'The Darfur Of America' - Berkeley preacher calls on African Americans to fight abortion. Opposing Gay Rights next?

Saying they are faced with a civil rights crisis that demands immediate attention, African American anti-abortion advocates will hold three events in the Bay Area later this month in an aggressive push to combat the high number of abortions among black women.

"The abortion issue is huge. It is the Darfur of America," and it's time to educate the public about it, said Walter Hoye, a Berkeley preacher who founded the Issues4Life Foundation, a recently formed Union City-based organization intent on drafting more African Americans into the fight against abortion.

Issues4Life has organized the events to coincide with the Jan. 22 anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Jan. 18 and Black History Month in February. All three events will feature Alveda King, the niece of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

A two-mile Walk for Life will be held in Oakland and a conference will be hosted at a Berkeley church Jan. 18. The following day, a walk similar to the one in Oakland will take place in San Francisco.

But Hoye has bigger plans, hoping to eventually open chapters of Issues4Life across the country as a way to create a "one-stop shopping place" where black leaders, particularly pastors, will be able to get the information they need to teach others about the problem.

'The Darfur Of America'