Baltimore Afro American Newspaper February 28 2015

February 28, 2015 - February 28, 2015, The Afro-American

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FEBRUARY 28, 2015 - MARCH 6, 2015

Md.’s First Black Female Bar Sojourner-Douglass Fighting Assoc. President to be Honored to Retain Accreditation serving as the director of inmate legal services for the Baltimore City Jail from 1979-81, and as an assistant city solicitor from 1981-6.

Brown then moved on to the Maryland Attorney General’s Office, followed by a stint as a deputy counsel to the State Treasurer. Brown has served as an associate judge for the District Court of Maryland in Howard County since 2002.

By Roberto Alejandro Special to the AFRO

Associate Judge Pamila Brown, the first African-American woman elected to the presidency of the Maryland State Bar Association, will be honored by the Alliance of

By Zenitha Prince Senior AFRO Correspondent

Continued on A6

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Judge Pamila Brown assuming presidency of Md. Bar Assoc. in June.

Black Women Attorneys (ABWA) of Maryland at a reception Feb. 27. The event is to celebrate the historic president-elect as she prepares to officially take over the role of president this June.

Brown is a Maryland native, having been born in Havre de Grace according to her official state bio, and spent the first half-decade of her legal career working in various capacities in Baltimore City, including

Sojourner-Douglass College is in a fight for its life, a battle that becomes more critical as the clock ticks down to the school’s scheduled loss of accreditation.

On Nov. 20, 2014, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education issued a decision to withdraw the institution’s accreditation effective June 30.

In doing so, the agency cited “long-standing” concerns about the institution’s “financial

viability.”

For example, a 2011 analysis of the school’s finances revealed an “over-reliance on government grants, weak internal controls, high debt obligations, and poor USDE financial rations,” and later reviews showed “continuing financial deficiencies,” according to the Commission’s letter announcing its decision.

In a previous interview with the AFRO, Sojourner-Douglass’ President Charles Simmons explained the school’s dismal finances arose

Discussion Continues on Bill to Remove Governor from Parole Process

By Roberto Alejandro Special to the AFRO Maryland is one of only three states requiring the governor to approve recommendations for parole before a prisoner may be released, a policy that has worked to keep people in prison who pose little risk to the public, and who have been recommended for release by the parole commission, said advocates testifying in Annapolis on a bill that would remove the governor from the parole process. Though most of the testimony heard at the hearing

Frank Conaway Sr. Remembered

By Roberto Alejandro Special to the AFRO Frank Conaway Sr. was laid to rest Feb. 23, with a service honoring his tenacity, conviction, and relentlessness in fighting for the Baltimore community. The funeral service, Morgan State University’s Murphy Fine Arts Center, was attended by many of Baltimore’s political elite, who eulogized Conaway for his unyielding pursuit of what he felt was right, accompanied by an unyielding

love for the people and city of Baltimore. “[Conaway] was his own person,” said Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot. “He was an agent of change that refused to accept the status quo when the status quo wasn’t acceptable.

A tireless advocate who spoke truth to power, even when it wasn’t comfortable. A maverick who was fiercely independent with his own unique, flamboyant style.”

Baltimore City Mayor Stephanie Continued on A6

was in favor of the bill, opponents argued that the parole commission has made mistakes before, and that someone directly accountable to the public should be the final say in release decisions.

The bill under consideration by the senate’s Judicial Proceedings Committee—senate bill 111 (SB 111) and introduced by Sen. Nathaniel McFadden (D-Baltimore City)—would make a recommendation for parole by Maryland’s parole commission the final word on whether or not a prisoner eligible for parole would be released from

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Public housing maintenance workers with AFSCME Local 647 demonstrate outside the offices of the Housing Authority of Baltimore City on Feb. 18.

Photo by Roberto Alejandro

Public Housing Workers Demanding Greater Pay, Fighting Potential Layoffs

By Roberto Alejandro Special to the AFRO

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Continued on A6

Photo by Roberto Alejandro

Frank Conaway Sr. was remembered at a funeral service in Morgan State University’s Murphy Fine Arts Center.

A union representing maintenance workers in Baltimore’s public housing facilities is calling for higher pay, improved working conditions, and a way to keep their members in their jobs as the city moves to develop more public housing stock through a program which shifts ownership of affordable housing, historically the domain of the city, into private hands. The Housing Authority of Baltimore City (HABC)

says they have done as much as they can to minimize the impact of this new housing model on workers, and counter that they have already agreed to higher pay in a new contract that the union has yet to sign.

In an AFRO interview published last November, Baltimore Housing (of which HABC is a part) Commissioner Paul Graziano said the city’s public housing stock has over $800 million worth of capital improvement needs, while only Continued on A6

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The Afro-American, February 28, 2015 - March 6, 2015

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NATION & WORLD Former NFL Player Loses Seven-Year-Old Son to Brain Tumor

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Former NFL player Adrian Peterson lost his seven-yearold son A.J. on Feb. 17 to a brain tumor.

Former Chicago Bears running back Adrian Peterson lost his seven-year-old son A.J. on Feb. 17 to a brain tumor known as Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, or DIPG. Peterson, not to be confused with former Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, who has the same name and who is currently suspended for disciplining his child, posted his son’s death on his Facebook page. “#Ajsoars is in Heaven, where he belongs... #ajsoar #P3 #MyFirstSuperHero,” he wrote. These hashtags have become a symbol of support over the past week for Peterson and his family.

Peterson and his family made a GoFundMe page for A.J. in September, when they first received his diagnosis of DIPG. The online donation site saw 453 different people donate money in seven months, raising $44,189 out of the $50,000 goal they have set, as of Feb. 19.

“As a kid, I always thought that I could move a mountain with one push,” Peterson wrote on the page. “But over the past week, I have learned that with ‘help’ that mountain moves much easier.”

A.J.’s homegoing service will be held Feb. 21 at 3 p.m. at the Evergreen Missionary Baptist Church in Kingsland, Ga.

Students Display Alleged White Supremacy Sign at High School Basketball Game

Tension at an already drama-filled basketball showdown between rival Texas high schools on Feb. 13 was ratcheted up when students were spotted holding up a sign with an allegedly racist message.

The basketball game between Flower Mound High School and Plano East went into three overtimes. But it was the offcourt drama that had social media and news sources buzzing, after a photo was tweeted showing fans in the Flower Mound section holding up a placard that read “WHITE POWER.” The sign was up for about 30 seconds before mortified teachers rushed forward to take it down, but the damage was done and school officials are now investigating.

“This is ridiculous I thought we passed the racial stage of society,” wrote Plano East athlete Devin Gifford, who posted the now-infamous picture on his Twitter page.

According to Dallas ABC affiliate WFAA, witnesses said the incident happened

late in the game when the excitement was at fever pitch. A Plano East student athlete who asked to remain anonymous said he recalls a specific moment when the noise in the gym became more strident.

“Our student section started pointing at the sign. That’s when it clicked into everyone’s mind… ‘Whoa... what are these guys doing?’ And the teachers came and took the signs down,” the athlete said.

Witnesses also said racial slurs were lobbed at athletes on the court, particularly after a player was injured, WFAA reported.

And, according to Twitter interchanges, Flower Mound students defecated and urinated on Plano East’s team bus, though those allegations have not been verified.

Lewisville Independent School District’s Interim Superintendent Kevin Rogers said the unfortunate occurrence would be fully investigated.

First African American Architect, Robert Robinson Taylor, Honored with Postage Stamp

The United States Postal Service continued its annual recognition of Black excellence by honoring the first academically-trained Black architect, Robert Robinson Taylor, with the 38th Black Heritage stamp on Feb. 12.

Since 1978, the Postal Service has celebrated the progress and impact of African Americans by highlighting their achievements and contributions to the American History with its Black Heritage stamp.

The Black Heritage stamp features an African American man or woman who had made a significant impact to the American history.

Taylor was born in 1868 in Wilmington, N.C. to a middle class family, according to the news website People’s World.

His father, Henry, was the son of a White Slave owner and a Black mother, and worked as a carpenter.

Taylor worked for his father as a construction foreman before entering MIT’s School of architecture in 1888. After graduating, Taylor worked as an architect and educator at the Tuskegee Institute, founded by Booker T. Washington. There, Taylor worked closely with Washington and was charged with designing most of the university’s campus until his retirement in 1935.

Taylor died in 1942 at age 74 after collapsing while attending services at the Tuskegee Butler Chapel.

Taylor is the great grandfather of Valerie Jarrett, senior advisor to President Barack Obama. According to Jarrett, Taylor believed that with good education, hard work, determination and dedication to family, there is no limits as to what can be accomplished.

“The example he set gives me strength and courage,” Jarrett said, during the induction ceremony of the stamp at the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum. “My family is proud to stand on his shoulders and we know that it is our responsibility to embrace his values, to ensure that his legacy will be ‘forever stamped’ in the conscious of future generations.”

February 28, 2015 - March 6, 2015, The Afro-American

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HEALTH

New Dietary, Exercise Guidelines Key to Developing Heart-Healthy Youth

By Shantella Y. Sherman Special to the AFRO

C

hronic diseases usually emerge in middle age after long exposure to unhealthy lifestyles that involve tobacco use, a lack of regular physical activity, and diets high in saturated fats, sugars and salt.

While the prevalence of health conditions like hypertension and heart disease have long been diagnosed among older African Americans, in recent years, children and young adults within the Black community have shown an increase in rates of cardiac-related illness and death.

Central to national health concerns is the pandemic rates of childhood obesity linked to the development of cardiovascular disease and death in adulthood.

Each year, about 15,000 people under the age of 20 are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes

and healthcare providers are increasingly finding more children between the ages of 10-19 with type 2 diabetes – a disease normally diagnosed in adults over the age of 40. Currently, more than 23.9 million children aged 2-19 are considered over their recommended weight; with 35.9 percent of all African-American children within that age range considered with overweight or obese.

The American Heart Association recently made recommendations for updating federal Dietary Guidelines to promote diet and exercise as the key components to reducing the nearly 14 percent of kids (12-19) already suffering with hypertension. The report, presented to the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Agriculture (USDA) stresses the importance of a healthy dietary pattern limited in saturated and transfat, added sugars, and sodium.

“It’s clear that Americans need to change their eating habits and make more nutritious choices,” said Elliott Antman, M.D.,

“More of our kids are suffering from elevated blood pressure, and one-third of them are overweight or obese,” added Antman.

“Too much salt in our children’s diets will make this situation worse and put future generations on the road to heart disease and stroke. There’s no question that we should continue to strive to reduce the sodium in the foods our kids eat.”

Overweight and obese Black teenagers had four risk factors for cardiovascular disease, and 36 percent had five or more risk factors – the most common high blood pressure and low good cholesterol.

Low levels of physical activity in young adults also accounts for a “substantial” proportion of high blood pressure incidence over time.

Nationwide, 26.7 percent of African-American teens said they had not taken part in any level of physical activity

Preventing Childhood & Youth Cardiovascular Ailments Healthy Living

“More of our kids are suffering from elevated blood pressure, and one-third of them are overweight or obese. Too much salt in our children’s diets will make this situation worse and put future generations on the road to heart disease and stroke.”

-Elliott Antman, M.D.

president of the American Heart Association. “Reducing excessive salt in our diets is critical to cutting our cardiovascular risk, and the association is pleased that the committee emphasizes this in their recommendations,” Antman said.

The February 19 report noted the strong correlation between decreasing children’s sodium intake and lowering their blood pressure – a key factor in developing cardiovascular disease.

their white peers. Coupled with environmental factors that limited green spaces for exercise or outdoor sports, and few sources to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables (supermarkets or farmer’s markets), aggressive advocacy is needed to safeguard the heart health of Black youth.

– including ball playing, jogging, aerobics, or cycling – in the previous week.

Researchers with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that the number of hours spent watching television was positively associated with increased caloric intake and the prevalence of obesity.

The 12-17-year -olds studied viewed 14 percent more food product advertisements (usually processed or fast food advertisements) than

By Shantella Y. Sherman Special to the AFRO There is some good news in the fight against childhood obesity and its links to cardiovascular disease.

With a focus on teaching low-income communities how to eat better, nutrition assistance programs began providing food education in 2011 to the more than 3.9 million African-American families receiving SNAP benefits. Programs such as SNAP-Ed, a partnership between USDA and the states that provide education to help families, are helping families learn to eat healthier within a limited budget.

Recommendations for a heart-healthy lifestyle consist of adopting a diet of increased whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables and water intake. Some researchers believe young people should avoid ALL fast food and foods found in vending machines because of their high levels of sugar sodium, and additives. Regular exercise – at least 60 minutes a day – is also recommended to ward off heart ailments and reduce weight.

Parents should speak with health professionals about specific exercises that benefit young people and can be made fun for the entire family. Communities not served by recreations centers should contact local schools and churches to provide recreation space to facilitate exercise, dance or aerobics classes for families.

Teens should advocate for smart vending machines in their schools that provide fresh fruits, vegetables, and wholesome snacks, rather than sugary sodas and processed foods.

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The Afro-American, February 28, 2015 - March 6, 2015

Some Faith Leaders Victimize Rape Survivors Again

By Jazelle Hunt NNPA Washington Correspondent THIRD IN A SERIES

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – Simone Oliver had always been called, as they say in the religious community. She was active in the Baptist church throughout her youth, playing piano for the youth choir and even ghostwriting sermons for several pastors as a teen. She loved Scripture, loved preaching, and loved God. For her, church was heaven-on-earth.

But it was also hell. At 15 years old, Oliver’s then-pastor called her into his church office, grabbed her, put his tongue in her mouth, and fondled her until she broke away. It was the third time in her life she had been sexually assaulted, already a rape survivor at 12 years old at the hands of her sister’s first husband, and again at 13 by a family friend staying in her home.

Still, her faith did not waver. In fact, it grew stronger as Oliver transitioned from being a public school teacher to a minister.

In the mid-2000s, she took on an associate pastor’s role at a non-denominational church in New Jersey. The founding pastor tried to court her for years until she finally acquiesced and the two began a secret relationship. However, a year later, he decided to Photo courtesy of Simone Oliver marry someone else. Still, the Minister and full-time affair continued. seminary student Simone “I couldn’t get out. It was Oliver turned her ministry almost like sinking into an to women and sexual abyss,” she remembered. “I assault in the church after had gone to someone in the being attacked by a fellow church to let them know this clergymember. was going on. And they pretty much turned on me.”

And no group leans on the church more than Blacks.

“While the U.S. is generally considered a highly religious nation African-Americans are markedly more religious on a variety of measures than the U.S. population as a whole, including level of affiliation with religion, attendance at religious services, frequency of prayer and religion’s importance in life,” according to a report titled, “A Religious Portrait of AfricanAmericans” by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

Black Women are the Most Religious

And among the most religiously committed, no segment is

more committed than African-American women. The report found that 84 percent of Black women say religion is very important to them and 59 percent say they attend religious services at least once a week.

As committed as she was, Oliver eventually left that church, broke off the affair with the pastor, began dating the man who would become her husband, and was accepted into Princeton Theological Seminary. As her life got better, her former copastor’s behavior grew worse. He sent threats to her regularly, and began stalking her and her then-fiancé.

She recalled, “He said to me – not of himself – but he said, ‘A man can commit murder, do his time, put on a suit, and

ruined.’ Those were his threats to me.”

In 2011, five days before her wedding, the pastor’s behavior moved beyond idle threats.

“It’s a miracle story I’m here and alive, because this man stabbed me 30 times. I was paralyzed from the waist down,” Oliver recounted. Years later, she still remembers his final threat, prior to the day of the attack: “‘When I’m finished with you, you will not get married, you will not have a ministry, and Princeton will never have you.’ That was the last thing he said to me.”

Oliver was stabbed mostly in her abdomen and back, damaging her spinal cord and liver. Her former co-pastor was arrested walking down the street covered in her blood, still holding his hunting knife.

Survivors Need More than Prayer

Sharon Ellis Davis, a former criminalist in the Chicago Police Department and retired pastor, knows a bit about crime from more than one perspective.

She said, “I was married to a police officer, and there was a domestic abuse issue and sexual abuse. It was dismissed all the time. It was a matter of, ‘You all stop,’ or ‘Don’t be so bad,’ or ‘It’ll be okay.’ But never ‘I hear you, I understand you, I believe you.’ Even if [the department] knew the abuser was guilty, there was that code where you don’t rat on other police officers.”

So Davis channeled her frustration into something useful.

She successfully lobbied for an internal domestic violence advocate, a civilian who would support and speak for domestic violence victims in police officers’ homes and became a fulltime police chaplain.

“I couldn’t get out. It was almost like sinking into an abyss.”

– Simone Oliver

Photo courtesy Sharon Ellis Davis

Retired pastor and survivor, Sharon Ellis Davis now teaches seminary classes on race, gender, class, and sexual assault and abuse. still be a man. But when a woman’s reputation is ruined, she is

But in Davis’ own church experience – first in the Pentecostal church as a child, then in the United Church of Christ as an adult – she saw parallels to the way she was treated by the police department.

“The church was nice to me, but they didn’t know what to do with me,” she said. “I need more than prayer, I need more than a hug. In fact, sometimes [survivors] don’t even want to be touched. I need more than a deliverance service, I need more than a Band-Aid on what forgiveness might look like.

“The two very important institutions that I was involved with – the church and the criminal justice system – both in the time that I needed them, failed me. Now they didn’t know they did, because they were not conscious of it.”

Davis feels that lack of consciousness grew from the problematic messages about women coming from the pulpit.

For example she points out the Biblical stories that are emphasized, such as the false rape accusation of Joseph, and the ones that are largely ignored, such as the actual rapes of Dinah and Tamar as well as David’s coercion of Bathsheba.

To her, they all sent the message that the burden of sexual trauma is not welcome in the sanctuary.

“The church has not become the safe place it needs to be that would give some women in church permission to disclose,” Davis said. “The consequences of not having church as a safe place…you can kill the souls of the people that are there.

People can lose their faith.”

Sex and sexuality remain taboo in many faith communities.

“How is it that the church is going to really be advocates for victims of rape in the Black church when even having normal conversations of sexuality can’t happen? How can we talk about patho-sexuality if we haven’t talked about normal sexuality?” she asked. “We’re still stuck in many way on the thou-shalt-nots. We spend more time judging the behavior than helping someone understand this was not their fault.”

Even worse than a lack of knowledge among leadership is that perpetrators often exist within the church, their violence and damage unchecked and even covered up.

Oliver said, “I had a woman call me – I thought she was calling to check on me and see how I was – but she called to tell me her own story, about a pastor. Someone [else] told me a story. She was invited out to another church to preach, and was raped by the pastor who had invited her. When the third person, and fourth person, and the fifth time you hear these stories….

I’m like okay. Something is going on here.”

After more than three months of physical rehab, Oliver overcame her paralysis and learned to walk again. She testified in court against her attacker, who was sentenced to 21 years in prison.

For all their silences and inadequacies, many Black faith centers are adept at serving their communities and fostering communal solutions and cooperation. Both Davis and Oliver assert that Black faith centers have also made great strides toward addressing domestic violence, with permanent ministries and pastor trainings becoming more common.

“We’re better in the Black church at caring for people,” Davis explained. “But we’re not as good at having a model of pastoral care for people who have been sexually abused. We’re not having clergy exposed to the education that they need to understand these dynamics.”

Some outside the faith community recognize this as well, including Sherelle Hessell-Gordon, executive director of the D.C. Rape Crisis Center.

“The Word says faith without works is dead,” she says.

“There has to be fruit, there has to be action, there has to be community…there has to be active justice,” she said.

“The rhetoric of ‘It’ll get better by and by’ – nah. That’s just spirituals to move our souls. When you leave that room, you’re still carrying that cross.”

Oliver, now a full-time seminary student, said, “I’m a rape survivor, but I’m also a gender-based violence survivor, and it took the violence for me to really reckon with the rape,” she acknowledged. “In telling my story…I started to realize how many horror stories are in church.”

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The Afro-American, February 28, 2015 - February 28, 2015

Parole Process Continued from A1

prison.

“Maryland is one of three states that has an arbiter, that has a person, to stand behind (after a parole commission decision) and say, ‘wait a minute, I have the final say because I’m the governor,’” said McFadden, who argued that many of the state’s governors, especially Democrats, have refused to exercise their authority to release prisoners out of political fear that they would be viewed as soft on crime.

Sonia Kumar, a staff attorney with the ACLU Maryland who co-authored a January 2014 report on Maryland’s parole process, told committee members that the average age of prisoners who have been recommended for parole, but remain incarcerated, is 60.

“It costs around $33,000 a year to incarcerate somebody in Maryland. We’ve spent millions of dollars incarcerating people that the parole commission, after extraordinary vetting, has determined are ready to come home,” said Kumar.

Judge Philip Caroom, who made a point to mention he was testifying as an individual and not on behalf of the court system, echoed Kumar and called SB 111 “a budget bill in disguise.”

“The reality is that people who are serving life sentences are older, sicker and less of a risk to public safety, as a result of being older and sicker, than the rest of the population,” said Caroom. “In effect, the state of Maryland is operating an intensive care nursing home program, at great expense to the taxpayers, for people who are not a danger to public safety, and as long as [the current law] stays in effect it would also mean that we’re giving away free funerals.”

Michael Millemann, a professor at the University of Maryland Carey School of Law and a civil rights litigator

February 28, 2015 - March 6, 2015, The Afro-American

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since 1967, testified that, of “Some parole lifers, the 80 people serving paroleprobably a minority, but some eligible life sentences released of them will find new victims, from Maryland prisons under and for this reason, this bill the 2012 Unger v. Maryland cries out for an unfavorable decision dealing with faulty report (by the committee).” jury instructions, none has Scott Shellenberger of the returned to prison, tracking State’s Attorney’s Office of closely what data shows about Baltimore County also testified recidivism in this population. in opposition, arguing that a “The empirical data shows, non-elected body should not when [prisoners serving be the final say in whether parole-eligible life sentences] a prisoner serving a parolecome out, the recidivist rate eligible life sentence should be is two percent or lower—and released. that’s all crimes—and it’s less “The person who has the than that for violent crimes. keys to the jailhouse, should be Why? You’re talking about 60, a person who is accountable to 65, 70 year old people . . . who the citizens of Maryland,” said years ago changed in prison.”

Shellenberger.

Those statistics on Asked by Sen. Bobby recidivism did not convince Zirkin (D-Baltimore Harold Riedl, a resident of City), chair of the Judicial Photo by Roberto Alejandro Baltimore City who said he Proceedings Committee and Sen. Nathaniel McFadden presents his bill, which worked 20 years in the division someone who said he has would remove the governor from the parole process, of corrections, working with voted against this bill in prior before the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee in men who had been returned to sessions, whether he would Annapolis. prison for parole violations, and oppose removing the governor who was one of two people who testified in opposition to SB from the parole process for persons serving life sentences as 111 (13 persons testified in favor). Reidl compared the bill to accessories to crimes receiving life sentences (e.g., a getaway “playing Russian Roulette with public safety,” arguing that driver in the commission of a crime that resulted in a murder), the parole commission has released violent repeat offenders but preserving the governor’s roles for prisoners who were in the past and that the governor should remain involved in principals in the crimes for which they were convicted, the parole process as a buffer between the public and parole Shellenberger said of the potential compromise, “I think that’s commission. something that I could live with.”

Legislators and Advocates Say Second Chance Act is Ready for Passage

By Roberto Alejandro Special to the AFRO Legislators and advocates have spent the past three years addressing various concerns about the Maryland Second Chance Act. In that time, they have won over opponents making this year’s iteration of the bill, which would largely shield non-violent misdemeanor convictions from public view, one that is primed for passage.

That was the message expressed by supporters testifying on behalf of the act before the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee in Annapolis last Thursday. However, opposition remains from groups representing employers and landlords in the state, concerned about preserving the decision making ability of the people making hiring and leasing decisions.

This year’s Second Chance Act, being considered in the capital as Senate Bill 526 (SB 526), could profoundly alter the lives of over 200,000 Marylanders currently living with nonviolent misdemeanor convictions which impact their opportunities for employment, housing, and even education, said Sen. Jamie Raskin (D-Montgomery County), lead sponsor of SB 526.

“The purpose of this legislation is to give these people a second chance in the workforce, in the economy, in the society,” said Raskin, who added later that, “in the legislative process, we’ve really, I think, boiled [the bill] down to a very seaworthy vehicle.”

The bill, which requires a three year waiting period before someone can petition a court to have their record for certain non-violent misdemeanors shielded (made invisible from public view with exceptions for certain parties, like law enforcement agencies), and which requires notice of the shielding application be given to both the State’s Attorney’s Office as well as any victims who may raise objections

to the petition, first emerged in 2012. Since then legislators and advocates have worked with parties opposed to the bill in order to address their concerns, producing the current version which they argue is ready for passage in the legislature.

Sen. Michael Hough (R-Carroll and Frederick Counties), who formerly opposed the legislation as a member of the House of Delegates, testified in favor of SB 526, saying “I’ve got to give a lot of credit to the advocates for this because they really worked with us, and they really scaled this back from where it was . . . This [bill] really makes sense. It’s reasonable crimes that we’re talking about (shielding), [and] we’re not talking about expungement.”

Caryn Aslan, a senior policy advocate with the Job Opportunities Task Force, also testified on behalf of the bill, saying, “I think it’s very important to remember that there’s a process that individuals must go through. And the fact that an individual must wait a waiting period, not commit any other crimes, petition the courts, that is an individual whom we want to give a second chance. That is a disciplined individual that’s saying I need this opportunity in order to move forward.”

Opposition to the bill was expressed by groups representing business owners and landlords. They argued that while people should have second chances in areas like employment or housing, the decision to do so should remain in the hands of employers and landlords, left free to make an individual assessment unfettered by a government policy.

Jessica Cooper, the Maryland state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, an organization representing over 4,000 small business owners, told the committee, “The business community generally supports efforts to give second chances to employees . . . but a business owner is better positioned than the government to

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government affairs for the Maryland MultiHousing Association Inc., a trade association for landlords, said it was important for landlords to have access to criminal records because they have to take into account not only a prospective renter, but the community of tenants into which that prospective renter would be allowed. “We (landlords) do rent to people with criminal backgrounds. I mean we do it all the time, but I think it’s a business decision on our part to look at what that background entails.” ralejandro@afro.com

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This is not the only [factor] they take into consideration, but access to public criminal records is an important resource for small employers,” said Cooper. She gave the example of someone looking to hire a person to manage her company’s inventory having an interest in knowing about a past, misdemeanor theft conviction (currently a theft under $1,000), which SB 526 would make eligible for shielding.

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The Afro-American, February 28, 2015 - March 6, 2015

Sojourner - Douglass Continued from A1

from a “perfect storm” of circumstances: changes to the federal Pell Grant program that adversely impacted a majority of Sojourner’s student body who depend on the grants, resulting in decreased enrolment; their bank’s decision to not renew their loan and a resulting lag in their payment of state and federal tax liens.

At the time of the interview, Simmons appealed to the public to support the school, which is Maryland’s only historically Black private college and an institution created to serve the underserved—mostly low-income, working adults trying to obtain a degree.

Both then and now—with the potential revocation of its accreditation—the community has responded, Simmons told the AFRO. Reactions to the recent challenge has been “mixed” but mostly positive, he said.

“We’ve had a couple of people who have asked to be laid off so they could look for another job but that’s been few and far

between,” Simmons said. “For the most part our people and our community have been very supportive. We’ve had people who came and offered to volunteer to help the college.”

Several petitions have been circulated, including a Change.org petition that has garnered a little over 800 signatures thus far.

“The plight facing this institution can easily be seen as a consequence of changing economic and regulatory circumstances common to many colleges and universities nationwide. For this significant institution to be so singled out with such a threat to its existence is to deny its value to our community and the importance of its mission,” the petition reads. It later continues, “This institution is essential for the transformation of the lives of families in our community whose needs are not met by other institutions. SojournerDouglass College is too important to fail.”

The Maryland State Conference of the NAACP also offered its public support for

Workers

imagine how many tenants, children, and elders are being poisoned because of that paint,” said Lucky Crosby Sr., a senior executive board member and the safety officer for Local 647.

Diane Cooper, another worker, said employees are regularly exposed to bed bugs, cockroaches, and other pests, and that at current salary levels, employees cannot afford to pay exterminators if they find that some of those

Continued from A1

receiving something in the area of $4 million annually from the federal government (HABC is a federal agency) to address it. Because HABC cannot afford to maintain its public housing stock at this level of funding, it has sought to make use of a program known as the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD), which seeks to create public-private partnerships in order to develop more affordable housing in Baltimore.

However, because RAD moves public housing properties into private hands, maintenance workers currently employed by HABC are left vulnerable according to Anthony Coates, president of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 647, the union representing HABC’s maintenance workers.

“Ever since the housing authority has implemented RAD . . . it led to the removal of 22-plus properties,” said Coates. “We’ve been threatened with layoffs of more than 200 people.”

Coates says that bargaining and grievance procedures have effectively ceased, as his union looks not only to preserve the jobs of the maintenance workers – which he says are around 95 percent African American and some of whom themselves live in public housing – but to increase their wages, currently so low that it makes retaining employees difficult.

At a demonstration outside of HABC’s offices downtown on Feb. 18, workers complained of dangerous working conditions, particularly with respect to what they say was toxic, industrial grade paint for certain commercial purposes, that painters were made to use on the interior of housing units.

“They used the paint in 105 units, so just

pests have made their way into their own homes – something she claims has happened to at least four of her colleagues.

“When you own your home, that’s an expensive thing to pay out of pocket, but yet nobody’s going to come to my house . . . and pay for that extermination,” said Cooper, who noted that the union is looking for pay in line with what housing authorities operating in other cities in the region, such as in Philadelphia, are paying.

“At least with equal pay you’ve got a start as to, okay I’m in these hazardous conditions but yet you’re paying me responsibly and well enough that I can actually afford such things (like exterminators).”

Officials at HABC dispute some of the claims being made by union members, however.

According to Cheron Porter, director of communications for Baltimore Housing, the housing authority has indeed negotiated a new contract with Local 647, and is simply awaiting the union’s signature.

Photo by Roberto Alejandro

Continued from A1 Rawlings-Blake joked that there were few things Conaway and her saw eye to eye on, drawing a laugh from the knowing crowd.

“But we know that agreement is not what creates community,” continued the Mayor.

“Unified commitment creates community, commitment and a passion to make our city stronger.”

After former NAACP president Kweisi Mfume spoke of Conaway as the one you would want in a fox hole with you because “he would never let you down,” U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings recalled Conaway as a man that saw Baltimore not simply a city, but a mission.

“Frank knew the people of Baltimore,” said Cummings. “He knew the people that he stood up for over and over and over again. And he could see, in them, himself. . . . [H]e wanted to do something to elevate them, so day after day after day after day he went out trying to accomplish that.”

Former state Sen. Larry Young remembered how Conaway would set up a continental breakfast every Friday morning for himself, Young, and Young’s producer at Radio-One,

the school, decrying the accrediting board’s decision in a letter to the agency.

And, as the AFRO recently reported, Baltimore Sen. Nathaniel McFadden (D) recently introduced legislation, the “Higher Education Investment Tax Credit Program” which he said is meant to be “another tool in the toolbox to help Sojourner-Douglass get through a crisis.”

The bill, SB02, is meant to increase donations to private, higher education institutions serving high needs areas – such as Sojourner-Douglass – by making tax credits available to those donors.

Additionally, Simmons said, business leaders, such as Joe Haskins of Harbor Bank of Maryland, have agreed to organize the business community to invest in the institution.

“We have investors coming to the table,” he said.

Meanwhile, the college is appealing the Commission’s decision and they don’t intend to lose, Simmons said.

“Of the 14 standards for accreditation the

where both he and Conaway hosted radio shows. Young then spoke of a smaller, more private memorial held for Conaway at the station. “This past Friday, my general manager took the table which Frank set every Friday, and put the continental breakfast there on that table, and he told everyone . . . ‘On this day, this is Frank Conaway Sr.’s table,’ and we honored him, and it’s never been done at Radio-One in my 18 years,” said Young.

Baltimore City Police Commissioner Anthony Batts recalled Conaway’s leadership.

“He was a leader who took on the status quo, because leadership is not maintaining the status quo, it’s challenging the status quo,” said Batts, “and that is exactly what he did.”

Perhaps the most appropriate memorial came from defense attorney Dwight Pettit, a long time friend of Conaway and his neighbor in the Ashburton community, who reminded those gathered to honor Conaway’s memory of another giant, Muhammad Ali, who once famously said, “I’m a bad man.”

Referring to his departed friend Frank Conaway Sr., Pettit gave a simple testimony: “I say to the world right now, here lies a bad man.”

ralejandro@afro.com

A3

only measure the Middle States Commission said we did not meet was our finances. They asked us to do six things and we did those,” Simmons said.

For example, the school cut its deficit by half within one year, the school’s president said. And, they were able to secure a previously denied extension on their loan.

But then the Commission raised an objection to the fees levied by the bank for the refinancing, saying it increased the school’s debt, Simmons said.

“There is no requirement that the school or any business should be debt-free,” he said.

“They (the Commission) changed the rules,” he continued. “They keep moving the goal post, so we’re going to appeal on the basis of that.”

If the appeal is unsuccessful, Simmons vowed to continue fighting to keep the school and its mission alive.

“We’re not going to give up on our students and we’re not giving up on our community,” he said “We won’t stop fighting…. We’ll go to court if we have to.

Porter also said the cost of living in Baltimore and Philadelphia are not the same, but that the new contract stipulates that workers will receive an annual 2.5 percent increase in salary for three years, representing a 7.5 percent increase over current salary levels at the end of that term.

Further, while no public housing properties have yet to be transferred to private ownership under the RAD program, and though developers have expressed interest in keeping current maintenance workers employed on the properties, housing has nonetheless sought to minimize the impact RAD might have on their workers.

“We’ve done job fairs where we’ve gotten employers . . . that were looking for the skill sets of our employees that we had – specifically those impacted by the RAD stuff, we’ve had job fairs – Diane Cooper for them. We’ve also done resume workshops, interview skills, because we understand that we have a number of employees that it’s probably been some time for them. So there are a number of things that have been done over the past year,” said Porter.

Coates said that the union has indeed been offered a new contract by HABC, but that they did not receive it for review until Feb. 24, and that the union was given only half a day to make a decision about whether to sign it. “I need a full day for us to go over this contract,” said Coates, adding that so far, “We don’t like what we see.” ralejandro@afro.com

“At least with equal pay you’ve got a start as to, okay I’m in these hazardous conditions but yet you’re paying me responsibly and well enough that I can actually afford such things (like exterminators).”

Defense attorney Dwight Pettit eulogized his friend and neighbor Frank Conaway Sr., recalling a famous boast by Muhammad Ali and saying of Conaway, “Here lies a bad man.”

Conaway

February 28, 2015 - February 28, 2015, The Afro-American

Brown

Continued from A1 “[Brown] is going to be the first woman of color to be president of the [MSBA], which is a big deal to Alliance because one of [our] goals is to promote African American women in the legal community, and . . . this is an opportunity we didn’t want to pass up to celebrate and honor her for this achievement.” said Taren Stanton, president of the ABWA, of the reception which will be held at the University of Baltimore School of Law, Brown’s alma mater.

The reception is open to the public and tickets may be purchased for $55 at http:// www.msba.org/resources/ localandspecialtybars/abwa/ join.aspx. ralejandro@afro.com

AFRO Business Profile Warmth, Community, Great Cuts and More at Conheads Men’s Grooming in Baltimore

By Roberto Alejandro Special to the AFRO Conheads Men’s Grooming is not a typical barbershop. A stocked wine rack stands to the left of the entrance, and the dark-stained wood and antique chairs that decorate the space recall a time long-since passed.

“We’re on Antique Row so I wanted to always pay homage to where we are,” said owner Derick Ausby, “that’s where a part of the design comes from, and just my style. I like wood, I like rich things, I like comfort, I like creating a space that, when I walk into it, it just feels comfortable, and I want the clients to feel the same way when they walk into it.”

Ausby has been barbering for more than 25 years, and opened Conheads eight years ago after taking a break from barbering to enter the real estate business. Ausby first took up barbering as a young man, when he found himself in trouble with the law and barbering school provided a reprieve from incarceration, allowing him to stay at a pre-release center rather than prison.

Ausby, who jokes that he is now married to a judge, has kept the second chance presented to him by barbering at the center of his AFRO Photo/Roberto Alejandro approach to business, using the space Owner Derick Ausby in his barbershop on he has created to help others and Antique Row, Conheads Men’s Grooming serve the community.

“My hiring practice has been, ever since, looking beyond other barbers’ faults, and just looking towards their needs and just trying to help other guys that are in need of a job, showing them the way,” said Ausby. “And business has been pretty good.”

Keith Snipes, a friend and customer of Ausby’s for more than 20 years, attests to the centrality of community in the business, recalling the name of Ausby’s first shop “Concept Headucation”—from which the current name, Conheads, is derived.

“Clearly the word ‘headucation’ speaks to what Derick, I think, has always had in mind,” said Snipes, who added that Ausby has organized events for him and others to engage with younger people, as well as other community efforts. “Sort of a community oriented business that did more than manage grooming for men, but provided a space where people could come together, and commune with one another, and build with one another.”

It is a place, Snipes said, where even campaigning politicians will stop by to discuss the needs of the city and how to address them.

“That says a lot about this relatively small space that has a big presence,” said Snipes.

“It’s a place where you don’t just get a quality haircut,” added Ausby, “it’s where we try to implement something positive into your head, while you’re in here that you can take back out and help the world be a better place.”

Conheads Men’s Grooming is located at 861 N. Howard St. on Baltimore’s Antique Row, and is open Tues-Sat, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. A complimentary beer, wine, or bottled water is available with every haircut. ralejandro@afro.com

February 28, 2015 - March 6, 2015, The Afro-American

A7

COMMUNITY CONNECTION Jim Hamlin to Be Honored for Black History Month

• In honor of black history month James Hamlin owner of the Avenue Bakery will be recognized by the National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders (NAGGL), Administrator Maria ContrerasSweet, who serves as head of the U.S. Small Business Administration, and elected officials. Hamlin will receive the Champion of Small Business Entrepreneurship Award. The award ceremony will start at 10 a.m, Feb. 27 at the Avenue Bakery, 2229 Pennsylvania Avenue, Baltimore, MD, 21217. Please rsvp to Sabrina Siddiqui via email at ssiddiqui@hamiltonps.com or call (202) 822-1205 for more information.

Verizon Celebrates Black History at Reginald Lewis Museum

• Verizon will host a free statewide Black History Month open house, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Feb. 28, at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum in Baltimore. During the open house, visitors can explore the museum, visit vendor tables and participate in a full day of fun activities. There will be food, historical presentations, art and crafts, along with educational gifts for the first 200 children. Children also will have an opportunity to win a tablet during Verizon’s special program from noon to 1 p.m. The program will include entertainment, speakers and a special recognition of community leaders and innovators. Visit www. rflewismuseum.org for more information.

Women’s Day is Coming to Waters AME Church

• It’s Women’s Day 2015 for Water’s AME Church on March 15 at the 11am and 3:30 pm services.

This year’s theme is ‘Women Walking in Glory of the Lord’. Rev. Antoinette Gatewood Sykes is the

Baltimore Residents Complain of 48-Hour Lag in Service from DPW

By Zenitha Prince Senior AFRO Correspondent Residents of Appleton Street told the AFRO, Feb. 23, it has been more than 48 hours since they contacted the Baltimore Department of Public Works about a water leak and have yet to receive a response much less actual service.

“The water is still running [and] no one from the city has contacted us—no one,” said Marvin “Doc” Cheatham Sr., president of the Matthew Henson Neighborhood Association and resident of Appleton Street.

But the civil and community rights leaders said that is par for the course in the impoverished neighbourhood.

“It is a neglected community so this is just another one of those instances where we can’t get service,” he said.

Water started leaking from a water meter plate on the 1600 block of Appleton Street on Saturday morning just before snow began to fall, Cheatham said. At first they assumed it was runoff from the snow, but then the water began to rise.

“Water actually got up to about 7 inches high,” he said.

Residents got together and cleaned the roadside gutters so the water could run freely but were stymied when one neighbour refused to move her vehicle.

Homeowners on the 1500 block and on Baker Street had an even tougher time. With a blocked

morning speaker. Waters’s AME church is located at 417 Aisquith Street. Rev. Charles Baugh is the pastor.

Church Nurses Celebrate 67th Anniversary

The Nurses’ Unit of First Rising Mt. Zion Baptist Church will celebrate their 67th Anniversary, 3 p.m., March 15, at a special. The church family, along with nurses units from area churches will join on this wonderful occasion. First Rising Mt. Zion Baptist Church is located at 602 N Street, N.W. The Rev. Reginald M. Green is the interim pastor.

Monumental City Bar Association: Eighty Years Strong

• Serving ‘Eighty Years Strong’, the Monumental City Bar Association is celebrating 80 years of service. A cocktail reception will be held 5:30 p.m. , April 16 in the Calvin and Tina Tyler Ballroom, Morgan State University Student Center, 1700 East Cold Spring Lane, Baltimore . The attire is business.

The admission is $80 until March 15 and a $100 through April 9. Make checks payable to P.O. Box 1502, Baltimore, Maryland 21203. Web payments available at www.monumentalcitybar.com.

Yoga Classes Return to the Inner Harbor May 23

Waterfront Wellness Series: The Waterfront Partnership and Medifast are joining together to bring free fitness classes to the Inner Harbor, Baltimore. The kick off begins on May 23 through September 20 on Saturdays and Sundays at West Shore Park. Returning classes are Yoga, Charm city Yoga, and Parkour with Urban Evolution. Participants of all ages are welcomed and should bring yoga mats. See www. waterfrontpartnership.org. drainage port, water accumulated on the street and turned to ice, making it impossible for some cars to move.

Cheatham said residents made more than two dozen phone calls requesting service. And the office of the District’s representative, Councilman Nick J. Mosby, D-Dist. 7, also put in several calls to DPW throughout the course of the weekend.

Jeffrey Raymond, DPW’s chief of communications and community affairs, told the AFRO that the department has been deluged by calls for service and that he would look into the Appleton Street matter.

“We are going through an unusually long list of water outage service calls that has put us back on our heels,” he said. “This is a citywide problem extending into the county.”

Last Friday, for example, the department received more than a 1,000 calls for service, he said.

“As the temperatures go down, the calls for service have been increasing,” Raymond said. “Frankly, we have our fingers crossed for a break in the weather so we don’t get more of these problems.”

In the meantime, the department has put its service crew on 12-hour shifts so they’re working around the clock, have pulled in people from other divisions and have brought in outside contractors to work on responding to service requests.

“We’re doing everything we can,” Raymond said, but he also provided some tips for residents: -Make sure outside spigots are turned off and drained to prevent ice formation.

-Keep a faucet open enough to allow a thin stream of water to flow—that keeps water moving through the pipes and helps avoid freezing.

-Ensure that the handle for the inside water valve—usually found in the basement—can be moved so that valve can be shut off in the case of an inside main break.

-Store an adequate supply of bottled water—1 gallon per person per day.

The same Appleton neighbors reported, at AFRO press time, Feb. 25, that BGE was there with the Fire Department to investigate what seemed to be a gas line break.

“Yes, we smell what we believe is gas,” Cheatham said.

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The Afro-American, February 28, 2015 - March 6, 2015

Black Women Endure Menopause Longest, Study Shows

S

By Elaina Johnson Howard University News Service

“No one knows for sure why African-American women are at risk for a longer duration of hot flashes. There could be a relationship between hormone levels, genetic differences, body mass index, the number of children you have or the age you began having children.”

arah Finney, 57, said she gets hot flashes throughout her body at least once an hour.

She even wakes up in the night with so much perspiration that she looks like she just left working out at a gym, she said.

“Hot flashes are very annoying,” said Finney, a married mother of two who declined to use her real name. “A surge of heat goes through my body, sometimes accompanied by nausea. As the energy builds, I begin to sweat from my hair, neck, chest and underarms.”

Finney, a vegetarian, said she hoped eating healthy and her intense daily routines as a marathon runner would alleviate the symptoms, but no luck.

The Alexandria, Va. resident is experiencing the results of menopause,a natural decline in reproductive hormones that affects millions of woman annually when they reach their 40s or 50s.

For women going through menopause just one day of hot flashes can be too much. Imagine 14 years.

A new study published in JAMA Internal Medicine, a medical journal published the American Medical Association, found that women could experience hot flashes for up to 14 years, and that African-American women like Finney typically experience the symptoms longer.

Finney has been going through it for 10 years.

The 17-year study of 1,449 women across the U.S. found that while on average, the women endured the symptoms for about seven and a half years, Black and Hispanic women experience hot flashes for significantly longer than White or Asian women. The median was 10 years for African Americans, nearly nine years for Hispanics, six and a half years for White women, about five and a half years for Chinese and nearly five years for Japanese.

“This is the only study that has looked at a very diverse population, ”said Dr. Ranit Mishori, associate professor of Family Medicine at the Georgetown University School of Medicine.

“No one knows for sure why African-American women are at risk for a longer duration of hot flashes.

There could be a relationship between hormone levels, genetic differences, body mass index, the number of children you have or the age you began having children.”

Though the study’s results may not give the quick relief women hoped for, it allows doctors and medical professional to give patients realistic expectations and find ways to help alleviate the hot flashes.

“This is not a fun thing for the doctor or the patient to realize,” Mishori said. “However, there are ways to manage the symptoms including hormone replacement therapy.”

Hormone replacement therapy is medication

Dr. Ranit Mishori

containing female hormones to replace the ones the woman’s body no longer makes after menopause.

This method can be a good choice for certain women, depending on their health risk, Mishori said.

Women who consume estrogen pills, are relieved from hot flashes and other symptoms of menopause, she said.

The down side is that hormone therapy has been linked to increased risk of breast cancer, stroke and heart disease for some women.

Lifestyle changes, such as diet and exercise, may help some women, health officials said, and there are also non-hormonal medications and supplements that can help. These things may not shorten the duration of hot flashes, but it may lessen the effect and intensity of them.

If the symptoms are unbearable, health officials suggest consulting with a physician.

Finney said she is resigned to the day-to-day struggle with the condition.

“Menopause is just something we have to deal with as women,” she said. “We all must continue to move forward. This is a part of life.”

February 28, 2015 - March 6, 2015 The Afro-American

COMMENTARY

The Power of the Truth

As a practicing attorney for two decades, I learned that clear factual evidence was my most powerful ally in achieving justice.

It does not surprise me, therefore, that greater access to the facts in the death of Staten Island’s Eric Garner led to wider public disagreement with the grand jury’s failure to indict than had been the case with a similar failure in Ferguson, Missouri.

According to a December Pew Research /USA Today poll, this difference was especially Elijah Cummings pronounced among polling respondents who were white.

By a wide margin (64 percent to 23 percent), whites said that the grand jury made the right decision in Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson. However, just 28 percent of whites said that the grand jury made the right decision in not charging a police officer in Eric Garner’s death — nearly one-half (47 percent) saying that the grand jury made the wrong decision.

This insight about the power of the truth in achieving justice may not be much solace to either Michael Brown or Eric Garner’s loved ones. Nevertheless, it is critically important in advancing our movement for national policing reform.

Most deaths in police-involved shootings occur in relative obscurity, even within the local communities where they take place.

This is one of the realities that we are working to change.

On Jan. 26, I joined Representatives John J. Conyers Jr., Bennie G. Thompson and the 53 other congressional members in offering to work with President Obama to achieve full funding of the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) operated by the Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention.

The NVDRS provides states and communities with funding to document the causes of violent deaths, including those resulting from “legal intervention” by law enforcement authorities. It also tracks the race of victims, the causes of injuries and the relationship of victims to their suspected killers.

In our letter to the President, we expressed our concern that current NVDRS data from the 17 states that are now reporting shows that African-Americans were killed at a rate three times higher than their white peers during “legal intervention” by those with legal authority to use deadly force. “Hispanic-Americans” also were disproportionately more likely to die as a result of being injured by law enforcement officers.

“These disparities are alarming and unacceptable for a country that holds ‘equal justice under law’ as a core ideal,” we wrote. “The lack of comprehensive federal data regarding the number of Americans killed during police encounters also presents a significant challenge for elected officials and citizens interested in providing better training and resources for law enforcement officers.”

Our request for full funding would enable NVDRS to increase its collection and reporting of data on violent police encounters to all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It is information that the public – and the Congress - want and need.

In the current Congress, however, full funding for NVDRS may be difficult to achieve. Yet, we remain hopeful — in part because our movement for greater transparency in police-involved deaths has gained an important ally.

On February 12, James B. Comey, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, gave an important and widely-reported speech at Georgetown University expressing some “hard truths about law enforcement and race.” The full text is available at http://www.fbi. gov.news/speeches/ .

Director Comey is a Republican, white and “pro-law-enforcement” to his core. He also is a fierce and ethical seeker of the truth, wherever his search for the truth may lead.

Selma Marches On

Selma. For those of a certain age, the word Selma is evocative of a time when people stood against insurmountable odds. It is an everlasting illustration of why the right to vote must never be taken for granted. People of all colors bled and died so that we might exercise that quintessential American right to choose our elected leaders. We must feed this spirit to a new generation so that they might experience the freedom that comes from knowing their history, so they are not doomed to repeat it.

I watched the movie Selma through the eyes of my teenager and it hit me that they do not understand who they are because they have not been afforded the luxury of understanding how we got here. Here, meaning a society with Black mayors, senators and even a president.

Here, in a society with major cracks in our “post-racial” America. To see a teenager try to make sense of the bombing of four little girls in a Birmingham church is to see innocence and armor in the eyes of a Kim M. Keenan young Black male eager for a post-Trayvon society.

Ava Duvernay’s Selma is more than a movie. It is a call to action to reclaim our history in our own words. When I saw it, all I kept thinking was she took the women out of the kitchen and restored them to their pivotal role in history. Today, it seems so obvious that Black women had to be omnipresent in the struggle. I still remember hearing that Dorothy Height always placed herself in the middle of the picture lest she get cropped out later when the picture was printed. Duvernay captured all of this with a subtly so exquisite, one wonders how this story could have been told any other way.

Her critics claim that she portrayed Lyndon B. Johnson as George Wallace-light, but of course, if you change the lens, you change the view. PolitiFact, the fact-checking site, affirmed that President Obama was correct when he asserted that during LBJ’s first 20 years in Congress, he opposed every civil rights bill that came up for a vote.

The fact-checking site quoted Johnson biographer Robert Caro as saying, “He had been a congressman, beginning in 1937, for eleven years, and for eleven years he had voted against every civil rights bill –

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His candor that too much of law enforcement’s history within communities of color has not been what it should be — and that, even today, racial bias is too often present in the actions of the police — has received most of the commentary, as, no doubt, it should.

Yet, equally important, were his remarks about the compelling need for greater transparency and reporting in policing, especially with respect to police-involved shootings.

“Not long after riots broke out in Ferguson late last summer,” Director Comey recalled, “I asked my staff to tell me how many people shot by police were African-American in this country. I wanted to see trends. I wanted to see information.”

“They couldn’t give it to me, and it wasn’t their fault,” he continued. “Demographic data regarding officer-involved shootings is not consistently reported to us through our Uniform Crime Reporting Program. Because reporting is voluntary, our data is incomplete and therefore, in the aggregate, unreliable.”

James Comey’s acknowledgment may be somewhat surprising to those of us who were raised to believe that the FBI, our nation’s foremost law enforcement agency, is all-seeing and all-knowing.

Yet, I, for one, deeply appreciated the Director’s candor — and his emphasis on the importance of more comprehensive disclosure by our police.

“How can we address concerns about “use of force,” Director Comey asked at Georgetown University, “how can we address concerns about officer-involved shootings if we do not have a reliable grasp on the demographics and circumstances of those incidents?”

At least part of the answer to his questions is clear.

A fully-funded and operational National Violent Death Reporting System would provide much of the information about police-involved shootings that the FBI, the Congress and all of us need.

Only through full disclosure of the truth can we be fair to both our citizenry and our police.

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

against not only legislation aimed at ending the poll tax and segregation in the armed services but even against legislation aimed at ending lynching: a one hundred percent record.”

Caro added that while running for the U.S. Senate in 1948, Johnson had assailed President Harry Truman’s entire civil rights program as “an effort to set up a police state.”

It was only in the aftermath of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination that Johnson, picking up the torch of the slain president, rose above his past. He deserves credit for that, but he did not, as some of his supporters claim, come up with the idea of the Selma-to-Montgomery March.

Let’s celebrate Black history and not let others revise it.

February is the “season of Blackness,” a time when the nation lifts up our inextricable role in American history. This is fine and well, but every day we need to remember and heed the lessons of Selma. We have a Voting Rights Act that is broken. Some of us can vote easily, some of us face challenges no less daunting than poll taxes, and others have been stripped of their right to vote or even worse coerced into believing that our vote does not matter. At the heart of the American dream, whether it is educational or economic opportunity, equal justice, or net equality, is the right to vote. Until the right to vote is automatic, permanent, portable and convenient to every adult citizen, then none of us will truly be free. We have the technology, we have capacity, we need the will.

I understand why the Oscars overlooked Ava Duvernay. She is not a director from a sexy foreign country, or a darling of the one-dimensional Oscar set. She is a woman, who like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., decided to stir the pot in a world where voting rights have been unnecessarily curtailed and unexplained murders and urban unrest is on the rise. Maybe her real reward is telling our story, raw and uncut in a world that sees Black images predominately through the lens of non-Black eyes. She is a reminder that we must tell our own stories, in our own words so that we can be reminded that history has a way of repeating itself when people forget. It does not mean others cannot tell our stories, it just means that our voice must be soar above the mix. Selma must march on.

Kim M. Keenan is the President and CEO of the Multicultural Media and Telecommunications Council (MMTC). Prior to taking the helm at MMTC, Keenan served as General Counsel and Secretary of the NAACP. She is a past president of the National Bar Association and the District of Columbia Bar.

Facing America’s Lynching Frenzy

We live in a era when humankind seems awash in wardriven atrocities. Men, and in some instances, boys – for this is, overwhelmingly, a matter of the sins of males – who once lived within the boundaries of decency have dedicated themselves to committing crimes of shocking depravity.

Whether driven by tricked-up political ideologies, ethnic-group grievances, or pseudo-religious mumbo-jumbo, many of these killers display a seemingly unfathomable desire to be inhuman, monstrous.

I have a name for this bloodletting and the people who engage in it. I call it and them the Prime Evil. The phrase isn’t my creation. It was applied two decades ago to one man, Eugene de Kock, a colonel in South Africa’s police force during the apartheid era who directed the government’s terrorist squad that used torture and murder to try to destroy the freedom movement led by Nelson Mandela.

Lee A. Daniels One of that unit’s many “specialties” was, after it had finished torturing a captive, to tie him up, place him over an explosive device and detonate it. Brought to justice after the fall of the Afrikaner regime, de Kock was sentenced to more than 200 years in prison for his crimes.

De Kock’s name has been in the news this winter because the Black-majority South African government announced in late January that it would parole him. I’ll explore that extraordinary decision further in my next column. My point here is that De Kock’s release reminds us that although the Internet now makes it possible for many of us to witness acts of horrific violence, such depravity isn’t new and has never been limited to just the colored peoples of the world.

That fact was underscored by the release earlier this month of a report documenting how widespread and horrific the dynamic of America’s Prime Evil – White racism – once was. The document, “Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror,” was compiled by the Equal Justice Initiative, (EJI) a Montgomery, Alabama-based social justice organization.

It found that between 1877 and 1950 a total of 3,959 Black Americans were murdered by a “racial terror lynching” in the twelve most active lynching states, all but one of which had been part of the

The Coalition Speaks

In this period of Black History Month and the emergence of Women’s History Month, it is crucial that women across all organizational lines speak out for the confirmation of U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch as Attorney General of the United States of America. The Senate Judiciary hearings were held a few weeks ago under the leadership of Senators Charles E. Grassley (R-Ohio) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT). She was a portrait of intelligence, wisdom, grace, poise, knowledge, and resilience. She knows the Justice Department and has decades of experience as a lawyer and leader. When confirmed, she will be the first African American woman to hold this position. NOW IS THE TIME TO ACT. Every woman who reads this article can become an advocate. Contact members of Congress urging them not to delay confirmation

Confederacy. The report defines a racial terror lynching as one whose real purpose was not to punish an individual so much as to terrorize an entire group: Americans of African descent.

Contrary to the conventional view of these murders as furtive acts done by a few on the fringe of Southern White society, EJI documents that the “lynching frenzy” murders were often barbaric communal “festivals” involving ghastly rituals of mutilation and burning – symbolic of both cannibalism and necrophilia – that were attended by dozens, or hundreds, or even thousands of Whites. Some, in which Blacks locked up in local jails were targeted, were even advertised in local newspapers in advance.

Further, these “celebratory acts of racial control and domination” were bolstered by the White South’s using Christianity to justify Jim Crow.

The Equal Justice Initiative wants to erect in these states, which are chock-full of memorials to the architects of the Prime Evil of Negro Slavery and Jim Crow, markers of and memorials to the lynchings at many of the sites where they happened – a plan, a New York Times article on the report noted “will involve significant fund-raising, negotiations with distrustful landowners and, almost undoubtedly, intense controversy.”

The latter prospect should be especially welcomed by those who think, as the EJI report states, America “must fully address our history of racial terror and the legacy of racial inequality it has created. … by urging communities to honestly and soberly recognize the pain of the past. Only when we concretize the experience through discourse, memorials, monuments, and other acts of reconciliation can we overcome the shadows cast by these grievous events.”

“Tsultrim,” a reader responding online to the Times Feb. 10 article put it even more poignantly.

“Imagine driving through your town today and seeing a body hanging from a lamp post, or a bridge.

Imagine watching your neighbors burn a person to death in the public square. If we think this is shocking, then we must take steps to acknowledge our past, commemorate those who died, own responsibility for acts that have informed attitudes to this day. This is our holocaust. It’s past time to own it, examine ourselves, and change. Who are we if we refuse to look, refuse to acknowledge?”

Lee A. Daniels is a longtime journalist based in New York City. His essay, “Martin Luther King, Jr.: The Great Provocateur,” appears in Africa’s Peacemakers: Nobel Peace Laureates of African Descent (2014), published by Zed Books. His new collection of columns, Race Forward: Facing America’s Racial Divide in 2014, is available atwww.amazon.com

of Ms. Lynch. Letters and e-mails make a great impact as the voice of the people. One simple line makes a difference. For the remembrance of all great women in history, this is the time to use that vast network of friends and urge them to join in this process of advocacy that is allowed in this great democracy. There is none on the scene more qualified to follow Eric Holder than Loretta Lynch. Just one message to a Member of Congress makes a difference. Women make a difference! It is time to collectively join hands and change history; confirmation of Loretta Lynch must move forward.

Submitted by the Baltimore Chapter, National Coalition of 100 Black Women

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The Afro-American, February 28, 2015 - March 6, 2015

TECHNOLOGY

Mignon Clyburn On Internet Regulation

By Zenitha Prince Senior AFRO Correspondent This week, the Federal Communications Commission will hold a public meeting. The commissioners will consider two pressing concerns: whether to change the way the Internet is regulated as a means of promoting net neutrality, and whether federal regulators should pre-empt state laws currently blocking the implementation of community-based broadband services.

Both are issues championed by the White House. Both are divisive issues – encompassing matters such as the digital divide, competition in broadband services, balancing universal service principles against the need for innovation, etc. – that will garner much debate. In a wide-ranging interview with the AFRO, FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn – daughter of U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C.; former member of South Carolina’s Public Service Commission, where she served for 11 years, and former publisher of a Black weekly newspaper – shared her thoughts on these and other matters. This is an excerpt of that interview.

AFRO: What is the role of the FCC? Mignon Clyburn: “The FCC is responsible for ensuring that all Americans – no matter their income, no matter their background, no matter where they live – are connected to modern-day communications infrastructure. That has evolved over the years since our establishment in 1934. Way back then it was just about getting Americans connected to basic phone service. And what that meant – although we may not have called it that back then – was a universal service obligation.

It has evolved over the years; we’ve gotten things more formalized. But the basic premise and the reason for its (FCC’s) establishment remains the same.”

AFRO: How important is that role in the world we live in today, given the importance of telecommunications to how we live our daily lives?

MC: “I think it is more important than ever before . . . It is important for Americans to be connected to the broadband information age, but the people who need it the most are often the most economically vulnerable. They live in areas where the infrastructure is not robust enough to support what they need. If we can think about health care outcomes, or the education challenges that we have, or the issues we have with

being more informed in our communities – we call it civic engagement – who can benefit most? The most vulnerable in our communities are in a position to benefit the most.

But if they don’t have modernday-enabled infrastructure, they will continually be left behind or not have access to the information and services they need . . . So it is vitally important that our universal service obligations are realized. And we need to

“The FCC is responsible for ensuring that all Americans… are connected to modern-day communications infrastructure.” double down as regulators to make sure we’re doing all we can to ensure that all persons are connected.”

AFRO: Talk about broadband service and how it has impacted the FCC’s work . . . it certainly seems like it has complicated it.

MC: “It has definitely made things more interesting because [telecommunications] has gone beyond just a speech-enabled structure . . . You’re absolutely right that our policies have to continually keep in line and in sync with the way in which we’re evolving and maturing on the communications plane. So it does make this a more interesting time.”

AFRO: As technology becomes more advanced, we see that certainly your work has become more complicated, but we also see that the divide between those who have that technology and those who don’t has grown. Can you talk about how important or central this issue has been to the FCC’s work?

MC: One of the things that you would hear us being fixated about is the closing of . . . the digital divide . . . which I have said is about to become a digital canyon. What we’re attempting to do is encourage partnerships and encourage policy in terms of reforming our universal service framework that says if you get money from the FCC as a complement to provide service to those areas that are more difficult to serve, you cannot get this money for a voice-only framework, but you would have to put in the ground, by a certain time period, broadband-enabled infrastructure.

AFRO: How do you respond to media justice advocates concerns about so-called “digital redlining” or discriminatory deployment of broadband infrastructure and services?

MC: It is important for us to challenge those in the industry to not come to a conclusion about certain classes of customers.

They are 90 percent wrong about [those customers’] ability and their capacity and interest to sign on and to want the same types of services that everyone else in this nation wants . . .

If somebody believes that [redlining] is occurring, you have to proactively come to the FCC and say here’s the problem; file a complaint. If the evidence is there, we can maybe open up levels of inquiry. But I have to say if it is happening, and if it is a company-centered problem, that’s what makes it a little funny for us because we in essence cannot dictate to a company where to build. And that’s why it is incumbent upon all of us who care about these issues to be really vigilant about where realistically my jurisdiction as a communications commissioner ends and where your obligation begins. That’s the only way, if such problems exist, to address them . . .

AFRO: How does the FCC balance universal access against market principles and the need to ensure that the market is free enough to allow people to innovate and create?

MC: That’s an excellent question. We are a regulatory backstop [and] we are a market backstop . . . We’re here to encourage investment and innovation in places where companies would not organically go and invest . . . We’re try to bridge the economic gap between where companies would go because they could arguably see their return on investment and where they wouldn’t go, and we would give incentives to companies that go places where we know the benefits would be realized . . .

Read more on afro.com.

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AFRO Archives

February 28, 2015 - March 6, 2015, The Afro-American

Dr. Carter G. Woodson addressed students at Morgan State University in April 1931. Woodson’s work created new generations of historians and legitimized the academic field of Black Studies.

ASALH is Woodson’s Dream ‘Come True’

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By Zenitha Prince Senior AFRO Correspondent

arter G. Woodson had a dream – to legitimize and establish the true place of the Black race in the world’s history, and in so doing change the Negro’s view of himself and the public’s view of the Negro, leading to racial equality and an elevated existence for the Black community. And, in 1915, with the creation of his premier legacy, the Association for the Study of Negro of Life and History

(which later becomes the Association for the Study of African American Life and History), Woodson created the major vehicle for making that vision come true.

“Carter G. Woodson taught African Americans and Americans more generally the importance of self-knowledge and how it is central for making a democracy work… [and] ASALH was the mechanism he created for what I call his ‘self-knowledge project,” said Daryl M. Scott, current president of ASALH. “Woodson viewed ASALH as a means of transforming how people of African descent saw themselves and were seen by the people of the world,” he continued. “It was an institution whose mission required it to collect, research and create knowledge about the African past and the African-American experience and disseminate it to the public with the hopes of informing race relations both here and abroad.”

In January 1916, Woodson launched what would become the cornerstone of ASALH, The Journal of Negro History (now The Journal of African American History). From its inception, the pages of the scholarly quarterly became a treasured space where harmful lies and propaganda about the Black race could be crushed, golden nuggets of forgotten or hidden Black history could be found

“Carter G. Woodson taught African Americans and Americans more generally the importance of self-knowledge and how it is central for making a democracy work… [and] ASALH was the mechanism he created for what I call his ‘self-knowledge project.”

and precious artifacts of the African Diaspora experience displayed in scholarly fashion.

“It has been an important intellectual space for a variety of scholars to present their work on various issues related to the African-American community,” said Dianne Pinderhughes, a professor of Africana Studies at the University of Notre Dame. She added, “It has been instrumental in moving the public perception of Black history from a limited perspective to a broader, deeper view.”

For 30 years, Woodson edited the Journal and it flourished under his direction. Many say it is one of the most enduring and influential aspects of his legacy.

On the occasion of Woodson’s death, thenpresident emeritus of Morgan State College, D.O.W. Holmes, said in a written tribute to the “father of Black history” published in the May 13, 1950 edition of the AFRO: “The ‘Journal’ is indeed the monument to Carter Woodson far more enduring than anything we can possibly conceive as a memorial. Scattered throughout the libraries of the schools and cities of America, it is a constant source of information to the scholar and an inspiration to every person of colored blood.”

In 1920, ASALH also created its own forprofit publishing house, Associated Press Inc. (API), to help Black scholars publish their

AFRO Archives

Members of the Baltimore NAACP Youth Council join in a national demonstration against lynching.

manuscripts.

ASALH’s annual meeting has also been a welcoming intellectual space—scholars, college students, archivists, librarians and lay persons from a variety of disciplines get the chance to network, explore and present papers on various aspects of Black history and experience.

The organization’s work made Black history a legitimate and accepted subject of intellectual inquiry, inspiring the creation of Black studies programs in colleges and universities throughout the United States and birthing generations of Black historians, included noted intellectuals such as John Hope Franklin, Charles Wesley and Benjamin Quarles; But ASALH’s mission was never just about appealing to academia, experts said.

“We have been the nexus between the community and the academy,” Scott said.

“ASALH is not and has never been an association of PhD’s,” he added. “The Association is at bottom an association that Continued on B5

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The Afro-American, February 28, 2015 - March 6, 2015

Goldie and Judson Wood

Keith Neal and Jannie Grant

Second Line Howard and Patricia Jessamy

Omegas

Leslie Taylor and Mardi Gras Chair Allen Taylor

Vance and Kimyada Benton

Michael Breeden in the Second Line

NPHCMB Exec Committee Members

Dr. Gary Rodwell and former Sen. Verna Jones Rodwell Wobbling

Thurston Jones IV and Regina Page

Eugene and Laura Byrd Omega Hymn

Robb Fergurson and Jennifer Everett

Edward Anthony and Sheila Dixon

Pi Omega Foundation members

Incoming freshmen Chardonnay Cooper, Qindasi Silva, Amber Britt with Dr. Brian L. Johnson, president Tuskegee University and Shemeka Johnson, first lady

Omega Psi Phi Fraternity’s Pi Omega Chapter held its 64th Annual Mardi Gras Weekend Valentine’s Day and President’s Day Weekend (Feb. 13–15) at the downtown Baltimore Hyatt Regency Hotel.

The Friday Night Jump Off Party kicked the Omega Psi Phi weekend festivities off in style leading up to Mardi Centennial Gras Pi Omega Style where Brothers wined, dined, Grand Marshall and entertained their sweethearts with music by Al Junius The XOD Band and Old School Productions.

The frigid weather could not stop the capacity crowd from enjoying the “Charm City Ques” primary fundraiser whose proceeds go to the Pi Omega Foundation that provides scholarships for students attending Historically Black Colleges/Universities in addition to other Social Actions projects in the community.

The Pi Omega Chapter brothers have a rich tradition of giving back to the community it serves and was awarded the 2014 International XOD Band Large Social Action Chapter of the Year from Photos by Lamonte Tyler Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. Honoree Landa Rene McLaurin, president, Baltimore Metropolitan Chapter,

Coalition

of

100

Black

Women

Honoree John “Jake” Oliver, chairman of the board, CEO and publisher, AFRO American Newspapers with Dr. Anne O. Emery and Walter Jackson, president, Baltimore Tuskegee Alumni

Since its inception, the Baltimore Tuskegee Alumni Association and the Baltimore Tuskegee Alumni Foundation have been unwavering in their commitment to awarding scholarships to deserving students in the Baltimore community.

The Baltimore Alumni group celebrated its 33rd Annual CarverWashington Scholarship Awards Loretta Richardson, Breakfast, Feb. 14, and recognized Ann McKee two prominent Baltimore leaders; notably, Landa R. McLaurin, president, Baltimore Metropolitan Chapter of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women and retired educator for her distinguished leadership in education and dedicated service to the community and John “Jake” Oliver Jr., chairman of the board, CEO, and publisher of the historic AFRO-American Newspapers for his effective leadership in the media, significant contributions to business and education, and distinguished service to the community.

Tuskegee Alumni Gail Howell, Miriam Barrett, Emmaline Woodson

Charlene Baldwin

Students from Milford MIll Academy, Shane Anthony, Ashanti Jones, Janae Thornton performed a musical selection

Dr. Walter Gill and Master of Ceremonies Darryl Green

Waqiba Strother Kimberly Woodard, Exec. Director, Tuskegee National Alumni Assoc.

Harry Evans and Lacrose Lejune

Anita Pinkney, Dolores Street, Tuskegee alumni Incoming freshman Delanee Coley and Walter Jackson, president Baltimore Tuskegee Alumni

Dr. Thelma T. Daley, a major supporter of the Tuskegee Scholarship Breakfast

Sefeed Farrakhan, incoming freshman

Calvin and Betty Austin

Neva Brown, Dr. Freeda Thompson Justin Germany, Dr. SanYvette Williams-Foy

Sisters Marian R.Finney, Janice R. Nicholas Romeo Spaulding, Rev. Dr. Emmett Burns

Photos by Dr. A. Lois De Laine

February 28, 2015 - March 6, 2015, The Afro-American

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ARTS & CULTURE

Meshelle “The Indie-Mom of Comedy” is no Joke Jannette J. Witmyer Special to the AFRO Anyone trying to keep up with Meshelle “The Indie-Mom of Comedy” had better lace up his or her track shoes, take a deep breath, and be prepared for a near-exhausting and rigorous run. To say that she leads a full and busy life would be an understatement.

When the award-winning, off-Broadway actress and standup comedienne is not performing in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and points in between, she’s back home in Baltimore handling her business as a wife, mom to three, author, social justice advocate and nonprofit administrator.

And, juggling all of those hats just scratches the surface of all that goes on in this Indie-Mom’s life.

Right about now, if you are amongst the uninformed (as was I), you’re probably wondering, “What is an Indie-Mom?” In the simplest terms, an Indie-Mom is a woman who does not lose her identity to motherhood.

In Meshelle’s case, “Staying completely innovative and staying independent and still having a very individual sense of self, while being the best mom you can be, and, in my case, wife. That’s what the Indie-mom is all about.”

“An Indie-Mom is independent, innovative, with individuality, fearless and poised to live her dream,” she explains.

Which brings us to her one-woman show, “Diary of a MILF (Mom I’d Love to Follow).” In October 2014, the full theater production, which she wrote and in which performs all five characters, won the Outstanding Solo Performer Award at the 15th Annual Midtown International Theatre Festival, the second largest off-Broadway theater festival in New York. Directed by Rain Pryor, it is headed to LA, February 27 and 28, for an invitation-only special engagement, entertaining producers and industry executives from the areas of development and talent.

“MILF,” she explains, “is a derogatory term that was popularized by the

movie “American Pie” that came out in the 90s. One of the characters used the term referring to moms with whom he’d like to have sex. It was supposed to be a term of endearment, a reference to moms or older women still having sex appeal and attraction.”

“I thought it would be fun to play on the MILF understanding and create a show around what it’s like to juggle my life as a standup, a wife for over 15 years, mother of three, social justice advocate, running a nonprofit, all of this in tandem, while my highest intention when I left my doctorate was to pursue my standup.”

Oh, right… I forgot to mention that she is a former doctoral candidate at Temple University.

The show not only covers a day in her life, juggling all of those hats, and what it takes to get to a performance, on any given day, but it is set during the Christmas holidays, with characters ranging from a preschool-aged Jewish boy to an elitist, country club-type mom, layering several additional sets of dynamics on the day’s journey.

“It’s a hoot to get through a full day as me, wearing all of those hats, and to see how, ultimately, I end up on stage, at the end of the day,” she says, laughing.

While Meshelle sees the humor in all of the juggling, Meshelle she also understands how stressful it can be, which is one of the reasons she created MOMS NITE OFF “A Night of Comedy and Cocktails,” with another native Baltimorean, touring comic Larry Lancaster. Held at the Baltimore Creative Alliance’s Marquee Lounge, the event provides a space for Indie-Moms and others who may be stressed to unwind and enjoy a cocktail or two and some adult fun, standup comedy.

As an artist who usually works out of town, she says, “It’s a way to maintain a footprint in Baltimore, to keep the community aware of how things are shifting for me, not only on TV, but in the theater world with my one-woman show. A way to keep Baltimore in the loop, while still giving them some great entertainment…”

To further establish her footprint as an artist in Baltimore and to raise funds for her nonprofit organization, Goaldiggers The Sankofa Project, the 2010-2012 Open Society Institute Community Fellow has unearthed yet another hat, one that she’s worn all of her life, singer.

On April 25, she will toss that hat up among the others and reintroduce that side of herself, at Creative Alliance, in a cabaret she created, “Funny, Fierce and Fabulous.”

“There was always a little girl in me who was in every musical production… Dorothy in the Wiz, Purlie, Dreamgirls… From elementary school to college, I’ve always been a gay man, drag queen, stuffed inside a heterosexual little girl’s body. I love everything about musical theater,” she says of her love for the genre.

Meshelle “The Indie-Mom of Comedy” may be the comedienne’s brand, but being an IndieMom touches every part of her life.

“I wouldn’t be an Indie-mom if it weren’t for my three children. They take precedence. It’s God, me, and my family… And, my art is the gift… This is who I am. I have to get on stage, and I have to perform. And, they show up on stage with me because those characters are from the authentic life if being a mom.”

The next MOMS NITE OFF “A Night of Comedy and Cocktails” is March 3 at the Baltimore Creative Alliance’s Marquee Lounge.

The Avenue Was Live Night and Day Chitlin’ Circuit II Lisa Snowden-McCray Special to the AFRO Baltimore’s Pennsylvania Avenue during the time of the Chitlin Circuit, 1940’s through the late 1960’s, was more than just showbiz. In addition to Sess’ on Division Street and Sampson’s on Fayette Street, nightclubs, eateries and other places sprung up on the Avenue, creating more venues for Baltimoreans of color to hang out and have fun.

“Everybody that comes in the city, comes to Pennsylvania Avenue,” said 91-year-old Baltimore resident Larry Washington. That was the main drag for Blacks, starting from Preston and Pennsylvania Ave.” Washington was there as a teenager. He remembers not just vaudeville performances and big-name acts – it was a major shopping hub with bars, eateries and clothing stores.

He said he got all of his clothes on the Avenue and would shop for his lady friends there, too. He says fashions then didn’t differ too much from what young people wear today.

“We used to wear ties every day. Everything you see these kids now, we had that. Only thing they put more color to it.

We never wore no pants hanging down,” he said, chuckling.

“Every style they have…they wore all of it down there.”

He is also a member of the Arch social club.

“I been around this club for 70 years,” Washington said.

The club, which was founded in1905, didn’t start out on Pennsylvania avenue. Members moved their headquarters there from Saratoga street in 1972. But, almost from its very beginnings it cemented its place as an important part of the landscape created by the Chitlin Circuit. The club was a “who’s who” for forward-thinking men in Baltimore. And connections brought about by influential members meant the club had access to excellent music and liquor. Washington said a lot of the musicians who performed on the avenue, like Cab Calloway, would stop by the club to perform.

Baltimore County resident Angela Matthews is much younger than Washington, but she also got an up-close view of life on the avenue - working at her aunt’s sandwich shop.

“It was at 1437 Pennsylvania Avenue. Right up the street from the Carver Theater. A block down from the Royal.”

Matthews said that everyone knew her aunt, Theresa Johnson Butler, as “Mama Theresa.”

“She was the joy of Pennsylvania avenue. Everybody loved Mama Theresa.” She says her aunt was famous for her bologna sandwich.

Matthews worked at the store through junior high and high school. She said the shop wasn’t a sit-down eatery; it was more of a carryout. Still, lots of folks would stop in. She said that they served everyone from performers, to theater employees and nightclub patrons.

Afro file photo

Often, the entertainers would send for the sandwiches. But every now and then, she said, one would venture in. She even spotted James Brown there.

She said that the shop bustled with activity. It was right across from the Bamboo lounge, so they’d see those patrons. It was next door to a filling station owned by a Black man named Jim Dorsey, who held a lot of sway with Black Baltimore politics – so a lot of politicians would swing by, too.

“Just everybody in the neighborhood. They would come over and eat sandwiches.”

It wasn’t just her aunt’s shop either. She described the whole area as place full of life and fun.

“They would have a Halloween parade and all kind of characters would come out.

Pennsylvania Avenue was just like Times Square.”

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The Afro-American, February 28, 2015 - March 6, 2015

FAITH

Meet the Pastor The Rev. Ramelle McCall, 33, 2 1/2 years Church of St Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church, 2013 St. Paul Street, Baltimore Hometown: Baltimore Education: Bachelor of Science, Stevenson University 2003 Master of Divinity, Wake Forest University 2006 Graduate degree in Anglican Studies 2011 How did you hear your call to ministry?

What’s the most exciting thing about your ministry?

At St. Michael and All Angels we are hopelessly optimistic about the plans that God has for us. We are excited because we believe that God has great things in store for us and we will continue to reach more people through different ministries and initiatives we feel led to do.

Who are your (s)heroes in ministry?

Courtesy photos

I heard my call to ministry during my junior year of college, which led to me to Wake Forest University Divinity School. I later obtained a graduate degree in Anglican studies, and became an Episcopal priest.

Rev. McCall is taking the conversation to the community.

The Rev. James Cleveland speaks to my soul with his great gospel melodies, and of course, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who reminds me that ministry is not easy, but it is about making sure one advocates for peace and justice.

Are you a PK (preacher’s kid)?

Not really. Church impacted my life when I began college. It was there that God showed me how to believe in myself and to better love my neighbors as myself. It was there God showed me that God take cares of me and others in ways beyond measure.

What has been the biggest surprise about ministry?

I am amazed at how many people are influenced by my Christian acts such as preaching, praying, helping, etc. I am humbled to be forever called to serve people from different backgrounds and different paths along their journey.

What aspect are you most proud of?

I am very happy to see parishioners believe in themselves in ways beyond measure. I am happy to see how their faith in God can be demonstrated and can influence myself and others to live better within Christendom.

Preparing acolytes for worship

In recognition of Black History Month, Baltimore invites visitors to discover the city’s deep-rooted African-American story on the Legends & Legacies Heritage Bus Tour. Visit the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture, the National Great Blacks In Wax Museum, and the Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Museum. Enjoy a personal tour guide, appearances by period actors, a special “shoe box lunch,” giveaways and more.

To reserve your space on Baltimore’s Legends & Legacies Heritage Bus Tour call 410-244-8861 or visit baltimore.org.

FEBRUARY 21 & 28, 2015 | Tickets: $25/per person Reserve your space today, call 410-244-8861 or visit baltimore.org.

How does social media enhance your ministry, or not?

We have several followers on Facebook and we do have people visiting our website. I truly believe that all churches should have at least a website because social media and the Internet are ways in which people are noticing our parishes.

What’s the newest aspect of your ministry?

I am currently working with an Episcopal Service Corp intern whose primary focus is to build outreach with St Michael and All Angels and St Mary’s Community Center in Hampden. We have decided to offer a safe, non judgmental discussion of theology and current events.

Looks like the baby’s trying to swim during this blessing.

Rev. McCall applies ashes to AFRO news editor Greg Dale in front of Terra Cafe on Ash Wednesday.

One catch – bring a news story from your smartphone or tablet or newspaper. The next discussions are 7-9 p.m., March 5, at Liam Flynn’s Ale House and 7 p.m., March 8 at St. Mary’s Community Center.

What’s next for you in ministry?

We’re trying to build as many positive relationships as possible within the Station North Community. We simply want everyone to know we are here for them. We also want to meet everyone where they are because we feel this is what Christ does with everyone.

What’s your favorite form of recreation or self care?

Well, I love some good music. I therefore love to hear a good Rhythm and Blues band or just watch some good sports such as baseball, basketball and football. Go Ravens! Go O’s!

For more information on St. Michael and All Angels, visit the website at smaa-baltimore.com or email Rev. McCall at mccarl3@gmail.com.

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The Afro-American, February 28, 2015 - February 28, 2015

February 28, 2015 - March 6, 2015, The Afro-American

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Woodson’s Dream Continued from B1

belongs to the community and the community is at the foundation of what we do. From 1915 to 1968, for the first 53 years of our existence, there was no such thing as Black Studies; it was the Black community studying itself.”

Pinderhughes, the Notre Dame professor, said ASALH’s egalitarian membership has given it an advantage.

“It is an organization with broader impact compared to some of the traditional academic organizations,” she said.

The initiation of Negro History Week in 1926 considerably advanced the cause of making the Black experience accessible and acceptable to the general public. As did the launch in 1937 of the Negro History Bulletin, a magazine aimed at putting Black history into the hands of primary and secondary school teachers, students and the general Black reading public, according to Organizing Black America.

Sixty-five years after Woodson’s death, ASALH’s mission has not changed and Woodson’s vision continues to be realized, Scott said.

“Woodson’s vision was very clear and straightforward, consequently, we’ve not had to change much in 100 years,” the ASALH president said.

In 1976, the efforts of ASALH and others bore fruit when the celebration of Negro History

Week was expanded to Black History Month. Each year, the organization provides the theme for the month’s observations. This year—appropriately—the theme arose out of ASALH’s centennial anniversary.

“We’ve been in a season of a lot of 50-year, 100-year and 150-year anniversaries for a while so they have pretty much determined the themes,” Scott said.

But mostly, particularly with topical themes, the Association tries to use history to illuminate matters facing the modern-day Black community.

“History has a responsibility,”

Scott said. “We’re not antiquarians; we don’t study the past just for the sake of the past; we study the past for the sake of the living.”

ASALH continues to face challenges as it seeks to fulfill its mission—as with many other organizations, garnering funds has been a challenge as has been the obstacles inherent with trying to adapt to a digital age. In fact, the Internet has reinforced the importance of ASALH’s work as being a source of reliable information.

“What is apparent to me is that the Internet has made it necessary to the Association to take more

The Journal of African American History previously the Journal of Negro History, is one of the most enduring aspects of Carter G. Woodson’s legacy. seriously its original approach [to disseminating Black history] because the Web is awash in bad information,” Scott said.

Pinderhughes said that’s one of many reasons ASALH will continue to be an integral and necessary organization or the Black community and broader American public.

“It has been a consistent source of information about Black history and its importance in U.S. everyday life,” she said. “I think it is an AFRO Black History 9:35 AM AFRO464513-ADVR113402 Archives organization that’s Month goingAd_v2_P.pdf to be around1 for2/18/15 a long time.”

John Lewis addressing the crowd at the 1963 March on Washington.

The

dream

is real.

Thanks to the AFRO American for more than 120 years of inspired reporting and for showing all of us the power and the promise of equality.

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The Afro-American, February 28, 2015 - March 6, 2015

“Now if you’ve ever been down to New Orleans then you can understand just what I mean. All through the week, it’s quiet as a mouse, but on Saturday night they go from house to house. You don’t have to pay the usual admission if you’re a cook, waiter or a good musician so if you happen to be just passin’ by stop in at the Saturday night fish” BB King “The difference of races, moreover, is no evidence of superiority or of inferiority. This merely indicates that each race has certain gifts which the others do not possess.” Carter G. Woodson February is the designated month to celebrate the contributions African Americans have made in the building of our nation. We celebrate African- American contributions when we open the refrigerator, turn on a light, stop for a traffic signal, process our hair, use sugar, have shoes repaired, answer the telephone, ride a well-oiled train, ride a streetcar, use the computer, squirt the super soaker, eat peanuts, wear a pacemaker, see an amputee feed themselves, use an ironing board, tell time by a clock or sleep on a fold up bed. So the next time you do something “Think” about it and smile.

In this last week of February, Living for the Weekend salutes African Americans and thanks them for their contributions, President Barack Obama, First lady Michelle Obama, Eric Holder, Valerie Jarrett, Angela Davis, Marion Andersen, Harriett Beecher Stowe, Hattie McDaniels, Frank Snowden, Shani Davis, C.T. Vivian, Dr. Dre, Alvin Ailey, Marion Berry, Garrett Morgan, Benjamin Banneker, Elijah McCoy, Lewis Latimer, George Patricia Bath, Charles Drew, Percy Julian, Jan Matzeliger, Daddy Grace, Hubron Blackwell, Geoffrey Holder, George Crum, Williams Cathay aka Cathay Williams, Octavia Butler, Gloria Hill, Stagecoach Mary Fields, Nina Simone, Sidney Poitier, Frank Emmanuel Petersen Jr. and Bessie Blount ‘Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler.’ Let the good times roll.

The plans were to spend a long weekend in New Orleans at the conclusion of Mardi Gras; but if you know Nawlings

every day is Mardi Gras. We left BWI early Friday morning; the temperature in Baltimore was 0 degree. After a direct flight from BWI we arrived in New Orleans to 63-degree balmy weather.

“The smaller the club, the bigger the party something about this room the smaller the club, the better the party the dance floor, you can barely move” Mel Waiters Friday night we visited the historic Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club located in historic Treme. From the moment, we walked in the Krewe members invited us to be a part of their “Friday Night fish fry” warmly welcoming us. The elated yet exhausted members were already planning 2016’s Mardi Gras parade and delighted sharing their stories and the history of the Zulu Krewe.

“You got me going in circles” on Saturday we joined the throngs of people, gathered around the unique rotating Carousel Bar in the famous Hotel Monteleone located in the French Quarters.

With 75-degree weather, we almost felt guilty when friends started posting pictures on face book about the surprise snowstorm that had citizens pushing buses up the hill and a traffic nightmare. Notice I said almost because on Sunday in New Orleans it was a picture perfect day for “sitting on the dock of the bay watching the tide roll away” along the mighty Mississippi and strolling along the riverfront. Later riding the famed streetcar through the renowned garden district was the perfect opportunity to see the beautiful antebellum homes lining St. Charles Avenue stopping for a seafood dinner at Copeland’s. After an exhilarating day, we stopped on Bourbon Street listening to jazz and “dancing in the streets.” I was in awe at the changes on Bourbon Street, where jazz used to filter through the air now there is hip-hop and mainstream music but the streets are still crowded and exciting.

SPORTS

“Shawty, I don’t mind if you dance on a pole…” Usher My trip to New Orleans would not be complete until I visited my lamppost on the corner of Bourbon and St. Peters where the music drifts from each club on the corner providing a cornucopia of eclectic music.

“You are my friend, I never knew it ‘til then my friend, my friend you hold my hand, you might not say a word but I see your tears when I show my pain.” Patti LaBelle They live with, work with and travel together and that is how Arlene Gill, Shirley Johnson, Shirley Owens, Donna ElAm, Vanessa Johnson-Day, Delores Quick, Marian Daniel and Terra Harris maintain their 30 years of friendship. Recently they gathered at Colin’s Seafood and Grill in Randallstown to celebrate Shirley Rouse Johnson’s retirement from the Department of Juvenile Services after 30 years of dedicated service. Most of them met while establishing the first Gender Responsive Program for Young Women in the State of Maryland.

“Oh heart, if one should say to you that the soul perishes like the body, answer that the flower withers, but the seed remains.” Khalil Gibran Sending love and condolences to Rev. Mary Conaway on the death of her husband Frank Conaway. A colorful character, he created a political family dynasty. At 81, he remained the conscious of Baltimore and the state of Maryland, quick to defend the citizens who could not speak for himself. Agreed or disagree with Frank’s method or politics, you admired the man who in the words of Frank Sinatra “I did it my way.”

I couldn’t attend Frank’s homecoming service, so I’m glad I recently saw him on Park Heights driving; he looked out the window blowing me kisses with both hands, greeting me as we passed. That’s how I’ll remember him.

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

Carmelo Anthony Has Season-Ending Surgery on Knee

By Courtney Jacobs AFRO Staff Writer

New York Knicks allstar Carmelo Anthony has

decided to end his season after having surgery on his

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left knee, according to ESPN. Anthony’s procedure included a left knee patella tendon debridement and repair, which will keep him off the court for four to six months.

“What we’re finding out from the medical is …, it could be four to six months,” Knicks president Phil Jackson. “We can’t put it at a timetable until after

the surgery. But that’s what they’re saying. They say it can be anywhere between four to six months for Carmelo to be back on the floor.”

This is not the first time Anthony has had trouble with his left knee. In 2011, Anthony had an arthroscopic procedure on his left knee.

Anthony played 30 minutes in the NBA All Star

Superman’s Kryptonite Recently, I met up with two of my buddies from the old days, and we talked about how we would prowl the neighborhoods of Northwest D.C. Depending on the mood, we were John Wayne and his boys trying to take a hill during World War II, or Robin Hood and his gang about to storm a castle. Our imaginations were our playground, and we worked them overtime.

The topic got around to my recent sharing of some of the adventures of my pop, Sam Lacy, in this space from week to week. We observed that we experienced something similar when we were kids. On Saturdays, after the chores and minihustles we had going, we would gather and head for the movies. The price was 14 cents, and we walked both ways. For a quarter we could get entry to the movie and buy a bag of popcorn.

We would stay in that movie theater until dark.

We saw two chapters in which the hero took us on a new adventure from week to week. Throw in a couple of cartoons and a

double feature and we had entertainment that would cost about 15 bucks today.

Sam’s story comes in chapters, and my buddies look forward to the next installment from week to week. After all, they have a personal stake in his life story. He was one of the parents, and like the rest of the dads, he was viewed as Superman.

My grandparents lived in a three-story house, and this was the castle of my youth.

While my parents were at work, I spent the day with my grandparents and my great aunt. I never grew tired of roaming from floor to floor and an occasional trip to the basement. There was a giant oil burning furnace in a dark corner and, depending on the temperature, there were strange noises coming from that corner. My bravery was tested and the furnace won.

Most of the time my pop would pick me up.

From time to time my grandmother would drop a chore on him, which he accomplished gladly. Things got a little dicey when he

game in New York on Feb. 15, but only finished with 14 points on 6-of-20 shooting.

Anthony currently leads the Knicks in points per game with 24.2 and rebounds per game with 6.6.

The Knicks have the worst record in the NBA at 10-43.

The Knicks have not won a game this season without Anthony, who already missed 13 games this season.

was asked to restring some venetian blinds. I guess Sam thought this was a simple chore. He spread the blinds out on the floor and went to work. My pop was not a cussing man, but I detected some blue language mixed up in his utterings. Finally, a trip to the local hardware store solved the problem.

One day, Sam was asked to hang a mirror over the credenza in the dining room. A hammer, nail and a picture hook were the tools needed for this chore. Sam rolled up his sleeves and went to work. After all, how hard could it be to hang a mirror? But considering that the mirror weighed almost as much as I did, we had a recipe for disaster. The deed was accomplished—and just as we gathered around to witness his work, the mirror came crashing down.

I have to chuckle when I think of this, because home improvement turned out to be Superman’s Kryptonite.

However, I can’t laugh too hard, because my wife had me restring the drawstring on the drapes over our patio window. I may have used some of the same words Sam used, and they didn’t help. Déjà vu.

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1 Col. Inch Up to 20 Words TYPESET: Wed Feb 25 15:46:10 EST 2015 TYPESET: Wed Feb 25 15:44:49 EST 2015 LEGALEST NOTICES TYPESET: Wed Feb 25 15:53:08 2015

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR BALTIMORE CITY Case No.: 24D15000387 IN THE MATTER OF TyhrieDonte´ Donte’ Chamblee FOR CHANGE OF NAME TO TyhrieDonte´ Donte’ Graham ORDER FOR NOTICE BY PUBLICATION The object of this suit is to officially change the name of the petitioner from TyhrieDonte´ Donte’ Chamblee to TyhrieDonte´ Donte’ Graham It is this 12th day of February, 2015 by the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, ORDERED, that publication be given one time in a newspaper of general circulation in Baltimore City on or before the 12th day of March, 2015 which shall warn all interested persons to file an affidavit in opposition to the relief requested on or before the 27th day of March

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR BALTIMORE CITY Case No.: 24D15000389 IN THE MATTER OF Kyhrie Nathaniel Chamblee FOR CHANGE OF NAME TO Kyhrie Nathaniel Graham ORDER FOR NOTICE BY PUBLICATION The object of this suit is to officially change the name of the petitioner from Kyhrie Nathaniel Chamblee to Kyhrie Nathaniel Graham It is this 12th day of February ,2015, by the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, ORDERED, that publication be given one time in a newspaper of general circulation in Baltimore City on or before the 12th day of March, 2015, which shall warn all interested persons to file an affidavit in opposition to the relief requested on or before the 27th day of March, 2015

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR BALTIMORE CITY Case No.: 24O14002646 IN THE MATTER OF Hassan Ben Ahmed FOR CHANGE OF NAME TO Ben Davis ORDER FOR NOTICE BY PUBLICATION The object of this suit is to officially change the name of the petitioner from Hassan Ben Ahmed to Ben Hassan Davis It is this 4th day of February , 2015 by the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, ORDERED, that publication be given one time in a newspaper of general circulation in Baltimore City on or before the 4th day of March, 2015, which shall warn all interested persons to file an affidavit in opposition to the relief requested on or before the 20th day of March, 2015.

Frank M. Conaway Clerk 2/27/15 TYPESET: Wed Feb 25 15:46:30 2015 FrankEST M. Conaway Frank M. Conaway TYPESET: Wed Feb Clerk25 15:45:45 EST 2015 Clerk 2/27/15 2/27/15 IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR City of Baltimore BALTIMORE CITY Department of Finance Case No.: Bureau of Purchases 24D15000131 IN THE MATTER OF Sealed proposals addressed to the Board of Darlene Angela Estimates of Baltimore will be received until, Green but not later than 11:00a.m. local time on the FOR CHANGE OF following date(s) for the stated requirements: NAME TO Jennifer Shapiro MARCH 4, 2015 ORDER FOR *PROVIDE TRAFFIC SIGNAL CABLE NOTICE BY B50003946 PUBLICATION MARCH 11, 2015 The object of this suit is *PROVIDE PUBLIC SWIMMING POOL to officially change the MAINTENANCE, REPAIR SERVICES & NEW name of the petitioner REPLACEMENT PARTS B50003895 from Darlene Angela Green THE ENTIRE SOLICITATION DOCUMENT to CAN BE VIEWED AND DOWN LOADER BY Jennifer Shapiro VISITING THE CITY’S WEB SITE:

Wed Feb 25 15:46:55 EST 2015 www.baltimorecitibuy.org It is this 26th day of TYPESET: January , 2015, by the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, CITY OF BALTIMORE ORDERED, that pubDEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS lication be given one SPECIAL NOTICE time in a newspaper of general circulation in The Pre-Bidding Meeting for City of Baltimore Baltimore City on or Department of Public Works Water Contract before the 26th day of 1311R-AMI/R Urgent Need Pavement and February, 2015, which Sidewalk Restoration, Various Locations is A shall warn all inte- Mandatory ”Pre-Bidding Information” session rested persons to file will be conducted in the 3rd Floor Conference an affidavit in opposi- Room of the Office of Engineering and tion to the relief re- Construction, Abel Wolman Municipal quested on or before Building, on Wednesday, February 25, 2015 at the 16th day of March, 10:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M. Failure to attend the pre-bid meeting will result in any bid you sub2015. mit being rejected without further considerAddress all questions: Mr. Romel Frank M. Conaway ations.

Tiruneh, Project Manager (410) 396-1470 Clerk or email: romel.tiruneh@baltimorecity.gov TYPESET: Wed2/20/15 Feb 25 15:42:24 EST 2015

CITY OF BALTIMORE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT OF RECREATION AND PARKS 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 RP 14832-Stony Run Pedestrian Bridges will be received at the Office of the Comptroller, Room 204, City Hall, Baltimore, Maryland until 11:00 A.M. on Wednesday, April 8, 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 in Room 6 located on the first floor of the Abel Wolman Municipal Building, 200 N. Holliday Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21202 as of Friday, February 27, 2015 and copies may be purchased for a nonrefundable 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, 1st Floor, 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 C03300 Concrete Construction 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 2600 Madison Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21217 on Tuesday, March 10, 2015 at 10:00 A.M. Principal Items of work for this project are: Prefabricated Bridge, Concrete Bridge Substructure, and Micropile Installation The MBE goal is 5% The WBE goal is 2% RP 14832 APPROVED: Bernice H. Taylor Clerk, Board of Estimates APPROVED: Rudolph S. Chow, P.E. Director of Public Works

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1-800 (AFRO) 892 For Proof of Publication, please call 1-800-237-6892, ext. 244 TYPESET: Wed Feb 25 15:42:45 2015 LEGALEST NOTICES 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 14800-3rd and 4th Floor Courtrooms at Mitchell Courthouse will be received at the Office of the Comptroller, Room 204, City Hall, Baltimore, Maryland until 11:00 A.M. on Wednesday, March 25, 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, February 27, 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 $1,000,000.01 to $2,000,000.00 A ”Pre-Bidding Information” session will be conducted at The Site: 100 N. Calvert Street, Baltimore, MD 21202 on Tuesday, March 10, 2015 at 10:00 A.M. Principal Items of work for this project are: 1. Selected Interior Demolition 2. Interior Finishes 3. Mechanical, Electrical The MBE goal is 27% The WBE goal is 10% CONTRACT NO. GS 14800

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APPROVED: Bernice H. Taylor Clerk, Board of Estimates APPROVED: Steve Sharkey Director, Department of General Services

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B8 The Afro-American, February 28, 2015 - March 6, 2015 LEGAL NOTICES

LEGAL NOTICES

NOTICE OF MARYLAND HOMECREDIT PROGRAM

NOTICE TO POTENTIAL BIDDERS BALTIMORE CITY DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS ANTICIPATED TO BE BID February 2015 to June 2015

The Community Development Administration (the “Administration”), a unit of the Division of Development Finance of the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development (the “Department”), is establishing a Maryland HomeCredit Program (the “MHC Program”) in which it will issue Mortgage Credit Certificates (“MCCs”) under section 25 of the Internal Revenue Code to eligible borrowers.

Program Overview

Pursuant to 23 CFR 635.110, Subpart A (regarding the timeliness of advertisement for federal-aid construction projects relative to the City’s contractor prequalification process), the City’s Department of Transportation, hereby notifies interested parties of the following projects which may be advertised for construction during the period from February 2015 to June 2015.

MCCs will entitle eligible borrowers to take a Federal income tax credit equal to a percentage (the “Certificate Credit Rate”) of the interest paid during the year on a mortgage loan covered by the MCC, subject to an annual $2,000 limit. The borrowers claim the credit on their Federal income tax return, Form 1040, by using Form 8396, Mortgage Interest Credit.

Prime Contractors, interested in bidding on any of the projects below, must be prequalified by the Baltimore City Office of Boards and Commission in order to submit a Bid. Subcontractors must be prequalified prior to beginning work on the Project. Potential bidders are advised that the prequalification process may take up to 90 days to complete. For further information, please contact the Commission at 410-396-6883 or michael.augins@baltilmorecity.gov.

The Certificate Credit Rate will be 25%.

Example: If the total interest payments for a $100,000 mortgage are $4,717 in the year 2015, the borrowers, if meeting the borrower eligibility requirements of the MHC Program and various technical requirements imposed by the Internal Revenue Code on the basis of the amount of tax otherwise due, will be entitled to a tax credit of $1,179 for 2015 ($1,179 is 25% of $4,717). If the mortgage were for $175,000 and the total interest payments were $8,254, the credit would be limited to $2,000 rather than 25% of $8,254. Any borrowers considering applying for an MCC should consult their own tax advisors for information as to the exact calculation and effect of the credit.

The Administration will issue MCCs for financing the purchase or construction of a principal residence. Loans receiving MCC assistance may not be used for other purposes, such as debt consolidation or education costs, even if secured by a mortgage on the borrower’s residence.

The Administration does not originate the mortgage loans covered by the MCCs. The borrowers must obtain their loans from a bank or mortgage company, which will process the borrowers’ application for an MCC along with the borrowers’ application for the loan. Loans can be obtained from a lender who participates in the Department’s Maryland Mortgage Program or enrolls with the Department for the MHC Program. In all cases the loans will be offered at the lenders’ prevailing mortgage rates. The loans cannot be financed with the proceeds of tax-exempt qualified mortgage bonds issued by the Administration or any other entity. The Administration and the lenders may charge application fees for the MCC in addition to lender fees related to the loan.

The total amount of loans covered by the MHC Program cannot exceed $203,000,000 state-wide.

Borrower Eligibility Requirements In order to qualify for MCC assistance, borrowers are subject to eligibility requirements as set forth in the Internal Revenue Code and summarized below: 1. Residence requirement. The loan must be with respect to a single-family residence which can reasonably be expected to become the principal residence of the borrower within a reasonable period. The residence must be located inside the State of Maryland. Besides a conventional one-family home, the definition of “single-family residence” can include a twounit, three-unit, or four-unit property if owned by a borrower who occupies one of the units, subject to limitations in the Internal Revenue Code.

2. Three-year requirement. The borrower must not have owned a principal residence at any time during the three-year period prior to the loan. This requirement does not apply to loans on residences in “targeted areas.” Information about targeted areas is presented on the Department’s website at http://mmp.maryland.gov/Pages/Targeted-Areas.aspx.

3. Income requirements. The family income of borrowers cannot exceed specified limits based generally on area median income, family size, location of the residence in a targeted area, and housing costs. The family income limits at the present time are stated on the Department’s website at http://mmp.maryland.gov/Lenders/Pages/Income-and-PurchaseLimits.aspx.

4. Purchase price requirement. The purchase price of the residence cannot exceed 90% of the applicable average area purchase price, or 110% in the case of residences in targeted areas. The purchase price limits are stated on the Department’s website at the same page as the income limits.

5. New mortgage requirement. The loan covered by an MCC cannot replace or refinance an existing loan, unless the existing loan had an MCC. This requirement does not apply to refinancings of construction loans or temporary initial financing.

In addition to the tax law requirements, the MHC Program has other requirements that may affect a Borrower’s eligibility for an MCC. Please speak with a participating lender regarding the MHC Program’s eligibility requirements.

Sale or Refinancing MHC borrowers who sell their residences within nine years may be subject to “recapture tax” under section 143(m) of the Internal Revenue Code. Recapture tax is in addition to the borrowers’ regular Federal income tax and is designed generally to recapture the benefit of financing with MCCs or with tax-exempt bonds. The practice of the Administration has been to reimburse borrowers for the recapture tax on sales of residences that were financed by the Administration from bonds issued through its Maryland Mortgage Program. This practice will apply to MCCs on loans originated by lenders and then financed by the Administration from non-bond related financing programs that it maintains as part of its Maryland Mortgage Program. The Administration will not make reimbursements on MCCs on loans financed by lenders from other sources.

In the event that a borrower sells the residence to a purchaser who assumes the loan covered by the MCC, the Administration will issue a new MCC to the purchaser if the purchaser meets the requirements of the MHC Program. MCCs can be transferred only in compliance with this rule. Recapture tax may be due even though the MCC is transferred.

Borrowers who refinance their loans at a later date may be able to get a new MCC from the Administration covering the new loan. A borrower planning a refinancing should apply for the new MCC through the new lender.

Application Procedure A borrower’s application for MCCs must be filed with the bank or mortgage company that will originate the loan. The Department’s website lists the lenders that participate in its Maryland Mortgage Program (see http://mmp.maryland.gov/Documents/Lenders_list.pdf), and eligible borrowers may apply for MCCs through these lenders. Borrowers wishing to obtain MCCs for loans by lenders who are not participants in the Maryland Mortgage Program should have their lender contact the Department at the address or telephone number indicated at the end of this notice, in order to have the lender submit their application to the Department. The Department solicits lenders not currently participating in the Maryland Mortgage Program to contact the Department for information about issuance of MCCs for their loans.

Lenders who enter the MHC Program in this manner will be listed on the Department’s website in addition to its Maryland Mortgage Program lenders.

Applications for MCCs from eligible borrowers will be accepted beginning 90 days after publication of this notice and thereafter on a first-come-first-served basis, provided that for the first year after acceptances begin, borrowers seeking MCCs for residences in targeted areas will have priority for 20% of the MCCs. All loans under the MHC Program must be closed by December 15, 2016, under MHC Program requirements imposed by the Internal Revenue Code.

The Administration may discontinue or modify the MHC Program as to unissued MCCs at any time.

MCCs issued under the MHC Program may be revoked in the event of noncompliance with the eligibility requirements and in particular will be automatically revoked if the MCC holder ceases to use the residence covered by the MCC as a principal residence. A false statement on an MCC application or a misuse of a loan covered by an MCC may lead to fraud penalties or other sanctions in addition to revocation of the MCC. Further information about the MHC Program can be obtained from: Vicki Jones CDA-SF, 100 Community Place Crownsville, MD 21032 Phone: 410-514-7519 Fax: 410-987-4136

afro.com • Your History • Your Community • Your News

PROJECT PREQUALIFICATION CATEGORIES Preston Gardens A02602 – Bituminous Concrete Paving

D02620 – Curbs, Gutters, Sidewalks

Edison Highway Bridge over C03300 – Concrete Construction AMTRAK D02620 – Curbs, Gutters, Sidewalks

Resurfacing Highways at A02602 – Bituminous Concrete Paving various locations D02620 – Curbs, Gutters, Sidewalks SW Sector III

Geometric Safety A02602 – Bituminous Concrete Paving Improvements – Phase II D02620 – Curbs, Gutters, Sidewalks N. Rogers Ave and Liberty Heights Intersection, Frankford Rd and Hamilton Intersection, Frankford and Corse Ave Intersection

Edmondson Avenue Bridge C03300 – Concrete Replacement G90009 – Foundations, Underpinning,

Drilled-in Caissons

COST RANGE $ 4,000,000 – $ 5,000,000 $500,000 $1,000,000 $3,000,000 $4,000,000

$4,000,000 $5,000,000 $30,000,000 – $40,000,000

Central Avenue Bridge and A02602 – Bituminous Concrete Paving Reconstruction from Harbor C03300 – Concrete Construction Point to Baltimore Street D02620 – Curbs, Gutters, Sidewalks (Design Build)

$ 40,000,000 – $ 50,000,000

East Baltimore Development – EBDI, 2A

$3,000,000 $4,000,000

A02602 – Bituminous Concrete Paving D02620 – Curbs, Gutters, Sidewalks

East Baltimore A02602 – Bituminous Concrete Paving $1,000,000 Development – EBDI, 1-DB D02620 – Curbs, Gutters, Sidewalks $2,000,000

Reconstruct North Avenue - A02602 – Bituminous Concrete Paving $5,000,000 Aisquith St. to D02620 – Curbs, Gutters, Sidewalks $10,000,000 Washington St.

Harford Road Bridge Replacement C03300 – Concrete

G90009 – Foundations, Underpinning, $20,000,000 Drilled-In Caissons $30,000,000

Downtown Bicycle Network A02602 – Bituminous Concrete Paving

D02620 – Curbs, Gutters, Sidewalks

G90029 – All Types of Pavement Markings $2,000,000 $3,000,000 Jones Fall Trail – Phase V C05100 – Structural Steel Erection

TYPESET: Wed Feb 25 15:43:36 EST 2015 Invitation To Bid Historic Annapolis, Inc. Historic Preservation Projects Proposals are requested from qualified contractors and building craftsmen with proven experience in historic restoration and preservation to provide necessary construction services for two properties managed by Historic Annapolis, Inc. Separate proposals are required for each project: (1) William Paca House, a 1763 brick Georgian structure at 186 Prince George Street and (2) Shiplap House, a 1715 frame building at 18 Pinkney Street in Annapolis, Maryland. Construction services include preservation of exterior wood surfaces, repair of historic brick work, painting and other preservation work. Projects will be completed as indicated in Request for Proposals and Bid Documents and if modified, as approved and directed by Historic Annapolis, Inc.

$5,000,000 $10,000,000

To advertise in the AFRO Call 410-554-8200

Special Conditions: Both projects are funded by Maryland State grant funds, subject to approval by Maryland Historical Trust. All project work must comply with Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and Guidelines for the Treatment of Historic Properties. All State regulations, including Equal Employment Opportunity must be met.

Request for Proposals are available from Historic Annapolis, Inc. by email donna.ware@annapolis.org. Pre-bid conference will be held Thursday, March 5, 2015 at 10:00 a.m. at William Paca House and at 11:00 a.m. at Shiplap House. Complete bids must be submitted to Donna M. Ware, Sr. Vice President of Preservation, Historic Annapolis, Inc., 18 Pinkney Street, TYPESET: Wed21401 Feb 25 2015 Annapolis, MD by 15:43:17 5:00 p.m.EST on Thursday, March 26, 2015.

HOUSING AUTHORITY OF BALTIMORE CITY THE FY 2016 ANNUAL PLAN MEETING The Housing Authority of Baltimore City (”HABC”) will hold a public meeting on Monday March 23rd 2015 in the Auditorium at Pleasant View Gardens, 201 N. Aisquith Street, at 6:00 pm. This address is handicapped-accessible and American Sign Language interpreters will be present.

The purpose of the meeting is to receive comments from HABC residents, community leaders, government officials, and interested members of the public on HABC’s proposed Annual Plan for fiscal year 2016. The proposed 2016 Annual Plan is available for review and inspection by the public at HABC’s Main Office located at 417 E. Fayette Street, Suite 1314, Baltimore, MD 21202. Please call Ms. Joyce Stewart at 410-396-1810 to make arrangements to review the proposed plan. Copies of the proposed 2016 Annual Plan are also available for review on the HABC website at www. baltimorehousing.org and at the following locations: HABC Rental & Assisted Housing Office 1225 West Pratt Street Baltimore, MD 21223 The Enoch Pratt Free Public Library Main Branch, The Maryland Room 400 Cathedral Street Baltimore, MD 21201 All HABC Public Housing Development Management Offices

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February 28, 2015 - March 6, 2015, The Afro-American LEGAL NOTICES

LEGAL NOTICES

B9

CAREER CORNER

TYPESET: Wed Feb 25 15:39:43 EST 2015

TYPESET: Wed Feb 25 15:55:27 EST 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.TR14021R; UTILITY LOCATION TEST HOLES & BORING FOR ENGINEERING PROJECTS CITYWIDE will be received at the Office of the Comptroller, Room 204 City Hall, Baltimore, Maryland until 11:00 A.M March 25, 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 February 27, 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 prequalified by the City of Baltimore Contractors Qualification Committee. Interested parties should call (410) 396-6883 or contact the Committee at Room 634, Charles L. Benton Bldg., 417 E. Fayette St., Baltimore, Maryland 21202. 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 none required. Cost Qualification Range for this work shall be $100,000.00 to $300,000.00. A ”Pre-Bidding Information” session will be conducted at 10:00 A.M. onMarch 13, 2015 at 417 East Fayette Street, Room 722, Baltimore, Maryland 21202. Principal Items of work for this project are -Test Holes Vacuum Excavation Method (Up to 6ft. Depth per Hole) 350 EA. The MBE goal is 8%; WBE goal is 5% APPROVED: Bernice H. Taylor, Clerk Board of Estimates

EDUCATION DIRECTOR, BUSINESS TRAINING AND SERVICES CARROLL COMMUNITY COLLEGE has a full-time, 12 month position as Director, Business Training & Services.

Additional information may be obtained at www.carrollcc.edu .

TYPESET: Wed Feb 25 15:38:58EOE/M/F EST 2015 GED -GED INSTRUCTOR CARROLL COMMUNITY COLLEGE seeks a part-time, GED INSTRUCTOR. Additional information may be obtainedWed at www.carrollcc.edu.

TYPESET: Feb 25 15:39:21 EST 2015 ESOL -ESOL INSTRUCTOR CARROLL COMMUNITY COLLEGE seeks a part-time, ESOL INSTRUCTOR. Additional information may be obtainedWed at www.carrollcc.edu.

TYPESET: Feb 25 18:32:25 EST 2015 ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY CAREER OPPORTUNITIES Detention Officer Police Communications Operator I/II Program Specialist I Visit our website at www.aacounty.org for additional information and to apply on-line. You may use the Internet at any Anne Arundel County library, or visit our office at 2660 Riva Road in Annapolis. Deadlines to apply posted on website.

AEO/DF/SFE

Obituary and married the love of his life, Camille Gaskins. They moved to the small community of Glenside, Penn. He 2014 was very active at St. Luke’s Catholic Church, where he sang in the choir, traveling around the world, notably to Rome to sing for the Pope.

After many years of marriage, his wife passed in 2000. Joseph remained in his home until 2013 when his family members decided to move him to Baltimore to be closer to them.

Joseph is survived by two sisters; Cecelia (Willie)Scribner of Nevada, Patricia (Eugene) Barnes of Colorado; two brothers, Frederick (Cynthia) Jones of California and Robert (Eleanor) Jones of Mississippi.

Joseph Edward Jones September 1, 1931 – December 14,

Joseph Edward (Bunky) Jones was the first child of Joseph and Margaret Watts Jones, and began his early education at St. Catherine’s Academy (St. Pius School) and graduated from Frederick Douglass High School. His undergraduate degree was in chemistry and he entered the army as a 2nd lieutenant after having served in the ROTC at Morgan State College.

After army service, he worked with a pharmacist at Lemler’s drug store, later moving to Philadelphia to work at the water treatment plan, from which he retired after 20 years. Not long after taking the position, he met

Fifty Shades of Pink for Sarita’s Birthday

Sarita Murray, Uncle Nat Oaks, Bernard “Jack” Young Courtesy photos

Sarita Murray is a 13-year breast cancer survivor and so she partied “heartily” with family members and friends from throughout her school years, Feb. 7, at Inn at the Colonnade to mark her 50th birthday. She was also joined by clients from her company, SparTea, and so many who celebrate her good health and wish for her many more years.

Valerie Fraling, Sarita Murray, Sheila Dixon, Wanda Watts

B10

The Afro-American, February 28, 2015 - March 6, 2015