The National Urban League released its annual report a couple of weeks ago, The State of Black America 2007: Portrait of the Black Male.
You can find the Executive Summary at http://www.nul.org/. You can purchase a copy from their website or via Amazon.com right here on my page (see thumbnail in column to the right that benefits CDM).
The Urban League does the nation a service every year by tracking and evaluating the progress, or lack thereof, among African Americans, as compared to whites, along six "weighted index values," including Total Equality, Economic, Health, Education, Social Justice, and Civic Engagement.
The 2007 report notes that African Americans status stands at 73.3% of whites status in the cumulative index. Economically they are doing 57% as well as whites; 78% as well in terms of health; 79% as well in the area of education; 66% in overall social justice concerns and 105% in the arena of civic engagement, the one category in which they out distance the white experience in America today.
Here are some of the noteworthy facts of life for black Americas in 2007:
++African American men are more than twice as likely to be unemployed as white males (9.5% compared to 4% for whites).
++Among young men (20 to 24-years-old) 76.5 of whites were employed, compared to 68.8% of blacks.
++For blacks over 25-years-old with less than a high school education 60% are unemployed, as compared to 53% of whites.
++African American men earn only 75% as much as their white counterparts.
++For African Americans under 18-years-old, 33.5% live in poverty, compared to 10% of white youths.
++Among black Americans, 47.9% own their homes, whereas 75.8% of whites own homes. In addition, blacks are three times more likely to obtain high-priced mortgages than whites.
++Black men are more than 7 times more likely to be incarcerated than white men.
Average jail sentences for African American males are 10 months longer than for white men.
++Young black men between 15 and 34-years-old are nine times more likely to die of homicide than white men the same age and they are almost seven times as likely to contract HIV/AIDS.
++Black children do well in early childhood--over two-thirds are enrolled in early childhood education programs, such as Head Start, compared to 64% of white children. However, black children, especially males, begin to drop out in middle school and high school at alarming rates.
++Twenty-one percent of teachers in majority black schools had less than three years experience, compared to 10 percent in majority white schools.
++Dollars spent per black student was 82% of those spent per white student.
The Urban League report goes on to suggest a number of steps to improve the lives of African Americans, and black males in particular. The report would be well worth reading.
There is much to do for all of us who seek a nation of opportunity and equal access for everyone.
Thanks to the National Urban League for this important, ongoing research.
6 comments:
The other day Katie Couric interviewed the President and CEO of The National Urban League, Marc Morial, about the State of Black America, the victim and the enabler, so to speak. Of his 5 recommendations, 4 involved throwing more tax dollars at the deep rooted social and generational problems. Only one was free--more parental involvement.
Government has never solved poverty and never will.
Larry, Walter Taylor here. I appreciate you highlighting the Urban League report and its findings. When I reflect on the numbers presented in the report I readily see that there are areas that African-Americans have made tremendous progress from 10 to 20 years ago. I also see that there are areas that are quite alarming especially the statistic that spoke about the incarceration rate and high school and middle school drop-out rate among African-American males. The issue of race is a very touchy subject—it always has been and I don’t see this changing anytime in the future. I would like to suggest one component of our discussion to be the idea that though these are stats the reflect the state of “Black America” that this is not a problem for only Black America to solve. Racial disparity is as American as the U.S. pledge of Allegiance. These stats don’t simply reflect problems that the African-American community has, it reflects a problem that America has. This point is not to assign blame on anyone, it is simply to say that when any segment of American society lags behind, it will inevitably affect the rest of American society. The problem is a problem for Black America true. But it is equally true that the problem is a problem for America as “one Nation under God.” Wise leaders have always understood this to be the case.
Walter, thanks for your post.
Of course, I agree completely with your assessment. If more of us saw it this way, we would be making more progress as a nation for all of our people.
Chris,
Thanks for your post as well.
Of course, you are wrong about the impact of government policy on poverty. In the mid-1960s, thanks to changes in federal policy, the poverty rate dropped by 19% and by even more among the elderly thanks to the development of Medicare and other programs of beneficial uplift. Then, after WWII, the GI Bill created a middle class in this nation. I could go back to the FDR era, but you get my drift.
Oppose government engagement if you will. But, please, don't ignore or distort historical fact.
Statistics are all rather confusing. Wikipedia states that the poverty rate when the war on poverty was announced was around 19%. In the years following, it dropped to 11.1% and has remained between 11-15% since. This is after 9 TRILLION dollars was spent on dozens of programs.
Child poverty has gone from 20.7%in 1965 to 19.8% in 1996, the last year before welfare reform. I fear we are doing something wrong.
It seems to me if it dropped 19% and it started out at 19%, then the poverty rate should have been zero. Where am I wrong?
percent of a percent
19% of 19% means it would have gone from 19% to 14% (rough approximation)
Ha! Did I tell you I wasn't a math major?
Still, for 9 trillion dollars.....
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