East of the River | June 2007 | An Honest Assessment of What Ails Black America

An Honest Assessment of What Ails Black America

by: Rev. Kip Banks

When it comes to the problems plaguing black America, critics often will say that the community’s problems are rooted in the pathologies of urban black culture, like crime, violence and out-of-wedlock births. Others place the blame solely on the door steps of broad socioeconomic factors like racism, poverty and unemployment. However, it is rare that one provides an honest, balanced assessment of what ails black America, yet this is what Dr. Robert M. Franklin, the incoming president of Atlanta’s Morehouse College, has done in a new book.

In this book, titled “Crisis in the Village: Restoring Hope in African American Communities,” Dr. Franklin issues a call to strategic action to reverse the decline of families and children’s well-being, the moral authority of churches, and the moral drift in many schools and colleges. Dr. Franklin’s focus is rightly on the task of “child-making” because the future of black children is at stake. Quoting statistics by Marian Wright Edelman, founder of the Children’s Defense Fund, he shares the following about black children living in the U.S.:

Every 5 seconds during the school day, a black public school student is suspended;
Every 46 seconds during the school day, a black high school student drops out;
Every minute, a black child is arrested and a black baby is born to an unmarried mother;
Every 3 minutes, a black child is born into poverty;
Every hour, a black baby dies;
Every 4 hours, a black child or youth under 20 dies from an accident;
Every 5 hours, one is a homicide victim;
Every day, a young black person under 25 dies from HIV infection; and a black child or youth under 20 commits suicide.

Unfortunately, Marian Wright Edelman’s timeline portrait of what’s happening with black children is a vivid reality in East of the River, Washington, DC. Too many of our young people are dying early, and the prospects for their future are bleak. So what must we do to address the problem?

Dr. Franklin says that we must work to reverse the decline of core anchor institutions in the African-American community. These institutions are the family, the church and the school. He points out that if these organizations were aligned, healthy and working together, our young people would flourish no matter what the state of the economy or who is in the mayor’s office or the White House.

In his study, Dr. Franklin says that black families are suffering from a crisis of commitment. Indeed, black marriage rates have declined significantly over the last several decades. According to a study done by Morehouse College, 80 percent of all African-American children can expect to spend a significant part of their childhood living apart from their fathers. Children do best when both their fathers and mothers are involved in their lives. However, in order to make way for nurturing relationships between a father and his child, there is much to be done between fathers and mothers, men and women. Dr. Franklin says that despite the fact that urban mothers who attend church place a very high value on marriage, there appears to be an “African-American faith and family paradox” that involves the coexistence of high rates of church attendance and unusually low rates of marriage. In spite of this, Franklin says that very few black churches – only 3 percent – offer formal programs in marriage and parenting. Furthermore, only 5 percent offer programs targeting single parents and singles and that more should do so.

Not only is there a crisis of commitment but black churches face a crisis of mission. Dr. Franklin says the biggest threat is the “Prosperity Gospel movement.” This is a focus of the church on personal greed, obsessive materialism and unchecked narcissism. This stands counter to the social gospel tradition where the church is concerned about social justice and feeding the hungry, and helping the prisoners, the sick and the poor. Franklin says that too many churches today are suffering from an “edifice” complex. They are spending more time building their buildings and local kingdoms when they should spend more time helping the downtrodden and working to ensure the future of our children.

Then finally our schools, according to Franklin, are suffering from a crisis of moral purpose. Franklin says that our schools are failing and that on a regular basis we are “reminded of the culture of violence, drug use, sexual experimentation and moral relativism plaguing many of our schools.” One of the answers to the problem is to foster collaborations with local schools and churches; to ask churches to incorporate educational excellence into their ministries and become centers of educational support. These centers would offer after-school programs, mentoring, tutoring, computer resources, and assistance with standardized tests and college preparation.

Dr. Franklin has issued a strong call for us to restore hope in the African-American community by making our families, churches and schools stronger. Let each of us do what we can in our own realms of influence to heed the call.

Rev. Kip Banks is the senior pastor of the East Washington Heights Baptist Church and Convener of the Southeast Ministers Fellowship.


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An Honest Assessment of What Ails Black America

by: Rev. Kip Banks
When it comes to the problems plaguing black America, critics often will say that the community’s problems are rooted in the pathologies of urban black culture, like crime, violence and out-of-wedlock births. Others place the blame solely on the door steps of broad socioeconomic factors like racism, poverty and unemployment. However, it is rare that one provides an honest, balanced assessment of what ails black America, yet this is what Dr. Robert M. Franklin, the incoming president of Atlanta’s Morehouse College, has done in a new book. In this book, titled “Crisis in the Village: Restoring Hope in African American Communities,” Dr. Franklin issues a call to strategic action to reverse the decline of families and children’s well-being, the moral authority of churches, and the moral drift in many schools and colleges. Dr. Franklin’s focus is rightly on the task of “child-making” because the future of black children is at stake. Quoting statistics by Marian Wright Edelman, founder of the Children’s Defense Fund, he shares the following about black children living in the U.S.: Every 5 seconds during the school day, a black public school student is suspended; Every 46 seconds during the school day, a black high school student drops out; Every minute, a black child is arrested and a black baby is born to an unmarried mother; Every 3 minutes, a black child is born into poverty; Every hour, a black baby dies; Every 4 hours, a black child or youth under 20 dies from an accident; Every 5 hours, one is a homicide victim; Every day, a young black person under 25 dies from HIV infection; and a black child or youth under 20 commits suicide. Unfortunately, Marian Wright Edelman’s timeline portrait of what’s happening with black children is a vivid reality in East of the River, Washington, DC. Too many of our young people are dying early, and the prospects for their future are bleak. So what must we do to address the problem? Dr. Franklin says that we must work to reverse the decline of core anchor institutions in the African-American community. These institutions are the family, the church and the school. He points out that if these organizations were aligned, healthy and working together, our young people would flourish no matter what the state of the economy or who is in the mayor’s office or the White House. In his study, Dr. Franklin says that black families are suffering from a crisis of commitment. Indeed, black marriage rates have declined significantly over the last several decades. According to a study done by Morehouse College, 80 percent of all African-American children can expect to spend a significant part of their childhood living apart from their fathers. Children do best when both their fathers and mothers are involved in their lives. However, in order to make way for nurturing relationships between a father and his child, there is much to be done between fathers and mothers, men and women. Dr. Franklin says that despite the fact that urban mothers who attend church place a very high value on marriage, there appears to be an “African-American faith and family paradox” that involves the coexistence of high rates of church attendance and unusually low rates of marriage. In spite of this, Franklin says that very few black churches – only 3 percent – offer formal programs in marriage and parenting. Furthermore, only 5 percent offer programs targeting single parents and singles and that more should do so. Not only is there a crisis of commitment but black churches face a crisis of mission. Dr. Franklin says the biggest threat is the “Prosperity Gospel movement.” This is a focus of the church on personal greed, obsessive materialism and unchecked narcissism. This stands counter to the social gospel tradition where the church is concerned about social justice and feeding the hungry, and helping the prisoners, the sick and the poor. Franklin says that too many churches today are suffering from an “edifice” complex. They are spending more time building their buildings and local kingdoms when they should spend more time helping the downtrodden and working to ensure the future of our children. Then finally our schools, according to Franklin, are suffering from a crisis of moral purpose. Franklin says that our schools are failing and that on a regular basis we are “reminded of the culture of violence, drug use, sexual experimentation and moral relativism plaguing many of our schools.” One of the answers to the problem is to foster collaborations with local schools and churches; to ask churches to incorporate educational excellence into their ministries and become centers of educational support. These centers would offer after-school programs, mentoring, tutoring, computer resources, and assistance with standardized tests and college preparation. Dr. Franklin has issued a strong call for us to restore hope in the African-American community by making our families, churches and schools stronger. Let each of us do what we can in our own realms of influence to heed the call. Rev. Kip Banks is the senior pastor of the East Washington Heights Baptist Church and Convener of the Southeast Ministers Fellowship.