Billboards highlighting the sad truth that 60% of African-American pregnancies end in abortion in New York City cannot be posted because that would conflict with the provisions in the social compact that teaches (a) that African-Americans are to be protected from having to discuss dysfunctions in their community and (b) that Americans are to be protected from having to discuss the sorry facts of abortion.
An outdoor advertising company has taken down an anti-abortion billboard that pictured a black girl along with the tagline, "The most dangerous place for an African-American is in the womb."Why isn't this part of the many calls for a "national discussion" about race?
Some residents had said they found the billboard offensive, and members of the black community were especially outraged by it.
A spokesman for Louisiana-based Lamar Advertising, Hal Kilshaw, said that while the company respects the right to freedom of expression, the decision to take down the billboard Thursday night was for "public safety." He said waiters and waitresses at a restaurant in the building where the billboard was placed had been harassed.
The Rev. Al Sharpton praised the decision and canceled plans to protest the billboard Friday. The civil rights activist said the billboard "depicted black women in an unfair way."
The billboard was placed in the busy Soho neighborhood of Manhattan by the group Life Always as part of a national campaign tied to Black History Month. The group said its message highlights Planned Parenthood's "targeting of minority neighborhoods."
Planned Parenthood called the ad a "condescending effort to stigmatize and shame African-American women."
Life Always said in a statement that it "strongly disagrees" with Lamar's decision to remove the billboard. The organization said "the intent of the board is to call attention to the tragedy and the truth that abortion is outpacing life in the black community."
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