The Washington Informer - July 16, 2020

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Capture the Moment Page 37

Vol. 55, No. 40 • July 16 - 22, 2020

Changing Tide Suggests Biden’s Best Bet is Woman of Color Latest Polls Show Former Challenger, Kamala Harris, as Top Choice for Dems

By D. Kevin McNeir and WI Staff Reporters WI Editor @dkevinmcneir

5 Kamala Harris (Courtesy photo)

5 Susan Rice (Courtesy photo/United Nations)

Redskins Officially Retire Nickname

REDSKINS Page 44

BLACK VPS Page 16

COVID-19 Continues its Deadly Assault on America California Faces Shutdown While District’s Deaths on Decline

By Daniel Kucin Jr. WI Contributing Writer @danielkucin88

Through a tumultuous series of events occurring over the past few months, Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder and leadership worked in unison on July 3 to jreview the name change of one of the oldest football teams in the NFL. Just 10 days later, the organization announced that the team would retire the name “Redskins” and its logo of a Native American man.

“On July 3rd, we announced the commencement of a thorough review of the team’s name,” the franchise said in a statement. “That review has begun in earnest. As part of this process, we want to keep our sponsors, fans and community apprised of our thinking as we go forward. Today, we

In early October 2018, a Washington Post report asked if the Democrats had the wherewithal to rally behind a leader who could both unify the part and provide a clear message and platform for voters.

Since then, we have seen a growing list of women, particularly those of color, who have emerged as potential running mates for former Vice-President Joe Biden – the party’s presumptive candidate – who could help the Democrats regain the White House.

And in a recent panel of Democratic primary voters, mostly in states that held early primaries, the results indicated that most citizens prefer seeing Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) as Biden’s running mate – refuting a more representative poll that had Warren leading although both polls showed majority support for a woman of color as VP. Still, the Monmouth University study should not be viewed as representative of the larger population as it only queried a randomly sampled panel of voters, primarily from four states. The panel of 2,240 Democratic

By D. Kevin McNeir WI Editor @dkevinmcneir

5 The Washington Redskins will retire its nickname and its logo of a Native American man. (Daniel Kucin Jr./The Washington Informer)

As the District continues to operate under Phase Two restrictions in efforts to curb the rise of COVID-10, DC Health Department reported on Monday that D.C. has experienced six days of sustained decrease in community spread with no additional coronavirus related deaths.

Still, 568 District residents have lost their lives due to COVID-19 with 40 new positive cases, bringing D.C.’s overall positive case total as of July 13 to 10,946. Virginia reported 800 new cases on

COVID-19 Page 38

5 Mayor Muriel Bowser (Courtesy photo/ Twitter grab)

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Women the Cycle of wi hotBreak topics Domestic Violence Racine Leads Coalition CBCF Welcomes Tonya Veasey

Health Policies as New President and CEO She saidSupporting law enforcement. they threat,” she said. had come together to bring a Among the programs Marlow The Congressional Black Caucus that Prevent Opioid Overdoses sense of uniformity in the way wants to see implemented are

By Tia Carol Jones WI Staff Writer

Foundation, Inc. [CBCF] recently When L.Y. Marlow's 23-yeardomestic violence victims D.C. and Attorney stricterGeneral restraining [AG]order Karl policies, A. Racine recently announced Tonya a comold daughterthat told her Veasey, the father survivors are treated. more rights for victim's families led a coalition of 10 AGs in supporting the rights of munications and marketing agency of her daughter threatened her “She's using her own personal to intervene on behalf of a vicstates to enact public health policies that can prevent founder and CEO, will lead the orgalife, and the life of their child, story, her own personal pain to tim, a domestic violence assessopioid overdoses and save lives.

The coalition nization as its new president and chief she knew something had to be push forward,” Davis-Nickens ment unit coupled with further opposes a Trump administration effort to stop Safehouse, a Pennexecutive officer. done.

Out of her frustration said about Marlow. training for law enforcement sylvania nonprofit, from operating a life-saving “safe than 20 years, Veasey has Davis-Nickens said anyone withFor lawmore enforcement's handling agencies, a Child's Life Protecinjection opioid overdose deaths. award-winning counseltoto top non- book ofprovided the situation, she decided whocorporations, reads Marlow's will site” tionthat Actcan andprevent mandatory counselThis medically supervised site will allow high-risk users profits, public entities and elected officials in issues managestart the Saving Promise cam- “get it.” She said she “puts the ing for batterers. to consume opioids and receive immediate medical care ment, crisis communications, corporate social responsibility; paign. case in such a way, the average “If we are ever going to eradiof an overdose.

The District is and inclusion “It diversity, seems toequity be a and vicious cyclestrategy. person can get it.” She saidinatthe theevent cate domestic violence, we mustone of the hardest-hit jurisdictions the opioid crisis, ranking sevproudturn to welcome Mrs. Veasey as the that“I am won't my family end of new the president day, the book will look at bothofsides of the coin. among the highest opioid overloose,” Marlow said.saidMarlow and CEO of CBCF,” Rep. Cedrichelp L. Richmond, chair, people begin to haveenth a diaWestates needwith to address bothrate theofvicdose deaths.

It isand crucial states to maintain shared story with the CBCFher board of directors.

“Asaudiinterim president and CEO she violence. logue about domestic tim theforbatterer,” Marlow authority to enact public health solutions that can save residents’ ence at the District Heights has streamlined operations, increased fundraising, created inAlso present at the event was said. lives.exDomestic Violence Symposium Mildredduring Muhammad, novative programming and led the organization a glob- the Marlow would also like to see on May 7 at and the an District Heights moment “As the programs District and designed states acrosstothe raise country expewife of John Allen Muhammad, al pandemic unprecedented in the movement Municipal Center.

The sympo- who was sentenced to six consecrience the awareness devastating among effects ofchildren the opioidincrisis, it is for equity for Black lives.” sium wasis the sponsored byCEO the of Open jurisdictions be able to enact utive Channels life terms without critical parole thatpublic and private schools.

Shelive-saving Veasey founder and Group Family and Youth Services by a Maryland jury for his role in solutions that fit the needs of their residents,” Racine feels children need to be educat(OCG+), a purpose driven full-service communications Center of the city of District the Beltway Sniper attacks in ed about domestic violence. said.

“Our coalition of State Attorneys General supports and marketing agency based in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

Heights the National Hook2002.

Mildred Muhammad is “Wetohave to astop being pasSafehouse’s right operate safe injection site that can Foundedand in 2006, OCG+ has grown into a multi-million-dolUp Black Women. the founder of After the Trauma, sive-aggressive withThe poor chilprevent opioid overdose deaths. federal government lar of company.

The agency has represented brands including Marlow writtenand a Sodexo. book, an organization that helps the notdren violence,” should seek toabout blockdomestic locally supported public health AT&T, Bellhas Helicopter “Color Me Butterfly,” which is a survivors of domestic violence Marlow said. interventions that are data-driven and can save lives.”

As CBCF president and CEO, among many responsibilistory aboutwill four generations of planning and their children. has worked to break According Marlow to the Centers for Disease Control and ties, Veasey spearhead strategic and vision as the domestic violence. The book is “I lived in fear for six years.

Six the cycle of abuse in her family, Prevention, 128 Americans die each day from an opiorganization adapts to changing socioeconomic landscapes. inspired by her own experiences, years in fear is a long time.

It is and is confident the policies she oid overdose.

Opioid deaths have been on the rise in She will also lead the CBCF mission to advance the global and those of her grandmother, not an easy thing to come is pushing for largely will start the out U.S. since 1999, based on thethat proliferation Black community by developing leaders, informing policy and her mother and her daughter. of,” she said. process. of opioid prescriptions.

The death toll now totals nearly educating the public.

She said every time she reads Mildred Muhammad450,000. said In the “I plan theseofpolicies firstto10take months 2019, to the District Veasey earned an executive MBA at Texas Christian Univerexcerpts from her book, she still people who want to help a Congress and implore them to recorded 220 opioid overdose deaths – a 22 percent insity and a bachelor’s degree from Paul Quinn College. can not believe the words came domestic violence victim must change our laws,” Marlow said. crease when compared to the same time period in 2018. more information, visit cbcfinc.org. fromForher.

“Color Me Butterfly” be careful of how they go into “I will not stop until these poliwon the 2007 National “Best the victim's life, and understand cies are passed.”

Books” Award. that she may be in “survival Tia Carol Jones can be reached “I was just 16-years-old when mode”. at tiacaroljones@sbcglobal.net my eye first blackened and my “Before you get to 'I'm going lips bled,” Marlow said. to kill you,' it started as a verbal WI AmeriHealth Caritas,presia national leader in Medicaid managed care and other Elaine Davis-Nickens, careNational solutionsHook-Up for those most in need, has announced the appointment of denthealth of the KarenWomen, Dale tosaid the newly of Black there iscreated no position of Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion consistency Officer. in the way domestic violence issues dealt

by Executive Council, will report directly to CEO and Dale, whoare joins thewith CEO’s chair Paul Tufano.

In her new role, Dale – a registered nurse -- will be responsible for leading the planning and execution of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives across the organization.

Dale will retain her current role as market president for AmeriHealth Caritas District of Columbia, the largest Medicaid managed care organization in Washington, D.C., leading an ethnically diverse membership of more than 120,000 enrollees who speak six different languages.

Prior to leading AmeriHealth Caritas District of Columbia, Dale served in several senior executive management roles in government, the social sector and health care.

“Doing this kind work — linking diversity and inclusion with measurable business and cultural outcomes — requires both courage and compassion. I am grateful for this opportunity to lead an important initiative that matters to me personally and professionally,” said Dale who earned a master’s degree in psychiatric mental health nursing from The Catholic University. “Times such as these call for listening and introspection, as well action. I am committed to facilitating conversations to create new perspectives and open hearts and minds and ending the systemic racism that permeates the fabric of this country.”

AmeriHealth Caritas Names Karen Dale Chief Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Officer

“

We have to stop being passive-aggressive with poor children about domestic violence. I plan to take these policies to Congress and implore them to change our laws. I will not stop until these policies are passed.

“

SOMETHING NEW EVERYDAY

COMPILED BY WI EDITOR D. KEVIN MCNEIR

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L.Y. Marlow

AROUND THE REGION

Reeves Center Reimaging Elicits Strong Reaction

Community Activists Want Marion Barry’s Name Linked to New Building

By Hamil Harris and James Wright WI Staff Writers The NAACP’s strong interest in moving from Baltimore to the District and setting up shop at the Frank D. Reeves Center for Municipal Affairs in Northwest has generated strong reactions from residents because of plans to revamp or tear down and rebuild the facility and possibly omit former D.C. Mayor Marion Barry’s name from the facility.

In 1986, then-Mayor Marion Barry opened the Reeves Center at 14th and U Streets in Northwest, one of the sites of devastation during the 1968 uprising after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Since then, the building has acted as a home for various District government agencies but in recent years Bowser administration officials have been contemplating what to do with the aging building.

With the formal interest of the NAACP in relocating to the building, announced by organization President and CEO Derrick Johnson in concert with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser on June 29, John Falcicchio, the acting deputy mayor for planning and economic development, said on July 1 the present structure will be razed and a new facility will take its place with spaces for retail shops and residential units.

Former D.C. Council member Frank Smith, who served on the District’s legislative body from 1983-1999 representing Ward 1 where the Reeves Center sits, told the Informer “when the Reeves Center was built it was a big deal because it was the first major decision by the city government…to revitalize the neighborhood.”

“The businesses along the … corridor really suffered after the riots and the government building offered many small businesses a home after the riots,” said Smith, founder and executive director of the African American Civil War Museum, which is located on U Street. “The building stands on what used to be a drug store and the offices of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee were located on the second floor.”

Smith said he supports the NAACP moving to the Reeves Center.

“It would be nice to have the NAACP as a bright light in that community but I don’t know why they need to tear the building down,” he said. “The building has been symbolically an inspiration in the neighborhood.”

Smith also expressed another reason he would like to see the present structure remain.

“My name is on a plaque on that building,” he said.

The building’s namesake, Frank D. Reeves, served as an assistant general counsel for the NAACP working with then general counsel Thurgood Marshall playing a key legal role in the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision that declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional. In addition, Reeves taught intermittently at the Howard University School of Law for decades. He served as the legal counsel for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and for the 1963 March on Washington and the Poor People’s March in 1968.

In 1969, he co-founded the National Conference of Black Lawyers, an organization promoting racial justice through legal defense. Politically, he became the first Black to serve on the Democratic National Committee in 1960 and became an aide on minority affairs for John F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign that year and in the ensuing Kennedy administration. In 1970, Reeves became the inaugural executive director of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a think tank studying African American issues. Reeves died in the District in 1973.

Council member Brianne Nadeau (D-Ward 1), one of Smith’s successors, noted that Reeves lived in Ward 1 and praised his work in civil rights litigation on June 29 on Twitter. She expressed excitement about the NAACP’s move to her ward.

“I am thrilled to have the NAACP in D.C. in such an auspicious location,” Nadeau tweeted. “The Reeves Center Development is still a ways off but I have communicated my

early priorities including a large amount of affordable housing and permanent supportive housing, good local jobs, and daytime and cultural uses to ensure the longevity of D.C.’s Black Broadway.”

Dan Winston, the advisory neighborhood commissioner for District 1B12 in which the Reeves Center dwells, told D.C. Office of Planning’s Timothy Maher at a July 9 commission meeting that public input will be crucial to the redevelopment process.

“The Reeves Center is a historic site in my single-member district and in the city,” Winston said. “It is important that your agency and [the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development] have follow-up meetings with our economic development committee and community organizations on what should happen to the building.”

While community activists ap-

5 The Frank D. Reeves Center for Municipal Affairs could be the NAACP’s new headquarters.

plaud the NAACP relocation, the building should still significantly recognize Barry, they stress.

“The Reeves Center has been the backdrop of many iconic moments and it is part of the legacy of Marion Barry,” said Natalie Hopkinson, an assistant professor in the doctoral program at the Howard University Department of Communication, Culture and Media Studies and a member of the D.C. Commission

on the Arts. “The Reeves Center is in my book about the history of gogo in the city.”

Former Ward 1 advisory neighborhood commissioner Lenwood Johnson made it clear his thoughts on the present structure’s possible demolition.

“They will go to hell for tearing down the Reeves Center,” Johnson said. “Marion Barry’s name is on that building.” WI

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black facts

JULY 16 - 22, 2020 SOURCE: BLACK AMERICA WEB

JULY 16

1862 – Civil rights activist Ida B. Wells (bottom right) is born in Holly Springs, Mississippi.

1947 – Assata Shakur of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army is born in New York City.

1977 – Janelle Penny Commissiong of Trinidad and Tobago is crowned the first Black Miss Universe.

JULY 17

1862 – Congress passes the Militia Act of 1862, which allowed African Americans to participate as war laborers and soldiers.

1935 – Famed actress Diahann Carroll is born in New York City.

1959 – Legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday dies in New York City at 44.

1967 – Jazz icon John Coltrane dies of liver cancer in Long Island, New York, at 40.

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1918 – Nelson Mandela, former South African president of South Africa, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and civil rights icon, is born in Mvezo, South Africa.

1967 – The first Black Power Conference is held in Newark, New Jersey.

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1864 – The first issue of the New Orleans Tribune — America’s first daily Black newspaper — is published.

1896 – The National Association of Colored Women, which later became the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs, is established in Washington, D.C.

JULY 22

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1939 – Jane Bolin becomes the first Black woman to serve as a judge in the United States when she is sworn in as a judge of New York’s Domestic Relations Court.

1946 – Actor and activist Danny Glover, best known for his roles in the “Lethal Weapon” series and “The Color Purple,” is born in San Francisco.

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After 87 years, Washington’s football team will change its name and logo in response to pressure from sponsors and Native Americans, who have criticized it as a racist slur.

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A lot of people are looking at this the wrong way, commenting [that the team’s] only doing it cause they’re messing with their money. Or if they’re not giving money to the community via grants or scholarships that it doesn’t matter. This is a major move and a win against racism. Removing deep, entrenched racist symbolism at any level is a win!

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When it comes down to money … racism can stop, because they don’t want to lose not one dime. And they will love all people of every color over that mighty dollar, trust and believe.

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JULY 16 - 22, 2020 7

The World According to Dominic

BY D. KEVIN MCNEIR / WI EDITOR / @DKEVINMCNEIR

Trump Breaks Protocol, Again, in Rose Garden Attack on Biden

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Donald Trump continues to ask if the media is fair and clearly has his own perspective. Fairness, it seems, has to do with whether or not the media is willing to accept his rhetoric hook-line-and-sinker, without the opportunity for questions for clarity or to make rebuttal to certain claims.

And his recent Rose Garden hourlong speech only shows how the office of the presidency has digressed under the leadership of Trump.

Rumor had it that on Tuesday, Trump would be addressing the heated situation in Hong Kong where China recently unveiled a new security law that has immediately caused a deathblow to pro-democracy protests.

The White House Rose Garden has long been used for official presidential announcements and protocol prohibits the setting to be used to employ campaign attacks against political rivals.

But that was in the past. That was before Donald Trump took over. Instead of staying on point and addressing news of international concern, Trump listed a series of over 30 claims about Biden with 19 fact-checked and proven to be false claims. Yes, they were lies, plain and simple. Other statements, while egregious, did have a tinge of truth to them but were shared out of context giving Trump

Even more appalling, reporters were given just six minutes – “six minutes, six minutes, six minutes, Doug E. Fresh you’re on” – to voice their questions to the president. the result which it seems he sought in his well-scripted speech.

Even more appalling, reporters were given just six minutes – “six minutes, six minutes, six minutes, Doug E. Fresh you’re on” – to voice their questions to the president. Surely, more time could and should have been provided for the press so they could do their job and inform the American public.

As one whose political affiliation remains independent, I have no formal allegiance to either the Democratic or Republican Party. In fact, given the short shrift that Blacks have often received from the Democrats, seeking Black votes but failing to deliver on campaign promises with policies and legislation, I have had to evaluate each candidate on his or her merit, not their political party of record.

Still, it’s tragic and troubling to see Trump comfortably undermine White House protocol for his own benefit. Several of his trademark rallies have been cancelled recently due to the coronavirus pandemic. Others earlier held showing thousands of his supporters, and the president himself, in close contact to others without wearing masks, have led to unsurprising spikes in the virus.

Meanwhile, some Republicans say they have no plans to attend the Republican National Convention, slated next month in Florida – a state that has now become the epicenter of

COVID-19 in the U.S. Senators Roy Blunt (Missouri) and Pat Roberts (Kansas) both say they won’t be there.

Neither will Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart and Francis Rooney, both of Florida, despite the convention now being scheduled to take place in their own state after being moved from North Carolina. And Senator Marco Rubio, a former presidential candidate and Florida’s senior senator, has yet to commit to whether he will attend.

I suppose there’s nothing worse than holding a big party where you’re the guest of honor and fearing that no one will show up – at least, not enough folks to confirm just how special, honored and trusted you believe yourself to be. As my mother used to call it, “delusions of grandeur.”

But Trump’s Rose Garden tirade indicated something else far more telling for voters as the General Election remains just a few months away.

No matter how people like Paris Dennard may try to spin the tale, Trump has a real problem with how he has both handled and discussed racism in America. For illustrative purposes, consider these two nuggets that came from his speech on Tuesday. First, he rebuked a reporter who asked about racial justice and police-involved shootings or murders of Blacks, saying, “so do white people [meaning whites are killed by police too.] What a terrible question.”

However, Trump failed to mention that Blacks, who numbers in the U.S. population are significantly less than whites, remain disproportionately impacted by interventions with law enforcement.

Then, he discussed the Confederate flag which, along with other related symbols of white privilege and dominance, have been under recent attack with demands to hoist down both the flag and related statues. Trump said he knows people who love the Confederate flag, adding that their love has nothing to do with slavery or racism.

Really? Sorry, I beg to differ. Just review American history.

WI

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AROUND THE REGION

Tax Increases, Police Department Decrease, Define 2021 D.C. Council Budget Plan Mayor Bowser Uneasy About Proposed Changes

By James Wright WI Staff Writer @Jamesdcwrighter The D.C. Council passed on July 7 on first reading a draft of the fiscal 2021 budget in which tax increases on estates, corporations, technology companies, gas and advertising serve as basis of earnings for the District, alongside a reduction in funding for the District’s police department — all to the chagrin of Mayor Muriel Bowser.

Council member Anita Bonds (DAt Large), in a July 10 e-newsletter to residents, noted the legislature’s duty to review and revise the city’s budget proposal saying “the council of the District is moving forward with approving and amending the mayor’s proposed fiscal year 2021 budget proposal.”

“As you are all aware, due to the COVID-19 health pandemic and subsequent economic hardship, the city must grapple with a revenue shortfall of nearly $800 million,” she said.

The legislators worked for almost two months on Bowser’s $16.7 billion proposed budget which didn’t raise taxes or lay off employees but maintained salary levels for District employees, suspended hiring of new workers and severely curtailed government travel. Bowser’s budget tapped into the District’s reserves, restructured the city’s debt and moved around funds from agencies to meet the required balanced budget. However, in its efforts to balance the budget too, the council supported such measures as rolling back recent estate tax cuts that benefit wealthy residents by reducing the exemption from 5.6 percent to 4 percent.

Council member Trayon White (D-Ward 8) sponsored an amendment to the budget favoring the rollback, saying it would help fund violence prevention programs, and it passed, 8-5.

“Today, we took from the very rich and gave to the poor,” Trayon White

said. “Given the challenges the city faces and the wider support for more progressive taxes, we believe a highly targeted and progressive increases in the estate tax to fund essential services for the neediest will be welcomed.”

In summary, the council enacted about $63 million in revenue enhancements for social services such as housing vouchers, violence interrupters, undocumented immigrant economic assistance and mental health aid in schools, according to Council member Brandon Todd (D-Ward 4) in an e-newsletter to constituents on July 9.

The enhancements included a delay in the tax break for publicly traded companies generating $7 million and ending a tax break for the city’s technology companies, putting $17 million into the District’s coffers. Council member Charles Allen (D-Ward 6) offered an amendment increasing the income tax on wealthy District residents, but his proposal was shot down on an 8-5 vote.

Bowser criticized the tax increases.

“When I made up my budget for fiscal year 2021, I didn’t think it was prudent to raise taxes in this environment,” she said at a July 8 news conference. “We are trying to weather this year and next and we have the tools to do that without raising taxes.”

The mayor denounced raising the gas tax by 10 percent and a 3 percent assessment on advertising.

“There has been little discussion about both of those proposed taxes,” the mayor said. “I would like to know what was used for their analysis? We have very few gas stations in the District so there won’t be much of an impact from the gas tax. As far as the advertising tax, local newspapers are already being crunched and you want to add a tax to that.”

Bowser also took issue with cutting the District’s police department’s budget by $10 million, saying “they have made the District less safe.”

“It appears to me to be a shell game, them moving dollars around from this to that, and we’re going to have to dig into it,” the mayor said, WTOP reported. “What also appears is that the amount of the cuts will mean that our force strength will go down in the upcoming year to levels that it was in 1990s. And that

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DESIGNER EYEWEAR 5 D.C. Council member Trayon White, who represents Ward 8, supported an amendment benefitting violence prevention programs. (WI file photo)

to me is very unfortunate and I think … if that’s what happened yesterday with the budget, they made the District less safe.”

The mayor said she didn’t like the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) having to manage its security instead of the police department, a change made by the council.

Todd agreed with her.

“The security staff inside DCPS schools are by and large unarmed,” the council member said. “I’ve heard firsthand from students, parents, families, administrators and teachers that more security is wanted — not less. Furthermore, DCPS does not have the expertise to manage these security concerns and is an unnecessary added responsibility to an already overloaded school system.”

The council’s website said the final vote on the budget will occur on July 28.

Tarza Mitchell, the policy director of DC Fiscal Policy Institute, a think tank specialized in studying the District’s low and working class communities, said the budget “moves in the right direction, it raises over $61 million to boost vital funding for programs and services but falls short of what these unprecedented times require.”

“We’re disappointed that the council failed to approve very modest personal income tax increases on well-off D.C. residents, further scale back the police budget and put forward or approve bolder revenue changes.” WI

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AROUND THE REGION CAPTURE THE MOMENT CHURCH CONTINUES DESPITE COVID-19 The Impact DMV Church in Northeast near Ft. Totten Metro Station held worship service the old fashion way, under a tent with families grouped together for social distancing. (Roy Lewis/The Washington Informer)

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10 - JULY 16 - 22, 2020

“It is impossible for any white person in the U.S., no matter how sympathetic and broad, to realize what life would mean to him if his incentive to effort were suddenly snatched away. To the lack of incentive to effort, which is the awful shadow under which we live, may be traced the wreck and ruin of scores of colored youth.”

– Mary Church Terrell

[1907], elected first president, National Association of Colored Women in Washington, D.C., July 21, 1896.

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AROUND THE REGION MoCo Executive, Others Counter Grave Desecration Claims

By Sam P.K. Collins WI Contributing Writer @SamPKCollins The activists railing against the construction of a storage facility on River Road contend that the situation affirms Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich’s ambivalence toward what’s known as Moses African Cemetery.

Elrich, however, says he has no legal basis to stop an arrangement made between the property owner and the Maryland-National Capital Parks and Planning Commission for the plot of land that sits outside the official boundaries of Moses African Cemetery and have been proven to not hold human remains.

“All people have to do is look at the plan and see that these are the requirements. You have to have an archeologist, someone who’s competent, to identify human remains and funerary objects,” Elrich said in his description of the process to approve construction on Lots 191 and 242.

“If any bones are found, the Maryland-National Capital Parks and Planning Commission needs to be notified immediately,” he said. “The owners contracted with the archeological team that has done hundreds of exhumations and have the expertise. They met the qualifications that [the commission] put on the piece of paper and told them what they can do.”

Immediately after his 2018 election win, Elrich said he would work with BACC, the Maryland-National Capital Parks and Planning Commission, and the Housing Opportunities Commission to reach a solution of equal benefit to the county and descendent community.

He recently told The Informer that the latest of those meetings took place in the months leading to the coronavirus pandemic. Even though plans had been put in place to further facilitate dialogue between BACC and the Maryland-National Capital Parks and Planning Commission about Lot 177, there had been concerns that the latter appeared unwilling to include the descendent community in its plans.

“In our discussions with Marsha [Coleman-Adebayo, Macedonia Baptist Church’s social justice coordinator] and Parks and Planning, we

agreed that Lots 175 and 177 represented the cemetery,” Elrich said.

Elrich later expressed plans to coordinate a meeting this week with Dr. Michael Blakey, a renowned archeologist supporting BACC, and the archeological team commissioned by the property owner, to scrutinize the archeological team’s methodology and determine the need for retesting Lots 191 and 242.

“Montgomery County was a slave county and there are nowhere near the amount of African gravesites that would account for centuries of slavery. That’s why Parks and Planning was required [to excavate] the corner closest to the cemetery in their zoning approval,” Elrich said.

Earlier this week, Kelly McKone of 1784 Capital Holdings, the company spearheading the construction of the storage unit, issued a statement decrying BACC’s protest and affirming that their project isn’t affecting the land designated as Moses African Cemetery.

Days earlier, BACC members and 1784 Capital Holdings clashed at the River Road construction site in the latest chapter of BACC’s battle to memorialize Moses African Cemetery, a fight that started in 2016.

In the infancy of their campaign to stop development atop the burial ground, the Maryland-National Capital Parks and Planning Commission acquired Lots 177, 191, and 242, while Lot 175 fell under the purview of the Housing and Opportunities Commission. That’s when BACC’s efforts shifted to pressuring HOC and Maryland-National Capital Parks and Planning to relinquish the site to Macedonia Baptist Church, River Road’s last bastion of Black history.

County documents designate tax parcels 175 and 177, located between River Road and Westbard Avenue, as the Moses African Cemetery. Records show the burial ground being in existence since the early 1900s when White’s Tabernacle, a displaced Black church and cemetery from Tenlytown in Northwest, purchased the land, which county records at the time have labeled as Lot 177.

Over the next few decades, county officials divided that portion of land into Lots 175 and 177. It also became the site of county infrastructure projects, namely the Willet Branch Trunk

Sewer in 1930 and the Willet Branch Storm Drain in the early 1960s.

By the second half of the 20th century, as gentrification pushed members of River Road’s Black community into the District and other parts of Montgomery County, the Moses African Cemetery once again came into the spotlight with the construction of the nearby Westwood Tower Apartments.

A 2018 report by David S. Rotenstein painted the construction of Westwood Towers Apartments in the context of urban renewal projects across the region that razed Black communities and historic landmarks.

In that document, former mem-

CLAIMS Page 45

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5 Protesters march in Takoma Park on July 10 to condemn construction of a storage facility on the Moses African Cemetery in Bethesda. (Roy Lewis/The Washington Informer)

JULY 16 - 22, 2020 11

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY Alsobrooks Wants Community Input on Police Reform Plans

By William J. Ford WI Staff Writer @jabariwill With a continued search for a new police chief and discussions on police reform, Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks wants to ensure residents have some input in the process.

A survey will be released soon that will provide residents up to 30 days to respond.

“We want the public to make sure you go in and take part of that survey,” Alsobrooks said. “It is our intention to touch every part of our community as we go through this … and the process transparent.”

During a Thursday, July 9 press conference, in Landover, she announced the addition of two more

people on a police reform task force: Bob Ross, president of the county’s NAACP branch, and Llamilet Gutierrez, executive director of the Amara Legal Center in northwest D.C. Gutierrez also served as a county public defender.

Alsobrooks established the task force with nearly two dozen members, chaired by Circuit Court judge Maureen Lamasney and Del. Alonzo Washington (D-District 22) of Greenbelt, to review police department strategies, hiring and use of force policies.

The group of legal, law enforcement and government officials and community leaders was established after a scathing 94-page report revealed white county police officers allegedly used racial slurs and retaliatory methods against fellow Black and Latino

officers.

The document highlights more than two dozen incidents of white officers who allegedly used racial slurs about officers and residents, white officers not disciplined for various incidents and Black and Latino officers transferred to other officers for speaking out against unjust behavior.

Hours after the report’s June 18 release, police Chief Hank Stawinski resigned.

The next day, Alsobrooks announced Assistant Police Chief Hector Velez as interim chief during a national search for a new leader of the department of more than 1,600 officers and civilian employees.

Alsobrooks said a firm has been retained to help with the police chief search, but didn’t name the company.

Before a comprehensive study and review of the police department gets submitted to Alsobrooks by Oct. 30, a few police task force members already have a few ideas.

Ross said some suggestions he plans to present include are no-knock warrants, ending searches of vehicles during routine traffic stops and allowing residents to file grievances through the citizen complaint oversight panel that can be forwarded to the department’s Internal Affairs Division.

He said police reform must also include the county’s municipalities with police departments of their own. The town of Eagle Harbor has a police commissioner and receives coverage from county police.

“We got some good ideas that we’re

5 A sign outside Prince George’s County Police Department headquarters in Palmer Park (William J. Ford/The Washington Informer)

going to share,” Ross said. “There’s work to do to make the police department better.”

Krystal Oriadha, another member of the task force and co-founder of the LGBTQ Dignity Project, said she remains optimistic all ideas will be heard. For instance, she helped organize countywide protests with Amity Pope, who leads Our Prince George’s, and laid a list of demands with other community leaders, such as: - Ensure police officers reside in the county.

- Cut police funding and re-invest in other community resources.

- Pass laws prohibiting the use of force.

“We as community members are demanding they take them seriously,” she said. “We are all coming to the table because we want to make sure we protect Black and brown communi-

ties equally and with equity.”

Prince George’s County Council Chair Todd Turner (D-District 4) of Bowie said from a legislative perspective some of the police department regulations are under state law. For example, the Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights, known as LEOBR, was created under state law and currently under review by state lawmakers.

Turner, who appointed Council member Rodney Streeter (D-District 7) of Hillcrest Heights to the task force, said the task force’s goal should be a consensus to improve county and municipal police departments through thoughtful, respectful dialogue.

“We supported the county executive putting this work group together so it can be measured, can be deliberative and make it the right policy for

Maryland Group Mulls Recommendations for Child Custody Cases

By William J. Ford WI Staff Writer @jabariwill

A Maryland work group assembled to examine child custody court proceedings involving child abuse and domestic violence reviewed a myriad of proposed recommendations Tuesday, July 14.

The proposals include judicial training for judges, collection of data and protocols for a child’s safety during abuse investigations.

The group chaired by State Secretary John C. Wobensmith hasn’t met since Jan. 28 due to the abruptly shortened legislative session in Annapolis and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

5 Members of the child custody work group

12 - JULY 16 - 22, 2020

“There is, from what I’ve been told, a lot more domestic violence cases. There’s a lot more child endangerment cases that we’ve been dealing with,” he said. “This [work] really becomes more important as we’ve been experience in the COVID-19 times.”

The group comprised of state lawmakers, attorneys and child and domestic violence advocates received presentations from nationally known researchers and academics to highlight how courts harm children based on decisions with limited knowledge.

One of the 20 draft recommendations discussed on whether to cap fees imposed by custody evaluators. Some are provided through the courts, but others run a private practice.

A member of the group, Jennifer Shaw, a psychologist and co-founder of the Gil Institute for Trauma Recovery and Education in Fairfax, Virginia, said it could cost $35,000

in that state for a person to retain a custody evaluator from a private company.

In Maryland, the cost could range between $20,000 to $40,000 for a person to investigate and assess parents and a child involved in a court proceeding.

Laure Ruth, legal director of the Women’s Law Center in Towson, said she understands about the expensive costs for parties to hire an evaluator, but “there’s a piece of me that is uncomfortable telling therapists, or whoever does these private custody evaluations that they can’t get paid for what they are supposed to be paid.”

A few members said a cap should be placed on charging exorbitant fees.

“If all of the evidence brought in by the forensic evaluator and the child’s therapist lessens the influence of a custody evaluator because they

drop out and can’t make $40,000 on these cases anymore, [then] I’m all for it,” said Camille Cooper, vice president of public policy for the D.C.based Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN). “They’re not a positive influence on the process.”

Another recommendation for the Maryland courts involves judge to receive at least 20 hours of training before that person presides over a child custody case that involves domestic violence, child abuse, or child sexual abuse.

The judiciary would create a training program focused on topics such as child development, the impact of trauma on a child, effects of child abuse and domestic violence and understanding the importance of play and art therapies of a child.

State Sen. Mary Beth Carozza,

CUSTODY Page 44

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PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY

In-Person Registered Voting Scheduled for Maryland General Election this Fall

By William J. Ford WI Staff Writer @jabariwill Similar to other jurisdictions in Maryland, it remains unclear how the Nov. 3 general elections will look in Prince George’s County.

Elections Administrator Alisha Alexander briefed the county’s Board of Election on Monday, July 13 to conduct a regular election during the coronavirus pandemic and a directive from Gov. Larry Hogan for the state to conduct in-person elections.

“It’s not that the election directors in the state don’t want to comply, it’s that there are many challenges that we have to overcome for the election to be successful,” Alexander said during a teleconference call. “At this point, we’re just trying to figure out what we can do.”

Alexander, who serves as board vice president of the Maryland Association of Elections Officials, said the group wants to “have a sit-down” with the governor to address possibly election challenges.

For instance, the association requests to push up the absentee ballot request deadline sooner than Oct. 27 to allow election officials more time to process returned ballots. The group also wants assurance that each county receives enough personal protective equipment such as masks, gloves and hand sanitizer for election workers.

All counties and Baltimore City may need to secure places to use as voting precincts because some places such as senior citizen centers and churches are either closed, cannot accommodate the number of people, or chose not to participate during while the coronavirus pandemic remains in effect.

In Prince George’s, the office conducted a survey last week that noted 31 percent of election judges who responded said they aren’t interested in working in the November election.

Additionally, Alexander said the number of election judges could decrease another 15-18% on Election Day. She didn’t say how many participated in the survey, but the county uses more than 3,500 election judges at 245 polling places.

In terms of training, Alexander said social-gathering guidelines only allows

up to 10 people per class. Three or four classes are held simultaneously in the morning and evening, meaning no more than 80 people per day can be trained — far fewer than the 200 or so the county typically trained each day pre-pandemic.

“It is going to be very, very difficult to fill that gap,” she said.

Hogan initiated the voting order July 8 with at least three provisions: open all early voting centers and polling stations; promptly send absentee ballot applications for every voter who may decide to cast by mail; and encourage state employees to supplement election staffing needs and provide necessary personal protective equipment for staff and volunteers.

“While I know you have been inundated with suggestions from political leaders in both parties and special interest groups to change the electoral process, this discussion should not be subject to undue partisanship or political influence,” Hogan wrote to the state Board of Elections. “Providing citizens with accessible, accountable, and transparent ways to cast their ballot is an essential component of our democratic republic and your primary responsibility.”

State law allows the Republican governor to choose how elections are ran in the state dominated with Democratic voters.

That still didn’t stop Democratic officials from criticizing the two-term governor.

Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh said in a statement Friday, July 10 that places such as Baltimore City would need to train and recruit more than 4,000 election judges and another 3,000 in Anne Arundel County.

“The judges will be exposed to each other during training and to thousands of voters during the election. Who will take those risks?”

Frosh wrote. “I agree with Governor Hogan that ‘this discussion should not be subject to undue partisanship or political influence…’ Bowing to Donald Trump’s reckless demands for in-person voting puts at risk the lives of Maryland citizens and risks disenfranchising many thousands of eligible voters.”

Cheryl Landis, who chairs the Prince George’s Democratic Central Committee, also wrote a letter Friday to Hogan with a few recommendations such as sending all voters absentee ballots instead of voters requesting them.

“I am the first to admit that while I am not credentialed and learned on infectious diseases, I am thankful to God for blessing me with a good measure of common sense,” she wrote. “I fear that because of your directive, the state of Maryland could unknowingly become a petri dish for the coronavirus to grow and fester even further out of control.”

WI

5 Prince George’s County voters stand in line June 2 during the presidential primary election at the Southern Regional Technology and Recreation Complex in Fort Washington. (Anthony Tilghman/The Washington Informer, file)

WWW.WASHINGTONINFORMER.COM / THE WASHINGTON INFORMER

Moving Toward a More Perfect Union Race is a pseudoscientific false classification that describes physical traits, origin, classification & preferences. Since as far back as the 17th century, these classifications included: • Negroid [Black] • Australoid [Australian] • Mongoloid [Oriental} • Caucasoid [White] Of course, in the 17th century, these classifications were schemed to demonstrate Caucasian superiority and supremacy. Europe, particularly the two dominate superpowers- Britain and France justified colonialism through spreading cultural dominance and describing the rest of the world in barbaric terms. Colonialism, from a white superiority lens, brought order to a chaotic dark world. This framing gave credence to Europe as global power.

From the Beginning [Kendi], these classifications served a purpose: to force, by any means, European civilization upon people and places whose culture was seen as deviant and uncivil. Whether through religion or philosophy, European colonialism sought to extol their quest as holy and righteous-freeing dark peoples from their barbaric ways. Scripture and other so-called religious documents gave credence to spread the gospel of servitude and submission. “Slaves submit yourselves to your masters” was the clarion call to subjugation. This false doctrine followed by unmitigated violence were the seeds of anti-Black racism. Anti-Black racism, than is a system of beliefs and tactics intended on purporting the superiority and supremacy of white people. In purporting this notion, racism manufactures notions of racial inferiority, institutional policies and cultural norms that intentionally promote segregation over civil & economic equity.

Even under the guise of “all men are created equal” the slavery enterprise was in full throttle; in fact, slavery would continue for almost another 100 years. The Emancipation Proclamation and Juneteenth, did little to curb white supremacy’s reign to lock out freed Blacks from voting, owning property and peacefully assembling. The rise of the Ku Klux Klan, the bombing of Black Wall Street in Greenwood Oklahoma, lynchings, incarcerations, and segregation are but a few tactics that grounded racism in this country’s early founding.

Imagine, if racial classification did not exist, instead, replaced with one category – humans. All of us would be seen as humans with different life habits based somewhat on geography rather than this false notion of race. Pseudoscientists approach then to culture and geography would be equal life expressions absent of any superiority or dominance.

Imagine instead of acculturation and melting, difference was sustained and celebrated. We perhaps would be at a different place where everyone is equal.

Needed is an appreciation of culture which could serve as the building block to a civic identity. We can be different and still expect our rights to be affirmed. Civic identity derives from our constitutional values that recognize citizenship and community as essential to a participatory democracy. Civic identity encourages community participation in the form of voting, attending community meetings and volunteering in civic institutions. As such, as Robert Putnam put it, we are “bowling together” recognizing our collective interest and working toward community and democracy.

Protests are part of our civic identity in operation. When a wrong is seen, protests are used to remind the country of its founding values and force a conversation on how these values can move away from segregation to equity. Recent protests have seen a multicultural intense alignment on pushing for a new community; a community that deconstructs racism for the purpose of annihilating segregation and instilling justice for all. Just imagine, we are a community forged by a common agenda of rights, responsibility and fairness. We are a long way away, but recent protests & policies can rectify this country’s racial sins and move to a more perfect union.

Isn’t this what this country should be all about?!

Not a member? Please visit our website, www. pgcoc.org to get started! Membership is good for a full calendar year, so it’s always a good time to join* David C. Harrington President & CEO

JULY 16 - 22, 2020 13

BUSINESS Ebony, Essence Magazines Face Turbulence in Milestone

Allegations of Financial Abuse, Toxic Workplace Linger

By Sarafina Wright WI Contributing Writer Legendary Black publications Ebony and Essence are facing arduous times as troubling alle-

gations of financial and internal leadership abuses hover as they celebrate milestone years.

Ebony, in its 75th year, recently forced out CEO Willard Jackson after the board of directors became

concerned about some of his financial transactions and has since launched an independent investigation.

“The board of directors individually and collectively understands the legacy and value of Ebony to Black communities globally,” Jacob Walthour Jr., newly elected board chairman, said in response to the ouster of Jackson.

“Founder John H. Johnson conducted himself and Ebony business with a level of class, integrity and honor that has come to define Black professionalism in America,” Walthour said. “While the board expects that Ebony will always need to adapt its business model to stay relevant, it must never compromise the core values of Mr. Johnson.”

In recent years, Ebony has endured some blows to its credibility. In 2018, the magazine came under fire after dozens of writers

took to social media claiming they had not been paid for their work, which led to the viral #EbonyOwes campaign and a lawsuit against the company.

Ebony settled the suit with dozens of freelancers for nearly $80,000 for unpaid work stretching back more than two years, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Ebony was sold by Johnson Publishing to the CVG Group in 2016, which former CEO Jackson is a partner — soon after the tran-

5 Courtesy photos of iconic covers of Ebony and Essence.

sition, claims of disarray at the storied publication began to surface.

Walthour, chairman of Ebony’s board and co-founder of Blueprint Capital Advisors, a Black-owned asset manager says he’s looking forward to pushing the brand in a new direction.

That new guidance includes “assessing all structural, managerial, and financial facets of the organization with an eye toward amplifying the current calls for economic and racial justice and equality.”

Walthour also said the board is prioritizing the payment of delinquent compensation to Ebony employees and they expect to make an announcement soon regarding the matter.

“As we approach Ebony’s 75th anniversary, now more than any other time since the civil rights movement, Black people need a medium to express ‘their’ voice and record this historical moment,” he said. “We are committed to the preservation of this valuable asset to the Black community and being a part of the next 75 years.”

TROUBLE AT ESSENCE?

Essence, in its 50th year, has named a new interim CEO after an anonymous essay titled “The Truth About Essence” published on Medium.com with allegations of a toxic workplace.

Penned by a group of women under the name #BlackFemaleAnonymous, the scathing essay calls out several executives including former CEO Richelieu Dennis and calls for corporate sponsors such as Coca-Cola, Chase Bank, Walmart and more to part ways with the Black women-centered publication if said abuses aren’t rectified.

“The Essence brand promise is

14 - JULY 16 - 22, 2020

fraudulent,” they wrote. “The once exalted media brand dedicated to Black women has been hijacked by cultural and corporate greed and an unhinged abuse of power.”

They also say Black women, who make up over 80 percent of the company’s workforce are systematically suppressed by pay inequity, sexual harassment, corporate bullying, intimidation, colorism and classism.

The essay goes further, saying Dennis, his wife and head of Human Resources Martha Dennis, former CEO Michelle Ebanks and executives Joy Collins Profet and Moana Luu “collaboratively immortalize an extremely unhealthy work culture” and individually detailing the alleged offenses.

After the essay was published, Essence responded on its website, saying the accusations are false and “unfounded attempts to discredit our brand and assassinate personal character.”

They added they willfully deny the allegations, but days later the company announced a new interim CEO Carolina Wanga to replace Richelieu Dennis, who owns the magazine and Sundial Brands.

Other executives named in the essay have also been relieved of their duties, according to an Instagram post by Black Female Anonymous calling their efforts a success.

“Together with your support, we raised our voices for a better Essence...we never wanted Essence to fold, we wanted Essence to soar,” they wrote. “Our work is not done. We’re maintaining Black Female Anonymous as a platform for Black women to safely expose workplace inequity, mistreatment and abuses at all companies — whether they be Black-owned or white-owned.”

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BUSINESS

George Criticizes D.C. Council’s Move on Rent Control

By Sam P.K. Collins WI Contributing Writer @SamPKCollins

While much of the conversation around the D.C. Council’s first budget reading focused on the removal of police officers from schools and whether, and for whom, the District government would raise taxes, an item added by Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D) drew the ire of several rent control advocates — including one who would most likely become Mendelson’s colleague next year.

Janeese Lewis George, the Ward 4 Democratic nominee for the council, counted among a bevy of voices who decried the legislative body’s recent vote to extend the District’s currently existing rent control laws without expanding and strengthening them, and closing loopholes.

The millennial attorney, considered a likely winner in the November general election, joined affiliates of the Reclaim Rent Control campaign last year who opposed provisions of the law they said disadvantaged low-income residents and reduced D.C.’s affordable housing stock.

“Rent control is important [and] it deserves its own consideration. It’s a huge tool for stopping the displacement of Black and brown residents in the District,” George said.

With the law up for renewal this year, George said that the council must show more consideration for recommendations that campaign members presented in November during a hearing hosted by the Committee on Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization.

Tenets of the movement have focused on the inclusion of four-unit buildings and those built before 2005 in rent control laws. Another provision would cap annual rent increases at the rate of inflation.

“Council member Anita Bonds [who chairs the housing committee] and Council Chair Phil Mendelson had the information and proposals that we submitted,” George said.

“Even if Mendelson wanted to place rent control within this emergency bill, he could’ve placed it with the recommendation that we had in November. We have to work together to make sure that this matter will be brought up this year, and we can bring some of these provisions forward.”

The situation unfolds amid grassroots efforts to cancel rent that have persisted since the coronavirus brought all economic and social activity in the District to a standstill earlier in the year. The council passed an eviction moratorium that advocates championed in the early days of the District’s public health emergency. From the start, there was some contention that COVID-19 exacerbated inequalities fostered by weak rent control laws.

During the July 7 virtual meeting, Council member Brianne Nadeau (D-Ward 1) questioned whether the council would continue its conversations around renewing rent control and the conditions under which it’s done.

George, who touted housing as a top issue during her campaign, said the manner in which she spends her first 100 days as Ward 4 council mem-

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NATIONAL BLACK VPS from Page 1 primary voters, conducted between June 1 and 9, found that 28 percent prefer Harris – the former challenger to Biden in the presidential primary who dropped out before Iowa and endorsed him in March.

Biden’s other primary opponents also held their own in the poll with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) preferred by 13 percent and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) preferred by 12 percent and who after her withdrawal from the race, said Biden should pick a woman of color.

How did other women of color fare? Ten percent chose former Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams, who has been openly campaigning for the job; 7 percent picked Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.), Susan Rice, former National Security Advisor and Atlanta Mayor Keisha Bottoms, both polling at 2 percent each.

However, and perhaps more telling, 54 percent of Democrats collectively said they prefer a woman of color for the VP slot.

The poll points to a change from April and prior to the George Floyd protests, when Warren led as the favorite, suggesting a desire by voters for a progressive balance on the Democratic ticket. Results from the earlier Data For Progress poll, conducted

by Civiqs, showed that 50 percent of Democrats leaned toward a woman of color for vice president with Warren a slight favorite over Harris, 27 and 21 percent, respectively.

However, other candidates have risen to the top as Biden continues to vet each woman – the results to be announced in early August including: Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Asian-American, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, Hispanic, Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo and the most recent addition, Congressional Black Caucus Chairperson, Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA).

In the individual profiles of the leading Black women who continue

16 - JULY 16 - 22, 2020

to be considered by Biden, written by WI reporters, we take a closer look at their backgrounds and views on the major issues for voters. WI

REP. VAL DEMINGS: FAMILIAR WITH BREAKING CEILINGS

By D. Kevin McNeir WI Editor

Valdez Venita Demings, 63, known by friends and colleagues as “Val,” brings 27 years of experience in law enforcement prior to being elected as representative for Florida’s 10th congressional district in 2017. After moving up the ranks, she took over as the chief of the Orlando Police Department from 2007 to 2011 – the first woman to lead the department.

Since joining Congress in 2016 after the State Supreme Court mandated the creation of a new, majority-minority Democratic district in Orlando, she found herself in the high profile position as an impeachment manager in the Senate trial of President Donald Trump after being chosen by Speaker Nancy Pelosi in January 2020.

One of seven children born to hard-working parents, a janitor and maid, she grew up in a neighboring town near Jacksonville and attended segregated schools before graduating from Wolfson High School in the 1970s. She says she first became interested in a career in law enforcement while in junior high school – an interest that continued during her matriculation at Florida State University where she earned a degree in criminology in 1979. She worked as a state

social worker in Jacksonville for 18 months, later earning a master’s degree in public administration at Webster University Orlando. Her career in the Orlando Police Department began in 1983 as a patrol officer.

Demings confirmed in May that she was on the Biden shortlist for his vice-presidential nominee, noting that she’d accept the role if offered. However, she has faced criticism from some Blacks, including leaders from Black Lives Matter, because of her record while serving as Orlando’s police chief – one which some say she too often sided with officers accused of using excessive force.

Her perspective seems to have changed since her election to Congress as Demings has an ardent supporter of police reform, particularly in the wake of protests refuting racism following the death of George Floyd in late May. In a May 29 Washington Post oped, “George Floyd Justice in Policing Act,” she began: “As a former woman in blue, let me begin with my brothers and sisters in blue: What in the hell are you doing?”

“When an officer engages in stupid, heartless and reckless behavior, their actions can either take a life or change a life forever,” she continued. “Bad decisions can bring irrevocable harm to the profession and tear down the relationships and trust between the police and the communities they serve. Remember, law enforcement needs that trust just as the public does. Think before you act!”

In a June interview with Whoopi Goldberg on The View, she indicated why she remains interested in serving as vice president.

“Sometimes you don’t chose the situation – sometimes it chooses you.

This is one of those moments. I started as a social worker out of college working with broken families and children.

As a member of the Orlando Police Department, I enforced the law. Now, as a member of Congress, I make the laws.”

“In and out of the department, I fought against discrimination, racism and social injustices. I believe I have the experience, credibility and political will to get this done. Just imagine America having a president committed to dealing with [these various forms of injustice]? You can be a racist if you want but you shouldn’t be in the police department, or a teacher or a politician who decides jobs and wages.”

“In the wake of George Floyd’s death, we see America wanting to make this a Black versus white issue.

It isn’t. Blacks want safe communities just like whites. This is an American issue. Our country is on fire and Trump is walking around with the gasoline.

We need leaders who can take to the sacred podium and reassure America, unify America, heal and assure America that action will be taken to correct the wrongs. This president is incapable of doing that. So, you have two choices: to be part of the problem or the solution. I believe Trump is dangerous for America. And he’s leading the problem and fueling the fire.”

“Racism is the ghost in the room and we have a president who continues to divide our country when America is grieving and hurting. We need a consoler in chief.”

“I grew up in the South, poor and worked hard for everything I received.

My parents saw me sworn in as chief of police and I knew they’d be beside themselves if they been here to see me sworn in as a member of Congress.

The opportunities we’re working so hard to guarantee for all Americans include the opportunity I’ve been given to represent my community back home in Florida. I consider it an honor – just like even being considered as Biden’s choice for vice-president is an honor.”

REP. KAREN BASS ‘FOCUSED’ DURING VP VETTING

By Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer Congresswoman and Congressional Black Caucus Chair Karen Bass (D-Calif.) has confirmed she’s the latest potential running mate for presumptive Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden.

“Yes, I have been vetted,” Bass stated during a call with African-American journalists.

She demurred when asked to weigh in on the possibility that Biden would choose her over other candidates like Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.), Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and former U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice.

“I’ve focused on the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act,” Bass proclaimed.

The congresswoman spearheaded the crafting of the legislation named after Floyd, the African-American man killed by police officers in Minneapolis. The incident has sparked global protests and calls for reforming America’s police departments.

Many view the legislation as the first-ever bold, comprehensive approach to hold police accountable, end racial profiling, change the law enforcement culture, empower communities, and build trust between law enforcement and minority communities by addressing systemic racism and bias.

“I call it historic because this is the first time in many years that Congress has taken up a bill dealing with policing. I’m sure it is the first time that Congress has introduced such a bold, transformative piece of legislation,” Bass stated.

The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act would establish a national standard for the operation of police departments and mandate data collection on police encounters.

If it becomes law, the bill will reprogram existing funds to invest in transformative community-based policing programs, and streamline federal law to prosecute excessive force and establish independent prosecutors for police investigations.

It would also eliminate no-knock warrants and ban chokeholds.

“The idea that a chokehold is legal in one city and not the other, the idea that no-knock warrants are okay in one jurisdiction and not in another is very important. That must end,” Bass proclaimed.

Bass won election to her fifth term in 2018.

As a member of the House Judiciary Committee, Bass works to craft sound criminal justice reforms and protect intellectual property rights infringements that threaten Americans’ economic health.

While her accomplishments are plenty, there’s doubt that she could effectively serve as vice president and, if something were to happen to the president, as commander in chief.

“Her comments about Fidel Castro are troubling. It shows a lack of understanding of what the Castro regime was about. So, I have to learn more about her position and perspective on Fidel Castro,” Miami state Rep. Javier Fernandez, whose bid for

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an open state Senate seat could bring Democrats closer than ever to flipping control of the chamber, told the news site, Politico.

In 2016, after Castro’s death, Bass called him “comandante en jefe” (in Spanish, commander in chief).

“Praise like the one that was given

by Bass at the time of Castro’s death is inconsistent with my family’s experience with what the regime did — and continues to do — to people on the island, which is to suppress human rights, keep people under a totalitarian thumb and stifle economic growth,” Fernandez noted.

“She’s the real deal with a level of civil rights movement bona fides that few vice-presidential nominees have ever had,” former Los Angeles mayor and Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa told the Los Angeles Times.

Villaraigosa has known Bass since the early 1970s. “She’s had a leadership voice wherever she’s gone,” he proclaimed.

Stephen J. Newman, a partner at the Stroock law firm in Century City, told the Washington Informer that among Bass’ notable qualities is her forward-thinking use of new technologies to communicate with voters.

“She routinely conducts telephone town halls on major issues of the day, both to explain what is happening in Washington and to get voters’ views in the district,” Newman explained.

“In my experience, she has been a highly-effective communicator with these technologies, and this could make her an extremely powerful campaigner even when social distancing rules limit traditional political gatherings. That experience similarly could help a campaign with its outreach to younger voters.”

THE CASE FOR AND AGAINST BARBARA LEE FOR VICE PRESIDENT

By Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Lee has proudly represented California’s 13th Congressional District for parts of four decades.

She serves on the Budget Committee and the powerful Appropriations Committee, which oversees all federal government spending.

As the only African-American woman in Democratic Leadership, serving as Co-Chair of the Policy and

Steering Committee, Lee has said it’s essential that the Black community feels safe and represented in the political arena.

However, the big question facing Presumptive Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden is whether Lee would make an ideal running mate in the all-important November election.

“Representative Lee would make a great vice president, but probably not a great addition to the 2020 Democratic ticket,” stated Michael Montgomery, a Detroit-based consultant to nonprofit organizations who once served as a U.S. diplomat with assignments in Washington and Bogota, Colombia.

“The pluses that Representative Lee presents would be her experience, clarity, and commitment to Democratic principles,” Montgomery opined.

“The fact that she comes from the safest of safe Democratic House seats and so would certainly be succeeded in the U.S. House by a Democrat is likely also to be appealing.”

However, Montgomery believes the 73-year-old Lee isn’t “young enough to counterbalance Biden’s 77. “Nor, as a California Democrat, is she likely to tip a closely-contested state into the Democratic column in November,” Montgomery declared.

“If a California Democrat does get the nod, I think it is much more likely to be Senator Kamala Harris, who has more national visibility as a result of her presidential campaign,” Montgomery added. “[Harris] is significantly younger, and as a former-prosecutor could immunize any Democratic ticket from claims that is might be ‘soft on crime.’”

Donald E. Petersen, an Orlando, Florida attorney and activist, championed Lee’s candidacy because of her “impeccable credentials to hold any office.”

“Representative Lee cast the lone vote against the war on Iraq. If Representative Lee were the Democratic party’s presidential nominee, it would

mark the end of 28 years of neoliberal control of the party,” Peterson stated.

“There are several other women of color who Biden can nominate and trust to follow his pro-status quo agenda. I would vote for Barbara Lee for president in a heartbeat.”

Jennifer Willy, an editor at the travel and education-related website, Etia. com, believes the tipping point is Lee’s experience as the only African-American woman in Democratic Leadership.

“Last month, she introduced a bill for a national commission that would examine the effects of slavery, institutional racism, and discrimination against people of color,” Willy wrote in an email echoing Lee’s official biography.

STACY ABRAMS, A FORMIDABLE VP PICK BUT A LONG SHOT

Abrams Loses Steam as Decision Time Draws Near

By Sarafina Wright WI Contributing Writer Political experts and insiders agree

that Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden will likely choose a woman, particularly an African-American woman as his running mate for November’s election.

One of the names that’s been floated for the position is Stacy Abrams, a 46-year-old politician, voting rights advocate and best-selling author.

Abrams rose to national prominence in 2018 when she secured the Democratic ticket for Georgia’s gubernatorial race. She made history becoming the first Black woman in the U.S. to be a major party’s nominee for governor.

Prior to her bid for governor she was elected to Georgia’s legislature in 2007, becoming the House minority leader in 2011 where she served until 2017.

Often referred to as a history maker, Abrams was also the first African-American woman to deliver a response to the State of the Union ad-

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NATIONAL

dress in 2019.

Robert Y. Shapiro, author and professor of political science at Columbia University in New York, says it’s not surprising that Abrams is in the vice president conversation. She’s a formidable candidate with a lot of strengths.

“In my opinion I think Stacy Abrams has sufficient gravitas so to speak,” Shapiro said. “She’s for one perceived as and is very capable. I also think she will make a formidable candidate and debater against Mike Pence on the national stage.”

Shapiro says he also believes Abrams could mobilize a new generation of voters.

“One of her big platform issues is voter suppression and voter’s rights and things of that sort. And that’s something very important in the current election,” he said.

“I think that will play well with the base of the Democratic Party especially the left leaning base, younger generations and African Americans.”

Although Abrams has a certain cachet, Shapiro says there are significant barriers between her and the vice presidency.

“Her level of service in government has been limited to the Georgia state legislature although she was a leader in the minority party there. She was also an unsuccessful governor candidate and being an unsuccessful governor candidate is more of a negative than a positive in this context.”

Shapiro says another hurdle in front of Abrams is that the competition is steep.

“Stacy Abrams is a long shot only because she was vetted early on and hasn’t been talked about much these days,” he said. “The ones that are being talked about are Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Val Demings, Keisha Bottoms, who kind of rose because of Atlanta, Susan Rice and Gina Raimondo, governor of Rhode Island was talked about for a while.”

“Gretchen Whitmer, governor of Michigan, Michelle Grisham, governor of New Mexico and Tammy Duckworth have gotten a lot of play, and Karen Bass, congresswoman from California.”

These women have what Shapiro refers to as “stature.” A resume that consist of serving as governors, senators and as leading figures on national security in previous administrations.

Although many agree that Abrams has a stellar background that boasts Spelman College, Yale Law, several business ventures, leadership in Geor-

gia’s legislature and spearheading voting rights advocacy organizations — some say it’s probably not enough.

“The one who’s gotten the most traction is Kamala Harris especially because she was visible as a presidential candidate,” he said. “Stacy Abrams is kind of lower on the radar only because the word is from the press that she’s getting less attention and Susan Rice and Tammy Duckworth have kind of risen.”

Shapiro says Rice is really appealing as the vice-presidential pick because she’s stood toe to toe with foreign leaders on foreign policy during the Obama administration.

Polls have shown that Americans are divided on the topic. Shapiro says Democratic voters will likely take their cues from Biden on which way to go as he is expected to announce his choice in early August.

In March, he vowed to pick a woman as his running mate and progressives have held the former vice president to his word. Shapiro says it’s likely Biden will do just that, but if he doesn’t the backlash will be sharp.

“It’s a whole lot of things at work here not just Black Lives Matter but the #MeToo movement that’s been permeating in society,” Shapiro said.

“And the fact that the U.S. is one of the major democracies in the world that has not had a woman in high level executive leadership.”

“Promoting a woman in this case is very important symbolically. And if he doesn’t do that there will be a backlash against him.”

Biden’s pick will be historical as there have only been two women in U.S. history as a running mate for a presidential election. Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 and Sarah Palin in 2008, both unsuccessful.

“Sarah Palin is interesting – when she was nominated there was a lot of positive vibe about that. But then that quickly fell apart after the interview she did,” Shapiro said.

“Palin obviously didn’t help the ticket, although given the financial crisis that occurred that really nailed the coffin for the Republicans in that particular race.”

Shapiro explains that while Palin had a negative effect on the Republican ticket with John McCain that’s usually not the case for most vice-presidential picks.

“It’s important for the presidential candidate to nominate a plausible vice

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africa now

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Mali President Calls for Dialogue Amid Crippling Protests Mali President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita went on national television early Saturday, July 11, urging dialogue with his opponents just hours after thousands of anti-government protesters marched through the capital, with some pushing their way into state television offices.

Friday’s developments marked a major escalation in the growing movement against Mali’s president, who still has two years left in office in this West African country long destabilized by Islamic extremists.

Earlier in the day, anti-government protesters had barricaded roads and burned tires in the capital, Bamako.

Keita’s overnight address to the nation took a conciliatory gesture days after he had tried to appease the protesters by promising to revamp the constitutional court whose legislative election results back in April have been disputed by several dozen candidates.

“I would like once again to reassure our people of my willingness to continue the dialogue and reiterate my readiness to take all measures in my power to calm the situation,” he said in closing.

The movement against Keita’s government is now known as the June 5 Movement, or M5, a reflection of when demonstrators first took to the streets en masse. Keita’s gestures in recent days so far have failed to win favor with the opposition group, which still wants the National Assembly dissolved.

While the group has officially backed down from its calls that Keita leave office, some protesters still want him gone.

Keita came to power in the aftermath of a French-led military operation to oust Islamic extremists from power in northern Mali’s towns in 2013, winning the first democratic elections organized after a military coup the year before.

Despite the presence of U.N. peacekeepers, and French and regional forces backing Malian troops, the extremist groups have continued to mount attacks.

Last year was particularly deadly for the army as hundreds of soldiers were killed in the north, forcing the military at one point to even close down some of its most remote and vulnerable outposts. Those losses prompted criticism of how the government was handling the crisis in the north.

Tensions mounted in late April after legislative elections were held, and several dozen candidates disputed the official results issued by Mali’s constitutional court. A mission from the regional bloc known as ECOWAS has suggested that the government re-hold elections in the localities where results are contested.The last democratically elected leader before Keita, President Amadou Toumani Toure, was overthrown in the 2012 military coup after a decade in power.

The political chaos that ensued has been blamed for creating a power vacuum that allowed the Islamic insurgency to take hold in the northern towns. Following international pressure, that coup leader later handed over power to a civilian transitional government that organized elections. WI

caribbean now CARICOM Congratulates Bahamas on Independence Anniversary The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) congratulated the government and people of the Bahamas on the country’s 47th Anniversary of Independence on July 10.

CARICOM Secretary-General Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, in a congratulatory message to Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Minnis, also extended best wishes for the country’s continued growth and advancement.

“The theme of this year’s festivities, ‘Pressing Onward: A Time of Hope, Triumph and Transformation,’ is a unifying call for Bahamians in this exceptional period of challenges, to reflect on the successes of the past while using the lessons learned to chart a path to greater success for the country in the coming years,” LaRocque said.

As a result of restrictive measures put in place because of the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s anniversary was not celebrated with the usual pomp and pageantry of past Independence Day celebrations; instead, a fourhour, made-for-television virtual program was aired live from the studios of ZNS-TV in both New Providence and Grand Bahama.

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AARP WAS BUILT ON HOPE More than 60 years ago, AARP was founded to fight injustice. And we have never stopped working to create social change by serving and giving voice to those in need.

Now, more than ever, we resolve to continue combating racial inequality and health and economic disparities for every generation.

Join us in fighting for what’s right.

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JULY 16 - 22, 2020 19

HEALTH A CONTINUING SERIES

COVID 19 UPDATE Strategies to Survive, Sustain and Succeed

Coronavirus Cases Decreasing in Prince George’s County

By William J. Ford WI Staff Writer @jabariwill Although coronavirus cases in Prince George’s County continue to decline, officials still warn residents that the pandemic hasn’t gone anywhere.

County Council member Jolene Ivey (D-District 5) of Cheverly praised residents for doing a simple gesture: wearing masks.

Ivey makes cloth masks so residents can wash and keep them, compared to the light-blue, disposable masks. It took 15 minutes to distribute 150 of her cloth masks (100 for adults and

50 for children) in Cottage City on Friday, July 10.

“The more people who have masks, the better we are,” she said. “I do think things are improving, but I don’t want people to let down their guard.”

Prince George’s has more than 20,000 confirmed cases, which continues to lead the state of Maryland and higher than about 20 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

According to the county’s COVID-19 dashboard, several trends show improvement that include weekly decreases in deaths, fewer confirmed cases and about 58 percent of inten-

5 Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, right, provides a COVID-19 update during a press conference July 9 at the county’s Office of Emergency Management in Landover. Ernest Carter, chief health officer for the county, listens. (Rob Roberts/The Washington Informer)

sive care unit beds available.

Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks sent a countywide text message Friday to remind residents to remain vigilant.

“While we substantially decreased the positivity rate in the county to 6%, we are still asking residents to practice social distancing wear a mask and wash and sanitize their hands regularly,” she said. “COVID-19 is not finished, and we must continue to do our part to reduce the spread of the virus.”

It helps more than 10,000 people have been tested the last week of June going into the Fourth of July.

The county’s Health Department manages five COVID-19 sites and pop-up site became

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available Friday at Langley Park Community Center.

The state Department of Health runs slightly more than two dozen testing sites in Prince George’s that include Six Flags America in Upper Marlboro, Adventist Healthcare in Laurel, Medstar Health Urgent Care in Hyattsville and several CVS pharmacies.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan released a coronavirus update on how half the state’s counties and Baltimore City tested at least 10 percent of its population. Prince George’s stood at 10.6 percent and ranked second behind Baltimore amongst the state’s most populous jurisdictions.

“There were many sacrifices that had to be made over the last several months with graduation celebrations and other significant milestones, but we now have the data to back up the fact that Prince Georgians had each other’s back,” Alsbrooks said at a press conference Thursday, July 9 in Landover.

During that time, the infection rate per person increased several days last week in the county at .92, but remained lower than the state average of .99. The county data doesn’t include the Fourth of July weekend.

Ernest Carter, the county’s chief health officer, said the current infection rate figure puts the county “at medium risk spread,

but at a slow and controlled fashion.”

Carter said the goal will be to lower it below .90 to place the county at a low risk of contracting the virus.

In early June, he said the figure stood at .72.

Carter, as he has done at previous press conferences, stressed for residents to wear masks and other face coverings, stay home if a person feels ill, people should stand at least six feet apart and avoid large crowds.

“If you still don’t feel comfortable sitting at a restaurant, order take-out and give the person a generous tip,” he said. “Unfortunately, COVID-19 is going to be a part of our daily lives and it’s going to be that way for a while.

We just can’t let up at this point.”

In addition, Carter said residents who receive a phone call that states “MD-COVID” on a caller ID should answer the phone. That person calling works as a contact tracer to help people who tested positive to determine who they interacted with and the process for quarantine.

When asked if residents could face any fines for not responding to contract tracers, Carter said no.

“We are not at the point of fining somebody for not responding to that, but we will be very intense about finding those folks,” he said.

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HEALTH D.C. Residents Debate Risks of Relocating Loved Ones Out of Nursing Homes

The Legal Counsel for the Elderly Weighs In On Difficult Decision

By Lindiwe Vilakazi WI Contributing Writer COVID-19 deaths have changed the landscape of many residents living dynamic, including the once settling decision of having elderly loved ones residing in nursing homes – one of the most dangerous environments persistently being rocked by the health pandemic.

Nursing homes have served as a deadly coronavirus hot spot for healthcare workers and senior residents alike, forcing family members to consider their abilities in providing the same level of health care and vigilance matched to the services of these 9.5 x 6.1.pdf 1 7/6/20 local facilities.

Many residents

reportedly seek counsel in finalizing decisions of how to best provide protection for their family nursing home residents amid the health emergency.

“The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS] is the governing body for all nursing homes and local Medicaid offices like DC Medicaid - everyone goes off of those guidelines.

CMS has been very diligent getting these nursing home facilities to make certain that they have the highest of safety protocols in place,” said Albert Reed, Home and Community based Ombudsman of The Legal Counsel for The Elderly.

As of June 18, CMS and the 4:47 PM for Disease Control have Centers

reported 989 total deaths of elderly nursing home residents in Maryland with an additional 93 deaths in the District. The alarming death tolls have incited CMS to revamp protocol measures to ensure safety and recovery amongst the elderly residents.

Reed works with nine CMS facilities across the city, overseeing residents held in the required quarantine wards, created as a separate ward unit, for those residents who have tested positive or had symptoms that are related to coronavirus. They have assigned staff to those wards who only address COVID-19 patients.

“This is especially important because there are individuals

RISKS Page 22

3 An elderly gentleman with a caregiver in a nursing home. (Courtesy photo/stock)

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JULY 16 - 22, 2020 21

EDUCATION Harvard Launches Black Teacher Archives Research Project Focuses on Black Educators’ Journals

By Sarafina Wright WI Contributing Writer Harvard University has launched The Black Teacher Archives, a major new research project to explore the history of African American education.

The first phase of the project will archive and digitize the state journals of Colored Teachers Associations, which operated for more than 100 years, from 1861 through 1970.

Project leaders say providing access to these materials, largely the products of teachers in segregated

southern schools, will revolutionize research in the history of education, African American studies, and the study of critical pedagogy.

“Through these journals, we see Black schoolteachers as both thinkers and doers, what we might call ‘scholars of the practice,’” said Jarvis Givens, co-principal investigator and assistant professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. “For more than a century, they were engaging in deep study; combining the best thinking from the mainstream educational domain — which excluded them — with the political and cultural ideas

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generated in their own Black intellectual networks.

“In light of this, the professional world of these educators must be taken on its own terms,” Givens said. “These journals will help us to do that. They will help us tell more dynamic stories of Black educators, especially given all that becomes possible once historical sources are digitized.”

James E. Ford, executive director of North Carolina-based Center of Racial Equity and Education (CREED), which works to close opportunity gaps in education for students of color, said this project could possibly address the issue of equity between Black and white students.

“With a project like this we can seize upon what has worked historically, and I think it would make for a more nuanced and sophisticated approach to how we teach,” Ford said. “The cool thing is the information is not exclusive. Perhaps teachers now white, Black or otherwise can learn how to apply those things to students and maybe that can give them a better chance at accessing the curriculum and better engagement in the lesson.”

Ford believes the project can also shed a light on successful practices from Black teachers of the past that

RISKS from Page 21 who were transferred to the hospital and when they come back, because they’re not in the same protected environment they were when they left the facility, they’re going to have to go into quarantine,” Reed said.

When people get sick and are transferred to the hospital, they have to go in quarantine upon return – another precaution the ward has taken for the safety of residents and employees.

As advocates, serving to protect the safety and rights of senior residents, they work to provide clientele with useful questions and dialogue to ensure they are making the most efficient decision to maintain proper care and standards for their family members.

Typically, the organization asks family members of nursing home residents to consider three issues.

First, to consider the safety of their loved ones in the facility. They are in a protective environment 24/7 and those safety protocols are put in place. The facility can limit the amount of individuals who come into the facility. However, can

often goes overlooked today.

“We learn the wisdom from the ancestors. … Black approaches to teaching and learning that can be unearthed and may have relevance in the modern context,” he said.

“And I think that’s the most exciting thing about this project. … We may end up finding out that our ancestors captured something that we have underutilized.”

The Black Teacher Archives will be funded for two years with a $610,000 grant from The Andrew

W. Mellon Foundation.

Imani Perry, a professor in Princeton University’s Department of African American Studies, and Givens will lead the project, partnering with scholars and archivists at historically Black colleges and universities.

“This is a world of teachers who cultivated dreams in generations of Black people, while living under persecution,” Givens said. Their stories have so much to teach us.”

WI

family members manage to maintain that protocol at home for the safety of their senior citizen who is more susceptible to catching the virus?

Second, is the around the clock physician’s assistance given to the senior citizens within a nursing home? Either a nurse or a CNA are available to perform key chores throughout the day for the senior resident such as changing soiled clothes, feeding and transferring immobile residents from bed to bathroom.

Family members of residents

often ask if they can bring their family member back to the senior nursing homes after being hospitalized and if there will still be an available bed. According to CMS guidelines, whether a COVID-19 environment or not, when one transfers out of the facility, CMS guarantees that beds will be held for 18 days. After that, residents may not have the same bed.

Nursing home residents cannot be discharged to another nursing home, or any unsafe environment such as the streets, etc., during the COVID-19 health emergency.

Finally, families should consider the differences within Medicaid benefits – those that cover patients while in a nursing facility and those that provide skilled care workers coming to one’s home.

“If you are having trouble, try every day to get an update from the facility regarding your loved one. If you’re having difficulty with that, that’s what our office is here for, to reach out to us,” Reed said. “Our 20 volunteers will help them connect with the facility.” WI

The District’s stringent protections halt evictions during and 60 days after the health emergency.

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EDUCATION

5 Miguel Coppedge (center) and MPD Officers Natali Thomas and Kip Coleman, who helped to inspire the story “Friendly Officers” by Coppedge. (Photo by Yolanda Coppedge)

Good Cop vs. Bad Cop: How to Know the Difference

By Brigette Squire WI Writer @SquireBrigette

There is a knowledge that both good and bad police officers exist, but how does one distinguish between the two?

In light of the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of police officers, the profession hasn’t exactly been viewed in the most positive light in recent months. Those unsettling incidents have caused some to wonder if they or a loved one will be the next victim of police brutality.

“I’m scared for my sister, my Black brothers, my uncles, or my father even more than for myself,” said Daniel Williams when asked how he feels about police brutality as a Black man in America. “What can you do? I feel helpless, but I’m in a ‘never fold’ mindset. In the beginning, I was scared.

Now, I’m just aware and cautious.”

But some law enforcement officials say they are working hard to show their trustworthiness in the wake of the incidents.

“Good cops are transparent and reassure you that everything is going to be OK. They will go longer than their actual service code,” said Kip Coleman, a Metropolitan Police officer in Ward 8. “Bad cops make bad discussions with attitude. They come to work with their own agenda. If you can’t get along with people, you shouldn’t be a police officer. You get tired as an officer, but that’s when you take yourself on a vacation and get the

necessary breaks. Cops need an outlet too.”

The occupation isn’t everyone’s calling. Becoming one shouldn’t be a last-ditch career option — one must be built for it.

“You have to be a people person.

You have to be a part of the community. You’re not just patrolling for crime,” Coleman said. “It’s not just on when you’re on the clock. Be a coach, read a book or something. Get out the scout car and interact with the people from youth to seniors.

“We have to get the trust back of the community,” he said. “I work in the city that I grew up in, so this is home. I know the neighborhood and they know me. I want to be aware of what’s going on in my community.”

Coleman, who said he loves go-go music and dancing, began policing in 1990 and retired in 2007. He then transitioned into teaching, which ultimately led him to return to the force as an active-duty officer.

“I like servicing the community,” he said. “I love doing things with the kids.

I wish it wasn’t a pandemic right now.

I would take the kids in the neighborhood to the pool.”

The coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing social distancing measures to combat it has splintered communities and neighborhoods in more ways than one, and police officers say they play a role in the healing process, particularly during such tragedies as the fatal shooting of 11-year-old Davon McNeal in Southeast over the July Fourth weekend.

“I took the time to go to the candlelight vigil. I saw other retired officers there also,” Coleman said while acknowledging that he is a parent and can empathize with a mother who has lost a son. “It hurts. Children don’t deserve that. There are times when you need the police and times when you

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don’t. When you have violent situations happen, you need the police.”

Meanwhile, young author Miguel Coppedge has written several books about law enforcement and firefighters in the community and has taken the time to build a relationship with the service members of the communi-

ty for the past four years.

“I have played basketball with the recruits. I have done gaming events with the police, Miguel said. “I was taught to obey the law and law enforcement. Trusting them allows for me to do that.”

WI

JULY 16 - 22, 2020 23

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OPINIONS/EDITORIALS

EDITORIAL Stay Mindful of Children’s Fears When 11-year old Devon McNeal was murdered on July 4th while attending a Stop the Violence cookout with his mother in Southeast, gasps could be heard across the region from people stunned to listen to the sad news. Unfortunately, Devon is not the only child killed in the area by the hands or wanton acts of adults and other youths. It’s a sad reality with no solution that brings comfort and solace to the children who seek and need it.

On one of several marches held in Devon’s honor, a young child in attendance was heard asking if adults are trying to kill them. Reportedly, adults attempted to comfort her by telling her their job is to protect children, not harm them.

COVID-19 has exacerbated a litany of unfortunate circumstances besetting every aspect of life as we know it. From job losses, business shutdowns, sickness and deaths, this pandemic has crept into the home where people were encouraged to stay safe. For children, the crisis is not as much a health problem, as it is a psychological one. According to a recent report by UNICEF, the pandemic “is a universal crisis, and, for some children, the impact will be lifelong.”

School closures, lack of outdoor activities and other abnormal eating and sleeping habits are harmful, especially to children. Incidences of domestic violence, child abuse and access to adult content online are reportedly on the rise.

There are resources for parents and adults to help address children’s concerns and help parents keep their children active and healthy during this uncertain time. Talking to children is critical and allowing them to discuss their concerns, fears, hopes and dreams are necessary.

As summer ends and children look forward to going back to school, school districts are considering whether to fully open or adopt a hybrid version of in-class and distance learning. On the other hand, parents must also decide what’s best for their child but many won’t have options. Children are watching and listening and worrying about what will happen to them. It’s a consequence of this pandemic that we cannot take for granted or ignore.

WI

Pregnant Women Can Pass COVID-19 to Infants Recent studies indicate that pregnant women infected by the coronavirus can pass the virus on to their babies. At present, there remain no proven interventions with prevention serving as the best approach, according to Claudio Fenizia, as assistant professor of immunology at the University of Milan who led the study.

While just two of the infants in the sample examined by Italian researchers tested positive for the virus and both recovered quickly, the results leave more questions unanswered.

“Our study should be considered a ringing bell to raise awareness that [transmission] is possible,” Fenizia said, urging further research. The researchers found the coronavirus and antibodies against it in the umbilical cord blood, breast milk, placentas and vaginas of some pregnant infected women, leading them to conclude that the virus can be passed to fetuses and newborns.

Still, as Diana W. Bianchi, director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development says, the results appear inconclusive because it’s difficult to determine, even in cases in which a newborn tests positive, whether the child was contaminated by bodily fluids from an infected mother during vaginal delivery or Caesarean section, she notes.

The National Institute of Child Health plans to fund a review of the records of births this year to help determine the impact of the virus on pregnant women and newborns, comparing births in 2019 and 2020 to see if the virus caused consistent medical problems in pregnant women.

As for the Centers for Disease Control, they have noted that pregnant women “might be at increased risk for severe illness” from COVID-19.

WI

TO THE EDITOR

Black Words Matter Love for Loni Although I get where the writer was coming from on the cover story about killings in Atlanta, I take issue with a Black paper using “Black-on-Black” crime when everyone should know by now it is a racist trope used to strip us of our humanity. These terms are not used in other communities nor have they been pathologized the way we are. Why is that?

I really enjoyed the story on Loni Love.

I’ve always rooted for her because I know the kind of things she faces in the industry with all the barriers and different obstacles. I think everyone should support her book. It seems like it will be a great, funny read.

Gail Richards Laurel, Md.

Lillian Jefferson Washington, D.C.

Readers' Mailbox

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The Washington Informer welcomes letters to the editor about articles we publish or issues affecting the community. Write to: lsaxton@washingtoninformer. com or send to: 3117 Martin Luther King Jr Ave., SE, Washington, D.C. 20032. Please note that we are unable to publish letters that do not include a full name, address and phone number. We look forward to hearing from you.

JULY 16 - 22, 2020 25

OPINIONS/EDITORIALS Guest Columnist

By Julianne Malveaux

The Enemy Within

At least six Black children were killed during the Fourth of You Lie weekend. They weren’t doing anything wrong, just attending a community picnic, or going to visit a grandmother, or riding in a car with her mom. One of the children, Secoriea Turner, 8, was an Atlantan, and the day after the killing, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, emotionally addressed

the killers, “You shot and killed a baby,” she said.

“This random wild, wild West, shoot ‘em up because you can, it has got to stop. It has to stop.”

She went on to say, “Enough is enough. You can’t blame this on a police officer. You can’t say this is about criminal justice reform.

This is about some people carrying weapons who shot up a car with an 8-year-old baby in the car. For what?”

In Washington, D.C., 11-yearold Devon McNeal, ironically at-

tending an antiviolence cookout organized by his mother, was shot in the head by a bullet. An 18-year old has been arrested, and there are to other suspects. In Atlanta, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco and New York, our children are being murdered. We can get thousands to the streets for a Black Lives Matter protest. How many can we get out for Natalia, 7, killed in Chicago, or Jace Young, 6, the San Franciscan who was killed attending a birthday party?

In 2019, 692 children (0-11)

Guest Columnists

were killed or injured, up from 2014, when 603 were killed or wounded. The Gus Violence Archive, (gunviolencearchive.org), has been counting gun deaths since 2013, says there were 733 child deaths or injuries in 2017, the peak year since they began collecting the data. The murdered children are never the intended victims. Instead, somebody with more firepower than sense, shoots into a crowd gathering, not caring who they hit. And they’ve been killing our children.

I could write dissertations about why angry and unemployed young men are running around with guns, settling scores, and securing reputations with no regard for others. But I’m sick of the sociological explanations and the excuses. I’m with Mayor Bottoms.

Enough is enough.

How do we stop it, though?

Devon McNeal’s mother, Crystal, is an antiviolence activist. She organized her gathering to promote

MALVEAUX Page 45

By Bill Fletcher Jr.

The Annexation of Palestinian Territory is Illegal Let’s be clear and not try to fool one another. There is no basis in international law for the planned Israeli annexation of Palestinian territory. None.

In some respects, this column could end right here. There is no further explanation necessary.

Both the Israelis and the U.S. political establishment know this.

That the Israelis are copying the behavior of the U.S. expansion west in the 18th and 19th centuries is more to the point. The U.S. political establishment understands that the USA was constructed on the annexation of the land of the Native Americans, the Mexicans, and the blood of the Africans, all with the aim of establishing a white settler republic.

That is something the U.S. and Israeli experiences share in common.

The proposed annexation aims

Guest Columnist

to drive the remaining Palestinians off their lands or place them in a Bantustan-like existence, just as the apartheid South Africans attempted in the 1970s/1980s. The Afrikaners attempted to deceive the world into believing that they were creating livable spaces for the African majority when they were creating nothing more than reservations for the relocation of the African majority. Israel aims to do much the same.

Many of Israel’s liberal support-

ers in the USA are tongue-tied.

They cannot justify the annexation — knowing full well that it is illegal — but are terrified that there might be actions taken against the Israeli government by the USA and other governments.

While they certainly have little to fear from Trump, who has gone out of his way to encourage the annexation, it is true that there is a growing awareness in Congress, and within the U.S. public, that annexation is wrong.

The attitude of liberal supporters of Israel is akin to someone who knows that an individual embezzled money from a company, but they would rather not press charges because they believe that there is something about the person that is worthy of saving. The problem is simple: the law does not work that way, whether domestic or international.

When Russia illegally seized

the media. Dr. Tucker understood that the information we feed our minds is intrinsically linked to how our reality is shaped and the conduct we can be expected to exhibit in our daily lives. If Black Lives are to really Matter, we must reexamine how we think of each other and how we treat each other. If Black lives are to really matter and we are to rise above the common discord we see in the daily intrigues of our nation, we MUST recalibrate how we value each other and regard each other with the respect we demand for ourselves.

It’s time for Black women to bring back our complaint about being constantly bombarded with unspeakable terms in what some call music. Gangsta rap, when it comes from Black men or Black women, has no regard for Black women or children. No other women have to endure being bombarded and brutalized with such filthy language in their music. It’s long past the time to change that.

Bob Law, esteemed radio per-

FLETCHER Page 45

By E. Faye Williams

Black Women and Children’s Lives Matter While in the midst of proclaiming Black Lives Matter, (and I agree) I want to make it clear that all Black Lives Matter, including Black women and children. It shouldn’t be necessary to say that, but it is.

To MATTER is to have VALUE! There’s little doubt that Black Lives Matter. Thousands have demonstrated their support of that belief in streets across the nation and, for

26 - JULY 16 - 22, 2020

unnumbered reasons, many more support that belief in the privacy of their consciences.

The real challenge for those of us dedicated to broadening the understanding of Black Lives Matter is changing the concept of BLM from a slogan to a way of life. In so doing, we develop the ethic of embracing actions and ideas that encourage and stimulate positive growth in our communities. It means rejecting those actions and ideas which produce no tangible positive outcomes in the lives of Black people — espe-

cially Black women and children.

It could be said that in the ‘60s, The Black Panther Party was a precursor of BLM. Their Ten Point Program parallels the safety and physical concerns for the Black community of today’s BLM movement.

In the early 1990s, Dr. C. Delores Tucker, founder of the National Congress of Black Women, broadened those concerns with a campaign against “gangsta rap”— a campaign that addressed the psychological destruction of our youth and persons unduly influenced by

WILLIAMS Page 45

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OPINIONS/EDITORIALS Guest Columnist

By Marian Wright Edelman

Voting for Our Future

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court struck yet another blow to voting rights when it blocked an order that would have made it easier for Alabama citizens to vote safely in the middle of the pandemic by easing some restrictions before the state’s July 14 primary runoff election. Alabama’s current restrictions for absen-

tee voting require voters to submit a copy of photo identification and obtain the signatures of two adult witnesses or a notary public before returning their ballot.

In June, a U.S. District Court judge in Birmingham ruled that voters in some counties with medical conditions putting them at risk of COVID-19, including people who are 65 or older or have a disability, could be allowed to vote absentee without those restrictions. The

Guest Columnist

judge’s ruling also lifted Alabama’s statewide prohibition on curbside voting and instead allowed local officials to choose to provide absentee ballot drop-off boxes. But the state of Alabama fought for a stay to keep the voting restrictions in place, and in a 5-4 split decision the Supreme Court granted it.

The Supreme Court issued a similar 5-4 decision in April overturning a lower court’s decision to allow a six day extension for absentee ballots in

Wisconsin. These rulings are two of the many warning signs in the escalating fight to protect the right to vote and make it easier for all eligible voters to participate, especially in the middle of the COVID-19 crisis.

President Trump has already made clear he believes Republicans should oppose efforts like mail-in voting, despite using that option himself, because that “doesn’t work out well for Republicans.” But beyond the fact that studies have shown that claim

is unfounded, protecting the right to vote and making sure every one of us has the ability to vote safely should be a shared value and priority for all Americans.

Every summer students enrolled in the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) Freedom Schools program participate in a National Day of Social Action, lifting up a concern they are passionate about and helping

EDELMAN Page 44

By A. Peter Bailey

Emmett Till, George Floyd Generational Wake-Up Calls

For many Black teenagers in my generation, the Jet magazine photo of 14-year old Emmett Till’s brutalized body after he was lynched by white supremacists was a wake-up call about the true nature of race in the United States. The August 1955 horrific photo gave us a searing memory that still lingers in our souls. Unfortunately, that memory did not lead us to create a strong Black national unity organization

designed to promote and protect our human rights in this country.

Hopefully, the white supremacist cold-blooded lynching of George Floyd will encourage the current generation to do what we failed to accomplish. To create the much-needed Black national unity organization, they should study and learn from the following guidelines from committed, visionary warriors, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Brother Malcolm X. In his book, “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community,” Dr. King wrote: “A second import-

Askia-At-Large

ant step that the Negro must take is to work passionately for group identity. This does not mean group isolation or group exclusivity. It means the kind of group consciousness that Negroes need in order to participate more meaningfully at all levels of life in this country. Group unity necessarily involves group trust and reconciliation....This form of group unity can do infinitely more to liberate the Negro than any action of individuals. We have been oppressed as a group and we must overcome that oppression as a group.”

In a 1963 letter to eight civil

rights leaders, Brother Malcolm stated: “If capitalistic Kennedy and communistic Khrushchev can find something in common on which to form a united front despite their tremendous differences, it is a disgrace for Negro leaders not to be able to submerge our ‘minor’ differences in order to seek a common solution to common problems posed by a common enemy.”

At such a meeting, he continued, “There will be no debating, arguing, criticizing or condemning. I will moderate the meeting and guarantee order and courtesy for all

speakers....It will give you a chance to present your views to the largest and explosive element in metropolitan New York.”

It’s critically important that current and future generations of Black folks do a much better job of creating the kind of Black national unity advocated by Dr. King and Brother Malcolm. It is the most effective way to honor the memories of Emmett Till, George Floyd, Dr. King, Brother Malcolm and other warriors whose lives were taken in the war against white supremacy/ racism. WI

By Askia Muhammad

The Censorship of Louis Farrakhan

The July 4, 2020, address, “The Criterion,” by The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan has been removed from YouTube after more than 1 million people have already viewed it because of an unrelenting campaign by Jewish groups.

As vehemently as they like to deny the charges, this behavior proves the adage that anti-Semitism, of which

the Minister is accused, is often more about someone who is hated by Jews, rather than about someone who himself is a Jew hater.

These folks say that anyone who argues that Jews control the entertainment industry is anti-Semitic.

But this act is clear proof of the expression by Israeli journalist Gilad Atzmon, who wrote on Dec. 14, 2016: “Jewish power is the power to silence criticism of Jewish power.”

After the Million Man March when the attempts to defame Farra-

khan failed, the 21st century strategy to blunt his success turned to ignoring him, like no one could see the elephant in the room—the elephant being his enormous body of good works among Black people who the society has abandoned.

What these Farrakhan haters do then is to go after people with ties to the corporate culture to demand that they denounce the man who has been a friend and an asset to the success of Black people for 65 years. The Minister is the exemplar of leadership

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in a post-Caucasian world. So, they go after people invested in that world to renounce him, those who have something to lose if they fall from favor in “Holly-weird.”

President Barack Obama was made to “denounce” and “renounce” Farrakhan by Sen. Hilary Clinton, in order to win the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008. The list goes on and on. One of the most recent was entertainer Chelsea Handler, because, like Obama, she has something to lose if the media/enter-

tainment world turns its back on her.

The Farrakhan haters know full well that for most of those otherwise well-meaning outsiders: defending Farrakhan just “is not a hill to die on,” as the saying goes. That is, unless they are willing to commit career suicide, they just can’t defend the Minister who is not necessarily core to their being or to their own mission.

So, Minister Farrakhan is persona non grata in the corporate-owned

ASKIA Page 46 JULY 16 - 22, 2020 27

LIFESTYLE BLACK VPS from Page 17 presidential candidate. Someone who can do the ticket no harm especially,” Shapiro said. “Someone who could plausibly fill in should something happen to the president-elect. But in general, the vice president pick tends to not make much of a difference for the campaign.”

Andrew Gelman, author of “Red State, Blue State, Rich State, Poor State: Why Americans Vote the Way They Do,” agrees.

“I don’t think that there’s evidence that choice of the vice-presidential candidate has electoral benefit,” he said. “There is potentially some home state effect, but that will probably be pretty small.”

Shapiro says for Abrams that “home state effect” could help her case for the vice presidency.

“With her on the ticket democrats will have a better shot of taking Georgia which is a long shot but they could conceivably have a shot, and she could play well in other southern states where African-American voters are very important for the democrats.”

Shapiro and other politicos contend that Biden’s pick regardless of race and gender will not be the tipping point for this election. A lot is up in the air as the coronavirus pandemic, racial injustice protests and the economy cause major angst for voters.

Where does Abrams stand on being Biden’s running mate? In April, she told ELLE magazine she would be honored.

“I would be an excellent running

mate. I have the capacity to attract voters by motivating typically ignored communities. I have a strong history of executive and management experience in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors,” Abrams said.

“I’ve spent 25 years in independent study of foreign policy. I am ready to help advance an agenda of restoring America’s place in the world. If I am selected, I am prepared and excited to serve.”

ATLANTA’S MAYOR KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS ON BIDEN’S LIST FOR VP

By Sam P.K. Collins WI Contributing Writer Though she lacks federal-level experience, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’ criticism of Georgia Governor Brian Kemp’s coronavirus response and the manner in which she addressed residents’ response to Rayshard Brooks’ police-involved death have reportedly placed her among Vice President Joe Biden’s top

Though she lacks federal-level experience, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’ criticism of Georgia Governor Brian Kemp’s coronavirus response and the manner in which she addressed residents’ response to Rayshard Brooks’ police-involved death have reportedly placed her among Vice President Joe Biden’s top picks for a Democratic running mate.

28 - JULY 16 - 22, 2020

picks for a Democratic running mate.

Long before U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, perhaps one of the most powerful Black men in congressional politics, floated her name as a viable candidate, Bottoms, in her first term as mayor, fashioned herself as an ardent Biden supporter with a strong endorsement last July.

Earlier this year, she stood before Iowa caucus voters on behalf of Biden, and later countered blowback he faced about past policy decisions and comments while on the campaign trail in South Carolina and Texas. Bottoms also spoke on Biden’s behalf in the spin room after each Democratic presidential debate.

In June, while on ABC’s The View, Bottoms reaffirmed her support for Biden, not necessarily as a Democrat, but as a force that can instill confidence in voters seeking a return to normalcy.

“What’s most important is that we have a restoration of moral leadership in the nation’s capital. It impacts everything how we view our country and how we view our future with our children,” Bottoms, 50, told “The View” host Meghan McCain on June 17.

“I’m confident that Vice President Joe Biden will make the choice to help him lead our country, but there’s a lot of healing that has to happen in our country,” she added. “It’s important that the person who governs alongside Biden can bring some integrity, compassion and empathy for our communities who are hurting in so many ways.”

Bottoms, the daughter of late R&B singer-songwriter Major Lance, was elected mayor in 2017 after serving as a council member representing Southwest Atlanta, and as a judge.

Notable accomplishments include her declaration of Atlanta as a sanctuary city when President Donald Trump (R) revved up efforts to detain undocumented immigrants and refugees.

Bottoms later signed an executive order against the city jails holding ICE detainees.

Throughout much of the anti-police brutality protests, she has condemned Trump as an instigator of racial tension, while working to instill hope in protesters that their actions will bring about change.

THE PROS AND CONS OF SUSAN RICE AS BIDEN’S VP

By Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer Susan Rice brings “a high skill-set

knowledge base” that can only boost the candidacy of presumptive Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden.

Rice is an “interesting choice for vice president, but while extremely qualified and knowledgeable on matters of foreign affairs, she carries too much political baggage.”

The two statements – one from a national expert on race relations who heads top civil rights enforcing agency in Pennsylvania, and the other from an attorney – present the problem faced by Biden as he seeks a running mate for November’s crucial election.

“Her vast expertise on global policy and security, along with the ability to be a unifying force in a moment where our diseased democracy could use a strategic thinker should give all of us concerned with the future of our democracy hope,” said Chad Dion Lassiter, the MSW President of Black Men at Penn University of the Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice.

Countering that is Attorney David Reischer, the CEO of LegalAdvice. com.

“The controversy surrounding Rice’s comments on all the Sunday talk shows following the 2012 attack on Benghazi consulate will likely continue to haunt her on the campaign trail,” Reischer stated.

Jeb Edmondson, an Atlanta-based political consultant who has worked on campaigns for former Sen. Luther Strange, and current Sen. David Perdue, sided with Reischer.

“I believe that Susan Rice would frankly be a poor choice for Vice President. She played a minor role in the Benghazi disaster which could bring conservatives who are considering sitting this election out back into the fold and give President Donald Trump’s team an opportunity to wave the bloody shirt and claim Biden will plunge us into a global war,” Edmonson noted, adding that Rice’s involvement with the Iran nuclear deal could also cause similar problems, allowing Republicans another line of attack against the Biden campaign, resurrecting fears of a nuclearized Iran.

John Cavanaugh, a social scientist,

and public affairs consultant, offered his assessment of Rice and Biden’s other potential choices.

“Given the rapidly unfolding events of the Black Lives Matters movement and the increasing pressure to name a woman of color to the ticket, it is no surprise that Ambassador Rice is under serious consideration,” Cavanaugh noted.

“With her foreign policy and national security experience, Rice meets the most important criteria of being well prepared to step into the role of commander-in-chief should anything happen to Biden.

“What she lacks is the experience in electoral politics. Biden has publicly stated that former competitors may have an edge as the national press has vetted them.

“Plus, he prefers someone who is personally ‘simpatico,’ much like Biden himself was with President Obama. Thus, I concur that Senator Kamala Harris remains the front runner at this point. Her close relationship with Beau Biden may seal the deal.

“I would not be surprised if others undergoing intense scrutiny ended up in the cabinet.

“For example, Rice might be selected for Secretary of State. Elizabeth Warren could become Treasury Secretary. Rep. Val Demings with her law enforcement background might be nominated for Secretary of Homeland Security.”

According to her official biography, Rice served President Obama as National Security Advisor and U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

In her role as National Security Advisor from July 1, 2013, to January 20, 2017, Ambassador Rice led the National Security Council Staff and chaired the Cabinet-level National Security Principals Committee.

She provided the President with daily national security briefings.

She was responsible for coordinating the formulation and implementation of all aspects of the Administration’s foreign and national security policy, intelligence, and military efforts.

As U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations and a member of President Obama’s Cabinet, Rice worked to advance U.S. interests, defend universal values, strengthen the world’s security and prosperity, and promote respect for human rights.

“Loved by Democrats and independents alike, Ambassador Rice brings to the table the hope to restore America’s

BLACK VPS Page 43

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JULY 16 - 22, 2020 29

LIFESTYLE

Ethnic Attacks in Ethiopia Spark Local and International Criticism

By Sam P.K.Collins WI Contributing Writer @SamPKCollins Over the course of two weeks, up until the moment Ethiopian authorities identified members of the Oromo Liberation Front as suspects in the murder of a highly revered Oromo singer-activist, more than 200 lives have been lost in acts of violence motivated by the Oromo people’s grievances against the government and their desire for a separate ethno-state.

While some Ethiopians of the Diaspora such as Yonathan Mengistu empathize with the Oromo people’s strife, they argue that their destruction of buildings, homes and towns, along with the Oromo-backed desecration of Ethiopian cultural landmarks in Ethiopia and the United

Kingdom, show a lack of knowledge about the global, elitist forces keeping the majority of Ethiopians impoverished and divided.

“Ethiopia is made up of ethnic states. Each region is the semi-autonomous land of a particular group, of which the Oromo people boast the largest size,” Mengistu told The Informer as he explained how the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) divided Ethiopia during the passage of a new constitution more than 30 years ago.

In 1987, EPRDF, a coalition of Ethiopian ethnic and political factions, defeated the Derg, the Marxist-Leninist group whose oppression of the Ethiopian masses sparked more than a decade of civil conflict and invasions. The Derg’s penchant for imprisoning hoards of people

and inflicting widespread violence unified various ethnic groups, including the Oromo, in an effort to topple the military government.

For centuries, the Oromo, an independent, indigenous people with a system of governance known as the Gadaa, unsuccessfully resisted pressure to unite under the paradigm of a slightly smaller Amhara group.

By the 1900s, the Oromo population was reduced in half in encounters with the Amhara. In the years leading up to the Derg’s 1975 overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie I, remnants of the group’s language and culture had been suppressed.

Though there had initially been some embrace of the Derg, the Oromo people, along with other groups of Ethiopians, continued to suffer under their rule, and some argue well beyond the installation

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5 The aftermath of mob violence in the town of Shashamane, Ethiopia earlier this month. (Photo courtesy of Tom Gardner/The Economist)

of the modern-day government.

By the early to mid-2010s, the now-deceased Oromo singer-activist Hachalu Hundessa wrote and produced revolution-themed songs that inspired a mass movement, and eventually compelled the appointment of Ethiopia’s first Oromo prime minister in 2018.

Around the world, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali’s appointment showed some promise of progress, but some Oromo said they remain under siege in some of the military-occupied portions of the country they’ve made their home. Hundessa’s June 29 death at the hands of an armed assailant again unearthed feelings long harbored by the Oromo ethnic group.

Mengistu, however, said there’s no sense in going after other oppressed people.

“Oromo are certainly a large group that is spread out in the country,” he said. “Given their size, they have more people in impoverished conditions [but] no one group is particularly advantaged other than the elites.

“As far as I’m concerned, Western-style pedagogical approaches in the country by and large have played a neocolonial role in miseducating the masses as well as robbing them of the depths of their roots,” Mengistu said.

As communities in Ethiopia reel from violence, public officials in Ethiopia and around the world continue to condemn the recent killings, and the desecration of Ras Makonnen Wolde Mikael’s statue in the city of Harar, that prompted the

ETHIOPIA Page 43

Mixed-Race People’s Role in the Movement

By Brigette Squire WI Writer @SquireBrigette

The Black Lives Matter protests have resulted meaningful conversations about power, privilege and position in America — conversations that some say are long overdue.

“The United States is supposed to be where you can think, feel, or say anything that you want without being scared because we are free and we are brave, but that’s not the reality,” said D.C. native Loren Moor, mother of three mixed-race children. “We

need to have these uncomfortable conversations. Now is the time.”

Two of Moor’s children are African American and the youngest is Chinese mixed with her Jewish white heritage.

“I didn’t want my son to outside once the current administration started calling COVID-19 the ‘China virus,’” she said. “Being Asian or Black in America is unsafe and I wanted them to be protected.”

In 2018, America consisted of approximately 200 million white

MIXED-RACE Page 44

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LIFESTYLE

Trailblazing Black Architect’s Work Archived at USC

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The work and materials of trailblazing African American architect Paul Revere Williams, who designed over 3,000 projects, has been jointly acquired by the University of Southern California School of Architecture and Getty Research Institute.

Described by many as the most significant African American architect of the 20th century, Williams has been credited with playing a supreme role in the cultural landscape and design of Los Angeles.

His archive includes approximately 35,000 plans, 10,000 original drawings, blueprints and project diazotypes, hand-colored renderings, vintage photographs, correspondence, and other materials.

It will also document the entirety of Williams’ career, from his early residential commissions during Los Angeles’ housing boom of the 1920s to landmark mid-century civic structures.

“Paul Williams led by example and instilled in his children and grandchildren the importance of excellence, attention to detail and, above all, family,” said Karen Elyse Hudson, Williams’ granddaughter, who has published extensively on his work. “The collaboration of two such esteemed institutions, the University of Southern California and Getty Research Institute, to preserve and further his legacy, would make our grandfather extremely proud.”

USC calls Williams a master of Late Moderne design, known for combining long horizontal lines and sleek curving forms, yet fully versed in other architectural styles.

His early work was primarily residential, designing legendary homes for leaders in business and entertainment such as Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, Bill Bojangles Robinson, Frank Sinatra, the E. L. Cord and Paley families, Cary Grant and many more.

In his later career, Williams focused on commercial, institutional, and public building projects.

Williams’s mid-twentieth-century designs include refurbishments and additions to the Beverly Hills Hotel, the Los Angeles International Air-

5 Beverly Hills Hotel Addition, Beverly Hills, Paul R. Williams architect, Built 1949-50, photography by Julius Shulman, 1950, Gelatin Silver Print, © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10)

port planning and design team, the Los Angeles County Courthouse, the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Building, Hillside Memorial Park, Westwood Medical Center and First AME Church.

He also worked on a large number of national and international projects like the design and construction of the Hotel Nutibara in Medellín, Colombia. He was an associate architect on the U.N. Building in Paris and Langston Terrace in D.C., the first federally sponsored public housing in the country.

USC says although many believe that Williams’ archive was destroyed in a fire during the 1992 Los Angeles riots, it was primarily business records. Most of the extensive archive was in a different location and is in excellent condition.

“The papers that are going to USC and Getty have been known about since the 1992 fire, and those who did are undoubtedly relieved that they are finally going to be in the public domain,” said Leslie Luebbers, project director for the Paul R. Williams Project and director of the Art Museum of the University of Memphis. “But the collection does not undo, as some reports have suggested, the devastating loss of material in the 1992 fire.”

Born in Los Angeles in 1894, Williams was orphaned at the age of four. Exceptionally gifted, he landed internships and jobs at prominent,

local architecture firms immediately after high school in 1912, despite racial prejudice, according to his biography.

Williams took classes at the Los Angeles Beaux-Arts School, ultimately attending USC’s School of Engineering. In 1920, he was appointed to the first Los Angeles City Planning Commission.

He opened his own practice in 1923, later serving as an architect for the Navy during World War II. “During a period of de jure segregation, Paul R. Williams mastered architecture, a public art form, and was as prolific as he was persistent,” said LeRonn P. Brooks, associate curator for modern and contemporary collections at the Getty Research Institute. “His legacy is therefore as much about the character of the man himself as it is the scale, variety and ambitions within a professional practice wed to realizations of perpetual excellence.

“His career and life invite new histories to be written by the countless scholars who will have unprecedented access to this tremendously important archive,” Brooks said.

Williams retired in 1973, having received numerous accolades, including the American Institute of Architect’s Award of Merit in 1939 for the Music Corporation of America Building and the NAACP’s Spingarn

ARCHITECT Page 33

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Sounds of a Pandemic: Using Music to Cope

By Brigette Squire WI Writer @SquireBrigette

A new sound is being produced by DMV musicians as a result of their experiences during the coronavirus pandemic.

Local artists such as DuPont Brass, Summer Dennis, and Marquel aka Daniel Williams created lyrics that speak to the disproportionate deaths rates in the Black community due to police brutality and the ongoing pandemic.

Marquel recently released “VESSEL!,” a five-song EP that speaks on the pandemic experience and embracing change, if not necessarily intentionally.

“The album that I’m working on is way more based on my experience in the pandemic. It has a different sound and vibe,” Marquel said. “The lyrics in my EP relate to the current situation but I could have never predicted how much, because I started working on it prior to the lockdown. Lyrics like, ‘It’s necessary to take space and that’s OK, I’m loving you all the same, I’m loving you from far away.’ It’s so relevant to how people are feeling.”

DuPont Brass hesitated to release

ARCHITECT from Page 32 Medal in 1953 for his outstanding contributions as an architect and work with Los Angeles’s Black community.

Williams died in 1980 at the age of 85. In 2017, he was posthumously awarded USC Architecture’s Distinguished Alumni Award.

“Paul Revere Williams is one of USC’s most important alumni,” said Milton S.F. Curry, dean of the USC School of Architecture. “Our goal is to continue advancing the incredible

an album during these uncertainties, though. The coronavirus has brought on so much change and many people lost their jobs, resulting in less income to support the arts.

“I remember playing music for tuition money on McPherson Square. I will never forget the day when I paid off my balance at Howard University,” said Anthony Daniel, a trumpeter and musical director for DuPont Brass. “As a group, we discussed whether or not to release our most recent album, ‘Music Education,’ last month. We concluded that this is the time to release a sound that will help our people.”

The kicker is that people already had hard-knock times prior to the coronavirus.

“I feel Mary Mary when they sang, ‘Everything that could go wrong, all went wrong at one time,’ in ‘Shackles,’” confessed Daniel.

Historically, music and humor has gotten many through of the most trying times, and many of those tribulations have also served as artistic inspiration, one such case being Summer’s song “Ghetto Rona.”

“It was strange to walk outside in the beginning with a mask and gloves on,” Summer said. “I had to be OK with not leaving the house and not be-

ing able to perform live shows. I kept saying how ironically ‘ghetto’ it all is, and then I began singing it and producing the song.

“I took for granted being able to operate life the way I wanted,” she said. “I’m grateful for the internet as we have virtual shows coming up that allow me to safely create, express my frustrations, and I hope to resonate with the audience through the sounds we are producing.”

Several artists expressed their frustrations not only with adjusting to life on lockdown but racial injustice and police brutality. Marquel shared that he fears less for what may happen to him than he does for his family.

“It was Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor that got me to the point that I couldn’t even watch the George Floyd video at first,” he reflected. “I became less focused on what I could gain and more determined about being a vessel for change.” WI

LIFESTYLE

5 Local artists have created a new sound amid the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Joshua Rodriguez)

legacy of Paul R. Williams, a true trailblazer in the field of architecture, and to share the archive with new and diverse audiences through publications, symposia, exhibitions, and more.

“The work contained in this archive tells many stories,” Curry said.

“Williams was an architect who believed that architecture could advance social progress…his work and life as captured in this archive will quickly become an invaluable resource for like-minded students, faculty and the greater public.” WI

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JULY 16 - 22, 2020 33

LIFESTYLE

Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum: Art in Service to Others

By Miriam Doutriaux, Supervisory Collections Manager, Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum

In the face of widespread recent protests, many cities including Washington, DC, have pledged to address systemic racial inequalities.

Work by governments and institutions is needed, and calls have also increased for personal introspection and action. Recognition is mounting that the responsibility for equity lies with each one of us individually, as well as collectively. This insight is borne out in the work of two Washington, DC artists who used their creative endeavors to inspire, connect and uplift those around them.

In this month’s column, the Anacostia Community Museum commemorates local artists David C. Driskell (1931-2020) and Ira Blount (1918-2020), two remarkable African American men who recently passed away due to complications related to COVID-19. Both leave strong legacies in the art they created and the people they connected.

Though they enjoyed vastly different life experiences and careers, each took tremendous pride and pleasure in sharing his passion, and supporting the artistic pursuits of others.

David C. Driskell was a celebrated professor of fine art and the namesake for a Center at the University of Maryland-College Park.

He revolutionized the field of African American art history when, in the 1970s, he documented the steady participation of Black artists in American visual culture for over 200 years. His 1987 exhibition at the Anacostia Community Museum, “Contemporary Visual Expressions,” explored the varied expressions and traditions of the Black experience in the work of Sam Gilliam, Martha Jackson-Jarvis, Keith Morrison, and William T. Williams.

An accomplished artist and art collector himself, Driskell understood the importance of bringing attention to the work of African American artists, and he labored tirelessly to promote contemporary talent. Over the years, he donated several items to the museum that had belonged

34 - JULY 16 - 22, 2020

5 David Driskell donated this set of watercolor paints used by the artist Alma Thomas to the museum. (Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum, gift of David Driskell).

to other artists, and the collection also features works by mentors and friends of his, including James A. Porter and Alma Thomas. Through these donations and the relationships he wove, Driskell’s strong sense of community lives on in the greater Washington, DC. Ira Blount was a self-taught maker whose art ranged from basketry, quilting, and woodwork to crossstitch, origami, beadwork and more.

His works in the museum’s collection show a keen sense of color and texture, and an interest in experimenting with form. Taking up basketry in his 60s, he was intrigued by the way flat reeds could be woven into distinctive three-dimensional shapes, accented with store-bought beads, or formed around branches he picked up outside. In quilting, he tried his hand at traditional handsewn pieces as well as topical and autobiographical quilts. Unencumbered by traditional styles or categories, Blount found joy in the creative process and inspiration in the world

5 This woven reed basket with carved wood decoration won the First Place Blue Premium Ribbon at the Calvert County Fair, MD. The combination of techniques and materials is a hallmark of artist Ira Blount’s work. (Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum, gift of Ira Blount).

around him. He advocated that art is for everyone, and encouraged all who would listen to pick up a craft and try making something with their hands. He shared his passion with many in his Ward 7 community, through teaching, coaching, and as an active member of local guilds including the Basket Bunch and the Daughter of Dorcas and Sons.

Blount delighted in talking about his crafts because, as he explained in a 2018 interview with the museum, “I like to inspire others to create.

Anybody that views my work can be inspired some kind of way.”

Check it out: Inspired? Try your hand at making art. Look for District of Creativity, a Smithsonian Learning Lab resource that offers suggestions and instructions (under Collection/Access our Resources, on the museum’s website). In Ira Blount’s words, “Leave yourself open for whatever inspiration pops up.” To learn more about the work of Washington, DC artists in the museum’s collection, look for the link on the Collection page of the museum’s website. Even while the museum is closed to the public, staff are continuously adding information about the collection.

5 Ira Blount’s artistic philosophy is captured in this work of calligraphy he created in 2009. (Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum, gift of Ira Blount).

5 Mary Church Terrell (BlackPast.org)

Black Suffrage Leaders Fought for Freedom and Against Stereotypes

By Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer @StacyBrownMedia This is part of an ongoing Washington Informer series about the Women’s Suffrage Movement and an initiative that includes Informer Publisher Denise Rolark Barnes that will use the lens of history, the fabric of art and culture and the venue of the public square to shine a light into dark places, equipping all with a compass to chart the way forward. The initiative lives in the institutional home of the Washington Informer Charities.

As the centennial anniversary of the suffrage movement approaches, many historians are working to spread the word about the critical role Black suffragists played all over America, primarily through clubs and local churches.

Tina Cassidy, the author of “Mr. President, How Long Must We Wait?: Alice Paul, Woodrow Wilson and the Fight for the Right to Vote,” recounted the suffrage movement’s backstory.

“Alice Paul was a young Quaker from New Jersey who believed in equality. She came back from studying social justice in England as a militant suffragist and realized that the approach that had been going on for decades in the U.S. (seeking voting rights by each state) was flawed. That’s because many states, especially in the South, would never grant women the right to vote,” Cassidy wrote in an email to The Washington Informer.

“Racism was certainly a factor in the South’s opposition to expanding voting rights. Alice Paul decided to force a new approach with a federal amendment and more aggressive tactics, which in-

cluded the first-ever protest march — she called it a ‘parade’ — in Washington, in 1913, the day before Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration,” Cassidy noted.

Wilson was the first president elected from the South since Reconstruction.

He was opposed to suffrage, but one of his first moves as President was to segregate the civil service and encourage the rest of the country to separate by race.

“Despite this volatile backdrop for the parade, Alice Paul invited Black women to join in the protest,” Cassidy said. “That included the Deltas, a Black sorority founded for this purpose, and Ida B. Wells, a journalist and anti-lynching crusader. When word spread that Alice Paul invited Black women to the march, other women in the movement told her to disinvite them, either out of fear that there would be a race riot or because they were racist themselves and would not march in an integrated section.”

Wells initially was turned away from her home state of Illinois’ group, but she jumped into their contingent once the parade began and marched with a supportive white friend, Cassidy recalled.

She noted the accomplishments of Mary Church Terrell, another Black suffragist and a prominent lady in Washington, D.C. Terrell counted as one of the “Silent Sentinel” protesters who stood outside the White House in a picket line that Alice Paul organized.

“Protesters had never done such a thing in that location. It was dangerous and provocative, even more so for

SUFFRAGE Page 44

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LIFESTYLE

wi book review “55, Underemployed, and Faking Normal: Your Guide to a Better Life”

By Elizabeth White c.2020 in paperback, Simon & Schuster $17 / 272 pages

By Terri Schlichenmeyer WI Contributing Writer Your last regular paycheck has come and gone.

That was a while ago, back before you were downsized/laid off/reassigned right out of a job and you’re not sure what to do. Your savings are nearly gone, your retirement funds are next, and you’re too young to get Social Security. In “55, Underemployed, and Faking Normal” by Elizabeth White, you’ll see how to make this new life work.

At 35 years old, Elizabeth White had a solid job at the World Bank, she owned a house, and she was heading to Harvard to get a Ph.D. There, she “caught the entrepreneurial bug” and, in partnership with her mother, she became a business owner; when the business failed, she was resilient and landed some consulting gigs that put her finances back to where they were before.

And then the Great Recession hit. Suddenly, White was exactly where the title of this book indicates: too young, too old, and suddenly “totally out of the loop.” Shortly afterward, when an essay she penned went surprisingly viral, she learned that she wasn’t alone.

Experts say that, to retire successfully, Americans need “fifteen to twenty times their annual salaries” in some sort of savings or program but White points out the realism: very few new retirees have achieved that. The vast majority haven’t. What’s more, rosy retirement pictures are painted of island getaways, long walks in Paris, and palatial homes, when the reality is that a very high percentage of Americans ages 55-plus don’t know where they’ll be living this fall. Some of America’s seniors are trying to get by on less than $500 per month.

If this is your new reality, there are things you can do.

First, know that “the cavalry ain’t coming” and you’re more or less on your own. Learn to “small up” in your housing and your possessions by knowing exactly what’s important to you. Rethink your priorities.

Ignore your pride away and take the dang food stamps. Take care of your home. Take care of your relationships. Take care of yourself.

So, here’s what you need to know about “55, Underemployed, and Faking Normal”: what you get out of this book will depend on how old you are now.

Regardless of what the title indicates, this book is absolutely for new college grads or those entering the workforce this year and are serious about their futures. Younger readers, throw away those horror novels that line your shelves; for you, this book is a cautionary, real-life, terror-filled memoir that doubles as a hardcover warning for your elderhood.

For anyone who’s facing a retirement that’s not necessarily on their terms, author Elizabeth White has frights for you, too, but they’re tamer.

You’ve met those terrors already, and the advice she offers helps make them less scary, more attackable, more survivable.

“55, Underemployed, and Faking Normal” is useful, even enjoyable, but it’s serious stuff with no fluff. For readers who are facing a new reality for their golden years, reluctantly or otherwise, reading it might pay off.

WI

horoscopes

JULY 16 - 22, 2020

ARIES Today things can go surprisingly well or surprisingly poorly — there is no in-between. It’s a good idea to be prepared for unexpected meetings with supervisors. Give yourself plenty of time to get to events or to get your video conferencing set up. On the plus side, this is an aspect of unbridled ambition and could bring you the support you’re looking for, such as connections with influencers or even celebrities. Lucky Numbers: 2, 33, 47 TAURUS You may have a great desire to send healing energy to people everywhere. You could be sensing other people’s longing as you watch media reports. This is a good day to light a candle or say a prayer for those in the world who are less fortunate. At the same time, it would be good to go out into nature, to touch a tree and see some flowers. This reminds you of the beauty that can spring forth. Lucky Numbers: 10, 18, 31 GEMINI Today is about looking at your value and how you weigh your own worth. Your sense of worthiness is mirrored by the Universe in the form of opportunities and abundance that comes your way.

Just for today, see yourself as your friends see you (or as your dog sees you — the hero the Universe).

Today, plant the seed for abundance to come to you. Lucky Numbers: 9, 18, 28 CANCER Some happy news comes your way — not just for your own relationship but for others, as well. This could be a load of worry off of your shoulders, as now you feel like you can focus on other things. In fact, this may lead to an announcement followed by a scheduled celebration. Lucky Numbers: 10, 23, 29 LEO An opportunity for a new job or promotion may land in your lap. This could be connected to a colleague who has moved on to another position. Now you have just a little time to decide whether this is a good direction to go. Hint: Forward movement probably would be best. Lucky Numbers: 3, 4, 9 VIRGO Virgos already in a committed relationship can snuggle up with their sweetheart and recognize how things are actually getting better and better. There may have been years where you were concerned about how it would go, but you worked at it and you made incremental improvements. If you’re looking for love, send out some texts to your friends and let them know they can fix you up with someone new. Lucky Numbers: 5, 13, 16 LIBRA A promotion you are looking for, interview for a new job, or a potential transfer now can go through. Stay in touch with the principals who are involved in this decision and even consider pinging them during the week. Lucky Numbers: 21, 39, 56 SCORPIO Your dating profile could be getting a lot of hits right now. If you’re finding the results are lackluster, you might want to update your photos and spice up your description. If you’re already in a love relationship, there is a lot of fertility energy around you. There could be an announcement any day now from a friend, family member, or even yourself. Lucky Numbers: 10, 29, 55 SAGITTARIUS There is an opportunity to meet someone of significance. This could be through a friend or a connection on social media. A conversation can begin but it may take courage. This influencer or potential mentor could be someone you’ve been looking for to help you break through your blocks and to overcome your hesitations. Lucky Numbers: 12, 14, 17 CAPRICORN Today, you might wake with the realization that you’re playing too small. You have talents and abilities and yet you’re still in Little League. It’s time to play with the big boys and see how great you can become. Time to get out of your comfort some. Take your most ambitious goals and break them down into their smallest components to see how you can make this happen. This could start with reaching out to someone who is already doing what you want to do and see if you can get a 10-minute meeting. Lucky Numbers: 31, 43, 51 AQUARIUS This week is all about communication. You may notice your email inbox filling up, and no one can leave you a message because your voice message box is full. Time to reach out to others and make a connection. Lucky Numbers: 7, 13, 17 PISCES Fertility energy will be growing over the next week or two. If you are looking to expand the family, now is a good time for action. If you already have children, they may be needing more attention — especially if they’re cooped up in the house and have been for some time. Do creative projects together. Consider building something outside or camp overnight in the yard. Lucky Numbers: 11, 21, 30

WWW.WASHINGTONINFORMER.COM / THE WASHINGTON INFORMER

JULY 16 - 22, 2020 35

SPORTS Beal Won’t Play During NBA Restart

By Daniel Kucin Jr. WI Contributing Writer @danielkucin88

Washington Wizards shooting guard Bradley Beal will not play during the NBA restart on July 31 in Orlando due to a nagging rotator cuff injury that has hampered him for most of the 2020 season.

Beal made the tough decision after consulting with team Chief of Athlete Care & Performance Daniel Medina and Wizards Orthopedist Dr. Wiemi Douoguih, deciding that it made more sense to sit out and fully recover.

“Bradley did everything possible to be ready to play, but after closely monitoring his individual workouts, we came to the conclusion that it was best for him to sit out the upcoming

games in Orlando and avoid the risk of further injury,” said Wizards general manager Tommy Sheppard.

“Although he was able to play through the majority of the season with the injury, the layoff from March until now did not leave any of us feeling comfortable that he would have enough time to be ready to perform at the extremely high level we are all accustomed to seeing and agreed that not participating in the games in Orlando was the right decision.”

Without the support of star point guard John Wall, who is also on the shelf nursing an Achilles injury, Beal led the Wizards in scoring and showcased an ability to get his teammates involved as a facilitator guiding Washington with more than six assists per contest.

“This was a difficult decision and one that I did not take lightly as the leader of this team,” Beal said. “I wanted to help my teammates compete for a playoff spot in Orlando, but also understand that this will be best for all of us in the long term. I appreciate the support of my teammates, the fans and the entire organization and look forward to returning next season to continue the progress we have made.”

With his current averages of 30.5 points, 4.2 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game on 45.5% shooting from the field, Beal joins Stephen Curry, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Michael Jordan as the only players to post averages of at least 30 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists per game on 45% or better shooting in a single season since 1975.

Beal scored 25 or more points in 21 straight games from Jan. 20 – March 6, the longest streak in franchise history and the second-longest NBA streak in the past 10 seasons. During the streak, Beal passed Jeff Malone for second place on the franchise’s all-time scoring list.

Other notable Wizards that will not be playing are Davis Bertans, Thomas Bryant and Gary Payton II. Bertans opted out of playing in the tournament, and both Bryant and Payton have tested positive for COVID-19 and did not travel with the team.

The Wizards (24-40) are currently 5 1/2 games back from the eight spot

Despite Multimillion-Dollar Contract Deals During Pandemic, Many Say Sports Isn’t Tone-Deaf

By Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer @StacyBrownMedia The Kansas City Chiefs and Super Bowl hero Patrick Mahomes have announced the talented quarterback has signed a 12-year deal potentially worth more than $500 million.

It’s the richest deal in team sports history, eclipsing the more than $420 million contract the Anaheim Angels gave to outfielder Mike Trout in 2019.

After the Chiefs announced Mahomes’ deal, NASCAR driver Bubba Watson revealed a multimillion-dollar sponsorship contract with Beats By Dre. Those agreements come as team sports have sprung back into action despite the coronavirus pandemic that has claimed more than 130,000 American lives.

That the announcements have oc-

36 - JULY 16 - 22, 2020

curred during the pandemic where 43 million Americans have filed for unemployment since March, and small businesses continue to shutter during the economic crisis, some may wonder if the timing amounts to teams and players being tone-deaf.

“Not announcing it isn’t going to make those realities any differences for the Black businesses that are facing a difficult time,” said respected journalist and cultural expert Jemele Hill.

“People who are unemployed and being let go don’t want to hear about that, but people are still allowed to make money.”

Jeremy Harrison, who runs a blog called Hustle Life, suggested that making such big-money announcements isn’t tone-deaf.

“Although the timing is a bit off, I don’t think there was any malicious intent. It’s what they do and who they are,” Harrison declared. “People have

always accepted that this isn’t about the money. They’re not bragging. It’s about transparency and highlighting the player and the league itself. This is how they advertise their games. This was never about showing off the money, and people get that.”

Multimillionaire athletes who come from historically disenfranchised communities are put in a complicated situation, and they’ll need to exercise some tact to speak truth to power without appearing tone-deaf, stated Daniel Caughill, the co-founder of The Dog Tale.

“People like Colin Kaepernick, Bubba Wallace and Patrick Mahomes are immensely fortunate for their wealth, but that doesn’t mean they should just shut up and not point out the inequalities they overcame to get where they are today,” Caughill said. “They’ll just have a hard time convincing members of other underprivileged groups, such

5 Washington Wizards star guard Bradley Beal will not play the rest of the 2020 NBA season when it resumes on July 31. (Daniel Kucin Jr./The Washington Informer)

behind the Orland Magic (30-35) in the Eastern Conference.

BEAL OFF THE COURT

Though Beal will not be on the court to assist his teammates, he gave back to the community earlier this month by surprising four Ron Brown College Preparatory High School (RBHS) students with scholarships.

Beal, the 2018-19 NBA Community Assist Award winner, continues his charitable work with RBHS. D.C. natives Hassan Brunner, Jarden Crosson, Christian Johnson and Justin Williams will be attending HBCUs from Beal’s scholarships totaling in $3,000 apiece.

Each student also received a gift box as poverty-stricken regions of white Appalachia, without acknowledging their own wealth first. As with most complex issues, it requires an understanding of nuance and goodwill from all parties involved, two things many Americans have struggled to grasp in recent years.”

Brendan Heffernan, a writer and editor for the website Dunk or Three, stated that it’s likely professional sports is “a bit tone-deaf in a vacuum.”

“But you have to understand that they drive revenues in the hundreds of millions of dollars,” Heffernan said. “When you dissect the machine of professional sports, you see their salaries, as crazy as this sounds while I write it, are spot-on. If you think about it in terms of Hollywood celebrities, your mouth may hit the floor when you discover Tom Hanks makes $20 million a movie. But then you look at the amount of money the movie makes, in large part because of Hanks, and you understand the thought process.

“The same applies to pro sports,” he said. “Patrick Mahomes just signed an

containing a Microsoft Surface Pro and keyboard, a Wizards and Mystics Black Lives Matter T-shirt, a copy of the No. 1 bestseller book “Between the World and Me,” a sweatshirt of each student’s respective university, inspirational quote pins and a Wizards fanny pack with branded items.

In November, Beal sponsored buses for students from RBHS to take college tours at Lincoln University, Morgan State University and Salisbury University. He also invited the students back for the Beal & Wall Thanksgiving Assist, as well as Monumental Thanksgiving Day Assist, where students were given turkeys and other dishes for their holiday meal. WI

5 Kansas Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes led the team to a 2020 Super Bowl win. (Official Kansas City Chiefs photo)

insane contract worth a half a billion dollars. But he makes the Chiefs so much money, and he puts them on the map as the premier team in the NFL, especially after coming off this past year’s Super Bowl victory.”

WI

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CAPTURE the moment

For more photos, visit www.washingtoninformer.com

Remembering Davon McNeal

Coaches, team members, and friends walk from Birch Park in Seat Pleasant, Md., to Cedar Street in Southeast where 11-year-old Davon McNeal was killed to celebrate his life and memory on Saturday, July 11.

(Anthony Tilghman/The Washington Informer)

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JULY 16 - 22, 2020 37

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COVID-19 from Page 1 Monday with Maryland reporting 700 – the highest numbers in MD recorded in Prince George’s County.

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On July 1, Newsom ordered 19 counties with surging infections to close bars and indoor operations at restaurants, wineries, zoos and family entertainment centers. Now, most drastic measures have been employed.

“The data suggests not everybody is practicing common sense,” Newsom said during a recent press conference. He has not determined the status of schools which remain scheduled to open in a few weeks for most of the state. However, for the state’s two largest school districts, San Diego and Los Angeles, students will begin the year with online learning only. LA Unified serves as the second-largest public school district in the U.S. It’s a tragic about face for Califor-

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Stay Informed! www.washingtoninformer.com

5 Courtesy photo

nia, which in March, emerged as the first in the nation to issue a mandatory, statewide stay-at-home order to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

The order appeared to have worked with numbers soon stabilizing while other parts of the country faced huge increases.

But, as the fifth-largest economy in the U.S., and over 7.5 million people filing for unemployment, Newsom relented to the urgings of many citizens, allowing businesses to reopen in early May. That move, following the trends in other states, led to a rise in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, forcing the governor to impose new restrictions in the past few days.

California confirmed 8,358 new coronavirus cases on Sunday – a 47 percent increase over the past two weeks with hospitalizations rising by 28 percent during the same time period. In total, the state has reported more than 329,100 cases and over 7,000 deaths but health experts suggest infections may be much higher as some people don’t show symptoms and testing remains woefully low.

Newsom said on Monday that residents must remember that the coronavirus remains a threat to all lives and will remain so until either a vaccine or effective therapy can be discovered.

“This virus is not going away anytime soon,” he said. “I hope all of us recognize that if we were still connected to some notion that somehow when it gets warm it’s going to go away or somehow it’s going to take summer months or weekends off, this virus has done neither.”

COULD BLOOD TYPE BE KEY TO LIFE OR DEATH?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have already reported that people who are at higher risk for coronavirus include older adults, those who are immunocompromised, individuals who suffer from asthma, HIV, liver disease, serious heart conditions and obesity.

However, several recent studies which remain in the peer review process, show that those with Type A blood have a 50 percent increase in the likelihood that if infected with the virus, they would need to receive oxygen or be placed on a ventilator.

The study comes from research conducted at the University of Kiel in Germany by a molecular geneticist, Andre Franke. But it isn’t the first study to find a link between Type A blood and increased coronavirus risk. A Chinese study examining the blood types of nearly 2,200 COVID-19 patients in Chinese hospitals, along with the blood types of 27,000 who didn’t have the virus in the same areas, showed that those with A blood types remain at a significantly higher risk of contracting coronavirus compared with other blood types.

However, as Dr. Franke admits, neither his nor the Chinese study offer solid evidence which explains how blood types might affect the disease.

“This is haunting me, quite honestly,” Franke said in a released statement. WI

THE WASHINGTON INFORMER / WWW.WASHINGTONINFORMER.COM

RELIGION the religion corner WITH LYNDIA GRANT

What’s Going On?

…Sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. — James 1:14 Marvin Gaye’s 1971 song “What’s Going On” marked a turning point in his career and in the trajectory of Motown. It was as if Gaye was able to see what was coming.

Some of the lyrics: “Mother, mother there’s too many of you crying. Brother, brother, brother, there’s far too many of you dying.

You know we’ve got to find a way, to bring some lovin’ here today.

Father, father, We don’t need to escalate. War is not the answer.

Picket lines and picket signs, don’t punish me with brutality. Talk to me, so you can see, what’s going on?”

Marvin Gaye nailed it! Back in the early 1970s, when he recorded and released this song, there was much racial tension, police controversy, protests, the Vietnam War and more, similar to what’s happening today. This song was a huge topic of discussion when Gaye cut it back in 1970, and 20 years later, in 1990, South African President Nelson Mandela even

recited lyrics from the song for a packed Tiger Stadium.

George Bulanda of Hour Detroit magazine wrote how there were more than 50,000 people at Tiger Stadium on June 28, 1990, to hear anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela and his wife, Winnie, only a few months following his release from a South African prison where he spent 27 years. Surrounded by Detroit’s finest, the mayor, and some of Motown’s best, including Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin, during his speech, Mandela quoted lyrics from Gaye’s classic song.

Undoubtedly, this song resonates in 2020 even more in the wake of George Floyd’s killing by police. The 8 minutes and 46 seconds, essentially a public lynching, were seen around the world, felt by billions of people during the current pandemic. This public lynching appears to be the straw that broke the camel’s back!

Going back further to circa 1869, this is one of the many horror stories suffered by my people.

Africa2Africa reported how Natchez, Mississippi, had an influx of former slaves come to their town, its population going from 10,000 to 120,000 Blacks almost overnight. Such a huge influx was a enormous problem for the white town.

To deal with this influx, a con-

Mt. Zion Baptist Church

centration camp was built to essentially eradicate the slaves. It was a wide underground pit. The men were recaptured by the Union troops and forced back into hard labor. The women and children were locked behind the concrete walls of the camp and left to die from starvation. Many also died from smallpox. More than 20,000 freed slaves were killed inside of this American concentration camp.

Another sad point to this true story is, “The Union army did not allow them to remove the bodies from the camp. They just gave ’em shovels and said bury ’em where they drop.” The camp was called the Devil’s Punchbowl. This story is not in history books.

Scripture says in James 1:14, “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”

Sounds like the police officer who held his knee on the neck of George Floyd was enticed by his own desire. Obviously he wanted Floyd dead! God’s will be done, and it looks like a new day is dawning as a result of such a cruel and inhumane act. This time, we all witnessed it. Like Marvin Gaye said, what’s going on?

WI

John F. Johnson Reverend Dr.

5101 14th Street, NW / Washington, DC 20011 Phone: 202-726-2220 Fax: 202-726-9089

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“A Church with a past to remember – and a future to mold” www.mtzbcdc.org

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Mount Olivet Lutheran Church

Reverend John W. Davis Pastor

Service and Times Sunday Worship Service - 8:00 a.m. & 11:00 a.m.

Children’s Church - 11:00 a.m. (1st & 3rd Sundays) Communion - 10 a.m. 4th Sunday Sunday School - 9:15 a.m. (4th Sunday 8:15 a.m.)

Prayer Meeting & Bible Study - Wednesday 7:00 p.m.

(301) 864-6070

Service and Times Divine Worship, Sunday 10:00 a.m.

Communion 1st and 3rd Sunday “Friendliest Church in the City” Website: mountolivetdc.org Email: mtolivedc@gmail.com

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JULY 16 - 22, 2020 39

RELIGION The Miracle Center of Faith Missionary Baptist Church

Pilgrim Baptist Church

Bishop Michael C. Turner, Sr. Senior Pastor

Rev. Louis B. Jones II Pastor

9161 Hampton Overlook Capitol Heights, MD 20743 Phone: 301-350-2200 / Fax: 301-499-8724

700 I Street, N.E. Washington, D.C. 20002 (202) 547-8849

Service and Times Sunday Worship Times : 7:30 AM 7 10:00 AM Communion: 1st Sunday Sunday School: 9:00 AM Bible Study: Wednesday, 12 Noon Bible Study in homes: Tuesday 7:00 PM Website: www.themiraclecenterFMBC.com Email: Miraclecenterfmbs@gmail.com Motto: “We Walk by Faith, Not by Sight”

Blessed Word of Life Church

Service and Times Worship Sundays: 7:30 & 11:00 AM 5th Sundays: 9:30 AM 3rd Sundays: Baptism & Holy Communion Prayer & Praise: Wednesdays @ Noon & 6:30 PM www.pilgrimbaptistdc.org

Covenant Baptist United Church of Christ

Church of Living Waters

Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church

Rev. Paul Carrette Senior Pastor Harold Andrew Assistant Pastor 4915 Wheeler Road Oxon Hill, MD 20745 301-894-6464 Service and Times Sunday Service: 8:30am& 11:00 AM Bible Study: Wednesday 7:30 PM Communion Service: First Sunday www.livingwatersmd.org

St. Stephen Baptist Church

Rev. Dr. Michael E. Bell, Sr., / Pastor 2498 Alabama Ave., SE - Washington D.C. 20020 Office: (202) 889-7296 / Fax: (202) 889-2198 - www.acamec.org Service and Times Sunday Worship Services: 8:00am and 11:00 AM Sunday Church School - 9:15am & Sunday Adult Forum Bible Study - 10:30 AM 2nd & 4th Monday Women’s Bible Study: 6:30 PM Tuesday Jr./Sr. Bible Study: 10:00 AM Tuesday Topical Bible Study: 6:30 PM Tuesday New Beginnings Bible Study: 6:30 PM Wednesday Pastoral Bible Study: 6:30 PM Wednesday Children’s Bible Study: 6:30 PM Thursday Men’s Bible Study: 6:30 PM Friday before 1st Sunday Praise & Worship Service: 6:30 PM Saturday Adult Bible Study: 10:00 AM “The Amazing, Awesome, Audacious Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church”

Third Street Church of God

Dr. Dekontee L. & Dr. Ayele A. Johnson Pastors

Reverend William Young IV Interim Pastor

Bishop Lanier C. Twyman, Sr. Senior Pastor

Rev. Cheryl J. Sanders, Th.D. Senior Pastor

4001 14th Street, NW Washington, DC 20011 (202) 265-6147 Office 1-800 576-1047 Voicemail/Fax

3845 South Capitol Street Washington, DC 20032 (202) 562-5576 (Office) / (202) 562-4219 (Fax)

5757 Temple Hill Road, Temple Hills, MD 20748 Office 301-899-8885 – fax 301-899-2555 Services and Times Sunday Early Morning Worship: 7:45 AM Church School: 9:30 AM Sunday Morning Worship: 10:45 AM Tuesday: 7:00pm/Kingdom Building Bible Institute Wednesday , 12:30 PM Mid-Day Bible Study Wednesday: Prayer/Praise/Bible Study-7:30 PM Baptism & Communion Service: 4th Sunday – 10:30 AM

1204 Third Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 202-347-5889 office / 202-638-1803 fax

Service and Times Sunday School: 9:30 AM Sunday Morning Worship Service: 11:00 AM Communion Service: First Sunday Prayer Service/Bible Study: Tuesday, 6:30 PM www.blessedwordoflifechurch.org E-mail: church@blessedwordoflifechurch.org

Campbell AME Church Rev. Dr. Henry Y. White 2562 MLK Jr. Ave., SE - Washington, DC 20020 Adm. Office 202-678-2263 Email: Campbell@mycame.org Service and Times Sunday Worship Service: 10:00 AM Sunday Church School: 8:45 AM Bible Study Wednesday: 12:00 Noon Wednesday: 7:00 PM Thursday: 7:00 PM “Reaching Up To Reach Out” Mailing Address : Campbell AME Church 2502 Stanton Road SE - Washington, DC 20020

Turning Hearts Church Virgil K. Thomas, Sr. Senior Pastor/ Teacher 421 Alabama Ave. SE Washington, DC 20032 Phone: 202-746-0113 Fax: 301-843-2445 Service and Times Sunday School: 10:15 AM Sunday Worship Service: 11;15 AM Children’s Church: 11:15 AM Tuesday Bible Study: 6:30 PM Motto : “A Great Commitment to the Great Commandment” Website: www.turningheartschurchdc.org Email: gr8luv4u2@gmail.com

40 - JULY 16 - 22, 2020

Services and Times Sundays: 10:00am Worship Services Bible Study: Wonderful Wednesdays in Worship and the Word Bible Study Wednesdays 12:00 Noon; 6:30 PM (dinner @ 5:30 PM) Sunday School: 9:00 AM – Hour of Power “An inclusive ministry where all are welcomed and affirmed.” www.covenantdc.org

“We are one in the Spirit” www.ssbc5757.org / E-mail: ssbc5757@verizon.net

Services and Times Sunday School: 9:30 AM Sunday Worship: 11:00 AM Sunday Community Worship Service: 8:30 AM “Ambassadors for Christ to the Nation’s Capital” www.thirdstreet.org Live Stream Sunday Worship Service begins @ 12:00 noon www.thirdstreet.org

Crusader Baptist Church Rev. Dr. Alton W. Jordan Pastor 800 I Street, NE - Washington, DC 20002 202-548-0707 - Fax No. 202-548-0703 Service and Times Sunday Morning Worship: 11:00 AM Holy Communion: 1st Sunday Sunday School: 9:45 AM Men’s Monday Bible Study: 7:00 PM Wednesday Night Bible Study: 7:00 PM Women’s Ministry Bible Study: 3rd Friday -7:00 PM Computer Classes: Announced Family and Marital Counseling by appointment E-mail: Crusadersbaptistchurch@verizon.net www.CrusadersBaptistChurch.org / “God is Love”

Greater Mt. Calvary Holy Church Bishop Alfred A. Owens, Jr.; Senior Bishop & Evangelist Susie C. Owens – Co-Pastor 610 Rhode Island Avenue, NE Washington, DC 20002 (202) 529-4547 office • (202) 529-4495 fax

Sunday Worship Service: 8:00 AM and 10:45 AM Sunday Youth Worship Services: 1st & 4th 10:45 AM; 804 R.I. Ave., NE 5th 8 AM & 10:45 AM; Main Church Prayer Services Tuesday – Noon, Wednesday 6:00 AM & 6:30 PM Calvary Bible Institute: Year-Round Contact Church / Communion Every 3rd Sunday The Church in The Hood that will do you Good! www.gmchc.org / emailus@gmchc.org

Isle of Patmos Baptist Church Reverend Dr. Calvin L. Matthews Senior Pastor 1200 Isle of Patmos Plaza, Northeast Washington, DC 20018 Office: (202) 529-6767 - Fax: (202) 526-1661 Service and Times Sunday Worship Services: 7:30 AM and 10:30 AM Holy Communion: 2nd Sunday at 7:30 AM and 10:30 AM Sunday Church School: 9:20 AM Seniors Bible Study: Tuesdays at 10:30 AM Noon Day Prayer Service: Tuesdays at Noon Bible Study: Tuesdays at 7 PM Motto: “A Ministry of Reconciliation Where Everybody is Somebody!”

Website: http://isleofpatmosbc.org Church Email: ipbcsecretary@verizon.net

St Marks Baptist Come Worship with us...

Dr. Raymond T. Matthews Pastor and First Lady Marcia Matthews St. Mark's Baptist Church 624 Underwood Street, NW Washington, dc 20011 Services and Times Sunday School: 9:00 AM Worship Service: 10:00 AM Wed. Noon Day prayer service Thur. Prayer service: 6:45 PM Thur. Bible Study: 7:15 PM

Twelfth Street Christian Church Reverend Dr. Paul H. Saddler Senior Pastor (Disciples of Christ) 1812 12th Street, NW - Washington, DC 20009 Phone: 202-265-4494 Fax: 202 265 4340 Service and Times Sunday Worship Service: 11:00 AM Communion every Sunday: 11:00 AM Sunday School: 10:00 AM Bible Study Tuesday: 12 Noon Pastor’s Bible Study Tuesday: 6:30 PM Motto: “Discover Something Wonderful” Website: 12thscc.org / Email: Twelfthstcc@aol.com

Mount Carmel Baptist Church Reverend Dr. Paris L Smith, Sr. Senior Pastor 901 Third Street N.W. Washington, DC. 20001 Phone (202) 842-3411 Fax (202) 682-9423 Service and Times Sunday Church School : 9:00 AM Sunday Morning Worship: 10:10 AM Bible Study Tuesday: 6: 00 PM Prayer Service Tuesday: 7:00 PM Holy Communion: 3rd Sunday 10:10 AM themcbc.org

THE WASHINGTON INFORMER / WWW.WASHINGTONINFORMER.COM

RELIGION Shabbath Commandment Church Bishop Adrian A. Taylor, Sr. Pastor 7801 Livingston Road Oxon Hill, MD 20745 301-534-5471 Service and Times Sabbath School 9:30 a.m. – 10:30 AM Service 11:00 AM Praise & Worship Preaching 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM Motto: “A Church Keeping It Real for Real.”

Website: Shabbathcommandmentchruch.org Email: Praisebetoyhwh@gmail.com

Zion Baptist Church Rev. Keith W. Byrd, Sr. Pastor 4850 Blagdon Ave, NW - Washington D.C 20011 Phone (202) 722-4940 - Fax (202) 291-3773 Service and Times 9:00 a.m. – Sunday School 10:15 a.m. – Worship Service Wed. Noon: Dea. Robert Owens Bible Study 7 PM Pastor’s Bible Study Ordinance of Baptism 2nd Sunday, Holy Communion 4th Sunday Mission: Zion shall: Enlist Sinners, Educate Students, Empower the Suffering, Encourage the Saints, And Exalt our Savior. (Acts 2: 41-47) www.zionbaptistchurchdc.org

St. Luke Baptist Church Rev. Aubrey C. Lewis Pastor 1415 Gallatin Street, NW Washington, DC 20011-3851 P: (202) 726-5940 Service and Times Sunday Worship: 11:00 AM Sunday School: 9:15 AM Holy Communion: 11:00 a.m., 3rd Sun. Bible Institute: Wednesday - 1:30 PM Prayer Meeting: Wednesday - 12:00 Noon

All Nations Baptist Church Rev. Dr. James Coleman Pastor 2001 North Capitol St, N.E. - Washington, DC 20002 Phone (202) 832-9591 Service and Times Sunday Church School – 9:30 AM Sunday Worship Service – 11:00 AM Holy Communion – 1st Sunday at 11:00 AM Prayer – Wednesdays, 6:00 PM Bible Study – Wednesdays, 7:00 PM Christian Education / School of Biblical Knowledge Saturdays, 9:30 AM – 11:00 AM, Call for Registration Website: www.allnationsbaptistchurch.com All Nations Baptist Church – A Church of Standards

Israel Baptist Church

Rev. Daryl F. Bell Pastor 2324 Ontario Road, NW Washington, DC 20009 (202) 232-1730 Service and Times Sunday School: 9:30 AM Sunday Worship Service: 11:00 AM Baptismal Service: 1st Sunday – 9:30 AM Holy Communion: 1st Sunday – 11:00 AM Prayer Meeting & Bible Study: Wednesday -7:30 PM “Where Jesus is the King”

Dr. Earl D. Trent Senior Pastor

2409 Ainger Pl.,SE – WDC 20020 (202) 678-0884 – Office / (202) 678-0885 – Fax “Moving Faith Forward” 0% Perfect . . . 100% Forgiven!

623 Florida Ave.. NW - WDC. 20001 Church (202) 667-3409 / Study (202) 265-0836 Home Study (301) 464-8211 / Fax (202) 483-4009

Service and Times Sunday Worship: 8:00 AM & 10:45 AM Baptism/Holy Communion: 3rd Sunday Family Bible Study Tuesdays – 6:30 PM Prayer Service: Tuesdays – 8:00 PM www.emmanuelbaptistchurchdc.org

Sermon On The Mount Temple Of Joy Apostolic Faith

Lincoln Park United Methodist Church Rev. Richard B. Black Pastor

Elder Herman L. Simms Pastor

1251 Saratoga Ave., NE Washington, DC 20018 (202) 269-0288

1301 North Carolina Ave. N E Washington, D C 20002 202 543 1318 - lincolnpark@lpumcdc.org www.lpumcdc.org

5606 Marlboro Pike District Heights, MD 20747 301-735-6005

Service and Times Sunday Worship Service: 10:45 AM Sunday School: 9:15 AM Holy Communion1st Sunday: 10:45 AM Prayer Service: Wednesday at 6:30 PM Bible Study: Wednesday at 7:00 PM Bible Study: Tuesday at 10:30 AM

Mount Moriah Baptist Church Dr. Lucius M. Dalton Senior Pastor

Service and Times Sunday Worship: 10:00 AM Holy Communion: First Sunday 10:00 AM Sunday School: 9:00 AM Bible Study: Wednesday @ 12 noon and 6:30 PM Motto: "Faith On The Hill"

Service and Times Sunday Apostolic Worship Services 11:00 A.M and 5:00 PM Communion and Feet Wash 4th Sunday at 5:00 PM Prayer/Seeking: Wednesday at 8:00 PM Apostolic in Doctrine, Pentecostal in Experience, Holiness in Living, Uncompromised and Unchanged.

The Apostolic Faith is still alive –Acts 2:42

New Commandment Baptist Church

Eastern Community Baptist Church Damion M. Briggs Pastor

Rev. Stephen E. Tucker Senior Pastor

1636 East Capitol Street, NE Washington, DC 20003 Telephone: 202-544-5588 - Fax: 202-544-2964

8213 Manson Street Landover, MD 20785 Tel: (301) 322-9787 Fax: (301) 322-9240

13701 Old Jericho Park Road Bowie, MD. 20720 (301) 262-0560

Service and Times Sunday Worship Services: 7:45 AM and 10:45 AM Holy Communion: 1st Sundays at 7:45 AM & 10:45 AM Sunday School: 9:30 AM Prayer & Praise Service: Tuesdays at 12 noon & 6:30 PM Bible Study: Tuesdays at 1 pm and 7 PM Youth Bible Study: Fridays at 7 PM

Service and Times Early Morning Message: 7:30 AM Sunday Morning Worship Service: 10:00 AM Sunday Church School: 9:00 AM Holy Communion: 1st Sunday 7:30 AM & 10:00 AM Prayer, Praise and Testimony: Wednesday 7:00 PM Bible Study: Wednesday 7:30 PM

Service and Times Sunday Worship: 11 AM Sunday School: 10 AM Wednesday Mid-Week Worship, Prayer & Bible Study: Wed. 7 PM

Rehoboth Baptist Church

Reverend Peter R. Blue Sr. Pastor

Rev. Curtis l. Staley Pastor

2001 Brooks Drive District Heights MD. 20744 240.838.7074

621 Alabama Ave., S.E.- Washington, D.C. 20032 P: (202) 561-1111 - F: (202) 561-1112

Service and Times Sunday Worship Experience: 10:15am Sunday School: 9:00am Holy Communion: 3rd Sunday Morning Noontime Bible Study: Tuesday @ 12:00pm Prayer Meeting/Bible Study: Tuesday @7:00pm Theme: "Building On A Firm Foundation"

Service and Times Sunday Service: 10:00 AM Sunday School for all ages: 8:30 AM 1st Sunday Baptism: 10:00 AM 2nd Sunday Holy Communion:10:00 AM Tuesday: Bible Study: 6:30 PM Prayer Meeting: 7:45 PM

Email: revprbstmbc@gmail.com Website: www.stmatthewsbaptist.org

Motto: “Where God is First and Where Friendly People Worship”

“Real Worship for Real People” Website: www.easterncommunity.org Email: ecc@easterncommunity.org

“A Church Where Love Is Essential and Praise is Intentional”

Foggy Bottom - Founded in 1867 728 23rd Street, NW - Washington, DC 20037 Church office: 202-333-3985 - Fax : 202-338-4958

Shiloh Baptist Church

Matthews Memorial Baptist Church Dr. Joseph D. Turner / Senior Pastor 2616 MLK Ave., SE - Washington, DC 20020 Office 202-889-3709 - Fax 202-678-3304 Service and Times Early Worship Service: 8:00 AM Worship Service: 11:00 AM New Member’s Class: 9:45 AM Holy Communion: 1st Sunday, 11:00 AM Church School: 9:45 AM Wednesday 12:00pm Bible Study Prayer, Praise and Bible Study: 7:00 PM Saturday Bible Study: 11:00 AM Baptism 4th Sunday: 11:00 AM “Empowered to love and Challenged to Lead a Multitude of Souls to Christ”

Peace Baptist Church Rev. Dr. Michael T. Bell 712 18th Street, NE Washington, DC 20002 Phone 202-399-3450/ Fax 202-398-8836 Service and Times Sunday Early Morning Prayer & Bible Study Class: 8:00 AM Sunday School: 9:00 AM Sunday Morning Worship Service: 10:00 AM Wednesday Service: 12:00 PM “The Loving Church of the living lord “

4504 Gault Place, N.E. / Washington, D.C 20019 202-397-7775 – 7184 Service and Times Sunday Church School: 9:30 AM Sunday Worship Service : 11:00 AM The Lord’s Supper 1st Sunday Prayer & Praise Services: Wednesday 7:00 PM Bible Study: 7:30 PM Saturday before 4th Sunday Men, Women, Youth Discipleship Ministries: 10:30 AM A Christ Centered Church htubc@comcast.net

Christ Embassy DC

Kelechi Ajieren Coordinator 6839 Eastern Avenue, R1 Takoma Park, MD 20912 (202) 556-7065 Service and Times Sunday Worship Service: 10:00 AM Wednesday Bible Study: 7:00 PM Friday Evening Service: 7:00 PM ; Last Friday “…Giving Your Life a Meaning” www.Christembassydc.org Christ.embassy.dc@hotmail.com

Pennsylvania Ave. Baptist Church Rev. Dr. Kendrick E. Curry Pastor 3000 Pennsylvania Ave.. S.E Washington, DC 20020 202 581-1500 Service and Times Sunday Church School: 9:30 AM Sunday Worship Service: 11:00 AM Monday Adult Bible Study: 7:00 PM Wednesday Youth & Adult Activities: 6:30 PM Prayer Service Bible Study

First Rising Mt. Zion Baptist Church

Mt. Horeb Baptist Church

Rev. Dr. Wallace Charles Smith Pastor

Rev. Oran W. Young Pastor

Rev. Dr. H. B. Sampson, III Pastor

9th & P Street, N.W. - W. D.C. 20001 (202) 232-4288

602 N Street NW - Washington, D.C. 20001 Office:(202) 289-4480 Fax: (202) 289-4595

2914 Bladensburg Road, NE Wash., DC 20018 Office: (202) 529-3180 - Fax: (202) 529-7738 Service and Times Worship Service: 7:30 AM Sunday School: 9:00 AM Worship Service: 10:30 AM Holy Communion: 4th Sunday 7:30AM & 10:30 AM Prayer Services:Tuesday 7:30 PM. Wednesday 12 Noon

www.stmarysfoggybottom.org Email: stmarysoffice@stmarysfoggybottom.org

Service and Times First Sunday Worship Service (one service): 10:00 AM Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Sunday Worship service: 7:45 AM and 10:55 AM Sunday Church School/Bible Study: 9:30 AM Thursday Prayer Service: 6:30 PM

All are welcome to St. Mary’s to Learn, Worship, and Grow.

Email: sbc@shilohbaptist.org Website: shilohbaptist.org

Service and Times Sundays: 10 a.m. Holy Eucharist with Music and Hymns Wednesdays: 12:10 p.m. - Holy Eucharist

Service and Times Sunday Worship Services: 10:00 AM Sunday Church School: 8:45 – 9:45 AM Holy Communion: Every First Sunday Intercessory Prayer: Monday – 7:00-8:00 PM Pastor’s Bible Study: Wednesday –7:45 PM Midweek Prayer: Wednesday – 7:00 PM Noonday Prayer Every Thursday

Rev. Dr. George C. Gilbert Senior Pastor

Email Address: admin@pbc712.org

Historic St. Mary’s Episcopal Church The Rev. E. Bernard Anderson Priest

Holy Trinity United Baptist Church

Florida Avenue Baptist Church

Reverend Christopher L. Nichols Pastor

Rev. Dr. Jerryl V. Moody Pastor-Elect

Web: www.mountmoriahchurch.org Email: mtmoriah@mountmoriahchurch.org

St. Matthews Baptist Church

Emmanuel Baptist Church

King Emmanuel Baptist Church

WWW.WASHINGTONINFORMER.COM / THE WASHINGTON INFORMER

Service and Times Sunday School for All Ages: 8:00 AM Sunday Worship Services: 9:30 AM Midday Prayer & Bible Study: Wednesday 11:30AM Evening Prayer & Bible Study: Wednesday 7:00 PM Laymen's League: Thursday 7:00 PM Email: Froffice@firstrising.org Website: www.firstrising.org “Changing Lives On Purpose “

Email:mthoreb@mthoreb.org Website:www.mthoreb.org For further information, please contact me at (202) 529-3180.

JULY 16 - 22, 2020 41

LEGAL NOTICES

LEGAL NOTICES SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Probate Division Washington, D.C. 20001-2131

SUPERIOR COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA FAMILY

2020 ADM 114

2019 ADA 198

Valton Reeves Decedent

MAGISTRATE JUDGE JORGE VILA NEXT DATE: JULY 23, 2020

James Larry Frazier, Esq. 918 Maryland Ave., NE Washington, DC 20002 Attorney

COURT

IN THE MATTER OFTHE PETITION OF T.F.T. ADOPTION CASE #: FOR ADOPTION OF MINOR CHILD D.H., (DOB: 04/08/2013)

To the Unknown Birth Father and/or Mr. Damien Brown, YOU

ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT a petition for adoption of a minor child has been filed in this matter. The subject male child

was born on April 8, 2013 and has the initials D.H. The birth mother’s name is Ms. Reina Alexsandra Harris.

If you want to challenge the termination of your parental NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS Cherie A. Jackson, whose address is 1116 Hamilton Street NE, Washington, DC 20011, was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of Valton Reeves who died on November 8, 2019 with a Will, and will serve without Court supervision. All unknown heirs and heirs whose whereabouts are unknown shall enter their appearance in this proceeding. Objections to such appointment (or to the probate of decedent’s Will) shall be filed with the Register of Wills, D.C., Building A, 515 5th Street, N.W., Third Floor, Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before 12/9/2020. Claims against the decedent shall be presented to the undersigned with a copy to the Register of Wills or filed with the Register of Wills with a copy to the undersigned, on or before 12/9/2020, or be forever barred. Persons believed to be heirs or legatees of the decedent who do not receive a copy of this notice by mail within 25 days of its first publication shall so inform the Register of Wills, including name, address, and relationship.

Date of first publication: 7/9/2020 Cherie A. Jackson Personal Representative

rights, or if you want to seek custody, or challenge the adoption petition, you must file a written objection with the Court prior to the adoption status hearing scheduled for July 23, 2020 at 9:30 a.m. This objection should be directed to the Adoption

Clerk, Family Court, Superior Court of the District of Columbia, 500 Indiana Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20001.

If you do not want to contest the termination of your parental rights and do not want to seek custody or challenge this

adoption you may consent to the adoption and relinquish the child to a licensed child-placing agency. Please contact the

subject child’s social worker, Ms. Chinwendu Utom at Child and Family Services Agency, 200 I St. SE, Washington, DC 20003, telephone number (202) 442-6100.

You have the right to retain your counsel. You also have court appointed counsel in this matter is Mr. Ronald Colbert, Esq.

His address is 717 D St NW Suite 310 Washington, DC 20004.

His telephone number is (202) 370-6228.

If the adoption is granted, your legal rights, responsibilities, and obligations with respect to this child will be forever terminated.

___________________________ FDOP 07/02/2020

TRUE TEST COPY

Nicole Stevens Register of Wills

MAGISTRATE JUDGE JORGE VILA

Washington Informer SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Probate Division Washington, D.C. 20001-2131 2020 ADM 000268 John Wesley Jamison Decedent Rachelle H. Raphael, Esq. 4800 Hampden Lane, Ste. 200 Bethesda, MD 20814 Attorney

NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS Joniece Jamison Elessie, whose address is 23 Avenue Racine, Neuilly-sur-Marne, France 93330, was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of John Wesley Jamison who died on February 13, 2020 without a Will, and will serve without Court supervision. All unknown heirs and heirs whose whereabouts are unknown shall enter their appearance in this proceeding. Objections to such appointment shall be filed with the Register of Wills, D.C., Building A, 515 5th Street, N.W., Third Floor, Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before January 9, 2021. Claims against the decedent shall be presented to the undersigned with a copy to the Register of Wills or filed with the Register of Wills with a copy to the undersigned, on or before January 9, 2021, or be forever barred. Persons believed to be heirs or legatees of the decedent who do not receive a copy of this notice by mail within 25 days of its first publication shall so inform the Register of Wills, including name, address, and relationship.

Date of first publication: July 9, 2020 Joniece Jamison Elessie Personal Representative TRUE TEST COPY Nicole Stevens Register of Wills Washington Informer

42 - JULY 16 - 22, 2020

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BLACK VPS from Page 28 standing in the world,” said Macarena Rabanedo, a Miami-based political consultant.

“A Black woman with vast knowledge in international relations and foreign policy, saving the world from the travesty that was Trump’s doctrine would be one for the books.”

KAMALA HARRIS REMAINS A FORMIDABLE CHOICE FOR VP

By Hamil R. Harris

WI Contributing Writer During the Democratic Presidential Debates, Senator Kamala Harris challenged Joe Biden because he worked with southern senators to oppose busing in the 1960’s that affected a little girl she knew “and that little girl was me.”

But a year after that icy moment.

Biden is seriously considering selecting Harris to be his running mate.

When a reporter asked Harris if she would accept, she said, “I want Joe

ETHIOPIA from Page 30 Ethiopian government to shut off internet access up until earlier this week.

To the chagrin of followers of the Rastafari faith, dissidents in London also destroyed a statue of Emperor Selassie, who many Rastas see as the second coming of Jesus Christ.

In response to the desecration of his grandfather and great-grandfather’s statues, Prince Ermias Sahle-Selassie challenged the notion that the monarchy oppressed the Oromo people, namely by referencing Oromo pioneers who served important roles in the development of the East African country.

Meanwhile, Rep. Karen Bass, a Democrat from California and chair of the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations, called for a solution that held instigators accountable, restored internet

Biden to win. I want him to pick whoever will help him to win.”

Born in Oakland, Harris, 64, has rarely backed away from a fight or tough moments. The daughter of an African-American father who taught at Stanford University and an Indian mother who was a physician, many political observers say Harris is what Biden needs to take on President Donald Trump.

In 1982, Harris was admitted to Howard and elected to serve as “freshman class representative,” on the school’s Liberal Arts Student Council, marking the beginning of her political journey.

“Howard University is one of the most important aspects of my life,” said Harris during a speech at Howard shortly after entering the Presidential race last year.

After graduating from Howard with a degree in Political Science and Economics, Harris was admitted to the United of California Hastings College of Law that would launch her career in San Francisco’s district attorney’s office.

There, she prosecuted those accused of murder, robbery and child rape – providing the exposure and experience that would lead to her becoming Attorney General in California and then to the United States Senate.

Harris had a reputation and a record of going after people and getting them convicted. She was named one of California’s top 75 women litigators. She was named as a “Woman of Power” by the National Urban League. She was awarded the Thurgood Marshall Award by National Black Prosecutors Association.

And while some critics charge that Harris was too tough on crime, Dr. Alvin Thornton, a retired Howard University political science professor, says Harris came from a generation of lawmakers who represented communities who had a mandate to get tough on crime.

“Most Black mayors supported the crime bill and being a prosecutor is complicated in terms of protest taking place across the country against police brutality,” Thornton said. “You have an African-American female U.S. Senator from the most important state in America. That is a major thing. It is a mistake to reduce her to a possible Vice Presidential candidate.

Some analysts say Biden’s choice is coming down to Harris and Senator Elizabeth Warren. In a CBS poll, which was released in May, Warren received 72 percent of those polled while Harris got 60 percent.

In recent weeks, Harris and Biden held a joint campaign appearance and while there were plenty of smiles, Thornton questions whether being Biden’s running mate is her best political move.

“If I had my choice I would want her to remain a senator from California,” Thornton said. “As a Howard graduate she comes in the tradition of Charles Hamilton Houston, Vince Brown, Ralph Bunche and Emmitt Dorsey,” he said, adding that at this time she’s most needed in the Senate but could prove to be an effective U.S. attorney general should Biden win the White House.

WI

access to Ethiopia and continued the country along a path of reforms.

Whether those reforms would provide full Ethiopian citizenship for members of the Rastafari community living in the town of Shashamane has yet to be seen.

Throughout the 1960s and 1990s, legions of Rastas from around the world relocated to the 500-acre plot of land in Shashamane that Emperor Selassie designated for people of African descent. For them, that political move fulfilled a biblical prophecy of Rastas’ return to the Motherland, what they called Zion.

Over the years, as Rastas struggled to integrate into Ethiopian society, the population of Shashamane has dwindled with the movement of inhabitants to Addis Ababa or another country. While residence permits identify Rastas as foreign nationals, many repatriates said that designation isn’t sufficient.

As of press time, spurts of violence

haven’t touched the Rasta community in Shashamane.

Such events, however, as seen in a recent communique sent to Rastas living in the U.S., have sparked concerns about the hurdles in realizing a Pan-African vision championed by Emperor Selassie.

“Hundreds of Ethiopians have lost everything in Shashamane.

Businesses, shops, schools, markets, houses [are] burnt down, [and] people [are] sheltering in churches by the hundreds,” said a portion of a report compiled by Dr. Giulla and WunZooyah Queenmother Moses.

“All shops around [the] bus station [were] destroyed except one shop just opened by a sister,” the report continued. “Shashamane looks like it’s the only place in Ethiopia where [the] town [was] destroyed so. Army arrived yesterday by parachute, and is stationed close to [us] around NOC station as it is [the] gate to town.” WI

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18+ JULY 16 - 22, 2020 43

REDSKINS from Page 1 are announcing we will be retiring the Redskins name and logo upon completion of this review.

“Dan Snyder and Coach [Ron] Rivera are working closely to develop a new name and design approach that will enhance the standing of our proud, tradition rich franchise and inspire our sponsors, fans and community for the next 100 years,” the statement said.

Washington, which has won three Super Bowls since being established in 1932, has reportedly narrowed down a few names that they are considering, but there is no set date of when the new name will be released to the public.

Following the death of George Floyd on May 25, the fight against inequality and racial injustice began to spark change, which prompted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to issue a pointed statement aimed at the Redskins.

“Want to really stand for racial injustice? Change your name,” Cortez tweeted to the team when it used the #BlackOutTuesday hashtag on a black image.

Since that statement on June 2, the Washington franchise’s name has been under scrutiny, with many arguing that the “Redskins” name is an offensive racial slur and disrespectful to Native Americans.

Though the team had a rich tradition of success, it also was marred with a history of segregation and mixed views of the name. However, Redskins quarterback Dwayne Haskins mentioned that he will still have an affinity for the phrase “Hail to the Redskins.”

“As a kid who grew up in the dmv it’ll always be #HTTR but looking forward to the future,” Haskins tweeted on July 13.

The Redskins name originated from team founder George Preston Marshall, who was the last NFL owner to sign a Black player. Marshall was formerly in the Redskins Ring of Fame, but after the April death of Hall of Famer halfback/flanker Bobby Mitchell, the team’s first Black player, the decision was made to replace Preston’s name with Mitchell’s in the lower bowl of FedEx Field.

That decision also came after Marshall’s statue in front of the Redskins’ former home, RFK Stadium, was removed by Events DC and the current stadium owners. Since the removal of the statue, there has been staunch opposition of the team name from all directions.

Earlier this month, FedEx demanded that Synder change the name.

Since then, major shareholders such

44 - JULY 16 - 22, 2020

as Nike and PepsiCo threatened not to do business with Synder unless the name changed.

The economic fallout continued as major retailers such as Amazon, Target and Walmart pulled Redskins merchandise from their stores.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser also talked about how difficult it would be to bring the Washington football team back to the District having the Redskins name.

“I think it’s past time for the team to deal with what offends so many people,” Bowser said during an appearance on D.C.-based radio station WTEM earlier this month. “And this is a great franchise with a great history that’s beloved in Washington, and it deserves a name that reflects the affection that we’ve built for the team.”

The team’s FedEx Field lease doesn’t end until 2027, but following the announcement of an impending new team name and logo, there appears to be hope that the team could play in D.C. again.

In 2013, Snyder said that he would never change the name, but times have changed. One year later, former Redskins cornerback Champ Bailey said to USA Today that using the N-word was similar to Redskins.

“When you hear a Native American say that ‘Redskins’ is degrading, it’s almost like the N-word for a Black person,” Bailey said. “If they feel that way, then it’s not right. They are part of this country. It’s degrading to a certain race. Does it make sense to have the name?”

Fawn Sharp, president of the National Congress of American Indians, sent an exclusive statement to the Washingtonian in June, urging that the time is now to remove the name.

“It is an insult that can no longer be retracted, a sin that can no longer be erased,” she wrote. “Since it’s too late to give the team name up, it’s time for it to be taken. It’s time for the players to rip down that name like it was a statue of a Confederate general in their locker room.”

The National Congress of American Indians is an American Indian and Alaska Native rights organization founded in 1944 to represent the tribes and resist federal government pressure for termination of tribal rights and assimilation of their people.

Sharp’s final sentiment in the passage was stern and similar to Nike abruptly removing Washington Redskins merchandise from its online store on July 2.

“When it comes to doing the right thing, there can be only one motto…

Just do it,” Sharp said. WI

SUFFRAGE from Page 34

5 Lauren Moor and her mixed-race kids are navigating through the revolution with a unique perspective. (Photo by Loren Moor)

MIXED-RACE from Page 30 people, 60 million Hispanic people, 40 million Black people, 20 million Asian people, and 7 million mixedrace individuals, according to the Census Bureau.

In 2016 it was predicted that in 2044 the United States will become a “majority minority.” “[T]he focus on 2044 overlooks the equation that’s been hiding in plain sight, one that shows what happens when you add together the number of today’s people of color ( the vast majority of whom are progressive) and progressive Whites,” writes author Steve Phillips in his book “Brown is the New White.”

“Americans have a progressive, multicultural majority right now that has the power to elect presidents and reshape American politics, policies, and priorities for decades to come.”

Without the help of allies and accomplices, Black people would need a David, a stone and a slingshot.

“The difference between an ally and an accomplice is that you are learning in ‘allyship,’ how to advocate for the least represented,” said Dr. Akilah Cadet. “ When you’re an accomplice, you are ready to make sacrifices with friends, families and social circles. You are firm in the values of not benefiting from white supremacy.”

Cadet runs virtual workshops for non-Black women and Black women to give them interaction tools. One workshop that has gotten the most buzz is “Power and Privilege,” which is on her website changecadet.com.

The workshops are hosted on Zoom and the next workshop is on July 14 from 9:30 a.m.-11 a.m. PST. “I do it with humor and keep it light and affordable, ‘’ Cadet joked.

“The workshops are well-received and extremely helpful in a time like this.”

Moor expressed her inner conflicts

with identifying as white in America, particularly as hate is being directed at all of her children for different reasons during the evolution and revolution.

“To get equality we have to understand each other. We have to ask questions and answer them,” she said. “We have to let go of the microaggression, anger and defensiveness. That’s how we are going to affect change. We need to embrace our differences and not only educate ourselves, but to educate our kids, and educate each other.”

There are five stages of grief applied to racism. The denial of white supremacy with statements such as “All lives matter.” Feeling angry for various reasons and bargaining within due the fear of misspeaking so you choose to say nothing at all.

A person may experience depression with the feelings of helplessness and fear in an invisible war that seems futile to fight. Some will come to an acceptance phase. Where one realizes that white privilege does exist and starts seeking education, accountability and support. One might still feel angry, guilty, shameful , or confused but understands that the revolution is bigger than individual feelings.

“Going through those emotions is not a linear thing,” said Dr. Christina Coleman, a therapist. “I noticed people’s reactions to racism were very similar to any major loss. I realized that everyone is in a different phase and needs to get the help necessary to process those emotions.”

The key is to keep an open mind and heart while focusing on compassion and understanding. Recognizing where you can make small improvements daily and continue to move towards positive change for all.

“It’s about looking inward and becoming more self-aware,” Cadet said. “ If you minimize stereotypes and go from unconscious bias to consciously unbiased, some really wonderful things can happen.” WI

a Black woman to do so in view of a racist president in a time of traumatic segregation,” Cassidy said. “Wells and Terrell should be recognized for their contributions to this important movement.”

Alison M. Parker, chair and Richards Professor of American History at the University of Delaware, also noted that Terrell strove to create a country where young Black women could grow up expecting to vote and be full citizens.

Terrell desired young Black women to be free from sexual assaults and constant aspersions regarding their sexual purity and be free of the contradictory but equally damaging stereotype of the asexual, subservient “Black Mammies.”

“Today’s Black women activists have similar priorities to their foremothers,” Parker said. “They want an unhindered right to vote, a real place at the table in politics, and an end to police violence against Black women like Sandra Bland and Tanisha Anderson. They are also drawing attention to the fact that Black women are increasingly being incarcerated.” WI

CUSTODY from Page 12 a Republican who represents three counties on the Eastern Shore, said using the word “shall” should be replaced with a word more subtle in order to work with court officials.

“Any of our recommendations … is to show a recognition the judges do depend on these recommendations,” she said. “We want our recommendations to be a helpful tool in this process.”

Other draft recommendations are highlighted on the General Assembly’s website.

The group plans to meet again July 28. Once recommendations are finalized, the next step would be crafting proposed legislation for the upcoming General Assembly scheduled to convene in January.

It’s unclear whether lawmakers would meet, especially amid the coronavirus crisis.

Hope M. Wylie, who uses a false name to protect her identity after being in an abusive relationship, appreciated what she heard Tuesday.

“I have to say that they covered some important concerns like custody evaluation, judicial training, distinguishing the primary physically abusing parent, etc.,” Wylie said in an email. “I am encouraged by where they have gotten to and I eagerly anticipate reading their recommendations when they have been finalized.”

WI

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MALVEAUX from Page 26 the end of violence. But she could not protect her baby boy since all the antiviolence talk in the world can’t protect a child from a fool who is determined to use their weapon to rob, kill, or intimidate.

How do we dismantle the gun culture that dominates so many of our inner cities? Will it take new laws? Harsher penalties for illegal gun use? As Mayor Bottoms said, this is not about the police.

Conservatives are right to say we may lose fewer Black lives to police violence to street gun violence. It doesn’t matter, because of every George Floyd, Tamir Rice, and Briana Taylor matters. To lose lives because of police indifference, racism, and evil must be resisted, and the Black Lives Matter Movement does that effectively.

Black Lives Matter street signs in

FLETCHER from Page 26 Crimea, there were consequences.

Why should there be no consequences for the Israeli government? Why should the people of the world continue to take a pass each and every time that

WILLIAMS from Page 26 sonality and leader of the National Black Leadership Alliance, Kwabena Rasuli of Clear the Airwaves and I have made every appeal possible to radio stations that play the offending music, to corporate thugs that finance radio stations playing the pornographic language that glorifies drugs, violent behavior, rape, murder, that disrespects Black women and have no regard for children.

CLAIMS from Page 11 bers of the River Road descendent community, including BACC-affiliate Harvey Matthews, spoke about grave markers he and friends saw while playing in the area designated as Moses African Cemetery.

Since construction started last month, BACC members and other memorialization advocates, citing photos from the site, say that human remains most likely exist below the space in question. They have contested any notion that an archeological team conducted adequate testing, and have since led protests at different points along River Road, includ-

Washington, D.C., and mew York speak to that.

Even as we resist police brutality, structural racism, and other inequities, we must fight the enemy within, the callous young men who engage in gunplay on public streets when anybody could be walking by. How to get through to them?

Cornel West once described these young men as nihilistic, believing that life has no intrinsic value, simply not caring about social norms and moral values. Anyone who would shoot a deadly weapon into a crowd has no regard for human life. And perhaps one could argue that these young men do not value human life because human life has not valued them. But I’m sick of making excuses for sociopaths, even as I understand the forces that created them. These shootings have to stop!

I love looking at Black children,

looking at their small, partly unformed faces, and wonder what kind of adult they will evolve into.

Too many gun-toting criminals ensure that some of our children won’t have the opportunity to grow up. Class differences among African Americans mean that some fall asleep to the sounds of gunfire, while others know shooting from television. When we say t takes a village to raise a child, what happens to the villagers that would rob a child of life?

We need to call these villains out. We need to ask their associates to call them out. Enough is enough.

When you say Black Lives Matter, when you march and chant, think of 11-year Devon McNeil, 6-year Jace Young, eight-year 0ld Secoriea Turner, or seven-year-old Natalia Wallace. Their Black lives matter, too. What must we do to protect our children? WI

Israel breaks international law?

The answer is that Israel must pay a price, which is why the global movement for Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) is so critical. If governments lack the courage and vision to penalize another country for criminal

activities, then it is up to the people of the planet to take the appropriate — and nonviolent — steps. This is not singling out Israel. This is identifying when activity is criminal and should be punished.

WI

This garbage is pumped into the minds of Black youth throughout the day. Many who pay to keep the filth on the radio in Black neighborhoods are in the fast food industry that helps to damage the psyche of our youth, as well as damage their health. We’ve concluded that it’s time to stop talking about it and move to the next step. We must move to action that takes the profit out of those who pay to make that kind of music possible.

If you’re a parent, you must listen to the words used in what your children are hearing. Identify the companies advertising on the stations playing the offensive music and stop doing business with them. Money speaks louder than words.

We‘re in a period where we’re working hard to Rescue Our Children and Heal the Wounds of Circumstance. All of us have a duty to cleanse and clear our airwaves.

WI

ing near Moses African Cemetery.

BACC’s crusade against the Montgomery County government recently brought them to Elrich’s home in Takoma Park, Maryland. During that protest, BACC members and supporters donning masks weathered the heavy humidity to wave signs, chant, and chalk “Black Lives Matter” into the concrete outside of Elrich’s garage.

This event, which included the display of a hearst, followed protests at Macedonia Baptist Church and near the River Road McDonald’s parking lot.

In his address to fellow protesters on July 9, Segun Adebayo, pastor of

Macedonia Baptist Church, provided an international perspective as he reflected on a West African upbringing that brought him close to his ancestors.

“We have to band together and say that this will not be tolerated,” Adebayo said. “We fight them with every breath we have and let them know enough is enough.

“I’m from Africa and the worst thing you can do to a people is desecrate the graves of their ancestors,” he said. “There’s no difference between the living and the ancestors [so] we have to venerate, remember, and celebrate them.”

WI

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46 - JULY 16 - 22, 2020

EDELMAN from Page 27 them learn they are never too young to speak out and make a difference.

This year’s CDF Freedom Schools scholars are focused on voting and the theme #VoteBecause. They are too young to vote themselves, but they want to make sure adults know what issues they care about so that when adults cast their ballots this fall children’s needs will be front and center.

The CDF Freedom Schools National Day of Social Action is part-

ASKIA from Page 27 media and academic circles, and anyone who might see the great value in the message he teaches, is intimidated to just pretend that they don’t see his miracles right before their eyes, while the hateful opponents dominate the conversation with their wicked lies.

They won’t let him talk, but they line up to talk really bad about him.

When it comes to criticizing the wicked behavior of some Jewish leaders, like those who condemn Minister Farrakhan, there is no such thing as a real “marketplace of ideas,” because given a chance to fairly evaluate Minister Farrakhan and his message and its track record of success, compared to the alternatives, too many among the public would choose Farrakhan.

Their strategy works every time. In a 2002 interview with “Democracy Now’s” Amy Goodman, the following exchange took place with former Israeli Education Minister Shulamit Aloni. “Often when there is dissent expressed in the United States against

RENT from Page 15 ber depends on the shape of D.C.’s rent control laws at the end of the year.

Legislation introduced by Bonds last year incited discussion about the Rental Housing Act of 1985. That law as it stands applies to units built before 1976. It has kept living cost increases at less than 5 percent for rent-control tenants and less than 3 percent for D.C.’s rent-control seniors. However, as more renovated and newly constructed buildings replaced older units, the District’s stock of rent-controlled housing has fallen by the tens of thousands. The council’s repeal of the rent ceiling provision in 2006 has also played a significant role in shrinking rent-controlled housing.

The Reclaim Rent Control campaign, officially launched in the lobby

nering with When We All Vote, a non-profit, nonpartisan organization launched in 2018 by co-chairs Michelle Obama, Tom Hanks, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Janelle Monae, Chris Paul, Faith Hill, and Tim McGraw with a mission to increase participation in every election.

When We All Vote’s simple belief is that when we all vote, we all do better.

That’s absolutely true for children’s needs. Even before the pandemic, more than 11.9 million children — disproportionately children of color

— were poor, more than 12.5 million children were living in food-insecure households, and an estimated 4.3 million children were uninsured.

Now that the pandemic has exacerbated every preexisting condition and made an already dangerous reality worse, children desperately need adults to do better. A groundswell of adults focused on the future children deserve can transform our nation for all children.

Children can’t vote, but you can — and must.

WI

the policies of the Israeli government people here are called anti-Semitic. What is your response to that as an Israeli Jew?” Goodman asked.

“Well it’s a trick, we always use it. When from Europe someone criticizes Israel, we bring up the holocaust. When in this country people are criticizing Israel, they are (called) anti-Semitic,” Aloni said.

It’s used, even against Jews who get out of line. Dr. Norman Finkelstein was denied tenure at DePaul University in 2003 because he spoke against the apartheid policies of the government of Israel.

Last October, when Dr. Finkelstein spoke at his alma mater, Princeton University, he was lambasted. The school’s newspaper, “The Prince,” said he uttered an “anti-Semitic trope” when he described Israeli snipers as “drinking the blood of Gaza’s one million children.”

“The ‘Prince’ quoted me as recalling by analogy abolitionist Frederick Douglass’s description of slave-catchers as ‘biped bloodhounds’ and his

public declaration that if a slave catcher sought to take the slave back, he ‘will be murdered in the street,’” Finkelstein wrote in an op-ed after the incident.

“Both my parents were survivors of the Warsaw Ghetto, my father was a survivor of Auschwitz and the Auschwitz death march, and my mother was a survivor of Majdanek and two slave-labor camps. Every other member of my family on both sides was exterminated. I will perhaps be forgiven for loathing concentration camp guards and murderers of innocents,” he said.

Finkelstein’s defense described his circumstance then, and Farrakhan’s predicament with Jewish defamers today: “The ‘Prince’ accuses me of anti-Semitism. It would appear, however, that not only is the messenger being vilified for his discomfiting message, but the delivery of that message is being tagged as anti-Semitic so as to silence future messengers.”

That’s the true meaning of silencing Minister Farrakhan’s July 4 address. WI

of 220 Hamilton Street NW last fall, brought together nonprofits, tenant unions, and advocacy organizations in the fight for expanding and strengthening rent control laws.

The tenants of 220 Hamilton Street NW, who had recently purchased and set in motion renovations for their rent-controlled building via the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act, would later vacate their building in anticipation of the process scheduled to start in early 2020 and end in mid-2021 with their return to new accommodations.

Months after moving out, David Bonilla, a Reclaim Rent Control campaign member and tenant association vice president at 220 Hamilton Street NW, said the project has been stagnant, and the tenant association without updates from contractors. Even

so, Bonilla and other tenant advocates from 220 Hamilton Street NW and throughout the District have coalesced around rent control, and in certain cases rent strikes during the pandemic.

For him, the council’s latest move sheds light on a frustration shared by D.C. residents living on the margins.

“We’re over here advocating and [the council] is telling us that they listen to us, but when it comes down to it, they don’t put anything in place.

This agitates me,” Bonilla said.

“At the end of the day, they leave things the way it is,” he continued.

“We continue to advocate and come together. We have a tenant union with more apartment buildings. We will continue to support building associations and ask for better housing and quality of life.”

WI

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JULY 16 - 22, 2020 47

SUBSCRIBE. DONATE. ADVERTISE. During times of crisis, crucial information about your community comes from local reporters.

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What’s the impact? How are our local leaders responding? For answers to these questions, we rely on the hard work of our local reporters. As a result, readership of local news outlets has reached record highs.

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48 - JULY 16 - 22, 2020

But due to COVID-19, most local news publications are losing money, fast. Advertising has plummeted during the crisis and readers aren’t subscribing fast enough to fill the void. This has led to thousands of local reporters being laid off. Just as our society faces numerous, urgent challenges.

Millions of people are in danger of losing access to the authoritative

local information they need to stay informed. That’s why the Local Media Association and the Local Media Consortium are working with local news providers to build a strong future for local journalism. And that’s why our long-time partner Google is purchasing ads like this in local publications across the country, as well as providing a Relief Fund to help struggling local news outlets. But those actions alone aren’t enough.

Please consider supporting the local news organizations you rely on. Subscribe to them. Donate to them. And if you have a business that’s able to, advertise with them.

Your support is critical to sustaining the dedicated journalists serving your communities.

Our local news outlets help keep us safer. Let’s help keep them open.

SupportLocalNewsNow.com

THE WASHINGTON INFORMER / WWW.WASHINGTONINFORMER.COM