The Doula Project's Leadership Circle Stands with BLM
The Doula Project’s Leadership Circle stands in solidarity with Black Lives Matter.
Our work and our mission is directly tied to reproductive justice, a movement that was built by Black women from Sister Song to uplift the needs of women of color, other marginalized women and trans people. The reproductive justice movement has taught us that reproductive justice is not simply limited to whether or not you can safely access and afford an abortion or birth control in your community. Reproductive justice is also ensuring that you can maintain personal bodily autonomy, make an uncoerced decision whether or not to have a family, and that you have a safe place to raise that family.
When you cannot go jogging in your own neighborhood without experiencing white violence, you do not have reproductive justice. (Ahmaud Arbery)
When you are not safe from police brutality in your own bed, you do not have reproductive justice. (Breonna Taylor)
When you will not make it home to your children because of police violence, you do not have reproductive justice. (George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks)When your safety and access to healthcare is constantly at risk as a Black trans person, you do not have reproductive justice. (Tony McDade, Riah Milton, and Dominique Fells)
When Black laboring parents are dying at up to 12 times the rate of their white counterparts, and are 2.4x more likely to die of COVID-19 than their white counterparts, both due to issues of systemic racism in our healthcare systems, they do not have reproductive justice.
We join the call to defund the NYPD and direct the funds to programs that support and empower the communities that they have harmed. [How you can take action: Learn why police reform won't work at 8toAbolition & Make your voice heard with Make the Road #DefundNYPD.]
We join our fellow LGBTQIA+ family in remembering that Pride was brought to us by people of color, especially Black trans women, and we need to continue to center Queer and Trans Black, Brown, Indigenous, and People of Color in our movements, including in reproductive justice. [How you can take action: Learn about centering trans women in RJ & #BlackTransLivesMatter Actions & Resources for Solidarity]
We once again join the call for the city to take action to address the crisis of Black maternal health due to systemic racism in our healthcare system. [How you can take action: Follow/Support Black Mamas Matter; Donate/Spread the Word about the Black Mama's Bail Out; & Follow/Support Black-led doula organizations to learn more about decolonizing birth and birthwork]
The Doula Project was founded by white women and we allowed the status quo of white supremacy within our organization to continue unexamined and unchallenged for too many years. A few years ago, we committed to a new way forward. We know that this letter, and our work, are too little, too late. As an organization we are committed to standing against not just this overt violence, but also the covert violence Black people are experiencing daily. The violence that they carry from their experiences and the experiences of those ancestors that they carry with them. We know that no matter what work we do, we have contributed to the continued oppression of Black people and that we must constantly work to do and be better. We are committed to showing up, listening to and amplifying Black leadership, and doing what it takes to shift our power and resources to support Black and Brown people.
Now, we continue to look inward. We continue to listen to what Black movement leaders are saying; we continue to do the work of unlearning white supremacy within our organization; we continue to strengthen the anti-oppression framework that is now central to our trainings; we continue to find ways to empower and uplift Black, Brown, Indigenous, and People of Color in our organization and in our leadership.