How ironic. On the day President Obama gives yet another empty rhetorical speech about “promise zones,” Newsmax reports that black Americans have fallen further behind during his presidency in income, employment and education.
The national unemployment rate has dropped to 7 percent, but the jobless rate for blacks has hardly moved since Obama took office, declining from 12.7 percent in 2009 to 12.5 percent, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics report. And while the recession impacted all race and age groups’ earnings, blacks fared the worst.”
Amazingly, while Obama had an overall approval rating of 39 percent in a Dec. 10 survey conducted by Quinnipiac University, his approval was still 85 percent among black voters.
The statistics for black Americans are both appalling and staggering;
- The poverty rate for blacks sharply increased, rising from 12 percent in 2008 to 16.1 percent in the last report. Median income declined by 3.6 percent for white households to $58,000, but fell 10.9 percent to $33,500 for black households, Census Bureau figures show.
- The education gap is even more prevalent in urban centers such as Chicago. According to the 2013 National Report Card, the gap in fourth-grade math test scores between black and white students widened to 40 points — the largest gap since the national study began in 2003.
- Nationally, only 52 percent of black males graduate from high school in four years, according to the Schott Foundation’s 2012 report.
And with all the education problems in the black community, President Obama saw fit to cancel the DC school voucher program. Recently, Obama’s Department of Justice filed a suit against Louisiana’s tuition voucher program, which has produced record gains for blacks and Hispanics. Even the Washington Post editorial board said it represented a bid “to trap poor, black children in ineffective schools.”
Obama supporter Tavis Smiley said last October, “The data is going to indicate sadly that when the Obama administration is over, black people will have lost ground in every single leading economic indicator category.”
So when will the black Americans stop acquiescing to this perceived messiah and realize they are worse for the wear of their economic situation? Harry Alford, president of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, told Newsmax.
“I don’t know how much he has done or how much his policies are responsible for the current state of blacks in America. What I do know is that we are worse off than we were when he came into office.He could start with opening up the Keystone pipeline. He could stop his administration from trying to put the coal industry out of business and he could just let business be business.”
Instead we get more speeches that are nothing more than political posturing — signature Obama-but very short on results and measurable improvements. I don’t believe the black community will all of a sudden start voting conservative — they could care less about the Republican Party. But the GOP does have an opportunity for policy inclusiveness, not just “outreach,” and if 15 to 20 percent of the black community chooses a different path in elections, it will have a profound effect. It is obvious, the time is coming to run more conservative black candidates in our failing inner cities.
