janetdkelly
Blog
The Urban Perspective
Bio
Janet Denise Ganaway-Kelly offers more than a decade of accomplishments in housing and the nonprofit sector. Janet brings valuable insight in the area...
Recent Posts
 
 
 
 

Most Popular

Recent Comments

African Americans Want The American Jobs Act Passed Now

September 12, 2011 5:44 pm by janetdkelly in News & Politics
  • Share This Post
  • Pin It
  • 25
  • Sparkle (
    )
     

The political and economic analysts claimed that President Barack Obama had to show leadership and be bold with his jobs plan. I believe everyone got what they asked for from his American Jobs Act (AJA) plan.

I must say that this aggressive plan to put Americans back to work infused some sense of hope, especially for African Americans.

African American unemployment is now at 16.7 percent, and in some urban areas, as high as 21 percent. The unemployment rate hasn’t been this high in nearly 27 years.

The plight of African Americans looking for work can be seen by the mass attendance at job fairs like the most recent one here in Los Angeles put on by the Congressional Black Caucus, where nearly 10,000 showed up looking for work.

Obama Biden Jobs Act
© Zhang Jun/Xinhua/ZUMAPRESS.com)

Depending on where you stand as an analyst or politician, African American unemployment is not a quandary. There is some acknowledgment that employer profiling affects African American unemployment. But a major factor, according to UC Berkeley’s Center for Labor Research and Education, is the shrinkage of the public sector –- the predominant source of employment for African Americans.

African Americans want the American Jobs Act passed now for many reasons. The infrastructure investment and rebuilding of America’s schools, transportation, and other public works will spur growth in construction and supplier trades where jobs were lost by African Americans working in factories and building trades. Minority-owned businesses will have access to contracting opportunities offered by the plan that will create more jobs. Subsidized employment will afford many who are low-skilled or displaced to learn new marketable skill sets. Public sector jobs will see some job growth. And most importantly, African Americans want jobs now, not later.

The American Jobs Act does not need any resistance or political meandering. Pass it now to put unemployed African Americans back to work!

Editor's note: BlogHer is nonpartisan, but our bloggers are not! Follow our coverage of News & Politics.

  • 25
  • Sparkle (
    )
     

Related Posts

(TRANSCRIPT, VIDEO) Obama's Jobs Speech: What Did You Think?
by Julie Ross Godar
President Obama: Step Away From Our Charities
by madeline bernstein
Reflection from the Right: The State of the Union
by AdrienneRoyer

More Like This

Comments

Post comment as
twitter logo facebook logo
Sort: Newest | Oldest
TheyCallMeCheap
TheyCallMeCheap 5 pts

How I wish someone had the courage to expose the problems of black America.

I think the high unemployment rate among black Americans is an indication we need to update our skills, work harder and stop relying on the government to provide for us. Whether that be as an employer or a caregiver. It's insulting.

Personally, I think the whining and complaining about discrimination makes us look weak. Playing the race card has become too convenient. It's the lazy man's (or woman's) way out. I don't even want to acknowledge racism exists, because too many blacks will grab on to an excuse that may account for 2% of our failures as if it were 98% of the reason we can't , or, shall I say, refuse to get ahead.

share
  • spam
  • offensive
  • disagree
  • off topic
 Like
GF1
GF1 5 pts

Certainly I understand if on average, African Americans are more scared than thou in a scary economy due to above average unemployment rates. And passage of the "jobs stimulus" package might benefit some African Americans, directly or indirectly, among others. But where does the federal government get the money to pour into financing businesses to hire more employees or into hiring more employees directly (as employees of the government)? Answer: by taxing profits of existing businesses and individuals. In the case of businesses receiving other people's and other businesses' money, long term ability to afford "stimulus employees" depends on long term business profitability. Start ups notoriously fail in high percentages. And we tend to get more demand where subsidies occur ... in other words, there is motivation for businesses to spend the "free" money unwisely, perhaps such as to meet regulation demands rather than business ones. Other than that, there may be some long term benefit for some businesses while the entities that were taxed to pay for it suffer correspondingly in dollar value. Secondly, "stimulus employees" of the government itself may benefit until the money runs out. "Question is, will we be better off as a whole with the stimulus redistribution of other people's tax money or would we be better off letting businesses and individuals do the hiring job without government's bureaucratic cut and dubious wisdom of application. In any case, there will be winners and losers. And in any case, in a scary economy, businesses are scared of the liability of more employees, tax money boost or no.

share
  • spam
  • offensive
  • disagree
  • off topic
 Like
GaelMc
GaelMc 7 pts

Was it necessary to play the race card with this? How would you feel if some one presumed to know how all whites felt and wrote, "Whites Do (or Don't) Want the President to do (or not do something) That Affects Everyone". How would you feel if the Congress or Senate formed a "White Caucus"? Have you read the bill? Do you think the killing of charitable giving, which is what this bill will do, will affect the poorest and most vulnerable amongst us regardless of race? I am sure Alan West and Hermain Cain do not want this bill passed as it is, sight unseen, do you speak for them? This bill is a mini stimulus, and ill not specifically benefit any group, regardless of race.

share
  • spam
  • offensive
  • disagree
  • off topic
 Like
GeorgiaMist
GeorgiaMist 6 pts

This is not a 'brilliant' Jobs Bill. It is another doomed-to-failure stimulus package. Obama cannot create Jobs (He had a Democrat-controlled Congress for two years and got NOTHING accomplished).All Obama and Congress can do is create a climate conducive to job creation in the private sector. They fail to do this by regulating, fining, and passing Bills that no one has read. This Administration has reach and surpassed it's level of incompetence. Small Businesses are failing at record rates. Four more years of this ineptitude and we will all sink under the weight of these disatrous Stimulus Bills, bailouts, and mismanagement. Colour is not the issue here: we are ALL suffering. Bringing race into it is utterly shameful. My opinion only -- others will vary.

share
  • spam
  • offensive
  • disagree
  • off topic
 Like KarenLynnn
Nordette Adams
Nordette Adams 10 pts

Janet, I think more citizens than just African-Americans want the jobs bill passed now. While the unemployment rate for African-Americans is higher than for other groups, the unemployed includes people of all ethnic backgrounds. Many people in this nation are hurting economically.

share
  • spam
  • offensive
  • disagree
  • off topic
 Like
Just_Margaret
Just_Margaret 8 pts

Nordette Adams Yes, I want to see the jobs bill passed as well. The day after the President's speech to Congress, I contacted my senators and my rep. via email to express my support for the bill. I have not heard word one back from any of them, which is not only disappointing, but speaks to the point that it is the overly partisan congress that is putting up roadblocks to progress.

And yes, @terri patillo I actually do know what's in the bill. It is available to all constituents to be read.

share
  • spam
  • offensive
  • disagree
  • off topic
 Like

Conversation from Facebook

Terri Patillo
Terri Patillo

Those of you who want it passed so quickly -- do you REALLY know what's IN this Bill?

Zulmara Maria Teixeira de Lima
Zulmara Maria Teixeira de Lima

yes...we need to pass it...and take the power away from Repubs..

Gail Buesnel
Gail Buesnel

Terry Patillo Point taken

Terri Patillo
Terri Patillo

I didn't dismiss it. However, as a Canadian Citizen she cannot vote here. And it is the voter who will (or will not) decide this Nation's future. Bush's Tax cuts did more to stimulate this economy than Obama's useless "cash for clunkers" debacle. Bush has been out of Office for 32 months. For 24 months, Obama had a Democrat-Controlled Congress and did NOTHING. You can Blame Bush -- but it flies in the face of truth. This is Mr. Obama's Depressed Economy and he simply is not equipped to handle it. He's risen to his level of incompetency and America's workers are suffering for it.

Gail Buesnel
Gail Buesnel

removing*

Gail Buesnel
Gail Buesnel

A number of these posts concern me. Posters called "silly", telling Canadians they have no "horse in the race" - the funding of this bill partially comes from remocing charitable deductions from those earning over $220K. I doubt they will continue to donate at present rates so the projected savings will evaporate. But the closing of that "loop hole" will hang many over stretched charities. That will hurt the poor, hurling them toward increased govt assistance. We need jobs, real private sector jobs. We get those by stabilizing the business environment, not nibbling around the edges and hiring more govt employees and union members to work on govt projects. That does not produce, it costs the country. But it does fund the Democratic Party via union fees. We borrow over 40c of every dollar it costs, primarily from the Chinese. Regardless of the good intentions behind this, yet another mini stimulus bill, the borrowing has to stop. We need a comprehensive economic plan including a balanced budget amendment. America is in financial trouble, wishing it away and good intentions will not rectify that.

emily steers
emily steers

terri-- the wellbeing of the american economy is everyone's business. i applaud someone who's made a conscious effort to learn about another country's struggles. i agree with you that there has been trouble afoot for any years in the housing industry, but you're mistaken if you feel as though that's the main source of economic trouble in the US. bush's extensive tax cuts for the wealthy and for large corporations, coupled withincreased military/defense spending, was reckless and more than laid the foundation for situation we are currently dealing with. dismissing a Canadian citizen's interest in our economy is disturbingly isolationist. we live in a world economy, and the devaluation of our dollar has negative repercussions around the globe.

Terri Patillo
Terri Patillo

If you're Canadian, then you obviously do not have access to all the facts. While your opinion is important, of course, it's a moot point. You don't vote in our elections and have no horse in this race.

Terri Patillo
Terri Patillo

That's not true, Allison. Bush got a DEMOCRAT Congress in 2006 and that is when the Financial Crisis began. Dems forced Lenders to accept applications and grant loans to people who could not afford payments. Default after default on those loans brought us down. Put the blame where it lies -- don't lie about the blame.

Allison Currie
Allison Currie

obama has been handed the biggest mess to clean up that the US has ever seen. he has not put america into economic distress, he inherited it from the bush administration. his biggest mistake was not dealing with it right away (he went after healthcare issues first). so while some companies may have thrived under clinton it was bush that started the downhill slide. cut obama some slack...he has been so busy cleaning up other peoples messes that we haven't even seen what he is capable of. of course I'm canadian and we have our own political battles to deal with these days...

Myra Green
Myra Green

U are a silly person if you think that the President is to blame for this mess. It is the inner circle that is causing the failure not allowing the flow of monies cause they want him to fail.

Helen Bushnell
Helen Bushnell

We need to fix our infrastructure and invest in education if we want our economy to improve. The first stimulus created jobs, unfortunately there were so many economic forces destroying them that many people couldn't tell.

Tanya Donohue
Tanya Donohue

What a thought provoking post and commentary.

emily steers
emily steers

i DO want it passed! it's amazing how much power people think that Obama has-- putting all the blame of the faltering economy on his shoulders. do they not realize that the American government is a 3-part system, and the executive branch is actually the least powerful? all he can really do is propose ideas (check) and rally the American people to get things accomplished (check). it's the legislative branch that's standing in the way of American recovery. the GOP is the party of "no", and i can't sit back and be OK with watching the country die due to inaction.

Terri Patillo
Terri Patillo

No, I DON'T want this Bill passed. It's another failed stimulus that will drive us deeper into an Economic Depression. We can't pay for these flights of fancy. He's killing us. My husband's business 9which thrived under Clinton and Bush) is all but destroyed by this man and his incompetence.