Unemployment Climbs to 17.5% for Black Men

Repost from North Star News:

Unemployment Gets Worse for Black Men
The unemployment rate during May climbed to 17.5 percent for black men 20 years old and older on a seasonally adjusted basis, up from 17.0 percent in April, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported June 3.

There were 1.411 million black men out of work and seeking jobs in May compared with 1.382 million who were out work and looking for a job, according to the bureau.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate, however, among African-American women held steady. The jobless rate among black women in May was 13.4 percent,  nearly the same as it was in April. Some 1.210 million black women were out of work in May compared with 1.217 million who were jobless in April.

The overall unemployment rate in the black community continued to rise on a seasonally adjusted basis.

In May, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for black men and black women 20 years old and older was 16.2 percent compared with 16.1 percent in April. Bureau officials reported that 2.882 million African Americans were out of work in May compared with 2.882 million black men and women who were out of work in April.

The seasonally adjusted jobless rate among African Americans is much higher than other racial and ethnic groups. May's unemployment among whites was 8 percent, the same as it was in April. Among Hispanics, May's unemployment rate rose slightly to 11.9 percent, up from 11.8 percent in April. The jobless rate for Asians was 7 percent, but that was not on a seasonally adjusted basis.

Last month, nonfarm payroll employment added 54,000 jobs and the overall unemployment rate was essentially unchanged from the previous month at 9.1 percent. 

2009 an Unfortunate Year for Black Men

Barack H. Obama kicked it off.

He was this cool and collected, Ivy-leagued educated individual who openly played basketball and dissected national policy between hoop shots and presidential candidacy debates.

Healthy, proud, intelligent black men were envogue.

All eyes were on the specimen that has been tagged, profiled, and degraded in unmeasurable ways.

Suddenly, the brothers were popping up everywhere other than sports. We saw black men as news commentators to panel discussants to CEOs. They all became the face of something other than a mug shot.

And black men, for once, were able to breathe, a little, as America fought for their humanity and applauded their leadership.

Ahhh we thought, but for how long? Oh, not too long.

Obama who was lifted up in high-esteem has now been scraped from under every damn bus you can imagine. His backbone, somewhere surfing in Hawaii.

Folk from every walk of life who swore he was going to do something are frustrated and very disappointed. This air of discontent provides excellent breeding for more anti-Obama rhetoric that has consistently been vehemently racist, volatile, and inaccurate.

And then report after report flooded the news of all types of black men who were taking hits from their temporary star status. And this time there was no discrimination. All brothers, from coons to cool and everything in between got twisted in these interesting and disturbing ways.

Van Jones, who enjoyed a very brief tenure as White House Environmental advisor, was quickly cut up and dismissed.

Tiger Woods, the highest paid athlete in the world, who is now in rehab, has totally shattered his life and is now known as the whore magnet to working white trashy chicks with horrible blonde tints and fake tits.

Former Detroit mayor and ex-convict, Kwame Kilpatrick (dumb ass) is now the face of urban apocalypse in America.

Kanye West became the negro you'd love to hate when he grabbed the microphone from Lily, pristine, innocent Taylor Swift.

Chris Brown was crowned, "woman beater of the year," and became the lesson for all emotional disturbed white feminists and domestic violence classes while Charlie Sheen's knife-to-the-throat act has been swept under the rug.

Lil Wayne, T.I., Lil Boosie, Jim Jones, Juelz Santana, NAS, Kid Cudi, and damn near half of black male rappers were either convicted, arrested, or shot.

FOX who has mastered all gutter tactics in propaganda fired back by guest black male commentators to speak against any-and-all Obama. Established coons such as: Larry Elder, Shelby Steele, Armstrong Williams, John McWhorter (gagging right now), Earl Ofari Hutchinson (on-the-fence buffoon), and my current unfavorite, Juan "Porch Monkey" Williams have kept the ball of house-negroism rolling.

Though they claim they are boot-strapped and successful, they validate the racist structures they so coldly defend.

But when Republican National Committee responded to the Democratic's "HNIC" by electing Michael Steele, former Lieutenant Governor of Maryland as their chairman, the house negroes quickly understood that they are simply pawns.

Steele was stunting like a peacock and talking big shit about how RNC was going to change and include more minority visibility and blah, blah, blah. Sounded like good sound bites until he challenged "Good ole boy" and admitted drug addict, radio host Rush Limbaugh's leadership deft. Shortly thereafter, Steele's chest was deflated and he was silenced.

If you didn't know, all the members of the Congressional Black Caucus are currently under investigation. From what I've heard, it is a political move because most of them are ranked high due to seniority (though all of them need to be ashamed of their bullshit).

But let's talk about Congressman William Jefferson out of Louisiana for his corruption conviction due to taking charges from a Nigerian "businessman." Then had the audacity to run and win in the midst of the mayhem.

And do you remember the stinky little situation between Congressman Jesse L. Jackson, Jr and Roland Burris on the scandal regarding who got to take Obama's senate seat after his election. It resulted in an FBI investigation that shut up Jackson real quick.

As well, how could Congressman Charles Rangel out of New York, the most tenured representative, and the most powerful, "forget" to pay his taxes from rental income.

From the troubles, tragedies and bad judgements seen in Plaxico Burress, to Michael Vick, to Chris Henry, to Allen Iverson's groveling, and finally, Tiger Woods, the black male athlete's image has been minimalized to nothing more of a brute.

A $40 million dollar slave, as William C. Rhoden accurately points out. Black athletes have money, but lack fiscal and political wealth because they have yet to conjure the courage to break free of the imprisoning entertainment sports system that has dictated their every move since they were dreaming to make it big in middle school.

Add on scandalous affairs and ugly divorces, Michael Vick and Tiger Woods represent where black male athletes will be deduced to, miniscule contracts and public images that are at the mercy of franchise shareholders and sponsorship.

My brothers had a rough year, from Gods to Dogs in a matter of seconds.

And this is just a side note. Why in the hell does Al Sharpton still have the nasty perm in his hair?

Blog on EcoSoul

Myth of Black Male Shortage

What you want my make you cry/What you need might pass you by/If you don't catch it

What you need ironically/Will turn out what you want to be/If you just let it

Lauryn Hill "When it hurts so bad."

For the last three days, I've been seeing these broadcasts about the shortage of black men and I want to throw my shoe at the television and my computer screen. This is such a myth that has black women looking for love in all the wrong places.

But there are many inaccuracies about this myth that are not tackled. This encompasses the lie that black females were told growing up. It was hammered into our psyches that if we did good in school, didn't act like a hoochie-coochie in public, and got a degree, we could have any man we wanted. Then we were instructed to only get men of a certain, how should I say this, status.

Additionally, the brothers today not only have to have a good job, good credit, and a fabulous wardrobe, but he gotta have this Obama-Jay Z swagger. OHH fucking eMMM Geee! The expectations have become incredibly unattainable.

And these women, with their nice Ann Taylor three-pieces, are sitting all dolled-up in the church pews, with half of the qualifications they ask of, praying to God for "Mr. Right."

Oh, and this one gets me. When a woman meets a man with these qualifications, she complains when she has to be the perfect housewife, career woman, supermommy and a stripper rolled into one.

Today, many of those women, married and single, are crying the blues for a host of reasons.

For some of us, two abortions, bad credit, four relocations, a restraining order, and an assault case later, we are still lonely.

Where are the good men? We cry.

Right under our noses, and in many cases, not from the United States.

When I was in Atlanta, I complained to a male friend of mine that I was going out with some of the most shiftless Negroes I came across. These suit-and-tie fools, who were Morehouse graduates, walked around like cocks in hen-pens. They were so arrogant because they thought they had a huge pick of hens, but so confused because they kept selecting chicken heads.

My friend gave me advice that I thank him for to this day. He said, "EcoSoul, real men are not afraid to ride the Marta (public trains)."

This snapped me back into reality. Silly me, I had been closed-minded to an area of brothers who are eligible, honest, and loving; however, I have heard a lot of sisters suck their teeth in disagreeance, or worry about what their family and friends would say if they brought home a blue collar man.

And, if they do go out with one brother who is not a "working professional" and the experience is horrible, they blame it on their social status and go right back to chasing sport-fucking attorneys and cornball corporate types who bore the shit out of them.

My father being a truck driver, and my mother being an intellectual, I grew up in a household where my mother married and stayed with a man who socially did not "fit" her status. But six children and 36 years later, they are still thriving.

Which gets back to this shortage. Not only must women be open to the pool of men they are selecting, but not be afraid to look at black men from other countries.

This goes for women who are not just African-American, but women who are African and Caribbean who all turn their noses to other black ethnicities for not being their type of man.

Truth be told. When you are dating the West, the rules change for everyone. Black folk from other countries do not operate within the context of their ethnic/cultural heritages, but adapt to the hybrid conditions.

I hear my African sisters and West Indian women tell me their stories about men that want them to cook and act like their mamas, and then look and fuck like Beyonce! Tsk, Tsk.

My sisters laugh at me when I tell them to travel and go off the resort and meet brothers who are working in the business sectors of Africa, South America and the Caribbean. These places are teeming with eligible black males.

Now, I'm not saying to pick up of those resort prostitutes. There are successful black men in every black country who needn't worry about Visas and Green Cards. But there are also honest working men that you might find.

Now, I'm not saying that the shit is not tricky. Just like in US, every place has dudds, but everyone is not hopping and jumping to scam.

Be open and cautious. There are places that specialize in selling sex. There are African-American men who flock to Brazil to pluck g-string female beachgoers who are really prostitutes combing the sands for a John. In the end, these brothers walk away with drawers full of TNT or in some cases, a record.

An AIDS test, a family check, and a courtship.

Another suggestion is to leave the "Stella Got Her Groove Back," mentality behind. You see where that got the author of the book, a Jamaican who came out of the closet after he cha-chinged.

Anyway, the last thing you want to do is exoticize black men in other countries because you will get what you think, someone who is more freakier than you fantasized about.

HO hum, I know some people are saying, EcoSoul, you are really going there. And yes, I am. There is no shortage, sisters gotta do what nomads have been doing for thousands of years. When the land is dried up they go to another place and find fertile soil.

Who Sits Next to Black Men on Trains

I've been preparing for a class presentation and some of the readings involve perceptions of black men being unsavory, untrustworthy, confrontational, and deviant. Of course I know about these things. My father is a black man who talked about the daily frustrations regularly of these false images projected onto him.

However, sometimes I forget how salient those conversations were with my dad because I am very comfortable around black men. I guess that's why I never really pay attention to who sits next to one on the train or the bus.

Lately, I've been taking mental notes about who sits next to whom when riding the NJ Transit and the PATH rails into New York. Usually there is an empty seat reserved for the nothingness right next to a black man.

Like tonight, as I came from New York, the train was semi-crowded. There was one seat on my right that stood between myself and a brother. No one, and I mean absolutely no one took that seat.

What does this form of psychological racializing and assumptive behavior do to black men themselves and the people who consciously and unconsciously engage in the daily practices of dehumanization? And I am not absolved either.

For one, we miss out on social interactions that are priceless. Like the day I spoke to an older black man on the PATH train. It was a simple hello. This particular day the route we were taking became temporarily out-of-service as we stoo on the platform, so we had to reroute ourselves and go back up to 34th Street (New York's Penn Station) to catch another train into Newark.

The elder turned out to be a WWII Veteran who explained with detail and depth his experiences as a black soldier in Europe. It was better than Spike Lee's movie, Mircale at St. Anna's.

After we hooted and hollered about his experiences and his attempts to get proper Social Security at 80-plus years with a bum knee, he then told me how viciously segregated the New York and New Jersey trains were back in the 40s and 50s.

I wanted to tell him that in many ways, they still are.

As I think back to this older black man, it was a simple gesture that gave me access to historical gems from the lens of someone who is perceived as deviant.

I look back to that day. I now recognize that, that older man was as an extension of my father. Then I think about tonight as I ride the train, looking at the blue-collar, black man sit "alone" on a crowded train.

I ponder how my father or my significant other feels when people make it a point not to sit next to them. For this I cry.

We have created segragationist lines in our psyches and in our social stratum that cannot be erased by laws, but simply justify an inequitable system that bites us all in the ass.