ITEM: It looks like Van Jones, my fave black thinker as of late, has taken a job at the White House. Here's what I wrote earlier on Nov. 16th, scroll down:
Khari Mosely tipped me off to this guy some weeks weeks ago: His name is Van Jones. He's got a great plan to create millions of green jobs and his environmental plans would create millions of jobs in the inner city. I suppose I'm hoping that this is the kind of talented African American that an African American President might notice. You never know. His Green For All blog is here and I've added it separately and also to the host of many good eco blogs out there.
One of the things that troubles me about the Stimulus is that it's not certain that any of these jobs will go to black men. I have this nightmare that of the billions in stimulus that goes to Pennsylvania--I think its at least 5 billion--will result in a dozen or so jobs for African Americans in this state. Here's a test that I know black men always take whenever they go past a construction site: we look for evidence of even one black man. Usually, its about nil. Robert Reich even brought this up on his blog and then was pilloried by the usual right wing hacks as being racist somehow but he was absolutely correct. They interpreted this to mean that he didn't want any stimulus jobs to go to white male construction workers because, well, they're stupid. We just want our 10 percent.
Here's what Reich said in his entirety.
The stimulus plan will create jobs repairing and upgrading the nation's roads, bridges, ports, levees, water and sewage system, public-transit systems, electricity grid, and schools. And it will kick-start alternative, non-fossil based sources of energy (wind, solar, geothermal, and so on); new health-care information systems; and universal broadband Internet access.
It's a two-fer: lots of new jobs, and investments in the nation's future productivity.
But if there aren't enough skilled professionals to do the jobs involving new technologies, the stimulus will just increase the wages of the professionals who already have the right skills rather than generate many new jobs in these fields. And if construction jobs go mainly to white males who already dominate the construction trades, many people who need jobs the most -- women, minorities, and the poor and long-term unemployed -- will be shut out.
What to do? There's no easy solution to either dilemma. But there's no reason to think about "green jobs" as simply high-tech. Many low-income and low-skilled workers -- women as well as men -- could be put directly to work providing homes and businesses with more efficient and renewable heating, lighting, cooling, and refrigeration systems; installing solar panels and efficient photovoltaic systems; rehabilitating and renovating old properties, and improving recycling systems. "Green Jobs Corps" teams could be trained to evaluate and advise homeowners and businesses on these and other means of conserving energy.
People can be trained relatively quickly for these sorts of jobs, as well as many infrastructure j0bs generated by the stimulus -- installing new pipes for water and sewage systems, repairing and upgrading equipment, basic construction -- but contractors have to be nudged both to provide the training and to do the hiring.
I'd suggest that all contracts entered into with stimulus funds require contractors to provide at least 20 percent of jobs to the long-term unemployed and to people withincomes at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. And at least 2 percent of project funds should be allocated to such training. In addition, advantage should be taken of buildings trades apprenticeships -- wich must be fully available to women and minorities.
posted by Robert Reich | 1:04 PM
I have no idea if anyone took those suggestions seriously. I'm hoping that Van Jones, in his new post as Green Jobs czar, might do something. It's one of the few encouraging signs I've seen from the Obama administration as of late.
Related: Here's Van Jones recently where he talks about Green Jobs.
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