Blacks Said to Face Greater Burden in Recession, War

Black Americans will suffer greater economic harm than whites if the current recession is prolonged and will bear disproportionate casualties if a war breaks out in the Persian Gulf, the National Urban League said Tuesday.

Presenting a bleak assessment in the organization’s 16th annual report on the state of black America, league President John E. Jacob reiterated the organization’s support for a $50-billion “urban Marshall plan” to solve the social and economic ills of blacks.

Jacob also urged President Bush to change course and support a civil rights bill that would override recent Supreme Court decisions making it more difficult to win job discrimination suits. Bush vetoed similar legislation last year on grounds that it would impose hiring quotas.

Bush’s opposition to the civil rights bill would be viewed “in the context of trying to lead the world in a moral crusade against aggression--a crusade that rests on the power of our armed forces, almost half of whom are black, Hispanic or women,” Jacob said.

“Many of those fighters are in uniform because poverty and discrimination restricted civilian opportunities.” he added. “It is immoral to ask them to put their lives on the line for the rest of us while at the same time refusing to support a Civil Rights Act that protects their rights when they re-enter civilian life.”

Asked if he was suggesting that lawmakers should withhold support from the Administration in its debate on Persian Gulf policy, Jacob said that he believes Congress probably will back the President because it is the American way “to be unified in our posturing to the world.”

Jacob said that he believes the crisis should be solved through diplomacy rather than through force. “We have literally thousands of African Americans in the Persian Gulf to fight for our rights who will not come home to enjoy (those rights),” he said.

Noting that nationwide unemployment jumped to 6.2% last month in an unmistakable signal of recession, Jacob said that such a rate would be welcomed as “full employment” in the black community. Black unemployment in December was 12.2% and has hovered in double digits for the past decade.

“We are already in an economic slowdown, but African Americans have been in a permanent recession,” he said. “So I urge the Administration and the Congress to do whatever is necessary to prevent a prolonged recession and to ensure that the burdens of a downturn do not widen the terrible racial and class divisions in our society.”

Jacob repeated last year’s demand for enactment of an urban Marshall plan, and he estimated the current cost at $50 billion a year. In particular, the league’s report called for a revised budget package that increases spending on social programs and entitlements, housing education and national health insurance programs.

Several contributors to the report noted that in coming decades, new entrants to the U.S. labor force will increasingly be from minority groups and they called for education and training programs to prepare that work force.