Harvard sociologist William Julius Wilson states, "One problem that has plagued the Black community over the years is resignation." This he defines as a self defeating set of beliefs about what to expect from life and how to respond - passed from parent to child. "And I think there was sort of a feeling that norms of resignation would weaken somewhat with the Obama election. But these hard economic times could reinforce some of these norms." The point I went to emphasize "is that we should brace ourselves."
As we come to the conclusion of Black History Month 2010, Black America faces the most perilous economic conditions it has faced since the 1930's. While white America bemoans reaching a 10% unemployment rate, the Black unemployment rate stood at 15.6% in November, a rate 50% higher than that faced by whites. This number excludes Blacks who have given up and dropped out of the labor market. It's worse for Black youth. The unemployment rate among Black tees age 16 to 19 was nearly 50 percent.
In the article "How a New Jobless Era Will Transform America", writer Don Peck states this era of high joblessness is probably just beginning.
What are the implications for Black people? With clearly no targeted programs aimed at African Americans by the government we are going to have to turn to each other and exemplify more umoja than ever before. We are going to have to create and implement solutions that allow Blacks to increase the reciprocity from our $850 billion plus in consumer spending. We're going to have to use our dollar vote and implement "selective patronage" programs like those created by Reverend Leon Sullivan when he created OIC. The government programs must be modified to allow new, creative, entrepreneurs to get their ideas implemented. Many of the current programs only benefit entrenched, old-school, well connected entities with deep political ties. Many have not conducted inclusive outreach in twenty-five years, yet they are receiving millions of dollars in new money. This money was supposed to be used to reach those "most impacted by the recession."
And of course in this information, service oriented economy we are going to have to be masters of technology and the internet. Connecting our family locally, nationally, and globally using technology tools including mobile, broadband, and virtual events is mandatory. We're also going to have to take an increased responsibility for teaching our young people. Unless we put these principles into practive across a broad cross section of the Black community, there will be no recovery for Black America.
