Washington, DC: Members of the Project 21 black leadership network are speaking out in support of Focus on the Family and the family of former Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow for their efforts to air a pro-family commercial message during this weekend's Super Bowl broadcast.
Project 21 members are also praising the CBS television network for not giving in to pressure to not air the ad.
Lisa Fritsch: "Tim Tebow is one famous example of the countless children born in the face of challenging circumstances.
These children deserve a voice and a right to life just like so many who have been traditionally discriminated against through poverty and racism. Their civil rights are exactly the same: to be given the chance at life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I applaud CBS for recognizing the fundamental issue of the rights of the minority that, in this case, just happens to be a mother who chose life - and a life that has given so much back to others." (Lisa Fritsch is a member of the national advisory council for the Project 21 black leadership network and a community activist, writer, public speaker and talk radio host in the Austin, Texas area.)
R. Dozier Gray: "Focus on the Family should be praised for exercising their freedom of speech in promoting family and life. It's important to remember that the counter to speech that one person may find disagreeable is more speech. No one should be denied such freedom. If pro-abortion groups disagree with the Tebow family's message, they are free to run their own ad. Though I will never support abortion, I will always support their right to speak up in favor of it. I ask only that those who do also afford me and those who agree with me the same courtesy." (Dozier Gray is a member of the national advisory council for the Project 21 black leadership network and a combat veteran. He is the author of the recent Project 21 New Visions Commentary "Black Genocide and Black Acquiescence" on abortion that can be found at http://tw0.us/6Js).
Mychal Massie: "Feminist attempts to pressure CBS into not running Focus on the Family's Tim Tebow ad are ludicrous. It reveals a radical agenda that prizes abortion over all other things. Opponents argue the Super Bowl isn't the proper forum for a family message, or that it will detract from the game. But it's interesting that they have no apparent concern for other ads that feature women losing their clothing or being made the butt of jokes. This motivation to aggressively pursue the silencing of an ad contradicts the very essence of what they purport to stand for - choice. They can no longer hide behind glib, coded euphemisms designed to mask their true agenda. The curtain has been pulled back and the eugenicist genie has been unambiguously exposed." (Mychal Massie is chairman of Project 21, a columnist for WorldNetDaily, and a former talk show host and businessman. His 2005 New Visions Commentary "Can the Unborn Save Future Generations?" can be found at http://tw0.us/6Jr.)
Focus on the Family bought commercial time during CBS's Super Bowl broadcast on February 7. While the ad is not available for review, it reportedly will feature Pam Tebow, who was advised to have an abortion for health reasons in 1987. She did not, and her son Tim grew up to play college football and won the Heisman Trophy in 2007.
Feminist groups are pressuring CBS, which has "moderated" its policy regarding advocacy ads, to pull the ad.
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Project 21, established in 1992, is sponsored by the National Center for Public Policy Research (http://www.nationalcenter.org), a non-profit foundation established in 1982 and funded primarily from the gifts of over 100,000 recent individual donors.
