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Attacks on Kamala Harris for not having children are harmful to all women

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It’s been not possible to escape the headlines about J.D. Vance since he was announced because the Republican vice presidential candidate earlier this month, most recently with a 2021 statement during which he described Vice President Kamala Harris and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as “a bunch of childless cat women who are miserable with their lives and the choices they’ve made, and they want the rest of the country to be miserable, too.”

Of course, despite recent emphasis, there’s nothing latest concerning the centuries-old stigma that childless women face. (Namely, because there’s nothing original about his loud, daring ignorance.) Mediocrity aside, he’s adding a brand new twist to an old conversation: Childless women are continually subjected to unsolicited opinions about their life selections and overall value. But until they’re viewed with respect and dignity, moms won’t ever experience a society that recognizes healthy motherhood and maternal agency.

When Vance was called to comment on his 2021 comments, he doubled down, claiming that Americans were not concerned about his statement but were as a substitute concerned concerning the Democratic Party’s “clearly anti-family” policies. As much as I hate to say it, I agree with the mustard seed of his perspective — Democrats, however the Republican Party and broader national practices are anti-family. But for black communities and various other communities, that may be a legacy, not a recent change, evident within the medical, educational and financial divide between the haves and the have-nots.

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Historically, black moms have given birth, sometimes by force, and have assumed the responsibility of protecting their children from this disordered world. Yet, an increasing variety of black women are opting out.

One of them is Angela L. Harris, PhD, psychologist and founder No bibs, bottles or burpingwhose goal is to empower, highlight, and have fun childless Black women in order that they can accept and live their best childfree lives, free from societal expectations and stereotypes. She notes that childless women challenge societal norms because their lifestyles contradict the gorgeous, ideal image of the perfect family.

“Having a husband, children and a white picket fence is the way to go — or so we thought. Many people think that a girl becomes a woman only for one reason — to have children,” she says. “It’s hard to accept that a woman can be completely happy and secure without the title of ‘mother.’”

I could be lying if I said I wasn’t moved by the picture-perfect image Harris describes. But I quickly learned that the calls to “be fruitful and multiply” were a whistle to whiteness, not something we were excited about. My own work is advocacy confirming motherhood that prioritizes our humanity as we raise children amidst the narrative that Black women exist to serve others, no matter maternal status. We have been robbed, abused, and coerced into funding the American capitalist structure through our reproduction. The significance of reproductive agency strikes multiple chords. The collective struggles of Black moms and childless Black women create an accurate understanding of who we are, despite what Professor Melissa Harris-Perry calls the “Crooked Peace.”

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In her book, she uses this image to describe the difficulties black women face in trying to develop a healthy self-image in a world where stereotypes control destiny. The first is Jezebelsexually seductive, hypersexual maneater. The second is Sapphirethe offended, rude, emasculating and never satisfied black woman. And finally, Mommy, “a happy slave and caregiver” who happily puts the needs of others, especially her white slaves, above her own life.

These stereotypes have evolved, becoming more insidious, now emerging because the perpetually pregnant welfare queen with multiple fathers, the bitter single profession woman, and the black woman who lives in service to everyone but herself. As before, they reduce the dynamic, complex identities of black women and force us to awkwardly try to find footing in a structure during which we will barely breathe, let alone stand. These false narratives contribute to higher rates of mental and physical health disparities, generational trauma of “strong black womanhood,” and normalize unfulfilled lives for all of us, not just those that don’t have children. But childless women are categorized as “useless” and “disconnected” from the larger group in nuanced ways.

Harris notes that the belief that all childfree people are self-absorbed, hate children, and don’t contribute to society ignores the reality. These traits describe many individuals, no matter parenting status. “These false narratives, biases, and assumptions harm us all because we never truly engage in mutual understanding, reflection, and peace. The division and hierarchy persist—often the result of years of rhetoric and pressure about what womanhood and motherhood really are.”

I agree. Black women have long been trapped in a no-win situation. As moms, we are judged by the variety of children we have now and are subjected to assumptions concerning the contexts during which we have now them. If you will have one or two, you must have more, but never greater than 4; that is simply too many. I even have personal experience with comments rooted in promiscuity, hypersexuality, and hyperfertility.

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Childless black women challenge these images directly, but experience a relentless invalidation of their value beyond their ability to care for others. However, false narratives that black women’s only value is their ability to sacrifice harm all of us, not just those that don’t have children. Harris notes that it’s vital to emphasize that women are also childless for a wide range of reasons, including intentional selection, circumstance, and infertility.

“Our stories of being childless by choice or childless by circumstance are just as important as someone’s birth story—and guess what—it’s all OK!” she says. “Women have a CHOICE, but the ‘choice’ is really directed at your girls when a pink dress, a baby apron, and a baby doll are put in their hands!”

As a mother, my advocacy for childless Black women is rooted in my advocacy for reproductive justice: the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, to have children, not to have children, and to raise the children we have now in protected and sustainable communities. This also means ensuring access to resources—like in vitro fertilization and maternal health care options—for Black women who want children but are unknowingly childless.

My support can be rooted in a full awareness of what it takes to purposefully raise children and maintain a way of self-worth and identity beyond them. Mothers are celebrated publicly. But left to cope with the isolation and struggles of raising children in a pro-birth, anti-family society in private.

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I do not know why Kamala, the proud stepmother, and others did not have children. But I do know childless women who keep showing up as aunts, godmothers, and friends to bridge the gap. Childless women show up for the community; we have now to show up for them, too.

“Whether you choose to be childless or motherless, it’s not a perfect life, but it can be a good life,” Harris says. “As women, our freedoms and rights are at risk, and exercising our right to vote is what really matters now.”


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This article was originally published on : www.essence.com
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Politics and Current

Former US representative Charles Rangel from New York dies at 94

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Former US representative Charles Rangel from New York, a sincere, gravel Democrat Harlem, who spent almost five many years at the Capitol and was a member of the Black Congress Club, he died on Monday at the age of 94.

His family confirmed death in a press release presented by City College of New York, spokesman Michelle Stent. Stent died in a hospital in New York.

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Veteran of the Korean War, defeated the legendary policy of Harlem Adam Clayton Powell in 1970 to begin his congress profession. Over the subsequent 40 years, he became the legend-part of the founding father of the Black Club Congress, dean of the Congress Delegation in New York, and in 2007 the primary African American chaired the powerful committee and environment.

He left this committee among the many cloud of ethics, and the Chamber assessed him in 2010. But he was chosen. Later he served in Congress until 2017, when he decided to not search for re -election.

File – Kongresmen Charles Rangel leaves the rally for airport employees at Laguardia airport within the Queens district in New York, June 26, 2014 (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

Rangel was considered one of 4 gangs – African -American political figures that had great power in New York and state policy, along with David Dinkins, the primary black mayor in New York; Percy Sutton, who was the president of Manhattan Borough, and Basil Paterson, deputy mayor and secretary of New York.

Few can ignore rangel after hearing a conversation. His characteristic voice in Żwirie and the tart humorousness were an unforgettable mix.

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This voice – one of the vital liberal at home – was the loudest in opposition to the war in Iraq, which he called the “death tax” to poor people and minorities. In 2004, he tried to finish the war, offering a bill for restarting the military service project. Republicans called on his bluff and brought a voting law, and even Rangel voted against him.

A yr later, Rangel’s fight for war became bitterly personal with the then President Dick Cheney.

The Congress Black Club is ready to take Trump and Republicans, says the presumed representative of Yvette Clarke

Rangel said that Cheney, who has heart problems, might be too sick to do his job.

“I would like to believe that he is sick, not just mean and bad,” said Rangel. After a number of such verbal stabs, Cheney broke off, saying that Rangel “lost”.

Harlem’s charismatic legislator rarely withdrew from the fight after he first entered the home in 1971 as a type of dragon conqueror, who rejected Powell in a democratic basic congress in 1970. In the Extravagant era of the older Powell, town’s political icon for the primary time elected to the Chamber in 1944.

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Rangel became the leader of the Central Committee for Tax Writing the Chamber, which has jurisdiction over programs, including social insurance and Medicare, after the 2006 election, when Democrats ended 12 years of republican control of the Chamber. But in 2010, the Committee on the Ethics of the Chamber carried out a hearing regarding 13 cases of alleged improper financial proceedings and collecting funds regarding problems related to financial disclosures and using congress resources.

File-W July 26, 1974 photo from the file, representatives of Charles Rangel, Dn.y. and Barbara Jordan, d-tex. On the left, look at a duplicate of the structure throughout the debate of the court committee on Impeachment articles for President Richard Nixon in Washington (AP Photo/File)

He was convicted of 11 violations of ethics. The house stated that he didn’t pay taxes at the vacation villa, made the misleading types of disclosure of monetary information and incorrectly asked for donations for the university center from a company with business before its committee.

The Chamber was in step with the advice of the Ethics Committee to be assessed, probably the most serious penalty of not expulsion.

Rangel sorted his voters, sponsoring the reinforcement zones with tax concessions for corporations transferring economically depressed and developers of low -income apartments.

“I have always been involved in the fight for a little guy,” said Rangel in 2012, when he announced that he was running for re -election.

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During the Korean war he won a purple heart and a brown star. He all the time said that he measured his days, even restless across the ethics scandal, in comparison with the time in 1950, when he survived the wounded because other soldiers didn’t do it.

He became the title of his autobiography: “Since then I haven’t had a bad day.”

The abandonment of highschool went to check at Gi Bill, winning the scientific degrees from New York University and St. John’s University Law School.

The emotional representative of Ayanna Pressley takes the historical heritage of Bill HR 40 reparations

(Tagstranslate) charles rangel

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This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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Politics and Current

Like black students, they keep their completion in the anti-dei era

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graduation, dei


Black students and other affinity groups find recent ways to have a good time their completion, because the repression of Trump’s administration on Dei initiatives limits their involvement in the campus.

Over the years of graduation specific to affinity, they emphasize milestones for a lot of students at universities. However, the current government orders suppressed these celebrations, forcing graduates to rotate to take care of tradition alive.

Some institutions, similar to Harvard University, repel against some judgments at universities financed by federally. However, these emissions still influenced the programming specific to the race. Harvard decided to dismantle the funds used for all graduates of the affinity group. Despite this failure, Black Harvard graduates remain determined to keep the event on the spot.

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Like others, by supporting these racial events, many graduates claim that they celebrated cultural traditions, while recognizing their difficulties. Elder Harvard Elyse Martin-Smith took on things. With the support of Black Graduate Student Alliance and Harvard Black Alumni Society she and graduates accomplished the ceremony outside the campus.

“This is an excessive burden that is still put on black students to create a change we want to see,” Martin-Smith he said to .

Students in other schools, similar to the University of Kentucky, had similar restrictions. The university spokesman confirmed that the optional celebrations is not going to happen in the campus anymore.

“After many changes and directives regarding federal and state policy, the university will no longer host the celebrations based on identity or in special interest,” said spokesman for Jay Blanton University in a press release. “In the past, they took place outside our official starting ceremonies as optional celebrations and social events. We will continue to follow the law, at the same time celebrating all students and their characteristic achievements during our official start ceremonies.”

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However, students attempting to bypass the rules should be careful, calling their newly rated events. Students in Kentucky also followed the path much like Harvard’s black graduates, calling them the “older salute” version.

“I think that it is important to show that there are people from other places, not impaired areas, as well as many different environments and fights, and still reaching Great Britain (University of Kentucky) and still obtaining a diploma,” he shared in Great Britain, Kristopher Washington, who helped to introduce a brand new event. “It’s a huge achievement.”

This anti-dei repression not only affects graduates of assorted racial or ethnic identities. This also applies to this a part of the LGBTQia+community. Queer students also found places outside the campus to have a good time their achievements for their parent community.

Now students must move on despite the lack of approval and resources of college administration. However, they are involved in celebrating recent degrees in a way that clearly recognizes their heritage and community.

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This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
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The new head of social insurance administration caught that he had no idea what his work was in condemning the leaking sound

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New Head of Social Security Administration Caught Admitting He Had No Idea What His Job Was In Damning Leaked Audio

The new head of social insurance administration said that he has no idea what the work entails when Trump’s administration used him for the position of the Social Insurance Commissioner.

Former director of Wall Street, Frank Bisignano, presented this attention on the leaking audio tapes meeting with agency managers from throughout the country on Wednesday.

ABC News has obtained a recording Meetings that weren’t independently confirmed by Atlanta Black Star.

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The new head of social insurance administration caught that he had no idea what his work was in condemning the leaking sound
Frank Bisignano, nominated by US President Donald Trump as a commissioner for social security administration, testifies at the hearing confirming the financial commission in the Senate in the office constructing of the Dirksen Senate on March 25, 2025 in Washington. (Photo of Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

“So I get a phone call and it’s about social insurance. And I’m not really, I swear that I’m not looking for a job. And I say:” Well, what should I do? ” So I experience social insurance. Bisignano said on the tape.

“I say:” What the hell is the Social Insurance Commissioner? ” – he added.

The social security official told ABC News that the new head of the SS “is working on the transformation of the agency into the most important service” and that he clearly “makes fun of themselves so that everyone in the room feel free to conduct an open conversation …”

Millions of Americans depend on social security in the case of retirement income, disability and survival advantages. According to Trump’s administration, the agency was thrown away by significant employees of employees, closed local offices and breaks on web sites.

Bisignano said during the meeting that social insurance is secure and can proceed. “This is America, you know, a safety net – it doesn’t go away. And I hope you hear how I tell it every day. You know who wants me to tell people? Guess. President.”

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President Donald Trump promised during the campaign in 2024 that social security advantages would remain intact if he won the next term. But the agency is in confusion. In a number of short months of Trump’s return, almost half a dozen people supported the office.

“I was noticed:” Will the fuss from the last five months end? Are you here to cause more confusion? ” Bisignano said in the recording. “I do not think this can be a confusion of the last five months, although I will probably be the fifth because , November, right?”

Bisignano tried to brighten the mood of the meeting. “Are we having fun already? Everything is okay?”

According to ABC, the new head of the SSA also repeatedly criticized media leaks from the agency during the meeting. Although Bisignano has experience in managing large corporations, including complex payroll systems, he has no experience in the government or in the administration of social security.

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During confirmation interrogations This month before the Senate, the Democrats repeatedly recalled Bisignano comments about being “basically a person of dogs.” At some point, the so -called government efficiency department was led by billionaire Trump and head of Spacex Elon Musk.

In a controversial musk movement “Prusty, fraud and abuse” at the agency. Doge presented little proof of fraud or abuse and was not transparent in terms of movements he made in the agency.

Bisignano, previously the president and general director of Fiserv Inc., a technology company, tried to distance himself from Doge during his confirmation, but one of the Democrats quoted an announcement informing about informing about Bisignano personally asked the dog to intervene in SSA.

A spokesman for the White House ABC News said“Commissioner Bisignano brings a valuable and much needed perspective. Social security administration. The proven success of Commissioner Bisignano in the financial services industry is exceptionally positioning him to conduct reasonable efforts of Trump administration in order to modernize the agency and improve its performance.”

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Bisignano was confirmed at the starting of this month by the Republican majority in voting on the party line.

This article was originally published on : atlantablackstar.com
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