Black Political

What really should count at this week's NAACP summit in Baltimore is not who attends but what gets done. NAACP director Benjamin Chavis says he wants the focus more on finding solutions to the massive problems confronting black America today than on whether extremists like the Nation of Islam's Louis Farrakhan have a say in the proceedings. Mr. Chavis is being disingenuous. He knows a certain amount of controversy is inevitable and perhaps even desirable to stir interest in the event. But he is also a practical man who realizes that at the end of the day all of the participants -- most especially himself -- are going to be judged in terms of results, not rhetoric.

WASHINGTON -- At some point you have to wonder what Louis Farrakhan has to do to be politically ostracized beyond redemption. Until it happens, the Democratic Party is exposing a fault line too wide and glaring to be overlooked.The tension between blacks and Jews within the liberal Democratic coalition has been an increasingly apparent fact of political life. It is as if some of the younger black leaders -- in contrast to those heroes of the civil rights movement such as Rep. John Lewis of Georgia -- have forgotten the role Jews played in bringing to fruition the legislation of the 1960s that has made it possible for blacks to become an important force in American politics today.

Havre de Grace. -- Earlier this fall, when Bill Clinton implicitly labeled as racists all white New Yorkers not planning to join him in supporting the re-election of a black Democratic mayor, jaws dropped from coast to coast.The toxic rhetoric wasn't especially surprising, but at least to non-professionals the politics of this particular campaign emission seemed stunningly inept. The president would be needing the support of middle-class voters of all races over the next years. Why would he want to jab a large group of them, quite gratuitously, in the eye?

A coalition of black political leaders endorsed a slate of Democratic and independent candidates for Annapolis' eight City Council seats yesterday, prompting one Republican incumbent to question the fairness of the selections.Sheryl Banks, chairwoman of the Black Political Forum of Anne Arundel County, said her group will attempt to rally the black community to the polls in the Nov. 2 election in an attempt to oust several incumbent Republicans."We're calling out to not only the African-American community but residents throughout this city," Ms. Banks said during a press conference at the First Baptist Church on Washington Street.

The students were mad. The Annapolis High classroom was full of tense and unbelieving teen-agers the day after four white Los Angeles police officers were acquitted in the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King.Lt. Gary S. Simpson took one look around and scrapped his lesson plan. Instead, the veteran black Annapolis police officer opened up a frank discussion on race, violence and law enforcement.He handled it with his usual aplomb, displaying the same grace under pressure that caused him to rise through the ranks and win community recognition.

WASHINGTON -- With no black candidate left in the Democratic presidential race, Mississippi state Rep. George Flaggs wasted no time in endorsing Bill Clinton."

In 1987, soon after Baltimore voters sent Mary Pat Clarke to City Hall as the first female president of the City Council, she sat down and wrote herself a long memo. It was an action agenda for the four years ahead, a term of office she then thought could very well be the only shot she would have at her stated goal of changing the political landscape of Baltimore and grooming the city's future leaders.Scratched out in longhand over seven pages and made available to only a few close aides, the memo reflected a schoolmarm's penchant for mastering the routine business of the job, a desire to emulate the street presence of former Mayor William Donald Schaefer, a commitment to aggressively deliver constituent services and an unabashed "go for it" attitude toward "busting up the status quo, black and white."

A STUNNED world has watched black South Africans slaughter one another, little realizing that the blood bath is a desperate attempt by reactionaries to prevent, or at least delay, the day when the black majority gains control.Two groups diametrically opposed are working toward this end, but acting independently. Right-wing extremists and rogue elements in the security forces, the first group, are fueling the violence by supporting one faction against the other and even providing arms. Faceless, armed black men said to be in the pay of whites leave dozens dead behind them, week after week.

Less than an hour after Anne Arundel County Executive Robert R. Neall announced the hiring of a new police chief, who is white, a coalition of black politicians and community leaders criticized Neall's record in hiring and promoting minorities, calling it "Annpartheid."The Black Political Forum, a bi-partisan group, yesterday released a critical report on the county executive's first 100 days in office titled, "Bobby Neall's Days Has Lighthizer and Pascal's Ways."The forum's 14-page report accuses Neall of continuing in the tradition of former county executives Robert A. Pascal and O. James Lighthizer by excluding blacks from leadership positions and continuing to maintain "virtually an all-white, male-dominated power structure."

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- Stunned by the wave of death and destruction sweeping through black townships across the country, South Africa's top two black leaders held an urgent meeting yesterday to look for new ways to stop the warfare among their followers.After five hours of talks in the coastal city of Durban, black nationalist leader Nelson Mandela and Zulu leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi called on all South Africans to "pray and work actively for peace."It was the second meeting in two months between the two powerful men, whose rival organizations have been linked to the bloody fighting that has claimed more than 5,000 lives over the past five years.