WINNER OF FIVE SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS D.C. AWARDS Black Fireworks Industry Left out of Local Festivities Page 11 Vol. 55, No. 38 • July 2 - 8, 2020
Pedro Sierra Recounts Glory Days in Negro Baseball Leagues Cuban Native’s 22-Year Career Included Stints with Washington Senators By D. Kevin McNeir WI Editor @dkevinmcneir
5 Local patrons of The Fish Market say they have had enough of racist remarks and disrespect from the restaurant’s owners. (Anthony Tilghman/The Washington Informer)
Pedro Sierra, 81, left his native Cuba in 1954 – then just 16 – with the opportunity to follow what he describes as the only thing he’d ever dreamed of – to play professional baseball. It would mark the beginning of a memorable, 22-year career for the talented right-hander after being signed by the Indianapolis Clowns and joining a legacy of pioneers who made up the Negro Leagues. Before a worldwide pandemic shutdown sports, Major League Baseball had planned to use Tuesday, June 29, as a celebration and
Protesters Circle The Fish Market Following Racial Incident With House in Tow, D.C. Statehood Is This the Straw that Broke the Camel’s Back?
By D. Kevin McNeir WI Editor @dkevinmcneir A family-run eatery in Prince George’s County known for its seafood, service and house band, and a favorite among the local African-American community, now finds itself under fire after a reported racial incident between the owner and a customer. On Tuesday, June 30, dozens of people continued recent daily protests outside of The Fish Market in Clinton on Old Branch Avenue, holding signs and chanting phrases which included, “I can’t breathe” and “shut it down” while those supporting their efforts honked their horns as they drove past in automobiles.
Just over a week ago, a Black man attempted to enter the restaurant seeking to place his order when, allegedly, the owner blocked his entrance, saying that he could not come in wearing a T-shirt which said, “I can’t breathe.” The T-shirt’s message, which references the recent death of George Floyd and other Black men at the hands of law enforcement, has become a rallying cry for protesters both in the U.S. and around the world as they’ve taken to the streets demanding change within police departments including the need for de-escalation policies and defunding. After the incident between the customer,
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BASEBALL Page 38 5 Pedro Sierra (Photo courtesy Pedro Sierra)
Backers Mull Senate Strategy By James Wright WI Staff Writer @Jamesdcwrighter With the historic passage of a bill granting the District state-level sovereignty despite Republican opposition, statehood advocates are planning a Senate strategy for the remaining months of this congressional session and the next, regardless of the results of the November general election. On Friday, June 26, the House passed the Washington, D.C. Admission Act of 2019 on a 232-180 vote becoming the first chamber of Congress embracing District statehood. D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), who authored the bill, known as
H.R. 51, expressed elation at its passage. “The U.S. is the only Democratic country that denies both voting rights in the national legislature and local autonomy to the residents of the nation’s capital,” Norton said in a statement. “As we approach July 4th, it is long past time to apply the nation’s oldest slogan, ‘no taxation without representation,’ and the principle of consent of the governed to District of Columbia residents.” The legislation would admit the non-federal enclaves of the District as the State of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth, named after famed city resident abolitionist Frederick Douglass, to the union.
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