Here’s the latest from the crossroads of faith, media & culture: 01/19/24

From CNN: At first glance, the image looks like a standard drawing that could easily be found in the pages of a medical textbook or on the walls of a doctor’s office. But what sets apart the illustration of a fetus in the womb that recently captured the attention of the internet is a simple, yet crucial, detail: its darker skin tone. The image, created by Nigerian medical student and illustrator Chidiebere Ibe, struck a chord with countless people on social media, many of whom said that they had never seen a Black fetus or a Black pregnant woman depicted before. It also brought attention to a larger issue at hand: A lack of diversity in medical illustrations.

That story from 2021 makes a valid point. On the other hand…

Black fetuses may be underrepresented in medical illustrations but unborn black babies are way over-represented when it comes to the number of them who are aborted. In the U.S., for instance, a black baby is several times more likely to be aborted than a white baby. Abortion also reportedly  accounts for 61% of black deaths in America – that is, of course, if you count an unborn black baby as a person (which I do).

As March for Life events continue in Washington, D.C.,  I continue to believe that efforts of the movement need to focus more on winning hearts and minds through education, persuasion (over coercion) and assistance to those in need. Particularly regarding education and persuasion, Right-to-Life advocates would be wise, I think, to lean into exposing the inherent racism at the core of widespread abortion.

Definitely leaning in on that issue is Pastor Clenard Childress of the New Calvary Baptist Church in Montclair, NJ. The founder of BlackGenocide.org who will be speaking at tomorrow’s West Coast Walk for Life in San Francisco.

JWK: What has the reaction been from your family and friends within the black community regarding your view that abortion is a genocide against black people?

Pastor Clenard Childress: Absolutely. The data back me up on that. We account for 12.4 percent of the population but 36 percent of the abortions and 85% to 90 % of Planned Parenthood clinics – Planned Parenthood being the leading provider of abortion in America if not the world – are located in African-American neighborhoods by design.

Having said that, it’s not hyperbole or just being radical. There is a deliberate systemic agenda of the eugenics community to target people of color. I had no idea of this until a pro-life Catholic evangelist, LifeNet’s Chris Flaherty, happened to meet one of my teenagers and thought she was going into a clinic. She was just on her way home (but) the rest became history. I went to a conference down at CBN with LEARN, the Life Education and Resource Network, which I became a part of later and I heard the story of Margaret Sanger. I was completely stunned. A research historian in Texas basically gave the presentation and showed indeed a deliberate systemic agenda of Margaret Sanger who also tutored Adolph Hitler and received a letter of commendation. Once again, it was Margaret Sanger that tutored the Third Reich in the eugenics programs that they were doing in Germany.

JWK: Just to be clear, do you mean Margaret Sanger literally tutored Adolph Hitler or that she helped promote the concept of eugenics to Nazi Germany?

CC: I would say it was there but they sought her counsel (and) consulted with her. She critiqued and I would have to say, yeah, tutored the Third Reich.

JWK: You say a black baby is four or five more times likely to be aborted than a white baby.

CC: That’s just data. For every five African-Americans that get pregnant, three will choose to abort, unquestionably in cities. Once again the data proves out that in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago (and) LA more African-American children are aborted than born. So, we find unquestionably indeed when it comes to life in the womb it has become a political issue but it’s a Church issue, it’s a moral issue. We are agents of morality and we are to reflect the consciousness of God. If we’re called to Church certainly it is our duty, our charge, to…point out injustice. As Dr. Martin Luther King said “An injustice done to anyone anywhere is an injustice to all everywhere.” We are now in a state where the Church is somewhat waking up. We’re not there. That’s why Walk for Life San Francisco is so important – because it’s activism and it’s visible to the public that we are not in agreement with the slaughter of the innocent children in the womb.

JWK: Is it true that abortion accounts for 61% of all black deaths in America?

CC: Yes. If you add up all the deaths incurred by American-Americans – such as AIDS, violent crimes, cancer – a list of about seven or eight, if you combine them all it wouldn’t come up to half those who are killed by abortion. Actually, heart disease is supposedly the leading killer but if…you add it up all together (they don’t) come close to the devastating genocidal effect of abortion.

JWK: Combined?

CC: Combined…Since 1973 there are over 21-million African-Americans missing, directly due to abortion.

JWK: I’m not into the Woke agenda but, for a group that sees racism seemingly everywhere, why don’t they see it here?

CC: Because the Woke agenda is deliberate propaganda and a narrative for another political agenda using race as its means of trying to get there agenda across. I wrote in the Washington Times Are You ‘woke’ to Black Genocide? – meaning, if indeed we’re talking about injustices and disparities in the races when it comes to upward mobility and opportunity, we are cutting off opportunity of millions in the womb. They do not have access to the American Dream. They have not been able to have a voice in their own future because we have circumvented their right to life (enunciated in) the Declaration of Independence. They already have a vested citizenship into this country…Why do I say that? Because the Declaration of Independence says “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights” that cannot be taken away. Then in the Constitution it says we not only want these rights for ourselves but we want them for our future children.

JWK: Our posterity. Also, why doesn’t the Right-to-Life movement make more of an issue of this? You know, whenever you see a picture of an unborn baby it’s almost always a white baby. Why not show some pictures of black babies in the womb and remind people of the racial component of this issue?

CC: I think that’s happening more and more with certain pro-life groups. They recognize that African-Americans are more adversely affected by abortion than any other ethnicity and they have begun, such as you said, to depict the real target. Not only does the data show that African-Americans are affected by it the most but if you look at the ideology behind it or the philosophical view of those who are engaged in eugenics, African-Americans (and) people of color are the target.

Let’s just say this. Margaret Sanger said “Colored people are human weeds and they need to be exterminated.” Also, many people still don’t know that Planned Parenthood has already – due to lawsuits within for racial injustice (toward) their own workers which I thought to be amusing – made a statement about Margaret Sanger and said that she did great harm to people of color. Planned Parenthood! Now, of course, the media doesn’t want to carry this. They don’t want to make an issue of it…Gosh! My Lord! You would think that this would have been heralded on every station on the news because we have been saying this — well, myself personally – since the mid-nineties and others even longer, that this was directed towards people of color. It is racist. It should be eradicated in our culture if we’re looking for “justice for all.”

JWK: You call the term pro-choice “a carefully devised phrase contrived to provoke our inward zeal for freedom and the civil right to make choices freely.” You say you’re “all for freedom of choice except when it comes at the expense of innocent lives.”

CC: It’s intellectually dishonest to claim a right for yourself and take away the right for somebody else. Pro-choice, that’s a lie. Babies never choose to die. They try to basically cause the child to be a nonperson so, therefore, the child has no rights at all but we know through embryoscopy, biology and all the sciences of the day, that there’s a heartbeat at 18 days, brainwaves at 42 days, the child is sucking their thumb at 85 days. That’s a person. In the words of Horton, “A person is a person no matter how small.”

JWK: Now, I’m actually on your side. I’m convinced.

CC: I appreciate that.

JWK: What I do want to say though is that while it does seem to me that the morality and the science are on your side – on our side – we seem to be losing the political debate. Why do you think that is? If I may, I kind of feel that the emphasis needs to be on education – like what you’re doing right now – and alternatives. I’m all for restricting abortion but when you get to the idea of punishment the debate kind of shifts and people don’t get to the points that you’re making. Do you think it might be better to focus on education and alternatives before we talk too much about the law?

CC: Absolutely. Frederick Douglas stated just basically what you said. There must be information. No question. Martin Luther King felt that his activism would incite education and another look at the issue of racism and civil rights in America. So, they were very active in their demonstrations in trying to bring the light to their cause and their purpose. That was well thought out and, certainly, wise for them to do.

The Scripture teaches us “My people are destroyed because of the lack of knowledge.” That’s Hosea 4:6.  So, yes, education is pivotal but right now we’re getting into a thing of ideology. That is what has hurt. Look at some of the decisions that are being made judicially. It’s more out of philosophy and their own ideology instead of the law itself. We have ignored the Declaration. Guess what? Martin Luther King said the same thing in 1963 – that we have not held these truths to be self-evident.

It’s self-evident that that’s a baby. It’s self-evident that that’s a person and child. So, yes, politically here it is. We lose in the sense that indeed they have been able to make this out to be solely a woman’s right. We have to bring personhood. We have to basically make the argument for the person inside the womb. This is why science is so important…Can you imagine? We live in a generation where you can actually see life from conception. This will help drastically amongst our young people but, right now, as you stated in Ohio…they framed their argument so well. You had an overwhelming response to the question on the ballot whether abortion should be accessible. Once again, that’s another argument for another time but…their position is eroding though it is very incremental. It is slow but the more people know that that’s a baby the more the generation that’s coming up will see this information, the technological proof and data (and) we will have more people (on our side)…but it is a moral issue. It is a moral sense of conscience. Now, if you don’t have a conscience, whether it’s a baby or not doesn’t matter to you.

JWK: But most people do have a conscience, wouldn’t you agree? If they know the facts most people will not want to have an abortion.

CC: Exactly! That’s why eventually we will win. We won’t win everybody but we will win enough – and have won enough – to make a difference. It’s just been very slow…We are seeing success but as Yogi Berra, Hall of Fame catcher for the New York Yankees, said “It’s not over til it’s over.”
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“Politicians argue for abortion largely because they do not want to spend the necessary money to feed, clothe and educate more people. Here arguments for inconvenience and economic savings take precedence over arguments for human value and human life… Psychiatrists, social workers and doctors often argue for abortion on the basis that the child will grow up mentally and emotionally scarred. But who of us is complete? If incompleteness were the criteri(on) for taking life, we would all be dead. If you can justify abortion on the basis of emotional incompleteness, then your logic could also lead you to killing for other forms of incompleteness — blindness, crippleness, old age.” (Then pro-life) Jesse Jackson, January 1977

John W. Kennedy is a writer, producer and media development consultant specializing in television and movie projects that uphold positive timeless values, including trust in God.