Life
Obama’s Executive Order to benefit African Americans for generations to come
African American school children. PHOTO/NewsOne.com
President Barack Obama signed a highly acclaimed executive order July 26, one that will significantly improve the education of African Americans.
For educators across the United States, the initiative is a long time coming. Many are hopeful the president’s recent action will finally facilitate a level playing field for black children, most of whom have been receiving substandard classroom instruction in comparison to their white counterparts.
The White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans is the first strategy of its kind to be executed by the United States government since Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregated schools were “inherently unequal” and ordered U.S. public schools to desegregate “with all deliberate speed.” Many black Americans remember the rioting that ensued as a result of that order.
When African American students were bused across town to attend white schools in various parts of the South, communities across the country exploded with violence.
The White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans has been created “to restore the country to its role as the global leader in education, to strengthen the Nation by improving educational outcomes for African Americans of all ages, and to help ensure that all African Americans receive an education that properly prepares them for college, productive careers, and satisfying lives.”
