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Ex-President Carter: US ‘dormant’ on inequality

Former President Jimmy Carter sat down for a conversation on the first day of the Civil Rights Summit at the LBJ Presidential Library. Getty Images

AUSTIN, Texas — Former President Jimmy Carter lamented Tuesday night the continuing inequalities between black and white Americans during a 50th anniversary celebration of the Civil Rights Act in Texas that will feature four of the five living US presidents this week.

Carter said ‘‘too many people are at ease’’ with black unemployment rates that exceed the national average and schools in some places that he described as basically still segregated.

Carter, 89, was the first president to speak at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library in Austin, which is holding the three-day summit to mark the anniversary of the landmark 1964 law that banned widespread discrimination against racial and ethnic minorities and against women.

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‘‘We’re pretty much dormant now,’’ Carter said. ‘‘We accept self-congratulations about the wonderful 50th anniversary — which is wonderful — but we feel like Lyndon Johnson did it and we don’t have to do anything anymore.’’

The unemployment rate for blacks was 12 percent in February, compared with 5.8 percent for whites.

The 39th president touched on wage gaps between women and men and reiterated his support for gay marriage. During a wide-ranging interview to a packed auditorium, Carter also chalked up loosened rules on political campaign contributions as partly the reason for a new era of gridlock in Washington.

Associated Press