Public policy for the Black community: Strategies and perspectives

This chapter provides an insight into the position of the Black community in the American overall progress and its public policy. The main question that needs to be answered is to define what progress means for the Black Americans before one can go into in depth of specifying different means of achieving that level of progress. A theoretical framework s devised in the first section of the book including this chapter to provide an overview of what would progress actually in the eyes of the black community and what would be the difference that would bring into the lives of their lives. The framework provides a key to the assessment of the usefulness of the American public policy that is directed at its minority racial and ethnic groups.

The black community has a great reliance on the public sector. They depend on the local, state or federal government in one way or the other. They may be directly taking advantage of the facilities or social services provided by the government. They are also observed to be employed in the government sector. The proportion of black community to be employed in public sector is much higher than the private sector in many states. This fact implies that the government has a greater role in the welfare of the black community while safeguarding their interests in devising a public policy that directly or indirectly effects their lives. the over dependence of black community in  general and the urban black community in particular on the public sector for jobs and welfare has made the community to comprise of  a “public sector community”.

The dependent of the black community on the jobs in the public sector has its own implications. The jobs in the public sector are graded lower in respect to their productivity and their standing in the competitive market. This directly effects the overall condition of the black community as they are not exposed to the creativity and productivity that the private sector inherits thus their overall progress is affected. There is a greater need for the government to empower the black community with the help of the public policy so that they can find jobs in the private sector without any threat of a discrimination.

A higher voting trend has been observed among the public sector employees of the black community as compared to other Black Americans. It indicates that those who are dependent on the public sector for the provision of jobs are more politically active that those who are not. But this statement also implies that the political participation of the black community is dependent on their economics rather than some political ideology.

The educational opportunities available to the black community have been controversial over the year. If we are able to properly assess the current standing of the black community on their access to an equal opportunity to a quality education, we may be able to assess the racial public policy by the government on different levels. It has been observed that the black community does not have access to a quality education or they face discrimination when it comes to establishing equality in their rights to quality education. This fact has greater future implications for the black community on individual and collective levels. This would mean that the number of black people who will be dependent on the welfares system of the country will be even higher in the future as compared to its current status.

When the government is devising a public policy, it should be clear about what is its plan to implement an educational policy that will insure that there is an equal opportunity for all the members of the society. The American policy makers need to be able to change the direction that is inherited by the American social system which is not yet capable to offer equal educational opportunities for all.