Sept. 12, 2011

The American Jobs Act: White House Tells Impact on Blacks

By Hazel Trice Edney

President Barack Obama presents American Jobs Act to the U. S. Congress. PHOTO: Chuck Kennedy/The White House 

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – On the heels of President Barack Obama’s Sept. 8 jobs speech, the White House has released a report specifically outlining the impact of his proposal on African-Americans who have been hardest hit by the economic crisis.

“The American Jobs Act reflects a commitment to strengthen the recovery and help increase access to jobs for all Americans. With unemployment among African-Americans at an unacceptably high rate of 16.7 percent – and 1.4 million African-Americans out of work for more than six months – the President believes that inaction is not an option,” said the report, posted on Whitehouse.gov. “That’s why the President is putting out a plan to increase the pace of job creation, and why he is committed to fighting for Congress to act on this plan. These measures – which will expand opportunities for the long-term unemployed to reenter the workforce, provide incentives for businesses to hire, and make investments in revitalizing schools, infrastructure and neighborhoods – will help create new job opportunities in African-American communities and across the country.”

President Obama delivered the forceful speech before a joint session of Congress despite disgruntled Republicans who listened only half-heartedly and some who even boycotted the address. On the other hand, members of the Congressional Black Caucus, who toured the hard-hit areas of the country with a job fairs this summer, applauded the Obama speech as being reflective of many of their suggestions.

“I am sending this Congress a plan that you should pass right away.  It’s called the American Jobs Act.  There should be nothing controversial about this piece of legislation.  Everything in here is the kind of proposal that’s been supported by both Democrats and Republicans – including many who sit here tonight.  And everything in this bill will be paid for.  Everything,” President Obama told the Congress. “The question is whether, in the face of an ongoing national crisis, we can stop the political circus and actually do something to help the economy; whether we can restore some of the fairness and security that has defined this nation since our beginning.”

CBC Chairman Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) had warned that some Blacks may stay at home instead of vote in 2012 if the President did not deal powerfully with the jobless rate. In response to Obama’s speech, Cleaver said, “We are pleased that he is taking a step in the right direction.  We are especially pleased about the synergy between the proposal presented by us and the proposal he submitted to Congress for consideration this evening.  President Obama presented a bipartisan solution - something we can all support regardless of political affiliation.”

Cleaver specifically pointed out agreement with Obama’s proposal to modernize schools by installing science labs and high speed internet in classrooms in order to ensure long term global competitiveness. Cleaver expressed concern about where the additional budget cuts, expressing hopes that additional cuts “must come from defense spending, which exceeded $685.1 billion in Fiscal Year 2010.”

Most of the benefits of the American Jobs Act to African-Americans, as outlined by the White House, are as follows:

• The extension of unemployment insurance will benefit 1.4 million African-Americans and their families: At the same time, the President is proposing bipartisan reforms that will enable that – as these families continue to receive UI benefits – the program is better tailored to support reemployment for the long-term unemployed.

• Targeted support for the long-term unemployed could also help the 1.4 million African-Americans who have been looking for work for more than six months: To help them in their search for work, the President is calling for a new tax credit for hiring the long-term unemployed.

• A commitment to rebuilding and revitalizing communities across the country will target investments to the communities hardest-hit by the recession: The President’s investments in infrastructure include a school construction initiative with a significant commitment to the largest urban school districts, an investment in revitalizing communities that have been devastated by foreclosures, and a new initiative to expand infrastructure employment opportunities for minorities, women, and socially and economically disadvantaged individuals.

• Support for subsidized jobs and summer/year-round jobs for African-American youth – for whom unemployment is above 30 percent: In an environment with an unemployment rate of 32.4 percent for African-American youths, the President is proposing to build on successful programs like the TANF Emergency Contingency Fund to create jobs and provide training for those hardest-hit by the recession.

• An extension and expansion of the payroll tax cut for nearly 20 million African-American workers: By extending the payroll tax cut for employees next year and expanding it to cut payroll taxes in half, the President’s plan will help increase the paychecks of nearly 20 million African-American workers – providing them with more money to spend in their communities.

• Providing tax cuts that will help over 100,000 African-American-owned small businesses: The President is proposing tax cuts that will go to every small business nationwide – including over 100,000 African-American-owned small businesses. These tax cuts will cut employer payroll taxes in half for these businesses, provide them with an added bonus for increasing their payroll, and extend 100 percent expensing provisions that provide an incentive for investment.

• Helping African-American-owned small businesses access capital and grow: The President’s plan includes administrative, regulatory and legislative measures – including those developed and recommended by the President’s Jobs Council – to help small firms start and expand. This includes changing the way the government does business with small firms and working with the SEC to conduct a comprehensive review of securities regulations from the perspective of these small companies to reduce the regulatory burdens on small business capital formation in ways that are consistent with investor protection. In addition, the President is calling for comprehensive patent reform, increased guarantees for bonds to help small businesses compete for infrastructure projects and the removal of burdensome withholding requirements that keep capital out of the hands of job creators.

• Project Rebuild - Putting people back to work rehabilitating homes, businesses and communities: The President is proposing to invest $15 billion in a national effort to put construction workers on the job rehabilitating and refurbishing hundreds of thousands of vacant and foreclosed homes and businesses. Building on proven approaches to stabilizing neighborhoods with high concentrations of foreclosures, Project Rebuild will bring in expertise and capital from the private sector, focus on commercial and residential property improvements, and expand innovative property solutions like land banks. This approach will not only create construction jobs but will help reduce blight and crime and stabilize housing prices in areas hardest hit by the housing crisis.

• Targeted investments to modernize schools serving low-income students – from science labs and Internet-ready classrooms to renovated facilities: The President is proposing a $25 billion investment in school infrastructure that will modernize at least 35,000 public schools – investments that will create jobs, while improving classrooms and upgrading our schools to meet 21st century needs. Funds could be used for a range of emergency repair and renovation projects, greening and energy efficiency upgrades, asbestos abatement and removal, and modernization efforts to build new science and computer labs and to upgrade technology in our schools. And they would be targeted at the lowest-income districts – with 40 percent, or $10 billion, directed towards the 100 largest high-need public school districts. The President is also proposing a $5 billion investment in modernizing community colleges, bolstering their infrastructure in this time of need while ensuring their ability to serve future generations of students and communities.

• Putting construction workers back on the job by modernizing infrastructure – with a focus on expanding access to these jobs: In order to jump start critical infrastructure projects and create hundreds of thousands of jobs, the President’s plan includes $50 billion in immediate investments for highway, highway safety, transit, passenger rail, and aviation activities – with one fifth of the funding advancing a transformation of how we finance transportation infrastructure and what we finance. To ensure that the employment benefits of these projects can be broadly shared, the President’s plan would invest an additional $50 million in 2012 to enhance employment and job training opportunities for minorities, women, and socially and economically disadvantaged individuals in transportation related activities, including construction, contract administration, inspection, and security. His plan will also invest an additional $10 million in 2012 to help minority-owned and disadvantaged business enterprises gain better access to transportation contracts. And it will ensure that infrastructure investments allow for the hiring of local workers, to maximize economic benefits for communities where projects are located.

• Preventing layoffs of teachers, cops and firefighters: The President is proposing to invest $35 billion to prevent layoffs of up to 280,000 teachers, while supporting the hiring of tens of thousands more and keeping cops and firefighters on the job. These funds would help states and localities avoid and reverse layoffs now, requiring that funds be drawn down quickly. Under the President’s proposal, $30 billion be directed toward educators and $5 billion would go to the cops and firefighters who keep our communities safe.

• Tax credits and career readiness efforts to support veterans’ hiring: The President is proposing a Returning Heroes Tax Credit of up to $5,600 for hiring unemployed veterans who have been looking for a job for more than six months, and a Wounded Warriors Tax Credit of up to $9,600 for hiring unemployed workers with service-connected disabilities who have been looking for a job for more than six months, while creating a new task force to maximize career readiness of service members.

• Extending unemployment insurance so that 1.4 million African-Americans looking for work do not lose their benefits: In December, the President successfully fought for unemployment insurance to be extended. The President has called for a further extension into 2012 to prevent 1.4 million African-Americans from losing their benefits next year.

• Targeted support to help the long-term unemployed get back to work: The recession pushed long-term unemployment rates to its highest levels since the Great Depression – with an estimated 1.4 million African-Americans out of work for more than six months. The President’s plan is targeted directly at helping these Americans get back to work by, for example: Establishing tax credits for hiring the long-term unemployed; creating “Bridge to Work” programs enabling states to put in place reforms that build off what works in existing programs; granting wage Insurance to help states use UI to encourage older, long-term unemployed Americans to return to work in new industries or occupations; and giving startup Assistance to help long-term unemployed workers create their own jobs by starting their own small businesses.

• Prohibiting employers from discriminating against unemployed workers: The President’s plan calls for legislation that would make it unlawful to refuse to hire applicants solely because they are unemployed or to include in a job posting a provision that unemployed persons will not be considered. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus have also proposed making discrimination against the unemployed illegal, in response to “widespread reports of job listings that explicitly exclude unemployed applicants.”

• Investing in low-income youth and adults: The President is proposing a new Pathways Back to Work Fund to provide hundreds of thousands of low-income youth and adults with opportunities to work and to achieve needed training in growth industries. The Initiative will support summer and year-round jobs for youth. The new Pathways Back to Work Fund will provide states with support for summer job programs for low-income youth in 2012, and year-round employment for economically disadvantaged young adults; it will provide subsidized employment opportunities for low-income individuals who are unemployed; and it will support for local efforts to implement promising work-based strategies and to provide training opportunities.

• Cutting the payroll tax next year — benefitting nearly 20 million African-American workers: The President is proposing to extend and expand the payroll tax cut passed last December, increasing it to 3.1 percent for 2012. In total, this will help nearly 20 million African-American workers who pay payroll taxes.

“To ensure that the American Jobs Act is fully paid for, the President will call on the Joint Committee to come up with additional deficit reduction necessary to pay for the Act and still meet its deficit target,” the report says. “The President will, in the coming days, release a detailed plan that will show how we can do that while achieving the additional deficit reduction necessary to meet the President’s broader goal of stabilizing our debt as a share of the economy.

These and other measures are contingent upon the Congress passing the Act. President Obama said in his speech: “Regardless of the arguments we’ve had in the past, regardless of the arguments we’ll have in the future, this plan is the right thing to do right now.  You should pass it.  And I intend to take that message to every corner of this country.  I also ask every American who agrees to lift your voice and tell the people who are gathered here tonight that you want action now.”

For greater details, see: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/image/af-am_sheet_9-8_final_version.pdf

How September 11^th Changed Us: Taking Our Power Back

By Dr. Dan Collins  

Commentary

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Just like the day when President Kennedy was assassinated, everybody remembers exactly what they were doing when those four hijacked planes snuffed out nearly 3,000 lives on September 11, 2001. 

It was personal. In the initial seconds, there was confusion. Perhaps, it was just a tragic accident. But as the morning of 9/11 unfolded, it became crystal clear. This was no accident. It was terrorism - cold and calculated.

Emotionally, there is a big difference between falling down the steps and being pushed down the steps. Collectively, we were all “pushed down the steps”. Intention makes all of the difference in the world. Our psychological injury from 9/11 comes, in large part, because it was the terrorists' plan to harm us.

Defiantly, we have survived. But personally and culturally we would never be the same. We were unavoidably changed: scarred, dazed, traumatized. Psychological and emotional trauma leaves an indelible mark. It alters the way we see things. Trauma changes the way we take in the world. Here are a couple of the key ways that the overwhelming stress of September 11 continue to affect us:

1.  Can’t Balance Your Emotions- Ten years after the initial attack, we may still find we may find ourselves experiencing moments of what I call the four useless emotions of trauma: panic, worry, rage, or despair when confronted with information related to 9/11. These emotional responses are useless because they never help us to identify helpful ways of handling our reactions to what happened on that fateful day in a balanced and rational way. Instead, trauma puts us on edge and prompts us to over-react. Specific to September 11, another emotion that surfaces is an irrational fear of people of the Islamic faith tradition because the terrorists claimed to be Muslim. We may also take the emotional extreme of being so affected by our feelings about 9/11 that we hit the “emotional off switch” and numb out. We can tell when this happens when someone detaches to such a degree that they seem to not care.

Taking Our Power back- We take our power back by taking away the terrorist’s greatest weapon: fear. We can choose our emotions. Instead of fear, we can choose compassion, keeping us connected with the best in us and others. We can even use anger effectively. While rage is an out-of-control emotion, anger can be effective when used to affirm a boundary which says, “I won’t tolerate being violated with aggression”. We can also choose determination, an emotion which enables us to keep moving forward in a positive direction. We can choose to not remain bottled up with toxic emotions. We can identify responses that work, like not taking the “hate bait”. We can be wise enough to not confuse the distorted perspective of terrorists with anything remotely resembling the nobility of devout faith. True faith replenishes life.

2.  Can’t Tell Time-when people have been overwhelmed by trauma, they tend to live in the past. Some people have a hard time getting over what happened to them regarding 9/11 because they keep re-experiencing their pain through nightmares, flashbacks and intrusive thoughts. Think of 9/11 nightmares and flashbacks as “instant replays” of our trauma. Intrusive thoughts occur as we are engaged in almost any activity and our mind “changes the channel” to something 9/11 related.

Taking Our Power Back-we take our power back by realizing that the way out of trauma is living in the present. Trauma confuses the past with the present. We can heal powerfully, as we acknowledge the tragedy of September 11^th, but give new life to ourselves as we affirm that 9/11/01 is over and September 11^th 2011 is a new day with a whole new story and we get to write it!

Dr. R. Dandridge Collins, known as "Dr. Dan",  is author of the bestselling book, The Trauma Zone: Trusting God for Emotional Healing. More information: www.drdancollins.com

Sept. 11, 2011

Walter Fauntroy, Feared Dead in Libya, Returns Home

Guess Who He Saw Doing the Killing:

It wasn't the Libyans

By Valencia Mohammed

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Afro American Newspapers

Black Community at Reagan-Era Jobless Rate, White Jobless Rate Goes Down

What Will the President Say in His Speech This Week?

By Hazel Trice Edney

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – It’s a pivotal moment for the Obama White House. The Black unemployment rate is now at its highest in almost 30 years. All eyes are on the President as he gives what some view as the most important economic speech of his nearly three-year tenure this week.

“The Republican field is still extremely weak. And the Republicans are not offering anything as an alternative,” says David Bositis, spokesman for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

Bositis, considered a foremost expert on Black politics, indicated that Obama’s re-election is at stake. “It depends on whether the jobless numbers get better or get worse. Even if they get worse, the Republicans are still not offering anything as an alternative,” he said.

Just before the official start of the election season on Labor Day came revelations of the worst Black unemployment numbers since the Reagan Administration in July 1984.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the Black jobless rate for August at 16.7 percent, a number dating back to 1984. The rate leaped an entire percentage point, from 15.9 percent in July. Ironically, the White unemployment rate dropped slightly, from 8.1 percent to 8.0 percent. The average rate remained steady at 9.1 percent.

This week, President Obama is slated to unveil a plan to create jobs. His prime time speech Thursday night is viewed as a key to his re-election bid as his primary voting base – African-Americans – have become frustrated with their economic plight.

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus have been among those expressing their frustration. They became increasingly outspoken on the issue after holding job fairs in major cities this summer and seeing thousands of African-Americans line up.

"August's unemployment numbers show that there is a significant hemorrhage in the African-American community that is not being addressed, which has resulted in extremely high jobs loss,” CBC Chairman Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) said in a statement responding to the new unemployment rates. “We stand at a critical point in our nation’s history. The time for bold action on jobs is now to provide hard working Americans with real economic opportunities. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus will offer suggestions to President Obama before his address to the nation on jobs. It is time to take serious and the Congressional Black Caucus is prepared to continue the work we began with the initiative. We look forward to working with the President and Congress to ensure the urgent needs of our communities are met.”

CBC members, who also blame Republican leadership for dragging their feet on jobs, have co-sponsored and introduced what they call the “For the People Jobs Initiative” - H. Res. 348. The measure urges the House “to immediately consider and pass critical jobs legislation to address the growing economic crisis in America.” Cleaver said. He said the CBC has introduced more than 40 job creation bills since the beginning of the 112th Congress.

President Obama, early in his tenure, also focused on jobs. The $800 billion bailout was supposed to have stimulated job growth. Whereas it seemed to have slowed the bleeding of jobs, it apparently did little to increase employment prospects for African-Americans.

Also, while President Obama has made two major speeches over the past month in which he focused specifically on the disparate unemployment rate for veterans and their difficulty in finding jobs, during his first two years, he has not specifically addressed the disparate economic suffering of African-Americans.

“A rising tides lifts all boats,” he said in a Jan. 2010 White House press conference in response to a question about the spiraling Black jobless rate.

This week on Labor Day, President Obama was slated to have visited Detroit, which has the highest Black population in the nation at 82 percent. There he was to deliver remarks to workers and their families at a Labor Day event, focusing on his efforts to create jobs and strengthen the economy. 

There, he would be hard-pressed to avoid speaking directly to the disparate Black unemployment statistics. African-Americans, his most solid support base, were hopeful. Detroit Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) was a co-sponsor of one of the introduced CBC bills, the “Urban Jobs Act.”

Though it is as much the responsibility of Congress to create jobs and avoid economically disparate hardships as it is the job of the White House, eyes are on Obama because he is the nation’s first Black President and because, as a part of his platform, he promised not to forget the disparate hardships of Black people.

The following are Obama’s Nov. 3, 2008 election-eve words, documented by this reporter as then editor-in-chief of the NNPA News Service, who listened on his telephone conference with Black leaders:

“Everyone under the sound of my voice understands the struggles we face. Everyone understands the fierce urgency of now. You all know what’s at stake in this election,” Obama said in a live telephone conference with Black leaders on the eve of his election. The “listen only” call included a spectrum of speakers, including civil rights icon Rev. Joseph Lowery, Oprah Winfrey, Democratic strategist Donna Brazile, rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs, and Democratic Whip Jim Clyburn.

"Obama listed a string of issues disparately faced by African-Americans, including the struggle to recruit good teachers and, the struggle against under-funded schools, double digit jobless rates and having to work two and three jobs to make ends meet.

“I mention these issues because this community, our community, the African-American community, during these challenging times, suffers more than most in this country,” he said. “Double digit inflation, double digit unemployment, stagnant wages, our kids are more likely to drop out, more likely to be in jail, more likely to die. We’re going to have to do better. And if we continue the momentum we’ve seen across this country over the last several weeks, we can do better.”