When Jasmine Sherman pulls up at her local Charlotte abortion clinic to volunteer, everyone knows that sheās arrived: her windows are down and her music is blasting as she drives full-speed into her preferred parking space at the corner of the clinicās lot.
Sherman has learned to take up her rightful space in an arena thatās dominated by white voices and white bodies.
As a leading participant of local activist group Pro Choice Charlotte, and the only black member, she helps to oversee the āclinic defendersā ā those who counter-protest the far-right anti-abortion demonstrations that have become a regular presence outside the clinic. Every Saturday, protestors flock to A Preferred Womenās Health Center Charlotte with sound equipment and Bibles in tow to harass patients and Pro Choice Charlotte members.
Sherman told HuffPost last week, after a 600-man protest outside APWHC, that she got involved with Pro Choice Charlotte because the issue of reproductive health care access āisnāt just a white feminist issue.ā In a debate that often leaves out women of color, and in a city that enables clinic harassment, she feels itās her responsibility as a black woman to āhelp [her] sisters in need.ā
āAbortion isn't just a white feminist issue.ā
Sherman is often victim to a specific breed of harassment ā the anti-abortion community has attempted to co-opt the Black Lives Matter movement, and the āantisā often use the phrase to bolster their argument that abortion (a procedure that women of all colors depend on but black women face more barriers to accessing) is āblack genocide.ā
While recognizing the role of racism in the abortion rights and contraceptive movements is essential ā Margaret Sanger, who founded Planned Parenthood, was a eugenicist, and the side effects of birth control pills would not be known without the pill having been tested on black and brown women in Puerto Rico ā black women in the present are tokenized by anti-abortion groups, and targeted for contributing to the āgenocideā of their own community.
The antis outside APWHC hurl questions at Sherman regularly: āWhat about all those brown babies?ā they ask, or āDo black lives not matter?ā Sherman responds with finesse, asking them in turn if theyāll be partaking in demonstrations against issues that actually affect black lives, like police brutality ā a particularly relevant issue in Charlotte after the fatal shooting of Keith Lamont Scott by a member of Charlotte-Mecklenburg police last fall.
HuffPost talked to Sherman about her devotion to abortion rights activism, and how she feels about the hypocrisy of the anti-abortion community and their co-opting of racial justice movements to push their far-right agenda.
What made you decide to be involved with Pro Choice Charlotte?
[Over a year ago] I saw an advertisement on this Facebook group for escorts to come out and help patients get into the clinic. I did the escorting for a while and while I found that we were helpful, it was really necessary to be a part of something where I could communicate with the protestors, and let them know what theyāre doing is not OK. There are a lot of people who want to silently support women, and it made me think of all the times in my life where I had an argument and people came up to me later and said, āI had your back, I didnāt say anything but I had your back.ā
In my mind, that doesnāt help me. Every situation whereās thereās vocal support, it makes it easier to hold your head up. So I always value offering vocal support, and thatās why it was important to move from a clinic escort to a clinic defender.
What does your participation entail?
We are actually incorporated in the state of North Carolina now, and technically in writing, Iām the president. Itās something thatās run with two other people. We speak at city council, we volunteer at the clinic, we do donations to patients if they donāt have funds [for an abortion], we provide food for companions as well. We put on educational seminars in the community, and really try to be a well-rounded organization.
Are there specific challenges you feel youāve faced as a black woman involved in the pro-choice movement?
How honest can I be? A lot of the problems that Iāve found with that group is just different styles. Iām the only African American within our organization. There are so many other movements that African Americans are focused on right now. We have bigger issues ā¦ we have police killing us, our kids are not growing up in safe neighborhoods, our kids are not getting fed. There are so many fights that weāre out there fighting. This one isnāt usually worth fighting over because itās a no-brainer.
Within this movement, because of that, it typically does seem like a white feminist issue. You see a lot of Caucasian women fighting for that right. It does seem like itās one of the few fronts where white women are persecuted ā¦ so within our group, as me being the only black woman, the way I communicate comes across as aggressive. Iām definitely more direct. Itās not just a black thing, I mean, Iām from New York. But a lot of the individuals in my group are more passive.
[Black women] go hard, weāre not beating around the bush, we donāt have time for that. Iām always getting some cultural pushback, and it creates a lot of friction. Sometimes I feel like some of my ideas are rejected [because of that].
As a feminist I donāt identify [with the word]; thatās usually a white woman thing. Often when you bring up the term white feminism, they get offended. Iām trying to tell you how I feel ā I donāt need you to come back and be like, āIām not doing that.ā Just listen. And possibly open your mind. And sometimes white women can be just as bigoted as white men in terms of being open to learning. Not everything is about you. Within the group, a lot of women are trying to make it about them.
āI don't want to hear anybody tell me about black genocide.ā
Iāve never had an abortion. But I do feel like I can relate to the women coming to that clinic a little bit more. Someone once made a comment about why people bring their kids with them to their appointments. Itās upsetting, that theyāre so obtuse that they donāt understand they bring their kids because they donāt have a choice.
Maybe I should rephrase and say that a lot of the volunteers are people who have time to volunteer ā theyāre not really aware of what the struggle is with poverty.
When youāre out at the clinic on Saturday mornings, whatās the most frustrating part of dealing with the anti-abortion protestors?
There are white women that come to that clinic. There are Spanish women, a lot of black women at the clinic. I feel like itās one more way for some white guy to tell us what to do with our bodies and how we should do it. I am pretty sure, based on conversations Iāve had with them, that they donāt have an interest in those women. What they want to do is push their Jesus agenda.
Theyāre very nice until you say āNo, thanks,ā and the conversation quickly switches to how weāre going to burn in hell and how weāre whores.
A lot of what I heard you deal with [outside the clinic] is the concept that abortion is āblack genocide.ā Celebrities like Nick Cannon have also brought this up. How do you feel about that argument?
Thatās B.S. The problem with that is that black women are more than baby-makers. We are so much more than that. To say itās black genocide is just B.S. Nobody cares about the fact that in our community, weāre struggling to create safe spaces. Segregation is supposedly over, but you try putting a whole bunch of black kids into a āgood schoolā in [a nice neighborhood]. They donāt even want to send their kids to charter schools with ours. So I donāt want to hear anybody tell me about black genocide.
Especially in Charlotte, where itās hard to rise from poverty, if you have one mistake ā Caucasian people, people with means, can bounce back from [a pregnancy]. But there are some women in my community that have a baby on Monday and have to be back at work on Wednesday because they donāt have time off. They donāt have luxuries. There is no support system. The kids they have at their house have to eat now. And they have to pay their rent.
We donāt worry about the kids that are already here. We stick police in their schools. The cops abuse them, they learn to have a problem with police, and no one gives two shits. The concept of black genocide is B.S. You canāt say itās black genocide. And a lot of the people talking about it sure do support the death penalty and sure have no problem with mass incarceration.
The anti-abortion movement has tried to adopt the same language as Black Lives Matter ā last summer they used the hashtag #UnbornLivesMatter to try to steal the movementās thunder after the shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile.
Have the āantisā outside APWHC ever shown interest in supporting Black Lives Matter or other racial justice movements in Charlotte?
No. We can talk about that. I have literally invited them to black lives rallies. They have declined to come to Black Lives Matter rallies, to participate in the march [for Keith Lamont Scott]. They refuse to participate in all of that.
I had a negative reaction once at the clinic, when they brought out signs of black people hanging from nooses. I definitely lost my crap. It was the only time that I got really angry and aggressive. That was when I knew I needed to stop being an escort and be a defender. They had that sign and they were like, āDonāt yell at us, youāre doing the same thing.ā And Iām trying to explain to them that itās not the same thing, at all.
They definitely try to play the race card when itās convenient but when it comes to actually dealing with black people, they donāt come out.
Like a lot of the mainstream feminist movement, the pro-choice movement has a white feminism problem. How do you think the pro-choice movement can do a better job of serving women of color?
The pro-choice movement would do a better job if more people were open to understanding brown women or women of color. Iām very fortunate to be in a setting where my white friends are very conscious that theyāre not woke all the time. Theyāre not trying to collect a friend or associate. They see that Iām a person and that I happen to be brown. Theyāll go to things ā events, parties that youāre having ā where there are other brown people. If I had a cookout, the clinic admin or my co-directors, they would come. They wouldnāt care if there were a whole bunch of brown faces.
āIn Charlotte, we had 35,000 women for the Womenās March. Now I canāt get 500 women to sign a petition. Where are all those white women? Where are they?ā
There are people, though, who are like, āIāve got my one brown friend.ā The minute you treat us like weāre a color, or a pocketbook accessory, thatās when you have a problem.
A lot of the times Iāve asked people of color to come out to the clinic and they say āNo.ā The Caucasian people say that they need to be more inclusive. But I have to point out to them that theyāre not there when weāre marching for equality. Theyāre not there when one of our children gets killed. Iām not going to lie, there are a couple. But they donāt come out for those things.
In Charlotte, we had 35,000 women for the Womenās March. Now I canāt get 500 women to sign a petition. Where are all those white women? Where are they?
Until the white feminists or the white community stops treating us like an accessory and takes value in getting to know us and spend time with us on a regular basis, then youāre not going to have anything.
But I have a question for you. Would you be talking to me if I wasnāt black?
You know what? Itās a good question. When I came down for that initial Love Life Charlotte protest on Dec. 3, I remember thinking, āThis is a lot of white women.ā Iām up here in New York, Iām a clinic escort in Queens, and there are more women of color out there than there are in Charlotte.
To be completely honest, Iāve talked to a lot of the other women [in Pro Choice Charlotte] and, yeah, I did want to hear your opinion as a black woman. And I want our audience to know that they need to be listening to you, I guess, if I can say that.
Yeah, you can say that. I guess Iām just curious, right? Itās a Catch-22. As much as I want to be valued as a person, you still need that brown voice. But it does suck to be that only brown voice. I didnāt mean to give you crap.
This interview has been edited and condensed.