African-American Pro-Lifers Are On the Move.

African-American pro-life leaders are getting ready for a pro-life "rising up" in their communities. During two workshops at the NRL Convention, a panel of these leaders spoke to the need for a united, impassioned determination to educate and activate African-American communities on life issues.

There is "a louder buzz" of the pro-life movement in black communities, asserted Rev. Cesar LeFlore, "but nothing like the roar that's coming!" Rev. LeFlore, who is founder and president of PowerLight Ministries in Chicago and minority outreach director for the Illinois Federation for Right to Life, said the African-American community has "a tradition of rising up" on issues of justice, but these communities are not yet aware enough of what damage legalized abortion does to their people.

In the first workshop, entitled "How to Reach the African-American Community," Rev. LeFlore was joined on the panel by Rev. Gregory Banks and Fr. John Raphael, SSJ. Rev. Banks, a Baptist pastor who has responded to the call to full-time pro-life ministry in Texarkana, Texas, expressed concern about the misinformation in Black communities and the failure of pastors to communicate a pro-life message.

He and his wife Kimberly are forming a Black Americans for Life chapter in Texarkana. Rev. Banks ministers to young African-American men, teaching them how to be good fathers and encouraging them to marry. He sponsors a pro-life outreach entitled "Each One--Reach One," which hopes to reach black churches with the message, "Stop Black Genocide--Save Our Black Babies."

"Pastors need to deal with the needs of their people [regarding] the effects of abortion," Rev Banks said. Too often the pro-life/"pro-choice" decision is framed as politics and "Republican," which is considered by many as "a sell-out," whereas they need to see this as a life issue, a whole Bible issue, he explained.

Fr. Raphael, a Josephite priest from New Orleans and recently a chaplain at Howard University in Washington, D.C., emphasized the need for more pro-life literature that targets African-Americans. "Let the community speak to itself," he suggested. The community and the pastor need to support each other and be on the same page on the pro-life issues, the panel members agreed. The misunderstanding that results from the use of labels must be addressed. Fear and indifference are stifling the message African-Americans need to hear about the consequences of legalized abortion.

Rev. LeFlore urged pro-lifers to unite as a whole faith community and to approach the life issues as issues of faith. When black and white pro-lifers see each other as brothers and sisters in a struggle to affirm life, and can relate on several levels, then pro-life concerns can be seen in the context of love and inclusion.