“As recent data shows, however, much of black progress is a myth. Although some African Americans are doing very well – enrolling in universities and graduate schools at record rates thanks to affirmative action – as a group, in many respects African Americans are doing no better than they were when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated and riots swept inner cities across America. The child poverty rate is actually higher today than it was in 1968.”

“As recent data shows, however, much of black progress is a myth. Although some African Americans are doing very well – enrolling in universities and graduate schools at record rates thanks to affirmative action – as a group, in many respects African Americans are doing no better than they were when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated and riots swept inner cities across America. The child poverty rate is actually higher today than it was in 1968.”

— Michelle Alexander