Poll: Whites and Blacks Respond Very Similarly to Unemployment.

Back when he was still telling jokes for a living, long-time activist Dick Gregory made a most insightful comment: “How can people say that Columbus “discovered” America, when there were already people living here when he arrived?"

Once people stopped laughing at what they thought had been a joke, it began to sink in that, for people of color-- like the Delawares, Mohawks, Algonquins, Hurons, and Mashantuckets – who were already living here at the time – their reality didn’t really matter unless the Europeans said it did.

As I reflect upon the recent “discovery” of the national “unemployment crisis,” I see great similarities between the experience of the indigenous Americans and the way that black Americans, who have had a long experience with double-digit unemployment, have been virtually ignored by those who do the hiring in America, by the government, itself, and in the mainstream media's new obsession with unemployment rates higher than 10 percent.

Suddenly, after the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced in October that the overall unemployment rate in America had officially moved into “double digits,” at 10.2 percent, fighting unemployment became an urgent necessity – and a long overdue political priority.

Overnight, as if some huge switch had been finally thrown, conditions that have long caused pain and suffering for black Americans and that have impeded our ability to achieve, are being covered intensely by the media--but it is becoming increasingly clear that this recent activity is intended for the "newly unemployed," and no one--especially not the "first black president"--seems interested, in the least, in talking about how any of this might directly affect black people.

This is especially disappointing because, on November 4, 2008, the day that Barack Obama was elected president of the United States, black unemployment already stood firmly in double-digit territory, at 11.3 percent. By January 20, 2009, the day the "first black president" was inaugurated, black unemployment had jumped to 12.6 percent. On April 1, the black unemployment rate reached 15 percent and at the end of November, black unemployment had climbed, again, to15.6 percent, and to a shocking 29 percent for black males between the ages of 18 and 24.

This lingering, race-specific joblessness has led to deplorable living conditions, extraordinary high levels of poverty, poor health outcomes and inferior educational opportunities for many in the national black community. However, the current Administration in Washington, D.C. and most of the mainstream media have been content, up to this point, to write off the unemployment-related problems in our community as some kind of unfortunate, community-wide character flaw on the part of black men and women.

Regrettably, when asked about the country's comparatively high rates of black unemployment and comparatively low rates of contract participation by black businesses, the president uses the opportunity to lecture black folks about their moral shortcomings, including a perceived lack of commitment to their families, their reliance on government support and the "poor" job they do in serving as role models for their children. I'm sure that right-wing conservatives are absolutely delighted to hear this message each time Mr. Obama recites it, despite their continuing single-minded opposition to virtually everything else he reads to them during his many speeches.

But, lo and behold....now, it seems that there is evidence that the negative issues that result from unemployment are not peculiar to black people, after all.

Indeed, a recent New York Times/CBS News poll of 708 unemployed workers has made it very clear, now, that even white Americans will exhibit the same kinds of socially negative behaviors so commonly attributed to black folks, if they, too, are faced with unemployment.
As one Times reporter wrote: “More than half of the nation's unemployed workers had borrowed money from friends or relatives since losing their jobs” and, “An equal number have cut back on doctor visits or medical treatments because they are out of work.”

No kidding. Did the New York Times and CBS News actually have to pay a research firm to learn that stuff?

Borrowing money? Cutting back on doctor visits or medical treatments? That sounds familiar, but, I don't remember very many New York Times polls that were focused, in years past, on black double-digit unemployment, so it's hard to prove, statistically.

Another very familiar thing that has come out of the Times’ “unemployed workers poll” is the researchers' findings that joblessness has "wreaked financial and emotional havoc on the lives of many of those out of work, causing major life changes, mental issues and trouble maintaining even basic necessities.” Many respondents cited their increasing difficulty in paying bills and about 20 percent said they have begun to receive food from nonprofit or religious organizations.

The researchers also found that almost half of those surveyed said: “Unemployment had led to more conflicts or arguments with family and friends.” (When these conditions have occurred in African-American households, blacks have been called irresponsible, lazy and irrational). In the Times story, the point was emphasized by a 51-year-old woman of European descent named Colleen Klemm, from North Lake, Wisconsin, who recently lost her job and disclosed: “All your relationships are touched by it. You’re never your normal happy-go-lucky person. Your countenance, your self-esteem goes.”

Hey, Colleen, welcome to the world that far too many black people have lived in since their families moved off the plantations nearly 150 years ago, in search of work for which they would actually be paid. What Colleen and others like her are beginning to experience in North Lake, Wisconsin, is what I and many others knew as “everyday life” in North Central Philadelphia, South Philadelphia, West Philadelphia, Harlem, Newark, South Central LA and hundreds of other predominantly black communities where jobs have always been scarce.

The survey went on to disclose a number of other “not-very-surprising-to-black-people” effects of unemployment, including evictions, foreclosure notices and the need to cut back on necessities as well as luxuries. Respondents also said they were beginning to experience unemployment-related negative behaviors in their children, the need to "save quarters for diapers," and a tendency among unemployed males to "feel ashamed most of the time.”

But there was one section of the report that reminded me, once again, that even in 2009, blacks and whites tend to respond to trauma in much different ways.

Nearly half of the New York Times/CBS survey respondents said they felt embarrassed or ashamed most of the time, or sometimes, because they were out of work. Almost half of the same respondents confided that they are now – as a result of their unemployment – suffering from depression or anxiety, and one fourth of those people said they had gone to see a mental health professional to address the problem. One woman reported that she began to use her Medicaid benefits to see a therapist for depression, every week.

Here, generally, is where black folks have drawn the line, as we’ve fought to address chronic and rising unemployment: Given our experience in this unfairly structured economy, black folks do recognize that what’s happened to them isn’t really caused by psychological failures on their part. To their great credit, they do pretty much understand that being unemployed and having to do without all the things they may want, doesn’t mean they have to begin seeing a therapist.

What African Americans do need, we thoroughly understand, is access to good jobs. If we can simply have that, and a relatively level playing field, we’ll take care of all those other issues on our own.

You know, we really could have explained all of this, and how unemployment really affects families, to the New York Times and CBS News--- for free.

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