Report
Details Challenges Facing Young Black Women
By
DAVID CRARY
AP National Writer
NEW
YORK (AP) _ This is a triumphant time for black women:
Condoleezza Rice in the global diplomatic spotlight, Michelle
Obama captivating campaign crowds as a potential first lady,
billionaire Oprah Winfrey playing political kingmaker.
It's also
a traumatic time: Rutgers University basketball players disparaged
by radio host Don Imus, a black woman kidnapped and tortured
by whites in West Virginia, the home-owning dreams of black
women disproportionately dashed by foreclosures.
That remarkable
mix is the focus of this year's State of Black America report,
issued Wednesday by the National Urban League. It features
essays looking at the array of challenges faced by African-American
women: economic, social, psychological and medical.
``The one
thing that is certain is the need to hear and amplify the voices
of black women,'' longtime civil rights activist Dorothy Height
writes in the foreword. ``Too often, our needs, concerns, struggles,
and triumphs are diminished and subordinated to what is believed
to be the more pressing concerns of others.'' Julianne
Malveaux, the president of Bennett College for Women in Greensboro,
N.C., contends in the report's opening essay that the image
of black women in popular culture has barely improved in the
year since the Imus incident.
White
men continue to dominate on TV's Sunday morning news shows,
she writes, while ``the gyrating, undulating image of African-American
women in rap music videos and, by extension, on cable television
is as prevalent as ever.''
The report
delves deeply into economics, noting that black women are
more likely than white or Hispanic women to be running a household
and raising children on their own. According to Malveaux,
black women hold more jobs nationwide than black men, yet
_ despite their breadwinner roles _ earn less on average,
$566 a week compared to $629 for black men.
In an
essay about the home loan crisis, Andrea Harris, president
of the North Carolina Institute for Minority Economic Development,
suggests that black women have suffered disproportionately.
Assessing recent federal data on subprime loans, which are
a main culprit in the foreclosure epidemic, Harris says black
women received far more of these loans in 2006 than white
men.
``It is
easy to imagine the devastation that is headed toward African-American
women and their communities,'' Harris writes.
An essay
by Dr. Doris Browne, a public health expert, details the above-average
rates of cancer, diabetes and heart disease among black women.
On an
upbeat note, former Labor Secretary Alexis Herman notes in
her essay that black women are making huge strides as entrepreneurs.
The number of businesses owned by them increased by
147 percent between 1997 and 2006, compared to an overall
business growth rate of 24 percent, she wrote.
Another
of the essayists, Melanie Campbell of the National Coalition
on Black Civic Participation, said in an interview that disparities
in health care and economics are the paramount issues for
black women as the election campaign unfolds.
Exit polling
shows that black women have become a larger force within the
Democratic electorate compared to 2004, and Campbell said
their expectations for policy changes also are rising.
``We want
to go beyond being thought about,'' she said. ``We want action.''
The president
of the Urban League, a 98-year-old black empowerment organization,
hailed women as ``the backbone of the black family'' _ constantly
surmounting obstacles. Marc Morial called for expansion of
programs that would assist black women in starting businesses,
protect more of them from predatory lending schemes, and provide
more of them with affordable, high-quality child care.
``When
black women hurt, the American family suffers,'' Morial wrote.
``But by uplifting black women, especially those struggling
hardest to keep their families together and their dreams on
track, we lift up every American community.''
A year
ago, the Urban League focused its State of Black America report
on the difficulties facing many young black men, including
their high rates of crime and imprisonment. This year's theme
was welcomed by black women who believe their particular concerns
often are overlooked.
``I'm
heartened that we're delving into this issue in depth in a
way that we haven't in the past,'' said Avis Jones-DeWeever,
a public policy expert with the National Council of Negro
Women.
``For
us, it's two steps forward, one step back,'' she added.
``But we do have a lot to be proud of.''
National
Urban League:
http://www.nul.org/
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