Racist Anti-Choice Campaign Targets Black Women’s Bodies

You may have heard of the billboard that was erected in SoHo recently. A colleague at Out In Front alerted me, and I had to see it to believe it.When I heard about the billboard I was mad, but when I saw this billboard I felt sick—not just upset or disappointed, but bile-churning, stomach-knotting, lunch-losing sick. This billboard is a vile attack on Black women’s bodies, intelligence and autonomy and a blatant disregard for the many outputs of a dangerously racist society.This is what the intersection of racism and sexism looks like in large, New York billboard proportions. This goes beyond anti-choice. This is a calculated effort to use racism to fuel the anti-choice movement. By focusing on the womb and not the woman, the campaign relegates the Black woman’s body to a thing, a mere incubator, and ignores the presence of mind. Woman conjures humanity and identity. There is no recognition of the woman’s ability to make an educated decision about her health, future or body. It’d disgustingly dehumanizing.The campaign also gives strength to the anti-choice movement by dividing Black abortions and white abortions. It suggests that people should fight abortions by African American women and, by omission, implies that abortions by white women are a-okay. Such a divide means people no longer have to choose pro-choice or anti-choice for all women. Pro-choice for white folk. Anti-abortion for Black. Hideous.On top of this, Life Always would have you believe that “The most dangerous place for an African American is the womb.” This happy ignorance is a painful slap in the face to all African American people suffering from—and fighting against—a insidious and complex system of racism with a myriad of harmful outputs.How dangerous are the streets? How dangerous is work place? How dangerous is the NYPD? How dangerous is the education system? This tag line blatantly ignores the persisting dangers faced by people of African descent every day. Sure, let’s ignore the lack of employment, housing, health care and education for people of color. These really aren’t important issues. Black women’s bodies—now THAT’s a health hazard!It makes you wonder, in a society that actively devalues the lives of people of color, what future can be afforded the young Black girl on the billboard? I can’t help but think that behind her quizzical look she is asking the same thing.But PLEASE, don’t take my word for it. Read the statement by Sistersong and the Trust Black Women Partnership.To help in the effort to remove this vile piece of racist marketing swill from SoHo, please contact the advertising company that hosts the billboard and ask them to remove it:

Lamar AdvertisingGeneral Manager: Peter Costanza, pcostanza@lamar.com437 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016Phone: 212-644-6147Fax: 212-644-6148

UPDATE: Thanks to the vocal, organized actions of organizers of color and their allies, the billboard has been removed, although Lamar cites non-political reasons for the action.