Larry Griffin remembers asking an Annapolis restaurant manager in the late 1960s why most stores and eateries along Main Street didn't hire African-Americans for front-line jobs dealing with customers.

"He said if they had a black bartender, they wouldn't get business at the bar," said Griffin, 49, an Annapolis native who is president of We Care and Friends, a group working on breaking down racial barriers. "The stereotype back then was that you can't trust [African-Americans], they steal and they don't look good. That's how I found out about racism."

Griffin and two other African-American community leaders shared their perspectives on being black in the state capital yesterday in an unusual panel discussion at the weekly Wednesday Republican Breakfast at the Middleton Tavern at City Dock.

Griffin; Edith Knight, chief executive officer of the Community Action Agency; and Darius Stanton, branch executive director of the Baltimore/Annapolis Area Boys and Girls Clubs, told a mostly white audience of about 25 about their experiences and frustrations.

"We just felt it was time to get beyond stereotypes and get beyond skin shade and start talking about things that unite us as people," said Thomas W. Roskelly, who organized the panel. "It's good to hear a perspective that we might not run into in our normal circle of friends. The community can be better if we come together as people instead of staying divided."

Nancy Welch Almgren, who moderated the program, started by asking why, if Annapolis is one-third African-American, she didn't see many employed in businesses on Main Street.

Knight said many young African-Americans take better-paying jobs in other cities.

"They don't feel that they're going to get accepted," she said. "That's the experience of the black people in Annapolis. It's common knowledge that they're not going to get the positions. It's an assumption, but it's also real."

Stanton said African-Americans are at a disadvantage competing with whites for jobs because many do not have family and social structures that show them how to succeed. Many African-American high school students are not encouraged to take SATs, which are crucial for college admission, because their parents or family members might not have done that.

Alderman Herbert H. McMillan, a Ward 5 Republican, challenged that outlook.

"At no point in this country's history [have] there been more scholarships available to African-Americans than now," he said. "At some point, a community, a family, a person has to take responsibility. If something is offered and not taken, who is to blame?"

Lynn Heth-Fralix of Millersville wondered why many African-Americans are reluctant to join the Republican Party, a point demonstrated by the ethnic makeup of the crowd. The two African-Americans in the audience were Democrats -- one of them Ward 6 Alderman Cynthia A. Carter -- who said they were there to hear the discussion.

"One of the misperceptions is that the Republican Party does not want African-Americans," Heth-Fralix said. "I want people to be part of our party so we can look like the rest of America."

Stanton said some African-Americans view the GOP stand on some national issues as slights, noting the example of Republican leaders pressing for a crackdown on drug dealers while not punishing the drug buyers, who often are white.

Knight said discussions such as yesterday's could help introduce African-Americans to the GOP.

"We need to deal with diversity in Annapolis and miscommunication between all the races and have more forums like this," she said. "We need to not wait until there's a crisis to come together."

Pub Date: 3/18/99