Anderson@Large

What About Black Women Leaders

It is hot as hell in DC. It is even hotter under the collars of some African American women who are asking: Are we not civil rights leaders?

The women were set off by the news that President Obama was scheduled to meet with the leaders of two civil rights organizations – National Urban League President Marc Morial and NAACP President Benjamin Jealous. A readout of the meeting said "the President discussed the continued efforts his administration is making to spur job creation and economic growth."

The readout noted:

The President also reiterated that reducing unemployment, which disproportionately burdens the African-American community at 16.2%, remains a top priority for him and his Administration. The President also spoke with the two civil rights leaders about dramatic efforts his Administration has already made to address urban economic development through initiatives such as Strong Cities, Strong Communities, a program that acts to spur economic growth in urban centers while ensuring taxpayer dollars are used wisely and efficiently; the Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions fund; and the Minority Business Development Agency at the Department of Commerce.

This is the second time in two years that Obama has held a meeting with civil rights leaders and no black woman had a seat at the table.

In February 2010, the late Dr. Dorothy I. Height was the only black woman invited to the Urban Economy Summit. The then-97-year-old could not attend because of the extreme snow conditions.

There was extreme heat yesterday, but black women leaders felt a cold chill when they realized history was repeating itself. While they're not ready to go on the record, they told me they won't be silent much longer. They have earned a seat at the table. More important, they want to ensure issues of importance to black women and black families are addressed.

And lest the knee-jerk “hater” is bandied about, these are women who year-after-year -- election-after-election -- make things happen. All they're asking for is a little respect.

Black Family Feud

The dismal June unemployment report is a reminder that when white America catches a cold, black America catches pneumonia. Truth be told, race is the subtext to the jobless recovery.

The Associated Press reports that black economic gains have been wiped out by the recession:

Millions of Americans endured similar financial calamities in the recession. But for Goldring and many others in the black community, where unemployment is still rising, job loss has knocked them out of the middle class and back into poverty. Some even see a historic reversal of hard-won economic gains that took black people decades to achieve.

[…]

Since the end of the recession, the overall unemployment rate has fallen from 9.4 to 9.1 percent, while the black unemployment rate has risen from 14.7 to 16.2 percent, according to the Department of Labor.

But the disappearing black middle class is not on policymakers’ agenda. Instead, the White House is convening a Hispanic Policy Conference:

On Monday July 11th and Tuesday July 12th, the White House will host a Hispanic Policy Conference, bringing community leaders from across the country together with a broad range of White House and Cabinet officials for an in-depth series of interactive workshops and substantive conversations on the Administration’s efforts as they relate to the Hispanic community.

Participants, including community leaders and local elected officials, will have the opportunity to interact with federal policy makers on the issues that matter most to Hispanics and all Americans, including creating jobs and strengthening the economy, expanding access to affordable and quality health care, reforming our nation’s education system, protecting civil rights, and fixing the broken immigration system so that it meets our nation’s 21st century economic and security needs.

Meanwhile, black leaders are engaged in a “family feud.” Philadelphia Tribune columnist Linn Washington Jr. recently wrote:

So, some black folks are bashing Princeton Professor Cornel West for his sharply phrased critiques of President Barack Obama’s failure to specifically address crisis-proportion problems in a long-suffering segment of American society: the black community.

Black supporters of the first African-American president echo the rationale advanced by Obama himself that he is the president of all Americans so addressing issues specific to African-American would be inappropriate.

The Hispanic Policy Conference is merely the latest outreach event to address issues important to a specific group.

Obama has twice hosted the White House Tribal Nations Conference.

In January, more than 800 Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders attended the kickoff event of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, the White House Initiative Summit on Entrepreneurship and Small Business Growth in Silicon Valley.

The goal of the Initiative is “to highlight both the tremendous unmet needs in the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities as well as the dynamic community assets that can be leveraged to meet many of those needs.”

Will the White House’s cold shoulder to the unmet needs of African Americans erode black support for President Obama?

The Gallup survey says Obama’s job approval among African Americans is 85 percent.

Obama One and Done?

In an interview with NBC News’ Ann Curry, President Obama said his family would be fine if serves only one term:

Michelle and the kids are wonderful in that if I said, “You know, guys, I want to do something different,” they’d be fine. They’re not invested in Daddy being president or my husband being president.

If family is doing well and Michelle is still putting up with me, then I’ve got enough energy to keep doing the work that I’m doing.

Are you fine with Obama serving one term? Join the conversation on Facebook.

Voting Wrongs 2.0

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was intended to remove discriminatory barriers to the ballot box. The promise of the 15th Amendment was realized when President Johnson signed the bill on Aug. 6, 1965.

During the signing ceremony, Johnson said:

This act flows from a clear and simple wrong. Its only purpose is to right that wrong. Millions of Americans are denied the right to vote because of their color. This law will ensure them the right to vote. The wrong is one which no American, in his heart, can justify. The right is one which no American, true to our principles, can deny.

[…]

There were those who said this is an old injustice, and there is no need to hurry. But 95 years have passed since the 15th amendment gave all Negroes the right to vote.

Johnson added:

This law covers many pages. But the heart of the act is plain. Wherever, by clear and objective standards, States and counties are using regulations, or laws, or tests to deny the right to vote, then they will be struck down. If it is dear that State officials still intend to discriminate, then Federal examiners will be sent in to register all eligible voters. When the prospect of discrimination is gone, the examiners will be immediately withdrawn.

Fast forward to today. Republican governors are signing bills that would reinstate barriers to the right to vote. The National Conference of State Legislatures reports that since 2008, photo ID laws have been enacted in Kansas, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill that places restrictions on third-party voter registration groups like the League of Women Voters. The new election law shortens the early voting period. The Sun Sentinel reported:

In 2008, more than half of the African-American voters in Florida who participated in the historic election of President Barack Obama did it by voting early.

In the state’s largest counties, with the highest number of black voters, many voters went to the early voting sites on the Sunday before Election Day.

Now, under a new law — passed by a Republican Legislature and signed by Gov. Rick Scott last month — that early voting period has been cut from 14 days to eight days. And the Sunday voting, before Election Day, has been eliminated.

A coalition of civil rights organizations has seen enough. The groups are holding a press conference today at 9:30am the National Press Club to address voter suppression efforts:

More and more states across the nation are enacting burdensome voter ID bills using general unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud and ignoring the disparate impact upon voters who have traditionally been disadvantaged, including minorities, the elderly, youth, low-income Americans and those with disabilities. Additionally, faulty citizenship matching, elimination of voting locations and voter intimidation efforts all place unjust impediments to the fundamental right to vote. National civil rights organizations are joining together to bring attention to the potential impact of such laws and suppression efforts and discuss efforts to fight back and educate voters.

The participants will include:

• Rev Jesse L. Jackson Sr., Rainbow PUSH Coalition
• Barbara R. Arnwine and Tanya Clay House, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
• Wade Henderson, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
• Kim Keenan, NAACP
• Chanelle Hardy, National Urban League
• Victor Sanchez, United States Student Association
• Deven Anderson, Black Youth Vote!

For more info, contact Stacie Royster.

Black Unemployment Climbs to 16.1 Percent

In April, the national black unemployment rate rose to 16.1 percent, an increase from 15.5 percent in March. For white workers, the rate is 8.0 percent.

The overall unemployment rate ticked up from 8.8 percent to 9.0 percent. Private sector employment increased by 244,000 jobs in April. McDonald's alone added 62,000 jobs to the payroll.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the number of long-term unemployed declined by 283,000 to 5.8 million; their share of unemployment declined to 43.4 percent.

Black male joblessness is more than twice that of white males, 17.0 percent compared to 7.9 percent.

Black female joblessness is nearly twice white female unemployment, 13.4 percent versus 7.0 percent.

There was a slight dip in black youth unemployment to 41.6 percent, from 42.1 percent. By contrast, white youth joblessness is 22.3 percent.

For more info, check out the Center for Labor Research and Education's Data Brief: Black Employment and Unemployment in April 2011.

Young Black Voters Turned Out in 2010

A newly released analysis of Census data by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement found that young black voters had the highest youth turnout rate in the 2010 midterm elections.

CIRCLE reported:

In 2010, young African Americans voted at a rate of 27.5%. This was an increase from the 2006 Midterm elections, when 24.0% of young African Americans had voted. The relatively strong showing continues a trend from 2008, when young African Americans showed the highest turnout rate among any youth racial/ethnic group since 1972. Despite lower levels of turnout all around, young African American voters are still relatively engaged politically.

As Melanie Campbell, president and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, reminds us, “Don’t believe the hype.” In every election, black voters show up and turn out.

Read more: The Youth Vote in 2010: Final Estimates Based on Census Data

Where the Action Is

The National Action Network’s 13th annual convention opened to a packed house. In his opening remarks, NAN President and Founder Al Sharpton said:

This is a working conference. That’s why we call it National Action Network, not National Pontification Network or National Procrastination Network.

Sharpton derided “activists who have never been in a fight”:

There’s a difference between an academician and an activist.

While I was looking forward to the first panel, “Politics 2011-2012: What are the Issues?,” I tuned out the speakers almost from the start. With the exception of a white woman, Jacqueline Salit, president of IndependentVoting.org, all of the panelists were men. The optics were more 1961 than 2011.

Black women make up 53 percent of the black vote, but there was no black female panelist to talk about our issues. I have an issue with that.

So I have half-listened. My ears perked up when Rev. Frederick Haynes III laid out his agenda: economic justice, education justice, and a just foreign policy. He invoked Dr. King’s prophetic warning that “bombs dropped in Vietnam explode at home.”

Dr. Haynes said bombs dropped in Iraq. Afghanistan and Libya are exploding in this country. He questioned the trillions of dollars for war but no money for the poor. He said it’s past time to organize a “coalition of justice” to counter the Tea Party movement.

Sharpton plans to mobilize and energize black voters now:

We can’t wait till next year. There are some elections this year. And where there are no elections -- practice. Walk to the voting place.

I’m telling you these people are mean. They want to cut out Head Start, Pell grants, Social Security. We can’t say we are all for something if we don’t turn out. Without turnout it doesn’t count...We got to have turnout. Politics is about self-interest but it’s also about a process.

Sharpton’s call for grassroots action was echoed by David Axelrod, President Obama’s chief political strategist who left the White House to work on the reelection campaign. Axelrod said:

One of our great tasks for 2012 is registration and mobilization. Job number one is to get people registered and participating in the process.

I didn’t attend the gala, where President Obama delivered remarks:

It is wonderful to be here as you celebrate your 20th anniversary. Some things have changed a lot since 1991. I told Reverend Al backstage he’s getting skinnier than me. He’s getting skinnier than Spike. But he hasn’t lost his sense of style. The other thing that hasn’t changed is the National Action Network’s commitment to fight injustice and inequality here in New York City and across America. And that’s not only a testament to Reverend Sharpton. It’s a testament to all of you who are here tonight. I want to commend you for the work that you’ve done over the last two decades to lift up not only the African American community but the broader American family. That’s what you’re about.

The convention runs until Saturday. Follow the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #NANConv2011.