Several staff were talking yesterday how death from sickness is so prevalent among the
black population in our neighborhood. Our students endure a lot of loss and their
"parents" seem so young. Cancer. Asthma. Lupus. It's always something. Working with poor
people, though, has made me somewhat cynical. I routinely receive forms from New York's
office of Disability Claims wanting verification of students' disabilities. If a student
is classified as Special Education, he/she can qualify for disability benefits on a
monthly basis. I knew a family that had 11 children and all of them were disabled in some
manner. Imagine 11 checks coming in monthly - the parents never worked. Friday, a former
student came in with job applications and asked me to write references for her. This
girl's mom disappeared 2 years ago leaving her homeless. Now she was reunited with mom,
who was disabled from back problems and unemployed. The kid was looking for a job to help
provide. Kudos to this kid for trying.

Van Jone's Apollo Alliance recipient of 500 billion dollars to create green businesses in
poor black communities:

http://apolloalliance.org/programs/full-proposal/
The New Apollo Program, a comprehensive clean energy, job-generating strategy to restore
America’s economic strength. This 10-year, $500 billion investment plan aims to create 5
million good-paying, green-collar jobs and broadly shared prosperity while helping to
solve the climate crisis, the energy crisis, and the economic crisis facing our nation.
The New Apollo Program calls for a sweeping set of actions - from bold commitments to
energy efficiency, to dramatic increases in renewable energy use, to a reinvigorated
manufacturing base - that will put Americans back to work here at home.


You have to read a while to find that the money is targeted to minorities ONLY. So if
youare poor and white, you are out of luck. If you are not a minority and lost your job or
have a small "green" business, you are out of luck. Let me know if you see any of this
incredable amount of money does anything in your cmmunity.
http://74.125.47.132/custom?q=cache:QxWVcn5vdKQJ:apolloalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/200
9/08/gfa-business-guide-to-the-recovery.pdf
minority&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=google-coop-np

Last edited on: 11-02-2009 11:00 pm

I hope we don't have to see eye-to-eye to engage in productive conversation. I don't know
a great deal about the political landscape and how it has/is/will impact minorities. I
only know what I see in the predominantly black South Side neighborhood where I work. I'll
have to check into minority and black "inner city green businesses" to see how the
stimulus has/has not benefited them. Frankly, I'm no longer optimistic about the kind of
transformation I thought might occur within the black culture having a black President. It
was pure folly on my part, really. And that's OK. When I started this thread in the winter
of 2008, it was out of frustration and despair. I've learned a lot since. Poverty is
basically demeaning. I know there are poor blacks desperately trying to improve their
lives without the aid of public assistance. They know they are disdained by others who
stereotype them. I don't look for major victories anymore, just small ones, one person at
a time. I've found them.


PS: I appreciate you posting those videos but my computer won't allow me to see most of
them.

Last edited on: 11-02-2009 10:00 pm

No, the Democrats never fix anything. They have had 100% control of the worst areas in the
inner cities for decades and never ever did these poor people any good. They just teach
them hatedred
and that the State owes them.
Why does anyone think it will change when Democrats have even more power?

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Last edited on: 11-02-2009 07:31 pm

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Obama, in his own words, about redistribution of wealth:

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In answer to the title of this forum, "Will black social ills take a back seat to
unemployment and the recession?" : NO. The Obama stimulus was largely spent on
redistrubative change, ie given to Black Community Organizations and the likes of the
Appolo Alliance, to be distributed by then to black and minority inner city "green"
businesses.
Obama is doing what he said he would but no oe seemed to listen very well at the time. Now
he is pressing the peddle to the metal to accomplish as much as he can before he is
stopped.

Last edited on: 11-02-2009 11:08 am

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Most of the murders are blacks between the ages of 20 and 30 years old.

http://topics.syracuse.com/tag/2009%20homicides/index.html