Tubman Center for Health & Freedom

Guiding Principles

Past. Present. Future. Written in our legacy, lived in our purpose. Our guide to health & freedom, rooted in who we are as a people.

Established 2020.

We are an abolitionist organization.

  • Our namesake is not adornment. We stand firmly in the right to health and freedom and against systems that make those in our communities unwell.

  • In order to improve the health of the people, we must address social determinants of health by abolishing systems and practices that make us sick.

  • By utilizing complex systems theory and lessons from The Movement, we understand that we must abolish existing systems of harm and REPLACE them with systems that work for the masses.

We reject White supremacy in all its forms and processes.

This means:

  • We work to interrupt racism, homophobia, ableism, sexism, xenophobia and aporophobia.

  • We reject blood quantum measures.

  • We reject any narrative that pits one marginalized group against another.

  • We reject the status quo and standard systems operations, knowing that in America the status quo and systems are deeply rooted white supremacy.

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We build and create toward our vision.

  • We refrain from reactionary, short-sighted, convenient politics and procedures. We use our values as a compass and Movement insights/wisdom as our map; to build, grow, strengthen and deepen the work of the Tubman Center for Health & Freedom.

  • We exist on our terms.

For us, by us.

  • Whether in academic or clinical research, or in our partnerships with white-led institutions, our communities must direct the work that is meant to have impact on our communities.

We believe in offering the finest medical care to those who are most sick, most medically complex and underserved.

  • We reject charity care models.

  • We are not motivated by cost-saving healthcare, but by quality and sustainability.

  • We believe in offering clinically advanced, patient-centered, culturally appropriate, accessible, responsive care to those who need it most.

Because erasure and invisibility are forms of white supremacy, we root our work in love, acknowledgement and appreciation.

This means:

  • We pay respect to the cultural lineage of the medicine.

  • We recognize and tend to the people.

  • We offer deep listening, honor requests, show up authentically, and demonstrate dignity and respect.

We do not perpetuate scarcity mindset.

  • Our relationships and the collective power that can be built among the people is the foundation of our work. Community is critical to our success. We take the lead of our community.

  • We acknowledge our interconnectedness and how it manifests in our health and freedom.

We are “about that action.”

  • We advance strategic work that moves us closer to health, freedom, liberation and sovereignty.

  • We live and work our values.

We acknowledge that we are on Indian land and that the U.S. government promised to provide healthcare to Native people when stealing this land - a promise that they have failed to uphold.

  • We are committed to honoring the commitment of providing healthcare to Native people in the region.

We believe in decolonizing medicine, healthcare, data and science.

  • We recognize cultural lineage, roots, medicines and lands.