Candidates, Reagan Held to Foster Racism

The National Urban League accused the Reagan Administration on Thursday of encouraging racism and indicated that no presidential candidate except the Rev. Jesse Jackson is showing signs of doing better.

The criticism of Reagan from league President John E. Jacob centered on the dismantling of social programs for poor people and what Jacob said was the fostering of racism, while his criticism of the 1988 presidential candidates focused on their “lily-white senior campaign staffs.”

Jacob, in releasing the group’s annual assessment of the state of black America, said that the Reagan White House last year “made a significant contribution in creating a climate in which racism has been allowed to fester and grow.”

Cites ‘Negative Impact’

“They have liberated people to be discriminatory in their behavior as well as in their attitudes, and, therefore, I think they have had a profound negative impact on the progression that had taken place,” he said at a news conference.

At the White House, presidential spokesman Marlin Fitzwater called the racism charge “totally and absolutely wrong. It’s a baseless charge. It is absolutely not true.”

Jacob accused the Administration of ignoring black problems by reducing job-training programs by 70% and by pushing cuts in housing and other programs that help poor people.

The report, “The State of Black America--1988,” cites statistics that show the percentage of blacks who live in poverty has changed little over the last 15 years, with about one-third living in poverty, compared to 11% of whites.

The report includes articles on education, civil rights, psychology, family life, youth, crime, the military and economics by black scholars and civil rights experts.

Jacob acknowledged that its conclusions are little different from reports of previous years. “We come every year to remind America that nothing is different,” he said.

‘Shocking Indicator’

Jacob cited a Wall Street Journal story on the exclusion of blacks from presidential campaign staffs, saying that for the Democrats it is a “shocking indicator” of the candidates’ failure to understand how important the black vote can be. Jackson, he said, has five minority members in top campaign positions, but no other Democratic candidate has more than one.

He said no Republican candidate has any blacks in high staff jobs.

“I find that outrageous,” Jacob said. “This is the real scandal of the 1988 elections--not who sleeps where, not who plagiarized what--but why people who want to be President are satisfied with lily-white senior campaign staffs.”

Speaking of all the candidates, he said: “I have to say that I see no sign yet that the candidates are concerned with the issues that impact on black and poor Americans. And I see little evidence that they are committed to including black people, either in their campaigns or in (the formation of) their platforms.”