Talk of ‘Family Values’ Termed Veiled Racism : Politics: ‘We know that when they say Murphy Brown from Hollywood they mean Lizzie Brown from southeast San Diego,’ head of Urban League says.

National Urban League President John E. Jacob on Sunday chastised those politicians who have been “preaching” about family values, charging that the issue is being used as a thinly veiled attempt to reinforce racial stereotypes.

“We know that when they say Murphy Brown from Hollywood they mean Lizzie Brown from southeast San Diego,” said Jacob, referring to criticism leveled by Vice President Dan Quayle at a television character who had a child out of wedlock.

Jacob made his remarks--among the strongest from a leader of a black organization during this election season--in his keynote address delivered to 18,000 delegates here on the opening day of the 1992 Urban League Convention, which continues through Wednesday.

While not mentioning the infamous Willie Horton political ad of the 1988 presidential campaign, Jacob’s remarks clearly indicated his belief that the “values” issue has become this election’s Willie Horton.

Horton was the convicted Massachusetts felon whose crime spree while on a work furlough was used by supporters of George Bush to attack the candidacy of former Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, the 1988 Democratic nominee.

But Jacob castigated Republicans and Democrats for using the social and economic plight of black Americans to make political points.

“Maintaining sound values in our communities is our job, and we don’t intend to allow our struggle to become someone else’s political football,” he said.

While conceding that the black family today is in “deep trouble,” Jacobs offered scathing criticism of implications that those troubles are because of “moral failings” on the part of African-Americans.

Instead, the civil rights leader portrayed a black American history built on a strong moral foundation.

“Many of us grew up in devout, proud, black families whose powerful values helped us survive a Jim Crow society,” he said. “We were nurtured on the biblical values that guided our behavior and molded us into responsible adults.”

Jacob said that national policies during the last two decades have led to growing poverty and inequality, conditions that have made it harder for poor and middle-class families--black and white--to maintain “traditional values.”

Since 1973, the median income of young two-parent families has dropped by one-third when adjusted for inflation, he said.

Jacob said the recent civil disturbances in Los Angeles were also rooted in economic neglect and he warned that similar outbreaks could happen in any U.S. city.

“Traditional American values--getting an education, holding a job and raising a family--are in danger,” said Jacob. “If the government is really concerned about family values, it has to create the political and economic environment to allow those values to flourish.”

Jacob scolded President Bush for declining to accept an invitation to speak to the group, one of the largest and oldest civil rights organizations, saying that the Republican Party may be ready to write off the black vote.

“That could be a fatal mistake politically,” Jacob said. “For any party to exclude African-Americans and minority citizens from its strategies . . . is to contribute to the racial divisions that plague our national life.”

Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton is scheduled to address the convention today.