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Volume 122 No. 38
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APRIL 26, 2014 - MAY 2, 2014
SCOTUS Creates Affirmative Inaction
By Zenitha Prince Senior AFRO Correspondent
April 22, 2014 – A Supreme Court decision, April 22, upholding states’ right to ban the use of racesensitive policies in university admissions wielded a serious blow to affirmative action, experts said, and shifts the battleground to the states. “Many voices in the
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‘An Afternoon of Music’ in Montgomery Co.
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From the Rough Film Review
civil rights community will call this decision a major disappointment because
having is whether affirmative action was constitutionally permissible and it remains
Wounded Warrior Program Highlights Amputee Soldiers Recovery
“Advocates of affirmative action are going to have to work harder than ever before to attempt to sustain its viability.” — Jose Anderson it weakens the options for insuring diversity in our public institutions,” said Jose Anderson, professor of law, University of Baltimore. “Advocates of affirmative action are going to have to work harder than ever before to attempt to sustain its viability.” University of Maryland law professor Larry Gibson, however, saw the glass as being half-full. “It doesn’t by itself do as much damage as I feared it might. The fight we’ve been
so—unless it is banned by a state Constitution,” Gibson said. “The negative side is that [the decision] will probably encourage other states to enact similar bans.” Justices voted 6-2 in the case brought by the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration & Immigrant Rights, and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) against the state of Michigan, whose voters approved an initiative banning racial preferences in
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wikimedia.org/ D.O.D.
U.S. Army Sgt. Saul Martinez intercepts a passed ball during an intramural wheelchair basketball game between soldiers from the Army Warrior Transition Unit and Marines from the Marine Wounded Warrior Battalion. By Maria Adebola Special to the AFRO The 10th anniversary of the U.S. Army’s Wounded Warrior Program (AW2) was celebrated April 22. AW2, joining with the U.S. Army Warrior Transition Command (WTC), hosted a media and bloggers roundtable to commemorate the years of successful service. The panel featured three wounded soldiers, each sharing their story on recover and successful transition into Continuation on Active Duty (COAD) through AW2. Along with soldiers Staff Sgt. Julio Larrea, Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Redman, and Spc. Joshua Budd, Col. Johnny Davis, director Continued on A6
Foreclosures on the Rise Again
• Walmart
By Roz Hamlett Special to the AFRO
Part I in a three part series on foreclosures Even as the recovering housing market nationally appears to be brightening, foreclosure filings in Maryland are once again increasing, according to the Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance (BINA).
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After a period of high foreclosure rates in 2009, the number of property foreclosures in Maryland decreased significantly from Continued on A4
Wisconsin Suppression
‘...A Life and Death Struggle for Voting Rights’
surmount new barriers to voting. “The climate of voting has changed all over the U.S.—not only in Wisconsin…it’s pretty depressing,” said Johnson, a longtime Part II in an ongoing series on efforts to community activist. reverse voting rights in this country Rep. Gwen Moore, a Wisconsin Democrat, Anita Johnson, a community organizer agreed with that with Citizen Action of assessment. Wisconsin, spends her “This is a life and death days beating the streets— struggle for voting rights,” knocking on doors, visiting she said. senior citizen homes, “There have been so addressing congregations many efforts to block the and other groups about vote here. It is a totally unchanges in election laws. American and retrograde In previous months, — Anita Johnson situation,” she added. her days were spent in “We hold ourselves up as Madison at the state a beacon of democracy capitol, testifying, around the world. It’s very agitating, shaming the embarrassing for people to see these efforts to General Assembly about the slew of new restrictive voting laws lawmakers were ramming restrict the vote.” In the backlash from President Barack down the electorate’s throat. But, to no avail. Obama’s historic election in 2008 and the Great When Wisconsin voters go to the ballot box in August and November they will have to Continued on A4 By Zenitha Prince Senior AFRO Correspondent
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Despite a hopeful drop in foreclosure filings from a 2009 high of 6,138, since 2012 the needle has been moving in the wrong direction.
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“The climate of voting has changed all over the U.S — it’s pretty depressing.”
Rev. ‘Jazz’
Rev. ‘Jazz’ Preaches First Resurrection Sunday at Jericho City of Praise
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A young Greeter at the church