To paraphrase Jay Carney, I guess we can deduce what we want from that statistic.

And gosh...nobody that teaches African American studies can figure out why?..

1 in 5 blacks work for some government organization. that goes a long way in explaining where we are as a nation.....

The Asian unemployment rate is 6.4%--lower than whites. Why?

It´s the Obama economy.

But Jamie Foxx calls Obama his lord and saviour...

Maybe their overall inability to read, write and count can explain it.
Or maybe, pants half way down their cheeks or the speaking of ebonics..
I dunno maybe it´s ALL OF THE ABOVE!

Obama has given blacks twice as much to Hope for. He´s so wonderful.

It´s really their victim mentality that holds them back.Unfortunately a lot of them get that from their parent.When you´re brainwashed into thinking you can´t get ahead because of systematic oppression,why would you put any effort out?

Things like affirmative action sounds good on paper but it has to make them feel mentally inferior at some level.Society plays by their rules rather than the other way around so that´s why nothing changes.

When you have their teachers willing to cheat on their tests,what kind of example does that set? They rationalize it by saying a white education is biased against blacks. How is being able to read and count a white education?

There´s minorities all over the world in barely standing schools and 40 year old textbooks that have higher learning than our kids do.That´s because they come from cultures where if you don´t work you don´t eat and if you´re not educated,you don´t work.

Not sure what they would want a job for. Who needs it?

I´d like to see those numbers for black jobless rate segmented again by gender, please.

The fact that demonrats closed down school choice in Wash DC had nothing to do with it? They have to keep the blacks dumb and stupid.

Here´s the chart: 1964 - Present:

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/ERP-2011/pdf/ERP-2011-table42.pdf

Having lived in the south since 1947 I have learned things I never learned in Massachusetts. Despite going to segregated schools many of the black women I came across had educations equal to mine. The "old, previously used books" taught as well as freshly printed ones. There was an underlying hostility on the part of some but not all.

Integration changed everything, of course. Hostilities came out and were allowed to run wild.

I lived in a section which quickly became integrated. I noticed that some of the children were friendly, their eyes were innocent and trusting, while others looked at me with hatred seething in their eyes.

For many years now black students have made life hell for blacks who are smart and study hard. They are "acting white". Another problem is that many young, single, black mothers treat their children like dirt.

My grandson has several black friends he went to school with who were raised in good families. Because my door was never locked, it was a usual occurrence for me to be standing at the sink washing dishes and suddenly find a six foot black boy standing beside me, grinning at me. Having raised three kids, I don´t startle easily.

But despite the success stories, we have a huge problem in education. Many blacks are unemployable and if one is hired and proves incompetent you don´t dare fire them.

And yet, as high as unemployment is in the Black community, they still were unable to vote for the presidential candidate who had the best economic policies. They voted race. Oh well, some people just never learn.

#10 nails it. It is foolish to apply our traditional values to this sordid situation.

Why work? The government will give you everything you want except a new set of rims.

According to the feds own figures, in 2008 the black unemployment rate was 10%. Currently it´s somewhere around 16%.

Two observations:
1. WaPo is racist to bring this up
2. Why do blacks want jobs when they can get free stuff

Thanks #13. It very clearly shows that unemployment when off the hook once the Obamboozler took over and it hasn´t helped Blacks one iota...or fo shizzle bit in da hood.

They don´t care so I don´t care.

Whites also live longer, which is very offensive to the WaPo.

There are 32 kids in my class: 3 blacks, 9 asians, the rest whites. By and large, all fairly well-behaved kids.

All the white kids handed in their term papers on time; all the asian kids handed in their term papers on time; all three black kids handed in their papers late, and all three papers were an unintelligible mess.

Deduce this, Jay.

Hey #19, after voting for Obama, they EXPECT free stuff. It´s the Chicago way.

Did a quick search and the black illegitimacy rate is also over twice the white rate. Could there be a connection?

You cannot have it both ways. You cannot act menacing, angry and entitled. You cannot be a lawsuit bomb waiting to go off. You cannot move at your own pace and get angry if criticized. You cannot have a criminal record. If you do these things, you will not be hired by an organization trying to make a profit. It does not matter what your skin color is with respect to these issues. The good news is that the government is hiring and could care less about getting any work out of you.

FTA:"the nation has made strides toward racial equality."
Uh, no Mikey. What our striding has accomplished is a Affirmative Action putting a lot of unqualified people in positions of power. When you gaze upon a Maxine Waters, Eddie Bernice Johnson or ,heck, Barack Obama- you´re not looking at ´equality´. You´re looking at trillions of dollars to assuage white, mostly liberal guilt. But you can´t say that or your opponents can demagogue you-that´s what I learned just this morning.

Why would they want to work?

One out of seven babies born in the US are born to unwed Negro women. For Hisanics, the figure is one out of five. For White, one out of three and for Asian less than one out of ten.

Now, let me axe you a question: Why do all of the test scores, income rates, incarciration rates, poverty rates and all of any other "rates" follow these statistics?

Thomas Sowell showed how black employment rates back in the decades before the 1940´s was roughly equivalent to whites. Then, the Democrats started raising the Federal minimum wage. Black teenage unemployment has been a multiple of white teenage unemployment ever since. Let´s place the blame where it lies -- Democrats.

Obviously, if one never gets that first job, one will spend one´s life in public housing, without any hope of ever getting out. Then one´s progeny will likely suffer the same fate. And so on.

Why work? Here´s the deal. I know of one person who has mental problems and can´t support herself. She receives the following:

SSI payment - $900/mo
Food stamps - $206/mo
Section 8 Housing - $450/mo

As a nation can we afford it? That´s almost $19,000/yr. That is a good chunk of what I pay in taxes every year. Why am I supporting her with almost all of my tax dollars and why can´t her family take care of her?

Perhaps blacks should not look upon getting an education as "acting white."

The article bases its premise on rates. Not raw numbers. To equate the two is disingenuous. Is poster aware that blacks make up about 12% of the total population?

But Obama is rewarding many in the black population by creating vast numbers of new federal government jobs.

A lot of these new federal employees live in MD, but some are moving to northern VA (making VA a more blue-ish red, and helping guarantee a future Dem electoral lock on the presidency).

Keeping the failing Postal Service going is also maintaining employment for a lot of black people. Don´t get me wrong, I´m all in favor of employment -- but not at the cost of billion$s in losses to the taxpayers. The outdated, gargantuan USPS needs to be either downsized, or eliminated.

BS

Cultural expectations are ruining the future of many African Americans.

The only time Community Organizers and Activists care about the black community is when there is a vote to be bought, or a conservative to be blamed. Jackson and Sharpton would lose their million dollar gigs if the black community were successful.

Excuse my ignorance...I only have a Business degree (took me 4 1/2 years) and only half a Masters but math was never my strong suit...If the African-Americans have twice the unemployment rate as Whites which is over 13% and have a horrific school drop out rate, then how the heck do they have triple the college degrees ´earned´? Do they get them in the mail along with the unemployment chacks? Where did I go wrong???

I have worked with black people most of my working life. The ones that I worked with had the same values and wants that I had. Marriage, house, children and a homelife. We use to discuss the problems of people all of the time. My question was, why does the black community not put much emphasis on education? Why is that not the no. 1 proirity in any household. They were as puzzeled as I. I know that the men that I worked with did put high proirity on education. All of their children are successful and prosperis citizens. I ask again, why?