Martin Luther King, Jr. Remembered - New Civil Rights Movement

Abortion providers target black and Hispanic neighborhoods
by Edith Black*

Photo by James McKenzie Edie Black, Catholics for the Common Good steering committee member, represented Democrats for Life. She compared Martin Luther King's work with her work for justice for the unborn and women who are coerced into abortions.

In 1963 I stood before the Lincoln Memorial and heard the Reverend Martin Luther King tell the nation about his dream. I have a dream, he said, that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: we hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal.

As I listened I vowed in my heart that I would fight for his dream the rest of my life. That is why I went south in the 60's as a Freedom Fighter and that is why I am here today. Because the great dream of equality and personal liberty for all remains unfulfilled as long as the fundamental right to life is denied.

The dream is unfulfilled as long as 25% of all our young are cut down by abortion. And especially as long as African Americans and Hispanic Americans are targeted, with over 80% of abortion clinics located in their neighborhoods.

New civil rights movement
As Father Pavone so eloquently said, we here today are the Civil Rights movement. And we have a dream.

What do we dream?

We dream that every child conceived, however poor and whatever the color of their skin, be welcomed into the human family and be given the means to pursue his or her destiny.

That every pregnant woman be able to face her pregnancy without fear because she knows the support and resources she needs will be available to her.

That we value every person, no matter how challenged, as having a unique God-given role to play among us.

That we honor and care for those facing the end of their lives until the moment God calls them home.

Speech delivered by Edith Black on January 20, 2007 at the Walk for Life, West Coast in San Francisco. Black is a leader of California Democrats for Life and is on the steering committee for Catholics for the Common Good.

More on the Walk for Life, West Coast.

Copyright © 2007 Catholics for the Common Good, a New Catholic Action^®
Permission granted for use of content with attribution to www.catholicsforthecommongood.org.