President Obama has a problem, a very serious one. The president's problem is what I would call "The Great Black Disconnect." This divide is the place where black America's love and appreciation for the Obamas disconnects from the intense economic suffering of the African American community. Like a festering and infected wound that remains untreated, President Obama's support within the black community is threatened by the fact that the people who love him most are suffering unlike anything our nation has seen over the last 50 years.
This week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its unemployment numbers for the month of April. The figures were consistent with the jobless recovery that has taken good care of Wall Street, but created homelessness on Main Street. The national unemployment rate grew from 8.8 percent to 9 percent, which will surely perpetuate President Obama's somber ratings on economic performance.
A more interesting story beneath the surface is the fact that black unemployment continues to rise to levels that would be outrageous for any other loyal constituency. Black unemployment grew to a startling 16.1 percent, from 15.5 percent last month. This is an even bigger increase than the rise from 15.3 percent the previous month.
Black women are dealing with 13.4 percent unemployment, while black males have the highest unemployment rate of all ethnic groups, at 17 percent. The most recent jobless rate for African American males is higher than the rates of 16.8 percent and 16.2 percent for March and February, respectively. Most ironic is that while this much joblessness would represent a state of emergency for the rest of America, African American males are not given a license to speak publicly about their concerns. The mandated political silence within the black community is similar to the "stop snitching" campaigns that keep police from finding assailants in urban neighborhoods. No one wants to snitch on the fact that the Obama administration has shown little public concern for distorted realities between black and white labor markets, and this is obviously disappointing.
We know that the unemployment problems for the black male are only extensions of equally deep concerns about mass incarceration and poor educational systems. Actually, the systems feed off one another, for the black male attending the underfunded inner city school is far more likely to end up in the unemployment line. He also has a very good chance of ending up in prison.
The big problem for President Obama is not that the black community would ever abandon him. They love him like a family member, and desperately want to see him succeed. The real concern for the president is that the black community may simply support him from the sidelines, as they've been politely asked to re-embrace the same disenfranchised hopelessness that plagued us before Obama made us believe the words "Yes we can." When black Obama supporters ask suffering African American families to remain silent for the sake of preserving the presidency, they are asking them to accept the fact that President Obama is too busy with more important issues to address the challenges of racial inequality.
The grave concern with the "stop snitching on Obama" argument is that it tells black Americans that they are politically irrelevant and must rely solely on self-sufficiency to solve their problems, instead of asking the federal government to reinvest their tax dollars to help alleviate the crises that are affecting them. So, when you've adequately convinced a constituency that they are not important enough for the White House Agenda, these individuals may begin to feel invisible and unable to affect the outcome of an election. It's hard to explain to someone that they are unimportant when it comes to presidential priorities, yet critically important when it comes to showing up at the polls. So, when the day comes for the single black mother on the brink of homelessness to choose between going to vote or going to her job, she is going to remember that it's up to her and her alone to take care of her family. Therefore, she is going to go to work on election day and then pray that Obama gets reelected; after all "Obama ain't payin' no bills up in this house."
So, The Great Black Disconnect reflects the fact that black people who love Obama may ultimately disconnect their love for him with their ability to invest the time and energy necessary to get him reelected. The Beyonce fan who doesn't have money to buy her CD represents the kind of love that doesn't show up in record sales. The fan believes that Beyonce will be wealthy whether she buys her CD or not. Similarly, the struggling black citizen with her picture of Barack Obama next to Jesus and Martin Luther King may feel that his/her vote doesn't matter in a nation of over 300 million people. Also, the message of self-sufficiency being repeated by "stop-snitching" Obama supporters may convince her that the complexion of the White House makes little to no difference in her day-to-day life. In other words, she will disconnect her adulation for the Obamas with the impact that voting will have on her personal outcomes. This becomes a serious threat to the Obama presidency.
Follow Dr. Boyce Watkins on Twitter: www.twitter.com/DrBoyceWatkins1
Rep. Barbara Lee: Race Is Still a Factor in America
Jennifer Streaks: Will Economic Setbacks Lead to a Political Back Lash in 2012?
I would have to somewhat disagree. The President is America's President and he has major concerns of cleaning up the previous presidents mess as well as keeping America safe and other Presidential duties. I see his efforts for building the economy as a world wide whole which we all could benefit from.
To say he is "disconnected with the black community and blacks are suffering because of him, but just dont want to snich on him" Sounds like you are the one who is disconnected with the black community. Stating "black urban males really educated by inner city schools have no chance at all but are only headed for prison"
If inner city schools have problems, if there is a lack of jobs available to the urban black community, or the black community is not being heard politically--- this has existed well before Mr.Obama's presidency, and was not caused in any way by the President.
I see his fight to keep the "no child left behind" act., "Affirmative Action," allow grants for African American mom's to attend and return to college without going into debt or into a deeper debt.- I am one of those who the President has help returned to college and I am thankful.
Our previous "president" didnt give a damn about any of the mentioned above. If fact turned his back nationally on people dieing and suffering from a natural disaster-- not to mention daily living disasters, even allow 9 eleven to happen and destroy lives.
This is the problem: there are too many of you who first, look at the President as "black" and do all you can to criticize him.
So far all he has done, trying to do he is doing by himself. Even some democrats in the beginning didnt want to support him.- Because of his ethnicity- so the black community should not support him as well because he is not paying a visit to every business establishment / company in the U.S. and demand they hire all the blacks who place applications on their file? We need an article on this because "urban blacks" do apply to jobs more so than anyone and are most likely to have their applications secretly rejected due to their ethnicity.- The president has nothing to do with this and does not condone it. What's the purpose of this article? To do as other negatives aim to do with the black community-- divide and conquer?
What we do not do is develop our own economic plans that will generate wealth or grow jobs. That is not the responsibility of the government or any political party. Where are our economic folks? Our developers and planners for economic stability and prosperity?
I never believed that Obama would be the 21st Century Moses for us. Ironically, not one AA leader has stepped up with a plan to even rally around. I have seen them fight over who has done the most in the past-but what about our future?
I am tired of looping the same conversation about our problems. We all know the real deal about education, economics and political influences. What I don't see is the plan that will give us the clout to make a move in the area of economic stability. That's the conversation that everyone seems to avoid. Our numbers in the area of unemployment have been high for a long time. Either we have the cure or we don't.
"President Obama's support within the black community is threatened by the fact that the people who love him most are suffering unlike anything our nation has seen over the last 50 years."
I say again, so what? He's still going to receive at least 90% of their vote! But that said, I'll ask this author a direct question: is it possible, in your mind, that blacks as a group have been backing the wrong side for too long now? I mean, after all these years of blind loyalty and obedience to the Dem Party, just what is the state of 'black America' today? According to you, it sounds pretty dire!
It is certainly a race issue, but this issue is more brutal on Blacks than Whites because of the traditional American racism that the Republican Party has given a strong nod and wink since 1968.
Obama gives nod and wink to the big corporations, no matter how they destroy our nation, our people, and the continent. It is more a Great Class Disconnect. The divide is between rich and poor.
Obama consistently sides with the R party and rightward tilting Democrats. The economic disaster he failed to notice to this day was all along the major horror on the poor.
Yet, all Obama can do is blame "congress," which he did when his party controlled both houses.
If we want Obama AND the Democrats in Congress to remember their base support, we have to do more than re-elect them as usual.
I know for a fact I am far from the only white, lower middle class male who notices this.
"Something's definitely out of whack. The stock market is surging. Corporate profits are the highest in years. Yet, the 20%+ unemployment rate--the official 8.8% stat + the unofficial one of people who have stopped looking for work, taken on menial part-time jobs, retired early, or have dropped out of the labor market to go back to school--remains unchanged. Moreover, the cost of living is rising faster than household income, an ominous sign of inflation. Where is the economic recovery that politicians & bullish talk-show hosts keep talking about?
An intelligible clue from the dean of capitalism himself, Adam Smith. Smith explains how in an open free market economy increased productivity requires a corresponding increase in labor, even when the increase is due in large measure to technological improvements.
Casting Adam Smith’s lights on today, it appears that a major reason why productivity is so low, unemployment so high, & wages lagging behind prices, is because the mega corporations that control the economy have, against all free-market principles, engineered it that way to maximize profits.
But where is their money, their billions, trillions coming from if not from actual productivity?
From stock sales, low-interest borrowing, tax break & subsidies, foreign investments, outsourcing production to cheap-labor countries, mergers & acquisitions, derivative trading, default swaps, well-insured speculations--none of which translate into benefits for the average working American or small business. The mega-corporations that control our economy & government have scammed us & are holding us hostage"