BALTIMORE (AP) - The head of the National Urban League says his group deliberately chose to hold its annual conference this week in the city where a young black man's death in police custody last year touched off protests and rioting.
League President Marc Morial said Tuesday that holding the "Save Our Cities" summit in Baltimore represents "a decision to come to the front lines" of the national conversation about race.
Freddie Gray's death in police custody last year sent reverberations still being felt in the city.
Morial said the conference would address a range of topics such as poverty, housing, education and strategies to combat perhaps the most pernicious and pervasive problem in American cities today: joblessness.
The National Urban League is one of the leading national advocacy organizations for African Americans.
