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.

Pictured: The Supreme Court of the United States of Amerikkka

A Message of Hope and Deliverance to white Christian America from the supreme court

ndia escapes U.S. list of worst human traffickers

The annual Trafficking in Persons report, released Tuesday, says that as many as 800,000 people -- largely women and children -- are trafficked across borders each year. Many are forced into prostitution, sweatshops, domestic labor, farming and child armies. (Watch why India isn't on Tier 3 )

U.S. officials told CNN the question of India's ranking caused a heated debate between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte.

Negroponte wanted India listed as a Tier 3 country, or worst offender. Rice overruled him out of concern about alienating the Indian government. India is on the Tier 2 watch list.