Failing high schools. Over-sexed, disrespectful kids. Absent fathers. Declining moral standards. Godlessness.
It really sounds as though America's inner cities are crumbling.
EXCEPT THESE PROBLEMS AREN'T DESCRIBING AMERICA'S URBAN DECAY, THEY DESCRIBE MIDDLE-CLASS, MOSTLY WHITE SUBURBIA!
In her new book, "White Ghetto: How Middle Class America Reflects Inner City Decay," (Nelson Current, March 14) Star Parker exposes the fallacy of suburbia's strategy of isolation against the wave of immorality that has swept the nation since World War II. By holding a cracked mirror up to middle class America, she portrays a compelling, if disturbing, picture proving Middle America's core values are no different than those of our corrupt inner cities.
For decades middle-class America has pointed an accusatory finger at the decomposition of the nation's urban centers as being primarily responsible for national increases in crime, the decline of two-parent households, the rampant spread of sexual immorality and the spread of incurable, sexually transmitted diseases like AIDS.
In an effort to protect itself from those threats, middle class Americans retreated to suburbia, attempting to isolate themselves from the dangerous and negative influences they believed were limited to the big cities.
In a word, suburbia was in denial; Middle Class America was wrong!
"It is true that these problems are especially prevalent in these communities, especially those where single-mother black families reside," writes Star Parker. "But what if the disproportionately higher rates of crime, illegitimacy, infant mortality, AIDS, abortion, drug abuse, and illiteracy in these poverty-stricken inner-city neighborhoods are simply a magnified reflection of a malaise that affects every neighborhood throughout the United States? What if the inner city is actually a mirror for the rest of our nation?"
In White Ghetto Parker reveals:
* That lust for immoral behavior, addiction to drugs and rampaging violence are not societal afflictions limited to urban centers like Los Angeles, Chicago, New York City and Miami; inner-city blacks, for example, weren't responsible for the resounding success of shows like HBO's "Sex in the City"
* Ghettos are color-blind; the mindset of black or white ghettos is that of an "equal opportunity employer"
* How radical liberalism is responsible for the widespread moral bankruptcy of inner-city slums and middle class suburbs alike, and how God's values are being replaced by a pop-culture, "if-it-feels-good-do-it" mentality
* How the culture war for America's heart and soul is being waged not just on Capitol Hill but in the kitchens, bedrooms and living rooms of every home across the country
In White Ghetto, Parker forces readers to ask tough questions, both of themselves and of their country in general: Does the sexual madness, values disorientation, and social turmoil in our inner cities reflect the moral and cultural state of America as a whole? Does the popular system of welfare truly benefit the citizens it serves? Do ethics without a biblical basis condemn man to his animal nature? And finally, can compassionate conservatism exist without first being grounded in the most fundamental tenets of Judeo-Christian morality?
White Ghetto provides irrefutable proof that the immoral godlessness of today's America is responsible for far more social damage than that experienced in the slums and barrios of Metropolis.
And as someone who's been there, Parker is unique among social commentators, in that she can not only pinpoint the problems from a personal perspective, but she offers rational, cogent and workable solutions to them. Talk about a breath of fresh air - someone attacking America's moral decay who has first-hand experience with today's most pressing social ills.
White Ghetto is America's first must-read book of the new millennium - that is, if America is to survive until the next millennium.
Star Parker is president and founder of the Coalition on Urban Renewal and Education (CURE), a nonprofit center that addresses the impact of social politics on America's inner cities and the poor. Prior to her social activism, Parker was a single welfare mother. After turning to Christ, she returned to college, earning her B.S. degree, and then launched an urban Christian magazine. Now, she is a frequent lecturer at colleges and churches, a social policy consultant and media commentator, and a regular guest on national television and radio programs across the country, including Larry King Live, 20/20, and The Oprah Winfrey Show. Parker is also a syndicated columnist with the Scripps Howard News Service. Hometown: Los Angeles, California