LETTER FROM A BIRMINGHAM JAIL

Excerpt taken from Dr. King's letter to the religious community opposing his actions in Birmingham. One can see that the battle never changes, only the arena. We have added the italics to clarify this truth.

"...I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate (American Church). I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's (pre-born child's) great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Councilor or the Ku Klux Klanner (abortion industry), but the white moderate (Church), who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro (pre-born child) to wait for a "more convenient season."
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I had hoped that the white moderate (Church) would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and that when they fan in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress. I had hoped that the white moderate (Church) would understand that the present tension in the South (United States) is a necessary phase of the transition from an obnoxious negative peace, in which the Negro (pre-born child) passively accepted his unjust plight, to a substantive and positive peace, in which all men will respect the dignity and worth of human personality.

Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action (Christians at the abortion mill) are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up, but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured."

Since Flip Benham obviously approves exposure of his tactics "to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion," let's take a look at how OSA furthered "the flow of social progress" in Alabama.

This what Benham's "substantive and positive peace" felt like to Dr. Ragsdale.

You might have heard about what's going on in Alabama, but the media coverage has been largely biased, if there's any at all, and I want to make sure that our story is told.

Can you imagine going to your doctor's office and navigating through a crowd of 150 protesters screaming at you? Let's mix in the shouts of "baby killer" and other verbal attacks with the amplification of bagpipes playing.

What if the doctor's office had volunteers using umbrellas to shield patients from the mob scene and shouting as they traveled to and from their cars?

That's what was happening outside the New Women All Women Health Clinic, where I arrived last week as a representative for the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. Operation Save America targeted this clinic and another one in Alabama as part of its ongoing intimidation and violence campaign against a woman's right to choose.

This clinic has been targeted before, both by OSA and by Army of God bomber Eric Rudolph. As noted by the Rev. Ms. Ragsdale, the clinic was rebuilt and continues under the same director today, "but you can imagine the tension that's here when the last time they faced such an onslaught of protests a bomb went off and someone died."

OSA's schedule of activities included events similar to those that took place in Jackson, Mississippi last year -- including a mock funeral staged for the nation's most well-traveled and most-memorialized fetus, one that bears no signs of having died any but a natural death.

OSA Saints held an open casket memorial service for a tiny preborn baby girl we named Sarah. We do this in order to put value on her life, to be a voice for those who have no voice. Two empty chairs represented Sarah's missing mother and father.

Eva Edl told us she knew how it felt to be classified as "just garbage " like Sarah. She was held in Gakovaa concentration camp by the Serbian government following WWII. She urged pro-lifers to "Continue doing what you're doing. Keep it up! Keep it up!" She said, "So that the Lord will spare this nation."
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Pastor Flip Benham assured us that "There is life after death and, though Sarah's mother and father are not here with her today, there are family members to greet her on the other side."

The preserved fetus, variously christened Sarah, Rebecca or Mercy, depending on the year and the venue, is the property of Benham's longtime ally, Fr. Frank Pavone, who told the press last year during OSA's siege of Jackson that plans were in place to afford it a final, real burial. Apparently, the time is not yet -- a cavalier attitude toward Christian burial for a priest who claims that even a fertilized ovum is a person.

Dr. Katherine Ragsdale informs us that the funeral bagpipes were used to harass and disrupt the Birmingham clinic, as well. From experience, I can assure you that performing surgery in the midst of such pandemonium requires a dedicated staff, a determined patient and a doctor with nerves of steel.

There's even a new message the protesters are hurling at women entering the clinic.

They are telling women that "men have hurt them" and that they shouldn't "kill their baby." These shouts are degrading--they insinuate that women have no control over their reasoning. This language puts men at the center of the decision instead of the courageous women who are looking for the healthcare or counseling that is right for them. It raises the tension and fuels the anger.

These shouts go on, even though there is a court injunction and local ordinance against using amplification outside the clinic.

Local law enforcement didn't enforce this noise ordinance Thursday, hence the bagpipes, but I witnessed a bunch of police officers trying to enforce it Friday, while the anti-choice protester screamed back at them about his "free speech" rights. He refused to comply, so they had no choice but to arrest him. Again, he's free to yell all he wants, but the law says no amplification.

This story isn't getting into the mainstream media, so please use your power to inform others about what happened in Alabama.

The story didn't make the mainstream media when Benham's OSA laid siege to Dallas clinics in 2002, either. And like the staff of West Alabama Women's Center in Tuscaloosa, besieged a week ago, we hoped in vain for assistance from our own police department -- whose chief chose that very week to take a vacation.

With Benham's group already encroaching upon the clinic's property, Tuscaloosa police ordered the clinic's director to go inside as OSA approached the entrance. When she refused to retreat from the trespassing "saints," police arrested not them, but her -- according to OSA, a "Jezebel" who "rose up against authority."

Operation Save America is often portrayed as law breakers when we are truly law keepers, first God's Law then the laws of our land. About 200 gentle Christians planned to travel from the OSA Birmingham Event to Tuscaloosa on Wednesday. We learned that the killing center changed their schedule, so we did the same. We took the Gospel of Christ to the gates of hell in Tuscaloosa today, Tuesday, July 17.

When Operation Save America arrived at the clinic, its director began threatening the Christians. The police, in order to avoid an altercation, asked her to calm down. She replied, "I will do what I want." When told she must obey rightful authorities, she stated she would not obey. She was immediately arrested.

Flip Benham is less sanguine about obeying authority when his own authority is challenged. And last Friday, Benham finally got his chance to see the inside of a Birmingham jail -- although, according to OSA, his arrest was an outrage.

At New Woman All Woman Abortion Clinic on July 20, 2007, Rev. Flip Benham was arrested allegedly for disorderly conduct. That conduct was reading from the Bible. When the police first approached Rev. Benham, they wanted to see the assembly and noise permits that OSA had been granted for that day. When it was determined OSA did have lawful permits, the police said we could only use the microphone to give direction to our people. Rev. Benham said he was giving direction by reading the Bible. He was then arrested.

This is a clear case of squashing of 1st. amendment rights. The Bible, God's Word is direction and instruction to those who walk in the light of Jesus Christ, but a stumbling block to those who delight in the evil deeds of darkness. The police were clearly following the direction of those who would kill innocent little boys and girls, rather than following God's direction, from His Word.

The president of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice is the Rev. Carlton Veazey. In 1999, he had this to say about Flip Benham's brand of righteousness.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. broke the silence and laid the foundation for a community to stand with dignity against terrorism and inequality.
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Over the years, the African American community has honored Dr. King's life by further committing ourselves to standing for freedom. As an African American Baptist minister and President and CEO of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, I am dedicated to faithfully preserving a woman's freedom to control her reproductive health. I am committed to protecting a woman's right to choose, a right that is fundamentally lodged in our constitution, affirmed by the Supreme Court, and grounded in faith.
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Thirty-one years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther Jr., there are still those who stand in the way of our rights, trying to restrict our choices. But we who have been oppressed must stand steadfast in our opposition to those who attempt to take away our choice. We must remain firm in protecting reproductive freedom.

Anti-choice forces have not won ... in the eyes of the American people. They have not won at the polls, and we must not let them win by terrorizing women and reproductive health workers with hateful speech and violent actions. We will no longer tolerate them violating a woman's right to choose and we will not back down at the threat of their cowardly violence.
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As people of faith, we are the real religious right. We must not remain silent when doctors, nurses and clinic staffers are terrorized by bomb threats, acid attacks or the very real threat of death. By taking a public stand against violence and for freedom of choice, this culture of terror will stop.

So much for Flip Benham's letter from a Birmingham jail. As someone who has continued to help provide women with abortion care through more than one OSA crusade, my only regret is that he couldn't have stayed there for a little while longer.

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The Rev. Katherine Ragsdale: RH Reality Check.org
The Rev. Carlton Veazey: Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice
OSA in Alabama: Operation Save America