Photo by Aaron Salcido.
Janet Robinson-Flint Executive Director of Black Women for Wellness. Held in partnership with South Central Innervisions: An AfroLatinxFuturism, an interdisciplinary arts festival of Esperanza Community Housing, before participating in a panel discussion at the Zócalo/California Wellness Foundation event “Can California Lead a New Reproductive Rights Movement?” Robinson-Flint tells us about being a foodie, her love of salsa dancing, and what reproductive justice means.
Q:
you traveled a lot Name one place you enjoyed. What is the reason?
A:
I’ve enjoyed every place I’ve been. My most recent trips were to Zanzibar and Tanzania. We went on safari in a place called Arusha. I got a nice shot of a lion coming towards us. I was in a jeep. I drive a Jeep, so now I call my Jeep “City Girl”. Because she doesn’t compare to the jeep we used on safari.
Q:
who is one of you heroes?
A:
One of my favorite heroes is Ida B. Wells. One is that she said she must have a gun at home. The world we live in is not a non-violent world. She loves the fact that she was a journalist. She was well traveled. She got married and had her own family. She started her activity because she took her family from one place to another and she bought a train ticket where she was kicked out of the train because of racism . And she said, ‘Hmm, no way,’ and she sued the railroad and made an active life for herself.
Q:
Kitchen Divas is an initiative by Black Women for Wellness. What was the inspiration behind it?
A:
I love being a foodie. I love good food and great conversation. There were six women she stared at Black Women for Wellness. 4 of her 6 were vegetarian and 2 were not. Therefore, if you start an organization with a women’s group, you will spend a lot of time eating together. We were always trying to find that sweet spot where everyone was happy with their food. And now I’m ready to go international with it! In 2021 I did Kitchen Diva in Ghana. Our program manager, Charity, is going to South Africa this year. So she plans to do something there. And the South African food is, wow, off the chain! It’s like the world came together for the South African food scene.
Q:
Where can I find you on a typical Friday eve?
A:
Friday? What an idea! Friday afternoon is the time for policy makers to meet and discuss policy. It’s half an hour on my schedule, so I actually had to laugh the other day. The meeting never lasted more than half an hour for him. But I do enjoy the people I work with and enjoy chatting with them about all things besides policies. I made it. In Kahuenga, North Hollywood, there was a club called Mama Juana’s. We slid down there and got some food. It was Friday night.
Q:
Who is your dream dinner guest? Life or death?
A:
You can only have one! It has to be a dinner party. I want to see the conversation between my mother and Malcolm X. See how they come and go. Of course, my father also participates. [They’d chat about] The politics of the day and the politics of older black men mixed with older black women. It’s just charming.
Q:
If you could explain, what does Reproductive Justice mean to you?
A:
I’m going to talk about reproductive justice as an interplay of all the things you use to decide whether or not to have children. Do you have enough money? Do you live in the right environment? how is your job? Address all systematic challenges. But then I thought about this commission. Policy maker and kindred space midwife. My daughter recently had a baby and went to Kindred Space LA for her prenatal care. they had a garden. Even opting for collard greens with kale was listenable to the visit. And I thought: this is how people get prenatal care. And we also have the political will. Barbara Ferrer came to Los Angeles and said she was “going to address this issue of maternal and infant mortality from a public health perspective.” I’m with it! We are in a situation where we can create meaningful shifts of change. We also have public health officials, elected officials, community-based organizations, midwives, and pregnant women. All these elements must come together if we are to move towards reproductive justice.