https://www.fcd-us.org/blog-build-power-among-mothers-of-color-to-get-policies-that-work-for-all-mothers/
Everyone wants infants of color to be healthy and prosper. But what about the financial stability and health of the people who care for them? Mothers, particularly Black mothers, are often erased from the picture. There’s a pervasive belief that they don’t deserve benefits or rights.
At Mothering Justice, we empower mothers of color — through leadership development and voter engagement — to be a loud voice for the financial stability of mothers. We focus on equal pay, paid leave, maternal health, and affordable child care.
Unlearning and relearning history is essential to this work.
I remember when I couldn’t afford child care, I looked to see who was organizing for this issue, and I did not see myself reflected. Instead, I heard that it wouldn’t be politically viable to make a Black mother the face of a campaign. I didn’t see my family history, or the reasons I opted in to motherhood, reflected in the narrative. This intentional erasure of Black women is a form of racism.
The reality is that Black women are a benefit and contribution to this country, and always have been. Most have a joyful experience of Black motherhood and of their own mothers. They deserve trust as caregivers. And they need a political home where they can effect policy change that reflects their values, joy, and lived experience.
That’s why Mothering Justice speaks directly to Black mothers. We don’t lead with disparities; we lead with strengths. Black women have been fighting for rights and shaping this country for forever. We are asking women to walk in their footsteps.
Imagine mothers of color becoming an independent political power: a big enough base of voters who know what to look for in a policy that politicians do not move without us — meaning they would be scared to craft policy that would piss off mothers of color.
Here’s how we’ll get there:
Engaging Hundreds of Voters
Black women are the most reliable voting bloc in the Democratic party. We don’t need to tell a Black woman to vote. We need to empower her to be the influence in her community on political issues that she is on every other issue.
First, we unpack the sausage on the political process to show women the inner workings. Then we equip women with the tools to best tell neighbors how and when to vote.
In a relational organizing program, our members — we call them Mamavists — identify one hundred women in their network who may need an extra push to vote. Mamavists contact a woman three times, first, to ask which issue is most important to her. “Great,” they’ll say in response, “I’m going to be bugging you a few more times during this program I’m doing.” Next: “We need you to vote if we’re going to have any traction on (this issue you care about).” They also send a handwritten letter.
Mothering Justice works with 75 Mamavists in a cycle, and their combined network of 7,500 women becomes part of our larger universe — now 50,000 women of color strong. We’ve had to build our own database of women of color, because the official Voter Activation Network in Michigan guesses at racial and ethnic identities based on geography and surname.
Knowing a Pig When You See One
Voters knowing the difference between good and bad policy is especially important today, when it’s easy for political parties to spread disinformation. When people vote for bad policy dressed up to look good, they’re disappointed that their lives don’t improve, and they become disillusioned about whether voting matters. We have to be very clear about what’s a pig so that people understand they still have power in the system.
We educate Mamavists on what is good policy and what is “lipstick on a pig.” For example, in our view, a good child care policy has to have three things. It has to stabilize the industry, be affordable for families, and have a living wage.
Our country also needs broader definitions of success. When GDP is bad, child care is expensive, and when GDP is good, child care is expensive — so let’s find additional measures of whether policies are working for families.
Mamavists contact their network four more times after an election to pass along information women of color can trust. It’s a lot of work. Wouldn’t it be easier to get great policy, we tell our Mamavists, if we just elected great people? Like them.
Matching Leadership Development to Mamas’ Interests
Our nine-month fellowship program helps make it easier for mothers of color to run for political office and win. We also meet mothers where they want to be. If a woman wants to do voter engagement, just learn about undoing racism, or be a great ally, we’ve got a fellowship for that.
It’s working.
Mothering Justice has increased the minimum wage twice in Michigan.
We established the first paid-leave law in the state.
To serve rural communities without hospitals, we helped pass a bill to establish licensure for home-birth midwives.
We protected breastfeeding in Detroit, a city with low incomes and low breastfeeding rates, by helping local advocates kick out a corporation that paid moms very little for their breast milk. So many community members signed petitions that the company packed up and left. We didn’t have to change legislation, just use people power.
Building a Big Enough Base
One avenue for expansion we’ve created, at the federal level, is a Congressional Mama’s Caucus. We recruit two fellows in each Congressional district that joins the Caucus, and they work on an issue together with their congressperson as a practicum. With that relationship in place, Mothering Justice can then call on the congressperson to back a state campaign (say, a designated funding stream for child care) and help push it through federally.
Rural-urban collaborations are another important area for expansion. It’s really the same thing — lack of infrastructure — that causes us all headaches. In the case of the midwifery bill we helped pass, which was led by a Republican, rural mothers need midwives just to give birth safely at home, and urban mothers want the option of giving birth at home. The bill helps both.
When we harness the synergies between different groups of people, we build power. That’s how we win.
We need to change who we listen to.
We need to change what we measure.
We need to change who deserves good policies.
Because when we enact good policies for mothers of color, we get good policies for all mothers.
This is the sixth blog in the Foundation’s Social Justice for Young Children Conversation Series exploring what it means to pursue social justice for young children and their families.
About the Author
Danielle Atkinson is the national executive director of Mothering Justice, a leadership development and advocacy organization. She has extensive experience as a church-based, electoral, and community organizer. She has worked with organizations such as America Votes, State Voices, Population Connection and ACORN. In 2012, Atkinson founded Mothering Justice. Atkinson has led organizing efforts to raise the minimum wage in both Florida and Michigan. Mothering Justice also led the fight to get earned paid sick time in Michigan. Her work organizing mothers won her the 2013 Michigan Organizer of the Year Award. Atkinson received bachelor’s degrees in political science and sociology from Pfeiffer University and lives in Royal Oak, Michigan, with her husband Frank and their six children.