The State of Black America 2009

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The National Urban League today released its annual State of Black America report. This year's report is subtitled "Message to the President" and is directed to President Barack Obama.




Dear Mr. President:

Two years ago, you concluded your Foreword to The State of Black America 2007: Portrait of the Black Male” with the following charge to us all: "It is in our shared interests and in the interest of every American to stop ignoring these challenges and start finding the solutions that will work. For in the end, we want the story for Black America to be one universal story where success is the norm and struggles are overcome . . . This is the journey we are on together."

You completed this Foreword just a few weeks before you launched the campaign that led to your election as the first African-American president of the United States. But that historic campaign did not mark the beginning of your journey. In fact, as you told us during the National Urban League’s Annual Conference last summer, your journey began many years before when you became “a foot soldier in the movement the Urban League built – the movement to bring opportunity to every corner of our cities.”
. . .
The State of Black America 2009: Message to the President does more than report on the conditions of our urban communities. It offers you, your administration, Congress and others a clear roadmap of specific steps that you can and should take to revitalize our cities, empower our people and grow our economy. In addition to a rich blend of National Urban League’s empirical data, unparalleled “hands-on” experience gained through our work in urban communities, analysis and commentary by America’s most insightful thinkers and doers, we present the quiet yet powerful voices of ordinary people who simply want their government to respond to their concerns . . . We hope that the information and ideas in The State of Black America 2009: Message to the President will provide you a roadmap for the strong, bold and decisive action needed to set our nation on the road to full economic and social equality for all of its citizens and to create “to be one universal story where success is the norm and struggles are overcome It is in this spirit that we offer our hands and our help to you and your administration in hopes that we will achieve the goals we have shared and strived for these so many years.

Yes, Mr. President, this IS the journey we – all of us – are on together.

From the Afterword to The State of Black America 2009: Message to the President, National Urban League www.nul.org

Among other things, the National Urban League reports that, according to its Equality Index, there was a slight decline in the status of blacks as compared to whites overall, moving from 71.5 percent in 2008 to 71.1 percent in 2009.

The report also takes a look back at the past five years of the Equality Index to view trends of progress and decline. For example, between 2003 and 2007 the poverty rate and home ownership rate declined for blacks but increased for whites. Even as both groups made progress in educational attainment, the progress was slower for blacks.

During the economic expansion period from 2001 – 2007 (known as the jobless recovery period) there was a decline in real median household income for blacks and whites and an increase in the rate of poverty. Real median household income from 2001 – 2007 declined 1.7 percent for blacks and 3.9 percent for whites and poverty rates increased 7.9 percent for blacks and 5.1 percent for whites. By contrast, during the 1990s while trends were still similar, African-Americans saw tremendous progress. For the duration of the ‘90s expansion, real median household income grew by 23.6 percent for African- Americans and 13 percent for whites while poverty rates declined by 30.6 percent and 17 percent, respectively.


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