In this episode we are joined by Tyler Barbarin, activist, organizer and the director of grants and development for Louisiana Abortion Fund. Tyler and host Luna Malbroux chop it up about mutual aid and the power of joy and community connection. As the person who dubbed this podcast 'The South Has The Answers", Tyler drops some major truth bombs about anti-Southern sentiment that you got to tune in for.
The Louisiana Abortion Fund (formerly the New Orleans Abortion Fund) is a community fund that assists community members as they overcome the economic and geographic barriers erected to prevent them from accessing abortion care. By providing low-barrier financial support for abortions, plus support for travel and childcare, LAAF invests in the liberation of all Louisianans. LAAF works to center Black people, Indigenous communities, people of color, queer folks, and immigrants, because when society’s most marginalized are free, all be free.
Special thanks to Seratones for The South Has the Answer's theme song, "Get Free"
Tyler Barbarin (she/they) is an activist and organizer, working in areas of racial justice, leadership, education equity, and reproductive justice. With a background in Leadership Studies and Sociology, she researches, facilitates and organizes around issues of reproductive justice, economic solidarity and Black liberation. Tyler’s daily work aims to understand and address the impacts of carcerality, anti-Blackness, economic oppression on the material conditions of marginalized communities.
Luna Malbroux, Founder and Chief Vibe Officer of Joy Channel is an experienced facilitator, educator and leader on creating inclusive spaces, Luna is most notably, a self-described ‘joy evangelist’, who believes that fostering belonging, communication, connection and fun (yes, fun!), is the missing link in many approaches to diversity, equity, justice and inclusion initiatives. A skilled storyteller, her practices include using empathy, humor, and personal narrative to help build group dynamics and consensus. Luna has years of experience guiding small to large national organizations in building more authentic inclusivity to cater to the needs of elected members and clients.
She is also an award winning comedian, writer, musician and public intellect whose work has been featured in KQED, NPR, The Atlantic, PBS, Glamour magazine, and more. She loves jamming as a member of her band, The Moon and The Man, and most proud of her special abilities to make a hearty pot of gumbo, appropriately initiate a slow clap that erupts into a round of applause, and persistence in roller skating even though she always falls down.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Mutual aid to me is like this belief that we're all interconnected and that we have a responsibility to one another. Um, not because of positionality or power, but simply because we are human beings existing in this timeline together. Um, and so Mutual Aid for me is just giving support, leveraging what we have within our means to support the life, the existence, the humanity of one another.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Go on ahead and make yourself comfortable because this is, the self has the answers. I'm your host, Luna Malrow. Here. We get to laugh with laugh that's short for Louisiana Abortion Fund. And we get to keep ke with the thought leaders, organizers, and champions of a reproductive justice movement that includes liberation for all of us today. You have the pleasure of listening to Tyler, Tyler Barberin, using She, they Pronouns is an activist and organizer working in areas of racial justice, leadership, education, equity, and reproductive justice. With the background in leadership studies in sociology, she researches, facilitates and organizes around issues of reproductive justice, economic solidarity, and black liberation. Tyler's daily work aims to understand and address the impacts of ality, anti-blackness, economic oppression, and the material conditions of marginalized communities.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Firstly, I'm really excited to talk to you in this capacity, but, and just like get a little time here in your perspective and getting a chance to like formally introduce you,
Speaker 1 (02:25):
So, yeah, this is always, uh, a harder question than one would think, but I appreciate the framing of what worlds I inhabit. Um, I definitely, okay, so I'm Tyler. I'm from Philadelphia originally. Um, I moved down here to New Orleans in 2018. Um, I am a northeasterner at heart. I would say definitely feel like that more and more being down here. Um, I am a sister. I have one sister. She means the world to me. I'm an auntie. Um, I'm a caretaker of Bonus Kids. I am, yeah, a daughter, and I'm definitely an activist. Ive always been involved in social justice movements ranging from, um, abolition to solidarity economies, to, um, what other work do I do? Public health, uh, reproductive justice. Yeah. I try to, um, get engaged, get deep into community, and I feel like that's how I find my people is through activism.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Hmm. I love that. Yeah. When I first met you, you already came with this background of experience and stuff, and you just seem so rooted in the organizer community and ways that I rarely see
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Yeah. Um, I think that when you live in the South long enough, like you kind of learn that this is like a world unto its own. The way that the South moves, um, the way that people operate, the deep communal ties, like the care and concern I realized, or I was received here was unlike any other place that I've lived before in my life. And, um, also just generally the pace of life. And so sometimes I feel like a northeasterner because, um, up there I feel like the tendency is just go, go, go. Not really to slow down and enjoy life and enjoy the things around you, but instead to like, produce, produce, produce. Um, and so sometimes I f find myself fighting against that, you know, upbringing, that conditioning that I've received for so long. Um, but yeah, it's definitely not to say the south is not where I feel at home, you know,
Speaker 3 (05:03):
I feel that, I feel like sometimes I have those tendencies myself where I'm like, go, go, go. And when I'm back home in Louisiana, I'm like, oh, I, I can slow down. It's okay.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Absolutely. Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Yeah. Um, so the second part of this is describe your relationship with Laugh. Like, I met you in one role, now you moved on to another one, but I know that you've had more experience with Laugh, so how would you describe that relationship and how it's changed over time?
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Yeah. Um, so I started volunteering with Laugh when I moved down here in 2018. Um, I, once again, that's always how I find my people. I was like really hungry for a community of people who were just trying to make the world a better place. Um, and so I found Laugh when it was previously no f and started volunteering as a client coordinator, which means I was, you know, returning client phone calls. I was, um, making pledges moving money. And then I got the opportunity, um, to transition to the board. So I became a board member. Um, I served for I think almost a year before the Dobbs decision came down,
Speaker 3 (06:43):
And what does the director of grants and development do?
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Speaker 3 (07:59):
I love this so much because the second, you know, this is just my second conversation and this is the second time a shout out has happened. And the first episode AJ shouted out you
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Um, but yeah, AJ shouted out you and the, and your perspective and the work that you bring, which we'll get into. But this is a question I've been asking everyone, especially because so much of this work is rooted in reproductive justice and thinking about, you know, from the black feminist lens, we have a tendency to lift up our elders. And so I'm curious for you if there were any like elders or experiences you had growing up that kind of shaped the person you are today or people that you think of that like in any way has shaped or formed the way you move through the world.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Yeah, and I so appreciate this question because it's like one of my, yeah, I love talking about my why, but, um, I think in general, like black women have always been there for me. And as a black woman, I feel like they see me and just hold space for me to be in a way that like no other group of people has. Um, and so like my favorite and most recent ancestor is my mom and she definitely is the reason why I do this work. Um, you know, she did gentle parenting before there was a word for it. And she just created this, um, kind of container for me to explore who I was, for me to be like held and affirmed for me to be seen as whole and not just the sum of what I could contribute to the world. Um, and yeah, she's just a magical person and I think she's definitely my why.
(09:56)
Um, and I also, you know, the same feelings towards my stepmom that after my mom passed, really like held space for me to grieve, for me to take time to myself, for me to prioritize rest, um, all of the things like, and I'm learning as I grow older that like that is reproductive justice cuz they were creating like a healthy and sustainable environment for me to just be, for me to, you know, exist in the world and make the decisions that are right for me. Um, and yeah, I think that black women in general, like every black woman I I come across, I'm just like, you're magic. You're pure magic and I wanna bottle it up. But, um, in particular, the black women that raised me, I, I definitely do this for, I would say
Speaker 3 (10:48):
I love that and that brings me so much joy because I don't know, I see you as someone who moves to the world with such a, like a full sense of self and like compo like composure and just a, a being that like knows who they are, you know? And I appreciate you lifting up, you know, those women who have shown you love and supported you because I'm like, oh, that makes sense. Like, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Community folks who, you know, pouring love into you. I, that's beautiful.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
Yeah. Also special mention. Special mention to my sister as well. I can't, I would be remiss if I left her out of the conversation. Cause as an older sister, sometimes she offers that mothering support, but I also always appreciate that she's able to like, be honest about sometimes me showing up raggedy, but like still believes in the potential, still still sees the vision, you know? So gotta shout her out too.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Yay. Older sisters man. Um, I guess like this next story, I mean this could be connected to that, but you know, really wanted to gear this conversation around the role of mutual aid and reproductive justice. So first wanna ask you like, how would you describe mutual aid? Like what is mutual aid?
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah, I think, um, mutual aid to me is like this belief that we're all interconnected and that we have a responsibility to one another. Um, not because of positionality or power, but simply because we are human beings existing in this timeline together. Um, and so mutual aid for me is just giving support, leveraging what we have within our means to support the life, the existence, the humanity of one another. Um, and I see that very clearly represented by the work are clearly like practice in the work of life.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
Hmm. I love that. Can you give an example of how that's like practice either through L or like how that's practiced in general?
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Yeah. So I believe that l the way that we go about doing our work, there are lots of abortion funds. Um, there's lots of like funding of different healthcare procedures or different like, you know, moments in one's life. But the way we go about it in just believing that people deserve money, whatever number that is, whatever, you know, um, in whatever moment that is for them, they deserve it because they need it. They've identified that need for themselves and nothing more, nothing less, um, is radical to me. I think in a lot of instances. And what makes it mutual aid too, um, in a lot of instances, like in America you have to perform, you know, present your trauma. You have to lay out all of the reasons why you're more deserving than the next person or like jump through a lot of hoops, um, in order to get help. And we operate from an ethos of like, you're a human being, you came to us and asked, and therefore we got you. Um, and I think that that's super radical and super like life affirming. And, um, even for my days volunteering, like for people, the experience of just like, wow, I'm getting it, getting help because I asked for help is just uncommon. And it, it really allows people to take a sigh of relief, you know?
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Mm. I feel that. And that is, I don't know, I feel like that was, that was actually the, the piece for me that, um, has transformed me in my work with laugh. Like before laugh, I think I didn't truly understand mutual aid, but now it's like a friend, literally a friend of mine the other day was like, this neighborhood has like, uh, $50,000, like, what should we do? And like, it was like a group thread and somebody in the, and somebody in the friend group was like, give it out for scholarships. And somebody else was like, create a system. And I'm like, mutual aid. Yeah. Let the people decide what they wanna do with it. And, and I actually mentioned laugh. I was like, I was like, laugh is a great example. If you want, you know, if you want a model of how that's done, like look at these abortion funds cuz it's radical. Absolutely. Um, which is really dope. So thinking about, you know, you, you started off by describing yourself as an activist who's been in a lot of different spaces and I mean is 2023
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Yeah, so I think my first moment of radicalization around abortion access definitely happened when I had an abortion in 2018. Um, realizing A, the cost B how just purely awful the experience was, even though I knew it was the right choice for me, it was not an easy choice because of the American healthcare system. Um, and also realizing that like, had I not had my mom, had I not had a community around me, I would not have been able to make the choice that was right for me. Um, following that up with like the perfect storm of next, you know, experiences of losing my mom, coming to New Orleans, being received into a community that was kind of like, you care about things, you care about making the world better. Like that's dope. You know, surrounded by southern people who in the midst of like, some really hard and difficult stuff is are like partying and celebrating life and being joyful.
(17:31)
Um, and then Covid hits and you kind of realize like none of the rat race, none of that northeasterner, you know, go, go, go produce, produce, produce really matters. And the only thing that matters is community and and caring about one another. Um, I think radicalized me even further. And then, um, getting to this place with laugh and seeing that like, black women have always been on the forefronts. Black women have always been, you know, finding the answers and standing to hold space for one another and for everyone in the world. It was just a beautiful, um, thing to witness. And I think, yeah, I feel like my journey was definitely example of like the universe coming together to order my steps, um, the right place, the right time. And I think, yeah, there's something about organizing in the South that feels so liberatory and like we're really attacking the roots of systems and like doing the work that will get us actually free.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
We're gonna take a break for a moment for two short messages, but I promise we'll be right back. End the South and need an abortion. Give Laugh. A call at eight four four four four abort. That's 8 4 4 4 4 2 2 6 7 8. Laugh provides compassionate affirming support that honors and affirms the dignity of people seeking abortion care. This podcast is produced by Joy Channel. What is Joy Channel? A collection of creatives and change makers that work with organizations and communities to liberation. We do that by creating content like this podcast or supporting organizations hands-on with training, consulting experiences and parties. We like to throw parties to find out more. Visit us@joychannel.org.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
You know, this podcast is called The South has the answers, which came from you, like you
Speaker 4 (19:42):
Speaker 3 (19:48):
It, and it was so clear. It was like very, it was no doubt. It was like, yeah, the South has the answers. And I'm curious like why, like why did you feel like it was so important to kind of name that and put that message forward? And then yeah, within that, like why do you think it's important to emphasize hearing the voices of people in the South?
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Um, just because I think, like, I truly believe it. I truly believe that the South has the answers. Um, I think that down here, like we're so close to a lot of crises that people think they're far removed from, you know, like economic instability, you know, educational oppression and like, you know, mismanagement of education systems, um, poor transportation, climate vulnerability. But yet people are still out here trying to make the world better, trying to fix things. And also just very realistic I would say about like how to go about that. You know, recognizing that when folks are experiencing housing instability, what they need is a home. What they need is for somebody to, you know, open their doors to make sure they're fed, to make sure they're, you know, okay. Um, instead of doing like leadership development or like something, um, arbitrary and unrelated quite honestly.
(21:18)
And I think that that kind of like mutual aid, and I'm gonna give you what I have for you. I'm gonna give you what I see you need instead of like, I'm gonna develop a random program to get funded to, you know, achieve what the funders want us to do is something that the south like practices all the time. Um, and I love that. I love it. And I think it's just like in the water here. Um, so yeah, I think the South has the answers and I think that if people would just get out of the way or fund what we say we need and not what they think we need, um, and also put down anti southern sentiments about the south being anything but systematically oppressed, um, then we would be in a better place. The whole country would benefit from that kind of radical thinking.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
Yeah. I'm wondering if you can expand on that only because I know that you do a lot around like anti Southern like sentiments and unpacking that and like, I'm curious especially like as someone who works as a director of grants and development, like where do you see that come up in this work?
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Yeah, so the reality is like anti southern sentiments comes up like all the time across time and space. You know, it's, it's even in the faces of my co like family members that think they're lovingly saying, oh, are you gonna stay every time a hurricane hits? Or like, you know, um, when I talk about finding a good school or finding a good daycare or whatever, they're like, oh, do you think you're gonna be in Louisiana for a long time? And I think anti Southern sentiments are just anti-blackness and classism, um, coming together.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
No, no, those were like perfect examples. I I'm still thinking, I'm still reeling from like anti southern sentiment as like anti-blackness in classism combined.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
Yeah. I feel that. And then we can internalize it too. I know, like, I definitely have, and it's something that in my work with laugh, I, I, I say all the time
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
I just get to celebrate it and champion it, which is awesome.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
Yeah. I feel like that's really real. Like people always feel like there's something to fix, but there's a lot of beauty to be found down here. You know, like the fact that people throw hurricane parties where you're like drinking and eating snacks and you're just all, you know, having fun waiting for the hurricane to pass. Like that's a beautiful metaphor for like how the South operates. Yes. It's a scary thing. Yes, we have to get through it, but like in the midst of that, can we not find a way to be joyful about it? Um, and I think that's like just something until you live here, you may have perceptions of like, why would you do that? Why would you stay? Why would you, this that a third? But it's like we're in a system where people have left us vulnerable. Um, we're in a system where it's us kind of banning together to get through things. Um, and so if we say we need joy, we need joy, you know, and it's as simple as that.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Yeah, so I think my biggest thing is that we've been like sold this myth that it's like abortion access over here and reproductive justice over here. And they are not part of a same part of a unified movement. Um, reproductive justice InCorp incorporates, encompasses abortion access, you know, um, quality of care, all of those things because a, uh, reproductive justice is like the right to have kids, the right to not have kids, and then the right to have a family and a healthy and sustainable community. Um, and I think also another thing that we at Laugh are running up against is that we're trying to expand to address some of these other intersecting movements because we view like choice isn't a real thing if people don't have material conditions to access choice. And so although we're in the business, you know, in the work of funding abortion care, we also want to create better material conditions for people so that eventually we won't be needed.
(28:01)
Like people won't need support financially to have a healthcare procedure that's simple, safe, and effective. Um, we see it as our mission. And also unfortunately, um, because of the, um, Dobbs decision and the increased barriers to care that people are facing, no matter how hard we work, despite our best efforts, there's gonna be people in the Gulf South that aren't able to access care. Um, now having to coordinate logistics to go across state lines across the country to a new state that you may or may not have ever been to. Those burdens may be too large for some folks. And so we're gonna have a whole group of people that are circumstance into expanding their families in ways they don't consent to. Um, and folks may not see that as our business, our work, but we see it as our business and our work, um, because we're of this community. And I think that's another beautiful thing about Laugh is like, we are southerners, we are from here, you know, I've been here for almost five years, so I'm gonna start claiming it, uh, as soon as that five year mark hits cuz I love it and I'm not leaving. But, uh, thank you. Thank you
Speaker 3 (29:29):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Yeah, so the Dobbs decision, it was really the leak of the pending decision that was kind of like a oh, no moment. Um, for us, I will say that like working in the south, working in Louisiana, Dobbs was not, you know, June 24th, 2022 was not the beginning of limited access for people living in the south. Um, Louisiana previously had three clinics. They were located in ma in major cities. Um, they were not accessible to everyone. They weren't, um, local to everyone in the state. And so the Dobbs decision leak was a moment that we were really like, what are we going to do? But also a moment to pause and be like, we've been doing very complicated logistics planning, we've been doing practical support, we've been doing, you know, all of the things that other people may have just started after June 24th. Um, so yeah, that was a interesting moment because it was scary, but also not unexpected. Um, and I will say, you know, once again, that's when we met and we started working together. I feel like it was just a moment to realize, because we were truly doing RJ work already. We had a great team. We had like all of the pieces I think that you need or around you when big moments like this happen. And so that was like super affirming to me and super, um, yeah, I don't know. I I felt like the best possible outcome of the worst case scenario, if that makes sense.
Speaker 3 (31:47):
Yeah. Yeah. I'm really grateful for
Speaker 1 (32:18):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
Tired. No, I'm, I mean it, I mean it. And um, yeah, I guess like I, how, how has it sh has it shifted or how have you seen yourself as a leader? Like what's your vision as a leader for both Laugh and in the justice movement?
Speaker 1 (32:41):
Yeah. Um, it's my hope for laugh that we can start participating in, um, reproductive justice conversations. Like holistically, I want us to be thought partners to be, um, you know, supporters in solidarity with people across the reproductive justice movement. Um, I think, you know, when you think of perinatal care, um, abortion access may not be the first thing that comes to mind, but I want us to be part of a shift, uh, to realize that abortion is just one of the reproductive choices a person can make, and we need to have conversations in that framing. Um, yeah, so I hope that we can become thought leaders. I hope that we can continue to, um, push undoing anti southern sentiments. I hope that we can continue, um, supporting the leadership and the brilliance and the expertise here on the ground. Um, I also hope we can play a part in making this a healthy and sustainable place to raise kids, to not raise kids to just exist.
(33:54)
Um, and so I want us to, when our goals are achieved, I want us to be part of that story. Um, and then for the movement as a whole, once again, I want people to stop being so freaking anti southern. Um, I want people to realize that like we have been living and thriving through very difficult contexts and conditions for quite some time. Um, and that we still have agency, we still have choice, we still have like, you know, decision making power, um, yeah. And start listening, start getting out of the way and listening. So yeah, that's my hope.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
I love that. And, and it, and it seems like you are hopeful for the future, are you?
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Yes. I think, you know, even when I see things as seemingly little as like younger black girls, like wearing their hair free, you know, like wearing afros to middle school, something that I absolutely would've never considered growing up, it makes me hopeful. Um, or yeah, just the fact that people talk about abortion now, like, it's not, even if people are still on opposite sides of thinking around it, the fact that the conversation is happening out in the open, it's just affirming that things do change even if it feels slowly.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
Speaker 3 (35:50):
And so I'm curious where that came from, and I'm curious like around that too. Like why, why Community Joy? Like why, why that playfulness, why was that important to lift up?
Speaker 1 (36:03):
Yeah, so Block Party, that terminology in in specific is a shout out to Philly that raised me, you know? But, um, I love a good party and I just feel like that's part of the, especially New Orleans way. Like what sustained me through c o d was my pod that I was quarantining with. We did crawfish boils like every weekend,
Speaker 3 (37:21):
You're, so, I, I, everything you say is just so powerful and like clear and easy. And this isn't, this isn't a question, but I'm wondering if, you know, since you're the director of grants and development, if folks like who are listening to this wanna get involved and support, laugh, like what is the best way to do that? Like, how can they support your efforts?
Speaker 1 (37:45):
Yeah. Um, so I think there's the financial piece of course, like donation, um, visiting our website, Louisiana abortion fund.org, um, is a great way. But once again, we are a give what you can type of organization. And so if that means donating time, if that means donating supplies, if that means, you know, connecting us to other organizations or work happening, um, that you think we need to partner with or support, um, or could benefit from our, you know, knowledge and expertise, I think any of that, um, we just welcome growing our community and growing our ecosystem of care. Um, so yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
Thanks again to our very special guest, Tyler Barberin. This has been, the South has the answers, A Joy channel production for Louisiana Abortion Fund to donate to Louisiana Abortion Fund, hit up Louisiana abortion fund.org. Thank you to Red Cypress Consulting for visuals and especially Camille Ruan for all your support. I'm your host and executive producer Luna Malrow, the Chief five Officer of Joy Channel. Can't let you go without giving another special thanks to the sero tones for the show's groovy theme song. Get Free. I'll let you listen to that right now. Please follow them wherever you get your music. Bye.