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 […]
Marc Morial
Jussie Smollett Case Threatens to Distract from The Rising Tide of Hate Crime
By Marc Morial (To Be Equal #8) – This week, the Southern Poverty Law Center announced that the number of hate groups in the United States continued to rise for the fourth consecutive year in 2018. Also, this week, a television actor was arrested on charges of staging a fake racist and homophobic attack on […]
Breaking the Gubernatorial Glass Ceiling
By Marc Morial (NUL To Be Equal #35) – In the 240-year history of the United States, four African-American men have presided as the chief executive of a state or commonwealth. Only two were elected in their own right – Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, in 2006, and Douglas Wilder of Virginia, in 1989. David Paterson […]
Supreme Court Appointment Must Not Be Made Under a Cloud of Distrust
By Marc H. Morial (To Be Equal #26) – Article Two, Section 2, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution directs the President, “by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate,” to appoint judges of the Supreme Court.” It doesn’t outline when, or under what conditions the Senate may consent. It doesn’t say […]
2018 marks the 50th Anniversary of a Momentous Year in Civil Rights
“It is not an overstatement to say that the destiny of the entire human race depends on what is going on in America today. This is a staggering reality to the rest of the world; they must feel like passengers in a supersonic jetliner who are forced to watch helplessly while a passel of drunks, […]
Urban League Movement Reflects on a Year of Empowering Americans through Jobs, Education, Financial Literacy and Health Care
By Marc Morial (To Be Equal #94) – “From your founding, amid the great migration, to the struggles of the civil rights movement, to the battles of today, the Urban League has been on the ground, in our communities, working quietly — day in, day out — without fanfare; opening up opportunity, rolling back inequality, […]
Affirmative Action: Dissecting Rhetoric From Reality
By Marc H. Morial, National Urban League – In a perfect America founded and operating on colorblind meritocracy, admission to selective institutions of higher learning, boardrooms of Fortune 500 companies and access to federal contracts would be determined solely by ability, skill and talent, never having to take into consideration race or gender-and certainly never […]
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 […]
Repeat Offense: Private Prisons Resurrection Represents Pay-To-Play
By Marc Morial, National Urban League (To Be Equal #54)- New York, NY – Twenty-four hours after the election of Donald Trump as this nation’s 45th president, the stock prices of privately run prisons in this country soared. And this reversal of fortune came as no surprise to private prison operators-or criminal justice reform advocates. […]