Joblessness for 16-to-24-year-old black men has reached Great Depression proportions - The Washington Post

According to The Washington Post,  joblessness for 16-to-24-year-old black men has reached Great Depression proportions, 34.5 percent in October, more than three times the rate for the general U.S. population, The Washington Post reports. Young black women have an unemployment rate of 26.5 percent, while the rate for all 16-to-24-year-old women is 15.4 percent. For young blacks, race statistically appears to be a bigger factor in their unemployment than age, income or even education. Lower-income white teens were more likely to find work than upper-income black teens. Even blacks who graduate from college suffer from joblessness at twice the rate of their white peers.    Some studies examining how employers review black and white job applicants suggest that discrimination may be at play. "Black men were less likely to receive a call back or job offer than equally qualified white men," says a Princeton University sociologist. "Black men with a clean record fare no better than white men just released from prison." Read More: More HERE AAPP Says: OK you folks who have blind faith with our President. Why is the President not having his cabinet Secretaries address this issue? Has anyone heard from the department of labor secretary?  America's core cities needs a massive jobs program. It's no wonder our communities have not exploded. I'm glad the haven't because they would only taser a another black man to death. Join me tonight on the 10:00 PM EST on African American Political Pundit's "Political Slugfest Show."  We want to address this particular issue. if you can handle the truth.

Blacks holding state and Federal Governments Accountable

AAPP says: There is a big concern in African American communities across America that Blacks will get buried under the “Shovel-Ready” Stimulus . Many in the black community are saying, the Stimulus-snubbing Govs Don't Care About People, Black or White. Yet, even though Barack Obama has warns Mayors About Wasting Stimulus Money there remains concern, for example, the economic stimulus signed by President Barack Obama will spread billions of dollars across the country to spruce up aging roads and bridges. But there's not a dime specifically dedicated to fixing leftover damage from Hurricane Katrina. And there's no outrage about it. More HERE Enter, Cash Michaels at The Wilmington Journal who is following what is going on in North Carolina with Federal stimulus money. It would be wise that black leaders in other states follow their lead, and ask the questions and get the answers. Black leaders in N.C. seem to be doing what state and local black leaders in all states should be doing - holding the Gov. and the Barack Obama administration accountable. Cash Michaels reports on how black leaders are asking questions of the State and Federal government, like: What is the latest on how funding from North Carolina's $6.1 billion share of the Recovery Stimulus package will be distributed for projects through the state and cities? What will the process for application for those stimulus projects be, and when will it be announced and get underway? And how can African-Americans be assured, despite guarantees of transparency and accountability from the Obama Administration, that blacks looking for jobs and business opportunities won't get locked out? ''This plan's already saved the jobs of teachers and police officers. It's creating construction jobs to rebuild roads and bridges,'' Pres. Obama told the nation during his prime time White House press conference Tuesday night. But is it happening yet in North Carolina, especially for African-American? That's the pressing question black leaders across the state are asking, and wanting fast answers to, to ensure that North Carolina's African-American community is not left out of Obama's historic efforts to jumpstart a crippled economy with his $787 billion two-year American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Next week they may get answers. Maybe. The Carolinian/ Wilmington Journal has learned that Dempsey Benton, Gov. Beverly Perdue's Recovery and Reinvestment Office (www.NCRecovery.gov) point man to oversee North Carolina's stimulus projects effort, has agreed to sit down with the NCNAACP and other statewide leadership April 2 to examine issues surrounding how African-Americans can better access the process. ''We want to discuss issues of parity, equity, diversity, control, the need for regional summits for African-Americans and other [people of color] to come in and know exactly what's going on,'' Rev. William Barber, president of the NCNAACP told The Carolinian/ Wilmington Journal exclusively Wednesday. ''We have to know what the [stimulus] goals are, and what access is.'' The Carolinian/The Wilmington Journal has also learned that Gov. Perdue has agreed to meet with the NCNAACP and others during a ''civil rights roundtable'' on April 20th to further discuss the stimulus package impact on the black community, in addition to other social agenda issues. ''It's going to b a true civil rights roundtable, ''Rev. Barber assured, ''Not a tea and cookie kind of thing.'' And in Raleigh, an ad hoc community group led by former Raleigh City Councilman Brad Thompson and longtime community activist Ms. Margaret Rose Murray is planning a Saturday, April 4th town hall meeting at her Vital Link School at Rock Quarry Road and East Lenoir Street on the stimulus package to get answers from state and local officials. More HERE Cross posted on African American Political Pundit.com

Black Blogger Reaction To Hillary Win

The Newspapers read Clinton Defies Polls, Edges Obama in N.H. African American Political Pundit says: I had planned to write an analysis of yesterday's primary and the Clinton family win in New Hampshire, but I decided not to do one because fellow Afrospear blogger, Villager, at Electronic Village has completed a great analysis that is in keeping with what I was going to post. His post, Hillary Clinton Wins in New Hampshire ... What Next for Barack Obama? is a must read. Don't forget to read Jack and Jill Politics' Reaction to NH Primary. Hey, and While your at it Read Black Agenda Reports' article on Barack, Hillary and the Sinister Nothingness of “Change” Citizen Journalist, Faye Anderson of Anderson@Large is also covering the election. She notes, while black men got the right to vote before black women (at least on paper), sisters will determine whether Clinton or Obama leaves the Palmetto State with a pep in their step as they march on to Super Duper Tuesday. While in the Field, The Field Negro notes how the Clinton's have called out their big guns-- such as Steinem --to make the case for gender over race, read more in his post a funny thing happened on the way to Pennsylvania Avenue. I guess as the blog Skeptical Brotha points out, negroes have come back to earth. Lets hope issues of trusting Obama don't become the issue in South Carolina, but wait a minute, Francis L. Holland new post, I Think I Know Why Hillary Won New Hampshire makes some good points too. Maybe its just time to compare notes from a Barack volunteer in New Hampshire. It's also time to see if Barack got game. More on the Hillary win later on African American Political Pundit

Billboards planned against negative forms of rap music.

Had enough of the Negative Rap Music! The publisher of African American Opinion has decided to take a stand against demeaning and violent music. He says he is taking a stand against gangster and other forms of negative rap music. Inspired by a recent post by fellow AfroSphere Blogger, Gem at What About Our Daughters and her report on the efforts of faith based leader, Rev. Micheal Pfleger in Chicago, he has decided to reach out to the larger community to say enough is enough. He plans to place 5 strategic billboards like the ones in Chicago into 5 urban areas of America, including Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Detroit, Baltimore , and Los Angeles. His blog has now partnered with ChipIn.com to raise funds to place the billboards in those cities. All funds raised will go directly to the advertising effort. He is urging other bloggers to place one of his widgets on there website or blog to assist in the effort. The African American Opinion blog publisher says, “If all goes as expected we plan to make it a national effort, to have billboards in every urban area throughout America urging our youth to boycott rappers who degrade our young girls and women, excite violence and disgrace our communities.”It’s time to “Do the WRITE thing.” Rev. Micheal Pfleger a respected Chicago faith leader has stepped to the plate, African American bloggers need to follow his lead. To obtain a widget to place on your blog or website, just go to the ChipIn.com widget on African American Opinion blog and click copy. Then copy and paste the information onto your sidebar. You can contact African American Opinion publisher via email at: AAPublisher@gmail.com for more information or visit the ChipIn website at: africanamericanopinion.chipin.com

Blacks and Iraq - Exodus Mentality

Blogger -Exodus Mentality - Responds to Blacks and Iraq post by African American Opinion Blog. The response was so powerful I had to repost it here at the Independent Bloggers' Alliance. By Exodus Mentality We can’t seriously talk about Iraq unless we are willing to also discuss American imperialistic activities and the worldwide hegemony desired by the current administration. The United States has permanent military bases in every significant country in the world. “According to the Defense Department’s annual “Base Structure Report” for fiscal year 2003, which itemizes foreign and domestic U.S. military real estate, the Pentagon currently owns or rents 702 overseas bases in about 130 countries and HAS another 6,000 bases in the United States and its territories. Pentagon bureaucrats calculate that it would require at least $113.2 billion to replace just the foreign bases — surely far too low a figure but still larger than the gross domestic product of most countries — and an estimated $591,519.8 million to replace all of them. The military high command deploys to our overseas bases some 253,288 uniformed personnel, plus an equal number of dependents and Department of Defense civilian officials, and employs an additional 44,446 locally hired foreigners. The Pentagon claims that these bases contain 44,870 barracks, hangars, hospitals, and other buildings, which it owns, and that it leases 4,844 more. These numbers, although staggeringly large, do not begin to cover all the actual bases we occupy globally. The 2003 Base Status Report fails to mention, for instance, any garrisons in Kosovo — even though it is the site of the huge Camp Bondsteel, built in 1999 and maintained ever since by Kellogg, Brown & Root. The Report similarly omits bases in Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Qatar, and Uzbekistan, although the U.S. military has established colossal base structures throughout the so-called arc of instability in the two-and-a-half years since 9/11. For Okinawa, the southernmost island of Japan, which has been an American military colony for the past 58 years, the report deceptively lists only one Marine base, Camp Butler, when in fact Okinawa “hosts” ten Marine Corps bases, including Marine Corps Air Station Futenma occupying 1,186 acres in the center of that modest-sized island’s second largest city. (Manhattan’s Central Park, by contrast, is only 843 acres.) The Pentagon similarly fails to note all of the $5-billion-worth of military and espionage installations in Britain, which have long been conveniently disguised as Royal Air Force bases. If there were an honest count, the actual size of our military empire would probably top 1,000 different bases in other people’s countries, but no one — possibly not even the Pentagon — knows the exact number for sure, although it has been distinctly on the rise in recent years.” This information is from TomDispatch via CommonDreams.org. How stupid do you have to be to see that this is not a Defense Department, it’s an OFFENSE department? Why does this country feel the need to rule the world by force of arms? We call it protecting the world, but who asked for our protection, and exactly who are we protecting them from? Certainly not an old Muslim guy hiding out in a Pakistani mountain cave. How long are we going to ignore this? We would also need to get into the whole nuclear arms race insanity. The simple fact of the matter is the idea of using nuclear weapons in this day and age is morally corrupt. We wouldn’t dare use one on anyone that had a chance of shooting a nuke back at us, which makes our continued production and threats to use nuclear weapons more pathetic than the school yard bully. And once we come out and say that the United States can no longer rule the world through the threat of violence, what then? We still have to figure out a way for us all to live in harmony with each other and with this planet. The way things seem to be deteriorating, it seems that we are running out of time to find those solutions. And let’s not forget that it’s not the politicians that we have to convince to stop the war. It;s the people who are making billions of dollars off the war and off the other economic opportunities the U.S. has appropriated for itself and protects with its vast armed forces. Let’s not continue to pretend that a politician job is not represent us but to get re-elected. That takes money, and therefore he who has the gold makes the rules. As long as war is profitable, those making the profit will ensure that there is always a war going on. Addressing Iraq, especially form the viewpoint of Black Americans who are all too familiar with th heavy hand of power in this country, requires much more than just a superficial discussion about timetable for troop withdrawals. They could take all the “troops” out right now and there would still be any army or “Civilian military contractors”, better known as mercenaries, remaining in Iraq to keep the bloodshed going. Black people have to be forward thinking enough to recognize that this is no longer the same world it was, the good old days of world war are over, because the war machine has grown into a doomsday device and we dare not open Pandora’s box. If we as an AfroSphere collective are to pick up this issue, let’s not go at this half-assed. Exodus Mentality, May 24th, 2007

Blacks and War

Watch video Jill at Jack and Jill politics recently posted another one of her challenging post. Yes, I said challenging post, because she challenges all of us. This challenge is about America's war on Iraq and the lack of conversation on black blogs about the disguised hypocrisy of America on this critical issue. Jill recently wrote that she is frustrated like most African Americans on the continuing failure to set a timetable on Iraq. She feels that members of Congress and the political blogs are ignoring African-Americans, in part I think because we have not blogged as much about Iraq as other issues. I agree we Jill. Black bloggers should get more vocal about the war. We need to do what Malcolm and Martin taught us, become more international in our conversation. We need to comment of the Iraq war as they did about the War in Vietnam and the war against our people. I just finished taking another look at my blog(s). At African American Opinion we have posted on issue of the war many times see below: War (41) War and Peace (30) War on Iraq (15) I'm reminded of what Martin Luther King said during his Christmas Sermon back in December of 1967, which reminds me of 2007, just change the name President Johnson to Bush, Just change the country North Vietnam to Iraq: "And the leaders of the world today talk eloquently about peace. Every time we drop our bombs in North Vietnam, President Johnson talks eloquently about peace. What is the problem? They are talking about peace as a distant goal, as an end we seek, but one day we must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal we seek, but that it is a means by which we arrive at that goal. We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means. All of this is saying that, in the final analysis, means and ends must cohere because the end is preexistent in the means, and ultimately destructive means cannot bring about constructive ends." --Martin Luther King, Jr., "A CHRISTMAS SERMON" 24 December 1967 Read more of Jill's thoughts below: African-Americans on the Iraq War -- The Military and Electoral Impact What's interesting is that you don't see a lot of discussion about the Iraq War among black bloggers. That's because we all agree on it and solutions seem obvious. If other bloggers are like me, I am just so sick of talking about it. The difference among black folks is that we were largely against the war before it started and have quietly been protesting it ever since. Most African-Americans can point to someone they know personally who has been impacted in some way -- negatively -- by this war. Could be a neighbor, relative, classmate, co-worker, relative of a relative. You nah mean. Me -- I've had 2 cousins go over to Iraq. And my cousin's half-sister's husband. This colors our view of those who believe in a wait-and-see or worse yet, a "surge" approach. Discussions in the black community tend to focus on Osama bin Laden -- isn't he still at large? -- and on the Money -- it sure seems like a lot of money is being spent over there in Iraq. How is it that none of that money was seen fit to spend on helping the victims of Katrina or re-building New Orleans? Or on better healthcare, education, poverty, our cities, the environment for folks living right here in the United States? Still it's critical to talk about it because Democratic candidates looking for black votes will need to speak to us on those terms to be heard. And it also impacts the current national security. Quietly, the military has been dependent for generations on regular enlistment by young black soldiers. Why do you think that the educational and career opportunities are always touted. That's been the lure for young men and women eager to join (or stay in) the middle class. More HERE

Jesse Jackson supports FOX News - the septic tank scum of news networks.

The Congressional Black Caucus "Club" have forgotten about black folks again. This time it's Jesse Jackson who is joining the Congressional Black Caucus in showing his Rainbow to black folk. Jack and Jill Politics reports that Jesse Jackson is Flip-Floping on CBC/Fox Debates. AAPPundit says: Black Agenda Report is on point. Fox News has rented the Congressional Black Caucus and now Jesse Jackson. Surprise - Surprise! Cross posted at African American Political Pundit and Independent Bloggers Alliance

Hillary Clinton and Black Voters

AAPPundit: I always knew Hillary Clinton lost a lot of black support when she supported the war in Iraq. She is going to have a problem in black communities selling her support for the war on faulty CIA info. All she had to do is walk into any African American community in America, and black folks, black women in particular would have told her, "Don't vote for that war." But that is "not" what she does, she's no Bill Clinton, and black folks know it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against Hillary I leave that up to other bloogers and haters. There are many black bloggers who openly Identify and support Hillary Clinton, I'm not one of those bloggers. I just don't like the fact that she refuses to say she made a mistake supporting the War from the beginning. At this point, Obama, Edwards nor Hillary have my vote. But if I'm going to vote the lesser of the three evils. It probably would be... Well, only time and the specific program they lay out, will get my vote. At this point Bill Clinton may have to stand in for Hillary at more than dinners to get black folks (in mass) to vote for her. News Max has an interesting article on that point. Hillary Clinton Struggling to Win Black Voters Even in a Harlem church where former U.S. President Bill Clinton is revered, his wife and presidential aspirant Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has some work to do with black women once expected to be firmly in her camp. "Right now, she's my front-runner, but that may change the more I learn about Obama," said Angela Lago, a retired hospital recruiter among the ranks of black women voters looking at Sen. Barack Obama as an alternative among Democratic contenders. Danese Smalls, who sells jewelry in the historic black neighborhood of New York, said she changed her mind after Clinton voted to support the U.S.- led war in Iraq. "She lost me on that. Now I'm not convinced she's any different from any other politician," Smalls said. More> Cross posted at African American Political Pundit and Independent Bloggers Alliance