by Fletcher Armstrong

Continuing our See you in the funny papers series (explanation), this one from the Grand Valley State University Lanthorn.

No Name:  How dare they compare abortion to the Holocaust. Nothing should every be compared to the Holocaust. … You can’t compare abortion to genocide.  They are two completely different things and trying to do so invalidates people who have survived through genocide or are going through it right now.  Also, the pictures that they put on display can be triggering for many students, faculty, and families who are touring the school.

CBR Response:  No Name, Martin Luther King, Jr. often compared racial injustice in America to the Holocaust.  Rev. Jesse Jackson later extended the comparison to abortion.  Both of them cited some of the same factors that we highlight in our display, including denial of personhood, dehumanization of the victims, etc.  They didn’t “invalidate” anybody when they made these comparisons.  They merely pointed out common themes.

BTW, this talk about “triggering” is nothing more than a plea for censorship.  You say that you think it’s OK for us to voice our opinions, but you think it goes too far when we provide evidence which proves our claim that abortion decapitates and dismembers little human beings.

Why do you want this evidence covered up?  How can it be that it is OK to decapitate and dismember little human beings, but not OK to show a picture of the result?

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “America will never reject racism until America sees racism.” Was he wrong?

Did Martin Luther King use graphic pictures?  You bet he did.  He said

America will not reject racism until America sees racism.

He organized marches so that racial violence, which had been perpetrated mostly in the shadows, could now be exposed to the light of day.  When Americans saw racial violence for themselves, they rejected it.

Richard B. Speed’s review of Mark Kurlansky’s book, 1968:  The Year That Rocked The World, describes how Dr. King orchestrated this enormously successful strategy:

In discussing the impact of civil disobedience, Kurlansky relates a telling incident that took place during a 1965 march in Selma, Alabama.  Martin Luther King apparently noticed that Life Magazinephotographer, Flip Schulke had put down his camera in order to help a demonstrator injured by the police.  Afterward, according to Kurlansky, King rebuked Schulke, telling him that “Your job is to photograph what is happening to us.”

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "America will never reject racism until America sees racism." Was he wrong?

With abortion pictures, we send a strong message to a culture that prefers to ignore or trivialize abortion.  We also have a message for pro-lifers who think we are too confrontational:  No social reform movement has ever succeeded by covering up injustice.

Social reformers win when they expose injustice and make people uncomfortable with the status quo.  This is perhaps the overriding theme of Dr. Martin Luther King’s Letter From a Birmingham Jail.

Commenting on the WBIR story about our GAP on Market Square, Lissa wrote:

This is no way to win hearts, Dr Armstrong. If anything, you turn people away and they will never hear the message that all life is sacred. Please go watch 180MovieDotCom and learn a loving, Christ-filled way to truly get through to people’s hearts.

I responded:

Ms. Hailey, our operating principle comes from the King family. Dr. Martin Luther King said, “America will not reject racism until America sees racism.” He was successful in bringing social change because he was able to bring about the broadcast/publication of video/photos that made people see what racism was all about. When they saw Black men and women being attacked with dogs and water cannons, they realized that segregation was way worse than they imagined. His niece, Dr. Alveda King, now says, in the same way, “America will never reject abortion until America sees abortion.”

Thomas Clarkson used a diagram of a slave ship to help end the slave trade in England. Clarkson’s biographer Adam Hochschild said that “Iconic images have power because they allow us to see what previously we could barely imagine.” American abolitionists use images to help people see the horror of slavery. Lewis Hine used photographs to show people what abusive child labor looked like.

In every one of these examples, social reformers were successful when they exposed injustice. Can you name one example in which reformers were successful by covering up injustice?

I would encourage you to read the statement by Alabama Clergymen (12 April 1963), which prompted Dr. Martin Luther King’s now-famous Letter From a Birmingham Jail. These well-intentioned clergymen said, in essence, that Dr. King was too confrontational, that his tactics did nothing to solve the problem of racism, and that he should just stay home. Then read his response. He explained why it was necessary to create in society a discomfort with the status quo. Without that discomfort, there is no pressure for change. He explains it much better than I can. If his letter leaves you unconvinced, then there is not much more I can say.

Lisa replied:

No, there isn’t anything more to say if you think that showing huge pictures of dismembered fetuses is changing anyone’s heart for the better. It’s not just “uncomfortable” … it’s shocking, it is revolting, it is offensive and turns people OFF and they are NOT hearing your message … AT ALL.

Further, you are handing the enemies of life ammunition to use against not only you but everyone else that advocates for life, especially that of the unborn. I state that I am pro-life and I am automatically assumed to be “one of those crazy people waving around pictures of fetal tissue” and one step away from bombing an abortion clinic. MY message of love is LOST because of YOUR offensive pictures.

Go look at what Ray Comfort is doing 180movie … HE is changing hearts, or rather, he is opening hearts to the love of Christ and from there Christ is changing hearts and minds. God is using Him to bring love, hope and a message of life to a world mired in sin in the name of pleasure and convenience … and it is working. What you are doing is not.

My response:

They are not hearing our message? Tell that to the nine babies whose lives were saved when their mothers saw the pictures over at UTK the first time. Tell that to Lisa and Suzanne at the end of this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8Rk44gn824

It is appropriate that the anniversary of the infamous Roe v Wade decision is observed at the same time as the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.  We gain perspective and hope from knowing that civil rights activists eventually won their struggle to end slavery and Jim Crow, even though it took nearly 200 years.

They overcome insurmountable obstacles.  For them, like us in the pro-life movement, the discouragement must have been overwhelming at times.  But they fought on, never giving up on their dreams of equality.

If anything, Dr. King’s legacy should inspire us to dream big dreams and pursue bold visions.

I was reminded of this as I read Sen. Bob Corker’s remarks at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Sports Legacy Symposium at the FedEx Forum in Memphis. The symposium pays tribute to athletes who have made significant contributions to civil and human rights.

In his remarks, excerpted below, Sen. Corker spoke briefly about King’s bold vision and how it should inspire us to pursue bold visions of our own:

One of the people who has had a great impact on my life is a man named Jim Rouse.  His work to give low-income citizens the opportunity for decent and affordable housing has improved the lives of hundreds of thousands of people across our country. I met Jim in the 1980s, and he encouraged me to embrace a bold vision. He said, “Bob, if you have a bold vision, even if you only accomplish 80 percent of it, you’ve still accomplished far more than if your goals were small. A bold vision builds momentum and energy.”

Martin Luther King had a tremendous vision of what our country could be. He also had the courage to stand up and pursue it. He had a bold vision – a dream he called it – of human equality. He shared his dream with the rest of us and made sacrifices so that his children and grandchildren would live in a better country than the one he inherited.

Tragically, his life was cut short. But because he had a bold vision and energy behind it, others picked up his cause and today we are a far better nation as a result.

To truly honor his legacy we must dedicate ourselves to our own bold visions, to serving one another, to improving our communities, and to leaving behind a better country for future generations.