Mfume decries widening economic gap

•  "Minorities, disadvantaged must demand change, work together to achieve it."

People of all races and ethnicities who are disadvantaged and discriminated against need to demand change as the gap between rich and poor in the United States grows, the former head of the NAACP said Wednesday. "People will try to tell you to be silent, to look the other way," said Kweisi Mfume. "Challenge them." Mfume, past president and chief executive officer of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, spoke in a packed auditorium at 2,100-seat Clowes Memorial Hall at Butler University. The 40-minute speech, sprinkled with personal anecdotes and gospel-fueled humor, was part of the university's Black History Month observance. Mfume said lawmakers in Washington have been advancing a "reverse Robin Hood" agenda. "Economic disparities have grown; gaps between the haves and have-nots have grown," said Mfume, who served as a congressman from Maryland for 10 years. "Blacks, Latinos and poor whites are falling further behind. "We have a problem." Mfume said the war in Iraq and the trillions of dollars the United States is adding to the national debt are making matters worse. "War and recession historically have collaborated with diminished civil rights," he said. "With our collective voice, we need to say we should be less concerned with rebuilding the economy of Iraq and more concerned with rebuilding our own economy." Mfume urged minorities not to give up on one another. [more]

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