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If could turn back the clock
and bring Shalon back,
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I would literally do anything.
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I would happily give everything
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if I could see her smiling
face once again,
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but sadly, if Shalon were here,
it would not change the fact
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that between 700 to 800 women
die each year in America
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from pregnancy and
childbirth-related complications.
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The choice to have a child should never
equate to a death sentence.
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The rate of maternal deaths
in America is utterly appalling.
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In 2017, NPR and ProPublica reported
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that the United States has the highest
rate of maternal mortality
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of any developed country in the world.
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And the United States is the only country
where that rate is steadily rising.
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Black mothers like Shalon
remain the primary group
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for maternal mortality.
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It is truly reprehensible
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that Black women die
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at a rate of three to four times
that of white women.
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It is absolutely shameful that 60 percent
of those deaths are totally preventable
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as was my daughter's.
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And here's a shocking fact:
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according to the report by Health
Resources and Services Administration,
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the difference in risk has been steadily
unchanged for the past six decades --
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six decades.
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Clearly, current efforts to address
maternal mortality rates
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and the racial and health
disparities in that area
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remain woefully inadequate.
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Only when race stops being the precursor
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to how Black women are treated
or not treated in the health care system,
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then outcomes will be
drastically different.
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I want to be abundantly clear now.
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The medical community is failing
Black mothers in America.
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For decades,
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Black women have been dismissed,
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ignored,
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disregarded
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or at the very least,
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they have been not taken seriously
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in their interactions
with the health care system.
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It's not uncommon for Black women
to experience racism and discrimination
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by medical prodivders.
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That racism can be blatantly covert
or covertly subtle,
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but make no mistake --
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it is there.
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It didn't matter that Shalon had dual PhDs
in sociology and gerontology;
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it didn't even matter that Shalon
had two master's degrees,
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one of them a masters in public health
from Johns Hopkins.
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It made no difference that Shalon
was a lieutentant commander
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in the US Public Health Service,
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an alumnus of the world-renowned
epidemic intelligence service,
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a highly respected epidimiologist
at the Centers for Disease Control
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and president of her own
diversity company.
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She was still a Black woman.
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A Black woman accessing a system
that saw her as a sterotype
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and responded to her as such.
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During the three weeks
after her child was born,
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Shalon went to her health care providers
again and again in distress.
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Obviously with her education and training,
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she could --
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and she did articulate
her concerns very clearly.
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Yet her cries for help
were minimized and dismissed
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by the covert bias of medical provider.
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That very bias,
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fueled by structural racism,
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is the root cause
of disparities in health care.
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That very bias impacted Shalon's outcome.
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That very bias caused my daughter
to be among the statistics for 2017.
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As a result,
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I lost my beautiful little girl.
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My baby girl.
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I lost my confidant,
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I lost my best friend,
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I lost my whole world.
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Shalon's daughter lost her mother
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and all of the relationship possibilities
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that could have existed
between the two of them.
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The society may have suffered
the greater loss.
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Who knows how many medical advancements
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or social justice contributions
Shalon may have made
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if only her medical provider
had listened to her
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and heeded her cries for help.
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We will never know.
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But this much we do know.
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Behind every one of those 700
to 800 women who die is a family
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and a whole social network of loved ones,
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including the children
left behind like Soleil.
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Shalon's daughter Soleil
is three years old now.
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She has a quick smile --
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every bit as brilliant
as her mother's was.
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Soleil is fearless.
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She's determined
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and she's so opinionated.
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So smart.
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Soleil constantly amazes me
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at how confidently
she is navigating her world.
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But Soleil only knows her mother
through photographs
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and the cherished memories that I have
and share with her every day.
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Yet Soleil loves her mommy,
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who was with her
for only three short weeks --
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she tells me so each day.
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My heart aches each time
Soleil cries for her mommy.
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It is during those times
Soleil has said to me,
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"Nana, I want to go to heaven
so I can be with my mommy."
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It should not be that way.
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It doesn't have to be that way.
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It can really no longer
continue to be that way.
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When I said earlier that the medical
community is failing Black mothers,
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some may have wondered if I'm painting
with too broad a brush.
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After all, it's individuals who are
to blame here, right?
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Or perhaps we should say that a relative
handful of hospitals,
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which happen to be the ones
that are largely used by Black women
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and other minorities,
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are at the epicenter of maternal
mortality in America.
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But I would argue that focusing
on a handful of individuals
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or a handful of hospitals
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is defining the problem way too narrowly.
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The problem behavior isn't about
the actions of specific individuals
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or hospitals,
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it's much more systemic than that.
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What's more,
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the prevalence of the problem
is deeply entrenched --
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embedded in the very foundation
of our health care system.
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It is this broad-based failure
that continues to allow disparities
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in maternal health and death,
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which result in Black women
just like Shalon
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dying at rate 300 percent higher
than white women.
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It's been well documented,
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year after year,
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decade after decade,
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generation after generation,
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and nothing effective
has been done to fix it.
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How do we fix it?
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Is there a definitive answer
to eradicating disparities
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in maternal mortality?
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Well, improvements in data
accuracy are critical
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but not nearly enough.
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Algorithms, check lists, apps --
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they all play an important role,
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but they're no .... either.
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And I really can't emphasize enough
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that implicit bias training
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without explicit measures
of accountability
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will absolutely no difference at all.
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It is time --
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it is long past time,
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that leaders in the medical community
take steps to transform
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the health care system status quo.
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The first step must be acknowledging
that the inherent problem
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in the health care system
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is more than a problem,
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it's a failure.
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The next step requires
taking responsibility
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and owning that failure.
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But the most important step
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is actively taking the necessary actions
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to right the wrongs
created by that failure.
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A wise woman once told me
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if you want something different,
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you have to do something different.
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My daughter was committed
to doing something different.
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Shalon was known as a woman
of great integrity
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and high moral values.
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When asked about her driving
principles in life,
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she would respond,
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"I see inequity wherever it exists.
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I'm not afraid to call it by name.
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And I work hard to eliminate it.
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I vow to create a better earth."
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Shalon put those words into action
every day of her life.
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Former Surgeon General
David Satcher once said,
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"leaders must care enough,
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leaders much know enough,
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leaders must be willing to do enough
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and leaders must be willing
to persist until the work is done."
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Shalon was such a leader.
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Though there will never be
another leader like Shalon,
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we can each persist
until the work is done.
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Here's what I'm doing to persist until
the work to save Black mothers is done.
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To get things started,
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I joined forces with several
of Shalon's friends
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and CDC colleagues.
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We founded a nonprofit.
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We're working hard to eliminate
preventable death among Black mothers.
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And here's how we're doing it:
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with action, action and more action.
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We're engaging stakeholders
at every point of the public health
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and health care spectrum.
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We're actively working
with the legislative office.
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We're promoting accountability
measures in post-partem bills
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and we want them enshrined in the law.
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We're embarking upon
a community-based research project
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which will redefine quality
of medical care of Black women.
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Ultimately, we will tilt more power
into the hands of Black women.
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How are we going to do that?
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By empowering Black women
and their birthing partners
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to effectively counteract the bias
and racism they experience
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at any given point during pregnancy,
childbirth and post-partem.
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Look around you.
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Each one of us in this room
has a circle of influence.
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I invite you to consider how powerful
an impact we could make
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if we focus that collective
influence on this problem,
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on making a difference.
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What if we, like Shalon, acknowledged
inequity wherever it existed
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in our communities --
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and we weren't afraid to call it by name?
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What if we were each committed
and passionate
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about using the full range
of our resources
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to eliminate that inequity?
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Could we change things?
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Could we really overturn
centuries of prejudice
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and decades of bad practice?
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I know we could.
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I know we could
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if we were focused on that issue,
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if we focus that collective energy.
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To quote Nelson Mandela,
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"When people are determined
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they can overcome anything."
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Action without vision --
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it's only passing time.
-
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Vision without action
is merely daydreaming.
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But vision with action can truly
change the world.
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Shalon's life was the perfect
embodiment of the vision.
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Shalon's death is our call to action.
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So today let's each of us vow
to do whatever we can.
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Let us vow to right this wrong.
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Let us vow to be a part of the solution
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until Black women are no longer
marginalized and dying needlessly
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in the health care system.
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And like my daughter,
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Dr. Shalon Maureen Irving,
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let us each vow to create a better earth.
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Thank you.
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(Applause)