(ThyBlackMan.com) Let’s get busy! Please tweet, e-mail , face book and re-post this piece to friends. The answer to the above question is a resounding YES! What we have seen of late among white voters in polls related to the presidential election is an abandonment of traditional and mainstream political leaders. Many potential white voters rejected professional politicians in the polls due to undelivered promises on behalf of that group. You have to ask yourselves as blacks prepare to face another election and an economic downturn, where is the anger of the black voter? Blacks more than whites as a group have been left behind when it comes to this economic recovery. African Americans have experienced economically the worst decline of any worker group, yet they have not openly rejected traditional black leadership.
An example of the tolerance of African Americans is an unemployment rate that stayed above 10 percent for seven straight years without them having a vitriol response. The unemployment rate for the nation peaked at 10 percent in October, 2009! African Americans as a group would not see their rate drop below 10 percent until May of this year, six years later! Can you believe that? The national unemployment rate declined from that horrific level of 10 percent and currently sits at 5.3 percent for July.
African Americans watched as a president whom they supported without reservation declare the nation to be distressed at the time the national rate hit 10 percent. Mr. Obama said at the signing of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA); an $830 billion dollar package of legislation he and his administration crafted to attack the problem of national unemployment, that it is …“a direct fiscal boost to help lift our Nation from the greatest economic crisis in our lifetimes and lay the foundation for further growth.” Yet during the six years blacks sustained an unemployment rate above 10 percent, he nor anyone in black leadership ever and I mean ever, referred to African Americans as being in the “greatest crisis of our lifetimes.”
Black people in the meantime continue to be, with a current unemployment of 9.1 percent, in the fight of their lives when it comes to surviving economically under this oppressive system that
is designed to retard any shred of economic independence on behalf of African Americans. (Experts who follow these numbers tell us the real unemployment rate is even higher, by as much as 2 to 5 percent). Yet, black leadership in general has been silent and not at the forefront as African Americans have struggled with the burden of unemployment. We don’t see leadership coming from political pressure groups either, such as the Nation of Islam, the Urban League, the NAACP, the National Action Network (NAN) or even the Congressional Black Caucus. We don’t even see leadership coming from second tier black leaders and black news and entertainment publications like Ebony or business publications like Black Enterprise. Black media for the most part has failed the black community. It is as if the greatest crisis which befell the Nation is a non-crisis when it comes to the African American community. No one is pursuing solutions to the deplorable unemployment rates that affect African Americans.
Now, you have to ask the question, given the above, when are blacks themselves going to address the issue of their wretched economic situation? When are they going to become as savvy as whites on this issue? When will African Americans as a people dissolve the political bands which have connected them to do-nothing leadership and demand some accountability? Whites have shown their displeasure by rejecting establishment leadership. However, African Americans continue to sustain the platforms of leaders who are leading them to nowhere. Can’t they see seven years of unrelenting high unemployment, and high rates of black on black crime in many black communities are the result of this investment? These high unemployment numbers can’t be good for African American communities.
Blacks as citizens and taxpayers should expect their government to listen to them as indeed it has done in the past especially during 1960’s and ‘70’s, when they articulated plans that presented a pathway to political wellbeing. This was at that time a proper role for government to play and it can be a proper role for government to play again. However, African Americans must present the federal government with an economic plan to consider! Dr. Martin Luther King and his cohorts found common ground and cause with a president of southern origins in the person of Lyndon B. Johnson, which caused significant legislation to be put on the books. The federal government had something to consider – get it. They delivered proposals for consideration! Among this legislation was the Civil Rights Act and the Voters Rights Act which led to a significant number of the very same black politicians and leaders who are currently neglecting our needs today to be elected to office.
When leaders fail, it comes down to you and me advancing a plan that will lead to economic success for our communities. We can reduce black on black crime and put our youngsters back to work. It is unfortunate but this is where we are as a people. There is a fiscal solution to high unemployment, that is not out of reach and its efficacy is unquestionable. Go to http://www.thefixthistime.com. We can get this solution ourselves before the public and into the mainstream media.
This is something we can do! However, it requires you to act individually (if you care) and act now from the convenience of your computer or phone. You don’t have face policemen with guns or march in the street! Can we be as savvy as whites when it comes to this issue? Buy the book, “The Fix This Time!” at Amazon.com where it costs $9.96 and catapult the job creation plan advocated by the book right smack into the presidential debates where it should be. To hell with current do-nothing leaders! Let’s get B-U-S-Y!
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).
