August 29, 2015 - August 29, 2015, The Afro-American A1 PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY EDITION
Volume 124 No. 4
AUGUST 29, 2015 - SEPTEMBER 4, 2015
Inside
Katrina: 10 Years Later
Baltimore
• Annapolis Police
Reform Workgroup Refutes Criticism
Amelia Boynton, ‘Bloody Sunday’ Marcher, Dies at 104
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Washington
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Native musicians perform on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Aug. 15 as the city rebuilds 10 years after Hurricane Katrina.
• AFRO Exclusive AP Photo
Former Reporter Kills Self, Two in VA
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Maryland AG Proposes New Guidance to Prevent Racial Profiling By Linda Poulson Special to the AFRO
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In an attempt to rebuild trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve, Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh released a new set of guidelines aimed at ending discriminatory profiling in Maryland on Aug. 25. The document details ways police investigations can avoid being discriminatory. Statewide adoption of the guidance makes Maryland the first state to set enforcement standards following the Department of Justice’s
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moves to end discriminatory profiling. In December, the Department of Justice set rules to prohibit FBI agents from considering race, ethnicity, gender, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity to pursue cases. Maryland followed Department
Women Fight Too
New Generation of Black Women Stand Against Racial Inequality By Barrington M. Salmon Special to the AFRO
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“We are here because we have an opportunity to not only change today but to change tomorrow.”
During the arc of the modern Civil Rights Movement, women have played a critical role in organizing, planning, supporting and implementing strategies designed to confront and topple the racial segregation that disenfranchised Black Americans for more than a century. But the sexism and misogyny of men in the movement
and the widespread patriarchy in the larger society relegated women to the shadows. “The times guided all women White and Black,” Dorie Ann Ladner, Civil Rights organizer and activist, told the AFRO. “Traditionally the movement was male-driven and traditionally, women were in the background, in church, at home. People like me who were very headstrong saw it as Continued on A4
AP Photo
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Marissa Johnson, left, speaks as Mara Jacqueline Willaford stands with her and Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., stands nearby as the two women take over the microphone at a rally Aug. 8, in downtown Seattle. The women, co-founders of the Seattle chapter of Black Lives Matter, took over the microphone moments after Sanders began speaking and refused to relinquish it.
of Justice’s lead, when drafting the guidelines, prohibiting officers, in any law enforcement agency in Maryland,
with Acting U.S. Attorney for D.C.
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from considering race, ethnicity, gender, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability or gender identity when conducting routine police operations. “Today we are joined by many people who work for justice,” Frosh said during the press conference in Annapolis, MD. “Law enforcement, prosecutors, advocacy groups – that Continued on A4
U.S. Department of Health Sees Glimmers of Hope in Mental Health Status of Blacks By Zenitha Prince Senior AFRO Correspondent zprince@afro.com Things are “moving in the right direction” in terms of the treatment of mental health and mental health disparities in the Black community, health officials say. Black Americans are 20 percent more likely to report having serious psychological distress than non-Hispanic Whites, according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And, poverty only exacerbates those conditions, as Blacks living below the poverty level, as compared to those over twice the poverty level, are three times more likely to report psychological distress. However, it is not the “statistical prevalence of mental health conditions” among Blacks that should be the main cause for concern but that “the burden of the condition may be greater,” said Roslyn Moore, public health analyst in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. For example, Moore said, Blacks are much more exposed to trauma—poverty, crime, death, discrimination and more. Yet, they are less likely to have access to quality mental health care. For example, White Americans are more than twice as likely to receive antidepressant prescription treatments as are Black Americans, according to the CDC. The stigma associated with mental illness, lack of information and community distrust bred by a history of discrimination within health care services as well as continuing institutional biases have all been cited
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as barriers to equitably addressing behavioral health in Black communities. Under the Obama administration, however, aggressive steps have been
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Emmett Till Died on Aug. 28, 1955
While visiting relatives in Mississippi, 14-year old Till, who was from Chicago, spoke to a White woman and did not display the proper amount of respect for her liking. Several days later he was beaten and shot in the head by a group of men before his body was dumped in the Tallahatchie River. Till’s death became a rallying cry for the civil rights movement.