"It is wise to always err on the side of life" – President George W. Bush

“…there's the nagging suspicion that if Schiavo were black the media would not have made her a cause celebre, conservative groups would not frantically storm the barricades to keep her feeding tubes hooked up, and that Congress would not cut short its vacation to pass a special law on her behalf.” – Earl Ofari Hutchinson, columnist

If Terri Schiavo was a black woman named Toya Brown would she receive the same concern from white conservatives or members of the “pro-life” movement?  For black conservatives and government grant-hungry black religious leaders concerned with gay marriage and school vouchers the answer would be “yes.”  Fortunately, those of us that live reality-based lives know that this is far from the case.  Consider the following insults to black, non-white, and lower-income Americans by George W. Bush and his ultra-extremist cohorts:

Insult #1: Privatizing Social Security would help African-Americans. According to the February 10 newsletter of the American Progress Action Fund, “the President is taking advantage of a tragic disparity among the races – namely, that African Americans on average have shorter life spans than white Americans.  Describing Social Security as ‘unfair’ to African Americans because ‘African-American males die sooner than other males do, which means the system is inherently unfair to a certain group of people,’ the president is shamelessly using every trick up his sleeve to convince Americans to support privatization.” 

To further debunk the President’s latest attempt to bamboozle America and African-Americans, the Action Fund points out that:

Bush and his fellow “Compassionate Conservatives” would do to well to realize that if they were truly “pro-life” they would be concerned about the totality of life for all people, from birth to death. This means that they would be about the business of creating more jobs. Tax breaks for the wealthy are not a solution.

Jonathan Tasini, president of the Economic Future Group points out in an article for TomPaine.com that “Since the tax cuts took effect in July 2003, the administration’s projected monthly job growth was only met or exceeded three times. In every other month…the projection was way off by tens of thousands of jobs”, universal health care (we cannot dismiss this as socialist and move on; besides, social security is a socialist concept), improving our educational system with more resources and rejecting the death penalty (a sentence that is disproportionately applied to black people).  When Bush submits a budget to Congress with major cuts in community development and Medicaid, he undermines his “pro-life” stance.

Bush’s move to undermine Medicaid is, in itself, ironic in light of Terri Schiavo.  Consider a comment by NPR commentator Daniel Schore, highlighted in the March 24 edition of Sojourners magazine:

Blacknews.com columnist Earl Ofari Hutchinson, astutely noted in a March 25 newsletter that:

Perhaps a more accurate description of Bush and his conservative siblings would be “pro-birth” or “pro-existence” because “pro-life” suggests providing or facilitating the means for people to live quality lives and determine their own futures within the context that we have a shared destiny.

Insult #2: Bush, Frist, & DeLay fawning over Schiavo for political gain: New York Times commentator Frank Rich, in his wonderfully scathing analysis of the Schiavo affair describes the low points:

Again, these actions should beg this question for black conservatives and black ministers at the federal grant trough: “Would Bush and his extremist siblings do this for a black woman given their actions toward black America?”  The answer is no!  However, this raises an even larger question for black conservatives and certain ministers: “Would you challenge the president and his cronies on their actions?”  Or, are you just satisfied with having “access” and “influence” with the president and his partners?

Let us examine Bush’s partners and his base.  Heather Gray, writing for Common Dreams puts it succinctly:

For years writers have intimated that the South was rising again. Little did we think this meant that the Southern mindset was to poison the entire country. For those who think that Southern exploitation has been exclusively racist, think again. The Southern plantation elite and its progeny exploit everything and everyone. They have used race as the primary trump card to control the southern electorate and the economy, but they have also used their Evangelical roots to bolster their claims. Let’s examine that Southern religious base even further. 

Manis (1999) notes in his article, “Dying from the neck up: Southern Baptist resistance to the civil rights movement,” that Bush’s base has historically had problems with the Civil Rights Movement:

The civil rights movement and its goal of integration revealed that black and white Baptists in the South hoped for the actualization of different Americas. Most black Baptists, many of whom were central figures in the civil rights movement, held the vision of a pluralistic society giving justice to all its citizens and showing the entire world how to live in harmony. White Baptists in the South, however, hoped for a homogeneous, Protestant, Anglo-Saxon America that would defend individual liberty in the world. Most Southern Baptists saw the civil rights movement and its goal of integration as a symbol of ultimate threat.

In short, Bush’s base has historically been committed to limiting black progress.  Yet, there are black conservatives and too many black ministers willing to give Bush and his cronies a free ride and not challenge his blatant disrespect to black, nonwhite, and poor people by paying an inordinate amount of attention to Terri Schiavo’s plight.  Bush moved quickly to help Schiavo by signing legislation that could have had her feeding tube reinserted; however, he set the stage for a black infant to die in Texas.  In a March 23 DiversityInc.com newsletter, there was an article (“Right to Life, Unless You're Poor and Black”) that reveals another example of George Bush’s disdain for black America:

Ironically, the fate of Sun Hudson, who was born on Sept. 25 with a genetic disorder, was determined by the Texas Futile Care Law, which was signed by then Gov. George W. Bush. The law stipulates that a Texas hospital, with the consent of a doctor and an ethics committee, can stop care deemed futile and too costly – even if the patient's legal guardian is against the action.

"Where were all the right-to-lifers when it came to baby Sun Hudson? Where were the special midnight sessions? Where was the due process for baby Sun? Where were Tom Delay and Bill Frist?" Newcomb asks. "If you're poor, a minority and costing a hospital corporation too much money your life is meaningless"

To add insult to injury, Bush’s reaction to the recent school shooting in Minnesota speaks volumes on his racial views: protect white (preferably rich) people first because they are the most important.  This sentiment is revealed in a Sunday, March 27, Boston Globe article by Adam Entous, “Amid criticism, Bush breaks silence on Minn. school shooting:”

Clyde Bellecourt, a Chippewa Indian who is the founder and national director of the American Indian Movement in Red Lake, said Bush's response came too late.

So, what does Terri Schiavo teach us?  In essence, nothing, because it only confirms what most of black America knows – we mean very little to him.  Black people that do mean something to Bush (Rice, Powell, Thomas, Williams, Michael Jackson [because he takes attention away from Bush, giving him freer reign to push his agenda and not be criticized] and some black ministers being rented by Bush via faith-based grants) only mean something to him because they are additional tools to achieve his goals.  In turn, this creates an interesting dilemma for black conservatives and certain black ministers: ignore the slap in their collective faces and hold fast to a man that views them as props or take him to task and point out the inconsistencies in his policies and actions.

Reverend Reynard N. Blake, Jr., M.S. is an ordained Baptist minister from East Lansing, Michigan and CEO of his consulting business, Community Development Associates, which provides research and training services to nonprofit and faith-based organizations.  He is a graduate student in Pastoral Ministry at Marygrove College in Detroit.  He is working on a book of essays and will begin a weblog called The Blake Chronicles in April 2005.