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Volume 122 No. 43
May 31, 2014 - May 31, 2014, The Afro-American A1 $1.00
MAY 31, 2014 -JUNE 6, 2014
Federal Court Order Sought to Block N.C. Voter Suppression Law
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The Rev. William Barber, president of the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP, speaks to reporters. By Zenitha Prince Senior AFRO Correspondent Fifth in a series detailing states’ efforts to keep citizens from voting. As hundreds of Moral Monday protestors swarmed the North Carolina capitol building decrying the Legislature’s enactment of a wave of conservative laws May 19, civil rights lawyers were filing a motion in federal court to block the state’s omnibus voter suppression law from disenfranchising voters during the November general elections. “While the voters of North Carolina were attempting to have their voices heard in the statehouse, the lawyers were bringing this important motion to the courthouse,” said Denise Lieberman, Continued on A3
Maya Angelou 1928-2014
The world mourns the passing of a ‘Phenomenal Woman.’ See Tribute on B4
Charles Village Barber Shop Serves as Community Resource By Roberto Alejandro Special to the AFRO
Photo by Dorothy Boulware
Sundiata Osagie, Reflections Eternal owner, enjoys a game of chess with his friend, Brother Marty.
Former Paratroopers Solve Mystery in Time for Memorial Day By Robert M. Matthews Sr. Special to the AFRO Photo by Robert Murphy Matthews Sr. The 69-year-old mystery of the final resting place for an Army paratrooper of the all MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! Black 555th Parachute Infantry Fred Donner, National Smokejumpers Assoc.; Tony Battalion was solved, thanks Woods, Philadelphia Inquirer; and Trooper Robert to a former Army paratrooper, Murphy Matthews display the Baltimore chapter flag at a former smoke jumper and a the grave of Pvt. Malvin L. Brown, U.S. Army. reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer. PFC Malvin L. Brown was a member of the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion (Triple Nickles) that had been deployed during World War II to northern California and Oregon in 1945, to reinforce the smoke jumper program, which trained paratroopers as airborne fire fighters. The U.S. Forest Service conducted the training. The purpose was to fight forest fires started by the Japanese balloon bombs launched from Japan. Continued on A4
Sundiata Osagie and Andwele Ra opened the doors of Reflection Eternal, a barber shop just south of North Charles and 25th streets, in 2008. Always intended to be something more than a barber shop, Reflection Eternal has become a community and personal development resource for Baltimore’s Charles Village area. Osagie described the vision for the business as “a barber shop that was more like a forum for people to come in
Continued on A3
Street Wars Yield Younger Victims, Recurring Traumas lived in the penumbra of traumatizing violence. In 2012, the last year for which complete data are The last Monday of each available, May has been Baltimore set aside by City saw 216 national decree murders, 317 as a day of rapes, 3,635 remembrance robberies, for those who and 4,657 have died aggravated while fighting assaults, in our nation’s Prince George’s County saw three-year-old Jayson according wars. But for to data many in places Holland die of a drug like the District overdose this past January. available of Columbia on the or Baltimore Governor’s City, the beat of the war Office of Crime Control and drum is not a phenomenon of Prevention website. foreign theaters or something In April of this year, encountered in history books, 14 year-old Najee Thomas but the exhaustingly persistent became the eighth person age tempo of a daily existence Continued on A4 By Roberto Alejandro AFRO Staff Writer