PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY EDITION
Volume 122 No. 38
APRIL 26, 2014 - MAY 2, 2014
SCOTUS Creates Affirmative Inaction
By Zenitha Prince Senior AFRO Correspondent
April 22, 2014 – A Supreme Court decision, April 22, upholding states’ right to ban the use of racesensitive policies in university admissions wielded a serious blow to affirmative action, experts said, and shifts the battleground to the states. “Many voices in the civil rights community will call this decision a major disappointment because it weakens the options for insuring diversity in our public institutions,” said Jose Anderson, professor of law,
University of Baltimore. “Advocates of affirmative action are going to have to
“It doesn’t by itself do as much damage as I feared it might. The fight we’ve been
“Advocates of affirmative action are going to have to work harder than ever before to attempt to sustain its viability.” — Jose Anderson work harder than ever before to attempt to sustain its viability.” University of Maryland law professor Larry Gibson, however, saw the glass as being half-full.
having is whether affirmative action was constitutionally permissible and it remains so—unless it is banned by a state Constitution,” Gibson said. “The negative side is that [the decision] will
probably encourage other states to enact similar bans.” Justices voted 6-2 in the case brought by the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration & Immigrant Rights, and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) against the state of Michigan, whose voters approved an initiative banning racial preferences in university admissions. The measure, called Proposal 2, was passed by 58-42 percent of voters in 2006, but has been embroiled in legal challenges for almost a decade. Continued on A3
Voter registration Foreclosures on the Rise Again deadline June 3 By Roz Hamlett Special to the AFRO
INSIDE
Part I in a three part series on foreclosures Even as the recovering
housing market nationally appears to be brightening, foreclosure filings in Maryland are once again increasing, according to the Baltimore Neighborhood
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‘An Afternoon of Music’ in Montgomery Co.
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From the Rough Film Review
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Wisconsin Suppression
‘...A Life and Death Struggle for Voting Rights’ By Zenitha Prince Senior AFRO Correspondent
Part II in an ongoing series on efforts to reverse voting rights in this country Anita Johnson, a community organizer with Citizen Action
“The climate of voting has changed all over the U.S — it’s pretty depressing.” — Anita Johnson
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of Wisconsin, spends her days beating the streets—knocking on doors, visiting senior citizen homes, addressing congregations and other groups about changes in election laws. In previous months, her days were spent in Madison at the Continued on A4
Indicators Alliance (BINA). Despite a hopeful drop in foreclosure filings from a 2009 high of 6,138, since 2012 the needle has been moving in the wrong direction. After a period of high foreclosure rates in 2009, the number of property foreclosures in Maryland decreased significantly from 42,446 in 2010 to 14,321 in 2011. According to the Fiscal and Policy Note for Maryland 2014 legislative session HB 1021, “the dramatic decrease in 2011 was due, in part, to two factors: (1) Maryland’s legislative response to the foreclosure crisis, which provided additional protections to homeowners
Rev. ‘Jazz’
Rev. ‘Jazz’ Preaches First Resurrection Sunday at Jericho City of Praise Story on B4 at risk of losing their homes; and (2) the delay by mortgage servicers to begin foreclosure procedures until the results of a foreclosure settlement between five of the largest lenders and the U.S. government were known.” The results of the National Mortgage Settlement were announced in February 2012. The uncertainty surrounding the settlement and Maryland’s new increased consumer protections created a backlog of foreclosures that lenders
A young Greeter at the church began to address. Property foreclosures rose in 2012, totaling 17,126, up 18.8 percent from 2011 levels. Foreclosure activity began a more rapid increase in the fourth quarter of 2012, with the number of foreclosure events totaling 6,381 with roughly half of these properties owner-occupied and the other half being investor properties. This rapid increase in foreclosure activity continued in 2013 Continued on A4
How They Stand
Democratic Candidates Push Alternative Energy, Wary of Fracking By Lyle Kendrick Capital News Service This is the second in a series of seven articles that examines Maryland gubernatorial candidates’ positions on major issues. ANNAPOLIS- Maryland’s Democratic gubernatorial candidates all agree that alternative energy resources are important for growing a sustainable economy. But Attorney General Doug Gansler and Del. Heather Mizeur, D-Montgomery, are calling for the state to develop more alternative energy resources than Gov. Martin O’Malley’s administration has planned. The O’Malley administration’s goal is to have the state spending 20 percent of its electricity purchases on renewable sources by 2022, including two percent from solar energy. “But when it comes to protecting our environment and investing in Maryland’s renewable energy economy, we must aim higher,” Gansler said in a written response to a Capital News Service questionnaire for major Democratic and Republican gubernatorial candidates. Gansler and Mizeur both said they want to see 40 percent of Maryland’s electricity purchases being for alternative sources, including solar, biomass and windmills, by 2025. Lt. Governor Anthony Brown said that O’Malley administration has
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Attorney General Doug Gansler and Del. Heather Mizeur are calling for the state to develop more alternative Continued on A4 energy resources.