Oh, the irony, that the so-called “Personhood” movement in Alabama, one that endows a fetus with the same rights as a sentient human, boils down to an altercation between two young Black women: Ebony Jemison and Marshae Jones. These two women, allegedly fighting over a man who was employed at the same company last winter, likely had no clue that their exchange of insults and hands would turn their scrap into a cause celebre.
Allegedly, Jones–then five months pregnant–was winning the fight that took place in the parking lot of a Dollar General store. Jemison then fired a shot that struck Jones in the stomach–killing the unborn child in the process.
Oh, the irony, that the grand jury, a rubber stamp for indictments–or not–according to the bent of the prosecutors presenting the evidence, found that Jemison “stood her ground” because she was losing the fight, thus clearing her of any criminal culpability. Ironic because as I have written time and again, this country’s “Stand Your Ground” laws typically are color conscious–not color blind–and work to the DETRIMENT of Black people far more often than not.
Oh, the rich irony that a Black mother, Marshae Jones, has been indicted for manslaughter in the death of her unborn child. Ironic in that we live in a nation–and Jones lives in the state of Alabama–where the phrase “Black Lives Matter” is often met with hostility or derision by those screaming “All Lives Matter” or “Blue Lives Matter”(police). Screams that occur despite pure facts which show that the former is a farce, and the latter pales in comparison to the number of unarmed citizens of all races who are killed by reckless and/or negligent officers.
Yes, it is ironic that Marshae Jones’s unborn child now serves as a proxy for a battle among the faux “faithful” who would not have cared less about that child had it been born. If Jones’s child lived to wallow in abject poverty; lived in dilapidated housing, attended underperforming schools, struggled to find nutritious food to eat, was unable to have adequate health care if seriously sick, or was harassed, beaten or even shot for walking, talking, chewing, running, texting, or driving while Black, the same right wing so-called Evangelicals who are praising these Alabama laws for defending the unborn, would have turned collective blind eyes to a born black child’s plight.
This is America, one in which faux people of “faith” are using the Bible to justify racism and misogyny–and tearing down the veil that separates church from state. If Jones is to be their villain, then let those of us who reject such toxic religious legal oppression rally to her cause by calling out these modern Pharisees whose hearts are far from the God they claim to worship, and whose acts are completely contrary to the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution.
Lest we forget…
