Baltimore Afro American Newspaper April 11 2015

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Volume 123 No. 36

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APRIL 11, 2015 - APRIL 17, 2015

Eastern Shore Father and Seven Gardner C. Taylor Dead at 96 Children Found Dead in Home ‘Poet Laureate of the Pulpit’ and Civil Rights Luminary

By AFRO Staff The small college town of Princess Anne, Md. continues to mourn after a single-father and his seven children were discovered dead in their home on April 7. According to officials, the Princess Anne Police Department was contacted by the supervisor of Rodney Eric

Todd, 36, when he failed to show up for work on the University of Maryland Eastern Shore campus. The supervisor, Stephanie Wells, told police she had not spoken to or seen Mr. Todd since March 28. Though concerned, according to delmarvanow, Wells, was not expecting the results of this police inquiry.

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The Rev. Gardner C. Taylor preached for the Baptist Ministers Conference of Baltimore and Vicinity, the Monday following the Hampton Ministers Conference. Joining him, from left, are Rev. Dr. Harold A. Carter Jr., the late Rev. Dr. Harold A. Carter Sr., Bishop Walter S. Thomas, Rev. James Lightfoot, Rev. Taylor, Rev. A.C.D. Vaughn and the late Rev. William Johnson.

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By Zenitha Prince Senior AFRO Correspondent Asked his opinion on homosexuality during a Hampton Ministers Conference Senior Statesman session a few years ago, the Rev. Dr. Gardner C. Taylor answered, with tongue in cheek, “Well I imagine if God’s grace is not good enough for the worst of us, I suspect it’s not good enough for the best of us.”

The reply, recalled newspaper editor Rev. Dorothy Boulware,

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The Princess Anne Police Department was contacted by Rodney Eric Todd’s supervisor after he didn’t show up for work. Todd’s seven children were found dead in their home.

• Dollar General • Walmart

Mayor’s Heroin Taskforce Updates Community on Progress

Listen to “First Edition”

By Roberto Alejandro Special to the AFRO

Join the AFRO on Twitter and Facebook

–Dr. Leana Wen

She Made the City Better

to miss her a lot.”

Sibel brought Brown onto the board of directors of the Baltimore Baltimore lost one School for the Arts, of its civic guardians a pre-professional when philanthropist arts high school in Carole Sibel lost her Baltimore, according battle with cancer on to its website. Brown March 27. said that Sibel leaned City leaders on the school to get remembered her as them to create an a dynamic presence after-school program who worked to bridge for Black youth divides between from the city so communities and that they would be included Black academically prepared voices on the city’s for the curriculum at prominent boards. the school.

Carole Sibel worked to “She just Sibel was also bridge divides between understood what it instrumental in communities. meant to be giving, to putting together the be a very giving person,” said former Life Songs for AIDS benefit, annual journalist, business owner, and patron concerts held in Baltimore in the of the arts Kevin Brown. “We’re going Continued on A6

By Roberto Alejandro Special to the AFRO

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Dr. Elijah Saunders, Prominent Baltimore Cardiologist, Dies at 80

By Roberto Alejandro Special to the AFRO Dr. Elijah Saunders, a prominent Baltimore cardiologist and an advocate for African American health has died, the University of Maryland School of Medicine announced April 8. He was 80.

Saunders graduated from Morgan State University in 1956 and received his medical degree from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1960. A cardiologist for decades, Saunders was head of the section of hypertension, in the cardiology division of the University of Maryland’s department of Medicine.

Saunders was also a founding member, past chairman of the board, and past president of the Association of Black Cardiologists, with hypertension among Blacks

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Baltimore Leaders Remember Carole Sibel as A Dynamic Baltimore Presence

Courtesy Photo

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Your History • Your Community • Your News

Join Host Sean Yoes Monday-Friday 5-7 p.m. on 88.9 WEAA FM, the Voice of the Community.

“How often do we hear about deaths from homicide? A lot, and it’s certainly a big issue . . . [but] why don’t we talk about deaths from overdose?”

More Baltimore residents died as a result of drug overdose than homicide last year, a startling fact in light of how easy it is to prevent opioid overdoses. We know how to prevent deaths, and there are effective treatment options for addiction.

The question is, how we get the necessary resources to those who need them most?

This was the message at the first community update meeting of the Mayor’s Heroin Treatment and Prevention Taskforce. The meeting, an

opportunity for the task force to hear community ideas on how to best address Baltimore’s heroin issue, took place April 1, and was headed by new Baltimore City health commissioner, Dr. Leana Wen. There are about 19,000 people in Baltimore who use heroin, said Wen, which makes heroin addiction an issue that touches every facet of our city, including the economy, public safety, and, of course, public health. Two hundred twenty-six people died of drug and alcohol overdoses between

Dr. Elijah Saunders worked as a cardiologist for decades. one of his primary research interests. Saunders was recognized for his contributions to minority cardiovascular health by the American Heart Association, which recognized him with the Louis B. Russell Award, the American Heart Associations highest honor for contributions to minority Continued on A6

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The Afro-American, April 11, 2015 - April 17, 2015

NATION & WORLD

Obama Family Worships at Historic Baptist Church in Virginia

President Barack Obama and his family attended Easter service at the Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, Va., whose history dates back almost 200 years to when Thomas Jefferson was in the White House.

Obama along with wife Michelle and daughters Sasha and Malia were welcomed to the historic church by the pastor, Rev. Dr. Howard-John Wesley, who noted that like the first lady, he is a native of Chicago’s South Side.

“How fitting that on the day we celebrate the rising of our Lord and savior, we also welcome our sitting president,” Wesley said, as the congregation rose to their feet in applause.

“This is not selfie time,” Wesley said jokingly. “Let the brother worship in the house of God.” Churchgoers traditionally walk around to shake hands and give hugs during the greetings and announcements portion of service, but the pastor encouraged the crowd to stay in their

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seats and greet only their closest neighbors, as the sanctuary was tightly secured with Secret Service agents.

The choir— including women in purple dresses and men sporting purple ties— sang a stirring rendition of the hymn “He Lives,” prompting most of the church, filled to capacity, to clap, sing and sway to the thumping organ keys while ushers collected the offering.

The lively pastor based his sermon around a scripture from 1 Courtesy photo Corinthians 15 on the President Barack Obama and his life and resurrection of Christ. family attended Easter service According to the at the Alfred Street Baptist church’s website, the Church in Alexandria, Va.

Alexandria Baptist Society was formed in 1803 when members split from another church in the Northern Virginia city, and a slave was baptized that year as its first Black member.

Three years later, Black members established the Colored Baptist Society as a “conjoined” church. The congregation adopted its current name in the late 1800s.

nps.gov

Alfred Street Baptist Church

Mother Allegedly Kills One-YearOld Son, Blames Devil

A New York woman allegedly killed her one-year-old baby in a restaurant, telling authorities that “the devil made her do it.”

Latisha Fisher, 35, is charged second-degree murder after

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Latisha Fisher, 35, is charged second-degree murder after police said she smothered her son Gavriel Ortiz-Fisher. police said she smothered her son Gavriel Ortiz-Fisher in the bathroom of a 5 Boro Burger restaurant on March 30, according to media reports. Fisher is being held in New York’s Elmhurst Hospital for psychiatric treatment.

Employees at the restaurant became worried when Fisher and her son were in the bathroom too long and the line for the bathroom began to grow, according to the New York Daily News.

An employee eventually used a key to gain the bathroom and saw Fisher holding her hand on the boy’s mouth. Fisher told her, “I put my hand over his mouth to put him to sleep,” the newspaper reported.

The boy was foaming at the mouth at the time; he was rushed to Bellevue Hospital where he later died, according to FOX News.

Fisher told police that she was “protecting him,” according to the New York Post, and said that “the devil made me do it.”

“It’s hard, it’s really unbelievable. I know my daughter loves her son,” Ortiz-Fisher’s maternal grandmother, Merial Fisher, 54, told the Daily News. “I don’t know what happened. It’s just so sad. He was such a happy baby.”

President Obama Grants Clemency to 22 Prisoners

President Barack Obama gave 22 federal prisoners a second chance at life by granting them clemency on March 31.

All of the prisoners were sentenced at various times for intent to distribute drugs, with 14 off the 22 incarcerated cases involving possession or distribution of cocaine.

“Had they been sentenced under current laws and policies, many of these individuals would have already served their time and paid their debt to society,” White House counsel Neil Eggleston said in a news release. “Because many were convicted under an outdated sentencing regime, they served years, in some cases more than a decade, longer than individuals convicted today of the same crime.”

In all, President Obama has now granted clemency to 43 prisoners while in office.

President George W. Bush only commuted 11 sentences in his eight years in office.

President Obama sent a letter to all 22 prisoners saying: “Now it is up to you to make the most of this opportunity.

It will not be easy, and you will confront many who doubt people with criminal records can change. But remember that you have the capacity to make good choices. By doing so, you will affect not only your own life, but those close to you. You will also influence, through your example, the possibility that others in your circumstances get their own second chance in the future. I believe in your ability to prove the doubters wrong. So good luck, and Godspeed.”

Eight of the prisoners who will have their sentences reduced were serving life sentences, and all but one will be released on July 28.

April 11, 2015 - April 17, 2015, The Afro-American

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Advocates Discuss Feminism and Intersectionality as It Relates to Black Community at Forum

By Roberto Alejandro Special to the AFRO There is more to power and privilege than a White face. Justice advocates of any stripe have to be prepared to challenge the problematic norms they participate in just as much as those they are working to dismantle. This was the main thrust of a recent panel discussion on feminism and intersectionality held on March 30. It was sponsored by Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle, a youth led policy think tank, in conjunction with Hollaback Baltimore, an organization which works to end street harassment of women.

Intersectionality is the idea that various forms of oppression – say racism and sexism – intersect, requiring responses that take into account various perspectives without any necessarily dominating the others.

The forum was part of Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle’s monthly series

of Malcolm X Talks, which consist of seminars and workshops on issues related to the Black experience in America and advocacy in the Black community. Saida Agostini, director of LGBTQ resources for FreeState Legal Project, spoke to the need some feel to highlight a specific form of oppression to the exclusion of others as they work towards liberation.

“You have so many people who are hungry to hear and understand what is freedom. What will freedom look like for me? How can I be engaged in a movement that is calling for action? Yet we’re constrained or we’re limited because we’re so fearful that if we start to acknowledge the multiplicity of identities that we all hold [rather than] erase people, then, all of a sudden, we will lose our ability to be free ourselves,” said Agostini.

The panelists, all Black women, agreed that no one form of oppression takes precedence over another, and that the pursuit of

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January and September of 2014, a nine month total that surpassed Baltimore’s notoriously high homicide total for the entire year.

“How often do we hear

about deaths from homicide?

A lot, and it’s certainly a big issue . . . [but] why don’t we talk about deaths from overdose?” asked Wen. One of the reasons we

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Officers were dispatched to the home in the 3000 block of Antioch Avenue in Princess Anne. Princess Anne Police Chief Scott Keller told delmarvanow, “They [officers] knew right away that there weren’t any live people in there.”

The police entered the home and found Todd and his two sons and daughters deceased. Keller told the Washington Post the children were found in their beds. He said, “It was like the children fell asleep and never woke up.”

The police report confirms that a generator, out of gas, was located inside the home. There was no electric in the home and power cords were attached to the generator, leading to various areas in the home, fueling speculation that the family died from carbon monoxide poisoning. The bodies of the family were transported to the medical examiner’s office in Baltimore, Md. to determine the manner and cause of death.

The family has requested that the Princess Anne Police Department not release the names and ages of the children, however this information has been reported by other agencies.

According to delmarvanow, the children were identified by their paternal grandmother, Bonnie Edwards, as Tynijuisa Todd, 15; Cameron Tood, 13; Tykira Todd, 12; Tybree Todd, 10; Tyania Todd, 9; Zycheim Todd, 7, and Tybria Todd, 6. delmarvanow reports that the children’s mother, Tyisha Chambers, 36, was notified of the deaths.

Todd has been the custodial parent of his children for the almost three years, according to the Washington Post, after he returned from jail for the second-degree assault of his now exwife and the children’s mother. A family friend, Angela Collins, to the Post, “He had an anger problem, but he was all about taking care of his kids.”

From all published accounts, Todd made his children a priority and turned things around to become an example to them. He encouraged them in school and taught them to respect themselves. Todd, who according to the Post, was a dining hall employee at UMES, earning about $10 a hour. He skipped meals so his children could eat and just managed and was proud that he was finally able to acquire an SUV big enough to transport the entire family.

Delmarva Power officials told the Washington Post that service from the utility had not been provided to the home since Todd and his family moved in. It appears the family’s power needs were met primarily by the generator. Todd’s stepfather, Lloyd Edwards, told the Post he didn’t think Todd understood he had to ventilate the house when using the generator.

Several public efforts are underway to provide assistance to the family at this time. Anyone willing to make a donation can visit the website established by Todd’s co-workers at http:// www.rodneytoddfamily.myevent.com/.

justice must benefit all persons, not just some.

There was more variety of opinion, however, on the topic of self-identifying as a ‘feminist,’ with some feeling that feminist movements have failed to adequately include the perspectives of women of color and therefore preferring not

as a feminist. “But I can’t separate out the fact that I’m a Black woman in any space that I’m in, whether that’s in the office or at home with my family.”

Jetaime Ross, an instructor at the Baltimore Free School, said that because feminism has not always been intersectional, it is important

“Feminism is not about female domination . . . feminism is about the freedom of everyone.”

– Jetaime Ross to identify by the term, and others embracing it while acknowledging that no one term can fully describe someone’s personhood.

“At all times I believe that I, as a woman, should be heard, and respected, and valued, and that everyone else in my community deserves that kind of respect and value as well,” said Amber Phillips, former field organizing director for UltraViolet, of her self-identification

need to discuss overdose deaths is that they are highly preventable, said Wen, who then demonstrated how easy it is to administer the drug naloxone – which effectively reverses the effects of a heroin, or other opioid, overdose – with a volunteer from the audience. The simple life-saving process basically consists of putting a few sections of the delivery device together and then spraying the medication into each nostril of an overdose victim.

While preventing deaths through the use of drugs like naloxone is easy, the challenge is in getting the drug into the hands of those in the best position to save the life of someone who has overdosed, a challenge exacerbated by its price.

“If the price has more than doubled, then we can only save half as many lives,” said Wen. The meeting was well attended by various community stakeholders, including community advocates, peer addiction counselors, doctors, researchers, and city officials working on addictionrelated issues, and who made suggestions regarding different strategies to best address Baltimore’s heroin problem.

to identify as an ‘intersectional feminist,’ and that such an intersectional stance speaks more authentically to what feminism is.

“Feminism is not about female domination . . . feminism is about the freedom of everyone,” said Ross.

For A. Adar Ayira, director of the More in the Middle Initiative of the Associated Black Charities, the key is to focus less on particular labels that describe one’s orientation

Carlos Hardy, CEO and founder of Maryland Recovery Organization Connecting Communities, said that while many people have heard of NIMBY (not in my back yard), fewer people are familiar with BANANA (build absolutely nothing anywhere near anything), which is a common response when a new drug treatment center is slated to be built in any given community.

Hardy said that when a new center is being planned in a community, that both the program’s concerns and the community’s must be heard, and that by working with one community at a time, memoranda of understanding and other agreements can be entered into which lay out the expectations for all stakeholders, thus smoothing the path to more treatment centers.

Dr. David Jernigan, associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said it is not enough for the city to create neighborhoods that are compatible with recovery centers if those neighborhoods are not also compatible with recovery itself. “When we’ve got twice as many liquor stores as we’re supposed to have per population, when it is far easier to put a liquor

towards the question of justice and more on the quest for justice itself.

“Because if we talk about justice, then we’re not talking about justice for just some,” said Ayira. “We’re talking about the concept of justice and that concept is intersectional.”

Ayira gave the example of the phrase ‘Black lives matter,’ which she said has been used in a way that suggests really only Black straight male lives matter, and that just as long as they have no blemishes on their record. This raises a need, then, for advocates to turn their critical lens on themselves.

“Let’s call what we do [as advocates], the ways in which we operate out of a patriarchal philosophy, the ways in which we operate out of a homophobic, cisgender philosophy, the ways in which we operate out of a classbased philosophy, let’s call those things out in a way that we as a justice community never ever do,” said Ayira. ralejandro@afro.com

store in this city then it is a treatment center, then we’ve got a larger problem,” said Jernigan.

Part of what has made heroin addiction difficult to curb is the easy access to other forms of opioid drugs, particularly in the form of prescription pain killers, which one person at the meeting referred to as the ‘poor man’s heroin.’

According to Wen, while the U.S. makes up only five percent of the global population, we consume 80 percent of the world’s prescription pain medications.

Dr. Suzanne Doyon, medical director of the Maryland Poison Center and an emergency room physician, said that while there are guidelines in Maryland for emergency room physicians that, if abided by, could greatly reduce the number of prescriptions for opioid pain killers in emergency departments, the bigger issue

is how often primary care doctors prescribe the drugs.

“The number of prescriptions coming out of emergency departments throughout the country are really really high. But the number of tablets dispensed per prescription is very, very, very low, because [emergency doctors] tend to prescribe for three days, or something like that. What seems to be the bigger problem is the lesser [number of] prescriptions for months, and months, and months going on years that occur in other settings such as primary care,” said Doyon.

The effectiveness of peer counseling (programs that use recovering addicts to help those just entering recovery) and the need for stable housing for addicts in recovery (the lack of which can drive relapses) were other prominent themes among the community’s suggestions at the meeting. ralejandro@afro.com

Salutes The Baltimore (MD) Chapter of the Links, Incorporated and its work with Coppin and Morgan State Universities.

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April 14, 2015 • 7:00 – 9:00 P.M. Tickets: $25 VIP Networking Reception 6:00 – 7:00 P.M. VIP Tickets: $75 Contact Diane W. Hocker for more information • 410-554-8243

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The Afro-American, April 11, 2015 - April 17, 2015

Rev. Dr. Bethea and Set The Captives Free Outreach Center: Growing in God Jannette J. Witmyer Special to the AFRO The Rev. Dr. Karen S. Bethea opened Set The Captives Free Outreach (STCF) Center with seven members, April 9, 2000, in conference room 125 of The Comfort Inn, Woodlawn, Md. In three months, the number had grown to 30, and, within a year, there were 125 members. By November 2002, when the ministry moved into its current Windsor Mill, Md. location, membership had grown to 700.

Now 2,000 members strong and growing, the church is preparing to celebrate STCF’s 15-year anniversary and Rev. Bethea’s elevation to Apostle, an assignment she’s been working toward since a very young age. “I was 12. I can’t even explain it, but I’ve always loved God. I grew up at Sharp Street Memorial United Methodist Church, and I loved hymns.

At age 11, I’m memorizing hymns and singing them around the house. So, I knew back then something divine was going on with me, but I didn’t get it,” says the pastor affectionately called Dr. Karen.

“I didn’t really understand why I was having those feelings until I got older, and then I began to understand… ‘Oh, God will draw you. Okay, he’s been drawing me,’” she explains.

At age 15, a visit to a very small but very much alive church with a neighbor led to an experience that expanded her relationship with God. “I had an experience called the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, where you began to speak in tongues, and I felt God on another level. It was just amazing. That whole experience just opened my understanding. All of a sudden I’m reading the Bible, and it all makes sense. And, I’m knowing that this is not my intellect. This is something divine.,” she says, in a voice still filled with awe and wonderment.

Two years later, when she preached her first sermon, the 17-year old was prepared with an outline and notes, but she was not prepared for the effect it had on the church or the wisdom and depth that came forth. That simple Youth Day message, “Prepare to meet thy God,” led her to an even deeper understanding.

The soon-to-be Apostle says, “I, at an early

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The Rev. Dr. Karen S. Bethea says her ministry has been a success over the years because she follows exactly what God tells her to do. age, learned that God’s wisdom can supersede your intellect, because I knew the things that came out of my mouth were not in my intellect. They came out of my spirit. He said, ‘Out of your belly, shall flow rivers of living water.’ I knew that, that was the spirit of God in me.”

By age 20, she had begun preaching up and down the East Coast. And despite some naysayers, she also birthed an international traveling women’s conference of 10 female clergy promoting women’s empowerment.

The Women Who Soar (http://www. thewomenwhosoar.com/), travels the globe, sharing and teaching God’s word.

“When people say, ‘God opens doors for you,’ I know exactly what that means, because I’ve had some men that weren’t too kind say to me that, ‘you know God’s not going to use you. You’re a woman.’ At this age – I’m now 55 – I have preached Germany, Canada, Bermuda, Israel, Africa, England… I’ve been all over everywhere, and I’m still going. God really has shown me over a period of time that He’s with me, and I so enjoy Him and just doing [his work].”

When asked about the success of her ministry, the pastor, originally ordained by founder and senior pastor of The Potter’s House of Dallas Bishop T. D. Jakes, says that it’s simple. She does what God tells her to do.

“That’s my motto. Whatever he tells me, I do it. Now, I do it sometimes scared, but I do it. Some of the things he says, it makes me nervous. Some of the things he tells me to do, I don’t like, and I don’t want to do. But I’ve learned over the years to not obey him is so expensive that I’ll just do it. I don’t have to like it, but I’m going to do it.

“Follow him, Proverbs 3, 5 and 6… ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not to your own understanding. B, but in all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.’”

That path, which has led Dr. Karen to establish a local support group for females in ministry (the Female Clergy Support Group of Maryland) and ministries that serve children, teens, young adults, couples, seniors, health, and others at STCF, is now leading to her affirmation as Apostle, this month, and Bishop, next year.

Rev. Bethea, who is mentored by the Rev. Dr. Ann Lightner Fuller, pastor of the Mt. Calvary African Methodist Episcopal Church in Towson, Md.,, began preaching under the title of evangelist and explains the organization of the administration of the church.

“In Ephesians chapter 4, verse 11, you see the five-fold ministry. These are the ascension gifts that Jesus gave to the church.

As organized as God is, of course he left something in place to oversee that, to take care of it, to strengthen it… It’s listed there. It’s the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, the governing body for the Christian church.”

“The five-fold gifts,” she continues, “that’s in you at birth. God decides those. You can’t pick one of them and say I want to be… No. You don’t decide those. They are divinely assigned. Then, someone outside of yourself acknowledges it and says we acknowledge that you’re functioning in this particular office.”

For years, people told the pastor, whose church’s bible study classes draw 52 percent of the membership, that she is really an Apostle.

In response, she has told them, “That’s fine.

Just let me be a pastor that does apostolic works.”

But, that was not the end of it, and, “Finally,” she said, “my bishop nailed me down and said we need to affirm that you’re operating there. Next year, I’ll be consecrated a Bishop, but I’m already functioning in both those offices.”

Happy with her work, she says, “It’s an honor, but I am so task oriented. I’m more about getting the work done.”

Members of the church are looking forward to the celebration and have kept as many of the details as possible a secret. The Anniversary/ Apostolic Affirmation Banquet will be held 2 - 6 p.m. April 18, at Turf Valley Conference Center in Ellicott City, Md. Ticket information is available at http://stcfoc.com/2015/.

Rev. Bethea is excited about the honor and looks forward to the celebration. But, for her, it is all about doing God’s work. “At the end of the day, I just want to do the work. I want to see people happy. I want to see people healthy.

I want to see people set free,” she exclaims.

New Director Says Office of Civil Rights Must Be Effective Voice

By Roberto Alejandro Special to the AFRO Advocating for the most vulnerable in our community must be the core mission of the city’s Office of Civil Rights and Wage Enforcement, according to Kisha Brown, the new director. This, she says, is a task which requires creative thinking and greater community engagement.

Brown came to the position in February after serving two years as director of civil rights for former Attorney General Doug Gansler. The Office of Civil Rights and Wage Enforcement can be thought of as consisting of three divisions, says Brown, consisting of the Wage Enforcement Commission (charged with

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late 80s and 90s to raise money for AIDS research and those suffering the disease, said Brown.

Dana Moore, a prominent Baltimore attorney, first met Sibel when Moore joined the board of the Elijah Cummings Youth Program in Israel, a two-year leadership program for high schools students from Baltimore designed to cross cultural divides between Jews and African Americans and which has a college enrollment rate of almost 100 percent, according to its website.

Moore remembered Sibel as a tireless and effective philanthropist, but more than anything Moore recalled a woman with a great sense of humor and a big heart.

“What I really was impressed with [about Sibel] was how much she really really cared deeply about the program and its mission, its purpose of engaging with young people and creating opportunities for them to grow and be leaders,” said Moore, adding, “Her ability to raise money is wonderful, her bank of friends is tremendous, but for me: her heart. She really cared about young people, and that’s something we need a lot more of.”

Marsha Jews, host of Keep it Moving on WEAA FM 88.9 in Baltimore, met Sibel while involved with the Alvin Ailey Concert Series and remembers a consummate philanthropist who passed down the importance of giving to her children and grandchildren.

“I went to her funeral and it was really interesting because her grandchildren…stood up there and said, ‘For holidays, she would come and say I have a check and you need to write down the organization you want to donate to,’” said Jews, whose first Seder was celebrated with Sibel. “And her grandchildren have been learning [about the importance of giving], and I’m sure her children learned the same thing over the years. She was just delightful.”

“It’s a great loss to the community,” said Jews.

Jake Oliver, publisher and CEO of the AFRO-American Newspapers, knew Sibel since the late 90s and called her “one of the most dynamic ladies I’ve had an opportunity to work with

enforcing the minimum, living, and prevailing wage laws of Baltimore City), the Community Relations Commission (which oversees various types of discrimination complaints, such as gender, race, age, or sexuality), and the Civilian Review Board (which oversees complaints against the police).

“The great thing about all three is that their mandates are fairly wide, so it’s not one thing that you’re only allowed to focus on,” said Brown. “For example, the Community Relations Commission has the opportunity to study race relations in the city, and to do surveys, and to promote X, Y, and Z . . . so for me . . . it’s really about how we can be impactful in the community.”

Empower, educate, and enforce are the three pillars that will inform the work of the office, said Brown, who wants to serve since I returned to Baltimore.”

“She’s always been a friend of the Black community, involved in community issues,” said Oliver, citing the way Sibel would work to make sure Black voices were included on the boards of directors of organizations involved in civic life, such as the Baltimore Zoo—from which Black perspectives might have been excluded.

More than anything, Oliver remembered Sibel as a close friend, who even introduced him to the benefits personal exercise. The two ended up sharing a trainer who would first train Sibel at her home, and then head over to Oliver’s to do the same.

“Carole was an amazing, energetic, tireless person and a good personal friend. I will truly miss her” said Oliver.

Saunders Continued from A1

cardiovascular health.

The American Heart Association has also recognized Saunders with its Award of Merit.

“I am deeply saddened by the loss of my friend, personal physician, and mentor,” said U.S. Congressman Elijah Cummings in a press release.

“Throughout his career, Dr. Saunders was dedicated to achieving healthcare equality, with a special focus on the African American community. His passion was treating people with hypertension and teaching them about the dangers of this ‘silent killer’. . . . A true giant has moved off the stage of life,” said Cummings.

Two Services are scheduled: There will be a viewing on Friday, April 10 from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Transformation Church, located at 5150 Baltimore National Pike, Baltimore, Md. A pre-celebration will take place at 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

On Sunday, April 12 a Family Greeting hour will be held at the New Psalmist Baptist Church, located at 6020 Marian Drive, Baltimore, Md. The funeral service will follow at 6:30 pm. ralejandro@afro.com

as a gauge for elected officials of the city’s temperature related to civil rights issues, as well as a font of creative and proactive solutions.

For Brown, one of the biggest civil rights issues facing Baltimore City is the problem of police-community relations, which she described as “estranged at best, and powder kegish at worst.” Addressing that relationship will require an explicit understanding of how race has and continues to shape Baltimore City.

“If you’re in Baltimore City and you are not aware of the history of race relations, and therefore its legacy, you won’t be able to understand how to bridge gaps [between the police and the community] and how to move forward,” said Brown.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts and Internal Affairs chief Rodney Hill have already contacted her to find ways to start working together. Brown says collaboration will be key if a problem like police-community relations is going to be effectively addressed.

Creativity will also be necessary, and one idea Brown is considering is the establishment of a mediation program to resolve complaints between residents and officers. Such a program could serve as a voluntary alternative to the traditional complaint adjudication processes, which are more focused on potential officer discipline than conflict resolution per se.

“For me [the resident] the incentive is I get to confront the officer one on one, I get to feel like I’m heard, I’m empowered in the fact that I was active in the process and had my day,” said Brown. “For the officer, depending on how it’s designed, it could mean that there’s nothing that goes in their file, that they too have an opportunity to mend a relationship that maybe was unnecessarily broken in the community that they have to go back to, because ultimately you want to have people in the community who know you and respect you.”

Because most investigations by the Civilian Review Board or Internal Affairs result in a complaint not being sustained – something Brown is currently examining – the community has ceased to trust the process, requiring alternatives and potentially creating an incentive for something like the mediation idea.

Brown is also working on improved processes for keeping tabs on whether the city’s living and prevailing wage laws are being followed by employers with city contracts. This task has been hobbled in the past by the office’s finite resources and the fact that reviewing payrolls to ensure compliance has fallen to the office itself, when the law mandates it be conducted by the contracting agencies. This has to change if the office is truly going to be a voice for the vulnerable in Baltimore City.

“Our most vulnerable are disproportionately people of color, poor people, and that’s what our city looks like. I want to be that office that advocates on behalf of the most vulnerable to get paid right, to be free from police harassment, to be safe in their communities, to be safe at work, and those are some of the fundamentals that will allow our city to grow and prosper,” said Brown. ralejandro@afro.com

April 11, 2015 - April 17, 2015, The Afro-American

A7

COMMUNITY CONNECTION Billie Holiday for Kids Workshops

The Reginald F. Lewis Museum is celebrating April as Jazz Appreciation month. On April 11 at 1 p.m. join them for an afternoon of interactive fun and learn about Billie Holiday. Hear the story of Mister and Lady Day: Billie Holiday and the Dog Who by Amy Novesky. The workshop will be led by teaching artist Culture Queen of Culture Kingdom Kids. Call (443) 263-1800 for more information and fees.

Oh Gospel! The Evolution of Praise, Worship and Song!

The National Great Blacks in Wax Museum, Furs by Demetrios and Fade2Blac are sponsoring a concert named, “Oh Gospel! The Evolution of Praise, Worship and Song” at 6 p.m. April 11. The event will be held at New Antioch Baptist Church of Randallstown, located at 5609 Old Court Road, Windsor Mill, Md. General admission and group tickets are $35 and $60 for VIP. Contact NABCOR’s Rhema Christian Bookstore at 410-521-6130 or www.ohgospel.org for more information and to purchase tickets. The proceeds will benefit New Antioch Baptist Church of Randallstown.

Jazz at the Baltimore Museum of Art

The Baltimore Chamber Jazz Society will host a concert by Renee Rosnes Quartet April 12 at 5 p.m., at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Tickets are $32 general admission, $30 BMA members and seniors, and $10 for students. More information is available by calling (410) 385-5888.

Arbutus Record and CD Show

The April show will be held on April 19 at 5200 Southwestern Boulevard, Arbutus, Md. at the Arbutus Volunteer Fire Department Hall from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission and parking are free.

Spirit of a Woman Conference

The Greater Baltimore Section of The National Council of Negro Women is hosting their Spirit of a Woman Conference, 9 a.m., April 25, at the Radisson Hotel at Cross Keys, 100 Village Square, Baltimore, Md. Call (443) 406-6269 for ticket cost and information.

BlackRock Center for the Arts

Malian singer- songwriter, Fatoumata Diawara, will perform, 8 p.m., April 17, at the BlackRock Center for the Arts in Germantown, Md. Tickets are $15-$26. Call (240) 912-1058 or visit www.blackrockcenter.org to purchase tickets.

Fatoumata Diawara will perform April 17 at the BlackRock Center for the Arts.

"

Elijah Cummings Hosts 18th Annual Job Fair

U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) is hosting his 18th Annual Job Fair from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on April 13 at the Fifth Regiment Armory, located at 219, 29th Division St. in Baltimore. The fair will feature various employment sectors and apprenticeship training programs.

Dance Theatre of Harlem: Forty Years of First

Baltimore native Keith Saunders, ballet master of Dance Theatre of Harlem will give a talk and demonstration at the opening day exhibition of Dance Theatre of Harlem: Forty Years of First, 1 p.m., April 18, at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum in Baltimore. General admission is $8. Contact 443-263-1875 or visit www.rflewismuseum.org for more information.

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The Afro-American, April 11, 2015 - April 17, 2015

Taylor

Continued from A1

of Baltimore, shut the house down.

“I’ll never forget his answer…. It was so much like Jesus’

‘Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.’ And it was so typically Gardner Taylor,” she said. “His wisdom was undeniable.

His knowledge of the word was unmatched. And his voice reverberated deeply with a tenor that suggested it had been tuned by God’s own hand with a resonance that pleased God’s own ear.”

Such are the recollections and tributes that are being offered this week in honor of Rev. Taylor, who in death, as in life, was guided by God’s providence: Taylor died April 5 of an apparent heart attack at the age of 96—on an Easter Sunday, the highest and most revered day of the Christian calendar.

It was a fitting end to the life of the iconic civil rights leader and “the dean of American preaching,” a broad spectrum of supporters have said.

“The Lord gave him a special time to come home. Not only was it a Sunday, but Easter Sunday,” said the Rev. Dr. A.C.D. Vaughn, senior pastor of Sharon Baptist Church in Baltimore, chairman of the Hampton Ministers’ Conference executive board and a close friend of the Taylor family.

“You would chose today. Resurrection Sunday! Dying as you lived [with] majestic spiritual eloquence, bearing witness always to the One who called you. Well done, Sir, well done,” read the tribute of the Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock, senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Ga., the home church of Taylor’s confidant and friend the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “Anybody who had the privilege of hearing him speak knows what power he had. He was a civil rights hero. He was a friend of Dr. King, who used his spellbinding sermons to spread the gospel and open people’s hearts and minds,” said President Obama, who counted Taylor among his heroes, at the White House’s Easter Prayer Breakfast April 7. “So as we mourn his absence today,” Obama added, “we also take solace knowing that he leaves a living legacy and that he is in a better place.”

In a life rich with accomplishments, Rev. Taylor counted among them pastoring Concord Baptist Church of Christ in Brooklyn for 42 years before he retired in 1990, nurturing it into a vibrant, nationally prominent congregation that ran an elementary school, nursing home, credit union and other ministries that served the spiritual and corporal needs of thousands. He was the recipient of dozens of honorary doctoral degrees and other awards. He preached

August 1960. Dr. Taylor already has support of 20 state presidents and more than 3,000 pastors and ministers for his candidacy for president of the National Baptist Convention. Dr. Taylor and Rev. Walter P. Offutt carefully study reports on progress of the crusade to elect him president of the world’s largest Negro body.

the pre-inauguration sermon in January 1993 for “He devoted a lifetime to spreading the President Bill Clinton at Metropolitan A.M.E. gospel and used his voice as a champion in Church in Washington, reportedly bringing the struggle for equality and democracy,” said the then-president-elect to tears. Clinton later U.S. Rep. N.C. Butterfield, D-N.C., chairman awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom of the Congressional Black Caucus, in a on Aug. 9, 2000. statement.

Indisputably, however, Rev. Taylor’s greatest The Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., a civil rights gift and source of greatest impact lay in his keen leader and former aide to Dr. King, said Rev. interpretation and eloquent delivery of Christian Taylor was a “transforming” preacher, whom theology, which reached across denominational Dr. King considered “the most consistent and other barriers to inspire generations of master of exegesis and Biblical interpreter of preachers and believers across the world. In an social justice.” age before televangelists dominated the airwaves, “He was a freedom fighter, who was Taylor’s homilies reached into millions of homes always looking to change the way people in the 1950s and ‘60s through NBC’s nationally lived on the outside and their condition on the broadcast “National Vespers,” and he has been insides,” Jackson told the AFRO. “He was a a popular speaker at churches, conferences and light in dark places and his light is shining other events across his career. even brighter today.”

“Dr. Taylor stood in a class by himself as a Perhaps, Taylor’s greatest contribution preacher par excellence, an orator without peer, to the Civil Rights Movement, however, a theologian without competition, and rightfully was in his support for Dr. King, including known as the prince of preachers,” said the Rev. his role in forming the Progressive National Al Sharpton, of National Action Network, who Baptist Convention, which became a base Dr. Taylor in 1957 said he knew Dr. Taylor—who had lived across for the civil rights leader when the National the street from his pastor Bishop F.D. Washington Baptist Convention became inhospitable to his on President Street in Brooklyn—since boyhood. nonviolent campaign for civil rights.

Rev. Vaughn said Sharon Baptist was blessed to have Dr. Taylor “A part of his legacy is that he kept Dr. King’s fight for preach at their Father’s Day service for many years, an event that equality and justice alive through the Progressive National Baptist consistently drew crowds.

Convention,” said the Rev. Kip Banks, interim general secretary of “When he spoke, people had to listen. He had a God-given gift the denomination. “Dr. Taylor gave breath to the convention and he to be very colorful in his use of language. He could paint a picture encouraged others to follow…. In many respects, [he] was the soul with words that you could see clearly,” said Vaughn of Taylor’s of our convention.” preaching, which he said was a mixture of “good scholarship with Another key part of Rev. Taylor’s living legacy was his the spirit breathing on it. “He’s the kind of preacher the likes of mentorship of generations of preachers and ministers. which we may never see again for another hundred years.”

The Rev. Otis Moss III, pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ Born in 1918 in a segregated Baton Rouge, La., Dr. Taylor said in Chicago said: he had run away from ministry, preferring to be a lawyer, until his “Dr. Taylor was our prince of the pulpit and provost of prophetic involvement in a vehicular accident at the age of 19 opened his eyes preaching. His ministry, poetic craft and compassionate spirit will to his calling, according to an interview with the Baylor University’s be remembered and studied into the next century. From Dr. King Institute of Oral History. to President Clinton countless leaders have sought his council and And God had groomed him from birth for that purpose: his direction. He shall be missed, but Heaven shall rejoice.” grandfather and father were preachers, and his parents, the littleAmong his Taylor’s protégés is the Rev. Dr. Suzan Johnson educated children of former slaves, had the greatest and most lasting Cook, a former White House advisor under President Clinton influence on his preaching. and former United States Ambassador-at-Large for International “I do not know where my father got it, but there was a peculiar Religious Freedom under President Obama. construction of language with which I think he was born, though “He was my mentor and spiritual father,” said “Dr. Sujay” in an that’s strange, because both of my grandparents were slaves… interview with the AFRO. neither of whom could read [nor] write. And yet my father came Cook said she was ordained in 1982, “at a time when women out with a—a manner of speech,” Rev. Taylor recalled to the pastors were not fully supported.” But Taylor threw his support interviewer. “And my mother had a feeling—an almost intimate behind her, attending and playing a role in her ordination. feeling for the transactions of Scripture. And I inherited that, for “I never had any trouble from then on. The godfather had spoken which I will always be grateful.” by his presence,” she said.

Author Jerry M. Carter Jr. characterized Dr. Taylor’s preaching Yet, for all of his influence, Taylor was humble. and his careful use of language in the exegesis (interpretation) of the “When he walked into a room you knew you were in the Bible as an “audible sacrament.” presence of a prince, but he was the model of humility…nothing “He handles words in the preparation of preaching like the puffed up about him at all,” Vaugh recalled. “He showed that real bread and cup are handled in preparation for the Communion,” preaching is when you become the personification of what you Carter wrote. “The careful use of language is not simply a rhetorical preach.” or mechanical device for Taylor. Words are servants of the Word Cook agreed, saying, “He was an example of Jesus in action.”

(Jesus Christ) by which the presence of God is communicated to the Funeral services for Rev. Taylor will be held 11:30 a.m. April 13 congregation.” at Concord Baptist Church in Brooklyn, N.Y. For Taylor, that also meant using his pulpit and gifted tongue as a tool in the fight for civil rights and justice—something he saw exemplified by the Southern Black preachers of his youth, many of whom were uneducated, crude in language and coarse in reasoning, but who clearly wrestled with the question of the Black condition.

November 1963. Ten years after they organized to rebuild the Concord Baptist Church of Christ, leaders have opened a financial campaign for the sum of $25,000 to complete the entire payment for the edifice and the organ. They are, Catharine Kenebrew, left, Florence, Van Karlow, Cypreme Belle, Dr. Taylor, and Dewey E. Chester.

Seated is John T. Lucas, church organist.

August 1959. The Rev. Dr. Gardner Taylor, center, preparing to leave for a preaching mission in Australia, is shown with Mrs. Taylor, right, and his mother, Mrs. Selina Taylor, left, at a bon voyage party given in Concord Baptist Church, Brooklyn, N.Y.

May 1969. Rev. Taylor wears the medallion of the Order of African Redemption, conferred upon him by President William V.S. Tubman and the Republic of Liberia.

June 1957. Rev. Taylor is presented a plaque by the Rev. William P. Hayes, Newark, N.J., retiring president, New England Baptist Missionary Convention, as Pastor of the Year, at the pre-convention musical. Looking on are the Rev. David Licorish, Abyssinia Baptist Church and Rev. Dr. B.G. Johnson, Newark, N.J.

October 1964. Daughter, Martha, buttons glove for her mother, as Dr. and Mrs. Gardner C. Taylor leave for an official state dinner at the White House as guests of President and Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson. The dinner was in honor of President Diosdado Macapagal of the Philippines.

All photos AFRO Archives

April 11, 2015 - April 17, 2015 The Afro-American

COMMENTARY

A9

Full Employment for Everyone

Elijah Cummings

Nationally, we now have witnessed more than five years of significant job creation.

Unemployment, which reached 10 percent during the depths of the Bush Recession, has been cut nearly in half.

Yet, for far too many of our nation’s working families, the positive economic statistics heralding a “recovery” from the Bush Recession must appear to describe someone else’s country – an almost mythical society in which no one is struggling to find a good job or take care of his or

her family.

Why do millions of Americans — and, especially, African Americans — remain trapped in slow-moving unemployment lines or marginal positions with no future? The answers are complex, but it seems clear that both national and more local obstacles must be overcome for us to achieve full recovery.

The Continuing Struggle in Congress Most of my Maryland constituents realize that there are those of us in Washington who are giving voice to their outcry for more good jobs that pay living wages. Yet, clearly, the Republican House and Senate majorities are not listening.

On a straight, party-line vote, the Republicans have pursued federal budget proposals that threaten to be a disaster to our still fragile economy. Experts at the Economic Policy Institute project that the Republican proposals, if enacted into law, could reduce economic growth and cost our nation nearly 3 million jobs in the year 2017 alone.

In sharp contrast, President Obama continues to advocate for job creation as a top priority.

Measures proposed by our Congressional Progressive Caucus could create more than 8 million good jobs by 2018.

President Obama, our allies and I will continue to fight for that better vision because all Americans have a personal interest in our economic success – most of all, Americans of Color.

We all applaud the fact that our overall national unemployment rate has dropped to around 5.5 percent. Tragically, however, the national jobless rate for African Americans remains mired at Recession levels [10.4 percent in February].

Here in Maryland, due to the strong presence of federally funded programs, the Black unemployment rate is somewhat better than the national average [8.8 percent at the end of 2014]. Yet, the negative impact of federal budget cuts on Maryland jobs continues to be a serious obstacle to achieving full employment in our African American neighborhoods.

Connecting Marylanders with Good Jobs.

We know that, here in the Baltimore Region, many good employment positions are going unfilled. This is why my office will be hosting our 18th Annual Job Fair on April 13, from 9 am until 2 pm, at the Fifth Regiment Armory.

Over the years, I have learned that my office can be most helpful to job seekers by bringing them together with employers who are ready to hire. This year, the majority of our more than 50 participating employers will take resumes onsite — and many will be interviewing on the spot.

Our April 13 Job Fair is free, but photo identification will be needed to gain entrance to the Armory. I encourage job-seekers to give themselves a competitive advantage by visiting my website in advance [http://cummings. house.gov] and selecting the links to the career pages of participating companies that interest them.

“We all applaud the fact that our overall national unemployment rate has dropped to around 5.5 percent. Tragically, however, the national jobless rate for African Americans remains mired at Recession levels.”

Here, however, are some highlights.

• We will offer workshops for college students and recent graduates on how to apply and obtain paid, entry-level training positions with the Federal Government through its Pathways Program. For those who are interested, representatives from the Social Security Administration, the US Department of Veterans Affairs and USAJobs (the Federal Government’s official jobs site) will participate.

• Job Seekers will also benefit from meeting with representatives from the CHOICE Program (Community Hiring for Opportunities in Construction Employment) and Helmets to HardHats. On-site simulators and demonstrations will be helpful to people looking for employment in the building and construction trades.

• A number of other service providers will supply resources

for people as they continue to look for employment. Attendees will be able to attend free workshops on resume writing, interview techniques, and how to use social media in their job search.

• For example, once again, this year’s Job Fair will include the very popular “Résumé Doctor,” writing assistance & advice, Computer Café and ONE-Stop Mobile Career Centers provided by the Maryland Workforce Exchange.

For those who are looking for a job (or a better job) or know anyone who is, our April 13 Job Fair may well become their pathway to success.

Past experience has demonstrated that people do obtain good jobs at our Jobs Fairs. Others have taken the first step toward better utilizing our City’s One-Stop Career Centers, conveniently located at 1100 North Eutaw Street (410-767-2148), 3001 E. Madison Street (410-396-9030), and Mondawmin Mall (410-523-1060).

Baltimore County and Howard County residents can find the same help at 7930 Eastern Boulevard (410-288-9050 ext. 424), 11101 McCormick Road (410- 887-7940), or 7161 Columbia Gateway Drive (410-290-2600).

Americans want to work. We must continue to invest in their dreams, both in Washington and here at home.

I remain convinced that, working together, we can rebuild our economy and our communities.

Congressman Elijah Cummings represents Maryland’s 7th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives.

Hunger Doesn’t Get a Summer Vacation Many children and families eagerly look forward to the end of the school year and the carefree days of summer, playing outside in the warm sun, splashing and swimming in pools and at beaches, and gathering with family and friends for backyard barbeques. But for more than 17 million children, the end of school can be the end of certainty about where and when their next meal will come.

While 21.7 million children received free or reduced price lunches during the 2013-2014 school year, only 2.6 million children – 12.2 percent – participated in the Summer Food Service Program. This huge participation gap suggests that nearly 9 out of 10 of the children who benefit from free or reduced price lunches during the school year may not be receiving the nourishment necessary for proper physical, cognitive, and social development during the long summer months.

Marian Wright Hunger has no vacation.

Edelman The good news is that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service operates the Summer Food Service Program that is administered by state agencies to serve these hungry children. Although the program is 100 percent federally financed and can create desperately needed summer jobs for cafeteria workers and others, there is still a severe shortage of school and community programs to serve all needy hungry children. And there are other barriers. Summer food programs sometimes tend to be available at odd hours and for short periods of time and in inconvenient places making it challenging for children to get there, a problem exacerbated by lack of safe transportation to the sites.

Over the past few years, the USDA Food and Nutrition Service has been piloting innovative strategies in diverse communities across the country to help overcome many of these barriers. Some programs have had success using mobile vans to provide meals, especially helpful in rural communities.

In other communities without sites, it has allowed the use of electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards – like those used for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) – to transfer money to families so they can purchase extra food for their children in the summer.

Congress has a role to play in ensuring that countless children do not go hungry during the summer.

The Summer Meals Act of 2015 (S. 613) was introduced by Senators Kristen Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Lisa

Murkowski (R-Arkansas) both this year and last. Their bill would significantly expand summer nutrition programs by lowering the threshold for community eligibility from 50 percent to 40 percent of children in the area eligible for free or reduced price meals. Community eligibility reduces the administrative burden on sites and allows them to serve more children.

There has been progress but it must be increased so children do not suffer hunger. USDA data show that between July 2013 and July 2014, the number of children participating in the Summer Food Service Program increased by more than 220,000 and 11 million more meals were served to hungry children. Our friends at the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) note in their annual report on summer meals that during this same time period, the number of sponsors and sites across the country also increased. However, while improvements have been made to reduce the participation gap, millions of children continue to go hungry during the summer months.

I find it shocking that in 2012-2013, 4.9 million households, including 1.3 million with children, an increase from the previous year, had no cash income and depended only on food stamps (now called SNAP) to stave off hunger. I find it even more shocking that some Republican leaders are trying to cut SNAP when the need is so enormous.

There is a role for all of us in getting food to children during the long food desert of summer months for millions of young children, and right now, we still have time to take action for the coming 2015 summer. Individuals and organizations in communities can help serve the meals, promote the program, provide transportation, volunteer at summer food sites, and help find sponsors.

The USDA has a number of great resources to help sponsors and sites get up and running, including a “Summer Meals Toolkit” that provides information on sponsors, sites, links to state agencies, and much more. And if you know hungry children in your community, you can call 1-866-3-HUNGRY or 1-877-8-HAMBRE to find the nearest summer feeding site.

Most importantly, if there are not enough summer feeding sites, ask why not. Urge your schools, congregations and other local programs to continue serving children during the summer months and take advantage of the opportunity to use federal dollars to do it Marian Wright Edelman is president of the Children’s Defense Fund whose Leave No Child Behind® mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities. For more information go to www.childrensdefense.org

What Good are Democrats?

It is time that we dispel the mythology around Maryland being a political progressive state. Being a Democrat in Maryland is pretty meaningless as an indicator of your political ideology or values. We live in a state in which a 3rd of the population is made up of Black people, yet the Maryland General Assembly were not able to pass any substantive law enforcement reform to address the issue of police brutality. This is a disgraceful fact in the light of the recent report that was published by the ALCU that reveals that 109 people since 2010 have been killed at the hands of law enforcement.

All this points to a fundamental lack of understanding about what progress looks like as it relates to issues of racism in America. Including individual Black people in high level institutional positions is not a substantive challenge to racism. Having a Black Lieutenant Governor, Black elected officials, Black friends etc are not substantive challenges to racism. That type of inclusion has the affect of putting a Black face on an institution that is adversely affecting Black people. We have to have a more sophisticated understanding of the dynamics of racism that goes beyond the symbolic gestures of inclusion and toward

Dayvon Love

an analysis that centers around substantive improvements in the quality of life of Black people.

The General Assembly’s failure to move any substantive legislation on this issue, and the silence of the leadership in Annapolis on this issue is an example of institutional racism. This claim unfortunately frightens people because people often don’t have the requisite literacy on issues of racism and quite frankly the emotional maturity to understand that the charge of institutional racism is not about individual attitudes or character flaws, but about the effect that an institution has on the people it serves.

The leadership in the Maryland General Assembly should be embarrassed that it could not get anything done to address the issue of police brutality in Maryland this year. This is such a major national issue that affects people here in Maryland. It would be disingenuous to proclaim Maryland to be such a progressive state if it did not have the will to pass something substantive on the issue of police brutality.

Dayvon Love is the Director of Public Policy for Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle and former national debate champion.

The opinions on this page are those of the writers and not necessarily those of the AFRO. Send letters to The Afro-American, 2519 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21218 or fax to 1-877-570-9297 or e-mail to editor@afro.com

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The Afro-American, April 11, 2015 - April 17, 2015

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April 11, 2015 - April 17, 2015, The Afro-American

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From Seashells to Shimmering Seas Now’s the time to plan your perfect beach vacation

By Donna M. Owens Special to the AFRO

I

whether you want luxe accommodations with water f you’re among the millions of Americans who’ve views, or lodging that’s simply clean and comfy, there literally weathered the winter of our discontent— are ample options. somewhere, someplace, a beach is beckoning.

We’ve done the legwork for you, selecting beach Indeed, right about now, a beautiful spot stateside, or locales that are close to home (wherever that may be), perhaps in the Caribbean, may be calling your name. and still others that can take you on a journey afar.

So now is the time to map out your perfect beach Wherever you decide to go, make your beach vacay. You’ll want a destination that offers the getaway, easy, breezy and fun. And don’t forget to requisite sand, surf and sunsets, of course. And pack your swimsuit.

Maryland’s Eastern Shore

From quaint towns with chic appeal such as St. Michaels, to Assateague’s famed wild horses, Maryland’s Eastern shore offers vacationers a mix of unique beach experiences.

Start in Ocean City, a quintessential seaside beach resort. Whether it’s a beach wedding, a White Marlin fishing tournament, St. Michaels, Md. muscle car shows, or baptisms during the yearly ‘Jesus at the Beach’ festival, it’s no wonder the town garners upwards of eight million visitors annually.

“We truly appreciate our visitors as they have made Ocean City the great destination that it is today,” said Mayor Rick Meehan.

The beach fare in OC can bring on serious cravings. Think Fishers caramel popcorn, Thrasher’s fries doused with vinegar, Dolles taffy, and creamy ice cream cones from Dumser’s Dairyland. Many local merchants have deep roots in the

The Boardwalk at Ocean City, Md.

stmichaels.org

Back in the day, residents and guests included Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, Paul Robeson, Mary Church Terrell, and poets Langston Hughes and Paul Laurence Dunbar.

Maryland’s native son, Frederick Douglass, visited too, but died before the house that his son was building for him was completed.

Highland Beach, incorporated in 1922, became the first African-American municipality in Maryland. Today, it’s more racially mixed, yet still preserves a legacy of African-American history and pride. There’s a museum devoted to Douglass, and the town’s festive 4th of July parade draws multiple generations.

While visiting Maryland’s Eastern Shore, don’t miss Assateague Island National Seashore and Assateague State Park.

“There’s such natural beauty,” says Connie

wikimedia.org

The famous ponies of Assateague Island, Md.

Yingling, a Maryland tourism spokeswoman.

The parks are located on Assateague Island, a barrier island bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and the Sinepuxent Bay. A few miles of beaches offer swimming, surfing and fishing. Adventurers can explore secluded coves by canoe or kayak, where you’ll The Inn at Perry Cabin in birds, deer, and waterfowl.

St. Michaels And a truly magnificent sight is the region’s famous feral horses, which roam and gallop freely.

Wind up your shore visit in St. Michaels, a place of yachts, adorable boutiques, zero fast food establishments, and a feel described as “Mayberry Highland Beach meets Ralph Lauren.” Consider staying at a B & B Living Shoreline in town, or choose the upscale Inn at Perry Cabin, Project which features elegantly furnished rooms, a worldhighlandbeachmd.org

community, including the Phillips’ family, whose crab cakes are nationally renowned.

A short drive from Ocean City is Highland Beach, which dates back to 1893 as a summer enclave for well-to-do AfricanAmericans.

Charles Douglass (son of abolitionist Frederick Douglass) and his wife Laura, founded the community after being turned away from a nearby resort due to their race. The couple later purchased a 40-acre tract of land on the Chesapeake Bay with 500 feet of beachfront and transformed it into a relaxing haven.

July 4 Picnic Dance at Highland Beach

abacobahamasguide.com

class spa and gourmet dining.

For more info, www.visitmaryland.org

The Bahamas

It’s easy to escape to ‘The Abacos,’— a mini archipelago

Abaco Beach Resort

Getty Images

www.abacobeachresort.com

of 100 islands in the northern Bahamas-less than 200 miles off the coast of Fort Lauderdale.

Set on the sea of Abaco and the Atlantic Ocean, these so-called ‘out islands’ boast white sand beaches, clear waters and some of the world’s largest barrier reefs. The region is a hub for sailing, diving and water sports.

While Abaco is less well-known than

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the island’s more populous areas, it’s ideal for relaxation sans large crowds.

Visitors can enjoy surfing and shopping to beach bar hopping. Reportedly, Beyonce and Jay-Z were spotted a few years back at Nipper’s Beach Bar & Grill in Great Guana Cay, a lively party spot.

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The Afro-American, April 11, 2015 - April 17, 2015

On April 5, Christian Life Church in Baltimore celebrated Easter Sunday with three special services. Dr. Hugh Blair, Senior Pastor, delivered the message for the early morning and mid-day services. Later on that evening, the church hosted an Easter Musical, entitled: “The LifeChanging Power of Resurrection.�

Bernadette Regan (center) directing choir and singing children

Kids on parade displaying their Easter fashions

Photos by JD Howard

Church congregation

Joyce Walker, Jacqueline Atkins, Chantell Williams, Janice Lee

Denise Dobson-McDonald, Wand Noble, Leslie Weems

(Standing) Ladies Guild members, (seated) Billy Jo McKinney, Rev. Dr. Darron McKinney, pastor, Juanita Miller, president Geraldine Cooper, Marlyn Goins, Dr. Doris Browning Austin

Tonika Berkley, Joyce Berkley, Patricia Montague, Mia Whittington Ladies Guild members

The Ladies Guild of Macedonia Baptist Church hosted their annual bull and oyster roast at the Forum on Primrose Avenue.

An assortment of fried and baked chicken, carving turkey station, string and leafy greens, steamed oysters and sweet cornbread with lots of butter for those with Dorothy Frier, a hearty appetite was the order Elaine Atlee, for the afternoon. Of course, the Joyce Rucker Agnes T.Ray, Pat Carter, Andrea variety of desserts rounded out Coger, Venciedora Kane the menu for the large crowd who attended the fundraiser for the church.

The Ladies Guild has been a valuable component of the church and supports the many activities, especially the fuel fund of Macedonia Baptist Church which is located at Fremont and Lafayette Avenues.

Sandra Johnson, Rhonda Thompson, Photos by Dr. A. Lois DeLaine

Lynn Robeson, Juanita Miller, president, Ladies Guild

Melvyn Baker, Ronald Smithwick, Charles Owens at the registration table Nona Diggs, Sandra Ray, Joyce Dixon James and Lillian Forbes

Evelyn James, Tamay Lewis-Stone, Regina Canty, Kathy Brown

Pam Merrotte, Richard Morris

Sheila Thomas, Sharen Pettaway Epps, Jocelyn Cheatham, Rena Kenely

April 11, 2015 - April 17, 2015, The Afro-American

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ARTS & CULTURE

Book Review

My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me A Black Woman Discovers Her Family’s Nazi Past

By Kam Williams Special to the AFRO “When Jennifer Teege, a German-Nigerian woman, happened to pluck a library book from the shelf…she discovered a horrifying fact: Her grandfather was Amon Goeth, the vicious Nazi commandant chillingly depicted in Schindler’s list—a man known and reviled the world over.

Although raised in an orphanage and eventually adopted, Jennifer had some contact with her biological mother and grandmother as a child. Yet neither revealed that her grandfather was the Nazi ‘Butcher of Plaszow,’ executed for crimes against humanity…

The more Teege reads about Amon Goeth, the more certain she becomes: If her grandfather had met her—a black woman—he would have killed her.”

—Excerpted from the Bookjacket How do you think you’d react if you were black and you inadvertently uncovered evidence that the mother who callously left you at an orphanage at less than a month-old was the daughter of an infamous Nazi who ran a concentration camp?

That’s precisely what happened to Jennifer Teege, the author

of My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me, A Black Woman Discovers Her Family’s Nazi Past.

Teege learned at 38 that her grandfather was Amon Goeth, a monster who not only ordered the extermination of thousands of Jews, but took a certain sadistic pleasure in participating in all the torture, maiming and killing.

For, while serving as warden of the Plaszow death camp in Poland, the coward was very fond of shooting Jews for sport from the balcony of his home overlooking the prison yard. That’s just one example of Goethe’s numerous atrocities recreated in Schindler’s List, the Academy Awardwinning Best Picture where his character was played by Ralph Fiennes in a chilling, Oscarnominated performance.

Understandably, Jennifer became severely depressed upon unearthing her genealogy, especially since she’s of AfricanGerman extraction, being the product of a brief relationship

between her mother and a Nigerian. Among other things, she found out that her white supremacist forebear was so proud of his mass murder of people he considered subhuman, that his last words before his death by hanging were a defiant “Heil Hitler!”

So, Jennifer’s emotional tailspin made sense seeing how her bubble was burst, given how orphans are more inclined to fantasize that they’re descended from royalty than the scum of the Earth. Now, how was she to square having the blood of an inveterate anti-Semite coursing through her veins when she was adopted and raised by a loving couple who had encouraged her to speak fluent Hebrew and get a college degree from Tel Aviv University in Israel.

My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me: A Black Woman Discovers Her Family’s Nazi Past represents the culmination of a bittersweet quest for closure uncovering some of the most disgusting skeletons imaginable. In fascinating fashion, the author recounts her two-year, intercontinental trek during which she both confronted her long-estranged, biological mother and revisited the concentration camp and Jewish ghetto where her despicable granddad did his dirty work.

Yes, he must be spinning in his grave or perhaps more likely rotating on a spit in Hell about his granddaughter’s skin color, but let’s all give thanks that Jennifer in spite of his genes turned out to be a rather respectable apple that fell far from one very gnarly family tree.

A Spirited Tête-à-Tête with Aunjanue Ellis and Clement Virgo ‘The Book of Negroes’ Interview

By Kam Williams Special to the AFRO Aunjanue Ellis stars as Aminata Diallo in ‘The Book of Negroes,’ the hit TVminiseries based on Lawrence Hill’s award-winning best seller of the same name.

Here, she and the picture’s director, Clement Virgo, share their thoughts about the adaptation of the historical novel chronicling the life of an 11 year-old girl kidnapped in Africa and enslaved for decades in the U.S. until she manages to escape to Canada.

Kam Williams: Hi Aunjanue and Clement, thanks for the interview.

Aunjanue Ellis: Thank you, Kam. Clement Virgo: Absolutely!

KW: What interested you in ‘The Book of Negroes,’ Aunjanue?

AE: To be honest, the first thing that interested me was seeing that the CBC [Canadian Broadcasting Corporation] and BET [Black Entertainment Television] were partnering on the project.

In my mind, I couldn’t

facebook.com

Book of Negroes - Episode 6 — with Aunjanue Ellis

War and about my own and Canadian history. But I didn’t know about people migrating from New York to Nova Scotia, or appreciate that if you were African-American, you really had to choose sides during the Revolutionary War. And I saw Aminata as being a lot like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, where she was caught up in this twister of slavery, and all she wanted to do was get back home. Her determination to survive was

“Her determination to survive was so powerful, I felt like I had to tell the story.”

– Clement Virgo think of two more divergent networks. Then, I found out it was based on this wonderful historical novel about a woman’s story of survival. I love doing that kind of work.

KW: Did you read the book before accepting the role?

AE: Yes, I did.

KW: Clement, what inspired you to turn it into a mini-series?

CV: The book was quite a phenomenon in Canada, where it won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and sold a million copies.

I fell in love with Aminata Diallo and enjoyed reading about the period of history that she takes us through.

I thought I knew about the American Revolutionary

so powerful, I felt like I had to tell the story.

KW: Given the facts brought out about the Revolutionary War by ‘The Book of Negroes,’ do you think that the American colonies were on the wrong side of history? The film suggests that the British were lesser of two evils. Have blacks been mis-educated into siding with the Patriots over the British Loyalists in the same way Native Americans talk about being manipulated by movies as children into rooting for the Cowboys over the Indians?

AE: The British kept their slaves while wanting to get rid of America’s, so you can take from that what you will. It’s a lot more complicated than we’re led to believe.

KW: Do you think George Washington’s ex-slave, Henry Washington, should be more of a hero to AfricanAmericans than his master, the first president of the United States? After all, he escaped from slavery and then gained his freedom by fighting with the British during the Revolutionary War. AE: America is steeped in mythology. The problem is that it’s been living a myth since its inception, starting with The Declaration of Independence. How can you say that all people are created equal, but mean only if they’re white and male? So, we, as its citizens, have continually had to die in the streets to force the country to live up to that promise and be more than a myth, and be a reality for all.

That’s why it’s so genius that Clement has Aminata say to George Washington, “If this is what you’re claiming to be, then why do you have slaves?” This picture does a great job of shattering the myths perpetuated in many schoolbooks.

KW: This film actually moved me to tears on several occasions, like the very touching scene where Aminata tracks down her baby shortly after it was sold, but was immediately ordered off the plantation by its heartless, new slave owner.

CV: I’m glad to hear that.

It was important to all of us to capture the totality of these characters’ humanity

and not just reduce them to their circumstances. Aminata fascinates me, because she reminds me of all that black people have had to overcome.

I also appreciated the fact that she was a midwife, since one of the last things she had been told by her mother before being kidnapped and sold into slavery was, “As long as babies are being born, life will go on.” So, her subsequently bringing life into the world is very, very significant.

more different from me than any character I’ve ever played in terms of her temperament, her world view and the way she carried herself with so much wisdom and grace, even as a child. My sense of self is a lot more haphazard. I lost myself with her, when I put my costume on. You can’t go through what she went through as an actor without giving yourself over to it completely. And I did. So, it got very hard and depressing.

Who she is, is not me, which is why playing her was so rewarding ultimately. And I’m very grateful when anyone compliments me on my performance, since that means that they didn’t catch on that I was acting.

KW: Lastly, what’s in your wallet?

CV: [Laughs] What’s in my wallet? I have a check for $257 that I’ve been walking around with for three weeks that I need to cash.

AE: [Laughs] I have a wallet that I got when we were shooting in South Africa.

What’s in it? Some change from Canada and other places, and my expired driver’s license. [Laughs some more] KW: Thanks again for the time, Aunjanue and Clement, and best of luck with all your endeavors.

AE: Thank you so much, Kam. CV: Bye!

INVITES YOU AND A GUEST TO AN ADVANCE SCREENING OF

KW: Editor Lisa Loving says: I meet so many people who don’t really know, or worse, don’t think about, the racist roots of our country which have grown into this imperfect present day. Do you see the success of ‘The Book of Negroes’ miniseries as part of a greater awareness in the United States of our racist history and how we should be living now?

CV: I consider it part of my job as a filmmaker to put art out into the world that is positive and affirms life. Yes, it says the roots may be racist and brutal, but it cannot define us and it cannot stop us.

KW: Lisa also asks: Who do you feel is ‘The Book of Negroes’ intended audience?

AE: Everybody.

KW: Harriet PakulaTeweles asks: How much of YOU is in Aminata Diallo, and how much did you allow yourself to get lost in the character?

AE: Aminata couldn’t be

EMAIL: CUSTOMERSERVICE@AFRO.COM TO REGISTER TO WIN TICKETS! NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Supplies are limited. One pass per winner. Each pass admits two.

Seating is not guaranteed and is on a first-come, first-served basis. Employees of all promotional partners and The Afro American are not eligible. All decisions are final.

IN THEATERS APRIL 17

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The Afro-American, April 11, 2015 - April 17, 2015

Continued from B1 For lodging, the familyowned Abaco Beach Resort at Boat Harbour is a 40-acre beachfront property with amenities aplenty, including the largest marina in the Bahamas. For guests who just wanna chill, hammocks are strung between palm trees on the beach. www. abacobeachresort.com

Virginia Beach, Va.

Virginia Beach, an East Coast resort city along the Atlantic Ocean, is chock-full of pleasurable activities for the entire family.

Catch a wave while surfing, or kayak through a national wildlife refuge. Enjoy Virginia Beach, Va. a symphony performance on the beach as the sun goes down.

As the weather warms, the Mid-Atlantic’s largest population of bottlenose dolphins returns each year to the Virginia Beach coast. Pods of dolphins can be spotted feasting, jumping and playing. Other family pleasures abound: roaming magicians, jugglers, bands in the park, and costumed characters near the Boardwalk.

Courtesy of the Virginia Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau

Molokai, Hawaii

First Landing State Park, Virginia Beach, Va. Courtesy of the Virginia Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau

Begin (or end) your day by collecting seashells at the Sandbridge area along the southern shore, a quiet enclave partially surrounded by the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge. www.visitvirginiabeach.com

Hawaii

If you dream of breathtaking landscapes with mountains, volcanoes, palm trees and unobstructed views of the Pacific Ocean, then Hawaii says “Aloha.”

While noteworthy as the birthplace of President Barack Obama, Hawaii has long been famed for its exceptional

gohawaii.com

beaches. Massive blue waves, daring surfers, hula dancing and other cultural traditions, bring millions of annual travelers. They’ll find a multicultural population, and a mix of hustle, bustle and serenity.

“What’s best in me, and what’s best in my message, is St. Croix consistent with the tradition of Hawaii,” the Commander-inChief has said.

Indeed, America’s first Hawaiian-born president has been a boon to local businesses. Stores hawk Obama T-shirts, bobbleheads and other trinkets, while tour companies have added sites associated with the president to their itineraries.

Do check out Sandy Beach, located on the eastern tip of Oahu, said to be one of Obama’s favorite beaches as a youngster. And the First Family has spent Christmas on a compound at Kailua Beach in East Oahu. The scenic beach is renowned for its pristine white sand and oceanfront vistas, and like others in Hawaii is open to the public. www.gohawaii.com

United States Virgin Islands

There’s much to swoon over in the U.S. Virgin Islands: pretty, powdery beaches, stunning emerald waters, and sun-drenched days. Not to mention a decidedly romantic vibe that may make you want to run off with your beloved.

Part of the Lesser Antilles of the Caribbean, the U.S.V.I.

has three principal islands – lovely St. Croix, tranquil St. John, and St. Thomas, which is cosmopolitan.

The islands have been ruled in succession by the Spanish, English, French, Knights of Malta, French (for a second time), the Danish and now, the U.S., making for a cultural blend that is rich in heritage, crafts, cuisine and lifestyle.

“We honor our traditions as we remember our past and envision our future,” said Beverly Nicholson-Doty, Commissioner of Tourism.

St. Croix, the largest of the trio, is situated entirely in the Caribbean Sea. You’ll find pastel buildings and charming shops while strolling the historic cobblestone streets of Christiansted and Frederiksted.

Meanwhile, the area offers Mother Nature’s eye candy, from rolling green hillsides, to botanical gardens and rainforests.

Take a half day sail to Turtle Beach on Buck Island (about 1.5 miles off the northeast side of St. Croix) which offers first-rate snorkeling (thousands of tropical fish and sea turtles) and hiking trails with stunning views. It’s been voted one of the world’s most beautiful beaches by National Geographic.

st-croix-vacation-rental.com

A few stops worth making in St. Croix include Salud Bistro, where the ambiance and island-inspired cuisine are both delightful. Then there’s Zion Modern Kitchen, a hot new restaurant with excellent service where dishes range from curry calamari, to lobster ravioli.

And there’s buzz building for a forthcoming establishment called balter, from Digby Stridiron, the USVI’s award-winning Culinary Ambassador. Chef A dish by Digby Digby received his Stridiron chefsroll.com culinary education on the mainland at Le Cordon Bleu, and Johnson and Wales. He’s a young, world-class chef who strives to honor the history and magnificence of his native St. Croix, one delicious plate at a time.

There are plenty of places to stay on St. Croix, including Annaly Mill, a historic villa located in an old sugar mill in the west end’s rainforest. The Buccaneer, a sprawling property with a fantastic beach, swimming pools, a fitness center, tennis, golf and fine dining options, is owned by a family who has welcomed guests for generations.

Best of all about the U.S.V.I: American travelers won’t need a passport in this U.S. Territory. Delta and American airlines have both increased accessibility from major U.S. cities, so it’s easier than ever to escape to paradise.

Go to VisitUSVI.com or www.gotostcroix.com.

TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel site, recently announced the results of its 6th annual vacation rentals survey of more than 1,800 U.S. respondents.

Besides finding that 59 percent of respondents plan to stay at a vacation rental this year, the survey revealed the beach/ocean is the most popular setting for a vacation rental stay

“…savvy travelers should book early for the best options.” in 2015. Indeed, 63 percent of respondents said they will rent by the shore. Top months for vacation rental stays this year are June, July and August.

“Vacation rentals are becoming increasingly popular as more travelers discover the outstanding amenities, comfort, and value a rental can offer,” said Brooke Ferencsik, director of communications for TripAdvisor. “With summer the most popular time for vacation rental stays, savvy travelers should book early for the best options.”

Source: TripAdvisor website

April 11, 2015 - April 17, 2015, The Afro-American

AFRO Sports Desk Faceoff

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SPORTS

Is LeBron James the NBA’s MVP?

By Perry Green and Stephen D. Riley AFRO Sports Writers This season has been the year of the guard in the NBA. The top three MVP candidates are all dominant guards who love to score with the ball in their hand.

Stephen Curry, James Harden and Russell Westbrook have littered highlights with scoring binges and clutch baskets.

With Curry’s Warriors currently holding the best record in the league, and both Harden and Westbrook in the playoff hunt, each player has done enough to keep their teams afloat while blowing out stat lines and rewriting NBA history.

Lost in all the guards’ glory has been the scary-good play of LeBron James and his Cleveland Cavaliers. James always asked for help in Cleveland—now he finally has it and we’re seeing results. James isn’t ripping apart stat sheets but he is averaging nearly 26 points, six rebounds and over seven assists per game. With the Cavs cementing their hold on the No. 2 seed in the East, James should be getting more pub in the MVP race than he’s currently receiving.

The competition is fierce and the trio of Harden, Curry and Westbrook has been spectacular on numerous occasions this year—but is it enough to knock James out as MVP? Perry Green and Stephen D. Riley of the AFRO Sports Desk debate the question.

Riley: James has quietly kicked in another solid, playoffbound campaign, but I fear the sporty highlights from the aforementioned contenders will be too strong to sway voters.

Never mind the fact that the Cavs finished with the No. 1 overall pick in last summer’s draft and have improved to second-best in the East despite the fact that Cleveland’s lottery pick (which turned into Andrew Wiggins) was traded away before the season started. Yes, the pick did land AllStar forward Kevin Love, but it’s been a down year for Love and James has kept the team afloat. Cleveland’s 33-49 record helped them win the lottery and now they’re one game away from 50 wins. When you consider that neither Love or AllStar point guard Kyrie Irving have made the playoffs nor experience winning seasons, it makes James’ role look that much bigger. Cleveland is penciled in to make the Finals out of the East—and again, this is one year removed from having the

top pick in the draft. James has been exceptional this year.

Green: Let’s not act like the cupboard is bare in Cleveland.

Irving and Love haven’t had NBA success but J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert have. The Cavs have an absolutely stacked team and James is just controlling it all. Both Harden and Westbrook have had to carry the load with injured superstars on the bench, while Curry has been the flat-out best player on the Association’s best team. We knew Cleveland was going to compete for the most wins in the East when they acquired Love after James’ arrival. Whether they’ve had team success or not, Irving and Love are still All-Star players who haven’t missed much time this season with injuries. James has obviously sparked a culture shift in terms of professionalism and hustle, but Curry, Harden and Westbrook have arrived as big enough dark horses that they’re each gathering NBA votes as the best player in the league. James was the clear-cut best player in the league for years, but each of the three favorites’ seasons have been too remarkable to reconsider.

Riley: The thing that groups Harden, Curry and Westbrook all together is the fact they’ve each dominated the ball and done too much one-on-one in my opinion. It’s been rare to see any of the three making a play to get the ball to their teammates. James is never going to be the bullish scorer that Harden, Westbrook or Curry are, but his feel for the game and team-first approach has totally revamped the mentality in Cleveland. While each player in the three-headed race has had experience playing with their current teammates, James is the only one who’s basically had to learn a brand new system and team on the fly in one summer. The Cavaliers haven’t had much time together, which means they’re super scary in longterm potential and James has been more instrumental than ever. Going from first pick in the draft to 50 or more wins is just too big of a turnaround for me to overlook. James won’t win it for his individual numbers, but his team presence has last year’s cellar dwellers in the role of contender.

Green: James’s command on the court has certainly changed Cleveland, but their talent was already in place as they stockpiled bodies over the years and maintained a need for the three position that only James could feel. I’m not surprised by their success, because they’ve been prepping

The Author’s Corner Title: Author: Release Date:

What was the impetus for writing this book?

I started “Boyfriend” during a blissfully stable period in my life. I’d just had a baby, and I was entering my third year of marriage. One of the luxuries of stability is the opportunity to reflect. I started to reflect on past broken hearts and fleeting experiences with broken people. The protagonist of “Boyfriend,” Nate Best, was born in an attempt to understand what motivates people to do bad things.

More specifically, what experiences cause one person to be painfully careless with another person’s heart.

What’s the overall theme?

Acceptance. I think we all want to be accepted and understood. Nate struggles with acceptance throughout the entire book. It motivates him to lie, to cheat, and eventually to seek forgiveness.

What surprised you about the development of the book?

for this for years. We saw it coming when the rumors started flying about James returning and we knew he would have success if and when he came back. No one could have imagined that the Warriors would run off 60-plus wins or that Dwight Howard and Kevin Durant would go down, thrusting Harden and Westbrook into primetime roles. The fact that much of the seasons delivered by Harden, Westbrook and Russell were unforeseen only adds votes to them. I would love for Westbrook to win the MVP, as his string of triple-doubles has been legendary, but Curry evolved into the ultimate NBA showman this year, and I think he may have just given the league a new face to market behind their brand.

City. Two vastly different worlds. There is a broad range of multicultural characters so I think there is something in it for everyone. I will add that it’s not for children. Nate has pretty creative sexual experiences that I think are best saved for adult eyes.

Boyfriend Faye McCray E-Book Available Now! Paperback Available April 17

Faye McCray is a native New Yorker and current resident of the Washington, DC metropolitan area where she resides with her husband and two young sons. She is an attorney and the author of Dani’s Belts, a collection of horror short stories, and Boyfriend, the story of a college student struggling with love, fidelity, and a complicated past. Faye’s work will also be featured in the upcoming anthology, Anything But Zombies, through Simon and Schuster’s Atria Imprint. You can also find Faye’s essays on For Harriet, Madame Noire, Black Girl Nerds, Black and Married with Kids, Graveyard Shift Sisters, Rachel in the OC, and on her blog at www.fayemccray.com. You can connect with Faye on Twitter @fayewrites and Facebook at facebook. com/fayewrites.

LeBron James

What did you learn during the writing process?

To remain disciplined. When I was in college, I took a much more liberal approach to the writing process. I’d wait around for my muse and only write when inspired. I was a bit insufferable. Now, when I have a project I’d like to write, I outline and I schedule my writing time. I realized when I call my muse, she shows up. Usually holding a glass of wine and ready to go.

Faye McCray

How challenging it was writing from the perspective of a man! As a woman, we have so much more emotional freedom. If we need a good cry or just want to express our love for a friend, we can. No one questions our femininity or sexuality. With men, there are more rules. Nate feels things very deeply. However, he wasn’t always comfortable showing it. For him, those deep feelings manifested themselves in anger and acting out. It also manifested in his relationship with sex, drugs and alcohol throughout the book.

Which character excites you most?

Yikes! That’s like choosing between my babies!

I would say, the character I am most proud of is Nate’s sister, Natalie. When we first meet her, she is pretty broken. She is 17, in an abusive household and can’t see a way out. I think she has a beautiful arc in the book. She grows the most. I am very proud of where she is at the end of the book.

For what audience is your book written?

Everyone. It is written about that time in your early twenties where you have one foot in childhood and another struggling to land in adulthood. I think we can all relate to that. The books takes place at an elite private college in Washington, D.C. and then in Southeast Queens in New York

What’s next on the horizon for you?

I am working on my second novel now. It explores the early life of one of the more complex characters in “Boyfriend.” I am also working on a graphic novel based on my short story series, “Dani’s Belts” that is available now on Amazon!

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The Afro-American, April 11, 2015 - April 17, 2015

“Southern trees bear strange fruit, blood on the leaves and blood at the root, Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze, strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees. Pastoral scene of the gallant south, the bulging eyes and the twisted mouth, scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh, then the sudden smell of burning flesh. Here is fruit for the crows to pluck, for the rain to gather, for the wind to suck, for the sun to rot, for the trees to drop, here is a strange and bitter crop.” –Billie Holiday I met Billie Holiday the day she died. I was 10 years old, the airwaves played her music and I asked my mother who the singer was. I never forgot the woman with the sad music. It haunted me and I couldn’t get enough. Her haunting voice lingered long after the song had ended as if she was drained but had more to give.

“Lady Sings the Blues,” the poignant singing of “Strange Fruit,” after witnessing a lynching in the south, “Ain’t Nobody’s Business if I Do” “Good Morning Heartache,” “Gloomy Sunday” and “God Bless the child” illustrates her life, the history of our nation and the pain she felt living a tormented life of heartache, drug addiction, abuse and persecution. Her music of an unhappy soul that has seen better days has become her legacy.

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.” –Robert Louis Stevenson Tom Saunders and the Urban League celebrated Billie Holiday’s 100th birthday with champagne and cake as more than 350 guests enjoyed the sounds of Dr. Phil Butts’ 17-piece orchestra and several vocalist including

Kermit Golden, Larzine, Marilyn Ross and Sheila Ford.

Among the elegantly dressed crowd, some wearing Billie’s trademark gardenias were, Rosalyn Anthony, Pless and Kenya Jones, Everett and Stella Fullwood, Tiger Lil, Mildred Battle, Mark and Barbara Dyson, Maurice Blackwell, Priscilla Blackwell, Jeanette Bynum, Dr. Lawrence Bell and sons Marshall and Lawrence and Janice West.

Only God can turn a storm into a rainbow. The world that persecuted and forsaken Billie now honors and remembers her 100th birthday.

“I have great respect for the past. If you don’t know where you’ve come from, you don’t know where you’re going. I have respect for the past, but I’m a person of the moment. I’m here, and I do my best to be completely centered at the place I’m at, then I go forward to the next place.” –Maya Angelou Jacqueline “Jackie” Richardson celebrated her retirement from the State of Maryland after 46 years of service by hosting an old-fashioned house party at her Woodmoor home for her staff, friends and family in appreciation of their love and support over the years. Event planner Nicole Nichelson of Nik’s Nak coordinated the party. The menu included specialty drinks, sangria, champagne and an array of spirits.

The assortment of food included roasted turkey, pork chop sandwiches, turkey salad, crab soup, jambalaya, roast beef, meatballs, pasta salad, fried chicken, potato salad, kale salad, collard greens, cheese platters, and assorted hors d’oeuvres. Among the 120 people guests

were her mentor Joseph and Lydia James, Edna Smith, Charles Henry, Ruby Jackson, Alexis Parker, Michele Richardson, Christian Backmon, Rita Cooper, Roslyn Smith, Dr. Charlene Cooper- Boston, Gwendolyn Lindsay, Beverly Boston, Laura Byrd, Carolyn and Thurston Jones, Margaret and Luther Jones, Shirley Singletary, Brigitte and Harold Hodges, Ann Branch, Dr. Marian Davis–Foster, Sarah Smalley, Rosemary “Duchess Atkinson, and Karl and Laura Knight.

“I cook with wine; sometimes I even add it to the food.” –W.C. Fields Stratford University event management’s happy hour mixer honored Certified Tourism Ambassador and president of Baltimore Area Hospitality Association (BAHA) John Lee at their Caroline Street campus. John humbly accepted the award in front of his wife Stacey, his three children and his mom Brenda Lee. In accepting, the coveted award John said he was proud that his family was able to witness the honor bestowed on him by his peers for his work in hospitality. Guests dined on food prepared by renowned chefs and sampled tastings prepared by the students. Stafford professor Cereta Spence coordinated the event.

“There are days when we can bring before God... laughter of joy and gratitude. There will be other days when we can only muster a bitter, angry complaint. Be confident that God will accept whatever we lift up before him, and he will make it serve his purpose and our good.” –Rev. Gardner C. Taylor Rest in Paradise Nykidra Robinson of NyRise and Over Accessorized will host an evening with Sheila Dixon, Monica Mitchell and Curt Anderson Jr. on April 23 at The Forum, featuring Antonio Hayes and Charreah Jackson as masters of ceremony.

Register at www.eventbrite. com select believe and move.

“Seeing death as the end of life is like seeing the horizon as the end of the ocean.” – David Searls Condolences to Attorney Warren Brown on the death of his brother Haywood Gregory Brown, to Arvella Oats on the death of her grandmother Vashti Pittman Davis, to Janice Carney on the death of her husband Thomas Carney, to Donna Spaulding and family on the death of her daughter Leah and to the family of Dr. Elijah Saunders.

“Old age has its pleasures, which, though different, are not less than the pleasures of youth.”

–W. Somerset Maughman Happy birthday Margaret Sullivan, Elvard “The Bard” Cooper, Kim Washington, Daniel Henson, Anthony Hawkins, Calvin Johnson, Donel Warfield, Maggie Wiggins, Olivia “Libby” Harris, Maggie Wiggins, Brenda Sykes, Shirley Richmond, Alvin Jones Debbie Allen, Vhonda lewis, Betsy Gardner, Tanya Dennis, John Stanley, Linda Shields, Ellen Howard, Raven Wilkins, Donnice Brown and my mother Rev. Pauline Wilkins.

“I’ll be seeing you” –Valerie and the Friday Night Bunch

April 11, 2015 - April 17, 2015, The Afro-American

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Rethinking the Recognition of Doris Miller

By MarshaRose Joyner Special to the AFRO

“Dorie Miller’s Parents to be Feted at Youth Conf.” The Dallas Expresso 11 April 1942 p.4

Part III of a four-part series I have read in any number of articles that Doris Miller was awarded the Navy Cross posthumously. Perhaps that was rewritten many times over from an article in Ebony’s Handbook.

We can see from the now famous picture of Admiral Nimitz pinning the medal on Miller at ceremony on board USS Enterprise (CV-6) at Pearl Harbor, May 27, 1942, that he was very much alive when receiving the Medal.

Life experiences are the continuum in a seamless matrix. All the events of Miller’s life brought him to that moment in time. Yes, his name was Doris. Born Oct. 12, 1919, in Erath, Texas, Doris, as he was christened, was the third of four sons to Mr. and Mrs. Conery Miller. “The family lived in a three room farmhouse near Speegleville, Texas where his father was a farmer. His life had begun in a time of controversy, turmoil and violence, although his immediate surroundings appeared to be peaceful and simple.”

America at this time was deluged with atrocities. . .lynching of Negroes, drowning of coolies, downright genocide of Native American Indians, bombing of synagogues, women were chattel and mortgage.

Everyone in America struggled through the Great Depression; the Miller family was no different. Attending Moore High School Doris Miller played fullback on the school team. By the time he reached the 8th grade he stood 6’4” and weighed 220 lbs. Not only had he become a skilled boxer at the time, but he could also use his hands for cooking, sewing and ironing, all of which were practical skills to get any one through the worst depression America had ever known.

Messman Attendant Second Class Doris

The article tells how the All-Southern Negro Youth Conference met at Tuskegee Institute on April 17, 18 and 19. This organization paid for Miller’s parents to travel to the Conference and presented them with a $100 defense bond. The article further states: “At the closing session on April 19th a campaign will be started to have one million citizens sign a petition to the Congress of the United States asking that a proper symbol of recognition be awarded to your son.” Louis Burnham, Secretary Unlike his White shipmates whose acts of bravery were acknowledged by being sent back to the states, Dorie was fished out of the burning waters as the West Virginia went down and was transferred to the Indianapolis and spent the next 17 months at Pearl Harbor waiting on (white) Junior Officers. Finally in June of 1942 the Pittsburgh Courier called for Miller to be allowed to return to the states like White heroes. December, 1942 Doris Miller arrived in Waco, a hero.

The Waco Messenger, 1 January 1943 p.1 “Miller arrived home on last Thursday.

He is greeted by many friends including his former football coach at Moore High School, Professor Roosevelt L. Posey. “How often do we find young men with a swelled head because of a little success. Not so with Miller.” commented Possey. When questioned about his actions Doris said: Chester W. Nimitz pins the Navy Cross on Doris Miller, at a ceremony on board “It wasn’t hard. I just pulled the trigger and USS Enterprise (CV-6) at Pearl Harbor, May 27, 1942. she worked fine. I had watched the others with these guns. I fired her until the ammunition ran out. I think I got some of those planes. They were diving pretty close to us.”

“We were avid hunters and fishers.

Doris was a great hunter. He was one of the few people I have ever seen that could shoot a moving squirrel out of a tree with a single shot 22.”

– Arthur Miller, Doris’ brother Miller’s acts of valor at Pearl Harbor made him a hero of epic proportions.

Aware of the racial limitations, Miller joined the Navy on September 16, 1939, saying “it beats sitting around Waco working as a bus boy, going nowhere.”

A product of the segregated military, Miller never gave Jim Crow a thought as he braved strafing enemy planes to help remove his mortally wounded Captain Mervyn Sharp Bennion to a Doris Miller speaking on a war bonds tour. place of safety.

The lack of combat training did not stop Miller. This noble spirit, running between the the inside page of the Pittsburgh Courier, January, 1942 “No flames and crashing metal, taking the machine guns in hand as Change in Navy Policy! his ship mates were dying all around him on the blood soaked “The answer to a letter to Admiral Chester W. Nimitz by deck of the battleship West Virginia. He shot down Japanese P. L. Pratts, executive editor of The Pittsburgh Courier, the planes that rained bombs from the sky on Dec. 7, the “day that following announcement was made: will live in infamy.”

“I (Miller) was ordered up to the main deck, saw the Captain NAVY DEPARTMENT - BUREAU OF NAVIGATION bleeding from a hole in his stomach, we tried to move him to a WASHINGTON, D.C. place of safety. He called Commander Hillenkoatter, giving him December 23, 1941 orders to take command of the ship. He said he did not want Replying to your letter of December 16, you are advised that to be moved and wanted to go down with the ship. I noticed there has been no change in the policy of enlisting colored men a gun silent. I mounted it, pointed at the oncoming plane and in the Navy or Naval Reserve. began firing.”

Sincerely Yours, In spite of eye witness accounts (Claude V. Ricketts and

Randall Jacobs, Chief of Bureau Commander R. M. Hillenkoatter) of his acts of bravery during

(Signed) A.W. Dunn, By Direction the Pearl Harbor attack, the Navy Board of Awards established and recommended that “an unknown Negro Messman” be given an award. Not until March of 1942 through the persistence of Dr. Lawrence D. Reddisk did the Navy announces that the “unknown Black Messman” was Doris Miller.

U.S. Rep. Marcantonio of New York was able to identify Miller as the “unknown Negro Mess Attendant responsible for shooting down the Japanese planes.”

While some people question if he shot down any planes given the smoke and flames and confusion all round. If he did, how many? Arthur Miller, Doris’ brother said “we were avid hunters and fishers. Doris was a great hunter. He was one of the few people I have ever seen that could shoot a moving squirrel out of a tree with a single shot 22.” Therefore it is possible that he did indeed shoot down some Japanese planes.

Miller’s acts were heavily publicized in the Black press, making him the iconic emblem of the war for Blacks—their “Number One Hero”—thereby energizing Black support for the war effort.

NEWSPAPER ARTICLES On the front page of the Pittsburgh Courier January, 1942 Headline: “United States ‘41 Lynching Record is one less than ‘40. In the same issue “Manned Gun At Pearl Harbor.

NAACP asks the President of the United States to give the “unnamed” Messman a distinguished service award. On

The Waco Messenger, 15 January 1943 p.3 Second Baptist Church in Waco. After having been introduced and asked to come to the rostrum, Doris Miller gracefully marched down the aisle by the president of the usher board, James Pryor Sr., while a thunderous applause roared over the spacious building. He mounted the rostrum in all dignity and answered many questions from the enthusiastic audience. In his talk Doris said: ‘Wherever I go, the people of Waco can rest assured that they have my good will.”

The Waco Messenger, 22 January 1943 p.2 “. . . Mrs. Parsons was accompanied by little Barbara Brown, her granddaughter, age 7, Barbara was thrilled beyond measure at meeting our hero, Doris Miller; she said, ‘I will be able to tell the pupils in my class at home that I actually met Mr. Miller.’ More than this Barbara danced with the hero also.”

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LEGALEDT NOTICES TYPESET: Wed Apr 08 13:53:11 2015 CITY OF BALTIMORE DEPARTMENT OF GENERAL SERVICES NOTICE OF LETTING Sealed Bids or Proposals, in duplicate addressed to the Board of Estimates of the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore and marked for GS 14826Waxter Center Interior Renovations will be received at the Office of the Comptroller, Room 204, City Hall, Baltimore, Maryland until 11:00 A.M. on Wednesday, May 13, 2015. Positively no bids will be received after 11:00 A.M. Bids will be publicly opened by the Board of Estimates in Room 215, City Hall at Noon.The Contract Documents may be examined, without charge, in Room 6 located on the first floor of the Abel Wolman Municipal Building, 200 N. Holliday Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21202 as of Friday, April 10, 2015 and copies may be purchased for a non-refundable cost of $100.00.

Conditions and requirements of the Bid are found in the bid package.

All contractors bidding on this Contract must first be prequalified by the City of Baltimore Contractors Qualification Committee. Interested parties should call 410-396-6883 or contact the Committee at 3000 Druid Park Drive, Baltimore, Maryland 21215. If a bid is submitted by a joint venture (”JV”), then in that event, the document that established the JV shall be submitted with the bid for verification purposes. The Prequalification Category required for bidding on this project is E13004Rehabilitation of Structures Cost Qualification Range for this work shall be $500,000.01 to $1,000,000.00 A ”Pre-Bidding Information” session will be conducted at The Site: 861 Park Avenue (1000 Cathedral Street) Baltimore, MD 21201 on Tuesday, April 21, 2015 at 10:00 A.M. Principal Items of work for this project are: 1. Interior Demolition 2. Interior Finishes 3. HVAC 4. Plumbing The MBE goal is 27% The WBE goal is 10% CONTRACT NO. GS 14826 APPROVED: Bernice H. Taylor Clerk, Board of Estimates APPROVED: Steve Sharkey Director, Department of General Services TYPESET: Wed Apr 08 13:53:36 EDT 2015 HOUSING AUTHORITY OF BALTIMORE CITY REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS HEARING OFFICERS RFP NUMBER: B-1792-15 The Housing Authority of Baltimore City (”HABC”) will issue a Request for Proposals (”RFP”) for interested and qualified law firms or solo practitioners to serve as Hearing Officers, when requested by HABC. HABC expects to select multiple qualified responders under this solicitation. As a Hearing Officer, the successful responders will attend and conduct informal hearings at HABC facilities concerning the termination of HCVP participants from the program.

PROPOSALS WILL BE DUE no later than 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday, May 15, 2015.A non-mandatory pre-proposals conference will be held on Wednesday, April 29, 2015, at 10:00 a.m., at 417 E. Fayette Street, Room 416, Baltimore, Maryland, 21202.

HABC has established a minimum goal of twenty percent (20%) of the total dollar amount of the proposed contract for Minority Business Enterprise (”MBE”) utilization, applicable to all minority and non-minority businesses proposing to provide the requested services as the prime contractor. No goal has been established for participation of Women-owned businesses (”WBEs”), however, HABC strongly encourages and affirmatively promotes the use of WBEs in all HABC contracts.

Responders shall also comply with all applicable requirements of Section 3 of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968, 12 U.S.C. Section 1701u.

The RFP may be obtained on or after Wednesday, April 22, 2015, at the following location: Housing Authority of Baltimore City Division of Fiscal Operations, Purchasing Department 417 E. Fayette Street, Room 414 Baltimore, Maryland 21202 Attention: John Airey, Chief of Contracting Services Tel: (410) 396-3261 Fax: (410) 962-1586

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FAMILY COURT 202-879-1212 DOMESTIC RELATIONS 202-879-0157 a. Absent Defendant b. Absolute Divorce c. Custody Divorce

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1-800 (AFRO) 892 For Proof of Publication, please call 1-800-237-6892, ext. 244 TYPESET: Wed Apr 08 13:53:57 EDT 2015 LEGAL NOTICES HOUSING AUTHORITY OF BALTIMORE CITY REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

RFP NUMBER: B-1790-15 Questions regarding the RFP should be directed in writing to the address and individual indicated above, and must include the reference: HABC RFP Set aside funding availability for the Homeless population for Project Based units.

Number B-1792-15.

TYPESET: Wed Apr 08 13:58:06 EDT 2015 The Housing Authority of Baltimore City (”HABC”) will issue a Request for Proposals (”RFP”) for interested and qualified Development Partner to provide Homeless housing to be located in Baltimore City.

CITY OF BALTIMORE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PROPOSALS WILL BE DUE: no later than 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time on NOTICE OF LETTING Friday, May 29, 2015.

Sealed Bids or Proposals, in duplicate addressed to the Board of Estimates of the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore and marked for BALTIMORE A non-mandatory pre-proposals conference will be held on May 6, 2015, at CITY NO. TR15018; CONDUIT SYSTEM NEW CONSTRUCTION AT 10:00 a.m., at 1225 W. Pratt Street Baltimore, Maryland 21223.

VARIOUS LOCATIONS CITYWIDE (JOC) will be received at the Office of the Comptroller, Room 204 City Hall, Baltimore, Maryland until 11:00 A.M. HABC has established a minimum goal of twenty percent (20%) of the total May 13, 2015. Positively no bids will be received after 11:00 A.M. Bids will dollar amount of the proposed contract for Minority Business Enterprise be publicly opened by the Board of Estimates in Room 215, City Hall at (”MBE”) utilization, applicable to all minority and non-minority businesses Noon. The Contract Documents may be examined, without charge, at the proposing to provide the requested services as the prime contractor. No Department of Public Works Service Center located on the first floor of the goal has been established for participation of Women-owned businesses Abel Wolman Municipal Building, 200 N. Holliday Street, Baltimore, (”WBEs”), however, HABC strongly encourages and affirmatively proMaryland 21202 as of April 6, 2015 and copies may be purchased for a motes the use of WBEs in all HABC contracts. non-refundable cost of $75.00. Conditions and requirements of the Bid are found in the bid package. All contractors bidding on this Contract must Responders shall also comply with all applicable requirements of Section 3 first be prequalified by the City of Baltimore Contractors Qualification of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968, 12 U.S.C. Section Committee. Interested parties should call (410) 396-6883 or contact the 1701u.

Committee at 3000 Druid Park Drive, 1st Floor, Baltimore, Maryland 21215.

If a bid is submitted by a joint venture (”JV”), then in that event, the The RFP may be obtained on or after Monday, April 27, 2015, at the document that established the JV shall be submitted with the bid for following location: verification purposes. The Prequalification Category required for bidding on this project is B02553 (Duct Line Construction). Cost Qualification Housing Authority of Baltimore City Range for this work shall be $1,000,000.00 to $2,000,000.00. A ”Pre417 E. Fayette Street, Room 301 Bidding Information” session will be conducted at 10:00 A.M. on April 17, Baltimore, Maryland 21202 2015 at 417 East Fayette Street, Room 724, Baltimore, Maryland 21202.

Attention: Kevin Haberl, Voucher Specialist Principal Items of work for this project are Concrete Encased Ducts 3,100 Email: Kevin.Haberl@habc.org LF +/-, Cast in Place Electrical Manholes 40 CY, and Precast Line and Tel: (410) 396-4203 Junction Manholes 4 EA. The MBE goal is 9%; WBE goal is 2%APPROVED: Bernice H. Taylor, Questions regarding the RFP should be directed in writing to the address Clerk Board of Estimates and individual indicated above.

TYPESET: Wed Apr 08 13:56:22 EDT 2015 April 5, 2015 City of Mount Rainier RFP - Buchanan Green Street Project Contract # 2015-01 The City of Mount Rainer seeks a consultant team to provide site-specific design, construction documents, construction, and construction oversight services for a Buchanan Green Street Project located on the 3300 Block of Buchanan Street, between Queenstown Drive and Chillum Road. The scope of work includes implementation of the project through a design-build contract. Project shall include pedestrian and bicycle friendly design, water conservation and stormwater management, and pervious pavement resurfacing. A complete RFP package is available by contacting Veronica Owens, Assistant City Manager, City of Mount Rainier, One Municipal Place, Mount Rainier, Maryland 20712 (301) 985-6585, or by downloading the RFP on the City of Mount Rainier website: www.mountrainiermd.org on the Economic Development tab on the home page. Minorities and Women are encouraged to reply. The City is an EOE employer.

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TYPESET: Wed Apr 08 14:22:57 IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR BALTIMORE CITY Case No.: 24D14001918 Circuit Court for Baltimore City

Maleka T. Elior 546 Wyanoke Ave Baltimore MD 21218

Plaintiff vs

Ahmed Elahamer 954 E 34th Brooklyn NY 11210

Defendant NOTICE (DOM REL 72)

The above Plaintiff has filed a petition/complaint/ motion, entitled: Absolute Divorce in which he/she is seeking Absolute Divorce.

Notice is hereby issued by the Circuit Court of Baltimore City, that the relief sought in the aforementioned petition/ complaint/motion may be granted, unless cause be shown to the contrary.

Defendant is to file a response to the petition/ complaint/motion on or before May 31, 2015.

Failure to file the response within the time allowed may result in a judgment to default or the granting of the relief sought, provided a copy of this Notice be: 0 published in some newspaper published in this county/city, once in each of three (3) successive weeks on or before April 28, 2015.

Lavinia G. Alexander, Acting Clerk 04/10, 04/17, 04/24/15

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April 11, 2015 - April 17, 2015, The Afro-American TYPESET: Wed Apr 08 13:54:17 2015 LEGALEDT NOTICES

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HOUSING AUTHORITY OF BALTIMORE CITY REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS RFP NUMBER: B-1791-15 Set aside funding availability for Veterans for Project Based units.

The Housing Authority of Baltimore City (”HABC”) will issue a Request for Proposals (”RFP”) for interested and qualified Development Partner to provide Veteran housing to be located in Baltimore City.

A non-mandatory pre-proposals conference will be held on May 6, 2015, at 10:00 a.m., at 1225 W. Pratt Street Baltimore, Maryland 21223.HABC has established a minimum goal of twenty percent (20%) of the total dollar amount of the proposed contract for Minority Business Enterprise (”MBE”) utilization, applicable to all minority and non-minority businesses proposing to provide the requested services as the prime contractor. No goal has been established for participation of Women-owned businesses (”WBEs”), however, HABC strongly encourages and affirmatively promotes the use of WBEs in all HABC contracts.

Responders shall also comply with all applicable requirements of Section 3 of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968, 12 U.S.C. Section 1701u.

The RFP may be obtained on or after Monday, April 27, 2015, at the following location: Housing Authority of Baltimore City 417 E. Fayette Street, Room 301 Baltimore, Maryland 21202 Attention: Kevin Haberl, Voucher Specialist Email: Kevin.Haberl@habc.org Tel: (410) 396-4203 Questions regarding the RFP should be directed in writing to the address and individual indicated TYPESET: Wed Apr 08 above.

13:56:44 EDT 2015 CITY OF BALTIMORE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION NOTICE OF LETTING Sealed Bids or Proposals, in duplicate addressed to the Board of Estimates of the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore and marked for BALTIMORE CITY NO.TR15008R; URGENT NEED CONTRACT CITYWIDE will be received at the Office of the Comptroller, Room 204 City Hall, Baltimore, Maryland until 11:00 A.M. April 22, 2015. Positively no bids will be received after 11:00 A.M. Bids will be publicly opened by the Board of Estimates in Room 215, City Hall at Noon. The Contract Documents may be examined, without charge, at the Department of Public Works Service Center located on the first floor of the Abel Wolman Municipal Building, 200 N. Holliday Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21202 as of April 10, 2015 and copies may be purchased for a non-refundable cost of $75.00. Conditions and requirements of the Bid are found in the bid package. All contractors bidding on this Contract must first be prerequalified by the City of Baltimore Contractors Qualification Committee. Interested parties should call (410) 396-6883 or contact the Committee at 3000 Druid Park, Baltimore, Maryland 21215. If a bid is submitted by a joint venture (”JV”), then in that event, the document that established the JV shall be submitted with the bid for verification purposes. The Prequalification Category required for bidding on this project is A02602 (Bituminous Paving) and D02620 (Curbs, Gutters & Sidewalks). Cost Qualification Range for this work shall be $1,000,000.00 to $2,000,000.00 A ”Pre-Bidding Information” session will be conducted at 10:00 A.M. on April 10, 2015 at 417 E. Fayette Street, Room 724, Baltimore, Maryland 21202. Principal Items of work for this project are -HMA Superpave for Surface (Various Types) 3,700 Ton; Removal of Hot Mix Asphalt 25,000 Ton. The MBE goal is 19%; WBE goal is 6% APPROVED: Bernice H. Taylor, Clerk TYPESET: Wed Apr 08 13:57:36 EDT 2015 Board of Estimates

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PROPOSALS WILL BE DUE: no later than 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday, May 29, 2015.

City of Baltimore Department of Finance Bureau of Purchases Sealed proposals addressed to the Board of Estimates of Baltimore will be received until, but not later than 11:00a.m. local time on the following date(s) for the stated requirements: April 22, 2015 *PAVING MATERIALS (HOT & COLD PATCH) B50004014 *TANDEM AXEL TRACTORS B50004028 June 24, 2015 *TELECOMMUNICATIONS IMPROVEMENT & PROCUREMENT PROJECT (TIPP) B50003985THE ENTIRE SOLICITATION DOCUMENT CAN BE VIEWED AND DOWN LOADED BY VISITING THE CITY’S WEB SITE: www.baltimorecitibuy.org

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The Afro-American, April 11, 2015 - April 17, 2015