#BMHW25
In this episode, we spotlight Black Maternal Health Week. Held annually on April 11-17th, BMHW is a week-long campaign founded and led by the Black Mamas Matter Alliance to build awareness, activism, and community-building to amplify the voices, perspectives and lived experiences of Black Mamas and birthing people.
We also welcome back our dear friend, Samantha Griffin .She's an amazing doula and founder of DC Metro Maternity, a group of black women who are incredibly passionate about providing professional doula support to women of color and their partners.
It is shameful that in 2025, our black sisters are still embarking on their new motherhood experiences with a horrible statistic looming over their heads. Black women are dying at a rate nearly 3.5 times higher during and after childbirth. Samantha helps us understand some of the outdated but still prevalent reasons for this statistic.
According to the AMA, “racial essentialism" is a decades-old belief that races are biologically distinct groups determined by genes AND HAS NO scientific basis - yet, it lingers, along with many other racist ideas, in U.S. health policies and clinical practices. Along with racism in medicine, the belief has perpetuated generations of harm.
We discuss the concept of RACE MEDICINE: which uses race as a biological variable in healthcare, and can perpetuate inequities and biases.
Dr. Dorothy Roberts (a social justice advocate and law professor at the University of Pennsylvania) states: race medicine is bad medicine. It's poor science, and it's a false interpretation of humanity. It is more urgent than ever to finally abandon this backward legacy to affirm our common humanity by ending the social inequalities that truly divide us.
The GOAL: "Race-conscious medicine" where race is no longer relied on as a biological determinant, but where structural racism's impact on health is acknowledged.and ultimately, better healthcare exists for all, but especially black mothers, - because black mothers should NOT have to add fear for their lives to the many concerns all new moms face.
Black Maternal Health Week/Black Mamas Matter: https://blackmamasmatter.org/bmhw25/
Samantha Griffin's website: https://dcmetromaternity.com/
Samantha on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/dcmetromaternity/
Race Medicine:
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/articles/2025/02/race-is-not-biology
She has authored and co-edited ten books, including the award-winning Killing the Black Body and Shattered Bonds. Her latest book is Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-create Race in the Twenty-First Century.
birthFUND: https://www.thebirthfund.com/
Midwifery care provider parntered with birthFUND: The Victoria Project - https://www.the-victoria-project.com/
Visit us at Mamistad.com for more info about Mamistad and to learn more about Mamistad groups! As always, if you're a new mom, even if it's not with Mamistad, please find your MAMA TRIBE.
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Thank you - YOU are appreciated! Take care of each other. Mamistad,
Cynthia
~Women are incredible, Moms are limitless, and a Sisterhood of Moms is a force of nature.
Information on this podcast is for general information purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for medical care, to diagnose medical conditions, or to prescribe treatment for any specific health condition. We encourage anyone to seek help from a qualified medical professional where issues deem it necessary. No liability is assumed.
