June is National Soul Food Month which has been around since 2001. Juneteenth is now a national holiday. The celebration of African American foodways should be daily. I would love to see a children’s book on African American foodways. What if it was an ABCs of soul food?! That would be a great way to teach the kids about soul food.
A is for ackee
B is for biscuit.
C is for Carolina gold rice.
Check out this week’s Nichelle Newsletter.
About two weeks ago, I created a Twitter thread about Black women comedians. I will continue to add the Twitter handles of comedians to keep the thread fresh. In the meantime, I am posting the text of the thread here. Hopefully, someone will use this list as a resource when looking for black women comedians. I did the homework for you, so all you have to do is check out the clips online and hire them.
It’s almost October, and I feel lucky to still be here. Natural and man-made disasters have got me down. However, there’s always someone creating dope shit. Here’s a quick list of what I am all about right now.
Desiree Burch is doing her thing in the UK. She did Edinborough Fringe Fest and she did stand-up on Comedy Central UK. Her solo show, Unf*ckable, is having a run at the Soho Theatre in London.
Janelle James‘ comedy album. Black and Mild, dropped today, September 29th. Get it on iTunes. I did, and I LOLed.
I went down the rabbit hole looking at the #forthedchallenge videos. I loved Issa and Regina’s as well as Jenifer Lewis who used the viral challenge to promote her upcoming book, The Mother of Black Hollywood.
Kamau Ware is doing something for the culture with his Black Gotham Wall Street walking tours.
I really like Essence magazine’s podcast, ‘Yes, Girl’. Download on iTunes.
I am digging Cassius Life.
My favorite mantra is “black people are not a monolith”, so I am happy to see Issa Rae address that in her TCA panel about her new HBO show, “Insecure”.
There is a “notion that there’s a universal way to be black,” Rae said at today’s TCAshow panel. “It’s been portrayed throughout media and has been accepted by mainstream media, [but] what does that mean if you’re not ‘black enough?’ Does that mean that I don’t fit into this box? I always find the humor in that because you can’t escape being black – it’s who you are.”
Last night I attended a screening at the offices of Women’s eNews. It was for a screening of the documentary, “Crisis In The Cribs” which is about African American infant mortality. Tonya Lewis Lee is the producer of the film and she is also the spokesperson for the U.S. Office of Minority Health’s A Healthy Baby Begins with You campaign.
I was struck by how devastating the rate of infant mortality is for African American women. It crosses socioeconomic status, so it affects all African American women. Infant Mortality for the African-American community is a pressing, but it’s often an overlooked public health issue. The rate of death for African American babies before their first birthday is twice the rate of white babies and greatly outpaces the national average.
Attending the screening, there were bloggers, Kimberly Seals Allers from Mocha Manual, Nikki from Mommy Factor and Lucinda from Corporate Mom Dropouts. I also spotted actress Tamara Tunie whose friend works with a nonprofit that helps homeless mothers.
What can you do? Spread the word. Get a copy of the documentary and have a screening. Be healthy. Even if you don’t plan to have kids, set the example.
Update:
ProPublica has written several articles about Black Maternal Health and infant mortality in 2017.
Nothing Protects Black Women From Dying in Pregnancy and Childbirth
Black Women Disproportionately Suffer Complications of Pregnancy and Childbirth. Let’s Talk About It
