I took my children to the lake. . And I Left with an #IBCLC And Goat Milk! #TrueStory

If you noticed that I added a new page to this blog -- Painted Sky Soap -- it is because as of recently I became an independent representative for this small company, and so I'll tell you why I'm excited about it, and why I believe this may be another important component of the work I do supporting breastfeeding.

I think the most interesting things happen to me sometimes. I mean, the encounters I have with people. When I took my (little sister's) two youngest to the lake nearby their house and planned to hang out while they swam and splashed around in the shallow end with their friends, I didn't anticipate meeting a labor and delivery nurse, who was also an IBCLC -- a board Certified Lactation Consultant until just recently when she decided not to renew her certification. I'm sure you can imagine what she and I talked about for some time, right?! I also didn't anticipate meeting her husband who makes bodycare products from raw goat's milk.

After we all talked about breastfeeding, the fact that we were all California natives, recycling, and had the insane privilege of watching, right in front of our eyes, a bald eagle swoop down from the sky to try and capture a baby duckling floating around on the lake with its mama and other siblings -- the mama, who instructed the duckling to 'duck' to avert its demise, we began discussing goat's milk. The labor and delivery nurse/IBCLC, shared that her mother birthed six children and didn't breastfeed any of them -- she said she doesn't know why, but she did know that of all of them were given infant formula, but because of her allergy to cow's milk she was fed goat milk. The conversation progressed and I was pretty intrigued at what I was told, so later I decided to do some research on my own.

I found the benefits of raw goat milk to be extraordinary -- that it is loaded with natural vitamins, has the closest ph to our own skin which helps to avert irritants and infections, and that more and more research is suggesting it be used in place of the current cow's milk in infant formula, because of its benefits. From what I understood some of these include a potential decrease of SIDS due to potentially lessening the chance of anaphylactic shock from allergic reactions to cow's milk. This was only initial research. Of course the fact that these products are all natural, each contain only six to eight ingredients at best and goat's milk is always first on that list -- meaning it is the largest quantity in each product, and that they are handmade and cold processed just grabs me.

But, if you know me or know anything at all about me -- even though I'm a sucker for great skincare products, and especially a good lotion, then you'll know that I'm not too quick to hop on just any bandwagon. And, with the exception of books, I have yet to advertise anything on my site, and never allow it. Or, excuse me -- it would be rare and I'm exceptionally choosy -- I think we are too often given the exact things that are used to exploit us and create tumultuous dynamics all in the name of 'mobility'. But I digress..

I was not only impressed with the products, which I love, but I appreciate the relationship this owner has with his goat herd as well as the land, reciprocating the same kindness, loyalty, and faithfulness that he receives (I would not have signed up were this not the case). I think doing so was one of those things I could feel was right -- that somehow this is another critical component of promoting breastfeeding -- involving deeper implications of self-care, environment, race, and other ideas of holism -- mental, physical, emotional, spiritual and so on. I can't quite put my finger on exactly how this milk intersects with this work, but I know it does. And I'll soon find out because I absolutely look forward to seeing where this will all lead.

Please visit my new page as well as the website. Right now, the dust is still settling around here and I will probably soon enter a redirect from the blog page that will take you to an online store/shopping cart, if you're interested in purchasing anything. Also, please know that some of the pricing on the current site is slightly different on the website and all orders must be done through email, where you would tell me what you want and I would send you an invoice through Paypal. Many thanks, and please share your thoughts and let me know if you have any questions :O)

SELF CARE -- It's more than what you think in Anti-Racist and Social Justice Work! (Video)

I added a new label to this blog; 'SELF-CARE'. 

But I don't want to make it a truly 'separate' category and only talk about practical aspects, if you know what I mean, but I want to also talk about it on a deeper level. I'll explain.

From what I've noticed at least, self-care is one of the most overlooked aspects of anti-racist and anti-oppressive work. It seems as if the subject is almost taboo, in that it is hardly ever discussed and rarely have I seen the topic appear on my favorite blogs and websites, or hear about it during talks I attend by Black feminists, resistive workers, and other social justice activists. I admit I've hardly touched on it, and though I have found a few people discussing the issue here and there, the conversation in the 'quest' is always centered around ways to 'fight the power'.

You've heard this reference once before, and you'll hear it once again in an upcoming post, too, on when I went to hear Angela Davis speak a few months back. I asked her about suggestions for activists on how they continue, after always challenging everything under the sun, and feeling the toll it takes on us. I was approached after the event about my question, and was told it was a good one because, as this brotha put it, 'everyone wants to have dinner, but no one wants to talk about doing the dishes,' and he was right.

Day after day we prioritize issues that are undoubtedly important, in fighting the 'good fight'. It involves being vocal and speaking -- regardless of the level of difficulty. Activists endure verbal, emotional and sometimes physical violence from others reacting to social justice and anti-racist work, and we are often told to just 'suck it up' or 'keep it moving'. Many of us don't have adequate emotional support surrounding the issues we challenge -- I know for myself it has only been recently that I have begun to find the support I need in some areas, but I feel strongly that most Women of Color face the brunt of this, especially in an environment where issues of racism, sexism and capitalism are the backdrop. Black women, for example, whether actively engaged in anti-oppressive work or not, continue to be labeled 'strong', and never in need of a break -- that we've always got things under control. Of course this dehumanizing stereotype means at the end of the day, without getting proper support and self-nourishment, too many of us literally pay for this myth with our lives.

But just like others have said, and just like Audre Lorde's words in the image in this post -- 'Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation and that is an act of political warfare,' I agree. Self-care, I believe, is self preservation -- very much determined by who you are, in a society full of ideas on who we're 'supposed' to be -- and who is and is not supposed to be -- healthy, physically, mentally and emotionally well or even alive. Those who fall furthest from 'normative' dominant standards, as I stated earlier, feel the brunt, and it's most often these same people and groups on the front lines of the struggle. So why aren't we focusing more ways to ensure our own self-nourishment as an integral component of this work -- and not a separate entity, which I think may provide greater success with challenging injustice?

I don't think my ideas in this post are as clear as I'd like them to be. I would like to view this via a more critical and even practical perspective. I also want to hear about your thoughts on self-care -- in the 'ongoing quest for justice and equality'. I'm not sure what type of conversations exactly will erupt around this, but I do know that in my mind, I wonder how is it possible that we can participate in challenging injustice to its fullest if we fail to ensure we are even at our fullest? This is the way I see it, at least. And is why I want to place a special emphasis on this new category -- and make sure I post in it often.

Reblog - An Open Letter From Assata Shakur: 'I am only one woman' (Video) #handsoffAssata

I reblogged the article below from the Frontlines of Revolutionary Struggle's website. If you are unsure about the current conversation surrounding Assata Shakur, who was, just the other day, the 'first-ever woman to be added to the FBI’s most wanted terrorist list,' I recommend doing a good amount of research on her story, and contributions she has made to the struggle for justice and liberation. Though being convicted by an all-white jury of the murder of a state police officer, like others, I believe Assata's account of what happened on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1973, and am convinced of her innocence. I also agree that this sudden act to label her a terrorist, is itself an act of terror.

But I can't put my entire faith into believing this is simply about one woman's plight. The tactics of the United States, and political dissent vis-à-vis Cuba, as well an attempt to divert public attention from innumerable injustices on a local and global level, perpetuated by the imperialistic U.S. government, is at least also at the forefront, I believe. I also recognize this is only part of the legacy of repression and tyranny that has been sustained by the government, that we have seen experienced by those now and in the past -- especially towards those who have sought radical and revolutionary change and social equality for Black, poor and oppressed people.

Even though I admit I'm at a loss on offering ways to challenge someone being placed on a terrorist list, I'm doing what I can to spread the word and looking for whatever ways I can to become involved. I think this starts by hearing Assata in her own words.

An Open Letter From Assata Shakur - May 3, 2013

My name is Assata Shakur, and I am a 20th century escaped slave. Because of government persecution, I was left with no other choice than to flee from the political repression, racism and violence that dominate the US government’s policy towards people of color. I am an ex-political prisoner, and I have been living in exile in Cuba since 1984.

I have been a political activist most of my life, and although the U.S. government has done everything in its power to criminalize me, I am not a criminal, nor have I ever been one. In the 1960s, I participated in various struggles: the black liberation movement, the student rights movement, and the movement to end the war in Vietnam. I joined the Black Panther Party. By 1969 the Black Panther Party had become the number one organization targeted by the FBI’s COINTELPRO program. Because the Black Panther Party demanded the total liberation of black people, J. Edgar Hoover called it “greatest threat to the internal security of the country” and vowed to destroy it and its leaders and activists.

In 1978, my case was one of many cases bought before the United Nations Organization in a petition filed by the National Conference of Black Lawyers, the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, and the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice, exposing the existence of political prisoners in the United States, their political persecution, and the cruel and inhuman treatment they receive in US prisons. According to the report:

I was falsely accused in six different “criminal cases” and in all six of these cases I was eventually acquitted or the charges were dismissed. The fact that I was acquitted or that the charges were dismissed, did not mean that I received justice in the courts, that was certainly not the case. It only meant that the “evidence” presented against me was so flimsy and false that my innocence became evident. This political persecution was part and parcel of the government’s policy of eliminating political opponents by charging them with crimes and arresting them with no regard to the factual basis of such charges. . . . finish reading Assata's open letter

'Eyes of the Rainbow: Assata Shakur [Full] Documentary'

Radical Black #Breastfeeding Bingo, Anyone?

I love Bingo! I have since I was a kid, and could play this game for hours. I usually play no less than several rounds at the family picnic each Summer, hosted by the company my brother-n-law works for. True story. I love the game and they give out great winning prizes. What can I say? J

I was inspired to create the bingo card below, after the idea came from viewing the ways other people have used the famous game to get messages across. I think it is a perfect opportunity to share the way I view structural barriers to breastfeeding for Black women, and the Black community (what stands in the way -- and grasp things at the root), and what I discuss during my presentations, along with what I believe are ways we can work towards solutions. Understand that there is only so much room on this single card; and it doesn't even begin to touch on practical matters -- infant tongue tie, fussy baby, thrush, for example. 

This is not to say that Black women don't have agency -- that Black women who don't breastfeed are nothing more than mindless and oppressed and don't know what they're doing or what's best for their own situations. I don't think that at all. Nor am I saying that those who do never face any social barriers, or don't occupy a social position where they feel these less than others. But I'm looking in on it through a more structural framework -- a larger picture than zeroing in on one Black woman, 10 or even 100. And what I am saying is that breastfeeding is more than simply the mechanical steps of attaching an infant to its mother's breast. If Black women have the lowest initiation and duration rates of any group in the country -- and who are coincidentally disproportionately affected by strategic and systematically crafted structures, which are part of a continued legacy of the most sordid US history, then it is not by chance. If we want to start hearing more about an infant's access to its mother's breast and all of the goodness that comes with that, then we need to look at breastfeeding through a more critical and holistic lens. And talk less about the infant and its mother's breast and more about the issues that are situated between the two. And find ways to challenge these issues. 

I hope you play a round or more of Radical Black Breastfeeding Bingo. And while you are immersed in your game, ask yourself just how you support these structures -- because you know you do. We all do, somehow.

Open Anthropology - A FREE #Anthropology Journal! #MakingAnthropologyPublic

This is cause for celebration. Or at least a few cheers. In an effort to make anthropology more public and to make anthropologists more visible, the American Anthropological Association (AAA) has created Open Anthropology: A PUBLIC JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION, an online journal and volume 1, Number 1 -- the inaugural issue is now online, and it's FREE!!

This current issue is titled 'Marriage and other Arrangements'. Here are some of the titles from this volume, which are also linked:

• Re-evaluating Primate Monogamy
• The Impoverishment of Women: A Glimpse of the Global Picture 
• Marriage Rights and LGBTQ Youth: The Present and Future Impact of Sexuality Policy Changes

There are other articles in the journal also, of course, and you can check those out. The AAA, on it's blog, provides the following info about the journal:

"Content in Open Anthropology will be culled from the full archive of AAA publications, curated into issues, and will be freely available on the internet for a minimum of six months, permitting any users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search or link to the full text of these articles. Each issue will be dedicated to topics of interest to the general public, and that may have direct or indirect public policy implications." 

Below is part of the introduction to the journal form the AAA's president, Leith Mullings:

"Anthropology is the science of humankind, past and present, across societies and cultures. The anthropological perspective is distinct from most social sciences in that it does not accept specific cultural forms and societal arrangements as given or 'natural', but seeks to understand the conditions in which they came to be. As we apply anthropological knowledge — gained from the study of humans and primates through history and across societies — to pressing social issues such as family, war, health, migration, inequality, we ask how these emerge, and are reproduced or transformed. The answers to these questions may provide unique insights into addressing pressing social issues." 

This is why I think everyone needs at least a little bit of anthropology.  And judging from this new initiative, so do they.

If you would like to understand more about the discipline, I recommend you head over. I hope you visit this journal on a regular basis -- or at least often. Here's the link. Make sure you spread the world!

The Top 10 + ONE Reasons Why I focus on Black Women's Breastfeeding - And Won't Apologize!

Some people are taken back when I tell them I'm interested in Black women's breastfeeding. When I'm in conversations with (usually non-Black) people who are advocates, or even others who are not necessarily into the 'breastfeeding thing', and we're on the subject and somewhere in there in there I mention that I want to see Black women's rates increase, there's that split-second pause right before that quizzical look appears on their face, like 'What? You only care about Black women breastfeeding?' Which, of course, is the furthest thing from what I said. Others have insisted that I'm reproducing the same racism that I challenge. I find this is largely the case with white people -- white women, particularly, who are involved in countless initiatives and who work as advocates to get more 'women' on board this breastfeeding train. But taking a look a their agenda, you quickly understand their use of the word 'women' easily translates to white women only, since it never encompasses areas specific to any group outside of their own ethnicity. At least this is my experience.

But I've not only noticed this with white women; this has been true about other people who work in areas specific to their own racial, or cultural group, for example. Let's say I'm talking with a woman with a Romanian heritage and she tells me, whether within breastfeeding or not, the area she specializes in is dealing with women and people from this group. Or, maybe it's someone from Iran, focusing on ways to empower women in the Iranian community. I have had these types of experiences a number of times. I once had a professor who stated she knew so much about Black history because she wanted to know her own Asian-American background in the US, and this history required her to understand African American's. Does it mean that there is no interest in learning about ways to connect with and interact with others, while working towards togetherness and solidarity? That's not the case for me, at least. But it does mean that there is a special area I place my emphasis --and it's clear they also have their own, which never really involves Black women, so I really don't understand why I receive such seemingly and sometimes outright negative reactions.

I decided to put together a short list of my top reasons for focusing in this area on Black women's breastfeeding. It's not exhaustive, or a way to try and justify or defend my focus, but maybe I'd just like to 'put it out there'  -- put that on record. I may list more in the future, but for now here are just a few.

1. I am a Black Woman! Enough said!
2. I love Black women!! Maybe this bears repeating. This does not mean I don't have a love for everyone, but I do have a special place in my heart for my sisters. Even though my feelings have been hurt within the community, as well as learning about the violent climate we have been subjected to, Black women have found creative ways to survive in this society given its history. Black women have built strong communities and continue to be beacons of light for those of us looking for guidance. I love that we have struggled, strived, and continue to work at challenging social injustice for ourselves and others. It is love that has kept us here, and that same love is what drives the desire within us to work with others and create a world free of oppression. 
3. Because I am a Black woman and I love Black women, I have a desire to go deeper into the issues of breastfeeding for Black people and the Black community. I have not found scholarship that delves into the issues I have looked for, where breastfeeding is used as a site to place the larger issues of food, social, and other forms of justice and individual and community agency within this context of infant feeding, for us. 
4. Black women have the lowest breastfeeding initiation and duration rates of any group in this country, and breastfeeding save lives. In fact, our disparity is what lured me to this work. Black babies are dying at an alarming rate, and breastmilk is literally the the difference between life and death for some of them. Breastfeeding can also assist in preserving the health of Black women, who also face inequity in medical care. BTW, this is not the 'oppression olympics' -- I've always rooted for the underdog anyway. Does this mean that I am uninterested in the lives of other people and communities? Not in the least. I believe my attention to our tradition has allowed me to look at understanding the way to view the benefits and cultural and social meaning of others'.   
5. I am a 'Reverse Racist', remember?! -- a 'Racist anti-racist'! Because I challenge dominant structures that work to remain in power, and criticize whiteness on a regular, if not a daily, it means that I am racist against whites. I came to this conclusion a number of months ago, and you can read all about my 'coming out' story, if you click the link to the article at the beginning of this point. Oh, and I work to see how the issues that make me an reverse racist interfere with our breastfeeding rates. But don't worry, it's not like I blame everything on whiteness. I examine other types of social turmoil, as well as how Black intra-racial conflict impedes our success in this area, too. J
6. Black women are apparently non-existent in books, magazines, pamphlets, etc., at the library, schools, and other places that deal with the topic at hand. These texts continue to remain authored by uninterested, culturally insular and/or xenophobic people who completely mull over the unique experiences of Black women. Black women remain left out of their breastfeeding context -- (well, except for in cases when we appear in reading material geared towards low-income, and other governmental agencies, that is). *Sigh* 
7. I've got a lot of Black women to pay back. Helping eradicate breastfeeding disparities is the least I can do. As I've said before once when I learned about the history of Black women in this country, I promised I wouldn't remain silent -- that I would give my best to voice these women and shine a light on their lives and work towards challenging injustice. I would repay them. The universe chose this recompense be through breastfeeding support. I want to repay them for what they went through, what they got to -- and the support and courage for what they continue to do. Without them, there would be no me.
8. Black women DO breastfeed. And breastfeeding is powerful! I have never breastfed a baby myself, but I see the impact it can and does have for the Black community far, far beyond nourishment, and mainstream medical reasoning. I also see the joy it brings to other women, and can empathize with their experiences of bonding, closeness, creating a healthier generation and an overall feeling of cherishing this critical but short time they share with babies. I love that I'm helping to enable other women to experience these same things. 
9. The universe drew me here. Since it wasn't warm fuzzies and sentiments from a personal nursing experience that caused me to become an advocate, if you know how I became active in this area, then you will understand that ending up on the breastfeeding runway is the exact last place in the world I would have ever expected myself to land. Really. If you visit my 'About Me' page, then you will know that I am only responding to a summons from the universe.
10. Anthropology + Black Breastfeeding gives me a rush! 
11. "If Black women were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free since our freedom would necessitate the destruction of all the systems of oppression." I firmly believe that many of the views expressed in the The Combahee River Collective Statement, which was crafted in 1977, remains very true today still and even in this context. Breastfeeding is more than simply the mechanical steps of attaching an infant to its mother's breast. When issues of racial injustice and other forms of systematic oppression that are heavily weighted against Black women in this country are addressed, then this would mean they are addressed on a larger scale, and that breastfeeding inequity is non longer existent.

'Into a world sick with racism': Can Sex(y) Sell Social Justice For Black People?

The other day I was taking my walk. Just the same as I always do when I'm out -- four times per week, three miles per trip, I had my ipod nano with me on shuffle. Near the end of my routine, one of the tracks from the megastar Janet Jackson played. The track is from the album Janet -- a CD a good friend of mine bought me as a Christmas gift when it was first released back in 1992. Or was it '93? Either way, I still have it, and for the past 20 years as you can imagine, I've heard it numerous times. But strange as it may seem, what stood out to me after all of this time was a track about racism -- titled Racism -- a nine second, 9-word interlude to a quite powerful song about the turning tide, social progression and 'New Agenda' for African American women in this country (all that we've been through): I've embedded the track below, as well as added its text underneath:

'Into a world sick with racism, get well soon.'

Even though I've never given it any real thought, interestingly enough -- perhaps in the back of my mind, I always felt this track was out of place. It may be because, save for a couple of songs from the late 80s, I've never heard much of Janet Jackson speaking (or singing) in the likes of anti-racism and social justice. The large majority of the other titles on this album are dedicated to relationships and sexual activity, and even though I have not purchased any of her albums since sometime in the mid to late 90s, it's probably not an assumption to say given the sultry image she portrays and from the songs I have heard on the radio, this is most likely the case on those successives. But I'm not necessarily here trying to pinpoint Janet Jackson, per se; doing so would be looking through too narrow a lens. She, like many others in the business, have been propped as agents of 'sex' and 'sexy' and have been made into 'sex symbols' in an industry whose purpose is to make money in a society where sex can sell anything from a bag of ice to thumb tacs, a candy bar, a new tire, a flashlight -- or CDs. And the track on her album is what made me think of this idea on racism and social justice, which is why I'm using her as an example. I went to an online site that allows users to create speech bubbles, and with the pictures of Janet Jackson I found online I got a little creative and put together the few below:

Challenge racism, class elitism, white supremacy -- social inequity.

Work to end institutional racism and cool off.

I could not leave a breastfeeding image out.

It's OK to laugh! I had a pretty good one putting these together. But I'm really not trying to be funny. 

Maybe I'm simply trying to understand what it meant back then, or what it means even today that what I view as a seemingly contradictory message of decrying anti-Black racism is coupled with acquiescence to patriarchy and male-domination, white-centric ideas of beauty, body image and capitalism -- all which have worked to ridicule Black women. And therein lies a history of stigma against Black bodies -- and Black women have been commoditized, hyper-sexualized, and considered the antithesis of all things related to real 'womanhood' -- and as I've heard one professor 'Blackness is seen as the most radical form of racial 'otherness.' I'm not judging -- at least that's not my intent. And I know that it can and does happen often that we participate in one form of oppression while denouncing another; I know things are complicated like that. So could this work for Black people? 

We clearly support this industry -- along its various messages. I mean, we never challenge the content, the tactics or question their marketing. And concert ticket sales, billboard charts and the various mansions and flashy cars that Janet Jackson and others live in and drive is the biggest indicator that we're tuned in. So if we infused music, magazines and other mediums with images and slogans like the ones above with popular artists, rock stars and maybe sports figures would it mean we could expect to hear less about young Black men being brutally attacked and gunned down within this racist system that continues to depict these men as just a threat to society? Could sex(y) somehow curve Black on Black crime? Or stop the many intra-racial conflicts in the Black community? Could we expect to see more Black babies at the breast? I mean, want more breastfeeding, right?!

What are your thoughts?

I personally do not believe sex can sell anti-racism or breastfeeding, or anything else for that matter. I mean, someone may buy it, but I believe it would only open up the floodgates for deeper and new forms of oppression and create more ways to strengthen the framework surrounding various exploitations -- racial, gendered and others. To me, it also means continuing to conform to the idea that sex -- and what we have established as so-called 'sexy' holds the answer to all things that we are too often led to believe -- and I have a lengthy list of politics in this area, including the over consumption of sexual activity (No! I don't believe sexual activity, that we are always encouraged to engage in with our significant other or any other consenting adult, is a natural phenomena). In fact, I believe in order to address more issues in general it must begin with the our preoccupation with sex. And even though not everyone may agree with me on this or any of my politics in this area, which is not what I'm asking, what would it mean to if this platform were used to promote anti-racism? I'd love to know what you have to say, really. Because I absolutely want to talk about it.

Update: Just to clarify, when I say I do not believe the sexual activity we are always encouraged to engage in is natural, what I mean by this is even though I believe sex is natural, of course, the way we are always encouraged to OVER-consume and always engage in it is not. But I believe it is learned behavior. I believe the issues behind our preoccupation with sex need to be addressed -- which inevitably shows us the links to this over consumption -- low self-esteem from the messages we receive, patriarchy, capitalism, etc. Hope that makes sense.

Now, back to the lecture at hand.