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Why we need a ‘New Deal’ for black America
OPINION – What we need is inclusive, creative political action and an increased investment in new strategies to develop skills, opportunities and resources in all communities…
It would seem that the nation is fed up. Frustrated by the tone of Washington politics and the slow pace of economic recovery, American satisfaction with our policymakers has sharply declined.
Nearly three-quarters of Americans polled indicated that they have little or no confidence in Washington to repair the economy, and the number of people who expressed no confidence at all has nearly doubled since October 2010. While the black community still overwhelmingly supports President Obama, there is a growing concern about his administration’s interest and ability to address the economic issues that are still leading to double-digit rates of unemployment and poverty, as well as increased rates of foreclosure among African-Americans.
In response to these rising frustrations and the failure of the administration to explicitly deal with the chronic economic marginalization of black communities, the Congressional Black Caucus recently launched a five-city, “For the People” jobs tour along with more than 40 bills to specifically address black unemployment.
Earlier, Tavis Smiley and Dr. Cornel West launched a “poverty tour,” designed to highlight the absence of a “poverty agenda” from the Obama Administration’s economic recovery efforts.
Unfortunately, a sideshow of ill-informed, comedic responses to the Smiley-West attempt to elevate the cyclical poverty and underdevelopment of black communities has distracted us from what’s really important. It has done nothing more than recreate the same type of public “beef” that has historically undermined real discussions about Black progress in America.
Absent from the public discourse is a critical investigation of why there has been little in the form of a coordinated federal and state legislative or policy response to the lingering economic marginalization and chronic unemployment of African-Americans. Given the dire circumstances facing African-Americans, which predate as well as follow the economic crisis and our slow recovery from it, there is a legitimate reason to question the equity lens of the Obama administration.