The setback to civil rights


 obama alone

Photo by Jim Young/Reuters

As
more people are saying publicly now, it is jarring that while the
election of America’s first black president might heal racism, it
poses a tremendous threat to human rights.

One of those voices is the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King. Dr. Alveda King has long carried on the great struggle for civil rights with the
certainty that they extend to all human beings. With no exceptions for
any class of human beings.

The incoming president holds positions that deny rights to a class of human beings.


And the election of Obama gives a face to abortion.

His positions are extreme for any government leader. But historically so for the president.


Like it or not president-elect Barack Obama has promised
to do more to advance abortion rights than any other president in
America’s history. His no-holds-barred promise to sign the Freedom of
Choice Act (FOCA) - which should be renamed the No Limits on Abortion
Act - is a promise to make abortions more accessible than they have
ever been since Roe vs. Wade.

He ran on the ever-present chant of hope and change. We can only hope he changes his heart and mind on this deadly legislation.

Americans have placed tremendous power….and responsibility….in the hands of this black president-elect.


So, now, with one fell swoop, America is faced with her
greatest fears and highest hopes. These are the worst of times and the
best of times, and the question is not what can we do but rather what
will we do? Will we bury racist guilt and oppression along with the
horrors of abortion and immorality? Or will we pretend that the dirty
band-aid offered with this election will be enough to heal the wounds?
 
Now is the time to remind our members of Congress that to give
President Elect Obama the gift of FOCA to sign will be a very costly
gift. We must demand that our elected representatives defeat FOCA,
reminding them that what America needs is a new stream of brave
Congress members committed to upholding the Civil Rights of all
Americans, from the womb to natural death. In other words, tell your
congress members that a vote for FOCA may spell their last session in
Congress.

…Now is the time to support those in office who are trying to tell
the truth. Now is the time to give them more support by electing other
officials who will stand up for truth. Now is the time to do what my
uncle, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said: do what is right because it is
right.

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