Today America honors Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, (MLK) who paid the ultimate price for championing equality and human rights for all people as a leader in the Civil Rights Movement. It is special day for the King family to commemorate his life. Dr. Alveda King, niece of the leader who advocated for non-violence, believes that her uncle would agree that the pro-life movement is a continuation of the civil rights movement.
According to Alveda King, "My uncle once said, 'The Negro cannot win as long as he is willing to sacrifice the lives of his children for comfort and safety.' I know in my heart that if Uncle Martin were alive today, he would join with me in the greatest civil rights struggle of this generation - the recognition of the unborn child's basic right to life."
Dr. Alveda King, director of African-American Outreach for Priests for Life and PNCI's Special Representative for Human Dignity, works without ceasing to end the violence and devastation of abortion in the USA and around the world. She argues, "Abortion is genocide. It's killing populations. It's killing generations and certainly the population that is most impacted by abortion in America is the black community. So I feel that as a civil rights leader I have responsibility to proclaim that black Americans are being exterminated by the genocidal acts of abortion."
The King legacy lives on in Alveda King's work to end the violence and injustice of abortion. She states, "My uncle said that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. My Uncle Martin had a dream. He dreamt that we would live out that which is self-evident - that all men are created equal. He called on America to admit our wrongs and turn from them".
"Today, I call on all of us, regardless of nationality, race or religion, to admit our wrongs and turn from them. I believe that the denial of the right to life is the greatest injustice we face in the world today. There is no compassion in killing. There is no justice in writing people out of the human race."
May all those who dedicate themselves to working for the protection of children in the womb--the most discriminated group in the world today--be encouraged by the words of MLK who struggled against a hostlie culture of prejudice and discrimination: "Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals."
May all dedicated individuals who labor for the inherent dignity and inalienable rights of all members of the human family--including the unborn child, the disabled, those suffering and those near death--be inspired by the example and words of Martin Luther King, Jr and recommit their efforts to fight unjust laws.
PNCI recommends reading MLK's insights on just vs. unjust laws written while in jail in response to criticism of his non-violent protests in Birmingham, Alabama- Letter From Birmingham Jail.