The AC Phoenix: More than a Newspaper, a Community Institution -- Issue No. 2001, July 2013

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Page 12 July 2013 The AC Phoenix When Will Obama Address Black Unemployment? By Clarence B. Jones Diversity Visiting Professor, University of San Francisco; and Scholar Writer in Residence, MLK, Jr. Institute, Stanford University Thanks to Paul Solman of PBS Business Desk, in addition to Doug Ross’s Journal, there is at least some media attention being directed at this serious problem: “Job Rate For Poor Black Teen Dropout? Try 95%” (Paul Solman of PBS Business Desk) Paul Solman: And how about kids that are not in school, what percentage of them ages 16 to 19 is not working now? Clarence B. Jones Diversity Visiting Professor, University of San Francisco; and Scholar Writer in Residence, MLK, Jr. Institute, Stanford University Thanks to the Doug Ross@Journal we are able to drill down deeper into our current “true unemployment.” This includes, for example, part-timers seeking full-time work (also known as “U-6”) that jumped to 14.3 percent, a six-month high. “The Labor Force Participation Rate, has never been lower since the seventies -- the percentage of eligible workers who actually have a job -- has stubbornly remained under 64 percent since 2011.” Against this background the “unemployment rate for African-Americans is a devastating 23.7 percent,” for Hispanics 13.2 percent, women 11.6% and youth overall, 16.1% The real largely untold story about our economy, however, is the magnitude of unemployment among African-American youth. What a poignant political and historical irony that our nation’s first elected African-American president would promote and sponsor a domestic political agenda that will facilitate one of the highest rates of unemployment in the African-American community, particularly among teenagers? This is exactly the probable consequence if the pending Immigration Bill passes in the House. Andrew Sum: Over half. If you’re a high school dropout you’re talking about 30 percent working. Among high school grads who graduated from high school in the last three years -- we do a separate survey of them the fall after graduation -- 45 percent of them held a job, the lowest in the last 50 years we’ve been collecting this data. And to make it worse, of that 45 percent, only half of them were able to get a full-time job. Only one in five young high school grads, not in college, [is] working full-time. Paul Solman: So, you mean, it’s effectively an 80 percent underemployment rate? Andrew Sum: Yes. And, if you happen to be a young black male, we’re talking. Ninety percent are not working full-time. The analysis and comments of Paul Solman are independent from those in my previous blog about the likely consequences the passage of the pending Immigration Bill will have on high black unemployment, especially among black teenagers Why does President Obama continue to get a “pass” or “get out of jail card” free on this issue? Is this the way our nation plans to celebrate and commemorate, next month, the 50th Anniversary of Dr. King’s prophetic “I Have a Dream” speech at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC? Thomas Jefferson said,” I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever” What say you, Mr. President? Is the impact of the pending Immigration Bill on high black unemployment your legislative response on behalf of the “Joshua Generation” to the Dream of the “Moses Generation”? In a previous blog I wrote that high black unemployment is being “thrown under the bus” to satisfy the demands of the business community and the unprecedented lobbying money and efforts of Silicon Valley and other high tech businesses. Where are the outraged voices of the labor movement and leaders in the African-American Community, aside from other voices of moral conscience? Does anybody care?
Page 13 July 2013 The AC Phoenix put on a pathway to career or college rather than the destructive criminal justice system. Interrupting the School to Prison Pipeline: 6-year-old Arrested, Handcuffed By Judith Browne Dianis America’s Wire Writers Group ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Salecia Johnson, age 6, grew frustrated in her Milledgeville, Ga., kindergarten class last year and erupted into a temper tantrum. Unfortunately, it’s something that mothers sometimes must confront with raising young children. But what happened next was not routine, nor should it be happening to Salecia or any other children. Creekside Elementary school called the police, who said they found Salecia on the floor of the principal’s office screaming and crying. Police said she had knocked over furniture that injured the principal. The African American child was handcuffed, arrested and hauled to the local police station. She was held for more than hour before her parents were notified and charged with simple assault and damage to property, but didn’t have to go to court because she is a juvenile. But the ordeal has severely impacted the child. Her mother, Constance Ruff, says Salecia is traumatized, having difficulty adjusting back to school and may never recover. Salecia, she says, has awoken at night screaming, “They’re coming to get me!”Sadly, her case is not an anomaly. Across the country, young people are being arrested for behavior that used to be solved through a trip to the principal’s office or the intervention of a counselor. In Florida, a 14-year-old was arrested and charged for throwing a pencil at another student and spent 21 days in jail. In New York, a 12-year-old was arrested for doodling, ‘I love Abby and Faith on her desk.’ In Chicago, 25 children, some as young as 11, were arrested for engaging in a food fight. Supporters of zero tolerance policies say being tough on any infraction creates strong incentives to behave. But the reality belies that myth and cries out for the implementation of common sense discipline polices that ensure that students are The Advancement Project, a multi-racial civil rights organization based in Washington, DC, tracks the increasing encroachment of law enforcement and the juvenile justice system into American classrooms, particularly impacting students of color. The research has documented racial disparities nationally and in specific school districts. According to a 2005 report by Advancement Project, Education on Lockdown: The Schoolhouse to Jailhouse Track, Black and Latino students in Denver were 70 percent more likely to be disciplined (suspended, expelled, or given police tickets) than their white peers. There were no states where Black students were not suspended more often than their white peers. The easy answer is that Black and Latino students misbehave more than other students. However, research consistently shows that this is false. Black and Latino students are punished, even arrested, most often for subjective infractions (i.e. “disorderly conduct,” “disobedience,” “disrespect,” etc.), while White students are more likely to be punished for concrete dangerous activities (e.g., carrying a weapon, using drugs). During a convening for “America Healing,” a racial equity initiative of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, a panel discussion this spring focused on examples where different sectors of the community have achieved some success interrupting the school-to-prison pipeline. Jody Owens, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Mississippi office, which filed a lawsuit against the district, asserted that “we are losing a generation” in Meridian, Miss., because of the way children are needlessly introduced to the criminal justice system. Kids are pushed into police detention directly from the classroom. Students referred to the Police Department for misbehavior are automatically arrested and sent to the juvenile justice system. There, these students are given probation requiring them to serve any school suspensions incarcerated in the juvenile detention center. One student spent 48 days in jail for wearing the wrong color socks. Youth who run afoul of school rules, not criminal law, are routinely handcuffed to a pole outside the school for the entire eight-hour school day. Data shows that zero tolerance policies result in higher dropout rates, lower academic achievement and young people being pushed into the criminal justice system - hence the name school to prison pipeline. How have practices like these become common? After the Columbine tragedy, we saw the emergence of zero tolerance policies extended into the nation’s schools. Proponents argue that safety in schools is the key issue though there is little to no evidence these practices create safer learning environments or change disruptive behavior. You are loved more than you will ever know by someone who died to know you Romans 5:8 Trayvon Martin: A 21st Century Case Study of Race in America Diversity Visiting Professor, University of San Francisco; and Scholar Writer in Residence, MLK, Jr. Institute, Stanford University By Clarence B. Jones Clarence B. Jones On the night of Feb 26th, 2012, in a conversation with a 911 dispatcher in Stanford, Florida, George Zimmerman said, “These assholes always get away ... We’ve had some break ins in my neighborhood, and there’s a real suspicious guy ... looks like he’s up to no good or he’s on drugs or something.” The dispatcher asked Zimmerman: “Are you following him?” Zimmerman: “Yeah.” Dispatcher: “We don’t need you to do that.” In his Sunday sermon yesterday, the Rev. Dr. Raphael G. Warnock, senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, said, “Trayvon Benjamin Martin is dead because he and other black boys and men like him are not seen as a person, but a problem.” The acquittal of George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin Case provides us with a “Case Study of Race in America in The 21st Century.” When are we as nation going to have the courage and honesty to have a national town hall discussion about race in the United States? The Trayvon Martin verdict now joins a line of seminal historic events defining race relations in America: U.S. Supreme Court Dred Scott Decision, 1857 Emancipation Proclamation, 1863 Plessey vs. Fergerson, 1896 (“separate but equal’) Brown vs., Board of Education, 1954 (outlawing racial segregation in public education) Dr. King’s ‘I Have A Dream’ Speech to 250,000+ people, March On Washington, 1963 Voting Rights Act, 1965 Kerner Commission Report, 1968 (“Our Nation Is Moving Toward Two Societies, One Black, One White -- Separate and Unequal”) Election of Barack Obama, as first African-American president of the United States, 2008 Shelby County vs. Holder, June 25th, 2013 (Section 4b of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 declared unconstitutional) There have men numerous comments in the media about the acquittal of George Zimmerman. In several cities across the nation people have demonstrated in opposition to the verdict. Trayvon Martin’s killing by George Zimmerman, on the basis of “self-defense,” will be lost or diminished as an instructive template for a sustained national dialogue about race today in the United States unless practical steps are immediately initiated to assure such a dialogue, ASAP. Anyone who objects to the verdict by communicating through the social media or by “demonstrating” in peaceful protest at one or more venues across the country, who is not registered to vote, at the time of such communication or protest, denigrates the memory of Trayvon Martin. Responsible ownership and use of guns, including background checks, and fostering non-violent resolution of the inevitable conflicts that will occur among us, whether racially motivated or not, will not be achieved unless those who seek to honor Trayvon Martin acquire the political power to do so. Being a registered voter and exercising your vote, in a state primary or a general election, and demanding an end to gun violence is the most effective way to insure that more young black lives are not extinguished by a gun shot.
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The AC Phoenix: More than a Newspaper, a Community Institution -- Issue No. 2001, July 2013

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