President Obama Takes Issue of At-risk Boys of Color to Heart - Higher Education: WASHINGTON — Even as President Obama announced an ambitious $200 million initiative to focus resources on helping at risk-young boys of color, a chorus of voices—both Republican and Democrat—quickly criticized the president for acting too late to address the widening crisis.
“Young men of color face a crisis—one which President Obama has talked about the past five years but seemed uninterested in truly correcting,” said Orlando Watson, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee. “We’re glad the President is addressing this issue, but with Black and Hispanic youth unemployment at 26.2 percent and 15.5 percent, respectively, why has it taken the President more than five years to act?”
Speaking in the East Room of the White House yesterday, Obama talked personally about the challenges that young boys of color face, drawing from his own personal experiences growing up in a household without a father.
