A former president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference wants the federal government to consider the Mobile area's large black population in deciding where new Air Force tankers will be built.
Former SCLC President Charles Steele has written a letter to members of the Congressional black caucus that a competition between Boeing and EADS over who will build the new tankers should consider where the project would most help the black community and the poor.
Steele said if Boeing wins the planes would be built in Everett, Wash., which is 3.3 percent black and has 9.1 percent unemployment.
If EADS wins, the planes would be built in the Mobile area, which is 40 percent black and has more than 15 percent unemployment.
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