When America coughs, Black people catch a cold: Targeted policy for disproportion

The Washington Post recently reported that 30.5 percent of Blacks age 16-24 are unemployed, and the rate is even higher amongst young Black men - an astonishing 34.5 percent.

As Ron Walters stated in a recent editorial for the Washington Informer, Blacks were the only group of people not to return to their pre-recession levels of employment and wage earnings, after the last recession during the Bush administration came to a close.

Here we can examine and take issue with President Obama's approach to policy and race. Obama often refers to himself as a "president who happens to be Black" as opposed to a "Black President". However, the significance of this choice in terminology, pales in comparison to the significance of the ideology that unfortunately accompanies it. It is without doubt that Black America will eventually feel the brunt of President Obama's political deracialization.

Ironically, just a few weeks ago, I had an opportunity to listen to Ron Walters in a discussion on one of his books. Walters is a renowned scholar in Africana studies and political science. In regards to policy, Dr. Walters raised a very important point. You can't address "specific" issues with "general" public policy. In other words, issues that effect the population disproportianately, must be addressed with policy that take those discrepancies into consideration. Most commonly in the United States, these disparities fall along the lines of race and socio-economic status. And there is evidence of that here with the recent report of these unemployment statistics.

President Obama's fear of seemingly favoring the Black community and so-called "Black issues", has led him to practice this method of broad policy, as opposed to targeted policy. This is one of the president's underlying and inherent motivations in his passionate fight for healthcare reform, and by no means is that a bad thing. Healthcare reform is a form of policy that enables him to positively affect and reach out to Black people and other "minority" groups that he has been hesitant to address with targeted policy and rhetoric.

But how long can Black America afford to deal with this approach to policy from a president that many consider their own? And at what point will the line be drawn? Will it take a catastrophe such as Hurricane Katrina, to expose racial and economic disparities in such a blatant manner, that forces the president to act unapologetically and without hesitance?

It is yet to be seen what the ultimate result will be. But it will do Black America no good, nor favor, to be reactive and watch from the stands with little, if any, vigilance.