Memphis Urban League Young Professionals (MULYP) will host a PROTECT BLACK WEEKEND aimed at “Building & Empowering Black women and addressing barriers that leave them unprotected amidst current societal forces.”
The Nov. 5-8 weekend of events kicked off with a prayer of protection for Black women by the Millennial Pastor. And, a panel of medical professionals was formed to address diseases and ailments that disproportionately affect Black women and what can be done to better combat them.
The Weekend continues Friday evening with a Virtual Town Hall featuring community leaders from the government sector, media and community advocates discussing what protection of Black women means across their various industries.
The Weekend will conclude Saturday and Sunday with MULYP members participating in local self-defense & mindfulness classes.
Thursday & Friday’s events afe VIRTUAL and live-streamed through Memphis Urban League Young Professionals’ Facebook and YouTube pages.
According to its release, Protect Black Women Weekend is MULYP’s response to and stand against systems and societal forces that neglect the rights of Black women and ignores discriminatory barriers they’re forced to contend with.
“Systemic racism has already caused our communities to lack resources and access to quality healthcare, schools, jobs, water and other necessities and we’re seeing more and more how misogyny is at play in various systems and sectors of society to further sharpen the double-edged sword of being a Black Woman in America,” said MULYP President Ashlee Hafford.
“The COVID-19 Pandemic and recurring murders of Black women such as Breonna Taylor at the hands of systems and officials charged with protecting them have illuminated barriers Black women have to grapple with in being simultaneously essential and undervalued as well as uniquely situated between the two disadvantages of being black and female.”
During the weekend of events, participants will have the opportunity to help build what will be Memphis Urban League Young Professionals’ official Protect Black Women Agenda.
That agenda is being crafted to “acknowledge, examine and address the societal forces at play against Black women and the unique experiences of Black women and girls that leave them unprotected in education, healthcare, economic development, labor and employment as well as justice and civil rights.”
(For more information on the Memphis Urban League Young Professionals, visit www.memphisulyp.org.)
