Veteran civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr., sharply criticized President Barack Obama for not leveraging the full force of federal agencies to target systemic and historical inequities that keep black unemployment high, thereby reducing opportunities and wealth for African Americans.
“The unfinished business is this issue of targeting racial justice,” Jackson told International Business Times in a wide-ranging interview about ideas for lifting people out of poverty, according to Business Insider.
Although job growth has been achieved month-over-month during much of Obama’s presidency, the recovery from the 2007-2009 financial crisis has been slowest for African Americans.
Figures released by the Department of Labor Friday show that while the jobless rate declined slightly to 9.5 percent for African Americans, it remains more than double that for whites at 4.6 percent in the second quarter of 2015.
“He has the view that racial injustice is something that requires a vote [in Congress],” Jackson said, referring to the president. “Blacks are without a targeted plan. Without one, we’ll never have an even playing field.”
Currently, black unemployment is nearly twice the national average of 5.3 percent.
Research undertaken by the Center for Economic Policy Research suggests that racism and racial bias, whether explicit or implicit, directly or indirectly, play a major part in the ongoing disparity in the jobless rate between whites and African Americans
Its taken 7 years for Mr. Jackson to acknowledge this major shortcoming of this President? African Americans supported Obama through thick and thin. He has seemingly gone out of his way to distance himself from the African American community and their needs.