Multiracial

It could have been a historic teaching moment. Instead, President Barack Obama, the most famous mixed-race person in the world, checked off only one race — black — last year on his census form. And in so doing, he missed an opportunity to articulate a more nuanced racial vision for the increasingly diverse country he heads. The president also bucked a trend. Last month, the Census Bureau announced that the number of Americans who identified themselves as being of more than one race in 2010 grew about 32 percent over the last decade.

Baltimore pastor Donte Hickman took exception to a statement made in the Huffington Post Friday by Baltimore pastor Jamal Bryant who was quoted saying church leaders supporting same-sex marriage are "hypocrites. " Clergy should be able to debate theology and politics "without devolving into backyard name calling," fired back Hickman, the pastor of the Southern Baptist Church in Baltimore, who supports same-sex marriage. Hickman said that "legislating" one's view of the Bible is a slippery slope.

American law-makers, pension directors, investors and corporate officials had better start now to dismantle the cumbersome apparatus of South Africa divestment and boycott. The African National Congress will soon ask those in the world community who have imposed sanctions to reverse course.What brought this to pass is the speech by ANC leader Nelson Mandela that he expects the ANC to ask for the lifting of sanctions very soon. Many observers expect that by the end of the month. It would likely be keyed to passage in South Africa's parliament of the transitional measures agreed to in multi-party talks for an interim regime before the multi-racial elections in April.

South Africa's response to the assassination of Chris Hani, the popular hero of militant black youth, should be early elections to create the multi-racial government he was working for when he was gunned down by a white racist. In the words of Nelson Mandela, the nation is "on the brink of disaster." Unless prompt action is taken to contain the outrage triggered by Mr. Hani's martyrdom, South Africa could plunge into chaos and civil war.At this juncture, the white Nationalist government and the black African National Congress have tried with mixed results to limit violence by preaching calm and vowing to accelerate the political negotiations that have made them unlikely allies.

Ordinarily, Goodwill Zwelithini, king of the Zulu nation, and his cousin Mangosuthu Buthelezi, prime minister of the KwaZulu homeland, are rivals for power. But suddenly they are allies.They both repudiate the future of South Africa to which most parties have agreed. The king supports the prime minister in urging a Zulu boycott of South Africa's first multi-racial election, in April, to choose a parliament that will write a constitution.More, the king claims all Zulu lands as they existed in 1834, when the Zulu military empire dominated other groups.

Washington. -- "Color is not a human or personal reality,'' the late, great African-American author James Baldwin once wrote. ''It is a political reality.''Seldom is that more apparent than it is in cases like that of Thallieus Massey and his wife Melissa Meyer of Miami. Mr. Massey is of African and Native American descent. His wife is white. They want their son, Jordan, 7, to appreciate all three of his heritages.In August, just before the school bells were about to ring, they won a partial victory.

WASHINGTON -- The NAACP's chief executive said yesterday that improving blacks' economic status was the "next major civil rights crusade" and a key to ensuring that black youth receive good education.The Rev. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. said that black communities' economic vitality has much to do with the quality of their public schools -- and that getting a good education, in turn, helps young blacks join the economic mainstream.Racial and economic discrimination have resulted in "second-class educational standards . . . still being imposed on African-Americans and other persons of color," he said.

THE ELECTION of Anthony Williams as mayor of the District of Columbia, along with a predominantly white City Council for the first time ever, truly represents a new day dawning for the nation's capital.The city is in the best position in quite a while to turn itself around, get rid of the constraints of a control board in charge of its most vital decisions and re-establish a kind of most-favored-state status with Congress, given that the House and Senate exercise ultimate control.Yesterday's D.C. election is also a prelude to new alignments, interracial coalitions and the possibility of multiracial cooperation that will be the rule in the 21st century.

Baltimore: West side Two city men killed in crash Two Baltimore men were killed Friday night when the car in which they were riding hit a center barrier wall on the U.S. 40 bypass at Arlington Avenue in West Baltimore Friday night, police said yesterday. Police identified the men as Gordan Horton, 33, of the 2100 block of W. Mulberry St. and George Forbes, 34, of the 500 block of Archer St. The driver of the 2006 Pontiac GTO, a 30-year-old resident of Hollis, N.Y., whom police did not name, was taken to University of Maryland Medical Center with injuries to his head and right foot, Agent Donny Moses said.