. The attacker was shot dead within minutes, but his act added to the tension surrounding U.S. refugee communities. 

Katzel said such violence hasn’t affected her work in Maine. “Most people understand that there can be isolated events and tend to not really translate that onto an entire population,” she said.

Islam is blamed for terrorism, but Christianity isn’t blamed for radical groups like the KKK.

In Maine, most Somalis first settled in Portland, the state’s largest city. They then moved north to the Lewiston-Auburn area, where housing is cheaper, said Elizabeth Eames, a Bates College associate professor of anthropology. Population estimates suggest that the Lewiston-Auburn area now has the largest percentage of Somali refugees in the country, with about 8,000 of its 35,000 residents of Somali origin, she said. 

Such an increase in students who need extra services can test a school district. On February 7, the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine, along with local disability rights groups, released the results of a two-year investigation of the Lewiston schools for violations of federal civil rights and disabilities laws. In a letter to Lewiston Schools Superintendent Bill Webster, the group alleged that students of color, including Somali refugees and students with disabilities, are disciplined more often and are less likely to get the support they need.

Webster defended the school district’s work in meeting the needs of all students. He noted that the ACLU’s data is several years old, and that last year the system’s five-year completion rate for students from immigrant homes was greater than that for students from homes where English is the primary language. He cited a 78 percent rate for immigrants and a 73 percent rate for native English speakers. 

In Portland, in addition to teaching newly arrived students English, school officials reach out to immigrant parents through the system’s Multilingual & Multicultural Center. The center also connects volunteer mentors to students and trains teachers to help children who may have endured trauma. 

The Portland school district currently serves students who speak 60 languages other than English, with Somali and Arabic being the most common, according to Grace Valenzuela, the center’s director. Overall, about 30 percent of the district’s 6,800 students speak a language other than English as their first language. Of those English language learners, almost a third speak Somali, she said.

The immigrant experience is familiar to Portland Schools Superintendent Xavier Botana; he came to America from Cuba in the early 1960s. In an open letter after the Casco Bay High confrontation, Botana affirmed the school system’s commitment to all its students, whether they are immigrants, refugees or native-born Americans. 

On February 6, a little more than a week after the incident, local police charged a white 20-year-old Portland resident with a hate crime and assault, and he pleaded not guilty. He is accused of confronting two Casco Bay students, and brandishing a sharp object after shouting racial slurs to a group of students on the street near the high school. The January 27 incident sparked several rallies and marches in support of the students and against hate. On the following Monday, someone hung pink papers that said “You Are Loved” on the bus shelter in front of the school, near where the incident took place. 

“Our students acted exactly as we would want them to act,” Botana wrote in his open letter. “They exemplified the ideals on which Casco Bay High School was founded and made us all proud.”

Botana’s letter became a political flashpoint in Maine. In it, Botana also criticized President Donald Trump’s travel ban, as well as the president’s intention to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. The head of the Maine Republican party accused Botana of using taxpayer money to advocate a political point of view. Botana countered that January’s unsettling local and national events had created a negative climate for immigrant students, and it was his duty as an educator to put them in context.

Related: Schoolchildren “have a lot of questions and a lot of fear” in aftermath of Trump victory

Nimo Saeed, a Somali immigrant who owns the Mini Mogadishu restaurant, said the police had stopped by recently to check on her and offer assistance if she needed it. She hasn’t experienced any problems, she said, but they would likely pale in comparison with what she experienced back in Somalia.

“The American people don’t know what bad is,” she said as she served sweet tea spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. “We’ve been through a Civil War, we know what bad is.”

But Casco Bay High senior Samira Ahmed, 17, who came to the United States with her Somali family when she was only seven and has thrived in Portland, said the alleged assault burst the protective bubble of the school where she has always felt accepted. “It showed the reality of what is happening in the U.S.,” she said.

The American people don’t know what bad is. We’ve been through a Civil War, we know what bad is.

Elizabeth Szatkowski and Sarah Compton, members of the Casco Bay High School parent advisory group, strongly support the multicultural environment in Portland schools.

“It has given my daughters the opportunity to hear from other people in authentic ways,” said Szatkowski, whose older daughter is in college and whose younger daughter is a junior at the high school. “It’s not just an add on. It’s part of the fabric of their education.”

Compton, who has two sons at the school and is the advisory group’s president, said, “Most of my older son’s friends are Muslim. It’s a world he wouldn’t have been exposed to because our day-to-day community is not that diverse.”

Both women, who are white, said one of the biggest challenges has been integrating parents from other cultures into the school’s parent community. Language is a barrier, and also a sense that schools should take care of school life, while parents take care of home life.

“We had a group of parents who reached out to multilingual parents to come to school activities and it was difficult,” said Szatkowski, a clinical social worker who runs programs for the mentally ill. “It’s such a …. Western way of being involved in the school.” 

Across town, at Deering High School, where several student council co-presidents are Muslim immigrants, a few hundred students rallied on the school sidewalk on a recent Friday afternoon. They called it a “Stand of Solidarity” with Casco Bay students and immigrants in general. They held posters that read: “A country built by immigrants should stand tall by its immigrants” and “Spread Love, Not Hate.” Drivers honked their horns in support as they passed in their cars. On the opposite side of the street, mothers in hijabs stood smiling, holding signs of their own: “No Hate, No Fear, No Wall, No Ban” and “Immigrants are Great Neighbors.”

Related: Student voices: A daughter of undocumented Mexican immigrants and ‘heartbroken’ by the Muslim travel ban

Dr. Abdullahi Ahmed, Deering’s assistant principal, watched but did not participate. Earlier, in an interview, with a mixture of pride and amazement, he told the story of his own refugee experience. He escaped poverty in Mogadishu, Somalia, attended university in Pakistan and eventually came to America, where he started out as an interpreter in the Portland schools. A principal noticed his teaching talent and encouraged him to pursue a degree in education. He now has a family, a doctorate and a high-profile job.

It takes courage for an immigrant to put down roots in an unfamiliar place, Ahmed said, just as it takes courage for a community to open its doors to the strangers in their midst. Schools are on the frontline of this march toward integration and acceptance as they welcome students to life in America. Those children can then help their parents navigate this new world.

But both the community and the immigrant must adapt, Ahmed said. “It’s a two-way street.”

This story was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Read more about education and immigration.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Source: HuffPost Black Voices

“The Bachelor” franchise is far better known for perpetuating racism than for thoughtfully discussing it. But on this week’s episode, the painfully whitewashed show actually acknowledged that racism exists and that the current political climate has heightened the visibility of overt racism. The bar is very low, but for “The Bachelor” this is uncharted territory ― and it made for pretty great TV.

This isn’t the first time the show has skimmed the surface of race in America, but it’s certainly (and sadly) the most in-depth. A few contestants have brought up their own experiences of growing up biracial during their intro packages (Christian on JoJo’s season, Taylor on this season), and we’ve seen several in-season “in the moment” interviews and conversations between the leads and their suitors in which race is addressed. Marquel on Andi’s season of “The Bachelorette” and Robyn on Sean Lowe’s season of “The Bachelor” both explicitly discussed interracial dating and the challenges they face as black contestants. But because contestants of color have traditionally rarely made it past week five or six, the show has never really discussed race beyond those simple acknowledgements that race exists. Rachel Lindsay, who got a hometown date on this season of “The Bachelor” and has already been announced as the next “Bachelorette” forced the franchise to dig ever-so-slightly deeper.

On Episode 8, Nick journeyed to Dallas to meet Rachel’s family. Though it’s already been announced that Rachel is the next Bachelorette ― and therefore won’t end up with Nick ― the date was still worth watching. Nick, who says he’s never seriously dated a black woman before, first joins her at her predominantly black church, where she makes clear that attending services together would be important to her in a relationship. Broaching religious divides, itself typically a third rail in “Bachelor” world, in such an open way made for a more honest portrait of two people navigating a possible relationship. But perhaps more importantly, Rachel makes it clear the church service was a bit of a culture test: While Nick has attended church, this would be his first time in a mostly black church. Whether he would be comfortable in that setting, she suggests, could reveal a lot about how well he’d fit into her own life. 

Next, the couple meets up with Rachel’s family ― minus her father, a federal judge who couldn’t appear on the show. During the family dinner, race is an open topic of conversation. Rachel’s mother, Kathy, and sister, Constance, directly ask Nick about whether he’s dated black women before. After he emphasizes that he’s not concerned with race because of his feelings for Rachel, her sister skeptically tells the camera that ignoring race isn’t enough.

“Right now, in this climate that we’re in, I feel like we’ve seen more racism come out,” she says. “He does need to be more aware. It’s not just something you can hide and ignore and can live in your bubble.” (It’s also worth noting that this date was filmed mere days before Donald Trump was elected the 45th president of the United States.)

“The Bachelor” has historically tried to exist in a world in which real-life forces ― like religious identity, race and political viewpoint ― don’t exist. The idea that all you need is vulnerability and a spark and an open heart to find true love is an appealing fantasy that likely shields the show from putting off certain segments of its viewership (as well as its advertisers). But after 15 years, it feels obviously ridiculous at best and actively harmful at worst. We live in a country where Jewish community centers are receiving waves of bomb threats, where churches are being vandalized with white supremacist graffiti, where the President of United States signed a travel ban targeting Muslims. Even the sappiest of TV love stories cannot escape the world it takes place in.

No one wants Rachel’s arc ― on this season or her own season of the show ― to be entirely about the color of her skin. There are so many interesting things about her, it would be a pity to just focus on one part of her identity. But not talking about race has never proven an effective way of eliminating racism; being open and thoughtful about the challenges that might, sadly, accompany an interracial relationship is valuable.

A partner who understands what race and racism mean in Rachel’s life could offer her better support and understanding. It’s clear from the most recent episode of “The Bachelor” that her family wants that for her. Plus, a show that at least attempts to mirror the real-life challenges of the world it’s situated within may prove to be more interesting, relevant, and yes, entertaining, than ever before.

For more on “The Bachelor,” check out HuffPost’s Here To Make Friends podcast below:  

Do people love “The Bachelor,” “The Bachelorette” and “Bachelor in Paradise,” or do they love to hate these shows? It’s unclear. But here at “Here to Make Friends,” we both love and love to hate them — and we love to snarkily dissect each episode in vivid detail. Podcast edited by Nick Offenberg.

Want more “Bachelor” stories in your life? Sign up for HuffPost’s Entertainment email for extra hot goss about The Bachelor, his 30 bachelorettes, and the most dramatic rose ceremonies ever. The newsletter will also serve you up some juicy celeb news, hilarious late-night bits, awards coverage and more. Sign up for the newsletter here.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Source: HuffPost Black Voices