BLACK HISTORY MONTH IS (always) HERE!
On our worst days, we are coming at you live from the belly of imperialism. February 1st however blocks out the noise, because here is where we remember we also at Carolina Abortion Fund come to you live from the birthplace of defiance and civil disobedience. We come at you proudly this Black history month from the home of the triad, where the Greensboro sit-ins took place, where Maya Angeleou came to rest her head, where Black Panthers took pride in Free Breakfast Programs and Winston Salem’s chapter happened to be the first of the Southern chapters. South Carolina is a true testimony to the legacy of our people’s power, maintaining, and preserving and continuing the legacy of Angolans through the Gullah Geechee lands of lowcountry, being where we call the portal (some of Charleston still holds the visual and metaphysical reminders of the auction blocks) and yet also a continued holding place for our organizing and our community defense since the Stono Rebellion (one of the largest rebellions of enslaved Africans in our history!) This is home of having our way, queer and here without fear, sexy and soulaan.
Black History, Black Futures, and the very daily practice of presently being Black is upon us. This month we join you in honoring, venerating and realizing a thriving and resourceful life for Black people from our ancestral vantage point in working to bring Reproductive Justice to each corner of our Carolinas. 100 years of sharing the closing out Aquarius season in community, recognizing the needs of the people and transmuting it into loving the people. Loving Black Women, and Black people, into infinity is our every day.
Reproductive Justice was born outside of a 5013c, exclusively to imagine policy and societal changes that would improve access and maternal health outcomes for Black and Brown communities.It was born outside of recognition of an administration just like this month of rememory. CAF’s very best contributors exist outside of this structure as well. Reproductive Justice requires the continued contribution of Black voices to build a framework that holds Black people and consequently all people as a collective, where our disabled (superpowered) and Black, our Queer and Trans and Black, our Elders and Black Folks with Wisdom, are all cared for beyond measure. Fighting for this framework allows us to carry the torch of realizing liberation for our families while allowing us to touch the intersections of our struggle. We pull together towards a future that includes us at every concentration of pigmentation, resisting our erasure, and cementing pathways that allow us to just be.
Hear us when we say more than anytime in this movement should we heed the lessons of the movements before us. Joy is only justice if you have experienced what they expect you to feel otherwise. Resistance is an every day practice, and does not come as a reminder. This Black History Month, remembering is how you will save a life. Happy Black History Month (every single day of our lives)