Washington Afro American Newspaper-July 5 2014

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July 5, 2014 - July 5, 2014, The Afro-American

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Volume 122 No. 48

JULY 5, 2014 - JULY 11, 2014

Civil Rights Act: 50 Years Later By Zenitha Prince Senior AFRO Correspondent Fifty years ago, United States President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the 1964 Civil Rights Act on July 2, signaling a sea change in American society. “That Act absolutely transformed America,” said Barbara Arnwine, executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. She added, “It is most possibly one of the most radical pieces of legislation in

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By Roberto Alejandro Special to the AFRO Another glass ceiling lies shattered on the floor as Admiral Michelle Janine Howard was promoted to the rank of four-star admiral on July 1, 2014. She became the first woman, and the first African-American woman, to be promoted to this rank in the United States Navy. Howard, previously the deputy chief of Naval Operations for Operations, Plans, and Strategy, will now take over the position of vice chief of Naval Operations.

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President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the 1964 Civil Rights Act as Martin Luther King, Jr., and others, look on. the world.” In 1963, when the CRA was introduced and being debated in Congress, America was a country still steeped in segregation. It was still legal to refuse to serve Blacks, Latinos, Native Americans, and Asians at restaurants and in hotels … to deny people transit on private transportation … to deny women access to certain jobs. Workplaces were segregated, colleges banned women from matriculating, and interracial gatherings – and relationships – were still outlawed in some places. “Today, we can walk down the street and share the sidewalks and Blacks don’t have to give way to Whites,” Arnwine said. Women comprise the majority of college graduates and can pursue careers in fields from which they were previously barred, and those

advancements were all because of the Civil Rights Act, she added. But, even then the fight for equal rights and opportunity continued to be waged. “A lot of Americans walk around thinking that the society became the way it looks today naturally,” Arnwine said. They don’t understand it took two-to-three decades of litigation to change this society. “We had to sue almost every police department, fire department, restaurants, hotels – everybody – before people started to accept that the laws had changed.” Even with those victories there were losses – but that’s par for the course in the history of the civil rights struggle, said Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel, NAACP Legal Continued on A3

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Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus and Wayne Cowles, Four-star Admiral Michelle Howard’s husband, work together to affix Admiral Howard’s four stars at her promotion and swearing-in ceremony.

New Safeway at Petworth, Long Overdue By Valencia Mohammed Special to the AFRO

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Michelle Howard First Woman Promoted to Rank of Four-Star Admiral

The Safeway at Petworth celebrated its grand opening on June 28, bringing the community a sustainable new store nearly three times the size of the previous grocery. The long-awaited structure, developed by Duball LLC, measures more than 62,000 square feet and serves as the anchor for a mixed-use project, providing a friendlier and more accessible urban shopping setting. Many Washingtonians remember how inadequate the old Safeway store was, especially when compared to several other newly remodeled ones in areas where a high concentration of Whites in the District live. “I used to work off Wisconsin

Avenue. The Safeway store there was state-ofthe-art. Even the one near my place in the Capitol Hill area was upgraded years ago when the area

nearby residents. “We watched all these new high-end apartment buildings being built while we waited and waited decades for a remodeled store,” said Lolita Little, a fifth-generation Washingtonian. “We knew it was coming. If Safeway wanted to compete with Whole Foods, Harris Teeter, Giant, and Trader Joe’s – Lolita Little it had to upgrade. These stores are not here because of Black began to gentrify,” said Rhonda Newton, a mother folks. They are here because of White folks and of three. “It seemed at this Safeway they waited their money is back.” until the area gentrified before it invested money to Safeway officials view the delayed process bring life into this store. It’s beautiful though.” differently. “What I believe people may be Newton’s assessment echoed that of other Continued on A3

“These stores are not here because of Black folks. They are here because of White folks and their money is back.”

Joint Center Honors Former President, U.S. Senator

Another D.C. Political Figure Swept Up in Thompson Dragnet

By LaTrina Antoine Special to the AFRO

By Zenitha Prince Senior AFRO Correspondent

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies honored Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and its former President and CEO Ralph Everett June 25 for their work in making public policy equal and fair to all. “We stand on the shoulders of so many who gave their lives, their time, and their talents because of a fervent belief of a better tomorrow,” Barbara Johnson, chairman of the Board of Governors for the center, said during the center’s annual gala dinner at the Marriott Marquis Washington D.C. hotel in Northwest. “The tomorrow for them was shaped by a belief that by working across party lines, developing and cultivating political leaders and

relying on what was in their hearts … that we could bring about positive change to our government and in this country.” The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies provides research, analysis, and information dissemination on national public policy debates to improve the socioeconomic status of African Americans and other people of color in the United States. Everett served as one of the center’s five presidents from January 2007 to December 2013. “He took it [Joint Center] through the times when we suffered tremendous economic turmoil in our economy, so he had to go through some lean times, but he kept the organization together and did an outstanding job Continued on A4

Another Washington, D.C. politico was recently caught in the legal dragnet precipitated by the schemes of former businessman Jeffrey Thompson. Thompson pled guilty in March to charges involving his illegal contributions to numerous federal and District of Columbia campaigns. As part of his plea bargain, Thompson agreed to cooperate fully in an ongoing investigation. Since then, several others, including former D.C. council member Michael A. Brown, have been indicted for their involvement in Thompson’s schemes. In early June, a former candidate for the Council of the District of Columbia, Kelvin Robinson, 53, pled

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Jeff Smith pleaded guilty to a felony charge for filing a false and misleading report with the D.C. Office of Campaign Finance. guilty to accepting secret money from Thompson. On June 23, another former Continued on A3


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