CNN: Alveda King says Nobama due to pro-abortion position

CNN interviewed Dr. Alveda King, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, niece, today as one African-American voter who does not support Barack Obama due to his pro-abortion position.

Alveda is a formidable black spokesperson on the pro-life issue, and I'm glad this angle got CNN coverage. Alveda's interview comes 50 seconds in:



Comments:

Ooooh, that's gotta hurt!!!

Posted by: RSD at July 16, 2008 4:39 PM


Here is an eloquent testimony by Dr. Alveda King about defending life. If the link doesn't work, click on her picture below Jill's video where she's wearing a pale blue shirt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5RWXe3dP0g

Posted by: Janet at July 16, 2008 4:50 PM


I don't see the news story here. Prolife woman votes for pro life candidate instead of the pro-choice candidate.

Posted by: Hal at July 16, 2008 4:51 PM


Hal, You don't get the fact that she is a black woman who is not voting for a man who could be the first black president? Considering that Obama is supposedly getting about 90% of the black vote, it sure seems like a story to me.

Posted by: Janet at July 16, 2008 5:24 PM


Janet, 90% of the black vote means he's not getting 10%. That's a lot of people. Obama doesn't get votes just because he's black, he gets votes because people like his positions and character. People who don't like his positions or character shouldn't vote for him. This woman isn't voting for him, and neither, I would guess, is Jill.

Posted by: Hal at July 16, 2008 5:31 PM


Hal, Point taken.

Posted by: Janet at July 16, 2008 5:38 PM


To expand my position, I think it's disrespectful to Dr. Alveda King to even imply she should be voting for Obama simply because she's black. She doesn't agree with Obama on a very important issue, she shoudn't vote for him. Jill's (or really CNN's) emphasis of this story assumes that the race connection should normally trump policy concerns. Imagine a story about why I, as a white guy, wasn't voting for McCain, even though he's white like me. Wouldn't happen.

Posted by: Hal at July 16, 2008 5:54 PM


Carla: God will always provide. My children may whine that they don't have this or that but we do have everything we NEED(clothes, food, shelter, toys, cars) maybe not everything we WANT. Who can have everything they want??!!

I think every student in America ought to go on a little trip before graduation. They need to see a family of 10 living in a shack with dirt floors and cooking outside. We are rich indeed!!

Carla, a few years ago I read that if all the wealth on earth were divided equally among families, a family would have a very small shack with one 40 watt lightbulb in it.

I've seen kids get 8 or 10 presents for Christmas then end up playing with a big cardboard box more than with the new toys. How many of those gifts are still in use a year later?

Posted by: Doug at July 16, 2008 7:43 PM


None, Doug. Garage sale fodder. :)

Posted by: Carla at July 16, 2008 7:54 PM


Hal: 5:54:

Thanks for your comments.

Dr. Alveda King admits she "has a dream - it's in her genes". She's implying that being black makes her want to vote for a black candidate, right? How can it be disrespectful to talk about that when she brings it up herself?

It's an important story for pro-lifers because she wants to vote for a PL candidate, and not by race. ( There are very few other prominent blacks who are publically endorsing the Pro-life candidate this election.)

The fact that there's never been a black president is what makes this story so different from one about some white man not voting for McCain (as in your example).

Of course we can't guess if people are voting for certain candidates due to pro-life issues or not, but at least in Alveda King's case, she is telling us the motivation for her vote because it's so important to her as a PL activist. She must think it's worth a story on the news or she wouldn't be talking.

Posted by: Janet at July 16, 2008 9:01 PM


Here is another black woman who is not voting for Obama, not only because his position on abortion, -- I just don't think he has the qualifications to be president. This doesn't mean I like McCain, who will keep us in Iraq forever. Darn, I wish there was a good third-party candidate . . .

Posted by: Melissa at July 17, 2008 5:47 PM


Wow, a black woman isn't voting for a black candidate?

That's almost like... like... when all those women didn't vote for a female candidate!

Preposterous!

Posted by: Edyt at July 17, 2008 7:03 PM


Not just ANY Black woman...

..she is the niece of a well respected BLACK Civil Rights Leader, an active Civil rights leader and a pro-lifer as well...

Why do you think she was interviewed by CNN? Her opinions have weight.

Posted by: RSD at July 18, 2008 11:55 AM


I will agree that it's demeaning to suggest that it's shocking that an African-American might not be voting for Sen. Obama.

But I also assert that part of the cause of this falls upon the media, who always throw around phrases such as "the black vote" or the "female vote," as though every member of that subset thinks the same thing about everything.

Posted by: bmmg39 at July 18, 2008 1:40 PM


It's funny to hear conservatives rip on Rev. Jessie Jackson or Rev. Al Sharpton, but give credence to a distant relative of an actual civil rights hero. Its like someone touring under the name "The Monkees" but only having played 10 seconds of kazoo in one of their songs. It lends their arguements and their rhetoric a sad sheen of someone who is trying so hard to get noticed that they render themselves more as impressionable than influential.

Posted by: Yo La Tango at July 19, 2008 12:17 PM