The AFRO
August 2009
Urban League "State of Black America"
Say Notion of a Post-Racial America is a Myth
By Zenitha Prince
Washington Bureau Chief
CHICAGO (July 30) – Despite the overwhelming election of President Barack Obama, the inherent prejudice against people of color remains alive and well in American society, said a panel of Black intellectuals, critics and activists today."This whole notion of a post-racial society is ridiculous, we need to stop saying it, we need to stop even talking about it," said BET's Jeff Johnson. "Let's be honest about the fact that many of us from all races are racist…. We've lied about progress."The statement was part of an assessment of the "State of Black America," an annual conversation held at the yearly convention of the National Urban League, which produces a report of the same name.Johnson's statement emerged out of a conversation that revolved around – you guessed it – beer.Even here at the Urban League, the media's binge on the Thursday tête-à-tête between President Barack Obama, Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates and Cambridge, Mass. Police Sgt. James Crowley to discuss the officer's arrest of Gates in his own home and the president's resulting criticism continued.But unlike some in the media who saw the meeting as a significant step forward in resolving the issue of racial profiling and the underlying prejudice, many on the panel thought it was a mostly empty gesture."It is a significant brouhaha [but] I'm not sure it gets to what 'ales' (ails) us," commented George Washington University professor Michael Eric Dyson. "The real problem is still on the streets where disproportionate numbers of Black and Latino men and women are subjected to arbitrary forms of police power."Johnson agreed in even starker terms."I'm offended by the discussion at the White House," the political commentator said, "because if they were serious about solving this problem, Gates would be there, Crowley would be there, but so would Tyrone and Shaniqua and other young people who have dealt with this kind of psychosis from the police; they are not represented in this conversation."
Full Story: http://www.afro.com/BREAKINGHEADLINE/tabid/793/Default.aspx
Showing posts with label National Urban League. Show all posts
Showing posts with label National Urban League. Show all posts
Monday, August 3, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
The National Urban League Issues State of Black America 2009 "Message to the President"
The National Urban League
Executive Summary
State of Black America® 2009
Message to the President
With the 2009 Equality Index™Executive SummaryAt the dawn of Barack Obama’s historic presidency, the National Urban League’s The State of Black America 2009 examines the critical challenges —such as unemployment, home foreclosures, education and health care reform — his new administration must address. With a Foreword by Martin Luther King III, this volume – the 33rd edition - features essays and commentaries by leading scholars, analysts and practitioners, as well as ordinary citizens and offers its specific recommendations for effectively tackling these issues
The 2009 Equality Index™
As the Obama Administration ushers in a new era of hope, change, and to some extent, unity for this nation, many are asking whether racial barriers have now been erased in America. Are discrimination, division and inequality antiquated relics of the past? For a quick answer to that question, one has but to review some of the sobering statistics presented in the 2009 Equality Index. Ironically, even as an African-American man holds the highest office the country, African Americans remain twice as likely as whites to be unemployed, three times more likely to live in poverty and more than six times as likely to be incarcerated.The 2009 Equality Index stands at 71.1% compared to a revised 2008 index of 71.5%. Relative to 2008, the change in this year’s overall index was marginal, indicating a general continuation of the status quo. Economics remains the area with the greatest degree of inequality (from 57.6% in 2008 to 57.4% in 2009), followed by social justice (from 62.1% to 60.4%), health (from 73.3% to 74.4%), education (from 78.6% to 78.5%) and civic engagement (from 100.3% to 96.3%).
This year we also offer an analysis of some key economic statistics from the Equality Index – median household income, the poverty rate, the unemployment rate and the homeownership rate -- to compare the relative “success” of the two most recent economic expansions. The analysis shows that while important gains were made, both for blacks and whites, in each of these areas during the 1990s expansion, there was actually a loss of ground in median household income, poverty and homeownership during the 2001-2007 expansion, known as the jobless recovery.Finally, this year’s Equality Index provides an opportunity to examine observed trends in the indices of key indicators from four of the sub-sections of the index – economics, health, education and social justice – between the 2005 and 2009 Equality Index.Results were mixed in economics, with two indices showing a decline (poverty rate – from 42% to 33%; homeownership rate – from 64% to 63%) and two others showing improvement (median household income – from 61% to 65%; unemployment rate – from 43% to 51%).In education, attainment and enrollment data suggest that although achievement in these areas is similar for blacks and whites, over the observed period, there has been a growing, rather than a diminishing, gap.There were some improvements in the health insurance gap overall (2 percentage points) and for children (3 percentage points) with the most ground being made among uninsured African American children who went from almost 14 percent to 12 percent.Under the heading of social justice, the incarceration rate declined for both whites and African Americans, resulting in a 3 percentage point increase in the incarceration rate index. A decline in prisoners as a percentage of arrests for African Americans (-1.7 percentage points) also contributed to a 3 percentage point increase in the index for this variable.
Full Executive Summary: http://www.nul.org/thestateofblackamerica.html
Executive Summary
State of Black America® 2009
Message to the President
With the 2009 Equality Index™Executive SummaryAt the dawn of Barack Obama’s historic presidency, the National Urban League’s The State of Black America 2009 examines the critical challenges —such as unemployment, home foreclosures, education and health care reform — his new administration must address. With a Foreword by Martin Luther King III, this volume – the 33rd edition - features essays and commentaries by leading scholars, analysts and practitioners, as well as ordinary citizens and offers its specific recommendations for effectively tackling these issues
The 2009 Equality Index™
As the Obama Administration ushers in a new era of hope, change, and to some extent, unity for this nation, many are asking whether racial barriers have now been erased in America. Are discrimination, division and inequality antiquated relics of the past? For a quick answer to that question, one has but to review some of the sobering statistics presented in the 2009 Equality Index. Ironically, even as an African-American man holds the highest office the country, African Americans remain twice as likely as whites to be unemployed, three times more likely to live in poverty and more than six times as likely to be incarcerated.The 2009 Equality Index stands at 71.1% compared to a revised 2008 index of 71.5%. Relative to 2008, the change in this year’s overall index was marginal, indicating a general continuation of the status quo. Economics remains the area with the greatest degree of inequality (from 57.6% in 2008 to 57.4% in 2009), followed by social justice (from 62.1% to 60.4%), health (from 73.3% to 74.4%), education (from 78.6% to 78.5%) and civic engagement (from 100.3% to 96.3%).
This year we also offer an analysis of some key economic statistics from the Equality Index – median household income, the poverty rate, the unemployment rate and the homeownership rate -- to compare the relative “success” of the two most recent economic expansions. The analysis shows that while important gains were made, both for blacks and whites, in each of these areas during the 1990s expansion, there was actually a loss of ground in median household income, poverty and homeownership during the 2001-2007 expansion, known as the jobless recovery.Finally, this year’s Equality Index provides an opportunity to examine observed trends in the indices of key indicators from four of the sub-sections of the index – economics, health, education and social justice – between the 2005 and 2009 Equality Index.Results were mixed in economics, with two indices showing a decline (poverty rate – from 42% to 33%; homeownership rate – from 64% to 63%) and two others showing improvement (median household income – from 61% to 65%; unemployment rate – from 43% to 51%).In education, attainment and enrollment data suggest that although achievement in these areas is similar for blacks and whites, over the observed period, there has been a growing, rather than a diminishing, gap.There were some improvements in the health insurance gap overall (2 percentage points) and for children (3 percentage points) with the most ground being made among uninsured African American children who went from almost 14 percent to 12 percent.Under the heading of social justice, the incarceration rate declined for both whites and African Americans, resulting in a 3 percentage point increase in the incarceration rate index. A decline in prisoners as a percentage of arrests for African Americans (-1.7 percentage points) also contributed to a 3 percentage point increase in the index for this variable.
Full Executive Summary: http://www.nul.org/thestateofblackamerica.html
Report sees 'sobering statistics' on racial inequality
CNN.COM
updated 12:25 p.m. EDT, Wed March 25, 2009
Story Highlights
Urban League report: Racial inequality persists despite President Obama's election
Compared with whites, blacks remain twice as likely to be unemployed
Report says blacks are three times more likely to live in poverty
Economics creates the largest split between the races, the report says
(CNN) -- Social and economic gaps between whites and blacks persist in the United States despite an atmosphere that led to the election of President Obama, an Urban League report said.
Blacks remain twice as likely to be unemployed, three times more likely to live in poverty and more than six times as likely to be imprisoned compared with whites, according to the group's annual State of Black America report issued Wednesday.
The report urges Obama to tackle the critical challenges of the times, including unemployment, home foreclosures, education and an overhaul of health care.
"As the Obama administration ushers in a new era of hope, change, and to some extent, unity for this nation, many are asking whether racial barriers have now been erased in America," the report said. "Are discrimination, division and inequality antiquated relics of the past? For a quick answer to that question, one has but to review some of the sobering statistics."
The Urban League's equality index shows the status of blacks at 71 percent that of whites. It said that economics "remains the area with the greatest degree of inequality," with social justice, health and education following.
"The analysis shows that while important gains were made, both for blacks and whites, in each of these areas during the 1990s expansion, there was actually a loss of ground in median household income, poverty and home ownership during the 2001-2007 expansion, known as the jobless recovery," the report's executive summary said.
The report contains essays touching on a variety of themes and issues.
One, from Gwendolyn Grant of the Urban League of Greater Kansas City, warns that the "historic" election of Obama, the nation's first black president, "may cause us to fall prey to a false sense of accomplishment and self-satisfaction, and that apathy and complacency may set in."
"We must use this moment to reinvigorate the movement and re-engage the nation in a struggle to finish the job of equality, liberty and justice for all. So as we move past this historic moment, let us not repeat the history of our greatest popular movements and allow injustice to prevail, simply because a black family lives in the White House."
Full Story: http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/03/25/black.america.report/index.html
updated 12:25 p.m. EDT, Wed March 25, 2009
Story Highlights
Urban League report: Racial inequality persists despite President Obama's election
Compared with whites, blacks remain twice as likely to be unemployed
Report says blacks are three times more likely to live in poverty
Economics creates the largest split between the races, the report says
(CNN) -- Social and economic gaps between whites and blacks persist in the United States despite an atmosphere that led to the election of President Obama, an Urban League report said.
Blacks remain twice as likely to be unemployed, three times more likely to live in poverty and more than six times as likely to be imprisoned compared with whites, according to the group's annual State of Black America report issued Wednesday.
The report urges Obama to tackle the critical challenges of the times, including unemployment, home foreclosures, education and an overhaul of health care.
"As the Obama administration ushers in a new era of hope, change, and to some extent, unity for this nation, many are asking whether racial barriers have now been erased in America," the report said. "Are discrimination, division and inequality antiquated relics of the past? For a quick answer to that question, one has but to review some of the sobering statistics."
The Urban League's equality index shows the status of blacks at 71 percent that of whites. It said that economics "remains the area with the greatest degree of inequality," with social justice, health and education following.
"The analysis shows that while important gains were made, both for blacks and whites, in each of these areas during the 1990s expansion, there was actually a loss of ground in median household income, poverty and home ownership during the 2001-2007 expansion, known as the jobless recovery," the report's executive summary said.
The report contains essays touching on a variety of themes and issues.
One, from Gwendolyn Grant of the Urban League of Greater Kansas City, warns that the "historic" election of Obama, the nation's first black president, "may cause us to fall prey to a false sense of accomplishment and self-satisfaction, and that apathy and complacency may set in."
"We must use this moment to reinvigorate the movement and re-engage the nation in a struggle to finish the job of equality, liberty and justice for all. So as we move past this historic moment, let us not repeat the history of our greatest popular movements and allow injustice to prevail, simply because a black family lives in the White House."
Full Story: http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/03/25/black.america.report/index.html
Friday, March 7, 2008
Report Details Black Women's Challenges
The New York Times
March 5, 2008
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 4:11 a.m. ET
NEW YORK (AP) -- This is a triumphant time for black women: Condoleezza Rice in the global diplomatic spotlight, Michelle Obama captivating campaign crowds as a potential first lady, billionaire Oprah Winfrey playing political kingmaker.
It's also a traumatic time: Rutgers University basketball players disparaged by radio host Don Imus, a black woman kidnapped and tortured by whites in West Virginia, the home-owning dreams of black women disproportionately dashed by foreclosures.
That remarkable mix is the focus of this year's State of Black America report, issued Wednesday by the National Urban League. It features essays looking at the array of challenges faced by African-American women: economic, social, psychological and medical.
''The one thing that is certain is the need to hear and amplify the voices of black women,'' longtime civil rights activist Dorothy Height writes in the foreword. ''Too often, our needs, concerns, struggles, and triumphs are diminished and subordinated to what is believed to be the more pressing concerns of others.''
Julianne Malveaux, the president of Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, N.C., contends in the report's opening essay that the image of black women in popular culture has barely improved in the year since the Imus incident.
White men continue to dominate on TV's Sunday morning news shows, she writes, while ''the gyrating, undulating image of African-American women in rap music videos and, by extension, on cable television is as prevalent as ever.''
The report delves deeply into economics, noting that black women are more likely than white or Hispanic women to be running a household and raising children on their own. According to Malveaux, black women hold more jobs nationwide than black men, yet -- despite their breadwinner roles -- earn less on average, $566 a week compared to $629 for black men.
In an essay about the home loan crisis, Andrea Harris, president of the North Carolina Institute for Minority Economic Development, suggests that black women have suffered disproportionately. Assessing recent federal data on subprime loans, which are a main culprit in the foreclosure epidemic, Harris says black women received far more of these loans in 2006 than white men.
''It is easy to imagine the devastation that is headed toward African-American women and their communities,'' Harris writes.
An essay by Dr. Doris Browne, a public health expert, details the above-average rates of cancer, diabetes and heart disease among black women.
On an upbeat note, former Labor Secretary Alexis Herman notes in her essay that black women are making huge strides as entrepreneurs. The number of businesses owned by them increased by 147 percent between 1997 and 2006, compared to an overall business growth rate of 24 percent, she wrote. [To read the entire article, go to: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Black-Women.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=women+rights&st=nyt&oref=slogin------]
On the Net:
National Urban League: http://www.nul.org//
March 5, 2008
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 4:11 a.m. ET
NEW YORK (AP) -- This is a triumphant time for black women: Condoleezza Rice in the global diplomatic spotlight, Michelle Obama captivating campaign crowds as a potential first lady, billionaire Oprah Winfrey playing political kingmaker.
It's also a traumatic time: Rutgers University basketball players disparaged by radio host Don Imus, a black woman kidnapped and tortured by whites in West Virginia, the home-owning dreams of black women disproportionately dashed by foreclosures.
That remarkable mix is the focus of this year's State of Black America report, issued Wednesday by the National Urban League. It features essays looking at the array of challenges faced by African-American women: economic, social, psychological and medical.
''The one thing that is certain is the need to hear and amplify the voices of black women,'' longtime civil rights activist Dorothy Height writes in the foreword. ''Too often, our needs, concerns, struggles, and triumphs are diminished and subordinated to what is believed to be the more pressing concerns of others.''
Julianne Malveaux, the president of Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, N.C., contends in the report's opening essay that the image of black women in popular culture has barely improved in the year since the Imus incident.
White men continue to dominate on TV's Sunday morning news shows, she writes, while ''the gyrating, undulating image of African-American women in rap music videos and, by extension, on cable television is as prevalent as ever.''
The report delves deeply into economics, noting that black women are more likely than white or Hispanic women to be running a household and raising children on their own. According to Malveaux, black women hold more jobs nationwide than black men, yet -- despite their breadwinner roles -- earn less on average, $566 a week compared to $629 for black men.
In an essay about the home loan crisis, Andrea Harris, president of the North Carolina Institute for Minority Economic Development, suggests that black women have suffered disproportionately. Assessing recent federal data on subprime loans, which are a main culprit in the foreclosure epidemic, Harris says black women received far more of these loans in 2006 than white men.
''It is easy to imagine the devastation that is headed toward African-American women and their communities,'' Harris writes.
An essay by Dr. Doris Browne, a public health expert, details the above-average rates of cancer, diabetes and heart disease among black women.
On an upbeat note, former Labor Secretary Alexis Herman notes in her essay that black women are making huge strides as entrepreneurs. The number of businesses owned by them increased by 147 percent between 1997 and 2006, compared to an overall business growth rate of 24 percent, she wrote. [To read the entire article, go to: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Black-Women.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=women+rights&st=nyt&oref=slogin------]
On the Net:
National Urban League: http://www.nul.org//
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