1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Downloaded from YTS.MX 2 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX 3 00:00:30,113 --> 00:00:34,326 ♪ 4 00:00:34,326 --> 00:00:38,372 ♪ 5 00:00:38,372 --> 00:00:39,915 SHAWNEE BENTON-GIBSON: I just wanted to illustrate 6 00:00:39,915 --> 00:00:43,210 how over-the-top my daughter is in every aspect of her life. 7 00:00:43,794 --> 00:00:46,129 Shamony's hyper. She's crazy. 8 00:00:46,129 --> 00:00:48,048 She does everything with force. She's loud. 9 00:00:49,508 --> 00:00:52,594 She brushes her teeth like the teeth did something to her. 10 00:00:53,178 --> 00:00:54,137 SHAMONY: Bed-Stuy do or die. 11 00:00:54,137 --> 00:00:56,390 ♪ Ah ah ah ah ♪ 12 00:00:56,390 --> 00:01:01,103 ♪ Would you make a, make a, make a wish on my love? ♪ 13 00:01:01,103 --> 00:01:02,521 ♪ Ah ah ah ah ♪ 14 00:01:02,521 --> 00:01:03,480 So we got to run. 15 00:01:05,107 --> 00:01:07,734 Oh lord. I don't need to warm up. 16 00:01:07,734 --> 00:01:10,320 I got this. I got this. Why you laughing? 17 00:01:10,320 --> 00:01:12,197 ♪ Would you make a, make a ♪ 18 00:01:12,197 --> 00:01:13,198 Woo! 19 00:01:14,992 --> 00:01:16,410 This crazy man 20 00:01:17,369 --> 00:01:18,787 got me running too much. 21 00:01:18,787 --> 00:01:22,624 ♪ Would you make a, make a, make a wish on my love? ♪ 22 00:01:22,624 --> 00:01:26,295 ♪ 23 00:01:26,295 --> 00:01:28,338 SHAMONY: How does it feel for me to be moving out? 24 00:01:28,338 --> 00:01:31,508 - Uh, okay. SHAMONY: Okay! 25 00:01:32,134 --> 00:01:35,012 Same day, different apartment. 26 00:01:35,554 --> 00:01:36,638 OMARI MAYNARD: I'm making a list. 27 00:01:36,638 --> 00:01:39,391 I told Shamony to make 20 lists before. 28 00:01:39,391 --> 00:01:41,185 - The thing is that both Omari 29 00:01:41,185 --> 00:01:44,062 and I have pregnancy brain, right, O? 30 00:01:44,062 --> 00:01:45,522 - Yeah, we do. SHAMONY: It's clearly you. 31 00:01:47,608 --> 00:01:49,109 WOMAN: Oh goodness. 32 00:01:49,109 --> 00:01:51,695 So your baby going to be Moses Maynard Gibson? 33 00:01:51,695 --> 00:01:52,446 SHAMONY: No. OMARI: No. 34 00:01:52,446 --> 00:01:54,323 WOMAN: No, I'm kidding. Moses Maynard? 35 00:01:54,323 --> 00:01:55,741 SHAMONY: No. 36 00:01:55,741 --> 00:01:58,285 ♪ On all the things you can't see ♪ 37 00:01:58,285 --> 00:02:01,872 ♪ Make a wish on all that lives within thee ♪ 38 00:02:01,872 --> 00:02:04,875 ♪ If you're foolishly in love with me ♪ 39 00:02:04,875 --> 00:02:07,461 ♪ It's a fine day for sure ♪ 40 00:02:08,670 --> 00:02:14,676 ♪ Taste the fruit of me ♪ 41 00:02:15,719 --> 00:02:21,517 ♪ Make love to all you see ♪ 42 00:02:21,517 --> 00:02:23,227 ♪ Ah ah ah ah ♪ 43 00:02:23,685 --> 00:02:28,482 ♪ Would you make a, make a, make a wish on my love? ♪ 44 00:02:28,482 --> 00:02:30,234 ♪ Ah ah ah ah ♪ 45 00:02:30,651 --> 00:02:35,531 ♪ Would you make a, make a, make a wish on my love? ♪ 46 00:02:35,531 --> 00:02:37,699 ♪ Ah ah ah ah ♪ 47 00:02:37,699 --> 00:02:41,078 ♪ Would you make a, make a, make a wish on my love? ♪ 48 00:02:41,078 --> 00:02:42,871 [baby giggles, babbles] 49 00:02:43,372 --> 00:02:44,289 - Say hi. 50 00:02:44,706 --> 00:02:45,666 [laughs] 51 00:02:45,666 --> 00:02:49,920 [indiscernible conversation] 52 00:02:49,920 --> 00:02:51,213 [laughter] 53 00:02:52,548 --> 00:02:55,551 ♪ 54 00:02:55,551 --> 00:02:58,554 ♪ 55 00:02:58,554 --> 00:03:01,682 ♪ 56 00:03:02,933 --> 00:03:04,601 SHAMONY: Hey, baby. 57 00:03:06,937 --> 00:03:08,897 Time is flying. Four months already. 58 00:03:09,565 --> 00:03:12,317 Every day is a new process. You wake up like, "Oh my god, 59 00:03:13,610 --> 00:03:16,655 I'm that much closer to being a mom again." 60 00:03:16,655 --> 00:03:21,410 ♪ Would you make a, make a, make a wish on my love? ♪ 61 00:03:21,410 --> 00:03:23,579 ♪ Ah ah ah ah ♪ 62 00:03:23,579 --> 00:03:28,417 ♪ Would you make a, make a, make a wish on my love? ♪ 63 00:03:28,417 --> 00:03:30,669 ♪ Ah ah ah ah ♪ 64 00:03:30,669 --> 00:03:35,716 ♪ Would you make a, make a, make a wish on my love? ♪ 65 00:03:35,716 --> 00:03:36,925 ♪ You're running ♪ 66 00:03:39,178 --> 00:03:40,470 ♪ And I try ♪ 67 00:03:44,183 --> 00:03:46,143 - Hi, sweet baby. 68 00:03:46,685 --> 00:03:49,897 So I am... What? I can't say sweet baby? 69 00:03:49,897 --> 00:03:50,898 WOMAN: Who're you talking to? 70 00:03:50,898 --> 00:03:52,024 - I'm talking to Khari. 71 00:03:52,024 --> 00:03:52,816 WOMAN: Oh. 72 00:03:53,108 --> 00:03:54,693 - So, um-- 73 00:03:55,611 --> 00:03:58,697 Yes, my plan was to have you at home, 74 00:03:58,697 --> 00:04:01,200 so maybe your auntie will record. 75 00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:02,409 And I can still have you at home. 76 00:04:02,409 --> 00:04:05,245 We have three hours from now. 77 00:04:05,245 --> 00:04:09,249 But, however, it doesn't always work, right? 78 00:04:09,708 --> 00:04:11,793 So if you were born tomorrow-- 79 00:04:11,793 --> 00:04:13,462 OMARI: It's been four months 80 00:04:13,462 --> 00:04:16,715 and three days since she passed away. 81 00:04:17,758 --> 00:04:20,219 You know, it feels like it was last week. 82 00:04:25,098 --> 00:04:26,517 - Greetings, family. 83 00:04:27,684 --> 00:04:30,229 I didn't know all of this beautifulness was behind me. 84 00:04:30,229 --> 00:04:32,689 I'm so blown away and so appreciative 85 00:04:32,689 --> 00:04:35,275 and so humbled by your presence. 86 00:04:35,275 --> 00:04:36,443 [applause] 87 00:04:36,443 --> 00:04:40,239 So, um, this is my daughter's birthday. 88 00:04:40,239 --> 00:04:42,282 She would've been 31 years old today, 89 00:04:42,282 --> 00:04:44,618 and she loved to plan things and to party, 90 00:04:44,618 --> 00:04:46,662 so we're having this celebration on her behalf. 91 00:04:46,662 --> 00:04:48,413 This is a celebration of life, 92 00:04:48,914 --> 00:04:51,166 but also it's about how Shamony has been speaking 93 00:04:51,166 --> 00:04:52,793 to all of us in our family 94 00:04:52,793 --> 00:04:55,254 and extended community since she passed. 95 00:05:10,394 --> 00:05:13,480 About an hour ago, I started to, to falter. 96 00:05:14,147 --> 00:05:16,149 Um, and I won't even call it falter. 97 00:05:16,149 --> 00:05:18,026 I'm just experiencing my grief, you know. 98 00:05:25,033 --> 00:05:26,785 WOMAN: Alright, so how you want us to line up, cousin? 99 00:05:26,785 --> 00:05:27,953 SHAWNEE: Um, family first? 100 00:05:27,953 --> 00:05:30,247 WOMAN: Can I get family, age order please? 101 00:05:38,380 --> 00:05:44,178 ♪ If you soar ♪ 102 00:05:45,429 --> 00:05:51,393 ♪ Over the lowest valley ♪ 103 00:05:54,605 --> 00:06:00,569 ♪ Then you can manifest ♪ 104 00:06:01,570 --> 00:06:04,198 ♪ All there is ♪ 105 00:06:04,573 --> 00:06:10,579 ♪ To dream your dream ♪ 106 00:06:11,955 --> 00:06:15,459 [indiscernible chatter] 107 00:06:16,084 --> 00:06:17,461 SHAWNEE: It's a struggle every day, 108 00:06:18,212 --> 00:06:21,089 particularly because what happened with Shamony 109 00:06:21,423 --> 00:06:23,133 was absolutely preventable. 110 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:31,016 She ended up with a C-section. 111 00:06:31,725 --> 00:06:33,018 SHAMONY: My baby. 112 00:06:33,310 --> 00:06:35,562 My baby that I've been waiting forever for. 113 00:06:36,313 --> 00:06:38,273 WOMAN: You did amazing, Shamony. 114 00:06:40,526 --> 00:06:42,027 OMARI: So we leave the hospital. 115 00:06:42,611 --> 00:06:45,364 Within the first week, she was complaining 116 00:06:45,364 --> 00:06:47,783 about having shortness of breath when she talked. 117 00:06:48,909 --> 00:06:50,577 JASMINE GIBSON: She walked down the stairs 118 00:06:50,577 --> 00:06:52,246 to get something. 119 00:06:52,246 --> 00:06:54,706 And when she was trying to get back up, 120 00:06:54,706 --> 00:06:56,124 she couldn't move. 121 00:06:56,124 --> 00:06:59,002 Like, she was just, she had to just lay on the floor for a while. 122 00:07:00,754 --> 00:07:02,214 OMARI: We called the hospital, 123 00:07:02,214 --> 00:07:04,049 telled them what the symptoms were. 124 00:07:04,424 --> 00:07:07,261 The doctor said, you know, "It's okay. Just relax." 125 00:07:08,136 --> 00:07:10,639 That proceeded for the next two weeks. 126 00:07:12,558 --> 00:07:16,979 We go back to the hospital for, um, Shamony 127 00:07:16,979 --> 00:07:20,566 so that they could remove her staples from her C-section. 128 00:07:20,983 --> 00:07:23,318 I was again telling them what the symptoms were. 129 00:07:23,318 --> 00:07:25,612 Asking them what are some things that we can do. 130 00:07:25,988 --> 00:07:29,741 And, you know, the answer pretty much was the same every time. 131 00:07:29,741 --> 00:07:30,909 "Just makes sure that she rests." 132 00:07:31,660 --> 00:07:35,330 There wasn't much of a sense of urgency on their part at all. 133 00:07:36,582 --> 00:07:39,334 SHAWNEE: That's the expert, and I'm not a doctor, 134 00:07:39,334 --> 00:07:40,669 so okay. 135 00:07:40,669 --> 00:07:43,130 I rallied people to make meals for her. 136 00:07:43,422 --> 00:07:44,798 I did what we do! 137 00:07:45,424 --> 00:07:46,842 Just take care of her. 138 00:07:49,678 --> 00:07:52,890 OMARI: Two weeks after, you know, she gave birth, 139 00:07:52,890 --> 00:07:56,977 Shamony was complaining that she had really sharp chest pains. 140 00:07:57,352 --> 00:07:59,688 She says, "I want to go to the hospital now." 141 00:08:01,690 --> 00:08:04,401 Her mom and her aunt were in the back with her. 142 00:08:05,319 --> 00:08:08,155 And as I'm packing the bag, I just hear them screaming and screaming, 143 00:08:08,155 --> 00:08:09,781 "Omari, Omari, come in here. Come in here." 144 00:08:09,781 --> 00:08:14,494 So I run in there, and then I just see Shamony is, 145 00:08:15,662 --> 00:08:17,039 she's just in shock. 146 00:08:17,039 --> 00:08:19,249 [siren wailing] 147 00:08:19,249 --> 00:08:21,126 SHAWNEE: The ambulance came. 148 00:08:21,877 --> 00:08:23,504 It seems like forever, but it was only minutes. 149 00:08:23,504 --> 00:08:26,507 And I immediately started talking to them about what was happening. 150 00:08:26,507 --> 00:08:28,425 Like, "She just had a C-section." 151 00:08:28,425 --> 00:08:29,718 I'm telling them the symptoms. 152 00:08:29,718 --> 00:08:32,930 - You know, they kept asking me, they kept asking her mother, 153 00:08:32,930 --> 00:08:34,681 "Is she on any drugs or anything like that? 154 00:08:34,681 --> 00:08:35,849 Was she taking any drugs?" 155 00:08:35,849 --> 00:08:37,142 Like, "No, she doesn't take drugs." 156 00:08:37,851 --> 00:08:39,520 - Next set of people come in. 157 00:08:39,520 --> 00:08:42,022 "Is she on drugs? Does she use drugs?" 158 00:08:42,022 --> 00:08:45,567 I just told your colleagues. I'm telling you. 159 00:08:45,567 --> 00:08:47,569 Then another round of people come in, 160 00:08:48,403 --> 00:08:49,530 "Is she on drugs?" 161 00:08:49,530 --> 00:08:51,240 I'm like, "Do y'all talk?" 162 00:08:51,782 --> 00:08:55,244 OMARI: They finally take her in an ambulance to the closest hospital. 163 00:08:56,203 --> 00:08:57,829 - That was not the place 164 00:08:57,829 --> 00:09:00,332 where I would want my daughter to be sent ever. 165 00:09:00,332 --> 00:09:01,792 There was no money in that hospital. 166 00:09:01,792 --> 00:09:04,211 They didn't have what they needed to care for her. 167 00:09:04,211 --> 00:09:06,046 They had been divested from. 168 00:09:06,755 --> 00:09:09,550 OMARI: They eventually figured it was a pulmonary embolism. 169 00:09:09,550 --> 00:09:12,553 But all they could do there is give her blood thinners 170 00:09:12,553 --> 00:09:15,222 and hope that the blood clot would pop. 171 00:09:16,598 --> 00:09:21,353 We waited, you know, and it was, I want to say, a solid 12 hours. 172 00:09:23,397 --> 00:09:26,859 JASMINE: So many people were showing up at the hospital, 173 00:09:27,276 --> 00:09:30,362 just standing in the hallway, praying, praying, praying 174 00:09:30,362 --> 00:09:33,824 like, you know, putting it out there that she was going to, 175 00:09:34,157 --> 00:09:35,450 some-- a miracle was gonna happen. 176 00:09:38,036 --> 00:09:41,290 - And I'm watching this while watching my daughter in distress. 177 00:09:42,374 --> 00:09:45,043 And just thinking, if they would have listened to her 178 00:09:45,043 --> 00:09:46,795 during that postpartum time, 179 00:09:47,254 --> 00:09:49,131 it wouldn't have come to this point. 180 00:09:50,340 --> 00:09:52,885 JASMINE: My cousin comes in the room and she's like, 181 00:09:52,885 --> 00:09:53,927 "She's gone." 182 00:09:53,927 --> 00:09:55,345 Everybody just fell apart. 183 00:09:55,345 --> 00:09:58,098 [long beep] 184 00:09:58,098 --> 00:09:59,766 OMARI: There's just so many levels 185 00:09:59,766 --> 00:10:02,394 of frustrations that come, you know, 186 00:10:03,729 --> 00:10:06,231 and just understanding the scope of who we are 187 00:10:06,231 --> 00:10:08,567 and what we look like and where we live, you know, 188 00:10:08,567 --> 00:10:11,653 and the stereotypes that come with that, you know. 189 00:10:14,198 --> 00:10:19,119 Having to deal with that on top of watching your partner pass away, 190 00:10:19,953 --> 00:10:21,288 you know, it's, um, 191 00:10:23,415 --> 00:10:24,875 tough isn't the word, you know. 192 00:10:24,875 --> 00:10:27,044 It's, it's, it's more than tough. 193 00:10:38,055 --> 00:10:39,515 Let's go downstairs. 194 00:10:41,892 --> 00:10:43,435 [groans] 195 00:10:44,186 --> 00:10:45,437 Alright. 196 00:10:54,988 --> 00:10:56,782 You ready? Let's go. 197 00:10:56,782 --> 00:10:59,618 ♪ 198 00:10:59,618 --> 00:11:02,454 ♪ 199 00:11:02,454 --> 00:11:06,291 ♪ 200 00:11:06,291 --> 00:11:10,212 ♪ 201 00:11:10,212 --> 00:11:12,965 ♪ 202 00:11:12,965 --> 00:11:15,592 ♪ 203 00:11:15,592 --> 00:11:18,178 Telling Anari that her mother passed away was, 204 00:11:18,595 --> 00:11:19,680 it was hard. 205 00:11:24,184 --> 00:11:26,186 She asks about her mother all the time. 206 00:11:27,271 --> 00:11:30,482 ♪ 207 00:11:30,482 --> 00:11:33,735 ♪ 208 00:11:33,735 --> 00:11:38,198 ♪ 209 00:11:42,452 --> 00:11:46,206 - Anari! 210 00:11:47,666 --> 00:11:48,834 Okay. 211 00:11:49,376 --> 00:11:51,420 You want to give daddy hugs. 212 00:11:53,255 --> 00:11:54,298 Okay. 213 00:11:54,298 --> 00:11:55,424 [laughter] 214 00:12:14,484 --> 00:12:18,322 OMARI: Shamony definitely was, you know, my muse. 215 00:12:18,322 --> 00:12:19,990 - Omari here is going to be doing my makeup. 216 00:12:19,990 --> 00:12:20,991 [clicks tongue] 217 00:12:21,658 --> 00:12:23,785 - It's going to be money. Go. 218 00:12:24,203 --> 00:12:25,579 Got to start in the middle, right? 219 00:12:28,874 --> 00:12:30,959 Make sure you put it on nice and thick. 220 00:12:32,669 --> 00:12:35,005 [Shamony laughing] 221 00:12:40,010 --> 00:12:42,304 OMARI: I've never lived in this house without her. 222 00:12:45,807 --> 00:12:48,477 There's times where I wake up, 223 00:12:48,477 --> 00:12:51,104 and I'm just shocked 224 00:12:51,855 --> 00:12:55,859 to be sleeping in our bed by myself. 225 00:13:02,699 --> 00:13:05,744 [baby crying, fussing] 226 00:13:09,081 --> 00:13:10,207 [indiscernible] 227 00:13:14,670 --> 00:13:15,754 [indiscernible] 228 00:13:18,799 --> 00:13:19,800 [indiscernible] 229 00:13:24,930 --> 00:13:26,390 BRUCE MCINTYRE: It's hard adjusting. 230 00:13:30,143 --> 00:13:31,937 I can't believe that Amber 231 00:13:31,937 --> 00:13:34,147 is not going to be coming back home. 232 00:13:40,070 --> 00:13:42,364 - So this month, we'll be learning about plants. 233 00:13:42,364 --> 00:13:44,908 So today, I'm going to demonstrate how to plant. 234 00:13:44,908 --> 00:13:48,871 Organic potting mix, it's usually good for every kind of plant. 235 00:13:50,163 --> 00:13:51,415 You're gonna need-- 236 00:13:51,748 --> 00:13:54,251 I'm using a Mason jar, but you don't need to use a Mason jar. 237 00:13:54,251 --> 00:13:55,627 You can use whatever you have at home. 238 00:13:56,420 --> 00:13:58,046 This is going to get messy, 239 00:13:58,964 --> 00:14:00,841 so I'm sure the kids will love this. 240 00:14:00,841 --> 00:14:03,552 Let them. If you do have soil at home, 241 00:14:03,552 --> 00:14:05,929 let them experience it, play with it. 242 00:14:05,929 --> 00:14:09,391 Um, it's a good sensory activity as well-- 243 00:14:09,766 --> 00:14:11,351 BRUCE: I can still hear her feet, 244 00:14:12,102 --> 00:14:13,729 stomping her feet and running in. 245 00:14:14,605 --> 00:14:17,274 She, uh, opens the door and jumps straight on the bed 246 00:14:17,274 --> 00:14:18,483 and starts jumping on me 247 00:14:18,483 --> 00:14:21,486 and pushing me and pulling on me and waking me up, 248 00:14:22,029 --> 00:14:24,615 uh, and she says that we're pregnant. 249 00:14:25,324 --> 00:14:28,243 [indiscernible conversations] 250 00:14:29,036 --> 00:14:31,288 AMBER: [screams] It's a boy. 251 00:14:32,748 --> 00:14:35,584 BRUCE: Amber had such a pregnant glow to her. 252 00:14:37,336 --> 00:14:39,046 She was just so excited. 253 00:14:39,046 --> 00:14:40,839 [cheering] 254 00:14:42,007 --> 00:14:43,884 BRUCE: During her second and third trimester, 255 00:14:44,718 --> 00:14:48,055 we started noticing she was having headaches. 256 00:14:48,055 --> 00:14:49,223 She was getting dizzy, 257 00:14:49,848 --> 00:14:51,892 and she was having a tough time breathing. 258 00:14:52,976 --> 00:14:56,230 And all of her concerns were being taken lightly. 259 00:14:56,230 --> 00:14:59,107 "Oh, these are just pregnancy-related symptoms. 260 00:14:59,107 --> 00:15:00,108 You're okay." 261 00:15:00,943 --> 00:15:03,612 So I took the initiative to search 262 00:15:03,612 --> 00:15:06,657 and do research on midwives and doulas 263 00:15:06,657 --> 00:15:09,576 and stumbled across Nubia Martin. 264 00:15:11,662 --> 00:15:13,038 NUBIA MARTIN: Bruce and Amber reached out 265 00:15:13,038 --> 00:15:14,957 trying to switch over to home birth. 266 00:15:15,582 --> 00:15:18,752 So let's start right here. WOMAN: Okay. 267 00:15:18,752 --> 00:15:21,046 - She knew something was off, and she was hoping 268 00:15:21,046 --> 00:15:24,716 that switching to midwifery care would get to the bottom of that. 269 00:15:24,716 --> 00:15:25,968 Walk your hands-- 270 00:15:27,052 --> 00:15:29,930 When they sent her prenatal records for us to review, 271 00:15:29,930 --> 00:15:32,808 the first thing that jumped out was the issue with the platelets. 272 00:15:33,267 --> 00:15:35,978 I said this is not right. You need to go to the hospital. 273 00:15:36,770 --> 00:15:39,982 BRUCE: If the platelet levels go lower than 150, they need to be monitored. 274 00:15:40,691 --> 00:15:44,444 Her platelet levels had been less and deteriorating since December. 275 00:15:45,320 --> 00:15:46,363 We're in April. 276 00:15:47,865 --> 00:15:49,950 This is high risk. 277 00:15:50,617 --> 00:15:53,036 The hospital's not bringing this to our attention at all. 278 00:15:55,330 --> 00:15:57,291 Amber wanted to write a tell-all 279 00:15:57,708 --> 00:15:59,751 about the care that she had been receiving. 280 00:16:02,462 --> 00:16:04,798 Finally, they started paying attention to her 281 00:16:05,215 --> 00:16:07,718 and diagnosed her with HELLP syndrome. 282 00:16:10,721 --> 00:16:13,515 They could have caught it early, treated it. 283 00:16:20,355 --> 00:16:22,065 RENITA ISAAC: She went into the hospital. 284 00:16:25,152 --> 00:16:28,322 They induced her labor, and they rushed her into a C-section. 285 00:16:31,533 --> 00:16:34,411 The high-risk doctor just left my daughter there with some, 286 00:16:34,828 --> 00:16:36,413 uh, a young team there. 287 00:16:38,040 --> 00:16:40,667 BRUCE: They cut her open. Her blood is water-like at this point. 288 00:16:41,376 --> 00:16:43,170 She's lied open on the table, 289 00:16:43,754 --> 00:16:44,755 bleeding out. 290 00:16:46,006 --> 00:16:50,260 They were neglecting her until it was way too late. 291 00:16:57,643 --> 00:17:00,103 We thought Montefiore was going to take care of her. 292 00:17:01,480 --> 00:17:05,651 We had Amber's mother, who worked there for 25 years. 293 00:17:07,736 --> 00:17:09,488 RENITA: They gave that statement 294 00:17:09,488 --> 00:17:13,700 that they had a mortality rate of 0.01 percent. 295 00:17:18,205 --> 00:17:19,748 That's all I got from them. 296 00:17:25,796 --> 00:17:27,506 Amber would've been a wonderful mother. 297 00:17:28,632 --> 00:17:31,385 She was working on her masters. She wanted to be an art therapist. 298 00:17:31,385 --> 00:17:34,304 She started teaching, and she loved these kids. 299 00:17:35,389 --> 00:17:37,432 She wanted this so badly, you know. 300 00:17:41,228 --> 00:17:42,396 She's my only child. 301 00:17:43,272 --> 00:17:44,314 She's all I had. 302 00:17:44,898 --> 00:17:48,068 I'm grateful that she left Elias for us. 303 00:17:50,571 --> 00:17:53,907 ♪ 304 00:17:53,907 --> 00:17:56,743 ♪ 305 00:17:56,743 --> 00:17:59,371 ♪ 306 00:18:03,792 --> 00:18:04,877 OMARI: What's going on, man? 307 00:18:05,711 --> 00:18:07,921 BRUCE: How you doing, man? Yo, I got to give you a hug, bro. 308 00:18:09,214 --> 00:18:10,632 Oh, man. 309 00:18:10,632 --> 00:18:13,552 OMARI: I heard about Bruce and what happened to Amber Isaac. 310 00:18:13,927 --> 00:18:16,138 I just immediately reached out to him 311 00:18:17,055 --> 00:18:20,934 to just say, "Hey, man, it's a lot. I know exactly how you feel. 312 00:18:20,934 --> 00:18:23,520 If you need somebody to talk to, then, you know, here I am." 313 00:18:25,355 --> 00:18:27,232 OMARI: I wanted specifically to just meet you, 314 00:18:27,232 --> 00:18:30,152 because I know that y'all know how I'm feeling. 315 00:18:30,527 --> 00:18:33,739 Even if I'm not able to articulate it the way I want to, like, I know. 316 00:18:34,281 --> 00:18:37,618 - It's like this shit, this shit is just so, like, surreal sometimes. 317 00:18:37,618 --> 00:18:41,663 Like, I just be thinking, like, "Damn, this can't be real life." 318 00:18:41,663 --> 00:18:42,247 OMARI: Yeah. 319 00:18:42,539 --> 00:18:43,790 - You know, I still got that-- 320 00:18:43,790 --> 00:18:46,001 I feel like somebody's foot is in my throat, like-- 321 00:18:46,001 --> 00:18:47,544 - Yeah. Yeah. 322 00:18:47,836 --> 00:18:49,213 - Like, that's-- - I know. 323 00:18:49,213 --> 00:18:52,841 I still don't feel like I've grasped the entire concept 324 00:18:52,841 --> 00:18:56,470 of her not being here physically, you know. 325 00:18:56,470 --> 00:18:59,640 And of course, there's other people in our position, you know, 326 00:18:59,640 --> 00:19:02,518 so that's why I feel too, we can turn our pain into power 327 00:19:02,518 --> 00:19:03,977 and make something of this, you know. 328 00:19:03,977 --> 00:19:07,022 So, I could either... chill 329 00:19:07,022 --> 00:19:09,399 or I could, you know, do something, you know. 330 00:19:09,399 --> 00:19:11,902 And I'm taking the position of doing something 331 00:19:11,902 --> 00:19:15,656 because, you know, that's what I know that we are here for, you know. 332 00:19:16,156 --> 00:19:20,452 - Yeah. I got to take action in some way, some way. I got to-- 333 00:19:20,452 --> 00:19:22,329 If I'm not doing nothing, I at least got to study 334 00:19:22,329 --> 00:19:24,289 so I know what I'm fighting against. 335 00:19:25,582 --> 00:19:26,583 OMARI: Yeah. 336 00:19:28,961 --> 00:19:30,045 Alright. 337 00:19:31,672 --> 00:19:32,798 You ready to do this? 338 00:19:33,423 --> 00:19:35,175 - Ready when you ready. - Alright, cool, cool. 339 00:19:35,175 --> 00:19:37,177 ♪ 340 00:19:37,177 --> 00:19:40,806 ♪ 341 00:19:40,806 --> 00:19:43,433 ♪ 342 00:19:43,433 --> 00:19:46,854 [panting] 343 00:19:48,313 --> 00:19:52,860 ♪ 344 00:19:52,860 --> 00:19:54,236 OMARI: Just got to keep going. That's it. 345 00:19:54,528 --> 00:19:57,364 That's all we got to do, one foot in front of the other. 346 00:19:58,949 --> 00:20:03,245 ♪ 347 00:20:03,245 --> 00:20:08,500 ♪ 348 00:20:08,500 --> 00:20:10,794 OMARI: Come on. come on. 349 00:20:10,794 --> 00:20:12,754 This is it right there, right here. 350 00:20:13,046 --> 00:20:15,632 Amber and Shamony at the finish line. 351 00:20:16,049 --> 00:20:17,050 Come on. 352 00:20:20,053 --> 00:20:23,849 ♪ 353 00:20:24,391 --> 00:20:25,434 - Woo! 354 00:20:25,434 --> 00:20:30,564 ♪ 355 00:20:30,564 --> 00:20:36,028 ♪ 356 00:20:36,778 --> 00:20:37,988 OMARI: Right in there. 357 00:20:40,115 --> 00:20:41,325 Come on now. 358 00:20:43,535 --> 00:20:44,995 - Hi! 359 00:20:45,495 --> 00:20:47,289 Hey, we matching? 360 00:20:52,628 --> 00:20:55,756 ANITA WARREN: I was aware that this is a growing epidemic 361 00:20:55,756 --> 00:20:57,132 in our communities, 362 00:20:57,132 --> 00:21:00,594 and that is so upsetting to me. 363 00:21:00,594 --> 00:21:03,472 An alarm has to be sounded about this. 364 00:21:03,472 --> 00:21:05,974 SHAWNEE: I never thought that this would happen to my family. 365 00:21:05,974 --> 00:21:06,391 ANITA: Yes. 366 00:21:06,391 --> 00:21:08,810 - Because I do reproductive justice work. 367 00:21:08,810 --> 00:21:09,770 - Mm-hmm. SHAWNEE: But, 368 00:21:10,437 --> 00:21:12,147 you know, just also, why wouldn't it? 369 00:21:12,147 --> 00:21:13,524 We're Black and brown. ANITA: Right. Right. 370 00:21:13,524 --> 00:21:15,234 - You know, she's a woman. She was having a baby, 371 00:21:15,234 --> 00:21:17,069 so why would we think we would be exempt? 372 00:21:17,069 --> 00:21:18,570 Because we have the knowledge? ANITA: Mm-hmm. 373 00:21:18,570 --> 00:21:21,031 - Knowledge doesn't save you from this epidemic. 374 00:21:21,031 --> 00:21:21,698 ANITA: That's right. 375 00:21:21,698 --> 00:21:24,701 - Omari, I can't speak for you, but I'm mourning 376 00:21:26,703 --> 00:21:28,247 growing old with my daughter. 377 00:21:28,247 --> 00:21:29,790 - Yeah, definitely. 378 00:21:29,790 --> 00:21:31,124 - We were 20 years apart, 379 00:21:31,500 --> 00:21:33,585 and the women in my family live a long time. 380 00:21:33,585 --> 00:21:37,005 So I anticipated being 90 and her being 70 381 00:21:37,005 --> 00:21:39,299 and getting on each other's nerves in that space, 382 00:21:39,591 --> 00:21:40,884 you know, um. 383 00:21:41,385 --> 00:21:46,139 So mourning what could have been is also very real. 384 00:21:46,139 --> 00:21:48,559 - I definitely want to partner with fathers 385 00:21:48,559 --> 00:21:52,271 who specifically have suffered loss the way I have 386 00:21:52,271 --> 00:21:55,274 and to get fathers together to just really talk about 387 00:21:55,274 --> 00:21:58,318 how after, you know, you lose somebody important, 388 00:21:58,318 --> 00:21:59,945 how the community helps. 389 00:21:59,945 --> 00:22:03,907 - If it's possible to have this space be one of the hubs 390 00:22:03,907 --> 00:22:06,994 where men gather and have these conversations, 391 00:22:06,994 --> 00:22:08,745 I especially want it for Black men, 392 00:22:08,745 --> 00:22:13,208 because it's a desert out there in reference to support. 393 00:22:13,208 --> 00:22:17,671 - You know, this is not something that is just specific to me 394 00:22:17,671 --> 00:22:19,715 or specific to just a handful of people. 395 00:22:19,715 --> 00:22:22,050 Like, hundreds and thousands of men 396 00:22:22,050 --> 00:22:25,345 are going through this same, you know, scenario, situation. 397 00:22:31,018 --> 00:22:33,145 [phone rings] 398 00:22:33,145 --> 00:22:34,354 ANARI: Look, Daddy. 399 00:22:35,230 --> 00:22:36,398 OMARI: Hello. - Look. 400 00:22:37,649 --> 00:22:38,609 BOY: [on laptop] Hi. 401 00:22:39,067 --> 00:22:40,903 - Good morning. Is Anthony there? 402 00:22:41,737 --> 00:22:44,281 I'm one of Anthony's math teachers. 403 00:22:44,281 --> 00:22:45,365 ANTHONY: This is Anthony. 404 00:22:45,949 --> 00:22:47,826 - Um, so what's going on, Anthony? 405 00:22:47,826 --> 00:22:50,829 You haven't been really completing your math assignments, 406 00:22:50,829 --> 00:22:53,290 so I just wanted to see what was the reason for that? 407 00:22:53,290 --> 00:22:54,958 - I want to do the race car. 408 00:22:56,126 --> 00:22:57,127 - Okay. 409 00:22:57,127 --> 00:22:58,879 ANARI: Race car. OMARI: Okay, baby. 410 00:22:58,879 --> 00:23:02,633 If you're having some troubles with your math work, 411 00:23:03,133 --> 00:23:06,136 then you're going to get in contact with me, 412 00:23:06,136 --> 00:23:07,679 and I'm going to help you out with it, okay? 413 00:23:08,472 --> 00:23:09,765 ANTHONY: Okay. OMARI: Alright, awesome. 414 00:23:09,765 --> 00:23:11,141 You have a great day, Anthony. 415 00:23:15,479 --> 00:23:18,732 [humming] 416 00:23:20,359 --> 00:23:22,194 Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. 417 00:23:22,528 --> 00:23:23,987 [laughs] 418 00:23:24,863 --> 00:23:27,824 You're a little tricky, huh? You trying to get tricky? 419 00:23:27,824 --> 00:23:29,034 You trying to get tricky? 420 00:23:31,036 --> 00:23:33,580 As I'm trying to get through day to day, 421 00:23:34,248 --> 00:23:37,876 a handful of men got in contact with me. 422 00:23:39,002 --> 00:23:40,921 Their partners also passed away. 423 00:23:42,214 --> 00:23:43,882 And it had such an effect on me. 424 00:23:44,842 --> 00:23:46,218 I wasn't by myself. 425 00:23:48,345 --> 00:23:52,099 - Thank you for all the brothers who came, and I'm definitely grateful, 426 00:23:52,099 --> 00:23:55,310 uh, for what we're able to do, creating this circle, 427 00:23:55,310 --> 00:23:56,854 you know, with Omari 428 00:23:56,854 --> 00:24:01,066 to support brothers like Omari and Mustafa 429 00:24:01,066 --> 00:24:04,987 who are in the particular place where they sit. 430 00:24:05,654 --> 00:24:07,030 - My name's Mustafa Shabazz. 431 00:24:07,489 --> 00:24:10,284 Me and Omari, we're basically going through the same pain right now. 432 00:24:10,951 --> 00:24:13,745 My lady died. Like you said, you felt hopeless? 433 00:24:13,745 --> 00:24:15,163 I felt the same way. 434 00:24:15,414 --> 00:24:18,375 I watched her take her last breath in front of my eyes, 435 00:24:18,375 --> 00:24:19,877 and there was nothing I can do. 436 00:24:20,169 --> 00:24:21,003 Nothing. 437 00:24:22,087 --> 00:24:25,549 I had, I had to go and get a DNA test 438 00:24:25,549 --> 00:24:27,384 just to take my son out of the hospital. 439 00:24:27,384 --> 00:24:29,178 They didn't believe that he was my son. 440 00:24:29,511 --> 00:24:31,263 I said, why would I be here? Why would I-- 441 00:24:31,722 --> 00:24:34,057 Why would I even be here if this is not my child? 442 00:24:34,057 --> 00:24:37,311 I just, honestly, I just don't think they care. 443 00:24:39,479 --> 00:24:42,566 MAN: When we stop to think about maternal mortality, 444 00:24:42,566 --> 00:24:44,818 that's a reality that any of us can face, 445 00:24:44,818 --> 00:24:48,280 and as a father with a daughter, that's scary for me. 446 00:24:49,323 --> 00:24:51,742 We have to give ourselves permission to be angry. 447 00:24:52,117 --> 00:24:55,204 And so it's important for us that we have a space 448 00:24:55,204 --> 00:24:58,457 where I can go and create the relationships 449 00:24:58,457 --> 00:25:02,586 where we're vulnerable enough to share in this environment. 450 00:25:03,921 --> 00:25:05,589 - It could be any one of us. 451 00:25:05,589 --> 00:25:09,176 Honestly, man. Like, the tables just turned so fast, 452 00:25:09,176 --> 00:25:11,345 you know, when you, you don't have no, 453 00:25:11,345 --> 00:25:13,514 you don't have the control, you don't have the power. 454 00:25:14,014 --> 00:25:16,266 But with that said, uh, 455 00:25:17,434 --> 00:25:18,685 you could have the support. 456 00:25:18,685 --> 00:25:20,103 You know, we could support each other, 457 00:25:20,103 --> 00:25:22,856 creating the community that we want to see, 458 00:25:23,232 --> 00:25:25,317 and the way we want to see it, you know. 459 00:25:25,776 --> 00:25:28,153 With that community, I want to create a space 460 00:25:28,153 --> 00:25:33,283 where we can then start to try to change policy, you know, 461 00:25:33,283 --> 00:25:35,160 and have a thousand, 462 00:25:35,160 --> 00:25:37,913 hundreds of thousands of people backing what we're saying. 463 00:25:37,913 --> 00:25:39,540 Because that's the only way it works. 464 00:25:39,540 --> 00:25:42,543 [applause] 465 00:25:45,838 --> 00:25:47,589 WOMAN: Today, we stand in solidarity 466 00:25:48,006 --> 00:25:50,342 with the family of Amber Isaac. 467 00:25:52,803 --> 00:25:53,762 - I can't even believe 468 00:25:53,762 --> 00:25:55,889 we're even here today about this situation. 469 00:25:58,141 --> 00:26:00,519 Amber was just such a divine woman. 470 00:26:01,270 --> 00:26:03,105 All she wanted to do was help people. 471 00:26:04,731 --> 00:26:06,191 And y'all took that from us. 472 00:26:08,360 --> 00:26:10,946 Um, I actually had some stuff that I had written down 473 00:26:10,946 --> 00:26:13,740 that I want to discuss and that I want to go over because my mind 474 00:26:14,116 --> 00:26:15,576 WOMAN: It's okay. - has been everywhere 475 00:26:15,576 --> 00:26:17,786 since this whole situation occurred. 476 00:26:22,666 --> 00:26:26,336 We're supposed to be the most advanced country in the world, 477 00:26:26,879 --> 00:26:28,964 but the racial disparities are becoming more 478 00:26:28,964 --> 00:26:30,424 and more evident each day. 479 00:26:31,550 --> 00:26:34,553 Black women are four times more likely to die 480 00:26:34,970 --> 00:26:37,431 than their white counterparts with the same symptoms. 481 00:26:38,182 --> 00:26:42,269 The maternal mortality rate has doubled here in the United States. 482 00:26:43,020 --> 00:26:45,522 It was safer for our parents to have children 483 00:26:45,522 --> 00:26:46,815 than it is for us today. 484 00:26:46,815 --> 00:26:47,816 MAN: Amen. 485 00:26:51,236 --> 00:26:52,237 - Why is that? 486 00:26:52,946 --> 00:26:56,074 [applause] 487 00:27:01,288 --> 00:27:03,415 - Welcome, everybody. I'm Dr. Neel Shah, 488 00:27:03,415 --> 00:27:05,751 and this is Expecting More Dialogues 489 00:27:05,751 --> 00:27:07,669 which is the new web series we're kicking off 490 00:27:08,253 --> 00:27:11,673 that is exploring the opportunities, 491 00:27:11,673 --> 00:27:13,175 the challenges, the hopes, 492 00:27:13,175 --> 00:27:15,511 and the lived experiences of people 493 00:27:15,511 --> 00:27:17,304 who are giving birth in America right now. 494 00:27:17,304 --> 00:27:20,432 We've invited three incredible human beings 495 00:27:20,849 --> 00:27:23,185 to be part of this dialogue that we're going to have today 496 00:27:23,185 --> 00:27:27,022 and to teach me and to teach all of us about what it is 497 00:27:27,022 --> 00:27:28,941 that we can be doing about this problem. 498 00:27:29,483 --> 00:27:30,776 So let's start here maybe. 499 00:27:30,776 --> 00:27:32,486 Bruce, um, tell us what happened. 500 00:27:32,486 --> 00:27:34,821 I'm not sure everybody out there knows the story. 501 00:27:34,821 --> 00:27:37,199 - Amber was facing negligence 502 00:27:37,199 --> 00:27:40,327 and incompetence within the medical system. 503 00:27:40,702 --> 00:27:44,623 Down from the OB to the, um, to the secretary 504 00:27:44,623 --> 00:27:46,416 was being nasty with her. 505 00:27:46,416 --> 00:27:48,126 Down to security. 506 00:27:48,836 --> 00:27:49,711 You know? 507 00:27:50,087 --> 00:27:52,965 The day I took Amber in, when she was admitted into the hospital, 508 00:27:53,465 --> 00:27:54,842 security at the front telling me, 509 00:27:54,842 --> 00:27:58,303 "Oh, it's okay, Mr. Babydaddy, 510 00:27:58,971 --> 00:28:00,347 go sit down over there. 511 00:28:00,347 --> 00:28:01,932 You can't go up." 512 00:28:02,349 --> 00:28:05,227 CHANEL L. PORCHIA-ALBERT: You know, everything that Bruce described 513 00:28:05,811 --> 00:28:07,104 in his story 514 00:28:07,104 --> 00:28:09,022 is things that advocates like myself 515 00:28:09,022 --> 00:28:10,858 and others have been saying for years, right, 516 00:28:10,858 --> 00:28:12,651 that we have a systemic issue. 517 00:28:12,651 --> 00:28:15,445 And I've said it in, in, in packed rooms, full of OBs. 518 00:28:15,445 --> 00:28:18,574 You know what I mean? Like, patients, ultimately, they want to be seen, 519 00:28:18,574 --> 00:28:20,576 they want to be heard, and they want to know 520 00:28:20,576 --> 00:28:22,953 that someone genuinely cares about their wellbeing. 521 00:28:27,833 --> 00:28:29,626 NEEL: I think that the wellbeing of moms is a bellwether 522 00:28:29,626 --> 00:28:31,253 for the wellbeing of society in general. 523 00:28:32,379 --> 00:28:34,923 And that's why every injustice in our society 524 00:28:34,923 --> 00:28:38,594 shows up in maternal health and in maternal health outcomes. 525 00:28:39,553 --> 00:28:40,596 In 2018, 526 00:28:41,430 --> 00:28:43,849 journalists started to tell the stories of people 527 00:28:43,849 --> 00:28:45,100 that were dying in childbirth. 528 00:28:46,226 --> 00:28:49,271 Those stories ended up compelling the federal government 529 00:28:49,730 --> 00:28:52,816 to start to track maternal mortality much more systematically. 530 00:28:52,816 --> 00:28:55,235 So 2018 was the first year we really did that. 531 00:28:56,904 --> 00:29:00,282 I started to read and see all these trends, 532 00:29:00,866 --> 00:29:03,994 including the explosion in C-section rates. 533 00:29:06,205 --> 00:29:10,626 We intervene with major surgery 500 percent more 534 00:29:10,626 --> 00:29:12,836 than we used to in the 1970s. 535 00:29:14,755 --> 00:29:17,257 And maternal mortality rates just fly upwards. 536 00:29:21,261 --> 00:29:23,972 And when it comes to Black women, those risks are higher. 537 00:29:29,770 --> 00:29:33,190 C-sections do save lives. I'm trained to do them. I believe in them. 538 00:29:33,190 --> 00:29:35,692 But major surgery is major surgery. 539 00:29:37,194 --> 00:29:39,112 Surgical complications like organ injury, 540 00:29:39,112 --> 00:29:41,740 hemorrhage, infection are about three times more likely 541 00:29:41,740 --> 00:29:44,243 to happen with a C-section than a vaginal delivery. 542 00:29:44,535 --> 00:29:46,495 [baby cries] 543 00:29:48,580 --> 00:29:50,707 Oh, it's very cute. Congratulations to you both. 544 00:29:50,707 --> 00:29:51,959 MAN: Thank you so much. WOMAN: Thank you. 545 00:29:52,918 --> 00:29:55,337 NEEL: Black women have a higher rate of C-sections. 546 00:29:55,337 --> 00:29:57,589 Yeah. I would really encourage you to do that. 547 00:29:57,589 --> 00:29:58,841 I started to think about 548 00:29:59,675 --> 00:30:00,968 my own practice 549 00:30:00,968 --> 00:30:04,680 and how it's possible that really well-intended people 550 00:30:04,680 --> 00:30:06,139 can be doing racist things. 551 00:30:08,475 --> 00:30:11,645 For example, when Black people are expressing concern 552 00:30:12,354 --> 00:30:16,275 around pain or other symptoms, they're heard less. 553 00:30:17,526 --> 00:30:20,988 And in medicine, we've literally created algorithms 554 00:30:20,988 --> 00:30:23,949 where we've conflated race and racism. 555 00:30:25,242 --> 00:30:27,578 You can help somebody understand 556 00:30:27,578 --> 00:30:29,746 their odds of having a successful vaginal delivery 557 00:30:29,746 --> 00:30:30,747 with a calculator. 558 00:30:31,164 --> 00:30:32,875 And if they're Black, their odds drop. 559 00:30:33,375 --> 00:30:35,961 And it has nothing to do with who they are or their biology. 560 00:30:36,879 --> 00:30:39,298 The calculator ends up gatekeeping treatment, 561 00:30:39,298 --> 00:30:40,382 care, and support. 562 00:30:41,341 --> 00:30:43,886 So if you're Black, you're less likely to get good support 563 00:30:44,511 --> 00:30:46,263 to have the vaginal delivery that you want. 564 00:31:00,819 --> 00:31:02,529 HELENA GRANT: I've been a midwife 23 years. 565 00:31:03,322 --> 00:31:05,073 I went to Georgetown University. 566 00:31:05,073 --> 00:31:07,492 I have a bachelor's of science in nursing, 567 00:31:07,492 --> 00:31:10,078 and I have a masters in midwifery education. 568 00:31:11,079 --> 00:31:13,624 Let's see what this baby is doing today. 569 00:31:14,208 --> 00:31:16,418 [indiscernible conversation] 570 00:31:16,418 --> 00:31:20,797 HELENA: We are trained to let those that can have births 571 00:31:20,797 --> 00:31:23,842 that happen spontaneously the way it's always been. 572 00:31:24,801 --> 00:31:27,888 We care for women in the home, birth centers, 573 00:31:27,888 --> 00:31:29,056 and the hospital space. 574 00:31:29,056 --> 00:31:31,141 The head is still down. WOMAN: Mm-hmm. 575 00:31:31,141 --> 00:31:32,434 HELENA: Nice and down. 576 00:31:32,434 --> 00:31:35,395 We follow a shared decision-making model with the patient, 577 00:31:35,395 --> 00:31:38,315 giving them a lot of options to choose their path. 578 00:31:38,315 --> 00:31:40,442 So you got everything prepared for the birth? 579 00:31:40,442 --> 00:31:41,401 WOMAN: Mm-hmm. 580 00:31:41,401 --> 00:31:43,529 HELENA: I'm here to practice an allowance 581 00:31:43,862 --> 00:31:46,740 for her body to do what it needs to do 582 00:31:46,740 --> 00:31:47,908 to give birth. 583 00:31:49,743 --> 00:31:53,539 Only six to nine percent of all births in our country are by midwives. 584 00:31:55,082 --> 00:31:57,668 In Europe, midwives were integrated 585 00:31:57,668 --> 00:31:59,294 into women's healthcare, 586 00:32:00,546 --> 00:32:01,797 and they're doing better 587 00:32:02,172 --> 00:32:05,551 than our dismal maternal mortality morbidity rate. 588 00:32:06,093 --> 00:32:09,429 We are higher than the UK, higher than France, 589 00:32:09,429 --> 00:32:11,390 higher than Germany, higher than Sweden. 590 00:32:11,890 --> 00:32:16,562 We have the highest rate of all industrialized nations. 591 00:32:18,438 --> 00:32:21,483 In this country, as technology has advanced, 592 00:32:21,817 --> 00:32:25,946 childbirth has become more technologically driven. 593 00:32:26,738 --> 00:32:28,740 In hospitals, by and large, 594 00:32:29,074 --> 00:32:31,994 um, it has not been a shared decision-making model. 595 00:32:32,786 --> 00:32:36,081 We call it the medical technocratic patriarchal model. 596 00:32:36,665 --> 00:32:40,752 Pregnancy is a healthcare challenge to manage. 597 00:32:41,170 --> 00:32:42,838 - We have 9:00 a. m. induction 598 00:32:42,838 --> 00:32:45,924 of a 21-year-old G1, P0 at 39 and three. 599 00:32:45,924 --> 00:32:48,051 We have two inductions, we have KW 600 00:32:48,051 --> 00:32:50,345 of a 34-year-old G3, P1-0-1-1. 601 00:32:50,345 --> 00:32:54,308 And the other 7:00 p. m. induction is a CWC Fetal Specialty Clinic patient 602 00:32:54,308 --> 00:32:56,476 who's had a history of one prior C-section. 603 00:32:56,852 --> 00:32:58,353 HELENA: Doctors are trained 604 00:32:58,353 --> 00:33:00,147 in active management of labor. 605 00:33:01,273 --> 00:33:03,734 Induce them and get them going and do all this stuff. 606 00:33:04,568 --> 00:33:08,071 You put her on Pitocin via the IV 607 00:33:08,071 --> 00:33:10,157 to get the contractions regular. 608 00:33:10,157 --> 00:33:14,411 The goal is every two to three minutes for your contractions. Okay. 609 00:33:14,411 --> 00:33:16,079 HELENA: You break the water 610 00:33:16,580 --> 00:33:19,208 and you do things to push her 611 00:33:19,208 --> 00:33:23,128 along the labor curve, as we call it, 612 00:33:23,420 --> 00:33:25,964 um, to get that baby out. 613 00:33:27,883 --> 00:33:30,260 The thing that she's going to remember the most 614 00:33:31,220 --> 00:33:33,263 is what happened during her labor and birth. 615 00:33:33,263 --> 00:33:34,515 Every woman does. 616 00:33:34,890 --> 00:33:36,892 [indiscernible conversations] 617 00:33:36,892 --> 00:33:38,894 HELENA: Women have to take that back. 618 00:34:07,589 --> 00:34:10,717 CARLINA RIVERA: Women of color count for nearly 80 percent 619 00:34:10,717 --> 00:34:13,428 of pregnancy-related death in this city. 620 00:34:14,012 --> 00:34:16,139 We are just dragging our feet 621 00:34:16,139 --> 00:34:19,184 on one of the most serious issues of our time. 622 00:34:20,060 --> 00:34:23,146 We're going to call up Shawnee B. Gibson. 623 00:34:23,146 --> 00:34:26,859 [applause] 624 00:34:30,821 --> 00:34:32,990 - I'm a fellow citizen and mother in mourning 625 00:34:32,990 --> 00:34:34,950 over the loss of my eldest child 626 00:34:34,950 --> 00:34:36,994 whose death could have been prevented. 627 00:34:37,703 --> 00:34:39,913 Today, I act as a vessel and a conduit 628 00:34:39,913 --> 00:34:43,584 for the voice of my daughter, Shamony Makeba Gibson, 629 00:34:44,418 --> 00:34:47,004 and the voices of so many young women of color 630 00:34:47,004 --> 00:34:48,088 just like her. 631 00:34:49,089 --> 00:34:52,801 As a reproductive advocate and leader in the reproductive health community, 632 00:34:53,260 --> 00:34:55,888 I thought that I would be spared. 633 00:34:55,888 --> 00:34:58,974 I naively believed that my optimism 634 00:34:58,974 --> 00:35:01,351 about how knowledgeable we all were 635 00:35:01,351 --> 00:35:03,979 would shield her from this epidemic. 636 00:35:03,979 --> 00:35:05,022 Wow. 637 00:35:06,440 --> 00:35:08,859 What I am seeking are systems and institutions 638 00:35:08,859 --> 00:35:12,613 that are committed to making sure that we address racism 639 00:35:12,613 --> 00:35:15,115 and anti-Black racism, specifically. 640 00:35:15,115 --> 00:35:17,826 I am here to declare that my work will not stop. 641 00:35:17,826 --> 00:35:19,536 I am here to hold myself accountable 642 00:35:19,536 --> 00:35:21,371 and to hold those responsible 643 00:35:21,371 --> 00:35:24,958 who knowingly and unknowingly keep this epidemic going. 644 00:35:24,958 --> 00:35:28,420 I am here to let you know that Shamony Makeba Gibson lived. 645 00:35:28,420 --> 00:35:31,256 She is alive in this movement, and she is alive in this moment 646 00:35:31,256 --> 00:35:35,135 as I speak her name, Shamony Makeba Gibson. 647 00:35:35,135 --> 00:35:37,763 Shamony Makeba Gibson. 648 00:35:37,763 --> 00:35:40,098 Shamony Makeba Gibson. 649 00:35:40,098 --> 00:35:41,391 Thank you for listening. 650 00:35:42,142 --> 00:35:45,145 [applause] 651 00:35:55,948 --> 00:35:59,701 ♪ 652 00:35:59,701 --> 00:36:02,955 ♪ 653 00:36:02,955 --> 00:36:06,375 ♪ 654 00:36:06,375 --> 00:36:09,211 NEEL: As a professor at Harvard School of Public Health, 655 00:36:09,211 --> 00:36:12,214 I had an opportunity to travel to different hospitals across the country, 656 00:36:12,214 --> 00:36:14,007 studying maternal health outcomes. 657 00:36:15,592 --> 00:36:18,428 Oklahoma is a place that has a maternal mortality rate 658 00:36:18,428 --> 00:36:19,972 that's double the national average. 659 00:36:21,473 --> 00:36:24,017 When you rank every state in terms of maternal mortality, 660 00:36:24,768 --> 00:36:26,019 they're in the bottom five. 661 00:36:28,856 --> 00:36:31,441 The medical centers that we're working with in Tulsa 662 00:36:31,900 --> 00:36:34,528 have some of the highest rates of injury 663 00:36:34,862 --> 00:36:36,530 during childbirth in the state. 664 00:36:37,948 --> 00:36:40,158 They take care of a lot of people of color, 665 00:36:41,243 --> 00:36:43,537 and they have a persistently high C-section rate. 666 00:36:45,789 --> 00:36:47,416 We're here today because we think 667 00:36:47,416 --> 00:36:49,710 that we could get the whole country to reimagine 668 00:36:49,710 --> 00:36:51,587 the care that people should expect 669 00:36:51,587 --> 00:36:54,423 during one of the most important and vulnerable moments of our lives. 670 00:36:54,923 --> 00:36:57,509 This will only really work if each and every one of you 671 00:36:57,509 --> 00:36:58,969 believes that this is possible too. 672 00:37:02,264 --> 00:37:03,432 WOMAN: This is triage. - Hi. 673 00:37:03,765 --> 00:37:04,600 WOMAN 2: Awesome. 674 00:37:04,600 --> 00:37:08,312 NEEL: Labor and delivery units in the modern era resemble cardiac ICUs. 675 00:37:09,771 --> 00:37:12,774 The only difference is that our operating rooms are attached. 676 00:37:13,567 --> 00:37:17,279 We take 99 percent of people giving birth in America, 677 00:37:17,279 --> 00:37:20,032 we put them in ICUs, and we surround them by surgeons. 678 00:37:20,741 --> 00:37:22,075 So we see a lot of surgery. 679 00:37:22,075 --> 00:37:24,077 It doesn't take rocket science to figure it out. 680 00:37:24,620 --> 00:37:26,747 - We get a lot of laboring patients out here. 681 00:37:27,164 --> 00:37:28,665 NEEL: And how many ORs do you guys have? 682 00:37:28,665 --> 00:37:29,374 - Two. 683 00:37:29,374 --> 00:37:30,584 NEEL: Are they right on the unit? - Yes. 684 00:37:30,584 --> 00:37:31,210 NEEL: Yeah. - Yeah. 685 00:37:32,085 --> 00:37:35,255 NEEL: In a hospital, the cost of doing a C-section 686 00:37:35,255 --> 00:37:37,966 is lower than the cost of doing a vaginal delivery. 687 00:37:38,592 --> 00:37:41,762 The shorter that labor is, the less it will cost. 688 00:37:43,013 --> 00:37:45,807 It is also true though, that if you do a C-section 689 00:37:45,807 --> 00:37:48,227 the hospital gets paid about 50 percent more 690 00:37:48,227 --> 00:37:49,937 than if there's vaginal delivery. 691 00:37:51,813 --> 00:37:54,233 You can imagine what kind of incentives that might set up. 692 00:37:57,319 --> 00:37:58,570 FELICIA ELLIS: Hey, how are you? 693 00:37:58,570 --> 00:37:59,488 WOMAN: Good. 694 00:37:59,947 --> 00:38:01,490 FELICIA: Edwards. [indiscernible dialogue] 695 00:38:01,782 --> 00:38:02,616 FELICIA: Okay. 696 00:38:03,534 --> 00:38:04,618 In this state, 697 00:38:05,702 --> 00:38:08,121 Black women represent ten percent of births, 698 00:38:08,121 --> 00:38:10,707 but we're 20 percent of the deaths. 699 00:38:11,124 --> 00:38:14,044 And Tulsa is one of the worst places in the country 700 00:38:14,044 --> 00:38:15,045 to have a baby. 701 00:38:15,629 --> 00:38:16,588 I didn't know. 702 00:38:17,840 --> 00:38:19,049 How are you today? 703 00:38:19,049 --> 00:38:20,259 [indiscernible dialogue] 704 00:38:20,259 --> 00:38:21,718 PAUL ELLIS: Alright. How you doing? FELICIA: Good. 705 00:38:22,719 --> 00:38:23,971 WOMAN: Well, let's take a look at baby. 706 00:38:23,971 --> 00:38:24,972 Let's measure this belly. FELICIA: Okay. 707 00:38:25,472 --> 00:38:28,767 [whirring] 708 00:38:30,394 --> 00:38:32,563 [heartbeats thumping] 709 00:38:32,563 --> 00:38:35,107 FELICIA: I called my mom crying one morning 710 00:38:35,983 --> 00:38:38,652 because the statistics 711 00:38:38,652 --> 00:38:42,531 of being Black having a baby in America, like, hit me. 712 00:38:44,408 --> 00:38:47,578 Really I hadn't thought about it until Serena Williams 713 00:38:47,578 --> 00:38:49,329 talked about her birth experience 714 00:38:49,329 --> 00:38:53,208 and she's, like, the best athlete in the world. 715 00:38:53,208 --> 00:38:56,336 And she had to make them listen to her about her blood clots. 716 00:38:56,336 --> 00:38:57,546 [indiscernible dialogue] 717 00:38:59,298 --> 00:39:01,466 And then when I started dealing with myself, 718 00:39:01,466 --> 00:39:04,011 I was like, this is a big deal. 719 00:39:05,429 --> 00:39:07,181 A Black woman having a baby is like 720 00:39:07,181 --> 00:39:10,017 a Black man in a traffic stop with the police. 721 00:39:11,977 --> 00:39:13,729 You have to, like, really pay attention 722 00:39:13,729 --> 00:39:16,398 to what's going on, like, every step of the way. 723 00:39:16,940 --> 00:39:18,233 NURSE: There you go. 724 00:39:20,444 --> 00:39:21,570 FELICIA: And in the hospital, 725 00:39:22,112 --> 00:39:24,156 appointments are quick, they're not intimate. 726 00:39:26,867 --> 00:39:30,412 You don't have time to build that trust. 727 00:39:31,538 --> 00:39:32,748 WOMAN: Have a good day. PAUL: You too. 728 00:39:32,748 --> 00:39:34,625 FELICIA: It's going to be hard 729 00:39:34,625 --> 00:39:37,169 to find someone I'm just comfortable with. 730 00:39:43,967 --> 00:39:45,469 HELENA: Very early in my career, 731 00:39:45,844 --> 00:39:50,015 I noticed how Black women were, uh, used 732 00:39:50,015 --> 00:39:51,141 as guinea pigs 733 00:39:52,017 --> 00:39:54,019 in the hospital, um, system. 734 00:39:56,396 --> 00:40:00,275 I became a nurse in a very elite teaching hospital, 735 00:40:02,236 --> 00:40:04,863 and I started to see things that just really 736 00:40:04,863 --> 00:40:06,949 don't go along with my philosophy. 737 00:40:08,367 --> 00:40:11,036 If you have private insurance and you're white, 738 00:40:11,036 --> 00:40:14,081 you have a private physician who's on call for you. 739 00:40:15,415 --> 00:40:18,252 The clinic population by and large 740 00:40:18,252 --> 00:40:22,089 tend to be Black and brown women who have Medicaid, 741 00:40:22,422 --> 00:40:25,467 are treated by resident learners. 742 00:40:26,802 --> 00:40:29,555 Every woman is getting her vagina cut open. 743 00:40:30,681 --> 00:40:32,891 A woman doesn't need it, but you cut it 744 00:40:32,891 --> 00:40:34,768 because you need to learn how to sew. 745 00:40:36,311 --> 00:40:41,233 I'm at a place that is literally practicing on people. 746 00:40:44,278 --> 00:40:47,114 Black women have been experimented on 747 00:40:47,114 --> 00:40:51,285 to perfect the profession of gynecology. 748 00:40:54,121 --> 00:40:56,290 The United States had 749 00:40:56,290 --> 00:40:58,917 a population of enslaved peoples 750 00:40:58,917 --> 00:41:02,963 that they could do what they wanted to, when they wanted to, 751 00:41:02,963 --> 00:41:04,464 how they wanted to do it. 752 00:41:06,550 --> 00:41:10,137 As a woman, your worth is about 753 00:41:10,137 --> 00:41:12,848 what your womb can produce for my plantation. 754 00:41:13,849 --> 00:41:16,643 Black women are having so many children, 755 00:41:16,643 --> 00:41:18,478 they're getting fistulas. 756 00:41:19,021 --> 00:41:21,023 Enter J. Marion Sims. 757 00:41:21,023 --> 00:41:23,275 He's considered the father of gynecology 758 00:41:23,775 --> 00:41:27,654 who decides that he's going to figure out how to fix this. 759 00:41:28,280 --> 00:41:30,657 He's fixing it so she can go back 760 00:41:30,657 --> 00:41:34,578 and have more children so that she, as a commodity, 761 00:41:34,578 --> 00:41:37,915 continues to be useful for her slave master. 762 00:41:39,625 --> 00:41:43,086 And he cut them open however many times. 763 00:41:44,630 --> 00:41:47,841 And then there were modules written about the things 764 00:41:47,841 --> 00:41:49,301 that were done to them 765 00:41:50,761 --> 00:41:52,971 saying, well, they don't feel pain, 766 00:41:53,722 --> 00:41:56,642 but the woman is literally screaming. 767 00:41:57,893 --> 00:42:00,479 And that's how the United States becomes a superpower 768 00:42:00,479 --> 00:42:04,066 when it comes to OB/GYN surgery. 769 00:42:05,567 --> 00:42:07,486 Black women by and large 770 00:42:07,486 --> 00:42:10,072 continue to be cared for 771 00:42:10,572 --> 00:42:11,990 by learners. 772 00:42:13,033 --> 00:42:16,578 It's the marrying of the over-medicalization 773 00:42:16,995 --> 00:42:19,831 with inexperience 774 00:42:20,832 --> 00:42:22,584 that's really the foundation 775 00:42:22,584 --> 00:42:25,838 when it comes to maternal mortality and morbidity. 776 00:42:32,511 --> 00:42:33,512 ANARI: Momma. 777 00:42:34,137 --> 00:42:35,389 OMARI: Who is that? 778 00:42:35,389 --> 00:42:36,265 - Mommy. 779 00:42:36,265 --> 00:42:38,392 OMARI: Good. Now show us your project. Come. 780 00:42:40,018 --> 00:42:41,019 I see it. 781 00:42:41,937 --> 00:42:44,189 Whoa. ANARI: Let's do it. 782 00:42:44,189 --> 00:42:45,607 Don't spill it! 783 00:42:46,441 --> 00:42:47,609 Look, Mommy. 784 00:42:49,987 --> 00:42:52,030 Wow, that's pretty! 785 00:42:52,030 --> 00:42:53,365 [Omari chuckles] 786 00:42:53,365 --> 00:42:54,908 OMARI: Let me see it. - Hmm? 787 00:42:54,908 --> 00:42:56,660 OMARI: Let me see it. Good. 788 00:42:56,660 --> 00:42:59,162 We have pictures of Shamony up everywhere. 789 00:42:59,913 --> 00:43:01,331 She's always around. 790 00:43:02,749 --> 00:43:04,293 [rattling] 791 00:43:04,543 --> 00:43:06,962 [paint hissing] 792 00:43:14,553 --> 00:43:18,640 Through my artwork, I'm able to connect with her 793 00:43:19,683 --> 00:43:22,895 in a way that I've never had since she passed. 794 00:43:25,647 --> 00:43:29,067 It really does help with how I process. 795 00:43:31,987 --> 00:43:36,408 One day I thought, right now, I paint one of Amber Isaac, 796 00:43:36,408 --> 00:43:38,785 paint one of Bruce's partner. 797 00:43:41,246 --> 00:43:43,248 I wanted to give him this gift. 798 00:43:43,832 --> 00:43:46,001 ♪ 799 00:43:46,001 --> 00:43:49,129 ♪ 800 00:43:49,129 --> 00:43:52,174 ♪ 801 00:43:53,008 --> 00:43:54,134 - I'm gonna set up over here. 802 00:43:56,803 --> 00:44:00,015 ♪ 803 00:44:00,015 --> 00:44:02,976 ♪ 804 00:44:02,976 --> 00:44:05,020 ♪ 805 00:44:05,020 --> 00:44:06,730 Sanitizers. 806 00:44:08,190 --> 00:44:09,107 Thank you. 807 00:44:10,150 --> 00:44:12,194 Alright. So the front, we got to get the front gate. 808 00:44:15,280 --> 00:44:17,783 NUBIA: Hey, how are you? 809 00:44:18,158 --> 00:44:20,160 Good. Good, good, good, good. 810 00:44:21,119 --> 00:44:23,205 BRUCE: I'm sorry. SHAWNEE: How you feeling? 811 00:44:23,205 --> 00:44:23,872 BRUCE: How you doing? 812 00:44:23,872 --> 00:44:25,290 [Shawnee laughs] 813 00:44:25,290 --> 00:44:26,124 - Hanging in there? 814 00:44:26,124 --> 00:44:27,125 - Sweating bullets, are you? 815 00:44:27,125 --> 00:44:28,836 - I know. I'm here working. 816 00:44:28,836 --> 00:44:30,254 Yeah. I'm here working. 817 00:44:30,254 --> 00:44:32,089 Speaking of the-- Yo, we was just talking about you. 818 00:44:32,089 --> 00:44:33,090 OMARI: Really? 819 00:44:33,423 --> 00:44:36,635 Yeah, I had to-- I got here, like, five, ten minutes ago 820 00:44:36,635 --> 00:44:38,262 but I had to stop and get some coffee. 821 00:44:40,848 --> 00:44:42,474 SHAWNEE: I knew you were addicted. 822 00:44:42,474 --> 00:44:44,977 OMARI: You got free hands or somebody to hold your-- 823 00:44:44,977 --> 00:44:47,479 Alright. Cool, cool. This is for you. 824 00:44:48,689 --> 00:44:50,482 BRUCE: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, man. 825 00:44:54,987 --> 00:44:55,988 [exhales] 826 00:44:57,239 --> 00:44:58,073 OMARI: Love you, man. 827 00:44:58,073 --> 00:44:59,116 BRUCE: [cries] Love you, too. 828 00:45:02,494 --> 00:45:04,288 OMARI: We're doing this together, man. 829 00:45:04,830 --> 00:45:05,873 [sniffles] 830 00:45:11,044 --> 00:45:13,505 BRUCE: [over megaphone] Thank y'all so much for being here. 831 00:45:13,922 --> 00:45:15,048 This is our first event. 832 00:45:15,716 --> 00:45:17,676 We're a little nervous, but we need to be here. 833 00:45:18,510 --> 00:45:20,345 We need to keep talking until they're hearing us. 834 00:45:21,972 --> 00:45:23,974 We're tired of saying that we need justice. 835 00:45:23,974 --> 00:45:25,267 We need change. 836 00:45:26,101 --> 00:45:27,978 We're done asking. We're demanding. 837 00:45:28,604 --> 00:45:31,857 - Nobody's asking for anything exorbitant or extravagant 838 00:45:31,857 --> 00:45:33,275 or out of the ordinary. 839 00:45:33,275 --> 00:45:35,861 We just want to make sure that we have the same 840 00:45:36,236 --> 00:45:37,279 as anybody else. 841 00:45:37,279 --> 00:45:39,114 NUBIA: We are dying at a rate 842 00:45:40,032 --> 00:45:42,910 12 times more in this city. 843 00:45:42,910 --> 00:45:45,370 If these numbers were flipped around 844 00:45:45,370 --> 00:45:47,748 and white women were dying at the rate that Black women are dying, 845 00:45:47,748 --> 00:45:49,166 it would be a national crisis. 846 00:45:49,166 --> 00:45:51,543 Why is that not deemed a crisis? 847 00:45:51,543 --> 00:45:54,838 SHAWNEE: This crazy behind system is killing us. 848 00:45:54,838 --> 00:45:56,423 We call it Aftershock, 849 00:45:56,840 --> 00:45:59,259 because Shamony's death was like a tsunami. 850 00:45:59,843 --> 00:46:02,221 When Black mothers die, there's a ripple effect and, yes, 851 00:46:02,221 --> 00:46:03,847 the death is the earthquake. 852 00:46:03,847 --> 00:46:06,683 But the shit afterward is overwhelming. 853 00:46:07,643 --> 00:46:08,977 The nights where I get up, and it's like, 854 00:46:08,977 --> 00:46:12,022 "Oh my god, I miss my daughter. I miss her calling me." 855 00:46:12,022 --> 00:46:13,815 Now I wish she would call me 30 times a day. 856 00:46:14,733 --> 00:46:16,944 After today, taking action, 857 00:46:16,944 --> 00:46:20,030 Shamony lives through me being an activist and a revolutionary 858 00:46:20,030 --> 00:46:22,241 and the revolution will be tweeted, 859 00:46:22,241 --> 00:46:24,368 Instagrammed, Facebooked. 860 00:46:24,910 --> 00:46:26,537 It will be recorded. 861 00:46:26,537 --> 00:46:30,082 [cheering and applause] 862 00:46:30,958 --> 00:46:33,502 DANA TYLER: Two fathers are sharing their heartbreak 863 00:46:33,502 --> 00:46:37,464 to draw attention to medical disparities in Black communities. 864 00:46:37,756 --> 00:46:39,883 OMARI: Shamony's death was 865 00:46:39,883 --> 00:46:43,595 a direct result of systemic racism. 866 00:46:44,805 --> 00:46:47,933 BRUCE: Within the medical system, there's been this repetitive pattern. 867 00:46:47,933 --> 00:46:51,103 If Amber would've received standard care, she would be here. 868 00:46:51,103 --> 00:46:52,980 DANA: And that's what he wants now 869 00:46:53,814 --> 00:46:55,482 for every mother of color. 870 00:47:02,823 --> 00:47:04,741 NEEL: Part of what I want to think through with you all is just 871 00:47:04,741 --> 00:47:06,118 about, like, the messaging. 872 00:47:06,118 --> 00:47:08,412 And I think it's really important that we name 873 00:47:08,412 --> 00:47:10,581 what the mission is, which is equity. 874 00:47:10,581 --> 00:47:12,541 LABRISA WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm. It can't be safer for all mothers 875 00:47:12,541 --> 00:47:16,086 until it's safer for Black mothers, Native mothers. 876 00:47:16,086 --> 00:47:17,921 And so when we talk about equity, 877 00:47:18,463 --> 00:47:20,007 there's folks who have to catch up 878 00:47:20,340 --> 00:47:22,885 before that can even, like, be a thing. 879 00:47:22,885 --> 00:47:23,552 NEEL: Yeah. 880 00:47:23,552 --> 00:47:25,095 You know, you can't fix things that you don't name, 881 00:47:25,095 --> 00:47:26,430 and I do deeply believe that. 882 00:47:26,889 --> 00:47:28,307 We're really, really fortunate 883 00:47:28,307 --> 00:47:30,058 to be working with a community partner, 884 00:47:30,058 --> 00:47:31,226 LaBrisa Williams, 885 00:47:31,226 --> 00:47:34,897 an extraordinary advocate for birth justice and birth equity, 886 00:47:35,480 --> 00:47:38,442 is someone that we can stand shoulder to shoulder with 887 00:47:38,442 --> 00:47:40,360 as we're walking around the hospitals 888 00:47:40,360 --> 00:47:42,529 and trying to build that accountability to the community 889 00:47:42,529 --> 00:47:43,780 within the health systems. 890 00:47:43,780 --> 00:47:44,865 [indiscernible dialogue] 891 00:47:44,865 --> 00:47:45,699 [elevator dings] 892 00:47:48,368 --> 00:47:49,411 WOMAN: You guys ready to start? 893 00:47:49,411 --> 00:47:50,370 NEEL: Yeah, sure. WOMAN 2: Yeah. 894 00:47:50,370 --> 00:47:52,080 WOMAN: So we'll gather right over there. 895 00:47:52,789 --> 00:47:56,752 NEEL: We designed a process that structures communication. 896 00:47:58,420 --> 00:48:02,424 So every person giving birth has a systematic way of knowing 897 00:48:02,424 --> 00:48:04,760 that what they're expecting, what they want to know, 898 00:48:04,760 --> 00:48:06,595 what they want to say is going to get heard. 899 00:48:06,595 --> 00:48:08,096 Everything that we're reading in the headlines 900 00:48:08,096 --> 00:48:09,932 about maternal mortality in our country going up, 901 00:48:10,432 --> 00:48:12,684 what people are dying of is not the clinical condition 902 00:48:12,684 --> 00:48:13,894 on the death certificate. 903 00:48:14,311 --> 00:48:16,563 It's a failure of communication, teamwork every time. 904 00:48:17,397 --> 00:48:18,565 What Team Birth is about, 905 00:48:18,565 --> 00:48:20,734 it's doing the things that we already know, 906 00:48:20,734 --> 00:48:23,111 but making sure the people that we're caring for can see it. 907 00:48:23,111 --> 00:48:25,781 LABRISA: We really focus on patient experience 908 00:48:25,781 --> 00:48:27,741 and, like, make sure they feel seen and heard. 909 00:48:27,741 --> 00:48:28,575 NURSE: Yeah. 910 00:48:29,618 --> 00:48:30,536 WOMAN: That's awesome. 911 00:48:32,788 --> 00:48:34,623 NEEL: It's a very, very simple idea. 912 00:48:35,249 --> 00:48:37,709 It's a version of the same dry erase whiteboard 913 00:48:37,709 --> 00:48:41,004 that exists in almost every inpatient room 914 00:48:41,004 --> 00:48:42,589 in every hospital in America. 915 00:48:43,257 --> 00:48:45,509 Usually, that board is primarily 916 00:48:45,509 --> 00:48:47,427 for nurses to kind of talk to themselves. 917 00:48:47,928 --> 00:48:50,973 We structured it to have the preferences of the person giving birth. 918 00:48:51,598 --> 00:48:54,434 And then there's a place where you write down the next time 919 00:48:54,434 --> 00:48:56,478 the team is going to get back together again and talk. 920 00:48:56,478 --> 00:48:58,105 - The most important thing is that we're being transparent 921 00:48:58,105 --> 00:48:59,940 with the patient about what the plan is. 922 00:48:59,940 --> 00:49:01,400 NEEL: I'm sure you all have seen 923 00:49:01,400 --> 00:49:03,318 the headlines around maternal mortality. 924 00:49:03,318 --> 00:49:05,112 You've seen the way that it's been impacting 925 00:49:05,112 --> 00:49:07,364 the people that you're caring for. 926 00:49:07,823 --> 00:49:09,324 So this is about better outcomes, 927 00:49:09,324 --> 00:49:11,827 which is also about building trust along the way. 928 00:49:11,827 --> 00:49:14,538 When we walk through Bruce's story, 929 00:49:15,330 --> 00:49:17,833 there's so many examples of that not happening, 930 00:49:18,375 --> 00:49:20,919 not only not feeling seen and heard, 931 00:49:20,919 --> 00:49:24,339 but also not being told what was happening. 932 00:49:24,965 --> 00:49:26,592 Right? That should never happen. 933 00:49:32,097 --> 00:49:32,973 NUBIA: It's Bruce. 934 00:49:33,724 --> 00:49:36,143 - Hello, guys. What's up, everybody? 935 00:49:36,935 --> 00:49:37,936 Oh. 936 00:49:38,520 --> 00:49:40,606 Oh, look at the couches. 937 00:49:40,606 --> 00:49:41,857 NUBIA: Yes! 938 00:49:41,857 --> 00:49:43,859 How's Elias? - Oh, he's doing good. 939 00:49:43,859 --> 00:49:45,986 I really started talking to Nubia more 940 00:49:45,986 --> 00:49:47,863 about the medical system. 941 00:49:48,238 --> 00:49:50,282 Now that more people are paying attention, 942 00:49:50,657 --> 00:49:53,160 we have to band together to bring effective change 943 00:49:53,160 --> 00:49:54,494 and help our communities. 944 00:49:54,870 --> 00:49:56,622 My name is Bruce McIntyre. 945 00:49:57,122 --> 00:50:00,209 Us as a collective have been doing a lot of groundwork, 946 00:50:00,209 --> 00:50:04,213 redirecting the course for birthing equity. 947 00:50:04,213 --> 00:50:07,382 - I met Bruce and Amber, his partner, 948 00:50:07,966 --> 00:50:10,135 because they were being grossly neglected 949 00:50:10,135 --> 00:50:11,470 in the hospital setting. 950 00:50:12,429 --> 00:50:13,889 Amber did not survive. 951 00:50:15,057 --> 00:50:18,268 And one of the things I was talking to Bruce about was 952 00:50:18,268 --> 00:50:20,479 how we continue to just honor, 953 00:50:20,479 --> 00:50:23,565 um, who she was as, as a mother 954 00:50:23,565 --> 00:50:26,235 and make sure this doesn't happen for somebody else. 955 00:50:27,277 --> 00:50:29,738 Like, we can sit and, you know, wait 956 00:50:29,738 --> 00:50:31,365 for somebody to sweep in, 957 00:50:31,365 --> 00:50:33,951 but it's an SOS situation 958 00:50:33,951 --> 00:50:35,702 and we have to save ourselves. 959 00:50:35,702 --> 00:50:36,495 BRUCE: Yeah. 960 00:50:36,495 --> 00:50:38,705 - I know that what I want in my communities, 961 00:50:38,705 --> 00:50:42,084 in my birth communities, from my clients is support. 962 00:50:42,084 --> 00:50:44,002 When I think of the hospital climate, 963 00:50:44,002 --> 00:50:46,338 some people are welcoming birth support 964 00:50:46,338 --> 00:50:48,382 and other hospitals are not. 965 00:50:48,382 --> 00:50:48,841 - Right. 966 00:50:48,841 --> 00:50:51,385 My belief is that, you know, people need 967 00:50:51,385 --> 00:50:53,720 to have safe options across the board. 968 00:50:54,221 --> 00:50:57,599 Safer hospitals or, like I always say, look for alternatives. 969 00:50:57,599 --> 00:50:59,142 You know, you don't have to birth at a hospital 970 00:50:59,142 --> 00:51:01,436 if that's not, you know, if you're part 971 00:51:01,436 --> 00:51:03,772 of that 85 percent that's low risk, you know. 972 00:51:03,772 --> 00:51:05,732 But we want to do the best that we can 973 00:51:05,732 --> 00:51:08,819 to give people a safe vaginal birth, 974 00:51:08,819 --> 00:51:10,737 if that is their desire, in an environment 975 00:51:10,737 --> 00:51:12,781 where they're going to be listened to, 976 00:51:12,781 --> 00:51:16,118 respected, valued, and, you know, at peace. 977 00:51:16,118 --> 00:51:16,994 Yeah. 978 00:51:21,874 --> 00:51:23,333 ASHLEE: Can I touch your belly? FELICIA: Uh-huh. 979 00:51:23,792 --> 00:51:25,252 - How are you doing? 980 00:51:25,586 --> 00:51:27,045 Yes. PAUL: Oh, Lily-bug. 981 00:51:27,504 --> 00:51:29,423 ASHLEE: What's going on in there? 982 00:51:29,423 --> 00:51:30,591 FELICIA: There's a lot going on. 983 00:51:30,591 --> 00:51:32,551 ASHLEE: Yeah. [laughs] 984 00:51:32,926 --> 00:51:35,262 So this is what we're going to do. We're going to try this exercise. 985 00:51:35,929 --> 00:51:36,763 - Okay. 986 00:51:37,055 --> 00:51:38,390 ASHLEE: And this is going to show 987 00:51:38,390 --> 00:51:40,100 what it looks like 988 00:51:40,100 --> 00:51:41,810 when you have a contraction, 989 00:51:41,810 --> 00:51:43,228 what a contraction does. 990 00:51:43,604 --> 00:51:44,646 Okay? 991 00:51:44,646 --> 00:51:47,774 So, this is your baby. This is the uterus. 992 00:51:47,774 --> 00:51:49,109 You're going to put the baby in your uterus. 993 00:51:50,068 --> 00:51:52,196 FELICIA: I don't know what I would be doing 994 00:51:52,196 --> 00:51:53,572 without a doula right now. 995 00:51:54,531 --> 00:51:57,159 She's from Tulsa. She's Black. 996 00:51:58,827 --> 00:52:02,748 I have, like, a friend who's educated in this 997 00:52:02,748 --> 00:52:04,833 that I talk to every two weeks. 998 00:52:04,833 --> 00:52:06,543 ASHLEE: Keep contracting, keep on going. 999 00:52:07,085 --> 00:52:08,754 [laughter] 1000 00:52:08,754 --> 00:52:10,214 I don't know if we talked about this, 1001 00:52:10,214 --> 00:52:12,925 but I would like to touch on it, like what a normal birth is 1002 00:52:12,925 --> 00:52:14,301 and what a normal birth looks like. 1003 00:52:14,301 --> 00:52:17,387 There's such a wide range of what normal is. 1004 00:52:17,387 --> 00:52:20,516 You can think of a normal birth as like the train tracks 1005 00:52:20,516 --> 00:52:23,227 and then your birth experience as the train, alright? 1006 00:52:23,227 --> 00:52:24,478 And then sometimes, things happen. 1007 00:52:24,478 --> 00:52:26,647 We may have to switch tracks and go around or whatever, 1008 00:52:26,647 --> 00:52:27,606 and that's okay. 1009 00:52:28,732 --> 00:52:31,318 FELICIA: At first, when we did the birth plan, I was like, 1010 00:52:31,318 --> 00:52:34,029 "I'm just going to go to the hospital, you know, the normal thing." 1011 00:52:34,029 --> 00:52:37,115 And then we talk about, like, all the choices or the options, 1012 00:52:37,533 --> 00:52:40,702 and then I was like, "Maybe a birth center is better." 1013 00:52:40,702 --> 00:52:41,620 ASHLEE: We on track. 1014 00:52:45,499 --> 00:52:48,627 FELICIA: The main thing for me is I do not want to have a C-section. 1015 00:52:50,212 --> 00:52:53,423 Paul and I are entrepreneurs. We generate our own income. 1016 00:52:54,341 --> 00:52:57,094 I don't have a grandmother that can come stay with us. 1017 00:52:57,094 --> 00:53:00,097 We don't have the resources for a night nurse. 1018 00:53:00,514 --> 00:53:02,182 It says right here. PAUL: Okay. 1019 00:53:02,808 --> 00:53:06,353 FELICIA: Having a major surgery will impact 1020 00:53:06,812 --> 00:53:10,607 our success as a new family for the next 12 months. 1021 00:53:17,906 --> 00:53:18,740 PAUL: Hello? 1022 00:53:18,740 --> 00:53:20,784 GISELLE CHEBNY: Hi. ASHLEE: Hello. 1023 00:53:20,784 --> 00:53:22,786 GISELLE: Felicia? Nice to meet you. 1024 00:53:22,786 --> 00:53:24,454 PAUL: Nice to meet you. Paul. 1025 00:53:24,454 --> 00:53:25,080 GISELLE: Paul. 1026 00:53:25,080 --> 00:53:26,206 PAUL: Nice to meet you. 1027 00:53:26,206 --> 00:53:27,332 GISELLE: We've met before, haven't we? 1028 00:53:27,332 --> 00:53:28,375 ASHLEE: Yeah. Ashlee. PAUL: Okay. 1029 00:53:28,375 --> 00:53:29,168 GISELLE: Ashlee, okay. 1030 00:53:29,168 --> 00:53:30,377 Nice to meet you. ASHLEE: Yes. 1031 00:53:30,377 --> 00:53:32,754 GISELLE: Well, I'm going to give you guys your tour today. 1032 00:53:32,754 --> 00:53:35,716 I'm trying to talk about the risk versus benefits of hospital 1033 00:53:35,716 --> 00:53:37,384 versus birth center births, so-- 1034 00:53:37,384 --> 00:53:38,969 ASHLEE: Perfect. GISELLE: Alright. Okay. 1035 00:53:38,969 --> 00:53:40,762 Well, let's go over this way. 1036 00:53:40,762 --> 00:53:43,599 We have three birth suites back here, and I'm going to show you the first one. 1037 00:53:43,599 --> 00:53:44,933 This is the Gavin suite. 1038 00:53:46,185 --> 00:53:48,103 When you come in in labor, you get your room, 1039 00:53:48,395 --> 00:53:50,314 um, we settle you in, check you in, 1040 00:53:50,314 --> 00:53:52,316 and then we just see what feels good to you. 1041 00:53:52,316 --> 00:53:54,526 Maybe you want to go for a walk down at the park. 1042 00:53:54,526 --> 00:53:56,153 Maybe you want to go to the Y and walk on the track. 1043 00:53:56,153 --> 00:53:57,613 Maybe you want to go to the mall and walk around. 1044 00:53:57,613 --> 00:53:59,823 Maybe you want to get in the tub for a little bit. 1045 00:53:59,823 --> 00:54:00,949 So it's really just up to you. 1046 00:54:00,949 --> 00:54:02,993 And we just go along with you and carry our Doppler 1047 00:54:02,993 --> 00:54:05,495 and monitor baby and make sure that you're doing okay, 1048 00:54:05,495 --> 00:54:08,415 and baby's doing okay while you work through your labor stuff. 1049 00:54:08,415 --> 00:54:08,916 So-- 1050 00:54:09,249 --> 00:54:12,794 This is the Bella suite, a little bougie in here. 1051 00:54:13,045 --> 00:54:14,213 ASHLEE: A little bougie. 1052 00:54:14,213 --> 00:54:15,881 - Mom is like, yeah. That's my girl. 1053 00:54:15,881 --> 00:54:16,924 ASHLEE: There you go, Felicia. 1054 00:54:17,633 --> 00:54:19,134 - This is the room I designed. 1055 00:54:19,134 --> 00:54:20,302 FELICIA: Oh wow. - Yeah. 1056 00:54:20,302 --> 00:54:21,428 PAUL: It's pretty cool. 1057 00:54:21,428 --> 00:54:22,429 - You're taking it all in? 1058 00:54:22,429 --> 00:54:24,264 - I'm definitely taking it in. 1059 00:54:25,015 --> 00:54:26,808 I haven't even gotten in yet. Like-- 1060 00:54:27,726 --> 00:54:30,312 This is crazy but amazing at the same time. 1061 00:54:30,312 --> 00:54:31,897 ASHLEE: Yeah. PAUL: I'm getting an understanding. 1062 00:54:31,897 --> 00:54:33,065 - I'm going to try to walk you through 1063 00:54:33,065 --> 00:54:36,026 some of our medical things that we have in place here. 1064 00:54:36,735 --> 00:54:38,195 My kids call this the scary cart. 1065 00:54:39,112 --> 00:54:40,197 We are certified nurse midwives here, 1066 00:54:40,197 --> 00:54:41,615 so we do follow the medical model 1067 00:54:41,615 --> 00:54:44,159 in that we have a suture kit for your bottom. 1068 00:54:44,159 --> 00:54:46,286 And I will tell you, we throw more of these away 1069 00:54:46,286 --> 00:54:48,539 because they expire than we use them. 1070 00:54:48,914 --> 00:54:50,541 And the reason for that is we give you 1071 00:54:50,541 --> 00:54:52,501 the most important gift as a first-time mom. 1072 00:54:52,501 --> 00:54:56,004 And that is time, time to be in labor, time to stretch. 1073 00:54:56,463 --> 00:54:58,090 But if we need to repair your bottom afterwards, 1074 00:54:58,090 --> 00:54:59,174 we can do that. 1075 00:54:59,174 --> 00:55:00,551 And then the medication box. 1076 00:55:00,551 --> 00:55:02,719 We don't do inductions of labor here, 1077 00:55:02,719 --> 00:55:05,764 but we do have Pitocin and a couple of other medications 1078 00:55:05,764 --> 00:55:06,723 that will help with hemorrhaging 1079 00:55:06,723 --> 00:55:08,517 if you were to hemorrhage after you delivered. 1080 00:55:09,434 --> 00:55:11,812 - Paul's been working a lot. I've been researching more. 1081 00:55:11,812 --> 00:55:13,313 Like, I'm really educating myself, 1082 00:55:13,313 --> 00:55:16,817 and I'm like, I'm just trying to have this baby safely. 1083 00:55:16,817 --> 00:55:18,026 - Let me just, let me break down 1084 00:55:18,026 --> 00:55:20,112 just a few of the statistics for you, okay. 1085 00:55:20,112 --> 00:55:24,032 So with birth centers, the C-section rate's about six percent. 1086 00:55:24,032 --> 00:55:27,953 In the hospital, the national average is around 30, 33 percent. 1087 00:55:27,953 --> 00:55:31,582 But we don't value a vaginal delivery in this setting 1088 00:55:31,582 --> 00:55:32,833 over your safety. 1089 00:55:32,833 --> 00:55:33,417 Okay. 1090 00:55:33,417 --> 00:55:35,043 I've had four C-sections. 1091 00:55:35,836 --> 00:55:38,505 Medically, I wasn't able to have a vaginal birth. 1092 00:55:38,922 --> 00:55:40,841 - I'm, like, totally aware 1093 00:55:41,300 --> 00:55:43,051 of how fortunate 1094 00:55:43,051 --> 00:55:45,929 we are to have this option this close to where we live. 1095 00:55:45,929 --> 00:55:48,056 I know people drive hours here too. 1096 00:55:48,849 --> 00:55:50,142 REGINA: I have one family come over 1097 00:55:50,142 --> 00:55:53,145 from almost four hours away in Arkansas. 1098 00:55:53,145 --> 00:55:55,480 They got an Airbnb and stayed 1099 00:55:55,898 --> 00:55:59,818 the last couple weeks of the pregnancy with their family 1100 00:55:59,818 --> 00:56:01,904 so that they could enjoy birth center care here. 1101 00:56:02,362 --> 00:56:05,908 - How did you, like, guys decide to open this? 1102 00:56:05,908 --> 00:56:08,285 Like, it's like against the system. 1103 00:56:08,285 --> 00:56:09,077 REGINA: Yeah. 1104 00:56:09,077 --> 00:56:10,829 It was incredibly difficult, 1105 00:56:10,829 --> 00:56:14,583 but this is a calling for us to do this. 1106 00:56:16,502 --> 00:56:19,046 GISELLE: The unfortunate thing is they will not, insurance-wise, 1107 00:56:19,046 --> 00:56:21,673 will not cover any of our care. 1108 00:56:21,673 --> 00:56:24,635 Uh, so it would be a sole out-of-pocket expense 1109 00:56:24,635 --> 00:56:25,928 for you to do that. 1110 00:56:25,928 --> 00:56:26,595 FELICIA: Okay. 1111 00:56:26,595 --> 00:56:28,430 GISELLE: Now, since you're coming to us late, 1112 00:56:28,430 --> 00:56:30,307 the total for us would be 3,000. 1113 00:56:31,350 --> 00:56:32,392 - That's not bad. 1114 00:56:32,392 --> 00:56:33,560 [Giselle laughs] 1115 00:56:36,813 --> 00:56:38,690 PAUL: I mean, I'm pretty much sold. 1116 00:56:40,484 --> 00:56:44,738 It's nothing I didn't really... see out of place 1117 00:56:44,738 --> 00:56:46,114 or anything like that. 1118 00:56:48,534 --> 00:56:51,203 FELICIA: I feel like switching over, 1119 00:56:51,203 --> 00:56:54,081 I don't really have to worry about anything. 1120 00:56:54,081 --> 00:56:56,583 Like, I'm more controlled on knowing what's going to happen 1121 00:56:56,583 --> 00:56:59,378 instead of whatever's going on in that hospital that day. 1122 00:57:00,254 --> 00:57:02,965 My grandmother had three children successfully. 1123 00:57:02,965 --> 00:57:04,925 My dad was the only one born in the hospital. 1124 00:57:05,801 --> 00:57:07,261 - I don't think it matters which one it is. 1125 00:57:07,678 --> 00:57:09,054 I'm going to be right there with you. 1126 00:57:09,555 --> 00:57:11,807 And I have nine nieces and nephews. 1127 00:57:12,391 --> 00:57:16,645 So I know about, like, children and birthing. 1128 00:57:17,020 --> 00:57:18,272 [laughs] 1129 00:57:19,565 --> 00:57:22,150 - Let me tell you, Mr. I Know Everything. 1130 00:57:23,193 --> 00:57:26,071 There's two things you don't know and you can't do. 1131 00:57:26,071 --> 00:57:27,656 - How to be a woman and how to have a baby. 1132 00:57:27,656 --> 00:57:30,075 [laughter] 1133 00:57:30,075 --> 00:57:32,202 Yeah. Yeah, you right. 1134 00:57:34,872 --> 00:57:38,542 - Midwives existed in all nations and cultures of the earth. 1135 00:57:40,085 --> 00:57:42,963 Midwives knew the feminine secrets. 1136 00:57:43,881 --> 00:57:47,092 Midwives were abortion practitioners 1137 00:57:47,092 --> 00:57:49,511 since the beginning of time, 1138 00:57:49,803 --> 00:57:52,014 helping women control their fertility 1139 00:57:52,431 --> 00:57:54,892 and control the use of their wombs. 1140 00:57:55,976 --> 00:57:57,060 That's a lot of power. 1141 00:57:58,645 --> 00:58:00,522 In spaces where women have power, 1142 00:58:01,106 --> 00:58:03,233 some men have a problem with it. 1143 00:58:04,401 --> 00:58:08,322 In Europe, the Catholic church wants more control 1144 00:58:08,739 --> 00:58:11,909 of childbearing women and their choices. 1145 00:58:13,452 --> 00:58:15,621 It's the church that first demands 1146 00:58:15,621 --> 00:58:17,581 that men be a part of childbirth. 1147 00:58:19,499 --> 00:58:21,251 Enter the male midwife, 1148 00:58:21,710 --> 00:58:26,381 who then later on segues and becomes the OB/GYN provider. 1149 00:58:27,883 --> 00:58:32,304 And priests, they're hearing these reports that women scream 1150 00:58:32,304 --> 00:58:35,516 and women yell and they become animalistic. 1151 00:58:35,516 --> 00:58:39,645 They, they become this other thing when they're in childbirth, 1152 00:58:39,645 --> 00:58:42,981 that has not been seen before by men. 1153 00:58:44,358 --> 00:58:47,152 We of course have the scripture in the Bible 1154 00:58:47,152 --> 00:58:50,322 and the Lord's prayer, deliver us from evil. 1155 00:58:51,323 --> 00:58:53,700 There becomes this identification 1156 00:58:53,700 --> 00:58:55,577 with being delivered from evil. 1157 00:58:56,119 --> 00:58:59,915 You start to see this language that women need to be delivered. 1158 00:59:00,415 --> 00:59:01,834 They need to be delivered. 1159 00:59:02,751 --> 00:59:06,213 And we've carried that into modern day. 1160 00:59:08,674 --> 00:59:10,801 When we get to United States history, 1161 00:59:11,301 --> 00:59:13,720 when enslaved people come here, 1162 00:59:14,221 --> 00:59:15,681 midwives come with them. 1163 00:59:16,390 --> 00:59:19,309 Midwives are on every plantation, 1164 00:59:20,060 --> 00:59:24,731 not just caring for enslaved Black people. 1165 00:59:25,357 --> 00:59:27,276 They were caring for everybody. 1166 00:59:28,068 --> 00:59:30,445 When the mistress of the plantation 1167 00:59:30,445 --> 00:59:33,198 and her daughters and white women are having babies, 1168 00:59:33,198 --> 00:59:36,159 they're being attended by Black midwives too. 1169 00:59:39,037 --> 00:59:40,414 Midwives become 1170 00:59:40,956 --> 00:59:44,585 some of the most valued enslaved persons. 1171 00:59:47,546 --> 00:59:51,508 George Washington himself actually paid his midwife. 1172 00:59:53,969 --> 00:59:58,348 She was so valuable because he wanted to make sure 1173 00:59:58,348 --> 01:00:01,852 that generations and generations of enslaved beings 1174 01:00:01,852 --> 01:00:03,979 made it earth-side safely. 1175 01:00:07,691 --> 01:00:11,361 After slavery, we still have community midwives. 1176 01:00:13,447 --> 01:00:17,159 Over time, these powerful white men, 1177 01:00:17,451 --> 01:00:22,664 this new thing called an OB/GYN physician decide 1178 01:00:23,207 --> 01:00:24,541 we are going to deem 1179 01:00:24,541 --> 01:00:27,711 that you should come to the hospital to give birth. 1180 01:00:30,255 --> 01:00:33,842 White male physicians and white public health nurses 1181 01:00:33,842 --> 01:00:35,177 bond together 1182 01:00:35,177 --> 01:00:38,514 and create a whole lot of marketing campaigns 1183 01:00:38,514 --> 01:00:40,849 that say Black midwives are dirty. 1184 01:00:41,350 --> 01:00:44,228 They're unskilled. They're untrained. 1185 01:00:46,563 --> 01:00:50,859 White public health nurses would actually run around 1186 01:00:50,859 --> 01:00:53,737 and hunt to find out where the midwives were, 1187 01:00:57,115 --> 01:01:00,285 forcing them to go to health departments and turn in their license, 1188 01:01:02,204 --> 01:01:05,749 saying to them, "If you catch another baby, 1189 01:01:05,749 --> 01:01:08,210 I'll report you, and you'll go to jail." 1190 01:01:09,461 --> 01:01:14,383 And midwifery becomes a book knowledge profession. 1191 01:01:15,342 --> 01:01:16,552 You become a nurse, 1192 01:01:16,552 --> 01:01:19,137 and then you take this extra training 1193 01:01:19,137 --> 01:01:22,599 to work in concert with the doctor. 1194 01:01:23,475 --> 01:01:27,271 It is not a profession that you grow into 1195 01:01:27,271 --> 01:01:29,231 through apprenticeship anymore. 1196 01:01:30,941 --> 01:01:35,028 So white women took over this profession. 1197 01:01:35,445 --> 01:01:38,282 Right now, 87 percent of all midwives 1198 01:01:38,282 --> 01:01:41,243 certified in the United States of America are white. 1199 01:01:42,536 --> 01:01:45,581 HELENA: Hi, Georgette, hi. 1200 01:01:45,581 --> 01:01:48,500 I'm very involved with students around the nation, 1201 01:01:48,500 --> 01:01:50,002 especially here in New York. 1202 01:01:51,211 --> 01:01:53,589 We need more midwives in the space. 1203 01:01:54,131 --> 01:01:55,966 Cecilia caught the twins, 1204 01:01:55,966 --> 01:01:57,217 NURSE: Oh my goodness. 1205 01:01:57,217 --> 01:01:58,927 - First twins, she caught. 1206 01:01:58,927 --> 01:02:02,014 The United States has to adopt the same modality 1207 01:02:02,014 --> 01:02:05,350 as all other countries, and midwives have to be central 1208 01:02:05,350 --> 01:02:07,311 to women's healthcare. 1209 01:02:07,311 --> 01:02:09,229 NURSE: Good night. HELENA: Alright. Night-night. 1210 01:02:11,607 --> 01:02:13,901 Midwifery care supports Black women 1211 01:02:13,901 --> 01:02:17,988 because when it's done well, it's anti-traumatic care. 1212 01:02:19,823 --> 01:02:23,118 It is a way to reconstruct the narrative 1213 01:02:23,118 --> 01:02:24,953 that childbirth does not have 1214 01:02:24,953 --> 01:02:28,957 to be this process that's laced 1215 01:02:29,291 --> 01:02:31,376 in abuse. 1216 01:02:43,347 --> 01:02:44,389 [sighs] 1217 01:02:44,389 --> 01:02:46,642 - Good job. - That felt good. Yeah. 1218 01:02:46,642 --> 01:02:47,559 WOMAN: Good job. 1219 01:02:51,230 --> 01:02:54,066 - Let's see if I can eat one more before one comes. 1220 01:02:54,066 --> 01:02:56,276 When the contraction comes, I don't want to eat 1221 01:02:56,276 --> 01:02:57,986 because I feel like I'm going to choke 1222 01:02:59,029 --> 01:03:01,240 trying to keep myself together. 1223 01:03:05,202 --> 01:03:08,247 [snoring] 1224 01:03:20,676 --> 01:03:22,511 [Felicia moans] 1225 01:03:34,857 --> 01:03:36,525 - What you smiling about? 1226 01:03:36,525 --> 01:03:39,528 [indiscernible mumbling] 1227 01:03:39,528 --> 01:03:42,197 PAUL: [indiscernible] take care of you while I'm asleep, huh? 1228 01:03:43,699 --> 01:03:45,200 [indiscernible dialogue] 1229 01:03:49,955 --> 01:03:51,623 WOMAN: 122 over 70. 1230 01:03:52,457 --> 01:03:53,750 Rocking it out, mama. 1231 01:03:56,503 --> 01:03:59,715 - Ohhh! 1232 01:04:04,761 --> 01:04:06,471 I think it's deeper now. 1233 01:04:06,471 --> 01:04:07,514 ASHLEE: Mm-hmm. 1234 01:04:08,056 --> 01:04:09,975 [moans] 1235 01:04:15,564 --> 01:04:20,068 [loud moan] 1236 01:04:27,117 --> 01:04:28,243 - You got it. 1237 01:04:28,243 --> 01:04:29,453 [chuckles] 1238 01:04:30,746 --> 01:04:33,957 [thumping] 1239 01:04:36,001 --> 01:04:37,127 - Is she okay? 1240 01:04:37,127 --> 01:04:39,213 WOMAN: She is just perfectly content. 1241 01:04:39,796 --> 01:04:42,257 - She's like right down here where my hand is. 1242 01:04:42,257 --> 01:04:43,800 FELICIA: Ohh. 1243 01:04:43,800 --> 01:04:46,094 - So, are we ready? Not yet. 1244 01:04:46,887 --> 01:04:48,972 [Felicia moans] 1245 01:04:48,972 --> 01:04:50,474 PAUL: Mmm. 1246 01:04:56,063 --> 01:05:00,442 [moaning continues] 1247 01:05:00,943 --> 01:05:02,528 [winces] 1248 01:05:08,825 --> 01:05:09,993 WOMAN: You're doing amazing. 1249 01:05:10,494 --> 01:05:11,787 You're almost there. 1250 01:05:18,669 --> 01:05:20,420 - It's the hardest thing I ever did. 1251 01:05:21,171 --> 01:05:22,798 Okay. Here comes one. 1252 01:05:22,798 --> 01:05:23,841 - You want the pillow? 1253 01:05:23,841 --> 01:05:24,800 WOMAN: You got this. 1254 01:05:26,343 --> 01:05:29,012 [moans] - Yeah? Yeah. 1255 01:05:29,012 --> 01:05:33,058 [moans] 1256 01:05:33,767 --> 01:05:34,893 PAUL: Mm-hmm. 1257 01:05:34,893 --> 01:05:36,603 WOMAN: There you go, there you go, there you go. 1258 01:05:37,729 --> 01:05:38,897 So good. 1259 01:05:39,857 --> 01:05:44,111 [exhales forcefully] 1260 01:05:44,403 --> 01:05:47,030 WOMAN: Breathe it out. Good. 1261 01:05:47,698 --> 01:05:49,241 - Take your time. GISELLE: Reach down. 1262 01:05:49,241 --> 01:05:51,034 Reach down. Open your eyes. 1263 01:05:51,451 --> 01:05:52,536 Want to reach down and help? 1264 01:05:54,204 --> 01:05:55,289 - No. 1265 01:05:56,582 --> 01:05:57,624 GISELLE: He can help. 1266 01:05:58,000 --> 01:05:59,126 - There we go. 1267 01:05:59,126 --> 01:06:02,337 [baby cries] [indiscernible chatter] 1268 01:06:03,380 --> 01:06:06,633 GISELLE: You did it. Woo! That's your baby. 1269 01:06:06,633 --> 01:06:08,135 WOMAN: Oh my god. 1270 01:06:09,136 --> 01:06:10,721 FELICIA: Hey, baby. WOMAN: Say hi, mommy. 1271 01:06:10,721 --> 01:06:14,558 FELICIA: Hi. Hey. Hey. 1272 01:06:15,392 --> 01:06:19,021 [indiscernible chatter] 1273 01:06:20,230 --> 01:06:23,275 PAUL: Hi. GISELLE: Hi, sweetheart. 1274 01:06:23,567 --> 01:06:24,985 WOMAN: You did it. 1275 01:06:25,277 --> 01:06:26,612 FELICIA: Baby, she's here. 1276 01:06:26,612 --> 01:06:27,863 PAUL: Yeah, she's here, baby. 1277 01:06:27,863 --> 01:06:29,156 WOMAN: You did it. FELICIA: Thank you. 1278 01:06:29,156 --> 01:06:31,074 [baby crying] - Thank you. 1279 01:06:31,658 --> 01:06:32,826 Thank you. 1280 01:06:33,827 --> 01:06:34,828 Thank you. 1281 01:06:34,828 --> 01:06:36,330 - Don't cry. 1282 01:06:37,164 --> 01:06:38,874 I know, sweetheart. 1283 01:06:38,874 --> 01:06:40,792 Happy birthday. 1284 01:06:41,502 --> 01:06:42,711 There's your mama. 1285 01:06:44,796 --> 01:06:48,467 You are beautiful. All that hair. 1286 01:06:48,467 --> 01:06:49,927 I know. 1287 01:06:50,385 --> 01:06:51,845 I know. 1288 01:06:52,679 --> 01:06:55,516 - I can't believe this is real. 1289 01:06:56,850 --> 01:06:58,018 Thank you. 1290 01:06:58,852 --> 01:07:00,854 PAUL: She here, baby. She is here. 1291 01:07:01,605 --> 01:07:03,315 - She's here and beautiful. 1292 01:07:14,243 --> 01:07:15,827 [laughter] 1293 01:07:19,581 --> 01:07:21,458 - Oh my goodness. 1294 01:07:23,126 --> 01:07:25,462 Oh wow. This is the space 1295 01:07:25,796 --> 01:07:26,880 BRUCE: I'm excited. 1296 01:07:26,880 --> 01:07:28,131 NUBIA: Wow. 1297 01:07:28,131 --> 01:07:29,591 - So, we're thinking about making 1298 01:07:29,591 --> 01:07:32,719 the first two floors the birth center 1299 01:07:32,719 --> 01:07:34,346 and then the third floor, 1300 01:07:34,805 --> 01:07:37,432 the reception and a couple exam rooms 1301 01:07:37,432 --> 01:07:39,268 and a couple wellness spots. 1302 01:07:39,268 --> 01:07:41,228 And then in that corner, 1303 01:07:41,228 --> 01:07:43,522 that's going to be a small community room 1304 01:07:43,522 --> 01:07:46,191 where we can have, um, smaller classes happen. 1305 01:07:46,191 --> 01:07:48,694 BRUCE: We're going to bring a birthing center over here to the Bronx. 1306 01:07:49,319 --> 01:07:52,781 We need it. We have the highest Cesarean rate in this borough. 1307 01:07:52,781 --> 01:07:53,991 - It's pretty big. 1308 01:07:54,867 --> 01:07:55,909 WOMAN: Ready? 1309 01:07:57,411 --> 01:07:58,328 Action. 1310 01:07:58,328 --> 01:08:01,498 - We are partnering up to bring a birthing center to the Bronx, 1311 01:08:01,498 --> 01:08:03,750 to serve our community, to serve our people. 1312 01:08:03,750 --> 01:08:07,379 We need to stop working for a system that is not going to work for us. 1313 01:08:07,379 --> 01:08:09,131 And we need to take care of our communities. 1314 01:08:09,131 --> 01:08:10,132 We need to step up. 1315 01:08:10,132 --> 01:08:13,427 - Within the entire state of more than 19 million people, 1316 01:08:13,427 --> 01:08:16,388 there are only three birth centers. 1317 01:08:16,388 --> 01:08:17,806 This needs to change. 1318 01:08:17,806 --> 01:08:22,644 Birthing centers are a happy medium of a hospital birth, 1319 01:08:22,644 --> 01:08:26,064 a very necessary option, and home birth, 1320 01:08:26,064 --> 01:08:29,151 which is a wonderful option, but not for everybody. 1321 01:08:29,151 --> 01:08:30,569 - Even if you can't donate, 1322 01:08:30,986 --> 01:08:33,280 figure out what you can do to play your part to help us. 1323 01:08:33,280 --> 01:08:35,240 MYLA/NUBIA: Thank you. - We deserve a birthing center. 1324 01:08:35,240 --> 01:08:37,117 - We deserve a birthing center. - We deserve birth centers. 1325 01:08:37,117 --> 01:08:38,410 BRUCE: Yes. - Yes. 1326 01:08:38,410 --> 01:08:40,037 MYLA: Yes. NUBIA: Yes. 1327 01:08:45,626 --> 01:08:47,002 BRUCE: Hello? NEEL: Hey. 1328 01:08:47,294 --> 01:08:49,463 How are you, man? BRUCE: Doing well, doing well, Neel. 1329 01:08:49,463 --> 01:08:50,506 How are you? NEEL: It's good to see you. 1330 01:08:50,506 --> 01:08:51,548 BRUCE: Good to see you. 1331 01:08:51,965 --> 01:08:53,300 NEEL: How was the trip? BRUCE: Oh, brother. 1332 01:08:53,300 --> 01:08:55,093 It was, it wasn't bad. It wasn't bad. 1333 01:08:55,093 --> 01:08:57,679 - We so appreciate you, um, coming up 1334 01:08:57,679 --> 01:09:00,057 and then spend time with our students today. 1335 01:09:00,432 --> 01:09:01,266 - Definitely. 1336 01:09:01,683 --> 01:09:04,561 - I couldn't imagine when we talked last year that we'd be here. 1337 01:09:05,020 --> 01:09:06,063 - Yeah. 1338 01:09:06,063 --> 01:09:06,939 - Doing this. - Me neither. 1339 01:09:06,939 --> 01:09:09,608 I was just thinking about that, like how surreal it is. 1340 01:09:09,608 --> 01:09:12,069 You know, that's just what moving forward does, you know. 1341 01:09:12,069 --> 01:09:14,863 You just got to keep pushing forward, and doors open up. 1342 01:09:14,863 --> 01:09:15,697 - Yeah. 1343 01:09:16,198 --> 01:09:20,577 ♪ 1344 01:09:20,577 --> 01:09:24,373 ♪ 1345 01:09:24,373 --> 01:09:28,210 ♪ 1346 01:09:28,210 --> 01:09:30,754 BRUCE: Amber Rose Isaac was the love of my life. 1347 01:09:32,297 --> 01:09:37,427 She passed away due to an unscheduled emergency C-section 1348 01:09:37,427 --> 01:09:40,889 that stemmed from medical negligence throughout her entire pregnancy. 1349 01:09:42,266 --> 01:09:45,519 After finding out all this information and doing so much studying, 1350 01:09:45,519 --> 01:09:47,229 I found out that Amber was as good as dead 1351 01:09:47,229 --> 01:09:48,730 as soon as she walked into that hospital. 1352 01:09:50,357 --> 01:09:53,068 So we need to make sure that this doesn't happen to anyone else. 1353 01:09:54,778 --> 01:09:57,072 In 2018, I watched Amber-- 1354 01:09:57,072 --> 01:09:59,199 NEEL: What people like Bruce have taught me 1355 01:10:00,450 --> 01:10:03,745 is that affirming a person's dignity, 1356 01:10:03,745 --> 01:10:06,331 seeing them, hearing them is the way that you make them safe. 1357 01:10:06,331 --> 01:10:07,416 It's not a luxury. 1358 01:10:08,834 --> 01:10:10,878 STUDENT 1: Thank you so much. 1359 01:10:11,962 --> 01:10:13,964 I actually remember being on Twitter, 1360 01:10:13,964 --> 01:10:15,924 hearing about Amber Rose. 1361 01:10:15,924 --> 01:10:18,510 And so it is so surreal to me right now 1362 01:10:18,510 --> 01:10:21,763 to be sitting next to you, to hear you tell your story, 1363 01:10:21,763 --> 01:10:23,724 to capture the things that 1364 01:10:23,724 --> 01:10:27,019 a news article will never be able to capture. 1365 01:10:27,352 --> 01:10:28,562 This fight is not over. 1366 01:10:28,562 --> 01:10:30,480 And there are times, because this is, 1367 01:10:30,480 --> 01:10:32,524 it feels like it's so in my face, 1368 01:10:32,524 --> 01:10:34,401 because this is the work that I'm interested, 1369 01:10:34,401 --> 01:10:35,777 "Oh, enough people know about this." 1370 01:10:35,777 --> 01:10:37,070 But it's not enough, right? 1371 01:10:37,070 --> 01:10:40,365 Because too many people are still dying from this. 1372 01:10:40,365 --> 01:10:43,952 Right? There will still be another, which is one too many already. 1373 01:10:43,952 --> 01:10:47,372 - As a white provider, I'm going to have a blind spot 1374 01:10:47,372 --> 01:10:50,417 that is, I don't have any lived experience 1375 01:10:50,417 --> 01:10:52,503 with racism in this way. 1376 01:10:52,503 --> 01:10:57,049 And it's really, really easy to become part of the problem 1377 01:10:57,049 --> 01:11:01,803 if you're not actively working towards understanding 1378 01:11:01,803 --> 01:11:03,430 these types of stories. 1379 01:11:04,056 --> 01:11:07,059 STUDENT 3: I know you say that this shouldn't ever happen again, 1380 01:11:07,059 --> 01:11:09,394 but the fact is it will. 1381 01:11:09,686 --> 01:11:14,358 Um, and so I think it's important to have spaces of activism 1382 01:11:14,358 --> 01:11:17,027 and healing to be prepared for that. 1383 01:11:18,195 --> 01:11:21,323 - You know, we're not going to be able to save everyone, 1384 01:11:21,657 --> 01:11:24,535 but with Black lives, Black women, 1385 01:11:25,160 --> 01:11:29,498 it's believed that over 60 percent of these deaths were preventable. 1386 01:11:29,915 --> 01:11:32,167 That's more than half we're talking about. 1387 01:11:32,876 --> 01:11:34,878 That sounds like a choice to me. 1388 01:11:35,629 --> 01:11:37,840 That sounds like a system. 1389 01:11:39,424 --> 01:11:41,343 And if you're here today, 1390 01:11:41,844 --> 01:11:45,597 that shows me that you want to reimagine the system. 1391 01:11:45,597 --> 01:11:47,975 So I appreciate everyone being here. 1392 01:12:07,953 --> 01:12:08,996 - Alright. 1393 01:12:16,044 --> 01:12:19,464 I'm down here in Houston to meet a father 1394 01:12:19,464 --> 01:12:21,466 I've never met before. 1395 01:12:21,466 --> 01:12:25,387 But who I am definitely connected to. 1396 01:12:27,514 --> 01:12:29,391 After I created a piece for Amber, 1397 01:12:29,391 --> 01:12:31,310 I created a piece for another woman, 1398 01:12:32,269 --> 01:12:36,273 and it just started to become like, um, 1399 01:12:37,524 --> 01:12:38,775 what I was doing. 1400 01:12:38,775 --> 01:12:41,904 ♪ 1401 01:12:41,904 --> 01:12:44,740 Creating pieces for other families 1402 01:12:44,740 --> 01:12:46,950 who have lost their daughters, 1403 01:12:46,950 --> 01:12:49,369 their mothers, their partners. 1404 01:12:50,412 --> 01:12:52,247 To keep their stories going. 1405 01:12:54,750 --> 01:12:58,670 I've started to meet more families than I ever could have imagined, 1406 01:12:59,963 --> 01:13:01,965 all over the country, 1407 01:13:02,257 --> 01:13:04,843 and build a community that is needed. 1408 01:13:10,015 --> 01:13:11,099 What's good, bro? 1409 01:13:14,144 --> 01:13:16,063 Man, I'm happy to be out here, man. 1410 01:13:16,063 --> 01:13:17,898 SAM VOLRIE JR.: Yeah. - Good to see you. 1411 01:13:20,901 --> 01:13:23,320 SAM: After Maria had the baby in the hospital, 1412 01:13:23,737 --> 01:13:26,114 they came and told us, hey, we had to, you know, 1413 01:13:26,615 --> 01:13:28,784 it's time to go, you know, time to check out. 1414 01:13:29,368 --> 01:13:31,787 But, you know, uh, 1415 01:13:32,955 --> 01:13:35,207 she's not even able to walk. 1416 01:13:35,707 --> 01:13:40,212 Maybe we can, you know, extend this somehow, whatever, you know? 1417 01:13:40,212 --> 01:13:42,214 Can she get more help? 1418 01:13:42,714 --> 01:13:46,635 But, you know, when the insurance don't, don't pay for it-- 1419 01:13:47,302 --> 01:13:49,972 They don't care about you that much. 1420 01:13:49,972 --> 01:13:51,974 - Somebody hit me up on IG, 1421 01:13:51,974 --> 01:13:54,601 and they told me, you know, about you and your story 1422 01:13:54,601 --> 01:13:56,436 and, you know, Maria. 1423 01:13:56,436 --> 01:13:59,064 I felt compelled, like I got to speak to you 1424 01:13:59,064 --> 01:14:01,233 to let you know, like, you know, like, 1425 01:14:01,233 --> 01:14:03,235 I don't know you, you know, 1426 01:14:03,235 --> 01:14:05,070 but I know how you feel, man. 1427 01:14:05,070 --> 01:14:06,363 Like, I know what you're going through. 1428 01:14:06,363 --> 01:14:09,032 I know, I know the pain. I know what it is. 1429 01:14:09,032 --> 01:14:10,033 SAM: Mm-hmm. 1430 01:14:10,033 --> 01:14:12,202 With that said, I want to give you this. 1431 01:14:12,744 --> 01:14:16,707 I'm so happy, man, that I was able to come out here 1432 01:14:16,707 --> 01:14:20,711 and, and give it to you first hand. 1433 01:14:21,795 --> 01:14:23,046 [indiscernible] 1434 01:14:33,515 --> 01:14:34,683 SAM: Oh, man. 1435 01:14:34,683 --> 01:14:38,854 - I know that Shamony and Maria are up there wherever they are. 1436 01:14:38,854 --> 01:14:41,273 They're probably in the room right now with us, honestly. 1437 01:14:41,565 --> 01:14:43,483 But, you know, they connecting. 1438 01:14:43,483 --> 01:14:46,361 You know, they making stuff happen for both of us, man. 1439 01:14:49,323 --> 01:14:50,240 [sniffles] 1440 01:14:53,660 --> 01:14:56,288 OMARI: Small, something small I could do, man. 1441 01:14:56,288 --> 01:14:59,041 It's the very least I could do for you, bro. 1442 01:14:59,625 --> 01:15:01,543 Appreciate you, man. - I appreciate this, bro. 1443 01:15:01,543 --> 01:15:04,421 OMARI: No doubt. No doubt. 1444 01:15:06,298 --> 01:15:07,299 - Yeah. It's dope. 1445 01:15:14,014 --> 01:15:16,850 [indiscernible chatter] 1446 01:15:16,850 --> 01:15:18,977 OMARI: So, on the count of three, 1447 01:15:20,187 --> 01:15:21,939 we going to get this started. 1448 01:15:22,940 --> 01:15:26,360 One, two, three. 1449 01:15:26,360 --> 01:15:30,906 ALL: ♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ 1450 01:15:31,490 --> 01:15:35,494 ♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ 1451 01:15:36,078 --> 01:15:40,958 ♪ Happy birthday, dear Khari ♪ 1452 01:15:40,958 --> 01:15:46,338 ♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ 1453 01:15:46,338 --> 01:15:47,172 WOMAN: Alright. 1454 01:15:47,172 --> 01:15:51,677 [all cheering] 1455 01:15:52,010 --> 01:15:54,471 SHAWNEE: Here, wait a minute. Who wants some? 1456 01:15:54,930 --> 01:15:58,225 Um, Charles? Open your mouth, Charles. GIRL: That-that-that's okay. 1457 01:15:58,225 --> 01:16:00,227 SHAWNEE: Bruce? Where's Elias? 1458 01:16:00,227 --> 01:16:01,854 Let him open his mouth. 1459 01:16:05,107 --> 01:16:06,358 OMARI: Now, I want to say thank y'all. 1460 01:16:06,358 --> 01:16:08,318 I love y'all. We love y'all. 1461 01:16:10,320 --> 01:16:12,072 This is a very-- 1462 01:16:12,656 --> 01:16:15,117 It's been a very emotionally driven 1463 01:16:15,117 --> 01:16:18,287 and a very emotional rollercoaster for me, 1464 01:16:18,287 --> 01:16:21,290 especially this last couple of hours, 1465 01:16:21,290 --> 01:16:23,792 but, you know, specifically these last couple of days. 1466 01:16:23,792 --> 01:16:28,046 And, um, I didn't know how I was going to get through it. 1467 01:16:28,046 --> 01:16:33,177 And the anxiety of me thinking about trying to get through it by myself 1468 01:16:33,802 --> 01:16:37,472 is... it's enough to kill somebody, you know. 1469 01:16:37,472 --> 01:16:42,060 But the fact that I have all of you as support, 1470 01:16:42,060 --> 01:16:46,148 it makes it so much easier to put and keep a smile on my face, man. 1471 01:16:46,148 --> 01:16:49,568 So, thank y'all again. I love y'all. We love y'all. 1472 01:16:49,568 --> 01:16:50,444 MAN: [on computer] Take care. 1473 01:16:50,444 --> 01:16:51,695 WOMAN: Bye. - Peace 1474 01:16:54,198 --> 01:16:56,783 [laughter] 1475 01:16:59,578 --> 01:17:02,706 Ahhh, ya got me! 1476 01:17:11,924 --> 01:17:14,510 - Let's do our little ritual. 1477 01:17:14,510 --> 01:17:16,094 [indiscernible] 1478 01:17:18,722 --> 01:17:21,141 Now I'm starting to feel the butterflies. 1479 01:17:21,725 --> 01:17:22,976 Let your hands be the hands. 1480 01:17:22,976 --> 01:17:24,311 - Ase. - Mm-hmm. 1481 01:17:24,937 --> 01:17:27,022 - This one is purity. 1482 01:17:27,523 --> 01:17:28,690 Your mantra. SHAWNEE: Yeah. 1483 01:17:29,149 --> 01:17:30,359 - I act from pure intentions. 1484 01:17:30,359 --> 01:17:31,360 - Yes. 1485 01:17:31,360 --> 01:17:33,987 So, for today, it's not about me. 1486 01:17:34,363 --> 01:17:36,740 So I'm going to... I'm getting so emotional. 1487 01:17:36,740 --> 01:17:37,366 - That's okay. 1488 01:17:37,366 --> 01:17:38,867 - Just moving myself out of the way 1489 01:17:38,867 --> 01:17:40,285 so Shamony can speak through me 1490 01:17:40,285 --> 01:17:41,995 so that women can live. So-- 1491 01:17:41,995 --> 01:17:45,541 And then anybody that does not know about this, um, epidemic, 1492 01:17:45,541 --> 01:17:47,000 not the pandemic, 1493 01:17:47,000 --> 01:17:50,838 but the epidemic of maternal mortality and morbidity 1494 01:17:51,296 --> 01:17:54,883 will be, um, able to receive that and walk away with knowledge 1495 01:17:54,883 --> 01:17:57,261 and then also prayerfully some action. 1496 01:17:57,261 --> 01:17:58,679 You ready? JASMINE: Mm-hmm. 1497 01:17:59,847 --> 01:18:01,139 - Alright, here we go. 1498 01:18:06,144 --> 01:18:07,563 MAN: How are you? SHAWNEE: I'm good. 1499 01:18:07,563 --> 01:18:08,772 JASMINE: Pretty good this morning. 1500 01:18:14,361 --> 01:18:17,406 [inaudible] 1501 01:18:26,206 --> 01:18:27,332 MAN: Our next speaker 1502 01:18:28,625 --> 01:18:31,003 is a licensed clinician, author, healer, 1503 01:18:32,379 --> 01:18:37,050 spiritual leader, and a reproductive justice advocate and activist. 1504 01:18:37,718 --> 01:18:40,846 Shawnee Benton-Gibson. 1505 01:18:42,139 --> 01:18:44,224 [cheering and applause] 1506 01:18:51,815 --> 01:18:53,358 - Black lives matter, 1507 01:18:53,734 --> 01:18:57,196 but Black wombs create Black lives. 1508 01:18:57,196 --> 01:19:00,407 And when we forget that, we forget our humanity. 1509 01:19:00,908 --> 01:19:03,619 We want to make sure that our grandbabies, 1510 01:19:03,619 --> 01:19:06,371 our children have mothers to raise them. 1511 01:19:06,371 --> 01:19:09,416 And that fathers are not left to figure it out on their own. 1512 01:19:09,708 --> 01:19:11,043 We must stop this. 1513 01:19:11,335 --> 01:19:14,046 Black lives matter because Black wombs matter. 1514 01:19:14,421 --> 01:19:16,715 Black lives matter because Black wombs matter. 1515 01:19:16,715 --> 01:19:19,092 Black lives matter because Black wombs matter, 1516 01:19:19,092 --> 01:19:21,136 and a Black womb created you. 1517 01:19:21,136 --> 01:19:24,640 [cheering and applause] 1518 01:19:29,603 --> 01:19:31,563 I want white supremacy to get off the necks 1519 01:19:31,563 --> 01:19:32,689 of women and their wombs. 1520 01:19:33,398 --> 01:19:35,359 This momentum is like a wave. 1521 01:19:36,109 --> 01:19:39,655 We keep showing up. We're not letting the pain stop us. 1522 01:19:39,655 --> 01:19:43,825 We are holding people who have the most power accountable 1523 01:19:43,825 --> 01:19:44,868 for how they use it. 1524 01:19:46,370 --> 01:19:48,914 OMARI: Our maternal health community 1525 01:19:48,914 --> 01:19:52,167 is really pushing for change on Capitol Hill, 1526 01:19:52,167 --> 01:19:54,920 trying to bring about different legislation 1527 01:19:54,920 --> 01:19:57,005 in order to make sure that women have 1528 01:19:57,005 --> 01:19:59,341 the care that they're supposed to. 1529 01:20:01,510 --> 01:20:03,679 - I can't let Amber be another statistic. 1530 01:20:03,679 --> 01:20:05,180 I'm making people aware 1531 01:20:05,180 --> 01:20:07,057 of what's going on in these systems. 1532 01:20:07,057 --> 01:20:09,518 I planned on spending a lifetime with Amber. 1533 01:20:09,518 --> 01:20:10,769 I wanted to give her my life. 1534 01:20:11,728 --> 01:20:13,355 This way, I'm still going to. 1535 01:20:13,981 --> 01:20:18,026 Amber Rose Isaac. We hear you, we see you. 1536 01:20:18,735 --> 01:20:22,823 Shamony Gibson. We hear you, we see you. 1537 01:20:24,283 --> 01:20:25,784 Kira Johnson, 1538 01:20:25,784 --> 01:20:28,412 we hear you, we see you. 1539 01:20:28,954 --> 01:20:30,247 NEWSREADER: We're taking a closer look 1540 01:20:30,247 --> 01:20:32,416 at the maternal mortality rate in the United States. 1541 01:20:32,416 --> 01:20:34,168 - This issue of maternal health-- 1542 01:20:34,168 --> 01:20:36,211 - I introduced a bill called 1543 01:20:36,211 --> 01:20:38,255 the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act. 1544 01:20:38,755 --> 01:20:40,591 It's 12 bills 1545 01:20:40,591 --> 01:20:43,927 to end our nation's maternal mortality crisis. 1546 01:20:43,927 --> 01:20:46,722 - All those families who have been impacted, 1547 01:20:47,514 --> 01:20:51,226 who even in the face of their trauma 1548 01:20:51,226 --> 01:20:52,936 and their devastating losses 1549 01:20:53,478 --> 01:20:55,439 continue to amplify their voices, 1550 01:20:55,439 --> 01:20:57,983 that is really why this work is happening today. 1551 01:21:03,614 --> 01:21:06,950 - Our healthcare system including reproductive healthcare 1552 01:21:07,409 --> 01:21:11,121 was built on a legacy of systemic racism, 1553 01:21:11,121 --> 01:21:13,832 and that legacy continues today. 1554 01:21:14,666 --> 01:21:17,794 - Madam Chairwoman, as we approach Mother's Day, 1555 01:21:19,546 --> 01:21:20,589 my heart is heavy 1556 01:21:22,174 --> 01:21:23,759 as I sit here representing 1557 01:21:24,801 --> 01:21:28,180 the thousands upon thousands of families that have been impacted. 1558 01:21:30,140 --> 01:21:31,183 [sighs] 1559 01:21:32,851 --> 01:21:34,603 These are my sons, Charles and Langston. 1560 01:21:38,482 --> 01:21:41,151 My wife Kira won't wake up to breakfast in bed this Mother's Day 1561 01:21:43,403 --> 01:21:47,282 because she gave birth... in a country 1562 01:21:49,117 --> 01:21:52,746 that didn't see her, that didn't value her. 1563 01:21:54,164 --> 01:21:55,249 We must do better. 1564 01:21:57,584 --> 01:21:58,961 This is Amber Rose Isaac. 1565 01:22:01,338 --> 01:22:02,631 Her son Elias 1566 01:22:03,674 --> 01:22:05,968 won't have the chance to spend his first Mother's Day 1567 01:22:06,927 --> 01:22:08,053 with his mother. 1568 01:22:08,929 --> 01:22:10,138 Elias deserved better. 1569 01:22:15,894 --> 01:22:17,145 Shamony Gibson 1570 01:22:18,564 --> 01:22:22,067 should be here with her son, Khari, 1571 01:22:22,067 --> 01:22:23,443 and her daughter, Anari. 1572 01:22:24,111 --> 01:22:25,445 She deserved so much better. 1573 01:22:27,447 --> 01:22:29,324 This is a human rights issue. 1574 01:22:30,659 --> 01:22:32,619 It should be a fundamental human right 1575 01:22:33,245 --> 01:22:36,206 to deliver a healthy child in this country 1576 01:22:36,790 --> 01:22:39,168 and live to raise that child. 1577 01:22:39,793 --> 01:22:40,627 That's my hope. 1578 01:22:41,128 --> 01:22:45,591 ♪ 1579 01:22:45,591 --> 01:22:49,636 ♪ 1580 01:22:49,636 --> 01:22:53,974 ♪ 1581 01:22:55,100 --> 01:22:56,768 SHAWNEE: Greetings, family. 1582 01:22:56,768 --> 01:22:58,437 The reason why we are gathered here today 1583 01:22:58,437 --> 01:23:01,023 is because Shamony Makeba Gibson lived. 1584 01:23:03,066 --> 01:23:04,193 Gone too soon, 1585 01:23:05,068 --> 01:23:08,530 like a comet blazing across the evening sky. 1586 01:23:08,530 --> 01:23:10,240 Gone too soon, 1587 01:23:10,741 --> 01:23:13,827 like a rainbow fading in the twinkling of an eye. 1588 01:23:14,161 --> 01:23:15,746 Gone too soon, 1589 01:23:16,330 --> 01:23:19,750 shiny and sparkly and splendidly bright, 1590 01:23:20,667 --> 01:23:24,379 here one day and gone one night. 1591 01:23:27,466 --> 01:23:31,011 Like a castle built upon a sandy beach, 1592 01:23:31,011 --> 01:23:32,513 gone too soon. 1593 01:23:34,223 --> 01:23:37,684 Like a perfect flower that is just beyond your reach, 1594 01:23:38,227 --> 01:23:39,520 ANARI: That's my mommy. 1595 01:23:40,354 --> 01:23:42,064 SHAWNEE: gone too soon. 1596 01:23:45,609 --> 01:23:47,402 Shamony Makeba Gibson, 1597 01:23:47,402 --> 01:23:50,030 we will never, ever forget you. 1598 01:23:50,781 --> 01:23:51,698 Amen. 1599 01:23:53,242 --> 01:23:57,371 ♪ 1600 01:23:57,371 --> 01:24:01,166 ♪ 1601 01:24:01,166 --> 01:24:04,837 ♪ 1602 01:24:04,837 --> 01:24:08,006 ♪ 1603 01:24:08,006 --> 01:24:11,969 ♪ 1604 01:24:11,969 --> 01:24:15,973 ♪ 1605 01:24:15,973 --> 01:24:19,977 ♪ 1606 01:24:19,977 --> 01:24:23,730 ♪ 1607 01:24:23,730 --> 01:24:27,985 ♪ 1608 01:24:27,985 --> 01:24:31,446 ♪ 1609 01:24:31,446 --> 01:24:33,657 ♪ I love it here ♪ 1610 01:24:34,241 --> 01:24:36,577 ♪ 'Cause I don't have to explain to them ♪ 1611 01:24:37,578 --> 01:24:39,705 ♪ Why I'm beautiful ♪ 1612 01:24:40,247 --> 01:24:42,499 ♪ 'Cause I am beautiful ♪ 1613 01:24:42,833 --> 01:24:45,043 ♪ Back home, they're scared ♪ 1614 01:24:46,044 --> 01:24:47,963 ♪ Oh, so scared of me ♪ 1615 01:24:48,839 --> 01:24:51,133 ♪ That I became scared of me ♪ 1616 01:24:51,800 --> 01:24:54,553 ♪ I've become scared of me ♪ 1617 01:24:54,553 --> 01:24:56,847 ♪ The way you smile ♪ 1618 01:24:57,556 --> 01:25:02,477 ♪ When you believe in your future is different ♪ 1619 01:25:03,645 --> 01:25:05,939 ♪ Is different ♪ 1620 01:25:05,939 --> 01:25:08,317 ♪ The way you smile ♪ 1621 01:25:09,026 --> 01:25:14,031 ♪ When you believe in your future is different ♪ 1622 01:25:14,948 --> 01:25:17,367 ♪ Is different ♪ 1623 01:25:17,367 --> 01:25:20,746 ♪ Now we moving forward ever ♪ 1624 01:25:20,746 --> 01:25:23,624 ♪ Backwards never ♪ 1625 01:25:23,624 --> 01:25:26,543 ♪ Forward ever ♪ 1626 01:25:26,543 --> 01:25:29,254 ♪ Backwards never ♪ 1627 01:25:29,254 --> 01:25:31,507 ♪ When the going gets rough ♪ 1628 01:25:31,507 --> 01:25:33,550 ♪ And life gets tough ♪ 1629 01:25:33,967 --> 01:25:38,138 ♪ Don't forget to breathe ♪ 1630 01:25:40,015 --> 01:25:42,226 ♪ I love it here ♪ 1631 01:25:42,809 --> 01:25:45,020 ♪ 'Cause I don't have to explain to them ♪ 1632 01:25:46,104 --> 01:25:47,940 ♪ Why I'm valuable ♪ 1633 01:25:48,982 --> 01:25:51,318 ♪ That I'm magical ♪ 1634 01:25:51,318 --> 01:25:53,612 ♪ And back home, they tear ♪ 1635 01:25:54,655 --> 01:25:56,490 ♪ Tear my soul apart ♪ 1636 01:25:57,574 --> 01:25:59,743 ♪ Love my broken heart ♪ 1637 01:26:00,285 --> 01:26:02,538 ♪ I don't know where to start ♪ 1638 01:26:02,955 --> 01:26:05,499 ♪ The way you smile ♪ 1639 01:26:06,124 --> 01:26:11,171 ♪ When you believe in your future is different ♪ 1640 01:26:12,130 --> 01:26:14,508 ♪ Is different ♪ 1641 01:26:14,508 --> 01:26:17,886 ♪ Now we moving forward ever ♪ 1642 01:26:17,886 --> 01:26:20,764 ♪ Backwards never ♪ 1643 01:26:20,764 --> 01:26:23,642 ♪ Forward ever ♪ 1644 01:26:23,642 --> 01:26:26,395 ♪ Backwards never ♪ 1645 01:26:26,395 --> 01:26:28,605 ♪ And when the going gets rough ♪ 1646 01:26:28,605 --> 01:26:30,774 ♪ And life gets tough ♪ 1647 01:26:31,108 --> 01:26:35,362 ♪ Don't forget to breathe ♪ 1648 01:26:36,947 --> 01:26:40,284 ♪ Now we moving forward ever ♪ 1649 01:26:40,284 --> 01:26:43,120 ♪ Backwards never ♪ 1650 01:26:43,120 --> 01:26:45,998 ♪ Forward ever ♪ 1651 01:26:45,998 --> 01:26:48,750 ♪ Backwards never ♪ 1652 01:26:48,750 --> 01:26:51,003 ♪ And when the going gets rough ♪ 1653 01:26:51,003 --> 01:26:53,088 ♪ And life gets tough ♪ 1654 01:26:53,463 --> 01:26:57,467 ♪ Don't forget to breathe ♪