This Black History Month, I wonder: Why are we still comparing civil rights and abortion?

I recently listened to an episode of the Katie McGrady Show on SiriusXM, in which she was particularly giddy about how the March for Life in Washington coincided with President Donald Trump’s pardon of abortion clinic protestors. I don’t know much about those cases, but apparently several Catholics and others were arrested in separate incidents for violating the Fair Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. 

According to McGrady, they engaged in peaceful protest by confronting, talking with, or intercepting women about to enter abortion clinics. 

McGrady was ecstatic both in her praise of the president and the protesters. She repeated several times that they had been “thrown in jail.” Not arrested, charged, found guilty, and imprisoned, but “thrown in jail.” (I seldom hear White conservative Catholics talk about Black people being “thrown in jail” with any sense of outrage.)

McGrady then went on a monologue indicating that the pro-life protesters were no different from—and in fact may have been inspired by—the nonviolent Civil Rights protests of the 1950s and 60s. 

I waited in vain for her to recognize and highlight a significant difference between the two movements. For the anti-abortion protesters, the worst outcome was to be arrested, charged, convicted, and jailed. For the Civil Rights protestors, no matter how nonviolent or prayerful, the potential outcomes were quite different. They would have been pleased if their protest ended in a jail cell—as compared to being taken on a dark country road to an eager mob of Klansmen.

Consider other differences between the two movements. Medgar Evers, a veteran and NAACP official in Mississippi, was shot in the back while walking up his own driveway in front of his wife and children. Harriette and Harry Moore were blown up by dynamite planted underneath their home in Florida. The White Episcopal seminarian Jonathan Daniels was bludgeoned to death, and the Catholic and Unitarian activist Viola Liuzzo was shot and killed in her car. Jimmie Lee Jackson was shot to death while trying to protect his mother from being beaten by state troopers. The 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, was bombed during Sunday school and four girls died in the blast. 

Space does not suffice for me to list all the Civil Rights martyrs who fell victim to bombs, billy clubs, shotguns, brass knuckles, baseball bats, lynching trees, and other tools of human destruction. McGrady and others with the gall to compare them to the anti-abortion protesters of today must know this: There is no presidential pardon for the dead. Yet they are viewed as predecessors to middle-class White Catholics whose only consequence was jail and a presidential pardon. 

Further, let us consider Trump, the pardoner himself. A convicted felon, sex abuser, and unrepentant racist is the man who pardoned the clinic protestors. The same week, he also pardoned those who laid siege to the U.S. Capitol in the violent terrorist attack of 2021. 

Many White Catholics unengaged in racial justice, the impacts of mass incarceration, reversals of DEI, and critical race theory now seek to equate their anti-abortion protests with the Civil Rights Movement. If Black Americans could only but stay in their mother’s wombs, we could perhaps elicit a bit more justice and concern from many of our White Catholic confreres. 

I cannot help but critique many bishops for leading the way in this distorted sense of activism. They jumped all over President Joe Biden, a fellow Catholic, for not adhering to their position on abortion. With a few notable exceptions, the bishops have not addressed the obvious racist, anti-immigrant, and—in many cases—anti-human words and policies of the Trump administration. Denying the Eucharist to Biden, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and other Catholic politicians was a frequent discussion among some bishops. To my knowledge, there is no talk of that for Vice President JD Vance despite his words and deeds that clearly contradict Catholic teaching.

I applaud the responsible witness of many bishops, including Bishop John Stowe, OFM Conv. of Lexington, Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington, and many others. Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde of Washington publicly asked the president and vice president to “have mercy” on those fearing for their safety. It is instructive that a woman called for the grace so prevalent in Jesus’ ministry.

It’s little wonder that conservative Catholic talk show hosts are praising the abortion protest pardons but have little comment regarding policies opposed to people of color, immigrants, LGTBQ+ people, the environment, DEI, accurate history, and frankly, the planet itself. Most Catholic bishops and White Catholics overall have supported a presidential administration—two, in fact—that may be the most racist since the era of slavery. 

Consider that we are often judged by the company we keep. Is not a look at the cabinet and advisors of this administration shocking? Apologists for Hitler, deniers of climate science, alcohol abusers, “Stop the Steal” proponents, agents of cruelty toward transgender people, and haters of brown people trying to escape U.S.-backed oppression abroad. It is also instructive that the current White House has the support of every White Supremacist group in the nation—a fact about which most of our Catholic leaders have said nary a word. 

I have learned from Jesus’ teaching on mercy, the Hebrew prophets’ denunciation of injustice, the Gospel of liberation described in Luke 4, and Catholic social teaching on human development that our Eucharistic transformation into the Body of Christ calls us to a greater responsibility. Pope Francis asked through the synodal process that we journey together toward God’s reign. That reign, that kin-dom, stands in stark contrast to the current U.S. presidential administration. Frankly, God’s reign demands more justice, more love, more mercy, more human solidarity, and more peace than any political system, Supreme Court, constitution, government, race, or nation. 

It is long past time that White Catholics—from conservative radio hosts and other people in the pews to the bishops—look deep into the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the liberating Magnificat of Our Lady, and the Good News to the poor to recall what it means to be a Catholic, a Christian, and a human being with a heart. 

Daryl Grigsby is the author of “In Their Footsteps: Inspirational Reflections on Black History For Every Day of the Year.” He is on the board of directors for Color Me Human and has a Master’s in Pastoral Studies from Seattle University’s School of Theology and Ministry.

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