BALTIMORE – About 150 people gathered at Morgan State University Friday to pose questions, concerns and complaints at a contingent of Obama administration officials promoting the president’s “An America Built to Last” platform.
The event—the fourth and final “White House African American Regional Policy Forum”— vacillated in tone between the Administration’s buoyant promotion and subdued skepticism from audience members.
On the one hand, administration officials touted a number of initiatives—from boosting Pell grants to enabling mortgage modifications—that they contend staved off worse economic woes than what they say would have otherwise befallen many African-Americans in the aftermath of the recession that commenced toward the tail end of the Bush administration.
And anything progressive the president tried to do but couldn’t get done legislatively over the past three and a half years—from summer jobs for youths to bringing more broadband to urban and rural communities—they blamed on Republican opposition in Congress.
On the other hand, audience members lamented about an array of problems that they say are continually making it hard for African-Americans to survive and succeed even as the first term of the nation’s first Black president draws to a close.
Based on audience testimony, the problems seem to persist whether it involves young African-Americans on urban streetscapes or older African-Americans on America’s business landscape.
For instance, one speaker said Black youth in this city experience so many pat-downs as a result of racial profiling by the police that they’ve come to incorporate it into their existence and expect frisks as an everyday part of life.
