- 6 weeks ago
Black culture has always shaped the world, but too often, our bodies, voices, and full identities are left out of the decisions that impact us most. This panel presented by SisterSong Reproductive Justice Collective, brings culture-shifters, policymakers, and storytellers together to explore how Reproductive Justice sits at the crossroads of race, gender, sexuality, policy, and pop culture. This is more than a conversation, it’s an invitation to imagine what becomes possible when we lead with our lived experiences and center those pushed to the margins.
Because when culture meets community power, we don't just shift narratives, we shape the future.
Because when culture meets community power, we don't just shift narratives, we shape the future.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Good people and we have a powerful panel that's going to dig in on this today and we're just
00:04going to go ahead and get started all right. So the first question I have for these amazing
00:09panelists because all of you are ranging across policy, culture, you're hit makers and all the
00:16things because you know that new song did just drop t-shirt just want to drop that. I mean we
00:21out here you know changing the game with beauty we're doing the thing but so many of us have these
00:27platforms and with these platforms comes the responsibility big and small. That's right. So to
00:32take meaning out of what is important for this particular moment when did you first realize
00:38each of you that you had this voice and your story and your presence actually meant something in a way
00:45that was going to help move and shape a conversation. Who'd like to go first? I'll kick us off. I love it.
00:52So I live by a motto. I actually have it tattooed on me and it's a bible verse. To whom much is given
00:59much will be required and I think a lot of us you start off in your journey because you have a dream
01:04and it's just something you want to do but there is a point where you learn that your dream is not
01:11for you alone. You are like a straw so your job is to get the liquid through and to the next person
01:18and so if you can get it through you then God will get it to you. You'll always get your blessing
01:23but you have to figure out how to use your voice and how to use what God has given you to help not
01:29just the finance because life is way more than that. Yes thank you Eva. What about you Shamia? You know
01:35it's so crazy because I think I found the power in my voice in my vulnerability and in my darkest times
01:45and that was with my baby girl Shiloh during my journey from surrogacy to my my surrogate getting
01:53breast cancer and I thought I was sharing a very joyful experience and it started out on radio like
02:00we were like oh yeah we're finally pregnant via surrogacy and it was all the judgments like oh
02:04she doesn't want to get pregnant herself because she doesn't want to mess up her body and then it's so
02:08many other women started talking about infertility and the issues that they were having and then it moved
02:13from that to her being diagnosed with breast cancer and then it became a platform for people
02:18that were battling with breast cancer or having to get double mastectomies and it was just a whole
02:22thing and then it was Shiloh being born prematurely with all the bells and whistles and all of the
02:27craziness that was going on with her from having over a dozen surgeries and then it became NICU moms
02:32NICU warriors and it was so it's like wow look at God he has used me and my voice to unite so many
02:38people that are having a tough time from you know just infertility to all those things that you know
02:44children with special needs and while I was crying I was like okay God I see what you're doing
02:49can you pick somebody else no for the rest of it but um but no that's when I found my voice was
02:54powerful and that you know I you know I have to use this platform and and just my life to change
03:00someone else's and help someone else along the way I mean I'm so grateful I got to watch be a
03:05journey and a witness to your journey um online with your families I'm one of those friends you
03:10know that was following and so we just love Shiloh so can we get some love for Shiloh in the building
03:14absolutely all right I'm gonna go to this other couch I'm switching and turning y'all this is a
03:20lot for a thick sister all right Kenya yes well first I want to say thank you so much Monica and
03:26to SisterSong and to Essence for this platform where we get to share our voices my my my younger self is
03:33is geeking out right now um the minute that I stopped code switching and started
03:40community building yeah switching code switching for community building was when I really started
03:47to lean into my power and my voice yeah um because I've got a really interesting career I took a very
03:54non-traditional pathway to becoming a tech executive and that allowed me to sit in rooms in political and
04:00public policy spaces uh with a good congresswoman uh even before she was an elected and um and you
04:07know moving into spaces where I am now you know the only chief growth officer of any social platform
04:13on the internet that is a black woman come on let's make some noise for that and so when you when you go
04:19into those spaces though you start to realize that I'm not the exception I'm actually the blueprint
04:23because black women right over index on our usage in social media we oh we are the ones who create
04:30the lexicon that traverses every billboard and every marketing campaign out here and so you start to
04:37that that should be the fuel that powers us right I'm not here by an exception I'm here because I'm the
04:42blueprint and the more that I speak up the more that I start to model what is possible not just for
04:47myself but for the world that we're literally creating absolutely can somebody say blueprint today
04:51blueprint tell that to yourself I'm the blueprint I'm the I'm the blueprint yes let's move that
04:57on forward Dominique Morgan how are you doing beautiful sister I'm good sis how are you I'm
05:02wonderful can y'all hear me yeah okay um I I felt like I was known and I felt like I understood what
05:09my voice was um first global model for apple ever uh first black trans woman in the history of the
05:17world to have a street named after her all those things but it was tiktok that gagged me and it's
05:23been literally in the last three months where I realized the way that I'm able to engage with
05:30community on that app specifically black women black biological women black cis women whatever word
05:37feels affirming to you as a black trans woman to focus on building strong and authentic relationships
05:45that I know are the disruptor to many of the barriers we have to what I think will be a universal
05:53black liberation and so that is what's gagged me so it's been like three months of feeling like I can
06:00be funny I can talk about activism I can talk about clothes I can talk about Nellie and Ashanti if I want
06:06to but I still can thread talk about them whatever you want to do madam but I can still thread me
06:13through it and I'm seeing how people Coco from SWV stopped me in the lobby and said I love you I
06:19could have been you could have put me up on the way here it happened so those moments have really been
06:24eye-opening yes I love that I love that and I also enjoy um riding along this journey with you as you
06:30are embracing all those parts of yourself congresswoman um can we just take a moment y'all um this is my
06:37congresswoman number one but also um come on a town but can we just take a moment to give this
06:44congresswoman a round of applause I don't think that we understand what our elected officials that are on
06:52our side that are for the people right are having to encounter in this moment and what they're having
06:57to stand up against in those halls every single day and you are doing that with such power and you
07:03do that so authentically and so I'm grateful that you're my congresswoman but I'm also grateful that
07:08you're doing this work for the American people in general and so what was that defining moment for you
07:13because I know that we your journey is just so it's been a beautiful one but can you give us one of
07:19those points in those journeys where you where you saw that defining moment for yourself well first thank
07:24you thank you monica and sister song for having me on this stage today because this conversation
07:28should be held on the main stage for the masses to hear so I am grateful for essence and sister song
07:35for this opportunity y'all I am congresswoman akima williams and I proudly represent george's fighting
07:39fifth congressional district and I I just know that when I found that moment it wasn't because I've been
07:45elected to office and I listen to the stories of the ladies on the stage with me and none of you are
07:50elected to office because a lot of people think that it's just up to the elected officials to speak
07:54out it's just up to the elected officials to make change but the change doesn't happen from Washington
07:59y'all the change happens with the people I understand that I'm operating in a system that was not designed
08:06for or by people who look like me but I'm determined to make it work for all of us and I cannot do that
08:12alone so these partnerships these relationships are so important and that takes me back to long before I was
08:19elected to office when I remember being in the West End in the headquarters of sister song and those
08:27billboards went up Monica around black women and policing how we bring our children into the world
08:33and we know that every birth is different every journey is different but here they were telling us
08:41that we were criminals for making decisions about our childbirths our our lives and our livelihoods
08:49and so all of this has prepared me to be your voice in Congress but I don't think it was one defining
08:56moment my husband often says that I'm the Lorax if somebody needs speaking for in the chemo will speak
09:00for them and so I take that serious because there are so many people that don't understand that they have
09:06the voice and the power but I am here to be their voice absolutely thank you so much for that
09:11Congresswoman Akeema Williams so we're going to jump into some fiery questions y'all because we are here
09:16talking about bodies sexuality the culture and how all of these roads meet and that is what reproductive
09:22justice is for those who may not know it is a movement created by black women it is over 30 years old
09:28it was created to give us a more intersectional approach for us to be able to think about our human rights
09:33and the ability to make our own decisions about our bodies our families and our futures and so this
09:38work requires us to think about each of these elements that you all are bringing to the table
09:43very intentionally so I'm going to start back with you Congresswoman because we know what just happened
09:47in Congress you know there's this big ugly nasty disgusting bill right that just went through that is
09:53going to have a devastating impact right on Americans we know what's at stake we know what we're up against
10:00with this administration so how in this time are you within all of the power that you hold as a congressperson
10:07helping us think about what is most important for black people and how are you making it
10:14an important thing that you move to the front of your conversations with black women and how are you
10:20also centering that in joy even in the midst of the hardships that we're up against
10:24so I think it's first important to understand what actually happens and so I try to show up in all
10:30the spaces and all the ways because people shouldn't have to come to their member of Congress for the
10:35information I'm going out to your events I'm showing up in your community I'm showing up at the
10:40barbershops I'm showing up at the bar and any place that the conversations are being held our people
10:46need to hear what is actually happening 17 million people losing their health care that means someone in
10:51this room someone you know someone you love and you can't talk about that without thinking about
10:56the intersectional lens of what this all means when you think about Georgia the state that I represent
11:01the state that I was born in when over half of our counties don't even have an OBGYN over half
11:07when over half of the childbirths are covered by Medicaid but yet we are cutting Medicaid funding
11:14by the tune of one trillion dollars to give tax cuts to billionaires that's not okay and so we can we have to
11:21make it plain we have to make sure people understand what is happening Shamia I went to the NICU at the
11:26new children's health care hospital 71 percent of the babies in the NICU were covered by Medicaid
11:32yeah but yet we are cutting Medicaid in the state in this country and in in Georgia so we have to make
11:40sure that we bring the information to the people and then strategize and organize with the people on how
11:45we make change in this country for all of us who need it most absolutely um I'm gonna turn over to
11:52this couch now y'all know I'm like a little teapot I'm like really short and stout but I'm a sexy teapot
11:58though right yes you are right okay okay um so speaking of sexy um there's very sexy things happening
12:05on this couch in particular I want to come to you Eva um because we learned and we we became your
12:12friend when we saw your beautiful face and all that you brought to the television screens of being
12:16America's Next Top Model and all the things that you have done but you have taken that journey on
12:22you've taken a beautiful journey with that right and you have now moved into acting and you have like
12:28built such a powerful legacy of work that you're leading right so in the conversations that you were
12:33having because you were also on a very controversial show that's like showing us how to smash the
12:38patriarchy in a very interesting way but when you think about all how those things come to a head
12:44for you the way that you've had to break through barriers and beauty and the way that you're also
12:48breaking through barriers in the roles that you're playing how do you how do we continue to disrupt the
12:54narratives that are not helping to shape us in the best ways as black folks and how are you using
12:59your platform to do so absolutely so um I started off like you said on America's Next Top Model and
13:06my journey has been um very not conventional so to say um from my height to everything that a model
13:17should be I was told I was not and so to do a show like Top Model and to find myself on the cover
13:24of magazines and the face of CoverGirl which is beauty when they said I was androgynous or I was this
13:30and I was that so I feel like my entire career has been dealing um with unconventional realities
13:36but I think that that is the truth of who black women are period we live in an unconventional reality
13:43and we make this thing home we make it ours no matter where we are and so the industry that I have
13:51found myself playing in and fashion and acting they're industries that put you in a box so if you
13:59have your favorite guy from that cop show nine times out of ten you're gonna see him again
14:02he's gonna be in another procedural show so they we like to put each other in a box and I've decided
14:08I'm too big for a box I'm too big for a bag I'm too big for any of those that's what I'm talking
14:13about and I don't mean too big in my meanness but in my what God has created for me and what God is
14:20doing through me it's too big to be contained that's right and so when I look at a show like
14:25all the queen's men where you have thank you I know y'all watching I knew y'all was watching
14:31the roles are so reversed where you see men are usually in those power positions and women are
14:37the ones on the other end you see it flipped over and what I love is that we show what real beauty is
14:43because we're not changing anything we're enlightening and letting people know the truth
14:48the truth is is that every single person on this stage and in this room is beautiful
14:52now when you learn your beauty then other people will start to get it but you have to know it for
14:59yourself it's not about what they say on a magazine there is no size there is no color there is no
15:06texture shout out to the crown act that is better than the other we are beautiful and it is about us
15:13understanding that I locked my hair and I locked my hair because my daughter has locked hair and I want
15:19her to see a reflection of herself and so when I move around in business on my television show I
15:26I wanted my locks they wanted to put a wig on me I didn't want a wig they wanted to put different
15:31things to make my body look more curvy that is not my shape it is not my truth and I have to fight
15:36against that and they're why don't you wear the butt pad because it's not my truth it's not my truth
15:42and I need other women that have a small snake hip frame like me to understand that they are as
15:47beautiful as this coke bottle right here and how do you know that unless you see it how do you
15:53understand it and so I would like to use my life to be the representation and to walk down the journey
16:01of the world's less traveled to go ahead and be that person to stand in the gap and in a clutch
16:06and say you know what she did it I can do it too absolutely come through Eva now we have a few more
16:14minutes left and the last three folks who are going to be able to bring their brilliance to the stage
16:18today are all important culture bearers first of all I want to go with you Kenya because you are
16:23holding a powerful piece of culture at SPIL right and you know you're breaking this barrier on technology
16:30and I know that that's not easy to do as a black woman and in this political moment I'm going to
16:36give each of you your questions as culture bearers um to be able to bring your voices to the stage so
16:41for you Kenya especially as we're thinking about SPIL y'all know about SPIL I bet you about to know
16:47about it if you don't know download SPIL from the Apple App Store the Google Play Store come on okay
16:52but you all see culture as strategy so how have you helped messaging around some of the biggest
16:58fights of our time using the platform and what you come to this culture with as a political strategist
17:05and how do you see the importance of bridging policy and pop culture together well firstly I just I want
17:12to say thank you to my entire team at SPIL to our co-founder and CEO Alfonso Terrell who gave this
17:19very you know non-traditional pathway girly an opportunity to lead in tech um and use my skill set
17:28that was highly transferable for those of you who don't know me and are meeting me for the first
17:31time I am two years two and a half years into leading a social tech startup company but came by
17:39way of public policy civic engagement crisis management fundraising and then cultural strategy
17:45and entertainment and in all of those places what I learned is that you you have to move people
17:51first right before you move systems right you got to move people first and furthermore that the best
17:59legislation comes from what moves people and culture inherently is the inertia that keeps us all moving
18:08in ecosystems right so the power of having a social platform at a time like this we're really building
18:16spill uh the only black owned app to ever be number one in the apple app store the only the only come
18:22on um and we understand that being black is not enough right in that space but so which is why fast
18:28company named us most innovative in social and we've been apple app of the day as well uh what we
18:34recognize is that spill is intended to be a cultural intelligence engine y'all I need you to rethink
18:40how we are using social media when we look at the biggest bullies in the world with the most amount
18:46of money acquiring social platforms why are they doing that because of the cultural intelligence
18:52that you so freely give these platforms so when you post your best on other people's platforms that
18:59you don't own I want you to think about the cultural intelligence that you were feeding to systems that are then
19:04being trained to operate against you and after that sits and sizzles in your spirit I want you to think
19:12about giving your best to a platform that was built from the ground up like spill to be culturally
19:18competent in moderation and content right um and to think about a world where we are centered in policy
19:25and practice digitally and what is possible when we own our stories because then we can own our shifts
19:34we can't own the shift if we don't own the stories first that's real absolutely oh my god oh god
19:40this is getting good right okay we gotta keep going because we don't want to get in trouble all right
19:45dominique let me tell you something you have been such a powerful voice um in so many ways right we know
19:53the history we thank you for bringing in some of the things that you have done that have just been
19:56so transformative but you've also been vocal about celebrity culture you've also been vocal about how
20:03important it is for us to make sure that we are interacting with culture in a way where we're
20:08pulling out the things that we need to be talking about as black people so how do you think celebrity
20:14narratives in particular whether it's Nelly or Shanti or the silence around Diddy right that we've seen
20:22shape what we believe is possible or acceptable and Shamia I want to throw your question out right quick too
20:27as someone who's been both the beauty and in the public life in the ways that you have how do you
20:34personally navigate what to share protect or politicize especially around your body and your
20:40own personal experiences so both of you I want you to speak to like what that has meant for you
20:45as culture bearers and the way that you hold it so I'll start with you Dominique my biggest focus is
20:49thinking about cultural capital right we know about financial capital but how our voices how our
20:55platforms position us to change the culture and there are people who will say I'm not supposed
21:00to be a role model for your child this and the third once you sign up for the platform to be
21:05monetized you signed up to understand there is responsibility associated with it that being said
21:10when I look at my cultural capital and you can't understand your cultural capital if you don't
21:14understand yourself I believe the things that I discuss when I don't talk about every celebrity issue
21:20but even the the Nelly and Ashanti piece was I as a black trans woman have seen the way the world has
21:28indoctrinated and harmed black women who are born with a uterus in ways they won't try to oppress me
21:35a man will never look at me and say I'm gonna sit you down for the summer because you're too powerful
21:39a man will never look at me and tell me I'm gonna ask you to have your child but you won't help me change
21:45diapers for the first two years that won't be my experience and when other biological women say it
21:51they can call y'all a hater they can do this and the third I can say you don't say that to me brother
21:56and I know online they're telling you they don't see black trans women as women but my text messages
22:01say different amen so and so based on that you understand and you navigate various type of women
22:09based on the type of games you can play and the way society has had it set up so whether it's through
22:15a laugh whether it's me having a serious moment whether it's me saying because the justice system
22:20doesn't incarcerate you does not mean that you are not a terrible person and we should not figure out
22:25how to protect black women say that I believe that is my investment culturally to the existence of
22:33a woman who has allowed my existence to be here and it's also how I build bridges and repair
22:39foundations that will get us to a space where more of us will be protected like many of us are up here
22:45and less of us will be out here like Cassie fighting for a black man to give a fuck about us
22:49absolutely absolutely Shamia they gonna they gonna cuss us out but you know we love black people
22:53all right Shamia bring us home this is because you have been building this this is intersection as well
22:59so how have you built these bridges you know I um I found a lot of love in my transparency and like
23:06I said my vulnerability I love what Eva said earlier you know would snake body embrace it when I see Eva
23:13I see fine I see beautiful and it's not just that outer beauty that just completely captivates you
23:20but it's her heart because I when I was in the NICU she was calling and texting sending sunflower pics
23:26and and I was like wow you know like thank you you know it's those things that really just really
23:35makes you more open vulnerable and transparent we're a sisterhood you know we're a family and we all come
23:41from different walks of life and I feel like when we're open and we're transparent and we're vulnerable
23:46like the light shines on us even more because in my moments this season when I was insecure because I
23:55people were asking do you have vitiligo like what is happening with you um because I had spots from
24:00my ectopic pregnancy or people were saying did you get lipo because I you know I was moving a certain
24:05way right but it was my story to share in my own time so when they would comment on my page about it
24:11I would respond and say oh yeah that's just ectopic pregnancy marks right and they would feel so
24:16uncomfortable about my response some would would eat it and say I'm so sorry I didn't know you know
24:23but then others would would say yeah right and I was totally okay either way because the best thing
24:29about me being open and confident and who I am block and delete is my best friend come on and um and
24:37it just shows me the goodness and the grace of God because the more I'm open the more someone else
24:42that sees themselves in me can be open and be honest and be vulnerable like me y'all can y'all
24:49give it up for this panel if you didn't learn nothing today you learned how reproductive justice
24:54is the blueprint you also learned that we are the blueprint you learned that our vulnerability is
25:00important and that we all got to stand powerfully in that you also learned that baby be authentically
25:06you you also learned that you know as black women we got to do this thing together right all of us
25:13together you also learned that we got to get involved we got to be in our community we got to
25:17do what we got to do and you also learned that we got our own places that we got to invest in
25:22to make sure that we are holding on to our narrative and the cultural power that we have
25:28thank you all so much my name is again monica simpson we're going to turn this stage over before we get
25:33cursed out but let's keep this thing going
25:35so
25:40so
25:44you
25:48you
25:50you
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