Plot twists that may surprise you
Dear Leading Ladies,
This may not be on your Spring reading list, but it’s worth at least a few minutes of our time. The National Urban League’s 2024 report on the state of Black America focuses on The Civil Rights Act of 1964, 60 years later.
Urban League
The Urban League was founded in 1910 as a civil rights and urban advocacy organization. As described on their website, the Urban League is “[d]riven to secure economic self-reliance, parity, power and justice for our nation’s marginalized populations,” working “toward economic empowerment and the elevation of the standard of living in historically underserved urban communities.” In addition to their direct service programs, the Urban League conducts public policy research and advocacy work. “The State of Black America 2024” comes under that rubric.
This report is the 48th edition and it seemed to the Urban League leadership a good time to reflect on the 1964 Civil Rights Act – what it promised, what it has achieved, what still needs to improve, and what is currently at risk. It is necessary to understand that the Civil Rights Act was the first time the US government addressed the unequal promise of the Declaration of Independence by “banning discrimination in the workplace, in our housing system, and in programs funded by the government, and marked the death of the Jim Crow South.”
Not a big enough piece of the pie
One of the most important measures of progress – and of the need for improvement – is the Equality Index. Looking at economics, health, education, social justice, and civic engagement, the Urban League concluded that the 2024 Equality Index of Black America is 75.7%. In other words, “Rather than having a whole pie (100%), which would mean full equality with whites in 2024, African Americans are missing about 24% of the pie.” It is worth noting that the Equality Index was 69.3% in 2000, and 73.9% in 2022, so there has been little positive change in the last two decades.
Progress within different categories varies, of course. Change in some areas is encouraging, in other areas, discouraging. For example, while there has been a significant dip since 2000 in Black youth dropping out of high school (13.1% to 3.9%), African American kids are still more likely to attend schools with less qualified and less experienced teachers.
In health care, the law calls for federally funded hospitals to treat all people, whatever their economic means. This has helped raise the health sub-index for Blacks to 88.6, but that is only slightly higher than it was in 2000. Consider it moderately good news, news that is countered by the fact that Blacks still have a life expectancy lower than whites by almost 5-½ years.
Incarceration and murder rates have seen encouraging changes. The incarceration rate for Blacks gave them an index of 13% in 2000; it is now 29%. That means that Blacks are still far more likely to be incarcerated than white people, but it’s a lot better than it was in 2000. Remember we are aiming for 100% equity, so 29% is better than 13%. Put another way, in 2024 “fewer Black prisoners are incarcerated for every white prisoner” than in 2000, but still far too many.
In the workplace, things are clearly moving in the wrong direction. “In 2000, Black men earned 75 cents for every dollar earned by a white man; by 2024, this figure had decreased to 71 cents. Similarly Black women made 84 cents for every dollar earned by a white woman in 2024, slightly less than the 86 cents per dollar earned in 2000.”
Promises kept and lost
Marc H. Morial, president of the Urban League, points out that President Lyndon Johnson promised “a more abiding commitment to freedom, a more constant pursuit of justice, and a deeper respect for human dignity” in the Civil Rights Law of 1964. What Morial sees, however, is that “abiding commitment to freedom” is “undermined by discriminatory voter ID laws, gerrymandering, the shuttering of polling places in predominantly Black neighborhoods, limits on early voting, and reckless purging of voter rolls.” The pursuit of justice “is derailed by persistent racism in policing and sentencing, the dismantling of diversity and inclusion policies in employment and education, and lack of access to financial services, housing, and healthcare.” Respect for human dignity is questionable when we witness “an unraveling social safety net, a poverty-level federal minimum wage, and other economic policies that uplift the wealthy at the expense of working families.”
The report concludes that “the Civil Rights Act of 1964 has been chipping away at structural racism, but gaps still remain. How long will Black Americans wait until the Equality Index is 1?”
The Three-fifths Compromise of 1787 marked the first time African Americans were considered Americans at all, according to report contributor Dr. Rhonda Vonshay Sharpe, the president and founder of the Women's Institute for Science, Equity, and Race. Yet, the Compromise only counted each Black as 60% of a person for taxation and state representation. Parity was clearly not a goal when each Black was considered only a little more than half a person.
So, yes, there has been progress in achieving equality. But hold the balloons and champagne. There’s too much work to do first.
Vote for, and donate to, the candidates who support policies and legislation that ensure roads to home ownership, quality education, healthcare, and living wages for all Americans. They can change lives. But only if they are in positions of power.
Best,
Therese (she/her/hers)
Judy (she/her/hers)
Didi (she/her/hers)
Leading Ladies Executive Team