Midnight basketball
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Midnight basketball was a 1990s initiative to curb inner-city crime in the United States by keeping urban youth off the streets and engaging them with alternatives to drugs and crime.
In 1994, Bill Clinton pushed for an anti-crime bill that would lead to 100,000 more police officers as well as a number of programs intended to "deter crime where it starts" by providing "community activities like midnight basketball". [1] The plan was widely lampooned by conservatives such as House Minority Whip Newt Gingrich, who cited midnight basketball as an ineffective and wasteful use of federal funds.[2] Some, such as Rush Limbaugh, even called the proposal racist, given the largely African American populations targeted by the program. [3] However, midnight basketball was not a proposal unique to the Democrats— it was one of George H. W. Bush's "Thousand Points of Light". [4]
[edit] References
- ^ Clinton, Bill. "Presidential Radio Address" Radio (1994-06-18). Retrieved on 2008-04-07
- ^ [1]
- ^ Franken, Al. "Block That Rush!", The Nation, 2000-06-01. Retrieved on 2008-04-07.
- ^ George H. W. Bush. "Remarks on Signing the Points of Light National Celebration of Community Service Proclamation in Glenarden, Maryland" Glenarden Community Center, Maryland (April 12, 1991). Retrieved on 2008-04-07
