U.S. in Retreat on Minorities, Panel Declares

A commission of political, civic and education leaders said today America “is moving backward” in efforts to achieve equality of opportunity for blacks, Latinos and American Indians.

The panel, including former Presidents Gerald R. Ford and Jimmy Carter, called for renewed efforts to close the economic, educational and social gaps between members of those minority groups and the white majority.

Leaders of the Commission on Minority Participation in Education and American Life released the report, “One-Third of a Nation,” at a news conference at the National Press Club.

The commission was chaired by Cornell University President Frank H. T. Rhodes, who told a news conference:

“It is clear that we now have lost the momentum of earlier minority progress.” He said the nation must decide whether to renew “our efforts to eliminate these disparities” or resign itself “to a long-term retreat.”

The commission did not spell out what it meant by a new vision for affirmative action. Rhodes said that must be “worked out at the local level.” But he said, “What we’re looking for is a positive attitude that will move beyond” the legal requirements.

‘Suffered Actual Reversals’

Without blaming any one party or sector of society, the report said, “In the last 10 years, not only have we lost the momentum of earlier minority progress, we have suffered actual reversals in the drive to achieve full equality for minority citizens.

“America is moving backward--not forward--in its efforts to achieve the full participation of minority citizens in the life and prosperity of the nation,” the commission declared in its 10,000-word report.

The commission called for forging “a new vision of affirmative action around which a broad national consensus can be formed.”

Two national education groups, the American Council on Education and the Education Commission of the States, established the commission last fall to address “a shared deep concern over the faltering pace of minority advancement.”

The panel included business executives, college presidents, three former secretaries of state (Edmund S. Muskie, William P. Rogers and Cyrus R. Vance), Coretta Scott King, former Secretary of Education Terrel H. Bell, Baseball Commissioner Peter V. Ueberroth, Ted Koppel of ABC television, and the governors of Missouri, Arkansas, Minnesota and New Jersey.