When the nation’s latest income and poverty data were released on Sept. 10, commentaries touted the progress that the data reflected.

The poverty rate dropped by half a percentage point, down to 11.8 percent. For the first time, the poverty rate is lower than it was in 2007, before the beginning of the Great Recession. But wages only rose significantly among Asian Americans, and the poverty rates, by demographics, were 8.1 percent for white Americans, 20.8 percent for African-Americans, 17.6 percent for Hispanics and 10.1 percent for Asian Americans.

When we celebrate the drop in the poverty rate, we normalize the fact that African-Americans have a much higher poverty rate than white Americans. In simply acknowledging the poverty rate drop, without focusing on the much higher poverty rate of African-Americans, we imply that high African-American poverty rates are acceptable. They are not.

There should be no discussion of poverty rates without an acknowledgment that economic recovery has been extremely uneven and the distribution of poverty is uneven as well.

When we talk about poverty prevention, it is essential to acknowledge that some communities need more help than others, which is why we should consider targeted programs. Unfortunately, too many assert that we can’t have “black” programs in a multicultural society. But if black people experience more poverty, they need more help.

Similarly, celebrations about the historic low in the black unemployment rate tend to normalize the fact that black people experience proportionately more unemployment than others. When the unemployment rate numbers were released on Sept. 6, the overall rate was 3.7 percent, while the overall rate for black folks was 5.5 percent and 4.4 percent for black women.

While acknowledging this historic low, it is essential to note that the overall black unemployment rate remains higher than the white unemployment rate. Bragging about the lower rate without acknowledging the unemployment rate gap suggests that black folks are supposed to have higher unemployment rates than others.

Our nation’s policy conversation too often normalizes African-American economic disadvantage. When an 11.8 percent poverty rate is reported, and the black unemployment rate is not, it implies that the 20.8 percent rate — one in five black people unemployed — is not a matter of concern.

When a 5.5 percent, “historic low” unemployment rate is reported, but the unemployment rate gap is not, it implies that there is supposed to be an unemployment rate gap and black people are supposed to have higher unemployment rates than white people.

We cannot normalize inequality by only partly reporting on reality. Even as we report on economic progress, we must also report on the uneven ways growth affects black communities.

The writer is an economist and author.