Travis
Doug Henwood wrote:
> Hope you'll consider reviewing or covering. Shout out if you'd like a
> copy. Thanks.
>
>
> 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
>
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