OPINION: Working hard or hardly working: the Black teen unemployment crisis



By LaMonica Peters

The very first job I had was at Taco Bell in a popular Los Angeles mall. I prepared the food and wore a God-awful uniform made of brown polyester that made me sweat and itch. But I wanted to work so badly that it didn’t matter. I even pretended to be older than I was to get the job. I was able to buy my own clothes for school and other things I wanted, that my father either couldn’t or wouldn’t provide. It made me feel great!

Though I don’t remember being teased, I do remember that kids made fun of people who worked at fast food restaurants like Burger King or McDonalds. It was almost as if those jobs were beneath some people and not considered reputable, even for teens. I assume it was because these were low-paying, minimum wage jobs, but when you are 16 and unskilled, how much should you expect to make?

Due to the recent U.S. economic downturn, not only has black unemployment been a hot topic, but black teen unemployment has been in the spotlight as well. The Grio reports that black teen unemployment has been higher than any other demographic group since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking results in 1972. Nationally, the black teen unemployment rate was at nearly 40% for March 2011, down from 45% in February, for teens ages 16 to 19 years old. Historically, black teen unemployment has been four times higher than the national average and twice as high as white teens.

As an African American, these stats are deeply troubling for me — but for a different reason. I’m troubled because I personally have never had a problem finding employment, even when I was a teenager. Frankly, I can’t recall a time in my life when I was unemployed for any extended period of time. Why is this number consistently so high? Former Chief Economist at the Bureau of Labor Statistics Bill Rodgers told The Grio that there are a number of reasons for these devastating statistics: lack of education, lack of job training and skills, work ethic, racial bias and inconsistent job creation.

It’s no secret that America’s school system is failing, and that has lead to steady joblessness, mass incarceration and even death for millions of African Americans. It’s no secret that racial bias and discrimination are still alive and well. However, I believe that somewhere along this road the African American community as a whole has failed to hold each other and the school system accountable for the futures of our children. Since 1972, the United Negro College Fund has used the slogan “A Mind is Terrible Thing to Waste.” I believed that when I heard it, I believed my mother when she told me at the age of nine that I should go to college, and I believed the teachers who told us that we could make it. Why have we allowed this?

It seems nowadays that getting an education is unpopular and working for minimum wage is still uncool for black teens. Isn’t this attitude part of the problem too? Are black parents promoting education and preparing their teens for the work force? I’ll never forget watching a documentary on BET a few years ago about the state of black men and this young man said he would rather die than work at Burger King. Really? What in God’s name would make him feel like that? He was uneducated, unskilled, hopeless and clearly uninformed. I guess no one ever told him that he could actually be a manager some day or even own the restaurant. I didn’t grow up with a silver spoon in my mouth by any means, and, as a matter of fact, growing up was tough for me. My father had a nasty drug addiction at the time and I had to work and obtain loans to put myself through UCLA. But the one bit of advice my father gave me was that nothing beats an honest day of work if it’ll keep you out of prison and the grave yard before your time. That advice should be taught in schools, plastered all over the internet and screamed from every roof top if it’ll keep us from continuing this terrible trend.

We are partially responsible for these black teen unemployment rates. It takes a village to raise a child and the village has disappeared. If we don’t show them, how will they know?

I challenge black parents and teens to fight for their futures and the chance to provide a better life for their families the same way I did. Let’s not just accept these statistics as the status quo.

We can do better. We must do better. It’s up to us.