The leader of the National Urban League shared insights about how to fight racial injustices in healthcare, jobs and social justice in a livestream with U.S. News.
Though the coronavirus pandemic has engulfed the country in public health dangers and economic chaos, Black Americans are facing particularly crude crises. In a feeling,"Black America faces three pandemics" from the catastrophic health effects of COVID-19, important financial distress, and issues related to policing and criminal justice, said Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League.
Morial discussed the way the coronavirus pandemic along with also the killing of George Floyd exposed and intensified lots of the longstanding racial inequities and systemic racism in many sectors of society. His words have been echoed in the recently released"State of Black America" report, an yearly publication from the National Urban League that tracks data on the well-being of the Black community in the USA.
Improvements have been created during time, Morial mentioned Thursday, like increases in high school graduation and college matriculation rates among senior students, as well as increases in the number of Black elected officials in the national and local levels. But Black Americans continue to be disproportionately affected by systemic racism at work, the health care system and other regions.
"Black Americans are similar to the caboose on the train," Morial said. "When the train goes faster, you are going to go faster, but you are going to still be the caboose."
For example, Black Americans are currently"twice as likely to host the coronavirus and nearly two times as likely to die in COVID-19 as whites," according to the National Urban League report. Morial noted that when the unemployment rate drops, the rate for Black Americans is"still relatively twice as high as the white rate."
Morial also discussed how while America may be on the cusp of an economic downturn, Black communities have yet to completely recover from the Great Recession of 2007-2009. 1 example: almost five decades worth of climbing Black homeownership have been eroded over the last 15 decades, Morial said, and the average income of Black families have yet to return to pre-recession levels.
Morial said that the present administration has done little to enforce the rules intended to remedy ongoing inequities, like the Fair Housing Act or the Voting Rights Act. He added that having honest discussions about racial wealth and income gaps is essential to understanding the nuances of the gaps, in addition to the advantages to closing them for the entire market.
"We are not in a zero-sum match," Morial said. "When we are attempting to build a larger market, a stronger economy... we need men and women in the lower half, we want men and women in the African American and Latino communities, to get a greater share of the expansion."
Morial compared the necessity to address economic inequalities and the persistence of racism to how technological advances have transformed the workplace across industries over recent years. Just as employers have had to adapt to changes in technologies to compete and survive, Morial said that onboarding more diverse voices and backgrounds is vital for businesses and organizations.
"You have got to be able to comprehend it and you have got to have the ability to fulfill it," Morial said. "And should you meet it, your company will be successful and much more powerful later on."
The influence of continuing protests throughout the nation, which Morial described as"historic in their own breadth, diversity and spontaneity," can also be crucial.
"America is a country that has always been in transformation, and we're now in a period of transformation by a racial justice along with also a diversity and inclusion perspective," Morial said. "Those that curse it and fight it will fail. Those that embrace it, browse it and learn it will succeed."
Though the coronavirus pandemic has engulfed the country in public health dangers and economic chaos, Black Americans are facing particularly crude crises. In a feeling,"Black America faces three pandemics" from the catastrophic health effects of COVID-19, important financial distress, and issues related to policing and criminal justice, said Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League.
Morial discussed the way the coronavirus pandemic along with also the killing of George Floyd exposed and intensified lots of the longstanding racial inequities and systemic racism in many sectors of society. His words have been echoed in the recently released"State of Black America" report, an yearly publication from the National Urban League that tracks data on the well-being of the Black community in the USA.
Improvements have been created during time, Morial mentioned Thursday, like increases in high school graduation and college matriculation rates among senior students, as well as increases in the number of Black elected officials in the national and local levels. But Black Americans continue to be disproportionately affected by systemic racism at work, the health care system and other regions.
"Black Americans are similar to the caboose on the train," Morial said. "When the train goes faster, you are going to go faster, but you are going to still be the caboose."
For example, Black Americans are currently"twice as likely to host the coronavirus and nearly two times as likely to die in COVID-19 as whites," according to the National Urban League report. Morial noted that when the unemployment rate drops, the rate for Black Americans is"still relatively twice as high as the white rate."
Morial also discussed how while America may be on the cusp of an economic downturn, Black communities have yet to completely recover from the Great Recession of 2007-2009. 1 example: almost five decades worth of climbing Black homeownership have been eroded over the last 15 decades, Morial said, and the average income of Black families have yet to return to pre-recession levels.
Morial said that the present administration has done little to enforce the rules intended to remedy ongoing inequities, like the Fair Housing Act or the Voting Rights Act. He added that having honest discussions about racial wealth and income gaps is essential to understanding the nuances of the gaps, in addition to the advantages to closing them for the entire market.
"We are not in a zero-sum match," Morial said. "When we are attempting to build a larger market, a stronger economy... we need men and women in the lower half, we want men and women in the African American and Latino communities, to get a greater share of the expansion."
Morial compared the necessity to address economic inequalities and the persistence of racism to how technological advances have transformed the workplace across industries over recent years. Just as employers have had to adapt to changes in technologies to compete and survive, Morial said that onboarding more diverse voices and backgrounds is vital for businesses and organizations.
"You have got to be able to comprehend it and you have got to have the ability to fulfill it," Morial said. "And should you meet it, your company will be successful and much more powerful later on."
The influence of continuing protests throughout the nation, which Morial described as"historic in their own breadth, diversity and spontaneity," can also be crucial.
"America is a country that has always been in transformation, and we're now in a period of transformation by a racial justice along with also a diversity and inclusion perspective," Morial said. "Those that curse it and fight it will fail. Those that embrace it, browse it and learn it will succeed."