“Getting the Crap out of our Bodies: Clean Diets for Pregnant Women,” “Building Sustainable Communities through Transformational Leadership,” “Styln’ Safely” and “Reefer Madness: The Racist Foundation of Cannabis Criminalization” were just some of the informational workshops offered this year at the 7th Annual Kinks, Locks & Twists : Environment and Reproductive Conference.
Speakers for the sessions were Dr. Jennifer Adibi, MPH, SCd of the Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh; Rashaa and Fred Brown, of the Kingsley Association; and Teni Adewumi of Black Women for Wellness.
Kinks, Locks and Twists were literally all over the Hill District since workshops were held in various venues, including the Hill House Association facilities—the Main Hillman auditorium and the Blakey Center—as well as the Jeron X. Grayson Community Center.
The conference, which spanned over a three-day period, included a Greens and Blues Earth Day Celebration with the Hill House Association, the Ujamaa Collective in the Courtyard and a book signing with Dianne Glave, author of “Rooted in the Earth: Reclaiming the African American Environmental Heritage.” It ended with a family festival.
With facilitators from as far away as California, and as close as the ladies in the Ujamaa Collective and Terri Baltimore, director of Neighborhood Engagement for the Hill House Association, the event also included a couple tours of the Historic Hill on Molly’s trolleys.
A few significant workshops to note were “The Black Hair Institute,” held at the Jeron X Grayson Center and featuring keynote speaker Tamiah Bridgett, founder of “It’s a Natural Thang,” the Pittsburgh Chapter of the National Natural Hair Meet Up, was about the Black woman and her hair. It touched on the anxiety that has for so long plagued them about just what to do with it, but more so about the why and how of their hair—why do we struggle to wear it natural and how do they move seamlessly into natural hair?
Also in this workshop, Celeta Hickman, a founder of Ujamaa Collective, gave a presentation on the history of African American hair and how their it has evolved down through the years.
Baltimore, the luncheon keynote, gave a presentation on “Rediscovering the Court of Ideas.” This was a space created in an alley off Centre Avenue in 1964; created by a group of young people in the Hill District who called them themselves “The Organizers.”
During another day of the conference, luncheon keynote speaker Tanya Fields, a food justice activist and urban farmer in the Bronx, N.Y., and executive director of the BLK ProJEK, spoke on “The Feminine Face of Poverty—but the most affected are children.”
The presenter who traveled the farthest to speak at the conference was Adewumi who came from Los Angeles. Teni Adewumi, the Environmental Justice Program coordinator for Black Women for Wellness, shared that one of BWW’s strategic goals is to increase accessibility to appropriate and affordable health services that positively impact the health outcomes of Black women and girls.
She also outlined their current project of targeting beauty salon workers with the importance of using gloves and even masks when applying chemical perms to a customer’s head.
“Many times it is challenging because stylists are quick to say they’ve already been doing hair for many years and they don’t feel a true need to protect themselves,” she said.
“Regrettably the pressing truth is that our research has shown us that hair stylists suffer from higher risks of certain kinds of cancer, immune disorders, uterine fibroids and even miscarriages than any other industry.”
These were just some of the many workshops and events held over the three-day event; the goal being to inform, inspire and empower women to be able to make informed decisions on a daily basis about every aspect of their life style and their families.
“We define Reproductive Justice as the human right of all women/people to control all choices about our bodies, sexuality, gender work and reproduction,” said Executive Director La’Tasha Mayes. “New Voices is building a social change movement dedicated to the health and well-being of Black women and girl—this conference is part of our larger picture to reach women with the tools necessary to handle this control in a safe and productive way. “
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