#WeNeedToTalk

Ever since college, a large number of my interactions with people who label themselves as Christians have been utterly disappointing. I don’t expect Christians to be perfect (after all, who is?), but they’ve tended to put themselves above others because of their belief system. After all Jesus was, among other things, a shining example of morality, so maybe it’s not a surprise that some Christians have given into the temptation to s...

The church was a crucial part of my upbringing, as it has been for so many others in the Black community. The church I grew up in gave me my progressive and affirming faith and also provided me with my biggest cultural connection to the Black experience. It also gave me the part of our culture that has had the biggest impact on me: music.

I have been a singer and a musician my entire life. It’s what I got my bachelor’s degree in, an...

These days it's not just simple disagreements that keep us from connecting with people we once looked to as close friends, colleagues, or even family. We’ve discovered through political differences that our very morals and convictions--the beliefs that guide us and all we do--are completely opposite from people we once were close to, and it makes the feeling of loss at times unbearable.

We've not only lost the ability to have meanin...

Growing up in school we learned a sugarcoated version of slavery and Black history. We learned how Harriet Tubman freed the slaves, the role Martin Luther King Jr. played during the civil rights era (and became convinced that the only speech he ever gave was “I Have a Dream”) and sometimes, if we were lucky, we learned how Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man and how that action led to change.

But in the ...

We set aside one month each year to honor, recognize and celebrate Black history. It’s an opportunity to highlight the accomplishments of the Black community in a country where Black history is otherwise so often centered on Black pain, struggle and trauma.

This foregrounding of our pain has so many touch points in America, from what is taught in schools, to what is reported on the news, and what is created, monetized and consumed f...

Sending you all some love and a thank you today. I thank you for supporting the work that I do and that you find value in what I have to say. It means more than I could ever put into words.

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www.malyndahale.substack.com

I love when my daughter’s teacher sends home the work they’ve done throughout the week. Last week they learned all about Martin Luther King: how he was a leader, what he fought for and how he had a dream. While I encourage adults to do a deep-dive into MLK’s legacy beyond his “I Have a Dream” speech, I think it’s one of the most important moments in history a child can learn. So I was so happy when my daughter came home excited to ...

It’s been a week.

The headlines we’ve read, the videos we’ve watched and the sadness we’ve felt. With every passing minute it seems there has been more bad news that floods our feeds, and if I’m being honest it’s been too much to deal with.

Los Angeles continues to face turmoil as the city burns around us, our President-elect solidified his freedom by receiving no jail time for his hush money case, DEI programs were rolled back and d...

This week has been nothing short of heartbreaking as multiple wildfires across Los Angeles have destroyed home after home. Seeing videos of people packing their belongings, evacuating with their animals and leaving their cars behind brought me to tears. My home has been spared (so far), but the fires have left a literal and proverbial dark cloud over the city prompting us to wonder what to do next.

#WeNeedToTalk is a reader-supporte...

I grew up in the church. My sister, my mom and I went every Sunday. I was involved in Sunday school, youth choir and after-church activities. It was all I knew. And I’m grateful for having that experience because it shaped a lot of my life. It affirmed my love for music, it gave me the start to my value system, it taught me about community, family, and most importantly faith. But it was never imposed on me that I had to follow that...

For years and neraly 200 episodes, #WeNeedToTalk comes to an end.

Happy Holidays to all of my amazing listeners and supporters. For the last 4 years I have had the opportunity to bring to you some incredible conversations, unbelievable guests, education and knowledge about things that mattered so much to me. And for the last 4 years I’ve solely done everything on my own! Sometimes people ...