Mocked, Vilified, and Caricatured: A Theological Response for Clinically Depressed African-American Men from the Pulpit of One of America's Oldest Black Churches

Webster's Dictionary defines an endangered species as a class of individuals having common attributes and designated by a common name {which is} in danger or peril of probable harm or loss. This description applies, in a metaphorical sense, to many African-American men in urban areas who are miseducated by the educational system, mishandled by the criminal justice system, mislabeled by the mental health system, and mistreated by the social welfare system. All major institutions of American society have failed to respond appropriately and effectively to African-American men s needs and problems. Consequently, many African-American men are living with what famed psychologist Kenneth Clark, author of the book Dark Ghetto, coined as the "tangle of pathology"; indicating the moral malaise that produces men whose lives are unequivocally dejected and counter-affluent to most people in the dominant society. The truth is that these men aren't monsters or hopeless fiends; rather, for the most part, they are men who have experienced various societal and personal traumas that have worked to induce a particular form of depression, which largely goes undiagnosed and untreated. This book is an attempt to inform and empower black communities to understand and work toward healing this pattern of chronic self-perpetuating pathology that has engulfed too many African-American men who are now as a consequence living below society s radar screens, working and earning wages illegitimately and illegally, or deteriorating away in prison.