Black winners on both coasts

One day came the news that John D. O'Bryant had been elected head of the Boston School Committee, the first black American to hold that office. The next day, from the other coast, came an article on Willie L. Brown Jr., who had recently been elected speaker of the California Assembly, the first black American to win the leadership of the state legislature. Both reports came during last week, when this newspaper happened to be running a series, "One nation . . . indivisible," placing the challenges and benefits of America's extraordinary diversity in their present-day context.

Mr. O'Bryant and Mr. Brown are only the latest examples of those who show what can be achieved in this context. "I believe in God, in my ability to succeed, and in the people of the city," said Mr. O'Bryant. Not a bad credo to be adapted for achieve ment in any walk of life.