- 15 hours ago
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00And yet she still died.
00:16After she gave birth, Shemani was complaining that she had really sharp chest pains.
00:21The ambulance came. I'm telling them the symptoms.
00:24Is she on drugs? Next set of people come in.
00:26Is she on drugs?
00:27She kept asking her mother, is she on any drugs?
00:30Like, do y'all talk?
00:31We waited a solid 12 hours.
00:36She's gone.
00:39Black women are four times more likely to die than their white counterparts with the same symptoms.
00:44Why is that?
00:46This is a growing epidemic in our community.
00:49Hundreds and thousands of men are going through this same situation.
00:55Oh, you couldn't tell me that I wouldn't be there.
00:59I've never lived in this house without her.
01:02You just got to keep pushing forward.
01:04I can't let Amber be another statistic.
01:06I had a plan. I had it left out.
01:09If these numbers were flipped around and white women were dying at the rate that black women are dying, it would be a national crisis.
01:15We fight against maternal morbidity event by event in order to create change.
01:21We could turn our pain into power and make something of this.
01:24I planned on spending a lifetime with Amber. I wanted to give her my life. This way, I'm still going to.
01:34The revolution will be tweeted, Instagram, Facebook.
01:42This fight is not over.
01:44When black mothers die, there's a ripple effect.
01:46We call it Aftershock.
01:50Aftershock.
01:56Essence Family, please join me in welcoming Aftershock co-director and co-producer, Tonya Lewis Lee.
02:06Lee, come on out, Tanya, Omari Maynard, Bruce McIntyre, Shawnee Benton-Gibson, and Dr.
02:15Neal Shah.
02:16Please welcome them all to the stage.
02:21Thank you so much.
02:33Tanya, I'll start off with you.
02:35You were on my show about a month ago.
02:38We are both mothers, both stunned by the number of black women who today in this country are
02:46dying in giving birth to their children.
02:50What made you compelled to bring this to light in this form?
02:55Well, you know, as you say, I was traveling around the country and I was hearing about
02:59the high rates of black women dying from childbirth complications.
03:03And I really wanted to figure out first what was going on, why it was happening, and then
03:07really focus on what are the solutions?
03:10What is it that we can all do?
03:11Because what I've discovered is it's an all-hands-on-deck kind of situation.
03:15It is not, this is a solution, this is a situation that we can fix.
03:19And so I just really wanted to tell the story, shed the light, and try to figure out how we
03:25come up with better outcomes.
03:26And that's a big part of what the documentary reveals.
03:28It is something that can be fixed.
03:31But we have to talk about it out loud in places like this festival.
03:36Absolutely.
03:37And I think it's really important.
03:39One thing that I've loved about showing the film to people, it gives people space to share
03:44their stories.
03:44Because women are dying and women are nearly dying from childbirth complications.
03:49So the more that we have conversation about what's happening to us, the more that we are
03:54aware and the more we can get the support we need to have better outcomes.
03:57Bruce and Amari, obviously your partners are the faces of this in this documentary.
04:05Amari, I'll start with you.
04:07Why is it so important for her legacy to be remembered and for you to share this story?
04:12For me, it's so important for her legacy to be remembered because as I look out here in
04:17the crowd, there's just so many beautiful black women, men, and children.
04:21And unfortunately, this type of situation can't happen to any one of us.
04:26But if we don't do anything about it, if we don't share our stories, if we don't speak
04:30up, then we do this in silence.
04:33But when we come together as a community, and I know Shamani would be saying this as
04:37well, once we speak, once we talk to each other, once we embrace our inequities that
04:43we're dealing with, specifically with the healthcare system, then we can create change.
04:46Bruce, as we saw in the documentary, black women are three times more likely to die from
04:54a pregnancy-related cause than white women.
04:58That's a number.
04:59You are a family.
05:01You are a face of that number.
05:03And I think that is so important for people to recognize when we just throw out numbers.
05:07This is your life and your story.
05:11What did it feel like to be able to share it with the world in hopes of changing the situation?
05:19It was very hard.
05:20It actually took a lot of allowing myself to be vulnerable in spaces and showing that strength
05:28and vulnerability, and to, you know, I always wanted to give Amber the world, and this way
05:36I'm still able to, I'm still able to create for her and make sure that this isn't happening
05:41to anyone else.
05:42Because in today, we're seeing women's rights being taken away when, you know, we're facing
05:48one of the highest disparities that we've ever seen in black maternal health.
05:54So really just making people conscious of what's going on, aware, and educating is,
05:58uh, is, is all I, I feel like I have to do.
06:01Dr. Shaw, I know there's a big conversation on the increase of C-section birth.
06:06What role does that play in this?
06:11In the last generation, an American mom today is 50% more likely to die in childbirth than
06:17her own mother, three times more likely if she's black, and that's despite the fact that
06:22we're intervening 500% more.
06:24And what that really means is that doctors need to have more humility.
06:29I think that's really the reason why I'm here is to uplift the three incredible humans next
06:35to me and, um, try and model what it looks like for, for doctors to really listen to their
06:40patients.
06:41And I think if they did, we would see less need for C-sections and less mortality too.
06:45Dr. Shawnee, you know, as I said, we did the show on medical gaslighting and the number
06:50of black women who reached out to me and who reached out to Tanya saying they're not listened
06:54to in maternal health, in health in general, that we're told to go home, to shake it off,
07:00that we're stronger than everybody else.
07:02We have a higher pain tolerance.
07:03You have Serena Williams saying that her doctors wouldn't listen to her and she nearly died.
07:10She's wealthy.
07:12She has access, but she's also a black woman.
07:15And even she felt ignored.
07:18Dr. Shawnee, this is about solutions.
07:21What do you see as part of the solutions here?
07:24I love that you keep calling me doctor.
07:27So greetings, family.
07:29One of the things that I'm conscious of, of the theme for Essence Fest is the power of
07:35joy.
07:36And we get robbed as a people of our joy because we don't get treated adequately.
07:40We don't have the opportunity to be listened to like you just shared.
07:45And so we need to do work around white supremacy culture and how it's baked into all the systems,
07:50the healthcare system, the mental health system, the housing system.
07:55Like every single system impacts black and brown people disproportionately in a low vibrational
08:00way.
08:00And it ends up in death, like the death of my daughter.
08:03So we need to start teaching about what that means, what inequities are with what we need
08:08to do as a collective body of human beings to restore order when we do the most natural
08:15thing that brings joy, which is new life into the world.
08:18Conceiving everybody that conceives doesn't carry a baby to term.
08:22Everybody that carries a baby to term doesn't come out alive, like my daughter passed away
08:26or their babies.
08:27And even after you've given birth, if you're black or brown, up to 12 months after, you're
08:32not safe.
08:32You need to be checking on yourself.
08:34Your people need to be checking on you so that we can make sure that you survive and thrive
08:37and you're around to raise your family.
08:40So we definitely need to transform these systems.
08:42And it starts with all of us and our knowledge base and seeking that knowledge, not waiting
08:47for someone to give it to us.
08:49Tanya Lewis-Lee, I know in your own right, you're a brilliant, strong mother, creative.
08:57Tanya's other half, of course, is the legendary Spike Lee.
09:01But for this to be brought to us, it needed you.
09:06It needed a black woman to speak for black women.
09:11And that's what you were doing here.
09:13A hundred percent.
09:14I mean, I agree.
09:15I think that we need to tell our stories as black women.
09:19When we start telling our stories, you get stories like Aftershock that showcase the beautiful
09:26love that Omari, Bruce, and Shawnee have for Shemani and Amber.
09:34I mean, I think it's really important that we show the love.
09:36I mean, this film, while it is about the fact that two women have passed away, it's about
09:41love at the core.
09:43They were loved on.
09:44They were loving.
09:45Every action that they're taking is from a place of love.
09:49And so I think it's really important that people understand that this is not a story
09:54about trauma.
09:56This is a story about love.
09:58It's about resilience.
09:59It's about what we all can do to make all of our lives better.
10:04I mean, all three of them, Omari, Bruce, and Shawnee, are working not just for their
10:10own families.
10:10They're working for our community.
10:12Yeah.
10:12For everybody.
10:13And it's such a beautiful thing.
10:15Dr. Shawnee, before we wrap up, what is your advice to the women here who are mothers,
10:22daughters, sisters, friends?
10:24What do you think is the primary thing that we can do within our community and the conversations
10:28that we can take back to wherever we're from to make change?
10:33I would amplify what Tanya just said, which is that, you know, the last thing that we want
10:40to do is stoke more fear.
10:42I think that there's incredible power in the community.
10:45I think one of the ways that I've been humbled by being part of this film is by seeing the
10:49power of these three people.
10:50And exactly as Tanya said it, they're not just making change for their families, they're not just making change for their families, they're making change for the community.
10:56It's about supporting each other.
10:58Well, the documentary is, I believe, life-changing.
11:03I encourage everybody to see Aftershock, share it with everyone you know.
11:09And it's not lost on me that the three of you are here without people you love, and you are so brave.
11:16And let's give them their love for being so brave to share these stories.
11:23You are a part of a club no one deserves to be part of, and no one wants to be a part of.
11:27So we honor the memory of those beautiful women who you shared your journey with.
11:32Tanya, thank you so much.
11:34Please, I encourage you to watch Aftershock, share it with everyone, and let's change this staggering but changeable number.
11:43Thank you so much, Essence family.
Comments