By Carla Guerrero
Community Coalition
Part of “The Fight for a Fair Economy” series
 A certified sheet-metal worker from South L.A., Madelyn Broadus has struggled over the past three years to find consistent work. (Photo by Joshua Busch) |
South Los Angeles resident Madelyn Broadus once counted herself as one of the millions of middle-class people who shared the vision of the American Dream, complete with a home, a good job and a secure retirement. But that dream has since been shattered. She is now living on the brink of poverty that is getting closer each day that she can’t find a well-paying job.
About a decade ago, Broadus switched careers from sales to construction to earn a better salary and save more money for retirement. As an African-American woman, she was a rarity at the primarily all-male construction sites. She pulled her own weight and then some.
“I did enjoy it, working on the newest buildings like L.A. Live. I waterproofed the JW Marriott and the ESPN building,” said Broadus. “It’s so powerful for a woman to work on a structure that’s going to be around for a hundred years. How many women can say that?”
Then two years ago the construction boom went bust. Broadus found herself without a job and at the end of a 600-plus list of sheet-metal workers looking for work. She went from earning $43 an hour with benefits to living off unemployment payments. She joined the ranks of the now almost 3 million unemployed African Americans across the country, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Although unemployment among the general population is about 9% nationally, the unemployment rate among African Americans is at Depression-era levels of 16%.
Jobless, Not Hopeless
Broadus was the financial backbone of her extended family. She and her sister had become the sole caregivers of their two nephews and niece after the death of their brother and mother some years ago.
“With my blended family [sister, nephews and niece], we started out with a two bedroom, then we went to a one bedroom, and then I moved out with my boyfriend so they could have more room. I became a manager of a transitional housing complex and had free housing until I lost that job too,” said Broadus.
“My family, thankfully, has a roof over their heads because a good family from our church is letting them live with them,” she said. Otherwise Broadus believes her family would be homeless.
She is anxious to get back to work. Broadus is hoping that the new Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital in Willowbrook will bring construction jobs to local workers.
“I keep bugging my union representative and crossing my fingers. It’s been really hard. Hopefully it’ll get better,” she said.
Living Day by Day
In an African-American and Latino neighborhood in South L.A. on a small block east of the 110 Freeway, two boarded up houses stand opposite each other like sad sentinels casting long shadows on the quiet street. A few doors down, Evelia and Jacinto [who asked that their real names not be used] are busy at work in their small rented home preparing a batch of tamales to sell on the streets.
“We don’t make much from selling tamales. We find ourselves taking food given away by churches,” Evelia said as she worked in their tiny kitchen and living room.
Adds Jacinto, “Before the crisis hit, I was working and making enough to live comfortably, pay the rent and bills without worry and even put away a bit in savings. But now … we are literally living day-by-day and you can forget about trying to save.”
Jacinto tries to stay positive. “Yes, you get upset and worried, but at the end of the day, we’re lucky we have each other, and our family is strong and united,” he said.
Evelia and Jacinto are part of the 11.6% of Latinos in the U.S. who are unemployed, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Latinos have the second-highest rate of unemployment in the country. Compounding the issue for Evelia and Jacinto is their legal status—both are undocumented, making them even more vulnerable to the recession.
“The middle class is going down,” Jacinto said, shaking his head. “I just don’t understand. What are [corporations] going to do when no one is working? Who is going to buy their products when we don’t have an income?”
This story originally appeared on CoCoMovement.org, and can be read here.
Carla Guerrero is the communications assistant at Community Coalition.
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