"From the stern way that President Obama dismissed the Congressional Black Caucus last month, you'd think the CBC had insisted that every last dollar of job-creation money go to African Americans.

And from the way some conservative pundits responded (columnist Michelle Malkin, for instance, called it a "shake down"), you'd think the CBC had demanded that the Secret Service round up white folks and force them to empty their bank accounts and hand the money over to black folks.

But of course they didn't. The Congressional Black Caucus made the very reasonable suggestion that 10 percent of the stimulus be targeted to the poorest urban areas, where so many African Americans live. Given that African Americans are about 13 percent of the US population, 10 is actually a very modest request. [...]

December's white unemployment rate of 9% is bad, though better than November's; but the Black and Latino rates jumped to the devastating levels of 16.2% and 12.9%, a 27-year high.

Families survive unemployment better or worse depending on how much of a cushion they have. African American and Latino families entered the recession with a dangerously low median net worth, according to a new report by United for a Fair Economy, The State of the Dream 2010. [...]"

Read the full op-ed by Ajamu Dillahunt, UFE Board member, on HuffingtonPost.com.