Um, Clarence? Ward?

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is analyzing several hate-mail letters received by prominent African-American men, including N.F.L. players, civic leaders and entertainers, The Palm Beach Post reported yesterday. The contents of the article were confirmed yesterday in an interview with a special agent from the Cleveland office of the F.B.I.

In the past year, about six N.F.L. players have received the letters, which threaten violence and instruct the players not to date white women. The F.B.I. did not reveal the names of the players, but two people with knowledge of the situation said one of them had since retired.

The Palm Beach Post reported Wednesday that a prominent Miami Dolphins player received a letter in September.

The Associated Press reported yesterday that a Columbus, Ohio, police report said the mother of the suspended Ohio State tailback Maurice Clarett received a death threat addressed to her son. Clarett's mother, Michelle, said Clarett received the letter, which had no return address, at her home on Oct. 2. The typed message was from "O.S.U. cheerleaders" and said that "black men should stay away from white women," and included other racial remarks and ended with a message that the writer would "kill and bomb the place," The A.P. reported.

Robert Hawk, a special agent in the F.B.I. office in Cleveland, said in a telephone interview yesterday that the letters to the N.F.L. players were a small part of a spate of hate mail directed at notable African-American men over the past two years. He said dozens of other "racially hateful letters" had been sent to other high-profile entertainers, civic leaders and organizations. "The letters directly ask the males to stop dating white females or they will be castrated, shot or set on fire," Hawk said. "And they are all signed either angry white women or angry Caucasian women."