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Yesterday I attended a hearing on Capital Hill about the unemployment crisis amongst young people. Yes, the country as a whole is in a crisis. Roughly 9.8% of Americans are unemployed, but like with any disparity, we must address the fact that young Americans are unemployed at a rate nearly double the rest of the population. 18.5% of young people are unemployed…hence the need for the hearing.
The witnesses did a great job outlining the problem and Matt Segal, a national co-chair for 80 Million Strong for Young American Jobs, did a great job at addressing the problem and proposing solutions from the 80 Million Strong Summit held over the summer. Aside from what can be explained as your everyday tokenism (very few members of Congress actually asked Matt questions), the hearing was pretty good. From what I recall, almost every witness mentioned the fact that young Latinos and African American youth are hit particularly hard by the economic crisis. Unfortunately, that does not surprise me. But it was, perhaps, my naiveté that lead to my next surprise and then anger.
Rep. Bobby Scott (VA) and Rep. Marcia Fudge (OH) were the only two members of the Congressional Black Caucus present (thank you!). There was no representation from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
If you look at the Ed and Labor Committee who held the hearing, the members of the CBC and CHC we were missing include:
Donald Payne (NJ-10)
Ruben Hinojosa (TX-15)
Raul Grijalva (AZ-7)
Yvette Clark (NY-11)
But from what I can tell about hearing rules, anyone can attend. Which means we were also missing:
Congressional Black Caucus
G.K. Butterfield (NC-1), Sanford Bishop (GA-2), Corrine Brown (FL-3), Andre Carson (IN-7), Donna Christensen (VI), William Lacy Clay Jr. (MO-1), Emmanul Cleaver (MO-5), James Clyburn (SC-6), John Conyers (MI-14), Elijah Cummings (MD-7), Artur Davis (AL-7), Danny Davis (IL-7), Donna Edwards (MD-4), Keith Ellison (MN-5), Chaka Fattah (PA-2), Al Green (TX-9), Alcee Hastings (FL-23), Jesse Jackson Jr (IL-2), Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18), Hank Johnson (GA-4), Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX-30), Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (MI-13), Barbara Lee (CA-9), John Lewis (GA-5), Kendrick Meek (FL-17), Gregory Meeks (NY-6), Gwendolynne Moore (WI-4), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), Charles Rangel (NY-15), Laura Richardson (CA-37), Bobby Rush (IL-1), David Scott (GA-13), Bennie Thompson (MS-2), Edolphus Towns (NY-10), Maxine Waters (CA-35), Diane Watson (CA-33), Melvin Watt (NC-12)
Congressional Hispanic Caucus
Nydia Velasquez (NY-12), Charlie Gonzalez (TX-20), John Salazar (CO-3), Joe Baca (CA-43)
Xavier Becerra (CA-31), Dennis Cardoza (CA-18), Jim Costa (CA-20), Henry Cuellar (TX-28),
Luis Gutierrez (IL-4), Ben Ray Lujan (NM-3), Grace Napolitano (CA-38), Solomon Ortiz (TX-27), Ed Pastor (AZ-4), Pedro Pierluisi (PR), Silvestre Reyes (TX-16), Ciro Rodriguez (TX-23),
Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-34), Gregorio Sabian (MP), Linda Sanchez (CA-39), Loretta Sanchez (CA-47), Jose Serrano (NY-16), Albio Sires (NJ-13)
You know what I bet these members of Congress did not miss that happened in the past couple weeks? The respective conferences for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (pics are on both websites). Granted, these are fundraisers for each group (I think/hope), but they are tied to conferences focusing on the needs of the community.
Wish you had attended or do you want to go next year? Start saving your money.
Registration fees for these events are between $50 and $800. The $50 is the student fee and does not count the parties or awards ceremonies. The “Professional” fees were between $100 (CBCF) and $225 (CHCI). Gala/Award Ceremonies alone were priced between $500 (CHCI) and $750 (CBCF).
I mention prices because clearly members of our communities are priced out from attending. If you are a young professional whose job will not cover registration fees, a student (let’s be honest. $50 is a lot of money for students), or just your average brown or black person walking down the street, these events were not made for you. Take into account the economic crisis and we are pushed out even more.
These are supposed to spaces for our community to network together and work towards advancing. It's a time to meet with our elected officials, but if only the economically elite can attend then what is really the purpose??
I wouldn’t be so frustrated about this if members showed up to the hearing yesterday. They were more than eager to show up when they got to talk to, or rather talk at us during the 80 Million Strong Summit this past summer. But I guess they did not want to listen to us talk back or engage in somewhat of a conversation via the Q & A.
Perhaps some of their staff were in the audience. Perhaps they’ll watch online later. But as Latina who is concerned about my community and saw no brown faces even though we were in the audience and engaged…I am pissed.
And on a side note - excuses about focusing on health care are simply excuses because half of young people get their health insurance through their jobs. More jobs for young people = more health insurance for young people.
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I totally feel on on this one. I cant believe that they seem to be taking these really important problems so lightly.
# Posted By 
vanessaaishacoleman
| 10/3/09 12:27 PM
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vanessaaishacoleman
| 10/3/09 12:27 PM
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