Episode 69 - Maternal Justice with Cessilye Smith

Upside Down Podcast

It’s Black Maternal Health Week in America. Join host Alissa Molina and co-host Lindsy Wallace as we no longer only follow along with the work of Cessilye Smith, but have the opportunity to sit and learn from her. Her work in the areas of maternal health and justice are powerful. As she works to help drop the staggering numbers of black women who die in childbirth, we invite her in to teach us.

Cessilye is a racial and maternal justice activist committed to tearing down walls of oppression and division in order to build bridges that lead to solution-based practices.

Cessilye's passion for black women and for her community is what compelled her to co-found Abide Women's Health Services, an organization that exists to improve birth outcomes in communities with the lowest quality of care. Executive Director, anti-racist and maternal justice activist, speaker and educator are just a few of the many hats she wears.

In this episode, we:

• Hold the COVID-19 pandemic to the light of how we desire humanity to be
• Sit with Cessilye’s background and learning to lament
• Consider stress and racism as Biological Weathering
• Unpack black women leadership against white privilege and followership
• Dive into self-care as an act of resistance

Join us as we challenge ourselves to live 2020 as the year of the changed; by our votes of politics, money, and positions held. May we be people who fight to maintain hope to actively counter injustice.

Recommended reading & resources:

• The Coronavirus Called America's Bluff
• Abide Women's COVID-19 Amazon Wish List
• Cessilye Smith on Instagram
• Abide Women website
• Abide Women on Instagram
• Abide Women on Twitter
• Abide Women on Facebook
• Killing the Black Body by Dorothy Roberts
• Medical Apartheid by Harriett Washington
• The Nap Ministry on Instagram

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