After the racial protests which kept on rolling in Baltimore, President Barack Obama announced on Monday the effects of racism has been enduring for a long time now and therefore has led to this inequality amongst people.
Obama also raised the topic on effects of slavery in an episode of the Late Show with David Letterman and mentioned Jim Crowe’s laws and discrimination had a lingering effect on the minorities and have left them at a disadvantage.
Obama said, “We don’t have to accuse everybody of racism today to acknowledge that as part of our past. And if we want to get past that, everybody has to make a little bit of extra effort.”
Early on Monday, Obama has spoken at Lehman College in the Bronx where he announced the launch of My Brother’s Keeper Alliance, a nonprofit organization that is a spinoff of a White House initiative for increasing opportunities for young minority students while closing the gap that exists between their peers in school performance, higher education and career trajectory.
Obama pointed out that black and Latino men had been at a sense disadvantaged for a long time, this built up frustration in them about their lives and opportunities leading to protest intensely following the recent events.
In reference to the demonstrations that followed the death and mistreatment of unarmed black men subsequent to police interactions, Obama said, “That sense of unfairness, powerlessness, and people not hearing their voices, that’s helped fuel some of the protests that we’ve seen in places like Baltimore, Ferguson and right here in New York.”
Obama said he would keep on working on this issue even after his presidency and is going to watch over his brothers for the rest of his life.
“We see ourselves in these young men,” Obama said referring to himself and the leaders of My Brother’s Keeper Alliance.
This nonprofit is going to be under the administration of Joe Echevarria, the former chief executive of the consult firm Deloitte and will continue developing guidance for companies for increasing their access to jobs for racial minorities.
A donation of $80 million has already been made to My Brother’s Keeper Alliance from American Express Co. Pepsi Co and News Corp.
Tasnuva Rahim
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