June 30, 2014
Leading Women of Color Divided on My Brother’s Keeper by Hazel Trice Edney
By Hazel Trice Edney
Rev. Dr. Bernice King is among leading women who signed a letter to President Obama saying his My Brother's Keeper needs only to be strengthened.
Dr. Julianne Malveaux is among leading women who signed a letter to President Obama asking him to "re-align" My Brother's Keeper to also address women and girls.
(TriceEdneyWire.com) – A letter to President Obama this week from a list of high-profiled women leaders praises his initiatives for women and girls of color asks for a "more targeted" My Brother's Keeper given the “very bleak” national statistics for Black Males.
TheJune 29 letter, which comes on the heels of a different letter to Obama criticizing his My Brother’s Keeper initiative, saying it should be completely “re-aligned” to include women and girls, indicates a division among leading Black women on the appropriate strategies to address deep social ills and statistics among both males and females of color.
“We are writing to you to applaud several initiatives implemented by your Administration to improve the lives of low income and at-risk Americans. We are particularly pleased with initiatives which have had a positive impact on women and girls of color,” states the letter from women representatives of faith and civic organizations, sent to President Obama on Sunday, June 29. “We are also writing to you because we are equally concerned about the special needs of at-risk boys and young men of color. As you are aware, statistics show that approximately two-thirds of African-American, and one-third of Hispanic/Latino children, are raised in single parent homes. Slightly more than 25% of Hispanic, African-American, and American Indian/Alaskan Native children live in poverty, while 15% of White Americans live in poverty…very bleak statistics. The dire statistics pertaining to boys and young men of color suggests the need for a more targeted approach.”
Among the approximately 40 names on the letter are: The Rev. Dr. Bernice A. King, CEO, The King Center in Atlanta; the Reverend Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner, president, Skinner Leadership Institute; Melanie Campbell, president and CEO, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and convener of the Black Women’s Roundtable; Shirley Franklin, former mayor of Atlanta; Dr. Ramona Edelin, executive director, D.C. Association of Public Chartered Schools; Ingrid Saunders Jones, chair, The National Council of Negro Women; Bishop Vashti McKenzie, presiding bishop, Thirteenth Episcopal District, African Methodist Episcopal Church of Dallas and Dr. Elsie Scott, founding director, Ron W. Walters Leadership and Public Policy Center at Howard University.
The June 29 letter listed what was described as “wonderful milestones” in support of women by the Obama Administration, including: “The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009; the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans; the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics; The Affordable Care Act which covers women of color who represent 53% of the uninsured females; and, “Girls at Risk,” that provides prevention and education which focuses on the connection between juvenile delinquency and STD/HIV infection.”
It added thanks for the president’s efforts to raise minimum wage, “an issue affecting girls and women of color at disparate rates”, the work of the White House Commission on Women and Girls, and for “the excellent work that First Lady Michelle Obama has done in mentoring and outreach to girls – connecting them with women of substance and celebrity.”
On the other hand, listing “dismal statistics” on Black males, the June 29 letter asked the president to continue to engage women of color to help strengthen and craft his “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative announced early this year. The letter states: “According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, African American males, ages 10-24, are the victims of murder at a rate almost nineteen times than that of their non-Hispanic, and White American peers; and, Hispanic/Latino American males, in this same age group, are six times more likely to be victimized than their non-Hispanic White American peer group.”
It continues, “The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights, reports that nearly 1 in 4 boys of color, (except for Latino and Asian American students with disabilities), have at some point been suspended from school. African American and Latino boys, and young men, are also more likely than their white peers to have witnessed violence, in or out of the home and have parents who are/have been incarcerated. African American and Latino males also have a much higher odds of being plagued by chronic health conditions and by contracting diseases which require repeated and consistent care for treatment, including: childhood asthma requiring hospitalization, childhood obesity, and HIV/AIDS.”
Describing themselves as “National Women Leadership Supporting My Brother’s Keeper”, the letter states, “These dismal figures have only served to increase our enthusiasm and support for your administration’s ‘My Brother’s Keeper’ initiative, launched earlier this year to assist every boy and young man of color, to beat the odds to live high quality lives for themselves, their families and communities. It is our understanding that after your February 27, 2014, call for support of the initiative, private philanthropies, businesses, governors, mayors, faith leaders, and nonprofit organizations, pledged to invest $200 million dollars over the next five years, in addition to the $150 million already invested. These earmarks are much needed in order to guarantee the success of the initiative. What is even more exciting to us about the initiative is your charge to all Americans, especially communities of color, to participate and make it successful by volunteering as mentors.”
The timing of the Sunday, June 29, letter to President Obama is particularly significant since a different letter to Obama from a different group of more than 1,000 leading women of color – sent more than a week ago - expressed sentiments that clearly disagreed on some major points.The women on the first letter included “Mary Frances Berry, former chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights; Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Alice Walker; actress Rosie Perez; political activist Angela Davis; Anita Hill, a law professor best known for testifying that she had been sexually harassed by future Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and economist Julianne Malveaux”, according to George E. Curry, editor-in-chief of the NNPA News Service and BlackPressUSA.com, who wrote a story on the first letter.
The first letter expressed the need to acknowledge the crisis among Black males, but also listed the crisis-level statistics for women and girls of color, asking the President to “re-align” My Brother’s Keeper, according to the Curry article. “We simply cannot agree that the effects of these conditions on women and girls should pale to the point of invisibility, and are of such little significance that they warrant zero attention in the messaging, research and resourcing of this unprecedented Initiative. When we acknowledge that both our boys and girls struggle against the odds to succeed, and we dream about how, working together, we can develop transformative measures to help them realize their highest aspirations, we cannot rest easy on the notion that the girls must wait until another train comes for them. Not only is there no exceedingly persuasive reason not to include them, the price of such exclusion is too high and will hurt our communities and country for many generations to come,” Curry quoted the letter.
The citation from the letter continued, “While we applaud the efforts on the part of the White House, private philanthropy, social justice organizations and others to move beyond colorblind approaches to race-specific problems, we are profoundly troubled about the exclusion of women and girls of color from this critical undertaking. The need to acknowledge the crisis facing boys should not come at the expense of addressing the stunted opportunities for girls who live in the same households, suffer in the same schools, and struggle to overcome a common history of limited opportunities caused by various forms of discrimination.”
While the June 29 letter does not mention the earlier letter, the stark differences are clear as the most recent letter praises the President’s initiatives for women and pledges support for My Brother’s Keeper while pushing to assure that women maintain a voice in its development and structure.
“We encourage you to continue to engage women of color leaders in the planning and implementation of My Brother’s Keeper initiative including - the White House briefings, ongoing conference calls with [My Brother’s Keeper] Chair, Broderick Johnson and other planning activities,” the June 29 letter states. “We believe that a successful ‘My Brother’s Keeper’ initiative can result in stronger families, stronger fathers, stronger employees, stronger leaders; and ultimately, a stronger America. Therefore, Mr. President, we pledge our commitment to support this ground-breaking and historic initiative, which addresses the challenges facing the everyday lives of our at-risk children and youth.”
