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Volume 123 No. 35
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APRIL 4, 2015 - APRIL 10, 2015
Bowser Upbeat in District Address
State of Selma Belies Civil Rights Victories
By James Wright Special to the AFRO
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser shared a vision of the nation’s capital she hopes all residents will embrace. Bowser delivered her first State of the District Address, subtitled “Pathways to the Middle Class” on March 31 at the Lincoln Theatre with hundreds attending. Bowser started the hour-long speech saying she is
By Zenitha Prince Senior AFRO Correspondent
White House Photo
During spring break, Alexis Toliver, a senior neuroscience major at Johns Hopkins University, forewent the sandy beaches of Cancun, Mexico, for the southern climes of Selma, Ala. Toliver wanted a hands-on volunteer experience in a place that
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defined a turning point in the Civil Rights Movement. It was like stepping into a time warp. “After a few days in Selma, I felt like Jim Crow was still in effect . . . everything felt separate and unequal,” Toliver told the AFRO. The Baltimore-based coed said she was “perplexed” by the “disorder and horrifying state” of the city, particularly in light of the nostalgic media coverage accompanying the 50th
anniversary of the “Bloody Sunday” demonstration that precipitated passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Politicians and activists agree with Toliver’s assessment of the city. “It’s true. Selma is in a pretty bad state . . .. [It] is a ruined shadow of its former self,” said Mark Potok, senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, a social justice advocacy group. “That is the part that was lost in the exuberant coverage of the 50th anniversary of
the Selma-to-Montgomery marches.” The first thing Toliver noted in Selma was an “air of White supremacy,” which she confronted almost immediately upon crossing the infamous Edmund Pettus Bridge to enter the city. A huge billboard honouring Ku Klux Klan founder Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate general remembered for his brutality, met her. The sign features Forrest astride a horse above Continued on A8
“She set a good mark tonight on what she intends to do for the next four years.” – Anthony Williams “humble and proud” to be the city’s leader. “Today, I am pleased to report that the District is strong . . . and growing stronger,” the mayor said. “We are one of the strongest economies in the country. We are the economic engine of the region accounting for one quarter of the job market and in the last year, over two-thirds of its private sector job growth.” However, despite all of the positives the District possesses, Bowser said, “There is room to improve. Continued on A4
Black Caucus Foundation Discusses School-to-Prison Pipeline By James Wright Special to the AFRO The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) in conjunction with the Annie E. Casey Foundation held a forum: “Reversing the Schoolto-Prison Pipeline for African Americans and Minorities: Comprehensive Programs, Practices and Policy Solutions.” The event took place March 18 on Capitol Hill. U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), Congressional Black Caucus chairman, spoke passionately about the need for lawmakers, policy makers, and the public to understand the school-to-prison pipeline and how it negatively impacts people of color. “The reform of the criminal justice system is the centerpiece of our agenda,” Butterfield said. “The criminal justice system is broken and is in need of reform and repair. The way things are going, we are creating a
generation of unemployable men and women for a lifetime.” The U.S. Department of Education reports that African-American and Latino students are significantly more likely than their classmates to be suspended or expelled, 3.5 times and 1.5 times
respectively. The department’s statistics reveal that although Black students represent 16 percent of student enrollment in the country, they represent 27 percent of students referred to law enforcement and 31 percent of students subjected to a school-related
arrest. In addition, various studies have found that lowincome students are consistently over-represented in the use of out-of-school suspension and even middle and upper income Blacks students are more likely to be suspended than their peers at the same demographic level. Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.), considered the expert in Congress on issues relating to Black males and incarceration, said the school-to-prison pipeline is indicative of larger problems in the country. “Our country is the most incarcerated nation on Earth,” Davis said. “Black boys drop out [in terms of educational focus] by the third grade and they have never had an AfricanAmerican teacher or seen an African-American male reading a book. To many Black boys, education is seen as a girl kind of thing and Blacks students are subject to horrific approaches to discipline.” Continued on A8
Welsing Talks Supremacy at Women’s Conference By Shantella Y. Sherman Special to the AFRO Photo by Shantella Y. Sherman
Members of the Florida and New Jersey delegations attending the Black Women’s Roundtable National Summit
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Black Women’s Roundtable Aims for Global Empowerment at Annual Conference
By Shantella Y. Sherman Special to the AFRO
Women from around the country convened recently for the three-day Black Women’s Roundtable “Women of Power: Healthy, Wealthy,
Wise” National Summit.” The event, where hundreds of African-American women came together to encourage, support and mentor each other, set the stage for the release of the 2015 report, Continued on A6
It has been nearly a quarter of a century since Frances Cress Welsing’s The Isis Papers: Keys to the Colors opened the dialogue on racism-White supremacy as a biological imperative to White genetic survival. The collection of essays deconstructing racialized codes in behavior took on an almost prophetic tone during the inaugural Black Power Women’s Conference hosted by the National Black United Front (NBUF). The conference, held Continued on A6
Photo by Shantella Sherman
Frances Cress Welsing’s The Isis Papers: Keys to the Colors opened the dialogue on racism and White Supremacy at the National Black United Front’s Black Women’s Conference.
Copyright © 2015 by the Afro-American Company