African braids on Broadway, FDA proposes relaxer ban, a new Fortune 500 CEO
Plus, calls for Brazil's first Black woman justice, the importance of clinical trials, reflections on a radical UK newsletter & essays on the myth of likability and Sexxy Redd's support for Trump.
The Wakeful is now on Instagram and TikTok.
Follow us on social media for bite sized news and updates throughout the week.
How Guaranteed Income Is Helping Black Women Battle Gentrification
Capital B, Chauncey Alcorn
“More than half of participating women have saved some money since the program launched. It has helped three times as many women afford child care and reduced the share of women whose cellphone service was shut off due to unpaid bills from 60% to 40%, according to a spokesperson for the GRO Fund.”
She Was Oprah Before Oprah
The New York Times, Maya S. Cade
“Travis was among the first wave of Black television newswomen hired nationwide, part of an early effort to diversify American newsrooms in the wake of the protests and racial conflicts of the 1960s. While her rejection by the ABC morning show was painful, what she did next was groundbreaking: She became the first Black woman to host her own national talk show.”
Black women don’t owe you likability
The Emancipator, Katrina Gipson
“This expectation of hyper-endurance feeds the dangerous, harmful ‘strong Black woman’ myth by expecting Black women to endure discrimination without validating our pain and emotions. The trope, whose initial intent was to inspire and empower Black women, contributes to the medical field ignoring our physical and emotional pain and feeds the idea that our socioeconomic and personal needs should come last in political movements. Ultimately, this myth that we are strong or magical dehumanizes us.”
Black mom, 33, was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer. A clinical trial ‘saved her life’
Today, Meghan Holohan
“Seventeen years ago, Maimah Karmo found a lump in her breast when she was 31. She had to advocate for herself to receive a proper diagnosis of stage 2 triple negative breast cancer. At the time, doctors dismissed her as being too young to have cancer, but she kept pushing, thanks in part to the support of her mom, who was a nurse. Since then, she started the Tigerlily Foundation to educate and empower women about their health, including highlighting the importance of clinical trials.”
Related:
Study Shows Black Women Need To Get Screened For Breast Cancer Nearly 8 Years Earlier, Blavity, Kui Mwai
Black Woman Who Witnessed A Capital Murder Has Now Gone Missing In Houston
ESSENCE, Rayna Reid Rayford
“Police are asking for information related to the whereabouts of 21-year-old Deundrea Ford. She went missing a month ago in the early hours of September 21 in a Houston parking lot. Her family suspects foul play and believe she was abducted. Kevin Carriere, Ford’s uncle, went to Diva’s, retrieved the surveillance footage, and gave it to the police. The video shows Ford ‘talking to an unknown man inside the bar and then leaving with him in a white van.’”
Related:
Family of Deundrea Ford speaks out after her disappearance more than three months ago, Click2Houston
'Jaja’s African Hair Braiding' Is A Love Letter To Black Beauty And Immigrants
ESSENCE, Akili King
“Playwright Jocelyn Bioh’s Jaja’s African Hair Braiding isn’t like anything you’ve ever seen on Broadway before. Directed by Whitney White, it’s not only a celebration of Black hair and beauty, but it’s also an ode to the unsung immigrant heroes and what they silently face on a daily basis. ‘At the time when I started thinking about this concept, we were in the midst of a different administration with 45. I was infuriated by the rhetoric he was putting out into the world about immigrants,’ a freshly braided Bioh tells ESSENCE via Zoom. ‘It made me want to write a love letter to them,’ the Ghanaian-American writer continues about the play that was produced by Taraji P. Henson.”
Related:
Jaja’s African Hair Braiding Brings the Vibrancy of Black Hair to Broadway, Harpers Bazaar, Houreidja Tall
‘Jaja’s African Hair Braiding’ Review: Broadway Production Celebrates a Sacred Space for Black Women, Variety, Aramide Tinubu [Editor’s note: I loved this review!]
The Wonderful Karma of Black Women Saving American Democracy
Ms., Robert S. Mcelvaine
“Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has succeeded in getting Donald Trump’s co-conspirators—especially key insiders Sydney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro—to plead guilty and testify against the former president and others. This move is the latest example of Black women leading the way in defense of our endangered democracy.”
What Black women should know about hair relaxers and their health
NBC News, Claretta Bellamy
“Several landmark studies have been published in the last year highlighting the link between chemical hair relaxers — which break down proteins in hair to straighten it — and increased rates of uterine cancer. And last week, after pressure from Democratic Reps. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Shontel Brown of Ohio, the Food and Drug Administration proposed a ban on hair-smoothing and hair-straightening products containing formaldehyde, an ingredient known to cause cancer.”
An epidemic of missing Black women has been ignored for too long
The Hill, Kamila A. Alexander and Tiara C. Willie
“The Brittany Clardy Act would create the Office for Missing and Murdered Black Women and Girls within the Department of Justice. Modeled after Minnesota’s law, the new office would serve as a central repository to track cases, develop evidence-based practices and policy recommendations and provide grants to community organizations to support victims and their families. The bipartisan Protect Black Women and Girls Act would create an interagency task force to examine the underlying inequities — such as lower incomes and fewer healthcare options — that fuel health and economic disparities and disproportionate levels of violence faced by Black women and girls in the United States. Both bills deserve swift passage.”
‘It was amazing to find sisters’: Brixton Black Women’s Group on their revolutionary newsletter
The Guardian, Tobi Thomas
“‘I think Speak Out! is a good testament to the ideology of our movement but also to our practice – the very fact that we didn’t publish our names on the newsletter really showed how flat and equal and nonhierarchical we were as a group,’ says Mama. ‘Having Speak Out! was a really important thing in terms of ideological corrective, as we were a group that regarded ourselves as part of a movement, so this was our tool for outreach and for mobilising other people. You can’t have a movement without a communication tool and this was ours.’”
I Was Ready To Defend Sexyy Red – Until She Supported Trump
Refinery29 Unbothered, Helen Bezuneh
“The people who tend to align with Trump’s politics are the same ones hating on Sexyy Red for her supposedly overly sexual lyrics and behavior. Conservative commentators like Joey Mannarino have publicly condemned Red and accused her of ‘emasculat[ing] Black men.’ (Mind you, the man is white.) Another conservative, CJ Pearson, wrote, ‘All you do is rap about your vagina. Have you ever tried saying anything impactful?’ The same people who admire Trump have called Sexyy Red ‘ghetto’ and ‘dirty,’ among other racist terms.”
[Editor’s note: this piece is packed with reciepts and BARS. Exhibit A: “In a world where Black pop culture reigns supreme, Black rappers are far too often taken advantage of as political puppets by people who don’t even see them as full human-beings.”]
Black feminists in defence of Sarah Jama and Palestinian human rights
Toronto Star, Robyn Maynard Contributors, Nisrin Elamin , Alissa Trotz
“We are outraged that Sarah Jama, a Black woman and Hamilton Centre MPP, may be silenced — unable to speak in the provincial Legislature — for the duration of her elected term. Jama has been targeted by Premier Doug Ford, and reprimanded by her own party leadership, in response to a statement in which she called for a de-escalation of violence. The attack on Jama comes amidst deepening government repression of those who speak out in defence of Palestinian life.”
Related:
This Juneteenth, If We Want Black Liberation, We Need Global Solidarity Now, Refinery 29 Unbothered, Cherrell Brown
[Editor’s note: this excellent essay about the connections between Black liberation and a free Palestine was published in 2021, but it’s certainly relevant and timely.]
Brazil's president faces increasing pressure to nominate a Black female justice
NPR, Julia Carneiro
“In Brazil, there is mounting pressure on President Lula da Silva to nominate a Black female justice to the Supreme Court. Women make up over half the population, and over half the country's population is Black, but it has never had a Black woman on the Supreme Court. Campaigners are now hoping that may change, as Julia Carneiro reports from Rio.”
The Fortune 500 adds a second Black woman CEO in SAIC’s Toni Townes-Whitley
Fortune, Emma Hinchliffe and Joseph Abrams
“The timing is notable; for all of September, TIAA CEO Thasunda Brown Duckett stood alone as the only Black female CEO in the Fortune 500 following the exit of Walgreens chief Roz Brewer. With Townes-Whitley’s hire at SAIC, Duckett is no longer an ‘only’ among Fortune 500 chiefs and the smaller group of 52 female CEOs.”
Black final girls and horny hags in 'X' and 'Barbarian'
NPR, Brittany Luse
“Nowadays, the last one standing, aka the final girl, could be a sex worker, like Maxine in ‘X,’ or the final girl could be a final survivor, like Chris in ‘Get Out.’ But today, we're going to focus on the Black final girl. My guest today curated a whole film series on the Black final girl and wrote a book on the topic. Her name is Dr. Kinitra Brooks, and she says when a Black woman is the last one standing, she's still got a lot more to fight than some guy in a mask.”
ON OUR RADAR
Black Feminist Writers and Palestine, a virtual roundtable via Black Women Radicals
Interview on Abolition Journalism with Sherronda J. Brown, Scalawag Editor-in-Chief
From Palestine to the Black South, Abolition Journalism is Exposing Injustice, In These Times, Natascha Elena Uhlmann
Clean Beauty for Black Girls
TV — “Found,” airing Tuesdays on NBC
Have you seen these missing Black girls & women?
Please visit Black and Missing Foundation on Instagram to view these and other missing persons posters.