GREENHOUSE PROJECT FACES OBSTACLES IN WARD 8 11
Funeral of revered DC mayor and councilman Marion Barry draws crowds Page 12
Pete Souza/White House
December 11 - December 17, 2014
Down-payment change to help homebuyers Page 2 www.districtchronicles.com
Volume 14 Issue 17
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Editorial Court fails: Where do we go from here? By Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq.
Thomas Altfather Good/Creative Commons
(TriceEdneyWire.com) – Six years ago, in so many ways, things began getting better for our country and prospects for a new, positive national dialogue foreshadowed an era of rebirth and enlightenment. We had hope for CHANGE. We now have gasoline prices dropping, the addition of 10.6 million jobs in the past four and one half years and more people going back to work than in Europe, Japan and every other advanced economy combined, an Executive Order on immigration reform, and we’re witnessing the lowest unemployment rate in six years – yet recent horrifying events lead many of us to wonder where do we go from here. As national progress flourishes under President Obama and his accomplishments persist under the heaviest of contrarian resistance, we’re now demoralized by the emergence of the legally condoned murder of Black people. Like many others, I just don’t know where we go from here. The larger issue that must now be faced by the Black community is the reality that the legal system, including the courts at all levels, and law enforcement agencies that are sworn “to protect and serve,” have
become the most dangerous adversaries we’ve faced in decades. In addition to rescinding established protections to our voting rights, this system has become the assassin of our souls, psyche and bodies. The most recent victims, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Tamir Rice, join a long list of Black people who’ve been unjustly murdered by police who’ve had their crimes excused by official legal processes. Few who are familiar with the proper conduct of grand jury proceedings would’ve doubted the existence of sufficient evidence to bring Darren Wilson and Daniel Pantaleo to trial for the respective murders they committed. Instead, under the veil of secrecy and irregularity, the Grand Juries refused to bring indictments. Thankfully, there are leaders outside the legal system who are unwilling to allow injustice to prevail. Fortunately, we have a president who has expressed his determination to move from words to action. He spoke of seeing the tragedy with Garner in New York City, all of which was caught on videotape and speaks to the larger issues that we’ve been talking about now for the last week, month, year, and, sadly, for decades, and that is the
Failure of NY grand jury to indict Garner’s cop killer intensifies national protests against police assault on Black men.
concern on the part of too many minority communities that law enforcement is not working with them and dealing with them in a fair way. He vowed to take specific steps to improve the training and the work with state and local governments when it comes to policing in communities of color. He said we’re not going to let up until we see a strengthening of the trust and a strengthening of the accountability that exists between our communities and our law enforcement. Attorney General Eric Holder said, “As the Justice Department’s
independent investigations into the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner proceed, I will continue these conversations as we seek to restore trust, to rebuild understanding and to foster cooperation between law enforcement and the communities they serve.” We heard New York Mayor Bill De Blasio, in very personal terms, express concern about his own Black son and his safety. We heard a few conservatives wonder how, in view of what they saw on the taped police action with Garner, could there not be an indictment?
Our system of justice is definitely not working for Black people. We clearly saw a policeman on camera choking a man to death and other police joining in or just standing around watching while the man died. We saw a 12-yearold baby playing and shot to death without warning. We saw a young man shot to death walking while Black. The list goes on. Peaceful protests and more action MUST continue until change comes. E. Faye Williams is President of the National Congress of Black Women. www.nationalcongressbw.org
Worship Marion Barry like you worship Clinton, Reagan By Raynard Jackson NNPA Columnist (NNPA) – On November 23, civil rights leader and political icon Marion Barry died. It wasn’t long after he had taken his last breath that the media started besmirching his reputation. Barry was a “true” civil rights icon, not one “appointed” by the media. A “true” icon or leader should be like a candle: the more light he gives the less he becomes. That is the essence of true leadership. Barry was born in Itta Bena, Mississippi, but was raised in Memphis, Tennessee. As a teen, Barry had a paper route and was promised a free trip to New Orleans if he obtained 15 new customers. Barry and several other Black teens achieved the 15 new customers goal, but were denied the trip to New Orleans because the city was segregated.
In response, Barry organized all the other Blacks with paper routes and they refused to work their routes until the newspaper delivered on their promised trip to New Orleans. They ended up receiving a free trip to St. Louis, my hometown, because it was not a segregated city. This was the beginning of his fight against discrimination. He eventually moved to Washington, D.C., where he served on the school board, four terms as mayor and three terms on the City Council. His two signature accomplishments, by far, are his summer youth jobs program and mandating strict minority participation in all D.C. procurement opportunities. Under Barry, government contracting went from 3 percent to 47 percent of all procurement. He also hired professional Blacks to run various government agencies
2 | Dec. 11 - Dec. 17, 2014 | District Chronicles
under his control. These actions were unprecedented in D.C. and have never been duplicated since, though every D.C. mayor since has been Black. By the time Barry was set up in a sting operation by the FBI, smoking crack cocaine in 1990, he had established himself as a political powerhouse in D.C. He had 20 years of being an advocate for good before he had his first negative blip as an elected official. This is why I found the media’s behavior so offensive when, upon Barry’s death, they immediately began mentioning his arrest for smoking crack. Is it a legitimate part of Barry’s life’s narrative? Of course, but not in the immediate wake of his death. Could the media not allow his body to grow cold before they talked about his personal flaws? Whenever the media interviewed or discussed Barry, they
always seemed to find a way to interject his crack arrest into the story. Yet this same media never mentions former president Bill Clinton’s many dalliances with women when they interview him or discuss his legacy. They hardly mention his admitted sexual affair with then-White House intern, Monica Lewinski. How many of you are aware that “60 Minutes” correspondent and CBS News chief foreign affairs reporter Lara Logan admitted to having sexual affairs with two American men simultaneously in Iraq? U.S. State Department contractor Joe Burkett and CNN correspondent Michael Ware fought a battle royale over Logan in a Baghdad safe house, which put innocent people’s lives in jeopardy. How many of you are aware that NBA broadcaster and TNT announcer Marv Albert was accused of raping at least two women and
agreed to plead to lesser charges? He was suspended for two years, but his personal issues are rarely, if ever, mentioned. I would just simply say, pull up a picture of each of these people and make your own conclusions. To my dismay, even Blackoriented – but not Black-owned – media outlets, including The Root (owned by the Washington Post) and The Grio (owned by NBC), have been no better than the White media’s portrayal of Barry. To White folks who seem to be confused by the love affair Blacks had with Marion Barry, and are always asking me why Blacks seem to almost worship him, I say for the same reason average Whites seem to almost worship Ronald Reagan. For all of Barry’s personal demons, like a candle, he used himself up to lighten the path for others. That is why he will always be D.C.’s “Mayor for Life.”
Finance
Mel Watt lowers mortgage down payment requirement
fhfa.gov
Lower mortgage down payments increase access to American dream of home ownership.
By Marc H. Morial (TriceEdneyWire.com) – “Every American lives in safe, decent, affordable and energy efficient housing on fair terms.” National Urban League 2025 housing empowerment goal Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Mel Watt is taking action to turn the American dream of homeownership into reality for many more people. Director Watt recently announced that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which he regulates and which are linchpins of the nation’s residential mortgage market, will reduce down payment requirements from 5 percent to 3 percent. This will enable many more low-income, but credit-worthy, consumers to become homeowners while helping the nation’s faltering housing market regain its traction. We enthusiastically applaud this move and believe that as a result, more African-American, Latino and working class borrowers of all races, who face an especially tough time securing mortgages, will have greater access to conventional loans, which are more affordable than other financing options. We are also encouraged that Director Watt’s plan will allow housing counseling in lieu of costly mortgage insurance to be a compensating factor to help make up for low down payments or low credit scores. Saving the necessary down payment to purchase a home is one of the biggest obstacles to at-
taining the American Dream, especially for communities of color. African Americans and Latinos typically have lower incomes and are less likely to receive an inheritance or first-time buying help from their parents than White Americans. According to the Center for Responsible Lending, while it takes the typical White family 14 years to save for a 5 percent down payment, plus closing costs, it takes the typical Latino family 17 years and the typical AfricanAmerican family 21 years to save those amounts. The National Urban League has long supported a reasonable and affordable “skin in the game” down payment requirement, but the ability to save a lump sum of money does not translate to the ability to pay a monthly mortgage. As Director Watt said at a Senate Banking Committee hearing recently, “The problem is that the down payment itself is not necessarily a reliable indicator of whether somebody will pay a loan. If they have good credit, if they have housing counseling ... and know how to be responsible homeowners – those can mitigate the perceived increased risk.” Forty years of National Urban League housing counseling experience and independent research indicate that borrowers who receive housing counseling services are onethird less likely to be seriously delinquent on their mortgage than non-counseled borrowers. We have seen first-hand how housing counseling benefits borrowers,
lenders, Fannie and Freddie, and communities. Nearly 50 of the National Urban League’s 95 affiliates provide home buyer education to ensure communities of color are well-informed of their housing rights and options. Since 2008, we have provided pre-and-post purchase counseling to nearly 180,000 clients. Director Watt has been rolling out this policy for several months. On October 20, he told the Mortgage Bankers Association Annual Meeting, “To increase access for creditworthy but lower-wealth borrowers, FHFA is also working with the Enterprises [Fannie and Freddie] to develop sensible and responsible guidelines for mortgages with loan-to-value ratios between 95 and 97 percent. Through these revised guidelines, we believe that the Enterprises will be able to responsibly serve a targeted segment of creditworthy borrowers with lower-down payment mortgages by taking into account compensating factors. It is yet another much needed piece to the broader-access-to-credit puzzle.” Director Watt recognizes that low down payments did not cause the housing crisis, but that irresponsible products and predatory lending did. Lowering Fannie and Freddie down payment requirements will allow tens of thousands of African Americans, Latinos and working class Americans to purchase lower cost mortgages and become homeowners. That is good for our communities and good for America.
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Neighborhood
Petworth residents learn how to combat crime By Taylor Carr Howard University News Service
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new family has moved into the house two doors away from yours. Suddenly, there is traffic in and out of the house daily. People congregate outside at all hours of the day and night. Profanity, arguments and loud conversations can be overheard. It appears drug sales might be taking place. What can you and other residents do? A lot, said an assistant attorney general of the District of Columbia and a community prosecutor with the Department of Justice. Asst. Attorney General Michael Aniton and Community Prosecutor Trena Carrington of the Department of Justice gave residents of the Petworth neighborhood a list of things they should do to protect themselves and their neighborhood during their recent Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) meeting. ANC Commissioner Donna Brockington noted that there were several complaints from residents about the noise in the neighborhood. “Noise is definitely an issue,� Aniton said in response to Brockington’s concern. But she also wanted to target some tougher community problems. “I want to focus more on the drug, gun and prostitution aspect,� said Aniton, whose office handles housing code violations, businesses operating without proper licenses or permits, drug, firearm, prostitution and general nuisances. “A nuisance property uses, sells, or reproduces drugs, keeps or stores firearms that aren’t registered or engages or practices prostitution in any manner.� If residents notice property in the neighborhood that would be considered a nuisance property, he said, they should call the police. Once a complaint is made, the investigation would begin, he told the more than 50 residents in attendance. Aniton stressed that although there may be suspicious activity
There are a few things you can do if a house in your neighborhood is a nuisance.
going on in the community, the activity must be reported. “Do [resident’s concerns] have to be an emergency [to call the police],� Brockington asked. “No,� Aniton said. “A call can be anything.� Police are first looking for evidence that the property has an adverse impact, Aniton and Carrington said. That evidence can include increased fear of residents in the area, increased vehicular and pedestrian traffic, increased police calls, bothersome solicitations, dangerous weapons displayed, investigative purchases, arrests at or near property, executed search warrants and discharged firearms, they said. One or more of those conditions has to be present for the property to be considered to have an adverse impact on the community. But first, there has to be a call for service, followed by a search warrant and arrest reports on file as evidence against the property to begin a legal process against the property, Aniton said. “Once we have the evidence that shows that there’s an adverse property, then we can move forward,� he said. “We can use that evidence to essentially bring a case against the property owner.� Aniton and Carrington said after those conditions have been
met, the following occurs. Once there is enough evidence, a notice is sent to the property owner. The letter informs them that their property has been reported as a nuisance and asks what the owner plans to do to remedy the problem. Remedies include putting up fences, installing lights outside of the property, initiating an eviction process or the destruction of sheds. The owner then has 14 days to respond to the notice. If the owner agrees to cooperate and take the necessary steps to remedy the problem, the case is closed and considered successful. If the owner does not respond or responds stating that he or she is not going to remedy the problem, a complaint is filed. The complaint turns into a criminal property case. The complaint asks the judge to order the owner to find and put in affect a solution the issue. “An investigation can be from a month to a year or longer,� Aniton said. “It’s a process,� Carrington added. “Sometimes it’s three or four agencies trying to combat the problem.� Aniton and Carrington said residents with concerns could email them at Michael.aniton@ gmail.com or trena.carrington@usdoj.gov.
Divine Intervention
Can Religion, commerce go separate ways this Christmas?
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Modern day Christmas shopping frenzy has little to do with the true meaning of the religious festival.
By Tom Ehrich Religion News Service (RNS) I’ve decided not to worry about the earlier-than-ever start to Christmas commerce this year. Shortly after Halloween, with hardly a nod to Thanksgiving, stores and advertisers began going full-bore on the supposed “Christmas package,” namely, gift-giving, family fun, decorating and entertaining. It’s sad -- this annual effort to derive profits from a facsimile of a 1950s Christmas -- but other things are a lot sadder: an elusive economic recovery, continuing gun violence, racial violence, religious extremism, mounting rage and intolerance at home and echoes of the Cold War in Europe. Let commerce tread the line between gauche and tacky -- merchants have salaries and suppliers to pay, after all. We have a troubled world to care about. The path to that care doesn’t go by way of Wal-Mart or Budweiser. It is God’s path, and it goes by way of anticipation, promises, prophetic vision, a birth, a life, a death, and over all of it a sustaining grace that cares little for our seasonal receipts but cares intensely about our lives. Maybe it’s good that commerce has declared its independence
from religion and decorum. That clears the way for faith to have its parallel season -- not in competition with commerce, but as the deeper reality that commerce can never attain, the deeper meaning we yearn for. Many stores, for example, announced plans to start holiday shopping early, on Thanksgiving Day. That spawned a countermovement by some major retailers to stay closed on Nov. 27, so workers could be with their families. Either way, the message is clear: “Christmas shopping” has nothing to do with a religious festival, but is simply a way to encourage shopping. There isn’t any depth of meaning to that desire. Some fun perhaps, and certainly a ton of anxiety. But not meaning, not a connection with God. The religious whining set will worry about a “war on Christmas.” The victim role is a favorite among religious bullies. From what I have seen thus far, if that war ever existed, it is over, and Christmas as a religious season won. Holiday advertisers don’t even pretend to link their marketing with the birth of a savior. The question now is what faith communities will do. Can we convey the meaning that people are seeking? Can we go beyond try-
ing to replicate the iconic scenes of an imagined 1950s everyone-inchurch family Christmas? We face serious issues, deprivation and oppression not unlike that which attended the original birth narrative. If the infancy narrative is to be preached, it should be now, as immigration and the forced movement of people demand our attention, as the powerful snoop on us, as many wonder if God has anything to say in a distressed, wartorn world. The call of the prophet for “comfort” isn’t an invitation to snuggle down with well-gifted and contented loved ones. The call says God is crossing the desert to lead God’s people home from exile. Liberation lies ahead. Shopping is just background noise. Shop or don’t shop, be prudent or max out your credit, buy on Thanksgiving Day or wait until Christmas Eve, the surging rage in our public square requires more than a shopping list. Tom Ehrich is a writer, church consultant and Episcopal priest based in New York. He is the president of Morning Walk Media and publisher of Fresh Day online magazine. His website is www.morningwalkmedia.com. Follow Tom on Twitter @tomehrich.
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Cover Obama responds to police on Blacks violence By Hazel Trice Edney (TriceEdneyWire.com) – Outrage continues across the country this month over the epidemic of police violence, profiling and harassment of Black people. The consistent protests were sparked by the failure of grand juries in Missouri and New York City to indict White cops who killed Ferguson Black teenager Michael Brown and NY City Black resident Eric Garner. Thousands of protesters in dozens of cities around the country took to the streets, Nov. 24, after Prosecutor Robert McCulloch, who led the grand jury process, announced the decision of the jury of nine Whites and three Blacks not to indict Officer Darren Wilson, who killed Brown. The breakdown of the final vote remains a secret. “As I said last week in the wake of the grand jury decision, I think Ferguson laid bare a problem that is not unique to St. Louis or that area, and is not unique to our time, and that is a simmering distrust that exists between too many police departments and too many communities of color,” President Obama said in televised statements from the White House Monday evening, Dec. 1. President Obama’s remarks
came after a day-long White House meeting with elected officials, community and faith leaders, and law enforcement officials “on how communities and law enforcement can work together to build trust to strengthen neighborhoods across the country.” But the President’s words and announcement of his plans may not be enough to quell the unrest. Even civil rights leaders challenge him on his actions. The Rev. Jesse Jackson last week challenged the President to go to Ferguson, a community writhing in pain. “Ferguson is too important to be treated on the margins,” Jackson wrote in his weekly column, released Monday after the President’s White House meeting. The column titled, “Mr. President, Come to Ferguson” said, “There is a Ferguson in every metropolitan area of America … At times, a single incident throws a powerful light on a reality. Ferguson is one of those times. And to ensure that this reality is not simply discussed in passing, but dealt with, elevated to the top of the national agenda, President Obama should come to Ferguson.” President Obama announced: < A new task force that will listen to law enforcement and community activists and other stakeholders
and report back to him in 90 days with concrete recommendations, including best practices for communities where law enforcement and neighborhoods are working well together. < The signing of an executive order that will prevent building a militarized culture inside local law enforcement agencies. < Expanded funding for local law enforcement for training, including up to 50,000 additional body-worn cameras for police and law enforcement. < The convening of a series of these meetings across the country, “because this is not a problem simply of Ferguson, Missouri, this is a problem that is national.” Still, unrest appears to be growing as protests – both organized and spontaneous – continue around the nation. Attorney General Eric Holder, speaking to a crowd at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta last week, was interrupted by protestors, shouting, “No Justice, No Peace!” among other chants. Whether initiatives by the Obama Administration will stop the protests is questionable at best. The anger is being fueled by decades of unchecked police brutality in Black communities with little acknowledgement of it.
Obama meets with former DC police chief Ramsey (in uniform) and others to enact change.
The NAACP launched a “Journey for Justice” March last weekend in partnership with a coalition of civil rights organizations. Marchers are on a journey from Ferguson to the Governor’s Mansion in Jefferson City, Missouri, to “demand new leadership of the Ferguson Police Department, and wholesale changes to police and criminal justice processes and procedures to end racial profiling and police brutality.” President Obama has promised change: “This is a solvable prob-
lem,” he said. “Part of the reason this time will be different is because the President of the United States is deeply invested in making sure this time is different. When I hear the young people around this table talk about their experiences, it violates my belief in what America can be to hear young people feeling marginalized and distrustful, even after they’ve done everything right. That’s not who we are. And I don’t think that’s who the overwhelming majority of Americans want us to be.”
Blacks find ally in White Christians after grand juries failure By Adelle M. Banks Religion News Service “African-American brothers and sisters, especially brothers, in this country are more likely to be arrested, more likely to be executed, more likely to be killed.” It’s the kind of statement often cited by Black clergy and civil rights activists. However, on December 3, hours after a grand jury chose not to indict the New York City police officer that put Eric Garner into a fatal chokehold, those words came from White evangelical leader Russell Moore. With back-to-back grand jury decisions that White police officers will not face charges in the deaths of unarmed Black men, White Christians, including evangelicals, have grown more vocal in urging predominantly White churches to no longer turn a blind eye to injustice and to bridge the country’s ra-
cial divides. “It’s time for us in Christian churches to not just talk about the gospel, but live out the gospel by tearing down these dividing walls,” said Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. “Not only by learning and listening to one another, but also by standing up and speaking out for one another.” The Rev. Alan Cross, a White pastor in Montgomery, Alabama, said the publicized video of Garner’s chokehold has moved some White Christians to speak when they might not have. “What often happens when White evangelicals try to speak into this is that we continue to think first in terms of our own position,” said Cross, a Southern Baptist and author of “When Heaven and Earth Collide: Racism,” “Southern Evangelicals,” and “The Better Way of
6 | Dec. 11 - Dec. 17, 2014 | District Chronicles
Jesus.” “We should consider what people in the Black community are saying, what they are going through, what is their experience.” Cross and others went online in the hours after the Garner decision to share the reactions of the Black community. Author Barnabas Piper chose to post what others were saying about Ferguson and Garner on his blog, saying as “a young White man” he wasn’t in the best position to explain it all. “Put yourself in the shoes of the authors and immerse yourself in the experiences they describe,” wrote Cross. “You and I need to do so if we want to contribute anything to stopping injustice and closing the racial gap that exists.” The Rev. Barbara WilliamsSkinner, co-chair of the National African-American Clergy Network, sees a growing interest among White Christians and others to speak up about the series of events
capped with the Garner decision. “It just so offends the human spirit of people of every race that it compels them to act,” said WilliamsSkinner. “We don’t have to ask young White students and young White adults anymore to act. They understand ... if the system will so violate the rights of people of color today, they will violate everybody’s rights tomorrow.” Even before the Garner decision, the progressive Christian group Sojourners had gathered 50 leaders, including Black clergy and White evangelicals, for a retreat that included a “historic pilgrimage of racialized St. Louis” and a discussion of theological implications for “our nation’s broken justice system.” “There were White evangelicals in the room in Ferguson who were weeping when the Garner decision came down,” said the Rev. Jim Wallis, founder of the Washingtonbased social justice group.
“The degradation and demeaning of Black life must stop,” said Serene Jones, president of New York’s Union Theological Seminary. “What the hell kind of country do we live in?” Moore, noting some of the reaction after he called for racial reconciliation in the wake of the Ferguson strife, said some White Christians see no reason to speak up for better race relations. “I have gotten responses, and seen responses, that are right out of the White Citizens’ Council material from 1964 in my home state of Mississippi, seeing people saying there is no gospel issue involved with racial reconciliation,” said Moore in a podcast. “Are you kidding me? There is nothing that is clearer in the New Testament than the fact that the gospel breaks down the dividing walls that we have between one another.”
Politics
Failure to indict not derailing Movement for justice By Jazelle Hunt NNPA Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON (NNPA) – The failure of a St. Louis County grand jury to indict Ferguson, Missouri, Police Officer Darren Wilson of the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown will not halt the movement for police accountability, key activists say. A mass meeting was held earlier this month at a church in Ferguson to define and chart a course toward these broader goals. But the overall goal is already outlined in an open letter supported by “numerous” unnamed citizens, but bearing the sole signature of DeRay McKesson, one of the more prominent protesters in Ferguson. The letter reads: “So you will likely ask yourself, now that the announcement has been made, why we will still take to the streets? … Until this system is dismantled, until the status quo that deems us less valuable than others is no longer accept-
able or profitable, we will struggle. We will fight. We will protest.” In August, McKesson helped create a daily Ferguson newsletter, and a website that lists nine demands. The evolving list currently includes “political accountability” for Brown’s death; the creation of an assessment tool to gauge racial bias within police departments; and an end to “provocative police behaviors” that suppress First Amendment rights. No timeline has been placed on agitating for these demands. There is also little sign that Missouri authorities are interested in considering them. Faith leaders plan to continue using their unique positions in society to advocate for peaceful solutions. The Rev. Cassandra Gould, for example, has been active in Ferguson since August and was in front of the Ferguson Police Department with protesters and Brown’s family when the grand jury decision was
announced. Gould, who serves as pastor of Quinn Chapel A.M.E. Church in Jefferson City, Missouri, spent the rest of that night tending to tired and tear-gassed demonstrators at a few church-based sanctuaries around town. Despite a deal between clergy and police to leave the sanctuaries undisturbed, she says, police raided several, confiscating supplies and dispersing those inside. “I’ve spent my life in St. Louis. I don’t remember much about the Civil Rights Movement … my mom marched to Selma. I thought that was part of a historical narrative, and I never thought I would see anything close to it,” she said. Human rights activists are also documenting militarized police responses around the country to build a human rights violation case against the United States. The Ferguson to Geneva delegation, which presented testimony to the United Nations Committee Against Torture in
Switzerland last month, has invited United Nations investigators (called Special Rapporteurs) to launch their own investigations into the matter. The investigators are akin to the Justice Department lawyers who monitored civil rights marches and voter registration in the South in the 1960s. The delegation is funneling their eyewitness accounts to the rapporteurs to encourage United Nations involvement. “One [rapporteur] wrote us a long letter talking about how he has sympathy for us. Another one, we have a meeting with him in New York in early December,” said Justin Hansford, human rights law professor at Saint Louis University and lead organizer for Ferguson to Geneva. “We have countries around the world speaking out about Ferguson. We tried the local level, the state, and federal government. We have to take this to the court of global opinion now.” Jagannath added, “Michael
Brown’s killing really catalyzed a movement to change how police interact with people, especially people of color. Moving forward, people are not looking at this thing like let’s switch out the police chief or let’s switch out the governor. People are not naïve, they know that the structure is the problem.” While the state of Missouri will not indict Darren Wilson for any crime in connection to the shooting, Gov. Jay Nixon has created an independent 16-member commission to study the “underlying social and economic conditions” fueling the community’s response. The committee is scheduled to release its findings next year. The U.S. Department of Justice has two investigations underway, one into whether Wilson violated Brown’s civil rights and a second one into the larger practices of the Ferguson Police Department. Brown’s parents are also considering bringing a civil action against Wilson.
We must look back in order to move forward
By Dr. Wilmer J. Leon, III
(TriceEdneyWire.com) - “There is not a Black America and a White America … there’s the United States of America.” – Senator Barack Obama 2004 As Americans react to the Grand Jury decisions to “no-bill” in the Eric Garner and Michael Brown cases and struggle to come to grips with the most recent shooting death of 12 year-old Tamir E. Rice in Cleveland, Ohio, the shooting death of John Crawford, III in Dayton, Ohio and the shooting death of Victor White III in New Iberia, LA it is obvious that the system is failing. There are different Americas for ethnically different Americans. The reasons that African Americans, other people of color and now whites from differing backgrounds are protesting these killings are very complex. Among the major factors are 1) the misperception of African American men as inherently threatening leads to too many white police officers to engage in the extrajudicial killing of these unarmed citizens 2) America’s criminal justice system fails to hold these officers accountable. Senator Obama’s assertion in 2004 that there is “One America” was wrong. The Kerner Commission was correct in 1968 when it opined, “Our nation is moving toward two societies,
one black, one white—separate and unequal.” We see this playing out in economic, health, education, mass incarceration statistics and the focus of this article, unarmed victims of police shootings. Many are asking, “How has America come to this point?” I submit that this is not a new phenomenon. We are today where America has always been. These systemic failures must be examined within the context of a recent history that has become all too familiar. The solution to these extrajudicial killings is not a matter of body cameras it is a matter of psychoanalysis. It is not a matter of more training it is a matter of psychotherapy. In order for America to move forward and correct its ongoing racist trajectory Americans must look back, examine and accept how its racist history has become a controlling element of its nationalist psyche. Since the first Africans set foot on the shores of Jamestown, VA in 1619 the lives and humanity of African Americans have never been respected by America. For example, a Virginia Slave Code from 1669 read – “if any slave resist his master…and by the extremity of the correction should chance to die, that his death shall not be acompted felony, but the master… be acquit from molestation, since it
cannot be presumed that prepense malice…should induce any man to destroy his own estate.” Today’s translation, white police officers can shoot unarmed African American citizens with impunity. Ask yourself this, if Eric Garner or Michael Brown had been white, would the police officers that shot or choked them have felt so threatened? Would the police officer’s patterns of perception, logic and symbol formation have been different reacting to a white suspect vs. a black/Hispanic suspect - perhaps resulting in their lives being spared? America has a history of extrajudicial murders. In The Negro Holocaust Robert Gibson wrote, “According to the Tuskegee Institute figures, between the years 1882 and 1951, 4,730 people were lynched in the United States: 3,437 Negro and 1,293 white. The largest number of lynchings occurred in 1892. Of the 230 persons lynched that year, 161 were Negroes and sixty-nine whites.” Even though not all of these victims died at the hands of the police, it was not the practice of local law officials to arrest the perpetrators and bring them to trial. The message to African Americans was loud and clear, “The American system of justice does not apply to you”. Neither Michael Brown nor Eric Garner was afforded
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the opportunity to face a jury of their peers for their alleged crimes. “Justice” was dispensed on the street by law enforcement officials. It is ironic that as people fill the streets to protest these latest murders, December 4th was the 45th commemoration of the murder of Illinois Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton and his comrade Mark Clark in 1969. Hampton and Clark were summarily executed by Chicago police officers during a predawn raid of the apartment that they shared… while they slept. America has a long history of extra judicial killings. The so-called “War on Terror” has now turned inward. Domestic forces are being militarized and trained in combat style tactics by and with Israeli security forces. Too many police forces and officers view the African American citizens that they have sworn to “Protect and Serve” as enemy combatants to be “Feared and Eliminated”. The most recent grand jury “nobills” have sent the very clear message that the lives of African American men are worthless. This is eerily reminiscent of Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney’s Dred Scott decision in 1857. African Americans “were not intended to be included, under the word “citizens” in the constitution, and can therefore claim none of the rights and
privileges which that instrument provides for and secures to citizens of the United States.” Those facing the oppressive forces in this country and being disaffected by the outcomes of its injustice system must engage the very system that oppresses them. They must engage in the streets, courts, and legislatures in concerted efforts to bring about substantive change. Too many people have placed unrealistic expectations on the Obama Administration. There is no way that one man or one administration can undo 395 years of oppression and racial terrorism. With that being said, President Obama has failed to use his bully pulpit to forcefully articulate and advocate for the interests of the constituents that sent him to the White House. As Americans react to the Grand Jury decisions to “no-bill” in the Eric Garner and Michael Brown cases they must come to realize that we have to look back in order to move forward. Based on this racist history, America never was America to me.
Dr. Wilmer Leon is a political scientist and host of the radio program “Inside the Issues with Wilmer Leon.” Go to www.wilmerleon.com or Dr. Leon’s Prescription @ Facebook.com or www.twitter.com/drwleon
District Chronicles | Dec. 11 - Dec. 17, 2014 | 7
Technology
Bring a little tech etiquette to your holiday festivities
(BPT) – Have you ever found yourself wondering if it was appropriate to check your work email during a holiday party? Do you feel guilty about entertaining your kids with technology during the busy holiday season? In a recent survey commissioned by Microsoft, Americans shared their anxieties and concerns about holiday technology. Luckily for you, you’re not the only one sending your thank you notes via text and even better, most people think it’s completely acceptable. Still wondering about holiday tech etiquette? Here are some tips to help guide you this season.
2. Go ahead, take a holiday selfie. You’ll be in good company. According to the survey, 75 percent of American parents are likely to post to social media during a holiday gathering, so whether it’s a video of your aunt’s unique approach to mashing potatoes or pictures of the annual neighborhood Thanksgiving football game, share away. 3. Don’t stress about keeping the kids entertained. When traveling for the holidays, 72 percent of parents use technology to entertain their kids. And don’t feel guilty about letting them watch or play what they want. Only 7 percent of parents restrict kids to educational shows, movies and games compared to 40 percent who aren’t worried as much about the content, as long as it keeps kids busy in the car or on the plane. 4. Happy holidays, world. If you’re in the mood to spread holiday cheer
8 | Dec. 11 - Dec. 17, 2014 | District Chronicles
centrictv.com
1. Don’t fret, you aren’t the only one checking your phone at the holiday table. If you find yourself sneaking a peek at your phone during the family holiday dinner, you’re not alone. Forty-one percent of Americans admit to checking their phone secretly under the holiday table, according to the survey. But phone checkers beware: while a majority of Americans feel it’s completely appropriate to check social media during holiday gatherings, only 34 percent approve of people looking at work email. If the dings of
incoming emails are too enticing, use a digital personal assistant like Cortana to set quiet hours on your phone so incoming calls go straight to voicemail and all notifications are silenced.
It is OK to send holiday wishes via text. You won’t be the only one doing so this season.
to everyone on your contact list, pen and paper aren’t your only option. Although according to the survey, 43 percent of people still send cards via traditional mail, more than half of Americans are OK with sending mass holiday well wishes via text message. So it’s OK to forget the stamps and hit send instead to
share the joy this year.
5. Use tech to make thank yous more personal. If you’re not into writing thank-you notes the oldfashioned way, consider sending a quick video message using Skype or Qik instead. That way the gift giver can see and hear how much
you appreciate the gift. You can also share a story or two about everything the family has been doing this holiday season. You have enough to think about during the holidays. Don’t let technology etiquette add extra stress. So, go ahead and post a holiday selfie. You won’t be the only one.
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Ward 8 residents, officials blast the plan to build the BrightFarms’ urban greenhouse because they were kept out of the loop.
By Jasmine Jackson Howard University News Service WASHINGTON – A plan to build a 120,000 square foot greenhouse in Southeast Washington that will produce one million pounds of fresh lettuce, tomatoes, and herbs annually ran into opposition from Ward 8 commissioners who say they don’t want the project in their community. The District of Columbia’s Department of General Services has signed a lease with BrightFarms Incorporated, a New York-based company that builds greenhouses, to construct what the company said will be the world’s most productive urban farm. The project is scheduled to be completed by 2015 near the intersection of South Capitol Street and Southern Avenue. The BrightFarms Greenhouse Project is one of the initiatives of outgoing Mayor Vincent C. Gray to increase healthy food grown within the city. DGS, in coordination with the Department of Parks and Recreation, negotiated a 10-year ground lease for a portion of the Oxon Run Park-Eastover site. “The greenhouse farm project is consistent with our sustainable D.C. food goals,” Gray said in a statement when he announced the project in 2011. “This project not only adds two and a half acres of food-cultivating land within the District, but it helps put the city on the path to ensuring universal access to secure, nutritious and affordable food supplies.” City officials said the project
will create 100 construction jobs and 25 permanent jobs. BrightFarms is supposed to grow enough crops to meet the fresh-vegetable-consumption needs for up to 5,000 residents, create 25 full time green collar jobs, and facilitate more than 100 construction jobs. The company has built or is building farms in Bucks County, Pennsylvania; Oklahoma City; St. Louis; New York City; Chicago; and Kansas City, Missouri. BrightFarms will also be partnering with 32 Giant Food stores to provide fresh produce grown at the greenhouse. Seventy percent of the produce is to be bought by Giant Foods. The rest will go to other food markets, according to DGS. During a recent Advisory Neighborhood Commission meeting, Ward 8 residents and commissioners said they do not want a green house in their neighborhood, because it will not provide enough benefits directly to people living in the community. “It is a disrespect to the community because the ANC has never heard about it,” said Commissioner Olivia Henderson, who serves as the 8D02 commissioner for Ward 8. “I have never received any of this information. You guys are starting this project, but the first public announcement was May 9, 2013.” ANC 8D commissioners said they are upset with the DGS for starting a project in their community without proper consent and notification. The commissioners said none of them received a letter of intent or notification of the proj-
ect. “I contacted you spring 2013,” said Commissioner Absalom Jordan, who serves as the 8D03 commissioner of Ward 8. “You promised you would get back to me, and I haven’t heard from you since then.” Derek Davis, who owns a barbershop in Ward 8, said he was also upset about the project. “It bothers me real bad as a resident, tax payer and business owner that I didn’t know anything about this project,” said Davis. “I am opposed to it.” Thea Dyson, who serves as the 8D06 commissioner of Ward 8, said she thought the land could have been used better. “Why are we having someone come in for something we can do ourselves?” asked Dyson. “Why give the food to Giant when we can give it to the residents for free? People here need the basics, food, water, and shelter. There are a lot of people that are hungry. At least a third or half should be given to the residents.” Davis said that the Ward needed a senior wellness center more than it needed a greenhouse. Marc Chambers, associate director of the DGS, told those in opposition of the greenhouse that, while the suggestions for other projects might be good, they cost money, and no one had offered a plan of how they could be built. “The project has to be financed,” said Chambers. “There might be a way to make a program happen like that, but this project is creating 35 jobs, and in order to be created it has to be financed.”
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District Chronicles | Dec. 11 - Dec. 17, 2014 | 11
In the Neighborhood Metro Briefs: Notable news in and around Washington District of Columbia DC Lottery Monopoly Millionaires’ Club names first $1,000,000 winner
J
in 22 states and the District. “This is an exciting win for the DC Lottery,” said Executive Director Buddy Roogow. “This is our first big win with this game and we’re excited to help create more and more millionaires with the Monopoly Millionaires’ Club.” The winning ticket is a Millionaires’ Club level winner and was purchased at Cathedral Liquors, located at 3000 Connecticut Ave., NW, for the game held on November 7, 2014. The winning numbers were: 27-1-12-11-9, Property #19 (B&O Railroad), and the Millionaires’ Club Number was DC 0003-001217.
DC Lottery
ust Portables Trust of Orlando, Florida has claimed the first $1,000,000 prize awarded in the District of Columbia with the new Monopoly Millionaire’s Club. Felix Alexander, a representative of the trust and the actual buyer of the ticket, was excited to be the first winner of the newly launched
multi-state lottery game. “I was in D.C. on business and thought I’d take a chance on the new game. I tried with another store, but was not able to purchase tickets. I guess it was just for me to buy that ticket at that store,” said Alexander, who operates the Florida-based computer tech company. Launched in October 2014, Monopoly Millionaires’ Club is the nation’s newest multi-state jackpot game and features three ways to win: Top Prize, Millionaires’ Club prizes, and the chance to win $1,000,000 on the TV game show of the same name. The game is played
Mayor for life gets a hero’s home going
Robert Eubanks/District Chronicles
Robert Eubanks/DistrictChronicles
Robert Eubanks/District Chronicles
Robert Eubanks/DistrictChronicles
Robert Eubanks/DistrictChronicles
Robert Eubanks/District Chronicles
12 | Dec. 11 - Dec. 17, 2014 | District Chronicles
Clockwise from top-left: Marion Barry’s casket drew many from all over the city at the John A. Wilson Building last week. The revered D.C. politician’s body sat in repose for 24 hours starting Thursday December 4. The next day, the casket is carried out with his wife Cora Masters Barry, Mayor Vince Gray and Councilman Phil Mendelson in tow. The casket would make it’s way to Temple of Praise in Southeast afterwards . (Photo Credit: Robert Eubanks).