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Risking My Life to Speak at a Tech Conference
What it’s like to be a Black woman in America
Have you ever risked your life to attend a conference?
I’m not speaking in hyperbole when I say that I will be putting myself in danger next week by traveling to Florida for a conference.
The NAACP has issued a travel advisory that reads, in part, “Under its current Governor, the State of Florida has engaged in an all-out attack on Black Americans, accurate Black history, voting rights, members of the LGBTQ+community, immigrants, women’s reproductive rights, and free speech, while simultaneously embracing a culture of fear, bullying, and intimidation by public officials…Please be advised that Florida is openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals. Before traveling to Florida, please understand that the State of Florida devalues and marginalizes the contributions of and the challenges faced by African Americans and other minorities.”
I have been shaken to my core by the most recent news out of Florida that middle school children will be taught about the ways that slavery was supposedly beneficial to enslaved people. The return to this kind of rhetoric is incredibly dangerous.
For centuries, this country used “science” to justify slavery, including the belief that Black people literally have thicker skin than white people and that we feel less pain. The maternal death rate among Black women in this country is evidence of the continued impact of this kind of rhetoric.
As a Black mother of two, I have spent 18 months of my life terrified of giving birth in this country. Terrified that I might go into labor away from home and I might end up in a hospital without my white husband to advocate for me.
I labored for less than six hours during the birth of my second child. During that time, my pain was ignored for more than an hour. For more than one-sixth of my labor, a nurse dismissed my pleas to see the doctor when I expressed that I was in the worst pain of my life. By the time the doctor arrived, I was six centimeters dilated. In one hour of excruciating pain, I had gone from 0 to 6 centimeters and I nearly missed the window to get an epidural (10 centimeters).
