BILLBOARD CUTENESS
Within a week, having spent two full days of it on the road, certain observations merit comment. Throughout the rural areas of Minnesota and Iowa, one comes across billboards reflecting the cuteness of babies and the wonder of life. One presumes that these postings are placed by people and organizations who are opposed to abortion and further it must be presumed that objections to abortion are normally based on religious beliefs.
What I found interesting though, was that every single representation of a baby that I saw was a picture of a white baby. There were no black babies, yellow babies, or brown babies represented anywhere that I could ascertain. One is required to make inferences when the facts suggest inferences are appropriate. The inference one must make from these observations is that we must protect white babies to the exclusion of non-white babies. How could you infer otherwise?
Apparently the local deities who initiate the placement of these billboards are white. If we had a black deity, one would presume that the billboard would reflect a black baby, or a yellow deity suggesting a yellow baby, or a brown deity calling for the representation of a brown baby. Apparently, only aborting white babies is contrary to God's will in Minnesota and Iowa.
Possibly elsewhere there are pictures of black, yellow, or brown babies on anti-abortion billboards, but I will leave it to others to offer their observations. But still, we have this interesting limitation to white babies. As with many things we do unconsciously, what we do has meaning. In this instance, the mind set of the people placing these billboards is whiteness. When they object to an abortion, it is objecting to a white woman having an abortion; and more significantly, presumably limited to white women.
You know folks, I am only pointing out what is obvious, but with the added note that what is represented here is more than just a moral and religious belief that abortion is wrong, it also represents a total immersion in whiteness and a rejection of blackness, yellowness, or brownness - - or any other hue for that matter.
The current attitude in this country can only be characterized as the return of white supremacy and rampant racism. I suppose there have been cases, but I have seen nothing that reflects it, that ICE is out and about grabbing white folks and sending them to concentration camps or to countries from which they do not come such as Uganda or Guinea. Can you imagine you are in the states, have a job, a house, a couple of kids in school, paying taxes and poof - - you are now in Uganda.
I find it difficult to believe that we, as a society, have regressed so. I personally remember when restaurants had a white side and a colored side and coloreds simply wouldn't get served in professional offices nor were able to vote. We have come a long way thankfully and now we have those who want to undo it all.
Richard E H Phelps II
Mingo
