As we see during this current recession, there is an inordinate amount of unemployment in the African-American community.
As we see during this current recession, there is an inordinate amount of unemployment in the African-American community. Our net worth is decreasing by almost 35 percent and decades of progress are going down the “tubes.” Our unemployment is double and in some places triples the national average. You know it doesn’t have to be that way. Many current organizations say we need more job training. That is ridiculous. We are already trained but the fact is we have been laid off the jobs we know how to do. What is training going to do? We need these jobs back. No organization is looking at the key issue. That is implementing Executive Order 11246, written by President John F. Kennedy in 1962, and the enforcer of affirmative action in the workplace. There was a time when the federal government, through the US Department of Labor, would be the key enforcer. President Clinton’s first Secretary of Labor, Richard Reich, was a strong leader in the field. He would actively challenge corporate America in its hiring of minorities. He even kept a list, “The Bottom Ten”, where he would badger the worst minority hirers and even take them to court. Coca Cola, Bank of America, Honeywell and others met his wrath and changed their ways reluctantly. President Clinton got a lot of pressure to stop Secretary Reich from his noble campaign. Eventually, as the second Clinton Administration came in Secretary Reich resigned rather than slow down. His successor did not attempt to emulate him and do the right thing. The advocacy for diversity in hiring soon went away from the federal government and has not returned since. The data is kept but the action is no longer enforced. Thus, we need an outside organization that will be a true watchdog on the issue of equal opportunity in the workplace. An organization that will encourage the Office of Federal Contract Compliance to publish the data they gather from all corporations and governmental agencies so that the organization can take the bad operators to task and praise the good operators. A very good focus in the beginning would be, through the Freedom of Information Act, to get the racial and gender data on the construction union trades. Any way you look at all trades except general laborers and cement workers; you will detect Jim Crow style racism. The biggest shock is that the US Department of Labor certifies these unions as bargaining groups even though they blatantly violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It is an oversight we can no longer afford and should deal with it directly. Many traditional civil rights organizations actually support this racism with their friendliness towards these racist construction unions in exchange for a little annual funding. It hurts us tremendously – just look at the unemployment figures. This organization should be vibrant and could spawn at the collegiate level in the law schools of our campuses. They should be very high tech via internet activity and should rate all major corporations by the amount of Blacks, Hispanics, Asians and women that they hire, promote and retain at all levels of management. These reports should be updated continuously and should be widely reported so that society can intelligently decide who to buy products from and support in other ways. If it is done correctly we can force into destruction corporations who do not do the right thing; unions who fester bigotry and governmental entities who are not accountable to the people they serve. The unemployment levels of Blacks, Hispanics and other minorities should no longer soar above the national average and equal opportunity can once again return to reality. Somehow, we have let it get away from our focus and our children are suffering from that negligence. Remember, it doesn’t take many people to get a movement going. In this new Internet society it won’t take many people or much money. We just need good unselfish leadership and a strong agenda to follow. Black America is at a crossroads. Our “leaders” are called to the White House only during a blizzard when the federal government is closed down. The Congressional Black Caucus can only get attention during “Colored Caucus Day” when they and the Hispanic Caucus are allowed to come in one behind the other and kick around the health care bill (not the issue of jobs). New leaders! It is time to step forward and begin a new era that will save our people who are being led down a very vile and dangerous path. Harry Alford is the co-founder, president and CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce.
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