Let's Start with the Children

Book excerpt: Make the journey from the slave trade of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to the plight of African Americans in inner-city America in the South Bronx. Learn about the ravages and disadvantages of residence there and its lifelong impact upon an entire population. Recognize that this continuing situation has a sad and shameful historical path shaped by society’s blindness to humanity. This malaise of blindness exacted an unfair, immoral, and immeasurable human cost upon generations; a blindness which denied entry to the opportunities afforded others as a birthright. The aggregated cost in the South Bronx is staggering beyond belief. There is, however, a collateral cost to the reservoir of national resources caused by a failure to recognize—and, therefore, unrealized and unavailable—the creativity, talents, skills, and potential of inner-city residents. Hear those voices that have addressed the inequities of this situation; learn of individuals who believe in the humanity of every individual. Despite these voices, the deplorable inner-city situation continues and even worsens. Is anybody listening? There are listeners who have taken up the cause, albeit in the face of a lack of political, humanitarian, and spiritual wills. Learn about those listeners in a New England church community that made the trek to the South Bronx for a decade. One may perceive these two communities as radically different; experience the merger of two communities into a single family via the grace of a spiritual ministry. Think about how you can make a difference—somewhere, sometime, somehow—and discover the difference in your being. Proceeds from book sales will be directed to an educational fund specifically for the children of St. Ann’s community in the South Bronx.