White Man

As either a "Twilight Zone" episode or a civics lesson, "White Man's Burden" would be intriguing; as a feature movie, it goes on too long and makes its points over and over again.It's the reversal business, neatly imagined by screenwriter-director Desmond Nakano. He postulates an America exactly as the one we live in today, with the not-so-subtle difference that the powerful majority is black and the powerless minority white. Otherwise, the same network of racism and the same network of stereotyping exist.

A Pennsylvania man known to frequent Harford County, where he works, has been missing from his home since last week and had not been found as of Tuesday afternoon Thomas Augustyniak, 53, of Glen Rock, Pa., works at a business in Belcamp and visits Harford County and other parts of Maryland regularly, according to a press release from Maryland State Police issued Friday Augustyniak is described as a white man, 6 feet, 1 inch tall and 175 pounds...

For more that two decades, author Emily Bernard has been fascinated by Carl Van Vechten, a white man who played a seminal - and controversial - role in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s. She was in turns appalled by Vechten's air of entitlement, amused by some of his provocations and moved by his devotion to individual artists. (For instance, Van Vechten lobbied authorities to erect a nude, anatomically correct statue in New York's Central Park of the African-American activist James Weldon Johnson.

There are many things to say about Brad Paisley's new song. The country music giant is under fire for "Accidental Racist," about a Starbucks employee who objects to Mr. Paisley's Confederate battle flag shirt. The song, Mr. Paisley's attempt to metabolize his conflicted feelings as "a white man comin' to you from the southland" trying to pick his way through the minefield of race, has generated, well ... feedback. Rolling Stone dubbed it "questionable. " Gawker called it "horrible.

A Pennsylvania man known to frequent Harford County, where he works, has been missing from his home since last week and had not been found as of Tuesday afternoon Thomas Augustyniak, 53, of Glen Rock, Pa., works at a business in Belcamp and visits Harford County and other parts of Maryland regularly, according to a press release from Maryland State Police issued Friday Augustyniak is described as a white man, 6 feet, 1 inch tall and 175 pounds...

February is Black History Month. Baltimore is celebrating it by commemorating the march of African-Americans toward full membership in the American family. Although I am a white man born and raised in the strictly segregated Baltimore of nearly eight decades ago, I am joining that celebration. The apartheid Baltimore in which I grew up has been thoroughly chronicled by C. Fraser Smith's "Here Lies Jim Crow," Antero Pietila's "Not in My Neighborhood" and Larry Gibson's "Young Thurgood.

Here's the scene on a hot Wednesday afternoon at the end of the wooden pier at Baltimore's Fort Armistead Park: A newly arrived immigrant from Vietnam struggled to reel in a 2-pound catfish from the murky depths of the Patapsco River. A black man from West Baltimore put a net in the water to capture the writhing fish. A white man from Arbutus grabbed the line and hauled it in. Then all three men - from two generations and three cultures and races - stood over the pail and admired the biggest catch of the day. Less than an hour earlier, a city judge had denied bail to a white man who police said came to this park early Tuesday and attacked a 76-year-old black fisherman while yelling racial slurs.

Two teenage girls out for a run Friday afternoon in the Fountain Green area said they saw a man expose himself. The girls, ages 16 and 17, told police they were jogging with some other girls in the 1400 block of Fountain Glen Drive around 5 p.m. when they saw a man standing in the wood line across the street, according to a report from the Harford County Sheriff's Office. Initially, the girls thought the man was urinating, but then realized the man was looking at them and smiling, according to the report.

'White Man's Burden'"White Man's Burden" works a "Twilight-Zone"-style switcheroo with John Travolta as a working-class member of the powerless minority white race and Harry Belafonte as the rich black industrialist who indirectly oppresses him.'The Crossing Guard'"The Crossing Guard" features Jack Nicholson as a father obsessed with the killer of his son in a hit-and-run crime, for which the man (David Morse) was caught and imprisoned. Anjelica Huston also appears in the film, written and directed by Sean Penn.

Gunman robs McDonald's on Ritchie HighwayA gunman robbed a Glen Burnie fast-food restaurant Monday night, county police reported.Detectives said the gunman walked into McDonald's restaurant in the 7400 block of Ritchie Highway and demanded that the cashier open the cash register.When the clerk did not open it fast enough, the robber took out his gun and grabbed the money from the drawer, the police report said.Police described the gunman as a white man about 5 feet 8 inches tall, in his 40s.He was wearing a blue jacket, gray sweat shirt and jeans.

Sykesville Police are looking for a white man, possibly in his 50s, balding with short white hair, following a reported attempt to pick up an 11-year-old girl on March 12 around 7 p.m. in Sykesville. Police said a man driving a dark car, possibly a newer, four-door Volkswagen, approached the girl at Brandenburg Circle and Norris Avenue and told her that there was an emergency and her parents asked him to get her. According to police, the girl ignored the man and continued on to her friend's house, where she spoke of the incident and then alerted her family..

Two teenage girls out for a run Friday afternoon in the Fountain Green area said they saw a man expose himself. The girls, ages 16 and 17, told police they were jogging with some other girls in the 1400 block of Fountain Glen Drive around 5 p.m. when they saw a man standing in the wood line across the street, according to a report from the Harford County Sheriff's Office. Initially, the girls thought the man was urinating, but then realized the man was looking at them and smiling, according to the report.

February is Black History Month. Baltimore is celebrating it by commemorating the march of African-Americans toward full membership in the American family. Although I am a white man born and raised in the strictly segregated Baltimore of nearly eight decades ago, I am joining that celebration. The apartheid Baltimore in which I grew up has been thoroughly chronicled by C. Fraser Smith's "Here Lies Jim Crow," Antero Pietila's "Not in My Neighborhood" and Larry Gibson's "Young Thurgood.

Ted Capshaw, of White Marsh, has been appointed executive director of The Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, Baltimore Affiliate. Mr. Capshaw was most recently chief operating officer at the Baltimore Urban Debate League. In that role, he oversaw operations, budgeting and human resources. Prior to the Baltimore Urban Debate League, Mr. Capshaw served as virtual chief learning officer/fitness director at the Maryland Athletic Club; chief learning officer at Benelogic; senior consultant/facilitator with EntreQuest; counselor for Treatment Resources for Youth; and director, mentoring services, for Right Step Inc. He holds a bachelor's degree in sociology from the University of Minnesota and has completed coursework toward a master's in human development at St. Mary's University in Rochester, Minn.

The Exxon gas station was robbed by a man with a knife early Tuesday morning. A man holding what looked like a kitchen knife walked into the gas station at the intersection of Route 924 and Singer Road in Abingdon shortly after midnight Monday. He demanded cash from the clerk, who handed over an undisclosed amount of cash, then ran out of the store and down Singer Road, Maryland State Police TFC Michael Bonczewski said Thursday. The robber is described as a white man who was wearing black pants and a gray hooded sweat shirt with the hood covering most of his face.

This week's episode opened with Emily dreaming about her mother, who then morphed into Victoria. Talk about going from a pleasant dream to a nightmare. When Nolan tries to wake Emily from her nap she manages to strangle him in her sleep -- the list of this woman's skills just keeps on growing. This episode had nearly everyone conniving someone to get what they wanted. Emily used Daniel to help get Charlotte out of rehab, and then used Amanda to keep Charlotte from leaving the country with Victoria.

County police released a sketch and description of a man who attempted to abduct a 14-year-old girl on Fox Hill Road at Old Annapolis Road in Ellicott City Friday.The suspect is described as a white man, about 25 years old, with blond hair and hazel or blue eyes, police said.He is about 5 feet, 11 inches tall and has a heavy build.The man fled in a black two-door car with a hatchback when a citizen came forward to help the girl, police said.Anyone with information about the suspect is asked to call Detective Frank Lilly at 313-2220.

Gardeners abscond with cash depositsCounty police are searching for two men and a woman who solicited more than $400 from a group of Odenton residents for landscaping services that never were completed.Police said four residents in the 1000 block of New Dawn Way reported that a man, identifying himself as Jimmy, approached each of them Friday about providing landscape work. In each case, the man requested a deposit to buy materials. The residents gave him deposits ranging from $50 to $80.Residents said the man was accompanied by a woman who identified herself as Mary Miller and a second unidentified man. The trio began working in each yard, planting a dogwood tree in one, juniper plants in another, cutting the grass in a third and spreading mulch in a fourth.

For more that two decades, author Emily Bernard has been fascinated by Carl Van Vechten, a white man who played a seminal - and controversial - role in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s. She was in turns appalled by Vechten's air of entitlement, amused by some of his provocations and moved by his devotion to individual artists. (For instance, Van Vechten lobbied authorities to erect a nude, anatomically correct statue in New York's Central Park of the African-American activist James Weldon Johnson.

Can someone explain to me why the beating of a white man outside Courthouse East by a group of black men is not a hate crime? ("Bealefeld: Downtown beating caught on tape not a hate crime," April 10.) If the victim was black and beaten at the hands of a gang of whites, Al Sharpton would be on Pratt Street within hours. The double standard is driving a permanent wedge into race relations, and the media only feeds on the story of the poor victimized African-American. We still don't know the facts in the Trayvon Martin case, but we should never let the facts get in the way of a good protest.