Black Maternal Health Week: An Interview with Leah Jones of SisterSong
Leah Jones is a Louisville, Kentucky native, Black mama, visual artist, and the Deputy Director at SisterSong. SisterSong is a Southern based organization founded to build a network of individuals and organizations to improve institutional policies and systems that impact the reproductive lives of marginalized communities. Leah Jones leads the birth justice team to move birth work forward through the lens of reproductive justice. As Deputy Director, she works to facilitate a productive and cohesive environment for the staff, board members, interns and volunteers to advance the perspectives and needs of women of color.
Attia Taylor: It's really, truly great to interview you on behalf of SisterSong, especially because it's Black Maternal Health week. Can you speak more about the movement and work being done around Black maternal health at SisterSong?
Leah Jones: It is my firm belief that when you do birth work in the south, the only way you can do birth work is through reproductive justice, centering the most marginalized; centering Black women, centering Black mamas, and folks of color who are experiencing disparities when it comes to birth and birthing in the south. It excites me to be able to do this work. We do it through our doula training and close intimate sessions to give folks information around birthing, birth plans, doula ship and midwifery. What does it mean to give birth? What does it mean to be Black, pregnant, and in the south? Just giving you information that you're probably not going to get at your doctor's office around belly binding, the fourth trimester, pelvic floor healing, and traditional practices. I feel so blessed to be surrounded by such a vast and knowledgeable community to merge this advocacy and activism. In partnership with Atlanta Doula Collective, it was a match made in heaven.
AT: How has COVID-19 changed the landscape for providing care and access?
LJ: COVID has really pushed us to be innovative in this moment, to be creative, to think of new ways to be able to do all this work. What can we do in a virtual world that is still impactful and still helping folks? We’re doing Advanced Doula Training once a month and our Mama Talk Support Circles are every two weeks. These conversations are now being used to allow folks to discuss how they’re managing pregnancy and birth during a pandemic and an opportunity for them to network and find resources in communities. This has become a national space since COVID.
If doulas aren't able to be in the space, what does it mean to train up your partner?
What does it mean to train up your spouse to assist you in birth in the way that your doula would?
Do we need to have virtual doulas out here?
Do you need to bring your laptop to give birth?
We're also raising funds. There's an urgency and need for help around birth. We're seeing how midwives are taking a hit on their income because of what's going on with the pandemic. We're noticing that doulas are taking a hit with the work that they're able to do. We want to be able to take care of the birth worker and the birthing person.
We were already in an epidemic before this pandemic, around maternal mortality, so SisterSong is really just trying to use our resources, our voices, and digital access, to figure out what it is they need, and how we can best fill that role.
AT: You're a visual artist. And when you say COVID-19 has pushed SisterSong and this movement to be more innovative and creative; how has — and this is specific to COVID-19 and not — being an artist, and being a creative person folded into the work you do?
LJ: My lovely daughter was born last year in July. She's about nine months now and she takes up all of my time. And the last couple of weeks, I'm like, man, I really wish I could paint right now. We're working remotely and I feel like there has been more [work] since we've been in this pandemic. I'm able to be with her but it's really busy.
I actually just started painting like a couple of years ago. And it came from personal experiences and being able to have the time to rest and be still and be able to think and create. I think that as activists, even part of SisterSong's programming, art and activism go hand in hand. There's a quote, “It's the artist's duty to speak of the times.” The artist's work is to speak to what is going on in the world around them.
AT: I'm curious about how this pandemic has affected mothers who can't get childcare right now and how it's affecting home life specifically. How are people surviving right now without childcare, when they still need to work to survive or they're essential workers and they need to go out into the world?
LJ: That's exactly what we've been thinking about. When the staff went remote, we started to hear from our folks. None of us have been through a pandemic, right? What happens when a pandemic hits? And every day we are finding out.
“Oh, I can't go get diapers. I can't get formula. I can't get childcare. I can't get a check. Because my job has laid me off. I can't pay my bills. I can't get transportation. I can't really get a meal.”
They don't have access. These are the people who were teetering on the fence of lack of access or little to no access and then a pandemic hits. They're just out here alone and the isolation in itself can make it worse.
[At SisterSong] we're working on a reproductive justice emergency fund. We've actually raised a nice little amount of money, but we are going to launch it to where we can allow the public to give to those funds so we can give relief to pregnant folks. We can't be face to face with you, but we know that money can solve several of your issues. We’re also making sure that we have pillars on tap because this isn't just about money. This has an impact on our mental health, our emotional health, spiritual health, and how folks react in a holistic way. We have to be on point with a full spectrum approach.
AT: SisterSong is, as always, leading and doing the work needed to be done to support and provide access to reproductive health justice. What can we all do to get through this moment?
LJ: Folks in any way can stay connected to their communities, to their local organizations, to the folks around them. Reach out, call, and check on your people.
Learn more about SisterSong and their work by visiting their website and following them on social media.
