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FINANCIAL LITERACY MONTH
Eddie Brown on Blessing Those Less Fortunate
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By Hamzat Sani Special to the AFRO About 200 youth and administrators from area schools made up a diverse audience who attended the “Town Hall for Our Lives,” in Washington, D.C. April 11. It was organized just weeks after the national March for Our Lives rallies, structured as conversation to keep the momentum going. Panelists included —
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By J. K. Schmid Special to the AFRO The Baltimore ‘68 Riot ended 50 years ago April 14. April 19 also marks the anniversary of the death of Freddie Gray in 2015. The AFRO reached out to a previous generation of activists and organizers to
survivors and students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in
“We want our freedom and we want it now.” –Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) Parkland, Florida, where a mass shooting left 17 dead in February and student
evaluate the process and the progress of Black civil rights in the last five decades. “The people having the worst time of it are the younger ones,” Oliver “Pat” Scott told the AFRO. “They don’t have anything to measure except the lives that they’ve lived. They’re not conscious of the fact, of
By Brianna Rhodes Special to the AFRO
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activists from the District and nation. Civil Rights icon Rep. John Lewis anchored the conversation. Lewis’ deep affection for youth activism was on display as he encouraged the audience to make “good trouble.” In conversation with event moderator MSNBC’s Michelle Bernard, Lewis noted being the youngest of 10 speakers at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, in 1963, at the age of 23. “Some people
the probability, their USA got started and went through a change at a certain point. So, they can’t, they need to know what the beginning was, so they need history, and they need to know why things changed.” Mr. Scott is a member of the Baltimore “Goon
thought I was too young but I thought I was the right age.” The young Lewis would later go on to lead 600 mostly youth activists in Selma, Alabama in March of 1965; Continued on A3
To honor the life and legacy of Linda Brown, the historic pioneer at the center of the 1954 ruling to end school segregation who died in March, a cultural group is recognizing the often overlooked sites that continue to tell the story of Black education in America. “Linda Brown, like civil rights icons such as Mary McLeod Bethune, Mary Church Terrell and other significant and heroic Black women and youth changed our nation,” said Brent Leggs, director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. “Their courage in the face of Jim Crow
These are the African Americans Running for U.S. Senate
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Commentary
The Black Press and the Baltimore ’68 Riot Part 2 of 2 By E. R. Shipp Special to the AFRO This is the second and final part of a series documenting how the AFRO and other news publications covered the Baltimore ’68 Riot. In some cities, civil disorders erupted almost immediately after King’s death was announced. But not in Baltimore. In a post-riot report, one White reporter was quoted lamenting that fact. “Typical Baltimore Negroes,” he supposedly told another White reporter. “They’re rioting all over the country; why can’t they do it here?” What the AFRO later described as “roving
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Remembering Linda Brown and the History of Black Education
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Local Students Step Up on Gun Control
Remaining Goon Squad Members Look Back on ‘68 Riots
New Podcast!
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Courtesy photo
MSNBC’s Michelle Bernard (left) and civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis (next to Bernard) led a discussion about gun control and civil rights at Friendship Public Charter School’s Armstrong Campus at the Town Hall for Our Lives on April 10.
racism helped to end symbols of White supremacy such as racial segregation in public schools and we believe at the National Trust that Linda Brown’s courage is to be admired and is a life lesson for today’s youth fighting for social justice,” he added. Places that tell the history of Black education span the country from Little Rock Central High School, where in 1957 nine African American students desegregated the high school, and to the Abiel Smith School in Boston, the first public school for AfricanAmerican children, which opened in 1835. These schools represent the physical manifestation of social movements in response to past crises in Black education
Continued on A3
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The Afro-American, April 14, 2018 - April 20, 2018
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Bill Cosby’s $3.4M Settlement: Evidence of Guilt or Greed? By The Associated Press
The defense in Bill Cosby’s sexual assault retrial is expected to use its opening statement on Tuesday to portray a $3.4 million settlement paid to the woman he’s charged with sexually assaulting as evidence of her greed. Cosby lawyer Tom Mesereau has signaled he intends to use the settlement to argue AP Photo/Matt Slocum that Andrea Constand falsely Bill Cosby arrives for his accused the man once revered sexual assault trial April 10 as “America’s Dad” in hopes of at the Montgomery County landing a big payoff. Courthouse in Norristown, District Attorney Kevin Pa. Steele revealed the previously secret settlement amount in his opening statement on Monday, but didn’t connect the dots to the prosecution’s earlier suggestions that Cosby wouldn’t have paid out so much money if the accusations against him were false. Mesereau, who won an acquittal in Michael Jackson’s 2005 child molestation case, has said the jury will learn “just how greedy” Constand was. The settlement amount had been confidential — and was kept out of the first trial — but a judge ruled that both sides could discuss it at this one. “The question that I’m sure we’re going to hear a lot about is, why would an innocent man pay $3.38 million for something he didn’t do?” said lawyer Dennis McAndrews, who prosecuted chemical heir John E. duPont for murder in 1997 and is not associated with the Cosby retrial. Cosby, 80, is charged with drugging and molesting Constand, a former employee of Temple University’s basketball program, at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004. Constand says he gave her pills that made her woozy, and then penetrated her with his fingers as she lay incapacitated, unable to tell him to stop. Cosby’s first trial last spring ended with the jury hopelessly deadlocked. His retrial is expected to last a month. Cosby faces three counts of aggravated indecent assault, each punishable by up to 10 years in prison. At a pretrial hearing last month, Assistant District Attorney Stewart Ryan previewed how the prosecution might counter the defense’s allegations that Constand was setting up Cosby. He alluded to a 1997 case in which Autumn Jackson threatened to go
public with claims she was Cosby’s daughter unless he paid her $40 million. “Of course, people attempted to extort the defendant in the past, and what did he do? He called the police,” Ryan said. He arrived at the courthouse Tuesday amid heightened security after a topless protester who appeared on several episodes of “The Cosby Show” as a child jumped a barricade and got within a few feet of Cosby as the comedian entered the courthouse.
Target Settles Employment Discrimination Suit By AFRO Staff Target Corp. recently reached a $3.7 million settlement with the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund over a lawsuit that alleged the major retailer used a criminal background screening policy that discriminated against Blacks and Latinos. “Target’s background check policy was out of step with best practices and harmful to many qualified applicants who deserved a fair shot at a good job,” said Sherrilyn Ifill, president and directorcounsel at LDF, in a statement. LDF, in partnership with the law firm of Outten & Golden LLP, filed the suit on behalf of a class of job applicants. According to the complaint, Target used an overly broad and outdated system that screened applicants for prior convictions that happened long before the applicants sought employment with Target or that were not related to the positions being sought. Under the settlement, Target will institute a hiring process for class members to obtain jobs at any of its approximately 1,800 U.S. based retail stores. Those who would not benefit from a job will get a cash award. Additionally, the giant retailer will hire experts to review and revise its background check process. And, Target will contribute to nonprofits that assist ex-offenders with re-entry.
AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh
Target is paying more than $3.7 million to settle a lawsuit that said its hiring process, which automatically rejected people with criminal backgrounds, disproportionately kept Blacks and Hispanics from getting entry-level jobs at its stores.
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The Afro-American, April 14, 2018 - April 14, 2018
Lewis Continued from A1 five months later, President Johnson would sign the Voting Rights Act into law. After a one-on-one with Lewis and Bernard, they called youth panelists to the stage. Seated next to Lewis were brothers Alec and Jake Zaslav who survived the Parkland shooting. They talked about their experience mobilizing students around gun control legislation. Jennia Taylor, a graduate of Marjory Stoneman Douglas and current Spelman College senior spoke of her battles organizing the March of Our Lives rally in Atlanta. The panel was rounded out by students Kiani Bell, Makayla Hayes, Jerell King, and Alexis Slewing
from local Friendship Public Charter School campuses. Alec said Stoneman Douglas’ example of getting into “good trouble” included galvanizing students from Parkland to travel to Tallahassee to demand meetings with legislators. This activism resulted in increasing the age to 21 to buy a gun, increased help for mental health patients and more budgeting for school security. Taylor explained that “organizing is not easy, at all” recalling having to sue the State of Georgia after lawmakers attempted to violate their 1st amendment rights by limiting their right to protest in a freedom of speech area. During visits to their legislators to build relationships Taylor remembers, “some of them literally called us stupid...one representative
April 14, 2018 - April 20, 2018, The Afro-American even told us she is the NRA.” Despite the legislative naysayers, Taylor and Atlanta organizers turned out one of the largest rallies in the nation and coupled the movement for gun control with a sizeable voter registration drive focused on youth. Bell added her perspective on the dichotomy of being a youth organizer in the nation’s capital. “We’re so close to political power, but at the same time we are not a state, so we don’t necessarily have those representatives or people to call and advocate for that change.” King, a sophomore at Friendship Tech Prep High, who shortly after the Parkland shooting attended a listening session with President Donald Trump and high level members of his cabinet. He did not leave that session
Goon Squad Continued from A1 Squad,” an organization of 13-orso ministers, professors, and even a judge, that organized and campaigned on Baltimore politics for decades. Scott, a visual artist and graphic designer is working on a history of the organization. Rev. Vernon Dobson, a Goon Squad member who died in 2013,, working with Peter Angelos and James Rouse, established a food bank during the ‘68 riots that developed into the Maryland Food Bank. Dobson, working with fellow Goon Squad member Rev. Wendell Phillips and Monsignor Clare O’Dwyer (both of whom are deceased) established Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development (BUILD) in 1977. BUILD is currently campaigning to curb gun violence, but as the AFRO has previously reported, has also rallied before City Hall to close the gap in Baltimore school funding. “They set their goals, they speak in a very disciplined way,” Scott said. “As they spread out to the groups that they’re working with or teaching, you learn in a very structured way how to present, you learn in a very structured way how to listen and set your goals. How to analyze problems and how to analyze personalities and how to Photos by Henry Holmes, Collage by Pat Scott stay calm and ready to conquer the Members of the Baltimore Goon Squad. problem. I think it’s a great training that they’ve gotten over the years. “Anything you do in life needs to be monitored and The most important thing is that: It’s maintained because things slip,” Scott said. “You may have to something that can be maintained.” rebuild your house, things get old and they rot, you get a new Durability of Goon Squad projects has reshaped the group of people who have different goals, and before you know political terrain at the national level: Parren Mitchell, another it, there’s friction. So it’s a good thing to have an organization Goon Squad member, was elected Maryland’s first Black (like BUILD) that appears to recognize that and tries to keep congressman (7th District), in 1971. Mitchell served eight their eye on the situation.” terms and died in 2007. Now a new model of activism and organizing is surging in Another Goon Squad member, Judge Joseph Howard, Sr. the wake of the Freddie Gray uprising. was elected the first Black Associate Judge of the Supreme “This is the first civil rights movement in history that Bench of Baltimore City. has not been led by the church” said Kwame Rose, activist The Goon Squad made, and made up, its own elite, welland community liaison between Baltimore and the Pugh connected and well-educated group. Administration. “I applaud the efforts of the activists who “Back then, you got forced into-if you wanted to get to this essentially laid the groundwork or the foundation for activism place or that place, you had to go by the rule, or the way things that is taking place, post-Freddie Gray.” were set up,” Scott said. “If you couldn’t get into Harvard, Technology may have transformed how activism, politics you had to go some place where you could get a Harvard and policy goes forward. experience. And they found their way into those places and into “[Before] you had to be trained in something,” Scott said. Harvard and Yale.” “These persons who are getting involved now are maybe An established elite can only take progress so far, Scott said.
Brown Continued from A1 and the stories they keep must be preserved and protected for future generations, according to Leggs. Even today, historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) continue to serve and educate Black Americans in the nation. The National Trust for Historic Preservation is working to preserve the history of HBCUs including at Howard University, where Founder’s Library played a major role in the Brown v. Board of Education case. “We got involved with Founder’s because of its civil rights legacy and that is where Charles Hamilton Houston and Thurgood Marshall devised the legal strategy that we know as Brown v. Board of Education when the Howard University law school was housed in Founder’s Library,” Leggs said. “These places are important to our national identity and they must be preserved.” Leggs recommends those who are interested in learning more about Brown story and the history of Black education
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to visit historic places such as the national historic site in Topeka, Kansas which includes Monroe Elementary School, the segregated school Brown attended. He also recommends visiting the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, the largest collection of African-American history in the United States in Founder’s Library at Howard University. Visitors can learn about the rich, Black experience in our nation, including the story of segregation in education, according to Leggs. Marita Rivero, the director of the Museum of African American History, Boston and Nantucket, finds it important to note that Brown is a part of the long continuum of Black people who have fought for first-class education for all children. Rivero, who also serves as a board member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, said that Black people have valued education for centuries and fought to create schools to provide the best education possible. Linda Brown was part of that succession of people in history and there are many people who have come after her who continued to struggle. “I just think that we like to think about history because it really shows you that when people come together, it’s a reaction to strengthen our democracy to fight for human rights,” Rivero said. “If there’s one thing Linda Brown story tells us, it is that we can make change. We can come together. We can struggle together and use our legal strengths, our media strengths and our strengths as a community to make positive change,” Rivero added.
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convinced that Trump grasped what students, parents, educators and victims were really asking for. “I don’t think that he’s really going to put forth the effective change that we need. So that is why it’s important for us to actually stand up to pretty much be more forceful and more impatient.” When Lewis, known as the “Conscience of the U.S. Congress”, was asked for advice he could give to young activists, he left the audience with this, “You tell us to wait, you tell us to be patient. We cannot wait, we cannot be patient. We want our freedom and we want it now… when it comes to the issue of gun violence we want to stop it, we want to stop it now. We want to save America—not just for this generation but for the generation yet unborn.”
getting involved at their computer, and maybe getting educated at their computer; but they do have a shorthand way of thinking. Which is okay, if they can shift.” Compared to the vertical nature of the Goon Squad, Rose emphasizes the opportunities in the horizontal. “What is powerful about the activism that is taking place post-Freddie Gray, is that it’s not leaders who are leading the cause for change,” said Rose. “It’s not ministers, it’s everyday people who are working together and saying ‘I have lived this, I know it is wrong, and how can I be part of the solution?’”
The Black Press Continued from A1 bands of teenage firebombers” obliged such antsy Whites that Saturday evening by smashing storefront windows and setting fires on Gay Street. About 6,000 troops of the Maryland National Guards entered the city that Saturday night. By Sunday evening, after the chaos had spread to the West Side, President Lyndon Johnson had sent in the 82d Corps Airborne Infantry. Ultimately, the affected area was bound by Patterson Park Avenue on the east; West Belvedere Avenue and 33d Street on the north; Hilton Street and Hilton Road on the west; and Pratt Street and Washington Boulevard on the south. On Palm Sunday, April 7, the Sun’s front page blared: CITY CURFEW IMPOSED AGNEW SENDS TOOPS AS UNREST SPREADS In slightly smaller type size, another headline said: “One Killed, 70 Hurt, 100 Arrested As Violence, Looting Flare in Downtown Area; Fireman Report 200 Alarms.” Coverage in the Sun was pretty straightforward, including stories that attempted to explain the motives behind the unrest. But according to a report prepared by the Baltimore office of the American Friends Services Committee, some of the local television and radio stations overplayed the crisis angle, providing “a stream of ominous bulletins.” One of the all-news radio stations was singled out for “particularly incendiary” news bulletins “reporting that Stokely Carmichael was on his way to Baltimore, and that the state police were hunting for him and then, about an hour later, reporting that Carmichael was in the city and that an allpoints bulletin was out for his apprehension.” All of this was what we would call today “fake news.” Obsession with Carmichael, the Black Power advocate, was not limited to overwrought radio accounts. Gov. Agnew, too, thought that the rioting could be explained away as the influence of outside agitators, especially Carmichael, who had visited the city in the past but was not here when the rioting began. The riot-related story that the AFRO devoted most attention to was Agnew’s public humiliation of about 100 leaders he had invited to a meeting. They were essentially ambushed, unaware that the governor had already distributed to the media copies of the message he planned to deliver to them. He accused them of being cowards, afraid to stand up to Carmichael and to the rioters. He instructed them on their roles as leaders. About half of them stormed out of the meeting, complaining, as did State Senator Verda Welcome, that he had spoken to them as if they were children. The AFRO followed the back and forth between the leaders and the governor and the input of their respective supporters in several stories and an editorial over the next few weeks. The most comprehensive coverage in the was in its April 9 issue. “City In Turmoil As Rioters Roam,” the main headline screamed. The lead story was penned by editor George W. Collins as he was making plans to head to Atlanta for Dr. King’s funeral: “Five dead, 3,000 jailed, troops on duty.” That story reported in colorful prose that “a four-day nightmare is gripping Baltimore with no signs of letting up.” A story by Jewell Chambers and Al Rutledge focused on misery and suffering of those who lost their homes and their businesses. On page 9 – opposite a full page of ads for Easter sales at Lexington Market – there was a full page of photos of young men being arrested, buildings burning, people salvaging their belongings and a bloodied White journalist. The next three pages were photos and stories that were pretty much all about what was transpiring Washington, which had beat Baltimore to the roster of riot-torn cities by a day. The April 13 paper reported that the troops were beginning to withdraw. That normalcy had returned was clear in the April 16 front page, where a couple was pictured strolling on the avenue in their Easter finery and another photo showed hundreds of White Baltimoreans taking part in a march of penance for the racism that had led to the murder of Dr. King. The AFRO had found its editorial voice on the riot by then, too. An editorial with some bite scolded those who advocated violence and reminded readers who really bore the brunt of “the current senseless rioting, looting and burning.” With the power of hindsight and the voice of the Sunday School teacher, it said: “See who died in greater numbers. See who lost their homes and belongings. See who ended up in bread lines.”
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The Afro-American, April 14, 2018 - April 20, 2018
COMMENTARY
Building the Political Courage to Save Lives Elijah Cummings
Our nation’s substance use crisis—which has as its epicenter the opioid epidemic—must compel our government to act. Like the plagues of old, the growing national toll in lives lost
and families destroyed is daunting. Nearly 64,000 Americans perished from drug overdoses in 2016. Approximately 2,100 of those untimely and unnecessary deaths occurred here in Maryland. Equally alarming, the carnage appears to be worsening. Last year, the Centers for Disease Control warned that life expectancy in the United States has dropped for the second year in a row—and drug overdoses are the single biggest reason why. Emergency room visits for opioid overdoses skyrocketed in all parts of the United States by 30% between July 2016 and September 2017. Experts advise us that our nation has the scientific capability to better protect us from this plague, if only our political system can muster the courage and the will. Nationally, a presidential commission has issued its recommendations, many of them positive and scientifically based; and the Congress has appropriated $6 billion in additional funding over the next two years. However, as Maryland Governor Larry Hogan testified before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee last month, the federal response must be more urgent, more comprehensive and more effective. “In spite of all of our efforts,” he declared, “in spite of us fighting with every tool we have at our disposal, this crisis continues to evolve, particularly with the threat of fentanyl and other synthetic additives, which can be 50 times to 100 times stronger than heroin. Combatting a crisis of this scale requires all levels of government working together. No state or community can go it alone.” Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and I agree. That is why we are developing a comprehensive and hopefully bipartisan strategy to better protect our nation against this epidemic. State and local public health officials need more federal resources – and these additional resources must be applied in a comprehensive national plan modeled on measures that have worked in the past. Three decades ago, America confronted another epidemic, HIV/AIDS, that was highly stigmatized, greatly misunderstood and severely underestimated, an epidemic that was spreading through our country and killing tens of thousands of otherwise healthy people each year. The federal government alone possessed the resources capable of addressing that epidemic, but for years Washington refused to devote meaningful resources to combating HIV/AIDS, even as it continued to kill more Americans every day. Then, in 1990, Rep. Henry Waxman, Sen. Ted Kennedy, and Sen. Orrin Hatch worked together to pass the bipartisan Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act that recognized the gravity — and the urgency — of the HIV/AIDS crisis by setting forth a comprehensive approach to treatment and providing significant new funding for individualized support services. It recognized that the epidemic looked different in different parts of the country, so it sent funding directly to the areas of the country that needed help the most and gave states and affected communities the ability to identify their most urgent needs and decide how dollars should be spent to address those needs. Our colleagues’ work required substantial political courage, just as working on a bipartisan basis to better protect our nation against the opioid epidemic we now face will require bipartisan political will. Senator Warren and I are convinced that the results that have been achieved through the Ryan White program are worth the effort: vital services are being provided to more than half a million people every year, life-saving medications are available, new infections have plummeted and science — rather than stigma — guides medical care. It is time for Congress to show the same political courage that our colleagues showed nearly 30 years
ago. This is why we intend to introduce legislation to establish a comprehensive system for funding and local decision-making to address opioid addiction and substance use that is modeled directly on the highly successful Ryan White CARE Act. Our legislation will acknowledge that the epidemic we are confronting is a disease, which must be addressed by providing treatment to those who need it and investing in the science that will help us make progress in fighting back. It will also make it easier to hold those who are fueling the epidemic more accountable for their actions. The Ryan White CARE Act is an enduring example of what Congress can achieve when it works to help states and communities address a national public health crisis by providing federal support. We are urging our colleagues, Democratic and Republican alike, to join us in this effort, to show courage, to combat ignorance and ill-informed stigmas, and to step up with significant new resources. Protecting our nation and her people cannot be about politics. It must be about saving lives. Congressman Elijah Cummings represents Maryland’s 7th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. Senator Elizabeth Warren represents the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. A version of this op-ed appeared in the March 29 edition of USA Today.
Let’s Talk About Sex and Consent Salt n’ Pepa’s 1991 track melodically instructs us, “Let’s talk about sex...let’s talk about all the good things and the bad things that could be.” Almost thirty years later amidst recent allegations and confessions of sexual misconduct, we really do need to talk about sex and consent. However, as a Black woman, I’ve noticed that there is not a huge African American woman presence in the mainstream conversation at this time. While a few Black women have spoken out here and there, speeches, online comments, and articles are riddled with the experiences and viewpoints of predominantly White women. So, why are Black women not chiming in at alarming rates or at least donning pussyhats? To be frank, because sexual assault has been happening to Black women in America since slave ships, #Metoo does not validate our experiences. Recy Taylor, the woman who Oprah Winfrey invoked at the Golden Globes, did not have a feminist movement to validate her assault and perhaps that is why most of us were not familiar with her story. However, the NAACP and other organizations involved in the Civil Rights Movement stood with her. Characteristically, it has not been until rich Anglo (and importantly) American women have come forward to share their stories, that people have taken notice. But Black women have long known the lewd behaviors of powerful men (and women) who could and did use fear and force to push sexual advances and postures of power. We have known all too well what happens when other women who could help or at least stand with us, stood aside
Marlyn Thomas
and more often than not, stood with our abusers in race solidarity. The legacy of wrongful incarcerations and lynchings of Black men and boys due to accusations and alleged verbal and physical sexual assault of White women faintly rings in our ears. So arguably, there is a collective apprehension about adopting the #MeToo movement. This apprehension encompasses not only Black women’s experiences, but all women who are not economically and/or socially able to stand up to their assaulters in a way that allows them to have basic necessities afterwards because there is no financial payout. It is true Black and White women can work together on women’s issues. Typically Black women in America live in limbo of what construct should be prioritized, race or sex. But our concerns and motives do not run parallel with the current movement. Most Black women, even those who adhere to feminism, do not envision an all female regime to juxtapose the current White male patriarchy because we are well aware that men are not necessary in perpetuating patriarchy. Women can and have participated as minions and strongholds of patriarchal ideas and those who occupy that space are interested in retaining power, not equality. Even now, there are accusations that men who are guilty of sexual assault in Hollywood did not do so without the knowledge and perhaps help of powerful women. Likewise, the celebrated success of a few Black women does not guarantee us a seat at the table with speaking privileges. Therefore, we tend to make due with what is available to us via our communities.
In Black communities, we have fostered women centeredness. Women’s Day and prayer breakfasts at local churches, sorority meetings, and the kitchen table to quote Paule Marshall have all been our sites for discussing our challenges and our triumphs. While the world may find these things small, they have been helpful in our communities and our homes for spiritual, social, and mental rejuvenation as well as the war rooms for problems and traumas. These community-based sister spaces are by far not enough, but they are places where we are not skirting the margins. Our absence on social media in the #Metoo movement is not to be mistaken for quiet acceptance of violence or a misunderstanding of women’s power; indeed, it is a quiet from throats sore from screaming “me too” for two hundred years. It is a collective quiet that recognizes ignored voices until the seemingly right people spoke up and formed a movement. It is also a resistance to standing against Black men as many of us hope to see the Black family made whole again; for the current movement, has at times, grouped all men together as possible sexual predators and the rhetoric has increasingly become anti-male. This is not a value nor of value in the African American community, where the historical truth is women and men were sexually assaulted by slavers and later Jim Crow zealots. Marlyn Thomas is a graduate student in the English Department at Morgan State University and is currently an instructor at Alabama A&M University focusing on African American culture and the Diasporan experience.
Linda Brown’s Legacy and the Continued Fight for Universal Good Public Education The loss of Linda Brown is a great loss to our country. While her name will forever be a part of American civil rights history, all elected public officials should make sure that her legacy will live on, and that all of our public schools will remain spaces of high quality education for all. For Linda Brown, it all started when she tried to enroll in an all-White elementary school in Topeka, Kansas, which was much closer to her home. To go to the all-Black one, she had to walk 2 miles across town, through railroad yards and across a busy avenue. In wintertime, the walk would be so cold and unbearable that she sometimes had to run back home. She was only 9 years old at the time. At that age – at any age – one should never have to struggle for their basic right to education in our country. But she had to. So she and her family sued the Topeka Board of Education. Four similar cases were combined with her complaint and they presented their case to the Supreme Court. The 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling ended segregation in American schools, overturning Plessy v. Ferguson which established the separate but equal doctrine that formed the legal basis for Jim Crow laws. Linda Brown was a heroic young lady who bravely fought to
Rich Madaleno and Luwanda Jenkins
end the ultimate symbol of white supremacy: racial segregation in public schools. Today, other children are walking in her footsteps by leading the national charge against gun violence in our country (a plague that still disproportionately affects African-Americans). I, too, promise to walk in Linda Brown’s footsteps. If elected Lieutenant Governor for Maryland, I pledge that I and Rich Madaleno will work tirelessly to provide a world-class education system that improves education and provides for all our children, regardless of whether they live in the suburbs, in our state’s urban centers, or in rural areas. Our ticket has put forth a far reaching plan to help enrollment in our state’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities. This includes $1 billion to be allocated to Maryland’s four HBCUs over a ten-year period in order to remediate to the segregative effects of current state policies and practices. Clearly, in 2018, the fight continues – and Rich is currently fighting in the Senate to establish funding for teacher recruitment and retention, debt-free college education, and to ensure the nutritional needs for hungry kids are met. With my background having worked for minority affairs for three Maryland governors, and Rich serving on the Commission on Innovation and Excellence in Education (Kirwan Commission), our ticket provides a unique blend of executive and legislative experience that will translate into good judgment-based leadership.
At a time when the current Trump administration has no regard for experience, with a Secretary of Education that shows no regard for public schools, let’s make sure that Maryland paves the way in matters of education that benefits all children. Maryland needs leaders who truly believe in the promise of public education to build a 21st century public school system that will serve as a beacon for the rest of the nation. Maryland needs leaders who believe in continuing Linda Brown’s fight for equal chances at education, at life. We will be these leaders. Rich Madaleno and Luwanda Jenkins are running for governor and lieutenant-governor of Maryland. Luwanda Jenkins is a Baltimore native with over 25 years of effective progressive leadership experience in both the private and public sector. She served as Special Secretary for the Governor’s Office of Minority Affairs, where she was instrumental in leading initiatives that generated record gains for minority and woman business inclusion in State contracting. Rich Madaleno has served Montgomery County for 16 years in the Maryland General Assembly and has been a leader in investing in education, serving as a member of the Kirwan Commission. He lives with his husband and their two African-American children in Kensington.
April 14, 2018 - April 20, 2018, The Afro-American
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Eddie Brown on Blessing Those Less Fortunate By Lisa Snowden McCray Special to the AFRO
“When we are making investments, we are looking at what’s possible with the particular companies that we are investing in over the next three to five years, not over the next month or quarter or even year.”
Eddie Brown, Baltimore businessman and philanthropist, says that almost 20 years ago, he began passing down a bit of advice to some family members – two nieces – who had recently given birth. “They said ‘We want to make sure that we save for their future education,’” Brown remembers, on a phone call from his home. It’s not a bad thing to have someone like Brown just a phone call away. He’s the chairman, CEO, and founder of Brown Capital Management, a prestigious investment firm that has been in business for over 30 years. He and his wife, Sylvia Brown, also own the Mount Vernon-based Ivy Hotel. “I had an extended session with them and I talked politicians go but if we believe in the capitalistic system about the power of compound interest and the power of and we have the ability to identify and invest in great consistency of investing money on regular basis like every companies run by great managers,” he says. “Over time the month,” Brown remembers. U.S. economy will do fine regardless of who is in office He says he told his nieces to first figure out whether and the investment will be rewarded.” they wanted to send their children to public or private Although the Browns have a lot –a 2016 CNN story colleges (private schools, he noted, are much more listed them among America’s top one percent – they expensive). Then they looked at the cost of tuition and give back a lot, too. They have the Eddie C. and C room and board and factored in inflation. He suggested that Sylvia Brown Family Foundation through the Baltimore they invest in a more aggressive mutual fund. Community Foundation, which helps funds programs “In, say, 12 years you can afford to go through that help black people, specifically in the areas of health, upmarkets, downmarkets and you can take the risk of the the arts, and K-12 education. They also help support the volatility because you have time on your side,” he said. Reginald F. Lewis Museum, the Walters Art Museum, and “They followed the script when each of their children were the Baltimore Museum of Art, among other Baltimore ready…they had everything prefunded. They didn’t need to institutions. take any money out of current income.” He says that he and his wife have tried to pass along Those babies have long-since grown up and completed that philanthropic spirit to their children and grandchildren, their college educations, but Brown says he had another Courtesy photo and even at his firm, where they match charitable donations niece with a small baby come to him recently and he gave made by employees. Eddie Brown passes along financial advice that helped make him her the same advice. Brown says that when he and his wife first decided to successful to future generations. “It’s now becoming multi-generational within our start donating money, they were given some advice: family that they are really thinking and investing so the “We had a lot of help from professionals in the same thing can be applied to anyone, but you have to have the discipline to do it.” charitable giving space and they advised us to narrow your areas of charitable giving maybe no Brown says that a slow and steady, no-drama attitude towards money is how he runs his more than three and choose areas that you are really passionate about.” company, even in the not-so-slow-or-very-steady age of Trump. He says that his giving stems from some advice he got many years ago, in church. “When we are making investments, we are looking at what’s possible with the particular “The pastor of the church where we were members at the time made a very prophetic companies that we are investing in over the next three to five years, not over the next month or statement that stuck with both of us over the years,” Brown says. “He said those that are blessed quarter or even year,” he says. should be a blessing to someone especially those less fortunate. So you might say that’s the “And of course we’ve been doing this for a long time and we know that politicians come, driving force or motivation behind what we do.”
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to Assist with Getting a Small Business Bank Loan 1. Develop and maintain an ongoing business relationship with your banker. Relationships count in the banking world. To effectively serve you, bankers need to understand your goals, anticipated financial needs and current financial situation. 2. Understand the difference between loans and equity. Loans need to be repaid over a defined time period. Equity investments are permanent funds that serve as “shock absorbers” so businesses can weather good times and bad. Banks are in business to make loans. Equity funds should come from the business owners. 3. Be able to explain your company’s “value proposition.” Why should customers do business with you? How will you compete effectively in your chosen target market segments? 4. Have a business plan that covers best, most likely, and worst case scenarios. Developing alternative business plans shows your banker that you understand both the risks and opportunities of operating in your industry. Since your banker deals with many small businesses, he or she may have helpful ideas to help you survive and thrive in today’s challenging economy. 5. Develop at least two ways to repay the loan. Bankers look for both a primary and secondary source of loan repayment. United Bank offers a number of small business loan products to fit many borrowers’ needs. Give our small business lender a call to learn more about our loan offerings. John Gusciora Commercial Banker 703.584.3468 John.Gusciora@bankwithunited.com BankWithUnited.com | Member FDIC | Loans subject to credit approval. Flood and/or hazard insurance may be required.
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The Afro-American, April 14, 2018 - April 20, 2018
The Art of Picking a Tax Accountant By Lisa Snowden-McCray Special to the AFRO Anthony Moon, CEO and president of Baltimore-based ATPAC accounting and tax services (also, full disclosure, the guy who does my taxes), says that people should be careful about who they pay to file their own taxes, because not everyone is legitimate. “People need to be aware of persons charging fees based on things like the number of dependents that he has or the amount of their refund. None of that should be scrutinized or used as criteria for setting price models.” Moon, 64, has been in business since the late 70’s, working formerly as an auditor for the city of Baltimore and now for himself. He earned his Associate’s Degree at Baltimore City Community College, and a Bachelor’s Degree in business management from the University of Baltimore. His company’s name is an acronym for the services he provides: accounting, taxation, payroll, auditing, and consulting. Moon says that he uses a formbased price model that has nothing to do with either of those things. “I’ve heard horror stories…people tend to succumb to just being anxious to get some money back to get out of Christmas debt or maybe to keep the lights or gas and electric on during the winter,” he says. “You should scrutinize who is doing your taxes, the level of knowledge that they are working with, where did they gain their knowledge.”
Anthony Moon’, of ATPAC accounting and tax services, offers tips on picking a tax accountant. Photo by Lisa Snowden-McCray
Moon says there are free, reputable tax services available. He also suggests going to http://dat.maryland.go to search for legitimate businesses. He’s also not averse to do-ityourself tax software – although with a caveat. “The software does a lot of the work for you and I never discourage people from using it or going into an Office Depot or Staples and buying a little $50 TurboTax or Kiplinger’s TaxCut, but it helps if you’ve had the experience education and knowledge of taxation itself,” he says. That way, you’re not
putting yourself in the position of being under undue scrutiny from the International Revenue Service. Moon says when he prepared his first income tax for someone else – for his mom, in 1976 – computer software and fancy gadgets weren’t available. He completed it with just a pencil and paper. However, he embraces the changes that come with time. “I have younger children and I think children force you to adapt to technology. It was made easier for me several years ago with
the affordability of the home computers and I’m always looking forward, not backwards.” Another word of advice from Moon: don’t be in such a rush to complete your taxes. It sounds counterintuitive but Moon says that in the rush to file, sometimes people make big mistakes and have to make amendments to their paperwork – and that means extra questions and some raised eyebrows from the IRS. “Amendments can be complicated and a lot of times the data has to be very credible and the source documents available for review,” he says. “Now my business clients, homeowners, they are the middle to the late tax filers because they are realizing that it’s important to have everything needed when you file it originally. You can save yourself a lot of time, a lot of headache.” He also says that people should be prepared for their taxes to look a little different next year, in the aftermath of Congress’ recent changes to U.S. tax law. “[The changes are] affecting people this year currently,” he says. “They just won’t see the effects of it until they file their 2018 tax returns. There are things like increased standard deductions for persons who don’t itemize deductions. For people who do itemize deductions, there’s going to be a cap on… personal property mortgage interests. There are things that are going to change but those changes won’t be recognized until we file the 2018 tax returns.”
Insurers Look to Pass Drug Price Breaks Straight to Consumer By The Associated Press Some major health insurers plan to take a little sting out of prescription drug prices by giving customers
rebates at the pharmacy counter. Aetna and UnitedHealthcare both say they will begin passing rebates they get from
drugmakers along to some customers starting next year. They could spark a trend: The idea has been championed by President Donald Trump, and it’s something other bill-
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payers like major employers might consider. Rebates are a key cog in the largely secretive pricing agreements ironed out between drugmakers and pharmacy benefit managers, the companies that manage prescriptions for insurers and large employers. Rebates have become more common in recent years, and some critics point to them as a factor behind soaring drug costs. Aetna and UnitedHealthcare say they want to make prescription drug pricing more transparent and simplify the process for customers. Here’s a look at the issue. Who gets the rebate? Pharmaceutical companies offer rebates to benefits managers as a carrot to get their drugs included in formularies, or lists of covered drugs. These concessions are usually a percentage of the initial price set by the drugmaker, or the list price. Pharmacy benefit managers typically pass rebates on to the insurers and large employers that hire them. Those clients often use the money to reduce their plan’s spending on drugs or the cost of coverage.
Only 4 percent said they passed rebates directly to customers at the point of sale, or when they buy the drug, the Pharmacy Benefit Management Institute found in a 2017 report. Will you start receiving them soon? That’s unlikely. Aetna estimates that 3 million customers could receive rebates when it starts offering them next year, while UnitedHelathcare’s plan will initially apply to over 7 million people. Those are big numbers but small slices of the more than 67 million U.S. customers these companies cover in total. In addition, CVS Health’s pharmacy benefits business offers point-of-sale rebates through plans that cover about 10 million of its 94 million customers. More insurers or benefits managers could follow these examples, and big employers that pay their own health care bills also might start passing the rebates to people on their health plans, said Ana Gupte, an insurance industry analyst with Leerink. Plus Trump has proposed giving rebates directly to Medicare prescription drug customers.
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Aetna and UnitedHealthcare both say they will begin passing rebates they get from drugmakers along to some of their customers starting next year.
Rebates delivered directly to the consumer may be attractive to insurers and pharmacy benefit managers because they can help polish their image. Rebates give the companies a tangible benefit they can show consumers instead of saying generally that these refunds help keep overall coverage costs in check, noted Benedic Ippolito, an economist with the American Enterprise Institute. “At a minimum, it sounds like insurers are trying to do something for consumers with high drug costs,” he said. Are we talking big money? It’s hard to forecast how big the rebates will be. Experts say they could knock anywhere from a few bucks off your prescription bill to more than $100. The rebates are generally not disclosed by companies, and their size depends on factors like competition and the amount of the drug sold. Teatments that have competition may deliver the biggest rebates because pharmaceutical companies are jockeying to have their medicines included in formularies. Discounts and rebates for high-cost specialty medicines usually are lower than those for more traditional drugs, according to the IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science, which studies prescription drug spending. The consumers who will benefit most are those who take prescription drugs regularly and pay a lot for their medicines out of pocket, or before insurance coverage starts. “It reduces the cost of having a chronic illness somewhat,” said Dan Mendelson, president of the consulting firm Avalere Health. But there may be a price to pay: The cost of coverage could rise for everyone on a given health plan if rebates are no longer being used to keep overall plan expenses in check.
Send your news tips to tips@afro.com.
April 14, 2018 - April 20, 2018, The Afro-American
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WASHINGTON-AREA
DC Communities of Color Feel Left Out By Food Delivery Services By Christina SturdivantSani Special to the AFRO
Ellington Carries on Legacy of Peggy Cooper Cafritz
Bonds Hits Campaign Trail with Surprising Rhetoric By James Wright Special to the AFRO jwright@afro.com
A 31-year-old Ward 7 resident has created an online petition calling out food delivery services that don’t deliver to neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River. In three days, the petition garnered more than 200 signatures and dozens of comments. Latoya Watson launched the petition after finding that UberEATS is one of few companies that deliver meals from restaurants to her home. “Uber has been a game changer for communities of color and it’s time for other services to fall in line,” Watson told the AFRO.
“The reason some Black men have problems getting a job is because of drugs being in their system when they’re getting tested,” D.C. Council member Anita Bonds said during her first stop on the reelection campaign trail. She shared these thoughts at the Marshall Heights Community Development Organization’s First Fridays meeting April 6. There she discussed what she’s done in office, her plans for the future, and the concerns of Photo by Lenore T. Adkins
Drummers kickoff the celebration of life for Duke Ellington School of the Arts Co-Founder Peggy Cooper Cafritz.
By Lenore T. Adkins Special to the AFRO
Courtesy photo
Ward 7 resident Latoya Watson says that several online food delivery services do not come to her neighborhood. The campaign’s offenders include Caviar, Postmates, and Doordash. All three companies did not immediately return requests for comment by the AFRO. She says some companies blame the disparity on supply and demand, but that’s not a legitimate excuse. “Even if it was just my household ordering food, that doesn’t come out of your business model. You just send
“It’s absolutely a race thing. I’m paying you the same money – it’s the same color as anybody else’s …” – Latoya Watson somebody over and we’ll pay you over and over because we’re lazy and don’t like to cook,” she said. Watson believes these companies are discriminating against the Black Washingtonians who make up more than 95 percent of Ward 7 and 8 residents. “It’s absolutely a race thing,” said Watson, who is Black. “I’m paying you the same money – it’s the same color as anybody else’s and has the same value, so it doesn’t make sense to completely ignore such a large group of people.” Continued on B2
Students, faculty and alumni at Duke Ellington School of the Arts performed a collection of show-stopping numbers April 7 in honor of deceased cofounder Peggy Cooper Cafritz. “Because You Were …We Are” celebrated Cooper Cafritz with an uplifting and emotional program of song, dance, speeches and music on what would have been her 71st birthday. The philanthropist, activist and matriarch of the city’s art scene died Feb. 18 after suffering complications from pneumonia. “It’s hard to believe that we’re here doing this so soon,” said former U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice, who was 10 when she met Cafritz. “Peggy’s vitality, her withering wit, her indomitable spirit, her incomparable resilience, even when she was suffering, defied the laws of nature for so long. I think we always half expected she would always beat the odds,” Rice said. Cafritz was born Pearl Alice Cooper on April 7, 1947 in
Mobile, Ala. to a prominent Catholic family. She moved to D.C. in the 1960s to attend George Washington University, where she earned an undergraduate degree in political science and later, a law degree. She was introduced to the Washington arts and education scene while she was attending law school and co-created a summer arts workshop with the late Mike Malone for low-income children in 1968. That program evolved into the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, which the D.C. public schools accepted in 1974, giving local students a –Debbie Allen path to pursue their education and a career in the arts. Today, Ellington, affectionately called “The House that Peggy and Mike Built,” is one of the most prestigious performing arts high schools in the country. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser lauded her as the greatest champion of the arts and children that the city has ever known. The multimedia tribute drew nearly 900 people to the school. Some of the many notable guests included former U.S. Continued on B2
“She knocked down barriers, built bridges, brought people together, raised money, raised consciousness.”
Courtesy photo
Anita Bonds, a Democratic at-large member of the D.C. Council, said recently Black men have difficulty getting jobs because they have drugs in their systems.
District residents. Bonds, who won the 2013 special election to permanently fill Council Continued on B2
District Attempts to Lower Voting Age By James Wright Special to the AFRO jwright@afro.com
Courtesy Photo
FSFSC members the Rev. Eugene Kinlow Sr., Kathleen T. Holly and Perry Moon, who serves as the executive director, honor Oramenta Newsome posthumously with Ramon Jacobson, the acting director of Local Initiatives Support Corporation. .
DC Group Looks to Reconnect with Community By James Wright Special to the AFRO jwright@afro.com One of Ward 8’s most far-reaching private social service agencies recently met to re-invigorate its mission and to prepare for its part in the economic expansion of the ward. On April 7, the Far Southeast Family Strengthening Collaborative (FSFSC) held its 19th
Annual Business Meeting and Community Conference at Anacostia High School in the District of Columbia. The FSFSC is a nonprofit, community-based organization that focuses on
“I thank God for Far Southeast.” – Wanda Brookins
family and child development with an emphasis on decreasing the incidences and impacts of child abuse and neglect. The executive director, Perry Moon, said that the meeting gives the FSFSC a chance to re-connect with the community and devise ways to move forward. “The annual conference gives us an opportunity to look back on all we have been Continued on B2
D.C. Council member Charles Allen was inspired by the March for Our Lives rally on March 24 in the District of Columbia and is thoroughly convinced that young people can be politically engaged. As a result, Allen, a Democrat representing Ward 6, re-introduced the “Youth Amendment Act of 2018” at the D.C. Council legislative meeting April 10. The legislation would allow District residents at least 16-years-old to vote in city elections. Allen said it is time for 16-year-olds to have the rights of full citizenship if they have the obligations. “At the age of 16, our society already gives young people greater legal Courtesy Photo responsibility,” Allen said. Charles Allen, who “They can drive a car. They represents Ward 6 on the can work. Some are raising D.C. Council, wants the a family or helping their voting age to be 16. family make ends meet. They pay taxes. Ironically, they pay fees to get a license plate that reads ‘Taxation Without Representation’. I think it is time to change that.” Allen originally introduced the bill on Nov. 3, 2015 and it was referred to the then Committee on the Judiciary, but no further action was taken. Allen’s bill would allow a District resident to register and Continued on B3
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The Afro-American, April 14, 2018 - April 20, 2018
Food Delivery Continued from B1
Watson, a Columbus, Ohio native, rented an apartment for several years in Logan Circle where a plethora of restaurants were in walking distance and food delivery services ferried meals from eateries neighborhoods away. In 2017, she and her partner bought a home in River Terrace, a waterfront community along the Anacostia River. Then she learned what it felt like to live in an urban food desert. “My entire lifestyle had to change,” she said, adding that she bought a car because she could no longer walk or bike to go grocery shopping or dining out. She learned about the lack of food delivery services when she tried to use a coupon from Postmates. Though the company’s website advertises deliveries for “anything, anywhere, anytime,” its carriers don’t trek to her Ward 7 address. She then tried a couple of other food delivery services with no luck. “I kept that coupon code for so long and had to use it during lunch time at my job that was near Union Station,”
she recalled. “Why do I have to wait until work hours to use my coupon versus using it whenever I want at the house?” On April 4, she launched the petition using Spendrise, a platform that lets paying customers voice their concerns about
“The lack of food options on the East End, unfortunately is one of race, this injustice must end!” – Tyrell Holcomb businesses. Some campaigns also let people pledge money to businesses that make changes. In just under a week, she’s received support from residents from all across the city.
“As a native of Ward 7 I’ve watched other areas experience rapid growth to include new sit down restaurants and food delivery options. The lack of food options on the East End, unfortunately is one of race, this injustice must end!” commented Tyrell Holcomb, a Ward 7 advisory neighborhood commissioner. “There is no reason that I should have access to food delivery as a resident of Ward 4, when Wards 7 and 8 are oftentimes located closer to your partnering restaurants. Until you begin serving ALL of DC’s residents, I won’t be using your services,” wrote Chris Griffiths. Spendrise sent a letter to representatives from Caviar, DoorDash, and Postmates to telling them about the campaign. Thus far, Watson has heard from a Postmates representative who said they’d received the notification. “My only goal is that action happens – if at least one of the companies that we’re calling out makes a change,” Watson said.
Legacy
Continued from B1
Attorney General Eric Holder Jr., former D.C. mayors Vincent Gray and Anthony Williams and comedian Dave Chappelle, a 1991 Ellington graduate. Famed choreographer Debbie Allen appeared in an emotional video tribute to Cafritz. “She knocked down barriers, built bridges, brought people together, raised money, raised
consciousness,” Allen said in the video. “And maybe she may have left the building, but she will never leave our hearts.” In the wake of Cafritz’s death, the school’s chief executive officer Tia Powell Harris is focusing on securing millions of dollars for three of “Peggy’s projects” — things she was working on that she didn’t get to complete.
They involve buying new pianos, obtaining specialized walls for professional exhibition space and launching a literacy initiative for Black girls to address their place in the world. The school will also focus on creating a blueprint of its practices and curriculum for interested schools across the country to mirror. “I think she would approve of both,”
Harris told the AFRO “I think she would expect that we create our niche in the nation along with pursuing locally what she set up for us to do.” One of the tools they’ll use to achieve those goals is money from the new Founders Fund, which honors the legacy of the school’s co-founders Cafritz and Malone.
Bonds
Continued from B1
Chairman Phil Mendelson’s spot and the election to a full fouryear term in 2014, is the only African-American woman on the D.C. Council. “As a member of the council, I am committed to increasing
“The reason some Black men have problems getting a job is because of drugs being in their system when they’re getting tested.” – Anita Bonds our quality of life and insuring all residents get the services from the city that they need, especially those who have the greatest needs. I am running for re-election to put people first.” Employment and housing concerns for African-American
residents was a major topic of conversation. “We need long term solutions to affordable housing and to help D.C. residents to become financially independent and economically strong,” she said. The council member wants to expand the Home Purchase Assistance Program down payment limit from $80,000 to $120,000 and has legislation to help public housing residents increase their credit scores by counting rent payments in their credit histories. Bonds, who grew up in the Benning Ridge section of Ward 7, supports the development of The Strand Theater on Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue and proposes that 26 of the 86 upscale residential units be available to people at market rate. While she is neutral on Amazon setting up its second headquarters in the District, she contends if D.C. is chosen for the new main office, its residents should benefit from the 50,000 jobs it will bring. “Amazon should have a package deal for the District too,” she said. “It will bring thousands of jobs and we need District residents for those jobs. Amazon should provide coaching for those jobs.” While the conversation about housing and employment offered certain solutions, some guests found it hard to
believe Bonds comment on Black men having trouble finding employment because of illegal substances in their bodies while being tested. That comment had her opponent, political newcomer Marcus Goodwin, who attended the meeting, shaking his head. “You heard what she just said,” Goodwin told the AFRO. “She said that Black males have dirty urine. The community deserves better than that. We need real solutions because a lot of people are in economic distress.” District residents noted that Bonds has skipped some candidate forums in the past. However, she said it was done for strategic reasons and is ready to engage residents in her quest for re-election. “I turned in my petitions on March 21 and so far, they haven’t been challenged,” Bonds told the AFRO. “That’s not the case for Mr. Goodwin.” Goodwin confirmed that Jeremiah Lowery, another candidate in the race, is challenging the signatures on his petition. Aaron Holmes is also running for this seat. Bonds said she will participate in the Ward 8 Democrats atlarge forum on April 21 and continue her public engagement. “I have been doing this for years and I won’t stop now,” she said.
The FSFSC has operated at 2041 Martin Luther King Jr., Ave., S.E. in Ward 8 and its clients are predominantly from that ward. During the morning session, FSFSC honored its 2017 Incentive Award recipients. The late Oramenta Newsome, who led the Local Initiative Support Corporation (LISC) in the District, got the President’s Award. Resident of the Year Award winner was Barry Farm resident Wanda Brookins for her steadfast dedication to her public housing project and
participation in the organization’s activities. Colette Goldston, a nurse, received the Organizational Partner of the Year award for engagement with the FSFSC’s clients and her cheerful, approachable attitude. The Family Strengthening Award went to the Hicks Family who have remained intact and stable
Community Continued from B1
able to accomplish over the past year while taking a critical look back on all [that is] yet to be done,” he said. “It is also a time where we get to publicly acknowledge that all of the important work we do cannot be credited solely to those of the staff. Without our community partners and friends this work would be impossible.” FSFSC gets its funding from the District government’s Child and Family Services Agency and other public and private organizations, corporations, foundations and individuals.
“This new home, opening later this year, will allow our organization to enhance and expand its mission…” – Perry Moon despite challenges such as child abuse and neglect, financial instability and inadequate housing. Brookins recently moved from Barry Farm to a house that she purchased with counseling from the FSFSC. “I thank God for Far Southeast,” she said. “I say to the staff at Far Southeast don’t let the umbrella down and keep doing what you are doing.” Other awards were Outstanding Mini-Grant that went to H.Y.P.E., a mime program that teaches youth dance techniques and guides them in areas such as conflict resolution, staying in school and striving for success. Employee of the Year went to Barbara Shorter, Eric Mullins and Courtney Williams for bettering the lives of Ward 8 residents. FSFSC is poised to make major changes before the end of the year and across the street from its present location. “This year’s [meeting] is also a celebration of an anticipated new home for our organization: a 30,000 square foot, new headquarters in the heart of Anacostia,” Moon said. “This new home, opening later this year, will allow our organization to enhance and expand its mission and will bring, as our tenant, a long, overdue quality, full-service sit-down dining experience to Martin Luther King Avenue.” Moon was speaking about the first Busboys & Poets that will be located east of the Anacostia River. The FSFSC has been working with Busboys & Poets owner, Andy Shallal, for years to bring the restaurant and bar chain to Ward 8.
April 14, 2018 - April 20, 2018, The Afro-American
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Star-Studded DC Emancipation Day Celebration Set By Akil Wilson Special to the AFRO This weekend Washington D.C. is preparing to celebrate the 156th anniversary of Emancipation Day, a day that commemorates the announcement of the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia on April 16, 1862. “Its important to tell the story of the 3,100 enslaved African-Americans freed in the District before the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation,” said Angie Gates, Director of the Office of Cable Television Film, Music and Entertainment (OCTFME), which organized an entire day filled of emancipation celebration for April 14. The OCTFME is a relatively new government agency established in 2015 that merged the District’s Office of Motion Picture and Television Development and the Office of Cable Television with the addition of music and entertainment to form the agency charged with promoting all things creative in D.C. “Mayor Bowser thought it was very important to broaden the scope of
entertainment with a focus on the creative economy,” said Gates. The OCTFME has partnered with several organizations and government agencies to produce “the biggest Emancipation Day concert yet” according to Gates. This year’s celebration, which is free to the public, will feature a parade beginning at 2:00 p.m. and concert at Freedom Plaza from 3:00 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. The event will feature food, live music and fireworks. Although Emancipation Day celebrations have been taking place on some level in D.C. since 1866 it wasn’t until long time D.C. resident Loretta Carter Hanes began a campaign in the late 1980’s that Emancipation Day become an official holiday. In 1998 the first wreath laying ceremony was held at the Emancipation Memorial in Lincoln Park.
Voting Age Continued from B1
vote starting on their 16th birthday in elections such as U.S. president, the delegate to the U.S. Congress, D.C. mayor, D.C. council chairman and council members, D.C. attorney general, the statehood senatorial and congressional
or educated enough,” he said. “But I beg to differ. Just a few weeks ago, young District residents organized a citywide school walkout and spoke passionately at the Rally for D.C. Lives calling for an end to gun violence. “In hearings on our
“Sixteen-year-olds have the right to drive and they are responsible for obeying laws that older people have to follow, too.” representatives, the D.C. State Board of Education members and advisory neighborhood commissioners. Allen said African Americans comprise 62 percent of the teenagers in the District, with 21 percent White and the rest Latino, Asian, and Native American. Ward 8 advisory neighborhood commissioner Mary Cuthbert told the AFRO that giving 16-years-olds the right to vote isn’t a good idea. “They don’t understand what is going on in the world and even in D.C. They are not even required to take civics in high school, so how can they vote for anything,” Cuthbert said. The District’s public schools don’t require taking a civics course to graduate even though students must pass a United States Government course to get a diploma. Civics focuses on the obligations of citizenship while government classes teach how the public sector operates. Allen respectfully disagrees with Cuthbert. “Some people will say young people aren’t mature
school system, students testified with well-informed opinions. And yet, they can’t exercise their voice where it matters most – at the ballot box.” In Maryland, municipalities such as Takoma Park, Greenbelt, and Hyattsville allow 16-yearolds to vote in elections. Allen stressed that 16-yearolds should have a say on how they are governed. “The laws and budgets we pass have huge effects on these young people,” he said. “We have a citywide curfew for anyone under the age of 17. We have laws with penalties that can dictate their future.” Allen’s bill is supported by D.C. Council members Anita Bonds (D-At Large), Vincent Gray (D-Ward 7), Brianne Nadeau (D-Ward 1), Trayon White (D-Ward 8), David Grosso (I-At Large), and Robert White (D-At Large), and with that, it has the majority of the council. Presently Allen is the chair of the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety and it is highly likely a hearing will take place on his legislation before the end of the council period, which is Dec. 31.
Since then the holiday has grown into a signature event for the District of Columbia. Under the leadership of Gates the OCTFME has put together a program featuring well-known local and national acts, from R&B superstars Brandy and Angie Stone to go-go legends Rare Essence and up and coming local rap star Lightshow. In addition to organizing large-scale events such as Emancipation Day the OCTFME, established in 2015, oversees many of the creative endeavors being promoted throughout the city. The OCTFME is currently introducing several initiatives to the city such as DCRadio 96.3 HD4, the District’s first official government radio station, and #202Creates, which engages residents through creative events and activities. The Emancipation Day celebration will also
“It’s important to tell the story of the 3,100 enslaved African-Americans freed in the District before the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation.” –Angie Gates, director of the Office of Cable Television, Film, Music and Entertainment be broadcast on the city’s government access channels; the District Council Channel (DCC), the District Knowledge Network (DKN) and the District of Columbia Network (DCN). For further information on the history of Emancipation Day visit emancipation.dc.gov.
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The Afro-American, April 14, 2018 - April 20, 2018
Event Co-Chairs Theresa Peterson and Telesa Via (Arlington Links)
Glitz, Glamour and Giving were the signatures of the Arlington Links 44th Monte Carlo night on March 17 at the Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel in Arlington, Virginia. While billed as a fundraiser, the evening put the “fun” in “fundraisng” to support scholarships, youth programs and women’s health initiatives. Entertainment Monte Carlo Emcees, veteran news anchors Lesli was provided by the Foster (WUSA 9) and Kai Jackson (FOX 45) Marcus Johnson Project and emcees Lesli Foster, WUSA9 News and Kai Jackson, Fox 45 News, kept Monte Carlo guests play to win big (with play money) the evening flowing. Art and Sela Collins
$10,000 50/50 Raffle Winner, Celebrity Guest “Leon” (Five Heartbeats),
Nearly 1,000 attendees at Monte Carlo…a night of glitz, glam and giving
Kim Leftwich (Arlington Links),Jackie Rosier (Old Dominion Links), Celebrity Guest Morocco Omari (Empire TV Series) and Linda Washington (Arlington Links)
Teree Caldwell (Des Moines Links), Kimberly Jeffries Leonard, The Links Inc. National VP (Arlington Links) and Bishetta Merritt (Washington, DC Links)
Monte Carlo guests enjoy line dancing in “The Disco Lounge”
Photos by David Kitzpatrick
The Greater Washington Urban League hosted over 650 attendees at its 46th Annual Whitney M. Young, Jr. Memorial Gala March 16 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, in Northwest, Washington, D.C. History was made as business icon and recently retired American Express Chairman and GWUL President CEO, Ken Chenault & CEO, George H. Lambert, Jr., interviewed Grammy Nominee Congressman John Eric Roberson and Lewis on stage. The DC Mayor Muriel Bowser civil rights icon and legendary legislator then received the 2018 Courage Under Fire: Impact Leader Award for his decades of heroic and inspiring service in civil and human rights.
Monte Carlo live entertainment featuring Marcus Johnson
News Reporters Molette Green, NBC 4 and WHUR 96.3 FM (second from the left), Shawn Yancy FOX 5 (third from the left) with friends.
Carla Johnson (Arlington Links President), Shirley Bowden (past Arlington Links President) and Christina Landrum (daughter of Carla Johnson)
Thursday Network – GWUL Young Professionals Auxiliary Group Honors Congressman John Lewis
Miss Black DC and Thursday Network Member, Bianca Little
Maudine Cooper Recognized as Longest Tenured President & CEO of GWUL
GWUL Supporters, Mr. & Mrs. Moore Raise their paddle to signify their ongoing financial support of the work of the league for the next 80 years
Legendary Civil Rights Leader Congressman John Lewis is interviewed by Business Icon Ken Chennault, Former CEO of American Express
Eric Roberson performs for GWUL Gala Attendees
Photos by Ronald Baker and Reese Bland
Chair of the Board of Directors, Jesse Price helps present Congressman John Lewis(DGA with the Greater Washington Urban League Courage Under Fire
GWUL President & CEO, George H. Lambert, Jr.
April 14, 2018 - April 20, 2018, The Afro-American
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ARTS & CULTURE
Cenac’s Comedy Series Aims to Inform as Well as Entertain Like many Black men and women, Cenac has his own uncomfortable experiences being Wyatt Cenac, the latest entrant in late-night pulled over by the police. Besides looking television comedy with a series that debuts into some well-known cases where police Friday on HBO, took inspiration from John actions were questioned, the show also looks Oliver in his desire to inform along with being into how police officers are trained and entertaining. interact with certain communities. Cenac’s “Problem Areas” is described as a “I come in with the curiosity of a comedy “docu-series,” and resembles Oliver’s concerned citizen,” Cenac said. “I live in “Last Week Tonight” in how each episode has a this country, too. It’s not enough for me to central story approached with journalistic rigor, simply demand better on social media, or go and quicker comedic bits. Oliver is an executive to a march when there’s a march and have a producer and the show’s backstage is populated sign,” he said. “The one thing that I have, that with people who worked with him and also at I’ve been given, is a platform. And if I can their shared alma mater, “The Daily Show.” use that platform to ask the questions that I’m That’s where the similarities end. Cenac’s generally asking in life, and I can find a way more laid-back style replaces Oliver’s to do it that’s entertaining, I feel like it’s a hyperactivity. “Problem Areas” has no studio win-win.” audience, and in each episode, Cenac travels Cenac felt more comfortable doing somewhere different in the country to explore away with a studio audience, figuring its aspects of the main story. His entire 10-episode central value to a show is telling a television season concentrates on different facets of one audience when to laugh. story, in this case policing and how it affects “If I take that out of the equation, I can different communities. take the story directly to the viewer, and the The show will air Fridays at 11:30 p.m. audience can decide how to feel,” he said. Eastern and Pacific times. In working hard to complete the episodes Oliver’s success “definitely gave me a lot of (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP) for his first season, Cenac said he hasn’t confidence that there could be an appetite for a thought about how “Problem Areas” would Wyatt Cenac’s new HBO late-night television comedy show is called ‘Problem Areas’ show like mine,” Cenac said. “I looked at his continue in future seasons, whether it would show for inspiration in that way.” again concentrate on one main story. Podcasts like “Serial” also convinced Cenac He conceded he hadn’t looked carefully in the opening episode and says that it’s probably the point at that some people are interested in stories told in depth, spread enough in his contract for what it says about continuing past which he’s supposed to talk about Donald Trump and all the over several episodes. one season — perhaps falling prey to a pitfall that has afflicted trouble everyone’s in. “But you already knew that,” he says. With its creative graphics and a cool vibe, “Problem Areas” performers for ages. “It was less about thinking about making something establishes right away that viewers have landed in a different “That’s certainly something about the business,” he said. original and more about thinking about building something for spot than other late-night comedy shows. “You’re hungry enough and you say, sure, and the next thing my skill set, and what I feel my strengths as a performer and Cenac also makes that clear. He looks into the camera early storyteller are,” he said. you know, you’re starring in ‘Beverly Hills Cop 17.’” By The Associated Press
‘Between the World and Me’ Comes to Life at the Kennedy Center
‘Unreal’s’ Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman Champions LGBTQ Community in Television workplace. He was thrilled when his reps showed him the script initially because of his admiration for Marti Noxon, creator of Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman (“Unreal”) “Unreal.” made the painful decision to leave acting “I saw that the co creator of the show was a few years ago. “I was taking jobs for the Marti Noxon who was executive producer wrong reasons and wasn’t really happy and writer on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” playing the characters I was playing,” he a series that deeply inspired me through tells the AFRO. “Even if they were queer my formative years and was a beautiful characters some of them were just not very representation of otherness and really catered thoughtfully written to the underdog.” In a content created by slight twist, the current straight, White men and season of “Unreal” just very stereotypical features a bachelorette portrayals of queer seeking love (and men.” publicity). He had just finished When Bowyerhis umpteenth “pay your Chapman got the part dues” gig and says, “I Jay was written as left that project with a he says, “A straight, very heavy heart. I had hustling, womanizing, to take some time off sleazy producer who to really re-evaluate slept with all of the why I was doing what contestants but he was I was doing. I told my funny and he had depth team that if this was the to him so I found a way quality of content that to make him work.” was coming my way, Very likely influenced then I have no interest by her interactions with in doing it. And I really Bowyer-Chapman, by primarily want to play the time they were ready queer characters and to take “Unreal” into those characters weren’t production, Noxon had coming my way.” So (Courtesy photo) rewritten the character’s Bowyer-Chapman flew Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman is one of the sexual preference as a to South African and gay. stars of Lifetime’s ‘Unreal.’ went back to modeling, In a version of which he had been doing successfully since life imitating art, Bowyer-Chapman has he was a teen. Then, his representatives several times been a guest judge on the approached him with a script that they reality show, “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” a show frankly weren’t confident he would like. It Bowyer-Chapman calls the “Smartest show was for a show called Unreal. on television not only reality show, but just Biracial with a White mother and across the board.” He explains, “I think that Black father, Bowyer-Chapman was born it blurs the lines of gender. It dismantles the in Edmonton Alberta Canada and raised illusion of patriarchy of straight cis White during his early years in what he describes male as being the default. It challenges our as, “A little farm town called Rimbey.” in own personal identities.” Alberta. He moved as a teen to Vancouver Bowyer-Chapman also started his own British Columbia. He has, he says, “Three podcast. Warm, funny, and smart it is called adopted siblings and fifteen biological Conversations With Others He’s already siblings.” Though he had a good childhood, had guests such as actor Jussie Smollett he recalls, “I always knew that there was (“Empire”), activist and author Janet Mock very little representation of people who (“Redefining Realness”), and actress Denee were like me who looked like me or positive Benton on. representations of Black males or biracial He decided to do the podcast he says males or queer males, genderfluid males. because of, “Being at a point where in my I could never identify with the TV shows career where I’m really wanting to have and movies that my friends and family and certain conversations around representation siblings were watching.” of queerness and of Blackness in mainstream Bowyer-Chapman plays Jay Carter on media.” Basically he got tired of waiting for “Unreal,” one of the producers of a reality other people to start those conversations. “We show very much like “The Bachelor.” It is can talk about a lot about the desire for it to full of delicious, venomous intrigue and some happen but at some point it’s come down to insightful perspectives on the sometimes sad, the place where we have to create our own savage, silly politics of both dating and the content and actually walk the talk.” By Nadine Matthews Special to the AFRO
(Courtesy photo)
The cast of ‘Between the World and Me’ after their performance at the Kennedy Center.
By Hamzat Sani Special to the AFRO “And you know now, if you did not before, that the police departments of your country have been endowed with the authority to destroy your body. It does not matter if the destruction is the result of an unfortunate overreaction. It does not matter if it originates in a misunderstanding. It does not matter if the destruction springs from a foolish policy. Sell cigarettes without the proper authority and your body can be destroyed. Resent the people trying to entrap your body and it can be destroyed. Turn into a dark stairwell and your body can be destroyed. The destroyers will rarely be held accountable. Mostly they will receive pensions. And destruction is merely the superlative form of a dominion whose prerogatives include friskings, detainings, beatings, and humiliations. All of this is common to black people. And all of this is old for black people. No one is held responsible.” (Coates, Between the World and Me Pg. 9) These words, uttered by Emmy Award winning and stage veteran Joe Morton, with a dramatic control arresting in its intensity and calculating delivery, set the tone of one of the most spectacular performances of literary artistry in recent memory. Morton was one of nine narrators selected to present a live performance of the best-selling book Between the World and Me by MacArthur Genius Ta-Nehisi Coates at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, in collaboration with the Apollo Theater, on April 7. The event blended jazz, hip hop, theatrical literary reading and creative visual effects to a level of mastery unparallelled and ingenious for such contemplative source material. Developed and directed by Kamilah Forbes, a former Howard classmate of Coates’ and Executive Producer of the Apollo, the 90 minute performance was a realization of an idea come to fruition. After finishing the book at 3 a.m. in 2015,
Forbes reached out to her former classmate to let him know that she was cooking up something for the stage. The driving but spare soundscape for the performance was crafted by another MacArthur fellow Jason Moran. Moran gathered a trio of jazz accompaniment including drummer Nate Smith and Bassist Mimi Jones providing a melodic canvass for each readers narrative voice. Forbes gathered a dream cast of narrators with their own inventive takes on Coates’ text. Morton’s voice on stage was all at once thrilling and ominous showcasing the depth of the Tony nominated actor. Tariq Trotter, aka The Roots’ “Black Thought,” turned in a solid narrative performance enhanced by a cathartic rap monologue during the closest semblance of an intermission the performance allowed. His musical display led Coates to chide that he would trade every word of his book for the ability to possess such lyrical craftsmanship. Trotter riffed with Grammy nominated soul powerhouse Ledisi, who also lent an inspiring voice to her read. A stand out amongst the narrators was Pauletta Washington whose charmingly sassy reading of Coates’ work was unforgettable. Turning in stellar performances were tap dancer Savion Glover, Librettist Marc Bamuthi Joseph, actor/ art collaborator Greg Alverez Reid and Tonynominated actress Michelle Wilson. To the gleeful surprise of the audience, Coates closed out the reading with his characteristically somber and introspective tone, helming a stellar night of theatrics. The most morose part of the night came after the cast had received its applause and was off stage as the backdrop began to display a list of names effectively discomforting in its length and continuum. In a night already filled with such grave issues, it discarded the audience’s sense of relief as a reminder that the subjects Coates wrestled in the letter to his son aren’t merely theoretical but indeed matters of life and death for the black body.
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SPORTS
C5
Was Ray Lewis Out of Line for OBJ Comments? By Perry Green AFRO Sports Editor pgreen@afro.com
Former Baltimore Raven legend Ray Lewis took a beating on social media Monday after saying New York Giants star receiver Odell Beckham, Jr. “has removed God from his life.” Lewis, 42, currently a sports analyst for Fox Sports 1, appeared on the Colin Cowherd Show on April 10 when he was asked what would he say if he had a moment to speak with Beckham, Jr., a 25-year-old super talented player with a history of controversial behavior off the field. “Where there’s no God, there’s chaos. Odell has removed God from his life,” Lewis responded to Cowherd’s question. “This is a kid that grew up under the covenant of who God really is. And everything he’s doing, he’s crying out for help. We have a lot of people reporting about it, but it’s always been the duty of elders to go back to help people. So that’s why I raised my hand.” A video clip of Lewis’ comment quickly went viral, prompting widespread criticism online. “Ray Lewis continues to be an insult to the
(AP photo/David Goldman
Former Baltimore Ravens Linebacker Ray Lewis is under fire for his controversial comments.
good people who don’t use religion as both a mask and ammo,” tweeted Melissa Jacobs, former ESPN writer and founder/managing editor of TheFootballGirl.com. Lewis pled guilty to obstruction of justice charges involving the murders of Jacinth Baker and Richard Lollar in 2000 following a Super Bowl party. The killings remain unsolved. Robert Klemko, a football writer for Sports Illustrated, said OBJ’s religion status is none of Lewis’ business. “I don’t know what OBJ’s relationship with God is, but I know for damn sure that Ray Lewis doesn’t know, and that it’s not his place to say on television,” Klemko tweeted. Klemko claimed Lewis uses religion to manufacture self esteem and deflect the truth. “This is Ray’s go-to. [He] once told me “I’m gonna pray for you” because I wouldn’t apologize for asking a question about the families of the unsolved Atlanta murders searching for answers. Ray manufactures self-esteem via sanctimony, projection and deflection now that football’s over,” Klemko tweeted.
Athlete Turned Photographer Hopes to ‘I’ll Send You Back to Africa’ Change Perceptions of Urban Areas 15-year-veteran coach when a new the similarity with other urban communities around the country that face a challenging reputation. Several of the photographs in that section depict a different social narrative than what his portrayed by the mainstream media. Where many see destitution and despair McQueen sees renaissance and hope. Inspiration comes from different places and he was inspired by an abandoned building near Rogers Avenue behind Pimlico Race Track. As the sun was rising and the light glistened off the dilapidated structure he saw the opportunity for redemption. From there he returned and began shooting images of people caught in the hustle of trying to get to work. With the soft background of the decaying building and the people of the neighborhood embarking for work in the foreground McQueen hopes to capture a “new beginning.” These are his urban narratives one image (Courtesy photo) Photographer J.J. McQueen speaks to the audience about his at a time. ‘Vision Behind The Lens’ urban photo exhibit at University of “I remember the stuff I Maryland-Baltimore. saw as a kid and it speaks to the By Mark F. Gray imagination you have to keep when Special to the AFRO [working as a photojournalist/videographer],” says McQueen. “My job is to revisit the J.J. McQueen has spent most of his adult places I’ve been and take pictures that reflect life looking at life through the prism of a positive things that are going on in those camera’s lens. Whether he’s on assignment communities. My images speak to a different in the heat of the Freddy Gray aftermath narrative than those which are pushed out by or covering a sports event for Showtime, mainstream media.” McQueen has traveled across the United States McQueen, who played in the Arena to chronicle an array of events which has given Football League after playing football and him a unique perspective on urban America basketball at East Carolina, also found and society in general. inspiration for this exhibit back in North A small part of what he sees is now Carolina. During a football camp he and on display at the University of Maryland several of his former teammates gathered and (Baltimore)’s Fireplace Lounge in a pictorial remembered their glory days of playing while exhibit called Vision Beyond the Lens which mentoring Greensboro runs through May 1 at 621 Lombard Street. kids. That moment, he This 21 photograph exhibition features two says, helped him see how themes that symbolize his life. his teammates had evolved “I see more than just what’s inside the as men into the same type camera,” McQueen tells the AFRO. “Behind of life coaches that helped each image there’s a story.” change the direction of McQueen’s exhibit is executed through his life and those he had images in dual sections entitled “I Am More played with. It became Than Just an Athlete” and “The Sun Still Rises the launching pad for the in The Ghetto.” His inspiration allows him exhibit’s “I Am More Than to paint a photographic essay of society that Just an Athlete” section. allows him to interpret impactful moments “Moments of adversity that touched him. McQueen also captures show how you can see moments in communities that he was exposed the new generation of to in North Carolina and in Baltimore while coaches reinvest in the growing up that shaped his perspective on the next generation just like world. [our] coaches did with us,” A native of High Point, North Carolina, says McQueen. “Teaching McQueen spent time in the Park Heights and fostering those new section of Baltimore’s west side with his relationships like we had grandfather Donald during the summers with our coaches took me of his youth. There he developed a sense back and I tried to capture of what gave that area its character and that.”
(Courtesy photo)
Brandeis University head basketball coach Brian Meehan resigned after new allegations of racism were leveled against him.
By Perry Green AFRO Sports Editor pgreen@afro.com Brandeis University head basketball coach Brian Meehan was fired last week after being accused of racist behavior towards his players. Brandeis University President Ronald D. Liebowitz released a statement April 5, detailing how several Brandeis players filed serious discrimination complaints against Meehan last year, claiming the longtime Brandeis coach had racially harassed them. The university claimed it had been thoroughly investigating the allegations made against the
complaint was submitted against him just last week, prompting school officials terminate him. “I am deeply disturbed by these complaints. I want to be absolutely clear: At Brandeis, there is zero tolerance for discriminating against any student, staff member, faculty member, or visitor because of their race, sex, religion, sexual orientation, gender, or any other aspect of their identity,” said Liebowitz, who also placed the school’s athletic director, Lynne Dempsey, on administrative leave while the university continues to investigate. Brandeis University’s actions against Meehan came after investigative news site Deadspin confronted school officials about complaints from players. One former player told Deadslin that Meehan had told him, “I‘ll ship you back to Africa!” Liebowitz said Brandeis has hired Walter Prince and R. Malcom Graham, two prestigious AfricanAmerican legal professionals, to spearhead an independent probe into the ethics of Brandeis University. Prince is a former U.S. attorney for Massachusetts and Graham is a retired state appeals judge. “They will be charged with reviewing our systems, climate and culture of handling complaints, and will recommend actions and changes, including those related to personnel,” Liebowitz said.
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The Afro-American, April 14, 2018 - April 20, 2018
April 14, 2018 - April 20, 2018, The Afro-American
BALTIMORE-AREA U.S. Senate Candidates
Race and Politics
Armah Takes Final Baltimore Bow With `Soul’ I had the opportunity recently, along with a handful of other reporters, to sit in on one of the first Sean Yoes rehearsals Baltimore AFRO for the Editor Center Stage syoes@afro.com production of “SOUL The Stax Musical,” the final play of the 2017/2018 season. Kwame Kwei-Armah, the former artistic director of Center Stage, is back to direct this towering story focused on the mythical Stax Records, one of the most important record labels in American
These are the African Americans Running in Maryland
Courtesy Photos
By Sean Yoes AFRO Baltimore Editor syoes@afro.com
There has never been a Black man or woman representing Maryland in the United States Senate. There are four men and women, Republican and Democrat, who want to change that historical narrative in our state. Photo: Twitter
history, during one of the most volatile periods in U.S. history, the end of the 1960’s and the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. During this rehearsal (the cast seems as if it had been working together for several weeks, instead of just a few days), the charismatic Armah was whipping his actors into a kinetic mosaic of soulful song and dance, as he moved about singing, dancing and coaching. And they were only getting warmed up. Armah may not have been able to choose a more
“…the charismatic Armah was whipping his actors into a kinetic mosaic of soulful song and dance, as he moved about singing, dancing and coaching.” appropriate and timely Baltimore curtain call, as the world continues to reflect upon the 50th anniversary of King’s murder in Memphis. “SOUL” captures the nation as it erupts after King’s assassination. “The first act is Otis (Redding) and Sam and Dave and those kinds of songs. And the second act of ‘Stax’ is Isaac Hayes and the Staple Singers
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Marijuana Initiative Part of Mixed Legacy of 2018 Legislative Session
By Deborah Bailey Special to the AFRO The 2018 Session of the Maryland General Assembly ended this week with a mixed report on legislation impactful particularly in Maryland’s Black community.
Clockwise from left: Antonio “Tony” Campbell, Nnabu Eze, Rikki Vaughn, Debbie “Rica” Wilson
The legendary Isaac Hayes, known as “Black Moses,” is one of the characters brought to life in Center Stage’s production, “SOUL The Stax Musical,” directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah.
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Antonio “Tony” Campbell (R)
Campbell is a political science professor at Towson University and a conservative political commentator. He received his Doctorate from Liberty University Seminary and served in the U.S. Army as a Chaplain. He is a member of the executive committee of Maryland’s GOP and served as state chairman of Ben Carson’s presidential campaign in 2016. He is the author of two books, America Today, and A More Perfect Union.
Nnabu Eze (R)
Eze, an information technology contractor, came to the United States from Nigeria when he was seven and grew up in
Baltimore Area Church News By Joi Thomas Special to the AFRO April is here and the seasons are changing. It seems like winter doesn’t want to leave, but before we know it, the weather will be warmer, and the days longer. I can’t wait for summer to come around, my favorite time of year. Many of you may be looking for summer camps and fun activities for your little ones. I have listed a few church sponsored summer camps at the bottom of this list. If your church is sponsoring a summer camp this year, please send me the information to news@itsjoiful.com. If you are looking for some fun things to do within the next two weeks, there is plenty to do in our area. Check out the list below and make sure you save the dates and support the events. St. Paul Institutional Baptist Church 2010 W. North Ave Baltimore, Maryland 21217 Help Me Fix my Crown, Ladies Night April 13, 6:30 p.m. Rev. Kobi Robertson, Pastor
Church 1200 N. Washington Street Baltimore, Maryland 21213 40th Pastoral Anniversary April 22, 7:30 a.m., 10 a.m., and 6 p.m. Rev. Dr. Harlie Wilson II, Pastor
New Psalmist Baptist Church 6020 Marian Drive Baltimore, Maryland 21215 43rd Pastoral Anniversary and Concert April 15, 7:30 a.m., 9:30 a.m., noon, 5 p.m. Bishop Walter Thomas, Pastor
First Mount Olive Freewill Baptist Church 618 North Hammonds Ferry Road Linthicum, Maryland 21090 Women’s Day April 22, 8 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. Bishop Oscar Brown, Pastor
Wayland Baptist Church 3200 Garrison Blvd. Baltimore, Maryland 21216 Spiritual and Health Wellness Seminar April 21, 12 p.m.–2 p.m. Rev. Dr. Hoffman Brown, III, Pastor Israel Baptist
Changing Lives Ministries of Baltimore 3808 W. Forest Park Ave Baltimore, Maryland 21216 Women’s Live Conference 2018 April 26 , 7 p.m., April 27, 7 p.m. Antoine and Shelley Burton,
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Glassboro, New Jersey He is a graduate of Rutgers University. Eze previously ran for the U.S. House of Representatives Third District as a Green Party candidate. He resides in Owings Mills with his wife and children.
Rikki Vaughn (D)
Vaughn, who was born in Baltimore City, is owner of Vaughn’s Restaurant Group. His online biography states he started working at McDonald’s at age 18 as a cashier and eventually became a vice president for the fast food chain. After obtaining his GED at 25, Vaughn went on to graduate magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from Hampton Univ. in Virgina. He also received an MBA from the University of the Southwest in New Mexico.
Debbie “Rica” Wilson (D)
Wilson is a former public school teacher and college professor. She is the founder and executive director of Brown Girl Wellness, which focuses on the needs of homeless and low-income women and children in rural America. Wilson is a native of South Carolina.
Minority Access to Medical Marijuana Industry Caucus members were front and center in well publicized victories with the passage of legislation to increase minority participation in the medical marijuana industry. Currently no licenses are issued to minority medical marijuana growers in Maryland. A similar bill, also co-sponsored by Delegate Cheryl Glenn, failed passage in the closing hours of the 2017 session. State Center Project Legislation requiring community input into plans to revive the mid-town Baltimore State Center Project, also passed the House and the Senate with the hope of breathing new life into the billion-dollar project, put on hold by Gov. Hogan shortly after he took office. The legislation calls for State agencies to remain anchor tenants, “to the extent possible,” of the new Project and expands the scope of the complex to include retail, restaurants, grocery stores, green space and additional parking. The bill has not yet
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Sonia L. Hayes, Mother of Delegate Antonio Hayes, Dies By AFRO Staff Sonia L. Hayes, the mother of West Baltimore Del. Antonio Hayes (D-40), died on April 3 at the age of 53. She was the third child of Mildred L. Frisby and the late Lawrence “Babe” Hayes, born Dec. 5, 1961. Ms. Hayes, affectionately known as “Pinky,” was educated in the Baltimore City Public Schools and held numerous jobs throughout her life. She attended Gethsemane Baptist Church in the Penn North neighborhood of West Baltimore in her early years and Ms. Hayes would occasionally attend the church with her father in later years. A natural storyteller with a great sense of humor, Ms. Hayes was very well known in the Penn North community where she grew up. She leaves behind: Five children, Antonio Hayes, Sonia Hayes, II, Tierra Hayes, Keyonia Hayes and Dawan Hayes; her mother, Mildred Frisby; a sister, Yvette Hayes
(another sister Cynthia Hayes preceded her in death); four brothers, Antonio Hayes, Earl Frisby, Keith Hayes and Lawrence Hayes (two brothers, Lamont Hayes and Lamont Frisby preceded her in death); a goddaughter Sonia Martin; and a close friend Olivia (Libby) Harris, along with a host of other family members and friends. Joseph H. Brown Funeral Home (2140 N. Fulton Ave.), is providing funeral services for Ms. Hayes on April 12. The wake is 12:30 p.m., followed by the service at 1 p.m. There will be a repast at Westside Elementary School, 2235 N. Fulton Ave.
66 2018 Total
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Last Seven Days
Data as of April 11
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The Afro-American, April 14, 2018 - April 20, 2018
Race and Politics Continued from D1
and is really kind of Black consciousness music,� said Armah during a short break during the play’s rehearsal. “It’s a generation that’s saying, ‘Okay, we don’t want to just sing about getting down...the marketplace wants to hear more about our sense of being...particularly post King dying.’ Once King died the game changed. In my humble opinion...when Malcolm was assassinated...there was kind of an expectation he would be assassinated. But, when King got assassinated, he was the peacemaker.� “SOUL� also illuminates the Stax studio process, which produced some of the most transcendent songs in the history of popular music. “The process of creating any narrative...is the process of creating scaffolds and then taking them down. We’ve been in the process of scaffolding, trying to find a story...that is truthful, but not a documentary,� Armah said. “To find the essence of this magic box, which was the Stax studio...how do we portray there was magic in that space. And the magic is geopolitical, the
magic is physical, the magic is political. Ultimately, the story of a record label is hard to tell in a dramatic fashion.� There is no doubt the Stax odyssey is one of the most important in the history of American music, producing a catalogue crafted by legendary musicians. But, for me, Isaac Hayes was extraordinary among the extraordinary, for reasons beyond the pure genius of his music. It is a sentiment Armah seems to be in agreement with. “Let’s be real...when you look at the film “Wattstax,� (the 1972 documentary that captured the concert that marked the seventh anniversary of the 1965 L.A. riots) and you see him walk onto the stage in gold chains, gold chains, with his bald head and standing majestically in a Nubian stance...so he was sending out signals with his very being, before he started to rock the mic,� Armah said. “And then when he underscored the anthem of an era, which is “Shaft,� that combination of that Black hero...that was the Wakanda of its day, that was the “Black Panther� of its day, we
had never seen that in that way before. I think that he’s the kind of icon....at that period of time he represented Blackness in its entirety, in a proud upstanding way. He’s a hero.� The story of Stax is the story of Black people fighting for survival in a country that seemed antithetical to their existence. Music was, and always has been, our elixir, our salve, our salvation. “At that time [the Wattstax concert]...there were riots in the city years before. And for a label to say, `What we’re going to do is...we’re going to take over the [Los Angeles] Coliseum and we’re going to put our acts on and we’re going to fill it and... we’re going to charge people a dollar. And that’s our statement,� Armah said. “That’s our contribution to the struggle...it’s heroic stuff that they were wrestling with. Music was their weapon and they used it.� Sean Yoes is AFRO Baltimore editor and host and executive producer of the AFRO First Edition video podcast, which airs Monday and Friday at 5 p.m., on the AFRO’s Facebook page.
Legislative Session Continued from D1
been presented to Hogan’s office. After it is presented, Hogan has 30 days to act on the bill or the legislation becomes law without his signature. HBCU’s Several major bills supporting the state’s four public HBCU’s, including the BlountRawlings-Britt HBI Comparability Act and the HBCU Equity Act of 2018, appointing a special advisor for HBCU’s, failed consideration by the General Assembly this year. Despite repeated declarations of support for HBCU’s by the Legislative Black Caucus, the timing of gathering support for the bills didn’t push the HBCU agenda to the top of the pack, said Delegate Charles E. Sydnor (BC-44B), House sponsor of the HBCU Equity Act. Criminal Justice Despite vigorous opposition by Baltimore criminal justice reform advocates, some elements of Governor Larry Hogan’s massive crime bill, were repurposed and made more palatable with the support of Black Caucus members, making it into law after heated debate. One of the more controversial measures passed was a repackaged bill requiring
mandatory 10-year minimum sentencing for people convicted of repeat violent offenses while in possession of an illegal gun, a provision that divided the Legislative Black Caucus. Delegate Talmage Branch (B-45), whose 22-year old grandson was shot to death last year, sponsored the sentencing provisions, significantly diluted from the original mandatory minimums included in Hogan’s crime bill package. “We have an issue here in Baltimore. We have 342 murders in 2017. That’s 342 families. We have to do something,� Branch said. Local community advocates including Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle, the grassroots think tank, adamantly opposed the language in the mandatory minimum measure and were outspoken about maneuvering used by lawmakers to link legislation mandatory sentencing minimums with expungement provisions. “SB 101 was originally an expungement bill that had NOTHING to do with mandatory minimums. This sneaky tactic was a POLITICAL STUNT to claim a FALSE VICTORY on crime in MD,� stated LBS via Twitter. An additional crime package provision passed allowing certain felonies to be expunged
after 15 years. Branch also championed a measure that infused $3.6 million in new funding for Baltimore’s Safe Streets Program, aimed at supporting youth in neighborhoods with high levels of gun violence. Mayor Catherine E. Pugh and The Baltimore City Council hailed the measure, eager to expand Safe Streets to more communities across the city. Maryland lawmakers also passed legislation creating a state commission with the authority to probe corruption in the Baltimore City Police Department. The bill received widespread approval in the House and Senate after numerous indictments and convictions of members of Baltimore’s Gun Trace Task Force left city residents shaken and distrustful of local police. Mayor Catherine Pugh, miffed by enhanced state oversight of local police criticized the measure as “unnecessary duplication.� K-12 School Funding State legislators handed Baltimore schools a victory, passing legislation taking decisions on school funding out of the hands of the State’s
three-member Board of Public Works - Hogan, State Comptroller Peter Franchot and Treasurer Nancy Kopp. The new process mandates school construction decisions to be made by a commission with appointees designated by the Governor, Speaker of the House and Senate President. Legislators overrode Hogan’s veto of the school funding bill in one of their last acts before leaving Annapolis April 9. Finally, in a measure sponsored by Senator Joan Carter Conway (B-43), lawmakers will ask Maryland residents to amend the state’s constitution by creating a “lock box� to ensure casino money goes to support K-12 schools on the Nov. ballot. Marylanders approved slot machines in 2008 and table games in 2012 with the understanding that revenues would be used for ailing schools, but the funds have been used for other state funding priorities over the years. Conway clarified that the constitutional amendment would ensure the amount of casino money designated for schools is over and above the required state funding formula. The state funding formula is one of the major issues now under consideration by the state appointed Kirwan Commission.
Church News Continued from D1
SUPPORT ORGAN, EYE AND TISSUE DONATION IT’S A DECISION EVERYONE CAN LIVE WITH
Pastors Greater Harvest Baptist Church 1611 W. Saratoga St. Baltimore, Maryland 21223 Punch and Paint Game and Movie Night with Lady Brown April 27, 6:30 p.m. Rev. Brent Brown, Pastor
Register online or at the MVA when you obtain your license.
The Kingdom Life Church presents: Praise Over Baltimore Concert Featuring VaShawn Mitchell, Todd Galberth, and Sharon Roshell April 27, 6 p.m. The Modell Lyric 140 W. Mount Royal Ave
Public Hearing We Want Your Input Join the Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) and the Baltimore City Department of Transportation (DOT) for a public hearing to address the traffic needs and infrastructure improvements in the south Baltimore region. At the hearing, you may:
DonateLifeMaryland.org
• Review design alternatives and learn more about the environmental study findings • Discuss the Environmental Assessment (EA) with the project team • Provide formal public comments and testimony. A court reporter will be available to record all public and private verbal testimony. The Environmental Assessment can be found online at mdta.maryland. gov/capital_projects/i-95_access_study/home.html and at: •
Light Street Branch Library (1251 Light Street Baltimore, MD 21230)
•
Cherry Hill Branch Library (606 Cherry Hill Road Baltimore, MD 21225)
•
Washington Village Branch Library (856 Washington Blvd, Baltimore, MD 21230)
•
Baltimore Metropolitan Council of Governments (1500 Whetstone Way, Suite 300 Baltimore, MD 21230)
Baltimore, Maryland 21201 Rev. Michael Phillips, Pastor Triumph Community Church 425 West Monument Street Baltimore, Maryland 21201 Girls-N-Pearls Women’s Empowerment Encounter April 28, 12:30 p.m.- 2:30 p.m. Rev. Michael C. Franklin, Pastor
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 2018 6 – 8 p.m. National Federation of the Blind 200 East Wells Street Baltimore, MD 21230 SATURDAY, APRIL 28, 2018 10 a.m. – noon Dr. Carter G. Woodson Elementary/Middle School 2501 Seabury Road Baltimore, MD 21225 The same information will be presented at both meetings.
The EA also can be viewed by appointment at the MDTA (Melissa Bogdan at 410-537-5675) and Baltimore City DOT offices (Nikia Mack at 443-984-4094). For more project information contact Melissa Bogdan at 410-537-5675. Public participation in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process is solicited without regard to race, color, national origin, age, sex, religion, disability or family status. Individuals who require special accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act or who require translation services (free of charge) should contact the project team at this email address: mbogdan@mdta.maryland.gov at least seven days prior to the meeting.
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April 14, 2018 - April 20, 2018, The Afro-American
The Baltimore Farmers Market is Now Open
Hello my friends, I have not been anywhere for the past couple of weeks due to my health issues. So I can’t tell you about how any of the events turned out I sent you to in the past few weeks. But, maybe you can email me and tell me how you enjoyed yourself. I am back on my feet thank God, and doing very well, which means I will be hanging out with you in my “Rosemobile” this week and hope I see you.
Ebban and Ephraim Dorsey are two special, gifted siblings who were winners of the Rosa Pryor Music Scholarship Fund. The brother and sister, who are students at the Baltimore School for the Arts, are musicians who have performed all over Baltimore. Tragically, their family home experienced a devastating fire recently. Show that you care at their benefit concert on April 15, 2 p.m.-5 p.m. at the Eubie Blake Cultural Center. All musicians are invited and the event is open to the public.
One of my favorite places on Sunday mornings, other than church, is the Baltimore Farmers Market, located on Saratoga St., between Holliday and Gay Sts., underneath the Jones Falls Expressways. Honey Child! I get totally lost in the midst of everything happening down there. They open at 7 a.m., meaning that I can start off with breakfast right there. No need to shop on an empty stomach. They have all kinds of fresh from the farm organic herbs, vegetables, fruits and eggs. There are all kinds of seafood, including oysters, fish, crabs and all sorts of breads. You just have to see it for yourself. You know I am an entertainment person, so I enjoy the music playing in the background and the live entertainment they feature every Sunday. Well, girlfriend put on your walking shoes
Lindsey Johnson is the founder of the National Black Memorabilia Fine Art and Crafts Show, an educational event promoting African American history and culture. It is open to the public April 14 and 15 starting at 10 a.m., at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds, 501 Perry Parkway, Gaithersburg, Md.
will be many other musicians sitting in to play at the Eubie Blake Cultural Center, 847 N. Howard Street. I will see you there. No excuses; you can go the Baltimore Farmers Market, do your thing there John O. Grant, known as “DJ John and still have time O” and the “Hand Dance DJ,” who to go home and put worked in many of the night clubs your stuff away for over 20 years has passed away. and get dressed for The viewing is at March Funeral Home East on April 13, 5 p.m.-7 p.m. the Dorsey family benefit. If I can do it The funeral is on April 14 starting so can you. It is for a with the wake at 9:30 a.m. and the good cause and you funeral service at 10 a.m. at the Mt Calvary AME Church, 300 Eudowood will enjoy it all. Well, my dear Lane. Repast immediately after the service. and join me at the market! When you see me, say, “Hey Rambling Rose!” That would be so cool! The photos on this page include a picture of Ebban and Ephraim Dorsey, who are sister and brother from a gifted and talented family of musicians. These are the babies of the Dorsey family. Now listen to me carefully folks, this is important, especially to the music lovers and musician around the Baltimore metropolitan area. The Dorsey Family has experienced a devastating fire at their home and they lost almost everything. They are living in temporary housing. However, a couple of dedicated musician, I’m speaking of Carl Grubbs and his wife Barbara, have put together a benefit concert to help them. So, on April 15, 2 p.m.-5 p.m., I want you to show your love. Join me for a great jazz show, food, beverages, dancing with the Carl Grubbs Ensemble, Justin Taylor, John Guo and John Lamkin, III. There
friends, I am out of space, I have to go. Don’t forget, if you need me, call me at 410-833-9474
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or email me at rosapryor@aol. com. Until the Next Time, I Am Musically Yours.
Brothers of Nubian Lodge 132 are new to the Fraternal Order and recently received their charter. It operates under the auspices of Acacia Grand Lodge of Maryland, led by Bro. Johnathan Birckhead and Bro. Darrell W. Jenkins. Welcome my Brothers!
Greater Baltimore May 6, 2018
Weinberg Y in Waverly
Check in: 9am
Start Time: 10am Celebrity Ambassador: Roc Nation Recording Artist
Contact 410.494.8545 or www.kidneywalk.org for more information or to register. National Sponsors
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The Afro-American, April 14, 2018 - April 20, 2018
Photos by DeVone Marshall
Brand new floor, brand new skates and happy faces Baltimore City Police Commissioner Darryl Da Sousa interacting with the youth of Baltimore City
On March 23, the Shake and Bake Family Fun Center reopened on Pennsylvania Ave. The Baltimore City Department of Parks and Recreation sponsored the remodeling of the West Baltimore facility, which is again available for youth, young adults and people of all ages.
Makayla Williams , Denelle Barrow , William Derrick Barrow III and granddad John Barns
Lydell Mitchell, Nikki Doughty, Lamont Medley, Baltimore Comptroller Joan Pratt, Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh, # 35 Glen Doughty, Nicole Warren, and City Council Vice President Sharon Middleton
Councilman Brandon Scott, Baltimore City States Attorney Marylin Mosby
Nikki Doughty
Baltimore City Police Commissioner Darryl Da Sousa
Roni Marsh, Asia Scott, Rhonda Hammonds and Tracey Estep
Wilson Trueheart and Eric Burris
Starting Line
Monte Sanders leads the runners into a warm-up routine
Photos by Anderson R. Ward
Edmondson -Westside H.S. Band
Heart and Sole members: Sa’Toya Truss, Valda Ricks, Zara Thomas and Angela D. Wharton
Baltimore Police Explorers Brett Smith, Jared Hester, Blair Smith, Jeremiah Fisher and Officer Joe Bank
The annual 5k run was held in Druid Hill Park on April 7. The event is sponsored by the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office. The race raises funds for the Victims Emergency Fund, which provides money to aid crime victims. The Edmondson-Westside H.S. Marching Band performed. Fitness trainer Monte Sanders led the warm-up exercises. Patrice Sanders (Fox 45) and Marilyn J. Mosby, Baltimore City State’s Attorney, addressed the crowd before the race. Jazz, a radio personality from 95.9 FM, led the awards ceremony.
Hermandad De Sigma Iota Alpha, Inc. members from Johns Hopkins University
Trophy winner Abdou Diongue
Patrice Sanders (Fox 45 TV) and daughter Naomi
Female winner Jennifer Brill and Marilyn J. Mosby (Baltimore City S.A.)