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