District Chronicles V14 Issue 24 by District Chronicles

DISTRICT ART INITIATIVE OFFERS GRANT FOR NON PROFITS 12

Hayes center among many that serve as a beacon for Districtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s senior citizens Page 8

Victoria Walker/Howard News Service

February 5 - February 11, 2015

Ballou students love state of the art campus Page 4 www.districtchronicles.com

Volume 14 Issue 24

Medicare covers revolutionary new device that gives seniors freedom from lower back pain Easy-to-use high-tech back brace is now covered by Medicare. Specialists are manning the phones for the next 48 hours to assist seniors in qualifying to get the new Verta Loc back brace and regain their youth. The revolutionary new Verta Loc Back Brace is helping seniors everywhere re-discover an active and pain-free lifestyle. But even better news is that recently approved Medicare coverage means that most seniors with lower back pain can get the amazing Verta Loc – and much-needed relief – at little or no cost. Qualifying is fast and easy with a free phone call within the next 48 hours to the trained Medicare specialists at The Back Pain Resource Center. Comfortable, custom fit provides immediate pain relief If you are reading this, you know that lower back pain can be excruciating and debilitating. Even mild, low-grade back pain, whether chronic or recurring, robs seniors of their golden years and takes the fun out of life. The Verta Loc was designed by medical technology experts to reverse that situation, instantly. It fits all waist sizes and has no small pieces to fumble with. Your Verta Loc will arrive fully assembled and could not be easier to adjust for a perfectly custom-tailored fit and immediate relief. Verta Loc’s unique two-strap system gives you complete control over the compression you need to feel relief, offering maximum comfort and protection with just the right amount of support. Not avail able through retailers or over the Internet To keep costs down and to streamline and speed up the Medicare qualification process, the Verta Loc Back Brace cannot be purchased online or in stores. It is only available with a free call to The Back Pain Resource Center, and will be shipped directly to your home by our trusted supplier of quality durable medical equipment. The Center’s specialists are trained in Medicare and make it very easy for virtually all seniors with lower back pain to qualify for the new Verta Loc and obtain

Take a page from gay rights activists

one at little to no cost out-of-pocket. The specialists handle all the paperwork in a matter of minutes. Pain relief and financial relief too Many people find themselves wearing their Verta Loc for only part of the day to experience relief. Plus, when the pain subsides, many are able to reduce or even eliminate their use of pain medications, which not only eliminates unwanted side effects but also saves money. Recommended by doctors and back pain specialists Physicians agree that using a high-quality back brace like Verta Loc helps encourage safe movement, teaches good body mechanics, and restricts the motions that cause pain in the first place. Patients are able to maintain their daily activities and learn better back health practices. Medicare coverage specialists are available by phone for the next 48 hours only. Call today! Since Medicare is now covering the Verta Loc, the phone lines are expected to be flooded, but if lines are busy, callers are encouraged to keep trying. For the next 48 hours, the goal of the Back Pain Resource Center is to make sure every senior is able to experience the relief and freedom provided by having their own Verta Loc.

To get your Verta Loc please find your time zone on this map and begin calling at the time indicated.

CALL 800-943-5991 Results not typical and may vary. Not all patients qualify. Product covered in full with payment by primary and secondary insurance. Warranty and restrictions apply.

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2 | Feb. 5 - Feb. 11, 2015 | District Chronicles

Matt Baume/Creative Commons

Gay rights have accomplished much within the last few years and they didn’t need to protest as much as Blacks have.

By Lauren Victoria Burke NNPA Columnist

hen it comes to the issue of gay rights in America, sometimes you can see the tide of a movement change in front of you. There was a time not so long ago when gay advocates were laughed out of the room. Their agenda was stalled during the presidency of George W. Bush and legal and legislative victories were nonexistent the decade before. Now, the Supreme Court is five months away from deciding whether state laws against gay marriage are illegal. Many of the victories for gay advocates were won in the courts. But several, such as the repeal of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” and President Obama’s executive order on ENDA, were won legislatively. Victory was realized with the persistent belief by gay activists that they could win. That basic perseverance and lack of apology for what they were fighting for could serve as a model for AfricanAmerican activists. “I believe we will win,” Phil Agnew, executive Director of the Dream Defenders, often says. That is no small self-affirmation. Over the past few years, the gay lobby “believed they could win” and they did. Contrast that with the two-year long discussion at the start of the Obama presidency by several Black leaders on whether there even should be a Black agen-

da. That’s an unthinkable discussion for other advocates in the political arena. As it is the case with so many other winning political activists and advocates, gay advocates rarely marched. They rarely held panel discussions on their issues. They almost never had summits re-repeating their policy concerns. What they did do is target a few issues at a time that they cared about and proceeded to raise money and vote accordingly. Now think of this: 10 members of the Congressional Black Caucus traveled to Ferguson, Missouri on January 17 and 18, and what was the main goal? To encourage the citizens in Ferguson to register and vote. One would think they wouldn’t have to make a trip with that theme. Why? Because in 2014, no one should have to encourage voter registration. Though voting isn’t the end all and be all, it’s the first of all. When details of the voter registration numbers in Ferguson hit the press, it was embarrassing. How could a town that’s 67 percent African American have a White mayor and only one Black member of a six-person city council? Producing systemic change isn’t easy. But it is easy to register and vote. Only four months after a Ferguson police officer, who would be photographed hours after the incident without a mark on his face, shot at an unarmed teenager

12 or 13 times – hitting him eight times and killing him – getting people to register shouldn’t be a problem. At some point, the activism has to convert into a detailed strategy focused on removing the current “leadership” in Ferguson from power. St. Louis County non-prosecutor of police Bob McCulloch, the poster boy of mechanical bias, is a Democrat. And he ran unopposed. That’s in a county with a significant Black population. There is something wrong with that. What did Brown family attorney Ben Crump say after McCulloch did exactly what everyone in the world knew he would in failing to indict Darren Wilson? In the understatement of the decade, Crump said, “We said from the very beginning that the decision of this grand jury was going to be the direct reflection of the presentation of the evidence of the prosecutor’s office.” In a city like Ferguson, no one should be waiting for someone to return down the mountain with tablets. Ferguson has a city council race in early April. If that isn’t the next focus of protest activism what is? Let’s see what happens in April. Lauren Victoria Burke is freelance writer and creator of the blog Crewof42.com. She can be reached through her website, laurenvictoriaburke.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Crewof42.

Income inequality rises in all 50 states

Finance

By Freddie Allen NNPA Senior Washington Correspondent

Freddie Allen/NNPA

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – Income inequality is rising and it affects workers in every state, according to a new report by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). Researchers from EPI, a nonpartisan think tank focused on low- and middle-income workers, analyzed Internal Revenue Service data for all 50 states and found that not only was the income gap between the top 1 percent of earners and everyone else getting wider, but that the disparities were not just confined to financial centers in the east or technology centers on the west coast. All workers took a hit during the Great Recession, but top earners have recovered faster than low- and middle-income earners. According to the report, the top 1 percent of earners captured all of the income gains (100 percent) in 17 states following the Great Recession. And Blacks live disproportionately in states that experienced the greatest income inequality. In seven of those states where the top 1 percent captured 100 percent of the income growth since the Great Recession, the share of the population that is Black is higher than the national average. Those states include Delaware (22.1 percent), Florida (16.7 percent), South Carolina (27.9 percent), North Carolina (22 percent), Louisiana (32.4 percent ), Virginia (19.7 percent) and New York (17.5 percent). With the exception of Texas, where Blacks account for 12.4 percent of the population, the Black population is higher than the national average in states where the top 1 percent collected at least 80 percent of the income growth including Illinois, Arkansas, Michigan, New Jersey, and Maryland. Mark Price, an economist at the Keystone Research Center in Harrisburg, Penn., said in a statement that state leaders and policymakers need to realize that inequality is a problem everywhere. “If states are not passing progressive taxes and raising revenue from top earners, they are missing out on a large and growing source of income,” said Price.

Lakia Wilson, a guidance counselor from Detroit, Mich. struggles in today’s economy.

Researchers found the greatest disparities between the top 1 percent and the rest of workers in New York and Connecticut where the top 1 percent earned 48 times more than the bottom 99 percent. Disparities exist in every state. “Even in the 10 states with the smallest gaps between the top 1 percent and bottom 99 percent in 2012, the top 1 percent earned between 14 and 19 times the income of the bottom 99 percent,” EPI reported. Estelle Sommeiller, a socio-economist at the Institute for Research in Economic and Social Sciences in Greater Paris, France and co-author of the report, said that every state and every region in the United States is going to have to grapple with the effects of rising inequality. “Our study paints a picture of the top 1 percent in each state. While there are differences from the 1 percent nationally, no state has escaped the troubling growth of inequality.” The report comes on the heels of President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address where he urged employers to invest in their workforce and to pay employees overtime that they earned. “And to everyone in this Congress who still refuses to raise the minimum wage, I say this: If you truly believe you could work fulltime and support a family on less than $15,000 a year, try it,” urged Obama. “If not, vote to give millions of the hardest-working people in America a raise.” According to a 2014 report on wages by the Center for American

Progress, a progressive, education and research think tank, said raising the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour would increase the collective income of people of color by $16.1 billion. As income inequality rises, labor union leaders, policy makers and workers express heightened concern about stagnant wages. During a recent Raising Wages conference at the Kellogg Center at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C,, Richard Trumka, president of AFL-CIO, said that immigration and race are also work and wage issues. “We must have a pathway to citizenship for all immigrants, and we must be a country of dignity for all people, regardless of race or ethnicity,” said Trumka. “Justice at work and justice in our community are intertwined, and both must advance for either to grow.” Lakia Wilson, a guidance counselor in the public school system in Detroit, Mich., said that even though you hear on television that the economy is coming back, it hasn’t come back for everyone. “I’m struggling, all of my counterparts in my profession are struggling and in other professions we’re still struggling, so the economy is only coming back for some,” said Wilson. Wilson, a Detroit native, with no children and degrees in elementary education and counseling, said that she considers herself part of “the working poor,” because sometimes she can’t even afford gas money to get to work.

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Neighborhood

‘New Ballou’ brings hope, will to go to school

The new school boasts many new facilities including a gym, a pool, smart board classrooms, dance studio and greenhouse.

By Shannen Hill Howard University News Service

4 | Feb. 5 - Feb. 11, 2015 | District Chronicles

he students at Frank W. Ballou Senior High School, which was founded in the early 1960s to serve residents in southern Anacostia, including Congress Heights, Washington Highlands, and Bellevue, have lots of which to be proud. The school’s graduates include prominent athletes, film directors, attorneys, military officers and award-winning journalists. One of its former students was named by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the greatest guitarists of all time. Its marching band has performed in the nationally renowned Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. But nothing has students and faculty there more prideful and excited in recent years than what they are calling “The New Ballou,” a $142 million new school that includes 87 classrooms, a two-story cafeteria, a movie theater, computer labs, a culinary arts kitchen and much more. “It feels like ‘High School Musical,’” Dareona Rose, a junior at Ballou, said in reference to the Disney movie that featured a special high school setting. It was last month that students gathered in a brand new three-story auditorium in the heart of Southeast as former Washington Mayor

Vincent Gray cut the ribbon on the new facility. After coming back from winter break, the students of Frank W. Ballou Senior High School have been able to fully enjoy their new and improved high school. The new building sits right next to the old high school. The old school is currently under construction as a new football stadium and auxiliary field, which will be complete in August. The new school is separated into three wings built to enhance the body, mind and soul, officials said. The students are thrilled to be able to do so much in their new school, especially since it is in Southeast Washington. “A lot of people don’t think that Southeast can do good,” said Takaya Griffin, a junior at Ballou. “It encourages us to be something in life, because we see that people care about the type of building that we’re in, so we should care about our education.” Faculty and alumni are also excited about the new school. Former D.C. Mayor Marion Barry was very instrumental in making the new building a reality. It was one of the Barry’s last projects as councilmember of Ward 8 before he passed away in November. “ … I am so sad that Marion Barry wasn’t here to see it, but he was very involved …,” said Melissa Jackson, the library media specialist at Ballou, who also graduated from Ballou in 1986. “To go from the old school to the new school, it is such a

privilege and an honor to have this new building, and it’s at no cost to the students.” The “body” wing of the school has two gyms, a track, a swimming pool and a workout room with treadmills, along with elliptical and stationary bicycles. The “mind” wing comes with 37 new classrooms equipped with built-in projectors and smart boards. There are also new science labs, auto mechanic training and a mass-media classroom. The old knight mascot stands in the new library as well. A new steel knight mascot that glows blue and gold stands in the courtyard of the school. The “spirit” wing focuses on music and performing arts. There is a three-story auditorium, along with a movie theater. There are also a dance studio, greenhouse and cosmetology training centers. “The new Ballou is a big step for the kids in the area because it makes you want to come to school,” said Anthony Simpson, a senior at Ballou. “When you see the building and how nice it looks on the outside, you want to come inside and play the sports and be involved in everything going on.” “It gives a sense of hope to a community that has kind of become hopeless,” said Malik Burrell, a junior at Ballou.“The fact that we have a new building is like a new light and showing us towards a different direction.” Visit Ballou online at www.balloudc.org.

Divine Intervention Historic District church opens new chapter By Rachel Kersey Howard University

beautiful historic church stands on a hill overlooking Georgia Avenue at Quackenbos Street in Northwest Washington. Its doors are locked, and a raze permit is duct-taped to the front entrance. Raze is a fancy word for destruction. The church, Emory United Methodist Church, has been a part of Washington’s Brightwood neighborhood since 1833, and now it’s in a transition season. When the current building, which was built in 1922, is torn down in the next few weeks, a new structure will take its place. Slated to be completed next fall, the $44 million project will be called the Beacon Center and it will be a part of the Brightwood community’s development. The new building will include a 99-unit affordable housing complex that will include permanent supportive housing for those in emergency situations, transitional housing for those looking for a permanent home and permanent residency for seniors and people who want to live in the district but cannot afford to. The Rev. Joseph Daniels, the pastor of Emory, said the new church and development is designed to a large degree around the surrounding area’s needs. The vision for the new facility grew from one-on-one meetings business owners, police, local school teachers and Brightwood residents, Daniels said. “We’ve always been a community church,” he said. “So, we spent several years asking the community what they want to see in Brightwood. What do they want Brightwood to become?” said Rev. Joseph Daniels, the pastor of Emory. “And what we kept hearing over and over again was affordable housing.” Housing is a serious issue in Brightwood, said Daniels. So, part of the idea for the center came from a desire to lead people from homelessness to permanent residency, he said. The Beacon Center will also

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The Emory United Methodist church edifice will be preserved in the new building.

include a multipurpose worship, theater and concert space and two additional commercial spaces. “We’re still doing our market research on what would be better in that space,” said Hazel Broadnax, president of the Emory Beacon of Light Inc., the church’s nonprofit community development organization, “but we do know that this community and our church members all are in favor of having a sit-down restaurant. There’s a shortage of that in our part of Georgia Avenue.” Until the Beacon Center is completed next year, the church will be worshiping at the Brightwood Education Campus for the 8:45 a.m. and 11 a.m. services and Bridges Academy at 1 p.m. Janice Harmon, a church member, sees this time as a season for growth and an opportunity for the congregation to understand the true meaning of community. “It takes you out of that box which people think is church, and puts you square in the middle of what church really is, which is the community and caring for others,” Harmon said. When two fires within 16 months threatened the nearly-100 -year-old building, Emory started looking for solutions. The result is the new facility. Despite the good that the Bea-

con Center will do for the community, one issue still remains: the history. “Ward 4, in that particular area, is historical,” said Acqunetta Anderson, a member of the Ward 4A Advisory Neighborhood Commission. “That is the area where the civil war soldiers were protecting the interests of the District of Columbia. Even president Lincoln was shot at on the Walter Reed Campus. We have the fort right in the back of Emory. So we want to make sure that that historical aspect is protected.” Anderson, who is running to be the Ward 4 council member, plans to contact Emory to discuss their project in-depth. She believes it is important to continually update citizens on the development. However, the history will not be erased completely. According to Broadnax, the columns in the front of the church and its winding stairs will be preserved amidst all the other changes. But for the most part, it will be a new structure. “We do miss the old edifice,” said Daniels. “There’s something about it that will always be very much a part of our hearts. Yes, there’s nostalgia, but there is the excitement that this new thing is happening and that it’s going to bless multitudes of people, which is great.”

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District Chronicles | Feb. 5 - Feb. 11, 2015 | 5

Cover

Students to school admin: Black history matters

By Tatyana Hopkins, Makaela James, Sadijah Wallace

Makaela James/Howard News Service

ighth-grader Anni Dennis was in the bathroom when her social studies teacher was removed from class last week. When she returned, a lot of kids were crying and crowding the doorways to shout good-byes to their teacher, who had no opportunity to give a formal good-bye. The teachers were in the classrooms with their students when police confronted and escorted them out of the building, students and parents told the District Chronicles at a Monday protest outside the school. At the time of their removal, the students were viewing the film “Posse,” the story of Buffalo Soldiers and an ostracized white soldier, all betrayed by a corrupt colonel during the Spanish-American War. In previous years the teachers had screened Spike Lee’s “Malcolm X.” Now the students and their parents are seeking answers from Angelicque Blackmon; principal of Howard University Middle School of Mathematics and Science. On Monday this week, they held a protest outside of the school in response to the treatment of the three social sciences teachers for allegedly teaching beyond the school’s Black-History curriculum. The three teachers had resigned with two-weeks notice after the school adopted the Montgomery County Public Schools social studies curriculum. According to the

county’s website, the goal of the Social Studies curriculum is “to help create historically literate and well informed citizens who actively participate in a democratic society.” “Concerns expressed by parents, teachers and all constituents are appreciated and will be addressed by the board in a comprehensive manner, beginning this week,” said, Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick, a member of Howard University Middle School Board of Directors and president of Howard University. In a statement he issued on Tuesday, Dr. Frederick said that The Howard University Middle School of Mathematics and Science is committed to academic excellence and its mission to educate young scholars. “The Middle School is governed by an independent nonprofit organization, which is governed by its own board of directors and operates under agreements approved by the DC Public Charter School Board. The Middle School is also committed to following all the rules and regulations of the DC Charter School Board,” the statement said. Dr. Frederick explained that on January 22, 2015, three teachers of the Department of Social Studies at the Middle School resigned. Their resignations were accepted, effective January 27, 2015. The teaching of African and African-American history and culture was not a factor in accepting the resignations. Dr. Frederick defended Blackmon’s track record of engaging African American students and teach-

Howard University Middle School of Mathematics and Science protest on the campus yard following dismissal of three teachers.

ers in culturally responsive STEM education. The social studies curriculum Blackmon is implementing at the Howard University middle school for maths and science “includes a content strand centered on an enduring understanding of African cultural systems,” he said. The students disagree. The new curriculum is troubling; it excludes topics such as Kwanzaa and the late D.C. Mayor Marion Barry, they said. “It’s not even information,” said Dennis. “It’s all about European wars and stuff,” added eighth grader, Lauryn Renford. “We used to learn like before Africans were enslaved, and when we ruled Africa.” Before Monday’s protest the students held two silent protests last Wednesday and Thursday. But

unsatisfied with the results of those protests, the students staged a walkout with a list of demands on Monday. The walkout was held at the flagpole in the center of Howard University’s Upper Quad, familiarly known as “the Yard.” The demands called for an alternative means to learning BlackHistory despite their lack of social studies teachers and new social studies teachers “who will be treated with respect.” Their demands also include a meeting with students to address their general concerns such as receiving “just negative attention” from administration, a “more visible” and “less antisocial” principal and a stop to “tracking students for the school to prison pipeline.” Protests were a student initiative. India Porter, an eight-grader at

the middle school started a group message for students to voice their concerns. The events were coordinated by a group of 10 student committee members and were supported by parent and staff leaders. An Instagram user, Jaslyn Brown, said she interned in the middle school’s social studies department for three years. “Their styles were different, but they had the same goal: to teach the babies OUR HISTORY,” she said of the fired teachers. Of the students, Brown said she is proud to see them protest against an administration “seeking to take that right from them,” hash-tagging the post #BlackHistoryintheMaking. Blackmon and other school administrators could not be reached for comment.

Johnson Publishing selling ‘Ebony,’ ‘Jet’ magazine photo archives Terry Shropshire Special from the Atlanta Daily World (NNPA)—Johnson Publishing, the mothership company of the beleaguered yet iconic magazines Ebony and Jet has put their legendary photo archives on the market for an estimated $40 million. The 5 million image archive have snapped the African American experience dating back to 1942, including exceptional, intimate photographs of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., singer Billie Holiday and boxer Muhammad Ali.

“Nothing exists like it. It’s almost like an African American Getty,” Johnson Publishing Chief Executive Desiree Rogers told Reuters, referring to the renowned Getty Images photojournalism archive. “We are still the curators of the African American experience. That’s the mantle the editors wear,” she said. Rogers has elicited market experts, including Mark Lubell, executive director of the International Center of Photography in New York. Rogers would not comment on potential buyers or whether commercial or historical archives had

6 | Feb. 5 - Feb. 11, 2015 | District Chronicles

expressed interest. The company spent 18 months organizing the images but has digitized only about 6,000 of the millions of photographs and videos, said Rogers, President Barack Obama’s former White House social secretary. Johnson Publishing makes little money off the rights to the images, she said. Faced with declining readership and ad revenue, Jet magazine went digital-only last year. Ebony’s print and digital versions both went through expensive redesigns in recent years. The archive includes the Pulit-

zer Prize-winning photo by Moneta Sleet, Jr., of Coretta Scott King with her daughter Bernice on her lap, at the funeral of her husband, Martin Luther King, Jr. Sleet in 1969 became the first African-American man to win a Pulitzer prize. Over many years working for Ebony, Sleet photographed King and his family and covered the civil rights movement as well as black leaders and politicians such as Adam Clayton Powell, entertainers such as Stevie Wonder and sports greats. The collection also includes many images of black business owners and professionals.

Eartha Kit on Jet magazine cover

Politics

Get to know the candidates for Ward 4 City Council By Megan Sims Howard University News Service Eighteen candidates are now running for Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser’s empty Ward 4 City Council seat. This is the first of a series looking at the candidates. Lydia I. Little Age: 49 Substitute teacher in Prince George’s County, Maryland Party: Democrat Why are you running? I’ve lived in Ward 4 all my life. Second of all, I think it’ll actually make a difference with some of the things that need to be done in Ward 4 because I’m more local and more visual. Why are you qualified? Based on what [my predecessors] have got, I can beat out all that they have done. I meet the criteria, I’m well known in Ward 4, my relatives live in Ward 4. What are some of the biggest issues plaguing Ward 4? Jobs and basically security for our young people. It’s a big issue about when our kids have to cross big streets in order to get to school and certain streets do not have patrol guards. I have an idea to provide jobs for Ward 4 residents. How do you plan to tackle these issues? Safety patrols are one way to provide jobs, so that these intersections will be guarded and our kids will be safe. Or I’ve talked to a couple of masonry teachers at different schools to maybe develop a step beam that goes over so that maybe kids would be safe, or go under so that kids would not be hurt crossing the street. Robert J. Whitaker Age: 70 Retired real estate broker and currently a street minister Party: Democrat Why are you running? I am tired of sitting on the sidelines complaining about the things that disturb me until the point that I am overwhelmed at what is happening. What makes you qualified for the position? I run my own business and I under-

Edwin W. Powell Age: 47 Assistant Professor, Howard University College of Medicine Party: Democrat Why are you running? Besides being a father, a husband and a citizen of Ward 4, I thought that it was an opportunity to really shed light on a number of issues that had not really been focused on. Why are you qualified? I have experience in education and I think that’s one of the biggest problems the city has. I have experience working with the elderly in D.C. Superior Court when I advocated on behalf of aging individuals. Also when it comes to affordable housing, I’ve had my foot in that arena for a number of years. What are some of the biggest issues plaguing Ward 4? At the very top is poverty. The fact that we have such a strong economic growth here in the city, it has not been fed at all into the hands of the citizens. There is a lack of affordable housing. Another thing is education, While it’s improving, if you compare it to other districts and other cities similar to D.C., it’s dismal. How do you plan to tackle these issues? They need to be tackled from a policy prospective. Every tax break we give to investors, we have to as citizens look for some type of community benefit. It’s [also] high time that we start providing those technical [and] vocational trainings that I think are emerging. stand what it takes to run a business. I have always been involved in Ward 4. I do volunteer tutoring with lovely children in public schools. What are some of the biggest issues plaguing Ward 4? My main concern is that there seems to me to be the orchestrated destruction of public schools. I am not anti-charter, but the thing that I don’t like about the charter is that the monies that are used to operate these charters come out of public school funds and that money is never replaced. The other thing that I

Bobvala Tengen Age: 29 Government consultant Party: Democrat Why are you running? I used to work for five government agencies and in that experience, I realized that I really enjoy public service and connecting with the community. I believe that I can continue to do that as a councilmember. What makes you qualified? Based on my experience, I will be able to assist with committee matters and all the committees in council. I’m ready to craft legislation and also make recommendations to the agencies to improve their services. What are some of the biggest issues plaguing Ward 4? Education is the basis for most students and lack of education can lead to other issues, like violence. My goal is to strengthen the schools in the ward and allow students to have the best opportunities in the schools that are closer to their homes. How do you plan to tackle these issues? McFarland Middle High School will be opened up again [and] and I want McFarland to be remodeled before they put students in there. Then there is also a plan for a middle school in the north region of Ward 4, but right now it’s only just on paper. So I would want to follow through and make sure that school is created. And [I] also want to create partnerships with local colleges in the area. am concerned about is the lack of formal training, or education, has a lot to do with the orchestrated genocide of our young Black males, as well as government participation in this genocide. How do you plan to tackle these issues? I plan on fixing these issues by making it a primary issue in the minds of all of the citizenry and bring it to the attention of those that are directly affected and those who are unaffected how important this is to the collective.

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Health

D.C. wellness centers offer health, joy to seniors

By Francisca Fournillier Howard University News Service

alone at her Capitol Hill Towers Apartment, has been coming to the Hayes Senior Wellness Center for two years. She particularly likes communicating with people, dancing and playing cards and games. “I get to go to my doctor’s appointments and my dentist appointments by coming to the center,” she said. “Seabrook picks us up and carries us free of charge.” Although the center provides an environment for seniors to socialize, some say they still get bored. “Some days we do nothing,” said Delores Robinson. “I think we should have more activities. We should go on more field trips and have other games we can be involved in when we’re just sitting around after lunch and doing nothing other than playing cards. Maybe we can have some board games and things like that.” Another senior at the center who wanted to be referred to as ‘the doctor’ or ‘Pastor Allen’ said he was very appreciative the center. “I was born in the 40s and they

Hayes Senior Center/Courtesy Photo

atherine Pridgen could no longer bear the thought of sitting in the house she once shared with her husband. After Pridgen’s husband died from cancer, she needed somewhere to go so she wouldn’t be depressed. This, she said, was when she learned about the Hayes Senior Wellness Center Center. Hayes, located in Ward 6, is the latest of six senior wellness centers that cater to Washington’s senior residents, ages 60 and older. The others include Bernice Elizabeth Fonteneau Senior Wellness Center in Ward 1; Hattie Holmes Senior Wellness Center in Ward 4; Model Cities Senior Wellness Center in Ward 5; Washington Seniors Wellness Center in Ward 7; and Congress Heights Senior Wellness Center in Ward 8. The centers offer programs that provide health education and applied learning centers with activi-

ties. There are classes in nutrition, exercise, reflexology, smoking cessation and other health care concerns. The centers also include seminars, support groups, auxiliary activities, creative arts and intergenerational programs. All services focus on wellness, promoting better health and preventing disease. One of the goals, officials said, is to provide help that will allow seniors to maintain their independence and avoid premature institutionalization, such as nursing homes. Before coming to the Hayes Center, most of the seniors occupied their days at the Sherwood Recreation Center for about one and a half years. The seniors were relocated to Hayes Center because Sherwood Center did not have a functioning kitchen. Some of the activities offered at Hayes Center include aerobics exercise, yoga, weight lifting, line dancing, daily lunches and field trips. Renna Summers, 78, who lives

Mr. Prince, 98, and Lorenzo Lewis, 84, enjoy a game of checkers at Hayes Senior Wellness Center in Ward 4.

had boys clubs, not really community centers,” he said. “The community centers are new for seniors.” There are approximately 68 community centers in the District that cater to children, teens, adults and seniors. These centers provide

a gateway to learning and involve fun activities. For more information on Washington’s senior wellness centers, call 202.724.5622 or visit http://dcoa. dc.gov/service/senior-wellnesscenters.

Sagging pants today could hurry hip replacements tomorrow By Sandra Jordan Special to the NNPA from the St. Louis American

8 | Feb. 5 - Feb. 11, 2015 | District Chronicles

hold the telephone at work with your shoulder cocked up on the phone … and one of the contributing factors to subluxations, a big one – is posture,” he said. “Most human beings have bad posture and people who are sedentary have even worse posture.” Think of this balancing act; poorly postured humans with bowling balls sitting on top of the smallest area of the spinal column. Gerdine said the boom in tech gadgetry that has people looking down at their cellphones, tablets and other personal devices will wind up being a major pain in the neck. “You can rest assured that there is going to be an epidemic of neck problems with headaches, tension in the shoulders, pain between the shoulder blades, pain radiating into the arms,” said Gerdine. Although not so high tech, a low-hanging fashion statement of the millennials, hip-hoppers and the “OGs” who try to dress like them may come back to bite when where the sun didn’t use to shine. “These young men who are walking around with their pants

St. Louis American/Courtesy Photo

Some of the same activities and behaviors that can cause disease can cause health problems in your bones, joints and your neuromuscular system. “For every one pound of weight that you gain, you put three pounds of pressure on your knees; so the opposite of that is, for every pound that you lose, you take three pounds of pressure off your knees.” Spine expert chiropractor Michael Gerdine of West End Chiropractic said when it comes to wellness, the approach should be proactive rather than reactive. “There are many stresses in life that contribute to illness, whether it be stresses from work, family, job, poor diets, lack of exercise, not getting enough rest” said Gerdine. “All of those things lead to problems with the nervous system, due to what we call in chiropractic care ‘subluxations.’” Subluxations occur when the body’s infrastructure gets out of alignment.

“Its bones out of place irritating the nerves,” said Gerdine. “Subluxations are caused by – I call them the three T’s: Trauma – which could be an accident, sports injury, repetitive motion on the job, weekend warrior stuff; Thoughts –Which would be stress-related; and Toxins – bad food, poor diet; medications can be toxic to the human body; bad air, recreational drugs, cigarette smoke, all of those things are toxic.” The Missouri Chiropractors Association describes subluxations as a response to stress, causing the muscles to spasm, spinal bones to lock up and choking or chaffing nerves. Nerve impulses communicate messages to the brain and throughout the body through your spine. If there’s a hitch somewhere in the nervous system, it will manifest as some type of health problem. “Most of us have subluxations and don’t even know we have them,” said Gerdine, including that occasional “crook in the neck” or stiff back when you wake up in the morning. “It could be because you slept wrong or it could be because you

Chiropractor Michael Gerdine of West End Chiropractic in St. Louis says bad posture can impact one’s health and wellness in many ways.

sagging – you can rest assured there’s going to be an epidemic of hip replacements because the way they have to alter their gait and swing those legs to keep those pants up – they are wearing the hip joints out,” said Gerdine. Sagging pants get blamed for a number of health issues, from urological and sexual dysfunction to severe posture and bone growth deformities. Gerdine said seeing a chiropractor is the conservative approach to wellness. “We are going to look at the bony structures, the musculoskeletal system to try to prevent peo-

ple from going to surgery and using all the different drugs with the major side effects they may have,” said Gerdine. “We are interested in people doing functional health. My goal is to get people doing the things they are supposed to do, that they want to do, the right way.” The American Chiropractic Association says chiropractic services are included in most health insurance plans and is also available to active-duty members of the armed forces at more than 60 military bases and is available to veterans at 36 major veterans’ medical facilities.

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In the Neighborhood

Metro Briefs: Notable news in and around Washington District of Columbia

Grosso introduces bill to expand voting rights in local elections to non-citizen, DC residents

Councilmember David Grosso (IAt-Large) introduced the Local Resident Voting Rights Act of 2015, a bill to grant voting rights in local municipal elections to all noncitizens in D.C. with permanent residency immigration status. The full text of Grosso’s statement follows: This morning along with Councilmembers Allen, Nadeau, Evans and Silverman, I introduced the Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2015. This bill would grant voting rights in local municipal elections to D.C. residents who are not U.S. citizens but have permanent residency status. “All politics is local” is a common phrase in the U.S. political

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Norton, House Democrats introduce Federal Employee Parental Paid Leave Act ongresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton joined Joint Economic Committee Ranking Member and lead sponsor Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY), Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and other Democratic members at a press conference last week to introduce the Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act (FEPPLA), legislation that would provide six weeks of paid leave to federal employees for the birth, adoption or foster placement of a child. Norton was optimistic about the bill’s chances because it has no costs since it does not require any staff adjustments while the parent is on leave and because Republican Congresswomen showed some concern for women by forcing the withdrawal of a bill last month that would deny a woman an abortion who had been raped but did not report it to the authorities. “Amazingly, female federal

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The legislation would provide six weeks of paid leave to federal employees for birth.

government employees and the average woman worker in the U.S. are hardly better off than I was when having my two children decades ago,” said Norton. “Most women with children under five work because they cannot afford not to, the American economy cannot function without them, and today’s American standard of living requires two breadwinners.” Norton said that the Fortune 500 companies have done the math and found that cost reasons for not providing parental leave disappear. Leaving aside the costs of inefficiency, the cost of turnover is 1.5 times the costs of eight weeks of paid family leave. Norton also said perhaps the most compelling reason for the bill is what science has revealed about brain development. Years zero to five are critical to the

brain development of a child. The bill matches parental leave legislation that President Obama called for in his State of the Union address, but differs from the executive memorandum signed by the President last month, which permits all federal employees to receive an advance of sick and annual leave for the birth or adoption of a child or for other sick leave eligible uses. The legislation also applies to all employees of the House and Senate (including Members’ personal offices and Committee Staff), Capitol Guide Service, Capitol Police, Congressional Budget Office, Office of the Architect of the Capitol, Office of the Attending Physician, Office of Compliance, the Office of Technology Assessment, Library of Congress, and the Government Accountability Office.

system and what most District residents care about are the tangible things that impact their day-to-day lives like potholes, playgrounds, taxes, snow removal, trash collection, red light cameras and more. All of these issues are important to voters in D.C. Unfortunately, not all of our residents have a say in choosing the officials who make these decisions. In my opinion, that is unjust. Since 1970, the District of Columbia has had a steady increase in the number of foreign-born residents. According to the U.S. Census Bureau (2012), approximately 53,975 residents in the District are foreign born, but not naturalized U.S. citizens. Over 90% of that population is 18 years of age or older. These are taxpayers who should have the opportunity to have their voices heard in local elections. For most of American history, non-citizens were permitted to

vote in 22 states and federal territories. It was not until the 1920s that, amidst anti-immigrant hysteria, lawmakers began to bar noncitizens from voting in local and statewide elections. Unfortunately, this hysteria continues across the United States, but it does not need to continue any longer in the District of Columbia. Currently, there are seven jurisdictions where non-citizens can vote in local elections in the U.S., six of which are in neighboring Maryland. None of these cities or towns has experienced incidents of voting fraud with regard to noncitizens voting in federal elections. A similar bill was introduced in the Council in 2004 and unfortunately, due to the political climate at the time regarding immigration reform, it did not receive full consideration by this Council. Eleven years later, the time is now to reignite this conversation.

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In the Neighborhood Metro Briefs: Notable news in and around Washington District of Columbia

n January 28 the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (DCCAH) announced the Innovate DC Spe-

tive of the DCCAH that best reflects the creativity and entrepreneurial spirit of the District of Columbia’s arts, humanities and cultural sectors. This new initiative strongly supports the Bowser administration’s efforts to advance a fresh start with programs that are creative, innovative and help improve neighborhoods in the District. Funding opportunities have been expanded to include culinary arts, fashion,

graphic design, digital media and film. Applications are available online at www.dcarts.dc.gov. DCCAH will hold a series of grant writing workshops in February. Applications for the Innovate DC grant will be due Thursday, February 26, 2015. For more information interested parties can contact Derek Younger or Moshe Adams, DCCAH Director of Grants, at 202-724-5613.

Victoria Pickering/Creative Commons

Innovate DC Special Arts Initiative offers grant to creative projects

cial Arts Initiative, which offers one-time grants up to $100,000 to District-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts and community-based organizations. The grant is aimed to reward projects that encourage and maintain the long-term development and impact on the arts, humanities and creative economy in Washington, DC. Innovate DC is a funding initia-

Largo High face down Douglass High on the basketball court

Robert Eubanks/District Chronicles

Robert Eubanks/DistrictChronicles

Robert Eubanks/District Chronicles

12 | Feb. 5 - Feb. 11, 2015 | District Chronicles

Largo high school defeated Douglass high school 75 – 57 on home court this past Monday, February 2nd. Largo’s senior Abdulai Bundu-#34 lead the team to victory with 47 points. Largo improved it’s record to 15 – 2 overall, 12 – 0 in league play, while Douglass fell to 13 – 4 overall, 10 – 2 in league play (Photo Credit: Robert Eubanks).