On Juneteenth 2025, the story that shook audiences to their core in the Oscar-nominated documentary TIME found its continuation in a new film, TIME II: Unfinished Business. Directed by Sibil Richardson—known widely as Fox—the follow-up to Garrett Bradley’s acclaimed 2020 work is bigger than a sequel. It’s a cinematic campaign, an archive, and a political call to action.

This new chapter follows Fox and her husband, Robert Richardson (Rob), as they return to the battleground of Louisiana’s carceral system. While TIME chronicled the family’s 21-year fight to bring Rob home, TIME II confronts the heartbreak, resistance, and strategy that emerge in their mission to free their nephew and co-defendant, still imprisoned in the same system that tried to steal Rob’s life.Ontario, the couple’s nephew, was arrested alongside Rob during the same incident in 1997. While Rob was granted clemency in 2018 after serving 21 years, Ontario remains incarcerated—serving an even longer sentence under Louisiana’s notoriously harsh sentencing laws. His continued imprisonment is at the heart of TIME II: Unfinished Business, which reframes the narrative from personal victory to collective accountability. “When Rob came home from prison, we had no idea how we would be able to secure [Ontario’s] freedom,” Fox said. “But we knew it would be imminent.

RELATED CONTENT: The Gate Of The Exonerated Is Justice Realized

(L to R) Ontario and Rob / Source: Courtesy of Fox and Rob Rich

“This film… we consider it a movement,” Fox told MadameNoire in an exclusive interview. “Unlike many documentaries that you see when others are telling our stories, one, this film is led by the formerly incarcerated. It is my directorial debut. This was an opportunity for us to tell our story.”

Freedom ain’t a fairytale.

Fox and Rob’s story is deeply personal. In 1997, financial devastation pushed the couple to make a desperate decision: they robbed a credit union in an attempt to recover the savings lost when a business deal collapsed. Rob was sentenced to 61 years, despite agreeing to an 18-year plea deal. Fox, newly released from a short prison stint herself, picked up a camera and began documenting the moments their children would otherwise have to navigate without their father.

That raw footage became the emotional foundation for TIME, a project that catapulted their story to global attention. But Fox was clear in our interview: TIME II was necessary because the fight wasn’t over.

“When many people thought that what had happened already was enough,” she explained, “for me as the director on this project, it was about really… we owe [audiences] to share how did we get Rob out? How did he come home? How did his liberation come about?”

What the sequel makes plain is that liberation isn’t passive. “Freedom is not a fairytale, and freedom ain’t free,” Fox emphasized. “It was about really being able to show people what we did with freedom.”

That understanding became the heartbeat of the film and the engine behind the couple’s latest mission: the #TimeIIWatch campaign. They set out with a goal to mobilize 1 million people to watch the film and engage in a new movement for freedom.

Louisiana, the carceral capital.

In the national conversation about mass incarceration, Louisiana is a far cry from a footnote. It’s a headline.

As of 2022, Louisiana had the highest rate of imprisonment in the U.S., housing more than 27,000 people in its state prisons—a 4.7% increase from 2021, and significantly above the national average according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Black people made up nearly 32% of the national prison population, despite being only 13% of the general population.

Fox and Rob’s home state is emblematic of the problem. The U.S. may hold just 5% of the world’s population, but it cages nearly 25% of its prisoners according to the Prison Policy Initiative. Within that, Black Americans are incarcerated at nearly five times the rate of white Americans according to The Sentencing Project.

So when Fox says that TIME II is a call to action, she means it in every sense. “We garnered an understanding that to be free is to free others,” she said. “To launch this Campaign for Freedom—this movement, which is more than just a film—we put together these tools from our 30 years of being justice involved.”

Through their nonprofit, Rich Family Ministries, Fox and Rob provide participatory defense training, empowering families to advocate in courtrooms and communities alike. “We practice a model called participatory defense,” Fox said. “That model is 1 out of 40 hubs across the country doing this work of teaching justice-involved families legal awareness as a best form of defense.”

Truth-telling as resistance.

There are creative risks, and then there are risks that come with telling the truth—especially when you’re still under surveillance.

“Our risk came from what we were exposing,” Fox admitted. “When you begin to be a truth-teller and speak truth to power… you put yourself in harm’s way.”

That danger is not abstract. Rob is still on 40 years of parole. Yet, both are unapologetic about their storytelling. “We took that and we flipped it and said, no, I’m gonna serve as a warning sign,” Fox said. “As a symbol of what freedom really means.”

Their filmmaking is about legacy. “I hope that my voice would resonate on to other generations through this media that lasts into perpetuity,” Fox told MadameNoire. “So today we’re looking at 30 years, and another 30 years, I’ll be 85. That’ll be 60 years of archiving the new form of slavery in America through one family’s journey.”

The post ‘TIME II’ Isn’t Just a Sequel—It’s A War Cry For Black Families Still Caught in the System [Exclusive] appeared first on MadameNoire.



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Through his book, The Quiet Storm: A Historical and Cultural Analysis of the Power, Passion and Pain of R&B Groups, Roberts delves into the rise, dominance and decline of R&B groups while also exploring their often-overlooked yet powerful impact on American music and culture.

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“Her incompetence is beastly.”“She certainly is a mental deficient.”“She’s a dumb-dumb, and you can’t take her seriously.”“She is a recalcitrant piece of garbage.”“She’s massively incompetent.”

That was Fox News’ Lisa “Kennedy” Montgomery trying to demean Rep. Jasmine Crockett five times in a single rant. But all that petty derision reveals nothing about Congresswoman Crocket and far more about Kennedy’s own intellectual bankruptcy, moral squalor, and her talent for cheap, performative cruelty masquerading as political commentary. The only real skill she’s honed is making the shallow sound edgy to people too dim-witted to notice.

If Kennedy had a real argument, she wouldn’t have needed to stack five personal insults on top of each other like a sad little Jenga tower of insecurity. 

RELATED CONTENT: ‘She’s Cosplaying A Gangsta’ — Why Are White Conservatives So Pressed About Jasmine Crockett’s Blackness? [Op-Ed]

A truly intelligent and competent commentator wouldn’t rely on crude, empty attacks in place of reasoned critique. She needed five insults because she had nothing else. No substance. No evidence. No point. No working brain cells. Just spit and bile.  Just look how hard she had to work just to prove she had nothing. And ultimately, she demonstrated that she’s the one who’s actually mentally deficient.

Kennedy’s rant came after Crockett dared to call out Donald Trump’s “racist and wrong” remarks about the president of Liberia speaking “such good English.” When Crockett labeled Trump’s words for what they were, the GOP rapid-response machine snapped into gear. Kennedy simply picked up that baton for Fox News. She didn’t contest a single fact. She went straight for the oldest, most cowardly trick in the racist playbook: smear the Black woman’s intelligence. Reduce her to a “dumb-dumb.” Make sure the audience sees her as unworthy of basic respect.

It’s pathetic and so damn predictable.

Kennedy knows she can’t beat Rep. Crockett on substance. She can’t out-argue her. Crockett is a civil rights attorney, a sitting member of Congress, a woman who can dismantle Republican talking points with her eyes closed and one hand tied behind her back. She is sharp, fearless, and unbothered by conservative fragility. And that terrifies mediocre bigots like Kennedy.

This is the same Lisa Kennedy who made her name being smarmy on MTV in the 90s, who rebranded herself as a libertarian edgelord sneering at working people’s needs, and who has built a career in conservative media serving up sarcastic, punchline-level takes for an audience desperate for reassurance they’ll never have to take Black women seriously. Kennedy isn’t offering critique; she’s offering white folks a comfortable fantasy where no Black woman is ever smarter than they are.

She’s the human embodiment of smug mediocrity. This is a woman who leveraged the aesthetics of rebelliousness into a decades-long gig kissing the ring of right-wing power while pretending she’s too hip to care about the damage. She’s the type who rails against government overreach but has no problem with state violence at the border or policing Black communities, the kind of libertarian who mocks student debt relief but wants her rich pals’ taxes cut.

Kennedy has no policy chops. She’s not serious. She’s a lazy performer who built her brand on eye-rolling, faux-radical snark that crumbles the second you ask her for actual ideas. She’s the sort of TV pundit who thinks being mean is the same thing as being smart. She’s paid to pander to viewers who want to hear that even the most obviously intelligent Black woman in the room is a “dumb-dumb,” because that lie is easier for them to swallow than gagging on the fact that she’s one of the dullest minds in the room.

“She is a recalcitrant piece of garbage.”

That line is a window into who Kennedy is. She’s a smug, washed-up cable clown who traded whatever critical thinking skills she once pretended to have for the cheapest form of white grievance theater. She’s not a serious commentator.  She’s a professional bigot-whisperer whose job is to sneer, belittle, and dehumanize Black women who won’t stay in the roles her audience finds comfortable. 

Calling Crockett “garbage” is Kennedy admitting that she can’t match Crockett’s command of the facts, her courtroom-honed intelligence, or her refusal to play nice for people who despise her. It’s Kennedy revealing that she knows exactly what her audience wants to hear and delivers it with a wink and a sneer.

She’s not just smug mediocrity. She’s a willing foot soldier for white grievance politics, who lacks confidence in her own intellect and the right-wing worldview she’s there to defend.  At the end of the day, she knows Crockett was right.  But instead she says, “Look at this dumb-dumb.”

Kennedy’s disrespect of a sitting Black representative was personal, and it was also universal. 

Every time a Black woman shows up in American public life with undeniable intelligence, whether she’s a Representative like Jasmine Crockett, a Supreme Court justice like Ketanji Brown Jackson, a Vice President like Kamala Harris, or a scholar, attorney, doctor, journalist, or educator, there is a reliably ugly backlash waiting for her. It doesn’t matter if she graduated from the nation’s top schools, served with distinction, or simply out-argues her opponents in debate.  As soon as her intelligence shines, the slur emerges: “mentally deficient,” “low IQ,” “affirmative action case,” “DEI hire,” “dumb,” “illiterate,” “incoherent.”

Source: Vinnie Zuffante / Getty

This isn’t random name-calling.  It taps into centuries of propaganda about Black inferiority. It’s the same old lie that Black people are less intelligent, especially Black women. It’s a deliberate racist strategy that is about policing who gets to be seen as competent, authoritative, or deserving of respect in American public life. Because for people invested in whiteness, a Black woman who is brilliant, articulate, prepared, and unafraid is a threat to the entire hierarchy they depend on. She disrupts the lie that whiteness is the natural home of competence and authority.

The psychology behind it is pathetic.  If you can’t disprove her, you have to degrade her. You have to reduce her to something less than you so you can feel safe, unchallenged, and unthreatened. Calling her “dumb” isn’t an analysis of her arguments; it’s an exorcism. It’s an attempt to expel her from the realm of people who have to be listened to or taken seriously. It’s about making sure the audience doesn’t even consider the possibility she’s right.

This is why these attacks are so formulaic and so emotional. They’re not built to rebut a Black woman’s logic; they’re built to reassure the insecure. They work by triggering a familiar, comforting stereotype for white audiences: that no matter how many degrees she has, no matter how well she argues or writes, no matter how prepared she is, she’s still just a dumb, beastly Black girl who should know her place.

Calling Jasmine Crockett “mentally deficient” is the white supremacist mind doing damage control. Kennedy called Jasmine Crockett a “dumb-dumb” not because Crockett is anything of the sort, but because she’s dangerously smart in ways that threaten conservative power. She knows the law. She knows how to use it. She knows how to make Republicans look like the unserious, unethical frauds they are.

Kennedy knows that if people actually listen to Jasmine Crockett, if they hear her questions, watch her disassemble Republican witnesses, or see her call out right-wing hypocrisy in real time, then they might start to wonder why Kennedy and her Fox News pals never have any answers.

She can’t say: Jasmine Crockett is wrong about Republicans shielding criminals. Because Crockett isn’t. She can’t say: Jasmine Crockett doesn’t understand the law. Because Crockett demonstrably does.

All Kennedy can say is: Don’t listen to her, she’s a dumb-dumb. That’s it. That’s the entire intellectual offering.

It’s the rhetorical move of a coward. Of a hack. Of a professional gaslighter who’s made a living comforting racists with the lie that any Black woman who challenges them is actually an idiot in disguise.

Dr. Stacey Patton is an award-winning journalist and author of “Spare The Kids: Why Whupping Children Won’t Save Black America” and the forthcoming “Strung Up: The Lynching of Black Children In Jim Crow America.” Read her Substack here.

RELATED CONTENT: They Go Low, We Go To Hell: Rep. Jasmine Crockett Has MAGA Fuming Over ‘Governor Hot Wheels’ Comment
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My daughter came into this world four months too soon.

For four months, we lived beneath the blinking lights and beeping machines of the neonatal intensive care unit at one of the best children’s hospitals in the United States. Every single day, I watched her chest rise and fall with fierce determination—a rhythm more sacred than any song I’d ever heard. And every single day as I was healing, body torn and spirit shaken, I kept watch. Wondering if she would survive the night.

My then-husband and I both worked full-time. We had what people call “good jobs.” We had private insurance. We had done things the so-called “right” way. And still, my daughter’s and my hospital bills climbed toward hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Medicaid saved us.

RELATED CONTENT: ‘Black Women Aren’t Broken. The System Is’ —How Dr. Que English Is Leading The Movement To Save Black Mothers [Exclusive]

Detroit Mother Dies From Excessive Brain Bleed After C-Section, Family Searching For Answers

It stepped in where our private insurance fell short. It covered the care that helped my daughter live. It gave me space to recover from the complications of her birth. And because I qualified for Medicaid, I also qualified for WIC, which ensured there was food in the fridge and formula in the cabinet when I couldn’t nurse. Without those programs, I would still be in debt today, almost twenty years later. I might have lost our home. I honestly don’t know how I would’ve made it back to myself.

Source: kate_sept2004 / Getty

Public assistance didn’t just help us survive; it helped us recover and thrive. It gave us a second chance to live with dignity.

So when I hear politicians talk about “lazy welfare moms” or “irresponsible spending,” I think of mothers like me. I think of babies like mine. And I know they’re flat out lying.

The “Big Beautiful Bill,” passed July 3, 2025, is everything but beautiful. It is treacherous. It slices through Medicaid and shreds the very supports that keep families like mine afloat. It does this all while handing over $1.5 trillion in tax cuts to billionaires and corporations.

For Black women, especially, this bill is not just bad policy; it’s a blueprint for abandonment and deep harm. The bill includes the largest Medicaid cuts in U.S. history. That’s not just numbers on a page; that’s a death sentence for some of us.

More than 65% of Black births are covered by Medicaid. And still, Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women. When a mother hemorrhages and dies because she couldn’t afford prenatal care, the state will call it a tragedy. When a baby is born too early because her mother had to choose between groceries and gas to get to the clinic, it will be called unfortunate. But we know better.

None of what is coming will be mere misfortune. It will be the result of intentional policy. It will be neglect baked into law.

The Big Beautiful Bill also targets Planned Parenthood, stripping Medicaid funding from clinics that offer abortion services, even when the money is used for preventive care. The bill doesn’t just go after abortion—it threatens access to cancer screenings, STI testing, prenatal visits, and birth control, especially for low-income patients who rely on these clinics as their only source of care. 

Source: Andrii Dodonov / Getty

Over 2.4 million people, many of them Black and Brown women, rely heavily on these facilities for reproductive care. And when those clinics close, Black women will be hit hardest. We already die from cervical cancer at rates 65% higher than white women. Denying access to reproductive care isn’t just cruel; for Black women, it is a calculated decision — a quiet, systemic verdict on who is allowed to heal and who is left to die.

Another way this atrocious bill harms Black women is in how it expands work requirements for SNAP, demanding that recipients log 80 hours per month of work, volunteering, or training, even as costs rise and wages stagnate. But let’s be clear: Black women are already among the most active labor groups in this country. Many of us are working multiple jobs while caring for elders and children. We’re doing the most with the least, and still, we are asked to prove our worth, over and over again. 

We know this bill isn’t about encouraging work. It’s about punishing poverty. It’s about turning hunger into a test and bureaucracy into a weapon. And we also know who will be hurt most. Nearly 1 in 4 Black children rely on SNAP to eat.

Those hungry children will learn early that the leaders of this country see their needs as a burden. Hungry mothers will skip meals so their children don’t have to. And too many hardworking families will internalize their struggles, believing their hunger is a personal failure, rather than the result of a government that has turned its back on their most basic needs. SNAP doesn’t just fill plates. It protects dignity. And when you take it away, you don’t just cause hunger—you cause harm that can echo for generations.

The post The ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ Is A Death Sentence for Black Women — Don’t Let the Name Fool You [Op-Ed] appeared first on MadameNoire.



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For many Democratic candidates, the road to the presidency currently goes through South Carolina, an early primary state where Black voters dominate the state’s Democratic voter base.

Newsom and Beshear visit South Carolina with their messages

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has not formally declared his candidacy but is considered an early front-runner for the Democratic nomination, visited South Carolina earlier in July. Newsom’s visit included attending a Black church and making an appearance with South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn, one of the Democratic Party’s most influential members. Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign was revived after winning the South Carolina Democratic primary on the strength of Clyburn’s endorsement and Black voters’ support. Biden then supported a move to make South Carolina the first Democratic primary in the election cycle, further boosting its importance for potential nominees.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom greets attendees at Bella’s Simple Occasions event space on July 8, 2025 in Bennettsville, South Carolina. The governor is on the first of a two-day tour of rural counties in South Carolina, hosted by the state Democratic Party. | Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images

California Gov. Gavin Newsom reaches out to an attendee at the Kershaw County Center on Aging on July 8, 2025 in Camden, South Carolina. The governor is on the first of a two-day tour of rural counties in South Carolina, hosted by the state Democratic Party. | Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images

California Gov. Gavin Newsom greets attendees at Bella’s Simple Occasions event space on July 8, 2025 in Bennettsville, South Carolina. The governor is on the first of a two-day tour of rural counties in South Carolina, hosted by the state Democratic Party. | Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images

Newsom is one of several potential Democratic nominees who have recently visited South Carolina or will soon travel to the Palmetto State. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who, like Newsom, is set to leave office soon because of term limits, is scheduled to visit the state in mid-July. He is expected to tout his progressive record to contrast himself with Newsom, who has presented himself as a moderate and criticized “woke” Democratic politics. Beshear also plans to explicitly appeal to Black voters, pointing out accomplishments in Kentucky, such as banning hair-based discrimination, removing a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and making Juneteenth a holiday in the state. “The current federal administration wants to make diversity a dirty word,” Beshear plans to say in an upcoming speech, according to excerpts that have been reported ahead of time, ABC News reported. “They want people to believe that equity means everyone isn’t worthy of opportunities.”

Winning over Black voters in South Carolina and across the U.S.

Other potential candidates are also drawing upon their appeal to Black voters, their relationships with top Black leaders within the party, or their own identities. Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Black woman to lead the Democratic ticket, has not ruled out another run for president — nor has her vice presidential pick, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who visited South Carolina in May to attend Clyburn’s World Famous Fish Fry. Joining them at that event was Maryland Gov. Wes Moore. California Rep. Ro Khanna, a prominent progressive in the party, will be visiting South Carolina in July alongside Illinois Congressman Jonathan Jackson, the son of Civil Rights Movement icon Jesse Jackson. Khanna has been in contact with Clyburn, as has former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who previously served as President Barack Obama’s chief of staff.

All of these candidates would face a crowded field that may also include former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, and Govs. JB Pritzker of Illinois, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvani,a and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan. With Democrats on the back foot in a polarized and Republican-dominated political landscape, a number of candidates are already making moves toward 2028. This early start matches the advice given by Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who told The Associated Press that potential Democratic candidates “need to be more visible earlier” and that the party’s voters “want their presidential nominee now.”

All of these Democratic hopefuls have work cut out for them if they want to convince the party’s voters and their fellow politicians that they have the vision to retake the White House and reverse many of the policies currently being put in place. In order to do so, they’ll need to win over the party’s Black voting base, and many of the candidates are starting that effort in South Carolina.
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When Rev. Dr. Que English speaks, it feels like a call to reimagine community. A call to rebuild trust. A call to save lives.

The founder and CEO of Elev8 Health Inc. is leading the 2025 National Thrive Maternal Health Tour, a 20-city initiative transforming how we address maternal health in Black and Indigenous communities. At a time when the United States has the highest maternal mortality rate among developed nations—and Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women, according to the CDC—Dr. English is sounding the alarm and offering a blueprint.

“When you think of the village, you think of what it’s going to take to improve our outcomes among Black women,” she told MadameNoire in an exclusive interview. “That village has to be doulas, midwives, mental health care specialists, OBGYNs, WIC programs, Healthy Start programs, even housing support.”

The Thrive Tour is both a movement and a reawakening of communal care. Each stop includes a community baby shower and an ecosystem of support that meets expectant mothers, fathers, and caregivers where they are—physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Events include expert-led panels, resource sharing, on-site screenings, and wellness checks, all structured to empower families and elevate outcomes.

“Suicide and substance use disorder are the leading causes of death for women postpartum,” Dr. English explained. “We have to have mental health providers in that village, because that’s a part of the solution, too.”

Rooted in cultural competence

Dr. English, a Bronx native with Harlem roots, brings grassroots wisdom to every policy table she sits at. Before founding Elev8 Health, she served as the Director of the Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She’s also the founder of the 100 Million Reach Collective, a coalition of African American faith leaders committed to addressing the social determinants of health in underserved communities.

Still, she makes it clear: “I’m grassroots. Yes, I worked for Health and Human Services. Yes, I was top of the food chain. But everything I do is community-driven.”

That community-first approach is why cultural competency is a pillar of the Thrive Tour. During her prior M.O.M.S. Tour, she helped certify nearly 600 culturally competent Black doulas. That foundation is being expanded through Thrive.RELATED CONTENT: How Losing His Wife Hours After She Gave Birth To Their Second Son Inspired Charles Johnson’s Fight For Maternal Justice

“When I think about bringing our doulas to the forefront to engage with Black women, they are Black doulas,” she said. “Because we understood that if we are going to break the stigma and build trust, they have to look like us.”

The use of doulas and midwives is a strategy backed by evidence. Studies show doulas and midwifery services improve maternal health outcomes—lowering C-section rates, increasing breastfeeding success, and reducing maternal mortality risk. However, many families still see birth workers as a luxury.

Dr. English is working to change that mindset.“We don’t need to treat doulas like a bonus. For me, they should be the baseline,” she added. “Every mother deserves support, not just the ones who can afford it.”

Additionally, “There are many states that have expanded Medicaid coverage to cover the cost of doulas,” she emphasized. “It’s a lifeline. It’s not a luxury. It’s a necessity.”

The post ‘Black Women Aren’t Broken. The System Is’ —How Dr. Que English Is Leading The Movement To Save Black Mothers [Exclusive] appeared first on MadameNoire.



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We thought Jim Crow was over, but an unseasoned and uncouth white man has decided that he’s got to pop out and show ni**as that the spirit of 1877 is still alive and well in Amerikkka.

According to reporting done by The Minnesota Star-Tribune, a driver for Jefferson Lines bus service has come under fire for a wild, allegedly racist incident where he forced two Black men to sit in the back of the bus before he would depart the station. One of those men, Xavier Davis, has filed a lawsuit against both the driver and the company in Hennepin County District Court. In 2023, Davis was boarding a bus headed from North Dakota to Minnesota alongside a separate Black male passenger when the “John Doe” driver told them that they had to sit in the back. An argument ensued and “John Doe” threatened to call the police if the men did not comply with his orders.

Jefferson Lines company policy clearly states that passengers are to board on a first come, first serve basis but the driver told the men that policy was for passengers to load in from the back going forward. Meanwhile, white passengers were allowed to sit anywhere they damn well pleased.

Months prior to this week’s lawsuit, Xavier Davis contacted the Minnesota Department of Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero to launch an investigation into the incident. In her memo, Lucero noted that all of the driver’s reasons for why the Black men had to sit in the back were based on racial discrimination, a fact that will surely help Davis in his lawsuit. The driver, when questioned by Jefferson Lines, admitted that he forced the men to sit in the back because they smelled like marijuana, a behavior that Lucero described as “rooted in discriminatory and stereotypical expectations”.

“Driver’s implication that he might need to involve the police was rooted in the trope that a Black man questioning Driver’s decision was somehow threatening or disruptive,” Lucero wrote. “There was no evidence that [Davis] engaged in any activity that would warrant police intervention.”

Davis’ attorney Sam Smith says that they have been negotiating a settlement with Jefferson Line for months but “They just are unwilling to do the right thing,”.

They may be unwilling to do the right thing but the right thing is willing to do them. We hope Xavier Davis breaks the bank.

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For the Cheatham family, the July 4th holiday was initially a time of joy and celebration. The family had gathered for a cookout, where 18-year-old Saniyah Cheatham was reportedly healthy and in good spirits. The evening took a tragic turn only hours later after the family received news that Cheatham had died while in NYPD custody.

Thomasina Cheatham told CBS News her daughter, Saniyah, was her normal self during a Fourth of July cookout at Crotona Park. “We [were] hanging out, having a good time. ‘Mommy, I love you,’ giving me a kiss. And now to wake up that she’s no longer here with us, it’s really sickening.” 

At some point after the cookout, the NYPD arrested Saniyah Cheatham for allegedly being involved in a fight. She was taken to the 41st Police Precinct in the Longwood neighborhood of the Bronx shortly before midnight. Anonymous NYPD officials with knowledge of the case told the New York Times that at about 12:15 a.m. Saniyah hanged herself with the sweater she was wearing while in her cell. An NYPD official told the Times she had only been in the cell for two minutes when she hanged herself.

RELATED CONTENT: Stop Laughing — This Toddler’s 911 Call Over Ice Cream Could Have Turned Deadly [Op-Ed]

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Source: Yassine Bahammou / Getty

In a statement sent to CBS, the NYPD said they called for Emergency Medical Services at about 12:40 a.m. and attempted CPR while awaiting medical help. Saniyah Cheatham was transferred to Lincoln Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. It’s unclear if there were any other detainees in the cell, if anyone witnessed the incident, or if Saniyah called for help. 

“How could that happen in a precinct? Was anybody watching her? Was she calling out for help?” Thomasina asked in an interview with CBS.

The NYPD has said that the Force Investigation Division is looking into the circumstances surrounding Saniyah Cheatham’s death. Thomasina is hopeful that security cameras in the jail and the medical examiner’s autopsy will give a clearer understanding of what led to her daughter’s death. 

“The cameras should show exactly what happened…I’m praying that it does. I’m really praying. This is very heartbreaking to me and my family. That was my only princess. I have four boys and one girl. And we just … we just [are] really heartbroken right now,” Thomasina Cheatham told CBS.

Saniyah Cheatham’s death and alleged suicide have shocked many of her close friends and family. They say she enrolled at Bronx Community College and worked so she could save up money to live on her own. Growing up, Saniyah was active in the church, which initially caused her to struggle with her sexuality. When she came out as gay to her older brother, he accepted her with no hesitation. 

“That’s what made our bond really close,” her older brother told the Times. “She knew all of me, and I knew all of her. She just got me.”

Ember Baez, Saniyah Cheatham’s friend and former partner, told the Times, “Everyone who has spoken to her recently knows she’s been happy. So when I heard this happened, I called her multiple times to see if it was real, and her phone just kept going straight to voicemail.”

The alleged details of Saniyah Cheatham’s death bear a striking similarity to Sandra Bland, a Black woman who died while in police custody. Bland was arrested during a traffic stop and taken into custody at Waller County Jail in Texas. She was unable to post the $5,000 cash bail, and after three days in custody, she allegedly hanged herself in her cell. While Bland’s death was officially ruled a suicide, there has long been skepticism over the official narrative. 

Bland’s death while in police custody helped bring more awareness to the #SayHerName campaign, which was launched in December 2014 by the African American Policy Forum (AAPF) and the Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies (CISPS) “to cut through this disturbing reality and resist the invisibility of Black women, girls, and femmes by telling their stories of police violence.”

From Freddie Gray, Marvin Scott III, Noni Battiste-Kosoko, and Ta’Neasha Chappell, there has been an alarming trend of Black people dying in police custody in the years since Sandra Bland’s death. Sadly, Saniyah Cheatham’s name is now added to that list. 

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The Lasting Impact Of #SayHerName For Black Women And Girls — 10 Years Later
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With social media at play, there is a strong level of pressure now more than ever to fit certain beauty standards and body types. Luckily, there are women who are also on social media who own their bodies and show up in ways that inspire others to do the same. Some women are shapely throughout their adulthood while others grow into their curves.

Here are 15 women who know how to make a statement and stop the world with their fabulous physiques.

1. Angela Simmons, 37

Angela Simmons has flexed her naturally gifted body on Instagram for years. Every other scroll shows the former reality TV star pictured in a new swimsuit letting her hips and curves get all the shine. The media often praises her physique as well. In 2018, she modeled swimsuits as part of the Swimsuits For All Campaign. She was also applauded for sharing unedited photos of her walking the Miami Swim Week runway in 2022. 

The post Influentially Curvy: 15 Bodacious Black Women Who Celebrate Their Shape Loudly appeared first on MadameNoire.



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