E/CN.4/1999/15 page 32 Both of these reports marked the end of President Clinton’s “Initiative on Race” and provide a social, political, demographic, and economic assessment of the situation of race relations in the United States. 133. The Advisory Board on Race report called for “a substantial increase in the civil rights enforcement budget” because “discrimination on the basis of race, colour and ethnicity continues to be a fact of life in America and the budgets of federal civil rights enforcement agencies have not kept pace with their increasing responsibility”. It also called for more focus on early childhood learning and skills training to help overcome income inequality, efforts to promote respect for ethnic diversity and creation of a permanent public forum to continue the work of the President's race initiative. 134. The report produced by the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, provides a thorough statistical analysis of racial issues in the United States, and includes Hispanics, Whites, Blacks, Asians, and American Indians in its groups for comparative analysis. Some of its findings were: “Race and ethnicity continue to be salient predictors of well-being in American society. On average, non-Hispanic Whites and Asians experience advantages in health, education and economic status relative to Blacks, Hispanics and American Indians”. “Over the second half of the 20th century, Black Americans have made substantial progress relative to Whites in many areas. But this progress generally slowed, or even reversed between the mid-1970s and the early 1990s. In many cases, large disparities persist.” “The relative economic status of Hispanics has generally declined over the past 25 years. However, the Hispanic population has grown rapidly, more than doubling in size between 1980 and 1997, in large part because of immigration. Thus, in interpreting trends in the relative well-being of Hispanics, it is important to keep in mind that the increasing representation of Hispanic immigrants with lower average levels of education and income has contributed to the decline in average Hispanic social and economic well-being.” “American Indians are according to many available income, although comparable small representation in the among the most disadvantaged Americans indicators, such as poverty rate and median data for this group are sparse due to their population.” 7 135. By and large, this report indicates that Whites and Asians are able to achieve near-parity with regard to economic and educational status, whereas Hispanic and Black populations are comparable in several areas, but significantly behind Whites and Asians economically, professionally, and educationally. In addition, these populations, especially Blacks, are much more likely to be targeted by police and convicted of crimes. Although Blacks currently make up only 13 per cent of the population of the United States, they account for 43 per cent of arrests, 54 per cent of convictions, and 59 per cent of prison admissions. 8 Educationally and economically, it is clear that American Indians are still the most marginalized group in the United States, however, it is encouraging that many more American Indians are