THINKING BLACK

Taking as his touchstone the words of H.L. Mencken, who once called for black leaders ``who can and will think black,'' USA Today columnist Wickham gathers original essays by writers who collectively ``give voice to the many joys and pains of black America.'' Of greatest concern to these columnists, most from medium-size papers east of the Mississippi, is the position of the African- American community in the larger society, and as a group, they tend to take liberal political positions. One who does not, Allegra Bennett, a writer for the conservative Washington Times, sounds a controversial call in suggesting that the welfare state demeans African-Americans; she argues that blacks must think of themselves not as victims of history but as ``extraordinary survivors'' who are owed nothing but equal opportunity, and that the time has come to dispense with the old, paternalistic way of doing things. Richmond Times-Dispatch writer Michael Paul Williams rejoins, ``By weaving dreams from nightmare, African-Americans—more than any other group—represent the American ideal,'' an ideal, in his view, that includes the governmental safety net that Bennett rejects. And Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writer Gregory Stanford, in a nice turn of argument, opines, ``Education is a valuable, albeit intangible, asset that white America really does not want you to have. So getting an education is an act of rebellion.'' Other columnists deal with less politically charged subjects: Betty DeRamus writes affectionately of her mother's life, Claude Lewis of the legacy of James Baldwin, Lisa Baird of being a light-skinned black, wholly accepted by neither white America nor African America. A good and useful anthology of voices not widely heard. (24 b&w photos, not seen)