B(FinalCall.com) - Politics, economics and violence brought the good, bad and ugly to Blacks in America in 2012.
While the re-election of President Barack Obama ranked highest for many among news stories affecting the Black community, people were just as concerned about finances and senseless violence typified by the shooting of a Florida teen, Trayvon Martin.
On the political front, the Black community’s aggressive response and opposition to right wing efforts to suppress their vote impressed Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League. He also feels the presidential re-election was a huge event for 2012 and will have major impact in 2013.
Laverne Wilson, 74, celebrates President Barack Obama’s victory in the presidential election, Nov. 6, 2012 in the Crenshaw district of Los Angeles. Photo: AP Wide World Photos/Damian Dovarganes)
“Voter suppression was a big story. In many respects we either stopped it in the courts, stopped it with the Justice Department, stopped it politically, or in most cases, people responded with due passion, saying we will not be prevented from voting. Strong African American voter turnout played a decisive role in many states,” Mr. Morial told The Final Call.
Blacks voted more than any other minority group this year for the first time in history, and may have voted at a higher rate than Whites, according to a recent study (“The Growing Electoral Clout of Blacks Is Driven by Turnout, Not Demographics”) by the Pew Research Center, a Washington, D.C.-based nonpartisan group.
In turn, Blacks need President Obama to address the most important issues of joblessness and unemployment, Mr. Morial said. The National Urban League has encouraged President Obama to reintroduce his American Jobs Act, which he introduced in 2011. It aimed to increase jobs without increasing the federal deficit, but was blocked in the Senate, Mr. Morial noted.
“I think it’s too early to predict specifics, but I do think that what we’re trying to do from an Urban League point of view is bring to the president ideas for support and endorsement ... but I also think we’ve got to put pressure on members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans, to elevate the priority,” Mr. Morial stated.
“It was a very tough environment for a president to be running for re-election. Romney and all those outside groups called him everything, all sorts of smears. But he had a campaign organization and his support was solid among the groups that support him and he was able not just to win, but to win impressively,” noted Dr. David Bositis, senior research fellow at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.
Black economics and 2012
The residual effects and fallout from the Great Recession pummeled the Black community in 2012 as unemployment rates remained in double digits and any glimpse of a recovery from a widening wealth gap was stagnant at best.
James Clingman, Jr., founder and executive director of the Greater Cincinnati African-American Chamber of Commerce, evaluated the year from an economic perspective.
Blacks have been in the same position for the last three decades, unemployment rates were double national rates, with joblessness in some cities as high as 50 percent, he said.
“It tells me to move forward economically, a lot of work needs to be done. I’m talking about self-help. I’m not just talking about sitting back and waiting on somebody, the government or Obama or anybody else, to come and do for us what we can do for ourselves,” Mr. Clingman told The Final Call.
Blacks in 2013 must simply do more, and they can start with collective work around economic empowerment through starting and growing Black businesses to help employ Black people, he said.
Mr. Clingman cited the prison industrial complex and Black status in politics as things to be concerned about, but he feels if Blacks made a strong economic base, they could use economic power to get more of their concerns dealt with.
“We have too much income in this country collectively to be in the position that we’re in economically but we’re just not acting appropriately. We’re complaining about supermarkets not moving in our neighborhoods. We complain and march but we don’t rally together to open up our own stores,” Mr. Clingman argued.
His sentiments echoed Minister Louis Farrakhan’s consistent guidance and warning to Blacks: Unite and pool your resources in order to survive.
This year saw the Muslim leader take this resounding and critical message to college campuses in cities across the U.S. as well as to Blacks in the Caribbean, planting seeds in the hearts and minds of young and old alike that economic self-sufficiency and working together is the only solution to what ails the community.
People that respect themselves and their communities produce goods and serve the people of their community the Minister told packed auditoriums as he crisscrossed the country.
Ashahed M. Muhammad and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan at the first ever #AskFarrakhan Social Media Q&A on September 26, 2012. Photo: Hannibal Muhammad
During a first of its kind #AskFarrakhan Social Media Townhall event in September, the Minister dispensed the same practical advice to a 15-year-old young man that asked the nearly 80-year-old leader for guidance on “cooperative economics” among his peers.
“The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said, ‘Pool our resources intellectually and financially and start with six or eight persons of like mind and don’t break apart,” Min. Farrakhan responded in part.
With the concern and love for his people always at the forefront of his heart and mind, Min. Farrakhan will again give enlightenment and expound upon the theme of economic independence during his keynote address at the Nation of Islam’s Saviours’ Day Convention on February, 24, 2013 in Chicago. His message, “Muhammad’s Economic Blueprint: Ending Poverty & Want” will give further guidance and practical application as a way out for Blacks and the poor of the country.
The Minister has noted continued Black cries for jobs and justice. The cry began in the 1940s with labor leader A. Philip Randolph; rose again in 1983 at the 20th Anniversary of that historic march on Washington; and continues today, Min. Farrakhan noted.
“As a student of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, I would like to disabuse us of the thought that our president can create enough jobs for our millions of unemployed and White America’s unemployed,” Min. Farrakhan said.lacks experienced highs and lows as lingering social, economic problems and political challenges dominated 2012
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Posted By: DAVID JOHNSON
Thursday, January 3rd 2013 at 10:06AM
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