Mediaboss Marketing

Its been nearly a week since Milan Bolden-Morris had the interwebs buzzing after debuting her Black Lives Matter prom dress, which was designed by Terrence Torrence. Although the Florida native admits she was merely a vessel for this act of fashionable social activism, she is very concerned about the increasing acts of police brutality and the families of the victims. After recently celebrating her 18th birthday, Bolden-Harris was nice enough to speak with EBONY.com about her life post-prom dress, personal passions and future plans.

EBONY.com: Prom is a special event and rite of passage for teenage girls. What made you decide to make a political statement instead of taking the traditional glitz-and-glamour route?

Bolden-Morris: I was honestly just the model for the dress; it was all my designer, Terrence Torrences, idea. To convey the message, he asked if I wanted to help and, of course, I did; the purpose was never about me or how I looked. When someone loses a mother, father or child by unnecessary circumstances, it should not be overlooked. These issues should be handled.

EBONY.com: What were the reactions from some of your peers about the dress?

Bolden-Morris: For the most part, I got a lot of positive feedback. They were so supportive of me and my actions, and they acknowledged my bravery and the courage that was expressed through wearing the dress. They were also surprised that I was getting this much attention. Every time I was on a Instagram page of someone famous, they would let me know and be so excited for me. Especially when I was on the Buzzfeed Snapchat story.

EBONY.com: Although you plan to attend Boston College in the fall on a full-ride basketball scholarship, do you have any other passions youd like to explore in college?

Bolden-Morris: I do. I aspire to be an orthopedic surgeon. All my life, Ive been around sports, and to pursue a career that would allow me to still be involved with sports would be a dream for me. I love to help others, so I feel being a surgeon would allow me to do that and help find methods to help [patients] perform at their fullest potential with a faster recovery. I also hope to continue to inspire others and help them be courageous and strong in [their beliefs]. I believe God is using me for something bigger than me, so I pray that He continues to be with me.

EBONY.com: How has your life changed after the dress went viral? Has anyone reached out to you for any further opportunities for social change?

Bolden-Morris: My life essentially is the same, but I feel Ive definitely used the dress to inspire others and to not only touch the lives of the families who were affected but also anyone who has been subjected to feeling unwanted. God says to love, and that love conquers over all sin. So to show that peaceful measures should be taken over violence is primarily what I want to illuminate. Only Trayvon Martins mother, Mrs. Sybrina Fulton, has reached out to me [so far], and that was to help her with an event in May in Miami. I hope many more people will reach out; I want to continue emphasizing love and change the world socially because these issues are so important.

EBONY.com: Do you have any plans to use your clothing to raise awareness about police brutality?

Bolden-Morris: I would love to continue to convey messages of peace through clothing, not just in the Black community, but in general. Everyone needs to express love and be loved as God loves us, so whatever I can do to help bring awareness to these issues, Ill do. Also, whatever Terrence wants me to do, Ill do. Im his model, so whatever idea he has in mind, Im willing and honored to do. Hes honestly a genius when it comes to expressing ideas and making statements through fashion.

Teryn Payne is an Editorial Assistant to the Editor-in-Chief. Shes obsessed with lip gloss,nail polish and all things olive. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram@Teryn_Denice.

See more here:
Meet the Teen Who Rocked 'Black Lives Matter' Dress to Prom - EBONY.com

Getty Images Politics

A Q&A with Cazembe Murphy Jackson of BLM Atlanta

Cazembe Murphy Jackson, a Black Lives Matter organizer from Atlanta, Georgia, recently took his group's message of activism abroad to London. While there, he learned about some surprising parallels between organizing in the U.K. and in the U.S. as well as why some Londoners are using Donald Trump's presidency as a galvanizing force to get people out in the streets across the pond. MTV News writer Marcus Ellsworth spoke with Jackson about his trip, activism in London, and what building international solidarity means for black people.

Why was it important for an organizer out of Atlanta to go work with activists in London?

Cazembe Murphy Jackson: BLM is a global network. We are working with folks in different countries, and have been for a while, to help develop their own resistance against racism. It's really important for us to be able to understand how anti-blackness happens in different contexts and different places in the world so that we can actively build strategies to fight it in different places. The strategy can't be the same if the way that anti-blackness is experienced is not the same.

Black Lives Matter and the National Union of Students, which is the student union in London that brought me over there, have already been in a relationship for the past couple of years. [Both organizations have] had folks go over to London and they've also brought people from London to the States.

Before you went, did you have any expectations about what this journey might be like?

Jackson: The biggest thing that I thought would happen is that I wouldn't be understood or accepted fully as a trans man. Because the people who know me and love me would not be around me, I thought that I would have to face a lot of transphobia. It ended up not being true. I learned that even black people in different places in the world have this thing that bonds us together; we have such a similar experience. Even though the context of the way that racism works is different [in different countries], it still produces the same result in us, which allows us to be able to relate to other black people. Once we started talking to each other, it's like we'd all been friends our whole lives. And I found that you can definitely find community in other countries just as quickly as you can in the place [where] you're from.

What are some major concerns black organizers have in the U.K.?

Jackson: A recurring theme was that it's really hard for them to get a good turnout for their events unless they mention something about what's going on in the United States in their outreach. If someone died in police custody in the U.K., and [organizers] want to have a rally or an action to bring people out, they would also [reference] something that happened in the United States. The summit that I came over to speak at was called "Trump, Brexit, and Beyond" [even though] the summit was about the way that new acts of Islamophobia [are manifesting] against immigrants in the U.K. It could have just been [called] "Brexit and Beyond," but in order to get people in, they also had to talk about Trump.

Folks really want to be able to say, "Oh, Trump is a bad guy, but we're the U.K. and we're not like that." Everyone wants to talk about how bad Trump is, but the reality is that Trump and Theresa May are two peas in a pod. Now that the U.K. is out of the E.U., she's got to find other people to make trade partnerships with. It's a very important thing for folks in the U.K. to pay attention to Theresa May [in] the same way that they're paying attention to Trump.

There was a rally in front of Parliament when [members of Parliament] were voting on whether they were going to let E.U. immigrants stay in the U.K. That was a huge rally. It was an opportunity to push Parliament to make the right decision. But when [organizers of the rally] came out, they also had to talk about Trump and his Muslim ban in order to draw people out, and it wasn't even about that.

It reminds me of living in small [American] towns, even like Chattanooga. There are over 60 people who've been killed by police in the city of Chattanooga since the 1970s. But in order for us to get a big turnout to fight against police brutality and police murder, we had to talk about Trayvon Martin or Mike Brown. I don't know what the science is around what moves people to come out, but it does seem like there's something that has to do with what is popular in America in the larger context to bring people out in smaller and more distant places.

Are there other issues that BLM focuses on in the U.S. that you also saw reflected in the U.K.?

Jackson: I don't think that I did enough talking and digging to be able to accurately say all of the things that black folks are working on in the U.K. But a lot of black people I met who are organizing are also Muslim. They're also either immigrants to the U.K. or their parents are immigrants. That makes for a really great environment for international solidarity, because they actually have family in other countries. The immigration fight and the fight against Islamophobia is really big in [those] black communities, because they live at that intersection.

I think they do a lot of organizing around police brutality and murder in police custody. There's a group called United Families & Friends, a campaign that is led by friends and family of people who have died in police custody. They help others learn what the process is for trying to get justice for your family through the state. I thought it was interesting that while there have been over, I believe, 2,000 deaths in police custody in the U.K. [on record], no police officer has ever been convicted of any wrongdoing. The majority of police in the U.K. don't carry guns, so they don't have the police-murder epidemic the way we have it here. But the people who do die in police custody, a lot of them die from the use of the batons. So people are getting beat to death. In the U.S. it's still bad, but there have been some officers who have been convicted of some things.

Another thing that's different is that they skew the numbers [of] how many people are incarcerated. We often say the U.S. incarcerates black people so much that there's more black people in jail now than there were during slavery. We think of these really large numbers to show how disproportionate the amount of black people in jail in the U.S. is. That's skewed for the U.K. because half of the people are not in jail: They're being forced to stay in mental institutions and they treat them like they're in jail. You can be arrested and be forced to go. That's used for asylum seekers, immigrants, and folks who are citizens in the U.K. When you combine the numbers [of people in jails and mental institutions], it would put the U.K. closer to the U.S.

How can people in America find ways to stand in solidarity with black folks in other countries and the issues theyre organizing around?

Jackson: I think the simplest thing that can be done to start building international solidarity is to find out what's happening in other places. I think the way we are able to care about what's happening somewhere else is [by] actually reading about it. Then, after we learn about what's happening and its context, the next step is to talk about it. We use Facebook for a lot of stuff. We use Twitter and all of these other social media platforms to talk about important ideas and theories.

I think once we start understanding what is happening, and make sure that the people around [us] also know its important, then those who are able need to build relationships with people in other places. Of course, some of that is going to require travel. That can get tricky. It can get pricey and some folks will need passports.

I got my passport through a trans passport workshop. When I was asked to take a companion with me, I ended up taking my friend Prentis Hemphill because they have a passport and are the director of healing justice for BLM. No one [else in my Atlanta chapter] could go because they didn't have a passport. We need to have passport clinics, and not just for trans people, [but also] for young black people. Because black people need to be able to see other black people thriving and surviving in other places in the diaspora other than the U.S. They need to know how magical our people are everywhere, and to know that we are everywhere.

The way that you start knowing that is by going and seeing. One of the other things I thought when I found out I was going to London was, Yo, are there black people there? And there's SO many black people there. All different kinds of black people. When we can see people in different places and we understand the context [in which] they are actually living, then it makes it possible for us to build some kind of genuine solidarity based on a real relationship and a real understanding of each other's experiences. To be able to say that we're in solidarity with people around the world, I just think we have to go deeper.

2017 Viacom International Inc. All Rights Reserved. MTV and all related titles and logos are trademarks of Viacom International Inc.

Continued here:
How One Black Lives Matter Activist Found Solidarity In The UK - MTV.com

Florida high school senior Milan Morris turned more than a few heads when photos of her prom dress hit social media over the weekend.

Why? The 17-year-olds gown was inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement and showed images of black people such as Michael Brown and Sandra Bland who were killed during encounters with police.

It really conveyed such a strong message, Morris told the Sun Sentinel after Fridays prom. For me to be in that moment, to be bold and courageous to do that, it was a blessing.

The front of Morris dress showed an image of Trayvon Martin, the Florida teen who was fatally shot in 2012 during an altercation with neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman and Morris told the paper she spoke with Martins mother, Sybrina Fulton, who was touched by the gesture.

Morris posted a pair of photos of her dress on Instagram.

One was accompanied by the caption, Yes Im black. Yes Im 17. Yes GOD is using me to convey a message thats bigger than me.

Designer Terrence Torrence created the dress and told the Sun Sentinel he got the idea of a Black Lives Matter theme about a year ago. Torrence knows Morris family, and he told the paper that when he got together with her about a prom dress a few months ago, his idea came up.

She was like, Yo, lets do it, Torrence recalled to the Sun Sentinel, emphasizing that while his dress is Black Lives Matter-themed, it isnt an anti-police statement.

Its a tribute to that movement, but its All Lives Matter, because every creature, every person on this planet matters, he told the paper, adding that it was for the youth and that Morris was perfect for it.

As a star basketball player for Cardinal Newman High School in West Palm Beach, Florida, Morris is used to headlines. She was named the Palm Beach County girls basketball player of the year by the Sun Sentinel and his heading to Boston College to play basketball and study pre-med, the paper said, adding that she wants to become an orthopedic surgeon.

While Morris told the Sun Sentinel shes taken heat for the dress by those whove called her a racist and a spotlight grabber, she said she simply wanted to highlight Black Lives Matter.

It was just really to convey the message that this needs to be addressed instead of overlooked, she told the paper.

Originally posted here:
Black Lives Matter prom dress turning a lot of heads: 'God is using me to convey a message' - TheBlaze.com

When Milan Bolden-Morris walked into Pahokee High Schools prom, she knew her dress would get attention.

Not for the sparkles or the cut like others that night, but for the faces of Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice and others displayed across her dress. Faces of those whose deaths sparked the Black Lives Matter movement.

As the 17-year-old smiled for the cameras, she said she knew the dress was bigger than prom or her.

Every life on this earth is precious. God created us all as gifts, Bolden-Morris said. When a mother loses a child or a child loses a parent, especially when its under unnecessary circumstances, their lives shouldnt be overlooked.

Friday evening, Bolden-Morris wore the dress created by local designer Terrence Torrence, who said hes had the idea for a while. When he was asked to design a dress for Bolden-Morris, a Cardinal Newman senior basketball star who is the Palm Beach Post Small Schools All-Area player of the year, he said he had an idea and wanted to bounce it off of her. Bolden-Morris, who got a full scholarship to Boston College and will study pre-med, she said she loved the idea.

I already knew this dress was way bigger than me or how I looked in it or how I felt in it, she said. I knew the purpose was to bring awareness. To highlight these things going on in America.

Bolden-Morris was invited to Pahokee High prom by a family friend because she cant make it to Cardinal Newmans prom.

Torrence and Bolden-Morris both knew the dress would garner attention, but didnt know it would get this big. Snoop Dogg shared a photo of Bolden-Morris on his Instagram, and Essence and CNN wrote stories about it. Most important for both Bolden-Morris and Torrence was the call from Trayvon Martins mother, Sybrina Fulton.

I just thought, Wow, this is amazing, Bolden-Morris said. God is really using me for things that are bigger than me.

She said she was honored to have such an influential person with such courage and power to praise her for her small act. Morris said she was just the model conveying Torrences message.

Torrence, who splits his time between West Palm Beach and Atlanta, said he was so happy to hear Fulton loved the dress. Above all other comments and praise, Fultons was the most important to him. On Torrences dress, he displayed a photo of Trayvon Martin in a hoodie as the most prominent figure.

Trayvon, I remember that whole movement. It was the first time I can remember people coming together for someone killed that way, he said. I remember being in L.A. and wearing my hoodie for Trayvon.

Though many of the faces included on the dress garnered the national spotlight like Sandra Bland and Mike Brown, the faces of locals Corey Jones and Henry Bennett III rested there as well. Torrence, who grew up in Belle Glade like Bolden-Morris, said it was important to remind people police violence happens at home too.

The ones I chose, they all spoke to me. The look on their faces all had this glow, he said. At the end of the day, you want to always remember their faces and their stories. Everyone on that dress has a story.

Here is the original post:
Cardinal Newman star player wears Black Lives Matter prom dress - Palm Beach Post

NEW HAVEN >> Before arriving at the Yale Divinity School to lead a discussion on race Thursday evening, Jimmy Jones couldnt help but think about the son he buried 20 years ago.

There is no pain like the pain of burying your children, Jones said, referring to his son, Malik Jones. My heart still aches.

Malik Jones was fatally shot by East Haven police on April 14, 1997. Twenty years later, Jones led a discussion titled Black Lives Matter Because All Lives Matter, at the school from which he graduated in 1983, in commemoration. Now a professor at Manhattanville College, Jones, who still lives in New Haven, joined the Rev. Bonita Grubbs and Divinity School student Gabby Cudjoe-Wilkes for a conversation on race.

Following his sons death, Jones said he was essentially muted by rage. His ex-wife, Emma Jones, became the family spokesperson and to this day continues to advocate on behalf of her son.

Advertisement

I was angry, so I couldnt even speak publicly for two months, Jones said. He said found some solace in Islamic writings: Patience is to be observed at the first stroke of a calamity.

Fatal incidents involving black men and women continue to garner widespread attention, especially after the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson in 2014. That shooting, and other high-profile incidents involving fatal use of force by police, sparked a renewed interest in police accountability and discussion on law enforcements relationships with the African-American community.

This conversation keeps happening because incidents keep happening, Cudjoe-Wilkes said.

In his discussion, Jones expanded the current climate to show how closely it mirrors fears and anxieties African-Americans faced during the Jim Crow era. During this period, thousands of African Americans, and even white immigrants from countries such as Italy, were lynched without repercussion.

Jones described the lynching of Emmett Till as having a profound effect on his psyche. Jones grew up in Virginia, and said the photographs published from Tills open-casket funeral were haunting. Tills mother, Mamie, wanted an open casket to show how savagely he had been assaulted.

As a 9-year-old, looking at this picture on Jet magazine, it terrorized me, Jones said. Indeed, that was the point of this kind of attack.

Following Maliks death, Jones said he spoke with the East Haven police chief, a police commissioner and mayor. He asked that they address his sons shooting, or risk further turmoil. He said it wasnt meant as a threat, but rather a warning of unrest.

If you allow this kind of thing in our community ... sooner or later, it will come back to bite you, Jones said.

Jones suggested a new BLM movement, perhaps with the acronym standing for Be Like Martin, in reference to Martin Luther King Jr., or Be Like Mary as in Jesus mother, or Be Like Muhammad the prophet of Islam.

One attendee on Thursday asked about how the current generation can be reenergized, since Civil Rights-era figures such as King were young. Cudjoe-Wilkes said the Black Lives Matter movement was started by three gay women in their 20s who wanted to keep people informed about incidents involving African Americans. The phrase itself is frequently used on social networks with a hashtag to make it part of a larger, global conversation.

That hashtag helped keep a lot of people aware of what was going on, Cudjoe-Wilkes said.

Cudjoe-Wilkes said every generation seemingly has had their tools be mocked or questioned by older generations.

Jones said patience must be practiced, as the fruits of the current generations social activism will bear in the future.

We shouldnt give up on our young people, Jones said.

Reach Esteban L. Hernandez at 203-680-9901.

View original post here:
Malik Jones' father leads Black Lives Matter discussion 20 years after son's fatal shooting - New Haven Register