President Barack Obama was at Lehman College in the Bronx Monday to launch a new non-profit organization that will work to help boys and young men of color. The kickoff of the My Brother's Keeper Alliance comes as the country grapples with outrage over the case of Freddie Gray, a black man who died in police custody in Baltimore. NY1’s Grace Rauh filed this report.
For President Barack Obama, this is personal. A black man himself—who grew up without a father—he says he sees himself in many of the young men of color who came out for the launch of a new private sector non-profit organization: the My Brother's Keeper Alliance. He offered a message to the young men he met at Lehman College—and to those not in attendance.
“I want you to know you matter. You matter to us; you matter to each other. There is nothing—not a single thing—that is more important to the future of America than whether or not you and young people across this country can achieve their dreams,” he said.
The non-profit the president announced is focused on improving the lives of young men and boys of color. Backed with more than $80 million in commitments already, the group is planning to launch programs to target young boys as well as adult men.
“There are consequences to inaction. There are consequences to indifference and they reverberate beyond the walls of the projects, the borders of the barrio or the reservation. They sap us of our strength as a nation. It means we are not as good as we could be,” he said. “Over time, it weakens our nation.”
The non-profit is an outgrowth of a White House initiative by the same name that the president launched in February of last year after the death of Trayvon Martin.
“We wanted the message sent from the White House that his life mattered and the young men here—their lives matter,” he said.
The non-profit is expected to serve as a platform for the president after he leaves the White House in 2017. He says working on these issues will remain his mission for the rest of his life.