The prospect of obtaining tangible freedom is seemingly implausible. Merely thinking about the concept, idea and existence of such is met with steep skepticism and hesitation. Freedom, the ability (power) to act, speak and think as one desires without restraint or hinderance; the state of not being imprisoned or enslaved. A verity foreign to the Negro, unfounded in the collective African diasporic experience, selective to the American experiment, and fairytale-esque in actualization and application. For freedom to be tangible, actualized for the marginalized and othered, there must be truth telling.
“For freedom to be tangible, actualized for the marginalized and othered, there must be truth telling.”
Truth be told, the highest court in the land has ceased to be the place of equitable justice and space of affirmed humanity through fair interpretation of the law. Already evidenced through its rollback of voting rights, indifference toward affirmative action, and resistance to equitable protection from an ongoing endemic.
This is no random occurrence or sudden happening, but an intentional generational plot to confront shifting demographics and demand for communal co-existence determined to recreate the country that once existed. A country emulated through the MET Gala’s Gilded Age inspired theme all while an unprecedented revelation of empire’s intent to revoke progress in the name of hypocritical morality and authoritarian theft occurred.
Politico’s leak of an initial draft opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito affirmed the truth known by Black and brown women about this nation’s power brokers — white men — when it comes to their bodies and decisions; a truth arguably known by all women.
Since the inception of this country the bodies of women, specifically Black women, have been seen through a lens of capitalistic commodification and engrained manipulation. One that has long deemed the bodies of Black and brown people as experimental and Black women’s bodies as living cadavers.
Engineered practices of abuse by white men resulting in irreversible acts of bodily harm done by the likes of J. Marion Sims. Praised as the father of modern gynecology, Sims practiced on enslaved Black women. Lucy, Anarcha, Betsey and unknown others suffered the pain of his experiments. Anarcha alone endured 30 surgeries without anesthesia. It was later revealed that “after he practiced his methods on Black women, Sims moved to New York City to open a women’s hospital in the 1850s. He started treating white women, but with anesthesia.”
The damning role, impact and effects of white autocracy and patriarchy have marred this country. Further, men’s inability to cease from infringing upon the inherent authority of women to choose what happens to their bodies will not cease the act or practice of abortions. As Traci Blackmon stated: “The fact is no Supreme Court decision, no state law, no theological shame game will ever stop abortions from happening. What it may do is stop safe abortions. It will drive many women back into dark alleys and kitchen tables. It will cause women for whom places like Planned Parenthood are their only safe and affordable choice to seek desperate measures to control their own bodies. And those who can afford to condemn others and continue to make their own decisions about their bodies … or have them made for them … will continue to access abortions in private clinics and offices and pretend they never went inside.”
“Within Alito’s draft we bear witness to the maligned trope regarding the role abortion plays within the African American community.”
Within Alito’s draft we bear witness to the maligned trope regarding the role abortion plays within the African American community. A narrative championed by white conservatives and evangelicals, and damningly adopted by Black theological conservatives absent of interrogation and implied messaging. All the while dismissing the autonomy of women, economic realities, lack of prenatal care, dynamics regarding health and life, and frankly matters far more complicated to the knowledge of men or anything I could place in this article.
Politico reports: “Alito’s draft opinion ventures even further into this racially sensitive territory by observing in a footnote that some early proponents of abortion rights also had unsavory views in favor of eugenics. ‘Some such supporters have been motivated by a desire to suppress the size of the African American population,” Alito writes. “It is beyond dispute that Roe has had that demographic effect. A highly disproportionate percentage of aborted fetuses are Black.’”
The regurgitation of such by a Supreme Court justice should alarm the staunchest of religious Pharisees while also jolting broader society into direct action. The ramifications of such a ruling should alarm us all, for certainly it won’t cease with Roe v. Wade. The prospect of justice will shift.
From Politico: “The overturning of Roe would almost immediately lead to stricter limits on abortion access in large swaths of the South and Midwest, with about half of the states set to immediately impose broad abortion bans. Any state could still legally allow the procedure.”
“The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each state from regulating or prohibiting abortion,” Alito’s draft concludes. “Roe and Casey arrogated that authority. We now overrule those decisions and return that authority to the people and their elected representatives.”
“The uplift of the age-old argument of ‘states’ rights’ creates an avenue to enter a period of prohibition never seen.”
Revealed is a strategy toward regression. At stake is the livelihood and welfare of the country. At stake are the rights of Black and brown communities. At stake is the affirmed existence and rights of LGBTQ neighbors. At stake is every ruling that has tried to construct an equitable country built upon the tangible accessibility to justice. Yet, the uplift of the age-old argument of “states’ rights” creates an avenue to enter a period of prohibition never seen. An era more damning than anything Strom Thurmond and Jerry Falwell could construct. We are witnessing the truth of imperial violence and white hegemonic fear manifested through systemic, generational, patriarchal and state-sanctioned death. Clear indications of a nation becoming a death-dealing hell.
The truth is we exist in a nation that is sick. A country that is being who it’s always been. The evidence reveals we are about to enter a new era of state’s rights and generational repeals. Arguably, “we ain’t seen nothing yet.” However, discontent and distance won’t change the reality. Deep resistance, confrontation and a true strategy is our only solution; it’s all we have.
Jamar A. Boyd II serves the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference as senior manager of organizational impact. He earned a bachelor of science degree in sport management and business from Georgia Southern University and a master of divinity degree from The Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University. He is the former justice reform organizer at the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy. He also serves as the graduate fellow for the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology.