While unemployment among the general population is about 9.1 percent, it’s at 16.2 percent African Americans, and a bit higher still for African American males.
CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller reports that, historically, the unemployment rate for African Americans has always been higher than the national average. However, now it’s at Depression-era levels. The most recent figures show African American joblessness at 16.2 percent. For black males, it’s at 17.5 percent; And for black teens, it’s nearly 41 percent.
My brothers and sisters, this is a SERIOUS problem. It is complex. It is difficult. It is sad. It is worthy of our full attention as Christians.
What are the roots of this of this situation? How are we called to respond? What are the changes necessary to make a difference? How shall we all be part of the solution as opposed to part of the problem?
Well, for starters, next time they could vote for a president who might enact policies designed to pull them out of the cycle of government dependency and poverty instead of voting for him solely because of his party affiliation and the color of his skin.
#2 “They”?
Try again.
“What are the roots of this of this situation?”
Education. Family. Fatherhood. Political no-go area. Read Michael Novak. Listen to Bill Cosby.
Or blame Bush.
RE: “#2 “Theyâ€?”
Well, it would probably have been a lie for billqs to say “*we* could vote” . . . since he most likely didn’t vote for him.
We wouldn’t want anybody to lie.
What Novak said in 2009:
“As Myrdal, Moynihan, Berger, Neuhaus, and growing legions of scholars were beginning to point out, the institution of the family had better return, or the fabric of civil society would not hold. National societies are necessarily built upon habits of social trust, personal responsibility, hard work, compassion, and social cooperation. When the family does its proper work, such habits of self-policing, self-governing young citizens, and others more economically directed, are found in abundance. Such persons don’t really need much from a Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (as it then was called). But when the family fails, and is not training up such young people by the millions, not all the government’s legions can put the necessary habits back together again. The upshot is this: A citizenry that cannot govern its personal behavior in its private life can hardly be expected to be successful in self-government in its public life (as James Madison warned generations ago). And the family is the first, original, and only truly successful teacher of self-government during a child’s tender years.”
Reid Hamilton:
Friend, I really think that no one on this blog has meant anything but the truth when they have written here. But I must add my name to those who have suggested that elections have consequences, and this one (2008) has had big, big consequences for the African-American “community.” There is no intention to provide leadership to help that community lift itself out of the mire it is in, especially in the large urban areas. I would submit to you that, if you want help in this area, if you really want to see the African-American communities begin to learn HOW to flourish, how to make real economic and social progress, then we are going to have to elect a series of real, honest-to-God conservative people to congress and the white house. A conservative political philosophy will be foundational for the education the people need, in order to begin to learn what they have long ago forgotten — that no one owes them a living, that “entitlements” are murderous to social progress, and that the family’s cohesiveness is fundamental to real progress and social longevity.
This situation is not just sad, it is tragic. Since the early ’60’s, we have spent something like $14T (2009 dollars) on the “war on poverty”, which has really been the “war on America” and the “war on the cohesive family unit”. The tragedy is 60% abortion rate in NYC among African Americans, the 70% unwed mothers rate among African Americans, the males who have no idea what true fatherhood is, and the tragedy is the enabling that a liberal media carries out everyday.
#7 listed the prescription to heal the tragedy we have allowed to unfold. It’s time to draw the final line in the sand and let this go on no further.
You’ll get no argument out of me. I’m perfectly happy to critique the standard liberal approach to issues of race and poverty, namely to throw money around rather than to engage with human beings on a real level. The war on poverty devolved very rapidly into a war on poor people. I’m not sure, however, that simply “electing Republicans” or even “electing ‘true conservatives'” is all that would be needed to resolve, for example, the persistent disparities between unemployment rates among African-Americans on the one hand and nearly every other demographic on the other. Might any deeper response be needed? Vote Republican, by all means – but what other things could we all do, individually and as a society?
Reid, since the democratic party has been hijacked by the left (to see this, go listen to JFK’s campaign speeches…..he sounds conservative!), it almost comes down to a knee-jerk vote for a republican. That’s not ideal but it seems to be where we are.
A vibrant, thriving economy where the private sector is running hard, creates an employment market where unemployment is at 4% or lower: which means that anyone who wants a job can have one. In this environment, real wages rise as employers bid for skilled labor. Real wealth is created, revenues to govt rise which will cure a lot of deficit ills. Entreprenuers have a chance to establish solid businesses which create personal wealth, which gets cycled back into the economy as new demand. Notice none of this depends on government involvement; it depends on millions of businesses being the best they can be in an environment that allows businesses to grow and fail as market forces demand.