Young Black Men Hit Hardest in Recession

Community Service Society Report

Only one in four young black men in New York City has a job, according to a report released by the Community Service Society of New York. The report, “Unemployment in New York City During the Recession and Early Recovery: Young Black Men Hit the Hardest,” illustrates that some demographic groups experienced the brunt of the recession more than others in terms of unemployment and job loss. Data for the report comes from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics and, according to the report, in New York City the groups most affected by the recession were blacks, Latinos, youth and those with less than a high school or equivalent diploma.

Only one in four young black men in New York City has a job, according to a report released by the Community Service Society of New York. The report, “Unemployment in New York City During the Recession and Early Recovery: Young Black Men Hit the Hardest,” illustrates that some demographic groups experienced the brunt of the recession more than others in terms of unemployment and job loss. Data for the report comes from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics and, according to the report, in New York City the groups most affected by the recession were blacks, Latinos, youth and those with less than a high school or equivalent diploma. “The recession has created a landscape of the unemployed and underemployed with particular catastrophic consequences for young African-American men,” said David R. Jones, president and CEO of the Community Service Society of New York. “We have long known the struggles of the more than 200,000 youth in New York City who are out of work and out of school. Now young black men between 16 and 24 years have become the banner of hopelessness, particularly here in New York City.”

According to CSS Labor Market Analyst and the report’s author Michelle Holder, the Bureau of Labor Statistics doesn’t compile city-level demographic employment data such as contained in the report, which outlines a difficult picture for young people, people of color, and the less educated in New York City. Ms. Holder added, in addition to unemployed youth, an estimated 30 percent of the unemployed in the city who previously held a job were unemployed for more than a year and, for those 55-64 years old, it took almost nine months to find a job. The top line report findings are: The largest increase in the unemployment rate occurred among working-age black men – it jumped from 9 percent in 2006 to 17.9 percent in 2009, an increase of nearly 9 percentage points.

The highest unemployment rate in 2009 was among men 16-24 years of age—their overall unemployment rate hit 24.6 percent during the recession and early recovery period. Breaking this down by race, young black men had the highest unemployment rate in this group—33.5 percent. While only one in four black men ages 16-24 have a job in the city, that figure drops to an astounding one in ten for young black men without a high school diploma.

Men 55-64 years old had the longest average spell of unemployment (approximately 39 weeks), but black New Yorkers had the highest percentage of those unemployed for more than a year; nearly 40 percent of black men and women who held a job before were unemployed for more than 12 months during the recession and early recovery. Overall, the average length of unemployment during the recession/early recovery period for all New Yorkers was just over six months. CSS published a report in 2004 on black male unemployment that explored the jobless and unemployment figures for this demographic; that report showed that only about 50 percent of all working-age black men held jobs in New York City at that time. While that figure has not changed significantly, noted Ms. Holder, the jobholding rate for young black men in particular is about half that level, and even lower for those who lack a high school or equivalent diploma.

Ms. Holder added, “From a public policy perspective, the main findings of my report are troubling because young African-American men without a job and without an adequate education become at-risk for involvement in the criminal justice system. As it is, black people are overrepresented among the incarcerated in this country. We need to ensure that young men of color in New York City are achieving the basic educational requirements to either get a decent job or go on to college if they so choose.”

Existing research has shown that the lack of a high school diploma as well as high unemployment puts young men at greater risk for incarceration. Also, there is strong evidence that shows that having a prison record is associated with subsequent poorer employment and wage outcomes. CSS continues to strongly advocate for quality General Educational Development (G.E.D.) programs as well as transitional workforce programs that help prepare young people to make successful transitions into either college or permanent, full-time employment. “Without work, without school and without a diploma, young African-American men are vulnerable for the prison pipeline,” Jones added. “The absence of training and jobs will provide a clear and uninterrupted pathway to poverty and potential imprisonment,” Jones added. For 165 years, the Community Service Society of New York has been the leading voice on behalf of low-income New Yorkers and continues to advocate for the economic security of the working poor in the nation’s largest city.

FREEDOM PARTY IGNITES MOVEMENT

African-American Issues Brings Together Hundreds at Convention

Freedom Party Hosts First Statewide Convention
Several hundred from around the state packed the historic Siloam Presbyterian Church to ratify Council member Charles Barron as the Freedom Party’s candidate for governor. Barron named Eva Doyle as his running mate for Lieutenant Governor. Mrs. Doyle is a longtime activist, educator, columnist, book author and host of her own radio show called “Eye On History” that airs weekly on station WUFO in Buffalo, NY.
Barron appeared before the enthusiastic crowd wearing a black T-shirt emblazened with “Freedom Party” in bold white lettering and the party’s symbol, chains divided with the word “unchained.”
Freedom Party gubernatorial candidate Charles Barron’s address:
“We have to keep this momentum going. They are hoping we have a one-day event. That we will get all excited and then come tomorrow, it will have been just a good event. What they bet is that we won’t get the signatures. They know we are going to get the votes. They are betting we won’t get the signatures. Everything now is about those signatures. Getting on the ballot. We know that if we come with 40-50,000 signatures, they know we are going to get on that ballot, because there will be 15,000 good ones. And when we get on the ballot, we are going to rock this state. We’ve got to get on the ballot. We are going to be working on a platform. We are going to be working on a strategy. After we get the party, a structure. But right now, it’s money and signatures. That’s the bottom line – money and signatures. That is going to be the challenge for us. We know we can get 15,000 signatures. But what they want us to get is 100 from 15 different congressional districts. Thirteen are downstate. We are going to do that. No doubt.
Let me tell you why we are doing this. This is the perfect time for us to do it. This is the time for us to strike like we have never struck before. There comes a moment in history that you just can’t miss. They have the nerve to go to Rye, NY have their meeting – the State Democratic Party, with all of these Black leaders in the State Democratic Party. (Barron then described this year’s Democratic slate.) This was a political blackout. So since they don’t want you in, let’s step out. Do our thing. Let’s form an independent black-led party. Somebody said to me is this party only for black people? No. It’s going to be black-led, but anybody can join us. We welcome anybody but we are leading this. We said, you don’t want us, fine. Let’s do our own party. This is shaking them up.
The last time we did this, brother Jitu and I, we got Mary France Daniels, Ron Daniels wife on the ballot. She got on the ballot and got 10,000 votes. We got 20,000 signatures from 15 different congressional districts. This time, we are going to get on the ballot and get 50,000 votes and be an independent black-led party. The first one in the history of this state.
We have to do this for Fannie Lou Hamer. In 1963, she was beaten to a pulp trying to get a party, trying to get respect. They beat her badly in jail. Because the same structure in Mississippi – all white slate – is identical to the NYS structure. Identical to Mississippi in 1964. Fannie Lou Hamer fought and she got her Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. She said she got sick and tired of being sick and tired. She took over the convention and the whole nation had to listen to Fannie Lou Hamer. Fannie Lou Hamer, to your spirit, we are continuing the fight. If she could do it in Mississippi in 1964, we can do it in NY.
We need a Freedom Party. We are sick of the two corporate-run parties. Corporations run this state. Who ever pays you, that’s the one who you dance to their tune. The Freedom Party is going to be free from corporations. It will be the people’s party. We will finance us so that we can be free. There is no two-party system there is one party – Republocrats. It doesn’t matter who gets in.
Mario Cuomo, Andrew’s daddy, built more prisons in NYS than any other governor in the history of this state. This is a man who took your vote for granted. Then put all your children in prison.
We are saying today that the Freedom Party, when we come together, and they try to balance a budget, we are not going to let them spend it on Yankee Stadium and Steinbrenner. We are not going to let them spend the money on the Mets and the Nets arena, and then shut down day care centers and senior citizen centers. Don’t want to build any youth centers. Shutting our schools down. Having the nerve to have the homeless pay rent. How do you take MetroCards from our children and they have to demonstrate just to have you give them back? That kind of nonsense in this state must stop. The Freedom Party is going to put an end to that kind of madness.
The Freedom Party is going to talk about political prisoners. Nobody else will. There are brothers and sisters languishing in the state jails. They did their time. They gave them 25 to life, well they did 25 years. 25 good years in prison. Let them out. Let out freedom fighters out of prison. If it wasn’t for the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army and all of those groups that fought for liberation, we wouldn’t be in this church talking about Freedom Party today.
The Freedom Party is going to fight for our reparations. They paid the Jews. They paid the Japanese. Pay the Africans for your colonization of Africa. Pay the Africans for what you did to us in the Caribbean. Pay the Africans for what you did to us right here in America. America violated us, and reparations is a debt owed for service provided. You can’t work us for free, then tell us that happened a long time ago. We are going to put a commission together in this state, we are going to study the impact of slavery on our communities economically. Pay us our reparations. Then you can keep your welfare. We built this nation. 246 years of slavery, 100 years of Jim Crow and racism and you talk about you don’t owe us nothing. You benefitted off the wealth of our labor. It is time for us to be paid. The Freedom Party will raise these types of issues. It can happen. All things are possible.
It is time for us to stand up like men and women, like John White stood up for his family. Stand up for your family. Get your spine straight. Don’t be afraid. I don’t care about you threatening to take my life. You didn’t give me life and you never can take my life. There is a greater source, a greater power in charge of that. Take my freedom and put me in jail. Bring it. Freedom is a mental thing. I will never be in jail no matter how many bars are in front of me, because my mind will not allow me to be imprisoned. Take my material wealth. I could care less. Keep your little material wealth. I am not interested.
Here we have a $63 billion budget. The City Council passes the budget. We can tell this city that this is how we want the money spent because we are the new majority. Stand up and say the money is going to be spent in the ‘hood for our people because we said so and we have the power to do that. I am sick and tired of giving people power who won’t us it. Adam Clayton Powell said ‘Use what’s in your hand.’ You are going to have power in your hand and give it back to the power structure that is oppressing you. That is insane.
The Freedom Party is going to be talking about Black consciousness on behalf of Steve Biko and the Black consciousness movement. Blackness is definitely not a skin complexion. Pigmentation. It is not whether you have coarse hair or thick lips or African features. Blackness is a state of mind. Blackness is a commitment to Black people. Blackness is a commitment to our children. Blackness is being a man. That is what we need – men and women who are not afraid to be black. It is an agenda. It is about who we are in our community.
When we put the Freedom Party together, anybody who is not serious about our people, don’t mess with us. Because we are not playing.
We are going to rock this state. This state is going to be put on notice that from here on, the 2 million Black people in NYC, and the millions across the state now have a Freedom Party that is going to free us from all of those things that we were fearful of. Now it is coming to fruition. Freedom Party!!!”
We have to do this for Shirley Chisholm. Rosa Parks. Assata Shakur. We have to do this for all those who spilled blood before we got here. Let’s do this. Freedom Party!!!
By unanimous acclimation, Charles Barron was declared the Freedom Party’s candidate for governor.
The temporary headquarters of the Freedom Party is located at Sistas’Place on the corner of Nostrand and Jefferson Avenues. More pictures on page 12.

A Chairman’s Uplifting Homegoing

Riverside Church filled for services of Percy Ellis Sutton.

It was standing room only in the uppermost region of the Riverside Church for the homegoing service of Percy Ellis Sutton.  Giving the Personal Tribute, Reverend Jesse Jackson said, “The tallest tree in our forest has fallen,” calling Sutton an authentic Renaissance Man.  He spoke of how  “The Chairman” had stood with Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr.,  Nelson Mandela.  “He left more than he found.”
In a statement videotaped earlier at the church, Governor Paterson said that more than a media mogul and entrepreneur, that Percy was a leader, teacher, mentor and friend.  Sutton was steadfast and disciplined and “He was the first person to advise me about my vision, the first person to suggest I run for office,” and he “gave correction in such a way that you’d think it was a  compliment.”  (This was later amended by Inez Dickens, who assured everyone that Sutton could also correct you in a way such that you knew you were corrected.)  Paterson made the case that without the life of Percy Sutton, he would not be governor now.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that Sutton’s “greatest accomplishment was his own life.  He took his destiny in his own hands.”  Listing Sutton’s accomplishments, Bloomberg said he made Black radio a fixture in New York, saved the  Apollo Theater, Charles Rangel became a congressman, David Dinkins became mayor and Paterson became Governor.  The mayor announced that the cluster of schools on Edgecombe  Avenue in Harlem will be named the Percy Ellis Sutton Educational Complex.  “He made a difference,” concluded the mayor.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said that, “The opportunities my generation have been given are possible because of the work” of Sutton’s generation and acknowledged that he stands on Sutton’s “still-broad shoulders.”
An interview of Sutton was shown and he recounted that he “could not get a Black professional to come to a meeting” with Malcolm X.  He said that he had to learn that he “could not go frontally” when confronted with obstacles, but “had to go in from the sides.”
Congressman Charles Rangel apologized to the family, saying of his mentor and friend, “We treated Percy like we owned him.  I called him like I was calling home.”   He recounted how special it was to Mr. Sutton when someone came up to him on the street and said, “God bless you Percy Sutton.”  “And this is what Percy was all about.” 
The congressman challenged the assembled saying as long as someone is without, then it is the obligation of those who knew Percy to offer help.  He also gave them hope saying “there is a little bit of Percy in each of us,” and that as he leaves to meet with the president, there will be that little bit of Percy coming to Washington with him.
Melba Moore sang “Amazing Grace” and Stevie Wonder said he was “Happy for the family that you had such a king in your life,” and then sang an amazing “I’ll be Loving You Always.”
In the Family Remembrances, nephew Charles Andrews said he spoke with Leatrice,  Mr. Sutton’s wife of sixty-six years, she was angry saying, “He left me.”  He assured Leatrice that “You are his window.  Through your eyes he sees, through your heart he loves.”  He said that when he had recently seen his uncle, Sutton had told him to tell Leatrice, “Smile, and remember when.”
Granddaughter Keisha Sutton-James said her grandfather was larger than life.  “He was my hero.  By example, he taught me how to love.”  She added later, “When I would walk into the room, he’d give me a standing ovation.  How important was that to this little Black girl?”
Daughter Cheryl spoke of the tradition of Sutton making soup after Thanksgiving.  “People may forget what you say, and forget what you do, but they never forget how you made them feel.”
Malcolm X’s daughter Atallah Shabazz said, “How blessed we are that Percy touched our lives.”  She spoke of how when others kept away from Malcolm and the family, “Percy chose to stand nearby.”
“I could not be what I am today without Mr. Sutton.  I will be an example of your majesty by any means necessary.”
Walter Edwards remembered, “A man for all seasons who looked past what a man was and could see what he could be.”  Percy was Black and Proud before James Brown said it and understood the responsibility of a proud man.
Clarence Jones gave a moving remembrance of Sutton calling Jones’ hospital and guaranteeing payment of an expensive medical procedure.  “Good-by my audaciously proud brother.”
Roscoe C. Brown, Jr. said he knew Sutton since their days together as Tuskeegee Airmen attached to the 332nd Fighter Group.  Sutton was the intelligence officer and Brown said his flourishes in reporting the missions for citations “made heroes out of us.”
Mayor David Dinkins had to stop and compose himself several times as he spoke of “We three, who were once the ‘Gang of Four’,”  referring to Basil Paterson, Percy Sutton, Charles Rangel and himself.  He was one of the most dedicated, dynamic and determined individuals to be met, said Dinkins.  He also mentioned that one of the most important elements of Sutton’s walk from his home was someone coming up to him and saying, “God bless you Percy Sutton.”  He was our inspiration and our guiding force.  “Then we were four, now we are three.”
Dinkins said to remember that “Apples did not fall from the tree, they were shaken by our ancestors.   Had there been not Chairman Sutton, there would have been no Mayor Dinkins.”
Basil Paterson knew Percy as a friend and a Renaissance man.  He rebuilt 125th Street.  He was fiercely loyal and always there for the underdog.
Reverend Al Sharpton gave the Eulogy and spoke of Sutton, who even as a multi-millionaire, laid down in front of One Police Plaza for Amadu Diallo, “AWest African boy he never knew.” 
“Percy knew he was a giant but too many around him had grasshopper complexes.  Percy invested in a  community that didn’t even believe in itself.”
“He did not let America change him, he changed America.”   “A hundred years from now they will celebrate Percy Sutton, a man who dreamed dreams and made them come true.  He made little people feel important.  He made us feel important.” 
Sharpton ended with a story of how Mr. Sutton had come to his support at a critical time, and had held up a picture of the reverend and said “I am Al Sharpton.”  Speaking of how the Chairman’s spirit will live on, Sharpton held up a picture of Mr. Sutton, saying, “I am Percy Sutton.”
  David Mark Greaves

LEOLA MADDOX SPEAKS On Alton, On Life, On Being Black in America

LEOLA MADDOX SPEAKS 
On Alton, On Life, On Being Black in America

(Our Time Press, 1998

On the Frontline going to Court in Poughkeepsie, New YorkL to R: Attorney Michael Hardy, Attorney/Defendant Alton H. Maddox, Jr. Abdul., Graham Weatherspoon, Leola Maddox, unidentified man, Attorney Steven Jackson, Minister Clemson Brown (in back) Attorney/Defendant C. Vernon Mason