FUNERAL TO BURY THE "A" WORD

Arnold M. Culbreath, Urban Outreach Director of Protecting Black Life, Life Issues Institute's urban outreach initiative, said, "Yesterday, I marched in the NAACP's Detroit, MI funeral procession to bury the 'N' Word. I eagerly anticipate the positive impact this event and its associated work will continue to have on our community and country. However, as an African American pro-life messenger, I labor and long to see the day when we bring an end to abortion in the black community and have a national, public, funeral ceremony to bury the 'A' Word, abortion! I pray and push to see an end to abortion as a whole, but particularly in the black community, where 14.5 million black babies have been killed by abortion since 1973, and 1,200 black babies die by abortion daily. As I, and others educate, persuade, work with and pray for the NAACP, my heart's desire is to see this long-time organization become actively and openly involved in bringing an end to abortion, resulting in a national funeral to bury the A-Word."

On Mon., July 9, 2007, during the National Association For The Advancement Of Colored People's (NAACP) 98^th Annual Convention in Detroit, MI, thousands of men and women dressed in black and white, marched in a funeral procession as a symbolic gesture to bury the N-Word. Led by a coffin-laden horse drawn carriage, the throng of peaceful participants marched from the Cobo Center, in downtown Detroit where the convention is being held, approximately one mile to the Freedom Plaza, where a funeral service was held to bury the not-so-dearly departed. Just as in 1944, when Jim Crow was put to rest in the city of Detroit with a similar symbolic ceremony, the NAACP returned 63 years later, again in Detroit, this time to bury and put to rest once and for all the N-Word.

Since the NAACP's challenging of D.W. Griffith's "Birth of a Nation" in 1915 to addressing the current usage of derogatory and demeaning language that creates negative images of the African American community, the NAACP has demanded swift changes. The NAACP's Youth and College Division has commenced the "NAACP STOP CAMPAIGN" to take a firm stand against verbal and visual depictions that cast African Americans in a negative light. The goals of the campaign are to raise the consciousness of all Americans, and engage them in eradicating negative language that demeans us all.

Arnold can be contacted at the office of Life Issues Institute or by email at arnold@protectingblacklife.org

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