WASHINGTON, DC – The heads of eight legacy civil rights organizations commend President Joe Biden for his unwavering commitment to racial equity and congratulate him on today’s historic decision to commute the sentences of nearly 1,500 individuals and grant pardons to 39 more. This action reflects his dedication to addressing systemic inequities, a hallmark of his presidency. […]
Confederate Monuments and Symbols are Advertisements For a Product No One Wants Anymore#TakeEmDown, NOW
By Marc H. Morial (Be Equal #27) – Mississippi’s decision this week to eliminate a Confederate symbol from its state flag is the culmination of more than 40 years of activism, and a single step in the ongoing effort to eliminate white supremacist imagery and monuments from our public spaces. It seems at last that […]
Attitudes About Guns Safety Are Changing, But Senate Leadership Is Mired In The Past
NEW YORK (To Be Equal #35 by Marc H. Morial) – The facts on gun safety are clear. Since 1994, background checks have blocked over 3.5 million gun sales to felons, domestic abusers, and other people who aren’t allowed to have guns under existing law. About 90 percent of Americans support background checks for all […]
50 Years of Black Mayors
By Marc H. Morial, National Urban League (To Be Equal #74) -Today, the sight of a Black mayor is unlikely to turn any heads or draw any particular attention. But in 1967-during the continuing turmoil of the civil rights movement and two years after the passage of major civil rights legislation-a first generation of African […]
State of Black America 2016 – “Locked Out: Education, Jobs and Justice”
By Marc Morial, NUL (To Be Equal #17) – As we observe the 40th anniversary of the State of Black America® the similarities of the United States of 1976 and the United States of 2016 are profoundly striking. The nation was recovering from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. According to the report, […]
Don’t Play Politics with the Debt Limit – by Marc H. Morial, National Urban League
(To Be Equal #41) – On September 21, one week before the first government shutdown in 17 years, President Obama addressed the 43rd annual Congressional Black Caucus Legislative Conference in Washington. He told the 43 members of the Caucus and thousands of its supporters the same thing he has been telling the nation ever since, […]
Occupy the Vote – No Bullies at the Polls – By Marc H. Morial
By Marc H. Morial (To Be Equal #38) – Last week, a new report by Common Cause and Demos, entitled “Bullies at the Ballot Box,” took direct aim at Jim Crow-like tactics designed to challenge and intimidate voters at the polls. The report especially notes the campaign of intimidation that is currently being waged by […]
Louisiana Supreme Court Changes Violate Voting Rights Act – by Marc H. Morial
Joined in Objection by New York, NY – Louisiana has violated the Voting Rights Act by changing its voting procedures and processes in the way it plans to vote, according to a letter of objection filed with the U.S. Department of Justice by noted civil rights attorneys Ronald Wilson and William P. Quigley on behalf […]
Life Expectancy Gap Between Blacks and Whites Narrows to All-Time Low – Marc H. Morial @nul @ncbcp
(To Be Equal #24) – In recent weeks, we’ve shared with you the news that the birth-rate for people of color now exceeds the rate for whites, and that African American deaths from prostate cancer are declining. This week we got more good news about the health status of African Americans when the Journal of […]