African American Pastor Jailed for Speaking Up

March 23, 2009 -  Contact Day Gardner: 202-834-0844 or Rev. Dion Evans at dion@issues4life.org

Oakland, CA - “This is constitutional lynching” warn Black leaders regarding the plight of Reverend Walter Hoye of Issues 4 Life. Citing a statute banning Hoye’s freedom of speech and religion March 20, Alameda Superior Court Judge Stuart Hing told Hoye to abandon his post near an abortion mill or be jailed. Today Hoye is behind bars.

Hoye, an African American pastor who prays to end genocidal abortion, stands near the local abortion mill with leaflets and a poster: “Jesus loves you and your baby. Let us help.”

Hoye’s spokesman, Rev. Dion Evans, Pastor of Chosen Vessels Christian Church in Oakland said: “Walter’s jailed, next five on duty policemen are gunned down, babies are dying in abortion mills. Pray against the scourge of violence.”

Confronting Hoye’s campaign, Oakland City Council’s ordinance criminalizes peaceful intervention like Hoye’s while permitting others to encourage and escort women into the abortion mill.

“This is government sponsored eugenics, siding with those who want to exterminate Blacks; creating laws limiting our freedom of speech,” said Catherine Davis, Georgia Right to Life’s Minority Outreach Director.

Hoye spoke with Congressional Black Caucus members Jesse Jackson, Jr., John Conyers, and others in Washington last week. Hoye hoped that Oakland officials would honor his Constitutional rights. Instead, Judge Hing jailed Hoye.

“This gag order against Black ministers is outrageous. We call on the Caucus to intervene in this Jim Crow America nightmare. Our procreative health is at stake,” said the leaders.  

LEARN National Director Dr. Johnny Hunter said: “Public policy must be viewed through a moral compass, taking the country in the right direction, lest we lose our way. Remember this Oakland before banning our freedom to speak out against abortion.”

“Martin Luther King, Jr. said injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” quoted Priests for Life Pastoral Associate Dr. Alveda King. She wrote to the Caucus seeking justice for Hoye, and investigation of the incarceration of nine students in Birmingham last January for a similar incident.

National Black Pro-Life Union President Day Gardner urges nonviolent action: “American pastors, go to Oakland, stand in Reverend Hoye’s place; reach out to women who are led to believe abortion is their only choice”.

Pastor Stephen Broden from Fairpark Bible Fellowship in Dallas Texas agrees: “Abortion’s scourge is ravaging the Black community. Like Walter, I’ll stand before the abortion mills, offering our women assistance.”

“Walter’s love and courage will assure his and our victory in defending the unborn” said www.Blackgenocide.org  founder Rev. Clenard Childress.

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For more details about Rev. Hoye’s case go to www.lldf.org. Life Legal Defense Foundation was established in 1989, and is a non-profit organization composed of attorneys and other concerned citizens, committed to the sanctity of human life. For more information, call Katie Short at 805.640.1940.

Rev. Hoye is an African-American pastor who feels a special calling to work for the end of the genocide-by-abortion taking place in the African-American community. As part of his efforts, he stands in front of an abortion clinic in Oakland, California with leaflets offering abortion alternatives and a sign reading, “Jesus loves you and your baby. Let us help.” In response, the Oakland City Council passed an ordinance making it a crime to approach persons entering abortion clinics to offer alternatives to abortion. Approaching women to encourage them to enter the clinic is permitted, according to City policy. For more information on Walter, visit: www.lldf.org or www.issues4life.org