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Black Americans still lag behind white Americans regarding racial equality across economics, employment, education, health, housing, social justice and civic participation. A new report shows black people get only 73.9 percent of what their white counterparts enjoy.
The 2022 Equality Index of Black America only enjoys an improvement of 0.2 percentage points from the revised 2020 index of 73.7 percent, according to the annual "State of Black America" report released on Tuesday by the National Urban League, a civil rights organization founded in 1910 and headquartered in New York City.
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The stagnation in the Equality Index between 2020 and 2022 reflects gains in the economic area (from 59.2 percent to 62.1 percent) that are nearly offset by declines in education (from 77.3 percent to 74.5 percent) and civic engagement (from 100 percent to 98.9 percent), said the report.
There were modest improvements in the social justice index (from 57.46 percent to 57.85 percent). Social justice remains the area where the researchers observe the least equality between Blacks and Whites, and civic engagement is the area with the highest equality. The report added that health equality was essentially unchanged (from 83.8 percent to 84 percent).
"Whites are used as the benchmark because the history of race in America has created advantages for whites that continue to persist in many of the outcomes being measured," explained the report.
"The 2022 Equality Index captures areas of our society where Black Americans are thriving at the top of this decade, and areas where we are vulnerable to falling behind in our pursuit of an equitable experience in America," said researchers in the report, adding that they hope "this can serve as a tool for elected representatives and civil rights leaders to advocate for policies that address system racism and gaps in our political, economic, social justice, education, and healthcare systems."
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