The New Lynching

Although African-Americans account for around twelve percent of the national population, African-Americans account for nearly thirty-five percent of abortions. The Black leadership is often quoting national population percentages versus incarceration percentages to assert that the judicial system is racially biased. I agree; working in the urban African-American setting, attending court with some of my parishioners, and interviewing officers of the court--attorneys, judges, and others, I wholeheartedly believe the judicial system carries within its institutionalized veins the virus of prejudice. Why, then, does the Black leadership not decry abortion as an affront to the African-American community, especially when three-fourths of abortion clinics are strategically placed next to minority communities and the founder of Planned Parenthood advocated abortions for Blacks to completely stop their procreation? Because they'd lose their position with the Democratic leadership, that's why. The Democratic Party has made it clear that only a passion for unlimited, publicly funded abortions will punch the ticket upwards for aspiring Democrats. While such pandering is an obvious part of American politics, it is dismaying in general and downright sickening in the specific, when the specific in this case is the cost of many million tikes who haven't had a shot at eating a Happy Meal, wearing Osh Kosh B'Gosh, or annoying the hell out of their parents in the Wal-Mart toy aisle. Another tragic dynamic here is that the Black leadership is quiet on abortion in order to maintain their position within the Democratic Party, even though the platform of the Party is deadly to the community the Black leadership espouses to represent. Which is an irony too bitter for even me to chuckle. The Democratic Party is eroding away partially because it is killing off in the present those who would support it in the future.

I Can't Complain

Although some are concerned about today's Supreme Court ruling against death penalty sentences for minors, I, for one, am glad for it overall. The representation that this is European thinking valued over American thinking doesn't hold as much water as it might seem. Justice Kennedy, in writing for the majority, also cites the thirty states who already do not allow such a ruling, and he notes the extreme paucity of cases in those states that do allow such a ruling. He also adds that the majority age of eighteen is set for just this sort of thing--assessment of culpability. Justice Scalia, in dissent, is worried that the Court is becoming the sole arbiter of morality. This is the one aspect of the ruling that bugs me. I would prefer the Supreme Court to stay out of it altogether and let the states do the heavy lifting. Where I stick is Justice Kennedy's arguments on popular opinion. If he feels so strongly about popular opinion, throw the case back to the states and let each state's populace voice its opinion. But, hey, I'm a state's righter through and through. Nonetheless, I'm happy with the results of today's actions, if not the process. Although abortion operates on grander scale, both practices propagate a culture of death and need to be abolished. Today's ruling is a thankful step in that direction.