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Well Black Unemployment Rises To Rates Nearly as High As the Great Depression.

January 4, 2013 by  
Filed under News, Opinion, Politics, Weekly Columns

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(ThyBlackMan.com) The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the unemployment data for the month of December, and while things are getting better for whites, African Americans continue to suffer from unemployment rates that would be unimaginable if those being affected were of any other race.  White unemployment rose slightly from 6.8 percent to 6.9 percent, with white males seeing a decline from 6.4 to 6.2.  White women saw a slight bump from 6.2 to 6.3 percent as well.  These numbers are mildly uncomfortable, but have led to a tremendous backlash from those who feel that this is evidence that the Obama Administration has not been entirely effective in securing sustained economic growth.

While white Americans are enjoying single digit unemployment (and still angry about it), black Americans are experiencing unemployment rates that are nearly as high as they were during the Great Depression.  Blackblackunemployment unemployment rose from 12.9 percent to an astonishing 14 percent.  Black male unemployment is highest between the genders, at 14 percent, while black women are grappling with a 12.2 percent unemployment rate.  Black teens are getting the worst of it, with an unemployment rate of 40.5 percent, nearly double that of white teens (21.6).

The numbers continue to beg the question of whether or not legislators and the Obama Administration should be expected to utilize targeted economic policy that accepts the reality that there are racial disparities in employment opportunities in America.  While the Democratic Party scoured the nation going into every black church and community organization they could find to get us to vote, they are ignoring these very same institutions when their members call for some kind of help with the unemployment crisis which exists in black America.  Billionaire Bob Johnson, among others, has openly stated that when it comes to black unemployment proposals presented to the White House, the officials agree that the proposals are a good idea and then never agree to do any follow-up.  What if black America never agreed to follow-up with the Democrats when they came begging for our votes?

One problem for the Obama Administration is that they seem to think that racism simply doesn’t exist, at least that is what is implied through their actions.  They, like some other Americans, seem to be thoroughly convinced that black people don’t have jobs because we don’t want to work, or that we don’t care about feeding our children.  But this is contradicted by stories like the one about the unemployed woman who pretended to be white and found that the number of job interviews she received suddenly skyrocketed.

I know people with PhDs and law degrees who struggle to keep employment, so the myth of the lazy negro who doesn’t want to work needs to be squashed in exchange for policy recommendations that respect our rights to equality as members of the American family.  I’m sorry people, but Al Sharpton and Ben Jealous aren’t going to be able to convince the Obama Administration to do the right thing:  They will personally benefit from having access to the White House, but the rest of us do not.  As it stands right now, the old adage of “taxation without representation” is an excellent way to describe the state of affairs in black America. Our taxpayer dollars are being taken so we can help white women get jobs and to pay for Al Sharpton to have a show on MSNBC.

Memo to the White House:  Racism is real, and we need your support.  You have hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer resources at your disposal, much of that drawn from the black community, and it is required that you utilize some of those resources for targeted economic policy which calls for the support of black-owned businesses and economic support to urban areas that are hardest hit by the unemployment epidemic.  If white Americans have the right to scream and complain about a “wonderful” unemployment rate of 6.9 percent (which black people won’t even have after our recession is over), then black people certainly have the right to be outraged about 14 percent.  Any other perception of the situation is nothing less than entirely racist.

Staff Writer; Dr. Boyce Watkins 

Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition.  For more information, please visit http://BoyceWatkins.com.

 


Comments

53 Responses to “Well Black Unemployment Rises To Rates Nearly as High As the Great Depression.”
  1. Shelly Cooke says:

    I’m just gonna keep it simple. Yes, racism seems to be non-existent in the mind of the president. And he seems to enjoy scolding blacks. Obama says he wants to improve circumstances for all Americans. However, I wonder how sincere and realistic he is in his efforts when he makes a claims to be everyone’s president and that we all need to come together to create change; especially since this idea is not shared by all Americans. Other Americans could care less what blacks are going through. Blacks have the highest unemployment rate and since Obama has been in office whenever the Black leaders seek him for a “black agenda” – he insists that we need to be “united” in the United States – something that has never happened in America since America has been a nation. And United to what end? Who else in this country has voiced a concern about the state Black Americans are in? Amongst the Americans in this country – whose circumstances are as deplorable as a group as Black Americans? Americans have always swept racial inequality under the rug. How are we ever going to be united as long as this issue is not properly addressed? Even though blacks are ravaged by social injustices and poverty – imprisoned, crime rate ridiculously high, education disproportionate and jobs limited – Americans who are citizens here and who are not black do not feel a moral sense of obligation to aid or even discuss the plight that African Americans in this country face. And when he addresses the American black people he does so in a way that uncovers everything that’s wrong with our own communities as if we got that way all by ourselves. And how is uncovering all of our flaws helping blacks? I guess he’s perfect. And of course no other race has marital problems or dysfunctional families. And to add insult to injury he takes a crowd of black folks and preaches to us about how we need to clean up our own homes- having babies out of wed-lock and absentee fathers etc….and claims we are out of excuses. He’s always claiming that we need to take responsibility for ourselves. Why does he heap all Americans in one category as if blacks are not and were never disproportionately affected by poverty and crime and ratty educational options? That is the problem. Why is he doing this to blacks who are largely a matriarchal society? The largest number of black Americans that supported him were black women. I heard somewhere that the average pay for a black woman in this country is $5.00 an hour. Obama won’t even address black women. He’s talking to men…manyt of who are in prison and don’t even have a right to vote. Go figure! And yet he just uses his all inclusive argument as if everyone started on a level playing field. I’m everybody’s president and rallying for change for all Americans… but by the way – black people fix your own homes does not set well with me.

  2. @ Ramses

    You make some great points, as always, but feminism is a European or white American concept. Black people didn’t create that, they followed it because we were programmed to follow, not lead. You’re also right; we did do better when we were segregated, but why? We did better because of what you mentioned earlier, the natural law of survival. We had to rely on ourselves and when you have to rely on only yourself, you either sink or swim. We chose to swim. You’re also right that the white man controls the Black women’s mind, but he controls the Black man’s as well, otherwise, we’d be creating more opportunities for ourselves rather then waiting for someone else to do it.

    Your point about women calling Black men dogs, but not calling themselves the B word is interesting. If you look at African traditions, when it comes to marriage, men didn’t have the dog mentality; which I believe started during slavery because it wasn’t about marriage, it was about producing more free labor. In Africa the parents got together and chose the wife or gave permission to the son to marry the women of his choosing. A dowry was involved. Marriage wasn’t just about the bride and groom, but was a contract between two families. This still happens in the majority of the cases, but because of the African colonial mindset and following behind us here in the US, some African women have taken on the same characteristics of the sisters you talk about.

    The men do the same by taking leadership roles for power and money and not helping their people. Now I’m not going to say that it’s all based on slavery and the colonial mind because civilizations change from powerful to weak based on their morals and values, which have totally been lost in this country for the sake of what they think is progress. Now in my personal situation, as I said I’m also at fault, so in my case, I can’t put all the blame on the Black women. But I understand your point and I think you understand mine, so I won’t comment anymore on the subject, at least not on this thread.

    Black Unity means financial independence and happiness

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