Black Lives Don’t Matter Because Black Wombs Don’t Matter: Exploring the Reproductive Rights of Black Mothers

Black Lives Matter” is more than a protest slogan. It is a call for people to understand that the phrase is not being used in a superficial manner, but as a means to draw attention and understanding to the lived realities of people of color. As technical communicators who believe in social justice and equity it is incumbent upon us to find ways to convey the message that black lives do matter. Within in the discipline in there is a normalcy that is sustained by a belief that technical communication is neutral and free of bias. This underlying theme resides quietly beneath the surface of research, curriculum, and pedagogy. So while researchers discuss how the body is commodified we look pass what that means for Black bodies—we look pass how written discourse supports power structures in society. Many scholars in the field of technical communication have called for new research, curricular and pedagogical approaches that provide students with a more contextualized view of diverse cultural and historical perspectives and thus argue for curricular and teaching strategies informed by a social justice framework (Savage and Hunt, 2006; Savage & Mattson, 2011; Savage & Mateveeva, 2011; Haas, 2012).Technical communicators need to address these ideas in order to truly become advocates for all lives. This column takes a step in that direction by looking at how agency can be reclaimed for communities of people who have been traditionally silenced by technical communication’s claim of neutrality.