In his State of the Union Address, President Barack Obama announced he would work with nonprofit foundations and corporations to help minority males reach their potential.
Last week, Obama announced the launch of the initiative, called My Brother’s Keeper-, which aims to raise $200 million for minority male students.
According to a report in 2012, North Carolina is one of 10 states with the highest black male enrollment in high school, with 232,329 black males enrolled.
The report found that North Carolina, along with Maryland and California, had the highest rates of black men graduating. About 54 percent of black men graduated high school.
But the gap between white and black males still exists, with white males graduating at a rate of 71 percent.
Meanwhile according to 2012 documents Fact Card.pdf from the N.C. Department of Public Safety, 57 percent of inmates in state prisons are black.
The statistics also show that 75 percent of people in prison in the state had an educational grade level between middle school and high school.
A Daily Tar Heel article showed that only 98 UNC freshman students are black males.
View from the Hill is a political blog by Daily Tar Heel staff writers. Any opinion expressed in it does not represent the Daily Tar Heel. Email the blog coordinator at dthviewfromthehill@gmail.com.
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