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REPORTERS
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Nat’l Civil Rights Museum to Host 30th Anniversary Freedom Awards
The National Civil Rights Museum has announced the honorees for its 30th Anniversary Freedom Award. The Freedom Award, the Museum’s signature event that pays tribute to outstanding individuals for their significant contributions to civil and human rights, will be virtually presented Oct. 14 from the Orpheum Theatre in Memphis. This year’s honorees include: Michelle Obama and The Poor People’s Campaign, led by the Rev. Dr. William Barber II and Dr. Liz Theoharis. A special tribute will recognize Darnella Frazier whose eyewitness video of George Floyd launched global protests against injustice and brutality. It was her viral video that sparked a racial reckoning in the midst of a global pandemic. Visit freedomaward.org for more information and updates. WI
Sept. 10th Rally Slated to Support Bethesda’s Mose African Cemetery
The co-chairs of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival will join local activists in supporting the return of Mose African Cemetery to the Macedonia Baptist Church in Bethesda, during a rally Friday. Descendants of those buried in the cemetery and church members will attend the rally at 11 a.m. Friday, Sept. 10, at 5119 River Road in Bethesda, while the co-chairs, the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, will speak via Zoom. The rally will be live streamed at Maryland Poor People's Campaign Facebook page. The Moses African Cemetery, where over 500 enslaved and free people are buried, lies under the parking lot of an apartment complex constructed by developers in the 1960s. After Emancipation, the cemetery served the historic African River Road Community in Bethesda, which was also wiped out by development, discriminatory developers, realtors and county officials at the time.
“One of my most sacred duties is committing the souls of the deceased and ensuring the sanctity of their burial ground,” said the Rev. Dr. Segun Adebayo, pastor of Macedonia Baptist Church. “Because of the county, we can’t do that now at our Moses African Cemetery.”
“Black lives must matter even – and especially – in death,” said Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, president of the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition. WI
On Sept. 12 – 17, the 50th Annual Legislative Conference will be held virtually as the Congressional Black Caucus [CBC] celebrates its largest class to date. The conference programming reflects the CBC’s charge for 2021 and beyond to a continued commitment to uplifting, empowering and mobilizing Black communities through the theme of “Black Excellence Unparalleled: Pressing Onward in Power.”
You can be part of the leading policy conference on issues impacting African Americans and the global Black community.
For more information about ALC, email alc@cbcfinc.org or visit their website.
WI
Howard University Faces a Trifecta: Cyberattack, Rise in COVID-19 Infections and Housing Shortage
Sam P.K. Collins WI Staff Writer
On Tuesday, a ransomware cyber attack brought most activity at Howard University [HU], including academics and wireless-based tasks, to a halt for a still undetermined period of time.
HU’s IT department detected unusual activity on the university’s network over the weekend and shut it down to investigate the situation. It has since enlisted the help of forensic experts and law enforcement to determine the impact of the incident and to reach a long-term solution.
“This is a highly dynamic situation and it is our priority to protect all sensitive personal, research and clinical data,” university officials wrote in an official statement on Tuesday, Sept. 6.
“We are in contact with the FBI and D.C. city government and we are installing additional safety measures to further protect the university’s and your personal data from any criminal ciphering.”
As has been the case at other schools, community members at Howard started the academic year excited about students’ long-awaited return to campus but uneasy about infection rates of the COVID-19 Delta variant which continues to increase as cases spread nationwide.
In recent weeks, housing shortages and reports about positive on-campus COVID-19 cases have only intensified such concerns, causing many to question whether university officials may have been too hasty in reopening the campus.
Historically Black colleges and universities throughout the South have weathered similar situations in states where leadership has been strongly opposed to mask and vaccine mandates.
One example includes officials at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, where they divided students into cohorts who alternate between online and on-campus classes each week. In New Orleans, Xavier University reversed the enrollment of students who didn’t confirm their vaccination.
Meanwhile, Howard launched a site to keep community members abreast of what’s unfolding on campus.
During the last full week of August, the university reported nearly 40 positive COVID-19 cases, and a positivity rate of less than 2 percent. Officials noted that they quadrupled the number of students taking COVID-19 tests each week and therefore expected positive rates to increase among asymptomatic students.
As students moved onto campus early last month, faculty members expressed their apprehension about multiple issues, particularly how to boost vaccination rates among students. Figures posted on Howard’s website place the rate, as of August 30, at nearly 80 percent.
Correspondence between the Faculty Senate and school administrators also highlighted what professors described as the lack of an air filtration system in many classrooms, inconsistent communication about COVID-19 cases, the school’s ability to enforce Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and the ease with which professors can opt to teach virtually.
“There are too many factors that make in-person instruction dangerous, even with a vaccine mandate,” said a Howard University professor who requested anonymity.
“Since we have not even reached 90 percent of the students and faculty fully vaccinated, the decision to return was premature,” they added. “Additionally, at least one of the buildings that might have been
HOWARD Page 42
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5 Howard University students now face a housing shortage due to an increase in enrollment and a demand for dwellings among upperclassmen. (Courtesy photo)
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black facts
SOURCE: BLACK AMERICA WEB
SEPT 9 - 15, 2021
SEPT. 9
1925 – Ossian Sweet, a Black Detroit physician, and a handful of armed family and friends defend his newly purchased home in a white neighborhood against a mob trying to force him out. He and his family and friends were ultimately acquitted of murder by an all-white jury in what came to be known as the Sweet Trials. 1934 – Renowned African American poet Sonia Sanchez is born in Birmingham, Alabama. 1941 – Soul music legend Otis Redding (below right) is born in Dawson, Georgia. 1968 – Arthur Ashe wins the first U.S. Open of the open era, becoming the first Black man to win the title.
SEPT. 10
1961 – Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's first president, returns from exile to lead the country 1976 – Mordecai Johnson, the first Black president of Howard University, dies in Washington, D.C.
SEPT. 11
1942 – Singer and actress Lola Falana is born in Camden, New Jersey. 1970 – Actress and Howard University alumna Taraji P. Henson, best known for the hit TV show "Empire," is born in Washington, D.C. 1977 – "Roots," the television miniseries based on Alex Haley's 1976 novel, wins 9 awards at the 19th annual Emmys. 1987 – Reggae great Peter Tosh is murdered in Kingston, Jamaica, during a home invasion.
SEPT. 12
1913 – Four-time Olympic gold medalist Jesse Owens is born in Oakville, Alabama. 1977 – Steve Biko, famed anti-apartheid activist, dies in police custody in Pretoria, South Africa. 1992 – Astronaut Mae Jemison becomes the first African American woman to travel in space.
SEPT. 13
1885 – Alain Locke, the first African American Rhodes
Scholar and "Dean" of the Harlem Renaissance, is born in Philadelphia. 1996 – Rap great Tupac Shakur dies in Las Vegas after being shot six days earlier.
SEPT. 14
1861 – Abolitionist John Rock, the first Black person to be admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States, gains admittance to the Massachusetts
Bar.
SEPT. 15
TUPAC SHAKUR
1963 – Four African American girls are killed in the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. THE WASHINGTON INFORMER / WWW.WASHINGTONINFORMER.COM WI
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BY SARAFINA WRIGHT
Michael K. Williams, the actor best known for his standout role as Omar Little on the award-winning HBO drama “The Wire,” has died at the age of 54. How will you remember Williams?
DARWIN HAMILTON /
WASHINGTON, D.C. This is sad. Rest in peace and paradise. He left a legacy of memorable characters and great acting.
DEIRDRE NORRIS /
HAGERSTOWN, MARYLAND Wow, this is sad! He was such a good actor and person. Underrated, but loved his craft and community. Prayer lifted for his family and all who knew him.
JOHNNY GROOMS /
CLEVELAND, OHIO Excellent actor. Wow! Starting with “The Wire,” I have watched this brother do his thing in many roles and films, including “Super Fly,” “Boardwalk Empire” and others. He and his talents will be greatly missed. Rest in heaven, my brother.
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L.S. FLORENCE /
PELHAM, GEORGIA He was awesome in everything he played in!
MELVIN MCKENZIE /
WASHINGTON, D.C. Rest in power, Michael Kenneth Williams. What an amazing talent he brought to the industry. It was an honor to watch him in “When They See Us.” God only calls the best home. My sincere condolences to the family.
Stay Informed!
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D. Kevin McNeir / WI Senior Editor
Twenty Years after 9/11, New Terrorists Have Emerged Draped in Red, White and Blue
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There’s something to be said about “the good old days.”
I look back on them and smile, more often than not. Of course, unless we’ve perfected the art of “selective memory,” we realize that to look back over the course of our lives also requires us to revisit moments of sorrow.
In just a few days, America will pause to remember that early September day 20 years ago when life as we knew it changed forever.
Back then, I was a beat reporter in Chicago starting the day as usual with coffee and donuts while engaging in chatter with my colleagues. It was deadline day for the weekly publication, so we had much to accomplish.
Suddenly, our fax machine began to beep loudly, spitting out tomes of press releases about strange goings on in New York City. As we gathered around the fax machine, our editor began reading directives from nation security officials “advising” us how to interpret and most important, how to share the news with our readers.
The United States was under attack.
Watching the Twin Towers burn, crumble and disintegrate on that Tuesday morning, Sept. 11, as well as seeing further destruction inflicted upon the Pentagon in Arlington, was a surreal experience.
There’s no need to revisit the terror we all felt. As for me, it’s still just as real and raw now as it was then.
I was a recently-divorced father and my two children who lived with their mother in Detroit were just 11 and 7 years old. Needless to say, I was worried out of my mind. But I had a job to do.
The editor decided to send a team from our suburban offices to downtown Chicago – I was dispatched as the reporter accompanied by a young photographer. As we boarded the train, I immediately noticed that we were the only two passengers headed toward downtown.
On the flip side, the trains heading away from the city were packed with the riders clearly in an agitated state. I don’t know for sure who was more afraid but I remember sweating bullets.
Sure, I was doing my job but I was not eager to become a hero or a martyr. But on we went to the skyscrapers that blanketed the Windy City skyline.
As there was so much we still did not know, I feared that airplanes of death might also be headed our way which would soon traverse the skies of Chicago as they already had in New York and Arlington.
However, my fear for my own life quickly subsided — I wanted to know where my children were and prayed that they were safe from harm. I feared for the safety of their mother, still the love of my life, who worked for the federal government in an office in downtown Detroit.
Cell phones were inoperable. Confusion and panic took hold of the American people. Yes, it was a 20th-century form of Armageddon.
Today, despite the recent warnings of potential terrorist acts, I have few concerns about attacks from foreign interlopers. I’m more concerned about American-based and bred terrorism: mass shootings, drive-by attacks, anthrax and other viral predators and white supremacist-led insurrections.
Twenty years ago, in the “good old days,” our greatest fears came from crazed minds and fanatical groups from abroad. Today, the threat which poses the greatest danger to our lives comes from within.
We have become our own and worst enemies. We are no longer the “united” states of America. As Baldwin once predicted, it’s the “fire next time” that we should fear most of all.
WI @mcneirdk
Editor’s Note: The original version of this commentary was first published in The Washington Informer on September 4, 2019.
District Residents Excited About New Frederick Douglass Bridge
James Wright WI Staff Writer
District residents are jubilant over the opening of the new Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge over the Anacostia River that will serve as a direct link between Wards 6 and 8.
“This is a beautiful day for our city,” D.C. Councilmember Trayon White (D-Ward 8), said in front of a crowd of dozens of people that included D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, members of the D.C. Council, D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and descendants of Frederick Douglass, in the middle of the bridge at the ribbon-cutting ceremony on Sept. 7.
“We knew Frederick Douglass. We know he was from Maryland but he came here to D.C. and chose to stay in D.C. As Wanda Lockridge would say, he was a ‘Ward8onian’. As this being a bridge, Frederick Douglass was known as a connector.”
D.C. Council member Charles Allen (D-Ward 6) joined in the praise of the opening of the bridge, saying “rivers divide but bridges unite” and “great cities have great bridges.”
The new Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge operates as a swing bridge --with a center span that pivots to allow ship traffic--that carries South Capitol Street over the Anacostia River. Originally built in 1950, it was named after Douglass in 1965. At the time, it stood as one of the only bridges in the country named for an African American.
Over time the original bridge withstood increased traffic patterns from the residents east of the Anacostia and the Maryland suburbs as well as the wear-and-tear of the rainstorms, snowstorms and heat waves, plus constant repair and expansion.
In 2007, 77,000 commuters used the bridge daily. The effort to build the replacement bridge started in 2012. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser provided funding in the city’s budget for six years. The overall cost of the bridge comes to $440 million, according to acting Director of the
5 Mayor Muriel Bowser, Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White and a Frederick Douglass character, along with construction workers, celebrate the completion and opening of the Frederick Douglass Bridge on Tuesday, Sept. 7. (Roy Lewis/The Washington Informer)
Department of Transportation Everett Lott. The original bridge will be deconstructed, with that process finalized in March 2022, Lott said.
THE NEW BRIDGE
The new bridge will be 1,600 feet long and is studded with three sets of parallel white arches. The bridge will have six traffic lanes and a joint bicycle-pedestrian path on either side of it. At both ends of the bridge, an esplanade runs under the bridge and along the Anacostia River adjacent to a community park.
It consisted of the reconstruction of the Suitland Parkway/I-295 Interchange. Formal construction began in the summer of 2017 and it is expected to be fully operational in Spring 2022. However, Bowser said the bridge will be open for traffic on Sept. 10. It is the biggest construction project in the District’s history, Bowser said, employing about 1,300 workers and involving minority and women-owned businesses at the level of $91 million in contracting.
NEW BRIDGE IS PRAISED
Sandy Allen, a lifelong resident of Ward 8 who represented it on the council from 1996-2005, said the new bridge reflects some of the ward’s history.
“I remember when the first bridge was built in 1950 and we who lived east of the river were so happy to see it,” Allen said. “Before then, we had to use the 11th Street bridge to get to the other side of the city and that bridge was raggedy and run-down. We were so happy with our South Capitol Street bridge and naturally we were overjoyed when it was named after Frederick Douglass.”
Allen served on the D.C. Council with Frank Smith, who represented Ward 1 from 1983-1999. Smith works as the founding executive director of the African American Civil War Memorial in the Shaw neighborhood, but stressed the importance of coming across the city to celebrate the new bridge.
“This is a great symbol for Anacostia and the city,” Smith said. “This bridge is very appropriate for Frederick Douglass. Even though I represented Ward 1 I care about the whole city. Frederick Douglass stood up for all of us. He had two
BRIDGE Page 42
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Friendship PCS Blow Pierce Campus Maintains Connections with Parents During In-Person Learning
Sam P.K. Collins WI Staff Writer
With their children learning at home for more than a year, parents had ample opportunity to engage teachers and help their young ones navigate the virtual learning environment.
This arrangement, in many cases, strengthened parents’ ties to their school community.
To keep up the momentum, the Parent Advisory Council [PAC] at Friendship Public Charter School Blow Pierce Campus has provided virtual yoga sessions, wellness offerings to parents, along with soon-to-come game nights and healthy cooking demonstrations.
PAC President Sharisse Baltimore said the programming will encourage parents to collaborate with teachers as they address socioemotional issues students developed during the pandemic.
“Children are coming in with emotional problems, being trapped in the house for the last year and a half,” said Baltimore, a mother of three elementary school-aged children who currently attend Friendship PCS Blow Pierce Campus. +Baltimore took over Friendship PCS Blow Pierce’s PAC in the fall of 2019, just months before COVID-19 forced schools to shutter.
Throughout the pandemic, she maintained contact with parents, but found that her struggles to engage them persisted, even though they spent more time at home with their children. In speaking with some of them, Baltimore recalled learning about economic stressors and unease about being more directly involved in their child’s education.
“Parents have to take into consideration that [when] they’re going through financial problems, all of that trickles down to their child who comes into the building and deals with the teacher who tries to educate them,” Baltimore added.
“I want to work with our parents to change our attitudes [so] we can become one big family.”
ADDRESSING MENTAL AND BEHAVIORAL HEALTH
A report published by the D.C. Policy Center in March found that Dis-
trict children who stayed home during the pandemic experienced social isolation, anxiety and depression. As adults increasingly reported symptoms of anxiety and depression, experts anticipated the likelihood of unreported and undetected child abuse cases.
During budget season earlier this year, education advocates in the charter sector lobbied D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) to invest in mental and behavioral health resources. This happened as the District and other jurisdictions received an infusion of dollars from the American Rescue Plan.
As part of a mental health expansion, 60 public charter schools, including Friendship PCS Blow Pierce Campus, connected with community-based organizations for mental and behavioral health services. Each school has a behavioral health coordinator who works with a student support team that refers students for services.
SMILE Therapy Services, based in Northeast, serves as Friendship PCS Blow Pierce’s community-based organization. As outlined on its website, SMILE’s treatment areas include children and adolescents, therapy for depression and anxiety, and trauma therapy.
Staff members at SMILE didn’t return The Informer’s inquiry about its role in tackling mental and behavioral health issues.
BRINGING PARENTS INTO THE CLASSROOM
On Aug. 23, Friendship PCS Blow Pierce Campus opened its doors to new--and returning--students and families. For the first couple of days, students, particularly those in the lower levels, didn’t spend all their time in the classroom. School officials instead conducted special activities and hosted meetings with parents.
After that, school officials, to prevent the spread of COVID, would no longer allow parents inside the school building.
This year, cases of separation anxiety, more so than in previous years, have occurred among PK-4 students still getting used to learning outside of the confines of their home. In anticipation of this developmental hurdle, instructors utilized video conferencing apps to connect young ones with their parents during the lunch hour.
As students ate lunch, a peer’s parent or guardian addressed the class and spurred a moment of excitement. Dominique Foster, a PK-4 teacher, said this strategy maintained bonds that children, parents, and teachers established during the pandemic.
“Parents got to see how students learned and they saw the strategies teachers used. They got to see their children’s growth,” said Foster, a teacher of nearly two decades who’s in her ninth year at Friendship PCS BlowPierce Campus.
“When we can make them partners, it makes our job easier. As a student, you want to see your parents proud of you and parents want to see their children grow. We have to figure out a way they can stay connected.”
WI
5 Sharisse Baltimore serves as the Parent Advisory Council president at Friendship Public Charter School Blow Pierce Campus. (Rob Roberts/The Washington Informer)
WELCOME BACK TO RECESS!
DC is making it easy for everyone ages 12 and up to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Get vaccinated and be even more confident heading back to school.
Go to backtoschool.dc.gov to learn more about childhood immunizations and the COVID-19 vaccine.
