Racial Harmony

LOS ANGELES -- President Clinton ran for office as a heale who could help bridge the differences between Americans while getting the economy humming again. A trip here yesterday showcased the president's strengths in relating to all kinds of people -- but also showed the president that he has his work cut out for him.The complex ethnic rivalries of Los Angeles County were apparent to the president all during the day, his second on a campaign-style Western swing that began in New Mexico.At a meeting in predominantly white and non-Hispanic San Fernando Valley, Mr. Clinton's motorcade was greeted with a host of signs denouncing illegal immigrants and Michael Woo, the liberal, Democratic Chinese-American mayoral candidate whom the president endorsed yesterday.

GEORGE W. BUSH, the Texas governor and Republican presidential candidate, came to town Monday and spoke to the NAACP of, in "Dubya's" words, "racial harmony and economic advancement." The crowd was polite. Some even gave Bush a standing ovation when he rose to speak. The governor said some good things, but you had to get the feeling he was telling folks pretty much what they wanted to hear, as opposed to what they needed to hear. America doesn't need racial harmony as much as it needs racial candor.

How, people ask me, can I be against black-white marriages and relationships?Plain old human cussedness, I suppose. I am not a nice guy, at heart. I don't watch "The Wizard of Oz" without rooting for the wicked witch. That little tart Dorothy did drop a house on witchie-poo's sister. That fleabag Toto was a pest.But I have other reasons than a post-40 drift into curmudgeonhood for my opposition to black-white unions. They range from the trivial -- white people have screwed us enough already -- to my unshakable belief that such unions do not promote brotherhood but actually contribute to white supremacy.

It was a good hair day for Hairspray in Seattle on Monday when the reviews came out for the new musical adapted from John Waters' 1988 movie. The show, which is playing an exclusive pre-Broadway engagement at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre, received positive reviews from the city's two major newspapers and Daily Variety. Here are excerpts: Misha Berson wrote in The Seattle Times: "A Bye Bye Birdie for the Age of Irony, this is a retro-pop romp with wit, heart, a social conscience and, rarity of rarities, a new score by composer Marc Shaiman and his co-lyricist Scott Wittman that really makes you want to go dance in the streets.

DURING THE HEIGHT of the modern civil-rights movement, black churches - the rallying point for many civil-rights demonstrations - often were vandalized, bombed or set afire.Now, in actions reminiscent of that era, a series of African-American churches in the South have been destroyed by suspicious fires.Across the South the blazes have resurrected memories of a time when black churches were attacked in retaliation against efforts to register blacks to vote or desegregate public facilities.

WASHINGTON -- Invoking "a national crusade," President Clinton called last night for a sweeping federal effort to bolster education in America, starting with impoverished preschoolers and extending all the way to upper-middle-class families sending their children to top-dollar universities."

Even while church leaders and public officials were praying for racial harmony at a Sunday morning prayer vigil, the Rev. Helen D. Russell of the Ellicott City Church of God was telling a story of fear and prejudice.Her predominantly black church -- at 3761 Church Road in the predominantly white historic district -- has been harassed ever since its opening more than two years ago, she told an audience of about 50 people.She receives harassing phone calls that make her so fearful of being alone in the church that she doesn't keep regular office hours.

The students at Joppatowne High couldn't ignore the words spray-painted on the front of their school in the fall of 1992 -- "KKK," "White Power," "Go Back to Africa" and "Nigger."Though the visible signs of racism could be cleaned up, the underlying messages made an impact on the students and staff."We saw some ugly stuff on the walls of the school," said Principal Doris Williams. "What it did to the student body can't be denied."The vandalism also set in motion the formation of a committee of students and teachers to address the issues of bigotry and multiculturalism.

Carroll Community College students will have a chance to see and hear how traditional music and spirited dialogue can build racial and ethnic harmony.Common Ground on the Hill, a summer arts festival at Western Maryland College, is taking its themes to the neighboring school, giving community college students a chance to enroll in innovative classes.Walt Michael founded Common Ground three years ago and has drawn nationally known artists and lecturers to the Westminster campus. He and Eric Byrd, an instructor with Common Ground and Western Maryland College, are teaching four courses in traditional gospel, jazz and folk sounds, that will allow students to delve into the roots of American music.

VIERA, Fla. -- More than two decades have passed since Orioles reliever Alan Mills left Kenya with his parents, but his memories are vivid, colorful mental pictures of gazelles, of monkeys sitting on a mountainside watching cars pass, of his schoolyard friends.Mills' father, Hugh, moved to Kenya when Alan was 5 to be an agricultural consultant, and for three years, Alan played with Akeel, another boy from Kenya, and Sundervan, a native of India. "There were kids from all over the world," Mills remembered, and they all played soccer together and sometimes cricket.