It is equally unacceptable to treat Black folks that way.
To be fair, President Obama did begin to address the challenges of systemic poverty and failing schools, in his speech. He used the word “poverty” three times, advocated for the working poor through increase in the minimum wage, and pledged his support for the creation of public pre-schools, a policy that would absolutely reduce the economic burdens on working class families. But rather than talking about how education and economic policies would strengthen Black families, which could then create safe havens for children dealing with adolescent challenges, yet again the president framed it backwards, by making individual families responsible for broad systemic challenges.
By framing things backwards, he missed an opportunity to talk about how the Prison Industrial Complex, the War on Drugs, and “school reform” have exacerbated Black poverty. Aggressive surveillance, policing and incarceration of Black youth have terrorized Black communities and robbed them of valuable human capital, as talented young men languish behind bars. These are things that the president surely knows, especially since he has made some moves away from the War on Drugs rhetoric. Yet, when I listened to the speech, I heard resonance of these same ‘get tough-on-crime’ policies that exploded the Black prison population in the first place.
Claiming that “it’s very hard to develop economically if people don’t feel safe,” the president proposed using solutions that have been “proven to work” in areas where violent crime proceeds unchecked. If the unspecified methods to which the president alludes involve more surveillance, policing, and jail time, then in fact, these methods will only increase the reach of the Prison Industrial Complex, and all of the ill effects that come with it.