Life Always' New York billboard [5] warning, "The most dangerous place for an African American is in the womb," was taken down earlier this year after SoHo residents and members of the black community voiced their outrage.
The anti-abortion group has moved on from that advertisement, which prominently featured a black child [5], to one that centers on an image of the president, and seems to be specifically designed to create alarm among Chicago's black residents.
The organization is expected to unveil billboards on Chicago's South Side that feature Obama's face and the words "Every 21 minutes, our next possible leader is aborted" on Tuesday at 11 a.m.
"Our future leaders are being aborted at an alarming rate," Life Always board member the Rev. Derek McCoy said in a statement [6]. "These are babies who could grow to be the future presidents of the United States, or the next Oprah Winfrey, Denzel Washington or Maya Angelou."
The billboard is seen as part of a growing trend [6] in the anti-abortion community that accuses abortion providers of "black genocide" via abortions and stigmatizes and shames African-American women.
Not all of this shaming is coming from outside the black community, though. The Huffington Post reports that local black leaders will be on hand Tuesday for the first billboard's unveiling, including former 2nd Congressional District GOP candidate the Rev. Isaac Hayes, the Rev. Ceasar LeFlore, the Rev. Derek A. McCoy and Pastor Stephen Broden, an anti-abortion activist who ran for office as a Republican in Texas last year.
In other news from Chicago, the Sun-Times reports that after weeks of scouting, President Obama's team has decided that the location of his 2012 national headquarters will be the city's One Prudential Plaza (often referred to by its original name, "the Prudential Building.")
Obama staffers say that an important factor in choosing a home base was that it had to be a "secure location." But it might also be an inspiring one during what's sure to be a trying campaign (if the billboard above is any indication of the creative ways in which we can look forward to the president’s image being abused): It faces the site of Obama's 2008 victory rally.
Read more at the Chicago Sun-Times [7] and the Huffington Post. [6]
In other news: Troy Davis: Supreme Court Rejects Death Row Inmate's Appeal. [8]
Like The Root on Facebook [9]. Follow us on Twitter [10].
Comments
Comments on Twitter