Pubdate: Mon, 21 May 2007
Source: Florida Today (Melbourne, FL)
Copyright: 2007 Florida Today
Contact:  http://www.flatoday.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/532
Author: Kevin L. Fain

BLACK CHURCHES ARE FAILING IN CRIME FIGHT

As I attended the recent community meeting in Cocoa on fighting crime 
in the black community, I wondered, "When did the black community 
lose its bravery?"

There was a time when unarmed black people stood up to billy clubs, 
water hoses, police, and people with hooded heads.

Did brave black people take those beatings, lynchings and jailings 
only for their neighborhoods to now be run by their criminal, 
dope-dealing young?

I never thought I'd live to see the day when fear was reversed, for 
now it is the older folks who fear their young.

Since the black community has morphed into what it now is, I ask the 
next influential element, the churches, "Where are you?" After years 
of tithing and support for "teach and preach," I ask , "Where is your 'reach'?"

And I ask, "Have the churches done enough?" Because, despite the 
numerous churches that dot black communities, there never seems to be 
a unified, continuous effort on the churches' part to go where the 
problems lie.

Churches can't mentor to the plagues of the black community by 
expecting the "sinners" to be on a pew on Sunday. The black community 
needs you now, not more police.

Kevin L. Fain, Sr.

Palm Bay
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