Jovani Patterson: Black Pre-born Children — Does “Black Lives Matter” Really Care?
The issue of abortion has been a polarizing topic in the country’s consciousness since the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case. Yet, although the topic is often debated, the Black Lives Matter organization has remained silent on the issue.
In a Wallstreet Journal article, ‘Let’s Talk About the Black Abortion Rate’, written by Jason Riley two years ago (in July, 2018), Riley informed readers of staggering numbers that members from the Black Lives Matter organization have blatantly disregarded, their silence implying that the issue is beneath their mission.
Why the attack of BLM on this specific topic? Simple: the abortion of black lives takes place at a near genocidal rate. Their silence proves that they are an illegitimate organization not truly concerned with the welfare of all black lives.
Riley’s research found that, nationally, “black women terminate pregnancies at far higher rates than other women.”
Almost a half decade ago, black women comprised of just 13% of the entire female population. Although they were a clear minority in their gender, over a third of all abortions performed that year (36%) were performed on black women.
Riley suggested that the number of deaths experienced by unborn black children by abortion far exceeded the number of deaths in the black community as a result of cancer, violent crime, heart disease, AIDS, and accidents.
He claimed that “Racism, poverty and lack of access to health care are the typical explanations for these disparities. But,” he added, “black women have much higher abortion rates even after you control for income. Moreover, other low-income ethnic minorities who experience discrimination, such as Hispanics, abort at rates much closer to white women than black women.”
This issue has not improved since his findings. Abortion clinics are placed throughout urban areas and near environments in which minorities reside in large numbers.
Those who truly stand for equality of all black lives (and not just those names that BLM uses to push their singularly tracked agenda) have used the tumultuous political and social climate of the day to air their grievances as well.
Pro-life groups, including members of Students for Life of America and the Frederick Douglass Foundation, have done something that BLM has not done and obtained permits to paint “Black Preborn Lives Matter” in bold yellow letters in front of a Planned Parenthood clinic in the district.
This demonstration is scheduled to take place shortly after two protesters outside a Planned Parenthood facility in D.C. were arrested and charged with “defacing public or private property.”
A police report and video revealed that Erica Caporaletti, a student enrolled at Towson University, and Warner DePriest, a D.C. resident, were arrested while writing “Black Pre-Born Lives Matter” with chalk on the sidewalk.
The Black Lives Matter organization continues to argue for the defunding of police and calls to action people who are willing to be involved in violent protests and riots.
Although unarmed black men and women killed by police officers is an issue that needs to be addressed, BLM refuses to take a stand against the slaughter of millions of unborn black lives.
This inaction proves that the organization does not truly stand for equal treatment of all black lives, only those few lives they find important enough to push their Marxist agenda.
If black lives truly mattered to the organization that bears the name of the idea, they would do everything in their power to persuade would-be black mothers from putting to death their innocent, unborn black children.
Jovani Patterson — Candidate for Baltimore City Council President