“And then you also were given a reminder of why reproductive justice matters in the ways that it does, their mother no longer had care for them. Because a caretaker she left them with for too long, called the police. And Marley is still breastfeeding age, and you took him out of the household, right, and so she's not on drugs, there's nothing, they're not actually in harm's way. And you took a basic newborn out of the home of their mother for whatever your Nebraska reasoning is, and then put them in a white household, right. So I don't think without the knowledge of reproductive justice, what it had been, how very clear how fucked up this situation was, and how they wanted me to terminate my brother's rights, and I refuse to her rights had already been terminated, because she stopped the process of reunification. But I remember sitting with them and being like, I'm not terminating anybody's rights, if my brother wants to access to them, then he can have access to them, he was incarcerated at the time. So it just really put me in a strong position to see the injustice and her children being taken away, and then further understand with very sophisticated language, why that was even- why she was even in a position. So my brother being taken out of the household for a minor probation violation. A mother, female bodied person being now expected to care for two children on her own. And she's, very young, they're younger than me. And then in this lilywhite state that they moved to, apparently, because it had more resources, or it got them out the block, like, it just takes one Cali nigga to move somewhere, and then a whole bunch of them move. I think it's anywhere, right, but it was also Nebraska, they didn't have, their grandmother lived there, and had attempted to get the boys but she already had custody of all their siblings, so they would not give the boys to her. Which is another violation. Now you saying someone who is able, and at least heartspace willing to take care of them isn't suitable because of how many kids are in the household. So there's a lot of judgments being made, that I'm able to see and understand because I have this knowledge and experience with reproductive justice.

Zahra On Family Separation

Georgia Dusk is an intergenerational oral history of southern liberation movements documenting Black, queer, & feminist organizers and cultural workers in the state of Georgia.

Zahra On Family Separation

Georgia Dusk: a southern liberation oral history