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Diagnosed With Breast Cancer at Age 27, Raquel Smith Now an Advocate for Disease Awareness

By Sym Posey The Birmingham Times When she was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 27, Raquel Smith, a Minor High School and Tuskegee University alum never dreamed she would become an advocate for breast cancer education and awareness. “Being so young … I never had a mammogram. I never did a self-check mammogram. I […]
The post Diagnosed With Breast Cancer at Age 27, Raquel Smith Now an Advocate for Disease Awareness first appeared on BlackPressUSA.

Published

2 years ago

December 5, 2023

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Raquel Smith, Founder/Executive Director of Pinktopps, a Bessemer-based non-profit, that advocates for breast cancer awareness during the 2023 Sistah Strut walk outside Birmingham’s Legion Field. (Amarr Croskey, For The Birmingham Times)

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By Sym Posey

The Birmingham Times

When she was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 27, Raquel Smith, a Minor High School and Tuskegee University alum never dreamed she would become an advocate for breast cancer education and awareness.

“Being so young … I never had a mammogram. I never did a self-check mammogram. I didn’t think about a mammogram because I was in my 20’s.”

Smith, now 40, is Founder/Executive Director of Pinktopps, a Bessemer-based non-profit organization founded in 2014, that advocates for breast cancer awareness with a focus on young men and women between ages 16 and 35. The group promotes early detection, support during treatment, and higher self-esteem for breast cancer patients and survivors, while bringing attention to how the disease affects younger adults.

When Smith received her diagnosis in 2011, she was younger than the age recommended by the American Cancer Society (ACS) to begin breast cancer screening. According to the ACS, women between 40 and 44 have the option to start screening with a mammogram every year.

‘My mom and I went into the doctor’s office, and they said it was nothing, you’re to young for breast cancer and you never had a mammogram, so they did a lumpectomy. I still didn’t think I had breast cancer. “

After testing, doctors called Smith back into their office. “They said, you have a what they call triple negative breast cancer, and you are going into stage three. If we don’t get to moving within the next six months, the cancer will spread to your brain. “

Smith received a full treatment plan that started with a double mastectomy that went to her breast wall to remove the mass as quickly as possible. Afterwards, she had expanders put in, something normally used in breast reconstruction.

“I wasn’t thinking I was about to get my breast cut off. That wasn’t on my mind. I never knew what a double mastectomy was,” she said. “I never experienced that vocabulary. So, I didn’t know what to expect.”

She would then endure six months of chemotherapy and three months of radiation. As a result of the chemotherapy effecting her hormones and good cells, doctors told Smith that it would be unlikely she would have any more children. She now has three Rose,15, Robert 11, Roclyn, 2.

“When the doctor told me that I wasn’t having any more children, I said, ‘God showed me more children.’ And the doctor said, I could start early-stage menopause and that they didn’t even know when I would get my cycle back.”

In her second month of radiation Smith discovered that she was pregnant. Despite the toll the cancer had taken on her body, she survived the high-risk pregnancy and in 2012 gave birth to her middle son Rob. She would defy the odds again in 2020, she would be surprised with another pregnancy and in 2021 she gave birth to her youngest, Roclyn.

“I always say that ‘impossible is possible with God.’ That is a quote I live by. I even have it on the back of our Pinktopp t-shirts. I feel like I’ve been faced a lot of challenges because God has something shining on me so bright. I just keep pushing. My kids keep me pushing. “

Smith would still face much adversity, including a second battle with breast cancer but her journey of survival has led her on a mission to educate young people about breast cancer and empowering them through their own cancer journeys.

Pinktopps

Founded in 2014, Pinktopps began with a plastic bottle recycling program in downtown Birmingham that helped women pay for mammograms.

“The name Pinktopps originally came from when we started the recycling. I wanted to name it something that relates to us. Our initial catalyst was water bottles and recycling. We still believe in recycling for our Earth.”

At the time, the cost of one mammogram was the equivalent of recycling 1,200 pounds of plastic. From 2014-2018 Pinktopps relied on funding from the recycling until the COVID year of 2020.

In 2018 Smith opened Pinktopps Wellness Center in downtown Bessemer. “By me being a breast cancer survivor, I wanted to do something to help women. Our wellness center is a place where people can come at the beginning of their journey to get information.”

Fast forward to today, Pinktopps is still helping the community by collaborating with other organizations.

On Saturday, Sept. 30 Pinktopps was at Birmingham’s Legion Field for the annual Sistah Strut Breast Cancer Awareness Walk. Other partnerships include Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, Sisters CANcervive, and most recently One Step Automotive Group.

One Step Automotive Group has partnered with Pinktopps for their One Step’s 4th annual Drive Out Breast Cancer Campaign where One-Step donates $1 to Pinktopps throughout the month of October when supporters and survivors provide signatures at various functions around the Birmingham area. Black signatures represent supporters, gold signatures will represent those loss, and silver represents survivors.

Other collaborations include AIDS Alabama Inc. “We just recently did a grant partnership with AIDS Alabama because women 40 and under are not getting tested and the rates are rising. By us dealing with young women, we need to let women know that we have testing facilities in the Birmingham area that you can go get tested. Just because you get Breast Cancer doesn’t mean you won’t have aids. Just because you have AIDS, doesn’t mean you can’t get Breast Cancer. I’m excited about this partnership because I feel like we share something in common.”

Asked about the future for Pinktopps, Smith said, “Getting a home for survivors. I feel like we need a haven. After going through some things with survivors, I see that we need more of a shelter, where women can come during treatment in Alabama. Stay for free, bring your family, go through your treatment, and get back to life. So, when you ask what does the future hold, it’s a shelter for women.”

For more information about Pinktopps visit https://www.pinktopps.org/ or follow them on Instagram: @pinktopps_bham.

This article originally appeared in The Birmingham Times.

The post Diagnosed With Breast Cancer at Age 27, Raquel Smith Now an Advocate for Disease Awareness first appeared on BlackPressUSA.

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Poll Shows Support for Policies That Help Families Afford Child Care

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — New national polling shows persistent voter concern about the affordability and availability of child care for working parents, alongside broad support across key demographic groups for federal child care policies that help families afford care.

Published

3 days ago

March 2, 2026

Oakland Post

By First Five Years Fund

New national polling shows persistent voter concern about the affordability and availability of child care for working parents, alongside broad support across key demographic groups for federal child care policies that help families afford care.

The national survey was conducted by UpOne Insight on behalf of the First Five Years Fund from January 13–18, 2026.

Key findings include:

• Parents need help: 80% of voters say the ability of working parents to find and afford child care is either in a state of crisis or a major problem.

• This is an affordability issue: 82% believe federal child care funding will help lower costs for working families — including 69% of Republicans, 84% of Independents, and 94% of Democrats.

• And there continues to be strong support (62%) for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), a federal program that makes it possible for hundreds of thousands of families to afford safe, quality care for their children while parents work or go to school, including a majority of Republicans, 63% of Independents and 72% of Democrats.

• Support for funding child care programs remains strong: 75% believe child care funding should be increased or kept at current levels — including 75% of Republicans, 85% of Independents, and 97% of Democrats.

• 74% say funding for child care is an important and good use of tax dollars, including a majority of Republicans, three-quarters of Independents, and nine in ten Democrats.

FFYF Executive Director Sarah Rittling said, “Voters across the country are sending a clear message: federal child care and early learning programs work. These investments help parents stay in the workforce, strengthen families, and support healthy child development. They have also long had strong bipartisan support in Congress. At a time when affordability is top of mind for families, continued federal funding is essential to ensure child care remains accessible and within reach.”

First Five Years Fund works to protect, prioritize, and build bipartisan support for quality child care and early learning programs at the federal level. Reliable, affordable, and high-quality early learning and child care can be transformative, not only enhancing a child’s prospects for a brighter future but also bolstering working parents and fostering economic stability nationwide.

We work with Congress and the Administration to identify federal solutions that work for families with young children, as well as states and communities. We work with policymakers to identify ways to increase access to affordable, high-quality child care and early learning programs for children. And we collaborate with advocacy groups to help align best practices with the best possible policies. http://www.ffyf.org

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Trump’s MAGA Allies are Creating Executive Order Plan to Steal the 2026 Midterms

NNPA NEWSWIRE — The document that could lead to an executive order proposes using the claim that China interfered with the 2020 elections as grounds to “declare a national emergency.” The move would be an unprecedented step that would grant Trump new authority over the voting systems in the U.S.

Published

6 days ago

February 27, 2026

Oakland Post

By Lauren Victoria Burke, NNPA Newswire Correspondent

A group of MAGA pro-Trump activists, who say they are working in coordination with the White House, are circulating a 17-page draft executive order that would claim without evidence that China interfered with the 2020 presidential election. Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential to President Joe Biden by over 7 million votes. Since Trump lost to Biden in 2020, he has repeatedly claimed that the election was “stolen” without evidence. The report of a group of “Trump allies” preparing an executive order to give Trump power over elections was first reported by The Washington Post.

The lies around the right-wing campaign that pushed falsehoods that the 2020 election was stolen was trafficked through right-wing media, particularly Fox News. Fox News was then sued for defamation for the claims by Dominion Voting Systems. Fox lost the case and had to settle for the largest defamation amount on record of $787.5 million in April 2023.

The document that could lead to an executive order proposes using the claim that China interfered with the 2020 elections as grounds to “declare a national emergency.” The move would be an unprecedented step that would grant Trump new authority over the voting systems in the U.S.

The story in The Washington Post arrives as Trump increasingly signals that he may take actions that would alter the result of the 2026 midterms. The Republicans are widely expected to lose as their approval ratings plummet as a result of a failing economy under Trump. Over 50 members of Congress have announced they will retire this year and not return in 2027.

The Trump Department of Justice, which now has a large image of Trump on the side of it, “sued five new states Thursday [Feb. 26, 2026] demanding access to their unredacted voter rolls — escalating a campaign that has been rejected by multiple federal courts and faces resistance from Republican-led states as well,” according to Democracy Docket, a group that works to protect voting rights.

Trump claimed back in late 2020, the last year of his first term, that he had the authority to issue an executive order related to mail-in voting for the 2020 elections — which he would then lose. But the Constitution states that control of elections lies with the states. As the GOP works to place hurdles in front of voting, Democrats worked to make voting easier.

In March 2021, President Biden signed an executive order calling on federal agencies to expand voting access as part of the Biden Administration’s effort “to promote and defend the right to vote for all Americans who are legally entitled to participate in elections.”

Trump’s focus is clearly on altering the November 2026 midterm elections. Trump’s polling numbers and the elections and special elections that have taken place around the U.S. over the last year clearly indicate that Republicans are about to be hit by a blue wave of Democratic victories.

Lauren Victoria Burke is an independent investigative journalist and the founder of Black Virginia News. She is a political analyst who appears on #RolandMartinUnfiltered and hosts the show LAUREN LIVE on YouTube @LaurenVictoriaBurke. She can be contacted at LBurke007@gmail.com and on twitter at @LVBurke

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PRESS ROOM: NBA Hall of Fame Nominee Terry Cummings Joins 100 Black Men of DeKalb County to Launch Victory & Values Initiative

NNPA NEWSWIRE — NBA Hall of Fame nominee and Basketball Legend Terry Cummings was administered the official member’s oath and ceremonially pinned during a special induction ceremony held on Friday, February 20th.

Published

6 days ago

February 27, 2026

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Cummings becomes an honorary member, joining other role model sports stars

NBA Hall of Fame nominee and Basketball Legend Terry Cummings has officially become an honorary member of the 100 Black Men of DeKalb County, marking a powerful new chapter for the 100 Black Men and youth development across the region.

Cummings was administered the official member’s oath and ceremonially pinned during a special induction ceremony held on Friday, February 20th. The moment signified more than membership — it marked the launch of the organization’s transformative new platform, the Victory & Values Initiative.

The Victory & Values Initiative is a groundbreaking youth development program designed to empower elementary and middle school students through a dynamic blend of sports, mentorship, and STEM exposure. The initiative focuses on building health, discipline, character, leadership, and access to opportunity — creating pathways for long-term academic and personal success.

“This is about more than sports,” said Cummings during the ceremony. “It’s about using the platform of athletics to teach life lessons, create access, and build the next generation of leaders.”

The induction ceremony also featured notable guests including NASCAR’s newest Star Driver, Lavar Scott and NASCAR Director of Athletic Performance, Phil Horton, who joined Cummings for a powerful Victory & Values Town Hall discussion. The Town Hall was moderated by renowned Sports Emcee John Hollins and focused on leadership, resilience, discipline, and the importance of mentorship in shaping young lives.

A “Day at NASCAR” for 75+ Youth

Cummings wasted no time getting to work. On his first full day as an honorary member, he joined his new brothers of the 100 Black Men of DeKalb County to host a “Day at NASCAR,” escorting more than 75 youth to a once-in-a-lifetime experience at EchoPark Motor Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway).

The youth participants received behind-the-scenes access including: an exclusive tour of Pit Row, access to the Garage Area and exploration of the interactive Fan Zone.

The experience culminated with a surprise meet-and-greet and Q&A session with NASCAR Superstar Bubba Wallace, who shared insights on perseverance, preparation, and breaking barriers in professional sports.

The day served as a living example of the ‘Victory & Values’ Initiative in action — exposing youth to new industries, expanding their vision for the future, and connecting them directly with high- level mentors and role models.

Building Leaders Through Access and Mentorship

The 100 Black Men of DeKalb County – a chapter of the largest, national mentoring organization in the county – continues to expand its footprint with programs focused on academic excellence, economic empowerment, leadership development, and health & wellness.

The launch of ‘Victory & Values’ represents a strategic expansion of the organization’s impact

intentionally integrating athletics and STEM to engage youth at an early age while reinforcing core principles such as integrity, accountability, teamwork, and perseverance.

“Our mission has always been to mentor the next generation,” said Vaughn Irons, President-Elect of the 100 Black Men of DeKalb County. “With Terry Cummings joining the brotherhood, along with partners in NASCAR and professional sports, we are creating unprecedented access and exposure for our youth. Victory & Values is about turning inspiration into structured opportunity.”

By connecting elementary and middle school students to professional athletes, executives, STEM professionals, and community leaders, the initiative aims to:

Increase youth exposure to careers in sports business, engineering, and performance science
Strengthen mentorship pipelines
Promote physical wellness and mental resilience
Build character-driven leadership at an early age

Open Invitation to Youth and Families

All youth are invited to participate in the Victory & Values Initiative, along with the other countless, impactful programs offered by the 100 Black Men of DeKalb County.

Parents and guardians seeking mentorship, leadership development, academic enrichment, and transformative exposure opportunities for their children are encouraged to connect with the organization.

As NBA Legend Terry Cummings’ induction demonstrates, Victory & Values is more than a program — it is a movement designed to build champions in life, not just in sports.

For more information about the Victory & Values Initiative or to enroll a student, contact: 100 Black Men of DeKalb County at Phone at 404.241.1338, info@100bmod.org or Tee Foxx at 404.791.6525,