WAKE UP BLACK AMERICA – RACE, DEPRESSION & RECESSION

WAKE UP BLACK AMERICA – RACIAL INEQUALITY, DEPRESSION AND RECESSION

There is an old joke among economists that states: A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose your job. People of color have been relegated to precarious, low-wage work—or no work−at disproportionate rates. Black, Latino, Asian and American Indian communities face barriers to employment, including discrimination in hires and promotions, unfair criminal background checks and the lack of protections for immigrant workers. As a result, communities of color on the whole, relative to whites, face higher rates of poverty, are less likely to have healthcare and consistently face recessionary levels of unemployment and underemployment.  While all Americans worry about economic insecurity during this crisis, its most damaging effects have been unevenly distributed. People of color are unemployed, hungry, homeless and without healthcare at alarming rates. Many have already fallen through the widening cracks in the social safety net, and countless more are about to go under. This dire and worsening situation amounts to a state of emergency. Examining the disparities reveals patterns that are not simply coincidental. Indeed, people of color face barriers to opportunity atevery turn, and the impact is devastating, not just to them,but also to struggling white people. Ultimately, to ensure a stable and growing economy for all will require solutions that directly address these disparities!

What does the word depression mean? DEPRESSION MEANS DEPRESS–I–ON. The word DEPRESS means a lowering of one’s mental state or spirit, to make sad or gloomy, to lower in force.

What does the word recession mean? RECESSION MEANS RECESS-I-ON. The word RECESS means a temporary withdrawal or cessation from the usual work or activity, a period of withdrawal, the act of receding.