EthnicMajority

(Examiner.com) Acknowledging the hard-hit African American community and budding criticisms in its ranks, President Barack Obama said in a speech to the Congressional Black Caucus that he wouldn't give up and urged members of the African American community to join him to jump-start the still sluggish economy.

He continues to say; "I expect all of you to march with me, and press on. Stop complaining, stop grumbling, and stop crying. We are going to press on. We've got work to do."

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate amongst African-Americans continues to be 16.7%, almost doubled that of the national average.  Also, approximately 40% of African-Americans children live in poverty. These facts have made fiscal reforms a priority for members of the Black Caucus, some of whom are mostly Democrats and have criticized the President for not doing enough.

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(Los Angeles Times) As far as Rep. Maxine Waters in concerned, it is time for President Obama to get tough with Republicans and put together proposals that help the poor and especially the hard-hit African American community.

Speaking at a job fair in Atlanta on Thursday, the fiery Los Angeles Democrat said there was rising unhappiness among African Americans with the nation's first black president.

"There is a growing frustration in this country and in minority communities because the unemployment rates are so high," Waters said in televised remarks. She went on to cite home foreclosures and the increasing wealth gap between blacks and whites for "creating frustration and, yes, some anger" in the black community, which wants to see Obama take on his opponents.

"The president is going to have to fight and he is going to have to fight hard," she said.

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(Christian Science Monitor) As if the Democrats didn’t have enough headwind going into the November elections, now two of the most prominent and longest-serving black Democrats in the country – Rep. Charlie Rangel of New York and Rep. Maxine Waters of California – are now reportedly both set to fight ethics charges at open House trials before Election Day.

Congressman Rangel faces 13 ethics charges, including allegations of improper fundraising and tax evasion, which were released this week.

Congresswoman Waters, a House ethics subcommittee is reportedly about to allege, broke ethics rules by lobbying Treasury officials for a $25 million bailout of OneUnited Bank in Boston, in which her husband, former NFL player Sidney Williams, has a financial stake.

Both House members have reportedly turned down plea offers for relatively light reprimands in order to fight the charges. Both ordeals promise to be showcase trials in the critical days before an election that Republicans are painting as a referendum on the agenda of the Democrat-controlled Congress and White House.

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(LA Times) During Monday’s House Judiciary Committee hearing on Comcast’s proposed takeover of NBC Universal, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) lamented the lack of TV shows aimed at minority viewers in general and black viewers in particular.

“We don’t have any more of that,” Waters said, adding, “I really liked `Girlfriends.’” She was referring to the sitcom about four African American women that ran on the now-defunct UPN network for six years.

GIRLFRIENDS Waters is right. While the casts of most dramas and many sitcoms have grown more diverse over the last decade (this fall, for example, the dual stars of NBC’s most anticipated drama, “Undercovers,” are African American), programs aimed at minority viewers are harder to find on both broadcast and cable television.

Veteran Producer Suzanne de Passe, a former president of Motown Television, offered up her thoughts on the disparity. Noting that it was not that long ago that the broadcast networks had such shows as “Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” “The Cosby Show” and “Living Single,” she laid the blame on media consolidation.

“I have witnessed what consolidation of content and distribution in entertainment and media has done to significantly slow down and diminish opportunity for minority professionals rather than accelerate and increase it,” she said. The networks that used to make shows aimed at blacks “now only offer a minority cast member here and there and a long list of contributions to minority charities under the catch-all word, `diversity,’ ” she testified.

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