African Americans Worst Hit as New Jobless Claims Surge Past 1 Million. The Number of Black Owned Businesses Decreased by 41% (17% for whites)

BLITHERING IDIOT AND PAPER BOAT CAPTAIN TRUMP BELIEVES HE DID SOMETHING FOR BLACKS BECAUSE HE DID A TAX CUT FOR ELITE WHITES AND FOLLOWED KIM KARDASHIAN SUGGESTION TO RELEASE A FEW BLACK PEOPLE FROM JAIL - he calls that policy. HE IS LIVING PROOF OF THE MYTH OF WHITE SUPREMACY. if he has a heart attack PRAYERFULLY A SLOW ambulance with no spare will get 4 flat tires on the way to the hospital that catches fire at a time when the fire hydrants ARE frozen. FUNKTIONARY EXPLAINS:

AFRICAN AMERICAN - A NON-IMMIGRANT AFRIKAN (MENTALLY CAPTURED AND ECONOMICALLY INDENTURED) IN AMERICA. 2) THE HYPHENATED HYBRID---IMPLICATED, MARGINALIZED, DEMONIZED, PROFILED, TARGETED, XEROXED, INCARCERATED AFRIKAN MISPLACED IN AMERICA. “AFRICAN-AMERICAN" IS A DASH SURROUNDED BY A PARADOX MASKED AS CONTRADICTION; AN EXISTENTIAL APOSIOPETIC PAUSE---A STUTTER STEP FOR THE PROVERBIAL CAUSE---A TENUOUS GRAFT THAT LEFT US FADED, JADED, DEGRADED, AND UNWHOLE, AND IN FACT, ACCORDING TO HIS-STORY, LESS THAN A HALF---ONE THIRD HUMAN TO BE EXACT. IT IS THE FOOL WHO SAYS "I HAVE LOST NOTHING IN AFRICA OR I HAVE NOT GAINED ANYTHING IN AMERICA." (SEE: DOCTRINE OF EXCLUSION, RACISM WHITE SUPREMACY, MELANIN & GENIUS)

From [HERE] The number of Americans filing initial claims for jobless benefits returned to 1.1 million last week, though insured unemployment has dropped by two-tenths of a point overall, the Labor Department reported Thursday. 

Between the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation and traditional unemployment, 28 million Americans received jobless benefits as of Aug. 1. This number is about 200,000 less people than the previous week, bringing the unemployment rate this week to 10.2%.

Though the federal government typically adjusts raw data to reflect seasonal, predictable changes in the job market, the new applications for unemployment insurance actually reported by states came in at 891,510 for an unadjusted national insured unemployment rate of 9.8%.

On average, 46,392 Americans tested positive for Covid-19 every day over the last week. Since March, 5.54 million Americans have tested positive for the disease, and 173,000 have died.

Alongside the slight drop in insured unemployment, the Bureau of Labor Statistics tracked a 1% decline in joblessness throughout July. The country that provides all citizens “equal protection of the laws” is not providing equal protection in the labor market, however. As the pandemic recession stretches into fall, existing racial disparities in the workforce are only getting worse.

In July, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 9.4% of whites are unemployed while the jobless rate remains 14.6% for Black Americans and 12.9% for Hispanics.

From February to April, the New York Federal Reserve found the number of active business owners in the U.S. fell by nearly 22%, but the number of Black-owned businesses decreased by 41%. The number of white-owned businesses dropped by 17% during the same period.

Devon Warren is one of 11.2 million self-employed Americans floating himself on the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program. Based in Montclair, New Jersey, the photographer closed shop in March and subleased out his studio space when Wells Fargo refused to help him apply for a loan under the Paycheck Protection Program.

“They told me they weren’t offering any business loans. They told me to go through the government website,” Warren said.

While Wells Fargo is one of several banks being sued for prioritizing large customers over helping small businesses during the pandemic, financial institutions have a long history of turning away Black business owners in America.

In August, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York traced stark inequities throughout the Paycheck Protection Program’s distribution of $349 billion in forgivable loans.

The report found “weaker cash positions, weaker bank relationships, and preexisting funding gaps left black firms with little cushion entering the crisis.” 

Federal aid only went to 7% of businesses in the Bronx where 35% of people are Black and 48% are Hispanic. In Cook County, Illinois, where 20% of businesses are owned by Black Americans, aid went to only 15% of the county’s total 549,686 firms.

Rather than by economic need or impact of the health crisis, the Federal Reserve found more aid simply went to businesses with better banking relationships and access to credit. 

Warren eventually got a Paycheck Protection Program loan to cover expenses for two months. Entering the sixth month of the pandemic, Warren said he is trying to figure out “how to turn the minor setback into a major comeback — pivot is my favorite word of 2020.” 

More financial aid would help. “I’m not asking that they give Black-owned businesses more money, just give us the same money,” he said. “I just want what everybody else was getting — I don’t need any more; I don’t need any easier; I just want to have a fair share of the pot.”

At this time last year, 78% of Black Americans polled by the Black Economic Alliance considered the challenges of accessing capital and small business loans among their top concerns. This year, U.S. Black Chambers President Ron Busby told the U.S. Congress 70% of his members were denied federal aid under the Paycheck Protection Program.

“Decades before the advent of the coronavirus pandemic, historical discrimination has consistently distorted the advancement of Black America,” Busby told Congress on July 23. “The coronavirus-related labor losses have been especially devastating for Black America due to historical struggles from higher unemployment rates, lower wages, lower incomes, lack of savings, and significantly higher poverty rates.”

Others are skeptical that the financial aid from the federal government alone will have long lasting impacts.