Illinois Federation

For Right to Life

Daily News

In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King gave his famous "I Have A Dream" speech. This address impacted our nation in a profound way. It was a call to fulfill the promise of liberty established in our Declaration of Independence. Dr. King stated, "When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

 

Dr. King complained that America was default on this promise. He stated, "It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked 'insufficient funds.' But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children."

 

This January 22nd, 2008 will mark the infamous anniversary of Roe vs. Wade. 35 years ago, 7 blacked- robed Supreme Court judges sat as gods amongst us and decriminalized abortion. This treacherous act not only violated God's law, "Thou Shalt Not Murder," but established once again an America default in its promise.

 

For 35 years and counting, America has failed to uphold the right to life for our precious preborn children who are made in the image of God. By framing mischief into law, the Supreme Court in 1973 allowed injustice to raise its ugly head once again. In its judicial arrogance, it turned the American dream into a nightmare for the least amongst us.

 

For 1/3rd of an entire generation the American Declaration has been reduced to historical words void of meaning. If slavery and segregation exposed the hypocrisy of America's experiment with liberty, what does the severed limbs, broken bodies, and dismembered torsos of babies reveal to us today? The rights to liberty and the pursuit of happiness mean nothing to a dead baby denied the first and most fundamental right, the God-given right to life.

 

America, this travesty must end! How long will we sit idle while the "bank of justice" for the preborn proves "bankrupt?" How long will we say to our posterity that there are "insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity" to allow you to be welcomed in life and protected by law?

 

In Dr. King's day, segregation exposed our national hypocrisy concerning the right to liberty. In our day, abortion reveals our national hypocrisy respecting the right to life. People marched to end segregation and this march is not over. God's truth must march on to end the injustice of abortion as well. "Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children." Let us therefore commit afresh and anew to make the "dream" come true for all Americans once and for all, the born and preborn!

 

Contact: Rev. Rusty Lee Thomas

Monday, January 21, 2008

35 Years of a Dream Denied