All language subtitles for Aftershock.2022.1080p.HULU.WEB.H264

I
just wanted to illustrate

how over-the-top my daughter
is in every aspect of her life.

Shamony's hyper. She's crazy.

She does everything
with force. She's loud.

She brushes her teeth like the
teeth did something to her.

Bed-Stuy do or die.

So we got to run.

Oh lord. I don't
need to warm up.

I got this. I got
this. Why you laughing?

Woo!

This crazy man

got me running too much.

How does it feel
for me to be moving out?

- Uh, okay. Okay!

Same day, different apartment.

I'm making a list.

I told Shamony to
make 20 lists before.

- The thing is that both Omari

and I have pregnancy
brain, right, O?

- Yeah, we do.
It's clearly you.

Oh goodness.

So your baby going to
be Moses Maynard Gibson?

No. No.

No, I'm
kidding. Moses Maynard?

No.

- Say hi.

Hey, baby.

Time is flying.
Four months already.

Every day is a new process.
You wake up like, "Oh my god,

I'm that much closer
to being a mom again."

- Hi, sweet baby.

So I am... What? I
can't say sweet baby?

Who're you talking to?

- I'm talking to Khari.

Oh.

- So, um...

Yes, my plan was to
have you at home,

so maybe your
auntie will record.

And I can still
have you at home.

We have three hours from now.

But, however, it doesn't
always work, right?

So if you were born tomorrow...

It's been four months

and three days since
she passed away.

You know, it feels
like it was last week.

- Greetings, family.

I didn't know all of this
beautifulness was behind me.

I'm so blown away
and so appreciative

and so humbled by your presence.

So, um, this is my
daughter's birthday.

She would've been
31 years old today,

and she loved to plan
things and to party,

so we're having this
celebration on her behalf.

This is a celebration of life,

but also it's about how
Shamony has been speaking

to all of us in our family

and extended community
since she passed.

About an hour ago, I
started to, to falter.

Um, and I won't
even call it falter.

I'm just experiencing
my grief, you know.

Alright, so how you
want us to line up, cousin?

Um, family first?

Can I get family,
age order please?

It's a
struggle every day,

particularly because what
happened with Shamony

was absolutely preventable.

She ended up with a C-section.

My baby.

My baby that I've been
waiting forever for.

You did
amazing, Shamony.

So we leave
the hospital.

Within the first week,
she was complaining

about having shortness of
breath when she talked.

She
walked down the stairs

to get something.

And when she was
trying to get back up,

she couldn't move.

Like, she was just, she had to
just lay on the floor for a while.

We called the hospital,

telled them what
the symptoms were.

The doctor said, you know,
"It's okay. Just relax."

That proceeded for
the next two weeks.

We go back to the
hospital for, um, Shamony

so that they could remove her
staples from her C-section.

I was again telling them
what the symptoms were.

Asking them what are some
things that we can do.

And, you know, the answer pretty
much was the same every time.

"Just makes sure
that she rests."

There wasn't much of a sense of
urgency on their part at all.

That's the expert,
and I'm not a doctor,

so okay.

I rallied people to
make meals for her.

I did what we do!

Just take care of her.

Two weeks after,
you know, she gave birth,

Shamony was complaining that she
had really sharp chest pains.

She says, "I want to go
to the hospital now."

Her mom and her aunt were
in the back with her.

And as I'm packing the bag, I just
hear them screaming and screaming,

"Omari, Omari, come in
here. Come in here."

So I run in there, and
then I just see Shamony is,

she's just in shock.

The ambulance came.

It seems like forever,
but it was only minutes.

And I immediately started talking
to them about what was happening.

Like, "She just
had a C-section."

I'm telling them the symptoms.

- You know, they kept asking
me, they kept asking her mother,

"Is she on any drugs
or anything like that?

Was she taking any drugs?"

Like, "No, she
doesn't take drugs."

- Next set of people come in.

"Is she on drugs?
Does she use drugs?"

I just told your
colleagues. I'm telling you.

Then another round
of people come in,

"Is she on drugs?"

I'm like, "Do y'all talk?"

They finally take her in an
ambulance to the closest hospital.

- That was not the place

where I would want my
daughter to be sent ever.

There was no money
in that hospital.

They didn't have what they
needed to care for her.

They had been divested from.

They eventually figured
it was a pulmonary embolism.

But all they could do there
is give her blood thinners

and hope that the
blood clot would pop.

We waited, you know, and it was,
I want to say, a solid 12 hours.

So many people were
showing up at the hospital,

just standing in the hallway,
praying, praying, praying

like, you know, putting it out
there that she was going to,

some... a miracle
was gonna happen.

- And I'm watching this while
watching my daughter in distress.

And just thinking, if they
would have listened to her

during that postpartum time,

it wouldn't have
come to this point.

My cousin comes
in the room and she's like,

"She's gone."

Everybody just fell apart.

There's
just so many levels

of frustrations
that come, you know,

and just understanding
the scope of who we are

and what we look like and
where we live, you know,

and the stereotypes that
come with that, you know.

Having to deal with that on top of
watching your partner pass away,

you know, it's, um,

tough isn't the word, you know.

It's, it's, it's
more than tough.

Let's go downstairs.

Alright.

You ready? Let's go.

Telling Anari that her
mother passed away was,

it was hard.

She asks about her
mother all the time.

- Anari!

Okay.

You want to give daddy hugs.

Okay.

Shamony definitely
was, you know, my muse.

- Omari here is going
to be doing my makeup.

- It's going to be money. Go.

Got to start in
the middle, right?

Make sure you put it
on nice and thick.

I've never lived
in this house without her.

There's times where I wake up,

and I'm just shocked

to be sleeping in
our bed by myself.

It's hard adjusting.

I can't believe that Amber

is not going to be
coming back home.

- So this month, we'll
be learning about plants.

So today, I'm going to
demonstrate how to plant.

Organic potting mix, it's usually
good for every kind of plant.

You're gonna need...

I'm using a Mason jar, but you
don't need to use a Mason jar.

You can use whatever
you have at home.

This is going to get messy,

so I'm sure the
kids will love this.

Let them. If you do
have soil at home,

let them experience
it, play with it.

Um, it's a good sensory
activity as well...

I can still
hear her feet,

stomping her feet
and running in.

She, uh, opens the door and
jumps straight on the bed

and starts jumping on me

and pushing me and pulling
on me and waking me up,

uh, and she says
that we're pregnant.

It's a boy.

Amber had such
a pregnant glow to her.

She was just so excited.

During her second
and third trimester,

we started noticing she
was having headaches.

She was getting dizzy,

and she was having a
tough time breathing.

And all of her concerns
were being taken lightly.

"Oh, these are just
pregnancy-related symptoms.

You're okay."

So I took the
initiative to search

and do research on
midwives and doulas

and stumbled across
Nubia Martin.

Bruce
and Amber reached out

trying to switch
over to home birth.

So let's start right
here. Okay.

- She knew something was
off, and she was hoping

that switching to midwifery care
would get to the bottom of that.

Walk your hands...

When they sent her prenatal
records for us to review,

the first thing that jumped out
was the issue with the platelets.

I said this is not right. You
need to go to the hospital.

If the platelet levels go lower
than 150, they need to be monitored.

Her platelet levels had been less
and deteriorating since December.

We're in April.

This is high risk.

The hospital's not bringing
this to our attention at all.

Amber wanted to write a tell-all

about the care that
she had been receiving.

Finally, they started
paying attention to her

and diagnosed her
with HELLP syndrome.

They could have caught
it early, treated it.

She went
into the hospital.

They induced her labor, and they
rushed her into a C-section.

The high-risk doctor just left
my daughter there with some,

uh, a young team there.

They cut her open. Her
blood is water-like at this point.

She's lied open on the table,

bleeding out.

They were neglecting her
until it was way too late.

We thought Montefiore was
going to take care of her.

We had Amber's mother, who
worked there for 25 years.

They gave
that statement

that they had a mortality
rate of 0.01 percent.

That's all I got from them.

Amber would've been
a wonderful mother.

She was working on her masters.
She wanted to be an art therapist.

She started teaching,
and she loved these kids.

She wanted this so
badly, you know.

She's my only child.

She's all I had.

I'm grateful that she
left Elias for us.

What's going on, man?

How you doing, man? Yo,
I got to give you a hug, bro.

Oh, man.

I heard about Bruce and
what happened to Amber Isaac.

I just immediately
reached out to him

to just say, "Hey, man, it's a
lot. I know exactly how you feel.

If you need somebody to talk
to, then, you know, here I am."

I wanted specifically
to just meet you,

because I know that y'all
know how I'm feeling.

Even if I'm not able to articulate
it the way I want to, like, I know.

- It's like this shit, this shit is
just so, like, surreal sometimes.

Like, I just be thinking, like,
"Damn, this can't be real life."

Yeah.

- You know, I still got that...

I feel like somebody's foot
is in my throat, like...

- Yeah. Yeah.

- Like, that's...
- I know.

I still don't feel like I've
grasped the entire concept

of her not being here
physically, you know.

And of course, there's other
people in our position, you know,

so that's why I feel too, we
can turn our pain into power

and make something
of this, you know.

So, I could either... chill

or I could, you know,
do something, you know.

And I'm taking the
position of doing something

because, you know, that's what I
know that we are here for, you know.

- Yeah. I got to take action in
some way, some way. I got to...

If I'm not doing nothing,
I at least got to study

so I know what I'm
fighting against.

Yeah.

Alright.

You ready to do this?

- Ready when you ready.
- Alright, cool, cool.

Just got to
keep going. That's it.

That's all we got to do, one
foot in front of the other.

Come on. come on.

This is it right
there, right here.

Amber and Shamony
at the finish line.

Come on.

- Woo!

Right in there.

Come on now.

- Hi!

Hey, we matching?

I was aware that
this is a growing epidemic

in our communities,

and that is so upsetting to me.

An alarm has to be
sounded about this.

I never thought that
this would happen to my family.

Yes.

- Because I do
reproductive justice work.

- Mm-hmm. But,

you know, just also,
why wouldn't it?

We're Black and brown.
Right. Right.

- You know, she's a woman.
She was having a baby,

so why would we think
we would be exempt?

Because we have the
knowledge? Mm-hmm.

- Knowledge doesn't save
you from this epidemic.

That's right.

- Omari, I can't speak
for you, but I'm mourning

growing old with my daughter.

- Yeah, definitely.

- We were 20 years apart,

and the women in my
family live a long time.

So I anticipated being
90 and her being 70

and getting on each other's
nerves in that space,

you know, um.

So mourning what could have
been is also very real.

- I definitely want to
partner with fathers

who specifically have
suffered loss the way I have

and to get fathers together
to just really talk about

how after, you know, you
lose somebody important,

how the community helps.

- If it's possible to have
this space be one of the hubs

where men gather and
have these conversations,

I especially want
it for Black men,

because it's a desert out
there in reference to support.

- You know, this is not something
that is just specific to me

or specific to just
a handful of people.

Like, hundreds and
thousands of men

are going through this same,
you know, scenario, situation.

Look, Daddy.

Hello.
- Look.

Hi.

- Good morning.
Is Anthony there?

I'm one of Anthony's
math teachers.

This is Anthony.

- Um, so what's
going on, Anthony?

You haven't been really
completing your math assignments,

so I just wanted to see what
was the reason for that?

- I want to do the race car.

- Okay.

Race car.
Okay, baby.

If you're having some
troubles with your math work,

then you're going to
get in contact with me,

and I'm going to help
you out with it, okay?

Okay.
Alright, awesome.

You have a great day, Anthony.

Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope.

You're a little tricky, huh?
You trying to get tricky?

You trying to get tricky?

As I'm trying to get
through day to day,

a handful of men got
in contact with me.

Their partners also passed away.

And it had such an effect on me.

I wasn't by myself.

- Thank you for all the brothers who
came, and I'm definitely grateful,

uh, for what we're able to
do, creating this circle,

you know, with Omari

to support brothers
like Omari and Mustafa

who are in the particular
place where they sit.

- My name's Mustafa Shabazz.

Me and Omari, we're basically going
through the same pain right now.

My lady died. Like you
said, you felt hopeless?

I felt the same way.

I watched her take her last
breath in front of my eyes,

and there was nothing I can do.

Nothing.

I had, I had to go
and get a DNA test

just to take my son
out of the hospital.

They didn't believe
that he was my son.

I said, why would I be
here? Why would I...

Why would I even be here
if this is not my child?

I just, honestly, I just
don't think they care.

When we stop to think
about maternal mortality,

that's a reality that
any of us can face,

and as a father with a
daughter, that's scary for me.

We have to give ourselves
permission to be angry.

And so it's important for
us that we have a space

where I can go and
create the relationships

where we're vulnerable enough
to share in this environment.

- It could be any one of us.

Honestly, man. Like, the
tables just turned so fast,

you know, when you,
you don't have no,

you don't have the control,
you don't have the power.

But with that said, uh,

you could have the support.

You know, we could
support each other,

creating the community
that we want to see,

and the way we want
to see it, you know.

With that community, I
want to create a space

where we can then start to try
to change policy, you know,

and have a thousand,

hundreds of thousands of people
backing what we're saying.

Because that's the
only way it works.

Today, we
stand in solidarity

with the family of Amber Isaac.

- I can't even believe

we're even here today
about this situation.

Amber was just such
a divine woman.

All she wanted to
do was help people.

And y'all took that from us.

Um, I actually had some
stuff that I had written down

that I want to discuss and that
I want to go over because my mind

It's okay.
- Has been everywhere

since this whole
situation occurred.

We're supposed to be the most
advanced country in the world,

but the racial disparities
are becoming more

and more evident each day.

Black women are four
times more likely to die

than their white counterparts
with the same symptoms.

The maternal mortality rate has
doubled here in the United States.

It was safer for our
parents to have children

than it is for us today.

Amen.

- Why is that?

- Welcome, everybody.
I'm Dr. Neel Shah,

and this is Expecting
More Dialogues

which is the new web
series we're kicking off

that is exploring
the opportunities,

the challenges, the hopes,

and the lived
experiences of people

who are giving birth
in America right now.

We've invited three
incredible human beings

to be part of this dialogue
that we're going to have today

and to teach me and to teach
all of us about what it is

that we can be doing
about this problem.

So let's start here maybe.

Bruce, um, tell
us what happened.

I'm not sure everybody
out there knows the story.

- Amber was facing negligence

and incompetence within
the medical system.

Down from the OB to the,
um, to the secretary

was being nasty with her.

Down to security.

You know?

The day I took Amber in, when she
was admitted into the hospital,

security at the
front telling me,

"Oh, it's okay, Mr. Babydaddy,

go sit down over there.

You can't go up."

You know,
everything that Bruce described

in his story

is things that
advocates like myself

and others have been
saying for years, right,

that we have a systemic issue.

And I've said it in, in, in
packed rooms, full of OBs.

You know what I mean? Like, patients,
ultimately, they want to be seen,

they want to be heard,
and they want to know

that someone genuinely
cares about their wellbeing.

I think that the wellbeing
of moms is a bellwether

for the wellbeing of
society in general.

And that's why every
injustice in our society

shows up in maternal health and
in maternal health outcomes.

In 2018,

journalists started to
tell the stories of people

that were dying in childbirth.

Those stories ended up
compelling the federal government

to start to track maternal
mortality much more systematically.

So 2018 was the first
year we really did that.

I started to read and
see all these trends,

including the explosion
in C-section rates.

We intervene with major
surgery 500 percent more

than we used to in the 1970s.

And maternal mortality
rates just fly upwards.

And when it comes to Black
women, those risks are higher.

C-sections do save lives. I'm trained
to do them. I believe in them.

But major surgery
is major surgery.

Surgical complications
like organ injury,

hemorrhage, infection are
about three times more likely

to happen with a C-section
than a vaginal delivery.

Oh, it's very cute.
Congratulations to you both.

Thank you so
much. Thank you.

Black women have a
higher rate of C-sections.

Yeah. I would really
encourage you to do that.

I started to think about

my own practice

and how it's possible that
really well-intended people

can be doing racist things.

For example, when Black
people are expressing concern

around pain or other
symptoms, they're heard less.

And in medicine, we've
literally created algorithms

where we've conflated
race and racism.

You can help somebody understand

their odds of having a
successful vaginal delivery

with a calculator.

And if they're Black,
their odds drop.

And it has nothing to do with
who they are or their biology.

The calculator ends up
gatekeeping treatment,

care, and support.

So if you're Black, you're
less likely to get good support

to have the vaginal
delivery that you want.

I've been
a midwife 23 years.

I went to Georgetown University.

I have a bachelor's
of science in nursing,

and I have a masters
in midwifery education.

Let's see what this
baby is doing today.

We are trained to let
those that can have births

that happen spontaneously
the way it's always been.

We care for women in
the home, birth centers,

and the hospital space.

The head is still
down. Mm-hmm.

Nice and down.

We follow a shared decision-making
model with the patient,

giving them a lot of options
to choose their path.

So you got everything
prepared for the birth?

Mm-hmm.

I'm here to
practice an allowance

for her body to do
what it needs to do

to give birth.

Only six to nine percent of all
births in our country are by midwives.

In Europe, midwives
were integrated

into women's healthcare,

and they're doing better

than our dismal maternal
mortality morbidity rate.

We are higher than the
UK, higher than France,

higher than Germany,
higher than Sweden.

We have the highest rate of
all industrialized nations.

In this country, as
technology has advanced,

childbirth has become more
technologically driven.

In hospitals, by and large,

um, it has not been a shared
decision-making model.

We call it the medical
technocratic patriarchal model.

Pregnancy is a healthcare
challenge to manage.

- We have 9:00 a. m. induction

of a 21-year-old G1,
P0 at 39 and three.

We have two
inductions, we have KW

of a 34-year-old G3, P1-0-1-1.

And the other 7:00 p. m. induction is
a CWC Fetal Specialty Clinic patient

who's had a history of
one prior C-section.

Doctors are trained

in active management of labor.

Induce them and get them
going and do all this stuff.

You put her on
Pitocin via the IV

to get the contractions regular.

The goal is every two to three
minutes for your contractions. Okay.

You break the water

and you do things to push her

along the labor
curve, as we call it,

um, to get that baby out.

The thing that she's
going to remember the most

is what happened during
her labor and birth.

Every woman does.

Women have
to take that back.

Women of color
count for nearly 80 percent

of pregnancy-related
death in this city.

We are just dragging our feet

on one of the most serious
issues of our time.

We're going to call
up Shawnee B. Gibson.

- I'm a fellow citizen
and mother in mourning

over the loss of my eldest child

whose death could
have been prevented.

Today, I act as a
vessel and a conduit

for the voice of my daughter,
Shamony Makeba Gibson,

and the voices of so
many young women of color

just like her.

As a reproductive advocate and leader
in the reproductive health community,

I thought that I
would be spared.

I naively believed
that my optimism

about how knowledgeable
we all were

would shield her
from this epidemic.

Wow.

What I am seeking are
systems and institutions

that are committed to making
sure that we address racism

and anti-Black
racism, specifically.

I am here to declare that
my work will not stop.

I am here to hold
myself accountable

and to hold those responsible

who knowingly and unknowingly
keep this epidemic going.

I am here to let you know that
Shamony Makeba Gibson lived.

She is alive in this movement,
and she is alive in this moment

as I speak her name,
Shamony Makeba Gibson.

Shamony Makeba Gibson.

Shamony Makeba Gibson.

Thank you for listening.

As a professor at Harvard
School of Public Health,

I had an opportunity to travel to
different hospitals across the country,

studying maternal
health outcomes.

Oklahoma is a place that has
a maternal mortality rate

that's double the
national average.

When you rank every state in
terms of maternal mortality,

they're in the bottom five.

The medical centers that
we're working with in Tulsa

have some of the
highest rates of injury

during childbirth in the state.

They take care of a
lot of people of color,

and they have a persistently
high C-section rate.

We're here today
because we think

that we could get the
whole country to reimagine

the care that
people should expect

during one of the most important
and vulnerable moments of our lives.

This will only really work
if each and every one of you

believes that this
is possible too.

This is triage.
- Hi.

Awesome.

Labor and delivery units in
the modern era resemble cardiac ICUs.

The only difference is that our
operating rooms are attached.

We take 99 percent of people
giving birth in America,

we put them in ICUs, and we
surround them by surgeons.

So we see a lot of surgery.

It doesn't take rocket
science to figure it out.

- We get a lot of laboring
patients out here.

And how many
ORs do you guys have?

- Two.

Are they right on the unit?
- Yes.

Yeah.
- Yeah.

In a hospital, the
cost of doing a C-section

is lower than the cost of
doing a vaginal delivery.

The shorter that labor
is, the less it will cost.

It is also true though,
that if you do a C-section

the hospital gets paid
about 50 percent more

than if there's
vaginal delivery.

You can imagine what kind of
incentives that might set up.

Hey, how are you?

Good.

Edwards.

Okay.

In this state,

Black women represent
ten percent of births,

but we're 20 percent
of the deaths.

And Tulsa is one of the
worst places in the country

to have a baby.

I didn't know.

How are you today?

Alright. How
you doing? FELICIA: Good.

Well, let's
take a look at baby.

Let's measure this
belly. Okay.

I called my
mom crying one morning

because the statistics

of being Black having a baby
in America, like, hit me.

Really I hadn't thought about
it until Serena Williams

talked about her
birth experience

and she's, like, the best
athlete in the world.

And she had to make them listen
to her about her blood clots.

And then when I started
dealing with myself,

I was like, this is a big deal.

A Black woman having
a baby is like

a Black man in a traffic
stop with the police.

You have to, like,
really pay attention

to what's going on, like,
every step of the way.

There you go.

And in the hospital,

appointments are quick,
they're not intimate.

You don't have time
to build that trust.

Have a good
day. You too.

It's going to be hard

to find someone I'm
just comfortable with.

Very early
in my career,

I noticed how Black
women were, uh, used

as guinea pigs

in the hospital, um, system.

I became a nurse in a very
elite teaching hospital,

and I started to see
things that just really

don't go along
with my philosophy.

If you have private
insurance and you're white,

you have a private physician
who's on call for you.

The clinic population
by and large

tend to be Black and brown
women who have Medicaid,

are treated by
resident learners.

Every woman is getting
her vagina cut open.

A woman doesn't need
it, but you cut it

because you need to
learn how to sew.

I'm at a place that is
literally practicing on people.

Black women have
been experimented on

to perfect the
profession of gynecology.

The United States had

a population of enslaved peoples

that they could do what they
wanted to, when they wanted to,

how they wanted to do it.

As a woman, your worth is about

what your womb can
produce for my plantation.

Black women are having
so many children,

they're getting fistulas.

Enter J. Marion Sims.

He's considered the
father of gynecology

who decides that he's going
to figure out how to fix this.

He's fixing it so
she can go back

and have more children so
that she, as a commodity,

continues to be useful
for her slave master.

And he cut them open
however many times.

And then there were modules
written about the things

that were done to them

saying, well, they
don't feel pain,

but the woman is
literally screaming.

And that's how the United
States becomes a superpower

when it comes to OB/GYN surgery.

Black women by and large

continue to be cared for

by learners.

It's the marrying of
the over-medicalization

with inexperience

that's really the foundation

when it comes to maternal
mortality and morbidity.

Momma.

Who is that?

- Mommy.

Good. Now show
us your project. Come.

I see it.

Whoa. Let's do it.

Don't spill it!

Look, Mommy.

Wow, that's pretty!

Let me see it.
- Hmm?

Let me see it. Good.

We have pictures of
Shamony up everywhere.

She's always around.

Through my artwork, I'm
able to connect with her

in a way that I've never
had since she passed.

It really does help
with how I process.

One day I thought, right now,
I paint one of Amber Isaac,

paint one of Bruce's partner.

I wanted to give him this gift.

- I'm gonna set up over here.

Sanitizers.

Thank you.

Alright. So the front, we
got to get the front gate.

Hey, how are you?

Good. Good, good, good, good.

I'm sorry.
How you feeling?

How you doing?

- Hanging in there?

- Sweating bullets, are you?

- I know. I'm here working.

Yeah. I'm here working.

Speaking of the... Yo, we
was just talking about you.

Really?

Yeah, I had to... I got here,
like, five, ten minutes ago

but I had to stop
and get some coffee.

I knew
you were addicted.

You got free hands
or somebody to hold your...

Alright. Cool, cool.
This is for you.

Yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, man.

Love you, man.

Love you, too.

We're doing
this together, man.

Thank
y'all so much for being here.

This is our first event.

We're a little nervous,
but we need to be here.

We need to keep talking
until they're hearing us.

We're tired of saying
that we need justice.

We need change.

We're done asking.
We're demanding.

- Nobody's asking for anything
exorbitant or extravagant

or out of the ordinary.

We just want to make sure
that we have the same

as anybody else.

We are dying at a rate

12 times more in this city.

If these numbers
were flipped around

and white women were dying at the
rate that Black women are dying,

it would be a national crisis.

Why is that not deemed a crisis?

This crazy behind
system is killing us.

We call it Aftershock,

because Shamony's death
was like a tsunami.

When Black mothers die, there's
a ripple effect and, yes,

the death is the earthquake.

But the shit afterward
is overwhelming.

The nights where I
get up, and it's like,

"Oh my god, I miss my daughter.
I miss her calling me."

Now I wish she would
call me 30 times a day.

After today, taking action,

Shamony lives through me being
an activist and a revolutionary

and the revolution
will be tweeted,

Instagrammed, Facebooked.

It will be recorded.

Two fathers are
sharing their heartbreak

to draw attention to medical
disparities in Black communities.

Shamony's death was

a direct result of
systemic racism.

Within the medical system,
there's been this repetitive pattern.

If Amber would've received
standard care, she would be here.

And that's
what he wants now

for every mother of color.

Part of what I want to
think through with you all is just

about, like, the messaging.

And I think it's really
important that we name

what the mission
is, which is equity.

Mm-hmm. It
can't be safer for all mothers

until it's safer for Black
mothers, Native mothers.

And so when we
talk about equity,

there's folks who
have to catch up

before that can even,
like, be a thing.

Yeah.

You know, you can't fix
things that you don't name,

and I do deeply believe that.

We're really, really fortunate

to be working with
a community partner,

LaBrisa Williams,

an extraordinary advocate for
birth justice and birth equity,

is someone that we can stand
shoulder to shoulder with

as we're walking
around the hospitals

and trying to build that
accountability to the community

within the health systems.

You guys
ready to start?

Yeah, sure.
Yeah.

So we'll gather
right over there.

We designed a process
that structures communication.

So every person giving birth
has a systematic way of knowing

that what they're expecting,
what they want to know,

what they want to say
is going to get heard.

Everything that we're
reading in the headlines

about maternal mortality
in our country going up,

what people are dying of is
not the clinical condition

on the death certificate.

It's a failure of communication,
teamwork every time.

What Team Birth is about,

it's doing the things
that we already know,

but making sure the people that
we're caring for can see it.

We really focus
on patient experience

and, like, make sure
they feel seen and heard.

Yeah.

That's awesome.

It's a very,
very simple idea.

It's a version of the
same dry erase whiteboard

that exists in almost
every inpatient room

in every hospital in America.

Usually, that board is primarily

for nurses to kind of
talk to themselves.

We structured it to have the
preferences of the person giving birth.

And then there's a place where
you write down the next time

the team is going to get
back together again and talk.

- The most important thing is
that we're being transparent

with the patient about
what the plan is.

I'm sure
you all have seen

the headlines around
maternal mortality.

You've seen the way
that it's been impacting

the people that
you're caring for.

So this is about
better outcomes,

which is also about building
trust along the way.

When we walk through
Bruce's story,

there's so many examples
of that not happening,

not only not feeling
seen and heard,

but also not being told
what was happening.

Right? That should
never happen.

It's Bruce.

- Hello, guys.
What's up, everybody?

Oh.

Oh, look at the couches.

Yes!

How's Elias?
- Oh, he's doing good.

I really started
talking to Nubia more

about the medical system.

Now that more people
are paying attention,

we have to band together
to bring effective change

and help our communities.

My name is Bruce McIntyre.

Us as a collective have been
doing a lot of groundwork,

redirecting the course
for birthing equity.

- I met Bruce and
Amber, his partner,

because they were
being grossly neglected

in the hospital setting.

Amber did not survive.

And one of the things I was
talking to Bruce about was

how we continue to just honor,

um, who she was as, as a mother

and make sure this doesn't
happen for somebody else.

Like, we can sit
and, you know, wait

for somebody to sweep in,

but it's an SOS situation

and we have to save ourselves.

Yeah.

- I know that what I
want in my communities,

in my birth communities,
from my clients is support.

When I think of the
hospital climate,

some people are
welcoming birth support

and other hospitals are not.

- Right.

My belief is that,
you know, people need

to have safe options
across the board.

Safer hospitals or, like I always
say, look for alternatives.

You know, you don't have
to birth at a hospital

if that's not, you
know, if you're part

of that 85 percent that's
low risk, you know.

But we want to do
the best that we can

to give people a
safe vaginal birth,

if that is their desire,
in an environment

where they're going
to be listened to,

respected, valued, and,
you know, at peace.

Yeah.

Can I touch your
belly? Uh-huh.

- How are you doing?

Oh, Lily-bug.

What's
going on in there?

There's
a lot going on.

Yeah.

So this is what we're going to do.
We're going to try this exercise.

- Okay.

And this
is going to show

what it looks like

when you have a contraction,

what a contraction does.

Okay?

So, this is your baby.
This is the uterus.

You're going to put the
baby in your uterus.

I don't know
what I would be doing

without a doula right now.

She's from Tulsa. She's Black.

I have, like, a friend
who's educated in this

that I talk to every two weeks.

Keep contracting,
keep on going.

I don't know if we
talked about this,

but I would like to touch on
it, like what a normal birth is

and what a normal
birth looks like.

There's such a wide
range of what normal is.

You can think of a normal
birth as like the train tracks

and then your birth experience
as the train, alright?

And then sometimes,
things happen.

We may have to switch tracks
and go around or whatever,

and that's okay.

At first, when we did
the birth plan, I was like,

"I'm just going to go to the
hospital, you know, the normal thing."

And then we talk about, like,
all the choices or the options,

and then I was like, "Maybe
a birth center is better."

We on track.

The main thing for me is
I do not want to have a C-section.

Paul and I are entrepreneurs.
We generate our own income.

I don't have a grandmother
that can come stay with us.

We don't have the resources
for a night nurse.

It says right
here. Okay.

Having a major
surgery will impact

our success as a new family
for the next 12 months.

Hello?

Hello.

Felicia?
Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you. Paul.

Paul.

Nice to meet you.

We've met
before, haven't we?

Yeah.
Ashlee. Okay.

Ashlee, okay.

Nice to meet you.Yes.

Well, I'm going to
give you guys your tour today.

I'm trying to talk about the
risk versus benefits of hospital

versus birth center
births, so...

Perfect.
Alright. Okay.

Well, let's go over this way.

We have three birth suites back here,
and I'm going to show you the first one.

This is the Gavin suite.

When you come in in
labor, you get your room,

um, we settle you
in, check you in,

and then we just see
what feels good to you.

Maybe you want to go for
a walk down at the park.

Maybe you want to go to the
Y and walk on the track.

Maybe you want to go to
the mall and walk around.

Maybe you want to get in
the tub for a little bit.

So it's really just up to you.

And we just go along with
you and carry our Doppler

and monitor baby and make
sure that you're doing okay,

and baby's doing okay while you
work through your labor stuff.

So...

This is the Bella suite,
a little bougie in here.

A little bougie.

- Mom is like, yeah.
That's my girl.

There you go, Felicia.

- This is the room I designed.

Oh wow.
- Yeah.

It's pretty cool.

- You're taking it all in?

- I'm definitely taking it in.

I haven't even gotten
in yet. Like...

This is crazy but
amazing at the same time.

Yeah. I'm
getting an understanding.

- I'm going to try
to walk you through

some of our medical things
that we have in place here.

My kids call this
the scary cart.

We are certified
nurse midwives here,

so we do follow
the medical model

in that we have a suture
kit for your bottom.

And I will tell you, we
throw more of these away

because they expire
than we use them.

And the reason for
that is we give you

the most important gift
as a first-time mom.

And that is time, time to be
in labor, time to stretch.

But if we need to repair
your bottom afterwards,

we can do that.

And then the medication box.

We don't do inductions
of labor here,

but we do have Pitocin and a
couple of other medications

that will help with hemorrhaging

if you were to hemorrhage
after you delivered.

- Paul's been working a lot.
I've been researching more.

Like, I'm really
educating myself,

and I'm like, I'm just trying
to have this baby safely.

- Let me just, let me break down

just a few of the
statistics for you, okay.

So with birth centers, the
C-section rate's about six percent.

In the hospital, the national
average is around 30, 33 percent.

But we don't value a vaginal
delivery in this setting

over your safety.

Okay.

I've had four C-sections.

Medically, I wasn't able
to have a vaginal birth.

- I'm, like, totally aware

of how fortunate

we are to have this option
this close to where we live.

I know people drive
hours here too.

I have one
family come over

from almost four hours
away in Arkansas.

They got an Airbnb and stayed

the last couple weeks of the
pregnancy with their family

so that they could enjoy
birth center care here.

- How did you, like,
guys decide to open this?

Like, it's like
against the system.

Yeah.

It was incredibly difficult,

but this is a calling
for us to do this.

The unfortunate thing
is they will not, insurance-wise,

will not cover any of our care.

Uh, so it would be a sole
out-of-pocket expense

for you to do that.

Okay.

Now, since
you're coming to us late,

the total for us would be 3,000.

- That's not bad.

I mean, I'm
pretty much sold.

It's nothing I didn't
really... see out of place

or anything like that.

I feel
like switching over,

I don't really have to
worry about anything.

Like, I'm more controlled on
knowing what's going to happen

instead of whatever's going
on in that hospital that day.

My grandmother had three
children successfully.

My dad was the only one
born in the hospital.

- I don't think it
matters which one it is.

I'm going to be
right there with you.

And I have nine
nieces and nephews.

So I know about, like,
children and birthing.

- Let me tell you,
Mr. I Know Everything.

There's two things you
don't know and you can't do.

- How to be a woman
and how to have a baby.

Yeah. Yeah, you right.

- Midwives existed in all nations
and cultures of the earth.

Midwives knew the
feminine secrets.

Midwives were
abortion practitioners

since the beginning of time,

helping women control
their fertility

and control the
use of their wombs.

That's a lot of power.

In spaces where
women have power,

some men have a problem with it.

In Europe, the Catholic
church wants more control

of childbearing women
and their choices.

It's the church
that first demands

that men be a part
of childbirth.

Enter the male midwife,

who then later on segues and
becomes the OB/GYN provider.

And priests, they're hearing
these reports that women scream

and women yell and they
become animalistic.

They, they become this other
thing when they're in childbirth,

that has not been
seen before by men.

We of course have the
scripture in the Bible

and the Lord's prayer,
deliver us from evil.

There becomes this
identification

with being delivered from evil.

You start to see this language
that women need to be delivered.

They need to be delivered.

And we've carried
that into modern day.

When we get to United
States history,

when enslaved people come here,

midwives come with them.

Midwives are on
every plantation,

not just caring for
enslaved Black people.

They were caring for everybody.

When the mistress
of the plantation

and her daughters and white
women are having babies,

they're being attended
by Black midwives too.

Midwives become

some of the most valued
enslaved persons.

George Washington himself
actually paid his midwife.

She was so valuable because
he wanted to make sure

that generations and
generations of enslaved beings

made it earth-side safely.

After slavery, we still
have community midwives.

Over time, these
powerful white men,

this new thing called an
OB/GYN physician decide

we are going to deem

that you should come to
the hospital to give birth.

White male physicians and
white public health nurses

bond together

and create a whole lot
of marketing campaigns

that say Black
midwives are dirty.

They're unskilled.
They're untrained.

White public health nurses
would actually run around

and hunt to find out
where the midwives were,

forcing them to go to health
departments and turn in their license,

saying to them, "If
you catch another baby,

I'll report you, and
you'll go to jail."

And midwifery becomes a
book knowledge profession.

You become a nurse,

and then you take
this extra training

to work in concert
with the doctor.

It is not a profession
that you grow into

through apprenticeship anymore.

So white women took
over this profession.

Right now, 87 percent
of all midwives

certified in the United
States of America are white.

Hi, Georgette, hi.

I'm very involved with
students around the nation,

especially here in New York.

We need more midwives
in the space.

Cecilia caught the twins,

Oh my goodness.

- First twins, she caught.

The United States has to
adopt the same modality

as all other countries, and
midwives have to be central

to women's healthcare.

Good night.
Alright. Night-night.

Midwifery care
supports Black women

because when it's done well,
it's anti-traumatic care.

It is a way to
reconstruct the narrative

that childbirth does not have

to be this process that's laced

in abuse.

- Good job.
- That felt good. Yeah.

Good job.

- Let's see if I can eat
one more before one comes.

When the contraction
comes, I don't want to eat

because I feel like
I'm going to choke

trying to keep myself together.

- What you smiling about?

take care
of you while I'm asleep, huh?

122 over 70.

Rocking it out, mama.

- Ohhh!

I think it's deeper now.

Mm-hmm.

- You got it.

- Is she okay?

She is just
perfectly content.

- She's like right down
here where my hand is.

Ohh.

- So, are we ready? Not yet.

Mmm.

You're doing amazing.

You're almost there.

- It's the hardest
thing I ever did.

Okay. Here comes one.

- You want the pillow?

You got this.

- Yeah? Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

There you go, there
you go, there you go.

So good.

Breathe it out. Good.

- Take your time.
Reach down.

Reach down. Open your eyes.

Want to reach down and help?

- No.

He can help.

- There we go.

You did it.
Woo! That's your baby.

Oh my god.

Hey, baby.
Say hi, mommy.

Hi. Hey. Hey.

Hi.
Hi, sweetheart.

You did it.

Baby, she's here.

Yeah, she's here, baby.

You did it.
Thank you.

- Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

- Don't cry.

I know, sweetheart.

Happy birthday.

There's your mama.

You are beautiful.
All that hair.

I know.

I know.

- I can't believe this is real.

Thank you.

She here,
baby. She is here.

- She's here and beautiful.

- Oh my goodness.

Oh wow. This is the space

I'm excited.

Wow.

- So, we're thinking
about making

the first two floors
the birth center

and then the third floor,

the reception and
a couple exam rooms

and a couple wellness spots.

And then in that corner,

that's going to be a
small community room

where we can have, um,
smaller classes happen.

We're going to bring a birthing
center over here to the Bronx.

We need it. We have the highest
Cesarean rate in this borough.

- It's pretty big.

Ready?

Action.

- We are partnering up to bring
a birthing center to the Bronx,

to serve our community,
to serve our people.

We need to stop working for a system
that is not going to work for us.

And we need to take
care of our communities.

We need to step up.

- Within the entire state of
more than 19 million people,

there are only
three birth centers.

This needs to change.

Birthing centers are a happy
medium of a hospital birth,

a very necessary
option, and home birth,

which is a wonderful option,
but not for everybody.

- Even if you can't donate,

figure out what you can do
to play your part to help us.

Thank you.
- We deserve a birthing center.

- We deserve a birthing center.
- We deserve birth centers.

Yes.
- Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Hello?Hey.

How are you, man?
Doing well, doing well, Neel.

How are you?
It's good to see you.

Good to see you.

How was the trip?
Oh, brother.

It was, it wasn't
bad. It wasn't bad.

- We so appreciate
you, um, coming up

and then spend time
with our students today.

- Definitely.

- I couldn't imagine when we
talked last year that we'd be here.

- Yeah.

- Doing this.
- Me neither.

I was just thinking about
that, like how surreal it is.

You know, that's just what
moving forward does, you know.

You just got to keep pushing
forward, and doors open up.

- Yeah.

Amber Rose Isaac
was the love of my life.

She passed away due to an
unscheduled emergency C-section

that stemmed from medical negligence
throughout her entire pregnancy.

After finding out all this information
and doing so much studying,

I found out that Amber
was as good as dead

as soon as she walked
into that hospital.

So we need to make sure that this
doesn't happen to anyone else.

In 2018, I watched Amber...

What people like
Bruce have taught me

is that affirming
a person's dignity,

seeing them, hearing them is
the way that you make them safe.

It's not a luxury.

Thank you so much.

I actually remember
being on Twitter,

hearing about Amber Rose.

And so it is so
surreal to me right now

to be sitting next to you,
to hear you tell your story,

to capture the things that

a news article will
never be able to capture.

This fight is not over.

And there are times,
because this is,

it feels like it's
so in my face,

because this is the work
that I'm interested,

"Oh, enough people
know about this."

But it's not enough, right?

Because too many people
are still dying from this.

Right? There will still be another,
which is one too many already.

- As a white provider, I'm
going to have a blind spot

that is, I don't have
any lived experience

with racism in this way.

And it's really, really easy
to become part of the problem

if you're not actively
working towards understanding

these types of stories.

I know you say that
this shouldn't ever happen again,

but the fact is it will.

Um, and so I think it's important
to have spaces of activism

and healing to be
prepared for that.

- You know, we're not going
to be able to save everyone,

but with Black
lives, Black women,

it's believed that over 60 percent
of these deaths were preventable.

That's more than half
we're talking about.

That sounds like a choice to me.

That sounds like a system.

And if you're here today,

that shows me that you want
to reimagine the system.

So I appreciate
everyone being here.

- Alright.

I'm down here in
Houston to meet a father

I've never met before.

But who I am definitely
connected to.

After I created a
piece for Amber,

I created a piece
for another woman,

and it just started
to become like, um,

what I was doing.

Creating pieces
for other families

who have lost their daughters,

their mothers, their partners.

To keep their stories going.

I've started to meet more families
than I ever could have imagined,

all over the country,

and build a community
that is needed.

What's good, bro?

Man, I'm happy to
be out here, man.

Yeah.
- Good to see you.

After Maria had the
baby in the hospital,

they came and told us,
hey, we had to, you know,

it's time to go, you
know, time to check out.

But, you know, uh,

she's not even able to walk.

Maybe we can, you know, extend
this somehow, whatever, you know?

Can she get more help?

But, you know, when the insurance
don't, don't pay for it...

They don't care
about you that much.

- Somebody hit me up on IG,

and they told me, you know,
about you and your story

and, you know, Maria.

I felt compelled, like
I got to speak to you

to let you know,
like, you know, like,

I don't know you, you know,

but I know how you feel, man.

Like, I know what
you're going through.

I know, I know the
pain. I know what it is.

Mm-hmm.

With that said, I
want to give you this.

I'm so happy, man, that I
was able to come out here

and, and give it
to you first hand.

Oh, man.

- I know that Shamony and Maria
are up there wherever they are.

They're probably in the room
right now with us, honestly.

But, you know, they connecting.

You know, they making stuff
happen for both of us, man.

Small, something
small I could do, man.

It's the very least I
could do for you, bro.

Appreciate you, man.
- I appreciate this, bro.

No doubt. No doubt.

- Yeah. It's dope.

So, on the
count of three,

we going to get this started.

One, two, three.

Alright.

Here, wait a
minute. Who wants some?

Um, Charles? Open your mouth,
Charles. That-that-that's okay.

Bruce? Where's Elias?

Let him open his mouth.

Now, I want
to say thank y'all.

I love y'all. We love y'all.

This is a very...

It's been a very
emotionally driven

and a very emotional
rollercoaster for me,

especially this last
couple of hours,

but, you know, specifically
these last couple of days.

And, um, I didn't know how I
was going to get through it.

And the anxiety of me thinking about
trying to get through it by myself

is... it's enough to
kill somebody, you know.

But the fact that I have
all of you as support,

it makes it so much easier to put
and keep a smile on my face, man.

So, thank y'all again. I
love y'all. We love y'all.

Take care.

Bye.
- Peace

Ahhh, ya got me!

- Let's do our little ritual.

Now I'm starting to
feel the butterflies.

Let your hands be the hands.

- Ase.
- Mm-hmm.

- This one is purity.

Your mantra. Yeah.

- I act from pure intentions.

- Yes.

So, for today,
it's not about me.

So I'm going to... I'm
getting so emotional.

- That's okay.

- Just moving myself
out of the way

so Shamony can speak through me

so that women can live. So...

And then anybody that does not
know about this, um, epidemic,

not the pandemic,

but the epidemic of maternal
mortality and morbidity

will be, um, able to receive
that and walk away with knowledge

and then also
prayerfully some action.

You ready? Mm-hmm.

- Alright, here we go.

How are you?
I'm good.

Pretty
good this morning.

Our next speaker

is a licensed clinician,
author, healer,

spiritual leader, and a reproductive
justice advocate and activist.

Shawnee Benton-Gibson.

- Black lives matter,

but Black wombs
create Black lives.

And when we forget that,
we forget our humanity.

We want to make sure
that our grandbabies,

our children have
mothers to raise them.

And that fathers are not left
to figure it out on their own.

We must stop this.

Black lives matter because
Black wombs matter.

Black lives matter because
Black wombs matter.

Black lives matter because
Black wombs matter,

and a Black womb created you.

I want white supremacy
to get off the necks

of women and their wombs.

This momentum is like a wave.

We keep showing up. We're
not letting the pain stop us.

We are holding people who have
the most power accountable

for how they use it.

Our maternal
health community

is really pushing for
change on Capitol Hill,

trying to bring about
different legislation

in order to make
sure that women have

the care that
they're supposed to.

- I can't let Amber
be another statistic.

I'm making people aware

of what's going on
in these systems.

I planned on spending
a lifetime with Amber.

I wanted to give her my life.

This way, I'm still going to.

Amber Rose Isaac. We
hear you, we see you.

Shamony Gibson. We
hear you, we see you.

Kira Johnson,

we hear you, we see you.

We're
taking a closer look

at the maternal mortality
rate in the United States.

- This issue of
maternal health...

- I introduced a bill called

the Black Maternal
Health Momnibus Act.

It's 12 bills

to end our nation's
maternal mortality crisis.

- All those families
who have been impacted,

who even in the
face of their trauma

and their devastating losses

continue to amplify
their voices,

that is really why this
work is happening today.

- Our healthcare system
including reproductive healthcare

was built on a legacy
of systemic racism,

and that legacy continues today.

- Madam Chairwoman, as
we approach Mother's Day,

my heart is heavy

as I sit here representing

the thousands upon thousands of
families that have been impacted.

These are my sons,
Charles and Langston.

My wife Kira won't wake up to
breakfast in bed this Mother's Day

because she gave
birth... in a country

that didn't see her,
that didn't value her.

We must do better.

This is Amber Rose Isaac.

Her son Elias

won't have the chance to
spend his first Mother's Day

with his mother.

Elias deserved better.

Shamony Gibson

should be here with
her son, Khari,

and her daughter, Anari.

She deserved so much better.

This is a human rights issue.

It should be a
fundamental human right

to deliver a healthy
child in this country

and live to raise that child.

That's my hope.

Greetings, family.

The reason why we are
gathered here today

is because Shamony
Makeba Gibson lived.

Gone too soon,

like a comet blazing
across the evening sky.

Gone too soon,

like a rainbow fading in
the twinkling of an eye.

Gone too soon,

shiny and sparkly and
splendidly bright,

here one day and gone one night.

Like a castle built
upon a sandy beach,

gone too soon.

Like a perfect flower that
is just beyond your reach,

That's my mommy.

gone too soon.

Shamony Makeba Gibson,

we will never, ever forget you.

Amen.