1 00:00:00,071 --> 00:00:06,702 [Sonya Renee at the Individual World Poetry Slam Finals 2006] 2 00:00:08,886 --> 00:00:11,179 Culturally diversified bi-racial girl 3 00:00:11,179 --> 00:00:15,047 with a small diamond nose ring and a pretty smile 4 00:00:15,047 --> 00:00:19,830 poses beside the words "Women Deserve Better". 5 00:00:19,830 --> 00:00:22,292 And I almost let her non-threatening grin begin to 6 00:00:22,292 --> 00:00:28,200 infiltrate my psyche til I read the unlikely smallprint at the bottom of the ad: 7 00:00:28,200 --> 00:00:35,434 "Sponsored by the US Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities and the Knights of Columbus" 8 00:00:35,434 --> 00:00:40,031 on a bus in a city with a population of 563,000 9 00:00:40,031 --> 00:00:42,725 4 teenage mothers on the bus with me. 10 00:00:42,725 --> 00:00:47,028 1 Latino woman with 3 children under 3 and no signs of a daddy. 11 00:00:47,500 --> 00:00:49,644 One 16 year old black girl 12 00:00:49,644 --> 00:00:51,149 standing in 22 degree weather 13 00:00:51,149 --> 00:00:57,260 with only a sweater and a bookbag and a basinette with an infant that aint even 4 weeks yet 14 00:00:57,260 --> 00:01:00,800 tell me that yes, women do deserve better. 15 00:01:00,800 --> 00:01:02,200 Women deserve better than 16 00:01:02,200 --> 00:01:07,849 public transportation rhetoric from the same people who wont give that teenage mother a ride to the next transit. 17 00:01:07,849 --> 00:01:10,774 Wont let you talk to their kids about safer sex. 18 00:01:10,774 --> 00:01:16,613 Have never had to listen as the door slams behind the man who adamently says that shit aint his. 19 00:01:16,613 --> 00:01:19,000 leaving her to wonder how she'll raise this kid. 20 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:24,335 Women deserve better than the $300 TANF [Temporary Assistance for Needy Families] and AFDC [Aid to Families with Dependent Children ] will provide that family of 3 21 00:01:24,335 --> 00:01:28,514 Or the $6 an hour job at KFC with no benefits for her new baby 22 00:01:28,514 --> 00:01:33,315 or the college degree she'll never see because you cant have infants at the university. 23 00:01:33,315 --> 00:01:36,781 Women deserve better than lip service paid for by politicians 24 00:01:36,781 --> 00:01:39,428 who have no alternatives to abortion 25 00:01:39,428 --> 00:01:43,236 though I'm sure right now one of their 17 year old daughters is sitting 26 00:01:43,236 --> 00:01:45,488 in a clinic lobby sobbing quietly and anonymously 27 00:01:45,488 --> 00:01:48,344 praying parents dont find out 28 00:01:48,344 --> 00:01:50,852 or is waiting for mom to pick her up because 29 00:01:50,852 --> 00:01:56,878 research shows that out of wedlock childbirth dont look good on political polls and Bush aint havin that. 30 00:01:57,124 --> 00:02:00,047 women deserve better than patchwork governmental policies 31 00:02:00,047 --> 00:02:02,300 that dont want to pay for welfare for kids 32 00:02:02,300 --> 00:02:04,197 or healthcare for kids 33 00:02:04,197 --> 00:02:05,884 or childcare for kids 34 00:02:05,884 --> 00:02:08,500 dont want to pay living wages to working mothers 35 00:02:08,500 --> 00:02:14,954 dont want to make men who only wanna be last nights lovers responsible for the semen they lay 36 00:02:14,954 --> 00:02:18,600 Just flat out dont wanna pay for shit. 37 00:02:18,600 --> 00:02:21,224 They want to control the woman who's having it. 38 00:02:21,224 --> 00:02:23,035 Acting outraged at abortion 39 00:02:23,035 --> 00:02:28,236 Well I'm outraged that they want us to believe that they believe that women deserve better 40 00:02:28,236 --> 00:02:31,162 the Vatican wont prosecute pedophile priests 41 00:02:31,162 --> 00:02:35,600 but I decide I'm not ready for motherhood and its condemnation for me? 42 00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:39,335 These are the same people who wont support national condom distribution 43 00:02:39,335 --> 00:02:42,029 to prevent teenage pregnancy 44 00:02:42,029 --> 00:02:43,900 but women deserve better. 45 00:02:43,900 --> 00:02:48,530 Women deserve better than back alley surgeries that leave our wombs barren and empty 46 00:02:48,530 --> 00:02:52,989 deserve better than organizations bearing the name of land stealing, racist, rapists 47 00:02:52,989 --> 00:02:55,311 funding million dollar campaigns on subway trains 48 00:02:55,311 --> 00:02:57,200 with no money to give these women 49 00:02:57,200 --> 00:03:01,255 while balding middle aged white men tell us what to do with our bodies 50 00:03:01,255 --> 00:03:05,017 while they wage wars and kill other people's babies. 51 00:03:05,017 --> 00:03:09,900 so maybe women deserve better than propaganda and lies to get into office. 52 00:03:09,900 --> 00:03:12,865 Propaganda and lies to get into panties 53 00:03:12,865 --> 00:03:14,165 to get out of court 54 00:03:14,165 --> 00:03:16,719 to get out of paying child support 55 00:03:16,719 --> 00:03:20,528 GET THE FUCK OUT OF OUR DECISIONS AND GIVE US BACK OUR VOICE 56 00:03:20,528 --> 00:03:22,400 Women do deserve better 57 00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:25,195 Women deserve choice. 58 00:03:25,195 --> 00:03:28,241 [cheers]