Here in
New York City, Mayor Bloomberg’s “stop
and frisk,” policy (government
sanctioned racial profiling) was the main topic the mayoral candidates
addressed during the primaries in September 2013. It was a diversion from
the real problem in New York City and in America. The Real Problem: The
national unemployment rate for August 2013 was 7.3%. For whites it was
6.4% and for African Americans it was 13.0%. In 1954 the unemployment
rate for whites was 5%. For African Americans it was 9.9%. For
at least the past 59 years the unemployment rate for African Americans has been
double that of whites. [FYI: August 2013 unemployment rate for Hispanics 9.3%, Asians 5.1%.]
The
unemployment rate for the “stop &
frisk” target group (African American
males ages 18 to 29) today is about 20.9%. If we lower the
unemployment rate for that group to the whites’ rate of 6.4%, there would be no
one to stop and frisk. The target group would be at work instead on the
street.
The
unemployment rate gap in America has to close. (See Black
Unemployment Rate Consistently Twice That of Whites) Federal,
state and local governments need to commit to that. What we hear from
politicians is, “We’ve got to create
more jobs.” Something needs to be done about access to the
jobs. Whites control access to most jobs. White men dominate almost every industry. As long as that is the case, whites will
continue to have the lower unemployment rate and the higher paying jobs. Magazines like Ebony and Black Enterprise make it seem as though things are better than they are. They do encourage entrepreneurship and that is the best direction.
On
November 30, 2009, the New York Times published an article, “In Job
Hunt, College Degree Can’t Close Racial Gap,” saying that race remains
an obstacle in the job market. Having an MBA from a top school doesn’t
help your chances if you are African American. That has got to change and
politicians need to step up and show they have the backbone to make some bold
recommendations. But, Democrats are too afraid to tackle this
problem. Republicans are too ______. They want to keep “stop&
amp; frisk,” in New York City. It feeds the prison industrial complex.
A white
friend of mine told me what he witnessed several years ago. A young Black
man walked through the doors where he worked, college degree and resume in
hand, looking for a job. This was a small Wall Street stock brokerage
firm in Manhattan. My friend told the young man to have a seat and summoned his
boss. The boss talked with the young man right there in the lobby and had
him complete a job application. My friend overheard his boss tell the
young man there weren’t any openings but he will keep his application and
resume on file. “You’re just the
kind of person we’d like to have here,” the boss was heard so say.
When the young man left, the boss tossed the application and resume into the
waste basket and went back to his office.
The Black
job seeker did not know that he had just been discriminated against nor how
many times that happened to him during his job search. Just as we,
African Americans, were told by our parents that we have to be ten times better
than the white guy in order to be considered equal, we have to apply for ten
times as many jobs in order to get one serious consideration.
I recently
sent a letter to President Barack Obama, citing the statistics I mentioned and asked
what he intends to do to close the gap. I know he won’t do
anything. Unfortunately, the Conservative Tea Party Republicans are
waiting to crucify President Obama as soon as he even hints that he wants to do
something that specifically helps African Americans. He knows
that. We know that. He needs to risk it.
To my
knowledge no one has ever worked on the real solution … Close the Unemployment Rate Gap.
I have never heard an African American politician or any politician
say anything about it. Will you step up the plate or ask your local, state and federal legislative representatives to read this and take action? <>
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