NATIONAL Growing Community: Community Gardening at the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum

Submitted by Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum

The Anacostia Community Museum’s gardening program was first launched in the early 1980’s by innovative leader Zora Martin-Felton as part of a summer science project. In 2012, with the opening of Reclaiming the Edge: urban waterways & civic engagement, the museum returned to its gardening roots, and to this day it continues to challenge the narrative that D.C. communities are separate from their environment by exploring issues of health, sustainability, and the use of natural resources. Through programming, residents of all ages can engage with the beauty of the natural world, a healthy food system, and their cultural past.

Simerly stated. “They delivered exactly that with these two inspiring leaders and their tremendous accomplishments – from World War II through the Cold War – speak to the important history of this installation and to the courage, dignity, and devotion to duty that we strive to instill in every Soldier training here at the home of the Army Sustainment.” WI

@StacyBrownMedia

As we move from the spring season to summer, the community gardens at the Museum are buzzing with produce and wildlife. This year’s season is inspired by gardens as places where we live, work, play, pray, and learn. We’ve doubled our workshops- we’re now offering 16, including two field trips at other gardens in D.C. We’re also very excited to launch a four-part children’s garden series that will run through July and engage children and their families.

We welcome the community to participate in our monthly workshops, taking place throughout the growing and harvesting seasons. All workshops are led by our long time “Garden Guy” Derek Thomas and incorporate themes such as gardens as places of community and connections to our cultural past; gardens as sites of stewardship and nurture; and gardens as sites of empowerment and access to good nutrition and healthy living.

The year 2023 is an important moment for the Anacostia Community Museum, as ACM celebrates Our Environment, Our Future and launches the Center for Environmental Justice. It is a year in which the museum is examining the topic of environmental justice in the Washington metropolitan area using the lens of race and gender, deepening the museum’s existing work in pioneering community-centered practices and critical environmental justice conversations. Our next exhibition To Live and Breathe: Women and Environmental Justice in Washington, D.C. opens on May 19 and will be at the center of various public programs exploring our connection to the environment. We hope you will join us for our upcoming garden programs, and other events happening at the Anacostia Community Museum. You can find out more about our upcoming events at anacostia.si.edu/events.

COMPILED BY OSWALD T. BROWN, WI CONTRIBUTING WRITER

AU Seeks to set up African Center for Genocide Studies

The African Union (AU) has expressed willingness to establish an African center for the study of genocide to fast-track early response in preventing hate crimes and genocide, the New Times, Rwanda’s largest daily newspaper, reported on Sunday, April 23.

This was part of resolutions adopted by the AU’s wing of Peace and Security Council (PSC) at its 1147th meeting on the Prevention of the Ideology of Hate, Genocide and Hate Crimes in Africa, held earlier this month.

The council paid tribute to all victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, and expressed solidarity with all victims of the ideologies of hate and hate crimes on the continent.

“PSC underlines the importance of early warning and early response in preventing hate crimes and genocide and in this regard, underscores the need for the establishment of an African Centre for the Study of Genocide,” it said in a statement.

It added the need to strengthen the institutional capacities of national, regional and continental early warning systems and mechanisms to ensure that they also include, in their scope, punishment mechanisms of ideology of hate, hate crimes and genocide.

Over the years, Rwanda continues to build resourceful archives pertaining to the preservation of history with an aim to inform and educate the world on preventing and fighting genocide under a Genocide Research Centre.

They emphasized the need for member states to enhance early warning mechanisms and pay more attention to early warning signs of looming inter-tribal or inter-ethnic conflicts and to timeously prevent their escalation. This can be traced to various calls of leaders, experts in human rights, civil societies, among others, to act on condemning and stopping the ongoing hate speech and violence against Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese in the Eastern DR Congo.

“In this regard, once again encourages all member states to condemn any form of denialism of the Genocide including not allowing deniers any space and or platform for denial activities in their territories,” it noted. The AU Commission was tasked to develop a shared working definition of what constitutes ‘hate speech’ and ‘hate crimes’, in order to enable member states to enact necessary legislation to combat these scourges. WI

Guyana and India Seal Air Service Agreement

Guyana and India on Saturday, April 22, signed an Air Services Agreement (ASA) to facilitate direct flights between both countries. The agreement was signed by Minister of Public Works, Bishop Juan Edghill, and Indian High Commissioner, Dr K.J Srinivasa, Barbados Today reported on Sunday, April 23 forfeit after the valid thru date. Card terms and conditions apply. Reply by 10/15/2021.

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5 Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill (second from right) and High Commissioner of India to Guyana Dr. K. J. Srinivasa (third from right) with the agreement. At right is Guyana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Hugh Todd. Indian Minister of External Affairs Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar is at left. (GCAA photo)

This means that Guyanese-owned airlines will have direct market access to international airports in Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad.

Guyana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hugh Todd, and India’s Minister of External Affairs, Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, along with other officials witnessed the signing.

The signing of this agreement is in keeping with the government’s commitment of connecting Guyana with the rest of the world.

Presently there is no direct flight between Guyana and India; however, this agreement puts in place the legal framework that opens market access for airlines of both states to operate and enhance competitive air transport services, trade, and economic growth.

The ASA addresses matters pertaining to Grant of Rights; Designation and Authorisation of Airlines, Revocation or Suspension of Operating Authorisation, Principles governing operation of Agreed Services, Application of Laws, User Charges, Customs Duties and Charges, Aviation Safety, Aviation Security, Commercial Opportunities, and Cooperative Marketing Arrangements, among other matters.

It compliments the more than 50 Air Services Agreements Guyana has established with other International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) states for the development of the air-link among states.

An ASA is a bilateral agreement that allows international commercial air transport services between signatories. WI