Barack Obama is the hardest working man in the world. The 44th and current President of the United States, and the first African American to hold the office, indeed has tough job—just look how he has aged in photos from his first term in 2008 to now.
Even so, Obama seems to handle stress and conflict with ease, despite what critics say. He needed such skills as he helped resolve the crisis in Syria, while naming new leadership to his HBCU Initiative.
1. Obama rejects criticism of shifting Syria policy
After trying to persuade Congress and the American public to support military strikes on Syria, POTOS Barack Obama praised Russian President Vladimir Putin for his diplomatic solution to the chemical weapons used by Syrian President Bashar Assad, killing nearly 1,500 of his own people.
“The use of chemical weapons anywhere in the world is an affront to human dignity and a threat to the security of people everywhere,” Obama’s statement said. “We have a duty to preserve a world free from the fear of chemical weapons for our children. Today marks an important step towards achieving this goal.”
2. Obama names Leadership for HBCU Initiative
Former South Carolina State University president Dr. George E. Cooper was named the Executive Director of the HBCU Initiative and Howard University’s Dr. Ivory Toldson will join him as Deputy Director.
President Obama has stated that by 2020, America will again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.
3. We remember Birmingham’s ‘4 Little Girls’
President Obama issues statement remembering Birmingham’s 4 little girls. http://t.co/6Q6zNVgi1k
— AL.com Birmingham (@ALcomBirmingham) September 15, 2013
On this day 50 years ago (September 15, 1963) Denise McNair, 11, Carol Robertson, 14, Cynthia Wesley, 14, and Addie Mae Collins, 14, were killed when the Ku Klux Klan bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. That day quickly became a ‘defining moment’ for the Civil Rights Movement.
4. Xavier University of Louisiana welcomes 18th U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin
The only Historically Black Catholic University in the nation, Xavier University of Louisiana, recently named the 18th Surgeon General of the United States (2009-2013) Regina Benjamin as its first NOLA.com/Times Picayune Endowed Chair in Public Health Sciences.
5. Petition wants the NAACP to hire its first woman president
A petition created by Michael Cottman, an award-winning journalist and author, wants a new direction for the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization.
“From Benjamin Hooks, to Benjamin Chavis, to Kweisi Mfume, to Benjamin Jealous,” Cottman said in his petition, “it’s not only time for the NAACP to elect a woman president, but there shouldn’t be another NAACP president named Benjamin either.”
Tommy Meade Jr. is the Editor of HBCU Buzz. Follow him on Twitter @tommymeadejr
[divider]
HBCU Buzz is the Most Influential Brand in the HBCU Community, and the Leading Source of HBCU News. Like The Buzz on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
