2015 Report

The 2015 Equality Index of the National Urban League's "State of Black America" report, under the theme "Save Our Cities: Education, Jobs + Justice," offers an in-depth analysis of the critical issues confronting Black America. This introduction sets the stage for a comprehensive exploration of the interconnectedness of education, employment, and justice in achieving racial equality. It highlights the significance of the Equality Index 2015, a key component of the report, which provides a quantitative analysis of the disparities between Black and White Americans across these sectors. 
The summary underscores the urgency of addressing systemic challenges, including law enforcement accountability, voter rights, economic inequality, and educational gaps. It emphasizes the need for strategic policies and collaborative efforts to dismantle these barriers and foster a more equitable society. This introduction not only reflects on the state of Black America in 2015 but also serves as a call to action, advocating for sustained commitment to justice and equality.

2015 release

Equality Index

As the National Urban League continues to press the case for closing the divide in economic opportunity, education, health, social justice and civic engagement, the 2015 National Urban League Equality Index™ is the eleventh edition of this critical quantitative tool for tracking Black–White racial equality in America and the sixth edition of the Hispanic–White Index.

This year’s Equality Index also includes the second installment of rankings of Black–White and Hispanic–White unemployment and income equality for about 70 metropolitan statistical areas (“metro areas” or “metros”) in America.1 New to the 2015 Equality Index is a special feature on state-level racial and ethnic disparities in K–12 education that documents the extent of Black–White and Hispanic–White achievement gaps in states across the country. The State Education Index also includes supporting data on some of the factors that contribute to narrowing or widening these gaps….

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Contributed by -

Secretary Jennifer Granholm

Secretary U.S. Department of Energy

Every day we are reminded that climate change is the single greatest threat facing humanity. While some choose to see this as a problem for future generations, the impacts of the climate crisis are already piling up for America's low-income families and people of color.

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Contributed by -

Angela Tuck

SENIOR EDITOR OF THE INTELLIGENCE PROJECT SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise

-      Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
 

When Pastor Eric S.C. Manning heard there had been a shooting at Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., one of his first thoughts was of his friend, Rev. Clementa Pinckney.

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Thomas Beauford

PRESIDENT BUFFALO URBAN LEAGUE

An act of domestic terrorism forever changed our community on May 14th, 2022. A shooter opened fire at a supermarket in a predominately Black neighborhood several hours from where he lived. This horrific attack killed ten individuals, wounded three, injured several others, and traumatized our community and the world. This heinous event reminded us that hate-fueled violence still exists in our society, and extremists are here to destroy anything that is just or equal.

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Bishop Garrison

FORMER SENIOR ADVISOR TO THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE AND FELLOW NATIONAL SECURITY INSTITUTION, GEORGE MASON SCHOOL OF LAW

Rhetoric doesn’t fight wars, but it does start them. The world has witnessed this play out in real-time during the heinous Russian invasion of Ukraine, as Nazism found its way into the narrative.

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Marc Morial

PRESIDENT & CEO NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE

At least three members of the current U.S. Congress have promoted a conspiracy theory centered on a cabal of Satan-worshiping, cannibalistic, child abusers that includes Democratic politicians, Hollywood actors and business tycoons.

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Dr. Robert Bullard

PROFESSOR OF URBAN PLANNING & ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY, DIRECTOR OF THE BULLARD CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND CLIMATE JUSTICE TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY

Environmental justice embraces the principle that all people and communities are entitled to equal protection of environmental, health, employment, education, housing, transportation, energy, and civil rights laws. This principle was largely absent from the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970 where the modern environmental movement was born. Environmental justice languished during the “Dark Ages” of the 1970s and early 1980s.

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Maya Henson Carey

RESEARCH ANALYST SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER

In the nation's collective memory of the days following the 1954 landmark—unanimous—U.S. Supreme Court Brown v. Board of Education decision outlawing segregation in public schools, a rallying cry for parental rights echoes.

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Marc H. Morial

PRESIDENT & CEO NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE

Transitioning the U.S. economy to renewable energy is perhaps the greatest wealth-creation opportunity since the Industrial Revolution. Over the next two decades, American companies plan to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in new wind, solar, and battery storage projects to replace aging, expensive, and heavily polluting fossil fuel plants, and provide power for an increasingly electrified economy with a growing fleet of electric vehicles.  

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Contributed by -

SUSAN CORKE

DIRECTOR SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER, INTELLIGENCE PROJECT

MICHAEL LIEBERMAN

SENIOR POLICY COUNSEL SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER

On May 14, 2022, a white supremacist attacked and killed 10 people, all of them Black, at Topps Supermarket in Buffalo, New York. From our reporting it was clear that the shooter became radicalized online and was inspired by other acts of white supremacist violence and by the January 6 insurrection.

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On January 20, 2021, President Biden signed Executive Order 13985, Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government.

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Project CODE's (Collaborative Organizations to End Domestic Extremism) partners congratulate the National Urban League's legacy of releasing The State of Black America report since 1976 and bringing prescient issues to the public square!

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We stand at a pivotal moment in American history to make transformational impacts that will accelerate the clean energy transition, mitigate the impacts of climate change, and deliver economic-focused restorative justice to Black, Brown, and underserved communities.  These communities have been disproportionately impacted by our nation’s energy system for decades and remain the most concerned about the climate imperative.

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