NAACP chairman criticizes Bush policies as civil rights group's annual meeting opens

DETROIT: The NAACP is needed now more than ever because the Bush administration has done little to support blacks, the civil rights organization's national chairman said as its 98th annual convention opened.

From the administration's slow response to Hurricane Katrina to the war in Iraq and immigration issues, Bush has seen his presidency questioned, Julian Bond, board chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, told an audience of about 3,000.

The number of Americans living in poverty has increased by more than 5 million, to 37 million, during the Bush administration, Bond said Sunday.

"And the gap has grown between the haves and the have-nots," he said. "Almost a quarter of black Americans nationwide live below the poverty line, as compared with only 8.6 percent of whites."

Bond called present-day inequality and racial disparities cumulative and the result of racial advantages compounded over time.