THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 15, 1996 TAG: 9602150368
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By Charlise Lyles
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
Black churches have failed to take serious action to curb violence among African-American youth, a minister said Wednesday night.
``Our black ministers are too caught up in themselves, their revenue, their income,'' said the Rev. Raymond Dean of Mount Gilead Missionary Baptist Church on Kennedy Street.
``They need to come out of the four walls of the church and from behind the stain glass windows . . . to teach our black men to have self-esteem, love, to set goals and be focused. Teach them respect, instead of putting rings in their noses, wearing `Little Rascals' hair and those baggy clothes.''
Dean spoke to about 80 people who went to the church to take part in a community dialogue on violence and crime prevention. Mount Gilead was among about 23 local churches that opened their doors Wednesday for such discussions.
Tom Taylor, manager of the Ford Motor Credit Bureau, initiated the regional dialogue. Inspired by October's Million Man March in Washington, Taylor mobilized local businessmen and grassroots workers to form Citizens for SAVE (Stopping Acts of Violence with Education), which sponsored the event.
Taylor, the son of a Portsmouth minister, said he had hoped that more churches would respond to his appeal.
``When I grew up the church was the center of the community,'' said Taylor. ``Places of worship can do more. You do much here, but that is not the norm. I would venture that some of you would say that you can do even more.''
What can be done? More than singing and praying, people said: Stricter home training between infancy and age 5, church tutoring and mentoring programs, community policing.
Taylor urged each person to volunteer weekly with programs like Big Brothers and Big Sisters and to bring young people to church with them.
``When you go to church, you just don't see many boys,'' he said.
``That's true,'' nodded Bernard Cherry, a retired Navy man.
Representatives of local law enforcement and uplift agencies, such as CADRE for Community Against Drug-Related Activities, lined the pews.
Dean founded CADRE six years ago to deal with rising crime in the Sewell's Point Road neighborhood where his church is located.
``Criminologists say that less than 10 percent create a bad reputation in a community,'' Maj. Roger Stephenson of the Norfolk Sheriff's Department told the group. ``The other 90 percent are allowing this minority to dictate that reputation. I find that sad.''
One man, who identified himself as a retired police officer, said, ``These black men are in jail because they don't have jobs. If they had jobs, they would work. Government and corporations need to create economic stimulus.''
``I agree with you in part,'' said Stephenson. ``But our young black men want easy dollars and they want them quick. We need to teach them shoveling snow, McDonald's, whatever is necessary to keep yourself right.''
In another pew, Tomisha Adkisson, 14, sat with her friends Sidney Carroll, 12, and Erika Smith, 13.
``I think black parents need to keep a tab on their children,'' said Adkisson. ``Whenever I leave the house, my mother knows where I'm going.'' MEMO: Published byline was "Staff Report". by CNB