Afro PG County 11-25-16 by AFRO News

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

Volume 125 No. 17

NOVEMBER 26, 2016 - DECEMBER 2, 2016

Inside

Prince George’s

• Notables Honor Gwen Ifill

Ruth Negga, Star of ‘Loving,’ On Quietly Changing the World

C1 Commentary Can Blacks and the Police Find Inner Peace? By Howard Levine, David Shapiro and David Leffler

Baltimore

Medal of Freedom AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

President Barack Obama presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to former NBA basketball player Michael Jordan, left, during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House on Nov. 22 in Washington. Obama is recognizing 21 Americans, including Diana Ross, Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Cicely Tyson with the nation’s highest civilian award.

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Atlantic Looks to Bring Back Thousands of Jobs

Trump’s Domestic Agenda: Few Pluses, Many Minuses – ‘Stay Woke’ What He Will, Should, Won’t or Maybe Do By Zenitha Prince Senior AFRO Correspondent zprince@afro.com

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The domestic agenda facing President-elect Donald Trump will be a hefty one, political analysts and other experts said. “It’s huge,” said Hilary Shelton, the NAACP’s senior vice president for advocacy and policy, of the task awaiting Trump. Trump’s primary focus, many

experts agree, should be to begin mending the divisions in America that he himself helped to foment. “Trump’s first priority should be to allay the fears of a lot of groups in this country. Muslims—they’re afraid. The Southern Poverty Law Center said there has been a gigantic increase in hate crimes against Muslims since Donald Trump was elected. Undocumented aliens are afraid. Black folks

Trump’s Pick for A.G. Alarms Civil Rights Advocates By Zenitha Prince Senior AFRO Correspondent zprince@afro.com President-elect Donald Trump’s intention to nominate Republican Sen. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III to be the attorney general of the United States has set off alarm bells throughout the civil rights community, which notes the accusations of racism that have hovered around the Alabama lawmaker like an unshakeable cloud of flies for many decades. “If you have nostalgia for the days when Blacks kept

Continued on A3

are afraid….” Raymond Winbush, director, Institute of Urban Research at Morgan State University, said. “As a first step, Trump needs to calm everybody down.” But Trump’s cabinet appointments thus far are not helping to calm anxieties—picks such as Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., for attorney general,

a man denied a federal judgeship because of his racist history; and former Breitbart News executive chairman Steve Bannon to a senior advisory post. Congressional Black Caucus Chairman G. K. Butterfield (D-N.C.) was among those who sounded the Continued on A3

AFRO Archives Kennedy Assassination On Nov. 23, 1963 at 12:30 p.m. CST President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. The killing of the 35th president of the United States of America traumatized the nation, particularly African-Americans who saw Kennedy as an important advocate for civil rights. The AFRO editorial below was printed as the nation, in a state of shock, slowly began to come to grips with the arduous acceptance of the loss of its much loved young leader.

At the Height of his Powers (An Editorial)

Nov. 30, 1963

AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

Jeff Sessions became Congress’ leading advocate not only for a crackdown on illegal immigration, but for slowing all immigration.

At the death of President John F. Kennedy, we have lost the youngest President, the finest friend of the poor, the humble, and the disadvantaged this generation has known. The shocking and grievous thing is that a president of the mightiest country in the world could travel safely in many countries in Europe and South America and then come

home to be murdered by his own people. He was a martyr in the cause of human rights --- civil, political and social equality of colored people. His fate was the same as that other great President, advocate of freedom and emancipator, Abraham Lincoln, assassinated at the height of his powers and before the fulfillment of his dreams. Continued on A4

How to Shop Black on Black Friday Study Links Black Childhood Obesity By Urban News Service

This list is no simple collection of online stores. This one is focused on makers — African Americans entrepreneurs who have embraced the idea of creating change and community wealth by creating things with their own hands. We scoured the web to find those businesses whose products reflect some combination of originality, innovation, ingenuity and a commitment from the owners to investing in their own communities. When you shop at these places this holiday season, it’s more than a purchase, it’s support for a bright future filled with talent, great ideas and progress. Continued on A4

to Irregular Sleep, Skipping Breakfast

By Shantella Y. Sherman Special to the AFRO ssherman@afro.com Skipping breakfast and irregular sleep patterns have been identified as key reasons children may become dangerously overweight in research that sheds new light on the obesity epidemic. Particularly among Black children, lifestyle factors and the environment in which the child lives play significant roles in their Continued on A3

Courtesy photo

Lifestyle factors, such as lack of regular exercise, may contribute to childhood obesity.

The Afro-American, November 26, 2016 - December 2, 2016

NATION & WORLD

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University Naming Dorm for Maya Angelou

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Wake Forest University is naming a new residence hall in honor of famous former faculty member Maya Angelou. The private university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, said Nov. 18 the five-story building now under construction will house more than 200 first-year students when it opens in January 2017. University President Nathan Hatch says Angelou was a towering figure on campus and in American culture. Angelou taught a variety of humanities courses as a professor of American studies from 1982 until her death in 2014. The poet, actress and civil rights activist was perhaps best known for her 1969 book, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.”

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Chicago Congressman Danny Davis’ Grandson Fatally Shot over Basketball Shoes By The Associated Press

A dispute over shoes led to the fatal shooting of the grandson of Illinois U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, Chicago police said Nov. 19. At least two attackers went to the home of 15-year-old Javon Wilson in the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago on the evening of Nov. 18 and shot him in the head after an argument, police said. “This stems from a dispute over shoes, basketball shoes,” police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. Guglielmi said Wilson knew his attackers and they may have been friends at some point. The shooting was not, as

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previously reported, a home invasion. Davis, a Democratic member of the House for 20 years, told The Associated Press Nov. 19 that his grandson was a victim of a world where gun violence has become commonplace. “It’s almost, just the way it is. People think nothing of it,” Davis said. “Youngsters invariably say, ‘I know a lot of guys who’ve got guns. I know a lot of girls who’ve got (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green) guns,’” Davis said. “It U.S. Rep. Danny Davis’s becomes a part of the culture 15-year-old grandson, Javon of an environment that has Wilson, was killed in a dispute got to change.” over basketball shoes. Chicago has seen a dramatic rise in the number of shootings and homicides, with August being the deadliest month in the city in two decades. There have been 673 homicides so far this year, including the fatal shootings of the cousin of Chicago Bulls basketball star Dwyane Wade, a Chicago police officer’s son and the son of a famed percussionist. Davis said he was told a 15-year-old boy had traded slacks for shoes with Wilson’s 14-year-old brother, but thought better of the trade and went to Wilson’s house with a 17-year-old woman. He said the pair forced their way in the house and argued with Wilson before the boy pulled a gun and fired. Police have not arrested anyone or named any suspects, but Guglielmi said investigators have good leads. Davis, who was re-elected this month to his 11th term in the 7th Congressional District and is a former Chicago alderman, was in Chicago on Nov. 18 and spoke with reporters after talking to police. He wondered how the shooter obtained the gun and said he’d continue to try to combat gun violence. Davis said his grandson was “a pretty regular kid” who loved playing basketball and knew all the pros and their stats, who also loved music and whose grades were improving after a rough patch. “The question becomes where does a 15-year-old obtain a gun? Who let the 15-year-old have a gun and under what circumstances?” Davis asked. “There’s no answer for that except that the availability of guns is so prevalent in America to the point where you almost can’t tell who has a gun” anymore.

NEW 2017 CAMRY INCLUDES HYBRIDS

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NEW 2017 RAV4 INCLUDES HYBRIDS

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NEW 2017 COROLLA

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*0% APR FINANCING UP TO 60 MONTHS AND UP TO 72 MONTHS AVAILABLE TO QUALIFIED BUYERS THRU TOYOTA FINANCIAL SERVICES. TOTAL FINANCED CANNOT EXCEED MSRP PLUS OPTIONS, TAX, TITLE, LICENSE AND DEALER FEES. 60 MONTHLY PAYMENTS OF $16.67 FOR EACH $1000 BORROWED AND 72 MONTHLY PAYMENTS OF $13.89 AT 0% FOR EACH $1000 BORROWED. NOT ALL BUYERS WILL QUALIFY. **BUYERS CAN RECEIVE A $1000 FINANCE CASH INCENTIVE FROM TOYOTA IN ADDITION TO SPECIAL APR FINANCING IF VEHICLE IS PURCHASED AND FINANCED THROUGH TOYOTA FINANCIAL SERVICES. INCENTIVE WILL BE APPLIED FIRST TO THE DOWN PAYMENT. ONE INCENTIVE PER FINANCE TRANSACTION. FINANCE INCENTIVE IS AVAILABLE ON APPROVED CREDIT TO QUALIFIED CUSTOMERS THROUGH TOYOTA FINANCIAL SERVICES. NOT ALL BUYERS WILL QUALIFY. SEE DEALER FOR DETAILS. ***CUSTOMERS CAN APPLY $500 BONUS CASH FROM TOYOTA TO DOWN PAYMENT. †PURCHASERS CAN RECEIVE $2000 CASH BACK FROM TOYOTA ON CAMRY, $1000 CASH BACK FROM TOYOTA ON RAV4 AND $1500 CASH BACK FROM TOYOTA ON COROLLA OR CAN APPLY CASH BACK TO DOWN PAYMENT. ††ALL LEASE OFFERS: LEASE OFFERS AVAILABLE ON APPROVED CREDIT TO QUALIFIED CUSTOMERS FROM TOYOTA FINANCIAL SERVICES. CUSTOMER IS RESPONSIBLE FOR EXCESSIVE WEAR AND EXCESS MILEAGE CHARGES OF $.15 PER MILE IN EXCESS OF 36,000 MILES. NOT ALL CUSTOMERS WILL QUALIFY. CAMRY DUE AT SIGNING INCLUDES $2000 DOWN, FIRST $199 PAYMENT AND NO SECURITY DEPOSIT. EXAMPLE BASED ON 2017 CAMRY MODEL 2532, MSRP $23,935 AND CAPITALIZED COST, WHICH MAY VARY BY DEALER, OF $23,271. RAV DUE AT SIGNING INCLUDES $2800 DOWN, FIRST $199 PAYMENT, AND NO SECURITY DEPOSIT. EXAMPLE BASED ON 2017 RAV4 MODEL 4430, MSRP $25,940 AND CAPITALIZED COST, WHICH MAY VARY BY DEALER, OF $25,793. COROLLA DUE AT SIGNING INCLUDES $1830 DOWN (AFTER APPLICATION OF $750 TOYOTA LEASE CASH INCENTIVE FROM TOYOTA FINANCIAL SERVICES), FIRST PAYMENT OF $169 AND $0 SECURITY DEPOSIT. EXAMPLE BASED ON 2017 COROLLA 4 CYLINDER AUTOMATIC MODEL 1852, MSRP $19,800 AND CAPITALIZED COST, WHICH MAY VARY BY DEALER, OF $19,151. LEASES DO NOT INCLUDE $350 DISPOSITION FEE DUE AT LEASE END. INCENTIVE AVAILABLE ON APPROVED CREDIT TO QUALIFIED CUSTOMERS THROUGH TOYOTA FINANCIAL SERVICES. CAPITALIZED COST IN EXAMPLES INCLUDES $650 ACQUISITION FEE AND ASSUMES DEALER PARTICIPATION. YOUR PAYMENT TERMS MAY VARY BASED ON FINAL NEGOTIATED PRICE. DEALER FEES ARE EXTRA. NOT ALL CUSTOMERS WILL QUALIFY. VEHICLE MUST BE TAKEN FROM DEALER STOCK BY 11/30/16 AND IS SUBJECT TO AVAILABILITY. SEE DEALER FOR DETAILS. OFFERS MAY NOT BE COMBINED WITH OTHER OFFERS UNLESS SPECIFIED OTHERWISE. SEE PARTICIPATING CENTRAL ATLANTIC TOYOTA DEALER FOR DETAILS. DEALER FEES ARE EXTRA. VEHICLE SHOWN MAY BE PROTOTYPE AND/OR SHOWN WITH OPTIONS. ACTUAL MODEL MAY VARY. OFFERS END 11/30/16. †††TOYOTACARE COVERS NORMAL FACTORY SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE FOR 2 YEARS OR 25,000 MILES, WHICHEVER COMES FIRST. 24-HOUR ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE IS ALSO INCLUDED FOR 2 YEARS AND UNLIMITED MILES. THE NEW VEHICLE CANNOT BE PART OF A RENTAL OR COMMERCIAL FLEET, OR A LIVERY/TAXI VEHICLE. SEE TOYOTA DEALER FOR DETAILS AND EXCLUSIONS. VALID ONLY IN THE CONTINENTAL U.S. AND ALASKA. ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE DOES NOT INCLUDE PARTS AND FLUIDS, EXCEPT EMERGENCY FUEL DELIVERY.

The Afro-American, November 26, 2016 - November 26, 2016

Trump

Continued from A1

alarm over the appointments. “The appointment of Steve Bannon to a senior position within the White House does very little in the interest of healing our country following months of contentious campaign rhetoric from President-elect Trump,” the congressman said in a statement. “Bannon’s appointment is a cold slap in the face to those of us who are working to mend race relations in America, and it further divides our country along the lines of hate and bigotry.” It is less clear what the appointment of former Ohio secretary of state Ken Blackwell to lead Trump’s domestic transition would mean for communities of color. There has been no word at press time on whether he was offered a position in the actual administration. The conservative African American was accused of employing voter-suppressing tactics to help George W. Bush win Ohio during the presidential election in 2004, and that accusation has left a bad taste in the mouths of African Americans in Ohio and across the country, said Winbush, who hails from

Cleveland. However, Robert Smith, a political scientist at San Francisco State University, said Blackwell could be effective because of his credentials—former mayor, state treasurer and secretary of state, and former HUD undersecretary and ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Trump would need someone with impeccable credentials and know-how to help guide his domestic policies. Chief among those concerns is health care as Trump has promised to “repeal and replace” President Obama’s signature Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. Some aspects of Trump’s health plan include allowing people to purchase insurance across state lines, re-establishing high-risk pools for those with significant medical expenses and making Medicaid into a block grant program. “The thing with block grants is that over time the shortfalls become bigger,” Judy Solomon, vice president for health policy, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said.

Trump’s Pick Continued from A1

quiet, gays were in the closet, immigrants were invisible and women stayed in the kitchen, Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions is your man,” said Rep. Luis V. Gutiérrez (D-Ill.) in a statement. He added, “No Senator has fought harder against the hopes and aspirations of Latinos, immigrants, and people of color than Sen. Sessions…. He is the kind of person who will set back law enforcement, civil rights, the courts, and increase America’s mass incarceration industry and erase 50 years of progress.” The rumbles about Session’s alleged bigotry began while he worked as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Alabama and prosecuted three Black activists—including Albert Turner, a former aide to Martin Luther King Jr.—on allegations of voter fraud in Perry County. Civil rights groups accused him of a witch hunt to find voting violations in the Black community while overlooking potential voter fraud among White voters. They also accused him of using the trial as a means of suppressing Black votes as part of a conspiracy to reelect his friend Sen. Jeremiah Denton. The Black activists, known as the “Marion Three” were acquitted by a jury after four hours of deliberation. The Perry County case would take center stage the next year after President Ronald Reagan nominated Sessions for the bench in the U.S. District Court in Alabama and he faced down the Senate Judiciary Committee—which included Denton—during a confirmation hearing. The seemingly one-sided prosecution of Black voting rights activists was bad enough, but it was the further accusations lobbed against him during the hearing that made the taint of alleged bigotry on Sessions even stronger. Veteran Justice Department employee J. Gerald Hebert offered some of the more damning

testimony. “The general impression I get when we talk about racial questions is that he is not a very sensitive person when it comes to race relations,” Herbert said in deposition. He added that Sessions was wont to “pop off” on such matters, calling James Blacksher, a White civil rights lawyer, a “disgrace to his race” for defending Black clients in voting rights and similar cases. Sessions also supposedly called the NAACP and the ACLU “un-American” and “Communist-inspired,” adding the groups “forced civil rights down the throats of people who were trying to put problems behind them.” During his testimony, Sessions seemingly verified what Herbert said, saying the ACLU and NAACP could be construed as “un-American” when “they involve themselves in promoting un-American positions” in foreign policy. In other damaging testimony Thomas Figures, a Black former assistant U.S. attorney who worked under Sessions for four years, recalled another instance of the nominee’s casual racial insensitivity. Figures recalled that in 1981, Sessions was talking with him and Department of Justice prosecutor Barry Kowalski about a case involving the lynching of a Black man by two Ku Klux Klan members. On hearing that the assailants had smoked marijuana on the day of the murder, Sessions remarked aloud that he thought the KKK was “OK until I found out they smoked pot.” Sessions insisted it was a “silly comment” intended as a “joke,” but several senators questioned his levity in the face of such a brutal slaying. Figures, too, did not find Session’s skewed “humor” to be funny. He testified his former boss often referred to him as “boy” and warned him to “be careful what you say to White folks” when he chastised a White secretary. In his defense, Sessions

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insisted that while he may have been injudicious in his statements he was not racist—he had roomed several times with a Black colleague, his children attended an integrated school, and he himself had taught at a majority-Black school. Ultimately, however, the Republican-controlled committee voted 10-8 against Sessions’ confirmation, with Massachusetts Democrat Sen. Ted Kennedy saying, “Mr. Sessions is a throwback to a shameful era which I know both Black and White Americans thought was in our past. It is inconceivable to me that a person of this attitude is qualified to be a U.S. attorney, let alone a U.S. federal judge.” Despite that indictment, Sessions was elected as Alabama’s attorney general in 1994. While in office, he conducted another voter fraud probe that again targeted the Black community, detractors said. And, they added, he showed less enthusiasm for investigating the burnings of Black churches across the state, according to The New Republic. More disturbing, civil rights groups say, has been Sessions’ voting record in Congress, for which he has consistently gotten an “F” rating from the NAACP. On voting rights, for example, Sessions admitted to calling the Voting Rights Act of 1965 a “piece of intrusive legislation.” And while he voted for its renewal in 2006, he has stymied efforts to update and restore the Act after the Supreme Court’s 2013 decision, Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder struck down key provisions of the law. Opponents said Sessions’ bigotry has truly shown itself in judicial nominations. As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Sessions has criticized judicial nominees with civil rights backgrounds for having the “ACLU gene.” In 2011, for example, he criticized Obama appointee for the Northern District of California Judge Ed Chen, who has been a staff attorney at the ACLU representing individuals in discrimination and civil rights matters. And, he voted against Loretta Lynch’s nomination on her way to becoming the first African-American woman to serve as U.S. attorney general. Similarly, in 2010, Sessions ranted on the Senate floor about Obama’s judicial appointments having the “ACLU DNA” and “ACLU Chromosome.”

November 26, 2016 - December 2, 2016, The Afro-American “Right now, the program is very responsive to changing environments. So if there is another recession and more people need Medicaid it would respond accordingly. Under a block grant, that would not happen.” According to the Congressional Budget Office, repealing Obamacare outright would increase the number of uninsured Americans by 22 million. And a Rand Corp. analysis of Trump’s proposed reforms estimated they would increase the number of uninsured by 16 million to 25 million. Another key domestic concern is jobs. “There are no jobs,” Trump claimed when announcing his presidential run in June 2015, “because China has our jobs and Mexico has our jobs. They all have jobs.” While the claim is not totally true— following the Great Recession the Obama administration has helped create about 15 million new jobs—it is true that African Americans continue to fare poorly in employment and other economic indicators compared to other groups, said the NAACP’s Shelton. Trump’s campaign promise to rebuild the inner cities and to invest $550 billion in transportation and infrastructure overall could be a boon for African-American communities—if Republicans on Capitol Hill allow it. Another marquee issue is immigration— something which GOP obstructionism prevented Obama from tackling and which Trump has promised to deal with in somewhat drastic terms, including the wholesale

Obesity

Continued from A1

becoming overweight or obese. The study, led by academics from University College London, found that the belief childhood obesity develops largely from overeating, was an oversimplification that ignored the child’s overall environment. Of the 19,244 families studied from September 2000 to January 2002, disrupted routines, including skipping meals and irregular sleeping patterns, influenced weight gain among children. Yvonne Kelly, lead researcher of the study, wrote, “Disrupted routines,

deportation of illegal immigrants. But, the president-elect has been backpedaling on some of his campaign rhetoric, Smith said. For communities of color, Shelton said, restoring the Voting Rights Act of 1965; instituting criminal justice reform, including establishing standards for police, sentencing reform and abolishing the death penalty; and ensuring access to quality and affordable education at the K-12 and tertiary levels are priorities they would like to see President-elect Trump address. Winbush added that climate change is another area that needs to be addressed as it is going to be “the great equalizer.” That is unlikely to happen, however, as Trump has said global warming is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese to undermine America’s economic competitiveness and has promised to dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency. He has also chosen Myron Ebell, a libertarian who himself has dismissed global warming, to handle transition at the EPA. Many civil rights activists and minority advocates agree that environmental issues and other matters of import to Black communities will likely take a back burner and conditions may worsen under a Trump administration. “We’ve been through the Middle Passage; we’ve been through slavery; we’ve been through Jim Crow; we’ll get through four years of crazy,” Winbush said. He added, “The silver lining in Trump’s election is that it is going to force Black people to look inward in their communities for solutions…. We’ve got to stay woke.”

exemplified by irregular sleeping patterns and skipping breakfast, could influence weight gain through increased appetite and the consumption of energy-dense foods.” Terrie Shriver, a D.C. resident and mother of 3 said she had no idea that routine bedtimes and breakfast on the run could drive her children into obesity and poor health. “Sometimes the kids don’t want to go to bed and I have usually had a rule that so long as they get up the next morning and get moving to school, there was no problem,” Shriver told the AFRO. “But the later they stayed up, the more likely we’d be running late the next morning and their breakfast would be a doughnut and

milk from Dunkin Donuts or a cold PopTart in the back of the car.” Shriver is not uncommon. In fact, the study found that 83.3 percent of children had a stable, non-overweight body mass index, almost one in seven, or 13.1 percent and who are more likely to be girls than boys, had a moderately increasing BMI, while 2.5 percent had a steeply increasing BMI. Black children were more likely to be among the latter group. The National Sleep Foundation recommends school-aged children between six and 13 years-old, get between nine and eleven hours of sleep each night; teens require between eight and ten hours.

Cultural Links Boutique Pop Up – Boutique

Wed., December 7, 2016 11 – 3 p.m.

The Medical Pavilion Cancer Resource Center, Suite G050 10710 Charter Drive Columbia, MD 21044

FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT (FEIS) NOW AVAILABLE ATTEND A COMMUNITY

INFORMATION MEETING

ABOUT THE PROJECT The B&P Tunnel Project is a federally-funded engineering and environmental study to develop an alternative to the existing B&P Tunnel. This 143-year-old, two-track railroad tunnel is located between the West Baltimore MARC Station and Penn Station along Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor (NEC) in Baltimore, Maryland. The tunnel is owned by Amtrak and also used by Maryland Area Regional Commuter (MARC) trains and Norfolk Southern Railway freight trains. The FEIS provides an evaluation of three alternatives, including a review of the alternatives, their ability to meet the needs of the Project, and their likely impacts to the social, cultural and natural environments. The FEIS includes: • The Preferred Alternative, including the location of the Intermediate Ventilation Facility Site; • Responses to public comments on the Draft EIS; and • Recommendations for potential mitigation measures to address the documented environmental impacts of the Preferred Alternative.

Thursday, December 8th 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM Mt. Royal Elementary Middle School 121 McMechen Street Baltimore, MD 21217

Saturday, December 10th 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM Carver Vocational-Technical High School 2201 W Presstman Street Baltimore, MD 21216 Project Information Presentations will occur at 6:30 p.m. (Thursday) and 11:30 a.m. (Saturday). Informational boards and project staff will be available throughout the meeting period and copies of the FEIS document also will be available for review.

The public is encouraged to review the FEIS and submit any feedback regarding the document to info@bptunnel.com.

Can’t attend? Meeting materials also will be posted on our website: www.bptunnel.com.

A public review period for the document will begin on November 25, 2016, and continue through December 27, 2016.

Meeting locations are accessible to persons with disabilities. If you require translation services, please contact info@bptunnel.com at least one week in advance of the meeting.

COPIES OF THE FEIS DOCUMENT WILL BE AVAILABLE AT: Baltimore City Department of Transportation Transit Bureau 417 E. Fayette Street, 5th Floor Baltimore, MD 21202 Bentalou Recreation Center 222 N. Bentalou Street Baltimore, MD 21223

John Eager Howard Recreation Center 2100 Brookfield Avenue Baltimore, MD 21217

Maryland Department of Transportation 7201 Corporate Center Drive 1st Floor Reception Desk Bon Secours Community Works Hanover, MD 21076 26 N. Fulton Avenue Baltimore, MD 21223

Si necesita traducción por favor póngase en contacto: info@bptunnel.com. Maryland Transit Administration 6 St. Paul Street Baltimore, MD 21202 By Appointment Only at 410-767-3785 Enoch Pratt Libraries Central Branch 400 Cathedral Street Baltimore, MD 21201

Edmondson Ave. Branch 4330 Edmondson Avenue Baltimore, MD 21229 Pennsylvania Ave. Branch 1531 W. North Avenue Baltimore, MD 21217 Walbrook Branch 3203 W. North Avenue Baltimore, MD 21216

The FEIS also is available online at www.bptunnel.com under the “FEIS” heading. The study team can be contacted through the project website at www.bptunnel.com or by email at info@bptunnel.com. Written comments can be forwarded to: B&P Tunnel Project, 81 W. Mosher Street, Baltimore, MD 21217

The Afro-American, November 26, 2016 - December 2, 2016

Black Friday Continued from A1

FOOD & WINE

Bazaar Spices bazaarspices.com

The DC-based spice store offers a stunning global blend of seasonings and botanicals for recipes and healing, from rare African bird peppers to Moroccan preserved lemons.

Destiny Moscato destinymoscato.com

Winemaker Mark Thierry and celebrity business partner, Nicole Murphy, are taking on the hugely popular trend for sparkling wines on the sweet side. In two styles, Diamond (white) and Ruby (pink).

Mouton Noir Wines moutonnoirwines.com

In short order, Mouton Noir (Black Sheep) has grown from 3000 cases a year to now more than 300,000, which makes it the most successful

Black-owned winery in America. It’s all the vision of Andre Hueston Mack, the former sommelier at world renowned restaurant, French Laundry, who not only blends the wines, but designs the labels (and the t-shirts).

UncleBrutha’s Hot Sauce Emporium unclebrotha.com

The many awards given to Unclebrutha’s “ALLSAUCE” shows a dedication to craft that has brought chef/owner Brennan Proctor national attention. Good enough to carry in your purse.

Asiya Sport asiyasport.com

APPAREL

Launched and fully funded as a Kickstarter project just months ago, Asiya Sport takes the model set by Muslim-American Olympian fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad and goes a step beyond, with a line of performance hijab and modest wear for athletes whose religion or beliefs call for an alternative to the usual skin-baring workout gear.

November 26, 2016 - November 26, 2016, The Afro-American

unconventional materials in unexpected places, with hot and stylish frames made from walnut, rosewood, ebony and more.

William Okpo williamokpo.com

Sisters Darlene and Lizzie Okpo infuse their Nigerian heritage subtly into a women’s wear collection that manages to be global and completely American at once.

SPORTS Rad Black Kids theradBlackkids.com

Free Negro University etsy.com/shop/freenegrouniversity

A basic line of fashionable tees and hats that carry a simple but powerful message — one that’s maybe more necessary now than ever.

Osrick Ingredients Cricket osingredientscricket.com

Continued from A1 We have seen the length to which certain elements of the South will go to defy the courts, the President and the will of the people in order to maintain segregation in public institutions and to deprive colored citizens of the right to register and to vote. None of us, certainly President Kennedy himself, suspected these mad-men would murder a President in an attempt to halt the nation-wide and revolutionary movement to secure equal rights for the nation’s minorities. Yet, there is little difference between the slayers of 14-year old Emmett Till, Medgar Evers, the NAACP executive, the Rev. George Lee, all in Mississippi. But there is also blood on the hands of legislators and governors in Alabama, Louisiana, Florida and Arkansas who used their public office to encourage mob violence.

The President, though a wealthy man himself, had not forgotten the 100 year struggle of his own Irish and Catholic minority group to gain dignity and citizenship in this country. Youthful, exuberant, of apparent boundless strength and energy, kind, perceptive, quick to grasp and memorize a whole page of a document at a glance, he was at ease when he invited colored friends to luncheon at his Georgetown home or to formal dinners at the White House. He did not speak out of both sides of his mouth on civil rights. The pledges he gave were those he advocated in public and in private, with passion and with firmness. He will go down in our history as a great, a strong, a wise, and beloved leader who sacrificed his life on the altar of human rights.

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November 26, 2016, 2016 - December 2, 2016, The Afro-American

COMMENTARY

Saudi Arabia’s Race Problem

My first visit to the Middle East was a spiritual and social learning experience. It highlighted the differences in our cultures as well as the commonality of the human experience. I cried viewing the majesty of Masjid Al-Haram in Mecca, smiled while dancing with children with special needs in Jeddah, and laughed at myself when I finally figured out what the water hoses were for in the bathroom stalls. As a part of a group of American hip-hop artists sponsored by the Department of State, I got the opportunity to share ideas with young Saudis throughout the country. One thing that surprised me was many acknowledged a race problem in their country. The Saudis are a kind and gracious people, but have many areas in which they need to evolve. The opportunities for women and gays are limited and its justice system can be extremely harsh. In addition, they are involved in a deadly proxy war with Iran in Yemen which has claimed countless lives and displaced over 3 million people. I arrived in the capital city of Riyadh with this understanding. However, what first surprised me when I entered the U.S. embassy to conduct an emceeing workshop was the intense diversity of the youth. Saudi Arabia’s diversity rivals anywhere in the West. When I sat down to work with one young man and asked him what he wanted to write a rap about, he answered “racism”. I was taken aback. My previous perspective on the Middle East was informed by Alex Haley’s Autobiography of Malcolm X and from Malcolm’s letters. In one letter after his hajj to Mecca in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia he stated, that Islam was “an already proven solution to the race problem”. However, when I visited KSA, the people told a different story. In Jeddah, which lies on the Red Sea and is only about a 40 minute drive from the holy city of Mecca, the aspiring emcees I worked with told me of being labeled “Hijazi” by Saudi nationals because they were of African or South Asian descent. They were looked down upon because the ethnic Saudis would say they came for Hajj and did not have the money or resources to return home. They were never eligible for Saudi citizenship and their children are referred to as “tarsh”, another slur. We visited an economically depressed neighborhood in Jeddah and played soccer with the children there. As an African American, I did not look out of place among the people in that community, the majority of which were Somalis, Sudanese, Eritreans, Nigerians, and Senegalese. While the race and ethnic conflicts are exponentially stronger in countries like Iraq and Israel/Palestine, the intersection of race and class was clearly visible. According to Human Rights Watch, there are roughly 8 million “guest” workers in Saudi Arabia. The Kafala system makes it so that a foreign nationals’ residency is linked to their employer. Needless to say, this places an inordinate amount of power in the hands of employers to potentially exploit workers by preventing them from changing jobs, forcing them to work, and taking their passports so they are unable to leave. It is unfair to single out the Saudis for this system, as it is practiced in Lebanon, Jordan, Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE. Saudi King Salman appears to want to bridge the racial and ethnic chasm in his country and has pledged to bring unity to the country. The U.S. certainly has no room to look down upon the KSA for its racial and ethnic issues. We are home to ICE raids on immigrant families, a broken immigration system, rhetoric of building walls between our nation and our neighbors, and a disproportionate amount of people

Jason Nichols

of color in our prison system. I saw very few interethnic marriages, and the communities had an element of segregation in KSA. Many of the working class laborers were non-Saudi. However, among the youth that I encountered few were so disillusioned to identify as anything other than Saudi. As the Middle East opens up to western traditions, I believe a major voice for socially conscientious hip-hop could very well come out of that region, Continental Africa, or the Indian Subcontinent. A lot of the youth in KSA enjoyed newer rappers like Kendrick Lamar, Drake, and others. However, for many, their favorite rapper was still Tupac. They identified with the pain and passion in his voice, which requires no translator and can only come from the sting of social marginalization and struggle. The fact that you can encounter racism, poverty and segregation in what is the holiest region in the world to 1.6 billion Muslims, 2.2 billion Christians, and 12 million Jews, begs the question, “I wonder if heaven got a ghetto”? Jason Nichols is a full-time lecturer in the African American studies department at the University of Maryland College Park and the current editor-in-chief of Words Beats & Life: The Global Journal of Hip-Hop Culture, the first peer-reviewed journal of hip-hop studies.

Can Blacks and the Police Find Inner Peace? The longstanding problem of racial tension between law enforcement and African-Americans has been underscored in recent months by the highly publicized killings of Blacks at the hands of the police. These killings, under questionable circumstances, have precipitated upheavals in urban neighborhoods and have given rise to organizations such as Black Lives Matter, whose members are working for accountability on the part of the police and for prevention of future police-related deaths or injuries involving African-Americans. Police, like all first responders, are under increasing scrutiny as they face the pressures of law enforcement in potentially dangerous situations. The underlying source of the problem is twofold: police are stressed due to the nature of their jobs, and inner-city African-Americans are stressed by the nature of their environment. A new, evidence-based strategy is needed that will prevent and help neutralize this buildup of stress, anger, and violence in individuals and in society as a whole. Many solutions have been proposed, including better training and community policing; an increase in the availability of quality education, job training, and employment opportunities for inner-city blacks; and improved access to health care and various outreach programs for youth. All these are positive approaches, providing an external framework for improving the situation. But they all fail to address the underlying buildup of stress that inevitably erupts into violence. One well-documented protocol for reducing stress and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the Transcendental Meditation technique. According to recent research, more than 50% of

Howard Levine, David Shapiro and David Leffler

people with PTSD who learn TM are symptom-free in 30–105 days. In addition, regular TM practice has been shown to structure resilience, thereby helping to maintain lower levels of stress in daily life. Transcendental Meditation was recently tested as a treatment protocol for Congolese war refugees afflicted with PTSD due to the horrors they had experienced, including rampant murder, rape and displacement. Among these refugees, 90% became asymptomatic within 30 to 60 days of learning Transcendental Meditation. Similarly, more than 50% of U.S. Veterans with PTSD who learned TM were free of PTSD symptoms in 30 days. The Transcendental Meditation technique is a natural, easily learned practice that provides deep rest to body and mind and thereby begins to reverse the accumulation of stress within the practitioner. Studies show TM can alleviate high blood pressure and insomnia. A police officer who is calmer, able to think more clearly, and less on edge will be better equipped to spontaneously implement techniques to defuse a potentially explosive situation, rather than escalate it. The manifold health benefits of TM practice could reduce work hours lost and increase overall effectiveness among law enforcement officers. If war refugees with PTSD can find rapid relief from stress through TM practice, how much easier will it be for both police and inner city African-Americans to find inner peace? Howard Levine is a published author and a former public school teacher, who now does volunteer work with senior citizens. David Shapiro is Founding President of African PTSD Relief. Dr. David Leffler is the Executive Director at the Center for Advanced Military Science.

EPA Reaches Out To Communities of Color The Environmental Protection Agency was established on Dec. 2, 1970 under Republican President Nixon in the wake of elevated concerns about the environment. On Oct. 28, 2016, the EPA released their 5-year environmental justice plan covering the years 2016-2020. What does the plan entail and how will it effect people of color? There is finally an urban and tribal community plan from the EPA that targets, protects, educates and motivates people of color to get actively involved in environmental issues that have a direct effect on the air that they breathe and the water they drink. This is a big deal for EPA to admit that the agency has been slow in correcting systemic failings in the urban and tribal communities. Data shows that Blacks and Latino are twice as likely to live near chemical facilities and industrial pollution areas than Whites, according to the Center of Effective Government. The NAACP is becoming increasingly passionate about the environment because environmental violations of civil rights are at play and closely intertwined with health and economic opportunities in the urban community. For example the Standing Sioux Tribe of North Dakota is currently battling the Obama administration and ‘Big Oil’ to protect their water supply from toxic contamination of a proposed pipeline. Under the plan the EPA is encouraging environmental organizations, such as the Sierra Club, to be more diverse in their hiring and volunteer base of minority groups to effectively educate all America on environmental issues. Historically, the environmental movement has been prominently White and affluent America

that does not face the same environmental issues as urban populations. There are currently national environmental groups that are making inroads in these communities. For the first time in the history of the EPA and other environmental organizations such as the Environmental Defense Fund will provide their literature in Spanish and programs in the Latino community to expand their network. The Hispanic population is the largest ethnic or minority in our nation, making up 17 percent of the total population at 55 million. The environmental justice plan, known as EJ 2020, has three priority goals. Each goal places an emphasis on populations that are low-income and underserviced communities. The first is to increase environmental enforcement resources in 100 targeted overburdened communities where known environmental violators of pollution are not in compliance of EPA rules. The second is supporting day-to-day needs through community based work to revitalize communities affected by environmental violators and work with the tribal and indigenous groups to build tribal capacity and promote tribal action on environmental issues. The third is to identify geographic areas with the greatest lead exposure, reduce sources of lead contamination and take national action to reduce lead in drinking water in under serviced communities. It’s time for all Americans to get involved in environmental issues, not just to save the environment, but to save ourselves. Cathy Allen is an award-winning Urban Environmentalist, the co-creator of G.R.A.S.S. (Growing Resources After Sowing Seed) as well as Chair of the “Grow-It Eat It” campaign. G.R.A.S.S. is an environmental entrepreneurial nonprofit program based on the fundamentals of gardening, agriculture and ecology. In conjunction with Baltimore City Public Schools, Allen’s campaign has planted over a half-million trees on the lawns of Baltimore City public schools. She can be reached at cathy.allen@thegreenambassador.org.

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

The Afro-American, November 26, 2016 - December 2, 2016

Psychologists Diagnose 9/11-Type Trauma with Trump Victory By Shantella Y. Sherman Special to the AFRO ssherman@afro.com Orlando Triplett said the symptoms appeared gradually over the course of the Presidential campaign. Sleeplessness, irritability, and occasional anxiety that made him want to stay indoors. As a college sophomore at Howard University, Triplett had experienced similar physical symptoms around final exams, but always bounced back once testing ended. With Donald Trump’s victory and the subsequent naming of what he termed “angry, White men,” in key political positions, Triplett’s symptoms grew into a full-scale depression and generalized anxiety. But, he is not alone. “I am afraid and it’s not just because Trump was elected, [but] because he made his opinions and impressions of Blacks, gays,

immigrants, and women pretty clear. I am afraid of the White people standing next to me who laughed at the possibility of him being elected, then pulled the lever in his favor,” Triplett told the AFRO. “I don’t trust White Americans to not all be closeted and dangerous racists and homophobes.” Since Trump was named presidentelect by earning the projected majority of U.S. Electoral College votes, mental health professionals across the country have witnessed an uptick in patients seeking counseling for depression and anxiety-related disorders, as well as prescriptions for sleep aids. Kimberly Grocher, a Black psychotherapist in New York, told Slate magazine that Trumpinduced political distress is real and mimics the feelings many had following the 9/11 attacks. “It’s really pervasive, and it’s really come into the treatment room. Usually it’s combined with other anxiety triggers that they AP Photo/ Evan Vucci, File

Since Trump’s presidential victory mental health professionals have witnessed an uptick in patients seeking counseling for depression and anxiety-related disorders. may be having, and it can cause sleeplessness, directly related to “fear and anxiety around the restlessness, feeling powerless. It can lead to election results.” feelings of depression,” Grocher said. “For the The result of these election-related fears minorities who I see, and even the Caucasians and anxieties, according to the Centers who I see, [police brutality] has been very for Disease Control and Prevention, is the closely tied to the election. It’s about, ‘What’s development of maladaptive behaviors, going to happen in including binge my community if this eating, skipping person is in office?’” exercise, staring at According screens, and general to The Trevor avoidance of normal Project, a suicide responsibilities. prevention hotline Farha Abbasi, for LGBT youth, a staff psychiatrist many Americans at Michigan State face genuine University and – Kimberly Grocher managing editor feelings of grief and bereavement of the Journal of in response to the Muslim Mental election, including Health said that depression, anxiety, marginalized groups, sleeplessness, and even physical symptoms. including many of the Muslim-Americans, Steve Mendelsohn, a spokesperson for the immigrants, minorities, and women targeted hotline said they have received twice as many by Trump, may feel particularly vulnerable calls in the immediate wake of the election with his victory.

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November 26, 2016 - December 2, 2016, The Afro-American

PRINCE GEORGEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S COUNTY-AREA Prince Georgeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s County

Baker Initiative Upgrades GlassmanorOxon Hill Area

Prince Georgeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s County

Gwen Ifill Remembered By Thousands at D.C. Service

Darryl Barnes Possible Sen. Currie Replacement By Bruce W. Branch Special to the AFRO

Photo by LaTrina Antoine

County officials and Glassmanor community residents are all set to begin building new affordable housing in Oxon Hill. By James Wright Special to the AFRO jwright@afro.com The Transforming Neighborhoods Initiative (TNI) was launched in April 2012 by Prince Georgeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s County Executive Rushern Baker III. The goal is to help six neighborhoods in the county that face significant economic, health, public safety, and education challenges. On Nov. 19, county leaders assembled on Maury Avenue in the Glassmanor neighborhood to announce a new project, Columbia Run Townhomes. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The best place to live, work, and play in the D.C. metro area is Prince Georgeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s County,â&#x20AC;? Sandy J. Marenberg, president of Marenberg Enterprises, told about 20 people who attended the groundbreaking ceremony. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Columbia Run is in a good location. It is five minutes from National Harbor and you will have many employees of the MGM casino purchasing a home here.â&#x20AC;? Columbia Run is an example of what the county Continued on B2

Photos by Rob Roberts

Gwen Ifill, a renowned Black journalist, passed away from cancer on Nov. 14. See more photos of the funeral on B4.

Ifill was 61 when she died. Woodruff had nothing but praise for her late colleague. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Gwen was one of the most celebrated journalists in our land, but she never forgot her roots,â&#x20AC;? Woodruff said. Noting the historic nature of two women anchors and co-managing editors There was an enduring statement that family and friends of a news show, she said that the pair knew they would ruffle shared about the late Gwen Ifill at her funeral: â&#x20AC;&#x153;We need her some feathers. more than ever.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;There was a question about whether two women could be That is legacy of Ifill, who died from cancer on Nov. 14. co-anchors,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There were some She was the co-host of â&#x20AC;&#x153;PBS NewsHourâ&#x20AC;? and the moderator on â&#x20AC;&#x153;Washington Week that would speculate about whether there with Gwen Ifill.â&#x20AC;? Family and friends would be jealousy between us. We made gathered in celebration and honor of her sure no one put a distance between us.â&#x20AC;? Like most of the speakers at the life on Nov. 19 at the Metropolitan AME Church in Northwest D.C. service, Woodruff uttered familiar words â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Judy Woodruff in reference to Ifill. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We need you now Thousands of people, such as first lady Michelle Obama, U.S. Attorney more than ever,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was always honored to be her co-anchor and I always General Loretta Lynch, D.C. Mayor will be.â&#x20AC;? Muriel Bowser (D), and former U.S. Attorney General Eric Ifill was born in 1955 in New York City and got a Holder, attended the event that included leading members of bachelorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree in communications from Simmons College the media, such as Ifillâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s co-host Judy Woodruff. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Gwen was a life force,â&#x20AC;? Woodruff, who made history with in Boston. She worked for newspapers such as the Boston Herald American, the Baltimore Evening Sun, the Washington Ifill as the first all-female anchors of a major news show in 2013, said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;She left us too young and left too fast.â&#x20AC;? Continued on B2 By James Wright Special to the AFRO jwright@afro.com

â&#x20AC;&#x153;She left us too young and left too fast.â&#x20AC;?

AJ Lytton Delivers Win for Wise Pumas Welcome to the AFROâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s weekly sports wrap-up.

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AJ Lytton Jr. of the Wise Pumas is the Player of the Week.

Courtesy Photo

Darryl Barnes seems to be the most likely appointee to Sen. Ulysses Currie position. was first elected to the House of Delegates in 1987. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is my deep love for my constituents and the Maryland Senate, combined with the Continued on B2

receiver for the Pumas. He was an essential key to the Pumas season and their recent playoff victory over Eleanor Roosevelt. In the game Lytton two catches for more than 30 receiving yards and an interception. To see more from Anthony, be sure to watch him and the Pumas as they take on Howard.

By Jordan Hawkins Special to the AFRO

The Matchup Wrap-up: Only one team could make it out of last weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s game with The Wise Pumas vs. the Eleanor Roosevelt Raiders in the Prince Georgeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s County 4A region playoffs. The Pumas defeated the hosting Raiders 40-22 on Nov. 18. With the win, the Pumas not only move on to the next round of the 2016 Maryland High School Football Playoffs, but they have also solidified their place as the top team in the countyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 4A region. The Pumas improve to a 12-0 overall record, while the Raiders end their season overall 8-4. The Pumas will next face the Howard Lions on Nov. 25. #' % Player(s) of the Week: $% #$%!(

$% #$%!( Prince Georgeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Countyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s player of the week #' % title belongs to Anthony Lytton Jr. of the Wise Pumas. Lytton is a junior % free safety and wide $% #$%!(

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Maryland Del. Darryl Barnes (D-25) appears to be the leading candidate to replace legendary Maryland State Senator Ulysses Currie in the 25th Legislative District. Currie, 79, whose health has been declining in recent years, submitted his letter of resignation to Senate President Thomas V. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Mikeâ&#x20AC;? Miller on Nov. 4, and will leave office on Dec. 1. Currie

Courtesy Photo

The Games to Come: As the final team to make it out of the 4A region, the game to see this week is the Wise Pumasâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; matchup against the Howard Lions. It will be a Prince Georgeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s County versus Howard County faceoff, from two of the best teams of their regions.

Man Convicted in Shooting Death of 3-year-old By The Associated Press

of Knijah Bibb. Prosecutors say on Aug. 10,

2014, Wallace got into an argument with residents of the home he was staying in over stolen clothes. Wallace was beaten by the two men he was arguing with.

A man has !' # %# % been convicted in the fatal shooting of a 3-year-old in Landover, Md. in 2014. The Prince Georgeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s County Stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Attorneyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Office said in % !# % a news release Nov. 18 that 27-year-old $ ' & Davon Wallace Courtesy Photos was found guilty of second-degree Devon Antwan Wallace (left) and three-year-old Knijah murder in the death Bibb

Authorities say Wallace left the home and returned, firing six shots into the home. One of which struck and killed Bibb. Wallace faces a maximum of 55 years in prison at sentencing on Feb. 9.

Homicide Count 2016 Total

Past Seven Days

Data as of Nov. 23

The Afro-American, November 26, 2016 - December 2, 2016

Gwen Ifill Continued from B1

Post, and the New York Times before she became a correspondent for NBC News and then PBS. Ifill was a senior correspondent for “The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer” and the moderator for “Washington Week.” Bible verses in memory of Ifill were read by friends Rick Berke, Washington journalist Athelia Knight, and WETA president and CEO Sharon Percy Rockefeller. The Metropolitan AME Church Choir sang various gospel songs and soloists Darrien Sneed and Ifill’s sister, Darlene Ifill-Taylor, expressed in hymns their feelings for the deceased. Holder talked about Ifill off-camera, with her New Year’s Eve parties and barbecues. “She was Gwen the sistah,” Holder said. “She was fun to be around and she is needed now more than ever.” Sherrilyn Ifill, president and directorcounsel of the NAACP Defense Fund and Ifill’s cousin, spoke glowingly of her wellknown kin. “Gwen was the shining star of the Photo by Rob Roberts family,” she said. “My cousin believed deeply D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser attends Gwen in the idea of America.” Ifill’s funeral along with several other In what could be interpreted by some dignitaries from the region. as a criticism of the incoming Trump

administration, she said “Gwen represented the most American of success stories; she was the daughter of immigrants.” The fact that Ifill’s celebration service was held at Metropolitan was no accident. She had been a longtime member of the church and active in AME activities throughout her life. Bishop James L. Davis, the prelate of the Second Episcopal District, wanted people to know that. “Gwen Ifill was a rock star in the AME church,” Davis said. “She lived out her faith. She was a remarkable woman and she belonged to us before she belonged to the world.” AME Bishop Frank Reid, retired AME Bishop William Deveaux Sr., and the Revs. Ronald and Marie Braxton, former co-pastors of Metropolitan, sat on the dais during the ceremony. Deveaux delivered a short eulogy, noting the reflections on Ifill that preceded

him. He said that Ifill was “free with her affections and love” and was pleased “that she really thought I was a good preacher.” Michelle Obama and Bowser didn’t deliver remarks during the service but Holder read a letter from President Obama. Noted political figures at the ceremony included former Clinton administration presidential counselor Vernon Jordan, former U.S. Ambassador to Botswana Horace – Eric Holder Dawson, former U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater, former CNN anchor Bernard Shaw, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Judge Robert Wilkins, retired Channel 9 anchor Gordon Peterson, NBC reporter and show host Andrea Mitchell, TV One host Roland Martin, and April Ryan of the American Urban Radio Network. Omarosa Manigault, a Trump adviser, was at the service along with Valerie Jarrett, senior advisor to President Obama.

“She was fun to be around and she is needed now more than ever.”

Barnes

Continued from B1 recognition that I can no longer serve with the strength and energy you all deserve, that I have decided the time has come to turn the mantle over to a successor who,

prayerfully, will carry the torch,” he wrote in the letter. Barnes served as the majority whip from 19911994 and was elected to the Maryland Senate in

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1995. There, he held many chairmanships, including the Prince George’s County Delegation from 1997-2000, the Spending Affordability Committee from 2001-2012 and the powerful Budget and Taxation Committee from 2002-2012. He had to relinquish that chairmanship after a censure from the senate for failing to disclose that he had been paid large consulting fees. However, he was acquitted of corruption charges and re-elected twice in the middle of the scandal. In 2015, the Senate awarded him its First Citizen Award, given to those “who have been dedicated and effective participants in the process of making government work for the benefit of all.” According to several sources who have polled most of the Prince George’s County Democratic Central Committee, Barnes has a slight lead over former Delegate Melony Griffith, who finished second in her attempt to unseat Currie in the last election. Currie’s wife, Shirley, a minister with no previous experience in elected office, is the handpicked

choice of Maryland Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller and 25th District Del. Angela Angel. Currie was fondly remembered by colleagues as a congenial lawmaker who fought for a number of issues, particularly in the field of education because of his

among others. Barnes, who ran on a Democratic slate that included Currie and Angel, has been a quick riser in the House of Delegates and currently is the vice chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. He also fought to improve the relationship between

“I feel the person who replaces Sen. Currie should be someone the people have already voted into office…” – James Dula background as a high school principal. His legacy, however was marred five years ago when he was charged and later exonerated in federal court that he took illegal payments from a major food chain. Currie was best known for mentoring young politicians, including former Lt. Gov., and soon to be Congressman, Anthony Brown and Barnes

police and the public and been a vocal advocate for Black businesses who have been shut out of the medical marijuana industry. Griffith, meanwhile, has established a solid base of supporters after serving more than 16 years as a delegate in the District. She received 40 percent of the vote during the 2014 election when she unsuccessfully challenged

Currie. Shirley Currie has the influence of Miller, who many believe is in control of Prince George’s County politics. Angel is seen as a longshot. Currie has not made a public endorsement of any candidate, but earlier this year, he attended several fundraisers for Barnes. A decision by the Central Committee is expected during the first week of December. The name of the nominee will then be sent to Gov. Larry Hogan for confirmation. “I feel the person who replaces Sen. Currie should be someone the people have already voted into office – past or present – and not a person appointed from the community and heavily influenced by interests outside of the district,” said James Dula, a community activist and president of Bunbury Hills Civic Association. “That’s not a democracy. We are concerned that the system will be manipulated by outsiders.”

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would like to replicate throughout the other TNI areas: Suitland/Coral Hill, Langley Park, Kentland/Palmer Park, Hillcrest Heights/Marlow Heights, and East Riverdale/ Bladensburg. The county’s cities and town aren’t eligible for TNI because they are largely self-governing. Baker wanted to help the struggling unincorporated areas of the county. The six designated areas of TNI have a team leader and cohorts in the fields of public safety, social services, education, and community development. County resources have been earmarked to improve the six jurisdictions. The Office of the County Executive, the Prince George’s County Public Schools, and The Community Foundation in conjunction, offer grants of up to $15,000 to organizations aiding youth from 0-18 years-old in those areas. Earlier this year, TNI expanded to Forestville, Woodlawn/Lanham, and Silver Hill with three of the six original communities, Langeley Park, East Riverdale/ Bladensburg and Glassmanor/Oxon Hill are set to leave the program on Jan. 1, 2017 because of the progress made. However, county officials have received word that some of the TNI areas don’t want to leave the program. He noted that across the board, crime is down and school attendance is up in TNI areas. “We have made resources available to the six areas and some have done so well that they have graduated,” Nick Majette, the county’s chief administrative officer, told the AFRO. “Some of the leaders in those areas have told us we want to stay in. This shows that TNI is undergoing phenomenal success.” Marenberg said the townhouses at the new development will cost about $250,000 and that is affordable for many Prince George’s families. The amenities include hardwood flooring, stainless steel kitchen appliances, and upgraded kitchen counters. In addition, the development is close to

I-495, National Harbor, large chain grocery stores like Giant, the Southern Avenue Metro Station on the Green Line, and the United Medical Center on the District’s side of Southern Avenue., S.E. “We are intent on building workforce housing,” Marenberg said. “The $250,000 price is the same as paying rent at about $1,750 a month. It is a great place to buy a house, live, and raise a family.” Jacqueline Keys is a community activist who has lived in the Glassmanor neighborhood since 1977. She is pleased with the Columbia Run Townhomes project. “In 2005, we were approached by developers and asked what we wanted to do with the blighted property in our area,” Keys said. “I told them we wanted – Sandy J. Marenberg nice homes and a safe neighborhood, and though it has been a long process, they have delivered.” However, not everyone in the Glassmanor neighborhood welcomes the Columbia Run project. “Maury Avenue was once known as a drug strip,” Jamal Jefferson told the AFRO. “I don’t see too many Blacks moving into those homes. They can’t pull the wool over my eyes. I know who those homes are really for.” Majette dismissed any notion that Columbia Run is a part of gentrifying Glassmanor. “In that case, the townhomes would be in the $300,000 - 400,000 range,” he said. Marenberg said Columbia Run’s grand opening will be in the spring and Prince George’s County Council member Obie Patterson (D-District 8) plans to be there. “I am glad that the developer stepped up to the plate and invested in Prince George’s County,” Patterson said.

“Columbia Run is in a good location.”

November 26, 2016 - December 2, 2016, The Afro-American

Giving Thanks

D.C. Group Supports Homeless Veterans By Hamil R. Harris Special to the AFRO For more than three decades, Access Housing and the Southeast Veterans Service Center (SEVSC) has supported the needs of those who have put their lives on the line to defend freedom. And on Nov. 24, 50 families will be feasting on Turkey and all of the trimmings thanks to the leader of a veterans organization. “I am just happy to make someone else happy especially to those who sacrifice so much for this country,” said Greg Crawford, executive director of Access Housing. “Everybody deserves a place to live. No one should live outside.” Access Housing provides temporary and permanent housing for veterans as well as other critical services needed to transition them from homelessness to selfsufficiency. The concept of a veterans center started in the 1970s, after Crawford’s father, former D.C. Councilmember H.R. Crawford (D-Ward 7), received a call about

a group of homeless men who had created an encampment under a bridge near Georgetown. “We shared a meal of fried chicken and hot coffee that had been prepared on a hot plate,” said Crawford who reported his findings to then Mayor Marion S. Barry. The experience was catalyst for the founding of Access Housing and earlier this week Crawford said unfortunately homeless people are still living under the same bridge. But help might be coming in the future from an unlikely source. Crawford, who once served in the Nixon and Ford Administrations, said District community activist Robert Woodson is one of several candidates to become the next U.S. secretary of House and Urban Development. “He is good man who will make a difference,” said Crawford, who highlighted the fact that Woodson has been working with House speaker Paul Ryan and leaders in Southeast to address homeless issues. Regardless of the future there are many testimonies from veterans that Access Housing has made a difference in their lives.

The Buffalo Soldiers donate turkeys to the Southeast Veterans Center.

“After two tours in Afghanistan I retired from the US Marine Corps. I thought I was fine but the memories of what I’d witnessed there really impacted me,” said Petey J. “I didn’t want to remember anything so alcohol became my closest friend. When I hit rock bottom [Access Housing] was there. Living at the Center with my peers from the military helped me to stop feeling sorry for myself and get back into life.”

Thanksgiving Meals for the Homeless The 25th Project volunteers will hand out Thanksgiving Day Dinners to homeless camps in Prince William County and to the homeless in Franklin Square Park and at various shelters in the District.

WASHINGTON AREA

COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS Washington, D.C.

SOME’s 15th Annual Trot for Hunger Freedom Plaza (corner of 13th Street, NW and Pennsylvania Avenue, NW) Washingtonians are invited to join SOME at 9 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day for a 5k run/walk. The run/walk will take place at Freedom Plaza (corner of 13th Street, NW and Pennsylvania Avenue, NW). there will be an 8:30 a.m. Little Turkey Fun Run and a 9:15 a.m. unlimited 5k. The District’s only Turkey Trot, the Trot for Hunger raises over $600,000 that allows S.O.M.E. (So Others Might Eat) to continue to provide critical services such as food, clothing and healthcare to hundreds of thousands of men, women and children. Register at http://some.org/ Photo by Hamil Harris T:11”trot; prices are set to increase

by $5 on Nov. 14. For more information, visit some.org.

thanksgiving1617/.

Arena Stage Hosts Dinner and Musical for Wounded Warriors Mead Center for American Theater, 1101 Sixth St., SW D.C.-area military families must spend the Thanksgiving holiday away from loved ones. In gratitude for their service, Arena Stage is inviting wounded warriors, service men and women and their families to a complimentary dinner and performance of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical Carousel at the Mead Center for American Theater, located at 1101 Sixth St., SW on Nov. 25. For more information, contact Corporate Relations Manager Char ManloveLaws at cmanlove-laws@ arenastage.org or 202-6004030 or visit arenastage.org/ donate/special-events/military-

Black Owned Small Business Expo Waldorf Culture Center, 109 Post Office Road Support Black Owned Small business at this one stop shop expo event on Nov. 26. Come out to network and purchase products and services of all types from locally owned businesses in the Washington D.C. and Baltimore Metro areas. From jewelry to house ware, fashion, beauty products, electronics, food and much more this is an event you won’t want to miss. The Black Owned Small Business Expo is free to patrons and open to the public, however, interested small business vendors should email danie@ daniebjones.com for more information.

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The Afro-American, November 26, 2016 - December 2, 2016

On Nov. 19, friends and family, including several dignitaries across the country, gathered at the Metropolitan AME Church in Northwest D.C. to bid their final goodbyes to Gwen Ifill, a renowned Black journalist who was the co-host of “PBS NewsHour” and the moderator on “Washington Week with Gwen Ifill.”

Roland Martin, TV ONE

Fredricka Whitfield, CNN

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser

Colbert Isaiah King, Washington Post

Ifill’s ashes Rev. Dr. Jo Ann Browning, co-pastor, Ebenezer AME Church

Eric Holder

Dr. Gladys Gary Vaughn

Debra Lee, BET

African Methodist Episcopal Bishop Frank M. Reid

Rev. Dr. E. Gail Anderson Holness

Vernon Jordan , former president of National Urban League

Bernard Shaw, (retired) CNN

Carol Schwartz , former D.C. Council member

Omarosa Manigault, American reality game show and reality show personality

US Attorney General Loretta Lynch

Rev. Marie Braxton, Rev. William Lamar, III, pastor of Metropolitan AME and Rev. Ronald Braxton, presiding elder of the Potomac District Photos by Rob Roberts

The Montgomery County Chapter of The Society, led by President Sandra J. Jenkins and Vice President Sheila Ginyard Ogilvie, presented its 2016 Youth in the Arts Talent Showcase and Scholarship Luncheon at the Bethesda

Marriott on Oct. 22. More than 200 guests enjoyed musical performances by students in the performing Arts --ages 11 to 17 -- and special performances by award-winning pianist Dana Kristina-Joi Morgan and violinist Chelsey A. Green.

Photos byRob Roberts

Carole Brown, Mable Smith, R. Lucia Riddle, Karyne Jones and Frieda Lacey

Youth Artists: Kendrick Curry, II; Nelson Brown; Laila Holland; Gari Puckrien; Tara Hug and Morgan Brown

Sheila Ogilvie, showcase chairperson Dana Kristina Joi-Morgan and Chelsey A. Green

Nelson Brown Cherri Holland with her daughter, Laila

Chapter members

Rexanah Wyse, State’s Attorney Office, Montgomery County; Sheila Ogilvie, chair, Planning Committee and Lana Mosby

Sandra Janett Jenkins, chapter president

Todd Myvick, Rev. Kendrick Curry and Mark Brown

Rev. Dr. Delois A. Poag-Ray, Dr. Carol Ray, C. Denise Witcher Sessoms; Chester Ray (seated) and Ethel Lee Walker

2016 scholarship recipients: Chayla Nicole Duppins and Kirsten Tildon

Members of the Patuxent River Chapter of The Links

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

November 26, 2016 - December 2, 2016, The Afro-American

Interview

ARTS & CULTURE

Ruth Negga, Star of ‘Loving,’ On Quietly Changing the World KW: What interested you in “Loving?” RN: I basically fell in love with Mildred and Richard [Loving, the main characters]. I thought they were an extraordinary couple whose love just seemed so apparent. To be honest with you, Jeff’s [writer/director Jeff Nichols] script was such a beautiful reflection of these human beings that I really wanted to spend time with them.

By Kam Williams Special to the AFRO

Ruth Negga was born in Addis Ababa on Jan. 7, 1982 to an Irish mother and Ethiopian father. An only child, Ruth was raised in Limerick, Ireland from the age of 4, and attended Trinity College in Dublin where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Acting. Her body of work spans award-winning theatre productions, big-screen dramas, independent films, and innovative television series. She won the Irish Film & Television Academy (IFTA) Award for Best KW: What convinced Jeff Nichols to Actress for her portrayal of legendary singer Shirley trust such an American story in the hands Bassey in “Shirley.” of leads from Australia and from Ireland Stateside, she joined the Marvel Universe as by way of Ethiopia? Had you ever heard Raina on the hit show “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” of the Supreme Court case, Loving v. (Courtesy photo) for which she received an IFTA Award nomination. Virginia? Ruth Negga, the Irish and Ethiopian star of Currently, she co-stars as Tulip O’Hare, opposite RN: Yes, but I don’t think that being ‘Loving,’ is a movie and theater veteran. Dominic Cooper, in the AMC series “Preacher,” an an expert in the Loving case is what adaptation of the DC Comics graphic novel of the would qualify me to play Mildred. Do same name. you know what I mean? Ruth made her stage debut in “Lolita” at Dublin’s Abbey Theatre. Her extensive theatre credits include “Duck” at London’s Royal Court Theatre, for which she received an Olivier KW: Yes. Award nomination; “Playboy of the Western World,” at The Old Vic; “Hamlet,” at the National RN: I think my job is to be a chameleon and to disappear, so I don’t think my being Irish Theatre and “Phaedre,” also at the National Theatre, for which was honored with the Ian and Ethiopian should prohibit me from playing Mildred at all. I believe that what should matter Charleson Award, given annually to young classical stage actors in Britain. more is my skill set and my willingness to work. On the big screen, she’s been featured in “World War Z”; “The Samaritan,” alongside Samuel L. Jackson; “Breakfast on Pluto,” for which she received an IFTA Award nomination KW: What message do you think people will take away from the film? and” Warcraft” and in the title role of Iona. RN: I don’t know what people will take away from the film, but I would hope they take Here, Ruth talks about her latest outing as Mildred Loving in “Loving,” the biopic/ away the idea that it’s very important that we don’t forget those in history who might have been courtroom drama about the couple who took their challenge of the State of Virginia’s law quiet agitators, people who might have changed the world in a way which was unexpected. And against interracial marriage all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which is currently in that should remind us that we all have the capacity to do that. Even if you think that you don’t, speciality theatres and expanding to more screens. this couple proves otherwise.

Baltimore Org. Brings Coding to Kids Building Blocks Teach Black History By Alexa Litiza Special to the AFRO Toy building blocks have traditionally been a way for children to use their imaginations to build, stack and create. Now, with the History Makers Puzzle Block Set, toys can also teach children about Black history. The History Makers Puzzle Block Set consists of 30 multifunctional wooden blocks. The blocks form three puzzles: two are Black history puzzles, and the other is a puzzle that teaches children leadership skills. The puzzle block set was created by Tiffney T. Laing. “What makes [the blocks] so different is that they share and tell the Black experience through the lens of self leadership,” Tiffney T. Laing, founder and owner of the History Makers Puzzle Block Set, told AFRO. “They shouldn’t have to wait until they’re older to learn it,”

(Courtesy photo)

Students learn how to write computer code for things like video games and web sites in the Code in the Schools program. By Zanha Armstrong Special to the AFRO Code in the Schools, a Baltimore-based non-profit, wants to teach inner city youth a skill they may not pick up in their school That skill set includes HTML and computer programming. In addition, it provides a safe haven to those who may need it. Code in the Schools was inspired by the New York City non-profit “Chess in the Schools” and the “Code.org” initiative, which aims to get coding into schools. Founded by Mike and Gretchen LeGrand, two philanthropists, in 2013 Code in the Schools provides Baltimore youth with access to a computer skill they might not otherwise receive. Code in the Schools is one of several computer skill teaching organizations in Baltimore, including Blackgirlscode.com, and coding bootcamps. Code in the Schools teaches teachers advanced computer skills that they can then pass on to their students, among other things. “We do professional development for teachers, so recognizing that we can’t be in all places at once, we teach teachers how to implement coding into their classrooms,” said the Communications Director, Charlotte James. The organization puts its computer teachers into select city schools to teach semester-long courses. While Code in the Schools would like to provide more, there are certain obstacles keeping them from doing so. “One of the challenges though is that our ideal is that we would like to place them [students] in internships and paid internships,” said James. “But it’s challenging to find internship placement for high school students who may not be able to give more than an hour and a half up to two hours a day, so that’s hard.”

Code in the Schools offers programs, events, and developmental resources. One of which is called the Prodigy Program. The program not only teaches advanced computer programming skills, the program also offers resume, interview, and conflict resolution skills. Experienced and knowledgeable lecturers guide students through a variety of computer science topics. “The students work on different projects together to learn the skills that they’re interested in. So there’s like a team of guys building a video game, there’s some working on an overdose prevention app for a citywide tech health competition.” The program is free for students. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics employment of computer and information technology occupations is projected to grow 12 percent from 2014 to 2024, faster than the average for most if not all occupations. The field is expected to add about 488,500 new jobs, from about 3.9 million jobs to about 4.4 million jobs from 2014 to 2024. Computer science is critical to many of the biggest companies in the U.S., but it remains marginalized throughout many K-12 schools. Only 33 states allow students to count computer science courses toward high school graduation, according to Code.org. For many of these students in Prodigy Program, computing isn’t just a hobby or a way to make money, it’s a lifestyle. Tavon Brandford, an intern at Code in the Schools, says that although it can be challenging at times, you can still find the fun in coding, especially if you like video games. “If you’re interested in playing video games and computers and stuff, you should make a living out of it. Come join the program.”

(Courtesy photo)

History Makers Puzzle Block Set looks to mix fun and education. Laing said she was inspired to make the block set from her 15 year old sister, who, much like herself, was not learning much about Black history in school. With her background in education, Laing said that children learn through play. “While I was an educator, I noticed that school curriculum and textbooks seemed to limit African American history to slavery and the Civil Rights movement; showing African Americans as victims of slavery and injustice, rather than sharing the stories of how African Americans contributed to the development and success of the United States. When I read about my ancestors, I do not see victims. I see remarkable and courageous people who illuminate what the word leadership means,” she said. Laing said the blocks are meant to help children see themselves think and accomplish things. “It is vital that young Black kids get a sense of self and what it means to have black skin in America,” Kyler Hughes, a junior secondary education minor at Howard University, told the AFRO. “Identity is one of the biggest struggles that African Americans in this society face.” The blocks focus on times after slavery and before the Civil Rights Movement. They feature people such as Black surgeon T. C. Williams; Black chemist Dr. Henry Palmer; Maggie Walker, the first female to be president of a U.S. bank – St. Luke Penny Savings Bank; and others such as Soul and Funk musician James Brown and journalist Ida B. Wells. “Seeing images from our past and history that are positive is something that’s powerful, and talking it through with your children gives you a sense of pride and gives them a sense of pride, and it lets them know that they actually can do what they want to do” said Calvin Haney in a parent review of the block set. Block sets include a booklet that illustrates the stories of additional historical figures. The block set is for ages three and older. For more information go to ancestorsdescendants. com.

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November 26, 2016 - December 2, 2016, The Afro-American

BALTIMORE-AREA

Baltimoreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Homeless Population Continues to Grow

Kappa Silhouettes Aid AFROâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ms. Santa

By Deborah Bailey Special to the AFRO Despite an historic national decline in the rate of homelessness across the U.S., Baltimoreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s homeless population continues to grow. The most recent report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) reveals that Baltimoreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s homelessness population this year is 2725, up 6% from 2014, the last year Baltimore completed the count of homelessness. Nationwide the rate of homelessness declined by 3% between 2015 and 2016, according to the most recent Annual Homeless Assessment. Homelessness has declined overall by 14% since 2010, the year the Obama Administration launched Opening Doors, the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

Continued on D2

Thanksgiving Meals in the Baltimore Area 11/23 61st Annual Goodwill Thanksgiving Dinner â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Baltimore Convention Center, 1 W. Pratt St., Baltimore, Md. 21201. 11:45 a.m.2:45 p.m. 11/24 Bea Gaddy Family Center â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Patterson Park Recreation Center. 2601 E. Baltimore St., Baltimore, MD 21224. 11 a.m.-2 p.m. (410) 563-2749

From Left: Cynthia Jordan, Melonie Garrett, Lora Tutman , Elaine Harris, Freddi Vaughn, Diane Hocker (The AFROâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ms. Santa), Deborah Ferguson, Kimberly Scott, Micki Smith and Audrey Bennett after a toy drive hosted by the Baltimore Alumni Chapter Kappa Silhouettes on Nov. 19 at Forum Caterers in Baltimore. To donate to Ms. Santa call Diane Hocker at 410-554-8243.

Sparrows Point

Tradepoint Looks to Bring Thousands of Jobs to Once Thriving Manufacturing Area

By Briahnna Brown Special to the AFRO

The industrial development in eastern Baltimore County that was once home to Bethlehem Steel has been given new life. The 3,100 acre Tradepoint Atlantic site at Sparrows Point is projected to bring 17,000 direct and indirect jobsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;plus 21,000 construction jobs--and around $3 billion in economic impact, according to a study by Sage Policy Group. The first ship to arrive at Tradepoint Atlantic will be coming from Pasha Automotive Services. It has yet to be scheduled for arrival, but officials say it could be a matter of weeks from now. Pasha will start out with 21 acres for their import auto operations, beginning with Fiat Chrysler, with the option to expand to 150 acres. The company will likely bring around 125 jobs to the site.

There are currently around 690 people working on site at Sparrows Point including those with the Tradepoint Atlantic company, the current operations at the waterfront, current construction work and the environmental consultants working on the environmental remediation after 125 years of contamination brought on by the siteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s former steel mill. â&#x20AC;&#x153;When we purchased the site in 2014 we prefunded $48 million and put it into a trust that would fund the cleanup of the site,â&#x20AC;? said Aaron Tomarchio, Tradepoint Atlanticâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s vice president of corporate affairs. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Sparrows Point that people have known

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Sparrows Point that people have known will be a cleaner, greener facility than it has ever been in its entire lifetime.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Aaron Tomarchio

Virginia S. Baker Recreation Center (Patterson Park) â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 2601 E. Baltimore St., Baltimore, Md. 21224. 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (410) 563-2749. American Rescue Workers â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 2441 W. Baltimore St., Baltimore, Md. 21223. 5 p.m. Helping Up Mission â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 1029 E. Baltimore St., Baltimore, Md. 21202. 12 p.m.-2 p.m. (410) 675-7500

Courtesy photo

Tradepoint Atlantic, an industrial development area located where Bethlehem Steel once employed much of Baltimore, will boast thousands of jobs once fully operational.

will be a cleaner, greener facility than it has ever been in its entire lifetime.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Every business coming to Tradepoint Atlantic brings jobs and economic opportunity back to the Point,â&#x20AC;? Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, told the AFRO. â&#x20AC;&#x153;By leveraging assets built to support global logistics, manufacturing, e-commerce and marine trade, Tradepoint Atlantic is propelling the next generation of jobs for Sparrows Point.â&#x20AC;? Under Armour announced its plans for a 1.3 million square foot ecommerce distribution facility in August, bringing between 1,000 and 1,500 jobs to their facility which is expected to open in summer 2018. FedEx Ground is in the process of completing construction on its facility and is expected to be operational by spring 2017, bringing in around 150 jobs.

Continued on D2

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Hello everyone, and happy Thanksgiving to you from my house to yours. I hope and pray that your Thanksgiving weekend gives you a lot to be thankful for. Always remember no matter how rough things seem, just look around and you will see someone much worse off than you. For those of us who have lost someone special, I want you to smile and think of the good times you had with that person and be thankful you had that person in your life. I am grateful to be above ground and able to celebrate my 72nd birthday on Nov. 27. I share this birthday month with many of my friends in the community such as: Big Jim, radio personality from WEAA 88.9; Ethel Ennis, renowned jazz singer; Calvin E. Talbert; Eleanor Massive; Elaine Simon, owner of Touch of Paris Salon; My twins, son and daughter, Kelvin and Karen Atkinson celebrating their 52nd birthday and to all I couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t name happy birthday to you and may you have many more. I have a few events to share with you to help you enjoy this Thanksgiving Weekend. The Eubie Blake Cultural Center is hosting a â&#x20AC;&#x153;Holiday Shopping Experienceâ&#x20AC;? with food, movies, music, storytelling and a wide variety of arts, crafts and holiday gift items on Nov. 29 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. at 847 N. Howard Street. It is free to the public. Here is a concert hosted by WEAA FM 88.9

Continued on D2

What About the Black Working Class? I had the opportunity to discuss the plight of Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Black working class, something I Sean Yoes wrote about Senior AFRO in last weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Contributor column, during the first hour of â&#x20AC;&#x153;AFRO First Edition,â&#x20AC;? on Nov. 17, when I spoke with Gerald Taylor, author of the new report, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Unmade in America: Industrial Flight and the Decline of Black Communities,â&#x20AC;? excerpts of which have appeared in the AFRO. Taylor, a doctoral student at Georgetown University, is a native of Youngstown, Ohio, where the population has plummeted from about 170,000 in 1970, to roughly 64,000 residents

â&#x20AC;&#x153;â&#x20AC;Śsince the decline of steel the population has been cut in half.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Gerald Taylor due greatly to industrial flight and joblessness, according to Taylor. â&#x20AC;&#x153;More than half of the population of the city over just the past few decades, since the decline of steel the population has been cut in half,â&#x20AC;? Taylor said of his home town, whose population is roughly half Black and half White. Taylorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s report indicates manufacturing in the 20th century was one of the main engines of the burgeoning Black Middle Class, allowing Black workers, many for the first time, to begin to build wealth. However, the massive loss of factory jobs negatively impacted Black communities disproportionately. He cited the plight of Black workers at Continued on D2

Baltimore Police Crime Scene Technician Arrested

Happy Thanksgiving to All & Happy Birthday to Nov. Babies

$ ' &

Photo by Anderson R. Ward

Race and Politics

By Michelle Richardson Special to the AFRO

Courtesy Photo

Tykia McNeill, a 2016 graduate of Baltimoreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Paul Lawrence Dunbar High School, was awarded a $2,000 Scholarship from the Big Sisters Club of Baltimore. She is currently attending Morgan State University pursuing a career in Education. This is the 42nd consecutive year that the Big Sisters Club of Baltimore has awarded a high school graduate a scholarship award.

A Baltimore Police Department crime scene technician was arrested for allegedly possessing drugs and large amounts of cash. Crime scene technicians respond to crime scenes and their job includes dusting for fingerprints and taking photos of victims. Timika Jones, 37, of the 1600 block of Ashburton Street, and her boyfriend, Clarence Jones Jr, 39, were arrested Nov. 17 and are

Baltimore Police Department

Timika Jones and her boyfriend Clarence Jones Jr. were both arrested and charged with multiple drug offenses. facing felony drug charges after a major drug bust at their home involving guns, drugs, and more than $100,000 Continued on D2

12 283

Past Seven Days

2016 Total

Data as of Nov. 22

The Afro-American, November 26, 2016 - December 2, 2016

Homeless Continued from D1

first comprehensive strategy to prevent and end homelessness, according to HUD. Baltimore joins much larger cities like New York and Los Angeles, who bucked the trend of decline in the number of homeless persons. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The change in the Point in Time Count of Homelessness has to do with our methodology. We had a more thorough count this year,â&#x20AC;? Vidia Dhanraj told the AFRO, director of homeless services for Baltimore. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re certainly not as big as New York or Los Angeles, but weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re a metropolitan city that has the same issues. The unemployment rate is fairly high in Baltimore City, the increased cost of housing makes it hard to get an apartment, and in the Baltimore metropolitan area, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s harder to get resources,â&#x20AC;? said Mary C. Slicher, executive director of Project Plase (People Lacking Ample Shelter and Employment), an organization that served more than 1100 homeless Baltimoreans this year. Baltimoreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unemployment rate is 5.8, the highest in the state of Maryland, according to data from the Maryland Department of Labor Licensing and Regulation. Although overall unemployment has decreased in the city, the impact of unemployment is greater for low-wage workers, the poor and homeless, said Slicher. Homeless tent dwellers camped along the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s West Side

Photo by Deborah Bailey

James, a homeless man, stands in front of his tent in West Baltimore. arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t surprised by the news that homelessness has increased across the city. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not too surprising,â&#x20AC;? said Drew who lives in a tent with his family and would only give his first name. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Shelters offer us stuff, but Mom would have to stay separate from us,â&#x20AC;? he said referring to his mother, who is recuperating from emergency surgery and lives with him in the tent.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The city doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want the tents here, the people around here donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want the tents here. We donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even want the tents here. But there are things the city can do to make money, create jobs and help the homelessâ&#x20AC;? Drew said. Dhanraj said plans are already in place for the coming winter to offer support to the homeless. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We will have upwards of 8-10 outreach workers go out and connect with homeless persons this winter with strategies to increase that number with inclement weather,â&#x20AC;? Dhanraj said. Mayor-elect Catherine Pugh pledged her support to transform the opportunity ladder for the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s homeless during her Nov. 8 election night victory speech. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have 3000 Homeless people across our city. And not only is that a problem for them, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a problem for you,â&#x20AC;? Pugh said. The City of Baltimore issues a Code Blue alert during severely inclement weather, expanding the number of beds available to Homeless persons. Teams are activated to search the city for persons living outdoors during the weather crisis. A Code Blue was in effect during the record breaking January 2016 blizzard that dumped close to 30 inches of snow on Baltimore streets. â&#x20AC;&#x153;When you see someone like me on the street you can give a prayer if nothing else,â&#x20AC;? said James, who lives on tent row in West Baltimore while recovering from neck surgery.

Race and Politics Continued from D1

Sparrows Point in Baltimore. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The pressures of foreign competition, automation, and corporate cost-cutting and outsourcing produced catastrophic effects for American manufacturing workers, felt mainly as a wave of factory closings in the 1970â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and 1980â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s,â&#x20AC;? Taylor reported. The Bethlehem Steel factory in Baltimoreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Sparrows Point, which once employed over 35,000 workers and produced millions of tons of steel per year, lost 3,000 jobs in 1971 and a further 7,000 in 1975. By the 1980â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, the factory employed fewer than 8,000 workers, a 77 percent decline from its peak employment,â&#x20AC;? Taylor reported. His report also stated, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Proportionally, more Black workers were unemployed than White workers -- and stayed unemployed longer. The wealth gap and housing discrimination also make things worse for Black manufacturing workers to rebound.â&#x20AC;? I remember as a kid growing up in West Baltimore in the 1970â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, several of my neighbors had good paying jobs â&#x20AC;&#x153;down the Pointâ&#x20AC;?. Jobs that paid off car notes and mortgages. Jobs that put food on the table, clothes on backs and paid for college educations. Jobs held by proud Black men, who were able to fulfill aspirations that once seemed as high as the heavens for many of these people who grew up during the Great Depression. Many of those men and their families never recovered from the loss of manufacturing jobs in Baltimore. â&#x20AC;&#x153;So that we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t lose sight...of the Black working class...I think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also going to take a shift in mindset at the top, where we stop viewing the relationship between administrations and executives on the one hand and workers on the other as a zero sum game where only one group can win at the same time,â&#x20AC;? Taylor said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got to start thinking about how we can make life better for the workers, so that life can be better for the people at the top as well. Like, when workers are happy, everybody is happy,â&#x20AC;? he added. Yet, there is growing optimism in some sectors about the reinvigoration of manufacturing, through the crafting of 21st century

manufacturing hubs fueled by emerging industries (energy and recycling among others) in regions throughout the country and the refurbishing of Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s crumbling infrastructure. Yet, the often tenuous (at best) relationship between owners and workers has been the eternal dilemma. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think that along with these efforts to improve our economic growth and performance, this has to come along with a kind of rethinking of the value of the worker in the economy. Their not just droplets in the ocean of productivity...these are people with

livelihoods, who need to make their ends meet,â&#x20AC;? Taylor said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;So, I think that if the people at the top can respect that fact, like really respect that fact and think about what it means, and let that inform their decisions, then all of this economic growth can really begin to be shared from the top to the bottom.â&#x20AC;? Sean Yoes is a senior contributor for the AFRO and host and executive producer of AFRO First Edition, which airs Monday through Friday, 5-7 pm on WEAA 88.9

Tradepoint Continued from D1

Fronda Cohen, director of the commission on arts and sciences for Baltimore County, said that while some of these jobs will be in manufacturing, the vision for Sparrows Point is more geared toward supply chain ventures with the goal of making the peninsula a â&#x20AC;&#x153;world-class global logistics center.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Yes, sure thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s forklift operators, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s truck drivers, those sort of classic jobs that come with that development, but increasingly [there are] the job skills that are needed in the new logistics for the 21st century,â&#x20AC;? Cohen said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They can involve as much working a computer as working a forklift.â&#x20AC;? Baltimore Countyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Department of Economic and Workforce Development put together a Sparrows Point workforce unit that has targeted training and retraining the people who worked at

the steel mill before it closed down to help them return to the job pool. The team has also worked to partner with the Community College of Baltimore County to offer certification and associateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree programs for those interested in pursuing the new job opportunities on the way. They are also working with career advisors at high schools like Sparrows Point and Dundalk to highlight the types of job opportunities that are coming back. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hard to quantify the value of a job to the family whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s impacted by it,â&#x20AC;? Cohen said, echoing the County Exec.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sentiments. â&#x20AC;&#x153;[Kamenetz] truly has a commitmentâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;his administration has a commitmentâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;to be sure that those jobs are available and that prosperity is shared by everybody.â&#x20AC;?

Rambling Rose Continued from D1

Radio Station with â&#x20AC;&#x153;Your Girl Cherylâ&#x20AC;? featuring The Brent Birckhead Quintet on Nov. 28 at 7 p.m. at the Eubie Blake Cultural Center, 847 N. Howard Street. For more information, go to brownpapertickets.com. Caton Castle, 20 S. Caton Avenue in Baltimore is hosting another event on Nov. 26 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., with the Romeir Mendez Quintet featuring vocalists Christie Dashiell, Ally Johnson, Tim Green and Carroll Dashiell. Phill Butts and the Sunset Band, one of our local and wellloved bands, will perform at the Blues Alley Supper Club, 1073 Wisconsin Avenue N.W. in Washington, D.C. for two shows 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Nov. 28 with a special bus transportation for their fans and jazz lovers. For more information, call 443859-0124 or 410-294-4821. A Concert Causes, a benefit providing musical instruments to children in underserved communities, is hosting a show with Funk Legend Larry Graham and Graham Central Station

playing with a full symphony orchestra on Nov. 30 at 7 p.m. at the Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, Md. For more information, call 301-332-8318 or 301-581-5100. In closing, I want to announce that the Left Bank Jazz Society is back in action, thanks to the President Millie Battle. The first concert will kick off on my birthday, Nov. 27 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Forest Park Senior Center, 4801 Liberty Heights Avenue. It is, and always will be, B.Y.O.B & B.Y.O.F with free set-ups. You will be entertained by Eddie Baccus, Jr., saxophonist formerly of the group Pieces of a Dream and his Quartet featuring Herm Hopkins on trombone. For more information, call Mildred at 410-448-0033. Well my dear friends I am out of space and it is time for the â&#x20AC;&#x153;fat lady to singâ&#x20AC;?. Remember, if you need me, call me at 410833-9474 or email me at rosapryor@aol.com. Until the next time, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m musically yours.

Arrested

Continued from D1 dollars in cash. According to Marylandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Case Search, both Jones and her boyfriend are charged with felony charges ranging from Possession of a Narcotic, Possession of Paraphernalia, and Intent to Distribute and Illegal Possession of a Firearm. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t underscore how disappointed we are to

see a member of our agency involved in something like this,â&#x20AC;? said Baltimore City Police Spokesman T.J Smith in a statement. Smith also said the BPD is looking to â&#x20AC;&#x153;separate employment as soon as possibleâ&#x20AC;?. Police officials said the arrest of one of their own is always disappointing. Jones was hired in the

summer of 2015, and while Jonesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; role gave her limited access to police resources, the department will still investigate every case she previously worked on. The investigation began when police received a tip, which lead to a search warrant and subsequent raid in the 1600 block of Ashburton Street in West Baltimore. During their raid,

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police found two handguns and a capsule machine. Investigators also recovered 25 gel capsules containing what is believed to be heroin and $5,000 in cash. According to the BPD, Jones did not have access to the departmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s drug lab or storage facility. A conviction for Jones would compromise every case she had a hand in processing while a crime tech said BPD, especially in cases where she was the only crime tech called to the scene. Not being able to call her to the stand as a witness could jeopardize a number of prosecutions if sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the only person who can testify. Jones has been suspended without pay per department policy. Both she and her boyfriend are expected in court on Dec. 14 for a preliminary hearing. Jones is being held on $250,000 bail and her boyfriend is being held on $300,000 bail at Central Booking. Neither had an attorney listed in court records.

November 26, 2016 - December 2, 2016, The Afro-American

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The Afro-American, November 26, 2016 - December 2, 2016

Honoree John W. Anderson (Baltimore City Sheriff) and Maj. Sabrina V. Tapp-Harper

The NAACP Freedom Fund Banquet was held at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore hotel on Nov. 15. Anthony McCarthy was the M.C. The Rev. Kevin Slayton gave the keynote. Awards were given to Dr. Josephine Ball ,Roxie Herbekian, Del. Cheryl D. Glenn, Lee A. Taylor, Riker McKenzie-El, Jr., Captain Jeffrey Shorter, Baltimore Police Department, Joseph Spellman, Sheriff John W. Anderson and Lt. Col. Melvin T. Russell, Baltimore City Police Department. In attendance were Peter Franchot, Comptroller of Maryland, former Mayor Sheila Dixon, Sen. Nathaniel McFadden, Mayor-elect Cathy Pugh, Kevin Kamenetz , Baltimore County Executive, Stuart O. Simms, Kevin Davis and many others. Tessa Hill-Aston, president of the NAACP Baltimore City chapter gave the closing address.

Honoree Lt. Col. Melvin T. Russell (BPD), Kevin Davis (Baltimore Police Comm.), Tessa Hill-Aston (NAACP Balto. Chapter Pres.) and Honoree Capt. Jeffrey Shorter (BPD)

Tessa Hill-Aston (NAACP Balto. Chapter Pres.) and Norman Watkins

J. Wyndal Gordon and Louis Fields

Sharon Childs and Terance Dickson (Terra Cafe)

Victor Clark and daughter Catalina Byrd

Venkat Subramanian, Rev. Jerome Stephens, Bruce C. Bereano and Adrian Harpool

Leroy Thornton, Wilson Thornton, Kevin Kamenetz (Balto Co. Exec.) and Tony Basemore

Joaquina Brathwaite, Morris and Charlotte Poole

Michael and Karen Sterling

Tony Randall and Tabb Bishop (V.P. Verizon)

Photos by Anderson R. Ward

Paula Stephens and Rev. Jerome Stephens

Faye Long, Niki Ellis, Herbert “Bill” Long and Nadya Ellis

Nashira Rawls and Denise Parker

The Reginald F. Lewis Museum rolled out the red carpet in Baltimore for their Global Carnival Gala Party on Nov. 12. There were four floors of entertainment, food, tropical decorations and Samba dancers. All of the galleries were packed with people. The new Executive Director, Wanda Draper, along with mayor-elect Catherine Pugh, welcomed the guests, some of whom wore the masquerade mask as part of the celebration.

Donn and Tamalyn Worgs, Karen and Gordon Outlaw

Jody Davis and Kevin Scott Kaye and Kenneth Ravenell

Photos by Anderson R. Ward

Leonard Attman, Mayor Elect Catherine Pugh, Wanda Draper (Exec. Dir., R. F Lewis Museum) and Beverly A. Cooper (Bd. Chair. RFL)

Edward and Mary Pittman

Gail Johnson, president, Harbor City (MD) Links, Kim Mumby Green, National Nominating Chair, Maritha Waller-Gay

Everlon Moulton, Joan Pratt (Balto. City Comptroller) and Yvonne West

James Bentley and Kanika Burton

Michele and Richard Segres

Dr. Barbara Hutchinson, guest speaker, Marilyn Mosby, Baltimore City State’s Attorney, Alice Pinderhughes

Harbor City (MD) Links Committee members with President Gail Johnson (second from right and Maritha Waller-Gay, event chair Lydia McCargo -Redd, Chezia Cager, Heather Williams

Yvonne Robinson, Kelly Mason, Alicia Wilson, Candace Simms, Michelle K. Wilson

Photos by Dr. A. Lois DeLaine

Pamela Holt, Betty Williams, Marilyn Harris Davis, Mattie Mumby, Merry Macer

Judge Yvonne Holt Stone, Dr. Marie Washington, DeLace Burch

Pamela Beckham, Jackie Washington, Teri Alexander, Adrienne Taylor, Beth Williams

On Nov. 17, The Harbor City Chapter of The Links hosted an event at the Radisson Hotel in downtown Baltimore. Dr. Barbara Hutchinson, cardiologist and managing partner of Chesapeake Cardiac Care, discussed how heart disease is the number one killer of women and the cause of death in one of three women. Dark chocolate and red wine both contain antioxidants, such as flavonoids, which studies show have healthy heart benefits. Dr. Hutchinson noted that healthy drinking for women is one glass of red wine per day.