Black In AmericaWeb: Sisters Sound Off On Abortion Activists' Billboard Portraying Black Women As Killers! (1038 hits)

Thanks for your concern, Life Always, but there are other places to put your energy. The big billboard in New York City’s Soho District blared the offense: “The most dangerous place for an African-American child is in the womb.” Thus, in one fell swoop, did the message deemphasize the inordinate threats that African-Americans face every day and portray black women as killers.

A group called Life Always said their billboard – since removed from its prominent perch – was intended to “call attention to the tragedy and the truth that abortion is outpacing life in the black community.” Thank you for your concern, Life Always, but there are other places to put your energy than into the business of people you do not know and for whom you are not known to have cared much.

There are other, far less private places to put your noses and, if you go there, you might accomplish what you say you are about after all: To reduce the incidence of abortion. How so? By stampeding lawmakers and policy makers so that the world outside the womb isn’t so dangerous, dreary and foreboding for African-American children.

According to a Children’s Defense Fund report released just a few weeks ago – quoting here - black babies are more than twice as likely to die before their first birthday as white babies. One in eight black children has no health insurance coverage, compared to one in 14 white kids.

Black children are four times more likely to be in foster care than their white peers. Black children are more than three times as likely as white children to live in extreme poverty. Forty percent are born poor, compared to eight percent of white children. A black child is nearly twice as likely as a white child to be placed in special education classes.

A black boy who is 10 years old today is five times more likely to be incarcerated eventually than is a white 10-year-old boy. Need more? The University of Chicago reports that black children are twice as likely to die from a neuroblastoma, a cancer that preys on children, while the Journal of the National Medical Association says black children as twice as likely to die from traumatic injury.

The Violence Policy Center: A black male is 14 times more likely to be murdered than a white male. The Census Bureau: Black households with children have a median net worth of $5,740. White households with children have a median net worth of $103,220.

‘Twould be nice if Life Always and the entire “pro-life” movement would worry less about when life begins and more about how it proceeds. Those who make it past that “dangerous place” should matter too, and a more hospitable, fairer setting might remove some of the despair that leads some women – black, white and all - to the clinic. The most dangerous place for an African-American is in a world that doesn’t value them once they get here.

http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=news



Posted By: Jen Fad
Friday, March 4th 2011 at 12:34AM
You can also click here to view all posts by this author...