January 31, 2007

MINNEAPOLIS – Fifty years after the Civil Rights Movement, far too many African American communities, and especially children in those communities, are losing ground.

Robert M. Franklin, author of Crisis in the Village: Restoring Hope in African American Communities, will address these issues when he speaks at the Fortress Forum at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on February 20th, 2007.

He will be joined in a panel discussion by:

• Moderator, E.J. Dionne – American journalist, political commentator, and op-ed columnist for The Washington Post

• Marian Wright Edelman – Lifelong advocate for disadvantaged Americans; Founder and President of the Children's Defense Fund

• Hugh Price – Former President of the National Urban League; Senior Fellow of the Brookings Institution

• Cheryl Sanders – Senior Pastor at the Third Street Church of God in Washington, D.C.; Professor of Christian Ethics at Howard University School of Divinity

• Jim Wallis – President and Executive Director of Sojourners/Call to Renewal; Editor-in-chief of Sojourners magazine

In Crisis in the Village: Restoring Hope in African American Communities, Robert M. Franklin provides an astute and provocative analysis of the state of Black America. Giving first-person advice and insight, he identifies the crises resident within three anchor institutions that have played a key role in the Black struggle for freedom.

Crisis in the Village addresses the apparent decline and possible renewal of African American families, churches, and schools.

Black families face a "crisis of commitment" evident in the rising rates of father absence, births to unmarried parents, divorce, and domestic abuse or relationship violence.

Black churches face a "mission crisis" as they struggle to serve their upwardly mobile and/or established middle class "paying customers" alongside the poorest of the poor.

Historically Black colleges and universities face a crisis of "moral purpose" as they work to recover their role of preparing community leaders while also competing for the best students and faculty in the broad marketplace of colleges.

With clarity and passion, Franklin calls for practical and comprehensive action for change from within the African American community and from all Americans. He concludes with innovative recommendations for restoring hope, recommendations that are strategic, developmental, and rooted in a theology of reconciliation. . "Robert Franklin is one of the most prophetic leaders and visionary thinkers of his generation. This challenging book warrants our close attention." – Cornel West, Princeton University

"In Crisis in the Village Robert Franklin provides us with a much-needed blueprint that doesn't just tell us what's wrong in Black America, but gives specific suggestions for what we can do to change and make things right. It should be required reading for everyone concerned about the future of Black children, the Black community, and America." – Marian Wright Edelman, President, Children's Defense Fund

"Robert Franklin's Crisis in the Village is a bracing and bold call for spiritual and social healing in the black community. With characteristic clarity and eloquence, Franklin challenges the entire black world, and the broader society alike, to marshal its resources to address the critical issues confronting black folk today. Franklin's brilliant scholarly intervention is both timely and necessary, and should be read by all who desire to help bear, and relieve, the burden of the black vulnerable." – Michael Eric Dyson, author of Is Bill Cosby Right? Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind?

"Franklin artfully petitions us to rediscover, reawaken and resume traditions and values of a cultural ethic that created generations of great thinkers and doers, and guided the African American community to overcome when it appeared, by most standards, there was no way out of our despair. Crisis in the Village is an inspiring strategic plan for rebuilding intra-community excellence and social accountability that promises to re-energize ‘sleeping giants.'" – Ambassador Andrew Young, President, Goodworks International, Atlanta, GA, Past President of the National Council of Churches, and author of A Way Out of No Way and An Easy Burden.

Robert M. Franklin is Distinguished Professor of Social Ethics at Emory University. A scholar-preacher and insightful educator, he has also served at the University of Chicago, Harvard Divinity School, Colgate-Rochester Divinity School, and the Interdenominational Theological Center, Atlanta, as well as at the Ford Foundation. His prior books from Fortress Press include Liberating Visions: Human Fulfillment and Social Justice in African-American Thought (1990, 0-8006-2392-4) and Another Day's Journey: Black Churches Confronting the American Crisis (1997, 0-8006-3096-3). A frequent commentator on public radio's "All Things Considered" he lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Fortress Forum discussing Crisis in the Village will take place from 8:30 am -11:00 am on Tuesday, February 20th at the National Press Club, 529 14th Street NW, 13th Floor, Washington D.C. The public is invited to attend.

Crisis in the Village: Restoring Hope in African American Communities, By Robert M. Franklin, Item Number: 978-0-8006-3887-0, Price: $15.00 / CAN $18.00 / UK £8.99, 5.5" x 8.5," paperback, 208 pages.

To order Crisis in the Village call Augsburg Fortress at 1-800-328-4648 or visit the Web site at http://www.augsburgfortress.org/.

Augsburg Fortress