The conditions for Blacks in the U.S. have improved slightly over the years, but parity with white Americans has yet to be reached, according to 2024 State of Black America report from the National Urban League (NUL).
Marc Morial
This 48th annual edition of the report carries a special focus on the 60-year anniversary of the passing of the historic Civil Rights Act of 1964, a landmark piece of legislation combatting discrimination in America.
Centering the importance of the Civil Rights Act is a good move, given Republicans’ apparent desire to overturn the legislation once they are in power, said Dr. Alvin Tillery, Jr., director of the Center for the Study of Diversity and Democracy at Northwestern University.
“All of these attacks on DEI, what they are is just kind of conditioning white people and the unaware to believe that equity is optional, which it should not be, according to the 14th Amendment,” said Tillery who is scheduled to be a panelist on a DEI panel slated to take place next month at Reverend Al Sharpton's National Action Network Convention in New York City. “If you can convince people to do that, then convincing them that you don't need a law promoting equity for people of color is a very easy thing to do.”
The report outlines a handful of legal cases in recent years that pose a threat to the principles and statutes maintained by the Civil Rights Act. These includes an attempt in the state of Arizona to reject voter registration forms on the basis of errors or omissions. The bill was recently deemed in violation of federal law.
One of the other legislative changes the report draws attention to is the drastic rejection of affirmative action by the U.S. Supreme Court last summer. The practice has historically been employed to increase the presence of underrepresented minority students at U.S. colleges.
To get rid of affirmative action amounts to “setting back the hands of time,” said Dr. Donna Y. Ford, Distinguished Professor of Education and Human Ecology at the Ohio State University.
