Did you watch the conventions? Did you read the policy booklets? Well, we did and want to share with you our insights with Saeeda Dunston and Monica Simpson. Hosted by Alphonso David and Ebony McMorris.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00from access to healthcare, to controlling our bodies,
00:03to addressing health disparities
00:05and the outcomes that we face.
00:07We're now gonna be dissecting some of these issues
00:09relating to healthcare and how they affect you.
00:13To help us do that,
00:14we are being joined by two experts in the field.
00:16The first is Monica Simpson,
00:18who is the executive director of SisterSong,
00:21which is a reproductive justice organization.
00:24Monica is known worldwide as a leader in healthcare
00:28and reproductive justice,
00:29and was recently named by Time Magazine
00:33as one of the most influential people.
00:34She's also a fantastic person.
00:37Second, we have Saeeda Dunston,
00:39who is the CEO of ElmCore Youth and Adult Activities,
00:44which is the oldest black-founded
00:46and black-led not-for-profit in Queens, New York.
00:50They provide a variety of comprehensive programs
00:52that serve our community.
00:54She's also been recognized by her peers
00:57and human resource and service providers
01:00for developing and implementing
01:01culturally competent services
01:03that address the challenges encountered
01:06by marginalized communities.
01:08She's also been sounding the alarm
01:10on the epidemic of opioid overdoses in the black community.
01:16Saeeda, Monica, thank you so much for both joining us.
01:22We got Time Magazine in the house.
01:27And it's so great to be on here with you, Saeeda.
01:32Thank you, both women and ladies,
01:34for the work that you do.
01:36I mean, just hearing and reading the accomplishments
01:39and the fact that you are still 10 toes down,
01:42grounded now, and still pushing to do the work.
01:44And we know that work that you do is not easy.
01:46I wanna start off with this healthcare conversation,
01:50broadly discussing access to healthcare.
01:53It's an important issue in this year's election,
01:57but many may say, even though it was addressed,
02:01we have Obamacare that we're still talking about.
02:06What are the challenges that you see at this time
02:11when it comes to access to healthcare,
02:14even with the great achievements that we have seen?
02:18Yeah, I mean, unfortunately,
02:19we are still very much dealing with those challenges
02:22that you've talked about, right?
02:24So Obamacare, Affordable Care Act,
02:26yes, incredible strides have been made with that.
02:28However, when we think about
02:30some of the most densely populated areas of this country,
02:33where our black folks are the most,
02:35like the South in particular,
02:37we are still seeing so many of our states
02:40across this country that have yet to expand Medicaid.
02:43That is something we have not talked about enough
02:45when we talk about what we mean
02:46around expanding access to healthcare in this country.
02:50So without the expansion of Medicaid,
02:52thousands upon thousands of people
02:54are still falling through the cracks
02:56just to get their very basic healthcare needs met.
02:59We also have to think about how that is directly coupled
03:02with the economic crisis that we're in in this country,
03:04because that is another access and another barrier
03:07that so many people are constantly talking about.
03:10Do we have enough money?
03:11Are we making enough money
03:12to be able to take care of our healthcare needs?
03:15That is still a huge gap for so many people in this country.
03:18And then on top of that, right,
03:19when we think about what we're actually experiencing
03:23when we enter into these healthcare providers,
03:26are we getting the right information?
03:27Are we getting treated the way that we need to be treated?
03:31That is an issue that we see come up so much in particular
03:34around reproductive healthcare in this country,
03:36where maternal mortality is a huge issue
03:39and we are in a crisis in this country.
03:40What we have seen time and time again
03:42is that we are still battling
03:45the ways that racism shows up in our healthcare system,
03:47meaning that people, in particular Black people
03:50and people of color,
03:50are not getting the type of care that they deserve
03:53once they are able even to enter
03:56into getting into a healthcare provider.
03:58So when you look at all of those things
04:00on top of each other, right,
04:01and we can go on for days and days
04:03about all the other things that come up
04:04around this issue of healthcare in this country,
04:07we are seeing that we are still very much
04:09dealing with a crisis and we have a lot of gaps to fill.
04:12So Zahida, we often hear about this concept
04:16of social determinants of health.
04:18Can you please help us break that down?
04:21What is it?
04:22Why is it important to us?
04:23How does it play a role in addressing our healthcare needs?
04:27And specifically, why would it be relevant
04:29in an election season?
04:32Yeah, first let me just say, Ebony,
04:34you thanked us and was really excited.
04:36I have to say this idea of this conversation overall,
04:39I wanna just be grateful to be a part of it.
04:40Monica, really excited to hear what you're saying.
04:43But as we talk about social determinants,
04:45this painting, the Poles, Blacks,
04:47is a part of that concept
04:48of understanding how social interactions that we have,
04:52things that we deal with impacts.
04:54This is an exciting time.
04:56We talked about this earlier,
04:57about this time that we have,
04:59we're having these conversations.
05:00It's exciting and also scary at the same time
05:04because a lot of this idea of social determinants of care,
05:07whether we're talking about housing,
05:08we're talking about literal healthcare,
05:11if we're talking about education,
05:13if we're talking about all of those things,
05:16we talk about them every four years
05:17and we have to continue these conversations,
05:20which is why it's exciting, but also scary.
05:23Our social determinants of care are really in this country,
05:26clearly across the globe,
05:28but here uniquely wrapped around the racialized concepts
05:32of how we interact, right?
05:34And how we see Black people.
05:36And around this time of year,
05:37we are the hottest commodity.
05:40Our vote is very, very valuable.
05:42And what we have to do is not to continue
05:45to just give it away, but to demand things.
05:48And a part of the demand is that these social issues
05:51that are happening are racialized.
05:53They're clearly still very segregated.
05:56And we need to understand that our health,
05:59our wellness will never be addressed
06:01until we address all of these overlaying systems
06:04that sit on top of our ability
06:07to kind of take care of ourselves.
06:09Our trauma, our racialized trauma
06:11is a part of the biggest social determinant of healthcare
06:15that we are most afraid to talk about.
06:18Oh my goodness.
06:19I saw you snapping over there, Micah.
06:20I'm sitting here like, yes, Lord.
06:22That's it.
06:23That's it.
06:24I'm gonna say at this point, I'm so tired right now.
06:27Listen.
06:28We work tired, we love tired, we push tired,
06:31we, you know what I mean?
06:32And so, and have learned to try to function in that.
06:37But I always say that your body knows
06:39when it's time to sit down
06:40and it will sit down whether you want to or not.
06:44I wanna ask about, but on that,
06:48how does healthcare access intersect
06:52with other issues on the ballot?
06:54So many of the things that we talk about
06:55are all linked together, right?
06:58So talk about how it intersects
07:00with all these other things that we're talking about.
07:04You know, what's interesting
07:05when I think about this concept of healthcare,
07:07it's like we sometimes put healthcare in one bucket
07:09and because my work of reproductive justice
07:11is also very much on the ballot these days,
07:14sometimes I feel like they're separating
07:16reproductive healthcare away from healthcare in general,
07:20which let's just go ahead and debunk that right now.
07:23Reproductive healthcare is healthcare.
07:26Abortion access is healthcare.
07:27Maternal health is healthcare.
07:30All of these things are essential to us
07:33to be able to thrive and have healthy bodies
07:36and live healthy lives in this country.
07:38But when I think about how we've been able
07:40to now politicize this particular part of healthcare,
07:44of reproductive healthcare,
07:45and namely abortion in this country,
07:47this is where this conversation around healthcare
07:50is getting a little challenging, right?
07:51We just saw a debate a couple of nights ago
07:54where we had an opponent just spew lies
07:57about the fact that people are killing babies
08:00and he doesn't know anything that he's talking about
08:03as it pertains to abortion.
08:04What is real and what is real for us as black folks
08:07to understand is that abortion is an important part
08:09of our reproductive healthcare.
08:10It is something that we need to make sure it is legal,
08:13that we have access to it.
08:15And that is the fight that we have been in
08:17ever since this Dobbs decision
08:19at the Supreme Court level came down
08:21and took out a 50 year,
08:23nearly 50 year precedent of Roe v. Wade.
08:25And so when we think about access to abortion
08:28in this country right now,
08:29there are 14 states right now
08:31that are actually have a total abortion ban.
08:34We have over 20, I think it's 27 states at this point
08:37that have an actual abortion ban in place
08:40that's based on gestational limits, right?
08:42Whether that's six weeks or 18 weeks
08:44or whatever that may be.
08:45And then when we think about states like Mississippi,
08:47which is where the Dobbs decision actually originated from,
08:50that is a state that only had one abortion clinic
08:53for the entire state.
08:55So when we think about even when Roe v. Wade was in place,
08:57access to abortion care in this country
09:00was out of reach for far too many people, right?
09:03And so now that we have Roe out of the picture,
09:05which we did not need it out of the picture,
09:07we needed it to stay in place,
09:08but we knew that we needed to expand it.
09:11We are now seeing that this is now creating
09:13an even deeper healthcare crisis in this country
09:16because this is now also affecting maternal healthcare,
09:19right?
09:20Because we also know the stats there
09:21that black women are dying at a rate four to five
09:24to 12 times higher than white people,
09:26white women rather and white pregnant people in childbirth.
09:29And we know what that is linked to.
09:30We know what that's linked to racism.
09:32We know what that's linked to just not having proper access,
09:35but all of those things are coming into play now.
09:38And we are thinking about now we're also seeing
09:40how this is connected to criminalization
09:42because people are scared around this country
09:44that they don't know exactly what's gonna happen
09:47if they need to go to their healthcare provider,
09:49will this healthcare provider be targeted, right?
09:51Because they are trying to give them access to healthcare.
09:54Also in that debate, we heard a story, right?
09:56That came from vice president Harris
09:58because she has been on the road.
10:00She has talked to so many people,
10:02including organizations like mine
10:04about what is happening around abortion in this country.
10:07And people are dealing with miscarriages
10:10and dealing with other healthcare issues
10:11that where they need access to care.
10:14And because of this deep criminalization issue
10:17that's also attached to abortion right now,
10:20we're now seeing that people are being scared there.
10:22So healthcare and this branch off that people
10:24have like overly politicized abortion access on
10:28is becoming a major contributing factor
10:31to how people are thinking about
10:32what they're gonna walk into
10:33when they walk into these polls.
10:35What I tell people all the time around these issues
10:37is that you're gonna walk into these polls
10:38and you're gonna make your way to those polls,
10:40you're taking your body in there.
10:41Make sure that you are voting for people
10:43who care about what happens to the body
10:45that you're taking into those polls.
10:46And that's where we are at this particular moment.
10:49I wanna stay for a moment for Dr. Justice
10:53about what you're talking about,
10:56certainly points on this seat as well.
11:00You've told us about the current landscape
11:01around the country and what we're seeing.
11:03How does this issue fall along the lines of race?
11:07What are the impacts along the lines of race?
11:11The impacts are huge, right?
11:13Because what is happening is that,
11:15are y'all hearing me okay?
11:16Because I feel there's a little bit of an echo.
11:18Are we good?
11:18A little bit of an echo.
11:19Okay.
11:20Hopefully we'll get better here.
11:22I'm literally on the road.
11:23So please forgive where I'm at at this moment
11:26because we out here in these streets painting these polls.
11:30But as we think about how this is broken down by race,
11:34overwhelmingly what we have seen,
11:36whether it pertains to abortion access in this country,
11:39whether it pertains to maternal health in this country,
11:42we are seeing that black women and people of color
11:45are the communities most impacted when there are bans,
11:48when there is lack of access,
11:50whenever we take away any of our necessities,
11:54our human rights in this country, it is us.
11:57It is the people that look like us
11:58that are always impacted the most, right?
12:01And I would even go further to say that it's not just us,
12:03it's those who have historically
12:05been pushed to the margins, right?
12:06Because when I think about,
12:08not only we think about this as racial lines,
12:10when I think about queer and trans people,
12:11when I think about young people,
12:12when I think about folks with just low incomes,
12:15these are the folks that are always, unfortunately,
12:18the ones that are going to be the most impacted
12:20when we see these types of restrictions,
12:22bans and limitations happen
12:24on our healthcare in this country.
12:26And that, to me, makes this issue even more important
12:29for us to move to the forefront
12:31because if we are not centering our communities
12:34at this moment, if we are not making sure
12:36that our voices and our leadership is pushed to the front,
12:39then we are constantly being shown
12:41that we are not going to get what we need, right?
12:43So that's really how this thing is breaking down.
12:46We're looking at the South,
12:48which is historically and demographically
12:50a place where our people are,
12:53and on top of that, we have to think about
12:54how this is affecting, again,
12:55those other marginalized communities as well.
12:58Saeeda, I wanna, like, we were talking earlier
13:02about how all of these things are linked,
13:04like all the information that you just gave,
13:06we're feeling it, we know it, we live it, we see it,
13:09and then taking that, people are trying to figure out
13:12how to advocate for themselves in this situation,
13:16and to add another topic onto this
13:20is we are also dealing with the opioid crisis.
13:23It is intersected into all of this.
13:27Like, how does the opioid crisis,
13:31talk about how that also intersects
13:33with many of these issues that we're talking about,
13:35and how can people begin to advocate for themselves
13:38as we go through the ballot box?
13:43I think what we're doing today is really important.
13:45We're having the conversation.
13:47When we talk about substances,
13:49when we talk about overdose,
13:50we talk about it from an opioid perspective,
13:52we're hearing all this conversation about fentanyl,
13:55but it really is just about overdose as a whole.
13:59People are dying from using substances,
14:01whether the supply is tainted or not,
14:03but a lot of the reasons why we're in this situation,
14:06especially in the black community,
14:08because I like to, as we're painting the polls black,
14:11when we're talking about
14:12what is on the ballot box this November,
14:16I want to really talk about the reason
14:17why this is happening in our community.
14:20Black people are dying five times the rate
14:24that they were in the past in New York City, where I'm from.
14:28In 10 years, we saw it go up five times.
14:32You know, black men are 54, sorry,
14:3654.1% of black men per 100,000 are dying fatally
14:41in comparison to 44.2 white men.
14:44This is a crisis.
14:45If this was happening anywhere else,
14:47when this was happening somewhere else,
14:50we were having a different conversation.
14:53And so this is the important parts
14:55is we have to allow ourselves as black people
14:58to not allow the racialized stigmatization of us
15:03and our use of substances make us cower in the corners
15:07and not discuss it.
15:09Our people are dying.
15:11This is something very important.
15:12I'm excited about the fact
15:14that we're being invited to these types of forums
15:17to talk about something that no one's really talking about.
15:21But four years ago,
15:23when the face of those who were dying looked white,
15:27and I have to say looked it
15:28because black people were still dying then,
15:30it was a softer public health approach.
15:33So one of the policy issues that we have to watch
15:36as we move forward,
15:37and we talk about addressing and tackling the fentanyl crisis
15:41as our VP talks about in her pieces,
15:45and it's a part of her official presidential campaign,
15:47we have to also make sure
15:49that they do not criminalize substance use
15:52as they have done in the past
15:53when it has started to look or be presented to the world
15:57as a black and brown issue.
15:59So we want it to be continued as a public health approach
16:02and understanding that we need access to treatment,
16:06that we can get methadone,
16:07that we could get buprenorphine
16:09so that we can actually address these things.
16:12It is really important that we do that
16:14because if we don't,
16:15they will sound other alarms
16:17and criminalize the use of services
16:19instead of actually trying to provide us access
16:23to appropriate healthcare.
16:24We know that in states,
16:26Monica talks about the South,
16:28we know that in states where they've chosen
16:29not to utilize the Affordable Care Act
16:32and the Medicaid expansion,
16:34that there are lower rates
16:35of people actually receiving substance use treatment.
16:39And so we, as black people,
16:41have to stop allowing people to create a storyline,
16:46a narrative about us when we use substances
16:49and that we have to humanize it first,
16:52demand that whoever gets into any offices,
16:56that they realize that we will not allow you
16:58to criminalize something that happens in our community
17:00at the same rates as other communities,
17:03but that we are dying at higher rates
17:05because of the lack of access.
17:09One of the things that we're trying to do
17:11with Painful Polls is also address misinformation
17:16and make sure that we are providing accurate information
17:21and updating people on what the facts are.
17:24So there's a lot of information on social media.
17:27And Monica, this is a question for you really
17:29about the issue of reproductive justice
17:32and reproductive rights.
17:33Can you just walk people through,
17:35because we heard a lot in the debates
17:37about what you can do in certain states,
17:39and you alluded to this in terms of killing babies.
17:42Can you just tell us what is the current state of play
17:46so people actually know the facts?
17:49Yeah, one thing I can say for certain,
17:52just to make it very, very clear,
17:55people are not carrying babies to full term
17:57and then killing them
17:58as if that is a real thing in this country.
18:01I could not believe that that came out of a person's mouth
18:04that's trying to run for the presidency
18:06of the United States of America.
18:07That is absurd and it's cruel to even say
18:11that that is actually something
18:12that's happening in this country.
18:13It is not.
18:14But what is also true,
18:15because of what has happened with the Dobbs decision
18:18that did take out Roe,
18:19that it does look different across the country, right?
18:23So yes, the federal right has been taken away
18:27because of this Dobbs decision.
18:28So Roe v. Wade no longer stands.
18:31So that means that the states have been making decisions
18:35upon how abortion shows up in their states.
18:38And so some states have said
18:40that you can have an abortion up to six weeks.
18:43That's one of the things that we're finding
18:44in the state of Georgia
18:45because we're trying to expand that
18:47to make sure that people have access to more time
18:49to be able to make decisions about their bodies
18:51with their healthcare provider
18:52and really know what's happening
18:54to be able to make their best decisions.
18:56Some states, you can go up to 18 weeks.
18:58Some states, you can go up to 21 weeks, right?
19:01So unfortunately, because there isn't just a paintbrush
19:07that we can paint to say that everything is the same,
19:10this decision has sent this back down to the states,
19:12which means that you do have to pay attention
19:14to what's happening at your state legislature.
19:17That is so critically important to everything
19:19that we are talking about,
19:20whether it's healthcare or economics or whatever it may be.
19:23But in particular around abortion access in this country,
19:26you do have to pay attention
19:28to what's happening at your state legislature.
19:31So you will know what's happening.
19:32Some states are also pushing ballot initiatives
19:35to push back against what may be happening
19:36at their state legislature,
19:38saying that we, the people, right,
19:40are saying that we actually want
19:41to make abortion accessible in our state.
19:44So there are many things at play.
19:46I think that what you can also do right now
19:48on top of saying, you know,
19:50connected to what's happening at your state legislature
19:52is to follow organizations like mine,
19:54to follow think tanks and research organizations
19:56like the Guttmacher Institute.
19:58These places that are constantly giving us
20:00up-to-date information as to what is happening
20:02and what is the lay of the land across the country
20:04as it pertains in particular
20:06to abortion access in this country.
20:08But just to be clear again,
20:09there's no one killing babies out here, right?
20:11People are making their own decisions.
20:13That is true though,
20:14about what is important for them and their lives, right?
20:18Because that is what reproductive justice is all about.
20:21For those who may not understand that term
20:22and think it's a little bit different
20:24than reproductive health and rights,
20:25it is because this is a movement
20:27that was created by black women.
20:2830 years ago this year,
20:30that said that we have the human right
20:32to be able to make our own decisions
20:34about our bodies and our families and our futures, right?
20:37That we have the right to make those decisions.
20:39And so we're going to do that by deciding
20:41if and when we wanna have kids,
20:43we wanna make sure our children are taken care of
20:45and have access to what they need to thrive.
20:47And we wanna make sure that we have access
20:48to be able to have our human rights
20:50of bodily autonomy, you know, in this country.
20:52So that's what the work is.
20:54But when we think about the lay of the land,
20:56I just wanna be very real for the people
20:57who are on this call with us, y'all.
20:59We have to pay attention,
21:01not only what's happening federally,
21:03but what is happening at the state level.
21:05Because our states are making really critical decisions
21:07around our healthcare, around our bodies,
21:10and we have to be tapped in.
21:12So while we are fighting for a federal resolve
21:15and a federal, you know, rebirth
21:17of what's happening around Roe v. Wade,
21:19we now have to make sure that we are taking that fight
21:21just as aggressively to our states
21:24because it does look different across our states
21:26at this particular moment.
21:28So two last points, and I wanna give Saeeda
21:31and you, Monica, an opportunity just to talk about,
21:36and Saeeda, on mental health,
21:37because we don't talk enough about that.
21:40And then finally, Monica,
21:41talk a little bit about contraception
21:44and talk a little bit about IVF.
21:46People are confused about that.
21:47So we have abortion, we have contraception,
21:51we have IVF, break that down.
21:53We have a little bit of time, but we'll start with Saeeda.
21:56And if you can talk about mental health in our communities,
21:58what are the issues and how we need to address them?
22:04Sure.
22:04I kind of said earlier, you know,
22:06how our healthcare is very racialized.
22:09Our mental health is also very much racialized.
22:11A few years ago, we saw throughout the states,
22:15and not all, but some states have actually
22:18finally recognized that, you know,
22:20racial trauma is actually a mental health issue.
22:25And so acknowledging the fact that
22:28just living in this world, living in this country,
22:32living in our skin specifically,
22:34is traumatizing and does impact our mental health
22:39and our wellness is something
22:40that we have to just first acknowledge.
22:43And the same way we talk about substance use,
22:45these issues have been highly stigmatized
22:49across the board in our community
22:50because we see it as some form of weakness.
22:53And so we have to get past the idea
22:56that our resilience or our strength is somehow reduced
23:01if for some reason we say we need assistance and help.
23:05We have to be able to say that
23:07my body cannot survive without my mind being right.
23:11If I want to continue to be able to battle heart disease
23:17or battle, you know, diabetes or anything,
23:20I gotta have my mind right, right?
23:22And so there is nothing wrong with saying
23:25that we need to get help and assistance
23:28and anybody that we put into any position of power
23:32should be concerned about the way that we think.
23:35Elm Corps is an organization,
23:37we pride ourselves in not being a single issue organization.
23:42And so when Monica talks about reproductive health,
23:45I'm so excited to hear that
23:47because we also provide comprehensive
23:50reproductive health education for young people
23:52because what I wanna be clear of is we won't go backwards.
23:56We are not going back into the past.
23:58And as I heard Monica speak,
23:59all I could hear in my head was,
24:01I hope that black people really remember
24:03that there was a time where people was making choices
24:06for our wounds, for our bodies,
24:09for our reproductive movement,
24:12for their commodity and for their benefit.
24:14And we will not allow you to control our bodies
24:17at all anymore.
24:18Those days are long over, we're not going back.
24:20And so we have to be able to say these things
24:23to anyone running for anything.
24:26We have to be able to say that our vote is valuable.
24:29We know that, we understand that.
24:31And every issue that impacts us is everyone's future.
24:36Okay, thank you so much for that.
24:38Monica?
24:39Woo!
24:39Yes!
24:40I thought we'd still be in church,
24:41can we just shout for a quick...
24:42Listen, let's just get a quick little party to go in.
24:46My mind is right.
24:47Because we're not going back.
24:48That's absolutely right, sis.
24:50We are not going back.
24:51And everything that you just said was nothing but the truth.
24:54And my grandmama told me a long time ago,
24:56it don't take long to tell the truth.
24:57So let me break down your questions for you, Alphonso.
25:00Right, so one of the things that is really clear
25:03that for everyone to understand
25:04is that there is a plethora of ways
25:08that we are able to think about our fertility
25:11in this world, right?
25:13And so we are trying to, a couple of things.
25:18One, I apologize, y'all, they were trying to move me,
25:23but I'm back, apologies.
25:27One thing.
25:28So when we think about barriers, right?
25:29We think about the fact that we need access
25:31to contraception in this country.
25:34There's many different barrier methods for that.
25:36There's IUDs, right?
25:37This is something that you actually implant in your body,
25:40gives you what you need in terms of hormonal work
25:44to be able to prevent pregnancies, right?
25:46That's also condoms.
25:48That's also rings.
25:50There's so many different things
25:51that fall under the contraception route of things
25:54to be able to, again, make sure that you are able to control
25:59when you want to have a child.
26:01The other thing that I want to talk about
26:04when we talk about IVF,
26:05because that's also under attack in this country right now,
26:08infertility is an issue.
26:09And it's a really big issue for black women.
26:12It's something we've been talking a lot about
26:13at SisterSong, it's a lot of research
26:15that we're now trying to be a part of
26:17to make sure that we are really getting the voices
26:18and the stories of black women in particular
26:20out in this world,
26:22because our access to fertility services
26:26in this country is limited.
26:27This is so expensive.
26:29And right now they're also attacking that
26:31as we are seeing the attacks
26:32on our reproductive freedom continue to grow.
26:35But IVF is our assisted part of our reproductive healthcare
26:40that gives us the ability
26:41to bring children into this world, right?
26:43So a lot of queer and trans folks are using this,
26:45but also folks who are just trying to create their families
26:47and they're coming up against different challenges.
26:51And so we want to make sure that people have access to that
26:53and that it's affordable,
26:54that it's accessible for folks, right?
26:56So I also want to throw into the mix
26:57as we think about contraception versus IVF versus abortion,
27:01all of these things are falling under the whole realm
27:04of what reproductive healthcare is all about.
27:06But another piece that we don't talk enough about
27:08is access to comprehensive sex education in this country,
27:12right?
27:13So we talk about not having a baby.
27:15We talk about having babies.
27:16We talk about making it hard to have babies,
27:18but we ain't talking about the thing that we do
27:20that actually puts us in that position, right?
27:23And how are we actually setting people up for success
27:26in that way and teaching young people about consent,
27:28about their bodies at a young age
27:30so by the time they get to their decision making years,
27:33that they are set up to be able to make their best decision.
27:36So that was a very quick and dirty,
27:38I'm telling y'all, if y'all want to go deeper into this,
27:41come around our way, we'll give you all the good things,
27:43but Alfonso to answer your question,
27:45that's just a little bit of a breakdown
27:46of like what those things are.
27:47But just to go back and to give a final thought
27:50to even what my dear sister Saida was saying, right?
27:53We are not and we cannot go back.
27:55I need black people to understand
27:56that we have always controlled our fertility
27:58against so many odds, against violence,
28:01against so much, right?
28:03And so we are now in a position in this country
28:06where we have a force that is really trying its best
28:10to take us back to a place
28:11where we are not able to make our own decisions
28:13about our bodies and our families and our lives.
28:16And this is why we cannot separate
28:19our reproductive healthcare needs,
28:21our reproductive freedoms from this bigger fight
28:24that we are in for black liberation in this country.
28:26When we do that, we sell ourselves short
28:28and we will on the other side,
28:30not really truly seek to have the liberation that we seek.
28:33So all of this is connected.
28:34Audre Lorde said that we cannot have single issue movements
28:37because we do not live single issue lives.
28:39And that is at the root of the work
28:41that we do every single day.
28:42And that is why we have to ensure
28:44that these types of conversations keep happening black folks
28:47because we are not a monolith
28:48and we need to understand how all of these things
28:51intertwine with each other
28:53and how we gotta make sure that we are untangling them
28:56to get closer to our freedom.
28:57So I am grateful to be in this fight with all of y'all
29:00and this is so good that we are having these conversations
29:03because we got a long way to go to get to November
29:06but I believe that we gonna get there
29:07with a lot of power at the end.
29:09Okay, Audre Lorde, my God, I'm sorry.
29:14I just, I'm looking at the comments.
29:16I'm having my own little shout party over here
29:18but it's so true and so necessary.
29:22You two queens are just, I wish I could,
29:25I might replay this in the morning Alfonso
29:27just to hear it when I wake up.
29:29Thank you because you are helping us.
29:32Thank you for the work that you do.
29:34Monica Simpson, Executive Director of SisterSong,
29:37Saeeda Dunston, CEO of Emcorp.
29:39Thank you, thank you, thank you for your time,
29:41for your brilliance, for your attention.
29:45♪ I'm so fine, I'm so fine, I'm so fine, I'm so fine ♪