By Alexis Garrett Stodghill

President Obama met with reporters yesterday to reassure us that we are not heading for what he termed a “double-dip” recession. The President sought to express his confidence that despite recent declines in jobs creation, the economic uptick his administration has established will continue to produce growth. This news comes after last week’s jobs report revealed that employers only added 54,000 positions to the employment market, churning up pessimism on both Wall Street and Main Street.

Trading was down in reaction to this sign; plus, according to CBS News, six in ten Americans still believe we’re gripped in a recession, despite reports that it is officially over. CBS has more on the President’s positive outlook:

President Obama said today he’s concerned about last month’s slow job growth, but he’s not concerned about the economy sinking into another technical recession.

“I’m not concerned about a double-dip recession,” Mr. Obama said at a joint press conference at the White House with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. “I am concerned the recovery we’re on is not producing jobs as quickly as I’d like.”

Last week’s jobs report from the Labor Department showed that the unemployment rate rose to 9.1 percent in May. Employers hired only 54,000 new workers last month, the fewest in eight months.

“We don’t yet know whether this is a one-month episode or a longer” problem, the president said. Consumers are currently experiencing “headwinds” like high gas prices, he said, to which his administration has responded with steps to try and stabilize the international oil market.

Mr. Obama pointed out today that prior to this latest disappointing report, the U.S. economy experienced three months of robust growth. He pointed to additional signs of economic recovery, such as the rebound of the domestic manufacturing sector.

But, he said, “We’ve still got some enormous work to do.”

This work will include investing in education and energy, with a strong focus on fiscal policy including reducing the deficit.

What President Obama did not address is the growing crisis in the African-American community, which looms like a shadow outside his sunny focus on growth. While unemployment rose to 9.1% overall, African-American males experienced a staggering increase to 18.6% for the month of May, according to a UC Berkley report. The unemployment rate for blacks at large is now 16.2%, almost twice the national level. Blacks, in particular black men, are suffering through what many economists would call a depression, yet the first black president has yet to consider this issue worthy of consistent commentary.

As President Obama continues to sell us on the end of the recession, will he face the Great African-American Depression that millions grapple with? To be fair, President Obama has stressed his belief that “a rising tide lifts all boats.” Even at the current alarming rates, black unemployment is actually down. The key issue is that it continues to rise despite this for black men.

The president is avoiding a crisis that must be addressed. African-Americans are waiting. If and when Obama responds, we will remember how our cries for intervention met his walls of silence — for too long.

By Brittany Hutson and R. Asmerom

It’s certainly been a whirlwind decade for the Black community to say the least. We’ve witnessed history making moments, events that brought to light the struggles that still plague our community, devastating natural disasters, and moments that caused us to scratch our head, raise an eyebrow and think ‘what the…?’ Take a stroll down memory lane with us as we recap some of those moments:

Hurricane Katrina

One of the five deadliest hurricanes in the history of the U.S., Katrina caused devastation when it hit the Gulf Coast states (from Florida to Texas) in August 2005. New Orleans bore the brunt of the devastation as the category 3 storm with maximum winds near 125 mph caused the levies to break and flood nearly 80% of the city. The nation was in utter shock as images filtered across television screens, on websites and in publications of residents stranded on the roof of flooded homes, or in boats, waiting for help without water or food.

Katrina caused the deaths of at least 1,836 people and caused immense damage—early estimates of total property damage were $81 billion. Over one million people were displaced and sought solace in cities such as Houston, TX, Mobile, Ala, Baton Rouge, La, and Chicago.  Federal, state and local governments were criticized for their mismanagement and delayed response to the storm.

(Sun Times) – Middle-class blacks are more likely than whites to have reduced their saving and investing to make it through the recession, according to the 2010 Ariel Black Investor Survey released today. It found that nearly half of all blacks, compared with 31 percent of whites with household incomes of at least $50,000, dipped into savings to make ends meet in the last two years.

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