VALDOSTA — Black community leaders are speaking out about black on black crime in light of the plague of murders and violent crimes in the community that involve black people.

Of the 10 murder cases worked this year in Valdosta and Lowndes County combined, seven of them involve black victims and black suspects. Of these seven cases, three of them stemmed from domestic disputes between the victim and suspect, and the remaining four stemmed from altercations or random attacks.

“Whether we want to admit it or not, crimes committed against black people by black people have become a problem,” said Lee Henderson, a radio news host and pastor. “Anyone who does not see that is in denial.”

Henderson said that it seems today’s youth have become detached from the idea of serving God.

“In that disconnect, we are losing our young people by the hundreds of thousands every year,” he said.

Henderson added that black on black crime has to be replaced with black on black love — and the love starts from within one’s self.

“Not loving myself is the initial crime. How can I love you or anyone else if I don’t love me?”

He explained that this lack of love in the black community stems from social, environmental, cultural and spiritual conditions. It is up to the churches, organizations and the entire community to be part of the solution, he said.

“The churches can be more proactive in these people’s lives. They can do job preparation, do job searches, teach GED classes, feed the hungry, clothe the poor, offer counseling and point them from the darkness of Satan to the light of God.”

Henderson further stated that black teachers and black fraternal organizations failing to reach black kids and minister to them is a black on black crime itself. Nonetheless, he asserted that crime is everyone’s problem and extends beyond racial barriers.

“Who’s the real culprit here?” Henderson asked. “Is it the people who are lost, or it is us for not reaching out to help our fellow man?”

Attorney Roy Copeland feels that the recent rash of crime, in general, “further disintegrates the moral fiber of the community.”

“One should never commit acts that are detrimental to the community,” Copeland said. “Everyone should have some regard for their neighbor. If you don’t have respect for your own neighborhood, how can you respect anyone else’s?”

Copeland finds it “hard to believe that in a post-Civil Rights era, such heinous crimes would be committed in this community.”

“It’s disheartening,” he said. “But it’s not just black people, all races are in trouble. Anytime there is crime like this in a community, it says something about that community. It’s easy to fall into stereotypical thinking, but you can’t just say that this crime is a reflection on the black community. Then again, you can’t ignore the fact that the likelihood of the crime being a black on black crime is higher.”’