WND Promotes Anti-Abortion Film for Black History Month
Taking a break from its usual offerings of , , and , Joseph Farah鈥檚 online publication WorldNetDaily (WND) is promoting a new film, 鈥淕ates of Hell,鈥 a propaganda piece supporting the Christian right notion that abortion is a vicious plot to destroy black America.
鈥淕ates of Hell鈥 is a feature-length pseudo-documentary set in a dystopian near future in which a group of 鈥渂lack power extremists鈥 set out to terrorize and murder abortion providers. Its producer, frequent WND contributor Jason 鈥淢olotov鈥 Mitchell, is a former wedding videographer who in 2008 with 鈥淰ideo Portrait of Barack Hussein Obama,鈥 an online offering that accused then-candidate Obama of being a racist, Marxist and anti-Semite 鈥渄iscipled鈥 in 鈥渜uasi-Christianity,鈥 and asked 鈥淸W]hen we are at war with Islam can Americans elect a man with not one, not two, but three Islamic names?鈥
If WND鈥檚 staggeringly offensive video teaser is any indication of its contents, 鈥淕ates of Hell鈥 will be equally inflammatory. According to its website, the film 鈥渋s a documentary from the year 2016 that chronicles the crimes of a band of domestic terrorists known as the Zulu 9. Finnish filmmaker Ani Juva travels to the United States to better understand the mysterious black power assassins, the unexpected eugenics conspiracy theory that drove them to commit extreme acts of violence and how America鈥檚 political landscape was transformed overnight. Blending real history and real public figures with a fictitious (yet plausible) future, it is safe to say that you have never seen a film like 鈥楪ates of Hell.鈥欌
In keeping with Mitchell鈥檚 self-proclaimed expertise in 鈥渞eaching the 鈥榰nder-40鈥 demographic,鈥 the WND teaser is replete with special effects borrowed 聽from MTV and the 鈥淏lair Witch Project.鈥 It begins with a close-up of Mitchell who, clad in a beanie and black jacket and manipulated using computer effects to look like a comic book image of himself, screams 鈥淭he Zulus are coming!鈥 鈥 a line that some (particularly the over-40 crowd) are more likely to associate with the 1964 feature film 鈥淶ulu,鈥 widely criticized for its racist portrayal of blacks. Next, it cuts to documentary-style footage of a black man who traipses through the woods with a 鈥渄ocumentarian鈥 and then shoots an 鈥渁bortionist鈥 dead who is leaving the home of his mistress.
After that, we return to the computer-enhanced Mitchell, who tells us more about his latest work: 鈥淚f you like debating politics, you will love it. If you're pro-life, you'll be mesmerized. If you're pro-choice, you just might crap your pants. If you're black, this is your movie. If you鈥檙e not black, buy the film anyway and watch it with your black friends 鈥 because first and foremost, Gates of Hell is a black film with a largely black cast, and focuses primarily on black issues.鈥
Mitchell鈥檚 claim that this film is about 鈥渂lack issues鈥 is based on the Christian right meme that abortion is actually a genocidal tactic perpetrated by racist pseudo-liberals against black America. Like most conspiracy theories, it is based on a kernel of evidence: in this case, the fact that Margaret Sanger, who founded Planned Parenthood in 1916, was in favor of eugenics and can be linked to racist organizations. (Planned Parenthood today has entirely divorced itself from this aspect of its history.)
Former presidential candidate Herman Cain did anti-abortion activists a favor by introducing this claim into the mainstream, asserting last fall that abortion clinics are deliberately built in black communities as part of a 鈥減lanned genocide鈥 against black Americans. A 2011 by the , an organization dedicated to sexual and reproductive health, firmly refutes this claim, noting that fewer than one in 10 abortion clinics are located in predominantly black neighborhoods. The fact that black women have higher abortion rates than white women, the institute in 2009, is 鈥渄irectly linked to their higher rates of unintended pregnancy, which in turn reflect pervasive health disparities more generally.鈥
But such facts obviously don鈥檛 bother Mitchell, who, in keeping with his effort to pretend his film is about 鈥渂lack issues,鈥 says in the WND teaser that the February release date is timed 鈥渢o commemorate black history month.鈥 (This isn鈥檛 the first time Mitchell has invoked civil rights to make a point: In a 2009 video supporting a proposed Ugandan bill that would have made homosexuality punishable by death, he Martin Luther King Jr.)
The WND teaser features praise from some major players on the Christian right, including Matt Barber of the ultraconservative, anti-gay and Troy Newman of Operation Rescue, an anti-abortion group known for descending en masse on small women鈥檚 health clinics to harass workers and women exercising their right to reproductive freedom. It is also endorsed by a supposed former Black Panther who goes by the nickname 鈥淭rimelda.鈥
Though he isn鈥檛 listed as a fan of Mitchell鈥檚 film, another anti-abortion activist to embrace the 鈥渂lack genocide鈥 concept is , a longtime anti-black racist with a penchant for among his list of 鈥淐urrent News Stories for Christians鈥 articles about violent crimes committed by blacks. Spitz, who is best known for his revolting Army of God website, celebrates as 鈥渉eroes of the faith鈥 violent criminals who, saying they were called to their work directly by God, have killed abortion providers, their bodyguards, and clinic staffers. As it happens 鈥 and contrary to the fantasy of Mitchell & co. 鈥 all of these celebrated murderers have been white.