Jackson: NAACP must help save auto industry

DETROIT -- The Rev. Jesse Jackson says helping Detroit's ailing auto industry is part of the NAACP's new role.

The civil rights activist said Sunday that blacks are disproportionately suffering in the current economic downturn and car companies' failures.

The reverend is scheduled to deliver the keynote address later Sunday at the 54th Detroit NAACP Fight for Freedom Fund dinner at Detroit's Cobo Center.

Former speakers at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's largest annual fundraiser have included President Obama when he was the U.S. Senator for Illinois; his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr.; and Bill Clinton.