by Raynard Jackson
Columnist
Last week I
couldn’t help but watch with sadness the National Urban League’s annual “State
of Black America” report being released at a press conference. This was their 39th annual
report. According to their press
release, “it has become the most highly-anticipated benchmarks and sources for
thought leadership around racial equality in America across economics (including
employment, income and housing), education, health, social justice and civic
engagement. Each edition of the State of Black America contains thoughtful
commentary and insightful analysis from leading figures and thought leaders in
politics, the corporate arena, NGOs, academia and popular
culture.
The theme of the
2015 State of Black America¨ “Save Our Cities: Education, Jobs + Justice”
conveys the urgency of focus around each of these areas and their
interconnectedness in our ongoing quest for full equality in
America.
So, what is the
state of Black America in 2015? In short, on many fronts, Black America remains
in crisis—and we see justice challenged at every turn.”
As you might
guess, I have a different point of view.
The state of
Black America in 2015 is not in crisis; but rather the state of the “media
appointed Black leadership” is in crisis.
This includes organizations and people like the National Urban League
(headed by Marc Morial), National Action Network
(headed by Al Sharpton), the NAACP (headed by Cornell Brooks), and the
Congressional Black Caucus (headed by Democratic Congressman G.K Butterfield of
North Carolina).
All of the above
groups and their “media appointed leaders” have one thing in common: they all are vestiges of the Democratic
Party. They are all card-carrying
members of the Democratic Party and all of their proposed solutions to what ails
the Black community come straight out of Democratic talking
points.
The interesting
thing is that these groups and their leadership are totally out of step with the
grassroots within the Black community.
Blacks
consistently support marriage between a man and a woman; and school choice and
vouchers more than any other group. But
this group’s “leadership” has been willingly hijacked by the fringe left at the
expense of the very people they claim to represent.
The saddest part
of watching Morial’s press conference last week was
that he refused to state the obvious—that the past six years under Obama,
America’s first Black president, has been an unmitigated disaster for Blacks.
Mr. Obama’s
campaign theme in 2008 was “Hope and Change.” Now, after six years, people,
especially Blacks, are saying they have no hope that he changes. Mr. Obama is
the first president in the history of the U.S. to deliberately ignore his
largest voting bloc — the Black community.
We are 13
percent of the population and gave Mr. Obama 96 percent and 94 percent of our
vote in 2008 and 2012, respectively. In 2012, the Black voter participation rate
(66.2 percent) was higher than overall turnout (58 percent) and, for the first
time in the history of the U.S., higher than the White rate (64.1 percent). So, where is the “voter suppression” that
liberals keep talking about?
If Mr. Obama was a corporation, his largest
shareholders would be: Blacks, Whites, Latinos and Asians. In capital markets,
dividend payouts are distributed according to percentage of ownership, from the
highest to the lowest. On this principle, Blacks should be the largest recipient
of Mr. Obama’s largesse. But in typical Democratic fashion, Blacks don’t even
get crumbs from the table.
The biggest beneficiaries of Mr. Obama’s presidency
are: homosexuals (an estimated 2 percent of the population), illegals, Hispanics
and Whites. I challenge my readers to name one thing Mr. Obama has done
“specifically” to benefit the Black community — the largest shareholder in
“Obama Inc.” If Black voters were shareholders in “Obama Inc.,” they could have
gone to court and sued for fraud and breach of contract — and
prevailed.
The Black community had every expectation that Mr.
Obama would provide “targeted” remedies to address seemingly intractably high
unemployment within our community. Instead, the Black unemployment rate rose
from 10.3 in January of this year to 10.4% last month; yet the national rate
fell from 5.7% to 5.5% during the same period--and not a word from this
president.
Blacks had every right to expect Mr. Obama to be supportive of Historically
Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Instead, the HBCU community and its
students have been devastated under this president; but yet they continue to
swear their allegiance to Obama’s presidency.
According to the
Urban League’s own numbers, “the
median African American household income was $34, 815, or only 60 percent of the
$57,684 for white households. Blacks were more than twice as likely as whites to
live in poverty.
The
median black wealth is $6,314 compared with $110,500 for whites, meaning the
median black household has only 6 cents for every dollar the median white
household possesses.”
These
negative indices didn’t begin under Obama, but there is no denying that they
have accelerated during the past six years.
If we had a White president presiding over these types of economic
numbers, Democrat or Republican, Blacks would be screaming to the high heavens
about the state of the Black community.
The
first thing Blacks must do is to accept the fact that Obama is the problem, but
we all know that will not happen. The
state of Black America is denial.
Raynard
Jackson & Associates, LLC is an internationally recognized political
consulting, government affairs, and PR firm based in Washington, DC. Jackson is an internationally recognized
radio talk show host and TV commentator.
He has coined the phrase “straticist.” As a straticist, he
has merged strategic planning with public relations. Call RJA to discuss how they can get you to
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