by Lauryn Bray

Content Warning: This article discusses medical racism and traumatic birth and postpartum experiences.

Research shows that Black women across the United States are dying from childbirth at a disproportionate rate due to medical negligence in what has been referred to as the Black maternal health crisis. BLKBRY, a collective of reproductive and birth workers, doulas, lactation and feeding specialists, and womb healers founded by Jazmin Williams, is currently working to raise $4 million to purchase, renovate, and launch a Black-owned wellness and birth center to specifically serve Black women in and around King County. Williams, who has been training and practicing as a doula for years, says she was called to her work after a traumatic birth and postpartum experience with both of her children left her outraged at the incompetent care Black women receive during and after childbirth.

“What we’re building at BLKBRY is a center no one has seen before. The fact that we are centering the descendants of enslaved Africans of the U.S., the fact that this is for the African diaspora and that when you come here, you see representation of us both in this space. This is a safe space for us,” explained Williams.