There have been cries from certain segments of the African-American community that President Obama has not done enough for Black people.
Among those voices—perhaps the loudest from Tavis Smiley and Cornel West—were critics all the way from the barbershops and beauty parlors to the pulpits, academia and the highest Black social strata.
Some of that criticism—not the personal beefs of Smiley and West—is deserved. However, much more comes from lack of information about things that have helped African-Americans because the White House, rightly so, did not separate and label the legislation as “for Blacks or minorities.”
The current American Jobs Act is such a document. Where there is not any minority specified language, there is a lot of aid for beleaguered Blacks, who at 16.7 percent unemployment are suffering their worst since 1984.
The bill calls for an extension of unemployment insurance for a year for those who have been out of work six months or more, and it’s well known who has the highest percentage of jobless people in their ranks.
This will aid 1.4 million African-Americans and their families. Coupled with that will be a tax credit to businesses for hiring those who are long-term unemployed.
The president is also proposing reforms that will create a program tailored to support re-employment for the long-term unemployed by providing training while they look for a job.
By placing rebuilding and revitalization projects in communities hardest hit by foreclosures and retrofitting schools in large urban school districts, the bill should provide more jobs for minorities, women and socially and economically disadvantaged people.
The payroll tax holiday puts $1,000-$1,500 in the pockets of 20 million working-class, Black people in the next year.
The bill also provides funds for the rehiring of teachers, firefighters, police officers and other public employees, and African-Americans make up a healthy percentage of public workers across the nation.
The president also included a summer jobs program that will benefit teens and young people. Unemployment among Black youth is more than 32 percent.
It’s called The American Jobs Act not the African-American Jobs Act. It will help jobless and economically distressed people of all ethnicities—whites more than any—but, most importantly, this bill for all Americans doesn’t bypass those with dark complexions.
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