Blacks

When John McCain apologized to Barack Obama this week for the comments of his warm-up act at a rally, it was not the first time -- and probably won't be the last -- that the most competitive black presidential candidate in U.S. history has heard the words, "I'm sorry." In his yearlong quest to win the White House, the Democratic senator from Illinois has changed the rules of political engagement, forcing his rivals to step delicately in a normally no-holds-barred arena.

Mervyl Melendez, the baseball coach at Bethune-Cookman University, respects his school's distinguished tradition within the ranks of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. He tries every year to recruit African American players to the private liberal arts school, which has about 3,000 students at its Daytona Beach, Fla., campus. "We offered, in November, seven African American kids scholarships. All but one rejected that offer and signed with different universities," he said.

Whoever wins the crucial Ohio Democratic presidential primary Tuesday, thanks will probably be owed to the likes of Jim Aldrich, a 61-year-old union worker at the Glatfelter paper mill on the southern edge of this small industrial city. But even Aldrich doesn't know from whom to collect the "thank you," because he still hasn't decided what he is going to do in the voting booth.

For 20 years, Oran Z. Belgrave has been looking for that box. It's the one the first black G.I. Joe doll came in back in the mid-1960s. He'll pay $200 when he finds it. But that's it -- really it. Belgrave isn't looking to buy more things. His obsession with collecting African American-themed antiques and memorabilia has consumed the better part of his life, and now, Belgrave said, "I have to hold myself down." His place is so crammed, a person can barely walk through it.

When a masked man fired three shotgun blasts into Chauncey Bailey in August as the newspaper editor walked to work, the slaying sent a powerful tremor through Bay Area journalism circles. Mary Fricker, a longtime business reporter for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, was about a year into retirement when she got word. Lisa Pickoff-White was driving cross-country to start her journalism studies at UC Berkeley. And Bob Butler, a member of the National Assn.

Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton is reaching out to black leaders in an effort to counter criticism that he has written off concerns about racial violence. In recent weeks, the chief has been bombarded by challenges on the issue after he asserted that racial violence between blacks and Latinos has been overblown by the media and the public.

An e-mail alleging anti-Semitic remarks by the local leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference set off a weeklong firestorm in the Jewish community that was only beginning to cool Friday. The e-mail was sent to friends April 4 by Jewish philanthropist Daphna Ziman after she attended an awards ceremony that day sponsored by the Western Province of Kappa Alpha Psi, a historically African American fraternity. She described the Rev.

Every Sunday, on a chewed-up soccer field in Pasadena, Mexican immigrants play a game they learned barefoot in the dusty pueblos along a remote stretch of the Pacific coast. The Costa Chica team -- named for the picturesque coastline south of Acapulco -- has cut a winning path through the heart of an immigrant-dominated league in Pasadena, capturing three championships in two years. Its players are agile and swift.

In Mexico, the story of the country's black population has been largely ignored in favor of an ideology that declares that all Mexicans are "mixed race." But it's the mixture of indigenous and European heritage that most Mexicans embrace; the African legacy is overlooked.

The maror looked strange to immigrant rights activist Angelica Salas, and she wasn't sure how bitter the bitter herbs would be. "But I actually really enjoyed it," Salas said, recalling how she dipped parsley into saltwater and made her first Hillel sandwich at her first Passover Seder. Stuffing charoset, a paste of sweet fruits and nuts, and a layer of bitter herbs between two small pieces of matzo bread, Salas laughed as the flatbread crunched and crumbled between her teeth.