Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you so much for joining us today. Todays Education Brain trust is called from brown to fisher, increasing racial diversity to improve Educational Equity. I am melanie newman, the chief Public Engagement and Communications Strategist for the nacp Legal Defense fund, the organization i am proud to say i work for and that is responsible for brown and fisher. So i want to give a little bit of hello . Oh. I want to give sorry. I want to give a little bit of background about myself. I am, ive been with the Legal Defense fund since march of this year but worked in the Obama Administration and on the hill for quite some time. But this issue and the reason i am happy to be here with all of you today is personal to me. I am originally from new orleans but also went to school in selma, alabama. Which im sure all of you are familiar with. My father, dr. Norwood, was the first black School Superintendent in selma, alabama [applause] thank you. And when he in 1987
Next, a forum on race and education with members of congress. Education advocates, students, and former officials. The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Hosted this event. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us today. Todays Education Brain trust is called from brown to fisher, increasing racial diversity to improve Educational Equity. Im melanie newman. Im the chief strategist for the naacp Legal Defense fund, the organization that i am proud to say i work for and that is responsible for brown and fisher. And so i want to give a little bit of hello. Sorry. I want to give a little bit of background about myself. I am i have been with the Legal Defense fund since march of this year, but worked in the Obama Administration and on the hill for quite some time. But this issue and the reason im happy to be here with all of you today is personal to me. I am originally from new orleans but also went to school in selma, alabama. Which im sure all of you are familiar with
The victims are thirteen of earlier today classmates of the sixteen year old victim told me he was in school just one day after a drive by shooting at this Basketball Court on which you wrote on activities resumed but even then the triple shooting is still on the minds of these neighborhood kids because they knew the sixteen year old victim on her eye thousand interviews okay and whose hearts are also two other victims a thirteen year old any twenty year old all three were taken to hospital and treated for non life threatening injuries on sunday night surrounding neighbors described hearing multiple gunshots while like maybe eight or nine gunshots before seeing everyone in the core running in all Different Directions that night something on the ground right in their cars. Police investigated the scene on sunday evening and are investigation today investigators say theyre now looking for a blue suv witnesses told them the car drove by the courts. The man shot the crowd that sped off ton
It and it sort of became a status symbol to know what they what they care quality and care enough about your health that you are checking your smart phone every hour to see how the numbers clocked in. This has become a very present political issue for the leadership. I think because it isnt so much about the care quality and it really is about the bargain, the underlining bargain whether the government is fulfilling its obligations to people. And you talk to people that have no interest in being overtly political because being political in china is dangerous and costly. But they dont see it as a political jester did you get interested interested as a health issue because you are worried about your kids. So i think you saw there is a reason why he earlier in the year they primarily declared a war on air pollution and that is because this is not that they woke up and decided that that is an inherent good its because they realized that there is a fundamental political appeared to have to
Toy . What about rodney king . By the way, not only is this a long train of abuses. It goes back further than Commission Report which said our nation is moving toward two society, one block, one white, separate and unequal. 50 years ago, we were dealing with this same issue, and it is on us today and we must make a call to action to reverse this trend so that every american, allamericans, can feel that the government really is liberty and justice for all. So instead of a system of justice that works for some, it doesnt work for all, this injustice takes place within a social and economic context and i have to say that when officer wilson confronted Michael Brown on canfield drive in ferguson, the interaction did not take place in a vacuum. Ferguson, missouris Unemployment Rate is 13 , over double the national average. The number of poor people in ferguson doubled over the last 10 years. In 2012, almost all of fergusons neighborhoods had a poverty rate of over 20 . The fact is if we res