March 30, 2013 - March 30, 2013, www.afro.com
Volume 121 No. 34
Happy Easter!
MARCH 30, 2013 - APRIL 5, 2013
National Diversity Increases for Students -Not Teachers By Maya Rhodan Washington Correspondent
WASHINGTON (NNPA) – As the pool of students in American schools grows more diverse, those studying to be teachers remain mostly White. According to a new report by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, a national organization that analyzes teacher education programs, 82 percent of people who earned Bachelor’s degrees in education in 2009-2010 school year were White. The study surveyed more than 700 colleges and universities that train about
INSIDE B8
Arne Duncan to speak at Morgan U. Commencement
B4
AFRO Sports Desk Faceoff:
Should the Wizards Pull for Otto Porter?
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As the pool of students in American schools grows more diverse, those studying to be teachers remain mostly White. Stock Photo two-thirds of the teaching force. Nearly half of the U.S. student population is members of racial or ethnic minorities, yet only about one
in five teachers are people of color. Only 6 percent of teacher candidates were Black and 4.2 percent were Hispanic. Continued on A3
In Clifton Park, Battling Urban Blight is Uphill Fight By Krishana Davis AFRO Staff Writer The 2700 block of Tivoly Avenue is, to the casual observer, a ghost town. More than 90 percent of the homeowners and renters have fled the drug and crime-ridden block, receiving relocation awards and property settlements upwards of $200,000. A block away, there are signs of progress. A new, glass-enclosed recreation center is under construction on the outskirts of the neighborhood. Golfers enjoy 18 holes at Clifton Park Golf Course overlooking the Charm City skyline. But for the other eight to 10 families still living on Tivoly, the quality of life they used to enjoy is an elusive dream. “I feel let down when I talk about Continued on A3 Photo by By Krishanaon Davis Continued A4
Hampton Freshman from Baltimore Drowns During Campus Pool Party Friends, Family Want to Know What Transpired By Bria Freeman As told to the AFRO David Esan did not swim. Friends said he never learned. But when his classmates in the class of 2016 at Hampton University decided to hold a pool party for Freshman Week on campus at Holland Hall on March 20, he was eager to attend. The party, dubbed “Caution: Wet When Slippery,” was the first official event of Freshman Week. A Freshman Ball was also planned. A pharmacy major who had graduated with honors in 2012 from Western School of Technology and Environmental Science, or Western Tech, in Randallstown, Md., Esan was known for working hard and playing hard—in a goodyoung-man kind of way. But instead of having a wonderful time, Esan, 17, ended up at the bottom of the pool, unconscious. Emergency workers who were called to the scene were unable to revive him. He was pronounced dead later at Sentara CarePlex Hospital in Hampton. His death is listed as a drowning, officials said. A close relative of David, who asked that his name not be used, said he and others close to the dead youth want to know details of what happened. David was a intelligent and responsible young man who distanced himself from danger. Loved ones can’t see him voluntarily entering a swimming pool, the relative and some friends said. David’s parents are especially baffled because they specifically told him before he went off to college to “be cautious around pools,” the close relative said. The case is being investigated by the Hampton
Courtesy Photo
David Esan, who died after being pulled from a campus pool.
University Police Department, where officials were not talking publicly about the incident earlier this week. Calls were referred to a university spokeswoman, Yuri Milligan, who referred reporters to a brief statement on the campus website. Prodded to respond to questions, she referred to the incident as “an accident” and said that while “the case remains under investigation” there is “no evidence” of foul play. Milligan said the police department includes dozens of sworn officers. A dispatch supervisor for the Hampton Police Department said the city police were not deployed to the scene. He verified his statement by checking a log of dispatches for several
minutes around 11:50 p.m., when David was seen at the bottom of the pool and several revelers called 911. In the hours after the incident was tweeted out, legions of students at HBCUs began a spontaneous online prayer vigil for David. Friends at the scene had asked for prayers and tweet after tweet was posted in response. “Everyone who follows me, whether Hampton student or not, please include David Esan in your prayers. Pray for his recovery please,” tweeted @iamgabbieg. A tweet from @ givemelyourlove, a former classmate of David’s from Western Tech said, “I can’t even go to sleep. I’m so shook right now.” She added.
Continued on A4
Easter Beginnings In recognition of the profound significance of Jesus’ resurrection, for example, the early Christians moved Christians all over the world are worship services from Saturday to Sunday, preparing themselves for Easter, a making every Sunday a “mini-Easter,” celebration that is the pinnacle of the Pope said. ecclesiastical calendar and, as one expert While Easter began at Jesus’ called it, the “heart” of the faith. crucifixion and resurrection, however, “Easter commemorates the fact that its roots are buried in the Jewish feast of Christ rose from the dead the Sunday after Passover, so much so that some languages, his crucifixion [therefore] it is the most including the Spanish and French, take important feast in the Christian tradition,” their name for Easter from the Hebrew word for Passover, Pesach. said Monsignor Charles Pope, pastor of According to the Bible, at The Last Holy Comforter/St. Cyprian church in Supper, Jesus, himself, observed Passover, Washington, D.C. which commemorates God’s deliverance “Although a lot of people are of the Israelites from bondage in Egypt. sentimental about Christmas, there would According to Judeo-Christian doctrine, be no Christmas without Easter,” he God slayed all of Egypt’s firstborns, as added. the last of 10 plagues called down on In fact, the dates of all the other the nation by Moses, so that pharaoh moveable Christian feasts depend on the would free the Israelites. To be spared the Easter date, which is the first Sunday — Monsignor Charles Pope Egyptians’ fate, the Israelites had to kill following the full moon after the vernal a lamb and smear its blood across their equinox on March 21. doors so that the angel of death would pass over them. Experts say Easter is as old as Christianity itself. “Easter was celebrated right from the beginning,” Pope Continued on A4 said. By Zenitha Prince Special to the AFRO
“Although a lot of people are sentimental about Christmas, there would be no Christmas without Easter.”
Copyright © 2013 by the Afro-American Company