Posted on 07/26/2013 8:21:04 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
PHILADELPHIA—Black America is largely unemployed, in debt and in prison, civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson told hundreds gathered at the annual National Urban League conference Friday, before asking them what they were going to do about it.
"If you're someone with credit card debt, stand," said Jackson. A segment of the audience stood. "If you're someone with student loans, stand," he said. Nearly everyone in the audience stood. "And if you're someone looking for a job, stand," he said. Many more people tentatively raised their hands.
"That's the state of black America," he said. "We are free but not equal. Free to be unemployed."
A host of big name civil rights leaders joined Jackson Friday in warning of the unemployment and incarceration crisis for black Americans, citing statistics including that more than half of male African-American high school dropouts are unemployed, according to an analysis from the left-leaning site Remapping Debate, and that of the over 2 million Americans in prison, half are black.
In June, the Labor Department's job numbers also showed that the African-American unemployment rate had risen from 13.5 to 13.7 percent, while the national employment rate had stayed even, at 7.6 percent.
Barbara Arnwine, president and executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said Friday that the unemployment problem was driven in part by employers who used credit checks in their hiring decisions.
"Credit checks have nothing to do with your ability to work," she argued. "Your credit is bad because you don't have a job."
MSNBC commentator and civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton argued that black Americans were facing higher unemployment rates because of where they work.
"Every since Obama has been in, there's been an increase in jobs in the private sector but black unemployment has increased. Why? Because we work in the public sector," he said.
In November, the National Urban League warned that the fiscal cliff would disproportionately affect African Americans because they make up a disproportionately large share of the public sector workforce.
A report from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute added to the Urban League's fears, finding that the greater number of African Americans in the public sector had also meant higher rates of job loss during the economic recession.
But the Urban League said here it is determine to stem the tide of job losses. A jobs expo at the conference included hundreds of employers, including Target, CVS and UPS. The conference, which has the theme "jobs rebuild America," also hosted a career and networking fair, with sessions on how to pitch a personal brand or the art of the interview. And the majority of conference-goers showed up in business dress, a detail not lost on Vanesse Lloyd-Sgambati, a Philadelphia-based literary consultant attending the conference.
"If you notice how people are dressed, it's 8 a.m. in the morning and yet they're suited up, suited down, and ready for business," she said. "There are a lot of African American conferences around the country. But the National Urban League has said: 'This is what we are all about.'"
“Black America is largely unemployed, in debt and in prison”, and it going to stay that way until THEY change.
Congrats, Je$$e. You built that.
Jesse forgot...
"If you're someone with a felony on your record, stand."
"If you're someone who didn't graduate high school , stand."
"If you're someone who does not speak proper English, stand."
"If you're someone with a bad attitude and a constant chip on your shoulder, stand."
Those points would have had a lot of people standing, and those points would be a lot more accurate as to why black people have the worst employment rate in America.
Sounds to me like Jackson is saying that black are incapable of managing their own lives. Sounds racist to me.
Kind of an anti-resume'...
What to do? Keep voting Democrat!
And there is the little fact that Bummer with his enviro policies has eliminated so many of the hard work, get a start jobs for folks with little education.
Work in a mill or a steel mill for a while, save some money, buy a little house, get some night school and move on up.
Nopers, we cannot have folks dealing with icky, dirty, not-green stuff to get started in life.
How can you disagree in any way?
Where would someone go to have more opportunity than what is here in this country?
Yeah. Like there are no White people who are unemployed, have student loan debt, or credit card debt. We do. But we would have less of it were it not for taxes to pay for entitlements.
Life is so unfair, eh Jesse?
i guess its true that progressives DO want to destroy Blacks.
Jesse Jackson lives in the world of “Everyone owes us something” Hey Jesse, here’s an idea to teach blacks, NO ONE OWES YOU A DAMN THING..you want a house, PAY FOR IT..you want to go to school and get educated, PAY FOR IT..enough of this victim nonsense its gotten really old really fast
It couldn't possibly be because they study in school, work hard, learn English, save their money, discipline their children, and respect their marriage, could it?
Blacks have been so betrayed by liberals and the evil they espouse.
Heartily agree. Was arguing with a lib the other day when she cited some study that had been done wrt job applicants responding to help wanted ads. One group, “Gregs” and Annes” obtained more favorable results than “Shaneequa and L’Shawn”.
As you said: These names are choices. Maybe they are culturally rich and I am a cultural luddite and fie on me. As you know, although discrimination by race etc; is illegal and prohibited, discrimination over attitude is not. I was sued by an angry employee whom I fired, and I had documented his insubordination pretty well. I won. These names, sorry, pre-broadcast attitude. Yes, I know, it would absolutely destroy their self esteem to re-type their resume “Shelley (Shaneequa) ———”. Uh huh. It could easily destroy my company to suffer a lawsuit by an ethnic opportunist. And guess what. I’m free to avoid it, if I can. The results are obvious. IMO 0bama has set race relations back 60 years, and the residue, in terms of Black (un)employment will persist for a very, very long time.
(rim shot)
Black America is largely unemployed, in debt and in prison
And as long as they remain on the plantation the worse it will become. Just keep voting Democrat, it’s worked well for 60 years hasn’t it? How pathetic.
I am not a racist.
Damn right, I am a culturist.....Some cultures are superior to others.....the good news is, you can choose your culture, you cannot choose your race.....choose wisely.
If it’s so bad here, why don’t they all move back to that great utopia known as Africa.
Then they’d all be free. Yes, FREE. /s
Why punish the Africans like that.....they hate them even more than the white folks here do.
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