Bodily autonomy is only the beginning. And no amount of pretending your city is a blue haven will rescue your county or state from being hostile. Unless you plan to not just resist, but dismantle.
As I’ve said in so many other forums. This is about abortion today, but it will be about many other issues tomorrow. And honestly, for those of us in those marginalized communities, it’s been about everything, because we are colonized and oppressed people.
I saw many companies offering to pay for abortion access, standing in solidarity with those who need access wherever they are, but I want to challenge them and any other entity on here who is sitting back and not worried because they are in a “safe” place, to think about why only certain spaces are safe today.
And yes, in companies, I absolutely include you if you are a design firm, consulting group, and especially a local and state government. This includes you even if the majority of folks around you in your company, neighborhood, or church, or at least the majority of folks you know supported the Supreme Court decision.
People capable of giving birth, especially once they’ve decided to take on birthing children, will consider the quality of life for those children and their own quality of healthcare through this process. If they’ve been discriminated against at their hospitals, clinics, schools, and daycares, no amount of fancy parks or even adequate public transit will supersede them wanting to settle (or stay willingly) in your town/city/undefined suburban conglomeration.
What good is a regularly scheduled train, when the ambulance that’s needed because a person’s body is actively in medical trauma, won’t show up for hours?
What good are clearly stated and available affordable housing programs, if the clinic next door misprescribes medicines and underestimates pain to Black and other people of color?
But I’ve said this before, but I’m back here again because now we are at the emergency point.
First, I’m going to speak to my fellow Black Queer Feminist Urbanists who embody those intersections and other MARGINALIZED people.
Learn and understand what your state’s constitutions and legislative laws say about abortion, same-sex/gender marriage, sodomy (yes, this is still a thing on the books in some states, just not enforced), and contraception, along with other things we’ve been monitoring like access to healthcare, gun control, police power, and housing and food aid.
Then, learn about what networks exist to help you if you do want to try and thrive where you are, but also those that can help you if you are in need of safe migration elsewhere. Make a clear financial plan. Make a clear escape plan. Make a clear shelter-in-place plan. Know where your documents are and those of people in your care.
Secondly, I’m speaking to you if you are in a privileged position, the first thing to do is to support groups in marginalized communities as they support those who relate to what I’ve said above with direct needs for abortion and related care in Black and other communities of color, disability, and gender diversity.
Since I wrote some of these words on social media, so many others have created comprehensive lists of abortion funds, reproductive justice centers, and your other local clinics and civil rights associations, along with your local chapters of national organizations like the ACLU and legislators at all levels. I know many of you are marching, but we are beyond the point of just marching, it’s time to mobilize and organize and fund for long periods of sustainability.
Finally, the work to dismantle and rebuild this system we’ve created and been complicit on this Earth continues. You can choose to be present to the community now or wake up and see the proverbial towers and such washed away because they weren’t grounded or supported.
By the Way
These are other articles/videos that were noteworthy for me this week. Watch me expand more on these items in our weekly Tuesday livestreams at 4 pm Eastern on LinkedIn, YouTube, and Twitter.
If you need to find an abortion fund to support.
If you need one and need to do so discreetly.
I join D. Danyelle Thomas in agreement that we are here due to Cristofacism and that even that feet voting I called on above has limits under the kind of regime we are under. She also breaks down how the Montgomery Bus Boycott really went down. So many of us on the transportation side of things love lifting up Rosa Parks during Black History Month, but this goes into, with references, how the bus boycott was successful then and how we may not be so successful with any mass protest movement now without sustained action.
And you probably already read Jia Tolentino’s New Yorker article, but I’m putting it here too, because she clearly illustrates how Black women have had less choices in healthcare and wellbeing anyway, based on where they lived.
And I want to include Anne Helen Petersen’s most recent email here too, as she speaks directly to white women in this moment, especially the ones still clueless and misguided.
Finally, thank you to Neighborhood Design Center for sharing a previous call-to-action of mine on these matters. I honestly believe having my mind in tune for creating a new world anyway, along with the rest practice I have, is sustaining me (also, I took socials off my phone, so please note that if you comment on any of my posts on social)!
Before You Go
Here’s how you can financially support this work + access our weekly livestreams, now on Tuesdays at 4 Eastern.
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If you just want to support me for any reason, but don’t need anything in return, you can donate to my capital campaign, or Venmo or Cash. App me. Even with all the visibility on my work this month, funding is really short and I would really be grateful if you could send something, as some new partnership opportunities come through.
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My bookshelf over at Bookshop.org is very much alive and well, purchase your copies of books I talked about above, plus more that I’ve designated part of the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist canon, the general urbanism canon and other lists because you can never have too many books. This is also another way to financially support my work.
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My very first official crochet pattern is for sale. It’s been tested and reviewed and you can join the club of folks making their own Kristfinity Scarves!
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I’ll be live on Patreon, LinkedIn and YouTube talking about everything I mentioned above and then some for my Open Studio/Office Hours at 4 eastern on Tuesday, June 28, 2022. Don’t worry if you can’t watch live, it will be archived publicly on all spaces. Also, all of my prior video chats under the Public Lecture/Open Studio label are now available on Patreon and will be making their way to YouTube little by little over the next few weeks.
Until next time,