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Black’s Access To Justice, Employment And Education Still Not On Par with Whites, New Urban League Report Says
African-Americans are doing better than ever – but many are still in crisis when it comes to unemployment, education and criminal justice.
That’s according to the National Urban League’s 2015 State of Black America report, which measured African-Americans “equality index,” or access to education, employment, health and social justice compared to whites.
It found that overall, blacks have attained 72.2 percent of the equality that whites enjoy – the highest percentage ever, according to the report.
But blacks still lag behind whites in social justice, and there is still an employment gap between black and white people, as well as in education.
“The index shows a slight increase in overall status, but it also shows that from a 10 year horizon, the gaps have gotten wider,” Morial told BOSSIP.
Blacks are getting about half, or 55 percent, of economic equality compared to whites. For example, in seven U.S. cities – including Detroit, Toledo, Chicago and Cleveland – the black unemployment rate was more than 20 percent. The unemployment rate for whites in those cities was less than eight percent.
When it came to education, African-Americans have a 76 percent equality index when measured against their white peers.
“These achievement gaps exist across the nation,” Morial said. “Even though high school graduation rates are up and college enrollment is up.”
The social justice index—which measures blacks access criminal justice, the prison system and public safety compared to whites—rose to 60.6 percent from 56 percent in 2014, although offset by events like the deaths of Eric Garner in New York City and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.
The numbers rose because there are less black people who are victims of crime, and there are less high-school students carrying weapons.
“Even though the social justice numbers moved, the gap is still significant,” Morial said.
Solutions, like raising the minimum wage, shoring up the country’s infrastructure and passing a youth employment bill would help level the playing field, Morial said.
“We believe that the government should put people to work,” Morial told BOSSIP. “Roosevelt did it. Nixon did it. The recession is still going on in many parts of our country.”
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