First Lady vs Crips and Bloods?
Bush Takes Back Seat, Laura Touts Anti-Gang Plan
Mon Mar 7, 2005 05:25 PM ET
By Patricia Wilson
PITTSBURGH (Reuters) - In a role reversal, President Bush introduced his wife Laura on Monday and then listened as the first lady announced a White House summit to help stamp out gangs and drugs among America's youth.
"She and I share a passion," Bush said. "We're worried. We're worried about gangs. We're worried about drugs. We're worried about bad choices."
Dubbing himself "the introducer," Bush spoke for about five minutes and went to the back of the stage.
"I've listened to millions of his speeches," Laura Bush said. "Now he's going to listen to one of mine."
The president has launched a $150 million project over the next three years to combat gangs and put his wife in charge of it. The money will go to community and religious groups that mentor children, provide youth activities and work with former prisoners and drug addicts.
"Boys are having an especially tough time growing up," Mrs. Bush told students and guests at the Allegheny Community College in Pittsburgh. "They are falling behind girls in schools ... and boys on average are more likely to join gangs, commit crimes and end up in prison."
The Justice Department estimates gang membership nationwide at around 750,000. Although crime rates have been falling for more than 10 years, gang violence is increasing as a proportion of overall violent crime.
Some are skeptical that the White House initiative can have much impact and critics have ridiculed the idea of the first lady as "government gang czar."
"The prospect of Laura Bush, the soft-spoken librarian from Crawford, Texas, lecturing Crips and Bloods about the evils of gangs is a 'Saturday Night Live' skit waiting to happen," the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote in an editorial last month.
Mrs. Bush, the mother of twin daughters, said taking on gang life would be part of a broader outreach to at-risk youth and that a White House conference in the fall would involve parents, pastors, sports coaches and community leaders.
Laura Bush has begun touring the country to highlight her second-term initiative. In addition to Pittsburgh, she has visited Baltimore, Detroit and Philadelphia.
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Mon Mar 7, 2005 05:25 PM ET
By Patricia Wilson
PITTSBURGH (Reuters) - In a role reversal, President Bush introduced his wife Laura on Monday and then listened as the first lady announced a White House summit to help stamp out gangs and drugs among America's youth.
"She and I share a passion," Bush said. "We're worried. We're worried about gangs. We're worried about drugs. We're worried about bad choices."
Dubbing himself "the introducer," Bush spoke for about five minutes and went to the back of the stage.
"I've listened to millions of his speeches," Laura Bush said. "Now he's going to listen to one of mine."
The president has launched a $150 million project over the next three years to combat gangs and put his wife in charge of it. The money will go to community and religious groups that mentor children, provide youth activities and work with former prisoners and drug addicts.
"Boys are having an especially tough time growing up," Mrs. Bush told students and guests at the Allegheny Community College in Pittsburgh. "They are falling behind girls in schools ... and boys on average are more likely to join gangs, commit crimes and end up in prison."
The Justice Department estimates gang membership nationwide at around 750,000. Although crime rates have been falling for more than 10 years, gang violence is increasing as a proportion of overall violent crime.
Some are skeptical that the White House initiative can have much impact and critics have ridiculed the idea of the first lady as "government gang czar."
"The prospect of Laura Bush, the soft-spoken librarian from Crawford, Texas, lecturing Crips and Bloods about the evils of gangs is a 'Saturday Night Live' skit waiting to happen," the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote in an editorial last month.
Mrs. Bush, the mother of twin daughters, said taking on gang life would be part of a broader outreach to at-risk youth and that a White House conference in the fall would involve parents, pastors, sports coaches and community leaders.
Laura Bush has begun touring the country to highlight her second-term initiative. In addition to Pittsburgh, she has visited Baltimore, Detroit and Philadelphia.
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6:58 AM
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