As I travel around the country and around my district there is a palpable sense of protest in the air, especially in the African-American community. From Moral Mondays in North Carolina to Fight for $15 in New York. From Ferguson, Mo., to McKinney, Texas. From Sitawa Nantambu Jamaa and the Pelican Bay Hunger Strikers to Chicago’s Fearless Leading by the Youth and the South Side Trauma Center. From #SayHerName to #ConfederateFlag.
It’s not hard to understand why. Forty-two percent of black children are educated in high-poverty schools. The unemployment rate for black high school dropouts is 47 percent (26 percent for white high school dropouts). Although African-Americans make up 13 percent of the U.S. population, they are 37 percent of the homeless. One in every 13 African-Americans of voting age is disenfranchised because of a felony conviction — a rate more than four times greater than the rest of the U.S. population.
