WASHINGTON (AP) -- With a greater reliance on government retirement benefits, America's 75 million minorities have a special stake in the debate over the future of Social Security.
As the White House prepares for its two-day conference on the future of America's retirement system Tuesday and Wednesday, advocates for minorities are pressing to make their voices heard.They are paying particular attention to proposals that would shift some Social Security taxes now deducted from workers' paychecks into personal accounts to be invested in the stock market.
"Privatization is pro-market but it is anti-security, anti-worker and anti-family," says the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
Leaders of the large, traditional progressive civil rights groups like the NAACP, National Urban League, Jackson's Rainbow/Push Coalition and the National Council of La Raza are among those opposing private accounts.
But smaller, more conservative minority advocacy groups such as the Hispanic Business Roundtable and the Center for New Black Leadership support allowing workers to invest some Social Security contributions in the stock market.
Both supporters and opponents of privatization agree, however, the Social Security debate could have a disproportionate impact on minorities.
With fewer dollars to invest, minorities generally have been more dependent on Social Security income at the time of retirement or disability, experts say.
Supporters of the private accounts say minorities receive less in benefits than they pay into the system, due in part to shorter life expectancies compared to whites. So minorities should be among the first to push for the new accounts, they reason.
"I am totally baffled why the Jesse Jacksons and the Kweisi Mfumes of the world are fighting against black people getting a greater return on their so-called investment in Social Security," said Phyllis Berry Myers, a board member of the Center for New Black Leadership, a conservative think tank.
NAACP President Kweisi Mfume says some privatization proponents have attempted to capitalize on the fears of minorities who, because of their shorter life expectancies, fear they won't live long enough to see their benefits.
"They are trying to get us to rush and get these accounts instead of dealing with the larger issue of increasing (minority) life expectancies," Mfume said.
A white baby born in 1996 can expect to live for 76.8 years; a black baby 70.2 years.
Myers said that since minorities place far fewer of their dollars in higher-yielding investments like stocks than whites, the accounts could open the door to greater awareness of the potential profits in Wall Street investing.
But privatization foes fear that market downturns could wipe away years of savings. And, they say, implementation of the plan would pose a logistical nightmare.
"Privatization presents us with a whole new set of unnecessary risks. Administration of 140 million new separate accounts portends to be a huge and frankly dangerous undertaking," Mfume said.
"Who would run these accounts, private firms or the government? Would people be free to invest where they like or would they be presented a set of options? And what mechanisms would there be to insure against fraud."
Hispanic activists say the issue of how to invest Social Security withholding is a particularly thorny issue for their community since Latinos will comprise one in five American workers after baby boomers hit retirement age in 2030.
"Because the Hispanic community is also the youngest- and fastest-growing population in the United States, the solvency of the Social Security is also a major concern to us," said Brent Wilkes, executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens.
"For many Hispanic families, Social Security is the only guaranteed security that they can count on," he said.
At the White House conference, the audience will be limited to about 250 people invited by the administration from a broad array of groups representing different views on Social Security. Minority advocates on both side of the privatization debate hope to be among them.