NEW YORK, Jul 22 2019 (IPS) – We see many challenges that affect children around the world. Child marriage, corporal punishment, voting ages, air pollution, teachers going on strike…
It’s been great to speak and have world leaders at the UN listen when we talk about these issues. It’s been clear that leaders are open to hearing from children and learning what kids have to say.
But even then, it doesn’t always seem like leaders are ready to move from talking to action. It’s weird that there are all these urgent issues to tackle, but leaders aren’t acting right away.
When we talked with [Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children] Najat Maalla M’jid, she said she’s going to try and change this. She will push the United Nations to work to end violence against children. She also offered to listen to children’s ideas, recommendations, and solutions.
Governments must make changes to end violence and stop child marriage. And it’s really important for governments to listen to children’s voices and stop underestimating our abilities. Children can offer ideas too, and its children who are the next generation.
Last week, we learned that every country is connected together, and issues that affect one country often affect others as well. Even though countries have different languages, cultures, and ways of learning, many problems that affect children are the same.
Child marriage and sexual abuse affect children all over the world. Child marriage is a horrific form of violence. It violates girls’ rights and negatively affects their ability to access education and health.
In Lesotho and many other countries, girls are forced to marry due to poverty, property grabbing, sexual abuse, premarital pregnancies and neglect. The laws that protect children are not effectively implemented and enforced.
We also need to stop thinking that punishing kids by hitting them is an acceptable discipline method. Just like child marriage, we need to realise that psychological abuse and corporal punishment of students is a problem in many countries, and maybe by working all together it will be easier to stop it.
Often governments have put some good laws in place, but they don’t always work because people don’t know about them. Adults need to be told about the new laws, otherwise they’re going to keep breaking them and the violence is only going to continue.
Children and teachers, for instance, need to know that there are rules about how children can be treated in schools. Sometimes the laws don’t match up, and so old marriage laws need to be updated so they don’t have lower ages than child protection laws.
When children get involved, they can help. For example, many children are born and live their life without having a birth certificate. Many countries make it hard for them to access their basic rights or go to school without a birth certificate.
In one village in Indonesia, many children were rejected when they wanted to register at school because they did not have a birth certificate. Thankfully, the child parliament was able to work with the village government to get a birth certificate for all children.
They arranged a “mass birth certificate” campaign and finally, 100% of the children in the village have birth certificates.
Children can help create the necessary changes in communities, but we need to be informed in order to do so. Child parliaments and youth groups can help raise community awareness about child protection laws and give us a space to share about our experiences.
Before sessions, not many girls knew that child marriage is against the law. After our meetings, children are more aware and have a better understanding of violence.
Every child has a right to participate. We hope our examples show how the voices of children are important and can help. If the government wants the world free from violence, involve us.
The main target of ending violence against children is a child. Therefore, the voices of children should be heard. If violence against children is stopped, we will have a better life, and we need this now, not in the future.
*As a general rule, World Vision doesn’t share the last names of children under 18.
Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed (right) meets with Li Andersson, Minister of Education of Finland.
18 July 2019. Credit: United Nations, New York
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 22 2019 (IPS) – Finland has garnered attention for its top-notch education, and the newly appointed Minister of Education for Finland is planning to continue with the success of her country’s education system through various and innovative approaches.
“In education, Finland has the lead according to many international comparisons,” Li Andersson, the newly appointed Minister of Education for Finland, said at a briefing at the Finnish consulate in New York on July 19.
Most recently, she pointed out, the London-based Economist ranked Finland as number one in delivering future-oriented skills through education.
“Thereby, Finland is best equipped to adapt education system to deliver skills for problem-solving and collaboration, as well as foster creativity, civic-awareness and participation,” she added.
The briefing was hosted by the Consulate General of Finland, with a guest speaker from Columbia University.
Andersson said investment in education is key to all of the successes “we have seen in Finnish society, so it is key for social cohesion, it is key for equality, and it is key for building economic progress and for economic growth.”
“The Finnish education system is one of the top performing education systems in the world,” she declared
Finland has been ranked as one of the happiest and successful countries in the world, and most recently having been ranked as the number one country for higher education by The Economist.
And in terms of data, in results released by the Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA), a test taken by pupils across the globe, Finland scored 550 points higher than any of their counterparts, including Sweden, Norway and the US, among others.
When asked whether the size of small schools that are abundant in Finland have anything to do with Finland’s success, Dr. Samuel Abrams, Director of the National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education at the Teachers College, Columbia University, told IPS: “I would not focus on the size of schools. That is not, as I said, a Finnish innovation”.
He said there has been a robust movement for small schools in the United States for a long time with many fine examples of excellent small public schools across the country.
“I merely brought up small schools as a part of the recipe for excellent schooling in Finland that may be threatened by financial pressure, generated in part by pension obligations”.
Because the pension obligations in an aging country like Finland are substantial, he said, budget cuts must be found. “Some of those budget cuts mean merging schools to achieve economies of scale.”
However, in terms of what other countries, such as the United States should learn from Finland, he had this to say: “We should follow Finland in testing only small samples of students rather than testing all students”.
“Our approach forces teachers to teach to the test. As we test all students in reading and math in grades 3-8, we generate undue stress for students, teachers, and parents alike”.
Moreover, he pointed out, “in focusing on reading and math, we crowd out time for history, science, music, art, crafts, and physical education. And students need those subjects as well as plenty of play for a well-rounded education.”
“Second, we should follow Finland in preparing teachers with high-quality master’s programs in pedagogical theory and practice.
Third, we should follow Finland in paying teachers well and giving them significant autonomy,” he added.
“Finally, we should follow Finland in funding our schools fairly. That means more money per student at schools in disadvantaged neighborhoods, not less. We base funding on property taxes, which means wealthy districts have significantly more money to spend per pupil than poor districts”.
None of this is rocket science. But that does not make it easy.
“We must follow in Finland’s path in altering the way we think about children and their future. This requires, one, thinking about child development through the eyes of the child, which means a well-rounded curriculum; two, reconceiving our social contract to ensure a high-quality education for all children; and three, esteeming teachers as pillars of the community.” Dr. Abrams concluded.
With that said, the education system in Finland has much room for improvement. “We see growing disparities in the learning results.” Andersson said, in terms of learning results.
“There is a difference between boys and girls and also some growing regional differences, and also a stronger difference where the pupils home background will affect the learning results more than before.”
“Inequality hampers growth and otherwise,” she added.
To combat these worrisome findings, Andersson and the Finnish government have set three main priorities to be tackled in the coming years.
“The first of these priorities is raising the educational level of the whole population.” Andersson said.
“We are also seeing a tendency where we are seeing the growing level of education has actually stopped.” She went on to cite that the generation of the 1970’s, and in Finland it is the current generation that has the highest level of education.
“The second priority of the government is reducing inequality gaps in education referring to what I said about earlier about the worrisome trends, and the third priority is focusing on continuous education…. learning should be something that we do all the time, and we should have the possibility to engage in all the time, no matter whether if we are working or outside working life or studying.”
For raising the level of education, Andersson plans on ensuring that all students have a degree on the upper secondary level and plans on raising the amounts of adults on the third educational level (post-secondary education) to 50% by 2030.
In order to implement this, Andersson intends on devising a Road Map, and a document that will reach Parliament.
She also highlighted the importance of addressing the equality gaps and strengthening the whole Finnish education system, from early childhood education to primary school.
She also intends on raising the compulsory education age to 18 years old. “16% of the overt generations in Finland are without a degree on the secondary level.” She noted.
“We know that the employment rate of people with only primary education backgrounds is around 40% at the moment, and that has been going down all the time.”
She cited the changing labor market, and how that calls for a change in the education system.
In terms of closing education gaps, Andersson cited a significant focus on early childhood development, as that is key.
Such actions to help assist this goal is to reduce group sizes for children over 3 years old and ensuring that every child has the right to at least 40 hours a week to early childhood education and care “no matter if their parents are working or unemployed.”
Andersson is also piloting a two- year preschool to see how it will affect participation rates in early childhood care, as well as to observe the effects it will have on learning results in primary education.
Furthermore, Andersson plans on providing support for maternity and childhood clinics.
For continuing education and the future of work, Andersson is unsure, as the labor market is drastically changing but noted that “It is clear that the knowledge requirement will grow.”
“Education is the best tool we have, and we should think of it as an investment not an expenditure.” She concluded.
She added that students should “just focus on things you’re motivated about, not too get too stressed, I think it is a shame there is a lot of pressure on the students now, with their stress with finances etc.”
But she offered encouragement and stated that students should “not think too much about what government is saying about how fast you should study and finally, “use the possibilities you have at the university”
With Lil Nas X’s EP going straight to number on the American charts, it seems like country music revival is taking over 2019 and beyond, thanks to its unlikely fusion with trap music. It only makes sense that black people are reclaiming the genre, as country was actually partly created by black American artists and heavily influenced by gospel music.
On top of that, plenty of lesser known black artists and bands are making country, or country-infused, music. This is especially the case in Africa, where the genre has been around for a few decades and an increasing number of musicians are gaining momentum. By gaining popularity in Africa, country is coming back to its roots, as country guitar and the way of playing it was originally inspired by the banjo— an instrument that African slaves brought with them to America.
Country music has a strong appeal across the African continent for several reasons: the similarity with many African instruments and the recurring lyrics and themes about love, heartbreak and “the land.” At the heart of it, country music has an appeal to working class people all over the world who feel let down by the people that were supposed to help them.
Country music is played regularly on the radio in countries such as Kenya, Tanzania and Malawi but yet, the artists featured are overwhelmingly white and American. African country singers do not get the respect they deserve or are seen as anomalies. With the growing number of them making country music, here is a list of the ones you need to listen to right now.
Sir Elvis
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Elvis Othieno, also known as Sir Elvis, is a popular Kenyan musician who grew up with country-loving parents. Elvis is his real name (no, really) and he was born three months after the legendary singer died. Inspired by Gary Brooks and Hank Williams, he started making music while attending college. He wanted a unique name, while paying his dues, and picked his moniker to stir away from the obvious Elvis Presley reference. Sir Elvis has contributed largely to the popularity of country music in Kenya. Since Agriculture dominates the Kenyan economy, it’s no surprise that country music is especially popular in the nation’s farming areas.
Ogak Jay Oke
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Nigerian country singer Ogak Jay Oke, like most people on this list, was introduced early to country music through his religious upbringing and church ties. He’s pushing to make the genre more popular across Nigeria and is the president of the Country Music Club in his hometown of Port Harcourt. Inspired by Jim Reeves, Skeeter Davies and Don Williams, he released his first album, Another Day, in 2016. He recently released a new single “Here Comes the Bride,” an homage to his wife.
Jess Sah Bi & Peter One
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The Ivory Coast duo Jess Sah Bi & Peter One gained fame and recognition in Western Africa after the release of Our Garden Needs Its Flowers in 1985, an album that was influenced by country, disco and folk music. Their lyrics—sung in English, French and Gouro (a Mande language from Ivory Coast)—were pretty political, calling out inequality and social issues across African countries. One of the reasons behind their pan-African appeal was that they encouraged African people to stand together in unity and called for an end to apartheid. Their album was re-released in 2018 by Awesome Tapes From Africa, helping a new generation of music lovers to discover them.
Esther Konkara
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Christian country singer Esther Konkara hails from Kenya and is heavily inspired by Dolly Parton. Themes such as love, financial hardships, heartbreaks and the striking descriptions of small towns are what drew her to country music. It makes sense, since she grew up in a small rural village herself. Her album Turi Ahotani was released in 2015 and she recently shared her new single, “Rimwe Ria Kuigana.” She took part in Kenya’s first ever country music festival, The Boots And Hats Festival, in 2015 and is now performing across the country.
Emma Ogosi
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One of the pioneers of country music in Nigeria, the singer Emma Ogosi released a country-disco album entitled Nobody Knows in 1981. Inspired by the thriving disco scene at the time as well as multiple country influences, he came up with a record that’s both groundbreaking and intimate. Ogosi was once married to popular Nigerian reggae artist Evi-Edna Ogholi. He was also a band member of The Expensive and a former air officer. When Evi-Edna fled Nigeria to Paris, he stayed. Despite the fact that he hasn’t released an album in years, the mysterious man still sings and is the head of the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria.
Poor Charley Akka
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Nigerian act Poor Charley Okaa released his album Don’t Cry in 1983—a funk, soul and country infused EP. Very little is known about the musician and his music is notoriously hard to find. However, his song “Be in Your Arms” is one of the most famous Nigerian country music tracks and was featured on the album Like Nashville In Naija, a compilation featuring many country or country-inspired musicians from the West African nation.
I am an African-American scientist (of Sierra Leonean descent) who currently lives in Rwanda where I am currently an expat abroad with my family. I wish to share that I have just published my first book (already a Best-Seller) – a story about my global experiences in 12+ selected countries as a woman of color and scientist, having dealt with racial and disability discrimination as a U.S. federal employee/former Diplomat, my struggles being disabled in Africa (I have multiple sclerosis with 27 brain lesions and several on my spine), overcoming an attempted suicide, and other lessons-learned from my life and career globally. My story also shares how I had to break free from my strict religious upbringing and find my own spiritual and cultural freedom. My work has taken me to Malawi and Liberia as well as other countries around the world.
I have been empowering women and girls around the globe for most of my life and would like to ask if there is any interest in my book or an interview. I wish for my African brothers and sisters to keep striving no matter any limitations that may come their way. I am humbled to be here in Africa and the hospitality shown has really positively impacted my health and spirit. I am always happy to share the beauty of the continent and that we can overcome any obstacles in life. I am also the CEO/Founder of Cultivatics, Inc. – a digital health consulting firm. Thank you for any consideration and opportunity to share with your audience via interview or print.
Tamara Tutnjevic Gorman is Policy Manager – Ending Violence against Children, World Vision
World Vision believes that it takes each and every one of us to end violence against children.
NEW YORK, Jul 16 2019 (IPS) – Despite what you might have heard, things are getting better, every year. We are making amazing progress on fighting diseases, reducing the preventable deaths of children, and investing huge amounts to advance medicine and knowledge and to create better living conditions.
However, this progress is too slow for some of the world’s most vulnerable children; those who have yet to experience the progress of the past 20 years. It’s hard to believe, but governments still allow violence against children to continue.
Approximately 1.7 billion children still experience some form of violence every year. To understand the reasons why, World Vision has investigated the commitments by 20 governments to address violence against children and has found that, while there has been tremendous progress in prohibiting violence, there are still too many gaps in legislation.
Cracks in laws, data, coordination, accountability and funding are becoming big gaps that ruin children’s lives and futures.
As a global community, we made exciting promises to end violence against all children 30 years ago when we adopted the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. In those 30 years, we’ve developed laws and policies, come to better understanding about the complexity of violence and its forms, discovered and agreed to evidence-based solutions, and created a movement that has shone a spotlight on the issue.
We renewed our commitment to ending violence against children by committing to the Sustainable Development Goals four years ago. Yet, the inconsistent stats we have and self-reported data show that violence against children is not reducing at the pace necessary to meet the important target of ending all forms of violence against children.
This means today’s children, and their children, will live with violence’s life-long consequences – pushing them to life at the margins of society: severe health problems, difficulties acquiring an education and a decent job, and relationship issues. The lack of decisive action to end violence against children is simply not good enough.
Where legal bans exist, they do not yet cover all forms of violence. Ambitious declarations about National Plans of Action are not followed by the resources necessary to implement them. Fragmented initiatives are not enough to support victims, or more importantly, to ensure prevention.
There is some reporting on progress, but far too little new data to report on. And out of all the children experiencing violence, far too few have been consulted on the policies that affect their lives.
World Vision believes that it takes each and every one of us to end violence against children. A critical step in the right direction is for governments to make all forms of violence illegal and to put in place a comprehensive set of national laws and policies that provide for strong prevention and response measures.
The lack of commitment to zero tolerance is perhaps the most worrying. Government policies often turn a blind eye to socially or traditionally acceptable corporal punishment in schools, beating at home, child marriage and more.
Millions of children are unnecessarily drawn into a cycle of violence because of the failure to prevent it. When a child survives such violence and doesn’t get justice or appropriate support, the message they receive from authorities is that violence is permitted, or even condoned by those in power. This sends a powerful message that as society we have agreed to accept certain levels of violence.
Moreover, when families or communities experience crisis due to conflicts or natural disasters, the boundaries of what violence is considered acceptable tend to stretch. This makes it difficult to stop. Before we know it, violence can become a way of life. As a global community, we all must do more to plug the gaps that persist.
As governments at the High-Level Political Forum (July 16-19) present on progress so far and work on plans for the future, it is important that they address the seven cracks that have been identified in current efforts to end violence against children. This means they must commit to:
1. Prohibiting all forms of violence against children in all settings. 2. Investing in prevention programs and reporting mechanisms. 3. Being a global champion for the prevention of violence against children. 4. Increasing funding and transparency in budgets allocated to interventions to end violence against children. 5. Prioritising and investing in regular data collection. 6. Mandating, resourcing and planning for child consultations in policy development, reviews, monitoring and reporting. 7. Increasing government delivery of community education and awareness campaigns.
The 193 UN Member States have incredibly diverse energy, expertise and resources. We are calling for each and every one of them to join us and become champions for ending violence against children. It takes political leadership, and the time to drive action is now
To read the full report Small Cracks, Big Gaps: How governments allow violence against children to persist click here.
I remember the move when I donated my entire office and all of the furniture and equipment to the Obama campaign to launch the Minnesota Headquarters in 2007.
I proudly created and ran the “NFL Players for Obama” in 2008. I remember being able to recite the “Yes We Can” speech line by line. And I vividly remember watching eight years of focusing on countless core issues that had no real effect on blacks in America.
Yet I remained faithful and hopeful that the second term would bear more fruits for the poorest, sickest, and most uneducated segment of the U.S. population, our African Americans.
The Obama administration chose to pour food stamps on our most underserved with few effective programs to incentivize our impoverished to go to work. Obama ironically boasted about giving out more food stamps than any other president in U.S. history. You can’t make this up.
Obamacare was a noble effort, but the blatant lies told in order to pass it have been the catalyst which is leading to its demise today. Remember it was sold as a plan which would not increase your healthcare bill or limit your access.
I’m all for equal rights for gays and lesbians, but I think the large campaign donations hypnotized Obama to prioritize gay marriage over bringing quality education and criminal justice reform to the ancestors of our ailing former slave population. I’m sure both were important issues to him at some level, but in politics you have to prioritize as all presidents know they are on a short timeline.
The debate is still out there as to whether the Obama years brought the country farther from our Christian foundation.
I applaud President Obama for openly saying Jesus and quoting powerful scripture on many occasions. I was just a little bothered by his policies, which too often went against the word of God.
Obama stuck to his commitment to the LGBTQ community when he backed unprecedented legislation that expanded the sacred biblical “marriage” characterization to gay and transgender couples. I just think we could have given all Americans their deserved equal rights without challenging the biblical definition of marriage. Now homosexuality is on super speed in the black community where you see a surge in gay black males particularly in urban communities like Atlanta, LA, and throughout the south.
The CDC recently reported that 50% of black gay men will contract HIV, which is scary given the growing gay lifestyle promotion as a result of the Pride movement. Despite being only 12% of the population, blacks make up 43% of those infected with HIV in America. This epidemic can’t be ignored and we can’t deny the results of a culture that promotes sex and homosexuality as things that are publicly glorified.
The Trump administration wasted no time in enforcing other religious freedoms by reversing many of Obama policies which challenge Christian beliefs.
Under the Obama administration, HHS required employers pay for their employees’ contraception and abortion-inducing drugs, even if this violates the conscience of employers. The Obama administration exempted houses of worship, but religious-affiliated groups that objected still had to allow a third-party administrator to handle the contraception coverage. This has particularly hit the urban black community where fathers are too often missing and many youth are left to praise and idolize their favorite hip hop artist who too often promote behaviors not necessarily in line with “In God We Trust.”
As we witness liberals in America take a harder and harder stand that conservatism translates to racism, it’s so ironic to me that none of them have the courage to hold Obama accountable for long-standing racism displayed by his top two executives which he chose to accept.
His beloved VP Joe Biden was decimated in a recent 2020 Democratic Presidential debate by Senator Kamala Harris for his participation in busing during school segregation.
Not to mention, Biden was one of the authors and main advocates for the 1994 crime bill which decimated the black father by locking up young black men in droves for nonviolent crimes over the last 25 years.
Barack’s number three, Hillary Clinton, has an even sketchier past on race as she championed her husband to push the same evil crime bill that Joe Biden worked on. To make matters worst, Hillary and Bill worked together in Haiti during one of the most egregious misappropriations in modern history. As a result, the poorest black population in the Western Hemisphere fell deeper into extreme poverty despite an estimated $12 billion being pledged to the country, almost twice its annual GDP at the time.
Now I have to mention that the biggest eye sore of the Trump presidency was him appointing the lifelong racist Jess Sessions as Attorney General. Thank God he canned him as soon as he could, paving the way for the First Step Act.
First Step Act
I would have never imagined seeing Kim Kardashian and Kanye West in the White House discussing criminal justice policy.
Just like I would have never imagined seeing Alice Johnson given clemency and the long awaited Jack Johnson legacy receiving a presidential pardon.
These highly publicized cases were both denied by the Obama Administration over two consecutive terms as president. In less than two years in the Oval Office, President Trump continued his push for criminal justice reform by passing the First Step Act which targeted many shackled by the unfair and unjust sentencing laws which were instituted by the Bill Clinton 1994 Crime Bill.
It’s hard to imagine that President Trump, not Barack Obama, would pass the most comprehensive criminal justice reform bill in decades. Despite Barack Obama having Democratic control of all branches of government for his first two years, the priority just never seemed to be put on addressing the issues that were the most oppressive for underserved Blacks in America.
If you are wonder where you can find an influx of our black fathers, look no further than our jails and prisons. Though blacks make up a little over 12 percent of the U.S. population, blacks make up over 40 percent of those incarcerated. In a very short period of time, President Donald J. Trump took action against this injustice. As a result of the First Step Act, thousands of inmates across America have been released and had their sentences reduced.
Out of all of the beneficiaries of the First Step Act, 91% of the total inmates released have been Black Americans! Unfortunately you don’t see this headline on liberal media outlets as much as we should.
Funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities
“Established by visionary leaders, America’s HBCUs have long played an integral role in our Nation’s history, providing Black Americans opportunities to learn and achieve their dreams.” –President Donald J. Trump
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) have been at the backbone of educating blacks since the end of slavery.
During times when blacks were oppressed the most in America, brave African Americans risked their lives to establish institutions for blacks to receive a higher education. To my surprise, Trump appointed his Presidential Advisory Board on HBCU’s and signed an executive order to push funding in programs, passing HBCU legislation faster than any other President in American history. This included pushing to increase the annual budgets by 25% as well as supporting much needed work study programs for HBCU’s.
I have long called for “Reparations through Education” as a way to help bridge the gap caused by slavery.
In my opinion no black person in America who is an ancestor of the former slave population should have to pay for a state college or university in this country. It’s the least we can do.
Though this bill didn’t address the issue of reparations, it is a step in the right direction for the higher education of Blacks in America. And yes, the Trump Administration has done significantly more in his time as president for HBCU’s compared to the Obama Administration.
Jobs
Many forget that the primary focus of the Martin Luther King Jr. led civil rights marches where for “Jobs and Freedom.”
Since the end of slavery and throughout Jim Crow, blacks across America have fought for the right to earn a decent living. Nearly 50 years after MLK’s push for Jobs, President Trump started his campaign by touting himself as the greatest jobs president in history. Now he is actually producing some of the greatest jobs numbers ever recorded.
As a young Wall Street banker I paid very close attention to the monthly jobs numbers for African Americans. Now let’s give Trump credit where credit is due. African American unemployment has reached its lowest rate in modern history for both black men and women. This is actually the case for almost all ethnic groups in America.
The most impressive number of them all is the fact that almost 70% of working black women currently hold a white collar job, compared to just over 40% of black men.
The Tax plan and Jobs Act has help to stimulate this.
So clearly having a tax code that drops the corporate rate to 21% will have a huge impact on a growing number of African American families. Under the Obama tax code, these same entrepreneurs would pay nearly double this amount of taxes.
As many media outlets downplay the effects of the Trump Administration economic policies, the IRS tax filings won’t lie. And neither will the unemployment rate, which some skeptics say improved more under Obama verses President Trump. The key point that most who argue this choose to ignore is the fact that we are at full employment for first time in our nation’s history! It seems like it would be a little harder to lower unemployment when the economy already has reached a point where we’ve had more jobs than workers to fill them.
Welfare and Food Stamp
Food stamps and welfare have helped my immediate family in the past and still helps some of those closest to me.
This is a safety net for many Americans that helps make our nation as great as it is. But when you promote food stamp programs to healthy, able-bodied individuals as an alternative to work, there lies your problem.
While Obama was widely known as the “Food Stamp President,” his administration took unprecedented measures to make it simple for states to sign up their able-bodied residents for food stamps.
Immediately following the financial crises of 2008, our country was in desperate need of food stamps and other government assistance. But enrollment kept expanding even as the unemployment rate declined and the gross domestic product (GDP) started rising. In short, the economy returned to normal, but food stamp enrollment did not.
This took a toll on the black community and further incentivized many to depend on government assistance verses seeking employment.
President Trump fortunately took a new approach and has put his energy into helping able-bodied food stamp recipients to get back into the work force. This trend has worked well and the Trump Administration has seen nearly 5 million Americans come off of food stamps.
For example, once the city of Kansas City added a work requirement for food stamp recipients, it halved the average time people received assistance, from 14 to seven months. The share of those employed jumped from 18 percent to 36 percent, and wages increased from an average of $6,000 to $13,000. I’ll be the first to admit that welfare programs are never perfect and there will always be unfortunate cases where someone who really needs helps get left out. Black America deserves a safety net when needed, but we don’t deserve institutionalized oppression through promoting a dependency on government aid. We need jobs and freedom like MLK marched and died fighting for.
I’m sure that I’ll get a ton of backlash from many of my black peers and several of my liberal colleagues as well. It’s hard for a lot of people to look beyond their personal style preferences to embrace the amazingly effective Trump Administration policies.
It’s even more interesting to see so many people who will support a policy initiated by the political affiliation that they prefer, yet they lash out against the same policies when they’re pushed by the opposite political party. Just check your favorite politician’s perspectives on illegal immigration and criminal justice reform just a decade ago. Democrats have mastered this manipulation when it comes to winning the black vote, with most candidates not even needing to campaign to the black demographic. Democrats have been able to create a political correctness philosophy that has successfully lumped illegal immigration, minimum wage, LGBTQ rights and racism towards African Americans all into one blended issue. It’s comical really. The political party of slavery, Jim Crow, the 1994 Crime Bill, and welfare dumping has now branded themselves as the voice of social justice.
Well as a lifelong Democrat, I say enough is enough.
Jack Brewer possesses a unique combination of expertise in the fields of global economic development, sports, and finance through his roles as a successful entrepreneur, executive producer, news contributor, and humanitarian. Currently serving as the CEO and Portfolio Manager of The Brewer Group, Inc. as well as the Founder and Executive Director of The Jack Brewer Foundation (JBF Worldwide), active Shriner and Ambassador and National Spokesperson for the National Association of Police Athletic/ Activities Leagues, Inc. Other key roles include regular contributor to CNBC, Fox Business, and The American City Business Journals, Ambassador for Peace and Sport for the International Federation for Peace and Sustainable Development at the United Nations, Senior Advisor to former H.E. President Joyce Banda of the Republic of Malawi, and three time National Football League (NFL) Team Captain for the Minnesota Vikings, Philadelphia Eagles, and New York Giants. To read more of his reports — Click Here Now.
