Latest news with #ErrinHaines
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
At the Met Gala, fashion on the frontlines of resistance
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways This column first appeared in The Amendment, a biweekly newsletter by Errin Haines, The 19th's editor-at-large. Subscribe today to get early access to her analysis. When Black Dandyism was announced as this year's theme for the Met Gala, expectation and anticipation was high for fashion's biggest stage to also be its Blackest and boldest ever. The stakes were raised Monday night at an event that has always been about statements, where the sartorial has often met the political. What would it mean for the Met Gala to send a message at a time when the president of the United States has sought to erase the contributions of Black and LGBTQ+ Americans to our culture and democracy? The blue floral carpet became something rarer still: a runway for resistance. The politics of visibility and resilience were on display, as Whiteness was decentered and the intersectional excellence of those historically marginalized by their race, gender and sexuality was celebrated as part of the American story. Lupita Nyong'o arrives for the 2025 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 5, 2025, in New York. (Lexie Moreland/WWD/Getty Images) Diana Ross attends the 2025 Met Gala Celebrating 'Superfine: Tailoring Black Style' at Metropolitan Museum of Art. (Kevin Mazur/MG25/Getty Images) Black Dandyism, dating back generations, is about more than fancy clothes; it is a style that represents self-expression, self-respect, aspiration, joy, swagger and freedom. For queer people and women, it was also a means of bending gender norms, where fabric and adornments could come together as a type of armor. Monday night was also in large part a tribute to perhaps the most prominent modern Black American Dandy, the trailblazing stylist and editor-at-large of Vogue, André Leon Talley, the magazine's first Black man creative director. For decades, his presence and contributions inside such an influential and intractably White institution were significant. Talley died in 2022, but his legacy loomed large over the event. Monday's event was a parade of Black success with luminaries such as Diana Ross and her daughter, Tracee Ellis Ross; Rihanna; Serena Williams; former Vice President Kamala Harris; WNBA star Angel Reese; rapper Megan Thee Stallion; and actresses Zoe Saldaña, Lupita Nyong'o, Cynthia Erivo and Zendaya. Four Black men were co-chairs of the gala: Colman Domingo, Lewis Hamilton, Pharrell and A$AP Rocky. And alongside the traditional, White-owned fashion houses were several Black designers whose work was in the spotlight, including Sergio Hudson, Charles Harbison, Christopher John Rogers, Grace Wales Bonner and the late Virgil Abloh. Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump has issued multiple executive orders targeting diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as gender. While the orders are not laws, they have had a chilling effect on efforts to proactively promote and preserve social and professional gains for women, people of color and LGBTQ+ Americans in government and society. Trump also took control of the Kennedy Center, long regarded as the nation's cultural institution and a space for diverse artistic representation. Teyana Taylor (Left) and Lewis Hamilton, one of the gala's co-chairs (Kevin Mazur/MG25, Dia Dipasupil; Getty Images) This climate and context are why it mattered that the Met Gala, a traditionally elite space, was the forum for a statement about the history and present moment for Black and LGBTQ+ Americans — and a reminder of the threats to their future contributions. In a political moment when Black history is under attack in classrooms, and LGBTQ+ lives are targeted by lawmakers, the gala's theme carried the weight of defiance. Given the backlash against them, one could argue that some of their fashion statements could have and should have been bolder, pushing more boundaries, leaning more heavily into the theme, more directly paying homage to specific designers or other periods embodying the era. There were also White gala attendees whose choices did not meet the moment, feeling more safe or traditional than bold or on message, and others who nailed the assignment as allies in couture. But overall, the night was a historic reminder that showing up — whether in velvet, pearls, sequins, feathers, lace, or wearing a gaze of defiance — is itself a form of resistance, and an opportunity to affirm, honor and liberate in the way that sometimes only fashion can. The post At the Met Gala, fashion on the frontlines of resistance appeared first on The 19th. News that represents you, in your inbox every weekday. Subscribe to our free, daily newsletter.
Yahoo
20-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘We don't have an option not to fight': How Black women are resisting now
Attendees for a rally in Detroit for Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential campaign wait for her to speak on Aug. 7, 2024 | Anna Liz Nichols This story was originally reported by Errin Haines of The 19th. Meet Errin and read more of her reporting on gender, politics and policy. This column first appeared in The Amendment, a biweekly newsletter by Errin Haines, The 19th's editor-at-large. Subscribe today to get early access to her analysis. Where are the 92 percent? That has been a persistent question since the presidential election, referring to the Black women who overwhelmingly organized and voted for Kamala Harris and then seemingly went dark after November 5. For many of them — who have largely rejected Donald Trump in his three campaigns for president — Harris' loss felt like a betrayal, and another signal of disrespect from a democracy they have long worked hard to shape. In the early days of the Trump administration, there have been feelings of anger, resolve, resignation and exhaustion among Black women and many other Americans frustrated with the president's actions and the current political climate. Earlier this month, millions of protesters took to the streets in cities across the country to make their voices heard as Trump and ally Elon Musk have sought to dramatically remake the federal government, with consequences for real Americans. The crowds were overwhelmingly White, not the typical makeup of other recent protest movements. Many of the Black women who have been among the leaders of such movements in the past decade, were noticeably — and intentionally — absent. The Black women I talk to said they are being strategic, pragmatic and creative about what their resistance looks like now, preparing for a long fight ahead, and rejecting narratives that suggest their lack of visibility in this moment translates into inaction. 'People are paying more attention to what Black women are doing because of the impact we had in the election,' said Janai Nelson, president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. 'We pointed people in the right direction and they did not follow. We may be out of sight to some people, but we're not checked out by any stretch. The crisis in America is certainly not out of our minds.' Within weeks of the election, a meme began to circulate of a group of Black women sitting on the roof of a building, sipping their beverages and watching the country burn. The message: Black women would do nothing to help if the democracy they'd tried to save went up in flames. This month, another image quickly gained traction during the 'Hands Off' protests: a photograph of White marchers filing past a restaurant while Black people having brunch looked on, unbothered. While the idea that Black women deserve rest is showing up in organic social media content, it's also part of a campaign of misinformation, said Esosa Osa, founder of Onyx Impact, a nonprofit dedicated to researching Black online communities and fighting harmful information that targets Black voters. Emphasizing Black women talking about rest can discourage others in this key Democratic voting bloc from engaging civically. 'We are seeing bad actors trying to influence and suppress Black engagement in a really targeted and hostile way,' Osa said. 'We should be cautious of any narrative that's just, 'Black women won't turn out or won't engage civically.' Those are the types of narratives that folks working against Black power would want to uplift and amplify. Just because you don't see your Black friend at a protest doesn't mean we're not working or being strategic.' A lot of that strategy is happening behind the scenes, said Kimberlé Crenshaw, who coined the term 'intersectionality' and is a leading legal and civil rights scholar at UCLA and Columbia Law School. Crenshaw added that she has been skeptical of much of what she has seen online about Black women 'resting.' 'I see a contrast between what's being given to me on social media and what I'm seeing in the trenches,' Crenshaw said. 'Are we tired? Yes. Are we heartbroken? Absolutely. Are we willing to roll over and let this … happen to us without hearing from us? I'm not seeing that, not in the circles I talk to. We don't have an option not to fight.' Nelson is among the Black women in the fight now, tapping into LDF's long history of legal activism to make American democracy live up to its values. The group was among several civil rights organizations that filed a lawsuit earlier this month challenging Trump's executive order calling for sweeping election changes. Fatima Goss Graves, head of the National Women's Law Center, said Black women are leading a lot of the strategy in this time, pointing to colleagues like Alexis McGill Johnson of Planned Parenthood; Melanie Campbell of the Black Women's Roundtable, a network focused on the political and economic power of Black women; and SEIU President April Verrett. In February, Graves' organization, a nonprofit advancing gender justice, filed a lawsuit challenging the president's executive orders that take aim at diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Asked about this month's protests, Graves said she was not surprised to see White Americans — who make up the majority of the federal workforce — as the main participants. 'The folks who usually come to the streets first are the ones who see the direct impact,' Graves pointed out. 'You haven't always seen groups like that in the streets. I actually feel good about Black women's leadership at this time. They understand the assignment fully.' And there are others, focused on building community, messaging to counteract negative narratives and protesting with the power of their purses. In the days leading up to Trump's joint address to Congress, an idea was launched by Black activists, organizers and strategists including Angela Rye, Leah Daughtry and Tamika Mallory to provide an alternative to the president's speech: a marathon of online programming aimed at educating and empowering Black Americans impacted by the new administration. 'State of the People' streamed for 24 hours and has since evolved into a 10-city tour starting April 26 in Atlanta that will include mutual aid, political education and town halls. 'We have not stopped; we are focused on not just surviving, but making sure we don't lose ground on what we have achieved as a people in this country,' said Campbell, one of the organizers of the State of the People effort. 'This is designed to build a larger, intergenerational movement, showing the potential of long-term, sustained organizing on the ground and online.' During the Lenten season, Jamal Bryant, pastor of the Atlanta-based mega congregation New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, called for a 40-day boycott of Target after the retailer announced it would scale back its DEI initiatives. The campaign came in the wake of the Trump administration's executive orders calling for an end to such programs, which the president referred to as 'radical and wasteful.' Black consumers, many of them women, make up nearly 9 percent of Target shoppers. While the full impact of the boycott is unclear, the company's stock price has dropped, foot traffic to stores has slowed significantly and net quarterly sales decreased as a result. Last month, 100 women did a 'buy-in' at a Washington, D.C.-area Costco to show support for the store's commitment to DEI as part of an annual summit organized by the Black Women's Roundtable. Campbell said the gathering also included a day on Capitol Hill hosted by Angela Alsobrooks and Lisa Blount Rochester — the nation's two Black women senators — focused on federal budget priorities including Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. Campbell said she has been part of different organizing efforts since the election and strategizing around protecting Black women's leadership in this moment. 'Part of resistance is self-care,' Campbell said. 'That does not have anything to do with not fighting, because we are. We said we were going to take some rest after November 5, but there was never any notion that we weren't going to fight for our freedom in this country.' Resistance to the Trump administration, including for Black women, is still taking shape. Campbell said she invites allies whom she felt left down by after the election to step up now. What is clear in this unprecedented moment is that it will not look like it has looked before. Nelson said Black women's roles now must be 'very targeted, very pinpointed, because we are in a crisis unlike anything we have seen in modern history for Black women.' 'We're taking it very seriously,' Nelson said. 'To the extent people sense silence or reserve, those energies are being put to good use, just in a quiet way.' When the moment is right, Graves predicted that Black women could also take their protest to the streets. 'That's part of being a strategist,' she said. 'We'll know when it's time for us to engage, and that's OK.'
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘We don't have an option not to fight': How Black women are resisting now
This column first appeared in The Amendment, a biweekly newsletter by Errin Haines, The 19th's editor-at-large. Subscribe today to get early access to her analysis. Where are the 92 percent? That has been a persistent question since the presidential election, referring to the Black women who overwhelmingly organized and voted for Kamala Harris and then seemingly went dark after November 5. For many of them — who have largely rejected Donald Trump in his three campaigns for president — Harris' loss felt like a betrayal, and another signal of disrespect from a democracy they have long worked hard to shape. In the early days of the Trump administration, there have been feelings of anger, resolve, resignation and exhaustion among Black women and many other Americans frustrated with the president's actions and the current political climate. Earlier this month, millions of protesters took to the streets in cities across the country to make their voices heard as Trump and ally Elon Musk have sought to dramatically remake the federal government, with consequences for real Americans. The crowds were overwhelmingly White, not the typical makeup of other recent protest movements. Many of the Black women who have been among the leaders of such movements in the past decade, were noticeably — and intentionally — absent. The Black women I talk to said they are being strategic, pragmatic and creative about what their resistance looks like now, preparing for a long fight ahead, and rejecting narratives that suggest their lack of visibility in this moment translates into inaction. 'People are paying more attention to what Black women are doing because of the impact we had in the election,' said Janai Nelson, president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. 'We pointed people in the right direction and they did not follow. We may be out of sight to some people, but we're not checked out by any stretch. The crisis in America is certainly not out of our minds.' Within weeks of the election, a meme began to circulate of a group of Black women sitting on the roof of a building, sipping their beverages and watching the country burn. The message: Black women would do nothing to help if the democracy they'd tried to save went up in flames. This month, another image quickly gained traction during the 'Hands Off' protests: a photograph of White marchers filing past a restaurant while Black people having brunch looked on, unbothered. While the idea that Black women deserve rest is showing up in organic social media content, it's also part of a campaign of misinformation, said Esosa Osa, founder of Onyx Impact, a nonprofit dedicated to researching Black online communities and fighting harmful information that targets Black voters. Emphasizing Black women talking about rest can discourage others in this key Democratic voting bloc from engaging civically. 'We are seeing bad actors trying to influence and suppress Black engagement in a really targeted and hostile way,' Osa said. 'We should be cautious of any narrative that's just, 'Black women won't turn out or won't engage civically.' Those are the types of narratives that folks working against Black power would want to uplift and amplify. Just because you don't see your Black friend at a protest doesn't mean we're not working or being strategic.' A lot of that strategy is happening behind the scenes, said Kimberlé Crenshaw, who coined the term 'intersectionality' and is a leading legal and civil rights scholar at UCLA and Columbia Law School. Crenshaw added that she has been skeptical of much of what she has seen online about Black women 'resting.' 'I see a contrast between what's being given to me on social media and what I'm seeing in the trenches,' Crenshaw said. 'Are we tired? Yes. Are we heartbroken? Absolutely. Are we willing to roll over and let this … happen to us without hearing from us? I'm not seeing that, not in the circles I talk to. We don't have an option not to fight.' Nelson is among the Black women in the fight now, tapping into LDF's long history of legal activism to make American democracy live up to its values. The group was among several civil rights organizations that filed a lawsuit earlier this month challenging Trump's executive order calling for sweeping election changes. Fatima Goss Graves, head of the National Women's Law Center, said Black women are leading a lot of the strategy in this time, pointing to colleagues like Alexis McGill Johnson of Planned Parenthood; Melanie Campbell of the Black Women's Roundtable, a network focused on the political and economic power of Black women; and SEIU President April Verrett. In February, Graves' organization, a nonprofit advancing gender justice, filed a lawsuit challenging the president's executive orders that take aim at diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Asked about this month's protests, Graves said she was not surprised to see White Americans — who make up the majority of the federal workforce — as the main participants. 'The folks who usually come to the streets first are the ones who see the direct impact,' Graves pointed out. 'You haven't always seen groups like that in the streets. I actually feel good about Black women's leadership at this time. They understand the assignment fully.' And there are others, focused on building community, messaging to counteract negative narratives and protesting with the power of their purses. In the days leading up to Trump's joint address to Congress, an idea was launched by Black activists, organizers and strategists including Angela Rye, Leah Daughtry and Tamika Mallory to provide an alternative to the president's speech: a marathon of online programming aimed at educating and empowering Black Americans impacted by the new administration. 'State of the People' streamed for 24 hours and has since evolved into a 10-city tour starting April 26 in Atlanta that will include mutual aid, political education and town halls. 'We have not stopped; we are focused on not just surviving, but making sure we don't lose ground on what we have achieved as a people in this country,' said Campbell, one of the organizers of the State of the People effort. 'This is designed to build a larger, intergenerational movement, showing the potential of long-term, sustained organizing on the ground and online.' During the Lenten season, Jamal Bryant, pastor of the Atlanta-based mega congregation New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, called for a 40-day boycott of Target after the retailer announced it would scale back its DEI initiatives. The campaign came in the wake of the Trump administration's executive orders calling for an end to such programs, which the president referred to as 'radical and wasteful.' Black consumers, many of them women, make up nearly 9 percent of Target shoppers. While the full impact of the boycott is unclear, the company's stock price has dropped, foot traffic to stores has slowed significantly and net quarterly sales decreased as a result. Last month, 100 women did a 'buy-in' at a Washington, D.C.-area Costco to show support for the store's commitment to DEI as part of an annual summit organized by the Black Women's Roundtable. Campbell said the gathering also included a day on Capitol Hill hosted by Angela Alsobrooks and Lisa Blount Rochester — the nation's two Black women senators — focused on federal budget priorities including Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. Campbell said she has been part of different organizing efforts since the election and strategizing around protecting Black women's leadership in this moment. 'Part of resistance is self-care,' Campbell said. 'That does not have anything to do with not fighting, because we are. We said we were going to take some rest after November 5, but there was never any notion that we weren't going to fight for our freedom in this country.' Resistance to the Trump administration, including for Black women, is still taking shape. Campbell said she invites allies whom she felt left down by after the election to step up now. What is clear in this unprecedented moment is that it will not look like it has looked before. Nelson said Black women's roles now must be 'very targeted, very pinpointed, because we are in a crisis unlike anything we have seen in modern history for Black women.' 'We're taking it very seriously,' Nelson said. 'To the extent people sense silence or reserve, those energies are being put to good use, just in a quiet way.' When the moment is right, Graves predicted that Black women could also take their protest to the streets. 'That's part of being a strategist,' she said. 'We'll know when it's time for us to engage, and that's OK.' The post 'We don't have an option not to fight': How Black women are resisting now appeared first on The 19th. News that represents you, in your inbox every weekday. Subscribe to our free, daily newsletter.
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
We ask women voters: Is the president protecting women?
This column first appeared in The Amendment, a biweekly newsletter by Errin Haines, The 19th's editor-at-large. Subscribe today to get early access to her analysis. Five days before the election, Donald Trump declared before his cheering supporters that as president, he wanted to 'protect the women of America.' 'I said, well, I'm gonna do it — whether the women like it or not,' Trump announced, after saying that some members of his campaign told him the statement was 'inappropriate.' In his first month in office, Trump has signed executive orders that he claims fulfill his promise. Trump is, he says, making good on his inauguration speech pledge to 'end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life.' On the day he was sworn in, he decreed that the federal government will recognize only two genders for the purpose of 'defending women's rights.' He banned transgender athletes from competing in women's sports in the name of protecting girls' 'safe and fair' participation, signing the order on National Women and Girls in Sports Day with mothers and daughters looking on. His administration has made moves to freeze federal grants, which are relied on by nonprofits that work to support victims of abuse, and has removed data on maternal mortality, women in the workforce and violence against Native women from federal websites. Trump has also nominated men to serve in his Cabinet — former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, his initial pick for attorney general; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth; and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — who have been accused of sexual assault and whose character raised concerns about whether their approach to governing could be harmful to women. Gaetz, Hegseth and Kennedy have all denied wrongdoing. A recent Economist/YouGov poll showed 64 percent of Americans — 69 percent of men and 60 percent of women — support Trump's executive order on transgender athletes. Among people who voted for Kamala Harris, 36 percent support the order, compared with 93 percent of Trump voters. Those numbers indicate that even voters who don't like him overall — his approval rating in this poll stood at 46 percent — agree with Trump on this issue. The popularity of the order stands in contrast with the small number of transgender athletes participating in girls' and women's sports. Some people see it as a solution in search of a problem, scapegoating a few trans girls and women to score political points. At his one-month mark in office, I wanted to know how women voters thought about Trump's pledge to protect women and if they feel his actions since returning to office reflect his words from the campaign trail. Atlanta resident Jaime Graham doesn't remember seeing or hearing Trump's remarks at that October rally. She said his stance on women was not a factor in how she voted, but added she's 'thrilled' that the president signed an executive order last week banning transgender athletes from women's sports. 'The women's sports issue was very motivating for me personally,' said Graham, 47, who has an 8-year-old daughter active in sports. 'I'm glad he addressed it. A lot of the things I see, it's like excess that has been festering. He's sort of righting the ship on things that shouldn't have been an issue in the first place.' Diana Henneuse, 60, voted for Kamala Harris in November, but had hoped Trump would spend his first month focused on building bridges in Washington, putting together a qualified team to help him govern and targeting issues like the economy or airline safety. In the past month, the Bellevue, Washington, resident who works in public school administration has talked to her husband and women in her life, including her college-aged daughter, about Trump's presidency and said everyone in her immediate circle is 'worried and scared.' She does not talk politics much with girlfriends she suspects voted for the president. When asked whether she thinks Trump has acted to protect women in his early days back in office, Henneuse laughed. 'I have never felt that Donald Trump cares one ounce about women,' she said. 'I have never felt protected by him. He cares nothing about our rights. His actions have shown it through the years. There are other things he should be tackling. He's doing that to appeal to the people who elected him.' Henneuse is also concerned about the women and girls who could be impacted by Trump's executive order targeting the U.S. Agency for International Development program that provides foreign aid to impoverished countries and his executive order targeting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in the federal government. She said his actions are out of step with 'human rights' and 'not in sync with society right now.' The Economist/YouGov poll showed that 45 percent of Americans supported DEI programs, compared with 36 percent who did not. Half of women supported them, versus 41 percent of men. 'He's trying to eliminate federal jobs … there's a lot of minority women in those jobs,' Henneuse said, referring to Trump's buyout offer for federal workers, nearly half of whom are women and nearly 20 percent of whom are Black. 'Washington is a very diverse city. The message is: we don't value you.' Anne-Marie Ashe, a Black woman who voted for Harris, said her group chat has been buzzing with news of the administration. She said that she has only felt more guarded in the month since Trump has taken office and that his actions feel 'overwhelmingly aggressive.' 'It's almost a full-on attack against women,' said Ashe, 38, who owns a real estate brokerage in Washington, D.C., and is particularly concerned about the president's efforts to dismantle DEI programs. 'A lot of people are going to lose jobs and it's going to be a situation where it's going to be difficult for them to survive or move up the corporate ladder,' she said. 'It feels like everything that was pushed forward is now rolling back with the swipe of a pen, based on how one person thinks. It seems like their lives don't matter.' The executive orders on trans people feel like they're personal to him, she said, and not about what will help Americans. As his presidency continues, Ashe hopes Trump will ask women what matters to them. 'There may be changes that need to happen, but just getting our opinion on what might be beneficial or what has been working that he may want to keep' would help, she said. She feels like her lived experience as a Black woman isn't valued. To Graham, things had been moving too far in a direction she did not want on gender. She felt phrases like 'birthing person' erased her experience as a woman and a mother and said she has seen women gaining opportunity in her lifetime. 'We don't need anyone's help; just don't do stuff that hurts us,' Graham said. 'You used to see a lot of really unfair stuff happening. I don't feel like that anymore.' But Graham does see the issue of transgender athletes competing in sports as 'an injustice.' Fewer than 10 transgender athletes are competing in women's collegiate sports, out of more than 500,000 student athletes, according to the NCAA. As far as Graham knows, her daughter hasn't played sports with any trans girls. She said a solution is needed that would work for everyone. 'I would love to understand the viewpoint of why they need to be in the dressing rooms and the private spaces,' Graham said. 'I still don't understand what the point of all that is. They didn't try to work with people, it wasn't done in a way that was comfortable for everybody.' Women and LGBTQ+ people do face legitimate risks to their safety in the workplace, in public spaces, in the military, on college campuses and from intimate partners — impacting how they are able to participate as full citizens in public life. Government has attempted to address these risks through anti-discrimination policies. DEI programs have most benefited White women, creating opportunity and access for them into roles and spaces previously held by White men. So far, one of the biggest impacts of Trump's actions has been chaos: for kids and adults seeking gender-affirming care and doctors providing it, nonprofits working to combat domestic violence, federal workers, people trying to diversify workplaces, those trying to address sexual assault in the military. Trump is protecting certain ideas about how he thinks the country should be. The post We ask women voters: Is the president protecting women? appeared first on The 19th. News that represents you, in your inbox every weekday. Subscribe to our free, daily newsletter.
