Black, Jobless & Still Voting for Obama

Earlier this week President Obama toured the Midwest and today he started his vacation, and I am not saying the man doesn’t deserve a vacation. Meanwhile, the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) has been traveling the country with their Jobs Initiative tour. Yesterday they were in the city where I live, Atlanta, Georgia. Looking at the lines of people one couldn’t help notice that the majority, well over ninety percent, were African American. 

In the sweltering heat, some 4,000 people showed up at Atlanta Technical College where 90 employers spent the day reviewing resumes and scheduling interviews. With unemployment at 16% in the Black community, and that doesn’t include people whose unemployment benefits have run out, the CBC has termed the situation what it is, a crises. And with Congress preparing to consider more cuts in federal spending it doesn’t look as if the situation is going to get better anytime soon. 

Several job seekers here in Atlanta fainted as they waited in lines that wrapped around the building and nine were taken to area hospitals. While there have been a number of jobs bills introduced and a lot of discussion, nothing has happened that would ease the situation so that people would not think it necessary to risk their health waiting in line for the opportunity to speak with a potential employer. The crowds, the lines and heat took their toll on people, both mentally and physically.

Rep. John Lewis, a Democrat from Georgia and member of the CBC, urged job-seekers not to give up hope and called for a federal solution to unemployment. "It is my hope that some of the people here today will be promised a job -- at least an interview. We have to do something." Lewis said there must be a "massive effort on the part of this administration and on the part of all of us" in Congress to fund public works jobs similar to those created during the Great Depression. Lewis said he would push for more federal spending -- "millions and billions of dollars to create jobs, to put people back to work" but he offered no specific proposals other than a summer jobs program that failed to pass Congress.

The 12-member Congressional “super committee” is preparing to consider austerity measures that will likely cut programs disproportionately used by Blacks, Latinos and the poor and President Obama seems unwilling to fight for increased job spending or any solution that would unequivocally help the African American community. But if history is any indicator, those in the community who actually do get out and vote will vote to reelect Obama, they have no choice. The African American community is ninety percent Democrat and with the current crop of Republican presidential hopefuls being the worst choice of any GOP presidential candidate in an extremely long time it is almost a guarantee that Obama will get the Black vote by default.