The racial divide on unemployment

[YoungDemCA]

Unemployment crisis? Unemployment didn't become a crisis until white people became unemployed.

-- Alonzo Bodden (comedian).

The black unemployment rate has consistently been twice as high as the white unemployment rate for 50 years:



For the past 50 years, black unemployment has been well above recession levels:



Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/08/28/these-seven-charts-show-the-black-white-economic-gap-hasnt-budged-in-50-years/

[randys1]

1. Kind of like the opiate addiction issue. For decades addiction was treated with disdain

by most, but now that white people are increasingly on the victim end of it all of a sudden it is a crisis.

[FrenchieCat]

6. Exactly!

[Number23]

7. That's an excellent point, randy

[Starry Messenger]

2. Boom.

[1StrongBlackMan]

3. Everything is a problem when it affects the white community ...

and nothing is a problem, worthy of attention, that does not.

[JustAnotherGen]

4. I've noticed that

[1StrongBlackMan]

5. And sadly, some "insistent allies" seem not to have noticed. eom.

[Number23]

8. How can they blame Obama for something that happened 50 years ago?

[JI7]

9. racism

They blame minorities for problems in their communities.

[Number23]

10. My question was a little tongue in cheek

1SB mentioned how so many black "allies" only care about issues once it affects the white community and in keeping with the Blame Obama for everything meme that has permeated this board for the last 7 years, I was just acknowledging that it's hard to blame Obama for something that happened 50 years ago.

Sorry. It's hard to do tongue in cheek on a message board.

[JI7]

12. i think it's just hard to do here considering a lot of the things

People actually do seriously post.

[wildeyed]

11. Worse,

when it is a problem in the black community, it is a result of character and culture and requires punitive action. And then it becomes a problem in the white community and suddenly incarceration is not the answer. The hypocrisy is so glaring it makes my eyes water.

[JI7]

14. this is the biggest thing . look at asshole Palin blaming Obama for her son's crimes

[wildeyed]

13. Why did we give up on integrating schools?

It was working. And proven to be good for ALL children. White kids who go to integrated schools ALSO have higher test scores that white kids of similar background in segregated white schools.

It is very frustrating that we are not moving this gap at all. If all that free market ideology worked the way they say it does, then employers would already have seen that black talent is undervalued and brought the line closer to the center. To me, the segregated schools and neighborhoods are part of the root of that problem. We are raised separate and many of us just stay that way. And it hurts everyone. Obviously blacks who have reduced opportunity are hurt, but it also reduces human capital for businesses. ANY business owner will tell you, the most important resource is your people. We all hustle all the time to attract the best. So racism is just throwing away that opportunities for better talent by reducing the pool.

I had an interesting talk with my dad the other day about how after WW2, one of the things that lit the economy on fire was the GI Bill because it allowed a bunch of smart farm boys to get educated and as a result, the human capital of our country grew dramatically. These smart but underutilized people were set free to grow business and learning and we ALL benefited.

Perhaps these segregated neighborhoods are a similar resource that we are underutilizing. If we could set that talent free, let it grow unencumbered, the entire economy would benefit, right?