HAPPY
“STILL IN A PANDEMMY & SOCIAL JUSTICE UPRISING”
NEW YEAR, Y’ALL!!!
lEMME MESS WITH YOUR NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS A LIL BIT.
cONTINUED, Per PART TWO…….
None of these poaching ass founders/owners/boards members talk about that shit. The gatekeeping on the provision of adequate healthcare to racialized folks is damn Fort Knox. But then, to expect marginalized folks to MOVE MF’N MOUNTAINS to get their requirements filled. When we cannot even get adequate healthcare treatment????? But you want to use us to make your organization more “inclusive”??? Racialized folks are to take their trainings to feel “more equipped”? More equipped because you are getting your ancestral knowledge fed to you from a Gerber jar? Or, tell newly trained doulas to find someone to mentor them??? Not here is a list of “doula-friendly care providers”??? The worst part is they use the LACK of decolonized, marginalized, racialized bodies and minds to push their narratives. Sound familiar? Peak slavery tactic to use one’s own people to keep control and notoriety. Hello, Bigger Long in “Harriet” or, Mr and Mrs. Candy raised by Stephen in “D’Jango Unchained”…Hello house vs field slave bs….Hello oppressive power dynamics. Go through the social media and look at the changes of these various organizations that you contribute to. The appearance of racialized bodies coincide with the public executions and home invasions of George Floyd & Breonna Taylor. But, Black bodies STILL are dying while bringing forth life. Imagine if all DONA/DTI/CBI members (past/present/future….oh bih, do not worry, I know of all these “professional” organizations) had to read bell hooks, James Baldwin, Nichole Rhiannon-Jones, Cornel West, Elaine Brown, Maya Angelou, Nikki Giovanni, Angela Davis, “Buy Black”only during the course, and be submitted to a panel of racialized, marginalized folks for their certification process in becoming a doulaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLZZZZZZZZZ……
I imagine a world where the pink pussy hats would become the collection baskets for mandatory reparations. And they would circulate ‘em through their families, their racist ass elders, bosses, friends, community hangouts. Then they would switch em out for those Thirty-One bags, and fill them on up. I know the depth of white supremacy and resentment due to it, personally. They use our own who don’t have the inner library of self-actualization and realization at their fingertips, stuck in survival, to drive their own deeper into a system that was not built to save, but to kill them/or use them as collateral. But ya girl is a troublemaker, difficult, aggressive, angry, hard-to-work-with because I ask for accountability????? But, they and their ancestors have stolen time and time and time again from racialized bodies, built tables excluding us, then begrudgingly offered us silent seats at said table, and then chained us to said table expecting us to carry it towards our our own liberation? But they are okay with giving money to organizations that give A FRACTION of the dollar to the target group????? What happened to “give unto others as you would have given unto you”??? But be quoting “eye for an eye”? Especially, when Jesus said “to turn the other cheek”?
That is why I split my fee. Because colonizers gonna colonize. Because gatekeeping is real and racist. Because Black folks should NOT have to choose to charge less, or not at all to provide services to their own. Because your favorite IG famous birthworkers are capitalist af, care only for the visibility, and the clicks-to-cash ratio into their pockets, Because, it is primarily racialized, marginalized folks that your favorite local doulas used for certification, and are now taking those folks on for a tax break. Because the volume of doulas acting out of trauma-bonding, white guilt, white savior complex, voyeurism, exploitation is fucking out of control. Because my people ARE NOT a fucking Save the Children commercial. Because I am not going to use my people as a tax break, in the same country that refuses to give reparations for documented genocide and abuse. Because this country will bailout the automotive/airline/mining industry with billions, but refuses to provide clean water/affordable housing/adequate nutrition and healthcare. Because a teenage, far-right poster boy can provoke and kill people exercising their First Amendment right, pick his jury, be loved by the judge, acquitted of murder, AND OFFERED INTERNSHIPS IN CONGRESS. But, a teenage Black girl-Chrystul Kizer who was fighting for her life, as a sex trafficking victim……. is in prison, FACING LIFE IN PRISON. Because Austin city council members can be misinformed on data about incarcerated women, and vy for a new prison for women, but not go as hard for affordable housing in the most expensive city in the U.S OUTSIDE OF CALIFORNIA. Because of the Stanford Prison Experiment. Because of Betsy, Lucy and Anarcha. Because of the colonization of solidarity. Because the very essence of popular, fashion, art culture is derived from Black culture, the slang of the LGBTQIA+ comes from BLACK FOLKS (Jonathon Van Ness = prime appropriating example), you favorite rock stars emulated Black musicians, your favorite fashion trends stolen from the same urban and ethnic streets that affluent redline and gentrify (REST IN POWER, VIRGIL ABLOH & may TELFAR fuck up these LVMH streets). Your favorite non-racialized reality stars are well known because of cultural appropriation. Your favorite perfume notes are all stolen from people with melanin. From the roses of Africa, India and the Middle East, to the tropical herbals of the many islands on this planet.
Because the white-washed call for you to save your containers and jars has been a practice by all marginalized and oppressed folks in this country. But, your charity won’t allow for them to buy the nicest silicone/glass storage ware. Because the Red Cross, Salvation Army uses most of your contributions as payment for administration, not on the ground action. Because the religious right refuses to care for the poor, widowed, oppressed and imprisoned as charged, but refuse “to give Caesar what is due unto Caesar”. Because white, liberal feminists will also continue to exploit the suffering of the marginalized and racialized, because they really want to be equal to white, cisgendered men. These women will continue to use Black folks, gather proximity points, meddle in all kinds of folks business abroad, and continue to treat Indigenous/Meso-American/Latinx folks as the help while celebrating Juneteenth & Cinco de Mayo. And the worst part is if they do something for you, you should be grateful they even cared to do anything at all. You should be grateful they allowed you to exist in the same realm as them.
Because racialized medical Anatomy & Physiology illustrations went viral in these innanets streets, telling folks to donate to GoFundMe efforts when Gofundme takes a significant cut of the proceeds. BUT, WILL NOT HOLD THE PUBLISHERS ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE OMISSIONS. THE OMISSIONS THAT REINFORCE THE LIES THAT WE DO NOT FEEL PAIN, SUFFERING AND EXPERIENCE LIFE THE SAME. THE LIES THAT ARE KILLING BLACK WOMEN BRINGING FORTH LIFE. lies that lead to undignified deaths at the helms of a system not built for us.
Got us focusing on the past and the future, but THEY WILL co-opt this call for inclusion by having their white illustrators do what we are in awe of having missed. The Educated Birth, run by a BLACK WOMAN has been doing this for now SIX years. There is another BLACK WOMAN PHYSICIAN, @gorjusdoc on IG that has been doing this FOR YEARS. But just as if slavery had never been abolished, it is a Black man out in these streets, for sale to the highest bidder (our coin into his GoFundMe) while the white-led, owned and supported publishers will deny THEM ALL their due hiring, publishing rights AND royalties. Deny THEM ALL EQUITABLE LEGACY BUILDING.
Because I will not eat, while my people starve. Because I am accountable af. Because I believe in harm reduction and equity. Because I have made mistakes. Because I have had to ask for forgiveness. Because my purpose has NEVER BEEN for my personal wealth hoarding and public appearance.
I was raised by a very religious, Southern Baptist grandmother. You can read that in these blogs. I know The Word. And something I realized when I left the evangelical church, was that folk love to say The Lord’s Prayer, but totally cut out all of Matthew, Chapter 6. The whole “lemme take that part only, and believe I am exempt from the wrath of God” thing didn’t really sit, nor fit well in my spirit. STILL DOES NOT. But, I cannot say that Jesus was a feminist for washing a woman’s feet, hanging out in a house with SINGLE women alone without a chaperone (Jewish Law Y’ALL), and kicking it with the ostracized woman at the well???? The pickers and choosers also do not know the geneaology of Jesus. It is filled with folks who were no one, political and social outcasts, atypical women, deceptive humans, major historical figures….but all Middle Eastern folks. It is said “that the truth never gets old. What is new, must not be the truth.” That picking and choosing mess is not old during the course of spiritual study, but the ways in which it is done are new/novel.
The bible that #45 stood on the steps of St. John’s Church with a MILITARY ESCORT (make it make sense, Jesus) says that you should give without pronouncement, and seeking acknowledgment……do so that your left hand does not know what your right hand is doing. Is it me, or are so many birthworkers in these streets, trying to get all the money on stolen knowledge, and trying to seem like they giving their all?
But let me correctly quote, and cite Jesus for the unknowing. I mean, I might cite the Quran, Torah, Dhammapada, Treasury of Knowledge, Bhaghadavita, Popol Vuh, and Ifa Divination texts for those who wanna box on some bs…...
Matthew Chapter 6, ESV
Giving to the Needy
1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
2 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
The Lord's Prayer
5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
10 Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread,
12 and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Fasting
16 “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Lay Up Treasures in Heaven
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust[e] destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
Do Not Be Anxious
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
The only people I know that have lived by these words , are the racialized, marginalized bodies of colonialism’s diaspora…”the unsaved savages” of missionary efforts, the “sacrificial lambs for the lands of milk & honey”, “the uneducated/uncouth hoarders of precious commodities”, “the welfare moms”, “sexual heathens” and all them other dumb ass phrases their favorite news/history channels and literature spew. …I have a whole lifetime of knowledge on the poisons of religious colonialism. The “Iron Dome” was/is financed by Christianity in this country holding residual guilt about WWII, when Judaism doesn’t even believe in Jesus as The Messiah????? Common Sense says….
These occupied people…..they have more weight with the God of my ancestors, than a whole SBC Convention of Leaders. I have met, hung out with and even befriended a shit ton of hypocrites. And hypocrites aren’t just Christian, btw. Hypocrisy is an indicator of religiosity. An indicator of not fully sitting into spirit. An indicator of only taking a small bite, but talking a big game at the buffet. But then they wanna ask for “forgiveness”?????
But, Critical Race Theory is being BANNED in schools. Being honest about the history of this country’s origins, and current operations is being BANNED in schools. Teachers can lose their jobs for teaching how and why we ended up with “Race/Ethnicity” on all of our government, employment, healthcare etc, etc, etc forms?????
God loves the earnest prayer of an addict, more than the poised poetry of a cleric. His words, not mine.
An enlightened friend said to me “it is not what they do, but what they do not do. Not what they say, but what they don’t say”……..