Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images
When President Barack Obama announced the My Brother’s Keeper program targeting young Black males last year he said he was fully behind the initiative.
Now he is making sure the program (which was somewhat controversial for a number of reasons including the lack of participation by young Black women) will survive even after he leaves the White House.
Obama has announced a new private-sector support for the program, the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance at Lehman College, during a launch event in the Bronx, New York. Obama not only delivered his remarks, but participated in a roundtable discussion with young men from New York and across the United States.
“As the nation grows more diverse, businesses must evolve to address the needs of changing demographics. Labor projections suggest that by 2018, U.S. employers will need 22 million new workers with a post-secondary education — will have only 19 million available,” according to a fact sheet for the new alliance. “By 2020, the majority of Americans under the age of 18 will be persons of color. As it stands, the opportunity gap among boys and young men of color is a burden to the American economy.”
Former Deloitte CEO Joe Echevarria is spearheading the effort along with help from current and former government officials, Fortune 500 CEOs, entertainment bigwigs, and others, reports Politico.
Separately but related, the President spoke in the Bronx yesterday and, as The Daily Beast tells it, is steadily returning to his roots, addressing the issues plaguing the poor and, more specifically, poor Black Americans. Based on his remarks, the site says it appears the President will spend a large part of his retirement focusing on these issues when he leaves office in 2017.
He said:
“People tweet outrage. And the TV cameras come. And they focus more on somebody setting fire to something or turning over a car than the peaceful protests and the thoughtful discussions that are taking place. And then some will argue, well, all these social programs don’t make a difference. And we cast blame. And politicians talk about poverty and inequality, and then gut policies that help alleviate poverty or reverse inequality. And then we wait for the next outbreak or problem to flare up. And we go through the same pattern all over again. So that, in effect, we do nothing.
“There are consequences to inaction. There are consequences to indifference. And they reverberate far beyond the walls of the projects, or the borders of the barrio, or the roads of the reservation. They sap us of our strength as a nation. It means we’re not as good as we could be. And over time, it wears us out. Over time, it weakens our nation as a whole.”
