“Ain’t I a woman?”
Four powerful words, two famous phrases–the former displayed on pickets in marches around Memphis in 1968, the latter spoken by the fiery Sojourner Truth in 1851–hold the key to Black people’s ongoing struggles around the world. The recognition of our humanity has, at best, been optional in America. At its worst, the struggle to be seen as fully human has left our bodies lynched–beaten, burned and broken. Though these phrases come from by-gone eras, they remain essential and relevant to our present and future. Let us take a few moments to understand why such simple phrases have such potency, why they engender such emotion and how Black people around the world can use them to recover their agency after we have suffered ongoing physical, psychological and political violence.
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“I am not a Nigerian but the name of Dr Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu is one name anytime I hear sounds so nice to me and I will look for opportunity to get the meaning of that name one day. She is one person I have monitored closely as World Health Organization (W.H.O) personnel in Lagos State and from all indications we can say that health is on the body of her hearth” – Dr San Nyeni, W.H.O Coordinator in Lagos State.
Dr Nyeni made the above comment on November 13, 2020 during the flag off of the polio vaccination exercise for children in five local government areas of Lagos State by the First Lady, Dr. (Mrs.) Claudiana Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, and this aptly typifies her passion for the welfare and well-being of the people.
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On Tuesday evening, Argentina was filled with green: green graffiti proclaiming “Children, Not Mothers,” green banners exclaiming “It Will Be Law,” and green bandanas reading “National Campaign for Legal, Safe, and Free Abortion.” Teenagers and grown women alike tied the green handkerchiefs of the campaign to legalize abortion around their necks to signal their devotion to the cause as they poured out into the streets of more than 120 cities. Together, they stood vigil for nearly 12 hours as the Argentine Senate debated a bill to legalize abortion.
Angela Eagle, the Labour MP for Wallasey Angela Eagle, the MP for Wallasey, has been given a damehood in the New Year Honours list. Ms Eagle, who has represented the Wirral constituency for Labour since 1992, is known for her work promoting women’s and minority rights and has been made a dame for parliamentary and political service. Now a Labour MP of over 28 years service, Ms Eagle first joined the party aged 17 in 1978. She entered politics through the trade union route, working for the health workers body CoHSE (now Unison) after leaving university. Within Labour, she was elected to the party’s National Women’s Conference in 1989 and chaired the National Conference of Labour Women in 1991.
To Those I May Be About to Destroy:
It’s interesting you note our general reluctance to talk about
Mrs. America, Inkoo, because the more I examine my
own hesitance, the more I realize it’s closely wedded to my disinterest in further championing
I May Destroy You (even though I already championed it earlier in the year): I have been sufficiently persuaded by other people that there is enough in there that is
problematic that I don’t really want to heap more praise on them. Both would be in my top five, were I to make one. Both are terrific TV. Both, I think, have pretty sizable blinders on.