Bleak Pictures - BN stating the obvious

On page B7 of the Buffalo News is an article that tells us what we already know – the income and status of minorities is tragically bad.

For every $1 a white male earns, an African American earns $.071

For every $1 a white male earns, a Hispanic earns $0.73

And there is no reason for the wage disparity. Equal skills and abilities deserve equal pay and opportunity. Anything less is racism.

And I make the note of it being a male because women are paid much less also. Even if white.

The Partnership for Public Good also reports disparities in:

-Unemployment: Whites = 6.4% African Americans = 17.3% and Hispanics = 13.6%

-Joblessness for people ages 20-24: Whites = 8.2% while African Americans had 20.5%

No data was provided for Hispanics.

-Minority workers also held a majority of the low paying jobs in the service sectors (social services, health care workers, building grounds, cleaning, & maintenance)

-Minority workers also held only 2% (!) of all jobs in math and computer science.

-Minority workers held less than 7% of all production, management, legal, health diagnosis and treatment position, (A fancy way of saying doctors, nurses, dentists, and other medical professionals.)

-Minorities are also more likely to suffer from criminal records that hinder employment opportunities, even though “checking the box” is illegal in NY

Even with the so called “economic boom” in Buffalo, minorities are being left behind for many reasons. Education opportunities. Structural racism.

We need an end to this. Now. There is no reason for prosperity to flow to one group in society and leave others behind.

The Partnership recommends that companies receiving public subsidies (read corporate welfare) be required to have minority hiring targets. As the Solar City project has demonstrated, these can be missed without consequence.

Minorities are also more likely to be dependent upon public transportation and unable to access jobs in the suburbs.

The Partnership also recommends the creation of an agency that would connect minorities with job opportunities.

Socialists need more than this.

We demand:

1. Fair funding for public education to help African Americans, Hispanics, and other minorities learn the necessary skills to be ready to work in these fields. Many minorities are dis-proportionally pushed into low performing schools and programs that leave them unprepared for the real world. We need an education system that serves (not punishes) our students.

2. Free college education at public colleges – community, 4 year, and advanced degrees. This can be funded by a transaction fee on Wall Street trades.

3. Improvement in public transportation so that workers can get to where the work is.

4. Equal pay for equal work. A man (and a woman) are equal, regardless of race.

5. Hiring requirements for corporations with consequences that actually have teeth to them and are enforced.

6. Criminal Justice reforms that focus more on rehabilitation and social workers than prison and punishment.

We all know these problems exist.

It's time to stop the talk and start doing something about it.