Forceful call for justice co-opted
Using BlackLivesMatter hashtag for anti-abortion column deeply offensive
At the conclusion of our collective celebration of Black History Month, it is more important than ever that we recognize the contributions that black women, families and communities have made toward building a powerful racial justice movement in our country.
With the backdrop of police violence looming in our memories, we find three formidable women, Patrisse Cullors-Brignac, Opal Tometi and Alicia Garza, reminding us that Black Lives Matter. Together, they created the BlackLivesMatter hashtag as a national call to action to bring justice for those in our families and communities who continue to experience systemic cycles of violence.
Through their effort, I am reminded that African American children, families and communities proudly helped erect the pillars of this country laid in a foundation of uncompensated labor.
In a recent opinion column featured in the Albuquerque Journal, Cal Thomas utilized the BlackLivesMatter call to action to advocate for an anti-reproductive justice agenda. As a black woman, deeply committed to the legacies of our ancestors, it is painfully offensive to see a term that has great meaning in black communities co-opted for the sole purpose of furthering a political agenda.
Our black communities are tired of being targets of an anti-reproductive rights agenda that only creates barriers for black women in accessing much-needed safe health care.
Thomas’ idea of depicting an anti-reproductive rights agenda with images and stories of the early Civil Rights Movement is not only devoid of real historical context, but is yet another method of exploiting our people. It is an agenda that seeks to take away the autonomy of black women to make deeply personal decisions about our own health care.
The Civil Rights Movement fought for freedom and justice, while the agenda that Thomas projects aims to do just the opposite.
Those who seek to take personal decisions about abortions out of the hands of women have a long history of appropriating oppression for their own political gain. In Georgia, black women’s bodies were criminalized with billboards claiming “The most dangerous place for an AfricanAmerican was in the womb.”
Here in New Mexico, anti-reproductive rights proponents presented hurtful posters on the University of New Mexico campus aimed at our brown sisters.
As Thomas urges the Black Lives Matter movement to adopt the anti-reproductive rights agenda, he completely fails to understand that abortion is an incredibly difficult and complex decision that is not taken lightly. Reproductive health care is critical to the health and well-being of our black communities. Unplanned pregnancies are a reflection of deeper economic barriers that black women in our communities often face.
Black Lives Matter is an affirmation for black people of our strength and resilience across time, even in the face of adversity. Cal Thomas and others do not have permission to use our history, our stories, our culture or our lack of access to quality health care to advance their personal or political agendas.
Our black lives matter!