November 22, 2014 - November 22, 2014, www.afro.com
Volume 123 No. 16
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The Afro-American
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NOVEMBER 22, 2014 - NOVEMBER 28, 2014
Ferguson Waits
Progressive Groups Seek Common Ground With Hogan
By Zenitha Prince Senior AFRO Correspondent A pall has blanketed the city of Ferguson and the surrounding St. Louis area in Missouri as the community awaits the grand jury’s decision in the Michael Brown case. “It is very quiet, very eerie,” said the Rev. Dr. Jamal Bryant, of Baltimore’s Empowerment Temple, who is on the ground in Ferguson. “There’s a very somber mood, almost like that of a family in the waiting room of a hospital awaiting word of a loved one.” Or, perhaps, it is the eye of the storm—which is what many predict would be unleashed in Ferguson if the grand jury does not indict Darren Wilson, the White
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By Roberto Alejandro Special to the AFRO
Photo courtesy of the St. Louis American
Demonstrators held a “die-in” protest Nov. 16 just in University City, just outside of Ferguson. police officer who shot and killed Brown, an unarmed Black teenager, back in August. Ferguson was buffeted by a wave of unrest after the killing, but protestors settled into peaceful demonstrations over the past couple of months. Still, residents’ frustrations have simmered over the long wait.
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, this week, declared a state of emergency in anticipation of the grand jury decision and signed an executive order activating the Missouri National Guard to support law enforcement during any period of unrest. “All people in the St. Louis region deserve to feel safe in their communities and
to make their voices heard without fear of violence or intimidation,” said Gov. Nixon. “Public safety demands that we are fully prepared for any contingency, regardless of what the St. Louis County grand jury or the U.S. Department of Justice decides.” But civil rights leaders say Continued on A3
Larry Hogan is not Martin O’Malley. Not even close. And while this raises a number of concerns for groups pursuing progressive agendas in Maryland, there is currently optimism that, on a number of issues, enough common ground may exist between progressives and a Hogan administration to move legislation forward. “I think that there is some cause for concern about Hogan,” said Charly Carter, executive director of Maryland Working Families, a grassroots political organization that seeks to improve the lot of working-class families by way of a progressive agenda. “I think that Larry Hogan was unabashedly a conservative when he ran. . . . He’s certainly talked about shrinking government and cutting taxes—particularly the corporate tax rate—and I think all of those things can lead us to believe that we do face some challenges from him,” said Carter. According to Carter, because Maryland is facing a revenue shortfall and Hogan has expressed a commitment to the idea of shrinking government, there are grounds for concern that Hogan might freeze hiring at state agencies, attempt to reduce the number of public employees or leave key appointed positions— particularly in the social services arena—open in order to cripple the ability of agencies or departments within agencies, Continued on A3
Dep. Chief Lawrence Wins Suit Against State Over Racially Motivated Firing By Roberto Alejandro Special to the AFRO Race was discovered to be the motivating factor behind the dismissal of Deputy Chief Gregory Lawrence when he was fired from the BWI Airport Fire and Rescue Department (FRD) this past March. Judge Nancy Paige in Lawrence’s wrongful termination suit against the state. Paige has ordered for Lawrence to be reinstated back to his position and to receive full back pay and benefits. “The combination of a racially inhospitable environment at BWI FRD and the ongoing failure of management to support [Lawrence’s] integration into that environment . . . all lead me to conclude that it was more likely than not that the only reason for termination of [Lawrence] was his race,” Paige wrote in a 55-page decision describing the racially hostile environment of the BWI fire service. “I conclude that [Lawrence] would not have been terminated if he were not African American.” Lawrence was fired this past March after an internal audit of his use of his state vehicle found what Paige dismissed as essentially minor discrepancies in Lawrence’s reporting of mileage, among other things. The Maryland Aviation Authority, which defended Lawrence’s termination in court, claimed the audit was undertaken because of a minor accident Continued on A5
Ben Phillips Elected President of Regional Press Assoc. By AFRO Staff
to attract and sustain readership, he said. Phillips accepted the mantle of leadership—or in this case a gavel— from Suzanne Fischer-Huettner, publisher of The Daily Record, who will become MDDC’s immediate past president when her term ends at the end of 2014. Her successor praised
Benjamin M. Phillips IV, president of The Afro-American Newspapers, was elected the new president of the Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association’s Board of Directors at the group’s annual meeting Nov. 13. In his first address to the Continued on A5 Association’s membership, Phillips said he is looking forward to “working with the staff and board, to figure out common ground for growth.” An area that offers that potential and the focus Photo courtesy of the MDDC Press Association of his one-year term as president Ben Phillips, center, was elected president of the MDDC Press Association’s Board of Directors. Here, he stands would be digital with MDDC board members Geordie Wilson, Karen products and using technology Acton, Mike Kilian and Suzanne Fischer-Huettner.
Photo by Roberto Alejandro
Attorney Alan Legum (seated right) with Dep. Chief Gregory Lawrence, who recently won his wrongful termination suit against the state of Maryland.
‘Butt Shot Guru’ Released from Prison, Pens Self-Esteem Memoir By Shantella Sherman Special to the AFRO Kimberly Smedley, an Atlanta native, known as the ‘butt shot guru’ has once again gained the media spotlight. She was recently released from prison after serving a 36-month prison sentence for illegally injecting commercialgrade silicone into the buttocks of clients in hotel rooms in various cities around the country, including Baltimore and D.C. Smedley said her clients paid as much as $1,600 in cash for the cosmetic enhancements. In an exclusive interview with the AFRO, Smedley, who has authored a new memoir, The Backside of the Story: My Personal Journal into the Black Market Butt Injection Scandal, said that while Continued on A5
Copyright © 2014 by the Afro-American Company
Photo by Shantella Sherman
The ‘butt shot guru’ Kimberly Smedley spoke with the AFRO about her new book and the need to improve the self-esteem of young girls.