Will our Historically Black Colleges and Universities begin to ROAR (Reclaim Our Academia’s Republican Roots) now with President Obama’s desire to cut funding?
Americans supporting President Obama have constantly compared his moxy, poise, and organization favorably to President Bush. They have called him a champion of the people while calling Bush, among other things, a war criminal. They have tossed Obama softball questions and rosy compliments while hurling insults and throwing shoes at Bush.
Many of these supporters came from the college campuses of America’s historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), institutions struggling to keep economic buoyancy and social relevancy at a time when Black men are going to jail at dangerous rates and Black children are dying at tragic rates.
And what does the first African-American president do in response to this? Well, after working to close the door on the DC Voucher Program (a program helping low-income children get better educational opportunities), he unveils an education budget that cuts the $85 million lifeline to HBCUs.
This is not the change Black people and urban voters were looking for in the Obama Administration.
This is an infuriating trend.
The first executive order from the president in January was to fund abortion services overseas at a time when America was told that we were collectively strapped. After sending millions overseas for abortion services, we take money away from needy children in our own backyard, children that are achieving more in some of the most respected schools? This while also advocating that Washington DC use its public funds for abortion services instead of fixing the disparities within education and social access that its children endure today?
As a Black man working to change conditions for the disadvantaged, I’m not embarrassed that President Obama would lead these initiatives. I’m pissed.
Rolling back the Bush tax cuts have the risky potential of negatively impacting business by overburdening small-business job creators at a critical time. Rolling back President Bush’s initiatives on overseas abortion service subsidies, the DC Voucher Program (started in September 2004 under a Republican presidency and Senate), and funding HBCUs is irresponsible and dangerous. These educational moves done under the guise of “doing what’s fair” (it’s fair for poor children to leave good schools and go back into failing schools that no one is focused on improving?) will hamper the American Dream, causing us to deal with more of the urban blight that comes with dreams deferred.
You may be surprised that President Obama is taking these courses of action. I’m not. This is the liberalism that Hip Hop Republicans and Black Republicans have been standing against concerning this president since his nomination last summer.
Liberalism that ends up continuing the pattern of poverty in our communities is wrong and should be rejected immediately, regardless of the color of the messenger or the smoothness of his words. Black America and urban America has not heeded this message over the past 50 years, but they now have 85 million new reasons to pay attention before it costs us more.
Lenny McAllister is a syndicated political commentator and alumnus of the African-American Leadership Summit. Recently named Visiting Fellow for the Center of New Politics and Policy at the University of Denver, he can be found on Facebook and at www.lennymcallister.com where McAllister’s weekly video commentary can be found (courtesy of Fox Charlotte.) His book “Diary of a Mad Black PYC (Proud Young Conservative)” will be available online this May.
