BY HELENA ANDREWS-DYERFinding the joy in
black motherhood
The scary headlines on maternal mortality rates are everywhere. I needed a break.
HURRICANE DORIAN
José Andrés and World
Central Kitchen have a
recipe for success in
feeding storm victims. C2
BOOK WORLD
Dispatch from the
“horror” convention in
Providence: It began in a
dark, candlelit room... C3THEATER REVIEW
Olney’s “Cabaret” shines
its spotlight on humans’
willingness to ignore the
gathering darkness. C4CAROLYN HAX
How to offer to be a
surrogate for your
brother-in-law and
his wife. C10BY RON CHARLESAlmost 35 years after “The
Handmaid’s Tale” shocked the
world, Margaret Atwood has fi-
nally given birth to “The Te sta-
ments.”
This isn’t just the most antici-
pated novel of the year; it’s one of
the most anticipated sequels of
the modern age — like Harper
Lee’s “Go Set a Watchman” f lying
in on Harry Potter’s broom. Last
fall, the Annunciation of “The
Te staments” was heralded a round
the world. In August, blessed re-
viewers received preview copies
printed with a false title and au-
thor, lest the book’s revelations
slip preemptively into the wrong
hands. A week before the novel
was published, it was already
shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
And on Sept. 10, Atwood’s sold-
out, publication-day appearance
at t he National Theatre i n London
will be live broadcast to 1,300
cinemas from Canada to Malta.
Blessed be the fruit!
A confluence of political and
cultural forces has made “The
Te staments” as vital as a baby in
Gilead. First, the election of Presi-
dent Trump cattle-prodded “The
Handmaid’s Tale” back up the
bestseller list. Then Hulu’s adap-
tation starring Elisabeth Moss
inspired millions more to care
about the plight of the fertile few.
And now that our reproductive
freedom hangs on the frail health
of a single 86-year-old Supreme
Court justice, red-cloaked Hand-
maids have swarmed capitols
across the country. Consequently,
the terrain of Gilead is probably
more familiar to Americans than
the geography of the United
SEE BOOK WORLD ON C3
BY PAUL FARHIA federal judge on Tuesday
reversed the White House’s deci-
sion to s uspend a reporter’s p ress
credentials, granting a motion
that will restore him to his beat.
The ruling was a victory for
Brian Karem, a White House
correspondent f or Playboy m aga-
zine and a CNN political analyst,
who had been suspended by
officials for 30 days in mid-
August because of his role in a
verbal confrontation with a for-
mer White House aide at a White
House event on July 11.
He was the second reporter
suspended in the past nine
months, a step that appears to be
without recent precedent before
President Trump’s administra-
tion. Trump banned more than a
dozen news organizations, in-
cluding The Washington Post,
from his campaign e vents in 2015
and 2016 but said he wouldn’t do
so if he became president.
Karem, who has been outspo-
ken in his opposition to Trump,
sued White House press secre-
tary Stephanie Grisham and the
president last month. He argued
that the suspension, which be-
gan Aug. 16, was arbitrary and
violated his constitutional rights
of free speech and due process.
Grisham, however, cast the
action as a matter of decorum,
saying Karem’s behavior was dis-
ruptive and warranted the pun-
ishment.
U. S. District Judge Rudolph
Contreras agreed with Karem on
Tuesday. He issued a preliminary
injunction against the White
House’s action, ruling that Kar-
em had shown that he is “likely
to succeed” on his due process
claim because Grisham “had
SEE KAREM ON C3ANDRE CHUNG FOR THE WASHINGTON POSTCAROLYN VAN HOUTEN/THE WASHINGTON POSTTOP: Hundreds of mothers and children assembled at Yards Park in Washington on Aug. 10 for a picnic as part of
District Motherhued’s Mommy en Blanc event. ABOVE LEFT: Chiropractor Rashida Cohen of Washington
Integrative Health works on the author. ABOVE RIGHT: A cellphone captures a group shot at the Momference on
May 18. In the face of daunting statistics, black mothers are finding support and positivity in one another.DAYNA SMITH FOR THE WASHINGTON POSTBOOK WORLD
After a long
gestation,
a sequel to
‘Handmaid’
Judge
reinstates
journalist’s
press pass
KLMNO
Style
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2019. SECTION C EZ SUT
ucked somewhere in the cluttered corner of a stranger’s iPhone is evidence of my joy. It’s a
30-second video of me Milly Rocking, two-stepping in three-inch heels and a black spandex
dress chosen specifically for this moment. ¶ “I’ve gotta get this,” I heard the woman next to me
whisper as she turned her phone my w ay a nd I kept on dancing like nobody was watching. At
the time, I was five months pregnant and having a time, child. ¶ Make that we. We were having a time.
All 400 of us, an intentional tribe of black moms electric sliding to “Before I Let G o” in the lobby of the
Renaissance Hotel in downtown Washington. Yes, people stared. Who were these women? So unafraid
of their own happiness. Who were these women? So unapologetic about their womanhood, their
motherhood, their blackness. The answer: regular degular schmegular girls, as Cardi B would say, w ho
wanted one day — a few hours really — just to be themselves without shrinking, without being the
subject of the latest, often tragic news story about the dangers of becoming a black mother.
SEE BLACK MOTHERHOOD ON C8