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.

Getting a pizza delivered around Annapolis can be an ordeal.Some city residents say food delivery companies discriminate against blacks by refusing to take orders from minority neighborhoods with high crime rates. Drivers say their reluctance has nothing to do with race. They simply don't want to enter areas where their co-workers have been mugged, robbed or shot -- just to make a $10 delivery, they say.The city council tried to solve the problem this week, but instead underscored the issue's complexity.

MIAMI -- The two young men believed that the truth would somehow set them free.The young waitress says she is certain of the truth; they attacked and stabbed another man in a parking-lot mugging.A Broward County judge was surprised by what a jury believed was the truth -- but must follow their verdict and punish the men for a crime they say they didn't commit.This much is certain: Leonard Williams and Marvin Shaw are soft-spoken, churchgoing men with solid backgrounds and little history of trouble.

Nearly two years after the Maryland Commission on Human Relations first criticized the school system for taking a "head in the sand" approach to race-related incidents, it expects to file a final report on the way Howard County schools handle such incidents next month.The final report had been expected several months ago, but staff shortages, investigations elsewhere and the feeling that county schools were making significant changes led to the delay in issuing a final report, said Henry Ford, the commission's deputy director.

WESTMINSTER -- Concerns about magic and witchcraft in child fantasy books, and about sexual and racial stereotyping, -- prompted Carroll County's Curriculum Council to withhold approval yesterday of eight among more than 200 books being considered for use in county schools.The eight books the council temporarily pulled from consideration will be the subjects of separate votes on paper by the group, a book-screening committee that recommends using books or banning them to the school board.

WESTMINSTER -- Concerns about magic and witchcraft in child fantasy books, and about sexual and racial stereotyping, -- prompted Carroll County's Curriculum Council to withhold approval yesterday of eight among more than 200 books being considered for use in county schools.The eight books the council temporarily pulled from consideration will be the subjects of separate votes on paper by the group, a book-screening committee that recommends books banning them to the school board.Members will mail in their ballots on those books by next Friday.

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.

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 leader of a new county group formed to promote racial equality and understanding plans to sponsor a "racial justice weekend," and asked Carroll's commissioners and mayors Thursday to publicly support the organization's mission."

Renowned psychologist Kenneth Clark says he almost canceled his appearance before the annual meeting of Baltimore Neighborhoods Inc. last night, explaining that in the wake of the verdict in the Rodney King case, he found it impossible to deliver a message of optimism and support to a group dedicated to an issue like fair housing."