birth justice

On today’s episode we are celebrating the release of Part 3 of our BRAND NEW Signature Article, "The Evidence on: Anti-Racism in Health Care and Birth Work!"

EBB Research Editor Ihotu Ali, the lead author on this paper, talks with Rebecca Dekker about how  Evidence-Based Equity Tools are solutions that can collectively move Black and Brown voices, leaders, innovative programs, accountability conversations, supportive funding, and legislation from the sidelines to the mainstream.

You can find all three parts of our NEW Signature Article, The Evidence on: Anti-Racism in Health Care and Birth Work here: www.evidencebasedbirth.com/antiracism

Join the conversation to learn more about:

1. Equity vs equality and diversity vs mending broken relationships
2. The Evidence Based Equity Triad
3. The Midwifery Model of Care - What about midwives in birth centers or other community spaces
4. Community-Based Doulas - Support and mentor a doula of color and expand sustainability of the doula profession through employee benefit models
5. Reparations and Transformative Justice - Transformative Justice in Leadership Challenges

Additionally, learn how you can answer the call as a birth worker and become an ally in the fight for reproductive justice. 

Resources: 

Dear Mama,

Dream with me.  Can you imagine a world with a Black midwife in every family, in every community, easily accessible, at our fingertips, a world in which birth choices aren’t controlled by capitalism, a world in which the birth practices that Black women used to literally birth this country are honored, a world in which they are revered, a world in which Black midwives could practice the full scope of reproductive health and reproductive choices are respected, a world in which Black mothers don’t fear death in the midst of giving birth, experience it with fully joy and bodily autonomy.  It’s Black Maternal Health Week and we are grateful for the opportunity to sit with two people invested in building that world: Jamarah Amani, founder of National Black Midwives Alliance & cofounder of Southern Birth Justice Network & filmmaker K. Sanderson  In this episode we’re talking: 

👉🏾Harriet Tubman & midwifery (Yeah we ain’t even know)

👉🏾Why the medical system fears Black midwifery (I mean we know why but still)

👉🏾The fight & journey to answer your calling (chiiilllleee this got deep)

👉🏾Their documentary series Legacy Power Voice: Movements in Black Midwifery (cause WE KNO what happens when other people tell our stories)

✨💗✊🏾

✨MERCH OF THE MONTH - MAGIC EVERMORE BOX ✨

The intention of this box is for Black Mamas to honor the light within themselves.  The items inside the Magic Evermore box will prepare Black mamas to soak up all the energy of the sun all summer and remind them of the importance of documenting themselves, the power to manifest the life you want, and to soften and pour into yourself when your mothership hits rough waters.  Items inside:

✨Full Black Mama Magic Card Deck

✨Manifestation Crystals: Citrine, Pyrite, Rose Quartz, Blue Apatite

✨Incense from Smell Good Spa

✨Mama Magic: Evermore Picture Frame

✨Postcards

✨Gratitude Jar

✨Herbs: Jasmine, Eucalyptus, & Lavender

✨An investment in yourself and in Dem Black Mamas Podcast. When you invest in us, you are investing in a platform curated by three women actively creating spaces of healing, creativity & liberation.

ABOUT OUR GUESTS

Jamarah Amani, LM is a community midwife who believes in the transformative and healing power of birth and that every baby has a human right to human milk. Her mission is to do her part to build a movement for Birth Justice locally, nationally and globally. Jamarah is the architect of the Birth Justice framework, the Black Midwives Model of Care and the Birth Justice Bill of Rights. Jamarah identifies as Black, Femme and Queer.  A community organizer from the age of sixteen, Jamarah has worked with several organizations across the United States, the Caribbean and in Africa on various public health issues, including HIV prevention, infant mortality risk reduction, access to emergency contraception and access to midwifery care. As a birth worker and activist, Jamarah has been tackling issues of racial justice, including the epidemics of Black maternal and infant morbidity/mortality for over fifteen years. She is currently the Executive Director of Southern Birth Justice Network, (https://southernbirthjustice.org/) a 501(c)3 non-profit organization working to expand the Birth Justice movement and to make midwifery and doula care accessible to marginalized communities. She is also the co-founder of National Black Midwives Alliance, (https://blackmidwivesalliance.org/) the only national professional association in the U.S. specifically for midwives of African descent, and a founding member of the Queer and Transgender Midwives Association.

Karyl-Lyn Sanderson (they/them), affectionately known as K, is a non-binary visionary, artist and entrepreneur with over 20 years of work experience as a digital media producer. K’s mission is to shift societal paradigms while enriching and advancing the lives of those they serve. With their daring and joyful spirit, K takes on projects that bring greater exposure to causes and issues of importance.  For over a decade, K created groundbreaking media as the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Limitless New Media, an independently operated creative studio that designed a wide array of original content for community, educational and faith-based initiatives. K is an alumni of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Film and Television Production program.

OTHER IMPORTANT LINKS

• History of Florida Midwife & 1965 Medicaid Legislation 
• The Woman King
• Michelle Browder Mothers of Gynecolgy

All other links mentioned in the episode & full show notes on our website at demblackmamas.com/podcast 

Thanks for coming inside the Black Mama Magic Room.  If you’re a new listener, welcome to the ride. If you’re a newbie or an OG, order our intentionally curated  Our Magic Evermore Box which is our Merch of Month by May 1st and receive it in time for Mother’s Day. 

✨💗✊🏾

In this episode we talk with EBB Instructor Leslie Greene, about doula advocacy and empowering families through the EBB Childbirth education class.
 
Leslie Greene, pronouns, she/her, is a birth and postpartum doula, childbirth educator, baby wearing consultant and Evidence Based Birth Instructor and founder of Peridot Births. Leslie's work reflects her passion for birth justice, and she has a special interest in supporting Black and brown birthing families and members of the LBGTQIA+ community. Leslie is also the mom of a rising first grader and loves to spend her time with her adopted Shih Tzu and tabby kitten when not working.
 
We talk about the importance of doula advocacy. Leslie talks about her personal journey to becoming a childbirth educator and a doula, as a form of activism to address the Black maternal health crisis in American. She describes how to step into the birthing space as a collaborative advocate to center the parent's experience for their birth. 
 
Content Warning: discussion of the murder of George Floyd, maternal mortality for African Americans, Black maternal health crisis, systemic racism, politics, obstetric violence, racism, forced cervical exams, perineal massage with baby shampoo, poverty, substance use, teen pregnancy, lack of prenatal care, colonization, slavery, and the COVID-19 pandemic

Resources:

Listen to EBB 218 – The Evidence on Perineal Massage during Labor with Dr. Rebecca Dekker here
 
Check out and follow all of Leslie’s work:
o   Leslie’s Evidence Based Childbirth Education site can be found here
o   Leslie’s Doula Services can be found here
o   Follow Leslie’s work on Instagram here

Go to our YouTube channel to see video versions of the episode listed above!!

For more information and news about Evidence Based Birth®, visit www.ebbirth.com.

Find us on: 

• TikTok
• Instagram
• Pinterest

Ready to get involved? 

• Check out our Professional membership (including scholarship options) here 
• Find an EBB Instructor here 
• Click here to learn more about the Evidence Based Birth® Childbirth Class.

On today’s podcast we talk with Naseema McElroy, Labor and Delivery nurse and the Founder of Financially Intentional about racism, workplace trauma, and inequities in the US healthcare system. We also discuss how to find your voice and stand up for human rights within the system.
 
Naseema McElroy started as a Labor and Delivery nurse and later became the Founder of Financially Intentional, a personal finance platform normalizing Black wealth. Naseema is the mother of two daughters and loves sharing her passion for financial independence and nursing with her followers on Instagram and through her Financially Intentional Podcast: Nurses on Fire.
 
Naeema discusses her personal experiences in raising concerns about patient safety within a hospital system and how to protect yourself, legally and financially, in the process. She also shares her story regarding her viral Instagram video about the importance of representation in healthcare and the potentially far-reaching consequences when representation is lacking. 

Trigger Warnings: mental health, workplace trauma, obstetric violence, systemic racism, racism and inequities in the US healthcare system, patient safety, Black mortality, Black morbidity

Resources: 

Follow Naseema's Instagram account Financially Intentional here

Learn more about Financially Intentional here

Listen to Naseema's Podcast, Financially Intentional Podcast (formerly Nurses of Fire) here

Go to our YouTube channel to see video versions of the episode listed above!!

For more information and news about Evidence Based Birth®, visit www.ebbirth.com.

Find us on: 

• TikTok
• Instagram
• Pinterest

Ready to get involved? 

• Check out our Professional membership (including scholarship options) here 
• Find an EBB Instructor here 
• Click here to learn more about the Evidence Based Birth® Childbirth Class.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ ALONG WITH THE SHOW, YOU CAN ACCESS THIS EPISODES TRANSCRIPTION BY CLICKING THIS LINK:

.

.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/11BTIr3TnacoY6DykCuAWZ8ZmvuyRr3EksyXftEakPbg/edit

.

.

Postpartum doulas are professionals trained to give physical and emotional support after the birth of your baby and may include support such as lactation education, newborn care, preparing meals, light housekeeping, and helping the birthing person with post birth comfort healing and measures.

.

.

Lactation educators provide basic chest and breast feeding education to birthing people and their families.

.

.

The Birth Revolution, IG birthrevolution

.

.

Common Sense Childbirth Institute www.commonsensechildbirth.org COPE Program: Community Outreach Perinatal Education - The COPE program uses a culturally-sensitive and trauma-informed curriculum that includes comprehensive training for community-based Doula, Childbirth Education and Breastfeeding Education for peer-supporters, community health workers, para- professionals and home visitors. Participants that complete the program become Certified Perinatal Educators (CPE).

.

.

Fatphobia, also known as anti-fat, is the implicit and explicit bias of overweight individuals that is rooted in a sense of blame and presumed moral failing. Being overweight and/or fat is highly stigmatized in Western culture. Anti-fatness is intrinsically linked to anti-blackness, racism, classism, misogyny, and many other systems of oppression.

.

.

Transphobia, also known as anti-trans, is the fear, hatred, disbelief, or mistrust of people who are transgender, thought to be transgender, or whose gender expression doesn’t conform to traditional gender roles. Transphobia can prevent transgender and gender nonconforming people from living full lives free from harm.

.

.

Postpartum Healing Lodge founded by Raeanne Madison IG postpartumhealinglodge

.

.

Sumi’s Touch Training www.sumistouch.com 

.

.

Grandma’s Hands Pregnancy & Postpartum Herbs & Nutrition in the Southern Tradition online course www.divinebirthwisdom.com/coursesandservices 

.

.

En Caul birth is when the baby comes out still inside an intact amniotic sac (caul). This might make it look like your newborn is completely gift-wrapped in a soft, jello-like bubble. An en caul birth is also called a “veiled birth.” This rare thing of beauty happens in less than 1 in 80,000 births.

.

.

Find more of Nadine and Birth Revolution on Instagram at birthrevolution and doula4all; www.thebirthrevolution.org www.doula4all.com 

.

.

www.queerdoulanetwork.com

.

.

Original Podcast Beat Produced Mixed & Engineered By: Info Black

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/infoblack_

Twitter: https://twitter.com/infoblack_​

.

.

DONATIONS:

.

Patreon.com/symbaluna

Paypal: journeyspa12@gmail.com

Cashapp: $symbaluna

Venmo: @symbaluna

.

Instagram: journeyspa_

It's been a minute! The Birth Justice Podcast NYC team has been deep in process for the last year to bring you season 2 in 2022! But before we jump into a new season, it felt important to revisit and review some of the wisdom and insight from season one. Tune in to take a trip down memory lane and hear highlights from our esteemed guests as well as updates about the podcast.

Also: this podcast will be getting a new name! Stay tuned for details and be sure to support this work on Patreon.com/TajaLindley!


Hosted and Created by Taja Lindley
Produced by Colored Girls Hustle
Music, Soundscape and Audio Engineering by Emma Alabaster

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ ALONG WITH THE SHOW, YOU CAN ACCESS THIS EPISODE’S TRANSCRIPTION BY CLICKING THIS LINK:

.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/10wx47kdWkhk8p3QYUWx1n_T1-si4YGC6XVh5-eDKa1g/edit

.

.

Doula Trainings International www.doulatrainingsinternational.com

.

.

A full spectrum doula is a non-medically trained community care worker that offers support to people during the full spectrum of pregnancy - from preconception, to birth, to abortion, to miscarraige, to adoption, to postpartum.

.

.

Carolina Abortion Fund www.carolinabortionfund.org supports individuals who have decide to have an abortion by providing financial, logistical, and emotional support.

.

.

HG - hyperemesis gravidarum is the medical term for severe nausea and vomiting during pregnancy. Dehydration, dizziness, lightheadedness, and weight loss of 10 pounds or more, are all symptoms, as well as vomiting more than 2-4 times a day. Talk to your doctor if you experience any of these symptoms throughout your pregnancy.

.

.

Black Moms of the Triad Group on Facebook started by Brianna Taylor-Powell

.

.

A vendor in a hospital is defined as a person or representative of a company (including independent contractors or subcontractors for a company) that has either a contractual agreement with the hospital or is seeking to provide support, services, and/or maintenance for a company’s product(s) or services at the hospital.

.

.

Cone Health System is a private, not for profit, healthcare delivery system based in Greensboro, North Carolina. It includes Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital, Wesley Long Hospital, Women’s Hospital, and Cone Health Behaioral Health Hospital all located in Greensboro.

.

.

Planned Parenthood www.plannedparenthood.org a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health care in the United States and globally.

.

.

Evidence Based Birth www.evidencebasedbirth.com is an online pregnancy and childbirth resource founded in 2012 by Rebecca Dekker. It includes classes, blogs, and a podcast.

.

.

IBCLC is the International Board Certified Lactation Consultants function and contribute as members of the maternal-child health team. They provide care in a variety of settings, while making appropriate referrals to other health professionals and community support resources. Working together with mothers, families, policymakers and society, IBCLC certificants provide expert breastfeeding and lactation care, promote changes that support breastfeeding and help reduce the risks of not breastfeeding.

.

.

Find more of Olivian Bivens on Instagram at Liv.Breathe.Birth. In Olivia’s Linktree on IG you can explore her website and Facebook. She is Olivia Bivens on Facebook.

.

.

www.queerdoulanetwork.com

.

.

Original Podcast Beat Produced Mixed & Engineered By: Info Black

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/infoblack_

Twitter: https://twitter.com/infoblack_​

.

.

DONATIONS:

.

Patreon.com/symbaluna

Paypal: journeyspa12@gmail.com

Cashapp: $symbaluna

Venmo: @symbaluna

.

Instagram: journeyspa_

We head home for a final good-bye to hear how Anasia, Ciara, Erick, Shayla and more are building new legacies exactly where they are.

Featured guests: Crystal Starr Flowers, Katy Kozhamminil, PhD, DaLyah Jones and Tanya Smith-Johnson

For transcripts and more, visit natalstories.com. Follow NATAL on Twitter and Instagram.

Alabama Birth Collective founding member, Nadia Gramby, on the sisterhood of birthwork.

For transcripts and more, visit natalstories.com. Follow NATAL on Twitter and Instagram.

The babies are coming. 

For more on birth plans, listen to our NPR Life Kit episode.

For transcripts and more, visit natalstories.com. Follow NATAL on Twitter andInstagram.

Alabama Birth Collective founder Jasmine Merritt on answering the call to serve.

For transcripts and more, visit natalstories.com. Follow NATAL on Twitter and Instagram.

Fannie Lou Hamer, Southern freedom fighter and one of the oldest Black-founded towns in the country spark The Browns' most transformational decision yet. 

Featured guests: Katy Kozhamminil, PhD and Arrianna Planey, PhD.

If you loved learning about Mound Bayou, check out this video.

For transcripts and more, visit natalstories.com. Follow NATAL on Twitter and Instagram.

The moments that (re)introduced Shayla, Erick and Anasia to their bodies.

For transcripts and more, visit natalstories.com. Follow NATAL on Twitter and Instagram.

Meet the founding members of The Alabama Birth Collective. 

Learn more about ABC members Charity Moore, Jasmine Merritt, Mariah Brown, Nadia Gramby and Tori Rodriguez, or visit their Instagram.

For transcripts and more, visit natalstories.com. Follow NATAL on Twitter and Instagram.

Anasia Sturdivant and Ciara Hunter leave city life behind to find new places to call home.

For transcripts and more, visit natalstories.com. Follow NATAL on Twitter and Instagram.

Eight months pregnant during the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, Shayla and Erick Brown return home to rural Mississippi for a chance to finally get it right.

For transcripts and more, visit natalstories.com. Follow NATAL on Twitter and Instagram.

Hosts Gabrielle Horton and Martina Abrahams Ilunga share what inspired this season. Interwoven between narrative interludes, this 10-part story album highlights the rich traditions and structural challenges that have moved four Black rural parents to birth new life and legacies on their own terms.

Featured guests: Arrianna Planey, PhD and DaLyah Jones.

If you loved learning about Black rural communities, check out this article by DaLyah.

For transcripts and more, visit natalstories.com. Follow NATAL on Twitter and Instagram. 

Coming Soon: NATAL heads to rural America for season two.