Reagan soft on racism, Kennedy tells NAACP

Before some 8,000 delegates at the NAACP convention here, Sen. Edward Kennedy accused President Reagan of abdicating his role in erasing racism to those who practiced discrimination.

He told the annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People that the Reagan administration provided no leadership in civil rights, saying an administration is needed ''that will enforce affirmative action, instead of relying on the voluntary compliance by those who imposed discrimination in the first place.