BET Founder Slams Black Unemployment Rate

Interesting that Mr. Johnson doesn't address even one of the root problems for the unemployment rate he decries. However, liberal flag-bearer Patrick Moynihan did...almost 50 years ago. How's that nanny state thing working for us??
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March 31, 2013

BET Founder Slams Black Unemployment Rate

By Leah Barkoukis, 3/31/2013

President Obama may not be addressing the nearly 14 percent unemployment rate in the black community, but that’s not stopping BET founder Bob Johnson from speaking up. Via CNS News:
“This country would never tolerate white unemployment at 14 and 15 percent. No one would ever stay in office at 14 or 15 percent unemployment in this nation, but we’ve had that double unemployment for over 50 years,” Johnson said while speaking at the National Press Club about the gap between whites and blacks in America.

“The national average is 7.7 percent, and African-American unemployment is 13.8 percent. To be honest, it’s probably greater than that when you count the number of African-Americans who have simply given up on finding employment,” said Johnson, who is also founder and chairman of The RLJ Companies.

Johnson said the challenge was to figure out why the unemployment rate for blacks has been so high, “and if that doesn’t change, somebody’s going to have to pay— 34 million African-Americans are not going to leave this country, millions of African-Americans who don’t have jobs.”

“Somebody’s going to have to pay for them. Somebody’s going to have to take care of them, and if somebody’s going to have to take care of them, that money’s got to come from somebody. And whoever’s paying for it is going to be upset about it, and they’re going to start looking for somebody to blame,” Johnson said.

Fifty percent of African-Americans blame the failed education system for minorities/African Americans, according to a poll commissioned by Johnson. Indeed--our public education system is failing far too many students in this country. For just one example, take a look at New York City where 80 percent of high school graduates need to relearn basic skills such as reading, writing and math before they can enter the City University’s community college system. But just as Johnson is right about needing to figure out the root causes for such high unemployment in the African-American community, the same argument can be made for failing schools.

Some say it all begins with the breakdown of the traditional family in the black community. Crystal Wright weighs in:

In his 1965 research paper The Negro Family: the Case for National Action, Daniel Patrick Moynihan then Assistant Secretary of Labor revealed the breakdown of the black family was contributing to higher black dropout and incarceration rates and lower wealth achievement compared to whites. Moynihan warned, “The white family has achieved a high degree of stability and is maintaining that stability. By contrast, the family structure of lower class Negroes is highly unstable, and in many urban centers is approaching complete breakdown.”

Moynihan further noted there was an alarming trend in the number of black families headed by single women and the rise in illegitimate births among blacks. In 1964, 23.6% of black births were to unwed mothers; today it's 72%. Moynihan reminded us of what holds true today, when teenagers have children they are less likely to finish high school and climb the economic ladder.

The unemployment rate for black teens in 1965 was 29%, today it’s 40%. Since the days of Johnson, Democrat policies like welfare have only worsened the problem for blacks by rewarding black women with taxpayer dollars for raising fatherless children. Moynihan’s report it reads like it was written yesterday rather than nearly 50 years ago. “In a word, the tangle of pathology is tightening,” wrote Moynihan. Indeed it is. The destruction of the black family is where blacks should be firmly directing their outrage…”

As long as black people look externally for excuses to fail, they will. Numerous minorities and many black people succeed in this country. Fuck, we have a black President! Racism, while a contributor to the problem, can be overcome. Hard working black folks get jobs every fucking day. Lazy ass fuckers sit around, drink beer, and complain about the system as their baby mamas collect government assistance. What a fucked up government we have that thinks this is the way to go.

As long as black people look externally for excuses to fail, they will. Numerous minorities and many black people succeed in this country. Fuck, we have a black President! Racism, while a contributor to the problem, can be overcome. Hard working black folks get jobs every fucking day. Lazy ass fuckers sit around, drink beer, and complain about the system as their baby mamas collect government assistance. What a fucked up government we have that thinks this is the way to go. Originally Posted by Jewish Lawyer

I agree with JL and I am an AA- welfare was perhaps the worst thing that has happened to AA's and other minorities- true there are some people who really could use the help- but a great majority of people- AA, minorities and poor whites are too dependent it's much easier for them to use the system- and this is not an Obama problem it's been like that way before he came on the scene. It saddens me that our youth can recite the latest rap lyrics but can't do basic math. As JL mentioned there are some hard working blacks who get jobs everyday - it may not be the best paying job, but it's better than sitting on their asses and having tax payers pay the bil- I have a little more sympathy for the mothers because when the father leaves the picture it's a huge void and it makes it that much harder- but one thing I can't stand is a man who is too lazy to work and wants to make every excuse in the book why he can't get a job and I could care less of what his ethnic background is- a man that is too lazy to get a job is a worthless POS.

+1 Well said, WE.

Wonder what the U6 unemployment rate is?
I could use the so called official U3/U6 and apply it.
Also, what about the underemployment rate?
I'm spanish, black and white.
I'm sure this guy has done a lot for people but his Viacom-owned network is garbage. And the news website is worse. I'm 40 and can remember when BET had a little more class.

I think it's probably more of a poverty / education issue than a race issue. If you're poor and uneducated, it's likely you simply aren't going to have the environment and upbringing to let you succeed and move up the economic ladder. Look at all the people who win a lottery and then are bankrupt within 3 years. It doesn't matter how much money you give someone if they're not mentally equipped to be fiscally responsible with their money.

Just like more economically successful families will teach their children how to continue to be successfull, the families on the lower end of the scale just continue to propagate that cycle of poverty / lack of education.

35 years ago uber liberal Hubert Humphrey decried the rising unwed birth rate in the black community. He predicted rising poverty and crime as a result. He was a liberal and today he would sound like a conservative. Just goes to show how far left the left has gone.
Progressives! Not your grandfather's liberals anymore.

35 years ago uber liberal Hubert Humphrey decried the rising unwed birth rate in the black community. He predicted rising poverty and crime as a result. He was a liberal and today he would sound like a conservative. Just goes to show how far left the left has gone.
Progressives! Not your grandfather's liberals anymore. Originally Posted by JD Barleycorn

+1. Despite their incessant bleating about the downtrodden and disadvantaged, progressives don't care about people, they only care about power. Gotta keep the freebies coming in order to keep the votes, as evidenced by our current second term Prez.