today, I was asked what has Pres. Obama ever done for the African-American Community [View all]

[FrenchieCat]

This discussion thread is pinned.

This list is long and not all encompassing. Please feel free to add to it, so that I can have a more complete list.

Apart from getting rid of "No Child Left Behind", Liberating our Gay Brother and Sisters from a life of discrimination and on a Federal level, as well as the work done by Michelle in relation to school lunch nutrition and her "The Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act.", as well as her Let's Move campaign.....

and let us not forget, just rescuing the economy in general, and did it without any Republican help!

But most important of all, he has represented the African-American community superbly in how he has carried out his duties in the office, coming off as one of the most blemish free administration in recent history! And don't get me started with the role models that Michelle and the girls have been! Personally, I couldn't asked for better!

This is my partial list:


1) Passed Health Care Reform (Affordable Care Act)
More than 19 percent of African Americans did not have health care. When the highly debated health care reform bill was signed into law in March of 2010, millions of African Americans benefited. The ACA is Reducing Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities: The Affordable Care Act moves toward eliminating disparities that African Americans currently face both in their health and in their health care by investing in data collection and research about health disparities. The law also promotes increased racial and ethnic diversity of health care professionals and strengthens cultural competency training among health care providers. Building upon these provisions in the Affordable Care Act, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) launched two strategic plans aimed at reducing health disparities


2) Expanded Funding For HBCUs
President Obama signed an executive order increasing funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to $850 million over the next 10 years. The funding is being administered through the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities that was, ironically, started by the late Ronald Reagan.


3) Awarded $1.2 Billion To Black Farmers
President Obama’s administration oversaw the $1.2 billion settlement awarded to Black farmers who have been denied loans and assistance by the Agricultural Dept. for decades.

4) Signed The Crack Cocaine Bill (Fair Sentencing Act)
Crack users are disproportionately sentenced to longer jail terms than those who use powder. This unfair sentencing practice punished African Americans more severely than their white counterparts. With the signing of the Fair Sentencing Act, though, President Obama narrowed that disparity significantly.


5) Created The Civil Rights Division Of The Justice Department
The U.S. Justice Department is leading one of the most aggressive defenses of civil rights in recent memory. Whether it is clamping down on Arizona for its bias against Latinos or fighting unjust state voter ID laws, this Justice Department has been fully engaged in fighting for the rights of all minorities. When President Obama chose Eric Holder to lead the department, he picked a true champion of civil rights. For a rundown of how powerful the Civil Rights Division has become.


6) Set up "My Brother's Keeper", an organization that seeks to promote and help implement a coherent cradle-to-college-and-career strategy for improving the life outcomes of all young people to ensure that they can reach their full potential, regardless of who they are, where they come from, or the circumstances into which they are born.


7) Introduced the Modification loan program, that helped millions of African-Americans save their home during the Housing Crash.


8) Reduced unemployment by creating millions of jobs all over America. In addition, wages have increased in many sectors of all job areas.


9) Saved the Auto Industry in Detroit, Michigan, thereby again saving thousand if not millions of jobs in the industry and all of those directly connected to it. An industry know to employ large numbers of African Americans.


10) Appointed a large number of African-American to Judicial posts throughout the United States. Named two Black Attorney Generals of the United States, back to back.


11) Via Executive Order, established a White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans.
Providing a complete and competitive education for all Americans – from cradle to career – a top priority. The White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans works across Federal agencies and with partners and communities nationwide to produce a more effective continuum of education programs for African American students. The Initiative aims to ensure that all African American students receive an education that fully prepares them for high school graduation, college completion, and productive careers.

12) Help lower Gas prices, which has a direct impact on all Americans, including African-Americans

13) Provided Tax Relief for African American Families: In December 2010, the President signed a bipartisan tax cut agreement that not only secured vital tax relief and investments for our workers, but is also creating jobs and accelerating economic growth. Building off the Recovery Act, the tax agreement extended key expansions of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC) that are benefiting an estimated 2.2 million African American families.

14) Expanded Access to Federal Contracting for Minority-Owned Businesses: More than 20 Cabinet and Senate-confirmed Obama Administration officials have participated in 19 small business matchmaking events around the country, which has helped more than 10,000 small, minority- and women-owned businesses by promoting access to capital and access to Federal government contracting opportunities. These efforts are part of the President’s broader agenda to support small businesses, including his signing of 17 small business tax cuts into law and taking action to expand access to credit.

15) Established the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and in so doing, protected Families from Financial Abuses, Hidden Fees, and Deceptive Practices: Too many responsible African Americans have paid the price for an outdated regulatory system that has left families without adequate protections against financial abuses and deceptive practices. That’s why President Obama fought to overcome a furious lobbying campaign by big banks to pass the most far reaching Wall Street reform in history which created the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), to prevent mortgage companies, credit card lenders, and payday loan companies from exploiting consumers with hidden fees and other deceptive practices.

16) Improved the Quality of Education and Expanding Access to College: President Obama has improved the quality of education – particularly in our lowest-performing schools – and has expanded access to college because every child deserves an education that equips them with the skills to find a good-paying job and succeed in the workforce.

17) Fixing Our Lowest-Performing Schools: The Obama Administration has dedicated to challenge states and districts to transform the lowest-performing schools in America. School Improvement Grants have provided millions per school for 1,000 schools to change them into safe environments where students can learn.


18) Helped Students Pay For College: By re-directing subsidies from private lenders to students, the Administration has already raised the maximum Pell Grant awards and increased the number of Pell Grant recipients . Also, for families struggling with the cost of college, we have created the American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC)—a partially refundable tax credit worth up to $10,000 over four years of college.

19) Strengthening Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) and Community Colleges: The student loan reform bill signed by President Obama provided $2 billion for community colleges and other eligible institutions of higher education to improve education and career training programs.

20) Transformed Distressed areas through Choice Neighborhoods: The Choice Neighborhoods program provided $126 million to 22 communities to plan and implement the transformation of high-poverty areas where distressed HUD-assisted housing is . The Recovery Act provided $7 billion in funding to communities to manage the vacant and foreclosed residential properties that are creating blight and bringing down local home values.

21) Ensuring Access to Healthy Food: The Administration is committed to ensuring families have access to healthy food through the Healthy Food Financing Initiative. Several food retailers have agreed to build or expand over 1,500 grocery stores in underserved communities.


22) Combated Racial Discrimination: The Department of Justice (DOJ) is vigorously enforcing the law to combat racial discrimination in schools, housing, and the workplace. President Obama provided two years of double-digit budget increases to the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, which was previously hamstrung by drastic budget cuts. DOJ has also reached three multi-million dollar settlements, including the largest rental discrimination and fair lending settlements in its history.

23) Proposed to provide two years of free community-college tuition to students who maintain good grades.

24) Deal with Iran counts, since nukes do not discriminate about where they land

25) Climate change pledge in Paris, because again, if the general population is positively affected, then the Black Population is affected 10X fold, as we know.

26) Restrictions on distribution of military-style equipment to police, banning local police departments from receiving a range of military-style equipment from the federal government -- from grenade launchers to bayonets to certain armored vehicles -- as he implements the recommendations of a panel that examined the controversial gear giveaways in the wake of the Ferguson riots.