Black People

THE NATIONAL observance of February as Black History Month each year gives us a time to contemplate the past and give serious thought to developing strategies and techniques for moving more of the nation's 32 million black Americans into the mainstream, economically, politically and educationally.At a time when the Republicans' Contract With America is being implemented to the detriment of black people, it is necessary that we -- black people -- organize for our own progress, prosperity and survival.

Timorous after having been hammered for years by cries from the right of leftist bias, and hampered by a simple-minded understanding of objectivity that gives sober attention to cranks and zanies, American journalism often winds up serving a bland gruel. But those cries of political bias (which often boil down to "You're not biased in the direction I prefer") are exaggerated and far from the whole story of the limitations of our journalism. The biases are both more widespread and subtler than is generally recognized or acknowledged.

From time to time, Richard T. Seymour of Catonsville will come across something in the news about blacks that causes lTC him to shake his head in disgust and exclaim, "There they go again!""But then I'll catch myself and remember, 'Wait a minute, they aren't all like that,' " says Mr. Seymour. "I'll think: Bill isn't like that. Dave isn't like that. A lot of the black people I do business with or come into contact with during the day -- they aren't like that. I'm painting blacks with a broad brush.

Los Angeles. -- Like a bandage stripped off an open wound, the civil unrest sweeping through South Los Angeles has exposed and intensified the painful strains of racial anger and ethnocentrism that have long simmered among the city's myriad ethnic communities.The popular notion advanced by Mayor Tom Bradley and other civic leaders in recent years that Los Angeles was transforming itself into a harmonious, multi-ethnic model city appeared to waft away amid the acrid smoke billowing over the city's ghettos.

AS NEW YORK Mayor Rudy Giuliani puts his tootsies into the presidential waters to see whether they promise frostbite, his office -- and the helmsman of New York himself -- both say there is nothing to any rumors that he is thinking about national office.There is, nevertheless, a lot of dire talk from political pundits about how a mayor always runs the risk of losing his base when the campaign trail keeps him away from home. This puts a mayor in the same situation as the traveling salesman whose line of work can lead to the wrecking of his happy home because his family begins to feel consistently neglected.

This ever happen to you? Somebody comes out of a bag, drops a dime and gives the foe one one 'bout some half-steppin'.If that sounds like a foreign language, chances are you're no tenderoni home slice.Enter Geneva Smitherman, translator for the clueless. The Michigan State University professor has written "Black Talk: Words and Phrases from the Hood to the Amen Corner" (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1994).It's a dictionary of words and phrases used by African-Americans from varied walks of life.

WASHINGTON -- When President Clinton observed Martin Luther King's birthday in a speech at Howard University here last week, he took the occasion to return to his campaign against the use of guns in street violence, saying it would be particularly wrenching to the slain civil rights leader to see how children are imperiled by it.Before a predominantly black audience, Clinton spoke of the need for further racial conciliation and observed that "this is...

To my mother, I am a son. To my wife, I am a husband. To my daughter and son, I am a father. But on the streets of the city or in the suburbs, in police terms, I'm a "Number 1 Male" -- a black man, considered by a significant segment of the white community as a faceless threat to life, limb and property.If you are a black man in this country, you are never allowed to forget it. Never.It makes no difference what level of education you have attained, what your profession is, how much money you earn each week, where you live or how much money you have in the bank.

WHEN BLACK History Month was established, I found it interesting that of all the months of the year, February, the shortest month, was chosen as the time to reflect upon the achievements of black people. Another example of black folks' getting the short end of the stick, I thought -- a sentiment no doubt shared by many other black people. But the truth is, the observance was started by the historian Carter G. Woodson in 1926 as Negro History Week. At least we've advanced from a week to a month, albeit the shortest one.As we observe another Black History Month, I have an idea.

For nine months this year, black public administrators in Baltimore and other U.S. cities served as mentors and hosts to black South Africans.The black Americans shared their experiences managing urban government agencies in the post-Civil Rights era. At least some of those experiences, it was believed, would prove useful when black South Africans move into positions of authority in the post-apartheid era.And what did the South Africans share? Among other things, they offered black Americans another perspective on our own talents.