News
Obama launches initiative to lift African American and Hispanic men today
Young minority men are also more than 6 times as likely to be murdered than their white peers and account for almost half of America’s murder victims each year.
Obama spoke with deep emotion about the plight of African American men during a visit to his own Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago last year.
He remembered the mistakes he made as a youth, but said that the environment he grew up in, in his native Hawaii, was more forgiving than in many of mainland America’s inner cities, where gun crime is common.
“When I screwed up, the consequences weren’t as high as when kids on the South Side screw up,” Obama told the group of black Chicago youths.
“I had more of a safety net. But these guys are no different than me, and we had that conversation about what does it take to change.”
The Obama plan will draw commitments from various philanthropic foundations worth US$200 million over the next five years, the White House said.
In addition, businesses and other groups that sign up to help target early child development, parenting programs, and those stressing literacy and discipline.
