Belligerent “White Trash” humanized by a story of heartbreak.

by John Stair

On the first day, we had a man dressed in a Halloween costume stalking around the pictures, yelling at us, with intense profanities and vulgarities in a fake New York accent.  The accent conveniently changed when he was stopped by the police for getting physical with a pro-life student.  His costume was a white garbage can, his hat was the lid.  We think the costume was intended to mock us as “white trash.”

On our second day at VCU, the suit was gone but he was even more belligerent.  He stalked a couple of our group who had tried to talk with him, but he only wanted to berate us for being there.  We told him they would not respond to yelling, but he only got louder.  He accusing us of not wanting to talk.

The protester yelled at me from a distance and asked me if I would speak with him.  I told him I would not, until we was willing to listen to what I had to say.  He said he would, so I walked over and told him I could have a better conversation if we stood closer together.  We were now about 4 feet apart, and I asked if I could tell him why we were there.

I shared the horrible experience of a miscarriage of my 3rd child, in our bedroom and into the toilet.  I told him about taking the tiny body to the hospital and giving the body over to the hospital personnel.  Years later, I realized they had just thrown that baby into the trash and I regretted not giving my child a proper burial.  I told him that CBR photos of a 10-week fetus in the womb are what I held in my hands after the miscarriage.

I told him about CBR staff—people of integrity, people with college educations, people who would never display photos that could not withstand intense scrutiny.  I encouraged him to investigate on his own as well.  He had some comments, but his response was much more muted and diminished, thanks to the Holy Spirit.  He hung around the display for a while longer, but he never yelled at or berated one of us again.

John Stair is a CBR Southeast Project Director.