Prince Georges Afro-American Newspaper October 8 2016

October 8, 2016 - October 14, 2016, The Afro-American A1 PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY EDITION

Volume 125 No. 10

OCTOBER 8, 2016 - OCTOBER 14, 2016

Inside

Review: Birth of a Nation

When Will It End?

Baltimore

• Santelises Vows to Raise Test Scores

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Prince George’s

Commentary: Elite Athletes and HBCUs

• Bowie President Talks Upcoming Retirement

By Mark F. Gray

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AP Photo/Denis Poroy

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Winnie Olango, center, sister of Alfred Olango, is consoled by two friends before a march Oct. 1 in reaction to the fatal police shooting of her brother, in El Cajon, Calif. Alfred Olango, a Ugandan refugee, was shot by an El Cajon police officer on Sept. 27.

679k That’s how many people have liked the AFRO Facebook page. Join last week’s 1,500 new fans and become part of the family.

Supreme Court

Howard County Sheriff Refuses to Step Down Despite Allegations of Racial Slurs

Washington ‘Redskins,’ Racial Bias and a Divided High Court

By Gloria Brown-Marshall AANIC Supreme Court Correspondent

By Shantella Y. Sherman Special to the AFRO ssherman@afro.com Howard County leaders are trying to oust the county sheriff after a scathing report accused him of racism, bigotry, and retaliating against staff that didn’t support his reelection. Heading law enforcement in one of Maryland’s wealthiest counties, Sheriff James Fitzgerald, insisted, despite Continued on A9

Courtesy photo

Howard County Sheriff James Fitzgerald has been accused of using racial slurs in the workplace.

Racial justice tops the opening of the Supreme Court’s new term. When Justice Antonin Scalia was found dead in Feb. conservative Republicans vowed to stall President Barack Obama’s nomination of Judge Merrick Garland. The eightmember Court is limping forward with race questions involving the death penalty, voting districts, jury deliberations, and the

AFRO Coverage of the Emmitt Till Murder

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An avalanche of bitter protests from every section of the nation has forced Gov. Hugh White to promise a complete investigation and a full prosecution of persons responsible for the kidnap-murder of Emmett Louis Till, whose weighted body was found in the Tallahatchie River.

3rd Lynching of Year Shocks Nation

Witnesses discount motives cited for slaying of boy

Continued on A5

Sept. 10, 1955

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GREENWOOD, Miss. -- The brutal lynching of a 14-year-old boy, the third act of mob violence to hit Mississippi within five months, has so shocked the nation that even the state’s governor has been moved to speak out.

Fourteen-year-old Emmitt Louis Till of Chicago, pictured here with his mother, became Mississippi’s third lynching victim in 5 months last week.

Because he failed to say “yes ma’m” to a white woman, the Chicago-born youth was kidnapped, brutally beaten and shot through the head. His body, weighted with a heavy piece of metal, was thrown in the river.

Black Millennials Remain New Legislation Calls for Largely Uncovered by End to Hyde Amendment Health Insurance on 40th Anniversary Abortion

By Shantella Y. Sherman Special to the AFRO ssherman@afro.com

By Shantella Y. Sherman Special to the AFRO ssherman@afro.com In the 40 years since the Hyde Amendment was first passed by Congress, the discriminatory rider, which prohibits the use of federal funds to pay for abortions, has prevented millions of American women – mostly poor and AfricanAmerican – from exercising their Constitutional right to make their own healthcare decisions.

On September 28, Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif), joined by 70 other members of Congress and more than 120 legislative co-sponsors, demanded the Hyde Amendment be officially and irrevocably removed from future bills.

Whether it is a sense of youthful invincibility or the cost of health care premiums and service charges, overwhelmingly, African-American millennials remain without health insurance; a reality that baffles health officials, especially in the wake of President Barack Obama’s Affordable Health Care platform.

According to statistics from a recent Harris Poll survey, 1 in 5 adults ages 18 to 36 said they cannot afford routine healthcare expenses, with an additional 26 percent reporting they can afford routine health-care costs, but with difficulty.

Even as Obama’s administration moves to target millennials more aggressively to ensure they received quality and affordable health care services, some young Americans, like

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Copyright © 2016 by the Afro-American Company Continued on A3

Jacqueline Ellis, Veteran Hill Staffer, Remembered

By James Wright Special to the AFRO jwright@afro.com Jacqueline Ellis, a longtime Capitol Hill staffer who served as a mentor for many African Americans, died recently. She is being remembered by congressional leaders and her colleagues as dedicated to her work and passionate about Black issues.

Ellis died Sept. 21 of a stroke, and as soon as word Continued on A7

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The Afro-American, October 8, 2016 - October 14, 2016

Your History • Your Community • Your News

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NATION & WORLD Meet Robert Smith: Next to Oprah, Second Largest Donor to the African American Museum

By AFRO Staff The second-largest donor to the recently-opened National Museum of African American History and Culture is an investor who has recently stepped up his commitment to AfricanAmerican causes.

(Courtesy photo) Robert F. Smith is the Robert F. Smith is the chairman and chief executive chairman and chief of Vista Equity Partners, an executive of Vista Equity Austin, Texas-based firm Partners which invests in software companies. With his gift of $20 million, he is the second largest donor to The National Museum of African American History and Culture which opened in Washington D.C. on Sept. 24. Oprah Winfrey is the largest donor, at $21 million.

Smith told The Washington Post that he seeks to emerge from the background and become more prominent in African American causes. Smith is active in several foundations in Baltimore including NPower, a job training program for inner city youth, and Badges for Baseball, which pairs police officers with young people in a mentorship program.

“This is the first time in history you can create wealth and not have access to capital. You just need intellectual property.

A blogger who has a large audience can create wealth by attracting advertisers,” Smith told the Post. “I am showing the current generations of African Americans they can do it, too.

So the next generation can go even higher.”

was among the individuals interviewed in a Frontline special on the Republican candidate and his rival Hillary Clinton that aired on PBS last week. In her interview, Manigault offered her perspective on the beginnings of Trump’s campaign.

“I think it’s important to note that Donald didn’t just wake up and say, ‘I want to be president.’ There was a whole group of people, this massive movement to recruit Donald Trump to run,” she said.

Ultimately, however, Trump’s run for the White House may have been sparked at the 2011 White House Correspondent’s Dinner when President Obama began to roast The Donald for his role in propagating the so-called “birther” movement, which called the president’s citizenship into question.

“It just kept going and going, and he just kept hammering him,” Manigault recalled. “And I thought, oh, Barack Obama is starting something that I don’t know if he’ll be able to finish.”

She elaborated on the revenge-as-motive theme.

“I believe the first reason that Donald Trump is running for president is because he truly believes that he can help turn the nation around,” Manigault said. “The second reason I believe is that this is the greatest position in the world, to be at the center of political power, of the universe. But more importantly, every critic, every detractor will have to bow down to President Trump.

“It is the ultimate revenge to become the most powerful man in the universe.”

Former Trump “Apprentice” Omarosa Warns of Candidate’s “Ultimate Revenge”

By Zenitha Prince Senior AFRO Correspondent zprince@afro.com In an election that already resembles a classic pulp comic book, former “Apprentice” villainess Omarosa Manigault has added another chapter by issuing an ominous warning that her boss, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, soon would gain the “ultimate revenge” on his detractors.

Manigault, Trump’s director of African-American outreach,

(AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

Omarosa Manigault, right, and boxing promoter Don King, center, listen as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to the Pastors Leadership Conference at New Spirit Revival Center on Sept. 21 in Cleveland, Ohio.

Interested in learning more about children’s health topics?

Join us for information on: Asthma Environmental Health Research Environmental Justice Healthy Homes Interactive games Lead Poisoning Prevention Let’s Move! Campaign and Snacks!

Baltimore Children’s Health Fair

When: Saturday, October 29th, 2016 from 10 AM to 2 PM. Where: Morgan State University Student Center 4307 Hillen Road, Baltimore, MD 21251

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The Afro-American, October 8, 2016 - October 14, 2016

October 8, 2016 - October 14, 2016, The Afro-American

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Steady Pence Gets Wide Praise, But Kaine Lands Jabs on Trump

By The Associated Press Republican Mike Pence won bipartisan plaudits for a calm and collected performance in the vice presidential debate.

But Democrat Tim Kaine was claiming mission accomplished for forcing his opponent to confront —or not — Donald Trump’s long list of provocative remarks.

Pressed by Kaine to defend his running mate throughout the 90-minute debate Oct. 4, Pence mostly dodged, sidestepped or let the moment pass by. He vouched for the billionaire’s tax history, but was less vocal when challenged about Trump’s temperament or his inflammatory words about women and President Barack Obama.

“I can’t imagine how Gov. Pence can defend the insult-driven, me-first style of Donald Trump,” said Kaine, the Virginia senator and Hillary Clinton’s No. 2.

Still, even Clinton’s team wasn’t claiming that Kaine had come out on top, despite the chestpuffing that usually follows a political debate. Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta said only that Kaine had succeeded in his “strategic mission” to challenge Pence to defend his controversial running mate.

“Gov, Pence was smooth, he seemed sort of likable, but he didn’t get the job done,” Podesta said Oct. 5 on MSNBC. Both sides appeared willing to concede that the only debate

between the vice presidential candidates was unlikely to alter the trajectory of the race.

After all, this year’s rollicking presidential campaign has been all about the passionate emotions — positive and negative — that both candidates of the top of the ticket stir up for many American voters.

Yet for Republicans worried their voters won’t show up at the polls, Pence’s steady performance could help assuage concerns that this year’s Republican ticket has veered away from the party’s core beliefs. Pence, a former congressman and Indiana’s governor, is widely trusted by the Republican establishment and the party’s socially conservative base.

Like Pence, Kaine also found himself in the role of defender.

He rebutted Pence’s attacks on Clinton’s family foundation, her emails and her struggles persuading voters that she’s trustworthy. Kaine said he and his wife trust Clinton “with the most important thing in our life” — their son, a Marine who would serve under Clinton if she wins.

Yet for the most part, Kaine was determined to make the showdown a referendum on Trump’s character. Typically relaxed and easygoing, Kaine adopted a pugilistic approach as he slammed Trump for having called women pigs and slobs, and condemned his praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Pence frequently avoided

AP Photo/David Goldman

Democratic vice-presidential nominee Sen. Tim Kaine, left, and Republican vice-presidential nominee Gov. Mike Pence answers a question during the vice-presidential debate at Longwood University in Farmville, Va., Oct. 4. taking the bait — a shrewd move for a conservative darling who could have eyes on the Oval Office himself if Trump loses in November. Instead, he sought to defuse the line of attack by arguing pre-emptively that it was the Democrats — not Trump — waging an insult-filled campaign.

He didn’t dispute reports that the businessman might not have paid any federal taxes for years as a result of suffering more than $900 million in losses in 1995.

But he likened Trump’s situation to those of other Americans who have gone “through a very difficult time.”

“He used the tax code just the way it’s supposed to be used,” Pence said. “And he did it brilliantly.”

He raised eyebrows and caused a stir on social media

when he said Kaine had “whipped out that Mexican thing again” by repeatedly raising Trump’s comments critical about Hispanic immigrants. Clinton’s supporters seized on the remark, and by Wednesday morning, visitors to ThatMexicanThing. com were being redirected to her campaign website.

Kellyann Conway, Trump’s campaign manager, faulted Kaine for repeatedly interrupting Trump, and of “ignoring the female moderator,” Elaine Quijano of CBS News. She took particular issue with how often the Democrat had brought up Trump’s name.

“It was like he had a tic,” Conway said. She spoke Wednesday on Fox News and MSNBC. The campaign’s focus shifts

back now to the presidential nominees, who meet again Sunday for the second of three debates. For Trump, it could be a final opportunity to demonstrate the race isn’t slipping out of his grasp.

Five weeks from Election Day, the race appears to be tipping in Clinton’s favor. Widely viewed as the loser of the first debate last week, Trump went into a multi-day tailspin over a decades-old tiff with a beauty queen. New public opinion polls show Clinton’s standing on the rise in nearly all battleground states.

Pence was markedly more prepared and more detailed in his answers than Trump was on the debate stage last week. He was also more consistent in painting the Democratic ticket as career

politicians unwilling to shake up Washington.

On national security, Kaine revived Trump’s frequently flattering comments about Putin, the Russian president.

“He loves dictators,” Kaine said. “He’s got like a personal Mount Rushmore: Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, Moammar Gadhafi and Saddam Hussein.”

Pence tried to flip the tables by accusing Kaine’s running mate of stoking Russia’s belligerence.

“The weak and feckless foreign policy of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has awaked an aggression in Russia that first appeared in Russia a few years ago,” Pence said. “All the while, all we do is fold our arms and say we’re not having talks anymore.”

Debbie Allen’s

FREEZE FRAME… Stop the Madness

‘Redskins’ Continued from A1

name of the Washington Football Team. contempt or disrepute.

It was life or death for Duane Buck. Then, Dr. Walter In Lee v. Tam, Michelle Lee, the first woman and AsianQuijano, a psychology expert, testified Buck was dangerous American director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark office, because he was Black and male. So dangerous, in fact, Buck denied a trademark to Simon Tam, lead singer of The Slants. should receive a death sentence in the murder of his girlfriend.

Tam argued that denying his trademark due to an offensive And, he did. That expert had been called to testify by Buck’s name violated his freedom of speech. Trademarks are granted very own attorney. Because this defense attorney knowingly to identify and distinguish names and goods. The band called an expert witness to testify against his client, Buck intentionally uses the ethnic slur slants to take on stereotypes brought his case to the high Court seeking to re-open it based about Asians. A decision in this case may decide if the name on ineffective assistance of counsel.

Washington Redskins is a violation of In a case in Texas a judge federal law or freedom of speech. determined a mentally incompetent Biased lending practices are a man, Bobby Moore, was fit for reminder of the tactics brought to light execution using a fictional farmhand during The Great Recession. Wells character in the stageplay “Of Mice Fargo Bank and Bank of America are and Men.” Now, the Supreme Court attempting to evade punishment for will review this legal standard created their racially discriminatory lending

by Judge Cathy Cochran who ruled schemes in Miami, FL. The banks are Moore, who cannot tell time, add or challenging whether the Fair Housing subtract, and has an average IQ of Act was meant to cover their biased 70 should die for the murder of a 70 practices. year-old store clerk. Under Cochran’s Immigration reform eludes AP Photo/Nick Wass Lennie-standard Moore knew what he President Barack Obama, again. The was doing and is therefore competent The Supreme Court will hear a First Court refused his recent request for a Amendment challenge over the enough to be executed. Executing an re-hearing of the U.S. v. Texas case. incompetent person violates the cruel government’s refusal to register offensive The Supreme Court was tied in that trademarks in a case that could affect the and unusual punishment under the case where President Obama used his Washington Football Team.

Eighth Amendment.

Executive Power to create a pathway Voter suppression cases add more to citizenship for children brought into controversy to this Presidential election. In North Carolina, America illegally. A 4-4 split means the lower court’s decision Governor Patrick McCrory was sued by David Harris and against the measure stands.

Christine Bowser who argued Blacks there were crammed into Religion is on the docket again in this Missouri case about two racially gerrymandered voting districts to reduce Black denying a church access to a State program giving recycled political influence in other districts. In McCrory v. Harris, the tires to cover playground.

Supreme Court must decide if North Carolina’s redistricting The Court’s 2016 term, which began Oct. 3, will end in plan was politically or racially motivated and a violation of the June.

Equal Protection clause of the Constitution. A split-decision favors Harris because it means the lower court’s decision Gloria J. Browne-Marshall stands. McCrory lost in the lower court. is a legal correspondent In Virginia the Board of Elections was sued over allegations covering the U.S. Supreme of racial gerrymandering in a redistricting plan. But, is it Court for AANIC (Africannecessary to prove race was the main motivating factor to win American News & Information a racial gerrymandering case under the Voting Rights Act. Consortium), an associate Last term, the Court unanimously overturned the corruption professor of constitutional law conviction of former Va. Gov. Robert F. McDonnell. A few at John Jay College (CUNY), months ago, current Va. Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed thousands and author of the new book of petitions restoring the voting rights of formerly convicted “The Voting Rights War: The felons. Virginia has a long history of intentionally depriving NAACP and the Ongoing voting rights to African-Americans, along with many other Struggle for Justice.”

States.

The fate of the name Washington Redskins may be decided by a case involving The Slants, an Asian band. When the Federal government Identification Statements denied a trademark to The Baltimore Afro-American – (USPS 040-800) is published weekly by The Afro-American Newspapers, 2519 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218-4602. Subscription Slants the band appealed Rate: Baltimore - 1 Year - $70.00(Price includes tax.) Checks for subscriptions should to the Supreme Court. be made payable to: The Afro-American Newspaper Company, 2519 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218-4602. Periodicals postage paid at Baltimore, MD. Under the Lanham Act, POSTMASTER: Send addresses changes to: The Afro-American Newspapers the Federal trademark Company, 2519 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218-4602. office can refuse to give The Washington Afro-American & Washington Tribune – (0276-6523) is published a trademark protection to weekly by the Afro-American Newspapers at 1816 12th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20009-4422. Subscription Rate: Washington - 1 Year - $70.00(Price includes tax.) any name that disparages Periodicals postage paid at Washington, D.C. persons, institutions, POSTMASTER: Send addresses changes to: The Washington Afro-American beliefs, national symbols & Washington Tribune, 2519 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218-4602. or bring them into

“Sharp, sassy, with attitude and verve” —The Guardian

This profoundly relevant theatrical narrative fuses movement, music, art, and cinema to explore violence and race relations with honesty and poignancy in a captivating new production with the power to stun, inspire, awaken, and ultimately create change.

October 27–30 | Eisenhower Theater Following the evening performance on Oct. 29, Whoopi Goldberg hosts a free* post-performance panel discussion, “Power of the Arts to Be Transformative,” that includes Nicole Hockley from Sandy Hook Promise, filmmaker Lee Daniels, actress Phylicia Rashad, professor Michael Eric Dyson, and Kayla Hicks, the Director of African-American & Community Outreach with the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence. *Oct. 29 eve. ticketholders only

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The Afro-American, October 8, 2016 - October 14, 2016

Civil Rights Groups Launch Voter Protection Program

By Zenitha Prince Senior AFRO Correspondent zprince@afro.com Against a backdrop of changing voting laws, incendiary campaign rhetoric and diminished federal election oversight, efforts by civil rights and civic engagement groups to protect the rights of voters are more important than ever, activists said this week.

A coalition of more than 100 organizations, led by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, officially launched its Election Protection initiative Oct. 4, noting the treacherous political and legal landscape many Americans will have to traverse on their way to the polls this election season.

“Based on what we observed during the primary season, we anticipate a greater number of calls than we have ever received, relative to prior presidential election seasons,” said Kristen Clarke, president and executive director Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, during a press call.

The Election Protection hotline, a multi-lingual resource where voters can call and ask for voter registration and polling information and log complaints, has received more than 30,000 calls so far and, by the end of the election season, is expected to hear from 250,000 to 300,000 voters.

The volume of calls, the coalition leaders said, is being driven by legal and political factors that could impact access to the ballot box, particularly among voters of color. Among those factors, is the clarion call by untamed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, urging his overwhelmingly White supporters to gather at the polls in “certain areas”—read urban, predominantly non-White communities—to ensure things were “on the up and up,” civic engagement leaders said.

“We are very much aware of calls have been made by a presidential candidate to activate law enforcement and private, untrained individuals to watch and look for problems at polls in November,” said Clarke, adding that there is and has been little to no evidence that voter fraud exists. “We are concerned about the intimidating effect that this mass call for police officers and untrained individuals can have on minority voters.”

And there are other legal concerns.

“This is the first presidential election cycle we’ve conducted in more than 50 years without the full protections of the Voting Rights Act in place,” said Clarke. She added, “Congress went into recess last week without taking action to restore the Voting Rights Act, and [it] did this despite clear evidence that voter discrimination and voter suppression is alive and well across the country.”

(Courtesy photo)

A flyer from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law outlining ways to protect your vote.

Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which called for federal clearance of election law changes in jurisdictions with a history of voter discrimination, was gutted by the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 {Shelby v. Holder} decision, in which the high court called on Congress to recalibrate the formula used to determine the jurisdictions that would fall under federal oversight.

“Voter protections were basically sacrificed” by the decision, said Mee Moua, president and executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice.

The ruling prompted several states to race forward with new laws that made voting more difficult, such as fewer early voting days and stricter voter identification rules.

The changes—and the legal back-and-forth that followed, including successful challenges to the laws—will be a source of great confusion for voters, the coalition said. “[For example,] we estimated that 875,000 Latino adult U.S. citizens are at the risk of being prevented from voting because of the changes in laws and procedures in the 19 states

that enacted restrictive voting changes since 2012,” said Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund about a study released earlier this year.

Those challenges were most likely to present themselves in Texas, whose restrictive voter ID law—the most stringent in the country—has since been overturned by an appeals court ruling; and in North Carolina, who had passed one of the more far-reaching omnibus voter suppression law in the nation.

“Even where courts have ordered changes to the voter ID procedures, we are concerned that the quality of assistance to Latino voters with navigating the new and changing rules is insufficient,” Vargas added. “We’re concerned about the lack of adequate outreach to voters, which is why our Election Protection efforts this year are so critical.”

In addition to the fallout from the {Shelby} ruling, protecting American voters this year will be complicated by the U.S. Department of Justice’s decision to terminate core components of its federal observer program, which was an “important safeguard,” particularly for voters of color, activists said. Under the program, the department would deploy specially trained personnel inside polling places in communities covered by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. And, without the program, voters in some communities will be more vulnerable.

Additionally, in states such as Georgia, North Carolina and Arizona, the Election Protection team said they have noted voter suppression efforts at the state and local levels, including cutbacks in early voting hours and the elimination of polling places, resulting in long lines during the primaries. And, Clarke said, those efforts are likely to get worse.

“In the final week before an election, we historically tend to see efforts to make voting more difficult by way of 11th-hour polling site changes and purging of the voting rolls, among other actions,” she said.

In addition to its pre-election voter education outreach, Election Protection will be available to assist affected voters via its hotlines—1-888-OUR-VOTE (general), 1-888-VEY VOTA (for Latino voters) and 1-888-API-VOTE (for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders)—where trained legal volunteers and experts will be available to answer questions and otherwise address concerns.

Volunteers, who are trained in the laws of the specific state they are assigned to, will also be deployed into the field in 26 states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.

PROTECT OUR LEGACY After the economy crashed, Barack Obama stood with us.

We’ve created over 15 million new jobs since 2010, expanded health care to 20 million Americans, and defended our right to vote.

Barack Obama accomplished a lot, but more needs to be done so we can keep moving forward.

The Republicans have fought Barack Obama since Day One and have promised to destroy his legacy and move our country backwards.

We’ve all fought too hard to let that happen.

The next president will either build on Barack Obama’s legacy or tear it apart.

On November 8th, vote for Democrats so we can keep this country moving forward.

www.IWillVote.com

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October 8, 2016 - October 14, 2016, The Afro-American

3rd Lynching Continued from A1

The governor broke his silence to answer a wire sent to him

by Roy Wilkins, NAACP executive secretary. “...ALL DECENT citizens throughout the nation call upon you to use all the powers of your office to see that the lynchers of 14-year-old Emmett Louis Till are brought to justice,” Mr. Wilkins’ message read.

“We cannot believe that the responsible officials of the state of Mississippi condone the murdering of children on any provocation.”

Governor White wired Mr. Wilkins: “Parties charged with murder are in jail and I have every reason that the courts will do their duty in prosecution.

Mississippi does not condone such conduct.”

THE HEINOUS lynching of young Till marked the third crime of its kind in Mississippi since May 7.

Still unsolved is the brutal lynching of Rev. George W. Lee who was shot from ambush in Belzoni, Miss., after he refused to halt his NAACP campaign to get members of his race registered as voters.

Although FBI agents have been investigating the case since the night of the crime, no arrest have been made and no evidence has been carried before a grand jury.

THE SECOND lynching occurred on the crowded courthouse square at Brookhaven, Miss., on August 13.

Lamar Smith, 63-year-old farmer, was shot down by three men as the sheriff looked on, an allegedly made no attempt to halt the lynching.

Smith also had been active in a registration campaign, leading up to the primary election on Aug. 23.

Three men, two farmers and an oilfield worker, were later charged with causing Smith’s death and are now at liberty on $20,000 bail each awaiting trial.

THE THIRD lynch victim, a native of Chicago, was visiting his uncle, Moses Wright, in Money, Miss., when he was kidnapped Aug. 27 by two white men and a woman.

Roy Bryant, a former para trooper, who operates a store; and his half brother, J. W. Milan former Army lieutenant had admitted the kidnapping, but deny having anything to do with young Till’s death.

The two are under arrest on a murder charge, but the woman, Mrs. Bryant, for whom a warrant has been issued, has disappeared.

The boy’s body, when fished from the river, bore the marks of a beating with a heavy instrument. He had also been shot in the head.

THE BODY was weighted down with a gin pulley, a cast iron wheel used to operate a cotton gin. The wheel, about a foot and a half in diameter, weighed 150 to 200 pounds. It was attached to the boy’s body with barbed wire around his waist.

Several motives have been given for the brutal crime.

First reports were Till had used obscene language in addressing Mrs. Bryant, while in the store with several other youths to buy bubble gum.

THIS WAS later amended to the report that he had been “insolent”. The insolence was described as his failure to say “yes ma’m” while addressing the woman.

But this also changed when it became known that Till, since a polio attack at the age of three, had not been able to speak clearly.

Maurice Wright, Till’s cousin, who accompanied him to the store said the boy made a whistling sound in an effort to pronounce his words This sound, apparently, was misinterpreted by Mrs. Bryant who thought he was giving her a “wolf” whistle of admiration.

WRIGHT STEADFASTLY denied that his cousin had either spoken insolently or whistled at Mrs. Bryant.

Later that evening Mrs. Bryant, accompanied by her husband and his half brother, called at the Wright home and demanded the surrender of “that Chicago boy.”

Bryant, witnesses said, had a pistol in his hand. They searched Wright’s house and brought several boys out before Till was carried to the car and identified by Mrs. Bryant.

They drove away.

Bryant and Milan, when arrested later, admitted the kidnapping but had insisted they had released young Till unharmed.

THE TWO MEN who at first were held in the LeFlore county Jail here, were transferred friday to Tallahatchie County where the lynching is believed to have occurred.

A grand jury was scheduled to sit at Charleston, Miss., the county seat Tuesday. If an indictment is returned, the trial is not likely to be held until the next term of the circuit court in March.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington said it was keeping close touch with law enforcement officers in Mississippi, but made no move to intervene because apparently no Federal law had been violated. …

THE FBI could move in if there was evidence of violation of civil rights laws or that the kidnapping involved crossing state a state line.

In Chicago, Emmett’s mother, Mrs. Mamie Bradley, wept at the news of her son’s lynching.

“I can’t think, I just can’t think”, she said. “He didn’t do anything to deserve that. Somebody is going to pay for this.

The entire state of Mississippi is going to pay for this.”

She sobbingly continued: “I can’t work. I have nothing left to work for. My whole life is ruined. Now I need all the financial help I can get. All I want now is to get my boy’s body back and give him a decent burial. Then I’ll have to go to work on this thing.”

“EMMETT WAS a good boy. He was mischievous, but he was not a bad boy,” she said. “He’s never been in any trouble. He’s been my life saver--did the washing, ironing and housework so I could work.”

“He has stood by me like a man. How could anyone do this terrible thing to him?”

The murdered mother, meanwhile, discovered that she had

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secured of Chicago’s undertaker to bring the boy’s body back to Chicago just in time to prevent a hasty burial in a cemetery at Tutwiler, Miss.

“We had to stop burial down there,” said Mrs. Bradley. “We got word to them just in time.

FRIENDS AND neighbors called at the home of Mrs. Bradley’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Spearman, where Mrs. Bradley took all phone calls during the three-day search for the boy.

Mr. Spearman has been a Chicago resident for 30 years and is a plant guard for Inland Steel Container Co. Emmett was an eighth grader at the McCosh School. He was born in Chicago and had been in Mississippi only once before on a visit five years ago.

FUNERAL SERVICES, slated for Saturday in Chicago for he lynched boy drew thousands of colored people to the South Side church where his body was put on view.

Mourners and curious filled the 1,700-person capacity Robert’s Temple Church of God where the body of Emmett was taken was taken Saturday morning from an undertaking chapel. Outside the church, an estimated 10,000 persons stood in long lines waiting to view the body.

Funeral Postponed Viewers filing past the youth’s casket looked down on the disfigured face which a Mississippi sheriff said earlier appeared to have been struck with an ax because “it went too deep to be anything else.

The casket was open to public view at the insistence of the boy’s mother Mrs. Mamie Bradley, 33, against the advice of the undertakers. Mrs. Bradley said she wanted others “to see what they did to my boy.”

BURIAL SERVICES originally scheduled for Saturday, were postponed at a later hour until Tuesday.

The Rev. Isaiah Roberts, pastor of the church, said Mrs. Bradley had requested the postponement. He said the body will remain on view Sunday and Monday.

About 30 policemen kept the crowd in lines as the curious made their way into the church for a glimpse of the body.

Several women fainted in the church.

As the lines move past the casket, a minister in the pulpit urged the viewers to contribute to a fund set up by the NAACP. Two men sitting at table near near the casket collected the contributions.

THE REV. CORNELIUS Adams of the Greater Harvest Baptist Church told the crowd the funds would be used “so that this will not happen again.”

“Pamphlets were passed out in front of the funeral last night telling us what to do,” Adams said. “These pamphlets were passed out by Communitists.”

He added: “Pay them no heed.” he added, “We don’t need Communists.”

Last night a crowd estimated at 15,000 to 50,000 filed past the casket in a South Side undertaking chapel between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m. The undertaker, A. A. Rayner, made the 50,000 estimate. Police made the lower estimate.

Police said the crowd was orderly although a front window of the chapel was accidently pushed in as the throng surged forward.

Video of Latest L.A. Police Fatal Shooting Shows Carnell Snell with Gun

a car he was in because it had temporary paper license plates that did not match the year of the vehicle. Beck has said that was a possible indication of a stolen car and something commonly seen in vehicles used in drive-by shootings.

Snell, seated in the car’s back seat, looked at officers and then ducked down “as if to hide from them” shortly before he jumped out of the car and ran, Beck said.

Los Angeles police last weekend also shot dead an unidentified Hispanic man. Beck said the man pointed a replica that looked like a real gun at police and officers opened fire because they feared for their lives.

By The Associated Press Video released Oct. 4 shows a Black man killed by Los Angeles police on Oct. 1, was armed just before he was shot dead but the footage failed to capture him when officers say he twice turned toward them holding the loaded semi-automatic handgun.

The video shows the man identified by police as 18-year-old Carnell Snell crouching behind an SUV parked at a strip mall and pulling a handgun from the waistband of his sweatpants.

Snell then tucks the gun back into his waistband and runs around the corner of a strip mall as officers chase him. All then disappear from view because they were no longer within the range of the surveillance camera.

Snell’s shooting Saturday came amid heightened tensions over police actions involving Black and other minorities across the country. Snell was the third Black man in five days killed in confrontations with Southern California police.

Police said the video — posted to the police department’s YouTube channel following pressure by protesters to release it — supports the account LAPD Chief Charlie Beck gave defending the shooting.

Beck said the video showed Snell had an opportunity to get rid of the gun but decided to keep it when he ran around a corner of the strip mall, disappearing from the footage that showed two officers running after him.

“Obviously if you’re not seeking confrontation why wouldn’t you just discard the weapon?” Beck said.

After Snell ran around the mall’s corner and out of range of the camera, he sprinted between two houses and turned toward officers while holding the gun, Beck said.

Officers fired three shots that missed Snell, who then climbed a fence and turned again toward the officers while holding the gun, Beck said. Police fired three more times, hitting Snell in the torso and knee.

The video showing the moments leading up to the shooting was made public just as Black Lives Matter organizers gathered Tuesday morning to protest Snell’s killing at a meeting of the Los Angeles Police Commission.

Demonstrators at the civilian oversight board’s meeting continuously disrupted Beck and commission members with expletives and insults and ignored repeated requests to maintain order.

One woman who said her son had been killed by police threatened to kill officers herself.

No arrests were made but the meeting was closed to the public after protesters refused to stop chanting, “Black lives, they matter here!”

Protester Melina Abdullah accused police of selectively releasing a portion of video of Snell’s shooting to “posthumously assassinate” his character.

“I don’t care if he had a gun,” she shouted. “His life matters.”

AP Photo/Nick Ut

Black Lives Matter protesters demonstrate inside the board of Police Commissioners meeting in Los Angeles on Oct. 4.

The release of the video marked the latest example of police departments that have decided to release footage of deadly confrontations amid public pressure.

In North Carolina, Charlotte police released snippets of recordings showing Keith Lamont Scott slowly backing out of an SUV on Sept.

20. Police fatally shot Scott after they say he refused commands to put down a gun.

In the San Diego suburb of El Cajon, police released a still frame showing 38-year-old Alfred Olango with his hands together at chest level and pointed at an officer directly in front of him.

Olango was fatally shot after he swiftly drew an object from his front pocket and pointed at the officer in a “shooting stance,” police said. The object turned out to be a 4-inch vape pen — an electronic cigarette device.

The LAPD typically releases video of police shootings only when ordered to do so by courts. Beck told reporters the Snell video was released in the interest of public safety and to correct misinformation.

“This is not done in any way to denigrate Mr. Snell,” he said.

Asked whether he thought the video would ease anger among protesters, he said “there are folks that will not believe any narrative” presented by police.

“I think that this video is not for them, the folks that are going to find holes in whatever I present to them,” he said. “Unless they were physically present they are not going to believe the police’s point of view on this.”

Mayor Eric Garcetti, who helped decide to release the video, said in a statement that doing so “contributes to transparency in a case that has raised many hard questions.”

The police pursuit of Snell began when officers tried to pull over

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The Afro-American, October 8, 2016 - October 14. 2016

UN Report: U.S. Owes African-Americans Reparations for Slavery

By Alexa Lisitza Special to the AFRO The United States owes Black Americans reparations for slavery, according to a recent United Nations report.

The Sept. 26 report, entitled “Report of the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent on its mission to the United States of America,” stated that the United States has yet to pay its dues for the years of “racial terrorism” that has been enacted against Black people during, and by result of, slavery.

The UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent presented their report to the United Nations Human Rights Council; the report highlighted the nearly 250 years of slavery and the drastic effects it still has on the role of Black people in the America.

“Lynching was a form of racial terrorism that has contributed to a legacy of racial inequality that the United States must address,” the report stated in part.

“Thousands of people of African descent were killed in violent public acts of racial control and domination and

the perpetrators were never held accountable.”

According to The Washington Post, during the panel the UN highlighted links between continuing injustice related to Black citizenry in America and slavery. They payed special attention to the recent treatment of racially charged police shootings. The UN commented on America’s “impunity for state violence,” which they said created a human rights crisis that requires immediate attention within the country.

“Despite substantial changes since the end of the enforcement of Jim Crow and the fight for civil rights, ideology ensuring the domination of one group over another, continues to negatively impact the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of African Americans today,” the panel said in a statement. “The dangerous ideology of White supremacy inhibits social cohesion amongst the US population.”

The report details ways in which reparations might be paid toward descendants of slaves. Such measures could come in the form of educational opportunities, psychological rehabilitation, health initiatives, debt cancellation or even a formal apology.

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October 8, 2016 - October 14, 2016, The Afro-American

Yale University to Name Classroom after 1st Black Student

Ellis

Continued from A1

her death circulated around Capitol Hill and political Washington, comments on her life and contributions flowed freely.

“It is with much sadness that I inform you that my dear friend and chief of staff Jacqueline Ellis has passed away,” U.S. Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) said in a statement. “I know this is a difficult time for everyone; Jacqui was a spiritual mother, sister, mentor, and friend to many of us over the years. Her charitable nature, her largesse of spirit, her selfless dedication to public service, and her strong faith are the well-known qualities that made us all love her.”

Ellis was born on Oct. 22, 1957 in Mobile, Ala. She graduated from Jarvis Christian College in 1980 and then assumed her career in public service.

In addition to Green, Ellis worked for U.S. Rep. Edolphus Towns of New York City for many years and did a stint with U.S. Sen. Howell Heflin of Alabama.

She was a founder of the Organization of African American Administrative Assistants and Chiefs of Staff, on the national board of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and was a force with the National Congress of Black Women (NCBW) and the Bethune-DeBois Institute.

Democratic National Committee interim chairman Donna Brazile knew Ellis for decades. She and Ellis were chief of staffs for D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and (D) and Towns, respectively. Brazile said Ellis was a trailblazer who cared about people.

“Jacqui was one of the first Black women to serve as a chief of staff on Capitol Hill and she quietly and patiently held the door open so that others could follow in her footsteps,” Brazile told the AFRO. “A proud Democrat, she gave voice to the voiceless, and believed in her soul that we must work together to open the vaults of opportunity, lift up the least of our brothers and sisters, and make our communities and streets safer for every child no matter their zip code.”

U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, called Ellis a “beloved mentor, friend, colleague, and sister” while A. Shuanise Washington, the president and CEO of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation said Ellis “was widely known for her diplomacy and commitment to social justice.”

“She was enormously respected by members of the Congressional Black Caucus and members on both sides of the aisle for her intellect, integrity, and institutional knowledge,” Washington said.

Dr. E. Faye Williams, the president and CEO of the National Coalition of Black Women, told the AFRO that she was a beneficiary of Ellis’s institutional knowledge.

“Jacqui was one of the more senior of the African-American staff members on Capitol Hill in the 1980s and the 1990s,” Williams, who worked for then U.S. Rep. Mervyn Dymally in the 1990s, said. “She was one you could reach out to for advice if you needed it. She was especially there to help young people.”

Williams was no stranger to Ellis when she joined Dymally’s staff. Both were members of Delta Sigma Theta and played crucial roles in the development of the NCBW. “When Dr. C. Delores Tucker was chair of the NCBW, [she] relied heavily on Jacqui greatly,” she said.

One of the young professionals Ellis touched was Darrel Thompson, who worked as the chief of staff for U.S. Senate candidate Barack Obama in 2004 and on Capitol Hill as a key aide for then Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Rep. Richard Gephardt when he served as House Democratic Leader. “Jacqui was a delight to know,” Thompson told – Donna Brazile the AFRO. “She knew her way around Capitol Hill and helped people in any way that she could. She will be sorely missed.”

Paul Brathwaite, a former executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus, remembers Ellis as “a wonderful woman.”

“She worked very hard on her job and she helped groom young staffers, Brathwaite told the AFRO.” She was a good listener and had a willing ear and a willing spirit.”

A memorial service was held Sept. 20 at the Reid Temple AME Church in Glendale, Md., and a homegoing service will take place on Oct. 8 at the Union Missionary Baptist Church in Mobile, Ala.

“Jacqui was one of the first Black women to serve as a chief of staff on Capitol Hill and she quietly and patiently held the door open so that others could follow in her footsteps.”

Wikimedia Commons

James W.C. Pennington

By The Associated Press Yale University is honoring its first Black student by naming a classroom for him.

The New Haven Register reports that the school will hold a ceremony Thursday to name a divinity school classroom after James W.C. Pennington and hang his portrait in the room.

Divinity school graduate Lecia Allman led the effort to honor Pennington, who escaped slavery in Maryland in 1837.

Allman says it was illegal in Connecticut then to educate African-Americans from other states, but Pennington was allowed to attend classes. He just wasn’t allowed to speak, use the library or earn a degree.

Pennington later became an abolitionist and formed an organization to provide former Amistad captives an education.

Divinity School Dean Gregory Sterling says honoring Pennington “recovers part of our past that has been neglected.”

Information from: New Haven Register, nhregister.com

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Help us find the time.

Metro wants your feedback about adjusting Metrorail’s Hours of Operation. Four proposals have been developed for your review and can be found at wmata.com/hours.

Give us your input about these proposals by 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 25, 2016.

• Take an online survey at wmata.com/hours.

• Send an email and provide written comments to writtentestimony@wmata.com.

• Provide feedback to staff in person at various Metrorail stations. Dates, times and locations are listed at wmata.com/hours.

• Attend an open house (anytime between noon and 9:00 p.m.) and public hearing (anytime between 12:30 and 10:00 p.m.) at Metro Headquarters, 600 5th St NW, Washington DC on Thursday, October 20, 2016.

Public feedback will be provided to Metro’s Board of Directors in December 2016 as part of the final decision process.

Public participation is solicited without regard to race, color, national origin, age, gender, religion, disability or family status. If you require special accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act or translation services (free of charge), contact the project team at 202-962-2511 (TTY: 202-962-2033) at least 48 hours prior to the public hearing date.

Find out more about these proposals, including details about the work that gets done when the Metrorail system is closed, at:

wmata.com/hours

Metro Headquarters is wheelchair accessible. For accommodations for people with disabilities, call 202-962-2511. For language assistance, such as an interpreter or information in another language, please call 202-962-2582 at least 48 hours prior to the public hearing date.

A8

The Afro-American, October 8, 2016 - October 14, 2016

Family of Black Man Shot 14 Times by Sacramento Police Wants Charges

By The Associated Press

on desk duty instead of patrol the following week. An administrative review of their actions is underway.

“It doesn’t service anybody’s interest with the public or the city, even the officers themselves or the family of the deceased, to have any sort of determination to be made before the investigation is complete,” McPhail said.

Surveillance videos show Mann doing the karate moves, zigzagging as he walked around a down-and-out commercial neighborhood in north Sacramento where many businesses are shuttered.

On police 911 recordings, callers said a man was waving a knife in the air, had a gun in his waistband and appeared to be mentally ill.

Police found a knife but no gun after Mann was killed.

Family members have described Mann as a college graduate who loved politics and economics, and succeeded in several careers before deteriorating into mental illness about five years ago. They said he had been living on the streets and

The family of a man killed in July by Sacramento police after 911 callers reported he was waving a knife and acting erratically demanded Monday that two officers face murder charges after dash-cam video revealed they talked inside their police cruiser about running him down. He dodged the cruiser twice and was shot 14 times less than a minute later by the same two officers.

The officers “behaved like big game hunters closing in on an animal,” said John Burris, a lawyer for the family of Joseph Mann, who was mentally unstable and homeless.

The demand for the murder charges came as Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck defended his officers in the fatal shootings of a Black man Oct. 1 who police say was armed with a loaded semi-automatic gun and a Hispanic man on Sunday who (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) officers say was wielding Robert Mann, right, the brother of Joseph Mann, who was killed by Sacramento Police in July, wipes his eye during a replica handgun. news conference Oct. 3, in Sacramento, Calif.

The latest police shootings happened amid heightened tensions over police actions involving black people and other minorities across the country, and followed two more fatal struggled with drugs before his death. encounters between California police and Black men last week in San Diego and Pasadena.

Toxicology tests revealed Mann had methamphetamine in his system the day he died, police In the Sacramento case, police have said Mann was waving a knife in the air and doing said. karate moves in the streets just before police responded. But Burris told reporters he was not The videos released showed a first police cruiser that arrived alongside Mann as he was threatening anybody and that the two officers who shot him, John Tennis and Randy Lozoya, walking down a street. Mann turned away from that vehicle when another cruiser with the two should face a U.S. Justice Department civil rights investigation in addition to murder charges. officers approached him, talking inside their cruiser about hitting Mann.

The officers can be heard on the recording saying “I’m gonna hit him” and “OK, go for it” When Mann ran out of the car’s way, the officer driving the cruiser backed it up and turned to before appearing to drive their cruiser twice at Mann, who managed to scramble out of its way aim in Mann’s direction again. It accelerated toward Mann, who ran across a median. The cruiser both times. The officers then stopped the cruiser, got out of it, pursued him on foot and opened stopped and the officers got out. fire.

Mann is heard on audio from the video saying he did not have a gun.

“Mann was standing stationary on a sidewalk with no one in close proximity when the About 15 seconds later, 18 shots were fired — 14 hit Mann. officers unloaded their guns,” Burris wrote in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

It was extremely rare for audio to be captured describing what the officers were thinking as Sacramento police spokesman Matthew McPhail said police are “encouraged to assess each the events leading up to Mann’s shooting unfolded, said Kevin LaHue, a private attorney in Los circumstance and think critically about the tools at their disposal.”

Angeles who has worked on numerous federal civil rights cases involving police tactics.

McPhail and other police spokespeople did not immediately respond to a request to interview “Having this sort of real-time insight into the thought process of the officers and their use of Tennis and Lozoya. Sacramento Police Officers Association President Timothy Davis did not force, I think that is very unique,” LaHue said.

Mann’s death is the latest of at least five fatal police shootings in Sacramento over the past respond to telephone and email messages seeking comment on behalf of the two officers.

Sacramento City Attorney James Sanchez declined to comment on whether police were aware three years of people who did not comply with officers’ orders and had a weapon other than a firearm, said Francine Tournour, who oversees city public safety accountability. of what Tennis and Lozoya said in the car. McPhail did not respond to messages asking the same “I’m seeing a pattern,” Tournour said. question.

Tournour said she plans to recommend that the department change its approach to deThe Sacramento District Attorney’s Office is reviewing the recordings and police reports, escalating crisis situations, introduce scenario-based training and possibly add a staff position. spokeswoman Shelly Orio said.

The chief of police answers to the city manager but maintains discretion over police training Tennis and Lozoya were put on a brief leave after the July 11 shooting and returned to work and policies.

October 8, 2016 - October 14, 2016, The Afro-American

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Hyde Amendment Continued from A1

communities for decades.

As early as 1971, Newsweek journalist Samuel F. Yette described government programs for the Black poor which stressed the necessity for birth control as the best means of alleviating hunger, as well as recommendations for mandatory abortions for unwed mothers by members of a 1969 White House Conference on the topic. The effort, according to Yette’s book, {The Choice: The Issue of Black Survival in America}, was blocked Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) introduced legislation to repeal the Hyde Amendment, which

by Black activist Fannie prohibits using federal funds to pay for abortions. (Courtesy photo) Lou Hamer, who denounced abortion as “legalized murder.”

“From the moment this rider was introduced, it “Whatever a person’s overwhelmingly impacted women of color, students, and personal opinion of abortion, unless they intend to rear a child women in the military,” Lee told the AFRO. “It is past time for on behalf of the woman carrying it, they have no voice in her politicians to get out of the reproductive decisions of women. decisions,” Washington, D.C. resident Walter Bridgman told the Forty years is 40 years too many.”

AFRO. “Neither the federal government or the corporations that Issues of access to, affordability of, and moral objections disallow birth control pills under their prescription coverage, against abortions (as genocide) have permeated Black have legitimate authority to support Hyde.”

However, the overriding concern with the Hyde Amendment, following the Roe v Wade decision of 1973, which afforded all women the right to access safe reproductive terminations, was that it effectively eliminated that right for women whose health insurance plans were secured through the federal government. “We have to have enough human dignity and respect to not force others or limit their rights because we may not agree with their decisions,” Congressman Joe Kennedy (D-Mass.) told the AFRO. “After four decades [Hyde] has to go. Laws of the country must be applied equally to every American and since low-income women and their families are more likely to rely on federal dollars to gain access to get the care or services they need the government is interfering.”

Calling the rider’s attachment to everything from head-start programs to road construction an “issue of discrimination,” Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (IL-09) said she had not seen such aggressive tactics to interfere in citizens’ rights since the days of Joe McCarthy. She did, however, note the push to use the electoral process to dismantle the Hyde Amendment.

“Trump wanted to make sure the Hyde Amendment was permanent and these younger generations understand that elections really matter. It is an opportunity for women to vote for a candidate that understands they are not politically expendable,” Schakowsky told the AFRO. “This rider has been devastating to all federal employees, Peace Corp volunteers, women in federal prisons, as well as those students, poor women, women of color.”

Sheriff

Continued from A1

calls for him to step down, he will not resign.

Accused of threatening employees using racial slurs, the report alleged an atmosphere of intimidation lead by Fitzgerald, whose behavior likened him a “poster child for bigotry, bullying, and temper tantrums.”

In a news conference where only select press were invited and no questions were allowed, Fitzgerald addressed the charges as “humbling, hurtful and disappointing.”

The 49-page investigation, conducted by the Office of Human Rights, included statements from dozens of current and former employees of the sheriff’s office, including an AfricanAmerican deputy Fitzgerald reportedly made constant comments to about watermelons. Even

Fitzgerald’s supporters, confirmed his statements and behavior to the county investigators.

“It’s disgraceful that as the nation teeters on the edge of a total breakdown in racial tolerance, our county sheriff had lost his mind. If the head is rotten, then the entire law enforcement community must be equally scrutinized because of his leadership,” Columbia resident Portia Murray told the AFRO. “Fitzgerald’s refusal to step down or at least to answer the charges being levied against him, is disheartening.”

Others county residents, including Charles Younger of Glen Burnie, believe the charges against Fitzgerald may be overstated or suspicious because of the current anti-police sentiments among African-Americans.

“There are a lot of spaces where men speak rough and where language is not always politically correct. I’d like to believe that Sheriff Fitzgerald’s words fell on sensitive ears, rather than to believe he is a racist bigot,” Younger told the AFRO. “When I worked a foreman’s crew years ago, me and the other guys were constantly being called ‘Princess’ or ‘Mary Alice’ by the lead man to get me to pick up the pace. I would never have reported him for hurting my feelings.”

As an elected official, Fitzgerald cannot be fired, forcing state lawmakers, including Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman, to consider impeachment to restore order.

“A hostile work environment alone

is not the way we should have our sheriff’s department run,” Kittleman told the {Baltimore Sun}. “I recognize that impeachment of any elected official is an extreme step, one that should not be taken in haste. But the offensive actions and behavior documented in the OHR report are so grossly contrary to the shared values of inclusion and respect for all that we hold dear in Howard County that I see no other recourse.”

Fitzgerald currently manages 69 employees with a budget of nearly $8 million, in a job that pays him $91,000. The sheriff’s current term ends in 2018.

Fitzgerald’s office did not respond to requests for comment.

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The Afro-American, October 8, 2016 - October 14, 2016

COMMENTARY

A New Museum and Old Problems

George H. Lambert Jr.

For African Americans, Sept. 24, 2016 will forever be etched in our memories because President Barack Obama rang a bell from one of America’s oldest Black churches to formally open the Smithsonian’s National African American Museum of History and Culture.

I was privileged to have been invited to a private reception of the museum shortly before it opened. While touring the exhibits, several times I raised my hands to give praise to the powerful testimony of the human spirit captured in every exhibit. But here is the paradox to raised hands. Inside the walls of the museum, my raised hands are symbolic to giving praise. Outside the museum, the symbolism of raised hands is a chilling reminder of unarmed African Americans with their hands up being shot by police.

I will never forget the exhibit showing graphic and very upsetting photographs of a crowd of White men celebrating the lynching of two young Black men early in the last century. It was jarring to see the jubilation of the mob smiling, posing for the camera, pride of their grisly handiwork juxtaposed with the victims hanging between earth and sky, heads awry, necks broken: grotesque examples of man’s

inhumanity to man.

Observers and experts often speak of the significant progress this country has made racially and how far we’ve come, but I sometimes wonder the extent to which we’ve progressed socially and how we deal with each other. The similarities of issues that plagued the United States 200 years ago are profoundly striking 200 years later.

The week-long celebration of the museum’s opening occurred against the backdrop of our country being wracked by spasms of racial turmoil on several fronts. In the last few weeks, police officers have shot and killed several Black and Latino men and boys, although the deaths of 13-year-old Tyree King, Terence Crutcher and Keith Lamont King has produced protests, rallies and demonstrations from Blacks in the affected communities and elsewhere clamoring for accountability.

Racial tensions have surged in a manner not seen in decades. In almost every part of the country, social media is showing the public case after case of violence by law enforcement against African Americans; a criminal justice system that is often neither just nor fair; a prison industrial complex that has swallowed up more than 1 million Black men and women; and a web of structural inequities that have denied Africans in America and people of color parity in housing, access to good jobs, quality education and decent wages.

All this has triggered civil disobedience, unrest and demands – particularly from Millennials and other young people – for significant changes to the status quo and the criminal justice system.

What we see playing out isn’t new. For decades, Black people, particularly those living in underserved communities have complained bitterly about the abuses they say police heaped out. Few listened. The difference is that we’re seeing these acts on social media.

The public never saw video or livestream of the moment that Trayvon Martin, Korryn Gaines or Mike Brown died. But in the cases of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling, those who chose to watch saw the life leave both men. These raw and sobering images have shaken people to the core. Grown men and women have cried, most left empty and bereft, their faith in police – if they had that – equality and justice now faltering or being questioned. African Americans are paying an emotional price – traumatized, having nightmares, unable to sleep and distrusting police and the authorities.

Black people see the sickening, repeated incidents of extra-judicial killings and toggle between despair and defiance. The demands for accountability and equal justice under the law led to the emergence of the

Black Lives Matter movement in 2013 and the growing coalition of advocacy groups and allies committed by the use of civil disobedience and other forms of non-violent protest. Their aim is to bring about drastic, meaningful and lasting changes in the police-black community paradigm and they seek an end to the abuse and harm visited on people of color by public servants hired to serve and protect us.

In the past, when Africans in America were enslaved, they were hunted by slave catchers, now, we’re hunted in a different way. We’re stopped, questioned, frisked, arrested and sometimes killed for driving while black, walking while Black, selling while Black and running while Black. It never seems to end. No one of color is immune.

We need a robust 21st Century model for police on engaging communities of color. A model that does not support aggressive over-policing but rather embraces better police training, eliminates implicit bias, and fosters respect, trust and an absence of fear.

George H. Lambert Jr. is the president & CEO of the Greater Washington Urban League.

Baltimore Needs a Black-Owned Arts and Entertainment District About a year ago, I walked into Womb Works on Wallbrook Nakia Brown Avenue and there were framed portraits of the staff hanging on the wall. Wombs Works is an African-centered music, dance and theater company founded by Kay Lawal-Muhammad and Rashida Forman-Bey in 1997.

Outside, the Womb Works building felt tucked away and insular.

Inside, it was full of Black history, arts and culture. What happens when Womb Works is properly funded and able to expand its current reach? How will the community change when Black arts and culture are at the center?

Baltimore City is home to three arts and entertainment districts: Station North, Bromo Arts Tower, and Highlandtown. In 2001, the Maryland Arts and Entertainment (A&E) District Program was created to drive arts-related investment. Station North was the first area in Baltimore to receive the state designation as an Arts & Entertainment District in 2002.

Art and entertainment district programs are city or state approved areas that are developed through partnerships between corporations, local universities, and businesses for economic growth. The idea is that the arts can drive traffic to the area, stimulate economic growth, and garner interest from investors.

In Baltimore, beginning in the 1920’s, Pennsylvania Avenue was adorned with nightclubs, restaurants and popular theaters such as the Regent Theater and Royal Theater. “The Avenue” was full of Black arts and business. One could grab a drink, enjoy the legendary

stylings of Billie Holliday, Cab Calloway, Red Foxx and more.

However, by the end of the 1970s, many of the establishments were either vacant or occupied by new businesses.

Currently, there are over 150 galleries and performance art spaces in Baltimore city, but the majority of them are not Black-owned.

Many Black-owned restaurants and cafes such as Dovecote Cafe on Madison Avenue and Terra Cafe on East 25th Street have pushed dining tables aside to act as arts spaces. Baltimore has an abundant Black arts scene that is often unlinked and segmented across the city, but what if we centralize our creativity?

Economically and culturally, art and entertainment districts in Baltimore city will thrive off the emotional and creative labor of Black artists. The constant redevelopment of North Avenue from the performance art center, Motor House, the art gallery, Space Camp, and the coming Parkway Theater, shows that The Station North art and entertainment district is upon us. But, what is the role of Black people in this district if not ownership? When the art district is built, with flashy theaters and glassy galleries, who will they expect to entertain the tourists?

We need an arts and entertainment district centered on the socioeconomic growth of Black people instead of solely utilizing their talents for entertainment.

An intentional Black arts district could rebuild the social fabric torn apart by gentrification and develop an arts/cultural rites of passage for upcoming artists and business owners. The district could be a central point for work that is already happening in the city and further community engagement. A Black arts district could aggregate

financial resources to provide affordable housing and offer support to the community organizations and local businesses.

According to The Maryland States Arts Council, the arts generated $1.2 billion in the state in 2007. Alongside states and municipalities offering incentive packages, funding museums and symphony halls, and designating arts and culture zones, there is a robust arts non-profit sector in Baltimore too. However, Black-led art organizations such as Womb Works, Dew More Baltimore and House of New Beginnings, are often underfunded, but mobilize some of the most inspirational art pieces from Baltimore’s youth from music, theater to spoken word.

Any institution that is not Black-owned and operated for the needs of black people has a difficult time addressing the true concerns of the community. Solutions are hard to cultivate because there is no personal human experience or study to contextualize the problem.

The Black experience is fundamental in one’s personal assessment of the problem and the solution.

However, even with the Black experience, Black people’s social, economic and political needs must be the core motivation. Otherwise, economic interests will immediately outweigh social progression if we are not accountable to the community. It is not enough to be owned and led by Black people. The black arts district needs to be unapologetically for Black people.

Nakia Brown is a student at the University of Baltimore. She is an intern in the Baltimore office of the AFRO.

Nebraska Shows Why Elite High School Athletes Should Reconsider HBCUs If there was ever a time that blue chip high school Black athletes should stand down and take a knee it is now. The time for fighting the intoxication of celebrity that goes with Nick Saban or Urban Meyer visiting your home guaranteeing NFL wealth and riches if you play college football for him at a major institution has arrived.

Since there is major opposition to Black student athletes using their first amendment right to participate in non-violent protests bringing attention to injustices that continue to make headlines, the time has come for elite Black athletes to reconsider playing at HBCUs. There is a paradox facing predominantly White colleges in these changing social times regarding Black athletes. Administrators are not comfortable with players taking a knee or raising their fists to in solidarity with the millennial civil rights movement. Coaches, meanwhile, who must recruit these players, are reluctant to quell their athlete’s expressions fearing it may hurt their chances of landing highly regarded prospects in the future.

Fans and alumni these days are another matter. These patriotic hypocrites love players scoring touchdowns and making big plays on

Mark F. Gray

the field. However, the cheers quickly turn to boos and hateful tweets once they choose to calmly bring more attention to racial injustice.

As we saw in Nebraska last week when Black players chose to take a knee during the national anthem they are being met with the type of contempt that civil rights pioneers faced when they asked for inclusion 50 years ago. Senior linebacker Michael Rose-Ivey, and two redshirt freshman teammates — linebacker Mohamed Barry and defensive end DaiShon Neal — kneeled and prayed in Evanston, Illinois during the national anthem before the game at Northwestern on September 24. Evanston is a suburb of Chicago where 18-year old unarmed Paul Neal was fatally shot by police officers who claimed he had a gun July 28.

The backlash in social media from fans in “Husker Nation” serves as a wake-up call for top Black student-athletes weighing college scholarship offers. Rose-Ivey said he received death threats and was repeatedly called the “N-word” in Tweets that were mainly from supporters of the Nebraska program. He also cited those in the Twitter universe who said he and his teammates should be “lynched and hung before the next game”.

Those attacks against Rose-Ivey, Barry, and Neal also came from the Nebraska Board of Regents as well. Regent Hal Daub dismissed

their freedom of speech in an interview with the {Lincoln Journal Star} saying, “It’s a free country. They don’t have to play football for the university either. “They know better, and they had better be kicked off the team”.

Stand down and play ball is the message sent by Nebraska and most of the major college programs around the country. It is a blatant slap in the face to many Black athletes who represent the victims and communities impacted by the epidemic of fatal interactions with law enforcement around the country.

HBCUs have always been a second chance option for elite student-athletes post integration but the time for them to come home is now. It is clear that the climate at major schools is no longer healthy for the overall development of the Black student-athlete.

Schools would prefer their athletes stay quiet despite media images that force them to speak out while making baskets and scoring touchdowns while on a scholarship that can be pulled anytime.

HBCU student-athletes won’t get the same media exposure but the players won’t face vitriol while standing for social justice. Playing intercollegiate athletics shouldn’t mean sacrificing what you stand for to play on TV every week.

Mark F. Gray covers sports for the AFRO.

The opinions on this page are those of the writers and not necessarily those of the AFRO. Send letters to: The Afro-American Newspaper • 2519 N. Charles St. • Baltimore, MD 21218 or fax to 1-877-570-9297 or e-mail to editor@afro.com

October 8, 2016 - October 14, 2016, The Afro-American

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Health Insurance Continued from A1

Washington, D.C. resident Keisha Marie Lorton, are simply out of reach. “It comes down to a choice between living well by spending an extra $200 a month on health insurance, or living right, by using that money to pay high rent, utilities, and transportation costs, and setting aside $25 a month for a gym membership,” Lorton told the AFRO. “I earn too much to get the real subsidy

a luxury many of the District’s African-American millennials, cannot afford. “If

you’re poor Medicaid covers you for free, but if you are among the young people just

entering the job market, you catch hell trying to pay for health insurance,” Harvey

said. “And when you end up with an out-of-pocket dental bill for more than $3,500

for a few fillings, it’s hard to find the benefit of health coverage.”

“It comes down to a choice between living well …or living right…”

– Keisha Marie Lorton that would make it affordable, so I have to do without it.”

A recent White HouseHealth and Human Services panel discussion, “Millennial Enrollment Trends,” further solidified Lorton’s position as common among young people, many of whom own small businesses, work as non-insured contractors, or whose hourly employment does not allow for extra money in their budgets for monthly fees.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Mathews Burwell told attendees of the panel that young adults were among the highest uninsured before the Affordable Care Act, but were still more likely than any other population to lack coverage. “Young adults have seen the largest drops in uninsured rates of any age group, yet are still more likely to be uninsured than older adults,” Burwell said during a panel discussion on increasing Millennial participation in the Affordable Care Act. “Getting covered would protect them from catastrophic costs if they get in an accident, or contract a serious illness. Coverage is an investment in their future, a down payment for a healthy and productive life.”

The Harris Poll found that instead of seeking immediate care from a physician or dentist, millennials reported using home remedies or overthe-counter medications, or skipped, delayed, or stopped receiving care to defray costs.

They also noted that even premiums as little as $100 became taxing to pay for many millennial populations.

“If you’re generally healthy, you don’t need to pay some health insurance company thousands a year just for access in case you need it,” Ward 7 resident Jamal Harvey told the AFRO. “It’s like betting against yourself. There is always some friend or relative who didn’t take all of their medication, so if you need a pill, you’ve got one or two.

If all else fails, you call your mom, and she has a home remedy that always works.”

Harvey said the increased cost of basic necessities, when factored in with student loan debt and child support, make health insurance

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The Afro-American, October 8, 2016 - October 14, 2016

The funeral for the Rev. Errol D. Gilliard Sr. was held on Sept. 24 at the Greater Harvest Baptist Church in Baltimore, where he was pastor for over 30 years. The service was full to the bursting as many came to support the family and friends of the Rev. Gillard.

Pallbearers

Photos by J.D. Howard

Baltimore City Council President, Jack Young greets the family.

The congregation praying, praising and worshipping

Helen Johnson and Elaine Johnson

The Rev. Dr. A.C.D. Vaughn and his family

Rev. Stephen Jones

Jan Campbell

Friends, colleagues, relatives, elected officials and fellow Virgos gathered to celebrate the birthday of AFRO columnist Valerie E. Fraling on Sept.

17, at Colin’s Seafood Grill in Randallstown, Md. The food was prepared

by Chef/Owner Donte Daniels. Some of the guests included members of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, the Hon. Paula J. Branch, Dr. Marie J. Washington, former Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon, Dr. A. Rod Womack, Del. Antonio Hayes, Valerie Fraling and James Lee

Charlene Boston Cooper, Jackie Brock, Freddi Vaughn, Ann Branch, Mildred Long-Harper, Sarah Smalley, Del. Antonio Hayes, Andy Rosenthal, Brenda Sykes, Lonnie Spruill, Damon Hughes, Allenette Valentine,the “Friday Night Bunch,” Tarsha Fitzgerald, Reginald Thomas, Jackie Richardson, Yvonne Furniss-Frye and many others.

Photos by Anderson R. Ward Valerie and the “Gang”

Valerie Fraling, Victor Holliday, Airuel Singletary, Seated: Roxanne L. Williams, Shea Myers and Sarah Holley

Lena Foster, Ernestine Scroggins, Valerie Fraling, Reginald Thomas, and Valerie Richardson

Hon. Paula J. Branch, and Dr. Marie J. Washington

Orrester Shaw

Pat Roselle, Judy Rainey, Donald Rainey, Harvey Harris, Joan Brown and Sarah Smalley

Karen Chase and Valerie Fraling

Freddi Vaughn, Jackie Brock and Tarsha Fitzgerald

Shirley Ball, Sheila Dixon and Dolores Chambers

Garland Perkins, Brenda Brice and Jackie Brock

D. Moses and George Ray

Eunice Jenifer Robinson, Yvonne Furniss-Frye and Donte Daniels

Andy Rosenthal and Jackie Richardson (Valerie’s sister)

Send your news tips to tips@afro.com.

October 8, 2016 - October 14, 2016, The Afro-American

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BALTIMORE-AREA

Race and Politics

White Officers in Freddie Gray Case Comforted by Right Wing Group Lt. Brian Rice, officers Edward Nero and Garrett Miller, the three White officers charged, but not convicted, Sean Yoes in the death of Senior AFRO Freddie Gray Contributor were given a rousing hero’s welcome at a gala awards ceremony in their honor last month in Washington, D.C. Rice, Nero and Miller were greeted with thunderous applause by nearly a thousand in attendance when they stepped on the stage of the event hosted by the rightwing Media Research Center (MRC). The three Black officers charged in Gray’s death; officer Caesar Goodson, officer William Porter and Sergeant Alicia White did not attend the event. It is unclear whether or not they were invited.

Trying to sift through the group’s website, which drips with bombast, blather and paranoia aimed at the socalled, “liberal media,” was a headache inducing exercise, however, I gleaned a bit of background information from a video of the event posted on the site.

In addition to honoring the Baltimore officers, the group gave out what they call the, “DisHonor Awards,” which took aim at MSNBC commentators like Joy Reid and Chris Matthews and former MSNBC commentator Melissa Harris-Perry.

A partial list of MRC judges include right-wing media bomb throwers like, Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham, Mark Levin and MRC’s founder and president Brent Bozell.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis was unambiguous in his displeasure with his officers attending the right wing Continued on B2

Santelises Vows to Raise Baltimore’s PARCC Scores

Deadline: Oct. 18th

Federal Hill Preparatory Elementary is one of several schools to show improvements in Maryland’s standardized tests.

By Deborah Bailey Special to the AFRO Baltimore City Public Schools student scores on recently released 2016 PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career) exams failed to reveal the boost students, parents, teachers and school administrators hoped to see. Students across Maryland outperformed Baltimore City Public School students at all grade levels.

But there is good news. A deeper analysis of PARCC test results reveals glimmers of hope and provide enough detail to carve out a strategy for growth and improvement, according to new Baltimore City Schools CEO, Sonja Santelises.

Results released by the Maryland State Department of Education this week for the second annual PARCC exam, administered in spring 2016, show Baltimore City Public School students in grades 3 through 8 are still woefully “underperforming and unprepared for college and career. That is the responsibility of Baltimore Public Schools,” Sonja Santelises, CEO of Baltimore City Public Schools, told the AFRO. Based on a comparison with 2015 PARCC scores, some levels of positive momentum can be seen in mathematics scores. City Schools students improved at all levels in mathematics with the exception of 6th grade and Algebra II. Baltimore City Public Schools Chief Academic Officer Sean Conley pointed out that progress in Algebra I was particularly promising.

“I was particularly pleased to see the results in Algebra I, where our students’ growth matched that of students across the state,” Conley he said.

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The overall results in English Language Arts/literacy were more mixed, but the latest PARCC results still demonstrated pockets of modest improvement for Baltimore City Schools students. Student test results in grades 4, 7 and 8 improved from 2015 to 2016. However, students suffered declines in English language arts/literacy in grades 3, 5,6 with steep declines in grade 10.

“These results demonstrate the need for systemic changes in how literacy and language arts are taught,” said Santelises A deeper look into second year of PARCC testing revealed that several schools held their own, yielding consistent and in some cases improved school-wide PARCC test results. Principal Sara Long has created an environment at Federal Hill Preparatory Elementary School that serves as an example of the positive momentum Santelises is looking for.

“We attribute the scores to teachers providing rigorous instruction on a daily basis and holding students accountable for critical thinking and problem solving.

We are teaching students to persevere through difficult tasks,” Long told the AFRO. – Sara Long Santelises said that one of the places where she will start her “deep dive” is to look at overall school culture and environment. “We have to make sure that the school environment allows students to succeed,” she said.

Santelises said that one of the other areas City Schools administrators will be reviewing is instructional alignment.

The American Educational Research Association describes instructional alignment as matching how the curriculum is written, how it is taught and how it is tested. In other words, teachers need to be prepared to support students in translating classroom success Continued on B2

“We are teaching students to persevere through difficult tasks.”

In Memoriam

Muriel Clarke Hill, 102

By AFRO Staff

Muriel Clarke Hill, a Baltimore native, died on Oct. 2 at the age of 102.

Muriel Clarke Hill was born on June 29, 1914. She was the third of five children born Courtesy photo to Jesse Benjamin Clarke, Sr. and Sadie Jeter Clarke. Muriel Clarke Hill was a faithful They lived at 2120 Druid Hill Avenue, in Baltimore. churchgoer.

Growing up in Baltimore, the Clarke children attended public schools, particularly historic Frederick Douglass 7-11 Store High School. After high school Hill attended 231 E. Baltimore Street Morgan College for two years.

She married David Bennett Hill and they had two Convenient 7 children - Bennett and Beverly.

812 Guilford Avenue The Clarke family attended St. Peter Claver Express Roman Catholic Church in Baltimore.

1101 Calvert Street Hill leaves her daughter Beverly (Walter), six grandchildren and their spouses, sixteen great Golden Star Machine Continued on B2 226 Gay Street Jones Food Market 1203 Greenmount Avenue

Baltimore Voter Registration Effort Targets Ex-Offenders

Feds: 80 Charged in Md. Prison Racketeering, Drug Conspiracies

By Juliet Linderman Associated Press Correctional officers at Eastern Correctional Institution in Westover, Md., the state’s largest prison, for years helped scores of inmates smuggle narcotics, tobacco, pornography and cellphones into the facility in exchange for money and sex, according to a pair of sweeping federal indictments against 35 inmates, 18 jail guards and 27 “outside facilitators” unsealed on Oct. 5.

The indictments allege a racketeering scheme at the East and West compounds of the Eastern Correctional Institution in Westover, Maryland, Continued on B2

Baltimore Man Sentenced in ‘Jealousy’ Killing of Half-Brother

By Michelle Richardson Special to the AFRO A Baltimore man, convicted of the murder of his brother after setting him up for a robbery, was sentenced to life plus 30 years in prison this week, said prosecutors.

Brandon Wilder, 29, was found guilty in July of fatally shooting his half-brother Ramon Wilder in May 2014. During his trial, it was said that Brandon Wilder was “less successful” than Ramon in the drug selling business and Ramon often took women away from Brandon.

Brandon Wilder got his then girlfriend, Labria Paige, to lure Ramon Wilder to the 3400 block of Wilkens Ave in Southwest Baltimore, with the lie that she was leaving Brandon for him. When Ramon Wilder arrived, Brandon Wilder shot him several times with a revolver, police said.

Ramon was left in a parking lot to die while Brandon and others unloaded items from Ramon’s vehicle which was then dumped at a hotel near BWI Airport, said police.

Ramon Wilder’s death was part of a series of crimes police linked to Brandon Wilder and his friends. Three days before Baltimore Police Department Ramon’s killing, police said, Brandon Brandon Wilder, 29, held up and carjacked an Oxycontin was given life plus 30 dealer at a shopping center, and two years for killing his weeks later, he deliberately ran over a half-brother Ramon. man in the Lakeland neighborhood.

Three other people were convicted of participating in the murder; two agreed to testify for commuted sentences.

“This insensible and vicious murder emphasizes the lack of moral ethics killers have when it comes to the value of human life,” State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby said in a statement.

“Anyone who can kill their brother in such a calculated and callous manner deserves to spend their life behind bars.”

7

Past Seven Days

By Deborah Bailey Special to the AFRO With Election Day quickly approaching, advocates for the ex-offender community in Baltimore are ramping up to get the city’s share of more than 40,000 newly enfranchised citizens registered to vote.

“There is an intense effort from re-entry organizations, Maryland Justice Project, Out for Justice, Communities United, Marion House and others. I don’t think the numbers (of registered exoffenders) has caught up with registration efforts on the ground,” said Monica Cooper, Co-founder of the Maryland Justice Project.

Neither the Baltimore City Board of Elections nor the Maryland State Board of Elections maintains data on ex-offender voter registration.

Therefore, local grassroots organizations are left with the task of trying to keep tabs on the number of newly registered ex-offenders.

Cooper said that she is looking for support from the Baltimore City Democratic State Central Committee, the official voice of the Democratic Party in Baltimore City. Out for Justice and the Maryland Justice Project have reached out to the Committee with no response, lamented Cooper.

“The effort should be to have high voter registration and voting turnout from everyone,” she said, hoping that the city’s Democratic Party would recognize the political power of the exoffender community.

A town hall meeting to discuss voter registration efforts on behalf of the ex-offender community is scheduled for Oct. 10. at 7 p.m. at the Maryland ACLU’s Baltimore office. “We are working with Communities United, Out for Justice, The League of Women Voters, Common Cause Maryland and Maryland Working Families to sponsor a night of voter awareness, education and registration,” said Toni Holness, Interim Public Policy Director for the Maryland ACLU.

238 2016 Total

Data as of Oct. 5

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The Afro-American, October 8, 2016 - October 14, 2016

Drug Conspiracies Continued from B1

that involved smuggling heroin, cocaine, MDMA, ecstasy and Suboxone, among other narcotics, into the jail in exchange for cash, money orders and in some cases, sexual favors.

The indictments say guards were able to sneak the contraband past security screenings and deliver it to inmates in their Todd Dudek/The Daily Times via AP cells or at preCorrectional officers at Maryland’s largest state prison for years arranged “stash� helped scores of inmates smuggle narcotics, tobacco, pornography locations, and cellphones into the facility in exchange for money and sex, laundry rooms, according to a pair of sweeping federal indictments. staff bathrooms Correctional Services Secretary Stephen Moyer and other areas. said he assigned eight investigators to work “Prison corruption is a longstanding, with the FBI and other federal agencies to crack deeply-rooted systemic problem that can the case. The indictments, he said, “send a only be solved by a combination of criminal strong message that we will no longer tolerate prosecutions and policy changes,� said U.S. corruption committed by a few tarnishing Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein in a statement. the good work of our 10,500 dedicated and Department of Public Safety and

committed department employees.�

According to the indictment, defendant correctional officers routinely warned inmates when prison administrators were planning to conduct cellphone raids. In some cases, when participating prison guards learned that inmates were supplying administrators with information, or “snitching,� they would alert other inmates and encourage them to retaliate, often using violence. Twice in July, prison guards encouraged inmates to stab other prisoners.

The indictments come on the heels of a

high-profile prison contraband scandal at the Baltimore City Detention Center in 2014 in which 44 people were federally indicted.

The racketeering scheme’s ringleader, Tavon White, who was also a known member of the Black Guerrilla Family gang, impregnated several prison guards and on a recorded telephone line famously told a friend on the outside, “This is my jail.�

According to this indictment, prisoners and guards were very much aware of the Baltimore case, as evidenced by telephone calls that were recorded with them discussing it.

Race and Politics Continued from B1

awards dinner in their honor. “I was certainly disappointed by their appearance there, and any time a person in public safety appears for or with a group that society looks at as a fringe group, and the group is divisive and doesn’t speak to the values of Baltimore, I think that’s a problem,� Davis told WBAL-TV. Conservative columnist, Deneen Borelli, a frequent Fox News contributor and darling of the Tea Party movement, greeted Rice, Nero and Miller on stage. “Who will thank these officers? Who will thank all police officers -- active, retired -- at a time they are being so vilified,� Borelli asked prompting a standing ovation by those in attendance. “Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, we will,� Borelli added.

So, in the case of Freddie Gray, what exactly were Borelli and her cohorts thanking Rice, Nero and Miller for?

Was it for arresting Gray who allegedly, “looked at

them wrong,� sparking the brutal chain of events that ultimately led to the 25year old’s horrific death and the subsequent uprising?

What exactly were those in attendance that night cheering so rabidly for?

But, perhaps the most compelling question is why the hell did Rice, Nero and Miller feel so comfortable attending this gala event held by a group Commissioner Davis refers to as, “divisive� and “fringe?� Do they not know what the Media Research Center is all about or is it that they are down with what the MRC represents?

Why were these three officers okay with being celebrated for their actions connected to the death of another unarmed (unless you consider a pocket knife a weapon) Black man?

Why were Rice, Nero and Miller cool with being the toast of this right wing media group, when their three Black, brothers and sister in blue either were not invited to attend or uncomfortable being

lauded for their actions in April of 2015?

The symbolism of the three White officers attending this gathering while their Black colleagues either stayed away or weren’t invited seems evident in the broader context of race within the Baltimore City Police Department.

There is a reason beyond the agency’s history, why the Vanguard Justice Society (the organization representing the interests of Black cops) is necessary in 2016.

Ultimately, only Rice, Nero and Miller receiving back slaps at a black tie dinner seems strangely, yet undeniably, connected to the images of them arresting, and then hauling Gray’s infirmed body into the back of that police van on that fateful day in April 2015, leaving White, Goodson and Porter to take it from there.

Sean Yoes is a senior contributor for the AFRO and host and executive producer of First Edition, which airs Monday through Friday, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on WEAA 88.9.

PARCC

Continued from B1

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into testing success.

Lack of computerized instruction for Baltimore City School students may have been the culprit responsible for putting them behind the curve, particularly in English language arts PARCC scores, said Conley. “The other thing I want to look for is to ensure our Administrative staff at North Avenue and our building staff and teachers are on the same page. We have to be communicating the same thing,� said Santelises.

Students in grades 3 through 8 sat for PARCC exams in English language arts/literacy and mathematics. High School students were tested in English 10, English 11, Algebra and Algebra II. PARCC exams are scored on a five-point scale.

The top two scores of 4 and 5 represent passing grades, meaning a student has met or exceeded expectations in mastery of subject matter.

2016 PARCC tests were administered in Spring 2016, before Santelises was appointed CEO of Baltimore City Schools. She has indicated that while she cannot guarantee change overnight, improvement on PARCC scores is clearly within the realm of issues that she and her staff are responsible for addressing.

In Memoriam Continued from B1

grandchildren, one great great granddaughter, one sister in law, nieces, nephews, cousins, long time friends, and amazing loving caregivers.

The funeral will take place on Oct. 8 at 10 a.m. at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church, 100 Broad Street, Hilltown, Pa. 18927. There will be no wake or viewing.

October 8, 2016 - October 14, 2016, The Afro-American

“We come together on this special day sing our message loud and clear. ”-Earth Wind and Fire Ain’t No Party Like an Old School Party Cause an Old School Party Don’t Stop If you missed the annual Virgo Party, you missed Virgos and friends dancing, conversing and dining on a delicious menu prepared especially for the partygoers. It’s always nice to see Virgos Miss Shirley Ball, Delores Chambers, Freddie Vaughn, Phil Strambler, Kimberly Smalls, Yvonne Frye, Dante Daniels, Eunice Robinson, Jackie Richardson, Laverne Gaither and Miguel Stokes and others representing Virgos.

Among the guests partying with the Virgos were, The Honorable Sheila Dixon, Council President Bernard “Jack” Young, The Honorable Paula Johnson Branch, Dr. Marie Washington, Anthony Jones, John Lee, Delegate Antonio Hayes, Debbie Parker, George Ray, Darnell Moses, Rod Womack, Lamont “Doobie” Register.

Yale Madison, Wayne Davis, Earline Fraling, Nakia Robinson, Sherry Fraling, Karen Chase, Juanita Rollins, Mildred Harper, Sara Smalley, Laura Knight, Rosemary Atkinson, Ann Branch, AFRO photographer Anderson Ward, Allenette Valentine, Donald and Judy Rainey, Jackie Brock, Michael Grant, Dr. Charlene Cooper-Boston, Lonnie Spruill, Linda and Ronald Smithwick, Barbara Sheard, Caprisa Hooper, Von and James Lewis and Betty Green.

Thanks to Dr. Vallen and Michele Emery for the engraved custom-made shirt “Living for the Weekend.” Great seeing my longtime friend Andy Rosenthal, former owner of Fells Point’s Shuckers. Andy and I met at Ruth’s Chris’ Pikesville as our party grew larger and we slowly crowded him out at his table; but

you need to hear Andy tell the story. (See more photos from the party on page A12).

“Who made the mountains who made the trees who made the rivers that flow out to the seas and who hung the moon in the starry sky…Now who made the flowers bloom in the spring, yeah and who writes the songs for the robins to sing and who sends the rain when the earth is dry.

Somebody bigger than you and I.”-Whitney Houston What better way to end a successful birthday month then a trip to one of the most beautiful places, Lake Tahoe Nevada.

I can only imagine what the poet Katherine Lee Bates saw when she wrote “America the Beautiful.” The crystal-clear blue lake, the majestic Alpine

trees and the magnificent mountains astounded me as my eyes feasted on the beauty of GOD’s masterpiece. The road to Reno for the Street Vibrations motorcycle festival took us to a place in time as we drove through Carson City and the road leading to Virginia City and the Ponderosa.

“What the world needs now is love sweet love.”-Dionne Warwick The tragic and senseless murder of our friend Chef Michael Bates, instructor at Strafford Culinary School and chef extraordinaire, has left us once again wondering “what’s going on” when it’s easier to kill someone ‘in cold blood” than to “reach out and touch somebody’s hand”. Chef Mike, at 48 years

of age, was a role model for the city of Baltimore. He was large in statue yet gentle in heart. Chef Mike was passionate in his love for people, food and fine cigars.

He never hesitated to greet you with a bear hug and a taste of his newest cuisine.

you missed a great opportunity.

To his mother Debbie Bates, Aunt Jackie Hamilton and family members, Chef Mike’s living was not in vain. Family hour is Oct. 7 at Wylie Funeral Home, 701 N. Mount Street from 4 p.m.to 8 p.m.

The last time I saw Chef Mike was at Suited to Succeed’ s fundraiser where he grabbed me by the hand, taking me across the floor to his food station bypassing the other food stations so I could sample the food his students had prepared. To the three young men who allegedly robbed and killed Chef Mike after he had given you his possessions, you robbed Baltimore of a precious jewel and yourself of a friend who would have helped you had you only asked. You represented the youth he mentored, so sorry

Maxine Dixon, a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Baltimore County Chapter has joined Heaven’s choir. Maxine’s voice would linger in the rafters with her emotional rendition of Reverend Paul Jones “I won’t complain.” Omega services is Oct. 7 at 6:30 p.m. at Wylie Funeral Home 9200 Liberty Road.

Family and friends are mourning the death of Wilburt LeRoy Simms, son of Mary and Reggie Haysbert after a short

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illness. Family will receive friends on Friday October 14, 2016 at the family owned Forum Caterers at 6 PM. Happy birthday IOTA founder Frank Coakley, Yindra Dixon, Tiger Lil, Rod Womack, Tobi Pulley, Geraldine Thompson on her 94th birthday. Special shout out to my grandsons Damien Lee and Gregory Packer Jr. It’s your anniversary!

Yindra and Alex Dixon, Pamela and Lamont Hill and Happy anniversary Dante and Candes on the 3rd anniversary of the opening of Colin’s Seafood and Grill.

“I’ll be seeing you.”

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The Afro-American, October 8, 2016 - October 14, 2016

October 8, 2016 - October 14, 2016, The Afro-American

Birth of a Nation

ARTS & CULTURE

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Reverential Biopic Revisits Life of Infamous Slave Revolt Leader

Nate Parker stars as Nat Turner in ‘Birth of a Nation.’

By Kam Williams Nat Turner (Nate Parker) was born into slavery on October 2, 1800 on a sprawling plantation located in Southampton County, Va. There, as a precocious child, he exhibited a thirst for knowledge at an early age and learned to read the Bible with the help of his masters, Samuel

(Armie Hammer) and Elizabeth Turner (Penelope Ann Miller). The couple simultaneously shielded him from the brutality of the evil institution by granting him the privilege of living and working in the mansion rather than having to toil in the cotton fields alongside his mother (Aunjanue Ellis) and grandmother (Esther Scott).

Nat grew up a deeply-religious boy, and was turned into a traveling preacher tasked with spreading the word of God to fellow slaves from neighboring towns. In that capacity, his job was to keep the masses of oppressed African-Americans content with their miserable lot in life by reciting scriptural passages like “Submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the cruel.” (1 Peter 2:18) However, the more he witnessed the atrocities associated with slavery, the more outraged he became. And by the time he reached adulthood, he’d not only become convinced that it was evil, but he’d started surreptitiously quoting Biblical verses supporting that conclusion, such as “Do not become slaves of men.” (1 Corinthians 7:23) Nat subsequently had a miraculous vision in which he was directly ordered by God to set his people free. That transformative moment would serve as the inspiration for a bloody insurrection which would begin with the slaying of his masters and ultimately claim about 60 more White slave owner lives.

All of the above is graphically depicted in “The Birth of a Nation,” a reverential biopic marking the impressive directorial debut of Nate Parker (“The Great Debaters”). Nate also cowrote the script and stars here, as Nat Turner, in a revisionist period piece which effectively recasts as a hero an infamous slave revolt leader previously denigrated by history because of his resort to violence.

This compelling drama landed both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, and had emerged as the prohibitive Best Picture Academy Award favorite until buzz about Mr. Parker’s having been accused of rape while in college went viral across the blogosphere. Nevertheless, judging “The Birth of a Nation” strictly on the merits, it undeniably deserved its previous status as a prime Oscar contender.

An emotionally-unsettling alternate version of a controversial chapter of America’s slave legacy.

Baltimore Actress Portia Lewis “Chef Stew” Plans to Open Free Talks About Life as a Cosplayer Culinary Program in E. Baltimore

By Nadine Matthews Special to the AFRO Millions of TV and film fans have taken the concept of interactivity to a whole new level. They don’t just watch and read about their favorite programs or play video games based on them.

They regularly dress up as the characters from those shows and movies. Cosplay is the formal name of this activity and it has gained increasing popularity over the past few decades. One (Courtesy photo) of the reasons for the most Portia Lewis, left, as a character from Marvel’s ‘Agents of recent surge in popularity Shield.’ is the plethora of science fiction and fantasy-based programs now being produced on TV and online. Traditionally, cosplayers tend to dress as characters from these genres. Another factor is the increase in the number of comic based conventions such as Baltimore Comic Con and San Diego Comic Con, the granddaddy of them all.

Media coverage of the cosplay scene tends to focus on White cosplayers but there is a large and passionate contingent of African- American cosplayers. One such cosplayer is Baltimore native and aspiring actress Portia Lewis. Lewis, who is an alumnus of Baltimore School of the Arts (which boasts Tupac and Jada Pinkett among its graduates), was noticed on social media by not just one but two of the actors who play the characters on which a few of her cosplays were based. Wentworth Miller, who became famous for his turn on the much loved television series “Prison Break” now plays Captain Cold on the show “Legends of Tomorrow.”

He posted one of her Captain Cold cosplays on his Instagram account. Caity Lotz, who plays White Canary on the same program, also posted Lewis’ take on that character on her Facebook.

Lewis got into cosplay by accident, playing around and coming up with characterizations of “Harry Potter” characters at home with her siblings. “We loved dressing up. We loved that people loved our costumes and wanted to take pictures of us,” she told the {AFRO}. She also started going to conventions. “I started at Otakon [, cosplaying with my family before I even knew what cosplaying was. If you’re in the DMV (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia area), it’s a huge anime convention that’s not overly saturated with overly serious-minded cosplayers so the atmosphere is fun and full of freshness. Baltimore Comic Con is great too.”

Lewis’ art background also helped. “I went into college as a painting major and I left with a fibers and material studies degree. So I think I found myself and my love for manipulating materials and making one thing with another and that’s what translates into my costumes now.

My thing is, I don’t want to sew. Obviously, I can sew, I have the degree for it but it makes me more creative to figure out how can I create this costume with things I already have in my house. Things I know how to manipulate. So that’s kind of what sets me apart from other cosplayers.”

There are particular challenges of being an African-American woman doing cosplay. “As a society, Black is lesser, especially when it comes to attractiveness. I often feel I have to work twice as hard to be noticed and deemed beautiful, even as a woman with fairly Eurocentric features. As far as being a female cosplayer, I hear that I’m a “female” or “feme” instead of just being the character even when I’m not making the character particularly feminine. As a woman there’s always a question of how much we’re going to take off. It’s almost expected.”

Lewis, who recently launched a gofundme campaign [gofundme.com/PortiagoestoLA] to help with her move to Los Angeles advises those who are interested in becoming cosplayers to, “Be really good!” She states, “That’s simple but it’s actually pretty poignant, It’s difficult for us to do this ‘for fun.’ We can’t just slap on a $15 costume from the Wal-Mart clearance section, cake on some cheap make-up and say we’re Pikachu. There is a sharp eye of scrutiny on us for thinking of breaching the ‘Wonderful White World’ of cosplay so be unquestionably good. No, be amazing. And remember people are going to talk about you but don’t let that stop you. Everything that you want, dream, and wish for is on the other side of fear.”

By Charise Wallace Special to the AFRO You may know 37-yearold Robert “Chef Stew” Stewart as a reality star on Food Network’s “Cutthroat Kitchen” and “Guys Grocery Games.” He currently serves as a chef to celebrities and catering companies. For his next move he wants to open a culinary arts program called Transition Kitchen in Baltimore that will offer free training courses.

“I’m just literally doing what I did to get to the top,” Stewart told the AFRO. “I made this a community based initiative, obviously Robert “Chef Stew” Stewart, a reality TV chef, wants to open a culinary training program in East Baltimore. with some of the things that I was able to accomplish they are individual success stories,” said Stewart. “Transition Kitchen to me is the first time that I’m actually incorporating something of my own accomplishments. This is not really a ‘Chef Stew’ thing this is a Baltimore thing.”

The program will take place in a vacant warehouse located in East Baltimore in the Midway community. Stewart is currently attempting to raise $30,000 to bring the program to reality.

“Transition Kitchen,” is a free 30-day program aimed primarily at young people looking to learn the culinary arts. The program will also offer other skills in addition to cooking: carpentry, HVAC, plumbing and more will also be available.

“I went in and got childhood friends who are electricians, HVAC and plumbers…I’m going to be able to use this warehouse for multiple reasons,” said Stewart, who grew up in Baltimore and attended Eastern Technical High School.

“Chef Stew” plans to hire his students or offer resources to other major food agencies in need of employment. During the process of hiring students, he will then start a “drop-and-go” catering service where his students will get paid to prepare pre-prepped food for big parties.

Additionally, while his students spend time Monday through Thursday learning, on the weekends he will house rental space for aspiring chefs to prepare and sell their meals to the public.

Stewart who currently lives in San Fransisco aims to tackle issues surrounding police brutality, Black-on-Black crime and affordable housing by creating jobs and a peaceful environment for everyone to feel safe.

“I want to just put us in an environment where we can get to know each other,” he said.

After starting fundraisers, attending local events and spreading the word to Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings and other city officials, he is baffled why citizens want solutions and better opportunities for their neighborhoods, but don’t want to help with funding for programs that will be free for the public to learn and profit from.

“I’m shocked that it’s taking so long to come up with the money,” he said. “If I got the money tomorrow this program would be up in two weeks.”

Stewart needs close to $27,000 more to reach his goal and by doing so he started a Go Fund Me account and has launched a campaign to gather 10,000 people to donate one dollar each.

To breakdown his need for costly goods, he’s added a goal of roughly $1,000 or more for each item he needs purchased. So far he’s raised $800 for a fryer and is in the process of gaining $2,200 more for a refrigerator.

“Once we hit our goal…we would be able to stand alone,” he said. “Any of the money funded into ‘Transition Kitchen’ will go directly back to the communities of Baltimore.”

To donate to Transition Kitchen email transitionkitchenbmore@gmail.com or gofundme. com/transitionkitchen.

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The Afro-American, October 8, 2016 - October 14, 2016

Get The Latest Surge Updates Where We Are

Project Details

Metro is near the halfway mark in the SafeTrack program, having completed eight SafeTrack Surges during the summer months. As the program moves forward, we’ve made some adjustments to the schedule to address new safety recommendations, incorporate work on the track interlockings, and account for the impact of record heat this summer. The dates for work through the end of the year, as well as a schedule for work into early 2017, have now been released. Find out more about the revised SafeTrack schedule in the chart below.

Surge

Date

Lines Affected

• Safetrack Surges impact all riders, including rush hour commuters, on the affected lines.

• Riders are strongly urged to consider alternate travel options during Surges that affect their lines.

• In addition to the Surges, increased track work throughout the Metrorail system is being conducted on nights and weekends, and during some rush hours.

• During SafeTrack, Metrorail will continue to close at midnight, 7 days a week. Last train times vary, so check wmata.com/ stations for information.

For real-time updates, sign up for MetroAlerts at wmata.com/metroalerts Stations Affected

Type of Surge

9

9/15 – 10/26

Vienna to West Falls Church

Single Tracking Weekend Line Segment Shutdown

10

10/29 – 11/22

Fort Totten to Noma-Gallaudet U

Line Segment Shutdown

11

11/28 – 12/29

East Falls Church to West Falls Church

Continuous Single Track

12

Early January

Braddock Rd to Huntington/Van Dorn St

Continuous single tracking; weekend line segment shutdown

13

Late January/Early February

Rosslyn to Pentagon

Line Segment Shutdown

14

March

Braddock Rd to Huntington/Van Dorn St

Continuous single tracking; weekend line segment shutdown

15

Late March/April

Greenbelt to College Park

Continuous single tracking; weekend line segment shutdown

Note: No SafeTrack work will be conducted during the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s holidays, and Inauguration Week, providing a break for our riders and workers.

D E TA I L S O N S U R G E 1 0

October 29 through November 22, 2016 Line shutdown between Noma-Gallaudet U and Fort Totten Reduced service at all

stations. Brookland-CUA and Rhode Island Ave stations closed.

• Red Line trains will run in two segments: Shady Grove to Noma-Gallaudet U and Glenmont to Fort Totten • Two stations will be closed: BrooklandCUA and Rhode Island Ave • Shuttle buses will replace trains between Noma-Gallaudet U and Fort Totten • Expect crowding on all trains due to less frequent Red Line service • Green Line provides alternate path for travel between Fort Totten and Gallery Place • All Red Line customers should consider alternate travel options and avoid traveling during rush-hour periods if possible; expect trains to be extremely crowded

For more information, visit wmata.com/safetrack or call (202) 637-7000.

October 8, 2016 - October 14, 2016, The Afro-American

AFRO Sports Desk Faceoff

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SPORTS

Will Josh Gordon Ever Return to the NFL? Green: The Cleveland Browns might be the only team in the league who wouldn’t sign Gordon if he decided to return The excitement around the return of next year. It almost seems like Cleveland Browns wide receiver Josh the NFL wants Gordon on the Gordon from a four-game suspension field, considering how many to start the season might not have been opportunities the league has widespread, but it was definitely on the given him since he was drafted in minds of NFL pundits.

2013. Gordon has had character Gordon exploded on the scene in 2013 problems since his college when he recorded 87 catches for 1,646 days, when he was kicked off yards while scoring nine touchdowns the Baylor football team for in only 14 games. Since that Pro Bowl testing positive for marijuana in season, he’s lost his playing time to drug 2012; he was forced to enter the suspension after drug suspension, and supplemental draft the following hasn’t played in a game since December year. A tumultuous NFL career 2014. He was suspended for two games came to a climax last week to open the 2013 season for violating the when a DNA test revealed that NFL’s substance-abuse policy. He was he was the father of a one-year arrested the following summer for driving while impaired, and as a result earned (AP Photo/David Richard) old daughter, the same day he announced his admission into a 10-game suspension in 2014. He was Cleveland Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon said in a statement on Sept 29 that he’s rehab. Gordon will always have a then suspended the entire 2015 season for entering a rehab facility to “gain full control of my life.” place in the league, but he might again violating the league’s drug policy. not be mentally stable enough to That suspension extended into the first four games of this season, before he made a public statement on Sept. 29 that he was handle such an opportunity. We’ve seen the last of Gordon. entering himself into an in-patient rehabilitation facility, again placing his NFL Riley: Everybody deals with life’s challenges differently. His performance career on hold. on the field has earned Gordon a lot of sympathy and a lot of fans. Those two The announcement may not come as a total surprise to those who have followed Gordon’s talented but troubled career. But it again removed one of the factors should be enough to surround Gordon with a support circle strong enough to get him back in the NFL. He still has the talent to try football again. league’s most talented players from the field over substance abuse issues. Will Gordon ever suit up in the NFL again? Perry Green and Stephen D. Riley of the Since it appears that Gordon can enter and exit the NFL as he desires, the league will be there whenever Gordon wants to return. How soon that will be is AFRO Sports Desk debate. the better question.

Riley: Players with Gordon’s ability typically don’t run out of chances, Green: Teams are placing such an emphasis on character that even Gordon’s due to their talent. I’ll side with Gordon’s ability giving him another shot talent might not be enough to get him back with another club. Cleveland was somewhere down the road. Who knows how long Gordon will be in rehab. taken for a roller coaster ride dealing with Gordon, as was Baylor. Gordon In his first NFL game against the New York Giants in 2013, Gordon went has burned bridges with teams in the past and organizations will definitely be for two catches, 82 yards and two touchdowns. His talent is unquestioned. looking at that when considering whether to sign Gordon. The NFL has seen Gordon’s potential return this season would have been an audition for another talented players come and go before, and it isn’t like the league is desperate job somewhere else, considering how many chances he squandered with the for a superstar. With a heavy emphasis being placed on substance abuse and Browns. His NFL career has been derailed by drug use and poor decisions, and he’s taking time to work out those problems. But there are still some NFL teams behavior around the NFL, Gordon’s name will be a controversial one if it’s awaiting the return of the player who looked like a Hall of Famer in the making ever brought up in a front office. Gordon’s size, speed and ability are all off the charts, but his own demons have likely cost him the chance of a lifetime. back in 2014.

By Perry Green and Stephen D. Riley AFRO Sports Writers

Week 5

Baltimore and Prince George’s County High School Football Wrap-Up

By Jordan Hawkins Welcome to the AFRO’s weekly sports wrap-up.

This time we are bringing you the recap of week five of high school football from Baltimore City and Prince George’s County.

The Matchup Wrap-up: Continuing on from last week’s wrap-up; The Edmonson-Westside Red Storm handily defeated the hosting Poly Engineers 30-8 on Sept.

30. The Red Storm advance to a 3-1 record and establish their dominance as one of the top three teams in the Baltimore City Region alongside the Mergenthaler Vo-Tech Mustangs and the Douglass Mighty Ducks.

In their next game, the Red Storm will travel and challenge the hosting Dunbar Poets in a Baltimore City I contest on Oct. 7 at 3:45 p.m. The Poets come into the game eager to continue their improvement after their 12-3 non-league win over Boys Latin. As for the Poly Engineers, now 2-3, their next matchup will be against the Douglass Mighty Ducks. The Ducks now also 3-1 come into the Baltimore City I bout fresh off a win over the Patterson Clippers.

reception, and you have an offensive cannon just waiting to be fired. To check out more from Tyrese and the Engineers he will be playing with Poly as they take on the Douglass Mighty Ducks, on Oct. 7.

Meanwhile defense belongs to Prince George’s county this week as the defensive player of the week title goes to Christopher Rhodes of Wise High School. Rhodes is a junior Middle Linebacker and Fullback for the Pumas. Boasting an impressive 29 solo of 36 tackles and now the current PG County leader in sacks, Rhodes has emerged as another reason why the Wise Pumas are not to be messed with. To keep up with Christopher and the Pumas, be sure to check out their next game against the DuVal Tigers on Oct. 8.

The Games to Come: Be sure to check out the Poly Engineers vs the Douglass Mighty Ducks on Oct. 7. However, the big game to look out for will be the City College Black Knights against the visiting Patterson Clippers in a Baltimore City I regional matchup. The reason to see this is because the Clippers Meanwhile over in Prince George’s county the are hungry for a win and the Black Knights Wise Pumas remain undefeated after trouncing the are the only thing standing in their way for a chance to get on the board. However, the Flowers Jaguars in a shutout victory 35-0 on Sept.

Black Knights are a Baltimore team in their (Courtesy photo) 30. The Pumas continue to improve their streak to 5-0 and will put it on the line when they move Tyrese Chambers, of Baltimore’s Poly High School, lining up for play. own right and should not be taken lightly.

The game will take place on October 7. to take on host DuVal in a Prince George’s County However, if you are closer to the Prince Player(s) of the Week: 4A game on Oct. 8. The Tigers are also fresh off George’s County side of Maryland then the matchup The offensive player of the week this time around a shutout victory after beating the High Point Eagles to see will be Parkdale and Laurel on Oct. 8. Neither in a league win 43-0. The DuVal Tigers are now 4-1. is Tyrese Chambers of Poly High School. The young team has won a single game this season and so it The flowers Jaguars however, will get ready to play Engineer is a junior wide receiver and free safety stands to reason that when they go up against each and is one of the strongest offensive weapons Poly Oxon Hill in an in-league challenge as they will try other, you will be in for a no-holds barred, all-out has. Chambers is the top scorer in the Baltimore and better their 2-3 season record so far. Flowers match between two teams desperate to get on the City I region with 34 points over 5 touchdowns. and Oxon Hill will also play on Oct. 8. board this season.

Combine that with an average of 15 yards per That’s it for this week’s football wrap-up.

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C8 The Afro-American, October 8, 2016 - October 14, 2016 NOTICE

LEGAL NOTICES AMONG ELIGIBLE PROGRAMS AND SERVICES; AND

The following resolutions of the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore proposing an amendment to the Charter of Baltimore City (1996 Edition, as amended) will be submitted to the voters of Baltimore City for their approval or disapproval at the General Election to be held in the City of Baltimore on Tuesday the 8th of November, 2016 (CAPITALS indicate matter added to existing law, [Brackets] indicates matter deleted from existing law, Underlining indicates matter added by amendment, Strikeout indicates matter stricken by amendment). __________________________________________

(3) THE ESTABLISHMENT OF ANY OTHER LEGISLATIVE OR ADMINISTRATIVE RULES, REGULATIONS, OR STANDARDS, CONSISTENT WITH THIS SECTION, GOVERNING THE FUND, ITS OPERATIONS, AND PROGRAMS AND SERVICES FUNDED BY IT.

FOR AGAINST CHARTER AMENDMENT CHARTER AMENDMENT QUESTION F Charter Amendment – Subdivision Regulation – Agency Endorsement

FOR AGAINST CHARTER AMENDMENT CHARTER AMENDMENT QUESTION E Charter Amendment – Children and Youth Fund FOR the purpose of establishing a continuing. nonlapsing Children and Youth Fund, to be used exclusively to supplement services provided to children and youth; requiring a minimum annual appropriation to this Fund; authorizing the Mayor and City Council, by Ordinance, to provide for the oversight, governance, and administration of this Fund; and submitting this amendment to the qualified voters of the City for adoption or rejection.

FOR the purpose of correcting an obsolete reference to the Department of General Services ro to reflect and conform with the transfer of certain powers and duties from that agency to the Department of Transportation, as mandated by Charter Resolution 14-016 (ratified Nov. 2, 2014); and submitting this amendment to the qualified voters of the City for adoption or rejection.

BY proposing to amend Article VII - Executive Departments Sections 78 Baltimore City Charter (1996 Edition) SECTION 1. BE IT RESOLVED BY THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE, That the City Charter is proposed to be amended to read as follows:

BY proposing to add Article I - General Provisions Section 13 Baltimore City Charter (1996 Edition)

Baltimore City Charter Article VII. Executive Departments

Baltimore City Charter Article I. General Provisions § 13. CHILDREN AND YOUTH FUND. (A) FUND ESTABLISHED; SCOPE. (1) THERE IS A CONTINUING, NONLAPSING BALTIMORE CITY CHILDREN AND YOUTH FUND, TO BE USED EXCLUSIVELY FOR PURPOSES OF ESTABLISHING NEW AND AUGMENTING EXISTING PROGRAMS FOR AND SERVICES TO THE CHILDREN AND YOUTH OF THIS CITY. (2) THESE PROGRAMS AND SERVICES MUST BE FROM AMONG THOSE DESIGNED TO: (I) ENSURE THAT BALTIMORE’S CHILDREN AND YOUTH ARE HEALTHY, ARE READY TO LEARN AND SUCCEED IN SCHOOL, AND LIVE IN STABLE, SAFE, AND SUPPORTIVE FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES; (II) ENSURE THAT BALTIMORE CITY SUPPORTS FAMILIES AS AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE CITY POPULATION AND CIVIC CULTURE; (III) FOCUS ON THE PREVENTION OF PROBLEMS AND ON SUPPORTING AND ENHANCING THE STRENGTHS OF CHILDREN, YOUTH, AND THEIR FAMILIES; (IV) COMPLEMENT THE CITY’S COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS; (V) STRENGTHEN COMMUNITY-BASED NETWORKS OF RECREATION AND AFTER-SCHOOL SERVICES IN ALL NEIGHBORHOODS; AND

§ 78. Department of Planning: subdivision regulation – recording.

Every plat showing a subdivision plan shall be filed among the Land Records of Baltimore City and with the Department of Legislative Reference, but not until after the plan has been endorsed with the approval of the Commission and of the Department of [General Services] TRANSPORTATION.

FOR AGAINST CHARTER AMENDMENT CHARTER AMENDMENT QUESTION G Charter Amendment Board of Estimates – Local, Small and Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program FOR the purpose of authorizing the waiver or modification of certain procedures in order to assist local, small, or disadvantaged businesses; and submitting this amendment to the qualified voters of the City for adoption or rejection.

BY restating, without amendment Article VI - Board of Estimates Section(s) 11(a) Baltimore City Charter (1996 Edition) BY proposing to add Article VI - Board of Estimates Section(s) 11(i) Baltimore City Charter (1996 Edition) SECTION 1. BE IT RESOLVED BY THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE, That the City Charter is proposed to be amended to read as follows: Baltimore City Charter

(VI) ENSURE THAT CHILDREN AND YOUTH WITH THE HIGHEST NEEDS RECEIVE MAXIMUM BENEFIT FROM THE FUND. (3) THE FUND SHALL BE ADMINISTERED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE FOLLOWING STANDARDS: (I) PROGRAMS AND SERVICES SHALL BE PROVIDED AND FUNDS ALLOCATED BASED ON BEST PRACTICES AND SUCCESSFUL AND INNOVATIVE MODELS; (II) TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT FEASIBLE, FUNDS SHALL BE ALLOCATED EQUITABLY AMONG SERVICES FOR ALL AGE GROUPS – FROM INFANCY TO TRANSITIONAL-AGED YOUTH; (III) PROGRAMS AND SERVICES SHALL BE GENDER-RESPONSIVE AND CULTURALLY COMPETENT; AND (IV) PROGRAMS AND SERVICES SHALL BE DESIGNED TO STRENGTHEN COLLABORATION AMONG SERVICE PROVIDERS FOR CHILDREN, YOUTH, AND THEIR FAMILIES, INCLUDING COLLABORATION AMONG PUBLIC AGENCIES AND NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS. (B) LIMITATIONS ON USE. THE CHILDREN AND YOUTH FUND MAY NOT BE USED TO SUBSTITUTE FOR OR REPLACE FUNDING FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH PROGRAMS OR SERVICES PROVIDED IN THE ORDINANCE OF ESTIMATES FOR FISCAL YEAR 2017, EXCEPT TO THE EXTENT THAT FEDERAL, STATE, OR PRIVATE AGENCY FUNDS FOR THOSE PROGRAMS OR SERVICES HAVE SINCE BEEN DISCONTINUED. (C) REVENUE SOURCES. THE CHILDREN AND YOUTH FUND SHALL COMPRISE: (1) A MANDATORY ANNUAL APPROPRIATION IN THE ORDINANCE OF ESTIMATES OF AN AMOUNT EQUAL TO AT LEAST $0.03 ON EVERY $100 OF ASSESSED OR ASSESSABLE VALUE OF ALL PROPERTY IN THE CITY OF BALTIMORE (EXCEPT PROPERTY EXEMPT BY LAW FROM REAL PROPERTY TAXES); AND (2) GRANTS AND DONATIONS MADE TO THE FUND. (D) CONTINUING NATURE OF FUND. NOTWITHSTANDING ANY OTHER PROVISION OF THIS CHARTER, UNSPENT PORTIONS OF THE CHILDREN AND YOUTH FUND: (1) REMAIN IN THE FUND, TO BE USED EXCLUSIVELY FOR ITS SPECIFIED PURPOSES; (2) DO NOT REVERT TO THE GENERAL REVENUES OF THE CITY; AND (3) THEIR APPROPRIATIONS DO NOT LAPSE. (E) IMPLEMENTATION.

BY ORDINANCE, THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL SHALL PROVIDE FOR THE OVERSIGHT, GOVERNANCE, AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE CHILDREN AND YOUTH FUND, INCLUDING: (1) METHODS AND CRITERIA FOR IDENTIFYING SPECIFIC PROGRAM AND SERVICES ELIGIBLE FOR FUNDING BY THE FUND;

Article VI. Board of Estimates § 11. Procurement. (a) Board of Estimates responsible.

The Board of Estimates shall be responsible for awarding contracts and supervising all purchasing by the City as provided in this section and elsewhere in the Charter.

(I) LOCAL, SMALL, AND DISADVANTAGED BUSINESS ENTERPRISE PROGRAMS. THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL MAY, BY ORDINANCE, ESTABLISH PROGRAMS THAT GRANT PURCHASING PREFERENCES TO LOCAL, SMALL, OR DISADVANTAGED BUSINESSES AND, FOR THAT PURPOSE, WAIVE OR MODIFY THE APPLICATION OF THIS SECTION (WITH THE EXCEPTION OF SUBSECTION (A)) TO CERTAIN TRANSACTIONS.

FOR AGAINST CHARTER AMENDMENT CHARTER AMENDMENT QUESTION H Charter Amendment – Inner Harbor Park FOR the purpose of amending the provision for Inner Harbor Park to provide for outdoor eating places in the areas known as West Shore Park and Rash Field; and submitting this amendment to the qualified voters of the City for adoption or rejection.

BY proposing to amend Article I - General Provisions Section(s) 9 Baltimore City Charter (1996 Edition) SECTION 1. BE IT RESOLVED BY THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE, That the City Charter is proposed to be amended to read as follows: Baltimore City Charter Article I. General Provisions § 9. Inner Harbor Park.

There is hereby dedicated to public park uses for the benefit of this and future generations of the City of Baltimore and the State of Maryland the portion of the City that lies along the north, west and south shores of the Inner Harbor, south of Pratt Street to the water’s edge, east of Light Street to the water’s edge and north of Key Highway to the water’s edge, from the World Trade Center around the shoreline of the Inner Harbor to and including Rash Field, except that, in order to provide eating places and other commercial uses, areas totalling not more than 3.2 acres plus access thereto, within the dedicated space and north of an easterly extension of the south side of Conway Street shall be set aside for such purposes; AND EXCEPT THAT IN ORDER TO PROVIDE OUTDOOR EATING PLACES FOR THE AREAS KNOWN AS WEST SHORE PARK AND RASH FIELD, AREAS TOTALLING NOT MORE THAN 0.5 ACRES WITHIN THE DEDICATED SPACE AND SOUTH OF AN EASTERLY EXTENSION OF THE SOUTH SIDE OF CONWAY STREET SHALL BE SET ASIDE FOR SUCH PURPOSES; and except that an area of not more than 3.4 acres shall be set aside for use by the Maryland Science Center, plus access thereto.

FOR AGAINST CHARTER AMENDMENT CHARTER AMENDMENT QUESTION I Charter Amendment – Biennial Agency Audits

CHARTER AMENDMENT

SECTION 1. BE IT RESOLVED BY THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE, That the City Charter is proposed to be amended to read as follows:

October 8, 2016 - October 14, 2016, The Afro-American

C9

LEGAL NOTICES 8. MAYOR’S OFFICE OF EMPLOYMENT DEVELOPMENT (OR SUCCESSOR ENTITY TO THIS OFFICE).

FOR the purpose of transferring and amending the section certain provisions on agency audits; to require requiring that the City Auditor conduct performance audits of principal agencies at least twice during every 4-year term of the Mayor and City Council; adding to the list of principal agencies subject to these audits; establishing a staggered schedule for these audits; redefining certain terms; providing for public posting of audit reports; establishing a Biennial Audits Oversight Commission and providing for its powers and duties; conforming related references; and submitting this amendment to the qualified voters of the City for adoption or rejection.

(B) BIENNIAL AUDIT REQUIRED. (1) IN GENERAL. AT LEAST TWICE DURING EVERY 4-YEAR TERM OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL, THE CITY AUDITOR SHALL CONDUCT AN AUDIT OF EACH PRINCIPAL AGENCY’S OPERATIONS FOR THE PRECEDING 2 FISCAL YEARS.

BY proposing to amend Article V - Comptroller Section 8(a) Baltimore City Charter (1996 Edition)

(2) STAGGERED SCHEDULE. THESE AUDITS SHALL BE STAGGERED SO THAT:

BY proposing to add Article V - Comptroller Section 11 Baltimore City Charter (1996 Edition)

(I) AUDITS OF THE PRINCIPAL AGENCIES LISTED IN SUBSECTION (A)(3) (I) AS “GROUP A” ARE INITIATED IN ODD-NUMBERED CALENDAR YEARS; AND (II) AUDITS OF THE PRINCIPAL AGENCIES LISTED IN SUBSECTION (A)(3)(II) AS “GROUP B” ARE INITIATED IN EVEN-NUMBERED CALENDAR YEARS.

BY proposing to amend repeal Article VII - Executive Departments Section 4.5 Baltimore City Charter (1996 Edition)

(C) COSTS OF AUDIT. IN EACH FISCAL YEAR PRECEDING THE FISCAL YEAR IN WHICH AUDITS ARE TO BE CONDUCTED UNDER THIS SECTION, THE COMPTROLLER SHALL INCLUDE THE COSTS OF THOSE AUDITS IN THE ESTIMATES THAT THE COMPTROLLER SUBMITS FOR THE NEXT YEAR’S ORDINANCE OF ESTIMATES.

SECTION 1. BE IT RESOLVED BY THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE, That the City Charter is proposed to be amended to read as follows: Baltimore City Charter

(D) STATUS OF PRIOR RECOMMENDATIONS.

Article V. Comptroller

(1) IN GENERAL.

§ 8. Department of Audits – general powers and duties.

In accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards and State and federal law, the City Auditor: (1) shall at appropriate intervals conduct an audit of the financial transactions of every municipal agency, except the Department of Audits; (2) shall conduct an annual audit of all accounts, revenues, and receipts of the City;

(2) CONTENT OF REPORT.

THE ANCILLARY REPORT SHALL:

(3) SHALL CONDUCT BIENNIAL AUDITS OF PRINCIPAL AGENCIES, AS PROVIDED IN § 11 OF THIS ARTICLE;

(I) DESIGNATE EACH RECOMMENDATION’S STATUS EITHER AS “ IMPLEMENTED”, “PARTIALLY IMPLEMENTED”, OR “NOT IMPLEMENTED”; AND

(4) [(3)] may audit the expenditure of City granted funds by any public or private agency that receives such funds;

(II) PROVIDE JUSTIFICATION FOR THE STATUS DESIGNATION ASSIGNED.

(5) [(4)] may audit City contracts, grants, subgrants and other agreements as required by the terms and conditions of these instruments and, when the contracts, grants, subgrants and other agreements require that audits be conducted by other auditors, review such audits; and (6) [(5)] shall make such other audits as the Comptroller or the Board of Estimates may request[;], provided[,] that[, such] THOSE requested audits [shall] DO not, in the judgment of the City Auditor, unduly hinder the performance of regular audits. § 11. DEPARTMENT OF AUDITS – BIENNIAL AUDITS OF PRINCIPAL AGENCIES. (A) DEFINITIONS. (1) IN GENERAL. IN THIS SECTION, THE FOLLOWING TERMS HAVE THE MEANINGS INDICATED. (2) AUDIT. (I) “AUDIT” MEANS AN AUDIT UNDERTAKEN IN ACCORDANCE WITH GENERALLY ACCEPTED GOVERNMENT AUDITING STANDARDS AND FEDERAL AND STATE LAW. (II) “AUDIT” INCLUDES BOTH: (A) A FINANCIAL AUDIT OF A PRINCIPAL AGENCY’S FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS, INCLUDING ALL REVENUES AND RECEIPTS; AND (B) A PERFORMANCE AUDIT THAT ASSESSES A PRINCIPAL AGENCY’S PRACTICES TO DETERMINE WHETHER THE AGENCY IS OPERATING ECONOMICALLY AND EFFICIENTLY AND WHETHER CORRECTIVE ACTIONS FOR IMPROVING ITS PERFORMANCE ARE APPROPRIATE. (3) PRINCIPAL AGENCY. “PRINCIPAL AGENCY” MEANS ANY OF THE FOLLOWING EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS: (I) GROUP A –

1. DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE. 2. DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS. 3. FIRE DEPARTMENT. 4. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT. 5. DEPARTMENT OF GENERAL SERVICES. 6. BALTIMORE DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION. 7. MAYOR’S OFFICE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (OR SUCCESSOR ENTITY TO THIS OFFICE).

8. MAYOR’S OFFICE OF HUMAN SERVICES (OR SUCCESSOR ENTITY TO THIS OFFICE).

(II) GROUP B – 1. DEPARTMENT OF LAW. 2. DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES. 3. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION. 4. POLICE DEPARTMENT. 5. DEPARTMENT OF RECREATION AND PARKS. 6. DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING. 7. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH.

(E) PUBLICATION OF REPORTS. REPORTS OF ALL AUDITS CONDUCTED UNDER THIS SECTION SHALL BE: (1) POSTED ON A PUBLIC WEBSITE MAINTAINED BY THE CITY COMPTROLLER; (2) FILED WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF LEGISLATIVE REFERENCE; AND (3) SUBMITTED TO EACH MEMBER OF: (I) THE BOARD OF ESTIMATES; (II) THE CITY COUNCIL; AND (III) THE BIENNIAL AUDITS OVERSIGHT COMMISSION. (F) BIENNIAL AUDITS OVERSIGHT COMMISSION. (1) COMMISSION ESTABLISHED. THERE IS A BIENNIAL AUDITS OVERSIGHT COMMISSION. (2) COMPOSITION. THE COMMISSION COMPRISES THE FOLLOWING 7 MEMBERS: (I) THE DIRECTOR OF FINANCE; (II) THE INSPECTOR GENERAL; (III) THE COMPTROLLER; (IV) THE CITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT; AND (V) 3 MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL, APPOINTED BY THE CITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT. (3) OFFICERS. (I) THE CITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT SHALL DESIGNATE 1 OF THE MEMBERS TO SERVE AS CHAIR OF THE COMMISSION. (II) THE MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION, BY MAJORITY VOTE, MAY ELECT ANY OTHER OFFICERS THAT THEY CONSIDER NECESSARY OR APPROPRIATE. (4) MEETINGS; VOTING. (I) THE COMMISSION SHALL MEET AT THE CALL OF THE CHAIR AS FREQUENTLY AS REQUIRED TO PERFORM ITS DUTIES. (II) 4 MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION CONSTITUTE A QUORUM FOR THE TRANSACTION OF BUSINESS. (III) AN AFFIRMATIVE VOTE OF AT LEAST 4 MEMBERS IS NEEDED FOR ANY OFFICIAL ACTION. (5) PROCEDURES. THE COMMISSION MAY ADOPT RULES OF PROCEDURE TO GOVERN ITS MEETINGS AND OPERATIONS. (6) POWERS AND DUTIES. THE COMMISSION: (I) SHALL PROVIDE GUIDANCE AND ADVICE TO THE CITY AUDITOR IN DETERMINING THE SCOPE OF A PRINCIPAL AGENCY’S PERFORMANCE AUDIT; (II) SHALL HOLD AT LEAST 2 PUBLICLY ADVERTISED MEETINGS A YEAR, AT WHICH MEETINGS THE CITY AUDITOR SHALL APPEAR AND REPORT ON THE STATUS OF THE AUDITS AND RECOMMENDATIONS UNDER THIS SECTION; AND (III) FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN BY A PRINCIPAL AGENCY, MAY WAIVE THE REQUIREMENT FOR A FINANCIAL AUDIT TO BE CONDUCTED UNDER THIS SECTION.

CHARTER AMENDMENT

EACH REPORT OF AN AGENCY AUDIT CONDUCTED UNDER THIS SECTION SHALL INCLUDE AN ANCILLARY REPORT ON THE STATUS OF ALL RECOMMENDATIONS FOR EXECUTIVE ACTION THAT RESULTED FROM THAT AGENCY’S IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING AUDIT UNDER THIS SECTION.

(a) In general.

C10 The Afro-American, October 8, 2016 - October 14, 2016 LEGAL NOTICES

LEGAL NOTICES

Article VII. Executive Departments

CHARTER AMENDMENT

§ 4.5. Agency audits.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING TRUST FUND

(a) Definitions.

Thy City Charter is proposed to be amended to read as follows:

In this section, the following terms have the meanings indicated.

(2) Audit. [(i)] “Audit” means [an] A PERFORMANCE audit [undertaken] THAT, in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards and federal and state law[.], [(ii) “Audit” includes both: (A) a financial audit of an agency’s financial transactions, including all accounts, revenues, and receipts; and (B) a performance audit that] assesses an agency’s practices to determine whether the agency is operating economically and efficiently and whether corrective actions for improving its performance are appropriate.

(3) Principal agency.

“Principal agency” means any of the following executive departments: (I) GROUP A – 1. [(i)] Department of Finance.

2. [(iii)] Department of Public Works.

3. [(iv)] Fire Department.

4. [(vi)] Department of Housing and Community Development.

5. [(x)] Department of General Services.

6. [(vii)] Baltimore Development Corporation.

7. [(xiii)] Mayor’s Office of Information Technology.

BY proposing to add

Article I-General Provisions

Section 14

Baltimore City Charter Thy City Charter is proposed to be amended to read as follows: Baltimore City Charter Article I. General Provisions Section 14. Affordable Housing Trust Fund.

(A) Fund established: scope.

There is a continuing, nonlapsing fund to be used to promote fair housing in neighborhoods throughout Baltimore, develop and preserve affordable housing for renters and homeowners, and increase affordable housing opportunities for low-income working families and other, including: 1. providing assistance, by loan, grant, rental subsidy, or otherwise, for the planning, production, maintenance, or expansion of affordable housing, including inclusionary housing; 2. providing predevelopment activities for the acquisition, development, new construction, rehabilitation, and or restoration of affordable housing; 3. providing capital and operating assistance for the creation of community land trusts that will develop , own or operate permanently affordable rental housing and assist low income residents to build a path to homeownership; 4. providing affordable and fair housing –related services to low income households to assist them in obtaining housing and remaining stably housed, provided such uses shall not exceed 30% of the funds allocated in a given fiscal year; and 5. providing administrative and planning cost for the operation of the Trust Fund provided such uses may not exceed 5% of the funds allocated each fiscal year.

(B) Revenue sources: A fund established under this section may comprise: 1) money appropriated to the fund in the annual Ordinance of Estimates;

8. MAYOR’S OFFICE OF HUMAN SERVICES.

2) grants or donations made to the fund;

(II) GROUP B –

3) mandatory or voluntary payments made pursuant to development policies established by ordinance;

1. [(ii)] Department of Law. 2. [(xii)] Department of Human Resources.

3. [(ix)] Department of Transportation.

4) a portion of the tax increment financing revenue from increased property tax receipts for the development of affordable housing inside the project area and special taxing district, or in other locations as permitted by law; and

4. [(v)] Police Department.

5) other sources as established by ordinance.

5. [(viii)] Department of Recreation and Parks.

(C ) Continuing nature of fund.

6. [(xi)] Department of Planning.

Notwithstanding any other provision of this Charter, unspent portions of a fund established under the section, repayments of principal and interest on loans provided from the Fund, and interest earned from the deposit or investment of monies from the Fund:

7. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH. 8. MAYOR’S OFFICE OF EMPLOYMENT DEVELOPMENT. (b) [Quadrennial] BIENNIAL audit required.

(1) IN GENERAL. At least [once] TWICE during every 4-year term of the Mayor and City Council, [each principal agency] THE CITY AUDITOR shall [arrange for] CONDUCT an audit of [its] EACH PRINCIPAL AGENCY’S operations for the preceding [4] 2 fiscal years.

(2) STAGGERED SCHEDULE.

(1) shall remain in the fund, to be used exclusively for the purposes set forth in section 14(A) of the article; (2) do not revert to the general revenues of the City; and (3) any appropriations do not lapse.

(D) The Trust Fund shall be administered by Baltimore City Housing and Community Development and overseen by a Commission, the members of which shall be appointed, must be confirmed, and shall serve pursuant to Article IV. Section 6.

(1) Members The Commission shall include:

THESE AUDITS SHALL BE STAGGERED SO THAT: (I) AUDITS OF THE PRINCIPAL AGENCIES LISTED IN SUBSECTION (A) (3)(I) AS “GROUP A” ARE INITIATED IN EVEN-NUMBERED CALENDAR YEARS; AND (II) AUDITS OF THE PRINCIPAL AGENCIES LISTED IN SUBSECTION (A) (3)(II) AS “GROUP B” ARE INITIATED IN ODD-NUMBERED CALENDAR YEARS. [(c) By whom to be conducted.]

[The audit shall be conducted by: (1) the City Auditor; or (2) an independent certified public accountant or firm of certified public accountants.]

(C) [(d)] Costs of audit.

In each fiscal year preceding the fiscal year in which an audit is to be conducted under this section, the [principal agency] BOARD OF ESTIMATES shall include the costs of [the] EACH audit TO BE CONDUCTED in the [estimates that it submits for the] next year’s Ordinance of Estimates.

(D) {RESERVED}

i.

a member appointed by the Mayor with experience in the fields of housing, community development, planning, social service, or public health; ii. a member of the lending community with experience in community development and affordable housing finance; iii. the Baltimore City Housing Commissioner or his/her designee; iv. a resident who rents his/her home and who lives in a household that is extremely low income (i.e. no more than 30% of Area Median Income); v. a resident who owns his/her home and who lives in a household that is very low income (i.e. no more than 50% of Area Median Income); vi. a homeowner who received assistance through an affordable homeownership program; vii. a resident who has received rental assistance; viii. a social service provider; ix. a representative affordable housing developer; x. a low-income housing and or fair housing advocate; xi. a nonprofit affordable housing developer; xii. a representative of a homebuilders of realtors association of Baltimore; and xiii. such different or additional members as may be designated by ordinance.

(2) Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary, the composition of the Commission shall be comprised of at least four residents of Baltimore City whose Incomes are reflective of those individuals who will be assisted by the expenditures of the Trust Fund.

(3) President The Mayor of Baltimore shall designate one member of the Board as its President and may withdraw that designation and so designate another member.

(e) Reports.

Reports of ALL audits conducted under this [subtitle] SECTION shall be: (1) POSTED ON A PUBLIC WEBSITE MAINTAINED BY THE CITY COMPTROLLER; AND (2) submitted to: (I) THE BOARD OF ESTIMATES; AND [(1) the Mayor;] [(2) the City Comptroller; and] [(3) the President of the City Council.]

(II) EACH MEMBER OF THE CITY COUNCIL. SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That City Charter Article VII, § 4.5 is proposed to be repealed, in its entirety.

SECTION 2 3. AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the first group of audits under this amendment shall be initiated in January 2017.

FOR AGAINST CHARTER AMENDMENT CHARTER AMENDMENT QUESTION J

(4) Duties The Commission shall: (i) make recommendations, advise, and consult with the Department of Housing and Community Development regarding the establishment of essential policies, rules, and regulations, relating to the implementation , expenditures , and ongoing operation of the Trust Fund: (ii) Submit an annual report to the Mayor and City Council on the activities and usage of the funds in the Trust Fund including tenure (rental and home ownership), income level served, unit size (number of bedrooms), and make the report available to the public; (iii) if necessary, recommend change to the Trust Fund to maximize affordability outcomes of the Trust Fund to the Mayor and City Council; (iv) ensure an audit of the fund every four years by a certified public accounting firm; (v) exercise any additional duty related to the Trust Fund as directed by the Mayor and City Council.

(E ) Income Targeting: All assistance provided by the Trust Fund shall serve very low income households, at least half of the assistance in any three year period must serve extremely low income households.

(F) Minimum Affordability periods: All rental housing assisted by the Trust Fund must have a minimum affordability period of at least 30 years. All homeownership housing assisted by the Trust Fund must meet affordability criteria based in part on the amount of Trust Fund monies invested in the unit.

Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Mayor Jennell A. Rogers, Chief Bureau of Treasury Management Alternate Custodian of the City Seal

CHARTER AMENDMENT

(1) General.

October 8, 2016 - October 14, 2016, The Afro-American

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The Afro-American, October 8, 2016 - October 14, 2016

Former Md. Del. Herman Taylor Jr.; LSC’s Kiyon Harley (left) presents letter from D.C. Mayor Bowser and proclamations from Md. Rep. Van Hollen and Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake to LSC.

On Sept. 23, L. S. Caldwell & Associates (LSC), an employment placement firm, celebrated 25 years of serving the Greater Washington D.C. Metropolitan area. This event was celebrated by over 200 well wishers, business executives and local government officials. A few of the many luminaries in attendance were: Ward 4 Councilmember Brandon Todd, former D.C. Mayor

President of the D.C. Chamber of Commerce Vincent Orange congratulates LSC.

LSC staff with co-owners C. Eugene Harvey and Loretta Caldwell (top center)

and democratic candidate for Ward 7 City Council, Vincent C. Gray, President of the D.C. Chamber of Commerce, Vincent Orange and former Maryland House of Delegates Member,

Herman Taylor, Jr. LSC Founder, President and CEO, Loretta S. Caldwell and co-owner, Vice President and CFO, C. Eugene Harvey.

Rob Warrington, Esq., New Jersey African American Chamber of Commerce and C. Eugene Harvey

Former D.C. Mayor/Democratic Candidate for Ward 7 D.C. City Council, Vincent Gray greets guests

Loretta S. Caldwell, Dennis Darling, Clark Construction and Jason Jacobson, ArchCo Residential

The Greg Lamont Band

Warren Burris, LSC Economic Empowerment Manager, Purple Line Transit Project and Rob Chappell, Deputy CEO, Purple Line Transit Partners

D.C. Ward 4 Councilmember Brandon Todd (right) presents LSC’s C. Eugene Harvey and Loretta Caldwell with a Proclamation approved by D.C. City Council.

Photos Courtesy of Mark Mahoney, DreamInColorPhoto

Jonathan Buckney-Small, Ziad Ojakli, Rep. Stacey Plaskett, A. Shuanise Washington, McArthur Lawrence, Rep. Brenda Lawrence, GM Executive, Cathy Hughes, Sen. Gary Peters and wife Colleen, Rep.Frederica Wilson, and Pamela Alexander.

A. Shaunise Washington with guest, Benjamin Crump and Stacey Plaskett

Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), and Pamela Alexander, Director of Community Development for Ford Motor Company

President and CEO, Congressional Black Caucus Foundation A. Shaunise Washington and former president of General Motors, Vivian Pickard greets one of the guests and her daughter

On Sept 24, Ford Motor Company and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation hosted a celebratory brunch following the dedication ceremony of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture held at the Ford Washington, D.C. office. Ford is a Founding Donor of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Trial Attorney Benjamin Crump speaking with guests

Courtesy photos

Campaign Manager at Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Christin Chism, Publicist X+PR Xina Eiland, Brand Media Specialist, Punky Flair Amber Bonner Williams and Publicist Mercy Chikowore

Rev. Matthew Watley, executive minister at Reid Temple North

Owner/Publisher of Sister to Sister Magazine, Jamie Foster Brown (far left), President/Chief Marketing Strategist, Emerald City Vern Goff (2nd from left) and their guests

TV One/ Radio One Founder, Cathy Hughes,( left) and Lisa Stroud, CEO, Celebrity Fest with the banner of the Freedom’s Sisters exhibit in the background.

Christine Toney, who was the personal assistant to the late civil rights icon, Dr. Dorothy Height.

Ziad Ojakli, Group Vice President, Government and Community Relations, Ford Motor Company, A. Shuanise Washington, President and CEO, Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc. (CBCF) and Yebbie Watkins, chief of staff to Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC).

October 8, 2016 - October 14, 2016, The Afro-American

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PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY-AREA HistoryMakers Showcases Successful Black Women Leaders in Schools

Bowie President Burnim Opens Up About Legacy as Retirement Looms

By James Wright Special to the AFRO jwright@afro.com

By Shantella Y. Sherman Special to the AFRO ssherman@afro.com Chicago based non-profit, The HistoryMakers, recently organized classroom visits from influential African Americans across the country to schools across the nation.

Designed to showcase a model for success among African-Americans, more than 400 “HistoryMakers” encouraged and empowered D.C. students to aggressively reach for their goals.

Industry standouts like community leader Peggy Cooper Cafritz, civil rights icon Ernest Green, mezzosoprano Denyce Graves, who spoke at a Baltimore school on Oct. 6, and public relations guru Priscilla Clarke were among the September 29 HistoryMakers opening the Back to School day of service.

The HistoryMakers’ Founder and Executive Director Julieanna Richardson told the AFRO that if the need to motivate and channel Black youth is not taken seriously, it could prove critical for society. “Our goal at The HistoryMakers is to be part of the solution, not the problem. We are committed to the notion that our nation’s youth, both minority and nonminority, will benefit from the stories of real world AfricanAmerican high achievers who have overcome obstacles in their path to success,” Richardson said.

Particularly for AfricanAmerican girls, the role of mentors and role models drastically reshapes career paths, life goals, and selfawareness. According to The Office of Juvenile Justice Programs, 87 percent of young women who attended mentoring programs went to Continued on D2

Unsolved Murders Shadow Annual Ward 8 Political Boat Ride

Dr. Mickey Burnim is retiring after 10 years as president of Bowie State University.

Courtesy photo

Burnim, who became president of BSU in Sept. 1, 2006, said he has given his best the past 10 years. “I hope that during my tenure that I proved to be a workhorse rather than a show horse,” the president said. “I wanted to make Bowie State a stronger institution. I wanted it to be better off than when I left Bowie State University President Dr. Mickey Burnim is it.” set to retire in June 2017. He is proud of his accomplishments BSU is located in Prince during his tenure, saying he left the George’s County, Md., north of institution in a better position than Bowie, Md., the county’s largest when he arrived. Burnim made the city. The university was founded announcement on Sept. 14. on Jan. 9, 1865 and is the oldest On Sept. 29, Burnim spoke Black higher education institution with the AFRO about his legacy as in Maryland. BSU offers 20 Bowie State University’s (BSU) undergraduate majors, 20 master’s ninth leader. He said while he will programs and two doctoral retire from the university, he will – Dr. Mickey Burnim degree degrees, as well as various stay active in higher education and certificate programs in a wide range become more involved with his family. “Regarding retirement, I will transform from a full-time of fields such as nursing and computer science. BSU is a public institution and relies on the state of Maryland for much of its job to doing what I like to do,” he said. “I will do consulting work and be an executive coach in higher education. I plan also operating funds. The university has an enrollment of 5,561. to travel with my wife and watch our grandchildren grow up.”

Continued on D2

By James Wright Special to the AFRO jwright@afro.com

“I hope that during my tenure that I proved to be a workhorse rather than a show horse.”

The Anacostia Coordinating Council’s Annual Boat Ride is always a source of food, fun, and political gossip. However, because of what is going on in Ward 8 communities, a nervous sense of urgency is pervasive and there is a great deal of discussion about helping the ward’s youth.

“We have children dying on the streets of D.C.,” Kenneth McClenton, the father of slain journalist Charnice Milton, said to the 200 people on Oct. 1 boat ride. Milton was killed on May 27, 2015 on the intersection of Good Hope Road and Naylor Streets., S.E. as she was getting off of a bus. Milton’s slaying remains unsolved.

McClenton, on the boat as a guest of Anacostia Coordinating Council (ACC) chairman Arrington Dixon, bemoaned the fact that his daughter’s killer hasn’t been caught. “We need to do something to solve these unsolved murders that are going on,” McClenton said.

“We want to make sure that their memory will not be in vain.”

The ACC was founded in 1983 as a volunteer consortium of organizations located primarily in Ward 8. Its primary purpose was to revitalize Anacostia, and to get a Metro station located there, which Continued on D2

Allen Pushes Automatic Voter Jonathan Riley, CBCF Registration Through DMV Fellow, Dies

Obama recently said should become ‘the new norm across America’.”

The bill creates a process for the D.C. Board of Elections to accept electronic registration D.C. Council member Charles Allen wants to information from the DMV, streamline the make sure that all District of Columbia residents user experience, and improve the accuracy of have the chance to register to vote for future information on city voter rolls. The legislation elections. So he is working on a way would also allow registered voters to change they can do it at a heavily used city their address on Election Day at their new government agency. polling site.

Allen, a Democrat representing Presently, when a person is involved with Ward 6, is the author of “The the DMV, they are given the option to register Automatic Voter Registration to vote. Allen’s legislation would stipulate that Amendment Act of 2015,” which if one didn’t want to register to vote, they would automatically registers residents to have to tell the DMV staffer that.

4 Seasons Convenience vote when7-11 they fill out an application In the District, there are 448,718 registered Store 4975 South Dakota Ave., NE for identification voters, according to statistics 231 E. Baltimore Street at the D.C. compiled by the D.C. Board Convenient 7 Department of of Elections. Of that number, CVS 3601 812 Guilford Avenue Motor Vehicles 76.58 percent of those are 12th St., NE (DMV). Allen said Democrats while 6.23 percent Express this legislation, if it are Republicans, and 15.98 Fort Totten Metro 1101 Calvert Street becomes law, will percent are registered as 550 Galloway St., NE make it easier for independents.

Golden Star Machine District residents to The bill recently passed Providence Hospital 226 Gay Street have the chance to the Committee on the 1150 Varnum St. NE cast a ballot.

Judiciary, chaired by D.C. Jones Food Market “I introduced Council member Kenyan Shell 1203 Greenmount Avenue this bill to reduce McDuffie (D-Ward 5). When 3701 12th St., NE obstacles to the bill was first introduced Royal Farm #100 voter registration

by Allen in May 2015, it 38 Light Street and increase was co-introduced by D.C. participation in Council members Mary Cheh our elections,” the (D-Ward 3), Jack Evans council member (D-Ward 2), Elissa Silverman said. “At a time (I-At Large), Anita Bonds CVS - Eastover Shopping Ctr. when some states (D-At Large), and Brianne 4901 Indian Head Highway and elected leaders seem more Nadeau (D-Ward 1).

Sun Grocery Oxon Hill, Md. interested 2338 in finding ways to block Allen hopes his colleagues will consider the E. Monument Street people from voting, I am proud bill before the year ends.

Giant - Eastover Shopping that the District Columbia is Shelia Bunn, a political activist who ran in SuperofSave Ctr. moving in2100 the opposite direction to the April 2015 special election for the Ward E. Monument Street 20 Audrey Lane Oxon Hill, Md. automatically enfranchise residents.

8 seat, told the AFRO she favors the bill. “It This bill puts D.C. on the leading makes it simple for everyone to register to Continued on D3 edge nationally of what President

By James Wright Special to the AFRO jwright@afro.com

By AFRO Staff Jonathan E. Riley, a fellow for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, died on Oct. 4. The cause of death is unknown.

CBC Chairman G. K. Butterfield (D.-N.C.) issued the following statement: “The Twitter Congressional Black Caucus Jonathan E. Riley, who Foundation, Inc. (CBCF) worked on Capitol Hill, died Fellowship program has long recently. served as a talent pipeline for professional African American men and women looking to develop careers on Capitol Hill.

The program was created to give future leaders an opportunity to work in public service, develop leadership skills, and make a difference in the community. Thousands of the brightest individuals from around the country have come through the CBCF fellowship program and assist in the development of a number of legislative and public policy initiatives within Congressional Black Caucus member offices. Having demonstrated a commitment to public service and optimism to serve their community early on, the CBCF fellows continue to excel in public service long after their fellowship is complete.

“This legislative session, the Congressional Black Caucus was fortunate to have one such individual, Jonathan E. Riley, Continued on D3

Patricia Dowtin Named President of Realtors Organization On Oct. 1, Patricia Dowtin was installed as the 2017 president of the Prince George’s County Association of Realtors. In her new position, Dowtin said she plans to enhance the organization’s community service profile, including working on food drives, scholarships for high school seniors and fair housing education.

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The Afro-American, October 8, 2016 - October 14, 2016

Burnim

Continued from D1 Burnim said he wanted to make an impact on BSU and realized after he was sworn in to the presidency in 2006 that he must move quickly. “Bowie State University has had eight presidents since its founding and one has a short window of opportunity to make a difference,” he said. “In 10 years, the university is fiscally sound with over $15 million for the comprehensive fundraising campaign and we have this fall 950 freshman, the largest we have ever had and graduated 1,180 in May, which is a record too. In the Washington, D.C. area, there is extreme competition for students but we are holding our own.”

Burnim speaks proudly of the cybersecurity program, which is unique among Black colleges. “One of our strongest and most visible departments is the Department of Computer Science and our work in cybersecurity,” he said. “We offer a bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in cybersecurity.

We have a wonderful staff in our computer science department aggressively writing proposals for grants and funding and I commend their hard work.”

Ricardo C. Mitchell, president of the Bowie State University

Alumni Association, praised Burnim’s term. “Dr. Burnim did a lot of good things for Bowie State,” Mitchell told the AFRO. “He advocated for more majors and to increase enrollment. He helped build up the campus with the new Fine Arts, Student Union, and Science & Nursing building that is being worked on.”

Nevertheless, Burnim has had problems to face. “We face challenges in private fundraising,” he said. “Fundraising is tough generally and during my tenure, the Great Recession took place. Many people loss a significant amount of wealth during that time and weren’t giving as much.”

Before he leaves next year, Burnim wants to create an endowed chair for the university and expand its international program and complete a cybersecurity joint program with the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

While Burnim has accomplished much, there has been some controversy. Recently, BSU held its graduation ceremonies on the campus of the University of Maryland, College Park at the Xfinity Center. Many alumni, such as David Grogan, president

HistoryMakers

Boat Ride

Continued from D1

college within two years of high school graduation; 52 percent were less likely to become pregnant during their teenage years; and 46 percent were less likely to use illegal drugs and alcohol.

HistoryMakers, in its promotion of resilient, intellectually savvy, and principled Black female leaders, according to Woodrow Wilson High School student Liana Ewell, has given voice to the accomplishments of Black women in the scheme of racial uplift that is often overlooked.

“When you think of Black history a lot of the focus is male and when you think of American women, the focus tends to be White, so the stories of Black women and girls – which don’t necessarily fit into either space – go unheard,” Ewell told the AFRO. “It’s important that we see ourselves represented fully in American history and I think having so many powerful Black women share their stories resets the boundaries for a lot of us . . . it shows that we can do it too.”

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Continued from D1 For HistoryMaker Priscilla Clarke, who spoke to students at Ward 8’s Anacostia Senior High, the goal was to inspire students to dream and introduce them to real people from diverse backgrounds and who have faced various challenges.

“I am honored to be a part of this platform that informs and educates our youth to achieve their goals. I am also extremely excited about the new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture and the resources and historical knowledge it provides that can be shared with all generations,” Clarke told the AFRO. “I shared with the students how proud it makes you walking thru our doors of history at the national mall.”

Many of the barriers to Black female academic and economic success, according to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Legal Defense Fund and the National Women’s Law Center joint research “Unlocking Opportunity for African American Girls,” are facilitated by longstanding structural barriers, but also by not being able to see the success they desire surrounding them. HistoryMakers answers that deficit past and present.

“Our girls need role models. They need to know that in every area of endeavor the Black women have achieved,” Richardson told the AFRO. “There is so much about the lived Black history experience that we still need to know about. The memories in The HistoryMakers Collection go back to the 1700s.”

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was accomplished on Dec. 28, 1991. Since then, the ACC has focused on addressing Ward 8 concerns through organizing community meetings, serving as advocates for the ward, and acting as a networking venue.

The boat ride on the Potomac River is the organization’s main fundraising event for the past 24 years. It is attended by the District’s leading political figures and this year was no exception with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) and D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) making an appearance.

McClenton’s call for solving murders is on ACC’s radar, with its executive director Philip Pannell the subject of a July 31 Washington Post article on unsolved homicides, echoing Martin’s plea.

Bowser is well-aware of the unsolved murders and the other problems Ward 8 youth

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of the Bowie State University 2000 Alumni Association, didn’t like that move at all.

“Many family members travel to see their child graduate and they get the chance to see the school for the first time,” Grogan told the AFRO.”I don’t know what his thought process was. You would never see anything like that at Howard, Spelman, or Morehouse.”

Mitchell acknowledged also that the commencement move rattled a lot of BSU alumni, staff and faculty but Burnim stands by the decision. “A committee of faculty, staff, and students recommended moving commencement activities because holding them on campus was inconvenient,” Burnim said. “There is the hot sun on the stadium field and in the past several people have fainted. The committee decided to go to an indoor venue with air conditioning, parking, and safety. I thought the committee’s recommendation made sense but you can’t please everybody.”

Grogan said he hopes the next president “is a visionary that will make Bowie State the premier school in the area.”

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face. She encouraged those on the boat to keep advocating for what they believe.

“We want to thank the residents of Ward 8 for always challenging us,” Bowser told the boat riders. “We are committed to bringing more sit-down restaurants to Ward 8 as well as an alley cleanup, and offered summer job opportunities for young people.

We want to offer fair shot opportunities for everyone.”

Bowser introduced members of her administration and pointed out the Ward 8 MOCRS (Mayor’s Office of Community Relations Staff), Keisha Mims and Devon Lesesne, and said they are available to help. “Put us to work,” she said. “Let us know what needs to be done and we will do it.”

In addition to Mendelson, D.C. Council member Robert White (D-At Large) and their likely colleague, Ward 8 D.C. Council hopeful Trayon White (D), were there. Robert White told the AFRO “I have always been committed to Ward 8. I will be working with its new council member and leaders in the ward for more resources to improve its educational system and spur economic development. We want to bring new businesses in and have affordable housing at market rate. I am thinking about supporting programs for young people such as internships and in-school programs during the winter months, and have programs such as young people shoveling snow for seniors.”

Ward 8 Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Jacque Patterson has direct involvement with the ward’s young people. “I have helped to build a great school in the ward,” Patterson told the AFRO. “The school is Rocketship Charter School where elementary school students attend. We have up to 400 students in the school located in the Woodland Terrace neighborhood and it specializes in personalized learning.”

Ron Moten, an anti-gang violence activist has sponsored programs to help young people in the ward for years. Recently, with the support of the Jack Kemp Foundation, Moten bought U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) over to Ward 8 to meet young people and bought ward youngsters to Capitol Hill to participate in a program that featured Scott and Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). “We wanted to give the kids exposure to Sen. Scott,” Moten told the AFRO. “We wanted to show them something different than what they see every day.”

Moten said there is another Ward 8 appearance of Scott and Booker in the works.

October 8, 2016 - October 14, 2016, The Afro-American

Two Homicides Rattle Northeast D.C.

By Linda Poulson Special to the AFRO Police need your help to solve four crimes: two are homicides in Northeast and two are sexual abuse cases in Northwest Washington, D.C. From Northeast the latest is a fatal shooting in the 900 block of 10th Street N.E. on Sept 29.

Officers from the First District responded to a call of gunshots around 3:55 a.m. D.C. Fire and EMS personnel responding found an adult male suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead and transferred to the Office of the Medical Examiner.

The adult male was identified as Eugene Clarke, 39, of Temple Hills, Md. George Vaughn, an attorney that lives adjacent to the corner of where it happened, told his story.

“What we heard at first started as an argument,” Vaughn said. “It was late in the night, so we thought somebody was drunk coming from H Street, and because when people walk, let’s be honest, they walk down this street here. Only locals park here in this area,” he said.

“Next thing we know there was a loud pop, then there was a pop, pop, pop, pop,” Vaughn continued. “And that was it.”

Detectives are investigating a fatal shooting that occurred on Sept. 25 at 2:42 a.m. in the 400 block of Riggs Road Northeast. The victim, Marcellus Thomas, 22, of Northeast D.C., was pronounced dead, and transported to the Office of the Medical Examiner.

Police have not uncovered a suspect in either case.

The Metropolitan Police Department is offering up to $25,000 dollars for information on these cases. Call at 202-727-9099. Anonymous information can be sent to the department’s TEXT TIP LINE by text messaging 50411.

Voter Registration Continued from D1

vote,” Bunn said. “It insures that people are registered and that they can play a role in determining through the vote how the city is run.”

If passed into law, the District would join states like Oregon, California, Vermont, West Virginia, and Connecticut in making automatic voter registration the law. Allen noted that since Connecticut initiated automatic voter registration in August, the one month total of new DMV voter registrations exceeded the previous three years of DMVbased registration combined.

However, not all District residents embrace Allen’s bill. Ralph Chittams Sr.,

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COMMUNITY CONNECTION Herndon, Va.

2016 Loudoun County Freedom Fund Gala The NAACP Freedom Fund Gala will be held on October 8 at the Dulles Airport Hilton, 13869 Park Center Road, Herndon, Va. 20171. The event starts at 5:30. Tickets can be purchased on line at naacploudoun.com.

Gaithersburg, Md.

Annual 2 Mile Domestic Violence Prevention Walk-a-Thon The Annual 2 Mile Domestic Violence Prevention Walka-Thon will take place at the Bohrer Park Activity Center on Oct. 8 in Gaithersburg, Md. The walk is to address and provide assistance to families on available resources, education, health, counseling, and temporary safe haven from abuse environment. The event raises money for Safe Haven Ministries. The walk will take place at Bohrer Park Activity Center, 512 S. Frederick Avenue, Gaithersburg, Md. 20877 on Oct. 8 from 8 a.m. to noon. For more information go thelmfoundation.com.

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Washington, D.C.

Black Student Fund and Latino School Fund Host Annual School Fair The Black Student Fund and the Latino School Fund, two D.C. area non-profits, will host their Annual School Fair on Oct. 9 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. More than 60 schools from the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area will attend. The event will include workshops, entertainment, screening of the movie “American Promise” and a video game development workshop.

2016 Ms. Veteran America Competition The 5th Annual Ms. Veteran America competition will take place on Oct. 9 in Washington, D.C. This event honors the service of the 2 million women who have worn the U.S. Military Uniform. This event also reminds us of the women who have made the ultimate sacrifice during their military service.

The completion will take place at Shakespeare Theatre, Sidney Harmon Hall, Washington, D.C. at 7 p.m. For more information go to msveteranamerica.org.

senior vice chairman of the D.C. Republican Party, is uncomfortable with automatic voter registration. “Having a driver’s license in the District of Columbia doesn’t entitle a person to vote,” Chittams told the AFRO, noting that noncitizens get driver’s licenses

in the District and takes exception to Chittams’s claims. “I do believe that it should be an option for people at the DMV,” Kinlow told the AFRO. “Other jurisdictions have that. You don’t have to register to vote that way if you don’t want to.”

“It makes it simple for everyone to register to vote.”

– Sheila Bunn also. “Only U.S. citizens can vote in the District of Columbia. What will stop non-citizens from registering to vote?

“I think Allen’s bill will open up the District’s electoral process to voter fraud.

Automatic voter registration sounds great in theory but we have to maintain the integrity of our electoral system. The DMV shouldn’t be used as a voting mechanism.”

Jacqueline Kinlow is a well-known political activist

Kinlow said that concerns about non-citizens registering to vote our unfounded, noting that the legislation applies only to citizens. She said Allen’s bill is ultimately good for the District. “A lot of people don’t register to vote in the traditional way because they don’t have access to voter registration cards or don’t understand the process of registering electronically,” she said. “Registering through the DMV will make the process easier for people.”

Jonathan Riley Continued from D1

Esq., serve with our office as a CBCF fellow. A graduate of the University of Florida and Northwestern University School of Law, Jonathan was a tremendously talented young man who made an unforgettable impression on his colleagues in the CBC and the CBCF Fellowship program. He had a joyous spirit and celebration for life. He loved his family, his work and demonstrated an admirable level of compassion, kindness and patience as he approached every assignment with enthusiasm and delight as his unselfish desire was to make a difference in life and his community. Prior to his work with the CBC, Jonathan advised Chicago-area businesses and nonprofits in entrepreneurship law and he held a strong passion for tech startups. “ Riley leaves behind his wife Ayisat and one-year old son, Benjamin.

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The Afro-American, October 8, 2016 - October 14, 2016

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