Black Resistance: What it means to me

What does Black resistance mean to me? Black resistance means activism, freedom, love, family and hope. Black people in America have resisted oppression in systemic, institutional, interpersonal and intrapersonal forms for centuries. Resistance can be both good and bad, and it means different things for different people. Black resistance is the foundation of American democracy. Resistance for Black Americans started in the 1800s, as Black Americans were mistreated and forced into chattel slavery. A major mechanism of resistance was marching. An effort to combat racial injustice with the goal of reaching equal rights for Black Americans. Black resistance movements began during the era of slavery through the Underground Railroad and persisted through and after the Civil War. When the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by Abraham Lincoln, it prompted an even larger resistance movement eventually leading to the Civil Rights era, including the 1960s when individuals radically armed themselves, ultimately resorting to violence.

Black Americans have literally institutionalized resistance by building strong supportive communities such as Black churches, periodicals, historically Black colleges and universities, the Congressional Black Caucus and many other groups and organizations, all founded to ensure the future success of African Americans which had not been previously granted due to the oppressive societal standards that existed in that era. Some of these organizations may be familiar: the National Association for the Advancement of Colored people (NAACP), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). The NAACP advocated for political and educational access, and equity of minority group citizens across the country to eliminate racial prejudice. They strived to remove all barriers of racial discrimination through democratic processes.

In 1942 a group of Black and white students in Chicago founded CORE, empowering one of America’s most prolific Civil Rights movements. The CORE organization worked alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. and was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s protest strategies of nonviolence and civil disobedience. The SCLC mission was to focus its effort on citizenship, schools and efforts to desegregate individual southern cities. Their goal was to plan rallies, marches and boycotts to end racial discrimination across the South. The SNCC organization sought to coordinate youth-led nonviolent, direct-action campaigns against segregation and other forms of racism. These young Black college students conducted sit-ins around the country to protest the segregation of restaurants and establishments. These organizations and actions that were taken are what turned the world the way it is today. So Black resistance means a lot to me, because if it wasn’t for our ancestors, and these coalitions that were formed, we would not be able to co-exist in the world today. Black resistance plays a major role in my life and the lives of African Americans across the country today.

“Service to the People” – The Importance of Community Food Programs

Food insecurity has long been a problem in the United States, made worse by increased income inequality. Wages have stagnated while food and healthcare prices keep increasing. According to Feeding America, over nine million children faced food insecurity in 2021. In that same year, 22% of Black children were food insecure. According to No Kid Hungry, food insecurity affects concentration, memory, mood and motor skills, which ultimately impacts school performance and behavior.

Food insecurity is a problem that many community organizations have fought to end. One of the most famous of these programs was the Free Breakfast for School Children started by the Black Panther Party. The Panthers were started by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale in the mid-1960s to combat issues facing Black communities, such as hunger and lack of medical access.

The Black Panther Party recognized that hunger negatively impacts a child’s education and basic functionality. The Free Breakfast for Schoolchildren Program offered free, hot and nutritionally balanced breakfast for any child who attended the program. The program started off feeding a few hundred kids but grew to help over 20,000 kids by the end of its first year. By 1969, hundreds of free breakfast programs had opened throughout the country.  

Another Black Panther Party food initiative was the Free Food Program, which focused on all community members, not just children. According to Food Insecurity in Black Communities by Feeding America, Black Americans are three times more likely to face hunger than white Americans. Each week, the organization would deliver a week’s worth of nutritious, fresh foods to those requesting assistance. Food donations from various stores helped fuel both of the Panther food programs. In 1969, the U.S. National Lunch Program acknowledged that the Panthers were feeding more low-income children than they were. 

You can still find local food aid in your community. These programs can be found at food banks such as the Freestore Foodbank. Local churches often have food pantries that deliver food to their neighbors. Consider donating to these organizations or volunteering to cook and distribute food.  

Louis Shropshire, Civil Rights icon and Cincinnati Black Music Walk of Fame Inductee 

Louise Shropshire (1913-1993) was born in Alabama and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her grandparents were enslaved. Composing hymns at a young age, she eventually worked as the music minister at the Revelation Baptist Church in Cincinnati. She conducted the mass choir of the National Convention of Gospel Choirs in Cincinnati in 1935. Her hymnals were popularized throughout churches and were used during the Civil Rights Movement. “If My Jesus Wills,” was published in 1942, and used by Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to bring people together during the Civil Rights Movement. The work was copyrighted in 1954.

“We Shall Overcome,” a song that brought hope, courage, and unity to the Civil Rights Movement was inspired by “If My Jesus Wills.” “We Shall Overcome” is believed to have come from African American workers were striking against the American Tobacco Co. in Charleston, South Carolina because they were only making $0.45 an hour. Pete Seeger overheard these workers singing and would go on to popularize the song.

“We Shall Overcome” has very similar lyrics to “If My Jesus Wills”: 

“We Shall Overcome, 

We Shall Overcome, 

We shall overcome someday, 

Deep in my heart, 

I do believe, 

We shall overcome someday.” 

Click here to listen to the Azuza Pacific University Gospel Choir perform “If My Jesus Wills.”   

Louise passed away in 1993. Her final words to her grandson, Robert A. Goins Shropshire, were “Someday, somebody’s gonna do somethin’ with with all my music.” In 2016, the We Shall Overcome Foundation filed a class-action lawsuit against The Richmond Organization, who they believed claimed illegitimate copyright. In 2018, a New York Federal Judge signed an order that released “We Shall Overcome” in public domain, which granted people easier access to Louise’s song. Her grandson believes she would been so happy that her song could be used by everyone.3 

Louise will be inducted into the Cincinnati Black Music Walk of Fame on July 22nd, 2023. For more information, visit their website https://www.cincyblackmusicwalkoffame.org/.  

National Mental Health Awareness Month: Improving Mental Healthcare For All

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Social media lights up with #selfcare and celebrities testify to the importance of mental health care in their lives, but there is still an ongoing mental health crisis in the United States. Even for those who want access to mental health care, too often barriers exist to access. This is particularly true in communities of color.

In 2020, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) reported that 21% – roughly 1 in 5 – U.S. adults experienced some form of mental illness. Further, 16.5% – about 1 in 6 – American youth ages 6-17 struggled with a “mental health disorder.” In total, that is roughly 60.6 million American men, women and children. This is just the tip of the iceberg, considering these numbers rely on self-reporting, which an individual may choose not to do for a variety of reasons.

Everyone faces barriers to mental health care, but individuals from minority communities are often uniquely disadvantaged when it comes to mental health access. Barriers can include lack of insurance (or underinsurance, as mental health care is sometimes not included in health care plans), lack of transportation to appointments, prohibitive cost, and more. According to a 2019 NAMI California survey, the three greatest obstacles to mental health care reported by diverse patients and caregivers were cost, stigma within their communities, and lack of culturally competent services. To quote one participant, “We have been knocking on county mental health services’ doors for years.”  

So, what can be done to improve mental health services and outcomes for diverse communities? One important early step is to work within communities and with community leaders to educate about mental illnesses and lower the stigma about seeking mental health services. It's important that practitioners address culturally-specific traumas as well as community strengths. For an example of one group that practices this, check out the Center for Native Child and Family Resilience. By giving priority to community leaders and centering traditional spiritual and healing customs in development of community programming (see this example of using the Indigenous Medicine Wheel), the Center offers more holistic outcomes than traditional social and mental health frameworks for many Native American and Alaskan Native communities. 

This is just one step. The United States also needs to commit to more comprehensive mental health care included in health insurance for all, as well as requiring ongoing implicit bias training and cultural competency courses for social workers and mental health care professionals. Poor mental health outcomes have adverse effects on not only individuals, but also families, communities, and society as a whole. It snowballs into something that affects everyone. The CDC has even called it a “global public health issue.” Considering the consequences, who wouldn’t be invested in improving mental health care for all?  

Better mental health for all starts with access for all. Are you interested in therapy, but worried about the cost? You may qualify for state-sponsored therapy. Check the following links for more information: 

Ohio: https://blog.opencounseling.com/public-mental-health-oh/ 
Kentucky: https://blog.opencounseling.com/public-mental-health-ky/ 
Indiana: https://blog.opencounseling.com/public-mental-health-in/ 
Choose another state: https://blog.opencounseling.com/public-mental-health-in/ 

Black Resistance: Reproductive Justice

Content advisory: The following post includes references to historic events and policies that may be emotionally challenging, including instances of sexual assault.

Women have been fighting for the right to make decisions about their own bodies for longer than the nation has been a union. The battle has been even harder for Black women and other women of color. Black women have historically been subjected to great reproductive injustices that have had lasting effects.

Starting during chattel slavery, enslaved women had little to no control of their reproductive systems. Female enslaved people were bought for their bodies: for sex or for ability to produce more bodies. Women were advertised and sold for the purpose of creating more labor, comparable to cattle or livestock.

Fannie Lou Hamer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

When owners could no longer profit off the “use” of Black women’s bodies after emancipation, a different view on Black pregnancy began to form. White society and pro-slavery individuals shifted from forcing reproduction on Black women to trying to stop it at all.  

In the late 19th century, the eugenics movement in America began to take shape. Lying medical professionals would perform sterilization procedures on unknowing or unwitting Black females resulting in them unable to reproduce. The laws that permitted hospitals and doctors to perform these procedures had broad and ever-changing labels like “feeblemindedness” and “mental defective.” These forced sterilization campaigns combined disability with racism and xenophobia and worked on dehumanizing, typically, targeted minority groups. These groups were deemed less worthy of reproduction and of family formation. Eugenicists applied new theories in biology and genetics to human reproduction but this gave a very subjective opinion on who was “fit” and “unfit.” Anyone who didn’t fit their mold of genetic perfection, which included most immigrants, Black and African American people, Indigenous people, people with disabilities and poor whites, were deemed “unfit.”  Some doctors told patients they needed a particular operation and some doctors performed sterilizations during other types of operations, without the patient’s knowledge or consent.  

Famed Civil Rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer underwent surgery for removal of a fibroid and, in addition, was given a hysterectomy. She found that almost 60% of Black women in her community had undergone similar surgeries. It was so common she coined the term “Mississippi Appendectomy.” Among other things, Hamer went on to protest for bodily autonomy and is quoted as saying a “Black woman’s body was never hers alone.” 

The term “reproductive justice” was created by a group of 12 Black women in 1994. They defined it as a “human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent their children in safe and sustainable communities.” This provided the framework that sparked social movements across the country.