Naacp Convention

ATLANTA -- As national leaders continued yesterday to denounce assaults on affirmative action as unfair to blacks, some turned their criticism on African-Americans, urging them to support Africa economically and politically."

ATLANTA -- The daughter of late Nigerian opposition leader Moshood K. O. Abiola challenged African-Americans yesterday to put aside their apathy toward injustice in Africa, saying their silence has hurt the continent and contributed to her father's death -- she believes by poison -- earlier this month."

PITTSBURGH -- Mayor Willie Brown of San Francisco was giving a textbook lesson in how to sell a city, and his rivals in Baltimore couldn't help but take notice.The prize: hosting the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's convention in the year 2000.It was before 9 a.m., and Brown was making the rounds at the NAACP's 88th annual convention. The night before, he had been the host at a reception for 500 delegates at the Pittsburgh Hilton.Now he was promising NAACP members the time of their lives in San Francisco.

IT ISN'T TIME for the NAACP to give up on the goal of an integrated America. Many delegates to the 88th annual NAACP convention are frustrated by white flight from the cities over the past 25 years that has resegregated neighborhoods and turned formerly all-white schools into all-black schools. The tax drain that resulted from the exodus has left many city schools inadequately prepared to teach the remaining urban students who frequently have special needs.But integration as a goal doesn't have to be abandoned by the civil rights organization just because it wants to place more emphasis on education.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- It was Youth Night at the NAACP convention, and the hall was rocking to the sounds of gospel music. Thousands were on their feet, raising their hands to the heavens and praising the Lord.NAACP President Kweisi Mfume stood on the dais, clapping in time to the rhythm, smiling broadly. After 17 years in public office, adhering in his official duties to separation of church and state, the former Maryland congressman was clearly back in church."We came to have Youth Night, and instead we have church.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Vowing to turn out the black vote this fall, the NAACP ended its annual convention yesterday as Bob Dole accused the group's leader of having tried to set him up by inviting him to speak.In his first explanation of why he didn't address the nation's largest civil rights group, Dole said he was unaware of the invitation, suggesting that staff members rejected it.But Dole, the presumed Republican presidential nominee, said he probably would have received an unreceptive reaction from a group headed by NAACP President Kweisi Mfume.

From a distance, Bob Dole tells the NAACP to kiss off. Nothing personal, he says, just a scheduling conflict. He says this in a prepared statement, which is issued by a campaign spokesman. Better, he should issue it through an interpreter.The interpretation, for many, is that Bob Dole won't win many black votes in November anyway, so why risk alienating certain white voters in July with a gesture perceived as empty but ostentatious flattery?Bill Clinton can go to the NAACP convention, because he's seen as a friend to black America.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Chanting "Four more years!" thousands of NAACP activists gave President Clinton a warm election-year embrace yesterday as he addressed their 87th annual convention.An air of excitement surrounded Clinton's visit from the moment aides affixed the presidential seal to the rostrum until he left the convention hall after a 47-minute speech and an extended round of hand-shaking.In a speech so conversational in tone that it was more like a chat, Clinton called for racial healing and said the recent black-church burnings in the South were a "symbol of everything that is wrong" in America.

Michael Dorsey headed south yesterday to go for the gold.In this Olympian summer, Dorsey, 18, won't be sprinting the 100 meters, slinging the discus or even wrestling, his sport at Randallstown High School.The aspiring preacher and broadcast journalist left Baltimore-Washington International Airport at dawn to compete in oratory at the NAACP's "Olympics of the Mind" in Charlotte, N.C.The two-day competition will bring more than 700 black youths from across the country -- all local medal winners in 24 categories ranging from poetry to physics -- to the civil rights group's annual convention, which opens today.

MINNEAPOLIS -- The NAACP's controls over its top officers' spending were so lax that the nonprofit civil rights group paid for then-Executive Director Benjamin F. Chavis Jr.'s purchases of toys, maternity clothing, electronic games and furniture with no questions asked, according to an internal audit presented to the board last week.A summary of the audit, which focused on questionable expenses by Dr. Chavis and former Chairman William F. Gibson, was made public at the NAACP convention here.