COMMENTARY : Religious Groups May Be Key to L.A. Healing

During even a brief visit to this troubled city, some things quickly become clear. Asians, Latinos, blacks and whites all fear that this important metropolis may soon become an “American Beirut” filled with deadly snipings and other random acts of violence. While the city’s current crisis is a critical challenge for all its institutions, its unique religious community has a pivotal role to play.

Among the few credible institutions remaining within the inner city of Los Angeles are the churches. Black churches have been called “anchors in a stormy sea of alienation, hopelessness and despair.” It was no accident that political leaders like George Bush and Bill Clinton spoke in a black church on recent, post-riot visits to Los Angeles.

But the religious community in Los Angeles consists of much more than black churches. It has a large and diverse number of Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Shintoists, Sikhs, Baha’is and American Indians. And fortunately, there have been strong interreligious programs in Southern California for many years.

These various groups have formed many coalitions dealing with a host of issues, and they have offered specific proposals about the future of their city. One of those plans is called “Los Angeles 2000.” But sadly, the alarm bells have sounded this year, and no one has the luxury to think about what this giant city will require in eight years. The future of Los Angeles will be determined now. And that future looks far different from earlier predictions.

I encountered two religious leaders who have not given up on L.A. and its future. One of them, MacArthur Flouroy, is a burly former football player who has overcome alcohol and drug abuse. He is with the Billy Ingram Ministries in riot-torn South Los Angeles. Flouroy works especially with young black men in his neighborhood, and he urges such things as “cooperation, civility and personal responsibility.”

Flouroy is particularly distressed because the rioters destroyed “so much of our own community.” But perhaps because he has surmounted so many obstacles in his personal life, Flouroy is confident his work will achieve positive results.

Joining Flouroy as a fellow “prisoner of hope” is the Rev. Mark Oh, a Korea-born Presbyterian minister who leads the Bible International Church nearby. Oh represents a community that was hit hard by the rioting. Anti-black resentment runs deep among some Korean-Americans.

Like Flouroy, Oh has not turned inward to cut himself off from other religious, racial and ethnic groups in Los Angeles. Oh continues to work for reconciliation between Koreans and blacks.

As I listened to both Flouroy and Oh, I was deeply moved by their passionate commitments to the extraordinary needs of their own people and to the challenges that face the entire region.

Will these two people of deep faith succeed in their difficult ministries of healing?

They deserve support, for if they fail it will be a tragic defeat not only for their communities but for the “City of Angels,” and indeed, for all of us. If people like Flouroy and Oh do not succeed in their efforts, who can?