Anti-Abortion Billboard Heightens Assault on Poor, African American Women

Thanks to Ms. Foundation grantee the Women of Color Policy Network, we've got a major win to report on the reproductive justice front!

As you've likely heard by now, last week, New York City became the latest stop on the campaign trail for an anti-abortion initiative that aims to convince African Americans that legalized abortion is a racialized threat. A billboard once hanging at the corner of Watts and 6th Avenue, in Soho, featured the image of a young African American girl, above whose head dangled these disturbing words: "The most dangerous place for an African American is in the womb." Not coincidentally, the billboard was situated less than half a mile from a Planned Parenthood facility.

The campaign's goal, organizers from the group behind the ads will tell you, is to cast abortion as a "genocidal plot" to destroy the Black community -- and they're taking their message nationwide. Last year they launched similar advertising attacks in Georgia, where Ms. Foundation grantees SPARK Reproductive Justice Now and SisterSong led valiant efforts to challenge the campaign's dangerous rhetoric.

Now it's time to add another grantee to the list of organizations successfully shutting the door on this racist campaign: on Thursday of last week, WOCPN was able to report that they, too, had pushed back against the companies involved in placing these ads -- and won! In response to a letter sent by WOCPN to Lamar Billboards (the company that owns the ad space where the billboard was hanging), WOCPN received word from the company that the billboard would be taken down -- immediately. On Thursday night, a crane removed the offensive ad from its downtown location.

C. Nicole Mason, Executive Director of WOCPN, stressed the role that the collective efforts of numerous organizations played in achieving this victory. "I truly believe," Mason wrote in an alert to constituents about the win, "that our collective quick action, phone calls and letters to the company are directly responsible for their decision to pull the ad."

We're thrilled to be able to celebrate the removal of this ad from the New York City streets -- but we know the fight is not yet over. We find these ads attacking African American women both utterly reprehensible and undeniably racist. They represent yet another assault on poor women of color by seeking to limit their access not merely to abortion services, but to the other 97% of preventive health care services Planned Parenthood provides. The group behind these ads is attempting to scare Black women away from accessing the reproductive and preventative health resources many of them so desperately need -- an act that should be criminal, given that it puts women's lives at risk.

Better than anyone else, Black women know what is best for their bodies and their lives, and they must be trusted to decide, individually, which reproductive choices are right for them. Today, we can be pleased that one company eventually understood the racism and sexism implicit in this campaign (or the threat to their bottom line) and chose to stand on the side of decency. But the struggle to make sure that women's voices and perspectives are respected and heard continues on. With organizations like WOCPN, SPARK and SisterSong leading the charge, we have no doubt that reproductive justice will prevail.

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Upcoming Event: Impact of Child Care Subsidies on Women of Color

Concerned about the state of child care assistance available to low-income and working class families in these troubled times? Then you may want to take some time tomorrow (Tuesday, November 2nd) to attend an important event hosted by Ms. Foundation grantee the Women of Color Policy Network, here in New York City.

"Carrying the Load: The Impact of Child Care Subsidy Policies on the Economic Security of Women of Color," will feature a roundtable discussion of the many challenges working and low-income families with young children face in accessing safe, quality, affordable child care. The panel will examine the impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on child care subsidy funding and availability; highlight the importance of child care subsidies for working, low-income communities; and strategize policy solutions to enhance child care subsidy experiences for women of color and their families.

Panelists include: Gina Adams, Senior Fellow, Urban Institute; J. Lee Kreader, PhD, Director of Research Connections, National Center for Children in Poverty; Benita Miller, Executive Director, Brooklyn Young Mother’s Collective; and Chanelle Pearson, Research Associate, Women of Color Policy Network, NYU Wagner. The discussion will be moderated by Hannah Matthews, Senior Policy Analyst at CLASP.

The event will take place on Tuesday, November 2, 2010, from 6:30 - 8:30 PM in the Rudin Family Room (2nd Floor) of The Puck Building: 295 Lafayette Street, New York, NY.

For more information and to RSVP, please visit: http://wagner.nyu.edu/wocpn/news/calendar.php#child.

Please also note that next Tuesday's roundtable will be followed by a national webinar on child care subsidies in the states, to be held on Wednesday, November 10, 2010 at 3:00 PM (EST).

Read how our grantee, Parent Voices, is fighting for affordable child care in California.

Upcoming Event: Single Mothers and the Wealth Gap

For those of you in the New York City area, the Women of Color Policy Network at NYU will be hosting a discussion this Wednesday night that's sure to be informative.

"More Than a Paycheck: Single Mothers and the Wealth Gap" will feature a moderated conversation between Mariko Change, PhD, author of the new book Shortchanged: Why Women Have Less Wealth and What Can be Done About It, and Ida Rademacher, PhD, Director of Research for the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) in Washington, D.C. The event will also celebrate the release of WOCPN's forthcoming report, "At Rope’s End: Single Women Mothers, Wealth and Asset Accumulation in the U.S."

The discussion will run from 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm on Wednesday, October 6th, and will be held at 295 Lafayette Street in New York City.

For more details and to RSVP, visit: wagner.nyu.edu/events.

Women of Color Policy Network Releases Study on Race, Gender, and the Recession: Job Creation and Employment

Our colleague, C. Nicole Mason, executive director of the Women of Color Policy Network at New York University's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, has authored a sobering report, the first in a four-part series on the impact of the economic crisis and recession on women of color, their families and their communities.

The series focuses on effects of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and the first report focuses on job creation and employment. It finds of the nearly 4 million jobs created or saved through the Act, only 917,675 will go to African-Americans and Latinos. An additional 1.7 million jobs would have to be created and go directly to Blacks and Latinos to cut the unemployment rate in those communities to Administration's projected national rate of 6.5 percent by 2010.

The study also finds:

• Of the jobs created or saved, African-American and Latino women will receive an estimated 420,991 and African-American and Latino men will receive 496,684


• African-Americans and Latinos are under-represented in the industries targeted through the Reinvestment Act. Black and Latino men comprise 5.1 percent and 8.4 percent of those working in targeted industries. Black and Latino women make up 5.9 percent and 5.6 of those working in targeted industries


• Of the targeted industries and occupations identified as green, African-Americans and Latinos comprise less than 25 percent of those employed


• Although women will receive nearly half of the jobs that will be created through the Act, they are under-represented in higher-wage occupations and in targeted industries


• White women will receive an estimated 1,377,879 jobs through the Reinvestment act; a figure nearly 70 percent higher than for African-American and Latino women combined

C. Nicole Mason says, "During this time of great economic need and distress, it is important to consider the most vulnerable in our society. To ensure that everyone recovers successfully, the Administration will need to dedicate significant and additional resources to communities hit hardest and to those with the least safety nets."

Download the full report [pdf].
Download an executive summary [pdf].

Update
See also: Race and Recession: How Inequity Rigged the Economy and How to Change the Rules