This from the Congressional Black Caucus Jobs Tour in Detroit, Michigan:
The above clip and below clip is FRUSTRATION.
One thing is for sure, in my family I know several who are unemployed. Two of my family members unemployed for over 2 years.
The unemployment rate in the African American community is 16%. Not 8% or 12% but 16%. That is a fact. For African American men it is 17.5% and African American teens a whopping 41%.
I see in Chicago, grown men walking around unemployed. Many African American teens or young adults, no jobs, nothing to do. Grown men going from house to house with lawnmowers knocking on doors for any work.
This is real. Not a game. But real.
The foreclosure rate in the African American community is astronomical. Most losing homes because they have lost their jobs. Not a myth but a reality.
While about 4.5 percent of white borrowers lost their homes to foreclosure during that period, black and Latino borrowers had 7.9 and 7.7 percent foreclosure rates, respectively. That means that blacks and Latinos were more than 70 percent more likely to lose their homes to foreclosure during that period, the study found.
The jobs proposal by President Obama is unclear. But one thing I know that must be faced is IMMEDIATE JOBS. Not fantasy jobs. But clear cut jobs that the public can visualize and see.
We don't want to hear nothing about trade agreements. Trade agreements have already taken over this country, just look around everything is imported but little of our goods are outsourced. The imbalanced is overtly unfair and has been one of the problems with joblessness here in this country.
We don't want to hear about patents. The American public don't get that nor care about that. Will the result of it be up and ready to hire folk immediately? NO. We all know this.
I like the idea of the infrastructure bank, but that will not have any immediate impact.
In other words, the public want to see JOBS. Real jobs. Not talking about jobs, but acting on jobs.
Lastly, we see BUS FORCE ONE everywhere but the inner city where many minorities live and struggle. And it is hard to go to these communities because they are in despair. But BUS FORCE ONE need to go into these communities and listen to these people. These are the many faceless unemployed Americans who voted for Barack Obama and they need to know what he is going to do for them. These folks are hanging by a sheer thread and there is no help out there. So, when BUS FORCE ONE goes on another listening tour, stop on by Crenshaw, Inglewood, Detroit, Southside and Westside of Chicago, projects of Brooklyn, Oakland, St. Louis, etc. because these folks have something to say, too.
From MSNBC, Jansing and Co.:
YouTube Video
And how bad is it? Obama reaches RECORD LOW APPROVAL on the economy. It is that bad out here.
7:13 PM PT: And on the listening tour, people have ONE THING ON THEIR MIND: J.O.B.S. Like one man said, "I don't want to hear about another commission..." AMEN, on that one.