Read the 2015 State of Black America Report.

CLICK HERE TOREAD THE 2022 STATE OF BLACK AMERICA REPORT

March 19, 2015 (New York, NY) Today, the National Urban League releases its 39th edition of the State of Black America® – “Save Our Cities: Education, Jobs + Justice,” which underscores the urgency of each of these areas in America’s quest for full equality. The world watched throughout 2014 as justice was challenged on every front – from the accountability of law enforcement for misconduct and the continual assault on voting rights, to widening economic gaps and partisan education debates more rooted in political agendas than in putting our children first. Simply put, the state of Black America is in crisis, and the State of Black America® report findings provide a sobering, but necessary, look at critical issues that need to be addressed – now.

As the National Urban League continues to press the case for closing growing divides in economic and education opportunity, this year’s State of Black America® presents the 2015 Equality Index™, one of the most critical and respected quantitative tools for tracking racial equality in America – now in its 11th edition for the Black-White Index and its sixth year for the Hispanic-White Index. For the first time, the Equality Index™ includes a special feature on state-level K-12 education, documenting the extent of Black-White and Hispanic-White achievement gaps in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The State Education Equality Index™ also includes supporting data on factors that contribute to narrowing or widening these gaps, including teacher quality, pre-school and course enrollment, and student status and risk factors such as poverty. For the second year, the Equality Index™ also features rankings of U.S. cities from most-to-least equal via the Black-White Index (70 cities) and Hispanic-White Index (72 cities) – again providing a revealing look at local dynamics beneath national trends.

“The 2015 State of Black America® – ‘Save Our Cities: Education, Jobs + Justice’ – and its corresponding Equality Index™ findings are a clarion call that a more comprehensive, inclusive and on-the-ground recovery is necessary to ensure a healthy future for our nation and that we cannot expect to successfully move forward when we are leaving so many behind,” said Marc H. Morial, President and CEO of the National Urban League. “Few times in a nation’s history is its collective conscience shocked and awakened across racial, economic, generational and even ideological lines as ours has been over the past year. We are in that moment, and as long as justice is challenged on any front, we will keep pushing on every front.”

Through thought-provoking articles from Morial and a stellar line-up of contributors, the 2015 State of Black America® offers insightful solutions across critical areas including job creation, transportation, education, city revitalization, criminal justice, entrepreneurship and media images. Contributing authors include: Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser; Film/Television Producer Debra Martin Chase; Attorney Benjamin Crump; U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx; Gary, IN Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson; NEA President Lily Eskelsen García; Radio One, Inc. President and CEO/TV One Chairman and CEO Alfred Liggins; Sacramento, CA Mayor/U.S. Conference of Mayors President Mayor Kevin Johnson; W.K. Kellogg Foundation President and CEO La June Montgomery Tabron; and “The Three Doctors” (Dr. Sampson Davis, Dr. Rameck Hunt and Dr. George Jenkins).

For the first time in its history, the State of Black America® is being presented in an all-digital edition that will offer a multimedia and social experience providing more interaction with readers, enhanced searchability, and year-round updates. The full suite of 2015 State of Black America® offerings includes an e-book, featuring full data sets and analysis for each Equality Index™, full ranking lists, and complete articles; a seven-part Web Series, sponsored by AT&T, that gathers some of the nation’s leading influencers for discussions around the State of Black America® theme, topics and report content; and a new website – www.stateofblackamerica.org – which will serve as the digital hub for visitors to access select data and report findings, the Web Series, press materials, infographics and charts, e-book purchase information, and year-round updates featuring new contributors.

READ THE 2015 STATE OF BLACK AMERICA REPORT-PDF.

Georgia State coach takes funny shot at President Obama after winning NCAA Tournament game

Yesterday Cinderella had her moment when underdog and 14th seeded Georgia State (I'm assuming it's in the state of Georgia, the US one not the Russian one) beat 3rd seeded Baylor 57-56. During the locker room celebration Georgia State coach, Ron Hunter got at President Obama for doing what everyone except maybe Georgia State players and coaches did. That would be picking Baylor to win the game. Check out his funny comments below:

Shouldn't police officers live in the communities they police?

Let me preface this by stating that this not an anti-cop piece and that I believe that by and large most cops are decent people. That being said an article in a local. paper stoked my interest today. The article was about the city of Newark NJ wanting rookie cops to live in the city during the first five years of their employment. The city believes that this would lead to better policing as the cops would better know the community and vice versa. I don't see how it could hurt as far as community relations go.

Newark's police director Eugene Venable made the following statement.

"If they live in the city, they now belong to that neighborhood and are part of the city. They are not just coming in from other towns," he said. "There's an allegiance to the community they serve which involves more than just collecting a paycheck."

The police union is of course against this proposed change. Many simply don't want to live in Newark. Now if I were cynical I would worry about a police force that doesn't want to live in a town/city they police if they are, as they claim doing a good job cleaning up crime. I expected the usual argument about how such a policy would effect recruitment but one argument against such a policy surprised me.

In the article Fraternal Order Police president James Stewart made the following statement as a reason why such a policy should not be established.

"You talk about the community. Right now the community hates us. Everything you see on social media. Everything you see in the media. The community hates the police," Stewart told the state Assembly Judiciary Committee. "And you want to put us right in the middle of that with our families? I think it's outrageous."

Now there may be good reasons to be against a residency requirement but I don't think that is one. I wish someone could have questioned Stewart as to why the community hates them so much and what the police are doing about that, but it was not the time or place for that. I was just wondering what cops are doing to people that they would be scared to live around those same people?

Now I think cops should live in the communities they police so they have more skin in the game. What do you think?

Does Fox's 'Empire' Break Or Bolster Black Stereotypes?

As its freshman season ends Wednesday night, Fox's hip-hop family drama Empire has emerged as that rarest of birds in the broadcast TV industry: a show where the viewership is always going up.

When the series debuted Jan. 7, it drew a respectable 9.8 million viewers, according to the Nielsen company. But then the show about a family-run music empire achieved something few others have ever managed: It increased its audience every week, growing to 14.9 million viewers on March 4.

Anchored by powerful performances from Oscar nominees Taraji P. Henson and Terrence Howard, Empire features unapologetically black characters operating in a mostly black world. So it shouldn't be surprising that, among the show's average 11.6 million viewers per week, Nielsen says 7.5 million of them are African-American.

But that's where the other controversy about Empire emerges. Because some critics say the show has earned its success by trafficking in "badly written dialogue and ham-fisted stereotypes."

Pundit Boyce Watkins denounced the "ghetto-fied hood drama" as "coonery" he refused to support. One commentary on GlobalSocial Media News Service asked, "Do we need to go back to the times when 'pimps, whores, drug dealers and gangsters' were glorified?"

Still, much as I like to call out stereotyping in media, I think these critics are off base. Empire is much more than a collection of horrifying black stereotypes, and it moves further away from such narrow characterizations with every episode.

To understand why this is so, you have to look at how stereotypes are typically deployed in today's TV shows and how Empire plays with them — along with other nonwhite-centered series such as ABC's Fresh Off the Boat and Black-ish.

The biggest backlash centers on Henson's character, Cookie Lyon, an in-your-face matriarch who spent 17 years in prison. She took the rap for a drug deal gone bad so that her husband, Howard's drug dealer-turned-hip-hop mogul named Lucious Lyon, could build his career and their company, Empire Entertainment.

For some, Cookie is the embodiment of all the stereotypes black women face on TV. Dressed flamboyantly with floor-length furs, color-coded nails and eyelashes big as manhole covers, she's quick to anger and ready to throw down at a moment's notice — beating her youngest adult son with a broom when he disrespects her, while lovingly using the three-letter F-word to refer to her gay son.

Read more here: Does Fox's 'Empire' Break Or Bolster Black Stereotypes?

Hampton beats Manhattan to win opening round NCAA Tournament game.

16th seeded MEAC champion Hampton and 16th seeded MAAC champions Manhattan played in the first game of the NCAA Tournament (the play-in game or a First Four game if you prefer) with Hampton coming out on top 74-64.

The Hampton Pirates were led by senior Quinton Chievous who scored 15 points and grabbed 13 rebounds. Junior Reginald Johnson chipped in with 15 points.

With the win Hampton moves to 17-17 and gets to play the #1 overall seeded Kentucky Wildcats March 19 in the next round. This is Hampton's second ever win in the NCAA Tournament. They had better enjoy it because they want be getting that third win against Kentucky.