Naacp

More than a thousand protesters converged in the streets of Sanford, Fla., on Saturday to demand the arrest of neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. Civil-rights organizers from the NAACP and other groups kicked off the march at about 11 a.m. in one of the city's historic black neighborhoods; they proceeded from there to the Sanford police headquarters, the Orlando Sentinel reported . The march is the latest in a series of demonstrations sparked by the Feb. 26 killing of the black teenager and the Police Department's subsequent refusal to press charges against Zimmerman.

Nobody involved in the Shirley Sherrod scandal emerged with reputation intact — except, of course, for Sherrod herself. But although key players Andrew Breitbart, Tom Vilsack or Benjamin Jealous all deserve a measure of scorn, we're even more distressed by a political culture that, despite the promise of a "post-racial" society after Barack Obama's election as president, has clearly made little progress in coming to terms with the issues that...

I was seriously disturbed by two items that appeared in Calendar last weekend. The first item, in the Aug. 5 Morning Report, concerned the cancellation of screenings of "The Birth of a Nation" at the Silent Movie Theatre because of threatened NAACP boycotts. The second item was Michael Phillips' perspective piece on Aug. 6 concerning the inappropriateness of staging "The Taming of the Shrew" in this day and age on the grounds that the play is misogynistic. I do not disagree that both works contain material offensive to our modern-day sensibilities.

Re "Bush: Good Words, Now Action," editorial, July 11: Let's look at George W. Bush's decision to address the NAACP convention for what it really is. Bush is not going to receive a significant number of votes from black voters and he knows it. His NAACP appearance is, however, an attempt to attract moderate white voters by making him appear to be compassionate and inclusive. It is a tactic that worked very well for Bill Clinton. The difference is that Bush is trying to sell a party that has shown indifference toward black voters.

Here is a young man with the courage of his convictions. In many of our minds, his earlier associations might be considered questionable. Speaking from the viewpoint, however, of a much older generation (age middle 70s), who among us in our youth did not do several things that we look back on and shake our heads in disbelief? The NAACP has done a wonderful job in promoting the programs it was designed to address. I feel that Duke is right in now promoting an NAAWP. WALTER H. DOTY San Dimas

Supporters of Proposition 103 said they are filing suit today against Insurance Commissioner Roxani Gillespie to force her to abide by statutory provisions of the insurance reform measure. The suit was being filed in Sacramento Superior Court on behalf of Voter Revolt, the group that campaigned for the proposition, the Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP and a group called the Prop. 103 Insurance Action Commission Intervention Team.

I am surprised that The Times would print Cynthia Tucker's Aug. 20 commentary, "Mfume's Ego Got in the Way." Her criticism of Kweisi Mfume's efforts to place minorities in prominent positions as being self-serving and leaving the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People vulnerable to charges of a shakedown is judgmental. Her use of the word "shakedown" is inflammatory. She even refers to the Rev. Jessie Jackson's work as a shakedown, and that sets the tone for the whole piece.