大象传媒

The wrenching image of a Black mother clinging to her 1-year-old son as police officers and security guards at a public benefits office in Brooklyn ripped him from her arms went viral recently. Child endangerment and resisting arrest charges against the 23-year-old Brooklyn mom were later dropped. Now,  is speaking out.

What happened to her, Headley told The New York Times, is not isolated; it happens to many people. 鈥淢y story is the only one that made it to the surface.鈥�

鈥淭he surface鈥� Headley is referring to is mainstream media. The charges against her were dropped and she received the help she needed because her story gained national attention.

It鈥檚 incidents like this one and women like Headley鈥攕ingle Black mothers in need of support鈥攖hat inspired a new yearlong program called the Black Mamas Storytelling Fellowship.

Created by Channel Black, an Oakland, California-based nonprofit, the program is intended to help Black mothers develop and share stories from their own experiences. Organizers Shanelle Matthews and Mia Birdsong wanted to develop a curriculum that not only helps Black women locate themselves inside this political moment but also drive change for Black people鈥攁nd in particular, for Black women.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e showing up for Democracy and for people in America broadly,鈥� Matthews, the fellowship鈥檚 program director, says about Black women鈥檚  and activism. Yet, she says, legislation and policy often fail to fully reflect their needs鈥攐r media, their stories, 鈥渦nless it鈥檚 something that disenfranchises us.鈥�

Black women, Matthews says, have long been talked about, for example, in stories about the so-called 鈥渨elfare queen”鈥攁 label coined by former President Ronald Reagan that demonized low-income Black mothers鈥攐r in ones that imply or outright blame single Black mothers as the reason for the plight of Black families, including their own children鈥檚 death at the hands of police and community violence.

The time has come, she says, to redefine the stories that are being told and control who gets to tell them. Black Mamas Storytelling is preparing women to do both.

Seven Black mothers from the Oakland area who participated in the 2018 fellowship helped team leaders decide what their particular group would focus on for the year. Four program components resulted: the Pedagogy of Black Women, Political Education, Self-Transformation, and Media.

The group meets in person once a quarter throughout the year for daylong sessions where the fellows are provided meals, child care, and a stipend. Between meetings, they receive one-on-one coaching from communication strategists.

While each training session varies, the women typically practice exercises that connect what they learn from the four components of the curriculum to on-camera work with playback and feedback.

The goal is to prepare them for their capstone projects, where they develop a speech or panel discussion. The fellows may also write an article on a topic they鈥檝e chosen, which could be their field of work or related to their day-to-day lives.

Because of the cultural and racial disconnect, Black and Brown people are suffering.

Kai Shateen is one of the inaugural fellows.

At 39, she started midwifery school after beginning the fellowship. An advocate for reproductive justice, she says the program has given her the language to talk to her clients and their families, as well as health care providers about the reproductive issues that affect Black women and mothers.

鈥淏efore starting this program, I didn鈥檛 know certain structures and how to communicate why things are important to me, and why they should be important to other people,鈥� Shateen says. 鈥淭here are not enough Black and Brown providers that offer services to Black and Brown people.鈥�

Because of the cultural and racial disconnect, Black and Brown people are suffering, Shateen says.

鈥淲e have a client now, who [doctors] tried to force a procedure on her last week, and we stood up for her to make sure they didn鈥檛 do it,鈥� she explains. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e trying to do a new thing and letting someone 鈥� try something new on her body. Those are the things that not a lot of people know about.鈥�

Some other fellows, including Jasmine Hardison, have focused on criminal justice and community violence.

In 2016, Hardison鈥檚 son, David, was gunned down in the streets of Oakland鈥攖wo weeks after his 21st birthday.

鈥淢y son was involved in gang activity,鈥� Hardison says plainly. 鈥淲hen I say he was involved in a gang, I don鈥檛 know that for a fact he was out shooting people, killing people. It didn鈥檛 go that far, but it was getting worse. Some people ask me why do I even bother to mention that part. But for me, I would be doing a disservice to my community if I didn鈥檛 mention it.鈥�

She believes being open about her son could help other mothers whose children are straying or have gone astray.

鈥淚 also get backlash because people are like, 鈥榃ell, he was in a gang so that鈥檚 pretty much a sure way to die.鈥� And, 鈥榳hy are you telling his story; he wasn鈥檛 a saint,鈥� almost like he deserved to die because he was in a gang,鈥� she says.

鈥淲hat we鈥檙e told and what we believe about people and places determine how we treat them.鈥�

Responses like those are what led Hardison to apply for the fellowship in early 2017, just as she was starting to get involved in community work. While she says she has benefited from each segment of the fellowship, Pedagogy of Black Women resonated with her the most.

鈥淚t opened my eyes to see how the world see us as Black women: as a jezebel, or as the mammy, and I related to that.鈥�

So far, it has helped her tell her story differently鈥攚ithout guilt and stereotyping herself, or criminalizing her son, she says.

At community meetings, or one-on-one conversations with mothers who share her misfortune, she talks about the mistakes her son made as well as those she made as a parent. But she also aims to give them hope through her storytelling.

鈥淵es, he was involved in gangs, but he was so much more than that. He had a job. He was a member of a union. He was trying to go back to school. There are so many great things I can tell about my son,鈥� Hardison says. 鈥淗e played organized sports since he was 6 years old. And I struggled to pay for that because I didn鈥檛 have a good job. Shit, I didn鈥檛 have a high school education.鈥�

Hardison admits she had some hard times with her son, whom she had when she was just 16. He was her only child, and mother and son practically 鈥済rew up together,鈥� she says. She dropped out of school, had been sexually abused, and was homeless for a period of time鈥攍iving with friends and relatives.

For a long time, she felt she would be judged for sharing such personal details about her life but, 鈥淚鈥檓 not ashamed to say this anymore,鈥� she says. 鈥淢y son inspired me to be better.鈥�

To reach young people facing many of the same challenges her son did, Hardison founded a nonprofit in 2017 for middle school children. It鈥檚 called King David Respect for Life Inc. and focuses on children at the age when they are more easily influenced by friends and peers and what鈥檚 going on around them.

鈥淭o be there to give support, tell my son鈥檚 story, and provide resources,鈥� is what she wants to do through her organization, she says.

Hardison says she wants to do for young people what the Black Mamas Storytelling Fellowship did for her and the other women鈥攇ive them the tools and resources to own, frame and tell their own stories.

It鈥檚 experiences like Headley鈥檚 in New York, and Hardison鈥檚 and Shateen鈥檚 that create the need for a Black Mamas Fellowship program.

Storytelling and ethical narrative framing are important, says Mia Birdsong, co-director of Channel Black.

鈥淏ecause what we鈥檙e told and what we believe about people and places determine how we treat them鈥攁nd those stories become woven into how we think and how we act,鈥� Birdsong explains. 鈥淭hey determine how we vote and how we engage in the systems to which we are all bound鈥攕ystems like democracy.鈥�

And they determine who matters, who is valued and invested in鈥攆iguratively and literally.

鈥淛asmine鈥檚 story pushes us to create our ideas of who is deserving  and who is underserving… and deservedness is a conversation we鈥檙e not having but one that we need to have.鈥�

People don鈥檛 want to invest in Black women, says Birdsong.

鈥淒espite the fact that 鈥� Black women do all of these things to create the change that we want in America, there is a resistance to funding Black women,鈥� says Birdsong. 鈥淏lack women are the most reliable voting bloc and have been at the core of every social movement that has existed in the United States.鈥�

She posits that if there is no change in how Black women are valued, our social and political conditions鈥攐verall鈥攚on鈥檛 change.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 the reason we got where we are,鈥� Birdsong says. “Let鈥檚 actually invest in a different group of people who have shown up, even though they鈥檝e been disregarded. Let鈥檚 actually invest in them because that鈥檚 actually where the solutions exist.鈥�