Robert Franklin is Presidential Distinguished Professor of Social Ethics at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta. He is also president of Atlanta's Regional Council of Churches.
Dr. Franklin, welcome.
Dr. ROBERT FRANKLIN (Presidential Distinguished Professor of Social Ethics, Candler School of Theology and President, Atlanta's Regional Council of Churches): Thank you, Bob.ABERNETHY: This weekend the concern, the primary concern, is relief, emergency work again. But there have been conversations -- many of them -- about how to approach the whole rebuilding task, and you have some concerns about that. What are they?
Dr. FRANKLIN: I do. I think that there's a lot of money and a lot of planning energy already afoot with respect to rebuilding the Gulf Coast, rebuilding cities.
ABERNETHY: Levees, roads, houses?
Dr. FRANKLIN: That's right -- the infrastructure of a great city. But planners and politicians need to bear in mind that what makes a city a great city is the community -- the sense of compassion, of respect, of integrating everyone into the life of the city. That's really what we ought to aim for.
ABERNETHY: But how can anybody thinking about rebuilding a whole city -- how can they go about doing that? What does it take?Dr. FRANKLIN: It takes a broad, comprehensive perspective on what makes for a good community and a just community. And faith leaders need to be at the table as we puzzle out how we rebuild and renew a sense of community; how we integrate the poor who are currently isolated for most of our cities; how we integrate people of color into cities where they often live on the margins. This is an opportunity. It's a disgrace; it's a disaster that we've lived through. But I think we have an opportunity to write a new script for America, and all of our communities have a role to play.
ABERNETHY: You talk about integrating. Do you have in mind -- and I want to get at the practical things that can happen -- do you have in mind more integrated neighborhoods, for instance?
Dr. FRANKLIN: I did agree, and I think that Bill Cosby sounded one note in a larger symphony. There are other notes. There [is] lack of job opportunities in the inner cities. There is -- we have awful school systems in public education in many of our cities. And so that's the other side of the story. But the key is how do we mobilize, both within African-American communities, churches, the colleges, the nonprofit organizations and in the larger society, the will and intelligent policy to ensure that we can transform poor people's lives?
