Making Contact’s Violence Against Women of Color Live Chat
“This hierarchy of human life where if you are a woman of color and you’re impoverished, you’re at the very bottom and your life is seen as not worth anything.” –Margaret Prescod Join us on May 21st at 3pm PST as we discuss domestic, healthcare and police violence against women of color. This conversation continues our ongoing coverage on the cultural and structural dimensions of how violence against...
East Oakland Mural honors women effected by violence
Her Resilience, the arts organization featured in Not Throw Away Women is an art-based, women-centered project intended to honor, commemorate and celebrate the lives of women affected by violence in the Oakland community. The project was created by Hazel Streete in honor of Kimberly Robertson, a young Black woman who was raped and murdered in Oakland last spring. Participating artists include Kira Marriner, Melody Shaiken, Nicole...
A story and a call to action: It’s time to end domestic violence
I had internalized the belief that being Black and female automatically puts me at a disadvantage and the only way to change these odds was to tie the knot. Well, that knot was tight and uncomfortable and only added to my oppression not ease its burden. At nineteen, I wanted to be a wife. I’d had faith in the fairytale, the happy-ever-after meme, and was sure my life would be better for it. But to my surprise and dismay, getting...
Katha Pollitt explains how to Reclaim Abortion
In these short excerpts taken from an interview with Rose Aguillar, noted writer Katha Pollitt talks about reclaiming the word “PRO,”using a Reproductive Justice framework, distorted media coverage and how lack of access to abortion healthcare in Texas is forcing women to cross boarder for dangerous alternatives. Pollitt is a columnist for The Nation magazine and a feminist essayist, poet, critic and a...
Loretta Ross on Trust Black Women and the fight for Reproductive Justice
When such a racialized strategy is used to weaken the prochoice movement, as an African American women I felt the best people to respond would be the black women who were under attack. For over 20 years Loretta J. Ross has been fighting for the rights of women of color. As a co-founder of SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective she organized women of color in the reproductive justice movement and was one of the...
