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Volume Volume 127 123 No. No.20 20–22

DECEMBER 16, 2017 - DECEMBER 22, 2017

To Our Readers

The AFRO will be closed for the holidays Dec. 22– Jan. 2. The first edition of the new year will be out on Jan. 6. Afro.com will continue to update during the break. Have a safe and happy holiday.

Baltimore

She Was Already in Our Hall of Fame

LBS Lays Out Policy Agenda For 2018

Inside

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Washington D.C. Students First to Board Mobile STEM Bus

Actress Shein Mompremier Joins Superhero Drama ‘Black Lightning’

AP Photo/Rene Perez, File

C1 What No One Told Me About Being First to Go To College

Singing legend Nina Simone will finally be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 14, 2018 in Cleveland, Ohio. The jazzy and soulful Simone, who died in 2003, was an activist in the Civil Rights Movement and influenced the likes of Alicia Keys and Aretha Franklin.

CBC Silent on Trump’s Naming Omarosa: Israel’s Capital Jerusalem Resigned or

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AP Photo/John Bazemore

Replace with attached. New caption: Black women were essential to electing Democrat Doug Jones to the U.S. Senate.

Alabama Black Women Did It: No Moore!

Democrat Doug Jones Snatches Senate Seat from an Extreme Conservative Republican

By Kamau High AFRO Managing Editor khigh@afro.com Blacks in Alabama, particularly Black women, helped deliver a stunning defeat to Judge Roy Moore, who once said Continued on A3

President Donald Trump’s changing of U.S. policy in the Middle East stirred a political frenzy when it happened Dec. 5, but the Congressional Black Caucus, including its key members who deal with foreign policy, have yet to say anything about the administration’s controversial position.

Trump announced the U.S. was moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to the city of Jerusalem, which he declared the capital of Israel.

The action sparked condemnation from world leaders, who said it would inflame tension among the Palestinians, who consider Jerusalem the future capital of an eventual Palestinian state, but not a word from the CBC. “Congressman Lewis has not commented on this issue to date,” a spokesman for U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), one of Israel’s strongest supporters in the U.S. House of Representatives, told the AFRO. The statement from the Courtesy photo Atlanta lawmaker’s said he will keep the AFRO informed when Rep. John Lewis is a strong or if Lewis makes a statement supporter of Israel but has on the issue. yet to say anything about Rep. Cedric Richmond (Dthe Trump administration’s La.) hasn’t issued a statement efforts to move the U.S. about the Jerusalem matter, embassy in Tel Aviv to

Jerusalem.

By LaTrina Antoine AFRO Washington Editor lantoine@afro.com Rumors are circling again around action from the White House, this time it’s about Omarosa Manigault Newman’s departure from the President Continued on A3

AFRO Archived History Simeon Booker: Taking aim at injustice

Please join us every Monday and Friday at 5 p.m. EST for our new podcast, The AFRO First Edition w/Sean Yoes, on afro.com and the AFRO’s Facebook page.

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Dec. 25, 1982

By Carolyn DuBose For more than 40 years, Simeon Booker has been battling one cause after another. In the 1980s, as social and educational programs take a back seat to skyrocketing U.S. military spending, Booker—Washington Bureau Chief of Johnson Publishing Company—is still trying to influence policy.

One year, he told a group of reporters, “I have always believed Continued on A3

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Continued on A3

AP Photo/Seth Wenig

Omarosa Manigault, one of the few high-profile African Americans in the Trump administration, no longer works for the White House.

Pioneering civil rights journalist Simeon Booker died Dec. 10 at the age of 99. This article celebrates his accomplishments on the occasion of him winning the coveted National Press Club’s Fourth Estate Award in 1982.

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

Join the 600K+ members of the AFRO Facebook Family

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Simeon Booker, whose journalism career began at the AFRO, died Dec. 10 in Solomon, Md. He was 99 years old.

AFRO file photo

In Memoriam: Life of Simeon Booker Jr. See p. A3

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First Black Astronaut Honored on 50th Anniversary of Death

Air Force Maj. Robert Lawrence Jr. Died in F-104 Crash in 1967

By The Associated Press America’s first Black astronaut, Air Force Maj. Robert Lawrence Jr., finally got full honors Friday on the 50th anniversary of his death.

Several hundred people gathered at Kennedy Space Center to commemorate Lawrence, who almost certainly would have gone on to fly in space had he not died in a plane crash on Dec. 8, 1967.

The crowd included NASA dignitaries, astronauts, fellow (AP Photo) Omega Psi Phi fraternity members, Maj. Robert H. Lawrence schoolchildren, and relatives of Jr., the first Black Lawrence and other astronauts astronaut in the U.S. space who have died in the line of duty. program, died before ever Lawrence was part of a flying in space when his classified military space program fighter jet crashed on Dec. in the 1960s called the Manned 8, 1967.

Orbiting Laboratory, meant to spy on the Soviet Union. He died when his F-104 Starfighter crashed at Edwards Air Force Base in California. He was 32.

Astronauts at Friday’s two-hour ceremony said Lawrence would have gone on to fly NASA’s space shuttles and that, after his death, he inspired all the African-American astronauts who followed him.

Trailing Atlanta Mayoral Candidate Requests a Recount

By The Associated Press

The trailing candidate in Atlanta’s mayoral election runoff has requested a recount after the certified results showed her opponent winning by less than 1 percent.

A lawyer for Mary Norwood on Dec. 12 sent a letter to the city clerk and to election officials in Fulton and DeKalb counties, which both include parts of Atlanta. The letter, signed

by Norwood and lawyer Vincent Russo, requests a recount and asks election officials to investigate alleged discrepancies in the Dec. 5 runoff.

The two counties on Monday certified the results of the election. Keisha Lance Bottoms remains in the lead with

46,667, or 50.45 percent, and Mary Norwood has 45,835 votes, or 49.55 percent. The 832 votes that separate them amount to less than 1 percent of the 92,502 votes cast.

Election officials in both counties said the recounts would be done Thursday morning.

(AP Photo/John Bazemore) If Bottoms’ lead holds Atlanta mayoral candidate through a recount, she Keisha Lance Bottoms would be Atlanta’s sixth (pictured) is facing a recount consecutive Black mayor from her opponent Mary since Maynard Jackson was Norwood. elected in 1973. An upset by Norwood would give the city its first white mayor in more than 40 years and its first-ever white, female mayor.

Tina Turner Writing Sequel to Memoir ‘I, Tina’

By The Associated Press

Tina Turner is not done telling her story.

The rock superstar is working on a sequel to her 1986 memoir I, Tina,” Atria Books told The Associated Press on Dec. 11. The new book is called Tina Turner: My Love Story and will come out next October, timed to the singer’s 60th year in music.

Seventy-eight year-old Turner says in a statement (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP) that she will write about Tina Turner is working on a sequel to her 1986 memoir “I, everything from “finding Tina,” Atria Books said. love” to surviving a “lifethreatening illness” she had never disclosed before.

Turner, who endured a horrifying marriage to musician Ike Turner, married Erwin Bach in 2013. She is known for such hits as “Proud Mary” and “What’s Love Got To Do With It,” the title of a 1993 biopic starring Angela Bassett as Tina Turner and Laurence Fishburne as Ike.

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The Afro-American, November 11, 2017 - November 11, 2017

December 16, 2017 - December 22, 2017, The Afro-American

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In Memoriam: Life of Simeon Booker Jr. Black Press Loses its Dean Who Got His Start at the AFRO scenes of the Civil Rights Movement in news history.

“Her face wet with tears, she leaned over the body, just removed from a rubber bag in a Chicago funeral home, and Simeon Saunders Booker Jr. was a courageous and cried out, ‘Darling, you have not died in vain. Your life has awarding winning journalist, who put his life on the line to tell been sacrificed for something,’ Booker wrote about the moment the story of Black America during the Civil Rights Movement. when Mamie Till stood in a Chicago funeral home looking He died Dec. 10 in Solomon, Md. at the age of 99. down at the mangled body of her child, Emmett Till.

Booker began his career with the Black Press From writing about ten sitting US as a reporter for the Afro-American Newspapers presidents to traveling to Southeast Asia to during the mid 1930s to the late 1940s. He was report on the Vietnam War, Booker was a a journalistic pioneer, who in 1952, became the journalist like no other. He also had a colorful first Black staff writer at the Washington Post. presence as he favored big bow ties and But, concerned more about improving the status fashionable suits. of Black people than being first, he returned to Booker was called the “Dean of the Black the Black Press as the Washington Bureau Chief Press” because he covered every presidential of Chicago-based Johnson Publishing Company election since 1953. He also authored Jet and Ebony magazines. two books: “Shocking the Conscience: Booker was there for many historic A Reporter’s Account of the Civil Rights moments, covering the “Freedom Riders” Movement” and “Black Man’s America.” through Anniston, Ala. in 1961 to a bloody Booker was born in Baltimore on Aug. 27, Sunday morning in 1964 when protesters were 1918. His father was a Baptist minister and beaten by police as they crossed the Edmund director of a YMCA. The family later moved AFRO file photo Pettus Bridge. to Youngstown, Ohio, where his father opened Simeon Booker, 1957.

He wrote that he was “never prouder of Jet’s another YMCA. role in any story” than in 1961, when he helped “From an early age, I knew I wanted to be cover a Freedom Ride from Washington, D.C. to New Orleans. a writer,” Booker told the Vindicator. “Teaching and preaching Booker had extensive history in news coverage, including were the best advances for Blacks at the time. But I wanted to being a sports news writer for the Youngtown Vindicator, write.” where he wrote about Negro League baseball teams. In 1950, Booker’s accomplishments include, the National Press he received the Nieman Fellowship for Journalism at Harvard Club’s Fourth Estate Award (1982), an award given to an University. After one year at Harvard, Booker became the first individual who has achieved distinction for a lifetime of full-time Black reporter at the Washington Post. contributions to American journalism; elected president of In 1955, Booker covered the Emmett Till murder and trial the Capitol Press Club (1956); inducted into Hall of Fame of for Jet, where he documented one of the most compelling the Washington Chapter of Sigma Delta Chi (1984); Master

By Hamil Harris Special to the AFRO

Communicators Award, National Black Media Coalition (1998); Phoenix Award, Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (2010); inducted into the Hall of Fame of the National Association of Black Journalists (2013); and the George Polk Award in journalism, an award that recognize reporting across all media.

Booker earned an English degree in 1942 from Virginia Union University in Richmond. Shortly after Booker left the AFRO, he joined the Cleveland Call and Post, another Black publication, where he received a Newspaper Guild Award for a series covering slum housing.

Booker was married twice. His first marriage with Thelma Cunningham ended in divorce. He later married Carol McCabe.

He was married to McCabe for 44 years.

Booker is survived by his wife; three children: Simeon Booker III, Theresa Booker; and Theodore Booker; and several grandchildren. His son, Abdul Wali Muhammad (also known as James Booker), who was editor in chief of the Nation of Islam’s newspaper, the Final Call, died in 1991 at the age of 37.

In February, 15 US representatives, including Ohio Reps. Tim Ryan (D), Dave Joyce (R) and Marcia Fudge (D) introduced bipartisan legislation to award the Congressional Gold Medal to Booker in recognition of his achievements in the field of journalism. The bill was referred to the House Committee on Financial Services, where it remains awaiting a vote to move forward.

“I couldn’t think of a more worthy American than Simeon Booker to be awarded Congress’s highest honor, the Congressional Gold Medal. His long and illustrious career in journalism and his work to advance the civil rights movement has forever changed our nation for the better,” said Rep. Ryan in a statement. “Simeon Booker has devoted his life’s work to breaking barriers and changing the hearts and minds of all those he touched through his writing. He is a true American hero.”

Alabama Black Women Continued from A1 life was better before slavery was outlawed.

On Dec. 12 Democrat Doug Jones won the special election for the Senate in Alabama against Moore. Moore, who faced credible accusations of child molestation and was backed by President Donald J. Trump, managed to lose in a state that was solidly Republican. A Democrat last held the seat Jones won in 1997.

According to a Washington Post exit poll, 96 percent of Black voters supported Jones, who once won convictions against two Ku Klux Klan members for the notorious 16th Street Church bombing,

which killed four little Black girls in 1963. That bombing had been described by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as “one of the most vicious and tragic crimes ever perpetrated against humanity.”

According to a New York Times exit pool, 97 percent of the voting Black women voted for Jones and 92 percent of the voting Black men did the same.

Moore supporters were made up of White women (29 percent), Whites without a college degree (55 percent) and Trump supporters (80 percent).

Normally, a candidate like

Roy Moore would have never made it past the nomination process.

According to CNN, in 2011 Moore told a conspiracy focused radio show host, who made the point that all amendments after the 10th should be eliminated, “That would eliminate many problems,” Moore said. “You know people don’t understand how some of these amendments have completely tried to wreck the form of government that our forefathers intended.”

As a reminder: The 13th Amendment abolished slavery, the 15th Amendment

prohibits the federal government from denying the right to vote to people based on “race, color, or previous condition of servitude” and the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote.

Unsurprisingly, Moore also believed former President Barack Obama was not born in the United States.

The Alabama Senate race served as referendum on Trump and those who ape his nationalistic demagoguery.

This was amplified when Steve Bannon, Trump’s former advisor and chairman of the rightwing site Brietbart News, backed Moore and

AFRO Archived History

Omarosa

that a newsman covers the news; he doesn’t make the news.” On Tuesday, Dec. 7, he received the coveted National Press Club’s 1982 Fourth Estate Award. Previous recipients include Walter Cronkite.

In his 27-years as a JET reporter, Booker has written about the joys and sorrows, achievements and failures of people across the country. He writes with a vitality that mirrors the lifestyle of black Americans.

Booker, who was born in Baltimore and raised in Youngstown, OH, attended Youngstown High School before moving on to Youngstown College.

His stay ended abruptly after “causing a ruckus” over the fact that black students were not permitted to have activity cards. After working his way through Virginia Union, Booker became a reporter for the Baltimore AFRO-American newspaper where covering lynchings was a regular part of his beat. He later worked for the Cleveland Call and Post. He won a Wilkie Award for a series on education. In 1950 he became the second black to win a Nieman fellowship. That sent him to Harvard for a year, and it was the turning point in his life.

After Harvard, he was hired by the Washington Post as their first fulltime black reporter. But segregation was still the law of the land and his job as general assignment reporter wasn’t easy. For example, when he tried to cover the police beat, he would be barred from the scene just like anybody else.

He left after two years and joined the Johnson Publishing Company staff in Chicago. He returned to Washington a year later to open the bureau. The first person he hired was E. Fannie Granton who remained his assistant until her death several years ago.

Starting with the Eisenhower administration, he has regularly covered the White House, the U.S. Congress, state legislatures and the entire Washington scene.

Many times Booker had to look past his personal safety to get the story. In 1955, the useless death of 14-year-old Emmet Till touched off a stream of controversy. Booker, Jimmy Hicks of the New York Amsterdam News and the third black member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Charles Diggs, Jr., were among those who went to Mississippi to attend the trial of the white men charged with murdering the teenager for allegedly whistling at a white woman. When it was over, Diggs escorted the boy’s mother back to Chicago for safety while Booker routed injustices in other southern states.

It is of the highest significance that this distinguished author and broadcast and print journalist is being recognized by his peers for sustained commitment throughout the years. (NNPA)

Donald J. Trump’s administration next year.

According to White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Newman resigned to pursue other opportunities. Her departure will take effect Jan. 20, 2018.

But, according to American Urban Radio Network journalist and CNN correspondent April Ryan, there was tension at the White House with Newman, who married Democratic Jacksonville, Fla. pastor John Newman earlier this year.

Ryan reported on CNN that Newman and her assistant were fired on Dec. 12.

“Ever since [former White House Chief of Staff] Reince Priebus, no one has known what Omarosa’s duties were,” Ryan said. When Newman joined Trump’s staff, she was a top communications official in the Office of Public Liaison, but after Gen. John Kelly became Trump’s chief of staff in July, her role became murky. Newman’s official title was director of communications for the White House Office of Public Liaison. “What

Continued from A1

appeared at a rally for him. In addition, when the Washington Post reported that Moore had pursued relationships with teenage girls in Alabama while he was in his 30s, Brietbart News sent reporters to the state to discredit the allegations. They failed to do so.

The astonishing missteps

by Trump and the Republican party in the special election have left them with an even slimmer majority and have energized the Democratic party, which now has a credible path to winning a majority in both the House and the Senate in 2018.

The Republicans, who struggled and failed to abolish Obamacare with 52 members earlier this year, now have one less vote on their side.

“We have work to do in this state to build those bridges within this state. To reach across with those that didn’t vote for us to try to find that common ground,” Jones said during his victory speech in Birmingham. “I’m pledging to do that tonight, but I will tell you, tonight is a night for rejoicing because as Dr. King said, as Dr. King liked to quote, ‘The moral arc of the universe is long but it bends toward justice.’”

Continued from A1 is known is that Gen. Kelly has been tired of her antics.”

Ryan said Kelly and other staff members in the White House were upset with Newman, referencing that Newman was seen as an agitator, especially to Trump. Ryan said, according to her sources, Newman’s behavior resulted in her being escorted out of the White House by Secret Service.

However, the Secret Service denies that Newman, a former “Apprentice” contestant, was physically removed.

“Reporting regarding Secret Service personnel physically removing Omarosa Manigault Newman from the @WhiteHouse complex is incorrect,” the Secret Service tweeted Dec. 13.

Nevertheless Ryan is sticking to her story. “The Secret Service contends they did not escort Omarosa out of the White House from their tweet. So who did? But the Secret Service says that they did deactivate her badge last night stopping her access into the White House,” Ryan tweeted Dec. 13.

CBC

Continued from A1 either.

Since Israel’s inception in 1948, it has been the goal of many of the country’s leaders to make the whole city of Jerusalem its capital.

However, conflicts with the Palestinians who reside in the city and Christian and Islamic leaders have made claim to Jerusalem as a historic and religious icon. They don’t want the city to be the exclusive jurisdiction of any state or religion.

Trump’s declaration, as profound as it is, hasn’t attracted the attention of the Black members of the House Foreign Relations Committee.

“We haven’t put out a public statement yet,” a spokesperson for Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) said in an email.

Reps. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) and Robin Kelly (D-Ill.) haven’t commented on the Trump move regarding Jerusalem, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), who has in the past has viewed Israel favorably, has not responded to an AFRO inquiry about the Jerusalem matter. D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) hasn’t commented either despite the fact that she enjoys considerable Jewish support in the District of Columbia.

The only African American on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and there is no mention of the Jerusalem controversy on his web site and Twitter feed.

A former Black congressional staffer who has extensive experience with the Congressional Black Caucus told the AFRO on background that he isn’t surprised at the lack of response on the Jerusalem matter.

“I think members have strong opinions on this subject and they probably didn’t like the way Trump mishandled the announcement,” he said. “The declaration is an impediment to peace in the region.”

The former staffer said that the CBC’s plate has been busy with the “the resignation of John Conyers, the misguided policy of a tax plan that benefits the wealthy and the possibility of a government shutdown.”

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The Afro-American, December 9, 2017 - December 15, 2017,

AFRO Editorial

COMMENTARY

Simeon Booker—A Significant Reporter of the 1950-1970’s Civil Rights Wars Has Passed Away at 99

America lost one of the most courageous journalists ever to put pen to paper.

Simeon Booker died Dec. 10 at an assisted-living community in Solomons, Maryland. He was 99 years old.

Booker was part journalist, part historian, part philosopher – a gifted writer who covered the Civil Rights Movement, exposed racism, and served as the nation’s Black consciousness for five decades.

“From an early age, I knew I wanted to be a writer,” Booker told {The Vindicator} newspaper of Youngstown in 2013. “Teaching and preaching were the best advances for Blacks at the time.

But I wanted to write.”

Booker was part journalist, part historian, Booker was born on Aug. 27, 1918, in Baltimore, Md. part philosopher – a gifted writer who After his family moved to covered the Civil Rights Movement, Youngstown, Ohio, according exposed racism, and served as the nation’s to The History Makers, Booker became interested in Black consciousness for five decades. journalism through a family friend, Carl Murphy, the then owner of Baltimore’s The AFRO-American Newspapers. In 1942, after receiving his B.A. degree in English from Virginia Union University in Richmond, Booker was hired by Murphy as a reporter for The Afro American Newspapers.

In 1945, Booker moved back to Ohio to work for the Cleveland Call and Post. Five years later, Booker was the recipient of a Nieman Fellowship from Harvard University to study journalism and develop his talent as a reporter, according to The History Makers.

After leaving Harvard in 1951, Booker became the first full-time Black reporter at The Washington Post. In 1954, Booker was hired by the Johnson Publishing Company to report on current events in its weekly digest, Jet. In 1955, according to The History Makers, Booker helped to redefine the role of Jet and the entire Civil Rights Movement with his famous coverage of the Emmett Till murder and trial.

Booker wrote a popular column for Jet called Ticker Tape U.S.A. reporting on the civil rights struggle from an African American perspective.

“I stayed on the road, covering civil rights day and night,” Booker once said. “The names, the

places, and the events became history.”

Booker often put his life on the line while covering stories. For his safety, he would sometimes pose as a minister and he once escaped a racist mob by hiding in the back of a hearse.

He was one of the few Black reporters assigned in Washington, D.C.; he covered 10 U.S. presidents and traveled to Southeast Asia to report on the Vietnam War. He was a powerful voice for Black America and he left a lasting legacy for Black journalists to follow.

What No One Told Me About Being First to Go To College

I was reared and schooled in Detroit, where poverty and oppression eloquently danced while violence and crime serenaded the communities.

The crime and oppression in my neighborhood drove me to submit a college application that changed my life’s trajectory.

I wasn’t going to college to become an adult; I faced mature challenges and struggles long before filling out my college applications. For me, higher education represented an escape from adult struggles.

But, I couldn’t escape the financial challenges. For firstgeneration college students like me, the responsibilities designed for mature adults were often delegated to us adolescents. Now that I’m in graduate school, I have some distance and perspective on what first-gens really need to thrive at a four-year college.

And, despite some model programs at universities, I fear the current political climate and threatened budget cuts will only make it harder for first-gens to obtain a four-year degree.

I know from experience my journey as a first-gen and non-traditional undergraduate college student is devastatingly common.

No one in high school or college spoke to me about the financial realities of being a student who couldn’t rely on family for support. FASFA, Pell Grants and loans were foreign concepts. The conversations I had growing up rarely involved

Brandon Terrell

college. We talked about who was buying dinner that night or who needed to get a job to help pay bills.

Survival was the goal. By the time I applied to college, I had already tangled with life and boxed with oppression, discrimination, stereotypical beliefs and negative ideologies, all while juggling school, plus a job or two.

“Survival was the goal. By the time I applied to college, I had already tangled with life and boxed with oppression, discrimination, stereotypical beliefs and negative ideologies, all while juggling school, plus a job or two.”

Life had prepared me for college. But the challenges never stopped coming.

Even as I struggled to pay tuition and buy meals when the food courts closed for the weekends, I often got calls from relatives who needed help buying groceries. Relief started with me. I had no safety net - I was the safety net.

Completing college required a survival balancing actmaintaining my GPA, bridging gaps back at home and navigating collegiate bureaucracies while carefully responding to microaggressions and prejudice in majority White spaces.

Missing an assignment, being too tired to attend a bio

lecture after working more than 30 hours a week, failing a 300 level course, or even missing a tuition payment created a slippery slope back to the environment that suffocated dreams.

But we are a population colleges cannot afford to lose, as we represented 36 percent of students seeking a four-year degree nationwide in 2012.

Politicians, educators, social workers, counselors and administrators must address the intersecting social and cultural challenges that precede our applications, accompany us to college, and follow us even after securing a degree.

Access to college and financial aid is not enough to secure a better quality of life for students coming from low-income backgrounds. The gap is widening with only 14 percent of the most economically disadvantaged students earning a bachelor’s degree, according to a 2015 federal study.

We need a different support system to thrive in collegementors, help with living expenses, travel costs, tutors, flexible schedules and emotional support from other students who feel isolated, but are coping with similar struggles.

We need to stop talking about college attainment in simplistic ways. It takes so much more than grit.

Brandon Terrell is currently attending graduate school at Eastern Michigan University, after graduating from there in 2015 with a bachelor’s in psychology. He also works at the University of Michigan as a program assistant for the community health department.

What I Learned from Teaching African Students I recently had the wonderful opportunity to teach several virtual classes with 15 female students Nairobi, Kenya. The instructor Victor Owuor, a talented and knowledgeable educator, collaborated with me to speak to his students about social media and technology. The classes were conducted via Skype.

Reaching out using digital tools, integrating social media, sharing information and knowledge are all 21st century skillsets that employers in most business models are looking for in a growing knowledge based society that needs employees that can read, comprehend and apply learning to solve problems.

Thought leadership is a needed skill along with digital innovation and applying skills in smart creative environments.

Good educators also learn from their students.

Here is what I learned as I taught these knowledgeable and talented African young ladies that will serve to build their homes, communities and their

William Jackson

nation.

1. Students have a passion for learning that allows them to see the potential they possess.

2. Students understand that a better life for them and their families is through education.

3. Students embrace learning as an adventure and a continuous journey.

4. Students gladly blend their learning with their goals for business and personal development.

5. Students apply learning in relation to the building of future leaders not just being workers.

6. African women are role models for future generations and pass their knowledge, passion and wisdom down to their and other children.

7. African men are becoming more accepting of women as leaders in technology, commerce, business and education.

10. African students accept each other and encourage, support and build each other for success.

11. Students understand the value of the Internet for learning and growth. They use it as a research tool to grow not just for foolishness.

12. African students are accepting of diversity and growth and use this unity to empower nationalism.

13. Education is a generational investment. There is more to learn and more to share. The world is changing and how students are being taught and engaged must change as well. African students have a global picture of the world and understand their place as future innovators, creators, inventors, developers, entrepreneurs and investors. African students will be competing with American, Asian and other students for global careers that engage STEM, STEAM, and STREAM, and working hard today preparing for careers of tomorrow.

William Jackson is an educator, blogger and community activist based in Jacksonville, Fl.

The opinions on this page are those of the writers and not necessarily those of the AFRO. Send letters to The Afro-American • 1531 S. Edgewood St. • Baltimore, MD 21227 or fax to 1-877-570-9297 or e-mail to editor@afro.com

December 16, 2017 - December 22, 2017, The Afro-American

A5

SENIOR GUIDE

Craftivism: Melding of Crafting, Activism is Having a Moment

By The Associated Press Colleen Haraden-Gorski uses her embroidery skills these days to embellish quilts made by students at school and communitycenter workshops on themes of social justice and working together to make a difference.

Recently, she embroidered images of barbed wire and the

from technology, said Elizabeth Garber, a professor of art at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Handmade goods also have new visibility because of online sites like Etsy.com and photo-sharing platforms like Instagram.

Time spent crafting often leads to problem-solving because it stimulates creativity and provides an opportunity to process emotions, said Betsy Greer, founder of the website Craftivism. com. Handiwork can be a “softer” way to start political discussions, she said: “It can provide a way to talk about things that are hard to talk about.”

Haraden-Gorski volunteers for the Social Justice Sewing Academy in Antioch, California. The organization mails the quilt squares to her and other volunteers to embellish. The finished quilts are displayed to promote awareness and activism.

“We’re reclaiming these crafts,” said Academy founder Sara Trail.

Some crafters seek out such projects to become part of a public effort, while others might knit or sew items that they quietly donate to a homeless shelter, Garber said.

“It appeals on different levels,” she said. “Some

something to show her passion for the cause. An avid knitter, she began making pussy hats and selling them online. Profiting from the sales didn’t feel right, so she began donating her earnings to Planned Parenthood.

“It felt really good,” she said. “I’m not the type of person to approach someone to try and change their political viewpoints.”

Attending a women’s march in Lansing, Michigan, led screen printer Marcy Davy to add products to her line that promote feminism and tolerance. She’s currently working on a poster for restaurants to hang in their kitchens outlining the rights of foreignborn workers.

“This was a big decision. This is how I make my living,” said the resident of Ypsilanti, Michigan. “I want to use the skills that I have to carry the momentum of resistance forward.”

Seeing how upset and confused many women were after Trump’s election, yoga teacher Tracey di Paolo wanted to do something. After knitting herself a pussy hat, she decided to host a knitting circle after one of her classes at the studio where she works in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania.

The get-togethers quickly became about more than knitting, she said. The women shared concerns about politics and their community.

“While we knitted, we talked. It created a sense of community,” di Paolo said. “It’s very easy to feel alone when you’re feeling frightened by what’s going on in the world.”

The group, which routinely was calling legislators about national issues, started looking for other ways to make a difference. They organized a community cleanup and raised funds for hurricane victims. Now, they are knitting hats for babies and chemotherapy patients at the local hospital.

“The pussy hats and knitting — it created an opportunity to create and talk and figure out how we could be useful to our community,” di Paolo said.

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Social Justice Sewing Academy via AP

This photo provided by the Social Justice Sewing Academy showcases the ‘X is for Malcom X.’ block created by Bianca Mercado and embroidered by Dr. Melissa Johnson, a professor at Illinois State University. This block is just one in Bianca’s “Activist ABC’s” quilt series. serial numbers of concentration-camp victims on a square about the Holocaust. Another time, she worked on a square exploring prejudice within the African-American community about skin tone.

Working on quilts that address historical injustices and current controversies provides her an outlet to communicate about issues important to her, and she is inspired by the work of the young people.

“I found my voice. It makes me feel hopeful,” said HaradenGorski, of Richmond, California, who also expresses her concerns by calling and emailing legislators. But “getting an automatic reply to an email or hearing a message that the legislator’s voicemail is too full — that’s not hopeful,” she said.

The combination of crafting and activism — sometimes called craftivism — is centuries-old. African-American slaves relayed information about the Underground Railroad through quilt squares.

Suffragettes used sewing circles as a means of sharing political views. And women on both sides of the Civil War knit socks for soldiers to support the cause.

Early this year, women knit “pussy hats” ahead of Women’s Marches in Washington and around the country to protest Donald Trump’s election as president.

That post-election surge of activism is combining with a years-long trend toward do-it-yourself crafts and a step back

women want to be strident, but you could also do this in your own home and contribute something good.”

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The Afro-American, December 16, 2017 - December 22, 2017

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December 16, 2017 - December 22, 2017, The Afro-American

BALTIMORE-AREA

Race and Politics

Reginald F. Lewis Is Another Shining Chapter in Black Baltimore’s History Reginald F. Lewis has been an omnipresent and enigmatic figure on the Baltimore landscape for decades since Sean Yoes his death in Baltimore AFRO 1993.

Editor His name syoes@afro.com is emblazoned upon The Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture, a landmark at the corner of Pratt and President Sts., the gateway to glitzy Harbor East. Since 2005, when the museum opened its doors, people from around the state, the nation and the globe

Courtesy Image

have visited and learned the stories of Maryland’s Black community. But, I didn’t know much about Lewis beyond the fact that he was the richest Black man in America in the 1980’s.

I learned a lot more about this great son of Baltimore during a recent event at the Lewis Museum Dec. 7. “The Conversation: Reginald F. Lewis, The $Billion Deal, The Lifestyle, The Man,”

Continued on B2

Blocal Program Results in 470 New Hires

Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle:

Lays Out 2018 Policy Agenda

By Deborah Bailey Special to the AFRO

Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle presided over the group’s annual Black Legislative Agenda Day at Pleasant Hope Baptist Church in Northeast Baltimore. Dayvon Love (at podium) is director of Public Policy for LBS. Adam Jackson CEO of LBS and Brion “Lady Brion” Gill, the group’s cultural curator are seated behind Love.

By Deborah Bailey Special to the AFRO

Baltimore native Reginald F. Lewis was the first Black American to launch a billion dollar American enterprise.

B1

Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle (LBS), a Baltimore based grassroots think-tank, believes local and state lawmakers need a public policy agenda that places the interests of Black Baltimoreans at the center of a process that connects the challenges city residents face.

This week, the organization is working on its public policy agenda for the Maryland General Assembly as well as Baltimore City Hall. LBS recently hosted its fourth annual Black Legislative Agenda day, drawing a packed house of concerned residents to discuss priority items for State lawmakers in advance of the General Assembly’s 2018 session which begins Jan. 10.

Ray Kelly, local advocate for police reform, said it was important to keeping pressure on lawmakers to ensure transparency in public safety.

“It was important to keep a focus on the consent decree and the legislative barriers that are obstacles to fully implementing mandates to reforming the Baltimore Police Department like the Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights (LEOBR),” Kelly said. “Our focus remains consistent. In 2018 we will be in full advocacy for City control of the BPD, issues with LEOBR, such as investigatory prowess for the Civilian Review Board (CRB), voting Civilians on the Police disciplinary trial boards and other issues, changing the Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA) that protects police disciplinary records from being publicized.”

Khalilah Harris, deputy director of the White House Initiative for Educational Excellence for African Americans

Compiled by Joi Thomas

Special to the AFRO It’s the most wonderful time of the year, the time many of us celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Many churches in the area are holding special events to celebrate this season. I hope that you can incorporate one of these events or services into your holiday planning.

Remember, Jesus is the reason for the season. Merry Christmas and enjoy your holidays.

Morning Star Baptist Church 1512 Woodlawn Drive Baltimore, Md. 21207 Inaugural Worship Service in their new Sanctuary Dec. 16, 10 a.m.

Bishop Dwayne C. Debnam, Pastor Christian Community Church of God 2701 West Baltimore Street Baltimore, Md. 21223 Christmas Concert Worship

during the Obama administration, spoke about schools as part of a holistic community agenda during the Black Legislative Agenda Day. “Black families need to be directly engaged in how to improve the lives of their children and be empowered with the tools and information about what it actually looks like for their children to live their best lives and contribute to society,” Harris said. “I haven’t heard a plan from the Mayor’s office and we even have a governor talking about locking people up again, but no real plan for what excellence looks like in education, economic development for affordable housing, transportation and jobs, jobs, jobs.”

Harris further said, “Until that happens, it’s going to require the community to take matters into our hands and look for solutions within the community if the city leadership is not going to do it. Schools function on their own when the communities where they are located are starved for resources.”

– Khalilah Harris Dayvon Love, LBS director of Public Policy, is working on coordinating the concerns raised at the Legislative Agenda Day and working collaboratively with grassroots organizations to develop a focused agenda.

“We will be at the center of the fight to make sure that the approach to public safety doesn’t focus on more incarceration as the ideal. One of the other issues is going to be expansion of expungement,” said Love. “The coalition of organizations will also aim to ensure 30 percent of the funding from possible marijuana legalization comes back to African American communities.”

Continued on B2

“Black families need to be directly engaged in how to improve the lives of their children…”

Baltimore Area Church News

Christian Life Church 6605 Liberty Road Baltimore, Md. 21207 Christmas Musical: A Christmas Conversation Dec. 15, 7:30 p.m., Dec. 17, 6 p.m.

Dr. Hugh Bair, Pastor

Courtesy Photo

Dec. 17, 10 a.m.

Dr. Melvin Green, Pastor

Empowerment Temple 4217 Primrose Ave Baltimore, Md. 21215 Unto Us a Child is Born Dec. 24, 9:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m.

Dr. Jamal Bryant, Pastor The Church of the Redeemed of the Lord 4321 Old York Road Baltimore, Md. 21212 Christmas Time in the City: The Musical Dec. 24, 10 a.m.

Bishop Jerome Stokes, Pastor Destiny Christian Church

Continued on B2

Baltimore’s Latest Homicide Victims Include a 17-Year Old

By Michelle Richardson Special to the AFRO On Dec. 12, the Baltimore Police Department (BPD), identified a teenager who had been killed over the weekend in Northeast Baltimore, along with a 30-year old man killed in North Baltimore.

Markel Gray, 17, of the 6500 block of Rosemont Ave. was found with a gunshot wound to the head in the 5800 block of Moores Run Court in the Cedonia community, around 10:55 p.m. on Dec. 10, where he was pronounced dead on the scene. Gray was Baltimore’s 327th homicide victim.

Also on Dec. 12, BPD identified another victim of homicide as 30 year-old Travis Carter.

Carter had been shot in the 5600 block of The Alameda

on Dec. 7, also in Northeast Baltimore. He was transported to an area hospital but later died of his injuries.

Detectives from the BPD Homicide unit are investigating both murders.

Anyone with information is asked to call them at 410396-2100 or text a tip to 443902-4824. Callers can also call Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7-LOCK-UP.

5

Past Seven Days

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-7th), best captured the tenor of this week’s BLocal Year One Progress Report and BUILD College Graduation Program. Cummings, who originally helped inspire the 25 Baltimore area companies that came together to create B-Local in April 2016, called the celebration at The Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture “a destiny event.”

“BLocal started with broad commitments from a diverse group of Baltimore area businesses that believe in this city,” said Ronald Daniels, president of Johns Hopkins University and one of three B-Local co-chairs along with outgoing Johns Hopkins Health System President, Ronald R. Peterson

“BLocal started with broad commitments from a diverse group of Baltimore area businesses that believe in this city.”

– Ron Daniels, Pres., JHU and Calvin Butler, Jr. CEO of Baltimore Gas and Electric.

In its first year BLocal companies set combined goals to increase spending in design and construction contracts with minority owned businesses, expand the number of outright minority hires, add to the percentage of overall contracts and vending with women and minorityowned businesses. BLocal companies also pledged to make direct investments in Baltimore’s underserved communities. All BLocal companies were required to commit to at least one of the four goals, but could choose the individual goal for which they were best suited.

According to B-Local, the partnership has produced 470 new hires in its first year along with the creation of job readiness programs for high school students. Six BLocal partners increased their

Continued on B2

328 2017 Total

Data as of Dec. 13

B2

The Afro-American, December 16, 2017 - December 22, 2017

Race and Politics Continued from B1

celebrated what would have been the 75th birthday of Lewis, who died at age 50 from brain cancer.

The conversation was led by my friend Charles Robinson, a veteran journalist and anchor at Maryland Public Television.

On the panel were four men who were very close to Lewis including his brother, Jean Fugett, Jr., who helped Lewis found the TLC Group in 1983, the venture capital firm, which served as the platform for Lewis to purchase Beatrice International Foods for $985 million in 1987. I remember watching Fugett as a kid, when he was a standout tight end for the Washington Redskins. But, I learned Lewis was a star football player in his own right.

Also on the panel, Clarence “Tiger” Davis, the former Baltimore City Delegate, who played football with Lewis at Dunbar High School. Davis, a force in East Baltimore politics for decades, spoke glowingly about Lewis as a charismatic leader, even as a high school football star.

Lin Hart, another childhood friend of Lewis, was also a part of the conversation. He wrote the book, “Reginald F. Lewis Before TLC Beatrice: The Young Man Before the Billion-Dollar Empire.” Hart, who was drafted by the Buffalo Bills, played football with Lewis at Virginia State College, the Historically Black College where Lewis got his undergraduate degree in political science in 1965, before moving on to Harvard Law School.

Harvard Law is where Lewis met William “Bill” Slattery, who was also part of the conversation celebrating Lewis’ life. I knew Lewis went to Harvard. But, what I discovered is Lewis

He was recruited to attend Harvard when he was a student at Virginia State and never formally applied at Harvard, which seems implausible, but clearly not for Lewis. was the only person to be accepted at Harvard Law without applying. He was recruited to attend Harvard when he was a student at Virginia State and never formally applied at Harvard, which seems implausible, but clearly not for Lewis.

Beyond the insights of these four men, the two people who knew Lewis best were also in attendance at the event celebrating Lewis at the museum bearing his name; his widow

Loida Nicolas Lewis and his mother Carolyn Fugett (who is 92 and still going strong).

“He established the first Black law firm on Wall Street; he bought the McCall Pattern company on a leveraged buyout for $22 million, turned it around, and later sold it at a 90-1 return; and he sealed the $985 million deal that launched the first African-American billion dollar enterprise,” said Nicolas Lewis in a statement.

I knew Lewis was the first Black person to close a billion dollar deal and build a billion dollar company. But, I didn’t know that the Beatrice deal was the largest leveraged buyout of overseas assets by an American Company at the time, period.

Lewis wrote the book, “Why Should White Guys Have All The Fun?” It is a memoir of a Black man, with his roots in Black Baltimore, who emerged from our community to forge billion dollar Wall Street Deals and operated as a financial superstar, typically in rooms with nobody else that looked like him.

Ultimately, Lewis’ story, embodied by his signature statement, “Keep going, no matter what,” is yet another volume in the fabled history of Baltimore’s Black vanguard.

Sean Yoes is the Baltimore editor of the AFRO and host and executive producer of the AFRO First Edition video podcast, which airs Monday and Friday on the ARO’s Facebook page.

LBS

Blocal

Love said LBS will serve as a catalyst to form an educational coalition that will push for the return of 70 percent of Baltimore’s education dollars to Black-led community-based organizations. The Baltimore Algebra Project also advocates for community control of education funding and sent a letter stating this position to policy makers this past summer.

“We ask that they adopt a rigorous racial equity framework and allocate 70 percent of education funding to communities that know how to connect with and interact with students in our city,” Love said.

Both Kelly and Harris agree that participants who attended LBS’ Black Legislative Day will need to roll up their sleeves and get to work to move the legislative process toward the changes needed reflect the African American community.

“We have knowledge of experience and are aware of the necessary policy changes to implement real change, but we only have a window of about for years, so we will be aggressive and resolute,” Kelly said.

“This agenda is going to hold elected officials accountable – and not only elected officials, we are ready to hold ourselves accountable. We all have skin to put in this game if we are serious about community uplift,” said Harris.

spending for goods and services with women and minority owned businesses by $12.3 million.

Finally, Four B-Local Partners including Whiting-Turner Construction Company, Brown Advisory, first Mariner Bank and the Cordish Companies committed a total of $73.3 million in spending with local/diverse suppliers in construction projects.

The BLocal companies committed to direct investments in Baltimore City, reported an increase of $12.2 million investment in programs and services that directly benefited Baltimore residents, including a renovation of UA House, serving the Perkins Homes public housing community in East Baltimore. The renovation project was underwritten by Under Armour.

“When we get together and become very intentional about our efforts, we have a broader and deeper impact,” Butler said.

Cummings emphasized the role of mentoring by BLocal partners to encourage people of color and women owned businesses. “Through this partnership, people are meeting people they never would have crossed paths with right here in this city,” Cummings said. He encouraged the audience to continue connecting Baltimoreans with relationships and partnerships that can fuel their aspirations. “You’ve got people with dreams, but they don’t know how to get there,” Cummings said. “We’ve created a marriage in BLocal to help people meet their destiny.”

Continued from B1

Church News Continued from D1

5401 Eastern Ave. Baltimore, Md. 21224 The Christmas Prayer: A Musical Production Dec. 24, 10:30 a.m.

Bishop James Nelson, Pastor

Whitestone Baptist Church 3001-05 Baker Street Baltimore, Md. 21216 Christmas Day Worship, 11 a.m.

Rev. Dr. Elmore F. Warren, Jr. Pastor

Southern Baptist Church 1701 N. Chester Street Baltimore, Md. 21213 Christmas Day Service, 10 a.m.

Dr. Donte’ Hickman, Pastor

Israel Baptist Church 1200 N. Washington Street Baltimore, Md. 21213 Christmas Day Worship, 7:30 a.m.

Rev. Dr. H. Walden Wilson, II Pastor

Zion Baptist Church 1700 N. Caroline Street Baltimore, Md. 21213 Christmas Day Service, 10 a.m.

Dr. Marshall F. Prentice, Pastor

Empowerment Temple 4217 Primrose Ave Baltimore, Md. 21215 Christmas Day Worship, 10 a.m.

Dr. Jamal Bryant, Pastor

NOW THRU JAN 7

“Take a trip back to the French Revolution with some of the baddest babes in history!”

– Baltimore Magazine

Megan Anderson and Dawn Ursula in The Revolutionists.

Photo by ClintonBPhotography.

Continued from B1

EVERYMAN THEATRE GREAT STORIES, WELL TOLD.

EVERYMANTHEATRE.ORG | 410.752.2208

December 16, 2017 - December 22, 2017, The Afro-American

BALTIMORE Classifieds Continued from C4

To advertise in the BALTIMORE AFRO Call

410-554-8200

B3

D4

The Afro-American, December 16, 2017 - December 22, 2017

GBLA Masquerade Ball

Amina Whittle and Dr. Chris Heidelberg Sonjay DeCaires, event producer

Robot dancer on stilts

Sonjay DeCaires, Zachary McDaniel, Andrea McDaniel and J. Howard Henderson, GBUL CEO

Stephanie Klapper and Maxwell Bloch

The Greater Baltimore Leadership Association (GBLA) Masquerade Ball with the theme “Emerald City,” was held at the Top of the World observation level at The World Trade Center in downtown Baltimore, Dec. 2. The GBLA consists mainly of young adults of the Greater Baltimore Urban League. The event drew professionals from around the Baltimore Metropolitan area for networking and dancing. Music was provided by DJ 5 Starr (Kendrick Tilghman).

There was a silent auction and food was provided by Class Act catering.

Entertainers: Hoopsista, Mystic Flav Fairy and Zbu Hoopism

Jerome Alexander, GBLA Pres. and Brittany Harris, GBLA Fund Raising Dir.

Amber Ivey

Photos by Anderson Ward

BithGroup Technologies 25th Christmas Party Bith’s annual holiday party was on Dec. 7. It was held at the company headquarters at 113 W. Monument Street. Music was provided by the Waldens Band. Mayor Catherine Pugh and other city officials enjoyed the holiday celebration. One of the highlights of the event was the lighting Rod Carter and Frank of the Washington Kelly (Exelon Corp.)

Monument in Mt. Vernon.

Coretta Bennett and Raj B.

Reginald Mack, Leah Waters, Robert L. Wallace (CEO BithGroup), Paul E. Taylor and Frederick Cager

Robert L. Wallace (CEO BithGroup) and Carolyn W. Green (Chief Admin. Officer BithGroup)

Photos by Anderson Ward

Mariah Scott, Mayor Catherine E. Pugh and Samantha Adams

Walter Hill Jr., Ari Hill and Walter Hill III

Dr. Nancy Brown-Holt, Harry Holt III, Harry Holt Jr. (V.Pres. BithGroup Technnologies) and Thomas Downs Jr.

Celebrating the Legacy of Reginald F. Lewis

Lin Hart, Keith Perrins, William “Bill” Slattery, Loida N. Lewis, Clarence Davis, Carolyn Fugett, AFRO publisher and CEO Jake Oliver, Charles F. Robinson

The auditorium of the Reginald F. Lewis Museum was packed with students from various high schools, community and business leaders and others, who attentively listened to family members and friends of Reginald F. Lewis discuss the journey that led to him become the first African American to acquire an American billion dollar enterprise. And to celebrate what would have been Lewis’ 75th birthday.

Classmates of Lewis, Clarence “Tiger” Davis, Dunbar High School, Lin Hart, Virginia State University, and William Slattery, Harvard Law School gave insightful glimpses into some of the challengesand encounters that Lewis faced as he left his East Baltimore neighborhood and eventually ended up on Wall Street. Jean Fugett Jr., brother of Lewis discussed the family and growing up with his brother, and later becoming a TLC executive. After the RFL Legacy video, the audience was given time to ask questions of the panelists and Lewis’ widow, Loida Nicolas Lewis and his Carolyn Fugett, his mother. Loida Nicolas Lewis played in integral role in the production of the event celebrating the life and legacy of her husband.One of the highlights of the celebratory birthday program was the entrance of Lewis’ 92 year-old mother, Carolyn Fugett who received a standing ovation as she entered the room with a supporting cane. Fugett spoke affectionately about her son and his words of wisdom which he often quoted to audiences, “Keep going, no matter what. “ Students from Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, Reginald F. Lewis High School, and National Academy Foundation School to attended the Lewis celebration.

Jean S. Fugett, Jr., brother of Reginald F. Lewis and former TLC Executive

Keith Perrin FUBU CoFounder

Lin Hart, classmate, Virginia State University

Photos by Dr. A. Lois De Laine

Carolyn Fugett, mother of Reginald F. Lewis

Wanda Draper, Executive Director, RFL Museum

William C. Slattery, Classmate, Harvard Law School

Charles Robinson, panel moderator, anchor, Maryland Public Television

The AFRO’s Lenora Howze and Loida N. Lewis, widow of Reginald F. Lewis

Clarence “Tiger” Davis, classmate, Dunbar High School

To purchase this digital photo page contact Takiea Hinton: thinton@afro.com or 410-554-8277

Marilyn Crawford president and CEO, Primetime POPS

December 16, 2017 - December 22, 2017, The Afro-American

ARTS & CULTURE

C1

Actress Shein Mompremier Joins Superhero Drama ‘Black Lightning’

By Nadine Matthews Special to the AFRO Shein Mompremier doesn’t believe in luck. “I think it’s really simple’” she tells the AFRO, “Luck happens to people who work really hard. You need to be brave, bold, not take no for an answer, you need to have balls and you need to be focused.”

That attitude is perhaps why at such an early stage in her career, she has landed a major role on the CW network’s Mara Brock-Akil (“Being Mary Jane”, “Girlfriends”) produced “Black Lightning.” Based on the DC comic book character, the series centers around “retired superhero” Jefferson Pierce, aka Black Lightning, a high school principal who becomes a vigilante. His daughter Anessa also has superpowers. “Black Lightning” is the CW’s first drama with a predominantly Black cast.

An only child born and raised in Miami, growing up Mompremier says she was “awkward and a dreamer.” She was also a preacher’s kid who “spoke fluent Creole” and loved the array of gustatory choices her hometown offered. “There are Caribbeans galore down here,” she says. “That’s why the food is so good.” She has made peace with her strict, sheltered upbringing. “My parents were protecting me from a lot of the crazy things happening. I completely understand now.” She also remembers being a good student who loved dance. She took, “ballet, modern, jazz, tap, and African dance” Mompremier is currently back living in Miami after wrapping shooting on “Black Lightning,” which filmed a few states away in Georgia. “That’s where the real southern hospitality is,“ she says. After a delay due to her father’s illness and recent passing, she is making plans to finally move to Los Angeles.

Of her character Chenoa, the five foot nine beauty explains, “I was drawn to her because I really just saw someone in love.

I understand she’s queer and that’s different but is it really though?”

Chenoa plays a queer character with a love interest. “They are just two people who love each other. People are people

(Courtesy photo)

Shein Mompremier plays a queer character on the upcoming superhero drama ‘Black Lightning.’ at the end of the day.” Of the qualities she admires in her character and why she thinks viewers will like her, she says, “I really like Chenoa because she loves hard, she’s unapologetic and she knows what she wants. She is this really fierce spirit.

Hey Joe: Baltimore Lines Up All-Star Tribute to Hendrix

By Sean Yoes Baltimore AFRO Editor syoes@afro.com If he had lived, Jimi Hendrix, the electric guitar god, who was arguably the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music would have turned 75, Nov. 27.

On Dec. 16, internationally acclaimed singer Navasha Daya, along with several other world class musicians will honor the iconic Hendrix at the Creative Alliance performance space in Highlandtown during, “A Soulful Rock and Roll (Courtesy photo) Tribute to Jimi Hendrix.”

Navasha Daya headlines an all-star tribute to Jimi “He was an artist that Hendrix at the Creative Alliance on Dec. 16. spoke truth without fear, he just said what needed to be said,” Daya, who produced and curated the tribute to synthesizer.

Hendrix, along with guitarist and producer The Hendrix tribute will also feature Fanon Hill (who is Daya’s husband), told the special guests performing with Daya AFRO. including: Kelly Bell, veteran vocalist of The “We don’t know what would have Kelly Bell Band; singer Katrina Ford, of the happened if he had stayed here because he group Celebration; and powerhouse vocalist was so innovative,” Daya added.

Jonathan Gilmore, of Jonathan Gilmore Hendrix died in 1970 at age 27 and the Experience. Daya will also reunite and recorded four albums; “Are You with the avant-garde keyboardist Lafayette Experienced?” (1967), “Axis: Bold as Love” Gilchrist, leader of The New Volcanoes. Daya (1967), and “Electric Ladyland” (1968) with recently collaborated with Gilchrist on his The Jimi Hendrix Experience band and one last album, “New Urban World Blues.” live album, “Band of Gypsys,” which he “Lafayette Gilchrist, if I can quote him, he recorded the year he died. said that Jimi Hendrix influenced everybody, Recently, Experience Hendrix and Legacy on every instrument,” Daya said. “He didn’t Recordings announced they will release just influence people who played guitar, he Hendrix’s “Both Sides of the Sky,” Mar. influenced Miles Davis, he influenced other 9, 2018. The 13 track album includes 10 singers...as far as expanding the ear, because Hendrix songs that have never been released. he heard so far out. So, people were expanded The new album is the third in a trilogy from by his presence.”

Hendrix. “Valleys of Neptune,” was released Hendrix’s ubiquity in music is that much in 2010 and “People, Hell and Angels,” which more remarkable given that he only recorded was released in 2013. four albums in a few short years. Yet, his Daya will sing Hendrix’s songs alongside influence as a virtuoso performer transcends of some of Baltimore’s most talented genres and eras. musicians, many of whom have performed “What he represented was freedom and around the world. real gut music. He was an excellent baby Guitarist Matthew Chase (Jazz is PHSH, of the Blues. I think if I was Muddy Waters James Brown Dance Party) is the musical and all of them I would be like, `That is my director for the concert and has been playing baby!’” Daya said. with Daya since she began her solo career in “For me as a vocalist it is about honoring 2010. Daya describes Chase as, “a serious his music and then singing Navasha Daya.

Jimi Hendrix student.” The rest of the When you think about Rock and Roll, it is Hendrix band includes: Blue Jenkins on bass, really in the Blues and I want to honor that Charles Wilson on drums and Dre King on lineage, that it comes from Black people.”

You have to really be a grounded and strong individual to deal with her.”

The significance of a Black female queer relationship on a superhero series is not lost on her. “I feel like I rarely see that on TV; Black, queer women. When I am filming, I don’t think about that because it’s so big. Doing something that I think is important for a lot of people to see. I feel blessed to do it.

It really is an honor to be able to tell that story. It’s definitely needed.”

“I always knew I wanted to act. Any other time, I always cared who was watching except when I was performing,” Mompremier remembers. However, she only minored in Theater when she went to University of Florida out of respect for her parents. “I did Pre-Med, I majored in Psychology at the University of Florida. I hated it but I worked really hard because my parents paid my whole way and I had to make sure I finished my studies in something that seemed sustainable.”

It took a lot of shoring up of her courage to tell her parents when she decided to pursue acting but the gnawing desire to act helped her push past the fear. “There was that breaking point where I wanted to be free and not care about expectations. I realized at the end of the day my family wanted me to be happy so eventually they will support and accept me. “I knew I might not make it, I knew I might end up starving, and I still wanted it. I knew I just had to trust God.” Her parents eventually came around.

After college, she signed up for acting classes in Miami.

Mompremier also trained at acting intensives in schools all over the country. “I had to piece together my training the best that I could and what I could afford at the time,” she says.

Luckily, technology makes it possible to audition on tape while she stayed in Miami. She also, after much persistence, found the Applegate Agency. “There was one person who believed in my talent. I went there and did monologues for Susan Applegate and so she sent me out in the most film and acting work.” In short order, Mompremier landed “Black Lightning” and the rest, as they say, is history.

Black Lightning debuts Jan. 16 on the CW and the CW app.

AFRO Sports Desk FACEOFF

Does the Frequently Viewed Ryan Shazier Injury Make You Reconsider Dangers of Football?

By Perry Green and Stephen D. Riley AFRO Sports Desk The NFL is under fire nationwide. Social issues and domestic violence problems aside, injuries this season have taken a toll on players and viewers alike.

The popularity the sport proudly enjoyed through a media boom in the late ‘90s has dried up, with (AP Photo/Frank Victores) concussion studies and the Pittsburgh Steelers inside linebacker Ryan Shazier lies on overall violence of the league the field after an injury in the first half of an NFL football diminishing participation and viewership over the past few game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Dec. 4 in Cincinnati. seasons. Last Monday night’s adults. It’s different for youth participants, game between the Pittsburgh because parents are the ones making the Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals was another choice. Participation might be down across reminder of how physical and dangerous the country, but football’s popularity has never football can be. been greater. Fantasy football and prolific Live viewers stopped in their tracks as gambling continue to keep football afloat, Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier lay on the and as long as those components remain, then turf screaming for medical attention after a football will survive. run-of-the-mill tackle rendered him paralyzed Riley: It wasn’t just Shazier’s injury. That on the ground and unable to move his legs.

Steelers/Bengals game left a few players Shazier suffered a spinal contusion and concussed and one player without the ability doctors have been reluctant to release further to move his legs. Health concerns are a serious information, but it sounds as if his condition problem for the league, and games like that do will improve. Shazier’s injury was scary, and nothing for that image. a reminder of why youth participation has I’ve been a football die-hard since my dwindled across the county. Will his injury teenage years in the mid ‘90s, but as a fully scare more viewers away from football? Perry grown adult with children of my own, I just Green and Stephen D. Riley of the AFRO cannot wholeheartedly commit to seeing my Sports Desk debate this important question. son play football without some reservations in the back of my mind. And I’m pretty positive Riley: As the proud parent of an active I’m not the only parent that feels this way. seven-year-old who plays tackle football, it We’re all desperately hoping that Shazier was frightening to see. Thoughts of removing recovers fully. The NFL is desperately hoping my child from the sport quickly surfaced as well. and this incident will weigh heavily into my Green: I agree that Shazier’s future will decision on whether he’ll play next fall.

Viewers cannot handle seeing an injury like have a great impact on the NFL going forward, but I don’t believe it will stop the kids who that, where a normal hit suddenly becomes really want to play football from playing. life-changing. Shazier may struggle to walk These are interesting times for football in again, let alone play football. The NFL is America. powerless to do anything about those type of Parents are frightened—and rightfully occurrences—and that’s what makes them so—but kids are so impressed with the Odell even more concerning.

Beckhams and Tom Bradys of the NFL that Green: The NFL has always had freaky occurrences that have left players permanently they’ll continue to play and try to emulate their heroes. In a sense, society used to place injured, but has not always had the type of football above life; it became religion for media exposure that constantly replays what people on Sundays throughout the season. The we just saw a week ago. Injuries, concussions passion and obsession might not be the same, and even the risk of paralysis comes with but the love of the game remains despite what playing a collision sport like football. happens on the field.

Players willingly sign up for football as

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December 16, 2017 - December 22, 2017, The Afro-American

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WASHINGTON-AREA Despite GOP Congress, D.C. Statehood Commission Moves Forward

D.C. Public Schools

How to Fix Broken System

By Shantella Y. Sherman Special to the AFRO ssherman@afro.com

By James Wright Special to the AFRO jwright@afro.com While it looks unlikely that the residential and commercial areas of the District of Columbia will become the state of Washington, D.C. during the Republican-led U.S. Congress, the city agency charged with getting statehood is moving forward undeterred.

On Dec. 6, the D.C. Statehood Commission held its last meeting of the year at the John A. Wilson Building, including D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D), D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D), D.C. Statehood Sens.

Paul Strauss (D) and Michael Brown (D) and D.C. Statehood Rep. Franklin Garcia (D).

Bowser said legislative activity on Capitol Hill makes the need for statehood for the District critical. “It is important that the work in front of us proceeds,” the mayor said. “In recent weeks, there has been substantial legislation that has been passed in the Congress Continued on D2

D.C. Students; Among First to Board Mobile STEM Bus

(Photos by Brianna Rhodes)

Students and staff at Columbia Heights Educational Campus Middle School try out the new Verizon Innovative Learning explorer lab. simulated environments such as Mars and the solar system to experience the mobile bus high-tech features. The features include a 360 degree movie-quality video, special effects and Students from Columbia Heights Educational Campus, a hands-on educational gaming to help students feel like real life middle school, in Northwest Washington, D.C. turned into scientists and explorers. scientists as a mobile bus turned into Mars on Dec. 11.

The project started about and a year and half ago with the Columbia Heights goal of offering an Educational Campus students experience to students were amongst the first in the that was mobile and to “It’s all about reinforcing that engineering nation to experience the new visit a large number of curriculum and the idea is to let students know schools to help bring mobile explorer, a part of the Verizon Innovative Learning excitement around that engineering can be fun…” program that provides students STEM and technology, with access to technology and – Carrie Hughes according to Hughes.

STEM education.

“After this “It’s all about reinforcing experience when that engineering curriculum and the idea is to let students know they’ve designed their Rover and changed things out on their that engineering can be fun because a lot of students don’t Rover to go over the Mars terrain, Hughes said, then we take understand engineering or they think it’s very boring,” Carrie them back to the classroom and do follow up activities that Hughes, director of strategy and operations for the Verizon basically say you just did engineering.”

Foundation, told the {AFRO}.

Continued on D2 The mobile explorer enables students to be transported to By: Brianna Rhodes Special to the AFRO

Courtesy Photo

Sibley Memorial Hospital, part of Johns Hopkins Medicine, is located in predominantly White Ward 3.

Ward Infinity

Sibley Hospital Looks to Improve Health in East End of D.C.

By James Wright Special to the AFRO jwright@afro.com One of the most established hospitals in the District of Columbia has started a program that will assist residents of Ward 7 and Ward 8 in meeting their health needs, amid worries that communities East of the River are not getting proper access to healthcare facilities.

Sibley Memorial Hospital, located in Ward 3 in Northwest D.C., and a member of the Johns Hopkins Medicine network, has launched Ward Infinity, a program that aims to speed up innovation in community health in the East End of the city.

Ward Infinity, which launched in the summer, issued a call for applications from teams of residents from Wards 7 and 8 to develop and implement creative solutions to help improve the health and lives of their neighbors.

“We serve all of our community,” Marissa I. McKeever, the director of government and community affairs for Sibley, told the AFRO. “This is an extension and reflection of our founding mission.”

Sibley was founded in 1890 and offers a 318-bed medical facility that offers medical services, surgery, intensive care, obstetric, oncology, orthopedic and skilled nursing inpatient

Continued on D3

Armstrong Williams is no longer in the free newspaper business.

That’s because the same local reporter who tweeted that Armstrong Williams, Ben Carson’s business manager, planned to bid on D.C.’s Washington City Paper, recently tweeted that the media mogul told him he will not be the next owner of the paper.

“I’m going to stay in the space I’m welcome: television stations,” Ben Terris, a writer for the Washington Post tweeted the media mogul saying on Dec. 11.

The change of direction seems sudden when on Dec. 7, Williams’ spokesman Shermichael Singleton confirmed to the AFRO via email that Williams has made a bid for the paper.

“Mr. Williams has always been committed to journalism, both print and media,” Singleton wrote. “His interest in WCP is out of respect and admiration for the history of the paper and the role it has played in D.C. As the media landscape changes because of technology, Mr. Williams understands the importance of preserving such institutions as the Washington City Paper, hence his interest in it.”

Courtesy photo

Armstrong Williams is no longer bidding for ownership of the Washington City Paper.

However, it was not the possibility of Williams’ acquisition of a paper that caused buzz in the Beltway.

Instead, it was the type of

earlier that month. According to the Post, a number of these same staffers “have discussed the possibility of quitting.”

Williams’ attempted acquisition of the City Paper, like many of his previous actions, is wrought with controversy and uncertainty.

Continued on D2

Continued on D2

campaign strategist for 2016 presidential candidate Ben Carson.

But Williams said that the unlikelihood of the match is one of the reasons the conservative operative wanted to buy the paper.

“My goal is to make the City Paper so good people will be saying, ‘Are you sure Armstrong Williams is the owner of this paper?’” he told the Washington Post. “That would be a success.”

Unsurprisingly, City Paper employees don’t seem as optimistic about the news of their potential new boss.

Mother Jones, which initially broke the story in November, reported that employees learned of Williams’ interest

“I’m going to stay in the space I’m welcome: television stations.”

– Armstrong Williams paper he was eying. Known for progressive prose and alternative stories, the publication is viewed by many as an unlikely match for Williams, who gained notoriety for his right-ofcenter views, his defense of Clarence Thomas during the 1991 Supreme Court confirmations, and as a

Photo by Shantella Sherman

D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Antwan Williams is working with residents to improve the public school system. develop DCPS’s Strategic Priorities Initiatives. Using a budgeting pie-chart of core areas, Wilson asked how best to budget for the areas of literacy, technology, attendance, and social emotional learning.

“This is a school issue where conversations need to be had about what school procedures are in conjunction with what District procedures are and how we are establishing criteria for our school policies and how they work,” Wilson told the roughly 75 people in attendance.

Many participants expressed frustration over funding for both core operations and extracurricular needs, in which, one grandparent, Shirley Brasswell, said it seemed like things seemed simpler when she was in school.

“I am a product of DCPS and remember Floretta McKenzie [who was schools superintendent in the 1980s] cracking that whip to make sure that all students felt safe, had access, and accomplished their goals,” Brasswell, whose grandsons attend Amidon-Bowen Elementary School in Southwest D.C., told the AFRO. “We’ve heard the tales of bedbugs and rodents, lead water, and lack of teachers, and I respect Chancellor Wilson for holding these monthly meetings with the public. It makes me feel better knowing that he may not have all the answers, but he is willing to work with us

Armstrong Williams Now Not Acquiring D.C. City Paper

By Lauren Williams Special to the AFRO

As the midpoint approaches for a school year marred by allegations of graduation fraud, a lack of qualified full-time instructors, and pest infestations, District of Columbia Public Schools Chancellor Antwan Wilson entered one of two monthly community forums Dec. 12, eager to double-down efforts for the successful matriculation of DCPS students and support of staff.

The forum, held at Eastern High School in Northeast D.C., gave instructors, members of Local School Advisory Teams, parents, and residents a chance to ask questions of Wilson and DCPS leadership and help

D2

The Afro-American, December 16, 2017 - December 22, 2017

Todd Authors Bill to Preserve Black Culture in D.C. left to live in Prince George’s County and other Washington, D.C. suburban areas.

While Todd’s legislation would not have been taken seriously 20 years ago, Culver said it is needed now more than ever.

“The African American population should be supported just like all of the groups in its population,” he said. “The city is gentrifying and the city’s past history needs to be remembered

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

On Dec. 5, the D.C. Council passed a bill, authored by council member Brandon Todd (D-Ward 4), titled “The Office on African American Affairs Establishment Act of 2017.” The bill would create an office to develop, implement and support policies and programs for Black advancement in the District. The office would also have the authority to write grants for organizations that support Black communities in D.C. “I was there at the D.C. council chambers when the bill was introduced,” Ward 7 Resident Cinque Culver told the AFRO. “This is a good thing. African Americans represent 46 percent of the city’s population and they should be studied and recognized for their contributions.”

Since its inception on July 16, 1790, the Courtesy photo District has had a significant Black population Brandon Todd, who represents Ward 4 on the D.C. because of its location close to Maryland and Council, recently authored a bill that would create Virginia and its status as the nation’s capital. In the 1850s, the District was noted for having more an office in D.C. that would solely deal with the free Blacks than slaves within its borders. In 1862, city’s Black population.

President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill into law that freed slaves in D.C. and celebrated.”

In 1955, the District was hailed as the first major city in Aaron Holmes, running for the Democratic at-large position the country to have a Black majority, with 51 percent of the on the D.C. Council in 2018, told the AFRO he likes Todd’s population at that time. In 1975, the city made major headlines bill for its grant-making authority. “I think it is important for when census figures showed that 71.5 percent of all District the District government to give grants to organizations that residents were Black, which was a high percentage at that time work to help African Americans in the city,” he said. “These in the nation for a major city and a state-level jurisdiction. The organizations will help African Americans prosper in the city high percentage of Blacks led to the District becoming known and preserve our history and legacy.” as “Chocolate City.”

Todd, who chairs the Committee on Government However, the Black population dipped below 50 percent in Operations, held a hearing on his legislation on July 6, with the 2010 as more Whites moved into the city while many Blacks majority of witnesses indicating the bill is needed. The council

member emphasized during the hearing that his bill would put the OAAA on par with the Mayor’s Office on Community Affairs such as Latino Affairs, Office of Asian and Pacific Islanders and African Affairs.

While the OAAA bill has support, there are also doubters. “I don’t like this bill at all,” Ralph Chittams Sr., told the {AFRO}.

He said the District has always had a strong Black presence and for many years was run administratively and or vicariously

by Black people, and that the city has long had Blacks in management positions even before the Civil Rights Movement.

“This bill is saying that Black people need help in order

“African Americans represent 46 percent of the city’s population and they should be studied and recognized for their contributions.”

– Cinque Culver to function in D.C.,” he said. “To me that is racist. Council member Todd is saying that we as Blacks are incapable of succeeding in a city that we play a major role in managing.”

Chittams said that Todd’s grant-making authority to OAAA is suspicious. “To me, those grants are going to go to the usual cronies,” he said. “You will have these fake non-profits that will get D.C. government money and the leaders of these nonprofits will pay themselves a big fat salary while doing nothing for Black people. This is welfare for the well-connected.”

The bill is headed to D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) for her consideration. Bowser is a political ally of Todd’s and she is expected to sign it.

Statehood Continued from D1

and we have not had a voice. Tax reform has passed both houses and it is unclear what the impact on D.C. will be. Our congresswoman didn’t have a vote in the House and there is no voice or vote in the U.S. Senate from D.C.” While the residents of the District pay federal taxes and have to honor obligations of citizenship such as being drafted into the military in a time of war, the city is represented by a delegate, who can serve and vote in committees but cannot vote on the House floor. The delegate is Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives since 1991.

Bowser said the Senate’s tax reform plan “will benefit the one percent and raise taxes for the middle class.”

“Does their tax plan work for D.C.,” she said rhetorically. “We should have a vote on those deliberations.”

Beverly Perry serves as a senior advisor to Bowser and is charged with working with the

D.C. Statehood Commission. Perry said there Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Georgia, South is progress on Capitol Hill for statehood.

Carolina and New Hampshire,” she said.

“Congresswoman Norton has 141 coPerry’s staff reviewed extensive data to sponsors for her determine the target statehood bill and states. In addition, in the Senate, Sen. Perry plans to ask Tom Carper (D-Del.) local organizations has 20 co-sponsors,” to reach out to their she said. Norton national memberships introduced the to support statehood “Washington, D.C. and establish a Admission Act of speaker’s bureau.

2017” and Carper has brought forward She also noted that companion legislation the District gets 20 in his chamber. million visitors each year – D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and said that they are Perry outlined the states she and ripe for persuasion on her staff are focusing statehood. “We will have on for statehood support. “The states that we statehood education kiosks at Union Station and are targeting for D.C. statehood support are at Reagan National Airport,” she said. “Also, we Arizona, Washington, Alaska, New Mexico, are planning on having signs that show the actual

“In recent weeks, there has been substantial legislation that has been passed in the Congress and we have not had a voice.”

boundaries of the state of Washington, D.C.” While the members of the commission were satisfied with the work of Perry, there was still frustration that the statehood effort hasn’t caught on with some people. “I am angry and I think we should all be angry,” Brown said, voicing his anxiety at the media and residents who don’t show up for statehood strategy meetings.

Brown said the $75,000 budget he works with is inadequate, given that he has a website and a radio show dedicated to the cause. Strauss said that celebrities such as comedian Dave Chapelle have taken up the statehood cause and that the movement is a member of the Unrepresented People’s and Nations Organization, which recently voted to support statehood.

Garcia said that while reaching national and international audiences is great, he said local support is critical as well. “We need to make sure that D.C. statehood means something to the common D.C. citizen,” he said.

Chancellor Continued from D1

to find solutions.”

Theodora H. Brown, the advisory team chair for McKinley High School in Northeast D.C., expressed concerns over infrastructure maintenance.

“When speaking of budgeting for maintenance, that includes buildings that were renovated early and now require general upkeep to remain viable, we also must factor in the training of staff to program and maintain the technology we receive – something critical at a technology high school,” Brown told the AFRO. “But emotionally, if our students are having challenges, we need to address those issues as well. It’s a lot.”

Against a backdrop of allegations of fraudulent graduations and a Dec.1 report from local news station WJLA News 7 that 126 of 128 D.C. public school graduates required remedial courses once enrolled at the University of the District of Columbia, one H.D. Woodson High School, which is located in Northeast D.C., teacher told the AFRO that many educational goals were simply unattainable because of real-life issues such as hunger and violence.

“We’ve heard the tales of bedbugs and rodents, lead water, and lack of teachers, and I respect Chancellor Wilson for holding these monthly meetings with the public. It makes me feel better knowing that he may not have all the answers, but he is willing to work with us to find solutions.”

– Shirley Brasswell “We have students who are in classes with revolving substitutes for four months at a time, in addition to having personal crises, like coming to school hungry or dealing with sexual assault. There are a lot of issues going on in addition to passing standardized tests.”

Others concurred.

“Unless we come up with a holistic approach for helping these young people matriculate through life, not just a classroom, we are failing them,” Jacqueline Champion, a resident near Eastern High School, in Northeast D.C., told the AFRO. “The school administrators need to stop looking at education like a business and get back to breathing competency

Faith Leaders

Armstrong

Continued from D1

Eighth grade student Ivone Cherif said she enjoyed the 360 degree quality video that transports students to Mars on the bus.

“I thought that was the best,” she said. “It was fun. When I first got on it, it was surprising because I didn’t know the bus would have that.”

Cherif said while on the mobile explorer, she and her classmates designed the Rovers and placed them on Mars to collect data to study it and see if there was life or water. She said her experience made her want to go home and do more research on Mars.

Verizon prioritized bringing the hands-on tech opportunity to Title 1 schools like Columbia Heights to help introduce STEM to students who might not have access. All of the students at the school are on the free/reduced lunch program and about 30 percent of students are English language learners.

The school is also 62 percent Hispanic and 32 percent Black.

Krishunda Penn Pearson, an eighth grade Algebra I teacher, said she thought it was important for students to have this

and structure into these kids’ lives. If you graduate and can barely write your name, that is no success for the schools.”

Wilson said that the goal for each school includes ensuring student reach their full potential within a nurturing environment. Each month Wilson holds Living Room Chats, and utilizes information gathered from advisory teams and the Chancellor’s Parent Cabinet to address concerns and solicit solutions.

experience because it gives them exposure.

“When I went to college this wasn’t the normal thing,” Pearson said. “I wanted to be a lawyer. I didn’t know that I could major in computer [science] or I could do all of these type of things because we weren’t exposed to those things.

These kids can be the next person to create anything, but we have to give them that space in school to do it because sometimes they don’t have that space at home to.”

In 2017, Verizon invested $8.2 million in Washington, D.C. to expose public school students to STEM education through the various Verizon Innovative Learning programs. The programs have enabled them to reach 1,010 students and 299 teachers.

The new explorer lab will be at Columbia Heights Educational Campus until this Dec. 14. The goal is for the mobile lab to reach every public middle school in D.C. from now until June of 2018, in hopes of reaching more than 5,000 students in the sixth-eighth grades.

Continued from D1

However, this was not Williams’ first failed entrepreneurial encounter with the media world.

Singleton described him as “the largest minority owner of broadcast television stations in the United States,” and noted that Williams attempted unsuccessfully to purchase Essence Magazine and D.C.’s well-known Capitol Hill publication, The Hill.

For more than three decades, The Washington City Paper has been a source of local political news in the D.C. area.

Despite its longevity, readership and revenue have declined in recent years; in 2008, the paper declared bankruptcy.

The City Paper’s current owners, Nashville-based SouthComm, announced plans to sell the D.C. publication in October. How much SouthComm is seeking for the publication remains unclear.

December 16, 2017 - December 22, 2017, The Afro-American

AFRO

Washington, D.C.

National Harbor, 180-A Waterfront Street Shopping with the Deltas The Washington Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority in partnership with the Washington D.C. Alumnae Foundation are scheduled to host a shopping experience with Alex & Ani. The event, which is open to the public, will be held at the National Harbor, 180-A Waterfront Street on Dec. 14 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Fifteen percent of the proceeds go towards scholarships.

Rockville, Md.

11601 Neble Street Rockville Meditation Center Open House The Rockville Meditation Center, located at 11601 Neble Street, is scheduled to host an open house and introduction on Dec. 15 from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. This event hopes to provide the community with an outlet for those seeking happiness, peace, and truth. People will share stories about themselves and have the opportunity to get know more people. For more information, visit marylandmeditation.org.

CHURCH EVENTS Washington, D.C.

Greater First Baptist Church, 2701 13th Street, NW Farewell Concert Slated to Honor Famed Soloist, Director and Activist Viola B. Bradford On Dec. 16 at 5 p.m., well-wishers from across the nation will come together to say farewell and pay tribute to the ministry of famed soloist Viola B. Bradford who is leaving D.C. to relocate to Montgomery, Ala. Bradford, a civil rights and social activist, educator and recording artist, is founder of the D.C.-based Friends In Music Ministry (FIMM), which produces the annual presentation of Glenn Burleigh’s “Born To Die” Christmas Cantata. The site for the Farewell Service is Greater First Baptist Church, 2701 13th Street, NW (13th

Washington, D.C.

Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Ave, SW 4th Annual Interagency STEM Volunteer Fair On Dec. 20, the 4th Annual Interagency STEM Volunteer Fair will start from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the cafeteria at the Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Ave., SW, with the aim to connect federal employees to STEM organizations and government agencies looking for volunteers to help the community during the holiday season. The event is free. Attendees will get the opportunity to meet STEM organizations, government agencies and schools in the D.C., Maryland, and Virginia areas that need help. For more information, contact AnneMarie Horowitz at annemarie.horowitz@hq.doe.gov.

AFRO.COM

1025 Edwards Ferry Road, NE Parent’s Night Out: Gift Drive On Dec. 15 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., Topkick Martial Arts, located at 1025 Edwards Ferry Road, NE, is scheduled to host a gift drive for children between the ages of five and 12. The event will also give parents an opportunity to have a night out. The event is free, but a gift donation for the Best Kids mentoring group is requested. The event will also include games and activities. A pizza dinner will be provided. For more information, visit eventbrite.com.

•Your History •Your Community

Leesburg, Va.

and Fairmont Streets, NW), where Winston Ridley presides as the pastor and Blanche Hammond is the minister of Music. This celebration is free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Patricia Barnes Brookes at 202-438-3558 or Thelma Paige-Deneal at 202-806-7041.

5908 Dix Street, NE Community Clothes Closet Beulah Baptist Church, 5908 Dix Street, NE, is scheduled to host a Community Clothes Closet on Dec. 16 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event is free and open to all in the community. Clothes are offered on a first come, first serve basis. All items are free and will be available for men, women, and children. For more information, visit eventbrite.com.

Job Fair • Your News

WASHINGTON AREA COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS

D3

Sibley

Continued from D1 services and a state-of-the-art 24 hour Emergency Department.

Its president and CEO is Dr. Richard O. Davis. Because of its location, Sibley’s patient population tends to be majority White.

McKeever said she realized that East End residents have limited options regarding health care with the United Medical Center in Ward 8 dealing with years of financial issues, a vote of no confidence by its nurses and an abrupt management that was facilitated by D.C. Council member Vincent Gray (D-Ward 7). She said Ward Infinity is in the East End to help and not replace plans for UMC or Howard Hospital, which recently –Marissa McKeever made a deal with Unity Health Care to provide obstetrics access to lower income areas in D.C. “We are bolstering significant resources to the East End community,” she said. “We are planning on building strategic partnerships with community organizations, increasing our outreach and implementing community-based programming.”

Ward Infinity awarded grants of approximately $25,000 to four grantees, including Diane Brent-Farmer, along with her sister Hortense Brent, who have a program called “Healthcare vs. Sickcare” that will coach people to become more healthy.

Deborah Nix, along with Brenda Liddell, have a program called “Disproportionate Impact” that will focus on entrepreneurship to improve residents’ health while John Johnson, along with Tamika “Love” Jones and Jason Anderson have a program called “Hear my Voice” that will stress healing through the artistic expression of dance, music, the visual arts and storytelling. Mary Blackford, along with Jacob Clark, will focus on social entrepreneurship to improve people’s health.

McKeever said there are no plans at this time to set up Sibley facilities in the East End. “It is premature to speculate on that,” she said. “We are early in the process on this and we will access where we are down the road.”

McKeever said that the Ward Infinity grantees will point out the health priorities of the community and will apply those to their projects.

“We are aware of the ailments that afflict Ward 7 and 8 residents but those residents can also use our cancer care services,” she said.

McKeever said that the grantees and the residents are the experts on their health concerns and they will drive the program and the narrative.

“This is just the beginning,” she said. “We want the residents of Ward 7 and 8 to become change agents regarding their health issues and this program will continue to be community led.”

Ambrose Lane Jr., the leader of Ward 7’s Health Alliance Network, an umbrella organization of non-profits charged with meeting the needs of East End residents, told the AFRO that Ward Infinity “is a good attempt to try to engage community partners by Sibley.”

“I do wonder how effective it will be?” he said. “You really can’t do much with $25,000. You can create a program but is it sustainable?”

“We serve all of our community,”

Homicide Count 2017 Total

Past Seven Days

109 3

Courtesy photos Data as of Dec. 13

WASHINGTON Classifieds Continued from C5 LEGAL NOTICES

On Nov. 18, MidCity and the D.C. Department of Employment Services (DOES) hosted their first career fair at the Israel Baptist Church in the Brentwood neighborhood of Northeast Washington, D.C. The event included 44 businesses and community benefit organizations with more than 185 job seekers from across the District.

INVITES YOU AND A GUEST TO AN ADVANCE SCREENING OF

email: CUSTOMERSERVICE@AFRO.COM TO REGISTER TO WIN TICKETS! NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Supplies are limited. One pass per winner. Each pass admits two.

Seating is not guaranteed and is on a first-come, first-served basis. Employees of all promotional partners and The Afro American are not eligible. All decisions are final.

IN THEATERS DECEMBER 22 /pitchperfectmovie

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/pitchperfect www.PitchPerfectMovie

AFRO-AMERICAN

D4

The Afro-American, December 16, 2017 - December 22, 2017

Benita Sanders; Sora Spencer, mentee, 7th grade, Thomas Jefferson Middle School, Arlington, Va. and Cherie Furlow

Schnearia Ashley; Catherine Huggins, Board of Supervisors, Fairfax County; Ayris Scales, president, D.C. chapter NCBW, National Board of Directors; Rev. A.D. Syphax, Jr.; Diane Butts; Derrick Butts; Dr. Cheryl Ann Boyce and guest

Dr. Taunna Jones-Ryans and Dr. Kiana Trent

Lavern Chatman Cassandra Freeman, Monica Davis and Karen Thomas

Jackie Lucas, Shirley Anderson, LaCretia Wright and Stacy Aja Shirley Anderson, Harriet W. Reid, Ora Clark Brown, Lessie Carmichael-Drew and Sheila Bryant

Lillie Easley Parker; Dr. Taunna Jones-Ryans; Denise Burke; Sheila Bryant, chapter president and Dr. Kiana Trent

Evon Ervin, Inqa Marie Ervin and Jackie Thompson

National Coalition of 100 Black Women (NCBW), Northern Virginia Chapter held its 33rd Annual Luncheon Forum, with the theme “Taking A Stand”-Health, Education and Economic Empowerment at the Waterford at Springfield in Springfield, on Nov. 18.

The chapter’s mission is to advocate on behalf of Black women and girls to promote leadership development and gender equality. The luncheon was held to convene

Chapter officers and members along with lifetime members

Photos by Rob Roberts

Olender Foundation Award

Patuxent River Links Masquerade Ball The Patuxent River Chapter of The Links, under the leadership of President Sandra A. M. Britt, Chair Cheryl Thomas, and Co-Chair Shani Waugh, hosted its 2nd biennial Masquerade Ball on Nov. 4 at Martins Crosswinds in Greenbelt, Md. More than 600 guests attended the black-tie affair. The program spotlighted the award-winning programs of the Patuxent River Chapter of The Links and included a special unveiling of the art piece “Sisters” by Fiber Artist Sherry Shine from New York.

Masquerade Ball Chair, Cheryl Thomas unveils Artwork “Sisters” by Artist Sherry Shine

Courtesy photos

Masquerade Ball Chair Cheryl Thomas, CoChair Shauni Waugh, and Fiber Artist Sherry Shine

Lisa Loury Lomus and Gloria Parker

Three “Best Mask” Winners

Jack Olender and Dr. Robert Gale, recipient of the Olender Foundation Peacemaker Award

Jack H. Olender, founder of Washington, D.C.-based law firm Jack H. Olender & Associates, PC and James Carter, former Olender Foundation Scholarship awardee

Dean Holly Walker and Howards Students: Dean Holly Walker and Mari Lyles (center) and Howard University law students: (left to right), Ryvelle Fitzpatrick, Vanessa Stephens, Ky’Eisha Penn, Victoria Burnette, Jennifer Breaux and Edgar Gonzalez.

Patricia Randolph-Myers and Guests Carrie and Eugene Brown, and Guests

Patuxent River (MD) Chapter of The Links, Inc. Members

University of the District of Columbia Dean Shelley Broderick, Mari Lyles (center) and student lawyers: (left to right) Tracy Hillhouse Price, James Barrow, Oral John, John Blake, Dora Miles and Denisha Jones.

Ann & Lee Everett, Guest Shirley Bowden and others

Sheila Ogilvie and Guests

Photos

by Rob Roberts

The32ndAnnualOlenderFoundationAwardswasheldonNov.29 attheWillardHotelinNorthwestD.C.TheJackandLovellOlender Foundationaimstocounterpovertyandviolenceandtopromote opportunityandequaljustice.Thefoundationawardsindividuals who make extraordinary contributions to society.

To purchase this digital photo page contact Takiea Hinton: thinton@afro.com or 410-554-8277