ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, July 9, 1990                   TAG: 9007090194
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/2   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES                                LENGTH: Short


NAACP DIRECTOR URGES PASSAGE OF RIGHTS BILL

Black leaders gathered at the NAACP's annual convention said winning passage in Congress of a major civil rights bill is the group's top priority.

The bill is needed to restore rights that were "kidnapped by the conservative majority on the current U.S. Supreme Court," NAACP Executive Director Benjamin Hooks said Sunday in a speech opening a five-day meeting of the nation's oldest and largest civil rights group.

The bill would reverse several U.S. Supreme Court decisions made last year regarding the employment rights of women and minorities.

In a news conference before the meeting, Hooks complained that black elected officials have been subjected to selective prosecution, and he called for uniform enforcement of the law.

He was particularly critical of the federal government's drug sting of Washington Mayor Marion Barry using a woman with whom he had an affair to lure him to her hotel room.

Hooks emphasized that the NAACP does not condone misconduct by public officials but charged that black officials have been unfairly targeted for prosecution.

- Associated Press



 by CNB