This is not a moment, it's a Movement
Three weeks ago today George Floyd was murdered by police. He cried out for is Mama and his last words were “I can’t breathe”.
He was another Black man in a long line of Black men, women, children, and transpeople who have been murdered in this country. If you’re following me on Instagram, you know that George Floyd’s death awoke me to my origin work, the work of my soul. When he called for his Mama the mothers of my enslaved ancestors cried out from my bones. The blood of my enslaved ancestors cried out from my heart and I knew that the work of being a doula, the work of welcoming birthing people across the threshold, the work of honoring the postpartum is deeply rooted in the need for racial equality in birth work.
People often quote the disparities in maternal care across racial lines, but the reasons we have these disparities, the reasons we lose Black mothers and Black babies more than white ones, the reason Black birthing people get inadequate care is because of racism. Full Stop. Across the interwebs, I’ve seen folks comment on posts about maternal disparities for Black folks by saying, “could it have something to do with lifestyle and diet choices?” and to that question I say two things:
Your privilege is showing
Fuck yes it does have to do with lifestyle and diet.
When you live in Black skin in a world founded on white supremacy you live with constant trauma and anxiety. The level of fear that folks have been feeling since the Covid-19 outbreak is on a similar level that Black folks in ameriKKKa have felt since the times we were brought to this country in chains. When slavery ended, Black folks were still persecuted and murdered in this country. The movement didn’t start with Rosa, our fight for equality (or just to be treated like human beings) has been raging since we were dragged to this country. That ancestral trauma lives within each Black american. It is heightened when another one of us is murdered, but it’s also felt when we try to do simple things like go for a run, or go shopping, or driving in our cars. It’s in the mother who worries about sending her son out to play and in the father that dreads the necessary conversation with his children about how to conduct ourselves in a society that sees us as a threat.
To the second point, redlining still affects Black and Brown folks to this day and one of those ways is that most Black neighborhoods do not have adequate food choices, in fact most are food deserts.
So yes, Karen, lifestyle and food choices 100% make an impact on those numbers.
Starting Juneteenth 2020 I will be launching a 6-month Patreon where folks can sign up for $20/month to learn how to dismantle white supremacy from their lives. I’ll be giving folks information to read, offering writing and journal prompts as well as offering suggestions on how to create change and impact for Black birthing people.