So much love & respect for my friend Sarpoma Sefa-Boakye and Kathryn Hall-Trujillo and all the political supersheros - the Black womyn and other women of colour - involved with this movement to build people power. "Of every 1,000 babies born in the United States, six do not survive. African-American babies are more than four times likely to die during childbirth than Caucasian babies. For Kathryn, these numbers reflect a complex set of factors. “I think a part of the higher African-American infant mortality rate is due to our inability to ask the right questions. As health professionals, we approach the statistics based on what we are taught rather than what is true,” she explains. “We are just starting to look at the effects of stress on pregnancy and racial disparities on birth outcomes, but my profession has certain criteria we are taught to stay within when it comes to getting information. The trick is to push the boundaries a little more. Cuba has a 66 percent African population yet their infant mortality rate across the board is better than the U.S. Mexico is a poorer country than the U.S., and they have better birthing outcomes as well. Right now, when it comes to why this is affecting different groups in the United States differently, we have to have the courage to ask different questions.” ... Not only have these bonds created extended support families of support, they have also made the women more politically engaged in their communities. “As the women are organized in groups, they learn about the system and how services come together. In one community, there were not enough WIC [federal Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children] coupons, so the women went down to the state legislator and demanded they do their jobs,” she adds. “They would have never learned to mobilize like that without being part of a community of support. So the SisterFriend network helps women at the personal level, but also at the systematic level — because the more they learn about the system, the less they are afraid of it.”"
