(NNPA) – As the presidential campaigns heat up with most of the Black community divided between New York Sen. Hillary Clinton and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, the National Black Caucus of State Legislators gathered in Little Rock, Ark., earlier this month to develop the organization’s national agenda for the 2008 presidential primary elections.
The 31st annual legislative conference featured speeches by a divergent group of leaders, including former President Bill Clinton, Julianne Malveaux, president of Bennett College for Women, Ernest Green, managing director of the investment banking firm Lehman Brothers and a member of the famous “Little Rock 9,” Dr. Joycelyn Elders, former U. S. Surgeon General, and Bishop Eddie L. Long, head of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta.
The focus of the conference, which ends Sunday, is to improve the financial stability and growth in communities across the country, according to spokesman Natalie C. Williams.
The opening plenary speech was delivered by NBCSL’s president and Georgia state Rep. Calvin Smyre.
“As state legislators, we understand the impact of an unhealthy financial economy on our communities,” Smyre said. “We see first hand the significant disparities affecting our families.
“In health care, minorities, low-income families, and immigrants are more likely to be uninsured than their counterparts. Interesting enough, most of the uninsured are members of a working class family.”
He pointed out that wage inequality between average workers and the wealthy is greater than it was three decades ago. The gender wage gap has narrowed over the last three decades, but unfortunately women still earn considerably less than men, he said.
Many of the gains that African-Americans have made in home ownerships have been negated by predatory lending practices and the sub-prime mortgage meltdown, he told the more than 500 state legislators from around the nation.
“According to the Center for Responsible Lending, 2.2 million families since 1998 have faced or are expected to face foreclosure because of predatory lending practices,” he said. “Furthermore, studies have consistently shown that African-Americans and Latino borrowers are more likely to pay sub prime interest rates than most borrowers.”
Smyre praised President George Bush for his plan to freeze mortgage rates on sub-prime loans for up to five years for people with poor credit facing possible foreclosures.
“The National Black Caucus of State Legislators commends the president on taking such steps to give families the opportunity to stay in their homes, as well as to stop the malaise in the housing and sub prime loan market,” Smyre said.
It is imperative on the Black legislators gathered at the convention to keep the vital issues before the presidential candidates in the upcoming year, Smyre said.
“As state legislators and elected officials, we are responsible for making a significant difference in the equality of all Americans,” he said. “We believe that improving the financial stability of our country, we can begin to close the gap on these disparities.
“As we approach the 2008 primary season, it is imperative that our presidential hopefuls realize that the issues that are being addressed at this conference are not just issues of the Black community. They are issues facing American people.”