Obama unveils 'My Brother's Keeper,' opens up about his dad, drugs and race

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**Dreadclaw69**

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2014/02/27/obama-announces-my-brothers-keeper/?hpt=hp_t2

(CNN) – The President has a message for young minority men who grew up like he did.

"No excuses. Government, and private sector, and philanthropy, and all the faith communities, we all have a responsibility to help provide you the tools you need. We've got to help you knock down some of the barriers that you experience," he said.

"But you've got responsibilities too. And I know you can meet the challenge, many of you already are, if you make the effort."

President Barack Obama spoke Thursday at the White House, where he announced "My Brother's Keeper" - a new initiative to help young men and boys of color succeed.

He described the program as one that "goes to the very heart of why I ran for President" and dove into his own life to explain why such an initiative is needed, speaking candidly about his father, drugs and race.

A White House official said Obama improvised a good portion of his remarks and was more emotional than many planners of the event had anticipated.

"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. I made bad choices. I got high without always thinking about the harm that it could do. I didn't always take school as seriously as I should have. I made excuses. Sometimes I sold myself short," the President said.

He compared himself to young men now who are growing up like he did.

"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," the President said.

"I had people who encouraged me, not just my mom and grandparents, but wonderful teachers and community leaders. And they pushed me to work hard, and study hard, and make the most of myself. And if I didn't listen, they said it again. And if I didn't listen, they said it a third time - and they would give me second chances and third chances.

"They never gave up on me, and so I didn't give up on myself."

'Moral issue'
The new initiative will look at what's already being done to assist young men of color across the country and build on best practices.

It's brought together foundations and businesses to pledge at least $200 million over the next five years, on top of the $150 million they have already invested.

Every child deserves the same chances he had, Obama said.

"This is an issue of national importance. It's as important as any issue that I work on. It's an issue that goes to the very heart of why I ran for President, because if America stands for anything, it stands for the idea of opportunity for everybody.

"The notion that no matter who you are, or where you came from, or the circumstances into which you are born, if you work hard, if you take responsibility, then you can make it in this country," the President said.

Helping young minority men have the opportunity to get ahead, he said, is an economic as well as a "moral issue."

"It doesn't take that much, but it takes more than we're doing now," Obama said.

'Numb to statistics'
The President cited alarming statistics to drive home his point.

"By almost every measure, the group that is facing some of the most severe challenges in the 21st century, in this country, are boys and young men of color," he said.

Obama noted that if you're African-American, there's about a one in two chance you grew up without a father in the house. If you're Latino, you have about a one in four chance.

As a black student, you're less likely that a white student to read proficiently by the fourth grade and far more likely to be suspended or expelled by the time you reach high school, he said.

You're also more likely to wind up in the criminal justice system and as a victim as a violent crime.

"The worst part is we've become numb to these statistics. We're not surprised by them. We take them as the norm. We just assume this is an inevitable part of American life, instead of the outrage that it is," the President said.

"But these statistics should break our hearts, and they should compel us to act."

**Ouze**

Some of that was very good and valid, specifically about the "numb to statistics" part. It's really sad that we just sort of accept the violence in Chicago, Oakland, Baltimore, Detroit etc as being the status quo.

How exactly is this going to work, though? They're bringing together foundations, raising money - how are they employing it? I read some other articles about this and it looks like education initiatives, like reducing school absences, but I'd like to read more details.

**Fafnir**

Ouze wrote:

How exactly is this going to work, though? They're bringing together foundations, raising money - how are they employing it? I read some other articles about this and it looks like education initiatives, like reducing school absences, but I'd like to read more details.

While this will certainly be interesting to find out, I'm more interested in what excuse the Republican party will use to shoot it down.

**Seaward**

Fafnir wrote:
Ouze wrote:

How exactly is this going to work, though? They're bringing together foundations, raising money - how are they employing it? I read some other articles about this and it looks like education initiatives, like reducing school absences, but I'd like to read more details.

While this will certainly be interesting to find out, I'm more interested in what excuse the Republican party will use to shoot it down.

They could point to this and make the case that Democrats from Chicago don't do anything but waste money when they try this sort of stuff?

**Captain Fantastic**

I think he touched on this issue in 2008. Kind of sad it's taken him this long to actually make some sort of headway on it.

Fundamental changes need to happen from the ground up in the black community, and although there are many black people who have been saying this since the eighties, things have not gotten better. At the risk of sounding racist, the black community seems to be extremely materialistic as a whole, with status and social standing being products of what you own, not who you are, or what you do to achieve wealth and material goods. Everyone has someone else's shoes to fill. All cultures are like this, obviously, but it's something I've noticed as being particularly toxic in my, uh, 20 years living in a predominantly black suburb.

**Dreadclaw69**

Fafnir wrote:
While this will certainly be interesting to find out, I'm more interested in what excuse the Republican party will use to shoot it down.

I'd hope that they keep quiet on this unless there is any genuine cause for concern - groups involved known for financial mismanagement, ryc.

**Sienisoturi**

Why do they make ethnic group so important? Wouldn't it be better to help all poor young people regardles of ethnic group. It also seems rather hypocrite that they talk about equality when they plan to only help minorities. Don't get me wrong I fully support an idea to help young people but why only minorities.

Is it that or is it a lot different than in europe?

**djones520**

Sienisoturi wrote:
Why do they make ethnic group so important? Wouldn't it be better to help all poor young people regardles of ethnic group. It also seems rather hypocrite that they talk about equality when they plan to only help minorities. Don't get me wrong I fully support an idea to help young people but why only minorities.

Is it that or is it a lot different than in europe?

Normally I'd agree, but in this case we need to focus on the ethnic group. The "black" population is disproportionately fethed, to put it bluntly. We need to focus more on getting that ship righted then anything else.

**Sienisoturi**

djones520 wrote:
Sienisoturi wrote:
Why do they make ethnic group so important? Wouldn't it be better to help all poor young people regardles of ethnic group. It also seems rather hypocrite that they talk about equality when they plan to only help minorities. Don't get me wrong I fully support an idea to help young people but why only minorities.

Is it that or is it a lot different than in europe?

Normally I'd agree, but in this case we need to focus on the ethnic group. The "black" population is disproportionately fethed, to put it bluntly. We need to focus more on getting that ship righted then anything else.

I agree that whites apparently are a minority in these groups needing help. But why not help everybody instead.

**Dreadclaw69**

Sienisoturi wrote:
djones520 wrote:
Sienisoturi wrote:
Why do they make ethnic group so important? Wouldn't it be better to help all poor young people regardles of ethnic group. It also seems rather hypocrite that they talk about equality when they plan to only help minorities. Don't get me wrong I fully support an idea to help young people but why only minorities.

Is it that or is it a lot different than in europe?

Normally I'd agree, but in this case we need to focus on the ethnic group. The "black" population is disproportionately fethed, to put it bluntly. We need to focus more on getting that ship righted then anything else.

I agree that whites apparently are a minority in these groups needing help. But why not help everybody instead.

Because racism.

**Fafnir**

Sienisoturi wrote:
djones520 wrote:
Sienisoturi wrote:
Why do they make ethnic group so important? Wouldn't it be better to help all poor young people regardles of ethnic group. It also seems rather hypocrite that they talk about equality when they plan to only help minorities. Don't get me wrong I fully support an idea to help young people but why only minorities.

Is it that or is it a lot different than in europe?

Normally I'd agree, but in this case we need to focus on the ethnic group. The "black" population is disproportionately fethed, to put it bluntly. We need to focus more on getting that ship righted then anything else.

I agree that whites apparently are a minority in these groups needing help. But why not help everybody instead.

Because you can't address every problem with the same method, especially when one group faces an entirely different type of societal obstacles.

**Sienisoturi**

Fafnir wrote:
Sienisoturi wrote:
djones520 wrote:
Sienisoturi wrote:
Why do they make ethnic group so important? Wouldn't it be better to help all poor young people regardles of ethnic group. It also seems rather hypocrite that they talk about equality when they plan to only help minorities. Don't get me wrong I fully support an idea to help young people but why only minorities.

Is it that or is it a lot different than in europe?

Normally I'd agree, but in this case we need to focus on the ethnic group. The "black" population is disproportionately fethed, to put it bluntly. We need to focus more on getting that ship righted then anything else.

I agree that whites apparently are a minority in these groups needing help. But why not help everybody instead.

Because you can't address every problem with the same method, especially when one group faces an entirely different type of societal obstacles.

Yes and no, even though sometimes the obstacles are different, they are often similar. I'd believe that problems of a black and a white person living in detroit gang area are similar.

**Da Boss**

Just look at the number of black vs. white men in prison, it starts to paint a picture.

**whembly**

Fafnir wrote:
Ouze wrote:

How exactly is this going to work, though? They're bringing together foundations, raising money - how are they employing it? I read some other articles about this and it looks like education initiatives, like reducing school absences, but I'd like to read more details.

While this will certainly be interesting to find out, I'm more interested in what excuse the Republican party will use to shoot it down.

Uh...

The Republicans advocated these things in the past before...

In fact, both parties did.

In addition to all those initiatives... we need to somehow encourage more businesses to create jobs in those pre-dominately black areas. Not sure how to accomplish that tho.

**djones520**

Da Boss wrote:
Just look at the number of black vs. white men in prison, it starts to paint a picture.

Or the number of black women having children out of wedlock. Or murder rates.

One just has to look at the numbers to realize there is something fundamentally wrong that needs to be corrected.

**whembly**

Da Boss wrote:
Just look at the number of black vs. white men in prison, it starts to paint a picture.

That's waaay too simplistic as it conotates that the system is racist.

I blame it on a myriad of things, particularly mandatory sentancing and for-profit prisons outfits, with respect to the back vs white in prison.

**Da Boss**

I wasn't intending to make any allusions to the system being racist with that remark. You could interpret the statistics that way, and there are cases where you can see some evidence of discrimination, but it's hard to paint the entire system as racist based off those examples and those statistics.
Seems like you might be a tad sensitive to that?

**Fafnir**

whembly wrote:
Fafnir wrote:
Ouze wrote:

How exactly is this going to work, though? They're bringing together foundations, raising money - how are they employing it? I read some other articles about this and it looks like education initiatives, like reducing school absences, but I'd like to read more details.

While this will certainly be interesting to find out, I'm more interested in what excuse the Republican party will use to shoot it down.

Uh...

The Republicans advocated these things in the past before...

Because that's always stopped them from striking down legislation purely for the sake of partisanship.

**whembly**

Da Boss wrote:
I wasn't intending to make any allusions to the system being racist with that remark. You could interpret the statistics that way, and there are cases where you can see some evidence of discrimination, but it's hard to paint the entire system as racist based off those examples and those statistics.
Seems like you might be a tad sensitive to that?

Nah...

It's a problem, sure as I mentioned earlier. But, you made it look like it's the reason why all of this is happening.

**cincydooley**

Fafnir wrote:

Because you can't address every problem with the same method, especially when one group faces an entirely different type of societal obstacles.

And yet they're trying to do it with public education.....

Personally, I think this is out of the purview of the federal government, but I'm all about lowering that children out of wedlock statistic to lower than 72% or whatever absurdly high number it sits at now....

Gotta make sure that accountability and personal responsibility is a primary feature of this.

**Seaward**

cincydooley wrote:
Gotta make sure that accountability and personal responsibility is a primary feature of this.

A Democrat's proposing it.

**Co'tor Shas**

Seaward wrote:
cincydooley wrote:
Gotta make sure that accountability and personal responsibility is a primary feature of this.

A Democrat's proposing it.

So... Not just republicans believe in personal accountability (as in, if you feth up through your own fault, it's your fault).

**cincydooley**

Co'tor Shas wrote:
Seaward wrote:
cincydooley wrote:
Gotta make sure that accountability and personal responsibility is a primary feature of this.

A Democrat's proposing it.

So... Not just republicans believe in personal accountability (as in, if you feth up through your own fault, it's your fault).

I'm more concerned about cultural and generational difference than ones drawn by party lines.

If I brought home a bad grade in school, it was my fault, not my teacher's.

If I got a detention for being a douche at school, it was my fault, not my teacher's.

I'm just over a decade removed from K-12 education, and it terrifies me how much attitudes have changed towards blame in accountibility in schools during that time.

But again, I don't think that's the issue, anyways. I think any reasonable adult would agree that we want to chisel away at some of those alarming miniority statistics (the 72% born out of wedlock statistic still shocks me), and It's great and all that Obama wants to tout it; I just don't think it should get government funding.

If private businesses want to add to the $200MM already donated, do it. But I'll have a real problem if we start spending taxpayer dollars on it.

Especially when, really, the "solution" to the "problem" is, in simplest terms: "Don't be a gakky parent."