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Until the AA community as a whole values primary, secondary and higher education and also works clean up their own backyard (unwed parenthood, involvement in drugs, crime, etc... ) you are not going to see any vast drop in Black male unemployment.
Ironically African American women to some extent "get it" and their numbers of college graduates, members of professions, holding good or at least decent jobs/careers reflect such things. By no means are they on equal footing with say the White/European American population but they often are doing better than the men of their race.
Taking advantage of the various Civil Rights Act provisions and changes in society African Americans from the 1960's through the 1970's made great strides in education levels and lowering unemployment. Indeed old school African American parents stressed the importance of education and doing well in school often to the point of using the strap to bring that point home. Those older AAs remember well often being kept from school and or having to endure second rate education because of their race. Now that the government was at their backs offering equal education chances for all, they wanted to see their children and grandchildren take full advantage.
Those old school African Americans realized something long known to almost every other racial demographic in the United States from Jews to Irish, to Italians, and so forth; education matters.
Sometime in the middle or late 1970's and certainly by the 1980's African Americans began to backslide. Some blame the crack epidemic, others have their own reasons. But whatever the cause African American males on average instead of progressing as a group are moving backwards economically.
Yet as always this is someone else's fault.Yet somehow every other minority in the USA from Asians to gays use the same laws passed to advance African Americans and somehow manage to get on with better results. It is one of those things that make you go "hmmmmm".
There were significant politcal gains in the 60s and 70s but actually black unemployment was actually very high even during the great strides of that time.
If you were alive during the 1960s and 70s, there were race riots galore that set off in most major American cities. The crack cocaine explosion of the 80s, america's War on Drugs, which led to mass incarceration in most inner cities made things worse for black Americans. This is TRUE.
Every other minority? Have you seen the conditions of Native Americans? (another historically despised minority group, and also have had a presence in the US longer than most immigrants).
I don't think it was always someone else's fault. What you see happening in the urban centers of this country is the result of failed policies (from both liberals and conservatives by the way), general lack of education, and bad choices made that have been resulting in the ills you see. (I'm sure there are PLENTY you can observe).
It is all over for AA's in NYC and much of the urban parts of the USA they once helped to control via backing the Democratic party.
The Latino/Hispanic population will reach majority minority status in the USA as a whole in < than a generation, this has happened already is many areas of the country. However like the gays the Latino/Hispanic population have studied how Blacks got so many things "wrong" politically and are determined not to make the same mistakes. Obama is falling all over himself to "help" those two groups because the quite honestly had him by the short and curlies politically. Ditto various governors, mayors, and other local elected officials. Gays and Latino/Hispanic voters have made it clear they will not go the way of Blacks and vote for a party that does not deliver and or only hands out crumbs.
As for the immigration issue yes, you would think African Americans would *see* the irony in supporting a party and president who are proposing/enacting platforms that will cause them social and economic harm; but no such thing. AAs are still having Obamagasms over a member of the tribe being in the WH and a good majority will do so until their last breath.
I've said it before and am doing so again; when BO's twelve years are finished the top gains for minorities will fall to mainly two groups; gays and Latino/Hispanics. African Americans will be left aside wondering "what happened"? We got one of our own in office and *THIS* is how things went down?
Now the Liberal/Left/Democrats will counter "BO is president of the entire USA, he cannot pick and choose various groups to support". Yeah right. If you believe that may I direct you to this bridge I am selling. It is >100 years old and crosses the East River to Brooklyn. Tell you what I'm going to do, now for a good price..........
They have already reached minority majority status. and blacks in NYC are not the largest group receiving public assistance when that group is.
This has nothing to do with Barack Obama, immigration policy, or the conservative propaganda you've been reading. On a macro level, quite recently the economy has improved somewhat for much of the country, not in very large numbers however.
The drug legalization policy, which we will see more of forthcoming is what I'm waiting to see and the results how it plays out in large urban centers.
The drug legalization policy, which we will see more of forthcoming is what I'm waiting to see and the results how it plays out in large urban centers.
/thread
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"The man who sleeps on the floor, can never fall out of bed." -Martin Lawrence
The black community has seen nothing yet. Watch what happens if Obama succeeds in granting amnesty to millions of illegals through some executive order. His administration is trying to figure out how to do this as we speak.
Background check were very superficial back in the day. They basically checked prison records. Today they are sooooo detailed.
Credit scores are checked by so many companies today as well.
Companies today have you under quite a magnifying glass. Just look at what goes on today with employers and social site posting.
Far greater filters are used today.
Background checks of old involved physically pouring over paper records. This was not only time consuming and costly but open to all sorts of errors if not interference. Not to mention until rather recently you could be arrested and Daffy Duck as your name and that is what the NYPD and courts went with so it was easy to "hide" a criminal record. Fingerprinting was not always done for low level crimes and even when it was locating and comparing paper print records is just as time consuming and expensive as noted above.
Technology has allowed vast amounts of court and LE records to be accessed almost at once. There are scores of "we can find out anything about anyone.com" companies that do nothing but gather up public records and create huge databases. The better ones will do an on location court/paper record search to ensure accuracy. This is how news media reporters can say within hours (by the time the report broadcasts) that a suspect (has an arrest record...." or "has previous convictions.....".
An employer or anyone else by paying a small fee can find *ANYTHNG* that involves public records about anyone in <one hour. It may take a bit longer if a paper court record search is requested but by and large there you are.
The black community has seen nothing yet. Watch what happens if Obama succeeds in granting amnesty to millions of illegals through some executive order. His administration is trying to figure out how to do this as we speak.
Research by the Fiscal Policy Institute provides the below estimates of how black men were faring across New York City's five boroughs.
Since the sky-high unemployment rates are known, why is NYC leadership doing so little to train and help black men gain employment? Which steps should the city take to help this group?
i bet this thread took quite a different turn then the op expected.
the reality is the numbers say we need more employable black men not just ones able to work. able to work doesn't get the job, passing the various filters to get that job is what works.
Large problem for AA males is the same for everyone else in the labour market, that is the number of jobs available with merely a high school (or less) education is dwindling. You need a college degree to work in the mail rooms of some companies. Also because of technology and the increased use of computers even once purely "technical" or "skill" driven jobs now require mastering a certain proven level competence in that area.
Also due to very high numbers of illegal immigrants in NYC many of the low skill jobs that once were held by AA males are now going to that population. The numbers of legal minority immigrants are also taking jobs such as those in the service, hospitality and other such industries that once employed many African Americans.
Time was when you went into say a restaurant kitchen or commercial laundry a bulk of the low skilled workers were AA. Now they are mainly Hispanic/Mexican.
These are all good points BugsyPal, for various reasons the competition for certain jobs is high. Employers for even assistant or mailroom clerk jobs can be picky.
In terms of the service sector (restaurants, bars), while you don't need a degree to do those jobs, you do need to know various food and drinks. It helps if you had some degree of class and have eaten out and drank more alcoholic beverages than cheap crap from the liquor store. When I used to work in wine bar/restaurants, during interviews I would be asked what types of grapes made what wines, what wines came from what regions, etc.
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