Politics
Sen. William “Mo” Cowan casts doubt on need for ‘black agenda’ from Obama
“It would not be dead on arrival in the Senate. It would be dead on arrival in the House,” said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Michigan.
On the other hand, Obama has had some pieces of legislation that could positively impact African Americans, such as the Affordable Care Act intended to provide access to affordable health care, Cowan said.
“I think once we come to grips with our budgetary situation and dealing with those realities, getting out of this sequester nonsense, it will go a long way to improve not just the lives of African Americans, but all Americans,” Cowan said.
Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, said entrepreneurship, education and unemployment in the African American community, whether called part of the black or American agenda, do deserve more attention.
Separately on Thursday, the Urban Institute issued a report revisiting issues raised in a landmark 1965 report that became known as the Moynihan report, named for then-Assistant Labor Secretary Daniel Patrick Moynihan. The report focused on the roots of poverty in black America and blamed the growth of single-mother families, causing controversy.
The study notes the African American community still is struggling with the same problems of joblessness and poverty.
Unlike Moynihan, the Urban Institute study said the issues faced by African Americans cannot be solved only by raising more children in two-parent families. Instead, broader strategies are needed to address criminal justice policies, residential segregation and concentrated poverty, the state of public schools in black communities and lingering discrimination.
