African American women across the county are in shock about the recent case of Jessica Ross and the decapitation of her baby, Treveon Isaiah Taylor Jr., during childbirth. This case illustrates the deeply troubling maternal and infant mortality crisis affecting African American communities. The heart-wrenching incident is a painful reminder of the urgent inequalities within the United States healthcare system that unevenly impact Black women and their infants. It is an unfortunate representation of a broader crisis that can only be addressed through the struggle for Black liberation and socialism.

Jessica Ross, of Georgia, filed a lawsuit against a Southern Regional Medical Center and others involved in delivering her baby Taylor Jr, who was allegedly decapitated during childbirth. The lawsuit claims that the hospital, located just outside Atlanta, attempted to hide the baby's death from the family. The complaint alleges that the doctor applied excessive traction on the baby's head and neck, resulting in Taylor Jr's death. The hospital insisted that the Treveon Isaiah Taylor, Sr, and Jessica Ross not view their baby and attempted to pressure the couple to immediately cremate Taylor Jr. The family's spokesperson states that the hospital only allowed them to view their baby wrapped tightly in a blanket to hide the decapitation.

This disturbing incident is not isolated. It exposes the deeply rooted racist and gender biased healthcare system that disproportionately affects Black women and their infants. Celebrities like Serena Williams have garnered media attention for her childbirth-related complications, shedding light on a much broader crisis. If even multi-millionaire African Americans are at risk of life-threatening injuries during childbirth, what does that mean for working-class African American women? Black women are nearly three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than their white counterparts.

Tori Bowie, a former Olympic track and field athlete, tragically lost her life at 32 due to childbirth complications. At eight months pregnant, Bowie was found dead during an unplanned home birth. The autopsy report indicated potential complications coming from respiratory distress and eclampsia – conditions linked to high blood pressure during pregnancy. The death of Tori Bowie mirrors the reality that African American women face during childbirth. For example, Black women are more likely to have preeclampsia and eclampsia during childbirth.

Additional stats show that African American women experience an infant mortality rate at 2.3 times higher than whites. This alarming statistic is a clear indictment of a capitalist healthcare system that refuses to adequately support and protect Black mothers and infants.

The situation is particularly dire in regions like the Black Belt South, where access to healthcare remains a struggle for many African Americans. One problem is the scarcity of Black doctors, particularly Black women doctors. It is wrong that in areas with majority Black populations, there is still limited availability of medical professionals. I have experienced this as a Black woman living in the Black Belt South. The scarcity of African American obstetricians and gynecologists in cities like Tallahassee illustrates the broader problem.

We need Black liberation and socialism to end this crisis. We must have self-determination and political power. We right to a proper education, jobs, safety and healthcare. We need a revolution. We need to build a united front against the rulers of this country, a united front with a strategic alliance of the multinational working class and national liberation movements at its center.

When we did have Black doctors, businesses, and thriving economic regions, we were attacked and brutalized in events like the Tulsa Race Riots of 1921, also known as the attack on Black Wall Street. In every sector of life, African Americans are repressed. That is national oppression. It is not just racism, it is real inequality – an actual economic, social and cultural attack on African Americans. It is how the ruling class holds onto its grip in this society. The ruling class benefits from national oppression. We can no longer allow them to rule in this way.

The horrifying case of Jessica Ross shines a spotlight on the pressing need to address maternal and infant health care within African American communities. The entire structure of this country must fundamentally change. We must hold these healthcare institutions accountable, end systemic racism in medical care, and commit unwaveringly to the cause of Black liberation. No parent should have to endure such a devastating loss and only we as a society can do that.

#UnitedStates #NationalOppression #WomensMovement #Healthcare #BlackWomen #birth

Poughkeepsie, NY – More than 100 people gathered in Poughkeepsie in upstate New York for a vigil and protest march, October 17, centered on the endemic violence facing Black women and Black trans women in the United States.

Protesters came from across the Hudson Valley, a popular tourist destination 90 minutes north of New York City. The Hudson Valley is noted for its spectacular fall foliage, its apple orchards, microbreweries, rock climbing and hiking trails. But the Hudson Valley is also a prison economy with nine of the largest prisons in the state of New York. Many of the towns suffer economic underdevelopment and poverty.

Demonstrators gathered at Harriet Tubman Park in the heart of downtown to protest the 33 murders of trans women in 2020, the highest number ever recorded in the U.S., with five trans women having been murdered in the past few weeks.

Black and brown trans women are disproportionately affected by the violent transphobia facing our society. As of this report 33 trans or gender-nonconforming people have been murdered in 2020 – the vast majority of them have been Black and Latino women.

The October 17 demonstration made a critical link between the increase of murders of trans women in our streets and the vicious brutality of police forces around our country that are taking the lives of Black women in particular.

Holding candles and signs, protesters marched from Harriet Tubman Park to the Poughkeepsie Police Station making stops at the courthouse, microbreweries and other locations where the contrast between neglect and gentrification is apparent. Gentrification is a major issue in the Hudson Valley, with the COVID pandemic accelerating the process. More than 17,000 people have moved into the mid-Hudson Valley since March when the virus began to shut down New York. The cost of housing has skyrocketed while a large ‘urban renewal project’ seeks to drive up the costs of rental apartments, and new construction projects cater to the needs of tech transplants. The projects are displacing poor and working-class folks, particularly the Black community in towns like Kingston, Newburgh and Poughkeepsie.

There's a whitewashing taking place in the Hudson Valley as economic development areas target poor and working-class Black neighborhoods. As the march stopped in front of luxury hotels and fancy restaurants, gentrification was a topic of the speeches.

The march was organized by WE SYSTERS. The multi-national crowd had fantastic hand painted signs that read, “Say her name,” “Farmers against white supremacy,” “Support Black womxn” and “Black lives matter.”

There was a righteous anger in the crowd as sisters blockaded the exit to the Mid-Hudson Bridge on a packed weekend with the roads filled with tourist traffic. The demonstration is indicative of the fact that a strong momentum continues to build against the rampant police violence and murder targeting the Black and Latino communities and the rise of transphobic violence. As the protest chants stated, “We're not going to take it anymore – we're going to shut the city down.”

#PoughkeepsieNY #WomensMovement #LGBTQ #AfricanAmerican #BlackWomen #transWomen