Urban League president: 'Black America is in crisis'

WASHINGTON, March 19 (UPI) -- Black Americans are about 72 percent equal to whites, putting them deep in widespread crisis, according to a new National Urban League report released Thursday.

Marc Morial, the civil rights group's president and CEO, said nationwide data collected for the 2015 State of Black America report underscores how blacks are in a "jobs crisis, an education crisis and a justice crisis."

The report, which looks at economics, education, health, social justice and civic engagement, found the differences between whites and black show a huge disparity. The index sets whites as a benchmark because "the history of race in America has created advantages for whites that persist in many of the outcomes being measured."

"Black status, when measured in the five areas that we look at, is still not on par with white Americans," Morial told CBS News. "[It's an] equality gap that represents the distance we need to cross to achieve full equality in this country."

For the report, a 100 percent equity index would mean there is full equality between all measured racial groups. With blacks at 72 percent and Hispanics at 78 percent, Morial said there is still a long way to go toward racial equality. Both were increases from last year.

Morial said the increasing racial tension in the country stemming from conflicts with law enforcement and widespread black unemployment are alarming. The most hopeful result of the report was the health index, which climbed from 78 percent last year to 80 percent this year. Morial said the Affordable Care Act has helped lower the number of uninsured African Americans.

"It proves that sometimes public-policy interventions make a difference," Morial told Time.