Black residents’ rights progress threatened in US, report says
WASHINGTON — Black people in the United States have endured considerable injustices and barriers to prosperity and equality throughout US history. In addition, their social, economic and political advances in the 60 years since the enactment of major civil rights legislation have been unsatisfactory, according to a new annual study on racial progress.
The “State of Black America” report by the National Urban League, which has compiled research and analysis on the status of black residents in the US for decades, cites legal challenges to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and a backlash to efforts meant to advance racial progress such as affirmative action and diversity, as well as equity and inclusion policies for decelerating progress.
“Doors have been opened in higher education, government and the private sector in that 60-year period. That’s important,” National Urban League President Marc Morial said in an interview with The Associated Press ahead of the report’s release on Friday.
Despite economic advancement over several decades, the report also highlights numerous barriers to economic advancement. The result, the report’s authors write, is persistent economic and political disparities. The racial income gap has been virtually unchanged for more than 20 years, with black citizens making on average 64 percent of the income of white people, the report notes.
Similarly, the study highlighted barriers in opportunity. For instance, 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 dropping out of primary education has decreased from 13.1 percent in 2000 to 3.9 percent in 2024.
Mixed view
The view of black civic participation is also mixed. While the percentage of black residents registered to vote stood at 69 percent in 2020 compared with 64 percent in 2000, the percentage of black people who voted in 2022 was 42.3 percent, a drop from 54 percent in 2002.
At the current pace, it would take anywhere from one to three centuries for most black people to achieve 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 have increased the number of black leaders in their ranks, such efforts are being limited as diversity and inclusion initiatives face court challenges, public backlash from conservative activists and restrictions by some state and local Republican lawmakers.
“Notwithstanding the effort to move forward, there’s always been a movement of resistance to that progress, and that resistance has played a role in decelerating the progress that we need to make on the journey to parity. We see it being played out right now,” Morial said in reference to issues such as political gerrymandering, bookbanning in schools and attacks on diversity policies.
The Urban League’s study also evaluates US President Joe Biden’s performance in office and finds his administration’s efforts fall short of promises made to black communities.
“We are in a world of deep attack by an ideological extreme that wants to erase so 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.