Hate Crime in the City

Two days ago, numnerous swastikas were found painted on six vans in the Park Heights community of Baltimore. We are reminded that hatred anywhere is a threat to love everywhere. Let us remain prayerful that acts of hatred such as this will be eradicated in our midst.

Black Youth Violence

Homicide is the leading cause of death for African-Americans ages 10-24. In a 2007 nationwide survey, 36 percent of high school students reported being in a physical fight during the past 12 months, and 6 percent reported taking a gun, knife or club to school in the past 30 days. (Ebony Magazine, September 2010)

High School Dropout

President Barack Obama called the high school dropout rate a "crisis" that the nation cannot accept or ignore. Nationwide, three out of 10 students never graduate. In some inner-city schools, only three out of 10 do. What's disturbing about these numbers is that 12 percent of the schools produce 50 percent of America's dropout rates. (Ebony Magazine, September 2010)

Gangs

A recent report indicates that today there are over 28,000 identifiable gangs in America with over 770,000 gang members. These gangs operate in urban, suburban and rural communities across the country, and represent various ethnic groups - whites (and white supremicists), blacks, Hispanics and Asians.

The Church's Challenge

It is in order now at last to raise the question: Is the witness of the church in our society the unfolding of such an idea as we see manifested in the religious experience and the life of Jesus? Whatever may be the deliminitng character of the historical development of the church, the simple fact remains that at the present moment in our society, as an institution, the church is divisive and discriminating, even within its fellowship. It is divided into dozens of splinters. This would indicate that it is essentially sectarian in character. As an institution there is no such thing as the church. There has to be some kind of church...

Howard Thurman - "The Creative Encounter", 1954

Confronting Crime in Baltimore

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has posted infomation regarding city efforts to confront crime under the Rawlings-Blake Rewiew #26-Confronting Crime. For more infomation go to http://www.baltimorecity.gov/.

Broken Windows

I teach an Urban Ministry course in Baltimore, where one of the exercises that students are asked to complete is to walk the neighborhood around the their church and count the number of broken windows and boarded up buildings. It's always interesting to here of the students' findings as it pertains to the correlation between broken windows/boarded buildings and the quality of life in their communities. This brings to mind Wilson and Kelling's piece on the Broken Window's theory. To read more go to: (http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1982/03/broken-windows/4465/).