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Volume 120 No. 30
March 3, 2012 - March 3, 2012, The Afro-American A1 $1.00
MARCH 3, 2012 - MARCH 9, 2012
Tuskegee Alumni Scholarship Breakfast B2
Register by March 13 to vote in the April 3 Primary Election
Eddie Brown
AFRO Celebrates A4 Legends & Pioneers B1
Teen Filmmaker Challenges Domestic Violence Among Youth
The Artist Dominates Oscars
B&W Throwback Silences the Competition
within because you always have that cloud hanging over you,” Coleman told the audience during a question-and-answer session after the screening at Set the Captives Free Church in Baltimore. “How are you always sad when you’re with the person you’re supposed to love?” Counselors and ministers were on hand to help the dozens of teens who realized they needed to get out of their own physically or verbally abusive relationships.
By Alexis Taylor AFRO Staff Writer
By Kam Williams The Artist, a black and white silent film evocative of a bygone era, won the hearts of Academy Award voters, netting Oscars in the Best Picture, Director, Actor, Costume Design and Score categories. Hugo won five times, too, but only for technical achievements. After The Artist’s Jean Dujardin beat George Clooney for Best Actor, the foul-mouthed Frenchman not only broke his silence, but tricked the censors by saying the F-word in his Courtesy Photo native language during Octavia Spencer won an Academy his exuberant acceptance Award for Best Supporting Actress speech. Maybe there’s a for her role as Minnie in The Help. reason why silent film is his medium. presenter Jennifer Lopez, whose Dujardin wasn’t the only daring dress failed to cover all winner to resort to expletives, so of one of her areolas. Could this did T.J. Wilson (Undefeated), the have been a deliberate wardrobe first African-American director Continued on A3 to earn an Oscar for a fulllength documentary. It’s difficult to discern exactly what T.J. said, since he was bleeped a couple times for his indiscretion. Also crossing a line was By Alexis Taylor
Payin’ the Price, a new film on teen domestic violence, was directed by 16-year-old New Jersey native Jordan Coleman, and has already gained widespread recognition and awards. The Martha’s Vineyard AfricanAmerican Film Festival presented Coleman with the HBO Best Feature Film award last year, and MTV gave the teenager $10,000 towards the completion of the project. “As I did more and more research I found out this was a serious topic,” said Coleman, who at times met resistance from those around him while working on the film. “Some of my own family and friends were against me making the movie, but that gave me the push to continue.” Payin’ the Price is set around Jazz Johnson IV, a popular all-star athlete from a wealthy family, and Sabrina DeGraffe, a girl from a single-parent home looking to escape her house of sisters and ordinary lifestyle. The film takes an in-depth look at the effects of teen domestic violence, how it starts, and how hard it can be for teens to walk away from someone they love even while being physically tormented. “Relationships like that are unsafe and unhealthy. They ruin your character from
“How are you always sad when you’re with the person you’re supposed to love?”
Photo by Alexis Taylor
“Parents you need to mind their business. Your kids are your business,” youth leader Marlon Cooper told audience members. “When they start drawing away from you, you have to read those signs because they are making decisions off emotion. If they can’t confide in you that removes their protection.” With February designated as Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month, organizations took advantage of the opportunity to bring their youth to a fun and informative event. Continued on A3
Report Shows Roughly 20 Percent of Americans Faced Food Shortage in 2011
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AFRO Staff Writer “Before the recession, hit the pantry was, for the most part, elderly with fixed income or families that needed a little extra to make it to the end of the month,” said an organizer of the Ark Church food pantry, Kellie James. “After the recession we’ve had just about everyone represented. It can be a household with two people who work every day and turn out to be ineligible for food stamps,” said James, who has worked with the North Avenue pantry for seven years. Ark Church is just one of many food shelters and pantries across the city intent on keeping Baltimore fed at
a time where many families and individuals are having to choose the different ways to stretch a dollar. According to reports released by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), a national organization
O’Malley 2016?
focused on compiling data, 19.4 percent of Americans in the last quarter of 2011 reported suffering through a food hardship within the past year. Meaning, they found Continued on A3
Muse Campaign Disappointed by IMA Endorsement of Cardin By George Barnette AFRO Staff Writer State Sen. C. Anthony Muse’s bid to unseat Ben Cardin for his U.S. Senate seat has been eventful so far and continues to be so after the Baltimorebased Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance’s (IMA) endorsed Cardin. In Facebook posts and tweets that have since been taken down, Muse’s team linked to a blog post – also sent to the AFRO by
Muse supporters without solicitation – criticizing Black faith-based leaders for backing Cardin. The post was written by Jamye Wooten who runs the Kinetics Faith & Justice Network. Wooten called this an “historic” opportunity in January, but his words in his post were much sharper. “Now I am not suggesting that you should endorse a candidate simply because they are African-American,” Wooten said. “Baltimore is filled with black politicians
that I would never support. But when someone emerges as capable and competent and most of all an advocate for the people it is shameful to have a few black clergy to allow themselves to be divided and conquered.” Wooten said this practice doesn’t happen often within other faiths or cultural groups. “Let’s be clear. You will not see any group of Jewish Rabbis holding a press conference or inviting Continued on A3
I was struck this week by a very brief but, very telling moment during President Obama’s press briefing after a meeting with the nation’s governors on Monday. It was a moment – with a local angle – that may have served as foreshadowing for the presidential campaign of 2016. The president was shouting out Governor Martin O’Malley for the innovations in education he has championed in Maryland when he barked, “Where’s Jack O’Malley…Jack O’Malley where is he?” The governor, who was sitting nearby, paused for a second and then offered a semi-audible quip that had to do with his 9-year old son, who is named Jack. That’s when the president corrected his gaffe, “I mean Martin…,” the president said. Earlier that day I heard a couple of national political commentators toss around names of politicians – they believed – likely to toss their hats in the ring for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016. They somewhat sardonically mentioned O’Malley as someone who didn’t shy away from the national spotlight and who was most assuredly a contender for 2016. They say, “All press is good press,” right…especially in politics. Awkward moments aside, the truth is Governor O’Malley’s national profile has been rising slowly and steadily for years. O’Malley, still basking in the glow of his high-profile victory to make Maryland the eighth state to legalize same sex marriage, is very much a player on the national political scene. I had lunch a few months ago with a close friend at a swanky Washington, D.C. restaurant who happens to work for a progressive Democratic think tank and she spoke glowingly about O’Malley as a national figure in the Democratic Party. She talked about the innovations in science here in Maryland among other things and argued he was highly regarded in the country’s highest progressive political circles. But, to those who have covered Maryland politics – and specifically Baltimore City politics for any length of time – O’Malley’s burgeoning national profile should be no surprise.
Copyright © 2012 by the Afro-American Company
Continued on A3