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The African American community has something in common with Senator Bernie Sanders and his presidential bid. Many of us are just ignorant or uninformed when it comes to this connection. Secretary Hillary Clinton has promised to continue the current administration practices of understating the African American unemployment rates which was started by her husband, former President Bill Clinton. Clinton in 1994 designed a new way of counting the unemployed, through his labor secretary, which would end up giving his administration a lower official unemployment rate. Every administration since, including the Republican administration of George W. Bush, has embraced this political maneuver of under counting the unemployed because it favors the administ
ration in power. By saying she will embrace this administration’s current policies, Clinton now joins former administrations in this horrible practice, if she becomes president.
You must understand, this practice of understating the unemployment rates damages blacks way more than it damages whites or any other worker groups simply because the black unemployment rate is so much higher. It’s confounding that the African American community allows black political pressure groups and the Congressional Black Caucus to gloss over this issue. Understating the nation’s unemployment rates is a stab in the back to all African Americans!
If the focus of Black America’s protests were directed at changing the unemployment numbers as they are currently being presented, the economic burden of African Americans will be revealed and brought out in the open. This exposure would also open the eyes of many whites who know instinctively that something is not quite right with this economy, as they line-up behind strong man, Donald Trump. They are rejecting these traditional politicians who endorse this awful and deplorable practice. The true rate of national unemployment is 9.7 percent as stated by the u-6 category ( http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm ), which counts those who currently are neither working nor looking for work but indicate that they want and are available for a job and have looked for work sometime in the past 12 months and persons employed part time for economic reasons who want and are available for full-time work but have had to settle for a part-time schedule.
If the true rate of national unemployment is 9.7 percent then the African American unemployment rate which is normally almost double that of the national rate is easily 17 percent or higher. These high unemployment rates are the heavy burden African Americans have been carrying on their backs for almost the last ten years. With the black unemployment rate established at 17 percent, the unemployment rate of our young people, between 17 and 20 years who have done all the right things in most instances by studying hard, staying out of trouble and graduating from high school, is conservatively 50 percent! These youngsters are stressed out and have no clue why they cannot find a decent job as they idly sit around our communities. Wake up people, these traditional politicians who want to stay in office at any cost are literally playing with our lives, and playing us for suckers. And they are getting away with it!
Once this horrendous practice of discounting human beings when it comes to unemployment is completely exposed, the drumbeats and protests to effect major change in our economic system will become louder and louder, leading to discussions of job creation plans. As long as you cover up the economic woes of American workers, the AA community included, you in effect say, “there is no problem, thus the unemployed become invisible when it comes to media coverage.” In reality, Senator Sanders has spoken out on this issue while the establishment candidate, Secretary Hillary Clinton has been silent as expected ( http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/10/21/separate-and-impoverished-americas-black-poor ).
But Bernie Sanders does not go far enough and this is the reason in part why he is losing to Clinton. African Americans are Sanders’ ally and not his enemy. The key to black America’s support is the same key that gets Sanders white America’s support. Bernie Sanders is not truly addressing the anxiety in an area that is critical to the lives of blacks and whites and that is, “Its the economy stupid” (remember Bill Clinton’s slogan during his presidential run). Senator Sanders can not beat Secretary Clinton by getting into a one on one argument about the haves and the have nots and about the one to ten percent aided by Wall Street who are sending this country down the tubes.
That tactic works with a certain part of the electorate, primarily white and educated. While I am not suggesting that is not a good tactic for that part of the electorate, because Sanders must attract those people to win; he has to also pivot and cut into that part of the electorate which is looking for granular change, such as African Americans who want to see a real plan of job creation and a plan for lowering their unemployment rates. That is where he can beat Clinton handily and move African Americans into his camp!
With all of Clinton’s rhetoric, when you detail it out and listen to her closely – she does not have a specific plan to create jobs and get the economy rolling again. She talks about, I am going to allocate a billion or two in grants to put 16-19 year olds to work (handing block grant money to her cronies to redistribute who will take their cut off the top) or we are going to rebuild our infrastructure or we are going to stop sending our jobs over seas…but nothing specific. However, what Clinton has is an organization and a machine that is prepared to work and get her into the White House. Bernie Sanders needs a detailed and specific job creation plan. Then he can pivot and say of Clinton that she does not have anything specific economically speaking to put this country back to work but the same old tried and failed plans of the past ( which is true). He then overcomes the attributes of the machine.
Finally, Bernie needs African Americans to win and African Americans need Bernie Sanders to man-up with a consumer oriented job creation plan, as opposed to an infrastructure spending plan, that we can rally around (“The Fix This Time” fills that bill!). Read it and see if you agree! If he does not address this shortcoming, the Clinton machine will beat him in Pennsylvania, New York, California, the West, and other states. While the window for him to do this is closing, he still has time to present such a plan!
Staff Writer; James Davis
This talented brother is a graduate of Florida A. and M. University(FAMU), a former stockbroker, and a human rights activist who resides in Sanford, Florida. He was awarded the prestigious Governor Haydon Burns Scholarship to attend FAMU and while at FAMU was awarded the first Martin Luther King Scholarship. He is also author of three books, among them are “The Fix This Time,” Expanding Social Security Benefits to Create Jobs and Spur Demand( http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MI3PD2M ) and “Hey…God’s Talking To You,” The Study Book ( http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GYI3VQW ).
He can be reached through his blog @, (http://www.thefixthistime.com).