Baltimore Washington 12-8-2017

November 11, 2017 - November 11, 2017, The Afro-American A1 www.afro.com $2.00 $1.00

Volume Volume 127 123 No. No.19 20–22

DECEMBER 9, 2017 - DECEMBER 15, 2017

Inside AFRO Editorial: Trump’s Quest to Unwrap the President Barack Obama Legacy

NAACP: Trump Is Not Welcome

Washington

Venus and Serena Williams Hold Court in D.C.

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Baltimore

‘Chicago Med’ Actor Roland Buck Cherishes Time and Family

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A Champion Has Left Us, The AFRO’s R.B. Jones AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis

The NAACP is calling on President Donald Trump to not attend the opening of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum in Jackson, Miss. (pictured) because of his record on civil rights. Story on page A4.

Conyers Suddenly Retires Join the from Congress 600K+ Following members Scandal of the AFRO Facebook Leaves Strong Legacy on Family Civil Rights

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

NAACP

Listening to Black America

Courtesy photo

John Conyers, Jr., who served in the U.S. House from 1965-2017, has officially announced his retirement amid news of a sexual harassment scandal.

Your History • Your Community • Your News

The longest-serving member of the U.S. House of Representatives recently announced that he will step down immediately because of health reasons amid a burgeoning sexual harassment scandal.

U.S. Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), who has been a member of the U.S. Congress since 1965 and is considered the dean of the House, announced on a radio program on Dec. 5, that he will resign, effective immediately.

“I am retiring today,” Conyers said. “I am in the process of

afro.com

The NAACP is the country’s oldest and largest civil rights organization, founded in 1909. It has played a key role in helping Blacks achieve parity with Whites in the areas of housing, education, employment and political Continued on A3

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

Continued on A3

The top leaders of the NAACP held their final listening tour in the District of Columbia recently.

Leon Russell, chairman of the board of the NAACP and its president and CEO Derrick Johnson, convened an ad hoc meeting of the D.C. NAACP on Dec. 4 at the Dorothy I. Height Library in Ward 7. The meeting was emceed by D.C. NAACP President Akosua Ali. “This is a listening tour,” Russell said to the crowd of 150 people that included former D.C. Council member Yvette Alexander and members from Jersey City, N.J., Baltimore and Prince George’s County, Courtesy photo Md. “We are not here to make Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP, speeches to you. We need to re- travelled to D.C. to listen to the public’s concerns with the image our association.” organization.

62 years ago on Dec. 1 Rosa Parks helped spark a boycott movement when she refused to give up her seat on a bus to a White man. One year after the event that lead to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the AFRO interviewed her exclusively.

AFRO Archived History

‘A White Man Took My Seat’ Mar. 3, 1956

By Al Sweeney AFRO Staff Writer

New Podcast!

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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MONTGOMERY, Ala.—“I don’t know what made me do it; but it seemed like something flashed through my mind that compelled me to remain glued to my seat.

“I wanted to see what would happen to me.”

It was Mrs. Rosa Parks talking as she recalled the night of Dec. 1, 1955.

She was seated on a Cleveland Ave. bus. It was crowded with evening rush-hour passengers.

The driver stopped the bus in front of the Empire Theatre and shouted back: “’All right you folks, let me have the seats.’

“A man seated next to me and two women across the aisle

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Copyright © 2017 by the Afro-American Company

Health Corner Lung Cancer Disproportionately Hits Black Men

By Shantella Y. Sherman Special to the AFRO ssherman@afro.com Despite rigorous outreach and cessations programs, Black men continue to make up a growing number of new cases of lung cancer in the United States – a trend that has been on the increase since 1950 and is attributed largely to smoking.

William J. Hicks, professor of Clinical Medicine Division of Hematology and Oncology at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, found that healthcare providers’ lack of knowledge about cultural influences on care is a barrier to providing Continued on A3

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

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Wisconsin Gov. Walker Moving Ahead with Controversial Plan to Drug Test Food Stamp Recipients

By The Associated Press

Founded by John Henry Murphy Sr., August 13, 1892 Chairman of the Board/Publisher - John J. Oliver, Jr.

spokesman Tom Evenson said the governor believes he has the authority to implement the rule.

The Legislature has four months to review the rule and it could take a year after its approval before the testing would begin. Lawsuits by those who oppose the drug testing are expected once it’s implemented, assuming the federal government doesn’t step in and block it in the meantime.

3 Philadelphia Teens Charged as Adults in Fatal Beating of Homeless Man Who Was Robbed

By The Associated Press

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(Angela Major/The Janesville Gazette via AP)

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker moved ahead with his plans to make Wisconsin the first state to drug test able-bodied adults applying for food stamps, a move blocked by the federal government or found to be unconstitutional when other states have tried.

Gov. Scott Walker moved ahead Dec. 4 with his plans to make Wisconsin the first state to drug test able-bodied adults applying for food stamps, a move blocked by the federal government or found to be unconstitutional when other states have tried.

Wisconsin’s plan was approved by the Republicancontrolled Legislature more than two years ago, but it languished because it conflicts with federal rules prohibiting states from imposing additional eligibility criteria on food stamp recipients.

Florida had a drug test requirement for food stamp recipients that a federal appeals court blocked in 2014, finding it violated constitutional protections against unreasonable searches. Walker filed a federal lawsuit in 2015 seeking approval to test food stamp applicants, but it was rejected because then-President Barack Obama’s administration had not yet formally rejected the state’s request to do the testing.

Walker asked then-President elect Donald Trump’s administration in December 2016 to make clear that drug screening is permissible, but it has not taken action and now Walker is moving ahead anyway.

Walker approved a rule change to implement the screening and sent it to the Legislature for review Monday. Walker

(Philadelphia Police Department via AP)

14-year-old Brandon Conrad (l), 16-year-old Malik Page (c), and 17-year-old Emmanuel Harris (r) have been charged with the fatal beating death of a 57-year-old homeless man in Philadelphia.

Police have charged three teen boys with the fatal beating death of a 57-year-old homeless man in Philadelphia.

The teens were taken into custody Dec. 3 and charges were released Monday.

Police were responding to reports of a robbery in progress on Nov. 26 when they found Kevin Cullen on the ground unconscious with his pockets empty.

The man was transported to a nearby hospital, and he died from his injuries the next day.

Fourteen-year-old Brandon Conrad and 16-year-old Malik Page face murder, robbery and related charges in Cullen’s death. Seventeen-year-old Emmanuel Harris is charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, robbery and related offenses.

No attorney information is available for the teens, who were charged as adults.

Investigators are trying to determine if the trio was involved in another assault.

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

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

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Black America Continued from A1

empowerment.

The NAACP has more than 2,000 units that consist of youth, college and prison branches that deal with a wide range of issues on a non-partisan basis. Its membership is predominantly Black and its national headquarters are located in Baltimore.

The District was the last stop on the tour with Russell and Johnson conducting listening tours in Detroit, Niagara Falls, N.Y., Los Angeles, Nashville, Tenn., Des Moines, Iowa and San Antonio.

Russell called out a number of issues such as education, health care, youth empowerment, voting rights as things the NAACP works on but he wanted to know from the audience whether those should remain priorities.

“Where do we need to be on those issues?” he asked rhetorically. “What do our units need to do? Give us an idea what we need to be working on.”

Russell and Johnson got an earful. People talked about national and local issues, often passionately.

Wylie Webb a resident of Ward 7, complained about the accessibility of D.C. NAACP meetings and its impact on the local level.

“The location of the meeting is a problem for me,” Webb

said. The D.C. NAACP general body meetings take place at the Thurgood Marshall Center located on 12th Street., N.W. on the second Thursday of the month.

Webb said parking is “horrible” in that part of the city.

“I had to drive around for 30 minutes before I found a parking spot,” she said. Webb also said the D.C. NAACP leaders need to have a stronger presence in the city.

“I don’t see the NAACP in the community,” she said. “The leaders of the branch need to write op-eds in the newspaper about what is going on in the city and get involved in local issues.”

Charles Lockett, a Ward 5 resident who used to live in Ward 7, said the NAACP needs to focus more on economic empowerment and development.

“I don’t see economics,” he said. “There is only one Safeway in this area but in Ward 5, where I live, there is economic development taking place at South Dakota Avenue with supermarkets planned.

Lockett suggested that the D.C. NAACP form a focus group that will emphasize neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River.

Ali, who is a resident of Ward 7, said any concerns about the ward need to be brought to the attention of the branch.

“This will help us focus our efforts,” she said.

Algernon Austin, a well-known progressive economist, spoke about his local struggles with violence.

“I used to live in Ward 7 but I moved because someone got shot on my street,” Austin said. “I think the NAACP should fight the National Rifle Association because there are too many guns in our streets.”

Johnson was ready to respond to the concerns of the audience.

“The hardest thing to do is to sit and listen and not respond,” he said. Johnson said NAACP units are active in fighting voter suppression in Alabama with the special election for the U.S. Senate that will take place on Dec. 12 and made a pitch for same day registration and voting as well as advocating compulsory voting, where citizens are required to cast a ballot or face a fine.

He said the organization will emphasize the need for Blacks to vote in mid-term elections in large numbers, not just in presidential years.

He talked about fighting efforts to romanticize slavery and blame Blacks for it in some textbooks in Texas and startled some in the audience about his knowledge of the District. “This community here is slated for re-gentrification,” Johnson, who is from Mississippi, said.”We have issued a call to action and we will commit our time and energy to make this work.”

James Clyburn (D-S.C.) called for him to step down.

Conyers, 88, leaves Capitol Hill with a potent legislative record. He was the primary sponsor of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday bill that President Reagan signed in 1983 and has passed bills that have expanded voter access to the ballot.

He was a primary force behind the passage of the Violence Against Women Act in 1994 and the Alcohol Warning Label Act of 1988, and the Jazz Preservation Act of 1987. Conyers supported statehood for the District of Columbia, often following the lead of D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) on issues relating to the city and was a strong proponent of legislation leveling sanctions against apartheid South Africa in the 1980s.

Conyers, along with the late Barbara Jordan of Texas, were eloquent voices in the impeachment hearings of President Nixon in the 1970s and even though he was a freshman, he helped to pass the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Conyers has sponsored a bill that would study reparations for Blacks as a result of the legacy of slavery and recently authored legislation that would establish a single-payer healthcare system in the United States.

In 2007, the NAACP awarded Conyers its prestigious

Spingarn Award, an award given to Blacks who have made the highest or noblest achievement.

Conyers was also a co-founder of the Congressional Black Caucus. He is the last founder of the CBC to leave the Congress.

Kamara Jones, the spokeswoman for the CBC, told the AFRO that U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.), who serves as the caucus chairman, hasn’t made a statement on the departure of Conyers.

Conyers served as chairman of the Oversight and Judiciary committees and was the ranking Democrat when the Republicans controlled the House chamber. He ran for mayor of Detroit unsuccessfully in 1989 and 1993.

Conyers is a graduate of Wayne State University undergrad and its law school. He worked for Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) before becoming a member of Congress.

Conyers said that he wants his son, John Conyers III, to succeed him but there are reports that Ian Conyers, a state senator in Michigan and a great-nephew, is interested in the congressional seat, too.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) has to call a special election to replace Conyers as a result of receiving his resignation letter.

Conyers Continued from A1 putting together my retirement plans. I will have more on that soon.

“My legacy can’t be compromised or diminished in any way by what we are going through now. This too shall pass. My legacy will continue through my children.”

Towards the end of November, news leaked of a sexual harassment settlement between Conyers and a former staffer. The House ethics committee is currently investigating the settlement that was paid with taxpayer money. Since news of the settlement broke, other women have come forward with sexual harassment allegation against the Michigan congressman. But, Conyers isn’t the only congress member to face sexual harassment accusations.

On Dec. 6, several Senate Democrats called for the resignation of Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) after seven women came forward with sexual harassment allegations.

The representative formally submitted his letter of resignation to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and U.S. House Speaker Paull Ryan (R-Wisc.). Both Pelosi and Ryan wanted Conyers to step down because of allegations of sexual harassment in his years on Capitol Hill.

Even Conyers’s old friend, Assistant Democratic Leader

Health Continued from A1 adequate healthcare to individuals of different ethnic groups – particularly Black men.

“A person’s risk of getting lung cancer from cigarette smoking increases the longer he smokes, the more he smokes, and the deeper he inhales. Smoking low tar cigarettes does not prevent someone from getting lung cancer,” Hicks concluded in his report.

“Importantly, if a person quits smoking, his risk of getting lung cancer declines. The longer a person goes without smoking, the greater that person’s risk declines. It is never too late to quit because a person’s risk declines somewhat no matter how long he has been smoking.”

According to the CDC, the vast majority of lung cancers could be prevented by not smoking with as many as 83 percent of lung cancer deaths in men caused by cigarette smoking. An estimated 17,050 deaths from lung cancer occurred among Blacks in 2016, with a death rate of 3.3 percent among Black men.

Hicks’ research, which culminated in the report “Too Many Cases, Too Many Deaths: Lung Cancer in African Americans,” and presented by the American Lung Association, suggested the popularity of menthol cigarettes among Black men could be the major cause for disparities between Black and White smokers. Citing increased levels of cotinine, a byproduct of nicotine in the blood of menthol cigarette smokers, the report said increased cancer diagnosis may be attributed to higher nicotine exposure and more severe levels of addiction.

Yet, few Black males are screened or diagnosed until late stage

AFRO Archived History

Continued from A1

gave up their seats. I remained seated. “’Look woman. I told you I wanted the seat. If you don’t get up, I will call the police, he said.

“I told him to go on and call them.

“He did. When I got up a white man took my seat, because only white men were standing.

“After I got off the bus, the policeman asked the driver if he only wanted me to get off the bus or did he want to file a complaint.

“He said he would file it after he made his run. They took me to jail and locked me up until he made the complaint.

“After that I don’t know what happened. Things have happened to fast.”

“On Dec. 4 I was fined. On Dec. 5 the protest of my arrest began.

That’s how it all started.”

Mrs. Parks stands 5-feet 4-inches tall. She wears smartly tailored suits.

When arrested she altered garments in the alteration department of one of Montgomery’s largest department stores: the Montgomery Fair.

“About a month and two days later,” she reveals, “I was told by the personnel manager they were going to close the alteration department so my services were no longer needed.”

She is married to R. A. Parks and resides at 634 Cleveland Ct. Although a native of nearby Tuskegee, the 43-year-old matron has lived in Montgomery all of her life.

Retiring and perfectly poised, she doesn’t appear to fit the role in which she is now cast.

“The letters and words of cheer from all over the nation are wonderful,” she said.

cancers have been detected. According to Hicks, race may be to blame. “Knowledge about cultural differences, respect for individual opinions about health and illness, and ability to negotiate differences are essential qualities for health professionals who serve culturally diverse populations,” Hicks writes.

“Because of the morbidity and mortality rates associated with lung cancer in the African-American population, prevention, early detection, and treatment programs are needed urgently.”

Hicks’ findings are further exemplified by regional healthcare providers. “There are a lot of reasons that people put off seeking medical attention, but research shows that early detection provides the best hope for a cure,” Dr. Kala Davis-McDonald, chief of Pulmonary Medicine at Saint Agnes Healthcare, a hospital in Baltimore, said in a statement.

However, early detection doesn’t fix the problem. According to the report, Blacks were more likely than Whites to refuse treatment, including surgeries to remove cancers or accept physician recommendations, which support Hicks’ assessment that disparities remain a problem of trust.

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

NAACP Objects to Trump Attending Mississippi Civil Rights Museum Opening Trump’s Attendance “An Affront to The Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement”

movement.”

White House spokeswoman Sarah President Donald Trump’s plan Huckabee Sanders said earlier Tuesday to attend the grand opening of a that protests and boycotts of the event Mississippi civil rights museum is would be “honestly, very sad.” drawing pushback, including from the “I think this is something that NAACP. should bring the country together to White House spokeswoman Sarah celebrate the opening of this museum Huckabee Sanders said Dec. 5 that and highlighting (the) Civil Rights Trump will travel to the state on Movement and the progress that Saturday to help open the Museum of we’ve made. And would I hope that Mississippi History and the Mississippi those individuals would join in that Civil Rights Museum as he celebrates celebration instead of protesting it,” she the state’s bicentennial. said.

But the NAACP said in a statement Trump has been criticized for that Trump should cancel his planned racially charged tweets and comments, appearance because of his record on including blaming “both sides” for (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) civil rights issues. Other activists are violence at a deadly white supremacist Ellie Dahmer, foreground, wife of Vernon Dahmer of Hattiesburg, who was killed in 1966 also threatening to boycott or protest rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. by the Ku Klux Klan, their daughter Bettie Dahmer, and an older brother Harold, right, Trump’s participation. view some of the artifacts in the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum during a private preview Trump has also been critical of NFL in Jackson, Miss. Dahmer was targeted because he encouraged fellow African-Americans players who kneel during the national “President Trump’s statements and to register to vote during the Jim Crow era. policies regarding the protection and anthem to protest police violence and enforcement of civil rights have been racism. abysmal,” NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson said in a statement. He Trump visited the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History called Trump’s planned attendance “an affront to the veterans of the civil rights and Culture in Washington this year.

By The Associated Press

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

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COMMENTARY

AFRO Editorial Trump’s Quest to Unwrap the President Barack Obama Legacy What is it Really?

Recently Trump reportedly revived the birther theory that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States – a ridiculous assertion that Trump had previously raised in his attempt to disqualify Obama from becoming our president. Once the Trump assertions were proven time and again invalid, Trump finally admitted the U.S. citizenry of Barack Obama was authentic.

The Trump revival of his previously admitted “fake” birther campaign has raised less concerns about Obama than about Trump himself.

Trump reportedly told his White House aides in private conversations that he would have done better in the polls if he had continued to question the legitimacy of Obama’s birth.

“One senator who listened as the president revived his doubts about Mr. Obama’s birth certificate chuckled on Tuesday as he recalled the conversation,” according to The New York Times. “The president, he said, has had a hard time letting go of his claim that Mr. Obama was not born in the United States.”

It is unclear what Trump stands to gain by raising the Obama birther issue since the Trump assertions obviously had no impact upon the Obama two term presidency. Trump’s questionable fixation on Obama’s birth is apparently a small part of an overall Trump focus on dismembering every major Obama Administration legislation that Obama established during his eight years in the White House.

Starting with the Affordable Care Act, Trump, until now, has been unable to legislatively achieve any of his campaign threats to undo the Obama legislative footprint on this country.

Trump’s quixotic quest to undue the Obama legacy nevertheless sadly continues.

Some lawmakers are privately saying Trump is mentally “unhinged. We fear that this may be true--- but don’t take our word alone for it. Dr. Brandy X. Lee, a forensic psychiatrist at the Yale School of Medicine, wrote a letter to The New York Times essentially saying what many have whispered about for months: That Trump is irrational, irresponsible and flat-out dangerous.

“We are currently witnessing more than his usual state of instability — in fact, a pattern of decompensation: increasing loss of touch with reality, marked signs of volatility and unpredictable behavior, and an attraction to violence as a means of coping,” Lee wrote. “These characteristics place our country and the world at extreme risk of danger…We urge the public and the lawmakers of this country to push for an urgent evaluation of the president.”

Trump’s incendiary rhetoric has taken America to the brink of a nuclear war with North Korea. He has consistently inflamed the Moslem middle-east countries with his racist immigration actions, and most recently upset the future of peace talks involving Israel and its neighboring Moslem countries by announcing the U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of

Israel.

We hope an evaluation of Trump’s abilities to continue in office occurs before he cripples this country. Texas Congressman Al Green reportedly will shortly bring articles of impeachment to the floor of the House of Representatives. Given the stagnation currently existing in this Republican controlled Congress we are not optimistic about the future of that effort, nor of the United States under Trump’s leadership.

Why Maryland Needs Medicare for All

Right now in 2017, we live in the state with the highest median income in the richest country in the history of the world. At the same time, more than 350,000 of us lack health insurance and total healthcare spending has increased by more than a trillion dollars in the last decade, choking small businesses and pushing our neighbors into poverty.

The current system isn’t working, and we have a moral and economic imperative to act.

Marylanders deserve a better deal on healthcare and if Washington won’t act, we will. There is no structural reason for hundreds of thousands of Marylanders being unable to afford healthcare. We know how to fix our current system and we have the resources available to do it.

But we haven’t. That is unconscionable.

It is long past time for change. A true Medicare for All system that extends affordable and quality healthcare to every Marylander – and saves countless lives in the process – is well within our grasp. Getting it done requires the courage to stand up to both the special interests who profit off our current system’s shortcomings and to those whose lack of political will continues to hold us back.

Maryland is better positioned than any other state to make universal healthcare a reality. In fact, Maryland’s existing “All-

Ben Jealous

Payer” system makes this plan a natural progression rather than a radical change. Since Governor O’Malley last updated the program in 2014, All-Payer has saved $429 million and helped foster better care for countless Marylanders. We can build on this progress to achieve Medicare for All. Nationally, we made great progress with the Affordable Care Act, but there is more to be done and there’s no question that our existing system remains broken. Our healthcare exists at the mercy of a dangerous demagogue in Washington who recently sabotaged our current system out of nothing but pure spite, causing rate increases as high as 76% in just one year.

Our governor was more than willing to stand by and let the premiums we pay skyrocket because he’s more concerned with his own political interests than with doing his job to protect Marylanders.

These shortcomings deprive Marylanders of the healthcare they need to improve their lives and hold our economy back.

Over the past 10 years, employers’ insurance rates have increased by 55% (nearly double the rate of inflation), often with sizeable and unpredictable yearly fluctuations.

As any small business owner can attest, this uncertainty reduces hiring, leading to fewer jobs and less economic growth. The model of having businesses provide healthcare has never been ideal for either employers or workers. By separating the responsibility, we can free entrepreneurs to

Buckle-Up

focus on growing their businesses and allow employees to find the best jobs available without worrying about losing their care.

We’re going to build a new model that will cover all Marylanders and get costs under control. No longer will families go bankrupt because a loved one suffers from a serious health condition.

All residents will be safer and healthier with access to key preventive health services like regular checkups and cancer screenings, thus reducing burdens on our health infrastructure down the road.

Marylanders will be able to choose their healthcare provider rather than be dictated to by insurance companies, and healthcare decisions will be made by healthcare providers in consultation with their patients. Any Marylander with a great idea for a new business will be able pursue that passion and enrich our economy, without fear of losing healthcare coverage for their family.

Marylanders are ready. It’s time to listen to the people and implement a Medicare for All model that will strengthen families, boost our economy, and save lives.

Let’s get to work.

Ben Jealous is the former CEO and president of the NAACP and is currently running for governor of Maryland.

The National Opioid Epidemic: Working Together to Save Lives Recently, the Reports and Recommendations issued by the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis have stressed the urgent need for effective, bipartisan and far-reaching action – action at all levels of our government and action by the American people – if we are to reduce the staggering annual death toll from this disabling and all-toooften deadly disease.

All of us who care about our families, neighbors and the future of our country should give the Opioid Commission’s comprehensive analyses of how we must respond to this epidemic our most thoughtful consideration [whitehouse.gov/ ondcp/presidents-commission].

We need only reflect on the harsh truth that at least 64,000 Americans perished from drug overdoses last year in this rapidly worsening national crisis—an increase of nearly 20% over the year before and a death toll higher than all U.S. military casualties in the Vietnam and Iraq Wars combined.

Here in Maryland, nearly 2,100 people fatally overdosed in 2016, up 66 % from 2015. About a third of these deaths, 694, occurred here in Baltimore.

The opioid crisis is a national emergency that demands a national, non-partisan response, an emergency that is harming families in Baltimore and other communities in red states, blue states and every state in between.

Our Bipartisan Commitment to Save American Lives This is why I was heartened that Republican Chairman Trey Gowdy saw the wisdom of bringing our House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins Hospital on Nov. 28 for a hearing that, hopefully, will encourage us to move forward in addressing this worsening crisis.

At the hearing, our committee’s understanding and bipartisan commitment were deepened by the testimony of the Opioid Commission’s Chair, New Jersey Governor Chris

Elijah Cummings

Christie, along with that of Mr. Richard Baum, Acting Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy; Baltimore City’s Health Commissioner, Dr. Leana Wen; and Dr. Caleb Alexander of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

The active participation by Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh and our Maryland congressional colleagues, Jamie Raskin, Dutch Ruppersberger and John Sarbanes, emphasized our bipartisan determination to stem this crisis.

As a policy-maker who has been deeply engaged in our response to addiction for decades, I also understand that overcoming our opioid crisis will require that we all re-evaluate our thinking and re-focus our strategies upon evidence-based intervention of proven merit.

In a word, overcoming this national epidemic will be challenging. Nevertheless, the passion and commitment of the witnesses and my colleagues at our Johns Hopkins hearing last week reenergized my faith that we can achieve real progress toward meeting this challenge.

The underlying message of this hearing is that addiction to opioids arises from many different sources, including the overprescribing of opioid-based medications to people who are experiencing real pain.

The implications of this insight are clear: Addiction is a disease, not a moral failing.

The stigma that we have attached to addiction can kill. We must respond to the opioid epidemic as a disease – not a moral failing – if we are to overcome this crisis.

Governor Christie and the other members of the President’s Commission on Drug Addiction have given us a blueprint for action with dozens of recommendations. Now, it’s up to all of us—Republicans and Democrats, federal, state, and local officials, researchers, policy makers, doctors, drug companies, health providers, insurance carriers, employers, and families of the faith community— to work together to end this epidemic.

Of the Opioid Commission’s many important recommendations, here are several of the actions that we can undertake now to prevent further addiction and save those who already have this disease.

First, the Commission’s report highlights the importance of equipping first responders with the overdose reversal drug, naloxone. However, drug companies have continued to hike the price of this 45-year-old drug, and communities like Baltimore have been forced to ration it.

We must assure that every single person who needs naloxone has access to this life-saving medicine at a price that they can afford.

Second, we must strengthen our cooperation with China and other nations if we are to address the growing threat of the highly potent and deadly synthetic opioids, fentanyl and carfentanil, that are entering our country from abroad.

Third, according to the Commission, “Today, only 10.6% of youth and adults who need treatment for [the disease of] substance use disorder receive that treatment.” There is simply no way we will end this crisis if 90% of those affected are not being treated for it.

We must assure that everyone who needs care has access to effective high-quality, evidence-based addiction treatment that works.

Fourth, Governor Christie, Dr. Wen and all of our witnesses were clear: to implement the Commission’s recommendations, additional federal funding will be required. We cannot fight this epidemic without funds equal to the challenge that we face.

The challenges presented by this epidemic are formidable, but so is our nation’s ability to respond.

If we work together more effectively, we have it within our power to save lives.

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

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

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

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WASHINGTON-AREA

Education

Principal Removed, Probes Launched Following Ballou H.S. Scandal

Williams Sisters Use D.C. Stop to Raise Money for Compton Anti-Violence Center

Following a news report that unearthed a graduation scandal at Ballou Senior High School, the D.C. Public schools chancellor removed its principal on Dec. 4 and reassigned her to the Central Office, officials confirmed.

The Office of the State Superintendent of Education and the D.C. Public Schools have also launched separate

–Antwan Wilson investigations that target the Southeast D.C. high school and its policies.

A joint investigative report between WAMU, American University’s radio station and NPR published Nov. 28 found the high school was graduating students who never should have walked.

Some seniors had repeated absences and others couldn’t read or write.

Willie Jackson, principal of Phelps Architecture, Construction and Engineering High School, will temporarily replace Yetunde Reeves, Continued on B2

Activists Demanding More Input

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

By Lenore T. Adkins Special to the AFRO

“We take this issue very seriously, and we know that policies must be explained clearly and implemented with fidelity.”

D.C. Criminal Justice System

The moot court of The David Clark Law School at the University of the District of Columbia filled to capacity Nov. 30 as concerned residents voiced opposition to continued control of the District’s criminal justice system by federal authorities.

Participants made it clear that with two vacant posts, the U.S. Parole Commission, which is manned by a five member body appointed by the president of the United States, could suffer critical damage under President Donald J. Trump’s leadership.

“No D.C. agency has Photo by Andre Sturdivant

Serena and Venus Williams spent the day on Dec. 2 at a tennis exhibition with local children while attending “A Family Affair” presented by Oath to benefit the Yetunde Price Resource Center and the Williams Sisters Fund at the Southeast Tennis and Learning Center in D.C. on Dec. 2.

By Lenore T. Adkins Special to the AFRO

(Dec. 4, 2017) Tennis is what made Venus and Serena famous, but it was their philanthropic work that took center court Dec. 2 at the Southeast Tennis & Learning Center in Ward 8.

The tennis icons served up “A Family Affair” to bring people together to combat violence and raise money for the Williams Sisters Fund that pays for the sisters’ joint philanthropic projects.

Money was also slated for the Yetunde Price Resource Center in Compton, Calif., where the sisters grew up. The center supports people who have lost loved ones to violence. The sisters named it in honor of their older sister who was gunned down in a 2003 drive-by shooting in their hometown.

“A lot of times you don’t know what your options are, and there are a lot of options,” Venus Williams told reporters at

the tennis center. “There’s a lot of assistance, so we’re here to hopefully hold peoples’ hand through that every step of the way — long after the people stop visiting and the cards stop coming and the pies stop coming, there’s life to deal with — and that’s why we’re here.”

At the Dec. 2 fundraiser, the sisters took part in a panel discussion at the Southeast Tennis & Learning Center about violence that was moderated by ESPN cohost Jemele Hill.

A tennis exhibition between the sisters and local kids followed. With the exception of a brief news conference with the Williams sisters, organizers excluded media from the entire event.

– Venus Williams The Southeast Tennis & Learning Center exposes kids to tennis and provides tutoring, life and computer skills, a library and positive reinforcement.

The public center, which brands itself as a crown-jewel facility, holds 20 sanctioned tournaments a year and houses

“There’s a lot of assistance, so we’re here to hopefully hold peoples’ hand through that every step of the way.”

Shorter MLK Parade Route Angers Southeast D.C. Residents

By James Wright Special to the AFRO jwright@afro.com The annual D. C. parade to honor Dr. Martin Luther AFRO File Photo Kingis being shortened and The Martin Luther King Jr., Parade is scheduled to take that has upset some District of place on Jan. 15, 2018.

Columbia residents.

“The Martin Luther King The parade started in 1979 and is the parade is historic and important,” Philip brainchild of “Washington Informer” coPannell, a longtime Ward 8 civic and political founders Dr. Calvin and Wilhelmina Rolark, activist who served as the interim chairman who was a Ward 8 council member from and executive director of the Anacostia 1977-1993, and legendary talk show host and Coordinating Council, told the AFRO. “There community activist Ralph Waldo “Petey” are only two parades in Ward 8 and east of the Greene. The event is scheduled to take place Anacostia River.”

Jan. 15, starting at noon and will begin at The Good Hope other parade Road, S.E. near is the the Anacostia Congress Park entrance.

Heights Marchers Community will proceed Association south on Martin and takes Luther King place in –Philip Pannell Avenue until early May. Sumner Road “The and then on to parade is the Barry Farm a great time to bolster community cohesion,” Recreation Center. he said. “The kids who march in and play in There is also a Peace Walk that will take bands come out and strut their stuff. What they place on that day, starting at 10 a.m. at 2500 have now is an eight-block parade that is a Martin Luther King Jr. Ave., S.E. that will also stroll and that is insulting.”

Continued on B2

“What they have now is an eightblock parade that is a stroll and that is insulting.”

Continued on B2

“We need to educate the masses, agitate lawmakers and council members and demand that they legislate on our behalf.”

– Louis Sawyer Jr. any authority to influence decisions of the U.S. Parole Commission. The mayor, the D.C. Council, have no authority,” Tammy Seltzer, director of University Legal Services with the Jail and Prison Advocacy Project said. “We have more than 5,000 D.C. residents housed within federal prisons across Continued on B3

Black Owned Business

Mahogany Books Begins First Chapter in Anacostia

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

The love affair between Mahogany Books, Anacostia’s new AfricanAmerican bookstore, and Washingtonians has proven itself a thing of classic passion rather quickly. Having opened its doors on Nov. 24, the 500sq. ft. bookstore, located in the Anacostia Arts Center on Good Hope Road, has become a staple and wistful reminder of positive community spaces.

At a time when brick and mortar book retailers have all but gone the way of the West African Black Rhinoceros, D.C. residents remain firmly attached to Black bookstores.

“I think part of this is engrained in my wife and myself that moving away from the traditional bookstore was heart-wrenching. When my wife and I were dating, that was a date for us – meet at a bookstore and browse the shelves and have coffee,” Mahogany Books owner, Derrick Young told the AFRO. “Bookstores have always been a place of refuge, where you can go and relax and find

knowledge or chill out. It’s a place of community.”

Young, who co-founded Mahogany Books alongside his wife, Ramunda, said it was important to provide a space where Blacks saw themselves represented positively and

dodgeball in the street. This is home, so I want to give back and give opportunity,” Young said. “People here have the desire and the drive, but in many instances, they lack the access. Many are geniuses, yet the thing that doesn’t

accurately – and within a community where access is often denied. “The core of what we want is social entrepreneurship; I wanted to create a legacy for my family by supporting them, but also paying forward what I received from my mentors. I grew up in Anacostia playing

allow them to reach their full potential is access. That is what having a bookstore in Anacostia allows.”

Candace Crews, a Virginia-based educator told the AFRO: “I believe that children, and really all people, need to see reflections of themselves in all aspects of Continued on B3

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

Nonprofit Helps D.C.-Area Teen Moms Finish College

By Christina Sturdivant Special to the AFRO In the middle of studying for final exams, 21-year-old Sheila Best recently got into a physical altercation with her daughter’s father. The incident caused her to move out of the home they shared.

That was one of her most difficult periods at Trinity Washington University, located in Northeast D.C., where she studied business administration and finance since 2014.

Instead of giving up, Best turned to her mentor. “Without her help and her being there for me, I don’t think I would have finished that semester strong,” Best told the AFRO. Megan Bleil was matched as Best’s mentor in 2014, as part of Generation Hope — a nonprofit that bills itself as the only community-based nonprofit organization solely focused on

“Given my own experience as a teen mom in college, I was really interested in helping other teen parents get their degrees and complete their education.”

– Nicole Lewis college completion for teen parents in the D.C. area.

Generation Hope was founded in 2010 by Nicole Lewis.

“Given my own experience as a teen mom in college, I was really interested in helping other teen parents get their degrees and complete their education,” Lewis told the AFRO. Lewis became pregnant when she was a senior in high school in Virginia Beach, Va. “It was really hard for my parents and devastating for our family,” she said. “I ended up leaving

home and living from place to place with my boyfriend at the there—I realized that I had the skills, life experience and that I time — sometimes that was on people’s couches, sometimes it could launch this organization,” Lewis said. was in the car in a high school parking lot.”

The crux of the program is mentorship. Scholars like Best While some friends, teachers, and relatives told Lewis that are paired with sponsors like Bleil. They’re required to meet in her opportunity to attend college had ended with the birth of person once per month and have check-ins every other week. her daughter, she persisted and attended the College of William Best and Bleil have taken six-year-old Aria to the zoo and Mary in Williamsburg, Va. and the movies several times.

After four years, she graduated They’ve also met at restaurants with her bachelor’s of arts degree “to catch up on what’s new, in English. She continued her accomplishments, conflicts in education at George Mason school, and to see how [Bliel] University, where she obtained a can be of assistance,” said master’s degree in public policy.

Best, who became pregnant as While she attended school friends a freshman at Spingarn High and family offered to watch School in Northeast D.C. her daughter. She also said she “Throughout the years, our qualified for grants to afford relationship has gotten stronger daycare. because we got to know each “College was really other more and my daughter transformative, exposing me to loves her so much,” Best different information, people, and continued. experiences that I never would Generation Hope also have been exposed to,” Lewis provides tutoring services, hosts said. “Then obviously in terms of family-friendly events and being able to get a job right out of offers financial assistance to college that paid well—I was able participants, who are both male Photo courtesy of Generation Hope and female parents. to put food on the table and a roof Sheila Best, a Generation Hope scholar, and her over my head and my daughter’s Staffers also help with sponsor Megan Bleil. head.” emergencies from transportation As she embarked on her career, crises to domestic violence Lewis also began volunteering situations. “Our program staff is for mentoring organizations in the D.C. metro area. She found really there to help make sure they stay in school,” Lewis said. that there wasn’t an organization focused solely on helping teen So far, 30 Generation Hope scholars have graduated from parents graduate from college. She also knew that less than college. Twenty-four more, including Best, are slated to two percent of teen parents graduate from college by the age graduate in Spring 2018. of 30, according to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and “Every single degree is life changing and it means so much Unplanned Pregnancy. just to see one of our scholars walk across the graduation “Generation Hope really came from a gap in services out stage,” said Lewis.

Williams Sisters Continued from B1

the George Washington University men’s and women’s tennis teams.

If the sisters had access to a similar resource when they were learning how to play tennis in Compton, it would have been “scary” because “we would have been so much better it would have been crazy,” Serena Williams told reporters.

To date, the 16-year-old center has served more than 10,000 District youth, according to its website.

The center’s president and founder Cora Masters Barry said the Williams sisters have supported it from the beginning.

“It’s been a love fest, ‘a family affair,’ since 1996 and they never deserted us,’ she told reporters. “We’ve just been family and the center was built in the same kind of community where they grew up and where they came out of … so it’s really very connected.” Barry said she hopes to expand the city-owned facility to 25 courts and to “make it a national training center.” The center opened in 2001.

The sisters landed in the District after having a remarkable year of their own.

Though she didn’t win a tournament in 2017, a resurgent Venus Williams, 37, reached

the finals of several major tennis events — the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the yearend WTA finals.

“You have to show up so why not compete?” she said. “So since you have to wake up in life, give your best every single day.”

After defeating her sister at the Australian Open to win her 23rd Grand Slam singles title, Serena Williams, 36, considered by many to be the greatest athlete of all time, took the rest of the year off to have her daughter, Alexis Olympia. She said being a mom is an honor she’s still adjusting to.

“In the beginning, the crying was very

difficult, but I’m just so happy for everything and every moment and I’m just loving it, she said.

Last month, Serena Williams tied the knot in New Orleans with Alexis Ohanian, cofounder of Reddit — Vogue magazine devoted an entire spread to their wedding.

Even though Serena Williams’ publicist didn’t get back to the AFRO about whether she’ll defend her title at the 2018 Australian Open, she did tweet Dec. 4 that she was heading to a practice session, which indicates she’s working hard to get back on the court.

Hamil Harris contributed to this article.

Ballou

Continued from B1 who has been at the helm since 2014. Jackson will serve as the school’s acting principal until the investigation concludes and a new principal is named.

“We take this issue very seriously, and we know that policies must be explained clearly and implemented with fidelity,” Schools Chancellor Antwan Wilson wrote in a statement. “This investigation will restore integrity to the process by providing students, parents and the broader community with answers.”

On Dec. 4, State Superintendent Hanseul Kang announced that OSSE hired the Alvarez and Marsal consulting firm to audit DCPS policies and probe the allegations rocking the high school.

“We look forward to working with them to determine what happened at Ballou High School, but also to ensure we are looking deeply, system-wide to ensure we are meeting our achievement goals,” Kang said in a statement provided to the AFRO. OSSE will deliver the results of this investigation to D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser within 45 days. The contract for the

OSSE investigation costs roughly $390,000, according to Fred Lewis, OSSE community relations specialist.

The probe comes days after Bowser signed a mayor’s order directing it to start the investigation. In an email she sent to the community, Bowser said she takes the allegations against Ballou seriously and reiterated the importance of preparing students for college and beyond.

“We must ensure that our attendance policies are clear, transparent, and consistently administered for every child, at every school, and every day,” Bowser said in the letter. “I can ensure you that we will find out if mistakes were made and we will fix them.”

DCPS’ internal investigation centers on the high school’s policies and practices, a spokeswoman confirmed to the AFRO on Dec. 4. DCPS will present preliminary results of this inquiry at the Dec. 15 D.C. City Council hearing.

“The chancellor and DCPS look forward to receiving the

results of both investigations and will implement changes based on what we learn,” DCPS Press Secretary Kristina Saccone said in an emailed statement to the AFRO. The investigation from the WAMU and NPR report found that Ballou’s administration graduated dozens of students, even though there were high rates of unexcused absences, with half of the graduates missing more than three months of school.

Under DCPS policy, students who miss class more than 30 times are supposed to flunk the course. The report found that most students in the class of 2017 missed more than six weeks of school.

When these kids did go to school, many were struggling with their studies, the report said. An internal email that WMAU and NPR secured showed just 57 students were on track to graduate in the class of 2017. But in June, all 164 Ballou seniors received high school diplomas and were accepted into college.

MLK Parade Continued from B1

end at the Barry Farm Recreation Center.

In the past, the parade has started in Anacostia and has gone as far south as the P.R. Harris educational facility that is close to the District-Prince George’s County border. Pannell said the parade has some inherent problems.

“It doesn’t give a lot of space for spectators,” he said. “What about space near the Maple View project?”

The $50 million Maple View Flats complex, which is currently under construction, will consist of affordable housing spaces for individuals and families as well as retail outlets and parking spots.

“Where are the people going to stand when the parade goes by?” he asked.

Pannell noted that the Gay Pride Parade that takes place in the DuPont Circle section of the city doesn’t have any problems with routes and planning.

“They don’t get the resistance that the MLK parade gets,” he said.

Most of Pannell’s ire seems directed at the Bowser administration and not the event’s planning committee that is chaired by Denise Rolark Barnes, publisher of the “Informer” and Stuart Anderson, a politically active Ward 8 resident.

The parade is a signature event in the District signifying King’s holiday. It is considered to be the oldest parade in the country honoring King.

A spokeswoman for the Bowser administration told the AFRO that the mayor wasn’t aware of the changes in the route and has deferred to the special events task force to work with the planning committee on the event. Anderson told the AFRO that the special events task force consists of District government agencies such as homeland security, police and fire departments, the Office of Risk Management, parks and recreation, the RFK Stadium Authority and federal agencies such as the National Parks Service and the U.S. Capitol Police. Plus, the advisory neighborhood commissions that are on the parade’s route have to approve the event.

Barnes told the AFRO in an email that the Bowser administration and the planning committee worked together for next year’s event.

“The route change was precipitated by the construction at St. Elizabeths where the new sports arena is being built,” Barnes said. “We proposed starting at Ballou, but for emergency purposes we were told the closing of MLK, Malcolm X and Alabama Avenues would cause a potential public safety issue and that in past years some residents complained that they were in their neighborhoods due to the parade.”

– Philip Pannell blocked Barnes said that the committee and the special events task force “spent a great deal of time looking for an alternative route that would work and agreed that starting at the entrance of Anacostia and ending at Barry Farm Recreation and Aquatic Center would work...for this year at least.” The King celebration will include a Jan. 6, 2018 prayer breakfast at Matthews Memorial Baptist Church and an essay contest for young District residents.

“Where are the people going to stand when the parade goes by?”

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

AFRO

Activists

WASHINGTON AREA

Continued from B1 the country – scattered to the wind – and we really don’t have a good sense of what is happening to them because they are as far away as California or Texas and their families can not visit them.”

According to Seltzer, the city managed its own criminal justice system until 1997 when, under financial duress and in exchange for financial solvency, the city relinquished control through the National Capital Revitalization and SelfGovernment Improvement Act of 1997. Coupled with the Court Services and Offenders Supervision Agency, the U.S. Parole Commission managed pre-trial, probation, and parole services for D.C. residents convicted of a felony and sentenced to more than one year in prison.

“The U.S. Parole Commission grants paroles and deals with parole revocation, which in most cases involves technical violations, such as failure to meet with parole officers, failing drug tests, or committing a new crime,” Seltzer said. “And without D.C. residents, this would be a small and insignificant office since roughly 83 percent of the cases before the U.S. Parole Commission are D.C. offenders.”

Avis Buchanan, director for Public Defender Services for the District of Columbia, told attendees that having outsiders manage the District’s criminal justice system places residents and their families at a disadvantage. “D.C. officials should be making decisions about D.C. residents, rather than under a federal agency that we have no control over and with which there is no transparency,” Buchannan said. “The city had already recognized the public defender’s function and the importance of providing attorneys for people who needed them. D.C. was already ahead of the game with its mentality. There is a stark contrast between before 1997 when the Revitalization Act was passed and the

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situation now. Before pretrial function, the parole, probation, the prison functions were all local… none are now.”

Buchanan pointed out that the U.S. Parole Commissioners serve as presidential appointees, and with two vacancies and no regulations requiring appointees have any connections with the District, the president’s choices could spell disaster.

“One commissioner (Charles T. Massarone) spent years working as a police officer and parole officer in Kentucky, where corrections officials recently reinstated contracts for private, for-profit prisons,” Ellis Morrow, a Ward 7 returning citizen and forum attendee told the AFRO. “Trump has been about bringing industry back to poor White communities and an industry of housing incarcerated Black bodies could mean keeping D.C. prisoners up for parole locked up longer, potentially violating their civil rights, and neglecting to keep their families and communities involved in their rehabilitation.”

Louis Sawyer Jr., chair of the D.C. Reentry Task Force within the D.C. Office of the Attorney General, told forum participants that a three-pronged approach to regaining control of the D.C. criminal justice system was to educate, agitate, and legislate. “We need to educate the masses, agitate lawmakers and council members, and demand that they legislate on our behalf. Something that the residents of this city wanted, they organized, took a moment and turned it into a movement in order legalize marijuana, so why can’t those of you impacted by the incarceration of someone in this city go down to your councilmember and mayor and do the same?”

Legislatively, reestablishing control of the criminal justice system for D.C. residents would include a two-fold process – one federal that petitions the president’s representative and would require Congress

COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS Washington, D.C.

Swift Petworth Clubroom, 3828 Georgia Avenue, NW Duvalier Malone Enterprise Toy Drive The Duvalier Malone Enterprise is scheduled to host a toy drive on Dec. 7 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Swift Petworth Clubroom, 3828 Georgia Avenue, NW. The goal of the drive is to aid families that are struggling financially and provide Christmas toys to bring Christmas cheer. The drive is receiving support through donations, volunteering toys and time, and through the collaboration of other toy drives to help needy children in Washington, D.C. For more information, visit eventbrite.com.

Germantown, Md.

Germantown Library, 19840 Century Boulevard Medical Cannabis Educational Seminar The Bloom Medicinals of Germantown are scheduled to host a free educational seminar on Dec. 9 from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Germantown Library, 19840 Century Blvd. The event targets Maryland’s Medical Marijuana Program. The audience will be informed of the science and research behind marijuana benefits, qualifications for medical marijuana, laws and guidelines, and more. All that attend will receive a $25 coupon for their first purchase. Gifts and giveaways will be offered to those in attendance. The event is free and one must print their free RSVP tickets for entry. For more information, visit eventbrite.com.

CHURCH EVENTS Upper Marlboro, Md.

1177 Largo Road Riverdale Baptist ‘Living Christmas Tree’ Production The Pastor and members of Riverdale Baptist Church, 1177 Largo Road, are scheduled to present the “Living Christmas Tree,” a production where 80 singers sing from a choir stands in a 30 foot Christmas tree with plenty of tree fur and dancing lights. In addition to singers and actors the production includes an orchestra performance with some of the top musicians in the region. There is also a Christmas village with live animals and music and other surprises outside the church. This event is scheduled from Dec. 8-Dec. 10. Tickets for the event cost $10. Contact the church for tickets.

13901 Central Ave. Evangel Cathedral’s 2017 Christmas Celebration Evangel Cathedral is scheduled to present the 27 Anniversary of its “Christmas Celebration” on Dec. 9 and Dec. 16. The star-studded production is scheduled to be held at 13901 Central Ave at noon and 4 p.m. The celebration is scheduled to feature gospel singers Fred Hammond, Marvin Sapp and Tye Tribett. Tickets range from $45 to $65. For more information, contact Langston Powell at 757-270-1294 or Herman Jenkins 757-3537333.

Homicide Count 2017 Total

106 to sign off on doing it, and locally, instituting legislation to operate and fund local management. Given the Republican control of both the Senate and the House, as well as the presidency, the chances of this happening are low.

Books

Continued from B1 life – including a bookstore, which is a community space. It is awesome that it is here. I live in Arlington and made a special trip over here just to offer my support.” Mahogany Books joins other Black-owned bookstores that are mostly located in Northwest D.C. Mahogany Books, named for the Young’s 11-year-old daughter, partners with Duende District, a D.C.-based pop-up bookstore that specialized in books written for, by, and about people of color including Latinx, Native American, and African cultures.

Duende owner Angela Maria Spring told the AFRO that integrating spaces for people of color to share stories and experiences helps reset the gaze. “There are so many Latinx authors who have been writing and young people who did not know they existed. With so many secondgeneration Latinx young adults who speak Spanglish (a language that combines words and idioms from Spanish and English) it was important to introduce authors that write using it,” Spring, whose family is from Central America told the AFRO. “Also for African-American students receiving bilingual instruction, these books offer a cultural bridge between school lessons and their imaginations.”

The bookstore is scheduled to have a formal grand opening in February during Black History Month.

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

Brother Prince Brown (Left) and Brother Kevin Brown (Right) Current Third District Representative, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity

Psi Nu Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity held its Annual Achievement Week Dinner on Nov. 4 at the Officers Club on Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Virginia. Honorees for the evening included Rev. Dr. Howard John-Wesley, pastor, Alfred Street Baptist Church as “ Citizen of the Year,” Brother Donte Jiggetts as “Man of the Year,” and Brother Victor Taylor as “Superior Service” awardee.

Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Bettye Simmons

Rev. Dr. John-Wesley

Brother Turner Mebane Brother Victor Taylor, Superior Service honoree

Brother Donte Jiggetts, Psi Nu Chapter 2017 Omega Man of the Year

Brother Eugene Skinner, Jr.

Brother James Pierce, Master of Ceremony

Brother Markus Gaines presents the Citizen of the Year award to Rev. Dr. Howard John-Wesley(left)

Photos by Leta Harrison

On Oct. 31, the South African Embassy held an event that introduced the South Africa Science and Technology Train and honored the 100th birthday of Oliver Tambo.

Tambo served as the president of the African National Congress (ANC) from 19671991. The Science and Technology Train is a proposed scientific community on rails that is sponsored Pangea Geophysics and Geodesy Working Group. The event was held at the residence of South Africa’s ambassador to the United States H.E. Mninwa J. Mahlangu.

Thabo Sanyane, Mosipo Monkelela, Thivhonali, Thathi, Nolwazi Ndlovy and Gkiffth Gkiffth

Johnathan Eigege, Marina LLeonart-Lalvo, Zinna Senbetta, Katherine Russell, June Costa and Dwight F. Holloway, Jr.

Brian Adienge, Jackson Pincus, Mae Mwaura and Mariam Mahgoub

South African Ambassador, Amb Mahlangu and his wife, Nomaswazi Mahlangu

June Costa talks about the S&T Train

Vocalist, director and founder of The Embassy Series: Concert at Embassies & Ambassador’s Residences Jerome Barry, Vocalist Nteboheng Leboea, Pianist Sahun Hong and Cellist,[ Jacques-Pierre Malan

Mosipo Nonkelela and Mantam Nquunza

Barbara BlountArmstrong and Brenda BlountSaddler

From The South African Embassy: Thilivhali Ratshitanga, political counselor; Nowetu Luti- minister plenipotentiary; Ndumiso Mngadi,third secretary and Thabo Sanyane- first secretary

Singing of the South African National Anthem and The American National Anthem

Photos by Rob Roberts

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

ARTS & CULTURE

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‘Chicago Med’ Actor Roland Buck Cherishes Time with Family

By Nadine Matthews Special to the AFRO For many people, work unfortunately takes them away from their family. For Roland Buck, work reunited him with his.

Buck plays Dr. Noah Sexton on “Chicago Med.” Now in its third year, the NBC drama follows the ups, downs, fortunes, and misfortunes of personnel in a Chicago hospital. “Chicago Med” films on location in Chicago and this means that Buck is back in familiar territory. “I was born in Chicago, I was raised in Texas in a suburb of Dallas. My dad was an electrical engineer and he had a job that took us out there,” Buck told the AFRO. Hugging the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, Chicago has an average temperature of 21 degrees in the winter. However, Buck doesn’t mind.

“The weather you know it’s cold but it’s great because a lot of my family is there. I didn’t get to grow up with them. I only came back in the summers. I was jealous of other kids that got to spend time with their grandmas and their cousins all the time. But I think it’s a blessing because I’m experiencing it now as an adult. I get to experience it in a different way.” Buck is the second youngest of six, “I have four sisters and a brother. I grew up with two of my siblings Jasmine and Jessica. The other siblings we had different moms and they lived in Chicago.”

After family, food is probably the next best thing and Buck has also enjoyed this perk of working in the “Windy City”, which is known for some of the best deep dish pizza in the country. “There are a lot of good places to eat” He says, “Which is sometimes good and bad ‘cause I gotta fit into that doctor’s coat.”

An ensemble program like all the other Dick Wolf vehicles, “Chicago Med” stands out as much more diverse and less strictly procedural. Co-starring S. Epatha Merkerson (“Law

Roland Buck III is one of the stars of ‘Chicago Med.’ and Order”), Yaya DaCosta (“Whitney”), Marlyne Barrett (“Hitch”), and Brian Tee (“Jurassic World”) this is an up close and personal look at the lives of the characters.

Buck believes he shares some characteristics with his character Noah. “I’m persistent just like him. Also, just thinking outside the box.” Indeed, the character is a budding tech entrepreneur when he isn’t saving lives or trying to convince Dr. Reese to go out with him.

Buck has been incredibly busy appearing in a number of high profile projects. He’ll appear with Chris Rock in Netflix’s “The Week Of” in 2018 and recently completed the role of Rafael Martin in the National Geographic series “The Long Road Home.” Based on the book by journalist Martha Raddatz, “The Long Road Home” chronicles an event called

Nigerian-Born Tech Entrepreneur Inks Deal with Apple to Sell Gaming Robot

By Jennifer Wright Special to the AFRO Nigerian-born Englishman Silas Adekunle has raised more than $7 million to fund an innovative gaming robot that can be used, in part, to enhance science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education.

Adekunle is the CEO of Reach Robotics, a tech startup that he co-founded with Chris Beck and John Rees in 2013. The company recently signed a major deal with Apple to sell its gaming robot, MekaMon, in all 361 Apple stores across the globe. The four-legged multi-functional robot—which is controlled by a smartphone app—is designed for single player mode or real-life Mek to Mek battling and will sell for $299.99. Not only is it the world’s first premium gaming robot, it is also the first to ever to be sold through Apple.

Adekunle said in a statement: “As the world’s first premium gaming robot, MekaMon fits neatly into the emerging category of mobile augmented reality products. By fusing robotics,

(Courtesy Photo)

Silas Adekunle, a native of Nigeria who moved to the United Kingdom at the age of 11, is the creator of MekaMon, an innovative gaming robot that will be sold by Apple. reality-bending technology and competitive play, we’re offering players a new twist on hardware and video games-a premium robotics product that’s easy to play but very difficult to master.”

Adekunle studied robotics at the University of West England where he graduated in 2014 with first class honors. He is currently located at the Bristol Robotics Lab which is a top robotics research center in the United Kingdom.

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Black Sunday in which American forces occupying Iraq are ambushed in a Baghdad neighborhood in 2004. Martin, Buck says, “Is an ex-gang member who had a choice between prison and the military and he chose the military to turn his life around.

Now he’s fighting for his life on foreign soil.”

He describes “The Long Road Home” as going, “Back and forth from the battle on foreign soil to the battle on the home front with the wives and the children and what they’re going through.” In a profession where so much of what you do is determined by the whims and desires of others, he feels lucky to be a part of a project like “The Long Road Home.”

“You don’t get to as an actor kind of pick and choose your projects. I was given the opportunity to create art that has meaning.”

A self-described wild child who, “played sports and played pranks on people (Courtesy photo) and just liked to have fun and make people laugh” Buck was inspired at an early age to become an actor after watching Rick Famuyiwa’s 1999 comedy drama “The Wood.” “I watched it,” Buck said, “and it was so much fun. I was like ‘Wow, hold up, is this a job?’ I asked my mom ‘Can I do this?’ She was like ‘Yeah, you can do anything’.” Fearing ridicule from his peers, he kept that dream to himself until it was time for college where another piece of advice from his mother carried him through.

“My Mom she told me something that really stuck with me. She said, ‘You’re going away to college. You’re going somewhere that you can really re-invent yourself. You can change your name, you can do whatever you want.’ It gave me an opportunity to tell you who I am before you tell me who I am and who I’m not. So, from then on I was like okay, ‘I’m an actor.’”

From the AFRO Sports Editor’s Desk

Did the NFL Just Buy Off Protestors?

By Perry Green AFRO Sports Editor

The NFL has agreed to donate $89 million over seven years to social reform projects, including criminal justice reform, law enforcement reform and education reform, according to ESPN. The deal was announced to the media by Philadelphia Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins, who also serves as (AP Photo/Chris Szagola) co-founder of The Players Philadelphia Eagles’ Chris Long, from left, Malcolm Coalition, a group of active Jenkins and Rodney McLeod gesture during the national NFL players who have joined anthem before an NFL football game. together to protest for civil and social reform.

Jenkins described the NFL’s pledge as a “platform and a campaign similar to what they’ve done with breast cancer awareness, My Cause, My Cleats, Salute to Service, but hopefully in an even bigger manner.”

Jenkins told reporters he will no longer protest during the National Anthem now that the NFL has agreed to its pledge.

“All of this really is in good faith,” Jenkins said, according to ESPN, “and I think if the league continues to come through or deliver on their word, then I see no need to go back to what I was doing.”

But others would argue otherwise, calling this move by the league nothing more than a cheap negotiating tactic to get players to sell out on what they’ve been protesting for. Nearly 40 players among the Coalition disapprove of the deal, according to The Chicago Tribune.

San Francisco safety Eric Reid recently told the media he and a few colleagues broke away from the Coalition because they felt Jenkins was negotiating bad deals on behalf of players without the group’s full approval. “(We’re not) satisfied with the structure of the Coalition or the communication that Malcolm has been having with the NFL on his own, speaking on behalf of protesting players,” Reid said, according to {SB Nation}. Reid posted a statement to Twitter.

Reid told reporters he was asked by Jenkins if he would end his protesting if the NFL made its pledge, something he was very uncomfortable with. Reid was also concerned with where the NFL’s money would come from.

Reid also said one of his motives for leaving stems from Jenkins attempting to keep Colin Kaepernick apart from the Coalition, although Jenkins denied that, claiming that Kaepernick has preferred to remain in an informal role with the group.

The NFL later announced its pledge to social reform comes with no expectation of a quid proquo, and the league also claimed no money would be pulled from other programs to fund the new programs. But it’s hard to ignore concerns from people who were close to the situation like Reid.

He apparently believes the NFL may be trying to buy protesters off on a deal that will only cost them roughly $13 million per year for seven years. Hush money in its purest form. And no matter how much the NFL may deny it, it looks more and more like Reid is right.

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Race and Politics

NFL: Chickens Coming Home to Roost In October, I wrote a Race and Politics column titled, “The NFL is Dead To Me.” It still Sean Yoes is.

But, I feel Baltimore AFRO compelled to Editor syoes@afro.com report that a lot of White men, egged on by Donald J. Trump, may be really killing the NFL, a league owned primarily by White Republican men.

During last weekend’s game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Detroit Lions, there were swaths of empty seats at M&T Bank Stadium, which had been an extremely rare sight in Baltimore since the Ravens captured their Super Bowl championship in 2000. But, it is a sight being repeated often at NFL stadiums around America this season.

It seems clear Trump is simply playing to his White political base...What is also clear is the league is losing a lot of money.

According to Forbes magazine, the NFL is down three to four million viewers per game (depending on the team) versus the 2013 and 2014 seasons. It’s a drop in excess of 20 percent.

Trump would have us all believe the NFL decline in TV viewership and attendance at games is all due to his incessant, unmoored and racially motivated tweets aimed primarily at Black ballplayers. The vast majority of those men take a knee during the national anthem in protest of police brutality against people of color, as well as other manifestations of American structural racism.

Trump’s tweets typically take the tone of the one he tweeted Oct. 18: “The NFL has decided that it will not force players to stand for the playing of our National Anthem. Total disrespect for our great country!”

It seems clear Trump is simply playing to his White political base, tapping into the same racial animus he mined as king of the birther movement. What is also clear is the league is losing a lot of money.

However, the reality is the league is also losing viewers in great part due to the lack of quality play this season, as well as a significant number of Millennial NFL fans, many who eschew watching games on television (historically the league’s prevailing metric for measuring viewership) for other devices (laptops, phones).

Meanwhile, Colin Kaepernick, the former

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Death of Det. Suiter

Embattled Balto. Police Department Awaits Response from FBI

D1

Rockeymoore Cummings Takes Aim at Hogan Sick Leave Plan

By Deborah Bailey Special to the AFRO Maryland gubernatorial candidate Maya Rockeymoore Cummings is taking aim at Governor Larry Hogan’s plan to introduce paid sick leave legislation in the upcoming 2018 session of the Maryland General Assembly.

Rockeymoore Cummings said Hogan’s attempt to advance a sick leave plan is a, “halfhearted political stunt...after vetoing an effort earlier this year to expand earned sick leave that would have covered more than 750,000 working Marylanders,” she said.

Courtesy photo

Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis speaks during the funeral of Det. Sean Suiter. Last week Davis asked the FBI to take over the investigation of Suiter’s murder.

By Stephen Janis Special to the AFRO

As doubt looms over the investigation into the shooting death of Baltimore Homicide Det. Sean Suiter in a vacant West Baltimore lot nearly three weeks ago, two facts are becoming clear.

First, both Mayor Catherine Pugh and the Police Commissioner Kevin Davis have little faith their own agency can solve the case.

This lack of confidence was made clear when they decided to ask the FBI to step in last week.

And second, the mounting evidence in the case in which Suiter was supposed to testify the day after he was gunned down – a 2010 car chase that lead to a fatal accident and alleged planting of drugs by police - is a sign the scandalous behavior of members of the now defunct Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF) has permeated much of the department.

Davis announced he wanted the FBI to take over the Suiter investigation at a press conference Dec. 1, after he expressed concerns that his investigators were not privy to information

linking Suiter’s death to the burgeoning scandal involving at least eight officers of the GTTF who are charged with drug dealing, robbery and overtime fraud.

“The circumstances surrounding Det. Suiter’s killing are significantly complicated by the fact that he was to appear before a grand jury the following day. I am growing increasingly uncomfortable that my homicide detectives do not know all of the facts known to the FBI or the U.S. attorney’s office that could, if revealed to us, assist in furthering this murder investigation,” Davis wrote in letter to the acting US Attorney.

“I respectfully request the FBI to investigate the murder of Det. Sean Suiter.”

There have been few clues in the shooting of Suiter on Nov. 15, which caused his death the next day. And Davis’ initial public confidence that the department would solve the case has become more subdued. In fact, Davis said investigators have not ruled out the possibility that Suiter took his own life.

“I’ve said from the very, very beginning that we will follow the evidence wherever the evidence goes. As we continue to examine the evidence, we come up against probabilities and

“I don’t think in my whole career do I recall the city turning over a homicide case to the FBI.” -Ret. Lt. Stephen Tabeling

Jealous Taps Former Democratic Chair Turnbull for Lt. Gov.

By Deborah Bailey Special to the AFRO

Maryland gubernatorial candidate and former NAACP President Ben Jealous is seeking to further distinguish himself in a crowded Democratic field by naming former Maryland Democratic Party chair Susan Turnbull as his running mate in the race for Maryland’s Governor’s mansion.

Turnbull, like Jealous, is a first-time candidate for public office. However, she is no novice to the political process.

Turnbull previously served as vice chair of the Democratic National Committee. As Maryland Democratic chair, Turnbull helped orchestrate Martin O’Malley’s victory for a second term as Maryland Governor.

Public policy expert David Abrahams, program coordinator of the Public Administration Program at Bowie State University believes the Jealous-Turnbull ticket will start to coalesce around the issues of education and social justice/economic opportunity. “I believe she will help restore Maryland back to a higher level of educational prominence” said Abrahams.

Abrahams believes Turnbull will strengthen Jealous’ experience with social justice issues by helping to create “sustainable communities.” “Susan brings in a focus on the economic side and addressing the root causes of the lack of opportunity in our disparity areas,” Abrahams said.

“With Governor Hogan we have a lack of coordination in addressing the epidemic of crime and lack of opportunity.

Right now, you have the city [of Baltimore] doing one thing and the State doing another, but neither one working together.”

Abrahams believes Turnbull’s experience in Maryland politics would help her strengthen inter-governmental relations, a key to creating successful outcomes in Baltimore. “In order to create sustainable communities, cities and states must work together toward mutually beneficial outcomes,” Abrahams said.

Turnbull, 65, is a resident of Bethesda, Maryland, and has been a leader in national Jewish organizations. She served as chair of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs from 2014 to 2016. Maryland has one of the largest Jewish populations

Continued on D2

Maya Rockeymoore Cummings is part of a large field of Maryland Democrats vying to be the next governor of Maryland.

Hogan’s plan would phase in five days of paid sick leave over the next 5 years for companies with 25 or more employees. Earlier this year, he vetoed a Maryland General Assembly measure that would have provided 5 paid sick leave days a year for employees of businesses with 15 or more employees.

Democratic lawmakers have vowed to override Hogan’s

Continued on D2

Continued on D2

A Champion Has Left Us, The AFRO’s R.B. Jones

By Carlton C. Douglass and Joseph Green-Bishop Special to the AFRO Among the legendary graduates of Princeton University who have made their mark on the surface of the human condition is Ronald (R.B) Jones whose pensive thoughts and radical politics helped shape the world he lived in for more than three decades.

R.B recently died in his beloved hometown, Baltimore.

While a student at the Ivy League school, very few – if any – of his professors and fellow students knew that R.B. had come to be amongst them after being raised by an aging uncle in a home on Dolphin Street, a stone’s throw from Pennsylvania Avenue in Baltimore.

Veteran journalist and playwright RB After graduating from Princeton with honors it would have been easy for R.B. with his connections Jones, whose “The Realside” column appreared in the AFRO for several and intellect to go Wall Street and pursue a fortune. years, died Nov. 26.

Yet, he decided to return to Baltimore to live in his old neighborhood and to make an effort to lift the people who had not had the opportunity to pursue higher education.

One of the best writers to have ever come out of Baltimore, R.B’s literary talents included writing song lyrics, love poems and plays. In fact, he was one of the founding members of the Billie Holiday Players, a theatrical group that included some of Baltimore’s premier artistic talent in the 1970s and 1980s.

Perhaps he was best known for a weekly column entitled the “Real Side” that first appeared in the AFRO American Newspaper and, later, in weeklies throughout the country.

In his column, R. B. offered scathing commentary on Baltimore’s political class.

At times his criticism was unrelenting, but it was never mean-spirited or petty. It was Data as of Dec. 6 Continued on D2

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Past Seven Days

323 2017 Total

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

Race and Politics Continued from D1

quarterback of the San Francisco 49’ers, who sparked the movement with his one man protest initially sitting during the national anthem in a preseason game against the Packers in August 2016, was given Sports Illustrated’s Muhammad Ali Legacy award this week. The award was presented to him at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn by none other than Beyoncé.

“I say this as a person who receives credit for using my platform to protest systemic oppression, racialized injustice and the dire consequences of anti-Blackness in America,” Kaepernick said after receiving the award. “I accept this award not for myself, but on behalf of the people.”

Malcolm X, one of the greatest Americans of the 20th century, gave his life for some of the ideals Kaepernick has embraced. In the Autobiography of Malcolm X, he said, “It was, as I saw it, a case of ‘the chickens coming home to roost.’

I said that the hate in White men had not stopped with the

killing of defenseless Black people, but that hate, allowed to spread unchecked, had finally struck down this country’s Chief Magistrate,” X said referring to the assassination of President John Kennedy.

For decades, the NFL has been the most popular professional sports league in America, with a rabid fan base of millions that generated hundreds of millions of dollars in profits for the league’s rich, White mostly Republican owners.

When Kaepernick took a seat, and then a knee in protest of “racialized injustice” he was effectively blackballed from the NFL by those White owners who objected to Kaepernick’s politics (the former 49’ers quarterback filed a grievance against NFL owners for collusion for keeping him out of the league because of his political views). Now, many Black NFL players, in a league dominated by rich Black athletes, but ruled by richer White men have followed Kaepernick’s lead.

How delightfully ironic is it that Trump, America’s current “Chief Magistrate,” the great stirrer of racial strife, has stoked the flames of White resentment within the NFL’s once loyal fan base, which has cost many of his White Republican pals millions of dollars in the process? Perhaps even more ironic (or just) is the goals of many who had initiated boycotts of the NFL because of the league’s stance on Kaepernick are witnessing the financial disruption they had hoped for due in great part to White backlash against the take a knee movement.

The chickens coming home to roost indeed.

one thing,” community activist Christopher Ervin told the AFRO. “The other thing is, if he planted the heroin, then why was the guy running from him? What is it about this officer that prompted the guy to run?

Umar Burley was arrested in 2010 by Jenkins (who was then a detective) and Suiter. According to court records Suiter discovered drugs that were in Burley’s vehicle. The arrest was made after a car chase that ended in the death of an 87- year old man. Burley has argued the drugs found in his vehicle were planted by Jenkins.

And the fallout from the latest developments is not limited to how widespread corruption is in the department.

Since the indictments against the GTTF were announced earlier this year and a series of body camera videos emerged showing an officer allegedly planting drugs, city prosecutors have been forced to review and drop hundreds of cases.

On Dec. 6, Sgt. Thomas Allers, became the fifth Baltimore Police Department officer connected to the disbanded GTTF to plead guilty to racketeering. Allers, 49, charged with stealing

over $100,000, faces up to 20 years in prison.

Now with a new indictment stretching back nearly seven years, there are concerns that more cases could be tainted, a potential blow to the department already reeling from a record year of violence and strained relations with the community.

“The review of these cases is a fluid process,” Melba Sanders spokesperson for Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby told the AFRO. “We are continuing to assess.”

But doubts extend beyond past cases. Retired Homicide Lt. Stephen Tabeling says handing a high-profile murder case to the FBI only heightens his concerns about the ability of the department to function.

“I don’t think in my whole career do I recall the city turning over a homicide case to the FBI,” Tabeling said.

“And who says the FBI has the expertise for a local murder investigation?”’

Sean Yoes is Baltimore editor of the AFRO and host and executive producer of the AFRO First Edition video podcast, which airs Monday and Friday at 5 p.m. on the AFRO’s Facebook page.

Suiter

Continued from D1

possibilities. We are not going to discount any possibility whatsoever,” Davis said, Still, Davis has yet to offer a plausible theory for how someone could take a gun from an experienced police veteran, shoot him at close range, then escape while leaving no forensic evidence or witnesses. Instead, Davis has all but ruled out any scenarios that involves Suiters’ pending grand jury testimony.

But even more troubling for the department, are the most recent charges against Sgt. Wayne Jenkins, one of the eight officers from the GTTF. Prosecutors allege he planted drugs to cover-up an illegal car chase that lead to the death of the father of a Baltimore police officer. The case, which Suiter was slated to testify about, dates back to 2010. A fact that significantly expands the timeline for Jenkins’ alleged habit of planting drugs and falsifying evidence, suggesting it might had been going on for year before authorities caught him on wiretaps in 2016.

“What’s really concerning is that an officer was on the street with an ounce of heroin to plant on an individual. That’s

Jones

Continued from D1 insightful and truthful.

A physical giant of a man for most of his years, R.B.’s health failed him in recent years while his sister cared for him. Yet his intellect and his passion for change did not dissipate.

Ronald R. B. Jones was a kind and disciplined human being whose courageous voice shall never be forgotten.

All of us are blessed to have been the beneficiaries of his principled work, his nobility, and his dignified life.

Jealous Carlton C. Douglass and Joseph Green-Bishop were lifelong friends of Ronald Jones. His work inspired their lives and their work.

R.B. Jones Funeral Arrangements Viewing: Friday, Dec. 8, at Derrick C. Jones Funeral Home, 4611 Park Heights Avenue Baltimore, MD 21215 Public Viewing: 3:00pm-7:00pm Funeral Services: Dec. 9, Union Baptist Church 1219 Druid Hill Avenue Baltimore, MD 21217 | Wake: 10:30 am | Funeral: 11:00 am

Rockeymoore

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in the nation at four percent, trailing only behind New York, New Jersey, Washington, D.C. and Massachusetts.

Jealous is also seeking to benefit from his ties to Vt. Senator and former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. Sanders, who endorsed Jealous for Governor over the summer, made a joint appearance with the gubernatorial candidate Dec. 5 at a “Medicaid for All” rally, where Jealous unveiled MD-Care, his single-payer healthcare plan for Maryland.

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veto when the General Assembly reconvenes in January.

Rockeymoore Cummings aims to make history by joining a small but growing cadre of female governors. Rockeymoore Cummings, a political newcomer who is married to the powerful long-serving Maryland Representative Elijah Cummings, aspires to make Maryland a national model for expanding economic opportunity.

EMILY’S list, the nation’s largest political action group for Democratic Women recently endorsed Rockeymoore Cummings. The organization backs candidates with funding and technical assistance. In a press statement, EMILY’S List President, Stephanie Schriock, said Cummings was the right choice at the right time for Maryland.

“Maya Rockeymoore Cummings is a courageous leader and strong champion for healthy, thriving communities for Maryland’s children and families in a state that has never before elected a woman or person of color as governor,” Schriock said. “EMILY’s List is thrilled to stand by her side.”

Rockeymoore Cummings said that she wants to create opportunities for those being left out of prosperity in Maryland.

“All people can be brought in from the margins; we can have an economy that works from the bottom up and from the middle out.

Maryland can become a model for the nation

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in how to achieve an inclusive economy,” Rockeymoore Cummings told the {AFRO}.

Rockeymoore Cummings, president of the Center for Global Policy Solutions (CGPS), is a newcomer to electoral politics, but not to policies and programs that work for low and moderate and income Americans, she said. Through her work at CGPS, Rockeymoore Cummings has developed options to bring viable economic development to previously excluded communities. She said she felt compelled to jump into the race as she witnessed moderate and low-wealth Marylanders exclusion from economic recovery initiatives.

“This Governor hasn’t done anything to change the landscape of opportunity particularly for those families who have been left behind,” Rockeymoore Cummings said, referring to residents moderate income homeowners in Baltimore and Prince George’s County who are facing failing schools, the needs of communities, substandard transportation options and uneven economic development.

Rockeymoore Cummings joins a crowded field of eight other Democratic candidates for governor of Maryland. She is the third African-American to join the Governor’s race that includes Prince George’s County Commissioner Executive Rushern L. Baker III and Former NAACP President Ben Jealous.

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

Holiday Festivities at the Baltimore Farmers’ Market Hello everyone! This week I am going to start my column off with something festive and fun, because you would think after writing about so many deaths recently, that I am starting an obituary column.

But, not true, we will get to the sad information later. Right now let’s talk about the holiday festivities at the Baltimore Farmers Market and Bazaar, which is their final event of the season on Dec. 10 and Dec. 17, 7 a.m.-12 p.m, where shoppers can browse for gifts with more than 40 bazaar vendors, featuring original artwork, hand-journals, ornaments, jewelry, skin and hair care items, greeting cards

Vocalist, Sharon Clark will perform at the Jazzway, 6004 Hollins Avenue in Baltimore, for a holiday show with the Chris Grasso Trio on Dec. 9, at 8 p.m.

Clark has been one of the premier vocalists in the Baltimore-Washington area. For more information, call 410-952-4528 or www. jazzway6004.com.

Phill Butts and The Sunset Band will light up the stage with music for the Jazz Expressways Foundation Pre-Christmas Jazz Breakfast on Dec. 9, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at the Forest Park Senior Center, 4801 Liberty Heights Avenue.

For ticket information, call 410-833-9474. I will see you there. andclothing. Also available will be an assortment of food including: fresh herbs and veggies, fresh berries and many other fruits, all sorts of meats, and seafood. While shopping you can stop, take a seat and have breakfast or brunch,while listening to beautiful music. The market is located on Saratoga Street between Holliday and Gay Streets, underneath the Jones Falls Expressway. I will see you there.

My goodness, my girl Ursula Battle has done it again. She has produced another stage play named “Ursula V. Battle’s Serenity House”, which will hit the stage Dec. 15, 16, and 17 at Johns Hopkins Turner Auditorium located at 720 Rutland Avenue in Baltimore.

The cast includes local actors, but will feature national recording artist Randy Roberts and internationally renowned gospel trio, Serenity. The show

times are, Dec. 15 at 7 p.m., Dec. 16, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. and Dec. 17, at 5 p.m. For ticket information, call 410-955-8888 or 443-531-4787.

Now, my friends, for the sad part. A dear friend of many in Baltimore, a teacher, professor, writer, journalist, columnist, poet, playwright, a talk show host and activist has passed away. I am talking about the one and only R.B Jones. The author of “The Realside” column for years has been sick for a very long time and many of you didn’t know. R.B. passed away on Nov. 26 and his body is being

taken care of by Derrick Jones Funeral Home at 4611 Park Heights Avenue.

Well, my dear friends, I have to go. Don’t forget to contact me for your tickets to the Jazz Expressways Foundation PreChristmas breakfast show, which is Dec. 9, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., at the Forest Park Senior Center, located at 4801 Liberty Heights Ave. Phill Butts and his band will perform. I promise you a damn good time with live entertainment and a good breakfast buffet. It is BYOB, with many vendors to start your Christmas shopping. It also will

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be a ˜∫lot of fun and dancing.

Remember, if you need me, call me at 410-8339474 or email me at: rosapryor@ aol.com. Until the next time, I am musically yours. Holiday festivities at the Baltimore Farmers Market and Bazaar, are Dec. 10 and 17, 7 a.m.-12 p.m., and is produced by the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts.

The Baltimore Farmers Market is located on Saratoga Street between Holliday and Gay Streets beneath the Jones Falls Expressway.

Shop until you drop and eat until your heart’s delight.

R. B. Jones, renowned journalist and the author of “The Realside,” a powerful column he wrote for many years for the Baltimore Times, AFROAmerican Newspapers, as well as his own publication, the Baltimore Press, passed away on Nov. 26. Derrick Jones Funeral Home on Park Heights Ave., is providing funeral services for Jones.

Renard Gardner’s company, Vessel Electric, is growing thanks to BUILD College, a BLocal program designed to help local minority- and women-owned construction businesses excel.

For a Stronger Baltimore BLocal is a commitment by 27 Baltimore-area businesses to leverage their collective influence to help strengthen the city and create opportunities for Baltimoreans. In the initiative’s first year, BLocal partners, led by Johns Hopkins University and Health System and BGE, invested at least $86.1 million through their construction and purchasing activity supporting local and diverse businesses.

Find out more about our first-year progress at blocalbaltimore.org.

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

Photos by Anderson Ward

Baltimore Chapter Continentals Society Inc.

Union Bethel AME Methodist Church

ABCPRS organization receives a scholarship check

Pi Omega Chapter, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity

Coppin State University Alumni

Christmas Party With A Purpose

The Steppin’ Out Bunch’s seventh annual Christmas party was held at the Forum Caterers on Dec. 4. the event is held to raise and distribute scholarship money to qualified organizations.

Eleven organizations each received $1000 scholarship donations.

The Steppin’ Out Bunch also conducted a toy drive to support the AFRO’s Ms. Santa program and over 100 toys were collected.

Baltimore Co. Chapter, Pinochle Bugs, Dorothy Short, Valerie Richardson, Helen McDonald presåent a check to Mrs. Santa

Heritage UCC members

New Shiloh Baptist Church members

Rose Davis Hamm, Diane Hocker and Patricia

Barbara Banks gives scholarship check to Wayland Baptist Church

Ms. Santa (Diane Hocker) and the Steppin’ Out Bunch Executive Committee

Cathedral of Mary Our Queen Homecoming Concert

On Nov. 12, the Community Concert Choir of Baltimore held it’s Fall concert at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen at 5200 N. Charles St. This year’s concert showcased “Africa is Calling Thee” a musical and oratory experience, as well as the Cardinal Shehan School Choir. The concert was conducted by Marco K. Merrick, a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, which sponsored the event with the Community Concert Choir of Baltimore. W. Patrick Alston as the organist, Marcus D. Smith the pianist, and Jocque Brown on percussion.

Cardinal Shehan School Choir

Marco K. Merrick leading the choir

African drummers, Charles Watson, Barsheid Bowman, Jamal Moore and Byron Johnson

Marco K Merrick

Janice Chance Mother of Gold Star Marine.

Cereta Spencer Board Assistant Vice Chair MCVET.

Kai Young

Jonathan McCall WJZ-TV 13.

Community Concert Choir

African drummers perform during concert

Photos by Keyon Smith

Jeffery L.Kendrick Executive Director MCVET and Evelyn Gaines MCVET Board Chair.

Morgan State University Bear Battalion Cadets members Senoussi, Lawson and Harried.

The 2017 fall fundraiser presented by Suited to Succeed and the Maryland Center for Veterans Education & Training (MCVET), was held at the Radisson Hotel in downtown Baltimore, on Nov. 16. The evening began with Cereta Spencer greeting the guests. Jeffery L. Kendrick and Evelyn Gaines gave history of MCVET. Actor Charles “Rock” Dutton was the honorary chair for the night. Guests included Bernard C.”Jack” Young, president of the Baltimore City Council and Marilyn Mosby, state’s attorney for Baltimore. Internationally renowned singer Maysa Leak, a Baltimore native, entertained the guests with some of her many hit songs. Emcees for the event were Kelly Swoope, anchor for ABC2-WMAR TV Baltimore and Jonathan McCall, WJZ-TV 13 Baltimore.

Dickson, Chef Amid Rashid with Bernard C.”Jack”Young Baltimore City Council.

Shon Emmanuel and Charles “Roc” Dutton

Inez Franklin,Chavez Franklin and Tammy Clowney.

Jonathan McCall WJZ-TV 13,Maysa Leak and Kelly Swoope Ancor for ABC2 News.

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

Photos by James Fields Jr..