Urban League focuses on black opportunity

ST. LOUIS, July 29 (UPI) -- When the National Urban League held a conference in St. Louis on economic policy, the most popular panel was on what organizers call the black male crisis.

The conference focused on expanding economic opportunities for U.S. blacks. It featured speakers including the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Jeff Johnson, a host on the Black Entertainment Television network, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Sunday.

The panel on the black male crisis -- which included Jackson -- drew a standing-room crowd. Speakers noted that black men are twice as likely as white men to be unemployed, seven times more likely to go to prison and nine times more likely to be killed by firearms, the newspaper said.

The theme of the conference was how to improve those statistics. Workshops included "Entrepreneurship 201, Putting a Real Deal Together," and "Six-figure Careers You Never Thought About."