My Holiday Invitation from President Obama

Blanche in Blue Room at White House Holiday Reception

On December 3, I received a letter with my name handwritten from The White House.  Initially, I thought it was a Christmas card to thank me for including Tina Tchen and the White House Council on Women and Girls at my Second Annual National Black Women’s Town Hall Meeting held at Howard University in September.

You can imagine my surprise and honor when I began pulling out something that was much more formal and elegant than a holiday card.  It was a beautiful Christmas red invitation with gold lettering that read, ” The President and Mrs. Obama request the pleasure of your company at a Holiday Reception to be held at The White House on Tuesday, December 15, 2009.”

I was speechless and breathless at the same time.  I sat quietly for a moment to reflect on the significance of being invited during the most significant year in the history of the American presidency.  I had also covered him, as a broadcast journalist, in Denver and was front row at his Inaugural. 

What made this special was the fact that I was invited because of and in recognition of my efforts.    The impact of this was humbling and validating, to say the least.  When I arrived, I was able to be present and experience these magical moments as well as capture a few.  I began by writing a wish for our nation and rolling it to be put inside the “Christmas Wish Tree.”  My fellow guests and I were waited on at every corner with champayne, sweets, sushi, chocolate and more.  I met many amazing people, some I knew and admired while others I was pleased to get to know.  The President and Mrs. Obama came downstairs to cheers and were gracious hosts.  I was lucky enough to be front and center for handshakes and a few polite words.  You can see more of my photos and commentary on my personal Facebook page–(Blanche Williams).

Ironically, this Tuesday, there was a replay of Oprah’s Primetime Christmas Special at the White House.  I hadn’t seen it the Sunday before I attended the Holiday Reception.  What I didn’t realize was that Oprah and I were given the same access in the White House.  Her special highlighted and spotlighted many of the places I stood and the things I saw.  Of course, the biggest difference was that Oprah had the President, the First Lady, and Bo, all to herself. 

In the end, sharing this hope-filled Holiday, in this year, in this White House, serves as a fitting and long-overdue gift for the countless ancestors, slaves, freedom fighters, and dreamers, who lived and died believing there would one day be a meaningful season of change in our nation.

Burn Hollywood Burn—The Remix!

Guest Commentary by Avis A. Jones-DeWeever, Ph.D.

Twenty years ago, hip hop pioneers Public Enemy decried the perpetuation of decades of exploitive cinema in their now classic, Burn Hollywood Burn!   Though many things have changed over the years, current events in the world of cinematic arts prove that many others remain same.

Today, Oscar buzz abounds surrounding the performances of comedianne turned dramatic actress, Mo’Nique as well as long-time Hollywood fixture, Sandra Bullock.  Their polar opposite depictions of motherhood in Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire and The Blind Side, initially appear to be worlds apart.  One is the story of how severe physical, mental, and sexual abuse fails to derail the loving spirit and aspirations of one “precious” soul.  The other depicts the guts and determination of a brash, yet loveable white woman who opens up her privileged world to a destitute stranger across the color line.  Although each have earned high marks from critics and audiences alike, the two films are seemingly worlds apart but for one disturbing commonality—the all too familiar Hollywood depiction of dysfunctional Black motherhood.   

Why is it that American cinema seems completely incapable of displaying a mothering experience congruent with my own?  The multiple generations of love, support, inexhaustible work, wisdom and sacrifice that has been the norm in my life as well as in the lives of countless others is somehow more rare than wizards, werewolves, and celestial beings on the silver screen.   Even the most “inspiring” of tales, perhaps a category to which both The Blind Side and Precious aspires, can at best display a protagonist who perseveres and achieves in spite of Black mothering, rather than because of it.

Take two of my most beloved movies, each, coincidently, starring the brilliant and talented actors, Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett.  In both the 2006 hit film, Akeelah and the Bee and the 1991 John Singleton breakout movie, Boyz-N-the Hood, Black mothering is, at best, portrayed as bad mothering-“lite.”   Boyz-N-the-Hood begins when Tre’s highly educated, professional and accomplished mother abruptly gives up on raising her son by dropping him off, unannounced, at his father’s house to stay for good.    While Akeelah’s mother makes it her mission to aggressively stand in the way of the expanded development of her child’s academic capabilities by, of all things, discouraging spelling bee participation!  Her anti-academic behavior is so deeply in-grained that the dramatic climax of the film is achieved when mom is reluctantly talked out of pulling her daughter off the stage of the State Spelling Bee already in progress!  And to think—comparatively speaking, this is “good” Black mothering by typical Hollywood standards.

More common than not, Black mothers are nothing more than loud talking, gum smacking, side-hip baby carryin’ balls of dysfunction.    Or are at best, not even Black women at all, but instead, are Black men dawning fat suits and wigs.  As the song goes, “For what they play Aunt Jemima is the perfect term—even if now she got a perm!”   

Yes, it’s true.  Our mammy, jezebel, and sapphire roots are showing, despite our aggressive desires to cover them up through the now-trendy, self-congratulatory post-racial narrative.  

How far have we really come when the continual perpetuation of the Reagan-era welfare queen mythology is now perfectly timed to appear at a theatre near you shortly before discussions surrounding the reauthorization of welfare reform are set to begin?  

How far have we really come when one of Halle Berry’s two crack-addict depictions on her way to Superstardom is now retold, this time in feel-good form, with the added bonus of being based on real events?

Compelling as they are, these films and others of their ilk are not the only images of Black mothering that should be given the green-light for production.  Nor should they be the only type of stories starring Black actors that receive serious consideration for Academy Awards.   This all-too common scenario is insulting at best, or evidence of down-right racist misogyny at worst in terms of Hollywood’s one-note fixation on the perpetuation of stereotypical notions of who and what Black women are in our most intimate of spaces—that of mothering our children.

 Of course, there are some notable exceptions to this rule.  Last year’s Secret Life of Bees was a rare gem, even depicting caring, protective Black mothering in the nurturing of a white girl in need of good female influences.   And though snubbed by the Academy, by business standards, the film was a resounding success, grossing more than three times the production costs of the film.  Clearly, there is a market for this type of work.  Too bad Hollywood too often fails to get the memo.

I must admit, even when Hollywood gets it wrong, it is still possible to leave the theatre with an appreciation for stellar acting performances, compelling drama, and recognizing some virtue in attempting to bring to light uncomfortable situations that are far too often swept under the rug.  But when virtually the only images of Black mothering that is packaged, sold, and absorbed on the world’s stage are stories that have at their center perceptions of the most brutal of social pathologies, the residual effects cannot help but be damaging. 

Given this long-standing reality, is it any wonder that today the most popular Google image of our First Lady is one that horrifically defiles her face to animalistic form?  And is it any wonder that when I ask my thirteen year-old son and his friends to recall just one image of positive Black mothering they have seen on film in their lifetimes aside from The Secret Life of Bees, the only response I get is deep reflection and dead silence?

 It is not.

Other stories are out there and they must be told.  But until they are, you’ll find me discovering more self-affirming ways to spend my entertainment dollar, chanting Burn Hollywood Burn all the way out of this box office madness.

Avis A. Jones-DeWeever, Ph.D. is the Director of the National Council of Negro Women’s Research, Public Policy, and Information Center. The RPPI Center is a research/action institute which seeks to inform, catalyze and mobilize African American women for change in both the policy arena and throughout the broader cultural dynamic.

First Lady Michelle Obama’s Thanksgiving Message

Tomorrow, many of us will gather around the table with family and friends to give thanks over a feast of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy — and let’s not forget pumpkin pie!

But for some in this country, the feast will not be as bountiful.  In fact, it won’t be much of a feast at all.  Hunger is on the rise in America — hitting its highest levels in nearly 15 years.  A recent report released by the USDA reveals that in 2008 an estimated 1.1 million children were living in households that experienced hunger multiple times over the past year.

To combat hunger this winter, we’re launching, in coordination with the Corporation for National and Community Service and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the United We Serve: Feed a Neighbor initiative — a program that empowers you with all the resources you need to mobilize against the hunger crisis in your community. 

Barack and I are committed to doing all we can to end hunger by making food programs more accessible to eligible families.  But government can only do so much — it will take all of us working together to put an end to hunger in America.

That’s why we’ve made it easy for you to get involved at Serve.gov. Find local volunteer opportunities like delivering meals to homebound seniors, offering your professional skills at a food pantry, or planting a community garden and sharing produce with your neighbors.  You can also create your own volunteer opportunity using our anti-hunger toolkit.

This holiday season let’s recommit to serving our communities and working together to feed American families.  Get started giving back today.

Thank you,

Michelle

First Lady Michelle Obama

The White House

New Mammogram Guidelines, A Death Sentence for Black Women

The politics of breast cancer leads to survival for some, but death for Black women and others.   

Guest Commentary  by Eleanor Hinton-Hoytt, President/CEO, Black Women’s Health Imperative

The Black Women’s Health Imperative (Imperative) finds the recent announcement by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) updating its 2002 breast cancer screening recommendations unacceptable.

These recommendations, which are being supported by several national breast cancer advocacy organizations, do a serious disservice to Black women.

Two USPSTF assertions, in particular, could prove deadly for many Black women: 1) that breast self-exams do not save lives and are, therefore, unnecessary; and 2) that mammograms should be delayed until age 50 and, even then, performed only every other year. Three facts about breast cancer and Black women also make the task force’s recommendations inappropriate and potentially deadly. Black women: 1) tend to be diagnosed with breast cancer at a younger age; 2) are more likely to be diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer, a more virulent form; and 3) are more likely to die of breast cancer than White women.

“I strongly disagree with the notion that preventing the psychological harms and inconvenience caused by false-positive screening results, as implied in the recommendations, outweigh the importance of saving one woman’s life. We should not be in the business of rationing care,” Eleanor Hinton Hoytt, president and CEO of the Imperative, said. “Historically, researchers have not studied Black women. Black women have not been at the forefront of the breast cancer movement, and our unique health experiences and outcomes have not been factored into policy and advocacy decisions. These recommendations completely ignore the impact of well-known breast cancer disparities affecting us.” 

Ngina Lythcott, PhD, the Imperative’s representative on the Integration Panel of the U.S. Department of Defense’s Breast Cancer Research Program, a survivor and advocate, agrees: “As a 21-year breast cancer survivor who was diagnosed and treated in my early 40s, I encourage the Imperative to continue to tell women to perform monthly breast self exams and receive annual clinical exams and mammograms to monitor their breast health. These recommendations are ill informed because they are based upon a macro review of breast cancer research that could not have included the experiences of Black women.”

The Imperative is tremendously concerned about how health insurance companies will interpret the USPSTF recommendations. Will they use them to refuse to cover the cost of mammograms before age 50, and then only every other year? Will younger Black women be denied appropriate breast cancer screening, detection, diagnosis and treatment, jeopardizing their lives?

“These new recommendations do not consider the data we have about younger African American women who have a more aggressive form of breast cancer,” asserts Zora Brown, 30-year breast cancer advocate and survivor and director of health and cultural affairs for INTEGRIS Health. “I think these recommendations are baffling, confusing and wrongheaded.”  

If Black women follow the USPSTF recommendations, breast cancer may kill many of them before they ever have their first mammogram.

The Imperative strongly recommends that Black women continue to perform monthly breast self exams, request an annual clinical breast exam performed by a health provider, and a mammogram starting as early as possible and no later than age 40.

Regina Hampton, M.D., surgical oncologist specializing in breast cancer surgery, agrees with the Imperative’s recommendations: “Mammograms are the best test we have. I am appalled that the task force would make these recommendations. I have many patients between the ages of 30 – 49, who have benefited from mammography and are survivors.”

Printed with permission from BHW Imperative 11/19/2009

Democratic Leaders Strike Devil’s Bargain

Women’s Media Center Condemns Passage of Stupak Amendment

Statement by WMC President Jehmu Greene

In late-night backroom meetings, House Democratic leaders struck a devil’s bargain and passed the health care reform bill on the backs of women. While many so-called progressive organizations praised the bill as a victory, the Women’s Media Center watched with outrage as the House passed the Stupak Amendment, stripping women of access to vitally important reproductive health coverage.

Despite President Obama’s assurance that Americans will be able to keep their existing coverage, the Stupak Amendment goes far beyond the status quo preventing private insurers from offering crucial health services and curtailing the rights of private citizens on how we spend our own money.

At a time when leadership in the House should be working to overturn the Hyde Amendment – which has prohibited public funding of abortion in most instances since 1977 – they are instead extending its spirit of constriction and limitation of women’s right to choice, with particularly harsh consequences for low-income women.

It is impossible to imagine what would have happened had health care reform been devised at the expense of the Voting Rights Act or the Civil Rights Act – impossible to imagine because it never could have happened. Democrats do not fear women like they fear trial lawyers and union members. But Democrats should fear us because they depend on our votes to win. Women are the real majority and we put them in office, time and again.

Women did not vote for this kind of change and we will not stand for it. We will not sit back and accept on faith the President and congressional leaders’ promise to work behind the scenes on our behalf. The Women’s Media Center will continue to amplify the voices of women who demand the passage of health care reform with no new anti-choice restrictions.

Printed with permission from Women’s Media Center – 11/12/2009

Health Care Victory, Not Without Casualties for Women

As I watched the proceedings that led to the  passing of the Health Care Bill in the House of Representatives, I couldn’t help but think about the World Wide Sports famous line, “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.”  There were political winners and losers but my concern turned to the consumer, the citizen, the average and above-average American.  What does it mean for us?

The “thrill of victory” reflects the first step forward, in a long battle, for decency and humanity in the lives of “we the people.”  The next hurdle is passing the Senate.  So did your Representatives speak in your voice Saturday night?  We’ve learned that oftentimes “doing the right thing” in the name of the people is a struggle.  But nothing worth anything is easy, right?  Well, that’s what those, who aren’t willing to give up power, usually teach and tell us.

Now ladies, can we talk?  Don’t start cheering yet because in the same breath, we’ve been saddled with a stupid amendment aka Stupak Amendment that denies you funding for your Supreme Court reproductive right to an abortion.  Can you separate your religious beliefs from your reproductive rights?  If belief trumps rights then religion serves to take away your choices in the name of God.  Adding insult to injury, if you exercise that constitutional right, you are financially on your own.   But here’s the kicker; we are told this is what  the majority of women support.

Overall, yes, we have moved forward but at what cost?  To put this health care bill into perspective, we must keep in mind that for millions of Americans currently surviving without healthcare, this is still a promise for coverage in the coming years; four to be exact.  Just make sure you don’t get sick before 2015.

Niara Sudarkasa- A Woman of High Purpose

Guest Commentary by Dr. Julianne Malveaux

Dr. Niara Sudarkasa, the first woman President of Lincoln University, has a name that reflects her reality. Niara means woman of high purpose, and that she is, indeed. After leaving Lincoln University in 1998, she traveled and consulted, and has recently been scholar-in-residence at the African American Research Library and Cultural Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Last week, she donated her papers and personal library, including more than 3800 books, 4100 issues of journals and periodicals, plaques and other collectibles, including the outfit she wore when she was enstooled as a chief in the Ife Kingdom of Nigeria. This is a sister and scholar whose name ought to be spoken frequently among African American people, especially those who have concerns about the African American family, and those who have interests in things African. We are more likely to know entertainers, however, than we are to know scholars. This is a scholar certainly worth knowing.

I had the honor of traveling to Fort Lauderdale to help salute Dr. Sudarkasa on the occasion of her very generous gift (valued at more than $270,000) to the library. In thinking about Niara’s life and career, I was especially focused on the work she has done as an Africanist and anthropologist, long before it was fashionable for African American people to look at our African roots. Indeed, Niara learned Yoruba as part of her doctoral work and studies the work that women did in African society for her dissertation. Her early work lays the foundation for contemporary work on linkages between Africa and the United States.

One of the things Dr. Sudarkasa developed is the concept of the seven R’s as foundations for family life. The R’s represent African family values that supported kinship structures. From a contemporary perspective, when we see the R’s absent, we can also explain some of the challenges that we face in family life. The R’s – respect, responsibility, restraint, reciprocity, reverence, reason and reconciliation – represent the highest and best in family life and indeed in civic life. Unfortunately, many are all too absent in relations and discourse today.

Niara Sudarkasa has had the blessing and the burden to be many “firsts” – the first black woman to teach at Columbia University, where she earned her doctorate; the first black woman to teach at New York University; the first African American woman to teach anthropology at the University of Michigan; the first woman to lead Lincoln University. Being a first isn’t easy – you are carrying the burden for the race, for the gender, being judged as a representative of everyone, not simply as a human being. In those first positions, stumbling is not an option. Niara has soared, and there are so many sister Presidents and sister scholars who stand on her shoulders.

Why write a column about this phenomenal woman? Because history has a way of swallowing women’s lives, and especially black women’s lives, unless we insistently step up, speak up, and tell our stories. Because Niara’s story is inspirational to young women and to not-so-young women. Because we ignore the real foundations of African American Studies if we ignore this woman’s wonderful work.

The Shriver Report was released a couple of weeks ago, a collaboration between California’s first lady, Maria Shriver, and the DC-Based Center for American Progress. It alleges that “it’s a woman’s world” because women are now the majority of American workers. Indeed, women have been the majority of our nation’s college students for about a decade. But women still earn, on average, less than men do, and women’s wages have been dropping faster than men’s in this recession. I thought of Dr. Sudarkasa as I skimmed the report, thinking of the pioneer that she is, and the ways the work world has changed (but also not changed) for women. Niara Sudarkasa is among those who paved the way for women like Maria Shriver, and so many others to contemplate the contemporary status of women.

My hat is off to this woman of high purpose, an educator, author, scholar and leader whose work has made this world a better place!

Dr. Julianne Malveaux is an economist, author and commentator, and the Founder & Thought Leader of Last Word Productions, Inc., a multimedia production company.

The Defender’s Online -Poll #15

Tensions are building around an image depicting President Barack Obama as the Joker from Batman, many times with the world “socialist” under his face. A banner with the image is displayed outside of a club in Richmond, Virginia, which led to a protest by the NAACP, which says that the image attacks not only the President, but all people of African descent. Others feel the image is a reflection of some people’s frustration with the administration’s policies.   IS IT RACIST?

 

Here’s my response:

Is this racist?  Yes, but its not that simple…what’s amazing is that most white people are in denial that this could be a racist depiction of the President of the United States, who happens to be a man of color, a perceived minority in this majority white America, who has risen to the highest position of power in our nation. 

Many white people and some black don’t recognize, therefore cannot empathize about, the history of racism, Jim Crow, segregation or domestic terrorism that continues to exist and undermine humanity in this U.S. of A. 

Many don’t realize how mass media programming, child-rearing, societal norms, and modeling over the years have created an underlying subconscious and systematic way of looking at society through a flawed perspective that is often racist, hateful, and bigoted…but in the end, in this democratic country, it’s called “freedom of speech.”

But what’s most telling to me is the lack of morality, civility, and love for one another,  that has long been part of our experience in this country founded and supposedly grounded in God.   The more we know our history and apply its lessons, the less surprised we will be.

President Obama Wins 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

 

Our provocative and profoundly significant United States President won the Nobel Peace Prize today for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”  He is shifting a paradigm in national and global politics while building a new design of what the world could look and live like; together. 

Idealist?  Yes! Realistic? Possibly.  But remember, there is power in possibilities!  

When I heard the news this morning, I immediately thought of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King and the tumultuous era in which he received this global honor.  Our sitting President Obama, in less than a year into his Administration, has turned politics, diplomacy, and humanity upside-down and given civility, respect, and collaboration, a new boost. 

He is the man for our times and we are the nation honored to call him President.

Black Women’s Town Hall Convenes Leading Ladies

Photo by Fordham Images

At a time when Town Hall Meetings have been portrayed negatively, the Second Annual National Black Women’s Town Hall Meeting maintains its sisterly spirit with substantive topics, along with a solution and alliance building approach. As the moderator and Founder, I had a bird’s eye view to history being made once again with our theme clearly stating our intention, “Harnessing The Power of Change: Black Women Leading The Way Together.”

Howard University was the backdrop for our cross-generational conversation that included high profile, accomplished women alongside emerging student leaders representing Howard University, Bennett College for Women, Spelman College for Women, Prince George’s Community College, University of Maryland, Coppin State University, University of District of Columbia, Bowie State, University of Phoenix, University of Bridgeport, and Strayer University.

The evening began with my opening remarks followed by a vibrant welcome from Dr. Pamela Whetsel Ribeau, wife of Howard University’s President.  Dr. Charlene Dukes, first female President of Prince George’s Community College, helped me present the first “Emerging Greatness” Award to Shayla Price, Southeastern University Law Center.  I then presented our coveted “Landmark of Greatness” Award for Lifetime Achievement to the incomparable Faye Wattleton, President, Center for the Advancement of Women.  Her acceptance speech was gracious and rousing.  

Tina Tchen, Executive Director, White House Council on Women and Girls, brought her congratulations and reflection on our theme along with the vision for women and girls moving forward.  She also brought with her two colleagues, Karen Richardson, a Howard Alumni, White House Associate Director in Office of Public Engagement and part of ESSENCE Magazine’s October cover story, “The New Black Power,” along with Maggie Chen.   We also recognized Regina Smith, grand niece of Anna Julia Cooper, current USPS Black History Stamp Series.

Our two panels followed with insightful conversation including provocative, sometimes unexpected, comments and questions from the audience.  I was encouraged with the exchange of diverse perspectives, creative ideas, and the willingness to join forces.  We covered leadership, healthcare, domestic violence, self-esteem, mentoring, and more. 

We came away from the experience excited about the possibilities, humbled by the sisterly atmosphere that permeated the evening and a sense of direction moving forward.  Together, young, middle, and wise women were engaged in one of the most important conversations we can have; the one with each other. 

Stay tuned for the 2010 Third Annual National Black Women’s Town Hall Meeting in North Carolina hosted by Bennett College for Women.