US News

Obama calls for 'far better' education for black children

Jul 17, 2009, 16:09 GMT

   New York - US President Barack Obama credited his own landmark election as the first African-American president to the civil-rights activists of previous generations.

   Addressing a dinner late Thursday for the centennial of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the country's best- known civil-rights group, Obama said his successful presidential campaign was possible 'because ordinary people made the civil-rights movement their own.'

   'Even as we inherit extraordinary progress that cannot be denied, ... we know that too many barriers still remain,' he said.

   The US unemployment rate has leaped to more than 9 per cent, the highest level in a generation. 'We know that even as our economic crisis batters Americans of all races, African Americans are out of work more than just about anyone else,' Obama said.

   He ticked off a host of social and economic issues that disproportionately affect African Americans: lack of health insurance, imprisonment and HIV/AIDS.

   He called for 'the same commitment, the same sense of urgency, the same sense of sacrifice' to address these social problems as was once lent to the civil-rights movement, which largely toppled legal segregation and discrimination in the 1950s and '60s.

   Obama noted that the United States harbours less discrimination than ever while acknowledging lingering problems.

   'But we also know that prejudice and discrimination are not even the steepest barriers to opportunity today,' he said. 'The most difficult barriers include structural inequalities that our nation's legacy of discrimination has left behind - inequalities still plaguing too many communities and too often the object of national neglect.'

   Even if his own ambitious agenda of economic and social reforms succeeds, 'the African-American community will fall behind in the United States and the United States will fall behind in the world unless we do a far better job than we have been doing of educating our sons and daughters,' Obama said.

   'There is no stronger weapon against inequality and no better path to opportunity than an education that can unlock a child's God-given potential.'

   Even with better policies and more resources, parents must push children 'to set their sights higher,' he said.

   'I want them aspiring to be scientists and engineers, doctors and teachers, not just ballers and rappers. I want them aspiring to be a Supreme Court justice. I want them aspiring to be president of the United States.'



COMMENT

blog comments powered by Disqus

Latest Headlines in US

Older Talkback

page: 1 

SP4: Preaching to theJul 17th, 2009 - 17:29:25

...choir. How about asking Bill Cosby to be his spokesman for personal responsibility?

Report this comment

SP4: speaking of equalityJul 17th, 2009 - 17:36:22

...Mr. Obama.... first, go ask the Mayor of washington D.C., about his love of vouchers.

Then, go look at where your own kids, and most of the congressmen and your employees, send THEIR children (god no! We'd NEVER ask them to go where we advocate OTHERS go!).

THEN, go ask yourself why, when it is completely possible, you stymy the progressive results of a voucher system, already proven in the one place where fed ed essentially operates an education system, completely overpriced and under-producing i.e. Washington DC.

Ye sfolks, the pigs indeed now dress as the farmer.

Physician, heal thyself.

Report this comment

It's always party time in SP's headJul 17th, 2009 - 19:53:03

'the pigs indeed now dress as the farmer.'

SP play acts at everything, because he has absolutely no sense of reality.

Report this comment

SP$ says :nJul 17th, 2009 - 20:39:13

'stymy'

Stymy? Of come on EssPee, invest in a dictionary, OR use a spell check, IF you know what one is and your truck stop momma can take time out from her 'endeavors' to show you how to use it.

Report this comment

SP4; all very interestingJul 17th, 2009 - 21:19:19

..if you're a boring, white trash twentysomething, who has not a single meaningful thing to say on the topic. Run now and retreat into your spellcheck....

Report this comment

OddJul 17th, 2009 - 22:47:23

Odd, in that some of the most poorly educated children in America are white, living in rural Appalachia, the President seemly focusing on predominantly urban peoples. Rural Hispanics are terribly disadvantaged as well, not having nearly the opportunities urban minorities are afforded. American Indians suffer from a lack of proper educational resources as well. I am wondering who the president expects to advocate for them?

Report this comment

SP4 talks about himself, againJul 18th, 2009 - 00:13:13

'you're a boring, white trash twentysomething, who has not a single meaningful thing to say on the topic. Run now and retreat into your spellcheck'

By the way, Oh, Illiterate one, twenty something is two words. So is spell check. Got any more ignorance and stupidity that you want to share on this thread? I know you have lots, because you are more than a little full of it, but do you have anything pertinent to the topic? No? I thought not.

Report this comment

kettleJul 18th, 2009 - 05:19:04

'Of come on EssPee, invest in a dictionary, OR use a spell check'

How can one not chuckle at this?

Report this comment

tonny from belgiumJul 18th, 2009 - 11:20:56

It would be nice to have a better schooling system for all,be it white Appalachian kids,latino's,etc.Education is a task best performed by a strong decent government,well funded and with a wide availability for all,free from kindergarten until university,with bonuses for the fiscally disadvantaged .It is after all a right written in the universal declaration of rights.

Report this comment

SP4: Curious, those universal rights...Jul 18th, 2009 - 14:23:02

...in that we happen to have a set of rights also, declared and passed by our legislative body and the current occupant of the white house see's fit to appoint a supreme court judge who ,plainly, denied workers the right to fair advancement on the basis that the (public)corporate entity in charge had the supposed universal right to simply nullify the test after it was given, to avoid a legal nexus or whatever whim came to their collective minds. Thank god five judges overturned it. (in her case six more times)

Obama's criteria, by his own words, rejecting Justice roberts was that he '...did not use his knoweledge of the law....to help the...citizen...(paraphrase)...' This being his excuse, he then proceeds to send up a candidate who failed to do exactly that. Roberts by comparision, has in his opiions, reinforced the 2nd amendment, the fourth amendment and the 11th, consistantly siding with citizens rights.

Small wonder that, in education, the same president wishes to perpetuate the failed single provider (you know Tonny...single provider?) system for the public while he sends his children to safe, secure and superior PRIVATE facilities, after promising to do exactly the opposite in mouthing the words 'whatever works'.

Once again, Tonny, the pig now dresses as the farmer. Your seeing, Tonny, that rights need to be protected and this president is zero for four.

Report this comment

boozyJul 18th, 2009 - 19:13:15

golly Bammer...just come to Kalifornia and see how they do it...current ranking 49 out of 50 states....all you need to do is keep throwing money at it and presto...you will rank last in the world...Bammer, you need to look at the family unit..that is the key...a huge majority of blacks in the usa do not have a family unit...but then, the family unit kind of goes against your philosophy of Marxism....where all the children are property of the state....Pipe dream my friend...pure pipe dream...

Report this comment

BillJul 18th, 2009 - 20:56:43

A 'much better' education has existed for blacks since the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (incidentally, which Democrats opposed). But it is the African American community ironically, which stands in the way of this education by calling those who take advantage of it 'Uncle Tom'.

Report this comment

StonewallJul 18th, 2009 - 21:00:21

If I'd known it would have been this much trouble, I would've picked the cotton myself.

Report this comment

TimJul 18th, 2009 - 21:42:17

Actually, previous poster, it's 'if I'd known things would turn out like this, I'd have picked the cotton myself.' Rather racist, but that's the phrase. As for Barry's comments, I just finished reading 'The Bell Curve.' Equality of opportunity is great. It does not guarantee equality of outcome.

Report this comment

SP4: well TimJul 19th, 2009 - 14:45:20

...we certainly do not hear that enough. Having said that, this president is working right out of the libnazi playbook, pimping tot he Fed Unions, NEA, etc., for single payer (you know Tonny, single payer) educational system while, in typical liberal fashion, canvasing the nation bellyaching about better education for whatever minority he is pandering to at the moment.

I'm afraid this is what you're going to get for at least the next four years. Mediocrity Tim is so valuable to liberals because, like Obama found out in Chicago,( a place no one ever seems to measure his results by) it's so easy to generate what they want to call a success.

Report this comment

What's the matter, SP?Jul 19th, 2009 - 22:56:49

Are you afraid that the minorities will be better educated than you? That's not hard to do. Grade one is till the best years of your life. Are you afraid of Grade 2, EssPee? Too hard? Too challenging? Or is it the fact that a brain is needed? We know you killed yours off with years of drug abuse.

Report this comment

SP4: well monkey boyJul 20th, 2009 - 14:12:09

...if you want to opine on the subject at hand, be my guest and impress us with your own education.

Report this comment

That's it, SP,Jul 20th, 2009 - 15:35:49

Do the typical neocon/GOP dance. Avoid the questions and come back with a non sequitur. You must have taken ballet lessons, the way you toe-tap around things. How are things in the unemployment lines today, EssPee? Or are you still trying to lie your way onto the Welfare rolls?

Report this comment

SP4:Jul 20th, 2009 - 16:35:12

Do the typical neocon/GOP dance.

SP4 - Really - how so?

Avoid the questions and come back with a non sequitur.

SP4 - what questions - about my education, color, race, drug use? What does any of that have to do with the aritcle above.


You must have taken ballet lessons,

SP4 - ??? Ballet???

the way you toe-tap around things.

SP4 - really - how so? The above posts are pretty damn plain, monkey boy (12) go back and inform yourself.

How are things in the unemployment lines today, EssPee?

SP4 - pretty damn bad, if you bothered to read anything meaningful, and you should ask the current occupant of the white house why his stimulus is not helping.

Or are you still trying to lie your way onto the Welfare rolls?

SP4 - No, monkey boy, your two mommies are doing that for us all....god, I should be so lucky, but I'm afflicted with this disease called integrity.

Please, Monkey boy, tell us this isn' the only thing you have, these empty accusations....I'm doubtful but I have this weakness in believing in people...




Report this comment

SP saysJul 20th, 2009 - 16:58:27

'but I'm afflicted with this disease called integrity.'

LOL ROFLMAO!

Integrity? You, EssPee? You must have really hit the Paraquat-soaked Mexican brick weed if you've come up with that particular little fantasy.
You are still avoiding the questions. But that is to be expected, as you've been avoiding life and responsibility by existing in a drug induced haze.
The only disease you have is mental.

Report this comment

SP4: perhapsJul 20th, 2009 - 17:48:29

..but none of your comments prove any of that in any way, so I think we can file your blowass comments under the frequently used heading of You-are-just-a-little-more-than-full of crap.

Now run along and inform yourself.

Report this comment

The only thing full of itselfJul 20th, 2009 - 18:30:45

is Sh*t Pile 4. Run along and let the family dog have its way with you again, crap-for-brains.

Now you openly admit to beeing a low-life, scum sucking druggie: 'about my ...drug use'
Way to go, moron. And yet you still have the mental deficiency to assume that you have anything intelligent to say. Crawl back down the rabbit hole and continue your search for the Wizard of Oz.

Report this comment

Sh*t Pile 4 says:Jul 20th, 2009 - 18:34:34

'SP4 - really - how so? The above posts are pretty damn plain, '
Yup. Plainly stupid. Idiotic. Moronic.

'SP4 - pretty damn bad, if you bothered to read anything meaningful,'
Nothing from SP is meaningful.

Report this comment

From the biggestJul 20th, 2009 - 18:41:26

liar on the board, this is so funny:

'but I'm afflicted with this disease called integrity.'

SP4, you and integrity do not belong in the same sentence. You are by far the biggest liar on this board. You make up quotes, you spread slime and you have never been correct in any of your assumptions. God your parents must be ashamed you are their offspring.

Report this comment

sp wouldn't know integrityJul 20th, 2009 - 20:17:31

if it b*tch-slapped him upside the head.
sp and integrity live in two different worlds. Integrity is in this, the real world, and sp is off somewhere, spaced.

Report this comment

SP4 says:Jul 21st, 2009 - 01:41:46

'I think we can file your blowass comments under the frequently used heading of You-are-just-a-little-more-than-full of crap.'

Firstly, SP does NOT think.
Secondly, 'we.' We, SP? SP's worm-farm-for-brains is working overtime, taxing it's meagre mental limits, once again.
Thirdly, 'blow*ss'. Nice language, SP. Do you eat with that mouth? Oh, I forgot, you have a lot of confusion as to which orifice is for what. Remember this, SP?(cleaned up for public consumption) 'Intercourse me in the anal orifice and call it dinner.'
The only person who uses 'the frequently used heading of...' is you sp. For once in your life, you are absolutely correct, IF you're talking about yourself. So much for the pot(head) calling the kettle black.

Report this comment

A typical SP4 postJul 21st, 2009 - 02:34:22

Racist comments.
Bigotry.
Ignorance.
Stupidity.
Mindless meanderings.
Drunken blithering.
Drug induced blatherings.
Monkey boy
7 hispanic step daddies.
3 hispanic mommies.
more than just a little full of cr*p.

SP is so predictable. Boring. I guess he is so brain damaged that he can't come up with anything new, let alone intelligent. No wonder he's a GOP toe-tapper, he doesn't have the parts needed to be more than a complete idiot.




Report this comment

page: 1 

Follow Us

Follow M&C on Pinterest

Search

Custom Search

Also Check Out

Noomi Rapace still loves ex-husband

Noomi Rapace still loves ex-husband
Noomi Rapace still loves her ex-husband, Ola Rapace, though she admits they had an 'explosive' relationship. ... more

JLS: Cross-dressing made us respect women

JLS: Cross-dressing made us respect women
JLS claim cross-dressing made them respect women more because they are impressed with how females move around in high-heeled shoes. ... more

P Diddy tells clubbers he wants to get married

P Diddy tells clubbers he wants to get married
Rapper was guest DJing at a nightclub in Las Vegas, Nevada. ... more

Kanye West insists on designer crockery

Kanye West insists on designer crockery
Rapper only uses Hermes plates and gold cutlery. ... more

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie do karaoke

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie do karaoke
Acting couple have hired a theatre company to help their family sing. ... more

Gordon Ramsay and Will Ferrell injured at soccer

Gordon Ramsay and Will Ferrell injured at soccer
World famous chef and actor leave football pitch in pain. ... more

Khloe Kardashian wants to dip niece in glitter

Khloe Kardashian wants to dip niece in glitter
'Keeping Up With The Kardashians' star has been spoiling the unborn baby with clothing. ... more

Robert Pattinson: 'I ran out of ideas with 'Twilight'

Robert Pattinson: I ran out of ideas with Twilight
Star admits he was tired of acting for a teen audience. ... more

Kelly Clarkson: 'I am not Beyonce'

Kelly Clarkson: I am not Beyonce
Original 'American Idol' winner refuses to wear uncomfortable high heels. ... more

Cynthia Nixon marries Christine Marinoni

Cynthia Nixon marries Christine Marinoni
'Sex and the City' actress tied the knot three years after getting engaged. ... more