By Imani Perry | Originally Published at The New York Times. MARCH 12, 2014

The My Brother’s Keeper initiative is a response to a terrible social reality. Black boys and men are suffering mightily in this nation. The cause is important. However, this endeavor raises serious concerns.

The first is how the president and others have framed the need for the initiative. Their narrative is filled with equivocation about the reason for the tragic outcomes in black boys’ lives. The president states: “No matter how much the community chips in, it’s ultimately going to be up to these young men and all the young men who are out there to step up and seize responsibility for their own lives.” He speaks of “bad choices” and believes “nothing keeps a young man out of trouble like a father who takes an active role in his son’s life.” In this way, black boys and their families are being held primarily responsible for the bigotry they encounter. Their vulnerability is overshadowed.

There is far less emphasis in the initiative on the responsibility of Americans to disavow racial bigotry. However, a comprehensive look at research about racial disparities reveals that the problem isn’t black men’s shortcomings, but rather persistent and pervasive racial bias in areas like policing, incarceration, education, employment, housing and health care.
The problem isn’t black men’s shortcomings, but rather persistent racial bias.
The solution certainly isn’t public-private partnerships.

Black males are punished more for less wrongdoing and are stereotyped as lazy, irresponsible and dangerous. Holding to these damaging ideas is not an ideal way to intervene on their behalf.

My second concern is the emphasis on public-private partnerships and philanthropy. Philanthropy is not policy. And private institutions do not have the well-being of citizens or residents as their primary concern. Knowing the history of public-private partnerships in arenas like imprisonment, education, redlining and subprime mortgage lending, we should tread carefully here.

If our nation held true to its creed, promising equal protection, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, Congress and the president would recognize the need for a robust policy response to this situation. We would all be attentive to the ecosystems of inequality that capture all genders and ages. Entire communities are saddled with the burden of poverty, limited opportunities and narratives that this is “all their fault.” If we are each other’s keepers, we ought to commit ourselves to equalizing opportunity, eradicating poverty and recognizing the full humanity in those deemed the least of these

Imani Perry is a professor in the Center for African American Studies at Princeton University. She is on Twitter.