DISTRICT MPD: THROW THE TRASH, PAY THE CASH 11
Gospel jazzist Kim Jordan helps blend art, music, tech and fun at HATfest Page 12
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Auguts 7 - August 13, 2014
Dunkin’ Brands, NAACP push for Black franchises Page 3 www.districtchronicles.com
Volume 13 Issue 51
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Editorial
Smarter Sentencing Act set to modify sentencing requirements By Julianne Malveaux NNPA Columnist
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hat if we didn’t incarcerate people who commit non-violent crimes? Or, if we sentenced them, what if their sentences were reasonable, instead of intolerable? What if a man who steals a $159 jacket while high gets drug treatment and a sentence of two years, instead of a sentence of life imprisonment without parole? How much would we save if legally mandated minimum sentences were modified and nonviolent drug offenses were more reasonably imposed? Marc Mauer of the Sentencing Project says that eliminating more than 79,000 bed years, the amount of time a prisoner uses a bed in prison, could save at least $2.4 billion. That’s enough to send nearly a million students to college if the $25,000 covers the cost of attendance, which it does for most state schools and HBCUs. It could put nearly half a million teachers in underserved K-12 schools, or restore availability to libraries and parks. Instead, we spend it incarcerating people, particularly those who are locked up for relatively minor crimes. The $2.4 billion that the Sentencing Project has calculated may be a low estimate. According to the Justice Department more than $80 billion is spent on incarceration annually. How much of this spending could be easily converted to drug treatment and recovery? Why do we find it so easy to incarcerate people, yet so difficult to rehabilitate them, knowing that the relapse rates are high? Within five years of incarceration, more than three-quarters of released prisoners are rearrested. Most were arrested for property crimes, not drug-related or violent offenses. Much of the property crime could be alleviated if it was easier for ex-offenders to find employment but, after incarceration, many find the doors of employment slammed in their faces. President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder are moving in the right direction. First, the president moved to reform drug
President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder work to reform sentencing laws.
sentencing laws, reducing the discrepancy between crack and powdered cocaine. This resulted in the Smarter Sentencing Act, which has yet to be scheduled for a vote in Congress and the Senate, despite bipartisan support for this legislation. The Smarter Sentencing Act, when approved, will make modifications in sentencing requirements. This will affect as many as 46,000 prisoners, which is not enough, but a reasonable first step. If release were combined with education and access to employment, relapse rates would certainly decrease. The United States represents just 5 percent of the world population, but incarcerates more than a quarter of the world’s incarcerated people. Nearly half of those incarcerated in federal prisons are African American. Is there a bias here? African Americans are as likely as Whites to commit nonviolent drug related crimes, but African Americans are far more likely to be incarcerated. The difference lies in factors such as the amount of money it takes to provide access to great legal services. It lies in the attraction of a plea bargain, guilty or not, because of the prospect of an unfair sentence. It may be due to bias on the part
of arresting officers. Whatever the cause, it seems unfathomable that African Americans and Whites commit the same crimes, but African Americans are arrested six times as frequently as Whites. If you read the November 2013 A Living Death: Life without Parole for Nonviolent Offenses from the ACLU, you won’t know whether to scream or cry. More than 3,200 people have life sentences without parole for such minor offences such as shoplifting, trying to cash a stolen check, and threatening a police officer while handcuffed. Some are sentenced because of sentencing guidelines, which mean judges have no choice in their sentencing. What makes sense about giving a shoplifter more time than a murderer? As many as 65 percent of those who have been sentenced to life without parole are African American. According to the ACLU, “many were struggling with mental illness, drug dependency, or financial desperation.” Only in an injustice system can this be considered “just.” There has been some progress in making sentencing fairer. Yet much more must be done until we can claim the “justice” that our Constitution promises.
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The partnership will encourage African American participation in franchise ownership of Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins.
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he NAACP has announced a partnership with Dunkin’ Brands Group, Inc., the parent company of Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins, to create a Diversity Franchising Initiative to increase the number of AfricanAmerican owned franchise businesses in the U.S. Dunkin’ Brands and the NAACP will collaborate to offer people of color in-depth franchising education and training as well as assistance in overcoming the financial challenges related to becoming a franchise owner. The partnership was announced at the NAACP’s 105th Annual Convention in Las Vegas. “Franchising can be a powerful economic tool that further enables the African-American community and others to realize the American dream of business ownership,” said Cornell William Brooks, president and CEO of the NAACP. “We are excited to announce this unique partnership with Dunkin’ Brands and to improve opportunities for people of color in the
franchising sector because of the substantial impact these agreements have on empowering and employing people of color.” “The Dunkin’ Brands Diversity in Franchising Initiative will provide education, networking opportunities and information on critical topics including access to capital,” said Dedrick Muhammad, senior director of the NAACP Economic Department. “Ultimately, we hope this program helps to increase the num-
partnership with the NAACP. Working together, our goal is to increase African-American participation in the franchise industry, not just with Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins, but across a wide spectrum of franchising concepts available in the marketplace,” said Grant Benson, CFE, vice president of global franchising and business development, Dunkin’ Brands. “Additionally, we believe this partnership will enable Dunkin’ Brands to build a larger, more diverse pool of franchise candidates, accelerate our expansion in new and existDunkin’ Brands ing markets, and continue to build customer loyalty for our two brands across the country.” The NAACP Economic Department was re-launched in 2011 and currently has four program areas: Fair lending, economic education, opportunity and diversity, and community economic development. The NAACP Economic Department is dedicated to ensuring that “every person will have equal opportunity to achieve economic success, sustainability, and financial security.”
We are proud to launch this partnership... –Grant Benson,
ber of African-American franchise business owners in the U.S in both the short and long term.” This initiative is a part of Dunkin’ Brands’ ongoing efforts to provide resources to help qualified franchisee candidates overcome barriers associated with financing, including providing guidance on business plan development, facilitating access to capital, and forging relationships with local community lenders. “We are proud to launch this
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Religious, immigration activists rally against deportation
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By Adelle M. Banks and Heather Adams Religion News Service WASHINGTON -- More than 100 religious leaders and activists were arrested last Thursday in a White House protest aimed at halting deportations and aiding immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. The direct action sponsored by Church World Service and Casa de Maryland, an immigration advocacy group, brought leaders from New England to Hawaii to the nation’s capital. The U.S. Park Police completed the arrests of 112 people by 3 p.m., charging each with “blocking passage” on the sidewalk outside the White House, a misdemeanor, said Sidney Traynham, a spokesman for Church World Service. “We are here because we are not hearing a moral voice coming from the White House,” said United Methodist Bishop Minerva Carcano of Los Angeles. “This is a day of justice. Let us be that moral voice.” Sister Eileen Campbell, whose Sisters of Mercy order has a mission to help the vulnerable, took a step she’d never taken in her 67 years -- joining others in the act of civil disobedience to protest 1,100 deportations a day and seek relief for 11 million immigrants living illegally in the country. With Congress failing to act on immigration, she said, and children massing at the nation’s Southern borders, it was time to do something.
“We have exhausted every other means to do this and so now we really have to rely on the executive authority of our president,” said Campbell, who has sisters in her order affected by the violence in Central American countries from which the children are fleeing. “I think standing outside the White House will make a difference,” she said as she rode in a van with other leaders past the Capitol and toward the White House. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest criticized congressional leaders for failing to pass immigration reform and “instead driving an approach that is about rounding up and deporting 11 million people, separating families and undermining (the Department of Homeland Security’s) ability to secure the border.” Other first-time arrestees voiced a mix of hope and desperation. “I’m ashamed of the way some of our lawmakers are refusing to grant people the opportunity to live and work and contribute to our society,” said the Rev. Thomas Bain, a retired United Methodist minister and community activist from Kailua, Hawaii, as he sought a cup of coffee before leaving for the protest. The Rev. Hector J. Hernandez, a Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) minister from Indianapolis, said he was taking part for the first time for one reason: the children. “I have seen firsthand how destructive this is,” he said, a marriage and family counselor who knows families separated by immigration
mandates. “Children are innocent -- period.” In the morning before their protest, the activists were reminded to eat lunch, use the bathroom and wear their white armbands. Clergy were told to bring their stoles and wear their collars. And everyone was warned not to lay hands on arresting officers. “Just remember that the target of our demonstration today is inside the White House,” advised Gustavo Andrade of Casa de Maryand. “That’s the person that can give us what we want.” After a rally in Lafayette Park across from the White House, the protesters willing to be arrested sat and stood in three rows. They sang “We Shall Overcome” and chanted “Si Se Puede” (“Yes We Can”) while holding signs declaring “Pray for Relief” and “Stop the Deportations.” A police officer warned them three times by bullhorn that they were violating the law when they did not move from the sidewalk. Protesters were put in plastic handcuffs one at a time, while others cheered them on. Antino Aleman, an undocumented man from El Salvador, said before joining the arrestees he was there “to ask the president for him to do what is better for all of us.” His son, Erick Aleman, 17, joined the protest, but from across the street in the park. “It’s difficult and it’s not,” he said of protesting at his age. “But you gotta fight for what you want.”
Divine Intervention
Jesuits to Congress: Protect border children By David Gibson Religion News Service
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merican Jesuits are pushing members of Congress who were educated at the Catholic order’s schools to pass aid for thousands of refugee children who have surged across the border in Texas in recent months, calling proposals to swiftly deport them “inhumane and an insult to American values.” “I ask you, as a leader, a parent, and a Catholic, to uphold an American tradition of which we are all proud,” the Rev. Thomas Smolich, head of the U.S. Jesuit conference, wrote to House Speaker John Boehner and 42 other House members who graduated from Jesuit high schools and colleges. “We must welcome the refugee, the victim of trafficking, the child who has been abused or abandoned,” Smolich wrote in the July 29 letter. “Let us follow in the footsteps of Jesus when he said, ‘Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.’” Since last fall, more than 57,000 unaccompanied minors have flooded across the U.S.-Mexico bor-
der, mainly in south Texas, most of them from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. The migrants are often driven out by endemic violence in their home countries and drawn to the U.S. by prospects of better economic opportunities or the chance to reunite with their families. But the influx has created a humanitarian crisis that has become a political wedge issue. Dealing with the children has drained the resources of U.S. border agencies, and President Obama asked Congress to provide $3.7 billion to deal with the crisis. The Senate seemed amenable to passing a package, but the Republican-led House last Thursday abandoned efforts to vote on a much smaller $659 million emergency funding measure. That proposal would have also curtailed an anti-trafficking law passed in 2008 under President George W. Bush, but some conservatives wanted tougher policies against the refugee children and immigrants in general. The issue has become so contentious that when protesters in California surrounded busloads of immigrant children shouting for them to be deported, New York
Cardinal Timothy Dolan wrote a column comparing the demonstration to the KKK and to “Nativist mobs” of the 19th century. “It was un-American; it was unbiblical; it was inhumane,” Dolan wrote. Conservative commentator Ann Coulter responded by calling Dolan a “moral showoff.” The letter from Smolich to the 12 Republicans and 31 Democrats appeared to be an effort to appeal to the Catholic loyalties of the House members who were educated by the Jesuits -- which is Pope Francis’ religious order. Smolich noted that the Jesuits have been deeply involved in Central America for decades, and he reminded them that in 1989, six Jesuits, along with their housekeeper and her daughter, were murdered by “U.S.-trained Salvadoran military forces.” As he wrote to Boehner, the violence has continued apace; “90 children are murdered or disappeared in Honduras every month,” Smolich wrote. “This is the equivalent of eight children being executed in your Congressional district every 30 days,” he told Boehner, who represents Ohio’s Eighth Congressional District.
Pope Francis taking sexual abuse seriously By Josephine McKenna Religion News Service VATICAN CITY – The defrocking of a former Vatican ambassador is a “sign of the seriousness” with which Pope Francis and the Vatican are approaching the clergy sexual abuse scandal, according to the Holy See’s representative to United Nations agencies in Geneva. Archbishop Silvano Tomasi was tasked with defending the Catholic Church’s record when he presented reports to the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child and the U.N. Committee Against Torture in Geneva earlier this year. During questioning, Tomasi was asked whether the Vatican would agree to extradite Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, a Pol-
ish archbishop and papal envoy, to his native Poland after he was recalled from the Dominican Republic last September on claims of sexual abuse. Wesolowski was defrocked this month, and Tomasi said the former nuncio was being investigated by Vatican prosecutors. Speaking in Rome last week, Tomasi said he hoped other states and institutions would now follow the approach taken by the Holy See in dealing with cases of pedophilia. Wesolowski, 65, is the highest-ranking church official to be defrocked over sexual abuse allegations and has two months to appeal his removal from the priesthood. After that process, Wesolowski could face charges in a criminal court, although the Vatican has claimed he has diplomatic
immunity from secular courts. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said the Vatican has not done enough to bring Wesolowski to justice. The victims’ advocacy group has demanded that the former diplomat face criminal prosecution beyond the walls of the city-state. “If this Vatican move leads to Wesolowski being locked up, we’ll be encouraged. However, we fear that it won’t,” said David Clohessy, director of SNAP. The Vatican committee set up by Pope Francis last year to fight sexual abuse of children in the church is due to meet in Rome for the second time this weekend. And for the first time, Francis is expected to meet abuse victims from Germany, the United Kingdom and Ireland within the next few days at his private residence.
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The value of healthy father daughter relationships By Erika Rae Whitehead Contributing writer
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without their father. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services adds that fatherless boys and girls are twice as likely to drop out of high school; twice as likely to end up in jail; four times more likely to need help for emotional or behavioral problems and 71 percent of pregnant teens do not have a father in their lives. From such grim statistics, child development professionals stress the importance of reconciliation between parents and estranged children. Psychologist Joshua Coleman advises that parental figures should initiate the reconciliation. Without fathers’ involvement in the lives of their daughters, young girls can suffer from self-esteem issues, academic difficulties, trust issues, and dating problems, A United States Children’s Bureau study stresses. The relationship fathers have with mothers indirectly impacts the relationship children share with their children when they become parents. “Girls with involved, respectful fathers see how they should expect men to treat them and are less likely to become involved in violent or unhealthy relationships,” says sociologist W. Bradford Wilcox, associate professor of sociology,
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he void began almost immediately when my father moved with his job from Michigan to Indiana. I was 12. My parents divorced five years earlier, but both remained involved in my life. The day he left was a rainy and dreary one. I felt like the skies were opening up to cry alongside me, and in a twisted way it comforted me. Two weeks after he left, he made his first visit back to Michigan. He and I signed a contract that weekend that he would make the four-hour drive every other weekend to spend time with me. I used to get excited to see him when weekends came. But then the visits became infrequent. Finally, dad promised he would spend the spring break week with me. I had a pep in my step and was constantly making mental notes of all the shopping, beach trips, barbeques and relaxing we would enjoy together. But my heart sank to a new low when he called to say he was not coming after all. It was after an NBA game he had attended when he called, the game I had watched on television, too. Why couldn’t we have watched it together, I brooded.
When I was 14, I mustered up the courage to talk to my dad about what I was missing in my life. Through tears and a painful lump in my throat, the words “I need more from you” tumbled out of my mouth like cinder blocks. I explained the loneliness and sadness I felt as a result of our lack of time together. “What do you think of my new gym shoes?” was his response. “I got them on sale a little while ago.” That ended the conversation. I felt like he had not heard a thing of what I said, or simply didn’t care. I regretted initiating the conversation, opening myself up to hurt and breaking down in front of him. I faked a smile to hide my anger and disappointment. I excused myself and went to watch TV in another room. That episode remains branded into my memory. For a while, I became numb to my father. The longing for him faded. It began to change, however, during my senior year at Portage Northern High School. He told me he did not want our relationship to continue down the path it was going. It was the beginning of our reconciliation. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 43 percent of U.S. children live
Howard University student Whitehead appreciates her relationship with her father.
University of Virginia. “Regardless of whether he wants the responsibility, a father’s relationship to the world and to women sets down a template that will be played out for another generation,” says Psychologist and Family Therapist Marie Hartwell-Walker of the Massachusetts Department of Developmental Services. I’m glad dad had a change of mind. As time continued, he devoted more time to building our relationship, visiting me more. He attended my senior year regionals tennis tournament, graduation, graduation party and drove with
my mom to Howard University to start my freshman year. I’m a junior and my father and I speak on the phone at least twice a week. Sometimes the conversations simply wander from school to life, and everything in between, constantly affirming my importance to him. I am thankful that my heart opened to receive him even if it took longer than I liked. After a recent break up with a boyfriend, my father was the first person I called. “It hurts, dad,” I confessed. “It will be alright,” he responded. “Stand strong in your decision. Everything will be okay.”
Changes to PLUS Loans may help Black borrowers By Freddie Allen NNPA Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON – This fall, the Education Department plans to announce changes to PLUS loans that officials say will make it easier for parents to qualify for the financial aid program that thousands of Black college students rely on every semester. In an effort to combat a rising number of parent loan defaults in 2011, the department began to enforce more strict borrowing guidelines, a move that disproportionately affected Black parents, especially ones that lost homes and jobs and were burdened by high levels of debt incurred during the Great Recession. “Since the change, we’ve been working directly with the schools to try and re-enroll as many students as possible. Our data basically says that, even in those first cohorts, we were able to get 76 percent of students enrolled into the colleges that
they applied to originally,” said Jim Shelton, the secretary of education and executive director of the task force for My Brother’s Keeper. “Additionally, we just finished the rule-making process that allows us to adjust the flexibility around the PLUS loan program and that will come out more formally in the fall.” The policy revisions will make credit requirements for the PLUS program more flexible. According to Shelton, the updated eligibility standards that the Education Department is going to put into effect will allow close to 300,000 students who may have been denied under the old rules to qualify for PLUS loans without having to go through the reconsideration process. Officials with the department said that for the first time in the nation’s history, public schools from kindergarten through the 12th grade will enroll more minority students than White students. “Urban school districts across
6 | Aug. 7 - Aug. 13, 2014 | District Chronicles
the nation are already 80 percent African American, Hispanic, and Asian American,” said Michael Casserly, the executive director of the Council of the Great City Schools (CGCS), a national network of urban public school systems. “We are the future.” The CGCS network, working in conjunction with the president’s My Brother’s Keeper initiative, pledged to increase the pipeline of high achieving students of color by expanding access to preschool, advanced placement and gifted classes, and decreasing the disproportionate rates of suspensions and expulsions. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said that by any measure, our young men of color are not where they need to be. According to the Schott Foundation for Public Education, the national Black-White male graduation gap was more than 25 percent in 2009-2010. Black male students also en-
dure higher rates of suspensions, expulsions and referrals to law enforcement than their White peers. Black children, some as young as 3 years old, account for roughly half of preschoolers suspended more than once. The education chief said that in a lot of ways the research for My Brother’s Keeper came right out of Civil Rights Data Collection project, which talked about the lack of access to advanced placement classes, the lack of access to early childhood education, disparate labeling for special education and the school to prison pipeline. “Academically, [boys and young men of color] don’t have the tools they need to be successful and, to really challenge that status quo in a really profound way, we think this is absolutely the right thing to do,” said Duncan. Duncan said that the Education Department will challenge states to not only take a very open and honest look at the mix of their teachers
working in disadvantaged communities, but to also develop plans to address any disparities they find. A Center for American Progress report recommended cultivating talented teachers and school administrators, developing better data collection and evaluation tools, and compensating highly effective teachers when they move to poor schools where they’re needed the most. “If we all believe that great teachers make a difference in students’ lives, if we all believe that great principals make a huge difference in students’ lives, we have to be much more creative in how we attract, support, and retain that great talent,” said Duncan. “Anyone who has historically said that providing a high quality education for Black kids and Brown kids was just important for [the Black] community, that’s simply not the case,” said Duncan. “This is the right thing to do for our nation.”
Politics
The politics of federal judges and appeal courts By George E. Curry NNPA Columnist
T
he two conflicting appeals court rulings last week on the legality of a key provision of the Affordable Care Act – one supporting it and the other rejecting the health law – underscore the nexus between politics and the judiciary. All of the judges voting to uphold the ACA were appointed by Democrats. All of the judges voting to strike down the law were appointed by Republicans. We’ve seen this scenario played out at the U.S. Supreme Court, with most controversial rulings decided on a 5-4 vote, with conservatives clinging to a one-vote margin. But the most important appointments might be those of federal appeals court judges, the last stop before a case reaches the Supreme Court. Approximately 10,000 cases are appealed to the Supreme Court each year. Of those, only 75-80 are accepted. Therefore, many important decisions are made in cases that never reach the Supreme Court. Separate appeals court rulings on a key provision of the Affordable Care Act on July 22 vividly illustrate the why looking are lower court judges is extremely important. At issue was whether the federal government could provide subsidies to low- and middle-income citizens in the form of tax credits to purchase insurance coverage on the insurance marketplace operated by federal authorities. A divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said no, with two Republican judges voting against the subsidies and the lone Democrat voting to uphold the provision. In the majority were Thomas Griffith, appointed by George W. Bush, and Raymond Randolph, an appointee of H.W. Bush. Dissenting was Harry T. Edwards, a Jimmy Carter nominee. Hours later, a three-judge panel of 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, all appointed by Democrats, ruled that the Internal Revenue Service correctly interpreted the law when it issued regulations allowing health insurance tax credits for consumers in all 50 states. Judges Andre Davis and Stephanie Thacker
A study reveals federal appeals judges decide cases along the political lines of the president who appointed them.
were appointed by Obama and Roger Gregory was originally appointed Bill Clinton. Over the years, the 4th Circuit was considered a bastion of conservatism. With six appointments since he has been in office – and a seventh pending – President Obama has been able to flip the court’s majority from Republican to Democratic appointees. This discussion of appeals court is not intended to minimize the importance of Supreme Court justices. In all likelihood, the next president will make one or two appointments that will determine whether the High Court continues to drift to the right or return to the center. That’s why it’s so important that African Americans again turn out in record numbers for the presidential election in 2016. This November should be a trial run for mobilizing the Black vote without Barack Obama’s name appearing on the ballot Federal judges have lifetime appointments. And anyone who asserts that a judge’s politics doesn’t impact his or her rulings is living in a make-believe world. In a study titled “Ideological Voting on Federal Courts of Appeals: A Preliminary Investigation,” published in the Virginia Law Review, the authors (Cass R. Sunstein, David Schkade, and Lisa Michelle Ellman) studied 4,400 legal opinions involving politically sensitive issues and discovered that appeals judges – as they did recently in the case of the Affordable Care Act – usually decide cases in keeping with the political philosophy of the president who appointed them to the bench. “From 1980 through 2002, Republican appointees cast 267 total votes, with 127, or 48 percent, in favor of upholding an affirmative-action policy. By contrast, Democratic appointees cast 198 votes, with 147,
or 74 percent, in favor of upholding an affirmative-action policy. Here we find striking evidence of ideological voting,” the study found. An analysis of George W. Bush’s judicial appointments by Robert Carp, Kenneth Manning L. and Ronald Slidham discovered, “Reagan found a good many conservatives on the bench when he took office. Thus he has had a major role in shaping the entire federal judiciary in his own conservative image for some time to come.” But as bad as Reagan was, George W. Bush appointed judges who were even more conservative. Carp told reporters, “Our findings are significant because the general consensus is that President Reagan is the most modern conservative president on record, and yet the judges appointed by George W. Bush are even more conservative than the Reagan judges.” The Virginia Law Review article concluded: “No reasonable person seriously doubts that ideology, understood as normative commitments of various sorts, helps to explain judicial votes. Presidents are entirely aware of this point, and their appointment decisions are undertaken with full appreciation of it.” So when someone tells you that the political affiliation of the president appointing judges doesn’t matter or when a president claims to be appointing judges who interpret the law and not legislate from the bench, don’t believe them. George E. Curry, former editor-in-chief of Emerge magazine, is editor-in-chief of the National Newspaper Publishers Association News Service (NNPA.) He is a keynote speaker, moderator, and media coach. Curry can be reached through his Web site, www.georgecurry.com. You can also follow him at www.twitter.com/ currygeorge and George E. Curry Fan Page on Facebook.
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8 | Aug. 7 - Aug. 13, 2014 | District Chronicles
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Reaction to reemergence of HIV in the ‘Mississippi Baby’– initially thought to be functionally cured – was mixed at the AIDS conference.
Special to the NNPA from The Black AIDS Institute MELBOURNE, Australia – Is the glass half empty – or half full? That was the framework for thinking about the so-called Mississippi baby case brought up late last month at the International AIDS conference here. The glass was decidedly half empty in July with the news that the baby, thought to have been cured of HIV, had rebounded with detectable levels of the virus in her blood. Quick as a heartbeat, cure was downgraded to remission. But today in the convention hall, the glass was much more full – or at least the spin was clearly positive. At a special press event, “Toward an HIV Cure,” a group of scientists, insisted that the case of the baby, now a little girl, was less a setback than a way forward. The gathering at the media event also pointed to several new studies that offered information that might lead to hope for a cure. “There is plenty of data that are telling us that we can make progress,” said Francoise BarreSinoussi, a Nobel-prize winning scientist and co-chair of the conference. “There is no reason not to be optimistic.” Even the virologist involved with the Mississippi baby, Dr. Deborah Persaud., associate professor of pediatrics and infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, called her case “a major step forward.” After all, the time the baby’s virus stayed under con-
trol without treatment was significantly longer than ever witnessed before -- 27 months. “I want to emphasize while we are very disappointed for this child, that now requires anti-retroviral treatment to control her virus, this is really unprecedented for the field,” said Dr. Persaud. The baby was born prematurely in a Mississippi clinic to an HIVpositive mother in 2010. Her mother didn’t receive anti-HIV medication during pregnancy and didn’t know she had contracted the virus until delivery. Right after birth, the infant was treated aggressively and continued on medication until 18 months of age, when doctors lost contact with mother and child. But when the child was again seen by medical staff five months later, they could find no trace of HIV – and she remained virtually free of the virus for more than two years. But by the time the child turned four, the HIV had returned and the preschooler is now back on medication. “As a scientist failures are often more important than successes,” explained Dr. Steven Deeks, an HIV/AIDS researcher and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. “So I actually perceive the Mississippi baby scientifically as a great success.” The three new studies outlined at the press event produced mixed results, though the glass-half-full scientists in Melbourne focused on the “the teaching moments.” All of the studies, including the
Mississippi case, point to a latent reservoir of HIV that makes the devious virus hard to combat. One study, conducted on monkeys, found that HIV reservoirs form even before the virus can be detected in the blood. There, according to investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), HIV can lie dormant and avoid being killed off by antiAIDS medication. The study was published on July 20 in the science journal Nature. The second study examined the size of the reservoir using a novel measure. And the third, looked at a drug to kick or shock the virus out of the reservoir where it can hide. This study, released late last month and conducted at Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark, excited the audience – though the lead researcher Ole Schmeltz Søgaard called his work “a small step.” At this point no one is sure how to kill the virus once it’s kicked out into the open. Dr. Deeks disagreed. “Ole’s data is the first clear evidence that we can truly identify the latent reservoir, the hidden virus, and shock it out of its latency,” he said. “That is the single most important advancement at this meeting and will have a huge impact for the future.” Linda Villarosa operate the City College journalism program in Harlem and writes frequently about health and social issues. Follow her on Twitter at @lindavillarosa.
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Metro Briefs: Notable news in and around Washington Anne Arundel Mortgage program increases to 64 local and national lenders
E
District of Columbia Metropolitan Police expand littering enforcement pilot program
Lenders got information on Maryland Mortgage Program products during the annual conference of the Maryland Mortgage Bankers Association in Columbia in May.
Maryland Home Credit program, giving eligible homebuyers,not just Maryland Mortgage Program buyers, the opportunity to sign up for a federal tax credit of up to $2,000 a year for the life of their mortgage. In addition, homebuyers can enjoy even greater savings this summer through a series of regional special offers and discounts aimed at veterans and military families. 1, anyone in the District of Columbia violating the littering law may be issued a $75 ticket. If an officer sees a person dropping waste material of any kind on public space, in waterways, or on someone else’s private property, the person may receive a $75 notice of violation (NOV) for littering. Anyone issued the NOV is required to provide their accurate name and address to the officer. Those who refuse or fail to provide their accurate name and address can be arrested and, upon conviction, be fined an additional $100 to $250 by the D.C. Superior Court. Failure to respond to a littering ticket by either paying the fine or appealing the ticket to the Office of Administrative Hearings will result in a doubling of the fine. MPD officers will continue to issue $100 traffic tickets to the driver of any vehicle where an officer observes either the driver or any passenger toss trash of any
Today’s typical Maryland Mortgage Program buyer may have the income and credit history but not the cash in hand to qualify for a conventional loan. Lenders find the program could make the difference between putting their clients in a home or not. For more information, visit the Maryland Mortgage Program on line.
Mr. TinDC/Creative Commons
The Metropolitan Police Department has launched citywide enforcement of the District of Columbia’s anti-littering laws, expanding it from a pilot program used in the Fourth and Sixth Police Districts, and allowing officers to issue $75 notices of violation to any pedestrian observed littering. Throughout the month of August, MPD officers will issue only warnings to violators in the First, Second, Third, Fifth, and Seventh Districts, as the Department works with community partners to educate the public about littering enforcement. Officers in the Fourth and Sixth Districts will continue to issue actual tickets. Beginning Monday, September
mdhousing.org
llicott City-based Howard Bank has joined PNC and 58 other mortgage lenders in Maryland to make the American dream of owning a home reachable to more Maryland residents. The bank has branches in Howard, Harford, Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties. The Maryland Mortgage Program works with an ever-expanding network of local and national lenders to make homeownership more accessible and attractive to middle class families. The O’Malley-Brown administration has helped more than 11,000 families realize their dream of homeownership through the Maryland Mortgage Program, totaling more than $2.1 billion. The program has a lot to offer: competitive rates, significant down payment assistance and an expanded array of loan products. In June, the state launched the
MPD officers will soon begin issuing $75 tickets for littering in all police districts.
kind onto someone else’s private property or onto any public space, such as streets, alleys, or sidewalks.
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District Chronicles | Aug. 7 - Aug. 13, 2014 | 11
In the Neighborhood Metro Briefs: Notable news in and around Washington District of Columbia Mayor Gray launches eighth season of MuralsDC
M
ayor Vincent C. Gray kicked off the 2014 season of MuralsDC with a splash on July 31, at the William Rumsey Aquatic Facility at 635 North Carolina Avenue, SE. The event featured a carnival-like atmosphere, made possible by Cirque du Soleil, which included acrobatic acts by the TSNY DC trapeze school, face painting, animal balloons, cotton candy, snow cones and music. More than 100 local children and adults attended the event to celebrate a new mural at the facility. “This event and the mural we are celebrating today are all about children,” said Mayor Gray. “It’s
about all of the fun, joy and magic that makes childhood exciting. We try to make sure that same fun, joy and magic are experienced at all of our DC Parks and Recreation facilities.” During the festivities, local artist Aniekan Udofia completed an original work of art on the entrance of the facility. The mural, which features a mermaid-like girl swimming in a sea of color, has already been received with great enthusiasm by the immediate community, say DC Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) officials. “DPR applauds the efforts by Department of Public Works (DPW) and MuralsDC to beautify our city,” said Acting DPR Director Dr. Sharia Shanklin. “With 68 recreation centers, 92 playgrounds and 375 parks, the issue of graffiti is a topic with which we are very familiar. The work of graffiti
removal by DGS [Department of General Services] and DPW [Department of Public Works] serves to keep our facilities clean and maintained; and by creating these amazing murals, not only does it enhance the Rumsey Aquatic Facility and the Eastern Market area, it contributes art and beauty to our city that everyone can enjoy.” MuralsDC, funded by DPW in cooperation with the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (DCCAH), was launched in 2007 to combat the growing trend of illegal graffiti and to help reduce urban blight. Currently, a MuralsDC mural exists in every ward of the city. “Today marks the 50th original work of art MuralsDC has installed on a District building and what an amazing way to celebrate this milestone,” said DPW Director William O. Howland, Jr. “I am thrilled and honored to have
Cirque du Soleil-an internationally recognized and respected organization-acknowledge our artists and the impact their work is having on the city’s landscape.” Cirque du Soleil, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, was responsible for much of the festivities and also gave away tickets to its performance of “Amaluna,” which opened this week at the National Harbor and runs until September 21. Cirque du Soleil donates between 5001000 tickets to local organizations and charities in each of the cities they tour and contributes more than 1 percent of its revenue to social and cultural programs. DPW and DCCAH issue a call for both artists and donated wall space each spring. The remaining artists for 2014 include: Eric B Ricks, JBAK, Juan Pineda, Hamilton Glass, Aniekan Udofia, Cita Sadeli and SAM Crew.
These artists will be painting murals at the following locations: < < < < < <
1710 Good Hope Road, SE 1907 3rd Street, NW 6925 Blair Road, NW 314 Carroll Street, NW 644-646 Rock Creek Church Road, NW 3609 13th Street, NW
“Each year, we choose artists whose talent and skill best suit each project,” said DCCAH Executive Director Lionell Thomas, adding that most MuralsDC artists either live or grew up in the Washington metropolitan area. “This year’s muralists are among the best at what they do.” Local nonprofit group Words, Beats and Life coordinates the art installation for the program, which will continue through September. An art exhibit featuring the 2014 murals is planned for the fall.
Art, tech and fun blend at the HATfest DC
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12 | Aug. 7 - Aug. 13, 2014 | District Chronicles
Clockwise from top-left: Folks had a blast at the Humanities, Arts and Technology festival at the St. Elizabeth’s East Campus grounds last weekend, featuring hoola hooping, chess games, performances from artists like Kim Jordan, line dances, robotics and free haircuts! There were endless number of things to enjoy at the event.