WASHINGTON — Even as President Obama announced an ambitious $200 million initiative to focus resources on helping at risk-young boys of color, a chorus of voices—both Republican and Democrat—quickly criticized the president for acting too late to address the widening crisis.
“Young men of color face a crisis—one which President Obama has talked about the past five years but seemed uninterested in truly correcting,” said Orlando Watson, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee. “We’re glad the President is addressing this issue, but with Black and Hispanic youth unemployment at 26.2 percent and 15.5 percent, respectively, why has it taken the President more than five years to act?”
Speaking in the East Room of the White House yesterday, Obama talked personally about the challenges that young boys of color face, drawing from his own personal experiences growing up in a household without a father.
“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 bad choices, I got high without thinking about the harm it would do. I didn’t always take school as seriously as I should have.”
Throughout much of his time in office, Obama has been careful not to talk publicly about race relations. And at times when he has talked about the issue, as he did during a speech at Morehouse College in 2013, his speech was denounced by some as condescending.
But sources in the civil rights community said that they’ve privately urged Obama in recent months to become more outspoken about race in general and the problems in particular, now that he is in his second term in office.
My Brother’s Keeper initiative, spearheaded by Broderick Johnson, the Assistant to the President and Cabinet Secretary, will partner local businesses and foundations to connect young men with mentoring networks and help them cultivate the necessary skills in order for them to be successful.
