Loretta Ross

Loretta J. Ross (born August 16, 1953) is an African American academic, feminist, and activist who advocates for reproductive justice, especially among women of color. As an activist, Ross has written on reproductive justice activism and the history of African American women.

Loretta Ross in 2017

Quotes

• The human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities.
  • This was co-coined by her and other part of the group 'Women of African Descent for Reproductive Justice'

• That's what all activists need to do: we look at the ugliness of the world and we keep on working.
  • An advice for activists like her

• Reproductive justice can’t become a reality for Black women around the world until human rights become a reality. Reproductive justice is based upon the global human rights framework.
  • Her reply to what needs to be done to ensure that reproductive justice is a tangible and sustainable reality for Black women around the world

• College is where you're supposed to find out things about yourself, discover your voice, and discover what moves you and what makes you passionate.
  • Purpose of College as it is related to one's talent discovery

• Do the work, but also make sure you intentionally bring joy into your life because our job is to look at the worst things people do to each other, the ugliness–what I call the vomit of humanity.
  • Her advice to organizers

• I find that people who take themselves too seriously burn out really quickly because they become very cynical because they've become very overwhelmed. When you're overwhelmed, the most common response is to check out mentally because everything is so overwhelming.
  • What is needed to be done when one is overwhelmed

• My best advice is to party as hard as you work and have fun doing good work! And that way, you'll be in it for 50 or 60 years, like I’ve been.
  • Her advice on how to be and do what one loves to do for a long time

• Even if you can't see the changes that you want to see immediately, you just keep on doing the work and eventually they will radically change in a way that's totally unanticipated but at the same time is what you're working for.
  • Most rewarding aspect of her activism (28 September 2021)

• I think we overuse that word ‘trigger’ when really we mean discomfort,and we should be able to have uncomfortable conversations.
  • Uncomfortable Conversations

• If a Black woman can learn to have civil conversations with someone who's been in the Ku Klux Klan, we should be able to have civil conversations with everybody.
  • Her reply to what Klan had to do with the idea of ‘callout’ culture

• We have to remember that there is humanity behind the words, that there is humanity behind the action.
  • Humanity

• It’s the tendency, which is unfortunate, for people to want to publicly shame and humiliate people. And it's based on what they say, or what they look like, or what they wear, or who they're hanging out with, or who they agree or disagree with. It's attaching labels to people without really doing any kind of nuance.
  • Her definition of callout culture

• Call in is actually a callout done with love and respect. Because you're really seeking to hold people accountable for the potential harm that they cause, but you're not going to lose sight of the fact that you're talking to another human being. And so you extend a hand of active love and active listening to help them maybe stop and think about what they said.
  • Her explanation on how to teach calling in