Blog Posts Related to the African American Community

"Our Next Chapter"

Yesterday Mrs. Obama took the White House youth leadership and mentoring efforts on the road to Detroit, Michigan. The First Lady’s visit, in partnership with Michigan’s First Gentleman Daniel Mulhern, was designed to engage, encourage, and inspire the city’s young people. Leaders from across the country came along to encourage kids to dream big – mentors included: Governor Granholm; Cathie Black, CEO of Hearst Magazines; Susan Taylor, Editor-in-Chief Emeritus, Essence Magazine and Founder, National CARES Mentoring Movement; Spike Lee, Actor and Director; and Magic Johnson, Basketball Player, to name a few.

In her remarks at Wayne State University, Mrs. Obama discussed the potential of the city's youth:

So our next chapter –- Detroit’s next chapter, Michigan’s next chapter, America’s next chapter –- is waiting to be written.

And it will be written by each and every one of you, because your future, your city’s future, this country’s future will look exactly like what each of you wants it to look like. And that’s what I believe. And that’s why I am here. Young people, I am asking you to embrace that responsibility to be our future.

Students listen to First Lady Michelle Obama during a mentoring luncheon at the Detroit Institute of Art in Detroit, Mich. May 26, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton)

Later that day, at a mentoring luncheon, the First Lady emphasized the importance of hardwork and support:

What we all know in our lives and through our experiences is that there’s no magic dust that is sprinkled on us that gives us success. There’s no magic to this. There are no shortcuts, there are no quick fixes. None of us was born with the knowledge that we have today, the skills or the talents that we have today. Some, maybe. You’ve got your special people that were just born crazy talented or crazy smart, but it wasn’t me, or the President, for that matter. All these folks here developed those things through hard work.

Governor Granholm wasn’t born knowing how to run a state; probably never thought she’d be doing it. Magic Johnson didn’t know how to always -- did you always know how to dribble? (Laughter.) Maybe you did. Maybe you were one of the ones. But you didn’t always know how to run your own business, right? So, Susan Taylor’s magazine didn’t just publish itself -- Essence, one of my favorites. These achievements took effort and struggle, late nights and long hours. And all these folks practiced and practiced, and then practiced a little more, to get those promotions, to win those elections, and to hit those notes just right.

When people doubted them, or told them they couldn’t do something, they worked a little harder. When they were scared or worried -- and let me tell you, we all have been worried that we just wouldn’t measure up -- they all found a way to keep going. When they fell short or failed -- and failure is a part of success, it’s a necessary part of success -- they didn’t let that defeat them. They let it teach them.

And all along, they found people in their lives to guide them: parents, and grandparents, teachers, coaches, friends who believed in them, who encouraged them and refused to give up on them even when they wanted to give up on themselves.

To have a more concrete impact on local students, the First Lady launched the White House leadership and mentoring initiative in the fall and visited Denver, Colorado in an effort to take the message nationwide. The idea isn’t just to create a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for just a few, but to encourage more adults to step up, volunteer their time, and make mentoring a lifelong habit.

What Americans Deserve

Today I had the honor of addressing BET’s first ever “Leading Women Summit” in Washington, DC. The Summit brought together artists, community activists, media representatives and professional women from across the country to work on finding solutions to some of the most pressing problems facing the African American community. I welcomed the opportunity to participate and offer my perspective on the health care crisis in our country, which, according to almost every available statistic, disproportionately affects Women of Color.

For instance, consider the following facts:

• Nearly one in five African Americans (19%) are without health care insurance.
• African Americans in general spend a higher percentage of their income on health care costs compared to their white counterparts (16.5% vs. 12.2%).
• African Americans also tend to live in areas where there are fewer hospitals or where quality care cannot be obtained.
• African Americans suffer from higher percentages of chronic diseases, such as heart disease, kidney disease and diabetes, which are perpetuated by a lack of access to quality care. Currently, 48% of African American adults suffer from a chronic disease compared to 39% of the general population.

With this in mind, my talk focused on President Obama’s unwavering commitment to reforming health insurance. He is determined to give Americans, not government or insurers, more control over their care. He has kept fighting against insurance companies that discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions. He has kept fighting to reduce the costs of health care for families, businesses and government. He has kept fighting. He has kept fighting for people who are uninsured and small businesses to give them the same coverage as Members of Congress. And now it is time for an up-or-down vote in Congress, because that’s what the people deserve -- people like Leslie Banks and Natoma Canfield.

The President met Leslie at a recent event in Philadelphia after she had written him a letter describing her frustrations with her insurance. Leslie is a self-employed, African-American single mother, whose daughter is a sophomore in college at Temple University. Leslie has type 2 diabetes. She can no longer afford her coverage after the insurer recently notified her of a 100% across the board rate hike and told her that the only way to stay at her previous rate would mean increasing her deductible from $500 to $5,000. Leslie is not available for coverage through her HMO because of her pre-existing condition.

Leslie’s story is not that different from the one I told about Natoma Canfield, who also wrote the President about an incredible increase in her rates, which forced her to drop her coverage. President Obama read the letter at a meeting of insurance industry leaders to show them why he continues to push for reform. Since then, Natoma has been hospitalized with a serious blood disorder and she has no health insurance.

As I related these stories, I couldn’t help but notice a lot of head-nodding in the audience. While nobody at today’s Summit knew Leslie or Natoma, the reality is we all know somebody whose life has been touched by the worst practices of the health insurance industry. That’s why it’s so important that we all work together to tackle this problem for the African American community and for all communities across America.

Valerie Jarrett is Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement