It’s never been politically correct to use it, but, over the years, black folks have always had an expression that described situations that were so painfully obvious that absolutely no one could ignore them.
You know the one I’m talking about: “Even Stevie Wonder could see that.”
It’s never been malicious. It has not been meant to demean Mr. Wonder because he was “visually impaired.” It was just a fun, culturally unique, readily understandable way for us, as black people, to make a point. Older black folks would use the same figure of speech, but they would, of course, insert the name “Ray Charles” in the space where “Stevie” was used.
Stop me if I’m lying...
Well, for all those people in our community who have wanted to hold on to the belief that Barack Obama was, somehow, sooner or later, going to finally begin to focus on the issues that have brought disproportionate hardship to black communities nation-wide, Thursday was a “Stevie Wonder kind of day.”
Recently, the president "discovered" that America’s most critical problem is a coast-to-coast, longstanding, rapidly growing, unemployment crisis. Following that epiphany, the president decided to hold a so-called “Jobs Summit.” Even though it sounded more like something a neighborhood community development organization might sponsor, we were willing to give him, once again, the benefit of the doubt. After all, many of us thought, the president has access to the world's most learned economists and has his hands, literally, on the levers of the economy, why does he need to ask "common people" about ways to create jobs?
Especially disappointing, however, was that when he was asked by reporters, at the "Jobs Summit," how he intended to address the special hardship of unemployment among African Americans, the president said, according to the New York Times, “It would be wrong for him to focus narrowly on blacks or any other minority group.”
At this point, black people all over the country should have immediately gotten up, removed those old “Hope” posters from their walls--and burned them.
Partially as a result of comments like that from Mr. Obama, and the growing perception that the president simply doesn’t care about black jobs, black businesses, or even black children, other than his own, the members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) have decided to take matters into their own hands.
In fact, last month, the Caucus went directly to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel to emphasize that they would no longer just show up and play the political game, while the national black economy-- jobs, auto dealerships, newspapers, banks and government contractors -- continues to suffer and die.
Among their concerns was one fairly important black owned-business, a company called Inner City Broadcasting, which owns a network of 17 broadcast stations across the country, and that was founded by 89-year-old black entrepreneur, attorney and power-broker, Percy Sutton. The company's future, like that of most radio and TV stations, is now at risk due to recession-related declines in advertising revenues.
As the Caucus has made clear, we have so few credible, black-owned broadcast properties in this country that we simply can’t afford to let Inner City be lost. For black folks, Inner City Broadcasting, the second-largest radio network in the country focused on black audiences, certainly fits the description of being "too big to fail.”
The Caucus has requested that the Obama administration take steps to ensure that lenders such as GE Capital, and the already bailed-out Goldman Sachs, provide short-term relief to Inner City Broadcasting and to other black-owned radio stations, by renegotiating the loans they’ve made to them.
And what was the response from the “First Black President?”
According to the New York Times, the Obama administration raised objections to the Black Caucus’s requests and has said that it does “not believe it is appropriate to pressure national institutions to make concessions for specific loans or businesses.”
Hey, can President Obama spell A.I.G.? Are bailed-out companies such as General Motors and Chrysler specific enough for him? Has he already forgotten the $700 billion in bailout money that he personally fought to have funneled into the “specific” pockets of financial institutions named Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, etc., etc.?
When the Black Caucus began to understand, finally, that the Obama administration was not prepared to be helpful, its members moved on to “Plan B.” What they did next was virtually unprecedented but, certainly, long overdue. Last Wednesday, ten members of the Congressional Black Caucus simply decided not to attend a crucial meeting of the House Financial Services Committee, at which an Obama administration proposal on regulatory reform was being voted upon.
It sent a clear signal. If members of the Black Caucus vote against the bill when it eventually moves to the full floor of the House of Representatives, the administration’s reform legislation will, in all likelihood, go down to defeat.
In these desperate economic times - especially for black folks - I can only say “thank God for the Black Caucus,” and for any other clear-thinking person in our community.
We should also understand, however, that this issue goes far beyond the impact on large black businesses, banks, and media outlets, and extends throughout our national black community, on a door-to-door basis.
In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics recently disclosed that the unemployment rate for black male college graduates, at 8.4 percent, is almost twice as high as the 4.4 percent unemployment rate for white male college grads.
Embarrassingly, some unemployed black college grads have resorted, recently, to re-writing their resumes to remove any sign that they might actually be black (Historically black college attendance; black fraternity or sorority memberships; addresses with "black zip codes," all deleted, now, from the more racially palatable resume).
Another report last year proved that people with black-sounding names receive 50 percent less responses to their job applications than people with white-sounding names. As a result, many black college graduates are actually removing their too-black-sounding first or middle names from their job applications.
They’re finding, however, that when the potential employer actually hears their black-sounding voice during a phone interview or sees their clearly black face at the personal interview, the previously interested company, far too often, suddenly loses interest.
If even the most well-educated African Americans are still being treated in this disgraceful fashion, what do you think is happening at the level of people with lesser educations?
If you don’t have a job, you can’t afford health care, at any cost, Mr. President. If you don’t have a job, it’s difficult to keep your family together. If you don’t have a job, as is the case for far too many black people, you can’t afford to buy food for your kids.
With that in mind, I wasn’t surprised to learn that nearly 12 percent of all Americans are now on food stamps, but that the number jumps to 28 percent for black people.
These conditions, and this uncaring attitude from our own government, are producing a growing sense of national unrest, especially among black folks. It’s no wonder that Chicago Congressman Bobby Rush is talking about organizing a "March on Washington" for jobs.
If Barack Obama continues to pretend that he doesn’t see the disproportionately cruel, race-based impact that this economy is having on the people who have supported him most, and when those same people wake up and recognize that he is not representing their interests as they “hoped” he would, then he will be well on his way to being just like Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush ─ a one-term president. And that would be entirely appropriate.
Hey, even Stevie Wonder can see that.
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