Picture
St. Joseph’s parishioners at
the Walk for Life West Coast
two years ago.
Tomorrow is Martin Luther King Day. I was not yet two years old when he led the March on Washington in 1963. He had a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.” Through travail and suffering, African-Americans have gained a  good measure of civil rights since then, although the scars of slavery and racism do not heal quickly. Dr. King had to pay with his own life, but no longer can an African-American be denied a job or legal justice because of his skin color. There was a time when even a black man’s life was subject to the whim of the white man. But today, thanks be to God, America adheres more closely to its “creed,” that “all men are created equal.”

   But not all men. There is still a class of Americans who, though created equal, do not have the right to live. No serious biologist or geneticist would deny that a distinct life begins at conception. To declare that an individual’s life begins only at birth is not rational or scientific—it is a political definition, not factual. The civil rights struggle of our time is not over skin color, but over age. A whole class of Americans are discriminated against because of their age. They are not yet born, they are too young to enjoy the rights the rest of us do.    

   But unlike the African Americans of the 1950s and 60s, these Americans cannot march on Washington. They cannot defend themselves. So massive numbers of Americans march on their behalf. Since the March for Life began in 1974, almost 5 million have marched from the White House to the Capitol to give voice to the voiceless. The abortion industry and mainstream media does everything they can to suppress these voices. This Saturday, 30,000 people will walk from City Hall in San Francisco down Market Street to Embarcadero Center. Join me this Saturday in the great civil rights struggle of our time (register this weekend on the plaza or during the week in the parish office). Dr. King’s work is not yet done—until all Americans are treated equally under the laws of this great land. God bless America!