NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE New president addresses racism, incarceration

President Bush is expected to address the national conference today.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The new president of the National Urban League said Sunday that the number of blacks with bachelor's degrees is at an all-time high, but warned that success in the classroom is marred by rising incarceration rates and covert racism.
"We must ask, 'why does the rate of incarceration of our black men continuescontinue to exceed the rate of college admission? Why in the year 2000 were there at least 13 states where there were more African Americans in prisons than in college?'" Marc Morial asked. "We must not be afraid to say to ourselves that we have much work to do."
Census figures show that in 2002, 17 percent of blacks age 25 and older had a bachelor's degree, a record high.
Morial, chosen two months ago to lead one of the nation's oldest civic groups, made his first national address during the organization's annual conference Sunday.
While discussing racism, he cited a passage from an essay by Robert Hill that was included in the Urban League's annual report. The essay said racism remains but has taken a new form.
"There has been a strong shift from Jim Crow -- the overt manifestation of racial hatred by individuals in white society -- to James Crow, Esquire -- the maintenance of racial inequality through covert processes of structure and institutions," Hill wrote.
Morial's history
Much of the talk among those attending the second day of the convention concerned the differences between Hugh Price, who stepped down as president in May, and Morial.
Price was considered a tireless and cerebral organizer. Morial, the brash and sometimes controversial former mayor of New Orleans, has vowed to raise the group's profile.
Morial was elected mayor of New Orleans at age 35 and, after a second term, tried unsuccessfully to change the city charter so that he could run a third time.
He was largely credited for cleaning up the New Orleans police department, but since he left office in 2002, federal officials have opened an investigation into city contracts awarded under Morial's administration.
Morial has not been charged and denies wrongdoing.
If today is any indication, the profile and importance of the National Urban League in next year's presidential campaign is considerable.
Presidential visit
President Bush is expected to address the conference today despite the fact that in his three years in office he has not yet met with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the nation's oldest civil rights group.
Seven of nine Democratic candidates for president also said they would participate in the conference today.
Morial announced that the Urban League would also be heading to Washington, D.C., in the spring for a policy conference and meetings with members of Congress. He called voter apathy a "weapon of mass destruction," vowing to get more black voters to the polls.
He thanked former president Hugh Price for the work he had done in building a solid organizational structure and promised to use that to extend the reach of the National Urban League.
"Whether it's the suites of corporate America, the Halls of Congress or the streets of our neighborhoods, I will be there because that's where the action is," Morial said.