Over a million Black women give birth and become mothers each year in the U.S. For Black Maternal Health Week, we invited Black moms in America to share how they navigate an inherently anti-Black society while building healthy and thriving lives for themselves, their children, and their families.
To center our discussion, author and anti-racism scholar Dante King shared readings and insights from his book, “The 400 Year Holocaust: White America's Legal, Psychopathic, and Sociopathic Black Genocide.” The audience members were asked to engage their minds and senses while considering historical examples of violence and oppression in the book to raise and enhance their awareness. After, a panel of Black moms and advocates discussed how people from all backgrounds can utilize the findings and principles of the book to create an America that rejects anti-Blackness and allows current and future generations of Black people to flourish. Join us to celebrate this important week and learn how we can combat anti-Black racism to improve Black maternal health.
Learning Objectives:
- Uplift the parents and birthing people most impacted by anti-Blackness as they cope with the anti-Black realities and forge new futures.
- Invest in a deeper understanding of anti-racism by witnessing the roots and continued history of anti-Blackness and white supremacy.
- Begin an educational decolonizing and reframing process.
- Underscore the oppressive anti-Black terrorism that frames American society as we know it.
Speaker
Dante King | Author & Anti-Racism Scholar
Dante King is a native of San Francisco. Dante is an author, historian, scholar, thought-leader, facilitator, and coach. He is also a human resources professional, specializing in the implementation of anti-racist practice, organizational development, and change. This includes racial equity, racial repair, racial relief, and inclusion strategies. Dante also specializes in bias capacity building, with more than 20 years of professional and academic experience.
Moderator
Alexis Cobbins | Executive Director, UCSF PTBi
Alexis Cobbins is the Executive Director of PTBi. She has worked as a Social Worker with over 10 years of experience providing culturally relevant and responsive services through a trauma-informed approach. Prior to joining PTBi, Alexis spent over a decade working for and with Black women and their families through her roles at Mayor Ed Lee’s signature anti-poverty program “Project 500” (The San Francisco Human Services Agency) and at the Black Infant Health program at the San Francisco Department of Public Health. With a Masters of Social Work from California State University, East Bay, Alexis is deeply experienced in this field, providing culturally relevant and responsive services, trauma-informed care/systems, grief and loss therapy related to community violence, reflective practice, and anti-racism work. She has also served as a postpartum doula. After experiencing a preterm birth with her second child, Alexis’ interest in building her career around reducing the burden of prematurity was ignited. All of Alexis’ personal and professional experiences drive her passion to improve birth outcomes for Black women and other women of color
Panelists
Julie Harris | Maternal Child Health Care Coordinator, West Oakland Health Council
Julie Harris is a native of San Francisco. Julie is working as a consultant for reproductive justice, maternal, paternal & children’s health, health & wellness, childhood development and parent resource community development. She has dedicated her work to improving the disparities impacting melanated and marginalized communities. Julie is a mother of three children. She has had women very close to her experience pre-term births, which has made it a cause she holds close to the chest. Julie would like to see saturation in awareness of preterm birth and increased knowledge of preconception health during her time on PTBi's Community Advisory Board.
Daphina Melbourne | Perinatal Equity Initiative Coordinator and Reproductive Equity Coordinator, Alameda County Public Health
Daphina Melbourne is the Perinatal Equity Initiative Coordinator and Reproductive Equity Coordinator for Alameda County Public Health, MPCAH Department. Daphina has worked with women/ birthing people across the life course, bridging the gap between community, research, and policy development to ensure the inequities in Birth outcomes for the Black community in the Bay Area and the State of California are always centered and prioritized in Public Health. Daphina has over fifteen years of reproductive justice organizing experience.
Kim Coleman-Phox | Associate Director of Healthcare Interventions, UCSF PTBi
Kim Coleman-Phox, MPH, is a maternal and child health researcher who is passionate about improving the healthcare experiences and health outcomes of women, birthing people and their families, especially Black and Brown people. She is currently Associate Director of Healthcare Interventions with PTBi.
Marguerite M. Malloy | Editor and Attorney
Marguerite M. Malloy has been honored by the author and thought leader, Dante King, and was allowed to serve as editor of The 400 Year Holocaust. Marguerite is an experienced labor and employment attorney who has served as the Director of Equity & Engagement with the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office, public sector attorney, private sector attorney, arbitrator, workplace investigator, highly rated trainer and presenter, and president of a California city’s Civil Service board on which she served for a decade.
