In a widely acclaimed speech at an African American church on Chicago’s South Side to commemorate Father’s Day, Barack Obama gave a presentation that, while acknowledging the racial challenges of the past, gave great weight to the themes of personal responsibility and moral uplift confronting African American men. The central theme that resonated through the presentation was “stop making excuses” for your own failings to be fathers.
Youth joblessness is reaching record highs this summer, hitting 66 percent nationwide (the highest since unemployment data was first collected in the 1960s). These numbers rise dramatically for African American youth, who in Chicago face an unemployment rate of 85 percent. These numbers also rise across the board if you include young people who have given up looking for work, who currently go uncounted. But this is not a numbers game.
With the windup of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, much attention has been focused on the role of sexism in our national discourse.
In the aftermath of a major natural disaster, the ongoing tragedy that is playing out in Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) is unnecessary and criminal.
The man was well dressed, one might even say dapper. He moved to the front of the packed room with a professorial air. Born of the 19th century and known for his advocacy for social justice, he took the podium and with his mere presence held the audience in rapt attention. In the state with the “shot heard around the world” and where abolitionism had deep roots, progressive and revolutionary ideas received welcoming attention.
As she watched the numbers flick upward while filling her car at a gas station in Providence, R.I., the other day, a woman turned to another customer with a grimace and said, “I told my kids we’re just not going anywhere. We’re going to be staying home.”