Dear Friend,

Happy Monday!  We're so glad you're here. 

BlackHer Shero of the Week

Our BlackHer Shero of the Week is Tiffany Hall, attorney, entrepreneur, and founder of Empower Cocktails.  

Check her out!

Our Girls Won't Be Dress Coded

It's back-to-school season and some of our brave girls and their parents are pushing back against sexist and racist practices in some DC public schools.  According to a new study from the National Women's Law Center, girls are tired of being dress coded.

In her article, Kelly reflects on her own experience of wearing a school uniform that wasn't made in her image and explains why we need to stop policing our babies' bodies.  

Read it.

Is Climate Change a Black Woman's Issue?

The Global Climate Strike launched on Friday, September 20 and millions of students around the world walked out of school. 

I (Jocelyn) watched some of the protests on TV but I did not leave work for the rally.  I have to be honest, I've never seen the environment as my issue. 

It has always seemed to me that Black women don't have the luxury of saving lakes and parks in the face of other more immediate threats to our lives like gun violence, low wages, failing schools, unaffordable healthcare, and a gaping wealth gap.

That said, after doing more research, I'm learning that climate change IS a Black woman's issue.  

Heather Toney, former mayor of Greenville, Mississippi and national field director for Moms Clean Air Force wrote this in a powerful piece in The New York Times.

"Despite stereotypes of a lack of interest in environmental issues among African-Americans, black women, particularly Southern black women, are no strangers to environmental activism. Many of us live in communities with polluted air and water, work in industries from housekeeping to hairdressing where we are surrounded by toxic chemicals and have limited food options that are often impacted by pesticides.

Environmentalism, in other words, is a black issue."

Are you working on climate change in your community?

If yes, please email me at jocelyn@blackher.us. We'd like to do more to highlight Black women leading this life-saving movement.

Want to Learn (and Do!) More on Climate Change?

Sign this petition and watch videos from the United Nations Climate Change Summit happening this week.

Need Inspiration?

Read this terrific profile in Vice of Isra Hirsi, co-founder of the U.S. Youth Climate Strike and daughter of Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. She is definitely made in her mother's image!

"Raised in the city for most of her life, Isra doesn’t care all that much for nature. She’s not into hiking, though she did go camping once (mainly because it was a free trip). Her advocacy has nothing to do with a deep love for the outdoors and everything to do with the communities disproportionately hurt by climate change—not because their favorite rafting river is drying up, but because their drinking water is poisoned and the air they breathe is killing them. To her, this is the only climate advocacy that makes sense."

#FuturePresident

In love and solidarity,

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