From 1910 into the 1930s, the black population of Detroit rose more than 600% -- double the rate of nearby Cleveland and four times faster than the increase in Chicago.
Nobody was moving here for the weather. The influx of people to Detroit -- the city tripled in size during the same period to a population of about 1.5 million -- was about jobs, mainly in the auto industry, after Henry Ford made his famous offer of $5 a day.
MORE:
• Complete coverage: Rising from the wreckage
• Chapter 8: Detroit automakers on new path; hope flickers
Among the many side effects of the assembly line was the rise of the American middle class and, in Detroit more than anywhere else, the creation of a black middle class. While segregation and racism were obstacles, Detroit became a place where good factory wages enabled African Americans to afford homes and cars; where black businesses could start up with ready customers and where succeeding generations had a measure of upward mobility. Hundreds of African-American professionals, businesspeople and academics owe their start to parents or grandparents who were able to make a decent living in Michigan's auto plants.
That avenue to the proverbial American dream has now been largely closed off by the disappearance of job opportunities at General Motors, Ford and Chrysler and the many industry supplier firms.
"What is happening now to the black middle class is absolutely devastating," said Dr. Curtis Ivery, chancellor of Wayne County Community College District. "But it is also much needed. We needed to come out of our comfort zone, that sense of entitlement to those jobs."
Ivery and others said this massive economic shake-up should be a wake-up call for Detroit and indeed all Michigan to fix its schools and redirect young people toward higher education.
"The old paradigm was graduate from high school and get a good job," said Daniel Baxter, director of elections for the City of Detroit and the son of an assembly line worker. "Now, it's totally different. We have to shift the thought process, recognize the new dynamic."
Juliette Okotie-Eboh, senior vice president of public affairs for MGM Grand Detroit and the daughter of a Ford worker, recalled a time in the 1960s when the best-dressed among her classmates at Detroit Northern High School were the young men who had second-shift auto jobs.
"They had the cars, they had the clothes," she said. "The point is, I guess, they didn't need the education at that time to make the good money. But those doors have been closed for a while. Are blacks disproportionately affected? We're always disproportionately affected. ... But the lack of opportunity is more acute now."
Michael Porter, vice president for corporate communications at DTE Energy, is the son of an autoworker. His mother started out as a stenographer but worked her way up to computer systems analyst at the Army's Tank Automotive Command plant.
"I was exceedingly fortunate," Porter said. "My parents placed a high premium on education and sacrificed -- sending us to parochial schools to help prepare for college. ... But for those who couldn't or didn't want to go to college, the plants were a viable option.
"Today, those manufacturing jobs are gone. ... And even if the auto companies had the market share they enjoyed in the 1960s, the jobs our parents held would be gone. ... Today, computers and robots do many of the things that were formerly done by men and women with air wrenches and paint spray guns."
Hence the critical need, said Porter, Ivery and others, to address the ills of predominantly African-American school districts and the widespread applause for Robert Bobb, the emergency financial manager of the Detroit Public Schools, who's becoming a local folk hero as he reshapes the district with an emphasis on accountability. Bobb's trying to make changes that are at least a generation beyond overdue.
"The school systems have got to do a much better job now of meeting the needs of these students," said Bart Landry, a professor of sociology at the University of Maryland and author of a 1987 book, "The New Black Middle Class," plus a 2006 follow-up, "Black Working Wives."
"But first, students have to understand, the good dollars-for-hours jobs are gone. 'If I'm going to make it, I must go to college' ... and if they don't get into pre-college work, that road is extremely difficult."
At WCCCD, which now has upward of 80,000 people taking credit and noncredit courses, Chancellor Ivery is more blunt about the impact of all the closed factories in southeast Michigan.
"Unfortunately, we're exactly where we need to be, and it's a painful thing," he said. "But we've got to get something out of this. There's an opportunity if we take it over the next one or two years. And if we get it right here, we can get it right for the whole country.
"We have a chance," Ivery said, "to ... turn this around."
Thursday, December 24, 2009
New Genetic Tests Find That Some African Americans Have LESS THAN 1 PERCENT Of Their Genes From AFRICA!!!
People who identify as African-American may be as little as 1 percent West African or as much as 99 percent -- just one finding of a large-scale, genome-wide study of African and African-American ancestry.
See Also:
Health & Medicine
* Personalized Medicine
* Genes
* Gene Therapy
Science & Society
* Racial Disparity
* Privacy Issues
* Public Health
Reference
* Ethnic group
* Human skin color
* Tropical disease
* Human Genome Project
An international research team led by scientists from the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell University has collected and analyzed genotype data from 365 African-Americans, 203 people from 12 West African populations and 400 Europeans from 42 countries to provide a genome-wide perspective of African and African-American ancestry.
The data reveal genomic diversity among African and African-American populations far more complex than originally thought and reflect deep historical, cultural and linguistic impacts on gene flow among populations. The data also point to the ability of geneticists to reliably discern ancestry using such data. Scientists found, for example, that they could distinguish African and European ancestry at each region of the genome of self-identified-African Americans.
Sarah Tishkoff, a geneticist at Penn, and Carlos Bustamante, a computational biologist at Cornell, led the study to analyze 300,000 genetic markers from across the genome from West African, African-American and European-American populations to see whether they could reliably distinguish ancestry.
The team found that, while some West African populations are nearly indistinguishable, there are clear and discernible genetic differences among some groups, divided along linguistic and geographic lines.
This newly acquired genetic data revealed a number of important advances, including:
* The rich mosaic of African-American ancestry. Among the 365 African-Americans in the study, individuals had as little as 1 percent West African ancestry and as much as 99 percent. There are significant implications for pharmacogenomic studies and assessment of disease risk. It appears that the range of genetic ancestry captured under the term African-American is extremely diverse, suggesting that caution should be used in prescribing treatment based on differential guidelines for African-Americans.
* A median proportion of European ancestry in African-Americans of 18.5 percent, with large variation among individuals.
* The predominately African origin of X chromosomes of African-Americans. This is consistent with the pattern of gene flow where mothers were mostly of African ancestry while fathers were either of African or European ancestry.
* A technique which can reliably distinguish African and European ancestry for any particular region of the genome in African-Americans. This could have implications for personalized ancestry reconstructions, personalized medicine and more effective drug treatments and could aid in developing more effective methods for mapping genetic risk factors for diseases common in African-Americans, such as hypertension, diabetes and prostate cancer.
* The similarity of the West African component of African-American ancestry to the profile from non-Bantu Niger-Kordofanian speaking populations, which include the Igbo and Yoruba from Nigeria and the Brong from Ghana
* A comparison of the West African segments of African-American genomes. This is wholly in line with historical documents showing that the Igbo and Yoruba are two of the 10 most frequent ethnicities in slave trade records; however, most African-Americans also have ancestry from Bantu-speaking populations in western Africa.
* Population structure within the West African samples reflecting primarily language and secondarily geographical distance, echoing the Bantu expansion from a homeland in West Africa across much of sub-Saharan Africa around 4,000 years ago.
"Africa, which is the homeland of all modern humans, contains more than 2,000 ethnolinguistic groups and harbors great genetic and phenotypic diversity; however, little is known about fine-scale population structure at a genome-wide level," said Tishkoff, professor in the departments of genetics and biology at Penn. "We were able to distinguish among closely related West African populations and showed that genetically inferred ancestry correlates strongly with geography and language, reflecting historic migration events in Africa.
"We were also able to show that there is little genetic differentiation among African-Americans in the African portion of their ancestry, reflecting the fact that most African-Americans have ancestry from several regions of western Africa. The greatest variation among African-Americans is in their proportion of European ancestry, which has important implications for the design of personalized medical treatments."
The study focused primarily on the genetic structure of West African populations, as previous genetic and historical studies suggested that the region was the source for most of the ancestry of present-day African-Americans. The results suggest that there are clear and discernible genetic differences among some of the West African populations, whereas others appear to be nearly indistinguishable, even when comparing more than 300,000 genetic markers. The researchers note that a larger sample size would likely reveal further substructure and diversity between these populations.
Analyzing patterns of population structure and individual ancestry in Africans and African-Americans illuminates the history of human populations and is critical for undertaking medical genomic studies on a global scale. Understanding ancestry not only provides insight into historical migration patterns, human origins and greater understanding of evolutionary forces, but also allows researchers to examine disease susceptibility and pharmacogenic response, and to develop personalized drugs and treatments, a frontier in public health.
There is also strong reason to believe that high-density genotype data from African and African-American populations may pinpoint more precisely the geographic origin of African ancestry in African-Americans, the researchers said. The study appears online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
See Also:
Health & Medicine
* Personalized Medicine
* Genes
* Gene Therapy
Science & Society
* Racial Disparity
* Privacy Issues
* Public Health
Reference
* Ethnic group
* Human skin color
* Tropical disease
* Human Genome Project
An international research team led by scientists from the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell University has collected and analyzed genotype data from 365 African-Americans, 203 people from 12 West African populations and 400 Europeans from 42 countries to provide a genome-wide perspective of African and African-American ancestry.
The data reveal genomic diversity among African and African-American populations far more complex than originally thought and reflect deep historical, cultural and linguistic impacts on gene flow among populations. The data also point to the ability of geneticists to reliably discern ancestry using such data. Scientists found, for example, that they could distinguish African and European ancestry at each region of the genome of self-identified-African Americans.
Sarah Tishkoff, a geneticist at Penn, and Carlos Bustamante, a computational biologist at Cornell, led the study to analyze 300,000 genetic markers from across the genome from West African, African-American and European-American populations to see whether they could reliably distinguish ancestry.
The team found that, while some West African populations are nearly indistinguishable, there are clear and discernible genetic differences among some groups, divided along linguistic and geographic lines.
This newly acquired genetic data revealed a number of important advances, including:
* The rich mosaic of African-American ancestry. Among the 365 African-Americans in the study, individuals had as little as 1 percent West African ancestry and as much as 99 percent. There are significant implications for pharmacogenomic studies and assessment of disease risk. It appears that the range of genetic ancestry captured under the term African-American is extremely diverse, suggesting that caution should be used in prescribing treatment based on differential guidelines for African-Americans.
* A median proportion of European ancestry in African-Americans of 18.5 percent, with large variation among individuals.
* The predominately African origin of X chromosomes of African-Americans. This is consistent with the pattern of gene flow where mothers were mostly of African ancestry while fathers were either of African or European ancestry.
* A technique which can reliably distinguish African and European ancestry for any particular region of the genome in African-Americans. This could have implications for personalized ancestry reconstructions, personalized medicine and more effective drug treatments and could aid in developing more effective methods for mapping genetic risk factors for diseases common in African-Americans, such as hypertension, diabetes and prostate cancer.
* The similarity of the West African component of African-American ancestry to the profile from non-Bantu Niger-Kordofanian speaking populations, which include the Igbo and Yoruba from Nigeria and the Brong from Ghana
* A comparison of the West African segments of African-American genomes. This is wholly in line with historical documents showing that the Igbo and Yoruba are two of the 10 most frequent ethnicities in slave trade records; however, most African-Americans also have ancestry from Bantu-speaking populations in western Africa.
* Population structure within the West African samples reflecting primarily language and secondarily geographical distance, echoing the Bantu expansion from a homeland in West Africa across much of sub-Saharan Africa around 4,000 years ago.
"Africa, which is the homeland of all modern humans, contains more than 2,000 ethnolinguistic groups and harbors great genetic and phenotypic diversity; however, little is known about fine-scale population structure at a genome-wide level," said Tishkoff, professor in the departments of genetics and biology at Penn. "We were able to distinguish among closely related West African populations and showed that genetically inferred ancestry correlates strongly with geography and language, reflecting historic migration events in Africa.
"We were also able to show that there is little genetic differentiation among African-Americans in the African portion of their ancestry, reflecting the fact that most African-Americans have ancestry from several regions of western Africa. The greatest variation among African-Americans is in their proportion of European ancestry, which has important implications for the design of personalized medical treatments."
The study focused primarily on the genetic structure of West African populations, as previous genetic and historical studies suggested that the region was the source for most of the ancestry of present-day African-Americans. The results suggest that there are clear and discernible genetic differences among some of the West African populations, whereas others appear to be nearly indistinguishable, even when comparing more than 300,000 genetic markers. The researchers note that a larger sample size would likely reveal further substructure and diversity between these populations.
Analyzing patterns of population structure and individual ancestry in Africans and African-Americans illuminates the history of human populations and is critical for undertaking medical genomic studies on a global scale. Understanding ancestry not only provides insight into historical migration patterns, human origins and greater understanding of evolutionary forces, but also allows researchers to examine disease susceptibility and pharmacogenic response, and to develop personalized drugs and treatments, a frontier in public health.
There is also strong reason to believe that high-density genotype data from African and African-American populations may pinpoint more precisely the geographic origin of African ancestry in African-Americans, the researchers said. The study appears online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
President Obama DEFENDS HIMSELF From Black Lawmakers Who Keep COMING AT HIS NECK . . . Reminds Them That He CANNOT BY LAW . . . Pass Laws That ONLY HE
President Barack Obama on Monday rebutted critics who say he isn't showing enough compassion toward black America, citing his health care effort as one example he says "will be hugely important" for blacks.
Obama said another example is the billions of dollars in aid to states included in the economic stimulus bill, money that was used to save thousands of teachers, firefighters and police officers from losing their jobs. He said many of those workers are black.
"So this notion, somehow, that because there wasn't a transformation overnight that we've been neglectful is just simply, factually not accurate," Obama said in an Oval Office interview with April Ryan of American Urban Radio Networks.
But the president acknowledged there are limits to what a president can do for any class of people.
"The only thing I cannot do is, by law, I cannot pass laws that say 'I'm just helping black folks.' I'm the president of the entire United States," Obama said, giving his standard answer to questions about the economic and other disparities facing blacks.
"What I can do is make sure that I am passing laws that help all people, particularly those who are most vulnerable and most in need," he said. "That in turn is going to help lift up the African-American community."
Black members of Congress have begun pressing their demands that the nation's first African-American president do more for minorities hard hit by the recession, noting the billions of dollars spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and to prop up big banks and large corporations.
Nationally, unemployment stands at 10 percent while 15.6 percent of blacks are jobless.
Obama said the grumbling was justified because the U.S. has just begun to emerge from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. At the same time, he said polls show overwhelming support among blacks for what his administration is trying to do.
The president said the health care bill the Senate is expected to pass this week will help the one in five blacks who don't have health insurance — almost double the general population — by making coverage more affordable.
"This will be hugely important for the African-American community," he said, also citing increased spending on education.
Asked to comment on the state of black America, Obama paraphrased author Charles Dickens when he said it continues to be the best of times and the worst of times. Still, he said he was optimistic about the future.
"But it's going to take work. It was never going to be done just because we elected me," he said
Obama said another example is the billions of dollars in aid to states included in the economic stimulus bill, money that was used to save thousands of teachers, firefighters and police officers from losing their jobs. He said many of those workers are black.
"So this notion, somehow, that because there wasn't a transformation overnight that we've been neglectful is just simply, factually not accurate," Obama said in an Oval Office interview with April Ryan of American Urban Radio Networks.
But the president acknowledged there are limits to what a president can do for any class of people.
"The only thing I cannot do is, by law, I cannot pass laws that say 'I'm just helping black folks.' I'm the president of the entire United States," Obama said, giving his standard answer to questions about the economic and other disparities facing blacks.
"What I can do is make sure that I am passing laws that help all people, particularly those who are most vulnerable and most in need," he said. "That in turn is going to help lift up the African-American community."
Black members of Congress have begun pressing their demands that the nation's first African-American president do more for minorities hard hit by the recession, noting the billions of dollars spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and to prop up big banks and large corporations.
Nationally, unemployment stands at 10 percent while 15.6 percent of blacks are jobless.
Obama said the grumbling was justified because the U.S. has just begun to emerge from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. At the same time, he said polls show overwhelming support among blacks for what his administration is trying to do.
The president said the health care bill the Senate is expected to pass this week will help the one in five blacks who don't have health insurance — almost double the general population — by making coverage more affordable.
"This will be hugely important for the African-American community," he said, also citing increased spending on education.
Asked to comment on the state of black America, Obama paraphrased author Charles Dickens when he said it continues to be the best of times and the worst of times. Still, he said he was optimistic about the future.
"But it's going to take work. It was never going to be done just because we elected me," he said
MAJOR GLITCH!!! New Facial Recognition Software IS UNABLE To Recognize BLACK PEOPLE'S FACES!!!
This is awkward," Live Leak writes. "It appears that HP's new webcams, which have facial-tracking software, can't recognize black faces, as evidenced in the video below." The video features two co-workers (one white, one black) doing some testing -- see the results for yourself.
But know that HP has already responded:
"We are working with our partners to learn more. The technology we use is built on standard algorithms that measure the difference in intensity of contrast between the eyes and the upper cheek and nose. We believe that the camera might have difficulty "seeing" contrast in conditions where there is insufficient foreground lighting."
But know that HP has already responded:
"We are working with our partners to learn more. The technology we use is built on standard algorithms that measure the difference in intensity of contrast between the eyes and the upper cheek and nose. We believe that the camera might have difficulty "seeing" contrast in conditions where there is insufficient foreground lighting."
Monday, December 14, 2009
New Drug Combination IMPROVES The Breast Cancer SURVIVAL RATE!!!!
Some women with very advanced breast cancer may have a new treatment option. A combination of two drugs that more precisely target tumors significantly extended the lives of women who had stopped responding to other medicines, doctors reported Friday.
It was the first big test of combining Herceptin and Tykerb. In a study of 300 patients, women receiving both drugs lived nearly five months longer than those given Tykerb alone.
Doctors hope for an even bigger benefit in women with less advanced disease, and were elated at this much improvement for very sick women who were facing certain death.
"We don't see a lot that works in patients who have seen six prior therapies as they did in this trial, so that alone is exciting," said Dr. Jennifer Litton, a breast cancer specialist at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
The good results are in stark contrast to two other studies that found no survival advantage from Avastin, a drug whose approval for breast cancer patients was very controversial. Two infusions of Avastin a month, as needed for this treatment, can run well more than $10,000 with fees for administering the drug. Its maker, Genentech, says the wholesale price it charges for the drug averages $7,700 a month.
Considering Avastin's potential side effects — blood clots in the lungs, poor wound healing, kidney problems — a survival benefit "would have made the cost of the drug less painful to take," Litton said.
She had no role in any of the studies, which were reported Friday at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
Herceptin and Tykerb aim at a protein called HER-2 that is made in abnormally large quantities in about one-fourth of all breast cancers. Herceptin blocks the protein on the cell's surface; Tykerb does it inside the cell.
"It's kind of like having a double brake on your tumor. If the first one fails, the second one does the job," said the Dr. Kimberly Blackwell of Duke University. She led the combo treatment study and has consulted for its sponsor, British-based GlaxoSmithKline PLC, which makes Tykerb, and for Genentech, which makes Herceptin and Avastin.
Women in the study had already received Herceptin alone or with various chemotherapy drugs and still were getting worse. They were randomly assigned to receive only Tykerb or both drugs, to see whether the combo might help Herceptin regain its effectiveness.
Median survival was analyzed after about three-fourths of the women had died — roughly two years after the study began. It was 61 weeks in the combo group versus 41 for those taking only Tykerb.
That likely underestimates the combo's true benefit because women on Tykerb alone were allowed to add Herceptin partway through the study if they continued to worsen, and many of them did, Blackwell said.
One woman on the combo in the study suffered a fatal blood clot. The only other common, serious side effect was diarrhea, which plagued 7 to 8 percent of each group. Herceptin costs about $10,000 a month; Tykerb, $5,000 to $6,000.
Stephanie Will gets the drugs for free from the U.S. Army at Fort Bragg, N.C., where her husband is based. She was only 30 years old and nursing her third child when her cancer was found in 2003. She received the combo treatment as part of the study.
"It's been three years and four months, and it's been stable," Will said of her cancer. The combo has been easy to take compared to other treatments, she said. "It's allowed me to live my life pretty normally."
Dr. Eric Winer, breast cancer chief at the Dana-Farber Cancer Center in Boston, said several studies now show that Herceptin still helps women even when their cancers seem to be getting worse.
"Herceptin is like a big roadblock on a superhighway. Eventually the cancer finds a way around it by taking an off ramp. But it's much less efficient to take that off ramp, so Herceptin is still having some influence on that cancer," said Winer, who, like Litton, has no financial ties to any drugmakers.
"Herceptin is a drug that keeps on giving," he said.
Not so for Avastin, which works by crimping a tumor's blood supply. The federal Food and Drug Administration approved its use in women whose cancers had spread beyond the breast over the objections of FDA advisers who wanted more evidence of benefit for these patients.
Now, two big international studies show that Avastin modestly delayed the time breast cancer took to worsen, but had no effect on overall survival:
_A 684-patient study of Avastin with chemotherapy as a second-try treatment for women whose cancers do not respond to Herceptin.
_A 736-patient study of Avastin plus Taxotere or a dummy drug as first-time treatment for cancers that had recurred or spread beyond the breast.
Avastin also is approved to treat certain lung, brain and colon cancers, and the new studies have no bearing on its use in those patients.
It was the first big test of combining Herceptin and Tykerb. In a study of 300 patients, women receiving both drugs lived nearly five months longer than those given Tykerb alone.
Doctors hope for an even bigger benefit in women with less advanced disease, and were elated at this much improvement for very sick women who were facing certain death.
"We don't see a lot that works in patients who have seen six prior therapies as they did in this trial, so that alone is exciting," said Dr. Jennifer Litton, a breast cancer specialist at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
The good results are in stark contrast to two other studies that found no survival advantage from Avastin, a drug whose approval for breast cancer patients was very controversial. Two infusions of Avastin a month, as needed for this treatment, can run well more than $10,000 with fees for administering the drug. Its maker, Genentech, says the wholesale price it charges for the drug averages $7,700 a month.
Considering Avastin's potential side effects — blood clots in the lungs, poor wound healing, kidney problems — a survival benefit "would have made the cost of the drug less painful to take," Litton said.
She had no role in any of the studies, which were reported Friday at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
Herceptin and Tykerb aim at a protein called HER-2 that is made in abnormally large quantities in about one-fourth of all breast cancers. Herceptin blocks the protein on the cell's surface; Tykerb does it inside the cell.
"It's kind of like having a double brake on your tumor. If the first one fails, the second one does the job," said the Dr. Kimberly Blackwell of Duke University. She led the combo treatment study and has consulted for its sponsor, British-based GlaxoSmithKline PLC, which makes Tykerb, and for Genentech, which makes Herceptin and Avastin.
Women in the study had already received Herceptin alone or with various chemotherapy drugs and still were getting worse. They were randomly assigned to receive only Tykerb or both drugs, to see whether the combo might help Herceptin regain its effectiveness.
Median survival was analyzed after about three-fourths of the women had died — roughly two years after the study began. It was 61 weeks in the combo group versus 41 for those taking only Tykerb.
That likely underestimates the combo's true benefit because women on Tykerb alone were allowed to add Herceptin partway through the study if they continued to worsen, and many of them did, Blackwell said.
One woman on the combo in the study suffered a fatal blood clot. The only other common, serious side effect was diarrhea, which plagued 7 to 8 percent of each group. Herceptin costs about $10,000 a month; Tykerb, $5,000 to $6,000.
Stephanie Will gets the drugs for free from the U.S. Army at Fort Bragg, N.C., where her husband is based. She was only 30 years old and nursing her third child when her cancer was found in 2003. She received the combo treatment as part of the study.
"It's been three years and four months, and it's been stable," Will said of her cancer. The combo has been easy to take compared to other treatments, she said. "It's allowed me to live my life pretty normally."
Dr. Eric Winer, breast cancer chief at the Dana-Farber Cancer Center in Boston, said several studies now show that Herceptin still helps women even when their cancers seem to be getting worse.
"Herceptin is like a big roadblock on a superhighway. Eventually the cancer finds a way around it by taking an off ramp. But it's much less efficient to take that off ramp, so Herceptin is still having some influence on that cancer," said Winer, who, like Litton, has no financial ties to any drugmakers.
"Herceptin is a drug that keeps on giving," he said.
Not so for Avastin, which works by crimping a tumor's blood supply. The federal Food and Drug Administration approved its use in women whose cancers had spread beyond the breast over the objections of FDA advisers who wanted more evidence of benefit for these patients.
Now, two big international studies show that Avastin modestly delayed the time breast cancer took to worsen, but had no effect on overall survival:
_A 684-patient study of Avastin with chemotherapy as a second-try treatment for women whose cancers do not respond to Herceptin.
_A 736-patient study of Avastin plus Taxotere or a dummy drug as first-time treatment for cancers that had recurred or spread beyond the breast.
Avastin also is approved to treat certain lung, brain and colon cancers, and the new studies have no bearing on its use in those patients.
Monday, December 7, 2009
In Chicago . .. AIDS Is The Leading Cause Of DEATH For Black Women!!!!
Yvette Williams prepares for the holidays by decorating her home with Christmas lights. Her welcome mat plays "Joy to the World," and every holiday season brings more joy than the last since she was diagnosed with HIV.
Williams said that feeling sorry for herself was never an option and her diagnosis was an opportunity to learn. "It's not a death sentence. You can live with it or die from it. You only stop living when you choose to." The 42-year-old ministry assistant embraces a healthy lifestyle with exercise and a well-balanced diet.
Williams represents the changing face of HIV. According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, almost 2,500 black women in Illinois are living with the virus – and the numbers continue to climb as the leading cause of death for African-American women between the ages of 25 and 34.
While typically thought of as a “gay man’s disease,” HIV is now growing in a new demographic. Roughly 70 percent of Illinois women living with HIV are African-American, but they only make up 15 percent of the state’s population. Men who have sex with men, however, account for about 60 percent of cases in all adult men.
Cheryl Ward, spokesperson for Illinois Department of Public Health said, “The majority of HIV/AIDS cases are male, but the gender gap is closing. A large percentage of the female cases are African-American women.”
In 2000, Williams was diagnosed with HIV. Initially she said she wasn’t angry but shocked and ashamed. For the first three months, she became ill adjusting to the medication. It was difficult to tell her family, especially since they were prominent members of the church. Fortunately her family has been supportive and she admits would not be able to deal with this without their help.
Williams is candid with young people because many think they're invincible. Years ago, she had the same idea. "When you have unprotected sex, you open yourself 100 percent of the time to get infected." She encourages teens to be abstinent, but if they are sexually active, she advises them to get tested twice a year. It's hard to remember everyone she meets, but she was touched a student approached her in a grocery store to thank her for coming to her.
Many HIV-positive women suffer in silence. Williams said, “I know people have been affected and infected but they are not talking about it.” She is proactive by speaking to schools and churches to educate young people about safe sex practices. "I may be the voice of someone who can't speak," she said.
Pete Subkoviak, from the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, said higher poverty rate and less access to resources such as doctors, HIV tests and condoms could contribute to the alarming numbers. “Even if she is sick, she is less likely to seek treatment because she knows she cannot afford it,” he said.
Illinois has one of the highest AIDS rates in the country for African-American women, but the state is just one part of a national epidemic. Nikki Kay, spokeswoman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said another reason black women are infected at higher rates because they think they have low risk. Kay said HIV education is vital. Women need to know how it is transmitted and how it can be prevented to save lives.
Kay mentioned there are three essential ways for individuals to reduce their risk for infection: Don’t have sex. Only have sex if you’re in a mutually monogamous relationship with a partner you know is not infected. Use a condom every time for anal, vaginal or oral sex. Correct and consistent uses of condoms are highly effective in reducing HIV transmission.
AIDS does not discriminate. The CDC recommends everyone between the ages of 13 and 64 years get tested for HIV. Individuals should also know their HIV status, because if they know they are infected, they can begin to take steps to protect their partners. A study from July from the Chicago Department of Public Health found that 50 percent of men who have sex with men (MSM), a category that includes men who may not be out and still sleeping with women along with gay men, did not know their own status.
Sonji Miller, HIV/AIDS supervisor for the Lawndale Christian Health Center (LCHC) said women should insist their partner to use protection. She admits, however, that there is always the heightened risk of domestic violence for women who withhold sex or demand their partners wear a condom. The center is a big fan of the new model of the female condom as a way for women to empower themselves sexually and make the choice themselves.
Miller also wants churches to reach out to black women to fight this battle. Some churches are “blind-sided” by the HIV battle because they are stuck in traditional abstinence only messages. She said, “Abstinence should be taught as an alternative but kids need to know ways to protect themselves. “
St. John’s Baptist Church in Roseland takes a hands-on approach to safe-sex discussions. Rogers Jones, a church deacon, said St. John’s teaches children to wait until marriage. But he said, “We know people live in the real world and are having sex.”
Jones said the church is most effective by listening to the needs of the community not just the church. “We’ll talk to everybody who will listen.” The church does not distribute condoms, but they direct people to the right places to get them.
St. John’s is across the street from a branch of Chicago Family Health Centers, a clinic that offers a range of care for residents of south side neighborhoods with payment based on what the patient can afford.
On Dec. 1, St. John’s gave free HIV testing in honor of World AIDS Day. To foster knowledge and awareness about the virus, guests competed for iPods and laptops in an HIV facts trivia contest. At the end of the night, Yvette Williams spoke to the audience about living with the disease.
“The talk was moving,” Jones said. “It was an awakening for young people.” She started her talk by asking the crowd if they could tell she was HIV-positive. Everyone became silent.
Williams uses herself as an example of how HIV doesn’t discriminate. AIDS and HIV have been thought of as a problem for just the LGBT community for almost 30 years, but the challenge of protecting themselves is now a reality for African American women too.
Williams said that feeling sorry for herself was never an option and her diagnosis was an opportunity to learn. "It's not a death sentence. You can live with it or die from it. You only stop living when you choose to." The 42-year-old ministry assistant embraces a healthy lifestyle with exercise and a well-balanced diet.
Williams represents the changing face of HIV. According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, almost 2,500 black women in Illinois are living with the virus – and the numbers continue to climb as the leading cause of death for African-American women between the ages of 25 and 34.
While typically thought of as a “gay man’s disease,” HIV is now growing in a new demographic. Roughly 70 percent of Illinois women living with HIV are African-American, but they only make up 15 percent of the state’s population. Men who have sex with men, however, account for about 60 percent of cases in all adult men.
Cheryl Ward, spokesperson for Illinois Department of Public Health said, “The majority of HIV/AIDS cases are male, but the gender gap is closing. A large percentage of the female cases are African-American women.”
In 2000, Williams was diagnosed with HIV. Initially she said she wasn’t angry but shocked and ashamed. For the first three months, she became ill adjusting to the medication. It was difficult to tell her family, especially since they were prominent members of the church. Fortunately her family has been supportive and she admits would not be able to deal with this without their help.
Williams is candid with young people because many think they're invincible. Years ago, she had the same idea. "When you have unprotected sex, you open yourself 100 percent of the time to get infected." She encourages teens to be abstinent, but if they are sexually active, she advises them to get tested twice a year. It's hard to remember everyone she meets, but she was touched a student approached her in a grocery store to thank her for coming to her.
Many HIV-positive women suffer in silence. Williams said, “I know people have been affected and infected but they are not talking about it.” She is proactive by speaking to schools and churches to educate young people about safe sex practices. "I may be the voice of someone who can't speak," she said.
Pete Subkoviak, from the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, said higher poverty rate and less access to resources such as doctors, HIV tests and condoms could contribute to the alarming numbers. “Even if she is sick, she is less likely to seek treatment because she knows she cannot afford it,” he said.
Illinois has one of the highest AIDS rates in the country for African-American women, but the state is just one part of a national epidemic. Nikki Kay, spokeswoman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said another reason black women are infected at higher rates because they think they have low risk. Kay said HIV education is vital. Women need to know how it is transmitted and how it can be prevented to save lives.
Kay mentioned there are three essential ways for individuals to reduce their risk for infection: Don’t have sex. Only have sex if you’re in a mutually monogamous relationship with a partner you know is not infected. Use a condom every time for anal, vaginal or oral sex. Correct and consistent uses of condoms are highly effective in reducing HIV transmission.
AIDS does not discriminate. The CDC recommends everyone between the ages of 13 and 64 years get tested for HIV. Individuals should also know their HIV status, because if they know they are infected, they can begin to take steps to protect their partners. A study from July from the Chicago Department of Public Health found that 50 percent of men who have sex with men (MSM), a category that includes men who may not be out and still sleeping with women along with gay men, did not know their own status.
Sonji Miller, HIV/AIDS supervisor for the Lawndale Christian Health Center (LCHC) said women should insist their partner to use protection. She admits, however, that there is always the heightened risk of domestic violence for women who withhold sex or demand their partners wear a condom. The center is a big fan of the new model of the female condom as a way for women to empower themselves sexually and make the choice themselves.
Miller also wants churches to reach out to black women to fight this battle. Some churches are “blind-sided” by the HIV battle because they are stuck in traditional abstinence only messages. She said, “Abstinence should be taught as an alternative but kids need to know ways to protect themselves. “
St. John’s Baptist Church in Roseland takes a hands-on approach to safe-sex discussions. Rogers Jones, a church deacon, said St. John’s teaches children to wait until marriage. But he said, “We know people live in the real world and are having sex.”
Jones said the church is most effective by listening to the needs of the community not just the church. “We’ll talk to everybody who will listen.” The church does not distribute condoms, but they direct people to the right places to get them.
St. John’s is across the street from a branch of Chicago Family Health Centers, a clinic that offers a range of care for residents of south side neighborhoods with payment based on what the patient can afford.
On Dec. 1, St. John’s gave free HIV testing in honor of World AIDS Day. To foster knowledge and awareness about the virus, guests competed for iPods and laptops in an HIV facts trivia contest. At the end of the night, Yvette Williams spoke to the audience about living with the disease.
“The talk was moving,” Jones said. “It was an awakening for young people.” She started her talk by asking the crowd if they could tell she was HIV-positive. Everyone became silent.
Williams uses herself as an example of how HIV doesn’t discriminate. AIDS and HIV have been thought of as a problem for just the LGBT community for almost 30 years, but the challenge of protecting themselves is now a reality for African American women too.
SCIENTIFIC BREAKTHROUGH!!! Study Finds That Black Women Who EAT DAIRY REGULARLY . . . Are LESS LIKELY To Get FIBROIDS!!!!
Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) researchers at the Slone Epidemiology Center found that black women with high intake of dairy products have a reduced incidence of uterine leiomyomata (fibroids). This report, based on the Black Women's Health Study, appears in the current issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.
Uterine fibroids are benign tumors of the uterus and are two to three times more common among black women than white women. They are the primary indication for hysterectomy in the U.S. and account for $2.2 billion annually in health care costs.
National surveys show that black women consume fewer servings of dairy than white women and have lower intake of calcium, magnesium and phosphorus. The causes of fibroids are poorly understood, but sex steroid hormones and growth factors are thought to play a role. The Slone researchers studied dairy products because of the possibility that they have antioxidant effects and may modify endogenous sex hormones.
The study was based on data from the Black Women's Health Study. The 59,000 study participants, enrolled in 1995, completed biennial questionnaires on which they reported whether they were diagnosed with fibroids. Their diet was assessed at two points in time using a modified version of the National Cancer Institute's Block short-form food frequency questionnaire (FFQ).
Based on 5,871 incident cases of fibroids diagnosed after 10 years of follow-up, the study found that high dairy intake was inversely associated with fibroid risk after controlling for other risk factors. Fibroid incidence was reduced by 30% among women who had 4 or more dairy servings a day, relative to women who had less than 1 serving a day. Intakes of calcium, phosphorus, and calcium-to-phosphorus ratio (an indicator of calcium bioavailability) were also inversely associated with fibroid risk. Because dairy intake is lower among blacks than whites, such differences in intake may contribute to the racial discrepancy in rates of fibroids.
"Although the exact mechanisms are unclear, a protective effect of dairy consumption on uterine fibroids risk is plausible, as calcium, a major component of dairy foods, may reduce cell proliferation," said lead author Lauren A. Wise, ScD, an associate professor of epidemiology at Boston University School of Public Health and a senior epidemiologist at the Slone Epidemiology Center at BUSM. "This is the first report showing an inverse association between dairy intake and fibroid risk. If confirmed, a modifiable risk factor for fibroids, a major source of gynecologic morbidity, will have been identified," added Wise.
Uterine fibroids are benign tumors of the uterus and are two to three times more common among black women than white women. They are the primary indication for hysterectomy in the U.S. and account for $2.2 billion annually in health care costs.
National surveys show that black women consume fewer servings of dairy than white women and have lower intake of calcium, magnesium and phosphorus. The causes of fibroids are poorly understood, but sex steroid hormones and growth factors are thought to play a role. The Slone researchers studied dairy products because of the possibility that they have antioxidant effects and may modify endogenous sex hormones.
The study was based on data from the Black Women's Health Study. The 59,000 study participants, enrolled in 1995, completed biennial questionnaires on which they reported whether they were diagnosed with fibroids. Their diet was assessed at two points in time using a modified version of the National Cancer Institute's Block short-form food frequency questionnaire (FFQ).
Based on 5,871 incident cases of fibroids diagnosed after 10 years of follow-up, the study found that high dairy intake was inversely associated with fibroid risk after controlling for other risk factors. Fibroid incidence was reduced by 30% among women who had 4 or more dairy servings a day, relative to women who had less than 1 serving a day. Intakes of calcium, phosphorus, and calcium-to-phosphorus ratio (an indicator of calcium bioavailability) were also inversely associated with fibroid risk. Because dairy intake is lower among blacks than whites, such differences in intake may contribute to the racial discrepancy in rates of fibroids.
"Although the exact mechanisms are unclear, a protective effect of dairy consumption on uterine fibroids risk is plausible, as calcium, a major component of dairy foods, may reduce cell proliferation," said lead author Lauren A. Wise, ScD, an associate professor of epidemiology at Boston University School of Public Health and a senior epidemiologist at the Slone Epidemiology Center at BUSM. "This is the first report showing an inverse association between dairy intake and fibroid risk. If confirmed, a modifiable risk factor for fibroids, a major source of gynecologic morbidity, will have been identified," added Wise.
REPORT: Blacks Will Be THE LAST To Recover From This Recession!!!!
While the overall unemployment rate for Americans fell in November, the jobless gap between African-Americans and all other races actually rose, continuing a disturbing trend that has many lawmakers up in arms.
The black community has suffered the hardest during the economic downturn, with an unemployment rate that currently stands at 15.6%. That's a much higher rate than for all of the other races that the Labor Department tracks, including Hispanics (12.7%), whites (9.3%) and Asians (7.3%).
The jobless rate for blacks has also grown much faster than for other races.
The difference between the unemployment rates for blacks and whites fell to an all-time low of 3.5 percentage points in August 2007. As the economy fell into a recession, that gap rapidly grew. By April 2009, the gap hit a 13-year high, doubling to a staggering 7 percentage points.
Though the separation between white and black jobless rates has narrowed slightly since the spring, it is still trending higher, rising to 6.3 percentage points in November from 6.2 points in the previous month.
Washington's solution
The trend has many in Washington heated.
"We're so focused on 'too big to fail' that we're treating this issue as 'too little to matter,'" said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus' jobs task force. "We have a serious problem, and the army of the unemployed is growing darker by the month."
Cleaver said the main reason for such a high rate of black unemployment is a lack of opportunities for proper job training in urban communities. That's an issue that the Obama administration says it is working on with stimulus money and other government-funded programs.
"Traditionally, these groups are most impacted when there's a recession," Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis told CNNMoney.com.
Solis said that through stimulus and Labor Department grant programs, the government has targeted job training in communities with high unemployment, particularly heavily urban communities with high concentrations of African-Americans and Latinos.
"We have had some success in doing that, but of course we have a long way to go," Solis said.
Washington's job solution
But Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., argued that many of those programs are wasted money. She said a large amount of government dollars are spent on funding private post-secondary schools that are targeted to urban communities, and she believes the schools are "rip-offs."
"They're soliciting people to sign up for training on job titles that don't widely exist like 'nurses assistants,'" said Waters, also a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. "That money should be used for training for jobs that will be around in the new economy like green jobs and new technologies."
Furthermore, Rep. Cleaver noted that 50% of the nation's foreclosures are on homes owned by African-Americans, which makes the jobs situation for blacks all the more urgent.
"If you're in a training program and you have a notice that you'll be kicked out of your house if you don't make your payment in two weeks, chances are high that you're going to quit the training program," Cleaver said. "We need some immediate help from a program where the government funds municipalities and non-profits to hire individuals to do real work right now."
0:00 /03:55Magic's brand beats HIV
That theme was echoed by entrepreneur and former basketball great Magic Johnson, who attended President Obama's jobs summit on Thursday. Johnson said that training is key to narrowing the unemployment gap, but the government must create plans that are targeted to specific racial and ethnic communities that have different labor issues.
"We have to find a way to give these [African-American] people a skill to put them to work," Johnson told CNN's Larry King on Thursday. "We have to come up with a general plan, a Latino plan and an African-American plan because that general plan won't affect our community."
The problem of racism
Training is not the only hurdle that needs to be crossed in order to narrow the jobless gap among races, Education presents another challenge. There remains a high degree of inequality in employment for blacks and whites who have received equal education.
The rate of unemployment for whites with a college degree is 4.3%, but for blacks, it is 5.8%. For those with a high school diploma but no college, the unemployment rate is 9.1% for whites and 15% for blacks.
"We don't like to talk about it, but there's still discrimination in our society," said Waters. "Black college graduates can't get professional jobs as easily as whites. We have blacks disguising their voices on the telephone or trying to hide their blackness in responding to job announcements. It's real."
Waters said that when Obama became the first African-American president, there was a great hope in the black community that some myths and stereotypes about blacks would cease. But racism isn't something that can be easily overcome, Waters said.
However, there are steps that African-Americans can take take to improve their job situation, the Congresswoman added. For example, she encourages the unemployed members of the black community who have been unable to find work in their fields to take risks in their job searches.
She suggested some people opt for less desirable jobs, even if they consider the jobs "beneath them," so they can look for work while still earning a paycheck.
For others, she urged people to interview for jobs slightly above their qualifications and offer to take less money while they are in training. Lastly, she encouraged African-Americans to consider moving if there are no jobs in their areas.
"You have to survive, you have to keep going," Waters said. "Be persistent in what you do, and take a chance. A lot of that really works."
The black community has suffered the hardest during the economic downturn, with an unemployment rate that currently stands at 15.6%. That's a much higher rate than for all of the other races that the Labor Department tracks, including Hispanics (12.7%), whites (9.3%) and Asians (7.3%).
The jobless rate for blacks has also grown much faster than for other races.
The difference between the unemployment rates for blacks and whites fell to an all-time low of 3.5 percentage points in August 2007. As the economy fell into a recession, that gap rapidly grew. By April 2009, the gap hit a 13-year high, doubling to a staggering 7 percentage points.
Though the separation between white and black jobless rates has narrowed slightly since the spring, it is still trending higher, rising to 6.3 percentage points in November from 6.2 points in the previous month.
Washington's solution
The trend has many in Washington heated.
"We're so focused on 'too big to fail' that we're treating this issue as 'too little to matter,'" said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus' jobs task force. "We have a serious problem, and the army of the unemployed is growing darker by the month."
Cleaver said the main reason for such a high rate of black unemployment is a lack of opportunities for proper job training in urban communities. That's an issue that the Obama administration says it is working on with stimulus money and other government-funded programs.
"Traditionally, these groups are most impacted when there's a recession," Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis told CNNMoney.com.
Solis said that through stimulus and Labor Department grant programs, the government has targeted job training in communities with high unemployment, particularly heavily urban communities with high concentrations of African-Americans and Latinos.
"We have had some success in doing that, but of course we have a long way to go," Solis said.
Washington's job solution
But Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., argued that many of those programs are wasted money. She said a large amount of government dollars are spent on funding private post-secondary schools that are targeted to urban communities, and she believes the schools are "rip-offs."
"They're soliciting people to sign up for training on job titles that don't widely exist like 'nurses assistants,'" said Waters, also a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. "That money should be used for training for jobs that will be around in the new economy like green jobs and new technologies."
Furthermore, Rep. Cleaver noted that 50% of the nation's foreclosures are on homes owned by African-Americans, which makes the jobs situation for blacks all the more urgent.
"If you're in a training program and you have a notice that you'll be kicked out of your house if you don't make your payment in two weeks, chances are high that you're going to quit the training program," Cleaver said. "We need some immediate help from a program where the government funds municipalities and non-profits to hire individuals to do real work right now."
0:00 /03:55Magic's brand beats HIV
That theme was echoed by entrepreneur and former basketball great Magic Johnson, who attended President Obama's jobs summit on Thursday. Johnson said that training is key to narrowing the unemployment gap, but the government must create plans that are targeted to specific racial and ethnic communities that have different labor issues.
"We have to find a way to give these [African-American] people a skill to put them to work," Johnson told CNN's Larry King on Thursday. "We have to come up with a general plan, a Latino plan and an African-American plan because that general plan won't affect our community."
The problem of racism
Training is not the only hurdle that needs to be crossed in order to narrow the jobless gap among races, Education presents another challenge. There remains a high degree of inequality in employment for blacks and whites who have received equal education.
The rate of unemployment for whites with a college degree is 4.3%, but for blacks, it is 5.8%. For those with a high school diploma but no college, the unemployment rate is 9.1% for whites and 15% for blacks.
"We don't like to talk about it, but there's still discrimination in our society," said Waters. "Black college graduates can't get professional jobs as easily as whites. We have blacks disguising their voices on the telephone or trying to hide their blackness in responding to job announcements. It's real."
Waters said that when Obama became the first African-American president, there was a great hope in the black community that some myths and stereotypes about blacks would cease. But racism isn't something that can be easily overcome, Waters said.
However, there are steps that African-Americans can take take to improve their job situation, the Congresswoman added. For example, she encourages the unemployed members of the black community who have been unable to find work in their fields to take risks in their job searches.
She suggested some people opt for less desirable jobs, even if they consider the jobs "beneath them," so they can look for work while still earning a paycheck.
For others, she urged people to interview for jobs slightly above their qualifications and offer to take less money while they are in training. Lastly, she encouraged African-Americans to consider moving if there are no jobs in their areas.
"You have to survive, you have to keep going," Waters said. "Be persistent in what you do, and take a chance. A lot of that really works."
REPORT: Members Of The Congressional Black Congress Are SUBTLY Trying To SABOTAGE The Obama Administration!!!!!
The Black Caucus War Against Obama – by Dick Morris
Posted by Dick Morris on Dec 7th, 2009 and filed under FrontPage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
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Waters Bank Aid
A civil war is breaking out within the left of the Democratic Party pitting the Congressional Black Caucus against the first African-American president.
The battle began when California Congresswoman Maxine Waters complained publicly about the Administration’s failure to do more to help minority-owned businesses in the current recession. (Translation: In the new Stimulus of “Jobs” Bill making its way through Congress, they want a larger take). It continued yesterday when ten members of the Black Caucus refused to participate in a meeting of the House Banking Committee which was considering the bill to restructure financial regulations forcing Chairman Barney Frank to push the bill through by the uncomfortable margin of only 31-27.
The latest shot in the battle was fired by Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss) a card carrying regular of the Black Caucus. Faced with the need to investigate the gate crashing at the White House during the recent state dinner for India, he chose to embarrass the Administration by subpoenaing White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers rather than quietly negotiating for her appearance.
That Thompson’s action was a deliberate slap in Obama’s face is obvious (even though the media has missed it). Since when does a liberal Democratic committee chairman embarrass a liberal Democratic president by forcing a liberal Democratic Social Secretary (from Chicago no less) to resist a subpoena to appear at a hearing? Since he wanted to send a message to Obama and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel that the Black Caucus did not like being taken for granted.
The merits of the controversy are obvious. What possible reason would a Social Secretary, for goodness sakes, have for the assertion of executive privilege that is usually reserved for issues of national security? Obviously, none. But Thompson chose his target well. He struck at the social core of the Chicago Mafia that runs the White House, probably striking within the Obama family as well.
You don’t do that to a president of your own party, your own ideology, and even your own race unless you want to make a point.
The friction between the Black Caucus and Obama escalated when Waters berated the Administration for failing to rework a business loan from Goldman Sachs to the Inner City Broadcasting Corporation. Inner City is run by Pierre Sutton, son of Percy Sutton, the long time media giant in the African-American community. Two weeks after she raised the issue in a meeting with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Emanuel, Goldman saw the light and restructured the loan.
Coming on top of liberal angst with the decision by the “peace” president to escalate the war in Afghanistan, this split with the black caucus comes at an awkward time.
But you pay a price when you mess with the African American Caucus and the Suttons. The Obama Administration is feeling it.
Posted by Dick Morris on Dec 7th, 2009 and filed under FrontPage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
Print This Post Print This Post
Waters Bank Aid
A civil war is breaking out within the left of the Democratic Party pitting the Congressional Black Caucus against the first African-American president.
The battle began when California Congresswoman Maxine Waters complained publicly about the Administration’s failure to do more to help minority-owned businesses in the current recession. (Translation: In the new Stimulus of “Jobs” Bill making its way through Congress, they want a larger take). It continued yesterday when ten members of the Black Caucus refused to participate in a meeting of the House Banking Committee which was considering the bill to restructure financial regulations forcing Chairman Barney Frank to push the bill through by the uncomfortable margin of only 31-27.
The latest shot in the battle was fired by Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss) a card carrying regular of the Black Caucus. Faced with the need to investigate the gate crashing at the White House during the recent state dinner for India, he chose to embarrass the Administration by subpoenaing White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers rather than quietly negotiating for her appearance.
That Thompson’s action was a deliberate slap in Obama’s face is obvious (even though the media has missed it). Since when does a liberal Democratic committee chairman embarrass a liberal Democratic president by forcing a liberal Democratic Social Secretary (from Chicago no less) to resist a subpoena to appear at a hearing? Since he wanted to send a message to Obama and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel that the Black Caucus did not like being taken for granted.
The merits of the controversy are obvious. What possible reason would a Social Secretary, for goodness sakes, have for the assertion of executive privilege that is usually reserved for issues of national security? Obviously, none. But Thompson chose his target well. He struck at the social core of the Chicago Mafia that runs the White House, probably striking within the Obama family as well.
You don’t do that to a president of your own party, your own ideology, and even your own race unless you want to make a point.
The friction between the Black Caucus and Obama escalated when Waters berated the Administration for failing to rework a business loan from Goldman Sachs to the Inner City Broadcasting Corporation. Inner City is run by Pierre Sutton, son of Percy Sutton, the long time media giant in the African-American community. Two weeks after she raised the issue in a meeting with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Emanuel, Goldman saw the light and restructured the loan.
Coming on top of liberal angst with the decision by the “peace” president to escalate the war in Afghanistan, this split with the black caucus comes at an awkward time.
But you pay a price when you mess with the African American Caucus and the Suttons. The Obama Administration is feeling it.
Health Report: Black Women Are Stricken With Breast Cancer EARLIER IN LIFE Than Women Of Other Races!!!!
Many African-American women don't fit the profile of the average American woman who gets breast cancer. For them, putting off the first mammogram until 50 — as recommended by a government task force — could put their life in danger.
"One size doesn't fit all," says Lovell Jones, director of the Center for Research on Minority health at Houston's M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Jones says the guidelines recently put out by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force covered a broad segment of American women based on the data available. "Unfortunately," he says, "the data on African-Americans, Hispanics and to some extent Asian-Americans is limited."
So while the recommendations may be appropriate for the general population, he says, it could have a deleterious affect on African-American women who appear to have a higher risk of developing very deadly breast cancers at early in life.
When you look at the death statistics for breast cancer in African-American women and compare them to white women, it's stunning. Beginning in their 20s, into their 50s, black women are twice as likely to die of breast cancer as white women who have breast cancer. In older black women, cases of breast cancer decline, but the high death rates persist.
Overall, breast cancer deaths have been declining for nearly a decade (by 2 percent annually), yet deaths of African-American women have been dropping at a much slower pace. In 2009, an estimated 40,170 women will die from breast cancer. Nearly 6,000 will be African-American women.
Dr. Vanessa Sheppard, a behavioral scientist at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University, has been conducting a study to understand the response of African-American women to treatment for breast cancer, so she's seen this up close.
"We've lost eight African-American women," she says. "That's a pretty high mortality rate in about 200 women."
Personally, Sheppard says, she's lost friends who were 32, 36 and 40 from breast cancer. Studies estimate that 20 to 30 percent of breast cancers in African-American women are triple-negative breast cancers. This means the cancers lack estrogen and progesterone receptors and won't respond to drugs that work by preventing the hormones from reaching the cancer cells. Triple-negative cancers also are HER-2 negative, another hormone, and therefore don't respond to any of the treatments known to block the cancer's growth.
"The breast cancer is more aggressive," says Sheppard, "The tumors are harder to treat. They're larger."
Similar types of aggressive breast cancers have been found in other ethnic groups — including Africans — suggesting perhaps a genetic link. But no one knows exactly why this is happening. And there's probably no one explanation. There are known risk factors for breast cancer and combinations of risk factors — a family history of the disease, age at which menstruation and menopause start. But scientists have found it difficult to come up with a satisfactory model that predicts breast cancer in black women.
Causes Unknown
The deadly breast cancers in black women remind Jones of the higher infant mortality rate in the African-American community, which has yet to be fully explained. Researchers have the same difficulty determining what combination of factors causes low birth weights and infant deaths in African-Americans. For example, the age of child birth with the lowest infant mortality rate in white women is about 30. In black women it's around the ages of 16 to 19. Jones suspects the stress that African-Americans experience in this society is contributing to premature aging. It's not a popular theory, but even after adjustments are made for education, poverty and other factors, infant mortality remains high.
"It could be induced by discrimination or perceived discrimination," says Jones. "It could be due to living in an environment that produces stress." He offers the example of recent stories about the many young kids being killed in Chicago and says. "Well, that adds stress — community stress."
More Routine Screening Could Help
Studies suggest, in addition to higher risks factors, African-American women aren't getting screened for breast cancer as often as white women and when they do it is later in life. Often the mammograms are not routine screening mammograms, but rather they're done because the woman or her doctor felt a mass in a woman's breast. These cases happen all too often, says surgeon Dr. Regina Hampton. She says that vital time has passed by the time they show up in her office with a mammogram in hand.
"Because of their young age, many practitioners don't believe that a young woman can get breast cancer," Hampton says. "These cancers then, once they come to me, are at a later stage. So, we're kind of running behind the 8-ball trying to get the patient treated."
There are also questions about the care that African-American women are receiving, whether they are referred to cancer specialists in a timely way, and understand that they will need therapy after surgery. With all the issues surrounding black women and breast cancer, health professionals argue there should be separate guidelines for African-American women — and say they should get mammograms earlier and more frequently than the task force's recommendation of age 50.
Sheppard even wonders if the old guideline of routine screening every year beginning at age 40 is good enough. "The tumors are growing fast and the intervals that we prescribe may not work," she says. "How can we have better diagnostic tools, better screening tools that can capture the women that aren't the average woman?"
It's a challenge many African-American women will have to come to grips with. About one-third who get breast cancer are younger than 50 years old.
"One size doesn't fit all," says Lovell Jones, director of the Center for Research on Minority health at Houston's M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Jones says the guidelines recently put out by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force covered a broad segment of American women based on the data available. "Unfortunately," he says, "the data on African-Americans, Hispanics and to some extent Asian-Americans is limited."
So while the recommendations may be appropriate for the general population, he says, it could have a deleterious affect on African-American women who appear to have a higher risk of developing very deadly breast cancers at early in life.
When you look at the death statistics for breast cancer in African-American women and compare them to white women, it's stunning. Beginning in their 20s, into their 50s, black women are twice as likely to die of breast cancer as white women who have breast cancer. In older black women, cases of breast cancer decline, but the high death rates persist.
Overall, breast cancer deaths have been declining for nearly a decade (by 2 percent annually), yet deaths of African-American women have been dropping at a much slower pace. In 2009, an estimated 40,170 women will die from breast cancer. Nearly 6,000 will be African-American women.
Dr. Vanessa Sheppard, a behavioral scientist at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University, has been conducting a study to understand the response of African-American women to treatment for breast cancer, so she's seen this up close.
"We've lost eight African-American women," she says. "That's a pretty high mortality rate in about 200 women."
Personally, Sheppard says, she's lost friends who were 32, 36 and 40 from breast cancer. Studies estimate that 20 to 30 percent of breast cancers in African-American women are triple-negative breast cancers. This means the cancers lack estrogen and progesterone receptors and won't respond to drugs that work by preventing the hormones from reaching the cancer cells. Triple-negative cancers also are HER-2 negative, another hormone, and therefore don't respond to any of the treatments known to block the cancer's growth.
"The breast cancer is more aggressive," says Sheppard, "The tumors are harder to treat. They're larger."
Similar types of aggressive breast cancers have been found in other ethnic groups — including Africans — suggesting perhaps a genetic link. But no one knows exactly why this is happening. And there's probably no one explanation. There are known risk factors for breast cancer and combinations of risk factors — a family history of the disease, age at which menstruation and menopause start. But scientists have found it difficult to come up with a satisfactory model that predicts breast cancer in black women.
Causes Unknown
The deadly breast cancers in black women remind Jones of the higher infant mortality rate in the African-American community, which has yet to be fully explained. Researchers have the same difficulty determining what combination of factors causes low birth weights and infant deaths in African-Americans. For example, the age of child birth with the lowest infant mortality rate in white women is about 30. In black women it's around the ages of 16 to 19. Jones suspects the stress that African-Americans experience in this society is contributing to premature aging. It's not a popular theory, but even after adjustments are made for education, poverty and other factors, infant mortality remains high.
"It could be induced by discrimination or perceived discrimination," says Jones. "It could be due to living in an environment that produces stress." He offers the example of recent stories about the many young kids being killed in Chicago and says. "Well, that adds stress — community stress."
More Routine Screening Could Help
Studies suggest, in addition to higher risks factors, African-American women aren't getting screened for breast cancer as often as white women and when they do it is later in life. Often the mammograms are not routine screening mammograms, but rather they're done because the woman or her doctor felt a mass in a woman's breast. These cases happen all too often, says surgeon Dr. Regina Hampton. She says that vital time has passed by the time they show up in her office with a mammogram in hand.
"Because of their young age, many practitioners don't believe that a young woman can get breast cancer," Hampton says. "These cancers then, once they come to me, are at a later stage. So, we're kind of running behind the 8-ball trying to get the patient treated."
There are also questions about the care that African-American women are receiving, whether they are referred to cancer specialists in a timely way, and understand that they will need therapy after surgery. With all the issues surrounding black women and breast cancer, health professionals argue there should be separate guidelines for African-American women — and say they should get mammograms earlier and more frequently than the task force's recommendation of age 50.
Sheppard even wonders if the old guideline of routine screening every year beginning at age 40 is good enough. "The tumors are growing fast and the intervals that we prescribe may not work," she says. "How can we have better diagnostic tools, better screening tools that can capture the women that aren't the average woman?"
It's a challenge many African-American women will have to come to grips with. About one-third who get breast cancer are younger than 50 years old.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
REPORT: In The Recession . . . Blacks Have To TAKE THE BLACKNESS Off Their Resume To GET A JOB . . . So Barry Jabbar Sykes Goes By The Name BARRY J SY
Johnny R. Williams, 30, would appear to be an unlikely person to have to fret about the impact of race on his job search, with companies like JPMorgan Chase and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago on his résumé.
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Barry Jabbar Sykes goes by Barry J. Sykes in his job hunt.
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But after graduating from business school last year and not having much success garnering interviews, he decided to retool his résumé, scrubbing it of any details that might tip off his skin color. His membership, for instance, in the African-American business students association? Deleted.
“If they’re going to X me,” Mr. Williams said, “I’d like to at least get in the door first.”
Similarly, Barry Jabbar Sykes, 37, who has a degree in mathematics from Morehouse College, a historically black college in Atlanta, now uses Barry J. Sykes in his continuing search for an information technology position, even though he has gone by Jabbar his whole life.
“Barry sounds like I could be from Ireland,” he said.
That race remains a serious obstacle in the job market for African-Americans, even those with degrees from respected colleges, may seem to some people a jarring contrast to decades of progress by blacks, culminating in President Obama’s election.
But there is ample evidence that racial inequities remain when it comes to employment. Black joblessness has long far outstripped that of whites. And strikingly, the disparity for the first 10 months of this year, as the recession has dragged on, has been even more pronounced for those with college degrees, compared with those without. Education, it seems, does not level the playing field — in fact, it appears to have made it more uneven.
College-educated black men, especially, have struggled relative to their white counterparts in this downturn, according to figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate for black male college graduates 25 and older in 2009 has been nearly twice that of white male college graduates — 8.4 percent compared with 4.4 percent.
Various academic studies have confirmed that black job seekers have a harder time than whites. A study published several years ago in The American Economic Review titled “Are Emily and Greg More Employable than Lakisha and Jamal?” found that applicants with black-sounding names received 50 percent fewer callbacks than those with white-sounding names.
A more recent study, published this year in The Journal of Labor Economics found white, Asian and Hispanic managers tended to hire more whites and fewer blacks than black managers did.
The discrimination is rarely overt, according to interviews with more than two dozen college-educated black job seekers around the country, many of them out of work for months. Instead, those interviewed told subtler stories, referring to surprised looks and offhand comments, interviews that fell apart almost as soon as they began, and the sudden loss of interest from companies after meetings.
Whether or not each case actually involved bias, the possibility has furnished an additional agonizing layer of second-guessing for many as their job searches have dragged on.
“It does weigh on you in the search because you’re wondering, how much is race playing a factor in whether I’m even getting a first call, or whether I’m even getting an in-person interview once they hear my voice and they know I’m probably African-American?” said Terelle Hairston, 25, a graduate of Yale University who has been looking for work since the summer while also trying to get a marketing consulting start-up off the ground. “You even worry that the hiring manager may not be as interested in diversity as the H.R. manager or upper management.”
Mr. Williams recently applied to a Dallas money management firm that had posted a position with top business schools. The hiring manager had seemed ecstatic to hear from him, telling him they had trouble getting people from prestigious business schools to move to the area. Mr. Williams had left New York and moved back in with his parents in Dallas to save money.
But when Mr. Williams later met two men from the firm for lunch, he said they appeared stunned when he strolled up to introduce himself.
“Their eyes kind of hit the ceiling a bit,” he said. “It was kind of quiet for about 45 seconds.”
The company’s interest in him quickly cooled, setting off the inevitable questions in his mind.
Discrimination in many cases may not even be intentional, some job seekers pointed out, but simply a matter of people gravitating toward similar people, casting about for the right “cultural fit,” a buzzword often heard in corporate circles.
There is also the matter of how many jobs, especially higher-level ones, are never even posted and depend on word-of-mouth and informal networks, in many cases leaving blacks at a disadvantage. A recent study published in the academic journal Social Problems found that white males receive substantially more job leads for high-level supervisory positions than women and members of minorities.
Many interviewed, however, wrestled with “pulling the race card,” groping between their cynicism and desire to avoid the stigma that blacks are too quick to claim victimhood. After all, many had gone to good schools and had accomplished résumés. Some had grown up in well-to-do settings, with parents who had raised them never to doubt how high they could climb. Moreover, there is President Obama, perhaps the ultimate embodiment of that belief.
Certainly, they conceded, there are times when their race can be beneficial, particularly with companies that have diversity programs. But many said they sensed that such opportunities had been cut back over the years and even more during the downturn. Others speculated there was now more of a tendency to deem diversity unnecessary after Mr. Obama’s triumph.
In fact, whether Mr. Obama’s election has been good or bad for their job prospects is hotly debated. Several interviewed went so far as to say that they believed there was only so much progress that many in the country could take, and that there was now a backlash against blacks.
“There is resentment toward his presidency among some because of his race,” said Edward Verner, a Morehouse alumnus from New Jersey who was laid off as a regional sales manager and has been able to find only part-time work. “This has affected well-educated, African-American job seekers.”
It is difficult to overstate the degree that they say race permeates nearly every aspect of their job searches, from how early they show up to interviews to the kinds of anecdotes they try to come up with.
“You want to be a nonthreatening, professional black guy,” said Winston Bell, 40, of Cleveland, who has been looking for a job in business development.
He drew an analogy to several prominent black sports broadcasters. “You don’t want to be Stephen A. Smith. You want to be Bryant Gumbel. You don’t even want to be Stuart Scott. You don’t want to be, ‘Booyah.’ ”
Nearly all said they agonized over job applications that asked them whether they would like to identify their race. Most said they usually did not.
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Racial Differences in JoblessnessGraphic
Racial Differences in Joblessness
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Karena Cawthon for The New York Times
Barry Jabbar Sykes goes by Barry J. Sykes in his job hunt.
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Share your thoughts.
* Post a Comment »
* Read All Comments (266) »
But after graduating from business school last year and not having much success garnering interviews, he decided to retool his résumé, scrubbing it of any details that might tip off his skin color. His membership, for instance, in the African-American business students association? Deleted.
“If they’re going to X me,” Mr. Williams said, “I’d like to at least get in the door first.”
Similarly, Barry Jabbar Sykes, 37, who has a degree in mathematics from Morehouse College, a historically black college in Atlanta, now uses Barry J. Sykes in his continuing search for an information technology position, even though he has gone by Jabbar his whole life.
“Barry sounds like I could be from Ireland,” he said.
That race remains a serious obstacle in the job market for African-Americans, even those with degrees from respected colleges, may seem to some people a jarring contrast to decades of progress by blacks, culminating in President Obama’s election.
But there is ample evidence that racial inequities remain when it comes to employment. Black joblessness has long far outstripped that of whites. And strikingly, the disparity for the first 10 months of this year, as the recession has dragged on, has been even more pronounced for those with college degrees, compared with those without. Education, it seems, does not level the playing field — in fact, it appears to have made it more uneven.
College-educated black men, especially, have struggled relative to their white counterparts in this downturn, according to figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate for black male college graduates 25 and older in 2009 has been nearly twice that of white male college graduates — 8.4 percent compared with 4.4 percent.
Various academic studies have confirmed that black job seekers have a harder time than whites. A study published several years ago in The American Economic Review titled “Are Emily and Greg More Employable than Lakisha and Jamal?” found that applicants with black-sounding names received 50 percent fewer callbacks than those with white-sounding names.
A more recent study, published this year in The Journal of Labor Economics found white, Asian and Hispanic managers tended to hire more whites and fewer blacks than black managers did.
The discrimination is rarely overt, according to interviews with more than two dozen college-educated black job seekers around the country, many of them out of work for months. Instead, those interviewed told subtler stories, referring to surprised looks and offhand comments, interviews that fell apart almost as soon as they began, and the sudden loss of interest from companies after meetings.
Whether or not each case actually involved bias, the possibility has furnished an additional agonizing layer of second-guessing for many as their job searches have dragged on.
“It does weigh on you in the search because you’re wondering, how much is race playing a factor in whether I’m even getting a first call, or whether I’m even getting an in-person interview once they hear my voice and they know I’m probably African-American?” said Terelle Hairston, 25, a graduate of Yale University who has been looking for work since the summer while also trying to get a marketing consulting start-up off the ground. “You even worry that the hiring manager may not be as interested in diversity as the H.R. manager or upper management.”
Mr. Williams recently applied to a Dallas money management firm that had posted a position with top business schools. The hiring manager had seemed ecstatic to hear from him, telling him they had trouble getting people from prestigious business schools to move to the area. Mr. Williams had left New York and moved back in with his parents in Dallas to save money.
But when Mr. Williams later met two men from the firm for lunch, he said they appeared stunned when he strolled up to introduce himself.
“Their eyes kind of hit the ceiling a bit,” he said. “It was kind of quiet for about 45 seconds.”
The company’s interest in him quickly cooled, setting off the inevitable questions in his mind.
Discrimination in many cases may not even be intentional, some job seekers pointed out, but simply a matter of people gravitating toward similar people, casting about for the right “cultural fit,” a buzzword often heard in corporate circles.
There is also the matter of how many jobs, especially higher-level ones, are never even posted and depend on word-of-mouth and informal networks, in many cases leaving blacks at a disadvantage. A recent study published in the academic journal Social Problems found that white males receive substantially more job leads for high-level supervisory positions than women and members of minorities.
Many interviewed, however, wrestled with “pulling the race card,” groping between their cynicism and desire to avoid the stigma that blacks are too quick to claim victimhood. After all, many had gone to good schools and had accomplished résumés. Some had grown up in well-to-do settings, with parents who had raised them never to doubt how high they could climb. Moreover, there is President Obama, perhaps the ultimate embodiment of that belief.
Certainly, they conceded, there are times when their race can be beneficial, particularly with companies that have diversity programs. But many said they sensed that such opportunities had been cut back over the years and even more during the downturn. Others speculated there was now more of a tendency to deem diversity unnecessary after Mr. Obama’s triumph.
In fact, whether Mr. Obama’s election has been good or bad for their job prospects is hotly debated. Several interviewed went so far as to say that they believed there was only so much progress that many in the country could take, and that there was now a backlash against blacks.
“There is resentment toward his presidency among some because of his race,” said Edward Verner, a Morehouse alumnus from New Jersey who was laid off as a regional sales manager and has been able to find only part-time work. “This has affected well-educated, African-American job seekers.”
It is difficult to overstate the degree that they say race permeates nearly every aspect of their job searches, from how early they show up to interviews to the kinds of anecdotes they try to come up with.
“You want to be a nonthreatening, professional black guy,” said Winston Bell, 40, of Cleveland, who has been looking for a job in business development.
He drew an analogy to several prominent black sports broadcasters. “You don’t want to be Stephen A. Smith. You want to be Bryant Gumbel. You don’t even want to be Stuart Scott. You don’t want to be, ‘Booyah.’ ”
Nearly all said they agonized over job applications that asked them whether they would like to identify their race. Most said they usually did not.
Monday, November 30, 2009
SCIENTIFIC BREAKTHROUGH!!! African Rat May Have The SECRET To A CURE FOR CANCER!!!!
Naked mole rats are no ordinary lab mice.
The cancer-resistant African rodents can live more than 30 years and are becoming more popular in research laboratories nationwide. Scientists are using the hairless, nearly blind animals to study everything from aging to cancer to strokes.
Bucktoothed with pinkish skin, naked mole rats resemble wrinkled spring rolls with tiny legs. But while they look fragile, naked mole rats are more like tiny, tube-shaped stuntmen.
A study in next month's journal NeuroReport says the brains of adult naked mole rats can withstand oxygen deprivation for a half-hour or more. Scientists say that knowledge could eventually help in stroke research.
The cancer-resistant African rodents can live more than 30 years and are becoming more popular in research laboratories nationwide. Scientists are using the hairless, nearly blind animals to study everything from aging to cancer to strokes.
Bucktoothed with pinkish skin, naked mole rats resemble wrinkled spring rolls with tiny legs. But while they look fragile, naked mole rats are more like tiny, tube-shaped stuntmen.
A study in next month's journal NeuroReport says the brains of adult naked mole rats can withstand oxygen deprivation for a half-hour or more. Scientists say that knowledge could eventually help in stroke research.
PRESIDENTIAL FAIL!! New Senate Report Proves That President Bush ALLOWED Osama Bin Laden TO ESCAPE!!!!
Osama bin Laden was unquestionably within reach of U.S. troops in the mountains of Tora Bora when American military leaders made the crucial and costly decision not to pursue the terrorist leader with massive force, a Senate report says.
The report asserts that the failure to kill or capture bin Laden at his most vulnerable in December 2001 has had lasting consequences beyond the fate of one man. Bin Laden's escape laid the foundation for today's reinvigorated Afghan insurgency and inflamed the internal strife now endangering Pakistan, it says.
Staff members for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Democratic majority prepared the report at the request of the chairman, Sen. John Kerry, as President Barack Obama prepares to boost U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
The Massachusetts senator and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate has long argued the Bush administration missed a chance to get the al-Qaida leader and top deputies when they were holed up in the forbidding mountainous area of eastern Afghanistan only three months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Aimed at foes of surge?
Although limited to a review of military operations eight years old, the report could also be read as a cautionary note for those resisting an increased troop presence there now.
More pointedly, it seeks to affix a measure of blame for the state of the war today on military leaders under former president George W. Bush, specifically Donald H. Rumsfeld as defense secretary and his top military commander, Tommy Franks.
Video
Report: Bin Laden was 'within our grasp'
Nov. 29: Msnbc's Alex Witt talks with military analyst Jack Jacobs about the Senate report.
msnbc tv
"Removing the al-Qaida leader from the battlefield eight years ago would not have eliminated the worldwide extremist threat," the report says. "But the decisions that opened the door for his escape to Pakistan allowed bin Laden to emerge as a potent symbolic figure who continues to attract a steady flow of money and inspire fanatics worldwide. The failure to finish the job represents a lost opportunity that forever altered the course of the conflict in Afghanistan and the future of international terrorism."
The report states categorically that bin Laden was hiding in Tora Bora when the U.S. had the means to mount a rapid assault with several thousand troops at least. It says that a review of existing literature, unclassified government records and interviews with central participants "removes any lingering doubts and makes it clear that Osama bin Laden was within our grasp at Tora Bora."
Fewer than 100 U.S. commandos
On or about Dec. 16, 2001, bin Laden and bodyguards "walked unmolested out of Tora Bora and disappeared into Pakistan's unregulated tribal area," where he is still believed to be based, the report says.
Instead of a massive attack, fewer than 100 U.S. commandos, working with Afghan militias, tried to capitalize on air strikes and track down their prey.
"The vast array of American military power, from sniper teams to the most mobile divisions of the Marine Corps and the Army, was kept on the sidelines," the report said.
At the time, Rumsfeld expressed concern that a large U.S. troop presence might fuel a backlash and he and some others said the evidence was not conclusive about bin Laden's location.
The report asserts that the failure to kill or capture bin Laden at his most vulnerable in December 2001 has had lasting consequences beyond the fate of one man. Bin Laden's escape laid the foundation for today's reinvigorated Afghan insurgency and inflamed the internal strife now endangering Pakistan, it says.
Staff members for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Democratic majority prepared the report at the request of the chairman, Sen. John Kerry, as President Barack Obama prepares to boost U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
The Massachusetts senator and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate has long argued the Bush administration missed a chance to get the al-Qaida leader and top deputies when they were holed up in the forbidding mountainous area of eastern Afghanistan only three months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Aimed at foes of surge?
Although limited to a review of military operations eight years old, the report could also be read as a cautionary note for those resisting an increased troop presence there now.
More pointedly, it seeks to affix a measure of blame for the state of the war today on military leaders under former president George W. Bush, specifically Donald H. Rumsfeld as defense secretary and his top military commander, Tommy Franks.
Video
Report: Bin Laden was 'within our grasp'
Nov. 29: Msnbc's Alex Witt talks with military analyst Jack Jacobs about the Senate report.
msnbc tv
"Removing the al-Qaida leader from the battlefield eight years ago would not have eliminated the worldwide extremist threat," the report says. "But the decisions that opened the door for his escape to Pakistan allowed bin Laden to emerge as a potent symbolic figure who continues to attract a steady flow of money and inspire fanatics worldwide. The failure to finish the job represents a lost opportunity that forever altered the course of the conflict in Afghanistan and the future of international terrorism."
The report states categorically that bin Laden was hiding in Tora Bora when the U.S. had the means to mount a rapid assault with several thousand troops at least. It says that a review of existing literature, unclassified government records and interviews with central participants "removes any lingering doubts and makes it clear that Osama bin Laden was within our grasp at Tora Bora."
Fewer than 100 U.S. commandos
On or about Dec. 16, 2001, bin Laden and bodyguards "walked unmolested out of Tora Bora and disappeared into Pakistan's unregulated tribal area," where he is still believed to be based, the report says.
Instead of a massive attack, fewer than 100 U.S. commandos, working with Afghan militias, tried to capitalize on air strikes and track down their prey.
"The vast array of American military power, from sniper teams to the most mobile divisions of the Marine Corps and the Army, was kept on the sidelines," the report said.
At the time, Rumsfeld expressed concern that a large U.S. troop presence might fuel a backlash and he and some others said the evidence was not conclusive about bin Laden's location.
Early Reports Show That Black Friday WAS A SUCCESS!!!!
Retail Web sites kept amping up the deals Monday, the first day after the Thanksgiving holiday, to try to maintain the long weekend's strong online sales.
Though the Web is only about 10 percent of the holiday shopping pie, it's seen most of the growth so far this year — an encouraging sign after last year's first online sales decline.
Coremetrics, a web analytics company in San Mateo, Calif., said that as of 1 p.m. Monday, sales for the day that the industry still pitches as "Cyber Monday" were up 19.6 percent over a year ago.
The bright spot offers hope after traditional retail sales came in just above flat for Black Friday, with shoppers packing stores but sticking to their lists, going for deep discounts and practical items.
Investors rewarded online-only sellers Monday above their traditional brethren. Amazon.com shares rose $2.81, or 2.1 percent, to $134.55 on a day when stocks of most land-based retailers fell as Wall Street analyzed the sea of data and anecdotal reports from the weekend.
Deeply discounted electronics such as flat-screen TVs, game systems and netbooks were popular, but more practical items such as appliances and home decor were also big sellers, as consumers took advantage of sales to buy things for themselves.
Many shoppers started looking for online deals ahead of what the industry still pitches as "Cyber Monday," as retailers stretched their online deals over several days.
Target, Walmart, Amazon.com and other retailers started offering the online equivalent of Black Friday specials on Thanksgiving or even earlier.
They stepped it up Monday. Amazon.com was discounting the Apple iPod Touch 8GB for $158, $20 less than Sunday and $40 off the retail price of about $200. Target.com offered a deal Monday for a Garmin GPS system for $186.99, down from $249.99. Free shipping was also prevalent.
Marshall Cohen, chief industry analyst at market research firm NPD Group, said this year saw the "graying of Black Friday," because deals that typically occurred only on the Friday after Thanksgiving have been spread out over two weeks.
"The holiday spread itself out," he said. "On Thanksgiving Day, there's a new tradition, shopping online before you stuff the turkey, putting the turkey in oven and going out shopping."
The Monday after Thanksgiving is usually far from the busiest online shopping day of the year, but it is typically one of the top 10 busiest. It was dubbed "Cyber Monday" by the National Retail Federation trade group in 2005 to describe the Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday.
The thinking was that shoppers who lacked broadband Internet access at home would wait until returning to work to look online. Now that most homes have broadband, that rationale has faded.
Analysts expect Dec. 14, the last day consumers can order goods and have them arrive before Christmas, will be the busiest online shopping day.
Keith Harris, 36, an IT consultant for Hewlett-Packard, went out Friday for in-store sales, but he waited until Monday to buy a Playstation 3 because Walmart.com offered it at the best price on Monday — in a bundle with two games and a movie, for $369.
"You're looking for that once-in-a-lifetime deal," he said.
Forrester Research analyst Sucharita Mulpuru predicts online holiday sales will rise 8 percent to $44.7 billion. So far, the weekend results are "strong reinforcement of how Web sales continue to outpace store sales," she said. Online sales account for about 7 percent of retailers' total sales, though that increases to about 10 percent during the holidays.
Scott Savitz, CEO of Shoebuy.com, one of the largest online shoe retailers, reported that traffic has been robust since Thanksgiving. He expects that Black Friday, not the Monday after Thanksgiving as it had in past years, will mark the first big surge in sales and traffic for his site.
"There is definitely a behavioral shift," said Savitz. "Clearly, people are seeing that Black Friday will be the start of the holiday season, no matter whether you are online or offline."
Savitz said the average transaction is up from 2 to 5 percent so far Monday compared with a year ago. He declined to give actual dollar figures.
Mark Vadon, chairman and founder of online jewelry retailer Bluenile.com, said the company is on track to have its Cyber Monday traffic ever.
It ran no promotions over the weekend, but offered some holiday exclusives Monday. As of 1 p.m., a diamond bracelet on sale for $3950 from $5300 was nearly sold out, Vadon said.
"If consumers see good value out there, it looks like they're willing to buy," he said.
Though the Web is only about 10 percent of the holiday shopping pie, it's seen most of the growth so far this year — an encouraging sign after last year's first online sales decline.
Coremetrics, a web analytics company in San Mateo, Calif., said that as of 1 p.m. Monday, sales for the day that the industry still pitches as "Cyber Monday" were up 19.6 percent over a year ago.
The bright spot offers hope after traditional retail sales came in just above flat for Black Friday, with shoppers packing stores but sticking to their lists, going for deep discounts and practical items.
Investors rewarded online-only sellers Monday above their traditional brethren. Amazon.com shares rose $2.81, or 2.1 percent, to $134.55 on a day when stocks of most land-based retailers fell as Wall Street analyzed the sea of data and anecdotal reports from the weekend.
Deeply discounted electronics such as flat-screen TVs, game systems and netbooks were popular, but more practical items such as appliances and home decor were also big sellers, as consumers took advantage of sales to buy things for themselves.
Many shoppers started looking for online deals ahead of what the industry still pitches as "Cyber Monday," as retailers stretched their online deals over several days.
Target, Walmart, Amazon.com and other retailers started offering the online equivalent of Black Friday specials on Thanksgiving or even earlier.
They stepped it up Monday. Amazon.com was discounting the Apple iPod Touch 8GB for $158, $20 less than Sunday and $40 off the retail price of about $200. Target.com offered a deal Monday for a Garmin GPS system for $186.99, down from $249.99. Free shipping was also prevalent.
Marshall Cohen, chief industry analyst at market research firm NPD Group, said this year saw the "graying of Black Friday," because deals that typically occurred only on the Friday after Thanksgiving have been spread out over two weeks.
"The holiday spread itself out," he said. "On Thanksgiving Day, there's a new tradition, shopping online before you stuff the turkey, putting the turkey in oven and going out shopping."
The Monday after Thanksgiving is usually far from the busiest online shopping day of the year, but it is typically one of the top 10 busiest. It was dubbed "Cyber Monday" by the National Retail Federation trade group in 2005 to describe the Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday.
The thinking was that shoppers who lacked broadband Internet access at home would wait until returning to work to look online. Now that most homes have broadband, that rationale has faded.
Analysts expect Dec. 14, the last day consumers can order goods and have them arrive before Christmas, will be the busiest online shopping day.
Keith Harris, 36, an IT consultant for Hewlett-Packard, went out Friday for in-store sales, but he waited until Monday to buy a Playstation 3 because Walmart.com offered it at the best price on Monday — in a bundle with two games and a movie, for $369.
"You're looking for that once-in-a-lifetime deal," he said.
Forrester Research analyst Sucharita Mulpuru predicts online holiday sales will rise 8 percent to $44.7 billion. So far, the weekend results are "strong reinforcement of how Web sales continue to outpace store sales," she said. Online sales account for about 7 percent of retailers' total sales, though that increases to about 10 percent during the holidays.
Scott Savitz, CEO of Shoebuy.com, one of the largest online shoe retailers, reported that traffic has been robust since Thanksgiving. He expects that Black Friday, not the Monday after Thanksgiving as it had in past years, will mark the first big surge in sales and traffic for his site.
"There is definitely a behavioral shift," said Savitz. "Clearly, people are seeing that Black Friday will be the start of the holiday season, no matter whether you are online or offline."
Savitz said the average transaction is up from 2 to 5 percent so far Monday compared with a year ago. He declined to give actual dollar figures.
Mark Vadon, chairman and founder of online jewelry retailer Bluenile.com, said the company is on track to have its Cyber Monday traffic ever.
It ran no promotions over the weekend, but offered some holiday exclusives Monday. As of 1 p.m., a diamond bracelet on sale for $3950 from $5300 was nearly sold out, Vadon said.
"If consumers see good value out there, it looks like they're willing to buy," he said.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Young Black Men Face A 35 PERCENT Unemployment Rate!!!!
These days, 24-year-old Delonta Spriggs spends much of his time cooped up in his mother's one-bedroom apartment in Southwest Washington, the TV blaring soap operas hour after hour, trying to stay out of the streets and out of trouble, held captive by the economy. As a young black man, Spriggs belongs to a group that has been hit much harder than any other by unemployment.
Joblessness for 16-to-24-year-old black men has reached Great Depression proportions -- 34.5 percent in October, more than three times the rate for the general U.S. population. And last Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that unemployment in the District, home to many young black men, rose to 11.9 percent from 11.4 percent, even as it stayed relatively stable in Virginia and Maryland.
His work history, Spriggs says, has consisted of dead-end jobs. About a year ago, he lost his job moving office furniture, and he hasn't been able to find steady work since. This summer he completed a construction apprenticeship program, he says, seeking a career so he could avoid repeating the mistake of selling drugs to support his 3-year-old daughter. So far the most the training program has yielded was a temporary flagger job that lasted a few days.
"I think we're labeled for not wanting to do nothing -- knuckleheads or hardheads," said Spriggs, whose first name is pronounced Dee-lon-tay. "But all of us ain't bad."
Construction, manufacturing and retail experienced the most severe job losses in this down economy, losses that are disproportionately affecting men and young people who populated those sectors. That is especially playing out in the District, where unemployment has risen despite the abundance of jobs in the federal government.
Traditionally the last hired and first fired, workers in Spriggs's age group have taken the brunt of the difficult economy, with cost-conscious employers wiping out the very apprenticeship, internship and on-the-job-training programs that for generations gave young people a leg up in the work world or a second chance when they made mistakes. Moreover, this generation is being elbowed out of entry-level positions by older, more experienced job seekers on the unemployment rolls who willingly trade down just to put food on the table.
The jobless rate for young black men and women is 30.5 percent. For young blacks -- who experts say are more likely to grow up in impoverished racially isolated neighborhoods, attend subpar public schools and experience discrimination -- race statistically appears to be a bigger factor in their unemployment than age, income or even education. Lower-income white teens were more likely to find work than upper-income black teens, according to the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University, and even blacks who graduate from college suffer from joblessness at twice the rate of their white peers.
Young black women have an unemployment rate of 26.5 percent, while the rate for all 16-to-24-year-old women is 15.4 percent.
Victoria Kirby, 22, has been among that number. In the summer of 2008, a D.C. publishing company where Kirby was interning offered her a job that would start upon her graduation in May 2009 from Howard University. But the company withdrew the offer in the fall of 2008 when the economy collapsed.
Kirby said she applied for administrative jobs on Capitol Hill but was told she was overqualified. She sought a teaching position in the D.C. public schools through the Teach for America program but said she was rejected because of a flood of four times the usual number of applicants.
Finally, she went back to school, enrolling in a master's of public policy program at Howard. "I decided to stay in school two more years and wait out the recession," Kirby said.
On a tightrope
The Obama administration is on a tightrope, balancing the desire to spend billions more dollars to create jobs without adding to the $1.4 trillion national deficit. Yet some policy experts say more attention needs to be paid to the intractable problems of underemployed workers -- those who like Spriggs may lack a high school diploma, a steady work history, job-readiness skills or a squeaky-clean background.
"Increased involvement in the underground economy, criminal activity, increased poverty, homelessness and teen pregnancy are the things I worry about if we continue to see more years of high unemployment," said Algernon Austin, a sociologist and director of the race, ethnicity and economy program at the Economic Policy Institute, which studies issues involving low- and middle-income wage earners.
Earlier this month, District officials said they will use $3.9 million in federal stimulus funds to provide 19 weeks of on-the-job training to 500 18-to-24-year-olds. But even those who receive training often don't get jobs.
"I thought after I finished the [training] program, I'd be working. I only had three jobs with the union and only one of them was longer than a week," Spriggs, a tall slender man wearing a black Nationals cap, said one afternoon while sitting at the table in the living room/dining room in his mother's apartment. "It has you wanting to go out and find other ways to make money. . . . [Lack of jobs is why] people go out hustling and doing what they can to get by."
"Give me a chance to show that I can work. Just give me a chance," added Spriggs, who is on probation for drug possession. "I don't want to think negative. I know the economy is slow. You got to crawl before you walk. I got to be patient. My biggest problem [which prompted the effort to sell drugs] is not being patient."
The economy's seismic shift has been an equal-opportunity offender, hurting various racial and ethnic groups, economic classes, ages, and white- and blue-collar job categories. Nevertheless, 16-to-24-year-olds face heavier losses, with a 19.1 percent unemployment rate, about nine points higher than the national average for the general population.
Their rate of employment in October was 44.9 percent, the lowest level in 61 years of record keeping, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employment for men in their 20s and early 30s is at its lowest level since the Great Depression, according to the Center for Labor Market Studies.
Troubling consequences
Unemployment among young people is particularly troubling, economists say, because the consequences can be long-lasting. This might be the first generation that does not keep up with its parents' standard of living. Jobless teens are more likely to be jobless twenty-somethings. Once forced onto the sidelines, they likely will not catch up financially for many years. That is the case even for young people of all ethnic groups who graduate from college.
Lisa B. Kahn, an economics professor at Yale University who studied graduates during recessions in the 1980s, determined that the young workers hired during a down economy generally start off with lower wages than they otherwise would have and don't recover for at least a decade.
"In your first job, you're accumulating skills on how to do the job, learning by doing and getting training. If you graduate in a recession, you're in a [lesser] job, wasting your time," she said. "Once you switch into the job you should be in, you don't have the skills for that job."
Some studies examining how employers review black and white job applicants suggest that discrimination may be at play.
"Black men were less likely to receive a call back or job offer than equally qualified white men," said Devah Pager, a sociology professor at Princeton University, referring to her studies a few years ago of white and black male job applicants in their 20s in Milwaukee and New York. "Black men with a clean record fare no better than white men just released from prison."
Joblessness for 16-to-24-year-old black men has reached Great Depression proportions -- 34.5 percent in October, more than three times the rate for the general U.S. population. And last Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that unemployment in the District, home to many young black men, rose to 11.9 percent from 11.4 percent, even as it stayed relatively stable in Virginia and Maryland.
His work history, Spriggs says, has consisted of dead-end jobs. About a year ago, he lost his job moving office furniture, and he hasn't been able to find steady work since. This summer he completed a construction apprenticeship program, he says, seeking a career so he could avoid repeating the mistake of selling drugs to support his 3-year-old daughter. So far the most the training program has yielded was a temporary flagger job that lasted a few days.
"I think we're labeled for not wanting to do nothing -- knuckleheads or hardheads," said Spriggs, whose first name is pronounced Dee-lon-tay. "But all of us ain't bad."
Construction, manufacturing and retail experienced the most severe job losses in this down economy, losses that are disproportionately affecting men and young people who populated those sectors. That is especially playing out in the District, where unemployment has risen despite the abundance of jobs in the federal government.
Traditionally the last hired and first fired, workers in Spriggs's age group have taken the brunt of the difficult economy, with cost-conscious employers wiping out the very apprenticeship, internship and on-the-job-training programs that for generations gave young people a leg up in the work world or a second chance when they made mistakes. Moreover, this generation is being elbowed out of entry-level positions by older, more experienced job seekers on the unemployment rolls who willingly trade down just to put food on the table.
The jobless rate for young black men and women is 30.5 percent. For young blacks -- who experts say are more likely to grow up in impoverished racially isolated neighborhoods, attend subpar public schools and experience discrimination -- race statistically appears to be a bigger factor in their unemployment than age, income or even education. Lower-income white teens were more likely to find work than upper-income black teens, according to the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University, and even blacks who graduate from college suffer from joblessness at twice the rate of their white peers.
Young black women have an unemployment rate of 26.5 percent, while the rate for all 16-to-24-year-old women is 15.4 percent.
Victoria Kirby, 22, has been among that number. In the summer of 2008, a D.C. publishing company where Kirby was interning offered her a job that would start upon her graduation in May 2009 from Howard University. But the company withdrew the offer in the fall of 2008 when the economy collapsed.
Kirby said she applied for administrative jobs on Capitol Hill but was told she was overqualified. She sought a teaching position in the D.C. public schools through the Teach for America program but said she was rejected because of a flood of four times the usual number of applicants.
Finally, she went back to school, enrolling in a master's of public policy program at Howard. "I decided to stay in school two more years and wait out the recession," Kirby said.
On a tightrope
The Obama administration is on a tightrope, balancing the desire to spend billions more dollars to create jobs without adding to the $1.4 trillion national deficit. Yet some policy experts say more attention needs to be paid to the intractable problems of underemployed workers -- those who like Spriggs may lack a high school diploma, a steady work history, job-readiness skills or a squeaky-clean background.
"Increased involvement in the underground economy, criminal activity, increased poverty, homelessness and teen pregnancy are the things I worry about if we continue to see more years of high unemployment," said Algernon Austin, a sociologist and director of the race, ethnicity and economy program at the Economic Policy Institute, which studies issues involving low- and middle-income wage earners.
Earlier this month, District officials said they will use $3.9 million in federal stimulus funds to provide 19 weeks of on-the-job training to 500 18-to-24-year-olds. But even those who receive training often don't get jobs.
"I thought after I finished the [training] program, I'd be working. I only had three jobs with the union and only one of them was longer than a week," Spriggs, a tall slender man wearing a black Nationals cap, said one afternoon while sitting at the table in the living room/dining room in his mother's apartment. "It has you wanting to go out and find other ways to make money. . . . [Lack of jobs is why] people go out hustling and doing what they can to get by."
"Give me a chance to show that I can work. Just give me a chance," added Spriggs, who is on probation for drug possession. "I don't want to think negative. I know the economy is slow. You got to crawl before you walk. I got to be patient. My biggest problem [which prompted the effort to sell drugs] is not being patient."
The economy's seismic shift has been an equal-opportunity offender, hurting various racial and ethnic groups, economic classes, ages, and white- and blue-collar job categories. Nevertheless, 16-to-24-year-olds face heavier losses, with a 19.1 percent unemployment rate, about nine points higher than the national average for the general population.
Their rate of employment in October was 44.9 percent, the lowest level in 61 years of record keeping, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employment for men in their 20s and early 30s is at its lowest level since the Great Depression, according to the Center for Labor Market Studies.
Troubling consequences
Unemployment among young people is particularly troubling, economists say, because the consequences can be long-lasting. This might be the first generation that does not keep up with its parents' standard of living. Jobless teens are more likely to be jobless twenty-somethings. Once forced onto the sidelines, they likely will not catch up financially for many years. That is the case even for young people of all ethnic groups who graduate from college.
Lisa B. Kahn, an economics professor at Yale University who studied graduates during recessions in the 1980s, determined that the young workers hired during a down economy generally start off with lower wages than they otherwise would have and don't recover for at least a decade.
"In your first job, you're accumulating skills on how to do the job, learning by doing and getting training. If you graduate in a recession, you're in a [lesser] job, wasting your time," she said. "Once you switch into the job you should be in, you don't have the skills for that job."
Some studies examining how employers review black and white job applicants suggest that discrimination may be at play.
"Black men were less likely to receive a call back or job offer than equally qualified white men," said Devah Pager, a sociology professor at Princeton University, referring to her studies a few years ago of white and black male job applicants in their 20s in Milwaukee and New York. "Black men with a clean record fare no better than white men just released from prison."
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
REPORT: HIV Cases In The Caribbean Rise To PANDEMIC LEVELS . . . Driven By Inequality!!!
The HIV pandemic in Latin America and the Caribbean is fuelled by a range of social and economic inequalities exacerbated by high levels of stigma, discrimination of highly vulnerable groups, and persistent gender inequality and homophobia, says a new report issued in Lima, Peru by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). It is released on the occasion of World AIDS Day 2009.
"Despite efforts to reduce the impact on HIV in the region, many of these factors have not been adequately addressed," says the report. "Most countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are affected by social and economic inequality which creates a growing gap in health conditions between those who can afford medical services and have access to higher education and those who live in precarious conditions with little or no medical services and limited access to education and prevention information," it adds.
The report mentions that even if many countries in the region can be considered as having "low level" epidemics among the general population, prevalence rates among highly vulnerable communities such as men who have sex with men; prisoners; sex workers, and injecting drug users are typically very high, going over 5 per cent.
It also names other most at risk population such as vulnerable young people, migrants and displaced people.
"Understanding the local specificities of the HIV pandemic is key to success in reducing the scale of HIV transmission. It is vital to work directly with most at risk populations to try to prevent further infections, employing a range of approaches such as peer education and behaviour change communication," explains Julie Hoare, the IFRC's health and social services coordinator for the Americas. "Addressing vulnerability by advocating on behalf of the most vulnerable communities confronted with the threat of HIV, improving access to services and reducing stigma and discrimination are equally important."
The IFRC report provides several examples of HIV programmes that have been adapted by Red Cross societies to focus on the needs of minority groups like indigenous people in Colombia, Guatemala and Ecuador as well as young people in countries such as Haiti, Jamaica and Argentina.
The document also highlights the necessity for the international community not to lower but rather "increase its level of funding" for HIV, also reminding that addressing HIV and AIDS requires long-term sustainable action.
"Even though this report focuses on just one region, many of the trends identified are actually also relevant in other parts of the world, including in Africa which remains by far the most affected continent," concludes Getachew Gizaw, acting head of the IFRC's global programme on HIV.
In 2008, Red Cross and Red Crescent societies throughout the world reached more than 27.4 million people, including 132,500 people living with HIV and 128,200 children orphaned by AIDS, through prevention messages and direct psychosocial support. The aim by 2010 is to double Red Cross Red Crescent programming in targeted communities.
"Despite efforts to reduce the impact on HIV in the region, many of these factors have not been adequately addressed," says the report. "Most countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are affected by social and economic inequality which creates a growing gap in health conditions between those who can afford medical services and have access to higher education and those who live in precarious conditions with little or no medical services and limited access to education and prevention information," it adds.
The report mentions that even if many countries in the region can be considered as having "low level" epidemics among the general population, prevalence rates among highly vulnerable communities such as men who have sex with men; prisoners; sex workers, and injecting drug users are typically very high, going over 5 per cent.
It also names other most at risk population such as vulnerable young people, migrants and displaced people.
"Understanding the local specificities of the HIV pandemic is key to success in reducing the scale of HIV transmission. It is vital to work directly with most at risk populations to try to prevent further infections, employing a range of approaches such as peer education and behaviour change communication," explains Julie Hoare, the IFRC's health and social services coordinator for the Americas. "Addressing vulnerability by advocating on behalf of the most vulnerable communities confronted with the threat of HIV, improving access to services and reducing stigma and discrimination are equally important."
The IFRC report provides several examples of HIV programmes that have been adapted by Red Cross societies to focus on the needs of minority groups like indigenous people in Colombia, Guatemala and Ecuador as well as young people in countries such as Haiti, Jamaica and Argentina.
The document also highlights the necessity for the international community not to lower but rather "increase its level of funding" for HIV, also reminding that addressing HIV and AIDS requires long-term sustainable action.
"Even though this report focuses on just one region, many of the trends identified are actually also relevant in other parts of the world, including in Africa which remains by far the most affected continent," concludes Getachew Gizaw, acting head of the IFRC's global programme on HIV.
In 2008, Red Cross and Red Crescent societies throughout the world reached more than 27.4 million people, including 132,500 people living with HIV and 128,200 children orphaned by AIDS, through prevention messages and direct psychosocial support. The aim by 2010 is to double Red Cross Red Crescent programming in targeted communities.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
REPORT: Blacks And Latinos At Getting Their Homes FORECLOSED ON At A HIGHER RATE Foreclosure!!!!
Blacks and Latinos - especially those living in major cities - are at a higher risk of defaulting on their mortgages or having their homes foreclosed, according to a recent study.
The White Paper, authored by UCLA professor Raul Hinojosa and released by the William C. Velasquez Institute, looks at how the home ownership crisis is impacting blacks and Latinos. It focuses on major cities nationwide that have been hit hardest by rising foreclosures and unemployment, such as Los Angeles.
"The meat and potatoes of this study is we are about to face wave two of this tsunami of foreclosures," Hinojosa said. "And it's going to hit hardest among minorities - blacks and Latinos - in a perfect storm of decreasing employment, decreasing property values, as well as the resetting of high-priced mortgages."
According to the study, blacks and Latinos in the Los Angeles area were about three times more likely to hold high-priced mortgages than whites - and half of all home loans sold to blacks and Latinos were considered "high-priced."
Furthermore, blacks and Latinos in several major cities across the nation - including California - held more than double the amount of high-risk loans compared to whites from 2006 to 2007.
Experts say the reason behind the increased risk is simple: Latinos and blacks were more vulnerable to predatory lending practices during the housing boom in the early to mid-2000s.
And now it's catching up with them.
Advertisement
"It was too good to be true. The heyday of real estate - 2004, 2005 to 2007 - they were just giving money away," said Chris Vigil, a broker and appraiser in the Whittier area. "Anyone with a pulse could get a loan."
As a result, many blacks and Latinos striving for the American dream received home loans, but under faulty qualifications, said Antonio Gonzalez, president of the Velasquez Institute, a think tank for Latino studies.
"It wasn't the concept that was bad, it was the implementation, the profiteering," Gonzalez said.
He referred to balloon payments, adjustable interest rates, sub-prime mortgages and zero-down-payment tactics used to prey on homebuyers who weren't ready to take on mortgages.
"No one expected that millions of Americans would fail on their loan payments simultaneously," Gonzalez said. "But they did, because of these ticking time bombs in the mortgage structures."
Glendora real estate broker Marty Rodriguez said she knows of at least one such case - a woman in Pomona who managed to get a loan despite the fact she hadn't worked in 10 years. Her husband is a gardener. Now that woman, a Latina, is losing her home.
"You can see when you look at the defaults - you can see by the name - there are a lot of Latino surnames," Rodriguez said.
Of course, home ownership wasn't always that easy. For decades, owning a home was the thing of dreams, Gonzalez said, until after World War II, when the government began providing subsidized home loans, essentially creating a middle class.
Still, homeowners were predominantly white. It wasn't until the last two decades or so that blacks and Latinos became serious homebuyers, Gonzalez said. And now that staple of the American dream is fading.
"We've always lagged behind whites in home ownership," Gonzalez said. "Now most of that progress made in the last 15 years has been wiped out."
Furthermore, rising unemployment coupled with already troubled housing markets puts "homeowners of color" at even more risk, said David Mason, a doctoral student in the Department of Urban Planning at UCLA and a research assistant on the study.
The latest figures show the nation's jobless rate was at 10.2 percent in October - the highest since early 1983. And in Los Angeles County, the unemployment rate shot up to 12.7 percent in September.
Rodriguez said turning the tide for black and Latino homebuyers is going to take a lot of education - "educating these people to live within their means and educating them not to be taken advantage of."
But it's also going to take policy change, Gonzalez said.
Right now, foreclosure aid is not available to a lot of blacks and Latinos because they are underwater in loans, lacking enough income or unemployed, he said.
"It's cherry picking in the sense that it's helping people that are in bad shape, but not helping the people who are in really bad shape," Hinojosa said.
Gonzalez and Hinojosa suggested allowing bankruptcy judges to restructure loans.
"(Barack) Obama's policy needs to be revamped so it's not cherry picking and not temporary," Gonzalez said.
The banks need to help out too, Curry said.
"The banks got bailed out, but they're not making any effort to help the people," she said. "The banks are not stepping up at all and somebody should make them."
The White Paper, authored by UCLA professor Raul Hinojosa and released by the William C. Velasquez Institute, looks at how the home ownership crisis is impacting blacks and Latinos. It focuses on major cities nationwide that have been hit hardest by rising foreclosures and unemployment, such as Los Angeles.
"The meat and potatoes of this study is we are about to face wave two of this tsunami of foreclosures," Hinojosa said. "And it's going to hit hardest among minorities - blacks and Latinos - in a perfect storm of decreasing employment, decreasing property values, as well as the resetting of high-priced mortgages."
According to the study, blacks and Latinos in the Los Angeles area were about three times more likely to hold high-priced mortgages than whites - and half of all home loans sold to blacks and Latinos were considered "high-priced."
Furthermore, blacks and Latinos in several major cities across the nation - including California - held more than double the amount of high-risk loans compared to whites from 2006 to 2007.
Experts say the reason behind the increased risk is simple: Latinos and blacks were more vulnerable to predatory lending practices during the housing boom in the early to mid-2000s.
And now it's catching up with them.
Advertisement
"It was too good to be true. The heyday of real estate - 2004, 2005 to 2007 - they were just giving money away," said Chris Vigil, a broker and appraiser in the Whittier area. "Anyone with a pulse could get a loan."
As a result, many blacks and Latinos striving for the American dream received home loans, but under faulty qualifications, said Antonio Gonzalez, president of the Velasquez Institute, a think tank for Latino studies.
"It wasn't the concept that was bad, it was the implementation, the profiteering," Gonzalez said.
He referred to balloon payments, adjustable interest rates, sub-prime mortgages and zero-down-payment tactics used to prey on homebuyers who weren't ready to take on mortgages.
"No one expected that millions of Americans would fail on their loan payments simultaneously," Gonzalez said. "But they did, because of these ticking time bombs in the mortgage structures."
Glendora real estate broker Marty Rodriguez said she knows of at least one such case - a woman in Pomona who managed to get a loan despite the fact she hadn't worked in 10 years. Her husband is a gardener. Now that woman, a Latina, is losing her home.
"You can see when you look at the defaults - you can see by the name - there are a lot of Latino surnames," Rodriguez said.
Of course, home ownership wasn't always that easy. For decades, owning a home was the thing of dreams, Gonzalez said, until after World War II, when the government began providing subsidized home loans, essentially creating a middle class.
Still, homeowners were predominantly white. It wasn't until the last two decades or so that blacks and Latinos became serious homebuyers, Gonzalez said. And now that staple of the American dream is fading.
"We've always lagged behind whites in home ownership," Gonzalez said. "Now most of that progress made in the last 15 years has been wiped out."
Furthermore, rising unemployment coupled with already troubled housing markets puts "homeowners of color" at even more risk, said David Mason, a doctoral student in the Department of Urban Planning at UCLA and a research assistant on the study.
The latest figures show the nation's jobless rate was at 10.2 percent in October - the highest since early 1983. And in Los Angeles County, the unemployment rate shot up to 12.7 percent in September.
Rodriguez said turning the tide for black and Latino homebuyers is going to take a lot of education - "educating these people to live within their means and educating them not to be taken advantage of."
But it's also going to take policy change, Gonzalez said.
Right now, foreclosure aid is not available to a lot of blacks and Latinos because they are underwater in loans, lacking enough income or unemployed, he said.
"It's cherry picking in the sense that it's helping people that are in bad shape, but not helping the people who are in really bad shape," Hinojosa said.
Gonzalez and Hinojosa suggested allowing bankruptcy judges to restructure loans.
"(Barack) Obama's policy needs to be revamped so it's not cherry picking and not temporary," Gonzalez said.
The banks need to help out too, Curry said.
"The banks got bailed out, but they're not making any effort to help the people," she said. "The banks are not stepping up at all and somebody should make them."
WTF????? Every Member Of Congress Under Investigation Is AFRICAN-AMERICAN!!!!
The House ethics committee is currently investigating seven African-American lawmakers — more than 15 percent of the total in the House. And an eighth black member, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.), would be under investigation if the Justice Department hadn’t asked the committee to stand down.
Not a single white lawmaker is currently the subject of a full-scale ethics committee probe.
The ethics committee declined to respond to questions about the racial disparity, and members of the Congressional Black Caucus are wary of talking about it on the record. But privately, some black members are outraged — and see in the numbers a worrisome trend in the actions of ethics watchdogs on and off Capitol Hill.
“Is there concern whether someone is trying to set up [Congressional Black Caucus] members? Yeah, there is,” a black House Democrat said. “It looks as if there is somebody out there who understands what the rules [are] and sends names to the ethics committee with the goal of going after the [CBC].”
African-American politicians have long complained that they’re treated unfairly when ethical issues arise. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus are still fuming over Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to oust then-Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) from the House Ways and Means Committee in 2006, and some have argued that race plays a role in the ongoing efforts to remove Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) from his chairmanship of that committee.
Last week’s actions by the House ethics committee are sure to add fuel to the fire.
The committee — which has one African-American lawmaker, Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), among its 10 members — on Thursday considered three referrals from the recently formed Office of Congressional Ethics. It dismissed a case against Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), who is white, but agreed to open full-blown investigations of California Democratic Reps. Maxine Waters and Laura Richardson, both of whom are black.
The committee was already investigating five other African-Americans. Rangel is the subject of two different probes, one involving a host of issues he has put before the committee and another involving allegations that corporate funds may have been used improperly to pay for members’ trips to the Caribbean in 2007-08. Reps. Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-Mich.), Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Donald Payne (D-N.J.) and Del. Donna Christensen (D-U.S. Virgin Islands) are also included in the second of those investigations.
A document leaked to The Washington Post last week showed that nearly three dozen lawmakers have come under scrutiny this year by either the House ethics committee or the Office of Congressional Ethics, an independent watchdog created in 2008 at the insistence of Pelosi. While the list contained a substantial number of white lawmakers, the ethics committee has not yet launched formal investigative subcommittees with respect to any of them — as it has with the seven African-American members.
The OCE has also been a particular target of ire for the Congressional Black Caucus. Black lawmakers, including CBC Chairwoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), met with OCE officials earlier this year to raise their concerns. Spokesmen for Lee and the OCE both declined to comment.
A number of CBC members opposed the resolution establishing the OCE, arguing that it was the wrong response to the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, which helped Democrats seize control of the House in 2006.
Setting up the OCE “was a mistake,” Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) told The Hill newspaper recently. “Congress has a long and rich history of overreacting to a crisis.”
Cleaver, though, now finds himself part of the four-member subcommittee that will investigate Waters, who voted against the OCE. Waters is being probed over her intervention with the Treasury Department on behalf of a minority-owned bank in which her husband served on the board and owned at least $250,000 in stock.
While she has flatly denied engaging in any unethical or improper behavior in her dealings with OneUnited, Waters was described by colleagues and Democratic aides as “livid” over the ethics committee’s decision to investigate her.
“She was hopping mad,” a Democratic lawmaker said of Waters. “She feels this is a complete miscarriage of justice.”
Another CBC member said black lawmakers are “easy targets” for ethics watchdog groups because they have less money — both personally and in their campaign accounts — to defend themselves than do their white colleagues. Campaign funds can be used to pay members’ legal bills.
“A lot of that has to do with outside watchdog groups like [Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington] that have to have a level of success to justify OCE,” the CBC member said. The good-government groups were strong backers of the OCE’s creation.
But these same groups won’t go after Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), this lawmaker claimed, “because she has plenty of money to defend herself,” and the outside groups don’t want to take a risk. The Democrat said the ethics committee would be going up against Harman’s lawyers and “going up against” the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee if they push the OCE to pressure the ethics committee to act.
In fact, CREW filed a complaint against Harman with the OCE.
Harman was allegedly recorded on a 2005 federal wiretap discussing with an Israeli operative her bid to become Intelligence Committee chairwoman. Harman has denied any wrongdoing, but an attempt by the ethics committee to get a transcript of the taped call was rebuffed by the Justice Department.
What especially galled black lawmakers was that the ethics committee voted to move forward with the Waters and Richardson probes following the OCE referrals, while Graves — who OCE also thought should be investigated by the ethics committee — saw his case dismissed.
Even worse, the ethics committee issued a 541-page document explaining why it wouldn’t look into allegations that Graves invited a witness to testify before the Small Business Committee — on which he sits — without revealing his financial ties to that witness.
“It is kind of crazy,” said an aide to one senior black Democrat. “How can it be that the ethics committee only investigates African-Americans? It doesn’t make sense.”
White lawmakers have certainly been the subject of ethics committee investigations before. Former Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) was admonished by the committee for his dealings with corporate lobbyists, while ex-Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) was the target of an investigation over his dealings with teenage male House pages in late 2006. Foley resigned after the sex scandal was revealed.
And the document leaked to the Post last week shows that a number of white lawmakers — including senior House Appropriations Committee members John Murtha (D-Pa.), Pete Visclosky (D-Ind.), Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.) and Jim Moran (D-Va.) — have drawn the attention of the committee and the OCE.
The two congressional ethics watchdogs are looking into these members’ ties to the PMA Group, a now-defunct lobbying firm that won tens of millions of dollars in earmarks from members of the Appropriations Committee. The lawmakers who arranged for the earmarks received hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from PMA’s lobbying clients.
But it seems unlikely that the PMA case will become the subject of a full-blown ethics committee investigation. The Justice Department is also looking into the PMA allegations; the FBI raided PMA’s office last year, and Visclosky and his former chief of staff have been served with document subpoenas. And under ethics committee rules, the panel cannot conduct an investigation of any member or staffer already being probed by a law enforcement agency.
The nation’s only black senator, Roland Burris of Illinois, is currently under investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee. It’s not clear whether that committee is currently investigating any white members, although Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) is likely to be in its sights if the Justice Department doesn’t pre-empt a committee investigation.
Not a single white lawmaker is currently the subject of a full-scale ethics committee probe.
The ethics committee declined to respond to questions about the racial disparity, and members of the Congressional Black Caucus are wary of talking about it on the record. But privately, some black members are outraged — and see in the numbers a worrisome trend in the actions of ethics watchdogs on and off Capitol Hill.
“Is there concern whether someone is trying to set up [Congressional Black Caucus] members? Yeah, there is,” a black House Democrat said. “It looks as if there is somebody out there who understands what the rules [are] and sends names to the ethics committee with the goal of going after the [CBC].”
African-American politicians have long complained that they’re treated unfairly when ethical issues arise. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus are still fuming over Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to oust then-Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) from the House Ways and Means Committee in 2006, and some have argued that race plays a role in the ongoing efforts to remove Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) from his chairmanship of that committee.
Last week’s actions by the House ethics committee are sure to add fuel to the fire.
The committee — which has one African-American lawmaker, Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), among its 10 members — on Thursday considered three referrals from the recently formed Office of Congressional Ethics. It dismissed a case against Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), who is white, but agreed to open full-blown investigations of California Democratic Reps. Maxine Waters and Laura Richardson, both of whom are black.
The committee was already investigating five other African-Americans. Rangel is the subject of two different probes, one involving a host of issues he has put before the committee and another involving allegations that corporate funds may have been used improperly to pay for members’ trips to the Caribbean in 2007-08. Reps. Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-Mich.), Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Donald Payne (D-N.J.) and Del. Donna Christensen (D-U.S. Virgin Islands) are also included in the second of those investigations.
A document leaked to The Washington Post last week showed that nearly three dozen lawmakers have come under scrutiny this year by either the House ethics committee or the Office of Congressional Ethics, an independent watchdog created in 2008 at the insistence of Pelosi. While the list contained a substantial number of white lawmakers, the ethics committee has not yet launched formal investigative subcommittees with respect to any of them — as it has with the seven African-American members.
The OCE has also been a particular target of ire for the Congressional Black Caucus. Black lawmakers, including CBC Chairwoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), met with OCE officials earlier this year to raise their concerns. Spokesmen for Lee and the OCE both declined to comment.
A number of CBC members opposed the resolution establishing the OCE, arguing that it was the wrong response to the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, which helped Democrats seize control of the House in 2006.
Setting up the OCE “was a mistake,” Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) told The Hill newspaper recently. “Congress has a long and rich history of overreacting to a crisis.”
Cleaver, though, now finds himself part of the four-member subcommittee that will investigate Waters, who voted against the OCE. Waters is being probed over her intervention with the Treasury Department on behalf of a minority-owned bank in which her husband served on the board and owned at least $250,000 in stock.
While she has flatly denied engaging in any unethical or improper behavior in her dealings with OneUnited, Waters was described by colleagues and Democratic aides as “livid” over the ethics committee’s decision to investigate her.
“She was hopping mad,” a Democratic lawmaker said of Waters. “She feels this is a complete miscarriage of justice.”
Another CBC member said black lawmakers are “easy targets” for ethics watchdog groups because they have less money — both personally and in their campaign accounts — to defend themselves than do their white colleagues. Campaign funds can be used to pay members’ legal bills.
“A lot of that has to do with outside watchdog groups like [Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington] that have to have a level of success to justify OCE,” the CBC member said. The good-government groups were strong backers of the OCE’s creation.
But these same groups won’t go after Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), this lawmaker claimed, “because she has plenty of money to defend herself,” and the outside groups don’t want to take a risk. The Democrat said the ethics committee would be going up against Harman’s lawyers and “going up against” the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee if they push the OCE to pressure the ethics committee to act.
In fact, CREW filed a complaint against Harman with the OCE.
Harman was allegedly recorded on a 2005 federal wiretap discussing with an Israeli operative her bid to become Intelligence Committee chairwoman. Harman has denied any wrongdoing, but an attempt by the ethics committee to get a transcript of the taped call was rebuffed by the Justice Department.
What especially galled black lawmakers was that the ethics committee voted to move forward with the Waters and Richardson probes following the OCE referrals, while Graves — who OCE also thought should be investigated by the ethics committee — saw his case dismissed.
Even worse, the ethics committee issued a 541-page document explaining why it wouldn’t look into allegations that Graves invited a witness to testify before the Small Business Committee — on which he sits — without revealing his financial ties to that witness.
“It is kind of crazy,” said an aide to one senior black Democrat. “How can it be that the ethics committee only investigates African-Americans? It doesn’t make sense.”
White lawmakers have certainly been the subject of ethics committee investigations before. Former Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) was admonished by the committee for his dealings with corporate lobbyists, while ex-Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) was the target of an investigation over his dealings with teenage male House pages in late 2006. Foley resigned after the sex scandal was revealed.
And the document leaked to the Post last week shows that a number of white lawmakers — including senior House Appropriations Committee members John Murtha (D-Pa.), Pete Visclosky (D-Ind.), Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.) and Jim Moran (D-Va.) — have drawn the attention of the committee and the OCE.
The two congressional ethics watchdogs are looking into these members’ ties to the PMA Group, a now-defunct lobbying firm that won tens of millions of dollars in earmarks from members of the Appropriations Committee. The lawmakers who arranged for the earmarks received hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from PMA’s lobbying clients.
But it seems unlikely that the PMA case will become the subject of a full-blown ethics committee investigation. The Justice Department is also looking into the PMA allegations; the FBI raided PMA’s office last year, and Visclosky and his former chief of staff have been served with document subpoenas. And under ethics committee rules, the panel cannot conduct an investigation of any member or staffer already being probed by a law enforcement agency.
The nation’s only black senator, Roland Burris of Illinois, is currently under investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee. It’s not clear whether that committee is currently investigating any white members, although Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) is likely to be in its sights if the Justice Department doesn’t pre-empt a committee investigation.
The National URBAN LEAGUE To Offer Small Business Loans To Minority Businesses!!!!
The National Urban League is teaming with a small-business financial specialist to offer loans to companies unable to get approved by banks.
On Deck Capital will provide loans through Urban League local affiliates, starting in Philadelphia and Los Angeles and then expanding across the country, it was announced Wednesday.
The program offers one-year loans ranging from $5,000 to $100,000 at interest rates of 18 to 36 percent. All the loans must be repaid through automatic daily "micro-payments" from the business' bank accounts.
The program will focus on urban areas with high concentrations of minority businesses and help create new jobs there, said Patricia A. Coulter, president and CEO of the Urban League of Philadelphia.
"In today's really tight market, credit has dried up, banks are not lending," she said. "It's even more critical for small and minority businesses to have access to capital."
To qualify, businesses should generally have between $500,000 and $2 million in annual revenue and have been operating for at least three years, said On Deck founder and CEO Mitch Jacobs.
Jacobs said that for small loans, banks rely on the business owner's personal credit score, which often has suffered because the owner has tapped every possible avenue to grow their company.
On Deck uses a proprietary technical system to examine other data about the business, such as customer transactions, online payments and other electronic banking records.
Jacobs acknowledged that banks offer better interest rates, but said they do not have the time or resources to deal with "micro-loans." On Deck has made about 1,000 loans totaling about $50 million since 2007, he said.
Their typical customers: "Restaurants, retailers, hair salons, pet shops, flower shops, doctors offices, dry cleaners," Jacobs said. "Really the broad spectrum of main street and off-main street businesses."
The loans will be offered through the Urban League's Entrepreneurship Centers, which are located in Atlanta; Cincinnati; Cleveland; Jacksonville, Fla.; Kansas City; New Orleans; Chicago; Los Angeles; and Philadelphia. There was no indication how much money is available for the loans.
On Deck Capital will provide loans through Urban League local affiliates, starting in Philadelphia and Los Angeles and then expanding across the country, it was announced Wednesday.
The program offers one-year loans ranging from $5,000 to $100,000 at interest rates of 18 to 36 percent. All the loans must be repaid through automatic daily "micro-payments" from the business' bank accounts.
The program will focus on urban areas with high concentrations of minority businesses and help create new jobs there, said Patricia A. Coulter, president and CEO of the Urban League of Philadelphia.
"In today's really tight market, credit has dried up, banks are not lending," she said. "It's even more critical for small and minority businesses to have access to capital."
To qualify, businesses should generally have between $500,000 and $2 million in annual revenue and have been operating for at least three years, said On Deck founder and CEO Mitch Jacobs.
Jacobs said that for small loans, banks rely on the business owner's personal credit score, which often has suffered because the owner has tapped every possible avenue to grow their company.
On Deck uses a proprietary technical system to examine other data about the business, such as customer transactions, online payments and other electronic banking records.
Jacobs acknowledged that banks offer better interest rates, but said they do not have the time or resources to deal with "micro-loans." On Deck has made about 1,000 loans totaling about $50 million since 2007, he said.
Their typical customers: "Restaurants, retailers, hair salons, pet shops, flower shops, doctors offices, dry cleaners," Jacobs said. "Really the broad spectrum of main street and off-main street businesses."
The loans will be offered through the Urban League's Entrepreneurship Centers, which are located in Atlanta; Cincinnati; Cleveland; Jacksonville, Fla.; Kansas City; New Orleans; Chicago; Los Angeles; and Philadelphia. There was no indication how much money is available for the loans.
REPORT: Black Women Are TWICE AS LIKELY To Suffer A LATE TERM MISCARRIAGE Than Other Women!!!!
African-American women are twice as likely to suffer a late-pregnancy loss as white women -- partly because of higher rates of pregnancy- and labor-related complications, a government study finds.Researchers at the U.S. National Institutes of Health found that among more than 5 million pregnancies in 2001 and 2002, black women were more likely than white or Hispanic women to have a stillbirth.
Among African Americans, 22 of every 1,000 pregnancies ended in a stillbirth. That compared with 10 and 10.5 per 1,000 among white and Hispanic women, respectively.
Health conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes and certain complications during pregnancy -- such as uterine bleeding and premature rupture of the sac surrounding the fetus -- explained a larger share of black women's stillbirth risk compared with white and Hispanic women.
The same was true of labor-related conditions, including problems with the placenta or umbilical cord.
Those disparities suggest that improvements in black women's health before and during early pregnancy could help erase some of the gap in stillbirth risk, the researchers report in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.
Stillbirth refers to fetal deaths that occur after the 20th week of pregnancy. Among the most common causes are birth defects, poor fetal growth and problems with the placenta -- such as placental abruption, where the placenta peels away from the wall of the uterus, leading to heavy bleeding.
Past studies have found that African-American women are at increased risk of stillbirth, and while the national rate of stillbirth has declined in the past 20 years, the racial gap has not narrowed.
These latest findings shed more light on the problem, according to the researchers, led by Dr. Marian Willinger of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
Using records on more than 5.1 million U.S. pregnancies, the researchers found that racial disparities in stillbirth risk were greatest in the 20th to 23rd week of pregnancy and smallest in the last few weeks.
Underlying medical conditions and pregnancy- and labor-related complications accounted for 30 percent of the risk among black women, compared with 20 percent among white and Hispanic women.
In contrast, birth defects and poor fetal growth were bigger factors in white women's stillbirth risk than they were for black women.
A "striking" finding, according to the researchers, is that the racial disparity was even more pronounced among more-educated women. That was because higher education (beyond high school) was linked to a 30 percent reduction in stillbirth risk among white women, while there was little evidence of benefit among black women.
Higher education -- often a marker of advantages like higher income and better healthcare -- is generally associated with better pregnancy outcomes. Exactly why better-educated black women failed to show a substantial decrease in stillbirth risk is unclear.
More research is needed, Willinger's team writes, to see whether biological mechanisms may be contributing to the racial disparity.
Among African Americans, 22 of every 1,000 pregnancies ended in a stillbirth. That compared with 10 and 10.5 per 1,000 among white and Hispanic women, respectively.
Health conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes and certain complications during pregnancy -- such as uterine bleeding and premature rupture of the sac surrounding the fetus -- explained a larger share of black women's stillbirth risk compared with white and Hispanic women.
The same was true of labor-related conditions, including problems with the placenta or umbilical cord.
Those disparities suggest that improvements in black women's health before and during early pregnancy could help erase some of the gap in stillbirth risk, the researchers report in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.
Stillbirth refers to fetal deaths that occur after the 20th week of pregnancy. Among the most common causes are birth defects, poor fetal growth and problems with the placenta -- such as placental abruption, where the placenta peels away from the wall of the uterus, leading to heavy bleeding.
Past studies have found that African-American women are at increased risk of stillbirth, and while the national rate of stillbirth has declined in the past 20 years, the racial gap has not narrowed.
These latest findings shed more light on the problem, according to the researchers, led by Dr. Marian Willinger of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
Using records on more than 5.1 million U.S. pregnancies, the researchers found that racial disparities in stillbirth risk were greatest in the 20th to 23rd week of pregnancy and smallest in the last few weeks.
Underlying medical conditions and pregnancy- and labor-related complications accounted for 30 percent of the risk among black women, compared with 20 percent among white and Hispanic women.
In contrast, birth defects and poor fetal growth were bigger factors in white women's stillbirth risk than they were for black women.
A "striking" finding, according to the researchers, is that the racial disparity was even more pronounced among more-educated women. That was because higher education (beyond high school) was linked to a 30 percent reduction in stillbirth risk among white women, while there was little evidence of benefit among black women.
Higher education -- often a marker of advantages like higher income and better healthcare -- is generally associated with better pregnancy outcomes. Exactly why better-educated black women failed to show a substantial decrease in stillbirth risk is unclear.
More research is needed, Willinger's team writes, to see whether biological mechanisms may be contributing to the racial disparity.
Michigan's BAN ON AFFIRMATIVE ACTION Set To Be CHALLENGED IN COURT!!!!
Michigan's ban on using affirmative action in college admissions heads back to court at 9 a.m. today.
At issue is the decision by Michigan voters in 2006 to make illegal policies like those at University of Michigan, where officials at the time could consider race in admissions decisions.
U-M argued that the policy helped build a diverse student body, but opponents countered that non-minority candidates were sometimes turned away to make room for less-qualified minority candidates.
Motions filed in the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, in Cincinnati, echo many of the same arguments lobbed before the 2006 vote as well as during an earlier appeal at the U.S. District Court, where a judge last year upheld the 2006 vote.
It may take weeks or even months for a decision by the three-judge panel of the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court in this case that attorneys on both sides say is bound for the U.S. Supreme Court.
Two of those judges were sitting on the court when it made its decision in 2002 to uphold affirmative action in admissions at U-M Law School, a decision later supported - albeit by a slim margin - by the U.S. Supreme Court.
At issue is the decision by Michigan voters in 2006 to make illegal policies like those at University of Michigan, where officials at the time could consider race in admissions decisions.
U-M argued that the policy helped build a diverse student body, but opponents countered that non-minority candidates were sometimes turned away to make room for less-qualified minority candidates.
Motions filed in the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, in Cincinnati, echo many of the same arguments lobbed before the 2006 vote as well as during an earlier appeal at the U.S. District Court, where a judge last year upheld the 2006 vote.
It may take weeks or even months for a decision by the three-judge panel of the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court in this case that attorneys on both sides say is bound for the U.S. Supreme Court.
Two of those judges were sitting on the court when it made its decision in 2002 to uphold affirmative action in admissions at U-M Law School, a decision later supported - albeit by a slim margin - by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Women Are Overtaking Men in the U.S.
The United States may have officially entered the age of woman.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, this fall, for the first time in U.S. history, women have surpassed men and now make up more than 50 percent of the nation's workforce. In 1967, by comparison, they accounted for just one-third of all workers.
Signs of the changing landscape in gender relations are just about everywhere you look:
• Double the number of single women are now purchasing homes in America than there are single men.
• Four out of every 10 women are are now their family's primary breadwinner, a sharp increase from past decades.
• The New Hampshire State Legislature is now made up of a majority of women, a first for a legislative body in the U.S., and the number of women in government continues to edge up nationwide.
• Women now account for 30 percent of math Ph.D.s, up from just 5 percent in the 1960s.
• On average, women read nine books every year. Men only read four, and women account for 80 percent of the U.S. fiction market.
• The World Bank recently estimated that the global earning power of women will reach an estimated $18 trillion by the year 2014, up $5 trillion today.
"Women really have become the dominant gender," said Guy Garcia, author of "The Decline of Men." "What concerns me is that guys are rapidly falling behind. Women are becoming better educated than men, earning more than men, and, generally speaking, not needing men at all. Meanwhile, as a group, men are losing their way."
That seems especially true during tough economic times. While the economy has shed millions of jobs during the recession of 2008 and 2009, men have been three times more likely to lose theirs than women, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Dr. Heidi Shierholz, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute, said that in the case of the recession, there really haven't been any winners in the labor force.
"As the economy improves, many of the blue-collar jobs that men hold are likely to return," Shierholz said. "But the longer-term picture is that we're seeing women continue to make relative gains in the workplace. That's not surprising when women are getting good educations and earning solid degrees."
In fact, a gender education gap, in which women are far outpacing men in terms of educational achievement, has been quietly growing in America over the past few decades. In 2009, for instance, women will earn more degrees in higher education than men in every possible category, from associate level to Ph.D.s, according to the U.S. Department of Education. When it comes to master's-level education, for instance, U.S. women earn 159 degrees for every 100 awarded to men.
"The big reason for the disparity is that women are going back to finish college or get new degrees and training," said Heather Boushey, senior economist at the Center for American Progress and one of the co-authors of The Shriver Report, which considers the implications of shifting gender roles.
"Girls today grow up in a post-feminist environment, being told they can do whatever they want in life," Boushey said. "But then they get out into the workplace and they find that they still make just 77 cents on the dollar compared with men."
That harsh realization, Boushey argued, helps account for why women have flocked to colleges at a time when the country finds itself shifting from a manufacturing-based economy to knowledge-based one.
"It's a huge shift," Boushey said, "when you think that a generation and a half ago our attitudes and expectations for what roles women and men could play in our society were entirely different than they are today."
As for the discrepancy in wages between men and women, that, too, may be soon be a thing of the past. A study of U.S. Census data conducted by Queens College sociologist Andrew Beveridge found that young women in New York and several other big American cities actually earn more than their male counterparts.
Garcia bemoaned what he sees as a "fragmentation of male identity," in which husbands are asked to take on unaccustomed familial roles such as child care and housework, while wives bring in the bigger paychecks.
"There was a division of labor, right or wrong, that men understood," Garcia said. "Now, the trade-offs are murky, and women often get stuck doing both jobs--taking care of kids and playing the primary breadwinner."
Boushey, on the other hand, thinks that now that both men and women are starting to share in the dual burdens of work and home responsibilities, we're more likely to find solutions that benefit both genders.
"It's about finding a mutually beneficial balance," Boushey said.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, this fall, for the first time in U.S. history, women have surpassed men and now make up more than 50 percent of the nation's workforce. In 1967, by comparison, they accounted for just one-third of all workers.
Signs of the changing landscape in gender relations are just about everywhere you look:
• Double the number of single women are now purchasing homes in America than there are single men.
• Four out of every 10 women are are now their family's primary breadwinner, a sharp increase from past decades.
• The New Hampshire State Legislature is now made up of a majority of women, a first for a legislative body in the U.S., and the number of women in government continues to edge up nationwide.
• Women now account for 30 percent of math Ph.D.s, up from just 5 percent in the 1960s.
• On average, women read nine books every year. Men only read four, and women account for 80 percent of the U.S. fiction market.
• The World Bank recently estimated that the global earning power of women will reach an estimated $18 trillion by the year 2014, up $5 trillion today.
"Women really have become the dominant gender," said Guy Garcia, author of "The Decline of Men." "What concerns me is that guys are rapidly falling behind. Women are becoming better educated than men, earning more than men, and, generally speaking, not needing men at all. Meanwhile, as a group, men are losing their way."
That seems especially true during tough economic times. While the economy has shed millions of jobs during the recession of 2008 and 2009, men have been three times more likely to lose theirs than women, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Dr. Heidi Shierholz, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute, said that in the case of the recession, there really haven't been any winners in the labor force.
"As the economy improves, many of the blue-collar jobs that men hold are likely to return," Shierholz said. "But the longer-term picture is that we're seeing women continue to make relative gains in the workplace. That's not surprising when women are getting good educations and earning solid degrees."
In fact, a gender education gap, in which women are far outpacing men in terms of educational achievement, has been quietly growing in America over the past few decades. In 2009, for instance, women will earn more degrees in higher education than men in every possible category, from associate level to Ph.D.s, according to the U.S. Department of Education. When it comes to master's-level education, for instance, U.S. women earn 159 degrees for every 100 awarded to men.
"The big reason for the disparity is that women are going back to finish college or get new degrees and training," said Heather Boushey, senior economist at the Center for American Progress and one of the co-authors of The Shriver Report, which considers the implications of shifting gender roles.
"Girls today grow up in a post-feminist environment, being told they can do whatever they want in life," Boushey said. "But then they get out into the workplace and they find that they still make just 77 cents on the dollar compared with men."
That harsh realization, Boushey argued, helps account for why women have flocked to colleges at a time when the country finds itself shifting from a manufacturing-based economy to knowledge-based one.
"It's a huge shift," Boushey said, "when you think that a generation and a half ago our attitudes and expectations for what roles women and men could play in our society were entirely different than they are today."
As for the discrepancy in wages between men and women, that, too, may be soon be a thing of the past. A study of U.S. Census data conducted by Queens College sociologist Andrew Beveridge found that young women in New York and several other big American cities actually earn more than their male counterparts.
Garcia bemoaned what he sees as a "fragmentation of male identity," in which husbands are asked to take on unaccustomed familial roles such as child care and housework, while wives bring in the bigger paychecks.
"There was a division of labor, right or wrong, that men understood," Garcia said. "Now, the trade-offs are murky, and women often get stuck doing both jobs--taking care of kids and playing the primary breadwinner."
Boushey, on the other hand, thinks that now that both men and women are starting to share in the dual burdens of work and home responsibilities, we're more likely to find solutions that benefit both genders.
"It's about finding a mutually beneficial balance," Boushey said.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Shit Is Real!!!Middle Class African Americans Are Hit DISPROPORTIONATELY HARD By The Recession!!!!
The robust job market of the 1990s eased the way for millions of African-Americans to join the middle class, and Barbara Mitchell was among them.
The South Side native landed a customer-service job with a telecommunications company, and for many years, she thrived, earning $51,000 at her peak. When her job was eliminated in a restructuring, she took a company transfer to a different, lower-paying position in Wisconsin to stay employed. Ultimately, the job was a poor fit, she said, and fearing termination, she opted for an early retirement.
Mitchell assumed she would be well-positioned for another customer-service post, but more than a year later, at age 57, she's living in a subsidized apartment on the Near West Side with no job, no medical insurance and almost no remaining retirement savings.
"I pray, I stay prayerful," said Mitchell, who is trying out for a part-time phone sales job this week. "The recession will never take me back to where I've been."
The cold fact, however, is that this deep recession is hitting African-Americans more severely than the overall population, due largely to the staggering levels of unemployment for this segment of the population.
When October unemployment data come out Friday, the nation's seasonally adjusted rate is expected to nudge upward, close to 10 percent. But among African-Americans, the jobless rate was 15.5 percent in September. In Illinois, the black unemployment rate was closer to 18.6 percent in the third quarter, according to estimates by the Economic Policy Institute.
For black teens nationwide, the rate was 40.8 percent in September.
The United States historically has seen higher unemployment rates for minorities, but the gap has widened in this recession, in part because of job losses in the manufacturing and auto sectors. And the jobless growth, coupled with the predatory lending that flourished in segregated neighborhoods during the real estate boom, have led to dramatic spikes in mortgage foreclosures, sending home values into a downward spiral. The bottom line: A silent depression for African-Americans.
"The untold story is that between unemployment, a significant drop in property values, the wave of foreclosures and a lack of credit, there is a whole generation of African-American wealth that is disappearing," said Jean Pogge, executive vice president of ShoreBank, which operates in many minority communities across the city and is under financial pressure itself due to loan losses.
"The traditional way Americans have acquired wealth and gotten into the middle class is through buying a home and building equity in that home," she said, "and a lot of that has been wiped out by the recession."
Robert Williams, a 38-year-old who made more than $50,000 a year training travel agents, is among those who have come perilously close to losing a home due to a layoff.
The South Shore condo owner had sought a modification of his mortgage terms earlier this year after his employer had cut salaries and hours. And then he was laid off altogether in May, derailing his mortgage negotiations with ShoreBank.
"I was preparing myself mentally that there was a 90 percent chance I'd lose my place ... and I'd be out searching for someplace to live," Williams said. "It stresses you out. You don't want to spend 50 cents on a pack of gum, it got to be that bad."
ShoreBank was able to get him a modified mortgage through the Obama administration program launched in March, reducing his monthly payment to $468 from the original $1,150.
The disparity in the unemployment rates for whites and blacks has grown since the recession started in the fourth quarter of 2007, according to a study by Algernon Austin, director of the Program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy at the Economic Policy Institute.
The national white rate increased by 3.8 percentage points, to 7.8 percent in the second quarter of this year, while the black rate rose by 6.1 percentage points, to 14.7 percent, the highest of any major racial or ethnic group.
African-American workers "have a relatively high representation in manufacturing and the auto industry, and those industries have been hit pretty hard," Austin said.
As well, "black workers tend to be younger and lower-ranked in organizations," he said. "And both factors make it more likely that when layoffs come, you're going to be laid off."
That factor also makes African-American workers more vulnerable to having their hours cut.
"I'm at the bottom so it's hard for me to get any days -- I have no seniority," said Chanel Hall, 22, a room attendant at a downtown convention hotel who has seen her shifts cut back as the travel business has slowed.
She expects to make about $20,000 this year, about two-thirds of what she would make if she had a full schedule. She recently took out a $400 high-interest payday loan so she could pay bills and the rent on her apartment in the Washington Park neighborhood on the South Side. And she's searching for a second job.
"I've had no call-backs," said Hall, who has been looking since September.
The landscape is so bleak that some laid-off workers are using this time as a sort of sabbatical, living off unemployment while they go back to school or into training programs.
Shawan McDonald, an unemployed machinist, is learning to program and run computerized milling and lathing equipment in a training program run by the Jane Addams Resource Corp.
"I hope by March that I will be able to work, that it will be a more stable situation and I will not be walking on eggshells," said McDonald, a 40-year-old Edgewater resident.
The climb to recovery may be a tougher one for African-Americans, particularly because unemployment is expected to continue rising into next year.
"If history is our judge, I think it will take longer," ShoreBank's Pogge said. "African-Americans tend to be the last hired, and there has been this incredible decline in property values in African-American communities that is going to take years to recover.
"People have decimated their savings just to survive, and that needs to be rebuilt. It's a pretty serious situation."
Barbara Mitchell, the unemployed customer-service employee, worked part of the past year as a hostess at a quick-serve restaurant in Wisconsin before moving back to Chicago to care for sick family members. Now she applies for three to four jobs a day, attends job fairs and networks with friends.
"I do believe it will get better, and if it doesn't, I will go to Ready Maid, any kind of day labor," she said over a cup of coffee at a Loop cafe. "I will go to any length to find employment."
The South Side native landed a customer-service job with a telecommunications company, and for many years, she thrived, earning $51,000 at her peak. When her job was eliminated in a restructuring, she took a company transfer to a different, lower-paying position in Wisconsin to stay employed. Ultimately, the job was a poor fit, she said, and fearing termination, she opted for an early retirement.
Mitchell assumed she would be well-positioned for another customer-service post, but more than a year later, at age 57, she's living in a subsidized apartment on the Near West Side with no job, no medical insurance and almost no remaining retirement savings.
"I pray, I stay prayerful," said Mitchell, who is trying out for a part-time phone sales job this week. "The recession will never take me back to where I've been."
The cold fact, however, is that this deep recession is hitting African-Americans more severely than the overall population, due largely to the staggering levels of unemployment for this segment of the population.
When October unemployment data come out Friday, the nation's seasonally adjusted rate is expected to nudge upward, close to 10 percent. But among African-Americans, the jobless rate was 15.5 percent in September. In Illinois, the black unemployment rate was closer to 18.6 percent in the third quarter, according to estimates by the Economic Policy Institute.
For black teens nationwide, the rate was 40.8 percent in September.
The United States historically has seen higher unemployment rates for minorities, but the gap has widened in this recession, in part because of job losses in the manufacturing and auto sectors. And the jobless growth, coupled with the predatory lending that flourished in segregated neighborhoods during the real estate boom, have led to dramatic spikes in mortgage foreclosures, sending home values into a downward spiral. The bottom line: A silent depression for African-Americans.
"The untold story is that between unemployment, a significant drop in property values, the wave of foreclosures and a lack of credit, there is a whole generation of African-American wealth that is disappearing," said Jean Pogge, executive vice president of ShoreBank, which operates in many minority communities across the city and is under financial pressure itself due to loan losses.
"The traditional way Americans have acquired wealth and gotten into the middle class is through buying a home and building equity in that home," she said, "and a lot of that has been wiped out by the recession."
Robert Williams, a 38-year-old who made more than $50,000 a year training travel agents, is among those who have come perilously close to losing a home due to a layoff.
The South Shore condo owner had sought a modification of his mortgage terms earlier this year after his employer had cut salaries and hours. And then he was laid off altogether in May, derailing his mortgage negotiations with ShoreBank.
"I was preparing myself mentally that there was a 90 percent chance I'd lose my place ... and I'd be out searching for someplace to live," Williams said. "It stresses you out. You don't want to spend 50 cents on a pack of gum, it got to be that bad."
ShoreBank was able to get him a modified mortgage through the Obama administration program launched in March, reducing his monthly payment to $468 from the original $1,150.
The disparity in the unemployment rates for whites and blacks has grown since the recession started in the fourth quarter of 2007, according to a study by Algernon Austin, director of the Program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy at the Economic Policy Institute.
The national white rate increased by 3.8 percentage points, to 7.8 percent in the second quarter of this year, while the black rate rose by 6.1 percentage points, to 14.7 percent, the highest of any major racial or ethnic group.
African-American workers "have a relatively high representation in manufacturing and the auto industry, and those industries have been hit pretty hard," Austin said.
As well, "black workers tend to be younger and lower-ranked in organizations," he said. "And both factors make it more likely that when layoffs come, you're going to be laid off."
That factor also makes African-American workers more vulnerable to having their hours cut.
"I'm at the bottom so it's hard for me to get any days -- I have no seniority," said Chanel Hall, 22, a room attendant at a downtown convention hotel who has seen her shifts cut back as the travel business has slowed.
She expects to make about $20,000 this year, about two-thirds of what she would make if she had a full schedule. She recently took out a $400 high-interest payday loan so she could pay bills and the rent on her apartment in the Washington Park neighborhood on the South Side. And she's searching for a second job.
"I've had no call-backs," said Hall, who has been looking since September.
The landscape is so bleak that some laid-off workers are using this time as a sort of sabbatical, living off unemployment while they go back to school or into training programs.
Shawan McDonald, an unemployed machinist, is learning to program and run computerized milling and lathing equipment in a training program run by the Jane Addams Resource Corp.
"I hope by March that I will be able to work, that it will be a more stable situation and I will not be walking on eggshells," said McDonald, a 40-year-old Edgewater resident.
The climb to recovery may be a tougher one for African-Americans, particularly because unemployment is expected to continue rising into next year.
"If history is our judge, I think it will take longer," ShoreBank's Pogge said. "African-Americans tend to be the last hired, and there has been this incredible decline in property values in African-American communities that is going to take years to recover.
"People have decimated their savings just to survive, and that needs to be rebuilt. It's a pretty serious situation."
Barbara Mitchell, the unemployed customer-service employee, worked part of the past year as a hostess at a quick-serve restaurant in Wisconsin before moving back to Chicago to care for sick family members. Now she applies for three to four jobs a day, attends job fairs and networks with friends.
"I do believe it will get better, and if it doesn't, I will go to Ready Maid, any kind of day labor," she said over a cup of coffee at a Loop cafe. "I will go to any length to find employment."
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