The Least of These: Pro-life Anthem for the Freedom Rides Campaign
[Listen]
[Read the lyrics]
“My Uncle Martin had a dream that
Protestants and Catholics and Gentiles and Jews would join together and
sing the age old spiritual ‘Free at Last,’” stated Dr. Alveda King. "At
Priests for Life, we will be singing and praying on the Pro-life Freedom
Rides. We urge all people of good will to join us as we link the Civil
Rights Movement of the 20th Century to the heart cry for life in the
21st Century.”
Evangelist Alveda King, who is a full-time member of the
Pastoral Team of Priests for Life and niece of Martin Luther King, Jr., will
be leading “Pro-life Freedom Rides” in the coming months, building on a method
that the Civil Rights Movement used effectively forty years ago.
In that movement, thirteen individuals boarded a bus in Washington DC in
1961 and headed for New Orleans. Their intent was to test the enforcement of
a Supreme Court decision the previous year that outlawed racial segregation
in the restaurants and waiting areas of bus terminals that served interstate
travelers.
That one ride led to dozens of others in various parts of the country,
with hundreds of people getting involved.
Now, Dr. King and the team of Priests for Life believe it is time for a
"Pro-life Freedom Ride," a peaceful, visible expression of the commitment of
people around the country to work for freedom for the unborn. The rides will
choose cities with strategic significance for the movement. While pro-life
activists ride the buses, all pro-life people nationwide will be invited to
participate simultaneously in concrete activities that will call for freedom
on various levels: freedom from the lies that permit abortion, freedom from
the despair that leads to and follows abortion, freedom from the fear that
keeps people from fighting abortion, freedom from the political oppression
that robs the unborn of their rights before the law.
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A video message from Dr. Alveda King
about the Pro-Life Freedom
Rides (3:70) |
Fr. Frank Pavone and Alveda King
Discuss the
Pro-Life Freedom Rides
(10 min. 29 sec.) |
Watch a music video for our new pro-life anthem,
The Least of
These.
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Bishop Robert Baker of Birmingham endorses the Freedom Rides (pdf)
Proclaim Freedom for the Unborn The pro-life movement is all about
freedom. That’s why Priests for Life,
with the leadership of our Pastoral
Associate Dr. Alveda King, is launching
“Freedom Rides” for the unborn to
galvanize pro-life activity across the
country.
During the Civil Rights movement, the
“Freedom Rides” constituted a distinctive
moment of resolve and unity. The Supreme
Court, in its 1960 decision Boynton vs.
Virginia, had outlawed segregation in bus
terminals and restaurants serving
interstate travelers. So the following
spring, thirteen people – seven
African-Americans and six whites –
decided to travel by bus from Washington
DC to New Orleans to test the enforcement
of that Supreme Court decision.
Along the way, particularly in Alabama,
they encountered opposition and violence
from those who did not want
desegregation. But having been brutally
attacked, and some lying with wounds in
hospital beds, the “Freedom Riders” vowed
that the journey would continue. That’s
when others joined in, and the initial
Freedom Ride became 60 rides across
Southern states in the summer of 1961,
with some 450 riders participating. And
by the fall of that same year, the
government issued orders for the
enforcement of desegregation at the bus
terminals.
The Civil Rights movement and the
Pro-Life movement have the same heart and
soul: a longing for equal justice for
everyone, based on the inherent dignity
of every human life. That’s why, when Dr.
Alveda King first walked with me at the
annual March for Life and I asked her,
“Does this remind you of the marches in
the civil rights movement?” she declared,
“Fr. Frank, this is the civil rights
movement!” Both movements are movements
of freedom.
It is therefore time for Freedom Rides
for the unborn. The pro-life movement is
more ready than ever to proclaim freedom…
Freedom from the lies and the deceit that
allow abortion to continue…
Freedom from the fear of speaking up and
taking action for the unborn…
Freedom from the shame and guilt of past
involvement in abortion, so that those
called to speak up and share their
testimonies may do so as people who are
"Silent No More"…
Freedom from the political oppression
that tramples on human rights and denies
equality before the law…
Freedom from violence and death itself.
People will be invited to participate in
the Freedom Rides themselves. The bus
rides are a symbol of the journey we are
on, of the fellowship we share with each
other, and of the fact that we are a
movement. Major events in cities along
the bus routes will be held, in which all
the different facets of the pro-life
movement will be invited to participate.
At the same time, people not on the rides
or along the route can participate by
being “Freedom Riders for the Unborn” and
carrying out special projects that will
be coordinated among Freedom Riders
nationwide. In his first public sermon, Jesus
summarized his message and mission by
saying he had come to “proclaim liberty
to the captives…” As his disciples, as
his People of Life, let us do the same!
Fr. Frank Pavone
National Director, Priests for Life
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