Unemployment’s Toll on Americans
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Despite a school of thought in Washington that Mr. Obama’s support among blacks has weakened because of the poor economy and a sense of unmet expectations, interviews and public opinion surveys show that his standing remains remarkably strong among African-Americans.
The question now for the Obama campaign is whether it can energize those voters — many of whom were drawn to the polls for the first time in 2008 by the historic nature of his candidacy coupled with an aggressive registration program — even with a rate of joblessness among blacks that far exceeds national figures. [Read more]
10/17/2011
10/14/2011
Less Science in Texas
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) has to varying degrees cut 60% of the undergraduate physics programs in State. This includes both programs at its two largest Historically Black Institutions, Texas Southern University (TSU) and Prairie View A & M University (PVAMU). Although all these institutions have the right to appeal the State’s decision, the dramatic nature of these and other actions strongly suggest that short-term politics, not good science education planning or sound economic policy, is motivating their actions.
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10/04/2011
9/30/2011
Russell Simmons: 'Every Single One' Of My Employees Pays More Taxes Than Me
Famed investor Warren Buffett and Def Jam co-founder Russell Simmons have at least one thing in common: They both want the U.S. government to raise their taxes.
"All my employees -- every single one -- paid more taxes than I did," Simmons told MSNBC's Martin Bashir on Thursday in a segment highlighted by Think Progress. "We need to make the rich pay their fair share."
[Read more]
"All my employees -- every single one -- paid more taxes than I did," Simmons told MSNBC's Martin Bashir on Thursday in a segment highlighted by Think Progress. "We need to make the rich pay their fair share."
[Read more]
9/28/2011
Less money, less marriage
Although the Pew research shows “no significant differences by education or income in the desire to get married,” the less money a male has, the less likely he will actually marry.
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9/27/2011
Alabama Cannot Face Its History
The book chronicles the vast and brutal convict leasing system, which became nearly indistinguishable from antebellum slavery as it grew. In this system, people, in almost all cases black, were arrested by local law enforcement, often on the flimsiest of charges, and forced to labor on the cotton farms of wealthy planters or in the coal mines of corporations to pay off their criminal penalties. Though convict leasing occurred across the South, the book focuses on Alabama.
Mr. Melvin never received the book. According to his lawsuit, he was told by an official at Kilby that the book was “too incendiary” and “too provocative,” and was ordered to have it sent back at his own expense.
[Read more]
Mr. Melvin never received the book. According to his lawsuit, he was told by an official at Kilby that the book was “too incendiary” and “too provocative,” and was ordered to have it sent back at his own expense.
[Read more]
Illegal Marijuana Arrests?
Commissioner Raymond Kelly of the New York Police Department came forthwith too little, too late when he issued a memo directing officers not to arrest people caught with small amounts of marijuana unless the drug is in plain public view. A 1977 law decriminalized minor possession, yet tens of thousands are arrested every year.
In 2010, more than 50,000 people were arrested for possession of marijuana; a vast majority of them were racial minorities and male. Civil rights lawyers say that many of them were stopped as part of the Police Department’s broad stop-and-frisk practice and were arrested after officers told them to empty their pockets, which brought the drugs into open view.
Commissioner Kelly’s memo now makes clear that displaying the drug must be an “activity undertaken of the subject’s own volition” and that individuals may not be charged with violating the law if the marijuana “was disclosed to public view at an officer’s direction.”
[Read more]
In 2010, more than 50,000 people were arrested for possession of marijuana; a vast majority of them were racial minorities and male. Civil rights lawyers say that many of them were stopped as part of the Police Department’s broad stop-and-frisk practice and were arrested after officers told them to empty their pockets, which brought the drugs into open view.
Commissioner Kelly’s memo now makes clear that displaying the drug must be an “activity undertaken of the subject’s own volition” and that individuals may not be charged with violating the law if the marijuana “was disclosed to public view at an officer’s direction.”
[Read more]
9/26/2011
All workers—including black youth—benefit from a tight labor market
For black 16-to-24 year olds who were not enrolled in school, the strong job growth over the 1989-2000 business cycle shaved 3.7 percentage points off their unemployment rate. This decline in the black youth unemployment rate was three times as large as the 1.2 percent decline in unemployment for white youth.
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9/22/2011
Single Mothers: Poverty Climbs As Jobs And Social Safety Net Fade
The primary reason that so many single women are poor right now is the large number of jobs cut in female-dominated sectors, including government, Entmacher said. In fact, since the recession ended in 2009, women have lost more jobs than men shed while the economy was still contracting.
"I think most people understand that women's income has become increasingly important to the survival of many families," said Entmacher. "In families where that is the only income, a job loss puts them in dire straits."
Moreover, just as a growing number of Americans find themselves in need of help, the social safety net has grown weaker. States have trimmed their welfare rolls, cut back the amount of time that a family can receive cash welfare assistance and even scaled back spending on child support enforcement and collections activity, Entmacher said.
[Read more]
"I think most people understand that women's income has become increasingly important to the survival of many families," said Entmacher. "In families where that is the only income, a job loss puts them in dire straits."
Moreover, just as a growing number of Americans find themselves in need of help, the social safety net has grown weaker. States have trimmed their welfare rolls, cut back the amount of time that a family can receive cash welfare assistance and even scaled back spending on child support enforcement and collections activity, Entmacher said.
[Read more]
9/19/2011
Screening of I AM A MAN in Washington D.C.
Join us for this special film event sponsored by EPI's Program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy and the Poverty and Race Research Action Council
Screening and Discussion of I Am A Man
As our nation’s policymakers debate how government can help boost employment and jumpstart our stalled economic recovery, it is important to remember that a good job is more than an economic indicator; it is a source of dignity for people who want to work.
In 1968, black sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee, who toiled for less than the federal minimum wage and were subject to deadly working conditions, stood together and said: “Enough.” Their protest, now best known as the final mass action joined by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. before his assassination, was at heart a demand by 1,300 African Americans to be treated like men.
I Am A Man is the award-winning documentary film chronicling the 1968 Sanitation Worker’s strike through the eyes of one its participants and present day sanitation worker, Elmore Nickleberry. After the short documentary and "making of feature," there will be a discussion featuring the film’s producer, Calvin Taylor.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
4:00 - 5:30 pm
Economic Policy Institute
1333 H St. NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20005
Convenient to Metro’s Red (Metro Center) and Blue/Orange (McPherson Square) lines
Refreshments will be served.
Rsvp here
Screening and Discussion of I Am A Man
As our nation’s policymakers debate how government can help boost employment and jumpstart our stalled economic recovery, it is important to remember that a good job is more than an economic indicator; it is a source of dignity for people who want to work.
In 1968, black sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee, who toiled for less than the federal minimum wage and were subject to deadly working conditions, stood together and said: “Enough.” Their protest, now best known as the final mass action joined by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. before his assassination, was at heart a demand by 1,300 African Americans to be treated like men.
I Am A Man is the award-winning documentary film chronicling the 1968 Sanitation Worker’s strike through the eyes of one its participants and present day sanitation worker, Elmore Nickleberry. After the short documentary and "making of feature," there will be a discussion featuring the film’s producer, Calvin Taylor.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
4:00 - 5:30 pm
Economic Policy Institute
1333 H St. NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20005
Convenient to Metro’s Red (Metro Center) and Blue/Orange (McPherson Square) lines
Refreshments will be served.
Rsvp here
9/13/2011
Recession continues to take its toll on America’s children
Even in relatively good economic times, the United States has an appallingly high rate of child poverty for a very rich country. In 2007, by international comparative standards*, UNICEF found that the United States had the highest rate of child poverty of 24 OECD nations. The poverty data released today shows the worsening living standards for America’s children caused by the recession.
[Read more]
[Read more]
9/09/2011
Reducing poverty and increasing marriage rates among Latinos and African Americans
Though marriage rates have declined for Latinos and African Americans (as well as for whites), these groups still want to marry at fairly high rates. However, because of rising inequality, many members of these groups believe they cannot afford to do so. It is likely that an anti-poverty agenda that targets the decline in good jobs, high unemployment and increasing incarceration rates would have the added effect of increasing marriage rates.
[Read more]
[Read more]
9/06/2011
Black unemployment: Highest in 27 years
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The August jobs report was dismal for plenty of reasons, but perhaps most striking was the picture it painted of racial inequality in the job market.
Black unemployment surged to 16.7% in August, its highest level since 1984, while the unemployment rate for whites fell slightly to 8%, the Labor Department reported.
[Read more]
Black unemployment surged to 16.7% in August, its highest level since 1984, while the unemployment rate for whites fell slightly to 8%, the Labor Department reported.
[Read more]
9/03/2011
In Honor of Teachers
...how do we expect to entice the best and brightest to become teachers when we keep tearing the profession down? We take the people who so desperately want to make a difference that they enter a field where they know that they’ll be overworked and underpaid, and we scapegoat them as the cause of a societywide failure.
[Read more]
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8/30/2011
A Poll Tax by Another Name
Despite decades of progress, this year’s Republican-backed wave of voting restrictions has demonstrated that the fundamental right to vote is still subject to partisan manipulation. The most common new requirement, that citizens obtain and display unexpired government-issued photo identification before entering the voting booth, was advanced in 35 states and passed by Republican legislatures in Alabama, Minnesota, Missouri and nine other states — despite the fact that as many as 25 percent of African-Americans lack acceptable identification.
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Conservative proponents have argued for photo ID mandates by claiming that widespread voter impersonation exists in America, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. While defending its photo ID law before the Supreme Court, Indiana was unable to cite a single instance of actual voter impersonation at any point in its history. Likewise, in Kansas, there were far more reports of U.F.O. sightings than allegations of voter fraud in the past decade. These theories of systematic fraud are really unfounded fears being exploited to threaten the franchise.
[Read more]
...
Conservative proponents have argued for photo ID mandates by claiming that widespread voter impersonation exists in America, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. While defending its photo ID law before the Supreme Court, Indiana was unable to cite a single instance of actual voter impersonation at any point in its history. Likewise, in Kansas, there were far more reports of U.F.O. sightings than allegations of voter fraud in the past decade. These theories of systematic fraud are really unfounded fears being exploited to threaten the franchise.
[Read more]
8/26/2011
Remembering Martin Luther King and the March for Jobs and Freedom
With the formal unveiling of the statue of Dr. Martin Luther King on August 28 – the anniversary of the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom – the National Mall will house a memorial to a man who never held the nation’s highest office but brought it closer to its highest ideals.
Together with the national celebration of his birthday, the commemoration of the march and the quotation of his speeches, the new memorial ensures that Dr. King will be remembered. But will he be remembered rightly, not only as the subject of a monument but also as the leader of a movement for “jobs and freedom”?
[Read more]
Together with the national celebration of his birthday, the commemoration of the march and the quotation of his speeches, the new memorial ensures that Dr. King will be remembered. But will he be remembered rightly, not only as the subject of a monument but also as the leader of a movement for “jobs and freedom”?
[Read more]
Minority babies almost the majority
White infants are on the verge of being displaced as the majority of newborns now that nearly half of babies in the USA are ethnic and racial minorities.
Only 50.2% of babies under age 1 are white and not Hispanic, according to the 2010 Census — a sharp decline from 57.6% just 10 years earlier.
[Read more]
Only 50.2% of babies under age 1 are white and not Hispanic, according to the 2010 Census — a sharp decline from 57.6% just 10 years earlier.
[Read more]
8/25/2011
From USA Today: Other views: 'Dr. King would rejoice'
Algernon Austin, Economic Policy Institute: "King's memorial, the first on the National Mall to an African American, stands as a testimony to how far the country has come on the path toward racial equality. We should not, however, let it obscure our vision as to how far we still need to go. Today, blacks with college degrees are twice as likely as whites to be unemployed. The United States leads the world in imprisoning its citizens, disproportionately its black citizens. The call of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom is still very relevant today. While we remember Dr. King's role in the civil rights movement, we should not forget that he was not alone. There were hundreds of thousands of others involved, and we will need a similar movement to fully realize his dream."
[Read more]
[Read more]
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