THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 4, 1994 TAG: 9411040727
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A16 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALEC KLEIN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
In a sea of 1,000 white faces howling for political anti-hero Oliver L. North stood Ron Clark of Virginia Beach - young, Republican and black.
``I'm really concerned about empowering our people, not enslaving them,'' Clark said.
On the sidelines of that rally Saturday, a young black woman taunted North, railing against myths about Democratic U.S. Sen. Charles S. Robb.
``It's like you've got to be on welfare to vote for Robb,'' she said.
In the final days of Virginia's nastiest, most expensive, nationally bodacious, down-to-the-wire U.S. Senate campaign, African-American voters are caught in the crossfire, painted as a monolithic voting bloc swayed by racial rhetoric.
Inciting fear, Robb and the state Democratic party have linked North to David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard, although North campaigned against the Louisiana Republican in 1990.
Stirring the pot, North has opposed statehood for predominantly black Washington, D.C., defended (then backtracked on) the Confederate flag and courted blacks at Virginia Union University.
In the swirl of racial charges and counter-charges, the voices of African-American voters have been largely ignored. ``I grew up during segregation, so I'm not outraged,'' said Akida T. Mensah, a black pastor in Richmond.
``Politics is that beast. You take advantage of what you can, and that is a candidate who can represent your point of view the closest.''
Robb has latched onto L. Douglas Wilder, the nation's first elected black governor, to win the hearts - and votes - of Virginia's African-Americans, who account for about 18 percent of the electorate. The state Republican party on Thursday called a press conference to display five blacks who back North.
``We can no longer accept the role as an automatic bloc of support of Democratic candidates,'' the Rev. Rufus Adkins said at GOP headquarters, reminding the public that ``the Republican party is the party of Abraham Lincoln, the party that gave us freedom.''
Both candidates have paid their respects at black churches, and their intent, to some, is clear: It's the politics of race.
``It works,'' Rev. Mensah said. ``It has worked in my lifetime. It's always been that kind of thing. Particularly in a close race and in Virginia, that mindset is there.''
Robb and North are locked in a virtual dead heat, two polls showed Thursday. Robb's numbers are climbing, mostly because of solidifying black support. Independent candidate J. Marshall Coleman, who has kept out of the racial debate, lags behind.
``The message is, they (politicians) will stop using (race) when it stops working,'' Mensah said. ``The more people of color demand their rightful place at the banquet table, the more people running things will have to acknowledge it.''
In the mania of the campaign's final days, the two major parties have gone out of their way to acknowledge racial issues. Recently, the state Democratic party called prospective voters in predominantly black neighborhoods, comparing the Republican party to ``the radical voices'' of ``Jesse Helms, Jerry Falwell and David Duke.''
The state Republican party upped the ante last week when its chairman, Patrick McSweeney, said it was not worth pursuing black votes ``from a cost-effectiveness standpoint.'' He has since backed off that statement.
Overlooked in the heated exchange on race is that many black voters, from Portsmouth to Richmond, from Fredericksburg to Fairfax County, don't buy it.
``I think it's manipulating society,'' said Dr. Judith Saunders Burton, a reading specialist at Featherstone Elementary School in Woodbridge.
``I try to put race behind,'' said Melvin L. Carter, a machine repairman from Spotsylvania County. ``Personally, I would leave race out of it. It's one of those smear tactics, and I don't like that. Health care, finding jobs, stuff like that, that's more important for me.''
Both insist they have not played off racial division.
North: ``I've reached into every community. It's just not particularly visible.''
Robb: ``I'm always concerned about anything that's dividing. I've spent my entire career trying to unify.''
Helen Person, a Portsmouth resident fighting lead contamination in a public housing complex, is skeptical. ``Well, we understand, most of us,'' she said, ``there isn't but so much we can do but exercise our right to vote.''
KEYWORDS: U.S. SENATE RACE VIRGINIA CANDIDATES
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