The Congressional Black Caucus has made joblessness for African Americans into one of its top priorities recently. The group held a hearing in which they listened to African Americans suffering from dramatic levels of unemployment. The latest estimates put black unemployment at 15.8% and many people in the black community are terrified of what will come next. A woman only named "Christina," gave her testimony to the group.
"I'm 45-plus, I'm a black woman and I'm at a critical juncture in my career because retirement is looming in my face,"
she wrote in a letter to the National Urban League. Out of work for more than 15 months, she's also caring for her mother, who's wrestling with stage-three lung cancer on limited health benefits.
"Other than scream, I'm not sure what I will do in the next few months without gainful employment."
According a report released by the Congressional Joint Economic Committee, African Americans are only 11.5% of the workforce, but make up 17.8% of those who are unemployed and 22.1% of those who've been out of work for at least a year. Even those with four-year college degrees are feeling high unemployment rates of 8.2%, compared with a rate of 4.5% for their white counterparts.
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Blacks in the News
In this February 2010 photo released by the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture, a Smithsonian Institution worker inspects a family's heirloom during the museum's Save our African American Treasures event in Atlanta, GA. (AP Photo/The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture, Michael R. Barnes)
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National Museum of African American History & Culture
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Blacks in the News
In this February 2010 photo released by the Smithsonian Institution, Michael Ross shows old portraits of black American performers to a Smithsonian Institution worker during the National Museum of African American History & Culture (NMAAHC) Save our African American Treasures event in Atlanta, GA. (AP Photo/The Smithsonian Institution, Eric Lesser)
Blacks in the News
In this February 2010 photo released by the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture, a Smithsonian Institution worker inspects a family's heirloom during the museum's Save our African American Treasures event in Atlanta, GA. (AP Photo/The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture, Michael R. Barnes)
Blacks in the News
In this February 2010 photo released by the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture, a woman shows her family's heirloom das a Smithsonian Institution worker takes notes during the museum's Save our African American Treasures event in Atlanta, GA. (AP Photo/The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture, Michael R. Barnes)
Blacks in the News
In this February 2010 photo released by the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture, a a unidentified woman presents old dolls to a Smithsonian Institution worker for inspection during the museum's Save our African American Treasures event in Atlanta, GA. (AP Photo/The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture, Erik Lesser)
Blacks in the News
FILE - In this Aug. 2, 2008 file photo, then-Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., left, smiles as National Urban League Chief Executive Officer Marc Morial , asks attendees to sing a birthday song for Obama at the National Urban League Annual Conference in Orlando, Fla. Obama, the nation's first black president, has said he cannot adopt employment strategies that are designed to solely help blacks, but that he supports targeting help to regions most in need, which in turn, he says, would lift the African-American community. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, file)
Blacks in the News
James Norris is shown in Charlotte, N.C., on March 17, 2010. In this banking center walloped by the Great Recession, where unemployment just hit a 20-year high and as many as one in three black folks are out of work, black people could easily be frustrated with President Barack Obama's insistence that a rising economic tide will lift African-American boats. (AP Photo/Jesse Washington)
Blacks in the News
Shenika Simpson is shown in Charlotte, N.C., on March 17, 2010. In this banking center walloped by the Great Recession, where unemployment just hit a 20-year high and as many as one in three black folks are out of work, black people could easily be frustrated with President Barack Obama's insistence that a rising economic tide will lift African-American boats. An unemployed single mother, Simpson said that Obama "can't just jump in the chair and fix everything within a year." (AP Photo/Jesse Washington)
Blacks in the News
Shenika Simpson is shown in Charlotte, N.C., on March 17, 2010. In this banking center walloped by the Great Recession, where unemployment just hit a 20-year high and as many as one in three black folks are out of work, black people could easily be frustrated with President Barack Obama's insistence that a rising economic tide will lift African-American boats. An unemployed single mother, Simpson said that Obama "can't just jump in the chair and fix everything within a year." (AP Photo/Jesse Washington)
Blacks in the News
Benjamin Banneker is featured in a calendar designed by James Williams of Pittsburg, California, which contains facts about African American pioneers. (Dan Rosenstrauch/Contra Costa Times/MCT)
Blacks in the News
Jan Earnest Matzeliger is featured in a calendar designed by James Williams of Pittsburg, California, which contains facts about African American pioneers. (Dan Rosenstrauch/Contra Costa Times/MCT)
Blacks in the News
A bill introduced by California Representative George Miller calls for $75 billion dollars to be invested in job creation in cities and counties across America. The bill is co-sponsored by Reps. Yvette Clarke, Charles Rangel, Gregory Meeks, Paul Tonko and Timothy Bishop, all Democrats from New York. The goal of the bill is to steer funds directly to municipalities in order to aim specifically at job creation. This is a different approach from that of the Obama Administration, which has focused on giving tax credits to small businesses.
The bill, called the
Local Jobs for America Act, makes the argument that funds should be targeted toward cities with the highest levels of unemployment. In Georgia and California, for example, more than half of the state's unemployed are concentrated in a few urban areas.
"For too long, including under the [American Recovery and Reinvestment Act], Washington has mistakenly relied on the states to deliver ... job creation resources," said Douglas H. Palmer, one of the attendees at the hearing. "We need this bill enacted not tomorrow, but right now."
The reasoning for disproportionate unemployment among African Americans is typically related to less training, weaker networks and employment discrimination. Also, the arbitrary weight applied to credit and background checks can be another difficult hurdle for black people. One added obstacle for the African American community is that of black teen unemployment, which rose from 16.3% in 2007 to 42% in 2010. Teen unemployment can be linked to incarceration, which has a disproportionate effect on African Americans.
One avenue that was not immediately discussed at the hearing was support for black entrepreneurs. By being trained to run their own businesses, African Americans may be able to escape the challenges of employment discrimination and also unlock the opportunities that come with owning financial assets. There are tens of thousands of black entrepreneurs across America, and they can use support too. It remains to be seen if our lawmakers will take this next step towards helping the black community become more economically stable.
Lawrence Watkins is the CEO of The Great Black Speakers Bureau and an MBA student at Cornell University. For more information, please visit LawrenceWatkins.com. 
Comments: (5)
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By: Tlynn on 3/26/2010 6:03PM
It's really ashame that even on unemployment blacks are still being singled out. I can understand where this sister is coming from. I have a great resume but I will be 49 years old in 45 days and lost my job because I went to work for a crook who laid me off on a Friday and someone else was sitting at my desk and doing my job the following Monday. So there is no reason why I should be unemployed. I was a good employee, in fact good enough to train all of his new employees. The game the congress is playing about extending our UE benefits is becoming a jock also. I worked for over 30+ years and have been unemployed for 16 months. I haven't collected a third of what I have paid into this fund and damn right, I'm entitled to the money and expect to collect until I find a job.
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By: cltdale on 3/28/2010 11:12AM
"It's really ashame that even on unemployment blacks are still being singled out."
I agree with this statement -as always we blacks are carrying the brunt of what's going on.
This is not the first time -people have no compunction of using us for political reasons.
I was also laid off after 18 yrs of employment.
I work in the IT industry which has been hit hard due too outsourcing. My former company is no different.
My whole dept. was outsourced to India. In my opinion President Obama should repeal NAFTA -but he won't.
If President Obama dosen't show a little more concern about the unemployment in our neighborhoods -he will be a one term president!
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By: Ray Dishmon on 3/29/2010 8:58AM
Repeal NAFTA!!!
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By: DARRYL on 5/08/2010 6:48PM
To: Eric Holder
CC: Elena Kagan
Date: 4-27-2010
Subject: Department Felonies
This letter comes to you, by my hand to ensure delivery, as I have been subjected to
mail fraud as well as wire by the FBI and local Police with the associated State of Illinois
leading the illegal charge, assisted by all branches of the Military, for over 4 years.
I have had phony phone calls to Mr. Holders office by these offenders and I call from a different phone not my cell and I get his real office workers, I have these agencies using court clerks to write illegal proceedings instead of the actual Judges, no proceedings are ever taking place and this is an Obstruction of Justice, I received letters from Elena Kagan in my Supreme Court case against the DOJ, but the case belongs to someone else whose case was denied and I was given a fake used number so th4ese felonies could keep taking place as well as a fake phone call from Asst. Solicitor General Malcolm Stewart on that same faked case.
I have had every Court proceeding tainted by these agencies as well as my EEOC cases in and effort to keep me from obtaining justice and keep me from getting money for the felonies these agencies have done, while they spend billions chasing me thru the streets daily with thew Military, and insult to injury they keep me from employment by posing as employers and automatically denying me work, and they contact any employer I call or email and tell them not to hire me. I have information and evidence of Federal Judge felonies as well as every case that I have filed against your agencies.
In conclusion the tactics used against me and my family are used for terrorist and illegal
immigrants not on American citizens, and the Military used to harass and stalk civilians as
we know is also illegal. Every Court proceeding must be fair and without corruption or the
Investigation I requested from the Congress and Senate is the only recourse.
Also Mr. Holder and Mrs. Kagan your record
and past track records show you defend
everything we have discussed thus far, and
when Investigations go you are the ones they
put on the firing line, Mr. Holder this is why
you were brought in because the people under
you have no structure and are like kids running wild without rules, that they follow.
And I ask that you investigate the FBI inside
you building because I have sent and brought
you over 20 drop offs and I am sure you have
not received them they faked my deliveries
from the Marshals offices.
Thank you,
sincerely,
Darryl Kinney
P.O. Box 9102
Alexandria, VA 22304
262-344-0185
224-927-9443
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By: DARRYL on 5/08/2010 6:42PM
To: Eric Holder
CC: Elena Kagan
Date: 4-27-2010
Subject: Department Felonies
This letter comes to you, by my hand to ensure delivery, as I have been subjected to
mail fraud as well as wire by the FBI and local Police with the associated State of Illinois
leading the illegal charge, assisted by all branches of the Military, for over 4 years.
I have had phony phone calls to Mr. Holders office by these offenders and I call from a
different phone not my cell and I get his real office workers, I have these agencies using
court clerks to write illegal proceedings instead of the actual Judges, no proceedings are
ever taking place and this is an Obstruction of Justice, I received letters from Elena Kagan in
my Supreme Court case against the DOJ, but the case belongs to someone else whose case
was denied and I was given a fake used number so th4ese felonies could keep taking place
as well as a fake phone call from Asst. Solicitor General Malcolm Stewart on that same faked
case.
I have had every Court proceeding tainted by these agencies as well as my EEOC cases in
and effort to keep me from obtaining justice and keep me from getting money for the felonies
these agencies have done, while they spend billions chasing me thru the streets daily with thew Military, and insult to injury they keep me from employment by posing as employers and
automatically denying me work, and they contact any employer I call or email and tell them
not to hire me. I have information and evidence of Federal Judge felonies as well as every
case that I have filed against your agencies.
In conclusion the tactics used against me and my family are used for terrorist and illegal
immigrants not on American citizens, and the Military used to harass and stalk civilians as
we know is also illegal. Every Court proceeding must be fair and without corruption or the
Investigation I requested from the Congress and Senate is the only recourse.
Also Mr. Holder and Mrs. Kagan your record and past track records show you defend
everything we have discussed thus far, and when Investigations go you are the ones they
put on the firing line, Mr. Holder this is why you were brought in because the people under
you have no structure and are like kids running wild without rules, that they follow.
And I ask that you investigate the FBI inside you building because I have sent and brought
you over 20 drop offs and I am sure you have not received them they faked my deliveries
from the Marshals offices.
Thank you,
sincerely,
Darryl Kinney
P.O. Box 9102
Alexandria, VA 22304
262-344-0185
224-927-9443
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