Action Programs

FROM Nicholas Lemann, writing in the New York Times Magazine, June 11:As we begin the process of thinking about the bulk of affirmative action programs, it's important to keep in mind three core principles.First, because the country is so segregated, the natural default position for white people is to have no contact at all with blacks. It's healthy to have some way of pushing people, as they make hiring and contracting and admissions decisions, to go far enough beyond the bounds of their ordinary realm of contacts to find black candidates.

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton, in a long-awaited statement on affirmative action next week, is expected to offer a spirited defense of granting preferences by race and gender in such areas as hiring, promotions and college admissions.The speech, scheduled for next Wednesday, will offer a clear contrast on this emotional subject between the president and the Republicans vying for the right to challenge him next year, according to White House aides, members of Congress who spoke to Mr. Clinton yesterday and civil rights activists.

WASHINGTON -- With surprising suddenness, affirmative action has thrust itself into the national political debate -- and seems destined to be a dominant political issue in state capitals across the nation and in the 1996 presidential campaign."

WASHINGTON -- In a sweeping review of the government's affirmative action programs, Clinton administration officials have concluded that most hiring and other preferences based on race or sex are justified in employment and education.But they found problems with some purchasing programs that reserve federal contracts for companies owned by blacks or women.A confidential report prepared for the president by administration officials catalogs numerous forms of affirmative action and analyzes the reasons for "white male resentment" of those practices.

The Northeast Social Action Program's Community Clothing Store is open for business from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays in the building behind St. John's United Methodist Church at 1205 N. Main St., Hampstead.Men's, women's and children's clothing and accessories are available at nominal prices. The store also has a costume rack and new/nearly new racks.Information: 239-6216.FIRE* Manchester: Manchester and Hampstead responded for a fire alarm in the 2400 block of Cape Horn Road at 1:05 p.m. Friday.

MAINSTREAM news media are shortchanging the public -- especially women -- in their coverage of affirmative action. Consideration of affirmative action's impact and meaning for women of all colors is largely missing from news stories, and women are severely under-represented on opinion pages.Worse, with few exceptions, major media are reporting the debate on affirmative action without reference to the continued existence of racist and sexist practices. Severed from the context of discrimination to which it is a response, affirmative action is presented as a confusing, "hot-button" issue.

BY SPEAKING at Morgan State University's commencement program last Sunday, President Clinton provided a powerful symbolic message about the importance of higher education to African Americans. Historically black colleges and universities such as Morgan attract students on their own merit. For too long, though, they also have provided recourse for African Americans denied entrance into white institutions.Court decisions have made it harder to use race as a criteria to recruit students. As a result, predominantly black schools still offer the best chance for an affordable college education for many African Americans.

CYNTHIA Hamilton, an African-American automotive-factory worker in Toledo, Ohio, agrees with many whites that a colorblind America would be wonderful. But that's an impossible dream, Hamilton says. And, she adds, "because there are so many prejudices against us because of the color of our skin, there has to be something there to make up for that." That "something," in her view: affirmative action. A recent Seattle Times national poll explored Americans' feelings about discrimination, opportunity and affirmative action.

Sobered by a surge in drug crimes, assault and malicious destruction last year, Taneytown residents are looking to forge tighter links with city police and have begun exploring the possibility of an organized neighborhood watch program.Although serious crime remains relatively rare in the community of about 5,000, the annual crime statistics issued late last month confirm a significant rise in several categories, among them:* Narcotics violations, which rose to 70 cases from 30 the year before, an increase of 133 percent.

Until she attended a Head Start preschool program, 3-year-old Jazmine Moore used to pull her mother toward the kitchen to signal she wanted something to drink. "If I gave her milk instead of juice, she would fall out," or have a temper tantrum, recalled Tenesha Moore, a Govans resident. But after the little girl began spending her days in a program that helps children develop verbal and social skills, her mother said, Jazmine learned to speak in complete sentences -- and is likely to be ready for school by the time she turns 5. Stories like Jazmine's are the exception, however, mainly because of insufficient outreach to Baltimore families and lack of coordination among agencies that provide early-childhood services, according to a coalition of 50 community leaders and groups that has studied school readiness.