Baltimore Afro American Newspaper February 14 2015

February 14, 2015 - February 14, 2015, The Afro-American

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Volume 123 No. 28

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FEBRUARY 14, 2015 - FEBRUARY 20, 2015

Sherrilyn Ifill Calls for Renewed Focus on Housing Segregation Proposed Tax Credit Could Help Private Colleges Serving Low-Income Persons

By Roberto Alejandro Special to the AFRO

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Photo by Roberto Alejandro

Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, speaks to students at the University of Maryland School of Law. Defense and Education Fund (LDF), told a gathering of law and social work students at the University of Maryland on Monday. Speaking at a series held by the University

of Maryland School of Law titled ‘Beyond Ferguson,’ Ifill cautioned that rather than move beyond what happened in Missouri last August, we Continued on A5

Tim Watts No Longer at Magic Baltimore 95.9 FM

By Roberto Alejandro Special to the AFRO Tim Watts and Lorraine ‘Lolo’ Milliner, both long-time radio personalities for Magic Baltimore 95.9 FM, have been suddenly let go by the station according to statements posted on their respective Facebook pages. Watts’ statement suggested that his age was behind his having

Your History • Your Community • Your News

Continued on A5

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Douglass is the only private, predominantly Black university in the state, serving almost exclusively a population of working adults striving to achieve a higher education To increase donations to private, higher education institutions degree and further their serving high needs areas, career prospects. “This is an Sen. Nathaniel McFadden opportunity for us to help Sojourner-Douglass College (D-Baltimore City) has continue its mission,” said introduced a bill to create McFadden. a tax credit these donors SB02 would authorize the could use to offset income Maryland Higher Education and other Maryland taxes.

Commission to set aside The bill is supported by up to $20 million annually Sojourner-Douglass College in available tax credits for and its president, Dr. Charles projects in what are known as Simmons.

Testifying Feb. 4 before the Photo by Roberto Alejandro priority funding areas (which includes Baltimore City) and Senate Budget and Taxation Dr. Charles Simmons, benefiting persons making Committee on behalf of his president of Sojournerbill, the ‘Higher Education Douglass College, waits to below the area median income Investment Tax Credit testify before the Maryland as established by the U.S. Department of Housing and Program’ or Senate Bill 02 Senate Budget and Urban Development.

(SB02), McFadden called the Taxation Committee.

Private institutions of proposed tax credit program higher education that are attempting to raise “another tool in the toolbox to help SojournerDouglass get through a crisis.”

Continued on A5 According to McFadden, SojournerBy Roberto Alejandro Special to the AFRO

Preventing future Fergusons will require dismantling the patterns of segregation established by decades of federal housing policies, Sherrilyn Ifill, president and directorcounsel of the NAACP Legal

Black History Month Feature

Baltimore City Legislators, Advocates Pushing to Expand Voting Rights of Ex-Felons

By Roberto Alejandro Special to the AFRO Baltimore City legislators and advocates are pushing to expand the voting rights of former felons by making them eligible to vote immediately upon release from prison, even if they are still serving a term of parole or probation. Sen. Joan Conway (D-Baltimore City) has submitted a bill in the senate and Del. Cory McCray (D-Baltimore City) will soon submit a house version.

Conway’s bill, senate bill 340 (SB340), would expand the re-enfranchisement rights then Gov. Martin O’Malley signed into law in 2007. That law restored the franchise to felons who had completed their sentence including any term of parole or probation. Conway’s bill would reform that law, removing the requirement that formerly convicted felons complete parole or probation terms prior to having their voting rights reinstated.

SB340 would also require that the Department of Public

The Chitlin’ Circuit Brought Bright Lights and Artistry to Baltimore’s ‘Avenue’

reaction.

“Oh, yeah,” they’ll say. Then they will list the names: Billie Holiday, Redd Foxx, Ask any black Baltimorean of a certain Aretha Franklin. The times you could stroll age about Pennsylvania Avenue at its prime into a sandwich shop and get an autograph – that is, any time between 1940s through and a short chat with a famous Black star the late 1960’s - and you will get the same – the two of you pushed together because there were only so many places that either of you could be anyway.

What helped create this boom of talent and culture in the city was the fact that many of the performance halls, especially the Royal Theater, were part of the Chitlin Circuit – that is, places where Black artists could perform for Black audiences.

By all accounts, Pennsylvania Avenue was the place to be. Anybody and everybody could stop by the AFRO Archive photo Continued on A8

Continued on A5

By Lisa Snowden-McCray Special to the AFRO

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Photo by Roberto Alejandro

Perry Hopkins (left) and John Comer, organizers with Communities United, posed for a picture while waiting outside the offices of Sen. Joan Conway(D-Baltimore City) in the Miller Senate Building for information on Conway’s senate bill to restore voting rights to ex-felons immediately upon release from prison.

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The Afro-American, February 14, 2015 - February 20, 2015

NATION & WORLD

Code2040 Helps Diversify Tech Workforce with $775,000 Google Grant

Google is pushing forward in its pledge to help boost diversity in the tech workforce with its recent contribution to a nonprofit called Code2040 that aims to provide opportunities for minorities interested in the tech field. Google donated $775,000 in grant money to Code2040 that will allow the nonprofit expand its outreach and launch training programs in the tech field for African-American and Hispanic college students.

Code2040 is a San Francisco-based nonprofit founded in 2012, whose name is derived from the idea that by year 2040, Blacks and Hispanics are expected to become a majority in the United States.

Not so long ago, Google as well as other Silicon Valley tech giants were urged by Black lawmakers of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators to diversify its workforce in 2015.

Google by then had released its diversity report which revealed that there was a lack of inclusion among its employees. The report showed that only about 2 percent of its employees were Black and 3 percent were Hispanic. Overall, Google’s diversity data indicated that men, especially White and Asian men, dominated its workforce, with women unfortunately making up only about 30 percent.

Code2040 is hoping to transform these figures by launching a program geared towards training African-American and Hispanic students how to apply and do interviews for tech jobs and internships.

in Sterling Heights to obtain some car brochures, he was given a 2015 Ford Taurus as a surprise gift. Some of the money will go toward the car insurance which is $400 a month.

Leedy and Robertson met for the first time during an interview with People.

Banker Blake Pollock, 47, of Rochester saw Robertson walk to work every day in any kind of weather through Troy and Rochester Hills, which has no metro Detroit bus services, and contacted the Detroit Free-Press.

Robertson’s daily commute to work starts off by riding a SMART bus from Woodward near Holbrook in Detroit to a bus stop near Somerset Collection, an upscale mall in Troy.

From there he walks about 7 miles. After getting off work at 10 p.m. he walks back to the mall and catches the last bus in to Detroit that takes him to the State Fairground at the city’s border. From there he walks home, which takes about 5 miles, according to USA Today.

Man Who Commutes 42 Miles on Foot Receives Over $300,000 in Donations

Family of Bronx Teen Slain by NYPD Cop Settles Suit for $3.9 Million

James Robertson of Detroit, Mich., has a 21-mile commute to and from work each day. Except, unlike most people, Robertson makes the long commute to his $10.55 per hour suburban factory job on foot since his car broke down over a decade ago and high insurance rates prevented him from purchasing a new one.

“I don’t think what I do is big deal,” Robertson told People magazine. “I do what I have to do to get to work in the morning. It’s just a part of my life.

When the Detroit Free-Press first reported the 56-yearold’s story, it became national news. Wayne State University computer student Evan Leedy, 19, said he was so touched by the story that he created a‘GoFundMe’ page to raise funds to buy Robertson a car. The fund, which will be closed on Feb. 8, has received more than $312,000 in donations, to date. And, on Feb. 6, when Robertson visited the Suburban Ford dealership

Photo courtesy of Gofundme.com

James Robertson commutes 21 miles to and from work each day.

The family of Ramarley Graham, a Black teenager who was shot to death by a New York City officer, settled a wrongful death lawsuit against the city for $3.9 million.

“This was a tragic case,” said New York Law Department spokesman Nicholas Paolucci, according to a CBS News story. “After evaluating all the facts, and consulting with key stakeholders such as the NYPD, it was determined that settling the matter was in the best interest of the city.”

Courtesy Photo According to Ramarley Graham was shot authorities, narcotics to death by a New York City officers spotted Graham police officer Feb. 2, 2012. adjusting his waistband and, assuming he had a gun, approached the 18-year-old. But Graham took off running to his mother’s home. Richard Haste, a White officer, followed Graham into his mother’s home and fatally shot him once in the chest.

Initially, the officer was indicted on manslaughter charges by a Bronx grand jury, but the judge threw out the case due to a legal technicality, according to The Daily News. The second grand jury declined to indict Haste, who said he fired because he thought Graham had a gun, though no gun was found in the dwelling.

The ongoing investigation is looking into possible violations of civil rights against the NYPD officers who were involved in the Feb. 2, 2012 shooting, the report states.

The federal complaint filed by Graham’s family accused the department of trying to cover up the shooting, failing to properly train officers and engaging in racial discrimination through the stop-and-frisk policy.

According to the terms of the settlement, the teen’s estate will receive $2.5 million; his brother will receive $500,000 and his grandmother $450,000 because they were in the home at the time of the shooting, the Daily News reported. Graham’s mother, Constance Malcolm, will receive $40,000.

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February 14, 2015 - February 20, 2015, The Afro-American

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HEALTH

Congestive Heart Failure Striking African Americans at a Younger Age

C

By Shantella Y. Sherman Special to the AFRO ongestive heart failure remains one of the most taxing, but preventable, heart conditions in the U.S. and is increasingly linked to heart disease caused by poor diet. Consequently, African Americans are disproportionately affected by heart failure and the disparity has been attributed in many cases to modifiable risk factors such as uncontrolled hypertension and inadequate health care. While previous medical trends target middleaged Black populations in awareness efforts, increasingly diagnosis of heart failure is occurring earlier among African Americans. In fact, a 2009 study in the New England Journal of Medicine noted that congestive heart failure is hitting African Americans in their 30s and 40s at the same rate as Caucasians in their 50s and 60s.

“These findings illustrate the importance of identifying solutions to the social, economic, environmental, and

Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment for Congestive Heart Failure Symptoms

Each individual may experience symptoms differently for Congestive Heart Failure; however, the most common symptoms include: Shortness of breath during rest, exercise, or while lying flat; Weight gain; Visible swelling of the legs and ankles (due to a buildup of fluid), and, occasionally, swelling of the abdomen; Fatigue and weakness; Loss of appetite, nausea, and abdominal pain; Persistent cough that can cause bloodtinged sputum.

Diagnosis

Congestive Heart Failure diagnosis made should be made through a medical examination in which a complete medical history, physical exam, and diagnostic procedures for heart failure are performed. Some tests include: Chest X-ray. A diagnostic test that uses invisible electromagnetic energy beams to produce images of internal tissues, bones, and organs onto film.

Echocardiogram (also called echo). A noninvasive test that uses sound waves to evaluate the motion of the heart’s chambers and valves. The echo sound waves create an image on the monitor as an ultrasound transducer is passed over the heart. Electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG). A test that records the electrical activity of the heart, shows abnormal rhythms (arrhythmias or dysrhythmias), and can sometimes detect heart muscle damage. BNP testing.

Treatment

The cause of the heart failure will dictate the treatment protocol. If the heart failure is caused by a valve disorder, then surgery may be performed. If the heart failure is caused by a disease, such as anemia, then the underlying disease will be treated. Although there is no cure for heart failure due to damaged heart muscle – usually heart disease from poor diet and lack of exercise – many forms of treatment have been used to treat symptoms very effectively.

Treatment of heart failure may include controlling risk factors. Patients may be asked to: Quitting smoking, Lose weight (if overweight) and increasing moderate exercise; Restrict salt and fat from the diet; Avoiding alcohol; Get proper rest; Control blood sugar if diabetic; Control blood pressure; Limit fluid intake; and drug therapy.

For more information, contact the American Heart Association at www.heart.org

researchers suggest promoting proper diet – avoid fast food, processed foods, plenty of whole grains, fruits and veggies, and daily exercise – to ward off chronic conditions.

“There should be a wake-up call on the need for African Americans and physicians to address risk factors that can lead to heart failure. Heart failure is disproportionately hitting African Americans in the prime of their lives,” said Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, lead author of the study. health care-related factors that contribute to persistent health disparities,” said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “The study results also highlight the urgency of reversing the childhood obesity epidemic. Today’s unhealthy children are tomorrow’s unhealthy adults. We know that obese children are being diagnosed with conditions previously considered adult illnesses, such as Type 2 diabetes and hypertension, and they’re at higher lifetime risk for a host of serious health problems, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, asthma and some forms of cancer.”

Contrary to popular belief, heart failure does not mean that the heart suddenly stops. The heart functions as a blood pump that moves blood from the right side of the heart to the lungs to pick up oxygen. The oxygenated blood returns to the left side of the heart. The left side of the heart then pumps blood into the circulatory system of blood vessels that carry blood throughout the body.

When the pumping action is compromised, so too is blood and oxygen flow to the rest of the body, causing congestive heart failure patients to experience swollen feet and legs, kidney malfunction, and pleurisy (fluid in the lungs). Among African Americans, hypertension remains the overwhelming sole predisposing factor to developing congestive heart failure.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledged in the 2012 report Preventable Hospitalizations for Congestive Heart Failure: Establishing a Baseline to Monitor Trends and Disparities that an alarming linear increase in CHF hospitalization was occurring among young Black men between the ages of 18-44.

Chief among young African Americans, diet – particularly those high in salt, fat, sugar, and processed foods – contributes overwhelmingly to developing chronic conditions including hypertension and chronic kidney disease that portend congestive heart failure.

Despite the fact that young adults are often unaware that they have hypertension or the consequential link of the condition to heart failure when left untreated, ignoring the signs could lead to a pandemic of premature, preventable deaths.

While stressing the need for awareness across age demographics, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

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The Afro-American, February 14, 2015 - February 20, 2015

Beauty is All Around Ernestine Shepherd

By Rev. Dorothy Boulware AFRO Editor She has a cascading grey pony tail but that’s not the first thing you notice about her. She’s a tiny, well-built woman, but that’s not the first thing you notice either.

It’s the welcoming, twinkling eyes and the gracious smile that pull you into the world of champion weightlifter and trainer, Ernestine Shepherd.

And especially so when she opens her arms and asks,”Where’s my hug?”

She loves her life, at 78, and spends most of it doing what the rest of us mere mortals dread: running, walking, lifting weights and watching every morsel she puts in her mouth.

“I always want to be a good example to the people I work and train with, so I don’t want to tell them one thing and do another,” Shepherd said.

So she practices what she preaches, including being Courtesy photos grateful for every day and Guiness World Records declares Ernestine Shepherd to be sharing love in whatever the oldest female body builder. ways she can.

But she hadn’t always been so cheerful and full of life. Her older sister, Mildred Blackwell, the one with which she started the physical training journey, died of an aneurism some years ago, and that left Shepherd feeling bereft of life and ready to give up completely.

“I just couldn’t understand why God had let such a thing happen. It made no sense to me,” she said. “I was so depressed and I felt like I couldn’t go on without her.”

But something strange happened and that was her salvation.

“I had a dream in which my sister scolded me. She reminded me of the mantra she’d chosen for us – Determined, Dedicated, Disciplined to Be Fit – and she chastised me for not continuing as I’d promised I would,” Shepherd said.

“I went to Rome and it happened to be on my sister’s birthday, the tag on the car that picked me up was 316, my sister’s birthday. The music that played in the hotel was Mildred’s favorite song, and it was in that moment that I became a new person,” Shepherd said.

“And I began to pray, ‘Restore the joy of my salvation.’”

It was in that moment that she regained her motivation and she hasn’t stopped since. When

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Chauncey “The Trainer” Whitehead with his “fitness mother.” affectionately refer to her as my ‘Fitness Mother,’ he said.

“We have teamed to promote healthier lifestyles throughout Baltimore and beyond,” he said, referring to the monthly community health walks they promote in Druid Hill Park.

One of those devotees, Linda Hollis attributes her “fine frame” to the regimen encouraged

by Shepherd.

“I frequently get compliments on my physical appearance and I’m often asked where I work out. I tell them about Ernestine,” Hollis said. “She has guided me and others to a toned body and healthier lifestyle, I am forever grateful to her.”

Hollis has been training and taking Shepherd’s body sculpting classes for five years, and says their friendship “has blossomed into a sisterly bond.”

For Shepherd, it all started when she was a mere 56 and, at 5’5”, weighed 150 pounds. She and her sister, Mildred, who was 57 at the time, went shopping for bathing suits for the picnic their home church, Union Memorial UM, was having that summer.

They were not happy with what the mirrors showed them, so they decided on a physical education class at Coppin State University.

They enrolled in an aerobics class under the training of Jay Bennett and Simmons. Her sister worked a little harder, gained a lot of attention, even a newspaper feature, which made Shepherd a little envious. And when Blackwell confronted her on the obvious jealousy she was feeling, that pushed Shepherd to work harder as her sister had done.

And she did. And she hasn’t slowed down yet.

Her first career was at Western Electric from which she retired after 29 years. She then worked for a Beauty Mart for 10 years, following which she served as secretary at City Springs Elementary for another 11 years.

But this is her niche.

And she serenades her husband every morning before she leaves for her walk.

He wishes she wouldn’t.

Her favorite ring tone is the theme from Rocky.

“I really want to meet Sylvester Stallone. I was so inspired by that movie and it gives me such energy.

The only other person she really wants to meet, aside from Stallone is first lady Michelle Obama.

“I just love her and while she works with the children, I’m working with the seniors. We’re really doing the same thing.”

She has one son, Michael and a grandson, also Michael.

Oh, and did I say, in addition to her constant workout, she sings on the choir at Union Memorial, belongs to the Flower Circle and is an actor in the Union Players.

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asked about those days that most people have, when there’s just no get up and go.

“I’m on a mission to let everyone know, especially the seniors, that they can have a happy, healthy, positive lifestyle if they’ll put in the effort,” Shepherd said, listing exercise, right eating, drinking plenty of water and walking every day.

And then with greater emphasis, she added, “And above all else, prayer. I tell everyone that.”

And she’s serious. She starts every day with prayer and meditation around 2:30 a.m., after having slept about four hours.

“I’ve never really needed a lot of sleep.”

Her next move, after a breakfast consisting of “two complete eggs, a bagel with jelly, 8 ounces of liquid egg whites, a handful of walnuts, a half cup crushed pineapple and 16 ounces of water,” is a 10-mile walk with a small group of fellow enthusiasts.

Once she’s finished and had another eight ounces of liquid egg whites and 16 ounces of water, she goes to the gym for a workout. Another workout. With friends.

At 10 a.m., she teaches a class on toning at the Energy Fitness and Wellness Center on Old Court and Liberty roads—only to come home by noon to a meal of chicken, brown rice and vegetables.

That may or may not be the last class of the day, depending on the day, but she’s usually in bed by 10:30 p.m. only to begin again at 2:30 the next morning.

Seriously?

Chauncey “The Trainer” Whitehead, as he is known regionally, said he met Shepherd 13 years ago while powerwalking Liberty Road in Baltimore.

“We were walking the same 14-mile route. After that walk and subsequent walks our relationship grew and I

2/6/15 12:04 PM

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The Afro-American, February 14, 2015 - February 14, 2015

February 14, 2015 - February 20, 2015, The Afro-American

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Troy Quinn: Mentor to Many, Morgan Associate Director of Admissions, Dies at 47

By Roberto Alejandro Special to the AFRO Troy Quinn, associate director of admissions for Morgan State University, died Jan. 31 at the age of 47, after a battle with cancer. Friends and family remember a generous spirit, devoted to his family, who used his position to help countless students navigate the admissions and financial aid process, extending to them the promise of a college education.

Quinn was born on May 15, 1967, in New Orleans, La. After he graduated from high school in 1984, Quinn came to Baltimore to study at Morgan State University, and made the city as well as the school his home, quickly moving to serve a community in which he had just arrived which exemplified his generosity of spirit.

“He saw a need, that there were a lack of mentors at the high school (Lake Clifton Eastern), and he thought, ‘What better way to provide some guidance and leadership for those students at the high school [than] by organizing other young men from the university that have similar interests to go and work with these students?’” said Weyden Wedderburn, Quinn’s friend for over 25 years, who met Quinn while serving as student president when Quinn was looking for resources for his mentorship initiative.

Quinn also served as an ambassador for the Office of Admissions while a student at Morgan, a role he played so well that he was hired as a recruiter for the office after completing his studies in political science. Quinn would eventually become the associate director of admissions for Morgan, helping countless students achieve their goal of studying at the university.

“He was a very kind and generous person,” said Wedderburn. “He went out of his way to help so many people. He was the type of person that, if he assisted you one year and wasn’t able to really fulfill all of your requests, he would remember, and then the following year would call you and ask you, are you still in need, and he would do whatever he could to fulfill that need.”

The assistance Quinn provided to so many over the years had a lasting impact that is not readily forgotten by those he helped through his role in admissions.

“Kids that graduated a long time ago still find ways to contact us and just say, ‘Troy’s the reason I went to college,’” said Alyce Barrett, Quinn’s sister.

Barrett also remembers a doting father, whose tireless commitment to the university and its students was only surpassed by his love for his family and friends.

“He was very committed to his family, meaning [those] in New Orleans – his sibling, his parents, his extended

Sherrilyn Ifill Continued from A1

must thoroughly engage the implications of Michael Brown’s death.

“All too often, in this country, we are so hesitant, so nervous, so afraid of engaging in difficult conversations, especially about issues of race and justice, that we are always looking to get beyond it as quickly as possible,” said Ifill. “And as a result, we have left on the table . . . a bevy of problems that continue to bedevil us over and over again.”

The past, Ifill says, explains our present, and the problem of police killings is partly a problem of police culture, but mostly a function of America’s history of segregated housing that continues to shape cities and communities across the country.

On police culture, Ifill says that while it will be slow to change, one effective way to help spur movement in the right direction is to tie the almost $1 billion in annual federal grants to police agencies to training requirements in areas such as implicit bias, de-escalation techniques, and how to handle encounters with the mentally ill.

“Several levels of training [are] needed,” said Ifill. “Whatever is happening now is not doing it, and it needs to be better.”

Additionally, the federal government should be requiring greater data collection by police agencies on matters like

family, his grandparents. And once he moved to Maryland and he started his family, he was fiercely committed to his up until the very end,” said Barrett.

Quinn would always make sure to spend as much time as possible with his children Anthony and Brielyn Quinn, loving to take them to birthday parties on weekends and having no problem waking up at all hours of the night to attend to his son when Anthony could not sleep, despite the busy schedule he maintained at work. But Quinn was always a servant, whether to his family or the community at Morgan that may as well have been family.

“We will miss him terribly,” said Barrett.

Quinn was preceded in death by grandparents Junius and Lollie Quinn, and Anna Mae Larkins; and his biological father Earl Quinn. He is survived by grandfather Leonard Larkins Sr.; his parents Winoma Larkins and Alvin Jackson; his friend and fatherin-law, Herman Charity; his wife, Kim Charity Quinn; his two children, Anthony and Brielyn Quinn; his sister, Alyce Barrett and her husband, Nicholas Bartholomew Barrett; his sisters Zuyapa and Revan Jackson; his niece and nephew, Nicholas Barrett II, and Chloe Barrett; six uncles, three aunts, and the entire Quinn family; and friends Don, Gregory, Annette, Weyden, Avery, and Sam, his brothers and sisters by choice.

departmental diversity, the number of civil rights complaints against a department and the nature of any resolutions, incentives for officers to keep their weapons holstered vs. unholstered, and the supervisory and internal investigatory mechanisms in place to ensure accountability.

Arguing that data collection requirements are also a reflection of our values as a society, Ifill pointed to gaps in our knowledge of policing. “I can go online, right now, and tell you how many officers were feloniously killed last year, and the year before, and the year before that,” said Ifill, “but I could not tell you how many unarmed citizens were killed last year and the year before that, so we need data.”

These measures would help address the problem of police killings in part, but the bigger issue is the persistence of segregation in American society. The Supreme Court’s 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education highlighted social-scientific findings on the effects of segregation on Black children, but left out that this same body of research also found that segregation gives White children a false sense of their own abilities and what they can achieve, as well as an overdeveloped respect for authority even where such respect is misplaced.

“I really believe we’re living with the results of that,” said Ifill. “And I think we can no longer turn away from that reality.”

Ifill said past federal policies created a

Tim Watts Continued from A1

been let go, as the station seemed to be moving towards attracting a younger audience.

“Well family, I just got back from vacation only to find that I am now on permanent vacation,” read Watts’s Facebook statement, in part. “No joke, I was called into the conference room and told this was my last day at Radio one. So this brings to an end 17 years at 95.9 . . . I guess the age of the listener they need to attract stayed the same. But my age kept going up. . . . I’ve got nothing bad to say about Radio One. They’ve always been very good to me. I would have liked to been able to say good bye on the air.”

Similarly, Milliner wrote, in part, Facebook photo “Radio One let me go today after 22 years Tim Watts was an on-air personality at on the air. . . . I thank Radio One for the Magic 95.9 for 17 years. opportunity. It has truly been a blessing. I know God has a plan.”

The AFRO has reached out to both Watts and Milliner, but both indicated that they were not prepared to comment publicly at this time. Watts’ Facebook statement suggested he might retire and joked he might be “sold for stud.” Milliner’s Facebook statement indicated she would now turn her focus to serving her community, the U.S. Virgin Islands, from which she hails.

Online, fans expressed support for the radio personalities, thanking and encouraging them through comments on their respective Facebook posts. Valarie M. Jackson-Saunders commented on Watts’ page that she wished the radio station had handled the situation differently, while Michael-Alan Goodwin responded to Watts post, saying “[I] salute you for handling this situation with the utmost of class. You ARE a real class act.”

Sandra Levin Setorie commented on Milliner’s post, saying, “Sorry to hear this LoLo. It’s not just Radio One’s loss, it [sic] a huge loss to the B’more community and diaspora. The wonderful thing is, there’s more to life post Radio One.” The AFRO reached out to Magic 95.9 for comment, but received no response prior to publication. ralejandro@afro.com

Photo courtesy of Alyce Barrett

Troy Quinn with his son, Anthony

segregated America that has persisted long after those policies were taken off the books.

One example she cited was federal mortgage insurance which began in 1934 and whose beneficiaries were 98 percent White because most mortgages during that era required racially restrictive covenants – binding agreements that a homeowner would not sell their home to non-Whites.

“The truth is you cannot have massive amounts of money and decades of investment

Tax Credit Continued from A1

funds for qualifying projects would then compete for the credits through an application process.

If the Commission approves an institution’s application for credits, that institution could then distribute those credits to donors making a donation of money, goods, or real property worth at least $25,000. The credit granted to a donor could not exceed 50 percent of the donation.

Simmons also testified before the Budget and Taxation Committee on behalf of SB02, saying it would have “a significantly, positive impact,” on the school and arguing that the cost of the tax credit program would yield significant returns. “This is not a drain on the state’s revenue, it contributes to the revenue,” said Simmons. “When we look at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the multiplier effect, Sojourner-Douglass College adds about an $85 million economic impact on the region.”

Ex - Felons Continued from A1

Safety and Correctional Services, which oversees the administration of the state’s prisons, notify each inmate in writing that his or her right to vote will be reinstated upon release, as well as provide the inmate with a voter registration form.

McCray, who will introduce the house version of the bill on Feb. 13, said that formerly convicted felons reentering society must have a say in the myriad issues which affect their life chances after release. “This [reentry] population faces dire circumstances in reference to employment, to housing, and right now they’re voiceless when they’re not able to engage in the process that affects them so much,” said McCray.

Perry Hopkins, an advocate and organizer for ex-offender’s rights with Communities United and former felon, says that restoring the right to vote of formerly convicted felons will help drive down the alienation that often results in recidivism. “Being an exoffender, [the right to vote] is very important to the reentry process. It’s very important to your civility – you have the right to vote, you’re a part of the citizenry,” said Perry.

“Feeling outside of your normal rights, it leaves you alienated. There’s already enough discrimination against the ex-offender, or the ex-felon, entering into society.”

and policy to create a segregated society, and just stop doing it and think you’re going to get an integrated society,” said Ifill. “We have never, on the other side, created the policies or the investments that would undo what created this landscape that we all have inherited.”

Pursuing such policies and investments that would reverse the legacy of segregated housing, says Ifill, is a renewed focus for the NAACP LDF in the civil rights arena. ralejandro@afro.com Sojourner-Douglass is currently awaiting a decision by an appeals board of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, which stripped the school of its accreditation, effective June 30, 2015, last November. due to an approximately $5 million budget deficit.

An appeals hearing was held on Feb. 2, and a decision is expected around Feb. 24. Simmons, who notes that similarly situated traditionally White institutions have not seen their accreditation revoked, believes SojournerDouglass will prevail in its fight.

“We think our cause is right, we’re serving our community,” said Simmons.

In the meantime, Simmons continues to work to find ways to increase support for his institution, and he says there is support in the business community to help drive donations to the college if the tax credit program passes the General Assembly and is signed into law.

“There are a number of things that we need that are available in that bill, that would help Sojourner,” said Simmons. ralejandro@afro.com Last month at forum at the University of Baltimore, Marc Mauer, executive director of the Sentencing Project, mentioned that when people are sentenced to prison by a judge, they are rarely informed that their access to public benefits and the right to vote will also be affected. This results in what Mauer called imposing a “life-long sentence” on those convicted of a crime.

SB340 addresses this by requiring that courts, prior to handing down a sentence of incarceration for a felony conviction, or prior to accepting a plea of guilty to a felony charge that would result in incarceration, notify defendants on the record that their right to vote will be suspended during the course of their incarceration.

If the General Assembly moves to expand the franchise rights of former felons this legislative session, Maryland will join 13 other states plus the District of Columbia in restoring the right to vote to formerly convicted felons immediately upon release from prison, according to the New York University School of Law Brennan Center for Justice.

For Hopkins, that right is a reminder that one still matters and has a role to play in civil society.

“An ex-felon or an ex-offender is worth much more to society when he’s able to participate in a constructive and productive way, than he is when you strip him of his rights,” said Hopkins. ralejandro@afro.com

A6

The Afro-American, February 14, 2015 - February 20, 2015

BUSINESS Breakfast, Lunch and Art on Offer at Nancy by SNAC Cafe in Station North

By Roberto Alejandro Special to the AFRO Kevin Brown opened Nancy by SNAC almost one-and-ahalf years ago in honor of his friend Nancy Haragan, founder of the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance and someone who believed in dismantling arbitrary walls between different artistic communities in the city. With the café, Brown has

or Black music or White music, it’s all music; it’s all art. And it was her spirit that really made me want to come over here,” said Brown.

The café serves American fare with a twist, says Brown, including two daily soups and a menu with 11 set sandwiches as well as a daily sandwich special.

“Everything from a grilled panini sandwich to a chicken Caesar salad to tuna on brioche—you name it,” said Brown.

Open Monday to Friday, the café serves breakfast from 8-11:30 a.m, followed by lunch until 3 p.m. On Fridays, from 6-9 p.m., the café is open for dinner, when patrons are invited to bring their own bottles (BYOB) or drinks. The café also offers free Wi-Fi Internet access and opens into a gallery space of the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), which changes its displays every 30 days.

“We’ve got great coffee and great atmosphere, and we encourage our customers to get engaged with us, not just to come in and hunker down or be sequestered with your laptop, [but] really just to be engaged in the space and see the galleries while you’re here,” said Brown, who later added, “You eat your lunch, you walk out into the gallery, you may see something that sparks a dialogue.”

Some confuse the café for an eatery reserved for MICA student and faculty, said Brown, a misconception he wants to dispel.

“This isn’t a MICA space; it’s the people’s space.”

Nancy by SNAC is located at 131 W. North Ave., attached to the MICA building between N. Howard St. and Maryland Ave.

Photo by Roberto Alejandro

Kevin Brown, co-owner of Nancy by SNAC, a café in Station North.

Outdoor seating at Nancy

by SNAC

created a space that honors Haragan’s memory and draws in the public not just for great food, but also for dialogue with the art that surrounds them.

“My friend Nancy, this was her office,” said Brown, who owns Nancy by SNAC with his partner of 24 years, Bill Maughlin, with whom he also runs the Station North Arts Cafe (SNAC) on Charles

Street.

“There would not be the kind of momentum, and energy, and stuff that’s going on in this neighborhood, especially, had it not been for Nancy Haragan. A lot of people who have jobs and careers, and have made art education or art a business for them, that’s all Nancy; that’s what she did. She was one of those White women who said there is no Black art or White art,

The café also opens into a gallery space of the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), which changes its displays every 30 days.

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February 14, 2015 - February 20, 2015, The Afro-American

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Black Unemployment Dips to 10.3 percent

Economist Valerie R. Wilson believes Black unemployment can fall to single digits.

By Freddie Allen NNPA Senior Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON (NNPA) – The Black unemployment rate fell slightly from 10.4 percent in December to 10.3 percent in January and is still on track to hit single digits by the middle of the year.

Last month, Valerie Wilson, the director of the Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy for the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a nonpartisan think tank focused on low- and middle-income workers, made the prediction that the Black jobless rate would fall below 10 percent, adding that the economy is recovering gradually and lawmakers shouldn’t do Freddie Allen anything that would stall that progress.

Wilson warned that more spending cuts or raising interest rates could slow down the economy.

“If there are no signs of inflationary pressures, I don’t see the rush to do it,” said Wilson.

Economists attributed the slight uptick in the national unemployment rate, from 5.6 percent in December to 5.7 percent in January, to workers feeling more confident about their job prospects and rejoining the labor force.

With revisions to the number of jobs added in November and December, the Labor Department reported that more than 1 million jobs were added to the United States economy over the past three months, the best 3-month average since 1997.

Following the national trend, the White unemployment rate rose from 4.8 percent in December to 4.9 percent in January and the labor force participation rate, the share of workers who are employed or currently looking for jobs, also increased from 59.8 percent to 60.1 percent.

Even though, the Black labor force participation rate fell from 61.3 in December to 61 percent in January, it still remains higher than it was in January 2014. The participation rate for Black men over 20 years-old also decreased in January, but was one percentage point higher last month than it was this time last year.

Black women and White men and women over 20 years-old had higher participation rates in January 2015, compared to December 2014, but among the adult worker groups, only Black men had a higher labor force participation rate in January 2015 compared to January 2014.

The unemployment rate for Black men over 20 years old decreased from 11 percent in December to 10.6 percent in January, and the jobless rate for White men over 20 years old also increased from 4.4 percent to 4.5 percent in January.

The jobless rate for Black women rose from 8.2 percent in December to 8.7 percent in January and for the second month in a row, the jobless rate for White women was 4.4 percent.

In a statement on January’s jobs report Chad Stone, Chief Economist for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a research and analysis group that works on federal and state fiscal policy, said that as the labor market continues to improve “significant slack” still lingers.

“Ongoing labor market slack is particularly hard on the long-term unemployed, whose skills

tend to erode while they remain jobless and who often seem stigmatized for being out of work so long when they apply for a job,” said Stone. “It’s unfortunate that federal UI [unemployment insurance] benefits for the long-term unemployed expired at the end of 2013; it’s even more unfortunate that in recent years, several states have made it harder for people who lose their job through no fault of their own to qualify for any UI.” Blacks disproportionately suffer from long-term unemployment and in an effort to address this crisis, Stone said that President Barack Obama has acknowledged these problems by including “a set of major UI proposals in his new budget request that would both shore up UI financing for the long term and reform the federal Extended Benefits program to make additional weeks of UI available automatically in states with high or rapidly rising unemployment rates.”

During a speech in Indianapolis, Ind., President Obama celebrated the latest jobs numbers and touted his middle-class economic philosophy crafted to help more working families afford higher education, get paid sick leave at work and save for retirement. Obama said “while we’ve come a long way, we’ve got more work to do to make sure that our recovery reaches more Americans, not just those at the top.”

Repeating a familiar theme, he said, “That’s what middle-class economics is all about – the idea that this country does best when everyone gets their fair shot, does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules.”

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The Afro-American, February 14, 2015 - February 20, 2015

February 14, 2015 - February 14, 2015, The Afro-American

A3

Dr. Thomas Jones, Ophthalmologist Who Marched with MLK, Dies at 94 “I used to say, ‘Daddy those kids will jump on you, or cuss you out, or whatever, you can’t do that.’ And he would just say, ‘Somebody’s got to tell them.’ He was very, very health conscious,” said Adjiri, who added that all four of Jones’s children are now vegetarians, having inherited a passion for health from their father.

Indeed, health has become something of a family tradition for the extended Jones clan, which counts two other medical doctors

By Roberto Alejandro Special to the AFRO Dr. Thomas Jones, an ophthalmologist who marched with Martin Luther King, Jr., and passed the importance of health, serving others, and the beauty of Blackness on to his family, died Jan. 23 after an extended illness.

Jones was born on July 10, 1920 in Columbus, Ohio. He attended Florida A&M University on a football scholarship and played quarterback, and later attended Meharry Medical School, from which he graduated in 1945.

“He was jovial,” Lillian Jones, Thomas Jones’s wife of 66 years, recalled. “He liked to make people laugh.”

“He wanted to help people, and he wanted everybody to know about the accomplishments of other Black people,” she added.

That desire to help others, combined with his love of Black people and history, led Jones to participate in a number of marches during the civil rights era, including Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous march from Selma to Montgomery Alabama, which celebrates its 50th anniversary later this year.

Jones even took two of his children on some of those marches, including his daughter, Jahari Michelle Adjiri.

“He loved people period, but he really loved Black people, and he hated to see the atrocities that minimized people of color,” Adjiri told the AFRO. “I could tell that it really hurt him to see how we were minimized, and

Dr. King and Dr. Jones the racism. Even though he was very light skinned with green eyes, he was very proud of his Blackness and he didn’t try to hide it.

He could’ve ‘passed’ but he didn’t, he kind of waived his flag for being Black and proud.”

Jones’s boldness and activism was not limited to civil rights, however. Adjiri lovingly recalled her father’s tendency to pullover his car to approach teenagers he would see smoking cigarettes on the sidewalk and speak to them about their health.

Lillian and Thomas Jones

(Jones’s son Wendell Jones and grandson David Omari Jones), a registered nurse (granddaughter Laila Jones), a health advocate and entrepreneur (Adjiri), and a med student (granddaughter Shani Jones, daughter of Wendell).

Another son, David Jones (father of David Omari and Laila) received his Ph.D. in ancient African history. That family inheritance dates back to Thomas Jones’s own father, who made financial investments in Ghana after the west African nation achieved independence and stressed to Thomas Jones the importance of taking pride in his African roots.

Jones, who was an ophthalmologist by specialization, also cared deeply for the patients under his care.

“Some of his patients, who could not get to the hospital, he, as a surgeon, would pick them up from their homes, take them to the hospital and operate on them,” said Lillian Jones.

“And then sometimes take them back home,” added Adjiri.

With Jones now on his way back home, the lifelong lover of medicine has donated his body to science in lieu of burial.

Jones is survived by his wife Lillian; children Dr. David Jones, Jahari Michelle Adjiri, Dr. Wendell Jones, and Daryl Blackwell; grandchildren Dr. David Omari Jones, Laila Jones, Shani Jones, Kayli Jones, Kayin Jones, TJ Jones, Ayana Bass, Daryl Kamara Blackwell, and Ava Blackwell; and great-grandchildren Demi and Amari Myers. ralejandro@afro.com

Holistic Life Founders Explain a Breathing Exercise and Its Quirky Title “We’ve never seen anything with the immune system,” Gonzales and the Smith brothers explain.

“Ideally when practicing breathing, you shouldn’t do it in temperature extremes…like you shouldn’t do it when it’s too cold or too hot.

You should try to find a moderate temperature. Ideally you would practice either before or after rush hour so like you would get up in the morning before rush hour starts because there’s not that much pollution in the air so ideally early in the morning or late at night and during a moderate temperature. You

By Charise Wallace Special to the AFRO Taco breath is a term you would only think of applying to someone who’s had a few too many tacos.

But there’s another application.

The founders of the Holistic Life Foundation, Andres Gonzalez, Ali and Atman Smith teach a breathing routine that their students call “Taco Breath.”

The Holistic Life Foundation is a Baltimore-based non-profit organization through which underprivileged children and adults find peace through yoga and environmental needs. Mostly all of the yoga exercises Gonzales and the Smith brothers teach have been recycled for many years, but to be able to have teachers come and coach their students is what makes this foundation so unique.

Gonzales and the Smith brothers give their students some leeway as they learn new yoga exercises. “In Yoga they call it Pranayama, but our students change the names of a lot of practices we do…so they changed it to “taco breath” because your tongue looks like a taco,” Gonzales and the Smith brothers explain.

This breathing exercise is found to help release tension from your body while connecting with your center core to relieve stomach pain and arthritis, depending on how

Holistic Life founders Ali Smith, Andres Gonzalez and Atman Smith frequently you dedicate your time to this workout. “Ideally you would practice it in the morning and the evening 26 times in the morning, 26 times in the evening…but the minimum is 13 times,” they said.

“It depends on your body and what you’re going through; as far as the stomach pain, you go until your stomach feels alright. As far as its effects on arthritis it depends on how severe your arthritis is and how much you practice it.”

Ali also said, “It’s good for everybody. It has cool effects for the mind, it cools your body

don’t want to do it in too dry a place either.”

Gonzales and the Smith brothers currently run an after school session at an elementary school. “One of the coolest things about our organization is our after school program,” Atman said. “It’s actually located in the neighborhood that Ali and I grew up in in West Baltimore…and it’s kind of like you know our training ground for future teachers and we’ve been running our after-school program for 12 years, five years at the elementary school we’re at now and we’re transforming our community through yoga, mindfulness, service and at after school programs.”

Atman also said, “One of the coolest things about our yoga classes pretty much anywhere, our students are leading the practice so you’ll get taught a great class by an elementary school kid and it’ll be a great introduction into yoga.”

temperature, it’s good for calming, relaxing…there’s a lot of benefits for it, I mean especially if you can find someone to teach it to you anything is beneficial.”

During this season, people are suffering through this frigid weather, especially on the East Coast. Many are getting sick and Photos courtesy of www.hlfinc.org. this breathing exercise is Students practice a breathing exercise that they playfully good for strengthening the renamed “taco breath.” immune system if you’re doing it before rush hour.

To find out more information about the Holistic Life Foundation, go to www.hlfinc.org.

Royal Theatre Continued from A1

Royal, the Regent, or any number of popular eateries and music halls to eat, drink and be merry.

“Of course,” write Rosa Pryor-Trusty and Tonya Taliaferro in their book African-American Entertainment in Baltimore, “the Royal Theater, located at 1326 Pennsylvania Avenue, was the most popular theater in the city. The Regent, even larger than the Royal, was two blocks from the Royal and could accommodate 2,000 starry-eyed patrons.”

“When I was a child, you could go to the Royal Theater for 50 to 70 cents and you could see a news reel, a couple of cartoons, two movies, previews of coming attractions and you could stay all day,” said Sojourner Douglass College professor, Donna Hollie, who not only grew up there, but has done a significant amount of research about this time in Black history.

“I think that was our parents’ way of getting rid of us,” she said with a chuckle.”

“My mother remembers seeing Sarah Vaughan at her first appearance at the Royal Theater. She looked so unattractive that people laughed.” Hollie said that in those times, Baltimore crowds could be tough – throwing things at artists who they deemed subpar.

“Then she opened her mouth and a hush fell over the crowd.” she said.

Eleanor Janey, 79, knew the city’s musical scene well.

That’s because she worked right there at The Tijuana, booking musical acts for

AFRO ad - April 10, 1926

the popular jazz club. She later worked at the Sportsman’s Lounge on Gwynn Oak Avenue.

Janey said both places attracted both local and nationally known musicians. She remembers that jazz singer Dinah Washington came to the Tijuana. And musicians sought out Sportsman whenever they came to town.

“All the people that had a name came to Baltimore,” she said. “If they came into do the Royal Theater they always stopped by.”

“Anybody in town that played an instrument. Doctors from Johns Hopkins came in. Anybody who played an instrument stopped in the Sportsman’s Lounge.”

She remembers a Pennsylvania Avenue that was alive with people, activity and, of course, music.

“Every block on the avenue had a bar in it and every block had music. You could go from one end to the other.”

She said she worked at the Sportsman for about 20 years.

She got started in the entertainment business first as a dancer.

How did she get her start booking acts?

“By me being friends with a lot of people and since I was a jolly person I got along with everyone,” Janey said.

After work ended at 2 a.m. when things wound down, the musicians, bar employees, theater employees – everyone – would meet up to eat and chat. First, at the segregated eateries that catered only to Blacks and then, after desegregation – at other places throughout the city.

And does she miss the good old days?

“I miss the good times,” she said. “You don’t have places like that anymore.”

February 14, 2015 - February 20, 2015 The Afro-American

COMMENTARY

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A Lesson from Black History For most American families, it is extremely difficult to both earn a living and successfully raise our children.

This reality is certainly the truth for families who are poor, of whom minorities constitute a disproportionate share. Yet, it also is true for any of us who consider ourselves to be middle class.

Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of American families Elijah Cummings with children have either two working parents or a single parent — and a majority do not have a stay-at-home parent to provide child care. Balancing child care and work is a major challenge.

A key obstacle is financial. Far too many families simply do not have the financial resources to pay for the quality child care and early child education their children need.

President Obama has been making the case that affordable child care and education must be a national priority. Our families need help, our economy would benefit, and the next generation would be far better qualified to strengthen our middle class.

The President reminds us of some eye-opening facts. For example, the average annual cost of full-time care at an infant child-care center was about $10,000 per child in 2013.

That’s higher than the average cost of in-state tuition at a public 4-year college.

From the perspective of public policy, our current approach is inadequate, even where tax credits and Early Head Start are available. These shortcomings are preventing tens of millions of American families from raising themselves into the middle

class — and even more affluent families are being stressed.

In his recent remarks on “Middle-Class Economics” at the University of Kansas, the President recalled how his grandmother worked on an assembly line for bombers during WWII. Since women in the workforce were critical to the war effort - and a national priority - our country provided universal child care.

Many economists would agree that supporting families in the workforce must become a national economic priority once again — as do the President and I. The President is proposing that we increase the maximum child care tax credit to $3,000 per year per young child and expand access to child care assistance for all eligible families of moderate income (below 200 percent of the poverty line).

The President’s FY 2016 Budget would also expand access to high-quality early childhood education for low and moderate income families, long a top priority of my own.

If adopted by the Congress, these actions would be a substantial down payment on making parenting more affordable for all American families. They would help our current economy and make a critical investment in the next generation of Americans.

Some conservatives in the Congress may resist President Obama’s initiatives, despite the fact that reducing net taxes on working families is a cornerstone of any viable tax reform.

Those who are reluctant to confront the challenges of family and work should take a Black History lesson to heart.

Consider this: Some of the most compelling lessons of history for our own time are subtle — among them, the truth that our desire for freedom and our love of family have always been mutually reinforcing.

No American historical figure exemplifies this insight about our core humanity more fully than did Araminta Ross, better known to history as Harriet Tubman.

Last month, I was invited by Governor O’Malley to participate in the official unveiling of the Harriet Tubman

bust at a time when Ms. Tubman also is being honored with national parks in Maryland and New York. In preparation for that ceremony, I re-read her March 1913 obituary from the annals of the Auburn, NY Citizen.

Although seldom stressed by historians, it was thoughtprovoking to me that Harriet Tubman’s likely sale and separation from those she loved upon the death of her owner, one Edward Brodess, was a driving force in her decision to escape to freedom. Once liberated in the North, her initial forays in her 19 journeys as a conductor on the Underground Railroad were to rescue her own loved ones.

Enduring hardship and risking life and liberty in pursuit of her calling to reunite her family, she repeatedly traveled across the Mason-Dixon Line and into our history.

A century and a half later, Americans honor Harriet Tubman for her courage — and those of us who are Americans of Color revere her as “the Moses of our People.” Yet, to fully grasp her relevance for our own time, we should remember that Ms. Tubman’s driving motivation, at least initially, was love of family.

Those who are tempted to resist the President’s child care and education initiatives on economic grounds would do well to remember this historical truth.

In the 19th Century, the slave-based economy failed, in part, because it refused to recognize and support the critical importance of family to those upon whose labor that economy depended.

In our own time, we should take Harriet Tubman’s example to heart and not make a comparable error.

Making child care more affordable and supporting early childhood education must become national priorities.

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

Black History Is All Around Us As president of a regional affiliate of the National Urban League, I sometimes have to step back from daily business to reflect on the legacy of the organization and the courage, intelligence and creativity that lay the foundation that my staff and I stand upon. Black History Month is the perfect opportunity to share some moments and pearls of wisdom from the storied past of the National Urban League (NUL).

In the late nineteenth century, Ruth Standish Baldwin and Dr. George Edmund Haynes cofounded the Committee on Urban Conditions among Negroes, the first of three organizations that would merge to form the National Urban League. Ms. Baldwin, wife of the president of the Long Island Railroad, was White, but she worked tirelessly on behalf of African Americans, saying, “Let us work not as colored people George H. nor as white people for the narrow benefit of any group alone, Lambert Jr. but together, as American citizens, for the common good of our common city, our common country.”

Another visionary leader of the National Urban League was Lester Granger, who helmed the organization from 1941 to 1961. He fought discrimination and segregation while promoting opportunity and organizing. In 1960, Martin Luther King Jr., addressed an Urban League audience with these words: “Under the dedicated leadership of Lester B. Granger, your purposes have always been noble and your work has always been creatively meaningful,” praising his “dedicated and magnificent leadership.”

Granger’s successor, Whitney M. Young Jr., was known as a quiet but effective leader, campaigning tirelessly for African-American achievement and stating, “The truth is that there is nothing noble in being superior to somebody else. The only real nobility is in being superior to your former self.” Under Young’s leadership, the League became a powerful force for desegregation and co-sponsored the historic 1963 March on Washington. The 43rd annual

Greater Washington Urban League gala, which is named in his honor, takes place on March 13. (Ticket information.) This celebration of our beloved institution is always a memorable occasion.

Since the days of Whitney Young, the Urban League has gone from strength to strength.

Vernon E. Jordan Jr., was president from 1972 to 1981, greatly expanded our social service programs and went on to become a cherished advisor to Bill Clinton and a respected thinker and influencer. John E. Jacob focused on youth development efforts and took bold, often controversial stances, for example, telling The New York Times, “America will become a second-rate power unless we undertake policies to insure that our neglected minority population gets the education, housing, health care and job skills they need to help America compete successfully in a global economy.” He served from 1982 to 1994. The next president, Hugh B. Price, a native Washingtonian, established the League’s Institute of Opportunity and Equality.

I well remember Price’s galvanizing 1991 column, “The Mosaic and the Melting Pot,” in which he succinctly captured a dilemma we still confront today: “How can we expect millions of Americans, a disproportionate number of them minority, to embrace, much less treasure, Western history and values when they’re under economic siege?” Hugh also initiated the Campaign for African American Achievement, which mobilized thousands across the nation to celebrate young Black achievers. His tenure was 1994 to 2003. Marc H. Morial, the current leader of the National Urban League, was previously the young and dynamic mayor of New Orleans. Morial’s ambitious five-point “Empowerment Agenda” zeroes in on the critical issues of education, economic empowerment, health and quality of life, civic engagement, and civil rights and racial justice. Under his leadership, the spotlight has been on jobs and economic parity.

While I was not on the scene during the heyday of Dr. George Edmund, I have had the good fortunate to personally know Vernon Jordan, John Jacob, Hugh Price and Marc Morial, and I encourage students of all ages to dig deeper into our organization’s history, which offers a banquet of inspiration as we contemplate the challenges and opportunities ahead.

George H. Lambert Jr. is president and CEO of the Greater Washington Urban League.

A Political Look at Texas Black History Dr. Carter G. Woodson, the Harvard trained historian who brilliantly birthed the idea that led to the celebration of Black History month, believed that all people regardless of their race, color or national origin should study and embrace the history of Black people in the United States. His belief led him to establish “Negro History Week” in 1926.

The history of Black elected officials in Texas, for instance, is an example of the wisdom of Dr. Woodson’s thinking. While representing primarily minority constituencies, many of the Black men and women who have served as elected officials in Texas have passed laws and established policies that have benefited people of all colors. Though it is not possible to shine a light on all of them because of space limitations, I would like to highlight the contribution of a few.

Representative Joseph Lockridge, elected in 1966, became the first African American to represent Dallas in the Texas Legislature since Reconstruction. After his death in a plane crash in 1968, he was succeeded by the legendary pastor/orator Rev. Zan Holmes. Dr. Emmett Conrad, a dentist, was the first African American elected to the Dallas Independent School Board in 1967. Ron Kirk, a lawyer, became the first African-American elected Mayor of Dallas in 1995.

In 1966 Barbara Jordan became the first African-American female elected to the Texas State Senate where her knowledge of the law, and her eloquence set new political standards for elected officials throughout the state.

Six years later she was elected to the United States Congress where as a member of the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate Hearings she articulated principles of American Democracy in a manner that captivated a national television audience.

Many credit Congresswoman Jordan, the first African-American woman to deliver a keynote address at the Democratic Party’s national political convention, with having helped to prevent President Richard M. Nixon from circumventing the U.S. Constitution and destroying the

Eddie Bernice Johnson

credibility of our nation.

One of the pivotal organizations in Texas state politics has been the Texas Legislative Black Caucus. It was born in 1972 when the largest number of African-American legislators in history was elected to the Texas Legislature.

The group’s founding members included Houston Representatives Anthony Hall, Mickey Leland, Senfronia Thompson and Craig Washington. Those elected from the Dallas area were Sam Hudson III, Paul Ragsdale and myself. The group’s first chairman was G.J. Sutton from San Antonio.

As a body, we identified our priorities. We decided that we would work closely with the state NAACP, and that our agenda would include fighting for increased funding for historically disadvantage colleges. We agreed that we would take a very hard look at the state’s penal system, and that we would address numerous problems that affected African Americans, Hispanics and poor whites wherever they were found in Texas. We supported and passed legislation that reflected our concerns.

Some of the individuals from that group have made notable contributions to our state, and to the world. Representative Mickey Leland, who later became a member of Congress, was a global leader in the effort to eradicate hunger and malnutrition. In fact, he was killed in an airplane crash while on a hunger mission to Ethiopia in 1989.

His seat in Congress was taken by our colleague Craig Washington, who was known for his knowledge of the U.S. Constitution. Representative Senfronia Thompson remains in the Texas Legislature. She is one of the most influential legislators in the state of Texas.

These and many others too numerous to mention in this editorial have made substantial contributions to our state. They have made Black history, and their service has enriched the lives of all Texans.

Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson represents Texas’ 30th Congressional District.

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

A10

The Afro-American, February 14, 2015 - February 20, 2015

Local Accessory Designer Launches Jewelry Collection to Benefit to Benefit Kidney Foundation-Md. New Vintage by SAM, a lifestyle apparel and accessory brand dedicated to making a positive change in the world through artistic and fashion expression, has “stepped into the ring” with a powerful combination of style and philanthropy.

The Baltimore-based company just launched its Knock Out Kidney Disease (KOKD) collection of bracelets with “purpose-filled” trinkets to benefit the National Kidney Foundation of Maryland (NKFMD).

This collection mixes the Foundation’s signature orange color with metallic and crystal elements, including Jasper, Agate and Onyx (black, brown and cream), “to help shine light on kidney health awareness.”

Each special trinket possesses its own unique design – staying true to the New Vintage by Sam culture of individuality, while each complementary

combination of beads and charms has its own meaning and healing properties consistent with the theme of holistic well-being.

A total of seven designs are available in three different bead sizes: itty bitty (6mm) for $20, midi bitty (8mm) for $30, and standard size (10mm) for $40. All products within the KOKD collection are packaged with a limited edition velvet dust bag, composition card and a special thank

Sam Smith

you from the line’s creator, Sam Smith.

A Reisterstown resident, Smith aims “to utilize her creativity to leave a lasting impression on her community and individuals alike.”

Introduced to fashion and design at an early age, Smith taught herself how to draw and create wearable art. In high school, she participated in several local fashion shows and productions as both a designer and model.

While attending Morgan State University, Smith Franchon Crews continued to hone her design skills while pursuing a degree in Health Education. Shortly after graduating in 2007, she created New Vintage by Sam. “My brand is a true reflection of me: quirky, fun, colorful, tastefully rebellious, always fabulous and designed with love,” Smith explained.

“Each bracelet in the KOKD collection is simple, yet so intricate and detailed with various materials, personality accents and healing minerals to encourage peace and love energy while telling a colorful story,” she added The collection’s inspiration came from two powerful women: Smith’s grandmother who passed away from kidney failure, and her friend, Franchon Crews: a member of Team USA, the #1 female boxer at the Olympic weight class of 165lbs. and a 2012 world silver medalist.

Crews, who lives in Baltimore and is hoping to make the 2016 Olympic team, learned about chronic kidney disease when her mother was diagnosed with it in 2005.

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February 14, 2015 - February 20, 2015, The Afro-American

B1

An Extraordinary Man Shaped

by Ordinary People

By Zenitha Prince Senior AFRO Correspondent Carter G. Woodson was in many ways a self-made man, a singular man whose greatness grew out of the ordinary. As such, there are but a few names—at least those recorded in the annals of formal history—one can point to as being the father of Black history’s heroes and sheroes.

“There is no record of him lionizing people [and] it’s not clear that he is patterning himself after anyone,” said Daryl Michael Scott, president of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Woodson’s brainchild.

“For Woodson, history would never be about presidents and leading great men but [about] the efforts of ordinary people to change the world,” Scott added.

And so, as Woodson chronicled himself, the people who shaped his path were really the everyday Joes and Janes who shared his life of poverty, hard work and survival despite the odds.

Chief among those were his parents, James and Anne Eliza—particularly his father.

In his writings, referenced by an ASALH biography, Woodson often mentioned the guiding principles provided by his father—a former slave, Civil War veteran and an illiterate—though intelligent—tradesman. The senior Woodson, for example, refused to hire out his children as laborers to supplement the family income, and when he had business at anyone’s house—no matter their skin color—he refused to go through their back doors, even though it meant hardship.

“What Woodson talked about all the time was the principles of dignity and self-respect that [he] was taught by his parents,” Scott said. “His parents taught him that you were not really free when you had to go to the back door of a White man’s house….; it was a sense of moral uprightness, of race pride and a stubborn insistence on living independently and not currying favor from people when it undermines your dignity.”

Outside of his parents—but also reflecting his admiration for his father who fought in the Civil War—Woodson idolized those who had fought in the war that helped dismantle American slavery.

“Woodson really thinks the Civil War veterans— that generation of African Americans who liberated themselves, who took up arms and fought—are everything,” Scott said.

One particular veteran Woodson respected and who influenced his life and left an indelible impression was Oliver Jones, who operated a tearoom out of his home, providing a gathering place for Black miners after work.

Woodson met Jones while he was working in the coal mines of Appalachia.

“In Jones, Woodson found the embodiment of a well-educated man, the antithesis of the collegeeducated people Woodson [later] described as miseducated,” according to the biography of the scholar’s early life on the ASALH website. “Jones was an illiterate who collected AFRO Archives Historian and educator William J. Simmons books and subscribed to many newspapers. Woodson said Jones learned as friends read to him, and he persuaded Woodson to read to the other illiterate miners, as he had been doing for his father. This arrangement allowed Woodson to learn much about the outside world that influenced his thinking and extended his appreciation for illiterates, whom he held in high regard the remainder of his life.”

Another Civil War veteran who may have influenced Woodson’s future scholarship was George T. Prosser, whom he met after returning home to Huntington, W. Va., after graduating from Berea College, according to A Life in Black History: Carter G. Woodson by Jacqueline Goggin. Prosser, who founded the first AME church in Huntington, had served in the Massachusetts 54th Regiment under Robert Gould Shaw.

Library of Congress

Booker T. Washington

According to Goggin, other early historians that Woodson is said to have venerated, include:

• Joseph Thomas Wilson (1836-1891) and his book about African-American soldiers in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812 and the Civil War entitled Black Phalanx.The book was published in 1887, but not much information exists about J. T. Wilson.

• William J. Simmons (1849-1890) was an ex-slave who eventually became president of the State University in Louisville, Ky., (now named Simmons College of Kentucky).

Simmons published the book, Men of Mark, a book much like Woodson’s own research, which highlighted the lives of 172 prominent African-American men.

• George Washington Williams (1849-1891) was an American Civil War veteran, minister, politician, lawyer, journalist and historian. Woodson would find favor in his book, A History of Negro Troops in the War of Rebellion and The History of the Negro Race in America, 1619-1880.

Woodson is also said to have openly admired Booker T. Washington, the most famous Black man in America between 1895 and 1915 and one of the most influential Black educators of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Washington’s insistence on a mixture of formal and industrial education as the solution to Blacks social woes may have resonated with Woodson, who spent many years as a labourer and whose education at Berea College in Kentucky reinforced the weight of vocational training. In fact, many at Berea were urged to learn a trade, which could, in turn, help them pay for college.

Washington says about industrial training in a speech quoted in the Sept. 24, 1898 edition of the Baltimore AFRO: “The value and object of industrial education has been misunderstood by many. Many have had the thought that industrial training was meant to make the Negro work, much as he worked during the days of slavery. This is far from my idea of it. If this training has any value for the Negro, as it has for the white man, it consists in teaching the Negro how rather not to work, but how to make the forces of nature—air, water, horsepower, steam and electrical power— work for him, and how to lift labor up

“Woodson really thinks the Civil War veterans—that generation of African Americans who liberated themselves, who took up arms and fought— are everything.”

Historian George Washington Williams

AFRO Archives

Continued on B5

B2

The Afro-American, February 14, 2015 - February 20, 2015

Jason Aaron and Shannan Aaron

Dedra Watkins and Will Holmes Michelle Wila, Vicki Bodden and Maria Wright

Donna’Lee Mahabeer and Unity Watts

Baltimore Leadership Group Hosts Monte Carlo Ball The young professionals’ Sonjie Decaires volunteer auxiliary of the (Sonje Greater Baltimore Leadership Productions) Association hosted its Monte Carlo Nights Masquerade D.J. Tanz Ball, Feb. 7, at the Horseshoe Casino. Hundreds turned out to support, to network, dance, eat and game. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake Blair Dunlap, attended, as well as GBLA president, Eric White, Lasean Robinson and Howard Henderson, president of the Greater and Jasna Baltimore Urban League. The Monte Carlo Nights Horton Masquerade Ball is one of GBLA’s events that help fund ongoing initiatives. Visit www.gbul.org Laydia Olusa (GBLA Director of to become a member.

Marketing), Eric White (Pres.

GBLA), Kelli Tubman and Ava Photos by Roberts Anderson Ward

Mayor Stephanie RawlingsBlake

Lisa Poole, June Crenshaw, Shone Hughes and Coriane Hughes

J.T. McCray and Rhonda McCray

Waiting for the book signing

Yancy Boyd

J. Howard Henderson (CEO, BUL) and William Hudson (owner, Phaze 10)

Misty Copeland

New Psalmist Baptist Church table

Gwen Pinder, Octavia Smith, Peggy Rogers and Stacia Mobley

Darlene Wheatley, Charlene Smith, Gloria Roberts and Pamela Pope

Illona Sheffey and mother Dr. Ruthe Sheffey

Misty Copeland signs a copy of her book

Samaria Dean and Stephanie Burton

L-R Back Row Paula BrownDouglass, Alyssa Boykin, Ajania Thaxton and Rhonda Dallas Front Row Destiny Holland, Lauren Watkins and Morgan DouglassBankins and Kya Uzzle

Lisa Robinson (WBAL TV), Mayor Stephanie RawlingsBlake, and Grace Green

Misty Copeland was the center of attention at Enoch Pratt Library’s annual Booklover’s Breakfast, Jan. 31, at the Waterfront Marriott. Copeland talked about ballet and how she had to fight against the tenets of propriety that dictated she was too curvy and too old to begin such a career. In her New York Times bestselling memoir, Life in Motion, she chronicles that journey and with the Booklovers, heralds the success she now enjoys as the only African-American soloist with the American Ballet Theatre.

Dr. Barbara BlountArmstrong, Brittany Blount and Dr. Carla Hayden (CEO Pratt Library) Balto. City Police Commissioner Anthony Batts

Jewnita Talbert and Sylvia Wicker

Debbie Douglass and mother Deloris Douglass

Dr. Carla Hayden (CEO Pratt Library), Colleen Hayden (Dr. Hayden’s mother) and Marsha Reeves Jews (Dir. Douglass-Meyers Museum)

Stephanie Covington and Kaitlyn Tanner

Photos by Anderson Ward

February 14, 2015 - February 20, 2015, The Afro-American

ARTS & CULTURE

B3

‘One Night in Miami’ Wins by a Knockout at Center Stage the audience to see them as supportive, although sometimes chiding, friends. The brash and beautiful, soon-to-be Muhammad Ali (Sullivan Jones); multi-talented, charismatic Holding true to the Sam Cooke (Grasan Kingsberry); chiseled athletic standout goal of fully engaging its Jim Brown (Esau Pritchett); and learned elder Malcolm X audiences, Center Stage (Tory Andrus) portray a special bond of friendship and respect draws theatergoers into the that proves to be deeper than some of them even realize. production of Kemp Powers’ Looking like single, young men of the times, ready for play, “One Night in Miami,â€? a boys’ night out, dressed in slim-flitting tapered slacks and immediately upon entering body-hugging shirts, Clay, Cook and Brown’s attire draws a the lobby. Transformed into sharp contrast to the appearance and ideology of a married ringside at the Miami Beach Malcolm X, who is nattily dressed in a suit and bowtie, as are Convention Center, Feb. his Muslim brothers. While the no-frills hotel room setting 25, 1964, the setup features serves as a reminder of a time when there were few places for boxer Hitman Harmon, Black men to gather and speak freely, its simplicity serves as Photo by Richard Anderson dancing around the ring, the perfect background for a stage filled with an abundance of Genesis Oliver (l), and Royce Johnson throwing punches at an eye candy. (Sorry. Hard not to notice‌) imaginary sparring partner, Brilliantly, the use of and lusty-voiced singer Etta James, teasing the audience and projection and lighting crooning a spirited rendition of Sam Cooke’s popular ballad, also add to the feel of the “Cupid.â€? production. Each time an As onlookers meet-and-greet the energetic young boxer, image or video flashes others seize the opportunity to throw a few punches behind on the frame of the stage, the screen setup for shadowboxing. While some examine the audience is reminded the odds posted on the nearby betting board, others scramble that although the play is a for Etta’s autograph. By the time the ring announcer closes fictional account, the times out the preliminary activities and announces “the big event,â€? and concerns are very real. moving the crowd into The Pearlstone Theater, excitement and Each time Brother Kareem anticipation fill the air. steps out of the shadows, his The sparsely decorated one-room set, Cassius Clay’s room appearance sparks a feeling at the Hampton House hotel, is framed by videos depicting of dread and ominous, the ongoing civil rights struggles of Blacks through the years. matched by only Malcolm’s It is in this room that Clay celebrates his 1964 Heavyweight demeanor and looks of Photo by Richard Anderson Championship victory over Sonny Liston, with his friends, concern.

Pictures (left to right): Grasan Kingsberry, Sullivan Jones, Tory Andrus Malcolm X, Sam Cooke and Jim Brown.

Well worth seeing, ‘One Assigned to protect Malcolm X, Nation of Islam Night in Miami’ has been Brother Kareem’s (Royce Johnson) stoic and unyielding presence and the almost comedic enthusiastically received by audiences, and, due to a high demand for tickets, Center Stage has accompaniment of younger and newer Brother Jamal (Genesis Oliver) seem to reflect the tone extended its run for a second time, through Feb. 22. of the twists and turns in subject matter and temperament during the gathering. As the party Tickets for “One Night in Miami� can be purchased at www.centerstage.org or at the Center unfolds, the friends exchange their fair share of “guy talk,� and, as the conversation deepens, Stage Box Office, 700 North Calvert Street, Baltimore, MD 21202-3686. Phone: 410.332.0033. their uncertainties and, to a degree, their vulnerability, are revealed.

Set against the backdrop of some of the Civil Rights Movement’s most volatile times, the play depicts its already iconic main characters as humans, more so than heroes, and allows Jannette J. Witmyer Special to the AFRO

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Concert to Honor African Americans

By AFRO Staff

SOUNDTRACK ON REPUBLIC RECORDS

CHECK LOCAL LISTINGS FOR THEATERS AND SHOWTIMES

SAT 2/14 3 COL. (5.42�) X 10�

MR ALL.FSG.0214.DCAAEMAIL

AFRO-AMERICAN (DC)

BALTIMORE & DC COMBO

UNIVERSAL PICTURES AND FOCUS FEATURES PRESENT A MICHAELMUSIC DE LUCA PRODUCTION “FIFTYEXECUTIVE SHADES OF GREY� DAKOTA JOHNSON PRODUCERS MARCUS VISCIDI JEB BRODY JAMIE DORNAN JENNIFER EHLE AND MARCIA GAY HARDEN BY DANNY ELFMAN BASED ON SCREENPLAY PRODUCED

BY KELLY MARCEL

BY MICHAEL DE LUCA p.g.a. E L JAMES p.g.a. DANA BRUNETTI p.g.a. THE NOVEL BY E L JAMES DIRECTED A UNIVERSAL PICTURE

BY SAM TAYLOR-JOHNSON

For Black History Month, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is embarking on an interactive art experience for families. The goal: to display African Americans innovation and contributions related to music through the history of United States.

At the concert at 11 a.m. Feb. 21, the BSO will perform, featuring artists like Duke Ellington, Scott Joplin, James P. Johnson, George Gershwin, and a choice of customary music.

But the concert will include much more. According to Annemarie Guzy, the BSO’s director of education, it will be a day’s worth of events and activities for the entire family. “This concert is going to be so much fun,� Guzy said. It has so much vibrance and a lot of really interactive components. We are going to have singing from the Baltimore City College Choir, and a fantastic soprano Marquita Lister who will be singing three selections for us: two spirituals, and a song from Scott Joplin’s Opera called, Treemonisha. Then we’re also going to have some break dancers and they will be breaking to a peace called, Drums which is by AfricanAmerican composer James P. Johnson who did a lot of his composing right in the middle of the Harlem Renaissance in New York.� “We’re looking at Duke Ellington for all that he did in terms of communicating with music,� Guzy said.�He really transformed the musical landscape as we know it right off with his jazz style and he’s very connected with social prejudice like James P. Johnson who really had a profound impact on him. I think it will be really fun for the audience to hear his music in this context of such and thinking of him as an innovator alongside some of our others.�

If you arrive early, a pre-concert series starts at 9:45 a.m. Designed to include family members age 4 and above, there will be figures from the National Black in Wax Museum on display, as well as a break dancing workshop.

You do not want to miss this groundbreaking event that will Black History alive and your family together, while celebrating the inspiring musicians and figures that helped change the future through music. “We love to have a really strong presence in the celebration of Black History Month, which is important to us here at BSO, being Baltimore-based,� Guzy said.

The Family Concert portion is at 11 a.m. Feb. 21 at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. To purchase tickets simply go to www.BSOmusic.org or call the ticket office number at 410-7838000.

Charise Wallace contributed to this article.

B4

The Afro-American, February 14, 2015 - February 20, 2015

Spike Lee Remakes Blaxploitation Era Horror Flick ‘Da Sweet Blood of Jesus’ Film Review

By Kam Williams Special to the AFRO The Kickstarter page where Spike Lee raised $1,418,910 from fans for his latest “Joint” expressly states that the money would not be used to shoot a remake of Blacula (1972). But it also failed to inform investors that the crowdfunded feature was ostensibly-inspired by another Blaxploitation era horror flick, namely, Ganja & Hess (1973). And after screening this disappointing indie, it’s obvious there was no reason to redo that picture either.

Spike’s sharp decline as a filmmaker in recent years is nothing short of shocking, with Oldboy (2013) and Red Hook Summer (2012) also submitted for your

disapproval. Claims to the contrary notwithstanding, Da Sweet Blood of Jesus is basically a boring vampire adventure that’s severely lacking in terms of tension, thrills, premise, storyline, special f/x, plausibility, production value, editing and

character development. Am I forgetting anything?

The tawdry tale revolves around Dr. Hess Greene (Stephen Tyrone Williams), a wealthy anthropologist specializing in African Art History. This unrepentant bon vivant divides his time

Stephen Tyrone Williams plays Dr. Hess Greene in ‘Da Sweet Blood of Jesus.’

between New York City and an oceanfront summer home up on Martha’s Vineyard, living in the lap of luxury with the help of a private jet, a chauffeured Rolls Royce, and a loyal manservant (Rami Malek).

The plot thickens soon after Dr. Greene is stabbed with an ancient Ashanti artifact, when he develops an insatiable addiction to blood. To satisfy the craving, he steals some from a hospital, and he also embarks on a killing spree. Besides gratuitous slaughter, the film indulges in frontal nudity and eroticized violence, including a sleazy, lesbian sex scene that looks like an outtake from a soft core snuff film.

What would Jesus do,

Spike? Repent!

Fair (1 star) Unrated Running time: 123 minutes Studio: 40 Acres & a Mule Filmworks Distributor: Gravitas Ventures

Colin Firth Shines as Suave Spy in Nostalgic Homage to 007

INVITE YOU AND A GUEST TO AN ADVANCE SCREENING OF

‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’ Film Review

©2015 Disney

by Kam Williams Special to the AFRO

VISIT SEEITFIRST.NET AND ENTER THE UNIQUE CODE 170185 TO DOWNLOAD AN ADMIT-TWO PASS TO THE SPECIAL ADVANCE SCREENING. WHILE SUPPLIES LAST. ONCE ALL ALLOCATED PASSES ARE REDEEMED, THE CODE WILL NO LONGER BE VALID. SUPPLIES ARE LIMITED.

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Limit one (1) admit-two pass per person. This film is rated PG. Seating is first-come, first-serve basis. Employees of all promotional partners and their agencies are not eligible. Void where prohibited. Sponsors not responsible for incomplete, lost, late or misdirected entries or for failure to receive entries due to transmission or technical failures of any kind. Refer to screening pass for further restrictions. SEATING IS LIMITED, SO ARRIVE EARLY. PASS DOES NOT GUARANTEE A SEAT AT THE SCREENING.

IN THEATERS FEBRUARY 20 Disney.com/McFarlandUSA Twitter.com/DisneyPictures #McFarlandUSA Facebook.com/McFarlandUSA

Harry Hart (Colin Firth) is such an unassuming, buttoned-downed bloke that no one in his right mind would suspect him to be a highly-skilled secret agent capable of killing at the drop of a derby. But as a Kingsman, he belongs to an exclusive fraternity of nattilyattired spies who abide by the motto “Manners Maketh this 2x2Man.” is theMembers smallestofunless we covert organization consider DECREASE font themselves modern-day knights, and they see their suits as body armor.

Despite an otherwise distinguished service record, Harry still regrets the mistake he made during a 1997

Colin Firth plays Harry Hart in ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service.’ operation in the Middle East that cost a colleague his life.

Today, Harry hopes to make it up to his dearly departed partner by taking on his

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orphaned son, Eggsy (Taron Egerton), as a protégé.

This will be easier said than done since, besides completing the requisite Navy SEAL-like training program, the young apprentice has a lot of rough edges that need smoothing, including a grating cockney accent. For, the lad grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, so he could use a few lessons in etiquette, ala My Fair Lady’s Eliza Doolittle.

Meanwhile, a matter of more pressing concern comes to Harry’s attention, namely,

a plot being hatched by a proverbial diabolical villain bent on world domination.

That would be Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson), a twisted tech mogul who’s in the midst of giving away billions of free SIM cards ensuring free phone calls and free internet access for everyone, forever.

All over the planet, people are standing in long lines for the freebies, oblivious of an apocalyptic app they’re about to simultaneously download into their cells.

Adapted from the comic book series The Secret Service, Kingsman is an adrenaline-fueled satire of the espionage genre which, at every turn, will have you harking back to the early James Bond adventures starring Sean Connery.

The picture was directed

by Matthew Vaughn who co-wrote the script with Jane Goldman, the same collaborator on the equallyinspired Kick-Ass (2010).

Colin Firth is delightfully debonair, here, whether turning on the charm or dispatching bad guys. Samuel L. Jackson is just as amusing cast against type as his worthy adversary with a flamboyant persona complete with lisp. A nostalgic homage to 007 that’s also the most mesmerizing movie of the year thus far.

Excellent HHHH Rated R for profanity, sexuality and graphic violence In English and Swedish with subtitles Running time: 129 minutes Distributor: 20th Century Fox

B2

The Afro-American, February 14, 2015 - February 14, 2015

February 14, 2015 - February 20, 2015, The Afro-American

B5

An Extraordinary Man Continued from B1

out of toil and drudgery into that which is dignified and beautiful.”

Washington was among several correspondents who generated a large number of letters in the collection of Woodson’s documents, which are housed at the Library of Congress.

The papers were assembled by Woodson with an eye to collecting and preserving primary sources on African-American history during his tenure as executive director of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASALH’s precursor) and as editor of the association’s principal organ, the Journal of Negro History.

Persons who were featured most prominently among those papers—and, perhaps, individuals who gained Woodson’s esteem—are:

• Whitefield McKinlay: A Washington, D.C. realtor, bureaucrat and collector of the Port of Washington • John Edward Bruce, also known as Bruce Grit or J. E. Bruce-Grit, who was born a slave in Maryland and became a journalist, historian, writer, orator, civil rights activist and Pan-African nationalist.

• William D. Crum: According to an article on Crum in the October 1968 edition of the Journal of Negro History, the Charleston, N.C., physician came to national prominence when President Theodore Roosevelt appointed him collector of the Port of Charleston.

According to the publication, Crum became a “cause celebre” among Black leaders who saw him as a symbol of opportunity for Blacks.

• George Washington Carver: a former slave-turned botanist and inventor.

• Frederick Douglass: former Maryland-born slave, famed orator and abolitionist.

• Christian A. Fleetwood: a noncommissioned officer in the United States Army, who received the Medal of Honor for his brave actions during the American Civil War.

• Timothy Thomas Fortune: a former slave from Florida, he became the foremost African-American journalist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries as owner/editor of the New York Age, once the nation’s leading Black newspaper. He was also a leading economist • Richard Theodore Greener: the son of a sailor and Philadelphia native was the first African-American

“For Woodson, history would never be about presidents and leading great men but [about] the efforts of ordinary people to change the world.”

AFRO Archives

Whitefield McKinlay Image Courtesy Library of Congress

Charles Young standing with other Cavalry members and horse. Young was commander of the 9th/10th Cavalry - Buffalo Soldiers, and was acting superintendent of Sequoia National Park. Young was also the third Black man ever to graduate from West Point.

graduate of Harvard College and later, dean of the Howard University School of Law.

• John Roy Lynch: In January 1872, Lynch became the first African-American speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives at the age of 24. Two years later, he joined the 43rd Congress (1873–1875) as its youngest member, representing the state of Mississippi.

• Charles Young: Young was only the third African-American to graduate from West Point when he earned his degree in 1889. In 1903 he became the first African American superintendent of a national park, overseeing Sequoia and General Grant (now Kings Canyon) National Parks while commanding a troop of Buffalo Soldiers in the years before the creation of the National Park Service. He was also the first African American to serve as a United States military attaché, first to Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic) and later to Liberia.

The

dream

is real.

Thanks to the AFRO American for more than 120 years of inspired reporting and for showing all of us the power and the promise of equality.

In recognition of Black History Month, Baltimore invites visitors to discover the city’s deep-rooted African-American story on the Legends & Legacies Heritage Bus Tour. Visit the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture, the National Great Blacks In Wax Museum, and the Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Museum. Enjoy a personal tour guide, appearances by period actors, a special “shoe box lunch,” giveaways and more.

To reserve your space on Baltimore’s Legends & Legacies Heritage Bus Tour call 410-244-8861 or visit baltimore.org.

BGE.COM FEBRUARY 21 & 28, 2015 | Tickets: $25/per person Reserve your space today, call 410-244-8861 or visit baltimore.org.

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The Afro-American, February 14, 2015 - February 20, 2015

I’m sending you a Valentine In hopes that you’re still mine ... Norman Connors

“If it’s magic, then why can’t it be everlasting, like the sun that always shines, like the poets in this rhyme, like the galaxies in time. If it’s pleasing then why can’t it be never leaving, like the day that never fails, like on seashores there are shells, like the time that always tells. It holds the key to every heart throughout the universe. It fills you up without a bite and quenches every thirst.

Happy Birthday to you Melvine Turlington, Reggie Haysbert, Gwen Pinder, Samuel Redd, Reggie Thomas, Beverly Carter, Doryce Keston- Green, Arthur Petersen, Shannon Pighee, Carolyn Stepney and Happy 80th birthday to Dr. Mabel Lake Murray.

So if it’s special then with it why aren’t we as careful, as making sure we dress in style, posing pictures with a smile, keeping danger from a child.” Stevie Wonder

“I’ll be seeing you In all the old familiar places that this heart of mine embraces all day through” Frank Sinatra

“I don’t feel no ways tired; I’ve come too far from where I started from. Nobody told me that the road would be easy, I don’t believe He brought me this far to leave me.” James Cleveland

Sending our condolences to Marguerite Walker on the death of her brother Robert Scales and to Gloria Tillman on the death of her husband Ronald Tillman.

In honor of Black History month, Living for the Weekend honors African- American Marylanders who are a part of the fabric that created the great State of Maryland.

I was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the Lord” Psalm 122:1

Chick Webb, Julia Woodland, I Henry Phillips, Raymond Haysbert, Charles Tilghman, Professor Larry Gibson, Eubie Blake, Cab Calloway, Cortez Peters, Ellis Larkins, Clarence Muse, Claudia McNeil, Billie Holiday, Mayor Kurt Schmoke, Commissioner Carolyn Colvin, Veronica Jackson, Dante and Candes Daniels, Westley Johnson, Ethel Ennis, Harry Sterling Johnson, Joe Gans, Matthew Henson, Rev. Pauline Wilkins, Violet White, Edward Woods, Wendell France , Stuart Simms, Dr. Thelma Daley, Vashti Turley Murphy, John Murphy, Henrietta Lacks, Dr. Calvin Burnett, William and Roberta March, Congressman Parren Mitchell, Nicole Ari Parker, Dr. Lillie Jackson, Clarence Mitchell Jr., Judge Thurgood Marshall, Kevin Lyles, Mario, Henry Parks, William and Victorine Adams, Dr. Alice Pinderhughes, Mayor Sheila Dixon, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, President Bernard Young, Daniel Henson, Frank Coakley, Lonnie Spruill, Comptroller Joan Pratt, George Russell, Judge Milton Allen, Judge Robert Bell, Herman Williams, Bishop Robinson, Gloria Lockerman, Dr. Miles Connor, Dr. Parlett Moore, Senator Joanne Benson, Councilman Ken Oliver, Rev. Jamal Bryant, Jake Oliver, Michael Steele, Leon Day, Charles Dutton, Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, Enolia McMillan, Congressman Kwesi Mfume, Juanita Jackson Mitchell, Lenny Moore, Howard Rollins, Eddie and Sylvia Brown, William “Bill” Jews, Sugar Ray Leonard, Montel Williams, Senator Delores Kelley Charles Dorsey, Judge Mabel Hubbard, Judge Marcella Holland, Judge Vicki Ballou Watts, Judge Shirley Watts, Maceo Paysour, Rev Vernon Dobson, Rev. Marion Bascom, Homer Favor, and Patrick Scott.

“My music will go on forever. Maybe it’s a fool say that, but when me know facts me can say facts. My music will go on forever.” Bob Marley Granny’s extensive menu made it difficult to decide what to order but bartender Derek Barnes and manager Aaron McNeil recommended the chicken livers and the shrimp and grits that was delicious. Others enjoying the evening were Debbie Allen, Jasmine Muse, Bryan Jackson, Kendra Maple, Andre Wallace, Dwan Smith and Toni Brown- Coleman.

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Join Sharon Baptist Church, Feb.15, and the Lincoln University Choir under the direction of Edryb Coleman in support of The Constance H Moore Scholarship Fund.

“Come fly with me” to Dubai, home of Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. Take a camel ride, or go shopping at Dubai Mall. That and so much more is waiting for you in Dubai. Contact Fulwood Travels at 410-542-2530 or visit www.fullwoodtravel.com for more information.

The Vietnam Veterans of America Baltimore Chapter #451 Dundalk is sponsoring a Bull & Oyster Roast, Feb. 14; enjoy pit beef, turkey, country ham, oysters on the half shell and more.

Contact Eddie and Wy Brown at 410-917-0190 for tickets.

“I believe that it would be almost impossible to find anywhere in America a Black man who has lived further down in the mud of human society than I have; or a Black man who has been any more ignorant than I have; or a Black man who has suffered more anguish during his life than I have. But it is only after the deepest darkness that the greatest joy can come; it is only after slavery and prison that the sweetest appreciation of freedom can come.” Malcolm X “I will always love you” Whitney Houston We’re sending love and prayers to Bobbi Kristina for a full recovery and to Herman Jones as he continues to recuperate.

“I always knew it would end like this.” Malcolm X Remembering Malcom X on the 50th anniversary of his death, Feb 21, 1965 Whitney Houston on the 3rd anniversary of her death and celebrating the legacy of Bob Marley on his 70th birthday.

“I’m all shook up, but not in love.” Lessie Mae Wainwright

Dhani Jones Sports Honoree (not shown)

Iyanla Vanzant Inspirational Honoree

Kevin Liles Entertainment Honoree Henry Coaxum McDonald’s Owner/Operator Honoree

Al Sharpton Humanitarian Honoree

Gabrielle Williams Community Choice Youth Honoree

Happy Valentine day to My Funny Valentines! Valerie and the Friday Night Bunch

Will Packer Arts & Entertainment Honoree

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Skyler Grey Community Choice Youth Honoree

LOVIN’ BY EXAMPLE. Here’s to the leaders that don’t talk about dedication, they show it.

To the people who constantly perform selfless acts as they reach out, reach back and bring others along. We show our gratitude during Black History Month, but we applaud you everyday. Let’s all be inspired to stay deeply rooted in spreading the love, 365 days a year.

Find your motivation at 365Black.com.

©2015 McDonald’s

February 14, 2015 - February 20, 2015, The Afro-American

AFRO Sports Desk Faceoff

SPORTS

Are the Atlanta Hawks Finals Favorites?

By Perry Green and Stephen D. Riley AFRO Sports Desk At 42-9, the Atlanta Hawks stand first in every standing from top overall record to best in the Eastern Conference. For a team missing a big-time name,

the Hawks are legit as a big-time team. They move the ball, shoot it from deep and play sound defense— championship traits directly transmitted from second-year coach Mike Budenholzer.

A 19-6 record against teams with .500 or better records makes the Hawks believable

‘Another Lost Hero’

Charlie Sifford was an African-American golfing pioneer.

AFRO Archives Photo

By Tim Lacy Special to the AFRO I hope you readers have been enjoying the stories on the life of Sam Lacy as much as I have enjoyed writing them.

However, today Sam has been relegated to the back burner so I can share some history with you.

African-American golfing pioneer Charlie Sifford has taken his last stroll down the 18th fairway and has gone off to enjoy the comforts of that clubhouse in the sky. Charlie was 92 and the number of lives he impacted is countless.

As the first of his race to compete against White golfers, Charlie held out hope for exemplary golfers such as Bill Spider and Teddy Rhodes. Spider and Rhodes had been knocking on that door guarded by Jim Crow and came away without entry for years. When Sifford got his foot in the door, a ray of light was visible to those on the darker side of segregation.

To America, this Black man dressed in golf clothes and wielding a club was an oddity on their TV set. It took more than a minute for the general public to realize that, “This guy can play!”

Charlie didn’t just appear on the golf course and decide he wanted to be a star, he had the seed planted in him when he was 13. He worked as a caddy making 60 cents a day, and pieced together found equipment to hone his game.

His mother appreciated the much-needed 60 cents and encouraged Charlie to keep doing what he was doing.

When he hit the segregation rough spots, he had the support of sports stars such as Don Newcombe (Dodger pitcher), Sugar Ray Robinson (boxing champion), Joe Louis (boxing champion) and Jackie Robinson who had already made history by kicking open that door guarded by Jim Crow.

These guys knew that Charlie would be a force on the PGA Tour, because he had already won the Negro National Open six times.

Charlie was encouraged when Spider and Rhodes finished with good enough scores at the Los Angeles Open to qualify for other PGA events. However, paranoid PGA officials blocked their entry and had sponsors change their events to “Open Invitationals.” Problem solved. If you ain’t invited, you can’t play.

Some say Charlie’s gruff exterior may have had something to do with his long wait to gain entry to the “Whites Only Club.” There may be something to that, because he did seem to have a chip on his shoulder.

Sam once commented, “You had me worried for a while, but I’m glad you won.”

Charlie responded around his ever present cigar, “What did you expect?”

From that moment, it took a while for Charlie to get off of Sam’s “S” list.

Despite his gruff exterior, Charlie made a point of setting an example for upcoming golfers such as Jim and Chuck Thorpe, Lee Elder and Calvin Peete. Chuck once commented that it was a lot easier to do when you see it has already been done.

During his career, Charlie amassed more than $1,200,000, and once commented, “It beats factory work.”

Charlie has taken his game to a golf course where it never rains, the grass is always green, and your putts run true. I only hope that heaven doesn’t run out of cigars.

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in a conference where there isn’t much trust at the top.

Chicago, Washington and Toronto have each struggled lately, and while Cleveland has come on strong recently, they still struggled heavily to open the year. With uncertainty looming, Atlanta appears destined for a Finals finish, barring injury. But without a primetime star, do the Hawks really have what it takes to fly to Finals? Perry Green and Stephen D. Riley of the AFRO Sports Desk debate the issue.

Green: The best team that I’ve seen so far this season has the record to show for it. The Hawks have a different dynamic from the championship teams we’re used to but that doesn’t mean they’re not title-talented.

Atlanta doesn’t have that one “great player” but they have a bunch of really good ones that play solid ball as a unit. I’m not saying they’re going to win a championship, but their continuity as a unit could be the deciding factor against teams fitting in new pieces like Chicago and Cleveland. And they’re well-coached enough to give younger teams like Toronto and Washington fits. Atlanta is playing at a high level right

now and that’ll come down as the season goes on. But, from a pure team standpoint and major talent aside, no one plays better team basketball than the Hawks right now. A

No. 1 seed is in sight and their type of game, plus home court advantage, should translate into a deep summer run.

Riley: The best team in the East right now is the Cleveland Cavaliers. I expected them to have some early season struggles as they were fitting in new pieces and now with their players healthy and seasoned, they’re 12-1 in their last few weeks. It may come down to a Cavaliers/ Hawks playoffs and I have to believe that the Cavs’ talent would be too much to counter.

Cleveland doesn’t have the same team chemistry that the Hawks have but they should by the time the postseason

begins. Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love and LeBron James are just too tough of a trio for the undermanned Hawks to stop. Drizzle in guys like J.R. Smith, Tristan Thompson, Iman Shumpert and Timofey Mozgov and Cleveland is deep, young and athletic.

Budenholzer’s San Antonio ties give Atlanta an edge, but there isn’t a team, talentwise, that can match up with Cleveland in the East.

Green: The great thing about Atlanta’s show is that it’s not about talent as much as it is team play. James has been on talented teams before and lost to better coached teams. You can’t overlook team concept and play when it comes to the NBA. Yes, the NBA dunk contest winners and all stars get all the attention but none of that matters when the playoffs start. The best-ofseven format means that the best team always wins. And, from what I have seen so far this season, the Atlanta Hawks are the best team in the league. Whoever they play in the postseason will have an identity crisis, something Atlanta doesn’t have to worry about. There won’t be a concern among the Hawks about who’s getting the last

shot or who scores the most.

There aren’t any hidden agendas within Atlanta’s roster which has allowed for them to play fast and free throughout the year. Their roster makeup is incredibly balanced, and it’s one that will take them deep.

Riley: Barring injury, Cleveland should run through the Eastern playoffs with no problem. The other teams simply don’t match up and the lack of a go-to scorer will ultimately doom Atlanta. Games get tighter in the postseason, and that defined scorer simply just has to be there. In a headto-head matchup, Cleveland has mismatches all over the roster when it comes to their players. While the coaching differential will be evident, it’s still the players who play the game. In terms of talent, this might be the best team James has been on since his first year in Miami when Dwyane Wade was a few years younger. If Cleveland can just fine tune things the rest of the way while finishing with a top record in the East, look out. When it’s all said and done, not even the NBAbest Hawks will be able to dethrone King James once all his men are in sync.

First African American to Win NASCAR Premier Series Trophy Inducted into Hall of Fame

By Zenitha Prince Senior AFRO Correspondent Pioneering stock car racing legend Wendell Scott was posthumously inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C., Jan. 30.

The Danville, Va., native wasn’t the first African American to compete in NASCAR’s premier series, but he was the first to do so full-time and the first to claim gold in the league’s highest echelons.

“The legacy of Wendell Scott depicts him as one of the great vanguards of the sport of NASCAR racing,” said the late Scott’s son, Franklin, who accepted induction on his behalf. “Daddy was a man of great honor. He didn’t let his circumstances define who he was.”

A mechanic by training, Scott began racing in 1947 after three years of service in the U.S. Army motor pool. Scott seemed born to sit behind the wheel. Over the next decade, he won over 100 races at local area tracks, including 22 races at Southside Speedway in Richmond, Va., in 1959, earning him that year’s NASCAR Virginia Sportsman championship.

Scott made his debut in NASCAR’s premier series March 4, 1961, at Piedmont Interstate Fairgrounds in Spartanburg, S.C., according to an article on NASCAR.com. He made 23 starts that season, posting five top-five finishes. On Dec. 1, 1963, at Speedway Park in Jacksonville, Fla., Scott became the first African-American to win a NASCAR premier series event. He also won the third race of the 1964 season.

Over his 13-year career in the premier league, Scott made 495 starts, which ranks 37th on the all-time list. He also posted 20 top-five finishes and 147 top-10 finishes, more than 25 percent of the races he entered.

NASCAR had honored Scott’s legacy by awarding scholarships in his name.

It also confers the Wendell Scott Trailblazer Award to a minority or female driver in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series who has demonstrated significant contributions on and off the track.

“Daddy realized that life has a generational component and he predicted a lot of what is happening. He would be delighted and happy that there

Wendell Scott was posthumously inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. is evidence of more opportunities for diversity and inclusion,” Franklin Scott said.

He concluded his speech with a quote from Martin Luther King Jr. “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy,” he said. “Wendell O. Scott Sr. stood the test of time.”

Scott was enshrined in the sixth induction class of the now 30-member Hall along with Bill Elliott, Fred Lorenzen, Joe Weatherly and Rex White.

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Treatment Foster Parents work from home, receive a tax-free stipend and professional 24 hour on-call support for providing shelter for a young person who has suffered abuse or neglect. For more information, call the CHOSEN Treatment Foster Care Program at 1-800-621-8834.

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EDUCATION TRAINING

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NOTICE OF LETTING Sealed Bids or Proposals, in duplicate addressed to the Board of Estimates of the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore and marked for RP 14825RRoofing and Related Work at Callowhill Pool and Cherry Hill Bath House will be received at the Office of the Comptroller, Room 204, City Hall, Baltimore, Maryland until 11:00 A.M. on Wednesday, March 11, 2015.

Positively no bids will be received after 11:00 A.M. Bids will be publicly opened by the Board of Estimates in Room 215, City Hall at Noon.

The Contract Documents may be examined, without charge, at the Department of Public Works in Room 6 located on the first floor of the Abel Wolman Municipal Building, 200 N. Holliday Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21202 as of Friday, February 13, 2015 and copies may be purchased for a nonrefundable cost of $50.00.

Conditions and requirements of the Bid are found in the bid package.

All contractors bidding on this Contract must first be prequalified by the City of Baltimore Contractors Qualification Committee. Interested parties should call 410-396-6883 or contact the Committee at 3000 Druid Park Drive, 1st Floor, Baltimore, Maryland 21215. If a bid is submitted by a joint venture (”JV”), then in that event, the document that established the JV shall be submitted with the bid for verification purposes. The Prequalification Category required for bidding on this project is F07500 Roofing Cost Qualification Range for this work shall be $150,000.01 to $200,000.00.

A ”Pre-Bidding Information” session will be conducted at The Site, 2821 Oakley Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland 21215 on Thursday, February 26, 2015 at 10:00 A.M. Principal Items of work for this project are:Shingle Roofing

THE ENTIRE SOLICITATION DOCUMENT CAN BE VIEWED AND DOWN LOADER BY VISITING THE CITY’S WEB SITE: www.baltimorecitibuy.org TYPESET: Wed Feb 04 16:24:41 EST 2015 MBE/WBE/DBE Subcontractors and Suppliers Ulliman Schutte Construction, LLC, Rockville, MD is interested in receiving quotes from qualified MBE/WBE/DBE subcontractors and suppliers for the Salisbury WWTP BNR/ENR Upgrades bidding on March 12, 2015. Opportunities are available for Specifications Divisions 1 thru 17. Please Fax quotes to 301-545-0810. Contact telephone 301-545-0750.

Ulliman Schutte Construction, LLC 7615 Standish Place, Rockville, MD 20855

SHERIFF’S AUCTION-Under and by virtue of a Writ of Execution issued out of the District Court for Baltimore City, at the suit of DEER RIDGE TERRACE CONDOMINIUM, INC. v. ELISSA M. WINER, I have seized and taken in execution and will sell at Public Auction to the highest bidder, ALL THE RIGHT, TITLE, INTEREST AND ESTATE OF SAID ELISSA M. WINER in and to Condominium Unit 311, 1040 Deer Ridge Drive, Baltimore, MD 21210 . And I hereby give notice that I will sell on the front steps of the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, Courthouse West, 100 N. Calvert Street, Baltimore, MD on Monday, March 9, 2015 at 9:00 A.M., ALL THE RIGHT, TITLE, INTEREST AND ESTATE OF ELISSA M. WINER in and to Condominium Unit 311, 1040 Deer Ridge Drive, Baltimore, MD 21210.

John W. Anderson, Sheriff TERMS: $5,000.00 Deposit in cash or certified funds at time and place of Auction Sale. Balance in 30 days.

Jonathan Melnick Auctioneers, Inc. 410-366-5555

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BALTIMORE CITY COUNCIL PUBLIC HEARING ON BILL NO. 14-0444 The Land Use and Transportation Committee of the Baltimore City Council will meet on Wednesday, March 11, 2015 at 1:00 p.m. in the City Council Chambers, 4th floor, City Hall, 100 N. Holliday Street to conduct a public hearing on City Council Bill No. 14-0444.

CC 14-0444 ORDINANCE -Zoning - Sign Regulations - ”Sponsor-a-Road” Signs For the purpose of exempting from the Zoning Code’s sign regulations certainsigns posted by or on behalf of the City to acknowledge business entities or otherpersons sponsoring a street maintenance - services program.

BY repealing and reordaining, with amendments Article- Zoning Section (s) 11-103 Baltimore City Revised Code (Edition 2000) NOTE: This bill is subject to amendment by the Baltimore City Council EDWARD REISINGER Chairman

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1-800 (AFRO) 892 For Proof of Publication, please call 1-800-237-6892, ext. 244 TYPESET: Wed Feb 11 16:15:09 EST 2015 LEGAL NOTICES IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR BALTIMORE CITY Case No.: 24D15000153 IN THE MATTER OF Kristen Ann DiMarino FOR CHANGE OF NAME TO Lilith Ann James ORDER FOR NOTICE BY PUBLICATION The object of this suit is to officially change the name of the petitioner from Kristen Ann DiMarino to Lilith Ann James It is this 26th day of January , 2015 by the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, ORDERED, that publication be given one time in a newspaper of general circulation in Baltimore City on or before the 26th day of February , 2015, which shall warn all interested persons to file an affidavit in opposition to the relief requested on or before the 16th day of March, 2015.

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Please email your resume to: Pleasedhocker@afro.com email your resume to: lhowze@afro.com or mail to or mail to AFRO-American Newspapers, Afro-American Newspapers Diane W. Hocker, Director of Human Resources, Diane W. Hocker, 2519 N. Charles Street, Director of Human Resources Baltimore, MD 21218 2519 N. Charles Street Baltimore, TYPESET: Wed Feb 11 18:28:58 ESTMD 201521218 ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY CAREER OPPORTUNITIES Police Communications Operator I/II Police Officer, Entry Level Visit our website at www.aacounty.org for additional information and to apply on-line. You may use the Internet at any Anne Arundel County library, or visit our office at 2660 Riva Road in Annapolis. Deadlines to apply posted on website.

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