PowerPoint; State of Black America, Roundtable

Production and broadcast of PowerPoint is made possible by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. This is PowerPoint, an information age clearinghouse for issues affecting the African American community, the nation and the world, and now PowerPoints Kenneth Walker. This time on PowerPoint, we conclude our three -part Black History Month series on the State of Black America with this question. Where are Black Americans headed as we move toward the 21st century? To fine tune the answers to that question, we'll spend an informative insightful hour with Urban League President Hugh Price discussing the past, present, and future of Black America. And you can participate in this discussion by calling the PowerPoint hotline at 1 -800 -989 -8255. That's 1 -800

-989 -8255. Get your questions ready and call a friend. Tell them PowerPoints on the air. Our talk with Urban League's Hugh Price on the State of Black America begins in a moment. But first, PowerPoint news with Verna Avery Brown. This is PowerPoint, news and information to empower the community. I'm Verna Avery Brown. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has agreed to extend his stay in Iraq beyond Sunday, and an altered his trip to discuss with Iraqi officials there recently expanded authority to sell more food and exchange for oil. 22 million Iraqis could go hungry depending on the outcome of this crisis. The relationship between food and Iraqi oil and these critical times is impossible to ignore, according to former US ambassador to El Salvador, Robert White, who's familiar with

the inner workings of international diplomacy. If Kofi Annan comes back and says, I have a deal that we should be pleased with, it's going to be extremely difficult for the United States to say no. And this, of course, is what Washington worries about every minute, because it's going to be difficult enough for them to do this, take this drastic action, which will be a unilateral action, because it will not be endorsed specifically. They'll say that it's endorsed by a general SC resolution from the past, but they're not going to get specific security counsel authorization. And if he comes back, if he, the Secretary General comes back and says, you should accept this deal, then it becomes almost impossible to go against that. In the days leading

up to the negotiations, the US attempted to cast Saddam Hussein in the most despicable light possible to justify its position to bomb Baghdad. Secretary of State Madeline Albright characterized him, and I'm paraphrasing here, as the worst person since Hitler. PowerPoint news, spoke with Gerald Horn, a professor of Afro -American and African affairs at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, about how the name of Saddam Hussein has become so demonized in recent years. When did Saddam Hussein become sort of the anti -Christ, almost, in the eyes of the American public and politicians in your opinion? Well, that would be a question that will engage in generation of historians in the 21st century. It's a question of contemporary relevance, does not look back at the summer of 1990 and the beginning of 1991. It seems to me that what happened was the collapse of the Soviet Union and the contending collapse of the Soviet Union, which changed the global correlation of war movements, which allowed Washington to recognize that it could override Iraq

in this new international situation where previously it might have been able to carry favor with Iraq. And within that context, it seems to me that Saddam Hussein emerged as the anti -Christ of your term. Gerald Horn of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Horn will be joining PowerPoint host Kenneth Walker in our next hour to discuss the situation in Iraq. A little -known African -American Philadelphia Common, please court judge Federica Messiah Jackson, has become the latest lightning rod in the debate between Republican conservatives in the U .S. Senate and President Clinton over his federal judicial nominees. Conservatives claim they've been blocking Clinton's appointees because they are too liberal. Clinton says his nominees are good judges, who deserve to be voted up or down on their merits. From station WHY in Philadelphia, PowerPoint correspondent Vincent Thompson reports. When Judge Federica Messiah Jackson was nominated seven months ago for a lifetime appointment to the U .S. District Court in Philadelphia, it looked like the Democrat would be confirmed by the Republican -controlled U .S. Senate. But now her nomination is in serious

jeopardy, and the firestorm only began in the last month. Leading the charge against the judge, is Philadelphia District Attorney Lynn Abraham, who like Messiah Jackson, is a Democrat. Statistics prepared by the Philadelphia Court of Common, please demonstrate that Judge Messiah Jackson also found criminal defendants not guilty of any crime at all in 60 percent, more often than other Philadelphia judges. And Philadelphia judges I might add are not generally known for their tough on crime attitudes. Abraham's battle has also received the support of Senate Majority Leader Trent Lot of Mississippi. He says President Clinton should withdraw Judge Messiah Jackson's nomination. The White House says it will not. Philadelphia Bar Association Chancellor Mark Aaron Check, a Messiah Jackson supporter, says the critics have focused on only 50 cases out of the thousands she has handled in her 14 years on the bench. He says a recent study of those cases by his organization found no leniency toward criminals. And they showed

hard -fort cases where sometimes the District Attorney prevailed. Sometimes the District Attorney maybe should have prevailed. Sometimes the District Attorney maybe shouldn't have prevailed. But that's what litigation is all about. With all the questions still remaining, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold one last hearing on the matter so the judge has the chance to answer her critics. The hearing could come sometime this week. Both sides agree that Messiah Jackson's performance at the hearing will decide her fate. Messiah Jackson has refused to comment publicly on the advice of the U .S. Justice Department. I'm Vincent Thompson for Powerpoint News. And finally this, as Black History Month draws to a close, let us be reminded of the words of the renowned composer, band leader, and pianist, Edward Kennedy Ellington, aka Duke Ellington. It was Ellington, one of the founders of the big band sound that ushered in jazz's swing era, who also said life has two rules. Number one, never quit. Number two, always remember rule number one. For Powerpoint News and Information to empower the community, I'm Verna

Avery Brown. Welcome back, I'm Kenneth Walker. For many years now, the National Urban League has compiled in annual reported calls, the State of Black America. The report contains some of the most comprehensive analyses of the economic, educational, and social conditions of African Americans. Throughout Black History Month, Powerpoint's been reviewing some of the studies contained in

this year's report. And Powerpoint is happy to be able to present at this hour the president of the National Urban League Hugh Price. If you have questions for the leader of one of the nation's premier civil rights organizations, call us right now. Call our toll free hotline at 1 -800 -989 -8255. That's 1 -800 -989 -8255. Mr. Price, welcome to Powerpoint. Oh, thank you very much. It's good to talk with. Happy to have you here. How did the annual report on State of Black America come about at the Urban League? Can you tell us? It's been around for close to 20 years and it started under Verna Jordan and it was a decision on the part of the league back then that there ought to be an annual look at how we're fairing the progress that we've made and the distance yet to travel. And each year we've added dimensions to it and it's become more and more

valuable. In that sense, I mean, just as many people question the need for a black history month, I suppose some might question the need for a separate and annual State of Black America report, how would you respond to them? Well, I would say that we all need to take stock. There's a state of the union and we ought to look at our own progress in the context of how the country is going and where we've come from. So I see no reason at all why we shouldn't have an annual checkup if you will. How long would you think one might be necessary? As long as they're African -Americans in this country. Okay, all right. Of course, I think it's a healthy exercise to ask how far have we come and where do we have to go? And I suppose I would guess that until the playing field is absolutely level and life outcomes for African -Americans are level with everyone else. And I think we need to continue on that. Well, in terms of how far we've come and how far we have yet to go, I know that this year's report is not due out for a while, but what can you tell us about the highlights?

Well, as you look at the progress we've made, there's been tremendous gains for African -Americans over the last generation. Thanks to our ability and thanks to our drive and thanks to affirmative action. The complexion of college campuses, of corporate workplaces has changed dramatically. There's been tremendous growth in the size of the African -American middle class. That growth did not come from people descending into the middle class from the upper class. It came from people rising from more modest circumstances. So we've made tremendous progress and we need to acknowledge that, celebrate it and build on it. But the fact of the matter also is that there are many of us lagging way, way behind. And essentially those are our folks who might be called marginally skilled, who are once part of the old factory economy. And the skills you need to succeed today are much more significant. And so many of

our folks in those circumstances and cities and many of their children are really bringing up the rear and we've got to do something about that. We had last week fascinating gentleman, George Frazier, who's written a new book, Race for Success. You wrote the forward to that book and the book, all in all, is fairly well optimistic about African -American prospects. And I have to ask you, given the assault on affirmative action and the general prevailing very conservative tide in the country, it's certainly among politicians, whether that optimism is justified. Well, I think the people who man the gates of opportunity do not want to go backwards on affirmative action and inclusion. I haven't encountered a president of a college or university who wants to go backwards. Corporations don't want to go backwards. So I think that we will continue to press forward and if we can't do it the way we have been under affirmative action, then there'll be new mechanisms that are adopted. For example, the University of California system

is looking at alternative ways of ensuring that there's plenty of diversity on their campuses. Well, that University of California I believe, especially at Berkeley, the law school of them not mistaken, after the passage of the anti -affirmative action proposition in California, saw what was it? One African -American? It dropped, it shocked them, it disturbed them greatly, and so they are scrambling to find ways of ensuring diversity, even under the rules of Proposition 209. That's what I'm saying, that there's a determination on their part, even the face of Prop 209 to bring African -Americans on the campus, and they're looking at ways, for example, of eliminating the heavier, weighting given to applicants from Ivy League schools, they're thinking about dropping the LSAT, they're looking at a lot of different mechanisms that are designed to improve diversity. I think the other thing that's got to be done, and this is where the picture is less optimistic, but it just makes it very clear what we have to do,

is we have all too many of our children who are bringing up the rear academically. In Prince George's County, right outside of Washington, D .C., it's a heavily middle class community, majority African -American, yet only 41 % of our children are passing the reading test in the eighth grade. Out in Denver, the numbers are about 20%. Now, we as a people are going to be in deep trouble if those kinds of percentages of failure, rates of failure, persist because we will not be equipped for the future. So, even as we've got to keep the doors of opportunity open and help to propel more and more folks through, we've also got to attend to the performance of our children who are lagging way behind. We're talking with you, Price, the head of the National Urban League, about the state of Black America. You can join this discussion on PowerPoint by calling our Toe Free Hotline at 1 -800 -989 -8255. That's 1 -800 -989 -8255. Let's go to the phones now and talk to Eric from Baltimore with Sister Station

W -E -A -A. Thank you for joining us, Eric. Good evening, brother, welcome. Thank you. And good evening to brother Price. Hi, Eric. Thank you, sir. Mr. Price, in your state of Black America report, I would imagine there will show that there's a problem between Black America and some police departments across this country problem. Well, here in Baltimore, my organization, Unity for Action, we're calling for a civilian review board here in Baltimore and police accountability. Through the citizens witnessing drugs and guns that are confiscated by the police department's destruction. We have gotten a bill passed through the City Council here and without mayor. He's implemented a plan with a citizen. Some citizens came witness when they had their drug and gun burns. So we're making the progress at a turtle's pace. But we are asking that people join us

April the 4th. And I hope you could be there, sir. We'd like to have you speak. 1998, here in Baltimore in front of police headquarters, we'd like to have a massive rally to address the problems that occur between police departments and the citizens who should actually run the police department. So if you'd like to comment on the problems between our community and the departments, I'd like to hear your response. And also I can send you some correspondence to you know about the rally. I think that April 4th is going to be a problem for me in terms of schedule, but I certainly would. That's Martin Luther King, but the anniversary of his death. Right. This is a very big issue in our community. And it's an issue at several levels. I work in New York City. So you know, we've had our cases, Abner, Luima, and on down. It's an issue with the contact situations like Luima and Johnny Gammage where you've got, you know, real filing acts committed against people sometimes resulting in fatalities. But there's a whole nother level

of the problem which gets less attention, but it's no less important in my judgment, even though it doesn't involve the loss of life. And that is the abuse of people's rights. The profile stops. For example, there was a big study of the stops along Interstate 95 between Bordea and Marlotte. Yeah, between Baltimore and the Delaware Memorial Bridge and the vast majority of people stopped after African -American. They're under court order, I believe, aren't they, Mr. Price, to stop that kind of activity? Yeah, but you know what's happened is the Supreme Court. I'm a former lawyer and I was shocked to learn. The Supreme Court has changed the rules of the game. It used to be that you could only stop somebody. If you saw them in the act, if you were in high pursuit or you had a warrant, now you can stop people if they, for breathing, for generally fitting a generic profile. All right. And they're stopping people, for example, now who are Jay walking in New York and searching them down and checking on warrants and all that kind of thing. So there are a lot of people who've done nothing

who are getting caught in this and they're getting really furious for good reason. And sometimes these things escalate into really horrible cases. So I think it's a serious issue. I have talked with President Clinton about it a number of times and I think he finally sees it as an issue. Initially, I don't think he wanted to, but I know he does now. And I think you've got to have civilian review boards, but I think we've got to go beyond that to look at basic police practice because the review boards only catch cases after they've happened. Right. They're training definitely needs to be changed and training in policy. The policy would say you can stop somebody who's not speeding or who's going 10 miles an hour over and put them to the third degree is a source of a problem because people who've done nothing get caught in this as well. And also the attitudes that they carry. We just recently, this week at an officer who was taken off of active duty, but put on restrictive duty. See what's going on. I really urge you to keep on this one. What's going on is that everybody's so happy

with the reduction in crime in many cities. I don't know the situation in Baltimore. And we should be happy that crime has been reduced. Well, I think we supposedly had 18 percent talks. We're using tactics. I think you can go after the walking crime waves without having to try to catch everybody in the net. And we've got to find a new way to deal with this. I was on a television show on PBS actually just a couple weeks ago, Derek McGenty called Good Cop Bad Cop. And we had a long, long discussion on this show about this whole issue and something's got to be done. And then the way to start it is with the kind of pressure that you're applying. Eric, I'll be sure and send that material to us here at PowerPoint so that we can cover it. But I want to thank you for your calls and your questions and observations. Stay on the case. On this whole question of the number of African Americans, especially males that are incarcerated, Mr. Price, where are we there? And is there any bright light on the horizon about how we might begin to

reverse that trend? There are several layers to the problem. There are the disparities in the sentencing for crack as opposed to cocaine, which we know a lot about. And the sentencing guidelines there have got to be changed. So the two are treated the same. Some people say, well, crack involves violence. So it ought to be treated more seriously. And I would say, when you find violence, you should treat it more seriously. But if you don't find violence, you don't have to treat it the same. I mean, you don't have to treat it differently. So that's one layer of problems. The second problem is we've got to reach out to our young men and somehow persuade them to try to run the race once again. The problems with the criminal justice system are part and parcel of the whole thing with young males really not believing in themselves, not believing in the system, and not believing that, for example, academic achievement matters. There are studies that show that kids do not associate their self -esteem with how they do in school. So a lot of them are dialing out. And we all, as a

people, have got to reach out and try to wheel them back in and say, you know, you've got to try again. We will support you. And there is an economy out here that now wants you. You know, when the unemployment rates were very, very high, that was one thing. But in this economy with unemployment rates as low as they are, they really are very good jobs out there for people who are willing to run the race and you know, play by the rules. And so we do have a chain situation. That's one of the major reasons why the National Urban League in partnership with fraternities and sororities and churches, we're launching a big campaign for African -American achievement, which is designed to spread the gospel that achievement matters and to hold our schools accountable. In late April and April 25th, we're going to be creating a National Achievement Society named after Thurgood Marshall. So we want to encourage young people to do well. We've got to send that signal and we've got to provide a lot of support. How would that work? This campaign for National Achievement in cooperation with fraternities and others.

Exactly what would happen here? There are several elements. Two major components. One is to spread the gospel inside our own community that achievement matters. And we're going to do that by creating this Achievement Society. And young people who are doing well in school will be nominated by fraternities and sororities and eastern star tentative associations and block clubs. And they're going to be inducted in formal ceremonies that occur in churches around the country. And this ritual of induction and recognition will be very, very important. Secondly, we're designating the month of September as Achievement month in our community. And we want the ministers to speak from the pulpit about achievement. We want all of these organizations that have parents in them and and barbers and beauticians and we talk about the importance of achievement in their meetings and to the children. We want to encourage the churches to send members into the schools to monitor how things are going. And we want to help everybody who's part of these groups and there's about 25 million

members to understand what they can do at home to support their children's achievement. So this is all part of a big mobilization to send this message to our community. We also will be staging events like block parties and street festivals to celebrate children who are doing the right thing. Last September 20th, there were 101 of these events around the country and we had over 38 ,000 young people and their parents at the parades that were held in the block parties that were held. The second thing we've got to do is that the folks who belong to these organizations that are in this campaign got to band together as taxpayers and say we want our schools to deliver. So no more lousy teachers who don't know their subject matter. No more stranding our children in basic education when we know they can do a lot better. No more sending our children to school with roofs that are caving in. And also we need to fill in the hours after school from three to six with constructive programs and carrying adults.

Those are the things that we as taxpayers expect. Those are the basic elements of the campaign. It's obviously going to take you know some time for it to get up to speed but we're launching on the 25th and we're very excited about the possibilities. In addition to that program and of course the annual state of black America reports what would you describe as the primary activities today with the national urban. Well just touched on on one of them with the whole the academic and social development. The second whole thrust is economic power and economic self -sufficiency. So our urban leagues all across the country are involved in helping folks move from welfare to work. For example the Baltimore Urban League has a very strong program in that regard. Our urban leagues help people by their first homes and we build homes in Louisville, Kentucky for example. The urban league there is building starter homes in Jersey City. The urban league there is renovating housing for folks who are getting their first decent home.

And we are involved in helping minority businesses expand their base. We're in discussions with some major corporations about cutting minority firms in on the action. The third area that we're involved in is promoting racial harmony and racial inclusion and that's all part of the big fight for affirmative action. We were the first national organization for example to pull our annual conference out of Los Angeles and protest against Pete Wilson's positions. We've been you know pressing forward with sort of new ideas in this whole area. We are planning a major event to promote inclusion involving a lot of the colleges and university presidents. So we're active in this arena as well. Those are just some of the things that you would see us doing. Well for people who might be interested in participating or helping out or maybe they need help in any of these areas national achievement campaign or

expansion of minority business. Who should they contact? Give us a number maybe an address or a website if you have one. Well we do have a website I wish I could tell you the www .whatever. They can use the search engine. National Urban League. And dig it out it's a national urban league. We also are national offices in New York City 120 Wall Street 558 5300 and lastly I'd say that we have urban leagues in 115 communities around the country. So search out your urban league in your town and see how you can hook up with them. We're talking with Hugh Price the president of the National Urban League about the state of black America. You too can join this discussion by calling our hotline at 1 -800 -989 -8255. That's 1 -800 -989 -8255. We're now going to go to Ruth with station KaOS in Olympia Washington. Welcome to PowerPoint Group. Hi there. Yeah I have a question from Mr. Price. He spoke of progress made you know due to

affirmative action in the past and I don't know if he was familiar but here in Washington state there's an initiative to ban affirmative action. And I was just wondering how do you feel about that and do you think this is something that's going to be spreading nationwide. This is a key to ban something that I think is you know personally as a woman of color help people in the past. Yeah it's just have to be a lot of resistance to initiatives like that because they are bubbling up in different parts of the country and the resistance in California was very strong. It wasn't strong enough but it was very strong and it was building actually. So I would encourage everybody to fight those initiatives at the state level. I think we also have to have a contingency plan just in case they pass. Just as California is now stuck with proposition 209 so you've got to figure out you know where we go from here. Right and I think there are there are ways to move forward that are less you know less effective than affirmative action but have you know some effectiveness nevertheless. Let's let's focus on that right after

the break. Ruth stay with us just for a second we're coming up on 29 minutes after the hour we're talking with Hugh Price president of the National Urban League about the State of Black America and you two can join this discussion when PowerPoint comes right back. Internet services for PowerPoint are provided by World African Network offering news information sports and entertainment for African and African American communities through internet broadband and new media technologies. The web address is www .world .africannet .com PowerPoint is made possible by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's Radio Program Fund. Welcome back to PowerPoint I'm Kenneth Walker

we're talking with Hugh Price president of the National Urban League about the State of Black America. You can join this discussion by calling our hotline at 1 -800 -989 -8255 that's 1 -800 -989 -8255 before our break we were talking with Ruth from Olympia Washington. I think Ruth you were asking Hugh Price what some of these alternatives to affirmative action might be. Right what a contingency plan might be if there is an initiative passed to ban such a thing as affirmative action. Well you can if you had to you could use factors that are not overly racial. For example if you're looking at college admissions I think you'd look at geography and say we want to make sure that we recruit young people from cities from inner ring suburbs and you happen to know you know the racial composition of those inner ring suburbs and from outer ring suburbs and from rural areas so you can make a conscious point of recruiting for geographic diversity and end up with racial diversity as well. Just as when

I applied to college many years ago my college on the east coast didn't want to just all these coast students so they made a point of recruiting from the Rockies from the southwest and far west in order to achieve diversity among white students. I think you can look at cultural origins and say for example that in our society it's important for students to be exposed to people whose roots are in various cultures and various regions of the world because we live in a global village and you know blah blah blah blah blah so let's look at the cultural origins you know. Well that's fine in a college level but I'm talking about more in the work as well. Well I don't work at level you know how is that in the private sector private companies are not put at risk by these propositions because the propositions only affect public institutions so the private the private institutions are still left to their own devices and their own consciences about this and I frankly don't see many private companies and

big corporations that are backsliding on this. I think they're big problems with a lot of small employers for example you can go through many many restaurants in New York City and never see an African -American but you know that that's a problem that's not affected by the initiative that's the attitude of the of the owners of the companies but the big corporations as best I can tell are actually moving forward not moving backwards because they know that by the middle of the next century this country's going to be half white half communities of color and they know where the markets are coming from and they're actually more determined the folks I've talked to in the corporate world are more determined than ever before because they know what the future looks like. Ruth we want to thank you for your call your questions and your observations and we hope you keep listening thanks so much for calling. On those questions Mr. Price we have today a situation where very conservative some say right wing legal think tanks and lawyers are employing the same kind of collaboration and strategic thinking and attacking some of these initiatives that

Thurgood Marshall and other African -American lawyers pioneered in achieving them. What if anything can be done about this this band of conservative lawyers roaming the country looking for individuals in cases to to promote their agenda which seems so far to be to be working. Well you know this is a free country so there are limits to what you can do obviously. One thing you can do is to try to take an awful case away from out of their hands and that was what the judgment was on the Piscataway case. I mean by buying them off. Well you know settling. Settling is happens to civil litigation all the time and Elaine Jones of the legal defense fund and Jesse Jackson and others he bonds drugs of the black leadership form we're quite instrumental in coming up with that strategy that's that's one thing you can do. Another thing we can do is contribute to the NAACP legal defense fund so that they have the horsepower to counteract these lawsuits wherever

they are. But I think the third thing we've got to do is think very hard about what happens if these cases do prevail you've got to fight them where they are but you also have to think think about well how do you achieve the goals of a basic goals or affirmative action which is inclusion and diversity in places like Texas and California where you know these things are going down for the count. And I think we've got to come up with new methods and strategies to do that. And thirdly or fourthly I think we've got to make an even stronger case for why affirmative action is constitutional. I think that we've sort of taken for granted that it's a good thing and I'm not sure that the cases that we've developed as far as the defenses are as strong as they ought to be. I think for example that if you look at the changing racial composition of our society the need to prepare people for that future and the reliance of this country is going to have one well prepared African -Americans Latinos strikes me as what they

call a compelling state interest which you know might help carry the day with the court. So I think we've got to operate on a lot of levels including the development of some contingency plans in places like California, Texas and Louisiana where the rules of the game have changed. Our PowerPoint staff has come up with the web address for the National Urban League and we want to share that with our listeners. It is www .n as a nothing -ul .org. That's www .nul .org. Once again we're talking with you price to the President of the National Urban League about those. Please don't say the end stands for nothing. Oh I'm sorry. Good. End stands for Nancy or National. www .nul .org sorry about that. No slide was intended. We're once again talking with you price. The President of the National Urban League about the State of Black America and you too can join this discussion by calling to our hotline at 1 -800 -989 -8255. That's 1 -800

-989 -8255. Thanks for bailing me out with my web address. Well thanks to our ever -ever -ready staff here who's always on the case. We're not going to go to the phones. We're going to take Frances with station WVAS in Montgomery, Alabama. Welcome to PowerPoint Frances. How you doing, gentlemen? Hi. How are you tonight? I'm alright. I wanted to pose a question, a very interesting question. Being that there are so many repeated attacks on the affirmative action thing and so many political issues that unfairly target Black people. A lot of them feel that the best way to save the Black community is by racial separation and meaning that that way of Black people have a chance to unite. Do you think that's the way to go? Thank you so much for your question Frances. I don't to be perfectly practical about it. I don't know more than a tiny tiny fraction of African Americans who believe that that's a way out or want it. Where

are we going to separate too? Why would we want to try to be our own state? I think we just need to look at the distance we've traveled, the tremendous distance that we've traveled since the days of real segregation. And we've got some more work yet to do. But I don't think that many African Americans really see that as an option or desired. I want into the American dream like everybody else we want to share in it, have decent jobs, get businesses, all the houses like everybody else. And I think that's what we as a people are after and we just got to continue to press forward. Don't you think though Mr. Price that there is a growing acceptance or an appetite among African Americans for something close to more political independence, considering many of the insults they continually suffer from both Democrats and Republicans? Well I think you've got to organize to be politically strong and to assert your interest and protect your interest. I don't know

what political or political independence means if it's outside the system. No, if it's if it's exercising your clout and recognizing that you've got the balance of power between parties then I certainly think that we ought to have that mindset. Would a black political party help do that in your opinion? I suppose it might but it's got to be led by someone and it's got to be able to organize people well and it's got to overcome the efforts of the two major parties to invest a lot of money in splintering the African American community. So theoretically yes it could happen practically we haven't seen it yet. A few weeks ago people were talking about people of politicians in Washington we're talking about billions of dollars in surplus for budgetary purposes and now in the light of the planned attacks on Iraq there's some question about whether this surplus might be eaten up. Do you see the

the Iraqi attacks if they occur as perhaps draining needed resources from urgent domestic consideration? Well I suppose it would drain some I can't imagine it lasting long enough if it were to happen so there would make much of a dent in any balanced budget scenario. I also have heard today that the Secretary General Kofia 9 and it's wonderful to have a brother in the middle of all this maybe making some some headway so let's all pray that those attacks don't happen but I can't imagine unless this escalates into a major major sustained war that it would make a difference. Nothing that I've heard in terms of the scale of encounter plan now would would make that much of a dent I don't think. Once again we're talking with you price. President of the National Urban League on the state of Black America our toll free hotline is 1 -800 -989 -8255 that's 1 -800 989 -8255 I think we're going to go to the phones now

and talk to Wilburn out of Jackson Mississippi with sister station WJSU. Welcome to PowerPoint Wilburn. How you do good evening. Okay I want to congratulate you on your show I listen as often as I can it's very informative. I had a question I wanted to ask Mr. Price concerning all the economical injustice in most Black communities. I'm here in Jackson Mississippi which everybody around the country pretty much know the type of atmosphere that we've sought to overcome here as far as equality on every level but what I've noticed in especially especially in this city in the Black community that is just a lot of economical inequality and I heard you speaking of the program that was set up by the Urban League to help people and my concern is with so many young Black men being incarcerated are there any programs that set up to help them that they might be able to

return to society and help to develop their own communities and be in a position to raise their families in order to make the system work for all. It seems very obvious to me that if one group there we all feel and that's and that's what seems to be the the issue that's most important now is not what us getting what we deserve is what what us getting what all people deserve not just us as a as a group but we just we just want the same thing for our children our community and as any other individual and I think it it this harms me for us to be put in a position where we have to constantly in this country that you know ourselves as you have to deal have to constantly fight for what it's just and what is right and what is do every remember so I was kind of concerned about that do you have any kind of programs that that's going to reach into those prisons system because those people are going to come back out of society someday and if they don't have any

deals in the training in the education they're going to be repeat offenders and they're going to be murdered and this crime is coming back to our community and to our streets and right now in Jackson this is just where I think we got 15 homicides and that's a lot of homicide in the city this side I'm going to give you a chance to answer thanks you thank you so much for your observations and your questions Wilbur and what about that mr well you put your finger on a huge huge problem in our community and I I agree with everything you said we have some small programs to help the folks that you're talking about but I don't want them you know pretend at all that they are of the scale that's necessary to make a dent I would say that we're trying to get to young people before they get caught up in the criminal justice system and helps steer them clearly criminal justice system and into the world of work because that's a lot easier than trying to deal with folks once they've got the criminal record we've got all this growth and employment and the economy is doing well but a lot of private employers really don't want to deal with ex -offenders

so it's going to take some public action probably some government programs to do that and right in through here the government really doesn't seem to care that much and that's one of the reasons that we have to do a lot more organizing and applying a lot more pressure but the the problems of the population you point out are not on the government's radar screen right now and if something is going to happen we probably have to have some public programs a related thing that is going on is that for a lot of people who are who don't have a lot of skills or who have you know a criminal record they're lagging way behind the eight ball economically there is no question about that and the statistics are very very clear so you put your finger on a hard problem we have the Urban League have advocated programs like this for years nobody in Washington nobody at the state level seems to want to deal with that and we've just got to keep on advocating and keep on organizing around that and secondly we've got to try to get to young people before they go over their

cliff so that you know they have a decent shot at employment but you put your finger on a big big problem I would not deny that that is a big issue we now go to Victor out of again Jackson Mississippi with sister station WJSU Victor welcome to PowerPoint how you done okay I like to say thanks to Mr. Price for appearing here I'm really concentrating on a new appointment of Mr. Bond with the National Association for the Advancement of Color People I mean Julian Bond yes and Julian Bond your comments about the quick trends and change of the colors overview of America as a total entity I mean the color is the proper word now for an organization really going to be concentrating on what's good for America and WACP as color color people has had its kicks because of their name color rather than the black this and black that that's really great we have Asians the Africans the Spanish the whites and we've never wanted

to exclude them and now it's going to be a truly spectrum of color for America so I say who are for the Urban League because that's where your real concentrations of all the coalesce and the mixing is going to be and the rules are going to catch on real quickly thanks for Mississippi we're waiting right in the middle of Memphis New Orleans Atlanta Dallas Litter Rock and so Jackson is going to come but we've been on these slopes we've really got a true picture of black history today has been a national effort of color people thank you thank you so much Victor for your call about Julian Bond's recent appointment as chair of the NAACP board you price I know that this is kind of intramural here but what would you expect mr. Bond might bring to that organization well Julian Bond is a legend in civil rights movement he's smart as a whip and I think that you know he can add a lot of

strength and assets to the organization the NAACP is a vitally important organization in our community no one organization can carry the weight and we need lots of very strong organizations just as all other ethnic groups have lots of strong organizations so I personally want to see the NAACP be as strong as possible on the question of colored I'm 56 and in my little over five decades I've been called five things I've been called black Negro colored Afro -American and African American and I've sort of lost interest in the label things oh I don't see any need for them to particularly you know go about changing the the name of the organization right they just want to go about their work and one of the point I think we've got to be focused on the well -being of the African American community but in doing that I think we also have to understand that we're going to be coalescing and cooperating with a lot of other organizations that have similar

interests because the changing population mix we should be very clear about something births among Latino Americans now exceed African American births and by the middle of the next century the Latin American Latin Latino population is going to be twice the size of the black population in America we're going to be the third largest population group in this country and that's going to require some adjustments in our strategies being better organized and understanding how to exercise our power on the margin where you know where our vote really matters and our presence really matters so I think that you know we've got to do a lot of strategizing about how we play our card to the next century all right we're coming up on 49 minutes after the hour we're talking with you price president of the National Urban League about the state of black America our discussion on PowerPoint continues when we come back still ahead on PowerPoint should the United States attack

Iraq in hour two of PowerPoint we'll discuss the Persian Gulf crisis in our ambassador's roundtable series with the ambassador from Jordan there's more PowerPoint just ahead welcome back to PowerPoint I'm Kenneth Walker once again we're talking with you price the president of the National Urban League about the state of black America

you two can join this discussion in our remaining minutes by calling our toll free hotline at 1 -800 -989 -8255 that's 1 -800 -989 -8255 we go to Ricky out of Baltimore with station WEAA welcome to PowerPoint Ricky good evening how are you fine how are you I have a comment and a question I like to direct to Mr. Price right ahead my comment is this I'm an announcement of the effective leadership as a head of the National Urban League as well I'm an acknowledgement of the positive and good work that the Urban League and captures all around the country does to affect the quality of life for all a lot of people my question is this what do you think in terms of President Clinton's attitude and actions and initiative concerning race relations thanks so much for that calling question if you go right ahead Mr. Price I think the president has done a lot of very good things

in race you know a strong economy is the best way to lift people out of poverty so with this strong economy we have seen unemployment rates among black folks go down and incomes go up and so that has been a very good thing he has placed African -Americans in positions of authority and government like no other president in history we have several cabinet members who are African -American Rodney Slater the Secretary of Transportation Lexus Herman the Secretary of Labor Bill Canard a young African -American brother is I think in his early 40s is the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission he presides over the telecommunications industry which is arguably the most important industry in this in this nation so the president has done many many marvelous things I think that his initiative on race which got a lot of coverage after a sort of faltering start was beginning to focus in on issues like those we

talked about earlier it was beginning to focus in on affirmative action in higher education beginning to focus in on the problem between police and the community I think there's no question that the effort has probably been derailed because of the problems with Monica Lewinsky and because of the Iraqi situation and I hope that the president's initiative on race gets back on course I'd also say that the president has been very focused on education I think early on he paid too much attention to the issue of national standards and tests and not enough attention to what we have to do to improve the quality of education in the schools and the after school programs for young people but his recent budget was very good on those points as well so I think that substantively he has done a lot of very very good things that have helped to improve conditions in the black community how would you have a long way to go and I have major problems with welfare reform bill but you

know there have been some good things that have been done. What's your opinion on all of these many very good things that have been done to improve life in the black community and what relationship that may have to what the first lady Hillary Clinton has referred to as a vast right -wing conspiracy against her and her husband. Oh I don't think that there's a direct connection between what has happened for the African -American community and whatever his opposition may be I think the Clintons you know the politics has become a holy war in this country and take no survivors game and I think that whether or not they were focused on the African -American community they'd be up against it with with the right -wing so I suppose I don't I don't see a connection between the two. We're going to go to the phones again and take Diane out of Boston with sister station to WUMB welcome to PowerPoint Diane. Good evening how are you? Fine how are you? Great I'm enjoying the program. Thank you. I'd like to go back to the issue of political parties. We've got an election that will soon be coming up in the

year 2000 that's rapidly approaching a presidential election and I like the idea of a black party not necessarily to put someone in office but in order to create an agenda or a platform to use as leverage that puts our issues on the table. They were really basically ignored in the last election I believe and I'd like you price to discuss that a little bit. What do you think of the idea? Do you think it would be helpful to do something like what Perot did? He did get a lot of attention and his issues did get put on the table and I'll hang up and take my answer off yet. Thank you so much Diane. Actually she has a point that she missed the price unless somebody like Jesse Jackson is running issues identified as African -American issues get totally shut out of the debate here. I have no problem with a highly organized effort to bring those issues forward and also to

position the African -American community as a critical swing vote which is available to those who demonstrate the greatest commitment to our interests. The questions are how do you organize it and what's the infrastructure and is there a candidate who's going to carry it? It's one thing to have a party with no one, no spear carrier. It's another to have a Ross Perot or somebody out there. Perot came very close to causing a lot of mischief at the election before last and I could imagine circumstances where the American people get sufficiently fed up with what's going on in Washington and then perhaps they be tantalized again. I think you'll have to have a more serious candidate or credible candidate than Perot was but it could happen there. There no givens out there and I certainly think that we're going to have to become smarter about organizing and inserting and expressing our interests. In the declining moments we have left left let's go to O 'Lide out of Baltimore with station WEAA in

Baltimore. Welcome to PowerPoint are you there? Yes. First of all you said that most of the black men in America believe in the American dream well why is it that Mr. Ferrican can call a million people a black men to come there and most of the black men stay there and listen to everybody he said simply because they were dissatisfied with the so -called American dream. I don't see how you can even put fix your mouth to say something like that. Yeah have you taken the survey of how many of those people were working and what their circumstances were? When I speak of the American dream I'm talking about working earning a living getting a job buying a house being able to do all of those things and I think that you know the high percentage of the folks who are there are on that page and I certainly see them we all see them but obviously there are huge huge problems please sir. Pardon me. O 'Lide. O 'Lide we are actually running fast running out of time. I do want to thank you though for both your call and your comment. We've been talking with

Hugh Price the president of the National Urban League about just where black America seems to be headed as we head toward the new millennium the 21st century where we've been how far yet we have to go. That's we've had a fascinating discussion here on this subject with Dr. Hugh Price. This is Power Point and I'm Kenneth Walker. If you'd like a tape or a transcript of this or any other past edition of Power Point called 1 -888 -682 -6500 for more information about Power Point program tapes and transcripts. Join us next week when we critique the news media's handling of the scandal in the White House and if you've got the great black American novel buried somewhere in your mind's eye you'll want to hear what some successful writers have to share about getting stories and print. All that and Power Point news with Verna Avery Brown right here on this public radio station. Power Point is made possible by a grant

from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's Radio Program Fund. This is Power Point, a production of Hicks and Associates. As American fighter pilots prepare zero in on Iraqi targets, questions still loom large about the pending attack. In the next hour, Power Point's Ambassadors Roundtable talks about the crisis in the Persian Gulf with special guest Marwan Mouasher, Ambassador of Jordan. Stay tuned, there's a lot of fun.

Production and broadcast of Power Point is made possible by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. This is Power Point, an information -age clearinghouse for issues affecting the African -American community, the nation and the world, and now Power Points Kenneth Walker. I want you and I directly from me what is at stake for American the Persian Gulf, what we are doing to protect the peace, the security, the freedom we cherish, why

we have taken the position we have taken. It seems like deja vu all over again in the Persian Gulf as Bill Clinton moves unconsciously to do the work that most Americans agree should have been completed by George Bush in company during Operation Desert Storm. For the next hour as Power Point continues its monthly series, the Ambassadors Roundtable will measure, as the President said speaking at the Pentagon last week, just what exactly is at stake for America in the Persian Gulf? Our distinguished guest this time on the Ambassadors Roundtable, his excellency Marwan Mouasher, Ambassador of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to the United States. Also joining in the discussion, Middle Eastern Journalist, Hisham Melham, diplomatic correspondent for Assafeer, a newspaper in Beirut, Lebanon, and by phone from the University of North Carolina, Professor of History and