Daily News Feed 3.9.2010/Vocab: sachet

Blacks motivated to vote in November
Democrats facing strong headwinds this election season have at least one reason for optimism, according to polling that found the party’s large African-American voting bloc eager to stay involved even without Barack Obama on the ballot. About two-thirds of black adults in four states say they are closely following news about the upcoming midterm elections, and between 74 percent and 80 percent say they are very likely to vote, according to the poll, conducted by the nonpartisan Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. The organization surveyed 500 African-Americans in each state — Missouri, Indiana, Arkansas and South Carolina — all of which have Senate races in November. (Continue Reading…)

When do Black women get positive roles?
Whenever I want to make sure I don’t spend the evening alone, I make jambalaya. I make a darn good pot of jambalaya. Nearly 20 years ago, I picked up a cookbook in New Orleans and I’ve been cooking cajun every since. So when the No. 2 son was in town visiting his brother, I knew the only way I was guaranteed to see them both was to stir up the jambalaya. Besides, Sunday night was Oscar night. The award program has always been a guilty pleasure. Growing up, I was like other girls across America. I fantasized about being up on that stage, clutching that gold-plated statue and giving an emotional acceptance speech. (Continue Reading…)

African American unemployment rate shrinks to 15.8%
The unemployment rate among African Americans improved slightly in February, shrinking from 16.5% to 15.8% for the month, according to Labor Department statistics released Friday. In contrast, the overall jobless rate remained steady at 9.7%. Despite the contraction of the African American jobless rate, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis says there is still much work to be done. “There is an extremely high number of unemployment in the African American community,” she said. “We want to work with Congress to make sure that more money is available to programs such as Pathways Out of Poverty, which targets high unemployment areas through unique job training opportunities such as retrofitting or weatherizing.” (Continue Reading…)