When President Obama was sworn in on Jan. 20, 2009, the African-American unemployment rate was 12.7 percent. When he was sworn in a second time this year, the rate was 14.0 percent.
NAACP Chief Ben Jealous said, “Right now when you look at joblessness in this country — the country is pretty much back to where it was when this President started. White people are doing a bit better. Black folks are doing a full point worse.”
“The big issues of this day also include marriage equality and immigration reform — they include making sure that we lift all boats,” Jealous said. ”
With this President having said we need to invest in a strategies that lifts all boats — we know that some boats are clearly stuck, the question is will Congress join him in getting those boats unstuck too,” the NAACP President concluded. Jealous was speaking to host David Gregory on “Meet the Press”.
The Labor Department reported the Black unemployment rate up from 12.9% to 14% for December.
The worst Black jobless number during President Bush’s eight years in office was 12.1% in December 2008. The best jobless number for Blacks during the Bush years was 7.7% in February 2001 and 7.7% again in August 2007.
Additionally, in July 2012 the unemployment rate for Black teens became the highest sector of joblessness at a staggering 39.3%. In May 2011 the Black teen jobless rate hit 40%.
We must stop crying and expecting ANY politician to do for us what we SHOULD be doing for ourselves. He worked, studied, earned his way to where he is. That example should be enough to encourage more to do the same. We know he was hampered by obstructionists who were looking for him to “take care of the blacks” and would have stopped ANY legislation leaning in this direction. Do your job as all politics is local, and our money speaks when properly applied. Get back to work, stop complaining, I certainly am doing my share.
Obama is everybody’s President, not the Black people’s President. President Obama is NOT Black folks’ savior. It is up to us to fix our problems, NOT President Obama and it starts by supporting Black-owned businesses…
I don’t know why we act as if its too much to ask this president for help. Kids die in Newtown, CT. He goes and wraps his arms around the victims families and a month later uses his power of office to do something to try to prevent that horrible crime from happening again. 175 kids die in the city he hails from and no visits, no action, no response to curb the violence until it affected Newtown, CT. When some of us brought this up in conversation, some asked: “Well, what is he supposed to do for us?” How about the same thing he’s done for everyone else. Understand now, I’m not asking for preferential treatment for us because we’re black. I’m simply asking for inclusion because as Americans we deserve such from our president. We had no problem asking his predecessors for it, so we should require the same from him. Yes, he is the president of everyone. And has addressed everyone’s issues, (homosexuals, immigrants, etc…), but ours. But hey, I guess if its not important enough to us to bring our agendas to the table, why should it be important enough for him to address them.
I think that when we all start understanding that the presidency is a figurehead job then real debates on our problems and ways of solving them will be more productive.
All of you are missing the point,and the presidency is more then just a figure head job. No one in Washington has any idea on how to fix the problems that this country is having. And they have been debating this for years with no results. What needs to be done is that all of the organization like the NAACP and others need to come together and lobby in Washington. Go to the governors and the people and gather votes on issue that needs to be addressed in those states and lobby for it.Just like the large corporation do. And as for the unemployment rate it is alot higher then any president has ever told you. Because no one counts the homeless or the people who no longer are eligable for unemployment checks,as well as the countless others who are not counted.