The Washington Informer - January 12, 2023

Maryland Dems Celebrate Wins, Exhort Action at Legislative Luncheon

Micha Green WI Managing Editor

Celebrating practically painting the state blue, after two years away due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Maryland Democratic Party returned in-person, for the annual legislative luncheon on Jan. 10. A day before the kickoff of the 445th legislative session for the Maryland General Assembly, the luncheon featured a lineup packed with local leaders who commended the Party’s wins and emphasized the need to get to work.

“This is not just that the Democratic Party knows how to win elections. It’s that we know how to govern,” said Maryland Gov.-Elect Wes Moore (D), the event’s keynote speaker. “We know how to put together policies so that every single part of the state knows that we see them, that we hear them and we are prioritizing the way we talk about their future.”

From the beginning of the luncheon’s program, speakers walked a fine line of celebrating good times and reiterating the importance of not getting too comfortable.

Community Activists Re-Launch ‘Thou Shalt Not Kill’ Campaign

James Wright WI Staff Writer

In response to the ongoing gun violence taking the lives of children in the District, community leaders re-launched the “Thou Shalt Not Kill” campaign in an effort to try to stem the tide on Jan. 10.

The re-launch took place at the Busboys & Poets in Historic Anacostia in Ward 8, with the owner

of the eatery Andy Shallal serving as the host and one of the main facilitators of the event. Joining Shallal in the effort are former At-Large D.C. Councilmember William Lightfoot, Anacostia Coordinating Council Executive Director Philip Pannell and community activist Stuart Anderson. Denise Rolark Barnes, the co-chair of the Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Walk &

Parade Committee and publisher of the Washington Informer served as a speaker at the event along with Councilmember Trayon White Sr. (D-Ward 8). Pannell, 72, said homicide due to guns must be dealt with.

Alleged Killer of Karon Blake Not Yet Identified, Charged

Sam P.K. Collins WI Staff Writer

When public officials, advocates and relatives of Karon Blake converged on Turkey Thicket Recreation Center for a community meeting on Tuesday night, the name of Karon’s alleged killer still hadn’t been released to the public, nor had they been criminally charged.

Throughout much of that evening, community members from across the District interrupted the dialogue and belted chants in their appeal for the alleged shooter’s name -- at times to the chagrin of some of Karon’s family members.

Some people also took to the micro-

Celebrating 58 years. Your credible and trusted source for Black news and information.

5 Philip Pannell, Andy Shallal and William Lightfoot talk about stemming gun homicides in the District at the launch of the “Thou Shalt Not Kill” campaign at the Busboys & Poets in Ward 8. (Ja’mon Jackson/ The Washington Informer)

5 Governor-Elect Wes Moore speaks at the Maryland Dems Annual Legislative Luncheon on Jan. 10. (Rob Roberts/ The Washington Informer).

5 Brookland Middle School student Karon Blake, 13, was killed by an alleged, unnamed vigilante during the early morning hours of Jan. 7 in Northeast, D.C. (Courtesy Photo/ via MPD Critically Missing in August 2021)

Damar Hamlin

Celebrating

THE WASHINGTON INFORMER NEWSPAPER (ISSN#0741-9414) is published weekly on each Thursday. Periodicals postage paid at Washington, D.C. and additional mailing offices. News and advertising deadline is Monday prior to publication. Announcements must be received two weeks prior to event. Copyright 2016 by The Washington Informer. All rights reserved. POSTMASTER: Send change of addresses to The Washington Informer, 3117 Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave., S.E. Washington, D.C. 20032. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. The Informer Newspaper cannot guarantee the return of photographs. Subscription rates are $55 per year, two years $70. Papers will be received not more than a week after publication. Make checks payable to:

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PUBLISHER

Denise Rolark Barnes

STAFF

Micha Green, Managing Editor

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Shevry Lassiter, Photo Editor

Lafayette Barnes, IV, Editor, WI Bridge DC

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REPORTERS

Kayla Benjamin, (Environmental Justice Reporter) Stacy Brown (Senior Writer), Sam P.K. Collins, Curtis Knowles, Brenda Siler, Lindiwe Vilakazi, Sarafina Wright, James Wright

PHOTOGRAPHERS

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wi hot topics

Project REAP Seeks Applicants for Spring Academy

National - Project REAP (Real Estate Associate Program), the industry’s leading effort to advance diversity, equity and inclusion in the commercial real estate (CRE) industry for close to 25 years, is accepting applications for its Spring 2023 Academy now through

Tuesday, January 31, 2023 at midnight EST. The REAP Academy is designed to further career advancement for diverse professionals seeking to enter the field of com-

mercial real estate. Real estate experience is NOT required. Candidates who live in or within commuting distance of REAP’s 8 metro markets – Atlanta; New York City; Washington, DC; Chicago; Cleveland; Columbus; L.A.; Dallas – may apply for the 10 week Hybrid track that includes 3 weeks in-person. Candidates outside of a commuting radius may apply for the 7-week Virtual track. Both tracks are required to take additional on-demand sessions. The Academy begins Monday, April 10, 2023 and concludes Monday, June 12, 2023. Other details including eligibility, requirements, tuition and how to apply may be found at https://www.projectreap.org/reapacademy WI

Ward 5 Mutual Aid Offers Support to Blake Family

A collective of neighbors in Ward 5 that come together to provide support to help meet each others’ needs issued a statement concerning the death of 13-year-old Karon Blake. “We are deeply saddened and outraged by the murder of 13-year-old Karon Blake. Karon's family and community deserve to live free from systems with oppressive power structures that do not meet their needs. We stand in solidarity with the family of Karon Blake, our neighbors, and other community organizations in demanding the immediate release of the murderer’s name as well as swift action toward accountability.’

The Ward 5 Mutual Aid is part of a growing movement of neighbors helping neighbors on a grassroots level, according to the Greater Washington Community Foundation’s website. Since the COVID pandemic and with the support of GWCF grants, at least six mutual aid organizations have been established.

While the concept of mutual aid has been around for a long time, the pandemic saw a dramatic increase in the organization and mobilization of networks throughout the Greater Washington region. Neighbors mobilized to help each other with issues that ranged from food, and transportation needs to utility assistance, according to GWCF.

To date, GWCF has funded the East of the River Mutual Aid, Serve Your City/Ward 6 Mutual Aid, Silver Spring & Takoma Park Mutual Aid, Ward 3 Mutual Aid, and The Hope Collective in Prince George’s County.

Ward 5 Mutual Aid reports that it seeks “the root causes of the challenges we face as a community, so that we can demand transformative change–including a shared understanding of our basic needs for safety, security, and recognition of our humanity. For more information, visit: opencollective.com/ward-5-mutual-aid WI

Public comment invited on Fort Dupont Park Restoration Project

The National Park Service (NPS), in partnership with the District of Columbia Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE), has announced that it is preparing a creek restoration project for the Fort Dupont Creek Watershed located within or near Fort Dupont Park in Southeast Washington D.C. The public is invited to review the plan and provide feedback from Jan. 31 to March 2, 2023. This project involves the restoration of approximately 600 linear feet of Anacostia River tributaries within parkland cared for by the National Park Service.

The restoration is needed to improve the long-term stability of the multiple streams and improve downstream water quality for the Anacostia River watershed. Public participation is vital to the planning process. To attend the public meeting on WebEx, RSVP at: https:// dcnet.webex.com/weblink/register/r78594397aab0d9bfa0fad6f2e908c733. An emailed link will be sent to attend the Jan. 31 public meeting. comment: Interested persons can review the plan and provide comments from Jan. 31 to March 2. To provide comments online or get additional information on the project, visit https://parkplanning.nps.gov/projectHome.cfm?projectID=68832. If you prefer to mail your comments, make sure they are postmarked by March 2 to receive consideration. Comments by mail may be sent to: Superintendent, ATTN: Fort Dupont Creek Restoration Project, National Capital Parks – East, 1900 Anacostia Dr. SE, Washington DC, 20020. WI

In Memoriam Dr. Calvin W. Rolark, Sr. Wilhelmina J. Rolark

THE REGION

Schwalb Pledges to Work for a Better D.C. for All

James Wright WI Staff Writer

New D.C. Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb has committed to ensuring District residents’ rights are respected under the law and that he will carry out his duties in concert with other city officials when appropriate.

“Our city is very diverse,” said Schwalb during an interview with the Informer on Jan. 5. “Our city’s strength lies in its diversity. We will stand up for the rights of people who are perceived to be different. We will fight those who try to take advantage of people who are not as strong.”

Schwalb, 56, had no opposition in his quest to become the District’s second elected attorney general in the November 2022 general election. He had the support of Karl A. Racine, who served as the city’s first elected attorney general from 2015-2023. Schwalb is a District native and received his bachelor’s degree from Duke University and his juris doctorate from the Harvard University School of Law. Before running for attorney general, he worked as the partnerin-charge at the law firm of Venable LLP’s District office.

Confronting tough issues Schwalb said he will not hesitate to take on controversial issues if the rights of District residents and those who are in the city for various reasons are threatened. He said the immigrant crisis where the governors of Texas, Arizona and Florida are sending busloads of people to the District—lately Vice President Kamala Harris’s residence at the U.S. Naval Observatory—is shameful and his office will work to make sure that their rights are respected.

“It’s a sad tragedy that vulnerable people are being used in a political game,” he said. “As a city we try to help them as much as possible. Immigration policy is driven at the federal level. Nevertheless, people who are immigrants must know that our laws protect them. Our laws protect them when they

face problems dealing with housing. Our laws protect them when they face unfair wage issues.”

Schwalb said he will strongly defend the city’s environmental regulation laws.

“My goal for environmental justice is to focus on improving people’s lives,” he said. “We will be working on local issues such as prosecuting those [who] participate in illegal dumping as a measure of ensuring people’s life and safety. I will also creatively and aggressively enforce laws dealing with climate change, both locally and globally.”

The Office of the Attorney General has the obligation to serve as the prosecutor of juvenile offenders. During the interview, Schwalb repeated a statement on juvenile justice that he often said during the campaign.

“I want to work myself out of a job,” he said, regarding prosecuting juveniles.

Schwalb said getting young people on the right path and away from a life of crime will be his focus, not incarcerating them.

“We want to lift up our youth,” he said. “We want to get them back on track. There is science proving that kids’ brains don’t fully develop

until their mid-20s.”

He said, “it is my job to prosecute the law and I will do that.”

Aiding juvenile offenders will help them develop into productive citizens and keep our neighborhoods safe, he said.

Working with city officials and residents

During his tenure as attorney general, Racine sometimes clashed publicly with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser. Schwalb said it is his job to work with other local officials professionally in the best interests of District residents.

“I will work with the mayor,” he said. “District residents deserve a government that works. I will be an independent attorney general and there will be times when we will not agree with the mayor. Bickering is not well-served. We can disagree without being disagreeable.”

Schwalb said he will work cooperatively with the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, which serves as the prosecutor for adult crimes in the city. The U.S. Attorney for the District stands as the only office of

its type prosecuting local offenders.

The new AG explained he hopes to have residents elect their local prosecutor, like other jurisdictions.

Schwalb said he will consistently attend community meetings along with his team members.

“I am 100% committed to listening,” he said. “That is why people have two ears and one mouth. I think residents should know me and know what I do. I will not be a 9 to 5 attorney general.”

WI

5 Brian L. Schwalb serves as the District’s second elected attorney general. (WI File Photo)

JAN. 12

1910 – Famed U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves dies of Bright's disease in Muskogee, Oklahoma, at 71. 1948 – Supreme Court rules that Blacks have the right to study law at state institutions.

JAN. 13

1835 – Isaac Myers, pioneer of the African American trade union movement, is born in Baltimore.

1869 – The Colored National Labor Union, the nation's first Black labor union, is founded in Washington, D.C. 1873 – P.B.S. Pinchback ends service as Louisiana governor.

1913 – Sorority Delta Sigma Theta is founded at Howard University.

1953 – Don Barksdale becomes the first Black to play in the NBA All-Star Game.

1989 – Poet and literary critic Sterling A. Brown, D.C. native and longtime Howard University professor, dies in Tacoma Park, Maryland, at 87.

JAN. 14

1916 – Fiction writer John Oliver Killens is born in Macon, Georgia.

1940 – Famed civil rights leader Julian Bond is born in Nashville, Tennessee.

JAN. 15

1929 – Iconic civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. is born in Atlanta.

1998 – Civil rights activist James Farmer is awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Clinton.

JAN. 16

1871 – Jefferson Long becomes the first African American from Georgia to be elected to the United States House of Representatives.

1920 – Sorority Zeta Phi Beta is founded at Howard University.

1941 – The War Department announces the creation of an all-Black fighter squadron to train at an airfield in Tuskegee, Alabama.

1967 – Lucius D. Amerson, the first Black sheriff in the South in the 20th century, is sworn in at Tuskegee, Alabama.

JAN. 17

1759 – Quaker businessman and abolitionist Paul Cuffee is born in Cuttyhunk Island, Massachusetts.

1942 – Boxing legend and civil rights activist Muhammad Ali is born Cassius Clay in Louisville, Kentucky.

JAN. 18

1966 – Robert Weaver is sworn in as the first secretary of Housing and Urban Development, becoming the first African American to be appointed to a U.S. Cabinet-level position. WI

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR

MUHAMMAD ALI

AROUND THE REGION

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BY SARAFINA WRIGHT

TAUSHA BRYAN / WASHINGTON, D.C.

It’s absolutely sad that this is what they’ve chosen to do. I was hoping they’d make the land work for them and create businesses.

JONATHAN MANCE / CONCORD, NORTH CAROLINA.

This is the smartest move. They could easily lose this property to property taxes which are around $2 million a year for a $20 million property. At least they get something.

A. GABRIELLE /

COLUMBUS, OHIO

If they can’t do anything with that property, why not sell it and generate wealth? The taxes for that land are probably a ridiculous amount. Kudos to them.

ANTHONY LONG / INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA

They say property taxes would have been $2 million a year or more in the years to come. They control the system and will find a way to get their land from you. Or they’ll just do eminent domain.

AERIAN MOORE / LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA

That type of land costs, and who would pay for its upkeep? The city should have just paid them from the jump. However, $20 million is a start to making a profit and building for their future.

A year after a Black family in California won back

Local Nonprofit Exposes Local Students to International Careers

Austin R. Cooper, Jr. Our House Managing Editor

For more than a decade, the International Ambassadors Program (IAP), as part of the William O. Lockridge Community Foundation (WOLCF), has been giving students in Wards 7 and 8 an opportunity to develop an understanding and appreciation of international travel and culture.

The Southeast based nonprofit WOLCF was established by Wanda D. Lockridge to honor her late husband and perpetuate his legacy of striving for educational equality for families and students in Wards 7 and 8. WOLCF offers educational programs, scholarships, college transportation assistance and international travel opportunities. Further, the organization is passionate about eliminating barriers to educational success and illuminating the importance of education today.

Shortly after WOLCF’s conception in the Spring 2011, the IAP was borne. The idea is to bridge the gap of learning by providing first-hand experiences that foster critical thinking, global awareness and peace.

To date, thirteen Lockridge Ambassadors have had the opportunity to travel to three African countries – Cameroon, Ghana, and Benin. During their visits, they shared stories with fellow students

on the continent, visited villages, met with local government and business leaders, as well as participated in a host of cultural and social activities.

In 2024, the WOLCF will be taking a new class of Lockridge Ambassadors to Sierra Leone.

U.S. FOREIGN SERVICE INITIATIVE

The Biden administration’s commitment to increase the number of African Americans in the U.S. Foreign Service provides the WOLCF, under the umbrella of its already successful IAP, with an opportunity to be a part of this effort. More specifically, the Foundation’s U.S. Foreign Service Initiative (USFSI):

Encourages high school students residing in Wards 7 and 8 to explore employment opportunities in the field of international relations.

• Identifies students for travel to Africa.

• Ignites a desire for students to learn a foreign language.

• Establishes early networking and mentorship opportunities for students.

• Allows students to receive community service hours.

• Helps to create internships with government or businesses involved in foreign affairs.

In January 2022, the USFSI was formally launched with eleven students representing Ballou Senior High, KIPP DC Legacy College Prep, Eastern Senior High School, McKinney Tech High School, Basis DC School and the DC International School.

One student who participated in the sessions in 2022 was Eli Williams, currently a sophomore at the DC International School.

“I am appreciative to the Lockridge Foundation for exposing me to various overseas career opportunities offered by the USFSI,” Eli said. “I also learned a great deal and really looked forward to each of the monthly programs.”

THE NEXT SIX MONTHS

Over the next six months, the students will attend monthly sessions for two to three hours throughout the District of Columbia and an overnight visit to South Carolina. These interactive ses-

5 2022 USFSI participants after a session on African Fashion. (Austin Cooper/ The Washington Informer

AROUND THE REGION

District Set to Fete 40th Anniversary of King Holiday Celebration

James Wright WI Staff Writer

The 2023 Martin Luther King Jr. Parade Committee has scheduled activities for people to participate in from Jan. 13-16 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the federal holiday honoring the slain civil rights leader.

“It is extremely important to give the ideas and philosophies of Dr. King a lift as the country celebrates the 40th anniversary of the federal holiday named in his honor,” said Stuart Anderson, who co-chairs the committee with Denise Rolark Barnes, the publisher of the Washington Informer Newspaper. “The King holiday has been celebrated globally for 40 years and that is a milestone. However, we are still dealing with some of the issues he was talking about during his life such as fair wages for working people, housing for everyone and fighting poverty and oppression.”

The committee’s final meeting for the 2023 parade took place on Jan. 7 at Gateway DC on the campus of St. Elizabeths East in Ward 8 with an audience of 35 committee members and participants, and the order of business was final logistics– particularly the parade route and parking restrictions in the Historic Anacostia neighborhood.

The procession’s route will end from its start at St. Elizabeths East campus in Congress Heights.

Anderson, 62, said the grand marshals for the parade will be community activists Yango Sawyer and Sandra Seegars and the Rev. Wanda Thompson, senior pastor of the Ambassador Baptist Church in Ward 8, plus the president of the University of the District of Columbia Ronald Mason Jr.

History of the parade

Before it was a national holiday, the Martin Luther King parade in Southeast started on January 15, 1979, through the efforts of Calvin Rolark, the founder and publisher of the Informer, his wife, D.C. Council member Wilhelmina Rolark and

media personality Petey Greene. The event had the purpose of spurring interest nationally in a federal holiday honoring King.

In 1983, both houses of the U.S. Congress passed the King Holiday bill sponsored primarily by U.S. Rep. John Conyers (D-Michigan). President Reagan signed the bill into law on November 2, 1983, designating the third Monday of January as the official holiday nationally. The first official celebration took place on January 20, 1986.

The District’s parade proceeded through the years but had to be canceled in 2005 due to extremely cold weather. D.C. Council member Marion S. Barry Jr., (D-Ward 8) de cided to move the parade to April in 2006, because the weather tends to be warmer then and in remembrance of the King’s assassination that oc curred in 1968 of that month. Some King parade activists such as Rolark Barnes, Sawyer and community lead er Keith Silver, did not embrace the decision and responded by forming a peace walk, designed to recognize people who fought the violence in the District’s neighborhoods. The peace walk became the primary King Holiday procession from 2007-2011.

The parade came back in 2012, but various problems in 2013 and 2014 forced the committee to re instate the peace walk. In 2015 and 2016, the parade and the peace walk co-existed, but the former had a different route than the latter. Both processions will co-exist for this year’s holiday celebration.

Key activities of the King holiday

On Jan. 14, the annual Prayer Breakfast, sponsored by Building Bridges, will take place at TheARC Black Box from 10 a.m.-noon. Tick ets are $25. There will be an array of activities such as liturgical dancing and singing. The Rev. E. Gail Holness will be the keynote speaker.

The announcing of the winners of the King Holiday essay contests for school children sponsored largely by the Marion Barry Youth Leadership

5 People march on the Frederick Douglass Bridge celebrating the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Holiday. (WI File Photo/ Lafayette Barnes)

Mayor Muriel Bowser with At-Large Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie and Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development John Falcicchio, released a Come Back Plan for the District of Columbia on January 9 in Northwest. The Come Back Plan is a tool for setting DC’s economic development goals for the next five years. (Roy Lewis/The Washington Informer)

CAPTURE THE MOMENT

WORDS TO LIVE BY

–

1864 - January 5, 1943

Who’s Reading the Informer?

Rev. Thomas L. Bowen, director of the Mayor's Office of Religious Affairs, reads the Washington Informer (Roy Lewis/The Washington Informer)

George Washington Carver

“How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of these.”

Cora Barry Advocates for King Birthday Song to Reflect its True Meaning

James Wright WI Staff Writer

A former first lady of the District says the song encouraging the nation to embrace a federal holiday for slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., should be put into better context as to its true meaning.

Cora Masters Barry, the wife of the late District mayor and council member Marion S. Barry Jr., said the song written and sung by Stevie Wonder— “Happy Birthday”—has lost the original purpose of its being and people should be educated about what it meant.

“I am passionate about Black history,” said Barry, 76, “People, especially young people, should know where the song came from. They need to know the struggle of making King’s birthday a holiday.”

King was born January 15, 1929.

After King’s assassination on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, U.S. Rep. John Conyers (D-Michigan) filed a bill in the House calling for a federal holiday in his honor.

Many Black leaders on the local, state and federal levels embraced Conyers’ bill throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, with some helping to enact holidays in their own cities, counties and states. In the District, Washington Informer Publisher Calvin Rolark and his wife, D.C. Council member Wilhelmina Rolark (D-Ward 8) along with media personality Petey Green, organized the nation’s first King Day parade in 1979.

President Reagan signed the King Holiday bill into law on Nov. 2, 1983, and its first public celebration occurred on Jan. 20, 1986.

Wonder released the song to the public on June 26, 1981. The song’s lyrics touched the hearts of

people who wanted the King federal holiday, Barry said.

“If you listen to some of the lyrics, you can hear what Stevie was saying in the song,” she said. “You can hear his advocacy and support for the King holiday. He sang, ‘you know it doesn’t make much sense, there ought to be a law against anyone who takes offense, at a day in your celebration.’ The song was recognizing the travesty that King’s birthday wasn’t a holiday.”

Barry said it saddens her that the song has been morphed into a general birthday tune. People sing Wonder’s song to praise someone during their birthday but don’t want to sing the traditional “Happy Birthday” tune that tends to be rote and unexciting, she explained.

The former first lady said that the older generation of African Americans have failed to educate young people about the real purpose of the song.

“That is a failure on our part,” she said. “I don’t think it was intentional. But I say let’s fix this up.”

Barry said others agree with her on the misinterpretation of the song. She also said Wonder should receive more credit than he presently gets for his role in rallying support for the King holiday.

“Stevie Wonder played a huge part in this effort,” Barry said. “It should be remembered that there was strong opposition to the King holiday. We had to really work to see it through.”

Barry said she is pleased that Stuart Anderson, the co-chair of the District’s Martin Luther King Jr. Parade Committee, has agreed to have the song played during the procession that will take place on Jan. 16.

“Stevie’s song reminds us that the King holiday is a day of service and a day of prayer,” she said. WI @JamesWrightJr10

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY

Goldson Announces She’s Leaving, New Schools

WI Contributing Writer

Prince George’s County Public Schools CEO Monica Goldson announced that this will be her final year leading the school system on Jan. 5.

“My career has taken me to heights I never dreamed possible when I walked across the stage in 1986 as a Potomac High School graduate,” she announced in a departure letter to teachers last Tuesday.

Following a 2019 appointment by County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, Goldson has presided over PGCPS throughout the

COVID-19 pandemic and while the Kirwan Commission’s recommendations for education were being crafted.

“While Dr. Goldson will be sorely missed by our community, I know that the impact she has had on our school system will continue to be felt for years to come,” said Alsobrooks upon hearing of Goldson’s decision. The selection process for her replacement plans will begin this month and plans to hire a new CEO by the time Goldson’s contract expires June 30.

The Prince George’s County Board of Education will be voting on their new Chair on January 11,

as current Chair Juanita Miller’s term expires amid a trial with the State Board of Education. Lolita Walker, who won a Board of Education race last year, was elected as Vice Chair of the Board during a recent meeting while no one was elected Chair after eight votes. Shayla Adams-Stafford of Glenarden and Judy Mickens-Murray of Bowie are the two presumed candidates for Board Chair.

In a recent newsletter, PGCPS CEO Monica Goldson announced

updates on six new schools as one of the school system’s successes of 2022. In October 2019, six new schools to be constructed for Prince George’s County students under a public-private partnership were announced. This is the first time in American history that school construction has been financed by a public-private partnership, also known as a P3.

A new academy for students in kindergarten through eighth grade is planned for Fort Washington and

Proud ECSU Alum Boosts Alma Mater in DMV, Nationwide

ARETHA

DISTRICT24

For years, Capt. Anthony Swain has been working to promote and recruit for his alma mater, Elizabeth City State University (ECSU), an HBCU in northeastern North Carolina. His official role is serving as chairman of the Board of the National Alumni Association, a role he has held for six years, through which he provides multiple scholarship opportunities and helps to recruit new students. A member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Swain also leads the university’s DMV area alumni chapter. Across these roles, he helps future leaders build relationships and skills to prepare for a better future.

“When you see the Black leaders in industry, education and professional fields, you see HBCUs are punching

above our size and represent the finest professionals this country has to offer,” Swain said when asked about the value of an HBCU education. This belief has dedicated him to expanding access to higher education for Black youth.

Swain graduated from ECSU in 1982 with a degree in Business Administration and concentration in accounting, expertise which aided his lengthy career in the military and government service. He first worked for the IRS in Columbia, South Carolina before serving 30 years in the Navy, traveling to dozens of countries and retiring at the rank of Captain.

Swain has also served as a commencement speaker and Grand Marshall of ECSU’s Homecoming Parade.

Some of the scholarship opportunities he has donated to include Alpha Phi Alpha’s Kappa Epsilon Lambda

Foundation, which he donated over $36,000 to in 2022, and the Alpha Academy. This foundation hosts the largest college fair in Prince George’s, with nearly 100 universities planning to attend the 17th annual fair this upcoming November. Most HBCUs will be in attendance, as they were last year.

The Alpha Academy, a program that provides mentorship and guidance for 50 middle/high school age young men to prepare them for college, provides lessons including proper dress, financial advice and Black traditions, and Alpha Academy has been made available virtually to remain accessible during the pandemic.

Swain also hosts an annual golf tournament at Andrews Air Force

a new middle school is planned for Adelphi, along with replacement schools for Drew-Freeman, Hyattsville, and Kenmoor middle schools.

Completion date is set for June of this year for all projects, and three other schools are also under construction. These new schools and renovations will add about 9,000 additional school slots by 2026, according to the school system.

Adelphi’s Cherokee Lane Elementary is the first new school to be completed. This school opened up in August, and some of the new innovations include hallway doors that can be closed remotely and sustainable materials that adhere with the county’s Climate Action Plan.

The new schools, coupled with increasing the availability of Pre-K, “bring us closer to the revitalization of PGCPS for generations to come,” said the system CEO.

Boundary changes for the school system were announced in November that will consolidate some existing schools and reduce the number of students in temporary classrooms.

As of September 30, 2022, there were 131,146 students being served by 22,000 employees across 198 total schools and centers. Of those hundreds of thousands, 52.23% of students enrolled in PGCPS are Black, and many school buildings are 50 years old or older.

PGCPS is the 18th largest school system in the country, just ahead of the School District of Philadelphia.

5 Capt. Anthony Swain serves as chairman of the Board of the National Alumni Association for Elizabeth City State University (ECSU). (Courtesy Photo/ ECSU)

Richard Elliott WI Contributing Writer

Richard Elliott

5 PGCPS CEO Monica Goldson announced that this will be her final year leading the school system on Jan. 5. (Courtesy Photo/ PGCPS)

Base. This golf tournament serves to raise funds for scholarships, both for ECSU and other universities. This year the tournament will be held on July 21.

As board chairman for the school’s national alumni association, Swain said the school’s learning experience is not only unique, but offers rich connections through the alumni network.

Sitting on the edge of the Pasquotank River in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, the university offers 28 undergraduate degrees, including aviation and has student population of about 2,000.

The proud ECSU alum said he aims to embody the institution’s motto, “To live is to learn,” every day. He added that the university’s merits create well-rounded students who, like Swain, work hard in their careers and to give back.

“This is a great University that provides a wonderful educational and life experience. We teach your people to develop into young men and women,” he said.

1. What is your name and title?

Tony Swain, Chairman ECSU NAA INC Board of Director and President, ECSU NAA Inc Washington DC Metro Chapter.

2. What is your relationship with Elizabeth City State University?

I am a 40 year Alumni member, class of 1982 with a BS in Business Administration and concentration in Accounting. I am a donor and sponsored multiple Endowed Scholarships. I have been on the Board of Director for the Alumni Association for the last six years and the President of the WASH DC Alumni Chapter for 12 years. I am a Legacy Award Winner, Distinguished Graduated, Grand Marshall for Homecoming Parade, 113th Commencement Speaker for ECSU. Also love recruiting students to attend my University.

3. Why would you recommend students, especially DMV locals, attend that university?

This is a great University that provides a wonderful educational and life experience. We teach your people to develop into young men and women.

4. What did you study in your time there and what does the school specialize in?

I attended ECSU 1978 to 1982, I

graduated in the class of 1982 with a BS Business Administration and concentration in Accounting. I joined Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity in the Beta Zeta Chapter April 11, 1981. I am a life member in both the Alumni association and Alpha Phi Alpha. Upon graduation from my alma Mater, I worked for the Internal Revenue Service (IRA) in Columbia South Carolina. Two years later I joined the US Navy in 1984 and served on active duty for 30 years in the Surface Warfare Community. I retired as a Navy Captain after commanding three warships (USS HUE CITY CG 66, USS CARR FFG 52 & USS RAVEN MHC 61) and served in several locations around the world including the State Department in Washington DC, Pentagon, Bahrain in the middle east, Yokosuka Japan and traveled to over 35 countries and lived in several states MD, FL, VA, CA, TX, 7 and born and raised in South Mills, NC.

5. What scholarship opportunities are available for prospective students?

I am involved in several organizations that support scholarships for students to attend college. Our focus is to support minority students with a focus on Black kids in lowering their cost for a quality education. National Naval Officers Association (NNOA), Washington DC Chapter (DCNNOA). We gave over $70,000 this year in scholarship to DMV seniors to go to college, about $3000 of that is my wife and I contributions including scholarships in Surface Warfare, Alpha Phi Alpha, and Dr. Joy Swain scholarships.

Alpha Phi Alpha (APA) Kappa Epsilon Lambda (KEL) Foundation is another huge supporter of DMV kids providing multiple scholarships for high school senior to attend college and we are proud several are attending HBCUs. We gave $36,000 in scholarships for 2022. We have an Alpha Academy that mentors 7 to 12 graders and support up to 50 young boys to help develop into young black men with several headed to college. I am proud of how we meet with these young men twice a month during the school year with outstanding speakers that cover important issues facing these young men. We will discuss Kwanzaa, financial issues, proper dress, mental health, presentations and group work, pride in themselves is some of the topics discussed. Our KEL college fair is the largest college fair in Prince George’s County and is help the 2nd Saturday in November each

year with nearly 100 colleges attending in person and virtually. Our in person fair normally features Alphas attending Bowie State University and several graduates from HBCUs from around the country.

ECSU NAA Inc, WASH DC Alumni is a great source of professional assistance with scholarships through educators, medical doctor, higher education leaders, directors, Senior Executives Services Executives, retired teachers, military, and federal employees. We host a golf tournament at Joint Base Andrews on the third Friday in July for the last 10 years to raise scholarship funds for students from the DVM attending ECSU. We gave $10,000 each year for these students to stay in school. This year 4 students received $2500 each and we hope more students apply for 2023 scholarship to increase our impact in the DMV. Next year’s ECSU Golf Tournament is July 21, 2023 at Joint Base Andrews. We also will have a 5K run walk for healthy living and to raise scholarship funds.

6. How do you work with other HBCUs to drive recruitment?

As mentioned before our Alpha Phi Alpha (APA) Kappa Epsilon Lambda (KEL) College fair is the largest college fair in Prince George’s county for 17years and most of the HBCU’s are presented along with some PWIs each year. The cost and value of education at the HBCU is great. When you see the black leaders in industry, education, and professional fields, you see HBCU’s are punching above our size and represent the finest professionals this country has to offer. During the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) basketball tournament being held in Baltimore MD this year and

next year, February 21-25, 2023. Professional from around the world will attend, celebrate, cheer, and provide funding to their respective HBCUs

and ECSU will also visit high schools in the local area to recruit talented students to attend ECSU. Normally all HBCUs in the CIAA will do the same using their band, cheerleaders, players coaches and recruiter to get our message to potential students. We have a great Aviation, New State-of- the-art Drone expands training and research at ECSU, teachers, and Business at ECSU along with several other outstanding programs and we want to recruit the best and brightest student to attend, grow and graduate and represent ECSU. Our motto is “To Live is to learn” and we are known as the “Raising Star in the North East” and Lil Liz. I am proud of being a graduate and I hope to continue to represent my school in the highest light.

There is so much more to talk about, but I don’t want to bore you with all my stories. I have other significant organizations that I am in, and we are doing the work without a lot of public acknowledgements. The results are what’s important and we continue to raise awareness and provide our talent, time, experiences, and our treasures to lift our generational Black lives. The future is bright as long as we continue to do our part and help our youth go to college and succeed and keep mentoring as they grow and develop.

Happy New Year, Tony Swain, CAPT USN ret Chair, ECSU NAA INC Board of Directors President, ECSU WASH DC Alumni Chapter WI

5 Elizabeth City State Uinversity. (Courtesy photo)

As board chairman for the school’s national alumni association, Swain said the school’s learning experience is not only unique, but offers rich connections through the alumni network.

BUSINESS

The U.S. Africa Leaders Summit Promises for a Brighter Future

Lafayette Barnes Guest African Affairs Writer

U.S. President Joe Biden has committed $55 billion over three years to advance Africa’s economic and human capital development priorities. The announcement came during Biden's first U.S. Africa Leaders Summit attended by 49 African leaders and their delegates in Washington, D.C., December 13-15, 2022. The initial summit promised to improve economic development and trade relations, occurring with the signing of several bilateral and public-private agreements to invest $15 billion in new business deals over three years including $690 million for African education and youth leadership programs. These U.S. investments will support business deals between public and private sector companies.

GatesAir, a U.S. innovation overthe-air broadcasting company will invest nearly $40 million with Radio Nacional for Angola to expand FM radio to 95% of Angolans. Cisco Systems in partnership with Cybastion, a dias-

pora owned company, agrees to invest $858 million to bolster cybersecurity across the continent. The Millennium Challenge Corporation will provide its first ever $500 million grant for the Benin-Niger Regional Transport Compact to improve trade corridors in this region.

Biden also signed an Executive Order to create the President’s Advisory Council on African Diaspora Engagement (PAC-ADE), consisting of representatives from the African American and African Diaspora-immigrant communities. Accordingly the presidential order was signed “to strengthen the dialogue between U.S. officials and the African Diaspora by elevating engagement through collaboration, partnership, and community building among the U.S., Africa, and other nations globally.”

Ambassador Johnnie Carson, the former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs under President Obama, was appointed by Biden to serve as the Special Presidential Representative for the U.S. Africa Leaders

V.P.

Summit Implementation.

Biden’s order authorizes Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to establish the entity in the State Department by June 2023. Blinken highlighted the significance of this advisory council by stating, “We can’t solve any of the really big challenges we face if we don’t work together. So, it’s about what we can do with African nations and its people.”

Biden also announced plans to visit Africa in 2023 to see firsthand his administration’s progress following the summit. This will not be his first trip to Africa, as he visited the continent during his tenure as chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations committee.

These unprecedented U.S. government measures have again raised optimism and skepticism among many observers who wonder if the U.S. will fulfill its many promises and commitments to Africa.

THE SUMMIT AND D.C.

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U.S. development assistance funds.

Banks would like the U.S. – Africa Leaders to “adopt more debt forgiveness measures to reduce the financial burden placed on African leaders, many of whom are struggling to uplift their people and economies out of poverty.”

Imam Johari Abdul-Malik Seale, a member of the Mayor’s Interfaith Advisory Council, and Rahim Jenkins, CEO National Center for Juvenile Justice Reform, both applauded Mayor Bowser’s efforts to provide the venue near the convention center where Washingtonians and Africans could network and learn about successful ways to collaborate and build sustainable partnerships. They also support the mayor’s remarks that the U.S. – Africa summit participants should promote more awareness about democratic voting rights in the District of Columbia and African countries.

business partnerships between the District and the eight African countries identified in the D.C. government’s 2022 Africa Strategy.”

Dr. Gloria Bozeman Herndon, president and CEO of GB Herndon and Assoc., believes “that many government bureaucrats lack the expertise to successfully direct the summit’s extensive investment and trade goals for the continent.” She said she would encourage more private sector engagement, especially those diaspora business leaders from the District, to ensure they have a seat at table and realize the summit’s future benefits.

Jenkins said he hopes the summit will “promote more capacity building initiatives so local small businesses can partner with their African counterparts.”

The Mayor’s Interfaith Advisory Council member would like to have “more engagement opportunities for District and African youth leaders to promote the summit’s development and trade initiatives.”

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser hosted a welcome reception for the summit, where local and federal administration officials, business and nonprofit leaders gathered at the Carnegie Library. Several of the reception attendees shared their perspectives about the summit and its potential outcomes with the Washington Informer.

Andres O. Hayes, D.C. director for International Trade and Commerce, said he believes the “summit can provide more opportunities to establish

Daniel Amare, an Ethiopian American and partner with Great America Corp., remains concerned about the U.S. government’s commitment to follow up and provide tangible benefits across the continent. He said “the U.S. has neglected Africa for many years and launched many unsuccessful development initiatives that wasted millions of dollars in which most African people have not realized its benefits.” Amare explained that he hopes that the summit would finally provide meaningful results and not the same old rhetoric that has failed many African nations in the past.

Jeff Banks, a commercial banking vice president, said he will continue “to hope and pray” that the summit’s goals will come to fruition. He said he would like to see “more of USAID’s grant funds be awarded to indigenous African development organizations rather than the big U.S. said grantees” who tend to benefit the most from

Ernest Chrappah, a Ghanaian American and D.C. Public Administrator, congratulated the summit organizers for bringing together people from across America and Africa “to share their ideas that can lead to thoughtful considerations, and more opportunities for direct investment and trade between the U.S. and Africa.”

Chrappah believes that Americans can learn from African entrepreneurs and small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) in countries like Ghana and Kenya where mobile banking solutions, not just cash, are being used for business and philanthropic related financial transactions that can transform Africa’s traditional banking practices into a modern digital and secure rural and urban financial banking system.

A BRIGHTER FUTURE

The 2022 U.S. Africa Leaders Summit’s success depends upon its leaders and stakeholders steadfast commitment to provide the financial and human capital resources needed to fulfill their promises for a brighter future. A future that builds and sustains mutually beneficial business, investment and people partnerships between the U.S. and Africa. WI

(L to R) Rahim Jenkins, CEO National Center for Juvenile Justice Reform Imam Johari Abdul-Malik Seale, Mayor Bowser’s Interfaith Advisory Council Andres O. Hayes, D.C. Director for International Trade and Commerce Ernest Chrappah, Ghanaian American and D.C. Public Administrator Jeff Banks,

Commercial Banking Dr. Gloria Bozeman Herndon, President & CEO of GB Herndon and Associates (Courtesy Photos)

5 President Biden with leaders from across the African continent in Washington, DC at the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit on December 13-15, 2022. (Courtesy Photos)

business briefs

James Wright / WI Staff Writer

Write the Vision and Make it Plain

Aimee D. Griffin

RACINE JOINS DXC TECHNOLOGY’S BOARD

Former D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine has joined the board of DXC Technology Co., of Ashburn, Va., one of the Washington, D.C. area’s largest public companies and a member of the Fortune 500.

Racine, 60, the District’s first elected attorney general, served in that capacity from 2015-2023.

The company announced Racine and former U.S. Rep. Anthony Gonzalez new board membership on Jan. 5. Racine will serve on the board’s nominating/corporate governance committee. Mike Salvino, the chairman of DXC’s board, welcomed both men saying “they bring proven leadership abilities and valuable experience to our board, and our management team is looking forward to working with both of them.”

Racine serves on the board of directors of Safe Harbor Financial, a financial services technology firm that serves the regulated cannabis industry. He has served as presi-

CAAB GETS $10,000

TO ADVANCE FINANCIAL KNOWLEDGE

The Capital Area Asset Builders (CAAB) announced on Jan. 4 that it has received $10,000 in funding to advance access to financial empowerment and financial planning to low-to-moderate income District residents.

The grant, awarded by the Foundation for Financial Planning, will enable CAAB to engage volunteer Certified Financial Planners in one-on-one financial planning sessions to advance the organization’s financial capability building efforts. CAAB has emerged as one of 18 nonprofits nationally that have a track record of providing financial health and capability services to lowwealth populations.

“We are honored to receive this grant from the Foundation for Financial Planning,” said Joseph Leit-

dent of the National Association of Attorneys General. Practicing law, he has worked for the D.C. Public Defender Service, as an associate counsel in the Clinton White House and trying criminal and civil cases for private law firms. While at Venable LLP, he became the first Black managing partner of a top-100 U.S. law firm. WI

mann-Santa Cruz, CAAB’s CEO & executive director. “We are fully committed to advance CAAB’s mission for the benefit of low-and-moderate Black, Latinx and immigrant families in our region. We are proudly focusing on intentionally addressing and closing the racial wealth gap in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region. This grant from the Foundation for Financial Planning will assist us to advance this objective.” WI

This is my New Year’s Resolution scripture, Habakkuk 2:2-3. Then the Lord answered me and said: “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets. That he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it. Because it will surely come. It will not tarry.

Statistics show that you are 42% more likely to achieve written goals than those goals that are not written. When a goal is written it compels you to think it through more carefully. It encourages you to be more specific. The writing also has an immediate brain-to-hand connection. The writing and regular re-reading create an immediate motivation to achieve. Writing the goal often compels you to create a plan to achieve the goal.

A significant point about this scripture is that the vision is written plainly not just for the writer but also for the reader who will carry forth the vision. As an estate planning attorney, I take the time to encourage the families, that I am privileged to work with, to create a vision that moves beyond the immediacy, beyond the next generation. We are to create visions that are multigenerational. We are to leave an inheritance for our children’s children. That inheritance should be more than just financial. But clearly a financial inheritance can be significant. We must realize that a financial inheritance can have either a positive or a negative impact depending on the beneficiary.

The vision must be comprehensive. The vision needs to be bigger than anything that one has capacity to complete independently. It needs multiple people for completion. As a result, it should have impact on others as well. Without planning the impact is often negative and traumatizing.

Our vision should build on the foundation of the past if there is one. If not, there should be a foundation laid that successive generations can build upon. We can be standard bearers for our children and our children’s children to raise higher. Our visions can elevate our children, whether the children are biologically, spiritually or our community children, by giving them the resources and the tools to build their best lives or strategic alignments for partnerships for greater impact.

Our education, experience and values enable us to provide wisdom and inspiration for the next generations. Our responsibility is to raise the next generation up in the way they should go, so that when they are old, they will not depart from it. However, we should not just give them the words, but also the resources and the lessons.

I am mindful of the prodigal son who was given an inheritance that he claimed too soon. An inheritance claimed too soon will not be blessed. (Proverbs 20:21). It is given too soon if the maturity isn’t there to effectively manage. It is given too soon if the necessary support isn’t provided.

We each can create a vision that we can share with our circle of influence. Whether we have substantial resources or limited resources, we have capacity to teach the next generation from our lessons learned. Yet, that requires intentional, strategic planning that is written plainly so that those who read it can run with it.

The Life and Legacy Counselors would be honored to work with you to shape your vision for your next generation.

BRIDGE FUND APPLICATIONS DUE JAN. 13

District businesses are reminded that applications for the Bridge Fund are due by Jan. 13 at 5 p.m. The Bridge Fund grants provide flexible financial relief to small businesses and sole proprietors that experienced revenue loss during the coronavirus pandemic

public health emergency, with priority going to those that have not received prior rounds of relief funds. Grantees will be allowed to use funds for needs such as rent, payroll and labor, and operating expenses.

Awards will range from $5,000$45,000. Qualifying businesses include restaurants, retailers or entertainment small businesses lo-

cated in the District with an active D.C. Basic Business License, less than $5 million in gross receipts in 2019, 2020 and 2021 and the ability to demonstrate revenue declines or significant costs and financial losses due to the pandemic during the period of April 1, 2020, to December 31, 2021. WI

CBC Begins ‘Busy’ Meeting with Biden Administration over Border Policies

Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer

While House Republicans spent a week publicly bickering and 15 rounds voting to elect Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California as speaker, the Congressional Black Caucus was already hard at work on behalf of its millions of constituents.

In the 118th Congress, the CBC will have 58 members, nine of whom are new to the chamber.

Steven Horsford, a Democrat from Nevada, was chosen as chair.

The rest of the executive committee is made up of Demo-

crats from New York, Louisiana, Georgia and Washington: Yvette Clarke, Troy Carter, Lucy McBath and Marilyn Strickland.

Due to the lengthy speakership vote, Congress could not do business during the first week of the new legislative year.

Despite this, Horsford and other CBC members still managed to talk about one of their 2023 goals.

Members were worried about the Biden administration’s plan to stop people from Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Haiti from crossing the border.

Horsford stated, “America is a

nation of immigrants.”

He argued that the right to access could save lives in many situations.

Horsford and Clarke said that the government’s policy, which is

Amid the Chaotic Speakership Debate in the House, A Star is Born

Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer

It’s possible that after the bitter campaign for House Speaker ended on Jan. 7, Americans – especially Black Americans – felt a strong sense of déjà vu.

New York Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffries provided a masterclass on leadership and served up a clear reminder of what an up-and-coming senator from Illinois named Barack Obama once did during a divided America.

“Progress asserted itself tonight, manifested in [Hakeem] Jeffries, even amidst a hostile takeover of the House by neo–fascists,” Jason Randolph of Vote.org commented.

Randolph said Jeffries delivered “what’s likely the best political speech not given by Obama in generations.”

On July 27, 2004, during the

Democratic National Convention in Boston, a 42-year-old Barack Obama, who a few months earlier won a Senate primary in Illinois, spoke eloquently and inspiringly about the divide facing America.

“Now even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters, the negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of ‘anything goes,’” Obama asserted.

“Well, I say to them tonight, there is not a liberal America and a conservative America; there is the United States of America. There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America; there’s the United States of America.”

Nineteen years later, in 2023 where many say politics are as divisive and dangerous as ever, Jeffries,

very similar to that of the Trump administration, should be looked at again immediately.

Even though Biden’s new program intends to speed up the asylum process, “the reality is that the administration’s actions have the potential to threaten the safety and humanity of migrants,” as Horsford put it.

Horsford’s parents are native Trinidadians, while Clarke’s ancestors came to the United States from Jamaica.

During a meeting with DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, which Horsford led, the topic of Haitian migrants was central.

“Members talked about the real-life experiences of their constituents with migration and their worries about the continuation of Title 42. They also stressed the importance of giving everyone fair and equal access to asylum and other ways to move,” Horsford said.

Trump’s pandemic-era Title 42 law allowed the United States to deport hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers on public health grounds.

Horsford praised the CBC and Mayorkas for “taking the right step in the right direction” by collaborating on a government-wide strategy to address migration at entry points.

The caucus’ chair said the CBC is eager to collaborate with Biden on finding “humanitarian-focused solutions.”

The CBC has not yet released all its priorities for 2023 due to the delay in electing a speaker, but it expects a busy session.

Maxwell Frost (D-FL), the youngest new member at age 25, is the first person from Generation Z to serve in Congress.

Summer Lee, 35, is the first Black woman to represent Pennsylvania in the United States House of Representatives.

After being sworn in for the first time on January 3, 1991, D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, now 85, is beginning her 16th term this month.

“I do not know if we have ever needed you more than we do now,” said Marcia Fudge, the former chair of the CBC and the current secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The CBC “has been the conscience of the Congress, the moral center that ensures that the people in communities whose blood, sweat, and tears built this country are never forgotten by this storied institution for over 50 years,” Fudge asserted.

WI

“The early morning hours of Jan. 7 marked the rise of a new American leader: Hakeem Jeffries.”

5 In a March 2022 photo, members of the Congressional Black Caucus speak to the press following a meeting with President Joe Biden and senior staff outside of the West Wing Lobby at the White House. (Official White House Photo by Cameron Smith)

Class: Your Key to Savings and Financial Success

Marcia Griffin CEO/Founder HomeFree-USA  Homefreeusa.org

First-Time

If you’re a first-time homebuyer, there may be a lot about the homebuying process that you are unfamiliar with. You also have a lot to consider:

•You want a home that fits your budget and lifestyle.

•You have to choose the right lender.

•You want to negotiate the best terms for a mortgage.

The truth of the matter is getting through the homebuying process can be downright overwhelming. But it doesn’t have to be. A first-time homebuyer course can arm you with the information you need to make the best decisions. Not only that, but it may be able to help you qualify for lower mortgage rates and downpayment assistance too.

WHAT IS A HOMEBUYER EDUCATION COURSE?

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) came up with course content that would be most helpful to homebuyers. HomeFree-USA and other non-profit organizations across the country offer the courses. Most courses also follow the National Industry Standards for Homeownership Education and Counseling – a set of guidelines for homeownership and counseling services.

While some courses are designed for those who are seeking to become homeowners for the first time, others can guide you through the homebuying process if you’re re-entering the housing market after suffering from a financial setback.

These classes will let you know about some of the costs that come with homeownership, and will help you know what to expect throughout the homebuying process. Some topics

might be covered include:

•How to know when you’re ready to move from renting to owning

•Pros and cons of owning a home

•What to look for in a lender

•Steps you should take to apply for a mortgage

•How to plan for maintenance and other costs

•How to budget and manage your credit

These classes come in various formats, including online, one-on-one phone sessions and in-person courses.

HOW HOMEBUYER EDUCATION WORKS

While there are certain elements you can expect from a first-time homebuyer course, there may be minor differences depending on where you take it. Here are the answers to some common questions about first-time homebuying courses and what to expect:

Must I take a first-time homebuyer class?

While there is no rule that says you must take a first-time homebuyer class to buy a house, you may be required to take a course if you want to be eligible for a particular program or to receive funds that can be applied to your downpayment. Lenders want to make sure you have the financial education you need to not only buy your house but to keep it. For example, HomeFree-USA’s approved eHome course lets you earn a lender-required homebuyer certificate that can be used to qualify for downpayment assistance.

How long does a first-time homebuyer seminar take?

You can complete many online classes at your own pace so if you’re busy you can take a course in your spare time. However, in most cases, you don’t have to invest a lot of time when taking a first-time homebuyer class. Some even take place within a single day.

In addition to taking a course, you may spend a few hours receiving additional counseling and guidance, and working with a Homeownership Advisor to create a detailed action plan that will work for your particular situation.

Continuous counseling can be particularly helpful because it gives homebuyers an ally who can help them get through the entire homebuying process.

Why should I take a first-time homebuyer course?

While qualifying for special programs that can save you money is a great reason to take a first-time homebuyer course, there are other benefits to doing so.

•You can increase your confidence. Some people find the homebuying process very intimidating because there is a lot of information that they are unfamiliar with. By taking a firsttime homebuying course, you will know what to expect from the process and you may feel more comfortable dealing with lenders and other real estate professionals.

• You can identify more favorable loans. Unfortunately, there are lenders who will take advantage of a consumer’s lack of knowledge about the homebuying process and will offer them unfavorable loans. For example,

the higher the interest rate you get, the more money you will spend over time. A first-time homebuyer course can teach you about different types of mortgages and help you identify the best type of loan for your particular situation.

HOW TO FIND A HOMEBUYER EDUCATION COURSE

HomeFree-USA offers classes and one-on-one guidance to help renters learn everything they need to do to become successful homeowners. If

you’re ready to stop renting and become a homeowner, schedule a free consultation with HomeFree-USA and sign up for a firsttime homebuyer course. You’ll have the education you need to control your financial destiny.

52, channeled Obama by providing a masterclass on leadership.

He called for “maturity over Mar-a-Lago,” a direct shot at new House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s praise of Trump.

Throughout Jeffries’ speech, Trump supporting Republicans jeered by Democrats rose to applaud the Brooklyn born Democrat.

Jeffries smoothly went through the alphabet to capture all the ails America, and what’s needed to repair the divided nation.

“House Democrats will always put American values over autocracy, benevolence over bigotry, the Constitution over the cult, democracy over demagogues,” Jeffries asserted.

“Freedom over fascism, governing over gaslighting, hopefulness over hatred, quality of life issues over Q’Anon, reason over racism, substance over slander, triumph

over tyranny, understanding over ugliness, and voting rights over voter suppression.”

Earlier, the Republican Party did, in fact, select a speaker, albeit grudgingly; however, given the 15 rounds it took for McCarthy to secure the necessary votes, it’s possible that his tenure as speaker won’t last.

Whether or not McCarthy remains speaker, his ascension to the top post in the chamber is unlikely to be remembered as the 118th Congress’ defining moment.

McCarthy, despite multiple defeats before winning the speakership race and his previous condemnation of former President Trump’s role in the 2021 insurrection, still praised Trump.

The person elected to lead Congress and look out for America’s best interests praised an alleged would-be over thrower of the U.S. government just two years and one day after the Trump-inspired insurrection in which several lives were lost.

Although a congressional committee recommended criminal charges and numerous members of Trump’s inner circle testified to

the committee about the former president’s guilt.

McCarthy, upon being presented with the speaker’s gavel, remarked, “I do want to especially thank President Trump.”

“Do not doubt, in my opinion; in fact, no one should doubt his influence. He was with me from the beginning. So, thank you, President Trump.

However, two years earlier, McCarthy held that “the President bears responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mob rioters. He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding.”

McCarthy moments aside, many people who watched the inauguration of the 118th Congress said that Jeffries, the first African American to lead a major political party in Congress, demonstrated true leadership.

“McCarthy’s speech should have contained some of the words Jeffries spoke,” Dean Obeidallah, a lawyer and host of a self-titled SiriusXM show, opined.

“[McCarthy] should have made it clear he denounces autocracy,

fascism and the grave threats facing our democracy by Trump and the MAGA wing of the Republican Party,” Obeidallah insisted.

The radio host wasn’t alone.

“Rep. Hakeem Jeffries speaks truth to power,” declared attorney Ben Crump.

“Politicians must remember that they represent U.S. All of us. Let’s encourage our lawmakers to work together and pass policy that helps all American people and that preserves our democratic form of government,” Crump said.

“This is what leadership looks like, sounds like and does,” podcaster Chris Hahn tweeted.

Strategist Steve Schmidt added, “The early morning hours of Jan. 7 marked the rise of a new American leader: Hakeem Jeffries. The thunderclap was the magnificence of his voice rising in defense of the American creed and his taking his place in a long line of liberty’s defenders.”

Actor Rob Reiner simplified the outpouring of accolades resulting from Jeffries’ speech.

“A star is born,” Reiner declared. WI

5 Hakeem Jeffries has been praised for his unifying speech after the tumultuous Speaker of the House selection process. (Courtesy Photo)

Welcome to Wellpoint

Submitted by Wellpoint

For more than 24 years, Amerigroup has served millions of Marylanders by providing healthcare insurance coverage and resources to address life’s most critical needs. We’re the state’s largest Medicaid Managed Care Organization, providing services to beneficiaries of Maryland’s Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) programs. These services and resources have grown over the years and continue today, but under a new name: Wellpoint.

Late last year, Marylanders across the state started receiving notices that their Amerigroup Medicaid insurance plan would become Wellpoint. Billboards went up, advertisements were posted and hundreds of thousands of new, Wellpoint member ID cards were mailed for members to use, starting Jan. 1. While the name has changed, everything else stays the same – same insurance coverage, same benefits, same provider network, same processes and same supports that have been improving health and lives for decades.

The name Wellpoint may sound familiar. It has been an integral part of the organization’s history for more than 30 years, and it aligns with our dedication to improving lives and communities by helping people live well across all life points. This rebrand is a continuation of the company’s bold and ambitious purpose to improve the health of human-

ity by serving people at all stages of life; connecting them to care, support and resources; and simplifying every step of the healthcare journey to make health more equitable and accessible.

More than 333,000 Wellpoint members have received their introduction letters and new ID cards with reassurance that this brand change will not affect or alter their coverage or access to the healthcare providers they know and trust. To find out more about Wellpoint, visit our new website and get reacquainted with our services and benefits: www.Wellpoint.com/ md/Medicaid.

Wellpoint members in Maryland can also call Member Services at 833-707-0867 (TTY 711).

Healthcare providers who serve Wellpoint members across Maryland will also continue to have access to the same tools and resources as before, to help streamline day-to-day administrative tasks.

Providers who have questions or need assistance can contact Wellpoint’s Provider Services at 833707-0868.

ABOUT WELLPOINT

Wellpoint, part of the Elevance Health family of brands, focuses on improving physical health as well as the behavioral and social drivers that impact it through a comprehensive suite of Medicare, Medicaid, and Commercial products. The Wellpoint companies offer healthcare services for consumers at any stage of life seeking to make the right care decisions and helps individuals and communities make real, positive progress with health plans that foster independence, confidence, and whole-person health. For more information, please visit www.wellpoint.com .

now

Ramaphosa Pledges to Fix South Africa’s Governing ANC as Election Looms

South Africa’s governing African National Congress is intent on turning itself around and addressing voter disillusionment over poor government services, high levels of crime, poverty and unemployment, President Cyril Ramaphosa said, Bloomberg reported on Sunday, Jan. 8.

“The renewable process is irreversible, it is irrevocable,” Ramaphosa told a rally at a stadium in the central city of Mangaung, where the party was founded 111 years ago. “We do not pursue the path of renewal for its own sake, but we do so that we can drive our energies to solving the pressing problems facing the people of South Africa.”

The ANC is Africa’s oldest political movement and has held power in the continent’s most industrialized nation since the end of White-minority rule in 1994. While it initially made strides in raising living standards and improving access to housing, water and electricity, its image was battered by the rampant graft and mismanagement that characterized Jacob Zuma’s nine-year rule. Ramaphosa, who succeeded Zuma in early 2018, has sought to turn the ANC and government around, but his efforts have been frustrated by power shortages, the coronavirus pandemic and ongoing corruption. Support for the party dropped below 50% in municipal elections in 2021, and several opinion polls show it risks losing its majority in a national vote next year.

The dire state of government is on stark display in Mangaung, where residents contend with gaping potholes, uncollected litter and broken traffic lights. Paul Mashatile, the ANC’s deputy president, attracted little attention when he took to the city’s streets on Saturday and those who did engage him pleaded for jobs and better services.

“The ANC has dropped the ball, we accept that,” Fikile Mbalula, the party’s secretary general, told reporters. “We know we have got to transform the economy. We will not win back the confidence of voters if we don’t deal with socio-economic conditions and matters of security.”

Ramaphosa, 70, will be the ANC’s presidential candidate in the upcoming elections after winning a second five-year term as party leader at its national conference last month. His assurances that the ANC is committed to cleaning up its act were dealt a setback when several officials who’ve been criminally convicted or been implicated in taking bribes were elected to its top decision-making structure.

The ANC will enforce a rule requiring officials who’ve been criminally charged to relinquish their government and party posts, speedily implementing the recommendations of a judicial panel that investigated corruption during Zuma’s rule, and appoint officials based on merit according to Ramaphosa. WI

Commonwealth Team to Observe Antigua Elections

The Commonwealth Secretariat on Friday, Jan. 6 announced that former Seychelles President Danny Faure will lead a six-member team of Commonwealth election observers to Antigua and Barbuda for the January 18 general election.

Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland, KC, announced the composition of the Commonwealth Observation Group in response to an invitation from the Antigua and Barbuda government.

Prime Minister Gaston Browne is leading his ruling Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP) into the elections, having won 15 of the 17 seats in the March 21, 2018 election. The other two seats were won by the main opposition United Progressive Party (UPP) the Barbuda-based Barbuda People’s Movement (BPM) winning the other two seats.

“I thank Danny Faure for accepting my invitation to lead this group and each of the Commonwealth observers for agreeing to undertake this important assignment,” Scotland said in a statement. “The group, which is independent and impartial, will assess the overall conduct of the election and, at the end, make recommendations that will contribute towards strengthening the electoral process in Antigua and Barbuda.”

The Commonwealth Secretariat said that the group’s mandate is to observe the preparations for the election, the polling, counting, tabulation procedures and the overall electoral environment as well as consider any factors that could impinge upon the credibility of the process as a whole.

Prior to deployment, the group will also have briefings with the country’s political party representatives, police officers and several stakeholders, including officials from the Electoral Commission, the media and social society groups representing women, youth and people with disabilities.

The group will submit its recommendations in a report to the Commonwealth Secretary-General, who will forward it to Antigua and Barbuda, the country’s Electoral Commission, the leadership of political parties taking part in the elections and all Commonwealth governments.

The Commonwealth Observer team is due to arrive in Antigua on Jan. 14. WI

COMPILED BY OSWALD T. BROWN, WI CONTRIBUTING WRITER

5 South African President Cyril Ramaphosa (Courtesy Photo)

January 2023 Message from Department of Aging and Community Living

DIRECTOR JESSICA SMITH

Happy New Year!

As we started to get back to “normal” in 2022, we had much to celebrate. We launched new programs, brought back some of your favorite events like Senior Fest and the Senior Symposium, tested our knowledge with the 5th Annual Senior Brain Games, and ended the year with joy, celebration, and well wishes at the Mayor’s 24th Annual Senior Holiday Celebration. I had the best time catching up and dancing with all of you! I couldn’t think of a better way for us to end the year.

With 2023 in front of us, we have so much to look forward to! One of the things I’m most excited about is the expansion of our popular Safe at Home program. As many of you know, Mayor Bowser first created Safe

at Home in 2016, responding to the urgent need of older adults who were at risks for falls and other household accidents. And since we launched Safe at Home, we’ve been able to help more than 5,500 District residents safely remain in their homes. With Safe at Home 2.0, we get to further alleviate the risks of falls for older adults by including three additional prevention categories in our program: medication management, vision screenings, and balance and strength training. We’re super excited to give seniors like you more options to reduce the risks of falls and support you as you age the way you want and choose. To learn more about Safe at Home 2.0, reach out to us at 202-724-5626 or at dacl.dc.gov.

Before you know it, my favorite holiday of the year will be here! Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, and that means we’re gearing up for our 7th Annual Cupid’s Kids Initiative! We’re continuing our partnership with District public and charter schools to make handmade cards for our homebound seniors and any older adult who may want a card. This intergenerational project is a small gesture that makes a huge impact. It’s a reminder that human connection is something that we all need so much, especially during a season where some of us may be feeling lonely and isolated. So, if you want to receive a card or even just a call to talk, please reach out to us at 202724-5626.

Thanks for helping make 2022 a great year for DACL. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for us in 2023. As always, if you have ideas or thoughts, feel free to reach out. We’d love to hear from you!

Safe at Home

The Department of Aging and Community Living's Safe at Home Program provides safety adaptations in and around the homes of qualifying Seniors and adults with disabilities.

IN-HOME ADAPTATIONS

Safe at Home provides in-home preventative adaptations to reduce the risk of falls. Examples include:

• Handrails

• Grab bars

• Bathtub cuts

• Shower seat

• Furniture risers

• Chair lift

WHO SHOULD APPLY?

District residents, age 60 and over, or adults with

disabilities, age 18 and over, who are homeowners or renters of a property used as a primary residence, with an annual household income at or below 80% of Area Median Income (AMI)*.

*Additional eligibility requirements apply.

For more information on how you can apply for the Safe at Home Program, call (202) 7245626.

Attachment(s):

Service Contact: DACL

Contact Email: dacl@dc.gov Contact Phone: (202) 724-5626

Jessica Smith

INTERIM

EARTH OUR

2022 Report Shows Chesapeake Bay Cleanup Efforts Remain Stalled

Kayla Benjamin Climate & Environment Writer

Despite billions in state and federal funding, efforts to restore the Chesapeake Bay have made no overall progress since 2020, according to the 2022 “State of the Bay” report released Jan. 5 by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. The report, released every two years, includes an overall score based on 13 indicators of ecosystem health. This report, like the last one, gave the Bay and its surrounding watershed a D+ grade. On a scale from 1 to 100, the Bay earned a

includes six neighboring states and D.C., will not meet the 2025 targets required to restore a healthy watershed.

Still, scientists and leaders from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation expressed some optimism at a press conference Thursday morning. New leadership at the federal and state levels (including Maryland governor Wes Moore) and federal funding set to become available in 2023 may enable more progress.

“Reducing agricultural pollution and urban polluted runoff are the defining challenges of the Chesapeake Bay cleanup,” said

list, but if we can commit to hard work and new partnerships [and] innovative ideas, we can lead to a brighter future for the Chesapeake Bay.”

Both Maryland and Virginia have poured investment into cleaner wastewater systems in recent years, which reduced some of the pollution going into the Bay and the rivers and streams that feed it. But urban and suburban sprawl, along with the destructive impacts of climate change, have stymied progress in the overall restoration. Tackling runoff pollution from more diffuse sources, especially agriculture, is the crucial next step in the Bay cleanup, but it tends to be more complicated than im-

proving wastewater plants.

The biggest pollution threat to the bay, nitrogen and phosphorus, largely enter the water through runoff. When excess amounts of those naturally-occurring elements end up in the water, they create algal blooms—masses of algae that block sunlight and use up huge amounts of oxygen when they die and decompose. The blooms kill ecosystem-supporting underwater grasses and cause “dead zones” that suffocate creatures like fish, crabs and oysters.

Bay states have made some reductions to nitrogen and phosphorus pollution, but the report says it’s not nearly enough, especially in the face of climate change. For one thing, increased rainfall means

more storm runoff: water flowing from agricultural and developed land, taking pollution with it.

“Warmer water holds less oxygen, and this actually has offset part of our pollution reduction efforts,” said the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s director of science, Beth McGee. In addition, McGee said Bay ecosystems remain threatened by habitat loss, legacy toxins like mercury and PCBs and new pollutants like PFAS and microplastics. The total number of blue crabs in the Bay reached the lowest level on record in 2021.

On the positive side, the eastern oyster, another iconic Chesapeake Bay species, saw a population boost in the last two years. In other good news for the Bay, the federal government has set aside hundreds of millions, or possibly billions, of dollars for Bay restoration through the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law and the Inflation Reduction Act passed last year.

But cleanup and restoration efforts, in the Bay and elsewhere, will likely become more difficult and expensive over time as the planet continues to warm.

“Climate change is making our task more challenging on many fronts,” McGee said. “The fact that we haven’t changed since 2020— the positive of that is that we haven’t gotten any worse.” WI

5 The Chesapeake Bay from Virginia’s Eastern Shore. (Courtesy Photo/ Ken Lund via Flickr)

6 Blue crabs, one of the Chesapeake Bay’s most beloved species, faces major threats from climate change, invasive species and habitat loss. Last year saw the lowest blue crab population ever recorded in the Bay. (Courtesy Photo/ Jay Baker, Maryland Government via Flickr)

Both Maryland and Virginia have poured investment into cleaner wastewater systems in recent years, which reduced some of the pollution going into the Bay and the rivers and streams that feed it.

Three MLK Day Opportunities to Preserve Green Space

Kayla Benjamin Climate & Environment Writer

Martin Luther King Jr. Day presents an opportunity for both reflection and action. If you and your family are still looking for a way to give back to the community Monday, consider service in nature.

Everyone deserves peaceful green spaces and clean rivers, but not everyone has equal access to nature in the District. Outdoor cleanups offer a chance to fight for environmental justice while having an immediate impact on the community—and they’re family-friendly, too. Check out these three MLK Day volunteer events going on east of the Anacostia on Jan. 16.

CLEAN WATERWAYS CLEANUP WITH ANACOSTIA RIVERKEEPER

Where: Pope Branch Park, 2900 M Pl SE

When: Monday, Jan. 16 from 10 AM to 1 PM

Who: Hosted by Anacostia Riverkeeper in partnership with Pope Branch Park Restoration Alliance and Sierra Club DC

What: Removing plastic pollution from the Anacostia. Supplies will be provided, but volunteers should wear close-toed shoes and clothes that they don’t mind getting a little dirty and that will protect them from brush.

Register on Eventbrite

MARVIN GAYE PARK CLEAN UP WITH WASHINGTON PARKS & PEOPLE

Where: Marvin Gaye Park, 601 Division Ave NE

When: Monday, Jan. 16 from 10 AM to 2 PM

Who: Hosted by Washington Parks & People

What: Picking up trash from around the park. Tools, trash pickers, gloves, and light refreshments provided.

Register on Eventbrite

SCA MLK DAY OF SERVICE AT ANACOSTIA PARK

Where: Anacostia Park Roller Skating Pavilion, 1500 Anacostia Drive

When: Monday, Jan. 16 from 9 AM to 12 PM

Who: Hosted by the Student Conservation Association

What: Cleanup along the river that aims to preserve a community green space “while promoting the connections between social and environmental justice.” Volunteers should be prepared for cold weather and wear sturdy shoes and pants they don’t mind getting messy.

Register on Eventbrite

5 Volunteers work with Clean Waterways to collect trash around the Anacostia River. (WI File Photo/Anthony Tilghman)

HEALTH

Damar Hamlin’s Medical Crisis Spikes Search in CPR Training

Lindiwe Vilakazi WI Staff Writer

Football fans and spectators watched aghast as the seemingly healthy Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin, dropped to the ground mid-game while facing the Cincinnati Bengals on Jan. 3. The alarming event is now pushing doctors to emphasize the importance of learning how to administer the cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) technique to potentially save the lives of family members, friends, or surrounding persons during a medical emergency of cardiac arrest.

Interestingly, the American Heart Association (AHA) reported a 200 % increase in web traffic to its CPR website after viewing Hamlin's medical emergency during last week’s “Monday Night Football” match. The heightened attention seems fit since the association reports 70 % of Americans may feel reluctant to administer the technique due to either having no

exposure to properly conducting the process, or a significant lapse in training.

The reality strikes home to many Americans, as the home is generally where an overwhelming amount of cardiac arrests take place, meaning most of us would have a greater chance in saving the lives of our personal loved ones once mastering this skill.

“You do not need a certification to save somebody’s life. If you are in the field when somebody has a cardiac arrest and you know CPR, you start CPR immediately,” Dr. Mariell Jessup, chief science and medical officer of AHA said in a statement.

Unbeknownst to many, cardiac arrest, commonly exhibited through shortness of breath, chest pain and unusual fatigue, among other symptoms, is a more common occurrence than assumed, bound to take place at any sporadic time or location. An untimely medical emergency occurs from

rapid or chaotic electrical impulses in the heart, causing the heart to abruptly stop beating.

On the other hand, heart attacks take place when the blood supply is blocked from entering part of the heart muscle.

Administering CPR consists of hard and fast repetitive pushes on an individual’s chest with both hands done at the rate of 100 to 120 compressions per minute. The process often includes mouth-to-mouth

breathing, a traditional component that the AHA recommends only a doctor conduct. However, the hands-only CPR method solely administered with chest compressions (used to treat adult cardiac arrest victims) is proven as effective as CPR given with breaths.

Medical statistics beg the awareness from Black communities, as it is reported that roughly 383,000 out-of-hospital unexpected cardiac arrests happen annually, with four out of five cardiac arrests likely to happen at home; further highlighting that Black Americans are nearly twice as likely to undergo cardiac arrest in their workspaces, homes, or other public locations compared to their Caucasian counterparts, with survival rates being “twice as poor as for Caucasians.”

Leading doctors commenting on Damar Hamlin’s medical emergency emphasize the critical need for everyday citizens to learn and master the lifesaving skill, as one’s failure to respond in a cardiac emergency often leads to unnecessary deaths, as less than 8% of individuals who experience cardiac arrest outside of a hospital survive the fatal attack.

Dr. Paul Chan, a cardiologist at Saint Luke’s Mid-America Heart Institute in Kansas City, Missouri points to the advantages available to Hamlin with the benefit of an on-site health care staff that many Americans do not have in close reach, particularly those in indigent circumstances with less convenient access to medical care.

Chan’s research has found the lack of formal CPR training provided for inexpensive rates within Black and Hispanic communities to be a major disadvantage, as training sessions are most often hosted in convention centers, or hotels typically outside of these communities. Integrating CPR training in grade schools, and college and university campuses will help destroy barriers as well as raise the likelihood of Black and Hispanic people receiving bystander CPR in a critical time of need.

“The lesson with Damar is that getting [CPR]... as soon as possible, is the one thing that saved his life. He had the advantage of having health care staff in the field when most individuals in the United States don’t,” Dr. Chen {told NBC News}.

The AHA hosts a network of international Training Centers in more than 100 countries, annually training roughly 16 million people across the globe. WI

““You do not need a certification to save somebody’s life. If you are in the field when somebody has a cardiac arrest and you know CPR, you start CPR immediately,” Dr. Mariell Jessup

5 Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin dropped to the ground mid-game while facing the Cincinnati Bengals Jan. 3, and had been treated in the hospital, where he cheered on his team Jan. 8. (Courtesy Photo/ via Buffalo Bills Twitter).

CDC: Diabetes a Growing Risk to Americans Under 20

Minorities at Higher Risk Compared to White Counterparts

Sarafina Wright WI Contributing Writer

The number of young people under age 20 with diabetes in the U.S. is likely to increase more rapidly in future decades, according to a new study published in Diabetes Care by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

This upward trend may lead to as many as 220,000 young people having type 2 diabetes in 2060 — a nearly 700% increase, and the number of young people with type 1 diabetes could increase by as much as 65% in the next 40 years.

In addition, even if the rate of new diabetes diagnoses among young people remains the same over the decades, type 2 diabetes diagnoses could increase by nearly 70%, and type 1 diabetes diagnoses could rise by 3% by 2060, said the study’s authors.

“This new research should serve as a wake-up call for all of us. It’s vital that we focus our efforts to ensure all Americans, especially our young people, are the healthiest they can be,” said CDC Acting Principal Deputy Director Debra Houry.

“The COVID-19 pandemic underscored how critically important it is to address chronic diseases like diabetes. This study further highlights the importance of continuing efforts to prevent and manage chronic diseases, not only for our current population but also for generations to come.”

Type 1 diabetes remains more common in U.S. youth, but type 2 diabetes has substantially increased among young people over the last two decades.

An estimated 526,000 young people may have diabetes (including both type 1 and type 2 diabetes) by 2060. Comparatively, 213,000 young people in the U.S. had diabetes in 2017.

In addition to the overall predictions, analyses of these data by race and ethnicity predicted a higher burden of type 2 diabetes for Black, Hispanic/Latino, Asian, Pacific Is-

5 CDC Acting Principal Deputy Director Debra Houry. (Courtesy photo)

lander, and American Indian/Alaska Native youth.

The CDC said there could be several explanations for the rise in type 2 diabetes, including the increasing prevalence of childhood obesity.

In addition, the presence of diabetes in people of childbearing age might be another important factor because maternal diabetes increases the risk of diabetes in children.

The agency added that people with diabetes are at higher risk for heart disease or a stroke, diabetes complications, and premature death than those who do not have diabetes.

“Researchers are actively investigating ways of preventing type 1 diabetes, and studies in adults have identified steps that can be taken to reduce the risk factors for type 2 diabetes,” said the CDC.

“Increases in diabetes—especially among young people—are always worrisome, but these numbers are alarming,” said Christopher Holliday, director of CDC’s Division of Diabetes Translation.

“This study’s startling projections of type 2 diabetes increases show why it is crucial to advance health equity and reduce the widespread disparities that already take a toll on people’s health.”

WI

EDUCATION

Duke Ellington-DCPS Negotiation Process Continues

Parent Alleges Years-Long Plot for DCPS Takeover

Sam P.K. Collins WI Staff Writer

During the holiday break, the Duke Ellington School of the Arts Project (DESAP) and District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) came a bit closer to reaching a common understanding about the terms of the school system’s relationship with Duke Ellington School of the Arts (DESA).

Both parties however missed the December 31, 2022 deadline imposed by D.C. Council last year to sign a new contractual agreement. At this point in the negotiations, they must each submit a proposal of their own to D.C. Council Chairperson Phil Mendelson (D) and Councilmember Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2).

Since DCPS Chancellor Lewis Ferebee submitted his proposal last week, DESAP has spent much of their time responding to that document while crafting their proposal, scheduled to be delivered in mid-January.

Points of contention continue to center on how best to ensure equitable pay and predictable raises for teachers regardless of certification, and whether DCPS can facilitate a funding model that covers arts faculty, administration, non-personnel spending and cost-of-living increases.

“The chancellor is not willing to provide the full funding [and] it leaves the school at a deficit in terms of reaching pay parity for teachers,” said Amber Golden, a

DESA parent and DESAP president.

Golden explained that DCPS dropped its demand that the principal of DESA be a DCPS employee and that DESAP is now working to ensure all instructing artists meet necessary teaching mandates.

“We’re working on pathways for all working artists at DESA to be certified if they don’t meet traditional teacher requirements [but] we still need the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) to engage with some of our arts departments so that it can better understand their work and why they have a different pathway.”

DCPS central office didn’t respond to an inquiry about the specifics of the plan Ferebee submitted to the D.C. Council. During a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Bard High School Early College DC last week, Ferebee said that, during the negotiations, teacher compensation has been his focus.

Ferebee later expressed a desire to see DESA staff become a part of the new arrangement so that the quality of instruction at the school remains the same. Even so, some parents and alumni continue to express skepticism about DCPS’ intentions.

Some parents, including Maria Jones, have also hinted at what they described as ongoing attempts to turn DESA, an application-based public school, into a traditional District neighborhood school to satisfy white families

in the surrounding communities perturbed by the overcrowding at Jackson-Reed High School (formerly Woodrow Wilson) in Tenleytown.

In the fall of 2017, Jones, then the parent of a DESA freshman, counted among those who watched as D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) smiled with and embraced the late DESA co-founder Peggy Cooper Cafritz and DESA alumnus and comedian Dave Chappelle during an event commemorating DESA’s renovation.

Shortly after Cafritz died in early 2018, OSSE released a report saying that at least a quarter of the students at DESA falsely declared their District residency.

As Jones recounted, DESA community members appealed to Bowser for support, but they were left to fend for themselves.

When DESA parents took OSSE to court, OSSE was found in violation of due process in its failure to give families, many of whom were Black and lived in the eastern part of the District, an opportunity to address the residency allegations.

OSSE later reneged on its allegations, revealing that at least more than half of those accused of falsifying their residency had in fact been District residents.

In a public hearing held by the D.C. State Board of Education in 2018, DESA parents said the damage had already been done to

DESA’s reputation and students’ psyche. For Jones, the manner in which OSSE secured documentation upon which to base its accusations not only reflected a disdain for DESA’s success in elevating Black and brown talent, but a nefarious scheme to dismantle what Cafritz and Mike Malone built in the era of Home Rule and Black self-determination.

“The white power structure and [some within] the Black power structure feel that Black children don’t deserve that beautiful school right on the hill,” said Jones, parent of a 2021 alumna and former president of DESA’s technical design and production parent body.

“These are the things we have to constantly fight against as parents, parent advocates and people in the community. This is the extension of a war that OSSE, DCPS and the city started waging on DESA the week after Peggy Cooper Cafritz died.”

For nearly half a century, the Georgetown-based performing arts school has leveraged its semi-autonomous status to provide students from across the District a dual-arts curriculum and a bevy of professional experiences that lay the foundation for successful careers in the arts.

Admission into DESA requires the completion of an application and an audition. Alumni, most of whom graduate within four years, also accumulate more credits than

the traditional DCPS student.

When DCPS Chancellor Michelle Rhee made budget cuts in 2011, DESA went to great lengths to maintain its dual-curriculum programming, including allocating some of its DCPS budget toward the specialized arts instruction.

DESAP members said DCPS’ per-pupil funding structure doesn’t take into account DESA’s expanded programming and number of staff members. Regardless of whether they have a DCPS contract, DESA teachers are often paid between 25% and 35 % less than their counterparts at other District public schools.

Mendelson, who expressed his support for DESA’s dual arts curriculum, said that the D.C. Council wants a solution that Ferebee supports. While that hasn’t happened as of yet, Mendelson maintained hope about a changing of the tide.

“I know that there is distrust and DCPS has done a lot to engender that distrust but supposedly everyone is on one accord,” Mendelson said.

“The council has certain tools like the budget,” he continued.

“We can also legislate if necessary but ideally we want a solution that the chancellor buys into and that hasn’t happened so far. But I’m committed to exploring every option the council can employ to get the chancellor there.” WI

@SamPKCollins

5 While they are getting closer to reaching a common ground, negotiations between the Duke Ellington School of the Arts Project and DCPS continue regarding funding for the arts and teachers at Duke Ellington School of the Arts. (Rob Roberts/ The Washington Informer)

Bard High School Early College DC Moves to Congress Heights

Sam P.K. Collins WI Staff Writer

Nearly four years after its inception, Bard High School Early College DC has found a new, permanent home in Congress Heights.

Upon their return from winter break earlier this week, nearly 400 students gingerly entered their newly renovated school building. Days later, on Thursday, Dec. 4, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) and several other District officials commemorated this milestone with a ribbon-cutting.

Once construction of the building, formerly known as the Malcolm X Opportunity Center on Alabama Avenue in Southeast, reaches full completion later this year, it will have nearly three dozen classrooms, rooftop solar panels, a theater and gymnasium, a soccer field, track field and basketball court along with several energy-saving amenities.

For many students, including Josiah Best, the new building not only represents the fulfillment of a vision, but the end of a tumultuous journey.

Months after Bard High School Early College DC opened in 2019, the COVID pandemic relegated Josiah and his peers to their homes during a lengthy, and mentally taxing quarantine period. Once students returned to in-person learning, they accumulated high school and college credits in the former Davis Elementary School, a small, aging facility. Making matters worse were ongoing conflicts between students and people living in the surrounding community.

Through it all, dozens of young people eventually earned their high school diploma and, in most cases, an associate’s degree free of charge. Within a matter of months, Josiah, a senior at Bard High School Early College DC, will receive similar honors, and hopefully an acceptance letter from Florida A&M University.

He too basked in the pandemonium over his new high school, calling it a dream come true for him and others who will attend Bard in the years to come.

"Being part of a new school is

always challenging. There are always uncertainties,” said Josiah, who also serves as Student Government Association president and chief editor of his school’s yearbook committee. “We started in a temporary facility so the space didn't foster the sense of importance that the institution provided. We had to deal with that as well as the neighborhood. The biggest takeaway [for us has been] to trust the process."

Bard High School Early College DC serves as a tuition-free satellite campus of Bard College, based in Annandale, New York. The college, launched in a partnership between Bard College and DCPS, was founded on the belief that young people can do college-level work at a younger age.

Students matriculating to Bard High School Early College DC take conventional courses in their first two years and tackle college-level coursework during their junior and senior year, also known as Year 1 and Year 2. Though admissions officers check transcripts to facilitate a student’s graduation without interruption, those who want to attend the District’s first wall-to-wall early college program don’t need to take entrance exams.

On Thursday, officials who attended the ribbon cutting included District of Columbia Public Schools Chancellor Lewis Ferebee, State Superintendent Christina Grant, Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White (D), At-large Councilmember Anita Bonds (D), Department of General Services director Keith Anderson, and D.C. State Board members Carlene Reid (Ward 8), Eboni-Rose Thompson (Ward 7) and Jacque Patterson (At-large).

Dr. Leon Botstein, president of Bard College, also took part in the festivities. In his remarks, he said that the new school building will provide even more inspiration to students embarking on their postsecondary journey at an early age.

At times, he elicited applause when he spoke about the need to spark teenagers’ love of learning and ensure they have opportunities to excel. " We don't treat adolescence with dignity,” Botstein said.

“In a country where race is still a major issue with poverty and a lack of opportunity, the key in the 21st century is knowledge. With a new school you're paving a new road and we want to create this building with a sense of ambition."

Amid all the celebration, concerns about neighborhood violence persist.

On Jan. 3, 17-year-old Martez Toney was shot and killed at Congress Heights Metro Station, just one block from Bard High School Early College DC. In his remarks, Councilmember White acknowledged the Cure the Streets violence interrupters who’ve been on scene establishing relationships with students and administrators.

Dr. Vanessa Anderson, founding principal of Bard High School Early College DC, said her administration will take similar steps to get Congress Heights residents better acclimated with their new neighbors.

" I want to connect with the community,” Anderson said. “The first two days in the building have been [like] Christmas. For the most part there's a lot of excitement around the building among the students."

WI

@SamPKCollins

This week’s Kid Scoop is truly HOT off the Presses! Kid Scoop looks at an imaginary sports story between two teams of dragons! All to show how news reports tell what happens (the effect) and why things happen (the cause).

Each week, Kid Scoop brings students interactive games, activities, puzzles and more in a bright & bouncy, award-winning feature kids and their family members can enjoy together.

PUBLICATION DATE HERE

Publication Date 1-19-23

5 Dr. Lewis D. Ferebee, Mayor Muriel Bowser, Keith A. Anderson, and Councilmember Trayon White cut the ribbon in celebration of Phase I of the newly modernized Bard High School Early College (BHSEC) DC. (Ja’Mon Jackson/The Washington Informer)

of unlimited possibilities

Through Project UP, Comcast is committing one billion dollars to reach millions of people with the skills, resources, and opportunities they need to succeed in a digital world and build a future of unlimited possibilities.

Remembering Dr. King, Jr.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would be 94 this year on January 15, but his life violently ended at the hand of an assassin who murdered him while standing on the balcony of his second-floor room at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968. King was there to participate in a march in support of the striking Memphis sanitary workers.

Following a lengthy campaign that brought together civil rights leaders, entertainers, politicians, and a broad coalition of advocates across the country, significant support was garnered, resulting in the successful passage of the King holiday bill championed by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI). Ronald Reagan signed the bill into law on November 2, 1983, with King’s widow, Coretta Scott, looking over his shoulder.

Declared a “Day on and Not a Day Off,” D.C. has been at the forefront of maintaining annual commemorations honoring Dr. King’s life and legacy. Dozens of events in the D.C. area are held annually, but more importantly, is their consistency over the past 40 years. These events help Americans measure how far we’ve come and expose successive generations to the struggle, sacrifices, and achievements Dr. King and the civil rights movement garnered in order to chip away at long-standing inequities and discrimination against Black people.

Black Americans have come a long way, and their progress would make Dr. King proud. But there’s so much more work left to be done. A look at the equity landscape shows that Dr. King would still be fighting for quality education for all children, access to quality healthcare, equity in homeownership, jobs, justice and peace.

King probably would not have been surprised by the insurrectionist who stormed the Capital last year on January 6. He encountered their ancestors who behaved similarly. Still, his faith would lead him to conclude once again, “In your struggle for justice, let your oppressor know that you are not attempting to defeat or humiliate him, or even to pay him back for injustices that he has heaped upon you. Let him know that you are merely seeking justice for him as well as yourself.”

Honoring Dr. King on the holiday is a must, but more significantly is continuing to discover who he was and what he stood for. His words are just as meaningful and relevant today as they were 55 years ago. And, we still have a lot to learn from a man who had the faith of a mustardseed and unconquerable hope for the future.

WI

Will A Biblical Message Movement Save Lives?

Residents are up in arms over the unfortunate murder of 13-year-old Karon Blake. Reportedly, he was shot by an unnamed Ward 5 resident who believed he was witnessing Karon attempting to steal a car in the wee hours of the morning. The killer reportedly left his home armed with a handgun and confronted the young man before shooting him several times and killing him.

According to police officials, no one has provided enough details about this incident for it to make sense or justify it, and the closed-mouthed response from MPD, the D.C. attorney general or Mayor Muriel Bowser is entirely unacceptable to those who desperately want answers.

Residents want to know who killed Karon. Why hasn’t his killer been arrested? While he allegedly used a licensed weapon, once he fired it and the police arrived to investigate, was his weapon and any others he owned taken away from him? Why is it that officials were quick to release the name of the minor in this deadly incident, and share information about him while maintaining a veil of secrecy about his killer other than reporting he was a Black man? And why would MPD Chief Robert Conte call the “misinformation” swirling around about the shooting “reckless” when he continues to withhold information that would quell the rumors?

It’s been more than three days since this shooting took place. In the meantime, there have been other shootings and other murders. Many hope the antidote to the ongoing violence will come from a renew: Thou Shalt Not Kill Movement launched Monday at Busboys and Poets in Southeast, where 17-year old Maurio Leonard was murdered outside of the restaurant following his evening shift.. While many hope the intitiative that calls for posting thousands of the bright red and white signs across the District, but especially in in Wards 7 and 8. Their hope, including a group of about 25 young Thou Shalt Not Kill Ambassadors is that the bibilical message will soften the hearts of would-be killers and make them think twice about taking a God-given life.

Will this biblical message movement save lives? Let’s pray on it! WI

For the People

I’m hoping for successful terms for all of the council members sworn in in the District and congressional members representing the citizens of the United States. I hope they all take their oath seriously and work for the people, not their self-interests, or we will swiftly vote them out.

Glenda James Washington, D.C.

Readers' Mailbox

TO THE EDITOR

Rest in Peace, Pelé

Safe travels to the other side to the greatest soccer player of all time — Pelé. Growing up, I heard of his accomplishments and looked up to him as a Black man dominating the global sport. Yes, he was Brazilian, but our common African ancestry connects us. Rest well.

Michael Toney Alexandria, Va.

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.

Prayers for the Year Ahead

who need our voice.

We pray and stand for children blessed by parents who care and for children without a parent or anyone who cares at all.

oids and cocaine.

We pray and stand for children for whom we pray every day and for children who have no one to pray them along life's way.

who learn with excitement and for children told by adults they cannot achieve.

2023 is a special year for the Children's Defense Fund — the 50th anniversary of CDF's founding. Once again, I begin the year sharing prayers for the work ahead as we remain steadfastly determined to stand for children and to leave no child behind.

We pray and stand for children

We pray and stand for children filled with joy and for children whose days and nights are joyless.

We pray and stand for children with hope and for children without hope whose spirits have been dimmed and dashed.

We pray and stand for children high on play and study and laughter and for children high on opi-

We pray and stand for children poised by circumstance to soar and conquer life's challenges and for children bogged down by hunger and homelessness and violence and miseducation and struggling so hard to survive.

We pray and stand for children who love to read and for children who can't read at all, for children

We pray and stand for children who we expect and help to do well and for children whom no one believes in or helps succeed.

We pray for parents, grandparents, teachers, preachers, and political and community leaders that we will be a help and not a hindrance for children we call our own and for all the children God created who are part of our family too.

O God, forgive and transform our rich nation where small babies die of cold quite legally.

O God, forgive and transform our rich nation where small children suffer from hunger quite legally.

O God, forgive and transform our rich nation where toddlers and schoolchildren die from guns sold quite legally.

O God, forgive and transform our rich nation that lets children

Putting the Con in Conservative

George Santos, a 34-year-old Republican congressman-elect, has gained notoriety before even coming to Washington. He was elected to the Congress from a Long Island, New York, district this fall on a resume and a campaign constructed on breath-taking fabrications.

He lied about where he lives. He lied about where he works. He lied about creating a nonprofit

organization called Friends of Pets United. He lied about where he went to high school. He lied about graduating from college. He lied about being a landlord owning 13 properties. He lied about having four employees shot in the Pulse nightclub shooting. He lied about his mother's career. He lied about his mother's death, claiming that she was a victim of 9/11 when she died in 2016. He lied about being of Jewish heritage. And he probably lied about his income and his wealth. He claimed assets of a mil-

lion, and income of $750,000. He loaned his campaign $700,000. But he was evicted in 2015 and 2017 for failing to pay rent and hauled into court for not paying his debts. It remains to be seen where the $700,000 came from.

Santos painted himself as an example of the American dream, son of an immigrant family who by grit and hard work made his way to employment at Goldman Sachs. Only the dream was a delusion. Goldman Sachs has no record of his employment. This paragon of

conservative virtues turned out to be simply a pretty shoddy con man. When an investigation by the New York Times revealed his serial lies, he admitted to "embellishing" his resume. His attorney allowed that campaign money — some of which appears to have been used illegally to pay rent for Santos — may have been spent "unwisely." Santos told the New York Post that he may have added a little bit of fluff to his resume, but — echoing Richard Nixon's famous statement in the Watergate scandals — "I am

not a criminal." (Nixon at least chose to resign, whereas Santos fully expects to be sworn in when the new Congress convenes next week.)

The Republican district attorney of Nassau County, New York has opened an investigation of his lies, stating that no one is above the law. The federal U.S. attorney in Brooklyn is reportedly investigating his financial finagling. A newly elected Republican congressman in a neighboring district, Nick LaLota,

The first speech given by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to the newly-seated 118th Congress was a proud moment in history. In life, our elders often play important roles in our development and the fulfillment of our purpose. We often look to those elders for wisdom, knowledge and direction when elevating to the next levels of life. For Jeffries,

those elders include but are not limited to Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer and Jim Clyburn, who played critical roles in his progression to the next level as house minority leader. Early in his speech, when acknowledging them, he said, "Thank you, Madam Speaker for all that you have done. It's an honor to stand on your broad shoulders as well as the shoulders of the great Steny Hoyer and the great Jim Clyburn, two consequential leaders in their own right." As the American people witness the continuation of great legacies, we should

sincerely appreciate those who paved the way before us.

After 14 failed ballots to elect the next House speaker, the contrast between the Democratic and Republican caucuses cannot be any clearer. Unity and professionalism were seen on one side versus infighting and dysfunction on the other. The message is evident: the Democratic caucus is in good hands due to the smooth transition of leadership. It is also clear that Hakeem Jeffries is a true and inspiring leader. True leaders often work to build productive partnerships with

individuals and groups representing diverse interests. Jeffries made it clear that the Democrats will look to find common ground with the Republicans on behalf of the American people. Time will tell if any number of Republicans accept the offer when the nation's best interests call for compromise. A true political leader understands that despite having two major political parties that differ in ideology, America is a melting pot where our diversity is a strength. The nation's diversity should never be downplayed or ignored. We benefit

when people representing all backgrounds and cultures are allowed to contribute their best. Jeffries' speech spoke of how the late John Lewis reminded members of Congress that we might have come over on different ships, but we are all in the same boat now.

He continued by listing what can be referred to as the ABCs of democracy. Jeffries said, "House Democrats will always put American values over autocracy, benevolence over bigot-

Guest Columnist

Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr.

Guest Columnist Marian Wright Edelman

Guest Columnist

David W. Marshall

House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries in 2024?

OPINIONS/EDITORIALS

Glee to Dismay

descriptive of or related to immediate or eventual circumstances in the human condition.

Rarely does anyone with a moderate degree of wisdom or life experience reject advice informed by years of data collected through the observation of generations of "regular" human beings. We call such advice "common sense" and, sadly, common sense is a flower that doesn't grow in everyone's garden. It is normally dispensed in the form of unique "sayings" that are

Hearing or remembering these sayings has always caused me to give pause to rash or reactive responses. Consideration of these sayings has saved me from untold grief and regret. Through them, I've learned that listening for knowledge is much less agonizing than gaining knowledge through the pain of experience.

One such saying that I have found invaluable in my life is, "Be careful what you wish for, you

may just get it." It is advice that I am sure has crossed the minds of those connected with the current election of the new speaker of the House of Representatives. Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy, former minority leader in the House and presumptive House speaker, is learning just how applicable that saying is to his life.

McCarthy's obsession with attaining the lofty position of speaker is well-known. The aim of his political malleability and willingness to flip-flop on significant issues has always been predicated on

his desire to become speaker. Unfortunately, the depth of his obsession has become the tool of his own social and emotional abuse.

At this writing, all he has to show is eleven unsuccessful attempts over a period of three days to secure his aim and his true inability to lead.

Initially, I watched the selection of speaker with the glee of watching a political opponent unable to achieve a goal that would jeopardize most of the social and political gains I've fought for so many years. Somewhere in the middle of

Day 2, my glee transformed into dismay at the realization that the segment of the Republican Party, infiltrated, as it is, by racists, fascists and those hell-bent on the destruction of democracy, was inching closer to securing the power over which it obsessed. Two years after the violent physical assault on the foundation of our democracy, that party moves closer to achieving its destructive aim through surreptitious means.

Make no mistake, I do not

Marc H. Morial

Not Prosecuting Trump Would Be a Failure of Justice of Historic Proportions

"Saving American democracy for the long run requires a clear condemnation of the Trump presidency. That means making clear that no one is above the law. … Presidents also need a clear message, one that will echo through history, that breaking the law in the Oval Office will actually be punished." — Boston Globe Editorial Board

As the nation this week marked the second anniversary of one of the darkest days in our history, the January 6 Insurrection, a feeble Republican majority attempted to assume control of the House of Representatives and the House Select Committee to Investigate the Insurrection formally concluded its work.

Now it is up to special counsel Jack Smith and his team of Justice Department prosecutors to act on the committee's recommenda-

tion that former President Donald Trump be prosecuted on criminal charges of obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make a false statement, incitement of an insurrection, and other conspiracy charges.

In addition to the committee's report, which outlines the damning evidence against Trump, Smith's team has received emails, letters and other documents from election officials in battleground states who were subjected to false

accusations of fraud and pressure to falsify election results.

A failure to prosecute Trump in the face of this extensive documentation of his misdeeds would be a failure of justice of historic proportions and a catastrophic subversion of the principle of equal treatment under the law.

Criminal prosecutions are intended not only to punish individuals for their offenses, but also to deter them and others from engaging in the same conduct in the future.

The federal prosecution of a former president — particularly by the administration of a political adversary — should not be undertaken lightly. But the case against Trump is so clear-cut, and the consequences so profound, that Smith has no other rational option.

Though Trump has publicly denied it, his decision to run for president a third time is widely perceived as an attempt to avoid prosecution — though one un-

One Nation, Indivisible

It strikes me that the days we're living through represent a metaphor for our national dilemma. January 6 and the weight of history that date carries are in the rearview mirror, at least on the calendar. Celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream still is on the horizon.

America's existential challenge

is to put the former behind us permanently so we can finally achieve the latter and be what we pledge allegiance to — one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. After the attack on the Capitol, I sat down to figure out how we might finally do that, and my answers have filled a book.

As my mother's family has for four centuries, I live south of the Mason-Dixon Line close to the Chesapeake Bay, which was a literal superhighway for slavery. Casual conversations about the

likelihood of another Civil War are frequent at my favorite waterside bar. Combine that with the political fault lines running through many families and friendships (including my own) and we feel more divided than indivisible. It's clear why so many fear for our republic's survival.

I have always been an optimist about America. Even for me, witnessing a failed coup shook my usually hopeful outlook.

Like many whose Southern roots run deep, I often turn to the past

for answers. What I discovered in questioning our current differences revived my faith that the United States always will overcome our troubles and emerge even stronger on the other side.

In the 1880s, formerly enslaved men and former Confederate soldiers in Virginia — home to the Confederacy's capital — banded together to fight for the future of their children. They built a political party called the Readjusters. Their demand was simple: readjust the terms of Civil War debt so

that we can maintain free public schools for all.

Not only did they win that victory, they also won control of the state's government and achieved several more: they abolished the poll tax, they abolished the public whipping post, they created the first public black college in the South, and they expanded Virginia Tech to make it the working person's rival to the University of Virginia.

Guest Columnist

Ben Jealous

E. Faye Williams

LIFESTYLE

which includes five members of the Georgetown University Jazz Ensemble.

Williams has been the music director for “Let Freedom Ring” since 2003. As music director, he has been commissioned to compose and direct a new music piece for each “Let Freedom Ring” concert. This year’s composition had Williams wanting to hear a younger perspective, particularly from students.

Return of MLK Tribute ‘Let Freedom Ring’ at the Kennedy Center

John Thompson Jr. Legacy of a Dream Awardee to be Presented

Brenda C. Siler WI Contributing Writer

“Let Freedom Ring,” the annual music concert honoring the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is back with a free performance on Monday, Jan. 16, at the Kennedy Center and D.C. 's own

Nolan Williams, Jr. is once again the music director. The evening will feature Tony and Grammy winner Leslie Odom, Jr., The Let Freedom Ring Choir, soloist Roy Patton, Jr., and spoken word artists from Georgetown University. Accompanying performers will be the Let Freedom Ring Band,

“I chose a March 1965 speech delivered by Martin Luther King, Jr. in Mobile, Alabama called ‘Our God is Marching On,’” Williams said about his motivation for his new composition. “It’s one of his lesser-known speeches, but we used that speech as inspiration."

Along with the speech, Williams asked three Georgetown students to share opinions about what is happening in our world. The poetry the students created was adapted into spoken word and incorporated into Williams’ new composition titled “We’re Marching On.” The Georgetown students will perform this production at this year’s concert.

During the concert, George-

5 Nolan Williams, Jr., is music director for “Let Freedom Ring,” the musical program honoring the ideals of Martin Luther King, Jr. The free event is Monday, January 16. (Courtesy photo/ Marvin Joseph)

town University will present the 21st annual John Thompson Jr. Legacy of a Dream Award to Paula Fitzgerald, executive director of Ayuda. Since 1973, the nonprofit Ayuda has served more than 150,000 low-income immigrants throughout Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia. Georgetown University gives this award to a local individual who exemplifies the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"I am humbled to be selected as the 2023 Legacy of a Dream recipient. My mission has always been to make a lasting impact on the lives of others,” Fitzgerald said upon learning of the recognition, for her agency’s work with immigrants. “I can think of no greater honor than being recognized alongside past recipients - fierce advocates and change-makers in our DMV community."

Celebrated actor and singer Odom joins the ranks of the likes of Chaka Khan, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Audra McDonald, Vanessa Williams, Gladys Knight and Aretha Franklin, who have previously performed for “Let Freedom Ring,” which is returning after a two-year absence due to the pandemic.

In addition to his role as music director, as a composer and producer Williams has developed several productions outside of “Let Freedom Ring” that have garnered global recognition. Under the umbrella of NEWorks Productions,

5 Paula Fitzgerald, executive director of Ayuda, will receive Georgetown University’s 21st annual John Thompson Jr. Legacy of a Dream Award. The university gives the award to a local individual who exemplifies the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Courtesy photo/Ayuda)

his creative development company, Williams produced an award-winning documentary, “Becoming Douglass Commonwealth,” advocating for D.C. statehood in 2022.

Last year also saw the world premiere of “Grace, the Musical,” Williams’ production about a Black family’s attempt to save their historic Philadelphia restaurant. More than 20,000 people saw the musical through 58 performances at Ford’s Theatre. Williams was the composer, lyricist, and co-author of the book with writing partner Nikkole Salter. The show received rave reviews and has been nominated for twelve Broadway World-Washington, D.C. Regional Awards, including Best Musical and Best New Musical. Winners will be announced later this month, and Williams said there is more ahead for “Grace.”

“We had a great run. Now we’re in another development phase with ‘Grace.’ There are things my creative partner Nikkole Salter and I are exploring,” Williams said. “We want to deepen the story and the impact of ‘Grace.’”

“Let Freedom Ring” is a production of the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage and Georgetown University. Tickets are free but will not be distributed until 90 minutes before the program begins at the Kennedy Center. For more information, visit Kennedy-Center.org.

WI @bcscomm

D.C.’s Path To Climate Resilience

by the Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia

Emile C. Thompson, chairman of the Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia (DCPSC), says he’s proud of the District’s many accomplishments in the clean energy transition.

Thompson, along with other city leaders, helps the District meet its aggressive climate policy goals, by setting standards and ensuring that D.C.’s clean energy transition is equitable and affordable and creates climate resiliency.

Thompson is especially proud of the District’s renewable portfolio standard that aims for D.C. utilities to produce power with 100% renewable energy by 2032. By 2041, 10% of electricity must come from solar energy sources.

“Our most important climate achievement is ensuring the utilities meet the District’s clean energy goals,” said Thompson. “The District has some of the most ambitious clean energy goals in the nation, and it’s important that our utilities do their part to help us achieve those goals.”

By the end of 2021, the District deployed 2,337 new solar energy systems, including 82 Community Renewable Energy Facilities (CREFs), which are larger solar facilities, often installed above parking garages, on warehouse roofs or in other open areas.

“Each year we have an increment that we’re supposed to meet to get to that goal (of having 10% of electricity come from solar), and right now, we are ahead of that increment.

We’re actually almost two years ahead of that 2022 increment. We really hope to maintain and sustain that momentum going forward,” said Thompson.

The DCPSC is also leading by organizing a clean energy summit. The 2023 summit, the District’s second, will take place in person and be live-streamed from 12:45 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Jan. 18, 2023, at the DCPCS office in D.C. Speakers will include federal government officials, state and local regulators, renewable energy leaders and utility executives who will address their climate goals, achievements and challenges.

“I think a lot of people hear and know about the clean energy transition, but they don’t know how they can participate, how they’re a part of it, or how some of the big topics that are discussed really apply to them,” said Thompson.

Three sessions during the summit aim to help people better understand issues associated with the clean energy transition. The panels will focus on federal clean energy legislation, workforce and supply chain development, and clean energy affordability.

Featured speakers and moderators at the summit include Thompson, the DCPSC’s Commissioners Richard A. Beverly and Ted Trabue, plus the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Commissioner Willie L. Phillips.

During that first panel, national experts will explain how new federal measures will help spur climate action and will focus on available tax credits, rebate programs and the regulator’s role in supporting clean energy programs and their impact on utility customers. The panelists will address the measures’ impact

on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

The second panel aims to help the DCPSC and other regulators nationally develop a diverse workforce and supply chain that moves clean energy goals forward while ensuring the energy infrastructure is reliable and affordable. Panelists will describe investment and economic opportunities in all communities, explaining how to integrate diversity, equity and inclusion into clean energy research and deployment efforts.

A third panel will focus on questions related to the costs associated with the clean energy transition and how we can ensure that no one is left behind in this transition. The panel will examine utility payment arrearage programs and how to address rising customer rates. Panel discussions will include an analysis of the energy burden based on household income, the effects of local and federal legislation on energy ex-

penditures, and how rate changes are affecting District residents.

“I think [affordability is] the key component of the clean energy transition that maybe doesn’t always get the same bandwidth that some of the other topics do,” said Thompson. “There’s always a great gap. And so we’re always looking to close that delta be -

cause we want people to take advantage of these programs. These topics are critical because affordable electricity has become, to many, a basic necessity,” said Thompson.

To register for the summit, attend in person, or watch the live stream, visit www.dcpsc. org/ces.

Sponsored

5 Solar panels and canopies at the Royal Courts Apartments on 4th St SE (credit: Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia)

Stephanie Mills Gets Candid on Ye, Michael, Prince, Rolling Stone and More

Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer

After gaining global acclaim for setting the Broadway stage on fire as Dorothy in The Wiz, and then producing some of music’s most memorable tunes, Stephanie Mills inexplicably remains under the radar, especially for someone with, arguably, one of the best voices in history.

But Mills, 65, doesn’t care that the music industry still hasn’t given her those much-deserved flowers.

During a spirited one-on-one interview with the National Newspaper Publishers Association’s live morning show, Let It Be Known, she said, “If they don’t give me my flowers, I’m good with that.”

“Every time I walk up onto that stage, someone gives me flowers.

2023 Urban Journalism Workshop

Learn print, radio, television & digital

The Washington Association of Black Journalists encourages Washington, D.C. -area high school students to apply to its 2023 winter/spring Urban Journalism Workshop (UJW). Longtime Chicago Tribune and St. Louis Times Dispatch reporter George Curry started the D.C. program in 1986. UJW gives students the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of print, radio, TV and online news. Current and former journalists with The Washington Post, USA Today, NPR, The Washington Informer and other outlets volunteer to teach and mentor participants. Seniors who enter the program’s essay contest compete for a scholarship.

• Sessions are held for eight consecutive Saturdays, 9am - 4pm, from MarchApril, finishing with a certificate ceremony in early June.

• High School students, grades 9-12, in the greater D.C.-area are eligible to apply.

• Scholarship criteria includes an essay, stories produced in the workshop, class attendance and participation in all eight sessions.

Mills observed, “People come out, and they adore my show.”

In 2022, Mills performed in front of sold-out crowds across the United States as generations of fans have continued to devour the sonic treats she gives, especially when performing classics like “I Never Knew Love Like This Before,” “You’re Puttin’ A Rush on Me,” and “Home,” which, according to the majority of Black Twitter, no one besides Mills should sing.

Even when discussing such topics as Ye (the rapper formerly known as Kanye West), Kim Kardashian, and Rolling Stone Magazine’s ranking of the “Greatest 200 Singers of All Time,” her genuineness shone through in every part of the chat.

When asked what the magazine’s most egregious oversight was, Mills said, “Leaving Celine Dion and me off the list, and putting Michael Jackson at No. 86.”

According to Mills, “Why should we care at all?”

The legendary singer called the magazine “meaningless.”

“With Michael Jackson (No. 86) so far down on the list, and neither Celine Dion nor myself on it, it’s meaningless,” she said. “Willie Nelson is not a singer [yet he made Rolling Stone’s list at No. 54.”

She scoffed at the selection of Adele at No. 22.

“No way do I believe anything on the list. This is just a PR effort to get people talking.”

Mills, who earned a Black Press of America Lifetime Legacy Award in 2022, said the music industry has continued to whitewash R&B.

“We can’t make it in the industry, because it doesn’t want us to,” she declared.

She argued that it should come as no surprise that whitewashing persists.

For artists like Jackson, Prince, Whitney Houston, and others who have been able to crossover, Mills said they suffered lots of stress and permanent damage.

are dead,” she said.

Don’t get it twisted, Mills isn’t throwing posthumous shade at any of those superstars.

She enjoyed a close and fond relationship with Jackson, and adored Prince, and Whitney Houston.

Along with a phenomenal career, Mills is an activist.

Witnessing anti-Black sentiments from other African Americans bothers her, she said, noting that individuals like the rapper Ye have crossed the line.

“Are you completely crazy? In other words, you have completely lost your way,” Mills said she would add, “You came from a Black woman,” Mills said she’d ask the rapper.

“But Kanye thought he was so loved and welcomed in that world that he could do anything. However, they have made it clear to him that ‘no,’ he is not welcome there. What we’re saying is, ‘No, we’re going to take everything from you.’”

Mills said it’s paramount that artists stand on their own and not allow corporations and music labels to control them.

Mills was also moved to reach out to hip-hop star Megan Thee Stallion after rapper and singer Tory Lanez shot her in 2020.

Mills objected to the lack of encouragement Megan received.

“I love Megan Thee Stallion, and at no time, in no place, in my mind, could I ever go against a woman who has been physically attacked and shot by a guy,” Mills added.

With violence permeating the entertainment industry, specifically in hip-hop, Mills cautioned that performers can no longer engage in risky behavior and expect to survive in the modern environment.

“There’s no way [Migos star] Takeoff should have been out there at a dice game. You’re an entertainer.”

Takeoff, 28, whose real name was Kirshnik Khari Ball, was shot and killed in Houston in November 2022, after a fight broke out during a dice game. Ball wasn’t the subject of the dispute.

To download the application, learn more about the Urban Journalism Workshop and/or the essay contest and scholarship, visit www.ujwonline.org or email UJWapp@ujwonline.org

“Michael and Prince felt they needed to medicate themselves to get through their struggles– the stress that came with it– and they

“We worry so much about losing what we don’t have. You will not miss out on what is intended for you. You can’t be a slave, and that’s exactly what Prince meant. To them, you’re like a little pet. They could care less.”

“There are some people you simply can’t associate with,” Mills stated. “No, I don’t have to visit the worst neighborhoods in Brooklyn to prove that I’m a true Brooklyn girl.”

In recent years, the infamous Karens – racist white women who obnoxiously confront people of

5 Stephanie Mills performs in New Orleans in June 2022 (Mark Mahoney/Dream in Color/ NNPA)

Financial Resolutions: 4 Tips And Tools To Improve Your Family’s Money Skills In 2023

Submitted by JPMorgan Chase

2023 may look a bit different than years past due to rising inflation. To help start the new year off strong, make a New Year’s resolution to have open and honest conversations as a family about finances.

The start of the year is a great opportunity to review your family’s 2022 expenses and start to plan for the new year. It’s a great time to review past spending and savings habits and discuss as a family how to improve them. By having these open conversations with your kids, you can help them better understand the basics of money and lay a strong foundation for financial independence as they get older. Not sure where to start? Check out these four tips that can help your family talk about your finances and build better money habits together.

1. SAVING MADE EASY FOR 2023

Managing your money can be overwhelming, but it doesn’t need to be. To make things easier in 2023, automate your savings to help reach your financial goals faster.

With tools like Chase Autosave, customers can set up repeating, automatic transfers from their Chase checking into their Chase savings account. This presents a great learning opportunity for families to discuss the importance of savings, working towards a goal and build-

ing healthy habits.

Parents, you can show your children how you determine your savings goals and then help them set their own financial goals for the new year. Once they’ve figured out how much they want to save, help them set up a plan to get there.

2. WORK TOGETHER AS A FAMILY TO I MPROVE YOUR FINANCES

Working toward a common goal can make everyone feel like they have a stake in the ground. Setting financial goals together for 2023 and creating a monthly budget will help organize finances throughout the year.

If you are a Chase checking customer, you can open a bank account with a debit card for kids. Designed for kids 6-17, Chase First BankingSM comes with its own debit card and parental control, while offering several other benefits like setting spending limits and allowing them to experience money firsthand. This opens the line of communication between parents and kids about building good money habits.

3. BUILD HEALTHY FINANCIAL PRACTICES

Make financial discussions a regular part of family conversations.

Whether it be what or where they’re spending, how much they’re earning or their savings goal, you’ll have plen-

ty of opportunities to discuss good money habits with your kids. To get a clearer picture of your spending and saving habits, check out their Spending Snapshot in the Chase Mobile® app. You and your kids can also set up real-time account alerts to ensure you know exactly where and how they are spending their money.

4. PREPARE STUDENTS HEADING BACK TO

SCHOOL

If you have college age children, it’s time to prepare students heading back to school for their second semester. Before winter break is over, talk with your child about their finances and share some tips to set them up for success in 2023.

Accounts like Chase High School Checking–, for students 13-17 and co-owned by the parent, and Chase College Checking–, available to

students 17-24 with no monthly service fee for five years while in college, provide access to digital banking tools to help them stay on top of their finances throughout the semester.

Using these four tips, your family can start the new year off with optimism about the state of their finances. To learn more and continue the conversation, visit chase. com/studentbanking.

Building stronger communities

At JPMorgan Chase, we are taking actions to increase equity, affordability and access to housing for Black, Latino and Hispanic communities in Washington, D.C. and across the country. Learn more at jpmorganchase.com/racialequity

Chase Mobile® app is available for select mobile devices. Message and data rates may apply. Bank deposit accounts, such as checking and savings, are subject to approval. / Deposit products provided by JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. Member FDIC.

© 2022 JPMorgan Chase & Co.

LIFESTYLE Taking Control of Your Health In The New Year

Creating healthier habits for 2023

Lindiwe Vilakazi WI Staff Writer

The New Year consistently brings about a spirit of cheer and change, motivating us to take conquest of our loudest ambitions and desires.

As gym membership numbers routinely spike in conjunction with the beginning of the year, many Americans are re-evaluating their health issues, and goals, while seeking tips and solutions to lock in a healthier year ahead of them.

“Many people kick off the start of each new year with big-picture health resolutions - ambitious, immediate lifestyle changes that are very difficult to maintain,” said American Medical Association president Dr. Jack Resneck Jr. “The good news is that small, positive health choices made right now can

have long-lasting effects.”

Physicians and researchers alike suggest some powerful methods to initiate progressive changes in your lifestyle habits that if consistently done, can significantly improve the state of one’s mental, emotional and physical health status.

American doctors suggest a brief cocktail of routines that will get your health and fitness goals in gear with the right amount of dedication. Here are five helpful resolutions to set the standard for a healthier 2023:

MAKE EXERCISE

A DAILY ROUTINE:

A relatively recent study conducted by the American Heart Association (AHA) analyzing more than 100,000 participants found that adults who perform two to

5 DC area

(WI File Photo/Ja'Mon Jackson)

four times the currently recommended amount of moderate to vigorous physical activity every week show a significantly reduced risk of mortality. The Centers for Disease Prevention & Control agree as the health organization re-

ports a roughly 33% lower risk of “all-cause mortality” in comparison to physically inactive people.

MANAGE YOUR STRESS WITH A PROPERLY BALANCED DIET:

Eating and cooking natural foods as opposed to processed and sugar-sweetened food items serves as a major boost in shifting energy levels and bodily function for the better. It is imperative to drink roughly half a gallon of water a day, drink alcoholic beverages in extreme moderation and consume a lesser amount of red and processed meats while incorporating more plant-based foods similar to nuts and seeds into your diet.

GET A PROPER AMOUNT OF SLEEP:

It is imperative to get a proper night’s sleep to fuel your body not just to function during the day, but for our bodies to repair themselves and to boost our immune systems against serious health problems, maintain a healthy weight, and manage stress levels and mood swings. Typically, most adults require a solid seven hours of sleep per night, which is best maintained by sticking to a consistent schedule, a peaceful and dark sleeping environment, and turning off blue light devices such as phones and laptops at least 30 minutes before bedtime.

STOP SMOKING:

Studies and nationwide anti-tobacco campaigns have long touted the dangerous effects of consistent tobacco use, as more than 16 million Americans suffer from chronic diseases caused by smoking tobacco products. Smoking is often linked to coronary heart disease and a wide range of cancers. A few suggestions to help curb tobacco addiction include; avoiding triggers, whether it be people you are around or circumstances that create stress that will drive you to smoke, replacing a smoke session with an exercise session instead, or trying nicotine replacements including nasal sprays, or nicotine patches to help relieve the itch to smoke.

STAY AWARE AND UP-TO-DATE ON MEDICAL SCREENINGS:

Every year, millions of cases of some of the most aggressive illnesses such as colon, breast, or prostate cancers to name a few, go under-detected due to medical negligence. Whether it is due to a lack of insurance coverage, or fear of results, it is critical to get the proper coverage and resources needed to ensure that you have a constant update on your body vitals and any potential illnesses whose symptoms may have gone unnoticed. Knowing your status and taking healthy precautions is the key to a healthier lifestyle and results.

WI

residents participate in Mayor Muriel Bowser's annual New Year fitness tradition in its 9th year, FITDC.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

Feb. 7–12 Opera House

Season Premieres

Tue., Feb. 7 at 7:30 p.m. | Fri., Feb. 10 at 7:30 p.m.

Are You in Your Feelings? (Kyle Abraham) In a Sentimental Mood (Jamar Roberts)

DUET (Paul Taylor) Revelations (Alvin Ailey) Gala Program

Wed., Feb. 8 at 7:30 p.m.

Are You in Your Feelings? (Kyle Abraham) Unfold (Robert Battle) Revelations (Alvin Ailey)

Modern Masters

Thu., Feb. 9 at 7:30 p.m. | Sat., Feb. 11 at 7:30 p.m. Roy’s Joys (Twyla Tharp) Survivors (Alvin Ailey & Mary Barnett) Revelations (Alvin Ailey)

All Ailey

Sat., Feb. 11 at 1:30 p.m. | Sun., Feb. 12 at 1:30 p.m. Night Creature, Cry, The River, Revelations (Alvin Ailey)

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s Jacquelin Harris.

Photo by Dario Calmese.

LIFESTYLE

accountability and transparency.

phone, at times comparing Karon’s case to that of Trayvon Martin, who was shot and killed by George Zimmerman in 2012. Others delved into aspects of the District concealed weapons laws and asked why the shooter’s identity had been hidden.

At this point, representatives of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and Ward 5 Councilmember Zachary Parker’s (D) office have declined to speak on specifics of the case. Even with their requests that residents respect the investigation, many people, including Karon’s grandfather Sean Long, continue to demand

“When they lock us up, they don’t ask questions. We get a lawyer and the jury deals with us,” Long said as he reflected on Karon’s death and that of Karon’s father, his son, who was murdered at Forestville Mall in District Heights, Maryland in 2009.

“I saw a lot of kids get killed, but this is the worst death I’ve been through,” said Long, a Southeast resident. “Let’s get these murderers off the street. There’s too much killing. Officers, do your job. Lock them up and let the jury deal with them. Do your job. Stop thinking about the money.”

Karon Blake, a 13-year-old Brookland Middle School student

who many describe as a lighthearted, charismatic being with a love for fashion, was killed during the early morning hours of Saturday, Jan. 7 when a District resident shot him on the 1000 block of Quincy Street in Northeast.

The alleged shooter, who called police after shooting Karon and performed CPR, approached the young man believing that the teenager was tampering with vehicles in the neighborhood.

Karon, an alumnus of Noyes Elementary School in Northeast, continued his academic journey at Brookland Middle School last academic year. He was the oldest of four children. In the summer of 2021,

Karon was listed as critically missing. MPD later said he had been found safe and sound.

Karon’s death comes months after the Juneteenth murder of Chase Poole, another Brookland Middle School student. On Monday, DCPS central office dispatched mental health personnel to Brookland Middle School to support students and staff who are reeling from the death of another community member.

Amid all the mourning, questions continue to circulate about the investigation. A community member who requested anonymity said that MPD’s hesitance to release the name of Karon’s alleged shooter will worsen matters for those who knew him.

“Every day this goes by [without the shooter identified], it leaves the wound open,” the community member said. “Just put it out there and let’s deal with any fallout, if any. I want the shooter to reflect on this. What prompted them in that moment to arm themselves and go outside to handle what sounds like an alleged illegal activity? The speculation will fuel the fire. This has gone beyond D.C. now. It’s viral.”

Since Karon’s death, local organizations including Black-led abolitionist hub Harriet's Dreams, Ward 5 Mutual Aid and DC Safety Squad have collaborated to press for answers about the circumstances of Karon's death. They're also calling for members of the public to submit camera footage, if any, from the morning of Jan. 7.

A bevy of elected officials, including Parker, D.C. Councilmember Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2) and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) also weighed in on the situation, saying that calling the police should’ve been the initial response to any concerns about illegal activity.

As of Wednesday, MPD has recorded six homicides citywide, twice than what had been documented at that time last year. Karon’s death counts as the District’s third homicide in the new year. It follows that of 33-year-old Benjie Byers, who was shot and killed on Georgia Avenue on Jan. 4, and 17-year-old Martez Toney who died in a similar fashion on Alabama Avenue on Jan. 3.

Throughout the weekend, District officers responded to the scene of another murder in Navy Yard in Southeast and the 2000 block of Gallaudet Street in Northeast that claimed the life of Terry Clark, 20,

and Jasmine “Star” Mack, 36, respectively.

The District wrapped up 2022 with 203 homicides. In response, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) sent a letter to the D.C. Council on Jan. 4 declaring her veto of the unanimously passed Revised Criminal Code Act.

She expressed concern about provisions that significantly lower penalties for home invasions and carjackings and car break-ins, and forbid charging convicted felons with unauthorized firearm possession. Bowser also said that elements of RCCA, including the expansion of jury trials to misdemeanors, could be deliberated on as standalone bills.

Despite Bowser’s objection, Parker said he plans to vote to override the mayor’s veto in the coming weeks.

Since Karon’s death, Parker has been in contact with community members in Brookland, as well as Karon’s grandmother and officials at MPD Fifth District. He has also spoken with Bowser, Brookland Middle School principal Kerry Richardson and officials at the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement.

On Tuesday night, Parker, who also requested information related to the incident, continued his call for MPD to release the name of Karon’s alleged killer and take the appropriate action against them. He said that, even with concerns about break-ins and carjackings, the resident who shot Karon should’ve called 911 instead of taking action.

“This is a tragedy that shouldn’t have happened,” Parker said. “We need to reflect on why young people are breaking into cars. My sympathy goes to Karon’s family and the community that’s torn. What needs to be consistent is that the resident [who shot and killed Karon Blake] needs to be held accountable.”

o you hear people around you worrying about money? You can help by nding ways to have fun without spending any money.

the fun activities on this pag with expensive toys and games!

Next time you eat a carrot, cut off the top and use it to start a plant. Use several carrot tops and you can start a garden.

Cut the carrot tops off so they are about one inch long. It works best if there is a little bit of growth at the end of the carrot.

Eat the rest of the carrots!

Plant the carrot tops in a container filled with dirt. Be sure a little of each orange top peeks above the dirt. Keep the soil moist, but not soggy. Be sure your container has a hole for drainage. Place the container by a sunny window.

Watch your carrot plants grow! When you plant carrots this way, your plants won’t make new carrots. But they will have pretty leaves to

Number

Reading Comprehension: Follow simple written directions.

Make Your Own Dominoes

Start by taking a walk around your neighborhood. Collect 28 at light gray stones that are about the same size. Use a black marker or paint to draw dots and lines so that the stones look like the set of dominoes at right.

Imagine a room with all kinds of free books that you can take home! That’s a library! Visit your local library and check out fun books to read. Ask the librarian to help you find books that interest you.

Gabriella loves nothing more than listening to the rain at night as it patters against the window panes. She has never read this book. And she will never finish it. Use the code to find out why!

Fun Search

Look through your local newspaper for information about festivals, museum exhibits and other free fun. Share what you find with your family and see if you can attend together.

Standards Link: Reading Comprehension: Use the newspaper to locate information.

LIFESTYLE

review wi book

"My People: Five Decades of Writing About Black Lives"

By Charlayne Hunter-Gault

Terri Schlichenmeyer WI Contributing Writer

You try to stay on top of things.

You keep your eyes and ears open for news of what's going on because you know that being informed is being forewarned. Somebody's got to watch what happens in your state and your city. Somebody needs to keep track of the goings-on in your neighborhood. And in the new book "My People" by Charlayne Hunter-Gault, somebody needs to testify.

It was hot that early July day in 1959 when Charlayne Hunter and a friend went to the Court House in Atlanta to get their college applications certified. That day, they hoped to enroll in the University of Georgia but, though the papers were all in order, the judge refused to sign them, accusing the pair of wanting to cause trouble.

"All this talk made little sense to me," Hunter-Gault says now.

She'd been "the only Negro" in schools before, so attending the all-white University of Georgia didn't seem like a big deal. Still, they weren't accepted – at least not then but a year-and-a-half later, a federal judge ordered the university to enroll both Hunter and her friend.

That's not the end of this particular story but a degree in journalism is – and so Hunter (later, Hunter-Gault) went to work reporting the news at the height of the civil rights movement, not long after her own activism.

This book is a collection of some of her columns and interviews.

Perhaps because of her own experiences in education, she writes of schools, integration, and curriculums. She tells tales of other Civil Rights icons, John Lewis, the Panthers, Mandela and Tutu, The Black Women's Community Development Foundation, Shirley Chisolm. She writes about living and working in South Africa and in Harlem.

Personally, Hunter-Gault writes of her jobs in newspaper and television, what a delight it is to find a good vacation spot, and how to talk to young people about Trump and today's current events. And she sings the praises of Black newspapers, which "tell their story."

As memoirs go – and this is a kind of memoir – "My People" is really different.

You have to look quite a bit between the lines to get author Charlayne Hunter-Gault's story; it's here, just not presented in the way you expect a life story to be. Instead, Hunter-Gault wraps her experiences inside the things on which she reported in these columns from the middle 1960s to just a few years ago.

What's interesting is that the columns, despite the age of some of them, seem as fresh as if they were written last year. Hunter-Gault's work often focused on reporting issues of racism and inequality and the people who fought those things through the years, and yet readers will see the modern relevance. Sadly, however, there's no editorializing or commentary on that; the columns merely stand on their own.

Still, this collection-cum-memoir is a fascinating read, especially for someone who's looking for a unique sort of historical record. For you, "My People" is the thing to put at the top of your to-be-read pile. WI

horoscopes

ARIES You could very well find yourself swimming in your deepest feelings, and your imagination and appetite to dig deep psychologically will be amplified in a major way in the beginning of the weke. This moment calls for you to allow yourself a time-out from the daily grind to get in touch with your heart's desires and deep-rooted emotional needs. Lucky Numbers: 8, 20, 31

TAURUS Feeling like you're part of something bigger than yourself will be the key to feeling emotionally centered and productive as the week gets underway. You'll do well brainstorm alongside friends, neighbors, or colleagues. That "out there" idea might not be as crazy as you initially thought, and laying the groundwork to make it real could prove truly satisfying. Lucky Numbers: 16, 17, 27

GEMINI Don't be surprised if you're tapped to step into the spotlight by higher-ups as the week starts. Whether you're taking the reins on a major project, leading the charge on a brainstorm, or taking on more responsibility, this could be a moment that sets you up for the kind of professional advancement you've been craving. Lucky Numbers: 2, 9, 33

CANCER If you've been feeling like you're grappling with a case of cabin fever, given current circumstances, chances are you might be itching to get out of your comfort zone as the week starts. Even if you opt to stay home, you might enjoy planning a future trip, diving into an exciting new book, cooking an exotic new recipe, or watching eye-opening films, any of which could prove fulfilling learning experiences and boost your personal growth. Lucky Numbers: 11, 32, 54

LEO You'll be meditating on the give and take of your most intimate relationships when the week starts. Trusting your heart now can offer valuable insight moving forward. Later, you'll enjoy a burst of beauty-loving energy and radiance that has you glowing from the inside out. Lucky Numbers: 4, 13, 22

VIRGO Your desire to connect with your current partner or a potential lover is magnified as the week begins. Opportunities to embrace romantic escapism (think playing hooky to go to the beach) might arise more than usual, allowing you to take a well deserved time-out from facts and cold, hard reality. Lucky Numbers: 1, 7, 14

LIBRA You'll get a burst of cerebral energy that is perfect for diving into research and socializing with friends, colleagues, and loved ones when the week starts. If you've been missing your colleagues or tight-knit circle of dear friends, setting up a happy hour might be a sweet way to make the most of the communicative energy. You'll also do well to gather more info on the strategies for hitting your personal goals. Lucky Numbers: 13, 31, 46

SCORPIO Feeling like you've been putting your own joy, play, and creativity on the back burner in order to tend to the monotonous to-dos of everyday life could be getting to you in the beginning of the week. You'll want to hit pause on professional projects in order to take care of yourself in a gentle, compassionate way. Spending time just seeing where the moment takes you, especially with a significant other, potential partner, or close friend, could prove pleasurable and emotionally gratifying. Lucky Numbers: 6, 23, 53

SAGITTARIUS You could feel compelled to talk about a tough emotional issue with a loved one at the start of the week. Getting in the weeds of your feelings together can ultimately help you heal and move forward. Later, you'll be even more apt to trade notes with colleagues on your biggest, most exciting pitches. The communicative, collaborative vibe can make it even easier to land on brilliant game plans and execute them in a group setting. Lucky Numbers: 15, 41, 49

CAPRICORN You might be feeling restless, stretched too thin, and in need a major time-out from the daily grind as the week starts. Finding a quiet moment to journal or let your mind wander can help you zero in on solutions for infusing your day-to-day with more balance. This can benefit your mind, body, and soul. Lucky Numbers: 24, 44, 51

AQUARIUS As the week starts, you might find yourself feeling torn between keeping your head down and sticking with the status quo on the job or feeling like you want to try something different that better aligns with your values and long-term goals. Allow yourself to explore what your intuition is telling you, take notes, and you'll soon know how to proceed. Lucky Numbers: 7, 8, 33

PISCES When the week gets underway, you might be feeling like you've been putting others' well-being ahead of your own recently, and your own self-care has landed on the back burner. No doubt you'll be frustrated and in your feelings as a result, so this is the time to carve out space to enjoy activities that feel rejuvenating and lift your spirits. You'll be feeling more centered soon. Lucky Numbers: 30, 39, 43

HU Men's Basketball Launches Initiative for MLK Classic

Edward Hill Jr. WI Contributing Writer

Howard University men's basketball team has goals beyond winning games– making a difference.

The team will go against Morehouse College on Monday, Jan. 16 at 7 p.m. in Burr Gymnasium, and the game will be broadcast live on Fox Sports1.

But this is not about a matchup on the hardwood between two celebrated Historically Black Colleges and Universities. It is much more. This is the fifth year of the event, which honors the late civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

In the previous matches, Howard has played Yale, Harvard (twice) and Notre Dame. Yale and Harvard are Ivy League universities and Notre Dame is a Power 5 team from the ACC.

The sporting event has evolved and

this year has added value with Morehouse being King’s alma mater.

Outside of the game, Howard men’s basketball Head Coach Kenny Blakeney is looking to develop strong, well-rounded men.

"When we recruit players to Howard, we aren't just recruiting them to represent Howard on the basketball court, but we are recruiting young men who will live up to the standard of excellence this University has set for itself," says Head Coach Kenny Blakeney, in his fourth season as head coach.

"If our players leave Howard without having made an impact on the world outside of Georgia Avenue, then I have failed as our head coach.”

Blakeney issued a challenge for the team: “come up with a social justice project that would honor the legacy of activism at our university.”

“The challenge was intentionally

broad, as I wanted our players to truly take ownership of the issue they wanted to focus on,” the head coach said.

After intense team-wide discussions, the players settled on the issue of Black maternal health and the implications of the Roe v Wade reversal on Black women, one of the most fraught issues in American society today.

"The team chose to organize around Black maternal health as its social justice project this season due to the amount of attention in the past year given to these issues, like the overturning of Roe v Wade", explained Team Captain Jelani Williams.

"Being at an HBCU, we also know

Commanders End Season with A Win

that Black people, especially Black women, are generally more impacted by issues in American society than other groups. As a team with Black mothers, aunts, sisters and friends across each of our lives, in addition to being on a campus that is predominately female, we felt like it would be helpful to organize around an issue that affects them, and one that is not talked about nearly enough,” Williams added.

Since deciding to focus on this issue, the program has taken part in a series of educational workshops designed to give the student-athletes the depth of knowledge needed to become in-

formed advocates. They attended the world premiere of the documentary "Birthing Justice" during the Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference as guests of Congresswoman Lauren Underwood, co-chair of the Black Maternal Health Caucus. Additionally, the team hosted Fatima Goss-Graves, President of the National Women's Law Center, for a wide-ranging discussion on the women's rights movement, and the history of activism in this space.

Using the platform provided by their MLK Day game against Morehouse College, the team will be formally kicking off their volunteer efforts around Black maternal health by partnering with Mamatoto Village on a community event to package pregnancy care kits on Sunday, Jan. 15.

Mamatoto Village is devoted to serving Black women through the creation of career pathways in maternal health and providing accessible perinatal support services to expectant Black mothers.

They are an organization run by Black women for Black women, and, according to the team, an ideal partner for their "Day of Service.” WI

5 As part of their “Day of Service,” Howard University’s men’s basketball team will conduct a service project with Mamatoto Village. (Courtesy photo/HUNS)

5 Jahan Dotson (1) catches a downfield pass during a win over the Dallas Cowboys 10-24 at Fed Ex Field in Landover on Jan. 8. (Abdullah Konte, The Washington Informer)

5 Washington Commanders Percy Butler (35) tackles Dallas Cowby Zeke Elliot (22) during Commanders a win over the Dallas Cowboys 10-24 at Fed Ex Field in Landover on Jan. 8 (Abdullah Konte/The Washington Informer) Informer)

CAPTURE

the moment

Undefeated Gervonta Davis beat Hector Garcia at Capital One Arena in Northwest after an eighth-round TKO on January 7. (All photos by Abdullah Konte/The Washington Informer)

RELIGION

First Baptist Church of Glenarden Holds Revival with Bishop T.D. Jakes

Hamil R. Harris WI Contributing Writer

The main sanctuary and overflow rooms of the First Baptist Church of Glenarden were filled as Bishop T.D. Jakes preached during the annual New Years revival in Upper Marlboro.

Rev. John K. Jenkins and the members of First Baptist have hosted this event jointly with Bish-

op Alfred Owens and members of Greater Mount Calvary Holy Church for years, but this was the first time for the event in two years because of the pandemic.

“Your goal this year is to be in alignment with God,” said Jakes, during the pastors and leaders conference that was held the morning of Saturday, Jan. 7. “Say I want to be in alignment with God. God bring me in alignment.”

Jakes’ lesson Saturday was a follow up to his sermon Friday night of a revival meeting that began Wednesday night and featured two other ministers as well as recording artists JJ Hairston, Tosha Cobbs-Leonard, Tamela Mann, Anthony Brown and a joint choir representing both churches.

The annual revival, which has been held for more than two decades, began Jan. 4 with guest minister Pastor Reginald W. Sharpe Jr. Young Adult night was the following day, and led by Minister Joshua Jenkins and Executive Pastor of Greater Mt Calvary Crystal Woodhouse.

Pastor Dharius Daniels preached on Thursday with Cobbs-Leonard singing.

Jakes preached Friday night from Ezekiel 37, where he talked about the valley of dry bones and, at times, his message sounded more like a medical lecture as he spoke about how people can fall out of alignment spiritually just like a knee can hurt when one’s hip is out of line.

In years past, Saturday was primarily for pastors and leaders, but Jakes told the crowd that packed the sanctuary because he knew they came to hear a sermon. He didn’t disappoint them as he mixed theology with business principles.

“I preached for two years to empty chairs because I knew you were in your homes scared,” Jakes said. “I never let the mic go…To my DMV family, I love you.”

Bishop Owens echoed Jakes’ sentiments in an interview after the revival, saying he is glad that the event took place after two years.

“I think that we have been waiting for this,” Bishop Owens said.

“The revival is not just Greater Mount Calvary Holy Church and First Baptist Church, it is really for the entire DMV to praise God for the blessings of the Lord.”

CAREERS from Page 8

sions will focus on career opportunities in: International Trade, African Fashion, Media Exposure/ Language/Culture, Tourism, Diplomacy, and Land Resources/ Mining/Agriculture. Each session will end with time allotted for questions and answers by students and speakers.

“I am proud that the WOLCF is exposing our students to professional and nonprofessional employment opportunities not only in Africa, but around the world.

Our bright young high school students can only learn about ca-

reer options that they are exposed to. Who knows, there could be a future U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, contractor with the U.S. Department of State, international trade negotiator, or tourism entrepreneur among us in Wards 7 or 8,” said Lockridge, the nonprofit’s founder and chairman, in reflecting on the USFSI.

The WOLCF is currently accepting applications for the sixmonth 2023 USFSI. The Initiative will commence on Saturday, Jan. 28, at noon. For more information, please contact Project Coordinator Austin R. Cooper, Jr., at austinrcooper@hotmail.com). WI

Pastor John K. Jenkins said he was glad that his son and Bishop Owens daughter led the service on Thursday because, “Young adults are not just for the future they are for now.”

MILLS from Page 34

color – have received lots of media attention.

Mills said she would not hesitate to reveal her inner Brooklyn girl if she’s ever confronted.

“I know she’ll remember me if I get a Karen. She will no longer identify as a Karen.”

Meanwhile, despite the hectic nature of 2022, Mills has a full agenda for 2023.

For an upcoming PBS television

“We are going to keep it real,” Jakes proclaimed. “We have been trained to be consumers and not producers. You can’t just build a church on tithes and offerings. We have to introduce systems.”

This was the first New Years’ revival in two years because of the pandemic, and Jakes said it has not been easy for him.

show celebrating Black Broadway, she recently went to Howard University for rehearsals and filming.

In addition to her busy touring schedule, she’s currently in Canada filming a movie for Lifetime that should debut early this year.

Mills also plans to pay tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with engagements in Atlanta this month on behalf of the King Foundation.

She and her super manager, Amp Harris, have a plan in place

Jenkins told the Informer that the revival helps people long after it's over.

“We are grateful that God allowed us to have the revival because it is life changing,” Jenkins said. “ So many people are inspired because they get equipped to do life.”

WI

to guarantee that Mills will always receive her flowers.

“Amp allows me to focus solely on my performance.”

Mills was adamant that nothing could stand in the way of her and Harris’ plans, which include movies, theater, and a busy touring schedule.

“I feel like I’m getting my flowers in the form of the movie, the PBS special, and my shows,” Mills said. WI

5 Bishop T.D. Jakes preaches at the 2023 Joint New Year Revival hosted by Greater Mt. Calvary Holy Church (GMCHC) and the First Baptist Church of Glenarden (FBCOGI) on Jan. 6 in Bowie, Md. (Courtesy photo/GMCHC Photography Ministry)

5 FBCOG Min. Joshua Jenkins and GMCHC Exec. Pastor Kristel Woodhouse greet the audience during the 2023 Joint New Year Revival on Jan. 6 in Bowie, Md. (Courtesy photo/GMCHC Photography Ministry)

The annual Martin Luther King Jr. holiday is next Monday, Jan. 16, 2023, and though the fight to make the Martin Luther King Jr. birthday an official holiday took 32 years, there was a lot of campaigning and guest appearances by Stevie Wonder, Ted Kennedy and the NFL, along with committees across the country. I was blessed to participate in the D.C. Committee under the late Hellen Tate of Ward 5. Each year, we all attended the Prayer Breakfast, which is still going. I'm thankful to have had a role in working with the committee here in the District of Columbia.

King's birthday was finally approved as a federal holiday in 1983, and all 50 states made it a state government holiday by 2000. Officially, King was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta. But the King holiday is marked every year on the third Monday in January.

The King Center in Atlanta has a detailed chronology of how the efforts, starting shortly after King's death in 1968, paid off in the long run. It wasn't an easy task for holiday supporters, who had to push hard in Congress to get the federal holiday created, as reported by the National Constitution Center located at 525 Arch Street in Philadelphia.

A second battle took place to get individual states to also recognize the holiday, with often emotional disagreements in two states. Today, however, the King holiday serves multiple purposes:

- It honors the total legacy of King; focuses on the issue of civil rights.

- It highlights the use of nonviolence to promote change.

the religion corner

WITH LYNDIA GRANT

Keeping the Dream Alive in 2023

- Finally, it calls people into public service.

The struggle to get the holiday recognized reflects all these topics, along with some interesting twists and turns along the way. Rep. John Conyers introduced the first motion to make King's birthday a federal holiday in 1968, just four days after King's assassination in Memphis. It was my pleasure to interview the late Congressman Conyers on my radio show at Radio One, Washington, Spirit 1340 WYCB. That show was my highest rated social media show. The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation sent out tweets, and my phone was continuously celebrating the live interview. It took another 11 years to the federal holiday to come up for a vote on the House of Representative's floor in 1979.

The bill needed a two-thirds majority to pass, but it fell five votes short with a 252-133 count, despite a strong organizational effort from the King Center, and support from Congress members and President Jimmy Carter.

The holiday's supporters regrouped and intensified their efforts.

Musician Stevie Wonder helped in 1981 by releasing the song "Happy Birthday" to promote the holiday. (He would later sing it at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial dedication in 2011.)

The King Center kept up its efforts. It organized a March on Washington that included an estimated 500,000 people. Coretta Scott King, along with Wonder, presented a petition signed by 6 million people to House leader Tip O'Neill.

There was also a fight in South Carolina over the holiday. It was one of the last states to approve a paid King holiday for state employees in 2000.

The state's governor had

tried to link the holiday to a commitment to allow the state house to fly the Confederate battle flag. Instead, he signed a bill that approved the King holiday along with a Confederate Memorial Day celebrated in May.

Here in Washington, D.C., there is a Prayer Breakfast being held on Saturday at The Arc, and tickets are $25. I've already purchased my ticket — hope to see you there.

Register to participate in the annual MLK Day Peace Walk and Parade, from 9:30 am- 2 p.m., hosted by Washington Informer Publisher Denise Rolark-Barnes. Contact the office for registration by calling 202581-4100.

Finally, next week on "The Lyndia Grant Show" (Spirit 1340 WYCB), we will be joined by Chance Patterson, founder and CEO of Chance Impact LLC, who is a public relations and communications professional who has previously worked with global brands and luminaries such as Oprah Winfrey, and Discovery Communications. He currently serves as a strategic adviser on communications, diversity, equity and inclusion, and legal affairs with the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change. He will discuss a new online training program recently launched by the MLK center that represents peaceful conflict resolution. WI

Bishop Michael C. Turner, Sr. Senior Pastor

9161 Hampton Overlook Capitol Heights, MD 20743

Phone: 301-350-2200 / Fax: 301-499-8724

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

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

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

Rev. Louis B. Jones II Pastor

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

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

Church of Living Waters

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

Allen Chapel A.M.E. 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

Rev. Dr. Alton W. Jordan Pastor

800 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

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...

Pastor

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

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

Bishop Lanier C. Twyman, Sr. Senior Pastor

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

7:00 PM “Reaching Up To Reach Out” Mailing Address : Campbell AME Church 2502 Stanton Road SE - Washington, DC 20020

Turning Hearts Church

Virgil

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

(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

Reverend

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

Reverend John W. Davis

Pastor

5101 14th Street, NW / Washington, DC 20011

Phone: 202-726-2220 Fax: 202-726-9089

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.)

Mt. Zion Baptist Church headline

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

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

John F. Johnson

Reverend Dr.

1306 Vermont Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20005

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

Crusader Baptist Church Isle of Patmos Baptist Church

Pilgrim Baptist Church

The Miracle Center of Faith Missionary Baptist Church

St. Stephen Baptist Church

Reverend William Young IV

Covenant Baptist United Church  of Christ

Campbell AME Church Reverend Dr. Paul H. Saddler Senior Pastor

Twelfth Street Christian Church

Mount Carmel Baptist Church

Mount Olivet Lutheran Church

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

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. Lance Aubert

Imterim Pastor

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

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

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”

2409 Ainger Pl.,SE – WDC 20020 (202) 678-0884 – Office / (202) 678-0885 – Fax

“Moving Faith Forward” 0% Perfect . . 100% Forgiven!

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 Interim Pastor

1301 North Carolina Ave. N E Washington, D C 20002

202 543 1318 - lincolnpark@lpumcdc.org www.lpumcdc.org

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"

Damion M. Briggs Pastor

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

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

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

Elder Herman L. Simms Pastor

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

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

Rev. Stephen E. Tucker Senior Pastor

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

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

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

Email: mtmoriah@mountmoriahchurch.org

Email: ecc@easterncommunity.org

Historic St. Mary’s Episcopal Church

The Rev. E. Bernard Anderson Priest

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

Prayer Meeting/Bible Study: Tuesday @7:00pm

Theme: "Building On A Firm Foundation"

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

Dr. Earl D. Trent Senior Pastor

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 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

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 “ Email Address: admin@pbc712.org

Promised Land Baptist Church

Rev. Oran W. Young Pastor

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

Fax: (202) 289-4595

Service and Times

Service and Times Sundays: 10 a.m. Holy Eucharist with Music and Hymns Wednesdays: 12:10 p.m. - Holy Eucharist www.stmarysfoggybottom.org Email: stmarysoffice@stmarysfoggybottom.org

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 “

Rev. Dr. George C. Gilbert

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

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

Mt. Horeb Baptist Church

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

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 Email:mthoreb@mthoreb.org Website:www.mthoreb.org For further information, please contact me at (202) 529-3180.

Christ

Rehoboth Baptist Church

St. Matthews

Baptist Church

First Rising Mt. Zion Baptist Church

All Nations Baptist Church

Reverend Christopher L. Nichols Pastor

Emmanuel Baptist Church

Florida Avenue Baptist Church

Holy Trinity United Baptist Church

Senior Pastor

Shabbath Commandment Church

King Emmanuel Baptist Church

Mount Moriah Baptist Church Eastern Community Baptist Church

LEGAL NOTICES LEGAL NOTICES LEGAL NOTICES

20001-2131

NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS

Phillip A Chamberlain, whose address is 4336 Regalwood Terrace, Burtonsville, MD 20866, was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of Clyde Elwood Chamberlain, Sr. who died on April 4, 1982 without a Will. 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., 515 5th Street, N.W., Building A, Third Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before 6/29/2023. 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 6/29/2023, 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: 12/29/2022

Phillip A. Chamberlain Personal Representative

TEST COPY Nicole Stevens Register of Wills Washington Informer

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Probate Division Washington, D.C. 20001-2131

2022 ADM 001433

Estate of William Kelly, Jr.

NOTICE OF STANDARD PROBATE

Notice is hereby given that a petition has been filed in this Court by Alice M. Pearson for standard probate, including the appointment of one or more personal representatives.

Unless a responsive pleading in the form of a complaint or an objection in accordance with Superior Court Probate Division Rule 407 is filed in this Court within 30 days from the date of first publication of this notice, the Court may take the action hereinafter set forth.

Order any interested person to show cause why the provisions of the lost or destroyed will dated 7/28/03 should not be admitted to probate as expressed in the petition

Date of first publication: 12/29/2022

Howard Haley The Haley Firm, PC 7600 Georgia Ave. NW, #416 Washington, DC 20012 Petitioner/Attorney:

TRUE TEST COPY

Nicole Stevens Register of Wills

Washington Informer

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Probate Division Washington, D.C. 20001-2131

2022 ADM 001391

Jessie M. Sanders Decedent

James Larry Frazier, Esq. 918 Maryland Avenue NE Washington, DC 20002 Attorney

NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS

Jacqueline S. Davis, whose address is 304 Thebes Lane, Upper Marlboro, MD 20774, was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of Jessie M. Sanders who died on February 17, 2003 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., 515 5th Street, N.W., Building A, Third Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before 6/29/2023. 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 6/29/2023, 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: 12/29/2022

Jacqueline S. Davis Personal Representative

TRUE TEST COPY Nicole Stevens Register of Wills Washington Informer

W. Baldwin Name of Deceased Settlor

NOTICE OF EXISTENCE OF REVOCABLE TRUST

James W. Baldwin, whose address was 3818 Pope Street SE, Washington, DC 20020 created a revocable trust on 4/28/17; amend. 5/19/17 & 12/13/17, which remained in existence on the date of his death on August 1, 2022, and, Brenda Baldwin-Marshall, whose address is 1707 Plane Tree Way, Bowie, MD 20721, is the currently acting trustee, hereinafter the Trustee. Communications to the Trust should be mailed or directed to James Larry Frazier, Esq. at 918 Maryland Avenue NE, Washington, DC 20002

The Trust is subject to claims of the deceased settlor’s creditors, costs of administration of the settlor’s estate, the expense of the deceased settlor’s funeral and disposal of remains, and statutory allowances to a surviving spouse and children to the extent the deceased settlor’s residuary probate estate is inadequate to satisfy those claims, costs, expenses, and allowances.

Claims of the deceased settlor’s creditors are barred as against the Trustee and the trust property unless presented to the Trustee at the address provided herein on or before 6/29/2023 (6 month after the date of the first publication of this notice.) An action to contest the validity of this trust must be commenced by the earliest of (1) August 1, 2023, (One year from date of death of deceased settlor) (2), 6/29/2023 (6 months from the date of first publication of this notice) or (3) Ninety days after the Trustee sends the person a copy of the trust instrument and a notice informing the person of the trust’s existence, of the Trustee’s name and address, and of the time allowed for commencing a proceeding.

The Trustee may proceed to distribute the trust property in accordance with the terms of the trust before the expiration of the time within which an action must be commenced unless the Trustee knows of a pending judicial proceeding contesting the validity of the trust or the Trustee has received notice from a potential contestant who thereafter commences a judicial proceeding within sixty days after notification.

This Notice must be mailed postmarked within 15 days of its first publication to each heir and qualified beneficiary of the trust and any other person who would be an interested person within the meaning of D.C. Code 20-101(d).

Date of First Publication: 12/29/2022

Brenda Baldwin-Marshall Signature of Trustee TRUE TEST COPY Nicole Stevens Register of Wills

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Probate Division Washington, D.C. 20001-2131

2022 ADM 001355

Faustino Pineda Decedent

NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS

Iliana Abigail Pineda, whose address is 6228 North Dakota Ave., NW Apt 309 Washington DC, 20011, was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of Faustino Pineda who died on January 6, 2022 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., 515 5th Street, N.W., Building A, Third Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before 6/29/2023. 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 6/29/2023, 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: 12/29/2022

Iliana Abigail Pineda Personal Representative

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA PROBATE DIVISION Washington, D.C. 20001-2131

2022 FEP 000142 May 12, 2022 Date of Death

Eleonora Georgia Hersman Name of Decedent

NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT OF FOREIGN PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE AND NOTICE TO CREDITORS

David Allan Letbetter whose address is 1209 River Oak Dr. Leander, TX 78641 was appointed personal representative of the estate of Eleonora Georgia Hersman, deceased, by the Civil/ Probate County Court of Law #4 Court for Williamson County, State of Texas, on August 31, 2022.

Service of process may be made upon Registered Agents, Inc., Attn: Bill Havre 1717 N Street NW, Ste 1 Washington, DC 20036 whose designation as District of Columbia agent has been filed with the Register of Wills, D.C.

The decedent owned the following District of Columbia real estate.

3051 Idaho Ave. NW Washington DC 20016. Claims against the decedent may be presented to the undersigned and filed with the Register of Wills of the District of Columbia, 515 5th Street, NW, Third Floor, Washington, D.C. 20001 within 6 months from the date of first publication of this notice.

Date of first publication: 12/29/2022

David Allan Letbetter Personal Representative

Nicole Stevens Register of Wills

Washington Informer

LEGAL NOTICES LEGAL NOTICES

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Probate Division Washington, D.C. 20001-2131

2022 ADM 001176

Mildred E. Minor Decedent

NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS

Gary Hawkins and Gary Hawkins Jr., whose addresses are 616 Sheridan St., NW, Washington, DC 20011, were appointed

Personal Representatives of the estate of Mildred E. Minor who died on June 24, 2016 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., 515 5th Street, N.W., Building A, Third Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before 6/29/2023. 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 6/29/2023, 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: 12/29/2022

Gary Hawkins Gary Hawkins Jr. Personal Representative

TRUE TEST COPY

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Probate Division Washington, D.C. 20001-2131

2022 ADM 1394

Antoinette J. Corprew Decedent

Deborah D. Boddie, Esq. Probate Law DC 1308 Ninth Street, NW, Ste 300 Washington, DC 20001 Attorney

NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS

Elbert Corprew, whose address is 1619 Evarts Street, NE Washington, DC 20018, was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of Antoinette J. Corprew who died on 2/29/2020 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., 515 5th Street, N.W., Building A, Third Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before 6/29/2023. 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 6/29/2023, 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: 12/29/2022

Elbert Corprew Personal Representative

TRUE TEST COPY Nicole Stevens Register of Wills Washington Informer

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Probate Division Washington, D.C. 20001-2131

2022 ADM 000551

Beverly Jo Carlson aka Beverly J. Carlson Decedent

Stephanie L. Royal, Esq. The Royal Legal Group, PLLC 5335 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 440 Washington, DC 20015 Attorney

NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS

James Brendan Daniel aka James Daniel aka James B. Daniel, whose address is 921 Randolph St., NW, Apt. B, Washington DC 20011, was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of Beverly Jo Carlson aka Beverly J. Carlson who died on 2/4/2021 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., 515 5th Street, N.W., Building A, Third Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before 6/29/2023. 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 6/29/2023, 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: 12/29/2022

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Probate Division Washington, D.C. 20001-2131

2022 ADM 001338

Lillian C. Pitts Decedent Aimee D. Griffin 5335 Wisconsin Ave., NW Suite 440 Washington, DC 20015 Attorney

NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS

Rhonda T. Gaines, whose address is 8310 Triple Crown Road, Bowie, MD 20715, was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of Lillian C. Pitts who died on January 2, 1999 without a Will, and will serve with 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., 515 5th Street, N.W., Building A, Third Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before 6/29/2023. 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 6/29/2023, 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: 12/29/2022

Rhonda T. Gaines

Personal Representative

TRUE TEST COPY

Nicole Stevens Register of Wills

Washington Informer

Washington Informer

Nicole Stevens Register of Wills Washington Informer

James Brendan Daniel Personal Representative TRUE TEST COPY

Nicole Stevens Register of Wills

TRUE TEST COPY

Nicole Stevens Register of Wills Washington Informer

James

Clyde Elwood Chamberlain, Sr. Decedent

TRUE

LEGAL NOTICES LEGAL NOTICES

In God We Trust. Declaration of Nationality. Notice of White Flag Surrender.

LEGAL NOTICES LEGAL NOTICES

Washington, D.C. 20001-2131

001350

Patsy Jean Johnson Decedent

Theodora H. Brown, Esq. Law Office of Theodora H. Brown, PLLC 3127 Cherry Road, NE Washington, DC 20018-1611 Attorney

NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS

Taryn C. Pope, whose address is 5805 East Williamson Court, Brandywine, MD 20613, was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of Patsy Jean Johnson who died on October 16, 2022 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., 515 5th Street, N.W., Building A, Third Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before 6/29/2023. 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 6/29/2023, 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: 12/29/2022

Taryn C. Pope Personal Representative

TEST COPY Nicole Stevens Register of Wills Washington Informer

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Probate Division Washington, D.C. 20001-2131

2022 ADM 001299

Mary K. Wallace aka Mary Katherine Wallace aka Mary Wallace aka Mary Hamilton Decedent

NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS

Tanya Evette Hamilton Smith, whose address is 12008 Shadystone Terrace, Bowie, Maryland 20721, was appointed

Personal Representative of the estate of Mary K. Wallace aka Mary Katherine Wallace aka Mary Wallace aka Mary Hamilton who died on 9/15/2022 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., 515 5th Street, N.W., Building A, Third Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before 7/5/2023. 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 7/5/2023, 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: 1/5/2023

Personal Representative

TRUE TEST COPY

Nicole Stevens Register of Wills Washington Informer

Notice of Special Appearance : am that I am: "Aaron Dwayne Gilbert II©", in full life, in propria persona, sui juris, in solo proprio, Haqdar by natural issue, the beneficiary and heir of:“ AARON D’WAYNE GILBERT II”, corp.sole Dba.: " AARON D GILBERT II© ", AARONDWAYNE GILBERT II, AARON GILBERT II, AARON D GILBERT II, having reached the age of majority, being aboriginal to the northwestern and southwestern shores of Africa, the Atlantic Islands, the continental Americas, being duly certified, hereby affirms to declare my tribal intention to be as my pedigree subscribes, as a: Moorish American, but not a citizen of the United States. I declare permanent, and unalienable, allegiance to The Moorish Empire, Al Maghreb Al Aqsa, Estados al Marikanos, Societas Republicae Ea Al Maurikanuus Estados, The Constitution for the united States ofAmerica, Article III Section 2, The Lieber Code, Hague Conventions of 1899 & 1907, The Geneva Conventions, [ United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples ], and all natural laws governing moors, and hereby declare and proclaim my nationality in good faith as a: Moorish American. am that am: " Aaron Dwayne Gilbert II© ", from this day forward, in harmony with my Nationality / Status / Jurisdiction, shall be known as: " Haroon Abu Jibreel Gilbert© ". Notice of White Flag Surrender: as "hors de combat", pursuant to The Geneva Conventions, Article III, as a minister of The Moorish Empire, and Internationally Protected Person. Notice of: LAWS ANDCUSTOMS OF WAR ON LAND HAGUE, IV), ARTICLE: 32, 45, 46, & 47.

Notice of Claim pursuant to Public Law 87-846, TITLE II, SEC.

203. Notice of Bailment Merging of Legal Title with Equitable Title : This order is to preserve legal and equitable title , and to reserve all rights, title, and interest, in the property, Re: STAT E OF MARYLAND DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND MENTALHYGEINE DIVISION OF VITAL RECORDS : STATE FILE NUMBER, 1983-1536755: "AARON D’WAYNE GILBERT II© ", is as a special deposit order, conveyed to " The Bani HaroonTrust© ". All property of the same issue and amount, in like kind and specie, is to be returned fully intact, as a Special Deposit order of the Depositor / Beneficiary Bailor / Donor / Principal / Creditor: "Haroon Abu Jibreel Gilbert© ", nom de guerre: " Aaron Dwayne Gilbert II© ", as a special deposit order in lawful money. This special deposit is to be used exclusively for the benefit of : " The Bani Haroon Trust© ", an Inter Vivos Unincorporated Divine Grantor Trust. This deposit is not to be commingled with general assets of any bank, nor depositary trustee / agent / bailee / donee / debtor. This deposit is not limited to, but including: discharge and set off, of any and all outstanding liabilities as accord and satisfaction. Inter alia enact fuit. All Rights Reserved. Deo volente.

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Probate Division Washington, D.C. 20001-2131

2022 ADM 001193

Mildred M. Brown aka Mildred McDuffie Brown aka Mildred McDuffie Decedent

NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS

Renee A. Newman, whose address is 816 Quade Street, Oxon Hill, MD 20745, was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of Mildred M. Brown aka Mildred McDuffie Brown aka Mildred McDuffie who died on 9/7/2022 with a Will, and will serve with 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., 515 5th Street, N.W., Building A, Third Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before 7/5/2023. 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 7/5/2023, 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: 1/5/2023

Renee A. Newman 816 Quade Street Oxon Hill MD 20745 Personal Representative

TRUE TEST COPY

Nicole Stevens Register of Wills Washington Informer

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Probate Division Washington, D.C. 20001-2131 2022 ADM 001376

Shirley Lee Jacobs Decedent

NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS

Sabrina M. Jacobs, whose address is 122 Michigan Ave. NE, Unit L44 Washington DC, 20017, was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of Shirley Lee Jacobs who died on November 12, 2022 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., 515 5th Street, N.W., Building A, Third Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before 7/5/2023. 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 7/5/2023, 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: 1/5/2023

Sabrina M. Jacobs Personal Representative

TRUE TEST COPY

Nicole Stevens Register of Wills Washington Informer

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Probate Division Washington, D.C. 20001-2131

2022 ADM 001427

Estate of Edith H. Riley-Gottowy

NOTICE OF STANDARD PROBATE

Notice is hereby given that a petition has been filed in this Court by Maximillian Riederer von Parr and Guenter L. Gottowy for standard probate, including the appointment of one or more personal representatives. Unless a responsive pleading in the form of a complaint or an objection in accordance with Superior Court Probate Division Rule 407 is filed in this Court within 30 days from the date of first publication of this notice, the Court may take the action hereinafter set forth.

Admit to probate the will dated September 20, 2001 exhibited with the petition upon proof satisfactory to the Court of due execution by affidavit of the witnesses or otherwise

Date of first publication: 1/5/2023

Frederick D. Cooke, Jr. 1250 Connecticut Ave. NW Suite 700 Washington, DC 20036

Petitioner/Attorney:

TRUE TEST COPY

Nicole Stevens Register of Wills

Washington Informer

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA PROBATE DIVISION Washington, D.C. 20001-2131

2022 FEP 149

October 7, 2022 Date of Death

Jerry P. Nielsen Name of Decedent

NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT OF FOREIGN PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE AND NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Vicki M. Nielsen whose address is 997 Landon Lane, Arnold, MD 21012 was appointed personal representative of the estate of Jerry P. Nielsen, deceased, by the Orphans Court for Anne Arundel County, State of Maryland, on 11/3/2022.

Service of process may be made upon Irene Price, 2101 Connecticut Avenue NW, Apartment 88, Washington DC 20008 whose designation as District of Columbia agent has been filed with the Register of Wills, D.C.

The decedent owned the following District of Columbia real estate.

3412 Prospect Street, NW, 20007: 4807 Georgia Ave., NW, 20011: and 2205 14th Street, NW, 20018. Claims against the decedent may be presented to the undersigned and filed with the Register of Wills of the District of Columbia, 515 5th Street, NW, Third Floor, Washington, D.C. 20001 within 6 months from the date of first publication of this notice.

Date of first publication: 1/5/2023

Vicki M. Nielson

Personal Representative Nicole Stevens Register of Wills

Washington Informer

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Probate Division Washington, D.C. 20001-2131

2022 ADM 001290

Joseph P. Griffin Decedent

Jeffrey K. Gordon, Esq. 5335 Wisconsin Ave., NW, Suite 700 Washington, DC 20015 Attorney

NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS

James Angevine, whose address is 5109 41st Street, NW, Washington, DC 20016, was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of Joseph P. Griffin who died on August 20, 2022 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., 515 5th Street, N.W., Building A, Third Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before 7/5/2023. 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 7/5/2023, 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: 1/5/2023

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Probate Division Washington, D.C. 20001-2131

2022 ADM 1377

Leroy Wells, Jr. Decedent

Aimee D. Griffin, Esq. 5335 Wisconsin Ave., NW Suite 440 Washington, DC 20015 Attorney

NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS

Ruth C. Wells, whose address is 5914 3rd St., NW, Washington, DC 20011, was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of Leroy Wells, Jr. who died on 9/15/2022 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., 515 5th Street, N.W., Building A, Third Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before 7/5/2023. 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 7/5/2023, 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: 1/5/2023

Ruth C. Wells Personal Representative

Nicole Stevens Register of Wills Washington Informer

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Probate Division Washington, D.C. 20001-2131

2022 ADM 001389

James E. Jones aka James Edward Jones Decedent

NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS

Muai-Aakhu R. Meskheniten, whose address is 1637 Lawson Drive, Cordova, TN 38016, was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of James E. Jones aka James Edward Jones who died on 11/18/2022 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., 515 5th Street, N.W., Building A, Third Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before 7/5/2023. 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 7/5/2023, 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: 1/5/2023

Muai-Aakhu R. Meskheniten 1637 Lawson Drive Cordova, TN 38016

Personal Representative

TRUE TEST COPY

Nicole Stevens Register of Wills Washington Informer

TEST COPY

TRUE

Nicole Stevens Register of Wills Washington Informer

TRUE TEST COPY

Tanya Evette Hamilton Smith

James Angevine Personal Representative

LEGAL NOTICES

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Probate Division Washington, D.C. 20001-2131

2022 ADM 001426

Mabel Rhymes Hart Decedent

NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS

Hampton H. Hart, Jr., whose address is 5235 Fisher Crest Lane, Henrico, VA 23231, was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of Mabel Rhymes Hart who died on September 24, 2022 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., 515 5th Street, N.W., Building A, Third Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before 7/5/2023. 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 7/5/2023, 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: 1/5/2023

Hampton H. Hart, Jr. 5235 Crest Lane Henrico, VA 23231

Personal Representative

LEGAL NOTICES

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Probate Division Washington, D.C. 20001-2131 2022 ADM 001414

James W. Baldwin Decedent

James Larry Frazier, Esq. 918 Maryland Avenue NE Washington, DC 20002 Attorney

NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS

Brenda Baldwin-Marshall, whose address is 1707 Plane Tree Way, Bowie, Maryland 20721, was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of James W. Baldwin who died on August 1, 2022 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., 515 5th Street, N.W., Building A, Third Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before 7/5/2023. 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 7/5/2023, 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: 1/5/2023

Brenda Baldwin-Marshall Personal Representative

TRUE TEST COPY

Nicole Stevens Register of Wills Washington Informer

LEGAL NOTICES

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA PROBATE DIVISION Washington, D.C. 20001-2131

2022 FEP 000143

January 22, 2021

Date of Death

Minnie Brown Name of Decedent

NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT OF FOREIGN PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE AND NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Jeffrey Brown whose address is 13002 Boykin Place, Upper Marlboro, MD 20774 was appointed personal representative of the estate of Minnie Brown, deceased, by the Chancery Court for Holmes County, State of Mississippi, on January 22, 2021.

Service of process may be made upon Valerie Edwards 1725 DeSales Street, NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20019 whose designation as District of Columbia agent has been filed with the Register of Wills, D.C.

The decedent owned the following District of Columbia real estate.

709 Adrian Street, SE, Washington, DC 20019. Claims against the decedent may be presented to the undersigned and filed with the Register of Wills of the District of Columbia, 515 5th Street, NW, Third Floor, Washington, D.C. 20001 within 6 months from the date of first publication of this notice.

Date of first publication: 1/5/2023

Jeffrey Brown Personal Representative Nicole Stevens Register of Wills Washington Informer

LEGAL NOTICES

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Probate Division Washington, D.C. 20001-2131

2022 ADM 001297

NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS

Zed Anthony Smith, whose address is 3801 Canterbury Rd, Unit 1009, Baltimore, MD 21218, was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of Gregory Don Smith who died on May 24, 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., 515 5th Street, N.W., Building A, Third Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before 7/5/2023. 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 7/5/2023, 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: 1/5/2023

Zed Anthony Smith Personal Representative

TRUE TEST COPY

Nicole Stevens Register of Wills Washington Informer

LEGAL NOTICES

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Probate Division Washington, D.C. 20001-2131

2022 ADM 001173

Patricia Louise Hallman Decedent

NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS

Romaine Christina Grayson, whose address is 4804 Avondale Road, Hyattsville, MD 20782, was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of Patricia Louise Hallman who died on July 18, 2022 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., 515 5th Street, N.W., Building A, Third Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before 7/5/2023. 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 7/5/2023, 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: 1/5/2023

Romaine Christina Grayson 4804 Avondale Road Hyattsville MD 20782

Personal Representative

TRUE TEST COPY

In God We Trust. Declaration of Nationality. Notice of White Flag Surrender.

Notice of Special Appearance: I am that am: "Daniel John Stein©", in full life, in propria persona, sui juris, in solo proprio, Haqdar by natural issue, the beneficiary and heir of: “DANIEL JOHN STEIN", corp.sole Dba.: "DANIEL J. STEIN© ", DANIEL STEIN©”, “DANIEL JOHN©”, “DANIEL J. STEIN©”, “STEIN©”, “STEIN DANIEL J©”, “STEIN DANIEL JOHN©”, “D. STEIN©”, “MR DANIEL JOHN STEIN©”, “MR DANIEL STEIN©”, “MR DANIEL JOHN©”, “MR DANIEL J STEIN©”, “MR STEIN©”, “MR STEIN DANIEL J.©”, “MR STEIN DANIEL JOHN©”, “MR D. STEIN©”, having reached the age of majority, being duly certified, hereby affirms to declare my intention to be as my pedigree subscribes, as a: washingtonian, but not a citizen of the United States. declare permanent, and unalienable, allegiance to The Constitution for the united States of America, Article III Section 2, The Lieber Code, Hague Conventions of 1899 & 1907, The Geneva Conventions, and all natural laws governing American Citizens, and hereby declare and proclaim my nationality in good faith as a: washingtonian. I am that I am: "Daniel John Stein©", from this day forward, in harmony with my Nationality / Status / Jurisdiction, shall be known as: "daniel-john: stein© ". Notice of White Flag Surrender: as "hors de combat", pursuant to The Geneva Conventions, Article III, as a minister of yhwh's covenant, and Internationally Protected Person. Notice of: LAWS AND CUSTOMS OF WAR ON LAND (HAGUE, IV), ARTICLE: 32, 45, 46, & 47. Notice of Claim pursuant to Public Law 87-846, TITLE II, SEC. 203. Notice of Bailment Merging of Legal Title with Equitable Title: This order is to preserve legal and equitable title, and to reserve all rights, title, and interest, in the property, Re: STATE OF WASHINGTON DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: STATE FILE NUMBER, #146-1959-043026 "DANIEL STEIN©”, “DANIEL JOHN©”, “DANIEL J. STEIN©”, “STEIN©”, “STEIN DANIEL J©”, “STEIN DANIEL JOHN©”, “D. STEIN©”, “MR DANIEL JOHN STEIN©”, “MR DANIEL STEIN©”, “MR DANIEL JOHN©”, “MR DANIEL J. STEIN©”, “MR STEIN©”, “MR STEIN DANIEL J.©”, “MR STEIN DANIEL JOHN©”, “MR D. STEIN©", is as a special deposit order, conveyed to "DANIEL JOHN STEIN TRUST©". All property of the same issue and amount, in like kind and specie, is to be returned fully intact, as a Special Deposit order of the Depositor / Beneficiary / Bailor / Donor / Principal / Creditor: "daniel-john: stein©", nom deguerre: "Daniel John Stein©", as a special deposit order in lawful money. This special deposit is to be used exclusively for the benefit of: "DANIEL JOHN STEIN TRUST© ", an Inter Vivos Unincorporated Divine Grantor Trust. This deposit is not to be commingled with general assets of any bank, nor depositary / trustee / agent / bailee /donee /debtor. This deposit is not limited to, but including: discharge and set off, of any and all outstanding liabilities as accord and satisfaction. Inter alia enact fuit. All Rights Reserved. Deo volente.

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Probate Division Washington, D.C. 20001-2131 2022 ADM 1145

La’Shawn Woodson Decedent

NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS

Taylor Woodson, whose address is 1015 Rhode Island Ave. NE, Washington, DC 20018, was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of La’Shawn Woodson who died on February 26th, 2022 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., 515 5th Street, N.W., Building A, Third Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before 7/12/2023. 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 7/12/2023, 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: 1/12/2023

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Probate Division Washington, D.C. 20001-2131

2022 ADM 001208

Jesse L. Davis Decedent

Jeffrey K. Gordon, Esq. 5335 Wisconsin Ave., NW, #700 Washington, DC 20015 Attorney

NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS

Guy P. Davis, whose address is 703 Candle Ridge Ct., Fredericksburg, VA 22407, was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of Jesse L. Davis who died on February 28, 2021 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., 515 5th Street, N.W., Building A, Third Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before 7/12/2023. 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 7/12/2023, 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: 1/12/2023

Guy P. Davis Personal Representative

TRUE TEST COPY

Nicole Stevens Register of Wills

Washington Informer

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Probate Division Washington, D.C. 20001-2131

2022 ADM 000831

Doris Leslie Wright Decedent

Jeffrey K. Gordon, Esq. 5335 Wisconsin Ave., NW, #700 Washington, DC 20015 Attorney

NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS

Karen Amanda Leslie Klopfer, whose address is 2922 Meadow View Road, Falls Church, VA 22042, was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of Doris Leslie Wright who died on May 6, 2022 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., 515 5th Street, N.W., Building A, Third Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before 7/12/2023. 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 7/12/2023, 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: 1/12/2023

Karen Amanda Leslie Klopfer

Personal Representative

TRUE TEST COPY

Nicole Stevens Register of Wills

Washington Informer

2022 ADM 000906

Larry Darnell Campbell Decedent

NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS

Sheila O. Campbell, whose address is 20 Galveston Place SW Unit B, Washington, DC 20032, was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of Larry Darnell Campbell who died on December 12, 2021 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., 515 5th Street, N.W., Building A, Third Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before 7/12/2023. 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 7/12/2023, 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: 1/12/2023

Sheila O. Campbell

Personal Representative

TRUE TEST COPY

Nicole Stevens Register of Wills

Washington Informer

TRUE TEST COPY

Nicole Stevens Register of Wills Washington Informer

Taylor Woodson Personal Representative

TRUE TEST COPY

Nicole Stevens Register of Wills Washington Informer

Gregory Don Smith Decedent

LEGAL NOTICES

LEGAL NOTICES

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Probate Division Washington, D.C. 20001-2131 2022 ADM 000728

Lumpkin Decedent

Michelle Lanchester, Esq. 601 Pennsylvania Ave., NW Suite 900 South Building Washington, DC 20004 Attorney

NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS

Marcia M. Linder, whose address is 65 Gallatin St., Washington, DC 20011, was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of Blanche R. Hammond who died on January 27, 2022 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., 515 5th Street, N.W., Building A, Third Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before 7/12/2023. 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 7/12/2023, 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: 1/12/2023

M. Linder Personal Representative

NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS

Alice Lumpkin and Lawanda Lumpkin, whose addresses are 301 M St., SW #904 Washington, DC 20024 & 8918 Simeon Ct., Upper Marlboro MD 20772, were appointed Personal Representatives of the estate of Gregory Lumpkin who died on May 12, 2022 without a Will, and will serve with 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., 515 5th Street, N.W., Building A, Third Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before 7/12/2023. 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 7/12/2023, 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: 1/12/2023

Alice Lumpkin Lawanda Lumpkin Personal Representative

Nicole Stevens Register of Wills Washington Informer

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Probate Division Washington, D.C. 20001-2131

2022 ADM 001462

Alonzo Brown aka Alonzo F. Brown Decedent

Iris McCollum Green, Esquire 1714 15th Street, NW, Suite B Washington, DC 20009 Attorney

NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS

Kathryn Ward, whose address is 901 6th Street, SW, #414-A, Washington, DC 20024, was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of Alonzo Brown aka Alonzo F. Brown who died on 9/28/2022 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., 515 5th Street, N.W., Building A, Third Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before 7/12/2023. 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 7/12/2023, 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: 1/12/2023

Kathryn Ward Personal Representative

Nicole Stevens Register of Wills Washington Informer

In God We Trust. Declaration of Nationality. Notice of White Flag Surrender.

Notice of Special Appearance : am that I am: " Paul Lawrence Morant Jr.© ", in full life, in propria persona, sui juris, in solo proprio, Haqdar by natural issue, the beneficiary and heir of: “ PAUL LAWRENCE MORANT JR. ", corp.sole Dba.: " PAUL L. MORANT JR.© ",  having reached the age of majority, being aboriginal to the northwestern and southwestern shores of Africa, the Atlantic Islands, the continental Americas, being duly certified, hereby affirms to declare my tribal intention to be as my pedigree subscribes, as a:  Moorish American, but not a citizen of the United States. I declare permanent, and unalienable, allegiance to The Moorish Empire, Al Maghreb Al Aqsa, Estados al Marikanos, Societas Republicae Ea Al Maurikanuus Estados, The Constitution for the united States of America, Article III Section 2, The Lieber Code, Hague Conventions of 1899 & 1907, The Geneva Conventions, [ United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples ], and all natural laws governing moors, and hereby declare and proclaim my nationality in good faith as a:  Moorish American. I am that I am: " Paul Lawrence Morant Jr.© ", from this day forward, in harmony with my Nationality / Status / Jurisdiction, shall be known as: " huni sen hotep el © ". Notice of White Flag Surrender: as "hors de combat", pursuant to The Geneva Conventions, Article III, as a minister of The Moorish Empire, and Internationally Protected Person. Notice of: LAWS AND CUSTOMS OF WAR ON LAND HAGUE, IV), ARTICLE: 32, 45, 46, & 47. Notice of Claim pursuant to Public Law 87-846, TITLE II, SEC. 203. Notice of Bailment Merging of Legal Title with Equitable Title : This order is to preserve legal and equitable title and to reserve all rights, title, and interest, in the property, Re: Tennessee Office of vital records: STATE FILE NUMBER, 141-1976-022080 © ", is as a special deposit order, conveyed to " HUNI SEN HOTEP EL Trust© ". All property of the same issue and amount, in like kind and specie, is to be returned fully intact, as a Special Deposit order of the Depositor Beneficiary Bailor / Donor / Principal / Creditor: " Lawrence morant bey © ", nom deguerre: " Paul Lawrence Morant Jr. © ", as a special deposit order in lawful money. This special deposit is to be used exclusively for the benefit of : " Huni Sen Hotep El Trust© ", an Inter Vivos Unincorporated Divine Grantor Trust. This deposit is not to be commingled with general assets of any bank, nor depositary / trustee agent / bailee donee / debtor. This deposit is not limited to, but including: discharge and set off, of any and all outstanding liabilities as  accord and satisfaction. Inter alia enact fuit. All Rights Reserved. Deo volente.

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Blanche R. Hammond Decedent

Marcia

Gregory

TRUE TEST COPY

After U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) received an audience-wide serenade of “Happy Birthday,” (as the luncheon fell on his 64th birthday), he thanked the crowd, then gave them a call to action.

“I’m thrilled to be with you on my birthday. It’s a gift to celebrate our victories. It’s also a gift to get together to dedicate ourselves to the work ahead,” Van Hollen said.

The senator and each speaker expressed deep gratitude for the hard work of the state’s Democratic Party, also known as the Maryland Dems, chaired by Yvette Lewis.

After eight years of a Republican-led Maryland, with Governor Larry Hogan at the helm, Democratic Gov.-Elect Wes Moore, Lt. Gov.-Elect Aruna Miller and Comptroller-Elect Brooke Lierman will be running the state, and many thanked the diligence of the Maryland Dems in getting the job done. All of the aforementioned soon-to-be officials and the Speaker of Maryland’s House of Delegates Adrienne Jones (D-District 10) are not only victorious politicians, but historymakers.

“For the first time ever in the history of the state, we’ve got an African American speaker, we're bringing in an African American governor, we’ve

got an African American treasurer, we have a woman as the comptroller, we have a woman of color serving as the next lieutenant governor. It’s a great time in the state of Maryland,” said Maryland State Del. Nick Charles (D-District 25), chairman of the Prince George’s County House Delegation and vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus. “We have a supermajority in the House and in the Senate.”

There are 102 Democratic Delegates coming into the Maryland General Assembly, in comparison to the 39 Republicans.

After last week’s tumultuous time in the House of Representatives, when Republicans took 15 ballots before confirming Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-California) as Speaker of the House, Maryland leaders are confident in state legislators’ abilities to get the job done.

“Congratulations to the returning members and the new members and I dare say to Speaker Jones and President Ferguson, I don’t think it’s going to take 15 ballots tomorrow,” Van Hollen said, garnering loud laughs from the audience.

Charles echoed the senator’s sentiments, assuring the Informer in an interview, that the challenges that happened at the federal level have no place on Maryland’s House floor.

“What you won’t see in the state of Maryland is that level of confusion,” he said.

In uplifting both bipartisan and

inner-Party unity, the event’s speakers told the room full of local leaders that there needs to be an intentional focus on addressing challenges. Child poverty, inequity and environmental injustice were some of the issues Moore said he and his administration hope to fix, working alongside state, local and community officials.

“When we say… environmental injustice is something that we will not stand for, that we will put together policies so all of our children can feel safe from the air that they breathe, to the water that they drink, to the food that they are eating, we are going to make that argument from Westminster to West Baltimore, and we are going to win on that argument,” Moore said, among a litany of promises to leave no part of the state behind in meeting residents’ needs.

“This is our time, we’re going to move fast, and it’s not just because it’s what the people asked for, it’s what Marylanders deserve,” Moore added.

This year was Sylvia Johnson’s first time attending the luncheon. As a business owner, commissioner in Prince George’s County for HRC, and at-large member for the Prince George’s County Democratic Central Committee, Johnson said she came to the event to make sure she is ready to fulfill her duties and properly represent residents.

“I just want to make sure that we’re all aligned in what we’re saying, what we’re going to do. and how we’re going to conduct ourselves moving forward,” she said.

As she prepared to leave the luncheon, Johnson underscored the importance of getting to work.

“The elections are over, the parties are winding down, and now it’s time to take real action. And that’s what I want to see.” WI

CAMPAIGN from Page 1

“This is a problem,” he said to the audience of 30 attendees in the Marion Barry Jr. Room. “The violence in our city is unacceptable. The murder rate is unconscionable. We have nonprofits and individuals working overtime to stop the violence. The sad thing is the violence is so routine, people have become desensitized to it. We won’t be able to stop this unless everyone gets involved.”

The re-launch took place as statistics compiled by the District’s Metropolitan Police Department revealed that as of Jan. 10, there has been a 100% increase in homicides in comparison to last year. The slayings of 13-year-old Karon Blake and Busboys & Poets employee Mario Leonard have spurred community conversation on dealing with the homicide problem and the relaunch of the latest effort.

many organizations are doing the work to quell the violence and they need more help from the community to be more successful.

Lightfoot, 73, said he started the inaugural “Thou Shalt Not Kill” campaign in 1992 when the city recorded 460 homicides.

“I was a city council member atlarge and the chairman of the public safety committee,” he said. “I did it to let people know that the homicide rate was unacceptable and community members needed to do something about it. I am not sure whether the signs back then made a difference, but things eventually calmed down.”

Lightfoot said WJLA-TV (Channel 7) reporter Sam Ford suggested to him to put the signs back up recently and he agreed.

“The signs don’t make a difference by themselves,” he said. “The community must get behind the effort.”

Shepherd Park in Ward 8 on January

16. Leaders and participants will assemble at the park with the step off at 10:45 a.m.

will have any and every screening. Whitman Walker and AmeriGroup will have mobile units and we will have yoga demonstrations.”

Shallal, 67, said the fatal shooting of Leonard “hit close to home for me.”

Development Institute’s alumni association will occur at the headquarters of the D.C. Department of Employment Services, starting at 2 p.m., also on Jan. 14.

The peace walk—encompassing a rally and an assembly—will occur at

12 - 18, 2023

The parade will start later that day at the R.I.S.E. Center on the campus of St. Elizabeths East with a step off at 11 a.m. Committee leaders estimate 90 groups will participate in the parade, including a number of bands. The Anacostia and Ballou bands, located in Ward 8, have confirmed participation in the event.

After the parade, a wellness fair will commence. Wendell Wren, the chairman of the fair, said the offerings will be comprehensive.

“We seek to meet the needs of the whole person,” Wren, 34, said. “We

Other events endorsed by the committee include the “MLK Holiday Conversations and Crank Events,” a series of workshops sponsored by entrepreneur Ron Moten at the Anacostia Arts Center in Ward 8 that features city leaders on January 14. The Covenant Baptist United Church of Christ will hold a Jan. 15 Sunday service with Dr. Herbert Marbury, theologian at the Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville, serving as the keynote speaker. WI

@JamesWrightJr10

“I think people in the city have grown numb to violence,” he said. “People are afraid to speak up when a homicide takes place. They feel the community won’t back them up [if they talk to the police about a case]. Many people believe unchecked gun homicides are the way it is. They think that is the way it is supposed to be. What is lacking in dealing with this problem is leadership. I am not a religious person but ‘Thou Shalt Not Kill’ resonates.”

In contrast to Shallal’s thought that people have become desensitized to gun violence, Barnes said

The signs have a red background with “Thou Shalt Not Kill” in white writing. The campaign organizers said the goal is to have them posted throughout the city in the near future. Additionally, Anderson, who also serves as the co-chair of the Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Walk and Parade Committee, said there will be a contingent in the Jan. 16 parade of people wearing Thou Shalt Not Kill t-shirts.

In the long term, campaign leaders mentioned an effort to convince Mayor Muriel Bowser to put “Thou Shalt Not Kill” in writing on Martin Luther King Jr., SE road, similar to Black Lives Matter Plaza in Northwest. WI

5 Friendship Tech High School graduate, Makhia McCollough, speaks on the importance of the youth having their own mindset in order to walk a good path, during the Thou Shalt Not Kill press conference on Jan. 9 in Southeast. (Ja'Mon Jackson/The Washington Informer

be the poorest group of citizens quite legally.

O God, forgive and transform our rich nation that lets the rich continue to get more at the expense of the poor quite legally.

O God, forgive and transform our rich and powerful nation which thinks security rests in missiles and bombs rather than in mothers and in babies.

O God, forgive and transform our rich nation for not giving You sufficient thanks by giving to oth-

JACKSON from Page 30

has called on the House Ethics Committee to investigate.

Democrats in the House have called on Santos to resign and are pushing to haul him before the Federal Election Commission and the House Ethics Committee. But this is not the Democrats' responsibility. It is the responsibility of the Republican leaders in the House. And they have been notably absent without leave.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who is desperately seeking enough Republican support to be elected speaker of the House, has said nothing. Santos has endorsed McCarthy, and McCarthy needs every vote he can get from his own caucus.

MARSHALL from Page 30

ry, the Constitution over the cult, democracy over demagogues, economic opportunity over extremism, freedom over fascism, governing over gas-lighting, hopefulness over hatred, inclusion over isolation, justice over judicial overreach, knowledge over kangaroo courts, liberty over limitation, maturity over Mar-a-Lago, normalcy over negativity, opportunity over obstruction, people over politics, quality of life over QAnon, reason over racism, substance over slander, triumph over tyranny, understanding over ugliness, voting rights over voter suppression, working families over the well-connected, xenial over xenophobia, "Yes we can" over "You can do it" and zealous representation over zero-sum confrontation." While the story of the 118th Congress is just beginning, it is a moment of transition, and Hakeem Jeffries has already given the Democratic, Republican and independent voters much to consider for 2024.

What happens in Congress during the next two years of Republican

ers their daily bread.

O God, help us never to confuse what is quite legal with what is just and right in Your sight.

Help us to stand together to make America just and right for all Your children.

O God, help us recover our hope for our children's sake.

Help us recover our courage for our children's sake.

Help us to recover our discipline for our children's sake.

Help us to recover our ability to work together for our children's sake.

Moreover, with a thin Republican majority of four in the House, Republicans don't want to risk losing the seat if Santos were to do the honorable thing and resign.

In any case, the current Republican members of Congress are not exactly exemplars of honesty or champions of truth. Virtually all lined up behind Donald Trump, ignoring his serial lies in office, numbering more than 30,000 according to fact checkers. Santos, not surprisingly, embraced Donald Trump's Big Lie, the claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. More than 180 other members of the new House Republican caucus echoed that Big Lie.

Santos has made it clear that he has no shame and no plan to with-

control should concern all Americans. Individuals who support and sympathize with the reasons and purpose behind the Jan. 6 insurrection are not limited to the foot soldiers who vandalized the Capitol building. Supporters and sympathizers also include members of Congress whose power and influence have gone unchecked by Kevin McCarthy. In an interview, Michael Fanone, a former D.C. Metropolitan Police officer present at the Capitol on Jan. 6, said then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told him that he couldn't "control" the fringe members of the GOP regarding their opinions of the insurrection. As a result of concessions made by McCarthy in exchange for the speakership, members who downplayed the reality of that day are now in line to have more representation on House committees, including the influential House Rules Committee. They can offer more amendments on the House floor. They can now create an investigative committee to probe the "weaponization "of the federal government. One of the most disturbing concessions al-

Help us to recover our values for our children's sake.

Help us to recover a spirit of sacrifice for our children's sake. Help us to recover our faith in Thee for our children's sake.

Dear God, thank you for the gift of a new year to serve You help me to talk right help me to walk right help me to see right help me to feel right help me to do right in Your sight. WI

draw. Will Republicans act to police their own membership and to stop this obvious fraud upon their own voters? If they refuse to act, they can tie up the Ethics Committee and neuter the FEC.

If Santos gets a pass, Republican leaders will be telling voters just who they are and what they will stand for. Honesty is for suckers. Partisan advantage trumps decency. To gain power, Republicans are prepared to spread Trump's Big Lie. They don't hesitate to lie about their opponents. And Santos shows they are prepared to put forth and stand by candidates who lie about their own families, education, employment and lineage.

The party won't police itself. It is left up to voters to do it for them. WI

lows any member to call for a motion to vacate the speaker's chair. After days of begging, pleading and bartering, the most rebellious group in the GOP controls the House speaker and the Republican Party. To avoid having a House speaker beholden to the most hard-line Republicans, it would have taken only six moderate Republicans to switch their votes for Hakeem Jeffries.

The destruction to the Capitol building by rioters has since been repaired. Walls, doors and windows can easily be fixed. But can the potential damage to Congress as an institution and functioning governing body be repaired as easily after the next two years? Or will two years become four years? In this toxic environment, it was never realistic to believe six Republicans would turn and support Jeffries as House speaker. After two years of chaos, thereby making the political contrasts even more apparent, it is not that hard to believe enough Democratic, Republican and independent voters will find a way to make Hakeem Jeffries House Speaker after the 2024 elections. WI

accuse all Republicans with the purposeful aim of deconstructing our democracy, but silence when witness to attacks on the principles, values, and traditions of our democracy demonstrates their acceptance. Instead of full support of actions that provide for greater participation and inclusion in personal freedoms enjoyed by some, they have chosen to exclude others based on race, gender, gender identification, and other factors irrelevant to the exercise of humane interaction.

The members of the Republican Party that have squeezed concessions from McCarthy in exchange for their support have indicated their lack of intent to govern. They

offer no legislative strategies in response to persistent inflation, gun violence, homelessness, or other quality-of-life issues which plague the average American. Instead, they have voiced their intent to pursue scorched-earth attacks on political enemies. They have promised frivolous congressional investigations on Democrats in the Executive and Legislative branches. They exploit the (racist) southern border immigration issue without seeking real resolution. They present an ongoing threat to personal freedoms that contradict their own worldview. Reportedly, McCarthy has even conceded, without basis or cause, to the future impeachment of President Biden and other Cabinet members.

For the achievement of an arrogant, vanity-based obsession, McCarthy has sold his soul to the devil. Doing so, he is opening the door to those who are intent on the elimination of personal freedoms. WI

likely to succeed.

"It is his intention by announcing that to retard criminal cases," retired federal prosecutor Thomas Baer told The Daily Beast. "He thinks that if he is running for president this will cause prosecutors to drop their cases or think twice because it could be interpreted as political, a reaction to his running. The answer is: No, they will not hold back."

According to the evidence gathered by the Jan 6 Committee, Trump knew the vice president had no unilateral authority to prevent certification of the election. He knew Vice President Pence could not lawfully refuse to count votes under the Electoral Count Act. He knew he had lost more than 60 lawsuits seeking to invalidate election results. He knew his Justice Department, his campaign, and his advisers had concluded that there was insufficient fraud to alter the election's outcome. He knew that no State legislature had taken or attempted any official action that could change a State's

electoral college votes. Nevertheless, Trump recruited tens of thousands of his supporters, most of them angry and some of them armed, to march to the Capitol on January 6 and "fight like hell." As the deadly violence he incited raged on for hours, he ignored the desperate pleas of his advisers that he make a public statement instructing his supporters to disperse and leave the Capitol.

"Through action and inaction, President Trump corruptly obstructed, delayed and impeded the vote count," the committee wrote in support of the charge of obstruction of an official proceeding.

The charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States is based upon a likely agreement between Trump, his lawyer John Eastman, and others to carry out an illegal plan to have legitimate electors from seven states rejected and replaced with fake electors. This plan to submit slates of fake electors to Congress and the National Archives also is the basis for the charge of conspiracy to make a false statement.

As for the charge of inciting an insurrection, "President Trump was directly responsible for summoning what became a violent mob to Washington, DC, urging them to march to the Capitol, and then further provoking the already violent and lawless crowd with his 2:24p.m. tweet about the Vice President," the committee write, in reference to Trump's complaint that "Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done." When told that the crowd was chanting "Hang Mike Pence," Trump responded that perhaps the vice president deserved to be hanged. He has since promised to pardon those convicted for their involvement in the attack.

It's clear that Trump believes he is above the law. If he is not held accountable for his efforts to subvert democracy through violence and deception, he is almost certain to try it again — and others will follow his example. It's not a question of whether Trump deserves to be punished — which he most certainly does — but whether democracy will endure in the United States. WI

Readjusters' short-lived multiracial populist movement eventually was attacked violently by white supremacists and defeated politically by wealthy special interests spreading vile disinformation; their party is all but erased from history books. Still, they defined the future of

Virginia and our nation by planting early seeds for FDR's New Deal coalition and by creating a bold legacy in public education that endures to this day. Moreover their example reminds us that the spirit that moved Dr. King to dream hopefully about black and white children has always run deep in our nation, and always will. When we lose faith in our neighbors, that hope reminds

the path to a stronger nation is to remember we still have more in common than we don't, and to act on the beliefs we share.

If men who had been enslaved could find common cause with men who fought to keep them enslaved to build a better future for all their children, we should never lose faith that we can unite for the sake of ours.

WI

The members of the Republican Party that have squeezed concessions from McCarthy in exchange for their support have indicated their lack of intent to govern.

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