Enfrentándonos
2020 Latin Heritage Month
Enfrentándonos, Anti Blackness in Latinx Communities was a three-part virtual panel discussion series that featured young Afro-Latino speakers from Miami, Florida, Washington DC, New York City and beyond. Kitchen table conversation took center stage as we explored issues of identity, liberation, culture, healing, family, and birth justice.
Part 1: Abuelita Negrita
"Part One: Hidden Heritage- Abuelita Negrita" was an in-depth conversation and rediscovery of Afro-Latinx roots, centering Black Latinx folks lives and shared experiences. Abuelita Negrita is the colloquialized euphemism for blackness in the broader Latinidad. We've all heard the saying "la abuela negra en el armario”, but when are we going to let her come out? Abuelita Negrita is the keeper of our culture. Abuelita Negrita is where we get our soul. Abuelita Negrita is where we get our sazon. She keeps our stories and our culture yet we act like she is seperate from us.
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Part 2: Action Steps to Decolonization
Part Two: Action Steps to Decolonization: Decolonization involves an understanding of our ancestral practices and accepting who we are outside of a western context. Decolonization is a healing practice, it acknowledges our wounds and cries for justice. In this conversation we integrated relevant voices of our South Florida social justice movement.
Part 3: Justicia de Parto
“Part Three: Justicia de Parto”
Our last conversation in Enfrentándonos was centered around Birth Justice and the intersections of the "Afro Latinida". We explored and expanded our understanding of white supremacy and how to depart from it. We then went on to hear from care providers and birthing families about their experiences relating to Birth Justice.
An understanding of Birth Justice is important to ensure that birthing people get full spectrum reproductive health support as they make decisions that are best for themselves and families.
Webinar Training: Doulas in the time of COVID-19
Advocating for pregnant People During a Pandemic
This virtual training is for doulas OR anyone who is in an advocacy role, including pregnant mamas or their partner/family.
Doulas are non-medical birth professionals who provide support for pregnant, birthing and postpartum people. During the COVID-19 pandemic, that support is mostly virtual due to hospital restrictions.
Mamas giving birth with doula support are two times less likely to experience birth complications.
Doulas advocate to make sure their clients' voices are heard and medical information is communicated so that they understand and can make their own best choices for themselves and their babies.
Doulas are birth companions, and also support people through miscarriages, abortions and adoptions.
Doulas protect bodily autonomy in a system that consistently shows very little respect for pregnant and birthing people.
Doulas are a critical way that we can address racial disparities in maternal and newborn health. Also the advocacy tools and strategies used by doulas need to be accessible to every birthing person and their family during this time of uncertainty and shifting policies at birth facilities.
Learn More
-The Birth Justice Bill of Rights
-Advocacy Tools for Doulas and Support People
-Changes to perinatal care during COVID-19 -How to apply these tools for the prenatal, birth or postpartum period
-Self-care and community care as an advocate
Community Street Medic Training
“It is our duty to fight for our freedom.It is our duty to win.We must love each other and support each other.We have nothing to lose but our chains.”― Assata Shakur
In the spirit of Assata Shakur and the community health model advanced by the Black Pather Party, Southern Birth Justice Network and a host of doctors, first responders and other emergency health workers trained community members in CPR administration, gun shot wound, pregnancy, and emergency response techniques to provide a community based alternative to EMTs and paramedics in marginalized communities. Hosted by Southern Birth Justice Network at the Circle of Brotherhood in Miami, Florida. The purpose of this event was to share information and resources to prepare everyday people to deal with life threatening emergencies.
Street Medics is a concept that originated in the US during the Civil Rights and Anti-War Movement with the idea that we have to care for and protect our own.
Young Mamas Leadership Institute
SBJN launches the 2020 fall semester of YMLI!
The Young Mamas Leadership Institute is a year-long vocational program designed by and for young women of color to prepare emerging leaders for careers in social justice, organizing, and birth work.
