Blacks hit hard by economy's punch-34.5 percent of young African American men are unemployed

[kpete]

Source: Washington Post

Blacks hit hard by economy's punch
34.5 percent of young African American men are unemployed

By V. Dion Haynes
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 24, 2009

These days, 24-year-old Delonta Spriggs spends much of his time cooped up in his mother's one-bedroom apartment in Southwest Washington, the TV blaring soap operas hour after hour, trying to stay out of the streets and out of trouble, held captive by the economy. As a young black man, Spriggs belongs to a group that has been hit much harder than any other by unemployment.

Joblessness for 16-to-24-year-old black men has reached Great Depression proportions -- 34.5 percent in October, more than three times the rate for the general U.S. population. And last Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that unemployment in the District, home to many young black men, rose to 11.9 percent from 11.4 percent, even as it stayed relatively stable in Virginia and Maryland.

His work history, Spriggs says, has consisted of dead-end jobs. About a year ago, he lost his job moving office furniture, and he hasn't been able to find steady work since. This summer he completed a construction apprenticeship program, he says, seeking a career so he could avoid repeating the mistake of selling drugs to support his 3-year-old daughter. So far the most the training program has yielded was a temporary flagger job that lasted a few days.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/23/AR2009112304092_pf.html

[rucky]

1. This is an emergency.

Unbefuckingly believable how sick and sad this country has become. A jump this high - even relative to the generally high unemployment - has got to be systematic. It's inexcusable.

[saigon68]

8. Plenty of Prisons waiting for them

[Steerpike]

2. la la la la la!

we don't need you
we don't need you
we don't need you

your a fool to believe that you really matter
yet your only real purpose is to make the rich much fatter!

we'll hang you out to dry and if the weather's fine
if you refuse to leave...we'll let you serve the wine...

So do not misunderstand the importance of our plan
from the start you were meant to be just an also ran

we don't need you
we don't need you
we don't need you

[pattmarty]

3. Does anyone remember the movie "Escape from New York"?...........

.........That is what is going to be happening to a lot of our larger cities. Can anyone say "Detroit"? We have to be the laughingstock of the whole world. Our education "system" is a fucking shambles, healthcare (?), ha, ha, ha, political "system", fucking jokes. Anyone here remember the riots in the cities some years back? Simply fucking disgusting.

[AlphaCentauri]

5. It's looking more like Logan's Run

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logan's_Run

[butterfly77]

7. Its a problem now because..

whites are unemployed.

[pattmarty]

9. Good point.

[Blue_Tires]

4. add in the under-employed and the number is even higher

[Bragi]

6. the add-in the young black men and women in jails /nt

[RedCloud]

10. A real Kenyan doesn't let shit like this happen.

[butterfly77]

11. But, a asshole Texan does..

and wouldn't be doing a damn thing if he were still in power..

[Dreamer Tatum]

12. I guess as long as we have something worse to compare against, all is well. nt

Getting sick of that theory.

[butterfly77]

13. I guess you will be getting even sicker...

if you keep believing everything the media tells you and you really believe that everything would get better in this short amount of time.

For the record,the only theory seems to be in YOUR mind because Bush destroyed the economy along with the republiCONS, and it can't be fixed in 10 months when they worked hard to destroy this country as they raped and robbed in every way conceiveable..

[Dreamer Tatum]

14. Oh, bullshit

What in my post said a GODDAMNED thing about believing everything media says? Your reply is a steaming sack of irrelevant bullshit. I'm sick to DEATH of people looking at the pile of shit our economy is, taking a giant bite of it, and then scoffing that under Bush it was TWO piles of shit.

People who live in the real world don't ignore problems because they could be worse.

[goclark]

15. What have you done to make a dent in the problems

facing America?

[Dreamer Tatum]

16. I hire people, for one thing

and you can bet your ass I don't try to divert attention from today by carping about yesterday.

[butterfly77]

18. You really are Dreaming..

and you are a STEAMING SACK OF IRRELEVANT BULLSHIT! NO asshole! it wasn't two piles of shit it was EIGHT YEARS OF STEAMING HOT BUSHIT!!! and you are still eating it.

Wake up and quit DREAMING! or maybe you were sleeping for the past eight years,you are still in your damn DREAMWORLD! Your name fits you perfectly with your silly ass!!!

[classysassy]

17. And the pundits say

race has nothing to do with low black unemployment.Oh they say,let them pull themselves up ny their bootstraps,my answer to that stupid statement,how can they when they have no boots.When will america wake up and realize by keeping the under class stuck in misery,we are all going to end up there(misery),and that you can take to the bank.