Tell-It Report: Video of Texas Mom in Labor Highlights America's Black Maternal Health Crisis
A viral TikTok video shows a Black woman writhing in pain in a wheelchair as a nurse casually asks admission questions.
A Mesquite, Texas, hospital is getting calls to fire a nurse after a woman posted a video of her pregnant daughter being denied immediate care while in labor.
Professors at Texas A&M University now need the campus president’s approval to discuss certain race and gender topics.
And over the weekend, a New Orleans man whose murder conviction was vacated after he spent nearly three decades behind bars was elected as the city’s chief criminal court record keeper.
Read the full stories below:
Viral video accuses Texas hospital of delaying care to Black mom in labor
A Dallas-area hospital is under fire after a Texas woman posted videos of her pregnant daughter screaming in pain as a nurse asked admission questions, with no sense of urgency or concern. The video—viewed more than 51 million times by Sunday—raises questions about maternal care at a time when childbirth remains more dangerous for Black women than any other racial group.
Kash Jones (@kashman2814) posted a TikTok video of her daughter, Karrie Jones, being admitted to Dallas Regional Medical Center in Mesquite, Texas. Karrie is seen squirming in a wheelchair during labor as a white nurse goes through a series of routine questions. Kash Jones wrote that her daughter was kept in the waiting area “for more than 30 minutes” and her grandson was born “12 mins later.”
As her daughter continued to writhe in pain from contractions, Kash asked the nurse, “Y’all treat all your patients like this or just the Black ones?”
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It’s a valid question. Black women are more than twice as likely to suffer a severe pregnancy-related complication and three times more likely to die from complications in childbirth than white women. As of 2023, the mortality rate for Black women is 50.3 per 100,000 live births, compared to 14.5 per 100,000 for white women, 12.4 for Hispanic women and 10.7 for Asian women. This information is not new. Since the U.S. began tracking maternal mortality rates in the 1930s, Black women have experienced three times the death rate of white women in childbirth .
And because everything is bigger in Texas (but not necessarily better), the state’s maternal mortality rate for all women has outpaced the national rate after the state passed one of the country’s most restrictive abortion bans in 2021. In 2022, the mortality rate for Black women went from 31.6 in 2019 to 43.6 per 100,000 live births compared to white women, whose rate increased from 20 to 39.1. This is what “pro-life” looks like in Texas.
“It wasn’t until we got to labor and delivery where we saw an ounce of care or sympathy for her,” Kash Jones said in a follow-up post. “Before then, they could care less, [the nurse] did not care if she gave birth in that wheelchair.”
In a statement to People, the hospital gave the usual platitudes, saying, “At Dallas Regional Medical Center, the safety, dignity, and well-being of our patients are always our highest priorities. We are committed to providing compassionate, high-quality care to every person who comes through our doors, and we are reviewing this situation to understand what occurred. Due to patient privacy laws, we cannot share further details at this time, but our focus remains on ensuring that every patient receives the attentive, respectful care they deserve.”
Fortunately, Jones’ grandson is doing well after undergoing additional tests (with results still pending) because, she said, he was born with his eyes open.
”Due to the stress and the trauma that occurred in the triage area, the baby had a bowel movement in mom, and the fluids was green,” she continued. “They are taking all that into consideration as well. But he’s eating well, sleeping well, looking good.”
Texas A&M professors now need approval to speak about some race, gender topics
In a move that will surely protect the fragile minds of the next generation of conservative snowflakes, the regents of the Texas A&M University System approved a policy last week that requires professors to get approval from the campus president to discuss certain racial and gender topics. The policy will apply to all 12 schools in the state’s public higher education system.
The new restrictions came after a student posted a viral video of a confrontation with a Texas A&M professor during a discussion on gender identity in a children’s literature class. The professor was subsequently fired, and the campus president resigned after initially supporting the instructor.
The new policy states that no academic course “will advocate race or gender ideology, or topics related to sexual orientation or gender identity” unless approved by the school’s president.
The policy defines “race ideology” is defined as “a concept that attempts to shame a particular race or ethnicity, accuse them of being oppressors in a racial hierarchy or conspiracy, ascribe to them less value as contributors to society and public discourse because of their race or ethnicity, or assign them intrinsic guilt based on the actions of their presumed ancestors or relatives in other areas of the world. This also includes course content that promotes activism on issues related to race or ethnicity, rather than academic instruction.”
“Gender ideology” is defined as “a concept of self-assessed gender identity replacing, and disconnected from, the biological category of sex.”
Since Donald Trump’s return to office, several universities, including Harvard, M.I.T. and Columbia, have faced scrutiny and threats to their federal funding for their diversity, equity and inclusion programs. But several states have followed Trump’s lead in quashing academic freedom and free speech on campuses through legislation. PEN America found 22 state laws aimed at censoring higher education have been passed in the first half of the year. In April, Mississippi passed a law banning DEI initiatives in public colleges and schools. Although a judge paused the ban, universities in the state are pausing funding to student groups, citing the DEI law.
Critics and faculty at Texas A&M are concerned about how the new policy will be enacted and enforced, as well as the long-term effects on academic freedom.
“Faculty are extremely worried,” Dan Braaten, an associate professor at Texas A&M San Antonio and president of the campus American Association of University Professors chapter, told Inside Higher Ed. “They’re wondering, can they teach the classes they’re scheduled to teach in the spring? Who’s going to be looking at their syllabi? … Is the president of each A&M university going to have to approve every syllabus? Are there penalties for any of this? It’s just a complete … serious violation of academic freedom.”
New Orleans man whose murder conviction was vacated after 30 years was elected chief record keeper
Calvin Duncan had only an eighth-grade education when he was wrongfully convicted of murder in a fatal shooting during a robbery in 1981. While serving a life sentence at the notorious Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, Duncan became a self-taught legal expert, helping himself and other inmates gain access to court records needed to prove their cases. After 28 years, he earned his freedom and became a lawyer.
On Saturday, Duncan added a new chapter to his improbable story after winning a runoff election to become New Orleans’ chief criminal court record keeper. Duncan’s opponent unsuccessfully weaponized Duncan’s past by claiming he wasn’t truly exonerated. It didn’t work
“Tonight is a dream that’s been forty years in the making,” Duncan, 62, said in a statement Saturday night, according to the Associated Press. “I hope that all those people who died in prison because we couldn’t get their records are looking down now. I hope they’re proud of me. We never stopped fighting for each other’s rights, and I will never stop fighting for yours. Thank you for this privilege.”
Duncan defeated Darren Lombard, who was elected clerk in 2021. Before the primaries in October, Duncan wasn’t seen as a serious challenger against an incumbent from a well-known political dynasty in a race few people cared about. But things took a turn when Lombard started using media appearances, televised debates and campaign literature to claim that Lombard wasn’t truly exonerated. Duncan’s well-connected opponent even got an assist from the Louisiana State Attorney General Liz Murrill, who also challenged Duncan’s exoneration.
But, in a city with the highest rates of known wrongful convictions, the tactic backfired. Duncan secured 47% of the vote in a three-way primary race, forcing a runoff, which he won on Saturday.
As chief clerk, Duncan will be responsible for maintaining criminal court records and updating New Orleans’ antiquated system, which still relies mainly on paper (the city says it has begun digitizing court files). Duncan campaigned on his personal experience of struggling to access records from the same office he will now hold. In 2011, he provided enough evidence, including that police lied in court, to secure his release with a plea deal to lesser charges, and in 2021, a judge vacated Duncan’s conviction.
Jessica Paredes, executive director of the National Registry of Exonerations, told the AP in October that Duncan’s case deserves to be listed among the more than 3,700 exonerations tracked since 1989.
“We err conservatively to maintain the integrity of the database,” she said. “Calvin’s exoneration was not one of these close calls. His case clearly meets our inclusion criteria.”
After his release from prison, Duncan continued working with inmates to access their records, and he graduated from law school at age 60. According to AP, in 2020, his legal advocacy led the Supreme Court to overturn non-unanimous jury convictions in Louisiana and Oregon.
ICYMI
A federal appeals court upheld the hate crime convictions for Ahmaud Arbery’s killers.
A U.S. WWII cemetery in the Netherlands removed displays about African-American troops.
Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott donated $63 million to HBCU Prairie View A&M University, the largest single gift in the school’s 149-year history. This follows a $50 million donation she made in 2020. She also made a historic $50 million donation to Winston-Salem State, following a $30 million donation in 2020.
Netflix dropped a trailer for Kevin Hart’s new comedy special airing on Nov. 24
“Grey’s Anatomy” star James Pickens Jr., who plays Dr. Richard Webber, revealed he recently received treatment for prostate cancer, which was caught early because of regular testing.
A documentary about Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds is in the works, with Kenya Barris as a producer.