Meet the leaders combatting heat, pollution and inequity in urban areas
By Tashi McQueen AFRO Staff Writer tmcqueen@afro.com
While federal policy is being rolled back on environmental justice concerns in the U.S., majority Black and underserved communities continue to feel the impact.
“Due to redlining and other tools of institutional racism, communities of color have historically served as dumping grounds – sacrifice zones – for pollution and other hazards,” said Chris Dobens, director of communications for WE ACT for Environmental Justice (WE ACT), a community organizing and advocacy group.
Dobens added that putting facilities that create harmful levels of pollution in certain neighborhoods over others is at the heart of environmental racism.
Despite this, several Blackled organizations are continuing their efforts to tackle environmental issues affecting Black communities via policy work and community education. Some of those groups include WE ACT in West Harlem, N.Y, and Green Scheme in
as well as New York City Housing Authority developments. Because buildings are responsible for approximately 70 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions in New York City, we helped pass a law ensuring that all new buildings built in the city will be all-electric. We passed a similar law at the state level.”
Serving communities in Northern Manhattan, including Central Harlem, Washington Heights and Inwood, WE ACT works to address pollution in Black and Brown neighborhoods.
Washington, D.C.
Dobens said extreme heat and energy affordability are among the top environmental justice concerns facing Black and low-income neighborhoods in Northern Manhattan, N.Y.
Climate change is causing temperatures to spike to dangerously high levels, leading to deadly consequences across the country. From 1999 to 2023, more than 21,000 heat-related deaths occurred in the United States, with mortality rates climbing sharply after 2016, according to the Center for
Your History • Your Community • Your News The Afro-American Newspapers afro.com
Frances Murphy Draper John J. Oliver Jr.) Benjamin Murphy Phillips IV - Kevin E. Peck Dana Peck
Receptionist - Wanda PearsonDirector of Operations
Andrè DraperDirector of Finance Bonnie DeanesLenora Howze - lhowze@afro.com
Diane W. HockerEditorial Alexis TaylorAma Brown-Parson - Savannah Wood-
Andrè Draper -
Frances L. Murphy II) Director of Operations - Andrè Draper -
American Progress.
According to the 2023 New York City Heat Related-Mortality Report, Black individuals in New York are two times more likely to die from heat stress than their White counterparts.
Dobens shared how WE ACT has taken several steps to address these concerns.
“We have co-authored reports on the Urban Heat Island effect and the importance of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which is federally funded and state administered,” he said. “We have installed solar panels on multi-family affordable housing
In 2020, New Jersey passed the nation’s first cumulative impacts law, and in 2022 WE ACT helped pass New York State’s stronger Environmental Justice Siting Law to ensure cumulative impacts are considered in permitting.
“WE ACT is now working on rulemaking to close loopholes and ensure polluters cannot avoid compliance, while also focusing on local and state strategies as federal protections weaken,” Dobens said. “Drawing inspiration from New Jersey and New York, we are helping states adopt cumulative impact legislation nationwide, with model bills created alongside Columbia Law School to address the environmental racism
that has plagued communities of color for generations.”
Ronnie Webb, executive director of Green Scheme, said land access is one of the major issues facing Black Americans.
“Especially in the District of Columbia, real estate is so expensive that growing your own food is economically hard to sustain,” said Webb.
Webb said Black Americans are also heavily impacted by miseducation or misinformation about community health and the environment.
To address the issue directly, Green Scheme trains youth from elementary to high school in environmental health and community improvement.
“Our Code Green program…
is our youth agricultural program that we run with the schools and youth development groups,” Webb said. “We also have a program called D.C. Water Watchers, which is a program where we take the kids out to explore D.C. waterways and how it connects to the Chesapeake Bay.” Webb said Green Scheme partners with environmental experts, universities and agencies to enhance programs and expose D.C. youth to green careers. Black-led environmental justice organizations like Green Scheme and WE ACT work daily across the U.S. to ensure Black Americans in underserved communities are not overlooked and that their health and environment do not worsen.
Vulnerable communities still struggling with aging water systems
By Tashi McQueen AFRO Staff Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com
Americans in vulnerable communities across the country are at risk of or already experiencing a water crisis marked by limited access to safe drinking water and clean lakes and streams. Pollution, aging infrastructure and underinvestment have left many communities vulnerable to long-term illness and a diminished quality of life.
Approximately 2.2 million Americans live in homes without running water or basic plumbing, according to DigDeep, a human rights non-profit organization. Black and Latino households are twice as likely to live without basic plumbing as White households.
The U.S. economy loses $8.58 billion annually in reduced earnings, lost tax revenues, labor disruptions and healthcare costs due to this water access gap. Closing the gap could unlock $200 billion of economic value over the next 50 years.
“Clean water is a human right,” said Alice Volpitta, Baltimore Harbor waterkeeper with Blue Water Baltimore, an environmental human rights group. “Throughout history, civilizations have been established near bodies of water because clean water is so essential to our everyday quality of life.”
Even with progress in cities like Baltimore and Flint, Mich., residents remain vulnerable.
“In 1972, we passed the federal Clean Water Act, which establishes everybody’s right in the United States to fishable, swimmable, drinkable waterways,” said Volpitta. “We really haven’t lived up to that promise because we still have waterways in Baltimore, for example, that are chronically
Courtesy photo
Dr. Tiara Moore, founder and CEO of Black In Marine Science (BIMS), leads a global community of marine scientists while advocating for environmental justice and clean water access.
contaminated with sewage overflows.”
Those waterways include Stony Run, Jones Falls and Herring Run. In 2019, the Baltimore City Department of Public Works reported that around 45 million gallons of storm and sewer water overflowed into Jones Falls and Herring Run after heavy rain.
“People are experiencing sewage backups in their homes as a result of our failing underground infrastructure,” said Volpitta. “If you live in a neighborhood with a higher percentage of Black residents in Baltimore, you are statistically significantly more likely to experience a sewage backup.”
As of the city’s 2024 Consumer Confidence Report, Baltimore’s drinking water remains in compliance with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s standards. Cities across the nation are working to improve their water systems.
In Flint, Mich., as of July 1, the city completed a pipe replacement program, excavating
around 28,000 pipes and replacing about 11,000 lead pipes. Still, some lead pipes remain, and activists such as Amariyanna “Mari” Copeny, 18, say there is work to be done.
“[Service] lines at abandoned and torn down homes still remain,” said Copeny via Instagram on July 8. “The city is still giving out filters at city hall and at least one leader said they don’t drink the unfiltered water and still buy bottled water.”
The Flint water crisis began in April 2014, when unelected “emergency managers” switched the city’s water supply from the Detroit Water and Sewage Department system to the Flint River. The decision, made without voter consultation, aimed to cut costs.
After the switch, residents were told to boil water due to bacteria. But the issues didn’t stop there. City officials discovered lead in the water supply and then residents faced a spike in Legionnaires’ disease, a severe form of pneumonia.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that nearly 100,000 residents of Flint had been exposed to lead between April 2014 and October 2015.
Lead exposure can cause long-term health problems, especially for children. The
change in water supply to save money led to dire health consequences, lawsuits, criminal investigations and a national spotlight on water supply systems across the country. Now, federal rollbacks in 2025 of diversity, equity and environmental policy initiatives have frustrated local leaders and organizations.
“It took years for us to get here and it took days to see it just canceled,” said Dr. Tiara Moore, founder and CEO of Black In Marine Science (BIMS), a global community for Black marine scientists. Moore said the work of Black activists was propelled by the rise of outrage and demand for change in 2020 after the death of George Floyd, helping secure legislation and funding. She said that progress is being halted or reversed.
“We have to tap into the power of our ancestors who found a way out of no way with no social media and no resources,” said Moore.
As for ensuring that infrastructure repair costs do not overwhelm residents through taxes, Volpitta said state-level support is essential.
“If we can’t rely on federal funding,” she said, “then we have to look to each other and lift each other up.”
Courtesy photo
Ronnie Webb, executive director of Green Scheme, guides the organization as it trains youth, improves community health and promotes access to urban gardening and environmental education in Washington, D.C.
Courtesy photo
Peggy Shepard, co-founder of WE ACT for Environmental Justice, leads the organization as it advocates for cleaner air, healthier neighborhoods and policies that address pollution and climate impacts in Northern Manhattan.
AP File Photo/Paul Sancya
A lead pipe is shown after being replaced by a copper water supply line to a home in Flint, Mich., July 20, 2018.
Faith leaders step up the climate change in fight
By Andrea Stevens AFRO Staff Writer astevens@afro.com
In the face of rising heat and environmental challenges related to climate change, the Baltimore Office of Sustainability is working with local partners to implement neighborhood-focused climate solutions. From real-time weather tracking to water access and education, the office is helping communities prepare for and respond to the effects of global warming.
“Our work is broadly focused on making Baltimore more sustainable, more equitable and more resilient,” said Ava Richardson, director of the Baltimore Office of Sustainability.
“We implement more than 600 actions through three primary plans, including the city’s Climate Action Plan, Sustainability Plan and Disaster Preparedness Plan.”
The office engages thousands of residents through public meetings, a monthly newsletter and citywide pilot programs focused on waste reduction, green spaces and education.
“We really think it’s important to hold ourselves accountable and be transparent to the public about where the city is making progress and where we may not be making progress,” Richardson said. “And also really engaging people to educate folks about what they can do every day.”
That outreach includes close partnerships with faith institutions like Allen AME Church, led by Pastor Brenda White, who also founded the nonprofit Pathway Forward. For the past two years, the church and
Courtesy
Photo /
Ava
Richardson
Ava Richardson, director of
the Baltimore Office of Sustainability, leads efforts to make the city more resilient to climate change.
nonprofit have collaborated with the Office of Sustainability to serve as a resiliency hub in West Baltimore.
“One of the major things is making sure the public has access to water during the extreme heat,” said White. “We operate during the summer months when there is a code red, and we provide cold water and cooling space for the general public to help with their health and well-being.”
Both the Office of Sustainability and Allen AME Church are collaborating with Johns Hopkins University in a long-term climate research project, which helps track the effects of extreme heat and supports better-informed climate solutions in Baltimore’s neighborhoods. The AME Church location is just one of the Office of Sustainability’s 40 weather stations across the city.”
“We are one of few faith-based entities in Baltimore that have a live feed weather station,” Rev. White said.
“This is a five-year project studying real-time temperatures in the city
across all seasons, and the public can check the data online.”
The station is part of a larger initiative to understand and reduce the urban heat island effect in Baltimore’s most vulnerable neighborhoods. Richardson said those neighborhoods are the office’s priority when implementing plans and rolling out resources.
“We are connecting with communities who are most impacted by climate change. We want to make sure our most vulnerable populations are factored into every step of the process,” she said. “There’s also a lot we can do for the environment through the millions of daily decisions we each make, whether it’s food waste reduction or going car-free one day a week.”
Richardson emphasized the importance of environmental justice and equity across all their plans. The Climate Action Plan includes 10 guiding principles that begin with centering equity. That includes engaging
Fran Ngong’s fight against single-use plastics
By Megan Sayles AFRO Staff Writer
Northwest Baltimore native Fran Ngong is on a mission to eliminate single-use plastic pollution through her eco-conscious store, Fran’s Organic Bodycare and Apothecary (FOBA) Refillery.
Located in the Fell’s Point neighborhood, the business is Baltimore’s first common goods refillery. There, shoppers can bring in their own containers and fill up on household essentials, like laundry detergent, dish soap, deodorant, shampoo, toothpaste and oils, that are made with clean ingredients.
After designing her own line of natural bodycare products, Ngong wanted to open the refillery to cut down on the waste that beauty products often create.
“The beauty industry is one of the biggest
contributors to single-use plastic waste. At one time, there was a strong focus on bottled water, but the beauty industry is so impactful because there’s such a focus on beautiful containers and jars and no focus on what happens to those when you finish with them,” said Ngong. “As I started to develop my line, I didn’t want to contribute to that waste.”
Single-use plastics are items that are designed to be used once before being thrown away, like bottles, jars, bags and wrappers. However, they take hundreds of years to decompose. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. generated 35.7 million tons of plastic waste in 2018. The majority of it was burned or ended up in landfills, with less than 10 percent actually being recycled.
Aside from overflowing landfills, these plastics break down into microplastics, which can then contaminate waterways, soils and the air. They also have a heavy carbon footprint as producing and burning plastics emits an enormous amount of greenhouse gases each year, fuelling climate change.
Educating people on the waste the beauty industry creates has been one of Ngong’s main objectives in running FOBA Refillery. She started a recycling incentive program at the store to further this goal.
“The way that it works is if for every six empty tins that you bring in of our No. 1 seller, which is our ‘FreeMe All Natural Deodorant,’ we’ll give you one for free,” said Ngong. “What we’re saying is bring them in—don’t throw them away. We’re in this together.”
Ngong’s stepdaughter, Mackenzie Jansen, has been working at the store since it opened. She grew up being exposed to organic body care through her birth mother. When Ngong came into her life at 10 years old, her knowledge deepened even further.
“Essentially, I think Baltimore needs this,” said Jansen. “You see the trash on the streets,
marginalized and climate-vulnerable communities when designing and rolling out policies.
“When the bag ban passed, we deployed and disseminated free reusable bags to residents across the city,” Richardson said. “We understood the challenge that some people may have, whether it’s remembering to bring their bags or having to pay for them.”
Rev. White emphasized the broad reach of their work.
“We have a community garden and water access for all of West Baltimore,” she said. “We don’t turn anyone away.”
Richardson said these partnerships are vital.
“We all have an incredible role to play in our environment,” she said.
“We all contribute to it and we all benefit from it. So advocate for protecting your spaces and your environment for the betterment of yourself and your community.”
how people don’t really care and how much product is wasted and thrown away. But, you really could be saving your bottles, bringing them back here and refilling them.”
One of Jansen’s favorite parts about working in the business is teaching customers about how the refillery works.
“When people come in and I tell them exactly what a refillery is, their eyes light up,” said Jansen. “They realize there are ways to save and hold on to what you have.”
Sustainable living has long been a part of Black communities, often out of necessity.
Enslaved people survived by preserving food, reusing materials and finding creative ways to
stretch limited resources.
As Ngong put it, African Americans are not wasteful people. As she continues to grow FOBA Refillery, she wants to host classes for families to learn how to make their own soaps, deodorants, detergent and other household products.
“When I grew up, we were at the hems of our mothers’ and grandmothers’ dresses and aprons, learning the basics to raise our households. If you teach children while they’re young, they can grow with it,” said Ngong. “We want people to learn how to make these products so they can teach their children. Then, we won’t have garbage on the streets, and we’ll have better communities.”
Photo courtesy/ Pastor Brenda White
Pastor Brenda White of Allen AME Church has partnered with the city for two years to provide cooling centers and climate education in West Baltimore.
Photo Courtesy/ Pastor Brenda White Pastor Brenda White and community volunteers maintain a garden in West Baltimore that offers fresh produce and water access during the summer heat.
AFRO Photo/Megan Sayles
Fran Ngong, right, works alongside her stepdaughter, Mackenzie Jansen, in her ecoconscious common goods store, Fran’s Organic Bodycare and Apothecary (FOBA) Refillery. Ngong opened the store to cut down on the waste that the beauty industry typically generates.
AFRO Photo/Megan Sayles At FOBA Refillery, customers use their own containers to fill up on products, like laundry detergent, dish soap, deodorant, shampoo, toothpaste, oils and more. When they check out, they pay by weight— excluding the weight of the container itself.
PLANTING HOPE:
How Baltimore locals use trees to fight climate change
By Andrea Stevens AFRO Staff Writer astevens@afro.com
There are constant conversations on how global warming is affecting the country as a whole, but focusing on its local impact is just as important.
In the heart of Baltimore, a quiet but powerful movement is taking shape one tree at a time. Longtime arborist and environmental advocate Everett Mitchell has been on the frontlines of urban tree planting for decades. Mitchell, who is also a dedicated vegan of over 25 years, has a commitment to nature that runs deeper than just his profession. It is a way of life.
“I’ve been in the tree business since the ‘90s. My first tree job was ‘91 or ‘92 and I’ve been consistently at it since 2011 as far as my business is concerned,” said Mitchell.
Joining him in a recent planting effort was Leah Oliver, a local community member and green industry worker who is passionate about conservation and environmental justice. Together, they planted trees at McCulloh Homes, a public housing complex in West Baltimore.
“There is a significance to green spaces in urban environments especially where people don’t have the privilege to escape to remote nature,” said Oliver. “Earth is home. We’re part of nature. We’re not separate from it. Planting trees is a small contributing factor to usher us back to living as one.”
For both Mitchell and Oliver, planting trees is more than just beautification. It is a tangible step in addressing the climate crisis on a neighborhood level.
“We take away trees and don’t replant them,” Mitchell said. “Even in my tree removal business, if I cut a tree I like to plant one in its place.”
While many residents appreciate the benefits of tree cover, including cooler temperatures and cleaner air, not everyone is immediately supportive.
“Even though you’re out there planting trees you get a whole lot of different things from
the community,” said Mitchell. “Some people don’t want trees in front of their house because they’re worried about the size, the leaves or the branches. Some have even pulled trees back out of the ground after we left.”
Still, Mitchell stays rooted in his mission. He has made it a priority not just to plant trees but also to repurpose what is removed. From salvaged trunks, he crafts benches and teaches youth how to make bamboo flutes as a way to connect with nature and manage stress.
“My connection with nature is pretty strong. I trim trees. I farm. I forage,” he said. “I’ve always felt the need to tune in with what nature is doing. It’s a part of life.”
Oliver adds that green projects in urban areas are essential for learning and healing.
“We can’t keep running the Earth into the ground and expect no consequences.”
“Trees are like the technology of Earth but they’re also like living beings. Something I planted that is giving off oxygen is going to last past my existence,” she said. “Adding green spaces to cities is important not just for education but also for the emotional and mental benefits they bring to people who live there.”
Mitchell believes the solution to climate change begins with daily action and a renewed respect for the natural world.
“We really have to make nature part of our daily lives,” he said. “We can’t keep running the Earth into the ground and expect no consequences.”
In a city facing hotter summers and stronger storms, Everett Mitchell and Leah Oliver are proving that hope can take root, one tree at a time.
Photo courtesy Everett Mitchell
Everett Mitchell, a veteran arborist and community tree planter, has been working with trees since the early 1990s. His efforts focus on replanting and reconnecting Baltimore neighborhoods with nature. Shown here, Mitchell planting a young tree as part of an ongoing effort to combat climate change and restore green space in Baltimore’s urban core.
Photo courtesy Leah Oliver
Leah Oliver, a conservation worker and lifelong nature enthusiast, joins local greening projects to bring environmental healing and education to underserved urban communities.
Rural communities, tribes sue EPA over $2.8 billion in canceled funding for flood mitigation and resilience projects
By Julia Tilton
A coalition of nonprofits, tribes and local governments are suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over the termination of $2.8 billion in environmental and climate justice grants for disadvantaged communities.
One member of that coalition is located a few miles off the coast of the Bering Sea. The Native Village of Kipnuk (Qipneq), Alaska, is built on thawing permafrost. Qipneq means “bend” in the Native Yup’ik language, referring to the village’s location along the meandering Kugkaktlik River.
In recent years, high water has become a common phenomenon in Kipnuk, as the riverbanks become destabilized by melting permafrost, flooding, and erosion. Stronger storms in the region exacerbate damage to the village’s infrastructure.
The Native Village of Kipnuk is a federally recognized Tribe with around 1,700 members, including about 800 members who live along the river in Kipnuk. The Tribe relies on the surrounding land for subsistence living, and historically, members moved around the region following a nomadic lifestyle. But after the government built a school along the Kugkaktlik River in the 1930s, many families moved to the village of Kipnuk.
Today, erosion rates along the riverbank are between 10–28 feet a year, according to Rayna Paul, the village’s environmental director. And despite a number of assessments having been conducted in Kipnuk by the state and federal government over the past 15 years, the Tribe has yet to see any action to protect their
community from high water.
“There’s been so many assessments that our tribe is getting tired of them,” said Paul. “They just want some action done.”
Earlier this year, it appeared that action might be on the horizon. Kipnuk was awarded a $20 million Community Change Grant under a $3 billion program from the EPA to carry out environmental and climate justice projects across the country. That program made $2.8 billion available for direct financial assistance to communities, local governments, and tribes. Kipnuk would use the money to address erosion along a stretch of riverbank that houses the community’s critical infrastructure, including the wind turbines that generate power, fuel tanks, several buildings, and the boardwalk connecting them.
The award was finalized in early January 2025, and Kipnuk’s project start date was set for March 1 of 2025. When the funds were made available in early March, Paul hired a bookkeeper to keep track of grant spending and posted a job vacancy for a project manager. But a few days later, the project’s funding flow was turned off as part of President Donald Trump’s federal funding freeze. By May, the Trump administration had terminated the EPA’s environmental and climate justice grant program altogether. For Paul, who also worked to put together the grant application in 2024, receiving the termination letter less than two months into starting the project was a significant blow. Amidst frozen funds and the grant cancellation, Paul has still not been compensated for her time, including the months she put in leading up to the award. Relaying the news
about the grant cancellation to the rest of the community has been “discouraging,” Paul said.
“Everyone I’ve spoken to was like, ‘Oh man, what are we gonna do now?’ Their hopes fell,” Paul said.
Since May, the Native Village of Kipnuk and more than twenty others who have had their grants canceled have signed onto a class action lawsuit against the EPA and the Trump-appointed administrator, Lee Zeldin. The lawsuit, which was filed on June 25, will be heard in the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia on August 5.
a new green space along the McClure River that would mitigate flooding and serve as a local dog park. They also started designing a resiliency hub equipped with backup power and emergency supplies for shelter in times of need.
Clinchco is one of five rural communities in southwest Virginia included in a $500,000 grant to the nonprofit advocacy group Appalachian Voices, which hosted the listening sessions.
The grant money comes from the EPA’s now-canceled environmental and climate jus-
“There’s been so many assessments that our tribe is getting tired of them. They just want some action done.”
Broken
promises
The town of Clinchco, Virginia, is at the heart of Dickenson County along the McClure River in the southwest corner of the state. It’s among a number of former coal camps in the region dealing with the economic impact of the coal industry’s decline: the town’s poverty rate was over 40 percent at the last U.S. Census. For the population of around 300, building resiliency is made more complicated by floodwaters from increasingly intense storms, including Hurricane Helene.
During a series of listening sessions over the past several months, Clinchco residents dreamed up a multifaceted approach to economic and disaster resilience. They envisioned
tice program, the same pool of funding as for the grant awarded to Kipnuk.
Appalachian Voices held more than a dozen listening sessions with residents across the region to plan community-level projects that would be paid for by the EPA grant. Clinchco had requested approximately $40,000 for start-up costs associated with engineering designs, surveys, and permitting to pursue the resiliency projects.
Like others in the region, those projects are now “dead in the water,” according to Tina Deel, Clinchco Clerk of Council.
“It’s just heartbreaking,” said Deel. Without the grant money, Clinchco cannot afford to build the green space and resiliency hub on its own. Appalachian
Nonprofits, tribes and local governments are banding together to sue the EPA over the cancellation of $2.8 billion in environmental justice grants. Here is an aerial view of the Village of Kipnuk where federal grants were going to protect against the melting permafrost.
Voices’ new economy program manager Emma Kelly said that even with the help of state and private funding, projects like the one in Clinchco have been set back years.
“It was a lot of effort to get this initial application in, and now that’s all gone, and there’s not a lot of time and energy left to do that again,” said Kelly.
“This promise has been broken.”
In towns like Clinchco that voted heavily for Trump, Kelly described a “widespread sense of betrayal and confusion,” particularly among former coal miners and their families who had believed the administration would support their interests.
Deel said that she and others in the town were shocked that the funding had been withdrawn.
She said it’s not an action by the Trump administration that she or others support.
A power of the purse argument
When the hearing begins on August 5, much of the plaintiffs’ case will rest on the separation of powers between the three branches of government.
Under the U.S. Constitution, the plaintiffs will argue that the
executive branch does not have the authority to make decisions over programs that have been authorized and funded by the legislative branch.
Hana Vizcarra is a senior attorney at Earthjustice, one of the firms representing plaintiffs in Appalachian Voices et al. v. EPA. She said plaintiffs will argue that the EPA, an agency under Trump’s executive branch, violated the legislative branch’s “power of the purse” by canceling its environmental and climate justice program, which Congress created in 2022 under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and section 138 of the Clean Air Act.
“This administration is trying to take power it doesn’t have,” said Vizcarra.
Last month, a Maryland federal district court ruled on another lawsuit against the EPA concerning canceled environmental justice grants. Vizcarra said attorneys will cite that case, Green and Healthy Homes Initiatives, Inc., et al. v. EPA, in their briefing.
This article was originally published by Stacker Studios.
Industrial heat pumps could clear the air in Black neighborhoods
In recent years, heat pumps — an air conditioning technology that efficiently produces warm or cool air and distributes it evenly through a home — have become a common element in everyday life, appearing in a growing number of houses and apartments.
The technology, however, can be applied in other settings too — namely, manufacturing that doesn’t require high levels of heat, like food processing, paper milling, and the production of chemicals. And a new report finds that if heat pumps became as common in manufacturing as in home construction it would
pay dividends in public health improvements.
According to the American Lung Association, use of industrial heat-pump boilers could significantly reduce both emissions and pollution as well as create a host of positive effects that would significantly benefit Black and Brown communities.
“By shifting to zero-emissions technologies that aren’t burning fuel — but producing the same heat, steam and boiling water needed to fulfill manufacturing needs — we can see these massive public health benefits,” Will Barrett, assistant vice president for nationwide clean air policy at the ALA, told Grist.
The report looked at the potential benefits
of replacing 33,500 boilers that burn some form of fossil fuel with zero-emission heatpump boilers. Researchers found that the shift would stave off 33 million asthma attacks, prevent 200,000 cases of asthma from developing altogether by 2050, and avoid 77,200 premature deaths.
The switch would also save $1.1 trillion in health care costs and prevent $351 billion in damages from future storms and other climate change-related extreme weather.
While all communities would benefit from those public-health improvements, Black neighborhoods in particular would benefit majority-minority communities. Black people suffer from asthma at nearly 1.5 times the rate than Whites.
A variety of factors cause the rates to be much higher, but redlining Black people into neighborhoods alongside transportation infrastructure like highways and freeways, or that sit alongside industrial areas, are an original sin.
Black Americans are 75 percent more likely to live in so-called fence-line communities, making the polluted air from factories, power plants and other sources more difficult to escape.
According to the American Lung Association report, the “staggering” findings are driven “by major health benefits seen in states with populations that reside in close proximity to industrial sources where the emission reductions are occurring.”
The five states with the largest Black populations in the country — Texas, Georgia, Florida, New York and California — are all included in the report’s list of the top 15 states that would
“By shifting to zero-emissions technologies that aren’t burning fuel — but producing the same heat, steam, and boiling water needed to fulfill manufacturing needs — we can see these massive public health benefits.”
Photo courtesy of Stacker media
By Willy Blackmore Word in Black
AP Photo via Business Wire
The federal retreat from fighting environmental racism has begun
By
In 2023, the city of Chicago reached a settlement deal with the federal government over a brazen bit of environmental racism: City officials had tried to move a polluting business, a metal recycling facility, from the wealthy, White North Side to the Black and Brown and poor Southeast Side.
Now, the Trump administration’s Department of Housing and Urban Development will not enforce the settlement. The case is one of seven high-profile investigations into housing discrimination that HUD officials dropped last month.
“No administration previously has so aggressively rolled back the basic protections that help people who are being harmed in their community,” a HUD official told ProPublica, which first reported the news. “The civil rights protections that HUD enforces are intended to protect the most vulnerable people in society.”
Polluting Chicago’s Black and Brown southeast side
The situation with the scrap metal facility, called General Iron, was almost comically racist. The business, which shreds junk cars and other
items in order to sell the metal, had long operated in the very wealthy and very White Lincoln Park neighborhood on the North Side of the city.
Over the years, complaints from residents mounted about both the pollution and noise generated by General Iron, and as early as 2016, the city began to encourage the business to relocate, which it eventually agreed to do after being promised help from City Hall to find a new location.
What the city and General Iron eventually landed on in what Biden’s HUD called an “unusually close collaboration” was a new location in the Calumet Industrial Corridor on the Southeast Side — a part of Chicago that is not only predominantly Black and Brown and poor, but has a long history of being overburdened by industry too. According to HUD’s initial findings (again, from the Biden era), “relocating the Facility to the Southeast Site will bring environmental benefits to a neighborhood that is 80 percent White and environmental harms to a neighborhood that is 83 percent Black and Hispanic.”
The settlement between HUD and Chicago was signed during former mayor Lori Lightfoot’s last days in office, after her administration initially responded to HUD’s finding of discrimination by saying,
“No administration previously has so aggressively rolled back the basic protections that help people who are being harmed in their community.”
“Any allegations that we have done something to compromise the health and safety of our Black and Brown communities are absolutely absurd.”
Included in the binding settlement agreement was a provision that the city pursue land-use and permitting reform. Under the current Mayor Brandon Johnson, the city has developed a new environmental justice-led approach to permitting industrial projects, but the ordinance has been stalled in the city council.
“It’s terribly wrong for the federal government to drop these cases, because [the cases have proven] that the city of Chicago has made discriminatory practices against the Southeast Side of Chicago,” Cheryl
Johnson, executive director of the environmental justice organization People for Community Recovery, told Block Club Chicago. “On the other hand, it demonstrates how local and state [governments] need to activate.”
A local push for environmental justice
The new permitting ordinance is named after Cheryl Johnson’s mother, Hazel Johnson, who is known as the “mother of environmental justice” thanks to the organizing work she did in the 1970s and ‘80s around the pollution from the old Pullman factory and other industrial sites that were killing Black residents in the
housing project she lived in on the South Side.
Mayor Johnson’s administration said it will continue to push for both environmental and housing reforms without either pressure or support from HUD. But federal housing authorities washing their hands of these kinds of investigations marks a significant and worrisome shift. The agency is now going to “prioritize investigations of specific allegations of actual discrimination, rather than dictate or influence land use policy,” Robert Doles, director of HUD’s Office of Systemic Investigations, said. This story was originally published by Word in Black.
How a Florida environmental group scored a win against Big Oil
By Anthony Lamarr White
The giant and catastrophic Deepwater Horizon oil spill, also known as the BP oil spill, didn’t reach Apalachicola Bay in 2010, but the threat of oil reaching this beautiful and environmentally valuable stretch of northern Florida’s Gulf coast was still enough to devastate the region’s economy.
The Florida state congressman Jason Shoaf remembers how the threat affected the bay. “It harmed our commercial fishing, aquaculture operations and just the threat of oil kept tourists away for months,” Shoaf told The Economic Hardship Reporting Project and The Guardian. “Businesses were forced to close, jobs were lost and the disaster reshaped our region forever.”
Those memories were freshly triggered in April 2024, when the Florida department of environmental protection (DEP) granted a permit to Louisiana-based Clearwater Land and Minerals for exploratory oil drilling on the Apalachicola River basin. So area residents, along with environmental and business groups, formed a Kill the Drill coalition to oppose the permit.
A year later, the coalition’s efforts and an administrative challenge to the DEP’s permit by the non-profit Apalachicola Riverkeepers prevailed when Judge Lawrence P. Stevenson recommended the department deny the permit. In May, the DEP reversed course and denied the permit.
But that was not enough to convince those seeking to preserve the region’s environment. Shoaf, who represents Florida’s north-eastern Gulf coast region, applauded the DEP’s decision but says the threat of oil exploration and drilling near north Florida’s inland waterways would only be ended by a permanent ban. So to prevent future threats and the DEP from issuing other oil exploratory drilling permits, Shoaf and state representative Allison Tant co-authored House Bill 1143.
“While the permit to Clearwater Land and Minerals was denied, we can’t assume the next one will be,” Shoaf says. “HB 1143 protects our precious water resources and the ecosystems that depend on them by prohibiting drilling, exploration and production of oil, gas and
In this April 21, 2010 file
other petroleum products within 10 miles of a national estuarine research reserve in counties designated as rural areas of opportunity. It also requires the Florida department of environmental protection to ensure natural resources are adequately protected in the event of an accident.”
In April, the legislature overwhelmingly passed HB 1143 with only one dissenting vote in the Senate. It was presented to Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, on 18 June. And, despite a poor recent record on protecting the environment, DeSantis signed the bill last week – handing the coalition that lobbied for it a cheering victory.
The area now saved from the oil industry is invaluable both to nature and the people who live there. The Apalachicola River, formed by the meeting of the Chattahoochee and Flint rivers, flows 160 miles (258km) to the Apalachicola Bay and the Gulf. Both the river and bay are critical to the region’s tourism and seafood production industries.
For environmental campaigners, the success of their efforts might help lay to rest the ghosts of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, which released nearly 3.19m barrels of oil into the gulf.
“Oil from the BP spill didn’t reach our coasts, but the damage caused by the threat was enough,” Tant says. “We’ve seen what can
happen. We’ve lived it. This is not theoretical. It was a perilous time for small businesses and for those who lived in the area. It stopped tourism and shuttered small businesses. So it defies logic to think it’s a good idea to drill for oil along the Apalachicola River.”
Adrianne Johnson is executive director of the Florida Shellfish Aquaculture Association which represents more than 350 shellfish farmers in Florida. Johnson, an Apalachicola native, became involved in the Kill the Drill movement for personal and business reasons.
“This region has a deep collective memory of how the Gulf oil spill devastated the regional economy and collapsed the oyster industry in Apalachicola Bay,” Johnson explains. “And that was just the threat of oil. The majority of the state’s oyster farms operate across Wakulla, Franklin and Gulf counties, and these areas downriver would be most impacted by oil drilling upriver (at the proposed site in Calhoun county). If there were to be a spill upriver because of drilling in the basin, it would have catastrophic environmental and economic impacts on the area that would be felt for generations.”
Johnson also points to the region’s frequent weather-related natural disasters, such as hurricanes, as another reason why drilling had to be banned in the region.
“Our shellfish farmers are still recovering from the multiple hurricanes of 2024,” she explains. “But the reality of being a Florida farmer is having to contend with these weather-related events. Hurricanes and natural disasters are outside of our control. Permitting oil drilling in ecologically sensitive areas is very much within our control and is an unnecessary threat to our industry.”
Tant agrees.
“We are a hurricane-prone state,” she says. “We can’t get away from that. It’s not a question of will we get hit by a hurricane because we know it’s going to happen. But an oil spill caused by a hurricane would make the disaster 100 times worse.”
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), the Deep Horizon oil spill caused the loss of 8.3 billion oysters, the deaths of nearly 105,400 sea birds, 7,600 adult and 160,000 juvenile sea turtles, and a 51% decrease in dolphins in Louisiana’s Barataria Bay.
Craig Diamond, current board member and past president of Apalachicola Riverkeeper, says another factor behind the ban was the river system itself.
“A spill would be highly impactful given the existing stresses in the system,” says Diamond, who has worked with the Northwest Florida Water Management District and taught graduate courses on water resources at Florida State University. “Apalachicola Bay Riverkeeper and its allies believe the long-term risks of fossil fuel exploitation in the floodplain or bay (or nearshore) far outweigh the short-term benefits.”
Shoaf says he was inspired to write HB 1143 by the community’s grassroots efforts to defend the region’s natural resources.
“This bill is essential to prevent unnecessary and irreparable harm to Apalachicola Bay, as well as the economies and ecosystems that depend on it,” he says.
After DeSantis signed the bill into law, the threat of drilling has now receded into the distance for the foreseeable future.
Co-published by The Economic Hardship Reporting Project and The Guardian. This story was produced by The Economic Hardship Reporting Project and The Guardian, and reviewed and distributed by Stacker Studios.
(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
photo, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig burns in the Gulf of Mexico.
Willy Blackmore Word in Black
Unsplash / William F. Santos
The controversial relocation of General Iron, a polluting metal recycling facility, from Chicago’s wealthy North Side to its Black and Brown Southeast Side has become a flashpoint in the fight against environmental racism.
As warming climate hammers coffee crops, this rare bean may someday be your brew
By Sam Mednick
Catherine Bashiama runs her fingers along the branches of the coffee tree she’s raised from a seedling, searching anxiously for its first fruit buds since she planted it three years ago. When she grasps the small cherries, Bashiama beams.
The farmer had never grown coffee in her village in western South Sudan, but now hopes a rare, climate-resistant species will help pull her family from poverty. “I want to send my children to school so they can be the future generation,” said Bashiama, a mother of 12.
Discovered more than a century ago in South Sudan, excelsa coffee is exciting cash-strapped locals and drawing interest from the international community amid a global coffee crisis caused mainly by climate change. As leading coffee-producing countries struggle to grow crops in drier, less reliable weather, prices have soared to the highest in decades and the industry is scrambling for solutions.
Experts say estimates from drought-stricken Brazil, the world’s top coffee grower, are that this year’s harvest could be down by some 12 percent.
“What history shows us is that sometimes the world doesn’t give you a choice, and right now there are many coffee farmers suffering from climate change that are facing this predicament,” said Aaron Davis, head of coffee research at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in London. Davis and his team have been researching excelsa for almost a decade, and work with excelsa producers in several counties, notably Uganda.
Excelsa could play a key role in adapting.
Native to South Sudan and a handful of other African countries, including Congo, Central African Republic and Uganda, excelsa is also farmed in India, Indonesia and Vietnam. The tree’s deep roots, thick leathery leaves and big trunk allow it to thrive in extreme conditions such as drought and heat where other coffees cannot. It’s also resistant to many common coffee pests and diseases.
Yet it comprises less than 1 percent of the global market, well behind the arabica and robusta species that are the most consumed coffees in the world. Experts say excelsa will have to be shown to be practical at a much larger scale to bridge the gap in the market caused by climate change. For now, it’s mostly only available for purchase online.
OPINION
Coffee’s history in South Sudan
Unlike neighboring Ethiopia or Uganda, oil-rich South Sudan has never been known as a coffee-producing nation.
Its British colonizers grew robusta and arabica, but much of that stopped during decades of conflict that forced people from their homes and made it hard to farm. Coffee trees require regular care such as pruning and weeding and take at least three years to yield fruit.
During a visit earlier this month to Nzara County in Western Equatoria state — regarded as the country’s breadbasket — residents reminisced to Associated Press reporters about their parents and grandparents growing coffee, yet much of the younger generation hadn’t done it themselves.
Many were familiar with excelsa, but didn’t realize how unique it was, or what it was called, referring to it as the big tree, typically taller than the arabica and robusta species that are usually pruned to be bush- or hedge-like. The excelsa trees can reach 15 meters (about 49 feet) in height, but may also be pruned much shorter for ease of harvesting.
Coffee made from excelsa tastes sweet — unlike robusta — with notes of chocolate, dark fruits and hazelnut. It’s more similar to arabica, but generally less bitter and may have less body.
“There’s so little known about this coffee, that we feel at the forefront to trying to unravel it and we’re learning every day,” said Ian Paterson, managing director of Equatoria Teak, a sustainable agro-forestry company that’s been operating in the country for more than a decade.
The company’s been doing trials on excelsa for years. Initial results are promising, with the trees able to withstand heat much better than other species, the company said. It’s also working with communities to revive the coffee industry and scale up production. Three years ago it gave seedlings and training to about 1,500 farmers, including Bashiama, to help them grow the coffee. The farmers can sell back to the company for processing and export.
Many of the trees started producing for the first time this year, and Paterson said he hopes to export the first batch of some 7 tons to specialty shops in Europe. By 2027, the coffee could inject some $2 million into the economy, with big buyers such as Nespresso expressing interest. But production needs to triple for it to be worthwhile for large buyers to invest, he said.
Challenges of growing an industry amid South Sudan’s instability
That could be challenging in South Sudan, where lack of infrastructure and insecurity make it hard to get the coffee out.
One truck of 30 tons of coffee has to travel some 1,800 miles (3,000 kilometers) to reach the port in Kenya to be shipped. The cost for the first leg of that trip, through Uganda, is more than $7,500, which is up to five times the cost in neighboring countries.
It’s also hard to attract investors.
Despite a peace deal in 2018 that ended a five-year civil war, pockets of fighting persist. Tensions in Western Equatoria are especially high after the president removed the governor in February, sparking anger among his supporters.
When AP reporters visited Nzara, the main road to town was cut off one day because of gunshots and people were fleeing their villages, fearful of further violence.
The government says companies can operate safely, but warned them to focus on business.
“If I’m a businessman, dealing with my business, let me not mix with politics. Once you start mixing your business with politics, definitely you will end up in chaos,” said Alison Barnaba, the state’s minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Environment.
Barnaba said there are plans to rehabilitate old coffee plantations and build an agriculture school, but details are murky, including where the money will come from. South Sudan hasn’t paid its civil servants in more than a year, and a rupture of a crucial oil pipeline through neighboring Sudan has tanked oil revenue.
Growing the coffee isn’t always easy, either. Farmers have to contend with fires that spread quickly in the dry season and decimate their crops. Hunters use fires to scare and kill animals and residents use it to clear land for cultivation. But the fires can get out of control and there are few measures in place to hold people accountable, say residents.
Coffee as a way out of poverty
Still, for locals, the coffee represents a chance at a better future.
Bashiama said she started planting coffee after her husband was injured and unable to help cultivate enough of the maize and ground nuts that the family had lived on. Since his accident she hasn’t
been able to send her children to school or buy enough food, she said.
Another farmer, 37-year-old Taban John, wants to use his coffee earnings to buy a bicycle so he can more easily sell his other crops, ground nuts and cassava, and other goods in town. He also wants to be able to afford school uniforms for his children.
Excelsa is an opportunity for the community to become more financially independent, say community leaders. People rely on the government or foreign aid, but when that doesn’t come through they’re not able to take care of their families, they say.
But for coffee to thrive in South Sudan, locals say there needs to be a long-term mentality, and that requires stability.
Elia Box lost half of his coffee crop to fire in early February. He plans to replace it, but was dispirited at the work it will require and the lack of law and order to hold people accountable.
“People aren’t thinking long-term like coffee crops, during war,” he said. “Coffee needs peace.”
The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. It receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. This article was originally published by The Associated Press.
AI’s ballooning energy consumption puts spotlight on data center efficiency
By
Artificial intelligence (AI) is growing fast, and so are the number of computers that power it. Behind the scenes, this rapid growth is putting a huge strain on the data centers that run AI models. These facilities are using more energy than ever.
AI models are getting larger and more complex. Today’s most advanced systems have billions of parameters, the numerical values derived from training data, and run across thousands of computer chips. To keep up, companies have responded by adding more hardware, more chips, more memory and more powerful networks. This brute force approach has helped AI make big leaps, but it’s also created a new challenge: Data centers are becoming energy-hungry giants.
Some tech companies are responding by looking to power data centers on their own with fossil fuel and nuclear power plants. AI energy demand has also spurred efforts to make more efficient computer chips.
I’m a computer engineer and a professor at Georgia Tech who specializes in high-performance computing. I see another path to curbing AI’s energy appetite: Make data centers more resource aware and efficient.
Energy and heat
Modern AI data centers can use as much electricity as a small city. And it’s not just the computing that eats up power. Memory and cooling systems are major contributors, too. As AI models grow, they need more storage and faster access to data, which generates more heat. Also, as the chips become more powerful, removing heat becomes a central challenge.
Cooling isn’t just a technical detail; it’s a major part of the energy bill. Traditional cooling is done with specialized air conditioning systems that remove heat from server racks. New methods like liquid cooling are helping, but they also require careful planning and water management. Without smarter solutions, the energy requirements and costs of AI could become unsustainable.
Even with all this advanced equipment, many data centers aren’t running efficiently. That’s because different parts of the system don’t always talk to each other. For example, scheduling software might not know that a chip is overheating or that a network connection is clogged. As a result, some servers sit idle while others struggle to keep up. This lack of coordination can lead to wasted energy and underused resources.
A smarter way forward
Addressing this challenge requires rethinking how to design and manage
the systems that support AI. That means moving away from brute-force scaling and toward smarter, more specialized infrastructure.
Here are three key ideas: Address variability in hardware. Not all chips are the same. Even within the same generation, chips vary in how fast they operate and how much heat they can tolerate, leading to heterogeneity in both performance and energy efficiency. Computer systems in data centers should recognize differences among chips in performance, heat tolerance and energy use and adjust accordingly. Adapt to changing conditions. AI workloads vary over time. For instance, thermal hotspots on chips
can trigger the chips to slow down, fluctuating grid supply can cap the peak power that centers can draw, and bursts of data between chips can create congestion in the network that connects them. Systems should be designed to respond in real time to things like temperature, power availability and data traffic. Break down silos. Engineers who design chips, software and data centers should work together. When these teams collaborate, they can find new ways to save energy and improve performance. To that end, my colleagues, students and I at Georgia Tech’s AI Makerspace, a high-performance AI data center, are exploring these challenges hands-on. We’re working across disciplines, from hardware to
software to energy systems, to build and test AI systems that are efficient, scalable and sustainable.
Scaling with intelligence
AI has the potential to transform science, medicine, education and more, but risks hitting limits on performance, energy and cost. The future of AI depends not only on better models, but also on better infrastructure.
To keep AI growing in a way that benefits society, I believe it’s important to shift from scaling by force to scaling with intelligence. This article was originally published by The Conversation. Divya Mahajan is an assistant professor of computer engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
AP Photo/Brian Inganga
Catherine Bashiama, a farmer, walks through her coffee plantation that grows excelsa beans near Nzara, South Sudan.
Divya Mahajan
The Conversation
AP Photo/Michael Probst
Shown here,”‘chillers” on the roof of a data center in Germany, working to cool equipment inside the building.
When the weather—and the market—turns against you: Black farmers speak out
By Megan Sayles AFRO Staff Writer msayles@afro.com
For John W. Boyd, founder of the National Black Farmers Association, farming isn’t the same as it once was. The change is, in part, because the climate is not as it once was.
A fourth-generation farmer, Boyd took up the family business because he fell in love with the smell of the land and its ability to make him feel liberated. He purchased his first farm in the 1980s at the age of 18 in Baskerville, Va., where he grows soybean, corn and wheat.
Now 59, Boyd is battling the impact of extreme weather and shifting seasons.
“In the 80s, we were planting corn in March. I’m now planting corn in May. I was finished harvesting soybeans in October, and now I’m still harvesting soybeans in January,” said Boyd. “The extreme heat that we have been experiencing has taken a toll on crop yields. Three days of 100-degree temperatures can change your crop overnight as far as yield and production.”
In a typical season, Boyd said he has 30 to 45 days to plant and 30 to 45 days to
“The extreme heat that we have been experiencing has taken a toll on crop yields. Three days of 100-degree temperatures can change your crop overnight as far as yield and production.”
harvest. Anything that comes after that is late. If Boyd plants late, his yield is jeopardized. If he harvests late, he will lose production.
Lately, both his planting and harvesting seasons have become more unpredictable, and it’s been harder for him to meet the optimal windows.
“The soybeans begin to pop out of the pods, and as my dad would say, ‘Once they hit the ground, they ain’t coming back up,’” said Boyd. “I can’t pick them up off the ground, and there isn’t a piece of machinery that can do that. Once you start losing production
like that, you’re losing your bottom line.”
On top of extreme heat, tornadoes and hurricanes are increasingly causing disruptions to his operations.
He noted that farmers carry mortgages and debts, like any other household. Losing a season due to weather can lead to a financial disaster.
“Soybeans are my cash crop. If I mess it up, there isn’t another crop to fix it,” said Boyd. “I have to get it right.”
Boyd’s also been forced to invest in irrigation systems to cope with droughts— a costly and laborious process
his predecessors never had to engage in.
“That’s an additional cost, with diesel fuel and pipes, and the pipe is so hot in the mid-Summer. You’re dragging this pipe, then you stick it in your water access, you pump the water and you move the pipe. It doesn’t stop,” said Boyd. “You keep moving the pipe and trying to save your crop. My forefathers never did that.”
Boyd isn’t alone in facing the impacts of climate change.
In Pinewood, S.C., Jermaine Walker, a fourth-generation farmer, has seen weather become more devastating and unpredictable.
“The extremities are becoming very intense. When I was a child, we had a rain season, we had Summer and then there was a part of Summer where we had some storms,” said Walker. “As a younger farmer, I could kind of predict the system.”
Walker, 52, has been farming on his own since he was 22, but farming has been a part of his life since he was born. He grows corn, wheat, soybeans and cotton.
This year, he said the growing season has been OK, but unusually heavy rains have created challenges for planting and harvesting.
“These downpours and storms seem to be becoming more violent, and the question in the farming community is, “Hey, do you all remember it being this way when we were younger?,’” said Walker. “The answer is always, ‘No, it was never like this.’”
Too much rain may not seem like a problem for farming, but it can hurt the growth of crops or make it difficult to work the field.
“There are plants with what we call, ‘wet feet,’ that can’t stand to have their roots submerged for so long because they drown. It robs them of oxygen,” said Walker. “Also, the row crop industry is all done mechanically. If it gets too wet, the machines can’t even stand up.”
Walker said he is going to lose some yield on his soybeans because the rain prevented him from spraying
herbicides on time. Weeds began competing with his crops for nutrients, and, when he tried to get machinery into the field, it got stuck in the mud.
Policy promises vs. farming realities
Though supporting farmers was central to the 47th president’s campaign platform, Boyd and Walker say the reality on the ground has not aligned with the rhetoric.
“At least once a week, this president is on the news talking about how he’s going to help farmers, and it hasn’t happened. Bankruptcy and suicide are on the rise under the leadership of a president who says he loves farmers,” said Boyd. “He’s not putting anything in place to combat climate change or starting initiatives to help small-scale farmers find their way through the climate hazards that have affected our operations.”
In April, under his leadership, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) canceled a $3-billion program that would have paid farmers to adopt climate-smart practices, helping them to adapt to extreme weather. Additionally, tariffs on Mexico and China, which are America’s top buyers of corn and soybeans respectively, have driven down crop prices. This means that even when
farmers have good yields, it’s difficult to turn a profit.
“I was just meeting with a group of farmers for a Labor Day cookout, and everybody’s excited about their yields in all crops, but the question is, will we get enough money to pay the debt off and make a profit?” said Walker. “The prices that we’re getting today for corn are prices that were posted in the 1960s and 70s. Although production has gone up, expenses have gone up with it, and the price for your product is down.”
Both Boyd and Walker noted that Black farmers are accustomed to facing obstacles that often seem insurmountable. From loan denials at the USDA, to limited access to resources and markets, they’ve long had to get creative in sustaining their farms and their livelihoods.
Even so, the pair fear that Black farmers are at risk of extinction. They stressed the importance of the Black community coming together to support Black farmers during these uncertain times.
“Just because this administration doesn’t want you, don’t give up. We have to band together, and, for the first time in a long time, find each other and start supporting each other,” said Boyd.
“Black America needs to start supporting Black farmers.”
Photo courtesy of John W. Boyd
John W. Boyd is a fourth-generation farmer and the founder of the National Black Farmers Association, a nonprofit advocacy organization representing African-American farmers and their families. His farm is located in Baskerville, Va.
Photo courtesy of Jermaine Walker Jermaine Walker is a fourth-generation farmer. He runs a farm in Pinewood, S.C., where he grows corn, wheat, soybean and cotton.
Five forecasts early climate models got right–the evidence is all
around you
By Nadir Jeevanjee
Climate models are complex, just like the world they mirror. They simultaneously simulate the interacting, chaotic flow of Earth’s atmosphere and oceans and they run on the world’s largest supercomputers.
Critiques of climate science, such as the report written for the Department of Energy by a panel in 2025, often point to this complexity to argue that these models are too uncertain to help us understand present-day warming or tell us anything useful about the future.
But the history of climate science tells a different story.
The earliest climate models made specific forecasts about global warming decades before those forecasts could be proved or disproved. And when the observations came in, the models were right. The forecasts weren’t just predictions of global average warming – they also predicted geographical patterns of warming that we see today.
These early predictions starting in the 1960s emanated largely out of a single, somewhat obscure government laboratory outside Princeton, New Jersey: the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. And many of the discoveries bear the fingerprints of one particularly prescient and persistent climate modeler, Syukuro Manabe, who was awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in physics for his work.
Manabe’s models, based in the physics of the atmosphere and ocean, forecast the world we now see while also drawing a blueprint for today’s climate models and their ability to simulate our large-scale climate. While models have limitations, it is this track record of success that gives us confidence in interpreting the changes we’re seeing now, as well as predicting changes to come.
Forecast No. 1: Global warming from CO2 Manabe’s first assignment in the 1960s at the U.S. Weather Bureau, in a lab that would become the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, was to accurately model the greenhouse effect – to show how
greenhouse gases trap radiant heat in Earth’s atmosphere. Since the oceans would freeze over without the greenhouse effect, this was a key first step in building any kind of credible climate model.
To test his calculations, Manabe created a very simple climate model. It represented the global atmosphere as a single column of air and included key components of climate, such as incoming sunlight, convection from thunderstorms and his greenhouse effect model. Despite its simplicity, the model reproduced Earth’s overall climate quite well. Moreover, it showed that doubling carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere would cause the planet to warm by about 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit (3 degrees Celsius).
This estimate of Earth’s climate sensitivity, published in 1967, has remained essentially unchanged in the many decades since and captures the overall magnitude of observed global warming. Right now the world is about halfway to doubling atmospheric carbon dioxide, and the global temperature has warmed by about 2.2 F (1.2 C) – right in the ballpark of what Manabe predicted.
Other greenhouse gases such as methane, as well as the ocean’s delayed response to global warming, also affect temperature rise, but the overall conclusion is unchanged: Manabe got Earth’s climate sensitivity about right.
Forecast No. 2: Stratospheric cooling
The surface and lower atmosphere in Manabe’s
single-column model warmed as carbon dioxide concentrations rose, but in what was a surprise at the time, the model’s stratosphere actually cooled.
Temperatures in this upper region of the atmosphere, between roughly 7.5 and 31 miles (12 and 50 km) in altitude, are governed by a delicate balance between the absorption of ultraviolet sunlight by ozone and release of radiant heat by carbon dioxide. Increase the carbon dioxide, and the atmosphere traps more radiant heat near the surface but actually releases more radiant heat from the stratosphere, causing it to cool.
This cooling of the stratosphere has been detected over decades of satellite measurements and is a distinctive fingerprint of carbon dioxide-driven warming, as warming from other causes such as changes in sunlight or El Niño cycles do not yield stratospheric cooling.
Forecast No. 3: Arctic amplification
Manabe used his single-column model as the basis for a prototype quasi-global model, which simulated only a fraction of the globe. It also simulated only the upper 100 meters or so of the ocean and neglected the effects of ocean currents.
In 1975, Manabe published global warming simulations with this quasi-global model and again found stratospheric cooling. But he also made a new discovery – that the Arctic warms significantly more than the rest of the globe, by a factor of two to three times.
This “Arctic amplification” turns out to be a robust feature
of global warming, occurring in present-day observations and subsequent simulations. A warming Arctic furthermore means a decline in Arctic sea ice, which has become one of the most visible and dramatic indicators of a changing climate.
Forecast No. 4: Landocean contrast
In the early 1970s, Manabe was also working to couple his atmospheric model to a firstof-its-kind dynamical model of the full world ocean built by oceanographer Kirk Bryan.
Around 1990, Manabe and Bryan used this coupled atmosphere-ocean model to simulate global warming over realistic continental geography, including the effects of the full ocean circulation. This led to a slew of insights, including the observation that land generally warms more than ocean, by a factor of about 1.5.
As with Arctic amplification, this land-ocean contrast can be seen in observed warming. It can also be explained from basic scientific principles and is roughly analogous to the way a dry surface, such as pavement,
warms more than a moist surface, such as soil, on a hot, sunny day.
The contrast has consequences for land-dwellers like ourselves, as every degree of global warming will be amplified over land.
Forecast No. 5: Delayed Southern Ocean warming
Perhaps the biggest surprise from Manabe’s models came from a region most of us rarely think about: the Southern Ocean.
This vast, remote body of water encircles Antarctica and has strong eastward winds whipping across it unimpeded, due to the absence of land masses in the southern midlatitudes. These winds continually draw up deep ocean waters to the surface.
Manabe and colleagues found that the Southern Ocean warmed very slowly when atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations increased because the surface waters were continually being replenished by these upwelling abyssal waters, which had not yet warmed.
This delayed Southern Ocean
warming is also visible in the temperature observations.
What does all this add up to?
Looking back on Manabe’s work more than half a century later, it’s clear that even early climate models captured the broad strokes of global warming.
Manabe’s models simulated these patterns decades before they were observed: Arctic Amplification was simulated in 1975 but only observed with confidence in 2009, while stratospheric cooling was simulated in 1967 but definitively observed only recently. Climate models have their limitations, of course. For instance, they cannot predict regional climate change as well as people would like. But the fact that climate science, like any field, has significant unknowns should not blind us to what we do know.
This article was originally published by The Conversation. Nadir Jeevanjee is a research physical scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The Conversation
Photo courtesy of The Conversation
Shown here, Syukuro Manabe, winner of the Nobel Prize in physics in 2021.
Photo is courtesy of The Conversation
Winds around Antarctica contribute to upwelling of cold deep water that keeps the Southern Ocean cool while also raising nutrients to the surface waters.
Photo courtesy of The Conversation
AFRO NEWS
47th president vows to deploy federal forces to Chicago and Baltimore, defying state and local leaders
By Will Weissert and Sophia Tareen
President Donald Trump said Sept. 2 that he will direct federal law enforcement intervention to combat crime in Chicago and Baltimore, despite staunch opposition from state and local officials in both cities.
Asked by reporters in the Oval Office about sending National Guard troops to Chicago, Trump said, “We’re going in,” but added, “I didn’t say when.”
“I have an obligation,” the president said. “This isn’t a political thing.”
N.J. Sen. Cory Booker announces engagement to Alexis Lewis
By The Associated Press
Baltimore doesn’t need occupation— or threats
By Dr. Frances Murphy Draper AFRO CEO and Publisher
Trump has already sent National Guard troops into Washington, D.C., and federalized the police force in the nation’s capital. More recently, he has said he plans similar moves in other cities,
Baltimore is no stranger to being used as a political punching bag. Donald Trump’s latest talk of deploying the National Guard here isn’t about keeping people safe; it’s about scoring points. The truth is that crime is down. Baltimore has recorded some of its lowest homicide numbers in years, with August marking the fewest killings ever recorded for that month. That fragile but real progress belongs to Baltimoreans: the officers walking beats, the violence interrupters de-escalating conflicts, the faith leaders mentoring young people, the parishioners praying without ceasing and the neighbors who refuse to give up. To ignore this progress and paint Baltimore as a war zone is more than inaccurate—it is insulting. And it’s part of a larger pattern. Trump has already suggested “rethinking” the billions Congress approved to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge after its collapse. And earlier this year, he flatly vowed to block the FBI’s long-planned relocation to Greenbelt, Md. —dismissing our state as “too far” and “too liberal.”
Years of bipartisan planning were brushed aside in a single sound bite, with no regard for the economic impact on our region or the national security reasons behind the move. These aren’t serious policies. They are threats—bully tactics that treat Baltimore and Maryland like bargaining chips instead of communities that matter. Let’s also be honest about the subtext. Trump’s so-called “law and order” agenda has consistently zeroed in on majority-Black cities with Democratic mayors: Baltimore, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Oakland, Los Angeles, New York. His language is more than political—it carries the sting of racial coding, the same old trope that Black-led cities are inherently lawless or incapable of governing themselves. We’ve heard this tune before. But Baltimore, like every one of those cities, refuses to be defined by someone else’s fearmongering. Governor Wes Moore has called it exactly what it is: “completely performative” and “deeply disrespectful.” Baltimore City Mayor Brandon Scott was just as direct, reminding the nation that we don’t need troops patrolling
Mississippi memories: After the storm
By Alexis Taylor AFRO Managing Editor
Last week, the AFRO profiled 32-year-old Chancellor Mason, a Hurricane Katrina survivor from Gulfport, Miss. This week, we explore what life was like for the Mason family in the aftermath of the storm.
As August turned to September in 2005, Chancellor Mason, his older brother, mother and father did what most Black families in Gulfport, Miss. did: they surveyed the damage and tried to get a grip on their new reality.
After riding out Hurricane Katrina in a North Gulfport school, the Mason family returned to their neighborhood on the western side of town. It was unrecognizable.
“There was pure devastation,” said Mason. The home they were renting to own was destroyed and the family dog, Root Beer, was never seen again. Though the storm was over, the nightmare of recovery had only just begun.
Mason told the AFRO he was in awe at how the Black community was left to fend for themselves in a town that was home to an Air Force base, the Naval Construction Battalion Center, the Atlantic Fleet Seabees and the Mississippi National Guard.
“I didn’t see any of them on the streets,” he said. What he did see was shocking.
“They put barbed wire across the railroad tracks,” recalls Mason. “South of the tracks is the richer area, that’s where the big houses are, that’s where the businesses are. Instead of focusing on people that needed help, they were focusing on looters.”
“How many looters were there–compared to all these people that needed help…stuck in their houses, in need of food or water? People [were] injured and they put up barbed wire– and it was there
Hurricane Katrina in Gulfport, Miss. 20 years ago with his family, and the struggles they had to overcome as “refugees” in Florida.
quick…they didn’t even wait,” he said. “The wires were up before they even tried to restore power.” Mason’s father ended up climbing over this barbed wire to check on his mother-in-law, who fortunately had taken refuge at another family member’s home. The decision saved her life, as Mason’s father came back across the barbed wire with a report that the house he was searching for was gone. An 18-wheeler sat in its place. The family trekked back to the
school in North Gulfport where they had rode out the storm. Survivors tried to quickly cook food left in the school’s refrigerators before it went bad. A church group from Illinois offered hot dogs.
“The National Guard did finally show up, and I remember they were giving one bag of ice per family and one pack of water per family. Mind you, you had to have a car to get in line. You couldn’t walk,” Mason
AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (front, center) speaks during a press conference Tuesday, Sept. 2, in Chicago, as
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker looks on. The two have vehemently denied the need for a deployment of National Guard troops to Chicago, as recommended by the 47th president of the United States.
Photo courtesy of Meta (Facebook) / Chancellor Mason Chancellor Mason, a 32-year-old veteran of the U.S. Navy, is a survivor in every sense of the word. Mason still vividly recalls how he survived
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, whose record-setting Senate speech this year denouncing the Trump administration fueled talk of a potential future national campaign, has announced his engagement to girlfriend Alexis Lewis.
Booker, a former Democratic candidate for president, announced the engagement on Instagram Sept. 2, posting five photos of the couple who were wearing leis, smiling broadly and posing on a beach in one photo.
Meta (Facebook) / Cory Booker
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker is now engaged to his longtime partner, Alexis Lewis.
BALTIMORE-AREA
Family, city council members call for reform after in-custody death of Dontae Melton Jr.
By Victoria Mejicanos and Tashi McQueen
Staff Writers
AFRO
vmejicanos@afro.com
tmcqueen@afro.com
Family members of Dontae Melton Jr. are speaking out about the Baltimore man’s death, which took place in police custody on June 24 and has since been ruled a homicide by the Maryland Chief Medical Examiners Office.
“A mental health crisis should not become a death sentence.”
“Homicide…this is what happened to Dontae Melton Jr. on June 24, 2025,” said Lawrence “Larry” S. Greenberg, an attorney at Greenberg Law Offices, who is representing the Melton family. “He was a 31-year-old man in the midst of a mental health crisis begging for police to help.”
Melton’s death has raised concerns from his family and Baltimore City
Inmates share medical records to prove alleged BCDC H. pylori outbreak
By Alexis Taylor AFRO Managing Editor ataylor@afro.com
Standing in a quaint residence on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Kenneth Bridge lays out his paperwork.
Page by page, the U.S. Army veteran tells his story. And he’s clear about what happened—after all, he had 18 months to think, plan and prepare inside the Baltimore County Detention Center (BCDC) before being released.
Bridge was taken into custody in the summer of 2023. He was released in early 2025. Upon returning home, he called the AFRO Now, after more than a year in jail, Bridge is far from content with just his freedom. He says he was wrongly imprisoned, given food with mouse droppings and forced to live in unsanitary conditions at BCDC. Then, roughly two months into his time at the facility, an H. pylori infection began to ravage his body.
“I had a swollen stomach and bloating. It was painful at night and caused me to wake up with bad pain. My stomach bubbled all day long, constipation came in and then—after months of having it—the bleeding started when I went to the bathroom,” Bridge told the AFRO. “They were trying to pass the bleeding off as a side effect of Subutex, but I wasn’t on Subutex. A lot of the guys weren’t on Subutex—that is a substitute
for people who were on opioids and heroin.”
“I lost weight like crazy,” he continued. “I came in at 240 pounds and went all the way down to 202 at the snap of the finger.”
For more than two years, inmates and their concerned family members say they warned BCDC officials of a bacteria constantly spreading through the tiers. Their complaints fell on deaf ears.
Karen Carenson, who now runs her own nonprofit to help children via afterschool programming, said she was introduced to Bridge in 2023 through a relative who was also locked up at BCDC. After hearing their symptoms, Carenson told her family member and Bridge to seek medical attention because what she heard was aligned with an H. pylori infection. She suggested H. pylori tests for them and any others presenting with the symptoms they described: blood in their stool, blood in their vomit, severely bloated stomachs and more.
“On Feb. 20, [2023], I received a call from my family member. He had major pain in his stomach, he was unable to make a bowel movement. He also had burning pains, bloating and nausea,” said Carenson, who was managing a
Council members about how the case was handled and what changes need to happen.
“Instead of compassion, Baltimore City Police Officers restrained him, arrested him, mocked him, abused him and left him to die on the street that
Residents respond to turmoil surrounding Baltimore City NAACP
By Tashi McQueen AFRO Staff Writer tmcqueen@afro.com
Baltimore residents are voicing concerns over turmoil surrounding the Baltimore City Branch of the NAACP.
“I think money is always the basis of the issue,” said Bryant Scott, 53-year old Baltimore resident. “A lot of egos, thinking ‘I’m better than you,’ and ‘We’re going to do things how I want to do it.’”
It has been nearly a year since key leaders of both the Baltimore branch and the Maryland State Conference were suspended, pending investigation into claims of financial mismanagement and a lack of transparency.
On July 22, the executive team of the Baltimore branch announced in a Facebook post that the national office had temporarily halted its operations, criticizing the process as slow and uncommunicative. The move has left many questioning the future of the branch.
Shortly after the AFRO reported on the Facebook post, the NAACP national
“It’s prime time that we come together and put the right people in positions of power.”
headquarters reached out to address the growing tensions between its executive leadership and local branches.
“The National Office has placed the Baltimore City Branch and the Maryland State Conference under administratorship and will manage the operations and functions of both entities,” said Dominik Whitehead, NAACP chief of Field, Membership Growth and Unit
Morgan State honors Enolia Pettigen McMillan in naming of new housing complex
By Nyame-Kye Kondo Special to the AFRO
When Morgan State University opened its doors to students in August, the housing offerings included apartment-style living at The Enolia, a brand new off-campus housing complex. Named in honor of one of its greatest champions, Enolia Pettigen McMillan, the complex is now buzzing with Morganites in pursuit of their academic goals. McMillan was a pioneering educator, civil rights leader and lifelong advocate for the university, and now serves as an inspiration to the next generation of students at the historically Black institution that has been named a National Treasure.
Born on Oct. 20, 1904, in Willow Grove, Pa., McMillan was a trailblazer from a young age and throughout her professional life. Graduating from Howard University in 1926, she became the first Black person to integrate Towson State Teachers College in 1935, the first Black woman to serve as a principal in a Maryland public high school in 1942, the first woman to chair Morgan State University’s Board of Regents in 1975, and the first woman to lead the NAACP as president in 1984.
During her time leading Morgan’s Board of Regents, McMillan championed financial equity for educators, advocating for Black educators to receive pay equal to their peers. She also worked to ensure that university funding was used responsibly and transparently, demonstrating her commitment to educational justice and institutional accountability.
These historic
accomplishments, paired with her unwavering support for Black education, have made McMillan a revered figure in the legacy of Morgan State and beyond.
Following in the tradition of “firsts,” The Enolia is, according to a 2025 WBLA-TV article, “the first privately constructed off-campus housing development built specifically to serve Morgan State University students in more than 20 years.”
Located in the Hamilton-Lauraville neighborhood adjacent to the university, the complex was completed in July 2025. It offers modern amenities, including a fully equipped gym, multiple student lounges, and an inviting outdoor courtyard.
The Enolia provides students with the comfort of knowing that campus is easily accessible, but a freedom to explore the surrounding Hartford neighborhood.
Designed as a co-ed,
upperclassman residence,
The Enolia gives priority to high-achieving students, offering a vibrant and supportive space to thrive during their final years at Morgan.
For students like Emma Ogunmedede, a senior information systems major from Baltimore, a desk assistant at The Enolia and one of its first residents, the new complex is deeply meaningful.
“The Enolia Apartments stand as a beautiful tribute to Enolia McMillan, a pivotal historical figure at Morgan State University,” she said.
“Each day, it will serve as a reminder of the sacrifices and determination that made it possible for Black students to pursue higher education. It is stunning, vibrant, and welcoming—setting the perfect backdrop for my senior year. I look forward to leaving Morgan State on a great note.”
In addition to honoring the past, The Enolia addresses a growing concern: affordable and accessible housing for Morgan State students. As enrollment increases and more students return to campus post-pandemic, housing availability has not always kept pace.
Courtesy photos
Family members of Dontae Melton Jr. are speaking out against his death in policy custody, which was recently ruled a homicide by the Maryland Chief Medical Examiners Office. Body cam footage of the incident was released on Aug. 27 by the Office of the Maryland Attorney General.
AFRO Photo/ Nyame-Kye Kondo Dr. Tiffany Mfume, granddaughter of Enolia Pettigen McMillan, speaks at the ribbon cutting ceremony for The Enolia.
AFRO Photo/ Nyame-Kye Kondo
A local bus passes in front of Morgan State University’s newly-built off-campus housing complex, The Enolia.
Sustainability. “While we don’t discuss the details of internal matters, we can say that this situation is being handled in accordance with our bylaws, procedures and legal obligations.
“As such, NAACP’s presence in Maryland will be restructured to better position the State Conference and Branch to take on the fights ahead and return stronger than ever,” he added. “We will continue to support our branches, units and members as they uphold the mission of the Association across the country.”
Barbara Rich, a 68-year old Baltimore resident, said that Black people– especially in the politically tumultuous times Americans live in today– need the NAACP to be as active as they once were in the community.
“I’ve noticed that the NAACP is not like it used to be,” said Barbara Rich. “I don’t know anything about what the
NAACP Dontae Melton Jr.
night,” said Greenberg on Sept. 2 at a press conference with the Melton family behind him, grieving. “He cried that he couldn’t breathe. He asked to go to the hospital, but it fell on deaf ears. Despite seeing that Dontae was suffering from mental illness, no crisis trained officers were called to the scene.”
medical office at the time.
Carenson told the AFRO her relative requested an H.pylori test and she placed a call to the warden’s secretary on March 9, 2023 because she was “unable to speak with him directly.” The next day, March 10, she placed another call and spoke with an “Officer Diggs,” who told her she couldn’t speak with the warden unless she went “through the chain of command.” Officer Diggs then transferred her to a person only identified as “Sergeant Washington.”
Ultimately, Carenson said “nothing was ever done” for her family member.
“He was never tested for H. Pylori, and he was actually sent out of the institution with the same symptoms,” she said, of her family member.
“He had symptoms even a year later from 2023. No one has reached out. No one has followed up,” she said.
Though her relative was sent to another facility, she was still worried about Bridge and the other inmates at BCDC. Bridge gave Carenson Power of Attorney rights so that she could help the inmates suspected of having an H.pylori infection from outside of the prison walls.
“They’re there to deal with a crime that they may or may not have committed. Because they’re there– for whatever reason – that doesn’t mean that they should not be taken care of in reference to their health,” said Carenson.
Together, Bridge and Carenson have been building a case. And the documents paint a harrowing picture.
On Aug. 24, 2023, Bridge filled out a #200 form, the official document used to
NAACP is doing. Only if I see them on TV and that’s only during certain times of the year.”
“If they came in touch with the community more, it would put fear in the prejudiced people’s heart,” added Rich.
Adavia Delillye, 18, echoed Rich’s sentiment of not knowing much about what the local branch does in the community. She encouraged leaders,
record inmate complaints. In the document, he raises issues about mouse droppings in the food and H-Pylori.
“I’m watching other inmates experiencing the same problem without being allowed to be tested for H-Pylori because of the reason given by nurse staff, that they have to have a chronic ulcer.
That’s ‘false,’” wrote Bridge, on his complaint form.
Denial letters sent to the inmates and provided to the AFRO by Bridge state that the “H.Pylori test is ordered for persons with chronic stomach ulcer.” The inmates were told that they did not have chronic stomach ulcers, and therefore, “the test is not needed.”
In some cases, the same denial letter that denies the request for an H.Pylori test also informs the inmate that they will be “starting Pepto-Bismol suspension and Fiber-lax” for their “stomach issues.”
After multiple requests, documents provided by Bridge show he was finally tested on Aug. 4, 2023. He then, like all inmates, had to put in another request to actually see the test results from the screening. He learned what was happening to his body a month after his test was completed.
According to the many BioReference reports provided for the organization associated with “Acct #ML603-8 M2” anything over .99 means a positive result for H.pylori.
Bridge’s test was handled by a lab directed by Dr. Tamera Paczos. His H.pylori Ab., IgA test came back at 2.62 in a report printed on Aug. 9, 2023.
Bridge says he just wants to see “justice to be done” for the men who have suffered.
When asked about the multiple infections reported to
AFRO Photo/Tashi McQueen
Bryant Scott, 53, of Baltimore, believes egos and money struggles fuel struggles with transparency and adequate leadership in the community.
members of the NAACP to come out and speak with Baltimore residents on the streets of the city.
“We really need love and support in the streets,” said Delillye.
She said hosting events in popular areas of the city such as Downtown Baltimore and resources are what Black Baltimoreans need from the local NAACP.
the paper in December 2024,
Erica L. Palmisano, director of communications for the Baltimore County Government, told the AFRO at the time that there was only one confirmed case of H.pylori at BCDC. When given an opportunity to update the number of reported cases in early 2025, she reiterated that there was only one confirmed case of H.pylori.
When the inmates were told officials were only acknowledging one H.Pylori case, they began collecting their medical records to prove otherwise.
One man physically mailed his test results to the AFRO offices in downtown Baltimore. He tested positive on a test administered on Nov. 18, 2024. The results, from a lab run by Dr. James Weisberger, show his H.Pylori Ab., IgG result at 1.23. His H.Pylori Ab. IgA result was 1.67.
Bridge then showed medical paperwork from when he tested posted in fall 2023, making two cases. But his records and evidence don’t stop there.
Bridge has more than a dozen medical records he says were given to him by different inmates who hope to publicly expose their fight against H.pylori and the treatment of those behind bars at BCDC. He has a stack of documents from inmates who tested positive, but don’t want to be publicly revealed. He also has a collection of denials from inmates who asked to be tested, but were refused H.pylori screening by the BCDC medical team.
The men who spoke with the AFRO in the past 10 months believe the bacteria was spread in part by the toilet water carrying fecal matter from cell to cell.
Though Palmisano denied this was happening with the pipes in Dec. 2024, an inmate sent a copy of a Sept. 4, 2024 complaint form signed by a “Sergeant Durant,” who put in writing what she witnessed with her own eyes.
In the form, Sgt. Durant admitted that she saw the back up herself–even after plumbers were called to address the complaint of sewage from one cell going to another.
The inmate complaint form, known as a “200 form,” was mailed to the AFRO offices with the issuing supervisor’s comments on the paperwork.
The document, signed by Sgt. Durant, states that an inmate on the 3H tier in cell #4 complained because when the “toilet is flushed in 3H cell #3 the water and the urine or fecal matter backs up into the toilet inside of 3H cell 4.”
“Sergeant Durant witnessed
According to the body cam footage released by the Maryland Attorney General’s Office, police responded to Melton Jr., 31, after he stopped a car to ask for help at a traffic light. Eventually, police had to restrain him so that he would not run into traffic. While he was restrained, police began to see signs of medical distress. The police called for an ambulance which never arrived. After 45 minutes of waiting the police drove the man to a nearby hospital themselves.
Greenberg shared his concern about a 30-minute gap in the time between the officers leaving the site of the arrest and arriving at the hospital.
“Once he was at the hospital, despite the initial officer knowing his name, no one at the hospital was told his name,” said Greenberg. “Dontae died alone and unknown. They never called his family. They never called his children, his parents, no one.”
this for herself. Maintenance has been advised and they have conducted maintenance on this same issue,” writes Durant.
Durant goes on to say the same inmate already “received a response in writing from Captain Copper on 8/19/2024 in reference to this issue.”
The AFRO is in receipt of an “Intra-Department Memorandum” that shows what happened with Captain Copper’s investigation into the matter. It was determined that “the complaint was unsubstantiated,” and that “no further action will be taken by the office on the complaint.”
EDITORS NOTE: The names “Kenneth Bridge” and “Carol Carenson” are pseudonyms used to protect the identities of the sources who spoke with the AFRO
The family is demanding full disclosure about what happened to Melton and is asking witnesses to come forward. Their legal team is also preparing a lawsuit against those responsible, which is expected to be filed after the attorney general’s investigation is complete.
At a city council hearing on crisis response on Aug. 27, city council members discussed the need for improved police training on mental health calls.
“A mental health crisis should not become a death sentence,” said Baltimore City Council President Zeke Cohen (D).
Baltimore City Police Commissioner Richard Worley admitted that the computer aided dispatch system (CAD) that police use to contact medical help has failed 25 times this year and confirmed it was down at the time of the incident.
In a press release, Cohen discussed three critical changes that the city council hopes to make regarding police response.
First is a “best-in-class” mobile crisis response system, as well as a new office of behavioral health within the health department that will be established to coordinate what organizations are currently involved in crisis response. Cohen also wants Commissioner Worley to commit to ensuring that all new police officers receive crisis response certification at the academy.
“This is a significant step forward,” said Cohen in the press release. “By building a stronger, coordinated, and compassionate crisis response system, we can better protect and serve Baltimoreans in their moments of greatest need.”
Unsplash / Tim Hufner
Though Baltimore County Detention Center officials deny that there has been more than one case, multiple men allege that they caught H.Pylori infections while in custody at the facility.
H. pylori outbreak
AFRO Photo/Tashi McQueen
Barbara Rich, 68, of Baltimore, believes the NAACP must reconnect with the community and be as active as it once was.
WASHINGTON-AREA
Rev. Bryant urges Black Church to spark a moral revival, confront White supremacy
By D.
Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, a historic Black congregation in Washington, D.C., was founded in 1838 as part of a growing anti-segregation protest that emerged from Philadelphia, Pa., in 1787. So, it was fitting that on Aug. 28, the church hosted a service commemorating the anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, a seminal moment in the Civil Rights Movement.
Church leaders invited the community to participate in what might be best described as an old-fashioned tent revival. However, while the noonday service embodied traditional elements, including a litany of prayers given by ministers and the laity, soul stirring singing, and a powerful sermon, this “revival” was held within the confines of the main sanctuary.
During his remarks of welcome, the church’s pastor, the Rev. William H. Lamar, said he hoped the worship experience would inspire more members of the Black Church to join in a new civil rights movement and view it as “mission possible.”
“We are facing a surge in injustice, discrimination, exploitation and White supremacy, all expressed in various ways, but the good news is we’ve been here before,” said
Lamar. “We are people of the book [the Bible] and we know that in times like these, we must turn to God in prayer. We welcome you to join us today in prayer.”
Lamar explained why prayer served as the foundation and focus of the service and opined that even many who represent the “beloved community” of which the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke have forgotten the purpose of prayer.
“Prayer is sitting and waiting for God to speak to us,” he said. “Then, it’s about moving in faith with God.”
Nearly a dozen ministers and lay members, most from the Greater Washington Area, offered prayers that addressed many of the concerns within the Black community.
But when the Ret. Rev. Reginald T. Jackson, prelate of the AME Church’s Second District, which encompasses Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Virginia, North Carolina and Western North Carolina, offered his prayer, the congregation rose to its feet with love and gratitude for his many years of service.
“We have too many people in D.C. with positions of power but who lack character,” he said, before reciting a list of those who he considers to be among the worst violators–including the 47th president of the United States.
“While the president says he wants to crack down on violent crime in D.C., what he needs to address is the rise in
28 after a special service held at to coincide with the 62nd anniversary of the March on Washington.
white-collar crime which has ramped up across the nation, even in the White House. We need to ask God to help us to cry, to cry out until America can’t help but hear us. And as we cry out and make our demands known, we need to rely on God and be faithful and unafraid.”
Bryant delivers the word The Rev. Jamal Bryant, a renowned minister and senior pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, a charismatic and progressive megachurch located in DeKalb County, Ga., delivered the sermon for the service.
Bryant has repeatedly been the topic of headline news since announcing a 40-day initiative to boycott retail giant Target, after it yielded to the president’s directive and eliminated its diversity, inclusion and equity commitments.
The original boycott was scheduled from March 3 to April 19. But on April 20, Easter Sunday, Bryant announced
that the initiative would continue indefinitely after Target failed to make any concessions, including acceding to a request for the company to reinvest in Black communities and businesses.
Still, Bryant is at his core a preacher – born, raised, encouraged and educated within the proud Black Church tradition. And based on the congregation’s responses –replete with shouts of “amen,” thunderous applause, and words of encouragement and agreement in the call and response tradition – he did not disappoint.
“We are gathered here today to deliver the message that something is wrong with the ethical barometer and sentiments of this country,” he said. “When people begin to believe that the country belongs to them, something is wrong. What America is facing today is not a political struggle. The Bible has 57 translations while
Schools reopen in DC with parents anxious over Trump’s armed patrols
Public schools reopened Aug 25 in the nation’s tense capital with parents on edge over the presence in their midst of thousands of National Guard troops — some now armed — and large scatterings of federal law enforcement officers carrying out President Donald Trump’s orders to make the District of Columbia a safer place. Even as Trump started talking about other cities — “Do not come to Chicago,” was the Democratic Illinois governor’s clipped response — the president again touted a drop in crime that he attributed to his extraordinary effort to take over policing in Washington, D.C. The district’s mayor, meanwhile, was lamenting the effect of Trump’s actions on children in her city.
“Parents are anxious. We’ve heard from a lot of them,” Mayor Muriel Bowser said at a news conference, noting that some might keep their children out of school because of immigration concerns.
“Any attempt to target children is heartless, is mean, is uncalled for and it only hurts us,” she said. “I would just call for everybody to leave our kids alone.”
Rumors of police activity
city, parental social media groups and listservs were buzzing with reports and rumors of checkpoints and arrests.
The week began with some patrolling National Guard units now carrying firearms. The change stemmed from a directive issued late last week by his Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Armed National Guard troops from Ohio, South Carolina and Tennessee were seen around the city Aug. 25. But not every patrol appears to be carrying weapons. An Associated Press photographer said the roughly 30 troops he saw on the National Mall on the morning of Aug. 25 were unarmed.
Armed Guard members in Washington will be operating under long-standing rules for the use of military force inside the U.S., the military task force overseeing all the troops deployed to D.C. said Aug. 25. Those rules, broadly, say that while troops can use force, they should do so only “in response to an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm” and “only as a last resort.”
The task force has directed questions on why the change was necessary to Hegseth’s office. Those officials have declined to answer those questions. Speaking in the Oval Office on Aug. 25, Hegseth said that it was common sense to arm them because it meant they were “capable of defending themselves and others.”
Among their duties is picking up
trash, the task force said, though it’s unclear how much time they will spend doing that.
Bowser reiterated her opposition to the National Guard’s presence. “I don’t believe that troops should be policing American cities,” she said.
Trump is considering expanding the deployments to other Democratic-led cities, including Baltimore, Chicago and New York, saying the situations in those cities require federal action. In Washington, his administration says more than 1,000 people have been arrested since Aug. 7, including 86 on Aug. 24.
“We took hundreds of guns away from young kids, who were throwing them around like it was candy. We apprehended scores of illegal aliens. We seized dozens of illegal firearms. There have been zero murders,” Trump said Aug. 25.
Some other cities bristle at the possibility of military on the streets
The possibility of the military patrolling streets of Chicago, the nation’s third-largest city, prompted immediate backlash, confusion and a trail of sarcastic social media posts.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a first-term Democrat, has called it unconstitutional and threatened legal action. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker deemed it a distraction and unnecessary as
Could Emmett Till’s coffin be erased from the Smithsonian?
By Liz Courquet-Lesaulnier Word in Black
If history can be rewritten, then objects, no matter how sacred, can be put back into a shed, hidden in a basement or destroyed. Seventy years on, the task remains what it was in 1955: to look unflinchingly at racism, at the brutality it inflicted on a child and to refuse to let Emmett Till’s story be forgotten.
But if President Donald Trump and his allies get their way, the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture could one day be forced to get rid of Till’s glasstopped coffin — arguably the most important artifact of the civil rights movement.
Till would have turned 84 this summer. But on Aug. 28, 1955, a group of White men murdered him. His mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, made a decision that changed history: she insisted on an open-casket funeral, revealing the truth about the men who killed her child.
“I wanted the world to see what they did to my baby,” she said.
Photographs of Till’s broken body, published in The Chicago Defender and Jet magazine, galvanized the civil rights movement. His casket, enshrined in the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., still serves as a testament to Black grief and resistance.
To see the casket, visitors to the museum descend into the lower galleries. And, after a long, heavy silence in line, one by one, they encounter the original glass-topped coffin, which had been discarded and left to rot in a cemetery shed before being recovered and restored.
Emmett Till’s original glass-topped coffin, now on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, stands as a powerful reminder of his mother’s courage and the enduring fight to preserve the truth of his story. Till was only 14 years old when he was killed by White supremacists in Money, Miss. on Aug. 28, 1955.
The journey to the Smithsonian
The journey of Till’s casket to the Smithsonian mirrors America’s desire to hide its horrors. In 2005, after Till’s remains were exhumed from Burr Oak Cemetery outside Chicago for an autopsy and reburial, the original casket was to be preserved.
With Trump and his allies escalating attacks on the NMAAHC and other institutions dedicated to Black history, Till’s coffin, the story of his death, and his mother’s boundless courage, are at risk.
crime rates in Chicago are down, as they are nationwide.
Trump suggested multiple times earlier Aug. 25 that he might dispatch the National Guard to Chicago regardless of Pritzker’s opinion, calling the city a “killing field.”
Pritzker and other Illinois officials said the Trump administration has not reached out to Chicago leaders about any federal initiative to deploy military personnel to the city to combat crime. They cited statistics showing drops in violent crime in Chicago and cast Trump’s move as performative, partisan and racist.
“Mr. President, do not come to Chicago,” Pritzker said, standing in
a park about a mile from the Chicago skyscraper that features Trump’s name in large lettering. The governor said he would fight the “petty whims of an arrogant little man” who “wants to use the military to occupy a U.S. city, punish his dissidents and score political points.”
Others raised questions about where patrols might go and what role they might play. By square mileage, Chicago is more than three times the size of Washington, and neighborhoods with historically high crime are spread far apart.
Kevin McNeir Special to the AFRO kmcneir@afro.com
Courtesy Photo / Instagram
The Rev. Dr. Jamal Bryant, pastor of Georgia’s New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, stands outside of Metropolitan AME Church in Washington, D.C., on Aug.
Former Chicago Police
By Mark Sherman, Ashraf Khalil and Sophia Tareen
AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser speaks to reporters on Aug. 25 following a first day of school ceremony at Oyster-Adams Bilingual School.
AP Photo
Superintendent Garry McCarthy, who also worked for the New York Police Department, wondered what the National Guard would do in terms of fighting street violence. He said if there was clear communication, they could help with certain tasks, like perimeter patrol in high-crime neighborhoods, but only as part of a wider plan and in partnership with police.
National Guard troops were used in Chicago to help with the Democratic National Convention last summer and during the 2012 NATO Summit.
Overall, violent crime in Chicago dropped significantly in the first half of 2025,
Rev. Bryant
both the Torah and the Koran only have one. Why? Because Christians have become intoxicated with our own interpretations.
“Maybe what we need is a moral revival –the church needs to go back to the revivals of old and seek an authentic recipe, a word that America does not know how to pronounce – repent.”
Bryant cited several examples to support his perspective, including the 300,000 Black women who have lost their jobs since March 2025 – an injustice that only a handful of elected officials and business leaders have addressed. He also criticized the cutting of programs benefitting children, mothers and senior citizens.
August 28 – a date of historical significance for African Americans
Like many Black preachers, Bryant was mindful to include a Black history moment during his sermon.
“We remember the sacrifices made by Dr. King and his colleagues as leaders in the Civil Rights Movement, who stunned the world when nearly a quarter million people showed up in D.C. for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and demanded that this nation make good on its promise of racial and economic equality for all. That was Aug. 28, 1963.
“Emmett Till was murdered by White
representing the steepest decline in over a decade, according to police data. Shootings and homicides were down more than 30 percent in the first half of the year compared with the same time last year, and total violent crime dropped by over 22 percent.
Still, some neighborhoods, including Austin on the city’s West Side, where the Rev. Ira Acree is a pastor, experiencing persistent high crime.
Acree said he’s received numerous calls from congregants upset about the possible deployment. He said if Trump was serious about crime prevention, he would boost funding for anti-violence initiatives.
“This is a joke,” Acree said. “This move is
“Any attempt to target children is heartless, is mean, is uncalled for and it only hurts us. I would just call for everybody to leave our kids alone.”
not about reducing violence. This is reckless leadership and political grandstanding. It’s no secret that our city is on the president’s hit list.”
In June, roughly 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines were sent to Los Angeles to deal with protests over the administration’s immigration crackdown. California’s
“We haven’t come here just to pray and then go back home. We have assembled to warn the leaders of this country to get their act together because the God of history and justice will not stand idly by forever… God will have the final say.”
supremacists on Aug. 28, 1955, in Mississippi. And while the storm raged for eight days, Hurricane Katrina reached its peak… on Aug. 28, 2005.”
Bryant could have added that on Aug. 28, 2008, Barack Obama delivered his historic acceptance speech as the Democratic Party’s nominee for president, and on Aug. 28, 1833, the United Kingdom abolished slavery.
The truth will set you free
“James Baldwin once said ‘whatever you don’t face, you will never fix, and if you don’t face it, you cannot fix it.’ That’s why we’re here, standing in prayer,” Bryant said. “The Black Church does not have the right or option to be silent. We’ve got to clear our throats and say aloud together why we’re dissatisfied with what’s happening in America.”
While referencing the initiative that he continues to lead against Target, Bryant was clear to refer to it not as a boycott but as a protest.
“Does America believe that 56 years of inclusion wipes out 400 years of oppression?” he asked. “We started our actions against Target out of a spirit of self-respect and self-determination. We’ve done it peacefully, keeping our Black dollars in our Black pockets. Now, Target wants to play games – they want to play us. So, we are not going to shop there until they treat us fairly and with respect.”
As he reached the end of his sermon, Bryant reiterated his reasons for coming to Washington.
“White supremacists, MAGA supporters, Donald Trump, Elon Musk and J.D. Vance are mad, real mad. Not because we’re Black, but because we’re reviving a Black-led
movement. And the enemy is always aggravated and annoyed when people take a stand and oppose him,” he said. “Unfortunately, a lot of Negroes want to be friends with pharaoh. But we’re here today to tell pharaoh to ‘let our people go.’”
“I didn’t come here to make you shout or clap or jump up and down. I came here with one assignment from God and one message for those who live and work in the nation’s capital: to repent. We haven’t come here just to pray and then go back home,” Bryant continued. “We have assembled to warn the leaders of this country to get their act together because the God of history and justice will not stand idly by forever. It doesn’t matter how big they think they are or how long they’ve been in power because when history is on your side, nothing else matters. God will have the final say.”
Please see more on AFRO.com
Continued from B4
Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, and other local elected officials objected. Tareen reported from Chicago. Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin and Will Weissert contributed to this report. This article was originally published by The Associated Press.
COMMENTARY
Investing in our young people: A chronicling of youth-focused initiatives in Howard County
By Calvin Ball Howard County Executive
What can we do to prepare for the future and ensure the success of the next generation?
In Howard County, the answer to that question has always been clear: we must invest in our young people. Prior to becoming Howard County executive, I studied educational systems and earned a doctorate with a focus on community college leadership. Working and teaching in higher education helped to lay the foundation for my career in public service. It also gave me a deep understanding of the power of investing in our young people and providing pathways to success.
Howard County has long been recognized for its high-quality public schools and robust recreation programs, yet significant achievement gaps and limited community-based services existed for young people prior to 2018. For example, According to the 20212022 Kindergarten Readiness Assessment Report, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, only 19 percent of Hispanic children and 33 percent of Black children were ready for kindergarten, compared to 53 percent of Asian children and 54 percent of White children. Youth mental health needs were also pressing. A 2021 survey found that 37 percent of Howard County high school students felt sad or hopeless for at least two weeks, and about one in six had seriously considered suicide.
After taking office in December 2018, we recognized the need to respond to these disturbing trends with action. My team immediately began establishing programs, boosting funding, and forming new partnerships aimed at uplifting Howard County’s young people.
These efforts started by addressing structural deficits in the school system. In partnership with HCPSS, we eliminated a nearly $40 million health fund deficit, which freed up millions in recurring school system costs that has allowed us to reinvest in classroom learning and student support services. This year alone, the County added $53.5 million in
new recurring funding, a landmark 7 percent increase over the prior year. Howard County now funds HCPSS at approximately $54 million above State requirements, totaling more than $816 million in local funding support alone.
This investment has also led to an aggressive expansion of our full-day pre-k services to 95 percent of HCPSS elementary schools, prioritizing the children and families that need it most.
However, education is only one piece of the puzzle. Our young people spend more time outside the classroom than they do inside. This is why we launched new nonschool-based initiatives that tackled multiple challenges.
In 2019 we kicked off HoCo STRIVES (Strategies to Reach an Inclusive Vision and Equitable Solutions), an initiative designed to tackle the county’s persistent academic achievement gaps and support vulnerable youth. STRIVES serves as an umbrella strategy coordinating several community-based efforts – from early childhood education to behavioral health, nutrition, and social-emotional learning – to help ensure all children can succeed in school.
Regarding mental health, STRIVES’ Building Youth Resiliency Program helps youth overcome multiple treatment barriers, including cost, transportation, and long waittimes. Since 2020, the program has served more than 300 youth and continues to maintain a wait time of three days or fewer between referral and first appointment with a provider. In addition, the Psychiatric Rehabilitation Program provides supplemental mental health services to youth who are either underinsured or altogether uninsured. The program serves approximately 15 to 25 youth per year, with 85 percent of participating youth maintaining their mental stability 90 to 120 days after completing the program.
As it relates to social and emotional learning, we started STRIVES’ Middle School Summer Scholars program to curb summer
learning loss through targeted academic interventions – mainly mathematics – for different cohorts of middle school students by strategically addressing their social and emotional development. Academically, our Middle School Summer Scholars program, which ran for six summers and served cumulatively nearly 700 middle schoolers, helped more than 90 percent of program participants pass the following year’s math standardized testing. This success rate has grown from a low of 80 percent in the program’s first year, indicating that we saw our outcome improve over time as the program matured.
In 2023, we established the Youth Engagement Programming (YEP!) grant program to help nonprofits offer free or low-cost after-school, weekend, and summer activities ranging from sports and arts to STEM and mental wellness. As of May 2025, YEP! has awarded more than $1.5 million in grants to nearly 40 nonprofits, reaching approximately 13,000 young people across Howard County in the last two years. Our current YEP! program includes 33 organizations, delivering programs across the county. These programs make all the difference. They meet our young people where they are, prepare them for a successful future, and provide positive engagement experiences.
In 2025, we created the Youth Engagement Strategies (YES!) Council to coordinate violence prevention and youth engagement efforts, including mentorship. This 27-member council includes youth, mental health professionals, educators, and community leaders. Its mission: map services, identify gaps, and propose interventions such as mentoring, mental health access, restorative justice, and workforce development. This council was a call to action to ensure all our young people are safe and have a positive path forward.
Also in 2025, we bolstered Recreation & Parks’ programming for teens through our Teen Kick Backs program. The program offers free, weekly events where young people ages 11–17 can gather in a safe, supervised environment to enjoy games, music, sports,
and food, while interacting with positive adult role models.From my first days in office, we have recognized that investing in young people required far more than temporary fixes. It demanded sustained, equity-focused financial support, community collaboration, and innovation. And these investments were crucial as the COVID-19 pandemic risked widening learning gaps and limiting exposure and access to positive community-based programming.
The results are evident: increased youth engagement, improved academic performance, accessible mental health services, and a stronger sense of community. Through policies, programs, and continuous evaluation, we have created a model in which all young people are seen not just as future leaders, but as vital contributors today.
We have made strides, but our work continues. We must continue investing in prevention, intervention, and community-based solutions to ensure that all our young people are safe and have a positive path forward. Howard County is making good on that promise—one neighborhood, one family, and one child at a time.
Redistricting, the Black Press and the Black vote
By now, we all are aware that the 47th president of the United States is leaving no stone unturned in his effort to hold onto power by attempting to increase Republican seats in the House of Representatives in the coming midterm elections. While historically, congressional districts are redrawn after the 10-year census, mandated by the Constitution, we have just seen the Republicans in Texas redraw their districts in an effort to create five additional seats in the House of Representatives. At present they hold control by less than five seats.
The process of drawing boundaries so as to limit the voting strength of some i.e., Black and Brown people, while increasing the voting power of what would otherwise be a smaller number of Republicans. This is called “gerrymandering.” In response to this effort, the State of California, which has a congressional delegation of 52 with 12 Republicans, has, by special order of the governor and the legislature, moved to redistrict California so as to convert as many as possible of those Republican seats to Democratic, thereby neutralizing the Texas effort to keep control of the House. The Republicans are attempting
to identify other states in which to repeat this effort. If this is to be one of our first steps in stopping Trump, then every voter needs to be not only informed but also prepared to vote against this effort to change our representation in the House of Representatives in order to keep this president in power.
It is the Black Press and not social media that will keep our communities informed on this effort to set us back to pre-Voting Rights Act. The idea is to undo our social and economic gains. This is a continuation of what he is doing in every area of government. His cuts to healthcare and the dismantling
of social services are but a small example of what he has in mind for those who are not among his supporters.
As the Black Press leads the charge to keep us informed, we must act on the information provided by our papers. We must energize those among us who think voting is unnecessary. We must do our part to stop every plan he brings that violates our constitutional rights. Redistricting must become one of our chief weapons against Trump as we seek to make sure that no one he supports gets elected. Let’s not sit this one out and find ourselves put out.
Defending Federal Reserve independence and Black leadership
By Dedrick Asante-Muhammad
When President Trump attempted to remove Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa D. Cook from her post, he didn’t just target one individual. He threatened the independence of the Federal Reserve and sent a chilling message to every leader serving in public life: no matter your qualifications, your service is never safe from political retribution. This action is also another case of President Trump attempting to delegitimize Black leadership across the highest levels of American government.
That is why the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies convened a coalition of leading civil rights, economic justice, and policy organizations to stand with Cook and push back. Cook’s credentials are beyond dispute. She is a world-class economist who has advised governments during
global crises, served at multiple levels of the Federal Reserve System, and earned acclaim as a professor at Michigan State University. She was elected by Midwestern community bankers to the boards of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago — proof of the broad trust she has earned across the financial community.
In 2022, Cook made history as the first Black woman appointed to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Her appointment was a breakthrough for Black representation in economic governance. Today, that breakthrough is under threat.
President Trump’s attempt to force her out is part of a broader pattern. Time and again, he has sought to discredit and remove Black leaders from positions of power — insulting Congresswoman Maxine Waters by calling her “low IQ”, attacking prosecutors
like Letitia James and Fani Willis, undermining federal judges like Tanya Chutkan, and dismissing the leadership of Maryland Gov. Wes Moore. President Trump has also ignored the will of D.C. residents and Mayor Muriel Bowser by ordering National Guard troops into the city’s streets.
These attacks are not random, they are part of a deliberate strategy to weaken and delegitimize Black leadership across our institutions — from the courts to the military to economic governance.
The attack on Cook marks a dangerous escalation. The Federal Reserve is one of the most important independent institutions in our democracy. It safeguards our economy and makes decisions that affect millions of families and businesses.
Attacking the tenure of a Federal Reserve governor — especially one as qualified and effective as Cook
— undermines that independence and destabilizes the very system Trump claims to protect.
We cannot allow this to stand.
In moments like this, silence is complicity. That is why we are calling on policymakers, civic leaders, and the public to speak out — not just in defense of Cook, but in defense of every public servant facing illegitimate harassment as part of a politically motivated attack.
The coalition’s message is simple: Cook has earned her position through expertise, service, and integrity. She should be allowed to continue her work without intimidation or political interference.
If we fail to take action now, we risk sending a dangerous message to future generations of leaders: that no matter how qualified you are, your leadership can be erased at the whim of political power. We also risk losing some of the small gains in
Black political representation that has
emerged over the last 30 year.
must not let that message stand.
Courtesy photo Dedrick Asante-Muhammad is the president of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. This week, he speaks out against efforts to cut down Black leadership on the federal level.
AFRO Photo / Stephen Hopkins
This week, Howard County Executive Calvin Ball speaks on how investing in youth builds a stronger foundation for the future.
By John E. Warren
Courtesy photo
John E. Warren is publisher of San Diego Voice and Viewpoint Newspaper and chair of the board for the National Newspapers Publishers Association. This week, he speaks to the power of voting.
Dwight Howard to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame
By Tim Reynolds
All Dwight Howard urges his doubters to do is this: look at the numbers. They tell the story, he insists. He averaged 15.7 points and 11.8 rebounds per game. Only 13 other players in the history of the NBA have posted those for a career. They all made the Hall of Fame.
“I’m most proud of the fact that I’ve had longevity, and I’ve been able to play as long as I’ve been able play and stay as healthy as I have.”
“So, why not me?” Howard asked. He doesn’t have to ask that question anymore.
Howard — who is still upset, and some would say rightly so, for being left off the NBA’s 75th anniversary team that was unveiled nearly four years ago — wasn’t snubbed for the top individual honor that can be bestowed upon a player. He goes into
the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Sept. 6, the capper to a career where he was an eighttime All-Star, a five-time rebounding champion, a two-time blocked shots champion and the only player to win defensive player of the year in three consecutive seasons.
“I’m most proud of the fact that I’ve had longevity, and I’ve been able to play as long as I’ve been able play and stay as healthy as I have,”
Howard said. “And I want people to say that one thing about me is that I was always going to put my best foot forward, 100 percent effort. They can say, ‘No matter what it is, he’s going to put in everything he has.’”
Howard is one of two dual-enshrinees on Sept. 6; he and Carmelo Anthony are both going into the Hall of Fame for their individual achievements and again as part of the 2008 U.S. Olympic basketball team dubbed the “Redeem Team” after winning gold at the Beijing Games that summer.
Also entering the Hall: women’s basketball greats Sue Bird, Maya Moore and Sylvia Fowles, Miami Heat managing general partner
Micky Arison, longtime NBA referee Dan Crawford and Chicago Bulls coach Billy Donovan – a winner of two NCAA titles when he coached at Florida.
“It’s a great class,” USA Basketball men’s national team director
Sean Ford said. Howard is 10th on the NBA’s alltime rebounding list, 13th on the list of blocked shots. He’s one of four players with three DPOY awards, behind only four-time winners
Dikembe Mutombo, Ben Wallace and Rudy Gobert. And he got his lone NBA ring in 2020, when the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Miami Heat in the bubble finals.
Only one other player — Elvin Hayes — finished his NBA career averaging as many points, rebounds and blocked shots as Howard did. Blocks didn’t become an official stat until 1973, but regardless, the numbers showed Howard was a lock for the hall in Springfield, Massachusetts, to call.
“It was absolutely ridiculous that he didn’t make Top 75,” Stan Van Gundy, Howard’s longtime coach in Orlando, said when that 75th anniversary team was released.
Howard and Van Gundy didn’t always agree. On this point, they’re in lockstep.
“I was wondering if I was ever going to get into the Hall of Fame after the Top 75 thing, because it just seemed like, as far as my basketball play, I haven’t really received that much respect from my years in the league,” Howard said. “It was a little difficult. But then once I got the call, I was like, ‘Wow, this is here.’”
The 75th anniversary team snub might come up in the speech that Howard is planning to deliver this weekend. If this speech goes like the one he gave earlier this year when he was inducted into the Orlando Magic Hall of Fame — he spent his first eight NBA seasons with the Magic,
hardly missing a game after they took him No. 1 overall in the 2004 draft — expect some laughs and some tears. Howard doesn’t mind showing his emotions.
The Hall didn’t make him wait, either. Howard was voted in during his first year of eligibility.
“It’s happening. It’s me being in the Hall of Fame, being inducted in the Hall of Fame as [a] player and then being inducted into the Hall of Fame as an Olympian,” Howard said. “It’s just like a double whammy, but in a good way.”
The article was originally published by The Associated Press.
Townsend keeps focus amid controversy
By Edward G. Robinson III AFRO Sports Editor
Taylor Townsend recently followed the advice of former first lady Michelle Obama and many of our mothers and grandmothers: When the opposition stoops low, rise above their insensitivity or–in this case– foolishness.
Faced with indefensible, perhaps racist, remarks from her opponent in the second round of the U.S. Open tennis championship on Aug. 27, Townsend responded with maturity and intelligence, before walking away.
“The thing that I’m most proud of is that I let my racket talk,” said Townsend, the 29-year-old Black woman who is the No. 1 doubles player in the world and is ranked No. 139 in singles on the Women’s Tennis Association Tour.
Townsend’s racket and skill had a lot to say on Aug. 27, helping her advance to the third round with a 7-5, 6-1 upset victory over No. 25 ranked Jelena Ostapenko, who lashed out at her opponent at the end of the match. Townsend spoke on the exchange during a press conference after the match.
After capturing the final game 40-love, Townsend approached Ostapenko at the net, her hand extended and said, “Good match.”
To her surprise, Ostapenko returned the gesture with a testy remark, prompting Townsend to tell her opponent she needed to learn how to take “an L,” in other words–lose with grace.
Ostapenko voiced displeasure with an earlier play where a shot clipped the net and resulted in a point for Townsend.
Tennis etiquette dictates that a player acknowledge the accidental net clip with a sign of apology to the opponent. It was a gesture Ostapenko expected, but there is no rule to enforce this tradition and thus no violation.
“I don’t have to do anything,” Townsend said, when the issue was raised between the two players after the match.
Many had questions. “Why was this woman ruining her moment?” “Why was she pointing in Townsend’s face?”
As Court 11 filled with cheer, many fans sporting their university colors and
enjoying HBCU Day at the U.S. Open, the verbal spat heightened.
“She told me I have no education, no class and to see what happens if we play each other outside of the US,” Townsend said, in a press conference after the match.
“I said, ‘I’m excited, bring it.’”
The two players had met before in both singles and doubles matches. Townsend, winner of their last meeting, said there was “no beef” between the two.
Aside from her tantrum over the net point, Ostapenko also balked at Townsend’s choice to begin warm-ups at the net instead of the baseline.
“Taylor has always warmed up at the net since juniors,” tennis champ Coco Gauff said during a press conference. “And it’s not against the rules.” No. 3-ranked Gauff, who has advanced to the second week of this year’s final major, defended her friend.
“I really hate to see that maybe this is the first time people are hearing who Taylor Townsend is,” Guaff said. “And I don’t want that to be the main focus of who she is. She’s a lot more than that. She’s a mom, she’s a great friend and a talented tennis player. And a good person.”
Townsend, a native of Chicago, is a veteran on tour who entered the sport as a youth, a junior champion who rose to No. 1 in the world.
She joined the Women’s Tennis Association as a professional in 2012 and has blossomed into a phenomenal doubles player, winning 10 career titles, including the Australian Open this season. She reached the third round at this year’s U.S. Open, dropping a disappointing 1-6, 7-6 (15-13), 6-3 loss to Barbora Krejcikova.
Her match against Ostapenko is an example of how she continues to grow as a singles player. She’s a lefty with a powerful forehand and knack for shotmaking. She rallied in the first set against Ostapenko and demonstrated her toughness.
Count Townsend among the new generation of Black tennis stars, one who follows in the footsteps of Althea Gibson, Zina Garrison, Serena and Venus Williams.
“I’m really proud of myself for the way that I fought,” Townsend said. “I’m proud
of myself for the way I was able to be mentally tough…those are the moments in the past, if I reflect back that would have shaken me or gotten me off my game. Today I was rock solid.”
Ostapenko, a native of Latvia, skipped the post-match press conference but later commented on social media accusation of racism:
“I was never racist in my life and I respect all nations of people in the world, for me it doesn’t matter where you come from. There are some rules and unfortunately when the crowd is with you, you can’t use it in [a] disrespectful way to your opponent.”
“I always loved to play in the US and the U.S. Open, but this is the first time someone is approaching the match this disrespectful way,” said Ostapenko.
To be clear, Townsend never accused her opponent of racism, though this type of sleight-of-hand remark is what Black women often face in sports. Serena and Venus certainly experienced their share of ignorant comments. Sometimes you scream back. Other times you have to allow others to respond on your behalf, take the high road and resist responding.
“I can’t speak on what her intentions were,” Townsend said. “I can only speak on how I handled the situation. And how I handled it is: someone who was upset about the outcome that occurred. You lost and you’re upset about that. Saying I don’t have any education and I have no class, I don’t really take that personally because I know that it’s so far from the truth.”
Ostapenko has since apologized for her remarks, but many tennis fans have brushed off the apology as too little, too late.
Townsend, mother to four year-old Adyn Aubrey, is a shining example of Black women who have returned to the court after entering motherhood. Though her time in the U.S. Open’s singles competition came to a close on Aug. 31 in a match against Barbora Krejcikova, Townsend has continued her race to the top on the doubles side of the competition. On Sept. 2 Venus Williams and Leylah Fernandez, were defeated by Townsend and her doubles partner, Katerina Siniakova.
AP Photo/David Zalubowski
On Sept. 6 Dwight Howard will join the elite group of athletes inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
AP Photo/Heather Khalifa Taylor Townsend is a standout of the 2025 U.S. Open.
OF COLUMBIA PROBATE DIVISION ADMINISTRATION NO. 2025ADM000845 JOSEPH WILLIAMS Name of Decedent DENNIS A. BAIRD 1323 FENWICK LANE SILVER SPRING,MD 20910 Notice of Appointment, Notice to Creditors and Notice to Unknown Heirs
RONALD WALKER, whose address is 909 CRAWFORD AVENUE, DUQUESNE, PA 15110 was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of JOSEPH WILLIAMS who died on JANUARY 28, 2016 without a Will and will serve without Court supervision. All unknown heirs and heirs whose whereabouts are unknown shall enter their appearance In this proceeding. Objections to such, appointment shall be filed With the Register of Wills, D.C., Building A, 515 5th Street, N.W., 3rd Floor, Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before MARCH 01, 2026. 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 MARCH 01, 2026 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 publication shall so inform the Register of Wills, including name, address and relationship. Date of first publication: AUGUST 29, 2025 Name of newspaper and/or periodical: Daily Washington Law Reporter AFRO American Newspapers
RONALD WALKER Personal Representative TRUE TEST COPY
JV shall be submitted with the bid for verification purposes. The Prequalification Category required for bidding on this project is B02551 – Water Mains. Cost Qualification Range for this work shall be $5,000,000.01 to $10,000,000.00 A “Pre-Bidding
