California State University Long Beach Archives

Congratulations to rapper Kendrick Lamar and his fiancee Whitney Alford who welcomed their first child together on July 26, US Weekly confirms.

No reports yet on the gender or name and don’t expect it soon either as they never addressed the pregnancy prior to the birth.

The famously intensely private couple have managed to successfully keep their relationship out of the public eye since meeting at Centennial High School in the Compton neighborhood of Oakland, California as kids.

They did step out for the Grammys last year, 2018, and in 2015, while promoting a project during an interview with The Breakfast Club, the “All the Stars” performer described his relationship with Alford.

“At the end of the day, you want to always, always have real people around you, period,” he opened up to the morning radio crew. “Whether it’s male or female, and everybody that’s been around me, they’ve been around since day one… I always show respect when respect has been given, and people that have been by your side, you’re supposed to honor that.”

Back in January 2015, he talked about their bond, saying, “I wouldn’t even call her my girl. That’s my best friend. I don’t even like the term that society has put in the world as far as being a companion — she’s somebody I can tell my fears to.” He eventually confirmed their engagement that April, adding, “I’m loyal to the soil.”

Alford studied at California State University Long Beach before becoming a licensed aesthetician, EXTRA reports!

We’ve speculated once or twice , albeit wrongly, about these two being parents, so great to confirm it if finally true!

Congrats!

By now, you may have seen the story in TODAY or any number of media outlets about California State University Long Beach graduate Karlesha Thurman who was captured a couple weeks ago breastfeeding her 3-month old daughter Aaliyah during the graduation ceremony while still in her cap and gown.

After getting her diploma, her baby became too fussy so she had a friend bring her down to nurse her and she did so with no fuss or complaint from other graduates. A friend took a photo of Thurman nursing because she thought it was cute.

Later, Thurman posted the photo on the (now-deleted) Facebook page Black Women Do Breastfeed, a page set up to normalize breastfeeding among a community that usually doesn’t support breastfeeding and are least likely to nurse their babies and to do it long because of the shame and stigma. Black women are least likely to breastfeed and when they do stop earlier than other women, Centers for Disease Control reports note.

Thurman’s photo had the dual purpose of showing that despite getting pregnant in her final year of college and not being married to her child’s father, she persevered, overcame the odds and graduated

“I honestly thought that as a society, people were more understanding to breast-feeding and understood the importance of breast-feeding,” Thurman, 25, told the site. “It’s not disgusting, it’s not a bad thing, it’s not a negative thing,” Thurman added. “It’s the best thing for my daughter. More people should do it.”

“I posted it to show it’s natural, it’s normal, there’s nothing wrong with it,” Thurman said. “I didn’t even know there was a big controversy about breast-feeding in public until all of this happened.”

Only the image went viral somehow and has sparked vigorous debate, once again, over whether the act, in that setting and whether posting the image of it in social media was appropriate.

Some have slut shamed her over her nipples being exposed and others said it was just inappropriate setting to be nursing, that she should have planned earlier and pumped so her baby could have been nourished using a bottle; and/or that she should have at least covered her boobs or done it in private. Some said she should show modesty, and been more discreet.

Bellyitch has posted on similar controversies over the past four years. We covered breastfeeding in social media shaming in 2012 with Eric Benet, Gisele Bundchen in 2013 and model Ashley Nicole in March 2014.

Sadly, it seems that when black women do it, there’s the most uproar.

Today, I replied with a meme I created and shared on my Tumblr page:

…And a Buzzfeed post I wrote after a friend told me that the nipple exposure is what really made it different than an average cleavage photo.

I had to point out the 8 Times Celebrity Women who are not Karlesha Thurman showed their nipples in images that circulated in social media but didn’t shut down the Internet in dialogue over breasts.

Melody Thornton of the Pussycat Dolls, Actress Sharon Stone, Pop singer Ciara, The Fantastic Four actress Jessica Alba and Rihanna and Rihanna and Rihanna and Rihanna all bared the nips but to less uproar as we’ve seen in two days over a recent college graduate breastfeeding her baby out of necessity and shared on her private Facebook page.

Aaaah society and our sexual double standards and low tolerance for breastfeeding our young.

Personally, I’m tired of talking about this. Let’s #NormalizeBreastfeeding already so we don’t have to keep having this debate over and over again.

California State University Long Beach

Kendrick Lamar and Fiancée Whitney Alford Welcome First Child

Breastfeeding mom’s social media photo evokes controversy…again sigh