Carlton Mackey Featured in The Boston Globe's "The Questions"

Black Men Smile® founder Carlton Mackey was recently featured in The Boston Globe for its interview series, “The Questions.”

The article feature was part of the paper’s special report, A Beautiful Resistance — a collaboration with shoe retailer Reebok, celebrating Black History Month. This year’s iteration of A Beautiful Resistance was themed: Black Joy. Black Wellness. Black Futures.

The report features Black activists and changemakers from around the country and was curated and produced by Boston Globe reporter and culture columnist Jeneé Osterheldt. Osterheldt’s writing centers Black lives and the lives of people of color and focuses on identity and social justice through the lens of culture and the arts.

In the interview Osterheldt asked Mackey, “How are you showing up for your wellness?”

Mackey replied, “First and foremost, by telling myself the truth. So much around us is feeding us lies about who we are to the extent that we begin to believe them. We internalize and reflect those lies in our behaviors, in our thoughts, in our actions. By telling myself the truth about who I am, by being honest with myself about my limitations as well as my possibilities, I am able to move forward in truth. Authenticity is an outgrowth of inner truth. My wellness has been first telling myself the truth that allows me to create boundaries by telling other people the truth. That has looked like me saying what I will and will not accept. It allows me to be honest about what I need. It allows me to be able to say how I want to be loved and by honestly expressing that it allows me to receive that love.”


Read the full article here.