Breaking Cycles for the Black Family

This guest post is courtesy of Jazmin C. Mullen, Regent Law J.D. candidate, current Family Law student, and founder of King’s Daughters Connect, Inc.

On April 3-5, 2020, King’s Daughters Connect, Inc., a local non-profit in Hampton Roads, VA, hosted a three-day conference entitled “Breaking Cycles 2020,” capturing some of the most important topics within the Black church and community: mental health, family brokenness, and self-identity. These topics were discussed by mental health professionals, family lawyers, youth pastors, and student and community leaders from all over the United States. Coming from a variety of backgrounds, the distinguished panel was able to facilitate a rich conversation on not only the issues in our churches, families, and communities, but also some of the solutions to those issues. 

Here are highlights from each topic. In our conversation on mental health for Black men, Juwan Mullen shared the grave pressure on men to “take care of everything,” and the difficulty this creates for them to be vulnerable and express their weaknesses. In our conversation on family brokenness, Professor Lynne Marie Kohm shared some alarming statistics on fatherless homes and abortion rates within the Black community. Finally, in our discussion on self-value, Charity Lyons shared the way her childhood experiences of being raised in a Black church gave her a sense of identity and purpose as she grew older. 

This conference was only the beginning and we look forward to continuing our efforts of discovery, honesty, and transformation for our church, families, and community.