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NEW YORK ― Addressing the audience at Tina Brown’s Women in the World Summit on Friday, Women’s March co-chairs Tamika D. Mallory and Linda Sarsour had some wise words for white women new to activism: “Don’t leave us.” 

In a panel with actress and activist Rashida Jones and International Refugee Assistance Project director Becca Heller, the two activists discussed the essential role that intersectionality must play in resisting the Trump administration, and reminded the audience that the issues that brought white women out to march on January 21 are issues minorities in America have been resisting all along.

“My community suffered in silence for 15 years in post-9/11 America,” Sarsour, a Palestinian-Muslim-American from Brooklyn, told Jones. “I welcome you to the movement, but don’t leave us. Understand that there are some of us in perpetual fear and perpetual outrage.”

While you’re at the table saying you want to be a part of this movement, let us quickly help you learn what you need to learn, be educated about mistakes that the feminist movement has made in the past, and figure out ways to go forward.
Tamika D. Mallory, Women’s March Co-Chair

Mallory, who said that her activism truly started years ago when the father of her son was murdered, expressed a similar sentiment.

“I did stand on that stage looking at so many people pouring into DC [at the Women’s March] and feel a little sad,” she said. “For some of the folks who showed up, their moment [of activism] started with Donald Trump and sort of ends there… People who have been oppressed in America feel like Donald Trump is just an extension of what’s been happening.”

Mallory expanded on this after the panel, telling The Huffington Post that while she was thrilled at the march’s turnout, she was also acutely aware that these crowds weren’t present to stand up against past injustices:

The sadness came when I looked around and said, if I was Sandra Bland, whose life deserved this much attention and more, people would not have been present. Trayvon Martin’s mother was on that stage and I’m sure she had to look and say, “Where were those people when my son was killed?” That is the sadness.

Both Sarsour and Mallory implored the many women for whom the Women’s March was a turning point and an introduction to activism to stay engaged. 

“While you’re at the table saying you want to be a part of this movement, let us quickly help you learn what you need to learn, be educated about mistakes that the feminist movement has made in the past, and figure out ways to go forward without making those mistakes again,” Mallory told HuffPost. 

Check out the entire panel in the video above. 

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— 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

Queen Latifah is giving fans a glimpse at how celebrities experience the world’s most beautiful destinations with her new Travel Channel mini-series, “The Best Place To Be.”

Executive produced by Latifah and business partner Shakim Compere’s production company Flavor Unit, each one-hour episode follows a noted personality sharing the hidden hot spots of their favorite international destinations, including Anthony Anderson (Barcelona), Jason Biggs and Jenny Mollen (Hong Kong), Mary-Louise Parker (Kenya), and Latifah herself (Rio de Janeiro).

The multifaceted media maven told The Huffington Post that she wants viewers to experience travel through the lens of a celebrity.

“The premise of it was something that Shakim came up with based on my life,” she said. “When I go on vacations I travel to different places around the world and oftentimes I’m with friends of mine who hip me to the cool places to be and things to go to. And for a lot of celebrities, this is our only little break to escape and kind of be normal without the spotlight.”

“And so, we want to share that place with the world and tell them about their secret spots, because we want to see it through their lens,” she added. 

The show couldn’t have come at a better moment for the production duo.

In recent years, travel research group MMGY Global has found a surge in African Americans’ intent to travel internationally, which some have argued was previously overlooked and undocumented by mass media. Reports credit travel websites targeting people of color and social media influencers as contributing factors for the supposed increase. 

With reports of the “black travel movement” being on the rise, Latifah wants the mini-series to inspire even more people to broaden their international horizons.

“Sometimes it takes the media a minute to catch up and actually care about what we’re doing,” she said. “But we know what we do, and we know we love to take a vacation and get away and just enjoy life. But I’m hoping the show will just give them more places to go and stretch their horizons even further. I love to be in a land where I don’t speak the native language, but people are people no matter where you go.”

As for the best way to maximize one’s travel experience, the award-winning actress-rapper recommends travelers venture off the “beaten path” of where tourists traditionally visit for a more cultured experience.

“You’ll have a much more richer experience when you travel like that,” she said. “If you really want an experience that’s gonna stay with you for your life and you can come home, tell people who maybe can’t get there at that time. It’s so much more rich and deep and fulfilling than what you would do if you hung around the pool all day.”

Check out an all-new episode of “The Best Place To Be” on April 11 at 12 p.m. / 11 a.m. Central on the Travel Channel.

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices

President Donald Trump has enjoyed an overwhelming amount of support from evangelical Christians, both before and after his election. And despite his divorces, boasts about sexual assault and attempts to turn a blind eye on refugees, among other things, evangelical Christians have largely stood by their man. 

Comedian Jordan Klepper turned his attention to the cozy relationship Trump has with evangelicals in a recent segment for the “The Daily Show.” Klepper spoke with a few evangelical Christians about their support for Trump, interspersing these interviews with images of Trump at a photo shoot surrounded by scantily clad models.

One of the president’s big evangelical fans is Pastor Mark Burns, a televangelist from South Carolina. Burns has been on the #TrumpTrain (his words, not ours) for quite some time. He spoke at the Republican National Convention and has continued to show unwavering support after the election.

Burns (who, by the way, has admitted to falsifying his resume to get ahead) was willing to brush aside Trump’s moral failings. He argued that “Donald Trump is not the pastor of the United States of America.” All that matters to Burns is that the president has “accepted Jesus Christ as his savior.”

On the flip side, Burns argued that former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is good at “pandering at the black churches, singing whatever ‘Amazing Grace’ song she can come up with for that moment.”

“Do you think Donald Trump knows the words to ‘Amazing Grace’”? Klepper asked, referring to the old Christian hymn.

“I think it would be more like ‘Tremendous Grace,’ Klepper continued, mimicking Trump’s jargon.

“How fantastic the sound. Could save a pretty good guy like me. I once was lost, though, you know what? I was never lost. I was born with an impeccable sense of direction.”

Watch the full “Daily Show” segment above.

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices

Here she goes again.

Whoopi Goldberg, on a Thursday broadcast of “The View,” weighed in on Pepsi’s controversial ad featuring Kendall Jenner. The ad, which premiered on Monday and was pulled two days later, received criticism for appropriating social justice movements, including Black Lives Matter, for profit.  

During the “Hot Topics” segment of the show, Goldberg declared that while she didn’t think the video was executed well, she didn’t find it offensive.

“Listen, now, there are some things where you can say, ‘Hey, you need to be more sensitive,’ but this ain’t one of them,” Goldberg said. “This is a bad commercial, that didn’t work. … Remember, you see it on paper, and it looks good, it looks smart.” 

When co-host Sunny Hostin pointed out Jenner and the Kardashian family’s history of cultural appropriation, Goldberg got especially fired up. 

“It’s just a crappy commercial! You know, this cultural appropriation stuff is starting to really make me crazy,” the 61-year-old actress said.

“If we’re gonna go with cultural appropriation, wear natural hair,” Goldberg said. “If we’re wearing white lady hair, isn’t that appropriation as well?”

Of course, black women wearing weaves or extensions is not the same thing as white women rocking cornrows, but Goldberg (who has worn extensions in the past), seems to be strongly against the idea of cultural appropriation on the whole. 

On an episode of “The View” in June, Goldberg stated: “If you’re going to talk about appropriating, and what’s cool and what’s not cool, we’re all in deep doodoo, because we’re doing it to each other constantly.” 

Oh, Whoopi. 

— 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

— 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

For decades, Dr. Willie Parker has been a devout Christian, while also serving as one of the United States’ most respected reproductive rights advocates, traveling between Mississippi and Alabama to provide abortion care to women there ― one of just a few doctors who do so. 

To Parker, there is no contradiction between his faith and his ability to provide compassionate abortion care, and in his new memoir out this week ― Life’s Work: A Moral Argument for Choice ― he defends his work and the rights of women to control their own bodies. “Abortion is the only personal decision that is subjected to this level of government oversight,” he writes. “The law requires [women], like bad little girls, to ‘prove’ to authorities that they have thought carefully about what they’re about to do. In health care, no other medical condition is treated this way.”

We spoke to Parker about his work as an abortion provider in the deep South and about the current climate we live in. 

We’ve all been told that abortion is too polarizing an issue, that there’s no way of convincing, say, someone who is anti-choice because of religious beliefs to support abortion care. Do you really think you can change people’s minds? 

That’s not really my goal. You have to change your own mind; I’m trying to encourage people to think and to visit the facts. We’re now in an era where we have said that facts don’t matter ― we can create alternative facts ― but facts do matter. If they didn’t, [anti-choice legislators] wouldn’t try and mimic them. People know you can’t walk into a political assembly and say, ‘I prayed and God told me that abortion was immoral.’ But people can try and fabricate and create harm with junk science, saying abortion increases the risk of breast cancer, or that women have psychological issues following abortion. The data and the science refutes all of that. They create a false equivalency by saying, well, you have your facts and I have mine. 

The goal for me is to explore the interface between science and religion and spirituality. This book comes at reproduction from a scientific standpoint, as I am a scientist. But I am also a person of faith, in particular, Christian faith. 

Since Roe passed there has never been a day when the right of a woman to have an abortion hasn’t been contested.

You spend a good deal of time walking readers through the nitty-gritty of an abortion is like, and at one point you write that it is uncomfortable, if not painful. Aren’t you worried “antis” will seize on that? 

There has been this sense that you can’t tell people what an abortion is like, but I think that in the absence of truth antis have been able to spread misinformation. When I was an OB-GYN resident, someone gave me a pin that said ‘no pain.’ I had a professor who very graciously pulled me aside and said, ‘We have to talk about your button.’ The point she stressed is that it creates the expectation that a woman can go through labor and child birth and not have any pain or discomfort, which is a misrepresentation.

I think we do the same thing with abortion. It’s not a cake walk. And it’s also not an excruciating, horrible experience. Most women feel relieved. Most women tolerate a little bit of cramping, which certainly dulls in comparison to labor. I just think the truth will do, and we have to trust people enough to deal with the truth. 

You also explicitly single out liberal women ― who are pro abortion rights― and live in parts of the country that aren’t affected by the harshest anti-choice laws, and remind them that they’re partially responsible for the “raft of new laws” restricting abortion because they find it too easy to “look away from the plight of their sisters.” Can you talk about what that means?

If you’re not mindful of your position, if you assume that the resources you have are available to everyone, you have blind spots to the ways your privilege is achieved at the expense of other folks. If you live in New York City, you can walk in and find out you are pregnant, make your decision, and have the abortion on the same day. So when you hear about a mandatory waiting period somewhere else in the country, you might say, “What’s wrong with having a waiting period so people can be sure?” What’s wrong with that for some women it can mean losing the opportunity to have an abortion in their area, or a wait means that on the day you have your procedure you have to find childcare, coordinate with your job ― all of that. 

Privileged women have to understand that the context of their life is not generic and universal. 

Privileged women have to understand that the context of their life is not generic and universal.

And what can they do to help?

If you understand that women in the South have limited access to abortion and that for many women there are financial barriers, you should be arguing for policies that reduce those barriers and, within your means, should support local abortion funds. If you understand that a waiting period is going to unnecessarily delay a woman, you should be making sure your congressperson understands how you feel. In your personal relationships, rather than judging a woman for ending her pregnancy, understand that she has reasons that only need be known to her.

It feels, to an awful lot of people, like we’re in a crisis point in terms of abortion access. Are we?

I think we are where we have always been. What do I mean by that? Since Roe passed there has never been a day when the right of a woman to have an abortion hasn’t been contested. I don’t think we’ve ever been this close to abortion becoming illegal. I don’t think we’ve ever been this insular and this nationalistic. But it’s also where we’ve always been. We’re just seeing it now more explicitly. 

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices

WASHINGTON ― A federal judge in Baltimore on Friday approved a deal struck between the city and the Justice Department in the final days of the Obama administration to reform Baltimore’s troubled police department, denying a request from the Trump administration to delay approval of the agreement.

U.S. District Court Judge James K. Bredar approved the deal in an order Friday morning. Bredar’s ruling called the Justice Department’s report on patterns of unconstitutional conduct in the Baltimore Police Department “deeply troubling.” He said the consent decree was “comprehensive, detailed, and precise” and “appears to be balanced and well-calibrated to achieve the parties’ shared, jointly-stated objectives.” He concluded that the decree “is fair, adequate, and reasonable.”

A political appointee in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division told Bredar during a public hearing on Thursday that Attorney General Jeff Sessions had “grave concerns” about the deal and requested at least 30 days for the new administration to review it. Representatives of the city of Baltimore, however, wanted to move forward without delay. And Bredar said it would be “problematic” to delay the agreement.

“It would be extraordinary for the Court to permit one side to unilaterally amend an agreement already jointly reached and signed,” Bredar wrote. “Moreover, early in the Court’s review of the joint motion, but after the new administration was in office in Washington, the Government affirmed its commitment to this draft and urged the Court to sign it.”

“The time for negotiating the agreement is over,” he wrote, adding that “the problems that necessitate this consent decree are urgent.”

“Now, it is time to enter the decree and thereby require all involved to get to work on repairing the many fractures so poignantly revealed by the record,” Bredar wrote.

In a statement Friday, Sessions said that “the Department of Justice continues to fully support police reform in Baltimore,” but expressed “grave concerns that some provisions of this decree will reduce the lawful powers of the police department and result in a less safe city.”

Read Sessions’ full statement below.

Today, a federal court entered a consent decree that will require the court and a highly-paid monitor to govern every detail of how the Baltimore Police Department functions for the foreseeable future.  This decree was negotiated during a rushed process by the previous administration and signed only days before they left office.  While the Department of Justice continues to fully support police reform in Baltimore, I have grave concerns that some provisions of this decree will reduce the lawful powers of the police department and result in a less safe city.

Make no mistake, Baltimore is facing a violent crime crisis.

Baltimore has seen a 22 percent increase in violent crime in just the last year. While arrests in the city fell 45 percent based on some of these ill-advised reforms, homicides rose 78 percent and shootings more than doubled. Just in 2017, we’ve seen homicides are up another 42 percent compared to this time last year. In short, the citizens of Baltimore are plagued by a rash of violent crime that shows no signs of letting up.

The mayor and police chief in Baltimore say they are committed to better policing and that there should be no delay to review this decree, but there are clear departures from many proven principles of good policing that we fear will result in more crime.  The citizens of Baltimore deserve to see a real and lasting reduction in the fast-rising violent crime threatening their city.

The Department of Justice stands ready to work with Baltimore to fight violent crime and improve policing in the city.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices

Treatment is critical when it comes to managing depression ― but millions of people with the disorder simply aren’t getting it.

The World Health Organization recently released updated figures on the global burden of depression and the numbers are staggering. More than 300 million people worldwide have the mental health condition, which is an 18 percent increase over the last decade. Of that population, nearly half of them aren’t receiving medical support.

There are multiple barriers to getting proper help, from the high price tag of professional support to issues with access to care. Another big reason there’s a treatment gap? The negative stereotype that having a mental health issue makes a person weak, according to Ken Duckworth, the medical director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

“Depression is a common problem,” Duckworth told The Huffington Post. “There shouldn’t be shame in seeking help for that. People wouldn’t feel shamed if they got help for a broken arm. Depression is much like that. It’s treatable and you should tend to it.”

In honor of World Health Day and its 2017 theme of depression, we asked our social media community to share how treatment has helped them with the disorder. Of course, what works for one person may not work for another. It’s important to check with a doctor on the best method for you.

Take a look at the stories below on ways people helped ease their depression and learn more about the treatment process. There should be no stigma when it comes to getting healthy.

Honestly, it’s a miracle for my brain.

Trying different medications.

“I spent 6 years trying different medicines. Nothing worked and I was only held together by the fact that I had a very good doctor who gave me hope. Then one day 11 years ago I tried a different medicine. Bingo. Been in recovery ever since … Honestly, it’s a miracle for my brain. However, I always live in abject fear that one day it will stop working.” ―Michele Carlson

Between therapy and exercise I have been able to learn about myself and how to remain stable for myself and now for my daughter.

Professional help and lifestyle changes.

“I had never taken any medication before for my depression. I kept seeing my therapist weekly and working through all my traumas. I slowly started to feel better and started to work out again. [After a while], I felt I was ready to get off the medications. … I continued to try to eat better, I worked out almost daily and went to therapy weekly. I found things that helped calm me down like going out for walks, hikes, coloring and taking me time.

I will never be rid of my depression or anxiety but I finally found a way to manage it … Without exercise I think I would fall easily back to my old ways. Between therapy and exercise I have been able to learn about myself and how to remain stable for myself and now for my daughter.” ―Nathalia Segoviano

You are important, you are loved and you have a support group.

A support system.

“We need to remove the stigma behind talking about our problems. We’re human, we ALL have problems. Talking about them makes other people aware that they aren’t alone. And none of us are alone, so why do we continue to act like we are? I encourage everybody to take the time to post about the issues you are facing or have faced. Let the people around you know that they aren’t alone. Don’t be ashamed to admit when you have a problem. You are important, you are loved and you have a support group. Talk to them.” ―Kara Bennett 

If it weren’t for her help, I don’t know where I would be right now.

A good therapist.

“The day [my daughter] was born, she died due to an unforeseen birth defect. My grief was like an ocean that constantly sat upon my chest. … My mom found a counselor who did therapy by rebuilding memories and ‘refiling’ them so they weren’t so triggering. Together we’ve worked through every traumatic experience I’ve ever had. I’m now able to live without blinding rage. I’m able to breathe without feeling as if my chest is going to cave in. … If it weren’t for her help, I don’t know where I would be right now.” ―Amanda Williams

If you’re looking for ways to get mental health support but don’t know how, there are options. Here are a few suggestions on how to make therapy more affordable and check out this list of things to expect when you start therapy.

Here’s to more people getting good help. You’re worthy of it.

Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices

After struggling to embrace her postpartum body, a Chicago mother of two celebrated her newfound confidence with an empowering photo shoot.

Last month, photographer Aaron Turner of Expressions Untold captured Sabrina Ewell, a yoga instructor and mom to two sons, ages 19 and 8. When Turner reviewed the photos after the shoot, one powerful image stuck out to him. 

The image shows Ewell’s midsection and the physical marks left by motherhood. “He said he saw the power and message in it, how beautiful my body was with all its changes,” the mom told The Huffington Post.

Both Turner and Ewell decided to share the photo on their social media pages because it shed light on a common experience for many women that is often hidden.

When she posted the photo on Instagram, Ewell wrote a moving caption about her postpartum body image journey. 

“So this is me,” she began. “I thought this was baggage for so many years. Contemplated tummy tucks numerous times. Had people give me home remedies to ‘fix’ it that never worked. Felt ashamed because I didn’t look like societal norms.”

Ewell added that she has spent the past two years on a “journey of self-discovery” and developed a stronger connection to her true self.

“I no longer look to societal norms to define who the fuck I am,” she proclaimed. “I am unapologetically me in my bikinis as I do handstands on the beach because I’m the shit. Fuck your photoshopped imagery because your bullshit no longer applies to me.”

The photographer also wrote a thoughtful caption when he posted the photo.

“Why be ashamed? A life grew inside of you that gives humanity hope of change,” he wrote. “You felt things that I as a man will never understand. Even when you first held your baby girl or boy it was nothing similar to when they lay in their father’s hands. Your body changed and so did you.”

He added, “Don’t hide your changes from the world that you and your sisters helped create. Be proud of your story. Be proud of your lines. Be proud of who you’ve chosen to be.”

Turner’s post received over 1,800 likes on Instagram. Ewell told HuffPost she was initially nervous on the day of the photo shoot, but quickly started feeling empowered throughout the process.

“There is tremendous power in being completely open and accepting of your vulnerabilities,” she said. “When Aaron showed me the shots, I was amazed.”

Ewell gained about 50 pounds with each of her pregnancies and struggled with body image issues in the aftermath.

“I’m blown away at how far I’ve come in my perception of my stretch marks,” she said. “After giving birth, I, like many new mothers, anxiously awaited the return of my pre-pregnancy body, but began to feel inadequate and unhappy about the parts of me that were now different. I was ashamed. My smooth midsection had been replaced by loose, sagging skin.”

She credits yoga and meditation with transforming her relationship with her body and her life more broadly. “I began to realize the value in my stretch marks and me as a person,” she said. “I no longer needed to compare myself to others for validation. I began to embrace and celebrate all the good about me, and stopped focusing on so-called ‘flaws.’ Once I let go of those self-deprecating thoughts, I literally became comfortable in my own skin, and was no longer ashamed to bare a little midriff.”

Looking at the photo, Ewell sees a manifestation of vulnerability, freedom, evolution and love. “My body housed the safest space on Earth for two beings. I nourished and birthed them from the confines of this body,” she said. “My body grew and stretched to make sure they were adequately protected. How miraculous! I am honored to have been able to bring such wonderful gifts into this world.”

The mom said she wants people who see the photo to recognize that life doesn’t always come with perfect packaging, but it’s beautiful nonetheless. She also hopes mothers realize there’s nothing wrong with their postpartum bodies.

“Postpartum bodies are to be celebrated for being givers of life, not condemned for the inability to fit into what society says is beautiful,” she said. “I hope by being so vulnerable in this picture and sharing it with the public I am able to mitigate some of the anxiety moms may be feeling about their own bodies.”

Ewell also wants the photo to help shatter the stigma around stretch marks. 

“Most of all,” she added, “I hope this creates positive discussions of self-acceptance and self-worth among women.”

— 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

Felicia Sanders stared hatred in the face and survived. And as a testimony to her incredible bravery, she’s refused to stay silent about her tragedy.

Sanders is a survivor of the Charleston church shooting carried out by white supremacist Dylann Roof in June 2015. Her 26-year-old son, Tywanza Sanders, and her 87-year-old aunt, Susie Jackson, died in the attack, along with seven other people who had come together inside South Carolina’s Mother Emanuel A.M.E. Church for a Bible study.

Felicia told her story of survival at Tina Brown’s Women in the World summit on Wednesday. She explained how she had initially mistaken Roof for “just a child coming in to study the Bible.”

As the shots rang out, she hid under a table with her granddaughter. She heard her son engaging with Roof, asking the shooter why he was carrying out the attack. Felicia said she heard the man say “he had to, because [black Americans] are raping white women and taking over the world,” a claim that Roof later repeated in a jailhouse white supremacist manifesto.

Felicia then turned to the audience with a heartbreaking statement.

“I look around this audience and I see so many caucasians in here. And we really don’t mean you harm. We really do not mean you harm,” she said. “The problem is that we don’t take time to know each other.”

The shooter was sentenced to death in January on 18 counts, and life in prison for an additional 15. 

Felicia testified at that sentencing hearing, telling Roof that she still uses the bloodstained Bible she carried the day of the shooting.

At the summit, Felicia said that when she first saw Roof, she thought he was “just a child coming in to study the Bible.” After the attack, she heard that he had been a loner.

“If he took ten more minutes, maybe twenty more minutes to get to know each one of the people that he killed, he would have had some really great friends.”

After that tragic day, Felicia said that she went through the “Our Father,” one of Christianity’s most sacred prayers, and read through it line by line. One of the phrases in that famous prayer is “forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us.”

“Forgiveness is through and through the Bible,” Felicia said. “I was not going to give Dylann Roof the opportunity to send me to hell right with him.” 

She made a plea for racial reconciliation and for people to “get to know one another.”

“The only thing that separates us is not knowing one another. We may have different skin colors, but we all bleed red. Imagine yourself getting to heaven. There’s no segregated area. What are you going to do?”

“God is love. We made this mess, we divided one another. This is not the plan God has for us.” 

— 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