Al Jazeera’s Fault Lines presenter Avi Lewis hosts a debate about race & the US recession with Jesse Jackson of the Rainbow Coalition; Rosa Clemente, an activist and former Green Party Vice Presidential candidate; Linda Chávez, director of the conservative Center for Equal Opportunity and the Reverend Greylan Hagler of the United Church of Christ.

If we are living through a Great Recession, for people of color it is a quiet depression. Among whites with a college degree, the unemployment rate as of September 2009 is 4.0 percent. For blacks with a college degree, the unemployment rate is nearly twice as high at 7.2 percent. Hispanics fare slightly better. The unemployment rate for Hispanics with a college degree 5.6 percent.

The unemployment rate is higher among men than among women. For black men, 25 and over and at all education levels, the unemployment rate is 16.1 percent while for black women, 25 and over and at all education levels, the unemployment rate is 11.0 percent. For black men and women ages 15 to 24 without a high school degree the unemployment rate is a staggering 42.7 percent. The New York Times has an interactive feature where you can find the unemployment rate by various demographics.

Below the fold is a breakout of unemployment data (U3) by demographic groups.

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Two offshore investment funds are taking the poverty-stricken African state of Liberia to London’s High Court, over an unpaid debt that dates back to the 1970s. The Caribbean-based companies, described as “vulture funds” want more than $20m.

But Liberia says it can’t afford to pay the debt, and accuses the firms of profiting from poverty.

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