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February 27th, 2014
09:55 PM ET

Debating "My Brother's Keeper"

President Obama shared a very private moment today at the White House as he unveiled a new initiative called "My Brother's Keeper." It's a public-private venture that has $200,000,000 in seed money aimed at helping young black and Hispanic men to stay in school and get good jobs. He told the crowd:

"I could see myself in these young men.  And the only difference is that I grew up in an environment that was a little bit more forgiving.  So when I made a mistake, the consequences were not as severe.” 

Anderson discussed this with New York Times op-ed columnist Charles Blow, CNN commentator Michaela Angela Davis, yourblackworld.com founder Boyce Watkins and Reverend Kevin Johnson.

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Filed under: Boyce Watkins • Charles Blow • Michaela Angela Davis • President Obama
soundoff (2 Responses)
  1. jballn

    I guess I'm missing the bias in this piece, where exactly is this initiative lauded as "humanitarian"? It seems you have the impression that minority high school attendees are on an even playing field with students of Caucasian descent, when studies conducted by dozens of independent research outfits have found that statistics point to the contrary. Although the gap is closing as America becomes a more tolerant and inclusive nation, the preponderance of evidence points to a need for programs that supplement the sub-standard encouragement and reinforcement these students have access to. Single-parent homes, where income available for allotment to anything but the bare necessities is rare, and the hours these guardians must work in order to make it prevent them from having the presence in their childrens' lives they otherwise would, this is where these perfectly bright, wholly innocent young people are being swallowed alive by their communities. I encourage you to take a look at an article published by The Dartmouth on the stats (http://thedartmouth.com/2013/11/04/news/graduation-rates-differ-significantly-across-race). You might be surprised to find your allegation of slight comes a little out of left field.

    March 1, 2014 at 8:34 pm |
  2. trioofsixes

    Oh so when arizona says "no gay allowed" it's horrible and wrong, but when the president creates a "no whites allowed" program, he's some sort of humanitarian.

    liberals.

    not even once.

    February 28, 2014 at 4:03 pm |

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