“I’m reaching out to some of America’s leading foundations and corporations on a new initiative to help more young men of color facing especially tough odds to stay on track and reach their full potential.” – President Barack Obama
President Barack Obama is determined to empower young black men. And today, America knows it, too. Obama chose Thursday to mark an historic breakthrough at the White House introducing “My Brother’s Keeper” – a new and unprecedented national initiative to uplift and empower every boy and young man of color who is willing to do the hard work to get ahead.
In one of the president’s most passionate speeches during his tenure in the White House, Obama looked boldly to the future to ensure that young men of African American and Hispanic heritage become an integral part of America’s success, prosperity and educational excellence.
“If you’re African-American, there’s about a one-in-two chance you grow up without a father in the house. If you’re Latino, you have about a one-in-four chance,” Obama said Thursday. “We assume this is an inevitable part of American life instead of the outrage that it is. It’s like a cultural backdrop for us in movies and television. We just assume — of course it’s going to be like that. But these statistics should break our hearts and they should compel us to act.”
Last year, Obama traveled to the South Side of Chicago and spoke to 16 black male students growing up poor, troubled, and some without fathers in their lives. The students, who attend Hyde Park Academy High School, are part of an anti-youth violence program called “Becoming A Man” (B.A.M.) that teaches at-risk students about violence prevention, accountability, self-determination, positive anger expression and respect for women. Obama was joined at the White House by several of the young black males who participate in B.A.M.
Valerie Jarrett, a Senior White House Advisor, said the president chose the Hyde Park Academy High School because the neighborhood is a mile from his home — a predominantly black community of poor residents, urban blight, and unemployed black men, but also an area that has seen progress in recent years, with newly constructed housing and banks. And meeting with young black men who are at-risk, Jarrett said, served as a profound moment in Obama’s presidency.
Jarrett said Obama personally identified with the young black men, in part, she said, because Obama, as a black man himself, was raised by a single mother who sometimes relied on food stamps to make ends meet.
“I explained to them that when I was their age, I was a lot like them,” Obama said. “I didn’t have a dad in the house. And I was angry about it, even though I didn’t necessarily realize it at the time,” he said. “I made choices. I got high without always thinking about the harm it could do … I could see myself in these young men.”
It was the initiative – and speech – that many black Americans have been waiting for. It’s the right decision at the right time in our nation’s history when young black men are being routinely ignored, marginalized, overlooked, insulted – and even gunned down in the streets for no legitimate reason.
“The group that is facing some of the most severe challenges in 21st century America is boys and young men of color,” Obama said in the East Room. “I believe the continuing struggles of so many boys and young men … this is a moral issue for our country. We need to give every child, no matter what they look like … the chance to reach their full potential.”
COMMENTARY: Obama’s Greatest Legacy – Saving Young Black Men was originally published on blackamericaweb.com
