The American Jobs Act has been presented to the
Congress of the United States by President Barack H. Obama. This is another major step forward to
get the entire nation to re-focus on implementing solutions to the nation’s
unemployment crisis. In particular
for Black Americans the prolonged joblessness problems are causing pain and misery
in nearly every community. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, last
month’s unemployment rate for Black Americans rose to 16.7 percent, the highest
unemployment rate for Black Americans since 1984 while at the same time the
unemployment rate for White Americans fell slightly to 8 percent.
Some of us recall that during the administration of
President Ronald Reagan in the early 1980’s, the unemployment rate for Black
Americans surged to over 20 percent. The point today is that we have had high unemployment before, but we
managed to not let an overall sense of hopelessness and defeatism to be a
permanent fixture in our consciousness as a people. African American leaders
today should be speaking out in support of The American Jobs Act. President Obama’s recent speech to a
joint session of Congress and the subsequent delivery of this important
legislative initiative was a remarkable strategic move by the President. What
is needed now is public pressure on all members of Congress to get this bill enacted
into law as soon as possible.
The Tea Party wing of the Republican Party appears
to leading the rest of the moderate Republicans straight off the cliff of ultra
conservatism into a deep abyss of politically-motivated cynicism and
do-nothingness on the issue of jobs for all Americans. In other words, there is
a clear premeditated motive by those who want to defeat President Obama in 2012
that is glaringly obvious: to prevent Congressional passage of The American
Jobs Act to politically in an attempt to injure President Obama at the expense
of permitting high unemployment to continue.
Annalyn Censky for CNNMoney reported that, “Black unemployment has been roughly
double that of whites since the government started tracking the figures in 1972. Economists blame a variety of
factors. The Black workforce is
younger than the white workforce, lower numbers of Blacks get a college degree
and many live in areas of the country that were harder hit by the recession –
all things that could lead to a higher unemployment rate.” Of course there are many different
other historical and contemporary causes for the fact that Black Americans are
the most unemployed in America. Beyond describing the problem, however, we need solutions and we need
jobs now. That is why there should
be a sense of urgency in both the Black American and Latino American
communities to mobilize support for The American Jobs Act (AJA) specifically
because this legislation will provide real employment opportunities for our
communities.
According to the official White House release on
the AJA, the purpose of “the American Jobs Act is simple: put more people back
to work and put more money in the pockets of working Americans And it would do
so without adding a dime to the deficit.” For Black Americans, many of whom have been underemployed and well as
unemployed, the Obama Jobs Act is a welcomed initiative. The American Jobs Act has five components: 1. Tax Cuts to Help America’s Small
Businesses Hire and Grow; 2.
Putting Workers Back on the Job While Rebuilding and Modernizing America; 3.
Pathways Back to Work for Americans Looking for Jobs; 4. Tax Relief for Every
American Worker and Family; and 5. Fully Paid for as Part of the President’s
Long-Term Deficit Reduction Plan.
African American owned businesses will benefit from
the passage of the AJA because of the projected millions of dollars in payroll
tax cuts. These savings will enable these businesses to in turn hire more
employees from our communities. Fifty billion dollars will be spent on new
infrastructure jobs for highways, transit, rail and aviation. African American and other minority
contractors will have expanded opportunities to participate in the
implementation of the AJA. Thirty-five billion dollars will be for retention
and hiring of teachers, firefighters and other public servants. Twenty-five billion dollars will be for
investing in the modernizations of 35,000 public schools and other
infrastructures related to schools across the nation. Hundreds of thousands of youth jobs will be created and
given the fact that Black youth unemployment in some areas of the country
exceeds 30 percent, this component of the AJA is vital for our young brothers
and sisters who are crying out for an opportunity to be gainfully employed.
President Obama has acted. Now it is our turn to show and express
support for the immediate passage of the American Jobs Act by the
Congress. This is urgent. Let’s not waiver or be immobilized.
It’s time to stand up for the empowerment of our communities. Support the
American Jobs Act.
Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. is Senior Advisor for
the Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO) and President of Education
Online Services Corporation and the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN).
