Algernon Austin presents an excellent, concise, and wonderfully read scholarly examination of the complicated landscape of race, class and popular perception. Besides the prison industrial complex, black strides in education, poverty rates, crime and other indices contradict claims that blacks are “moving backward.”--Jeffrey O. G. Ogbar, Director, Institute for African American Studies, University of Connecticut and author of Black Power: Radical Politics and African American Identity (The Johns Hopkins University Press), 2004 and Hip-Hop Revolution: The Culture and Politics of Rap (University Press of Kansas), 2007.
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There should be many loud voices screaming for more federal job creation efforts. We are down 10.7 million jobs when considers both the number of jobs lost over the recession and the continued growth in the labor force due to new entrants over the 21 months of the recession. The most optimistic assessment I have seen is that by 2014 we will manage to return to "normal" levels of unemployment. We are going to suffer from high unemployment for many years to come unless we get serious about creating more jobs now and making sure that we do not have a "jobless recovery." Of course, high unemployment for America means high unemployment times 2 for black America. Below are a few voices from people who understand the depth of the crisis.
Wanted: Leadership on Jobs
By every meaningful measure, the weak job market deteriorated further in September. Federal stimulus spending has prevented an even worse decline. But that is cold comfort for the tens of millions of working men and women for whom conditions are bleak and getting bleaker, and for the millions more who are destined to lose their jobs — or to have their hours and compensation cut — in the months and years to come.New York Times Editorial Board
Yes, You Can -- If You Can Without Obama
At a job training center that serves a largely black population in the District, a photograph of President Obama hangs on a wall with signs that say, "Yes, I can," and "Yes, you can." But when it comes to Obama actually addressing the devastating rise in unemployment among African Americans, those words might as well read: Sure I could, but no, I won't.Courtland Milloy, Washington Post
Does Obama Get It?
The big question on the domestic front right now is whether President Obama understands the gravity of the employment crisis facing the country. Does he get it? The signals coming out of the White House have not been encouraging.Bob Herbert, New York Times
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--Algernon Austin, Ph.D.
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