Black Americans’ significant economic and civil rights progress threatened, report says
WASHINGTON — Black Americans have faced significant injustices and barriers to prosperity and equality throughout U.S. history. But their social, economic and political progress in the six decades since the passage of major civil rights legislation has been unsatisfactory, a new annual survey of racial progress shows.
The National Urban League’s “State of Black America” report, which has compiled decades of research and analysis on the status of Black Americans in the U.S., cites legal challenges to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and opposition to efforts intended to to promote racial discrimination. progress such as affirmative action and diversity, equality and inclusion policies to slow progress.
“During that sixty-year period, doors have opened in higher education, government and the private sector. This is important. Every measure shows progress,” Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, said in an interview with The Associated Press ahead of the report’s release Friday.
“But I would have thought we would have been much further along than we were in 2024 in terms of achieving a sense of equality in America,” Morial said.
Despite significant economic progress over decades, the report also points to numerous barriers to economic progress. The result, the report’s authors write, is persistent economic and political disparities. The racial income gap has been virtually unchanged for more than two decades, with Black Americans earning an average of 64% of the income of white people, the report said.
Likewise, the research revealed barriers to opportunity. For example, black students are still more likely than their white counterparts to have uncertified and inexperienced teachers. At the same time, the number of black students leaving primary education has fallen from 13.1% in 2000 to 3.9% in 2024.
Views on black civic participation are also mixed. While the percentage of Black Americans registered to vote in 2020 was 69%, up from 64% in 2000, the percentage of Black people who voted in 2022 was 42.3%, down from the 54% who voted in 2002 voted.
At the current rate, it would take one to three centuries for most Black Americans to reach parity with their white peers, depending on their region of the country, according to a February study by the McKinsey Institute for Black Economic Mobility.
And while major institutions, including top corporations, governments, and media outlets have increased the number of Black leaders in their ranks, such efforts have been limited as diversity and inclusion initiatives face legal challenges, public resistance from conservative activists, and restrictions by some state governments. and local Republicans. legislators.
“Despite the efforts to move forward, there has always been a movement of resistance to that progress and that resistance has played a role in slowing down the progress we need to make on the journey to equality. We see it being played out now,” Morial said regarding issues such as political gerrymandering, book bans in schools and attacks on diversity policies.
Morial pointed to the current U.S. Supreme Court, which he said has “shown hostility to the tools necessary to correct the long history of racial discrimination.”
The Urban League’s research also evaluates President Joe Biden’s performance in office and finds that his administration’s efforts are falling short of promises made to Black Americans, even as the president faces significant opposition from Republican lawmakers and some in his own party.
However, the report broadly approves of Biden’s policy agenda. A record-low black unemployment rate, as well as efforts to expand access to health care and affordable housing for black Americans, are signs of progress, the authors wrote.
Still, the “political opposition” blocking the implementation of policies that Black Americans consider top priorities, such as voting rights and police reform, is a major turnoff.
“We are in a world of pervasive attacks by an ideological extreme that wants to erase much of the civil rights movement,” said Maya Wiley, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and co-author of the study.
Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Justice Department, said federal watchdogs stand ready to ensure compliance with the nation’s civil rights laws.
“We’ve been working across the country to reach underserved communities so we understand the issues that communities face,” Clarke said in an interview with the AP. “Our country thrives when everyone has a voice in our democracy and we remain vigilant and work to combat voting discrimination and voter suppression wherever it emerges.”
On the eve of the Bloody Sunday anniversary events commemorating the voting rights marches in Selma, Alabama this weekend, Morial called on federal officials to increase their efforts to protect civil rights and to better support sociopolitical progress in the Black community .
“This moment reminds us of our obligation to confront voter suppression and the continued threats we see when it comes to access to the ballot box,” he said.
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Matt Brown is a member of AP’s Race and Ethnicity team. Follow him on social media.
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