‘We a people who give children life, not who destroys them.’

by Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE)

Fifty years ago, Lorraine Hansberry became the first African-American woman to produce a Broadway play, with her timeless and iconic A Raisin in the Sun. Theatergoers at the Ethel Barrymore were shocked, as the New York Times put it on March 12, 1959, by the play’s “vigor as well as veracity,” raving that Hansberry’s masterpiece was “likely to destroy the complacency of anyone who sees it.” Generations since have been stirred by the profundity with which Hansberry detailed the trials and triumphs inherent in the human condition and the strength of character, resiliency, and unbreakable spirit that define the American dream for even the poorest and most vulnerable among us. Yet there is one clear message that has been forgotten over the last half-century, as we are faced with a poverty much greater than Hansberry’s cast of characters could have ever imagined: the ravages of government-subsidized abortion has brought upon a decimated Black community.


Lorraine Hansberry

Recently the Secretary of State appeared before the House Foreign Affairs Committee and confirmed it is the Administration’s goal of including abortion as an integral element of “reproductive health care” provided by the United States. In this context, I had the opportunity to raise concerns about her words of praise for Margaret Sanger, the notorious American racist who founded Planned Parenthood and advocated tirelessly for eugenic policies to eliminate persons she deemed inferior and unworthy to live.

Today, when twice as many Black children are eliminated through abortion than are born, Lena Younger’s stern words to her son, “We a people who give children life, not who destroys them,” evoke the strength, pride, and hope that characterized the soaring spirit of the civil rights movement. Her words should be lifted on billboards and sung through every corner of the world, but little mention is made of her stirring affirmation of life.

Instead, we continue to hear repugnant assaults on the dignity of minority populations reminiscent of Margaret Sanger, most recently from none other than Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  I was shocked to learn that in a recent interview with the New York Times, Justice Ginsburg commented that: “Frankly I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don’t want to have too many of.  So that Roe was going to be then set up for Medicaid funding for abortion.”

Reflect for a minute on that: “populations that we don’t want to have too many of.”

Incredibly, it appears eugenics is alive and well in our nation’s highest court.

This reprehensible statement deserves a strong public rebuke. It is unfathomable to me that today, a Justice of the United States Supreme Court would hold and admit to such a patently genocidal sentiment.  Perhaps it is a sign of the times, a reflection of a society desperate for meaning.

Read A Raisin in the Sun. I think anyone can find that meaning in the words of Lena Younger, the great literary champion of the human spirit. We was going backwards ’stead of forwards–talking ’bout killing babies and wishing each other was dead…When it gets like that in life–you just got to do something different, push on out and do something bigger….” The “something bigger,” Lena’s great selfless gift of hope and love to her family, saved her grandchild. We, too, must aspire to something bigger. And I believe that we are big enough, and loving enough, as a nation to embrace the mother and her unborn child and truly care for life. It’s what Lena Younger would have done.


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Posted Jul 20th 2009 at 6:37 am in Art, Featured Story, Religion | 101 Comments