WASHINGTON - The net worth of black Americans is less than 10 percent of that of whites, a key civil rights group said Wednesday, calling on the US Congress to raise the minimum wage and expand programs to help blacks purchase homes and start businesses.
The National Urban League's State of Black America 2005 report found that black Americans continue to lag behind their white counterparts, especially on economic issues, a generation after black voting rights were secured in the height of the civil rights era.
"We are in danger of eroding many of the gains that brought us to where we are today," Urban League President Marc Morial said at a news conference announcing the release of the report.
"This is the civil rights issue of the 21st century."
The study found that the median net worth for black Americans was 6,100 dollars, versus 67,000 dollars for whites. Only 48.1 percent of black Americans own their homes, compared with 75.4 percent of their white counterparts, and there are nearly three times as many white-owned businesses as black-owned ones.
In addition, blacks are more than twice as likely to be unemployed as whites.
The Urban League called on President George W. Bush and the US Congress to renew the 1965 Voting Rights Act when it expires in 2007, raise the minimum wage from 5.15 dollars an hour to 7.25, expand programs to help blacks purchase homes and start businesses and give every child access to preschool programs from the age of three.
The group also wants black Americans to save and invest more and called on wealthy blacks to give more back to their communities.
Morial, a former mayor of New Orleans, said he also has asked Bush and congressional leaders to create a bipartisan commission to explore ways of helping maximize economic opportunities for all Americans. Urban League members planned later to lobby lawmakers on behalf of their proposals.
"There's been too much partisan bickering here in Washington DC, and too few problems getting solved," he said.
04/06/2005 18:37 GMT