Getting real on urban renewal
By Simon
Nassau, The Bahamas
The political back and forth on Urban Renewal is counterproductive. The launch of the program by the PLP administration of Perry Christie was a progressive and important step in the right direction to address a host of social ills.
FNMs and others should recognize and applaud the intent and various aspects of urban renewal with consideration of expanding its reach.
Meanwhile, PLPs should stop pretending that the program has been dismantled or of its efficacy in fighting crime in the manner in which the party often boasts.
Both parties should pay more attention to Rev. C.B. Moss, founding pastor of the Mount Olive Baptist Church and executive director of Bahamas Against Crime (BAC). Whence cometh his authority to speak about urban renewal, the idea and not simply the specific program?
His understanding of the many dimensions - roots and branches - of urban renewal and the limitations of urban renewal is more expansive than much of the current thinking by many. While many think in terms of programs, Rev. Moss is on a mission of transformation.
He is armed and fortified for this mission with the wisdom and vantage point of paradox. Rev. Moss is tough-headed and tender-hearted, street smart and book-learned with fluency in the language and the vocabulary of both, and a man of progressive ideas and traditional values. He is also not without some showmanship and clever at grabbing media attention to press his causes.
JOURNEYS
To understand where Rev. Moss has come to and what is required of people of faith in The Bahamas to help heal the land, is to appreciate the journeys of other men of the cloth; men like Reinhold Niebuhr whose theology is built on paradox, irony and Christian realism, and Walter Rauschenbusch and his theology of the social gospel.
Through a life’s journey and with a deep sense of the history of The Bahamas, Rev. Moss knows the depths of the valleys and the heights of the mountaintops.
He understands the addictions of which we are all heir, of power, drugs, money, possessions, fundamentalist certainty and many more. He also appreciates too the power of service and altruism.
They are saving graces which can liberate us from the tyranny of the mess we often make of our lives and the self-righteous judgment we inflict on others projecting our personal demons onto our favorite scapegoats be they individuals or entire groups.
So when he faces the issue of crime and the death penalty, he is clear about criminals being held responsible for their crimes as well as society being held responsible for the role it plays in fostering and sustaining a criminal culture by commission or omission.
Unlike many of his fundamentalist colleagues, Rev. Moss is deeply uncomfortable with capital punishment, recognizing its limits as a deterrent. He sees through the scapegoating, the all too easy panaceas, and the “vengeance is mine” mentality.
His theological reflections are seasoned with sociological realities unlike so many pastors stuck in a rigid Old Testament mind set, untouched or liberated by the Gospel of Jesus Christ whose sermon on the mount and parables have barely penetrated the spirits of those more comfortable with fire and brimstone.
THE CROSS
From his vantage point sitting outside Mount Olive Baptist Church in Bain Town, at the crossroads of Meadow and Augusta Streets, and of much that ails our society, Rev. Moss understands why on an issue like capital punishment, Christians must hold firm to both arms of the cross with the message of Christ at the center.
Those arms include care and compassion for the families of murder victims. It demands seeking the redemption of those who murder. It requires also compassion and care for the families of murderers. In this, Rev. Moss is a spiritual companion of Sr. Helen Prejean, CSJ, whose ministry of forgiveness and transformation on the most capital of punishments was chronicled in the film Dead Man Walking.
He knows too that this same spirit is required for genuine renewal of our urban communities and inner city. A call to renewal which will require not just house repairs, clean-ups and better community policing, but more fundamentally conversion of hearts and minds.
A resident of an over the hill community noted that urban renewal will not become real solely by people coming into his community and doing things for him and other residents. He was clear that urban renewal will only become more genuine when the people of his community are truly engaged in rebuilding their lives and community.
In essence, he offers the essential mission and ambition for more effective urban renewal of which the major parties might take note. In so doing there are many models for such a mission. One of them is Afro Reggae.
The Afro Reggae cultural group arose from a slum, the Vigário Geral favela in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro in response to violence spawned by drugs and related criminal activity. The group opened its first Culture Community Center in 1993 initially offering workshops in dance, percussion, garbage recycling, soccer and capoeira, which became foundations for various social projects.
The center had as its mission: “To offer a cultural and artistic education for adolescents living in slums by affording local youth more chances of strengthening their citizenship” and providing them “a viable path away from entanglement in the prevalent drug trade”. Over the years Afro Reggae has expanded the number of its centers and programs.
“In conjunction with workshops in music, capoeira, theater, hip hop and dance”, Afro Reggae helps “preschool kids through programs aimed at socializing and literacy”. Participant children’s parents also take part in weekly meetings where subjects such as domestic violence and personal hygiene are discussed; they also receive basic-food baskets.
TRANSFORMED
But it is through the power of the arts, entertainment and film and documentary production that Afro Reggae has transformed the lives of thousands and helped to sustain itself. It has transformed minds and hearts by providing career paths, and new horizons and friendships for teens tempted to drugs, early sexual encounters, bullying, crime and anti-social behavior.
Through well-honed experiential learning and edutainment models, Afro Reggae has broken the cycle of poverty for many and restored community while giving voice to cultural expression. The program is targeted for young people but engages their parents and others in its program of transformation.
Afro Reggae’s offerings have expanded to include circus arts, a theatrical group, community service to the elderly, choirs, a newspaper, radio programs, and an internet site dedicated to Afro-Brazilian culture.
Its health program is conducted by a theatrical group comprised of adolescents that utilize the performance arts to educate and inform their peers on a range of adolescent development issues.
Afro Reggae has plowed through the viciousness and violence and rampant criminality of a number of the favelas in Brazil. Through its inspiring hard work and success, it has saved lives that may have been lost to communities in despair.
The problems in Brazil’s cities and favelas with millions of people are much broader and complex than those of our urban centers.
Surely, by employing the creativity and will of models such as Afro Reggae we can stem much of our social decay through a sociology hope. This is the message of Rev. C. B. Moss whose voice on these matters we ignore at our own peril.
Oct 04, 2011
