The Pathway To Plenary: A Much Different Version Than Imagined
In December of last year, three birth workers, myself included, submitted an abstract to the American College of Nurse Midwives (ACNM) to present at their annual conference. The submission was rejected and to be honest I was a little bummed. But a week or two later I was contacted and asked to speak on the topic of social media and litigation with a lawyer who was well versed in healthcare law. After accepting, I began to outline my work, reach out to some dope presenters that I knew of, and brainstorm ideas for what this would look like.
Then 2020 hit—nothing like what many of us expected. Initially, in the first few months of the year, I was able to make strides in the plans for my presentation but all of that was sideswiped in early March. With personal and worldwide events happening, I had set aside the presentation, glimpsing at it less than I had imagined and waiting on the final decisions from ACNM of whether or not the conference would actually continue or if events would shift to the following year (or perhaps not at all). I took a pause to take care of ‘business at home’. When the never-ending March came to a close, naturally, April began—again with some not-so-great personal events. And this, tied in with the deaths and injustices of people from my Black community, making it difficult for me to process. I did, however, take the time to draft the presentation and get a few more tasks completed.
By this time, the word was that the conference would be virtual. But truly, my spirits were low. Quite frankly, it is hard to think about anything else when you are heartbroken and your community is struggling. Yet, I also did not want to let my community down and I take pride in standing by the commitments I have made. So, I did my best to gather info, draft the presentation from my end, check-in with the co-presenter, and keep up to date with the virtual conference plans.
I did have moments where I questioned myself. And this was even more so in the days before the conference as we heard about the unnecessary death of George Floyd. What was the point? How would this conference even be relevant? What does that have to do with saving the lives of Black folks?
I didn’t have the answers. I just pushed myself forward.
I made a last-minute edit to acknowledge the fact that social media indeed ties in with the relevance of supporting Black folks. It is ONE of the MANY ways that folks can promote change and various efforts, including protests, aimed at helping the community.
I share all this because we have no excuse. We must make efforts to use social media as well as our everyday lives to promote change. Racism isn’t going to get rid of itself, nor do I expect drastic work overnight (America has never worked like that). But I do believe that silence is a HUGE statement. It means you do not support the folks who are struggling and that you are in agreement with the injustices they face. So, as I have posed this question within my presentation, what are you doing? How are you helping? Or do you believe there is ‘no problem’? We have been ‘gifted’ technology. Will you continue to let that gift sit or let it rule over you, or will you take it apart piece by piece to figure out ways in which you can actually make an impact? I hope you choose the latter.
‘We wear the mask that grins and lies. It shades our cheeks and hides our eyes. This debt we pay to human guile with torn and bleeding hearts we smile…’
-Maya Angelou
