Op-Ed

A Male-Exclusive Framework for Racial Justice

Published

11 years ago

March 9, 2015

By Stephany Rose
NNPA Guest Columnist

In the Christian faith, the Syrophoenician woman’s testimony is one of the most popular narratives in the gospels. She was a woman who – because of her gender, ethnicity and nationality – was not marked as a disciple of Christ. She was also a mother whose daughter was haunted by an evil that could not be cast out by normal means. Her child “was grievously vexed by a devil,” and she looked to Jesus for an intervention. Despite her stark marginalization and alienation as a non-Israelite, she was willing to ignore societal norms and to withstand ridicule to plead her case for her ill-fated daughter. Consequently, her dedication to her child’s liberation has resonated as an inspirational act of faith for generations of Christians.

Many sermons on the unnamed Syrophoenician woman teach us about her faith and her yearning for the liberation of her child. Yet, as was revealed in Matthew’s gospel, religious leaders often ignored the collective disdain that Christ’s disciples had for this woman and her daughter. Too focused on their own comforts, the disciples – who had just witnessed salvation and should have been in tune with the values of freedom and justice – pleaded to have her sent away.

They lacked the capacity for empathy and the ethical convictions necessary to fight for her rights and her daughter’s well-being even though, in some respects, they may have admired her mother’s strength. In this way, the plight of the Syrophoenician woman can be seen as a metaphor for the climate Black mothers face in the United States today as they struggle to liberate themselves and their daughters.

As widespread support has been garnered for the White House’s “My Brother’s Keeper” Initiative (MBK) – designed to address the systemic racial inequities facing boys and young men of color – their female counterparts remain on the margins of our concerns. The MBK Task Force recently released its one-year progress report to the president on the effectiveness of the program.

In a “triumphant” response, the White House lauded itself for MBK having so far raised $300 million in the private sector, and prompted more than 200 communities to sign on the for the MBK Community Challenge, where local municipalities create their own new programs for men and boys of color. In this way, popular discourse forwarded by entities like the Obama administration suggests that boys and young men of color warrant drastic measures to address the inequities they encounter, implying by omission that girls of color are faring much better. Calls to address the systemic barriers that Black girls face are, more often than not, read as special interests that distract us from the presumably more urgent needs of boys in our communities. With its continued commitment to MBK, the White House has furthered the dominance of a male-exclusive framework for racial justice.

Countering this framework is the African American Policy Forum’s recent report, “Black Girls Matter: Pushed Out, Overpoliced and Underprotected.” The groundbreaking report highlights the debilitating realities that Black girls confront in the public school system. Researchers analyzed Department of Education data and examined the impact of punitive disciplinary policies in the New York and Boston public schools.

While there is no doubt that Black boys face systemic racial barriers, the report reveals comparable challenges faced by their female counterparts that underscore why we cannot continue to relegate girls to the margins of concern.

In some cases, the report found that, “the relative magnitude of racial disparity between girls is greater than the disparity between boys.” For example, across the nation in the 2011-2012 academic year, Black girls were six times more likely to be suspended than their white counterparts, while Black boys were three times more likely to be suspended than White boys.

In the same year, Black girls in New York City were 90 percent of girls expelled while not a single White girl was punished in similar fashion. In Boston, Black girls were 10 times more likely to be expelled than their White counterparts. Thus, while in absolute numbers Black boys face the highest rates of disciplinary action, attention to the discipline rates experienced by Black girls reveals a level of racial disparity that is deeply disturbing.

Black Girls Matter also demonstrates that there are gendered barriers that Black girls face disproportionally, such as familial responsibilities, the stigma associated with teenage pregnancy, and sexual assault. Moreover, it notes that the lifelong income gap between girls who don’t graduate from high school and those who do is larger than the gap between boys.

The gender and race disaggregated data presented in “Black Girls Matter” shows that Black girls are not doing “just fine.” The desire to dismiss the daughters, mothers, sisters, grandmothers, and countless unnamed women of color living in crisis to the shadows of our concern for our boys, therefore, can no longer be tolerated. Telling Black girls to “wait their turn” or to “wait for the boys to be helped first” is irresponsible, impractical and unjust. As a Christian, I believe that relegating mothers to beg for the crumbs off the table because we refuse to see them as part of the “lost sheep” is unequivocally unrighteous. Let’s not treat Black women and girls in America today as the disciples once treated the Syrophoenician woman. Instead let us extend to them the same hopes and dreams we desire for our boys by centering their concerns at the heart of our quest for racial justice.

Stephany Rose is assistant professor of Women’s and Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. She is also senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church of Colorado Springs. Rose is author of Abolishing White Masculinity from Mark Twain to Hiphop: Whiteness in Crisis.

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COMMENTARY: The National Protest Must Be Accompanied with Our Votes

Just as Trump is gathering election data like having the FBI take all the election data in Georgia from the 2020 election, so must we organize in preparation for the coming primary season to have the right people on ballots in each Republican district, so that we can regain control of the House of Representatives and by doing so, restore the separation of powers and balance that our democracy is being deprived of.

Published

3 days ago

February 10, 2026

Oakland Post

Dr. John E. Warren, Publisher San Diego Voice & Viewpoint Newspaper. File photo..

By Dr. John E. Warren, Publisher San Diego Voice & Viewpoint Newspaper

As thousands of Americans march every week in cities across this great nation, it must be remembered that the protest without the vote is of no concern to Donald Trump and his administration.

In every city, there is a personal connection to the U.S. Congress. In too many cases, the member of Congress representing the people of that city and the congressional district in which it sits, is a Republican. It is the Republicans who are giving silent support to the destructive actions of those persons like the U.S. Attorney General, the Director of Homeland Security, and the National Intelligence Director, who are carrying out the revenge campaign of the President rather than upholding the oath of office each of them took “to Defend The Constitution of the United States.”

In California, the primary comes in June 2026. The congressional races must be a priority just as much as the local election of people has been so important in keeping ICE from acquiring facilities to build more prisons around the country.

“We the People” are winning this battle, even though it might not look like it. Each of us must get involved now, right where we are.

In this Black History month, it is important to remember that all we have accomplished in this nation has been “in spite of” and not “because of.” Frederick Douglas said, “Power concedes nothing without a struggle.”

Today, the struggle is to maintain our very institutions and history. Our strength in this struggle rests in our “collectiveness.” Our newspapers and journalists are at the greatest risk. We must not personally add to the attack by ignoring those who have been our very foundation, our Black press.

Are you spending your dollars this Black History Month with those who salute and honor contributions by supporting those who tell our stories? Remember that silence is the same as consent and support for the opposition. Where do you stand and where will your dollars go?

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Activism

Post Newspaper Invites NNPA to Join Nationwide Probate Reform Initiative

The Post’s Probate Reform Group meets the first Thursday of every month via Zoom and invites the public to attend. The Post is making the initiative national and will submit information from its monthly meeting to the NNPA to educate, advocate, and inform its readers.

Published

3 days ago

February 10, 2026

Oakland Post

iStock.

By Tanya Dennis

The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) represents the Black press with over 200 newspapers nationwide.

Last night the Post announced that it is actively recruiting the Black press to inform the public that there is a probate “five-alarm fire” occurring in Black communities and invited every Black newspaper starting from the Birmingham Times in Alabama to the Milwaukee Times Weekly in Wisconsin, to join the Post in our “Year of Action” for probate reform.

Reporter Tanya Dennis says, “The adage that ‘When America catches a cold, Black folks catch the flu” is too true in practice; that’s why we’re engaging the Black Press to not only warn, but educate the Black community regarding the criminal actions we see in probate court: Thousands are losing generational wealth to strangers. It’s a travesty that happens daily.”

Venus Gist, a co-host of the reform group, states, “ Unfortunately, people are their own worst enemy when it comes to speaking with loved ones regarding their demise. It’s an uncomfortable subject that most avoid, but they do so at their peril. The courts rely on dissention between family members, so I encourage not only a will and trust [be created] but also videotape the reading of your documents so you can show you’re of sound mind.”

In better times, drafting a will was enough; then a trust was an added requirement to ‘iron-clad’ documents and to assure easy transference of wealth.

No longer.

As the courts became underfunded in the last 20 years, predatory behavior emerged to the extent that criminality is now occurring at alarming rates with no oversight, with courts isolating the conserved, and, I’ve heard, many times killing conservatees for profit. Plundering the assets of estates until beneficiaries are penniless is also common.”

Post Newspaper Publisher Paul Cobb says, “The simple solution is to avoid probate at all costs. If beneficiaries can’t agree, hire a private mediator and attorney to work things out. The moment you walk into court, you are vulnerable to the whims of the court. Your will and trust mean nothing.”

Zakiya Jendayi, a co-host of the Probate Reform Group and a victim herself, says, “In my case, the will and trust were clear that I am the beneficiary of the estate, but the opposing attorney said I used undue influence to make myself beneficiary. He said that without proof, and the judge upheld the attorney’s baseless assertion. In court, the will and trust is easily discounted.”

The Black press reaches out to 47 million Black Americans with one voice. The power of the press has never been so important as it is now in this national movement to save Black generational wealth from predatory attorneys, guardians and judges.

The next probate reform meeting is on March 5, from 7 – 9 p.m. PST. Zoom Details:
Meeting ID: 825 0367 1750
Passcode: 475480

All are welcome.

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COMMENTARY: The Biases We Don’t See — Preventing AI-Driven Inequality in Health Care

For decades, medicine promoted false assumptions about Black bodies. Black patients were told they had lower lung capacity, and medical devices adjusted their results accordingly. That practice was not broadly reversed until 2021. Up until 2022, a common medical formula used to measure how well a person’s kidneys were working automatically gave Black patients a higher score simply because they were Black. On paper, this made their kidneys appear healthier than they truly were. As a result, kidney disease was sometimes detected later in Black patients, delaying critical treatment and referrals.

Published

3 days ago

February 10, 2026

Oakland Post

Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson, M.D (D-San Diego). File photo.

By Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson, M.D., Special to California Black Media Partners

Technology is sold to us as neutral, objective, and free of human flaws. We are told that computers remove emotion, bias, and error from decision-making. But for many Black families, lived experience tells a different story. When technology is trained on biased systems, it reflects those same biases and silently carries them forward.

We have seen this happen across multiple industries. Facial recognition software has misidentified Black faces at far higher rates than White faces, leading to wrongful police encounters and arrests. Automated hiring systems have filtered out applicants with traditionally Black names because past hiring data reflected discriminatory patterns. Financial algorithms have denied loans or offered worse terms to Black borrowers based on zip codes and historical inequities, rather than individual creditworthiness. These systems did not become biased on their own. They were trained on biased data.

Healthcare is not immune.

These biases were not limited to software or medical devices. Dangerous myths persisted that Black people feel less pain, contributing to undertreatment and delayed care. These beliefs were embedded in modern training and practice, not distant history. Those assumptions shaped the data that now feeds medical technology. When biased clinical practices form the basis of algorithms, the risk is not hypothetical. The bias can be learned, automated, and scaled.

For us in the Black community, this creates understandable fear and mistrust. Many families already carry generational memories of medical discrimination, from higher maternal mortality to lower life expectancy to being dismissed or unheard in clinical settings. Adding AI biases could make our community even more apprehensive about the healthcare system.

As a physician, I know how much trust patients place in the healthcare system during their most vulnerable moments. As a Black woman, I understand how bias can shape experiences in ways that are often invisible to those who do not live them. As a mother of two Black children, I think constantly about the systems that will shape their health and well-being. As a legislator, I believe it is our responsibility to confront emerging risks before they become widespread harm.

That is why I am the author of Senate Bill (SB) 503. This bill aims to regulate the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare by requiring developers and users of AI systems to identify, mitigate, and monitor biased impacts in their outputs to reduce racial and other disparities in clinical decision-making and patient care.

Currently under consideration in the State Assembly, SB 503 was not written to slow innovation. In fact, I encourage it. But it is our duty must ensure that every tool we in the healthcare field helps patients rather than harms them.

The health of our families depends on it.

About the Author

Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson (D–San Diego) is a physician and public health advocate representing California’s 39th Senate District.