Day Gardner

Sarah Palin's decision to come rushing to Dr. Laura Schlessinger's defense last week after Schlessinger announced that she would be leaving her radio show because of criticism she received for repeatedly saying the "N-word" on a recent broadcast did not sit well with a lot of people, including us.

And it looks like it didn't sit well with a variety of Black conservative leaders either, though they seemingly tried to downplay their displeasure by issuing their statement blasting Palin for using "this incident as a stepping stone for her political ambitions" late on Friday night:

Dr. Schlessingers' use of the "N" word on her program was in poor judgment and an unfortunate choice for which she has apologized. While we do not condone her behavior, we accept her apology and understand she did not intend to offend. We are disappointed, however, that Sarah Palin used this incident as a stepping stone for her political ambitions, raising her political goals above principle, said leaders in the black prolife movement.

"Many of these politicians are involving themselves in matters that have nothing to do with them," said Day Gardner, President of the National Black Pro-Life Union. "Just as the President should not have involved himself in the Mosque issue in New York, or the Police incident in Massachusetts, Sara Palin should not have involved herself in this matter or -- the Georgia governors race where she supported a candidate that supplied funding to Planned Parenthood. Doing so caused us all to question her assertion that she is pro-life. Palin should forget about political leverage and deal with the righteous principles of human dignity." Gardner said.

"When I heard the caller on the Dr. Laura show, I wondered if she was a plant, someone designated to provoke a reaction from Dr. Laura," said Catherine Davis, a founding member in the black prolife movement. "It is unfortunate Dr. Laura took the bait. But Sarah Palin's insertion into the matter just seems opportunistic and political." she said.

"Every time Sarah Palin chooses politics over principle, something is lost," said Dr. Alveda King, Director of African American Outreach for Priests for Life. "Palin can't win by jumping into the game where the nefarious race card is being played."

"It's time to strike a nail in the coffin of racism in America," King continued. "Governor Palin could better use her time in trying to unite the human race. This battle can't be won with politics. This is a matter of the human condition -- and the human heart," concluded Dr. King.

Interestingly, Alveda King issued a separate statement announcing that she would be joining Glenn Beck's upcoming "Restoring Honor" rally, where Sarah Palin will also be speaking, as did Gardner ...  so maybe they will get a chance to voice their displeasure with Palin in person.

But honestly, I can't think of a better example of the absurdity of Beck trying to claim Martin Luther King's mantle by hosting his rally on the anniversary of MLK's iconic "I Have a Dream" speech than this decision to include the one member of MLK's extended family who least represents his legacy.

Whenever the issue of achieving full equality for gays and lesbians in America comes up, especially as it relates to marriage equality, someone from the Right inevitably plays the "Homosexual marriage is not a civil rights issue" card:

Defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman would not deny homosexuals the basic civil rights accorded other citizens. Nowhere in the Bill of Rights or in any legislation proceeding from it are homosexuals excluded from the rights enjoyed by all citizens--including the right to marry. However, no citizen has the unrestricted right to marry whomever they want. A person cannot marry a child, a close blood relative, two or more spouses, or the husband or wife of another person. Such restrictions are based upon the accumulated wisdom not only of Western civilization but also of societies and cultures around the world for millennia.

But you know what is apparently so much like the civil rights movement that is warrants it own reenactment?  Abortion:

The pro-life movement is all about freedom. That’s why Priests for Life, with the leadership of our Pastoral Associate Dr. Alveda King, is launching “Freedom Rides” for the unborn to galvanize pro-life activity across the country.

During the Civil Rights movement, the “Freedom Rides” constituted a distinctive moment of resolve and unity. The Supreme Court, in its 1960 decision Boynton vs. Virginia, had outlawed segregation in bus terminals and restaurants serving interstate travelers. So the following spring, thirteen people – seven African-Americans and six whites – decided to travel by bus from Washington DC to New Orleans to test the enforcement of that Supreme Court decision.

Along the way, particularly in Alabama, they encountered opposition and violence from those who did not want desegregation. But having been brutally attacked, and some lying with wounds in hospital beds, the “Freedom Riders” vowed that the journey would continue. That’s when others joined in, and the initial Freedom Ride became 60 rides across Southern states in the summer of 1961, with some 450 riders participating. And by the fall of that same year, the government issued orders for the enforcement of desegregation at the bus terminals.

The Civil Rights movement and the Pro-Life movement have the same heart and soul: a longing for equal justice for everyone, based on the inherent dignity of every human life. That’s why, when Dr. Alveda King first walked with me at the annual March for Life and I asked her, “Does this remind you of the marches in the civil rights movement?” she declared, “Fr. Frank, this is the civil rights movement!” Both movements are movements of freedom.

It is therefore time for Freedom Rides for the unborn. The pro-life movement is more ready than ever to proclaim freedom…

Freedom from the lies and the deceit that allow abortion to continue…
Freedom from the fear of speaking up and taking action for the unborn…
Freedom from the shame and guilt of past involvement in abortion, so that those called to speak up and share their testimonies may do so as people who are “Silent No More”…
Freedom from the political oppression that tramples on human rights and denies equality before the law…
Freedom from violence and death itself.

People will be invited to participate in the Freedom Rides themselves. The bus rides are a symbol of the journey we are on, of the fellowship we share with each other, and of the fact that we are a movement. Major events in cities along the bus routes will be held, in which all the different facets of the pro-life movement will be invited to participate.

Among the scheduled participants are Alveda King, Frank Pavone, Clennard Childress, and Day Gardner.

In Rob Schenck's latest video update, which we mentioned earlier, he said that he was going to be participating in a press conference pressing for passage of the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act, a piece of legislation introduced by Rep. Trent Franks that would "prohibit discrimination against the unborn on the basis of sex or race, and for other purposes."

Franks introduced the same legislation last year, but it never went anywhere, so he is apparently back to give it another try and has brought some of the more right-wing anti-abortion activists on board to rally support:

Congressman Trent Franks (AZ-02), a Member of the House Judiciary Committee, will host a press conference on Tuesday to introduce the Prenatal Nondiscrimation Act (“PreNDA”). PreNDA would prohibit knowingly performing or soliciting funding for race- or sex-selection abortion.

What: Press conference introducing the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act

Who:

· Congressman Trent Franks (R-AZ)

· Congressman Mike Pence (R-IN), Republican Conference Chairman

· Congressman Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE)

· Congressman Doug Lamborn (R-CO)

· Day Gardner — President, National Black Pro-Life Union

· Reverend Clenard Childress — Northeast Region President of the Life Education And Resource Network (L.E.A.R.N.)

· Wendy Wright, President, Concerned Women for America

When: Tuesday, March 31, 2009, 1:00p.m. EST

Faith and Action has now posted some photos from the press conference and indeed Wright, Gardner, and Childress were all there, as was Schenck.

Wright and Schenck are already well-known to readers of the blog, but you may not know much about the others, like Childress, who is listed as being associated with LEARN but is better known for his BlackGenocide.org website and the movement of the same name that he leads. Gardner is also active in that movement and known for making statements, such as she did before the election, that "Christians who vote for Obama are voting against the word of God."

But guess who also showed up:

That's right - Michele Bachmann, flanked by Gardner on the left and Schenck on the right (with Wright's blonde hair visible in the back.)

This photo pretty much tells you all you need to know about Rep. Bachmann and where any of the support for PreNDA will be coming from.

Writing in The Daily Beast, Max Blumenthal takes a look at the work that Rick Warren is doing combating AIDS in Africa and finds some rather disturbing connections.  For instance:

Troubled by what he was witnessing in Africa, Rep. Tom Lantos led the new Democratic-controlled Congress to reform PEPFAR [the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief] during a reauthorization process in February 2008. Lantos insisted that Congress lift the abstinence-only earmark imposed by Republicans in 2002, and begin to fund family planning elements like free condom distribution. His maneuver infuriated Warren, who immediately boarded a plane for Washington to join Christian right leaders including born-again former Watergate felon Chuck Colson for an emergency press conference on the Capitol lawn. In his speech, Warren claimed that Lantos’ bill would spawn an increase in the sex trafficking of young women. The bill died and PEPFAR was reauthorized in its flawed form.

A release announcing this press conference shows that Warren wasn't only sharing the microphone with Colson, but rather a bevy with right-wing Congressmen and activists including Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, Rep. Joe Pitts, Rep. Mike Pence, Rep. Jeb Hensarling, Bishop Harry Jackson, Wendy Wright of Concerned Women for America, and Day Gardner of the National Black Pro-Life Union.

Even more disturbing is Warren's close ties to Ugandan pastor Martin Ssempa:

Warren’s man in Uganda is a charismatic pastor named Martin Ssempa. The head of the Makerere Community Church, a rapidly growing congregation, Ssempe enjoys close ties to his country’s First Lady, Janet Museveni, and is a favorite of the Bush White House. In the capitol of Kampala, Ssempa is known for his boisterous crusading. Ssempa’s stunts have included burning condoms in the name of Jesus and arranging the publication of names of homosexuals in cooperative local newspapers while lobbying for criminal penalties to imprison them.

...

In August 2007, Ssempa led hundreds of his followers through the streets of Kampala to demand that the government mete out harsh punishments against gays. “Arrest all homos,” read placards. And: “A man cannot marry a man.” Ssempa continued his crusade online, publishing the names of Ugandan gay rights activists on a website he created, along with photos and home addresses. “Homosexual promoters,” he called them, suggesting they intended to seduce Uganda’s children into their lifestyle. Soon afterwards, two of President Yoweri Museveni’s top officials demanded the arrest of the gay activists named by Ssempa. Terrified, the activists immediately into hiding.

I remember this incident because I actually wrote a post about it at the time that included a quote from Janice Crouse of the Beverly LaHaye Institute hailing the Ugandan protesters for standing up when “the Devil is attacking them”:

I thank the Lord that we have people in Uganda who are devoted Christians who are willing to go out there at the beginning, at the outset, to say “you’re not going to change our culture, you’re not going to have influence here. We stand up for what is right, what is legal, and what is part of the culture of Uganda.”

It also included this photo taken of one of Ssempa's protesters:

Is this the anti-AIDS work in Africa of which Warren is so proud?