FIFTY50 THE WASHINGTON INFORMER CELEBRATES Fifty Years of News Excellence; 50 Years of Service
Loretta Lynch Deserves a Swift Confirmation See Page 27 •
C e l e b r a t i n g 5 0 Ye a r s o f S e r v i c e
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Serving More Than 50,000 African American Readers Throughout The Metropolitan Area / Vol. 50, No.6 Nov 20 - Nov 26, 2014
Mayor Vincent Gray addressed the audience at the DC Community Action Summit in the auditorium of St. Elizabeths Hospital in Southeast on Tuesday, Nov. 18. Gray reaffirmed his support for strengthening opportunities for young people. /Photo by Nancy Shia
My Brother’s Keeper Taking Root in D.C. By Barrington M. Salmon WI Staff Writer@bsalmondc Between 2011 and 2012, schools around the country suspended 4,000 preschoolers, the vast majority of them black and Latino boys. Elsewhere, the prospects for too many boys and young men
of color succeeding in school and life dim as they get older. Abiding concern about the fate of these children and young people prompted President Barack Obama to launch My Brother’s Keeper. “Big cities, small towns and tribal nations have accepted the challenge for our young boys to
succeed,” said Obama via video. I grew up with no dad and didn’t always make the best choices, but I grew up in a time when life was a little more giving, so my missteps became life lessons, not lifelong punishment. Our boys have special talents that we need to bring out and allow to flourish.”
In September of this year, Obama issued a challenge to cities, towns, counties and Native American tribal nations to become “MBK Communities.” This challenge is a call to action for everyone in communities nationwide and to mayors in particular to enact sustainable change through policy, programs, and
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partnerships. Obama said he’s committed to building a broad coalition of private and public-sector backers to help topple barriers and produce pathways to opportunity for boys and young men of color who continually slip through society’s cracks.
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