A Reflection on Our May A SACReD Journey Training
Rev. Kentina Washington-Leapheart, SACReD Lead Trainer and Program Coordinator
Our time in New Orleans was a transformative one: building relationships that are often deemed unlikely among clergy & lay leaders, abortion funds and birth doulas, and grassroots organizers, stretching our theologies and our practices, deepening our skills to address systemic violation through a Reproductive Justice framework.
Digging into the curriculum after many months of hard work by the revision team was an important milestone in a long journey. One of the guiding objectives has been to build a curriculum that supports participants to identify where Reproductive Justice is alive in their communities and join in. A SACReD Journey (ASJ) Facilitator Training called over 50 people from across the country who were eager to lead their communities in this healing, transforming, organizing work.
When we gathered together in May, the RJ Show & Tell activity from the ASJ curriculum invited us all to think about the tangible ways that we see representations of reproductive justice in our everyday lives, big and small.
As I think back on our time together in New Orleans in May for the A SACReD Journey (ASJ) training, I am reminded of the juxtaposition of life, joy, and fun alongside the stench of struggle, death, trauma, and loss. As we were planning the May in-person training, it was very important to me that we were intentional about taking time to acknowledge the land in an expansive way.
It was not lost on me (or any of us) that our hotel was adjacent to Bourbon Street where just a few months earlier, screams of terror drowned out the lively jazz music as the blood of 14 dead revelers ran in the street. 20 years ago this summer, Hurricane Katrina swept through and destroyed the lives of tens of thousands of people, fueled not just by horrific weather patterns, but also racism, greed, classism, and anti-Blackness. New Orleans and her people continue to represent beauty, joy, spirituality, and hospitality. And they are also a people who have been rocked by grief, loss, and inequality. Reproductive Justice allows us to understand all of this complexity and from it seek justice with integrity. The movement for reproductive justice is everywhere.
As I write this reflection, I am sitting in my home office listening to the background noise of summer camp kids running and playing at the neighborhood rec center behind my house. Their laughter lets me know that, at least for the few hours that they are at camp, they are experiencing the carefree joy of childhood summers – friends, games, and popsicles abound in the sweltering heat. I am also reminded that many of these same children are the offspring of City of Philadelphia unionized employees who authorized a strike on July 1st. Sanitation workers, library support staff, pool staff, and others walked off the job demanding that the city pay a livable wage in line with the increased cost of living and other economic pressures that so many parents and families are facing as they simply try to pay for housing, food, medicine, childcare, and yes, summer camp. The parents, grandparents, and other extended family members of these mostly Black kids sacrificed so much – including being paid while on strike – in order to fight the good fight of dignity, safety, and equity for themselves and their families. The strike ended after a long and arduous 8 day battle, with the union ultimately forced by an impending court order to concede to the City’s low offer. The fight continues. The movement for reproductive justice is everywhere.
As with all of the work that we in these movements for justice engage in on a daily basis, there is always room for the Spirit to continue to speak, and to call us into deeper imagining, deeper engagement, and a deepening of the answer to the questions: Who is in the room? Who is not in the room? ASJ is no exception, and in the coming months, we look forward to sharing more about how we will continue to ask and answer this question alongside all of you, our trained Facilitators.