Martin Luther King Jr. was a Republican for much of his life, at least according to the National Black Republican Association. And according to his niece Alveda King, he was pro-life.
That’s why it’s odd that Saint Joseph’s College in Indiana, founded and sponsored by the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, will honor the legacy of Martin Luther King by hosting a lecture by a former Planned Parenthood board member and outspoken abortion rights activist who has called the Republican Party racist…
January 12, 2012 at 7:28 pm
Disgusting. St. Joseph's isn't far from me, and it's pretty well known here for being very liberal. The fact that they still try to call themselves "Catholic" is laughable.
January 12, 2012 at 7:40 pm
Martin Luther King wasn't pro-life. In 1966, he accepted a Marget Sanger Award from PP. Go to http://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/who-we-are/reverend-martin-luther-king/jr-4728.htm and you will see that his niece is either living in a fantasy world or outright lying about her uncles 'pro-life' stand.
Some will say that PP wasn't outwardly pro-abortion during King's life. Well it may 'true' that PP didn't endorse abortion publically during King's life, but Margaret Sanger's racist views about blacks, Jews, poor whites and other ethnic minorities were a matter of public record. She called them 'human weeds'. She deliberately put her clinics in their neighborhoods to 'weed' them out. The PP also had a 'Negro Project' that started in 1939 that was well known among Black leaders. There would be no way MLK could be ignorant of it's existance or Sanger's racism. What a hypocrite!
There is also a myth that King was a 'conservative' Republican. Well, they got the 'Republican' part of it right! The truth is MLK Jr. was a leftist, socialist, even communist radical. Go to http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig/epstein9.html and http://www.renewamerica.com and put Martin Luther King into Renew America's internal search engine. Any honest mind will see that King was an empty suit as a man and a so-called Christian minister. The only way a 'conservative' Republican (or anyone else for that matter) can accept MLK Jr. is to have a mind that accepts fantasies as truth. Sadly, too many conservatives have moved leftward in the last fifty years, so they accept things that conservatives would have rejected years ago.
January 14, 2012 at 3:46 pm
Students are holding an emergency organizational meeting this morning, and involving as many people as possible. We cannot express enough our thanks for your coverage. Monday's speaker has been organized by a non-tenure faculty who is outspoken in her views regarding abortion, etc. – we are small and need a voice. Pray, send a letter to Dennis Riegelnegg, President Saint Joseph's College. Email him through sainjoe.edu and then pray some more. Thanks again.
January 14, 2012 at 4:42 pm
Correction: saintjoe.edu
January 14, 2012 at 8:56 pm
Adia Harvey Wingfield is an sociologist. She sits on the board of the American Sociological Society. She has a long history of advocating for the education in our school systems on the matter of race. Her stance of pro-choice is in a different realm of race. Yes she has had history of being on the Planned Parenthood Committee, but anyone who knows of her academic and literary work would know that she has not published anything that relates or is relevant to abortion or related topics. We, as the Multi-Cultural Affairs Committee and Diversity Coalition, have invited her here because of her diversity work and race/ethnicity relations studies. She is here to talk about Martin Luther King, Jr and his tremendous legacy in which we as a campus are in need to know about and understand. Her presence on this campus will continue our education on diversity as WE ARE A DIVERSE campus. With different views. Different Morals. And as a campus we should be looking beyond a person's stance on "abortion" and focusing on the intent of the content she is bringing.
January 14, 2012 at 9:54 pm
Sorry, Rose, you're about to find out just how meaningless our purported diverse and open environment is, once the Purity Squad begins its Inquisition.
January 15, 2012 at 12:28 am
The speaker was not chosen by one faculty member, I don't think. And I've been in class with the teacher SJC campus mentioned and she's never mentioned abortion. She actually outlaws papers on it, and never discusses it.
January 15, 2012 at 3:15 am
The speaker was chosen by a faculty committee that is charged with planning this event. This program is an official event of the Saint Joseph's College Faculty Assembly Multicultural Affairs Committee. There are two co-chairs of that committee.In addition to the fact that this speaker is speaking on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. not abortion issues. As a legitimate and serious college community, Saint Joseph's College allows many people with divergent views to speak on the campus. Freedom of speech is nothing to fear if you are confident in the rightness of your position. Dictators, Demagogues, and Charlatans are most likely to attempt to suppress free speech because they know that the truth contained n that speech would expose the bankruptcy of their ideas and policies.
Honorable and upright ideas and movements never have to fear the free speech of those that may oppose them.
January 15, 2012 at 4:52 am
No one is doubting her work on race/ethnic issues. That's not what any of us opposed are against. She may very well give a great speech about MLK and what he stood for. The point is her values don't align with ours nor the colleges and her presence suggests a supporting of those opposing views. I just want to stick up for what I and many people on campus believe in and what our school should be. This is a private catholic institution that you all have chosen to attend and so I believe that is the education and viewpoint you should receive. I am also astonished that the school is doing nothing about this while articles like this are being written about it. I am ashamed of the school at the moment and not proud to be a puma.
January 15, 2012 at 8:05 am
The presence of an individual with opposing views does not even remotely suggest support of those views. If so, freedom of speech would be unnecessary. Students at SJC receive an abundance of clear and compelling information regarding Catholic views and beliefs. Tolerance for dissent is what makes those views valid. If the college needs to fear speakers with opposing views that would strongly indicate the views are too weak to defend. That is not the case. It is because of the greatness of SJC and the power and strength of it's beliefs that it can and must allow dissent without muzzling it.
January 15, 2012 at 2:11 pm
It's not about fear of dissent. I am offended that you or anyone would think that. I am not nor is any other student afraid that our values are weak and are being compromised. That's not how it works. It is quite the opposite. Our beliefs and morals are so strong that they just are and any others are wrong. It's called absolutism and any one in strong faith to a religion, organization or event should feel that way. What this speaker stands for is wrong and that's it. That's what we believe and it just is. We do not fear what the speaker stands for, we oppose it and do not support it and I suggest you understand that.
January 15, 2012 at 10:15 am
Taliban!!
January 15, 2012 at 12:59 pm
What really gets me is that before the blog was posted, no one seemed to care. I have not even heard students discussing the MLK Day events? If screening speakers for their views against the Catholic Church is a criteria, we would likely have eliminated many excellent speakers that graced our classrooms and auditoriums.
As a place of learning, we should encourage and respect peoples thoughts, believes, and ideas. Has Core not taught us this? One of the basis of the Core Program is the exchange, debate and respectful discussion among students and faculty. Obama spoke at a ND commencement in 2009, with plenty of controversy, but the Administration stood behind their decision. He, like our MLK Day speaker, was not their to discus his pro-life or pro-choice views.
I ask that students who wish to protest/pray outside of the presentation tomorrow, do so respectfully and allow other to enjoy the program. Prayer is never bad! I do it everyday!!
January 15, 2012 at 6:10 pm
Absolutism goes against every tenet of liberal arts education in general and the Core program in particular. Disagreeing is fine. But be respectful. The whole world is watching.
January 16, 2012 at 3:49 am
"Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven"
"he who lives without sin cast the first stone"
I am astonished to see such a "catholic" page with "catholic" followers be so quick to judge and have so much hate in their souls. Why is it that until this mediocre one sided article came to light non of the SJC students bothered with researching who the speaker was? and further more why is it that the campus as a whole does not research all the speakers and guests who enter the campus, including the opinionated faculty members which includes more NON Catholics than Catholics which reach students on a daily basis for the entire year? The only thing that the students and faculty opposing this specific speaker are achieving is bringing to light their close mindedness and hypocrite ways. Take a look in the mirror, analyze yourself, and think about how YOUR daily actions go against the SJC mission before judging so harshly. By opposing the speaker you are going against everything the school preaches and should by the same definition then also filter out all cable channels and programs that include people with opposing views from the catholic church. Obviously allowing MTV or the SCI-FI channel which has a tremendous variety of shows from teens to werewolves, all abominations should be banned, and yet the SJC campus pays for such a thing. You can't pick and choose what you decide to fight against. You either fight it all or be realistic and accept that different people have different views and most importantly RESPECT that very fact. It is a LIBERAL Arts Catholic college that consists of more NON Catholics than practicing Catholics and therefor has every right and obligation to expose students to the reality of life which is filled with diversity in every aspect.
January 16, 2012 at 5:31 am
As a student of Saint Joseph's College I am ashamed to call myself a Puma after hearing of this decision to invite a speaker to our campus that goes against our Core values. If Saint Joseph's Core program is aimed at preparing men and women to live their lives consistent with Gospel values, as stated in our vision statement, how could the admin and the board of Multicultural affairs be so backhanded in picking a guest speaker who does not uphold the same values? It is true that the topics of being Pro-life or Pro-choice are not on the agenda for the MLK speech that Dr. Wingfield will be giving but the fact remains that Saint Joseph's College is being nationally scrutinized as a Catholic institution due to its lack of conviction to uphold its Catholic identity. It is unjust that Catholic students at a private Catholic institution have to be represented in such a negative light and have to defend their Catholic beliefs at a place where they should be able to uphold them freely and easily without being reprimanded. It is disturbing that the Catholic student's on our campus have to struggle to be heard and listened to due to the lack of foresight to see an issue that would tarnish our reputation as a Catholic college. I am a Puma and I represent Saint Joseph's College but on this issue Saint Joseph's College does not represent me.
January 16, 2012 at 5:45 am
Katie, for being "Catholic" you're pretty quick to be less than tolerant and judgmental. If being considered 'very liberal' means getting a well rounded education in everything from morals and ethics, history and art, religion and science, technology and politics, advanced reading and writing, as well as in Catholicism, then nothing would make me prouder than to say I came from a 'very liberal' college. I am proud to be the independent free thinker that SJC molded me into. I am not automatically bound to any set of tenets and I do not hold a single belief if I am too afraid to question that belief in its every aspect. If I had a farm then I would bet it that after graduating from Saint Joseph's College, I have a greater understanding of Catholicism than the average Catholic, including yourself. If you would endeavor to understand the college, its policies, people, and its history, then you would understand that it is Catholic to its very core. It gives enlightenment, education, and understanding to each and every student under the Catholic umbrella, quite literally, as the Crucifix is in every classroom.
As for the article itself, it lists two flimsy sources, which have already been refuted by other posters. If you're going to bash a basher with a bashing article, the least you can do is have quality bashes to back up your bashing.
Point one, and I'll try my hardest to make this the last point and to not point out all the flaws here. I promise. The article says Dr. Adia Harvey Wingfield is a Republican basher. Yet the two pieces of evidence given to bash Dr. Wingfield were taken out of context as if to say she was bashing the Republican party of Dr. King himself! It is entirely, 110% unrealistic to assume that the Republican party has not changed in the 44 years since Dr. King's death. Dr. Wingfield is referring to the Republican party of today, not of the past. So I guess saying SJC can't host her because she's a Republican basher and King was a Republican is out the window huh?
I won't bother pointing out how the abortion bit is wrong too, other posters have pretty much covered it.
Lastly, to the protesting students…I have too many and too few words for you all at the same time. I weep for your misunderstanding, it truly breaks my heart. I have learned from other campus sources that this was not the least bit controversial on campus until this article was published. Unfortunately, it seems as though you students have taken some calling upon yourselves to boycott this well educated, hard working woman, merely because on one view you disagree. You failed to logically examine the article, and notice the contradictions. You failed to research and educate yourselves before taking public action. You failed to see the larger picture, that what MLK day is all about is race relations, not political discourse concerning a woman's medical right, or lack of rights. You failed in understanding Dr. King's legacy. And most disappointing, you failed to understand Saint Joseph's college. I am an alumna. And the ONLY day that I will ever say I am not proud to be a Puma will be the day that Saint Joe shuts its doors to individuals with dissenting viewpoints, for I will know then that academic progress has been halted and students are no longer allowed to be exposed, to think, or to believe different.
If a man neglects education, he walks lame to the end of his life.
Plato