Young black men face conspiracy of events

By Timothy Pratt (contact)

Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2006 | 7:17 a.m.

The Rev. Robert Fowler, pastor at Victory Baptist Church, has a way with words.

He even has his own definition for the word, "conspiracy," as in "The Conspiracy to Destroy African-American Boys," the title of a talk he will deliver at 7 p.m. Thursday at his Las Vegas church.

The talk's underlying point will be that young black men in Las Vegas, like those across the country, are struggling with low graduation rates, high incarceration rates and high percentages of single-parent families and below-poverty households - and that families are where those numbers can be turned around.

U.S. Census figures show, for example, that 12.7 percent of black families in Nevada had incomes in 2005 that were 50 percent or less of the federal poverty standard - $19,350 for a family of four. That was more than 2 1/2 times the overall statewide figure of 5 percent.

"Normally, the word 'conspiracy' is taken to mean when people collate together in secrecy to reach a common end," Fowler said.

"But you can have events conspire together to an end ... and what's happening in our community works against African-American boys in particular."

The pastor emphasized that "this is not a bash 'the man,' bash the system talk - this is about personal responsibility."

Fowler, with a congregation of 8,000, is a strong presence in the black community. But he has never addressed the issue of young men in an event of this scope.

Thursday night's talk will be followed by a Friday all-day affair bringing together community churches and public and private agencies that routinely come in contact with young black men, including Metro Police.

"There are a lot of events in the last year in the community" - among them, gang murders, police shootings and random violence - that make the event timely, he said.

"If we can't see that our boys need direction, then we're blind," he said.

Fowler said the family is where support for young black men starts.

"If we can build good families, we can have good neighborhoods. If we have good neighborhoods, we can have less crime," he said.

With many black families lacking a father figure, organizations such as 100 Black Men, which mentors young black males, help fill that gap.

Shaundell Newsome, vice president of development for 100 Black Men of Las Vegas, said black fathers like him are "outnumbered by negative images" of drug dealers and gang members.

"We're not taking care of our young men," he said.

Fowler hopes the event helps draw the community, government and the church closer together.

"It's not malevolent toward anybody, and the solution involves everybody," Fowler said.