American Intrapolitics: The headline troubled me immediately

Submitted by Prometheus 6 on March 20, 2006 - 11:10am.
on

Though probably not for the reason you might expect..

By ERIK ECKHOLM

BALTIMORE — Black men in the United States face a far more dire situation than is portrayed by common employment and education statistics, a flurry of new scholarly studies warn, and it has worsened in recent years even as an economic boom and a welfare overhaul have brought gains to black women and other groups.

..."There's something very different happening with young black men, and it's something we can no longer ignore," said Ronald B. Mincy, professor of social work at Columbia University and editor of "Black Males Left Behind" (Urban Institute Press, 2006).

 

I've been watching stats on Black folks for quite a while. I've seen the the Black folks-to-white folks ratios have been pretty consistent over decades...some over more than a century. The number of out of wedlock births in the Black community has always been roughly one third higher than the mainstream figure; unemployment has always been roughly double the mainstream figure; the percentage of American wealth owned collectively by Black people has been fairly constant since the Civil War. The consistency of the ratios indicate to me they ar eepiphenomona of the very organization of the society and economy.

I've been watching how Black folk are represented. I'm always bothered when I read stuff like this:

The share of young black men without jobs has climbed relentlessly, with only a slight pause during the economic peak of the late 1990's. In 2000, 65 percent of black male high school dropouts in their 20's were jobless — that is, unable to find work, not seeking it or incarcerated. By 2004, the share had grown to 72 percent, compared with 34 percent of white and 19 percent of Hispanic dropouts. Even when high school graduates were included, half of black men in their 20's were jobless in 2004, up from 46 percent in 2000.

Adding the incarceration figure, which is frankly driven by public policy (the combination of drug policy and "what you see depends on where you look), confuses the issue. Let me show you some figures I got from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Series Id:           LNU01300003
Not Seasonally Adjusted
Series title:        (Unadj) Labor Force Participation Rate - White
Labor force status:  Civilian labor force participation rate
Type of data:        Percent
Age:                 16 years and over
Race:                White
YearJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAnnual
1996 66.3 66.7 66.9 66.7 67.1 67.8 68.2 67.5 67.2 67.4 67.4 67.2 67.2
1997 66.9 67.0 67.3 67.1 67.4 68.2 68.4 67.8 67.3 67.5 67.5 67.3 67.5
1998 66.9 67.0 67.1 66.8 67.3 67.9 68.0 67.6 67.3 67.3 67.3 67.2 67.3
1999 67.0 67.1 67.1 66.9 67.2 68.0 68.1 67.6 67.0 67.2 67.2 67.3 67.3
2000 67.0 67.2 67.3 67.3 67.1 67.9 67.8 67.4 67.0 67.0 67.0 67.1 67.3
2001 67.0 67.1 67.3 66.9 66.8 67.5 67.6 66.9 66.8 67.0 66.9 66.8 67.0
2002 66.5 66.9 66.8 66.7 66.8 67.4 67.5 67.1 66.7 66.8 66.5 66.3 66.8
2003 66.3 66.5 66.5 66.5 66.4 67.2 67.0 66.6 66.1 66.3 66.4 66.1 66.5
2004 66.0 66.1 66.1 66.0 66.2 66.9 67.0 66.5 66.0 66.2 66.3 66.1 66.3
2005 65.8 66.0 65.9 66.1 66.3 66.7 66.9 66.7 66.3 66.4 66.4 66.2 66.3
2006 66.0 66.0                      


Series Id:           LNU01300006
Not Seasonally Adjusted
Series title:        (Unadj) Labor Force Participation Rate - Black or African American
Labor force status:  Civilian labor force participation rate
Type of data:        Percent
Age:                 16 years and over
Race:                Black or African American
YearJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAnnual
1996 63.0 62.4 63.4 63.4 64.0 64.6 66.0 65.4 63.9 64.8 64.4 64.1 64.1
1997 63.5 63.5 64.1 63.8 64.2 65.1 66.1 66.4 65.2 64.8 64.7 64.9 64.7
1998 64.2 64.5 65.4 64.9 64.6 66.5 67.3 66.1 65.4 66.2 66.1 65.7 65.6
1999 65.3 64.8 65.2 65.2 65.5 66.3 67.3 66.2 66.1 66.1 66.2 65.8 65.8
2000 65.8 66.3 65.9 65.6 65.7 66.3 66.5 65.7 64.8 65.5 66.1 65.8 65.8
2001 65.2 64.8 65.5 65.0 65.1 66.1 66.3 65.5 65.1 65.0 64.9 65.3 65.3
2002 64.4 64.4 64.6 64.8 65.0 65.3 65.0 64.7 64.9 64.8 64.4 64.9 64.8
2003 63.8 63.8 63.7 64.2 64.6 65.6 65.3 64.6 64.4 64.2 64.2 63.4 64.3
2004 63.5 62.8 63.7 63.1 63.0 64.1 65.2 64.3 63.9 64.5 64.1 63.8 63.8
2005 62.9 62.8 63.2 63.5 64.2 65.6 65.8 64.9 64.3 64.7 64.4 63.6 64.2
2006 62.6 63.6                      

As you see, the percentage of the civilian labor pool that is actually participating in the labor force is remarkable consistant for the last ten years.

Come on, folks. If you focus on Appalachia, wouldn't you get a similar view, but with a Country-Western flair?

What bothers me about stuff like this is it set us down the wrong path looking for solutions.

I have to program some more right now. Be back.

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Submitted by GDAWG on March 20, 2006 - 12:30pm.

 I take this report, along with the report from last summer from Princeton, which looked at  employment opportunites for white men with prison records compared to black men without prison records. The conclusion of the report was that white men with prison records were more likely to be hired by employers than similarly qualified black men, without similar incarceration records.

 For me, there is more something more sinister at work here, that is, virtually, genocidal in effect. 

So, other than mass out migration to Fantasy Island, because, knowing these folks will probably commit only funds for continued mass imprisonment for black men, it seems to me, so as to provide job opportunites for their kit and kin in the de-industrialized rural / surburban America, what is the solution? I mean mass suicide is not an option. Is it?

If you ask me, virtual genocide is occurring, but on a subtle basis. In this way, it will not generate the requisite moral outrage globally, but especially here.

I'm of the opinion that the emergence of China and India, to name two entities/events, is a portend of the balancing act of the  global dynamic of work and worthiness of a group to partiscipate in the marketplace as workers and not as commodities, as an example, Black men. In light of these circumstances, Social Dawinism has re-emerged in a more public manner to serve as a measure of worthiness or winowing for some. That emergence from the shadows of think tanks to dominate the policy ranks of government has been carried out in a quiet manner but effective manner, so as to medicate and or obfuscate the skeptics. In effect, the afflicted group "goes quietly into the night." Or other hand, one gets newspaper articles that offer no real solution, or generate the requisite commpassion to help ameliorate the problems of the afflicted group in the first place.

 Pretty damn scary, huh?

Submitted by GDAWG on March 21, 2006 - 10:55am.

Hmm? Let me see if I can clarify my point more.

According to the "Convention on the prevention and Punishment of the crime of Genocide" in AQtricle 2 states " Genocide menas any of the following acts commited with the intent to destroy in whole or in part a national, ethnical, racial or religious group as :

a) killing members of the group;

b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; Hmmmm?

c) deliberately inflicting CONDITIONS of life CALCULATED to bring about it's physical destreuction in whole or in part; Hmmm- Again.

d) imposing measures intended to PREVENT BIRTHS within the group;

e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

 Massive abortions / massive incarceration of the men / massive unemployment of the men / massively disfunctional public schools etc...................................

Submitted by Prometheus 6 on March 21, 2006 - 11:30am.
Okay, let's start with a link to the whole document you (accurately) quote.

I have an issue with including abortions in the mix as long as they are not compelled, but you know that. Beyond that, by strict definition it's not genocide because the intent seriously is not to destroy but to control.

As I say that though, I keep in mind the answer Lee Brown, ex-NYC police commissioner and ex-US Drug Czar, gave when asked if he thought there was an explicit plan to destroy Black boys. He said if there were such a plan it would look EXACTLY like what we're seeing now.
Submitted by GDAWG on March 21, 2006 - 11:58am.

I included abortion because, in effect, they are compelled, to an extent. For example, if one makes life circumstances so unbearable so as to facilitate, or create the conditions, that would make one consider abortion as an alternative to having child that would probably face similar unbearable circumstances- and, as such, leads to an abortion, ultimately, qualiifes. Or when ones protays Black femaqle fecundity in uch a pathologic way so as to make it seem criminal for them to have children fall into that category for me.

And as to your point on the matter of control versus destroy, us, I think on this point all one has to do is look at the vital statistics and death rates. They clearly show by whatever measure one can come up with, a clear distinction between mere control of Black men, versus their outright destruction. Even, for example, in the allocation of health care resources, a line of inquiry will reflect a level of ill-intent to a degree in all spheres of care delivery. Therefore, for me its more than control matter.

Submitted by Prometheus 6 on March 21, 2006 - 12:36pm.
if one makes life circumstances so unbearable so as to facilitate, or create the conditions, that would make one consider abortion as an alternative to having child that would probably face similar unbearable circumstances- and, as such, leads to an abortion, ultimately, qualiifes.

I don't mean to get into the abortion thing here, but I will point out that attacking abortion per se doesn't address this problem at all.
Therefore, for me its more than control matter.
To me it doesn't matter as much as the fact that the effect of events are just as deadly whether death is the intent or not. Looking at Darfur, I don't think declaring something genocide does all that much to motivate folks.
Submitted by GDAWG on March 21, 2006 - 1:27pm.

My argument is not an attack on abortion per se, my concern is with extent of abortion is practiced on Black women for whatever reason.So, to that end, for me, it elavates the issue to that of genocidal.

 And as far as Darfur is concerned, the genocide there has  racial component to it to a degree, but the point of the matter at hand is that it's all resource driven. As CN would put it 'Black Gold' - oil. Those poor folks are caught in a geopolitical battle whereby, metaphorically speaking, it's akin to two elephants fighting, and guess who gets most of the damage done to them or it? Now you layer on the islamic component of the government there, China, the French, and then you add to the mix the colonial legacy of BullShit borders. I mean it's a big effing mess. How do you render the problem solvable? Drive oil down by a 50% per barrel end the BS in the middle east  and see what happens!

Submitted by Prometheus 6 on March 21, 2006 - 2:26pm.
My argument is not an attack on abortion per se,

Good.
Submitted by GDAWG on March 21, 2006 - 2:27pm.

Oh! As to the matter of addressing the problems that have genocidal implications, I'm certain I'm not the only one that can look at the data, and reality of how a lot of our brother exist and come to the conclusion that something sinister is at work. Have you ever heard a radio show that proclaims to represent our interest as community ever mention our predicament with content relevant to the genocidal declarations? What about national and local politicans. Any hearings? Anywhere? Nursing and Medical associations? Black Studies meetings or professors, other than Jefferies, that specifically link the maladies that afflict us in a genocidal context? Professional Civil Rights Gurus or Black newspapers? 

So if groups and folks won't do it, can we really expect  plain folks to make that connection?