06/19/2025
🖤 Juneteenth & the Fight for Our Freedom: Honoring Adriana Smith 🕊️
Juneteenth is a sacred reminder of what it means to fight for freedom, not just in body, but in spirit, in birth, and in death. Yet freedom was denied to Adriana Smith, a 23-year-old Black woman who was stripped of her humanity in both life and passing.
After being declared brain dead, Adriana’s body was forced to remain on life support , not for her healing, not for her wishes, but to serve as an incubator for science. She was not treated as a whole person, but as a vessel. Denied the dignity of rest. Denied the right to die sacredly, on her terms, with peace.
This is the legacy of medical racism where Black women are not granted autonomy in life or death. Where our bodies are still owned, studied, and used.
As Black doulas, we fight for reproductive justice, death justice, and bodily sovereignty. We believe Black women deserve full humanity, full consent, and full liberation in birth, in life, and in crossing.
On this Juneteenth, we honor Adriana. We rage. We remember. And we reaffirm: Black bodies are not for use. We are sacred. We are sovereign.
❤️🖤💚
