- Originally published by the St. Petersburg Times on April 10, 2005 [here]
By Bill Maxwell
In trying to figure why so many black pastors are adopting issues
and causes dear to white evangelicals, I realized that, more often than
not, these black pastors hope to score points with the Bush
administration and, therefore, increase their chances of winning big
bucks from the president's "faith-based initiatives" program.
With their own church-sponsored social programs costing large
sums, some black ministers are lining up for a federal handout. For his
part, Bush, along with other Republicans, gets the conservative black
Christian vote.
What is the tradeoff in this scenario? What is the cost to the
black church's traditional mission and its viability in the communities
it serves?
Second only to the family, the black church always has been the
most significant institution in African-American life. Until recently,
the concerns of the black church and those of the black community were
indistinguishable. When, for example, lay residents put issues such as
health care, unemployment, education, crime and health insurance at the
top of their agenda, the church concurred.
Now, as many ministers pursue federal money for their faith-based
programs, some congregations are morphing into hotbeds of conservatism.
One pastor, Bishop Harry R. Jackson Jr., of the Hope Christian Church
in College Park, Md., sashays around the nation touting a GOP-lite
scheme he calls a "Black Contract With America on Moral Values."
His priorities - abortion and same-sex marriage - typify those of his peers who have aligned with Republicans.
Similar motivations may have spurred Jesse Jackson's belated
intrusion on the circus surrounding Terri Schiavo. Jackson used to be
the most insistent voice urging the Democratic Party to stay focused on
issues of social and economic justice. But in Pinellas Park, Jackson
literally put himself arm-in-arm with leaders of the Christian
conservative fundraising machine.
Liberal pastors, such as William Shaw, president of the National
Baptist Convention USA, argue that black neoconservative ministers have
bought into a phony, white evangelical agenda that sidesteps reality
and tramples compassion and common sense.
"My position on same-sex marriage is not that it is the sole
determinant on moral issues," Shaw told the New York Times. "Marriage
is threatened more by adultery, and we don't have a constitutional ban
on that. Alcohol is a threat to the stability of the family, and we
don't have a constitutional ban on that."
Shaw and other liberal clergy believe that the same old
intractable problems still plague the nation's black communities. These
problems, liberals say, should be addressed without the distraction of
empty words and red herrings such as a constitutional ban on same-sex
marriage.
I cannot think of another problem more pressing than the black
male's failure in our public schools and colleges, as shown in the
findings of "Public Education and Black Male Students: A State Report
Card," a 2004 report by the Schott Foundation for Public Education. The
report tracks school districts' graduation rates for black males
nationally.
Following is a short list of districts and their rates:
Cincinnati and Cleveland, Ohio, 19 percent; Chatham County, Ga., 21
percent; Rochester, N.Y., Milwaukee, Wis., and Pinellas County, 24
percent; New York City, 26 percent; Buffalo, N.Y., 27 percent; St.
Louis, 28 percent; Duval County, 29 percent; Chicago, Clayton County,
Ga., 30 percent; Oakland, Calif., 31 percent; Hillsborough County, 32
percent; Indianapolis, Orange County, Fla., and Palm Beach County, 33
percent; Caddo Parish, La., and Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C., 34 percent.
Fewer than 1 in 5 black males graduate from high school with the
so-called necessities - college prep courses and a demonstration of
"basic literacy" - to be considered "college ready." Black males are
expelled, suspended and failed at rates five times higher than that of
other groups.
Where are the conservative pastors in this crisis - one that
potentially can make the black male even more of an endangered species?
Right-wing bromides and hateful rhetoric will not eradicate this crisis.
Properly educating black males should be at the top of the black church's agenda. But it is not.
If black men are not attending college in respectable numbers,
where are they? Too many are behind bars. According to Human Rights
Watch, nearly 5 percent of all black men, compared to 0.6 percent of
white men, are locked up. In many states, especially in the South, the
figures exceed the national average. In 12 states, more than 10 percent
of black men ages 18 to 64 are incarcerated. The same percentage is
true for those ages 20-29.
Where are black churches in this crisis? Far too many are
positioning to grab faith-based money to conduct programs inside jails
and prisons. Such work is the easy part. The hard work is on the
outside, in the free world where ex-cons need family, community and
church support and jobs to normalize their status.
In too many communities, black churches - having adopted the
warped theology of white evangelicals - shun these men and berate them
from the pulpit.
And, now, black America faces the AIDS/HIV epidemic, which
threatens our existence as a viable group. The infection rate
statistics are frightening. In 2004, according to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, while blacks were 12 percent of the
nation's population, they accounted for 54 percent of the new AIDS
cases. (Black women between the ages of 25 and 44 are more likely to
die of AIDS than any other illness.)
Homophobic from its inception, the black church has gone AWOL in
the AIDS crisis by joining hands with white evangelicals in order to
get faith-based lucre.
The major tradeoff is a cynical and self-destructive one: Black
men - already scarce in the pews - are being pushed further away from
the church, the one institution that could make a positive difference
in their lives.
Faith-based initiatives will not save black men. They will be
saved by initiatives that are based on sincerity, common sense and
reality.
Former Times columnist Bill Maxwell is scholar-in-residence at Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, Ala.