BHS Day 28: Robert Weaver

Hi! It's hard to believe we're already at the end of the month. I thought it was fitting to begin things with a Community Spotlight, then end them with an Activism/Political one. It kind of keeps in tune with my own beliefs--strengthen and empower the community, keep up the fight and remember just how high we've finally been able to get. Corny and cheesy I know, but it's the truth. Before we get to today's entrant, I would just like to thank you for spending a little time with me this month, whether you've been following this series since the 1st or this is your first time here. I appreciate any time you've spent in my little corner with me and I hope that as Black History Month ends, you have more knowledge, more pride and more fight in you than you came into it with. Lofty ambition for a little series, but that's always what I hope to convey with the entrants I choose. Even as the antics and dramatics of some things make me ashamed and as the still-rampant racism scares and makes me feel defeated, like we've failed our forefathers somehow, I still have so much pride in the blood that runs through my veins, the stock that I come from. Our people were made to persevere, and persevere we have done. It's what we'll always do, because we've never had the luxury to do otherwise. And that in itself, to me, is part of the beauty of being Black. We will excel and we'll always persevere. It's what we've been taught, raised and encouraged to do. Thank you for joining me as we learned and celebrated throughout the month. It's going to be a long 338 (yes I counted) days until we get to do this again. Today's entrant, like all the others in this series, broke barriers in his career, and is responsible for the creation of important housing programs designed for low-income African-Americans, which are still in use today and used by low-income individuals and families of all races.

Name: Robert Clifton Weaver, 1907-1997 Profession: Academic, economist, political administrator Why is the Spotlight on him today? For his accomplishments in politics and his impact on issues affecting Blacks during his time in the cabinet Notables:
--was the first and the first Black US Secretary of HUD by then-President Lyndon Johnson --was one of the first directors of the Municipal Assistance Corporation --attended Harvard University for his Bachelor's through PhD degrees --served as a special assistant for the housing divisions of the Works Progress Administration, War Production Board, War Manpower Commission, and National Defense Advisory Commission --was appointed by then-President Roosevelt to serve on his Black Cabinet, which was a 45-member board of prominent Black men whose opinions were required on issues affecting the Black community --was a consultant to the Ford Foundation  --authored a total of four books related to urban housing and issues exclusive to the Black community --is responsible for the basic draft that led to the creation of the US Housing Program, which provided housing to tons of low-income African-Americans and lowered the amount of rent that they'd have to pay to live there (Mandy's Note: this is something I feel very strongly about; public housing got my family off the streets when I was 10 and we've never been homeless again) --was the rent commissioner for New York State's interior cabinet --was an adviser to the Secretary of the Interior --was appointed Administrator of the Housing and Home Finance Agency by then-President JFK --was a member of the Visiting Committee at the School of Urban and Public Affairs at Carnegie-Mellon University --served as chairman of the NAACP --was posthumously honored by Washington DC when a street was named after him --directed the fellowship department of the John Hay Whitney Foundation  --was posthumously honored by HUD when the headquarters building was renamed after him --held visiting professorships at Columbia Teachers' College and the New York University School of Education  --was president of Baruch College and professor of Urban Affairs at Hunter College following the end of his primary career --was awarded the Springarn Medal by the NAACP Further reading links:  1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Excerpt of the Day: 
"Most middle-class white Americans frequently ask, "Why do negroes push so? They have made phenomenal progress in 100 years of freedom, so why don't their leaders do something about the crime rate and illegitimacy?" To them I would reply that when negroes press for full equality now they are behaving as all other Americans would under similar circumstances. Every American has the right to be treated as a human being and striving for human dignity is a national characteristic. Also, there is nothing inconsistent in such action and realistic self-appraisal. Indeed, as I shall develop, self-help programs among non-whites, if they are to be effective, must go hand-in-glove with the opening of new opportunities.
Negroes who are constantly confronted or threatened by discrimination and inequality articulate a sense of outrage. Many react with hostility, sometimes translating their feelings into overt anti-social actions. In parts of the negro community a separate culture with deviant values develops. To the members of this subculture I would observe that ours is a middle-class society and those who fail to evidence most of its values and behavior are headed toward difficulties. But I am reminded that the rewards for those who do are often minimal, providing insufficient inducement for large numbers to emulate them.
The negro middle-class seems destined to grow and prosper. At the same time, the economic position of the untrained and poorly trained negro -- as of all untrained and poorly trained in our society -- will continue to decline. Non-whites are doubly affected. First, they are disproportionately concentrated in occupations particularly susceptible to unemployment at a time when our technology eats up unskilled and semi-skilled jobs at a frightening rate. Secondly, they are conditioned to racial job discrimination. The latter circumstance becomes a justification for not trying, occasioning a lack of incentive for self-betterment.
The tragedy of discrimination is that it provides an excuse for failure while erecting barriers to success.
Most colored Americans still are not only outside the mainstream of our society but see no hope of entering it. The lack of motivation and anti-social behavior which result are capitalized upon by the champions of the status quo. They say that the average negro must demonstrate to the average white that the latter's fears are groundless. One proponent of this point of view has stated that negro crime and illegitimacy must decline and negro neighborhoods must stop deteriorating."