Your Life Depends On It!

Commentary by Wanda

“For the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line” is a famous line from one of the most prolific black sociologists of the 20th century, WEB Dubois. Dubois believed that the power to overcome the color-line could be attacked through political power (the right to vote), civil equality, and education–collectively. Dubois' message was to all African Americans but I want to specifically address those who claim a conservative Christian perspective. Elections are right around the corner and for the past several years, I have witnessed many African American Christians vote based purely on “traditional family values” and the protection of the family (anti-same sex unions). When these candidates and officials talk about protecting the family they are never referring to "Pookie" and "Nay Nay’s" family…trust me! For if they were, there would be a greater emphasis on increasing minimum wage, improving education, and attacking drugs and violence in our cities. Some of our esteemed African American religious leaders parade these conservative candidates in their pulpits, pose with them for photo opportunities, and affirm these candidates based merely on their opposition to abortion, same sex unions and homosexuality.

I believe that the black church should be the agent for social change. Instead of focusing solely on prosperity, personal pursuits, financial literacy, and materialism, the church should be the prophetic voice addressing all the issues that their parishioners battle week in and week out in their respective communities. Many pastors resist discussing politics from the pulpit for fear of offending their members. But how is it possible that the black church, with a conscience, can distance itself from social activism? Lack of quality education, access to healthcare, and insufficient social security benefits are issues that affect African Americans disproportionately, so how can we remain silent?

Years ago in Atlanta, black pastors would interview local political candidates and then provide recommendations to their congregations. This type of collective power brokering resulted in informed citizens and an active leadership. What type of power would the African American community yield if pastors would revisit this type of collective political power?

African Americans of the middle and lower classes can’t afford to vote merely on moral issues when their economic stability is being threatened. As many continue to base their political ballot on whether or not a candidate is a member of The First American Church of Whatever and is Pro-Life and anti-gay, the gap between the haves and have nots widens, more and more black children slip through the cracks and our grandparents continue to be unable to support themselves. I know there are a myriad of other issues that this country deals with outside of the oppression of blacks and poor (we are not only homophobic, but also xenophobic – border issues and immigration laws); we’ve created powerful enemies and stand in fear of an attack on our liberty and, with the heightened threat of North Korea, our very lives. When we are made to focus on hot topics like abortion and homosexuality, we can forget that many are underemployed, undereducated, and undervalued as citizens of this country.

Don’t forget to exercise your right to vote on November 7th. Get involved in a local organization that addresses issues that help to make your community better. Check the candidates voting history and the causes they support – don’t let Pro-Life, Pro-Choice, and Anti-Same Sex Unions be your guiding decision, find out how they stand on economic and social issues that impact your community- because your very life depends on it.

Response by Cantice

Now I see the light. I wondered why Wanda would want to partner with me (someone who disagrees with her on the most essential spiritual doctrines and political ideologies) on anything, let alone a blog. But now I’ve got it. She brings it all to bear in this week’s commentary; she wants to convince all five of my conservative black friends to vote for Democrats.

Even if she does, it won’t impact the November 7th election. I can’t believe she wastes a whole page talking about people who vote on the basis of abortion, and same-sex marriage. I’m the only person I know who switched parties because of the life issue. The other people who vote Republican were going to anyway. The problem is exactly the opposite of what Wanda bewails. “Our” people, people in general, don’t vote based on morality; they vote (and Wanda urges them to) based on economics, and a limited knowledge of economics at that.

Wanda’s says the black church isn’t political enough because they’re not holding forums and interviewing candidates. I think that educating members about “The Peace Plan” and the "five global giants" (something that my “black church” does) as defined by Rick Warren has the capacity to make a greater difference than interviews and forums for addressing politics in our country and the world.

Morality doesn’t stop at marriage, it reaches into the economy. Let’s talk about raising minimum wage (this would be more of a conversation if we owned more of the businesses that were forced to comply with this regulation); I don’t think that anybody is satisfied with minimum wage. We’re not supposed to be. The best way to overcome the dissatisfaction is to keep acquiring the skills to qualify for more highly paid positions. This isn’t elite thinking, this is common sense. When I made minimum wage during college work study, I wasn’t mad. But neither did I expect to continue making that wage after graduation. Lowering our expectations for workers doesn’t create a better economy or society. And believing that economic status blurs the line between moral and immoral is an ideology that I detest. The bible is explicit; it is worse to be immoral than poor. I know poverty intimately, but I refuse to return to immorality.

It is a dream of mine that one day we will have a party system that actually requires a moral person to make hard decisions around Election Day. We’re not there yet and Wanda’s commentary assures us that we aren’t even close. If those who cry out against suffocating economic pressures or concealed racism would add the atrocity of abortion or other moral topics to their list of oppressions, I guess I would respect them more. As I once told my mom, if I feel like my life as a black person is being threatened, then I have a voice and a vote and any other means necessary to fight back. The young humans that I switched parties to vote for don’t have that power.

Five Global Giants: http://www.thepeaceplan.com/

The Joy of Parenthood

Commentary by Cantice

This weekend a friend and I attended the Georgia Right to Life Annual Conference. It was my friend’s first conference (my second) and understandably, she had some preconceived notions about the people she would encounter. To her surprise, nobody wore a baseball cap with buttons shouting “abortionists deserve to die”-type slogans. My friend enjoyed Scott Klusendorf’s (the keynote speaker’s) address on how to engage the pro-choice other side in meaningful discussion.

Many of you might be wondering how I came to feel so comfortably a part of the pro-life movement. The short story is that while in college, more than a couple of my friends became pregnant by the spring of my freshman year. Prior to this time I was passively pro-choice, believing that abortion was wrong, but that a person should be able to choose. For all my religious jargon, I knew that I didn’t have the substance to endure the nine months of shame that pro-life single mothers bore, nor was I unselfish enough to allow motherhood to alter my plans for academic and professional greatness. Maybe that’s why, when I was promiscuous, I feared pregnancy worse than death. I thank God that before I ever had to make a personal decision for or against life, my heart was turned to sympathize with the unborn.

As college drew on, I became more than passively pro-life. I read “Jane Roe” Norma McCorvey’s book, Won by Love, and began researching abortion procedures. A friendly local organization sent me a video called “Silent Screams” and others that either showed aborted baby remains or ultrasound footage of abortions being performed. Through sonography, one of the films depicted a gestating baby trying to escape the suction apparatus that would annihilate its tiny body. Before viewing the films, I was pro-life for religious reasons. After the films, I realized that abortion could be opposed on the basis of human rights violations.

Add to this negative milieu the fact that Planned Parenthood’s founder, Margaret Sanger, was sacrilegious and a proponent of eugenics. (For those wondering, eugenics is the proposed improvement of the human species by encouraging or permitting reproduction of only those individuals with genetic characteristics judged desirable.) That said, it should not be surprising that Sanger and others marketed contraception to African Americans in a eugenic experimentation that “peacefully” related to the violent actions of Nazi Germany against Jewish and Polish populations in Europe. But I digress.

It is my belief that today and in the years to come, more people will need encouragement to choose parenthood. As a community, we are backward in our thinking when we shun pregnant singles but condone extra-marital sex. I worry that married couples who aspire to be wealthy, but not to be parents, do not fully embrace the vocation of marriage. I fear that a society that prefers abortion over birth has lost its fear of God and its hope in the future. No abuse that a child could suffer is more gruesome than death at the hand of its parents. But a society that expects nothing more than abortion from its citizens deserves the abortionist and the unregretful consenter as its neighbors.

Abortion Reality Link: www.abort73.com

Response to The Joy of Parenthood
By Wanda

I think almost every woman I know has had a pregnancy scare. I believe that abortion is immoral since it can only be performed during the 6th week of pregnancy which is 3 weeks after the heart has been beating and blood has been flowing through its veins. Calling abortion a right is a fallacy, however, I will not condemn anyone who has had an abortion or condone it. Each individual makes decisions in their lives that they have to answer to God for, whether good or bad. I do know that many women who have experienced it were never the same again.

Now, on to my disagreement with your position that parenthood is a vocation of marriage. Are you trapped in 1602? Do I need to call Marty McFly and Dr. Emmett Brown from ‘Back to the Future’ to bring you into the year 2006? Parenthood is wonderful; Marriage is wonderful; if it is for YOU. Neither marriage nor parenting is a commandment given by Christ, although somehow I am sure you and your cronies have figured out some way to state it is. There are couples who decide not to have children, delay having children, or can’t conceive a child naturally and that doesn’t mean that they are not fulfilling their marital vocation. How can we assume that pursuing wealth and not having children is not a couple’s vocation? Who is to say that they shouldn’t wait? Why is it selfish and less ethical to decide to not have children? Valuing life not only means protecting it through Pro Life, Gun Control, Crime Prevention advocacy but also allowing those with life the opportunity to live in the liberty of Christ.