ELECTIONS / U.S. SENATE : Mood Turns Tense as Black Ministers, Davis Discuss Riots

For a time, everything was going well for state Controller Gray Davis when he brought his U.S. Senate campaign to breakfast with a group of African-American ministers.

Outside the Praises of Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Watts where the breakfast was held Thursday, there were signs of the recent rioting everywhere: burned-out buildings, cleanup crews and mean, profane threats against police spray-painted on walls. But inside the church, there were prayers, speeches as smooth as country gravy and enough amens and laughter to fill the large meeting hall with warmth that could temporarily erase the memory of the rioting.

Aides working for Davis had papered the room with literature, buttons and signs promoting his campaign. As four church volunteers prepared a breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, grits, biscuits and fruit, and other church workers put together bags of food staples for the poor and victims of rioting lining up outside, Davis’ record on African-American issues was trotted out. It seemed to go down as easily with the ministers as the coffee served from the two large pots in the dining room.

Many of those present didn’t need to be reminded that Davis, as chairman of the Franchise Tax Board, had led the drive to eliminate taxpayer subsidies for business expenses at private clubs, had advocated that the state’s two large pension funds divest themselves of investments in companies doing business in South Africa, and had increased the number of African-Americans in the controller’s office by 41%.

They greeted him as a friend. Bishop E. Lynn Brown of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church likened politicians to a piano player and said many knew only how to play the white keys. Davis, he said, had been able to make pretty political music playing both black and white keys.

But then the talk turned to the civil unrest and the mood changed quickly. Davis called the disturbances a riot and talked toughly about punishing the offenders.

Davis told the 14 ministers, “We cannot excuse or tolerate mob violence, black or white.” He added, “We can understand but you can’t excuse.”

That was when, in the words of one minister, they decided to “take him to school.”

One minister said it wasn’t a riot, but a rebellion, “and in this rebellion there were no criminals.” The pastor of Praises of Zion, the Rev. J. Benjamin Hardwick, said, “We can’t honestly stand here and talk about healing in the streets when we can’t get justice in the courts.”

The Rev. William R. Johnson of Curry Temple AME Church in Compton said the riots, as well as drug addiction, gang warfare and other problems were the result of frustrations by people who are “homeless, unemployed, frustrated, hurt and angry” and have been denied basic civil rights over the years. Referring to the Los Angeles police chief, Johnson warned Davis “not to get Daryl Gatish on us by calling our people hooligans and hoods. . . .”

Davis stood his ground, and in the end, his credentials appeared to win out.

But the give-and-take pointed up the problems candidates for the U.S. Senate face as they campaign across the state in the wake of the rioting. In minority communities, the issue for many is decades of racial injustice that created the pressure which exploded in anger with not guilty verdicts for the Los Angeles police officers who beat Rodney G. King. In suburban neighborhoods, the dominant issue seems to be one of fear of the anarchy and unchecked violence that was brought live on television into the living rooms of many Californians.

Some candidates, such as Democratic Rep. Mel Levine and Republican Bruce Herschensohn, who are running in their respective primaries to replace retiring Sen. Alan Cranston, are adopting straightforward law-and-order appeals.

Others, such as Davis and Dianne Feinstein, his Democratic primary opponent in the other Senate race that will be decided this year, are taking a broader view, saying there is a need to attack longstanding urban problems in addition to coming down hard on the rioters.

Feinstein, who has said the rioting must be met with a strong response by law enforcement authorities, has also condemned two Republican administrations in Washington for deeply slashing spending on urban financial aid programs that promoted low-income housing and economic development.

Sensitivities to how the issue is framed are especially raw in the black neighborhoods of Los Angeles, where Davis and Feinstein are fighting for votes.

At one point, after one minister after another had gotten up to address Davis, Bishop Brown brought the meeting back to its original point with some hard-nosed political analysis.

Despite acknowledging that “it’s impossible for (Davis) to feel what we feel,” Brown said, “he’s the best hope we’ve got as a senator.”