海角大神

Valerie Jarrett, a senior aide to President Obama, is clearly frustrated by the pushback he鈥檚 getting over his initiative to help boys and young men of color stay on the right path.

What about the girls? critics are asking. This week, more than 1,000 women of color signed a letter calling on the president to expand his 鈥淢y Brother鈥檚 Keeper鈥� initiative to include girls of color.

鈥淭oday, many women and girls of color are under siege in the United States, and the myth that they are not must be challenged,鈥� said the , whose signatories include author Alice Walker, law professor Anita Hill, and actress Rosario Dawson.

The letter cites statistics. For example, black girls are more than three times as likely to be suspended from school than white girls, and 鈥渄isproportionately funneled through the juvenile justice system,鈥� it says. For Latina girls, the four-year graduation rate from high school is the lowest among all girls. And economic insecurity is greater for girls than for boys, as they face wage and wealth inequality.

Ms. Jarrett rejects the idea that the White House is trying to help boys at the expense of girls 鈥� or that it鈥檚 ignoring girls in any way. At the start of Obama鈥檚 presidency, the White House launched a Council on Girls and Women, which Jarrett chairs. 聽

My Brother鈥檚 Keeper 鈥渋s not an either/or, it鈥檚 a both/and,鈥� Jarrett said聽Friday聽at a breakfast hosted by 海角大神.

鈥淭his is what I would encourage our critics to do: Read the report,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he that was completed a couple of weeks ago was a very rigorous interagency review of all the programs we have that touch the lives of boys and men of color. 鈥�

鈥淵ou will see [in the report] that many of the recommendations in there benefit all Americans,鈥� Jarrett says.

She lists some examples:

鈥� Reading by third grade.聽Disproportionately, boys of color are not reading by third grade. 鈥淪o let鈥檚 put in place programs to ensure that all of our children are reading by third grade,鈥� says Jarrett.

鈥� End preschool expulsions.聽Children who are expelled from preschool are disproportionately boys of color.

鈥淣o child should be expelled from preschool,鈥� Jarrett says. 鈥淎nd so we are calling on school districts around the country to end that practice. That benefits every child.鈥�

鈥� Keep children out of the juvenile justice system.聽Disproportionately boys of color are suspended and expelled throughout school, and wind up in the juvenile justice system.

鈥淟et鈥檚 figure out ways of keeping our children out of the juvenile justice system and in the classroom so that they鈥檒l thrive,鈥� says Jarrett. 鈥淏ecause if you鈥檙e in the juvenile justice system, the chances of your going into the adult penal system are greatly increased.鈥�

Jarrett says she鈥檚 happy to meet with the critics, then goes back to her main point.

鈥淚f you鈥檙e in a family unit 鈥� and the boys are having a particularly hard time, the impact on the entire family is troublesome,鈥� Jarrett says. 鈥淎nd so you鈥檙e helping the sisters, the moms, the aunts, the uncles.鈥�

The letter from the 1,000 women of color was preceded in May by a 鈥淟etter of 200 Concerned Black Men,鈥� also calling for the inclusion of women and girls of color in My Brother鈥檚 Keeper.