{"id":"_lKbwYLetmoVQjz4m","feed":{"title":"Word In Black","imageUrl":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","items":[{"id":"e3FEViJxzU2crAUW","title":"When a Black Child Dies Without Answers, Grief Has Nowhere to Go","description":"Nolan Wells, 18, disappeared during a July 4 boating trip to Horn Island off the Mississippi coast and was found dead two days later. Officials initially suspected drowning and reported no evidence of foul play, while both the state autopsy and the family’s independent autopsy have been inconclusive or withheld pending a grand jury investigation. The family, their attorney Ben Crump and the Congressional Black Caucus are pressing for federal review, but the manner of death remains officially undetermined. LEARN MORE: A Month Later, Nolan Wells’ Death Still Defies Answers Psychoanalysis distinguishes between mourning, in which the lost object can be gradually relinquished, and melancholia, in which loss cannot be metabolized and becomes lodged in the psyche. Open Wounds An undetermined death is a kind of engineered melancholia; without a narrative of how and why, the grieving mind cannot complete its work. For Wells’ parents, and vicariously for Black parents watching, the absence of answers keeps the wound open. The mind abhors a vacuum, and into that vacuum flow the most terrifying possibilities, which for Black Americans are not paranoid fantasies but memories. The case’s grip on the collective Black psyche cannot be separated from geography. A Black teenager vanishing in a majority-white space in Mississippi activates what could be called a cultural unconscious structured by Emmett Till, whose body was pulled from a Mississippi river in 1955. Trauma theorists like Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart and psychoanalytic writers on transgenerational transmission (Nicolas Abraham and Maria Torok’s notion of the “phantom”) argue that unmourned historical violence is passed down not as memory but as affect, dread and behavioral injunction. When the news broke, many Black parents did not experience it as new information; they experienced it as confirmation, the return of something never fully repressed because it was never fully safe to forget. For Wells’ parents, and vicariously for Black parents watching, the absence of answers keeps the wound open. The skepticism in the Black community toward the official investigation, whatever the eventual findings, functions as a transference onto institutions that have historically been unreliable containers for Black grief. In Wilfred Bion’s terms, a community needs institutions that can “contain” catastrophic anxiety, receive it, process it and return it in tolerable form. When sheriffs, coroners and prosecutors have historically failed to serve that function for Black families, the anxiety remains uncontained and circulates as suspicion, activism and sometimes conspiracy thinking. The demand for federal review is, psychologically, a search for a container that can be trusted. For Black parents specifically, cases like this reinforce what psychologists describe as racialized hypervigilance, which operates almost like a superego injunction: Never let your child be the only one, never let them separate from the group, never assume white spaces are safe. Nolan’s stepfather’s anguished comment that he taught his son “never to separate from friends he arrived with” reveals the protective script and the parent’s torment when the script fails anyway. Psychic Burdens This produces several psychic burdens: The anticipatory grief of raising a child one fears burying; the impossible double bind of wanting children to move freely through integrated spaces while dreading those spaces; the guilt-laden fantasy of omnipotent protection, in which any harm becomes evidence of parental failure rather than of a dangerous world; and the erosion of what Erik Erikson called basic trust, now transmitted to the next generation as inherited wariness. The marches, Wells’ funeral officiated by the Rev. Al Sharpton, the crowdfunding, the celebrity support and the demand for transparency can be read as attempts at collective working-through, converting passive helplessness into active agency. Whether or not foul play is ever established, the mobilization itself serves a psychic function. It insists that a Black child’s death must be seen, countering the historical experience of Black loss being treated as unremarkable. The tragedy, psychoanalytically, is that even if the investigation ultimately confirms an accidental drowning, the terror the case evoked in Black parents is real and rational, grounded in history rather than fantasy. That is the deepest injury racism inflicts. It makes it impossible to grieve an ambiguous loss simply, because every ambiguous loss arrives already haunted. I write this not only as a scholar of the psyche, but as a Black mother and grandmother. When the news of Nolan Wells broke, I did not first respond with theory. I responded with my body — that tightening in the chest that every Black parent knows, the one that arrives before thought does. I raised my children on the same scripts Nolan’s parents gave him: Stay with your friends; don’t wander off alone; be careful in places where you’re the only one. I said those words so many times they became a kind of prayer. And now I watch my children say them to my grandchildren, and I feel both the love in those words and the weight of them — because no child should need a survival liturgy just to go on a boat trip with friends. Grieving Without Answers When I look at Nolan’s mother, I see every mother I have ever known. I see my own daughter, who worries over my grandson—a senior civil engineering major away at Penn State University. I see myself, lying awake until I hear the key in the door. And I see my grandchildren, whom I want to send into the world with open hearts, not inherited dread — though I know I have passed some of that dread along anyway, the way it was passed to me, hand to hand, generation to generation, like something too heavy to carry and too dangerous to put down. RELATED: More Unanswered Questions Fuel Doubts In Nolan Wells’ Death Whatever the investigation ultimately concludes, this much is already true: A mother in Mississippi is grieving without answers, and millions of us grieve alongside her because we know how easily it could have been our child, our grandchild. This is my attempt to give that grief a language. But before it was language, it was a feeling in my chest. It still is. Credit: Harlem Family Services The Rev. Sheila Poynter Johnson is a New York State-licensed psychoanalyst, ordained minister, author, and social justice advocate who serves as the Chair and President of Harlem Family Services. She focuses on integrating mental health care with spiritual support and community development The post When a Black Child Dies Without Answers, Grief Has Nowhere to Go appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"The
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Nolan Wells, 18, disappeared during a July 4 boating trip to Horn Island off the Mississippi coast and was found dead two days later. Officials initially suspected drowning and reported no evidence of foul play, while both the state autopsy and the family’s independent autopsy have been inconclusive or withheld pending a grand jury investigation.

\n\n\n\n

The family, their attorney Ben Crump and the Congressional Black Caucus are pressing for federal review, but the manner of death remains officially undetermined. 

\n\n\n\n

LEARN MORE: A Month Later, Nolan Wells’ Death Still Defies Answers

\n\n\n\n

Psychoanalysis distinguishes between mourning, in which the lost object can be gradually relinquished, and melancholia, in which loss cannot be metabolized and becomes lodged in the psyche.

\n\n\n\n

Open Wounds

\n\n\n\n

An undetermined death is a kind of engineered melancholia; without a narrative of how and why, the grieving mind cannot complete its work. For Wells’ parents, and vicariously for Black parents watching, the absence of answers keeps the wound open. The mind abhors a vacuum, and into that vacuum flow the most terrifying possibilities, which for Black Americans are not paranoid fantasies but memories.

\n\n\n\n

The case’s grip on the collective Black psyche cannot be separated from geography. A Black teenager vanishing in a majority-white space in Mississippi activates what could be called a cultural unconscious structured by Emmett Till, whose body was pulled from a Mississippi river in 1955. Trauma theorists like Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart and psychoanalytic writers on transgenerational transmission (Nicolas Abraham and Maria Torok’s notion of the “phantom”) argue that unmourned historical violence is passed down not as memory but as affect, dread and behavioral injunction.

\n\n\n\n

When the news broke, many Black parents did not experience it as new information; they experienced it as confirmation, the return of something never fully repressed because it was never fully safe to forget.

\n\n\n\n

For Wells’ parents, and vicariously for Black parents watching, the absence of answers keeps the wound open.

\n\n\n\n

The skepticism in the Black community toward the official investigation, whatever the eventual findings, functions as a transference onto institutions that have historically been unreliable containers for Black grief.

\n\n\n\n

In Wilfred Bion’s terms, a community needs institutions that can “contain” catastrophic anxiety, receive it, process it and return it in tolerable form. When sheriffs, coroners and prosecutors have historically failed to serve that function for Black families, the anxiety remains uncontained and circulates as suspicion, activism and sometimes conspiracy thinking. The demand for federal review is, psychologically, a search for a container that can be trusted.

\n\n\n\n

For Black parents specifically, cases like this reinforce what psychologists describe as racialized hypervigilance, which operates almost like a superego injunction: Never let your child be the only one, never let them separate from the group, never assume white spaces are safe. Nolan’s stepfather’s anguished comment that he taught his son “never to separate from friends he arrived with” reveals the protective script and the parent’s torment when the script fails anyway.

\n\n\n\n

Psychic Burdens

\n\n\n\n

This produces several psychic burdens: The anticipatory grief of raising a child one fears burying; the impossible double bind of wanting children to move freely through integrated spaces while dreading those spaces; the guilt-laden fantasy of omnipotent protection, in which any harm becomes evidence of parental failure rather than of a dangerous world; and the erosion of what Erik Erikson called basic trust, now transmitted to the next generation as inherited wariness.

\n\n\n\n

The marches, Wells’ funeral officiated by the Rev. Al Sharpton, the crowdfunding, the celebrity support and the demand for transparency can be read as attempts at collective working-through, converting passive helplessness into active agency. Whether or not foul play is ever established, the mobilization itself serves a psychic function. It insists that a Black child’s death must be seen, countering the historical experience of Black loss being treated as unremarkable.

\n\n\n\n

The tragedy, psychoanalytically, is that even if the investigation ultimately confirms an accidental drowning, the terror the case evoked in Black parents is real and rational, grounded in history rather than fantasy. That is the deepest injury racism inflicts. It makes it impossible to grieve an ambiguous loss simply, because every ambiguous loss arrives already haunted.

\n\n\n\n

I write this not only as a scholar of the psyche, but as a Black mother and grandmother. When the news of Nolan Wells broke, I did not first respond with theory. I responded with my body — that tightening in the chest that every Black parent knows, the one that arrives before thought does.

\n\n\n\n

I raised my children on the same scripts Nolan’s parents gave him: Stay with your friends; don’t wander off alone; be careful in places where you’re the only one. I said those words so many times they became a kind of prayer. And now I watch my children say them to my grandchildren, and I feel both the love in those words and the weight of them — because no child should need a survival liturgy just to go on a boat trip with friends.

\n\n\n\n

Grieving Without Answers

\n\n\n\n

When I look at Nolan’s mother, I see every mother I have ever known. I see my own daughter, who worries over my grandson—a senior civil engineering major away at Penn State University. I see myself, lying awake until I hear the key in the door. And I see my grandchildren, whom I want to send into the world with open hearts, not inherited dread — though I know I have passed some of that dread along anyway, the way it was passed to me, hand to hand, generation to generation, like something too heavy to carry and too dangerous to put down.

\n\n\n\n

RELATED: More Unanswered Questions Fuel Doubts In Nolan Wells’ Death

\n\n\n\n

Whatever the investigation ultimately concludes, this much is already true: A mother in Mississippi is grieving without answers, and millions of us grieve alongside her because we know how easily it could have been our child, our grandchild. This is my attempt to give that grief a language. But before it was language, it was a feeling in my chest. It still is.

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Credit: Harlem Family Services
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The Rev. Sheila Poynter Johnson is a New York State-licensed psychoanalyst, ordained minister, author, and social justice advocate who serves as the Chair and President of Harlem Family Services. She focuses on integrating mental health care with spiritual support and community development

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The post When a Black Child Dies Without Answers, Grief Has Nowhere to Go appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/08/when-a-black-child-dies-without-answers-grief-has-nowhere-to-go/","site":"Rev. Shiela Johnson","originalAuthor":"Rev. Shiela Johnson","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Opinion","mental health","social justice"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-08-18T22:02:58.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/GettyImages-2287196150-1.jpg?fit=594%2C396&ssl=1","type":"image/jpeg"},"createdAt":"2026-08-18T22:10:20.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/GettyImages-2287196150-1.jpg?fit=594%2C396&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"TEES5xJLPiQShpll","title":"The Hidden Cost of the “Great Deal”: Is Fast Fashion Worth Your Health?","description":"In the past decade, fast-fashion retailers have reshaped how Americans shop, creating a constant firehose of new styles and “irresistible” deals for consumers of trendy clothing often made quickly and cheaply. The barrage of options is refreshed daily by online retailers like Shein, Temu and Fashion Nova, alongside chains like H&M. U.S. consumers spend tens of billions of dollars each year on clothing, with a growing share of those dollars on ultra-cheap garments designed to be worn a few times and discarded. It’s easy to see the appeal. Few people can resist an $8 dress or $12 pair of jeans when standard retailers charge much more. But the true cost of cheap fashion is rarely printed on the tag. A growing body of independent research has found that a lot of this clothing contains endocrine-disrupting chemicals such as PFAS — or “forever chemicals,” undisclosed “fragrance” additives and phthalates, which are linked to thyroid dysfunction and cancers. A recent Word In Black virtual panel, “The Dark Side of Our Addiction to Fast Fashion,” moderated by events manager Shernay Williams, discussed the downside of fast fashion, including its impact on personal health, the environment and Black businesses. Williams noted the panel’s timeliness, with Shein currently facing a major lawsuit in Texas for allegedly violating the state’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act by misleading consumers about product safety. Texas alleges the China-based company has been selling children’s and maternity clothing containing dangerous levels of forever chemicals, lead, formaldehyde and other dangerous substances. The suit also raises concerns about customer data safety, deceptive pricing and copyright infringement. Temu and Fashion Nova face similar allegations. Black designers also allege that the companies have stolen many of their fashion designs. These dangerous chemicals mimic the body’s natural hormones once absorbed, binding to hormone receptors and blocking the body’s own hormones from functioning properly. Long-term exposure has been linked to hormonal diseases and cancers — including breast, testicular and prostate cancer — along with thyroid dysfunction, metabolic issues, and early-onset puberty, panelist Kennedy Black of the Resilient Sisterhood Project explained. Health concerns have grown to the point where the state of California has gone beyond forcing companies to disclose which chemicals they’re using. Manufacturers and distributors have been penalized with fines totaling tens of millions in settlements over the undisclosed use of lead, phthalates and PFAS. A Disproportionate Burden on Black Women But the fines and penalties don’t reflect the level of harm many consumers experience. Panelist Teju Adisa-Farrar, founder of the Black Fiber &Textile Network, framed the issue in stark terms: Across makeup, hair, and fashion, Black women use the most toxic products of any group. Nearly 80% of beauty and personal care products marketed to Black women are full of chemicals, including preservatives and undisclosed fragrances, that make them moderately to severely hazardous, according to a 2025 report by the nonprofit Environmental Working Group. Kennedy Black’s organization also ran a research and outreach initiative called POWER, Product Options in Women’s Engaged Research, to study this exposure and help Black women make more informed choices. She also flagged parabens — commonly added to shampoos and conditioners to prevent mold — as linked to uterine cancer. RELATED: Beauty Products for Black Women More Likely to Be Hazardous Jamila Wright, founder of the Richie Writz brand and a content creator who documents her own experience with hormone disruption, shared her personal story during the virtual program. After years of unexplained weight gain and breast tenderness, and her primary care doctor offering little beyond diet advice, she went to a medi-spa that specialized in hormone testing. “I said, ‘Let me go somewhere where they actually study hormones, they do hormone replacement therapy, somebody who will give me some real answers because I’m paying for it,’” Wright recalled. The experience and the results were shocking. The practitioner’s first questions weren’t about diet, Wright recalled. They were about what Wright was putting on her skin, in her hair, and what clothes she was wearing. “My estrogen was at six hundred and seventy-four,” Wright said. The practitioner told her, “I’ve never seen estrogen levels this high. You should be at 64, not 674.” Wright left with a list of chemical ingredients to check for and spent the two weeks before her follow-up appointment overhauling only what touched her skin — clearing out perfumes, candles, plug-in air fresheners and cleaning products. They gave her no dietary changes. “In that two-week time span, my estrogen went from 674 down to 128,” she said. Why It’s So Cheap Adisa-Farrar traced fast fashion’s rock-bottom prices back to the supply chain itself. Clothing materials like polyester, acrylic and nylon are petroleum-based — derived from oil — and made artificially cheap through fossil-fuel subsidies. The oil refineries that process those materials, she noted, tend to be located in Black and brown communities, so the pollution burden falls disproportionately on the same populations exposed to the chemicals in the finished garments. Labor to make the garments is sourced overseas, where environmental and wage regulations are minimal, which is “why your Shein crop top costs three dollars,” as she put it. She offered a striking statistic: In 1960, about 95% of U.S. clothing was made domestically, with roughly 89% of it from natural fibers like wool, hemp and cotton. Today, less than 3% of American clothing is made in the United States. And roughly two-thirds of all clothing is made from polyester, acrylic, nylon and other synthetics — a shift that applies to sheets and bedding as well. What Women Can Do The panelists agreed that meaningful change starts small. Wright recommends using a free, ingredient-scanning app, Yuka, to check the health impact of shampoos, lotions and detergents. She also recommends switching to a clean laundry detergent that doesn’t contain dyes or fragrances, and washing new clothes before wearing them. Kennedy Black suggested changing shopping habits to eliminate buying garments with toxic materials. She recommended checking care labels to extend the life of what you already own. Adisa-Farrar encouraged consumers to read clothing fiber labels the way they’d read a food ingredient list before purchasing. Favor natural fibers such as cotton, linen and wool, she said, and seek out small, sustainable, Black-owned brands. She noted that her organization connects Black farmers and natural-dye artisans directly with designers. She also urged people to reclaim their power by remembering that consumers also are influencers whose choices shape what gets made and marketed to their communities. She stressed the need to stay politically engaged by signing petitions and supporting lobbying coalitions that have helped remove some PFAS from children’s clothing. REGISTER NOW: Is College Still Worth It? The post The Hidden Cost of the “Great Deal”: Is Fast Fashion Worth Your Health? appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"The
\n

In the past decade, fast-fashion retailers have reshaped how Americans shop, creating a constant firehose of new styles and “irresistible” deals for consumers of trendy clothing often made quickly and cheaply. The barrage of options is refreshed daily by online retailers like Shein, Temu and Fashion Nova, alongside chains like H&M. 

\n\n\n\n

U.S. consumers spend tens of billions of dollars each year on clothing, with a growing share of those dollars on ultra-cheap garments designed to be worn a few times and discarded. It’s easy to see the appeal. Few people can resist an $8 dress or $12 pair of jeans when standard retailers charge much more. 

\n\n\n\n

But the true cost of cheap fashion is rarely printed on the tag. A growing body of independent research has found that a lot of this clothing contains endocrine-disrupting chemicals such as PFAS — or “forever chemicals,” undisclosed “fragrance” additives and phthalates, which are linked to thyroid dysfunction and cancers. 

\n\n\n\n

A recent Word In Black virtual panel, “The Dark Side of Our Addiction to Fast Fashion,” moderated by events manager Shernay Williams, discussed the downside of fast fashion, including its impact on personal health, the environment and Black businesses.

\n\n\n\n

Williams noted the panel’s timeliness, with Shein currently facing a major lawsuit in Texas for allegedly violating the state’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act by misleading consumers about product safety. Texas alleges the China-based company has been selling children’s and maternity clothing containing dangerous levels of forever chemicals, lead, formaldehyde and other dangerous substances. The suit also raises concerns about customer data safety, deceptive pricing and copyright infringement. Temu and Fashion Nova face similar allegations. Black designers also allege that the companies have stolen many of their fashion designs.

\n\n\n\n

These dangerous chemicals mimic the body’s natural hormones once absorbed, binding to hormone receptors and blocking the body’s own hormones from functioning properly. Long-term exposure has been linked to hormonal diseases and cancers — including breast, testicular and prostate cancer — along with thyroid dysfunction, metabolic issues, and early-onset puberty, panelist Kennedy Black of the Resilient Sisterhood Project explained. 

\n\n\n\n

Health concerns have grown to the point where the state of California has gone beyond forcing companies to disclose which chemicals they’re using. Manufacturers and distributors have been penalized with fines totaling tens of millions in settlements over the undisclosed use of lead, phthalates and PFAS. 

\n\n\n\n

A Disproportionate Burden on Black Women

\n\n\n\n

But the fines and penalties don’t reflect the level of harm many consumers experience. 

\n\n\n\n

Panelist Teju Adisa-Farrar, founder of the Black Fiber &Textile Network, framed the issue in stark terms: Across makeup, hair, and fashion, Black women use the most toxic products of any group. 

\n\n\n\n

Nearly 80% of beauty and personal care products marketed to Black women are full of chemicals, including preservatives and undisclosed fragrances, that make them moderately to severely hazardous, according to a 2025 report by the nonprofit Environmental Working Group.

\n\n\n\n

Kennedy Black’s organization also ran a research and outreach initiative called POWER, Product Options in Women’s Engaged Research, to study this exposure and help Black women make more informed choices. She also flagged parabens — commonly added to shampoos and conditioners to prevent mold — as linked to uterine cancer.

\n\n\n\n

RELATED: Beauty Products for Black Women More Likely to Be Hazardous

\n\n\n\n

Jamila Wright, founder of the Richie Writz brand and a content creator who documents her own experience with hormone disruption, shared her personal story during the virtual program. After years of unexplained weight gain and breast tenderness, and her primary care doctor offering little beyond diet advice, she went to a medi-spa that specialized in hormone testing.

\n\n\n\n

“I said, ‘Let me go somewhere where they actually study hormones, they do hormone replacement therapy, somebody who will give me some real answers because I’m paying for it,’” Wright recalled.

\n\n\n\n

The experience and the results were shocking. The practitioner’s first questions weren’t about diet, Wright recalled. They were about what Wright was putting on her skin, in her hair, and what clothes she was wearing.

\n\n\n\n

“My estrogen was at six hundred and seventy-four,” Wright said. The practitioner told her, “I’ve never seen estrogen levels this high. You should be at 64, not 674.”  

\n\n\n\n

Wright left with a list of chemical ingredients to check for and spent the two weeks before her follow-up appointment overhauling only what touched her skin — clearing out perfumes, candles, plug-in air fresheners and cleaning products. They gave her no dietary changes. “In that two-week time span, my estrogen went from 674 down to 128,” she said.

\n\n\n\n

Why It’s So Cheap

\n\n\n\n

Adisa-Farrar traced fast fashion’s rock-bottom prices back to the supply chain itself. Clothing materials like polyester, acrylic and nylon are petroleum-based — derived from oil — and made artificially cheap through fossil-fuel subsidies. The oil refineries that process those materials, she noted, tend to be located in Black and brown communities, so the pollution burden falls disproportionately on the same populations exposed to the chemicals in the finished garments. Labor to make the garments is sourced overseas, where environmental and wage regulations are minimal, which is “why your Shein crop top costs three dollars,” as she put it.

\n\n\n\n

She offered a striking statistic: In 1960, about 95% of U.S. clothing was made domestically, with roughly 89% of it from natural fibers like wool, hemp and cotton. Today, less than 3% of American clothing is made in the United States. And roughly two-thirds of all clothing is made from polyester, acrylic, nylon and other synthetics — a shift that applies to sheets and bedding as well. 

\n\n\n\n

What Women Can Do

\n\n\n\n

The panelists agreed that meaningful change starts small. Wright recommends using a free, ingredient-scanning app, Yuka, to check the health impact of shampoos, lotions and detergents.  She also recommends switching to a clean laundry detergent that doesn’t contain dyes or fragrances, and washing new clothes before wearing them. 

\n\n\n\n

Kennedy Black suggested changing shopping habits to eliminate buying garments with toxic materials. She recommended checking care labels to extend the life of what you already own.

\n\n\n\n

Adisa-Farrar encouraged consumers to read clothing fiber labels the way they’d read a food ingredient list before purchasing. Favor natural fibers such as cotton, linen and wool, she said, and seek out small, sustainable, Black-owned brands. She noted that her organization connects Black farmers and natural-dye artisans directly with designers. 

\n\n\n\n

She also urged people to reclaim their power by remembering that consumers also are influencers whose choices shape what gets made and marketed to their communities. She stressed the need to stay politically engaged by signing petitions and supporting lobbying coalitions that have helped remove some PFAS from children’s clothing.

\n\n\n\n

REGISTER NOW: Is College Still Worth It?

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The post The Hidden Cost of the “Great Deal”: Is Fast Fashion Worth Your Health? appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/08/the-hidden-cost-of-the-great-deal-is-fast-fashion-worth-your-health/","site":"Jennifer Porter Gore","originalAuthor":"Jennifer Porter Gore","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Health","Black women","health"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-08-18T10:58:00.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/GettyImages-2228253130.jpg?fit=594%2C396&ssl=1","type":"image/jpeg"},"createdAt":"2026-08-18T11:12:06.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/GettyImages-2228253130.jpg?fit=594%2C396&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"VsheNnFtpjlO5m4f","title":"Is 2819 Church About Jesus ","description":"Most Sundays, long before the first hymn or prayer at 2819 Church in Atlanta, lines of mostly young worshippers stretch around the building. Some worshippers arrive before sunrise, hoping to secure a seat in one of the hottest, fastest-growing churches in the country. Inside, as seats fill quickly, the service begins with music and prayer. The worship feels urgent: online videos on the church’s website show tears flowing, faces lifted to the ceiling, hands rising into the air. The excitement builds. LEARN MORE: 2819 Church Pastor Joins Pro-Trump Preacher’s Youth Conference Then, Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchel, the man they’ve come to see, walks onto the platform in his trademark uniform: black hoodie, black jeans, and Nike sneakers. The room erupts. To his admirers, Mitchell is a gifted preacher speaking to young people yearning for a message they can believe in. He is calling a spiritually restless generation back to Scripture, repentance, and reverence for God. But the thunderous response he receives—both in the sanctuary and across social media—has raised an uncomfortable question. Are the extraordinarily devoted legion of followers who worship at 2819 Church, watch its livestreams, and wear its merchandise drawn to the message of Jesus Christ? Or are they idolizing the messenger? ‘Sobering Spiritual Encounter’ The debate gained new momentum this week after prophet and author Joshua T. Giles posted a public warning on Facebook, urging people to pray for Mitchell and 2819 Church. Giles wrote that he had experienced what he called “a sobering spiritual encounter” concerning the Atlanta pastor and his rapidly growing congregation. “In the encounter, I was taken to the campus and shown around by one of the campus leaders,” Giles wrote. “When I entered the sanctuary, I saw what appeared to be a shift from something once sacred into an idolatry exaltation of the leader. The altar was becoming defiled, and I perceived a warning concerning mixture and idolatry entering the altar.” Giles wrote that when he spoke about what he was seeing, he was immediately removed from the building. He also emphasized that his warning was not based on Mitchell’s preaching. “I want to be clear: I have never watched a single teaching from Philip Anthony Mitchell,” Giles wrote. But his warning was clear: “The greater the platform, the more fiercely we must guard the altar.” The post generated more than 1,000 reactions and hundreds of comments within hours, with Christians divided over whether Giles had issued a necessary prophetic warning or unfairly cast suspicion on a pastor whose teachings he acknowledged he had never heard. Messenger, or Messiah? “He can’t stop others from idolizing him,” Jada Monae wrote in response. “I hear him speak on this all the time. Maybe God given you this to intercede for him. … I’m sure it’s nothing to rebuke [Mitchell], just to help the people that [are] not mature enough to understand they idolize him.” Erica Monique Jones offered a similar defense. “Pastor Phillip Mitchell is a wonderful preacher who preaches the word of God,” she wrote. “He points his congregation to Jesus. He tells them all the time not to idolize him. That’s not his problem, that’s their problem. He denounces it often.” Another commenter, T.B. Spann, said the warning deserved consideration, pointing to congregation members who have allegedly begun dressing like Mitchell. Still, Spann stopped short of accusing the pastor of deliberately cultivating such devotion. “I can also attest that he does NOT appear to be doing anything malicious,” Spann wrote, “rather turning people to God and rebuking idolatry.” The exchange reflects the tension surrounding Mitchell’s ministry: those who believe his followers may be elevating him too highly acknowledge that he consistently warns them against doing so. I saw what appeared to be a shift from something once sacred into an idolatry exaltation of the leader. The altar was becoming defiled.Joshua T. Giles, Thelologian and author The speculation had surfaced publicly before Giles’ post. In 2025, a woman who identified herself as a prophet interrupted a 2819 worship service and called on the congregation to repent of idolizing Mitchell. Security removed her, but recordings of the confrontation circulated widely online, producing reaction videos and debates about prophetic accountability, church order and celebrity culture. ‘He’s Just a Man’ There is no documented evidence that 2819 Church teaches its members to worship Mitchell, but Mitchell himself has preached against such idolatry. “Maybe somebody brought you here and said, ‘Come hear Philip Anthony Mitchell preach,’” he said during a Jubilee Sunday service. But the draw, he told the congregation, should be a higher power: “He’s just a man. Come feel God’s presence. It’s much better.” Mitchell then said the congregation should be able to thank God for its growth “and not idolize a preacher.” He regularly encourages listeners to study Scripture for themselves rather than accept his words without examination. Still, the concern — like Mitchell’s popularity — has not disappeared. His supporters often describe Mitchell as uniquely anointed, defend him against nearly every criticism, and speak of his sermons as though few other preachers could deliver his brand of biblical truth. But critics point to the emotional intensity and zeal his appearances stir in his followers, as well as his the highly-produced worship environment — an atmosphere closer to a rap show or a nightclub than a worship service — and the congregation’s enthusiastic response whenever he takes the stage. Some of that response is understandable. Since relaunching the congregation as 2819 Church in 2023 with 183 believers, Mitchell has attracted thousands by preaching verse-by-verse messages that reject what he considers watered-down Christianity. The church’s name comes from Matthew 28:19 and Christ’s command to make disciples of all nations. Soaring Popularity In just three years, weekly attendance has exploded to approximately 6,000 worshippers, according to the church. An October 2025 prayer gathering drew an estimated 40,000 people, filling both Atlanta’s State Farm Arena and an overflow facility to capacity. The Associated Press⁠ reported that some worshippers travel significant distances and begin lining up at 5:30 a.m. Young adults told the AP they are attracted to Mitchell’s refusal to shy away from difficult subjects. They described his preaching as direct, based solely on scripture and different from the motivational messages they associate with some contemporary churches. Mitchell’s testimony adds to his appeal. He speaks openly about dealing drugs as a child, spending time at Rikers Island, paying for abortions, struggling with depression and attempting suicide. His transformation gives him credibility among listeners who believe he understands both the streets and Scripture. But his high-voltage charisma and devoted following carries spiritual risk. Church history is filled with gifted leaders whose followers confused anointing with infallibility. Social media magnifies that danger by allowing people to hear a pastor every day, carry his voice into their homes, and form an emotional connection with someone they may never meet in person. Admiration becomes idolatry when a leader cannot be questioned, when criticism is automatically labeled an attack from the enemy or when loyalty to the pastor becomes indistinguishable from loyalty to God. Criticism and Controversy Mitchell has faced his share of criticism. In 2025, he apologized after preaching that Black parents should stop blaming white police officers for killing Black children and instead teach their children to obey authority. He later acknowledged that Black people have been killed by police whether compliant or noncompliant and called his original framing harmful. Christianity Today⁠ reported his apology. That episode demonstrated why no preacher, regardless of popularity, should be treated as beyond correction. The idolization question may ultimately reveal as much about American Christianity as it does about Mitchell. RELATED: There’s More to 2819 Church Than an ‘Obey Cops’ Controversy A generation distrustful of institutions still searches for leaders who seem authentic, courageous, and certain. Mitchell’s intensity satisfies that hunge But 2819 describes its mission as spreading the Gospel and multiplying disciples — not building a personality-driven movement. The church says⁠ Christ’s last command must remain its first priority. Whether 2819 maintains that distinction will depend not only on what Mitchell preaches, but on whether its members can celebrate his gift without placing him where only God belongs. The post Is 2819 Church About Jesus — or Philip Anthony Mitchell? appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"Philip
\n

Most Sundays, long before the first hymn or prayer at 2819 Church in Atlanta, lines of mostly young worshippers stretch around the building. Some worshippers arrive before sunrise, hoping to secure a seat in one of the hottest, fastest-growing churches in the country.

\n\n\n\n

Inside, as seats fill quickly, the service begins with music and prayer. The worship feels urgent: online videos on the church’s website show tears flowing, faces lifted to the ceiling, hands rising into the air. The excitement builds.

\n\n\n\n

LEARN MORE: 2819 Church Pastor Joins Pro-Trump Preacher’s Youth Conference

\n\n\n\n

Then, Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchel, the man they’ve come to see, walks onto the platform in his trademark uniform: black hoodie, black jeans, and Nike sneakers. The room erupts.

\n\n\n\n

To his admirers, Mitchell is a gifted preacher speaking to young people yearning for a message they can believe in. He is calling a spiritually restless generation back to Scripture, repentance, and reverence for God. But the thunderous response he receives—both in the sanctuary and across social media—has raised an uncomfortable question.

\n\n\n\n

Are the extraordinarily devoted legion of followers who worship at 2819 Church, watch its livestreams, and wear its merchandise drawn to the message of Jesus Christ? Or are they idolizing the messenger?

\n\n\n\n

‘Sobering Spiritual Encounter’

\n\n\n\n

The debate gained new momentum this week after prophet and author Joshua T. Giles posted a public warning on Facebook, urging people to pray for Mitchell and 2819 Church. Giles wrote that he had experienced what he called “a sobering spiritual encounter” concerning the Atlanta pastor and his rapidly growing congregation.

\n\n\n\n

“In the encounter, I was taken to the campus and shown around by one of the campus leaders,” Giles wrote. “When I entered the sanctuary, I saw what appeared to be a shift from something once sacred into an idolatry exaltation of the leader. The altar was becoming defiled, and I perceived a warning concerning mixture and idolatry entering the altar.”

\n\n\n\n

Giles wrote that when he spoke about what he was seeing, he was immediately removed from the building. He also emphasized that his warning was not based on Mitchell’s preaching.

\n\n\n\n

“I want to be clear: I have never watched a single teaching from Philip Anthony Mitchell,” Giles wrote. But his warning was clear: “The greater the platform, the more fiercely we must guard the altar.”

\n\n\n\n

The post generated more than 1,000 reactions and hundreds of comments within hours, with Christians divided over whether Giles had issued a necessary prophetic warning or unfairly cast suspicion on a pastor whose teachings he acknowledged he had never heard.

\n\n\n\n

Messenger, or Messiah?

\n\n\n\n

“He can’t stop others from idolizing him,” Jada Monae wrote in response. “I hear him speak on this all the time. Maybe God given you this to intercede for him. … I’m sure it’s nothing to rebuke [Mitchell], just to help the people that [are] not mature enough to understand they idolize him.”

\n\n\n\n

Erica Monique Jones offered a similar defense.

\n\n\n\n

“Pastor Phillip Mitchell is a wonderful preacher who preaches the word of God,” she wrote. “He points his congregation to Jesus. He tells them all the time not to idolize him. That’s not his problem, that’s their problem. He denounces it often.”

\n\n\n\n

Another commenter, T.B. Spann, said the warning deserved consideration, pointing to congregation members who have allegedly begun dressing like Mitchell. Still, Spann stopped short of accusing the pastor of deliberately cultivating such devotion.

\n\n\n\n

“I can also attest that he does NOT appear to be doing anything malicious,” Spann wrote, “rather turning people to God and rebuking idolatry.”

\n\n\n\n

The exchange reflects the tension surrounding Mitchell’s ministry: those who believe his followers may be elevating him too highly acknowledge that he consistently warns them against doing so.

\n\n\n\n

I saw what appeared to be a shift from something once sacred into an idolatry exaltation of the leader. The altar was becoming defiled.

Joshua T. Giles, Thelologian and author
\n\n\n\n

The speculation had surfaced publicly before Giles’ post. 

\n\n\n\n

In 2025, a woman who identified herself as a prophet interrupted a 2819 worship service and called on the congregation to repent of idolizing Mitchell. Security removed her, but recordings of the confrontation circulated widely online, producing reaction videos and debates about prophetic accountability, church order and celebrity culture.

\n\n\n\n

‘He’s Just a Man’

\n\n\n\n

There is no documented evidence that 2819 Church teaches its members to worship Mitchell, but Mitchell himself has preached against such idolatry.

\n\n\n\n

“Maybe somebody brought you here and said, ‘Come hear Philip Anthony Mitchell preach,’” he said during a Jubilee Sunday service. But the draw, he told the congregation, should be a higher power: “He’s just a man. Come feel God’s presence. It’s much better.”

\n\n\n\n

Mitchell then said the congregation should be able to thank God for its growth “and not idolize a preacher.” He regularly encourages listeners to study Scripture for themselves rather than accept his words without examination.

\n\n\n\n

Still, the concern — like Mitchell’s popularity — has not disappeared.

\n\n\n\n

His supporters often describe Mitchell as uniquely anointed, defend him against nearly every criticism, and speak of his sermons as though few other preachers could deliver his brand of biblical truth. But critics point to the emotional intensity and zeal his appearances stir in his followers, as well as his the highly-produced worship environment — an atmosphere closer to a rap show or a nightclub than a worship service — and the congregation’s enthusiastic response whenever he takes the stage.

\n\n\n\n

Some of that response is understandable.

\n\n\n\n

Since relaunching the congregation as 2819 Church in 2023 with 183 believers, Mitchell has attracted thousands by preaching verse-by-verse messages that reject what he considers watered-down Christianity. The church’s name comes from Matthew 28:19 and Christ’s command to make disciples of all nations.

\n\n\n\n

Soaring Popularity

\n\n\n\n

In just three years, weekly attendance has exploded to approximately 6,000 worshippers, according to the church. An October 2025 prayer gathering drew an estimated 40,000 people, filling both Atlanta’s State Farm Arena and an overflow facility to capacity. The Associated Press⁠ reported that some worshippers travel significant distances and begin lining up at 5:30 a.m.

\n\n\n\n

Young adults told the AP they are attracted to Mitchell’s refusal to shy away from difficult subjects. They described his preaching as direct, based solely on scripture and different from the motivational messages they associate with some contemporary churches.

\n\n\n\n

Mitchell’s testimony adds to his appeal. He speaks openly about dealing drugs as a child, spending time at Rikers Island, paying for abortions, struggling with depression and attempting suicide. His transformation gives him credibility among listeners who believe he understands both the streets and Scripture.

\n\n\n\n

But his high-voltage charisma and devoted following carries spiritual risk.

\n\n\n\n

Church history is filled with gifted leaders whose followers confused anointing with infallibility. Social media magnifies that danger by allowing people to hear a pastor every day, carry his voice into their homes, and form an emotional connection with someone they may never meet in person.

\n\n\n\n

Admiration becomes idolatry when a leader cannot be questioned, when criticism is automatically labeled an attack from the enemy or when loyalty to the pastor becomes indistinguishable from loyalty to God.

\n\n\n\n

Criticism and Controversy

\n\n\n\n

Mitchell has faced his share of criticism. In 2025, he apologized after preaching that Black parents should stop blaming white police officers for killing Black children and instead teach their children to obey authority. He later acknowledged that Black people have been killed by police whether compliant or noncompliant and called his original framing harmful. Christianity Today⁠ reported his apology.

\n\n\n\n

That episode demonstrated why no preacher, regardless of popularity, should be treated as beyond correction.

\n\n\n\n

The idolization question may ultimately reveal as much about American Christianity as it does about Mitchell. 

\n\n\n\n

RELATED: There’s More to 2819 Church Than an ‘Obey Cops’ Controversy

\n\n\n\n

A generation distrustful of institutions still searches for leaders who seem authentic, courageous, and certain. Mitchell’s intensity satisfies that hunge

\n\n\n\n

But 2819 describes its mission as spreading the Gospel and multiplying disciples — not building a personality-driven movement. The church says⁠ Christ’s last command must remain its first priority.

\n\n\n\n

Whether 2819 maintains that distinction will depend not only on what Mitchell preaches, but on whether its members can celebrate his gift without placing him where only God belongs.

\n

The post Is 2819 Church About Jesus — or Philip Anthony Mitchell? appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/08/is-2819-church-about-jesus-or-philip-anthony-mitchell/","site":"Rev. Dorothy S. Boulware","originalAuthor":"Rev. Dorothy S. Boulware","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Religion"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-08-14T15:36:40.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/GettyImages-2232629816.jpg?fit=594%2C373&ssl=1","type":"image/jpeg"},"createdAt":"2026-08-14T15:49:17.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/GettyImages-2232629816.jpg?fit=594%2C373&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"6OlIiMC23oYVbbiR","title":"The Latest Tool to Help Prevent Maternal Mortality: Wristbands","description":"Hospitals across the U.S. are trying to reduce maternal deaths and complications after pregnancies using one small tool: a silicone wristband stamped with the declaration “I Gave Birth.” The wristbands are part of a growing initiative first launched by North Carolina-based ECU Health as Congress sought to address the nation’s growing maternal mortality crisis during the covid pandemic. Since 2021, nearly 50 North Carolina hospitals and the state’s health department have begun distributing the wristbands, to give mothers and care providers a visual reminder of the life-threatening health risks after birth. LEARN MORE: Saving Black Mothers Starts Outside the Hospital The Connecticut state health department; large health systems in Arkansas, Georgia, and Mississippi; and hospitals in at least 24 other states have also embraced the program. The wristbands are intended to make emergency workers aware of postpartum risks, ensure better treatment, and help lower maternal mortality rates in the U.S., where nearly 70% of pregnancy-related deaths happen after the day of delivery — and nearly 40% happen after the six-week mark. Moms in Jeopardy This year, North Carolina plans to expand the initiative with part of the $213 million it received through the Rural Health Transformation Program, a provision of President Donald Trump’s signature One Big Beautiful Bill Act, also known as HR 1. Dr. Tamika Auguste, a physician and the board chair at the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists Foundation, praised the wristbands as a useful tool “to increase awareness and education around postpartum health.” But she and others who focus on maternal health said efforts like the wristband campaigns are only part of what’s needed to combat the broader maternal mortality crisis in the U.S. And they noted the wristbands’ popularity is emerging as Trump’s 2025 law is expected to reduce Medicaid spending by more than $900 billion over 10 years, according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis. Medicaid, the federal-state program that covers healthcare for low-income families, pays for at least 40% of births nationwide. Elisabeth Wright Burak, a policy researcher at Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families, said Trump’s tax-and-spending law is stifling the momentum states had been gaining with maternal care since 2022. That’s when Congress allowed states to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage from 60 days to a year, which nearly every state did. Now, those extensions could end up on the chopping block, Burak said, as states seek ways to manage Medicaid losses. “There is no question that HR 1 risks setting the clock back for maternal health,” Burak said. A report she co-authored in July warned that postpartum patients have more to worry about with the new law than simply cuts to Medicaid. States are also setting up systems that may not adequately track pregnant and postpartum enrollees who should be exempt from the law’s new work requirements, erroneously dropping them from coverage, Burak’s report said. Dr. Tamika Auguste (LinkedIn/Tamika Auguste) Maternal Mortality U.S. maternal mortality rates have risen and fallen over the past seven years, with 649 maternal deaths in 2024, according to the most recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. Tennessee had the worst maternal mortality rate in the nation from 2020 to 2024, around 42 deaths per 100,000 births, according an analysis of CDC data by the Congressional Research Service. North Carolina’s rate was about 29 in 100,000, with a national average of 23. In its Rural Health Transformation Program application, North Carolina said the initiative creating the “I Gave Birth” wristbands reduced postpartum readmissions by nearly a third at ECU Health Medical Center in Greenville, without elaborating. In online promotions, some hospitals have claimed the wristband campaigns can save lives, though many have recently launched and their impact has yet to be studied. “Additional research is needed to conclusively confirm the outcomes of such initiatives,” said Hannah Jones, a spokesperson for the North Carolina health department. ‘Hey, I got an Education’ Hospitals provide a wristband to patients who have given birth and instruct them to wear it for weeks or months, hoping they’ll be reminded to check in with a physician if they feel chest pain, have headaches, or start bleeding. The accessory resembles the yellow Livestrong wristband, part of a cancer awareness campaign launched by cyclist Lance Armstrong’s foundation. A nurse also talks through postpartum risks with the patients, and they’re sent home with pamphlets and guidebooks on how to care for their new child and themselves. “The bracelet itself is simply a reminder of, ‘Hey, I got education,’” said Jessica Noble, a nurse with East Carolina University-connected ECU Health who pioneered the initiative. There are so many risks, and it’s just like you almost become invisible. Alexandra Mellon, Doula, Asheville, North Carolina It’s also intended to alert first responders and other healthcare providers that a woman has recently given birth and to check for postpartum complications, such as low blood pressure, bleeding, or infections. Emergency department staff and EMS workers sometimes don’t have adequate training to recognize postpartum complications, research shows, which can be dangerous when those patients end up in an emergency room. Postpartum wristbands gained traction across the country through health awareness campaigns fueled by social media posts and evening news segments. New mothers appeared in promotional photos and videos wearing the wristband and raving about the accessory, saying it celebrated childbirth. Some postpartum patients who faced traumatic births or mental health struggles saw it differently. Preventable Deaths Alexandra Mellon gave birth last year. Her daughter was stillborn. Devastated, she sought out a therapist, donated her breast milk, and tried to find meaning in her circumstances. She spent a year feeling isolated, she said, often because people don’t know what to say. Mellon said wearing one of the wristbands would have been a painful reminder of her loss. Now she works as a doula in Asheville, North Carolina. Mellon said what she thinks new moms need most is community and emotional support. The wristband could help encourage that for some patients, she said, but isn’t for everyone. “There are so many risks, and it’s just like you almost become invisible,” she said. More than 80% of pregnancy-related deaths are preventable, according to the CDC. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in March published guidance, developed during the Biden administration, that urged hospitals to create better emergency department protocols to catch postpartum complications and to measure their work against state and national maternal health data. More Research Needed But those efforts faced a major threat last year when the Trump administration sought to cut CDC funding for state-level maternal mortality data in its proposed 2026 budget. While Congress rejected that move, the administration did lay off staff tracking postpartum patients’ health. The Trump administration tried again to cut $113.5 million in CDC maternal health research in its proposed 2027 budget. Congress has instead proposed increasing funding to $115.5 million. Without more research, it’s unclear how effective the wristbands are in encouraging postpartum patients to seek care when they need it. A U.K. study of mass media campaigns to improve health outcomes, such as preventing risky substance use or encouraging exercise, found that the campaigns didn’t change behaviors. Another study found that the U.S. “Back to Sleep” campaign, which educates parents on safe sleeping practices with babies, dramatically reduced rates of sudden infant death syndrome for several years after it launched in 1994, though rates plateaued in the early 2000s. In 2020, the CDC tried a similar national campaign, “Hear Her,” aimed at helping women speak up when something felt wrong after delivery. The CDC released a study on the campaign years later that said it “had the unintended consequence of appearing to put the burden on the people who are pregnant or postpartum to speak up.” RELATED: Vanishing Care: GOP Healthcare Cuts Hit Black America Hard ECU Health Medical Center created the wristband initiative in 2021 and published a study two years later. In it the authors noted the pregnancy-related readmission rate at the Greenville hospital fell 0.77%. It attributed the change to the “education provided to patients, family members, and medical personnel” in the initiative, without elaborating. Campaigns like the “I Gave Birth” initiative are far from a final solution to maternal mortality, said Noble, the campaign’s architect and lead author on the ECU Health study. If she “had a magic wand,” she said, North Carolina would not just have better postpartum care but would also address the root causes of pregnancy complications. “But I don’t have one, and I can’t make system-level change immediately.” KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF. This article first appeared on KFF Health News and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. The post The Latest Tool to Help Prevent Maternal Mortality: Wristbands appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"Hospitals
\n

Hospitals across the U.S. are trying to reduce maternal deaths and complications after pregnancies using one small tool: a silicone wristband stamped with the declaration “I Gave Birth.”

\n\n\n\n

The wristbands are part of a growing initiative first launched by North Carolina-based ECU Health as Congress sought to address the nation’s growing maternal mortality crisis during the covid pandemic. Since 2021, nearly 50 North Carolina hospitals and the state’s health department have begun distributing the wristbands, to give mothers and care providers a visual reminder of the life-threatening health risks after birth.

\n\n\n\n

LEARN MORE: Saving Black Mothers Starts Outside the Hospital

\n\n\n\n

The Connecticut state health department; large health systems in Arkansas, Georgia, and Mississippi; and hospitals in at least 24 other states have also embraced the program. The wristbands are intended to make emergency workers aware of postpartum risks, ensure better treatment, and help lower maternal mortality rates in the U.S., where nearly 70% of pregnancy-related deaths happen after the day of delivery — and nearly 40% happen after the six-week mark.

\n\n\n\n

Moms in Jeopardy

\n\n\n\n

This year, North Carolina plans to expand the initiative with part of the $213 million it received through the Rural Health Transformation Program, a provision of President Donald Trump’s signature One Big Beautiful Bill Act, also known as HR 1.

\n\n\n\n

Dr. Tamika Auguste, a physician and the board chair at the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists Foundation, praised the wristbands as a useful tool “to increase awareness and education around postpartum health.” But she and others who focus on maternal health said efforts like the wristband campaigns are only part of what’s needed to combat the broader maternal mortality crisis in the U.S.

\n\n\n\n

And they noted the wristbands’ popularity is emerging as Trump’s 2025 law is expected to reduce Medicaid spending by more than $900 billion over 10 years, according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis. Medicaid, the federal-state program that covers healthcare for low-income families, pays for at least 40% of births nationwide.

\n\n\n\n

Elisabeth Wright Burak, a policy researcher at Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families, said Trump’s tax-and-spending law is stifling the momentum states had been gaining with maternal care since 2022. That’s when Congress allowed states to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage from 60 days to a year, which nearly every state did.

\n\n\n\n

Now, those extensions could end up on the chopping block, Burak said, as states seek ways to manage Medicaid losses.

\n\n\n\n

“There is no question that HR 1 risks setting the clock back for maternal health,” Burak said.

\n\n\n\n

A report she co-authored in July warned that postpartum patients have more to worry about with the new law than simply cuts to Medicaid. States are also setting up systems that may not adequately track pregnant and postpartum enrollees who should be exempt from the law’s new work requirements, erroneously dropping them from coverage, Burak’s report said.

\n\n\n
\n
\"\"
Dr. Tamika Auguste (LinkedIn/Tamika Auguste)
\n
\n\n\n

Maternal Mortality

\n\n\n\n

U.S. maternal mortality rates have risen and fallen over the past seven years, with 649 maternal deaths in 2024, according to the most recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. Tennessee had the worst maternal mortality rate in the nation from 2020 to 2024, around 42 deaths per 100,000 births, according an analysis of CDC data by the Congressional Research Service. North Carolina’s rate was about 29 in 100,000, with a national average of 23.

\n\n\n\n

In its Rural Health Transformation Program application, North Carolina said the initiative creating the “I Gave Birth” wristbands reduced postpartum readmissions by nearly a third at ECU Health Medical Center in Greenville, without elaborating. In online promotions, some hospitals have claimed the wristband campaigns can save lives, though many have recently launched and their impact has yet to be studied.

\n\n\n\n

“Additional research is needed to conclusively confirm the outcomes of such initiatives,” said Hannah Jones, a spokesperson for the North Carolina health department.

\n\n\n\n

‘Hey, I got an Education’

\n\n\n\n

Hospitals provide a wristband to patients who have given birth and instruct them to wear it for weeks or months, hoping they’ll be reminded to check in with a physician if they feel chest pain, have headaches, or start bleeding. The accessory resembles the yellow Livestrong wristband, part of a cancer awareness campaign launched by cyclist Lance Armstrong’s foundation. A nurse also talks through postpartum risks with the patients, and they’re sent home with pamphlets and guidebooks on how to care for their new child and themselves.

\n\n\n\n

“The bracelet itself is simply a reminder of, ‘Hey, I got education,’” said Jessica Noble, a nurse with East Carolina University-connected ECU Health who pioneered the initiative.

\n\n\n\n

There are so many risks, and it’s just like you almost become invisible.

Alexandra Mellon, Doula, Asheville, North Carolina
\n\n\n\n

It’s also intended to alert first responders and other healthcare providers that a woman has recently given birth and to check for postpartum complications, such as low blood pressure, bleeding, or infections. Emergency department staff and EMS workers sometimes don’t have adequate training to recognize postpartum complications, research shows, which can be dangerous when those patients end up in an emergency room.

\n\n\n\n

Postpartum wristbands gained traction across the country through health awareness campaigns fueled by social media posts and evening news segments. New mothers appeared in promotional photos and videos wearing the wristband and raving about the accessory, saying it celebrated childbirth.

\n\n\n\n

Some postpartum patients who faced traumatic births or mental health struggles saw it differently.

\n\n\n\n

Preventable Deaths

\n\n\n\n

Alexandra Mellon gave birth last year. Her daughter was stillborn. Devastated, she sought out a therapist, donated her breast milk, and tried to find meaning in her circumstances. She spent a year feeling isolated, she said, often because people don’t know what to say.

\n\n\n\n

Mellon said wearing one of the wristbands would have been a painful reminder of her loss.

\n\n\n\n

Now she works as a doula in Asheville, North Carolina. Mellon said what she thinks new moms need most is community and emotional support. The wristband could help encourage that for some patients, she said, but isn’t for everyone.

\n\n\n\n

“There are so many risks, and it’s just like you almost become invisible,” she said.

\n\n\n\n

More than 80% of pregnancy-related deaths are preventable, according to the CDC. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in March published guidance, developed during the Biden administration, that urged hospitals to create better emergency department protocols to catch postpartum complications and to measure their work against state and national maternal health data.

\n\n\n\n

More Research Needed

\n\n\n\n

But those efforts faced a major threat last year when the Trump administration sought to cut CDC funding for state-level maternal mortality data in its proposed 2026 budget. While Congress rejected that move, the administration did lay off staff tracking postpartum patients’ health.

\n\n\n\n

The Trump administration tried again to cut $113.5 million in CDC maternal health research in its proposed 2027 budget. Congress has instead proposed increasing funding to $115.5 million.

\n\n\n\n

Without more research, it’s unclear how effective the wristbands are in encouraging postpartum patients to seek care when they need it. A U.K. study of mass media campaigns to improve health outcomes, such as preventing risky substance use or encouraging exercise, found that the campaigns didn’t change behaviors. Another study found that the U.S. “Back to Sleep” campaign, which educates parents on safe sleeping practices with babies, dramatically reduced rates of sudden infant death syndrome for several years after it launched in 1994, though rates plateaued in the early 2000s.

\n\n\n\n

In 2020, the CDC tried a similar national campaign, “Hear Her,” aimed at helping women speak up when something felt wrong after delivery.

\n\n\n\n

The CDC released a study on the campaign years later that said it “had the unintended consequence of appearing to put the burden on the people who are pregnant or postpartum to speak up.”

\n\n\n\n

RELATED: Vanishing Care: GOP Healthcare Cuts Hit Black America Hard

\n\n\n\n

ECU Health Medical Center created the wristband initiative in 2021 and published a study two years later. In it the authors noted the pregnancy-related readmission rate at the Greenville hospital fell 0.77%. It attributed the change to the “education provided to patients, family members, and medical personnel” in the initiative, without elaborating.

\n\n\n\n

Campaigns like the “I Gave Birth” initiative are far from a final solution to maternal mortality, said Noble, the campaign’s architect and lead author on the ECU Health study. If she “had a magic wand,” she said, North Carolina would not just have better postpartum care but would also address the root causes of pregnancy complications. “But I don’t have one, and I can’t make system-level change immediately.”

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KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

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This article first appeared on KFF Health News and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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The post The Latest Tool to Help Prevent Maternal Mortality: Wristbands appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/08/the-latest-tool-to-help-prevent-maternal-mortality-wristbands/","site":"Andrew Jones/KFF Health News","originalAuthor":"Andrew Jones/KFF Health News","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Health","Healthcare Disparities"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-08-12T19:42:06.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/maternal-scaled.webp?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1","type":"image/webp"},"createdAt":"2026-08-12T19:47:06.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/maternal-scaled.webp?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"37E2Rn1MlqPrHyeI","title":"Is College Still Worth It?, 8/19 Event","description":"While enrollment is declining at many four-year colleges, HBCUs are breaking enrollment records. But what does the future look like for college graduates as the U.S. grapples with AI in the workplace and an unstable job market? Join this live, virtual event as we explore whether college is still worth it in 2026. We invite you to submit your thoughts by Thursday, 8/13. We’ll share as many responses as we can during the live event. Wed., August 19, 2026, 6-7:15 p.m. ET Moderator: Jasmine Ballard, founder of Melanotion, design strategist, speaker Panelists: Denim Fisher, rising junior at Spelman College, 2025 Word In Black racial healing fellow LeNayah Page, executive business consultant, entrepreneur, trade school graduate Dr. Bradley Hardy, Georgetown University distinguished professor, McCourt School of Public Policy Dr. Darla Cooper, executive director and CEO of The RP Group Register below. Loading… document.addEventListener('riverside:registrationSuccess', function(e) { const webinarLink = e.detail && e.detail.webinarLink; const formContainer = document.getElementById('riverside-webinar-form'); if (formContainer && webinarLink) { formContainer.innerHTML = ` You are registered to a webinar Join webinar `; } }); document.addEventListener('riverside:registrationFailure', function(e) { const errorMessage = e.detail && e.detail.message; console.error('Registration failed:', errorMessage || 'Unknown error'); }); Rewatch Word In Black’s previous events on YouTube The post Is College Still Worth It?, 8/19 Event appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
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While enrollment is declining at many four-year colleges, HBCUs are breaking enrollment records. 

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But what does the future look like for college graduates as the U.S. grapples with AI in the workplace and an unstable job market? Join this live, virtual event as we explore whether college is still worth it in 2026. 

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We invite you to submit your thoughts by Thursday, 8/13. We’ll share as many responses as we can during the live event.

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Wed., August 19, 2026, 6-7:15 p.m. ET

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Moderator: Jasmine Ballard, founder of Melanotion, design strategist, speaker

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Panelists:

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Register below.

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\n Loading…\n
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Rewatch Word In Black’s previous events on YouTube

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The post Is College Still Worth It?, 8/19 Event appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/08/collegeevent/","site":"Shernay Williams","originalAuthor":"Shernay Williams","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Education","Events","Higher Education"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-08-12T17:39:38.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Website-Thumbnail.png?fit=819%2C1024&ssl=1","type":"image/png"},"createdAt":"2026-08-12T17:41:07.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Website-Thumbnail.png?fit=819%2C1024&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"I3XxfyB2t7gR0LxT","title":"As School Season Begins, Trump Calls for a Revised Vaccine Schedule","description":"President Donald Trump on Monday revived his attempt to change the nation’s approach to childhood vaccines by signing an executive order that would upend the routine schedule of jabs children receive in their early years. Titled “Delivering Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations for Americans,” the executive order calls for states to voluntarily implement an abbreviated vaccine schedule. The order also calls for states to “break up” the all-in-one measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine children receive. The change would reduce from 18 to 11 the number of diseases children currently are recommended to be vaccinated against during childhood. And by breaking up the standard two-dose regimen to deliver the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, families would have to make more visits to doctors and health clinics to get each shot. “For example, at one year, you should have five separate visits for vaccines rather than getting them all in the same day,” Trump said from the Oval Office. The Specter of Autism Is Raised Again The combined MMR vaccine has been administered to infants since 1971. Public health experts also say there is no indication that spreading out the vaccines would benefit children. In fact, several note that children are more likely to miss doses by having to visit their doctors more often. The change also will require patients to meet additional co-pays for each visit and could increase other out-of-pocket costs. During his comments on Monday, the president implied that U.S. children receive far more vaccines compared to children in other countries, which is false. He also repeated the thoroughly debunked claim that vaccines, especially the MMR, are linked to autism. An array of medical, public health and industry experts say Trump’s executive order is extremely unhelpful — especially with its release just as millions of children, teenagers and young adults prepare to return to school. Increased Number of Measles Cases Already this year, measles cases have reached a 35-year high in the United States, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting measles outbreaks in 45 states and the District of Columbia. As of August 6, more than 2,400 confirmed measles cases have been reported, with about 1,670, or 60%, of the cases striking youths ages 19 and under. Roughly 93% of those affected were unvaccinated, or their vaccination status was unknown, according to the CDC. Ten percent of children under age 5 were hospitalized, according to the statistics. In a statement, Dr. Andrew D. Racine, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, condemned Trump’s order, pointing to “dozens of studies involving millions of people” that disprove the link between autism and vaccines. “[This] executive order is not based on ‘gold-standard science,’” Racine said, adding that “there is no new evidence” to justify the decision. Yet Trump and others “continue to promote this outdated, disproven idea to scare families,” he said, even though “delaying or skipping shots is risky, especially as measles continues to spread and children go back to school.” Last year, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Public Health Association, and several other medical groups sued Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his department over his decision to stop recommending COVID-19 vaccinations for children and pregnant women. The lawsuit was broadened to include Kennedy’s changes to other CDC childhood vaccine recommendations. In March, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction that prevents HHS from implementing those changes. Some view Trump’s executive order as an attempt to skirt the injunction. Earlier this year, at least 23 states said they planned to follow the American Academy of Pediatrics’ guidance for immunizations despite rollbacks by Kennedy and HHS. Immunizations required for school attendance are set at the state and local level. RELATED: Federal Judge Halts Kennedy’s Vaccine Policy Overhaul During the president’s announcement, Kennedy argued for removing vaccine mandates as requirements for attending school. He said the United States “recommended more childhood vaccines than any other peer nation,” while other countries achieve high rates of vaccination through “education, informed consent and public trust rather than mandates.” In his statement, however, Racine stressed that the American Academy of Pediatrics’ immunization recommendations are “based on decades of research and systematic tracking of real-world experiences.” That includes timing the vaccines for specific ages, he said, “based on when children’s immune systems will respond best and when they are most vulnerable to certain diseases.” Drug Companies Raise Concerns U.S. drug company representatives echoed his comments. The current vaccine schedule “is built on decades of rigorous scientific research and public health expertise designed for the U.S. population,” Dr. Michael Ybarra, chief medical officer with Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said in a statement. Changing it to match recommendations from foreign countries, he said, “would mean accepting a lower bar of protection against diseases that remain serious and, in some cases, life-threatening for children in the United States.” Currently, there are no separate, actively licensed vaccines to prevent measles, mumps or rubella, according to PHRMA. On the same day the president issued the vaccine executive order, the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America reiterated its guidance on the importance of several vaccines. The nonprofit stressed that vaccines intended to protect against respiratory illness including COVID-19, influenza and RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, are health maintenance tools for people who have asthma. “AAFA endorses the strong scientific evidence supporting the efficacy and safety of the approved vaccines in the U.S.,” the foundation said in a statement. “There are over 28 million people in the U.S. who have asthma, and this includes about 5 million children. Respiratory infections are a major cause of asthma exacerbations and emergencies. Additionally, it is known that children who get sick with (RSV) infection have a higher chance of developing asthma, a lifelong condition. “AAFA has and continues to recommend influenza, RSV, pneumococcal and COVID vaccines for people with asthma, or for those who come in close contact with those who have asthma.”Three million Black adults in the United States have asthma, making them one of the most affected populations in the nation. And roughly 1 million Black children have asthma, which is nearly twice the rate of white American children. RELATED: CDC Downgrades Childhood Immunization Schedule Amid Deadly Flu Surge The post As School Season Begins, Trump Calls for a Revised Vaccine Schedule appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"Vaccination
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President Donald Trump on Monday revived his attempt to change the nation’s approach to childhood vaccines by signing an executive order that would upend the routine schedule of jabs children receive in their early years. 

\n\n\n\n

Titled “Delivering Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations for Americans,” the executive order calls for states to voluntarily implement an abbreviated vaccine schedule. The order also calls for states to “break up” the all-in-one measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine children receive. 

\n\n\n\n

The change would reduce from 18 to 11 the number of diseases children currently are recommended to be vaccinated against during childhood. And by breaking up the standard two-dose regimen to deliver the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, families would have to make more visits to doctors and health clinics to get each shot. 

\n\n\n\n

“For example, at one year, you should have five separate visits for vaccines rather than getting them all in the same day,” Trump said from the Oval Office.

\n\n\n\n

The Specter of Autism Is Raised Again

\n\n\n\n

The combined MMR vaccine has been administered to infants since 1971. Public health experts also say there is no indication that spreading out the vaccines would benefit children. 

\n\n\n\n

In fact, several note that children are more likely to miss doses by having to visit their doctors more often. The change also will require patients to meet additional co-pays for each visit and could increase other out-of-pocket costs. 

\n\n\n\n

During his comments on Monday, the president implied that U.S. children receive far more vaccines compared to children in other countries, which is false. He also repeated the thoroughly debunked claim that vaccines, especially the MMR, are linked to autism. 

\n\n\n\n

An array of medical, public health and industry experts say Trump’s executive order is extremely unhelpful — especially with its release just as millions of children, teenagers and young adults prepare to return to school. 

\n\n\n\n

Increased Number of Measles Cases

\n\n\n\n

Already this year, measles cases have reached a 35-year high in the United States, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting measles outbreaks in 45 states and the District of Columbia. As of August 6, more than 2,400 confirmed measles cases have been reported, with about 1,670, or 60%, of the cases striking youths ages 19 and under. 

\n\n\n\n

Roughly 93% of those affected were unvaccinated, or their vaccination status was unknown, according to the CDC. Ten percent of children under age 5 were hospitalized, according to the statistics.

\n\n\n\n

In a statement, Dr. Andrew D. Racine, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, condemned Trump’s order, pointing to “dozens of studies involving millions of people” that disprove the link between autism and vaccines. 

\n\n\n\n

“[This] executive order is not based on ‘gold-standard science,’” Racine said, adding that “there is no new evidence” to justify the decision. Yet Trump and others “continue to promote this outdated, disproven idea to scare families,” he said, even though “delaying or skipping shots is risky, especially as measles continues to spread and children go back to school.” 

\n\n\n\n

Last year, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Public Health Association, and several other medical groups sued Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his department over his decision to stop recommending COVID-19 vaccinations for children and pregnant women. The lawsuit was broadened to include Kennedy’s changes to other CDC childhood vaccine recommendations.

\n\n\n\n

In March, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction that prevents HHS from implementing those changes. Some view Trump’s executive order as an attempt to skirt the injunction.

\n\n\n\n

Earlier this year, at least 23 states said they planned to follow the American Academy of Pediatrics’ guidance for immunizations despite rollbacks by Kennedy and HHS. Immunizations required for school attendance are set at the state and local level.

\n\n\n\n

 RELATED: Federal Judge Halts Kennedy’s Vaccine Policy Overhaul

\n\n\n\n

During the president’s announcement, Kennedy argued for removing vaccine mandates as requirements for attending school. He said the United States “recommended more childhood vaccines than any other peer nation,” while other countries achieve high rates of vaccination through “education, informed consent and public trust rather than mandates.”

\n\n\n\n

In his statement, however, Racine stressed that the American Academy of Pediatrics’ immunization recommendations are “based on decades of research and systematic tracking of real-world experiences.” That includes timing the vaccines for specific ages, he said, “based on when children’s immune systems will respond best and when they are most vulnerable to certain diseases.” 

\n\n\n\n

Drug Companies Raise Concerns

\n\n\n\n

U.S. drug company representatives echoed his comments. 

\n\n\n\n

The current vaccine schedule “is built on decades of rigorous scientific research and public health expertise designed for the U.S. population,” Dr. Michael Ybarra, chief medical officer with Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said in a statement. Changing it to match recommendations from foreign countries, he said, “would mean accepting a lower bar of protection against diseases that remain serious and, in some cases, life-threatening for children in the United States.”

\n\n\n\n

Currently, there are no separate, actively licensed vaccines to prevent measles, mumps or rubella, according to PHRMA. 

\n\n\n\n

On the same day the president issued the vaccine executive order, the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America reiterated its guidance on the importance of several vaccines. 

\n\n\n\n

The nonprofit stressed that vaccines intended to protect against respiratory illness including COVID-19, influenza and RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, are health maintenance tools for people who have asthma.  

\n\n\n\n

“AAFA endorses the strong scientific evidence supporting the efficacy and safety of the approved vaccines in the U.S.,” the foundation said in a statement. “There are over 28 million people in the U.S. who have asthma, and this includes about 5 million children. Respiratory infections are a major cause of asthma exacerbations and emergencies. Additionally, it is known that children who get sick with (RSV) infection have a higher chance of developing asthma, a lifelong condition. 

\n\n\n\n

“AAFA has and continues to recommend influenza, RSV, pneumococcal and COVID vaccines for people with asthma, or for those who come in close contact with those who have asthma.”

Three million Black adults in the United States have asthma, making them one of the most affected populations in the nation.  And roughly 1 million Black children have asthma, which is nearly twice the rate of white American children.

\n\n\n\n

RELATED: CDC Downgrades Childhood Immunization Schedule Amid Deadly Flu Surge

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The post As School Season Begins, Trump Calls for a Revised Vaccine Schedule appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/08/trump-wants-to-rewrite-the-childhood-vaccine-schedule/","site":"Jennifer Porter Gore","originalAuthor":"Jennifer Porter Gore","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Health","health"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-08-11T22:52:14.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/GettyImages-MMRvial.jpg?fit=724%2C483&ssl=1","type":"image/jpeg"},"createdAt":"2026-08-11T22:57:28.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/GettyImages-MMRvial.jpg?fit=724%2C483&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"bxRVv3AuIq22zOWo","title":"That Leg Pain May Not Be Aging. It Could Be PAD","description":"Estimates are that more than 7 million to 12 million people in the U.S. live with blockages in the body’s blood vessels, a condition causing chronic pain and, left unaddressed, can lead to amputation. Often assumed to be just another symptom of aging, the illness — peripheral artery disease, or PAD — can be worsened by obesity, smoking, and high blood pressure. Yet despite being relatively common and disproportionately affecting Black Americans, few people have actually heard of PAD. A 2024 survey found almost 70% of respondents weren’t familiar with it, and nearly 8 in 10 Black and Hispanic adults hadn’t heard about PAD from a doctor or healthcare provider. Dr. Xzabia Caliste, a board-certified vascular surgeon, is working to change public understanding of PAD, a condition more commonly associated with heart disease. PAD causes blockage in the vessels that carry blood from the heart to the legs. “Think of it as one single plaque-building process happening throughout the blood vessels,” says Caliste, a physician at Albany, New York, Medical Center and an assistant professor at Albany Medical College. “The diseased blood flow in the coronary arteries going to your heart is part of the same picture as what’s happening in your legs.” The Society for Vascular Surgery says the top three risk factors for PAD are diabetes, high blood pressure, and use of tobacco products. Black people diagnosed with the disease experience more complications, which can range from cardiovascular diseases affecting the heart and brain to limb amputations and even higher rates of depression. Word In Black spoke with Caliste about what to know about a disease that is more common than most people realize and the various kinds of treatment available. The interview has been edited for length and clarity and should not be considered as individual medical advice. WIB: What is peripheral arterial disease and how does it develop? Dr. Caliste: PAD starts like a clogging of your arteries — the same process that happens in the arteries to the heart also happens in the legs. Plaque builds up and narrows blood flow and oxygenation to your muscles. It’s one plaque-building process throughout the blood vessels — diseased blood flow in the heart’s arteries is part of the same picture as the legs. Patients, typically 65 and older, report cramping or tiredness when walking, and often think it’s just natural aging. But oftentimes it’s not. Treatment can be as simple as using exercise and medication to decrease cardiovascular risk and reduce the effects of the accompanying diseases that lead to PAD, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, obesity. Advanced treatment methods can include inserting stents or balloons into the arteries, or even surgery. WIB: How do people ultimately get diagnosed, when they may have had leg pain that they think is just another sign of aging? Caliste: The first step is being aware of your body, and thinking, “Maybe this isn’t just normal aging.” That’s when you go to your primary care doctor and say, “My legs hurt when I’m walking. Can we do an ABI [ankle-brachial index] test?” It’s simple: a blood pressure cuff on the arm and ankle, and you take the ratio between the two. Normal is 0.9 to 1.3. Below 0.9, we’ve got a problem — there’s clogging somewhere. Any provider—whether in an emergency room or a doctor’s office—can conduct this test. From there, you can be referred to a vascular surgeon for formal testing. That applies even without a diabetes diagnosis. Any wound needs to be assessed — a large proportion of diabetic patients actually have PAD too, since diabetes is itself one of the problems that leads to it. If you have a wound, you need a vascular check, no matter what. What is the relationship between smoking and PAD specifically? Caliste: Smoking is huge. Below the knee, in the smaller vessels, you get spasms — on top of plaque buildup, so even less oxygen is reaching the calf muscles. Smoking just exacerbates the whole problem, and it affects other vasculature too. Smoking makes everything worse. Quitting is optimal to decrease risk and halt progression. Having patients quit is optimal to decrease these risk factors and at least halt the progression of what might already be occurring. WIB: Does the danger come from the nicotine itself, or does the delivery mechanism — a cigarette vs. a nicotine patch — matter? Caliste: It’s the nicotine, particularly. Obviously, cigarettes themselves have other toxins associated with them. I know the patch is used to help get people off actual cigarettes, so I’m not going to characterize the patch itself as a negative — it’s a mechanism that helps decrease harm, and I think that’s helpful. There are several options, and whatever works for you, I want you to do that, because it will actually get people successfully out of the habit of smoking, however many packs a day. That’s really key: decreasing your nicotine intake. If you have to use the patch as a bridge to getting off actual cigarettes, and it works, that’s a mechanism that works. WIB: With people losing healthcare coverage, many are turning to “Dr. Google” and AI chatbots for diagnoses and medical advice. What are the limits there? Caliste: They’re just tools to assist us, not the end-all and be-all. They are not your physician. They might give you ideas of what things could be, but that’s not something to rely on solely. Everyone needs to see a physician for proper testing. If you don’t have a primary care physician, then an urgent care center is the right option. WIB: What does treatment typically look like after a vascular check? Caliste: We assess you with appropriate testing. The first step is usually lifestyle modification and optimizing medical problems — diabetes, blood pressure, and cholesterol all need to be controlled, plus medication and exercise. And for exercise, I put patients on a walking regimen — 30 minutes, three days a week, ideally five to seven. It’s easy and accessible — you don’t need a gym. You can walk around your block. The further you walk with a regimen, the further you’re able to walk through the pain. No need to train for marathons or Iron Man contests. WIB: People hear the title “surgeon” and assume you’ll move straight to cutting. Caliste: That’s not the case. There’s so much we can do before an amputation. There are about 400 amputations a day in this country, but many can be avoided with earlier care. This disproportionately affects African Americans and Hispanic Americans, given the higher preponderance of high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, and smoking. A lot of people with PAD don’t need an operation; some do need one because they come to me further along–and those are the patients who have limbs and lives we’re trying to save. But an amputation can be a toe instead of a foot — minimizing the problem rather than letting it become something major. My job is to save your limb and your life. The sooner you come in, the better your chances of walking with your grandkids, going to the mailbox without pain. WIB: What kinds of cases stand out to you? Dr. Caliste: I’ve seen people show up with limbs that are rotting — how did we get here? That doesn’t happen overnight. Sometimes people bury their heads in the sand out of fear, and sometimes they simply lack access — insurance, or time off work during set office hours. Those social determinants of health are real. On the good side, I’ve done leg bypasses that saved a foot, placed stents that restored blood flow, healed wounds before a toe became gangrenous. Those saves are why I do this job. WIB: What is the most urgent fact you want potential patients—which is all of us—to know? Caliste: A lot of concerns are worsened when attached to fear — people have seen family or friends lose limbs, and our community ignores things because we don’t want that to happen to us.. PAD is common — it’s an epidemic. Millions in this country have undiagnosed PAD, and it’s a harbinger for cardiovascular disease — compromised blood flow in your legs likely means it’s in your heart too. I want people to feel empowered to advocate for themselves and to know you are empowered to ask for vascular checks. And I’d point everyone to the website yourvascularhealth.org to get factual information from actual medical professionals, instead of ChatGPT. Empower yourself, get a little knowledge, and be an advocate. RELATED: LaVar Ball’s Amputation Sheds Light on a Health Crisis The post That Leg Pain May Not Be Aging. It Could Be PAD appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
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Estimates are that more than 7 million to 12 million people in the U.S. live with blockages in the body’s blood vessels, a condition causing chronic pain and, left unaddressed, can lead to amputation. Often assumed to be just another symptom of aging, the illness — peripheral artery disease, or PAD — can be worsened by obesity, smoking, and high blood pressure. 

\n\n\n\n

Yet despite being relatively common and disproportionately affecting Black Americans, few people have actually heard of PAD. A 2024 survey found almost 70% of respondents weren’t familiar with it, and nearly 8 in 10 Black and Hispanic adults hadn’t heard about PAD from a doctor or healthcare provider.

\n\n\n\n

Dr. Xzabia Caliste, a board-certified vascular surgeon, is working to change public understanding of PAD, a condition more commonly associated with heart disease. PAD causes blockage in the vessels that carry blood from the heart to the legs. 

\n\n\n\n

“Think of it as one single plaque-building process happening throughout the blood vessels,” says Caliste, a physician at Albany, New York, Medical Center and an assistant professor at Albany Medical College. “The diseased blood flow in the coronary arteries going to your heart is part of the same picture as what’s happening in your legs.”

\n\n\n\n

The Society for Vascular Surgery says the top three risk factors for PAD are diabetes, high blood pressure, and use of tobacco products. Black people diagnosed with the disease experience more complications, which can range from cardiovascular diseases affecting the heart and brain to limb amputations and even higher rates of depression. 

\n\n\n\n

Word In Black spoke with Caliste about what to know about a disease that is more common than most people realize and the various kinds of treatment available. The interview has been edited for length and clarity and should not be considered as individual medical advice. 

\n\n\n\n

WIB: What is peripheral arterial disease and how does it develop?

\n\n\n\n

Dr. Caliste: PAD starts like a clogging of your arteries — the same process that happens in the arteries to the heart also happens in the legs. Plaque builds up and narrows blood flow and oxygenation to your muscles. It’s one plaque-building process throughout the blood vessels — diseased blood flow in the heart’s arteries is part of the same picture as the legs.

\n\n\n\n

Patients, typically 65 and older, report cramping or tiredness when walking, and often think it’s just natural aging. But oftentimes it’s not.

\n\n\n\n

Treatment can be as simple as using exercise and medication to decrease cardiovascular risk and reduce the effects of the accompanying diseases that lead to PAD, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, obesity. Advanced treatment methods can include inserting stents or balloons into the arteries, or even surgery. 

\n\n\n\n

WIB: How do people ultimately get diagnosed, when they may have had leg pain that they think is just another sign of aging?

\n\n\n\n

Caliste: The first step is being aware of your body, and thinking, “Maybe this isn’t just normal aging.” That’s when you go to your primary care doctor and say, “My legs hurt when I’m walking. Can we do an ABI [ankle-brachial index] test?” 

\n\n\n\n

It’s simple: a blood pressure cuff on the arm and ankle, and you take the ratio between the two. Normal is 0.9 to 1.3. Below 0.9, we’ve got a problem — there’s clogging somewhere. Any provider—whether in an emergency room or a doctor’s office—can conduct this test. From there, you can be referred to a vascular surgeon for formal testing. 

\n\n\n\n

That applies even without a diabetes diagnosis. Any wound needs to be assessed — a large proportion of diabetic patients actually have PAD too, since diabetes is itself one of the problems that leads to it. If you have a wound, you need a vascular check, no matter what.

\n\n\n\n

What is the relationship between smoking and PAD specifically?

\n\n\n\n

Caliste: Smoking is huge. Below the knee, in the smaller vessels, you get spasms — on top of plaque buildup, so even less oxygen is reaching the calf muscles. Smoking just exacerbates the whole problem, and it affects other vasculature too. Smoking makes everything worse. 

\n\n\n\n

Quitting is optimal to decrease risk and halt progression. Having patients quit is optimal to decrease these risk factors and at least halt the progression of what might already be occurring. 

\n\n\n\n

WIB: Does the danger come from the nicotine itself, or does the delivery mechanism — a cigarette vs. a nicotine patch — matter?

\n\n\n\n

Caliste: It’s the nicotine, particularly. Obviously, cigarettes themselves have other toxins associated with them. I know the patch is used to help get people off actual cigarettes, so I’m not going to characterize the patch itself as a negative — it’s a mechanism that helps decrease harm, and I think that’s helpful.

\n\n\n\n

There are several options, and whatever works for you, I want you to do that, because it will actually get people successfully out of the habit of smoking, however many packs a day. That’s really key: decreasing your nicotine intake. If you have to use the patch as a bridge to getting off actual cigarettes, and it works, that’s a mechanism that works. 

\n\n\n\n

WIB: With people losing healthcare coverage, many are turning to “Dr. Google” and AI chatbots for diagnoses and medical advice. What are the limits there?

\n\n\n\n

Caliste: They’re just tools to assist us, not the end-all and be-all. They are not your physician. They might give you ideas of what things could be, but that’s not something to rely on solely. 

\n\n\n\n

Everyone needs to see a physician for proper testing. If you don’t have a primary care physician, then an urgent care center is the right option.

\n\n\n\n

WIB: What does treatment typically look like after a vascular check?

\n\n\n\n

Caliste: We assess you with appropriate testing. The first step is usually lifestyle modification and optimizing medical problems — diabetes, blood pressure, and cholesterol all need to be controlled, plus medication and exercise. 

\n\n\n\n

And for exercise, I put patients on a walking regimen — 30 minutes, three days a week, ideally five to seven. It’s easy and accessible — you don’t need a gym. You can walk around your block. The further you walk with a regimen, the further you’re able to walk through the pain. No need to train for marathons or Iron Man contests. 

\n\n\n\n

WIB: People hear the title “surgeon” and assume you’ll move straight to cutting.

\n\n\n\n

Caliste: That’s not the case. There’s so much we can do before an amputation. There are about 400 amputations a day in this country, but many can be avoided with earlier care. This disproportionately affects African Americans and Hispanic Americans, given the higher preponderance of high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, and smoking.

\n\n\n\n

A lot of people with PAD don’t need an operation; some do need one because they come to me further along–and those are the patients who have limbs and lives we’re trying to save. But an amputation can be a toe instead of a foot — minimizing the problem rather than letting it become something major. My job is to save your limb and your life. The sooner you come in, the better your chances of walking with your grandkids, going to the mailbox without pain. 

\n\n\n\n

WIB: What kinds of cases stand out to you?

\n\n\n\n

Dr. Caliste: I’ve seen people show up with limbs that are rotting — how did we get here? That doesn’t happen overnight. Sometimes people bury their heads in the sand out of fear, and sometimes they simply lack access — insurance, or time off work during set office hours. Those social determinants of health are real. On the good side, I’ve done leg bypasses that saved a foot, placed stents that restored blood flow, healed wounds before a toe became gangrenous. Those saves are why I do this job.

\n\n\n\n

WIB: What is the most urgent fact you want potential patients—which is all of us—to know?

\n\n\n\n

Caliste: A lot of concerns are worsened when attached to fear — people have seen family or friends lose limbs, and our community ignores things because we don’t want that to happen to us.. PAD is common — it’s an epidemic. Millions in this country have undiagnosed PAD, and it’s a harbinger for cardiovascular disease — compromised blood flow in your legs likely means it’s in your heart too. 

\n\n\n\n

I want people to feel empowered to advocate for themselves and to know you are empowered to ask for vascular checks. And I’d point everyone to the website yourvascularhealth.org to get factual information from actual medical professionals, instead of ChatGPT. 

\n\n\n\n

Empower yourself, get a little knowledge, and be an advocate. 

\n\n\n\n

RELATED: LaVar Ball’s Amputation Sheds Light on a Health Crisis

\n

The post That Leg Pain May Not Be Aging. It Could Be PAD appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/08/that-leg-pain-may-not-be-aging-it-could-be-pad/","site":"Jennifer Porter Gore","originalAuthor":"Jennifer Porter Gore","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Health","health"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-08-10T21:39:40.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/GettyImagesPADbypass.jpg?fit=788%2C443&ssl=1","type":"image/jpeg"},"createdAt":"2026-08-10T21:40:50.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/GettyImagesPADbypass.jpg?fit=788%2C443&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"EyAxjI7npaZNQGmP","title":"New CDC Director Takes the Helm Amid Upheaval","description":"The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Dr. Erica Schwartz as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the agency mandated to protect Americans’ health from preventable threats. She’s the first Black woman to head the agency, and fills a critical public health position that has been vacant for a year. Confirmed on a party-line vote, Schwartz becomes the 22nd leader of the agency and the second Black American. Dr. David Satcher was the agency’s first Black director from 1993 to 1998. He later became the nation’s 16th U.S. Surgeon General. The CDC was reputedly the gold standard in public health care and was known for helping to end the polio epidemic and all but eradicating measles from the U.S. and a significant part of the world. But under the Trump administration, the agency has lost more than a quarter of its workforce during rounds of mass firings, primarily aimed at new and temporary workers. Five of the agency’s top-level staffers — including a Black health equity specialist—were dismissed after appearing on a right-wing “DEI Watchlist.” RELATED: Right-Wing ‘DEI Watchlist’ Targets More Federal Employees Schwartz is the third nominee for CDC director in the past 18 months. Since then, there have been a series of HHS officials as acting CDC directors. When she was nominated, public health experts were pleased by her credentials and her strong support for vaccines as a public-health tool. In a statement, Dr. Georges C. Benjamin, chief executive officer of the American Public Health Association, said Schwartz “possesses the medical background and public health knowledge” to lead the CDC after a tumultuous two years. The agency “desperately needs stability, experienced leadership and a steadfast commitment to science” and Schwartz fits the bill, he said. The APHA, Benjamin added, will work with Schwartz “to rebuild trust in public health leaders” and “improve the public’s health by preventing and controlling diseases and injuries so that everyone can live their healthiest lives.” She holds both a law degree and a medical degree, but Schwartz has spent most of her career in a military uniform. As a Coast Guard officer, she oversaw the organization’s system of 41 clinics and 150 sick bays. She also served as deputy U.S. surgeon general. Concerns About Independence While her qualifications weren’t in question, Schwartz’s nomination hit a speed bump last month when Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican and chair of the Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and other lawmakers questioned whether she could stand up to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — a noted vaccine skeptic and the man who would be Schwartz’s boss. Schwartz’s responses didn’t imbue confidence. Though Benjamin’s statement gives Schwartz the benefit of the doubt, several public health advocates weren’t as heartened by her confirmation and the National Public Health Coalition opposed it. Shaughnessy Naughton, president of the nonprofit 314 Action, has called Schwartz “a loyal foot soldier” for Trump and Kennedy — a worrisome assessment as “dangerous outbreaks spread across the country, threatening our schools, our farmers, and our children.” The nation needs “public health leaders who are willing to stand up to Trump, RFK Jr. and their co-conspirators, and put science back in charge,” Naughton said in a statement. “Dr. Schwartz should have been a step in the right direction” but failed to differentiate herself from “the Trump agenda.” “If she couldn’t answer basic questions honestly and directly before Congress, it’s difficult to imagine how she can serve effectively,” Naughton said. “Americans deserve a leader who will defend public health and follow the science, even when it’s politically inconvenient.” As the nation confronts six foodborne illness outbreaks, including two outbreaks of cyclosporiasis food contamination that have sickened thousands and killed two Americans, the position of Food and Drug Administration commissioner is still vacant. The previous commissioner, Marty Makary, resigned from the role in mid-May after serving for just 13 months. Kyle Diamantas, who had been the FDA’s Deputy Commissioner for Food, is currently serving as Acting Commissioner. No formal nomination for FDA Commissioner has been sent to the Senate. RELATED: As Upheaval Continues, CDC Loses its Equity Chief The post New CDC Director Takes the Helm Amid Upheaval appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
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The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Dr. Erica Schwartz as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the agency mandated to protect Americans’ health from preventable threats. She’s the first Black woman to head the agency, and fills a critical public health position that has been vacant for a year. 

\n\n\n\n

Confirmed on a party-line vote, Schwartz becomes the 22nd leader of the agency and the second Black American. Dr. David Satcher was the agency’s first Black director from 1993 to 1998.  He later became the nation’s 16th U.S. Surgeon General. 

\n\n\n\n

The CDC was reputedly the gold standard in public health care and was known for helping to end the polio epidemic and all but eradicating measles from the U.S. and a significant part of the world. But under the Trump administration, the agency has lost more than a quarter of its workforce during rounds of mass firings, primarily aimed at new and temporary workers. 

\n\n\n\n

Five of the agency’s top-level staffers — including a Black health equity specialist—were dismissed after appearing on a right-wing “DEI Watchlist.” 

\n\n\n\n

RELATED: Right-Wing ‘DEI Watchlist’ Targets More Federal Employees

\n\n\n\n

Schwartz is the third nominee for CDC director in the past 18 months. Since then, there have been a series of HHS officials as acting CDC directors. When she was nominated, public health experts were pleased by her credentials and her strong support for vaccines as a public-health tool. 

\n\n\n\n

In a statement, Dr. Georges C. Benjamin, chief executive officer of the American Public Health Association, said Schwartz “possesses the medical background and public health knowledge” to lead the CDC after a tumultuous two years. 

\n\n\n\n

The agency “desperately needs stability, experienced leadership and a steadfast commitment to science” and Schwartz fits the bill, he said. The APHA, Benjamin added, will work with Schwartz “to rebuild trust in public health leaders” and “improve the public’s health by preventing and controlling diseases and injuries so that everyone can live their healthiest lives.”

\n\n\n\n

She holds both a law degree and a medical degree, but Schwartz has spent most of her career in a military uniform. As a Coast Guard officer, she oversaw the organization’s system of 41 clinics and 150 sick bays. She also served as deputy U.S. surgeon general.

\n\n\n\n

Concerns About Independence

\n\n\n\n

While her qualifications weren’t in question, Schwartz’s nomination hit a speed bump last month when Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican and chair of the Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and other lawmakers questioned whether she could stand up to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — a noted vaccine skeptic and the man who would be Schwartz’s boss. 

\n\n\n\n

Schwartz’s responses didn’t imbue confidence.

\n\n\n\n

Though Benjamin’s statement gives Schwartz the benefit of the doubt, several public health advocates weren’t as heartened by her confirmation and the National Public Health Coalition opposed it. 

\n\n\n\n

Shaughnessy Naughton, president of the nonprofit 314 Action, has called Schwartz “a loyal foot soldier” for Trump and Kennedy — a worrisome assessment as “dangerous outbreaks spread across the country, threatening our schools, our farmers, and our children.”

\n\n\n\n

The nation needs “public health leaders who are willing to stand up to Trump, RFK Jr. and their co-conspirators, and put science back in charge,” Naughton said in a statement. “Dr. Schwartz should have been a step in the right direction” but failed to differentiate herself from “the Trump agenda.” 

\n\n\n\n

“If she couldn’t answer basic questions honestly and directly before Congress, it’s difficult to imagine how she can serve effectively,” Naughton said. “Americans deserve a leader who will defend public health and follow the science, even when it’s politically inconvenient.”

\n\n\n\n

As the nation confronts six foodborne illness outbreaks, including two outbreaks of cyclosporiasis food contamination that have sickened thousands and killed two Americans, the position of Food and Drug Administration commissioner is still vacant. 

\n\n\n\n

The previous commissioner, Marty Makary, resigned from the role in mid-May after serving for just 13 months. Kyle Diamantas, who had been the FDA’s Deputy Commissioner for Food, is currently serving as Acting Commissioner. 

\n\n\n\n

No formal nomination for FDA Commissioner has been sent to the Senate. 

\n\n\n\n

RELATED: As Upheaval Continues, CDC Loses its Equity Chief

\n

The post New CDC Director Takes the Helm Amid Upheaval appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/08/new-cdc-director-takes-the-helm-amid-upheaval/","site":"Jennifer Porter Gore","originalAuthor":"Jennifer Porter Gore","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Health","health","politics"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-08-07T10:58:00.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/GettyImages-CDC-Dir-Schwartz.jpg?fit=594%2C418&ssl=1","type":"image/jpeg"},"createdAt":"2026-08-07T11:10:30.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/GettyImages-CDC-Dir-Schwartz.jpg?fit=594%2C418&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"rN6h10ynmfUStN3x","title":"A Month Later, Nolan Wells’ Death Still Defies Answers","description":"A month after a Black teenager vanished during a boating trip to a Mississippi barrier island with his white friends, officials have arrested three people, subpoenas have been issued, and his body has undergone two autopsies. But there is still no answer to the question that started it all: What happened to Nolan Wells? LEARN MORE: More Unanswered Questions Fuel Doubts In Nolan Wells’ Death At least three people have been arrested on federal charges connected to the case, but none is accused of having anything to do with Wells’ death. Instead, they are accused of making threats against public officials or people connected to the investigation, an extraordinary turn in a case already fueled by national attention and rampant social-media speculation. Meanwhile, Mississippi has completed its official autopsy, but the findings remain under wraps. Angel Myers McIlrath, the local district attorney, says the case, including the autopsy findings, will be presented to a grand jury once investigators finish their work. Experts say it’s standard procedure in the county for unnatural deaths, not necessarily an indication that prosecutors believe a crime occurred. But it leaves Wells’ parents roughly where they were when their son was found dead July 6: waiting for someone to tell them how he died. Private Investigation Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents the family, isn’t waiting quietly. His legal team is conducting its own investigation and has taken steps that could lay the groundwork for litigation, including sending evidence-preservation notices to people connected to Wells’ final hours. An attorney working with Crump also has sought subpoenas for records from Snapchat, Life360 and other companies that could help reconstruct Wells’ movements before he died. The investigation into Nolan Wells’ death now reaches far beyond Mississippi, drawing national attention and legal action. Yet after two autopsies and weeks of scrutiny, no official explanation has emerged. The unanswered questions have turned Wells’ death from a Mississippi tragedy into a national cause. Wells, an incoming college freshman and former high school football player, traveled to Horn Island, a remote state park off the Mississippi coast that’s popular with young people, on July 4 with friends. He never returned home. After Wells’ mother reported him missing, the teenager’s body was recovered two days later from the northwestern part of the island. Authorities initially said they had no evidence of foul play, but Wells’ parents questioned conflicting accounts among his friends of why their son apparently remained behind while the rest of them headed back to port aboard their crippled boat. Autopsy Inconclusive The Rev. Al Sharpton, who delivered the eulogy at Wells’ funeral, has joined the family’s demand for answers. Filmmaker Tyler Perry helped pay the funeral expenses, while former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick paid for an independent autopsy. Television crime personality Nancy Grace has devoted episodes of her program to the case. That second autopsy, however, didn’t settle anything. Dr. Roger Mitchell Jr., the former chief medical examiner for Washington, D.C., classified both Wells’ cause and manner of death as “undetermined pending investigation.” He found no fractures or deep-tissue injuries but noted an area of discoloration on the back of Wells’ head that he could not conclusively explain. Because portions of the airway and other tissue had been removed during the state’s examination — a routine part of an autopsy — Mitchell also could not independently determine whether Wells drowned. Mitchell said he could not rule out non-accidental factors, but also could not conclude whether Wells had been killed. Evidence or Speculation? That distinction has become increasingly important as the case has exploded online. Perhaps no piece of evidence illustrates that better than a recorded July 4 call to Sea Tow, a private marine towing company. Mississippi authorities released audio of the call, made at about 4 p.m. by someone aboard the boat Wells had traveled on after it ran into trouble near Horn Island. Social-media users began dissecting faint voices in the background. An audio engineer produced an enhanced version that went viral, with some listeners saying they hear phrases including “Is he dead?” and references to Wells. But what people think they hear on social media isn’t necessarily evidence. A forensic audio expert interviewed by People cautioned that enhancement can introduce artifacts and that suggestion can affect what listeners believe they hear. A reliable forensic examination, she said, would require the original, uncompressed recording and a documented process. Crump says his team has hired experts to analyze the call. Death Threats Investigated Meanwhile, the speculation has produced real-world consequences. Federal authorities have charged people from California, Ohio and Illinois with allegedly making threats connected to the case. The targets have included government offices, a Mississippi judge whose son was among Wells’ friends, and witnesses connected to the investigation. One man allegedly sent a witness the person’s home address while threatening to kill the witness and family members. Yet none of those arrests shed light on what happened to Wells. RELATED: Another Mysterious Death Strikes a Nerve His mother, Christine Wonsley, has said from the beginning that she isn’t asking authorities to confirm a conspiracy or reach a predetermined conclusion. She wants what any parent would want after a child leaves home for a holiday outing and ends up dead. “We just want honesty and transparency,” Wonsley told ABC’s “Good Morning America” shortly after her son’s death. “We want a thorough investigation.” A month later, that investigation has generated federal charges, forensic examinations, subpoenas, celebrity involvement and countless hours of amateur detective work online. What it still hasn’t produced is an answer. The post A Month Later, Nolan Wells’ Death Still Defies Answers appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
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\n

A month after a Black teenager vanished during a boating trip to a Mississippi barrier island with his white friends, officials have arrested three people, subpoenas have been issued, and his body has undergone two autopsies. 

\n\n\n\n

But there is still no answer to the question that started it all: What happened to Nolan Wells?

\n\n\n\n

LEARN MORE: More Unanswered Questions Fuel Doubts In Nolan Wells’ Death

\n\n\n\n

At least three people have been arrested on federal charges connected to the case, but none is accused of having anything to do with Wells’ death. Instead, they are accused of making threats against public officials or people connected to the investigation, an extraordinary turn in a case already fueled by national attention and rampant social-media speculation.

\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Mississippi has completed its official autopsy, but the findings remain under wraps.

\n\n\n\n

Angel Myers McIlrath, the local district attorney, says the case, including the autopsy findings, will be presented to a grand jury once investigators finish their work. Experts say it’s standard procedure in the county for unnatural deaths, not necessarily an indication that prosecutors believe a crime occurred.

\n\n\n\n

But it leaves Wells’ parents roughly where they were when their son was found dead July 6: waiting for someone to tell them how he died.

\n\n\n\n

Private Investigation

\n\n\n\n

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents the family, isn’t waiting quietly. His legal team is conducting its own investigation and has taken steps that could lay the groundwork for litigation, including sending evidence-preservation notices to people connected to Wells’ final hours. An attorney working with Crump also has sought subpoenas for records from Snapchat, Life360 and other companies that could help reconstruct Wells’ movements before he died.

\n\n\n\n

The investigation into Nolan Wells’ death now reaches far beyond Mississippi, drawing national attention and legal action. Yet after two autopsies and weeks of scrutiny, no official explanation has emerged.

\n\n\n\n

The unanswered questions have turned Wells’ death from a Mississippi tragedy into a national cause.

\n\n\n\n

Wells, an incoming college freshman and former high school football player, traveled to Horn Island, a remote state park off the Mississippi coast that’s popular with young people, on July 4 with friends. He never returned home. 

\n\n\n\n

After Wells’ mother reported him missing, the teenager’s body was recovered two days later from the northwestern part of the island. Authorities initially said they had no evidence of foul play, but Wells’ parents questioned conflicting accounts among his friends of why their son apparently remained behind while the rest of them headed back to port aboard their crippled boat.

\n\n\n\n

Autopsy Inconclusive

\n\n\n\n

The Rev. Al Sharpton, who delivered the eulogy at Wells’ funeral, has joined the family’s demand for answers. Filmmaker Tyler Perry helped pay the funeral expenses, while former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick paid for an independent autopsy. Television crime personality Nancy Grace has devoted episodes of her program to the case.

\n\n\n\n

That second autopsy, however, didn’t settle anything.

\n\n\n\n

Dr. Roger Mitchell Jr., the former chief medical examiner for Washington, D.C., classified both Wells’ cause and manner of death as “undetermined pending investigation.” He found no fractures or deep-tissue injuries but noted an area of discoloration on the back of Wells’ head that he could not conclusively explain.

\n\n\n\n

Because portions of the airway and other tissue had been removed during the state’s examination — a routine part of an autopsy — Mitchell also could not independently determine whether Wells drowned. Mitchell said he could not rule out non-accidental factors, but also could not conclude whether Wells had been killed.

\n\n\n\n

Evidence or Speculation?

\n\n\n\n

That distinction has become increasingly important as the case has exploded online.

\n\n\n\n

Perhaps no piece of evidence illustrates that better than a recorded July 4 call to Sea Tow, a private marine towing company. Mississippi authorities released audio of the call, made at about 4 p.m. by someone aboard the boat Wells had traveled on after it ran into trouble near Horn Island.

\n\n\n\n

Social-media users began dissecting faint voices in the background. An audio engineer produced an enhanced version that went viral, with some listeners saying they hear phrases including “Is he dead?” and references to Wells.

\n\n\n\n

But what people think they hear on social media isn’t necessarily evidence.

\n\n\n\n

A forensic audio expert interviewed by People cautioned that enhancement can introduce artifacts and that suggestion can affect what listeners believe they hear. A reliable forensic examination, she said, would require the original, uncompressed recording and a documented process. Crump says his team has hired experts to analyze the call.

\n\n\n\n

Death Threats Investigated

\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the speculation has produced real-world consequences.

\n\n\n\n

Federal authorities have charged people from California, Ohio and Illinois with allegedly making threats connected to the case. The targets have included government offices, a Mississippi judge whose son was among Wells’ friends, and witnesses connected to the investigation. One man allegedly sent a witness the person’s home address while threatening to kill the witness and family members.

\n\n\n\n

Yet none of those arrests shed light on what happened to Wells.

\n\n\n\n

RELATED: Another Mysterious Death Strikes a Nerve

\n\n\n\n

His mother, Christine Wonsley, has said from the beginning that she isn’t asking authorities to confirm a conspiracy or reach a predetermined conclusion. She wants what any parent would want after a child leaves home for a holiday outing and ends up dead.

\n\n\n\n

“We just want honesty and transparency,” Wonsley told ABC’s “Good Morning America” shortly after her son’s death. “We want a thorough investigation.”

\n\n\n\n

A month later, that investigation has generated federal charges, forensic examinations, subpoenas, celebrity involvement and countless hours of amateur detective work online.

\n\n\n\n

What it still hasn’t produced is an answer.

\n

The post A Month Later, Nolan Wells’ Death Still Defies Answers appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/08/a-month-later-nolan-wells-death-still-defies-answers/","site":"Joseph Williams","originalAuthor":"Joseph Williams","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Criminal Justice"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-08-06T19:56:24.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/GettyImages-2287197090-1.jpg?fit=594%2C396&ssl=1","type":"image/jpeg"},"createdAt":"2026-08-06T20:05:30.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/GettyImages-2287197090-1.jpg?fit=594%2C396&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"reifgENhhDkymmHf","title":"REPLAY: The Dark Side of Our Addiction to Fast Fashion","description":"It’s tempting to buy those cute, cheap clothes from places like Shein and H&M. But at what cost? In this virtual conversation, we’ll examine the downside of fast fashion, including its impact on your health, the environment, and Black businesses. Wed., August 5, 2026, 6-7:15 p.m. ET Moderator: Shernay Williams – Word In Black Events Manager Panelists: Teju Adisa-Farrar – The Black Fiber & Textile Network Jamila Wright – Content creator who shares her personal experience with hormone disruption linked to fast fashion Kennedy Black – Resilient Sisterhood Project Register for Word In Black’s other upcoming Summer 2026 events Rewatch Word In Black’s previous events on YouTube Delivering Solutions for the Maternal Health Crisis Building Black Safe Havens in the U.S. Is AI Hurting Black America? A Live Debate Safe Space: How to Support Black Men’s Mental Health Word In Black’s Religion Hot Topics What’s on Your Plate? Food Access in Black America The Action Plan to Get Black Women Back to Work ‘Breaking the Silence’: How Black Women Can Fight Breast Cancer The post REPLAY: The Dark Side of Our Addiction to Fast Fashion appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
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It’s tempting to buy those cute, cheap clothes from places like Shein and H&M. But at what cost? 

\n\n\n\n

In this virtual conversation, we’ll examine the downside of fast fashion, including its impact on your health, the environment, and Black businesses. 

\n\n\n\n

Wed., August 5, 2026, 6-7:15 p.m. ET

\n\n\n\n

Moderator: 

\n\n\n\n

Shernay Williams – Word In Black Events Manager

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Panelists:

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Register for Word In Black’s other upcoming Summer 2026 events

\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Rewatch Word In Black’s previous events on YouTube

\n\n\n\n

Delivering Solutions for the Maternal Health Crisis

\n\n\n\n

Building Black Safe Havens in the U.S.

\n\n\n\n

Is AI Hurting Black America? A Live Debate

\n\n\n\n

Safe Space: How to Support Black Men’s Mental Health 

\n\n\n\n

Word In Black’s Religion Hot Topics 

\n\n\n\n

What’s on Your Plate? Food Access in Black America 

\n\n\n\n

The Action Plan to Get Black Women Back to Work 

\n\n\n\n

‘Breaking the Silence’: How Black Women Can Fight Breast Cancer 

\n

The post REPLAY: The Dark Side of Our Addiction to Fast Fashion appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/08/fast-fashion-event/","site":"Shernay Williams","originalAuthor":"Shernay Williams","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Black women","Culture","Events","Video"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-08-06T17:36:54.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Website-fast-fashion-image.png?fit=819%2C1024&ssl=1","type":"image/png"},"createdAt":"2026-08-06T17:40:27.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Website-fast-fashion-image.png?fit=819%2C1024&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"idpBX2KkOJL5EfYJ","title":"Divorce Means Grieving. Why Doesn’t the Church Act Like It?","description":"In many Black churches, divorce remains one of the least publicly addressed transitions in congregational life—often discussed privately, but rarely acknowledged as a pastoral crisis requiring sustained care. Yet for Dr. Derren Thompson, a pastor with more than two decades of ministry experience and a long-standing marriage ministry, the silence is not simply theological. To him, it is practical, relational, and deeply human. LEARN MORE: Myesha Chaney: Divorce Cost Me More Than My Marriage Thompson is senior pastor of More Than Conquerors Worship Center in Maryland, and co-leader of the marriage ministry with his wife Chalon, his wife of 29 years. Together they’ve written “Redefined Love: Discovering Love’s True Essence.” Derren Thompson describes a widening gap between how churches prepare couples for marriage and how they accompany them when marriages fracture. In his view, churches often respond with uncertainty rather than structure, leaving members to navigate divorce with minimal spiritual or emotional scaffolding. “The church disappears and remains quiet,” he said, not as critique alone but as diagnosis. Preparation is Key Dr. Derren Thompson and his wife, Chalon, have been married 29 years. (Photo courtesy of Dr. Darren Thompson) At the center of his approach is a simple but intentional framework: information, inspiration, and impartation. Thompson argues that many churches emphasize faith doctrine and premarital counseling but fail to sustain engagement when marriages begin to unravel. The minimal research available supports the fact that Black clergy generally require more extensive marriage preparation than white clergy, and spend more sessions on communication skills. In Thompson’s ministry, he says, couples are engaged early—before crisis emerges—so that pastoral care is already in place when conflict arises. That continuity, he suggests, is what prevents congregational withdrawal when marriages break. Still, Thompson is candid about the limitations pastors face. Even in churches with strong marriage ministries, he says, divorce introduces layers of grief, displacement, and congregational disruption that are not always addressed in seminary training or pastoral formation. Members shift relationships, sometimes leave the church entirely, and often carry unresolved emotional loss that extends beyond the marriage itself. ‘Complicated Grief” He also challenges the assumption that divorce is purely a legal or relational separation. Instead, he frames it as “complicated grief”—a layered loss involving identity, stability, and spiritual belonging. In that sense, he argues, the church already possesses tools for accompaniment through grief; the challenge is applying them consistently to marital dissolution. Nobody died, but something significant was lost—security, identity, trust. People lose dependence on someone they built their life around. That’s real grief, even if people don’t always name it that way.DR. DERREN THOMPSON, SENIOR PASTOR, MORE THAN CONQUERORS WORSHIP CENTER What emerges from Thompson’s pastoral practice is a model rooted in proximity, transparency, and communal care—one that refuses to treat divorce as departure from the life of the church, but instead as a moment requiring deeper pastoral presence. Word in Black interviewed Thompson about his philosophy and methods. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. Word in Black: Why do you think the church often goes silent when couples are moving toward divorce? Derren Thompson: I think it’s because a lot of churches don’t know what to do. People see a couple in crisis, but they don’t have a framework for walking them through it. So instead of engaging, they step back. Sometimes they’re afraid of taking sides, so silence feels safer. WIB: You’ve said churches should offer more than silence. What does that look like? Thompson: We try to give three things—information, inspiration, and impartation. Information is teaching and clarity. Inspiration is encouragement when things get hard. And impartation is walking with people in real time. You can’t just wait until everything breaks to show up. WIB: You’ve emphasized relationship before crisis. Why is that so important? Thompson: Because if you don’t know people before the trouble, you can’t help them well during it. In our ministry, we pastor couples, not just individuals. So when things get rocky, there’s already trust in place. WIB: What happens when churches don’t have that relationship built? Thompson: Then people show up in crisis, and nobody really knows them. That makes it harder to help. And sometimes couples come in already decided on divorce, and there’s no relational foundation to support them through anything else. WIB: You’ve described divorce as a kind of grief. Can you explain that? Thompson: Yes. It’s complicated grief. Nobody died, but something significant was lost—security, identity, trust. People lose dependence on someone they built their life around. That’s real grief, even if people don’t always name it that way. WIB: What do churches often misunderstand about that grief? Thompson: That grief isn’t only about death. We grieve loss in many forms—relationships, roles, even changes in our own lives. Divorce is one of those deep losses, and people often don’t realize how much support they need afterward. WIB: What does a healthy pastoral response look like when a couple decides to separate? Thompson: First, honesty. Then presence. We don’t shame people. We walk with them. Even if we wouldn’t make the same decision, we support them through the decision they’ve made. And we stay in relationship. WIB: You’ve said some members leave after divorce. How do you handle that congregational impact? Thompson: We treat it as grief for the whole church. We talk through it, pray through it, and help the small groups process it. We don’t try to hide it. People need space to understand what’s happening. RELATED: ‘Pray and Stay’ Is Still Hurting Black Women in Church WIB: What do you wish more pastors understood about this work? Thompson: That you can’t just “let it happen.” You have to engage it. Sometimes people don’t want help, but we still have to try. We can’t just stand back and say, “Let us know what you need.” WIB: What role should the church play in preventing unnecessary divorce? Thompson: Not control—but conversation. We should help people slow down, talk honestly, and sometimes redefine what they’re experiencing. Not every conflict has to end in divorce if people are willing to work through it differently. The post Divorce Means Grieving. Why Doesn’t the Church Act Like It? appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"When
\n

In many Black churches, divorce remains one of the least publicly addressed transitions in congregational life—often discussed privately, but rarely acknowledged as a pastoral crisis requiring sustained care. 

\n\n\n\n

Yet for Dr. Derren Thompson, a pastor with more than two decades of ministry experience and a long-standing marriage ministry, the silence is not simply theological. To him, it is practical, relational, and deeply human.

\n\n\n\n

LEARN MORE: Myesha Chaney: Divorce Cost Me More Than My Marriage

\n\n\n\n

Thompson is senior pastor of More Than Conquerors Worship Center in Maryland, and co-leader of the marriage ministry with his wife Chalon, his wife of 29 years. Together they’ve written “Redefined Love: Discovering Love’s True Essence.” 

\n\n\n\n

Derren Thompson describes a widening gap between how churches prepare couples for marriage and how they accompany them when marriages fracture. In his view, churches often respond with uncertainty rather than structure, leaving members to navigate divorce with minimal spiritual or emotional scaffolding. 

\n\n\n\n

“The church disappears and remains quiet,” he said, not as critique alone but as diagnosis.

\n\n\n\n

Preparation is Key

\n\n\n
\n
\"\"
Dr. Derren Thompson and his wife, Chalon, have been married 29 years. (Photo courtesy of Dr. Darren Thompson)
\n
\n\n\n

At the center of his approach is a simple but intentional framework: information, inspiration, and impartation. Thompson argues that many churches emphasize faith doctrine and premarital counseling but fail to sustain engagement when marriages begin to unravel. 

\n\n\n\n

The minimal research available supports the fact that Black clergy generally require more extensive marriage preparation than white clergy, and spend more sessions on communication skills.

\n\n\n\n

In Thompson’s ministry, he says, couples are engaged early—before crisis emerges—so that pastoral care is already in place when conflict arises. That continuity, he suggests, is what prevents congregational withdrawal when marriages break.

\n\n\n\n

Still, Thompson is candid about the limitations pastors face. 

\n\n\n\n

Even in churches with strong marriage ministries, he says, divorce introduces layers of grief, displacement, and congregational disruption that are not always addressed in seminary training or pastoral formation. Members shift relationships, sometimes leave the church entirely, and often carry unresolved emotional loss that extends beyond the marriage itself.

\n\n\n\n

‘Complicated Grief”

\n\n\n\n

He also challenges the assumption that divorce is purely a legal or relational separation. 

\n\n\n\n

Instead, he frames it as “complicated grief”—a layered loss involving identity, stability, and spiritual belonging. In that sense, he argues, the church already possesses tools for accompaniment through grief; the challenge is applying them consistently to marital dissolution.

\n\n\n\n

Nobody died, but something significant was lost—security, identity, trust. People lose dependence on someone they built their life around. That’s real grief, even if people don’t always name it that way.

DR. DERREN THOMPSON, SENIOR PASTOR, MORE THAN CONQUERORS WORSHIP CENTER
\n\n\n\n

What emerges from Thompson’s pastoral practice is a model rooted in proximity, transparency, and communal care—one that refuses to treat divorce as departure from the life of the church, but instead as a moment requiring deeper pastoral presence.

\n\n\n\n

Word in Black interviewed Thompson about his philosophy and methods. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

\n\n\n\n

Word in Black: Why do you think the church often goes silent when couples are moving toward divorce?

\n\n\n\n

Derren Thompson: I think it’s because a lot of churches don’t know what to do. People see a couple in crisis, but they don’t have a framework for walking them through it. So instead of engaging, they step back. Sometimes they’re afraid of taking sides, so silence feels safer.

\n\n\n\n

WIB: You’ve said churches should offer more than silence. What does that look like?

\n\n\n\n

Thompson: We try to give three things—information, inspiration, and impartation. 

\n\n\n\n

Information is teaching and clarity. Inspiration is encouragement when things get hard. And impartation is walking with people in real time. You can’t just wait until everything breaks to show up.

\n\n\n\n

WIB: You’ve emphasized relationship before crisis. Why is that so important?

\n\n\n\n

Thompson: Because if you don’t know people before the trouble, you can’t help them well during it. In our ministry, we pastor couples, not just individuals. So when things get rocky, there’s already trust in place.

\n\n\n\n

WIB: What happens when churches don’t have that relationship built?

\n\n\n\n

Thompson: Then people show up in crisis, and nobody really knows them. That makes it harder to help. And sometimes couples come in already decided on divorce, and there’s no relational foundation to support them through anything else.

\n\n\n\n

WIB: You’ve described divorce as a kind of grief. Can you explain that?

\n\n\n\n

Thompson: Yes. It’s complicated grief. Nobody died, but something significant was lost—security, identity, trust. People lose dependence on someone they built their life around. That’s real grief, even if people don’t always name it that way.

\n\n\n\n

WIB: What do churches often misunderstand about that grief?

\n\n\n\n

Thompson: That grief isn’t only about death. We grieve loss in many forms—relationships, roles, even changes in our own lives. Divorce is one of those deep losses, and people often don’t realize how much support they need afterward.

\n\n\n\n

WIB: What does a healthy pastoral response look like when a couple decides to separate?

\n\n\n\n

Thompson: First, honesty. Then presence. We don’t shame people. We walk with them. Even if we wouldn’t make the same decision, we support them through the decision they’ve made. And we stay in relationship.

\n\n\n\n

WIB: You’ve said some members leave after divorce. How do you handle that congregational impact?

\n\n\n\n

Thompson: We treat it as grief for the whole church. We talk through it, pray through it, and help the small groups process it. We don’t try to hide it. People need space to understand what’s happening.

\n\n\n\n

RELATED: ‘Pray and Stay’ Is Still Hurting Black Women in Church

\n\n\n\n

WIB: What do you wish more pastors understood about this work?

\n\n\n\n

Thompson: That you can’t just “let it happen.” You have to engage it. Sometimes people don’t want help, but we still have to try. We can’t just stand back and say, “Let us know what you need.”

\n\n\n\n

WIB: What role should the church play in preventing unnecessary divorce?

\n\n\n\n

Thompson: Not control—but conversation. We should help people slow down, talk honestly, and sometimes redefine what they’re experiencing. Not every conflict has to end in divorce if people are willing to work through it differently.

\n

The post Divorce Means Grieving. Why Doesn’t the Church Act Like It? appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/08/divorce-means-grieving-why-doesnt-the-church-act-like-it/","site":"Joseph Williams","originalAuthor":"Joseph Williams","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Religion"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-08-06T09:00:00.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/GettyImages-1774517537.jpg?fit=724%2C483&ssl=1","type":"image/jpeg"},"createdAt":"2026-08-06T09:14:17.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/GettyImages-1774517537.jpg?fit=724%2C483&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"EwpNq0aznG1Qjd3R","title":"A Pastor’s Son Builds a Church of His Own","description":"As the son of the man who leads one of the most influential Black churches in the country, Rev. Joshua Thomas spent years avoiding the call to ministry. It’s not that he didn’t love the church; he just preferred to stay behind the scenes: making sure the technology, like the audio and lighting, worked when it was supposed to. “Growing up in a pastor’s family, it was definitely not my dream” to stand at the pulpit, says Thomas, whose father, Bishop Walter Scott Thomas Sr., is pastor emeritus of Baltimore’s New Psalmist Baptist Church, and his brother, Dr. Walter Scott Thomas Jr., is the senior pastor. “I did not want to be a pastor.” LEARN MORE: Can the Black Church Be Reimagined? Harlem First Thinks So But God, he says, had other plans. After preaching his first sermon in 2008 and later serving in multiple ministry roles, Thomas heeded the pastoral call. Today, four years into senior pastoral leadership, he has launched Freedom Church in metro Atlanta — a new, fast-growing congregation that reflects both the lessons of his upbringing and his own vision for ministry. “I will forever be unapologetically a son of New Psalmist,” he says. “New Psalmist is in my DNA. When God blesses you with something so great, the worst thing you can do is pour water on that fire.” ‘We’re Creating Something New’ While the spiritual foundation learned is influencing Thomas’ new venture, he insists the new congregation is not simply recreating the practices he inherited from his father. Instead, Thomas says, it is creating space for people who have struggled to find a spiritual home. Freedom Church officially launched late last year and has been holding weekly worship services throughout 2026. This fall marks another milestone as Freedom moves from Saturday worship in Lawrenceville, Georgia, to Sunday morning services in nearby Duluth. Every stage, Thomas says, has required faith. “There’s no handbook on what Freedom is because we’re writing it as we go,” he says. “Every chapter we’re creating something new.” For Thomas, planting a church begins with one essential question: “It starts with a why. Some people start churches just because they want to say they have a church, and that’s not enough.” Instead, he said, church planting should fulfill a genuine spiritual need. As he heard from a growing number of people searching for a place to worship, Thomas says he had no choice but to take on the task. “The Lord began speaking, saying, ’That’s what I’m calling you to do.’” Those early conversations have transformed into a growing congregation. “People have found us,” Thomas says. “Our sheep know our voice, even if we didn’t know them.” The name he chose reflects what Thomas hopes visitors experience: a church without boundaries or impediments “that block us from experiencing God.” Healing the ‘Church Hurt’ Like most churches, there are policies and organization, but only to help establish “a superhighway where persons can come and move freely in their growth and development and relationship with God,” Thomas says. He believes freedom is especially important for people carrying “church hurt,” or those who have never quite fit traditional church expectations. “If someone’s a new believer, they can feel safe at Freedom,” he says. “If someone’s been in church for 40 years, they can feel safe. If someone’s looking to heal from past church hurt, they can find their place.” That emphasis begins before worship ever starts. “When you come to Freedom for the first time, the first thing you encounter are smiling faces,” Thomas says. “People that are welcoming you there.” He described a congregation where visitors are not questioned about where they belong or whose seat they occupy. “You can be fully you and continue to grow,” he says. “You don’t have to put on a front.” If someone’s a new believer, they can feel safe at Freedom. If someone’s been in church for 40 years, they can feel safe. If someone’s looking to heal from past church hurt, they can find their place. Thomas acknowledges New Psalmist’s influence while recognizing that every congregation develops its own culture. “We will have dynamic worship expression through praise and worship through the Word,” he says. “Everything we do for God should be done in excellence.” That includes preaching. Thomas describes himself as a series preacher whose goal is to send worshippers home hungry to study Scripture beyond Sunday morning. “You can’t grow just in Sunday service,” he says. Even as Freedom builds its in-person congregation, Thomas is equally committed to those who may never walk through its doors. Each week, roughly 200 people worship online through the church’s livestream. “The world has changed,” he says. “There’s no longer this great separation between the physical and the digital space.” Integrated Mission Rather than viewing online worship as secondary, Thomas sees it as another mission field. “We’re looking at different ways to engage more fully the online congregation,” he says. “People now don’t feel as though they’re disconnected if they worship online.” Thomas believes churches that continue treating digital ministry as an afterthought risk missing an entire generation of online worshippers. “The faster the church accepts that, the more ministry we can do,” he says. Freedom has not yet held its first baptism service, but Thomas is carefully planning the congregation’s introduction to the ordinance. He recalled helping redesign New Psalmist’s post-pandemic baptism services by moving them into the main sanctuary, a change that resulted in more than 100 baptisms on Easter Sunday. For Thomas, Freedom Church is ultimately less about creating another congregation than creating new possibilities for ministry. He remembers leading a church with no kitchen that nevertheless fed more than 500 people because members found another way. “So often we have the ideas, but we have all the reasons… why we can’t,” he says. “Anything is possible.” RELATED: 500 Voices, One Mission: Reviving Baltimore’s Gospel Sound That conviction now shapes Freedom’s future. A church without generations of traditions can become a laboratory for fresh ministry, Thomas believes, provided it remains anchored in the gospel. The son of one of Baltimore’s best-known pastors is writing his own chapter in Georgia, carrying forward a rich inheritance while making room for people who have long wondered whether there was a place for them at the table. The post A Pastor’s Son Builds a Church of His Own appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"After
\n

As the son of the man who leads one of the most influential Black churches in the country, Rev. Joshua Thomas spent years avoiding the call to ministry. It’s not that he didn’t love the church; he just preferred to stay behind the scenes: making sure the technology, like the audio and lighting, worked when it was supposed to. 

\n\n\n\n

“Growing up in a pastor’s family, it was definitely not my dream” to stand at the pulpit, says Thomas, whose father, Bishop Walter Scott Thomas Sr., is pastor emeritus of Baltimore’s New Psalmist Baptist Church, and his brother, Dr. Walter Scott Thomas Jr., is the senior pastor. “I did not want to be a pastor.”

\n\n\n\n

LEARN MORE: Can the Black Church Be Reimagined? Harlem First Thinks So

\n\n\n\n

But God, he says, had other plans.  

\n\n\n\n

After preaching his first sermon in 2008 and later serving in multiple ministry roles, Thomas heeded the pastoral call. Today, four years into senior pastoral leadership, he has launched Freedom Church in metro Atlanta — a new, fast-growing congregation that reflects both the lessons of his upbringing and his own vision for ministry.

\n\n\n\n

“I will forever be unapologetically a son of New Psalmist,” he says. “New Psalmist is in my DNA. When God blesses you with something so great, the worst thing you can do is pour water on that fire.”

\n\n\n\n

‘We’re Creating Something New’

\n\n\n\n

While the spiritual foundation learned is influencing Thomas’ new venture, he insists the new congregation is not simply recreating the practices he inherited from his father. Instead, Thomas says, it is creating space for people who have struggled to find a spiritual home.

\n\n\n\n

Freedom Church officially launched late last year and has been holding weekly worship services throughout 2026. This fall marks another milestone as Freedom moves from Saturday worship in Lawrenceville, Georgia, to Sunday morning services in nearby Duluth. Every stage, Thomas says, has required faith.

\n\n\n\n

“There’s no handbook on what Freedom is because we’re writing it as we go,” he says. “Every chapter we’re creating something new.”

\n\n\n\n

For Thomas, planting a church begins with one essential question: “It starts with a why. Some people start churches just because they want to say they have a church, and that’s not enough.”

\n\n\n\n

Instead, he said, church planting should fulfill a genuine spiritual need. As he heard from a growing number of people searching for a place to worship, Thomas says he had no choice but to take on the task. “The Lord began speaking, saying, ’That’s what I’m calling you to do.’”

\n\n\n\n

Those early conversations have transformed into a growing congregation.

\n\n\n\n

“People have found us,” Thomas says. “Our sheep know our voice, even if we didn’t know them.”

\n\n\n\n

The name he chose reflects what Thomas hopes visitors experience: a church without boundaries or impediments “that block us from experiencing God.” 

\n\n\n\n

Healing the ‘Church Hurt’

\n\n\n\n

Like most churches, there are policies and organization, but only to help establish “a superhighway where persons can come and move freely in their growth and development and relationship with God,” Thomas says. He believes freedom is especially important for people carrying “church hurt,” or those who have never quite fit traditional church expectations.

\n\n\n\n

“If someone’s a new believer, they can feel safe at Freedom,” he says. “If someone’s been in church for 40 years, they can feel safe. If someone’s looking to heal from past church hurt, they can find their place.”

\n\n\n\n

That emphasis begins before worship ever starts.

\n\n\n\n

“When you come to Freedom for the first time, the first thing you encounter are smiling faces,” Thomas says. “People that are welcoming you there.”

\n\n\n\n

He described a congregation where visitors are not questioned about where they belong or whose seat they occupy.

\n\n\n\n

“You can be fully you and continue to grow,” he says. “You don’t have to put on a front.”

\n\n\n\n

If someone’s a new believer, they can feel safe at Freedom. If someone’s been in church for 40 years, they can feel safe. If someone’s looking to heal from past church hurt, they can find their place.

\n\n\n\n

Thomas acknowledges New Psalmist’s influence while recognizing that every congregation develops its own culture.

\n\n\n\n

“We will have dynamic worship expression through praise and worship through the Word,” he says. “Everything we do for God should be done in excellence.”

\n\n\n\n

That includes preaching.

\n\n\n\n

Thomas describes himself as a series preacher whose goal is to send worshippers home hungry to study Scripture beyond Sunday morning. “You can’t grow just in Sunday service,” he says.

\n\n\n\n

Even as Freedom builds its in-person congregation, Thomas is equally committed to those who may never walk through its doors.

\n\n\n\n

Each week, roughly 200 people worship online through the church’s livestream.

\n\n\n\n

“The world has changed,” he says. “There’s no longer this great separation between the physical and the digital space.”

\n\n\n\n

Integrated Mission

\n\n\n\n

Rather than viewing online worship as secondary, Thomas sees it as another mission field.

\n\n\n\n

“We’re looking at different ways to engage more fully the online congregation,” he says. “People now don’t feel as though they’re disconnected if they worship online.”

\n\n\n\n

Thomas believes churches that continue treating digital ministry as an afterthought risk missing an entire generation of online worshippers.

\n\n\n\n

“The faster the church accepts that, the more ministry we can do,” he says.

\n\n\n\n

Freedom has not yet held its first baptism service, but Thomas is carefully planning the congregation’s introduction to the ordinance. He recalled helping redesign New Psalmist’s post-pandemic baptism services by moving them into the main sanctuary, a change that resulted in more than 100 baptisms on Easter Sunday.

\n\n\n\n

For Thomas, Freedom Church is ultimately less about creating another congregation than creating new possibilities for ministry. He remembers leading a church with no kitchen that nevertheless fed more than 500 people because members found another way.

\n\n\n\n

“So often we have the ideas, but we have all the reasons… why we can’t,” he says. “Anything is possible.”

\n\n\n\n

RELATED: 500 Voices, One Mission: Reviving Baltimore’s Gospel Sound

\n\n\n\n

That conviction now shapes Freedom’s future.

\n\n\n\n

A church without generations of traditions can become a laboratory for fresh ministry, Thomas believes, provided it remains anchored in the gospel. 

\n\n\n\n

The son of one of Baltimore’s best-known pastors is writing his own chapter in Georgia, carrying forward a rich inheritance while making room for people who have long wondered whether there was a place for them at the table.

\n

The post A Pastor’s Son Builds a Church of His Own appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/08/a-pastors-son-builds-a-church-of-his-own/","site":"Rev. Dorothy S. Boulware","originalAuthor":"Rev. Dorothy S. Boulware","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Religion"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-08-05T18:11:31.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-05-at-12.47.36-PM.png?fit=1024%2C658&ssl=1","type":"image/png"},"createdAt":"2026-08-05T18:12:39.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-05-at-12.47.36-PM.png?fit=1024%2C658&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"L3zt4cheSJOqlcNf","title":"Arrests Mark Moral Monday’s Shift From Washington to the States","description":"After weeks of praying, protesting, and getting arrested in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol, Bishop William J. Barber II says the next battle for America’s democracy won’t be fought in Washington. Instead, the Moral Mondays campaign will shift from confronting Congress to mobilizing millions of infrequent voters on the streets, in church basements, on neighborhood sidewalks, and at polling places across the country. LEARN MORE: ‘Books, Not Bombs’: Moral Mondays Faith Leaders Slam Iran War The new phase of the campaign, however, began Monday with Barber and several clergy members arrested inside the Hart Senate Office Building. They were detained after Senate Majority Leader John Thune declined to meet with Barber and other faith leaders who wanted to discuss the SAVE America Act and other legislation they say disproportionately harms poor and low-income Americans. ‘Vision of Justice’ The demonstration and arrests officially launched 100 Days; 1,000 Marches to the Polls, a nationwide voter mobilization effort that moves Moral Monday into communities across the country ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections. In a statement, Barber said the movement’s demonstration in Thune’s office was about confronting injustice, not instigating a spectacle. “We are not supposed to turn a deaf ear and look the other way,” Barber said. “We are called to be in the public square, as it says in scripture, to go down to the leader’s house and offer a vision of justice and love not rooted in what’s left and right but what is right and wrong.” We don’t need a march on Washington. We need to march to the polls in the states to change Washington.BISHOP WILLIAM J. BARBER II, REPAIRERS OF THE BREACH The demonstration followed weeks of Moral Monday gatherings in Washington led by Repairers of the Breach, the social justice organization Barber founded. Since early summer, clergy, labor leaders, voting-rights advocates and directly impacted people have gathered weekly to challenge what they describe as policies harming poor and working-class families. Those concerns have included voting rights, affordable health care, living wages, immigration, poverty and military spending — issues organizers consistently frame as moral rather than partisan questions. Marching to Polls Monday’s action marked the campaign’s pivot. Rather than continuing weekly demonstrations in Washington, organizers are calling on participants to return to their home states and build local grassroots movements leading up to Election Day. “We don’t need a march on Washington,” Barber said. “We need to march to the polls in the states to change Washington.” According to Repairers of the Breach, organizers hope to mobilize 5 million low-wage voters, including at least 1 million Black men, particularly in Southern and battleground states. The effort will rely on peer-to-peer texting, phone banking, neighborhood canvassing, voter education and more than 1,000 locally organized Marches to the Polls. Back to the Future For Black churches, the initiative recalls a familiar role. Historically, congregations have functioned as centers of worship, community organizing and civic participation, from the Civil Rights Movement through contemporary voting-rights campaigns. Organizers say pastors, lay leaders and congregations will again become essential partners in educating voters and encouraging participation in communities where turnout has often lagged despite significant need. The coalition backing the effort reflects that broad strategy. In addition to Repairers of the Breach, participating organizations include the African Methodist Episcopal Church, African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), National Council of Churches, Common Cause, Sojourners, United Church of Christ, Washington Interfaith Network and numerous other faith-based and advocacy organizations. Extending the Movement The coalition plans to build a movement that extends beyond election season by connecting voting to issues that directly affect everyday life in Black communities. For organizers, the arrests inside the Senate office building Monday symbolized what they see as the unwillingness of political leaders to hear the concerns of those most affected by poverty, barriers to the ballot box and widening economic inequality. Whether Monday’s arrests become the defining image of the campaign remains uncertain. RELATED: Bishop William Barber Launches Legal Fight Over Gerrymandering Organizers say they would rather be remembered for what happens next — thousands of faith leaders returning to their congregations, neighborhoods and state capitals to encourage civic participation and remind voters that democracy, like justice, requires more than a single march. As Moral Monday leaves Washington, its leaders are betting the movement’s greatest impact will come not from the halls of Congress but from the pulpits, sidewalks and polling places of communities across America. The post Arrests Mark Moral Monday’s Shift From Washington to the States appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"The
\n

After weeks of praying, protesting, and getting arrested in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol, Bishop William J. Barber II says the next battle for America’s democracy won’t be fought in Washington.

\n\n\n\n

Instead, the Moral Mondays campaign will shift from confronting Congress to mobilizing millions of infrequent voters on the streets, in church basements, on neighborhood sidewalks, and at polling places across the country.

\n\n\n\n

LEARN MORE: ‘Books, Not Bombs’: Moral Mondays Faith Leaders Slam Iran War

\n\n\n\n

The new phase of the campaign, however, began Monday with Barber and several clergy members arrested inside the Hart Senate Office Building. They were detained after Senate Majority Leader John Thune declined to meet with Barber and other faith leaders who wanted to discuss the SAVE America Act and other legislation they say disproportionately harms poor and low-income Americans.

\n\n\n\n

‘Vision of Justice’

\n\n\n\n

The demonstration and arrests officially launched 100 Days; 1,000 Marches to the Polls, a nationwide voter mobilization effort that moves Moral Monday into communities across the country ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections.

\n\n\n\n

In a statement, Barber said the movement’s demonstration in Thune’s office was about confronting injustice, not instigating a spectacle. 

\n\n\n\n

“We are not supposed to turn a deaf ear and look the other way,” Barber said. “We are called to be in the public square, as it says in scripture, to go down to the leader’s house and offer a vision of justice and love not rooted in what’s left and right but what is right and wrong.”

\n\n\n\n

We don’t need a march on Washington. We need to march to the polls in the states to change Washington.

BISHOP WILLIAM J. BARBER II, REPAIRERS OF THE BREACH
\n\n\n\n

The demonstration followed weeks of Moral Monday gatherings in Washington led by Repairers of the Breach, the social justice organization Barber founded. Since early summer, clergy, labor leaders, voting-rights advocates and directly impacted people have gathered weekly to challenge what they describe as policies harming poor and working-class families.

\n\n\n\n

Those concerns have included voting rights, affordable health care, living wages, immigration, poverty and military spending — issues organizers consistently frame as moral rather than partisan questions.

\n\n\n\n

Marching to Polls

\n\n\n\n

Monday’s action marked the campaign’s pivot.

\n\n\n\n

Rather than continuing weekly demonstrations in Washington, organizers are calling on participants to return to their home states and build local grassroots movements leading up to Election Day.

\n\n\n\n

“We don’t need a march on Washington,” Barber said. “We need to march to the polls in the states to change Washington.”

\n\n\n\n

According to Repairers of the Breach, organizers hope to mobilize 5 million low-wage voters, including at least 1 million Black men, particularly in Southern and battleground states. The effort will rely on peer-to-peer texting, phone banking, neighborhood canvassing, voter education and more than 1,000 locally organized Marches to the Polls.

\n\n\n\n

Back to the Future

\n\n\n\n

For Black churches, the initiative recalls a familiar role.

\n\n\n\n

Historically, congregations have functioned as centers of worship, community organizing and civic participation, from the Civil Rights Movement through contemporary voting-rights campaigns. Organizers say pastors, lay leaders and congregations will again become essential partners in educating voters and encouraging participation in communities where turnout has often lagged despite significant need.

\n\n\n\n

The coalition backing the effort reflects that broad strategy.

\n\n\n\n

In addition to Repairers of the Breach, participating organizations include the African Methodist Episcopal Church, African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), National Council of Churches, Common Cause, Sojourners, United Church of Christ, Washington Interfaith Network and numerous other faith-based and advocacy organizations.

\n\n\n\n

Extending the Movement

\n\n\n\n

The coalition plans to build a movement that extends beyond election season by connecting voting to issues that directly affect everyday life in Black communities.

\n\n\n\n

For organizers, the arrests inside the Senate office building Monday symbolized what they see as the unwillingness of political leaders to hear the concerns of those most affected by poverty, barriers to the ballot box and widening economic inequality.

\n\n\n\n

Whether Monday’s arrests become the defining image of the campaign remains uncertain.

\n\n\n\n

RELATED: Bishop William Barber Launches Legal Fight Over Gerrymandering

\n\n\n\n

Organizers say they would rather be remembered for what happens next — thousands of faith leaders returning to their congregations, neighborhoods and state capitals to encourage civic participation and remind voters that democracy, like justice, requires more than a single march.

\n\n\n\n

As Moral Monday leaves Washington, its leaders are betting the movement’s greatest impact will come not from the halls of Congress but from the pulpits, sidewalks and polling places of communities across America.

\n

The post Arrests Mark Moral Monday’s Shift From Washington to the States appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/08/arrests-mark-moral-mondays-shift-from-washington-to-the-states/","site":"Rev. Dorothy S. Boulware","originalAuthor":"Rev. Dorothy S. Boulware","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Religion"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-08-04T23:11:27.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-04-at-2.49.28-PM.png?fit=1024%2C827&ssl=1","type":"image/png"},"createdAt":"2026-08-04T23:12:17.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-04-at-2.49.28-PM.png?fit=1024%2C827&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"nXxe45G4jaAvzEs5","title":"First Deaths from Cyclospora Reported","description":"On Monday, federal and state public health officials announced the first confirmed deaths in the U.S. tied to the nationwide outbreak of cyclosporiasis. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “is aware of two cyclosporiasis-related deaths in people with underlying health conditions from Michigan as a result of this outbreak,” according to a statement posted on the agency’s website on Monday. “CDC will update its website to include laboratory confirmed cases, hospitalizations and deaths.” Food contamination linked to the microscopic parasite typically occurs between late spring and into the summer. But this year’s ongoing outbreak has been anything but typical, with the CDC reporting more than 6,700 domestically acquired, lab-confirmed cases since May 1 and another 11,500 suspected cases under investigation. The agency also reports 1,947 confirmed illnesses from the parasite across nine states. Nevertheless, the CDC’s official number of sickened patients hasn’t changed since July 24, and doesn’t include cases occurring in people who may have gotten ill while traveling internationally. The source of the outbreak, which covers 45 states, is still unidentified. Illnesses Began In May Meanwhile, Michigan officials say medical records show the people who died had “significant underlying health conditions” that may have been impacted by cyclosporiasis and dehydration. The larger outbreak involves patients in Michigan and northern Ohio. Several other states have numbers in the hundreds and the count is still growing. A smaller outbreak is tearing through nine states: Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Investigators found that many of those who fell ill had eaten at Taco Bell restaurants that used lettuce from Taylor Farms de Mexico as an ingredient. The commercial produce giant has been identified as the most likely source of the outbreak. It voluntarily recalled the lettuce effective July 17, but the investigation reveals that the illnesses began as early as May 1. FoodNet Cut Last Year The people who died had fallen ill before the Food and Drug Administration announced the voluntary recall. Michigan’s health department reports that as of July 30, a total of 11,234 residents have been sickened, and 193 people had been hospitalized. Cyclospora is a microscopic parasite that usually infects people who’ve eaten contaminated produce irrigated with feces-laden water. The bug typically causes flu-like symptoms like fatigue and nausea as well as “frequent and sometimes explosive bowel movements.” Infection rarely results in death. The illness is detected using a specific test and patients need an antibiotic to fight the parasite. The Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network called FoodNet — a collaboration between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration and state health departments created in 1995 — made surveillance of cyclospora optional in 2025. The 30-year-old system had actively monitored infections caused by eight pathogens but last year restricted active monitoring to salmonella and E.coli. The CDC says it continues to monitor “laboratory-confirmed cases of cyclosporiasis year-round to detect outbreaks linked to a common food source in the United States.” In April, consumer advocates and representatives of the food industry asked congressional leaders to increase funding for FoodNet and other critical food safety programs at the CDC. Unanswered Questions Bill Marler, a food safety expert and liability attorney, believes it’s quite likely that the official government reports of cyclosporiasis illnesses are missing thousands of cases, a gap that raises several questions. “Fifty state health departments report 22,181 cyclosporiasis cases this summer,” says Marler. “Subtract the federal outbreak count from what the states report, and you get over 20,000 counted illnesses with no confirmed link to anything.” Marler also notes that Taylor Farms’ recall covers 28 states, while the biggest outbreak is tied to nine states. That, he says, begs the question of what happened to the lettuce shipped to the other 17 states. “How many people have died, and how would anybody know?” he said. ”Every federal figure says none until [August 3]. I am not asserting otherwise. I am asking what method produced that number.” FDA’s own outbreak table notes six Cyclospora investigations this season. One of them is tied to the lettuce. But another outbreak announced in late July that involves 93 cases is still not connected to a specific food product or products, and there’s no indication how the agencies will handle the unsolved issues. “CDC treats May 1 through August 31 as the cyclosporiasis season,” says Marler. “That leaves thirty days before the illnesses stop and the interest goes with them.” The post First Deaths from Cyclospora Reported appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"Cyclosporiasis
\n

On Monday, federal and state public health officials announced the first confirmed deaths in the U.S. tied to the nationwide outbreak of cyclosporiasis. 

\n\n\n\n

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “is aware of two cyclosporiasis-related deaths in people with underlying health conditions from Michigan as a result of this outbreak,” according to a statement posted on the agency’s website on Monday. “CDC will update its website to include laboratory confirmed cases, hospitalizations and deaths.”

\n\n\n\n

Food contamination linked to the microscopic parasite typically occurs between late spring and into the summer. But this year’s ongoing outbreak has been anything but typical, with the CDC reporting more than 6,700 domestically acquired, lab-confirmed cases since May 1 and another 11,500 suspected cases under investigation. 

\n\n\n\n

The agency also reports 1,947 confirmed illnesses from the parasite across nine states. 

\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, the CDC’s official number of sickened patients hasn’t changed since July 24, and doesn’t include cases occurring in people who may have gotten ill while traveling internationally. The source of the outbreak, which covers 45 states, is still unidentified. 

\n\n\n\n

Illnesses Began In May

\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Michigan officials say medical records show the people who died had “significant underlying health conditions” that may have been impacted by cyclosporiasis and dehydration. 

\n\n\n\n

The larger outbreak involves patients in Michigan and northern Ohio. Several other states have numbers in the hundreds and the count is still growing. 

\n\n\n\n

A smaller outbreak is tearing through nine states: Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Investigators found that many of those who fell ill had eaten at Taco Bell restaurants that used lettuce from Taylor Farms de Mexico as an ingredient.

\n\n\n\n

The commercial produce giant has been identified as the most likely source of the outbreak. It voluntarily recalled the lettuce effective July 17, but the investigation reveals that the illnesses began as early as May 1. 

\n\n\n\n

FoodNet Cut Last Year

\n\n\n\n

The people who died had fallen ill before the Food and Drug Administration announced the voluntary recall. Michigan’s health department reports that as of July 30, a total of 11,234 residents have been sickened, and 193 people had been hospitalized. 

\n\n\n\n

Cyclospora is a microscopic parasite that usually infects people who’ve eaten contaminated produce irrigated with feces-laden water. The bug typically causes flu-like symptoms like fatigue and nausea as well as “frequent and sometimes explosive bowel movements.” Infection rarely results in death. 

\n\n\n\n

The illness is detected using a specific test and patients need an antibiotic to fight the parasite.

\n\n\n\n

The Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network called FoodNet — a collaboration between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration and state health departments created in 1995 — made surveillance of cyclospora optional in 2025. 

\n\n\n\n

The 30-year-old system had actively monitored infections caused by eight pathogens but last year restricted active monitoring to salmonella and E.coli. The CDC says it continues to monitor “laboratory-confirmed cases of cyclosporiasis year-round to detect outbreaks linked to a common food source in the United States.”

\n\n\n\n

In April, consumer advocates and representatives of the food industry asked congressional leaders to increase funding for FoodNet and other critical food safety programs at the CDC. 

\n\n\n\n

Unanswered Questions

\n\n\n\n

Bill Marler, a food safety expert and liability attorney, believes it’s quite likely that the official government reports of cyclosporiasis illnesses are missing thousands of cases, a gap that raises several questions.

\n\n\n\n

“Fifty state health departments report 22,181 cyclosporiasis cases this summer,” says Marler. “Subtract the federal outbreak count from what the states report, and you get over 20,000 counted illnesses with no confirmed link to anything.” 

\n\n\n\n

Marler also notes that Taylor Farms’ recall covers 28 states, while the biggest outbreak is tied to nine states. That, he says, begs the question of what happened to the lettuce shipped to the other 17 states.

\n\n\n\n

“How many people have died, and how would anybody know?” he said. ”Every federal figure says none until [August 3]. I am not asserting otherwise. I am asking what method produced that number.”

\n\n\n\n

FDA’s own outbreak table notes six Cyclospora investigations this season. 

\n\n\n\n

One of them is tied to the lettuce. But another outbreak announced in late July that involves 93 cases is still not connected to a specific food product or products, and there’s no indication how the agencies will handle the unsolved issues. 

\n\n\n\n

“CDC treats May 1 through August 31 as the cyclosporiasis season,” says Marler. “That leaves thirty days before the illnesses stop and the interest goes with them.”  

\n\n\n\n

\n

The post First Deaths from Cyclospora Reported  appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/08/first-deaths-from-cyclospora-reported/","site":"Jennifer Porter Gore","originalAuthor":"Jennifer Porter Gore","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Health","food","health"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-08-04T21:01:51.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/GettyImages-cyclospora.jpg?fit=801%2C435&ssl=1","type":"image/jpeg"},"createdAt":"2026-08-04T21:03:17.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/GettyImages-cyclospora.jpg?fit=801%2C435&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"O5fqJ9rMxeTGA3YD","title":"Temu or Shein Could Be Hazardous to Your Health ","description":"Every day, hundreds of social media fashion influencers inundate TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube with videos showing off eye-popping hauls from Temu, Shein, and other low-priced, fast-fashion brands. They film themselves ripping open packages crammed with skirts, shirts, and outfits — often sent free of charge — then model the goods for the camera, enticing other people to buy. The most popular videos can attract hundreds of thousands of eyeballs; one fashion review alone can garner upwards of 100,000 likes, which can translate into major sales for the brands. For the Asian-based retailers of $10 blouses and $15 jeans, hungry to conquer the U.S. market, the posts are advertising gold. RELATED: Is Your Wardrobe Worth Our Planet? But there’s ample evidence that those trendy, unbelievably-priced fashions come with a hidden price: potentially lethal chemicals clinging to your skin. TikToker @PaulsLaw wants you to know about it — and calls out Temu and Shein, two of the hottest online retailers, as brands to avoid. “Your skin is your largest organ, and it eats everything you put on it!” warns @PaulsLAW. @paulslaw_ Your skin is your largest organ and it eats everything you put on it! 👀 All that chemical filled SHEIN, TEMU, Ali Express cheap poly fabrics is harming people. I’m pretty sure you’ve heard you get what you pay for 🤷🏾‍♂️ not only that making clothing that don’t last long is bad for the environment. A few washes and they look like they start to oil like you’ve had them for a decade smh 🤦🏾‍♂️ it’s better to have 5 good quality outfits the to have 30 cheap one that don’t last and bad for your health. I know everyone wants to wear new clothing tomake vids n take pics for social media but those people you’re tying to impress don’t give a damn! 👀 #LoveAlwaysWin that’s LAW 💛 #PaulsLAW 💛 #peaceisaweapon 🧘🏾‍♂️ #healthisweath #highvibrationalclothing #highvibrationalclothes #crueltyfreeclothing #crueltyfreefabrics #healthyclothing #heathyliving #plantbased #plantpowered 🌱 #vegan #ATribeCalledUS 🤝 #UnitedSpiritsFarmacy 🍃 ♬ original sound – PaulsLAW He’s not wrong: scientists and public health experts are sounding the alarm about synthetic fabrics and chemical-based products commonly used in the fast-fashion industry. They say cheap clothing and goods are a fast-growing source of illness, from rashes and migraine headaches to breast and prostate cancer. Unsafe But Growing Fast That’s bad news for Black consumers: data shows Black people in general are at higher risk of contracting serious illnesses, and with worse outcomes, than whites. And many of Temu and Shein’s popular social-media fashion influencers are Black people. Thanks to California’s Proposition 65, Shein and Beverly Hills-based Fashion Nova have been cited for selling products that contain a toxic chemical linked to cancer, birth defects, and other reproductive harm. Daily fines for violating Proposition 65 can be up to $2,500 but there’s no evidence Shein was forced to pay the fine. RELATED: Breast Cancer in Black Women: Why Early Screening Matters Last month, the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission called for an investigation into Shein and Temu — arguably the two most popular, fastest-growing, lowest-priced e-retailers — because of concerns that shoppers can buy baby and toddler products that do not meet U.S. safety regulations. In response, Temu told the commission it agrees customers should be protected. “Our interests are aligned with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in ensuring consumer protection and product safety, and we will cooperate fully with any investigation,” a Temu spokesperson told ABC News. The company also said it requires all sellers “to comply with applicable laws and regulations, including those related to product safety.” While the U.S. is slowly coming to grips with the issue, regulators in Asian and European countries are already taking steps to address it. They have penalized low-priced fashion retailers for selling products containing dangerous levels of toxic chemicals, including lead, formaldehyde and phthalates — man-made chemicals used to manufacture plastics. Earlier this year, South Korean authorities accused Shein of selling a shoe line that contained 428 times the permitted levels of phthalates and lead. During regular inspections, Seoul authorities examined 93 Shein products and found that half of them are manufactured using toxic chemicals. Exposure to any amount of lead is dangerous and the phthalates that make plastics more flexible have been linked to breast cancer, colon, and prostate cancer. Shein and Temu sell everything from kitchen items, gadgets and baby gear to clothing for infants and adults. And while an estimated 97% of clothing sold in the U.S. is imported, there are no federal regulations limiting chemicals in those products. Meanwhile, as Temu and Shein become more popular in the U.S., their American footprint keeps getting bigger. Temu and Shein, respectively, are the top two downloaded shopping apps in the Apple Store, blowing past Target, Walmart, and Amazon. Both companies take in tens of billions of dollars in revenue per year. ‘Avoid at All Costs’ A casual look on social media shows fast fashion is popular with Black Americans. But the health risks may not be worth high style for low prices. Black people are more likely to be diagnosed with cancer than any other U.S. demographic. They also have a lower overall 5-year cancer survival rate than white Americans and are more likely to be diagnosed with female breast, lung, and colorectal cancers at later stages when the disease is harder to treat. But it’s also clear that the warnings are breaking through. A search of “Shein and Temu toxic” on TikTok turns up hundreds of videos from posters talking to their followers about the investigations into toxic clothing. Organizations like Australia-based Good On You are spreading the word about Shein and Temu, which are on their list of “10 Fast Fashion Brands We Avoid At All Costs.” Environmental and health advocates recommend that consumers buy clothing made from natural fabrics, like cotton, wool, silk, or leather, rather than synthetic materials. Consumers looking to avoid toxic chemicals can check for third-party certification standards such as the Oeko-Tex Standard 100, Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), the EU Ecolabel, or the bluesign® certification. Several influencers also warn consumers not to use skin care products the brands sell. One influencer, @theshaniquadupree, puts on gloves when opening the product bag and tells viewers she will launder the clothing before she wears it. “Y’all, I really like this outfit,” she jokes to her more than 56,000 TikTok followers. “But I like my ovaries so much more.” The post Temu or Shein Could Be Hazardous to Your Health – Especially if You’re Black appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"Shein
\n

Every day,  hundreds of social media fashion influencers inundate TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube with videos showing off eye-popping hauls from Temu, Shein, and other low-priced, fast-fashion brands. They film themselves ripping open packages crammed with skirts, shirts, and outfits — often sent free of charge — then model the goods for the camera, enticing other people to buy.

\n\n\n\n

The most popular videos can attract hundreds of thousands of eyeballs; one fashion review alone can garner upwards of 100,000 likes, which can translate into major sales for the brands. For the Asian-based retailers of $10 blouses and $15 jeans, hungry to conquer the U.S. market, the posts are advertising gold.

\n\n\n\n

RELATED: Is Your Wardrobe Worth Our Planet?

\n\n\n\n

But there’s ample evidence that those trendy, unbelievably-priced fashions come with a hidden price: potentially lethal chemicals clinging to your skin.

\n\n\n\n

TikToker @PaulsLaw wants you to know about it — and calls out Temu and Shein, two of the hottest online retailers, as brands to avoid. 

\n\n\n\n

“Your skin is your largest organ, and it eats everything you put on it!” warns @PaulsLAW.

\n\n\n\n
\n
@paulslaw_

Your skin is your largest organ and it eats everything you put on it! 👀 All that chemical filled SHEIN, TEMU, Ali Express cheap poly fabrics is harming people. I’m pretty sure you’ve heard you get what you pay for 🤷🏾‍♂️ not only that making clothing that don’t last long is bad for the environment. A few washes and they look like they start to oil like you’ve had them for a decade smh 🤦🏾‍♂️ it’s better to have 5 good quality outfits the to have 30 cheap one that don’t last and bad for your health. I know everyone wants to wear new clothing tomake vids n take pics for social media but those people you’re tying to impress don’t give a damn! 👀 #LoveAlwaysWin that’s LAW 💛 #PaulsLAW 💛 #peaceisaweapon 🧘🏾‍♂️ #healthisweath #highvibrationalclothing #highvibrationalclothes #crueltyfreeclothing #crueltyfreefabrics #healthyclothing #heathyliving #plantbased #plantpowered 🌱 #vegan #ATribeCalledUS 🤝 #UnitedSpiritsFarmacy 🍃

♬ original sound – PaulsLAW
\n
\n\n\n\n

He’s not wrong: scientists and public health experts are sounding the alarm about synthetic fabrics and chemical-based products commonly used in the fast-fashion industry. They say cheap clothing and goods are a fast-growing source of illness, from rashes and migraine headaches to breast and prostate cancer. 

\n\n\n\n

Unsafe But Growing Fast

\n\n\n\n

That’s bad news for Black consumers: data shows Black people in general are at higher risk of contracting serious illnesses, and with worse outcomes, than whites. And many of Temu and Shein’s popular social-media fashion influencers are Black people. 

\n\n\n\n

Thanks to California’s Proposition 65, Shein and Beverly Hills-based Fashion Nova have been cited for selling products that contain a toxic chemical linked to cancer, birth defects, and other reproductive harm. Daily fines for violating Proposition 65 can be up to $2,500 but there’s no evidence Shein was forced to pay the fine.

\n\n\n\n

RELATED: Breast Cancer in Black Women: Why Early Screening Matters

\n\n\n\n

Last month, the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission called for an investigation into Shein and Temu — arguably the two most popular, fastest-growing, lowest-priced e-retailers — because of concerns that shoppers can buy baby and toddler products that do not meet U.S. safety regulations.

\n\n\n\n

In response, Temu told the commission it agrees customers should be protected. 

\n\n\n\n

“Our interests are aligned with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in ensuring consumer protection and product safety, and we will cooperate fully with any investigation,” a Temu spokesperson told ABC News. The company also said it requires all sellers “to comply with applicable laws and regulations, including those related to product safety.”

\n\n\n\n

While the U.S. is slowly coming to grips with the issue, regulators in Asian and European countries are already taking steps to address it. They have penalized low-priced fashion retailers for selling products containing dangerous levels of toxic chemicals, including lead, formaldehyde and phthalates — man-made chemicals used to manufacture plastics.

\n\n\n\n

Earlier this year, South Korean authorities accused Shein of selling a shoe line that contained 428 times the permitted levels of phthalates and lead. During regular inspections, Seoul authorities examined 93 Shein products and found that half of them are manufactured using toxic chemicals. Exposure to any amount of lead is dangerous and the phthalates that make plastics more flexible have been linked to breast cancer, colon, and prostate cancer. 

\n\n\n\n

Shein and Temu sell everything from kitchen items, gadgets and baby gear to clothing for infants and adults. And while an estimated 97% of clothing sold in the U.S. is imported, there are no federal regulations limiting chemicals in those products. 

\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, as Temu and Shein become more popular in the U.S., their American footprint keeps getting bigger. Temu and Shein, respectively, are the top two downloaded shopping apps in the Apple Store, blowing past Target, Walmart, and Amazon. Both companies take in tens of billions of dollars in revenue per year. 

\n\n\n\n

‘Avoid at All Costs’

\n\n\n\n

A casual look on social media shows fast fashion is popular with Black Americans. But the health risks may not be worth high style for low prices. 

\n\n\n\n

Black people are more likely to be diagnosed with cancer than any other U.S. demographic. They also have a lower overall 5-year cancer survival rate than white Americans and are more likely to be diagnosed with female breast, lung, and colorectal cancers at later stages when the disease is harder to treat. 

\n\n\n\n

But it’s also clear that the warnings are breaking through. A search of “Shein and Temu toxic” on TikTok turns up hundreds of videos from posters talking to their followers about the investigations into toxic clothing. 

\n\n\n\n

Organizations like Australia-based Good On You are spreading the word about Shein and Temu, which are on their list of “10 Fast Fashion Brands We Avoid At All Costs.”

\n\n\n\n

Environmental and health advocates recommend that consumers buy clothing made from natural fabrics, like cotton, wool, silk, or leather, rather than synthetic materials. Consumers looking to avoid toxic chemicals can check for third-party certification standards such as the Oeko-Tex Standard 100, Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), the EU Ecolabel, or the bluesign® certification.

\n\n\n\n

Several influencers also warn consumers not to use skin care products the brands sell. One influencer, @theshaniquadupree, puts on gloves when opening the product bag and tells viewers she will launder the clothing before she wears it.

\n\n\n\n

“Y’all, I really like this outfit,” she jokes to her more than 56,000 TikTok followers. “But I like my ovaries so much more.” 

\n\n\n\n

\n

The post Temu or Shein Could Be Hazardous to Your Health – Especially if You’re Black appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/08/temu-shein-hazardous-health-especially-if-black/","site":"Jennifer Porter Gore","originalAuthor":"Jennifer Porter Gore","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Health","health"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-08-04T19:55:00.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/GettyImages-2175238150.jpg?fit=594%2C417&ssl=1","type":"image/jpeg"},"createdAt":"2026-08-04T21:03:16.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/GettyImages-2175238150.jpg?fit=594%2C417&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"pScrT4t2AT1C89fX","title":"Public Health Improvements Stall Amid Trump’s DEI Crackdown","description":"THOMASVILLE, Ga. — As Earl Williams drove through a historic Black neighborhood known as Dewey City in his hometown, he hardly recognized what he saw. Homes that once belonged to friends, family, and neighbors had siding covered in mold. Some were boarded up. Others had holes in their roofs. LEARN MORE: EPA Rollback Could Bring Dirtier Air to Black Communities Black churches once used Oquina Creek, which runs along the border of the neighborhood, to baptize their congregants. Today, fecal bacteria and other contaminants have made the water unsafe due to an aging wastewater system. “Sometimes you get the feeling like you’re in a Third World country,” Williams said. After three decades in Washington, D.C., he returned four years ago with a mission to revitalize communities such as Dewey City, which he said are “part of what makes Thomasville, Thomasville.” Shifting Priorities A $19.8 million Community Change Grant from the Environmental Protection Agency was supposed to turn the tide of the neighborhood Williams grew up in. The city and the Thomasville Community Development Corp., where Williams formerly served as community development director, applied for the grant in 2024. It was part of a $2 billion effort initiated under the Biden administration to help disadvantaged communities address environmental health risks and create clean energy and climate resiliency projects. But three months after winning the grant, Thomasville became one of 80 communities across the country — from Hawai‘i to Alabama to Massachusetts — to see the funding stripped as priorities shifted in Donald Trump’s second presidency. Black churches once baptized their congregants in Oquina Creek in Thomasville, Georgia. Today, fecal bacteria and other contaminants make the water unsafe. (Briah Lumpkins/KFF Health News) Dilapidated houses are common in Dewey City, a historic Black neighborhood in Thomasville. Many residents don’t have the funds to mitigate issues with mold, asbestos, or lead paint. (Briah Lumpkins/KFF Health News) On the first day of his second term, Trump signed an executive order titled “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing.” It stated that the Biden administration “forced illegal and immoral discrimination” through diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. In an emailed statement, EPA spokesperson Mike Bastasch said the administration is “fully committed to being a great steward of taxpayer dollars.” He added that the “radical agenda” of DEI and environmental justice “preferencing” are not within the agency’s core mission of protecting human health and the environment. Environmental health advocates argue, though, that the decision to cut the grants was not rooted in science. They say that equating environmental justice to DEI is an act of bad faith and that withholding the money forces disenfranchised communities to delay long-overdue updates needed to protect public health for marginalized populations. “I unfortunately believe we’re going to see a reversal in the health profile of this country,” said Jalonne White-Newsome, an associate professor at the University of Michigan who served in the Biden administration as the first federal chief environmental justice officer. “This current federal regime has decided that humanity and public health and justice don’t mean anything,” she said. ‘Why Us?’ Thomasville, near Georgia’s southwestern border, is home to just over 18,600 people. The city had hoped to improve health outcomes in neighborhoods on its southern and western sides where, according to the grant proposal, “historical redlining created a legacy of disinvestment.” Those areas have a deep history: Dewey City, for example, was the first neighborhood in the city where Black people could build homes after the Civil War. It’s also home to the closed Douglass High School — the first public school for Black children in Thomasville, established in 1902. “This place has been neglected,” said Williams, who occasionally hosts historical walks through the community. “But it’s worth bringing it back online.” The proposed “Restoring Resiliency” project featured a plan to remove toxic substances such as mold, lead paint, and asbestos from homes, repair a nearly 82-year-old wastewater system, and convert part of a shuttered high school band room into a health clinic. Williams points at the former Douglass High School campus, where a healthcare clinic and “resilience hub” was planned. (Briah Lumpkins/KFF Health News) In a community of mostly older residents who rely on public transportation, a healthcare clinic planned for this building would have increased access to care and built trust, local advocates say. (Briah Lumpkins/KFF Health News) “This was a long and storied attempt to bend the arc of justice closer,” said Jeremy Rich, a Thomas County commissioner and the pastor at First Missionary Baptist Church. “Justice in healthcare. Justice in environmental impact.” Having a clinic in the community would be a “game changer,” Rich said. During the COVID pandemic, he said, older residents who rely on public transit were reluctant to go to the nearby hospital or the county health department to get vaccinated. When his church offered the jab from Black nurses, he said, vaccination rates improved. The Rev. Jeremy Rich, a pastor, teacher, and Thomas County commissioner, says a clinic in the Dewey City neighborhood of Thomasville would have increased trust in healthcare providers. (Briah Lumpkins/KFF Health News) Many residents don’t have the financial means to remove mold, lead paint, and other toxic materials, said Thomasville Mayor Pro Tem Lucinda Brown. “They just have money to live with every day. That’s it,” she said. “If they can make that happen.” The grant meant hope. Its reversal left many asking, “Why us?” Williams said. In the EPA’s May 2025 letter announcing the grant termination, it said Thomasville’s project promoted “initiatives that conflict with the Agency’s policy of prioritizing merit, fairness, and excellence.” The grant was “inconsistent with, and no longer effectuates, Agency priorities,” the letter said. Environmental justice projects are rooted in science, not DEI, said Jillian Blanchard, the senior vice president of climate change and environmental justice at Lawyers for Good Government, a national nonprofit that provides pro bono legal assistance in focus areas such as health equity, immigration, and environmental health. “Where is the water dirty? Where is the air unclean?” she said. “That is where the money should go.” In June of last year, nearly two dozen communities and organizations around the country filed a class-action lawsuit to get the Community Change Grants reinstated. The lawsuit argued that the projects — such as efforts to create energy-efficient housing in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and empower Houston residents in the pollution permitting process — were vital. This current federal regime has decided that humanity and public health and justice don’t mean anything. Jalonne White-Newsome, associate professor, University of Michigan and former Biden AdmiNistration EPA official. A federal district judge dismissed the case in 2025, but it is being appealed. That lawsuit didn’t include Thomasville. But the city appealed the EPA’s decision on its project, with support from Blanchard’s group. The city and the EPA continue to dispute the issue. This March, the EPA’s deputy inspector general, the agency’s independent watchdog, released a report concluding that the process for determining the awardees was fair. Such federal funding is needed because small municipalities struggle to make long-term, large-scale change without getting stuck with high-interest loans, Blanchard said. “It’s next to impossible,” she said. “That’s one of the reasons the things haven’t been done.” Thomasville received nearly $20 million in federal money for improvement in areas like Dewey City. But months later, the Trump administration pulled the funds, citing shifting priorities. (Briah Lumpkins/KFF Health News) ‘It’s Not Over’ Thomasville has found other ways to make some improvements in the meantime. With the help of a nearly $3 million federal Community Development Block Grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, it made repairs to portions of Dewey City’s sewer, water, and drainage systems. The Thomasville Community Development Corp. has begun building affordable housing in Dewey City and intends to convert a portion of the closed Douglass school into apartments for seniors. The corporation has also applied for $764,000 in congressional funds through the office of Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) that it hopes to use to construct a community health clinic in Dewey City. Decisions on these funding requests will be made this fall. “It’s not over,” said Williams, whose legacy in Thomasville runs deep. At the center of what locals call The Bottom — a two-block stretch of downtown where independent Black and other minority-owned businesses once thrived — is a plaque honoring his father, Earl Williams Jr., the city’s first Black mayor. As he peered at his father’s memorial on a muggy afternoon, he reaffirmed his intentions. “There’s more work to be done, and I’m able,” he said. “I like pouring into the community.” But he has little hope the initial grant will be restored under the current administration. “That was our shot. We didn’t do anything to miss it,” he said. “We just did it during the wrong period of time.” Williams came back to Thomasville after years away, in part to continue a legacy started by his father, Earl Williams Jr., who was Thomasville’s first Black mayor and first Black council member. (Briah Lumpkins/KFF Health News) KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF. This article first appeared on KFF Health News and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. The post Public Health Improvements Stall Amid Trump’s DEI Crackdown appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"When
\n

THOMASVILLE, Ga. — As Earl Williams drove through a historic Black neighborhood known as Dewey City in his hometown, he hardly recognized what he saw.

\n\n\n\n

Homes that once belonged to friends, family, and neighbors had siding covered in mold. Some were boarded up. Others had holes in their roofs.

\n\n\n\n

LEARN MORE: EPA Rollback Could Bring Dirtier Air to Black Communities

\n\n\n\n

Black churches once used Oquina Creek, which runs along the border of the neighborhood, to baptize their congregants. Today, fecal bacteria and other contaminants have made the water unsafe due to an aging wastewater system.

\n\n\n\n

“Sometimes you get the feeling like you’re in a Third World country,” Williams said. After three decades in Washington, D.C., he returned four years ago with a mission to revitalize communities such as Dewey City, which he said are “part of what makes Thomasville, Thomasville.”

\n\n\n\n

Shifting Priorities

\n\n\n\n

A $19.8 million Community Change Grant from the Environmental Protection Agency was supposed to turn the tide of the neighborhood Williams grew up in.

\n\n\n\n

The city and the Thomasville Community Development Corp., where Williams formerly served as community development director, applied for the grant in 2024. It was part of a $2 billion effort initiated under the Biden administration to help disadvantaged communities address environmental health risks and create clean energy and climate resiliency projects.

\n\n\n\n

But three months after winning the grant, Thomasville became one of 80 communities across the country — from Hawai‘i to Alabama to Massachusetts — to see the funding stripped as priorities shifted in Donald Trump’s second presidency.

\n\n\n\n
\"A
Black churches once baptized their congregants in Oquina Creek in Thomasville, Georgia. Today, fecal bacteria and other contaminants make the water unsafe. (Briah Lumpkins/KFF Health News)
\n\n\n\n
\"A
Dilapidated houses are common in Dewey City, a historic Black neighborhood in Thomasville. Many residents don’t have the funds to mitigate issues with mold, asbestos, or lead paint. (Briah Lumpkins/KFF Health News)
\n\n\n\n

On the first day of his second term, Trump signed an executive order titled “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing.” It stated that the Biden administration “forced illegal and immoral discrimination” through diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.

\n\n\n\n

In an emailed statement, EPA spokesperson Mike Bastasch said the administration is “fully committed to being a great steward of taxpayer dollars.” He added that the “radical agenda” of DEI and environmental justice “preferencing” are not within the agency’s core mission of protecting human health and the environment.

\n\n\n\n

Environmental health advocates argue, though, that the decision to cut the grants was not rooted in science. They say that equating environmental justice to DEI is an act of bad faith and that withholding the money forces disenfranchised communities to delay long-overdue updates needed to protect public health for marginalized populations.

\n\n\n\n

“I unfortunately believe we’re going to see a reversal in the health profile of this country,” said Jalonne White-Newsome, an associate professor at the University of Michigan who served in the Biden administration as the first federal chief environmental justice officer.

\n\n\n\n

“This current federal regime has decided that humanity and public health and justice don’t mean anything,” she said.

\n\n\n\n

‘Why Us?’

\n\n\n\n

Thomasville, near Georgia’s southwestern border, is home to just over 18,600 people.

\n\n\n\n

The city had hoped to improve health outcomes in neighborhoods on its southern and western sides where, according to the grant proposal, “historical redlining created a legacy of disinvestment.”

\n\n\n\n

Those areas have a deep history: Dewey City, for example, was the first neighborhood in the city where Black people could build homes after the Civil War. It’s also home to the closed Douglass High School — the first public school for Black children in Thomasville, established in 1902.

\n\n\n\n

“This place has been neglected,” said Williams, who occasionally hosts historical walks through the community. “But it’s worth bringing it back online.”

\n\n\n\n

The proposed “Restoring Resiliency” project featured a plan to remove toxic substances such as mold, lead paint, and asbestos from homes, repair a nearly 82-year-old wastewater system, and convert part of a shuttered high school band room into a health clinic.

\n\n\n\n
\"A
Williams points at the former Douglass High School campus, where a healthcare clinic and “resilience hub” was planned. (Briah Lumpkins/KFF Health News)
\n\n\n\n
\"An
In a community of mostly older residents who rely on public transportation, a healthcare clinic planned for this building would have increased access to care and built trust, local advocates say. (Briah Lumpkins/KFF Health News)
\n\n\n\n

“This was a long and storied attempt to bend the arc of justice closer,” said Jeremy Rich, a Thomas County commissioner and the pastor at First Missionary Baptist Church. “Justice in healthcare. Justice in environmental impact.”

\n\n\n\n

Having a clinic in the community would be a “game changer,” Rich said. During the COVID pandemic, he said, older residents who rely on public transit were reluctant to go to the nearby hospital or the county health department to get vaccinated. When his church offered the jab from Black nurses, he said, vaccination rates improved.

\n\n\n\n
\"A
The Rev. Jeremy Rich, a pastor, teacher, and Thomas County commissioner, says a clinic in the Dewey City neighborhood of Thomasville would have increased trust in healthcare providers. (Briah Lumpkins/KFF Health News)
\n\n\n\n

Many residents don’t have the financial means to remove mold, lead paint, and other toxic materials, said Thomasville Mayor Pro Tem Lucinda Brown. “They just have money to live with every day. That’s it,” she said. “If they can make that happen.”

\n\n\n\n

The grant meant hope. Its reversal left many asking, “Why us?” Williams said.

\n\n\n\n

In the EPA’s May 2025 letter announcing the grant termination, it said Thomasville’s project promoted “initiatives that conflict with the Agency’s policy of prioritizing merit, fairness, and excellence.” The grant was “inconsistent with, and no longer effectuates, Agency priorities,” the letter said.

\n\n\n\n

Environmental justice projects are rooted in science, not DEI, said Jillian Blanchard, the senior vice president of climate change and environmental justice at Lawyers for Good Government, a national nonprofit that provides pro bono legal assistance in focus areas such as health equity, immigration, and environmental health.

\n\n\n\n

“Where is the water dirty? Where is the air unclean?” she said. “That is where the money should go.”

\n\n\n\n

In June of last year, nearly two dozen communities and organizations around the country filed a class-action lawsuit to get the Community Change Grants reinstated. The lawsuit argued that the projects — such as efforts to create energy-efficient housing in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and empower Houston residents in the pollution permitting process — were vital.

\n\n\n\n

This current federal regime has decided that humanity and public health and justice don’t mean anything.

Jalonne White-Newsome, associate professor, University of Michigan and former Biden AdmiNistration EPA official.
\n\n\n\n

A federal district judge dismissed the case in 2025, but it is being appealed.

\n\n\n\n

That lawsuit didn’t include Thomasville. But the city appealed the EPA’s decision on its project, with support from Blanchard’s group. The city and the EPA continue to dispute the issue.

\n\n\n\n

This March, the EPA’s deputy inspector general, the agency’s independent watchdog, released a report concluding that the process for determining the awardees was fair.

\n\n\n\n

Such federal funding is needed because small municipalities struggle to make long-term, large-scale change without getting stuck with high-interest loans, Blanchard said.

\n\n\n\n

“It’s next to impossible,” she said. “That’s one of the reasons the things haven’t been done.”

\n\n\n\n
\"A
Thomasville received nearly $20 million in federal money for improvement in areas like Dewey City. But months later, the Trump administration pulled the funds, citing shifting priorities. (Briah Lumpkins/KFF Health News)
\n\n\n\n

‘It’s Not Over’

\n\n\n\n

Thomasville has found other ways to make some improvements in the meantime. With the help of a nearly $3 million federal Community Development Block Grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, it made repairs to portions of Dewey City’s sewer, water, and drainage systems.

\n\n\n\n

The Thomasville Community Development Corp. has begun building affordable housing in Dewey City and intends to convert a portion of the closed Douglass school into apartments for seniors.

\n\n\n\n

The corporation has also applied for $764,000 in congressional funds through the office of Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) that it hopes to use to construct a community health clinic in Dewey City. Decisions on these funding requests will be made this fall.

\n\n\n\n

“It’s not over,” said Williams, whose legacy in Thomasville runs deep. At the center of what locals call The Bottom — a two-block stretch of downtown where independent Black and other minority-owned businesses once thrived — is a plaque honoring his father, Earl Williams Jr., the city’s first Black mayor.

\n\n\n\n

As he peered at his father’s memorial on a muggy afternoon, he reaffirmed his intentions.

\n\n\n\n

“There’s more work to be done, and I’m able,” he said. “I like pouring into the community.”

\n\n\n\n

But he has little hope the initial grant will be restored under the current administration.

\n\n\n\n

“That was our shot. We didn’t do anything to miss it,” he said. “We just did it during the wrong period of time.”

\n\n\n\n
\"A
Williams came back to Thomasville after years away, in part to continue a legacy started by his father, Earl Williams Jr., who was Thomasville’s first Black mayor and first Black council member. (Briah Lumpkins/KFF Health News)
\n\n\n\n

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

\n\n\n\n

This article first appeared on KFF Health News and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

\n\n\n\n
\"\"
\n

The post Public Health Improvements Stall Amid Trump’s DEI Crackdown appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/08/public-health-improvements-stall-amid-trumps-dei-crackdown/","site":"Briah Lumpkins, KFF Health News","originalAuthor":"Briah Lumpkins, KFF Health News","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Environmental Justice","Healthcare Disparities"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-08-03T18:46:49.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Thomasville_04-min.webp?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1","type":"image/webp"},"createdAt":"2026-08-03T18:58:43.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Thomasville_04-min.webp?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"QAkIV2xPc9hrggFh","title":"Beyond the Supermarket: The Fresh Options Reshaping How We Eat","description":"For many Black families nationwide, the nearest grocery store might be miles away — or may not carry a single fresh tomato grown within one hundred miles of home. Between rising grocery costs, food deserts where mainline grocery stores are scarce, and what seems like an ever-increasing number of food recalls, many households in underserved communities are looking for alternative sources for fresh produce and other goods. What they seek, however, could be happening every weekend. A growing network of grocery alternatives — from farmers markets to community gardens to programs that redirect surplus crops — is becoming available to more Black households. The alternatives dramatically expand the options for purchasing fresh, locally grown, in-season fruits and vegetables as well as eggs, chicken, and beef typically raised on nearby farms. And the benefits go beyond convenience. Decades of disinvestment, grocery chain closures, and neighborhoods still struggling from redlining have left many Black families with fewer fresh food options, and higher rates of diet-related illness like diabetes and hypertension to show for it. The federal government has also stepped up efforts to close the food access gap and resulting health problems in Black communities. Through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program, healthcare providers are now able to connect patients directly to fresh produce — sometimes literally prescribing it like medicine— while helping SNAP dollars stretch further at farmers markets and co-ops. The result is that access to fresh produce is becoming more decentralized and convenient, giving low-income Black consumers dramatically wider options than the produce section of an average neighborhood supermarket or corner bodega. Buying locally grown food — the so-called “farm to table” movement — has been in vogue for a few years, typically among upper-income households. For many, no weekend is complete without a quick jaunt to a farmers’ market. It’s easy to see the appeal: most markets boast a literal cornucopia of food that’s fresh, in season, and likely just picked. Shoppers can even talk to the farmer who grew the food. While it’s a common assumption that farmers markets are more expensive than the supermarket, research suggests the opposite is often true; several studies find market produce priced on par with or below grocery store prices. The bigger obstacle for low-income Black households is access, not cost: many markets keep limited hours, operate seasonally, or sit in locations that are hard to reach without a car, and not all of them accept SNAP or EBT benefits. That gap between what’s technically available and what’s realistically reachable is exactly the kind of barrier the alternatives below are designed to close The Most Visible Option: Farmers Markets The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service maintains a national directory that currently lists more than 7,000 farmers markets nationwide. Each market listed must feature at least two farm vendors selling directly to customers at a shared, recurring location. The directory also tracks roadside stands and individual farms where shoppers can shop. The directory is searchable by ZIP code at the USDA Local Food Portal. Supporting Farmers through CSAs According to USDA’s National Agricultural Library, a community supported agriculture organization is a “community of individuals who pledge support to a farm operation so that the farmland becomes, either legally or spiritually, the community’s farm.” “Community Supported Agriculture means both the eater and the grower share the risks and rewards from what comes out of the ground,” Atlanta-based market manager Katie Kriner, said in an interview with Delish.com. CSA members buy a share of a farm’s harvest in advance, and can pick up a box of seasonal produce weekly during the growing season. Many CSA organizations deliver the produce directly to shoppers’ neighborhoods — and, in some cases, to their homes. USDA’s most recent Census of Agriculture data show more than 7,000 farms sold directly to consumers through CSA arrangements. More information and a searchable directory are available through the USDA National Agricultural Library. The organization Local Harvest also operates a grassroots directory of CSAs and farmers markets. Community-Owned Grocery Stores Food cooperatives — grocery stores or buying groups owned and run by members — typically focus on providing high-quality, locally grown food, and have been expanding into areas that have limited access to larger grocery stores. That includes food deserts in Black communities. Because they are independently owned, the co-op’s members decide what’s on the shelves, not corporations. Members often receive dividends that usually show up as lower prices on food items. The Cooperative Development Institute has helped communities launch and sustain co-ops nationwide in cities like Pittsburgh, Oakland, California, Philadelphia and Hendersonville, North Carolina. Most bring full-service grocery access into underserved neighborhoods. Community Gardens and Food Gleaning Orgs In cities where grocery stores are scarce, local governments, schools, and nonprofits have set up shared plots of land where people can grow and harvest their own produce close to home. These plots are frequently paired with education programs on gardening and nutrition. Food rescue and gleaning organizations recover produce that would otherwise go to waste. Food Forward, a Southern California nonprofit, says it collects some 500,000 pounds of surplus fruits and vegetables each week from backyard and commercial fruit trees, farmers markets, and the Los Angeles Wholesale Produce Market. That harvest goes directly to more than 1,800 food pantries and hunger-relief partners. The National Gleaning Project website lists gleaning groups, organized by state, and is available at tFederal nutrition programs are increasingly subsidizing produce purchases at these alternative outlets. The USDA’s GusNIP funds projects that match or supplement SNAP dollars spent on fruits and vegetables, including “produce prescription” projects, in which healthcare providers “prescribe” healthy food for their patients. The USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture reports that GusNIP participants have redeemed more than $20 million in nutrition incentives and produce prescriptions, generating an estimated $41 million in broader economic impact. Program details are published by USDA NIFA. Mobile Markets Neighborhoods where transportation is limited may be able to receive produce directly from worker-owned cooperatives, such as North Carolina’s Ujamaa Freedom Market. Based in Asheville, the Freedom Market is located in the Ujamaa Marketplace, which is described as “a vibrant and culturally rich market boasting the creativity of black, indigenous, and other people of the diaspora.” Many mobile markets have weekly delivery times and routes and deliver fresh fruits, vegetables, and other staples to underserved communities. There’s no single centralized USDA directory for mobile markets, but consumers in several large cities and metropolitan regions can find websites for local markets. National Directories–Government and Non-Government Black Farmers IndexFree, comprehensive directory of Black farmers, ranchers, growers, beekeepers, fisherfolk, vintners, and foragers across the U.S. and African Diaspora. Harvestly MarketsA non-governmental directory that is a re-aggregated list of farmers markets, farm stands, and other self-pick locations in the U.S. and its territories. National Farmers Market DirectoryThe National Farmers Market Directory connects growers, vendors & small businesses with consumers in their own local community. LocalHarvestLargest grassroots directory of CSAs and farmers markets (4,000+ CSA listings). Pick Your OwnThe website provides local listings of pick-your-own farms (U-pick or PYO) in the United States, Canada, and other countries. The site includes a calendar of what is in season and ready to pick, as well as a schedule of classes to learn canning and freezing produce for long-term storage. USDA National Farmers Market DirectorySearch by zip code, product, or payment type (SNAP/EBT accepted). USDA National CSA Directory USDA On-Farm Market Directory Food Banks/Food Pantries: Websites, apps and social media Feeding America: A searchable database of food banks, pantries, soup kitchens, meal programs and other resources. Foodfinder: A free app to help food-insecure people find local free food resources. Once it pinpoints your location, it automatically gives a list of nearby options, including addresses and directions. Apple | Google Freedge: A network of public refrigerators in the U.S. and worldwide that allow communities to share food. These tend to be volunteer-reported, so some locations may not be on the list. Nextdoor: A social media app that lets people in the same neighborhood interact. It allows neighbors to discuss what is happening directly around their homes and is often used by people seeking specific services, items, or resources. Apple | Google Plentiful: A free app that provides local resources for people experiencing food insecurity. The app lists resources, agencies and food banks in the user’s area. Apple | Google or text “FOOD” to PANTRY (726-879). Mobile Market Programs by City Austin — Farmshare Austin Mobile Markets. Weekly stops in Austin and Travis County; curbside option added. Boston — Fresh Truck: Weekly stops at 23+ locations; produce priced ~30% below grocery stores. Chicago — Fresh Moves Mobile Market (Urban Growers Collective) Baltimore — Real Food Farm Mobile Farmers Market Buffalo — Massachusetts Avenue Project (MAP) Mobile Market Chattanooga — Chattanooga Mobile Market Facebook — Chattanooga Mobile Market Columbia River Gorge, Oregon/Washington state — Gorge Grown Food Network. Mobile market truck supporting a network of small-town farmers markets. gorgegrown.com/farmersmarketnetwork Hartford, Connecticut — Hartford Mobile Market (Hartford Food System) hartfordfood.org/programs/hartford-mobile-market Lenawee County, Michigan — Veggie Mobile (ProMedica Bixby Hospital / Lenawee Health Network) lenaweeveggiemobile.com Milwaukee — Market Boxx Community Stores. Black-owned mobile grocery store venture, launched by local entrepreneurs in partnership with community organizations. Facebook — Market Boxx Community Stores Santa Fe / Northern New Mexico — MoGro Mobile Grocery. Temperature-controlled truck serving rural and tribal communities; accepts SNAP. Santa Fe Community Foundation — MoGro. Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN — Twin Cities Mobile Market (The Food Group) thefoodgroupmn.org/groceries/twin-cities-mobile-market San Francisco Bay Area— Fresh Approach Mobile Farmers’ Market freshapproach.org/mobile-farmers-market San Diego — People’s Produce Mobile Farmers Market (Project New Village) projectnewvillage.org/peoples-produce-mobile-farmers-market Washington, DC / Alexandria, VA — Arcadia Mobile Market; 28-foot mobile farmers’ market serving low-access communities. arcadiafood.org/programs/mobile-market The post Beyond the Supermarket: The Fresh Options Reshaping How We Eat appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
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For many Black families nationwide, the nearest grocery store might be miles away — or may not carry a single fresh tomato grown within one hundred miles of home. Between rising grocery costs, food deserts where mainline grocery stores are scarce, and what seems like an ever-increasing number of food recalls, many households in underserved communities are looking for alternative sources for fresh produce and other goods.

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What they seek, however, could be happening every weekend. 

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A growing network of grocery alternatives — from farmers markets to community gardens to programs that redirect surplus crops — is becoming available to more Black households. The alternatives dramatically expand the options for purchasing fresh, locally grown, in-season fruits and vegetables as well as eggs, chicken, and beef typically raised on nearby farms. 

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And the benefits go beyond convenience. Decades of disinvestment, grocery chain closures, and neighborhoods still struggling from redlining have left many Black families with fewer fresh food options, and higher rates of diet-related illness like diabetes and hypertension to show for it.

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The federal government has also stepped up efforts to close the food access gap and resulting health problems in Black communities. Through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program, healthcare providers are now able to connect patients directly to fresh produce — sometimes literally prescribing it like medicine— while helping SNAP dollars stretch further at farmers markets and co-ops.

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The result is that access to fresh produce is becoming more decentralized and convenient, giving low-income Black consumers dramatically wider options than the produce section of an average neighborhood supermarket or corner bodega. 

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Buying locally grown food — the so-called “farm to table” movement — has been in vogue for a few years, typically among upper-income households. For many, no weekend is complete without a quick jaunt to a farmers’ market. It’s easy to see the appeal: most markets boast a literal cornucopia of food that’s fresh, in season, and likely just picked. Shoppers can even talk to the farmer who grew the food. 

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While it’s a common assumption that farmers markets are more expensive than the supermarket, research suggests the opposite is often true; several studies find market produce priced on par with or below grocery store prices. 

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The bigger obstacle for low-income Black households is access, not cost: many markets keep limited hours, operate seasonally, or sit in locations that are hard to reach without a car, and not all of them accept SNAP or EBT benefits. 

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That gap between what’s technically available and what’s realistically reachable is exactly the kind of barrier the alternatives below are designed to close

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The Most Visible Option: Farmers Markets 

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service maintains a national directory that currently lists more than 7,000 farmers markets nationwide. Each market listed must feature at least two farm vendors selling directly to customers at a shared, recurring location. 

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The directory also tracks roadside stands and individual farms where shoppers can shop. The directory is searchable by ZIP code at the USDA Local Food Portal.

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Supporting Farmers through CSAs

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According to USDA’s National Agricultural Library, a community supported agriculture organization is a “community of individuals who pledge support to a farm operation so that the farmland becomes, either legally or spiritually, the community’s farm.” 

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“Community Supported Agriculture means both the eater and the grower share the risks and rewards from what comes out of the ground,” Atlanta-based market manager Katie Kriner, said in an interview with Delish.com. 

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CSA members buy a share of a farm’s harvest in advance, and can pick up a box of seasonal produce weekly during the growing season. Many CSA organizations deliver the produce directly to shoppers’ neighborhoods — and, in some cases, to their homes. 

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USDA’s most recent Census of Agriculture data show more than 7,000 farms sold directly to consumers through CSA arrangements. More information and a searchable directory are available through the USDA National Agricultural Library. 

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The organization Local Harvest also operates a grassroots directory of CSAs and farmers markets. 

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Community-Owned Grocery Stores

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Food cooperatives — grocery stores or buying groups owned and run by members — typically focus on providing high-quality, locally grown food, and have been expanding into areas that have limited access to larger grocery stores. That includes food deserts in Black communities.

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Because they are independently owned, the co-op’s members decide what’s on the shelves, not corporations. Members often receive dividends that usually show up as lower prices on food items.  

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The Cooperative Development Institute has helped communities launch and sustain co-ops nationwide in cities like Pittsburgh, Oakland, California, Philadelphia and Hendersonville, North Carolina. Most bring full-service grocery access into underserved neighborhoods. 

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Community Gardens and Food Gleaning Orgs

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In cities where grocery stores are scarce, local governments, schools, and nonprofits have set up shared plots of land where people can grow and harvest their own produce close to home. These plots are frequently paired with education programs on gardening and nutrition.

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Food rescue and gleaning organizations recover produce that would otherwise go to waste. Food Forward, a Southern California nonprofit, says it collects some 500,000 pounds of surplus fruits and vegetables each week from backyard and commercial fruit trees, farmers markets, and the Los Angeles Wholesale Produce Market. That harvest goes directly to more than 1,800 food pantries and hunger-relief partners. 

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The National Gleaning Project website lists gleaning groups, organized by state, and is available at tFederal nutrition programs are increasingly subsidizing produce purchases at these alternative outlets. The USDA’s GusNIP funds projects that match or supplement SNAP dollars spent on fruits and vegetables, including “produce prescription” projects, in which healthcare providers “prescribe” healthy food for their patients. 

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The USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture reports that GusNIP participants have redeemed more than $20 million in nutrition incentives and produce prescriptions, generating an estimated $41 million in broader economic impact. Program details are published by USDA NIFA.

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Mobile Markets 

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Neighborhoods where transportation is limited may be able to receive produce directly from worker-owned cooperatives, such as North Carolina’s Ujamaa Freedom Market.  Based in Asheville, the Freedom Market is located in the Ujamaa Marketplace, which is described as “a vibrant and culturally rich market boasting the creativity of black, indigenous, and other people of the diaspora.” Many mobile markets have weekly delivery times and routes and deliver fresh fruits, vegetables, and other staples to underserved communities. 

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There’s no single centralized USDA directory for mobile markets, but consumers in several large cities and metropolitan regions can find websites for local markets.

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National Directories–Government and Non-Government

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Food Banks/Food Pantries: Websites, apps and social media

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Mobile Market Programs by City

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The post Beyond the Supermarket: The Fresh Options Reshaping How We Eat appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/07/beyond-the-supermarket-fresh-options-reshaping-how-we-eat/","site":"Jennifer Porter Gore","originalAuthor":"Jennifer Porter Gore","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Health","food","health"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-08-01T00:19:40.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-farmersmkt.jpg?fit=724%2C483&ssl=1","type":"image/jpeg"},"createdAt":"2026-08-01T00:22:57.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-farmersmkt.jpg?fit=724%2C483&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"Vq0WwRaClfUC7v6s","title":"Myesha Chaney: Divorce Cost Me More Than My Marriage","description":"When Myesha Chaney walked back into the church she had helped build, she couldn’t tell where she belonged. For nearly two decades, she had served as the wife of Pastor Wayne Chaney Jr. and First Lady of the Antioch Church of Long Beach in California. She worked alongside her husband, counseling members, helping families through crises, and helping launch the church’s event venue. LEARN MORE: Divorce in the Black Church: Why Women Often Bear the Blame But when she and her husband split after 18 years of marriage, Cheney says she felt like a stranger in the place she once called her spiritual home. She tried returning a handful of times; one Sunday, ushers directed her to a seat far away from the pulpit and her ex-husband. “They let me sit in the balcony,” Chaney recalled, effectively putting her in her place in a low-profile section of the church. “That was my cue.” Emotional, Spiritual Burdens For Chaney, a member of the original cast of the reality TV series “Preachers of L.A.,” the hardest part of divorce was not leaving a marriage that lasted nearly two decades or rebuilding her finances. It was seeing the church community turn its back on her. “I felt utterly abandoned by the people I had known my entire life,” she says. “Not just from the people in my congregation, from almost every other faith-believing person I know.” Researchers who study the Black church have found that when a marriage between members falls apart, women often carry the emotional and spiritual burden. In a community where marriage is celebrated as the ideal, divorced women frequently describe feeling shame, failure, and isolation. Some quietly drift away from church altogether, while others watch former husbands like Chaney’s remain in good standing or remarry with little apparent stigma. I felt utterly abandoned by the people I had known my entire life. Not just from the people in my congregation, from almost every other faith-believing person I know.Myesha chaney, fomer first lady, antioch church of Long Beach Scholars say those experiences have fueled calls for churches to examine whether divorced women are being met first with judgment instead of the grace they so often preach from the pulpit. “I don’t think many churches, especially in the Black community, support people walking through divorce well,” Chaney said. “There’s an unspoken idea that the person shouldn’t be going through divorce in the first place. There’s this overarching kind of shame around it.” ‘You’re On Your Own’ Because divorce remains largely hidden, many believers never hear honest stories from those who have lived through it, she said. Even pastors who have experienced divorce often avoid discussing it publicly. “The bridge is not there from the people who are walking through it [to] the people who have the resources, the power and the influence to talk about it,” she said. Chaney herself admits that, back when she was helping lead Antioch, she could have been more supportive of divorced parishioners. She counseled them, helped them pay bills and prayed with them, but didn’t realize they may have felt as isolated as she did. “The church supports people through all kinds of things—homelessness, transition, jobs,” she said. “But when it comes to divorce, it’s like you’re on your own.” Although she continued working with the church for nearly two years after the divorce, Chaney realized her relationship with the ministry had fundamentally changed. Shortly after the divorce, she met another woman who was involved with her former husband. “That was my message that it was not going to be a safe space for me,” she said. The losses multiplied. She moved repeatedly after the divorce, lost her job and watched the ministry she had invested in continue without her. “I was the only one replaced, but everything seemed to have gone on perfectly well,” she said. Rebuilding Faith Recovery came largely outside church walls. Chaney had already spent years in therapy before the divorce. She continued counseling, journaled extensively, read roughly a book each week and sought healing. “My faith at that point was shot,” she said. “I reached for whatever I could.” The journey eventually became the foundation for her book, “Honest,” which chronicles Chaney’s divorce and spiritual reconstruction. The crisis led Chaney to encounter God in an entirely different way. “I had the God of the Bible that I had learned and trained,” she says. “And then I had the God of my experience. The God I found in the rubble when everything was gone was a very different experience than the one I was praising and worshiping in front of everybody.” Today, Chaney says her calling is helping people tell the truths they are afraid to say aloud. “I help give language to what people experience that they can’t say,” she said. “My mission was to be honest through lived experience so that anybody else walking by won’t feel the way I felt.” Seeking Reconciliation Still, she grieves relationships that simply disappeared when she and her husband divorced, and acknowledges they may never reappear. “The Christian way is reconciliation,” she said. “But in these types of circumstances like divorce, there is no making anything right. It just is what it is.” RELATED: ‘Pray and Stay’ Is Still Hurting Black Women in Church Even so, Chaney does not define her story by what she lost. Now, considering moving to New York and embracing what she calls an unexpected new chapter, she says the worst season of her life became the beginning of the most authentic one. “What has happened has been the best thing in my entire life,” she said. “It was the worst thing, and it was the absolute best thing.” The post Myesha Chaney: Divorce Cost Me More Than My Marriage appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"Myesha
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When Myesha Chaney walked back into the church she had helped build, she couldn’t tell where she belonged.

\n\n\n\n

For nearly two decades, she had served as the wife of Pastor Wayne Chaney Jr. and First Lady of the Antioch Church of Long Beach in California. She worked alongside her husband, counseling members, helping families through crises, and helping launch the church’s event venue. 

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LEARN MORE: Divorce in the Black Church: Why Women Often Bear the Blame

\n\n\n\n

But when she and her husband split after 18 years of marriage, Cheney says she felt like a stranger in the place she once called her spiritual home. She tried returning a handful of times; one Sunday, ushers directed her to a seat far away from the pulpit and her ex-husband.

\n\n\n\n

“They let me sit in the balcony,” Chaney recalled, effectively putting her in her place in a low-profile section of the church. “That was my cue.”

\n\n\n\n

Emotional, Spiritual Burdens

\n\n\n\n

For Chaney, a member of the original cast of the reality TV series “Preachers of L.A.,” the hardest part of divorce was not leaving a marriage that lasted nearly two decades or rebuilding her finances. It was seeing the church community turn its back on her. 

\n\n\n\n

“I felt utterly abandoned by the people I had known my entire life,” she says. “Not just from the people in my congregation, from almost every other faith-believing person I know.”

\n\n\n\n

Researchers who study the Black church have found that when a marriage between members falls apart, women often carry the emotional and spiritual burden. In a community where marriage is celebrated as the ideal, divorced women frequently describe feeling shame, failure, and isolation. Some quietly drift away from church altogether, while others watch former husbands like Chaney’s remain in good standing or remarry with little apparent stigma. 

\n\n\n\n

I felt utterly abandoned by the people I had known my entire life. Not just from the people in my congregation, from almost every other faith-believing person I know.

Myesha chaney, fomer first lady, antioch church of Long Beach
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Scholars say those experiences have fueled calls for churches to examine whether divorced women are being met first with judgment instead of the grace they so often preach from the pulpit.

\n\n\n\n

“I don’t think many churches, especially in the Black community, support people walking through divorce well,” Chaney said. “There’s an unspoken idea that the person shouldn’t be going through divorce in the first place. There’s this overarching kind of shame around it.”

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‘You’re On Your Own’

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Because divorce remains largely hidden, many believers never hear honest stories from those who have lived through it, she said. Even pastors who have experienced divorce often avoid discussing it publicly.

\n\n\n\n

“The bridge is not there from the people who are walking through it [to] the people who have the resources, the power and the influence to talk about it,” she said.

\n\n\n\n

Chaney herself admits that, back when she was helping lead Antioch, she could have been more supportive of divorced parishioners. She counseled them, helped them pay bills and prayed with them, but didn’t realize they may have felt as isolated as she did. 

\n\n\n\n

“The church supports people through all kinds of things—homelessness, transition, jobs,” she said. “But when it comes to divorce, it’s like you’re on your own.”

\n\n\n\n

Although she continued working with the church for nearly two years after the divorce, Chaney realized her relationship with the ministry had fundamentally changed. Shortly after the divorce, she met another woman who was involved with her former husband.

\n\n\n\n

“That was my message that it was not going to be a safe space for me,” she said.

\n\n\n\n

The losses multiplied. She moved repeatedly after the divorce, lost her job and watched the ministry she had invested in continue without her.

\n\n\n\n

“I was the only one replaced, but everything seemed to have gone on perfectly well,” she said.

\n\n\n\n

Rebuilding Faith

\n\n\n\n

Recovery came largely outside church walls.

\n\n\n\n

Chaney had already spent years in therapy before the divorce. She continued counseling, journaled extensively, read roughly a book each week and sought healing.

\n\n\n\n

“My faith at that point was shot,” she said. “I reached for whatever I could.”

\n\n\n\n

The journey eventually became the foundation for her book, “Honest,” which chronicles Chaney’s divorce and spiritual reconstruction. The crisis led Chaney to encounter God in an entirely different way.

\n\n\n\n

“I had the God of the Bible that I had learned and trained,” she says. “And then I had the God of my experience. The God I found in the rubble when everything was gone was a very different experience than the one I was praising and worshiping in front of everybody.” 

\n\n\n\n

Today, Chaney says her calling is helping people tell the truths they are afraid to say aloud.

\n\n\n\n

“I help give language to what people experience that they can’t say,” she said. “My mission was to be honest through lived experience so that anybody else walking by won’t feel the way I felt.”

\n\n\n\n

Seeking Reconciliation

\n\n\n\n

Still, she grieves relationships that simply disappeared when she and her husband divorced, and acknowledges they may never reappear.

\n\n\n\n

“The Christian way is reconciliation,” she said. “But in these types of circumstances like divorce, there is no making anything right. It just is what it is.”

\n\n\n\n

RELATED: ‘Pray and Stay’ Is Still Hurting Black Women in Church

\n\n\n\n

Even so, Chaney does not define her story by what she lost. Now, considering moving to New York and embracing what she calls an unexpected new chapter, she says the worst season of her life became the beginning of the most authentic one.

\n\n\n\n

“What has happened has been the best thing in my entire life,” she said. “It was the worst thing, and it was the absolute best thing.”

\n

The post Myesha Chaney: Divorce Cost Me More Than My Marriage appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/07/myesha-chaney-divorce-cost-me-more-than-my-marriage/","site":"Rev. Dorothy S. Boulware","originalAuthor":"Rev. Dorothy S. Boulware","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Religion"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-07-30T19:44:22.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2201123858.jpg?fit=594%2C393&ssl=1","type":"image/jpeg"},"createdAt":"2026-07-30T19:56:53.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2201123858.jpg?fit=594%2C393&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"HTx2if8qAV2VpIPP","title":"Pope Leo Finally Addresses His Black Ancestry and Slavery","description":"Since his election last year, Pope Leo XIV sidestepped one of the most unexpected questions to emerge from his historic election: Is the first American pope also Black? Now, in his clearest public comments yet, the first American-born pope has acknowledged the complicated family history that spurred widespread discussions about race, identity and belonging. LEARN MORE: Is the New Pope Black? The Answer Isn’t So Simple Speaking to NBC News, the pontiff said his mother’s family included both enslaved people and slaveholders — a striking admission from a pope who had previously declined to publicly discuss genealogical research tracing his ancestry to New Orleans’ historic Creole community. “On my mother’s side, we have people who were both slaves and slaveowners,” Leo said. “There’s a history of… growing up in the kind of experience that helps me to recognize myself, one of the greatest wealths of the United States.” America’s ‘Greatest Wealths’ The pope did not describe himself as black. But he publicly confirmed his family’s mixed racial heritage, a fact that historians and genealogists uncovered within hours of his election. And they also reopened one of America’s oldest, thorniest conversations about race. In a single sentence, the leader of 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide confirmed that his lineage runs through both sides of slavery’s ledger. The pope framed that history not as a statement about racial identity but as an expression of the American experience. “I come from a family that my grandparents were immigrants,” said Leo, who grew up on the South Side of Chicago — a popular Great Migration destination. That history, the pope said, helps him to recognize the welcoming of migrants as “one of the greatest wealths of the United States.” On my mother’s side, we have people who were both slaves and slaveowners.Pope Leo xiv The remarks, made during an interview to promote the Global Concert for Peace, represent the first time Leo has personally addressed the ancestry that first came to light after his election in 2025. It was first revealed through research led by New Orleans genealogist Jari Honora and later expanded by Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. Creole Roots Those investigations found that Leo’s maternal grandparents, Joseph Martinez and Louise Baquié, were identified in historical records as Black and lived in New Orleans’ Seventh Ward, one of the nation’s oldest centers of Creole and Black Catholic life. Gates’ subsequent family tree identified at least 17 ancestors described in records as Black, Creole, mixed-race or free people of color. But it also documented ancestors who owned enslaved people. The findings immediately triggered celebration, skepticism and soul-searching. Pope Leo’s official Vatican biography made no mention of his African American heritage. His brother, John Prevost, emphasized that the family does not currently identify as Black. Leo himself remained silent, allowing speculation to flourish while refusing to define himself through America’s racial categories. That silence made Wednesday’s comments notable. Rather than embracing or rejecting a racial label, Leo acknowledged the historical facts while placing them inside a broader American narrative of immigration, diversity and shared history. No ‘One Drop Rule’ That approach echoes what many scholars argued from the beginning. Shortly after Leo was elected, both Boston University sociologist Phillipe Copeland and writer and filmmaker Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni told Word In Black that Blackness goes beyond the so-called “one drop rule.” Copeland said Leo’s ancestry forces Americans to reconsider assumptions usually taken for granted while grappling with the question of how Blackness is defined. DNA alone doesn’t always cut it, he said: “Is having a Black ancestor sufficient? Is it perception from others? Is it how you self-identify?” Cox Giovanni, on the other hand, said Black identity is defined more by culture than skin color. “There’s no blood test that can tell you,” she said. “The way you receive it is by your community, by your parents, by your family, by the stories they tell.” Leo’s remarks neither resolve nor avoid that distinction. He did not say he identifies as Black, but he also did not deny his Black ancestry. Instead, he acknowledged a family history shaped by both oppression and privilege, reflecting the tangled reality of American history itself. Oppressor and Victim The timing is especially significant because Leo has already demonstrated a willingness to confront slavery’s legacy inside the Catholic Church. Earlier this year, he issued the Vatican’s most direct apology for its historic role in legitimizing slavery, calling the church’s record “a wound in Christian memory” and asking forgiveness for centuries of complicity. His acknowledgment of his own family’s connection to slavery now gives that apology an unmistakably personal dimension. RELATED: Why Black Catholics Have Hope for Pope Leo XIV By acknowledging ancestors who lived on both sides of America’s racial divide, the pope has publicly embraced a truth that millions of Americans share: that the nation’s story cannot be neatly divided into Black and white, victim and oppressor, enslaved and enslaver. Sometimes, the same family contains all of them. The post Pope Leo Finally Addresses His Black Ancestry and Slavery appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"In
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Since his election last year, Pope Leo XIV sidestepped one of the most unexpected questions to emerge from his historic election: Is the first American pope also Black?

\n\n\n\n

Now, in his clearest public comments yet, the first American-born pope has acknowledged the complicated family history that spurred widespread discussions about race, identity and belonging.

\n\n\n\n

LEARN MORE: Is the New Pope Black? The Answer Isn’t So Simple

\n\n\n\n

Speaking to NBC News, the pontiff said his mother’s family included both enslaved people and slaveholders — a striking admission from a pope who had previously declined to publicly discuss genealogical research tracing his ancestry to New Orleans’ historic Creole community.

\n\n\n\n

“On my mother’s side, we have people who were both slaves and slaveowners,” Leo said. “There’s a history of… growing up in the kind of experience that helps me to recognize myself, one of the greatest wealths of the United States.”

\n\n\n\n

America’s ‘Greatest Wealths’

\n\n\n\n

The pope did not describe himself as black. But he publicly confirmed his family’s mixed racial heritage, a fact that historians and genealogists uncovered within hours of his election. And they also reopened one of America’s oldest, thorniest conversations about race.

\n\n\n\n

In a single sentence, the leader of 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide confirmed that his lineage runs through both sides of slavery’s ledger. The pope framed that history not as a statement about racial identity but as an expression of the American experience.

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“I come from a family that my grandparents were immigrants,” said Leo, who grew up on the South Side of Chicago — a popular Great Migration destination. That history, the pope said, helps him to recognize the welcoming of migrants as “one of the greatest wealths of the United States.”

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On my mother’s side, we have people who were both slaves and slaveowners.

Pope Leo xiv
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The remarks, made during an interview to promote the Global Concert for Peace, represent the first time Leo has personally addressed the ancestry that first came to light after his election in 2025. It was first revealed through research led by New Orleans genealogist Jari Honora and later expanded by Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr.

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Creole Roots

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Those investigations found that Leo’s maternal grandparents, Joseph Martinez and Louise Baquié, were identified in historical records as Black and lived in New Orleans’ Seventh Ward, one of the nation’s oldest centers of Creole and Black Catholic life. 

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Gates’ subsequent family tree identified at least 17 ancestors described in records as Black, Creole, mixed-race or free people of color. But it also documented ancestors who owned enslaved people.

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The findings immediately triggered celebration, skepticism and soul-searching.

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Pope Leo’s official Vatican biography made no mention of his African American heritage. His brother, John Prevost, emphasized that the family does not currently identify as Black. Leo himself remained silent, allowing speculation to flourish while refusing to define himself through America’s racial categories.

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That silence made Wednesday’s comments notable. Rather than embracing or rejecting a racial label, Leo acknowledged the historical facts while placing them inside a broader American narrative of immigration, diversity and shared history.

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No ‘One Drop Rule’

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That approach echoes what many scholars argued from the beginning.

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Shortly after Leo was elected, both Boston University sociologist Phillipe Copeland and writer and filmmaker Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni told Word In Black that Blackness goes beyond the so-called “one drop rule.” 

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Copeland said Leo’s ancestry forces Americans to reconsider assumptions usually taken for granted while grappling with the question of how Blackness is defined. DNA alone doesn’t always cut it, he said: “Is having a Black ancestor sufficient? Is it perception from others? Is it how you self-identify?”

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Cox Giovanni, on the other hand, said Black identity is defined more by culture than skin color. 

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“There’s no blood test that can tell you,” she said. “The way you receive it is by your community, by your parents, by your family, by the stories they tell.”

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Leo’s remarks neither resolve nor avoid that distinction. He did not say he identifies as Black, but he also did not deny his Black ancestry. Instead, he acknowledged a family history shaped by both oppression and privilege, reflecting the tangled reality of American history itself.

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Oppressor and Victim

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The timing is especially significant because Leo has already demonstrated a willingness to confront slavery’s legacy inside the Catholic Church.

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Earlier this year, he issued the Vatican’s most direct apology for its historic role in legitimizing slavery, calling the church’s record “a wound in Christian memory” and asking forgiveness for centuries of complicity. His acknowledgment of his own family’s connection to slavery now gives that apology an unmistakably personal dimension.

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RELATED: Why Black Catholics Have Hope for Pope Leo XIV

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By acknowledging ancestors who lived on both sides of America’s racial divide, the pope has publicly embraced a truth that millions of Americans share: that the nation’s story cannot be neatly divided into Black and white, victim and oppressor, enslaved and enslaver.

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Sometimes, the same family contains all of them.

\n

The post Pope Leo Finally Addresses His Black Ancestry and Slavery appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/07/pope-leo-finally-addresses-his-black-ancestry-and-slavery/","site":"Joseph Williams","originalAuthor":"Joseph Williams","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["News"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-07-30T15:51:05.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-30-at-11.15.52-AM.png?fit=1024%2C689&ssl=1","type":"image/png"},"createdAt":"2026-07-30T16:01:37.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-30-at-11.15.52-AM.png?fit=1024%2C689&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"Jcjwz9ScfIWnVd16","title":"Amid AI Boom, Coal Returns ","description":"For decades, research has shown that Black Americans are more likely than other groups to breathe the pollution produced by coal-fired power plants — a burden measured in higher rates of asthma, heart disease and other illnesses linked to dirty air. Now, as the nation’s appetite for electricity surges to power artificial intelligence and massive data centers, the Trump administration is breathing new life into aging coal plants that many utilities had already planned to retire. LEARN MORE: Texas Keeps Greenlighting Pollution. Guess Who Lives Nearby One of them is Stanton Unit 1 outside Orlando, where Earthjustice and its allies are challenging a federal order that keeps the nearly 40-year-old plant operating. Keeping Coal Alive While there is no evidence that Stanton itself disproportionately exposes Orlando’s Black neighborhoods compared with surrounding communities, its continued operation reflects a broader environmental justice reality: extending the life of coal means prolonging the health burdens that Black Americans have disproportionately carried for generations. In the 1980s, when Stanton first came online, it and other coal-fired power plants generated more than half of the nation’s electricity. But the Trump Administration has delayed the retirement of Stanton Unit 1 power plant and similar coal-burning facilities that are slated to be retired. A 2012 NAACP report found that, while 56% of white people lived within 30 miles of a coal-fired power plant, almost 8 in 10 Black Americans did. Critics say the White House is doing everything that it can to keep coal alive, despite the harm to Black communities. Today, coal is on the way out across the United States, with nearly 300 plants closing between 2010 and 2019, and some 200 that remain supplying a mere 15% of the country’s electricity. Expensive Energy Source Last month, Trump’s Department of Energy issued an emergency order to keep Stanton Unit 1 up and running and burning coal. Florida Rising, local environmental justice organization, is now challenging that order with the support of the Environmental Defense Fund, Sierra Club and Earthjustice. While the Trump Administration is making the case that Stanton Unit 1 is critical to meeting local energy demands, the environmental coalition points out that the Orlando Utilities Commission calls coal-fueled plants its most expensive source of energy. Stanton Unit 1, which would have replaced coal with solar and natural gas after its retirement, costs $6.2 million per month to keep running, adding an estimated $20 per month to consumers’ utility bills. At the same time, the pollution from the coal-fired plant contributes to as many as 45 premature deaths every year. “Florida Rising has been pushing for energy justice throughout Florida by fighting against excessive utility profits and for a just transition that puts frontline communities at the center of energy policy,” Braidley Marshall, a senior attorney at Earthjustice, said in a statement. “We already have some of the highest electric bills in the nation due to our excess electricity generation capacity,” he said. “So, ordering OUC to keep this uneconomic plant online will just push OUC bills higher at a time when people are already struggling to pay their bills.” A Just Transition While the number of people who live near a coal-fired power plant is rapidly declining nationwide, Orlando, which is about 23% Black, looks a lot like the communities that used to share air with these major pollution sources. A landmark NAACP report published in 2012 found that, while 56% of white people lived within 30 miles of a coal-fired power plant, the percentage of Black Americans who did jumped to almost 8 in 10. At the time, there were still 378 coal-fired plants across the country, supplying more than 40% of the nation’s domestic electricity. The DOE order will keep Stanton Unit 1 in operation for another 90 days past its planned retirement at the end of May; it may be renewed after the order expires. The Trump Administration has issued similar orders, which Earthjustice and the other groups representing Florida Rising say are illegal, to keep five other coal-fired plants in operation, too. RELATED: Trump’s EPA Moves to Kill Life-Saving Soot Rules Still, there’s no denying that the writing is on the wall for coal. “Forcing this coal plant to stay open delivers a rate hike to Central Florida families and businesses, right as they are already struggling with sky-high electricity bills,” Adam Kurland, an attorney for the Environmental Defense Fund, said in a statement. “Cheaper, cleaner, and more reliable options had rendered this coal plant obsolete and on track for retirement.” The post Amid AI Boom, Coal Returns — With a Familiar Cost appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"As
\n

For decades, research has shown that Black Americans are more likely than other groups to breathe the pollution produced by coal-fired power plants — a burden measured in higher rates of asthma, heart disease and other illnesses linked to dirty air. 

\n\n\n\n

Now, as the nation’s appetite for electricity surges to power artificial intelligence and massive data centers, the Trump administration is breathing new life into aging coal plants that many utilities had already planned to retire. 

\n\n\n\n

LEARN MORE: Texas Keeps Greenlighting Pollution. Guess Who Lives Nearby

\n\n\n\n

One of them is Stanton Unit 1 outside Orlando, where Earthjustice and its allies are challenging a federal order that keeps the nearly 40-year-old plant operating. 

\n\n\n\n

Keeping Coal Alive

\n\n\n\n

While there is no evidence that Stanton itself disproportionately exposes Orlando’s Black neighborhoods compared with surrounding communities, its continued operation reflects a broader environmental justice reality: extending the life of coal means prolonging the health burdens that Black Americans have disproportionately carried for generations.

\n\n\n\n

In the 1980s, when Stanton first came online, it and other coal-fired power plants generated more than half of the nation’s electricity. But the Trump Administration has delayed the retirement of Stanton Unit 1 power plant and similar coal-burning facilities that are slated to be retired. 

\n\n\n\n

A 2012 NAACP report found that, while 56% of white people lived within 30 miles of a coal-fired power plant, almost 8 in 10 Black Americans did.

\n\n\n\n

Critics say the White House is doing everything that it can to keep coal alive, despite the harm to Black communities. Today, coal is on the way out across the United States, with nearly 300 plants closing between 2010 and 2019, and some 200 that remain supplying a mere 15% of the country’s electricity.

\n\n\n\n

Expensive Energy Source

\n\n\n\n

Last month, Trump’s Department of Energy issued an emergency order to keep Stanton Unit 1 up and running and burning coal. 

\n\n\n\n

Florida Rising, local environmental justice organization, is now challenging that order with the support of the Environmental Defense Fund, Sierra Club and Earthjustice. 

\n\n\n\n

While the Trump Administration is making the case that Stanton Unit 1 is critical to meeting local energy demands, the environmental coalition points out that the Orlando Utilities Commission calls coal-fueled plants its most expensive source of energy. 

\n\n\n\n

Stanton Unit 1, which would have replaced coal with solar and natural gas after its retirement, costs $6.2 million per month to keep running, adding an estimated $20 per month to consumers’ utility bills. At the same time, the pollution from the coal-fired plant contributes to as many as 45 premature deaths every year. 

\n\n\n\n

“Florida Rising has been pushing for energy justice throughout Florida by fighting against excessive utility profits and for a just transition that puts frontline communities at the center of energy policy,” Braidley Marshall, a senior attorney at Earthjustice, said in a statement.

\n\n\n\n

“We already have some of the highest electric bills in the nation due to our excess electricity generation capacity,” he said. “So, ordering OUC to keep this uneconomic plant online will just push OUC bills higher at a time when people are already struggling to pay their bills.”

\n\n\n\n

A Just Transition

\n\n\n\n

While the number of people who live near a coal-fired power plant is rapidly declining nationwide, Orlando, which is about 23% Black, looks a lot like the communities that used to share air with these major pollution sources. 

\n\n\n\n

A landmark NAACP report published in 2012 found that, while 56% of white people lived within 30 miles of a coal-fired power plant, the percentage of Black Americans who did jumped to almost 8 in 10. At the time, there were still 378 coal-fired plants across the country, supplying more than 40% of the nation’s domestic electricity. 

\n\n\n\n

The DOE order will keep Stanton Unit 1 in operation for another 90 days past its planned retirement at the end of May; it may be renewed after the order expires. The Trump Administration has issued similar orders, which Earthjustice and the other groups representing Florida Rising say are illegal, to keep five other coal-fired plants in operation, too.

\n\n\n\n

RELATED: Trump’s EPA Moves to Kill Life-Saving Soot Rules

\n\n\n\n

Still, there’s no denying that the writing is on the wall for coal. 

\n\n\n\n

“Forcing this coal plant to stay open delivers a rate hike to Central Florida families and businesses, right as they are already struggling with sky-high electricity bills,” Adam Kurland, an attorney for the Environmental Defense Fund, said in a statement. “Cheaper, cleaner, and more reliable options had rendered this coal plant obsolete and on track for retirement.”

\n\n\n\n

\n

The post Amid AI Boom, Coal Returns — With a Familiar Cost appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/07/amid-ai-boom-coal-returns-with-a-familiar-cost/","site":"Willy Blackmore","originalAuthor":"Willy Blackmore","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Environmental Justice"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-07-28T20:47:18.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2194546279.jpg?fit=724%2C483&ssl=1","type":"image/jpeg"},"createdAt":"2026-07-28T20:48:09.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2194546279.jpg?fit=724%2C483&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"T2eYTcoXEwQiy3r3","title":"When Black Families Seek Help, Who Keeps Them Safe?","description":"SIKESTON, Mo. — Not everyone at Lloyd Gilmore’s funeral knew him well. One woman, who had ironed her clothes two days in advance, said she just wanted to be there for his family. School-age children, guided by their parents, approached his open casket in the sanctuary of Cornerstone Baptist Church and peeked inside. Other people looked away. On that rainy Friday afternoon, hundreds of such mourners gathered to honor the man who went to the police department for help and didn’t come back. “Stay woke. Stay guarded,” his daughter Lania Gilmore told the church full of mourners in this city of fewer than 16,000 with a long, troubled history of racial violence. “Be there for your family and love on one another.” Lloyd Gilmore, 44, a Sikeston resident, died in police custody on June 10, during a quick, physical altercation involving seven Sikeston police officers ‘I Trusted He Was O.K.’ Police shocked him with a Taser and put him into hobble restraints, which allow officers to hogtie a person’s feet and hands, according to a police report obtained by KFF Health News through a public records request. Two autopsies were performed, but they — and Gilmore’s cause of death — had not been released as of mid-July. The result of a toxicology report remains pending. Gilmore had approached an officer in the parking lot of the police station, according to the report, speaking words the officer said he could not understand. Lania Gilmore said that her dad, who had mental health issues, had asked her to call the police department and that he ran there seeking help. A plaque is displayed during Lloyd Gilmore’s funeral. Hundreds of mourners gathered in his honor. (Cara Anthony/KFF Health News) “I kind of trusted the fact that he was OK because he was at the police station,” Lania Gilmore told KFF Health News. At his funeral, hardly anyone spoke of the police — and, at the family’s request, the funeral home declined to ask police to provide traffic assistance as they usually would. A preacher did his best to comfort Gilmore’s family. “Sometimes we need not talk,” the Rev. Tommy Robinson Jr. told the crowd. “We just need to listen.” Longstanding Brutality Complaints But after years of expressing concerns about racial bias within the Sikeston police department, some Black residents wonder if anyone is even listening. They want justice even as the national reckoning over police brutality has faded from public view. “We need the police. We just need them to do their jobs correctly and leave Black people alone,” said Mark Wiggins, president of Sikeston’s NAACP branch. “They know it. We know it. The truth of the matter is there’s a lot of unwarranted cop killings of Black men in America.” We need the police. We just need them to do their jobs correctly and leave Black people alone.” Mark wiggins, president, sikeston NAACP But despite worldwide protests in 2020 in the wake of high-profile police-involved killings of Black people, the public paid little attention when a prestigious group released a report last year about deaths in custody, said Roger Mitchell Jr., a forensic pathologist finishing his term as president of the National Medical Association, which represents African American physicians. The report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine urged Congress to demand that states collect and report data on all in-custody deaths, a problem that Mitchell said disproportionately affects Black men. “We are in an anti-diversity environment,” Mitchell said. “We’re in a war.” ‘The Game Has Just Started’ Upon returning to the White House last year, President Donald Trump immediately signed an executive order that targeted diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. As a result of that and other measures, funding for racial equity initiatives has dwindled, researchers who once studied violence as a public health issue have pivoted to less politically charged topics, and a growing fear of professional and political retaliation has made it increasingly difficult to sustain the momentum. Kevin Myles, a Georgia-based civil rights leader who has trained tens of thousands of activists around the country, said he saw a shift in priorities around racial equity before Trump was reelected. Since then, the shift has escalated, he said, and he has lost at least half his funding for his work on equity, child welfare, and mass incarceration. “I don’t think we really were prepared. It’s not that we didn’t take it seriously. I don’t think we were psychologically prepared for what this means,” Myles said. “Everything we have done before now was practice. The game has just started.” Sikeston, located in the rural area of southeastern Missouri known as the Bootheel, has a history of racial violence, including the brutal lynching of a Black man named Cleo Wright in 1942. Another Black man, Undraus Nabors, was found dead in a grain silo months after heading out to pick up his white girlfriend in 1999. Justice For Some In April 2020, less than a month before George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis, Sikeston police officers shot Denzel Taylor, an unarmed Black man, at least 18 times. The city was the subject of the 2024 “Silence in Sikeston” documentary film and podcast by KFF Health News, Retro Report, and WORLD. The documentary explores how the nation’s first federally investigated lynching and a police killing 78 years apart haunt the same rural Missouri community. The film from KFF Health News and Retro Report explores the lasting impact of such trauma — and what it means to speak out about it. Larry McClellon, a longtime Sikeston resident who founded a civil rights group called And Justice for All, has expressed concerns about the integrity of his city’s police department for decades. He’s also convinced that being vocal about racism in Sikeston comes with a price. Mark Wiggins, President, Sikeston NAACP (Cara Anthony/KFF Health News) “It’s a dark side of Sikeston that a lot of people do not know and don’t prefer to know,” McClellon told KFF Health News in 2021 after police fatally shot Denzel Taylor. “But I’ve walked the streets.” He believes someone burned down the headquarters of And Justice for All in 2019. A report from the city’s public safety department said the fire was “suspicious in nature.” The electricity in his building wasn’t on when flames erupted, he said, so he wasn’t satisfied when an investigator called it an electrical fire. He asked the department to take another look. No one was charged. More Questions, Fewer Answers James McMillen, the city’s police chief, told KFF Health News in 2021 that he had plans to improve policing before Taylor died. At the time, McMillen, who is white, said he and his department had “a poor relationship” with Black residents in the city. He started some community meetings after Taylor’s death, but he said in 2024 that people had stopped showing up. “We have tried,” the chief said during a City Council meeting this month. “But, as my daddy would say, a relationship is a two-way street. And so I don’t know what else I can do.” During the meeting, Lania Gilmore pleaded with the city to release more information about her father’s case. Other residents wanted to know why the officers involved were not placed on administrative leave immediately after Gilmore died. “It depends on the circumstances. It does,” McMillen told them. “You’re assuming a certain set of details that you don’t know.” Another resident asked the city about training for officers. McMillen said his officers are trained. Nationwide, many communities have created specialized non-law enforcement teams to assist people in crisis. “Chief does not want anybody to be mistreated at all. Period,” Sikeston Mayor Greg Turnbow, who is white, said at the meeting. “And I guarantee you, I put my life in his hands. I’d do it today.” McMillen declined to comment on KFF Health News’ questions about Gilmore’s case and the community’s concerns about the department. The Missouri State Highway Patrol investigated the death and planned to refer the results to the Cape Girardeau County prosecuting attorney, Sgt. Bradley Germann said. Looking for a ‘Safe Space’ The day Lloyd Gilmore died, his daughter said, he had been anxious and was looking for a “safe space.” So, she said, he had spent much of the day watching her braid hair at the salon where she works, then he went with her to her eyelash extension appointment. Lania Gilmore said he was still feeling undone, but she needed some space, so he asked her to call the police instead. She said she did, then she watched him run toward the police station. The rest unfolded within 30 minutes, according to the police report and 911 call logs. The police report said that, amid an ensuing scuffle, Gilmore bit one officer’s hand — “but did not break the skin.” After the police stunned and restrained Gilmore, a paramedic gave him a sedative, and the emergency medical services took him to a hospital, according to the police report. The report listed five victims — all police — and accused Gilmore of third-degree assault and resisting arrest. Lania Gilmore said police told her that her father overdosed. But she said she doesn’t understand how that would have been possible, given the short time between when he left her and an ambulance was called. The city’s police force knew Gilmore had mental health issues, his daughter said. Police officers in a neighboring community “excessively tased” and beat him in 2020, court records show. He received a $65,000 settlement five years later, and she said that experience left a mark. After Gilmore died, Louis Houston, a longtime Sikeston resident, said he decided to move 30 minutes outside the city to a neighboring community, where he feels safer. He said hearing about other Black Sikeston residents being harassed by the police department had started to affect his mental health. “I got on away from here,” said Houston, who returned to Sikeston for Lloyd Gilmore’s funeral. Houston’s already thinking about the conversations he will have with his young children about how to respond if they ever interact with a police officer. He has a script in mind. “Be careful,” Houston plans to tell them. “They can help you, but they also can kill you.” This story was originally written, produced, and published by KFF Health News and is shared on Word In Black with their permission. The post When Black Families Seek Help, Who Keeps Them Safe? appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"Some
\n

SIKESTON, Mo. — Not everyone at Lloyd Gilmore’s funeral knew him well.

\n\n\n\n

One woman, who had ironed her clothes two days in advance, said she just wanted to be there for his family. School-age children, guided by their parents, approached his open casket in the sanctuary of Cornerstone Baptist Church and peeked inside. Other people looked away.

\n\n\n\n

On that rainy Friday afternoon, hundreds of such mourners gathered to honor the man who went to the police department for help and didn’t come back.

\n\n\n\n

“Stay woke. Stay guarded,” his daughter Lania Gilmore told the church full of mourners in this city of fewer than 16,000 with a long, troubled history of racial violence. “Be there for your family and love on one another.”

\n\n\n\n

Lloyd Gilmore, 44, a Sikeston resident, died in police custody on June 10, during a quick, physical altercation involving seven Sikeston police officers

\n\n\n\n

‘I Trusted He Was O.K.’

\n\n\n\n

Police shocked him with a Taser and put him into hobble restraints, which allow officers to hogtie a person’s feet and hands, according to a police report obtained by KFF Health News through a public records request. Two autopsies were performed, but they — and Gilmore’s cause of death — had not been released as of mid-July. The result of a toxicology report remains pending.

\n\n\n\n

Gilmore had approached an officer in the parking lot of the police station, according to the report, speaking words the officer said he could not understand. Lania Gilmore said that her dad, who had mental health issues, had asked her to call the police department and that he ran there seeking help.

\n\n\n\n
\"\"
A plaque is displayed during Lloyd Gilmore’s funeral. Hundreds of mourners gathered in his honor. (Cara Anthony/KFF Health News)
\n\n\n\n

“I kind of trusted the fact that he was OK because he was at the police station,” Lania Gilmore told KFF Health News.

\n\n\n\n

At his funeral, hardly anyone spoke of the police — and, at the family’s request, the funeral home declined to ask police to provide traffic assistance as they usually would. A preacher did his best to comfort Gilmore’s family.

\n\n\n\n

“Sometimes we need not talk,” the Rev. Tommy Robinson Jr. told the crowd. “We just need to listen.”

\n\n\n\n

Longstanding Brutality Complaints

\n\n\n\n

But after years of expressing concerns about racial bias within the Sikeston police department, some Black residents wonder if anyone is even listening. They want justice even as the national reckoning over police brutality has faded from public view.

\n\n\n\n

“We need the police. We just need them to do their jobs correctly and leave Black people alone,” said Mark Wiggins, president of Sikeston’s NAACP branch. “They know it. We know it. The truth of the matter is there’s a lot of unwarranted cop killings of Black men in America.”

\n\n\n\n

We need the police. We just need them to do their jobs correctly and leave Black people alone.”

Mark wiggins, president, sikeston NAACP
\n\n\n\n

But despite worldwide protests in 2020 in the wake of high-profile police-involved killings of Black people, the public paid little attention when a prestigious group released a report last year about deaths in custody, said Roger Mitchell Jr., a forensic pathologist finishing his term as president of the National Medical Association, which represents African American physicians.

\n\n\n\n

The report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine urged Congress to demand that states collect and report data on all in-custody deaths, a problem that Mitchell said disproportionately affects Black men.

\n\n\n\n

“We are in an anti-diversity environment,” Mitchell said. “We’re in a war.”

\n\n\n\n

‘The Game Has Just Started’

\n\n\n\n

Upon returning to the White House last year, President Donald Trump immediately signed an executive order that targeted diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. As a result of that and other measures, funding for racial equity initiatives has dwindled, researchers who once studied violence as a public health issue have pivoted to less politically charged topics, and a growing fear of professional and political retaliation has made it increasingly difficult to sustain the momentum.

\n\n\n\n

Kevin Myles, a Georgia-based civil rights leader who has trained tens of thousands of activists around the country, said he saw a shift in priorities around racial equity before Trump was reelected. Since then, the shift has escalated, he said, and he has lost at least half his funding for his work on equity, child welfare, and mass incarceration.

\n\n\n\n

“I don’t think we really were prepared. It’s not that we didn’t take it seriously. I don’t think we were psychologically prepared for what this means,” Myles said. “Everything we have done before now was practice. The game has just started.”

\n\n\n\n

Sikeston, located in the rural area of southeastern Missouri known as the Bootheel, has a history of racial violence, including the brutal lynching of a Black man named Cleo Wright in 1942. Another Black man, Undraus Nabors, was found dead in a grain silo months after heading out to pick up his white girlfriend in 1999.

\n\n\n\n

Justice For Some

\n\n\n\n

In April 2020, less than a month before George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis, Sikeston police officers shot Denzel Taylor, an unarmed Black man, at least 18 times. The city was the subject of the 2024 “Silence in Sikeston” documentary film and podcast by KFF Health News, Retro Report, and WORLD.

\n\n\n\n

The documentary explores how the nation’s first federally investigated lynching and a police killing 78 years apart haunt the same rural Missouri community. The film from KFF Health News and Retro Report explores the lasting impact of such trauma — and what it means to speak out about it.

\n\n\n\n

Larry McClellon, a longtime Sikeston resident who founded a civil rights group called And Justice for All, has expressed concerns about the integrity of his city’s police department for decades. He’s also convinced that being vocal about racism in Sikeston comes with a price.

\n\n\n
\n
\"\"
Mark Wiggins, President, Sikeston NAACP (Cara Anthony/KFF Health News)
\n
\n\n\n

“It’s a dark side of Sikeston that a lot of people do not know and don’t prefer to know,” McClellon told KFF Health News in 2021 after police fatally shot Denzel Taylor. “But I’ve walked the streets.”

\n\n\n\n

He believes someone burned down the headquarters of And Justice for All in 2019. A report from the city’s public safety department said the fire was “suspicious in nature.” The electricity in his building wasn’t on when flames erupted, he said, so he wasn’t satisfied when an investigator called it an electrical fire. He asked the department to take another look. No one was charged.

\n\n\n\n

More Questions, Fewer Answers

\n\n\n\n

James McMillen, the city’s police chief, told KFF Health News in 2021 that he had plans to improve policing before Taylor died. At the time, McMillen, who is white, said he and his department had “a poor relationship” with Black residents in the city. He started some community meetings after Taylor’s death, but he said in 2024 that people had stopped showing up.

\n\n\n\n

“We have tried,” the chief said during a City Council meeting this month. “But, as my daddy would say, a relationship is a two-way street. And so I don’t know what else I can do.”

\n\n\n\n

During the meeting, Lania Gilmore pleaded with the city to release more information about her father’s case. Other residents wanted to know why the officers involved were not placed on administrative leave immediately after Gilmore died.

\n\n\n\n

“It depends on the circumstances. It does,” McMillen told them. “You’re assuming a certain set of details that you don’t know.”

\n\n\n\n

Another resident asked the city about training for officers. McMillen said his officers are trained. Nationwide, many communities have created specialized non-law enforcement teams to assist people in crisis.

\n\n\n\n

“Chief does not want anybody to be mistreated at all. Period,” Sikeston Mayor Greg Turnbow, who is white, said at the meeting. “And I guarantee you, I put my life in his hands. I’d do it today.”

\n\n\n\n

McMillen declined to comment on KFF Health News’ questions about Gilmore’s case and the community’s concerns about the department. The Missouri State Highway Patrol investigated the death and planned to refer the results to the Cape Girardeau County prosecuting attorney, Sgt. Bradley Germann said.

\n\n\n\n

Looking for a ‘Safe Space’

\n\n\n\n

The day Lloyd Gilmore died, his daughter said, he had been anxious and was looking for a “safe space.” So, she said, he had spent much of the day watching her braid hair at the salon where she works, then he went with her to her eyelash extension appointment.

\n\n\n\n

Lania Gilmore said he was still feeling undone, but she needed some space, so he asked her to call the police instead. She said she did, then she watched him run toward the police station.

\n\n\n\n

The rest unfolded within 30 minutes, according to the police report and 911 call logs. The police report said that, amid an ensuing scuffle, Gilmore bit one officer’s hand — “but did not break the skin.”

\n\n\n\n

After the police stunned and restrained Gilmore, a paramedic gave him a sedative, and the emergency medical services took him to a hospital, according to the police report. The report listed five victims — all police — and accused Gilmore of third-degree assault and resisting arrest.

\n\n\n\n

Lania Gilmore said police told her that her father overdosed. But she said she doesn’t understand how that would have been possible, given the short time between when he left her and an ambulance was called.

\n\n\n\n

The city’s police force knew Gilmore had mental health issues, his daughter said. Police officers in a neighboring community “excessively tased” and beat him in 2020, court records show. He received a $65,000 settlement five years later, and she said that experience left a mark.

\n\n\n\n

After Gilmore died, Louis Houston, a longtime Sikeston resident, said he decided to move 30 minutes outside the city to a neighboring community, where he feels safer. He said hearing about other Black Sikeston residents being harassed by the police department had started to affect his mental health.

\n\n\n\n

“I got on away from here,” said Houston, who returned to Sikeston for Lloyd Gilmore’s funeral.

\n\n\n\n

Houston’s already thinking about the conversations he will have with his young children about how to respond if they ever interact with a police officer. He has a script in mind.

\n\n\n\n

“Be careful,” Houston plans to tell them. “They can help you, but they also can kill you.”

\n\n\n\n

This story was originally written, produced, and published by KFF Health News and is shared on Word In Black with their permission.

\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\"\"
\n

The post When Black Families Seek Help, Who Keeps Them Safe? appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/07/when-black-families-seek-help-who-keeps-them-safe/","site":"Cara Anthony, KFF Newe","originalAuthor":"Cara Anthony, KFF Health News","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Criminal Justice","Social Justice"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-07-27T16:41:34.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Gilmore_04.webp?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1","type":"image/webp"},"createdAt":"2026-07-27T16:42:12.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Gilmore_04.webp?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"Ea1y8hchOH6W9sgn","title":"Can the Black Church Be Reimagined? Harlem First Thinks So","description":"At a time when many churches are grappling with declining attendance, shifting demographics and growing skepticism about organized religion, Rev. Dr. Eboni Marshall Turman believes the answer is not to lament what has been lost but to imagine what can still be built. That vision took its first public step July 19 with the launch of Harlem First, an emerging Christian fellowship that Marshall Turman — theologian, preacher, and Yale University professor — hopes will eventually become Harlem First Baptist Church. RELATED: Prayer Built the Ministry. The Platform Came Later. Meeting at the Ailey Citigroup Theater at The Ailey School, rather than a traditional sanctuary, the pop-up worship gathering signaled an intentional effort to create a worshiping community where Black culture, scholarship, children, artists and people often marginalized by churches are welcomed as essential participants rather than visitors. Marshall Turman is well known nationally as a womanist theologian, author and associate professor of theology and African American religion at Yale. Yet she says Harlem First is not centered on a single personality but on a diverse leadership team that has spent years praying, planning and discerning together. Bringing Back Young People The team includes longtime ministry partner Rev. C. Anthony Bryant, whom she met nearly two decades ago while they both served at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. Their conversations about worship, ministry and the future of the Black church gradually evolved into a shared vision that became reality after nearly three years of focused planning. The launch comes as researchers continue documenting declining church participation across the United States, particularly among younger adults. Marshall Turman acknowledges those realities but rejects the notion that younger generations have abandoned faith altogether. Instead, she believes many have left churches where they felt invisible, judged or unheard. Most Black people will never be able to sit in my classroom at Yale. But the church is where I can meet our people and offer them a little bit of what I have to give. I take that very seriously.Rev. Dr. Eboni Marshall Turman Her response is a church designed around belonging. The goal is to create a church where children participate in worship rather than being treated as an afterthought, and where diverse leadership is visible from the beginning. Future gatherings will include literature, poetry, dance, music and educational opportunities that connect faith with Black intellectual and cultural life. Spiritual and Cultural Crossroads For Marshall Turman, Harlem itself provides the theological backdrop. She describes the historic neighborhood as a spiritual and cultural crossroads whose struggles and creativity continue to shape Black America and the broader African diaspora. That conviction informs both her preaching and the public witness she hopes Harlem First will embody. During a recent interview with Word In Black, Marshall Turman discussed the vision behind Harlem First, reaching people beyond traditional church walls, and why she believes this moment calls for renewed Black moral leadership rooted in both scholarship and community. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. Word in Black: Do you have a team that has been planning this for a while? Marshall Turman: Yes, I do. So I call them Team Harlem First. And actually, my kind of right hand, Rev. Charles Anthony Bryant, he and I have been talking about this and praying about this for about three years. We’ve been talking in more focused ways about it. It is remarkable to have seen it come to fruition on this past Sunday. WIB: Why the Ailey Theater? Marshall Truman: Launching Harlem First there feels like a full-circle moment for me. To be in a space surrounded by the spirit of my dance ancestors, including my beloved mentor, Judith Jamison — who led the company when I was a young dancer — while delivering a message that I hope was one of healing, revelation and transformation, is so profound. WIB: We keep hearing that people are not going to church. How do you attract young people especially, but new people to church? Marshall Turman: One of the things that Harlem First wants to be intentional about is making sure everybody belongs. They have to be a part of that worship experience. They have to know that their voice as children matters to the growth of the body. I want everyone to know that they are welcome, that God sees them, that we see them, and that their voice matters. WIB: What do you hope grabs people who come to your service, especially those who may not be church people? Marshall Turman: I think it will feel different to have a millennial woman at the pulpit. I’m a progressive theologian. I am a womanist theologian. So I’m thinking constantly at the intersection of religion and race and gender and class and sexuality in ways that I think are more liberating than we typically experience in our more traditional churches. I really am seeking to do an inclusive work that I believe emerges from how I understand Jesus. Jesus is an inclusivity. WIB: How is your preaching voice enhanced or affected by your surroundings and this new ministry? Marshall Turman: I believe that as Harlem goes, Black America goes. And even more than that, as Harlem goes, the Black world goes because of the diasporan intersections and realities that are present in Harlem. My sermonic content is always going to be constructed by thinking about the needs of Black people, the needs of oppressed people across the board, and about what I am hearing about how God is responding to that. WIB: What kind of unique teaching opportunities are you looking forward to in the new church? Marshall Turman: The church has been the only consistent form of continuing education available to our communities for free. I understand myself as a race woman. Most Black people will never be able to sit in my classroom at Yale. But the church is where I can meet our people and offer them a little bit of what I have to give. I take that very seriously. Q: And you’d like to add? Marshall Turman: I do believe there’s a lack of public moral leadership from women in the church in Harlem. It has been a bastion of male leadership for decades and so I am really excited about the possibility of being part of a revitalization of Black moral leadership as it relates to the Harlem pulpit and to bringing the wealth of the Black social gospel back in this moment where we need a prophetic voice that is informed and serious about speaking to the social and political context that affects the lives of our people. RELATED: Finding Fellowship: How a Black Maryland Community Bridged Racial Divides Q: Will there be dance? Marshall Turman: Of course. Yes, there will be dance. There will be poetry. There will be music. There will be all of who we are represented in our worship experiences moving forward. But we are at this point in time taking it one step at a time. We hope that the people will come and be with us as the vision unfolds. The post Can the Black Church Be Reimagined? Harlem First Thinks So appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"Launching
\n

At a time when many churches are grappling with declining attendance, shifting demographics and growing skepticism about organized religion, Rev. Dr. Eboni Marshall Turman believes the answer is not to lament what has been lost but to imagine what can still be built.

\n\n\n\n

That vision took its first public step July 19 with the launch of Harlem First, an emerging Christian fellowship that Marshall Turman — theologian, preacher, and Yale University professor — hopes will eventually become Harlem First Baptist Church. 

\n\n\n\n

RELATED: Prayer Built the Ministry. The Platform Came Later.

\n\n\n\n

Meeting at the Ailey Citigroup Theater at The Ailey School, rather than a traditional sanctuary, the pop-up worship gathering signaled an intentional effort to create a worshiping community where Black culture, scholarship, children, artists and people often marginalized by churches are welcomed as essential participants rather than visitors.

\n\n\n\n

Marshall Turman is well known nationally as a womanist theologian, author and associate professor of theology and African American religion at Yale. Yet she says Harlem First is not centered on a single personality but on a diverse leadership team that has spent years praying, planning and discerning together.

\n\n\n\n

Bringing Back Young People

\n\n\n\n

The team includes longtime ministry partner Rev. C. Anthony Bryant, whom she met nearly two decades ago while they both served at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. Their conversations about worship, ministry and the future of the Black church gradually evolved into a shared vision that became reality after nearly three years of focused planning.

\n\n\n\n

The launch comes as researchers continue documenting declining church participation across the United States, particularly among younger adults. Marshall Turman acknowledges those realities but rejects the notion that younger generations have abandoned faith altogether. Instead, she believes many have left churches where they felt invisible, judged or unheard.

\n\n\n\n

Most Black people will never be able to sit in my classroom at Yale. But the church is where I can meet our people and offer them a little bit of what I have to give. I take that very seriously.

Rev. Dr. Eboni Marshall Turman
\n\n\n\n

Her response is a church designed around belonging.

\n\n\n\n

The goal is to create a church where children participate in worship rather than being treated as an afterthought, and where diverse leadership is visible from the beginning. Future gatherings will include literature, poetry, dance, music and educational opportunities that connect faith with Black intellectual and cultural life.

\n\n\n\n

Spiritual and Cultural Crossroads

\n\n\n\n

For Marshall Turman, Harlem itself provides the theological backdrop.

\n\n\n\n

She describes the historic neighborhood as a spiritual and cultural crossroads whose struggles and creativity continue to shape Black America and the broader African diaspora. That conviction informs both her preaching and the public witness she hopes Harlem First will embody.

\n\n\n\n

During a recent interview with Word In Black, Marshall Turman discussed the vision behind Harlem First, reaching people beyond traditional church walls, and why she believes this moment calls for renewed Black moral leadership rooted in both scholarship and community. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

\n\n\n\n

Word in Black: Do you have a team that has been planning this for a while?

\n\n\n\n

Marshall Turman: Yes, I do. So I call them Team Harlem First. And actually, my kind of right hand, Rev. Charles Anthony Bryant, he and I have been talking about this and praying about this for about three years. We’ve been talking in more focused ways about it. It is remarkable to have seen it come to fruition on this past Sunday.

\n\n\n\n

WIB: Why the Ailey Theater?

\n\n\n\n

Marshall Truman: Launching Harlem First there feels like a full-circle moment for me. To be in a space surrounded by the spirit of my dance ancestors, including my beloved mentor, Judith Jamison — who led the company when I was a young dancer — while delivering a message that I hope was one of healing, revelation and transformation, is so profound.

\n\n\n\n

WIB: We keep hearing that people are not going to church. How do you attract young people especially, but new people to church?

\n\n\n\n

Marshall Turman: One of the things that Harlem First wants to be intentional about is making sure everybody belongs. They have to be a part of that worship experience. They have to know that their voice as children matters to the growth of the body. I want everyone to know that they are welcome, that God sees them, that we see them, and that their voice matters.

\n\n\n\n

WIB: What do you hope grabs people who come to your service, especially those who may not be church people?

\n\n\n\n

Marshall Turman: I think it will feel different to have a millennial woman at the pulpit. I’m a progressive theologian. I am a womanist theologian. So I’m thinking constantly at the intersection of religion and race and gender and class and sexuality in ways that I think are more liberating than we typically experience in our more traditional churches. I really am seeking to do an inclusive work that I believe emerges from how I understand Jesus. Jesus is an inclusivity.

\n\n\n\n

WIB: How is your preaching voice enhanced or affected by your surroundings and this new ministry?

\n\n\n\n

Marshall Turman: I believe that as Harlem goes, Black America goes. And even more than that, as Harlem goes, the Black world goes because of the diasporan intersections and realities that are present in Harlem. 

\n\n\n\n

My sermonic content is always going to be constructed by thinking about the needs of Black people, the needs of oppressed people across the board, and about what I am hearing about how God is responding to that.

\n\n\n\n

WIB: What kind of unique teaching opportunities are you looking forward to in the new church?

\n\n\n\n

Marshall Turman: The church has been the only consistent form of continuing education available to our communities for free. I understand myself as a race woman. Most Black people will never be able to sit in my classroom at Yale. But the church is where I can meet our people and offer them a little bit of what I have to give. I take that very seriously.

\n\n\n\n

Q: And you’d like to add?

\n\n\n\n

Marshall Turman: I do believe there’s a lack of public moral leadership from women in the church in Harlem. It has been a bastion of male leadership for decades and so I am really excited about the possibility of being part of a revitalization of Black moral leadership as it relates to the Harlem pulpit and to bringing the wealth of the Black social gospel back in this moment where we need a prophetic voice that is informed and serious about speaking to the social and political context that affects the lives of our people.

\n\n\n\n

RELATED: Finding Fellowship: How a Black Maryland Community Bridged Racial Divides

\n\n\n\n

Q: Will there be dance?

\n\n\n\n

Marshall Turman: Of course. Yes, there will be dance. There will be poetry. There will be music. There will be all of who we are represented in our worship experiences moving forward. But we are at this point in time taking it one step at a time. 

\n\n\n\n

We hope that the people will come and be with us as the vision unfolds.

\n

The post Can the Black Church Be Reimagined? Harlem First Thinks So appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/07/can-the-black-church-be-reimagined-harlem-first-thinks-so/","site":"Rev. Dorothy S. Boulware","originalAuthor":"Rev. Dorothy S. Boulware","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Uncategorized"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-07-24T21:06:29.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-24-at-4.37.30-PM.png?fit=1024%2C849&ssl=1","type":"image/png"},"createdAt":"2026-07-24T21:14:17.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-24-at-4.37.30-PM.png?fit=1024%2C849&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"pGoxG0cQCL8UrJSl","title":"Data Center Deal Put Bessemer’s Public in the Dark","description":"When Bessemer, Alabama, considered approving a massive new data center project earlier this year, there were very few public details about what, exactly, was being proposed — or how local elected officials in the historic, majority-Black city were negotiating with the project’s backers. That’s because a number of city leaders, including Mayor Kenneth Gulley, signed a strict non-disclosure agreement with the developers behind Project Marvel, a proposed 4.5 million square foot facility set to become one of the largest data centers in the world. LEARN MORE: A Huge Data Center Set for a Black Alabama City Gains Ground Now that the agreement has been made public after the environmentalists threatened to sue, the details show how much authority the developers had over city officials, and how thoroughly they wanted to keep the public in the dark. Plans Kept Under Wraps Besides banning the public release of site plans or related reports or studies, the non-disclosure agreement city leaders signed blocked the public disclosure of any information about Project Marvel’s developers. It also requires the city to destroy any information related to the project that the developers deemed confidential — including any official city documents or notes. Gulley signed it, along with his chief of staff, Christoper Warrer, and city attorney Aaron Killings. The disclosure agreements became public when two environmental groups, the Southern Environmental Law Center and the Alabama Rivers Alliance, sued, forcing the city’s hand. Alabama has public records laws that run contrary to the disclosure agreements. It was recently reported that QTS Data Centers is one of the companies behind the project. According to the company’s website, it has headquarters in Overland Park, Kansas, and Sterling, Virginia, and is a major developer of hyperscale data centers. In Alabama, our elected officials should work for us, not Silicon Valley AI companies and their associates.Charles Miller, policy director, Alabama Rivers Alliance In a statement, Charles Miller, policy director of the Alabama Rivers Alliance, said it’s “absurd” that three of Bessemer’s top officials — including two elected officeholders — agreed to a document “that makes an entire city government more accountable to out-of-state developers than their own constituents.” “In Alabama, our elected officials should work for us, not Silicon Valley AI companies and their associates,” Miller said. Ryan Anderson, attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, said in a statement that it’s “deeply concerning when it takes legal threats for a government to comply with basic transparency laws.” Even worse, “the city refused an open records act request for a document that’s very purpose is to shield information from the public about a highly controversial data center,” Anderson said. ‘Committed’ to Transparency Since it came to public attention earlier this year, Project Marvel has drawn widespread opposition from residents who say it would worsen pollution, strain local resources and deepen environmental inequities in a predominantly Black community. The fight has also taken on symbolic weight because the project is planned for Bessemer, a historic steel town near Birmingham that played an important role in the Black freedom struggle and the rise of Black political power in Alabama. Even though it compelled city leaders to keep project details under wraps, QTS Data Centers said in a statement that it is “committed to engaging transparently as planning continues, including water, energy, infrastructure and community considerations.” RELATED: DOJ Defends xAI in Lawsuit Over Memphis Power Plant The project’s scale is enormous, slated to occupy a 1,600-acre stretch of forest. The city recently rezoned the property from agricultural land so that it can be developed for industrial use. The data center campus would have the collective footprint of 18 Walmart Supercenters, and would use up to 1,200 megawatts of power per year — 90 times more than Bessemer’s roughly 25,000 residents use per year. The facility would also consume at least 2 million gallons of water per day. The post Data Center Deal Put Bessemer’s Public in the Dark appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"Environmental
\n

When Bessemer, Alabama, considered approving a massive new data center project earlier this year, there were very few public details about what, exactly, was being proposed — or how local elected officials in the historic, majority-Black city were negotiating with the project’s backers. 

\n\n\n\n

That’s because a number of city leaders, including Mayor Kenneth Gulley, signed a strict non-disclosure agreement with the developers behind Project Marvel, a proposed 4.5 million square foot facility set to become one of the largest data centers in the world. 

\n\n\n\n

LEARN MORE: A Huge Data Center Set for a Black Alabama City Gains Ground

\n\n\n\n

Now that the agreement has been made public after the environmentalists threatened to sue, the details show how much authority the developers had over city officials, and how thoroughly they wanted to keep the public in the dark. 

\n\n\n\n

Plans Kept Under Wraps

\n\n\n\n

Besides banning the public release of site plans or related reports or studies, the non-disclosure agreement city leaders signed blocked the public disclosure of any information about Project Marvel’s developers. It also requires the city to destroy any information related to the project that the developers deemed confidential — including any official city documents or notes.

\n\n\n\n

Gulley signed it, along with his chief of staff, Christoper Warrer, and city attorney Aaron Killings.

\n\n\n\n

The disclosure agreements became public when two environmental groups, the Southern Environmental Law Center and the Alabama Rivers Alliance, sued, forcing the city’s hand. Alabama has public records laws that run contrary to the disclosure agreements.

\n\n\n\n

It was recently reported that QTS Data Centers is one of the companies behind the project. According to the company’s website, it has headquarters in Overland Park, Kansas, and Sterling, Virginia, and is a major developer of hyperscale data centers. 

\n\n\n\n

In Alabama, our elected officials should work for us, not Silicon Valley AI companies and their associates.

Charles Miller, policy director, Alabama Rivers Alliance
\n\n\n\n

In a statement, Charles Miller, policy director of the Alabama Rivers Alliance, said it’s “absurd” that three of Bessemer’s top officials — including two elected officeholders — agreed to a document “that makes an entire city government more accountable to out-of-state developers than their own constituents.” 

\n\n\n\n

“In Alabama, our elected officials should work for us, not Silicon Valley AI companies and their associates,” Miller said. 

\n\n\n\n

 Ryan Anderson, attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, said in a statement that it’s “deeply concerning when it takes legal threats for a government to comply with basic transparency laws.” 

\n\n\n\n

Even worse, “the city refused an open records act request for a document that’s very purpose is to shield information from the public about a highly controversial data center,” Anderson said. 

\n\n\n\n

‘Committed’ to Transparency

\n\n\n\n

Since it came to public attention earlier this year, Project Marvel has drawn widespread opposition from residents who say it would worsen pollution, strain local resources and deepen environmental inequities in a predominantly Black community. The fight has also taken on symbolic weight because the project is planned for Bessemer, a historic steel town near Birmingham that played an important role in the Black freedom struggle and the rise of Black political power in Alabama.

\n\n\n\n

Even though it compelled city leaders to keep project details under wraps, QTS Data Centers said in a statement that it is “committed to engaging transparently as planning continues, including water, energy, infrastructure and community considerations.”

\n\n\n\n

RELATED: DOJ Defends xAI in Lawsuit Over Memphis Power Plant

\n\n\n\n

The project’s scale is enormous, slated to occupy a 1,600-acre stretch of forest. The city recently rezoned the property from agricultural land so that it can be developed for industrial use. 

\n\n\n\n

The data center campus would have the collective footprint of 18 Walmart Supercenters, and would use up to 1,200 megawatts of power per year — 90 times more than Bessemer’s roughly 25,000 residents use per year. The facility would also consume at least 2 million gallons of water per day.

\n

The post Data Center Deal Put Bessemer’s Public in the Dark appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/07/data-center-deal-put-bessemers-public-in-the-dark/","site":"Willy Blackmore","originalAuthor":"Willy Blackmore","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Climate Justice"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-07-24T20:00:59.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-1231996440.jpg?fit=594%2C396&ssl=1","type":"image/jpeg"},"createdAt":"2026-07-24T20:11:17.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-1231996440.jpg?fit=594%2C396&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"M2G75uxLKLQtJ6Kt","title":"EVENT: The Dark Side of Our Addiction to Fast Fashion","description":"It’s tempting to buy those cute, cheap clothes from places like Shein and H&M. But at what cost? In this virtual conversation, we’ll examine the downside of fast fashion, including its impact on your health, the environment, and Black businesses. Wed., August 5, 2026, 6-7:15 p.m. ET Moderator: Shernay Williams – Word In Black Events Manager Panelists: Teju Adisa-Farrar – The Black Fiber & Textile Network Jamila Wright – Content creator who shares her personal experience with hormone disruption linked to fast fashion Kennedy Black – Resilient Sisterhood Project REGISTER TO WATCH THE EVENT LIVE Register for Word In Black’s other upcoming Summer 2026 events Rewatch Word In Black’s previous events on YouTube Delivering Solutions for the Maternal Health Crisis Building Black Safe Havens in the U.S. Is AI Hurting Black America? A Live Debate Safe Space: How to Support Black Men’s Mental Health Word In Black’s Religion Hot Topics What’s on Your Plate? Food Access in Black America The Action Plan to Get Black Women Back to Work ‘Breaking the Silence’: How Black Women Can Fight Breast Cancer The post EVENT: The Dark Side of Our Addiction to Fast Fashion appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"\"
\n
\"\"
\n\n\n\n

It’s tempting to buy those cute, cheap clothes from places like Shein and H&M. But at what cost? 

\n\n\n\n

In this virtual conversation, we’ll examine the downside of fast fashion, including its impact on your health, the environment, and Black businesses. 

\n\n\n\n

Wed., August 5, 2026, 6-7:15 p.m. ET

\n\n\n\n

Moderator: 

\n\n\n\n

Shernay Williams – Word In Black Events Manager

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Panelists:

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REGISTER TO WATCH THE EVENT LIVE

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Register for Word In Black’s other upcoming Summer 2026 events

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Rewatch Word In Black’s previous events on YouTube

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Delivering Solutions for the Maternal Health Crisis

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Building Black Safe Havens in the U.S.

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Is AI Hurting Black America? A Live Debate

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Safe Space: How to Support Black Men’s Mental Health 

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Word In Black’s Religion Hot Topics 

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What’s on Your Plate? Food Access in Black America 

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The Action Plan to Get Black Women Back to Work 

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‘Breaking the Silence’: How Black Women Can Fight Breast Cancer 

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The post EVENT: The Dark Side of Our Addiction to Fast Fashion appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/07/fast-fashion-event/","site":"Shernay Williams","originalAuthor":"Shernay Williams","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Black women","Culture","Events"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-07-23T19:35:40.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Website-fast-fashion-image.png?fit=819%2C1024&ssl=1","type":"image/png"},"createdAt":"2026-07-23T19:42:18.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Website-fast-fashion-image.png?fit=819%2C1024&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"Bli9AuAjngAnlwTK","title":"The ‘Slo-Mo’ Recall of Lettuce Linked to the Cyclospora Outbreak","description":"Americans generally don’t think much about the Food and Drug Administration until something they ate sends them running to the bathroom. That’s exactly what has happened this summer. But as thousands of people across more than 30 states report weeks — yes, weeks — of “explosive diarrhea” from a cyclospora outbreak linked to lettuce, the investigation is testing whether the nation’s food safety system still deserves the public’s confidence. Federal investigators have said a single lettuce supplier, Taylor Farms based in California, is behind an outbreak that has sickened thousands of Americans across more than 30 states. On Wednesday, the FDA announced it is investigating another outbreak of 72 cyclosporiasis cases from an unknown source. But the story keeps taking new turns. Although the FDA cited a Taylor Farms facility in Mexico as the source of the outbreak, the agency later walked back its conclusion. The move raised eyebrows among industry experts, whose concerns have grown since the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, fired thousands of FDA food safety inspectors. RELATED: Another Deadly Contaminated-Food Recall Spotlights Trump Cuts These concerns are compounded by the staff reductions at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Last year, the agency scaled back FoodNet, its federal-state monitoring program. It also dropped the tracking of cyclospora and five other pathogens to focus only on Salmonella and E. coli across the program’s 10 participating states (those states can still track them voluntarily.) But Taylor Farms, one of the largest fresh-cut produce and prepared-food suppliers in North America, has been down this road before. The company has been involved in five FDA and U.S. Department of Agriculture recalls between 2017 and 2024 –including a 2024 recall of E.coli-tainted onions that ended up on McDonald’s Quarter Pounder burgers. The recent headlines have put scrutiny on the political activity of Bruce Taylor, founder and CEO of Taylor Farms. A public database of campaign contributions shows Taylor has donated generously to Republicans, including a PAC that supports President Donald Trump. To date, more than 7,000 cases have been confirmed or are under investigation nationwide. Michigan and Ohio have the highest case count so far. Health officials in both states say they’re still investigating and can’t yet rule out other food sources. Tracing the outbreak, however, has been slow going, in part because symptoms typically don’t appear until days after contaminated food is consumed. Cyclospora, the parasite behind the discomfort, spreads when people eat contaminated food. Symptoms include diarrhea, nausea, loss of appetite and fatigue, and can last for weeks. The outbreak, which typically occurs around this time of year, has led to scores of hospitalizations, and experts say cases are expected to keep climbing into August. “This is much, much higher than what we’ve seen last year or the year before,” said Gwen Biggerstaff, deputy director of the CDC’s Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases, according to reporting by Civil Eats. Most recalls start one of two ways: either a company’s own testing turns up a pathogen, or people get sick and health officials trace the illness back to a product. “The other way recalls happen is when people eat food and get sick. That part of the recall process is kind of — I always call it the canary in the coal mine,” Bill Marler, a food safety expert and product liability attorney, told Word In Black. “It is difficult sometimes to figure out outbreaks. It’s less difficult today than it was 30 years ago, but it’s still difficult.” It’s never a good sign, he said, when people getting sick is the first sign that contaminated food is lurking in the system. How Lettuce Became Political Investigators link the current outbreak to Taylor Farms’s iceberg lettuce processed at its facility in central Mexico. The lettuce ended up as an ingredient in food prepared at Taco Bell fast-food restaurants in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia. Taylor Farms recalled the lettuce tied to the outbreak on July 17, and Taco Bell pulled it from its restaurants nationwide that same day. In a statement, Taco Bell said it is having “ongoing conversations with public health officials” about the outbreaks and is cooperating with government investigators. The fast-food chain also said it has removed all Taylor Farms lettuce from its restaurants and supply chain “out of an abundance of caution.” Taylor Farms also said it is working with food safety officials to pinpoint the source of the cyclospora. Taylor Farms is family-owned and doesn’t sell directly to consumers, but its products reach shoppers through Costco, Kroger, Trader Joe’s, Walmart, Whole Foods and other major retailers, restaurants, and online sellers. The list of recalled products, including identifying lot codes and use-by dates, is on the company’s website. The FDA’s about-face In tracking the current outbreak, the FDA had initially reported that a Taylor Farms lettuce sample had tested positive for Cyclospora. But after further lab review, the agency walked back that conclusion, calling it a false positive “due to the complexity in detection of Cyclospora.” The FDA stressed that the agency is still advising people to avoid Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce grown or processed in Mexico. The CDC continues to warn consumers about the recalled products. Taylor Farms saw the FDA’s reversal as vindication. In a statement, the company said the FDA had “apologized” and emphasized that the government investigation “has not identified a single positive product test result for Cyclospora.” Nevertheless, Taylor Farms has not withdrawn its recall and says it will keep working with federal health officials. The situation has brought criticism from food-safety observers who note that outbreak investigations routinely rely on epidemiological patterns, not just lab-confirmed contamination, to identify a source. Food safety experts warn the Trump administration’s changes could slow the country’s ability to catch and respond to outbreaks of foodborne illnesses like this one — and high-risk products like leafy greens, sprouts and pre-cut produce are exactly the categories most prone to recurring contamination. Why recalls like this keep happening Food safety advocates say the bigger issue is how recalls get triggered in the first place — and how staff and budget cuts have thinned out the government’s food safety network. Marler says it’s “difficult sometimes” to figure out outbreaks, and having a patchwork food regulatory system doesn’t help. “We essentially have 51 departments of health in this country, and states are more on top of stuff than other states,” Marler said. “But when you have a nationwide outbreak, the information you’re getting is only as good as the information gathering.” Food safety experts warn the staffing cuts at the CDC, the FDA and other agencies that track foodborne pathogens could slow the country’s ability to catch and respond to outbreaks of illnesses in high-risk products like leafy greens, sprouts and pre-cut produce. Experts say the underlying issue is staffing: the FDA simply doesn’t have enough inspectors to catch contamination before food reaches restaurants and store shelves. Political Money Complicates Matters The dust-up over the false positive has fueled scrutiny of Taylor Farms’ political donations. According to reports, the company and entities associated with it have donated more than $3.8 million to conservative-aligned groups this decade. That includes $1 million donated to the Congressional Leadership Fund, which backs Republican House candidates, and $1 million to MAGA Inc., a super PAC supporting President Trump. Taylor, the company’s founder, has personally donated more than $1 million to Republican-aligned PACs over the past two decades, including a reported $400,000 between 2025 and 2026. There are also reports that Taylor visited the White House shortly before the FDA’s reversal. That prompted questions about whether the donations or the visit played any role in the agency’s investigation. The Trump administration has denied any connection, and called suggestions of collusion “fake news.” The post The ‘Slo-Mo’ Recall of Lettuce Linked to the Cyclospora Outbreak appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"\"
\n

Americans generally don’t think much about the Food and Drug Administration until something they ate sends them running to the bathroom.

\n\n\n\n

That’s exactly what has happened this summer. But as thousands of people across more than 30 states report weeks — yes, weeks — of “explosive diarrhea” from a cyclospora outbreak linked to lettuce, the investigation is testing whether the nation’s food safety system still deserves the public’s confidence.

\n\n\n\n

Federal investigators have said a single lettuce supplier, Taylor Farms based in California, is behind an outbreak that has sickened thousands of Americans across more than 30 states. On Wednesday, the FDA announced it is investigating another outbreak of 72 cyclosporiasis cases from an unknown source. 

\n\n\n\n

But the story keeps taking new turns.

\n\n\n\n

Although the FDA cited a Taylor Farms facility in Mexico as the source of the outbreak, the agency later walked back its conclusion. The move raised eyebrows among industry experts, whose concerns have grown since the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, fired thousands of FDA food safety inspectors.

\n\n\n\n

RELATED: Another Deadly Contaminated-Food Recall Spotlights Trump Cuts

\n\n\n\n

These concerns are compounded by the staff reductions at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Last year, the agency scaled back FoodNet, its federal-state monitoring program. It also dropped the tracking of cyclospora and five other pathogens to focus only on Salmonella and E. coli across the program’s 10 participating states (those states can still track them voluntarily.)

\n\n\n\n

But Taylor Farms, one of the largest fresh-cut produce and prepared-food suppliers in North America, has been down this road before. The company  has been involved in five FDA and U.S. Department of Agriculture recalls between 2017 and 2024  –including a 2024 recall of E.coli-tainted onions that ended up on McDonald’s Quarter Pounder burgers.

\n\n\n\n

The recent headlines have put scrutiny on the political activity of Bruce Taylor, founder and CEO of Taylor Farms. A public database of campaign contributions shows Taylor has donated generously to Republicans, including a PAC that supports President Donald Trump. 

\n\n\n\n

To date, more than 7,000 cases have been confirmed or are under investigation nationwide. Michigan and Ohio have the highest case count so far. Health officials in both states say they’re still investigating and can’t yet rule out other food sources.

\n\n\n\n

Tracing the outbreak, however, has been slow going, in part because symptoms typically don’t appear until days after contaminated food is consumed. 

\n\n\n\n

Cyclospora, the parasite behind the discomfort, spreads when people eat contaminated food. Symptoms include diarrhea, nausea, loss of appetite and fatigue, and can last for weeks. The outbreak, which typically occurs around this time of year, has led to scores of hospitalizations, and experts say cases are expected to keep climbing into August.

\n\n\n\n

“This is much, much higher than what we’ve seen last year or the year before,” said Gwen Biggerstaff, deputy director of the CDC’s Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases, according to reporting by Civil Eats.

\n\n\n\n

Most recalls start one of two ways: either a company’s own testing turns up a pathogen, or people get sick and health officials trace the illness back to a product. “The other way recalls happen is when people eat food and get sick. That part of the recall process is kind of — I always call it the canary in the coal mine,” Bill Marler, a food safety expert and product liability attorney, told Word In Black. “It is difficult sometimes to figure out outbreaks. It’s less difficult today than it was 30 years ago, but it’s still difficult.”

\n\n\n\n

It’s never a good sign, he said, when people getting sick is the first sign that contaminated food is lurking in the system. 

\n\n\n\n

How Lettuce Became Political

\n\n\n\n

Investigators link the current outbreak to Taylor Farms’s iceberg lettuce processed at its facility in central Mexico. The lettuce ended up as an ingredient in food prepared at Taco Bell fast-food restaurants in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia. 

\n\n\n\n

Taylor Farms recalled the lettuce tied to the outbreak on July 17, and Taco Bell pulled it from its restaurants nationwide that same day. 

\n\n\n\n

In a statement, Taco Bell said it is having “ongoing conversations with public health officials” about the outbreaks and is cooperating with government investigators. The fast-food chain also said it has removed all Taylor Farms lettuce from its restaurants and supply chain “out of an abundance of caution.” 

\n\n\n\n

Taylor Farms also said it is working with food safety officials to pinpoint the source of the cyclospora.

\n\n\n\n

Taylor Farms is family-owned and doesn’t sell directly to consumers, but its products reach shoppers through Costco, Kroger, Trader Joe’s, Walmart, Whole Foods and other major retailers, restaurants, and online sellers. The list of recalled products, including identifying lot codes and use-by dates, is on the company’s website.  

\n\n\n\n

The FDA’s about-face 

\n\n\n\n

In tracking the current outbreak, the FDA had initially reported that a Taylor Farms lettuce sample had tested positive for Cyclospora. But after further lab review, the agency walked back that conclusion, calling it a false positive “due to the complexity in detection of Cyclospora.” 

\n\n\n\n

The FDA stressed that the agency is still advising people to avoid Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce grown or processed in Mexico. The CDC continues to warn consumers about the recalled products.

\n\n\n\n

Taylor Farms saw the FDA’s reversal as vindication.

\n\n\n\n

In a statement, the company said the FDA had “apologized” and emphasized that the government investigation “has not identified a single positive product test result for Cyclospora.”

\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, Taylor Farms has not withdrawn its recall and says it will keep working with federal health officials.

\n\n\n\n

The situation has brought criticism from food-safety observers who note that outbreak investigations routinely rely on epidemiological patterns, not just lab-confirmed contamination, to identify a source. 

\n\n\n\n

Food safety experts warn the Trump administration’s changes could slow the country’s ability to catch and respond to outbreaks of foodborne illnesses like this one — and high-risk products like leafy greens, sprouts and pre-cut produce are exactly the categories most prone to recurring contamination.

\n\n\n\n

Why recalls like this keep happening

\n\n\n\n

Food safety advocates say the bigger issue is how recalls get triggered in the first place — and how staff and budget cuts have thinned out the government’s food safety network.

\n\n\n\n

Marler says it’s “difficult sometimes” to figure out outbreaks, and having a patchwork food regulatory system doesn’t help.

\n\n\n\n

“We essentially have 51 departments of health in this country, and states are more on top of stuff than other states,” Marler said. “But when you have a nationwide outbreak, the information you’re getting is only as good as the information gathering.” 

\n\n\n\n

Food safety experts warn the staffing cuts at the CDC, the FDA and other agencies that track foodborne pathogens could slow the country’s ability to catch and respond to outbreaks of illnesses in high-risk products like leafy greens, sprouts and pre-cut produce.

\n\n\n\n

Experts say the underlying issue is staffing: the FDA simply doesn’t have enough inspectors to catch contamination before food reaches restaurants and store shelves. 

\n\n\n\n

Political Money Complicates Matters 

\n\n\n\n

The dust-up over the false positive has fueled scrutiny of Taylor Farms’ political donations.

\n\n\n\n

According to reports, the company and entities associated with it have donated more than $3.8 million to conservative-aligned groups this decade. That includes $1 million donated to the Congressional Leadership Fund, which backs Republican House candidates, and $1 million to MAGA Inc., a super PAC supporting President Trump. 

\n\n\n\n

Taylor, the company’s founder, has personally donated more than $1 million to Republican-aligned PACs over the past two decades, including a reported $400,000 between 2025 and 2026.

\n\n\n\n

There are also reports that Taylor visited the White House shortly before the FDA’s reversal. That prompted questions about whether the donations or the visit played any role in the agency’s investigation. 

\n\n\n\n

The Trump administration has denied any connection, and called suggestions of collusion “fake news.”

\n\n\n\n

\n

The post The ‘Slo-Mo’ Recall of Lettuce Linked to the Cyclospora Outbreak appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/07/the-slo-mo-recall-of-lettuce-linked-to-the-cyclospora-outbreak/","site":"Jennifer Porter Gore","originalAuthor":"Jennifer Porter Gore","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Health","health"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-07-23T16:19:06.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-TaylorFarms.jpg?fit=594%2C426&ssl=1","type":"image/jpeg"},"createdAt":"2026-07-23T16:30:26.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-TaylorFarms.jpg?fit=594%2C426&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"vQxlkbeXfvxHHPiU","title":"More Unanswered Questions Fuel Doubts In Nolan Wells’ Death","description":"Nolan Wells, the Black teenager who died while boating with his white friends on a Fourth of July holiday outing, has been buried, but the central question surrounding his death remains stubbornly unresolved. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump announced Wednesday that an independent autopsy commissioned by the 18-year-old’s family concluded that both the cause and manner of his death are undetermined. The pathologist, he said, found no fractures or clear external injuries but decomposition and other limitations made it impossible to rule out whether an accidental or deliberate act caused Wells’ death. LEARN MORE: Crump, Sharpton Demand Answers in Nolan Wells Case Crump, who made the announcement at the 117th NAACP National Convention in Chicago, cautioned that no conclusion about Wells’s death can be reached until all facts are known. The independent autopsy “is only another part of the puzzle,” he said. “And even though it tells us significant information, we still have more questions than we have answers at this time.” More Questions, Few Answers The inconclusive finding added another layer of uncertainty to Wells’s mysterious death, a case that has drawn national attention and widespread demands for transparency. As Mississippi’s state medical examiner awaits toxicology results before issuing a finding, Wells’ family is left with no definitive explanation for his death, nearly three weeks after he vanished while hanging with friends at a wildlife park just off the state’s coast. On Monday, Wells was laid to rest in a funeral that drew hundreds of mourners, civil rights leaders and celebrities, including filmmaker Spike Lee. Yet even as his family said goodbye, remembering him as a caring, kind young man, no one had definitive answers about how he became separated from the friends who traveled with him, what happened during the hours before his body was found and whether investigators have a complete account of his final day. [The independent autopsy] is only another part of the puzzle,” he said. “And even though it tells us significant information, we still have more questions than we have answers at this time.” Ben Crump, CIvil RIghts Attorney A college student and football player, Wells disappeared after traveling with friends by boat to Horn Island, a barrier island in the Gulf Coast that’s a popular summer beachfront for local young people. When he didn’t return home, his parents notified authorities, who launched an extensive search. His body was recovered days later. According to news reports, Wells’ friends told investigators their boat developed mechanical problems so the group decided to leave the island. They said Wells chose to remain behind, telling them he would catch a ride home with another group. Wells, 18, was found dead two days after he disappeared during a July 4th boat trip to Horn Island off the coast of Mississippi with a group of high school friends. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) ‘Barriers to Establishing Cause’ ABC News reported that the private autopsy preliminary report noted several aspects of the body’s condition that were “barriers to establishing a definitive cause and manner of death for Wells.” It also noted that “the second autopsy performed on Nolan Wells revealed marked decompositional changes.” Additional dissections were performed, for which there were “no fractures or deep tissue injuries identified,” according to ABC News. At the Chicago news conference, Crump said that the independent pathologist noted the significance of Wells’ death occurring in or around a body of water. Wells could swim, Crump said, but the pathologist could not tell whether Wells drowned because the teenager’s lungs had already been removed during the state’s autopsy. Although they have released few details about his final hours, police initially suggested there were no signs of foul play in the case. But his parents publicly demanded a full investigation; as the case made headlines, it drew the attention of Crump, who represents the family, and Rev. Al Sharpton, who presided over Wells’s funeral. Though Mississippi officials have urged patience, and Sharpton and Crump pressure them to leave no stone unturned, speculation has run rampant on social media. Commentators point out that Wells was the only Black person among the boaters that day, he was the only one who didn’t return, and his cellphone — which most young people rarely go without — ended up with one of his friends. Pressure for Transparency Coupled with Mississippi’s troubled racial history — both Emmitt Till and Medgar Evers were murdered in the state, which also had the nation’s highest number of lynchings during the Jim Crow era — it’s easy to understand why Wells’ death has taken on outsize importance. Entertainment mogul Tyler Perry and Colin Kaepernick, a former NFL quarterback, are among the celebrities who got involved in the case. Kaepernick paid for the private autopsy, while Perry paid for part of Wells’s funeral and posted a $50,000 reward for information. Earlier this week, ABC’s Good Morning America aired the first interview with one of the young men who was with Wells on Horn Island. Tracestin Shepherd described a festive day partying on the island with other teenagers, denied that anyone in the group deliberately harmed or abandoned Wells, and said their social circle has been devastated by his death. “I just know I lost my best friend,” Shepherd said. The post More Unanswered Questions Fuel Doubts In Nolan Wells’ Death appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"At
\n

Nolan Wells, the Black teenager who died while boating with his white friends on a Fourth of July holiday outing, has been buried, but the central question surrounding his death remains stubbornly unresolved.

\n\n\n\n

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump announced Wednesday that an independent autopsy commissioned by the 18-year-old’s family concluded that both the cause and manner of his death are undetermined. The pathologist, he said, found no fractures or clear external injuries but decomposition and other limitations made it impossible to rule out whether an accidental or deliberate act caused Wells’ death.

\n\n\n\n

LEARN MORE: Crump, Sharpton Demand Answers in Nolan Wells Case

\n\n\n\n

Crump, who made the announcement at the 117th NAACP National Convention in Chicago, cautioned that no conclusion about Wells’s death can be reached until all facts are known. 

\n\n\n\n

The independent autopsy “is only another part of the puzzle,” he said. “And even though it tells us significant information, we still have more questions than we have answers at this time.” 

\n\n\n\n

More Questions, Few Answers

\n\n\n\n

The inconclusive finding added another layer of uncertainty to Wells’s mysterious death, a case that has drawn national attention and widespread demands for transparency. 

\n\n\n\n

As Mississippi’s state medical examiner awaits toxicology results before issuing a finding, Wells’ family is left with no definitive explanation for his death, nearly three weeks after he vanished while hanging with friends at a wildlife park just off the state’s coast.

\n\n\n\n

On Monday, Wells was laid to rest in a funeral that drew hundreds of mourners, civil rights leaders and celebrities, including filmmaker Spike Lee. Yet even as his family said goodbye, remembering him as a caring, kind young man, no one had definitive answers about how he became separated from the friends who traveled with him, what happened during the hours before his body was found and whether investigators have a complete account of his final day.

\n\n\n\n

[The independent autopsy] is only another part of the puzzle,” he said. “And even though it tells us significant information, we still have more questions than we have answers at this time.” 

Ben Crump, CIvil RIghts Attorney
\n\n\n\n

A college student and football player, Wells disappeared after traveling with friends by boat to Horn Island, a barrier island in the Gulf Coast that’s a popular summer beachfront for local young people. When he didn’t return home, his parents notified authorities, who launched an extensive search. His body was recovered days later. 

\n\n\n\n

According to news reports, Wells’ friends told investigators their boat developed mechanical problems so the group decided to leave the island. They said Wells chose to remain behind, telling them he would catch a ride home with another group. 

\n\n\n
\n
\"\"
Wells, 18, was found dead two days after he disappeared during a July 4th boat trip to Horn Island off the coast of Mississippi with a group of high school friends. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
\n
\n\n\n

‘Barriers to Establishing Cause’

\n\n\n\n

ABC News reported that the private autopsy preliminary report noted several aspects of the body’s condition that were “barriers to establishing a definitive cause and manner of death for Wells.” It also noted that “the second autopsy performed on Nolan Wells revealed marked decompositional changes.”

\n\n\n\n

Additional dissections were performed, for which there were “no fractures or deep tissue injuries identified,” according to ABC News.

\n\n\n\n

At the Chicago news conference, Crump said that the independent pathologist noted the significance of Wells’ death occurring in or around a body of water. Wells could swim, Crump said, but the pathologist could not tell whether Wells drowned because the teenager’s lungs had already been removed during the state’s autopsy.

\n\n\n\n

Although they have released few details about his final hours, police initially suggested there were no signs of foul play in the case. But his parents publicly demanded a full investigation; as the case made headlines, it drew the attention of Crump, who represents the family, and Rev. Al Sharpton, who presided over Wells’s funeral. 

\n\n\n\n

Though Mississippi officials have urged patience, and Sharpton and Crump pressure them to leave no stone unturned, speculation has run rampant on social media. Commentators point out that Wells was the only Black person among the boaters that day, he was the only one who didn’t return, and his cellphone — which most young people rarely go without — ended up with one of his friends. 

\n\n\n\n

Pressure for Transparency

\n\n\n\n

Coupled with Mississippi’s troubled racial history — both Emmitt Till and Medgar Evers were murdered in the state, which also had the nation’s highest number of lynchings during the Jim Crow era — it’s easy to understand why Wells’ death has taken on outsize importance.

\n\n\n\n

Entertainment mogul Tyler Perry and Colin Kaepernick, a former NFL quarterback, are among the celebrities who got involved in the case. Kaepernick paid for the private autopsy, while Perry paid for part of Wells’s funeral and posted a $50,000 reward for information. 

\n\n\n\n

Earlier this week, ABC’s Good Morning America aired the first interview with one of the young men who was with Wells on Horn Island. Tracestin Shepherd described a festive day partying on the island with other teenagers, denied that anyone in the group deliberately harmed or abandoned Wells, and said their social circle has been devastated by his death.

\n\n\n\n

“I just know I lost my best friend,” Shepherd said.

\n\n\n\n

\n

The post More Unanswered Questions Fuel Doubts In Nolan Wells’ Death appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/07/more-unanswered-questions-fuel-doubts-in-nolan-wells-death/","site":"Joseph Williams","originalAuthor":"Joseph Williams","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Social Justice"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-07-23T09:00:00.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2287195324.jpg?fit=594%2C396&ssl=1","type":"image/jpeg"},"createdAt":"2026-07-23T09:03:26.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2287195324.jpg?fit=594%2C396&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"XJAb22ouNgJbcLgm","title":"Black Women’s Equal Pay Day Is About More Than Wages","description":"Each year, Black Women’s Equal Pay Day arrives over halfway to New Year’s Eve, marking how far into the calendar Black women must work to earn what white, non-Hispanic men earned in the previous year. The date is often accompanied by a familiar statistic — Black women earn 65 cents for each dollar a white man earns — a few headlines, and renewed calls for pay equity. NEW REPORT: “From Wash Tubs to Boardrooms: Why Black Women’s Labor Story Still Matters,” connects historical labor struggles to the economic realities many still face today. The report asks readers to see today’s wage and wealth gaps not in isolation but as part of a much larger American story. But reducing Black Women’s Equal Pay Day to a wage comparison misses the larger story. The observance is not simply about unequal paychecks. It is about how work is valued, whose labor is recognized, and what happens when generations of contribution are met with generations of unequal opportunity. The Wage/Opportunity Gap Black women have always worked. They worked in fields and homes while enslaved. They organized the Atlanta washerwomen’s strike of 1881 [Link to Why Black Women’s Labor Story Still Matters article] , one of the earliest large-scale labor movements led by Black women. They became teachers, nurses, entrepreneurs, domestic workers, federal employees, caregivers, organizers, and business owners. They have sustained families, strengthened neighborhoods, and helped build institutions that continue to shape American life. The question has never been whether Black women contribute to the economy. The question is why the economy has so often failed to fully value those contributions. Changing this picture requires more than closing the wage gap, important as that work is. It also means confronting the structural barriers that continue to limit opportunity. The wage gap is only one part of a much broader picture. Lower earnings often mean fewer opportunities to build wealth, purchase a home, invest in a business, or prepare for retirement. Student loan debt can become harder to repay. Caregiving responsibilities often require impossible tradeoffs between earning a living and caring for loved ones. Over time, these realities compound, shaping not only individual lives but the economic health of families and entire communities. Changing this picture requires more than closing the wage gap, important as that work is. It also means confronting the structural barriers that continue to limit opportunity: creating pathways into higher-paying industries, ensuring essential jobs are compensated with dignity, and making higher education a bridge to economic security instead of a source of lifelong debt. It means investing in Black women entrepreneurs, supporting worker protections, expanding access to affordable childcare, and recognizing caregiving as work that strengthens families and the broader economy. It also requires changing the stories we tell. Changing Stories, Making Investments Too often, conversations about Black women’s economic lives begin with what is lacking. They measure disparities without fully recognizing the extraordinary value Black women have created despite those barriers. History tells a different story — of women who organized labor movements, built businesses, created mutual aid societies, educated communities, and sustained families through generations of economic uncertainty. Their contributions have never been limited to a paycheck. They have shaped neighborhoods, institutions, and movements that continue to benefit the nation. That history deserves more than recognition. It deserves investment. Black Women’s Equal Pay Day should not be viewed as a symbolic date observed once each year. It should serve as an invitation to rethink how opportunity is created, how work is rewarded, and what an equitable economy truly looks like. More than Symbolism The goal is not simply to move the date closer to January. The goal is to build an economy where Black women’s labor, leadership, and innovation are valued as essential to the nation’s prosperity. RELATED: Game-Changer or Pocket Change? The Battle for Equal Pay in Women’s Sports When Black women thrive economically, the benefits extend far beyond individual households. Families become more secure. Communities grow stronger. Businesses flourish. Democracy itself is strengthened. Black Women’s Equal Pay Day reminds us how far there is to go. It also reminds us that progress is possible when equity becomes more than an aspiration. It becomes a shared commitment to building an economy that finally values Black women’s work as much as Black women have always valued the work of building America. Joshua Levi Perrin is a writer for Unerased | Black Women Speak. The post Black Women’s Equal Pay Day Is About More Than Wages appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"Equal
\n

Each year, Black Women’s Equal Pay Day arrives over halfway to New Year’s Eve, marking how far into the calendar Black women must work to earn what white, non-Hispanic men earned in the previous year.

\n\n\n\n

The date is often accompanied by a familiar statistic — Black women earn 65 cents for each dollar a white man earns — a few headlines, and renewed calls for pay equity. 

\n\n\n\n

NEW REPORT: “From Wash Tubs to Boardrooms: Why Black Women’s Labor Story Still Matters,” connects historical labor struggles to the economic realities many still face today. The report asks readers to see today’s wage and wealth gaps not in isolation but as part of a much larger American story.

\n\n\n\n

But reducing Black Women’s Equal Pay Day to a wage comparison misses the larger story.

\n\n\n\n

The observance is not simply about unequal paychecks. It is about how work is valued, whose labor is recognized, and what happens when generations of contribution are met with generations of unequal opportunity.

\n\n\n\n

The Wage/Opportunity Gap

\n\n\n\n

Black women have always worked. They worked in fields and homes while enslaved. They organized the Atlanta washerwomen’s strike of 1881 [Link to Why Black Women’s Labor Story Still Matters article] , one of the earliest large-scale labor movements led by Black women. They became teachers, nurses, entrepreneurs, domestic workers, federal employees, caregivers, organizers, and business owners. They have sustained families, strengthened neighborhoods, and helped build institutions that continue to shape American life.

\n\n\n\n

The question has never been whether Black women contribute to the economy. The question is why the economy has so often failed to fully value those contributions.

\n\n\n\n

Changing this picture requires more than closing the wage gap, important as that work is. It also means confronting the structural barriers that continue to limit opportunity.

\n\n\n\n

The wage gap is only one part of a much broader picture.

\n\n\n\n

Lower earnings often mean fewer opportunities to build wealth, purchase a home, invest in a business, or prepare for retirement. Student loan debt can become harder to repay. Caregiving responsibilities often require impossible tradeoffs between earning a living and caring for loved ones. Over time, these realities compound, shaping not only individual lives but the economic health of families and entire communities.

\n\n\n\n

Changing this picture requires more than closing the wage gap, important as that work is. It also means confronting the structural barriers that continue to limit opportunity: creating pathways into higher-paying industries, ensuring essential jobs are compensated with dignity, and making higher education a bridge to economic security instead of a source of lifelong debt.

\n\n\n\n

It means investing in Black women entrepreneurs, supporting worker protections, expanding access to affordable childcare, and recognizing caregiving as work that strengthens families and the broader economy.

\n\n\n\n

It also requires changing the stories we tell.

\n\n\n\n

Changing Stories, Making Investments

\n\n\n\n

Too often, conversations about Black women’s economic lives begin with what is lacking. They measure disparities without fully recognizing the extraordinary value Black women have created despite those barriers.

\n\n\n\n

History tells a different story — of women who organized labor movements, built businesses, created mutual aid societies, educated communities, and sustained families through generations of economic uncertainty. Their contributions have never been limited to a paycheck. They have shaped neighborhoods, institutions, and movements that continue to benefit the nation.

\n\n\n\n

That history deserves more than recognition. It deserves investment.

\n\n\n\n

Black Women’s Equal Pay Day should not be viewed as a symbolic date observed once each year. It should serve as an invitation to rethink how opportunity is created, how work is rewarded, and what an equitable economy truly looks like.

\n\n\n\n

More than Symbolism

\n\n\n\n

The goal is not simply to move the date closer to January.

\n\n\n\n

The goal is to build an economy where Black women’s labor, leadership, and innovation are valued as essential to the nation’s prosperity.

\n\n\n\n

RELATED: Game-Changer or Pocket Change? The Battle for Equal Pay in Women’s Sports

\n\n\n\n

When Black women thrive economically, the benefits extend far beyond individual households. Families become more secure. Communities grow stronger. Businesses flourish. Democracy itself is strengthened.

\n\n\n\n

Black Women’s Equal Pay Day reminds us how far there is to go. It also reminds us that progress is possible when equity becomes more than an aspiration. It becomes a shared commitment to building an economy that finally values Black women’s work as much as Black women have always valued the work of building America.

\n\n\n\n

Joshua Levi Perrin is a writer for Unerased | Black Women Speak.

\n

The post Black Women’s Equal Pay Day Is About More Than Wages appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/07/black-womens-equal-pay-day-is-about-more-than-wages/","site":"Levi Perrin","originalAuthor":"Levi Perrin","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Opinion"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-07-20T16:19:17.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-1354380951-1.jpg?fit=724%2C483&ssl=1","type":"image/jpeg"},"createdAt":"2026-07-20T16:22:37.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-1354380951-1.jpg?fit=724%2C483&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"Y8Le2NP9Ivu4UQhX","title":"Saving Black Mothers Starts Outside the Hospital","description":"For much of the developed world, childbirth has become safer with each passing generation. Medical advances, better prenatal care, and stronger public health systems have dramatically reduced the chances that bringing a child into the world would cost a woman her life. Unless she’s Black American. That stubborn contradiction framed a Word In Black panel discussion last week, where physicians, researchers, and community health leaders explored why members of the African diaspora still die from pregnancy-related complications at disproportionately high rates—even as maternal mortality falls in developed nations. LEARN MORE: Black Maternal Health: A 360-Degree Look at Black Midwives Their conclusion was unequivocal: the disparity is not about biology but about lack of access and opportunity–along with unequal systems. The issues that jeopardize Black women’s maternal health happen long before she goes into labor. Moderated by Jennifer Porter Gore, Word In Black’s health correspondent, the livestreamed conversation brought together three panelists whose focus is confronting the maternal health crisis using community-based solutions. ‘I Knew It Wasn’t Biological’ Tamara Mason, director of Maternal and Child Health Collective Impact at the March of Dimes in Atlanta, discussed the policy and public health barriers that continue to drive disparities. Kay Matthews, founder and executive director of the Shades of Blue Project, spoke about the lived experiences of Black mothers’ mental health needs while navigating pregnancy, loss, and the postpartum period. And Dr. Kaytura Felix, host of the Deep Care podcast and a distinguished scholar at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, explained why improving outcomes requires expanding the definition of maternal care to include entire communities in which Black families live. When she decided to investigate the Black maternal health crisis, “I knew it was not genetics. I knew it wasn’t biological,” said Felix. She began researching the crisis after noticing that Black women in her native Dominica, a small island in the Caribbean, weren’t dying in childbirth as often as in the U.S. That’s despite both groups sharing the “same genetic pool,” Felix said, noting that the ancestors of Black Dominicans also have endured the transatlantic slave trade. The difference between the U.S. and Dominica was the system, Felix said. “I knew that there had to be racism in the [American] medical establishment,” she said. “And so, the question I asked myself is, ‘What is the Black community doing about the black maternal health crisis?’” Midwives a ‘Game-Changer’ Felix’s research uncovered the extensive role of midwives and led to the launch of the Black Birthing Future Study, through which she learned more about a model of care that differed greatly from one she’d seen as a medical doctor. The study is built on interviews with community midwives, doulas, mental health therapists, and their clients. The solutions are already in the community. Collectively putting aside our egos, how can we do this bigger but address what’s happening in our community now? Because we can’t wait.Tamara Mason, March of Dimes, Atlanta Midwives, she said, treat childbirth as “a community and family event,” in which the pregnant woman is “the sun” and all care and support decisions revolve around her needs. “Client after client after client told us, ‘My midwife loves me,’” Felix said. “And that is not just a ‘nice-to-have.’ That’s a game changer” that can drive better outcomes for Black women in the U.S. ‘Mental Health is Maternal Health’ Black midwives “are working really hard to make sure that the family is supported,” she said. They also connect their clients to doulas, lactation specialists, and neighbors who show up with diapers and food. Matthews founded the Shades of Blue Project in Houston — and later, Black Maternal Mental Health Week — after her daughter was stillborn. Amid a devastating tragedy, she said, she experienced racism in the healthcare system first-hand. “My mental health [struggle] is what had me out here saving myself,” she said. “That is no way to live.” Yet the trauma she experienced, Matthews said, went unnamed for years: “There was no correlation being made to infant loss and postpartum depression, which I was clearly going through… I did have to save myself with no guidance.” Today, she says, her organization argues that mental health is as important as prenatal care and care during childbirth: “Mental health is a part of maternal health.” Pregnancy and Finances While it may seem obvious that a pregnant person’s economic condition is important, panelists said there’s not enough understanding about how drastically financial stability can affect physical and emotional health. Mason of the March of Dimes in Atlanta said data from her city illustrate the point. Atlanta is “the number one income inequality city in the country,” she said, adding that the gap between the haves and have-nots is so great that a child born into a low-income family has only a 4% chance of escaping poverty in her lifetime. “Who is in poverty?” she said. “Black women of reproductive age.” Mason went on: “Pregnant women do not live in a vacuum. If we have a mom that is poor, if we have a mom who is food insecure, who’s housing insecure, all of these outcomes are going to impact her pregnancy journey.” Matthews agreed, pointing out that financial insecurity often keeps women from seeking help in the first place — even help that’s free. Her organization began offering diapers and wipes at its emotional support groups because so many mothers otherwise couldn’t afford to attend. “I’ll never have someone sit across my desk and need diapers, because diapers start right now at about $25 a case,” she said, recalling her own experience being told she “made 73 cents [per hour] too much” to qualify for temporary public assistance. ‘Poor People Know What to Do’ To address those root economic pressures, Mason’s organization piloted a guaranteed basic income program in two high-poverty Atlanta ZIP codes. The idea, she said. traces back to a quote attributed to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “Give them money to start to pull themselves out of poverty. And poor people know what to do… they’re making it happen,” Mason quoted King as saying. The program gave 25 pregnant women $1,000 a month for a year, no strings attached. “The premise is that we know we’re not going to be able to make a change in that indicator in one year,” she said. “But if we start there, right, that’s the gold standard — high rates of preterm birth — if we start to reduce the stress and strain of these moms, then eventually they will have better birthing outcomes.” Still, the panelists agreed that even where community solutions exist, policies and institutional barriers often stand between pregnant women and the help they need. For example, Felix said, most insurance still doesn’t cover midwifery care, and many states require midwives to practice only under a physician’s supervision. When midwives refer patients to hospitals for a higher level of care, as they are trained to do, they are often met with hostility rather than cooperation. She described one case in which a midwife rushed a client to the hospital due to complications–only for hospital staff to throw shade on the client: “So that’s the girl that tried to have the baby at home.” Reforming the System Felix called for insurance reform, less restrictive licensing laws, and broader physician education about the different types of midwifery care. “All states should allow midwifery and all paths to midwifery,” she said. “Not just nurse midwifery and certified community midwifery, but also traditional midwifery and apprenticeship.” Ultimately, panelists agreed that no single organization can solve the crisis alone and that trying to do so only slows progress. “We should not all be doing ‘all the things,’” Matthews said. “We have to start leaning into accountability for the roles that we play.” Mason, who is also a certified doula, echoed the point. “The solutions are already in the community,” she said. “Collectively putting aside our egos, how can we do this bigger but address what’s happening in our community now? Because we can’t wait.” For Felix, the path forward also means reconnecting with practices Black communities relied on for generations before they could access the modern medical system. “We need to go back and reclaim some of the ancestral knowledge that we’ve had,” she said, describing midwifery as one way to restore what she called “mothering the mother” — the community support many new parents, including herself, have had to go without. RELATED: Neonatal Testing: A Game-Changer for Black Moms and Babies “I lost my mother four months before I had a baby, and I was a mother,” she said. “I did it by myself.” By reviving that collective care, so prevalent in Black communities, it is possible to reverse the crisis: “We can address it in a collective way, and tap into the collectivist mindset that is part of African descended people. We are collectivist and communal, and we are really tapping into those superpowers that we have.” The post Saving Black Mothers Starts Outside the Hospital appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"Community
\n

For much of the developed world, childbirth has become safer with each passing generation. Medical advances, better prenatal care, and stronger public health systems have dramatically reduced the chances that bringing a child into the world would cost a woman her life.

\n\n\n\n

Unless she’s Black American.

\n\n\n\n

That stubborn contradiction framed a Word In Black panel discussion last week, where physicians, researchers, and community health leaders explored why members of the African diaspora still die from pregnancy-related complications at disproportionately high rates—even as maternal mortality falls in developed nations.

\n\n\n\n

LEARN MORE: Black Maternal Health: A 360-Degree Look at Black Midwives

\n\n\n\n

Their conclusion was unequivocal: the disparity is not about biology but about lack of access and opportunity–along with unequal systems. The issues that jeopardize Black women’s maternal health happen long before she goes into labor.

\n\n\n\n

Moderated by Jennifer Porter Gore, Word In Black’s health correspondent, the livestreamed conversation brought together three panelists whose focus is confronting the maternal health crisis using community-based solutions. 

\n\n\n\n

‘I Knew It Wasn’t Biological’

\n\n\n\n

Tamara Mason, director of Maternal and Child Health Collective Impact at the March of Dimes in Atlanta, discussed the policy and public health barriers that continue to drive disparities. Kay Matthews, founder and executive director of the Shades of Blue Project, spoke about the lived experiences of Black mothers’ mental health needs while navigating pregnancy, loss, and the postpartum period. 

\n\n\n\n

And Dr. Kaytura Felix, host of the Deep Care podcast and a distinguished scholar at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, explained why improving outcomes requires expanding the definition of maternal care to include entire communities in which Black families live.

\n\n\n\n

When she decided to investigate the Black maternal health crisis, “I knew it was not genetics. I knew it wasn’t biological,” said Felix. She began researching the crisis after noticing that Black women in her native Dominica, a small island in the Caribbean, weren’t dying in childbirth as often as in the U.S. 

\n\n\n\n

That’s despite both groups sharing the “same genetic pool,” Felix said, noting that the ancestors of Black Dominicans also have endured the transatlantic slave trade. 

\n\n\n\n

The difference between the U.S. and Dominica was the system, Felix said. 

\n\n\n\n

“I knew that there had to be racism in the [American] medical establishment,” she said. “And so, the question I asked myself is, ‘What is the Black community doing about the black maternal health crisis?’”

\n\n\n\n

Midwives a ‘Game-Changer’

\n\n\n\n

Felix’s research uncovered the extensive role of midwives and led to the launch of the Black Birthing Future Study, through which she learned more about a model of care that differed greatly from one she’d seen as a medical doctor. The study is built on interviews with community midwives, doulas, mental health therapists, and their clients. 

\n\n\n\n

The solutions are already in the community. Collectively putting aside our egos, how can we do this bigger but address what’s happening in our community now? Because we can’t wait.

Tamara Mason, March of Dimes, Atlanta
\n\n\n\n

Midwives, she said, treat childbirth as “a community and family event,” in which the pregnant woman is “the sun” and all care and support decisions revolve around her needs. 

\n\n\n\n

“Client after client after client told us, ‘My midwife loves me,’” Felix said. “And that is not just a ‘nice-to-have.’ That’s a game changer” that can drive better outcomes for Black women in the U.S. 

\n\n\n\n

‘Mental Health is Maternal Health’

\n\n\n\n

Black midwives “are working really hard to make sure that the family is supported,” she said. They also connect their clients to doulas, lactation specialists, and neighbors who show up with diapers and food.

\n\n\n\n

Matthews founded the Shades of Blue Project in Houston — and later, Black Maternal Mental Health Week — after her daughter was stillborn. Amid a devastating tragedy, she said, she experienced racism in the healthcare system first-hand.  

\n\n\n\n

“My mental health [struggle] is what had me out here saving myself,” she said. “That is no way to live.” 

\n\n\n\n

Yet the trauma she experienced, Matthews said, went unnamed for years: “There was no correlation being made to infant loss and postpartum depression, which I was clearly going through… I did have to save myself with no guidance.” 

\n\n\n\n

Today, she says, her organization argues that mental health is as important as prenatal care and care during childbirth: “Mental health is a part of maternal health.”

\n\n\n\n

Pregnancy and Finances

\n\n\n\n

While it may seem obvious that a pregnant person’s economic condition is important, panelists said there’s not enough understanding about how drastically financial stability can affect physical and emotional health.

\n\n\n\n

Mason of the March of Dimes in Atlanta said data from her city illustrate the point. 

\n\n\n\n

Atlanta is “the number one income inequality city in the country,” she said, adding that the gap between the haves and have-nots is so great that a child born into a low-income family has only a 4% chance of escaping poverty in her lifetime. 

\n\n\n\n

“Who is in poverty?” she said. “Black women of reproductive age.” 

\n\n\n\n

Mason went on: “Pregnant women do not live in a vacuum. If we have a mom that is poor, if we have a mom who is food insecure, who’s housing insecure, all of these outcomes are going to impact her pregnancy journey.”

\n\n\n\n

Matthews agreed, pointing out that financial insecurity often keeps women from seeking help in the first place — even help that’s free. Her organization began offering diapers and wipes at its emotional support groups because so many mothers otherwise couldn’t afford to attend.

\n\n\n\n

“I’ll never have someone sit across my desk and need diapers, because diapers start right now at about $25 a case,” she said, recalling her own experience being told she “made 73 cents [per hour] too much” to qualify for temporary public assistance.

\n\n\n\n

‘Poor People Know What to Do’

\n\n\n\n

To address those root economic pressures, Mason’s organization piloted a guaranteed basic income program in two high-poverty Atlanta ZIP codes. The idea, she said. traces back to a quote attributed to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

\n\n\n\n

“Give them money to start to pull themselves out of poverty. And poor people know what to do… they’re making it happen,” Mason quoted King as saying. The program gave 25 pregnant women $1,000 a month for a year, no strings attached.

\n\n\n\n

“The premise is that we know we’re not going to be able to make a change in that indicator in one year,” she said. “But if we start there, right, that’s the gold standard — high rates of preterm birth — if we start to reduce the stress and strain of these moms, then eventually they will have better birthing outcomes.”

\n\n\n\n

Still, the panelists agreed that even where community solutions exist, policies and institutional barriers often stand between pregnant women and the help they need.

\n\n\n\n

For example, Felix said, most insurance still doesn’t cover midwifery care, and many states require midwives to practice only under a physician’s supervision. When midwives refer patients to hospitals for a higher level of care, as they are trained to do, they are often met with hostility rather than cooperation. 

\n\n\n\n

She described one case in which a midwife rushed a client to the hospital due to complications–only for hospital staff to throw shade on the client: “So that’s the girl that tried to have the baby at home.”

\n\n\n\n

Reforming the System

\n\n\n\n

Felix called for insurance reform, less restrictive licensing laws, and broader physician education about the different types of midwifery care.

\n\n\n\n

“All states should allow midwifery and all paths to midwifery,” she said. “Not just nurse midwifery and certified community midwifery, but also traditional midwifery and apprenticeship.”

\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, panelists agreed that no single organization can solve the crisis alone and that trying to do so only slows progress. “We should not all be doing ‘all the things,’” Matthews said. “We have to start leaning into accountability for the roles that we play.” 

\n\n\n\n

 Mason, who is also a certified doula, echoed the point. 

\n\n\n\n

“The solutions are already in the community,” she said. “Collectively putting aside our egos, how can we do this bigger but address what’s happening in our community now? Because we can’t wait.”

\n\n\n\n

For Felix, the path forward also means reconnecting with practices Black communities relied on for generations before they could access the modern medical system. 

\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

“We need to go back and reclaim some of the ancestral knowledge that we’ve had,” she said, describing midwifery as one way to restore what she called “mothering the mother” — the community support many new parents, including herself, have had to go without.

\n\n\n\n

RELATED: Neonatal Testing: A Game-Changer for Black Moms and Babies

\n\n\n\n

“I lost my mother four months before I had a baby, and I was a mother,” she said. “I did it by myself.”

\n\n\n\n

By reviving that collective care, so prevalent in Black communities, it is possible to reverse the crisis: “We can address it in a collective way, and tap into the collectivist mindset that is part of African descended people. We are collectivist and communal, and we are really tapping into those superpowers that we have.”

\n

The post Saving Black Mothers Starts Outside the Hospital appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/07/saving-black-mothers/","site":"Jennifer Porter Gore","originalAuthor":"Jennifer Porter Gore","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Health"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-07-20T09:00:00.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-18-at-5.08.15-PM.png?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1","type":"image/png"},"createdAt":"2026-07-20T09:12:47.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-18-at-5.08.15-PM.png?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"v8FsaMd7Kna1oxNE","title":"EPA Rollback Could Bring Dirtier Air to Black Communities","description":"The research is conclusive: Black communities are disproportionately exposed to diesel exhaust and other traffic-related pollution. So when Biden-era crackdowns on diesel emissions were scheduled to take effect, Black neighborhoods near freeways or industrial corridors anticipated breathing easier. But a new move by the Environmental Protection Agency could mean the air in those communities could get worse, and soon. LEARN MORE: Texas Keeps Greenlighting Pollution. Guess Who Lives Nearby The Trump administration has announced it is pushing back or adjusting diesel emission restrictions that had been tightened under President Joe Biden, calling the regulations “unnecessary and unworkable.” Originally announced in 2023 and set to take effect this year, the regulations would have required trucks and other diesel engines to use more advanced, emissions-reducing technology. No Data on Health In a statement earlier this month, the EPA said the change will save truckers some $12 billion, including up to $6,152 per diesel engine subject to the regulations. American consumers and households would reap the benefits, according to the statement. “Collectively, these savings will be passed on to American families through lower costs for food, household goods, and other products trucks deliver, while still maintaining strong environmental protections and ensuring clean air,” according to the statement. The agency did not calculate how the changes would affect human health. Under Biden, the E.P.A. estimated that 72 million people lived within a mile of a truck freight route, increasing their exposure to unhealthy air. The study found that Black people and those with lower incomes were more likely to live in these areas. Semi-trucks, buses, and other heavy-duty vehicles only make up a small portion of the vehicles on American roads and highways. They are more likely to pollute the air in neighboring communities, which are often home to Black and brown people. Semi-trucks, buses, and other heavy-duty vehicles only make up a small portion of the vehicles on American roads and highways. They are more likely to pollute the air in neighboring communities, which are often home to Black and brown people. But because of their larger, often diesel-powered engines, heavy-duty vehicles account for a disproportionate amount of the pollution emitted by the transportation sector. The heavy-duty fleet accounts for 45% of smog-forming nitrogen oxide emissions – pollution that the Biden Administration made efforts to curtail with so-called clean truck standards. Environmental groups were quick to point out that the rollback would harm public health. “Clean truck standards save lives,” Katherine García, director of the Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All campaign, said in a statement. “Weakening them would mean more toxic pollution in the air and more families paying the price with their health.” Black Communities Hurt Most There’s a substantial amount of research that shows how emissions from trucking and other heavy-duty vehicles are particularly harmful to Black families. A Union of Concerned Scientists report from 2019 found that people of color living in the Northeast were exposed to 66% more pollution from vehicles — including a disproportionate amount emitted by a small number of heavy-duty vehicles — than white residents. The higher levels of exposure are part of the legacy of redlining, which clustered Black households in less desirable parts of cities. That included neighborhoods developed near factories, freeways, and industrial corridors. Environmental groups objecting to the change also noted that technological developments are making it substantially easier to cut emissions from heavy-duty fleets. RELATED: Formaldehyde Is Everywhere. Get Ready to Breathe More of It Peter Zalzal, associate vice president for the Environmental Defense Fund, said in a statement that diesel engines “emit huge amounts of smog- and soot-forming pollution into the air we breathe.” But vehicle manufacturers, he said, “are already introducing new engines that can substantially cut this pollution and meet protective standards.” The EPA “should abandon this proposal and instead maintain strong pollution safeguards for new heavy-duty vehicles,” Zalzal said. The post EPA Rollback Could Bring Dirtier Air to Black Communities appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"The
\n

The research is conclusive: Black communities are disproportionately exposed to diesel exhaust and other traffic-related pollution. So when Biden-era crackdowns on diesel emissions were scheduled to take effect, Black neighborhoods near freeways or industrial corridors anticipated breathing easier. 

\n\n\n\n

But a new move by the Environmental Protection Agency could mean the air in those communities could get worse, and soon. 

\n\n\n\n

LEARN MORE: Texas Keeps Greenlighting Pollution. Guess Who Lives Nearby

\n\n\n\n

The Trump administration has announced it is pushing back or adjusting diesel emission restrictions that had been tightened under President Joe Biden, calling the regulations “unnecessary and unworkable.” Originally announced in 2023 and set to take effect this year, the regulations would have required trucks and other diesel engines to use more advanced, emissions-reducing technology.

\n\n\n\n

No Data on Health

\n\n\n\n

In a statement earlier this month, the EPA said the change will save truckers some $12 billion, including up to $6,152 per diesel engine subject to the regulations. American consumers and households would reap the benefits, according to the statement.

\n\n\n\n

“Collectively, these savings will be passed on to American families through lower costs for food, household goods, and other products trucks deliver, while still maintaining strong environmental protections and ensuring clean air,” according to the statement.

\n\n\n\n

The agency did not calculate how the changes would affect human health.

\n\n\n\n

Under Biden, the E.P.A. estimated that 72 million people lived within a mile of a truck freight route, increasing their exposure to unhealthy air. The study found that Black people and those with lower incomes were more likely to live in these areas. 

\n\n\n\n

Semi-trucks, buses, and other heavy-duty vehicles only make up a small portion of the vehicles on American roads and highways. They are more likely to pollute the air in neighboring communities, which are often home to Black and brown people. 

\n\n\n\n

Semi-trucks, buses, and other heavy-duty vehicles only make up a small portion of the vehicles on American roads and highways. They are more likely to pollute the air in neighboring communities, which are often home to Black and brown people. 

\n\n\n\n

But because of their larger, often diesel-powered engines, heavy-duty vehicles account for a disproportionate amount of the pollution emitted by the transportation sector. 

\n\n\n\n

The heavy-duty fleet accounts for 45% of smog-forming nitrogen oxide emissions – pollution that the Biden Administration made efforts to curtail with so-called clean truck standards.  

\n\n\n\n

Environmental groups were quick to point out that the rollback would harm public health.

\n\n\n\n

“Clean truck standards save lives,” Katherine García, director of the Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All campaign, said in a statement. “Weakening them would mean more toxic pollution in the air and more families paying the price with their health.”

\n\n\n\n

Black Communities Hurt Most

\n\n\n\n

There’s a substantial amount of research that shows how emissions from trucking and other heavy-duty vehicles are particularly harmful to Black families.

\n\n\n\n

A Union of Concerned Scientists report from 2019 found that people of color living in the Northeast were exposed to 66% more pollution from vehicles — including a disproportionate amount emitted by a small number of heavy-duty vehicles —  than white residents. 

\n\n\n\n

The higher levels of exposure are part of the legacy of redlining, which clustered Black households in less desirable parts of cities. That included neighborhoods developed near factories, freeways, and industrial corridors. 

\n\n\n\n

Environmental groups objecting to the change also noted that technological developments are making it substantially easier to cut emissions from heavy-duty fleets. 

\n\n\n\n

RELATED: Formaldehyde Is Everywhere. Get Ready to Breathe More of It

\n\n\n\n

Peter Zalzal, associate vice president for the Environmental Defense Fund, said in a statement that diesel engines “emit huge amounts of smog- and soot-forming pollution into the air we breathe.” But vehicle manufacturers, he said, “are already introducing new engines that can substantially cut this pollution and meet protective standards.”  

\n\n\n\n

The EPA “should abandon this proposal and instead maintain strong pollution safeguards for new heavy-duty vehicles,” Zalzal said. 

\n

The post EPA Rollback Could Bring Dirtier Air to Black Communities appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/07/epa-rollback-could-bring-dirtier-air-to-black-communities/","site":"Willy Blackmore","originalAuthor":"Willy Blackmore","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Environmental Justice"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-07-18T21:04:50.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-1185741323.jpg?fit=594%2C419&ssl=1","type":"image/jpeg"},"createdAt":"2026-07-18T21:17:07.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-1185741323.jpg?fit=594%2C419&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"n0Bdk0UqUbCZCbtQ","title":"We Expect More From Jay-Z. Why Not BET?","description":"For the past several days, social media has been consumed with criticism of Jay-Z. Across timelines and platforms, people have debated his comments, questioned his legacy, and argued over whether his partnership with Target insulted the very audience that helped build his career. The outrage has been loud, persistent, and impossible to ignore. But honestly, I’m a little surprised people aren’t just as angry at BET, a.k.a. Black Entertainment Television. LEARN MORE: Trump’s Authoritarian Agenda: Media Takeover, BET’s Dismantling, and the Whitewashing of America The 2026 BET Awards, held on June 28, gave viewers almost everything they wanted. The performances landed, Lauryn Hill got a long-overdue tribute, and Janet Jackson honored Teyana Taylor with the Icon Award. After years of criticism, the show felt like a return to form. But one thing was noticeably absent: any acknowledgment of the dire, dangerous and urgent political moment Black America is in. Not once during the three-and-a-half-hour broadcast did a host, presenter, performer, or award recipient encourage viewers to vote, check their registration, or prepare for this fall’s elections. Gag Order at BET? And political commentator Lynae Vanee said BET officials told her that politics would not be part of this year’s Awards. This represents more than a programming choice. It signals a shift in what one of Black America’s largest cultural platforms will or won’t do with its power. Teyana Taylor accepts the Icon of the Year award from Janet Jackson onstage during the 2026 BET Awards at Peacock Theater on June 28. Despite urgent political threats to Black America, no one on the stage spoke about politics. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images) The timing is alarming. This year’s midterm elections are pivotal, with control of Congress at stake and President Donald Trump openly hostile to the Black community’s interests. At the local level, voters will elect officials who make decisions that shape everyday life for millions of Black Americans: how schools are funded, what public health investments are made, and who gets access to the ballot box. Contrary to its acronym, BET has been more than an entertainment network for Black people. It has used its cultural influence to educate Black audiences, elevate social issues, and encourage political participation. During the 2024 BET Awards, host Taraji P. Henson warned viewers about Project 2025. Last year, in her acceptance speech, Doechii mentioned the war in Gaza, Trump’s immigration raids, and the government’s threats to LGBTQ+ communities. Whether audiences agreed with those messages or not, the BET stage has often been part of the long tradition of connecting Black culture to Black civic life. This year, that tradition disappeared. And that matters. One of Black America’s most influential stages had an opportunity to remind millions that local elections matter, that midterms matter, that democracy still requires our participation. Instead it chose silence. Since most people do not research every judicial race or legislative issue, they rely on trusted voices, including athletes and entertainers, to help determine what deserves their attention. A simple reminder from a beloved artist that an election is approaching can lower the psychological and cognitive barriers to participation and bring casual voters to the polls. Political scientists describe this phenomenon as heuristic shortcuts. Which brings us back to the outrage surrounding Jay-Z, a self-made billionaire and arguably the most powerful artist in hip-hop history. ‘They Say I Sold Out’ In June, the rapper teamed up with Target for the 30th anniversary of his album, “The Blueprint.” Target sponsored his tour and took preorders for a special-edition print of the album on white vinyl — sold only in their stores. The partnership raised eyebrows: a year ago, Black activists called for a nationwide boycott of Target over its decision to end internal diversity, equity, and inclusion programs following Trump’s 2024 election. Critics accused Jay-Z of teaming up with a retailer they believe turned its back on the Black community to appease Trump. But Jay-Z clapped back during his record-breaking run of shows in New York City last week. Retail giant Target was subject to a Black consumer boycott last year. Its collaboration with Jay-Z for the 30th anniversary of his “Reasonable Doubt” album raised eyebrows among his fans. (Photo by Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu via Getty Images) “They say I sold out,” he told the crowd. “Yeah, I did sell out. Three nights. I sold Yankee Stadium the hell out.” Many fans weren’t buying it. They flooded social media with accusations that Jay-Z had abandoned the community that made him a wealthy man. Whether those criticisms are fair isn’t the point. The uproar itself is. Black audiences clearly believe cultural icons wield influence beyond music. If that’s true, then BET, one of Black America’s most influential cultural institutions, should be held to the same standard. Conversations around civic engagement rarely began with politicians; I witnessed this firsthand while working with high schoolers to increase their interest in the democratic process during the 2024 presidential election. I began with trusted celebrities, pointing out that Cardi B., Meg Thee Stallion, LeBron James, and Beyonce all supported former Vice President Kamala Harris in her run against Trump. Politicians recruit celebrities because they understand that heuristic shortcuts influence voters of every age. Entertainment has never existed separately from politics in Black America. That’s what made the silence during this year’s BET Awards feel so significant. Bought and Bossed? It also raises a broader question about whether Black media itself has sold out. Last year, Skydance Media completed its multibillion-dollar acquisition of Paramount, BET’s parent company. Billionaire David Ellison, whose family has longstanding ties to Trump, placed the winning bid. Critics have correctly raised concerns that Ellison’s ownership narrows the range of political conversation in the public domain. This is sometimes through direct censorship but also through increased editorial restrictions and shifting corporate priorities. Senator Bernie Sanders outright stated that the buyout leads to censorship, which ultimately impedes freedom of speech. Perhaps that helps explain why Vanee, the political commentator, said officials banned political talk from the BET Awards stage. The Bible says, “To whom much is given, much is required.” That applies to BET: the network has tens of millions of viewers, takes in tens of millions of dollars in annual revenue, and has influenced Black culture for generations. Indeed, BET was built with the support of the Black community, but as an institution, it has always meant more than entertainment. Excellence Isn’t Enough Since it went on air in 1980, BET has evolved into a space where our communities find information, solidarity, and a sense of collective purpose. Black culture inspires us, but policy shapes the conditions under which we live. Entertainers and activists, from Paul Robeson to Harry Belafonte to Dick Gregory to Taraji B. Henson, have understood this. Until recently, so had BET. LEARN MORE: Shaboozey and the Habit of Erasing Who Built America The BET Awards have always celebrated Black excellence. But as November approaches, excellence alone isn’t enough. One of Black America’s most important stages had an opportunity to remind millions of viewers that local elections matter, that midterms matter, that democracy still requires our participation. Instead, it apparently chose silence. If that silence is the future of Black media, then what’s at stake isn’t just one awards show. It’s whether our greatest cultural institutions, like BET, and our most popular artists, like Jay-Z, will continue to serve Black communities—or simply entertain them. Julienne Louis-Anderson is a former educator who writes about the intersection of culture and politics with education and human development. She is also a Public Voices Fellow of The OpEd Project in partnership with the National Black Child Development Institute. The post We Expect More From Jay-Z. Why Not BET? appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"As
\n

For the past several days, social media has been consumed with criticism of Jay-Z. Across timelines and platforms, people have debated his comments, questioned his legacy, and argued over whether his partnership with Target insulted the very audience that helped build his career.

\n\n\n\n

The outrage has been loud, persistent, and impossible to ignore. But honestly, I’m a little surprised people aren’t just as angry at BET, a.k.a. Black Entertainment Television. 

\n\n\n\n

LEARN MORE: Trump’s Authoritarian Agenda: Media Takeover, BET’s Dismantling, and the Whitewashing of America

\n\n\n\n

The 2026 BET Awards, held on June 28, gave viewers almost everything they wanted. The performances landed, Lauryn Hill got a long-overdue tribute, and Janet Jackson honored Teyana Taylor with the Icon Award. After years of criticism, the show felt like a return to form.

\n\n\n\n

But one thing was noticeably absent: any acknowledgment of the dire, dangerous and urgent political moment Black America is in. Not once during the three-and-a-half-hour broadcast did a host, presenter, performer, or award recipient encourage viewers to vote, check their registration, or prepare for this fall’s elections. 

\n\n\n\n

Gag Order at BET?

\n\n\n\n

And political commentator Lynae Vanee said BET officials told her that politics would not be part of this year’s Awards. This represents more than a programming choice. It signals a shift in what one of Black America’s largest cultural platforms will or won’t do with its power. 

\n\n\n
\n
\"\"
Teyana Taylor accepts the Icon of the Year award from Janet Jackson onstage during the 2026 BET Awards at Peacock Theater on June 28. Despite urgent political threats to Black America, no one on the stage spoke about politics. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
\n
\n\n\n

The timing is alarming. This year’s midterm elections are pivotal, with control of Congress at stake and President Donald Trump openly hostile to the Black community’s interests. At the local level, voters will elect officials who make decisions that shape everyday life for millions of Black Americans: how schools are funded, what public health investments are made, and who gets access to the ballot box. 

\n\n\n\n

Contrary to its acronym, BET has been more than an entertainment network for Black people. It has used its cultural influence to educate Black audiences, elevate social issues, and encourage political participation. During the 2024 BET Awards, host Taraji P. Henson warned viewers about Project 2025. Last year, in her acceptance speech, Doechii mentioned the war in Gaza, Trump’s immigration raids, and the government’s threats to LGBTQ+ communities. 

\n\n\n\n

Whether audiences agreed with those messages or not, the BET stage has often been part of the long tradition of connecting Black culture to Black civic life. This year, that tradition disappeared. And that matters. 

\n\n\n\n

One of Black America’s most influential stages had an opportunity to remind millions that local elections matter, that midterms matter, that democracy still requires our participation. Instead it chose silence.

\n\n\n\n

Since most people do not research every judicial race or legislative issue, they rely on trusted voices, including athletes and entertainers, to help determine what deserves their attention. A simple reminder from a beloved artist that an election is approaching can lower the psychological and cognitive barriers to participation and bring casual voters to the polls. Political scientists describe this phenomenon as heuristic shortcuts.

\n\n\n\n

Which brings us back to the outrage surrounding Jay-Z, a self-made billionaire and arguably the most powerful artist in hip-hop history. 

\n\n\n\n

‘They Say I Sold Out’

\n\n\n\n

In June, the rapper teamed up with Target for the 30th anniversary of his album, “The Blueprint.” Target sponsored his tour and took preorders for a special-edition print of the album on white vinyl — sold only in their stores. The partnership raised eyebrows: a year ago, Black activists called for a nationwide boycott of Target over its decision to end internal diversity, equity, and inclusion programs following Trump’s 2024 election. 

\n\n\n\n

Critics accused Jay-Z of teaming up with a retailer they believe turned its back on the Black community to appease Trump. But Jay-Z clapped back during his record-breaking run of shows in New York City last week. 

\n\n\n
\n
\"\"
Retail giant Target was subject to a Black consumer boycott last year. Its collaboration with Jay-Z for the 30th anniversary of his “Reasonable Doubt” album raised eyebrows among his fans. (Photo by Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu via Getty Images)
\n
\n\n\n

“They say I sold out,” he told the crowd. “Yeah, I did sell out. Three nights. I sold Yankee Stadium the hell out.”

\n\n\n\n

Many fans weren’t buying it. They flooded social media with accusations that Jay-Z had abandoned the community that made him a wealthy man.

\n\n\n\n

Whether those criticisms are fair isn’t the point. The uproar itself is.

\n\n\n\n

Black audiences clearly believe cultural icons wield influence beyond music. If that’s true, then BET, one of Black America’s most influential cultural institutions, should be held to the same standard.

\n\n\n\n

Conversations around civic engagement rarely began with politicians; I witnessed this firsthand while working with high schoolers to increase their interest in the democratic process during the 2024 presidential election. I began with trusted celebrities, pointing out that Cardi B., Meg Thee Stallion, LeBron James, and Beyonce all supported former Vice President Kamala Harris in her run against Trump. 

\n\n\n\n

Politicians recruit celebrities because they understand that heuristic shortcuts influence voters of every age. Entertainment has never existed separately from politics in Black America. That’s what made the silence during this year’s BET Awards feel so significant.

\n\n\n\n

Bought and Bossed?

\n\n\n\n

It also raises a broader question about whether Black media itself has sold out. 

\n\n\n\n

Last year, Skydance Media completed its multibillion-dollar acquisition of Paramount, BET’s parent company. Billionaire David Ellison, whose family has longstanding ties to Trump, placed the winning bid.

\n\n\n\n

Critics have correctly raised concerns that Ellison’s ownership narrows the range of political conversation in the public domain. This is sometimes through direct censorship but also through increased editorial restrictions and shifting corporate priorities. Senator Bernie Sanders outright stated that the buyout leads to censorship, which ultimately impedes freedom of speech. 

\n\n\n\n

Perhaps that helps explain why Vanee, the political commentator, said officials banned political talk from the BET Awards stage.

\n\n\n\n

The Bible says, “To whom much is given, much is required.” That applies to BET: the network has tens of millions of viewers, takes in tens of millions of dollars in annual revenue, and has influenced Black culture for generations. Indeed, BET was built with the support of the Black community, but as an institution, it has always meant more than entertainment. 

\n\n\n\n

Excellence Isn’t Enough

\n\n\n\n

Since it went on air in 1980, BET has evolved into a space where our communities find information, solidarity, and a sense of collective purpose.  Black culture inspires us, but policy shapes the conditions under which we live.  Entertainers and activists, from Paul Robeson to Harry Belafonte to Dick Gregory to Taraji B. Henson, have understood this. Until recently, so had BET.

\n\n\n\n

LEARN MORE: Shaboozey and the Habit of Erasing Who Built America

\n\n\n\n

The BET Awards have always celebrated Black excellence. But as November approaches, excellence alone isn’t enough. One of Black America’s most important stages had an opportunity to remind millions of viewers that local elections matter, that midterms matter, that democracy still requires our participation.

\n\n\n\n

Instead, it apparently chose silence.

\n\n\n\n

If that silence is the future of Black media, then what’s at stake isn’t just one awards show. It’s whether our greatest cultural institutions, like BET, and our most popular artists, like Jay-Z, will continue to serve Black communities—or simply entertain them.

\n\n\n
\n
\"\"
\n
\n\n\n

Julienne Louis-Anderson is a former educator who writes about the intersection of culture and politics with education and human development. She is also a Public Voices Fellow of The OpEd Project in partnership with the National Black Child Development Institute.

\n\n\n\n

\n

The post We Expect More From Jay-Z. Why Not BET? appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/07/we-expect-more-from-jay-z-why-not-bet/","site":"Julienne Lewis-Anderson","originalAuthor":"Julienne Louis-Anderson","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Opinion"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-07-16T15:03:59.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2284781107.jpg?fit=594%2C399&ssl=1","type":"image/jpeg"},"createdAt":"2026-07-16T15:04:31.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2284781107.jpg?fit=594%2C399&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"uCFfj19cj0I1FVvk","title":"Divorce in the Black Church: Why Women Often Bear the Blame","description":"For nearly a decade, Kimmoly LaBoo says she poured herself into her Baltimore-area church. An author, publisher and speaker, she completed leadership training, mentored others and became a trusted servant without ever seeking a former title. When her marriage began falling apart, she expected the same church that had nurtured her faith to help her navigate one of life’s darkest seasons. Instead, she said, she encountered misunderstanding and blame-shifting — starting with church leadership. RELATED: ‘Pray and Stay’ Is Still Hurting Black Women in Church In church counseling sessions, LaBoo and her then-husband met with the senior pastor and the pastor’s husband; to protect her husband’s dignity, LaBoo says she initially withheld details of her husband’s years-long emotional abuse, only to have the pastor privately blame LaBoo for the faltering marriage. Troubling Pattern Only after LaBoo described years of her husband’s misconduct — explosive, angry tirades and property destruction that sometimes required police intervention and caused her to live in fear — did the pastor acknowledge that conventional mentoring would not solve the problem. LaBoo recalled the pastor’s conclusion: “‘None of what I was going to suggest is going to work in your situation.’” Yet LaBoo says the church never adjusted its response to her. The Black church has long upheld marriage as a sacred covenant, even as many congregations minister to communities where divorce is an everyday reality. For many Christians involved in their churches, divorce marks not only the end of a marriage but also the beginning of another painful separation—from the faith community they expected would carry them through the valley. Interviews with several divorced church members, therapists and ministry leaders reveal a troubling pattern. The same congregations that excel at weddings, marriage conferences and preaching the covenant, struggle to respond when marriages collapse. Patriarchal Tradition Like the experience LaBoo described, some church leaders and congregants unintentionally shame the divorced. Sometimes, they side with one of the exes; given the patriarchal nature of the church, it’s usually the husband. Still other churches do nothing as one former spouse — often the ex-wife — disappears from the pews while the other remains. Kimmoly LaBoo (Photo courtesy of Kimmoly LaBoo) That dynamic has prompted a growing body of research asking whether churches have devoted as much attention to helping members heal after divorce as they have to preparing couples for marriage. While studies have found that Black Christian couples often rely on shared faith and prayer to sustain their marriages, pastoral scholars say divorced women frequently describe feeling isolated, overlooked or quietly stigmatized in congregations where marriage remains the spiritual ideal. Researchers have argued that separated and divorced church members can be subtly devalued in religious settings, discouraging them from fully participating in congregational life and prompting calls for ministries that offer the same grace after divorce that churches extend before the wedding. Whether divorced members experience compassion or condemnation often depends less on theology than on local church culture, leadership maturity and whose story gets believed first. What often results is a faith crisis that worsens the emotional pain that accompanies divorce. Unfit to Lead? In LaBoo’s case, after her marriage fell apart, a writing ministry she had developed by request was indefinitely postponed; church leadership questioned whether her troubled marriage made her unfit to lead. Meanwhile, LaBoo says, her husband continued to lead lay worship and direct the senior choir. “How could I be removed from teaching a writing class while the person creating the chaos at home remained in front of the congregation every week?” she says. The church has to know when a situation is beyond Bible study. If leaders aren’t equipped to help, they have a responsibility to refer people to someone who is.Kimmoly LaBoo, author, publisher and speaker Looking back, LaBoo believes many churches aren’t prepared for the modern, emotionally challenging, complex issues when a marriage hits serious turbulence. Some answers, she says, can’t easily be found in scripture alone. “The church has to know when a situation is beyond Bible study,” LaBoo says. “If leaders aren’t equipped to help, they have a responsibility to refer people to someone who is.” Then there’s the patriarchy that’s often embedded in church culture. LaBoo believes too many divorced women quietly disappear while the systems that failed them, and turn a blind eye to men’s abuses, remain unchanged. ‘How is Your Husband?’ For T’Jae Gibson Ellis, the pain came less from criticism than invisibility. As a young wife, Ellis attended church alone, usually because her husband, who served in the military, worked unpredictable schedules—or sometimes simply chose not to attend. Yet church leaders routinely kept him in mind, not her. “‘How is your husband?'” she recalls them asking her. “Tell him we asked about him,’” Few asked about her, Ellis says. “I found ‘the church’ more interested in where my then-husband was instead of ministering to my needs as a very present member,” Ellis said. Marva Jones, a veteran couples counselor and family therapist, believes many of the painful endings between couples and their church begin long before the pair reach the altar. “I think the initial change we need to make is what we do before people get married,” said Jones, founder and president of Tree of Life Counseling and Training Center in Ohio. She worries some churches unintentionally nudge dating couples toward the altar before an honest exploration of challenges that stress a marriage: finances, trauma histories, parenting philosophies, conflict resolution and family dynamics. “I think there needs to be more work up front,” she said. Death of a Relationship Jones, author of The Dance (The Power of the Father, Parenting Through Divorce and Separation, Don’t Let Your Children Become Collateral Damage), rejects the rigid six- or eight-week premarital counseling sessions churches frequently mandate. She argues that every couple has unique histories that require individualized preparation. Jones also believes churches must create ministries specifically for divorced members rather than folding them into general singles ministries. “People divorced with children is a different group than people who are divorced without children,” she says. “They’re trying to heal…but they’re seeing their children every day and they still have to interact with this person.” Equally important, Jones says, churches should recognize divorce as the death of a once-promising relationship, triggering emotions similar to bereavement. Both exes “need that grief group to be able to process” the hurt, anger, and sadness, she said. “They were planning their hopes and dreams together. Something happened that shattered the dream.” Too often, Jones says, churches emphasize that God hates divorce, but they don’t adequately confront the abuse, violence, infidelity or coercive control that may have triggered it Church leaders “don’t want to hear about [a husband or wife] being violent at home” because it’s hard to reconcile abuse with a member who’s active, involved and faithful, Jones says. “People can be whatever they want to be in the church and something completely different at home.” Rendering Judgment Not every story ends in rejection. She also believes women frequently bear a disproportionate share of judgment in a divorce: “You will see that being implemented more with women in ministry than men,” Jones says. When her marriage to a pastor ended, Roxanne Freeman said members of her denomination rallied around her after they gradually recognized what had happened behind closed doors. “They always supported me,” Freeman says. “But I don’t think after a while they supported him.” Still, she acknowledged that her experience was unusual. “I have seen other people…leave the church,” she says. “They embrace the people who they like…and the other one kind of flees because we don’t want to deal with these people anymore.” She also described a congregation in which a cheating husband remained in the church — until the congregation held him accountable. Once that happened, his former wife eventually flourished in ministry. LEARN MORE: They Tell Me About the Abuse. I Wish I Could Tell Them to Run Along with managing marital expectations up front, Jones believes churches can do a better job changing church norms around divorced couples. Her recommendations range from individualized premarital counseling and referral partnerships with licensed therapists to grief support groups and ministries tailored to divorced parents. Ultimately, though, she believes congregations must be willing to love divorced people through brokenness instead of treating the end of their marriage as a permanent spiritual scar. “That’s our responsibility,” she says. “To love.” [3:26 PM] Experience not loading? Click here The post Divorce in the Black Church: Why Women Often Bear the Blame appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"nterviews
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For nearly a decade, Kimmoly LaBoo says she poured herself into her Baltimore-area church. An author, publisher and speaker, she completed leadership training, mentored others and became a trusted servant without ever seeking a former title.

\n\n\n\n

When her marriage began falling apart, she expected the same church that had nurtured her faith to help her navigate one of life’s darkest seasons. Instead, she said, she encountered misunderstanding and blame-shifting — starting with church leadership.

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RELATED: ‘Pray and Stay’ Is Still Hurting Black Women in Church

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In church counseling sessions, LaBoo and her then-husband met with the senior pastor and the pastor’s husband; to protect her husband’s dignity, LaBoo says she initially withheld details of her husband’s years-long emotional abuse, only to have the pastor privately blame LaBoo for the faltering marriage.

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Troubling Pattern

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Only after LaBoo described years of her husband’s misconduct — explosive, angry tirades and property destruction that sometimes required police intervention and caused her to live in fear — did the pastor acknowledge that conventional mentoring would not solve the problem.

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LaBoo recalled the pastor’s conclusion: “‘None of what I was going to suggest is going to work in your situation.’” Yet LaBoo says the church never adjusted its response to her.

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The Black church has long upheld marriage as a sacred covenant, even as many congregations minister to communities where divorce is an everyday reality. For many Christians involved in their churches, divorce marks not only the end of a marriage but also the beginning of another painful separation—from the faith community they expected would carry them through the valley.

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Interviews with several divorced church members, therapists and ministry leaders reveal a troubling pattern. The same congregations that excel at weddings, marriage conferences and preaching the covenant, struggle to respond when marriages collapse.

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Patriarchal Tradition

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Like the experience LaBoo described, some church leaders and congregants unintentionally shame the divorced. Sometimes, they side with one of the exes; given the patriarchal nature of the church, it’s usually the husband. Still other churches do nothing as one former spouse — often the ex-wife — disappears from the pews while the other remains. 

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Kimmoly LaBoo (Photo courtesy of Kimmoly LaBoo)
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That dynamic has prompted a growing body of research asking whether churches have devoted as much attention to helping members heal after divorce as they have to preparing couples for marriage. 

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While studies have found that Black Christian couples often rely on shared faith and prayer to sustain their marriages, pastoral scholars say divorced women frequently describe feeling isolated, overlooked or quietly stigmatized in congregations where marriage remains the spiritual ideal. Researchers have argued that separated and divorced church members can be subtly devalued in religious settings, discouraging them from fully participating in congregational life and prompting calls for ministries that offer the same grace after divorce that churches extend before the wedding.

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Whether divorced members experience compassion or condemnation often depends less on theology than on local church culture, leadership maturity and whose story gets believed first. What often results is a faith crisis that worsens the emotional pain that accompanies divorce. 

\n\n\n\n

Unfit to Lead?

\n\n\n\n

In LaBoo’s case, after her marriage fell apart, a writing ministry she had developed by request  was indefinitely postponed; church leadership questioned whether her troubled marriage made her unfit to lead. Meanwhile, LaBoo says, her husband continued to lead lay worship and direct the senior choir.

\n\n\n\n

“How could I be removed from teaching a writing class while the person creating the chaos at home remained in front of the congregation every week?” she says. 

\n\n\n\n

The church has to know when a situation is beyond Bible study. If leaders aren’t equipped to help, they have a responsibility to refer people to someone who is.

Kimmoly LaBoo, author, publisher and speaker
\n\n\n\n

Looking back, LaBoo believes many churches aren’t prepared for the modern, emotionally challenging, complex issues when a marriage hits serious turbulence. Some answers, she says, can’t easily be found in scripture alone. 

\n\n\n\n

“The church has to know when a situation is beyond Bible study,” LaBoo says. “If leaders aren’t equipped to help, they have a responsibility to refer people to someone who is.”

\n\n\n\n

Then there’s the patriarchy that’s often embedded in church culture. LaBoo believes too many divorced women quietly disappear while the systems that failed them, and turn a blind eye to men’s abuses, remain unchanged.

\n\n\n\n

‘How is Your Husband?’

\n\n\n\n

For T’Jae Gibson Ellis, the pain came less from criticism than invisibility.

\n\n\n\n

As a young wife, Ellis attended church alone, usually because her husband, who served in the military, worked unpredictable schedules—or sometimes simply chose not to attend. Yet church leaders routinely kept him in mind, not her.

\n\n\n\n

“‘How is your husband?'” she recalls them asking her. “Tell him we asked about him,’”

\n\n\n\n

Few asked about her, Ellis says.

\n\n\n\n

“I found ‘the church’ more interested in where my then-husband was instead of ministering to my needs as a very present member,” Ellis said.

\n\n\n\n

Marva Jones, a veteran couples counselor and family therapist, believes many of the painful endings between couples and their church begin long before the pair reach the altar.

\n\n\n\n

“I think the initial change we need to make is what we do before people get married,” said Jones, founder and president of Tree of Life Counseling and Training Center in Ohio. She worries some churches unintentionally nudge  dating couples toward the altar before an honest exploration of challenges that stress a marriage: finances, trauma histories, parenting philosophies, conflict resolution and family dynamics.

\n\n\n\n

“I think there needs to be more work up front,” she said.

\n\n\n\n

Death of a Relationship

\n\n\n\n

Jones, author of The Dance (The Power of the Father, Parenting Through Divorce and Separation, Don’t Let Your Children Become Collateral Damage), rejects the rigid six- or eight-week premarital counseling sessions churches frequently mandate. She argues that every couple has unique histories that require individualized preparation.

\n\n\n\n

Jones also believes churches must create ministries specifically for divorced members rather than folding them into general singles ministries.

\n\n\n\n

“People divorced with children is a different group than people who are divorced without children,” she says. “They’re trying to heal…but they’re seeing their children every day and they still have to interact with this person.”

\n\n\n\n

Equally important, Jones says, churches should recognize divorce as the death of a once-promising relationship, triggering emotions similar to bereavement.

\n\n\n\n

Both exes “need that grief group to be able to process” the hurt, anger, and sadness, she said. “They were planning their hopes and dreams together. Something happened that shattered the dream.”

\n\n\n\n

Too often, Jones says, churches emphasize that God hates divorce, but they don’t adequately confront the abuse, violence, infidelity or coercive control that may have triggered it

\n\n\n\n

Church leaders “don’t want to hear about [a husband or wife] being violent at home” because it’s hard to reconcile abuse with a member who’s active, involved and faithful, Jones says. “People can be whatever they want to be in the church and something completely different at home.”

\n\n\n\n

Rendering Judgment

\n\n\n\n

Not every story ends in rejection.

\n\n\n\n

She also believes women frequently bear a disproportionate share of judgment in a divorce: “You will see that being implemented more with women in ministry than men,” Jones says.

\n\n\n\n

When her marriage to a pastor ended, Roxanne Freeman said members of her denomination rallied around her after they gradually recognized what had happened behind closed doors.

\n\n\n\n

“They always supported me,” Freeman says. “But I don’t think after a while they supported him.”

\n\n\n\n

Still, she acknowledged that her experience was unusual.

\n\n\n\n

“I have seen other people…leave the church,” she says. “They embrace the people who they like…and the other one kind of flees because we don’t want to deal with these people anymore.”

\n\n\n\n

She also described a congregation in which a cheating husband remained in the church — until the congregation held him accountable. Once that happened, his former wife eventually flourished in ministry.

\n\n\n\n

LEARN MORE: They Tell Me About the Abuse. I Wish I Could Tell Them to Run

\n\n\n\n

Along with managing marital expectations up front, Jones believes churches can do a better job changing church norms around divorced couples. Her recommendations range from individualized premarital counseling and referral partnerships with licensed therapists to grief support groups and ministries tailored to divorced parents. 

\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, though, she believes congregations must be willing to love divorced people through brokenness instead of treating the end of their marriage as a permanent spiritual scar.

\n\n\n\n

“That’s our responsibility,” she says. “To love.”

\n\n\n\n\n[3:26 PM]\n
Experience not loading? Click here
\n
\n

The post Divorce in the Black Church: Why Women Often Bear the Blame appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/07/divorce-in-the-black-church-why-women-often-bear-the-blame/","site":"Rev. Dorothy S. Boulware","originalAuthor":"Rev. Dorothy S. Boulware","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Religion"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-07-10T20:04:58.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-1395875611.jpg?fit=724%2C483&ssl=1","type":"image/jpeg"},"createdAt":"2026-07-10T20:14:13.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-1395875611.jpg?fit=724%2C483&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"oVqyHDTzRzdFlzmh","title":"Medicaid Ban on Routine Care at Planned Parenthood Ends","description":"Healthcare providers, such as Planned Parenthood and similar clinics, are once again eligible to receive Medicaid reimbursements, enabling low-income individuals to resume routine healthcare services from these providers. Last year, congressional Republicans fell short of their longstanding goal to ban abortion services nationwide during efforts to pass the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act. But they managed to ban Medicaid reimbursements from going to Planned Parenthood and similar reproductive health care providers nationwide for one year. Since Congress didn’t renew the ban before taking its Independence Day recess, the ban automatically expired last week. Medicaid can once again cover non-abortion services such as cancer screenings, birth control distribution, and testing for sexually transmitted infections at the clinics that were able to remain open. But individual states must decide to allow the clinics to be reimbursed. Millions Left High and Dry According to a KFF tracking poll from 2025, one in three women reporting having gone to a Planned Parenthood clinic for care, as well as one in ten men. Nearly half of Black women have gone to a Planned Parenthood clinic. Over four in ten individuals with Medicaid say they have received services at Planned Parenthood and one-third of those individuals had private insurance. One in five Republican women and four in ten Democratic women also said they had received care at a Planned Parenthood clinic. A spending bill passed in the 1970s already blocks federal Medicaid dollars from covering abortion in nearly all cases. During the debate over the OBBB Act, Republicans tried to make the abortion funding restrictions permanent, and Democrats tried but failed to get the restrictions removed altogether. In 2025, however, the Supreme Court ruled that states may prevent providers from being paid through Medicaid programs. It also found that Medicaid enrollees can’t challenge the restriction in federal court. Laurie Sobel, associate director for women’s wealth policy at KFF, said the ruling marked a significant departure from longstanding interpretations of the Medicaid ‘free choice of provider’ provision, which guarantees enrollees the right to obtain care from any qualified and willing Medicaid provider. The ban passed last year forced Planned Parenthood to close nearly 30 of its healthcare centers. Nora Walsh-DeVries, vice president of political and legislative affairs at Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said the impact of the cuts “is really horrible for us and some of it is unfortunately irreversible.” Managing a smaller budget is even more challenging, DeVries said, coupled with “kind of also knowing that there is an intention from Republicans to permanently defund us.” Medicaid covers roughly 96 million Americans and just over 21.4% of adult Medicaid beneficiaries ages 19 to 64 are Black Americans. The Trump spending cuts have forced the closure of at least 14 hospitals across 13 states. More than 400 hospitals are at risk of closing or cutting staff and roughly 360 clinics have closed. The Medicaid program also covers roughly 40% of pregnancies and births nationwide. The ban forced Planned Parenthood to close nearly 30 of its health centers since July 2025. Two out of three of the closed health centers were in rural areas, medically underserved areas, or in areas suffering a shortage of primary care health professionals. All of the closed centers were in counties recognized as “contraceptive deserts.” Some states provided roughly $400 million in emergency funding during the ban. But Planned Parenthood health centers in states that only partially covered lost federal dollars — or provided no funding at all — were more likely to close than states that completely replaced funding from Washington. States Have the Final Word Several states, most of which are in the Bible Belt or rural states with significant Black populations, have either permanently blocked or tried to block Medicaid reimbursements to Planned Parenthood, according to Sobel’s analysis. These include Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas. Since the ban is now lifted it’s possible that several more states will pass permanent bans. Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the nonprofit Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, and other anti-abortion groups want congress to insert the ban in the 2027 tax and spending bill. “Defunding Big Abortion is now the default expectation of the pro-life movement,” Dannenfelser wrote in a statement. “When they return to D.C., Republicans must do all they can through reconciliation to once again block taxpayer dollars from Planned Parenthood and abortion businesses.” Last year’s budget cuts will slash Medicaid by almost $1 trillion. Experts say the cuts will force roughly 10 million Americans to lose their coverage. RELATED: A Year In, Trump’s Spending Cuts Hit Hardest in Black Communities The post Medicaid Ban on Routine Care at Planned Parenthood Ends appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"Examination
\n

Healthcare providers, such as Planned Parenthood and similar clinics, are once again eligible to receive Medicaid reimbursements, enabling low-income individuals to resume routine healthcare services from these providers.  

\n\n\n\n

Last year, congressional Republicans fell short of their longstanding goal to ban abortion services nationwide during efforts to pass the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act. 

\n\n\n\n

But they managed to ban Medicaid reimbursements from going to Planned Parenthood and similar reproductive health care providers nationwide for one year. Since Congress didn’t renew the ban before taking its Independence Day recess, the ban automatically expired last week. 

\n\n\n\n

Medicaid can once again cover non-abortion services such as cancer screenings, birth control distribution, and testing for sexually transmitted infections at the clinics that were able to remain open. But individual states must decide to allow the clinics to be reimbursed.

\n\n\n\n

Millions Left High and Dry

\n\n\n\n

According to a KFF tracking poll from 2025, one in three women reporting having gone to a Planned Parenthood clinic for care, as well as one in ten men. Nearly half of Black women have gone to a Planned Parenthood clinic. Over four in ten individuals with Medicaid say they have received services at Planned Parenthood and one-third of those individuals had private insurance. One in five Republican women and four in ten Democratic women also said they had received care at a Planned Parenthood clinic.

\n\n\n\n

A spending bill passed in the 1970s already blocks federal Medicaid dollars from covering abortion in nearly all cases. 

\n\n\n\n

During the debate over the OBBB Act, Republicans tried to make the abortion funding restrictions permanent, and Democrats tried but failed to get the restrictions removed altogether. 

\n\n\n\n

In 2025, however, the Supreme Court ruled that states may prevent providers from being paid through Medicaid programs. It also found that Medicaid enrollees can’t challenge the restriction in federal court. 

Laurie Sobel, associate director for women’s wealth policy at KFF, said the ruling marked a significant departure from longstanding interpretations of the Medicaid ‘free choice of provider’ provision, which guarantees enrollees the right to obtain care from any qualified and willing Medicaid provider. The ban passed last year forced Planned Parenthood to close nearly 30 of its healthcare centers.

\n\n\n\n

Nora Walsh-DeVries, vice president of political and legislative affairs at Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said the impact of the cuts “is really horrible for us and some of it is unfortunately irreversible.”

\n\n\n\n

Managing a smaller budget is even more challenging, DeVries said, coupled with “kind of also knowing that there is an intention from Republicans to permanently defund us.”

\n\n\n\n

Medicaid covers roughly 96 million Americans and just over 21.4% of adult Medicaid beneficiaries ages 19 to 64 are Black Americans. 

\n\n\n\n

The Trump spending cuts have forced the closure of at least 14 hospitals across 13 states. More than 400 hospitals are at risk of closing or cutting staff and roughly 360 clinics have closed.

\n\n\n\n

The Medicaid program also covers roughly 40% of pregnancies and births nationwide. 

\n\n\n\n

The ban forced Planned Parenthood to close nearly 30 of its health centers since July 2025. Two out of three of the closed health centers were in rural areas, medically underserved areas, or in areas suffering a shortage of primary care health professionals. 

\n\n\n\n

All of the closed centers were in counties recognized as “contraceptive deserts.” 

\n\n\n\n

Some states provided roughly $400 million in emergency funding during the ban. But Planned Parenthood health centers in states that only partially covered lost federal dollars — or provided no funding at all — were more likely to close than states that completely replaced funding from Washington. 

\n\n\n\n

States Have the Final Word

\n\n\n\n

Several states, most of which are in the Bible Belt or rural states with significant Black populations, have either permanently blocked or tried to block Medicaid reimbursements to Planned Parenthood, according to Sobel’s analysis. These include Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas. 

\n\n\n\n

Since the ban is now lifted it’s possible that several more states will pass permanent bans.

\n\n\n\n

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the nonprofit Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, and other anti-abortion groups want congress to insert the ban in the 2027 tax and spending bill.

\n\n\n\n

“Defunding Big Abortion is now the default expectation of the pro-life movement,” Dannenfelser wrote in a statement. “When they return to D.C., Republicans must do all they can through reconciliation to once again block taxpayer dollars from Planned Parenthood and abortion businesses.” 

\n\n\n\n

Last year’s budget cuts will slash Medicaid by almost $1 trillion. Experts say the cuts will force roughly 10 million Americans to lose their coverage.

\n\n\n\n

RELATED: A Year In, Trump’s Spending Cuts Hit Hardest in Black Communities

\n

The post Medicaid Ban on Routine Care at Planned Parenthood Ends appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/07/medicaid-ban-on-routine-care-at-planned-parenthood-ends/","site":"Jennifer Porter Gore","originalAuthor":"Jennifer Porter Gore","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Health","Black women","health"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-07-10T11:01:00.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-clinic.jpg?fit=594%2C396&ssl=1","type":"image/jpeg"},"createdAt":"2026-07-10T11:15:47.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-clinic.jpg?fit=594%2C396&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"j9AIXSE2NMvYVTE6","title":"Replay: Delivering Solutions for the Maternal Health Crisis","description":"Black women in the U.S. are more than three times more likely than white women to die during childbirth, according to the Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health. As part of Word In Black’s ongoing reporting on maternal health, health correspondent Jennifer Porter Gore will lead a discussion with medical leaders, advocates, and organizers about how the U.S. can improve these outcomes. The discussion will explore community models and policies making a difference in Black communities. Register to watch it live Moderator: Jennifer Porter Gore – Word In Black Health Correspondent Confirmed Panelists: Tamara Mason, Director of Maternal and Child Health Collective Impact, March of Dimes Kay Matthews, Founder and Executive Director, Shades of Blue Project Dr. Kaytura Felix, Host, Deep Care podcast, and Distinguished Scholar, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Wed., July 15, 2026, 12-1:15 p.m. ET REGISTER TO WATCH THE EVENT LIVE See Word In Black’s other upcoming Summer 2026 events Rewatch Word In Black’s previous events on YouTube Building Black Safe Havens in the U.S. Is AI Hurting Black America? A Live Debate Safe Space: How to Support Black Men’s Mental Health Word In Black’s Religion Hot Topics What’s on Your Plate? Food Access in Black America The Action Plan to Get Black Women Back to Work ‘Breaking the Silence’: How Black Women Can Fight Breast Cancer The post Replay: Delivering Solutions for the Maternal Health Crisis appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"\"
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Black women in the U.S. are more than three times more likely than white women to die during childbirth, according to the Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health.

\n\n\n\n

As part of Word In Black’s ongoing reporting on maternal health, health correspondent Jennifer Porter Gore will lead a discussion with medical leaders, advocates, and organizers about how the U.S. can improve these outcomes. 

\n\n\n\n

The discussion will explore community models and policies making a difference in Black communities.

\n\n\n\n

Register to watch it live

\n\n\n\n

Moderator: 

\n\n\n\n

Jennifer Porter Gore – Word In Black Health Correspondent

\n\n\n\n

Confirmed Panelists:

\n\n\n\n

Tamara Mason, Director of Maternal and Child Health Collective Impact, March of Dimes

\n\n\n\n

Kay Matthews, Founder and Executive Director, Shades of Blue Project 

\n\n\n\n

Dr. Kaytura Felix, Host, Deep Care podcast, and Distinguished Scholar, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

\n\n\n\n

Wed., July 15, 2026, 12-1:15 p.m. ET

\n\n\n\n

REGISTER TO WATCH THE EVENT LIVE

\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

See Word In Black’s other upcoming Summer 2026 events

\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Rewatch Word In Black’s previous events on YouTube

\n\n\n\n

Building Black Safe Havens in the U.S.

\n\n\n\n

Is AI Hurting Black America? A Live Debate

\n\n\n\n

Safe Space: How to Support Black Men’s Mental Health 

\n\n\n\n

Word In Black’s Religion Hot Topics 

\n\n\n\n

What’s on Your Plate? Food Access in Black America 

\n\n\n\n

The Action Plan to Get Black Women Back to Work 

\n\n\n\n

‘Breaking the Silence’: How Black Women Can Fight Breast Cancer 

\n\n\n\n

\n

The post Replay: Delivering Solutions for the Maternal Health Crisis appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/07/maternal-health-event/","site":"Shernay Williams","originalAuthor":"Shernay Williams","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Black women","Events","Health","Healthcare Disparities","Video","maternal health"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-07-08T17:25:09.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/web-maternal-health.png?fit=819%2C1024&ssl=1","type":"image/png"},"createdAt":"2026-07-08T17:33:30.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/web-maternal-health.png?fit=819%2C1024&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"X0UTsNu2015kxvps","title":"George E. Johnson Changed Black Beauty ","description":"He parlayed a $250 personal loan into a business empire and, in the process, changed how Black America saw itself. A beauty-products pioneer, he broke Wall Street’s color barrier and later helped catapult a locally televised Chicago music show into a national pop-culture touchstone. And, for the better part of a century, the name George E. Johnson became inseparable from Black hair care in America, at a time when the beauty industry treated Black consumers as little more than an afterthought — if they thought of them at all. The legendary founder of Johnson Products Co., Johnson died Monday at his home in downtown Chicago. He was 99. ‘Visionary Business Leader’ His son, John Edward Johnson, told The Chicago Sun-Times that his father died of natural causes. The New York Times, citing Johnson’s second wife, Madeline Murphy Rabb, reported the cause as a respiratory illness. “George was a visionary business leader who built a hair care empire, broke barriers on Wall Street, and helped fuel the fight for civil rights,” his family said in a statement. “Above all, he was a devoted family man whose example inspired generations.” Johnson founded Johnson Products in 1954 with his first wife, Joan Johnson, on Chicago’s South Side. Within six years, the company controlled nearly 80% of the Black hair care market. In 1971, it became the first Black-owned company listed on the American Stock Exchange, now NYSE American. George was a visionary business leader who built a hair care empire, broke barriers on Wall Street, and helped fuel the fight for civil rights.Statement, Family of george e. johnson Though his business made him a very wealthy man, Johnson’s accomplishment was arguably more meaningful for Black America. In building an empire on curl kits and jars of conditioner, he also helped a generation see itself as beautiful. For the first time, Black consumers could walk into a beauty supply store, open a magazine or turn on a TV and see attractive, well-groomed people who looked like them — styled by a company a Black man had created from scratch. Small Investment, Big Payoff Johnson’s millions later bankrolled “Soul Train,” making him the show’s exclusive sponsor. The cash infusion helped the show’s founder, Chicago deejay Don Cornelius, turn it into appointment viewing for Black households across the country. Born in 1927 in Richton, Mississippi, Johnson moved to Chicago as a child with his mother, Priscilla Johnson Howard, and his brothers. Growing up poor on the South Side, Johnson shined shoes, hawked newspapers, and worked as a waiter before dropping out of high school to sell cosmetics door-to-door for Fuller Products, an earlier Black-owned beauty company. There, Johnson came upon the idea that would make him a fortune: a barber’s concept for a safer hair straightener that his employer had turned down. Working with chemist Herbert Martini, Johnson developed the formula himself, then set out on his own. The origin story he told for decades — and later wrote into his 2025 memoir, “Afro Sheen: How I Revolutionized an Industry With the Golden Rule, From ‘Soul Train’ to Wall Street” — involved a white loan officer who wouldn’t give him money for a business but approved $250 when Johnson said it was for a family vacation. Changing Times and Tastes Though it cornered the Black beauty market for decades, Johnson’s business struggled in recent years. Johnson Products Co.’s dominance gradually waned as cosmetics giants, including Revlon, saw its success and elbowed their way into a market that the Chicago entrepreneur had essentially all to himself. Meanwhile, as Afros, relaxers, and Jheri curls gave way to locs, box braids, and natural hairstyles, many of Johnson’s products fell out of favor with Black consumers. After George and Joan Johnson divorced, ownership of the business changed hands several times before a Black-led investment group acquired it from the global conglomerate Procter & Gamble in 2009. Joan Johnson died in 2019. George Johnson is survived by his wife, Madeline Murphy Rabb; his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. The post George E. Johnson Changed Black Beauty — and Black History appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"From
\n

He parlayed a $250 personal loan into a business empire and, in the process, changed how Black America saw itself. A beauty-products pioneer, he broke Wall Street’s color barrier and later helped catapult a locally televised Chicago music show into a national pop-culture touchstone. 

\n\n\n\n

And, for the better part of a century, the name George E. Johnson became inseparable from Black hair care in America, at a time when the beauty industry treated Black consumers as little more than an afterthought — if they thought of them at all. 

\n\n\n\n

The legendary founder of Johnson Products Co., Johnson died Monday at his home in downtown Chicago. He was 99.

\n\n\n\n

‘Visionary Business Leader’

\n\n\n\n

His son, John Edward Johnson, told The Chicago Sun-Times that his father died of natural causes. The New York Times, citing Johnson’s second wife, Madeline Murphy Rabb, reported the cause as a respiratory illness.

\n\n\n\n

“George was a visionary business leader who built a hair care empire, broke barriers on Wall Street, and helped fuel the fight for civil rights,” his family said in a statement. “Above all, he was a devoted family man whose example inspired generations.”

\n\n\n\n

Johnson founded Johnson Products in 1954 with his first wife, Joan Johnson, on Chicago’s South Side. Within six years, the company controlled nearly 80% of the Black hair care market. In 1971, it became the first Black-owned company listed on the American Stock Exchange, now NYSE American.

\n\n\n\n

George was a visionary business leader who built a hair care empire, broke barriers on Wall Street, and helped fuel the fight for civil rights.

Statement, Family of george e. johnson
\n\n\n\n

Though his business made him a very wealthy man, Johnson’s accomplishment was arguably more meaningful for Black America. In building an empire on curl kits and jars of conditioner, he also helped a generation see itself as beautiful.

\n\n\n\n

For the first time, Black consumers could walk into a beauty supply store, open a magazine or turn on a TV and see attractive, well-groomed people who looked like them — styled by a company a Black man had created from scratch.

\n\n\n\n

Small Investment, Big Payoff

\n\n\n\n

Johnson’s millions later bankrolled “Soul Train,” making him the show’s exclusive sponsor. The cash infusion helped the show’s founder, Chicago deejay Don Cornelius, turn it into appointment viewing for Black households across the country.

\n\n\n\n

Born in 1927 in Richton, Mississippi, Johnson moved to Chicago as a child with his mother, Priscilla Johnson Howard, and his brothers. Growing up poor on the South Side, Johnson shined shoes, hawked newspapers, and worked as a waiter before dropping out of high school to sell cosmetics door-to-door for Fuller Products, an earlier Black-owned beauty company. 

\n\n\n\n

There, Johnson came upon the idea that would make him a fortune: a barber’s concept for a safer hair straightener that his employer had turned down. Working with chemist Herbert Martini, Johnson developed the formula himself, then set out on his own.

\n\n\n\n

The origin story he told for decades — and later wrote into his 2025 memoir, “Afro Sheen: How I Revolutionized an Industry With the Golden Rule, From ‘Soul Train’ to Wall Street” — involved a white loan officer who wouldn’t give him money for a business but approved $250 when Johnson said it was for a family vacation.

\n\n\n\n

Changing Times and Tastes

\n\n\n\n

Though it cornered the Black beauty market for decades, Johnson’s business struggled in recent years.

\n\n\n\n

Johnson Products Co.’s dominance gradually waned as cosmetics giants, including Revlon, saw its success and elbowed their way into a market that the Chicago entrepreneur had essentially all to himself. Meanwhile, as Afros, relaxers, and Jheri curls gave way to locs, box braids, and natural hairstyles, many of Johnson’s products fell out of favor with Black consumers.

\n\n\n\n

After George and Joan Johnson divorced, ownership of the business changed hands several times before a Black-led investment group acquired it from the global conglomerate Procter & Gamble in 2009.

\n\n\n\n

Joan Johnson died in 2019. George Johnson is survived by his wife, Madeline Murphy Rabb; his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

\n

The post George E. Johnson Changed Black Beauty — and Black History appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/07/george-e-johnson-changed-black-beauty-and-black-history/","site":"Joseph Williams","originalAuthor":"Joseph Williams","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["R.I.P."],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-07-07T22:45:42.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2245686907.jpg?fit=594%2C396&ssl=1","type":"image/jpeg"},"createdAt":"2026-07-07T22:58:49.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2245686907.jpg?fit=594%2C396&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"3gHUxSiI4S2kepnj","title":"Black Women’s Next Breakthrough Starts With One Another","description":"My father, who was an entrepreneur, taught me confidence, self-efficacy, and determination. He believed that if you wanted something, you had to assert yourself. Ask for the moon, he said, and if the answer was no, work your way down. Never start low and expect to work your way up. It proved to be good advice. WATCH NOW: Laid Off and Locked Out–But Black Women Aren’t Waiting for Rescue Grateful as I am for his wisdom, my career trajectory might have been very different if an experienced colleague had spotted my potential and nurtured it. Having a mentor would have made a meaningful difference. And right now, perhaps more than at any time in recent history, Black women need the steady guidance, insight, and wise counsel a mentor can provide. Disturbing Trends Across the country, diversity programs are under attack. Commitment to women’s advancement is declining. Companies are scaling back or eliminating anti-bias training. For the first time in more than a decade, Lean In’s Women in the Workplace 2025 report found that women are significantly less likely than men to want a promotion at work. The message is clear: We can’t rely on government programs or corporate enlightenment to see us. If women, and Black women in particular, hope to preserve the gains we’ve made, it’s up to us to help one another. I may never have had a mentor in any official sense. But I’ve benefitted from others’ advice. Like the friend I met regularly for breakfast. Or the leadership coach who recognized that I was always racing to a finish line. That sense of urgency works — sometimes. But when it comes to personal development, my coach advised that it’s an ongoing journey. If you have a finish-line mindset, you end up underestimating yourself. It took someone from the outside to help me see that. Mentors can teach us to view our careers from the balcony, where it’s easier to see the patterns that hold us back — and the changes we must make to move forward. I tell young women they must be open to seeking and receiving guidance. Don’t make it hard for people to help you. Invite honest feedback. Self-confidence is important, but being self-reflective is, too. Figure out who you are when nobody’s looking and focus on what you need to flourish. It can help you identify a mentor who can get you to the next level. Many of us are capable and brilliant, but it’s easy to be in our own way. Mentors can teach us to view our careers from the balcony, where it’s easier to see the patterns that hold us back — and the changes we must make to move forward. Helping Other Women Advance Being a mentor doesn’t take special talent, require a course, or even a massive time commitment. All that’s needed is a desire to be of service. In our patriarchal society, women don’t have a great track record of helping one another. That is why we must be very deliberate in our efforts to help the advancement of other women. The best mentors don’t enter a relationship assuming they know anything about the person they’re helping. Instead, they listen. They ask their mentees what they believe are the solution to a problem, then — and only then — offer advice. It’s also important for mentors to let go of any preconceptions or stereotypes they might carry. For example, some people still tell me that I’m “so articulate,” or “so well spoken..” It’s as insulting now as it was when I was a child. Yet those kind of statements reveal so much more about the speaker than they realize. Expectations vs. Hope We all need help to get to where we want to be. Assistance in expanding our vision for what is possible for ourselves, our families and our communities is vital. Some of us are comfortable asking for assistance; others are lucky to have someone spot their potential and offer to help develop it. We all need to be mentoring when the time and opportunity allow. RELATED: The Reality of Being One of 600,000 Black Women Out of Work My father said one other thing that has stayed with me: “White children are born with expectations, and Black children are born with hope. I raised you and your sister with expectations.” He added that whatever I do, always work to turn hope into expectation for those you encounter. I’m committed to helping women grow and prosper as leaders, especially young Black women. It makes a difference. Deidre Johnson is co-CEO and executive director of the Center for African American Health, a community-based organization dedicated to improving the health and well-being of African Americans in Denver. The post Black Women’s Next Breakthrough Starts With One Another appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"As
\n

My father, who was an entrepreneur, taught me confidence, self-efficacy, and determination. He believed that if you wanted something, you had to assert yourself. Ask for the moon, he said, and if the answer was no, work your way down. Never start low and expect to work your way up. 

\n\n\n\n

It proved to be good advice. 

\n\n\n\n

WATCH NOW: Laid Off and Locked Out–But Black Women Aren’t Waiting for Rescue

\n\n\n\n

Grateful as I am for his wisdom, my career trajectory might have been very different if an experienced colleague had spotted my potential and nurtured it. Having a mentor would have made a meaningful difference. And right now, perhaps more than at any time in recent history, Black women need the steady guidance, insight, and wise counsel a mentor can provide.

\n\n\n\n

Disturbing Trends

\n\n\n\n

Across the country, diversity programs are under attack. Commitment to women’s advancement is declining. Companies are scaling back or eliminating anti-bias training. For the first time in more than a decade, Lean In’s Women in the Workplace 2025 report found that women are significantly less likely than men to want a promotion at work.

\n\n\n\n

The message is clear: We can’t rely on government programs or corporate enlightenment to see us. If women, and Black women in particular, hope to preserve the gains we’ve made, it’s up to us to help one another. 

\n\n\n\n

I may never have had a mentor in any official sense. But I’ve benefitted from others’ advice. Like the friend I met regularly for breakfast. Or the leadership coach who recognized that I was always racing to a finish line. That sense of urgency works — sometimes.

\n\n\n\n

But when it comes to personal development, my coach advised that it’s an ongoing journey. If you have a finish-line mindset, you end up underestimating yourself.  It took someone from the outside to help me see that. 

\n\n\n\n

Mentors can teach us to view our careers from the balcony, where it’s easier to see the patterns that hold us back — and the changes we must make to move forward.

\n\n\n\n

I tell young women they must be open to seeking and receiving guidance. Don’t make it hard for people to help you. Invite honest feedback. Self-confidence is important, but being self-reflective is, too. Figure out who you are when nobody’s looking and focus on what you need to flourish. It can help you identify a mentor who can get you to the next level. 

\n\n\n\n

Many of us are capable and brilliant, but it’s easy to be in our own way. Mentors can teach us to view our careers from the balcony, where it’s easier to see the patterns that hold us back — and the changes we must make to move forward. 

\n\n\n\n

Helping Other Women Advance

\n\n\n\n

Being a mentor doesn’t take special talent, require a course, or even a massive time commitment. All that’s needed is a desire to be of service. 

\n\n\n\n

In our patriarchal society, women don’t have a great track record of helping one another. That is why we must be very deliberate in our efforts to help the advancement of other women.

\n\n\n\n

The best mentors don’t enter a relationship assuming they know anything about the person they’re helping. Instead, they listen. They ask their mentees what they believe are the solution to a problem, then — and only then — offer advice.

\n\n\n\n

It’s also important for mentors to let go of any preconceptions or stereotypes they might carry. For example, some people still tell me that I’m “so articulate,” or “so well spoken..” It’s as insulting now as it was when I was a child. Yet those kind of statements reveal so much more about the speaker than they realize.

\n\n\n\n

Expectations vs. Hope

\n\n\n\n

We all need help to get to where we want to be. Assistance in expanding our vision for what is possible for ourselves, our families and our communities is vital. Some of us are comfortable asking for assistance; others are lucky to have someone spot their potential and offer to help develop it. 

\n\n\n\n

We all need to be mentoring when the time and opportunity allow. 

\n\n\n\n

RELATED: The Reality of Being One of 600,000 Black Women Out of Work

\n\n\n\n

My father said one other thing that has stayed with me: “White children are born with expectations, and Black children are born with hope. I raised you and your sister with expectations.” He added that whatever I do, always work to turn hope into expectation for those you encounter. 

\n\n\n\n

I’m committed to helping women grow and prosper as leaders, especially young Black women. It makes a difference.

\n\n\n
\n
\"\"
\n
\n\n\n

Deidre Johnson is co-CEO and executive director of the Center for African American Health, a community-based organization dedicated to improving the health and well-being of African Americans in Denver.

\n\n\n\n

\n

The post Black Women’s Next Breakthrough Starts With One Another appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/07/black-womens-breakthrough-starts-with-one-another/","site":"Deidre Johnson","originalAuthor":"Deidre Johnson","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Black women","Opinion"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-07-07T21:21:42.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2188035553.jpg?fit=814%2C429&ssl=1","type":"image/jpeg"},"createdAt":"2026-07-07T21:29:50.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2188035553.jpg?fit=814%2C429&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"s6MeFlNx5Qs6obdD","title":"A Metro Car Photo Became a Portrait of Trump’s America","description":"The most revealing image of America’s 250th birthday celebration wasn’t the fireworks bursting over the National Mall, colonial reenactors in Boston, or the military flyovers that filled Washington, D.C.’s skies. It was a Reuters photo, shot by Cheney Orr, of a lone Black woman on public transportation. Riding the Metro, Washington’s subway system, the as-yet-unidentified woman, in a green T-shirt, was sitting in a train car crowded with nearly a dozen identically dressed white men wearing khakis, navy shirts, baseball caps, sunglasses, and face masks. RELATED: The Long War Against Michelle Obama’s Womanhood With members of the white supremacist group Patriot Front filling the train car around her, she stared ahead, her expression frozen somewhere on a grid between practiced indifference, quiet calculation, anger, and fear. View this post on Instagram The image Orr captured raced around social media because millions of Americans saw it and instantly understood what they were looking at: a hate group out in public, retelling an old American story about Black trauma, in modern costume. Echoes of History For Black Americans, the photograph was painfully familiar. It echoed the images of Elizabeth Eckford, a Black teenager, hounded by an angry white mob in Little Rock, and Ruby Bridges, a Black child, walking past screaming segregationists into a New Orleans elementary school. Uncut racism against Black women and girls, on full display. Now, we have a photo of a Black woman juxtaposed against looming masked white nationalists, as if a century of American racial history had folded in on itself. From the Ku Klux Klan to the White Citizens Council to the Proud Boys, every generation has produced its own version of organized white intimidation. The uniforms change. The slogans evolve. The technology improves. But the underlying message, plainly and unequivocally told by white men, remains remarkably consistent: We belong here. You are merely tolerated. Hiding in Plain Sight Patriot Front wraps itself in the language of patriotism while promoting its white nationalist vision of America. Members marched through Washington carrying American and Confederate imagery beneath chants of “Reclaim America,” presenting themselves as defenders of the nation’s founding ideals — even as their movement traces its roots to the aftermath of the fatal 2017 Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally. Perhaps the most striking detail wasn’t what they carried or chanted. It was what they hid. America’s original patriots signed their names. The Klan hid beneath hoods. Patriot Front wraps itself in the flag while hiding behind masks. Every face concealed, every distinguishing feature erased. Every member rendered indistinguishable from the next. It is unsettling, by design, and is not a new tradition in America. The Klan understood more than a century ago that anonymity is its own weapon. White robes and pointed hoods, while theatrical, protected identities, denied victims the ability to identify attackers and insulated participants from social and legal accountability. The masks transformed ordinary men into an anonymous mob. Terror Without Consequence History remembers those tactics well. In the 1920s, tens of thousands of robed, hooded Klansmen marched openly through Washington, D.C., demonstrating that white supremacy was not a small cadre confined to Southern back roads but a political movement comfortably at home in the nation’s capital. Masked “night riders” menaced rural Black communities in the South under cover of darkness to instill terror without consequence. A century later, the wardrobe has changed, from white robes to tactical khakis. The strategy has not. Patriot Front claims it represents courage, tradition, and American patriotism. Yet it is difficult to square that claim with the effort its members make to avoid being recognized. And their appearance on July 4 in a subway car headed to the National Mall is a contradiction that’s impossible to ignore. The men who signed the Declaration of Independence pledged, in their words, “our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.” Whatever else history says about them, they publicly attached their names to beliefs they considered worth dying for. Patriot Front members invoke the founders while refusing to identify themselves. If they believe their cause is righteous — that it represents the true America — why the masks? Unsettling Image It’s because they know that openly embracing white supremacy carries consequences. Employers notice. So do neighbors, friends, family. So the white men in matching outfits hide behind the symbolism of public strength without accepting the personal cost of public conviction. That tension is part of what makes the Metro photograph so unsettling. The woman at its center did not choose to become a symbol; she simply wanted to get somewhere on the subway. The millions of people who saw her recognized her discomfort. But Black Americans understood the emotional arithmetic written on her face: if you’re outnumbered and perceive danger, stay calm, avoid attention, get home safely. LEARN MORE: The Klan Ran His Family Out. Now This Mostly White City Honors Malcolm X The photo compresses centuries of the Black experience into a single subway car. One Black woman sits alone while a movement that claims to love America conceals its identity. The Metro photograph is unsettling because it reveals insecurity masquerading as strength. America’s original patriots signed their names. The Klan hid beneath hoods. Patriot Front wraps itself in the flag while hiding behind masks. For all its talk of reclaiming America, its members seem unwilling to claim their own beliefs. The post A Metro Car Photo Became a Portrait of Trump’s America appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"While
\n

The most revealing image of America’s 250th birthday celebration wasn’t the fireworks bursting over the National Mall, colonial reenactors in Boston, or the military flyovers that filled Washington, D.C.’s skies. It was a Reuters photo, shot by Cheney Orr, of a lone Black woman on public transportation.

\n\n\n\n

Riding the Metro, Washington’s subway system, the as-yet-unidentified woman, in a green T-shirt, was sitting in a train car crowded with nearly a dozen identically dressed white men wearing khakis, navy shirts, baseball caps, sunglasses, and face masks.

\n\n\n\n

RELATED: The Long War Against Michelle Obama’s Womanhood

\n\n\n\n

With members of the white supremacist group Patriot Front filling the train car around her, she stared ahead, her expression frozen somewhere on a grid between practiced indifference, quiet calculation, anger, and fear.

\n\n\n\n
\n
View this post on Instagram
\n
\n\n\n\n

The image Orr captured raced around social media because millions of Americans saw it and instantly understood what they were looking at: a hate group out in public, retelling an old American story about Black trauma, in modern costume.

\n\n\n\n

Echoes of History

\n\n\n\n

For Black Americans, the photograph was painfully familiar.

\n\n\n\n

It echoed the images of Elizabeth Eckford, a Black teenager, hounded by an angry white mob in Little Rock, and Ruby Bridges, a Black child, walking past screaming segregationists into a New Orleans elementary school. Uncut racism against Black women and girls, on full display.

\n\n\n\n

Now, we have a photo of a Black woman juxtaposed against looming masked white nationalists, as if a century of American racial history had folded in on itself.

\n\n\n\n

From the Ku Klux Klan to the White Citizens Council to the Proud Boys, every generation has produced its own version of organized white intimidation. The uniforms change. The slogans evolve. The technology improves. But the underlying message, plainly and unequivocally told by white men, remains remarkably consistent: We belong here. You are merely tolerated.

\n\n\n\n

Hiding in Plain Sight

\n\n\n\n

Patriot Front wraps itself in the language of patriotism while promoting its white nationalist vision of America. Members marched through Washington carrying American and Confederate imagery beneath chants of “Reclaim America,” presenting themselves as defenders of the nation’s founding ideals — even as their movement traces its roots to the aftermath of the fatal 2017 Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally.

\n\n\n\n

Perhaps the most striking detail wasn’t what they carried or chanted. It was what they hid.

\n\n\n\n

America’s original patriots signed their names. The Klan hid beneath hoods. Patriot Front wraps itself in the flag while hiding behind masks. 

\n\n\n\n

Every face concealed, every distinguishing feature erased. Every member rendered indistinguishable from the next. It is unsettling, by design, and is not a new tradition in America.

\n\n\n\n

The Klan understood more than a century ago that anonymity is its own weapon. White robes and pointed hoods, while theatrical, protected identities, denied victims the ability to identify attackers and insulated participants from social and legal accountability.

\n\n\n\n

The masks transformed ordinary men into an anonymous mob.

\n\n\n\n

Terror Without Consequence

\n\n\n\n

History remembers those tactics well. In the 1920s, tens of thousands of robed, hooded Klansmen marched openly through Washington, D.C., demonstrating that white supremacy was not a small cadre confined to Southern back roads but a political movement comfortably at home in the nation’s capital. Masked “night riders” menaced rural Black communities in the South under cover of darkness to instill terror without consequence.

\n\n\n\n

A century later, the wardrobe has changed, from white robes to tactical khakis. The strategy has not.

\n\n\n\n

Patriot Front claims it represents courage, tradition, and American patriotism. Yet it is difficult to square that claim with the effort its members make to avoid being recognized. And their appearance on July 4 in a subway car headed to the National Mall is a contradiction that’s impossible to ignore.

\n\n\n\n

The men who signed the Declaration of Independence pledged, in their words, “our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.” Whatever else history says about them, they publicly attached their names to beliefs they considered worth dying for.

\n\n\n\n

Patriot Front members invoke the founders while refusing to identify themselves. If they believe their cause is righteous — that it represents the true America —  why the masks?

\n\n\n\n

Unsettling Image

\n\n\n\n

It’s because they know that openly embracing white supremacy carries consequences. Employers notice. So do neighbors, friends, family. So the white men in matching outfits hide behind the symbolism of public strength without accepting the personal cost of public conviction. That tension is part of what makes the Metro photograph so unsettling.

\n\n\n\n

The woman at its center did not choose to become a symbol; she simply wanted to get somewhere on the subway. The millions of people who saw her recognized her discomfort. But Black Americans understood the emotional arithmetic written on her face: if you’re outnumbered and perceive danger, stay calm, avoid attention, get home safely. 

\n\n\n\n

LEARN MORE: The Klan Ran His Family Out. Now This Mostly White City Honors Malcolm X

\n\n\n\n

The photo compresses centuries of the Black experience into a single subway car. One Black woman sits alone while a movement that claims to love America conceals its identity.

\n\n\n\n

The Metro photograph is unsettling because it reveals insecurity masquerading as strength. America’s original patriots signed their names. The Klan hid beneath hoods. Patriot Front wraps itself in the flag while hiding behind masks. 

\n\n\n\n

For all its talk of reclaiming America, its members seem unwilling to claim their own beliefs.

\n

The post A Metro Car Photo Became a Portrait of Trump’s America appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/07/a-metro-car-photo-portrait-of-trumps-america/","site":"Joseph Williams","originalAuthor":"Joseph Williams","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Opinion"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-07-06T22:16:51.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2284620612.jpg?fit=594%2C396&ssl=1","type":"image/jpeg"},"createdAt":"2026-07-06T22:28:08.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2284620612.jpg?fit=594%2C396&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"qzfWlEl4xprwixNO","title":"America 250: Why Crispus Attucks Matters Today","description":"Division is a word that stands in stark contrast to the ideals inherent to the United States of America, but it has become an operative one for Donald Trump and his administration. Even as the nation gathers to celebrate its 250th birthday, we witness an insuperable divide, keenly illustrated in the notion of two differing commemorations. One is “America 250” and the other “Freedom 250.” The latter was initiated by Trump to counter the prior one established by Congress in 2016 as the official, nonpartisan commission and often cited as “America’s Block Party.” In 2025, Trump issued an executive order, thereby creating an arm of his administration‘s Task Force 250. What we have, as one pundit put it, is one birthday and two planners. First to Die for His Country Of course, early on, the country observed that someone else’s birthday was in the mix when Ultimate Fighting Championship events were staged on the South Lawn of the White House on June 14. This was just another blatant example of his egomania, his narcissism that has imperiled us since the inauguration of his second term. We have, in these pages, posted countless critiques of his tyranny of monarchy, and there is so much more to be said as we endure his assault on our democratic rights. The soldiers shot, and five bodies fell. The first to die was a fifty-year-old former slave, either a Black or Indian mulatto sailor named Crispus Attucks.Kenneth C. Davis, author, “Don’t Know Much About History — Everything You Need to Know about American History but Never Learned” Evidence of this occurs daily — the evisceration of the Voting Rights Act, the suspension of the TPS that threatens the deportation of Haitians and Syrians, and at the same time opening our portals to allegedly racially embattled white South Africans, the militarization of our streets with ICE agents, ending the Constitutional guarantees of birthright, an unsanctioned and reckless war with Iran, and ad infinitum. So you have your choice as to which of the two parties to hang your hat, commit your loyalty, and attend. What we are proposing is a third option — let’s celebrate the birthday of Crispus Attucks, the first to fall in the Boston Massacre in 1770. Sailor, Whaler, Patriot There is still debate about his ancestry, whether he was Black, Native American, or a bit of both. To a certain degree, that is inconsequential when you consider he escaped from bondage and ended up among those protesting the presence of British soldiers in Boston. According to the best records, he was born in 1723, predating the Declaration of Independence by 53 years. circa 1770: A speculative portrait of American patriot, Crispus Attucks (circa 1723 – 1770), possibly a runaway slave, who was killed by British troops in the Boston Massacre in 1770, becoming the first American to be killed in the American Revolution. (Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images) Before and after his enslavement, Attucks worked as a sailor and whaler, and sometimes on the docks. One of my favorite accounts of his courage and death was written by historian Kenneth C. Davis in his book, “Don’t Know Much About History — Everything You Need to Know about American History but Never Learned.” “Early in March 1770,” the book reads, “a group of ropemakers fought with a detachment of soldiers who were taking their jobs, and all around Boston, angry encounters between soldiers and citizens became more frequent. Tensions mounted until March 5, where a mob, many of them hard-drinking waterfront workers, confronted a detachment of nine British soldiers” “Confronted by a taunting mob calling for their blood, the soldiers grew…nervous. It only took the word ‘fire,’ and most likely yelled by one of the crowd, to ignite the situation. The soldiers shot, and five bodies fell. The first to die was a fifty-year-old former slave, either a Black or Indian mulatto sailor named Crispus Attucks.” Cries for Justice and Freedom Thus began the Revolutionary War, the subsequent rise of the so-called founding fathers (many of them slave holders), and those hallowed but unfulfilled words of the Declaration of Independence. The call to honor Attucks’ place in the nation’s history gives resonance to the millions of enslaved African Americans, the decimation of Native Americans, and their ongoing cry for justice and total freedom. Added to this cry is the demand for reparations, an end to the electoral college, expansion of the Supreme Court, and erasure of the unitary executive theory, the constitutional law that Article II of the Constitution vests all executive power directly in the president. Already, the current president is invested with far too much unchecked authority. We are not sure of the date of Attucks’s birth, so we have made it July 4, 1776. Let us hope and pray it doesn’t take 250 more years to obtain our meager demands. On that day, we can truly celebrate an undivided United States. The post America 250: Why Crispus Attucks Matters Today appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"As
\n

Division is a word that stands in stark contrast to the ideals inherent to the United States of America, but it has become an operative one for Donald Trump and his administration.

\n\n\n\n

Even as the nation gathers to celebrate its 250th birthday, we witness an insuperable divide, keenly illustrated in the notion of two differing commemorations. One is “America 250” and the other “Freedom 250.”

\n\n\n\n

The latter was initiated by Trump to counter the prior one established by Congress in 2016 as the official, nonpartisan commission and often cited as “America’s Block Party.”

\n\n\n\n

In 2025, Trump issued an executive order, thereby creating an arm of his administration‘s Task Force 250. What we have, as one pundit put it, is one birthday and two planners. 

\n\n\n\n

First to Die for His Country

\n\n\n\n

Of course, early on, the country observed that someone else’s birthday was in the mix when Ultimate Fighting Championship events were staged on the South Lawn of the White House on June 14.

\n\n\n\n

This was just another blatant example of his egomania, his narcissism that has imperiled us since the inauguration of his second term. We have, in these pages, posted countless critiques of his tyranny of monarchy, and there is so much more to be said as we endure his assault on our democratic rights.

\n\n\n\n

The soldiers shot, and five bodies fell. The first to die was a fifty-year-old former slave, either a Black or Indian mulatto sailor named Crispus Attucks.

Kenneth C. Davis, author, “Don’t Know Much About History — Everything You Need to Know about American History but Never Learned”
\n\n\n\n

Evidence of this occurs daily — the evisceration of the Voting Rights Act, the suspension of the TPS that threatens the deportation of Haitians and Syrians, and at the same time opening our portals to allegedly racially embattled white South Africans, the militarization of our streets with ICE agents, ending the Constitutional guarantees of birthright, an unsanctioned and reckless war with Iran, and ad infinitum.

\n\n\n\n

So you have your choice as to which of the two parties to hang your hat, commit your loyalty, and attend. What we are proposing is a third option — let’s celebrate the birthday of Crispus Attucks, the first to fall in the Boston Massacre in 1770.

\n\n\n\n

Sailor, Whaler, Patriot

\n\n\n\n

There is still debate about his ancestry, whether he was Black, Native American, or a bit of both. To a certain degree, that is inconsequential when you consider he escaped from bondage and ended up among those protesting the presence of British soldiers in Boston. According to the best records, he was born in 1723, predating the Declaration of Independence by 53 years.

\n\n\n
\n
\"\"
circa 1770: A speculative portrait of American patriot, Crispus Attucks (circa 1723 – 1770), possibly a runaway slave, who was killed by British troops in the Boston Massacre in 1770, becoming the first American to be killed in the American Revolution. (Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images)
\n
\n\n\n

Before and after his enslavement, Attucks worked as a sailor and whaler, and sometimes on the docks. One of my favorite accounts of his courage and death was written by historian Kenneth C. Davis in his book, “Don’t Know Much About History — Everything You Need to Know about American History but Never Learned.”

\n\n\n\n

“Early in March 1770,” the book reads, “a group of ropemakers fought with a detachment of soldiers who were taking their jobs, and all around Boston, angry encounters between soldiers and citizens became more frequent. Tensions mounted until March 5, where a mob, many of them hard-drinking waterfront workers, confronted a detachment of nine British soldiers”

\n\n\n\n

“Confronted by a taunting mob calling for their blood, the soldiers grew…nervous. It only took the word ‘fire,’ and most likely yelled by one of the crowd, to ignite the situation. The soldiers shot, and five bodies fell. The first to die was a fifty-year-old former slave, either a Black or Indian mulatto sailor named Crispus Attucks.”

\n\n\n\n

Cries for Justice and Freedom

\n\n\n\n

Thus began the Revolutionary War, the subsequent rise of the so-called founding fathers (many of them slave holders), and those hallowed but unfulfilled words of the Declaration of Independence. 

\n\n\n\n

The call to honor Attucks’ place in the nation’s history gives resonance to the millions of enslaved African Americans, the decimation of Native Americans, and their ongoing cry for justice and total freedom.

\n\n\n\n

Added to this cry is the demand for reparations, an end to the electoral college, expansion of the Supreme Court, and erasure of the unitary executive theory, the constitutional law that Article II of the Constitution vests all executive power directly in the president. Already, the current president is invested with far too much unchecked authority.

\n\n\n\n

We are not sure of the date of Attucks’s birth, so we have made it July 4, 1776. Let us hope and pray it doesn’t take 250 more years to obtain our meager demands. On that day, we can truly celebrate an undivided United States.

\n

The post America 250: Why Crispus Attucks Matters Today appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/07/america-250-why-crispus-attucks-matters-today/","site":"New York Amsterdam News","originalAuthor":"New York Amsterdam News","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Opinion"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-07-04T14:55:39.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-463895397.jpg?fit=536%2C594&ssl=1","type":"image/jpeg"},"createdAt":"2026-07-04T15:07:46.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-463895397.jpg?fit=536%2C594&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"YSpaUztJQHFlXwtb","title":"A Year In, Trump’s Spending Cuts Hit Hardest in Black Communities","description":"When President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, into law last July 4, health advocates, academics, and economists warned that the spending legislation — which cut trillions of dollars from Medicaid and food assistance budgets — would force millions of people to forego healthcare, and push millions more to the brink of starvation. The OBBB Act and its anticipated effects were so controversial that Vice President J.D. Vance had to vote to break a 50-50 tie in the Senate for it to pass. A year later, a range of experts say those predictions are coming true. The budget cuts are landing hardest on the low-income Americans who rely on them most — and hitting Black communities with extreme force. The law’s shredding of the health and nutrition safety net is already measurable. Medicaid and enrollment in CHIP, the government-subsidized health insurance program for children, has fallen by 4.6 million people nationwide between April 2025 and March 2026, according to an enrollment tracker by KFF, a public health analysis nonprofit. The marketplace for health insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act has dropped even further, from roughly 22.3 million enrollees in 2025 to as few as 16.5 million this year. Average deductibles on ACA plans have simultaneously climbed 37% to a record $3,786, squeezing the people who’ve managed to hold onto coverage. What’s more, the expiration of the ACA tax credits at the end of 2025 meant many households saw skyrocketing premiums for private, employer-provided medical insurance. RELATED: Up From $480 to $1,500 a Month: Health Insurance Shock Is Here The cuts have hit Black Americans particularly hard because Black households depend on Medicaid, the ACA marketplace and SNAP at higher rates than the general population. Almost 26% of SNAP participants, or approximately 10.2 million people, are Black. Participants receive an average of $187 a month—or just over $6 per day. The strain is also visible in the closure of health infrastructure many Black and low-income communities depend on. More than 1,000 hospitals, clinics and maternity wards have shut down or scaled back services since the law passed, and nearly 30 Planned Parenthood health centers have closed, two-thirds of them in rural or medically underserved areas. Researchers caution that most of the law’s provisions won’t be fully phased in until 2027 and 2028, meaning the full scope of its impact on Black health outcomes is still to come. RELATED: Vanishing Care: GOP Healthcare Cuts Hit Black America Hard The law also cut nearly $187 billion from SNAP funding—the largest reduction in benefits since the program was created. The abrupt rollout of the changes last November led to the nation’s first interruption in food assistance benefits ever. By March, more than 4 million people, or 10% of enrollees, had lost their SNAP benefits and participation has dropped in every state. All but eight states saw declines of 5% or more, 21 states had the number of people getting help to eat fell by at least 10%, and at least 700.000 children nationwide had lost food assistance. U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins recently attributed the steep drop in SNAP participants to the government’s efforts to prevent what it claims is widespread fraud in the program and to an improved U.S. economy.Medicaid Enrollment Already Down 4.6 Million KFF reporting on 2026 ACA marketplace enrollment shows the number of Americans covered fell from about 22.3 million in 2025 to as low as 16.5–17.5 million in 2026, while average deductibles rose 37% to a record $3,786. According to KFF’s Medicaid/CHIP enrollment tracker, national Medicaid/CHIP enrollment fell by 4.6 million people between April 2025 and March 2026, with declines seen in nearly every state. A preview of what nationwide Medicaid work requirements may look like already exists in Georgia, which instituted work requirements in exchange for health care coverage. The state’s Pathways to Coverage work-requirement program enrolled fewer than 7,500 of an estimated 300,000 eligible adults in its first year. The changes forced the state to spend more than $40 million mostly on administrative costs rather than enrollees’ medical care. Meanwhile, the Medicaid cuts have also caused more than 1,000 hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, maternity wards, and healthcare providers to close or reduce services–and some may be forced to do so soon. This is a departure from the program’s intended purpose. In a statement on the OBBB Act’s anniversary, Protect Our Care, a nonprofit advocacy group, pointed out that Trump’s signature legislation goes against the established goals of publicly subsidized health insurance. Since the creation iMedicare and Medicaid, “the broad arc of federal health policy has been toward expanding access to care,” according to the statement. Trump’s signature legislative accomplishment, the statement says, “bends sharply in the opposite direction — representing the biggest cut to the healthcare safety net the country has ever seen.” The Protect Our Care statement also noted that “the first cracks are already showing.” That includes a rural hospital in Georgia that stopped delivering babies, the closure of a Nebraska clinic that served farmers and their families, and a and a hospital outside of Las Vegas that laid off 70 workers and eliminated key services. “All pointed to the looming federal Medicaid cuts as a factor,” according to the statement. statement. The bill also defunded Planned Parenthood, which has caused it to close nearly 30 of its health centers since July 2025. A disproportionately high number of Black women depend on Planned Parenthood for free reproductive healthcare, including breast cancer screenings, contraception and other forms of preventative care. Two out of three of the closed Planned Parenthood health centers were in rural areas, medically underserved areas, or in areas suffering a shortage of primary care health professionals. All of the centers were in counties recognized as “contraceptive deserts.” Since the OBBB Act became law, Planned Parenthood’s distribution of birth control packs has fallen by 25%, visits for breast exams dropped 20% and STI testing declined by 10%. Alexis McGill Johnson, the organization’s president and CEO, said in a statement that by targeting Planned Parenthood in the OBBB Act, Trump and Congressional Republicans “worsened a public health crisis, making it harder for people to get the essential and lifesaving care they needed at their trusted provider.” To cushion the blow, fourteen states committed more than $400 million in emergency funding to replace lost federal funding and cover essential services for Medicaid patients. But states that only partially covered the cost of providing care — or didn’t cover it at all — saw twice as many Planned Parenthood health centers close than states that replaced all of the federal dollars lost. Though the OBBB Act has been in place for a full year, experts say the fallout will continue, since the law’s major provisions are still being phased in. Last year, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that because of the healthcare and food assistance cuts, the nation’s poorest households will see their income fall by $1,200 each year on average, while the wealthiest households will gain about $13,600. Others, like The Commonwealth Fund, a public-interest nonprofit, estimate a harsher impact for households at the bottom of the income bracket. They predict the lowest 10% of earners will lose an average of $1,600 a year due to the cuts. Meanwhile the bill’s tax cuts for the wealthy will increase resources for the highest-earning 10% of households by $12,000. Researchers caution that most of the harshest changes to the health and food assistance programs will happen between 2027 and 2028. So, the full weight of its effect on Black Americans — and on the nation’s health and wealth disparities—won’t be clear for several more years. RELATED: Judge Orders Halt to SNAP’s Ban on Sugary Foods The post A Year In, Trump’s Spending Cuts Hit Hardest in Black Communities appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"\"
\n

When President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, into law last July 4, health advocates, academics, and economists warned that the spending legislation — which cut trillions of dollars from Medicaid and food assistance budgets — would force millions of people to forego healthcare, and push millions more to the brink of starvation.

\n\n\n\n

The OBBB Act and its anticipated effects were so controversial that Vice President J.D. Vance had to vote to break a 50-50 tie in the Senate for it to pass. 

\n\n\n\n

A year later, a range of experts say those predictions are coming true. The budget cuts are landing hardest on the low-income Americans who rely on them most — and hitting Black communities with extreme force.

\n\n\n\n

The law’s shredding of the health and nutrition safety net is already measurable. Medicaid and enrollment in CHIP, the government-subsidized health insurance program for children, has fallen by 4.6 million people nationwide between April 2025 and March 2026, according to an enrollment tracker by KFF, a public health analysis nonprofit. 

\n\n\n\n

The marketplace for health insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act has dropped even further, from roughly 22.3 million enrollees in 2025 to as few as 16.5 million this year. Average deductibles on ACA plans have simultaneously climbed 37% to a record $3,786, squeezing the people who’ve managed to hold onto coverage.

\n\n\n\n

What’s more, the expiration of the ACA tax credits at the end of 2025 meant many households saw skyrocketing premiums for private, employer-provided medical insurance. 

\n\n\n\n

RELATED: Up From $480 to $1,500 a Month: Health Insurance Shock Is Here

\n\n\n\n

The cuts have hit Black Americans particularly hard because Black households depend on Medicaid, the ACA marketplace and SNAP at higher rates than the general population. Almost 26% of SNAP participants, or approximately 10.2 million people, are Black. Participants receive an average of $187 a month—or just over $6 per day. 

\n\n\n\n

The strain is also visible in the closure of health infrastructure many Black and low-income communities depend on. 

\n\n\n\n

More than 1,000 hospitals, clinics and maternity wards have shut down or scaled back services since the law passed, and nearly 30 Planned Parenthood health centers have closed, two-thirds of them in rural or medically underserved areas. Researchers caution that most of the law’s provisions won’t be fully phased in until 2027 and 2028, meaning the full scope of its impact on Black health outcomes is still to come.

\n\n\n\n

RELATED: Vanishing Care: GOP Healthcare Cuts Hit Black America Hard 

\n\n\n\n

The law also cut nearly $187 billion from SNAP funding—the largest reduction in benefits since the program was created. The abrupt rollout of the changes last November led to the nation’s first interruption in food assistance benefits ever. 

\n\n\n\n

By March, more than 4 million people, or 10% of enrollees, had lost their SNAP benefits and participation has dropped in every state. All but eight states saw declines of 5% or more, 21 states had the number of people getting help to eat fell by at least 10%, and at least 700.000 children nationwide had lost food assistance.

\n\n\n\n

U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins recently attributed the steep drop in SNAP participants to the government’s efforts to prevent what it claims is widespread fraud in the program and to an improved U.S. economy.

Medicaid Enrollment Already Down 4.6 Million

\n\n\n\n

KFF reporting on 2026 ACA marketplace enrollment shows the number of Americans covered fell from about 22.3 million in 2025 to as low as 16.5–17.5 million in 2026, while average deductibles rose 37% to a record $3,786. 

\n\n\n\n

According to KFF’s Medicaid/CHIP enrollment tracker, national Medicaid/CHIP enrollment fell by 4.6 million people between April 2025 and March 2026, with declines seen in nearly every state.

\n\n\n\n

A preview of what nationwide Medicaid work requirements may look like already exists in Georgia, which instituted work requirements in exchange for health care coverage. The state’s Pathways to Coverage work-requirement program enrolled fewer than 7,500 of an estimated 300,000 eligible adults in its first year. The changes forced the state to spend more than $40 million mostly on administrative costs rather than enrollees’ medical care.  

\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the Medicaid cuts have also caused more than 1,000 hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, maternity wards, and healthcare providers to close or reduce services–and some may be forced to do so soon.

\n\n\n\n

This is a departure from the program’s intended purpose.

\n\n\n\n

In a statement on the OBBB Act’s anniversary, Protect Our Care, a nonprofit advocacy group, pointed out that Trump’s signature legislation goes against the established goals of publicly subsidized health insurance.

\n\n\n\n

Since the creation iMedicare and Medicaid, “the broad arc of federal health policy has been toward expanding access to care,” according to the statement. Trump’s signature legislative accomplishment, the statement says, “bends sharply in the opposite direction — representing the biggest cut to the healthcare safety net the country has ever seen.”

\n\n\n\n

The Protect Our Care statement also noted that “the first cracks are already showing.” That includes a rural hospital in Georgia that stopped delivering babies, the closure of a Nebraska clinic that served farmers and their families, and a and a hospital outside of Las Vegas that laid off 70 workers and eliminated key services. 

\n\n\n\n

“All pointed to the looming federal Medicaid cuts as a factor,” according to the statement.  statement.

\n\n\n\n

The bill also defunded Planned Parenthood, which has caused it to close nearly 30 of its health centers since July 2025. A disproportionately high number of Black women depend on Planned Parenthood for free reproductive healthcare, including breast cancer screenings, contraception and other forms of preventative care.

\n\n\n\n

Two out of three of the closed Planned Parenthood health centers were in rural areas, medically underserved areas, or in areas suffering a shortage of primary care health professionals. All of the centers were in counties recognized as “contraceptive deserts.” Since the OBBB Act became law, Planned Parenthood’s distribution of birth control packs has fallen by 25%, visits for breast exams dropped 20% and STI testing declined by 10%. 

\n\n\n\n

Alexis McGill Johnson, the organization’s president and CEO, said in a statement that by targeting Planned Parenthood in the OBBB Act, Trump and Congressional Republicans “worsened a public health crisis, making it harder for people to get the essential and lifesaving care they needed at their trusted provider.” 

\n\n\n\n

To cushion the blow, fourteen states committed more than $400 million in emergency funding to replace lost federal funding and cover essential services for Medicaid patients. But states that only partially covered the cost of providing care — or didn’t cover it at all — saw twice as many Planned Parenthood health centers close than states that replaced all of the federal dollars lost. 

\n\n\n\n

Though the OBBB Act has been in place for a full year, experts say the fallout will continue, since the law’s major provisions are still being phased in. Last year, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that because of the healthcare and food assistance cuts, the nation’s poorest households will see their income fall by $1,200 each year on average, while the wealthiest households will gain about $13,600. 

\n\n\n\n

Others, like The Commonwealth Fund, a public-interest nonprofit, estimate a harsher impact for households at the bottom of the income bracket. They predict the lowest 10% of earners will lose an average of $1,600 a year due to the cuts. Meanwhile the bill’s tax cuts for the wealthy will increase resources for the highest-earning 10% of households by $12,000. 

\n\n\n\n

Researchers caution that most of the harshest changes to the health and food assistance programs will happen between 2027 and 2028.  So, the full weight of its effect on Black Americans — and on the nation’s health and wealth disparities—won’t be clear for several more years.

\n\n\n\n

RELATED: Judge Orders Halt to SNAP’s Ban on Sugary Foods 

\n\n\n\n

\n

The post A Year In, Trump’s Spending Cuts Hit Hardest in Black Communities appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/07/a-year-in-trumps-spending-cuts-hit-hardest-in-black-communities/","site":"Jennifer Porter Gore","originalAuthor":"Jennifer Porter Gore","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Health","health","politics"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-07-03T16:16:17.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-OBBBAJeffries.jpg?fit=594%2C396&ssl=1","type":"image/jpeg"},"createdAt":"2026-07-03T16:32:43.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-OBBBAJeffries.jpg?fit=594%2C396&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"qul9oMGSWwd1yS4P","title":"Extreme Heat Is Not an Equal-Opportunity Killer","description":"It wasn’t extremely hot when Shauna Thomas’ electricity was shut off in early June last year after she fell behind on her bills. In St. Ann, Missouri, the small city just north of Saint Louis, where Thomas lived, it was 88 degrees that day. But in the weeks that followed, the temperature skyrocketed as a heat dome weather system settled over a large swath of the eastern half of the country, including Missouri. On the day Thomas, 55, was found dead in her sweltering apartment, the temperature hit 96 degrees, and the heat index was well over 100. RELATED: Extreme Heat, Redlining, and Neglect In Dallas, a week earlier, the temperature was in the 90s as Jacob Taylor, 28, and a veteran letter carrier, delivered mail in one of the US Postal Service’s older mail trucks that lacked air conditioning. He never made it home from his shift. “I was told that a customer saw him entering his mail together to make deliveries, all of a sudden, collapsed,” Kimetra Lewis of the Dallas Union for Letter Carriers said. Taylor died later that day. He was only 55. Heat Is a Killer — and Victims Are Often Black Extreme heat can be fatal, but it’s not always easy to see it as such. While high temperatures are the deadliest form of extreme weather, deaths from extreme heat are difficult to identify and are frequently misattributed to other causes. But as temperatures soar due to climate change, a growing number of heat-related deaths are gaining attention from researchers and the media. And, like Thomas and Taylor, the victims are often Black. In 2024, inmate Adrienne Boulware died in the Central California Women’s Facility when the temperature in Chowchilla hit 110 degrees. In 2023, Eugene Gates, another Dallas letter carrier, died while working his Dallas route during a heatwave. A 2025 Center for American Progress report put it plainly: “Those who are most vulnerable to heat-related health effects include working-class, low-income, and majority Black or Latino communities, as well as people with disabilities and chronic illnesses, people who are pregnant, people who work or exercise outside, older adults, and young children.” There were more than 21,000 heat-related deaths in the U.S. between 1999 and 2023, according to CAP, with the number of deaths per year steadily rising since 2016. Thomas, the resident whose electricity was cut off, and Taylor, the letter carrier, fell victim to broader issues that turn dangerous heat into deadly heat: a rapidly warming climate triggering extreme weather events, a lack of air conditioning, and outdoor work. Changing Laws It was reported that Thomas had preexisting health issues before the heat wave, but officials concluded high temperatures and lack of air conditioning were factors in her death, if not the outright cause of it. Had the heat hit a few days earlier, or had state laws been a little different, her air conditioning might have been available to her when she needed it most. There’s no provision for turning power back on when it gets dangerously hot. Missouri has what’s called the Hot Weather Law, which bars utilities from shutting off electric or natural gas service when the temperature is forecast to reach at least 95 degrees or when the heat index reaches 105 degrees or higher. The law is in effect between June 1 and September 30 every year. While Thomas’ electricity was shut off after the Hot Weather Law took effect for the year, the temperature was below the 95-degree threshold. There’s no provision for turning power back on when it gets dangerously hot. “We are saddened to learn about the passing of one of our customers,” a spokesperson from Ameren Missouri, the electric utility in St. Ann, said in a statement. “While we cannot share specific customer account details due to privacy considerations, our thoughts are with the individual’s family and friends.” Incompatibile With the Climate Crisis For delivery drivers, the problem of extreme heat is twofold. Besides the outdoor portion of the work, they often drive for hours on end in vehicles that, more often than not, lack air conditioning. The classic USPS mail truck is officially called a Grumman Long-Life Vehicle, and the postal service built up its fleet of these utilitarian trucks over the course of a decade starting in 1987. While many have surpassed their expected 25-year lifespan, in many ways, they’re incompatible with the climate crisis era. “The only form of cooling in the USPS’s old Grumman LLV mail trucks…was a hilariously small fan or opening the side doors and driving as fast as possible,” according to Car and Driver. Without A/C, the temperature inside the mail trucks can exceed outdoor temperatures on hot, sunny days, which can quickly become dangerous. The Postal Service is updating its fleet, replacing LLVs with air-conditioned Next Generation Delivery Vehicles. The majority of the trucks will be all-electric too. But the process will take time, and summers are only getting hotter. The post Extreme Heat Is Not an Equal-Opportunity Killer appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
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It wasn’t extremely hot when Shauna Thomas’ electricity was shut off in early June last year after she fell behind on her bills. In St. Ann, Missouri, the small city just north of Saint Louis, where Thomas lived, it was 88 degrees that day.

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But in the weeks that followed, the temperature skyrocketed as a heat dome weather system settled over a large swath of the eastern half of the country, including Missouri.

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On the day Thomas, 55, was found dead in her sweltering apartment, the temperature hit 96 degrees, and the heat index was well over 100.

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RELATED: Extreme Heat, Redlining, and Neglect

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In Dallas, a week earlier, the temperature was in the 90s as Jacob Taylor, 28, and a veteran letter carrier, delivered mail in one of the US Postal Service’s older mail trucks that lacked air conditioning. He never made it home from his shift.

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“I was told that a customer saw him entering his mail together to make deliveries, all of a sudden, collapsed,” Kimetra Lewis of the Dallas Union for Letter Carriers said. Taylor died later that day. He was only 55.

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Heat Is a Killer — and Victims Are Often Black

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Extreme heat can be fatal, but it’s not always easy to see it as such. While high temperatures are the deadliest form of extreme weather, deaths from extreme heat are difficult to identify and are frequently misattributed to other causes.

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But as temperatures soar due to climate change, a growing number of heat-related deaths are gaining attention from researchers and the media. And, like Thomas and Taylor, the victims are often Black.

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In 2024, inmate Adrienne Boulware died in the Central California Women’s Facility when the temperature in Chowchilla hit 110 degrees. In 2023, Eugene Gates, another Dallas letter carrier, died while working his Dallas route during a heatwave. 

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A 2025 Center for American Progress report put it plainly: “Those who are most vulnerable to heat-related health effects include working-class, low-income, and majority Black or Latino communities, as well as people with disabilities and chronic illnesses, people who are pregnant, people who work or exercise outside, older adults, and young children.”

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There were more than 21,000 heat-related deaths in the U.S. between 1999 and 2023, according to CAP, with the number of deaths per year steadily rising since 2016. 

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Thomas, the resident whose electricity was cut off, and Taylor, the letter carrier, fell victim to broader issues that turn dangerous heat into deadly heat: a rapidly warming climate triggering extreme weather events, a lack of air conditioning, and outdoor work.

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Changing Laws

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It was reported that Thomas had preexisting health issues before the heat wave, but officials concluded high temperatures and lack of air conditioning were factors in her death, if not the outright cause of it. Had the heat hit a few days earlier, or had state laws been a little different, her air conditioning might have been available to her when she needed it most. 

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There’s no provision for turning power back on when it gets dangerously hot.

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Missouri has what’s called the Hot Weather Law, which bars utilities from shutting off electric or natural gas service when the temperature is forecast to reach at least 95 degrees or when the heat index reaches 105 degrees or higher. The law is in effect between June 1 and September 30 every year.

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While Thomas’ electricity was shut off after the Hot Weather Law took effect for the year, the temperature was below the 95-degree threshold. There’s no provision for turning power back on when it gets dangerously hot.

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“We are saddened to learn about the passing of one of our customers,” a spokesperson from Ameren Missouri, the electric utility in St. Ann, said in a statement. “While we cannot share specific customer account details due to privacy considerations, our thoughts are with the individual’s family and friends.”

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Incompatibile With the Climate Crisis

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For delivery drivers, the problem of extreme heat is twofold. Besides the outdoor portion of the work, they often drive for hours on end in vehicles that, more often than not, lack air conditioning.

\n\n\n\n

The classic USPS mail truck is officially called a Grumman Long-Life Vehicle, and the postal service built up its fleet of these utilitarian trucks over the course of a decade starting in 1987. While many have surpassed their expected 25-year lifespan, in many ways, they’re incompatible with the climate crisis era.

\n\n\n\n

“The only form of cooling in the USPS’s old Grumman LLV mail trucks…was a hilariously small fan or opening the side doors and driving as fast as possible,” according to Car and Driver. 

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Without A/C, the temperature inside the mail trucks can exceed outdoor temperatures on hot, sunny days, which can quickly become dangerous. The Postal Service is updating its fleet, replacing LLVs with air-conditioned Next Generation Delivery Vehicles. The majority of the trucks will be all-electric too. 

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But the process will take time, and summers are only getting hotter.

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The post Extreme Heat Is Not an Equal-Opportunity Killer appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/07/extreme-heat-is-not-an-equal-opportunity-killer/","site":"Willy Blackmore","originalAuthor":"Willy Blackmore","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Climate Justice","extreme heat"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-07-02T15:05:34.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/GettyImages-2221231052.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1","type":"image/jpeg"},"createdAt":"2026-07-02T15:14:43.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/GettyImages-2221231052.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"5bhL0q53FvWT7bJC","title":"DOJ Defends xAI in Lawsuit Over Memphis Power Plant","description":"In the legal battle between the NAACP and Elon Musk over gas turbines powering Musk’s AI data centers — and polluting the air in greater Memphis — the billionaire industrialist has a new ally: the Trump administration’s Department of Justice. In an unprecedented move, the DOJ has asked a federal judge to throw out the NAACP’s lawsuit against xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence company, over Clean Air Act violations in Southaven, Mississippi. It argues that the federal government alone should have the power to decide if and when federal laws are enforced. LEARN MORE: Elon Musk Expands AI Plant Accused of Polluting Black Areas The Justice Department further argues that Grok — the xAI chatbot powered in part by the turbines in question — is vital to national security. Black Communities Harmed The NAACP sued Musk’s company for using 59 natural gas turbines without a permit in Southaven, which is just across the state line from Memphis. The turbines help power xAI’s Memphis supercomputers, which run Grok. Both Southaven and Boxtown, the Memphis neighborhood that sits alongside the Grok facility, are predominantly Black communities. Boxtown in particular was founded by freedmen in 1863 following the Emancipation Proclamation. The NAACP, along with the Southern Environmental Law Center and Earthjustice, calls the DOJ response deeply troubling. “In my experience, I have never known the government to intervene on behalf of the defendant to argue that enforcement shouldn’t happen at all,” Laura Thoms of Earthjustice told Mother Jones. Thoms formerly worked for the Department of Justice. Chronic Air Problems The greater Memphis area has long had significant air quality problems. In its annual rankings, the American Lung Association gave the surrounding counties of the city failing grades for smog. The turbines in Southaven, meanwhile, can produce up to 5,300 tons of smog-forming nitrogen oxide annually, ranking the power plant among the leading emitters of the pollutant in the entire country. In my experience, I have never known the government to intervene on behalf of the defendant to argue that enforcement shouldn’t happen at all.Laura Thoms, Earthjustice The Trump administration’s official stance, as represented by the Justice Department filings, is that the pollution that violates the Clean Air Act should be allowed to continue, essentially because they want it to. “The NAACP may not pursue this Clean Air Act enforcement action over the United States’ objection,” the DOJ wrote in its request for dismissal of the case. National Security By pursuing the lawsuit, it states, “the NAACP threatens American national, economic, and energy security by seeking to shut off the power supply for artificial intelligence innovation that supports the Department of War’s military operations.” The Trump Administration used a specialized version of Grok during the Iran War. In a sworn affidavit, Cameron Stanley, the Defense Department’s chief digital and artificial intelligence officer, wrote that the chatbot “enabled U.S. forces to deploy over 2,000 munitions to 2,000 distinct targets within 96 hours” during the war. The judge overseeing the lawsuit against xAI has yet to respond to the DOJ request, but the NAACP is confident the case will move ahead. “Laws like the Clean Air Act are a bedrock insurance policy for communities to hold polluters accountable for decisions that cause them harm,” Abre’ Conner, the NAACP’s director of environmental and climate justice, said in a press release. “This should not be up for debate, and the NAACP will continue to stand up for democracy and against federal bullying and authoritarianism.” The post DOJ Defends xAI in Lawsuit Over Memphis Power Plant appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
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In the legal battle between the NAACP and Elon Musk over gas turbines powering Musk’s AI data centers — and polluting the air in greater Memphis — the billionaire industrialist has a new ally: the Trump administration’s Department of Justice. 

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In an unprecedented move, the DOJ has asked a federal judge to throw out the NAACP’s lawsuit against xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence company, over Clean Air Act violations in Southaven, Mississippi. It argues that the federal government alone should have the power to decide if and when federal laws are enforced. 

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LEARN MORE: Elon Musk Expands AI Plant Accused of Polluting Black Areas

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The Justice Department further argues that Grok — the xAI chatbot powered in part by the turbines in question — is vital to national security.

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Black Communities Harmed

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The NAACP sued Musk’s company for using 59 natural gas turbines without a permit in Southaven, which is just across the state line from Memphis. The turbines help power xAI’s Memphis supercomputers, which run Grok. 

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Both Southaven and Boxtown, the Memphis neighborhood that sits alongside the Grok facility, are predominantly Black communities. Boxtown in particular was founded by freedmen in 1863 following the Emancipation Proclamation. 

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The NAACP, along with the Southern Environmental Law Center and Earthjustice, calls the DOJ response deeply troubling.  

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“In my experience, I have never known the government to intervene on behalf of the defendant to argue that enforcement shouldn’t happen at all,” Laura Thoms of Earthjustice told Mother Jones. Thoms formerly worked for the Department of Justice.

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Chronic Air Problems

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The greater Memphis area has long had significant air quality problems. In its annual rankings, the American Lung Association gave the surrounding counties of the city failing grades for smog. The turbines in Southaven, meanwhile, can produce up to 5,300 tons of smog-forming nitrogen oxide annually, ranking the power plant among the leading emitters of the pollutant in the entire country. 

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In my experience, I have never known the government to intervene on behalf of the defendant to argue that enforcement shouldn’t happen at all.

Laura Thoms, Earthjustice
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The Trump administration’s official stance, as represented by the Justice Department filings, is that the pollution that violates the Clean Air Act should be allowed to continue, essentially because they want it to. 

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“The NAACP may not pursue this Clean Air Act enforcement action over the United States’ objection,” the DOJ wrote in its request for dismissal of the case. 

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National Security

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By pursuing the lawsuit, it states, “the NAACP threatens American national, economic, and energy security by seeking to shut off the power supply for artificial intelligence innovation that supports the Department of War’s military operations.” 

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The Trump Administration used a specialized version of Grok during the Iran War. 

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In a sworn affidavit, Cameron Stanley, the Defense Department’s chief digital and artificial intelligence officer, wrote that the chatbot “enabled U.S. forces to deploy over 2,000 munitions to 2,000 distinct targets within 96 hours” during the war.

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The judge overseeing the lawsuit against xAI has yet to respond to the DOJ request, but the NAACP is confident the case will move ahead.

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“Laws like the Clean Air Act are a bedrock insurance policy for communities to hold polluters accountable for decisions that cause them harm,” Abre’ Conner, the NAACP’s director of environmental and climate justice, said in a press release. “This should not be up for debate, and the NAACP will continue to stand up for democracy and against federal bullying and authoritarianism.” 

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The post DOJ Defends xAI in Lawsuit Over Memphis Power Plant appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/07/doj-defends-xai-in-lawsuit-over-memphis-power-plant/","site":"Willy Blackmore","originalAuthor":"Willy Blackmore","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Climate Justice","climate justice"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-07-01T20:08:44.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2243569108.jpg?fit=594%2C396&ssl=1","type":"image/jpeg"},"createdAt":"2026-07-01T20:16:36.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2243569108.jpg?fit=594%2C396&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"KkI2o3J84VLfTwO2","title":"Trump’s Student Loan Caps Could Cut Black Healthcare Workers","description":"By Lauren Sausser Benjamin Pinckney, 46, has dreamed of becoming a physician assistant since just after his 20th birthday. He had been targeted by a drive-by shooter in Jacksonville, Florida, and hospitalized with two gunshot wounds. During his weeklong hospitalization, he said, a physician assistant changed the course of his life by visiting his hospital bed each day and warning him that Black men like him, with gunshot wounds, often end up paralyzed — or worse. LEARN MORE: The Student Loan Crisis Is About to Get Worse “I used to run the streets, you know, on the wrong sides of the track,” Pinckney said. “He made me promise that I would never come into his ER that way again. That was the last conversation we had, right before I was discharged.” His goal since then has been to become a physician assistant. Pinckney, who spent most of his career working for New York City’s Department of Sanitation and as an Army Reserve medic, recently took a step toward achieving it. In May, he graduated with departmental honors from Lehman College with a Bachelor of Science degree. After moving from New York to Prince George’s County, Maryland, he’d planned on applying for physician assistant school this year. But now, he’s worried his dream may be thwarted by new student loan rules. Caps Fall Short Starting July 1, the amount of money graduate students will be allowed to borrow from the federal government will be capped. The new student loan limits are part of the GOP’s tax-and-spending legislation known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law last year. The caps are intended to curb the cost of higher education and student loan debt, according to the Trump administration. But critics widely agree the new limits are too low, especially for students allowed to borrow only $20,500 a year in federal loans due to the law’s controversial definition of a “professional degree.” On June 24, a federal judge temporarily blocked the Department of Education from enforcing that definition. Still, for many students, the new caps won’t cover the combined cost of tuition, housing, and living expenses. Bennjamin Pinckney has spent most of his career working for New York City’s Department of Sanitation. But he has dreamed of becoming a physician assistant since he was treated for gunshot wounds at a Jacksonville, Florida, hospital in 1999. (Erica S. Lee for KFF Health News) This could leave hundreds of thousands of students who borrow money for graduate school each year at the mercy of private lenders with higher interest rates and fewer repayment options. Some experts and students also worry that the limits will threaten efforts to diversify the healthcare workforce by deterring minorities and people from low-income households from applying to graduate programs. A drop in incoming students could worsen existing rural and primary care shortages, they argue. Many politicians and loan experts have acknowledged that the cost of higher education needs to be addressed. But the new federal loan limits are “just not going to achieve that goal,” said Todd Pickard, president of the American Academy of Physician Associates, one of several organizations that have sued the Department of Education over the rules. “It’d be like if you had a hangnail and I cut your whole arm off instead of just taking care of your hangnail,” Pickard said. “The treatment doesn’t match the problem.” ‘A Rock and a Hard Place’ Students working toward what the law describes as “professional degrees” — including trainee doctors, dentists, pharmacists, and chiropractors — will be allowed to borrow up to $200,000 total, and no more than $50,000 a year. Meanwhile, the median cost of attending a public medical school is nearly $300,000 over four years, while the median cost of a private medical school education exceeds $400,000, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. It’d be like if you had a hangnail and I cut your whole arm off instead of just taking care of your hangnail. The treatment doesn’t match the problem.Todd Pickard, president, American Academy of Physician Associates, The caps were set even lower for those pursuing other “graduate” degrees, who face a $100,000 borrowing limit for federal loans over the course of their degree programs. The annual limit for this category of students is only $20,500. Students pursuing physical therapy, physician assistant, and nursing degrees were originally included in this group. But according to new guidance issued by the Department of Education on June 29, some of these students will at least temporarily be able to borrow up to the higher limit, according to The Associated Press. The Department of Education, which has been sued by clinician trade groups and about two dozen states over the new rules, did not respond to questions for this article. Debt Disparity As the law was written, a physician assistant student who completed their degree within the average two to three years would not have been eligible to borrow the full $100,000. Meanwhile, physician assistants typically start their careers with an average debt of $112,000, meaning some could be forced to finance their education with higher-interest private loans. “I feel like I’m between a rock and a hard place,” said Olivia Trull, 24, who is scheduled to begin the physician assistant program at Northwest University in Kirkland, Washington, this summer. The 28-month program costs $137,000, with about $62,000 in tuition and fees estimated for the first year, she said. That doesn’t include living expenses. Before the court order, Trull said she qualified for the maximum annual allotment under the new rules of $20,500 in federal loans during her first year of graduate school. The balance would need to be financed through a private lender. She anticipated she would need up to $100,000 in private loans to finance her graduate degree and would face loan payments of more than $3,000 a month when she was done. “I have to actually sit down and have a conversation with myself,” Trull said, to consider “if I want to be drowning in debt for the next 10 years of my life.” One private bank offered her a loan with an interest rate of nearly 14%, she said. ‘Arbitrary and Capricious’ Pinckney, who said he finished his undergraduate degree with about $10,000 in federal student loan debt, said some of his friends who have already applied for private student loans have been quoted interest rates as high as 13%. Meanwhile, interest rates for federal loans for graduate students, which are set annually, are currently about 8-9%. Federal loans also offer more flexible repayment options than private loans typically do. In May, 25 states and the District of Columbia filed a federal lawsuit against the Department of Education over the new rules. The complaint described the law’s “professional degree” definition as “arbitrary and capricious.” In a separate federal lawsuit filed in June, the American Academy of Physician Associates and the PA Education Association alleged that the new rules deny students the loan amounts needed to attend physician assistant schools. They argue that PA students should be able to access the higher loan limits available to students in medical school and other professional degree programs. (While “physician assistant” and “physician associate” typically refer to the same role, the AAPA adopted the title “physician associate” in 2021 because of “concern that ‘assistant’ does not reflect the important role of PAs in delivering high-quality healthcare to patients.”) Meanwhile, Trump administration officials have contended the cost of graduate school is too high across the board. Education Secretary Linda McMahon, speaking before a House committee in May about the new limits, said, “It is our overall goal to bring down the cost of college and education.” Lower Grad-School Tuition Indeed, some experts acknowledge that the new limits may be helpful in bringing down costs. The federal Grad PLUS loan program, established by Congress 20 years ago, did not cap the amount graduate students could borrow in federal loans. That program was eliminated in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. “There is considerable evidence that people borrowed more than they really needed to go to school,” said Sandy Baum, a higher education economist and a senior fellow at the Urban Institute. Already, some graduate programs have lowered tuition prices, Baum said. In May, for example, the University of California-Irvine announced it would lower the cost of its MBA programs by tens of thousands of dollars to fall below the new federal lending thresholds. And yet Baum doesn’t anticipate many other schools will follow suit. “I don’t think we’re going to see some dramatic decline in prices,” she said. “I think some programs could close down because they can’t manage.” ‘Tears Have Been Shed’ The new lending limits will also disproportionately affect Black students, Baum said, because they have historically borrowed more than white and Hispanic students. For some students who borrowed money to finance their undergraduate degrees, the new limits will hit especially hard. Under the new rules, they will be subject to a lifetime limit of $257,000 in federal student loans. “There will be students who can’t enroll,” Baum said. Andrei Robu, 26, a medical student at the Medical University of South Carolina, leads the Financial Literacy Interest Group on the Charleston campus. He said many of his peers are worried that the lending limits will make the student body less diverse. He is also concerned that, because the demand for acceptance into medical school is already so high, schools could prioritize entrance for students from wealthy backgrounds and “still fill up their classes.” “That’s just not what we want in our physician workforce,” said Robu, who isn’t subject to the new rules as a current student. “We want to represent the population of the country at large.” Jasmine Vasquez, 26, who has been accepted into the physician assistant program at South College in Atlanta, decided to defer her enrollment until 2027, partly to see if her financing options change. She is worried about taking on too much debt from a private bank. “Tears have been shed multiple times,” said Vasquez, who is due to give birth in September. “It’s nothing that’s within my control.” Riding Out the Storm Betsy Mayotte, president of the Institute for Student Loan Advisors, expects the new rules will force some graduates into bankruptcy when they can’t afford to repay private loans. First, though, she expects enrollment numbers to drop and some graduate programs to close because they can’t recruit enough students. Completion rates will also drop, she expects, as students run into federal loan limits partway through their degree programs. Beyond that, she predicts healthcare graduates will seek jobs in high-paying specialties, exacerbating shortages in rural and underserved communities. “They’re going to go where they can make the most money,” Mayotte said. Pinckney said he is “not really sure” what the future holds. He paid for most of his undergraduate education by working while he was in school, but that’s typically not possible for full-time physician assistant students. RELATED: Unpaid Student Loans? The Feds Could Take Your Paycheck He has considered applying to a biomedical science graduate program instead, which he estimated would cost about $30,000 — an amount that’s “a lot more doable,” he said. It would allow him to potentially work in a lab or in pharmaceuticals, he said. It’s still aligned with medicine, he said, but it wouldn’t help him realize his goal of working with patients. “Maybe this thing will blow over,” he said of the new federal loan limits. In the meantime, he’s holding out hope. “If I can influence one person’s life, that would be my way of paying him forward for what he did,” he said, referring to the physician assistant who inspired him back in 1999. “It’s very hard to pivot from that dream.” KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF. This article first appeared on KFF Health News and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. The post Trump’s Student Loan Caps Could Cut Black Healthcare Workers appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
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By Lauren Sausser

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Benjamin Pinckney, 46, has dreamed of becoming a physician assistant since just after his 20th birthday.

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He had been targeted by a drive-by shooter in Jacksonville, Florida, and hospitalized with two gunshot wounds. During his weeklong hospitalization, he said, a physician assistant changed the course of his life by visiting his hospital bed each day and warning him that Black men like him, with gunshot wounds, often end up paralyzed — or worse.

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LEARN MORE: The Student Loan Crisis Is About to Get Worse

\n\n\n\n

“I used to run the streets, you know, on the wrong sides of the track,” Pinckney said. “He made me promise that I would never come into his ER that way again. That was the last conversation we had, right before I was discharged.”

\n\n\n\n

His goal since then has been to become a physician assistant. Pinckney, who spent most of his career working for New York City’s Department of Sanitation and as an Army Reserve medic, recently took a step toward achieving it. In May, he graduated with departmental honors from Lehman College with a Bachelor of Science degree.

\n\n\n\n

After moving from New York to Prince George’s County, Maryland, he’d planned on applying for physician assistant school this year. But now, he’s worried his dream may be thwarted by new student loan rules.

\n\n\n\n

Caps Fall Short

\n\n\n\n

Starting July 1, the amount of money graduate students will be allowed to borrow from the federal government will be capped. The new student loan limits are part of the GOP’s tax-and-spending legislation known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law last year.

\n\n\n\n

The caps are intended to curb the cost of higher education and student loan debt, according to the Trump administration.

\n\n\n\n

But critics widely agree the new limits are too low, especially for students allowed to borrow only $20,500 a year in federal loans due to the law’s controversial definition of a “professional degree.” On June 24, a federal judge temporarily blocked the Department of Education from enforcing that definition. Still, for many students, the new caps won’t cover the combined cost of tuition, housing, and living expenses.

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Bennjamin Pinckney has spent most of his career working for New York City’s Department of Sanitation. But he has dreamed of becoming a physician assistant since he was treated for gunshot wounds at a Jacksonville, Florida, hospital in 1999. (Erica S. Lee for KFF Health News)
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This could leave hundreds of thousands of students who borrow money for graduate school each year at the mercy of private lenders with higher interest rates and fewer repayment options.

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Some experts and students also worry that the limits will threaten efforts to diversify the healthcare workforce by deterring minorities and people from low-income households from applying to graduate programs. A drop in incoming students could worsen existing rural and primary care shortages, they argue.

\n\n\n\n

Many politicians and loan experts have acknowledged that the cost of higher education needs to be addressed. But the new federal loan limits are “just not going to achieve that goal,” said Todd Pickard, president of the American Academy of Physician Associates, one of several organizations that have sued the Department of Education over the rules.

\n\n\n\n

“It’d be like if you had a hangnail and I cut your whole arm off instead of just taking care of your hangnail,” Pickard said. “The treatment doesn’t match the problem.”

\n\n\n\n

‘A Rock and a Hard Place’

\n\n\n\n

Students working toward what the law describes as “professional degrees” — including trainee doctors, dentists, pharmacists, and chiropractors — will be allowed to borrow up to $200,000 total, and no more than $50,000 a year.

\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the median cost of attending a public medical school is nearly $300,000 over four years, while the median cost of a private medical school education exceeds $400,000, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.

\n\n\n\n

It’d be like if you had a hangnail and I cut your whole arm off instead of just taking care of your hangnail. The treatment doesn’t match the problem.

Todd Pickard, president, American Academy of Physician Associates,
\n\n\n\n

The caps were set even lower for those pursuing other “graduate” degrees, who face a $100,000 borrowing limit for federal loans over the course of their degree programs. The annual limit for this category of students is only $20,500. Students pursuing physical therapy, physician assistant, and nursing degrees were originally included in this group. But according to new guidance issued by the Department of Education on June 29, some of these students will at least temporarily be able to borrow up to the higher limit, according to The Associated Press.

\n\n\n\n

The Department of Education, which has been sued by clinician trade groups and about two dozen states over the new rules, did not respond to questions for this article.

\n\n\n\n

Debt Disparity

\n\n\n\n

As the law was written, a physician assistant student who completed their degree within the average two to three years would not have been eligible to borrow the full $100,000. Meanwhile, physician assistants typically start their careers with an average debt of $112,000, meaning some could be forced to finance their education with higher-interest private loans.

\n\n\n\n

“I feel like I’m between a rock and a hard place,” said Olivia Trull, 24, who is scheduled to begin the physician assistant program at Northwest University in Kirkland, Washington, this summer. The 28-month program costs $137,000, with about $62,000 in tuition and fees estimated for the first year, she said. That doesn’t include living expenses.

\n\n\n\n

Before the court order, Trull said she qualified for the maximum annual allotment under the new rules of $20,500 in federal loans during her first year of graduate school. The balance would need to be financed through a private lender.

\n\n\n\n

She anticipated she would need up to $100,000 in private loans to finance her graduate degree and would face loan payments of more than $3,000 a month when she was done.

\n\n\n\n

“I have to actually sit down and have a conversation with myself,” Trull said, to consider “if I want to be drowning in debt for the next 10 years of my life.” One private bank offered her a loan with an interest rate of nearly 14%, she said.

\n\n\n\n

‘Arbitrary and Capricious’

\n\n\n\n

Pinckney, who said he finished his undergraduate degree with about $10,000 in federal student loan debt, said some of his friends who have already applied for private student loans have been quoted interest rates as high as 13%. Meanwhile, interest rates for federal loans for graduate students, which are set annually, are currently about 8-9%. Federal loans also offer more flexible repayment options than private loans typically do.

\n\n\n\n

In May, 25 states and the District of Columbia filed a federal lawsuit against the Department of Education over the new rules. The complaint described the law’s “professional degree” definition as “arbitrary and capricious.”

\n\n\n\n

In a separate federal lawsuit filed in June, the American Academy of Physician Associates and the PA Education Association alleged that the new rules deny students the loan amounts needed to attend physician assistant schools. They argue that PA students should be able to access the higher loan limits available to students in medical school and other professional degree programs. (While “physician assistant” and “physician associate” typically refer to the same role, the AAPA adopted the title “physician associate” in 2021 because of “concern that ‘assistant’ does not reflect the important role of PAs in delivering high-quality healthcare to patients.”)

\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Trump administration officials have contended the cost of graduate school is too high across the board. Education Secretary Linda McMahon, speaking before a House committee in May about the new limits, said, “It is our overall goal to bring down the cost of college and education.”

\n\n\n\n

Lower Grad-School Tuition

\n\n\n\n

Indeed, some experts acknowledge that the new limits may be helpful in bringing down costs. The federal Grad PLUS loan program, established by Congress 20 years ago, did not cap the amount graduate students could borrow in federal loans. That program was eliminated in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

\n\n\n\n

“There is considerable evidence that people borrowed more than they really needed to go to school,” said Sandy Baum, a higher education economist and a senior fellow at the Urban Institute.

\n\n\n\n

Already, some graduate programs have lowered tuition prices, Baum said. In May, for example, the University of California-Irvine announced it would lower the cost of its MBA programs by tens of thousands of dollars to fall below the new federal lending thresholds.

\n\n\n\n

And yet Baum doesn’t anticipate many other schools will follow suit.

\n\n\n\n

“I don’t think we’re going to see some dramatic decline in prices,” she said. “I think some programs could close down because they can’t manage.”

\n\n\n\n

‘Tears Have Been Shed’

\n\n\n\n

The new lending limits will also disproportionately affect Black students, Baum said, because they have historically borrowed more than white and Hispanic students.

\n\n\n\n

For some students who borrowed money to finance their undergraduate degrees, the new limits will hit especially hard. Under the new rules, they will be subject to a lifetime limit of $257,000 in federal student loans.

\n\n\n\n

“There will be students who can’t enroll,” Baum said.

\n\n\n\n

Andrei Robu, 26, a medical student at the Medical University of South Carolina, leads the Financial Literacy Interest Group on the Charleston campus. He said many of his peers are worried that the lending limits will make the student body less diverse.

\n\n\n\n

He is also concerned that, because the demand for acceptance into medical school is already so high, schools could prioritize entrance for students from wealthy backgrounds and “still fill up their classes.”

\n\n\n\n

“That’s just not what we want in our physician workforce,” said Robu, who isn’t subject to the new rules as a current student. “We want to represent the population of the country at large.”

\n\n\n\n

Jasmine Vasquez, 26, who has been accepted into the physician assistant program at South College in Atlanta, decided to defer her enrollment until 2027, partly to see if her financing options change. She is worried about taking on too much debt from a private bank.

\n\n\n\n

“Tears have been shed multiple times,” said Vasquez, who is due to give birth in September. “It’s nothing that’s within my control.”

\n\n\n\n

Riding Out the Storm

\n\n\n\n

Betsy Mayotte, president of the Institute for Student Loan Advisors, expects the new rules will force some graduates into bankruptcy when they can’t afford to repay private loans.

\n\n\n\n

First, though, she expects enrollment numbers to drop and some graduate programs to close because they can’t recruit enough students. Completion rates will also drop, she expects, as students run into federal loan limits partway through their degree programs.

\n\n\n\n

Beyond that, she predicts healthcare graduates will seek jobs in high-paying specialties, exacerbating shortages in rural and underserved communities.

\n\n\n\n

“They’re going to go where they can make the most money,” Mayotte said.

\n\n\n\n

Pinckney said he is “not really sure” what the future holds. He paid for most of his undergraduate education by working while he was in school, but that’s typically not possible for full-time physician assistant students.

\n\n\n\n

RELATED: Unpaid Student Loans? The Feds Could Take Your Paycheck

\n\n\n\n

He has considered applying to a biomedical science graduate program instead, which he estimated would cost about $30,000 — an amount that’s “a lot more doable,” he said. It would allow him to potentially work in a lab or in pharmaceuticals, he said. It’s still aligned with medicine, he said, but it wouldn’t help him realize his goal of working with patients.

\n\n\n\n

“Maybe this thing will blow over,” he said of the new federal loan limits. In the meantime, he’s holding out hope.

\n\n\n\n

“If I can influence one person’s life, that would be my way of paying him forward for what he did,” he said, referring to the physician assistant who inspired him back in 1999. “It’s very hard to pivot from that dream.”

\n\n\n\n

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

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This article first appeared on KFF Health News and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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The post Trump’s Student Loan Caps Could Cut Black Healthcare Workers appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/07/trumps-student-loan-caps-could-cut-black-healthcare-workers/","site":"Joseph Williams","originalAuthor":"Joseph Williams","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Health","health"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-07-01T15:29:08.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Pinckney_12-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1","type":"image/jpeg"},"createdAt":"2026-07-01T15:31:52.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Pinckney_12-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"RIlreJoIOBgQdhWe","title":"Black Maternal Health: A 360-Degree Look at Black Midwives","description":"Dr. Kaytura Felix spent more than two decades studying minority health, structural racism and the inequities that have left Black Americans with some of the nation’s worst health outcomes. But as the Black maternal mortality crisis deepened, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health physician and researcher began asking a different question: What was the Black community already doing to save Black mothers? That search led her to Black midwives. Now, Felix is leading the Black Birthing Futures study, a multi-city research project examining how Black midwives are addressing the maternal health crisis through community-based care that extends beyond pregnancy to families, neighborhoods and the social conditions that shape health. Her work also explores how poverty, racism and climate change intersect to influence maternal outcomes — and what policymakers can learn from the people already doing the work. The findings arrive as the United States continues to grapple with persistently high maternal mortality rates, particularly among Black women. According to the American Midwifery Certification Board’s 2024 report, just over 14,500 certified midwives were active as of January 2024. More than 8 in 10 identified themselves as white and almost all of them listed English as their primary language. The average age was around 48,, with nearly 15% age 65 or older. The number of new midwives has increased since 2020 but fewer than 10% are Black. The most commonly cited barriers to entering the field were the direct cost of midwifery education, systemic and experienced racism within the profession, and the cost of related expenses. But a vast majority of midwives said they chose the profession to help address the need for culturally sensitive care and help reduce race-based health disparities. There’s strong evidence that Black midwives are more likely to adopt community-based approaches that institution-driven medical care, like hospitals and traditional obstetrics, tends to overlook. Felix is a Distinguished Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the Department of Health Policy and Management. The following has been edited for length and clarity. WIB: How did Black maternal health become the focus of your practice? Kaytura Felix: I’ve focused on minority health, health disparities, and structural racism for more than 20 years. In 2023, I shifted my attention from medical racism itself to what the community was doing about it. My simple question was: what is the Black community doing about the Black maternal health crisis? I spoke to 70 experts, just picking up the telephone. Person after person said, ‘Look to Black community midwives.’ I’m a Black mother and a physician — I had never thought much about midwifery. I thought it was something from another era, something our forebears did because they had no choice. Then one Black midwife offered to let me shadow her postpartum visits, and what I saw changed everything. The 10-day postpartum visit took place entirely in the new mother’s bedroom. The midwife came to her — not the other way around — because postpartum is an extraordinarily sensitive time and everything needs to wrap around the mother. The eight-week visit had a different energy: it was about reentry into the world. We started in the backyard, went for a 10-minute walk, then came back inside. Three settings, one visit. What struck me was that the midwife’s role extended beyond stabilizing mother and baby. She had her eyes on the whole family — and we know the majority of maternal deaths occur during the postpartum period. WIB: How did your observations affect your research? Kaytura Felix: My team designed a study to understand the Black midwife’s experience: what they do, the impact they have on families and communities, and what supports or hinders their practice. We interviewed midwives, clients, families, and collaborators across five cities — Jacksonville, Florida; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Kansas City, Missouri; Los Angeles; and Honolulu, Hawaii. One consistent finding: Black midwives provide restorative, holistic care — not just for the pregnant person, but for the entire family. Conventional Western care centers the individual; these midwives operate from the premise that pregnancy is a family event. WIB: What issues are driving the maternal healthcare crisis in the U.S., and what does it mean to approach fixing it from a community perspective, as opposed to an institution-driven perspective? Kaytura Felix: Science is beginning to understand that pregnancy is a stress test. Many Black Americans live in historically underinvested communities — more pollution, financial precarity, limited transportation and education. We enter pregnancy already weathered. Weathering is when the body runs on overdrive to stabilize itself against constant challenge — an acceleration of aging. The body is at capacity before the pregnancy even begins. WIB: What is actually saving the lives of Black mothers right now? Felix: Two things. First, doulas in hospitals — where most U.S. births happen. Doulas reduce stress on the mother, distribute the load, and help catch complications early. Research shows they increase satisfaction with care and reduce C-section rates. Second, community birth — in birth centers and at home. In the first episode of Deep Care, we meet a nurse named Brittany Murray who had two traumatic hospital births. Through a Facebook group, someone connected her with a midwife who said, ‘I will take this journey with you.’ The midwife worked with a maternal-fetal specialist, addressed Brittany’s overall health, and supported a home birth after two cesarean sections. Two traumatic births — and she had a joyful, triumphant one. You can meet Brittany in episode one of the Deep Care podcast on Spotify. WIB: Did your research identify the impact of issues such as mental health, specifically postpartum depression or other potential complications that arise during the postpartum period? Felix: Pregnancy is a massive life transition — biologically and emotionally — and our society provides very little support for it. Employment discrimination, financial stress, the hormonal drop after delivery: these pile onto a body already under strain. What I found is that midwives understand the postpartum period deeply, but their response is not to medicalize it. Their response is to provide love and support. Shafia Monroe — a longtime midwife — wrote a book on African American postpartum traditions titled Mothering the Mother. That title captures the philosophy: just as the mother is mothering the baby, the extended family and community need to mother the mother. Research confirms this — the mind is not separate from the body. A subset of people will need medical care, but that shouldn’t be the starting point. I named my podcast Deep Care to signal that what these midwives offer is fundamentally different from the 15-minute transactional visits I was trained in — and that so many Black mothers describe when they say nobody listens to them. Felix: In our research, clients said one of the most valued aspects of care from their Black midwives was education on diet, nutrition, and physical health. These midwives understood that pregnancy is a pivotal window — a chance to shift the trajectory. Research confirms this: how a woman’s body responds to pregnancy can predict her health at 50 and 60. Gestational diabetes and high blood pressure don’t disappear after delivery; they signal that the body was already at capacity. WIB: Can you talk to me about what you found with the different certifications, and how those are carried out, and what the benefits are vis-à-vis conventional medicine? Felix: In the United States, there are several paths. The Certified Nurse Midwife holds a graduate degree and primarily practices in hospitals. The Certified Professional Midwife completes two to three years of community-based training and holds a national certification recognized in roughly 37 to 38 states — compared to nursing, which is recognized in all 50. Out of the community tradition, some midwives train through apprenticeship under a senior midwife and become either a certified midwife or a lay midwife. Despite different training paths, the model is consistent: pregnancy as a physiological process, with the whole family at the center. There’s now a movement to harmonize these tracks. WIB: Let’s talk about that a little bit. Even knowing it’s a developing story — the fact that it is developing indicates something is making people recognize these two groups shouldn’t be in competition. Is that also being affected by the policy proposals on the table to change midwifery? Kaytura Felix Doulas are gaining traction, and people are recognizing that fragmentation within midwifery hurts the field and families. A funder told me directly: ‘These midwives need to get their act together. Come back to me when they do.’ That infighting is showing up as legislative battles — in some states, Certified Nurse Midwives or certified midwives are advancing bills that Certified Professional Midwives believe will harm them. That needs to stop. WIB: Why did you create the Deep Care podcast, and what are your goals for it? Felix: We named it Deep Care to signal that this is not about run-of-the-mill care. Black women need to know all their birthing options. These clients slay dragons to get to midwifery care. The barriers were financial, but also the stigma within the Black community around midwifery. The Deep Care podcast addresses that — to raise awareness, but also to correct misinformation. Midwives are trained, they are educated, they are competent. And Black women — we’re healthy enough to have home births and community births. These midwives are educating us about our health and helping us transform our health. The statistics need to energize us to act. That’s the point of the statistic — to get us off our seats. And there are solutions in the community, there are places we can begin. We can support the pregnant people in our communities. We can fund community-based birth. We can fund the training of doulas and midwives. We can advocate for policies that are friendly to midwives — not just in the community, but also in hospitals. We can advocate for hospitals to follow more of the midwifery model of care, which is about support for the entire family during pregnancy. What needs to happen: we need a bigger footprint for midwifery in this country. We need better transitions from community midwifery care to hospital care. We need to dispel the myths and change the narrative about Black midwifery and Black birth. Yes, we need to talk about the challenges, but we also need to talk about the solutions — because it’s irresponsible to talk about the challenges without also advancing the solutions. We’ve only begun to scratch the surface. RELATED: South Carolinians Continue Colleague’s Push for Maternal Health The post Black Maternal Health: A 360-Degree Look at Black Midwives appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"\"
\n

Dr. Kaytura Felix spent more than two decades studying minority health, structural racism and the inequities that have left Black Americans with some of the nation’s worst health outcomes. But as the Black maternal mortality crisis deepened, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health physician and researcher began asking a different question: What was the Black community already doing to save Black mothers?

\n\n\n\n

That search led her to Black midwives.

\n\n\n\n

Now, Felix is leading the Black Birthing Futures study, a multi-city research project examining how Black midwives are addressing the maternal health crisis through community-based care that extends beyond pregnancy to families, neighborhoods and the social conditions that shape health. Her work also explores how poverty, racism and climate change intersect to influence maternal outcomes — and what policymakers can learn from the people already doing the work.

\n\n\n\n

The findings arrive as the United States continues to grapple with persistently high maternal mortality rates, particularly among Black women. 

\n\n\n\n

According to the American Midwifery Certification Board’s 2024 report, just over 14,500 certified midwives were active as of January 2024. More than 8 in 10 identified themselves as white and almost all of them listed English as their primary language. The average age was around 48,, with nearly 15% age 65 or older. The number of new midwives has increased since 2020  but fewer than 10% are Black. 

\n\n\n\n

The most commonly cited barriers to entering the field were the direct cost of midwifery education, systemic and experienced racism within the profession, and the cost of related expenses. But a vast majority of midwives said they chose the profession to help address the need for culturally sensitive care and help reduce race-based health disparities. 

\n\n\n\n

There’s strong evidence that Black midwives are more likely to adopt  community-based approaches that institution-driven medical care, like hospitals and traditional obstetrics, tends to overlook.

\n\n\n\n

Felix is a Distinguished Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the Department of Health Policy and Management. 

\n\n\n\n

The following has been edited for length and clarity.

\n\n\n\n

WIB: How did Black maternal health become the focus of your practice?

\n\n\n\n

Kaytura Felix: I’ve focused on minority health, health disparities, and structural racism for more than 20 years. In 2023, I shifted my attention from medical racism itself to what the community was doing about it. My simple question was: what is the Black community doing about the Black maternal health crisis?

\n\n\n\n

I spoke to 70 experts, just picking up the telephone. Person after person said, ‘Look to Black community midwives.’ I’m a Black mother and a physician — I had never thought much about midwifery. I thought it was something from another era, something our forebears did because they had no choice. Then one Black midwife offered to let me shadow her postpartum visits, and what I saw changed everything.

\n\n\n\n

The 10-day postpartum visit took place entirely in the new mother’s bedroom. The midwife came to her — not the other way around — because postpartum is an extraordinarily sensitive time and everything needs to wrap around the mother. The eight-week visit had a different energy: it was about reentry into the world. We started in the backyard, went for a 10-minute walk, then came back inside. Three settings, one visit.

\n\n\n\n

What struck me was that the midwife’s role extended beyond stabilizing mother and baby. She had her eyes on the whole family — and we know the majority of maternal deaths occur during the postpartum period.

\n\n\n\n

WIB: How did your observations affect your research?

\n\n\n\n

Kaytura Felix: My team designed a study to understand the Black midwife’s experience: what they do, the impact they have on families and communities, and what supports or hinders their practice. We interviewed midwives, clients, families, and collaborators across five cities — Jacksonville, Florida; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Kansas City, Missouri; Los Angeles; and Honolulu, Hawaii.

\n\n\n\n

One consistent finding: Black midwives provide restorative, holistic care — not just for the pregnant person, but for the entire family. Conventional Western care centers the individual; these midwives operate from the premise that pregnancy is a family event.

\n\n\n\n

WIB: What issues are driving the maternal healthcare crisis in the U.S., and what does it mean to approach fixing it from a community perspective, as opposed to an institution-driven perspective?

\n\n\n\n

Kaytura Felix: Science is beginning to understand that pregnancy is a stress test. Many Black Americans live in historically underinvested communities — more pollution, financial precarity, limited transportation and education. We enter pregnancy already weathered. Weathering is when the body runs on overdrive to stabilize itself against constant challenge — an acceleration of aging. The body is at capacity before the pregnancy even begins.

\n\n\n\n

WIB: What is actually saving the lives of Black mothers right now?

\n\n\n\n

Felix: Two things. First, doulas in hospitals — where most U.S. births happen. Doulas reduce stress on the mother, distribute the load, and help catch complications early. Research shows they increase satisfaction with care and reduce C-section rates.

\n\n\n\n

Second, community birth — in birth centers and at home. In the first episode of Deep Care, we meet a nurse named Brittany Murray who had two traumatic hospital births. Through a Facebook group, someone connected her with a midwife who said, ‘I will take this journey with you.’ The midwife worked with a maternal-fetal specialist, addressed Brittany’s overall health, and supported a home birth after two cesarean sections. Two traumatic births — and she had a joyful, triumphant one. You can meet Brittany in episode one of the Deep Care podcast on Spotify.

\n\n\n\n

WIB: Did your research identify the impact of issues such as mental health, specifically postpartum depression or other potential complications that arise during the postpartum period?

\n\n\n\n

Felix: Pregnancy is a massive life transition — biologically and emotionally — and our society provides very little support for it. Employment discrimination, financial stress, the hormonal drop after delivery: these pile onto a body already under strain. What I found is that midwives understand the postpartum period deeply, but their response is not to medicalize it. Their response is to provide love and support.

\n\n\n\n

Shafia Monroe — a longtime midwife — wrote a book on African American postpartum traditions titled Mothering the Mother. That title captures the philosophy: just as the mother is mothering the baby, the extended family and community need to mother the mother. Research confirms this — the mind is not separate from the body. A subset of people will need medical care, but that shouldn’t be the starting point. I named my podcast Deep Care to signal that what these midwives offer is fundamentally different from the 15-minute transactional visits I was trained in — and that so many Black mothers describe when they say nobody listens to them. 

\n\n\n\n

Felix: In our research, clients said one of the most valued aspects of care from their Black midwives was education on diet, nutrition, and physical health. These midwives understood that pregnancy is a pivotal window — a chance to shift the trajectory. Research confirms this: how a woman’s body responds to pregnancy can predict her health at 50 and 60. Gestational diabetes and high blood pressure don’t disappear after delivery; they signal that the body was already at capacity.

\n\n\n\n

WIB: Can you talk to me about what you found with the different certifications, and how those are carried out, and what the benefits are vis-à-vis conventional medicine?

\n\n\n\n

Felix: In the United States, there are several paths. The Certified Nurse Midwife holds a graduate degree and primarily practices in hospitals. The Certified Professional Midwife completes two to three years of community-based training and holds a national certification recognized in roughly 37 to 38 states — compared to nursing, which is recognized in all 50. Out of the community tradition, some midwives train through apprenticeship under a senior midwife and become either a certified midwife or a lay midwife. Despite different training paths, the model is consistent: pregnancy as a physiological process, with the whole family at the center. There’s now a movement to harmonize these tracks.

\n\n\n\n

WIB: Let’s talk about that a little bit. Even knowing it’s a developing story — the fact that it is developing indicates something is making people recognize these two groups shouldn’t be in competition. Is that also being affected by the policy proposals on the table to change midwifery?

\n\n\n\n

Kaytura Felix Doulas are gaining traction, and people are recognizing that fragmentation within midwifery hurts the field and families. A funder told me directly: ‘These midwives need to get their act together. Come back to me when they do.’ That infighting is showing up as legislative battles — in some states, Certified Nurse Midwives or certified midwives are advancing bills that Certified Professional Midwives believe will harm them. That needs to stop.

\n\n\n\n

WIB: Why did you create the Deep Care podcast, and what are your goals for it?

\n\n\n\n

Felix: We named it Deep Care to signal that this is not about run-of-the-mill care.

\n\n\n\n

Black women need to know all their birthing options. These clients slay dragons to get to midwifery care. The barriers were financial, but also the stigma within the Black community around midwifery. The Deep Care podcast addresses that — to raise awareness, but also to correct misinformation. Midwives are trained, they are educated, they are competent. And Black women — we’re healthy enough to have home births and community births. These midwives are educating us about our health and helping us transform our health. 

\n\n\n\n

The statistics need to energize us to act. That’s the point of the statistic — to get us off our seats. And there are solutions in the community, there are places we can begin. We can support the pregnant people in our communities. We can fund community-based birth. We can fund the training of doulas and midwives. We can advocate for policies that are friendly to midwives — not just in the community, but also in hospitals. We can advocate for hospitals to follow more of the midwifery model of care, which is about support for the entire family during pregnancy.

\n\n\n\n

What needs to happen: we need a bigger footprint for midwifery in this country. We need better transitions from community midwifery care to hospital care. We need to dispel the myths and change the narrative about Black midwifery and Black birth. Yes, we need to talk about the challenges, but we also need to talk about the solutions — because it’s irresponsible to talk about the challenges without also advancing the solutions. We’ve only begun to scratch the surface.

\n\n\n\n

RELATED: South Carolinians Continue Colleague’s Push for Maternal Health

\n\n\n\n

\n

The post Black Maternal Health: A 360-Degree Look at Black Midwives appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/06/a-360-degree-look-at-black-midwives-reframes-black-maternal-health/","site":"Jennifer Porter Gore","originalAuthor":"Jennifer Porter Gore","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Health","Black women","health"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-06-30T17:52:43.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/KayturaFelix.png?fit=378%2C430&ssl=1","type":"image/png"},"createdAt":"2026-06-30T17:53:59.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/KayturaFelix.png?fit=378%2C430&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"CVSP4s79avjntJpo","title":"Prayer Built the Ministry. The Platform Came Later.","description":"Every day at noon, Dr. LeKesha Attuquayefio’s grandmother disappeared into the bedroom of her modest home in Houston, a Bible in one hand and her family’s burdens in the other. The television might be playing soap operas in the background. Grandchildren might be running through the yard. But when the clock struck noon, every day, he knelt beside her bed and prayed. RELATED: Women Built the Ministry. Men Kept the Title. Family members outside could hear her calling for blessings on the names of her children, grandchildren, pastor, and church. Those moments remain among Attuquayefio’s most treasured memories. “They were just what Granny did,” she recalled. Multifaceted Ministry Many people know Attuquayefio as the leader of the prayer and young adult ministries of Houston’s Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church. She serves alongside Dr. Marcus D. Cosby, the church’s nationally respected pastoral leader. What they often don’t see is that Attuquayefio is building a digital ministry that reaches believers through weekly YouTube programming. She also coaches pastors and ministry leaders through Essentials Intensified Consulting and Coaching. She mentors women called to ministry, leads international mission experiences, writes books, and teaches leadership and discipleship. For Attuquayefio, however, none of those facets of her life exists independently. I like the new and impossible becoming possible. I like asking, ‘What if we could do this?’Dr. LeKesha Attuquayefio “They all point in the same direction,” she said. “It’s about that intensified life in God.” Long before podcasts became common and churches discovered livestreaming during the COVID-19 pandemic, Attuquayefio was experimenting with digital ministry. She began creating online content in 2011, but set much of it aside after accepting her assignment at Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church. The pandemic became an unexpected season of reflection. Like many pastors, she found herself asking what ministry would look like beyond church buildings. The answer wasn’t creating something new; rather, it was returning to a vision God had planted with her years earlier. Intensifying Lives “The Intensified Life,” the title of her first book, published nearly two decades ago, has become the organizing principle for everything she now produces online. Today, the YouTube platform functions less as a single program than as a ministry network. Weekly Bible studies sit alongside sermons preached at Wheeler Avenue and churches across the country. Relationship conversations with her husband occupy one playlist. Another series features candid conversations with men about faith and discipleship. Travel experiences, leadership lessons, and spiritual formation round out the programming. Dr. LeKesha Attuqayefio (Courtesy of Dr. Attuqayefio) The goal is to help believers discover that following Christ should never become routine. “I like the new and impossible becoming possible,” Attuquayefio said. “I like asking, ‘What if we could do this?’” Borrowing the phrase “new and next” from a trusted ministry colleague, Attuquayefio describes herself as someone energized by vision more than maintenance. She enjoys building systems, organizing teams and preparing people to flourish before moving on to the next assignment. “If I wasn’t in ministry,” she said, “I’d probably be doing something with organizational leadership.” ‘Light Bulb Moment’ That calling has resurfaced in Essentials Intensified Consulting and Coaching, where she helps churches, pastors and individuals clarify vision and navigate seasons of transition. “I love seeing people get it,” she said. “When they have their ‘light bulb moment.’ When they understand God’s assignment for their lives.” Years before conversations about women in ministry became more commonplace, Attuquayefio founded Her Call Ministries, a nonprofit designed to train, encourage, and develop women sensing God’s call to preach. The organization hosted preaching intensives, leadership workshops and conferences while creating safe spaces for women to develop gifts that were not always welcomed elsewhere. Divine Providence Today, many of those women serve on church staffs, hold doctoral degrees, and continue using training materials from those early cohorts. “That’s what it’s about,” she said. “Fruit that remains.” While ministry occupies much of her public life, Attuquayefio speaks just as passionately about another unexpected gift: her marriage. They met on a dating app during the pandemic. When he saw her profile, he immediately believed she was the woman he had been looking for; within days of their meeting, he had given her his phone number and deleted the app. “I really feel like my husband and I coming together was providential,” she said. “It was a miracle.” The couple now shares ministry through what they call the Agape Dance Trio, blending their mutual love of salsa dancing into marriage retreats and relationship workshops that explore trust, communication, and partnership. She celebrates dramatic healing, including answered prayers for members of Wheeler Avenue whose medical reports changed unexpectedly after prayer. Quiet Miracles But she is equally captivated by quieter miracles— providential timing, unseen arrangements and divine orchestration that becomes obvious only in hindsight. “You couldn’t write the script,” she said. RELATED: Her Calling: Healing Through Music and Medicine Perhaps that’s why she continues returning, even after all these years, to the image of her grandmother kneeling beside the bed. For Attuquayefio, prayer was never preparation for ministry. Prayer is the ministry. Everything else has simply been God’s answer to it. The post Prayer Built the Ministry. The Platform Came Later. appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"Dr.
\n

Every day at noon, Dr. LeKesha Attuquayefio’s grandmother disappeared into the bedroom of her modest home in Houston, a Bible in one hand and her family’s burdens in the other.

\n\n\n\n

The television might be playing soap operas in the background. Grandchildren might be running through the yard. But when the clock struck noon, every day, he knelt beside her bed and prayed.

\n\n\n\n

RELATED: Women Built the Ministry. Men Kept the Title.

\n\n\n\n

Family members outside could hear her calling for blessings on the names of her children, grandchildren, pastor, and church. Those moments remain among Attuquayefio’s most treasured memories.

\n\n\n\n

“They were just what Granny did,” she recalled. 

\n\n\n\n

Multifaceted Ministry

\n\n\n\n

Many people know Attuquayefio as the leader of the prayer and young adult ministries of Houston’s Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church. She serves alongside  Dr. Marcus D. Cosby, the church’s nationally respected pastoral leader. 

\n\n\n\n

What they often don’t see is that Attuquayefio is building a digital ministry that reaches believers through weekly YouTube programming.

\n\n\n\n

She also coaches pastors and ministry leaders through Essentials Intensified Consulting and Coaching. She mentors women called to ministry, leads international mission experiences, writes books, and teaches leadership and discipleship.

\n\n\n\n

For Attuquayefio, however, none of those facets of her life exists independently.

\n\n\n\n

I like the new and impossible becoming possible. I like asking, ‘What if we could do this?’

Dr. LeKesha Attuquayefio
\n\n\n\n

“They all point in the same direction,” she said. “It’s about that intensified life in God.”

\n\n\n\n

Long before podcasts became common and churches discovered livestreaming during the COVID-19 pandemic, Attuquayefio was experimenting with digital ministry.

\n\n\n\n

She began creating online content in 2011, but set much of it aside after accepting her assignment at Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church.

\n\n\n\n

The pandemic became an unexpected season of reflection.

\n\n\n\n

Like many pastors, she found herself asking what ministry would look like beyond church buildings. The answer wasn’t creating something new; rather, it was returning to a vision God had planted with her years earlier.

\n\n\n\n

Intensifying Lives

\n\n\n\n

“The Intensified Life,” the title of her first book, published nearly two decades ago, has become the organizing principle for everything she now produces online.

\n\n\n\n

Today, the YouTube platform functions less as a single program than as a ministry network.

\n\n\n\n

Weekly Bible studies sit alongside sermons preached at Wheeler Avenue and churches across the country. Relationship conversations with her husband occupy one playlist. Another series features candid conversations with men about faith and discipleship. Travel experiences, leadership lessons, and spiritual formation round out the programming.

\n\n\n
\n
\"\"
Dr. LeKesha Attuqayefio (Courtesy of Dr. Attuqayefio)
\n
\n\n\n

The goal is to help believers discover that following Christ should never become routine.

\n\n\n\n

“I like the new and impossible becoming possible,” Attuquayefio said. “I like asking, ‘What if we could do this?’”

\n\n\n\n

Borrowing the phrase “new and next” from a trusted ministry colleague, Attuquayefio describes herself as someone energized by vision more than maintenance. She enjoys building systems, organizing teams and preparing people to flourish before moving on to the next assignment.

\n\n\n\n

“If I wasn’t in ministry,” she said, “I’d probably be doing something with organizational leadership.”

\n\n\n\n

‘Light Bulb Moment’

\n\n\n\n

That calling has resurfaced in Essentials Intensified Consulting and Coaching, where she helps churches, pastors and individuals clarify vision and navigate seasons of transition.

\n\n\n\n

“I love seeing people get it,” she said. “When they have their ‘light bulb moment.’ When they understand God’s assignment for their lives.”

\n\n\n\n

Years before conversations about women in ministry became more commonplace, Attuquayefio founded Her Call Ministries, a nonprofit designed to train, encourage, and develop women sensing God’s call to preach.

\n\n\n\n

The organization hosted preaching intensives, leadership workshops and conferences while creating safe spaces for women to develop gifts that were not always welcomed elsewhere.

\n\n\n\n

Divine Providence

\n\n\n\n

Today, many of those women serve on church staffs, hold doctoral degrees, and continue using training materials from those early cohorts.

\n\n\n\n

“That’s what it’s about,” she said. “Fruit that remains.”

\n\n\n\n

While ministry occupies much of her public life, Attuquayefio speaks just as passionately about another unexpected gift: her marriage.

\n\n\n\n

They met on a dating app during the pandemic. When he saw her profile, he immediately believed she was the woman he had been looking for; within days of their meeting, he had given her his phone number and deleted the app.

\n\n\n\n

“I really feel like my husband and I coming together was providential,” she said. “It was a miracle.”

\n\n\n\n

The couple now shares ministry through what they call the Agape Dance Trio, blending their mutual love of salsa dancing into marriage retreats and relationship workshops that explore trust, communication, and partnership. She celebrates dramatic healing, including answered prayers for members of Wheeler Avenue whose medical reports changed unexpectedly after prayer.

\n\n\n\n

Quiet Miracles

\n\n\n\n

But she is equally captivated by quieter miracles— providential timing, unseen arrangements and divine orchestration that becomes obvious only in hindsight.

\n\n\n\n

“You couldn’t write the script,” she said.

\n\n\n\n

RELATED: Her Calling: Healing Through Music and Medicine

\n\n\n\n

Perhaps that’s why she continues returning, even after all these years, to the image of her grandmother kneeling beside the bed.

\n\n\n\n

For Attuquayefio, prayer was never preparation for ministry.

\n\n\n\n

Prayer is the ministry.

\n\n\n\n

Everything else has simply been God’s answer to it.

\n

The post Prayer Built the Ministry. The Platform Came Later. appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/06/prayer-built-the-ministry-the-platform-came-later/","site":"Rev. Dorothy S. Boulware","originalAuthor":"Rev. Dorothy S. Boulware","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Religion","religion"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-06-30T17:22:28.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-30-at-1.11.27-PM.png?fit=1024%2C890&ssl=1","type":"image/png"},"createdAt":"2026-06-30T17:35:33.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-30-at-1.11.27-PM.png?fit=1024%2C890&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"AU8j7LkH7kT0mvHH","title":"The Plastic Problem Black Men Can’t Ignore","description":"For generations, environmental justice in Black America has been measured in asthma rates, cancer diagnoses and poisoned drinking water. Scientists now say another consequence may be emerging: chemicals and microscopic plastics omnipresent in everyday life could be harming Black men’s fertility. Researchers have found that Black men tend to have elevated levels of endocrine-disrupting chemicals, which mimic or block hormones, due to their presence in consumer products and certain foods. Besides contributing to lower fertility rates, researchers have linked those chemicals, along with microplastics, to other health issues disproportionately found in Black men, like prostate cancer and cardiovascular disease. But in the U.S., studies on environmental exposure and male reproductive health focuses almost exclusively on white men. That’s despite the fact that Black men are more likely to live in areas with heavier concentration of facilities that emit microplastics, harmful chemicals and other forms of pollution that researchers have found affect testicular health and sperm production rates. Rev. Lennox Yearwood, president and CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus, says the issue of microplastics and similar health threats are the Black community’s modern-day civil rights issue. Evidence that pollution is now affecting men’s reproductive health, he says, should be a call to arms. “The plastic epidemic is not a “right” or “left” issue; it’s a ‘you’ issue, a ‘me’ issue, and quite plainly a global issue,” says Yearwood. “Plastics are, in fact, taking over the planet, and they don’t discriminate.” “As Black men, we’re fighting enough battles when it comes to our health. We shouldn’t also have to worry about plastics and toxic chemicals making their way into our bodies,” Yearwood told Word In Black. A Worldwide Problem An astounding 450 million tons of plastic is produced worldwide each year. And nearly one-quarter of it ends up in the environment, where they very slowly degrade into microscopic pieces. Science has confirmed that these particles may be buried in landfills or released into the atmosphere, but they don’t stay outside the body. The issue is especially relevant because so many Black neighborhoods are “fenceline communities” — places where industrial facilities, like manufacturing plants, airports or military bases, have been built. Black Americans are 75% more likely than white Americans to live next to industrial facilities that generate noise, odor, increase traffic or spew emissions that directly affect the population. Besides microplastic particles, those facilities also emit chemical additives that leach from plastics and have been directly linked to hormonal disruption and reduced male fertility. A 2023 peer-reviewed Harvard study published in Environmental Science & Technology found that communities with higher proportions of Black and Latino residents are significantly more likely to be exposed to dangerous PFAS levels — so-called forever chemicals — in their water. The researchers link this finding to the high number of major industrial facilities, from factories to military bases, located near watersheds serving these communities. Each facility was associated with an increase in certain PFAS compounds higher than 100% in some cases.RELATED: Hip-Hop Activist: Plastics Are the New Civil Rights Fight These chemicals find their way into drinking water and hit Black communities hardest. Studies have found microplastics in human testicular tissue, a condition associated with lower sperm counts. Black men face higher rates of prostate cancer and cardiovascular issues. Microplastics and endocrine disruptors have been shown to worsen these conditions. Black men have also been found to have elevated levels of endocrine-disrupting chemicals, which mimic or block hormones, due to their presence in consumer products and certain foods. But in U.S. studies on environmental exposure and male reproductive health more than 80% of study participants are white while just 2% to 10% are Black Americans. Chemical Disruptors Another landmark 2023 study published in the journal Toxicological Sciences found microplastics in human testicular tissue and were associated with lower sperm counts. These chemicals act as endocrine disruptors that interfere or reduce sperm quality and lower testosterone. And in 2014, a study found microplastics in heart arteries. Black men die from cardiovascular disease at a rate 38% higher than men in the overall population. Dr. Robert Bullard, widely regarded as one of the fathers of the environmental justice movement, has documented this disparity for decades. In his 1990 book, “Dumping in Dixie,” and other works, Bullard established that industrial facilities and toxic waste disposal in Black communities is a deliberate policy decision — not an accident. While white communities experience “pollution advantage,” compared to communities of color no community … should be allowed to become a ‘sacrifice zone’ or dumping ground.” Yearwood’s organization has been fighting for climate justice and environmental justice for two decades. But there’s more work to be done. “We’ve seen what pollution has done in places like Cancer Alley. Families have suffered, communities have been devastated, and the effects last for generations,” Yearwood adds. “Protecting our health means standing up to the industries polluting our air and water and understanding that environmental justice is a matter of survival. We can’t pour into our families and communities while being poisoned from the inside out.” Reducing Your Exposure The good news is that there are steps individuals can take to reduce their microplastic load. 1. Choose tap water over bottled water. A study cited by the NRDC found that people who drink bottled water ingest substantially more microplastics annually than those who drink tap water. Those who consume beverages in plastic packaging also show higher microplastic levels in stool. Use filtered tap water when possible; a reverse osmosis or activated carbon filter reduces particles further. 2. Don’t microwave food in plastic. Scientists have confirmed that heating food in plastic packaging or containers releases plastic particles and chemicals into food. Transfer food to glass or ceramic before microwaving. 3. Replace plastic kitchenware. Plastic cutting boards, bowls, blenders, electric kettles, and sponges all introduce microplastics into food. Alternatives include stainless steel, glass, ceramic, bamboo, and stoneware. Bamboo cutting boards in particular have been shown not to transfer microplastics to food. 4. Choose natural fiber clothing and furnishings. Synthetic textiles shed plastic microfibers continuously — during wear and especially during laundering. Indoor dust in spaces dominated by synthetic carpets and upholstery carries higher microplastic concentrations. Cotton, linen, silk, wool, and bamboo are the recommended alternatives. Check labels carefully, as synthetics are often blended into natural-fiber products. 5. Replace nonstick cookware. Nonstick pans coated with PTFE (Teflon) release millions of microplastics and nanoplastics during cooking. Notably, those particles are also PFAS — toxic “forever chemicals.” The NRDC recommends switching to stainless steel, cast iron, or ceramic cookware.Source: National Resources Defense Council [4:12 PM] Experience not loading? Click here The post The Plastic Problem Black Men Can’t Ignore appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"Close-up
\n

For generations, environmental justice in Black America has been measured in asthma rates, cancer diagnoses and poisoned drinking water. Scientists now say another consequence may be emerging: chemicals and microscopic plastics omnipresent in everyday life could be harming Black men’s fertility.

\n\n\n\n

Researchers have found that Black men tend to have elevated levels of endocrine-disrupting chemicals, which mimic or block hormones, due to their presence in consumer products and certain foods. Besides contributing to lower fertility rates, researchers have linked those chemicals, along with microplastics, to other health issues disproportionately found in Black men, like prostate cancer and cardiovascular disease. 

\n\n\n\n

But in the U.S., studies on environmental exposure and male reproductive health focuses almost exclusively on white men. That’s despite the fact that Black men are more likely to live in areas with heavier concentration of facilities that emit microplastics, harmful chemicals and other forms of pollution that researchers have found affect testicular health and sperm production rates. 

\n\n\n\n

Rev. Lennox Yearwood, president and CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus, says the issue of  microplastics and similar health threats are the Black community’s modern-day civil rights issue. Evidence that pollution is now affecting men’s reproductive health, he says, should be a call to arms.  

\n\n\n\n

“The plastic epidemic is not a “right” or “left” issue; it’s a ‘you’ issue, a ‘me’ issue, and quite plainly a global issue,” says Yearwood. “Plastics are, in fact, taking over the planet, and they don’t discriminate.”

\n\n\n\n

“As Black men, we’re fighting enough battles when it comes to our health. We shouldn’t also have to worry about plastics and toxic chemicals making their way into our bodies,” Yearwood told Word In Black.

\n\n\n\n

A Worldwide Problem

\n\n\n\n

An astounding 450 million tons of plastic  is produced worldwide each year. And nearly one-quarter of it ends up in the environment, where they very slowly degrade into microscopic pieces. Science has confirmed that these particles may be buried in landfills or released into the atmosphere, but they don’t stay outside the body.

\n\n\n\n

The issue is especially relevant because so many Black neighborhoods are “fenceline communities” — places where industrial facilities, like manufacturing plants, airports or military bases, have been built. 

\n\n\n\n

Black Americans are 75% more likely than white Americans to live next to industrial facilities that generate noise, odor, increase traffic or spew emissions that directly affect the population. Besides microplastic particles, those facilities also emit chemical additives that leach from plastics and have been directly linked to hormonal disruption and reduced male fertility.

\n\n\n\n

A 2023 peer-reviewed Harvard study published in Environmental Science & Technology found that communities with higher proportions of Black and Latino residents are significantly more likely to be exposed to dangerous PFAS levels — so-called forever chemicals — in their water. 

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

These chemicals find their way into drinking water and hit Black communities hardest. 

\n\n\n\n

Studies have found microplastics in human testicular tissue, a condition associated with lower sperm counts. Black men face higher rates of prostate cancer and cardiovascular issues. Microplastics and endocrine disruptors have been shown to worsen these conditions. 

\n\n\n\n

Black men have also been found to have elevated levels of endocrine-disrupting chemicals, which mimic or block hormones, due to their presence in consumer products and certain foods. But in U.S. studies on environmental exposure and male reproductive health more than 80% of study participants are white while just 2% to 10% are Black Americans.

\n\n\n\n

Chemical Disruptors

\n\n\n\n

Another landmark 2023 study published in the journal Toxicological Sciences found microplastics in human testicular tissue and were associated with lower sperm counts. These chemicals act as endocrine disruptors that interfere or reduce sperm quality and lower testosterone.

\n\n\n\n

And in 2014, a study found microplastics in heart arteries. Black men die from cardiovascular disease at a rate 38% higher than men in the overall population. 

\n\n\n\n

Dr. Robert Bullard, widely regarded as one of the fathers of the environmental justice movement, has documented this disparity for decades.  In his 1990 book, “Dumping in Dixie,” and other works, Bullard established that industrial facilities and toxic waste disposal in Black communities is a deliberate policy decision — not an accident.  While white communities experience “pollution advantage,” compared to communities of color no community … should be allowed to become a ‘sacrifice zone’ or dumping ground.” 

\n\n\n\n

Yearwood’s organization has been fighting for climate justice and environmental justice for two decades. But there’s more work to be done. 

\n\n\n\n

“We’ve seen what pollution has done in places like Cancer Alley. Families have suffered, communities have been devastated, and the effects last for generations,” Yearwood adds. “Protecting our health means standing up to the industries polluting our air and water and understanding that environmental justice is a matter of survival. We can’t pour into our families and communities while being poisoned from the inside out.”

\n\n\n\n

Reducing Your Exposure

\n\n\n\n

The good news is that there are steps individuals can take to reduce their microplastic load.

\n\n\n\n

1. Choose tap water over bottled water. A study cited by the NRDC found that people who drink bottled water ingest substantially more microplastics annually than those who drink tap water. Those who consume beverages in plastic packaging also show higher microplastic levels in stool. Use filtered tap water when possible; a reverse osmosis or activated carbon filter reduces particles further.

\n\n\n\n

2. Don’t microwave food in plastic. Scientists have confirmed that heating food in plastic packaging or containers releases plastic particles and chemicals into food. Transfer food to glass or ceramic before microwaving.

\n\n\n\n

3. Replace plastic kitchenware. Plastic cutting boards, bowls, blenders, electric kettles, and sponges all introduce microplastics into food. Alternatives include stainless steel, glass, ceramic, bamboo, and stoneware. Bamboo cutting boards in particular have been shown not to transfer microplastics to food.

\n\n\n\n

4. Choose natural fiber clothing and furnishings. Synthetic textiles shed plastic microfibers continuously — during wear and especially during laundering. Indoor dust in spaces dominated by synthetic carpets and upholstery carries higher microplastic concentrations. Cotton, linen, silk, wool, and bamboo are the recommended alternatives. Check labels carefully, as synthetics are often blended into natural-fiber products.

\n\n\n\n

5. Replace nonstick cookware. Nonstick pans coated with PTFE (Teflon) release millions of microplastics and nanoplastics during cooking. Notably, those particles are also PFAS — toxic “forever chemicals.” The NRDC recommends switching to stainless steel, cast iron, or ceramic cookware.
Source: National Resources Defense Council

\n\n\n\n\n[4:12 PM]\n
Experience not loading? Click here
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\n\n\n\n



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The post The Plastic Problem Black Men Can’t Ignore appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/06/the-plastic-problem-black-men-cant-ignore/","site":"Jennifer Porter Gore","originalAuthor":"Jennifer Porter Gore","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Health","black men","health"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-06-29T20:20:51.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-microplastics.jpg?fit=724%2C483&ssl=1","type":"image/jpeg"},"createdAt":"2026-06-29T20:30:32.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-microplastics.jpg?fit=724%2C483&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"37MGjHexTLobwhLL","title":"This Play Doesn’t Just Portray Church. It Becomes Church.","description":"Before the lights dim, before a single line is spoken, audiences entering Baltimore Center Stage discover something unexpected. There is already a church waiting for them. LEARN MORE: She Didn’t Want the Pulpit. Instead, She Built a Stage A towering tree from the Republic of Congo rises from the sanctuary-like stage. A piano sits ready. Musicians prepare to play. Church pews fill the room—not just for actors, but for the audience itself. There is no comfortable distance between performer and spectator because, from the moment people enter, they have become part of the congregation. That is the premise behind “Pray,” an immersive choreopoem now playing at Baltimore Center Stage through July 5. Rather than asking audiences to watch a Black church service unfold, the production invites them to participate in one. “It’s never the same,” performer Ziiomi Law says. “Depending on how the audience responds, informs what we offer that night.” The audience sits among us. I may be sitting on a pew right next to you. You’re not separated from the performers; you’re part of the experience.Ziiomi Law, CAST MEMBER, “PRAY” For Baltimore audiences, that concept feels remarkably familiar. Anyone who has spent time in a Black church knows that worship is never entirely scripted. Testimonies run long. Announcements become conversations. Greeting your neighbor may take far longer than planned. The Spirit often determines when service ends—not the clock. Law says “Pray” embraces that same freedom. Faith Traditions While the production follows the familiar order of worship—prayer, praise, offering, greeting, benediction—it is not confined by time or theology. The story moves fluidly from the 1800s to the present and into imagined futures while exploring Black spirituality beyond denominational boundaries. The work honors Southern Baptist traditions while making room for African traditional religions, hoodoo, and other spiritual practices carried across the African diaspora. The result is neither conventional theater nor conventional church. Audiences encounter a deeply Black meditation on faith, memory, joy, survival, and the permission to wrestle honestly with belief. Law says Pray is intentionally gender expansive to honor the range of queerness and human experience: “It is also a love letter specifically to Black women and femmes and throughout the service that can be felt.” ‘Baltimore Understood’ To Law, who began her career as a dancer, Baltimore — a Black-majority city where it’s often said there is a church on every corner and in the middle of every block — has embraced the production differently than audiences in New York. “This is the demographic we’re making this work for,” Law said in a question-and-answer session with Word In Black. “Baltimore has really understood the assignment,” and theatergoers behaved as if they were in an actual church. For residents of Charm City, “Pray” may feel less like attending a play than coming home to a sanctuary that asks as many questions as it answers. The interview with Law has been edited for length and clarity. Word In Black: When audiences walk into Pray, what’s the very first thing they experience? Ziiomi Law: The first thing most folks notice is that we have a tree inside the church—a Wengue tree from the Republic of Congo. You immediately walk into a church service. We have a piano, a live band, and church pews, but it’s immersive. The audience sits among us. I may be sitting on a pew right next to you. You’re not separated from the performers; you’re part of the experience. WIB: What exactly does “immersive” mean in this production? Law: We’re all co-creating the experience together. The audience’s energy changes what happens every night. How people respond informs what we offer. Every performance is different. The play is an offering and an invitation, so audience members get as much as they allow themselves to receive. WIB: The structure follows a church service, but the story isn’t linear. How does that work? Law: We move across different periods of time—the 1800s, the present, the future, even times we can’t really name. But the framework is a church service. There’s prayer, praise and worship, offering, greeting your neighbor, benediction. That’s the structure audiences follow. WIB: Does audience participation ever change the length of the performance? Law: Absolutely. The show is about 70 minutes, but there’s room for improvisation, just like church. If greeting your neighbor needs to last longer, it does. If someone would naturally jump in, we make room for that. WIB: Why call the production “Pray” instead of, say, “Church”? Law: Because we’re talking about spirituality that’s much broader than one denomination. Prayer happens in churches, but it also happens in people, places and everyday life. We wanted something expansive. Also several members of the creative team are preachers’ kids so this work is deeply personal and meaningful to us. WIB: What emotional journey do audiences take? Law: There’s joy. There’s laughter. There’s dancing and twerking in church hats and church suits, which can surprise people. But we’re also talking about historical trauma Black people—especially Black women and Black femmes—have survived. The work gives people permission to hold deep faith while still asking questions. WIB: How do you know when a performance has truly connected? Law: We feel the audience with us. When people are emotionally engaged and willing to go on the journey, we know it’s working. WIB: Baltimore audiences are experiencing Pray after its New York premiere. What’s different here? Law:In New York, people appreciated it as theater, but they didn’t always have the cultural context. Here, people immediately recognize the world we’re building because it’s familiar. WIB: How long has this project been in development? Law: Since around 2018 or 2019. We premiered in New York in 2023, and this is the first time the production has been mounted outside the city where it was created. WIB: Is the cast mostly local? Law: About half the cast is from Baltimore, and our band is predominantly local. It was important to honor the incredible talent already here while bringing back a few of us who’ve been with the production since the beginning. WIB: Tell me a little about the play’s history. Law: I was dance captain for the 2023 premiere in New York City and we won two Lucille Lortel awards in 2024 for Outstanding Ensemble and Outstanding Musical. Our director, nicHi douglas, won for Outstanding Director and was nominated for Outstanding Choreographer. Our show was nominated in 6 categories, and we swept the awards with our wins. WIB: Your background is primarily dance. How did acting become part of your career? Law: I’ve been dancing since I was three. Acting really came through dance because I kept getting cast in roles that required both. I’ve been acting professionally for about five years. WIB: What’s next after Pray closes? Law: I’m heading to a Katherine Dunham Technique conference to continue helping preserve that legacy. After that, I’m resting, spending time with my mom, my dog and my family. We’ve been working nonstop since May, and it’s time to restore myself. The post This Play Doesn’t Just Portray Church. It Becomes Church. appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"Audience
\n

Before the lights dim, before a single line is spoken, audiences entering Baltimore Center Stage discover something unexpected.

\n\n\n\n

There is already a church waiting for them.

\n\n\n\n

LEARN MORE: She Didn’t Want the Pulpit. Instead, She Built a Stage

\n\n\n\n

A towering tree from the Republic of Congo rises from the sanctuary-like stage. A piano sits ready. Musicians prepare to play. Church pews fill the room—not just for actors, but for the audience itself. 

\n\n\n\n

There is no comfortable distance between performer and spectator because, from the moment people enter, they have become part of the congregation.

\n\n\n\n

That is the premise behind “Pray,” an immersive choreopoem now playing at Baltimore Center Stage through July 5. Rather than asking audiences to watch a Black church service unfold, the production invites them to participate in one.

\n\n\n\n

“It’s never the same,” performer Ziiomi Law says. “Depending on how the audience responds, informs what we offer that night.”

\n\n\n\n

The audience sits among us. I may be sitting on a pew right next to you. You’re not separated from the performers; you’re part of the experience.

Ziiomi Law, CAST MEMBER, “PRAY”
\n\n\n\n

For Baltimore audiences, that concept feels remarkably familiar.

\n\n\n\n

Anyone who has spent time in a Black church knows that worship is never entirely scripted. Testimonies run long. Announcements become conversations. Greeting your neighbor may take far longer than planned.

\n\n\n\n

The Spirit often determines when service ends—not the clock.

\n\n\n\n

Law says “Pray” embraces that same freedom.

\n\n\n\n

Faith Traditions

\n\n\n\n

While the production follows the familiar order of worship—prayer, praise, offering, greeting, benediction—it is not confined by time or theology. The story moves fluidly from the 1800s to the present and into imagined futures while exploring Black spirituality beyond denominational boundaries.

\n\n\n\n

The work honors Southern Baptist traditions while making room for African traditional religions, hoodoo, and other spiritual practices carried across the African diaspora.

\n\n\n\n

The result is neither conventional theater nor conventional church.

\n\n\n\n

Audiences encounter a deeply Black meditation on faith, memory, joy, survival, and the permission to wrestle honestly with belief. Law says Pray is intentionally gender expansive to honor the range of queerness and human experience: “It is also a love letter specifically to Black women and femmes and throughout the service that can be felt.”

\n\n\n\n

‘Baltimore Understood’

\n\n\n\n

To Law, who began her career as a dancer, Baltimore — a Black-majority city where it’s often said there is a church on every corner and in the middle of every block — has embraced the production differently than audiences in New York. 

\n\n\n\n

“This is the demographic we’re making this work for,” Law said in a question-and-answer session with Word In Black. “Baltimore has really understood the assignment,” and theatergoers behaved as if they were in an actual church. 

\n\n\n\n

For residents of Charm City, “Pray” may feel less like attending a play than coming home to a sanctuary that asks as many questions as it answers.

\n\n\n\n

The interview with Law has been edited for length and clarity. 

\n\n\n\n

Word In Black: When audiences walk into Pray, what’s the very first thing they experience?

\n\n\n\n

Ziiomi Law: The first thing most folks notice is that we have a tree inside the church—a Wengue tree from the Republic of Congo. You immediately walk into a church service. We have a piano, a live band, and church pews, but it’s immersive. The audience sits among us. I may be sitting on a pew right next to you. You’re not separated from the performers; you’re part of the experience.

\n\n\n\n

WIB: What exactly does “immersive” mean in this production?

\n\n\n\n

Law: We’re all co-creating the experience together. The audience’s energy changes what happens every night. How people respond informs what we offer. Every performance is different. The play is an offering and an invitation, so audience members get as much as they allow themselves to receive.

\n\n\n\n

WIB: The structure follows a church service, but the story isn’t linear. How does that work?

\n\n\n\n

Law: We move across different periods of time—the 1800s, the present, the future, even times we can’t really name. But the framework is a church service. There’s prayer, praise and worship, offering, greeting your neighbor, benediction. That’s the structure audiences follow.

\n\n\n\n

WIB: Does audience participation ever change the length of the performance?

\n\n\n\n

Law: Absolutely. The show is about 70 minutes, but there’s room for improvisation, just like church. If greeting your neighbor needs to last longer, it does. If someone would naturally jump in, we make room for that.

\n\n\n\n

WIB: Why call the production “Pray” instead of, say, “Church”?

\n\n\n\n

Law: Because we’re talking about spirituality that’s much broader than one denomination. Prayer happens in churches, but it also happens in people, places and everyday life. We wanted something expansive. Also several members of the creative team are preachers’ kids so this work is deeply personal and meaningful to us.

\n\n\n\n

WIB: What emotional journey do audiences take?

\n\n\n\n

Law: There’s joy. There’s laughter. There’s dancing and twerking in church hats and church suits, which can surprise people. But we’re also talking about historical trauma Black people—especially Black women and Black femmes—have survived. The work gives people permission to hold deep faith while still asking questions.

\n\n\n\n

WIB: How do you know when a performance has truly connected?

\n\n\n\n

Law: We feel the audience with us. When people are emotionally engaged and willing to go on the journey, we know it’s working.

\n\n\n\n

WIB: Baltimore audiences are experiencing Pray after its New York premiere. What’s different here?

\n\n\n\n

Law:In New York, people appreciated it as theater, but they didn’t always have the cultural context. Here, people immediately recognize the world we’re building because it’s familiar.

\n\n\n\n

WIB: How long has this project been in development?

\n\n\n\n

Law: Since around 2018 or 2019. We premiered in New York in 2023, and this is the first time the production has been mounted outside the city where it was created.

\n\n\n\n

WIB: Is the cast mostly local?

\n\n\n\n

Law: About half the cast is from Baltimore, and our band is predominantly local. It was important to honor the incredible talent already here while bringing back a few of us who’ve been with the production since the beginning.

\n\n\n\n

WIB: Tell me a little about the play’s history.

\n\n\n\n

Law: I was dance captain for the 2023 premiere in New York City and we won two Lucille Lortel awards in 2024 for Outstanding Ensemble and Outstanding Musical. Our director, nicHi douglas, won for Outstanding Director and was nominated for Outstanding Choreographer. Our show was nominated in 6 categories, and we swept the awards with our wins.

\n\n\n\n

WIB: Your background is primarily dance. How did acting become part of your career?

\n\n\n\n

Law: I’ve been dancing since I was three. Acting really came through dance because I kept getting cast in roles that required both. I’ve been acting professionally for about five years.

\n\n\n\n

WIB: What’s next after Pray closes?

\n\n\n\n

Law: I’m heading to a Katherine Dunham Technique conference to continue helping preserve that legacy. After that, I’m resting, spending time with my mom, my dog and my family. We’ve been working nonstop since May, and it’s time to restore myself.

\n

The post This Play Doesn’t Just Portray Church. It Becomes Church. appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/06/this-play-doesnt-just-portray-church-it-becomes-church/","site":"Rev. Dorothy S. Boulware","originalAuthor":"Rev. Dorothy S. Boulware","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Racial Healing","religion"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-06-29T20:09:35.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/A-Kay-A-J-Fannon-Photo-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1","type":"image/jpeg"},"createdAt":"2026-06-29T20:14:58.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/A-Kay-A-J-Fannon-Photo-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"2oMp7gJG1sNyn4cg","title":"2819 Church Pastor Joins Pro-Trump Preacher’s Youth Conference","description":"For years, Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell, founder of Atlanta’s rapidly growing 2819 Church, has built a national following by preaching biblical authority, discipleship, and cultural conservatism while resisting easy political labels. He’s also avoided the Black church tradition of social justice and civic engagement, instead emphasizing personal holiness and what he describes as orthodox Christianity. That includes preaching to Black parents that they should stop blaming police for the deaths of Black children and instead teach them to obey authority. RELATED: There’s More to 2819 Church Than an ‘Obey Cops’ Controversy Now, Michell has appeared as a featured speaker at Forward Conference 2026 — a massive annual gathering for evangelical youth and young adults, convened by a preacher with close ties to President Donald Trump. Franklin and MAGA Jentezen Franklin, the charismatic founder of a Georgia megachurch, hosts the event, which draws tens of thousands of participants, in his home state. But Franklin is not simply another megachurch pastor. Franklin, the senior pastor of Free Church, a nondenominational, multi-campus church, has spent years as one of Trump’s trusted advisers, praying with him at the White House and publicly defending the polarizing president. This week, Franklin serves on the president’s Religious Liberty Commission and delivered the invocation at Trump’s America 250 Great American State Fair event on the National Mall. “Lord, … touch our president, touch his cabinet,” Franklin said. “Bless our Supreme Court, bless our Congress, and bless our Senate.” Star Lineup At Forward Conference 2026, Mitchell joins a lineup that includes Franklin, evangelist Reggie Dabbs, Elevation Rhythm, Girls Gone Bible, and several other speakers and worship leaders. Conference promotional materials prominently feature a photo of Mitchell, in his signature black hoodie, as among the event’s headliners. Though there’s little reporting on what he said, Mitchell’s presence was apparently well-received, according to Franklin’s Facebook page. “Night one of Forward Conference was something special,” he wrote in a post just after midnight Friday. “Thank you, Philip Anthony Mitchell and Free Chapel Music. Day two, we’re ready.” Mitchell’s presence on that stage is significant because conferences often function as evangelical Christianity’s informal credentialing system. Invitations signal not only popularity, but theological trust, institutional acceptance, and growing influence. Sharing a platform with nationally recognized pastors introduces speakers to new audiences and embeds them within networks that shape the future of American evangelicalism. That network has been expanding for Mitchell, a new-media-savvy, millennial preacher whose ministry and personal aesthetic draw heavily from rap and hip-hop. Over the past several years, Mitchell has increasingly appeared alongside influential evangelical leaders. That includes Tim Timberlake of Celebration Church in Jacksonville, Florida; besides appearing together on tour, Timberlake and Mitchell co-host the “Street Preachers” podcast. Elevated Profile His association with Franklin, however, puts Mitchell on a new level. Although their ministries differ in style — for example, Franklin favors tailored suits at the pulpit, while Mitchell’s preaching uniform is black jeans, a black hoodie, and Nike Dunks — they share several defining characteristics. They preach biblical authority, prioritize church growth, rely heavily on digital platforms, and appeal to younger, racially diverse Christians who often feel disconnected from traditional denominations. Though Mitchell does not have an obvious political profile, his theological commitments—including traditional views on sexuality, gender, biblical authority, and abortion—largely align with the broader movement that has overwhelmingly supported Republican candidates over the past decade. RELATED: Holy Culture Radio Produces a Joyful Noise on the Radio For generations, the Black church has served not only as a spiritual institution but also as the moral and political center of Black civic life. Mitchell represents a younger cohort of Black pastors who continue to preach orthodox theology while placing less emphasis on institutional activism and more on discipleship, personal obedience, and spiritual formation. Whether that trajectory ultimately reshapes Black evangelicalism—or simply broadens Mitchell’s own national platform—remains to be seen. But his appearance alongside Franklin at Forward Conference suggests that one of Black Christianity’s fastest-rising pastors is no longer speaking only to the Black church. The post 2819 Church Pastor Joins Pro-Trump Preacher’s Youth Conference appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"As
\n

For years, Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell, founder of Atlanta’s rapidly growing 2819 Church, has built a national following by preaching biblical authority, discipleship, and cultural conservatism while resisting easy political labels. 

\n\n\n\n

He’s also avoided the Black church tradition of social justice and civic engagement, instead emphasizing personal holiness and what he describes as orthodox Christianity. That includes preaching to Black parents that they should stop blaming police for the deaths of Black children and instead teach them to obey authority. 

\n\n\n\n

RELATED: There’s More to 2819 Church Than an ‘Obey Cops’ Controversy

\n\n\n\n

Now, Michell has appeared as a featured speaker at Forward Conference 2026 — a massive annual gathering for evangelical youth and young adults, convened by a preacher with close ties to President Donald Trump.

\n\n\n\n

Franklin and MAGA

\n\n\n\n

Jentezen Franklin, the charismatic founder of a Georgia megachurch, hosts the event, which draws tens of thousands of participants, in his home state. But Franklin is not simply another megachurch pastor.

\n\n\n\n

Franklin, the senior pastor of Free Church, a nondenominational, multi-campus church, has spent years as one of Trump’s trusted advisers, praying with him at the White House and publicly defending the polarizing president. This week, Franklin serves on the president’s Religious Liberty Commission and delivered the invocation at Trump’s America 250 Great American State Fair event on the National Mall.  

\n\n\n\n

“Lord, … touch our president, touch his cabinet,” Franklin said. “Bless our Supreme Court, bless our Congress, and bless our Senate.”

\n\n\n\n

Star Lineup

\n\n\n\n

At Forward Conference 2026, Mitchell joins a lineup that includes Franklin, evangelist Reggie Dabbs, Elevation Rhythm, Girls Gone Bible, and several other speakers and worship leaders. Conference promotional materials prominently feature a photo of Mitchell, in his signature black hoodie, as among the event’s headliners. 

\n\n\n\n

Though there’s little reporting on what he said, Mitchell’s presence was apparently well-received, according to Franklin’s Facebook page. 

\n\n\n\n

“Night one of Forward Conference was something special,” he wrote in a post just after midnight Friday. “Thank you, Philip Anthony Mitchell and Free Chapel Music. Day two, we’re ready.”

\n\n\n\n

Mitchell’s presence on that stage is significant because conferences often function as evangelical Christianity’s informal credentialing system. Invitations signal not only popularity, but theological trust, institutional acceptance, and growing influence. 

\n\n\n\n

Sharing a platform with nationally recognized pastors introduces speakers to new audiences and embeds them within networks that shape the future of American evangelicalism.

\n\n\n\n

That network has been expanding for Mitchell, a new-media-savvy, millennial preacher whose ministry and personal aesthetic draw heavily from rap and hip-hop. 

\n\n\n\n

Over the past several years, Mitchell has increasingly appeared alongside influential evangelical leaders. That includes Tim Timberlake of Celebration Church in Jacksonville, Florida; besides appearing together on tour, Timberlake and Mitchell co-host the “Street Preachers” podcast. 

\n\n\n\n

Elevated Profile

\n\n\n\n

His association with Franklin, however, puts Mitchell on a new level. 

\n\n\n\n

Although their ministries differ in style — for example, Franklin favors tailored suits at the pulpit, while Mitchell’s preaching uniform is black jeans, a black hoodie, and Nike Dunks — they share several defining characteristics. They preach biblical authority, prioritize church growth, rely heavily on digital platforms, and appeal to younger, racially diverse Christians who often feel disconnected from traditional denominations. 

\n\n\n\n

Though Mitchell does not have an obvious political profile, his theological commitments—including traditional views on sexuality, gender, biblical authority, and abortion—largely align with the broader movement that has overwhelmingly supported Republican candidates over the past decade. 

\n\n\n\n

RELATED: Holy Culture Radio Produces a Joyful Noise on the Radio

\n\n\n\n

For generations, the Black church has served not only as a spiritual institution but also as the moral and political center of Black civic life. Mitchell represents a younger cohort of Black pastors who continue to preach orthodox theology while placing less emphasis on institutional activism and more on discipleship, personal obedience, and spiritual formation.

\n\n\n\n

Whether that trajectory ultimately reshapes Black evangelicalism—or simply broadens Mitchell’s own national platform—remains to be seen. But his appearance alongside Franklin at Forward Conference suggests that one of Black Christianity’s fastest-rising pastors is no longer speaking only to the Black church. 

\n

The post 2819 Church Pastor Joins Pro-Trump Preacher’s Youth Conference appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/06/philip-anthony-mitchell-joins-jentezen-franklins-youth-conference/","site":"Rev. Dorothy S. Boulware","originalAuthor":"Rev. Dorothy S. Boulware","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Religion"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-06-26T17:29:52.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-26-at-1.00.52-PM.png?fit=1024%2C689&ssl=1","type":"image/png"},"createdAt":"2026-06-26T17:43:30.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-26-at-1.00.52-PM.png?fit=1024%2C689&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"H7qd6pMSaKFVSOXO","title":"Project TURN: Future Pastors Learning Beside Prisoners","description":"One of Jesus’ central lessons, and arguably his most powerful, is encapsulated in a deceptively simple statement: “I was in prison, and you visited me.” For generations, Christian leaders have interpreted that passage from Matthew 25 as an obvious call to look after the least of us, including the incarcerated. At Duke Divinity School, however, a 15-year-old program sharpens the lesson: It brings together divinity students from an elite private university and people serving time in prison. RELATED: From Prison to Purpose: Transforming Re-entry in San Francisco The incarcerated, however, aren’t being ministered to. They are fellow students, teachers, and theologians. Mutual Transformation What began as a prison ministry initiative at Duke University Divinity School in 2011 has evolved into one of the most distinctive theological education programs in the nation. Called Project TURN, the program has transformed incarcerated participants, broadened the vision of future pastors, and deepened the knowledge of divinity school professors. Participants say it transforms drab prison classrooms into sacred spaces where learning flows and redemption is more than a sermon topic. “They’re all fellow learners,” says Edgardo Colón-Emeric, dean of Duke Divinity School. “It’s not that one group has all the wisdom. It’s not that the professors do or that the incarcerated people do. Everyone is learning together.” The program also reflects a longstanding tradition within the Black church and other faith communities that have historically understood ministry as presence, venturing to hospitals, nursing homes, shelters, or correctional facilities. Beyond the Bible According to its website, Project TURN brings together roughly 10 full-time seminary students and 10 incarcerated individuals to study theology, ethics, and Christian history together inside correctional facilities. The program also offers courses on restorative justice and an opportunity to do prison ministry or work with a prison-oriented nonprofit. It’s not that one group has all the wisdom. It’s not that the professors do or that the incarcerated people do. Everyone is learning together.Edgardo Colón-Emeric, dean, Duke University Divinity School Students meet regularly, participate in reflection circles, and build community through shared learning experiences. While assignments vary by course, the deeper curriculum is relational: participants learn empathy, humility, and the discipline of listening across vastly different life experiences. Project TURN traces its roots to Bishop Ken Carter, a former member of the Duke faculty and a leader in the United Methodist Church. Emeric says Carter spent decades combining parish and prison ministry, and believed future pastors should be as familiar with the inside of a prison as the corridors of a hospital or retirement community. The program brings together Duke students pursuing theological degrees and incarcerated students pursuing a certificate in prison studies. They sit together in the same classrooms, read the same materials, engage in communal discussions, and follow the same curriculum. ‘Friends for Life’ In a video testimonial about the program on Duke’s website, Kimberly Brown, a former divinity student and one of Project TURN’s first participants, described it as life-changing. “It’s a program that should be in every prison,” said Brown, who now runs OnInmate.com. “It will bring about self-awareness and let you know who you really are inside. Nine times out of 10, if you participate fully, [the incarcerated students] will be friends for life.” Elia Zonia, another Project TURN participant who received her divinity degree in 2026, agreed. In an Instagram post, she wrote about how the conversations she had with different students remain relevant, and brought insight to a group often overlooked. “Hearing from my inside classmates brought into focus just how much we as a society miss when we refuse to listen to a large group of people,” she wrote. Ignored No Longer That reciprocity may be Project TURN’s most radical feature. Though incarcerated people are typically defined by their worst mistakes, the program puts them and divinity students on equal footing. Students, prisoners and faculty encounter one another through scripture, theology, ethics, history, and lived experience. Colón-Emeric said the program has had a profound impact on everyone involved. He said professors frequently describe teaching in the program as the most meaningful educational work of their careers. Those outcomes were never guaranteed. The initial goals were to expose future church leaders to communities society often ignores; along the way, some Duke students decided to incorporate prison visitation and ministry into their vocational plans. Others had family members who experienced incarceration and wanted to understand what they had experienced. ‘Prison To Divinity School’ The program offers incarcerated students intellectual challenges, spiritual formation, and a pathway to future education. Some have enrolled in Duke Divinity School after their release — an outcome Colón-Emeric jokingly describes as a “prison-to-divinity-school pipeline.” Programs built around prison education often struggle to survive funding challenges, institutional changes, and logistical barriers. Yet after the better part of two decades, Duke University continues to support the initiative, largely because faculty, students, and administrators have witnessed its transformative power firsthand. RELATED: Bridging the ‘Black-Blue Divide’ — One Congregation at a Time Project TURN asks a similar question of theological education: What happens when future pastors encounter Christ in unlikely places? Colón-Emeric finds the answer in Matthew 25. The program’s foundation rests on the conviction that those encounters are central expressions of Christian discipleship, not optional add-ons to ministry. The post Project TURN: Future Pastors Learning Beside Prisoners appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"Project
\n

One of Jesus’ central lessons, and arguably his most powerful, is encapsulated in a deceptively simple statement: “I was in prison, and you visited me.”

\n\n\n\n

For generations, Christian leaders have interpreted that passage from Matthew 25 as an obvious call to look after the least of us, including the incarcerated. At Duke Divinity School, however, a 15-year-old program sharpens the lesson: It brings together divinity students from an elite private university and people serving time in prison. 

\n\n\n\n

RELATED: From Prison to Purpose: Transforming Re-entry in San Francisco

\n\n\n\n

The incarcerated, however, aren’t being ministered to. They are fellow students, teachers, and theologians. 

\n\n\n\n

Mutual Transformation

\n\n\n\n

What began as a prison ministry initiative at Duke University Divinity School in 2011 has evolved into one of the most distinctive theological education programs in the nation. 

\n\n\n\n

Called Project TURN, the program has transformed incarcerated participants, broadened the vision of future pastors, and deepened the knowledge of divinity school professors. Participants say it transforms drab prison classrooms into sacred spaces where learning flows and redemption is more than a sermon topic.

\n\n\n\n

“They’re all fellow learners,” says Edgardo Colón-Emeric, dean of Duke Divinity School. “It’s not that one group has all the wisdom. It’s not that the professors do or that the incarcerated people do. Everyone is learning together.” 

\n\n\n\n

The program also reflects a longstanding tradition within the Black church and other faith communities that have historically understood ministry as presence, venturing to hospitals, nursing homes, shelters, or correctional facilities. 

\n\n\n\n

Beyond the Bible

\n\n\n\n

According to its website, Project TURN brings together roughly 10 full-time seminary students and 10 incarcerated individuals to study theology, ethics, and Christian history together inside correctional facilities. The program also offers courses on restorative justice and an opportunity to do prison ministry or work with a prison-oriented nonprofit. 

\n\n\n\n

It’s not that one group has all the wisdom. It’s not that the professors do or that the incarcerated people do. Everyone is learning together.

Edgardo Colón-Emeric, dean, Duke University Divinity School
\n\n\n\n

Students meet regularly, participate in reflection circles, and build community through shared learning experiences. While assignments vary by course, the deeper curriculum is relational: participants learn empathy, humility, and the discipline of listening across vastly different life experiences.

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Project TURN traces its roots to Bishop Ken Carter, a former member of the Duke faculty and a leader in the United Methodist Church. Emeric says Carter spent decades combining parish and prison ministry, and believed future pastors should be as familiar with the inside of a prison as the corridors of a hospital or retirement community.

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The program brings together Duke students pursuing theological degrees and incarcerated students pursuing a certificate in prison studies. They sit together in the same classrooms, read the same materials, engage in communal discussions, and follow the same curriculum. 

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‘Friends for Life’

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In a video testimonial about the program on Duke’s website, Kimberly Brown, a former divinity student and one of Project TURN’s first participants, described it as life-changing. 

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“It’s a program that should be in every prison,” said Brown, who now runs OnInmate.com. “It will bring about self-awareness and let you know who you really are inside. Nine times out of 10, if you participate fully, [the incarcerated students] will be friends for life.”

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Elia Zonia, another Project TURN participant who received her divinity degree in 2026, agreed. In an Instagram post, she wrote about how the conversations she had with different students remain relevant, and brought insight to a group often overlooked.

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“Hearing from my inside classmates brought into focus just how much we as a society miss when we refuse to listen to a large group of people,” she wrote. 

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Ignored No Longer

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That reciprocity may be Project TURN’s most radical feature.

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Though incarcerated people are typically defined by their worst mistakes, the program puts them and divinity students on equal footing. Students, prisoners and faculty encounter one another through scripture, theology, ethics, history, and lived experience.

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Colón-Emeric said the program has had a profound impact on everyone involved. He said professors frequently describe teaching in the program as the most meaningful educational work of their careers.

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Those outcomes were never guaranteed. The initial goals were to expose future church leaders to communities society often ignores; along the way, some Duke students decided to incorporate prison visitation and ministry into their vocational plans. Others had family members who experienced incarceration and wanted to understand what they had experienced.

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‘Prison To Divinity School’

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The program offers incarcerated students intellectual challenges, spiritual formation, and a pathway to future education. Some have enrolled in Duke Divinity School after their release — an outcome Colón-Emeric  jokingly describes as a “prison-to-divinity-school pipeline.”

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Programs built around prison education often struggle to survive funding challenges, institutional changes, and logistical barriers. Yet after the better part of two decades, Duke University continues to support the initiative, largely because faculty, students, and administrators have witnessed its transformative power firsthand.

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RELATED: Bridging the ‘Black-Blue Divide’ — One Congregation at a Time

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Project TURN asks a similar question of theological education: What happens when future pastors encounter Christ in unlikely places?

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Colón-Emeric finds the answer in Matthew 25. The program’s foundation rests on the conviction that those encounters are  central expressions of Christian discipleship, not optional add-ons to ministry.

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The post Project TURN: Future Pastors Learning Beside Prisoners appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/06/project-turn-future-pastors-learning-beside-prisoners/","site":"Rev. Dorothy S. Boulware","originalAuthor":"Rev. Dorothy S. Boulware","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Religion","religion"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-06-26T11:52:26.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1608555244.jpg?fit=814%2C429&ssl=1","type":"image/jpeg"},"createdAt":"2026-06-26T11:55:09.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1608555244.jpg?fit=814%2C429&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"wkecwLwEBjqdQjGz","title":"He Spent 12 Years Testing Genesis. Here’s Where It Led Him.","description":"Dr. Nathanael-Israel Israel never set out to prove the Bible. The Benin-born scientist, who holds a doctorate in plant, insect and microbial sciences, already believed in God. But a years-long search into the origins of the universe — a scientific investigation of the creation story described in the Book of Genesis — would bring him, in his words, to “the intersection of science and faith.” RELATED: How a Black Astronaut’s Historic Spacewalk Deepened His Faith Now, more than a decade of studying cosmological data has convinced Israel that the Bible’s account of creation is not merely theological poetry but a scientifically verifiable sequence — a calculus that puts him at odds with scientists as well as theologians. “I never initially started this research with a thought of proving God, proving the Bible or proving science,” Israel says. “Of course, I know there is God. I don’t need any proof to believe in God.” ‘Just Like the Bible’ Yet the quest — undertaken after a season of personal challenges prompted questions about life, purpose and the origin of the universe — took “12 years of hard work and intense research,” he said. “At one point, I even abandoned my career to focus on this thing.” Dr. Nathan-Israel Israel (Courtesy of Dr. Israel) The culmination of that work is a series of books Israel authored, including “Boldest Scientific Formula of God and Creation.” In it, he proposes a mathematical formula he says confirms the Genesis account of creation. “The formation of the Earth was done on the third day of creation, just like the Bible has been saying for 3,500 years,” Israel says. “The moon and the sun formation were completed on the fourth day of creation.” Israel believes his work arrives at a critical moment, filled with armed conflict and social unrest. I tried to see if anybody before me had analyzed the data through the framework that was coming to my mind. I could not see anybody who had done such an analysis. “We are living in difficult times nationally and worldwide,” he said. “It’s not by chance that this discovery is being known at this time.” Science of Faith Attempting to calculate the birthdate of the universe, however, is nothing new. For centuries, theologians, philosophers, and scientists have pursued the same elusive question of how the universe began; Israel’s work joins a long-running debate over whether science can say anything meaningful about God. While some scientists argue that modern physics leaves no need for a creator, others contend that science and faith address different questions altogether. Most mainstream scientists agree that God’s existence cannot be tested through the scientific method, leaving the issue beyond the reach of science alone. But Israel believes his 12-year journey through cosmological data led him to an answer hidden in the Book of Genesis, the Bible’s opening chapter. He says his calculations — based on empirical data collected throughout humanity— tracks what he calls the “forerunners” of celestial bodies, and pinpoints how long it took for to arrive at their present positions. “When I went to the site of NASA to see what they are saying, I came across a ton of scientific data collected by top scientists throughout the centuries,” Israel says. “I tried to see if anybody before me had analyzed the data through the framework that was coming to my mind. I could not see anybody who had done such an analysis.” Faith in Science Explaining the theory in everyday language is a challenge, but Israel insists his theories are scientifically sound. Those who debunk his calculations, he says, haven’t taken the time to know or understand them. “The problem is scientists don’t know that story,” he said. “Because they missed that story, they will tell you a lot of nonsense.” Israel also rejects the common notion that faith and science are enemies. “We know that science and faith can go together,” he said. “God who gave us the mind is not expecting us to trash the mind.” Yet, he warns against relying exclusively on either. “Choosing faith only is not bad, but it will not allow you to maximize your potential,” he said. “Choosing science only is dangerous because it will cause you to neglect things that you cannot demonstrate through physical science.” Despite his certanty, not everyone has embraced his conclusions. Israel said he has encountered skepticism from both scientists and some Christians. He said some organizations declined to promote his work because of the book’s explicit references to God. Including the Creator “Many top evangelists believe in evolution and the Big Bang” as the origin of the universe, he said. “Even the believers are fighting me. I wanted to do a press release, and they told me I must remove God and just say ‘creation.’ I said, ‘Stop it. How do you do a story about creation and leave out the Creator?’” But the criticism has not diminished Israel’s conviction. “Math does not lie,” he said. “This is not preaching. This is mathematical science. This is testable. This is reproducible.” To reach readers with varying levels of scientific understanding, he has published multiple versions of his work, including books written for children and more technical volumes aimed at university audiences. “It’s very difficult to address such a topic in one book,” he said. “Whoever they are—pastors, babies, children, university people—I can break it down for them.” LEARN MORE: Survey: One in Three Americans Trust AI as Much as a Pastor The largest volume in his series originally exceeded 2,500 pages before being condensed to about 700 pages, he said. Despite setbacks, Israel said, he sees growing interest in his scientific work; promoting it, however, seems like an act of faith. “People are denying me, but others will embrace me,” he said. “This is not a joke. God is opening doors. And I believe it will go very far.” The post He Spent 12 Years Testing Genesis. Here’s Where It Led Him. appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"Dr.
\n

Dr. Nathanael-Israel Israel never set out to prove the Bible.

\n\n\n\n

The Benin-born scientist, who holds a doctorate in plant, insect and microbial sciences, already believed in God. But a years-long search into the origins of the universe — a scientific investigation of the creation story described in the Book of Genesis — would bring him, in his words, to “the intersection of science and faith.”

\n\n\n\n

RELATED: How a Black Astronaut’s Historic Spacewalk Deepened His Faith

\n\n\n\n

Now, more than a decade of studying cosmological data has convinced Israel that the Bible’s account of creation is not merely theological poetry but a scientifically verifiable sequence — a calculus that puts him at odds with scientists as well as theologians. 

\n\n\n\n

“I never initially started this research with a thought of proving God, proving the Bible or proving science,” Israel says. “Of course, I know there is God. I don’t need any proof to believe in God.”

\n\n\n\n

‘Just Like the Bible’

\n\n\n\n

Yet the quest — undertaken after a season of personal challenges prompted questions about life, purpose and the origin of the universe — took “12 years of hard work and intense research,” he said. “At one point, I even abandoned my career to focus on this thing.”

\n\n\n
\n
\"\"
Dr. Nathan-Israel Israel (Courtesy of Dr. Israel)
\n
\n\n\n

The culmination of that work is a series of books Israel authored, including “Boldest Scientific Formula of God and Creation.” In it, he proposes a mathematical formula he says confirms the Genesis account of creation.

\n\n\n\n

“The formation of the Earth was done on the third day of creation, just like the Bible has been saying for 3,500 years,” Israel says. “The moon and the sun formation were completed on the fourth day of creation.”

\n\n\n\n

Israel believes his work arrives at a critical moment, filled with armed conflict and social unrest.

\n\n\n\n

I tried to see if anybody before me had analyzed the data through the framework that was coming to my mind. I could not see anybody who had done such an analysis.

\n\n\n\n

“We are living in difficult times nationally and worldwide,” he said. “It’s not by chance that this discovery is being known at this time.”

\n\n\n\n

Science of Faith

\n\n\n\n

Attempting to calculate the birthdate of the universe, however, is nothing new. For centuries, theologians, philosophers, and scientists have pursued the same elusive question of how the universe began; Israel’s work joins a long-running debate over whether science can say anything meaningful about God. 

\n\n\n\n

While some scientists argue that modern physics leaves no need for a creator, others contend that science and faith address different questions altogether. Most mainstream scientists agree that God’s existence cannot be tested through the scientific method, leaving the issue beyond the reach of science alone.

\n\n\n\n

But Israel believes his 12-year journey through cosmological data led him to an answer hidden in the Book of Genesis, the Bible’s opening chapter. He says his calculations — based on empirical data collected throughout humanity— tracks what he calls the “forerunners” of celestial bodies, and pinpoints how long it took for to arrive at their present positions.

\n\n\n\n

“When I went to the site of NASA to see what they are saying, I came across a ton of scientific data collected by top scientists throughout the centuries,” Israel says. “I tried to see if anybody before me had analyzed the data through the framework that was coming to my mind. I could not see anybody who had done such an analysis.”

\n\n\n\n

Faith in Science

\n\n\n\n

Explaining the theory in everyday language is a challenge, but Israel insists his theories are scientifically sound. Those who debunk his calculations, he says, haven’t taken the time to know or understand them. 

\n\n\n\n

“The problem is scientists don’t know that story,” he said. “Because they missed that story, they will tell you a lot of nonsense.”

\n\n\n\n

Israel also rejects the common notion that faith and science are enemies.

\n\n\n\n

“We know that science and faith can go together,” he said. “God who gave us the mind is not expecting us to trash the mind.”

\n\n\n\n

Yet, he warns against relying exclusively on either.

\n\n\n\n

“Choosing faith only is not bad, but it will not allow you to maximize your potential,” he said. “Choosing science only is dangerous because it will cause you to neglect things that you cannot demonstrate through physical science.”

\n\n\n\n

Despite his certanty, not everyone has embraced his conclusions. Israel said he has encountered skepticism from both scientists and some Christians. He said some organizations declined to promote his work because of the book’s explicit references to God.

\n\n\n\n

Including the Creator

\n\n\n\n

“Many top evangelists believe in evolution and the Big Bang” as the origin of the universe, he said. “Even the believers are fighting me. I wanted to do a press release, and they told me I must remove God and just say ‘creation.’ I said, ‘Stop it. How do you do a story about creation and leave out the Creator?’”

\n\n\n\n

But the criticism has not diminished Israel’s conviction.

\n\n\n\n

“Math does not lie,” he said. “This is not preaching. This is mathematical science. This is testable. This is reproducible.”

\n\n\n\n

To reach readers with varying levels of scientific understanding, he has published multiple versions of his work, including books written for children and more technical volumes aimed at university audiences.

\n\n\n\n

“It’s very difficult to address such a topic in one book,” he said. “Whoever they are—pastors, babies, children, university people—I can break it down for them.”

\n\n\n\n

LEARN MORE: Survey: One in Three Americans Trust AI as Much as a Pastor

\n\n\n\n

The largest volume in his series originally exceeded 2,500 pages before being condensed to about 700 pages, he said. Despite setbacks, Israel said, he sees growing interest in his scientific work; promoting it, however, seems like an act of faith.

\n\n\n\n

“People are denying me, but others will embrace me,” he said. “This is not a joke. God is opening doors. And I believe it will go very far.”

\n

The post He Spent 12 Years Testing Genesis. Here’s Where It Led Him. appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/06/he-spent-12-years-testing-genesis-heres-where-it-led-him/","site":"Rev. Dorothy S. Boulware","originalAuthor":"Rev. Dorothy S. Boulware","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Religion","religion"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-06-25T19:02:39.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Visual-element-Science180-2-scaled.png?fit=1024%2C724&ssl=1","type":"image/png"},"createdAt":"2026-06-25T19:17:23.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Visual-element-Science180-2-scaled.png?fit=1024%2C724&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"7JaaINMMohW4kNw6","title":"Judge Orders Halt to SNAP’s Ban on Sugary Foods","description":"A federal judge has halted the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s use of food-choice waivers that allow states to restrict purchases of soda, energy drinks, candy, and other foods for people who receive SNAP benefits. “Congress defined what ‘food’ is supposed to be, and it did not authorize the agency to amend or waive the definition it enacted,” Judge Amy Berman Jackson wrote in her ruling. “It did not authorize the agency to cut types of food out of SNAP entirely.” “It set out clearly the type of experimental projects that could be tested to address the unquestionably serious health issues attributed to the rise of obesity in the population in general and particularly the low-income population,” Jackson said. Last year, the agency announced it considered the products to have little nutritional value and removed them from its definition as food items. This change allowed states to get waivers from USDA so they could declare the items no longer SNAP eligible. Since then, more than 22 states have rolled out restrictions on the items. The states having the widest range of restricted items include Iowa, followed by states like Tennessee, which restricts any items defined as “processed foods and beverages,” and South Carolina, which bars several categories of sweetened products, including prepared desserts. Another Changed Caused by the “Big, Beautiful” Bill The restrictions are part of the changes required by the “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act,” which also cuts roughly $187 billion from SNAP over the next ten years. Almost 42 million people use the monthly benefits to feed their families, and almost 26% of SNAP participants are Black. This is just over 10 million people who receive an average of $187 a month, or just over $6 per day. Between April and August of 2025, five states—Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, Tennessee, and West Virginia—got permission from the USDA “to conduct pilot projects” that would allow them to ban the items from SNAP eligibility. Five SNAP recipients from those states sued the USDA over its implementation of waiver restriction pilot projects. The National Center for Law and Economic Justice, a nonprofit focused on advancing justice for low-income families, represented the families. In a prepared statement, the organization said the USDA is trying to curb ”the freedom of SNAP participants to choose the food they and their families need.” Several of the states implementing restrictions also have some of the largest Black populations in the country, including Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and South Carolina. Those states are phasing in rules throughout 2026. Texas’s rules alone could affect more than 3.5 million recipients. “The Court’s ruling is a major step in restoring essential food assistance to the millions of families that rely on SNAP nationwide,” said Katie Deabler, senior attorney at NCLEJ. “This decision makes clear that the USDA cannot bypass the legal guardrails that establish how SNAP must operate across the country. It affirms that families deserve a program that works without confusion.” The USDA rule also dismantled the previous uniform federal standard and created a state-by-state patchwork system. The changes have caused confusion among recipients and retailers alike. Previously, most food items intended for home consumption were SNAP-eligible. But the changes meant that grocers, including grocery store cashiers, had to enforce state-specific restrictions—often at the cash register during checkout.“This has caused significant confusion for SNAP recipients and retailers, and has harmed SNAP recipients who rely on certain sugary beverages to manage their chronic health conditions like diabetes,” NCLEJ noted. RELATED: Lawsuit Challenges New SNAP Food Limits The post Judge Orders Halt to SNAP’s Ban on Sugary Foods appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"SNAP
\n

A federal judge has halted the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s use of food-choice waivers that allow states to restrict purchases of soda, energy drinks, candy, and other foods for people who receive SNAP benefits. 

\n\n\n\n

“Congress defined what ‘food’ is supposed to be, and it did not authorize the agency to amend or waive the definition it enacted,” Judge Amy Berman Jackson wrote in her ruling. “It did not authorize the agency to cut types of food out of SNAP entirely.” 

\n\n\n\n

“It set out clearly the type of experimental projects that could be tested to address the unquestionably serious health issues attributed to the rise of obesity in the population in general and particularly the low-income population,” Jackson said.

\n\n\n\n

Last year, the agency announced it considered the products to have little nutritional value and removed them from its definition as food items. This change allowed states to get waivers from USDA so they could declare the items no longer SNAP eligible. Since then, more than 22 states have rolled out restrictions on the items. 

\n\n\n\n

The states having the widest range of restricted items include Iowa, followed by states like Tennessee, which restricts any items defined as “processed foods and beverages,” and South Carolina, which bars several categories of sweetened products, including prepared desserts. 

\n\n\n\n

Another Changed Caused by the “Big, Beautiful” Bill

\n\n\n\n

The restrictions are part of the changes required by the “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act,” which also cuts roughly $187 billion from SNAP over the next ten years. Almost 42 million people use the monthly benefits to feed their families, and almost 26% of SNAP participants are Black. This is just over 10 million people who receive an average of $187 a month, or just over $6 per day. 

\n\n\n\n

Between April and August of 2025, five states—Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, Tennessee, and West Virginia—got permission from the USDA “to conduct pilot projects” that would allow them to ban the items from SNAP eligibility. Five SNAP recipients from those states sued the USDA over its implementation of waiver restriction pilot projects.

\n\n\n\n

The National Center for Law and Economic Justice, a nonprofit focused on advancing justice for low-income families, represented the families. In a prepared statement, the organization said the USDA is trying to curb ”the freedom of SNAP participants to choose the food they and their families need.” 

\n\n\n\n

Several of the states implementing restrictions also have some of the largest Black populations in the country, including Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and South Carolina. Those states are phasing in rules throughout 2026. 

\n\n\n\n

Texas’s rules alone could affect more than 3.5 million recipients.

\n\n\n\n

“The Court’s ruling is a major step in restoring essential food assistance to the millions of families that rely on SNAP nationwide,” said Katie Deabler, senior attorney at NCLEJ. “This decision makes clear that the USDA cannot bypass the legal guardrails that establish how SNAP must operate across the country. It affirms that families deserve a program that works without confusion.”

\n\n\n\n

The USDA rule also dismantled the previous uniform federal standard and created a state-by-state patchwork system. The changes have caused confusion among recipients and retailers alike. 

\n\n\n\n

Previously, most food items intended for home consumption were SNAP-eligible. But the changes meant that grocers, including grocery store cashiers, had to enforce state-specific restrictions—often at the cash register during checkout.

“This has caused significant confusion for SNAP recipients and retailers, and has harmed SNAP recipients who rely on certain sugary beverages to manage their chronic health conditions like diabetes,” NCLEJ noted. 

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\n

The post Judge Orders Halt to SNAP’s Ban on Sugary Foods appeared first on Word In Black.

","url":"https://wordinblack.com/2026/06/judge-orders-halt-to-snaps-ban-on-sugary-foods/","site":"Jennifer Porter Gore","originalAuthor":"Jennifer Porter Gore","audio":null,"audioDuration":null,"categories":["Health","health"],"author":"wordinblack.com","activeDisplayAuthor":false,"hostname":"wordinblack.com","date":"2026-06-23T19:28:16.000Z","enclosure":{"url":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-SNAP062326.jpg?fit=724%2C483&ssl=1","type":"image/jpeg"},"createdAt":"2026-06-23T19:42:10.000Z","feedId":"ONltUgoaps3M8l8P","feedIcon":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/cropped-facebook-cover.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1","feedType":"general","imagePlaceholder":null,"originalImage":"https://i0.wp.com/wordinblack.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-SNAP062326.jpg?fit=724%2C483&ssl=1","isPinned":false},{"id":"Wdouq50lMGdJlfeU","title":"Obama Still Lives Rent-Free in Trump’s Head","description":"The irony is impossible to miss. Nearly a decade after dismantling former President Barack Obama’s signature foreign policy achievement — a painstakingly negotiated nuclear treaty with Iran — President Donald Trump found himself defending a hastily stitched-together agreement that ends the Iran conflict, an wildly unpopular war he unilaterally stared. It invited uncomfortable comparisons to what his predecessor created, and what Trump destroyed. That dynamic, however, points to a larger truth: you can’t understand Trump without Obama. And it’s hard to see why Obama continues to live rent-free in Trump’s head without understanding what the first Black president represents to his successor, creator of the MAGAverse. LEARN MORE: The Long War Against Michelle Obama’s Womanhood Obama the man, and his historic presidency, are benchmarks of achievement, popularity, and historical stature that Trump has, obviously, spent years trying to surpass — and likely never will. Over the past several weeks, a series of events has clearly illustrated that dynamic. Kicking the Hornet’s Nest Start with Iran. The Trump administration recently unveiled a two-page memorandum intended to end a costly war that sent gas prices soaring and stalled global commerce. The document punts on the hardest questions — Iran’s nuclear ambitions, its proxy networks, and its threats to regional neighbors — while creating a 60-day window to negotiate something more permanent. The agreement immediately invited comparison to Obama’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which Trump spent years attacking. It was negotiated in 2015, ran 159 pages and was the product of grinding diplomacy involving European allies, Russia, China, and international inspectors. Supporters argued it significantly slowed Iran’s path to a nuclear weapon without requiring military intervention. Trump called the agreement a disaster and withdrew from it in 2018. Now, after military strikes, American casualties, economic disruption, and months of instability, he has arrived at an arrangement that many critics view as narrower and less durable than the one he discarded. Legacy for the Community The contrast sharpened further in Chicago. As Trump took fire from the left and right over his Iran strategy, Obama — trim, erudite, captivating — stood at a lectern on Chicago’s South Side before thousands gathered to celebrate the opening of the Obama Presidential Center, a project more than a decade in the making. Every living president and first lady attended — except one. The first Black president achieved the admiration, popularity, and historic stature that Trump desperately craves. The absence was notable because the Obama Center itself embodies a fundamentally different vision of legacy. Trump’s public life has often been defined by monuments to himself — buildings, brands, and projects carrying his name. Obama’s center was conceived as a civic space first and a presidential monument second. The 19-acre campus includes a museum, a public library branch, gardens, an auditorium, a media center, and community gathering spaces intended to serve residents long after today’s political battles fade. Obvious Subtext “The exhibits in the center are not meant to evoke nostalgia for some gauzy bygone era,” Obama said during the dedication. Instead, he spoke about democratic institutions, civic engagement, integrity, public service, and the peaceful transfer of power. No one needed help understanding the subtext. Compare the dedication to Trump’s America 250 celebration. After learning the event would have overtones of a Trump rally, nearly all the headliners — yesteryear acts like Young M.C., the Commodores and Brett Michaels — all bailed. Obama’s dedication ceremony, by contrast, featured bona fide A-list talent: featured Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Hudson, John Legend, Common, The Roots, and Christina Aguilera. One event felt obligatory. The other felt aspirational. MAGA Conspiracy Then there was the uglier reminder of how race continues to shape the story. At a UFC event to celebrate Trump’s birthday, a fighter repeated a bizarre conspiracy theory attacking Michelle Obama into an open mic on live TV. An ugly expression of misogynoir directed at one of the world’s most admired women the smear about Michelle Obama has for years circulated like raw sewage through the political movement that helped elevate Trump. The current president, as usual, had nothing to say about it. That silence matters because Trump’s relationship with Obama has never been entirely ideological. It has always carried the unmistakable undertones of white anger and grievance. It’s not just that Obama defeated Republican ideas, or that he remained popular around the world, years after leaving office. It’s because the first Black president achieved the admiration, legitimacy, and cultural stature Trump desperately craves. That fixation likely traces back to the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Obama stood at the podium and dismantled Trump’s birther conspiracy theories, and humiliated Trump to his face, with a few jokes and impeccable comic timing. The room erupted in laughter. Trump sat stone-faced. Many observers have viewed that evening as a pivotal moment: the night humiliation hardened into resentment and resentment evolved into political ambition. Whether that interpretation is entirely fair is almost beside the point. The pattern is difficult to miss. Trump continues to define himself against Obama. Obama rarely appears to define himself against Trump. Class vs. Crass Which brings us back to the larger lesson of these past several weeks. Trump spent them defending an Iran agreement that inevitably invited comparison to Obama’s. He watched artists distance themselves from his anniversary celebrations. He remained surrounded by a political culture that still traffics in attacks on Michelle Obama more than a decade after the first Black first family left the White House. And the reflecting pool renovations he ordered didn’t last a week before algae took over, turning a tourist attraction near the Lincoln Memorial into a green swamp. RELATED: A Year in, Trump’s Agenda Has Deepened Black Economic Pain Obama spent the same period deepening his status as a cultural icon. He opened a presidential center on Chicago’s South Side while being celebrated by former presidents, cultural icons, and supporters. Admirers around the world see his presidency as a model rather than a grievance. Ultimately, the tale of two presidents is revealing on multiple levels. One is still trying to prove he belongs in the same conversation. The other has shown that it will never happen. The post Obama Still Lives Rent-Free in Trump’s Head appeared first on Word In Black.","formattedDescription":"
\"As
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The irony is impossible to miss.

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Nearly a decade after dismantling former President Barack Obama’s signature foreign policy achievement — a painstakingly negotiated nuclear treaty with Iran — President Donald Trump found himself defending a hastily stitched-together agreement that ends the Iran conflict, an wildly unpopular war he unilaterally stared. It invited uncomfortable comparisons to what his predecessor created, and what Trump destroyed.

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That dynamic, however, points to a larger truth: you can’t understand Trump without Obama. And it’s hard to see why Obama continues to live rent-free in Trump’s head without understanding what the first Black president represents to his successor, creator of the MAGAverse.

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LEARN MORE: The Long War Against Michelle Obama’s Womanhood

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Obama the man, and his historic presidency, are benchmarks of achievement, popularity, and historical stature that Trump has, obviously, spent years trying to surpass — and likely never will. Over the past several weeks, a series of events has clearly illustrated that dynamic.

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Kicking the Hornet’s Nest

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Start with Iran.

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The Trump administration recently unveiled a two-page memorandum intended to end a costly war that sent gas prices soaring and stalled global commerce. The document punts on the hardest questions — Iran’s nuclear ambitions, its proxy networks, and its threats to regional neighbors — while creating a 60-day window to negotiate something more permanent.

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The agreement immediately invited comparison to Obama’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which Trump spent years attacking. It was negotiated in 2015, ran 159 pages and was the product of grinding diplomacy involving European allies, Russia, China, and international inspectors. Supporters argued it significantly slowed Iran’s path to a nuclear weapon without requiring military intervention.

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Trump called the agreement a disaster and withdrew from it in 2018. 

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Now, after military strikes, American casualties, economic disruption, and months of instability, he has arrived at an arrangement that many critics view as narrower and less durable than the one he discarded.

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Legacy for the Community

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The contrast sharpened further in Chicago.

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As Trump took fire from the left and right over his Iran strategy, Obama — trim, erudite, captivating — stood at a lectern on Chicago’s South Side before thousands gathered to celebrate the opening of the Obama Presidential Center, a project more than a decade in the making.

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Every living president and first lady attended — except one.

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The first Black president achieved the admiration, popularity, and historic stature that Trump desperately craves.

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The absence was notable because the Obama Center itself embodies a fundamentally different vision of legacy.

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Trump’s public life has often been defined by monuments to himself — buildings, brands, and projects carrying his name. Obama’s center was conceived as a civic space first and a presidential monument second. The 19-acre campus includes a museum, a public library branch, gardens, an auditorium, a media center, and community gathering spaces intended to serve residents long after today’s political battles fade.

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Obvious Subtext

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“The exhibits in the center are not meant to evoke nostalgia for some gauzy bygone era,” Obama said during the dedication. Instead, he spoke about democratic institutions, civic engagement, integrity, public service, and the peaceful transfer of power.

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No one needed help understanding the subtext.

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Compare the dedication to Trump’s America 250 celebration. After learning the event would have overtones of a Trump rally, nearly all the headliners — yesteryear acts like Young M.C., the Commodores and Brett Michaels — all bailed. Obama’s dedication ceremony, by contrast, featured bona fide A-list talent:  featured Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Hudson, John Legend, Common, The Roots, and Christina Aguilera.

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One event felt obligatory. The other felt aspirational.

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MAGA Conspiracy

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Then there was the uglier reminder of how race continues to shape the story.

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At a UFC event to celebrate Trump’s birthday, a fighter repeated a bizarre conspiracy theory attacking Michelle Obama into an open mic on live TV. An ugly expression of misogynoir directed at one of the world’s most admired women the smear about Michelle Obama has for years circulated like raw sewage through the political movement that helped elevate Trump.

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The current president, as usual, had nothing to say about it. 

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That silence matters because Trump’s relationship with Obama has never been entirely ideological. It has always carried the unmistakable undertones of white anger and grievance.

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It’s not just that Obama defeated Republican ideas, or that he remained popular around the world, years after leaving office. It’s because the first Black president achieved the admiration, legitimacy, and cultural stature Trump desperately craves.

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That fixation likely traces back to the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

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Obama stood at the podium and dismantled Trump’s birther conspiracy theories, and humiliated Trump to his face, with a few jokes and impeccable comic timing. The room erupted in laughter. Trump sat stone-faced.

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Many observers have viewed that evening as a pivotal moment: the night humiliation hardened into resentment and resentment evolved into political ambition. Whether that interpretation is entirely fair is almost beside the point. The pattern is difficult to miss.

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Trump continues to define himself against Obama. Obama rarely appears to define himself against Trump.

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Class vs. Crass

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Which brings us back to the larger lesson of these past several weeks.

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Trump spent them defending an Iran agreement that inevitably invited comparison to Obama’s. He watched artists distance themselves from his anniversary celebrations. He remained surrounded by a political culture that still traffics in attacks on Michelle Obama more than a decade after the first Black first family left the White House. And the reflecting pool renovations he ordered didn’t last a week before algae took over, turning a tourist attraction near the Lincoln Memorial into a green swamp.

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RELATED: A Year in, Trump’s Agenda Has Deepened Black Economic Pain

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Obama spent the same period deepening his status as a cultural icon. He opened a presidential center on Chicago’s South Side while being celebrated by former presidents, cultural icons, and supporters. Admirers around the world see his presidency as a model rather than a grievance.

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Ultimately, the tale of two presidents is revealing on multiple levels. 

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One is still trying to prove he belongs in the same conversation. The other has shown that it will never happen.

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The post Obama Still Lives Rent-Free in Trump’s Head appeared first on Word In Black.

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