The "Freedom Rides" are not over!
Alveda King, niece of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., is launching a series of bus rides from Alabama to Georgia, starting July 24, to advocate for the civil rights of the unborn.
The "Pro-Life Freedom Ride" is modeled after the original civil rights protests from the 1960s.
King was only 10 when the original freedom riders boarded a bus in Washington, D.C., May 4, 1961. They were protesting segregation in public transportation in Southern states.
Both black and white riders wanted to raise awareness of continuing obstacles to desegregation despite a Supreme Court ruling that said segregated seating of interstate passengers was unconstitutional.
When the riders reached Alabama, they divided into two groups. One group took a bus to Anniston, Ala., and the other Birmingham. The goal was to travel to New Orleans, with black riders in the front and white riders in the back.
Neither group made it. Both buses ran into mobs that took their rage out on the freedom riders. The bus in Anniston was stoned and later firebombed outside of town. The bus to Birmingham also was stopped, with the freedom riders being beaten by locals.
Despite the setbacks, more freedom riders joined the next leg of the trip to Montgomery, Ala. Police protection helped the riders reach Montgomery safely, but once inside the city limits, the riders were attacked again and beaten at the Greyhound terminal.
Martin Luther King flew to Montgomery to hold a protest at a church there. Outside, another mob of nearly 2,000 people surrounded the church, and King called U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy, who, with federal marshals, intervened and helped blacks inside the church escape further harm.
The original freedom riders did not get to New Orleans, but now they had the attention of the nation.
Alveda King was too young to ride at the time, but she was very aware of everything going on.
"As a child of the movement … at the feet of my uncle Martin Luther King Junior, and my father the Rev. A.D. King, I was aware of everything," she said.
King added that in 1963, her home in Birmingham was firebombed although she and her family escaped..
That changed Alveda King.
She said she became more than aware of what was going on. Later that year, she participated in a first-of-a-kind children's civil rights march protesting racial inequality.
King said the 2010 freedom rides are focusing on drawing more African-Americans into the pro-life movement and increasing awareness of legal protection for unborn children. She also wants to raise the level of consciousness of all Americans concerning the injustice against the unborn.
Her colleague, Priests for Life national director Father Frank Pavone, also will participate in the freedom ride.
Pavone said he hopes the event will increase national interest in the rights of the unborn.
"This is a novel approach … the event connected with the freedom rides will be an opportunity for groups and leaders to come together and inspire everyone to work more effectively," Pavone said.
King met Pavone at a conference in New York where they were both speaking. King said she heard Pavone reading from her uncle's work, "A Letter from a Birmingham Jail."
In the letter, King warned against the impact of infanticide against a community when he said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
Alveda King believes the same statement applies to abortion, and she now works with Pavone as a pastoral associate at Priests for Life.
Both King and Pavone said they are in regular contact with current civil rights leaders, and that they are working to build bridges and common ground by communicating their pro-life activities.
When asked if her famous uncle would have supported the pro-life movement, Alveda King was not shy in her response: "There is no way this non- violent compassionate man could agree to the violent murder of babies."
King and Pavone will be joined in Birmingham with other members from the Priests for Life pastoral team July 23, and they will host a "Freedom Concert" at the local civic center.
African-American leaders from across the nation are expected to participate as well.
Priests for Life will hold a peaceful demonstration at a Planned Parenthood abortion business July 24, then board the freedom bus for about a two-and-a-half-hour ride to Atlanta.
That afternoon, Priests for Life and the new freedom riders will hold a prayer vigil at the tomb of Martin Luther King.
Pavone said plans are for the ride to be the start of a new movement to raise awareness for the civil rights of unborn children.
Contact: Thom Redmond
Source: WorldNetDaily
Date Published: July 13, 2010
