In a piece on The Huffington Post, the Rev. Jesse Jackson stated that he is concerned that Congress is ignoring the jobs crisis in America. Over 300,000 teachers are facing layoffs this year, and teen unemployment is the highest its been since 1948, when records started being kept.

There is a $1.4 billion bill that can provide 500,000 jobs for the summer, but the bill hasn't even received a vote. This is significant for the African American community, since African American teens face the highest level of unemployment of any particular group, at 38 percent.




In his commentary on the matter, Jackson simply asks, "What is Washington thinking?"

Losing a job is a human calamity. Families buckle under the pressure. Divorce, spousal abuse, child neglect soar. Homelessness increases along with malnutrition. Crime, drug addiction, depression, rising rates of suicide follow. Skilled workers lose their skills. Our society becomes more unequal, and far more brittle, as middle-class families descend into destitution. Our 10 percent unemployment is a national emergency, not an acceptable condition.

Jackson goes on to mention several alarming statistics about the state of our nation's economy: One in six blue collar workers has lost his/her job. One out of every eight mortgages is in default or foreclosure. One in every eight Americans are on food stamps.

Jackson is right to point out the hypocrisy of the inaction of our elected officials on this matter. Some in Congress have used the rising budget deficit as an excuse not to spend money where it is needed. They have, however, ignored such concerns when choosing to spend billions of dollars bailing out banks and paying for wars started during the Bush Administration. What ultimately stands true is that members of Congress are not the ones feeling the pain of the recession, so they are also the ones least likely to care.

Rev. Jackson mentions the near double digit unemployment that Americans are facing and why this condition is not acceptable. Personally, I am also concerned with black unemployment, which stands firm this month at 15.5 percent. Even with steep declines in unemployment for black females last month, there are still huge disparities between whites and blacks on this issue. The idea that helping the entire nation will inevitably help the black community (which Obama has argued with his "rising tide will raise all ships" argument) is as poorly defined as trickle down economics. Our nation not only needs to take the jobs issue more seriously, we are also in need of targeted economic policy. The recession is not over just yet, and may not be over until the end of this year.


Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action Resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.