From the earliest days of his presidency, Barack Obama has faced high expectations from African-American leaders -- and a persistent question: What about a black agenda? High unemployment. High incarceration rates. High dropout rates. These and many other pathologies have long plagued communities of color. But for the nation's first African-American president, dealing with the "black" issue has been tricky. "I'm not the president of black America," President Obama has said many times. "I'm the president of the United States of America." But increasingly, Obama has been addressing minority issues more directly. On Thursday, he will focus on the challenges of young black and Latino men when he unveils "My Brother's Keeper" -- an initiative named for a biblical phrase he uses regularly, conveying a belief that society must help those facing challenges. It aims to keep young minority men out of what is often called the "school-to-prison pipeline."
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