Volume Volume 124 123 No. No. 11 20–22
www.afro.com
October 17, 2015 - October 17, 2015, The Afro-American A1 $1.00
$1.00
OCTOBER 17, 2015 - OCTOBER 23, 2015
Inside
They Came
Washington
• D.C. Residents
Why Black People Answer When Farrakhan Calls
Want New U.S. Attorney to Close V. Gray Case
A6
B1
Baltimore
C1
AFRO/Photos by Robert Roberts
Thousands showed up on the National Mall on Oct. 10 to get re-ignited. See page A3 for what Farrakhan outlines as next steps following the march.
Farrakhan Calls for Black Self-Help 3.1M in 20th Anniversary Address By James Wright Special to the AFRO jwright@afro.com
That’s how many people saw the AFRO Facebook page last week. Join the over 1,000 new fans per day and become part of the family.
The leader of the Nation of Islam on Oct. 10 told a huge crowd of people to become more active in solving their own problems instead of relying on others. Minister Louis Farrakhan was the keynote speaker at the 20th anniversary of the Million Man March on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The march’s theme
INSERT • Walmart
rogue cops and wicked Black people.” Farrakhan said Black people need to overtake the public education system that exists in their communities, saying that each system teaches Black children a doctrine of White supremacy. He also called for a ministry of defense and a ministry of justice in local Black communities. “We can solve our problems,” the minister said. During his two-and-a-
half-hour speech, Farrakhan offered his recommendations for how Blacks should deal with the issues that are facing the country now. He advised Black women to avoid aborting their unborn children. “You should bring your child to term,” he said. “Now women, it’s your body and you can do what you please, but the child you may be aborting may be the next Sitting Bull, Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King, Abraham, Moses or Jesus. If
Your History • Your Community • Your News
Race, Economics Loom Large at Democrats’ Debate
afro.com
By James Wright Special to the AFRO jwright@afro.com The Democratic candidates for president talked about a wide variety of issues in their recent debate but issues of income equality and race relations played a major part of the discussion. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the front-runner in the Democratic presidential contest, was joined at the CNN/Facebook-hosted first Democratic presidential debate by
Join Host Sean Yoes Monday-Friday 5-7 p.m. on 88.9 WEAA FM, the Voice of the Community. 02
47105 21847
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb and former Sen. Lincoln Chafee on Oct. 13 at the Wynn
Matter movement, Sanders made his views clear. “Yes, Black lives matter,” the senator said. “We have to combat institutional racism and reform the criminal justice system.” On Black Lives Matter, -Sen. Bernie Sanders O’Malley said that while he was the mayor of Baltimore, Las Vegas resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. he saw that people of color’s lives were During the two-hour long event, the undervalued and he worked with Black candidates focused on the economy, and Brown leaders in his city to address foreign policy and race relations. Continued on A4 When asked about the Black Lives
“Yes, Black lives matter.”
Solving the ‘Preschool to Prison Pipeline’ Problem
Listen to Afro’s “First Edition”
7
“Justice or Else,” was designed to let rally participants and the American people know the mistreatment of Blacks needed to come to an end. “We have to clean up our own community,” Farrakhan told the throngs of men, women and children on the Mall through bullet-proof glass. “We as a people have to stop killing each other in the inner city and stop police killings. We want to train 10,000 men to stand up for Black people and fight the
2
Spiking D.C. Violence Spur Calls for Culture Change By Barrington M. Salmon Special to the AFRO
By Shantella Y. Sherman Special to the AFRO ssherman@afro.com Janine Trotter did not expect that at age 5, her twin sons Marlon and Marcus, would be outlaws within their Virginia school district. Bright and rambunctious, the twins often scored high on achievement tests and in class assignments, but proved disruptive and menacing to the few teachers they’d had in preschool. Labeled “unruly,” “unteachable,” and “feral” by one administrator, the twins were suspended more than eight times during their first year of pre-kindergarten. Trotter found the labeling as offensive as the suspensions. “There is a language to the type of discrimination that Continued on A4
Courtesy photo
Benjamin Crump, president of the National Bar Association
With two months left in 2015, as of Oct. 9 the District of Columbia has 120 homicides. That figure is 44.6 percent higher than 2014. Across the United States, families, cities, and communities are grappling with a culture of violence manifested by tens of thousands killed each year by guns, mass murders on campuses, in workplaces and Continued on A4
Copyright © 2015 by the Afro-American Company
• O’Malley Haunted by Specter of Zero Tolerance
D1
you are wise, you should keep the child and it may be the answer to your prayers.” The issue was a personal one: Farrakhan said his mother tried to abort him three times but failed. “After the third time she said, ‘Let it be,’” he said. The Minister advised women to respect themselves and refrain from calling each other a “b—h,” and told men to honor and respect the fairer sex. “Any man trafficking girls, I say, you are worthy of death
Continued on A3
Freddie Gray Follow-Up
Officer’s 2 Statements Admissible in Freddie Gray Case By The Associated Press The statements two Baltimore police officers made to investigators probing the death of Freddie Gray can be used at the officers’ trials, a Continued on A5 Barbara Haddock Taylr /The Baltimore Sun via AP
Idris Elba and ‘Beasts of No Nation’
Alicia D. White is one of six Baltimore city police officers charged in connection with Freddie Gray’s death.