NMAC’s Love Letter to Black Women: An Interview With Toni Newman September 19, 2023 – Posted in: News, Press
In 2021, TheBody developed a series devoted to Black women and how they’ve been excluded from conversations around HIV prevention, including pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). While working on articles on that series, I learned that medical racism was developed to hurt Black women (and it does) and realized that if the U.S. eliminated all of the bad things that target Black women, those efforts would protect everyone else in the country as well.
I was recently reminded of that series while reading about the theme for NMAC’s upcoming United States Conference on HIV/AIDS (USCHA), which takes place Sept. 6 to 9 in Washington, D.C. The theme, “A Love Letter to Black Women,” speaks of celebrating and honoring Black women, while highlighting the reality that Black women are often silenced or ignored even as they continue to serve as the backbone and nurturers of the global HIV epidemic.
For a greater look at why the theme was selected and what attendees can expect at this year’s conference, I reached out to Toni Newman, NMAC’s director of the Coalition for Justice and Equality Across Movements, and a longtime activist across numerous movements.
Juan Michael Porter II: When we talk about Black women, who are we talking about?
Toni Newman: I’ve been living as a trans woman of color. So when I say Black women, I’m talking Black cis and trans women.
Porter II: Amen. Can you tell me how this year’s theme came to fruition?
Newman: The Black Women’s Summit came from really wanting to honor the Black women on NMAC’s staff [such as Kim Ferrell, deputy director for operations, who is retiring]. But then it went even further to celebrating and loving all the Black women in the movement and trying to remember all of the Black cis and trans women who have died.
This celebration includes current leaders of the movement right now and a whole new entourage of young Black women coming up through the pipeline. Because in 10 to 12 years, I’m gone. I’ve done all I can do. So it’s really a celebration of Black women who hold it down. Because Black women keep it together and are really the core of the Black community.
But Black women are also more than twice as likely to acquire HIV than white women, and Black trans women are three times more likely to get it than white trans women. These numbers are high, especially in the South. And normally, at these conferences, men are leading and speaking while Black women have been told to sit back and relax.
So we’re doing the opposite with the Black Women’s Summit. We’re going to unite over 200 Black women―cis, trans, young, old, heavyset, and not too heavy―to educate, enlighten, and motivate each other and say, “We are fighting to end HIV, and we need to end it in the Black community.”
Porter II: What’s beautiful about this is that it doesn’t put others on blast, but it does let them know, “You can uplift Black women too.” I haven’t always been as great at that as I’d like to be.
As a former colleague told me after I asked her why she didn’t speak up about something that bothered her like I did, “If I speak up like you do, it’s going to come down doubly hard on me because I’m a Black woman.” I hate asking people to solve problems, but do you have thoughts on how we can remove the penalty that Black women face when they speak? Or even how people like me who say we care about Black women can actually show up to support and empower them?
Newman: Good question. When we speak up, sometimes we are viewed as being a little bit aggressive or like we’re trying to take over, when, for me, I’m just trying to give another narrative. Sometimes people say, “Oh, she’s a little angry.” But actually, I’m not angry. I’m just making the same point that was made from the female perspective.
What’s interesting from a health context is people often ask, “Why don’t Black women speak up when they need something?” But then if a Black woman says, “My breasts hurt,” what we get in return is, “Why are you angry?” So how are we saying that we want to provide for Black women in health care settings but then get angry at them when they speak up about their needs?
I recently had a meeting at the O’Neill Institute of Georgetown Law run by Jeff Crowley. And I loved that when he asked a question, [he directed it to me]. “Toni Newman, what do you think?” I thought that was so very, very respectful and professional―his saying, “I’m here to give a viewpoint, but I’m also here to listen.” If we would all just listen a little bit more, I think we could learn from each other. I think if more men acknowledged women when a question is asked, it would help.
Porter II: Such a good point. Some people might say, “We don’t have time to listen,” but I think we end up saving time when we listen.
Newman: Yes, we do. I used to be quite a talker. But when I first became a CEO, I learned that my staff didn’t need me to talk. My assistant at the time told me, “Ms. Newman, you didn’t listen to a word I just said.” And I was like, “Yes I did.” Then she told me, “But you didn’t hear what I was really trying to tell you.” So I went back and was like, “Oh my God. I should listen more and talk less.”
Porter II: I’m going to use that. The next time someone asks me, “How do we solve the HIV problem?” I’ll say, “Shut up and listen to people who are living with the virus.”
Newman: Yes. Don’t tell that person who is living with HIV what they should do. Sometimes we have experts who aren’t living with the virus telling people who are living with it what to do. But if you don’t have the virus, how would you know what their body’s telling them today?
Porter II: That part. Like Gina Brown [formerly of Southern AIDS Coalition] once told me after a doctor tried to contradict her, “Aren’t I an expert in my own experience?”
Can you tell me what you’re most excited about with the conference and what we’re going to hear?
Newman: You’re going to hear from Black women who’ve been living with the virus for more than 20 years about how they’ve maneuvered and kept going. And we’re going to hear from advocates about how they got involved.
I’m an ex–sex worker, but I’m not HIV positive. For some reason I escaped that, but a lot of my people are HIV positive. So we’re going to learn from each other. [It’s like]: I’m an ally. You are an advocate for HIV; you have HIV. How do we work together? How can I help? This is about letting the people who know what it is―and what it was―speak and tell us where to go. At the end of the day, I hope that is the goal. As Gina tells me all the time, “It’s just a change in mindset.” Because everything changes.
original article: https://www.thebody.com/article/interview-toni-newman