In this article Dr. Watkins writes
"Let’s be clear, I am no fan of the disposition against President Obama taken three years ago by Tavis Smiley. I took Tavis to the carpet for his very personal assault on Obama, which I speculate might explain why he hasn’t ever spoken to me (I could actually care less, to be honest). I am neither an Obama critic nor am I a super fan. My agenda is simple: I want to see leading politicians address massive black unemployment, mass incarceration, rampant racial discrimination in the workplace and the dysfunctional educational systems that are destroying black children and families. To date, politicians are not standing strong on nearly any of these issues, and given that our surveys show that these problems affect the vast majority of the black community, this should be a concern."
I agree with Dr. Watkins, we need to make sure unemployed youth, exoffenders & low-skilled/low-wage workers are engaged in upcoming city, county, state and federal budget processes to insure training and access to good jobs is included in budgets and 2012 Presidential Election--- starting to engage them now in community summits for each group (ie individual youth, exoffenders, business owners , etc events that lead to a community wide summit that generates interest inside and outside the community. Let's start our collaborations around this rather than a grant opportunity to generate the support needed for more impact. Let's talk soon
Brian
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