The Devastation

By Jesse Jackson, Tribune Media Services,
Jackson, Jesse
Posted 07/26/2010 at 5:51 pm EST

Shirley Sherrod was pushed out and then invited back, as the administration realized that the right-wing attack on her was totally unfounded. But even the offer of a job gets it wrong. Shirley Sherrod is a freedom fighter. She's not looking for a job, she cares about justice. Her mistreatment has occasioned another round of commentary about African-Americans and the White House. But Shirley Sherrod would want that discussion to turn not to what happened to her, but to what is happening to poor and working people, particularly people of color across this country.

The national debate focuses on "gotcha" politics, but ignores the devastation that is being visited on working Americans, particularly people of color. Americans are suffering through a Great Recession, but African-Americans and Hispanics are living -- in terms of employment -- in a crisis that exceeds the Great Depression of 1929.

The bald numbers are bad enough. Unemployment is over 9.5 percent generally, but nearly 16 percent for African-Americans and 13 percent for Hispanics. The Illinois 2010 Report by the University of Illinois Institute for Government and Public Affairs notes that the disparities in Illinois are even greater: In the fall of 2009, white unemployment in Illinois was at 8.9 percent, but a staggering 18.6 percent of African-Americans were unemployed. Long-term unemployment is setting new records, as a lot of the jobs that have been lost are not coming back.

Get underneath the top lines to see what is really going on in people's lives and the scope of the catastrophe becomes clearer. A new survey by the Pew Research Center's Social and Demographic Trends Project begins to tell the tale.

For example, over 9 percent are unemployed, but the survey shows that during the 30-month economic downturn, over half -- 55 percent -- of adults in the labor force have suffered a spell of unemployment, a cut in pay, a reduction in hours or have become involuntary part-time workers. African-American workers fared twice as bad as whites. A staggering 44 percent of African-American workers report they were forced to work fewer hours (compared to 22 percent of whites), 19 percent to take unpaid leave (10 percent whites), and 17 percent to shift from full to part-time work (9 percent whites).

These harsh realities have devastating effects on black households that have little family wealth or savings to fall back on. Loss of a job or a cut in hours produces increased credit card debt, late mortgage and bill payments and taps retirement savings. Nearly one in five blacks and Hispanics say that they don't have enough income to meet their basic expenses. Hunger is growing; medical bills can't be paid.

The effects are particularly brutal on the rising middle class families in black and Hispanic communities, the ones who have worked hard and have been making their way. The University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research published a preliminary report showing that while the median wealth of white households dropped 9 percent in the Great Recession, that of Hispanic households plummeted 52 percent and blacks 30 percent. The Pew analysts suggest that blacks and Hispanics were hit hardest because they suffered disproportionate job loss, and they were the most exposed to subprime mortgages and home foreclosures.

But again, it isn't just those who lose their homes feeling the effects. Some 48 percent of all homeowners report that their homes have lost value, and fully one in four report severe losses. One in five homes with a mortgage is "under water" -- worth less than what is owed on the mortgage. Here blacks and Hispanics -- who had been targeted by subprime mortgage lenders at the height of the bubble -- are in the worst shape, with fully 35 percent of black homeowners and 41 percent of Hispanic homeowners under water. These are middle class, working families who reached for the American dream and saw it turn into a nightmare.

It isn't surprising that the Great Recession would have disproportionate effects on blacks and Hispanics. Lower-income workers suffer more than the wealthy, because they have fewer reserves to call on. The rising middle class is more vulnerable than the established middle class. Those with college degrees fare better than those with high school diplomas.

But that means that relief programs have to target the disproportionate effects. Mortgage relief may not reach many in much of the Midwest, where there was no housing boom. But in Nevada, where one of two homes with mortgages is under water, a program that works is essential to economic revival. Similarly, with staggering mass youth unemployment in our cities, we need direct jobs programs -- an urban corps, a green conservation corps -- to put people to work.

As the panic around Shirley Sherrod revealed, this administration bends over backward to ensure that it is not seen as favoring African-Americans. But we don't clean up the Pacific coast when the oil spill is on the Gulf of Mexico. Similarly, we should be target jobs programs on areas where the joblessness is the most destructive. It is long past time to act boldly to put people to work.

You can write to the Rev. Jesse Jackson care of this newspaper or by e-mail at jjackson@rainbowpush.org.

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