Article March 3, 2008 Issue

LOVE TAUGHT / STREETWISE

A conversation with sociologist and street missionary

CARL S. TAYLOR

Theories, studies, and statistics abound on the effects of racial heritage on human abilities, opportunities, and achievement. Social scientists debate whether heritage is determined more by nature (heredity) or by nurture (environmental factors such as home and community). As a professor of sociology at Michigan State University, and someone who counsels troubled youth and their families, Carl Taylor knows the theories. Dr. Taylor also knows what it's like to grow up an African American in urban Detroit, and how a street culture can foster violence and drug abuse.

But Taylor found that another kind of force enabled his inner-city Detroit family to maintain a positive atmosphere for their children. That force — the stabilizing power of love, spirituality, and discipline — was embodied in loving parents, helpful school teachers, and a supportive church home. In a Christian Science Sunday School, Taylor learned the necessity of looking for what was good and worthy in everyone he met — for their higher heritage.

The following are excerpts from Taylor's recent conversation with Sentinel Senior Writer Warren Bolon.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

Thoughts for post-election promise in Kenya