WASHINGTON (AP) — Black members of Congress pressed President Barack Obama Thursday for a greater focus on creating jobs in urban areas where unemployment is often highest. Obama said he was trying to fix the economy as a whole, said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.
The exchange happened at the first meeting between Obama and the full Black Caucus since Obama became president. It follows longstanding complaints from some in the African-American community that the nation's first black president hasn't done more to help minority communities on jobs and other issues.
Cleaver told reporters at the White House that lawmakers in the group — which has about 40 members, all but one of them Democrats — highlighted to the president the difficulties of communities beset by high unemployment and stressed the need to address it, especially with summer approaching and teens looking for jobs. The overall unemployment rate is 9 percent but it's 16.1 percent among blacks.
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