How Churches Reached Across Dallas' Color Lines
NEW YORK — When 25-year-old Micah Xavier Johnson fatally shot five police officers and injured seven others in Dallas, Texas, in July, the city's Mayor Mike Rawlings knew he would need the church to keep the city from exploding.
Rawlings would need the Church, according to Senior Pastor Bryan Carter of Concord Church in Dallas, because the city is deeply divided by race and income.
"Dallas is a very segregated city. Dallas has a black side, Latino side and a white side. North Dallas is incredibly affluent, while southern Dallas has heavy pockets of poverty," Carter said Monday at the "National Discussion on Race" Conference convened by Movement Day Global Cities at Bethel Gospel Assembly in New York City on Monday.
"Dallas has the fourth highest poverty rate in the country. We are known for Cowboys, corporate headquarters and all that but what's little known about Dallas is the real poverty that's at issue in the city."
