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Would you like to inspect the original subtitles? These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:05,214 --> 00:00:08,633 Um, this cake says, "80 years of birthdays." 2 00:00:08,634 --> 00:00:10,426 Eighty years young, 3 00:00:10,427 --> 00:00:14,430 and his favorite saying has always been, "You're only as old as you feel." 4 00:00:14,431 --> 00:00:18,726 And if that's the case, Dad, you're very, very young... About 40. 5 00:00:19,562 --> 00:00:22,271 I was born to a white mother and a Black father. 6 00:00:23,066 --> 00:00:25,483 That laugh you hear is my mother, Cheryl Hannah, 7 00:00:25,484 --> 00:00:28,110 and it's fitting that this is the first thing you hear from her 8 00:00:28,111 --> 00:00:30,655 because my mother is one of the kindest people I know, 9 00:00:30,656 --> 00:00:33,784 always laughing, always doing things for others. 10 00:00:34,243 --> 00:00:38,872 Years ago, my mom threw my grandfather a big party for his 80th birthday. 11 00:00:40,082 --> 00:00:42,959 When my grandfather, Joseph Novotny, was born, 12 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:45,170 he was designated male and white. 13 00:00:45,963 --> 00:00:49,298 Arlena Tillman is my grandmother on my father's side, 14 00:00:49,299 --> 00:00:53,594 and when she was born, she was designated female and Black. 15 00:00:53,595 --> 00:00:57,932 Both were born in the year 1924, but because this is America, 16 00:00:57,933 --> 00:01:00,060 that is where the similarities end. 17 00:01:00,602 --> 00:01:02,603 They did not choose these designations, 18 00:01:02,604 --> 00:01:04,272 but were born into them. 19 00:01:04,273 --> 00:01:07,149 And yet, nearly everything about their lives would be shaped 20 00:01:07,150 --> 00:01:09,861 by their race and their gender. 21 00:01:09,862 --> 00:01:12,280 My grandfather could vote when he turned 18. 22 00:01:12,281 --> 00:01:15,366 My grandmother could be beaten and maybe killed 23 00:01:15,367 --> 00:01:18,160 if she had dared to try to cast a ballot at 18. 24 00:01:18,161 --> 00:01:22,832 If my grandfather was qualified, there was no job he could not have. 25 00:01:22,833 --> 00:01:25,042 Regardless of her qualifications, 26 00:01:25,043 --> 00:01:26,961 most well-paying jobs in the North, 27 00:01:26,962 --> 00:01:30,382 just as in the South, were off-limits to my grandmother. 28 00:01:31,216 --> 00:01:34,343 Grandpa could send his children to any school he wanted. 29 00:01:34,344 --> 00:01:36,512 Grandmama's children were sent to the schools 30 00:01:36,513 --> 00:01:38,723 designated for Black children. 31 00:01:38,724 --> 00:01:41,767 These two families, these two histories, 32 00:01:41,768 --> 00:01:44,896 this racial classification system we've inherited, 33 00:01:44,897 --> 00:01:49,401 collided in the year 1972, when my father met my mother. 34 00:01:50,110 --> 00:01:51,944 They fell for each other fast, 35 00:01:51,945 --> 00:01:55,157 and within a few months, my mom had moved in with my dad. 36 00:01:56,241 --> 00:01:57,992 When they had me and my two sisters, 37 00:01:57,993 --> 00:02:01,621 my father knew that our Blackness would shape much of our lives, 38 00:02:01,622 --> 00:02:02,997 and so, when we were very young, 39 00:02:02,998 --> 00:02:06,959 he sat us down and told us the reality of race in America: 40 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:09,295 we were biracial, and in this country, 41 00:02:09,296 --> 00:02:12,465 that meant that I could be Black, but I could never be white. 42 00:02:12,466 --> 00:02:16,802 I was born of both worlds, but could only belong fully to one. 43 00:02:16,803 --> 00:02:20,556 I was designated female and Black, just like my grandmama. 44 00:02:20,557 --> 00:02:22,601 And that is who I am. 45 00:02:47,709 --> 00:02:50,711 This is The 1619 Project. 46 00:02:57,594 --> 00:03:01,013 ♪ Wednesday's Child by Alice Smith playing ♪ 47 00:03:03,267 --> 00:03:08,145 ♪ Tuesday's child will play in sun ♪ 48 00:03:08,146 --> 00:03:11,107 ♪ Wednesday comes with a gun ♪ 49 00:03:11,108 --> 00:03:14,819 ♪ Thursday's tears have just begun ♪ 50 00:03:14,820 --> 00:03:19,199 ♪ Friday ships are filled with crying ♪ 51 00:03:19,867 --> 00:03:20,867 In the United States, 52 00:03:20,868 --> 00:03:24,538 race defines our lives from beginning to end. 53 00:03:24,830 --> 00:03:27,832 Our race is listed on our birth certificates when we're born, 54 00:03:27,833 --> 00:03:30,169 and on our death certificates when we die. 55 00:03:31,044 --> 00:03:34,256 We're used to checking boxes to designate our racial category, 56 00:03:34,464 --> 00:03:39,552 whether it's for school applications, or bank loans or a driver's license. 57 00:03:39,553 --> 00:03:41,762 And yet most of us don't stop to question 58 00:03:41,763 --> 00:03:44,473 just how we arrived at the racial classifications 59 00:03:44,474 --> 00:03:46,685 we have become so accustomed to. 60 00:03:51,273 --> 00:03:55,026 But in 2019, when Ashley Ramkishum and Samuel Sarfo 61 00:03:55,027 --> 00:03:56,736 made a trip to the Arlington clerk's office 62 00:03:56,737 --> 00:03:58,905 to apply for their marriage license, 63 00:03:58,906 --> 00:04:03,535 they did question just why they had to check these boxes in the first place. 64 00:04:06,330 --> 00:04:10,082 Thank you, Samuel and Ashley, for agreeing to talk with us today. 65 00:04:10,083 --> 00:04:14,086 So, when you all decide that you are going to get married, 66 00:04:14,087 --> 00:04:15,630 you're living in Virginia, 67 00:04:15,631 --> 00:04:19,133 and you go to apply for the marriage license, 68 00:04:19,134 --> 00:04:21,427 and what do they ask you for? 69 00:04:21,428 --> 00:04:24,680 - When we go to the Arlington courthouse, 70 00:04:24,681 --> 00:04:26,807 they, basically, direct us to go to the computer 71 00:04:26,808 --> 00:04:28,935 to start filling out the marriage application. 72 00:04:28,936 --> 00:04:32,021 We got to the question where they asked about our race, 73 00:04:32,022 --> 00:04:35,942 and it just had the drop-down menu, and it had the asterisks on it, 74 00:04:35,943 --> 00:04:39,403 so we didn't really have an option to not answer it. 75 00:04:39,404 --> 00:04:43,491 So, I asked if there's a way for us to do it on paper. 76 00:04:43,492 --> 00:04:46,035 She had said, no, there wasn't an option, 77 00:04:46,036 --> 00:04:48,871 and if we didn't wanna answer the race question, 78 00:04:48,872 --> 00:04:50,331 we just had to click "other." 79 00:04:50,332 --> 00:04:53,251 And so, we said... "Nope." 80 00:04:53,252 --> 00:04:55,461 And we just walked away. 81 00:04:55,462 --> 00:04:58,381 So, why did that stop you? 82 00:04:58,382 --> 00:05:02,301 I mean... in the United States, we check race all the time. 83 00:05:02,302 --> 00:05:07,557 Race is on your birth certificate, race is on your college applications. 84 00:05:07,558 --> 00:05:11,519 We always are checking race, so why did that surprise you, 85 00:05:11,520 --> 00:05:13,896 and then why did that stop you at that moment? 86 00:05:13,897 --> 00:05:17,860 - For me, personally, for somebody that grew up in Ghana, 87 00:05:18,861 --> 00:05:22,989 where I guess you could say everybody's like me, or... 88 00:05:22,990 --> 00:05:25,408 - We didn't have to check this box, like... - Mm-hmm. 89 00:05:25,409 --> 00:05:28,119 - Actually, to be honest, when I first came to America 90 00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:30,830 is when I really got exposed to the word “race." 91 00:05:30,831 --> 00:05:32,707 - Mm-hmm. - Prior to that, if you say "race," 92 00:05:32,708 --> 00:05:34,667 I'm thinking we're racing. 93 00:05:34,668 --> 00:05:37,420 It wa... It's not a thing, so when I came here, 94 00:05:37,421 --> 00:05:41,049 that's when all this box checking and everything, so 95 00:05:42,968 --> 00:05:46,597 you just have to pause for a second and think like, "Why?" 96 00:05:50,851 --> 00:05:55,855 In America, the origins of race go back to the system of slavery. 97 00:05:55,856 --> 00:05:58,065 Though we may believe that race is biological, 98 00:05:58,066 --> 00:06:00,484 a physical trait defined by our skin color, 99 00:06:00,485 --> 00:06:05,115 or hair texture, or the shape of our lips or nose... it is not. 100 00:06:06,658 --> 00:06:09,660 How we've come to call someone white or someone Black, 101 00:06:09,661 --> 00:06:12,997 was, actually, invented to help perpetuate the system of slavery, 102 00:06:12,998 --> 00:06:16,627 generate profit, and sustain white supremacy. 103 00:06:17,211 --> 00:06:20,421 And the laws that built this system were focused on controlling 104 00:06:20,422 --> 00:06:23,842 the sexual and reproductive lives of Black women. 105 00:06:29,890 --> 00:06:32,100 Take one, marker. 106 00:06:34,561 --> 00:06:37,980 - All right, we're here to talk about a subject that 107 00:06:37,981 --> 00:06:41,025 everyone thinks they know and understand, 108 00:06:41,026 --> 00:06:42,860 but that they, actually, don't. 109 00:06:42,861 --> 00:06:46,697 So, I realized how ridiculous, 110 00:06:46,698 --> 00:06:50,117 um... race is and how we think about race 111 00:06:50,118 --> 00:06:51,911 when my daughter 112 00:06:51,912 --> 00:06:54,413 was asking me why she wasn't white... 113 00:06:54,414 --> 00:06:57,083 - Mm-hmm. - And, right, because we teach, 114 00:06:57,084 --> 00:06:59,001 in this country, that race is your skin color. 115 00:06:59,002 --> 00:07:00,461 - Right. - So, she's like, "Well, 116 00:07:00,462 --> 00:07:02,964 our skin looks white, and Daddy's skin looks black." 117 00:07:02,965 --> 00:07:05,842 And I'm like, "No." I'm like, "We're all Black." 118 00:07:05,843 --> 00:07:08,135 Mm-hmm. And she was like, "Well, why?" 119 00:07:08,136 --> 00:07:10,263 So, then I'm trying to help her understand 120 00:07:10,264 --> 00:07:11,806 because my mother is white. 121 00:07:11,807 --> 00:07:14,684 So, she was like, "Well, if Grandma's white, 122 00:07:14,685 --> 00:07:17,061 "and she's your mom, why aren't you white? 123 00:07:17,062 --> 00:07:20,147 And why are you Black, and Daddy's Black, and I'm Black?" 124 00:07:20,148 --> 00:07:21,775 - And, and, and I'm like... - Right. 125 00:07:22,985 --> 00:07:25,611 "Actually, I don't know." 126 00:07:25,612 --> 00:07:29,282 And it's one of those things where you don't realize how ridiculous it is 127 00:07:29,283 --> 00:07:32,994 until you break it down to someone who has not yet been indoctrinated 128 00:07:32,995 --> 00:07:34,787 - into our system. - Right. Mm-hmm. 129 00:07:34,788 --> 00:07:36,956 - And then you see it's, actually, very silly, 130 00:07:36,957 --> 00:07:42,253 so... how did we arrive at being a country 131 00:07:42,254 --> 00:07:44,714 with all of these racial classifications, 132 00:07:44,715 --> 00:07:47,758 but, specifically, pertaining to who is white and who is Black? 133 00:07:47,759 --> 00:07:51,721 - Originally, when the colonies were beginning to be established 134 00:07:51,722 --> 00:07:53,973 in what's now the United States, 135 00:07:53,974 --> 00:07:58,436 there weren't these clear classifications and distinctions 136 00:07:58,437 --> 00:08:01,022 between who's white and who's Black. 137 00:08:01,023 --> 00:08:06,027 And so, they soon discovered that in order to maintain 138 00:08:06,028 --> 00:08:07,820 a slave society, 139 00:08:07,821 --> 00:08:13,452 that it was important to make clear what these distinctions were. 140 00:08:14,119 --> 00:08:18,247 So, for example, a question that came early on was, 141 00:08:18,248 --> 00:08:23,503 "What is the status of a child born to a Black woman, 142 00:08:23,504 --> 00:08:26,131 but fathered by a white man?" 143 00:08:26,715 --> 00:08:32,721 During this time, white men who owned, under the law, 144 00:08:32,930 --> 00:08:37,850 Black women, could rape them with impunity. 145 00:08:37,851 --> 00:08:43,731 And children were being born who were fathered by these white men, 146 00:08:43,732 --> 00:08:45,191 but at that time, 147 00:08:45,192 --> 00:08:50,488 there wasn't a clear-cut rule of the status of these children. 148 00:08:50,489 --> 00:08:53,032 Under the British law, 149 00:08:53,033 --> 00:08:55,368 which was a patrilineal law , 150 00:08:55,369 --> 00:08:59,705 these children should have the status of their fathers, which was white. 151 00:08:59,706 --> 00:09:02,416 If the children had the status of their fathers, 152 00:09:02,417 --> 00:09:05,920 then the children would've had an entitlement 153 00:09:05,921 --> 00:09:09,590 to their father's wealth, uh, their land, 154 00:09:09,591 --> 00:09:13,177 and most importantly, to their status as white people, 155 00:09:13,178 --> 00:09:17,015 and that wouldn't have served the white elite. 156 00:09:17,683 --> 00:09:22,436 And so, the Assembly got together in Virginia, 157 00:09:22,437 --> 00:09:27,149 and in 1662, they passed a law that said 158 00:09:27,150 --> 00:09:33,155 that the children of Black women would have the status of their mothers. 159 00:09:33,156 --> 00:09:36,285 Uh, in other words, they were enslavable. 160 00:09:37,578 --> 00:09:40,705 They were creating this political classification, 161 00:09:40,706 --> 00:09:44,876 but by putting the source of it in Black women's wombs, 162 00:09:44,877 --> 00:09:48,838 they made it seem as if it was an inherited condition, 163 00:09:48,839 --> 00:09:52,425 and they also made it seem as if Black women were responsible 164 00:09:52,426 --> 00:09:55,429 for the enslaved status of their children. 165 00:09:56,138 --> 00:09:59,056 In order to justify the barbarity of slavery, 166 00:09:59,057 --> 00:10:02,977 white Americans created a culture that treated people descended from Africa 167 00:10:02,978 --> 00:10:05,606 as a distinct and inferior race. 168 00:10:06,190 --> 00:10:08,691 Many white theologists justified African slavery 169 00:10:08,692 --> 00:10:13,447 as the natural order of the universe, a part of God's divine plan. 170 00:10:13,947 --> 00:10:18,701 And by the 1800s, pseudoscience emerged to support these theories. 171 00:10:18,702 --> 00:10:21,746 White physicians perpetuated fallacies in medical journals 172 00:10:21,747 --> 00:10:25,208 that stated Black people had smaller skulls, thicker skin 173 00:10:25,209 --> 00:10:27,794 and weaker lungs than white people, 174 00:10:28,086 --> 00:10:31,589 all myths that served to justify the violence and subjugation 175 00:10:31,590 --> 00:10:33,216 that enslavement required 176 00:10:33,217 --> 00:10:36,803 by creating the idea of natural racial divisions. 177 00:10:37,513 --> 00:10:40,515 As the pseudoscience of the 19th century took hold, 178 00:10:40,516 --> 00:10:44,018 the medical field used race to justify brutal experimentation 179 00:10:44,019 --> 00:10:46,229 on Black people's bodies, 180 00:10:46,230 --> 00:10:50,859 and perhaps none more unspeakable than those executed on Black women. 181 00:10:51,485 --> 00:10:56,239 During the 1800s, James Marion Sims, created the field of gynecology 182 00:10:56,240 --> 00:11:00,661 by conducting surgical experiments exclusively on enslaved women. 183 00:11:01,370 --> 00:11:05,289 He operated on them without anesthesia, even though it was available, 184 00:11:05,290 --> 00:11:09,294 based off of the racist belief that Black women were immune to pain. 185 00:11:10,796 --> 00:11:14,799 And while Sims is widely known as the "Father of Modern Gynecology," 186 00:11:14,800 --> 00:11:17,802 history has often erased the Black women whose bodies were used 187 00:11:17,803 --> 00:11:19,805 to create the field itself. 188 00:11:20,514 --> 00:11:22,849 Of all the women Sims experimented on, 189 00:11:22,850 --> 00:11:27,771 we only know the names of three: Lucy, Betsey, and Anarcha. 190 00:11:29,314 --> 00:11:30,815 All these centuries later, 191 00:11:30,816 --> 00:11:34,360 the false beliefs about Black women's pain and their humanity 192 00:11:34,361 --> 00:11:37,614 still impact the reproductive health care they receive. 193 00:11:38,323 --> 00:11:41,242 And the consequences for Black women and their children 194 00:11:41,243 --> 00:11:43,620 are all too often deadly. 195 00:11:55,632 --> 00:11:57,383 When I look at Cassius, 196 00:11:57,384 --> 00:11:58,885 I always see two babies. 197 00:11:58,886 --> 00:12:02,514 I can't unsee that he has a brother, 198 00:12:03,974 --> 00:12:08,102 and I can't unsee that he's supposed to have 199 00:12:08,103 --> 00:12:10,897 this little person with him forever. 200 00:12:10,898 --> 00:12:13,524 Chrissy Sample went through the devastating experience 201 00:12:13,525 --> 00:12:16,402 of losing a child before he was even born. 202 00:12:16,403 --> 00:12:19,947 And that loss, like those of so many other Black women, 203 00:12:19,948 --> 00:12:22,784 was in large part defined by race. 204 00:12:24,328 --> 00:12:28,539 The fetal mortality rate for Black women is more than twice that of white women, 205 00:12:28,540 --> 00:12:31,792 not because Black and white people are biologically different, 206 00:12:31,793 --> 00:12:34,462 but because evidence shows that Black women do not receive 207 00:12:34,463 --> 00:12:37,674 the same standard of medical care as white women. 208 00:12:38,884 --> 00:12:44,639 A 2019 survey of 2,700 women found nearly 23% of Black women 209 00:12:44,640 --> 00:12:47,099 reported being mistreated by medical staff, 210 00:12:47,100 --> 00:12:49,393 ranging from violations of physical privacy 211 00:12:49,394 --> 00:12:51,812 to being threatened or refused treatment, 212 00:12:51,813 --> 00:12:56,652 compared to 14% of white women who reported the same experience. 213 00:12:57,319 --> 00:13:00,071 Thank you for agreeing to speak with me today. 214 00:13:00,072 --> 00:13:03,157 And I thought we might start by you just telling me a little bit 215 00:13:03,158 --> 00:13:05,451 about yourself and your husband. 216 00:13:05,452 --> 00:13:08,829 - I'm a Brooklyn mom, um, born and raised New Yorker. 217 00:13:08,830 --> 00:13:11,041 My husband works for the NYPD. 218 00:13:12,376 --> 00:13:16,128 We're a modern, regular Brooklyn family tryin' to figure out, navigate through 219 00:13:16,129 --> 00:13:18,881 this new world that we're living in. 220 00:13:18,882 --> 00:13:23,511 We have Cassius, who's two, Cameron who is about to be 10, 221 00:13:23,512 --> 00:13:26,390 and I have a bonus daughter who is 14. 222 00:13:26,598 --> 00:13:30,935 - So, can you describe for me, um, what it means to you to be a mother? 223 00:13:30,936 --> 00:13:32,228 Motherhood is not easy. 224 00:13:32,229 --> 00:13:36,859 I feel like I'm constantly doing this juggling act where 225 00:13:37,276 --> 00:13:40,361 some days I feel like, "Wow, this is... Who put me in charge of these humans?" 226 00:13:40,362 --> 00:13:43,990 Because this is a lot... I wasn't expecting this. 227 00:13:43,991 --> 00:13:45,658 I understand where you're comin' from. 228 00:13:45,659 --> 00:13:48,077 I would say I have, I have all the confidence in the world, 229 00:13:48,078 --> 00:13:49,579 except for parenting. 230 00:13:49,580 --> 00:13:52,039 This is the one part of my life where I'm like, "I don't know, 231 00:13:52,040 --> 00:13:52,958 "I don't know what I'm doing, 232 00:13:52,959 --> 00:13:56,085 - and I'm probably not doin' it right, so." - It's very humbling. 233 00:13:56,086 --> 00:14:00,631 - It is. I think every mother can relate to that feeling. 234 00:14:03,260 --> 00:14:06,095 Seven years after Chrissy Sample had, what she described as, 235 00:14:06,096 --> 00:14:08,931 an easy first pregnancy with her son, Cameron, 236 00:14:08,932 --> 00:14:11,601 she and her family learned at their gender reveal party, 237 00:14:11,602 --> 00:14:14,437 that they were expecting two baby boys. 238 00:14:14,438 --> 00:14:17,190 There were so many emotions. 239 00:14:17,191 --> 00:14:20,359 Happiness, excitement. I was anxious. 240 00:14:20,360 --> 00:14:22,571 It was so much love and support. 241 00:14:23,947 --> 00:14:25,948 Everyone was writin' these little sweet notes, 242 00:14:25,949 --> 00:14:30,369 and just little tidbits on well wishes for the baby, 243 00:14:30,370 --> 00:14:32,371 well wishes for the mom. 244 00:14:32,372 --> 00:14:35,334 It was just a lotta love in the room, a lotta support. 245 00:14:36,251 --> 00:14:38,252 But Chrissy's excitement slightly dimmed 246 00:14:38,253 --> 00:14:40,338 when the doctor who delivered her first baby 247 00:14:40,339 --> 00:14:43,257 informed her that he didn't do deliveries of twins, 248 00:14:43,258 --> 00:14:48,262 so she was forced to find a new doctor, and that new doctor happened to be white. 249 00:14:48,263 --> 00:14:50,097 What was your new doctor like? 250 00:14:50,098 --> 00:14:52,725 - She kinda treated me like, "Okay, another pregnant woman. 251 00:14:52,726 --> 00:14:54,810 See you in four, five weeks." 252 00:14:54,811 --> 00:14:57,021 This was a pregnancy where I needed my hand held. 253 00:14:57,022 --> 00:14:58,606 - Mm-hmm. - I'm pregnant with twins, 254 00:14:58,607 --> 00:15:00,733 I have a list of questions, 255 00:15:00,734 --> 00:15:04,946 and she's not reassuring and she's not engaging. 256 00:15:04,947 --> 00:15:07,157 It felt like a checklist. 257 00:15:07,741 --> 00:15:10,451 My gut's sayin', "I don't, I don't like her." 258 00:15:10,452 --> 00:15:12,703 But at this time, it's, like, the world's on fire, 259 00:15:12,704 --> 00:15:14,830 so I can't really change doctors. 260 00:15:14,831 --> 00:15:16,916 So, by, "The world's on fire," 261 00:15:16,917 --> 00:15:19,919 you get pregnant, and then we enter into the pandemic. 262 00:15:19,920 --> 00:15:20,796 Yes. 263 00:15:20,797 --> 00:15:22,421 - So, that complicates... - So, no one's... 264 00:15:22,422 --> 00:15:25,049 - your ability to find a new doctor. - Everything. No one's gonna t... 265 00:15:25,050 --> 00:15:28,386 No one's taking a new patient with multiples. 266 00:15:28,387 --> 00:15:31,556 With multiples, you see two doctors every week. 267 00:15:31,557 --> 00:15:34,016 - I saw her every four weeks. - Mm. 268 00:15:34,017 --> 00:15:36,769 - Which gives you room for anything to happen. 269 00:15:36,770 --> 00:15:38,813 And I couldn't get appointment with a high-risk, 270 00:15:38,814 --> 00:15:42,066 and she didn't do anything to help me get an appointment with a high-risk either, 271 00:15:42,067 --> 00:15:44,110 where she didn't check me any further. 272 00:15:44,111 --> 00:15:46,237 She would just rub a Doppler across my belly. 273 00:15:46,238 --> 00:15:49,448 "Oop, two heartbeats. See you in, um, four or five weeks? 274 00:15:49,449 --> 00:15:50,491 Does that sound good?" 275 00:15:50,492 --> 00:15:52,618 At about 22 weeks, 276 00:15:52,619 --> 00:15:55,162 things start to really, physically, change for you. 277 00:15:55,163 --> 00:15:56,039 I'm in pain. 278 00:15:56,040 --> 00:15:58,708 I can't walk down a flight of steps or up a flight of steps. 279 00:15:58,709 --> 00:16:00,918 I can't walk down a block, 280 00:16:00,919 --> 00:16:03,087 and she's aware of all of these things, 281 00:16:03,088 --> 00:16:05,965 and it still doesn't make her check me any further. 282 00:16:05,966 --> 00:16:07,383 She goes, "Oh, well, maybe one of the twins 283 00:16:07,384 --> 00:16:09,427 is sittin' on a pinched nerve." 284 00:16:09,428 --> 00:16:13,265 I'm in pain, and you just normalized it for me. 285 00:16:19,229 --> 00:16:20,938 The death of Black women's children, 286 00:16:20,939 --> 00:16:24,609 and the dismissal of their pain, voices and experiences 287 00:16:24,610 --> 00:16:27,613 is deeply tied to the legacy of slavery. 288 00:16:28,780 --> 00:16:33,201 The invention of race in early America in order to create and sustain wealth, 289 00:16:33,202 --> 00:16:37,206 shaped the sexual and reproductive lives of enslaved women. 290 00:16:37,915 --> 00:16:42,753 And yet, their lived experiences went ignored and largely unrecorded. 291 00:16:43,545 --> 00:16:45,755 But there are some records that do remain, 292 00:16:45,756 --> 00:16:47,048 giving us a rare glimpse 293 00:16:47,049 --> 00:16:50,010 into what enslaved women's lives were, actually, like. 294 00:16:55,933 --> 00:16:59,060 Here on 8th and Chestnut in downtown Philadelphia, 295 00:16:59,061 --> 00:17:01,979 once stood the mansion of Pierce Butler. 296 00:17:01,980 --> 00:17:07,318 In 1834, Butler married a well-known British actress named Fanny Kemble. 297 00:17:07,319 --> 00:17:10,988 Two years later, Fanny's husband inherited the Butler plantation 298 00:17:10,989 --> 00:17:13,282 located along the coast of Georgia, 299 00:17:13,283 --> 00:17:17,287 and with it, more than 500 enslaved human beings. 300 00:17:21,625 --> 00:17:24,085 So, when is the last time you were here? 301 00:17:24,086 --> 00:17:27,255 Probably early to mid-2000s. 302 00:17:27,256 --> 00:17:29,966 I think maybe 2003 or '04. 303 00:17:29,967 --> 00:17:32,677 - So, it's been a while. - Yeah, it has. 304 00:17:32,678 --> 00:17:36,222 - So, what's it like comin' back? - Heavy. It feels heavy. 305 00:17:36,223 --> 00:17:38,767 It feels as heavy as it did when I came before. 306 00:17:39,142 --> 00:17:41,602 Brings back a lotta research memories. NIKOLE: Mm-hmm. 307 00:17:41,603 --> 00:17:44,397 Tryna think about the people that were here, 308 00:17:44,398 --> 00:17:45,857 who worked here. 309 00:17:45,858 --> 00:17:47,860 You kinda feel their presence. 310 00:17:48,652 --> 00:17:50,987 Daina Berry is a renowned historian 311 00:17:50,988 --> 00:17:54,365 who has extensively studied enslaved people in the state of Georgia, 312 00:17:54,366 --> 00:17:56,909 particularly the lives of women. 313 00:17:56,910 --> 00:17:59,203 So, this land we're standing on 314 00:17:59,204 --> 00:18:02,290 - was, uh, called the Butler Plantation. - Mm-hmm. 315 00:18:02,291 --> 00:18:06,127 - Um, can you just give me a brief history of this place? 316 00:18:06,128 --> 00:18:08,045 Absolutely. Major Pierce Butler, 317 00:18:08,046 --> 00:18:10,798 one of the fathers of the U.S. Constitution, 318 00:18:10,799 --> 00:18:12,049 was the owner of this plantation 319 00:18:12,050 --> 00:18:14,969 and also, Hampton Point Plantation on St. Simons Island, 320 00:18:14,970 --> 00:18:17,305 which was another large estate that he owned. 321 00:18:17,306 --> 00:18:20,308 He and his family had operated a rice mill here. 322 00:18:20,309 --> 00:18:22,810 - And they had, as you see... - Which is that there. 323 00:18:22,811 --> 00:18:24,145 Yep. That's the mill. 324 00:18:24,146 --> 00:18:26,105 They had almost a thousand enslaved people, 325 00:18:26,106 --> 00:18:28,149 considering those that were on this particular property, 326 00:18:28,150 --> 00:18:30,359 and those that were on Hampton Point. 327 00:18:30,360 --> 00:18:31,360 - So, let's just pause there... 328 00:18:31,361 --> 00:18:33,279 - Mm-hmm. - Because a thousand, 329 00:18:33,280 --> 00:18:34,447 that was massive. 330 00:18:34,448 --> 00:18:36,657 - Yes. - That was not typical at all. 331 00:18:36,658 --> 00:18:37,825 - Right? That would've put him... - Right. 332 00:18:37,826 --> 00:18:39,577 - I would imagine, somewhere top 1%... 333 00:18:39,578 --> 00:18:41,204 - Absolutely. - Of enslavers. 334 00:18:41,205 --> 00:18:43,456 The amount of wealth that that would've been, 335 00:18:43,457 --> 00:18:45,459 uh, was pretty astronomical. 336 00:18:46,168 --> 00:18:49,170 In the winters of 1838 and 1839, 337 00:18:49,171 --> 00:18:52,840 after Pierce Butler inherited the plantation from his grandfather, 338 00:18:52,841 --> 00:18:56,762 Fanny joined him on visits to this slave labor camp in Georgia. 339 00:18:57,221 --> 00:18:59,263 During those visits, she kept a daily journal 340 00:18:59,264 --> 00:19:03,477 of her experiences and her encounters with the enslaved women there. 341 00:19:03,810 --> 00:19:06,437 How does she respond when she comes down here, 342 00:19:06,438 --> 00:19:09,315 and sees what that wealth has been built upon? 343 00:19:09,316 --> 00:19:11,400 - She had mixed feelings. It's her raw, like... 344 00:19:11,401 --> 00:19:14,070 It's, it's her personal journal, so she doesn't hold back. 345 00:19:14,071 --> 00:19:17,281 So, some days, she's disgusted by Black people, and she says that. 346 00:19:17,282 --> 00:19:19,784 She talks about them in very disrespectful ways. 347 00:19:19,785 --> 00:19:21,661 And then, other times, she has empathy. 348 00:19:21,662 --> 00:19:24,247 She's worried about, "Well, maybe I should talk to my husband. 349 00:19:24,248 --> 00:19:26,415 They're asking me to ask for work relief." 350 00:19:26,416 --> 00:19:29,919 And, and so, you see her sort of struggling with understanding 351 00:19:29,920 --> 00:19:31,796 that now she's a enslaver. 352 00:19:31,797 --> 00:19:33,631 She is the wife of an enslaver. 353 00:19:33,632 --> 00:19:35,466 And what that means is something 354 00:19:35,467 --> 00:19:38,470 that I think she's processing throughout the entire journal. 355 00:19:39,638 --> 00:19:42,640 "I have been interrupted by several visits, 356 00:19:42,641 --> 00:19:44,934 "one from a poor creature called Judy, 357 00:19:44,935 --> 00:19:48,771 "whose sad story and condition affected me most painfully. 358 00:19:48,772 --> 00:19:51,399 "She complained of chronic rheumatism, 359 00:19:51,400 --> 00:19:53,568 "and other terrible ailments, 360 00:19:53,569 --> 00:19:56,279 "and said she suffered such intolerable pain 361 00:19:56,280 --> 00:19:57,905 "while laboring in the fields, 362 00:19:57,906 --> 00:20:01,535 that she had come to entreat me to have her work lightened." 363 00:20:06,164 --> 00:20:07,915 So, this is where they worked. 364 00:20:07,916 --> 00:20:09,584 Twelve hundred acres of land. 365 00:20:09,585 --> 00:20:12,212 This is all part of Butler Island plantation. 366 00:20:13,589 --> 00:20:16,507 And they worked here from 4 A.M. 367 00:20:16,508 --> 00:20:22,180 They came to the fields and worked in these rice marshes, rice lands, 368 00:20:22,181 --> 00:20:26,602 until... the wee hours or until they finished their tasks. 369 00:20:27,186 --> 00:20:29,604 So, two of the overseers on this plantation were 370 00:20:29,605 --> 00:20:32,023 Roswell King Sr. and Roswell King Jr. 371 00:20:32,024 --> 00:20:33,065 You know, these were prominent men. 372 00:20:33,066 --> 00:20:36,110 There's a town named after them in metro Atlanta. 373 00:20:36,111 --> 00:20:40,573 And yet... we know that they were sexually exploiting 374 00:20:40,574 --> 00:20:44,619 and sexually assaulting enslaved women on this property. 375 00:20:44,620 --> 00:20:47,955 Can you talk about their treatment of enslaved women, 376 00:20:47,956 --> 00:20:52,335 and the prevalence of rape, um, in plantation societies in general? 377 00:20:52,336 --> 00:20:56,130 - I mean, there's been descriptions of how much they were raping 378 00:20:56,131 --> 00:20:57,215 - enslaved women. - Mm. 379 00:20:57,216 --> 00:21:00,885 - And multiple. Not just one woman, not a particular partner. 380 00:21:00,886 --> 00:21:04,472 So, they say that both Roswell King Sr. and Jr. sired 381 00:21:04,473 --> 00:21:07,517 many of the young "mulatto" children that were walking around 382 00:21:07,518 --> 00:21:10,604 the Butler Island and Hampton Point Plantations. 383 00:21:10,979 --> 00:21:13,272 When we think about this though... 384 00:21:13,273 --> 00:21:17,527 I, I like that you asked the question about how prevalent this was 385 00:21:17,528 --> 00:21:19,362 because, I think, it's, it's not any amnesia, 386 00:21:19,363 --> 00:21:20,696 - I think it's erasure. - Yes. 387 00:21:20,697 --> 00:21:23,699 - It's denial. It's denial that it even happened. 388 00:21:23,700 --> 00:21:24,909 So, it was common. 389 00:21:24,910 --> 00:21:27,870 It was so common that I feel like we have yet to fully uncover this 390 00:21:27,871 --> 00:21:31,249 because people don't wanna think that it was, actually, as common as it was. 391 00:21:31,250 --> 00:21:35,545 - In fact, the Roswells were so prolific with their sexual assault 392 00:21:35,546 --> 00:21:40,424 that Fanny Kemble wrote that she saw a number of "mulattos," 393 00:21:40,425 --> 00:21:43,886 biracial children, mixed children running around the labor camp 394 00:21:43,887 --> 00:21:46,722 - that looked just like them. - And so, she saw it, and recognized it, 395 00:21:46,723 --> 00:21:51,353 and recognized those features looked like the Roswell King Jr. and Sr. 396 00:21:53,564 --> 00:21:55,606 "Judy told me a miserable story 397 00:21:55,607 --> 00:21:58,067 "of her former experience on the plantation 398 00:21:58,068 --> 00:22:00,821 "under Mr. King's overseership. 399 00:22:01,405 --> 00:22:04,616 "It seems that Jem Valiant was her firstborn, 400 00:22:06,034 --> 00:22:09,370 "the son of Mr. King, who forced her, 401 00:22:09,371 --> 00:22:12,790 "flogged her severely for having resisted him, 402 00:22:12,791 --> 00:22:16,211 and then sent her off, as a further punishment." 403 00:22:18,505 --> 00:22:21,007 The Kings kept track of the number of children born on both 404 00:22:21,008 --> 00:22:23,718 the Butler and the Hampton Point Plantations, 405 00:22:23,719 --> 00:22:27,180 and like so many other slaveholders and plantation managers, 406 00:22:27,181 --> 00:22:32,186 their sexual exploitation of Black women was also incentivized by profit. 407 00:22:33,687 --> 00:22:36,314 Women were valued based on their future increase. 408 00:22:36,315 --> 00:22:38,191 So, even if they hadn't given birth, they're thinking, 409 00:22:38,192 --> 00:22:40,443 "How many children is this person gonna have, 410 00:22:40,444 --> 00:22:41,444 and are they gonna be healthy?" 411 00:22:41,445 --> 00:22:44,822 And if a woman had children that made it to age five, 412 00:22:44,823 --> 00:22:46,949 then they would consider that woman very valuable, 413 00:22:46,950 --> 00:22:49,243 a very good breeding "wench." 414 00:22:49,244 --> 00:22:50,786 Even that terminology, 415 00:22:50,787 --> 00:22:52,371 - "future increase." - Mm-hmm. 416 00:22:52,372 --> 00:22:55,791 - That was terminology that was used with animals. 417 00:22:55,792 --> 00:22:58,586 - Yep, absolutely. And, you see, when you look at the way 418 00:22:58,587 --> 00:23:00,922 in which enslaved people were bred, 419 00:23:00,923 --> 00:23:03,633 you can look at a parallel and find that animal husbandry 420 00:23:03,634 --> 00:23:05,384 was done exactly the same way. 421 00:23:14,853 --> 00:23:17,271 You know, just like a big, fine-lookin' woman, 422 00:23:17,272 --> 00:23:19,190 big, fine-lookin' man, you know. 423 00:23:19,191 --> 00:23:22,610 Old boss wants, you know, children's for them, you know. 424 00:23:22,611 --> 00:23:26,030 They just fasten them up in a house somewhere. 425 00:23:26,031 --> 00:23:28,574 You know, go on off, leave them in there. 426 00:23:28,575 --> 00:23:30,868 Want to breed them like they was hogs or horses, 427 00:23:30,869 --> 00:23:32,871 something like that, I say. 428 00:23:35,832 --> 00:23:40,294 - Let's talk about that, that word, "bred" or "breeding." 429 00:23:40,295 --> 00:23:43,756 I think my breath catches every time I see 430 00:23:43,757 --> 00:23:45,383 - the phrase, "slave breeding"... - Mm-hmm. 431 00:23:45,384 --> 00:23:47,760 - and I, and I kinda don't even want to use it. 432 00:23:47,761 --> 00:23:48,595 Yeah. 433 00:23:48,596 --> 00:23:51,764 - But this is how the people who were owning 434 00:23:51,765 --> 00:23:54,267 - enslaved people considered this, so... - Mm-hmm. 435 00:23:54,268 --> 00:23:58,396 - talk to me about this idea of, of forced reproduction, 436 00:23:58,397 --> 00:24:01,399 and what this place teaches us about that. 437 00:24:01,400 --> 00:24:04,861 - So, forced reproduction is making sure that enslaved women 438 00:24:04,862 --> 00:24:06,195 are continuously giving birth, 439 00:24:06,196 --> 00:24:09,407 those that are in the age range of being fertile. 440 00:24:09,408 --> 00:24:12,660 Enslavers waited to find out when a woman... a young girl 441 00:24:12,661 --> 00:24:14,036 had her first menstrual cycle. 442 00:24:14,037 --> 00:24:16,414 They were, like, literally, wanting to know. 443 00:24:16,415 --> 00:24:20,585 Sometimes, they would force people to have relations, 444 00:24:20,586 --> 00:24:22,044 and they would say that, "You two"... 445 00:24:22,045 --> 00:24:24,505 "We've selected you two to breed with one another." 446 00:24:24,506 --> 00:24:26,841 And imagine for a woman, and a man, 447 00:24:26,842 --> 00:24:28,968 if they have other partners that they are... 448 00:24:28,969 --> 00:24:31,846 Consider that, that, that's their husband or their wife, 449 00:24:31,847 --> 00:24:33,181 the enslaver didn't care about that. 450 00:24:33,182 --> 00:24:35,057 They had... They were looking at the body, 451 00:24:35,058 --> 00:24:37,018 the stock, the physique, you know, all of that. 452 00:24:37,019 --> 00:24:39,896 They, literally, paired two people up, locked them in a cabin, 453 00:24:39,897 --> 00:24:44,483 and said, you know, "Until we see evidence of pregnancy," 454 00:24:44,484 --> 00:24:47,196 you know, "you're gonna be whipped 30 lashes a day." 455 00:24:47,571 --> 00:24:49,198 It's unspeakable. 456 00:24:49,990 --> 00:24:52,700 - It is. - And yet, we have to speak about it. 457 00:24:52,701 --> 00:24:55,578 - We have to speak about it because we haven't. 458 00:24:55,579 --> 00:24:58,247 People are in denial at how prevalent this was, 459 00:24:58,248 --> 00:25:01,501 and, I think, to even say that this was breeding, 460 00:25:01,502 --> 00:25:03,794 - is an important statement to make. - Yes. 461 00:25:03,795 --> 00:25:05,546 Because the construct of race made 462 00:25:05,547 --> 00:25:08,216 Black women's children innately enslavable, 463 00:25:08,217 --> 00:25:11,552 enslavers were assured a profit with every birth. 464 00:25:11,553 --> 00:25:14,972 And that assurance became even more important in 1808 465 00:25:14,973 --> 00:25:19,519 after Congress banned the importation of Africans to the United States. 466 00:25:19,520 --> 00:25:22,980 With the supply of newly enslaved people from Africa cut off, 467 00:25:22,981 --> 00:25:27,693 enslavers had to rely on a single source to replenish their essential labor force: 468 00:25:27,694 --> 00:25:30,030 the wombs of Black women. 469 00:25:31,073 --> 00:25:33,157 The numbers are staggering. 470 00:25:33,158 --> 00:25:35,868 In 1790, the first United States census 471 00:25:35,869 --> 00:25:39,705 counted just under 700,000 enslaved people. 472 00:25:39,706 --> 00:25:42,542 By 1860, despite the congressional ban 473 00:25:42,543 --> 00:25:45,169 that had been in place for more than half a century, 474 00:25:45,170 --> 00:25:49,924 the enslaved population had blossomed to nearly four million. 475 00:25:49,925 --> 00:25:52,134 And the rape of Black women by white men 476 00:25:52,135 --> 00:25:55,012 played a significant role in that increase. 477 00:25:55,013 --> 00:25:57,056 Rape was so prevalent during slavery, 478 00:25:57,057 --> 00:26:00,560 that today, a quarter of the genetic makeup of Black Americans 479 00:26:00,561 --> 00:26:03,564 can be traced back to Europe through the paternal line. 480 00:26:04,857 --> 00:26:08,485 While forced reproduction grew the numbers of the enslaved population, 481 00:26:08,777 --> 00:26:11,529 the deplorable conditions that enslaved women lived in 482 00:26:11,530 --> 00:26:15,993 resulted in countless miscarriages, stillborns and infant deaths. 483 00:26:16,702 --> 00:26:19,245 There wasn't bed rest. There was no prenatal treatment. 484 00:26:19,246 --> 00:26:22,290 They are, they're out here trying to endure pregnancy. 485 00:26:22,291 --> 00:26:23,499 Talk to me about that. 486 00:26:23,500 --> 00:26:27,170 - So, they're out here in... Working in this... in these conditions 487 00:26:27,171 --> 00:26:30,840 as pregnant women during their first, second, and third trimesters. 488 00:26:30,841 --> 00:26:34,510 And when we read their stories, and we listen to their stories, 489 00:26:34,511 --> 00:26:35,887 we can hear them pleading, 490 00:26:35,888 --> 00:26:37,680 just like they did in Fanny Kemble's journal, 491 00:26:37,681 --> 00:26:40,433 pleading for breaks, pleading for rest from their labor, 492 00:26:40,434 --> 00:26:42,643 pleading for some time off. 493 00:26:42,644 --> 00:26:43,728 But one thing that we find 494 00:26:43,729 --> 00:26:47,273 is that they would give birth to 8, 10, 12 children. 495 00:26:47,274 --> 00:26:50,276 They're giving birth, but the children aren't always alive, 496 00:26:50,277 --> 00:26:53,112 so they're often giving birth to stillborn infants. 497 00:26:53,113 --> 00:26:57,450 So, a woman might have 12 pregnancies and six live births. 498 00:26:57,451 --> 00:27:00,912 So, half of their children are dead when they give birth. 499 00:27:00,913 --> 00:27:03,624 - Mm. - So, so, infant mortality was high. 500 00:27:04,374 --> 00:27:08,669 - Dr. Berry, when you were talking about the trauma enslaved women endured, 501 00:27:08,670 --> 00:27:13,299 and, and how that led to these extremely high rates of infant mortality, 502 00:27:13,300 --> 00:27:16,260 I couldn't help but think about how Black women today suffer 503 00:27:16,261 --> 00:27:19,680 the highest infant mortality rates in the industrialized world. 504 00:27:19,681 --> 00:27:24,018 How we are still seemingly carrying that trauma in our bodies, 505 00:27:24,019 --> 00:27:25,311 and burying our babies. 506 00:27:25,312 --> 00:27:28,940 - I would argue that there's a direct link and a contemporary connection 507 00:27:28,941 --> 00:27:31,484 to maternal mortality today, 508 00:27:31,485 --> 00:27:34,237 and infant mortality, and the challenges that women had 509 00:27:34,238 --> 00:27:35,988 giving birth during slavery. 510 00:27:35,989 --> 00:27:39,325 And I think that line goes all the way from slavery to the present, 511 00:27:39,326 --> 00:27:42,036 and I think that we'll... We see Black women today 512 00:27:42,037 --> 00:27:43,579 struggling in similar ways 513 00:27:43,580 --> 00:27:45,582 that they struggled during the institution. 514 00:27:57,094 --> 00:27:59,512 After Chrissy Sample says her doctor dismissed the pain 515 00:27:59,513 --> 00:28:02,849 she was experiencing during her pregnancy with her twin boys, 516 00:28:02,850 --> 00:28:05,893 she finally got in to see a high-risk doctor. 517 00:28:05,894 --> 00:28:08,521 And the news she received was the most devastating news 518 00:28:08,522 --> 00:28:10,524 a mother can hear. 519 00:28:12,860 --> 00:28:16,864 - She said, "Baby A doesn't have a heartbeat." 520 00:28:17,322 --> 00:28:21,326 And I'm like, "Are you sure?" Like, "I just felt him." 521 00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:24,495 And I couldn't understand. I'm like, "I don't..." 522 00:28:24,496 --> 00:28:26,205 I'm like, "I don't understand." 523 00:28:26,206 --> 00:28:28,417 It's like she was speaking French. 524 00:28:28,834 --> 00:28:32,545 I was like... I didn't have the, the words or the... 525 00:28:32,546 --> 00:28:34,463 It's like when you have cry in your throat, 526 00:28:34,464 --> 00:28:37,425 and you have to say somethin' so important, 527 00:28:37,426 --> 00:28:39,051 but you can't get it out. 528 00:28:39,052 --> 00:28:40,469 And I, I remember pickin' up the phone, 529 00:28:40,470 --> 00:28:44,765 and calling my husband, and I'm trying to explain to him. 530 00:28:44,766 --> 00:28:48,895 And she had to take the phone and tell him what is happening. 531 00:28:48,896 --> 00:28:50,563 And then he's on the phone crying. 532 00:28:50,564 --> 00:28:54,901 And she said, "Well... you can't give birth. 533 00:28:54,902 --> 00:28:56,862 "You have to have Baby A and Baby B together, 534 00:28:57,112 --> 00:29:00,323 or... you will lose them both." 535 00:29:00,324 --> 00:29:02,283 - I can't even imagine... 536 00:29:02,284 --> 00:29:04,785 - And it feels like you're... 537 00:29:04,786 --> 00:29:07,998 I've been managing life and death at the same time, 538 00:29:08,749 --> 00:29:12,084 where I have my baby that passed, 539 00:29:12,085 --> 00:29:14,796 and I have to keep my baby that's alive, healthy. 540 00:29:15,589 --> 00:29:18,424 So, you have to go home knowing 541 00:29:18,425 --> 00:29:19,884 one of your babies... 542 00:29:19,885 --> 00:29:22,220 - Mm-hmm. - That's in your body... 543 00:29:22,221 --> 00:29:24,223 - Has passed. - Has passed. 544 00:29:24,723 --> 00:29:26,933 Yeah, I sobbed, I cried. 545 00:29:26,934 --> 00:29:30,728 I remember sitting at night crying 'cause I'm like, "I, I felt him. 546 00:29:30,729 --> 00:29:32,980 "I, I feel him. I feel his spirit. 547 00:29:32,981 --> 00:29:35,858 I felt his kicks. I feel them moving together." 548 00:29:35,859 --> 00:29:38,862 I wrapped my head around two babies, two of everything. 549 00:29:39,071 --> 00:29:42,490 I'm looking at YouTube videos of how these twin moms do it, 550 00:29:42,491 --> 00:29:46,119 and what life looks like, and everything has changed. 551 00:29:50,499 --> 00:29:53,251 Even when Black babies survive after they're born, 552 00:29:53,252 --> 00:29:55,753 they're still twice as likely as white babies to die 553 00:29:55,754 --> 00:29:57,214 before their first birthday. 554 00:29:57,923 --> 00:30:00,007 If white babies were dyin' at this rate, 555 00:30:00,008 --> 00:30:01,843 it would be a public health crisis. 556 00:30:01,844 --> 00:30:03,970 There would be research being done. 557 00:30:03,971 --> 00:30:07,598 It would not take all the deaths that have happened to cause attention to it 558 00:30:07,599 --> 00:30:09,726 as it has for Black infants. 559 00:30:11,144 --> 00:30:12,937 Dr. Veronica Gillispie-Bell 560 00:30:12,938 --> 00:30:16,566 is an obstetrician for the Louisiana Department of Health, 561 00:30:16,567 --> 00:30:19,652 and she sees firsthand how race drastically impacts 562 00:30:19,653 --> 00:30:22,572 the survival rates, not only of Black infants, 563 00:30:22,573 --> 00:30:24,658 but of Black mothers themselves. 564 00:30:24,992 --> 00:30:27,159 - Hi, Dr. G. - Hi. How are you? 565 00:30:27,160 --> 00:30:31,330 - I'm doin' well. How are you? - I am good, I'm good. 566 00:30:31,331 --> 00:30:32,957 Black women die in childbirth 567 00:30:32,958 --> 00:30:35,961 at nearly three times the rate of white women. 568 00:30:37,171 --> 00:30:40,214 Maternal mortality and maternal morbidity for Black women 569 00:30:40,215 --> 00:30:43,134 is at a public health crisis level right now. 570 00:30:43,135 --> 00:30:45,303 That's the best way to characterize it. 571 00:30:45,304 --> 00:30:49,432 We know, in general, that our outcomes in the United States 572 00:30:49,433 --> 00:30:52,852 are worse than any other developed country. 573 00:30:52,853 --> 00:30:55,730 There is no reason that a Black woman 574 00:30:55,731 --> 00:30:58,859 should biologically experience these outcomes. 575 00:31:00,611 --> 00:31:02,320 The reasons for the disparate outcomes 576 00:31:02,321 --> 00:31:03,946 for Black women's reproductive health 577 00:31:03,947 --> 00:31:06,950 can be complicated and multi-dimensional. 578 00:31:07,701 --> 00:31:09,493 There's a, a misconception 579 00:31:09,494 --> 00:31:13,456 that these disparities are only limited to poor Black people, 580 00:31:13,457 --> 00:31:16,542 or Black people without resources. 581 00:31:16,543 --> 00:31:20,671 It doesn't matter whether you are socioeconomically advantaged, 582 00:31:20,672 --> 00:31:25,092 socioeconomically disadvantaged, you're educated, not educated. 583 00:31:25,093 --> 00:31:29,722 The single tying string is being a Black woman. 584 00:31:29,723 --> 00:31:32,183 - Here we are looking at Serena Williams, in particular, 585 00:31:32,184 --> 00:31:34,560 who was the world's, you know, best athlete. 586 00:31:34,561 --> 00:31:35,978 She definitely has support, 587 00:31:35,979 --> 00:31:38,773 she's definitely not dealing with economic issues, 588 00:31:38,774 --> 00:31:41,192 and she still was dealing with the fact 589 00:31:41,193 --> 00:31:44,071 that she almost lost her life after giving birth. 590 00:31:46,448 --> 00:31:49,450 The death of Chrissy's son, whom she and her husband named, Apollo, 591 00:31:49,451 --> 00:31:53,162 cannot be attributed to poverty or poor medical coverage. 592 00:31:53,163 --> 00:31:57,041 Chrissy is a middle-class mom with good healthcare benefits. 593 00:31:57,042 --> 00:32:00,211 Instead, her birthing outcome might be a reflection 594 00:32:00,212 --> 00:32:01,879 of the unconscious racial bias 595 00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:06,259 that is a part of so many Black women's experiences in this country. 596 00:32:06,260 --> 00:32:07,760 Research shows that race, 597 00:32:07,761 --> 00:32:11,264 or more accurately, racism and racial inequality, 598 00:32:11,265 --> 00:32:15,269 also contribute to higher death rates for Black women and their babies. 599 00:32:17,896 --> 00:32:19,397 The legacy of slavery 600 00:32:19,398 --> 00:32:24,318 is so ingrained in our system, and we don't even see it. 601 00:32:24,319 --> 00:32:26,070 So, if we think about slavery, 602 00:32:26,071 --> 00:32:29,825 and we think about how the Black woman was utilized, 603 00:32:30,075 --> 00:32:32,159 she was not allowed to take care of her kids, 604 00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:34,453 she was not able to breastfeed her children, 605 00:32:34,454 --> 00:32:38,708 and so, what has translated from that, today, in our bias, 606 00:32:38,709 --> 00:32:41,294 is that Black women don't wanna take care of their kids. 607 00:32:41,295 --> 00:32:45,798 When we have our unconscious bias and our unconscious beliefs 608 00:32:45,799 --> 00:32:49,468 that cause us to not listen to Black women when they complain. 609 00:32:49,469 --> 00:32:51,637 We have an unconscious belief 610 00:32:51,638 --> 00:32:55,099 that Black women are supposed to have higher blood pressures, 611 00:32:55,100 --> 00:32:58,853 and we are less quick to treat those elevated blood pressures, 612 00:32:58,854 --> 00:33:02,149 that Black people don't feel pain in the same way. 613 00:33:02,733 --> 00:33:07,737 Biases, whether unconscious or conscious, impact medical treatment. 614 00:33:07,738 --> 00:33:11,365 For example, a 2016 study showed that Black patients 615 00:33:11,366 --> 00:33:14,368 get undertreated for pain relative to white patients, 616 00:33:14,369 --> 00:33:16,871 in part, because some medical professionals 617 00:33:16,872 --> 00:33:21,250 still believe that Black and white people are biologically different. 618 00:33:21,251 --> 00:33:24,253 - And so, these are biases and these are things 619 00:33:24,254 --> 00:33:28,466 that have happened durin' slavery that have just been perpetuated over time. 620 00:33:28,467 --> 00:33:32,970 But they have, they have now come into our, our medical practice. 621 00:33:32,971 --> 00:33:35,139 And again, bias is unconscious. 622 00:33:35,140 --> 00:33:37,892 It is not somethin' that anybody's intentionally doing. 623 00:33:37,893 --> 00:33:41,687 But as healthcare providers, it is on us, 624 00:33:41,688 --> 00:33:44,649 it is our responsibility to understand our biases, 625 00:33:44,650 --> 00:33:47,610 recognize 'em, address 'em, acknowledge them, 626 00:33:47,611 --> 00:33:50,154 and start to make differences to change them, 627 00:33:50,155 --> 00:33:54,325 so that we are not usin' those biases in how we treat our patients. 628 00:34:01,750 --> 00:34:05,962 Three weeks after Chrissy Sample found out that her son died in her womb, 629 00:34:05,963 --> 00:34:07,463 she abruptly went into labor 630 00:34:07,464 --> 00:34:10,174 while homeschooling her eldest son, Cameron. 631 00:34:10,175 --> 00:34:12,803 She was just 27 weeks pregnant. 632 00:34:14,304 --> 00:34:15,930 So, you had a cesarean. 633 00:34:15,931 --> 00:34:18,182 - Yeah, it was an emergency, and they had to, yeah. 634 00:34:18,183 --> 00:34:19,851 And so, what's that moment like? 635 00:34:19,852 --> 00:34:23,688 - I was scared, um, but I also... I was drugged up, 636 00:34:23,689 --> 00:34:26,692 and my husband's like, "He's here. You did it." 637 00:34:27,317 --> 00:34:31,237 And I wake up from surgery, you know, hours later, 638 00:34:31,238 --> 00:34:35,450 and my husband took... Made the arrangements with Apollo's body. 639 00:34:36,660 --> 00:34:39,579 On a whole, they were just insensitive. 640 00:34:39,580 --> 00:34:44,083 The chapel comes in, he's shouting, "You need to bury your baby. 641 00:34:44,084 --> 00:34:45,710 Your baby needs to be buried." 642 00:34:45,711 --> 00:34:48,754 And I couldn't even articulate the words. 643 00:34:48,755 --> 00:34:51,383 And I'm like, "Oh my gosh, we have to bury Apollo." 644 00:34:52,509 --> 00:34:54,927 Cassius survived his traumatic birth, 645 00:34:54,928 --> 00:34:56,554 but weighed less than three pounds, 646 00:34:56,555 --> 00:35:01,185 and had to spend his first two months in the neonatal intensive care unit. 647 00:35:04,438 --> 00:35:06,272 I think it's really hard for individuals 648 00:35:06,273 --> 00:35:09,901 to accept what is happening in Black women's lives 649 00:35:09,902 --> 00:35:12,987 because of the guilt that we feel as a nation. 650 00:35:12,988 --> 00:35:16,824 If you say the word, "racism," to say the word, "race," 651 00:35:16,825 --> 00:35:19,452 it gives a very visceral response to a lot of people 652 00:35:19,453 --> 00:35:22,955 because they do not want to be tied to slavery, 653 00:35:22,956 --> 00:35:27,460 or even think about slavery, and what happened during the slave period. 654 00:35:27,461 --> 00:35:31,172 It is a black mark, a blemish on America 655 00:35:31,173 --> 00:35:34,050 to think that that's how individuals were treated. 656 00:35:34,051 --> 00:35:37,553 And so, we want to separate ourselves from all of those activities, 657 00:35:37,554 --> 00:35:41,557 but we can't because that is a part of our country, 658 00:35:41,558 --> 00:35:44,560 it is a part of our culture, it's a part of our thinking, 659 00:35:44,561 --> 00:35:47,271 it's a part of how we, we behave, 660 00:35:47,272 --> 00:35:51,276 and we have to acknowledge it, so that we can change it. 661 00:35:57,824 --> 00:36:00,827 ♪ Wednesday's Child by Alice Smith playing ♪ 662 00:36:03,622 --> 00:36:08,626 ♪ Tuesday was not bad at all ♪ 663 00:36:08,627 --> 00:36:11,712 ♪ Wednesday came with a flame ♪ 664 00:36:11,713 --> 00:36:15,299 ♪ Thursday never be the same ♪ 665 00:36:15,300 --> 00:36:19,721 ♪ Friday ships are not returning ♪ 666 00:36:20,764 --> 00:36:23,349 Our society's racial classification system 667 00:36:23,350 --> 00:36:26,102 that grew out of 250 years of slavery 668 00:36:26,103 --> 00:36:29,106 didn't simply disappear when slavery ended. 669 00:36:29,648 --> 00:36:32,733 Instead, white men in power passed new laws that criminalized 670 00:36:32,734 --> 00:36:35,236 interracial sex and interracial marriage. 671 00:36:35,237 --> 00:36:40,659 And their blueprint was Virginia's Racial Integrity Act of 1924. 672 00:36:44,705 --> 00:36:46,205 The Racial Integrity Act 673 00:36:46,206 --> 00:36:48,833 was designed by a physician named Walter Plecker, 674 00:36:48,834 --> 00:36:52,503 who was Virginia's first registrar for the Bureau of Vital Statistics, 675 00:36:52,504 --> 00:36:55,132 and a staunch white supremacist. 676 00:36:56,258 --> 00:37:01,555 - Part of the reason that Virginia passed the Racial Integrity Act in 1924, 677 00:37:01,847 --> 00:37:06,601 post-emancipation, in order to make sure 678 00:37:06,602 --> 00:37:11,314 that people's race was certified, and they prove what their race was, 679 00:37:11,315 --> 00:37:14,984 and every aspect of their lives could be determined 680 00:37:14,985 --> 00:37:18,696 by this accurate assessment of their race. 681 00:37:18,697 --> 00:37:21,490 And that was partly because of this fear 682 00:37:21,491 --> 00:37:25,161 that Walter Plecker had that there were 683 00:37:25,162 --> 00:37:29,707 people who weren't truly white, who were pretending to be, 684 00:37:29,708 --> 00:37:32,919 and getting the benefits of whiteness in Virginia. 685 00:37:32,920 --> 00:37:35,421 - In 1924. Not ancient history. - Yeah. 686 00:37:35,422 --> 00:37:37,715 - That's the year my grandmother and my grandfather were born. 687 00:37:37,716 --> 00:37:40,010 Yeah, it's not that long ago. 688 00:37:42,095 --> 00:37:44,096 As part of the Racial Integrity Act, 689 00:37:44,097 --> 00:37:47,518 Plecker instituted the infamous one-drop rule. 690 00:37:48,602 --> 00:37:52,438 Can you explain what the one-drop rule is? 691 00:37:52,439 --> 00:37:55,233 - The one-drop rule was the idea that 692 00:37:55,234 --> 00:38:00,029 if you had any discernible amount of African ancestry, 693 00:38:00,030 --> 00:38:02,198 you were to be considered Black. 694 00:38:02,199 --> 00:38:05,785 And so, there were various tests for determining 695 00:38:05,786 --> 00:38:07,870 whether you had some, what was considered, 696 00:38:07,871 --> 00:38:09,789 "Black blood" at the time. 697 00:38:09,790 --> 00:38:11,916 These were not just physical tests, 698 00:38:11,917 --> 00:38:14,585 but tests looking at who your friends were, 699 00:38:14,586 --> 00:38:18,256 what doctor you went to, what neighborhood you lived in. 700 00:38:18,257 --> 00:38:23,594 It just became really important to police these delineations 701 00:38:23,595 --> 00:38:28,975 between the people who had the privileges of whiteness 702 00:38:28,976 --> 00:38:32,311 and those who had the subordinated status of Blackness, 703 00:38:32,312 --> 00:38:35,606 especially, after slavery ended 704 00:38:35,607 --> 00:38:41,612 because you no longer had this distinction of who was enslaved and who wasn't. 705 00:38:41,613 --> 00:38:45,366 The absurdity of race played out during the early and mid-1900s 706 00:38:45,367 --> 00:38:49,078 in bizarre ways particular to the United States. 707 00:38:49,079 --> 00:38:52,456 In 1924, New York socialite, Kip Rhinelander, 708 00:38:52,457 --> 00:38:57,170 sued his new bride, Alice Jones, after discovering she was biracial, 709 00:38:57,171 --> 00:39:00,131 claiming she hid her “negro blood." 710 00:39:00,132 --> 00:39:03,134 The jury ruled in her favor, but not before she was forced 711 00:39:03,135 --> 00:39:07,347 to partially disrobe in front of them so they could examine her body. 712 00:39:08,724 --> 00:39:10,975 And then there's the case of Walter Francis White 713 00:39:10,976 --> 00:39:16,147 who headed the NAACP from 1931-1935. 714 00:39:16,148 --> 00:39:18,774 Walter White used the fact that he could pass for white 715 00:39:18,775 --> 00:39:21,611 to travel into the Deep South to investigate lynchings 716 00:39:21,612 --> 00:39:24,113 and other violence against Black people. 717 00:39:24,114 --> 00:39:28,701 On one trip to Arkansas, he was discovered and forced to flee. 718 00:39:28,702 --> 00:39:30,745 And a clueless train conductor, 719 00:39:30,746 --> 00:39:33,915 not knowing White was the one everyone was looking for, 720 00:39:33,916 --> 00:39:38,921 told him that he was leaving right before “The fun was going to start." 721 00:39:39,713 --> 00:39:45,051 According to Walter White's obituary, he was, “Only five-thirty-seconds negro," 722 00:39:45,052 --> 00:39:48,804 but lived a life as, “A negro by choice," 723 00:39:48,805 --> 00:39:53,643 and the existence of people like him was what white supremacists feared most. 724 00:39:53,644 --> 00:39:57,063 That's why when Walter Plecker created the Racial Integrity Act, 725 00:39:57,064 --> 00:40:00,609 he went to great lengths to specify a person's racial makeup. 726 00:40:01,109 --> 00:40:03,736 And some of the categories that still existed on the books 727 00:40:03,737 --> 00:40:07,741 when Ashley and Samuel tried to get married, gave them pause. 728 00:40:09,243 --> 00:40:14,038 So, the racial categories in your county in Virginia 729 00:40:14,039 --> 00:40:17,041 were what we would consider fairly typical. 730 00:40:17,042 --> 00:40:21,212 But you all found out that, in other places in Virginia, 731 00:40:21,213 --> 00:40:24,590 there were a lot of interesting categories. 732 00:40:24,591 --> 00:40:26,801 - Can you talk about some of them? - Some of them I... 733 00:40:26,802 --> 00:40:29,095 Some of them I didn't even know that they existed. 734 00:40:29,096 --> 00:40:31,055 Like, I, you know, I knew "mulatto," 735 00:40:31,056 --> 00:40:33,641 but, like, "quadroon," and all these other terms, 736 00:40:33,642 --> 00:40:34,767 I'm like, "What are those?" 737 00:40:34,768 --> 00:40:36,811 And then when I started googling it, it's like, 738 00:40:36,812 --> 00:40:39,564 "One-fourth Black in you," or, like, "Two-thirds Black." 739 00:40:39,565 --> 00:40:42,692 And I'm like, "How do you... decipher that? 740 00:40:42,693 --> 00:40:45,988 "How do you measure the amount of Black in a person, 741 00:40:46,321 --> 00:40:48,948 and then give them a name, a completely different name?" 742 00:40:48,949 --> 00:40:51,743 - Like, that, that blew my mind. - Mm-hmm. 743 00:40:52,870 --> 00:40:56,873 Virginia may have been the architect of laws policing interracial sex, 744 00:40:56,874 --> 00:40:59,375 but most states readily adopted them. 745 00:40:59,376 --> 00:41:01,627 At some point during the Jim Crow Era, 746 00:41:01,628 --> 00:41:03,963 thirty-seven states had laws on the books 747 00:41:03,964 --> 00:41:07,176 that prohibited interracial sex and marriage. 748 00:41:08,760 --> 00:41:11,596 My home state of Iowa, with its tiny Black population, 749 00:41:11,597 --> 00:41:15,016 legalized interracial marriage in 1851, 750 00:41:15,017 --> 00:41:17,644 nearly a century before most of the country. 751 00:41:18,812 --> 00:41:22,440 But making interracial marriage legal did not banish the ideologies 752 00:41:22,441 --> 00:41:27,070 that made it socially unacceptable for a white person to marry someone Black. 753 00:41:28,822 --> 00:41:31,657 And so, when my grandparents learned that my mother was in a relationship 754 00:41:31,658 --> 00:41:33,952 with my father, they disowned her. 755 00:41:34,244 --> 00:41:36,537 They eventually came around when my older sister, 756 00:41:36,538 --> 00:41:38,957 their first grandchild, was born. 757 00:41:39,750 --> 00:41:42,460 But through the years, I've thought a lot about how racial categories 758 00:41:42,461 --> 00:41:44,754 created such a stigma around Black people 759 00:41:44,755 --> 00:41:47,965 that it could turn parents against their own child. 760 00:41:47,966 --> 00:41:53,221 Number 395. Richard Perry Loving, 761 00:41:53,222 --> 00:41:57,225 and appellants, versus Virginia. 762 00:41:57,226 --> 00:42:01,270 The Racial Integrity Act stayed in place until 1967, 763 00:42:01,271 --> 00:42:04,565 when the Supreme Court ruled in the Loving versus Virginia case 764 00:42:04,566 --> 00:42:07,818 that it was unconstitutional to prohibit people of different races 765 00:42:07,819 --> 00:42:09,655 from marrying each other. 766 00:42:10,113 --> 00:42:13,324 But the Supreme Court didn't overturn 767 00:42:13,325 --> 00:42:18,371 that whole racial classification that Plecker enforced. 768 00:42:18,372 --> 00:42:20,456 That structure was left in place. 769 00:42:20,457 --> 00:42:24,460 And that's why people found out, even in 2019, 770 00:42:24,461 --> 00:42:26,712 that they couldn't get married in Virginia 771 00:42:26,713 --> 00:42:30,925 if they didn't check the box for what race they were. 772 00:42:30,926 --> 00:42:34,095 - The marriages of three Virginia couples, they're on hold right now. 773 00:42:34,096 --> 00:42:37,682 They argue the mandate to designate a race 774 00:42:37,683 --> 00:42:40,686 violates their First Amendment rights. 775 00:42:42,437 --> 00:42:45,481 After their failed attempt to obtain a marriage license in Virginia 776 00:42:45,482 --> 00:42:47,316 without identifying their race, 777 00:42:47,317 --> 00:42:50,278 Ashley and Samuel joined a lawsuit with other couples, 778 00:42:50,279 --> 00:42:53,490 challenging the racial classification requirements. 779 00:42:54,533 --> 00:42:56,701 The couple ended up moving to Miami for work, 780 00:42:56,702 --> 00:42:58,870 but when they applied for a marriage license, 781 00:42:58,871 --> 00:43:01,498 they were met with the same requirements. 782 00:43:02,040 --> 00:43:06,294 So, I go online to the Miami-Dade clerk's website, 783 00:43:06,295 --> 00:43:09,172 and I start applying for the marriage license. 784 00:43:09,173 --> 00:43:13,885 And their automated system, again, had the drop-down menu for the race, 785 00:43:13,886 --> 00:43:17,930 and there was no other option on that menu, 786 00:43:17,931 --> 00:43:21,642 but to go down and click it, and I had to exit out. 787 00:43:21,643 --> 00:43:25,354 And I remembered calling Sam, and I was like, "Here we go again." 788 00:43:25,355 --> 00:43:26,898 All rise. 789 00:43:26,899 --> 00:43:29,108 Ultimately, the Miami clerk's office 790 00:43:29,109 --> 00:43:31,152 found a way to issue the marriage license 791 00:43:31,153 --> 00:43:33,321 without identifying their race. 792 00:43:33,322 --> 00:43:36,324 I pronounce Ashley and Samuel are husband and wife. 793 00:43:36,325 --> 00:43:39,493 And Ashley and Samuel were finally able to marry. 794 00:43:44,249 --> 00:43:46,083 Back in Virginia, a judge ruled 795 00:43:46,084 --> 00:43:48,169 that the remnants of the Racial Integrity Act 796 00:43:48,170 --> 00:43:49,754 should not continue to force people 797 00:43:49,755 --> 00:43:53,425 to identify their races in order to get married. 798 00:43:54,009 --> 00:43:58,304 The end of the Racial Integrity Act and other archaic laws that created race 799 00:43:58,305 --> 00:44:01,974 doesn't mean that the racial categories and beliefs they enforced over centuries 800 00:44:01,975 --> 00:44:03,768 simply disappear. 801 00:44:03,769 --> 00:44:07,063 And the legacy of these laws still perpetuate false narratives 802 00:44:07,064 --> 00:44:12,277 about Black women's sexuality, reproduction and motherhood to this day. 803 00:44:24,748 --> 00:44:28,751 In America, race was constructed on the control of Black women's bodies, 804 00:44:28,752 --> 00:44:30,963 often through sexual violence. 805 00:44:31,839 --> 00:44:37,469 And that violence created harmful, false narratives about Black women's sexuality. 806 00:44:39,179 --> 00:44:45,184 - So, all of these ways of thinking about the enslavement of Black people, 807 00:44:45,185 --> 00:44:48,938 the control of Black women's reproductive labor, 808 00:44:48,939 --> 00:44:53,276 and the control of their sexuality in the sense that 809 00:44:53,277 --> 00:44:56,737 not having the legal right to consent or not to consent 810 00:44:56,738 --> 00:45:01,701 is the foundation for many of the myths about Black women today. 811 00:45:01,702 --> 00:45:06,998 Because it was all excused by a mythology that Black women 812 00:45:06,999 --> 00:45:11,669 were inherently hypersexual, that we were licentious. 813 00:45:11,670 --> 00:45:16,716 You know, we could not be raped because we were always consenting to sex. 814 00:45:16,717 --> 00:45:19,677 And so, that idea of the Black Jezebel, 815 00:45:19,678 --> 00:45:24,599 the temptress who tempted white men to have sex with them. 816 00:45:24,600 --> 00:45:30,605 You know, these were ideas that were circulated to excuse 817 00:45:30,606 --> 00:45:36,612 the rampant sexual assault of Black women by white men. 818 00:45:37,237 --> 00:45:40,240 I know I'm not good enough for you, 819 00:45:40,949 --> 00:45:44,828 but let me have your precious, white body just once. 820 00:45:45,370 --> 00:45:48,664 The caricature of the Jezebel was followed by other stereotypes 821 00:45:48,665 --> 00:45:52,418 that have historically served to rob Black women of our humanity, 822 00:45:52,419 --> 00:45:56,048 and are often so normalized that we don't even think about them: 823 00:45:56,632 --> 00:46:00,468 the self-sacrificing, nurturing, asexual mammy. 824 00:46:00,469 --> 00:46:02,678 I can't live with you? 825 00:46:02,679 --> 00:46:05,641 Oh, honey chile, please don't send me away. 826 00:46:06,266 --> 00:46:09,727 The angry, emasculating, loud Sapphire. 827 00:46:09,728 --> 00:46:11,687 - It's about time you met some decent people 828 00:46:11,688 --> 00:46:14,565 instead of that horrible, uncouth group you associate with. 829 00:46:14,566 --> 00:46:18,402 - Get some Kleenex, wipe your nose 'cause it ain't that damn sad. 830 00:46:18,403 --> 00:46:20,571 Narrative drives policy, 831 00:46:20,572 --> 00:46:23,658 and too often, cultural stereotypes about Black people, 832 00:46:23,659 --> 00:46:25,576 and specifically, Black women, 833 00:46:25,577 --> 00:46:29,206 have informed public policy in truly harmful ways. 834 00:46:31,083 --> 00:46:34,085 Well, can you talk about the social policies 835 00:46:34,086 --> 00:46:36,838 implemented in the second half of the 20th century 836 00:46:36,839 --> 00:46:42,844 that really were fueled by slavery-era notions of Black women's sexuality? 837 00:46:42,845 --> 00:46:46,222 - You know, this idea that Black women's wombs 838 00:46:46,223 --> 00:46:51,185 produce devious and dangerous lifestyle 839 00:46:51,186 --> 00:46:52,687 in their children 840 00:46:52,688 --> 00:46:58,109 is a major driver of public policy in the United States 841 00:46:58,110 --> 00:46:59,402 for centuries. 842 00:46:59,403 --> 00:47:03,030 But, especially, during the 20th and 21st centuries, 843 00:47:03,031 --> 00:47:08,786 we can see it as behind really substantial policy changes. 844 00:47:08,787 --> 00:47:13,666 I mean, think about Reagan's icon of the Black "welfare queen." 845 00:47:13,667 --> 00:47:16,502 She's supposed to get pregnant 846 00:47:16,503 --> 00:47:19,797 just to get a welfare check, 847 00:47:19,798 --> 00:47:23,593 so that she can spend it on herself, 848 00:47:23,594 --> 00:47:26,180 and completely neglect her children. 849 00:47:26,722 --> 00:47:29,473 Her tax-free cash income alone 850 00:47:29,474 --> 00:47:33,227 has been running $150,000 a year. 851 00:47:33,228 --> 00:47:36,856 Reagan's attack on Black mothers, eventually, led Congress to pass a bill 852 00:47:36,857 --> 00:47:40,693 drastically restricting welfare benefits for poor families. 853 00:47:40,694 --> 00:47:44,947 President Bill Clinton signed that bill into law in 1996. 854 00:47:44,948 --> 00:47:47,867 And the tragic, only-in-America irony 855 00:47:47,868 --> 00:47:50,494 is that it's unclear whether the Black woman Reagan made 856 00:47:50,495 --> 00:47:52,955 into a poster child for welfare reform 857 00:47:52,956 --> 00:47:54,832 was even Black at all. 858 00:47:54,833 --> 00:47:57,877 Born into a white family, she became a con artist 859 00:47:57,878 --> 00:48:01,339 who used different racial identities to her advantage. 860 00:48:01,340 --> 00:48:04,926 - From now on, our nation's answer to this great social challenge 861 00:48:04,927 --> 00:48:07,596 will no longer be a never-ending cycle of welfare. 862 00:48:08,514 --> 00:48:12,141 Not only did the policy fail to save the federal government money, 863 00:48:12,142 --> 00:48:15,394 but researchers found that in the first 15 years of the law, 864 00:48:15,395 --> 00:48:18,273 extreme poverty in the United States roughly doubled, 865 00:48:19,274 --> 00:48:22,903 a reality that impacts Americans of every race. 866 00:48:25,781 --> 00:48:28,407 We think about race as being about racism. 867 00:48:28,408 --> 00:48:30,409 - Mm-hmm. - But it's power, right? 868 00:48:30,410 --> 00:48:31,994 It's, it's who will have access 869 00:48:31,995 --> 00:48:34,747 to these exclusive white institutions, right? 870 00:48:34,748 --> 00:48:38,376 To public goods, to things like public schools, 871 00:48:38,377 --> 00:48:41,672 access to government, access to employment. 872 00:48:41,880 --> 00:48:44,423 That's really what this ordering is about, 873 00:48:44,424 --> 00:48:46,676 and making sure that only people 874 00:48:46,677 --> 00:48:50,596 in this very rigid category will get access to these things. 875 00:48:50,597 --> 00:48:53,432 - Yeah, that's right. This is a power hierarchy. 876 00:48:53,433 --> 00:48:55,518 Whether we're talking about where you live, 877 00:48:55,519 --> 00:48:57,019 what kind of job you can have, 878 00:48:57,020 --> 00:48:59,856 whether you're gonna be arrested and incarcerated or not, 879 00:48:59,857 --> 00:49:01,649 what kind of healthcare you'll have, 880 00:49:01,650 --> 00:49:05,279 and just in generally how you're valued in society. 881 00:49:06,613 --> 00:49:09,156 It's hard to resolve the stereotypes of Black women 882 00:49:09,157 --> 00:49:11,200 with all the Black women I know, 883 00:49:11,201 --> 00:49:13,411 beginning with my grandmama, Arlena, 884 00:49:13,412 --> 00:49:16,122 who was so determined to give her children a better life 885 00:49:16,123 --> 00:49:18,624 that she left her entire family in Mississippi 886 00:49:18,625 --> 00:49:20,543 with nothing more than a suitcase, 887 00:49:20,544 --> 00:49:23,839 and worked multiple jobs to provide for her babies. 888 00:49:24,256 --> 00:49:26,757 I think of all my aunts, cousins, friends, 889 00:49:26,758 --> 00:49:29,343 who like centuries of Black women before them, 890 00:49:29,344 --> 00:49:31,262 love their children fiercely, 891 00:49:31,263 --> 00:49:32,388 and fight to make the lives 892 00:49:32,389 --> 00:49:35,601 of their families and their communities better. 893 00:49:44,484 --> 00:49:49,489 After two months in the hospital, baby Cassius was finally able to go home. 894 00:49:52,117 --> 00:49:55,870 - I felt a great amount of joy being able to look at him, 895 00:49:55,871 --> 00:49:59,248 and hold his little face, and everything you can think of. 896 00:49:59,249 --> 00:50:00,876 Like, my job is here to protect you. 897 00:50:01,668 --> 00:50:03,878 And for Chrissy Sample and her family, 898 00:50:03,879 --> 00:50:06,672 reaching the milestone of Cassius's first birthday 899 00:50:06,673 --> 00:50:09,926 was cause for celebration and reflection. 900 00:50:15,015 --> 00:50:20,436 ♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ 901 00:50:20,437 --> 00:50:23,648 When his first birthday come, it was like, "Oh, my God, I made it. 902 00:50:23,649 --> 00:50:27,068 I made it... He's here. He's healthy." 903 00:50:30,614 --> 00:50:33,825 - And, um... WOMAN: We got you, bro. 904 00:50:34,618 --> 00:50:37,829 - I just... wanna have a moment of silence... 905 00:50:41,708 --> 00:50:45,337 - I wanna have a moment of silence for, um, Apollo. 906 00:50:47,130 --> 00:50:48,131 Please. 907 00:50:55,472 --> 00:50:57,682 Hello, hello, hello! 908 00:50:57,683 --> 00:50:59,392 Like Black women often do, 909 00:50:59,393 --> 00:51:02,186 Chrissy turned her traumatic experience into action 910 00:51:02,187 --> 00:51:04,188 when she decided to share her story, 911 00:51:04,189 --> 00:51:07,192 and connect with other Black mothers in her community. 912 00:51:07,734 --> 00:51:11,195 In sharing your story and your loss, 913 00:51:11,196 --> 00:51:14,657 and connecting with this whole community of Black women 914 00:51:14,658 --> 00:51:20,371 that you probably didn't even know existed prior to what, what you went through, 915 00:51:20,372 --> 00:51:24,375 what is your hope for other Black mothers going forward, 916 00:51:24,376 --> 00:51:26,627 and the impact that you hope to have? 917 00:51:26,628 --> 00:51:29,338 I want Black women to know we have options, 918 00:51:29,339 --> 00:51:32,175 and your birthing story doesn't have to end in tragedy. 919 00:51:32,176 --> 00:51:34,510 Like, you can have a beautiful birth. 920 00:51:34,511 --> 00:51:36,554 You can bring home healthy babies. 921 00:51:36,555 --> 00:51:37,972 You don't have to damn near die, 922 00:51:37,973 --> 00:51:41,017 and think about... leaving your previous children 923 00:51:41,018 --> 00:51:43,269 to be motherless children. 924 00:51:43,270 --> 00:51:45,563 These are the only worries that Black women go in, 925 00:51:45,564 --> 00:51:48,775 in the hospital thinkin' like, "I might not make it." 926 00:51:49,943 --> 00:51:51,570 That's not okay. 927 00:51:51,987 --> 00:51:53,989 I, I would like to change that. 928 00:51:58,619 --> 00:52:01,245 I think a lot about what it will take for this country 929 00:52:01,246 --> 00:52:03,789 to speak the truth of what was done to Black women, 930 00:52:03,790 --> 00:52:06,542 and reconcile the atrocities of the past, 931 00:52:06,543 --> 00:52:10,463 so that Black women do not continue to suffer under this legacy. 932 00:52:10,464 --> 00:52:11,714 I think about what it will take 933 00:52:11,715 --> 00:52:14,759 for this nation to honor and respect Black women, 934 00:52:14,760 --> 00:52:19,765 to see us, finally, beyond the constructs that race created. 935 00:52:20,557 --> 00:52:23,184 - What do you see as the way forward for... - Mm-hmm. 936 00:52:23,185 --> 00:52:25,394 For healing and justice for Black women, 937 00:52:25,395 --> 00:52:29,148 but also, for liberating our society of these categories... 938 00:52:29,149 --> 00:52:30,775 - Yeah. - That harm us all, really? 939 00:52:30,776 --> 00:52:34,238 Yeah, they, they do, and I think that 940 00:52:34,446 --> 00:52:37,448 women who have been grappling with this, 941 00:52:37,449 --> 00:52:39,492 who've been experiencing it, 942 00:52:39,493 --> 00:52:43,788 and have been the greatest resistors against it, 943 00:52:43,789 --> 00:52:48,000 uh, taking their leadership to imagine a society 944 00:52:48,001 --> 00:52:52,171 that is truly based in caring, and in humanity 945 00:52:52,172 --> 00:52:54,882 and in valuing human beings equally. 946 00:52:54,883 --> 00:52:57,552 I think that should give us hope 947 00:52:57,553 --> 00:53:02,098 that if we listen to the voices of Black women 948 00:53:02,099 --> 00:53:06,727 and their visions for a transformed society, 949 00:53:06,728 --> 00:53:12,733 we can collectively create a world that would be safer, 950 00:53:12,734 --> 00:53:18,072 and healthier and more flourishing for everybody 951 00:53:18,073 --> 00:53:22,077 than the kind of damaged society we have today. 952 00:53:35,299 --> 00:53:37,633 It's the voices of Black people singing 953 00:53:37,634 --> 00:53:40,887 about that damaged society that have helped to change it, 954 00:53:40,888 --> 00:53:42,722 right from the very beginning. 955 00:53:42,723 --> 00:53:44,348 The music was beautiful. 956 00:53:44,349 --> 00:53:48,896 Comes from a place of, of great pain and uncertainty, but also hope. 957 00:53:49,396 --> 00:53:51,147 That there's a whole cultural experience 958 00:53:51,148 --> 00:53:55,318 that is fascinating and foreign to white people. 959 00:53:55,319 --> 00:53:58,321 They're drawn to it, they are drawn to this music. 87569

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