Obesity and diabetes, SIDS, breast and cervical cancer....all diseases with higher rates among African-Americans. What gives you the best fighting chance against all of them?? Breastfeeding or being breastfed. This is a public health issue and a pride issue. It's time to reclaim the ancient tradition of breastfeeding among African-American women. It's time to give our children the start they need to face the challenges of life from academics to disease.

"Breastfeeding is a natural safety net against the worst effects of poverty. If a child survives the first month of life, the most dangerous period of childhood, then for the next 4 months or so, exclusive breastfeeding goes a long way towards cancelling out the health difference between being born into poverty or being born into affluence. It is almost as if breastfeeding takes the infant out of poverty for those few vital months in order to give the child a fairer start in life and compensate for the injustices of the world into which it was born."