Hard times being Black? Tell you story to the New York Times

Michael Luo who is a national correspondent for the New York Times is doing a national story on the economy and the recession, focusing on the lives of regular people.

He is working on a story right now in which he explores unemployment in this recession among African Americans with college degrees, especially African American men. There's been some attention (there should be more) given to how unemployment has skyrocketed in this downturn among African Americans. But while examining the numbers he was struck especially by how there's such a great disparity with whites even among those with college degrees. The gap is actually worse among those with college degrees than without. It shows that education alone is not the issue. There's clearly something deeper going on involving race and the job market, even in this age in which we have an African American president. That issue deserves to be explored.

Unaware to what degree members of the black alumni network have experienced the phenomenon. Micheal is wondering if some of those who are unemployed or have been recently might be willing to share their experiences and what they've encountered in the job market.

If you want to know more about Micheal's background, here's a link to his bio and story archive:

http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/l/michael_luo/index.html

His number is 212.556.7308 and email is luo@nytimes.com.

Please email or call if you're willing to share about your experience. Also, feel free to forward the note around, because he's looking to cast his net far and wide. A response in the next few days would be ideal.


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