Roe v. Wade

I’m a leader here to help continue to make a difference.?I’m a co-founder of a social impact non-profit empowering young people to advocate for change having served 2,000 diverse young people to become self-valued leaders and Changemakers doing award-winning programming, multicultural marketing, and helping to drive social justice reform. EYEJ: Empowering Youth, Exploring Justice .

I know many women who have had abortions of different ethnicities, socioeconomic levels, and ages, and overturning Roe v. Wade was gut-wrenchingly painful, a threat to humanity.

This issue however has nothing to do with abortion.?Ultimately this is oppression and marginalization of everyone except a select few.?This issue demonstrates this is no longer a black or white, poverty vs. upper class, educated or non-educated segmented country, but rather a select few that is trying to control, and hold power over the rest of us. I'll never forget when I first started EYEJ, a very prestigious Clevelander stated to me "keep those kids contained". This is exactly the mentality of these select few re: Roe v. Wade and women.

Complex topic.?What is positive is that the certain few who are making these decisions are threatened?and trying everything possible to keep women marginalized and therefore the fight for what's right from people, women, humans is working in the U.S..?How can we think smarter in opposition and act on this????How do we make the right stance and be careful of reacting to what the few powers are purposely wanting to see happen (power) vs. doing the right thing??We need to look at things holistically meaning the individual, internal and external as we have a responsibility in all areas as individuals, community members, and business leaders.

• Are we as companies making public stances on what our actions are/stance is?
• Are we taking care of the mental health of our employees?
• Are we providing clear statements of support to those in political power to fight this issue?

The best thing to do is ask and LISTEN to your team, and your company what they want to see and combine, partner it with what is available, mission and strategic plan for what is realistic and put it into action and communicate it.

What else is positive is to see so many women, especially white women (thank you!) stepping up to the plate to fight this battle.?This is refreshing for me to see as many that are marginalized are dealing with this type of issue every day in multiple social justice areas (police reform, toxic stress, poverty, etc.) simply trying to survive and we don’t see sometimes this much support.

We also have to remember that persons that are marginalized or underserved may not be reacting to: Roe v. Wade as much as we'd like to see, as we have to remember that these persons have been fighting a similar battle,?for many many years, every day?so may be exhausted or may be afraid to speak up.?Lend a hand, demonstrate compassion, your time and your support as these persons may have many years of experience, knowledge, tactics under their belt to help combat this issue.?Ultimately, we need to work together?and this is a great opportunity to do so, as we are all fighting the same battle, and ultimately that is the oppression of anyone (including many white persons) that is not the select few that are in power overturning Roe v. Wade i.e. look at our Senate, do they represent the U.S. correctly??

Finally, what lesson are we continuing to teach our young people i.e. political reform for a more equitable and just society??Are we teaching health within companies to empower them to work? Are we making a clear stance on the issue, internally and to the public? We must keep up the fight, together and work together to make this happen.

#BeAChangemaker