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Volume 122 No. 38
April 26, 2014 - April 26, 2014, The Afro-American A1 $1.00
APRIL 26, 2014 - MAY 2, 2014
SCOTUS Creates Affirmative Inaction April 22, 2014 – A Supreme Court decision, April 22, upholding states’ right to ban the use of racesensitive policies in university admissions wielded a serious blow to affirmative action,
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experts said, and shifts the battleground to the states. “Many voices in the
“It doesn’t by itself do as much damage as I feared it might. The fight we’ve been
“Advocates of affirmative action are going to have to work harder than ever before to attempt to sustain its viability.” — Jose Anderson civil rights community will call this decision a major disappointment because it weakens the options for insuring diversity in our public institutions,” said Jose Anderson, professor of law, University of Baltimore. “Advocates of affirmative action are going to have to work harder than ever before to attempt to sustain its viability.” University of Maryland law professor Larry Gibson, however, saw the glass as being half-full.
having is whether affirmative action was constitutionally permissible and it remains so—unless it is banned by a state Constitution,” Gibson said. “The negative side is that [the decision] will probably encourage other states to enact similar bans.” Justices voted 6-2 in the case brought by the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration & Immigrant Rights, and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) against the state Continued on A3
By Roberto Alejandro AFRO Staff Writer Michael Mayfield had only played the baritone horn for about a year as a member of the Edmondson-Westside High School marching band. But he took to the instrument so quickly, that of the two scholarships he had been offered by different colleges, one was for band. Mayfield was murdered on April 16, gunned down as he left the home of his uncle in West Baltimore, a senseless act believed by those who knew him to be a case of mistaken identity. As his experience with the baritone horn would suggest, Mayfield leaves behind a legacy of excellence, remembered by members of the EdmondsonWestside community for his leadership, service to others, and a commitment to the nonviolent resolution of conflicts.
Michael Mayfield with Dara Calhoun, school psychologist and co-coordinator of Edmondson-Westside’s peer mediation program.
Continued on A3
Courtesy photo
State’s Attorney’s Race Headlines Citywide Battles By Sean Yoes Special to the AFRO Baltimore’s 2014 citywide elections include one final campaign for the patriarch of a Baltimore family political dynasty, the Register of Wills prospective passing of the torch from mother to daughter, and a fiery young challenger for the State’s Attorney’s
office. In the race for Judge of the Baltimore City Judicial Eighth Circuit, eight candidates are vying for seven seats: Melissa Kaye Copeland, Philip S. Jackson, Jeffrey M. Geller, Alfred Nance, Christopher Panos, Melissa Phinn, Julie Rubin and Page Croyder. Of that group Croyder is the only candidate currently not seated on the
Court. Croyder, who served for more than 20 years in the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s office before retiring from the agency in January 2008, says she is running for Nance’s seat. “What the public should not stand for, are judges who embarrass and degrade the jurors, witnesses, and attorneys who appear in court before them…,” Croyder said in a statement
in February. Nance has been the subject of multiple judicial disciplinary investigations over the years. Frank M. Conaway, Sr. has been a public servant in Baltimore since he was elected to the House of Delegates in 1971. Years later in 1998 he was elected Clerk of the Circuit Court of Baltimore City, a position he still Continued on A4
DNA Helps Local Ladies Find Dr. Walter G. Amprey, Former Baltimore Schools Their Beginnings Alexis Taylor anything other than African American. Superintendent, Dies at 69 By AFRO Staff Writer Last summer, she got a rude awakening. By Sean Yoes Special to the AFRO
Dr. Walter G. Amprey, whose extraordinary career as an educator spanned more than four decades, and who was Superintendent of Public Instruction for Baltimore City Public Schools for six years, died April 22. He was 69. Amprey, born and raised in Baltimore and a graduate of Edmondson High School, began his career as a teacher in the 1960’s first as a social studies instructor in West Baltimore at Calverton Junior High and later at Walbrook High School. He later became Walbrook’s school administrator. He left Walbrook in 1973 to become assistant principal of Woodlawn High School in Baltimore County. The 6’4” charismatic Amprey quickly ascended leadership roles in
As far as Kindle Cox was concerned, she was a Marylander through and through. Born and raised in Baltimore, Charm City was all she had ever known. With chocolate skin, brown eyes and hair that gave no inkling of a heritage labeled much more “Black,” Cox never thought of herself as
education in the state. In 1978 he was named principal of Woodlawn where he served until 1984. That year he was appointed director of the Office of Staff Relations for Baltimore County Public Schools. That same year Amprey completed his doctorate in Urban Education at Temple University (he received Continued on A4
Photo by Jamila Sams
By Zenitha Prince Senior AFRO Correspondent
Michael Mayfield: A Leader and A Peace Maker
Copyright © 2014 by the Afro-American Company
As it turns out, after having her DNA tested, scientists studied her genetic markers and placed her roots much farther away than Baltimore, and the United States at large. The 16-year-old is Senegalian. “I had always wondered about my ancestry,” Cox told the AFRO. “Knowing Continued on A4
Led by Meshelle Foreman Shields, or “MESHELLE, The Indie-Mom of Comedy,” the ladies of Goaldiggers The Sankofa Project began their journey to find where on the globe their matriline began.