PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY EDITION
Volume 122 No. 12
OCTOBER 26, 2013 - NOVEMBER 1, 2013
Prince George’s Police Seek Public’s Help in Finding Two Suspects
Economic Quagmire Deepens for Blacks By Zenitha Prince Special to the AFRO
Man Sought in 1989 Killing Found in Georgia
About a week ago, Ernest, a 40-year-old husband and father of two girls, lost his job. For three years, the Baltimore man, who has a degree in accounting and years of experience, said he worked in a series of menial, part-time jobs because he could not find employment in his field. About a month ago, he left his janitorial job for an office position that promised upward mobility, permanency and the ever-important benefits. But the light at the end of the tunnel turned out to be a train. The company that just hired him hit a rough patch and had to let him go. Now, he is on the unemployment rolls again, and he and his family are living in a transitional housing facility operated by the nonprofit St. Vincent de Paul of Baltimore. “As a man it hurts. I want to be a provider. I want my family to have the best. I don’t want to depend on the government or anyone for assistance,” said the African-American man, who asked not to be identified by his last name. “I want a 401 (k), I want a pension plan, I want a health insurance plan, I want to pay my bills and take care of my family. [But] I’ve been having
By Courtney Jacobs and Zachary Lester AFRO Staff Writers People who knew Jesse A. Chavez of Fort Washington described him as good people, the kind of young man who was
a hard time finding permanent employment.” Sadly, Ernest’s story of unemployment, homelessness and poverty is becoming all too familiar, as reflected by a recently released U.S. Census Bureau survey on poverty, incomes and health insurance that bears witness to the ongoing toll of the Great Recession on American families. “It’s not a positive report,” said Elise Gould, economist and director of health care research at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. “All the trends in the data have been pretty flat. Incomes have not increased. The poverty rate has Continued on A4
Women Congressional Leaders Conduct Womens’ Empowerment Forum By Courtney Jacobs AFRO Staff Writer
Sen. Barbara Mikulski (DMd.) quickly set the tone for the Oct. 22 forum for women at First Baptist Church of
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Glenarden. “When you have an easy job, you know who to give it to. When you have a tough job, give it to a woman,” Mikulski told the 50 women who attended the gathering that was themed “When Women Succeed, America Succeeds: An Economic Agenda for Women and Families.”
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women navigate the modern day gauntlet of home, career and personal responsibilities faced by women. At the top of the agenda for the panel was income. With women continuing to trail men in pay, the target of economic parity looms large for women, the panelists agreed. Edwards expressed the importance of paycheck
speaker of the House of Representative said a pay gap exists even for career women from their first year out of college and through womens’ lives. “That’s like saying you work in January, February and March for free opposed to males,” Pelosi said. Income defines the choices women are allowed to make, members of the audience said. For Maureen E. Arthur,
Courtesy Prince George’s police
Assault and robbery suspect Aaron K. Williams
Sen. Barbara Mikulski Mikulski, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.) were the featured speakers at the forum designed to help
fairness. “It’s important for us to have equal pay for work,” Edwards said. Noting that women make only 77 cents for every dollar a man makes on average in the U.S., Pelosi, former
who just earned her bachelor’s degree in gender and womens’ studies, the road to middle-class status is bumpy. She is the first in her family to earn a college degree but it came at a steep Continued on A3
Homeland Security Chief and Federal Claims Court Chief Justice By Avis Thomas-Lester AFRO Executive Editor
DHS chief nominee Jeh C. Johnson
NAACP Names Interim Prez/CEO By Zachary Lester AFRO Staff Writer Lorraine C. Miller, an NAACP national board member and real estate executive who served as the first Black clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, has been named interim president and CEO of the NAACP. She will oversee the organization until a successor is found for retiring President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous. Miller’s appointment was announced by NAACP Chairman Roslyn M. Brock at the civil rights organization’s national board of directors meeting recently in Las Vegas. Theresa Dear, of Bartlett, Ill., was designated to head the search committee. Washington, D.C. resident Lamell McMorris will serve as the committee’s vice chair. Both are members of the
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Lorraine Miller, interim prez NAACP national board. “Lorraine is a natural fit as interim president of the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization,” Jealous said in a statement. “She comes into this position with two decades of experience working for the U.S. House of Representatives and an even
longer career in civil rights advocacy and policy. She will have the honor of leading the dynamic staff of this great organization.” According to a bio posted on Historymakers.com, Miller’s parents “believed ardently” in the NAACP. A devoted member of the Baptist church, she graduated from the University of North Texas in 1975 with a bachelor’s in political science. Her first job was teaching high school government. Soon, she moved east and began interning for the Maryland State Legislature. She spent 11 years working for former Rep. Jim Wright (D-Tex.) , serving as his executive assistant when he acted as speaker of the House of Representatives. She also worked for the late Rep. Tom Foley (D-Wash.) when he was Continued on A4
Courtesy Prince George’s police
Assault and robbery suspect Malik Savone Ussery
President Appoints Two Blacks to High Federal Positions
When you have an easy job, you know who to give it to. When you have a tough job, give it to a woman.” —Mikulski
Howard University Homecoming Schedule
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Judge Patricia E. CampbellSmith
President Barack Obama has selected Jeh C. Johnson, who supervised 10,000 civilian and military lawyers at the Department of Defense, as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. He also recently named Judge Patricia E. CampbellSmith of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims to serve as the chief judge. She is the first African American to be designated. If confirmed, Johnson, who would leave private practice to serve, would come to the position with substantial experience, officials said. He would be the fourth DHS secretary and the first Black person to hold the post. Johnson, a graduate of Morehouse and Columbia Law School, served as the Department of Defense’s top lawyer. He advised Obama and two secretaries of defense and helped to develop several national security policies Continued on A3
At a recent event, Rep. Donna Edwards’ short curly ‘do appeared to be shorn a little closer on the sides and smoother on the top than usual. It’s a good look.
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Copyright © 2013 by the Afro-American Company