Racial Issues

HAVRE De GRACE -- For making the startling decision to leave Congress and head the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Rep. Kweisi Mfume has been credited with making a bold gamble that could well cost him a promising career.But while the move was certainly a brilliant idea, and one that could salvage the struggling, debt-ridden NAACP, it really wasn't all that courageous. The NAACP may have gambled on Mr. Mfume, who will reportedly receive a whopping $200,000 a year for his services, but Mr. Mfume himself hasn't risked much -- yet.His big gamble will come after he takes up the reins early next year.

Hundreds of students, alumni and professors at Towson University gathered Tuesday to declare that the school stands for tolerance and diversity, and that a student who has attracted international news coverage for advocating racial segregation does not represent them. Some of those attending the student-planned rally said they were deeply frustrated and angry with news media attention to student Matthew Heimbach's White Student Union and the nighttime patrols that he said are aimed at fighting crime.

WASHINGTON -- The nation's only black governor accused President Bush yesterday of seeking to use polarizing racial issues to help ensure his re-election in 1992.Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder's remarks to a forum sponsored by the conservative National Review were part of a renewed, and growing, national debate over affirmative action.But Mr. Wilder, 59, who is fashioning a possible Democratic presidential candidacy around conservative populist themes, also seemed to be attempting a pre-emptive strike over an issue that could work to Republican advantage in 1992.

Thomas Dickerson Dawes, a retired civil engineer and former chairman of the Baltimore County Human Relations Commission who touched off a controversy in 1970 when he investigated several incidents of racial unrest in southeastern Baltimore County, died Nov. 5 of pancreatic cancer at Gilchrist Hospice Care. Mr. Dawes died three days shy of his 85th birthday. Mr. Dawes was born in Baltimore and raised on a Falls Road farm that was purchased by his great-grandfather in 1859 and has remained in his family since that time.

The confirmation of Col. Terrence B. Sheridan as superintendent of the Maryland State Police has been stalled by black legislators unhappy with the agency's handling of racial issues. Yesterday, the Senate delayed until Wednesday a vote on Sheridan, who has been serving as superintendent of the 1,521-officer law enforcement agency since his appointment in May by Gov. Martin O'Malley. Sen. Verna L. Jones, a Baltimore Democrat and chair of the Maryland Legislative Black Caucus, said black lawmakers had asked for information on what progress has been made in diversifying the agency's personnel and on its handling of allegations of racial profiling among troopers making traffic stops.

WASHINGTON -- In a candid and passionate call for racial harmony in America, Sen. Bill Bradley said yesterday that the future of the nation's cities depends on better race relations but warned of growing fear and distrust between whites and blacks.Speaking on the Senate floor, the New Jersey Democrat criticized Republicans and Democrats alike for their handling of racial issues, arguing that "silence or distortion" have shaped the debate over race in this country over the past 25 years.Republicans "have played the race card in a divisive way to get votes," he said, but members of his own party must also shoulder some of the blame.

A fight over racial slurs led to the arrest of three Glenelg High School students last week and prompted two days of dialogue between black and white students on racial issues.Hundreds of students had gathered to see the after-school fight, which occurred in a vacant wooded lot on Sharp Road. Police and teachers helped break it up.Police charged a white male student with assault Tuesday after he allegedly pushed a teacher trying to break up the inter-racial fight among nine students.Police arrested two black male students the next day, charging them with possession of weapons.

Fifty years after President Harry S. Truman desegregated the military, there has been a recent "retreat" from Truman's goals, the NAACP said yesterday.When Truman signed Executive Order 9981 in July 1948, he said his goal was "equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services."President Clinton marked the anniversary at a ceremony in Norfolk, Va., at the commissioning of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman yesterday. Clinton called Truman's order integrating the armed forces "one of the best decisions any commander in chief ever made."

Thirty-eight years after Brown vs. Board of Education, equalit and understanding between the races remain an elusive dream. Perhaps they always will. Perhaps the differences between people guarantee that a day of perfect harmony will never dawn. Getting along will never be easy. Overcoming prejudice will always demand vigilance.That is why Anne Arundel County must be wary of a new proposal for neighborhood schools in the Annapolis area, a plan that would erase artificial attendance boundaries drawn to create racial balance.

DOES "The Boondocks," a new comic-strip featuring black characters and written and drawn by a black artist, succeed in exploring racial issues -- or is it just racist?Since the Los Angeles Times introduced the strip April 19, about 250 readers have telephoned or written to comment. Many people passionately criticize it as racist and accuse it of promoting violence and negative stereotypes of blacks. But an almost equal number say the strip portrays their lives accurately and with humor and critically exposes stereotypes.

Racial diversity was one of developer James W. Rouse's founding principles for Columbia, the 43-year-old planned community in Howard County where people of every ethnicity and income level were to live side-by-side in suburban comfort. But while members of many different cultural backgrounds have made their home in Columbia's meandering villages, there is little racial diversity among those who govern the unincorporated town. The 10-person board of directors of the giant Columbia Association, which collects and spends $60 million a year for pools, gymnasiums, tennis courts and landscaping, is all white.

The confirmation of Col. Terrence B. Sheridan as superintendent of the Maryland State Police has been stalled by black legislators unhappy with the agency's handling of racial issues. Yesterday, the Senate delayed until Wednesday a vote on Sheridan, who has been serving as superintendent of the 1,521-officer law enforcement agency since his appointment in May by Gov. Martin O'Malley. Sen. Verna L. Jones, a Baltimore Democrat and chair of the Maryland Legislative Black Caucus, said black lawmakers had asked for information on what progress has been made in diversifying the agency's personnel and on its handling of allegations of racial profiling among troopers making traffic stops.

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court agreed for the first time yesterday to reconsider the long prison terms meted out to the mostly black defendants who are convicted of selling crack cocaine. At least 25,000 defendants per year are sent to federal prison on crack-cocaine charges, and their prison terms are usually 50 percent longer than drug dealers who sell powder cocaine. This disparity, with its racial overtones, has been controversial for two decades since Congress ramped up the "war on drugs" in response to a crack-cocaine epidemic that was sweeping many cities.

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court justices, hearing arguments on school integration, signaled yesterday they are likely to bar the use of race when assigning students to the public schools. Such a ruling could deal a blow to hundreds of school systems across the nation that use racial guidelines to maintain a semblance of classroom integration in cities whose neighborhoods are divided along racial lines. It would be a major victory for those who have called for "color-blind" decision-making by public officials.

LORDY, LORDY, why does he do these things? That was the thought going constantly through my mind Friday as I sat in a meeting room of the Renaissance Hotel in Washington. Before me stood the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, the man I've skewered many a time in this column. Jackson addressed over 20 black columnists who are members of the Trotter Group, named for William Monroe Trotter, the African-American journalist who, in a face-to-face meeting, took President Woodrow Wilson to task for his segregationist policies.

A Baltimore County judge decided against capital punishment for convicted murderer Douglas A. Starliper of Woodlawn yesterday, saying a death sentence and its decades-long appeal process would leave the victims' families without closure. Circuit Judge Dana M. Levitz said that he knew of no other Maryland judge who had noted the painful arduousness of the death penalty process as a reason to decide against it. "The reality of the situation is that were the death penalty imposed in this case, the victims' families have to look forward to years, years of appeals, of retrials," Levitz said in court.

Thirty-eight years after Brown vs. Board of Education, equality and understanding between the races remain an elusive dream. Perhaps they always will. Perhaps the differences between people guarantee that a day of perfect harmony will never dawn. Getting along will never be easy. Overcoming prejudice will always demand vigilance.That is why Anne Arundel must be wary of a new proposal for neighborhood schools in the Annapolis area, a plan that would erase artificial attendance boundaries drawn to create racial balance.

A truce reached two months ago between Baltimore's police commissioner and the highest ranking black commander has been shattered, renewing a feud over racial issues that fractured the department's command chain.Col. Ronald L. Daniel charged last night that Commissioner Thomas C. Frazier has harassed two black majors who supported Daniel during the upheaval in April and said the department's law office has stymied his efforts to obtain data on racial disparity on the force.Daniel, considered the No. 2 officer in the department, said he no longer will head an effort to implement reforms recommended by the watchdog Community Relations Commission, a task assigned to him by Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke.

A commission examining racial and ethnic fairness in Maryland's courts will hold public forums around the state next week at which people can discuss their experiences and make suggestions for improvement. The commission is headed by Court of Appeals Judge Dale R. Cathell, who was appointed last year by Chief Judge Robert M. Bell to look into equality issues, identify problems and propose solutions. The hearings, which begin at 6 p.m., will be held: Monday at Pemberton Elementary School in Salisbury.