Dillard's, a Houston-area department store, will
co-sponsor an April 9, 2011 event that raises money for the Austin-based anti-abortion group Heroic Media, which puts up misleading and scary billboards aimed at African American women. Heroic Media billboards in
Florida, NY, Illinois, and Texas say, "The most dangerous place for an African American child is in the womb." This provocative message distorts civil rights history and ignores facts about black women's health. The partnership between Dillard's and Heroic Media also violates the store's own policy to promote "fashion" and not politics. Sign the petition to urge Stephen Brophy, department store manager, and William T. Dillard II, CEO of the Dillard's chain, to stop the partnership between the store and the anti-abortion group. Stick to clothes, stay out of hot button conservative politics!
We the undersigned find it hard to believe that you are unaware of the provocative anti-abortion politics of Heroic Media. Their scary billboards aimed at African American women wrongly imply that abortion is genocide, and ignore all the facts about black women's strong support of contraception and the right to choose the size of one's family as part of women's overall good health.
Since your store manager, Stephen Brophy, has even said Dillard's is about "fashion...we try to stay away from politics," you should cancel the event. Should you go forward, it's almost certain you'll draw boycotters and picketers to your store (and to the hotel where the event will be held) from the majority of the American population that supports a woman's right to choose. What is now a local issue will become a national one, and your chain of department stores will be in the national spotlight with a lot of negative attention focused on it.
This is not a "win-win" for Dillard's -- this is a "lose-lose" situation. You lose your neutral reputation and lots of customers throughout the states where you operate.
We urge you to cancel the event, and in the future consistently follow your own policy of promoting fashion, and not promoting misleading anti-abortion beliefs that rile and anger the public. Stop the April 9, 2011 fundraiser now!
