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Letter to the Bannockburn Residents
"1 belong to the human race," replied Lawrence Henry, as he, Gwendolyn Greene and several other blacks were arrested in Glen Echo Park on June 30, 1960. Their crime? They were blacks who dared enter into the then-segregated Glen Echo Park. The June 29th issue of the Washington Post, B-section (see other side and following-pages), details their struggle to open that park to all members of the human race. They were aided in large part by residents of the Bannockburn area - your neighborhood! Forty-four years ago, the Bannockburn community was instrumental in securing civil rights for the black race and ensuring fair treatment to those members of the human race.
Forty-four years later, another disenfranchised group of people seeks advocates to remind the populace at large that they, too, "belong to the human race". They are the unborn babies; who in Maryland alone, die via abortion at the rate of almost 100 daily! However, within your own neighborhood lives a man who has been responsible for the deaths of over 150,000 during his infamous "career". He is Earl McLeod of 7116 Nevis Road. In a group of pro-life activists who have been alerting your neighborhood to McLeod's grisly business, the babies have found their advocates.
You may have seen us from time to time, picketing at the intersection of River Road and Nevis Road. These pickets are very similar in nature to the pickets at Glen Echo Park over forty years ago. The Bannockburn residents gave aid and comfort to those civil rights activists, providing food and drink to them and even joining their picket lines. As the civil rights activists forty-four years ago persuaded (successfully) the Glen Echo owners to change their bigoted practices, so do we seek to persuade McLeod to abandon his murderous trade.
We understand that the pictures that we use have caused some consternation. We too find them troubling, but we find them so because of the stark reality that they portray. The fact is that Earl McLeod makes his living by reducing unborn Babies to the state that is depicted on the posters that you see. Some have expressed displeasure because the pictures were "forced" upon them. To that we must reply that the grisly deaths portrayed were forced in the most brutal way, by McLeod and too many others, on these defenseless members of the human race.
If you are disturbed by the pictures (and aren't we all!), then it only follows that the reality behind those pictures are utterly, morally repugnant and cannot be tolerated in a civilized nation. Please join us in asking Dr. McLeod to quit his abominable trade!
Thank you.