TRA Black Caucus
On February 28th, 2022, TRA’s Black Caucus held its first convening and voted unanimously to pass its consensus-built demands of and agenda for the Trust Respect Access coalition. The purpose of the convening was three-fold:
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To develop deeper familiarity among caucus members—politically and personally
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To build a proactive agenda
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To establish demands that, if fulfilled, would serve as restitution for harm committed against Black partners in TRA
During our time together, we accomplished all of that and more.
DEMANDS
On February 28th, 2022, The Black Caucus gathered to demand a restructuring of power in a space that had been racist, classist, and uninhabitable for Black people. The creation of these demands was the first step in addressing harmful anti-Black behavior within TRA.
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Public acknowledgement of participation in perpetuating anti-Blackness within the Trust Respect Access coalition.
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Public acknowledgement of the anti-Black origins of Trust Respect Access coalition.
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Public acknowledgement of the value that the integration of Black organizations and the coalition’s abortion funds added to the coalition’s reputation and engagement.
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Full implementation of the recommendations outlined in the anti-Blackness findings published by 400+1, with the exception of the recommendation that names office-lending or space sharing. In place of that recommendation is the ask that organizations pre-identified on the basis of equity list their spaces for potential use when coalition-wide efforts require that support.
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Prioritize programming and tangible support for Black-led organizations.
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Payment of an anti-Blackness fine that comprises 1% of the operations budget of each non-Black, pre-pause organization to a coalition-wide reparations fund.
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Built-in Black Caucus space at all TRA meetings.
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Participation in a reporting-system that allows individual board members, staff, and volunteers of partner organizations to report anti-Blackness experienced at said organizations to the Black Caucus.
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Risk taking for the purpose of protecting those most marginalized from the dangers of resisting reproductive oppression.
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Decision-making will be held by the TRA steering committee members with at least one seat reserved for a Black Caucus member who will represent the caucus.
2022-23 COALITION AGENDA
Throughout 2022 and into 2023, the Black Caucus asks that the coalition focus its collaborative efforts on the following items:
1. Demonstrating accountability and offering restitution for transphobia in reproductive health, reproductive rights, Reproductive Justice, and reproductive revolution movements
2. Base-building
3. Responding to the fallout from Senate Bill 8 and the overturn of Roe v. Wade
4. Eradicating maternal mortality
5. Campaigning to build culture and shift narratives in ways that directly benefit those most marginalized by reproductive oppression (poor, Black people)
6. Tactical analysis
7. Support of Rosie’s Law
8. Destabilizing systems of reproductive oppression
9. Securing universal comprehensive sex education
10. Resisting the criminalization of birth outcomes
11. Developing food security initiatives
12. Responding to abortion-related Supreme Court decisions
TESTIMONIES
Watch our documentary on the history of racism in the reproductive rights movement and hear from the founding members of the Black Caucus. These videos are first-hand accounts of those who intentionally leveraged their own capacity to support the reproductive lives of their communities.
FOUNDING MEMBERS
Njera Keith and Kristina Brown of 400+1
D’Andra Willis, Michelle Anderson, Cerita Burrell, and Qiana Arnold of The Afiya Center
Kamyon Conner of TEA Fund
Nneka Iheanacho of AVOW
Shae Ward of Lilith Fund
Malkia Hutchinson-Arvizu of RHRJ Support Team
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thank you to the founding members of the TRA Black Caucus for demonstrating courage and self-determination in the face of reproductive oppression. Thank you for your energy, labor, and presence.