On jobs and safety net, lawmakers must focus on hard-hit minorities - CNN.com

On jobs and safety net, lawmakers must focus on hard-hit minorities - CNN.com: Last month, the Center for American Progress highlighted the stark and disproportionate impact of the ongoing jobs crisis on people of color, with unemployment among blacks reaching more than 16%, compared with more than 11% for Latinos and more than 8% for whites.

Simultaneously, poverty rates in communities of color remain at an all-time high, especially among children. More than one third of today's African-American and Latino youth under the age of 18 are growing up in poverty.

When combined with the projected loss of more than a quarter of $1 trillion in black and Latino wealth between 2009 and 2012 due to the foreclosure crisis, what we're left with is an entire generation of Americans living without the security of a decent living wage, quality education, affordable health care or home ownership.