[email protected]

Penn. National Action Network Presents Jazz for Justice

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s address before the 1st Berlin Jazz Festival. In his opening remarks, Dr. King reflected on the importance of jazz:

Jazz speaks for life. The blues tell the story of life’s difficulties, and if you think for a moment, you will realize that they take the hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph.

This is triumphant music.

Modern jazz has continued in this tradition, singing the songs of a more complicated urban existence. When life itself offers no order and meaning, the musician creates an order and meaning from the sounds of the earth which flow through his instrument.

It is no wonder that so much of the search for identity among American Negroes was championed by jazz musicians. Long before the modern essayists and scholars wrote of racial identity as a problem for a multiracial world, musicians were returning to their roots to affirm that which was stirring within their souls.

Much of the power of our Freedom Movement in the United States has come from this music. It has strengthened us with its sweet rhythms when courage began to fail. It has calmed us with its rich harmonies when spirits were down.

On Sunday, Jan. 12, 2014, the Pennsylvania State Chapter National Action Network (PA NAN) will return to its roots and present the 3rd Annual Jazz for Justice Fundraiser.

I hope you will join us as we party for a cause and kick off PA NAN’s 2014 advocacy in action. Tickets are $20.00 and include live jazz (the Unity Band) and a fish platter.

Proceeds from the event will help fund PA NAN’s social justice initiatives, including voter protection and voter mobilization for the midterm election.

Tickets may be purchased on PA NAN’s secure website (please click this link).

For info, please call (215) 765-6181 or send an email.

Why Everyone Will Have to Become an Entrepreneur

Redeem the Dream

Last week, Philadelphia was host to the 2013 National Urban League Conference, “Redeem the Dream.”

In his State of the Urban League Address, NUL President Marc H. Morial observed:

Next month – on Aug. 28 – will be 50 years since Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington, organized in part by our own Whitney M. Young, Jr., and challenged this nation to live up to the founding ideals that were conceived in Philadelphia and engraved in that Liberty Bell.

[…]

The events, both good and bad, of 1963, awakened the conscience of this nation and sped up the wheels of progress. I mention these events, not to elicit tears or sadness, but to remind you of both the sacrifices and the progress that have been made over the past 50 years. These events directly led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

As I listened to Morial’s remarks, I was reminded of Duke Ellington’s composition, “Things Ain’t What They Used to Be.”

Thank God, things ain’t what they used to be. As Morial noted:

Fifty years ago, 75% of black adults had not completed high school. Currently, 85% of black adults have a high school education. At the college level, there are now 3.5 times more blacks enrolled, and five times as many blacks hold a college degree.

But the struggle continues.

The official black unemployment rate is 13.7 percent; black youth joblessness is a whopping 43.6 percent. Polls show in the wake of the George Zimmerman verdict, Americans are deeply divided by race.

As part of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, the Urban League and The Memorial Foundation will convene Drum Majors for Justice Summit: Redeem the Dream “to celebrate, renew our commitment, and equip young leaders to be drum majors into the future.”

For more info, visit Drum Majors for Justice.

STEM Everywhere

A new report by the Brookings Institution found that STEM is, well, everywhere. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math.

Some key findings:

• Workers in STEM fields play a direct role in driving economic growth. And it’s not just jobs in the innovation economy. As of 2011, 26 million U.S. jobs require a high level of knowledge in any one STEM field. The “hidden” STEM economy represents 20 percent of all jobs.
• Half of all STEM jobs are available to workers without a four-year college degree, and these jobs pay $53,000 on average.
• Half of all STEM jobs are in manufacturing, health care, or construction industries.
• Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations constitute 12 percent of all STEM jobs, one of the largest occupational categories. Other blue-collar or technical jobs in fields such as construction and production also frequently demand STEM knowledge.

Read more: The Hidden STEM Economy

Why STEM Matters

Hint: It's the economy, stupid.

Unhappy Dependence Day

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the national unemployment rate was “unchanged” at 8.2 percent. By contrast, the employment situation has changed for African American workers. The black joblessness rate rose to 14.4 percent, up from 13.6 percent in May.

While private payrolls added 80,000 jobs, the Social Security Administration reported 85,000 were added to the disability rolls.

Faces Behind the Jobs Report

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the unemployment rate “changed little” in April. The jobless rate fell from 8.2 percent to 8.1 percent.

The black unemployment rate was 13 percent in April, down from 14 percent in March.

There was a slight dip in black teen unemployment.

The jobs report don't tell the whole story. While private sector added 130,000 jobs in April, state and local governments shed 15,000 employees. A recent study by the Economic Policy Institute found that African Americans and women are hit hardest by downsizing in the public sector:

The disproportionate share of women and African Americans working in state and local government has translated into higher rates of job loss for both groups in these sectors. Between 2007 (before the recession) and 2011, state and local governments shed about 765,000 jobs. Women and African Americans comprised about 70 percent and 20 percent, respectively, of those losses. Conversely, Hispanic employment in state and local public-sector jobs increased during this period (although most of that increase likely occurred in the lowest-paid jobs).

Job losses in the state and local public sectors stand in contrast to the jobs recovery in the private sector. From February 2010 (the month the labor market “bottomed out”) to January 2012, the United States experienced a net increase in total nonfarm employment of more than 3.2 million jobs, while state and local government employment fell by 438,000. Over this period, every major sector of the economy experienced net growth in jobs except the public sector.

Read more: Women and African Americans hit hardest by job losses in state and local governments