President Obama wants to help other men of color. Conservatives say that makes him racist.
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by Clutch
Conservatives are firing back against President Obama’s “My Brother’s Keeper” program. Last week, Obama announced the initiative that will create a task force to promote and expand programs that provide young men of color with educational opportunities and jobs. Now the right is screaming racism, because white males are excluded from the program.
The Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin said, “If you are wondering how a new initiative, My Brother’s Keeper, which would assist at-risk African and Hispanic males, is constitutional, you are not alone.”
The argument is that Obama is showing preference for one race or group of races over another, concluding that, “no good can come from a program that divides up the population by these categories.”
Roger Clegg, head of the Center for Equal Opportunity, thinks it’s unconstitutional. He writes:
It is almost always unconstitutional for the government (and any private program that receives federal money) to discriminate on the basis of race and ethnicity. There is no “compelling” interest to do so here. It may be that a disproportionate number of blacks and Latinos are at-risk, but many are not, and many whites, Asians, and others are. This is just another kind of “profiling.”
Don’t like ads? Become a supporter and enjoy The Good Men Project ad freeNor will it do to say that there are other programs available for those being excluded here, as one White House official is quoted as saying. This is just another separate-but-equal argument.
And just in time for the of Black History Month, Fox News’ Todd Starnes asked why wasn’t there a White History Month and tweeted, “Obama announces government initiative to help young men of color. Caucasian is not one of the colors getting helped.”
Maybe Rubin should rethink her position, after she re-reads what she wrote last year:
You know, the sad part about it, or the disgusting part about it — however you think of these things — is that he doesn’t address then the current problems, he doesn’t address broken families, he doesn’t address kids who grow up without fathers, he doesn’t address the broken schools, he doesn’t address the drug problem, so all of these things are never addressed because its slavery or Jim Crow or whatever, and it is a complete lack of responsibility.
“….. stunted,stubborn and selfish..” I tend to agree
Life sucks sometimes. I do realize that all of the we are all men and in this together bs has a long way to go to become reality. For me,if its simple,if one wants empathy and consideration for their story they must give it to others. From what I see this men’s movement is just as stunted,stubborn and selfish as some aspects of feminism.
FYI From 1999 to 2009 US multinational companies hired more employees overseas than they did at home. This trend is a steep reversal from the 1990’s.It would seem logical that if you are concerned about someone taking your jobs complaining about black people taking them will not help you..
Damn.t he program doesn’t ask for a single penny from anyone unless they want to give .Its charity! Remember that. People do it sometimes. I do not get the overreaction to Affirmative Action, as if droves of white people are losing their jobs to lazy, unqualified, black people. Black people are held to a standard of fairness and equality that white people have never fuuking met…EVER IN THE HISTORY OF THS COUNTRY. Please can you demonstrate for me just where Affirmative Action has hurt the upward mobility of white people? There isn’t a single category that measures success and access… Read more »
Affirmative action …. I have to throw my 2 cents in here. Of course when I experienced it many years ago, I’m sure it may have been different. I can tell you first hand that my hands were in fact tied. Having government contracts, I was mandated to have a % of minorities and females. I also had to not only comply with the ratio relating to general employee population, I was also mandated to provide evidence that my contracted vendors (medical delivery system) were in compliance. So here I am, in the process of hiring 3 account execs. So… Read more »
Outsourcing is one thing but this is another … Chinese factories sell to America freely with minimal restraint, but should American factories desire to sell their products to China, they face barrier after barrier. By permitting this unequal trading arrangement, Obama prevents the 1.2 million American manufacturing jobs lost since October 2008 from coming back…… Chinese government raise tariffs upon GM’s made-in-America large-engine cars from about 25% to about 47%. As a result, even though GM is mainly owned by the U.S. government and by GM’s unions, it agreed to build Cadillac factories in China and to give Cadillac’s top-flight… Read more »
The war on drugs which arrests 10 times more blacks then whites for a crime that all races are equally guilty of, not racist. A policy to counter act this plight, the most racist thing that’s ever existed
My son half Mexican and when my he decided to go to college, he qualified as a minority. I did some research and found that because of his race, he had opportunities that his “white” friends didn’t have. Did he use his biracial status as an opportunity? Like father like son … He doesn’t see himself as anything other then an American. He paid his own way. Busted his ass for 8 years but he did it.
Whenever you use the word “African-American” or minority or “people of color” substitute “white” and if it sounds racist to you when doing so then it probably is racist when you put back the minority terminology. For instance:
“Last week, Obama announced the initiative that will create a task force to promote and expand programs that provide young ‘white’ men with educational opportunities and jobs”
Ya know, conservatives can’t catch a break on this site for anything. I am so done with this site.
2 kids, both from the same neighborhood. Both have less than stellar family lives. Both are quite poor. One is African American and one is White. One boy is denied assistance to a federally funded program because of the color of his skin. It must be 1960, or is it? Lets see- Institution- Federal Govt. Power- stemming from the full weight and might of Washington Deciding factor- Race We have the trifecta- Institutional Power that is favoring people because of race. Yup- its racist. There may be a larger proportion of minority boys that need assistance but that shouldnt mean… Read more »