THE PEOPLE SPEAK2: MY BROTHER’S KEEPER

“My Brother’s Keeper” initiative, urging stronger efforts to create more opportunities for young minority men and to improve conditions that keep them impoverished and imprisoned in disproportionate numbers.

Obama said these young men consistently do worse in society, with odds stacked against them. “By almost every measure the group that’s facing some of the most severe challenges in the 21st century in this country are boys and young men of color,” Obama said, ticking off statistics on fatherhood, literacy, crime and poverty.

He said there have been improvements — “My presence is a testament to that progress,” Obama said. But he said more must be done because it’s a moral and economic issue facing the country.

Obama spoke from the White House East Room flanked by teenagers involved in the Becoming a Man program to help at-risk boys in his hometown of Chicago. He said he sees himself in them.

“I made bad choices. I got high, not always thinking about the harm it could do. I didn’t always take school as seriously as I should have. I made excuses. Sometimes I sold myself short,” Obama said.

Meanwhile, Obama signed a presidential memorandum creating a government-wide task force to evaluate the effectiveness of various approaches, so that federal and local governments, community groups and businesses will have best practices to follow in the future. An online “What Works” portal will provide public access to data about programs that improve outcomes for young minority men.

Obama’s pledge to take action came during his State of the Union address last month, when he warned that young, black men face “especially tough odds to stay on track and reach their full potential.” Obama himself grew up in a single-parent household, and has said he and some members of his staff were challenged and tempted by the same societal ills plaguing younger generations of minority males.

The White House listed a litany of facts showing the need for the effort: The unemployment rate for African-American men over the age of 20 was 12 percent last month, compared with 5.4 percent for white men. Hispanic men over the age of 20 faced an unemployment rate of 8.2 percent. The U.S. Census Bureau showed a poverty rate of 27.2 percent in black households and 25.6 percent for Hispanic households in 2012, compared with 12.7 percent in white and 11.7 percent in Asian households.

Those already working to better the lives of young minority men called Thursday’s announcement an “unprecedented moment,” to have the White House publicly allied with their cause.

“The president of the United States has never taken a stand suggesting that our nation mobilize its resources to improve opportunity for this population,” said Gail C. Christopher, vice president of program strategy at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, which focuses its resources on vulnerable children who face poverty and discrimination.

The phrase “my brother’s keeper” comes from the book of Genesis in the Bible, where God asks Cain, the son of Adam and Eve, for the location of his brother Abel, who Cain had killed. In some versions, Cain replies: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Obama has quoted those Bible verses several times during his presidency, saying Americans should look out for each other.

Freed from the pressure of seeking re-election, Obama also has taken a more visible role on issues affecting minorities.

The president, who famously said — “I’m not the president of black America. I’m the president of the United States of America” — has moved to commute sentences for nonviolent drug offenders, hoping to combat sentencing disparities that disproportionately imprison minorities. His attorney general, Eric Holder, this month encouraged states to repeal laws that permanently bar felons from voting even after they have served their sentences. And Obama identified personally with the issue last year when he declared, after the acquittal of George Zimmerman, that Trayvon Martin, the black teenager killed in an encounter with Zimmerman in Florida, “could have been me 35 years ago.”

The White House has been strongly criticized by some civil rights leaders for not using the presidential bully pulpit to do enough to address generations of disadvantage borne by the African-American community. But things are changing, said NAACP Interim President Lorraine Miller, who along with other civil rights groups met with the president in the White House last week.

“I think he’s looking at a more strategic way how he can make an impact in the African-American community (not only) with employment but with health care and all the kind of issues we face every day,” said NAACP Interim President Lorraine Miller in response to a question from The Associated Press on C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers.”

Obama announced 'My Brother's Keeper'

(CNN) - In a moving and heartfelt message Thursday, President Barack Obama challenged young minority men to make good choices.

"Part of our message in this initiative is 'no excuses'. Government and private sector and philanthropy and all the faith communities, we have the responsibility to provide you the tools you need," he said at a White House event.

"We need to help you knock down some of the barriers that you experience," he continued. "That's what we are here for but you have responsibilities too."

A White House official said Obama improvised a good portion of his remarks and was more emotional than many planners of the event anticipated.

Those who participated in a White House meeting Thursday about the new program included NBA legend Magic Johnson, former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

"What I explained to them was I had issues too when I was their age," Obama said last year. "I just had an environment that was a little more forgiving, so when I screwed up, the consequences weren't as high as when kids on the South Side screw up."

In his announcement Thursday, Obama also talked about marijuana. He said he "got high" when he was younger - an admission he's referenced multiple times since taking office and he describes in his memoir "Dreams of My Father."

"I didn't have a dad in the house. And I was angry about it, even though I didn't necessarily realize it at the time. I made bad choices. I got high, not always thinking about the harm that it would do," he told a crowd at the White House.

Obama said in an interview with The New Yorker that, while he still viewed pot smoking negatively, the drug wasn't the social ill that it's been viewed as in the past, and that he didn't see marijuana as any more dangerous than alcohol.

The President's comments sparked headlines and continued calls by activists to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous substance, but the White House said the administration does not plan to change their policy on marijuana laws.

Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States, and the first African American to hold the office.

Born: August 4, 1961 (age 52), Honolulu, Hawaii, United States

Office: President of the United States since 2009

Spouse: Michelle Obama (m. 1992)