Star Parker never planned to become a "conservative crusader," but here she is.
She's a syndicated columnist, commentator and the president of CURE — Coalition on Urban Renewal and Education.
Parker is author of White Ghetto: How Middle Class America Reflects Inner City Decay. She also will speak at September's Values Voter Summit 2008.
She's even co-hosted The View — once.
Parker recently shared her story with CitizenLink.
Tell me about your journey from welfare mom to conservative crusader.
I didn’t plan to become conservative crusader nor did I plan to be a welfare mom. I got caught up in the messages of the Left that basically you can do whatever you want, whether it’s with your sexual choices or any other aspect of your life. So very early, I got engaged in criminal activity, and drug activity, and sexual promiscuity.
I went in and out of abortion clinic after clinic, and it wasn’t until the fourth time that I went into one of those so-called safe, legal, rare clinics that I had a gut instinct way down deep inside that there just has to be something wrong with killing your offspring. 'You know, maybe the feminists aren’t right on this one.' Maybe there was something spilling in me that finally made me look at myself and address this particular area of my life. So I got pregnant again, and that time opted to have the child and that’s how I ended up on welfare.
I was journeying through my life to find income to subsidize my welfare check, and that’s when I met some Christian men. They told me my life was unacceptable to God. It hit me hard that God thought about me and that the things I was doing were hurting Him. So I went to church with them; I dedicated my life to the Lord at that church.
I had been so exposed to the culture war and what had happened in public policy to help others destroy their lives the way I had. I made a commitment I was going to get engaged in that battle, and I’ve been there ever since.
I began the Coalition on Urban Renewal and Education, which is a think tank that reassesses all American urban policy and starts to talk about it. We, as an organization, help spread the message that we need to dismantle the war on poverty and increase the activities in the Christian community so we can be there for people in need.
Why are you so passionate about defending life? What role do you take in that today?
When you think about what God said about life being His reward, we should be a protector of those interests. When you think about Scripture, over and over again He talks about the unborn.
I do that through my organization, which assesses public policy, including abortion law and family policy. Also, I serve on the advisory committee for Care Net, which is an umbrella of about 1,500 pregnancy centers — the most wonderful ministries in many local communities.
(Abortion) is the No. 1 issue in this election we should be concerned about, so ultimately we can overturn Roe v. Wade.
It’s common knowledge Planned Parenthood targets black neighborhoods in poorer areas. What can you tell me about the racist nature of the nation's largest abortion business?
We know a lot of Planned Parenthood's target marketing has been done in urban communities and rural communities because (founder) Margaret Sanger herself had racist tendencies. She was a eugenicist and believed black people and other minorities were of no worth. She called them “human weed” and believed population control is the way to make sure there is a majority elite society — that, of course, would be Caucasian.
Just recently, African-American groups have come together in Washington, D.C., to insist Congress open hearings on this issue because Planned Parenthood is receiving about $350 million of tax money (annually) to support their $1 billion budget. Their business primarily is to control the population, to assess who we think is viable, who we think should be wanted, and then to help others not produce children.
Planned Parenthood is bad news for all of society. They are planning a real outreach into white communities. They plan to set up at our malls. Think about it: Blacks are like 12 percent of the population, and this negative spirit that wants to destroy life isn’t settled on just 12 percent. They want the whole thing. So they are very aggressively moving into suburban communities because they have not only the money to do it, but if you think about who’s producing children, it is people of faith, and minorities and people that have limited resources.
Would you say abortion is the biggest problem facing America?
It is a symptom of the biggest problem faced in America — the cultural war. We are in an extreme battle for how we are going to live. We have a secular worldview that is fighting a biblical worldview. When this country was founded there was a deep appreciation by the framers for a biblical worldview. In fact, many of them discussed how the Constitution they just penned would not work if it weren’t for a moral people.
Over the last 60 years, we’ve seen an aggression of the secular Left to incorporate a secular worldview in our shared space — in education policy, in retirement policy, in family policies and welfare programs, in health policy, in labor policy.
It is critical to this next election that we understand this is the biggest problem.
What would you like to say to values voters in this country?
We need to put all of our eggs in one basket, and then we need to fight for the helm of that basket. We have to be a force. If we’re scattered everywhere, we don’t control anything and that’s the reason we’re facing the type of election environment we’re in today.
You keep resolving, you be steadfast, and you keep fighting.
On a slightly lighter note, tell me what it was like to be on The View. How did that come about, and would you do it again?
No, I would never do it again. It was a battle. They try to reflect liberal interests in society and their only black co-host had left the show, so they were desperately trying to find other blacks to fill in. The show I chose was because Michael Moore was going to be the guest, and I wanted to at least ask one question.
I don’t think they will ever have me back. My personal faith was on trial, and I felt like I was in a wrestling match and a ping-pong game at the same time. Sitting between Barbara Walters and Joy Behar, my head was going like a ping-pong ball. They were digging way down into the gutter to do everything they could to destroy the biblical integrity I had. For one hour, I had to defend my faith and not just my faith, I had to defend a biblical worldview, and yet I’m trying to defend it between two people who would not let me finish one sentence.
It’s pretty clear The View really only wants one view.
Oh, you’re right about that. On any major media these days, you will not have anyone that is going to discuss from a truly hard-core, solid Religious Right, biblical worldview issues. That’s one of the reasons I’m developing a new television show for myself, with the NRB (National Religious Broadcasters) network, so we can begin to dialogue with the public.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Visit the CURE Web site.
Listen to Star Parker at the Values Voter Summit. Register today.
(NOTE: Referral to Web sites not produced by Focus on the Family is for informational purposes only and does not necessarily constitute an endorsement of the sites' content.)
