By LINDA WALLACE

July 25, 2001

The National Urban League Wednesday urged African Americans to "reconstruct Black Civil Society," which it said is becoming increasingly divided by class and an "inequality of opportunity."

"African Americans are at an historic turning point," said Hugh Price, National Urban League president. "They, now with a growing educated and middle class, have never been in a better position in American society. But what’s lacking is most effectively marshalling the relative affluence and skills of the black middle class to attack the problems of that 30-percent group of poor and truly impoverished blacks who need a helping hand."

In its State of Black America 2001 report, the Urban League covered an array of issues, including education, a heightened concern with economic opportunity, and the rising influence of Latinos, who now rival African Americans as the largest ethnic group in the United States.

With a population of 35.3 million people, Latinos account for 12.5 percent of the total U.S. population. African Americans, with a total population of 36.4 million people, represent 12.9 percent of the United States, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The report highlighted an emerging new entrepreneurial spirit among African Americans, and covered familiar topics, such as the homeownership gap, affirmative action and income disparity.

Price, and the staff of scholars and researchers it assembled to write the document, said African Americans overall have gained economic and political ground. In 1999, about 47 percent of African Americans were homeowners, compared with 67.5 percent of the general population, the U.S. Census Bureau reported. In addition, 6.1 percent of African American households had incomes of more than $100,000 in 1999. A survey conducted a year earlier, however, found that 26 percent of African Americans were poor, compared with 8 percent of non-Hispanic whites.

Designing the solutions to this dilemma is a responsibility that rests largely among the shoulders of those under 35, Price said. So this year, the National Urban League tailored its report to this emerging group of leaders.

For the first time, the organization sampled views of African Americans in a random telephone poll of nearly 800, in an effort to better understand how African Americans, especially those under 35, view the world and are equipped to meet the challenges ahead.

Overall, respondents surveyed identified five key problems: Racism (21 percent), employment and unemployment (21 percent), education (11 percent), unity (7 percent), and crime (6 percent. Issues of drugs and police brutality were included in with responses on crime.

In other key developments, the National Urban League’s State of Black America 2001 also:

- Called upon the African-American leadership to reconcile differences on school choice, and work together to devise an action plan to improve schools. "The issue there is that parents in our community are getting increasingly fed up with lousy schools," Price said.

- Urged African-American businesses and entrepreneurs to use technology more heavily.

- Noted that African-American males and females increasingly travel divergent paths. Of the nearly 11 million African-American adults between 15 and 34, 5 million – 46 percent - are male, the report said. More women in the 18-34 age category hold jobs than men. African Americans held slightly higher income levels than other ethnic groups, the organization said.

- Addressed the crippling power of HIV/AIDS, the report found African-American women are now at greater risk than other women in encountering a male partner infected with AIDS.

The 2001 report is an old story given new urgency because of the rapid technological, economic and political changes reshaping the community, and the world, according to Price and researchers, who are either scholars or experts in their fields.

Reprinted from DiversityInc.com
[Copyright 2001 Allegiant Media Inc. All Rights Reserved.]

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