Racial Politics

The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears By Dinaw Mengestu Barely suppressed despair and black wit infuse this beautifully observed debut from Mengestu, an Ethiopian emigre. Set over eight months in a gentrifying Washington neighborhood in the 1970s, it captures an uptick in Ethiopian grocery store owner Sepha Stephanos' long-deferred hopes, as Judith, a white academic, fixes up the four-story house next to his apartment building, treats him to dinner and lets him steal a kiss. Just as unexpected is Sepha's friendship with Judith's biracial 11-year-old daughter, Naomi (one of the book's most vivid characters)

tuesday The Lucky One : by Nicholas Sparks (Grand Central, $24.99) The hero of Nicholas Sparks' new novel believes he's found a lucky charm in the form of a photograph of a smiling woman he's never met. The Letters: by Luanne Rice and Joseph Monninger (Bantam, $22) This epistolary novel explores the unraveling marriage of Sam and Hadley West, who separated after the death of their grown son, Paul. Resilience: Faith, Focus, Triumph: by Alonzo Mourning with Dan Wetzel (Ballantine, $26)

Racial politics: Bush exploits quota issueGive George Bush his due. At least the man's consistent. He wants to be the "environmental president," yet after 30 months in office, his record in environmental matters remains largely rhetorical. He wants to be the "education president," yet he has failed to introduce a single piece of major legislation that seriously speaks to the crisis in American education. So it is really not so surprising that, to quote Congressman Tom McMillen, Bush "wants to be the civil rights president, but he doesn't want to pass the civil rights bill."

The search for a new Columbia Association president collapsed yesterday as the second of three finalists bowed out, complaining about the community's racial climate and threatening to sue over an alleged attack on his integrity. The surprise withdrawal of Michael D. Letcher came less than a week after another candidate, Theodore J. Staton, dropped out, also citing racial politics as a factor. That leaves one finalist in the running to oversee one of the nation's largest homeowners associations.

On its face, the redistricting plan reportedly being considered by Mayor Schmoke should ease the anxiety of City Council members worried about changes that would put their seats at risk. Schmoke's redrawing of the district map apparently contains no crazy-quilt borders aimed at gerrymandering incumbents out of office or population shifts large enough to alter the racial makeup of any district delegation.And there lies the rub: precisely because the mayor's plan leaves the status quo pretty much undisturbed, it is likely to be challenged.

PRESIDENT BUSH remains disturbingly equivocal about David Duke, a Republican and former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard who could well become the next governor of Louisiana on Nov. 16.Prompted by reporters, Bush last week said the minimum expected of him. "I'm not going to support David Duke because of the racism," the president said. He begged off further comment because, he said, he didn't want to be drawn into local politics.David Duke is a grave national concern, not a parochial worry. The rising tide of racial hatred he exploits and represents is as dangerous to the American social fabric as the Arab-Israeli conflict is to the stability of the Middle East.

BALTIMORE arrives in Annapolis this year with a tambourine in hand and its power in decline. One could have a dramatic resolve on the other.Beset by severe financial problems as well as heavy population losses, Baltimore also faces political strife on the home front.The city is relying on passage of all or parts of the Linowes Commission tax recommendations to perform a miraculous financial rescue. But at the same time, its voter turnouts are decreasing, and Baltimore stands to lose at least one, probably two, legislative districts as a result of legislative reapportionment.

Esquire magazine features Mayor Martin O'Malley on its cover as "the best young mayor in America" in an issue to be published Thursday that highlights "the best and brightest" in politics, culture, science and other fields. In a long, gushing article that focuses mostly on O'Malley's talent for public relations, writer Robert Kurson sketches the mayor as a future presidential candidate with the charisma of John F. Kennedy. "At his [O'Malley's] inauguration, the dashing O'Malley stood alongside his lovely wife and three children.

Conversations about race relations in Baltimore have been much too polite over the years, Johns Hopkins University political science professor Matthew A. Crenson said at a University of Maryland session yesterday attended by a diverse array of about 100 people, mostly nonprofit workers. Because Baltimore is a meeting point between Northern and Southern culture, it has produced "a pervasive culture of avoidance" toward race matters, where outward civility covers festering wounds, Crenson told the conference sponsored by Baltimore Neighborhoods Inc. and the UM School of Social Work, site of the forum.

Racial politics is always unattractive, especially in judicial contests -- and especially when it is so unnecessary to achieve the desired result.In the city election Nov. 6, a black candidate, District Court Judge Paul Smith, is challenging three white Circuit Court judges, Ellen Hollander, Richard Rombro and John Themelis. Voters are supposed to vote for three candidates, and the three with the highest totals win. But blacks are being urged to vote for only Judge Smith, primarily because he's black.