To Be Equal #42
October 24, 2019
Automation Threatens The Future Of Black Workers In America

Marc H. Morial 
President and CEO
National Urban League

“Black America’s collective response to emerging technology will determine whether it is an opportunity – or an existential threat” – George H. Lambert, Jr., President and CEO, Greater Washington Urban League

A new report about the future of work in the United States casts a somber outlook about the effects of artificial intelligence on African-American employment – particularly for African-American men.

According to a recent headline: Artificial intelligence is slated to disrupt 4.5 million jobs for African Americans, who have a 10% greater likelihood of automation-based job loss than other workers.

“Black America’s collective response to emerging technology will determine whether it is an opportunity – or an existential threat” – George H. Lambert, Jr., President and CEO, Greater Washington Urban League

By Yvette Montoya, HipLatina Five years ago, it was rare to see women on TV or in ads wearing their natural curls or rocking protective hairstyles.

Chuck D., founder and frontman of the legendary hip-hop group Public Enemy, will receive the 2019 Woody Guthrie Prize.

The 2020 Census could fail to count more than four million people, most of them Black and Latino. An undercount of people of color means political influence will drain from already underrepresented diverse communities...

NEW YORK –  The National Urban League has joined a coalition of  civil rights, public interest, labor, faith, and technology organizations to urge Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg to consider the “protection of civil rights as a fundamental obligation as serious as any other goal of the company.”

In a letter to Zuckerberg, following recent policy changes to exempt politicians’ speech from its Community Standards and fact-checking program, the organizations said:

The Buffalo Urban League (Buffalo, NY) has been chosen as the operator for the new CRUCIAL Community Center at 230 Moselle Street. A ribbon was cut on Saturday, October 19 for the facility, which will be a tremendous community resource that will help to provide such resourceful practices as money management, home ownership, employment, resume writing and interview tips, health and wellness, starting and growing your own business, exercise, health screenings, and even yoga. The Buffalo Urban League will work with a wide range of community partners to ensure that the the Community Center is many things to many people. 

“It is great to have the Center open to respond to the needs of the community,” said Brenda McDuffie, President & CEO, Buffalo Urban League.

There was a time when Amanda Endicott felt like things were hopeless, until she set her eyes on a flier leading her to a free program that would change her life. Now, she's making money and making strides.

Life for Endicott is looking up.

"I have a full time job," Endicott said. "I'm not in transitional housing anymore. I have my own place. I have a driver's license. I have a brand new car."

That is not how things were fifteen months ago. At that time, she had no income, no job, no home, no driver's license, and little hope.

Addiction and a criminal record led Endicott to the transitional house, where, one day, a visitor brought a flyer to share with the women who lived in the home. The words spoke to Endicott.

Homeless, Lonisha Jordan and her sons, 10 and 12, sleep in their car, motels or other places, each day living a low-income housing crisis that shuts out many in Madison and Dane County.

So does Paul Buggs, who spends nights at a men's shelter in a church basement, and Tina Helt and her teenage son, who sleep in the entrances of buildings on streets hugging Capitol Square.

For all the local effort to provide shelter for those with little means — and there's lot of it — many feel the harsh realities of Madison's low-income housing shortage, low vacancy rates and state tenant-landlord laws that usurp local control and create barriers for those with spotty credit or rental histories, evictions or convictions.