Leid Stories - The National Urban League: A Study In ‘Neutral’ Advocacy - 04/07/14
The National Urban League on April 3 released its 2014 “State of Black America Report,” its 38th year-to-year portrait of Black life in the United States. Titled “One Nation Underemployed: Jobs Rebuild America” the report—essentially a statistical analysis of issues and trends having inordinate impact on Black communities--was generally predictable in its findings, but had greater clout this year because it also included for the first time a statistical portrait of Latino America.
The NUL’s annual reports, while impressive (certainly to its board of directors and donors), nonetheless are careful to avoid any suggestion of culpability for the myriad systemic inequities they’ve been citing for years on end. It’s no news that African Americans and Latinos “are losing economic ground;” such statistics are available literally by the week. But the NUL could make a major contribution as an organization speaking in behalf of these beleaguered communities by being very specific about the relationship between the real-life situations within these communities and the policies that produce them.
The NUL is too politically compromised to do this. It’s been dodging the issue for far too long, preferring instead to hide behind the oxymoronic practice of “neutral” advocacy. Leid Stories explains the NUL’s peculiar affliction.
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