Thread by @iamn0tthe1

Dear white midwives,
Nurse midwifery is the only modern American profession in the nation besides police which began with slave/Indian catcher patrols, whose existence is rooted in white supremacy: the control, elimination & replacement of the Black midwife with white nurses.

Whiteness was central to the planning, implementation, growth and marketing of the profession. This is not hyperbole this is fact. It still continues today. The 87% white workforce looks exactly like the 86% midwifery directors who determine who teaches & studies nurse midwifery.

CPMs are no more diverse and make up only a tenth of the midwifery profession. So to suggest @ACNMmidwives @MANAcommunity with their white leadership, white educators & white workforce can reduce mortality driven by 🤰🏾🤱🏽isn’t naive it’s white supremacy in action.

Solutions that are led by & centering Black femme thought leaders in nursing, medicine, public health, public policy & of course Black midwives @BirthEquity @black_midwives @BMHCaucus @BlkMamasMatter
to the exclusion of white gatekeepers is the only practical solution.

If we learned nothing in the past month, not as Black folks but as a nation it’s that most white women will side with white supremacy to advance their own best interests. Why should Black families trust the care of their desired pregnancy with a white female workforce, MD or CNM

I’m seeing more & more Black families choosing unassisted births if they can’t find Black providers midwife, or physician rather than place themselves in the hands of white clinicians they believe mean them intentional ill. We need to own that. White midwives sit down & shut up.

You are white women of privilege that came into a profession rooted in the oppression of Black women that relies on poor Black pregnant people to survive while you wait for whites women to find you chic.
You can’t be both oppressors and our saviors. #TrustBlackWomen

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