Race Card

RE THE FIRING of principal Sherrell Mickens in Aldan, who blames racism: Why is it that black people can use the race card whenever they see fit, yet race is so often not mentioned when a black-on-white crime occurs? It is called a random act of violence, and the victim was at the wrong place at the wrong time, etc. Let's get the facts before you publish these words. Yes, racism is still alive - but it can come from all colors: black, white, yellow. Tim Small Philadelphia

TO LEN TROWER, who tells the readers why African-Americans should be angry at white Americans: You stated that most white Americans were against blacks way, way back when the slavery controversy was the debate of this great nation of ours. So you imply that African-Americans have reason to be angry at white Americans. Now, why should the current African-American population be angry at today's white Americans? I, we, weren't slave owners. This population wasn't born yet. I am not responsible for what the Founding Fathers of this country did many years ago. Besides that, as history tells us, more white American lives were ended because of a divided nation to fight to end slavery - it was called the Civil War. Yes, white folk fought for black people!

Maybe Republican Alan L. Keyes thought his recent nomination for the U.S. Senate in Maryland was about winning that race. Any such notion ended a few days ago when stalwarts in the Bush campaign tried to persuade him to load up his forthcoming speech at the Republican National Convention with hyperbole like this: "Today, I stand before you saying that black Americans are ready to lead this party and that black Americans are the future of this party....

On the question of whether there are racial aspects to the 911 controversy stemming from the beating death of Eddie Polec, there are two answers, equally unsatisfying: Yes . . . And no. Race really hasn't a thing to do with the Polec tragedy or the city's ineffective response to it. Although the victim was white, his attackers were a multiracial gang of thugs - white, black, Laotian, well-off and working- class - and from the suburbs....

Ben Chavis' fall from grace as executive director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People reinforced the fateful fact that this nation remains screwed up when it comes to race relations. Chavis mishandled just about everything - the organization's finances, its public relations, possibly even its employees - but refused to shoulder the blame. Instead, he played the race card, citing "forces outside the African- American community" - presumably whites and especially Jews.

By injecting the explosive racial issue into the debate over the city's 911 system, Council President John Street was pushing personal politics over public policy, according to Council sources. Weighed down by a perception that he's too close to Mayor Rendell and Center City business interests, Street voiced what he said was a growing view in his district - that race played a role in Rendell's actions. Just by raising the issue, Street helps his own cause by showing he's in touch with his constituents.

As state Sen. Joseph Rocks signed a pledge to the Fellowship Commission not to use race as an issue in his campaign yesterday, his opponent's camp was hoping the commission would listen to a complaint about Rocks' campaign. Lawyer William Ewing, a contributor to Democratic challenger Allyson Schwartz in the 4th District, charged Rocks' advertisements "create racial divisiveness" and "are part of a concerted, racially oriented campaign. " The charge surfaced at the kickoff ceremony of the Fellowship Commission's Fair Election Campaign Committee, which monitors campaigns in the city.

You could almost see Eleanor Holmes Norton wink from between the lines of her thinly veiled insiders' message. Norton, a former Carter administration big shot and a law professor at Georgetown University, may have been the most impressive candidate running for the Democratic nod to represent Washington, D.C., as a non-voting congressional delegate. She was a shoo-in until a memo, leaked in the final week of the race, revealed that she had failed to file taxes in the district for seven straight years.

Philadelphia needs a good mayor. Not a black mayor or a white mayor, just a good mayor. City Council President John Street got it right when he called on all of the candidates, and the media as well, to tone down the racial rhetoric. But Street wants a watchdog group established to monitor and restrict the racial content of political campaigns. Such a group would serve only to institutionalize race further as an integral part of any Philadelphia political campaign. The very existence of such an agency would serve as an invitation to make charges of racial campaigning, even if there were none.

The next time John Street, Ron White or any other African-American cries race when investigated by the FBI or any other agency I would ask them to read page 47 of the Daily News on Tuesday, June 22. Maryland's former police superintendent Edward Norris, a white man, was sentenced to six months in prison for misusing thousands of dollars in police funds while he was Baltimore's Police Commissioner. Please spare everyone the race card when the indictments are served and remember crime and graft knows no color.

Ladies Day at Parx Racing    While the G2 $750,000 Cotillion Stakes is the centerpiece of the Saturday program at Parx Racing, it is also Ladies Day at the Bensalem race track. The day includes gifts for all ladies in attendance, an eleven race card featuring all fillies and mares, and a female jockey competition in support of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation for breast cancer research.    The track will open at 11 a.m. Saturday. The eleven races are all carded for fillies and mares and include three stakes, the $100,000 PHBA Distaff, the $150,000 Brandywine Stakes and the G2 $750,000 Cotillion Stakes.

Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby, was looking to return to normal as racing resumed last night following a Wednesday tornado that hit the barn area of the track in Louisville, Ky. Thursday's race card was canceled and will not be made up, but track officials said yesterday that additional races would be added to next week's programs to make up the nine lost races. Hitting just after 8 p.m. Wednesday, the tornado had estimated wind speeds of up to 105 mph as it hit the track before later strengthening to as much as 120 mph, according to the National Weather Service.

IN HIS CONTINUING quest to have Superintendent Arlene Ackerman canned, state Rep. Michael McGeehan yesterday called for Gov. Corbett to fire her. The response to his one-man show from Ackerman and her supporters was just as forceful. And they weren't afraid to play the race card. "I believe if I were a different gender and I was a different color - there you have the race card, I said it - this would not be an issue," Ackerman told Fox 29. Ackerman added that she believed that McGeehan's attacks were mostly political and personal.

IWAITED over a week for a response to Marc Lamont Hill's blatantly racist column. Finally, I read a wonderful response from Officer William Giulian. The man spoke nothing but the truth. These guys are out there risking life and limb to protect US, to serve US, to help US, regardless of race. Marc, don't want to be pulled over? Then park and let your friend out next time instead of blocking the road. White people also are pulled over for traffic violations and treated similarly, especially in a known drug neighborhood.

KUDOS to Verizon for taking care of Carlos Mota's wireless Internet bill. But I'm troubled by some of the things reported in this story. How can a person live in the United States for 23 years and not be able to speak any English? If Mr. Mota came to this country for a better life - I won't ask if he's legal - wouldn't you think he'd embrace America for giving him an opportunity and want to learn English? If for no other reason than to communicate with other inhabitants of this great country without having his daughter nearby constantly to translate everything.

There are a couple of ways to look at the latest twist in the Great Donovan McNabb Benching Controversy. The timing couldn't be better for the Eagles, who will play McNabb and his new team Monday night in Landover, Md. There's nothing like catching an opponent in this kind of spectacular public disarray. And Philadelphians can take some comfort in the fact that this is not happening here. Now that the third-rail issue of race has entered the conversation, there's no way this can end well.

TO LETTER-writers Lenise Johnson and Harriet Brown, who replied to my earlier letter: Lenise, I didn't criticize President Obama. I simple took your criticisms and compared them to the facts. Since you keep insisting that Obama "inherited this mess," I will tell you again that Democrats had control of Congress the last two years of Bush's administration. We were not on the verge of a Great Depression, but we are heading that way fast. Obama knew the situation when he became president, and he took the job anyway.

IWOULD LIKE to know from what planet letter-writer Leisha Jacobs-Graham sent in her opinion in Thursday's paper. I really wish she'd done her homework before she started making her small-minded statements. First of all, the "mess" she claims President Obama inherited was from President Bush's last two years - when the Democrats were in control of Congress. Second, why should anyone collectively help Obama, especially when he has not listened to the collective majority of the American people?

TO LEN TROWER, who tells the readers why African-Americans should be angry at white Americans: You stated that most white Americans were against blacks way, way back when the slavery controversy was the debate of this great nation of ours. So you imply that African-Americans have reason to be angry at white Americans. Now, why should the current African-American population be angry at today's white Americans? I, we, weren't slave owners. This population wasn't born yet. I am not responsible for what the Founding Fathers of this country did many years ago. Besides that, as history tells us, more white American lives were ended because of a divided nation to fight to end slavery - it was called the Civil War. Yes, white folk fought for black people!

Left has overplayed the race card Finally, I understand the race card. It is the bottom card in the deck. The one that is up the sleeve. The one suit that will trump all other cards, regardless of how well you played your game. Until now. Now, that card has been played and played 'til its edges have been dog-eared and you can see it in the deck, and you know when it will be played, with all the predictability and certainty of a summer thunderstorm. It has lost its edge, its power.