Kay James loves to turn the tables on those who don't think it's possible to be middle-class, conservative, educated and still be truly black. She is Secretary of Health and Human Resources in the Virginia state government. Once, during an abortion debate, a woman in the audience angrily told James she was so middle-class she didn't have a clue about real African-American life. "If you understood what these women go through," the woman said, "you would realize that abortion is their only choice." James then asked the woman to consider a poor black mother on welfare. She already has four children and an alcoholic husband who has all but abandoned the family. Now she discovers another child is on the way. "How would you counsel that woman?" asked James. "Have an abortion," the woman responded. "That child would have a very poor quality of life." "I have a vested interest in your answer," James said. "The woman I described was my mother. I was the fifth of six children born into poverty. And, in case you're interested, the quality of my life is just fine!" [author and source unknown] Home / Of General Interest |