In 1966, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stated, “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and the most inhuman because it often results in physical death.” Fifty-six years later, as reproductive rights have come back to the forefront due to the overturning of Roe vs. Wade, Black women are five times more likely to die having a child than women of any other race. Is this mentioned as part of the right to life/right to choose exchanges? Nope. Is the fact a Black woman’s decision to have children is a literal life or death choice discussed in Black spaces such as Black Twitter? Nah, too busy celebrating Kevin Samuels passing away or arguing over who should buy the kids a Happy Meal.
Using the tragic stories of Shamony Gibson and Amber Rose Issac as the backdrop, directors Paula Eiselt and Tonya Lewis Lee aim to change that and bring it to everyone’s attention with their documentary, Aftershock. Does Aftershock have enough to spark more of the much-needed conversations around this matter?
A mere reading of the maternal mortality data for Black women provides more than enough material for Aftershock to paint a clear picture of how cruel and unjust the healthcare system is to Black women. Thankfully, Eiselt and Lewis Lee had much more in mind for the audience, and the film resonates more because of it.
From the moment it opens with a montage that takes you through the events that lead to Gibson’s second and ultimately life-ending pregnancy, it’s clear that Aftershock seeks to show the maternal mortality disparity is more than the numbers. It offers a look at a few of the humans who tragically make up and live with the impact of those numbers.
The interviews from both Gibson’s and Rose Issac’s families are more than points of memorializing these young mothers. The ladies’ mothers give the viewer first-hand accounts of the apathy, incompetence, and outright ridiculousness that created the obstacles that eventually led to each woman’s wholly preventable and untimely death. Their stories make it clear that this can happen to any child-bearing Black woman regardless of resources and status. It’s equal parts maddening and heartbreaking.
The family aspect of Aftershock also showcases the film’s greatest strength – clearly illustrating how far this crisis reaches. To show how far it goes, Lewis Lee and Eiselt include the journeys of men who are left to carry on without the women they and their children lost. The parts of Aftershock that have Omari Maynard and Bruce McIntyre, the fathers of Gibson’s and Rose Issac’s children, respectively, show a vulnerability from Black men in mourning individually and supporting one another, something not often seen in any media. This element is paramount to Aftershock bringing home the point that the film is trying to make - this epidemic is not solely a “Black woman problem” as it also impacts Black men and has chilling implications for the future of the Black family, making it an American problem.
The supporting components of Aftershock, such as the statistics and expert analysis, are similarly impactful in raising the sense of urgency this issue calls for. The data and historical anecdotes are almost as harrowing as the families’ stories and warrant further reading after viewing the film.
However, there is a flaw. Aftershock gets a bit shaky with the discussion of midwives and doulas. While midwives and doulas are an excellent alternative to having a hospital birth, not everyone has the resources to get one, nor is it a 100% guarantee to not having any birthing or postpartum complications. If the goal is to raise awareness about the lack of equitable maternal healthcare for Black women, the focus should stay on doing what’s needed to make equitable maternal healthcare for Black women a real thing instead of advocating for a specific service.
The question isn’t if you should watch Aftershock – it’s why you should do it. Eiselt and Lewis Lee expertly crafted a documentary that moves the maternal mortality disparity crisis from the shadows of forgotten health care issues and into a space where it’s ripe for amplification. By humanizing the topic, they excel at showing this betrayal of human rights extends further than the Black women it kills and that it will require the work of everyone, regardless of gender and race, to bring it to an end.
Aftershock is a complicated viewing because so there is so much grief and sadness involved. Still, you can’t ignore it because what Aftershock shares is critical to the survival of Black women, Black families, and equality in this country.
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