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Category: Policy

Rosa Parks Day! More than just a story!

Lashea December 2, 2016 0 Comments

rosa_parks_booking

by James Horton on December 1

As the story has been told, sixty-one years ago today, a Thursday, Rosa Parks, a tailor’s assistant at the Montgomery department store, left work in the late, cold evening, to catch the bus home. Sore and tired, Parks boarded and took an aisle seat, in the row immediately behind the whites only section. At each stop, more passengers boarded, until finally every seat was taken, leaving one white male standing. It was the era of Old Jim Crow, blacks were a class of lives that Segregation customs in 1955 Montgomery stipulated that Blacks must relinquish their seats to whites when the situation is required. This was a situation. When Parks, however, was asked to give up her seat, she did the opposite of what was required. She kept seated.

She proudly stepped into criminal terrain where she was arrested and jailed. Her calm labor pains, so the story goes, birthed a boycott, a movement, and a young Martin Luther King, Jr. to the world.

Today is Rosa Parks Day. (Well, technically speaking, two days are set aside to observe Mrs. Parks. One on Dec. 1, the other on Feb 4, her birthday) After facing such a pivotal election, I want to honor the occasion by inviting everyone to reconsider the scope of history we’ve faced.

THIS STORY

CONTINUES BELOW

Rosa Parks was the result of ancestors, and her ancestors the work generations before her. She was the product of the communal frustration that had been churning in black southerners since the end of Reconstruction; of scarred slaves and apprehensive free persons who had spent their lifetime fighting and dying for the great cause of human equity for black lives and, by extension, all lives. Many of their names are lost to time. Her life WAS activism, and for that reason on December 1955, we can never forget Rosa Parks Day!

World AIDS Day

Get Smart B4 U Get Sexy December 1, 2014 0 Comments
Photo of AIDS Ribbon

World AIDS Day is today. The CDC states that HIV infection in African Americans is 8 times higher than that of any other racial group based on population size. Open, honest communication with partners and knowing what risks you are open to… take is important when reducing transmission of HIV and other STDs. Also reports state that unhealthy relationships can increase your risk for STI rates as well. Lets get real in our conversations because our lives matter and we not only need to have individual and group support to have these conversations but structural change as well to ensure proper access to health education, healthcare, screening and prevention services. #blacklivesmatter #getsmartb4ugetsexy

Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptives (LARC)

Get Smart B4 U Get Sexy November 24, 2014 0 Comments
Photo of Implanon

Long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) or long-acting reversible birth control are methods of birth control that provide effective pregnancy preventation for an extended time without requiring the person to do anything. They include injections, intrauterine devices (IUDs) and subdermal implants. They are very effective with only a 1% failure rate. They are also much more cost effective than traditional birth control, such as condoms and birth control pills.

Methods include:

  • Hormonal intrauterine device (Mirena – also known as IUC or IUS)
  • Nonhormonal intrauterine device with copper
  • Subdermal contraceptive implant (Nexplanon/Implanon/Implanon/Norplant/Jadelle)
  • Depot medroxyprogesterone acetate injection (Depo Provera shot)
  • monthly injection of a progestin and a synthetic estrogen

Nov. 17th – 21st is LARC week. For more information you can visit the www.lovemylarc.org and for information on all birth control methods and other reproductive health education.

What is the Clit?

Kristina Meyers November 13, 2014 0 Comments
A community member member asks a question

 

Sex Organ DiagramAnswer: For some “clit” is an affectionate nickname for the erectile tissue found above the urethra and vaginal opening which is the clitoris.

Some women like clitoral stimulation during times of self or partner pleasure and it can definitely be considered an orgasmic spot with the 8,000 nerve endings running throughout it. In some anatomy books the clitoris may just appear to be a small area covered by the clitoral hood positioned right above the urethra but the clitoris is similar to an iceberg where most of its body is found below the immediate surface. The internal structure of the clitoris surrounds the “urethrovaginal” area. The internal structure of the clitoris includes the clitoral shaft, the crura, the corpus carvernosum, the urethral sponge and the vestibular bulb (new research calls the bulbs “bulbs of the clitoris”). The clitoris is erectile tissue that when aroused can become puffy, stiffer and somewhat hard. With all the nerve endings running throughout the clitoris it can be a sensitive area so some people enjoy light stimulation to start such as soft circles or light kissing.

The glans clitoris which is covered by the clitoral hood can be found externally right above the urethra and vaginal opening. The remainder of the clitoris is found internally surrounding the “urethrovaginal” area. Clitoral photo found at http://www.scarleteen.com/article/bodies/with_pleasure_a_view_of_whole_sexual_anatomy_for_every_body

For further readings / images check out:

For easy reading: http://www.scarleteen.com/article/bodies/with_pleasure_a_view_of_whole_sexual_anatomy_for_every_body

For medical terminology and real life photos of the clitoris: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1283096/#!po=22.7273

Victory in California!

Nourbese October 23, 2013 0 Comments

 

Posted on Racialicious.org 

As the rest of the country is busy restricting safe and legal access to abortion with mandatory waiting periods, costly clinic restrictions and by targeting doctors, California has become a beacon for reproductive justice and health.

Last week, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed AB 154, legislation sponsored by Assemblywoman Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, which now authorizes trained Nurse Practitioners (NPs), Certified Nurse Midwives (CNMs) and Physician Assistants (PAs) to provide first-trimester abortions under the terms of their licenses (these same providers can already offer abortion with medications).  The governor also signed AB 980, which allows abortion facilities to meet the same standards as primary care clinics. With nearly half of California counties lacking an accessible abortion provider, these new laws will help alleviate challenges that many women in our communities face when trying to access abortion services.

Women in rural areas often have to travel long distances to obtain care. This can mean taking extra time off work and finding extended childcare. At the same time, community clinics in urban areas (particularly communities of color) are overburdened, with as many as 1 provider to 2,000 patients in some areas. Women who need an abortion might have to wait a week or longer to get an appointment and then still might spend all day waiting to be seen. Again, this means taking more time off work or studies. Delays can complicate risk and second trimester procedures can be more cost-prohibitive for many poor and uninsured Black women and Latin@s.

And while there’s still a common misconception that abortion is a white woman’s issue, these new laws are particularly important wins for communities of color.

Some may argue that women of color have more pressing causes (education, economic security, criminal “justice”) to champion. No one wants to have a conversation about something that’s being billed as racial “genocide.” And others assume that religiosity means that abortion is not a topic of interest in Latin@* and Black communities. But abortion is a real experience for more than one in three Black women and a quarter of Latina women in the U.S. Therefore, access to abortion services is an important issue in those communities of color. 

Furthermore, allowing a larger group of health care professionals to offer early abortion care is one way to reduce health care disparity and increase continuity of care as this allows better coordinated reproductive health care. According to Pew Research, nearly a quarter of non-Hispanic Blacks ages 18-69 are living in poverty, and for Latin@s, it’s 1 in 5 – therefore many are accessing health care via primary care settings, such as clinics.  Given that advanced practice nurses and physician assistants deliver the majority of well-woman care in primary care settings, they are the providers many women of color become familiar with, along with the clinic itself. With these news laws, women may now access abortion services from a trusted provider.

And although most people are rightly concerned about safety, a five-year University of California San Francisco study showed that trained health professionals can safely provide early abortions and that women appreciated receiving care in their own communities. The study results, recently published this year in the American Journal of Public Health, showed the same low complication rate for abortions performed by NPs/CNMs/PAs and doctors.  It is also important to point out that first trimester abortions are one of the safest types of medical procedures in the U.S.

Given these facts, most people who are stating these laws will compromise the safety of women are saying this not because they care about women, but because they seek to make abortion illegal. And despite conservative rhetoric and skewed statistics, two-thirds of black Americans in this country believe that abortion should be legal in all or most cases. More than eight in 10 Latin@s interviewed for a California Latinas for Reproductive Justice (CLRJ) study believe that Latinas should have the right to decide for themselves the number and spacing of their children. These findings indicate that Black and Latin@ communities in fact DO support a full range of reproductive health services, including abortion services.

Additionally, these findings offer a more accurate picture of our community’s views on reproductive and sexual health issues as a whole. While some Black and Latin@ folk may be conservative or religious and may not support abortion services and/or other reproductive health care, they DO NOT reflect or represent the multidimensional values, experiences or voting outcomes of our entire communities.

Unlike the myths perpetuated by myopic conservative groups, these laws truly reflect a significant health care priority for many Black women and Latin@s in California. Therefore, we consider this a great victory for our families and communities and we look forward to passing more legislation that increases comprehensive reproductive health care not just for women in California – but for ALL women throughout the nation!

*Latin@ is used in acknowledgement of the full spectrum of identities in our communities. What do you think?

 

 

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