Our Connection as Sisters is Our Greatest Hope for Reproductive Justice

Mimi is an online peer educator with MySistahs.

I am layers and intersections of acquaintances, ideas, desires, and passions. I am the unresponsive expression of an abuse victim. I am the burning frustration of a youth’s experience and perspective being illegitimatized. I am the crippling confusion of a Latina growing up stabbed by stereotypes.

My name is Mimi and I am a reproductive justice activist. I was this before I knew it existed. I knew that girls had the right to climb trees; I knew that abuse was not normal even though it felt like a routine. I knew it was wrong the way doctors sneered at my grandmother and I when translating from English to Spanish and back.
Even though I knew violations of our reproductive health, rights and freedoms occurred it wasn’t until I began my work with the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights (COLOR) that I felt I could create change. At COLOR we believe that the people most affected by oppression hold the power to change the issues distressing their conditions, and I’m very proud to say that we are an organization led by Latinas for Latinas.

I was first introduced to COLOR as a participant during the first Latina Health Summit in 2006, a daylong conference for young Latinas with information and workshops about anatomy and physiology, sexuality, health care, immigration, education and more. During this conference a passion ignited within me for reproductive justice. I wanted to learn more and I became involved with my community through volunteering for COLOR on a regular basis. Time passed and I was invited to sit on COLOR’s board of directors, as its youngest member. The sisterhood that I had entered was amazing and it helped me grow as a person and activist. After mentorship, training, and community consciousness I decided to apply as a program coordinator at COLOR. The cycle continues today as I work to inspire young Latinas to become involved with their community and make changes to the root causes of the issues they face.

The women who started COLOR began with the concern of reproductive health status in Colorado, particularly the teenage birth rate and the access to health care services. Today we continue to work on these issues but have embraced the intersections of oppressions and work to dismantle them. We work to address the reproductive health disparities Latinas experience in Colorado. Added to these health disparities is a political climate that is hostile to the civil and sexual rights of Latinas and adolescents. At COLOR we understand the underlying causes of disparities and human rights violations are affected by intersecting oppressions including sexism, racism, ageism, classism, xenophobia, heterosexism, violence against women, media misrepresentation, poverty, access to services and more.

We believe that young women of color have the right to be healthy in a holistic manner – mind, body and spirit. We believe that a young woman has the right to have all the information she needs to make informed decisions about her life. We also believe that a Latina is free to express herself in any way that she wishes and has the right to do what she wants. We understand that we are young, queer, immigrants, are of low-income, teen-mothers, differently-abled, students and so much more. It is because of these intersections of our lives that we work to serve and include our entire community regardless of age, sexual orientation and identity, immigration status, nationality, ability, language and any other factors. We believe in a sisterhood that is inclusive, nurturing and respectful of our sister.

Currently, I co-facilitate an after school program called Latinas of Vision at two high schools and a middle school. LOV is a gender-specific culturally competent program that provides comprehensive sexuality education, political education and leadership development. Not only do we work on the issues that are occurring in our community but also share our experiences to learn from them. At LOV we choose to take action by testifying during school board meetings in support of condoms in schools, by making films about reproductive justice, by educating our peers about sexuality through games, and organizing our 1st Annual Prevention Bash, a community resource fair on education, immigration and sexuality.

I am also action. I am the self-love, resiliency, empowerment, strength and the struggle after abuses, oppressions, and false assertions. And I work to share these layers and connect with all my sisters to make a positive change in our lives and the lives of our daughters.