Senator Tim Scott failed Ketanji Brown Jackson, but it wasn't because he didn't vote for her

By George L. Cook III African American Reports.

Last week we saw the historical confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the United States Supreme Court.

She was confirmed by a 53-47 vote with only three Republicans supporting her. Those three were Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Mitt Romney of Utah.

Many African Americans were disappointed but not surprised that Tim Scott, the junior Senator from South Carolina chose not to support this historic nominee.

Now, let's be clear Tim Scott has the right to vote however he wants, and it's obvious by the lame excuses he gave for not supporting Jackson that he also has one hell of an imagination. That or he attends the alleged drug-fueled orgies that Madison Cawthorne was talking about and that has affected his better judgment.

But, to me not supporting Jackson is not where he failed her. He failed her by not speaking up for her as a person and as a Black woman.

After Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Tom Cotton, and Marsha Blackburn showed blatant disrespect during the confirmation hearings he said nothing afterward.

Scott could have spoken up by publicly saying that although he was ideologically opposed to Ketanji Brown Jackson's confirmation, she deserves respect and that his fellow Republican senators were wrong in their treatment of her.

Scott has a mother and I'm assuming aunts, cousins, and nieces that are also Black. He wouldn't want anyone treating them as Jackson was treated. He should have thought of those Black women in his life and spoke up not as a senator but as a Black man.

In my opinion, nothing but cowardice and ambition stopped him from speaking up.

Scott has gone on Fox News lamenting how he was treated by the left after not supporting Jackson. He should stop whining and think about how Jackson felt after being attacked for hours during those hearings.

During that time she showed more grace, bravery, integrity, and calm under fire than Scott ever will.

Sadly, Senator Tim Scott has forgotten where he came from, but we won't forget what he has shown himself to be.

Happy Father's Day, Black Fathers Matter

Some would like you to believe that Black fathers who take care of their kids in every way are an anomaly, that's complete bull****! To be honest black fathers who take care of their kids are the NORM!

Many Black Father's are active in their children's lives and contrary to popular belief, most live with their children.

Too many use the barometer of whether or not the father lives with the child to determine whether or not a man is a good father. While living with your children may be preferable to some, it's just as important that a father has a continued presence in their children's lives. Fathers teach their sons how to be good men and their daughters what a good man looks like, and no one can replace that role.

In short, BLACK FATHER'S MATTER!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

New Jersey high school principal installs laundry room to fight student bullying

A high school principal in New Jersey is going above and beyond to make sure his students don't skip school out of fear of being bullied.

West Side High School Principal Akbar Cook said some students were being bullied because of their dirty clothes -- which resulted in chronic absenteeism where they would miss three to five days a month. Cook kicked the football team out of their locker room to install washers and dryers for students to do their laundry.

Black men, get screened for Prostate Cancer

An important message to black men on the importance of getting screened for Prostate Cancer.

Reframing the Narrative Around Black Men

Which of the following statements is false?

Black men lead the country in military service.

More black men are in prison than in college.

Black fathers, compared with fathers of other races, are the most engaged.

Both the top and bottom statements are true; the one in the center? False.

If you know who Trabian Shorters is, you probably already knew which statements were true and which was false. Shorters, co-author (with former NAACP president Ben Jealous, now a partner at Kapor Capital) of The New York Times best-seller, Reach: 40 Black Men Speak on Living, Leading, and Succeeding, founded and leads the national community organization that is changing the American narrative about black men. Through the BMe Community—whose network has grown to more than 35,000 community builders since it launched in 2013—Shorters is reframing how America sees and perceives black men. His organization locates black men who are already effecting significant positive change in their communities—and then supports them with financing, networking, and asset development resources.

In other words, Shorters is a revolutionary.

Read more: Reframing the Narrative Around Black Men

Thousands pack D.C. for 20th anniversary of Million Man March

Under clear skies and amid metal detectors, barriers and moderate police presence, thousands of people crowded onto the National Mall on Saturday to hear messages bemoaning cases of alleged police misconduct and to observe the 20th anniversary of the Million Man March. Watch video of attendess of the event below:

Pres. Obama: ‘No Dispute’ Men of Color Disproportionately Targeted by Police

Today, Barack Obama re-launched his My Brother’s Keeper initiative as a non-profit foundation, which addresses the opportunity gap for young men of color. During a speech to announce the non-profit Pres. Obama discussed black men being targeting police.

How does the fear of black men in America affect society.

NPR's Michel Martin examines how the fear of black men plays out in America. She talks with two African-American men about how that fear affects their lives. Listen to that interview below.

Reach: 40 Black Men Speak on Living, Leading, and Succeeding

Reach: 40 Black Men Speak on Living, Leading, and Succeeding
Ben Jealous (Editor), Trabian Shorters (Editor), Russell Simmons (Foreword)

In this timely and important collection of personal essays, black men from all walks of life share their inspiring stories and ultimately how each, in his own way, became a source of hope for his community and country.

Reach includes forty first-person accounts from well-known men like the Rev. Al Sharpton, John Legend, Isiah Thomas, Bill T. Jones, Louis Gossett, Jr., and Talib Kweli, alongside influential community organizers, businessmen, religious leaders, philanthropists, and educators. These remarkable individuals are living proof that black men are as committed as ever to ensuring a better world for themselves and for others.

Powerful and indispensable to our ongoing cultural dialogue, Reach explodes myths about black men by providing rare, candid, and deeply personal insights into their lives. It’s a blueprint for better community engagement. It’s an essential resource for communities everywhere.

Proceeds from the sale of Reach will go to BMe Community, a nonprofit organization dedicated to building caring and prosperous communities inspired by black men. Reach is also a Project of the Kapor Center for Social Impact, one of the founding supporters of President Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper initiative.

BUY THE BOOK

Paperback--------------------Kindle

The positive numbers about young black men

Boston Globe columnist, Derrick Z. Jackson wrote a great piece featuring positive statistics about young black men. Check out some of the interesting numbers below:

Black Men Teaching Initiative aims to attract black males into teaching

A doctoral candidate at Indiana University of Pennsylvania recently stood in front of high school students from the Homewood Children's Village and asked how many planned to go to college. All hands shot up, but when he asked how many planned to go into education, the hands dropped down.

National statistics echo this scene, which involved about 20 black students, most from Pittsburgh Westinghouse 6-12 in Homewood. Less than 2 percent of teachers in the U.S. are African-American males, according to Robert Millward, education professor at IUP. To try to increase those numbers, Mr. Millward started the Black Men Teaching Initiative, which led to the teens, male and female, from Homewood Children's Village attending a workshop at IUP.

Through workshops such as this one, billboards on buses and changes in admissions policies, professors and administrators at IUP, California University of Pennsylvania, Point Park University and Community College of Allegheny County are trying to persuade young black men to pursue higher education and to become teachers. The second task is more difficult than the first, Mr. Millward explained.

"They say that teachers don't make much," he said. "They see teaching as a woman's profession. They say, 'I didn't have a good experience in school, so why would I want to spend life teaching?"

Read more: Program aims to attract black males into teaching

There Is No Black Male Crisis In America

After posting a piece titled Three Myths Hurting Young Black Men and Boys I received a message from Michael Taylor. He has a another take on issues facing our black boys. I have posted his video on the topic below. George L. Cook III AfricanAmericanReports.com.

Coach Michael Taylor explains why he believes there is no black male crisis in America and he shares 5 powerful keys to empower black men to live extraordinary lives. Learn more about Michael Taylor: http://blackmenrock.net/

Most black fathers are good fathers!

It's Father's Day again. A day on which fathers are supposed to be celebrated for what they do.

Unfortunately a very vocal minority in the black community will take the day as a chance to slam black fathers. They will forget that Father's Day is a day to celebrate fathers and leave all that negativity alone. It is because of those people in OUR own community that many who are not African American believe that black men are not good fathers.

I think far to often our society confuses a man who can't make it work with the mother of his child with a bad father. That is not the case at all.

What's sad is that the majority of black children can remember and have had great experience with their fathers whether Dad lives with them or not although some would have you believe otherwise. Most black fathers just like fathers of every race do their best by their children. Not all may win father of the year but they are still important in their lives.

If we stop and think about it we see black fathers involved in their children's lives everyday. We see them them taking their kids to school. We see them with their kids at the park. We see these men sacrifice spending time with their children to because they work two or three jobs to provide for their kids. But what we don't see is these men being praised.

There's a nasty group of people who will wonder why a man should be praised for doing what he is supposed to do have a double standard when it comes to praising mothers.

I say this for all the black men who are good fathers and those trying to be good fathers out there. WE DO EXIST! We are not a anomaly. If you don't want to praise or even acknowledge us that's fine we know what we do.

But I do praise and acknowledge those men out their trying to be the best fathers they can be. Some in our society may not appreciate you but your kids will and that's all that counts.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

George L. COOK III AfricanAmericanReports.com

Black Men Ask Obama to Include Women in Brothers Keeper Program

More than 200 African American men, ranging from a taxi driver to university professors, sent a letter to President Obama on Tuesday urging him to expand his Black male initiative to include Black girls and women, saying they were “surprised and disappointed” that the president had sought to include only half of the race to tackle community-wide issues.

After praising the president for saying that addressing the needs of those left behind is as important as anything else he is undertaking, authors of the letter wrote, “So we were surprised and disappointed that your commitments express empathy to only half of our community – men and boys of color. Simply put, as Black men we cannot afford to turn away from the very sense of a shared fate that has been vital to our quest for racial equality across the course of American history.”

The letter continued, “As African Americans, and as a nation, we have to be as concerned about the experiences of single Black women who raise their kids on sub-poverty wages as we are about the disproportionate number of Black men who are incarcerated. We must care as much about Black women who are the victims of gender violence as we do about Black boys caught up in the drug trade.”

Read more: Black Men Ask Obama to Include Women in Brothers Keeper Program

Obama to announce initiative aimed at young black men

Continuing his push to use executive powers as a way of advancing his agenda, President Barack Obama will announce Thursday a new effort to help improve the lives of young African-American males.

A White House official said the "My Brother's Keeper" initiative would partner government with businesses to "make sure that every young man of color who is willing to work hard and lift himself up has an opportunity to get ahead and reach his full potential."

Young African-American men are unemployed at a higher rate than the population at large, and are more likely than peers of other races to be incarcerated. Obama said during last month's State of the Union address he was working with public and private partners to "help more young men of color facing tough odds stay on track and reach their full potential."

The plan, which the White House official said was "focused on implementing strategies that are proven to get results," will convene business and foundation leaders to test strategies in various cities around the country designed to intervene at key moments in young men's lives, including at school and in interactions with law enforcement.

Read more: Obama to announce initiative aimed at young black men