Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 22, 1994                   TAG: 9406240043
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

CRUSADE

Does any of this matter? It should.

That's why the Black Community Crusade for Children has been organized by the Children's Defense Fund to mobilize blacks and other Americans into a crusade to leave no child behind.

The group is seeking the help of leaders - community and national, black and white - to develop a coordinated strategy for leveling societal obstacles.

Poverty. Racial intolerance. Easy access to ever deadlier firearms. Youngsters can trip over any or all of these every day, and fall.

The heart of this new crusade is as old as the family. The family means mom, dad and the kids. But it also means the extended black community family that historically has offered a web of support for children.

Before any government can help, these crusaders are saying, hope must be built on strong parents, a revitalized sense of community, and strong spiritual and family values. The crusaders are right on target.

Thus are they trying to build networks of policymakers, organizations, community leaders, parents, students and churches to help lay this groundwork.

Meanwhile, the statistics worsen. Every 11 minutes a black child is arrested for a violent crime. Every 69 seconds, a black baby is born to an unmarried mother. Etc., etc. - for how long, to what end?