7 Findings From the State of Black America Report That Prove the Black Community Still Has a Long Way to Go

Education Equality Is Actually Declining Many people were finally convinced that the Black community wasn’t making swift or substantial progress, but the State of Black America report reveals that in some ways the community is being pushed several steps back. When it comes to education, there has been a decline in equality caused from insufficient funding for predominantly Black school districts and inexperienced teachers. The equality index for education in the Black community decreased from 76.7 percent last year to 76.1 percent. Black Students Lagging Behind White Classmates in Reading and Math This is the unfortunate result of inequality in education. When seasoned teachers are only available to children in wealthy districts with predominantly white residents while predominantly Black school districts are plagued with budget cuts and school closings, Black students are left struggling academically. The report revealed that in many major cities, Black students were already far behind their white peers in math and reading proficiency by the fourth grade. In many cases, the gap widened exponentially by the eighth grade. Graduation Gaps Persist President Barack Obama recently praised the increasing rates of high school and college graduates, but that positive trend hasn’t been substantial in the Black community. While there have been improvements in the number of Black students graduating high school, a significant graduation gap still persists. It also revealed that some districts had higher graduation rates for Black students than they did for white students. It turned out, however, that this trend was only true in states that had incredibly small Black populations. Economic Growth Is Incredibly Slow Despite endless reports boasting the Black community’s more than $1 trillion in spending power, economic growth has been incredibly slow. While spending power is a great asset to have, it’s not enough to combat racist practices that prevent Black citizens from obtaining homes or proves to be much of a benefit to the many Black people who are still trapped in poverty. In 2014, the economic equality index was 55.4 percent. A year later, it has only increased to 55.8 percent. Income Inequality Still a Serious Problem There was no severe decline when it came to the income inequality index, but there was also a lack of progress. “The Black-White Income Equality Index rankings were relatively stable between 2014 and 2015,” the report explained of its extensive list of major cities ranked by income inequality. In some communities, Black household income tumbled by more than 5 percent. Even in the best cities for income equality “the median Black household 71 cents for every dollar of median white household income.” Other cities had even lower numbers where the gap equated to Black residents only having 42 cents on the dollar when compared to their white counterparts. Black Citizens Disproportionately Unemployed in Metro Areas Many metro areas have significant numbers of Black residents, but many of these residents are left struggling to find work. The State of Black America report looked at several major metro cities across the nation and found that employment inequality was a problem that plagued many of these cities. “With an index of 65 percent, the smallest Black-White unemployment gap was in the Providence-Warwick, RI-MA metro area where the Black unemployment rate was 13 percent and the white rate was 8.5 percent,” the study reads. These troubling numbers are a part of why economic progress has been slow based on these reports. The Only Aid in Health Inequality is Being Dismantled Obama’s Affordable Health Care plan has been under serious scrutiny. Whether or not it’s good or bad for many Americans is still up for debate, and biased coverage of the plan means many Americans still don’t have the answer nor enough information to really make a thorough analysis of their own. Whatever the case may be, it’s the only piece of legislation that has even slightly helped with health inequality in the Black community. The State of Black America report credited the universal health care plan for the slight improvement in health equality. This means Congress should take one of two courses of action — find a better plan that still helps low-income Americans afford health care or leave the Affordable Care Act in tact until someone has a better idea. Instead, the piece of legislation is being quickly dismantled in a manner that is stripping it of any potential it had to continue providing help with disparities in health care.

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