Terrell Collins, of Detroit, pauses while checking employment on a laptop computer while attending a job fair in Livonia, Mich. — AP PHOTO/PAUL SANCYA
Commentary by Deoliver47, Black Kos Editor
To Be Young, Jobless, and Black...
I was remembering a song today. A song that was sung by the late great artist Nina Simone, written as a memorial tribute to her dear friend Lorraine Hansberry. A song that was one of the anthems of the Civil Rights Movement.
The lyrics open like this:
To be young, gifted and black,
Oh what a lovely precious dream
To be young, gifted and black,
Open your heart to what I mean
In the whole world you know
There are billion boys and girls
Who are young, gifted and black,
And that's a fact!
You are young, gifted and black
We must begin to tell our young
There's a world waiting for you
This is a quest that's just begun
We are facing a crisis today that spins a different tune. Not that our young people are not gifted.
They are. But no matter the gifts, no matter the diploma or the GED and job training, the future for them is bleak.
The soaring rates of joblessness in the black community, for these young people cannot be ignored much longer. Buried in unemployment figures that don’t look great nationwide, coming out of a Republican destroyed and outsourced economy, we have a deeply troubling situation on our hands.
Add to that a criminal injustice system skewed to screw teens of color, when they find employment in the underground economy and ultimately get busted for trying to earn some cash, creating even more permanent joblessness. We have to wake up and sing a new anthem for our times; we need a new Job Corps, one that doesn’t penalize youths with an arrest or conviction record. We need a massive youth works project.
Even those young people with squeaky clean records are in deep trouble. A Washington Post article, Blacks hit hard by economy's punch 34.5 percent of young African American men are unemployed had this quote:
"Black men were less likely to receive a call back or job offer than equally qualified white men," said Devah Pager, a sociology professor at Princeton University, referring to her studies a few years ago of white and black male job applicants in their 20s in Milwaukee and New York. "Black men with a clean record fare no better than white men just released from prison."
We need an inner city Marshall plan.
The Post article cites figures not just for young brothers, but for our young sisters as well:
The jobless rate for young black men and women is 30.5 percent. For young blacks -- who experts say are more likely to grow up in impoverished racially isolated neighborhoods, attend subpar public schools and experience discrimination -- race statistically appears to be a bigger factor in their unemployment than age, income or even education. Lower-income white teens were more likely to find work than upper-income black teens, according to the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University, and even blacks who graduate from college suffer from joblessness at twice the rate of their white peers.
Young black women have an unemployment rate of 26.5 percent, while the rate for all 16-to-24-year-old women is 15.4 percent.
NPR’s Sam Sanders filed this report, Black Teenage Males Crushed By Unemployment, adding information about black teens from middle class households:
Lingering Disparities, Long-Term Effects.
It's not just low-income households that are hurting.
Andrew Sum of with the Center for Labor Market Studies found that upper-middle-class black teenagers are less likely to be employed than low-income white teenagers.
Among black teens in households making between $100,000 and $150,000 a year, only 28 in 100 have jobs. Of white, non-Hispanic teens in households making less than $20,000 a year, 37 out of 100 have jobs. Generally, as family income increases, the rate of teen employment for those households rises. But even this trend can't erase the lingering disparities in employment for black teenagers.
Black political cartoonist Keith Knight, who draws The K Chronicles penned this:
Lest we think that this is solely a problem for young black folks here in the US – let’s take a look at Great Britain, where Guardian columnist Diane Abbott takes the Labour Party to task:
Labour has missed many opportunities to focus on young black unemployed people – but it can act now, if it has the will
Hard upon John Denham's speech last week (which seemed to imply that the battle against racism had been won and we now needed to turn to issues about class) come the Office for National Statistics figures which show that almost half of young black people are unemployed – despite overall unemployment falling slightly in the three months to November 2009.
And an October 2009 survey by the Department for Work and Pensions found that only 39% of ethnic minority applicants received a positive response from potential employers compared with 68% of white British applicants, despite having the same education, skills and work history.
It is important to look at the role systemic racism plays in these figures. Lee A. Daniels, Director of Communications for the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, addressed the role of "race" in the overall unemployment numbers.
Even now, as mass unemployment continues despite an economic recovery appearing to take hold, the black unemployment rate for every category from high school dropouts to college graduates is soaring far above that of whites. But the racial faux-moralists are silent. Instead, now that masses of whites are suffering, too, one finds an understanding of the harsh toll long-term unemployment can exact on adults and children. That was the point of a November 12 New York Times story which explored in poignant detail the stress on families caused by the long-term or serial joblessness of husbands and/or wives. The predicament, experts said, can have harmful lasting effects on both adults and children.
For me, the story was notable in that it focused on white, middle-class families with a dispassionate sympathy.
My first reaction upon reading the article was a bitter smirk—at seeing another confirmation of my this-is-what-happens-when-the-pain-goes-the-other-way theory.
However, my second, a moment later, was appreciation for the exploration of a critically-important issue, and sympathy for those caught in the maw of forces beyond their control. But I wonder: When the American economy has recovered sufficiently to return to normal, to once again produce full employment for white American but not black Americans, will there be any compassion for those left on the other side of the color line to still endure mass unemployment?
Good question Lee.
I’m waiting to hear answers, and to see people start taking action.
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Today's News by Amazinggrace, Black Kos Editor
Haiti we stand with you. Text "Haiti" to 90999 to send $10 through the Red Cross or Text "Yele" to 501501 to send $5 through Wyclef Jean's charity.
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Racewire: Please Don’t Superdome Haiti (update)
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For those who know how race and media intersect in times of crisis, the earthquake in Haiti has probably sent a bump through your pop-cultural seismograph. Now it’s becoming a flashpoint.
Following an initial wave of sympathy, the corporate media has turned an alarmed eye to the increasingly desperate masses. We see unruly mobs, bodies piled in the streets (we hear of corpses being used as human "barricades"). The insinuations and direct reporting of violence flirt with the popular imagination and evoke memories of America’s most spectacular prime-time tragedy—Katrina.
The AP reports that the U.S. may consider stepping up its "security role," while its humanitarian effort continues to hobble amid transportation delays, logistical chaos and dubious political machinations. Announcing plans to expand the U.S. ground deployment, Adm. Mike Mullen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Friday, "The initial intent is to strategically place some of our soldiers so that they can help with that relief distribution. And then, obviously, we’re all focused on the security piece as well,"
(That "security piece" has been a pretty huge chunk of America's entanglement with Haiti throughout the 20th century, punctuated by military interventions and occupation. Six years after the last U.S.-backed coup, maybe the Pentagon has a hankering for another extended stay.) In the eyes of Defense Secretary Robert Gates, delivering help to people requires exerting control:
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Repeating Islands: European Parents Await Adopted Haitian Orphans.
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After the Haiti earthquake, hundreds of people in various European countries have been waiting for the arrival of the Haitian orphans that have been chosen for adoption. Last Thursday in the Netherlands, an airlift brought 106 children from quake-ravaged Haiti to new lives in the Netherlands and Luxembourg. The children, aged 6 months to 7 years, were carried or walked from the plane one by one, wrapped in blue blankets, after it arrived at a Dutch military airport in Eindhoven. Most of the children had already been matched with new parents, but some were being introduced to those parents for the first time. Nine had been approved for adoption but not yet matched with a family, and they will be placed in foster care until parents can be found.
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BBC: Can Winnie Mandela's heroism outshine her crimes?
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She was known to many as the Mother of the Nation, but Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the once celebrated heroine of the anti-apartheid struggle, is no stranger to controversy.
Now it seems that film-makers on both sides of the Atlantic have seen the dramatic potential.
Jennifer Hudson has been lined up to play the lead role in a Hollywood film of the revolutionary firebrand's life, and the BBC has filmed its own drama, Mrs. Mandela, with Sophie Okonedo in the lead role.
But which Winnie Madikizela-Mandela will we see? The central drama in Winnie's life is whether her heroism can outshine her crimes.
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After centuries of tensions between the two countries, Dominicans are now in solidarity with their neighbor. How long will it last? Colorlines: Dominicans Come to Haiti’s Aid.
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As the world focuses on Haiti—sending donations and rescue workers—there is one curiosity: the reaction of its next-door neighbor.
For decades, the relationship between Haiti and the Dominican Republic has been largely defined by tension, racism and the legacy of the 1937 massacre, when the Dominican government had close to 30,000 Haitians murdered. More recently, the weak economy in Haiti has forced many Haitians to migrate to the Dominican Republic, where they are given the lowest-paid jobs, earning as little as $6 a day, while frequently facing a barrage of racial prejudice from Dominicans.
And yet, Dominicans are responding to the crisis like the rest of the world—with compassion and aid.
A psychologist living in Santo Domingo had never spoken to her Haitian neighbors across the street, but the day after the earthquake she went to knock on their door and ask about their families. She also wanted to volunteer to help victims recover from post-traumatic stress disorder. She was certain Dominicans would help Haitians despite the history between the two countries. "This is a disaster. We have to help," she said.
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Colorlines: Three Reasons Racial Profiling Won’t End Terrorism.
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We’re all familiar by now with the theme song, even if this year it’s being sung in a different key: an attempt at terrorism thwarted; calls for racial profiling go up.
Despite castigation from the right for being too soft on Muslims, the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) installed new search rules in late December for travelers from 14 mostly Muslim countries. Just as after September 11, the attempted bombing by Richard Reid and the 2006 arrests of more than 20 men allegedly involved in a transatlantic bombing conspiracy in the United Kingdom, blatant racial and religious profiling at our airports and borders seems just a question of time.
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The Root: Blacks and Roe v. Wade.
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For the last 37 years, the case has remained in a constant state of controversy, with anti-choice activists using any vehicle available to chip away at the right to choose. The most recent manifestation was seen in the health care reform debate, when Rep. Bart Stupak and Sen. Ben Nelson took the already-contentious issue and add another, obstructive layer to the controversy. The debate raged in the feminist blogosphere and the mainstream press, but one group remained silent: the African-American community.
To the untrained eye, it would appear that African Americans are not concerned with abortion rights, one way or another. But that perception could not be further from reality.
According to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control, black women accounted for 36.4 percent of all abortion services performed in 2006. Black women are roughly 8.5 percent of the national population, yet we seek more pregnancy termination services than other minority groups. Yet, when the right to choose is under siege, many in our community choose to remain silent.
Google "African Americans and abortion," and you’ll find many links to sites decrying "genocide" and how "Planned Parenthood has killed more blacks than the Ku Klux Klan;" few provide straightforward information about abortion statistics in the African-American community. Discussions about race and reproductive rights are hard to navigate. Statistically, African Americans are more religious than the general population in the United States; most major religions frown upon the practice of abortion. Then there’s the fact that African Americans have had a unique history in America: We’ve often been the targets of sterilization programs. (Along with American Indian, mentally handicapped and Puerto Rican women living on the island.) The original founder of Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger, was also a staunch believer in eugenics, and made specific references to "racial regeneration" through the promotion of abortion.
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The degree to which the recent decision of the SCOTUS is about class versus race we'll leave up to you. Racism Review: A White Supremacist Century: Supreme Court as White Oligarchical Power.
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The recent Supreme Court ruling, Citizens United v Federal Elections Commission, which essentially forbids any restrictions on corporate financing of political candidates, has garnered much media attention this past week. Ostensibly, the ruling extends ridiculous precedents granting corporations status as persons and endowing them with accordant rights. Liberal commentators and politicians have rightly expressed outrage at the serious threat Citizens United poses to the last vestiges of American democracy. Most of the outrage has been on one or more of several grounds: Marxist/class-based, partisan, and/or politico-structural (i.e. how laws and the structure of federal and state governments will change as a consequence of corporate influence). Too little analysis has focused explicitly on the racial causes and implications of the ruling.
I believe the timing of this ruling is an intentional effort by white [male] elites to restore whites’ structural political advantages. For whites, Obama’s election and Latinos’ increased voting power threaten whites’ historical dominance. The ruling is designed to immediately weaken the currently ascendant political coalition of people of color and liberal whites. It is also sets the social, political, and economic conditions for whites to continue racial domination after they cease to be the numerical and electoral majority in the United States.
MSNBC noted the irony of the Supreme Courts’ ruling, which greatly empowers banks and other large financial institutions, coming down within hours of President Obama announcing proposals to reestablish limits on the nation’s largest banks. On its face, the timing of events appears to be either oddly coincidental or, more likely, the first shots in a war between two ruling sectors in the United States—the state and the capital class. But from a critical racial perspective, the Supreme Court ruling smacks of racism. Over the past three years, much was made about Obama’s ability to raise money through non-corporate vehicles. To be sure, he received much corporate support, but the rhetoric surrounding his campaign was a populist one, and the campaign greatly benefitted from "small" contributions from "regular people." For the first time in many cycles, the Democratic candidate had a significant financial advantage over his Republican rivals. Obama effectively used that financial advantage to exhaust the resources of the McCain campaign. The Democrats held vulnerable territories without much challenge (e.g. Michigan) and won Republican-trending states (e.g. North Carolina and Virginia) via sustained (and expensive) media and grassroots efforts. This change in presidential campaign norms was all the more stunning given that it was done by the first Black candidate to lead the ticket of a major party.
Sociological research indicates that dominant groups (e.g. white policy-makers and Supreme Court justices) respond to threats (i.e. a Black man becoming chief executive) by using state institutions to weaken the threat and strengthen the dominant group. (See the introduction to the second edition of McAdam’s Political Process and the Black Insurgency, 1930-1970, for one of many examples.) The research seems to be especially applicable in this case. If Obama’s political strength comes, at least in part, from his advantage in non-corporate funding, allowing corporations to spend infinite dollars in support of oppositional candidates diffuses Obama as a political threat and greatly strengthens his opposition.
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The Atlantic (Ta-Nehisi Coates): Race parenting and punishment.
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The conversation, and ensuing debate, on parenting and punishment reminded me of this article from Slate which looks at income, race and frequency of spanking. Not surprisingly, black parents spank more than white parents. It's not clear whether that's because of culture, or class But one interesting side-note (that likely backs up the culture argument) is that black parents don't simply spank more, they punish more. Hence even black parents who've sworn off corporal punishment tend to be a little quicker to snatch the Nintendo DS:
It might seem like a stretch to explain spanking with economics, but what else could account for these patterns? Well, there's always culture. The very poor are disproportionately black, and blacks physically discipline their children more than whites do. But according to Weinberg, the effect of income persists even after you've controlled for race and other cultural variables.
Anyway, black parents punish their children more than white parents in all ways. If you're black and you misbehave, you're both more likely to get spanked and more likely to lose your allowance than your white neighbor, who in turn is both more likely to get spanked and more likely to lose his allowance than the Hispanic kid down the street. So on average, poor people spank more and withdraw allowances less, whereas black people spank more and withdraw allowances more. The income pattern fails to match the racial pattern, so the income pattern can't be fully explained by race.
The Hispanic portion is interesting, but I'm slightly skeptical given how broad the term "Hispanic" tends to be. I'd be very interested in the intragroup differences between families from different portions of the diaspora.
For black folks, I think it simply is the perception--rightly or wrongly--that black people (class aside) who commit transgressions are subject to higher price.
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New York Times: Thriving Saints Helped New Orleans Revive After Hurricane Katrina.
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"Fans here have gone through a lot," (Saint's safety) Sharper said. "They know the history."
That history includes years in which the team lost a lot and was nicknamed the Aints, and some fans wore paper bags on their heads in shame.
Mickey Loomis, the general manager, said he feared Katrina would have "a dramatic, negative effect" on the way potential players viewed the Saints.
Instead, Loomis said: "I was surprised by how many players and coaches said: ‘Hey, I’ve got a chance to do something more than just play and coach. I can have an impact on a city.’ "
Certainly there is affection, but is it not common for urban areas to rally around successful sports teams, particularly after natural or manmade disasters?
Kevin Gotham, a sociology professor at Tulane, said the mythic quality of such conflation did not make it less valid.
"People can believe in the healing power of myths," Gotham said. "Myths are identity-affirming and solidarity-providing. They become powerful through ceremonies and rituals."
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THIS WEEK IN HISTORY
[] Jan 24, 1885. Martin Robinson Delany, an ethnologist, army officer, politician, and Black nationalist, died. He, along with Fredrick Douglas, published the first issue of the North Star.
[] Jan 24, 1993.Thurgood Marshall, the first Black Supreme Court Justice, died at the Bethesda Navy Medical Center.
[] Jan 25, 1890. Joseph C. Price, President of Livingston College, was elected president of the National Afro-American League, a pioneer Black protest organization.
[] Jan 25, 1950. Gloria Naylor, a writer, was born. She is best known for 2 of her works, Women Of Brewster Place, and Mama Day.
[] Jan 25, 1966. Constance Baker Motley became the first Black woman named to a federal judgeship.
[] Jan 25, 1972. Shirley Chisholm, first Black woman elected to Congress, started her presidential campaign.
[] Jan 26, 1893. Bessie Coleman, the first licensed Black aviator, was born.
[] Jan 26, 1948. Executive Order 9981, designed to end segregation in the US Armed Forces, was signed by President Harry Truman.
[] Jan 27, 1961. Leontyne Price, world-renowned opera singer, made her formal debut at the Metropolitan Opera House.
[] Jan 27, 1972. Mahalia Jackson, perhaps the world's greatest gospel singer of all-time died.
[] Jan 28, 1960. Zora Neale Hurston, famed author, died in Durham, NC. Hurston is widely known for her contribution to the "Harlem Renaissance."
[] Jan 28, 1963. Arthur Ashe, first Black male to win Wimbledon, was denied a visa by South Africa to compete on the U.S. Team for the South African Open tennis championships.
[] Jan 29, 1908. The Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, the first Black Greek Letter Fraternity (originally founded at Cornell University in 1906), was incorporated.
[] Jan 29, 1913. Alpha Kappa Alpha, the first Black Greek Letter Sorority (originally founded at Howard University in 1908), was incorporated.
[] Jan 29, 1993. Willie Dixon, blues legend and one of the originators of the "Chicago Sound," died in Burbank, CA.
[] Jan 30, 1787. Sojourner Truth (Isabella Baumfree), preacher, abolitionist, speaker, and women's rights advocate, was born a slave in Hurley, NY.
[] Jan 30, 1956. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s home was bombed in 1956. Dr. King's daughter, Yolanda Denise, Mrs. King, and a friend were in the house as the bomb was hurled onto the porch. No one was injured.
[] Jan 30, 1965. Leroy "Satchel" Paige, baseball legend, was named all-time outstanding player by the National Baseball Congress.
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Voices and Soul by Justice Putnam, Black Kos Tuesday's Chile, Poetry Contributor
The indignities of life seem to follow us everywhere. We live in a
nation where no part of our existence is outside scrutiny. Banks now
acknowledge they investigate our Twitter and Facebook posts and friend
lists to deny or approve credit; we are subjected to full body scans
at the airport; we have to urinate in a jar to flip a burger.
Affrilachian Poet, Amanda Johnston, tackles these
intrusions with a particularly powerful and dark élan. She goes for
the jugular when the application for employment asks...
Have you ever been convicted of a felony? If so, explain.
Fighting devils ain’t new to me. Hell, I’ve been fighting them since I
was born. They always come looking like men I love. Mama showed me how
to cradle their fire until the heat no longer singed my arms. We
learned to swallow our salt and peppered tongues with ease. One will
sacrifice everything in hell’s kitchen, but not my babies. I always
fed them something sweeter, saving the brine and rinds for myself. I
like to bake. Even know how to make most stuff from scratch. I can
dice, julienne, and score an apple pie crust like in Woman’s Day
Magazine. Didn’t mean to make his face flower like that, forgot I was
even holding the knife. Boom, Boom, Boom – ever heard the devil
beating at your front door hungry and clawing for neck bones? Forgot
exactly how the blood spilled, tried to tell the police that. I like
to bake. My babies need to eat. For years I cooked for other inmates.
Guess you could say I’m experienced. Let me show you. I promise I’ll
do a good job.
-- Amanda Johnston
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