Washington National Cathedral

The Sunday Forum: Critical Issues in the Light of Faith

The Very Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd III, host

Cathedral Dean Samuel T. Lloyd III and columnist Colbert I. King discuss the topic of “Writing about Washington.”

A native of Washington, D.C., King talks about the “two Washingtons”—the federal city and the “city of neighborhoods, of homes, of schools, of churches, of police departments, of playgrounds.” He recollects the days before home rule, when the city was governed by federally appointed commissioners and members of Congress were “our overseers.”

Although home rule remains limited today (the city still lacks representation in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate), District of Columbia residents can now vote for president and vice president of the United States and elect their own mayor and city council.

Lloyd and King discuss the intricacies of racial division and interaction since segregation formally ended in the District of Columbia. In King’s youth, segregation meant that African-American neighborhoods were somewhat more self-contained, with all classes living and working in a compact area. Now, some African-American neighborhoods have very high concentrations of poverty. Many people, including those often described as “gentrifiers,” volunteer in troubled neighborhoods, King points out.

King says that, over time, “the role of the churches in the city has diminished.” In earlier decades, churches were open every day and evening, anchoring neighborhoods and providing a safe haven for youngsters who would otherwise have spent time on the streets. Now, however, many city churches are open only on Sundays.

The District of Columbia juvenile justice system is inadequate to address the needs of at-risk youngsters, King asserts. “They’re not getting the kind of … professional support that they deserve, the same kind of professional support that kids in Fairfax County get,” he comments. (Fairfax County, Virginia, is located across the Potomac River from the District of Columbia.) Beyond the inadequacies of the local government’s juvenile justice system, King asserts that nonprofit organizations do not bring adequate skills to their efforts to help youngsters in trouble.

About Colbert I. King

Colbert I. “Colby” King is a weekly columnist for the Washington Post, specializing in urban and national affairs. Before joining the Post’s editorial board in 1990, King worked for the State Department, serving at the U.S. embassy in Bonn; in the Senate, where he helped draft home-rule legislation for the District of Columbia; and at the World Bank, where he was U.S. executive director. He was appointed deputy editorial page editor of the Post in 2000, and served in that capacity until 2007. King also is a regular panelist on the public-affairs program “Inside Washington” on ABC-TV and a regular commentator on WTOP Radio, where he was awarded the 2005 Chesapeake Associated Press Broadcasters Association’s award for outstanding editorial commentary. He won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary in 2003.