“Black women are supposed to resign ourselves to the idea that we possess neither the feminine appeal nor the personal agency reserved for whiteness,” writes Dr. Rhea Boyd. “As pregnant Black bellies protrude into America, fecund with possibilities, they flout the rules.”
For our latest special issue, BODY POLITICS, published one year after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Boyd explains how Black mothers destabilize an assumed structure of patriarchy, white supremacy, and capitalism. “As the Black mothers who have gone before us have taught,” she writes, “there is a liberation waiting for those bold enough to live in a construction of their own design.”
To borrow a phrase from the photographer and activist Samra Habib, “We have always been here”—or, at least, people somewhat like us have always been here.
On this episode of the Start Making Sense podcast, Amy Littlefield reports on abortion access a year after the repeal of Roe, and Joan Walsh talks about her experience with the anti-vax candidate.