Independent Journal Review, 07/23/13 – Conservatives have noted with great displeasure that the African-American community is imploding while their supposed leaders like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson blame whitey racism instead of tackling the real problems that hold them back from the American Dream. More recently, the death of Trayvon Martin has given occasion for professional race-baiters to blame creepy ass crackas, and ignore the big issues.

Here are ten of the worst threats to the African-American community that these pathetic “leaders” won’t talk about:

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THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE

In June, the unemployment rate for African-Americans rose from 13.5% to 13.7%, while the national unemployment is nearly half that rate.

THE POVERTY RATE

More than a quarter (28.1%) of African Americans live in poverty, as of 2011. Meanwhile, the US poverty rate was nearly half that, at 15.1%, with 9.9% of whites living in poverty.

SINGLE PARENT FAMILIES

While the rate of single parent families in America is at 25%, among African-Americans it’s a devastating 72%.

AIDS/HIV

African-Americans comprise half of those infected with HIV, which works out to about one in 80, of infections that are known. For blacks between 19 and 44 years of age, it’s the primary killer.

OBESITY RATES

African-American males don’t have worse rates than non-Hispanic whites, but African-American women are 70% more likely than white women to be obese (from 2010).

INFANT MORTALITY

Owing to many causes, including lack of prenatal care, African-Americans have 2.3 times the infant mortality rate that non-Hispanic whites do.

HOMICIDE RATE

About 93% of African-American murders are committed by other African-Americans, and are 6.7 times more likely to be murdered than non-Blacks in America.

TEEN PREGNANCY

Almost half (48%) of African-American girls get pregnant before the age of 20, nearly twice the national average.

DRUG USE

African-American adults are 20% more likely than the national average to have used elicit drugs, and marijuana use among adolescents has increased 27% from 5.9% in 2008 to 7.5% in 2010.

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

There is a significant achievement gap between African American males and white males to such an extent that the black male drop-out rate is about twice as high as that among white males.

All of these statistics show a community in freefall. While many indicators have improved, they’re mostly mirrored by improvement in the overall population, and gains still lag for African-Americans. Can all this be laid at the feet of racism, when we’ve made such incredible strides in civil liberties for more than a century?

One thing is clear – these problems won’t be solved by leaders that grow wealthy while peddling racial division and victim mentality.