Afro PG County 4-14-2017

November 12, 2016 - November 12, 2016, The Afro-American A1 PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY EDITION

Volume 125 No. 37

APRIL 15, 2017 - APRIL 21, 2017

Inside

Shame of the U.N.

Prince George’s

• Area Pastors Look to Connect with Community More

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Financial Literacy Month

Financial Literacy Is Not Just for Grown-Ups

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Baltimore AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery

Commentary

Restoring Trust in the Police

By Rep. Elijah Cummings

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Janila Jean said she was a 16-year-old virgin living in Jacmel, Haiti when a U.N. peacekeeper from Brazil raped her at gunpoint and left her pregnant. An Associated Press investigation of U.N. missions during the past 12 years found nearly 2,000 allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation by peacekeepers and other personnel around the world.

More than 300 of the allegations involved children, but only a fraction of the alleged perpetrators served jail time.

CBC Hearing Blasts Trump and Administration on Civil Rights

By James Wright Special to the AFRO jwright@afro.com

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On April 6, the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) held a panel discussion called “Civil Rights Under the Trump Administration – The First 100 Days.” The panel consisted of civil rights leaders, activists and government officials. Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), the top Democrat on the House’s Committee on the Judiciary, said there is concern in the

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When the Government Accountability Office (GAO), an independent federal watch-dog agency, released its 2017 “High Risk List” of dysfunctional, inefficient, and wasteful programs, the 2020

“Census data are vital to the implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of a wide range of civil rights laws and policies.”

– Wade Henderson Decennial Census made the top three – out of a total of 34.

The last 2010 Census was reportedly riddled with disorganization and badly managed overhead. The once-every-decade planning proved inept as the Bureau,

Conyers, considered the dean of the House because he is its longest tenured member, said to an audience of 35 people on Capitol Hill.

“There are heightened national divisions and Continued on A3

By The Associated Press

Courtesy photo

unable to creatively prepare for the tabulation of nearly 140 million households and missing the technology to do it, had to make an eleventhhour scramble for staff and resources. The result: a more than 30 percent cost overrun from the previous 2000 Census, more than $12 billion versus $9.4 billion, and the most expensive Census ever. Just counting one “housing unit” in 2010 cost $92 compared to only $16 in 1970.

“The return of census questionnaires by mail (the primary mode of data collection) declined . . . from 78 percent in 1970 to 63 percent in 2010,” said the High Risk List report.

“Declining mail response rates – a key indicator of a cost-effective census – are significant and lead to higher costs. This is because the Bureau sends enumerators to each non-responding household to obtain census data. As a result, nonresponse follow-up (NRFU) is the Bureau’s largest and most costly field operation.”

However, the timing of the

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Comedian Charlie Murphy, Brother of Eddie Murphy, Dies at 57

Reduced Census Funding Could Lead to Unequal Representation

By Charles D. Ellison Special to the AFRO

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country about the direction of the Trump administration’s civil and human rights policies.

“Minority communities are justifiably concerned,”

Rep. John Conyers, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said minority communities are justifiably concerned by Trump and his administration.

• Lawrence Lacks: My Side of the Story

report, say some observers in the civil rights community, could not be worse for Black communities. On the

Continued on A3

Charlie Murphy, older brother of Eddie Murphy and a comedy stand-up and performer in his own right, has died.

Murphy died on April 12 in New York of leukemia, according to his representative, Domenick Nati. Murphy was 57.

He was perhaps bestknown for his appearances on “Chappelle’s Show” on Comedy Central. He collaborated with writing his brother’s starring films

Continued on A3

Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

Charlie Murphy, older brother of actor-comedian Eddie Murphy, died on April 12 of leukemia in New York. He was 57.

William T. Coleman, a civil rights pioneer in law and life, died on March 31 at the age of 96.

In 1975 the AFRO wrote about Coleman’s attempts, as then U.S. Secretary of Transportation, to eliminate racial discrimination in his department.

AFRO Archived History

Coleman moving against Transportation Dept. bias July 5, 1975

By John W. Lewis Jr. NNPA Washington Bureau WASHINGTON -- William T. Coleman Jr., secretary of transportation, has ordered his agency heads to come up with acceptable plans to eliminate employment discrimination in his 153,000-employee department.

The plans, which he received the week of an NNPA interview, detail recommendations for gradually changing weak, equal opportunity policies which have resulted in the second worst minority employment record in the federal government.

Flipping through a report from his

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department heads, the brilliant Harvard Law School graduate indicated that he expected them to come up with “results” or be “replaced with somebody else.”

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The Afro-American, April 15, 2017 - April 21, 2017

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Farewell to Rock ‘n’ Roll Legend Chuck Berry

By The Associated Press

people listening,” Berry once said.

Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison Honored with Literary Award

By The Associated Press

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Fans pay their respects to the Rock ‘n’ Roll legend Chuck Berry during a public viewing April 9, in St. Louis.

Fans lined up before dawn on April 9 to pay their final respects to music legend Chuck Berry, roughly three weeks after his death at age 90 near his hometown of St. Louis.

The Pageant, a club where Berry often performed, opened its doors April 9 for a four-hour public viewing, which will be followed by a private service and celebration for the musicians family and friends.

As fans filed past Berry’s open casket, which has his beloved cherry-red Gibson ES-335 electric guitar bolted to the inside of its lid, a musician outside played Berry standards such as “Johnny B. Goode,” ”Sweet Little Sixteen” and “Roll Over Beethoven.”

Among the flower arrangements in the hall was one in the shape of a guitar sent by The Rolling Stones, one of the many bands profoundly influenced by the St. Louis rock ‘n’ roller.

When Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards spoke about Berry at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s 1986 induction ceremony — Berry was the first person inducted from that inaugural class — he said Berry was the one who started it all.

Well before the rise of Bob Dylan, Berry wedded social commentary to the beat and rush of popular music.

“He was singing good lyrics, and intelligent lyrics, in the ’50s when people were singing, “Oh, baby, I love you so,’” John Lennon once observed.

“Everything I wrote about wasn’t about me, but about the

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(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

In this May 29, 2012 photo, author Toni Morrison receives her Medal of Freedom award during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington.

Nobel literature laureate Toni Morrison is collecting another prestigious prize.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist is scheduled to be presented with the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ Emerson-Thoreau Medal.

The prize was established in 1958 and is awarded to individuals to recognize a lifetime of literary achievements.

Previous recipients include Robert Frost, T.S. Eliot, Katherine Anne Porter, Saul Bellow, Norman Mailer and Philip Roth.

Morrison is set to receive her medal April 13 at the Academy’s headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Academy President Jonathan Fanton says Morrison was selected “for her excellence in the humanities.” Her nomination calls her “an overwhelming figure in American and world literature.”

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The Afro-American, April 15, 2017 - April 15, 2017

April 15, 2017 - April 21, 2017, The Afro-American

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CBC Hearing Continued from A1 anxiety.”

The purpose of the forum was to look into the actions of the Trump administration regarding civil rights since the president’s swearing-in on Jan. 20 and discuss proactive strategies to deal with the situation.

Conyers noted that the 2016 presidential campaign had racial overtones. During the campaign, some of the actions and sentiments that stand out are Trump calling for a ban on immigrants from several majority Muslim countries, promising to build a wall to keep out illegal immigrants from Central and South American countries, insulting a Latino federal judge, and marginalizing Black concerns about police practices.

Conyers said that U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ effort to review police consent decrees designed to help Blacks get justice in cities like Baltimore and Chicago suggested Sessions had a covert plan to rollback voting rights enforcement. Even agencies like the EPA could be harmed by the Trump administration’s lack of civil rights embrace, Conyers said.

“Seventy-eight percent of the EPA’s

Environmental Justice office will be cut under the president’s budget,” Conyers said.

“His budget will also cut workplace and employment discrimination offices across the federal government.”

Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) co-chaired the forum with Conyers.

administration has inflicted specific actions that have visited affirmative harm on America.”

Another panelist was Roy Austin, the deputy assistant to President Obama and director of the White House Office of Urban Affairs, Justice and Opportunity, who was

“The greatest threat to civil rights is this current administration.”

– Roy Austin “Elections do have consequences,” Scott, the leading Democrat on the House Education and Workforce Development Committee, said. He said the Trump administration is working to allow Texas to reinstate its tough voter identification law and is working to water down the rights of transgender individuals.

Panelist Catherine Lhamon, chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, said, “Seventy-six days in this harrowing

blunt in assessing Trump’s civil rights direction.

“The greatest threat to civil rights is this current administration,” Austin said. “They are making it easy to violate civil rights. We have a president that has called on a Muslim ban and this is the first time you have stateendorsed discrimination against a faith.”

Austin noted that the large cuts to programs in the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services and Housing and Urban

Development will have a devastating effect on Blacks and that the president’s recent brief meeting with HBCU college presidents was shallow.”That was an overrated photoop,” Austin said. “Black college students are having a hard time paying their tuition and bills and trying to study and you are playing with their leaders.”

Trump has cut the COPS program and that is the wrong direction to go in, said Ron Davis, who served as the director of the Justice Department’s COPS (Community Oriented Policing Services) program in the Obama administration.”Crime levels have gotten to their lowest since the 1950s,” Davis said. “Advancements have been tremendous in terms of training officers. People should not be afraid of their police.”

Noting that Sessions supports “the stop and frisk” tactics used by police, the “War on Drugs” that was a failure, and that the Trump budget will shut down programs such as implicit bias training for police officers, Davis said that America is at the dawn of a new civil rights movement. “The rights we gained 5060 years ago are at risk,” Davis said.

Census Continued from A1 heels of the report’s findings is also what some critics point to as a troubling Trump administration decrease in funding for Census activities. The stakes are high for an accurate Census count in 2020 since a complete count of the country’s Black population ensures committed federal funding to those communities and a preservation or enhancement of Black political power based on proportional Black constituencies.

“Census data are vital to the implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of a wide range of civil rights laws and policies, from fair political representation and voting reforms, to equal opportunity and access across all economic and social sectors of society, including housing, education, health care, and the job market,” says Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “That’s why ensuring a fair and accurate census is

a top priority of the civil and human rights coalition. Communities of color, urban and rural low-income households, immigrants, and young children are all at risk of being missed at disproportionately high rates.”

Should a call for “efficiencies” in the 2020 Census translate into policymakers proposing less investment in the crucial population count, many worry that could trigger a disastrous undercounting of the Black population. An undercounting of the Black population would then lead to fewer federal dollars flowing to Black communities and, potentially, fewer Black elected officials.

The Census count is the main decennial exercise that determines how state legislative and Congressional districts are drawn or mapped out by state legislators. If the Census tabulates fewer Black residents, Republicans in charge of state legislatures can

eliminate Black-majority districts or districts that favor Black elected officials. That results in less political representation and less focus on policy issues of critical importance to the larger Black electorate.

While the proposed Trump White House FY 2018 budget recommends a $130 million increase from fiscal year 2017 to 2018, or about 10 percent, that’s still half the Obama administration’s 20 percent increase from 2016 to 2017 for the Bureau. In fact, both administrations oversaw marked reductions in Census Bureau spending compared to the Bush II administration, which increased spending by 34 percent in 2008 from 2006. What’s also problematic for the Bureau is the Trump administration’s request for an overall 16 percent reduction in the Bureau’s parent agency the Department of Commerce.

Even the Census itself admitted to undercounts, including a 2.1 percent undercount of the Black

population in 2010 compared to 1.8 percent in 2000 (although downplaying the significance of it). And the Bureau’s unwillingness to place the “Black alone-or-incombination” category (which includes bi-racial Black people) on

the form, along with controversies over how to count Black Diaspora migrants – such as those from the Caribbean – into the final official count prevented the final tally from being 15 percent instead of the 13 percent currently relied on.

Murphy Continued from A1 “Norbert” and “Vampire in Brooklyn.” He voiced a role in the animated TV series that include “The Boondocks” and also appeared in the comedy series “Black Jesus.”

Fellow celebrities mourned his death. Comedian Chris Rock tweeted that “We just lost one of the funniest most real brothers of all time.” Former basketball great Magic Johnson tweeted that “I haven’t seen anything as funny as Charlie Murphy & Dave Chappelle’s skits on the Chappelle’s Show!” and “Hamilton” playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda tweeted that Murphy was a “HABITUAL line-stepper...” whose “storytelling was hilarious and unforgettable.”

Murphy’s feature films include “Our Family Wedding,” ‘’King’s Ransom” and “CB4.”

He is credited with appearances to air later this year on the TV drama series “Power.”

Coleman

He’s a hard worker, putting in 12-hour days at the agency with speaking and other engagements afterwards.

Continued from A1

“I usually get up at 6:30 a.m., swim in the pool until 10 of 7 and leave for the office at 7:15 when the driver picks me up,” said the secretary, who attends cabinet meetings about once every 10 days and meets with President Ford, “two or three times a week.”

Secretary Coleman said that in a meeting four weeks ago he told his subordinates, “This is a problem I want changed.

Tell me how you are going to do it.”

He said that Ford conducts meetings in a “relaxed, gentle manner.”

*** The former partner in a prestigious Philadelphia law firm, who has been head of the $13 billion agency since March 7, inherited a “hot potato” at transportation which not only has been criticized for its lack of black, decision-making personnel, but also its poor record in awarding less than two per cent in contracts to minority firms.

“But take it from me,” Coleman said, “the President is also very firm, and not wishy-washy on issues.”

Coleman is involved in making major decisions on the amount of funding for Washington’s rapid metropolitan transit system, as well as construction approval for Interstate Route 66 inside the area’s beltway.

However, the agency does have Gen. B. O. Davis, Jr,. as an assistant secretary.

“The President has given me absolute authority to make a decision on I-66.” the cause of sometimes bitter controversy, said the secretary. “Metro was not under my jurisdiction, but the President asked me to step in and resolve the controversy.”

Black observers are hopeful that Coleman will not only improve on transportation’s current status of only seven per cent minority employees in GS-9 positions or above, but also appoint blacks to top positions in the seven large agencies that make up the Department of Transportation.

*** During the interview, Coleman confirmed that at present he has no black assistants or secretaries.

Currently vacant is a slot as the administrator of the Urban Mass Transportation Administration.

Outside observers are concerned about Coleman’s lack of immediate black observers who can guard him against an entrenched transportation bureaucracy which in the past has perpetuated a near lilly-white group of decision makers at top levels.

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The highest-ranked black at EMTA is Ms. Sallyanne Payton the general counsel, who held the Number Two position under Frank Herringer, the former administrator.

Coleman, the second black cabinet head in American history, said it took him “about six weeks” to get on top of administrative matters at the second largest department in the federal government.

Coleman said that the transportation department under his administration would make an “extra effort to recruit minorities.

“In the general counsel’s office, I think it will be relatively easy to find black attorneys, for example,” he said.

He said also that it should not be difficult for UMTA to find additional blacks skilled in urban planning.

Transcribed by J.K. Schmid

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The Afro-American, April 15, 2017 - April 21, 2017

COMMENTARY

Restoring Trust in the Police

Here in Baltimore, our work to restore the public’s trust in our police officers – so essential to effective public safety – continues.

With the full support of Baltimore’s elected and appointed leaders and civil rights advocates from every section of our City, we are proceeding toward enforcement of a judicially supervised and enforced Federal Consent Decree that will govern the manner in which our law enforcement officers perform their duties.

The admittedly complex public safety issues confronting our community were exhaustively documented by the Obama Administration’s Department of Justice in its “pattern or practice investigation” of the Baltimore City Police Department.

That investigation concluded that, despite the honorable and at times heroic service of most law enforcement Elijah Cummings officers, policing in Baltimore has far too often violated the constitutional rights of our citizens – especially our less affluent African American citizens.

Last week, United States Federal District Judge for the District of Maryland James K. Bredar concluded the hearing process and approved the Consent Decree that will assure federal judicial oversight of criminal justice reform in Baltimore during the decade to come.

Along with Maryland’s Senators and Baltimore’s other Representatives, I strongly support this reform process under federal judicial supervision.

Each of us in Baltimore’s federal delegation has undertaken a solemn oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. We will not allow anyone to trample on the constitutional rights of our citizens.

For our courts, and for us all as citizens, this must remain our overriding and non-negotiable principle.

Now, we must redouble our efforts to assure that this mutually-agreed upon and broadlysupported blueprint for reform moves toward fruition as rapidly as possible. When our constitutional protections as Americans are threatened, delay is not an acceptable option.

As Judge Bredar himself observed, delay could further erode the public trust that is so essential to effective policing.

These are two of the reasons that I joined the rest of Baltimore’s congressional delegation in vigorously objecting to the new Attorney General’s efforts to delay the federal court proceedings in Baltimore. As we declared in our letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions: “We are gravely concerned that the Justice Department will retreat from its obligation to protect the federal civil rights of the citizens of Baltimore….We urge the Justice Department to withdraw its request for a delay in proceedings and to continue working with Baltimore City and BPD as scheduled. We stand ready as a Congressional delegation to work closely with the Justice Department to rebuild public trust in the Baltimore City Police Department through these much-needed and long-overdue reforms.”

Fortunately, in approving the Consent Decree, Judge Bredar denied the Trump DOJ’s requested delay. He found that request to be “untimely,” and that any such a delay “at the eleventh hour would unduly burden and inconvenience the Court, the other parties, and, most importantly, the public.”

We now are continuing on a path toward much-needed and long-overdue reforms that can make Baltimore’s Police Department a model for the nation. Nevertheless, the Department of Justice’s wavering is deeply troubling.

Underlying the Trump Administration’s resistance seems to be a perception that Baltimore’s reform efforts are somehow “anti-police.” If this, in fact, is the Administration’s viewpoint, it is both uninformed and tragically misguided.

At the heart of the current Administration’s perspective appears to be an unstated

assumption: that constitutionally-sound policing cannot be effective in achieving public safety.

I strongly disagree.

After months of investigation and serious reflection, the Obama Justice Department and Baltimore’s leaders concluded that constitutional policing that respects our civil rights is also smart, effective public safety. Indeed, it is the foundation for the public trust and cooperation that our law enforcement officers need in order to effectively and safely perform their duties.

In the days and months to come, implementing the now-approved Consent Decree will require the best efforts of law enforcement, elected officials and the Baltimore community as a whole.

We must continue to make our case to President Trump’s Justice Department – and any other doubters – that constitutionally sound policing is essential to keeping the public safe.

We must build upon the understanding that unconstitutional and racially disproportionate police practices have been major factors in law enforcement’s losing the trust and cooperation of much of our community – and that without the public’s full cooperation, effective policing of violent crime has become far more difficult.

The public’s safety must not be allowed to become a politically partisan issue. To achieve real, lasting reform beyond the language of any court order, we must continue to make the better case that racial and socio-economic disparities in the enforcement of our laws are not only unconstitutional, they make all of us more vulnerable to violent crime.

In contrast, through our major reinvestment in our people and our recommitment to constitutional “community policing” that targets violent crime, we can restore the public’s trust in their police – and achieve a safer, more equitable, and more prosperous community for us all.

Congressman Elijah Cummings represents Maryland’s 7th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives.

NAACP Statement on Confirmation of Judge Neil Gorsuch The recent decision by Republican-led and partisan inspired Senators to bypass our normal confirmation process represents an ill-considered moment by the world’s greatest deliberative body.

The Supreme Court is a critical nonpartisan instrument of our democratic system designed to check executive and legislative abuses of power, not a partisan extension of the others. In reducing the needed approval for confirmation of Judge Neil Gorsuch to just 51 votes, the Senate has ensured

Cornell William Brooks

that future candidates, even those of a severely partisan nature, can now be confirmed to our nation’s highest court without a single vote of bipartisan support.

This sets a dangerous trend, particularly for those citizens and communities traditionally left outside the halls of power.

In turn, it reinforces to those with power and access that their access and influence will only increase.

There are democratic moments when a leader faces a choice between a patriotic excellence and partisan expediency, this day a misguided Senate majority chose the latter.

The undemocratic action now creates a situation where all presidential nominees for federal courts and executive branch

positions can now be confirmed with a mere 51 votes. This is a major blow to the system of checks and balances within our government. It also means that an administration which lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes can now recreate the government in their own partisan image, which leaves the overwhelming majority of us vulnerable.

To those Senators who voted for this option and Judge Gorsuch…

We will remember.

Cornell William Brooks is the NAACP President and CEO.

BaltimoreLink: Real Improvements, Right Now On June 18, 2017, less than 100 days from now, the Maryland Department of Transportation Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) will implement Governor Hogan’s BaltimoreLink transit plan. The transformative rebuilding and rebranding of MTA’s transit system connects people to jobs and life’s opportunities by linking our bus and rail network with high-frequency, reliable service.

In preparation for the launch of BaltimoreLink, MTA’s more than 3,300 dedicated employees have worked to ensure our customers see the benefits of this new initiative immediately.

First, you may have noticed MTA’s distinctive 40-foot-long buses wrapped in the BaltimoreLink colors. For many years, MTA buses used different paint schemes, which confused our customers and didn’t tie the MTA to the identity of the Baltimore region. Now, MTA is wrapping its buses in the striking BaltimoreLink colors, which are based on the red, gold and black of the Maryland state flag. The new look for our buses establishes a strong link with the region we serve

Paul Comfort

and helps longtime customers and people using our service for the first time know they’re about to board a MTA bus.

In addition to the new look, MTA’s buses are getting a new, modern cleaning treatment. MTA recently awarded a contract for the application of EcoSeal, a substance that seals all the interior surfaces and seats of every bus with an anti-bacterial, anti-microbial agent that protects our passengers and our operators from germs and other hazards.

BaltimoreLink is visible in more places, too. One of the most exciting new things we’re doing is replacing all 5,000 old MTA bus stop signs with redesigned signs that include more information and are easy to read and understand. The old blue, white and red signs consisted of a picture of a bus with a route number and included no information on the actual bus route or any connections. With our changes, you can see the dramatic difference. The new signs identify the route, route destination, frequency of the route and stop identification number with instructions on how to text this number to MTA for information on the next arriving bus.

When these new two-sided signs are unveiled in June, our customers will have more information at their bus stops than

ever before.

And last but certainly not least, you may have seen the dark red dedicated bus lanes installed downtown on Pratt and Lombard streets. Dedicated bus lanes are the first step in increasing bus travel speed through our system so the vehicles can stay on schedule and minimize sitting in traffic congestion.

The key to making our bus lanes efficient is enforcement. So far this year, MTA police have issued more than 113 citations to vehicles that were driving or parked in the bus lanes. We will continue to focus on enforcement so our customers can get where they need to go on our faster, more reliable system.

These are just some the exciting new features of the Hogan Administration’s BaltimoreLink you can see right now as you travel throughout the surrounding region. Additional improvements are coming soon, including new transit signal priority equipment on key north-south routes such as Loch Raven Boulevard, York Road and Greenmount Avenue.

Paul Comfort is the MTA administrator and CEO.

The opinions on this page are those of the writers and not necessarily those of the AFRO. Send letters to The Afro-American • 2519 N. Charles St. • Baltimore, MD 21218 or fax to 1-877-570-9297 or e-mail to editor@afro.com

April 15, 2017 - April 21, 2017, The Afro-American

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Financial Literacy Is Not Just for Grown-Ups children and families used to facilitate conversation about fiscal responsibility.

“People are nervous about talking On April 11, the Gilmor Boys and about money. Nobody wants to say how Girls Club held a financial literacy much they make or how much they spend class for children within Baltimore’s and kids don’t know financially what Sandtown- Winchester area in order goes on in their homes. We figured if to raise awareness about fiscal we bring it into the gaming environment responsibility. Sheree Vasey, along with kids can play with parents and discuss her husband Paul Vasey, came to the theoretical issues in a non-threatening Gilmore Community center to discuss way that may actually relate to their real different ways kids could save money lives,” said Sheree Vasey. and make healthy financial decisions.

Both Sheree and Paul Vasey “We’d like to give students the emphasized that financial literacy begins opportunity to start conversations about in the home and offered advice for not money. In many cases in schools there only children but adults in order to is no financial literacy taught to kids encourage healthy spending habits. and everyone uses money once they “Save first and spend later. Start get out of school. Kids get credit cards putting aside money every paycheck so and take out loans and get into debt and you can get used to spending a lesser Children at the Gilmor Boys and Girls that stuff can follow them for the rest amount while saving. If you want to Club in the Sandtown-Winchester area of of their lives,” Sheree Vasey told the shop around, comparison shop, find the Baltimore recently learned about financial AFRO. “If we can start early and get kids lowest price and don’t shop on impulse. literacy in a fun and engaging manner. thinking about spending habits early and Take financial responsibility because no really push the idea of saving money as one will bail you out or fix the problem, Photo by Janneh G. Johnson opposed to spending everything you earn you’re going to be your best advocate that’ll set them up for life to be healthy in keeping yourself financially healthy,” centered around shopping so that they can learn consumers.” said Sheree Vasey.

Vasey recommends that parents start speaking about how much things cost and setting up a Ebony Orr, who has worked with the program budget. to their kids about finances and basic ideas about since last year, highlighted the importance of The Vasey’s work with Cash Crunch games, money around age six and suggests involving financial literacy in communities like that of a company that makes games geared towards them in grocery store trips and other tasks Sandtown.

By Janneh G. Johnson Special to the AFRO

“Financial literacy is important mainly because they’re in an environment where money isn’t always around and it’s used for the wrong reasons. I’ve been in stores where they didn’t even have a card machine. A lot of people in this area don’t have credit cards or bank accounts or savings accounts so all they (the kids) see is cash, cash, cash they see how its spent but financial literacy helps them to learn to make wiser decisions for themselves when they have money,” Orr told the AFRO. Paula Goddard, founder of the Horizons Youth Program, created the financial literacy program at the Gilmor Boys and Girls Club and believes that classes like this can really make a difference in the lives of participants. “I thought that it’s really important that disenfranchised youth and people who come from difficult backgrounds to feel empowered and I feel that economic empowerment is really the key to helping these children to have a better quality of life. For children in Sandtown, Park Heights and different areas across Baltimore economic empowerment increases the quality of their lives and can even save their lives and it helps them to learn to invest in their neighborhoods and it teaches them not only financial literacy but also entrepreneurship,” Goddard told the AFRO. To learn more about Cash Crunch games visit cashcrunchgames.com. To learn more about the Horizons Youth Program visit HorizonsMind. com.

Real Estate

D.C.’s Gentrification Can Offer Opportunities

By Stacy R. Pace Special to the AFRO The recent influx of newcomers to inner city neighborhoods is not the first, and certainly not the largest demographic trend in memory.

Adapting to these changes not only keeps you financially afloat, it can also present new economic opportunities.

The Great Migration was the time between roughly 1915 and 1940 when more than a million Blacks from the South moved North in search of better jobs and opportunity. Despite the hostile social and legal atmosphere of the time, they persisted. When it came to real estate, people cobbled together down payments from meager paying jobs. As time passed, the community grew. White flight occurred in many communities which depressed real estate prices and accelerated the concentration of Blacks in urban centers.

That was then. Today, this migratory trend has reversed: many long time Black homeowners have found themselves within rapidly changing urban centers. Homes that were purchased 15-20 years ago can today be sold for 3 or 4 times what they were originally purchased for. According to the Greater Capital Area Association of REALTORS, the February median sales price for a home in Washington, DC was $519,000.

According to The Washington Post, the average rent for a 1-bedroom apartment is $2,000. These are impressive numbers.

Gentrification is the oft-used term to describe the population shift from mostly or all working class minority to a more well-heeled cohort unfamiliar with the existing community. It is commonly framed as something to be fought --both tooth and nail as well as to the bitter end.

The overarching idea being that “gentrification” is something that is done to a community, relegating a neighborhood’s existing residents to a permanent defensive posture in a game wherein they are mere pawns. While the destructive capacity of this type of rapid demographic change is well known, it is certainly possible for gentrification to be a tool of the community by increasing wealth and providing increased

opportunities for investment. If you are lucky enough to be in a position to take advantage of the market, consider doing it. Here are a few ways that it can be done.

option available to you. Everything changes.

There is no constant. This is as true in life as it is in real estate. The only questions is where you will be when the dust settles.

Rent out a portion of your existing home

Stacy R. Pace, Esq., is a graduate of Cornell University and The George Washington University Law School. She is a real estate lawyer and real estate broker practicing in Maryland and the District of Columbia. She

Consider staying in your existing home and renting part of it. This isn’t as outrageous as it seems, especially if you have a basement that can be converted into a separate income generating unit. This offers the opportunity to stay in your own home, receive passive income monthly and may provide helpful deductions on your tax returns.

As with anything, it is best to consider the possible downsides. These include making sure you are in compliance with any existing zoning regulations, paying up front for construction costs that may need to be done before renting, paying a property management company to deal with tenants and increased insurance costs.

Rent out your entire home

Another option is relocating to a less expensive area and renting out your entire home if your mortgage is either low or non-existent.

This may allow you to move closer to family and keep the property for future generations.

Possible downsides to consider include relocation costs and moving away from an existing community you’ve spent years being part of.

Purchase an investment property with equity from your existing home

Consider remaining in your home and obtaining a home equity loan in order to purchase an invest property. This is a good option if you have the stomach for a riskier endeavor, the numbers make sense and you have a back-up plan for loan repayments in the event of slow months.

Things to keep in mind include making sure any loan you take out has reasonable terms, possible construction costs on the new property and making sure you have an emergency fund for when, not if, something goes wrong.

Whatever you decide to do during this latest migratory trend make sure you consider every

is the owner of the firm, PACE Group in Washington, D.C. which practices in the areas of real estate and finance for individuals and small businesses. Personal inquiries can be directed to the following address:Stacy@PACEGroupPLLC. com. *Nothing written herein should be considered legal or professional advice. Should advice be sought, consult with a reputable professional to discuss the particulars of your situation.

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T:11”

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The Afro-American, April 15, 2017 - April 21, 2017

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April 15, 2017 - April 21, 2017, The Afro-American

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PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY-AREA County Politics

Minority Medical Marijuana License Deal Goes Up In Smoke A last minute compromise that would have provided up to five medical Bruce Branch marijuana licenses to Special to minority the AFRO companies fell apart at the last minute as Maryland House Speaker Michael Busch failed to entertain a motion that would have brought the issue to a vote.

The decisions whitewashes efforts by the Maryland Congressional Black Caucus and other minority investors who had sought to get at least one of the first 15 licenses awarded under the Natalie LaPrade Bill. The bill is designed to increase the number of medical cannabis grower licenses, requiring the Natalie LaPrade Commission grant approval to certain applicants, in what is projected to be a multi-billion dollar industry.

Several minority license owners from Prince George’s County were also shut out although former Fraternal Order of Police President Vince Canales was named head of security for one licensee. Each of the awardees were White as were the members of the Medical Marijuana Commission who Continued on B2

District Masons Fight Prostate Cancer

Eleanor Roosevelt Maintains Undefeated Status

By Daniel Kucin Jr. Special to the AFRO Eleanor Roosevelt High School’s senior pitcher Renee Rodgers earned her fourth

Photo by Hamil Harris

Stephen Jefferson talks to walkers at West Potomac Park.

By Hamil R. Harris Special to the AFRO On the cold April 8 morning, a sliver of sunlight illuminated West Potomac Park where Stephen Jefferson and his wife were registering people for a 5K walk to bring awareness to prostate cancer.

In June of 2009 Jefferson was diagnosed with Stage 4 Hoskins lymphoma and underwent surgery performed by Dr. Wayne A.I. Frederick, then a surgeon and now president of Howard University.

“We have to fight for our lives,” said Jefferson, who has gone from being a patient to a health educator when it comes to prostate cancer. “For Blacks suffering with cancer our mortality rate is higher and part of this is because we have to travel so far for treatment.”

The District of Columbia has the highest prostate cancer incidence rate and death rate in the country, but that is not a new story. But it’s motivation enough for the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of D.C. to host a 5k Prostate Cancer Walk for the last six years.

Continued on B2

Area Pastors Look to Connect with Communities More

Photo by Daniel Kucin Jr.

Morgan Ottley is an infielder for the undefeated Eleanor Roosevelt Raiders.

Continued on B2

Police: D.C. Officer Paid Teen for Sex, then Took Cash Back at Gunpoint

By The Associated Press

By Hamil R. Harris Special to the AFRO

The Collective Empowerment Group, established in 1993 as the Collective Banking Group, has grown from 47 churches to more than 200 religious leaders. In the last three decades, the pastors in the organization have gone from store fronts and warehouses to massive sanctuaries. Now many churches have established community development corporations and have started a variety of businesses.

“Our churches need to be about empowering people and that is giving them the tools and skills to help them along the way,” the Rev. Bobby Manning, pastor of the First Baptist Church of District Heights, Md., told attendees at an annual empowerment conference on April 7. He said he likes to

High School Softball

Photo by Hamil Harris

George C. Fraser, the Rev. Bobby Manning and the Rev. Midget Parker speak to each other at an annual conference for the Collective Empowerment Group. host events at laundromats in his community in an effort to connect with people.

Manning’s sentiments are shared by the Rev. Harold B. Hayes, pastor of Hunter Memorial AME Church in Suitland, Md. Hayes said one of his top priorities is building a bridge of communication and understanding between Blacks and Latinos in Suitland. “When we talk about Suitland, the Latino population is rising and

“Our churches need to be about empowering people and that is giving them the tools and skills to help them along the way.”

– Rev. Bobby Manning

what must take place is Black and Brown coming together,” Hayes told attendees, “We have to learn to bridge the gap and be intentional. Couple that with literary and there is no stopping us.”

Both Manning and Hayes were at the Ministry Center of the First Baptist Church of Glenarden on April 7 where the needs of people in their pews were front and center.

“It is my vision that the church has to lead the charge when closing the income gap between Blacks and Whites in America,” said George C. Fraser, founder and CEO of FaserNet and The Black Wealth Alliance, organizations focused on providing the Black community with training and tools to sustain

intergenerational wealth and empowerment. Fraser was the keynote speaker for the conference entitled, “Creating Legacy.Com.” “It is imperative that the Black community, driven by the Black church, transform who we are as a people and the only way that we can do this is collectively,” the Rev. Jonathan Weaver, pastor of Greater Mount Nebo A.M.E. Church in Bowie, Md., who also attended the conference, said.

Weaver added that in the era of President Trump Blacks must do more for themselves.

While Weaver and other pastors transitioned from preaching in retail big boxes to multi-million edifices, the Easter season brings with it

Continued on B2

A Washington police officer is facing a string of charges in Maryland after authorities say he paid a 15-year-old girl for sex and then took back the money at gunpoint.

Anne Arundel County police said 27-year-old Chukwuemeka Ekwonna of Glenn Dale, Md. in Prince George’s County was arrested on April 6 and charged with armed robbery, assault, thirddegree sex offense, reckless endangerment, prostitution and a weapon offense.

Court documents show the teen recently told officials that she was robbed by a man she met through social media and offered her $80 for sex. They met in January and after they

Continued on B2

Anne Arundel County Police Department via AP

This undated booking photo shows Chukwuemeka Ekwonna, a former Washington police officer, who is facing a string of charges in Maryland after authorities say he paid a 15-year-old girl for sex, then took back the money at gunpoint.

Homicide Count 2017 Total

25

Past Seven Days

2

Data as of April 19

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The Afro-American, April 15, 2017 - April 21, 2017

County Politics Continued from B1

made the final decision.”There is a lot of money (at stake) here, big, big money,” Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller (D), who represents the county told reporters.

Negotiations for a special session are continuing although some say the political fallout for House Speaker Michael Busch, Maryland State Attorney Brian Frosh and others.

Minority groups are already discussing ways to support a candidate to defeat Busch unless something is done, according to several sources intimately involved with negotiations.

Noted Baltimore attorney Billy Murphy, who had joined forces with investors from Prince Georges County, said at a press conference that the now defunct commission had missed a “grand opportunity to create generational wealth in the minority business community.

Maryland Black Caucus Chair Cheryl Glenn (D-Baltimore)

”There is a lot of money (at stake) here, big, big money.”

— Md. Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller made diversifying the state’s new medical marijuana industry a top priority. A tearful Glenn, who left the session extremely disappointed, fought gallantly for diversity in honor of her mother, who died before she could use the drug to alleviate her cancer symptoms.

Glenn also expressed concerns that it was unfair to disproportionately lock up Blacks under drug laws and also

shut them out of profits of drug legalization.

Things fell apart primarily because with 10 minutes left members of a health committee tried to end the standout with the Senate over giving licenses to a pair of prospective marijuana growers suing state regulators. The bill didn’t come up before the house until 11:55 p.m., just five minutes before the deadline. By that time, it was too late, Republican lawmakers delayed the vote by explaining their opposition and asking questions until the clock hit midnight, when this year’s session officially ended.

Black Maryland lawmakers are now right back where they started. In a state that’s more than 30 percent Black, who are often counted on for Democratic votes, not one license was granted, which seems to be in direct violation of federal and state contracting laws.

Softball

Continued from B1 victory of the year as the Raiders decimated Henry A. Wise Jr. High School 15-2 during a girls’ softball match on April 10. Wise had a tough task against the undefeated Raiders (7-0) due, in part, to the stellar play of Rodgers who accounted for nine strikeouts and notched a complete game despite the match only going five innings because of the run-ahead rule.

“I think if we play our game we can take anybody in Maryland,” Rodgers told the AFRO. “My velocity has increased as a pitcher, and I think that my hitting has been exponentially better than it was before.”

Wise managed to hold Eleanor Roosevelt to just one run in the first inning, but the Raiders exploded in the second with an 11run outburst as the bats came alive. However, Wise sophomore starting pitcher Sa’niyah Wilson had an outing to forget after throwing over 100 pitches, allowing thirteen earned runs and 10 walks, but Rodgers tamed the Pumas at will with her command of the fastball.

Eleanor Roosevelt shortstop Hanna Dwyer started in the second inning when she scored on a wild pitch, and with only one down, Wilson threw a passed

ball allowing Morgan Ottley and Payton Albers to put two more runs on the scoreboard.

Following another walk, allowed by Wilson, Raiders catcher Lauryn Brooks slapped a ball into the outfield for a standup double to load the bases for Maria Ruiz.

Ruiz worked the pitch count until Wilson threw a ball just outside on the payoff pitch to allow Haley Zach to score.

Already up five runs, Eleanor Roosevelt refused to let up. Rodgers hit a grounder and couldn’t beat the throw to first base, but she managed to plate Brooks. Rebecca Lorente continued the scoring trend after she hit, enabling Ruiz to score and Wilson walked the following batter.

“I think if we play errorfree softball, we can play with anyone,” said Eleanor Roosevelt infielder Morgan Ottley. “We come to practice hungry every day, and we are always looking for improvement. We are a tightknit group.”

Despite allowing six runs with two outs remaining in the bottom of the second inning, Wise didn’t allow the Raiders to score any more runs during the following inning of play.

Ottley, who accounted for a hit and three runs, reached first base on a leadoff walk to

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“I think if we play our game we can take anybody in Maryland.”

–Renee Rodgers start the bottom of the fourth inning. After Wilson put down the next two opposing batters, Zach eventually scored after Wilson threw away another

ill-advised pitch, and then Ruiz belted the ball for Eleanor Roosevelt’s final run of the match.

Nevertheless, Wise

converted its only two hits of the game into runs in the fifth and final inning.

Wise (5-3) started off on fire winning its first four games of the season, but Eleanor Roosevelt handed them their third loss of the year. Even though the Raiders are riding high after a dominating performance, there is still work left to do.

“We played well, and they know what I expect,” Eleanor Roosevelt Head Coach Delton Fuller told the AFRO. “I’ve been waiting for the bats to come around and I’ve been a little tougher on my seniors.

Renee [Rodgers] is going to give us 110 percent every game, but I’m going to need the other eight players to step up and play big time.”

Prostate Cancer Continued from B1

“The main goal of this walk is to get people to understand that in the District of Columbia we have the highest mortality rate of prostate cancer,” Jefferson told participants. “This is due for a few reasons that include we as Black men do not go to the doctor.”

“We have to fight for our lives.”

– Stephen Jefferson Clinton Burnside, coordinator of the prostate awareness program at the Howard University Cancer Center, said “AfricanAmerican men, especially those in D.C., are at a much higher risk getting Prostate cancer and even dying, so we are doing more research in terms of prostate cancer awareness and detection.”

Dr. Jackson Davis, a retired Howard University Hospital

urologist, also took part in the walk. Davis said technology has greatly improved so there is no reason why men should not get treated.

“One of the latest treatments is called cyber knife. It doesn’t involve cutting. With cyber knife they guide a radiation beam to a specific area,” Davis said. “This eliminates some of the side affects in radiating tissue in the pelvic area.” Side effects include bladder problems and sperm reduction, according to the American Cancer Society.

Burnside said there is a lot of genetic research looking into why so many Blacks get Prostate Cancer and there is not clear answer.

“We want men to come and get screened because of the risk factors: being an African American, being overweight, having a lack of exercise, and our diet,” Burnside said “This is why we want men to get to know their PSA numbers and to get a digital rectal exam.”

Police

Pastors

had sex, she says the man, later identified as Ekwonna, pointed a gun at her and demanded his money back.

Police in Washington say Ekwonna was fired on April 7. He had been with the department for 14 months, according to news reports.

Ekwonna is being held without bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 2 in Annapolis, Md.

a rebirth for church leaders to do more to empower their members. “One of the last bastions of hope is the church,” said the Rev. Anthony G. Maclin, pastor of the Sanctuary – the Rev. Anthony G. Maclin at Kingdom Square in Capital Heights, Md. “Churches have to come together so that we can raise the conscious level of our people.”

The Rev. Midgett Parker, a lawyer and minister who helped coordinate the conference, said “This is about churches needing to come together to be able to uplift all of our people this is about helping people to help ourselves.”

Continued from B1

Continued from B1

“One of the last bastions of hope is the church.”

April 15, 2017 - April 21, 2017, The Afro-American

B3

AFRO WASHINGTON AREA

COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS Alexandria, Va.

Black Americans For A Better Future Va. Republican Forum

Lee Center’s Kauffman Auditorium, 1108 Jefferson Street

Courtesy Photo

Mid-City Financial, a family- owned development company donated $150,000 to the Academy of Hope, a male adult public charter school in Washington D.C. on April 11. The Ward 5 school has offered excellence in adult education since 1985. Pictured: Eugene Ford Jr., chairman, Mid-City Financial, Lecester Johnson, CEO of the Academy of Hope and Ward 5 Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie.

Prince George’s County

Entrepreneur Gives Back with Prom Makeovers

By Jasmine Ball Special to the AFRO

Courtesy Photo

Jessica Dew wants to bring prom dreams to life by giving 10 students from Crossland High School in Prince George’s County makeovers for their prom.

The 2017 prom season has officially arrived.

For the 2017 season, 10 out of 20 students from Crossland High School in Temple Hills, Md. won the opportunity to get complete makeovers from Jessica Dew, founder and CEO of My Style Authority (MSA), a website that matches beauty and fashion industry professionals with clients.

The event called the “We PROMise Makeover,” is a contest broken into four phases. The first phase involved a competition between schools in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia on

Twitter to see which school could form the most hash tags about why their school should receive the makeovers. The second phase required students to write essays about why he or she deserves a makeover.

The third phase involved picking names, and the fourth phase will be the prom and the makeover. This is the first year Dew held the prom makeover contest and she plans to do it

Black Americans For A Better Future (BAFBF) is scheduled to hold its first Virginia Republican Gubernatorial Forum entitled “A Conversation With the Minority Community of Virginia”. The event is scheduled from noon to 2 p.m. on April 15 at the Lee Center’s Kauffman Auditorium, 1108 Jefferson Street. The moderators for this forum include Freddie Allen, managing editor at the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) and Black Press USA; and Ken McClenton, founder of The Exceptional Conservative Network.

Issues to be addressed at the forum will include entrepreneurship with an emphasis on government contracting, education and HBCUs, and policing in minority communities.

Washington, D.C.

Misty Copeland to Discuss First Book

National Press Club, 529 14th St NW

Misty Copeland, the first Black female principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre, will discuss her first health and fitness book, “Ballerina Body: Dancing and again next year.

According to Dew, who comes from a family of veterans, giving back to the

“Having style is having confidence and when you have confidence you are able to conquer the world.”

– Jessica Dew

Eating Your Way to a Leaner, Stronger, and More Graceful You,” as well as her roles as ballerina and activist in a discussion at the National Press Club, 529 14th St NW, on April 17, at 8 a.m., in the club’s Holeman Lounge. A continental breakfast buffet will be available to registered attendees at 7:30 a.m., with remarks beginning at 8 a.m., followed by a question-and-answer session ending at 9 a.m. This news conference is open to credentialed media and members of the National Press Club free of charge; however, attendees must register in advance at press. org.

Prostate Cancer Education and Early Detection Screening

Howard University Cancer Center, 2041 Georgia Ave, NW

As part of the “Men Take Ten” prevention program, prostate cancer screenings will be held on the third Wednesday of every month, the next on April 19, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Prostate cancer screenings are held at Howard University Cancer Center, 2041 Georgia Ave, NW, in Suite B125 on the basement level. To schedule an appointment, call 202-806-7697 or 202-865-4653. The program provides educational material and prostate cancer screening to men 40-75 years old, living in the D.C. Metro Area that have not been screened in the last 12 months.

community is very important.

Her way of giving back is through helping others with their personal style.

On May 6 Gianna Asomani-Graham, Omozele Onoabhagbe, Jerri Perry, Jasmine Blackwell, Anica Marcelino and Josselyn Pastor-Gomez will receive makeovers from MSA. Four young men are also set to receive a makeover, include

Moses Posey, Jordan Maddix, Delante Williams-Smith and Nathaniel Smith.

According to the My Style Authority website, the makeover will include hair, makeup, prom attire, accessories, and a party bus.

“Having style is having confidence and when you have confidence you are able to conquer the world,” Dew told the AFRO.

Surge #14, April 15-May 16

Attention

Riders

Surge #14 will result in a shutdown of a portion of the Green Line between Prince George’s Plaza, College Park and Greenbelt stations.

The surge will be conducted in two phases: W H A T Y DOE U OSU LGD T A I LS SH ON UR E 1E 0 X P E C T:

Phase 1: April 15 through April 29 • No train service between Greenbelt and Prince George’s Plaza.

• Two stations will be closed: Greenbelt and College Park.

• Free limited shuttle buses will operate between Greenbelt and Prince George’s Plaza.

• Yellow Rush+ trains will not operate during this time.

Phase 2: April 30 through May 14 • No train service between Greenbelt and College Park.

• Greenbelt Station will be closed.

• Free limited shuttle buses will operate between Greenbelt and College Park.

• Yellow Rush+ trains will not operate during this time.

For more information about this work, weekend service patterns and a list of travel alternatives, visit wmata.com/safetrack or call (202) 637-7000.

B4

The Afro-American, April 15, 2017 - April 21, 2017

In honor of serving the A.M.E. church for 50 years, a celebration for Presiding Elder (Rev. Dr.) Ronald E. Braxton was held on April 2 at the LaFountaine Bleu in

Glen Burnie, Md. The event was sponsored by the Potomac District, Washington Conference and the Second Episcopal District of the A.M.E. Church. Family, friends and congregants came out to pay

tribute to Rev. Braxton. His wife, Rev. Dr. Marie Phillips Braxton and other family members welcomed attendees, including A.M.E. Bishop James Davis and Bishop Harry l. Seawright.

Bishop Harry L. Seawright, 9th Episcopal District, A.M.E. Church

Tribute from Betty Jean Singletary, Allen A.M.E. Church in Baltimore

Bishop James Davis, Arelis Davis, Second Episcopal District supervisor, Rev. Ronald Braxton, Rev. Dr. Marie Phillips Braxton and Derek Braxton

Rev. Braxton and Donald Tynes, Waters

Tribute to Rev. Braxton from friend, Rev. Dr. George Flowers, executive director, Global Witness and Ministry

Tribute from Rev. Dr. Louis-Charles Harvey, presiding elder, Capital District

Benjamin Murphy Phillips V and Lynelle A. Murphy Carpenter

Elsie Scott and Thedford Collins from Metropolitan A.M.E. Church in D.C.

Bishop James Davis, presiding prelate, 2nd Episcopal District, A.M.E. Church

Felecia Murphy-Phillips, Benjamin Murphy Phillips IV and Rachael Murphy Humphrey Photos by Rob Roberts

The Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge, Georgiana Thomas Grand Chapter, Order of The Eastern Star and Prince Hall Freemason and Eastern Star Charitable Foundation held its

5th Annual D.C. Prince Hall Masonic Classic at Howard University Burr Gymnasium on Feb. 18.

The Bison men and women’s basketball teams played the Aggies of North Carolina A&T University.

Rev. Dr. Grainger Browning Jr., pastor and Rev. Dr. JoAnn Browning, co-pastor, Ebenezer A.M.E. Church in Fort Washington, Md.

Photos by Shari L. McCoy

Actor Ernest L. Thomas, and the Honorable Phillip David, Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of D.C.

Masonic Scholarship recipients Na’Vauhn T. Martin and Betel Asfaha

Past Grand Worthy Patron Thomas L. Coleman, Past Grand Worthy Matron Margaret E. Anderson, Grand Conductress Sheila A. Smith, Grand Worthy Matron Riccardo Montague, Grand Worthy Matron Patricia L. Young, scholarship recipients Betel Asfaha and Na’Vaughn, Associate Grand Matron Eunice J. Dingle, Associate Grand Patron Joseph A. Dingle, Jr., Past Grand Worthy Matron Venecia C. Bessellieu, and Past Grand Master John T. Doles Sr.

Scholarship recipients Betel Asfaha and Na’Naughn T. Martin with Actor Ernest Lee Thomas and The Prince Hall Freemason and Eastern Star Charitable Foundation Board Members Phillip Davie, Patricia L. Young, Kelli J. McCoy-Burkett, Daanen Stachan, Shari L. McCoy and Victor Sherod

Foundation President Kelli J. McCoy-Burkett; Ernest Lee Thomas, Masonic Classic vice chairman; Marjay Anderson; The Honorable Phillip David; scholarship recipient Na’Vaughn T. Martin and family; scholarship recipient Betel Asfaha and family; Grand Worthy Matron Patricia L. Young; Foundation Vice President Daanen Strachan, and Masonic Classic Chairman Thomas L. Coleman

The Honorable Philip David, presenting a Certificate of Appreciation to the Masonic Classic Visionary, Past Grand Master John T. Doles, Sr. along with Chairs Thomas L. Coleman and Marjay Anderson

The Honorable Philip David, Marjay Anderson, Thomas L. Coleman and Grand Worthy Matron Patricia L. Young

To purchase this digital photo page contact Takiea Hinton: thinton@afro.com or 410.554.8277.

April 15, 2017 - April 21, 2017, The Afro-American

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ARTS & CULTURE

The AFRO Interviews the Star of ‘Twisted Melodies’

The Gripping One-Man Show on Donny Hathaway’s Tragic Battle with Mental Illness some of his classic songs, such as “A Song For You,” “To Be Young, Gifted and Black,” and “This Christmas,” but the assignment gave him a richer scope of Hathaway’s musical legacy.

“That’s when I learned that I didn’t know much about him,” he admits. “I learned all these other songs, and I was trying to figure out why people don’t play these songs?”

It has been over 10 years since the initial assignment. Roston left St. Louis for Chicago in 2008 to pursue his acting career. He took a job at the Navy Pier, but quickly got his first show within two weeks at the ETA Creative Arts Foundation. He later submitted his script to playwright festival Black Playwrights Initiative and performed it at The Black Ensemble Theater. He had a DVD of his performance and was able to get into the hands of the Congo Square Theater’s artistic director Sam Roberson.

It was Roberson who encouraged him to not just explore Hathaway’s music, but his mental illness. Hathaway battled paranoid schizophrenia and depression, which led to his apparent suicide. “My first version of the show

By Nakia Brown Special to the AFRO

For Kelvin Roston Jr. the journey to Baltimore’s Center Stage started at the church.

“I’m a church kid. I wanted to play the drums so I asked [my pastor] if I could take music lessons. He was like, ‘You sure can!’

The first day I walked into the room, there was a piano,” Roston told the AFRO. That day, he was 5. Today, he is 38.

Tonight, he will be the legendary musician and singer Donny Hathaway.

Roston is the star of the one-man show “Twisted Melodies.” The 90-minute show imagines Hathaway’s final night before his fall from a 15-story building in New York in 1979.

The actor’s ritual for “becoming” Hathaway starts where his pastor led him.

(Courtesy Photo) “I have a keyboard in my dressing Kelvin Roston Jr. is the star of the one-man show ‘Twisted Melodies,’ currently playing at room. I put on my headphones and just start Baltimore’s Center Stage. playing. I’ll sit down and put on a playlist of Donny Hathaway songs. Once I start to get dressed, in my mind, he is starting to get ready for a show,” he says. just touched on it,” Roston says.

Roston was born and raised in Wellston—a small Black city in the northwest of Missouri— That simple shift in focus changed the entire tone of the script. Soon after, Roberson and and comes from a musical family. His mother: a secretary and singer. His grandfather: a pastor Roston went to a clinical psychologist in Chicago to understand the mental illness. “She talked and singer. His grandmother: “one of the super-soprano ladies.” to some of her clients and they were on board. They gave us permission to watch some of their His mother, who raised him along with his three siblings, helped to nurture his acting early sessions, and some of them came to our office at Congo Square and told their stories,” Roston on when she sent him to Cardinal Ritter College Preparatory High School in Walnut Park, 5 recalls. miles from Wellston.

The show has seen two runs at Congo Square, one run at The Black Rep, and now one “She put us all in Catholic schools. They had theater programs. My first role was Martin at Center Stage. Roston met Center Stage’s artistic director Kwame Kwei-Armah at Congo Luther King,” Roston remembers with a laugh. “And my second role was a priest.”

Square’s First Annual Gala. Kwei-Armah flew Roberson and Roston up to preview the show and it was all rehearsals from there. Some of Donny Hathaway’s family—his aunt, her daughter, After high school, Roston started working at an airline. His cousin—whom Roston and granddaughter—even came to see the show when it ran in Chicago. convinced to get involved in theater during high school—moved to St. Louis to work for The In every career, he said, there has to be a reason that a person is in it. For Roston, that reason Black Rep, an African-American theater founded in 1976. Roston started hanging around the lies in the answer to the central question: Why am I here? theater and met the founder Ron Himes, who started putting him in readings and testing his His answer: “I’m here to deliver a message. It has always been prophesied on me that I was voice. He was offered a production assistant job and quit his job at the airline. Roston says it supposed to be preacher. I always was like no, not me. This is ministering in a different way. was then, in his early 20s, that he realized, “I do want to be on that stage.”

Maybe, I’m doing what they always said I was going to do. I’m preaching without being the The script for “Twisted Melodies,” originally titled “Psychology of a Genius,” is a product preacher.” of a theater assignment he was given at The Black Rep. The assignment was to create a oneman 30-minute show and it took him two to three weeks to write. Roston knew Hathaway for ‘Twisted Melodies’ is currently showing at Center Stage until April 23.

High School All-Star Showcase Capital

Classic Begins Its Comeback at Wizards’ Home

By Mark F. Gray Special to the AFRO As the final moments of the United States team’s 113-101 victory over the Capital All Stars drew near the final score didn’t matter.

Despite a morning tipoff and a less than cooperative venue a proud group of future college stars began the process of rebuilding the Capital Classic’s brand as the premiere high school all-star showcase in the country.

With local sponsorship and (Courtesy photo) a new organization, the 44th Maryland basketball signee Darryl Morsell shines as the annual Capital Classic moved United States All-Americans beat the Capital All-Stars back to the Verizon Center 113-101 at the Capital Classic. on April 8 in a symbolic move that restores credibility to the event. Before the Jordan Brand Classic – played at Chicago’s United Center and the McDonald’s High School All-American Game – played at NBA arenas around the country – it was the Capital Classic that set the standard for these elite basketball showcases. By moving this year’s game back to downtown D.C. and the home of the NBA’s Washington Wizards it took a great Euro step toward regaining its status.

“The iconic status of the Capital Classic is something that can’t be matched,” Capital Classic CFO and Hoop Culture title sponsor Pete Deoudes told the AFRO. “Unfortunately, the prominence of the game has subsided in recent years but we’ve made a commitment to bringing it back.”

At its inception, the Capital Classic was the premiere high school basketball showcase and made its biggest splash by giving Maryland basketball fans a glimpse of what may have been.

The inaugural game in 1974 featured Moses Malone who opted not to fulfill his commitment to the Terps and begin his hall of fame career in the now defunct American Basketball Association. In 44 years, the game’s roll call of great players is unprecedented.

The first time Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing were on the same floor it was in the Capital Classic. Before his legendary career at Duke, Grant Hill played for Team USA. Twenty-five years ago, Jason Kidd was the game’s headliner. Carmelo Anthony was part of the class of 2002. LeBron James and Chris Paul were on center stage in 2003 before careers that would lead to championships and commercial endorsements.

“I really didn’t know much about the history of this game before my [high school] coach told me about it and how [the organizers] are trying to bring it back,” the game’s MVP and University of Minnesota prospect Isiah Washington of Bronx, New York told the AFRO. “It’s a blessing to compete here because in the future players will want to play in this game to follow in my footsteps like I’m following those great players who played before me.”

However, the reputation of the Capital Classic has diminished over the years. Jordan Brand, which had sponsored the event since 2002, left in 2014. Without a sneaker company as a corporate partner the game struggled. The event is currently sponsored by Hoop Culture, an apparel company.

After over 20 years playing between the venerable relic that was the Capital Centre, the MCI turned Verizon Center, and Comcast now Xfinity Center, the game was banished to smaller venues such as Catholic University and T.C. Williams High School in northern Virginia. While this generation of players only knows its history through YouTube highlights the opportunity to play in the game still resonates and offers a chance to join a unique basketball fraternity.

“This was the legendary one that started it all,” said center and University of North Carolina prospect Brandon Huffman. “A lot of guys I look up to have played in this game. It’s just an honor to be here”.

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BALTIMORE-AREA Lawrence Lacks: My Side of the Story

Maryland General Assembly

Race and Politics

Oaks Should Have Trusted His Inner Hustler Nat Oaks seemed to strongly sense something was up on December 7, 2015.

After all, Sean Yoes the 70-year Senior AFRO old veteran Contributor politician grew up in, “The Village,” in Southwest Baltimore, attended Edmondson High School and officially entered Baltimore’s brutal political arena in 1983, when he was elected to the House of Delegates representing the 41st District of the city. Five years later, by the end of 1988 Oaks had been convicted in Baltimore City Circuit Court, for theft and misconduct in office, charges linked to him stealing around $10,000 from a re-election fund.

So, he knew the game as well as anybody by the end of the 1980’s. He clearly knew the game well enough to get re-elected to the House in 1994, despite his troubles.

Perhaps, that’s why on December 7, 2015 (Pearl Harbor Day!), Oaks sounded suspicious when he was speaking to a man he thought was an out of town businessman who wanted to make some money in Baltimore. Unfortunately, for Oaks that man turned out to be an undercover FBI agent investigating Oaks for suspected misconduct and ultimately endeavoring to put him in prison for several years.

An excerpt from the December 7 conversation, as detailed in the public affidavit, follows:

He clearly knew the game well enough to get re-elected to the House in 1994, despite his troubles.

Agent: “When I come in town, I’m looking to make some money now. I think I know the landscape a little bit.”

Oaks: “Okay. Plus, there’s something else. Once you get in town, I don’t wanna necessarily talk a whole lot of stuff on the phone, but when you get in town, there’s another kind of thing I wanna, wanna kind of talk to you about.”

According to the U.S. Attorney for Maryland, the veteran lawmaker engaged in a series of conversations and meetings with two men, one who was the FBI agent and another who was cooperating with the FBI, from September of 2015 to September of 2016, which ultimately led Oaks to allegedly accept cash in exchange for his official influence as a legislator.

The feds argue Oaks supplied the agent posing as an out of town businessman with two letters on official Continued on D2

D1

LBC Loses on Medical Marijuana, Delivers on Other Promises

By Deborah Bailey Special to the AFRO

Courtesy photo

Ron L. Lacks and Lawrence Lacks with a family portrait of Henrietta Lacks. Lawrence Lawrence Lacks tells the AFRO what life was like growing up with Henrietta Lacks. better life for loved ones and friends migrating up what is now the I-85/I-95 corridor. Like many African-American families that journeyed from the South, the Lacks home became the Lawrence Lacks has childhood memories of his mother way-station for others seeking to travel North in the era of Henrietta as a beautiful, vibrant, outgoing woman who was legal segregation. Lawrence couldn’t imagine until years later a connector, the one who held things and people together. that Henrietta would literally be that bridge to a better life for Though strict, she was the glue for her immediate family, as people all over the world. well as the extended network of family and friends who would David Lacks found employment at Bethlehem Steel and follow her and her husband, David, from their family home in shortly thereafter, was recruited to fight in World War II. Halifax County, Virginia to Maryland.

Henrietta raised Lawrence, Elsie and had three other children, Henrietta and David made the pilgrimage to Maryland David, Deborah, and Joseph in those years in and near when their oldest son, Lawrence, and Baltimore. daughter, Elsie, now deceased, were It was not long after the birth of young children. Lawrence remembers the Lacks’ youngest child, Joseph the bustle of their home in Turner (Zakariyya Bari Abdul Rahman) Station, one of the oldest African that Lawrence, who by then was an American communities in what is now adolescent, noticed the daily routine in Dundalk, where the family moved not the Lacks home was changing.

–Lawrence Lacks “Nobody told me but I could see long after arriving.

“We was the first ones from Virginia the difference and feel the difference. here. The rest of them, everybody came I noticed that she had start slowing to her house to get a start,” said Lawrence Lacks, the oldest of down and couldn’t take care of everything and I had to start Henrietta’s five children. “Everybody would come there, stay taking care of the responsibilities,” Lawrence said. “Her chores a month or two and leave. She helped a lot of people from became mine; I had to get in there and start providing for my Virginia and North Carolina,” Lawrence said. brothers and sisters.” Henrietta’s illness was diagnosed as Lawrence grew up seeing his mother serve as a bridge to a Continued on D2

By Deborah Bailey Special to the AFRO

“I remember she told me to take care of my brothers and sisters.”

Inmate Who Collapsed While In BCP Custody Now In Critical Condition

By Michelle Richardson Special to the AFRO A female inmate is in critical condition after collapsing while in Baltimore City Police custody.

Baltimore City Commissioner Kevin Davis said during a press conference on April 10 that the incident took place on April 9 around 10:47 a.m. in the 100 block of South Calverton Road in Southwest Baltimore.

The woman was wanted on a warrant from Calvert County for failing to appear in court and was arrested when the responding officers received a call for a wanted individual.

The woman was allowed to go to her home and have her hair braided before being

YouTube screenshot

Baltimore City Police Department Commissioner Kevin Davis says he has questions after a woman was allowed to go to her home and have her hair braided after being arrested.

The woman later collapsed in her cell. taken into custody, something Davis has said he has many questions about.

David also said that much of the incident was captured on body worn cameras and cameras inside of the transport van.

“There was absolutely no use of force whatsoever,” before the 52-year old woman’s collapse, said Davis.

The woman had not asked for medical attention beforehand

either.

“Just because there was no use of force doesn’t mean that I don’t have other questions about the entire incident from A to Z and until I get those questions answered I am erring on the side of caution on behalf of the community and on behalf of these officers,” Davis said.

Davis mentioned being

Continued on D2

6

Past Seven Days

The 2017 session of the Maryland General Assembly ended with an unexpected defeat on Medical Marijuana licensing, one of several major initiatives supported by the 50-member Legislative Black Caucus (LBC). The group delivered on several promises made on key issues of importance to AfricanAmerican residents across the state, but the 11th hour loss on one of the signature issues adopted and fought for by the LBC was an unwelcome blow, according to Delegate Cheryl Glenn, (D.45-Baltimore City) LBC Chair.

The LBC started the 2017 session with seven priorities according to their web site – the current HBCU Equity Lawsuit, prescription drug affordability, medical marijuana licensing, banning pre-k suspensions, bail reform, the Educational Equity Initiative – i.e. return of control of Baltimore City Public Schools to the Mayor’s Office and Police Practices and Public Safety.

In an exclusive interview with the AFRO, Glenn said that in spite of the failure of the Medical Marijuana licensing bill, which would have increased from zero the number of minority owned firms allowed to legally grow, sell and distribute medical marijuana, the LBC firmly delivered on a number of the seven agenda items.

At a news conference on April 12 Glenn and Senator Joan Carter Conway, among others, urged Gov. Larry Hogan, Senate President Miller and House Speaker Busch to call a special session of the legislature to pass the medical marijuana bill.

Maryland’s HBCU’s While the LBC set out to make Maryland’s HBCU’s a high priority, it failed to pass SB-712. The Blount-Rawlings-Britt HBI Comparability Program, which would have created equitable funding between Maryland’s HBCU’s and predominately White institutions. The legislation, sponsored in one form or another for more than a decade by Senator Joan Carter-Conway, enjoyed the support of the HBCU Matters Coalition, Maryland State NAACP, and a consortium of advocacy groups who emphasized the need for both court and legislative action on

Continued on D2

87 2017 Total

Data as of April 12

D2

The Afro-American, April 15, 2017 - April 21, 2017

Lawrence Lacks Continued from D1

cervical cancer in 1951, just months after the birth of her youngest son.

Henrietta’s primary care doctor in Turner Station referred her to Hopkins for treatment where she received radium tube inserts, and continued with scheduled X-ray treatments and follow-up visits. During one of her follow-up treatments, two samples were removed from Lacks’ cervix without her permission or knowledge.

The samples were given to Johns Hopkins cancer researcher and physician, George Otto Gey. The cancerous sample is what is now commonly known as the HeLa immortal cell line, the oldest and most commonly used cell line in scientific research throughout the world.

Lawrence remembers his mother calling him and his siblings to her bedside at Hopkins when she was admitted for the final time in August, 1951. Henrietta died on October 4, 1951.

“I remember she told me to take care of my brothers and sisters,” Lawrence said, an admonition he still takes to heart today.

Lawrence Lacks became the family patriarch, took a job as a railroad engineer and started several small businesses to provide for the needs of his extended family and things eventually returned to normal. At one point, his brothers and sisters all lived together with Lacks, his wife Bobette and their children in Baltimore.

“I try to go where I’m needed and try to help everybody in the family to keep the whole family together,” Lawrence said.

Then, in 1975, Bobette Lacks, who worked as a nurse’s assistant, went to lunch with a neighbor, who introduced a doctor friend. When the physician heard the name Lacks, he immediately recalled the HeLa Cells project at Hopkins - the cells that carried Henrietta Lacks identity and were the first cells to remain alive outside the human body. Bobette put things together and started working with the neighbor to try and get information from Hopkins about the HeLa cells.

Unfortunately, they faced roadblock after roadblock, said Ron L. Lawrence, Lacks’ son.

“Hopkins told my Mom that they didn’t give that kind of information to Negroes,” Ron said.

Lacks said his parents tried to seek information from Hopkins for years with no success.

Then came Rebecca Skloot, author of the award-winning book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, which was published in 2010. According to Lawrence and his son, Skloot was curiously able to gain access to the information denied the Lacks family for years.

(Part two of Lawrence Lacks – my side of the story will appear in next week’s Afro. The life of Henrietta Lacks has been turned into a HBO movie, starring Oprah Winfrey and scheduled to be released on April 22.)

LBC

Continued from D1 behalf of HBCU’s.

Despite SB-712’s demise in committee, Glenn said the LBC stands united behind the issue of equity for the state’s four HBCU’s. “Once the Court decision is rendered, we’re going to do everything that we can to make sure the state of Maryland does not appeal the decision of the court so we can bring an end to this longstanding fight for justice and equity in funding for our HBCU’s,” Glenn said referring to the pending decision by the U.S. District Court of Maryland in the remedial phase of the HBCU Equity Case.

Medical Marijuana Assuring African-Americans are part of the lucrative new Medical Marijuana market was one of the biggest legislative fights this session, according to Glenn. Glenn’s bill, HB 1443 included “a minimum of five new licenses for growers and five new licenses for processors to be awarded to African American owners and other minorities,” Glenn said based on the results of a disparities study mandated by law.

The legislation got down to the wire and Glenn and other LBC members believed final passage of the bill was imminent.

However, the session clock ran out at midnight on the final day of the 2017 session before the bill was brought back for a final vote.

The inclusion of vendors of color in the lucrative medical marijuana market has been a major concern for AfricanAmerican medical cannabis advocacy organizations. The African American Cannabis Association, (AACA) rallied at the State Capital on behalf of minority cannabis growers.

“Unfortunately, when minority inclusion has been written into legislation, there is a struggle to gain support and passage into law,” said Joe Gaskins, a spokesman for the AACA, which supported Glenn’s bill.

Bail Reform Glenn said that while the LBC stood united on the key goal of removing undue burdens on low-income Marylanders accused of nonviolent crimes, there were distinct disagreements in the methods to achieve the goal this session.

“At the end of the day the Court of Appeals rendered a decision on bail reform and the implementation date of that new rule is July 1,” Glenn said referring to the unanimous but highly

YOU AND A GUEST ARE INVITED TO A SPECIAL ADVANCE SCREENING

AP Photo/Brian Witte

Delegate Cheryl Glenn, a Baltimore Democrat who chairs the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland, calls for a special session to approve additional licenses to grow medical marijuana to create diversity ownership of businesses in Maryland’s developing industry. State Sen. Joan Carter Conway, D-Baltimore, is standing next to Glenn at left. Attorney Billy Murphy is standing behind Glenn at right, and Del. Nick Mosby, D-Baltimore, is standing behind Glenn at left. controversial decision made by Maryland’s highest court in Feb. directing judges and court officials to seek other ways to ensure a defendant appears for trial when s/he cannot make bail.

“It’s a good thing because all the advocates of bail reform feel strongly the new rule will do what we need it to do. That is to ensure people don’t languish in jail just because they can’t afford bail who have committed nonviolent crimes,” Glenn stated.

Glenn said data on the impact of the Court of Appeals ruling would be given to the Legislature monthly so LBC Senators and Delegates can review the success of the rule before the 2018 session. “Additionally, the Legislative Black Caucus will sponsor a workgroup to look at Bail reform in all jurisdictions of the state,” Glenn said.

The LBC ended up waging a major fight to oppose bail reform legislation sponsored by one of its own members, Senator C. Anthony Muse, (D 26- PG County). Muse’s bill would have interfered with the court rule, said Glenn. “The Black Caucus was absolutely responsible for helping to defeat Senate Bill 983.”

Other successful efforts waged by the LBC included restoring

the right for Baltimore City Government officials to be solely responsible for appointing Public School Board members and banning pharmaceutical price gouging.

Glenn said the LBC would work throughout the summer and fall on priority issues and communication with residents across the state. LBC will host community forums in Prince George’s County, Baltimore City, Charles County and Eastern Shore, Maryland before the start of the 2018 session for constituents to weigh-in throughout the state.

“We also will be monitoring the decision of the courts on HBCU’s so we will be prepared for the next level of fight on that issue,” Glenn said. Finally, the LBC will host another official public hearing and a strategic think tank to involve citizens and interest groups in voicing issues for inclusion in the group’s 2018 legislative agenda.

“We will establish our priority agenda for 2018 and be ready to roll out our priority agenda on opening day next year.”

Race and Politics Continued from D1

government letterhead, which contained false information about state funding for a HUD project in exchange for money.

They also claim he lied about sponsoring legislation that would secure state funding. In total, the U.S. Attorney says Oaks collected about $15,300 in payoffs for his assistance.

The government’s affidavit supporting the charge of, “honest services wire fraud,” is a fascinating glimpse into the mind of a man who seems to know he is being set up.

However, by March 16, 2016, Oaks seemed defiant, despite his suspicions.

Agent: “I just need a relationship. That you taking care of me. I got your back.

Now, how much? You, you don’t want to say a number and I don’t want to go crazy...

Some kind of number, right?”

Oaks: “Yeah. Right. Right.

I hear you. I hear you well.”

Agent: “Well, if you trying to speak in code to me, I got it loud and clear.”

Oaks: “Okay.”

Agent: “You don’t need…”

Oaks: “Okay.”

Agent: “That’s why we need to work out no trail.”

Oaks: “That’s right. That’s right...and we will de...we will determine what, what, what’s what.”

Agent: “Yeah.”

Oaks: “Can’t nobody come back and say I got you on tape. You ain’t got me on tape saying a mother f------ thing about mother f---.”

Agent: “See, that’s why I know you all right (laughs).”

According to the feds, the now infamous, “tootsie pop,” incident took place

on April 28, 2016, which Oaks’ detractors argue may have sealed his fate. The government says when their agent asked Oaks how much he wanted to be compensated, the legislator placed a chocolate tootsie pop in his mouth. When the agent held up five fingers to suggest a payment of $5,000, Oaks allegedly made an upward motion with his thumb to indicate he wanted more. The feds say on May 11, 2016 the agent gave Oaks $5,000 in cash in a hotel room.

Of course, Oaks is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law and his supporters may argue entrapment or the broader narrative of Black legislators across the nation being targeted by the government, while their White counterparts, engaged in similar nefarious acts, operate with relative impunity.

But, the truth is Black people have been targeted in America for centuries, so there’s that.

Ultimately, I bet Oaks, the resilient, hustling politician known to be a tireless campaigner, wishes he had listened to that inner voice informed by decades of street wisdom and political battles.

That voice seemed to be telling Oaks, `They’re setting you up Nat.’ I bet Oaks wished he had listened to that voice and never put that sucker in his mouth.

Sean Yoes is a senior contributor for the AFRO and host and executive producer of AFRO First Edition, which airs Monday through Friday 5 p.m.-7 p.m. on WEAA, 88.9.

Inmate

Continued from D1

TUESDAY, APRIL 18 - 7:00 P.M. AMC WHITE MARSH PLEASE VISIT WWW.WBTICKETS.COM AND ENTER THE CODE UNFORGETTABLEAFRO TO DOWNLOAD YOUR COMPLIMENTARY PASSES! RATED R FOR SEXUAL CONTENT, VIOLENCE, SOME LANGUAGE, AND BRIEF PARTIAL NUDITY. Please note: Passes are limited and will be distributed on a first come, first served basis while supplies last. No phone calls, please. Limit one pass per person.

Each pass admits two. Seating is not guaranteed. Arrive early. Theater is not responsible for overbooking. This screening will be monitored for unauthorized recording. By attending, you agree not to bring any audio or video recording device into the theater (audio recording devices for credentialed press excepted) and consent to a physical search of your belongings and person. Any attempted use of recording devices will result in immediate removal from the theater, forfeiture, and may subject you to criminal and civil liability. Please allow additional time for heightened security. You can assist us by leaving all nonessential bags at home or in your vehicle.

INU THEATERS APRILM 21 M . #U nforgettable

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as “transparent and open” with the community as possible to avoid mistakes made by the department after the death of 25year old Freddie Gray in police custody.

The woman has not been identified but Davis has said that her family has been contacted.

“The only mystery associated with this incident so far is what preexisting medical condition or what other issues occurred that would cause this detainee to suffer this health crisis,” said Davis.

The Lieutenant on the case has been suspended and the two officers have been placed on administrative leave.

April 15, 2017 - April 21, 2017, The Afro-American

D3

The Delfonics are one of the headliners for Baltimore’s Spring Fest Cabaret on April 22 from 8 a.m. until 1 a.m. at the Patapsco Arena, 3301 Annapolis Road. The show includes Rolls Royce, Supreme’s Tribute featuring Sandra Taylor, Panama, BO’NA and Palovation. It is open bar and BYOF. For ticket information, call 410-790-9333.

Ella Fitzgerald songs will be done in tribute to her and memories of her by the Dr. Phil Butts Big Band featuring vocalist Denyse Pearson on April 15 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Caton Castle Lounge, 20 South Caton Avenue in Baltimore. Cash Bar and food is on sale. For ticket information, call 410-566-7086 or 443-859-0124.

Happy Easter, folks Ethel Ennis will be honored by the Sisters Academy of Baltimore at “Jazzin’ it Up” at the Montgomery Park from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. on April 22. The event will feature the rich heritage of jazz music and entertainment dating back to the 1920’s as well as a fundraiser for a student scholarship. For ticket information, call 410-242-1212 ext.

14 or go to sistersacademy.org.

Sisters Academy of Baltimore is ‘Jazzin’ It Up’ at the Park Hello everyone; thank you for your prayers, well wishes, get well cards and blessings sent my way on Facebook.

I got them all. I am home recuperating very slowly. I am not able yet to get out and jump up and down and do the “James Brown”, but hopefully soon. Honey Child, stomach surgery is no joke. I will keep you informed.

Okay now for the good stuff, my dear friend and sister in music, Ethel Ennis, is being honored by the Sisters Academy of Baltimore, which is located at 139 First Avenue in Baltimore. The theme of the event is “Jazzin’ it Up at the Park” and will take place on April 22 at the Montgomery Park, 1800 Washington Boulevard in Baltimore.

Sister Academy of Baltimore is a tuitionfree, independent, faithbased middle school for girls of limited economic means. Welcoming girls of all races, ethnicities, and religions, the school helps young women reach their full potential through education and become agents of transformation in their families, communities and society.

The event’s theme features Baltimore’s great history and rich heritage of jazz music and entertainment dating back to the 1920’s.

The festive evening promises to offer music and dancing, as well as a culinary tour of America’s great jazz cities.

The dress attire is also of the 1920’s. “Jazzin’ It Up” will begin by featuring music by jazz artist Craig Alston and his special jazz ensemble.

The evening’s festivities include a jazz circuit menu

tour with libations and several opportunities to support Sisters Academy. I will see you there. For more information, call 410-2421212.

MarvaD and her side kick “KennyD” are having their Annual Good Friday Fish Fry Party on April 14 from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. at the VFW Hall, 8123 Harford Road in Parkville, Md. For ticket information, call 410-5999159.

Enjoy your weekend with a nice Easter Brunch at the Boathouse Canton, Waterfront Grille, located at 2809 Boston Street in Baltimore on April

16 from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. with your family or you can check out the Easter Brunch Buffet at the Harbor East Mussel Bar & Grille, 1350 Lancaster Street also in Baltimore on April 16 at

10 a.m.

Whatever you decide to do this weekend, be safe and enjoy. Hopefully I will see you soon somewhere.

I have to go now and rest, but remember, if you need me call me at 410-833-9474

or email me at rosapryor@ aol.com. Please send your notes, your invites and your up-coming events to me by email or via mail only, not by face book.

Until the next time, I’m musically yours.

If you graduated from Baltimore’s PS 122, your fellow alumni are looking for you!

Obituary

Celestyne R. Johnson

Celestyne R. Johnson, 91, formerly of Baltimore MD, died suddenly on Sunday, April 9, 2017.

She was a diaconate at Macedonia Baptist Church in Baltimore Maryland for many years and was predeceased by her husband, the late Albert A. Johnson, who was also a member and the trustee of the church.

She was loved by all her family and friends and we will miss her.

Future memorial to be planned at a later date.”

Ninety years ago the Samuel Coleridge Taylor Elementary School #122 opened for African American children. Named for a musician of African and English parents, the school educated hundreds of children. In June, alumni will gather to celebrate this historic site. The planners meet at 10 a.m. every other Wednesday at the school.

To join, call 443-963-6815.

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The Afro-American, April 15, 2017 - April 21, 2017

Contestant Dr. Mary Teddy Wray

Adam May WBAL TV (Master of Ceremonies)

Denise Koch WJZ TV (Mistress of Ceremonies)

Contestant Marie Hartman

1st Runner Up Team, Kia Seals and Michael Sims, Winners Maria Randlett-Tydings and Omar Jimenez, reporter for WBAL TV

Contest Judges Linh Bui (WJZ TV) and Deborah Weiner (WBAL TV)

Contestants Maureen Gary and John Dawson

Ernestine and Russell Jolivet Contestants Albert Powell Jr. and Tonia Jones Powell, Esq.

Contestant Elizabeth Allen

Dr. Gary Rodwell, Verna Jones-Rodwell, Rita Brooks, Tonia Jones Powell Esq., Albert Powell Jr. and Giavanni Powell

The 100 Black Men of Maryland held there 25th anniversary celebration on April 7 at Martin’s West Baltimore, Md. The Master of Ceremonies was Darren M. Hayes, ESPN anchor. Awards were presented to founding members and there was a salute to past presidents. Featured speakers

Tuskegee Airman Lemuel A.Lewie Jr and Fraternity Brothers

Cleveland Brister one of the Founders of 100 Black Men of Maryland,Inc.

Walter Carr Founding Member of 100 Black Men of Maryland

The 11th Annual Memory Ball Dancing Stars at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel was held on April 8. Contestants were paired with a professional dancer and competed in a Ballroom Dance contest. Denise Koch, WJZ TV, and Adam May, WBAL TV, were Mistress and Master of Ceremonies.

Winners of the Dance Contest were Omar Jimenez and Maria Randlett-Tydings. Over $500,000.00 was raised for the event Photos by Anderson R. Ward

were Mayor Catherine E. Pugh and Matthew Minson, senior advisor representing the office of Peter Franchot, comptroller of Maryland. The 25th anniversary celebratory message was delivered by Jerrid J. Douglas, Northern District Representative, 100 Black Men of America.

Dr. Thelma T. Daley

Mel Bates, the honorable Kweisi Mfume and Willie Nichols

Roderick Larry, former president and Wesley Webb, president Karin Outlaw,Tracey Durant and Michelle Young

Darren M. Haynes, ESPN Anchor and Mayor Catherine E. Pugh

Members of the 100 Black Men of Maryland Inc

Honoree Dr. Joanne Martin

Honoree James Britton

Mel Bates and Matthew Minson Senior Advisor Comptroller of Maryland

Robert Burkett and Al Hutchinson (Pres./CEO Visit Baltimore) Honoree Dr. Elaine Simon

Honoree Bon Whiting Tyree A. Huddleson accepting for Honoree, Tessa Hill-Aston

Honoree Shelonda Stokes

Travis Winkey, Dr. Joanne Martin (Pres., The National Great Blacks in Wax Museum), James Britton (CEO Class Act Catering)

The Baltimore African American Tourism Council of Maryland presented the Charm city Cultural Heritage Tourism Symposium on March 29 at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of African American History & Culture in Baltimore. The event opened with a tourism seminar and a panel discussion. Lou Fields, president of Baltimore Black Heritage Tours was the moderator. Charm City Tourism Awards were given to Bon Whiting, vice president of membership for Visit

Photos by James Fields Sr.

Baltimore, Dr. Joanne Martin, cofounder of the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum, Tessa Hill-Aston, president of Baltimore City’s NAACP branch, Elizabeth Fitzsimmons, managing director of the Maryland Office of Tourism Development, Dr. Elaine Simon, president of the Baltimore Caribbean Association, Jim Britton, CEO of Class Act Catering and Shelonda Stokes, CEO of Greibo Media

Photos by Anderson R. Ward

Lou Fields (Pres.

Balto. African American Tourist Council, Inc.)

Shirley Jennings, Dr. Elaine Simon and Phyllis Reese