"As we anticipate the impending decision of the United States Supreme Court in the case of Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, we are resolute in our support of affirmative action - not in its misrepresentation by opponents as an 'entitlement' or 'reverse discrimination,' but in its core foundation rooted in fairness and equal opportunity. Any decision by the Court that would rule against the University of Texas and its practice to include racial and ethnic diversity as a factor in its admissions process would be a regression in our nation's efforts over the past 50 years toward ensuring that every American citizen has a fair shot at the American Dream.
The National Urban League's 2013 Equality Index indicates that African Americans are at 71.7% -- meaning Blacks enjoy less than three-fourths of the benefits and privileges offered to White Americans.
The African-American Equality Index for college graduation is 64% and represents a 20 point gap in the percentage of blacks who graduate with a four-year degree (37.7%) compared to whites (59.3%).
Additionally, Blacks are still twice as likely to be unemployed -- even with a college degree -- than whites and twice as likely to earn less.
The black-white unemployment index is 52.2% (vs. an income index of 60%); and the average income for black two-earner households is just 78 cents on the dollar - and much less for individuals (0.63 cents).
Historic disparities in educational attainment and economic conditions persist and underscore the continual need for affirmative action as a necessary tool to help level the playing field for both economic and opportunity parity for African-Americans and others. To effectively deny them true equality indefinitely is to relegate them to underclass status permanently, all but ensuring that our nation will lose the benefits of having the diverse workforce that will be necessary to effectively compete in an increasingly global economy.
In 1965 during a commencement speech at Howard University, President Lyndon B. Johnson said, "It is not enough just to open the gates of opportunity. All our citizens must have the ability to walk through those gates. This is the next and the more profound stage of the battle for civil rights. We seek not just freedom but opportunity. We seek not just legal equity but human ability, not just equality as a right and a theory but equality as a fact and equality as a result."
Almost 50 years after the height of the Civil Rights Movement, the impact of hundreds of years of legislated discrimination and inequity has not been erased."