Common meaning:

Things are improving over a period of time.

Hidden meaning of the Equity religion: 

An illusion designed to keep victims from realizing how bad things really are.

Discussion:

The Equityists believe that progress is an illusion and things are not getting better for people. 

Reality tells a different story. Based on a variety of different measures, the lives of ordinary people are improving around the world. It doesn’t matter if you look at life expectancy, food security, income, education or wealth. For the majority of people things are getting better and real progress is being made.

The Equity believers ignore the facts that show how things are improving and say that things are getting worse. They claim the idea of progress is an illusion and that it is used by the dominant groups to cause the minority groups to not realize how bad things really are.

Back in the real world, progress is happening.