Why Black Men are Fired

Black Men have Twice the Unemployment of Whites

Black men have twice the unemployment of whites, in fact Black men and women have twice the unemployment of whites. Black women fair better due to being in different industries, but I believe I can explain all of it in one word. Racism.

WARNING: [ if you are going to be offended by the post, please stop reading now. understand that I always read data from university study after university study for every post I make. None of it is my opinion. I just say what others are not in a position to say, or are afraid of retaliation. ]

Study after study has shown that racism practices are dominate in the hiring of Black men and it is widespread. I'm sure everyone is hoping that in this day and age that, that wouldn't be so, but the data is clear.



Some sectors are harder hit by this economic downtrend than others, but even before this financial crisis Black men double the unemployment rates of whites.

"Black men’s ability to access high-paying jobs in the manufacturing sector played a significant role in building the black middle class after World War II. Yet those jobs have steadily declined in the past several decades. A study from the Center for Economic and Policy Research estimated that the share of African Americans in manufacturing jobs fell from 23.9 percent in 1979 to 9.8 percent in 2007. Blacks were actually 15 percent less likely than other groups in 2007 to have a job in manufacturing. These jobs have also been among the first cut in this recession, accelerating the decline of available positions with decent pay for black men."

Clearly this was before the financial crisis and the data showed that Black men were hit already targeted for being fired. And, these were positions that had been held for years, and not new hirees.

"Black men have also been disproportionately affected by the instability in the automotive industry. A study by the Economic Policy Institute found that African Americans have above average employment and earn much higher wages in auto industry jobs than in other industries. If one or more domestic automakers were to file for bankruptcy, more than 3 million jobs could be lost within the next year, a result that would be especially devastating for African Americans."

Everyone talks about the equality of educational opportunity. I have toured the south and found many rural places where education is not a reality. It is seemingly as distant as the moon. In fact I found the best products from high schools in the south were subpar to national standards, and again these were their best products. When I see a sector that is well paying and requires only a high school degree, clearly these Black men chose the best opportunity available to them. Meanwhile the country cast aspersions on these very men. It's as if the white people are not satisfied until we are removed from society entirely.

"Persistent racial discrimination has enhanced the effects of various factors that have limited the employment opportunities available to black men over time. A cross-sectional analysis of employers by Harry J. Holzer of Georgetown University found that employers are generally more averse to hiring black males than those from any other racial and gender group, especially in jobs that require social or verbal skills and in service occupations."

I was once, many years ago, fired from a job where I was the sole employee, of a small studio. I was hired by the manager, trained by her and after 2 days left alone to manage the studio. Six months later the corporate manager showed up as a secret shopper. She was amazed at my expertise, quality salesmanship and "approachability" [the store manager later told me she was testing this, clearly this was because I was Black, I had never heard of such a thing before]. I was fired a few days later. In fact I showed up to open the store and the manager, surprisingly, was there. She had said she left a message and was shocked I showed up. She gave me some excuse I had sassed a security guard in the mall. [who had constantly harassed me] I can't help thinking that the corporate manager was shocked to find that my manager had hired a Black man all this time, and gave the immediate order to fire me. Understand that my manager and I had never had so much as a critique about my job. In fact she often praised my sales and we were on very friendly terms.

[I give that personal example, to exemplify how the workplace is. Both of these were white women. My immediate supervisor only saw a hard worker that produced profits and had an impeccable work ethic. The corporate manager saw a Black man. And, although she was clearly impressed [which she immediately told my manager] she ordered me to be fired anyway. I understood that this was a complete burden on the my manager, she was a young mom and she depended on me to allow her time to take care of home life. After firing me she would have to work all day (which is what i did for 14 hours). ] By the way, the studio closed within a month.

"Another study from Princeton University of nearly 1,500 employers in New York City found that black applicants without criminal records are no more likely to get a job than white applicants just out of prison."

In New York city, unemployment amongst Black men is 50%. That is a staggering number. The Princeton study concluded that racism was the only explanation for their findings. In every instance that they viewed the Black male applicants, they were perfectly qualified for the jobs. They were completely astounded by their own findings. In fact, they found no instances where affirmative was even applied to hire the Black men. They found that racism was the single most dominant reason for Black men not being hired, and being fired. The jobs ranged in skill level also, so it was not a case of low paying, low level jobs. During Obama's 100 days speech a reporter stood up and asked what Obama would do about that statistic. Obama replied that he had already extended unemployment benefits and offered healthcare benefits to unemployed workers. In other words nothing. That's the problem, stop looking to the government for answers. They don't have an answer. And, Obama didn't have an answer either.

The Solution to Black Male Unemployment

What could be the solution? There can be only one solution to this problem. Racism is not going to go away. There are children being born right now that are already being indoctrinated into racism. There are so many cases of young, very young kids committing racial crimes and acting out racial tensions on Black children. Put it out of your mind, that in our lifetime racism will recede.

The solution is therefore not to target racism, but to target ourselves. Do not look to white people for jobs. That is the only answer. We have our own doctors, lawyers, mechanics, engineers, drafters, contractors, carpenters, brick layers, wall hangers, plumbers, electricians, gardeners, firemen, policemen, executives, human resource managers.

• We Black people need to start our own businesses. It is past time that we look to the white man for anything, including a job.
• The first business that needs to be opened are banks or credit unions. We must be in control of our own money supply and lending. Lending is the largest hamper and hindrance to Black business in America today, and has been for some decades. You can start a credit union 10 times faster than you can a bank. We have plenty of bankers, financiers and experts amongst ourselves. It would take nothing to start up credit unions or banks in Black communities all across America. Once we can lend amongst ourselves, the businesses can flourish. A word of warning: do not centralize the bank / credit union in each community if you can. Why? What if they were shut down or bought out? There goes the entire community. And sometimes, it seems like a very profitable deal to sell a bank or credit union for a very large offer, only to find out it's being closed. They will buy you out simply to close you down. In fact that is the rub of most Black businesses. They are bought out and closed down immediately. The temporary financial gain from the sale is completely dwarfed by the loss of income for the years and years following due to these practices.
• Create Black law firms. This is the 2nd most important thing that needs to be done. Our community needs legal scholars and legal representation. Only then can we stand for our constitutional rights. Invite Black lawyers into the community to start Black law firms. If the money is taken care of in the other points, then legal representation needs to be taken care of. No more would be hear excuses, if we get our financial act together, in courts across the U.S. with proper legal representation. Black law firms would bolster the community just that much.
• We need to stop renting. Renting is the worst thing a Black man can do in America. I don't care what financial expert tells you. Black people have zero assets. Let me repeat this. Renting affords you a lifestyle whereby you never have assets. You need land. We need land. We need a roof over our head that they can't come knock on our door in the middle of the night and kick us out. So once you start that community bank, have people line up and buy the land they live on, or find some to buy and lend to them.
• No current Black "organization" is doing what I'm saying. Do not look to them for guidance and leadership. They provide none. Do not look to the NAACP or anything else. They all suffer the slave mentality that we should take the white man to court so we can get a hand out from him. At no point have they demanded equality based on our own merits. Revisit cases like the Jena 6 if the points I've made here were followed out. The corruption of those white police and courts would have been revealed for what it was. These organization are hindering us more than helping us. We don't need fanfare and legislation. We need our own two feet, and to hold the hand of the brother net to us. We need to reach back and down to the person under us. We don't need laws for people to treat us right. Leave if you don't like what someone is doing to you. Go get your own. You don't have to spend your dollars somewhere, where they aren't giving you the God given right a man deserves, go open up your own store. This very notion has been the slave mentality of this past century, look to the white man to fix the white man. That doesn't make a lick of sense. Don't look to the white man to fix the white man, look to yourself and move away from the white man. If the white man won't rent to you, go back to the Black community and build a house. Why act like a dog begging for scraps from the masters table? You're not a dog. You can have your own table. You can have your own food. You can have your own dinning room. You can have your own house.
• We need send our children to private schools or home school them. They are being educated into a way of thinking against their own self interest. America is being dumbed down. We need to break away from the educational system. I believe private schools are a perfect alternative if you can't home school them. If you have to scrimp and save to do it, do it.
• We need to support Black owned businesses to our own detriment. That means even if you have to walk a mile to get to one, do so. No one else is going to support our own businesses, so we best get to doing it.
• Hire Black people. Clearly white people hire their own, even if they've been in jail and are unqualified. If a Black applicant has an attitude you don't like, but he's qualified, hire him and train him, don't let him twist in the wind. He's our son, don't let him end up just another statistic.
• Train each other. Offer your expertise whenever you can to each other. Show them you have credentials and that it would be in their best interest to listen to what you have to say. Never miss an opportunity to teach. There is an effort already going on where small communities are going door to door offering training in Black communities. They are showing great success.
• Make your church aware of what is going on. It is time out to think we can separate church and politics, because white people don't. Address your congregation each and every Sunday on these issues and come together as a community to organize this.
• Understand the rules of the game. The rules are, money makes right: not white; not black; not educated. Money speaks louder than words. Understand that the rules for this life in America is money makes right. Look at the Asians, they were silent for over 200 years and they are now above the white man economically how: they own their own businesses; they have higher incomes.
• Spend most of your money on your child, not yourself. This includes dedicating your time to your child. Asians spend more on their children, and have always done so, than any other group. They are now in positions of power, unheard of before. Blacks spend the least on their children and have yet to get ahead. Dedicate your life to your child and you will be repaid 10 fold. In every instance where this has been the case, the results have been astounding. For example: the homeless lady who dedicated herself to her daughter; was completely involved with her schoolwork; her daughter ended up in Harvard.
• Your child does not finish being your child at 18. Time and again Black parents abandon their children at 18. Asians contribute to their children for life. You must be involved with your child for life as well. If your child requires that he must study long hours before he understands and gets and A, then you must just accept that he can't work and go to college, regardless of your own financial needs. Understand, you must sacrifice yourself for your children. Your story is over. You are building everything for your children. The faster you understand this, the further ahead we all will be.
• Be involved with your community. You can't just go to work, and then come plop on the couch and think the government will take care of tomorrow. You have to go get organized, get your community involved. You know the saying it take a village to raise a child, that's from the African concept. No such thing existed in Europe. If you organize your community, you will take your streets back, and help raise those bad apples and turn them around. And if you organize your community you can see who would be the best for opening particular stores. Discuss it amongst yourselves. Where I live, if an Asian opens a store, it will be an overnight success. The day they open the doors, hundreds of customers will flood in. Every single Asian business I've seen open has done this. We need to organize and discuss and market our businesses amongst ourselves.
• Have the attitude that the Black customer is your best customer. Once we understand marketing and business, we will be successful in our own community. Once we cater to our community, we will be able to take care of ourselves. Before the civil rights movement, the Black population commanded the 6th largest GDP in the world. After it was finished, our GDP was decimated. Why? Because, each dollar was churned in the community nearly 10 times before it left. We need to return to that wealth of business and community.
• Maintain community first. If that concept is hone in on, we will be successful. As it stands we don't have a community. White people look to us as a community and we constantly resist having one, so as not to seem homogeneous. This is weakness. We are categorized daily and looked upon as a community, yet we sit in disarray and unorganized. We need to come together as a community with pride and justification.

If we adopted these tenets as a community then 200% unemployment of Black men to whites would be a thing of the past. If we look to ourselves and not outside ourselves we can make this entire scenario moot.

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