Filed under: News, The Economy
While President Obama must contend with the Republicans, he must also deal with a wide variety of special interest groups, all expecting something in return for their loyalty. With well over 90 percent approval ratings, no group has been more steadfast and committed to President Obama than the African American community. Therefore, as we seek to determine what our community should expect from the State of the Union address being given this week, we have every right to demand what is best for us.
American racism and black second class citizenship disallow our president the right to directly address the black community in his speech (or even racism for that matter) , so I guess we'll have to settle for code language. Rather than speaking to the black community directly, the president can put energy into liberal agenda items that correlate highly with the issues that affect black Americans. Here are a few things that the president can mention in the State of the Union address to return the favor to black America for all of our support. I'll name just four:
1) The wealth and unemployment gaps: The average black American family has a wealth level that is roughly 1/10 that of the average white family. Last month's estimates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics puts black unemployment at nearly double the rate of white Americans (8.5 percent to 15.8 percent). All the while, neither the president nor anyone in his administration has addressed the disturbing amount of economic hardship being experienced by black people in this country. Fixing the economy does not go far enough. Those who are enlightened on the issues must continue to press our elected officials to acknowledge the persistent economic inequality that still exists due to slavery and Jim Crow.
2) Rampant inequality in the educational system: With black male graduation rates at less than 50%, the black community is in dire need of support, funding and intervention. Clearly, we as parents must find ways to push our children to take education more seriously (yes, there is a cultural problem), but there is a broad collection of institutional factors that serve to create and perpetuate the serious educational problems of inner city America. We can start by making sure that inner city schools have the same funding and resources as the schools in the suburbs. I've mentored good, hard working kids at inner city schools and found myself disgusted by the fact that the kids had to find a way to get an education in spite of their schools, rather than because of them. The educational system in America is going to be one of our nation's greatest downfalls in the 21st century, and it doesn't just hurt black children.
3) Mass incarceration: The United States incarcerates more of its citizens than any country in the world (2.1 million). Also, a disproportionate number of those citizens are black. One out of every nine black children has a parent behind bars, meaning that the kids themselves are at risk of joining the same penitentiaries as their parents. African Americans are more likely to be searched, arrested, convicted and incarcerated than whites, even when they commit the same crimes. Most inmates are not given access to educational opportunities while in prison, reducing their chances of successful re-entry into society. After they leave prison, they are left unable to find jobs, go to school or even vote. Therefore, the largest producer of criminals in our country is the Prison Industrial Complex. The complex is not only exploitative and destructive for America, it has served to destroy the integrity of the African American family. Scientists have shown that for every one percentage point increase in the incarceration rate for black men, there is a 2.4 percent decline in the number of black women who eventually get married, connecting mass incarceration to the overwhelming spike in single parent homes in the black community. If our nation's first black president and first black Attorney General can't address these issues, then who can?
4) Gun control: The shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is an unfortunate situation that opens the door for our nation to talk about gun violence and how to keep gun manufacturers from allowing their insatiable quest for profitability to continue to kill innocent people. Homicide is the leading cause of death for African American males, and most of these deaths are caused by a bullet. It seems that manufacturers are able to keep their guns on the street as much as they like, as long as black people are the ones using them to kill one another. Perhaps by delicately bringing up this issue during his State of the Union Address, our president can remind his Republican colleagues of the farce that our nation has become in the eyes of the world when it comes to our obsession with putting weapons onto the street. In fact, the drug wars in Mexico are consistently linked to guns sold here in the United States and while we might criticize Mexico for not being able to control drug cartels, it is our gun laws that keep these cartels alive. Our nation has, through our addiction to irresponsible capitalism, become the most daunting death merchant in the entire world and that's just downright shameful.
Sadly enough, I can't imagine President Obama addressing the African American community in any context during the State of the Union address. In fact, we will probably never hear the words "black man" or "black woman" come out of his mouth for the remainder of his term. It is sad that President Obama's blackness is considered a liability to his presidency instead of an asset, as it seems that even those on the left supported Obama mainly because he wasn't too black for comfort. I hope that when President Obama walks out of the White House and joins the general population, we will look back on his presidency and say that our community is better off because of it. Quite honestly, the jury is still out.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action Resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.