For the first time ever, in 2011, more than half of the nation’s ninth grade black males went on to finish high school with a regular diploma on time. Despite this achievement, a recent study says much more remains to be accomplished.

The Schott Foundation for Public Education published in late September a study that revealed that it would take nearly 50 years for black males to achieve the same graduation rates at white males.

“The Urgency of Now: The Schott 50 State Report on Public Education and Black Males” found that only 52 percent of black male and 58 percent of Latino male ninth-graders went on to graduate from high school four years later. Meanwhile, 78 percent of white male ninth-graders went on to graduate four years later.

Host Jamila Bey talked with author and columnist Amy Alexander about calls to get this topic before the Commission on Presidential Debates so that the topic can be address by President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney before Election Day.