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CBC To Meet With Barack Obama On Black Unemployment Unfortunately, black unemployment is getting worse and folks want to know Barack Obama’s plan to get us back on track. According to Wall Street Journal: Bloomberg News reports that President Obama will meet today with the Congressional Black Caucus. It will be the first such meeting since May 2011. “CBC chairwoman Marcia Fudge, a Democrat from Ohio, plans to press the president on what he’s doing to lower black unemployment,” according to Bloomberg. The black jobless rate rose in June to 13.7 percent from 13.5 percent a month earlier. Given the policies that Mr. Obama has pushed since their last confab, you might think the president and black lawmakers had lots to discuss. Earlier this year, for example, Mr. Obama called on Congress to raise the minimum wage to $9 an hour from $7.25 and to automatically adjust it with inflation, even though the minimum wage is a proven job-killer for blacks and black youths especially. Last month, the administration sued BMW BMW.XE -0.62% and discount retailer Dollar General DG -0.62% for the alleged use of unfair criminal background checks to screen workers. But empirical studies show that employers who check criminal backgrounds are more likely to hire blacks, and black men in particular. The president opposes school vouchers, even though they increase high school graduation rates. And he supports racial preferences in college admissions, which result in more black kids dropping out and fewer black scientists and engineers among those who earn a degree. The problem, of course, is that blacks victimized by these policies will have no one batting for them in this meeting because the Congressional Black Caucus stands with Mr. Obama on every one of these issues. Which is not to say that they don’t occasionally have their disagreements. “While members of the caucus initially faulted Obama for not appointing more minorities to cabinet positions, they tempered their criticism as Obama’s filled out key positions,” reports Bloomberg. “He has tapped former Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx for transportation secretary and Rep. Mel Watt to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency.” If you’re among those blacks suffering from double-digit unemployment, don’t you feel better now? Discuss… WENN Continue reading →