The setback to civil rights

 

Photo by Jim Young/Reuters

As more people are saying publicly now, it is jarring that while the election of America’s first black presidentit 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 denies 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.