Justice Ride Conversations, Part 3: Short Remarks

In the brown jacket is one of the Justice Riders, Roquel.

 
Continuing on with the Justice Ride Conversations series...I'm just going to record a bunch of the short remarks we got from people walking by our signs during the Justice Ride.  I do this not because these are special or out-of-the-ordinary remarks, but because they, most of them, are ordinary, common remarks we hear all the time doing this work.  Most of these we've heard countless times.

Someday, we will be on the other side of this war (if Jesus doesn't return first), and it will be commonly recognized that it is not okay to kill preborn children because they are younger, just as it is now commonly recognized that it is not okay to mistreat someone based on the color of their skin.

Someday, we will be shocked that anyone ever said things so cruel about preborn children (and about those of us who stand up for them), just as nowadays, we are shocked at the way black people used to be treated and called horrible names.

But for now, these are all-but-rare comments we hear all the time that show such hatred for, and just callousness or apathy, towards preborn children and their plight.  (Much of history is commonplace at the time it occurs.)

It will be interesting to look back in history at these comments that I heard with my own ears.

* * *

“No thank you, not today,” laughed one student.

“I think it’s right, yeah,” a student said without much emotion.

A middle-aged woman expressed, “You should show photos of the women who have died from illegal abortions.”

“Do not speak to me, thank you,” said one student brusquely.

“It’s good” (with a thumbs up), a student replied when I asked him what he thinks about abortion.  I followed up with, “You think this is okay?” (pointing to the picture), and he said, “yeah.”

“I think it’s amazing,” one student said as he took a brochure after I asked him what he thinks about abortion.

“Yeah, who pays for their health?” mumbled an older woman walking by.

“I don’t think that men should have a say in what women do with their bodies,” I heard a student shout.

“Why are you doing this bull---, like you could be spending your time better,” a student told us.

“This is disgusting,” yelled one student.
“What does this look like?”
“You’re f---ing disgusting.  You should kill yourself for this.”
“What does this look like?  It’s a preborn child.”
“I don’t f---ing care.  You’re f---ing disgusting.”
She continued to yell, “f---ing disgusting!  Every single one of you is f---ing disgusting.”

“I am pro-abortion,” a female student told me.
“Why is that?” I asked.
“Because I hate children.”

“I was the one screaming ‘my body, my choice,’” a female student told us when asked her opinion.

“Are y’all like with a church or something?” a girl asked.
“We’re from different churches.  We’re from an organization called Created Equal. What do you think of it?”
“Eh, you know, I probably disagree with you,” she said as she walked away.

Creepy,” a student responded after hesitating, when I asked what he thinks of the pictures.  (He didn't seem to be saying abortion itself is creepy and disturbing, but more just making light of it.)

There was a group of high schoolers huddled around a brochure and talking as we walked back to where we’d get back on the bus, but they were mocking us.  I heard one of them say something about the hand or foot of the baby on the brochure, but as we walked past, they started chanting, “Pro-choice!  Pro-choice!  Pro-choice!”

I overheard two girls talking about our signs: “That’s not what it looks like.  Like I’m pretty sure that’s not what it looks like.”

Katt (a Justice Rider) asked a guy and girl walking by what they think about abortion, and the girl replied, “Not lovely.  I’ll look at your little thing though” (referring to the brochure).

“Why do they matter?!  They aren’t even born yet!” I heard a young man shout as he walked past the display.

“It’s not y’alls’ place to say s---,” a student told us.

A student mocked, “Wait, what seasoning did y’all use for that?”
“This is a human being, ma’am.”
“Oh – I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize that.”
“Yes you did, ma’am.  That’s disgusting.”

“Literally no,” a girl said in disgust as I asked her opinion.

“I dunno, I’m good,” a student replied apathetically when asked what he thinks of abortion.

“I don’t want that,” a student said in disgust as we tried to hand her a brochure.

“Delicious,” a student mocked.

“You’re insulting to women,” one student told us.

I asked two female students what they thought of the image on the sign, and one replied, “We think abortion is a human right.”
I asked, pointing to the sign, “do you think it’s okay to do this?”
“Yeah!” the same student replied.

This isn’t okay,” a female student said as she walked toward us, obviously talking about us putting the signs out, not about abortion itself, but I decided to say, “I know, it’s not, abortion is not okay!”
“Yeah, don’t post it up in the plaza, or wherever the f--- we are.”
“People need to know that abortion looks like this.   It’s a very serious thing.”
“This is a campus; it should be a safe space.  Like you shouldn’t have these up, this is disturbing, I don’t want to see this walking to class.”