Urban League President Pushes for Black Advancement

In an American economy ripe with opportunity, blacks stand to increase the socioeconomic status of their community--but they can't do it without education, the president of the National Urban League said in a speech last night at the Institute of Politics.

The state of black America today, Hugh Price said in his speech, "is one of unprecedented opportunity."

"Minimum wage may be too low to make a living, but at least blacks are getting into the labor market," he said.

His presentation, entitled "Urban Activism: Redefining America," emphasized maintaining an optimistic approach while pushing for advancement.

"Many in poor schools have not gotten on the economic 'up' elevator," and as a result are missing out on important opportunities, Price explained.

Price outlined ways in which his organization is working to push blacks as a group into a higher socioeconomic sphere. He began by stressing the "need to fight under- education so that African-Americans can reach their potential."

Since the U.S. has seen unprecedented employment growth in the last few years, there is a tremendous opportunity to advance in the workplace, he said. The Urban League, Price said, is working towards this resolution methodically.

The Urban League is "the premier social service and civil rights organization servicing African-Americans and others who are striving to enter the economic mainstream," according to its website.

Price cited 1989 as a major turning point in black advancement in business, comparing it to 1947--the year Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball. In that year, three CEOs named to lead three Fortune 500 companies--Fannie Mae, American Express and Maytag--were black.

When asked what it was like being a student during the civil rights movement, Price said, "It is important to remember that the movement did not last only five years. It was decades long."

He pointed to the formation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1909 and the Urban League's founding in 1910 as the beginning of what people deem civil rights activism, stressing that the movement is still not over.

However, he admitted that in a time when civil rights no longer consume the energy of all black people, it is difficult to decide on a specific focus for activism.

When asked by a member of the audience why the Urban League does not focus on discrimination or the stratification of blacks' income, Price simply replied, "I don't apologize for our focus."

He said the work of helping people get skills and jobs is of immediate concern for the Urban League.

"The trend lines are in the right direction, but we have a long way to go," he said.

Price called prosecution of drug offenses "one of the most searing examples of racism in our country," citing statistics that the number of blacks convicted of drug offenses outnumber whites by 2 to 1, even though there are 5 times more white cocaine users.

The most urgent concern, Price said, is to attain a minimum standard of academic achievement.

"The achievement gap as I see it is not 'Can the South Bronx catch up with Scarsdale?' but, 'Can students in the South Bronx do the work for their grade level?'"

Mustafa M. Kamoga, a Gates computer science fellow who came to hear Price speak, said Price was "very knowledgeable."

"His real life examples that change can happen were good, as was his emphasis on economics," Kamoga said.

Price has been the president of the Urban League for six years, and previously worked for The New York Times editorial board and as vice president of the Rockefeller Foundation. He is a graduate of Amherst College and Yale Law School.