Black lawmakers press Obama on jobs in urban areas

WASHINGTON – Black members of Congress pressed President Barack Obama on Thursday for a greater focus on creating jobs in urban areas where unemployment is often highest. Obama said he was trying to fix the economy as a whole, said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.

The exchange happened at the first meeting between Obama and the full Black Caucus since Obama became president. It follows longstanding complaints from some in the African-American community that the nation's first black president hasn't done more to help minority communities on jobs and other issues.

Cleaver told reporters at the White House that lawmakers in the group — which has about 40 members, all but one of them Democrats — highlighted to the president the difficulties of communities beset by high unemployment and stressed the need to address it, especially with summer approaching and teens looking for jobs. The overall unemployment rate is 9 percent but it's 16.1 percent among blacks.

"He understands clearly what we spoke to him about, and that is the pain that is taking place in the urban core and many of the districts we represent," Cleaver said.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110512/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_black_caucus

Too bad we hate corporate tax breaks.

"enterprise zones" anyone?

another scam to funnel government money to the rich.

In the form of gentrification and ethnic cleansing of entire neighborhoods.

They are the post-civil rights, "economic empowerment" crowd.

If the community gets jobs and they are the only black person left in the area with the resources to benefit from said jobs, they'll be happy, so long as their new, white constituents continue to vote for them.

In order to get assistance you need to be in and stay in a bad situation. Jobs being dignity, savings, and a better future. Assistance that requires you to be poor isn't exactly putting you on a good path.

you'd be standing in the relief line too.