DATE: Sunday, June 22, 1997                 TAG: 9706220154

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  134 lines

LOCAL REACTION TO CLINTON'S CALL FOR DIALOGUE: TALK ABOUT RACE IS FINE, BUT ACTION IS NEEDED

In a nation where the line between black and white can dictate how we see each other, Vernon M. Hervey and Robert Hawkins see only lines of solemn gray.

For more than 20 years, these men have tended Cedar Hills Cemetery in Suffolk, where the lines of gray dot the grass. They've known each other for more than 30 years.

Hervey, 51, and Hawkins, 50, are friends.

Hawkins is black.

Hervey is white.

Both had heard of President Clinton's national radio address last week saying he wants to examine the race issue. That a seven-member commission had been chosen to bring relationships among all the nation's races to the forefront. That he might even apologize for slavery.

Great, the Suffolk men said Thursday.

``I ain't got nothing against it,'' said Hawkins.

Seven years ago The Virginian-Pilot ran a series called ``Building a Bridge of Tolerance,'' which looked at race relations in Hampton Roads.

The series expanded upon a poll in which 1,218 local residents expressed a higher-than-expected level of racial tolerance. That poll, like a national survey publicized last week, said blacks were more concerned about the problem of race.

Delceno C. Miles, vice chairwoman of the Virginia Beach School Board, was concerned then.

She is still concerned.

She is a successful black woman who is tired of talk. She believes the only thing a Clinton-led apology or conversation will create is wind, and there's plenty of that as it is.

Minorities, she argued, have never asked for anything besides a level playing field. She prefers any action, even the affirmative kind, to words.

``I don't want another session where we eat chicken and go home and nothing changes. I've been to enough of those. There needs to be a serious emphasis on ending racism to make something happen. Until that happens, it's just going to be talk.''

But Clinton wants talk about race. Black folks. White folks. Chewing some fat.

He wants dialogue.

There's already plenty of that at Cedar Hills Cemetery.

``Things are better,'' Hervey said. ``It's goin' on smooth to me.''

Hawkins agreed. ``We're co-workers. It's fine with me.''

``Fine,'' Hervey said.

Other people, however, don't seem to be reading from the same sheet of music.

According to a poll released last Sunday by CBS News, many white and black Americans differ on how important the race question is, with 40 percent more blacks saying they believe improvements are necessary for the nation.

``Focus on race?'' asked Miles. ``That's what we've done since the beginning. That's why we have shackles - not physical shackles, but economic shackles. Focusing on race is nothing.''

The civil-rights movement, Miles believes, is still in its infancy.

``The next level in the civil-rights movement is economic,'' said Miles, adding that cities such as Virginia Beach, which seems ``a little more progressive,'' give her hope.

``New businesses and the military have been a catalyst,'' she said. ``And they've been sort of a role model to some degree. It goes back to economics.''

Leonard I. Ruchelman, a professor of urban studies and public administration at Old Dominion University, agreed with Miles.

``In the older cities,'' explained Ruchelman, a Virginia Beach resident, ``they'll reflect the old racial patterns. Virginia Beach is a new city, and therefore the lines are not as clearly drawn. It helps promote a more integrated community.

``The Navy is pretty much an integrated institution, and that is seen here. I'm not so sure that the same could be said about the other cities, however.

``There is still social conservatism, and it bears on issues like interracial marriage and the adoption of children and, to a lesser extent, what's going on in the school systems.

``In my mind, that says we have a long way to go.''

No kidding, said Ronnie E. Ratliff, a 16-year-old rising senior at I.C. Norcom High School in Portsmouth.

``Sometimes I feel a school like Norcom is looked down upon by people,'' said Ratliff. ``They think because a school is predominantly black, that the people are disadvantaged.''

Ratliff said he feels people view Portsmouth, which has a large black population, the same way.

``They think it's a poor city. It's looked down upon.''

But David M. Day, 50, sees integration working as an assistant principal in the Chesapeake school system.

He joined the school system in 1969, while students from Crestwood were integrating with white schools. There were many problems then, he said, but not so many now. Church communities, however, concern Day.

``We have integrated schools,'' Day said. ``But we have predominantly black churches and predominantly white churches. If you have segregation in church, I don't see how you can ever have true integration in the South.''

ODU's Ruchelman would not discount the importance of dialogue. He said groups such as the African-American/Jewish Coalition have helped cross racial lines.

But just as the tendency to form factions is apparent in inner-city ethnic communities in the Northeast, color difference is ingrained in the traditions of both the rural South and the ethnically founded townships in some of our oldest communities.

``It's just like the difference between men and women with blacks and whites,'' said Juanita D. Sessoms, who runs a sewing and alteration shop in Portsmouth.

``They act differently. They react to different things. They come from a different culture.''

She has white friends who understand her and she understands them. Things have changed, she said, and it makes her glad. But not much has improved for blacks.

``There are so many blacks unemployed right now,'' she said, ``but I don't know why.''

When it comes to President Clinton's push to ease racial tensions, Sessoms said: ``He didn't start race problems and he's not going to end them. There's always going to be stuff between the races.''

The growth of cities within Hampton Roads and of the region as a marketable entity may push races together, Ruchelman says.

``It's a dynamic region with a high degree of employment mobility. And in the attempt on the part of Hampton Roads to become a global competitor, there is a very clear interest to see progress.

``But we still haven't reached our goals of racial equality and racial understanding.''

Laura E. Santacruz sees it.

The 17-year-old attends Norfolk Christian High School. When it comes to the number of black students, she said, ``there's, like, three.''

President Clinton agrees that ``there's still some unfinished business out there between black and white Americans.''

Robert Hawkins agreed as he leaned against his lawn mower Thursday in the Suffolk cemetery. ``We're all in this world together.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo

DELCENO C. MILES

``There needs to be a serious emphasis on ending racism to make

something happen.''

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