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Deborah Mathis, BlackAmericaWeb.com
Reasonable people have known all along that President Obama was going to disappoint from time to time.
Even as he made those promises on the campaign trail – his words and tone dripping with passion and earnestness – we knew he would not keep them all, at least not exactly as or when he said. That’s because reasonable people understand the vagaries of politics, whereby no one gets to keep all of his promises all of the time; at least not the ones who want to stay politically viable. After all, after getting power, the name of the game is keeping power and, where possible, growing it.
But there are some things that even reasonable people have every right to expect from the country’s first black president. And one of them is that he will, in the least, do no harm to historically black colleges and universities.
Mr. Obama was not a product of predominantly black institutions of higher learning. Indeed, many accomplished black Americans got their schooling at predominantly white schools. Columbia and Harvard, the president’s alma maters, certainly fit that bill.
Yet, even black non-alumni have a certain reverence and respect for the role that HBCUs have played in making the national grade. In the beginning, they were often the only available ticket for the black college-bound. They, for the most part, educated the pioneers of the civil rights movement, producing the first black this and the first black that in business, education, medicine and government. Even today, they account for one-fifth of all undergraduate degrees to African-Americans, according to the United Negro College Fund.
It is presumed that the president is not only aware of the vital role that HBCUs have played and continue to serve, but also that he respects and appreciates them for what they do.
Then what gives with his budget proposal for education? It would end a special program that appropriates about $85 million a year to HBCUs to help them survive in light of the declining enrollment and Pell Grant decreases of recent years.
The Obama White House says the hit will not be as hard as it seems since Pell Grants will be increased, thereby allowing for more paying students.
But an Associated Press analysis found that even if all Pell Grant recipients at HBCUs got the maximum increase of $200 – and all won’t – HBCUs would still be nearly $50 million shy of what they’ve been getting for the past couple of years. And that could hardly happen at a worse time.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Was this an oversight? Considering the administration’s explanation about the Pell Grant increase, it’s obvious the Obama team is aware of the matter. So, oversight, overschmight. This was deliberate.</span>
While the president pledged to cut waste – and he cautioned that there would be pain for everyone – he cannot do this to schools that have spent their lifetimes turning the other cheek.
This president cannot treat those institutions the same way as predecessors who had neither the heart nor soul nor cultural experience to appreciate how necessary the schools are and that their survival is imperative.
The other guys’ lack of caring was offensive. The president's failure to care-take would be just as offensive. Maybe more so. Because we know he knows better.
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> <span style="font-style: italic">wonda if is di journalist dis who write dis...memba di chick who dem did seh was one of Bill's special friends
..fairskin journalist who worked in LT but got a job wid eida di Washington Post r NYT r some such paper up North </span> </div></div>
Reasonable people have known all along that President Obama was going to disappoint from time to time.
Even as he made those promises on the campaign trail – his words and tone dripping with passion and earnestness – we knew he would not keep them all, at least not exactly as or when he said. That’s because reasonable people understand the vagaries of politics, whereby no one gets to keep all of his promises all of the time; at least not the ones who want to stay politically viable. After all, after getting power, the name of the game is keeping power and, where possible, growing it.
But there are some things that even reasonable people have every right to expect from the country’s first black president. And one of them is that he will, in the least, do no harm to historically black colleges and universities.
Mr. Obama was not a product of predominantly black institutions of higher learning. Indeed, many accomplished black Americans got their schooling at predominantly white schools. Columbia and Harvard, the president’s alma maters, certainly fit that bill.
Yet, even black non-alumni have a certain reverence and respect for the role that HBCUs have played in making the national grade. In the beginning, they were often the only available ticket for the black college-bound. They, for the most part, educated the pioneers of the civil rights movement, producing the first black this and the first black that in business, education, medicine and government. Even today, they account for one-fifth of all undergraduate degrees to African-Americans, according to the United Negro College Fund.
It is presumed that the president is not only aware of the vital role that HBCUs have played and continue to serve, but also that he respects and appreciates them for what they do.
Then what gives with his budget proposal for education? It would end a special program that appropriates about $85 million a year to HBCUs to help them survive in light of the declining enrollment and Pell Grant decreases of recent years.
The Obama White House says the hit will not be as hard as it seems since Pell Grants will be increased, thereby allowing for more paying students.
But an Associated Press analysis found that even if all Pell Grant recipients at HBCUs got the maximum increase of $200 – and all won’t – HBCUs would still be nearly $50 million shy of what they’ve been getting for the past couple of years. And that could hardly happen at a worse time.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Was this an oversight? Considering the administration’s explanation about the Pell Grant increase, it’s obvious the Obama team is aware of the matter. So, oversight, overschmight. This was deliberate.</span>
While the president pledged to cut waste – and he cautioned that there would be pain for everyone – he cannot do this to schools that have spent their lifetimes turning the other cheek.
This president cannot treat those institutions the same way as predecessors who had neither the heart nor soul nor cultural experience to appreciate how necessary the schools are and that their survival is imperative.
The other guys’ lack of caring was offensive. The president's failure to care-take would be just as offensive. Maybe more so. Because we know he knows better.
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> <span style="font-style: italic">wonda if is di journalist dis who write dis...memba di chick who dem did seh was one of Bill's special friends
..fairskin journalist who worked in LT but got a job wid eida di Washington Post r NYT r some such paper up North </span> </div></div>
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