When President Obama visited New York City earlier this week, he spoke at at the 20th anniversary of the Rev. Al Sharpton’s Harlem-based National Action Network. The New York Times published an article that recapped his focus on education, also noting that he needs support from African-Americans in the reelection. Most of the attendees at the Sharpton event were African-American, and the President focused on education-related issues for African-American students. “Too many of our kids are dropping out of schools. That’s not a white, black or brown problem. That’s everybody’s problem.” Inequality of quality of education or completeness of educational experience is a problem for our whole country, but it is one of a great many related to our nation’s education system.
There are a couple of potentially racist or race-loaded items that stood out to me in the article and in the speech Obama made. I found it interesting that the author turned so quickly to focus on his need for black supporters, when it sounded like he had promised to speak at the event long before he announced his decision to run for a second term. I am also curious if Mr. President brought up any other issues in a racial educational gap other than dropout rate.
Examining Racism 