Race Card

WASHINGTON -- When people ask me, as everyone seems to, what I think of the verdict in the O.J. Simpson trial, I have to ask, ''Which one?''There were two trials here. There was the inside trial that the jurors saw in which O.J. Simpson was being judged. And there was the outside trial that the rest of us saw, in which American society, particularly its system of justice, was on trial.Two sets of experiencesThe polls showed two-thirds of white Americans believed Mr. Simpson was guilty while two-thirds of blacks thought he was innocent.

The writer of a letter to the editor in yesterday's editions was incorrectly identified. The writer was Emerson C. Walden Sr.The Sun regrets the error.Shame on PageI note that Clarence Page, usually an excellent journalist, provides several examples of sloppy journalism in his column "Agenda Shock" (March 1).In "Agenda Shock," he calls the local affiliates of the NAACP "chapters." Attention to detail would have told him that they are called "branches."More disturbing is his inadequate research into the ways enlightened investigators are looking at the use of the word "race."

I am not sure why some people are so shocked that Susan Smith blamed the kidnapping of her two children in Union, S.C., on a black man.I figure anyone evil enough to kill her own children is certainly evil enough to be a racist.But in the aftermath of this sad and bizarre tale has come the accusation that the reason white America was so quick to believe Smith's tale was because a black perpetrator was allegedly involved.In reality, however, I don't know many people who believed Smith's story.

IT'S TIME for a reality check.It's time for African-Americans to put down our score cards, stop pointing fingers and start to conduct a sobering analysis of the racial tactics some African-American leaders use to protect themselves and their powerful positions. Unfortunately, these are actions that define them as neither intellectually courageous nor politically astute.I'm talking about playing the race card.Whenever an African-American leader is accused of illegal or inappropriate behavior by "the system," the race card is the smoke screen of choice.

East Baltimore's predominantly black 45th Legislative District, a spawning ground for some of the city's most important black politicians, may soon lose two of its stalwarts.After eight years in Annapolis, state Sen. Nathan C. Irby Jr., a Democrat who entered political office through the City Council, is pondering a return to his roots.Mr. Irby is said to be 85 percent decided not to seek re-election this year. Instead, he's looking at a 1995 race for council president, a post once held by his mentor, former Mayor Clarence H. "Du" Burns.

GRANTVILLE, Pa. -- The Penn National Races canceled yesterday's scheduled 10-race card because of severe winter weather conditions.Live racing is to resume Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.

CHARLES TOWN, W. Va. -- The Charles Town Races canceled yesterday's scheduled 10-race card because inclement weather was expected to create hazardous road conditions last night.Charles Town's simulcasts from Gulfstream Park Southern Florida and Santa Anita Park in California were not affected by the cancellation.Live racing is to resume tonight at 7 with an 11-race program.

Richmond -- FOR 12 years, Democrats -- often led by Bill Clinton -- rightly condemned the code-word racial politics of the Reagan era.But last week it was President Clinton who used code-word politics to try to help Mayor David N. Dinkins, declaring at a fund-raiser in New York that "too many of us are still too unwilling to vote for people who are different than we are."And did Democrats rush to condemn him?Far from it. Some admired the president's skillful manipulation of the race card to rally African-American racial pride and white Democratic (actually white Democratic Jewish)