While others attempt to use President Obama's race as a means of avoiding criticism through white liberal guilt, I would like to take this time to discuss the economic stats regarding people of color as it relates to the economy. My thesis is simple: What is a great recession for white working voters is a great depression for people of color in the work force. The numbers tell the story. The irony is that the policy failures from the White House and Democratic leaders that are harming white voters are harming people of color even more. I want to address the periodic need to bring up race as a way to deflect criticism because these arguments have the perverse result of ignoring how much economic damage is being done to people of color. This can not be allowed to continue because people of color have the most to lose with Democratic policy failures.
So, what are the numbers?
The unemployment rate for whites in January was 8.7 percent. The unemployment rate for blacks in the same month was 16.5 percent. The unemployment rate for Latino is also higher. One article placed the number at 12.6 percent.
The issue that jumps out immediately is how race here is cynically being used to cover up what is actually an economic crisis for the black and latino communities across the country. We are facing an economic depression in those communities, but meanwhile, we are told that if anyone criticizes President Obama, they are doing so because of race. That's a great trick.
Below I excerpt part of a NPR discussion that occurred on the subject of ignoring race in the economic data:
"So, you know, journalism says - standard journalism says the most important information goes at the top of the story and the least important at the bottom. And in this case, the black unemployment figures and Hispanic unemployment figures were either at the bottom or not there at all.
MARTIN: Angelo, you have the same experience. Tell me about it. You wrote a similar piece focusing on the Latino unemployment, focusing that just on the numbers, Latinos are probably the - they dont have the highest unemployment rate. But in terms of the overall number, they probably make up the largest share of the jobless. I should also mention that teenagers actually have the highest unemployment rate. Did you think there would be more of a reaction?
Mr. FALCON: Well, if you look at whats been happening in the last number of years, attempts to delegitimize race talk and to talk about, you know, post-racial society and all this kind of stuff, you kind of notice that that apparently has been successful because its essentially created a situation where its kind of almost, like, wiped out blacks and Latinos from the scene in terms of talking about these kinds of issues when, as Joel said, you know, you have these unbelievable numbers disproportionately affecting a community like ours, something that should call attention to policymakers and for the general public.
I mean, you know, the Latino unemployment rate, for example, last year was already 10 percent. So for me, as a Latino, to be listening to people freaking out this year that, you know, it went up to 10 percent when it was affecting my community at that level a year earlier nobody said anything. It kind of says a lot about where were at in this society today."
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If anyone wants to have a real discussion about race and economics in this society, I say bring it because you and the Democratic leadership won't like it. This leadership has over the last 30 years been complicit in policies that the GOP has put forward that harmed the African American and Latino communities. More over, the economic impact has mostly been ignored. In fact, race only seems to come up when someone wants to use it as a trojan horse for passing the same policies that have harmed black and latino communities in the past. Well, X, Y, or Z is black or latino, and, therefore, those policies are now legitimate. Uhm, no. The proof is in the policy outcomes. We can see those outcomes in the economic data.
Nor is the economic devastation limited to employment. When we look at foreclosures, people of color once again are facing a crisis.
"“An estimated 1.3 million Latino families will lose their homes to foreclosure between 2009 and 2012,” said Janet Murguía, president and CEO of the NCLR. About 400,000 Latino families were expected to lose their homes to foreclosure as of 2009."
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The reality is equally bad for African Americans as discussed here:
"Equity rich but cash poor black households hardest hit by the crippling subprime lending scheme have benefited less than predatory financial institutions from stimulus dollars meant to help them recover, fair lending advocates and loan modification analysts say.
President Barack Obama created the Making Home Affordable Program as part of his $787 stimulus package. The idea was to help about seven to nine million struggling homeowners keep their homes by allowing them to either refinance or modify their mortgages to lower terms.
Greg Akili, field organizer and national training director with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Los Angeles, said that’s easier said than done because the bailed out banks are still holding people captive.
“The money should have gone to direct payment to homeowners, just like they did with the banks,” Akili said. “They should have subsidized people who were close to foreclosure or in foreclosure so they could keep their homes right away.”
According to Realty Trac, foreclosures, scheduled auctions, bank repossessions, and default notices were reported for more than 315,000 homes in January 2010 alone. By contrast, very few struggling homeowners have received help."
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There is a great deal more economic data out there. The article discusses the issue of race, unemployment and education at OpenLeft. Check out the data in these article, it is very eye opening for anyone interested in using race as more than an excuse to avoid accountability.
I want to have a real discussion on race. If anyone else does, I say bring it. We must admit that centrism has failed us. That neo-libealism as an ideological system of how to regulate economic issues has failed us. Instead, we are being told that because the president is black, that some how means we should ignore the economic reality. That criticizing him for following bad economic policy making is attacking people of color.
The really offensive part is how much this is actually some kind of Orwell like ploy. That up is down and black is white here is to me pretty clear. The truth is the opposite. The president needs to be criticized because of the harm his policies are having on people of color. I am African American. I see the devastation in my community. I find it offensive that others try to use race to protect the president rather than address what's happening in my community.