In Mason City, Iowa, a roadside billboard juxtaposed the images of President Obama, Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Lenin in an attempt to draw links between what the North Iowa Tea Party believed to be similarities in the socialist agendas of the three leaders. The image drew scathing criticism from across the political spectrum, and the party asked for the billboard to be covered with a public service announcement yesterday.

The United States' average unemployment rate is 10.2%. But that average conceals a wide range of very real statistics for different groups of people currently out of work. For African Americans, joblessness rates are much higher than the average – more than 15% nationwide. This week, the N.A.A.C.P. and a host of other groups called on President Obama to do more to create jobs. We speak with Hilary Shelton, senior vice president for advocacy and policy for the N.A.A.C.P., and Amanda Cox, a graphics editor at The New York Times, whose recent project explored U.S. unemployment data by race, gender, age and education levels. We also speak with Takeaway listener Francine Morin, who rang us some months ago on her way to a job interview and now, at last, has a job.

Since the health care debate began, advocacy groups, including the NAACP and the National Council of La Raza, have been arguing for a public option and for health care that's affordable for all their members. But will they be successful in using a civil rights organizing platform to affect the health care debate? For a primer on whether or not affordable health care can be considered a fundamental human right, we turn to Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. We also hear from Hilary Shelton, the NAACP's senior vice president for advocacy and policy and director of its Washington bureau. And we talk to Jennifer Ng’andu, deputy director of health policy at the National Council of La Raza.

We talk with Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP Washington Bureau and Emily Rooney, host of WGBH's Greater Boston. They tell us about the the impact of Senator Kennedy's endorsement of Barack Obama's presidential bid during the campaign.