Washington Afro-American Newspaper March 21 2015

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Volume 123 No. 33

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MARCH 21, 2015 - MARCH 27, 2015

Apple to Donate Nearly $50 million to HBCUs to Spur STEM

Obama Claims Upper Hand Over Congress

By Josh Lederman and Jim Kuhnhenn Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Bolstered by a spate of upbeat economic news, President Barack Obama is claiming the upper hand in the budget fight unfolding in Congress, aiming to exploit recent Republican stumbles to give Democrats an advantage despite their status as a weakened minority.

But while Obama retains

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President Obama speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, March 16.

Bolstered by a spate of upbeat economic news, Obama is claiming the upper hand in the budget fight unfolding in Congress. full use of the bully pulpit, his leverage over matters of government spending may prove limited.

The White House has put a spotlight on GOP missteps and infighting in recent weeks, arguing that Republicans who promised to govern effectively are falling down on the job since taking control of Congress earlier this year. Drawing an implicit contrast, Obama has been playing up his own, unilateral

economic steps as a way to show he’s the one setting Washington’s agenda.

“We’re going to have a robust debate,” Obama pledged Tuesday shortly after House Republicans released their $3.8 trillion budget.

Obama has stood firmly behind his insistence that Republicans increase spending on domestic programs — not just the Pentagon.

“The defining feature of

this new Republican majority in Congress is them being on defense responding to the president’s agenda,” Brian Deese, an Obama senior adviser, said in an interview.

The current debate is over a budget resolution, a nonbinding measure that doesn’t require Obama’s signature.

Typically, Congress uses separate appropriations bills to fund various parts of the government, which makes Continued on A5

Photo courtesy of Apple

Students supported by the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, which focuses on public, historically black colleges and universities.

By Shantella Y. Sherman Special to the AFRO Some of the nation’s historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) will soon benefit from a multi-year, multi-million-dollar effort to increase the pipeline of women, minorities, and veterans in the technology industry. Fortune Magazine reports Apple’s gift of nearly $50 million will go to the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, in benefit to 47 public HBCUs. The funds will provide scholarships to students majoring in computer science, training for students and faculty, and establish a paid internship program for hiring promising HBCU students at Apple.

Apple’s human resources chief Denise Young Smith said the company is partnering with several non-profit organizations to create opportunities for minority candidates to get their first job at Apple. “There is a tremendous upside to [creating opportunities] and we are dogged about the fact that we can’t innovate without being diverse and inclusive,” said Young Smith.

Apple’s funding is one of the largest gifts to any HBCU

“…there are some really talented individuals at these [HBCU] schools.”

– Johnny Taylor

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Edwards’ Seat is Up for Grabs

By James Wright Special to the AFRO

The recent decision by Rep. Donna Edwards to run for the U.S. Senate in 2016 has produced a crop of politicians who have declared for her House seat or are considering a run for it. Edwards is running in the April 5,

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2016 Democratic primary for the nomination to replace Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.). As a result, Edwards, in Congress since 2008, is vacating her Prince George’s-Anne Arundel county-based congressional seat.

Two of Prince George’s County’s most well-known political figures, former Prince Continued on A5

advocacy organization, and will be support the most comprehensive training partnership ever conceived in benefit to Black colleges. “Historically, other organizations have provided scholarship dollars or focused on whatever area matters most to them,” said Johnny Taylor, president and CEO of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. “People are at Harvard and MIT looking for their students, but Apple said, there are some really talented individuals at these [HBCU] schools.”

Apple’s partnership with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, a non-profit that supports students enrolled in public HBCUs, signals direct action in securing talented minority engineers, according to Paul Dorsey, a retired HBCU science instructor.

“Black colleges have an abundance of talented and disciplined Continued on A6

Former D.C. Delegate-Civil Rights Icon Fauntroy Sought

By Shantella Y. Sherman Special to the AFRO

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Courtesy photos

Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Glenn Ivey, former Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown and Del. Joseline A. Pena-Melnyk (D-District 21) have all joined the race for the House seat vacated by Edwards.

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Family and friends of former D.C. Delegate and Civil Rights icon Walter Fauntroy have grown increasingly concerned following reports that a bench warrant had been issued for his arrest. The warrant, issued by the Prince George’s County sheriff’s office, stems from a $50,000 bounced check Fauntroy allegedly wrote to cover a 2009 Presidential Inauguration

event for Barack Obama.

The 82-year-old pastor and former aid to Martin Luther King Jr., alarmed those close to him when he failed to attend the funeral of longtime friend and former D.C. Mayor Marion Barry, and more recently, neglected to take part in commemoration activities surrounding the 50th anniversary of the SelmaMontgomery March.

While Fauntroy’s attorney Art Reynolds Jr. said he believes he may be in any of a number of African

A bench warrant has reportedly been issued for the arrest of Walter Fauntroy.

nations, his interview with WUSA9’s Bruce Johnson suggests he has, in fact, spoken with Fauntroy and advised him legally of his options. Reynolds confirmed that Fauntroy’s passport has been revoked as a result of the warrant.

“I have advised him that in the event he comes back into the country, whenever he gets into customs, the bench warrant would pop up on the computers and he would be taken into custody,” Reynolds said.

Copyright © 2015 by the Afro-American Company

According to Johnson, Fauntroy’s mental state and living accommodations are uncertain, as well as any sources of income he has while abroad.

Judges generally issue bench warrants for contempt of court or for persons who fail to appear at scheduled hearings.

A State Department official said in response to our inquiry on Fauntroy that “due to privacy laws and restrictions, we do not Continued on A6

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The Afro-American, March 21, 2015 - March 27, 2015

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NATION & WORLD ‘Zebra Killer’ Inmate Found Dead Prosecutor: 20-Year-Old Charged in San Quentin Prison Cell in Shootings of 2 Officers SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — One of the four men convicted of participating in a string of racially motivated attacks in the mid-1970s that killed 14 people and injured seven in San Francisco was found dead in his cell, California prison officials said Friday.

The body of J.C.X. Simon, 69, was found in his one-man cell shortly before midnight Thursday, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said. The cause of death is unknown, and an autopsy is planned.

Simon was convicted of two first-degree murder charges in 1976 and was serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole, the maximum sentence allowed In California at the time.

Simon and three other Black men were convicted of participating in a sixmonth murder spree that targeted white victims in San AP Photo Francisco. Between October 1976 and April 1974, 14 J.C.X. Simon was found people were murdered and dead in his cell. Simon seven wounded — including was one of the four men convicted of participating Art Agnos, who would go on to serve as San Francisco’s in a string of racially mayor. The killing spree motivated attacks in the was dubbed the “zebra mid-1970s that killed 14 murders” because of the racial people and injured seven motivations. in San Francisco.

Then-Mayor Joe Alioto ordered a city-wide dragnet to catch the killers. Police stopped and questioned nearly every young Black man they encountered between the ages of 20 and 30 who were six-feet tall or few inches shorter.

Those questioned and cleared were given a card to show other officers who detained them.

The three other men convicted of participating in the killings are all serving life sentences with the possibility of parole at separate California prisons.

Slain Black Philadelphia Police Officer Laid to Rest

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Mourners packed a sports arena for the funeral of a Philadelphia police officer fatally shot while trying to stop a video game store robbery.

Thousands of officers in blue dress uniforms stood silently as Officer Robert Wilson III’s family entered the Palestra at the University of Pennsylvania on March 14. A large sketch at the arena’s entrance of the 8-year department veteran was covered in mourners’ signatures.

Wilson was killed March 5 at a GameStop store in north Philadelphia. He had stopped for a security check and to buy a

CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — A 20-year-old man charged Sunday with shooting two police officers who were keeping watch over a demonstration outside the Ferguson Police Department had participated in the protests earlier that night, police said.

St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch said Jeffrey Williams told authorities he was firing at someone with whom he was in a dispute, not at the police officers.

“We’re not sure we completely buy that part of it,” McCulloch said, adding that there might have been other people in the vehicle with Williams.

Williams is charged with two counts of first-degree assault, one count of firing a weapon from a vehicle and three counts of armed criminal action. McCulloch said the investigation is ongoing.

The officers were shot early Thursday as a crowd began to break up after a late-night demonstration that unfolded after Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson resigned in the wake of the scathing federal Justice Department report.

“He was out there earlier that evening as part of the demonstration,” McCulloch said of Williams.

A 41-year-old St. Louis County officer was shot in the right shoulder, the bullet exiting through his back.

A 32-year-old officer from Webster Groves was wearing a riot helmet with the face shield up. He was shot in the right cheek, just below the eye, and the bullet lodged behind his ear. The officers were released from the hospital later AP Photo/St. Louis County Police Department Thursday.

Jeffrey Williams is McCulloch said Williams used a 40mm handgun, which charged in connection with the shooting of two matches the shell casings at police officers who were the scene. keeping watch over a Williams, who St. Louis demonstration outside County Police Chief Jon the Ferguson Police Belmar said is black, is being Department on March 12. held on $300,000 bond.

The north St. Louis County resident was on probation in St. Louis County for receiving stolen property, McCulloch said.

“I think there was a warrant out for him on that because he had neglected to report for the last seven months to his probation officer,” he said.

Belmar said Thursday that the officers could have easily been killed, and called the attack “an ambush,” citing the two New York City officers who were shot and killed in their police cruiser in December.

Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement Sunday that the arrest “sends a clear message that acts of violence against our law enforcement personnel will never be tolerated” and praised “significant cooperation between federal authorities and the St. Louis County Police Department.”

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Philadelphia police officer Robert Wilson III was laid to rest March 14.

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game for his son.

Police say the 30-yearold father of two was getting the game to reward his son for good grades and for his 10th birthday, which was Monday.

Two brothers have been charged with murder in Wilson’s death.

The police department has been a national focal point since the fatal Aug. 9 shooting of Michael Brown, who was black and unarmed, by now-former police officer Darren Wilson. Wilson was cleared by the Justice Department’s report and a grand jury led by McCulloch declined to indict Wilson in November.

The federal report found widespread racial bias in the city’s policing and in a municipal court system driven by profit extracted from mostly black and low-income residents.

Six Ferguson officials, including Jackson, have resigned or been fired since the federal report was released March 4.

March 21, 2015 - March 27, 2015, The Afro-American

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WOMEN’S HEALTH Beijing Platform for Action Cites Health of Women Globally Needs Improvement

By Shantella Y. Sherman Special to the AFRO In 1995, 189 countries and 4,000 organizations made a pledge to commit to a future in which women had equal rights. Known as the Beijing Platform for Action, the goal of the international commitment was to remove all the obstacles to women’s active participation in all spheres of public and private life. This was to occur through a full and equal share in economic, social, cultural and political decision-making. Twenty years later, in conjunction with International Women’s Day, the United Nations Women found dismal levels of advancement and continued disparities, even among African-American women.

UN Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, announced recently, that none of those countries had achieved gender equality. Calling the statistics sickening, Mlambo-Ngcuka said the UN was “calling on governments, everywhere in the world, to Step It Up. By 2030 at the latest, we want to live in a world where at least half of all parliamentarians, university students, CEOs, civil society leaders and any other category, are women. Real progress requires 50-50.”

The findings, shed critical light on the progress women have made since the adoption of the landmark blueprint for advancing women’s rights. Noting areas of advancement, stagnation, and decline, the report reveals that improvements have been unacceptably slow, particularly slow for women and girls who experience multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination. And the bad news for African-American women, is that despite living in Courtesy photos

Living in this country does not ensure equality in healthcare despite increasing access. programming required a thorough analysis of these factors.

Globally, the gender gap for economic participation and opportunity has closed by just 4 percentage points since 2006.

“On our current trajectory,” MlamboNgcuka said, “it will take another 81 years to reach equality. This is a wake-up call. Even where we are doing best, progress remains uneven; and discrimination against women continues in law and in practice. Women still face the main burden of unpaid care work… and violence against women remains a pandemic with one out of three women

Global Health Initiative

by UN Women

UN Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka

“By 2030 at the latest, we want to live in a world where at least half of all parliamentarians, university students, CEOs, civil society leaders and any other category, are women. Real progress requires 50-50.”

– Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka

a country where healthcare is available, a lack of access to resources leaves many Black women as vulnerable to disease and death as those in under-developed nations.

In Detroit, for instance, increased numbers of Black women die from pregnancy-related causes at a rate higher than in places like Libya, Uruguay and Vietnam. The average maternal death rate in the city is also triple the national average. Intensifying those rates, according to Roberto Romero, director of the Perinatal Research Branch of the National Institutes of Health, is a shortage of primary care physicians, many who not accept Medicaid and the inability of

experiencing either intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in her lifetime.”

The Platform for Action calls for greater efforts to increase women’s access to appropriate, affordable and quality health care throughout the life cycle; the strengthening of preventive programs that promote women’s health; and increased resources for women’s health and monitoring mechanisms to ensure gender mainstreaming and the implementation of women’s health policies and programs.

The Commission on the Status of Women will present an implementation platform based on the study’s results this week in New York.

pregnant women to find safe housing, healthy food and transportation.

Similarly, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that African-American women may lack access to screening and treatment, whereas Latinas face cultural and language barriers. In thirteen percent of incident cancers were caused by a failure to follow-up. Elucidating the root causes of these disparities continues to be confounded by the interaction of behavioral, social, economic, and environmental demographics, such as poor health literacy, limited transportation, and mistrust of the care provider.

The Platform for Action called for the realization of women’s right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. It acknowledged that women’s health is determined by the social, political and economic context of their lives as well as by their biological characteristics.

It emphasized that gender as well as other inequalities based on ethnicity, class and geographic location were important barriers for the achievement of women’s health and that gender responsive health policy and

By Shantella Y. Sherman Special to the AFRO Despite having a higher life expectancy rate from birth than men, across the globe, women tend to have a more disadvantaged quality of life and face gender-based discrimination that reduces those numbers. Globally, between 1990 and 2012, female life expectancy increased from 67 years to 73 years, while men’s life expectancy increased from 62 years to 68 years.

In the agreed conclusions adopted at the fifty-seventh session of the Commission on the Status of Women, the Commission urged governments to reiterate their commitment to improving access to timely, affordable and quality health care for women and girls and to ensuring the gender sensitivity of health policy and programming by encouraging the active participation of women and girls in its design and implementation.

The initiatives expounded during International Women’s Day also emphasized the need to strengthen sexual and reproductive health services as key entry points for women and girls who are at risk of violence, especially sexual violence. The Commission further emphasized the continued need to promote and protect the sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights of all women and to ensure universal access to comprehensive prevention, affordable treatment, care and support services for HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections, free of stigma and discrimination.

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The Afro-American, March 21, 2015 - March 27, 2015

INTERNATIONAL No Backing Down on Reparations Demands

By Bert Wilkinson Special to the NNPA from the New York Amsterdam News Caribbean governments restated their intention to pursue Britain and other European nations that participated in the brutal transatlantic slave trade for reparations. Likewise, they

trade bloc head of government leading preparations for the case against Europe, recently told reporters that governments and the umbrella reparations commission preparing the case prefer the issue not be handled not on a basis of “a diplomacy of protest.”

“There is going to be

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Professor Hilary Beckles is the regional academic leading preparatory work on the issue. want those nations to know that they should negotiate with the region in good faith.

Freundel Stuart, the prime minister of Barbados and the

no retreat on the issue of reparations,” he said. “It is an issue to which the entire region is irrevocably committed, and we cannot

“…we cannot turn our backs on our history and the legacy which has been bequeathed to us as a result of slavery and native genocide.” turn our backs on our history and the legacy which has been bequeathed to us as a result of slavery and native genocide.”

The region has been leading the way among Blacks around the world in the fight to receive remunerations from Britain, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, France and others for making millions of Blacks work on sugar and other plantations without paying them a cent in compensation, as well as for the millions who died during the horrible transatlantic journey from Africa’s West Coast to the Caribbean.

Professor Hilary Beckles, the regional academic leading preparatory work on the issue, made it clear to the British Parliament in a well received address last year that slavery and its lingering effects are most likely to be blamed for some of the social and health problems Caribbean citizens are forced to live with today, including a greater proportion of people living with chronic

– Freundel Stuart

diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and heart disease.

These he linked to prolonged high levels of stress and an extremely poor diet dating back to plantations.

“We are pursuing the issue of reparations on the basis of a diplomacy of engagement.

And that is very important because all of us have today civilized diplomatic relations with former slave trading nations, and we’re not about to undermine, depreciate or destroy those relations.

We contemplate therefore, as a first measure, having a discussion with designated countries, former slave trading countries, to see what areas of agreement exist and whether there can be an amicable and civilized resolution to our differences,” he said.

Stuart said leaders had discussed the issue at length at their mid-year meeting in the Bahamas late last month.

The region has already been assured by the British law firm it has hired to make the case in Europe that it is based on good legal, moral and historical foundation and should be won on a trot.

That same firm was a shoo-in among leaders because it had made Britain pay millions in reparations for genocide committed against Kenyan Mau Mau freedom fighters in the colonial era.

Stuart said the preparatory work is continuing apace.

“There is a legacy with which we are dealing, and what we are trying to sensitize former slave trading nations to is the existence of that legacy and the connection between that legacy and their actions in the 17th and 18th and part of the 19th century as well. Having done that, we look at our areas of continuing deficit—social deficit, economic deficit and sometimes political deficit … and try to see what developmental initiatives we can initiate as a result of our discussions to redress some of these hideous imbalances.

So that is the course we are intending to pursue.”

Courtesy photo

President John Mahama’s recent loan from the International Monetary Fund is troubling to some.

Debt Balloons Off the Charts in Ghana, Angering Critics Special to the NNPA from the Global Information Network (GIN) – The steady nation of Ghana could be heading for a painful train wreck as government borrowing raises the foreign debt to sky-high levels.

Last month, President John Mahama signed on to a nearly $1 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund. To service the loan, the government will be forced to impose austerity measures that are very likely to hurt Ghanaian citizens. These measures include increases in fuel prices, a freeze on hiring public-sector workers and an end to energy subsidies.

The plan will be presented to the IMF’s board for approval in April, with the first pay out of approximately $100 million to be made shortly after.

According to Akwasi Sarpong, an analyst for BBC Africa, the bailout was considered necessary for the restoration of investor confidence in a struggling economy beset by crippling electricity blackouts.

Then, on the heels of the IMF bailout, more borrowing was announced. State-owned Ghana National Petroleum Corporation is close to signing a $700 million loan agreement with a group of private commercial lenders led by commodity

“…the debt per capita has increased by 40 percent.”

– Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu

trader Trafigura as part of plans to recapitalize for expansion, the GNPC chief executive said.

It’s the largest loan taken out by the GNPC since the start of oil production in 2010, which many had cheered as a harbinger of prosperity for all.

Unfortunately for Ghana, the world is awash with oil, at some of the lowest prices per barrel in years. In fact, the world is running out of storage for the oil that has already been pumped.

The mountainous borrowing was defended by Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, who dismissed the figure of $1 billion as insignificant. “Nine hundred and forty million dollars over a three-year period is not a lot of money, it is just about $300 million a year,” he told regional ministers at a conference in Cape Coast. “Now our infrastructure requirements are in the region of about $5 billion a year, so infrastructure alone is overwhelmingly bigger than the resources we are receiving from the IMF.” But critics of the mounting loans are worried. At a press conference in early January, Minority Leader Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu attacked the ballooning of the public debt from $2.6 billion in 2008 to $19.7 billion today.

“Last year at this time, the burden for every Ghanaian was $582. One year on, the debt per capita has increased by 40 percent. No thanks to ‘yentie obi ara’ (‘we are not listening to anyone’) government.”

“What is the most important issue in Ghana today?” asked Stephen Nyarko in Ghanaweb. “It is four letters long. Yes, it is DEBT, and it is the unsustainable type.”

Nyarko continued, “Not long ago, Ghana had a positive economic future, according to the World Bank and IMF. The narrative of ‘Ghana Rising’ was all over the international financial press. Ghana’s once mighty Ghana new cedi has now achieved infamy as the worse performing currency in the world. The slumping currency is fueling inflation. The impact on citizens economic well-being has become so that wellmeaning citizens who invested in the Ghana new cedi in 2007, have seen their wealth and savings totally wiped out.

“If we are to get over our current unsustainable debt burden, we need to restart the debate about the breakneck speed at which Ghana has been borrowing money and using its natural resources—oil, gold, cocoa—as collateral. The old models of just borrowing yourself out of poverty and inefficiencies do not fit.”

March 21, 2015 - March 27, 2015, The Afro-American

Lynch Allies Press McConnell for Floor Vote Rumors Suggest Vote Pending

By James Wright Special to the AFRO Leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus, civil rights organizations, and a major Black sorority are strongly encouraging the majority leader of the U.S. Senate to put partisan politics aside and confirm President Obama’s choice for U.S. attorney general.

Loretta Lynch, set to be Wikimedia Commons the first Black female attorney Loretta Lynch is President general, is waging a fight for her Obama’s attorney general Senate confirmation with most pick.

Republicans opposing her and virtually all Democrats in her favor. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is delaying a vote on Lynch until Senate Democrats agree to stop their blockage of an anti-human trafficking bill over its abortion restrictions.

Regardless, talk reflected by NAACP releases indicate that the vote will occur shortly, maybe even during the week of March 16. Incensed, Wade Henderson, the president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, organized a conference call on March 17 to call for a vote on Lynch with supporters U.S. Reps. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.) and Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), Delta Sigma Theta Sorority National President Paulette Walker, and Sherrilyn Ifill, director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

Butterfield is chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and Fudge is a former chairman of the CBC and former national president of Delta.

Henderson said the Republican majority is using Wikimedia Commons every excuse it can find to delay or obstruct Lynch’s Senate Majority Leader confirmation. “And the one Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is thing these excuses all have delaying a vote on Lynch.

in common is that none of them have anything to do with the nominee herself,” Henderson said. “No one has questioned her fitness to be attorney general.”

Henderson noted that many GOP senators voted to confirm Lynch in her present job, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.”

Fudge said that Lynch is being held up because of political posturing. “President Obama and our nation are left waiting for a confirmation vote for no reason other than the petty and mean-spirited political gamesmanship of Senate leadership,” the representative said. “I urge the Senate Majority Leader to bring Ms. Lynch’s nomination to the floor without further delay. Anything less is an affront to all Americans.”

“No one has questioned her fitness to be attorney general.”

– Wade Henderson On Feb. 26, Lynch’s nomination was sent to the Senate floor by the Senate Judiciary Committee by a 12-8 vote. All of the Democrats on the committee supported her nomination and three Republicans, Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) voted for her also.

Lynch supporters say the delay in the confirmation process has taken longer than any other nominee for that position in 30 years. Butterfield said that the four-month process Lynch is going through is unacceptable. “This is a travesty,” he said.

“We should not deny the president of the United States his choice of a qualified candidate. Every American should be interested in ensuring Lynch is treated fairly.”

Walker said that Lynch, who is a Delta, is being held “hostage to issues not germane to her.

“We urge the Senate to confirm Lynch immediately,” Walker said. “The delay needs to end today. As attorney general, she will follow the laws of this country and she will be fair.”

Ifill said all Americans should be watching the Lynch ordeal. “When a woman of Loretta Lynch’s impeccable qualifications appears before the Senate fully qualified and fully prepared to become the top law enforcement officer of this country and faces the longest delay in confirmation in modern history, all across the country women are watching, African-American women are watching and the civil rights community is watching,” Ifill said.

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National Coalition of 100 Black Women Inspire Girls with STEM Workshop

By AFRO Staff The National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Prince William County Chapter Inc., in collaboration with the Society of Women Engineers, hosted a workshop. The goal is to inspire and expose young girls, grades sixth through eighth, to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

During the “Girls Go To Techbridge” workshop, the young ladies had an opportunity to meet various volunteer engineers from the D.C., Va. and Baltimore region. “This STEM program is one of our signature programs and it was very very receptive and interactive,” Dr. Alice H. Howard, president and organizer of the organization, told the AFRO. The event took place at Potomac Middle School and included 50 girls from various middle schools in Prince William County, including Potomac, Graham Park, and Saunders Middle Schools. The girls participated in activities, including a WindPower Crank, which challenged the girls to build a wind-powered crank to transport food from low to high ground. Another activity related to clean water, teaching the girls to use different elements – sand, gravel and fabrics – to filter dirty water for drinking. Other activities included Give Me Shelter and Car to Rescue and Tune in Techbridge.

The girls learned about different engineering careers through hands on experiences. According to the a press release, the young ladies were very knowledgeable and by the end of the day, several expressed an interest in being an engineer. “We really need to start STEM at the elementary level,” Howard said, explaining that starting early would give girls a strong foundation before they got to middle school.

Obama

Continued from A1 it harder for the president to insist that Republicans pass funding for his priorities before he’ll approve funding for theirs.

As a result, the White House strategy is not so much designed to negotiate a bargain with Republicans as it is to keep Obama’s underlying economic message at the forefront while Republicans play out their own internal struggles. Such GOP divisions were on full display earlier in March when Republicans dropped their insistence on repealing Obama’s immigration directives and agreed to fund the Homeland Security Department — calling into question the GOP’s broader strategy to use spending bills as leverage against the president.

Still, the White House is taking a much more aggressive stance than it has in the past. In his budget

proposal this year, Obama called for an equal surge in both domestic and defense spending, and his budget director, Shaun Donovan, told Congress on Monday that Obama “will not accept a budget” that does otherwise.

“It gives Democrats cover to say ‘no,’” said Stan Collender, a long-time budget analyst now with the QorvisMSL Group. “It gives them some backbone.”

The House Republican plan released Tuesday proposes major increases in military spending accompanied by big cuts to social programs like food stamps and Medicaid.

The Senate GOP was to follow with its proposal on Wednesday.

“It’s not a budget that reflects the future. It’s not a budget that reflects growth.”

Obama said following a St. Patrick’s Day meeting with

Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny. “I’ll keep my fourleaf clover in my pocket and see if the speaker and (Senate Republican Leader) Mitch McConnell and others are interested in having that conversation.”

Even before unveiling

than many conservative Republicans are willing to spend.

“They have Republicans in a bind — they really do,” said Steve Bell, a former Republican director of the Senate Budget Committee.

“The Republican Party, which

“It’s not a budget that reflects the future. It’s not a budget that reflects growth.”

–President Obama their budget, the GOP leadership was struggling to calm tensions between defense hawks who want more money for the Pentagon and budget hard-liners who want to rein in federal spending. That may create an opening for Obama to exploit the fact that his budget calls for more money for defense

used to be the party of hawks, is now split.”

Obama’s aides said there was little concern at the White House that by holding his position in support of domestic spending, Obama would take the blame for the political logjam if Congress fails to increase spending for the military, which enjoys

broad support amid growing threats from extremist groups and instability in the Middle East. White House advisers said the economy’s resurgence under Obama’s leadership had exposed the “austerity fallacy” pushed for years by Republicans who argue the government must downsize to bring deficits under control.

Helping Obama claim the upper hand is a wave of positive indicators that suggest the economy is gaining strength — despite Obama policies that Republicans for years have warned would keep the U.S. stuck in recession.

Annual budget deficits have fallen precipitously on Obama’s watch, as has the unemployment rate, although wages have remained far too stagnant for Obama’s liking.

The Obama administration announced Monday that more than 16 million Americans

have gained coverage since the president’s health care law took effect, and a new estimate from congressional scorekeepers shows the law will cost taxpayers far less than previously expected.

Yet on the issues that Obama has touted as his greatest prospects for working with the new Congress — tax reform, authority to negotiate trade deals, and war powers to fight the Islamic State — Obama’s fiercest opposition has come from lawmakers from his own party, a fact that hasn’t gone unnoticed by Republicans.

“Where’s the Democrats’ agenda?” said Cory Fritz, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. “Democrats are the biggest obstacle to the few realistic proposals that have been floated. Beyond that, they don’t have a serious legislative agenda.”

Edwards’ Seat

Continued from A1

George’s County State’s Attorney Glenn Ivey and former Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, have decided to run to replace Edwards. “The people of this district deserve a Congress that works for them, that spends less time fighting with each other and more time fighting for you,” Ivey said in an email to supporters on March 11. “With your help, I would like to get back in the ring and continue the fight to help people improve their lives and achieve their dreams.”

Brown got into the race the next day. “I decided that I would run for office once again only if I believe in my heart that I still had something to give back to my community, the community where I’ve raised my children and dedicated my life to public service,” Brown said in a message to supporters on March 12. “After serious reflection, prayer, and discussion with my wife Karmen and our three children, we are very excited to announce my candidacy for Maryland’s Fourth Congressional District.”

Ivey served as Prince George’s County’s chief prosecutor from 2006-2010. His wife, Jolene, served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 2007-2015, and was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor in 2014.

Brown served in the House of Delegates from 1999-2007.

He was elected lieutenant governor in 2006 and lost a close race for governor in 2014.

There is speculation that Maryland State Sen. C. Anthony Muse (D-District 26) will jump into the race but his

spokeswoman, Brandi Calhoun, told the AFRO that her boss has not made a decision on whether to run. Muse ran for the Democratic Party nomination for the U.S. Senate in 2012, has served in the state Senate since 2006, served in the House of Delegates from 1994-1998 and ran for Prince George’s County executive in 2002.

“The candidates who are running so far are very well qualified.”

– James Dula Del. Joseline A. Pena-Melnyk (D-District 21) joined the race for Edwards’ seat on March 17.

While the race is in its infant stage, Brown, a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves, has already received an endorsement from a pro-veterans political action committee. “Anthony’s service is matched by his determination, hard work, and personal understanding of the challenges so many Americans face,” Jon Soltz, Iraq War veteran and chairman of the VoteVets.org PAC, said. “Combined, those traits will make him an exemplary congressman for the 4th District. Going from the son of a man

who escaped poverty in Jamaica, through Ivy League school, and rising to the rank of colonel in the U.S. Army has given Anthony a truly American story.”

James Dula, former president of the Prince George’s County Chamber of Commerce and recently elected president of the South County Democratic Club, said the race to replace Edwards “is very interesting.”

“The candidates who are running so far are very well qualified,” he said. “I worked with Ivey when he was state’s attorney on issues regarding truancy and on a task force on gangs. Brown deserves credit for the BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) initiative that brought resources to Andrews Air Force Base but the health care coverage project he oversaw in the state didn’t go so well.”

Dula said that whoever wins the position will go into the Congress a freshman and that may be a problem. “It takes a while to build up experience and longevity in the Congress and that is when you can get things done for your district,” he said.

However, Emma Andrews, a longtime education activist working to improve the Prince George’s County school system, said the Edwards’ race may present a different problem. “I think it is important for the community to come together, ask the candidates questions, and decide who we will support,” Andrews said. “A race that will split the community isn’t good.

We need to have a consensus candidate that everyone can support and that will help the county move forward.”

A6

The Afro-American, March 21, 2015 - March 27, 2015

Metro Police Issues Surface at Council Hearing

By Linda Poulson Special to the AFRO Racial profiling and department understaffing were the two major issues the Metropolitan Police Department is dealing with, according to a D.C. Council hearing. Protesters, witnesses, observers, and the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Chief Cathy Lanier and her entourage, packed the Council Chamber at the John A. Wilson Building in Northwest for a Judiciary Performance Oversight Hearing on police matters.

Over 20 witnesses gave testimonies on police understaffing and various encounters with law enforcement. “More than one-third of lieutenants and detectives, almost one-third (61 percent) of sergeants, will also be eligible to retire [by the end of 2015],” Lanier said at the March 10 hearing.

“This is the result of the “retirement bubble” on which I have been briefing to council about as long as I have been chief.”

Delroy Burton, chair of the D.C. Police Union, gave police hiring numbers before the Chief spoke. “We failed to keep our word on the things we promised,” Burton said. “We failed to plan and we plan to fail.” He said arbitration and attrition are major challenges.

According to Burton, the department lost more officers than it could hire.

“The MPD lost a total of 396 sworn members [through] 150 resignations, 217 retirements, 56 terminations, and eight disability requirements in which three members are now deceased,” he said.

Along with police understaffing, the hearing also addressed enforcement actions used by officers.

Members from the #DCFerguson movement were present with small signs that displayed “Black Lives

Business Profile Yoga Instructor Teaches More Than Postures and Balance

By Christina Sturdivant Special to the AFRO

Photo by Kymone Freeman

#DCFerguson co-founder Eugene Puryear holds sign of “Stop Jump Outs” before he testifies. First picture shows witnesses who will testify along with observers.

Matter” and “Stop Jump Outs.”

“We are here primarily to denounce the now, I guess, the infamous jump out policy which we believe to be a racist, militarized form of policing that is entirely unacceptable, and to address the issue by the metropolitan police and then again today by the police

answer is no, than there is confirmation that we’re dealing with a racist, militarized White supremacy premise system that is basically exploiting their power on the backs and blood of people of color.”

According to a department spokesperson, there are no jump out squads in the MPD – but police behavior, as

“Is anyone present here today that thinks that for one moment that if Black cops were murdering White people at this rate that we would have the same exact results?”

– Kymone Freeman

union that the jump outs are fantasy and don’t exist etc,” Eugene Puryear, one of the co-founders of the movement said.

He was followed by cofounder Kymone Freeman, who said, “I must start by first asking the question … is anyone present here today that thinks that for one moment that if Black cops were murdering White people at this rate that we would have the same exact results?”

He continued, “If your

described by many citizens, contradicts that notion. One man said he observed a jump out on Minnesota Avenue N.E. the day before the hearing.

D.C. Council member Kenyon McDuffie (D-Ward 5) asked Lanier how many police officer shootings happened last year. She said four involved homicides while two did not.

“My top priority continues to be reducing violent crime in the city,” Lanier said.

As D.C. becomes saturated with athletic-focused yoga instructors, Nya Alemayhu instead values the practice of holistic teaching. “I think a lot of the yoga instructors in Washington don’t realize that teaching yoga is a social responsibility,” Alemayhu told the AFRO. “People come to you for a specific reason--it’s your responsibility to create a holistic experience where people can connect with their mind and with their body.”

In 2004, the native-Ethiopian began practicing yoga as an undergraduate student at Simmons College in Boston. As a former athlete, it seemed like a natural transition. She soon learned that yoga is more than a physical workout. The more she practiced, the more she shifted Photo by James Jackson her thoughts, habits, and outlook Certified yoga instructor, Nya Alemayhu on life. Yoga became a stress reliever from her studies and the world around her.

In 2011, she moved to the District to work at a high-end retailer. In her professional life, seven years of practicing yoga came in handy. “Working under deadlines, sales goals, and other people’s expectations of you was just really stressful and for me, the only way I could deal with that was practicing yoga,” she recalls.

At the Studio DC Yoga Center, she enrolled in a 200-hour, five month-long teacher training program. There she learned yoga’s ancient roots and philosophies. After receiving certification, she began teaching yoga three days a week at Budda B Yoga and, in 2014, finally took a leap of faith to teach full-time.

As an instructor, she strives to break down barriers for students to gain the most beneficial aspects of practice. “I think what intimidates people about yoga is seeing all these people in these crazy yoga postures that seem untainable, but yoga itself has absolutely nothing to do with what you can do with your body, that’s just a side effect of the practice,” she says. “It’s important to me that people are breathing, connecting with their mind, and allowing themselves to be in the present moment – every single detail matters to me.”

Yoga, she said, is an outlet that should not be limited to certain types of people. “If I had all the time in the world, I would volunteer my time to every single community and make sure that people are getting the benefit of a yoga practice.” Alemayhu said.

In the future, Alemayhu hopes to open her own studio. For now, she can be found at several yoga studios across the city, as well as workplaces, where she is hired to enhance employee attitudes and performance in corporations across the city. For more information, visit www.yogawithnya.com.

MLK-Malcolm X Avenue Plan Generates Discussion

intersection.

However, some argue On March 9, District Mayor Muriel Bowser more is needed (D) announced a $5 million investment to improve for the intersection of Martin Luther King the economic Jr. and Malcolm X avenues, S.E. in Ward vitality of the 8’s Congress Heights’ neighborhood. She area. was joined in the announcement of the The District’s Vision Zero initiative, which is thoroughfares, a local response to the U.S. Department of named after Transportation’s effort to improve pedestrian the two Black and bicycle safety, by D.C. Director of 1960s icons, Planning Eric Shaw, District Department of have seen over Transportation (DDOT) Leif Dormsjo and his 90 crashes deputy, Greer Gillis. and nearly 40 Wikimedia Commons “We need a fresh start to the way we make crash-related Looking south on Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue SE our roads safer,” Bowser said. “The goal of injuries in Vision Zero is simple: reduce serious injuries the past three and fatalities on our streets to zero by 2024. By adopting years. In a few months, DDOT will install pavement markings a comprehensive approach to transportation safety – from and pedestrian countdowns on the traffic signals and the behavior to road design – we will make our city a safer place to two-year plan includes road realignment, new medians, road live and visit.” reconstruction, new sidewalks and crosswalks, streetlight Bowser continued, “The improvements we’re making near improvements, green infrastructure, and new bike facilities. our intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X The targeted intersection includes a shuttered Popeye’s Avenues are an important step to realizing the goals of Vision Chicken restaurant, small retailers, and land owned by the Zero.”

National Park Service that is generally populated with people Community and business leaders in the popular section socializing at picnic tables. Kevin Davis, owner of Pro Cut of Southeast Washington are generally happy that the mayor Family Barber Shop located near the intersection, discussed wants to invest in improving the safety of a heavily-utilized Bowser’s plan. “Safety and transportation improvements are

By James Wright Special to the AFRO

Fauntroy

Continued from A1

comment on specific cases. The Department of State revokes passports for the reasons set forth in the federal regulations.”

Calls by the AFRO to the Director of Communications Sharon Taylor in the Prince George’s County Sheriff’s Office had not been returned by press time.

always welcome,” Davis said.

Monica Ray, resident of the Congress Heights Community Association and a leader of the Congress Heights Community Development Corporation, said, “I am excited to hear about some attention being paid to our community. Projects like this one become the catalyst to quality of life improvements in neighborhoods. We need only look at streetscape projects across the city as evidence of its effectiveness in changing the landscape.”

Ayana Bias, the community relations coordinator for the United Planning Organization’s office located on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue., S.E., admits she has not studied Bowser’s plan in depth, but views it as well-intentioned but lacking.

“There needs to be more than improvements for bicycle and pedestrian safety,” Bias said. “I will say that what the mayor is proposing is a start point.”

Ray thinks that Bowser is on the right track. “Seeing the Congress Heights neighborhoods become safer for pedestrians, cyclist, and vehicles is of utmost importance to my organizations to help us realize our vision of a revitalized neighborhood,” Ray said. “I look forward to working with the mayor’s office to see this very important project to fruition.”

Apple to Donate

Continued from A1

students who have the capacity to take the world by storm. In many instances though, these students’ careers are impacted by the limited hiring practices of major corporations,” Dorsey said.

Dorsey also pointed to the Ayers desegregation case in Mississippi and a similar battle in Maryland over

discriminatory funding practices at land-grant colleges. The Apple money, he suggests, would help science and engineering programs at HBCUs already underfunded by discriminatory state policies. “When the state is not supporting high-demand degree programs through funding, it is important that outside

philanthropy step in. Otherwise, the country ends up with the very lack of diversity prevalent in math, science, engineering and technology that we are witnessing now. Apple is trendsetting in its efforts to foster minority development and growth,” Dorsey said.

March 21, 2015 - March 27, 2015, The Afro-American

A7

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

Arlington, Va.

forums, meetings and other activities at the Crystal City Gateway Marriott, 1700 Jefferson Davis Highway. Speakers will include Melanie Campbell, national convener for Black Women’s Roundtable and president & CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation (NCBCP); Janaye Ingram, national executive director, National Action Network; Salandra Benton, Florida convener, Black Women’s Roundtable; Michelle DuBois, founding partner, Value Partnerships; Avis Jones-DeWeever, president, Unlimited, LLC and senior policy advisor, Black Women’s Roundtable; Edna KaneWilliams, vice President, multicultural markets, AARP; Lucia McBath, mother of Jordan Davis and a gun safety advocate; Elizabeth Powell, secretarytreasurer, American Postal Workers Union; Shelia Tyson, Alabama convener, Black Women’s Roundtable; and Teresa C. Younger, resident and CEO, Ms. Foundation for Women. The event costs $50 per persons over 18 and $25 for students. Register for the event at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/4th-annualbwr-women-of-power-healthywealthywise-national-summit-registration13713689013?ref=enivtefor001&invite=NzUwNzI1OC9lbmlkQGluc3BybWVkaWEuY29tLzA%3D&utm_source=eb_email&utm_medium=email&utm_ campaign=inviteformalv2&ref=enivtefor001&utm_term=attend.

Black Women’s Roundtable Hosts National Women’s Summit

Laurel, Md.

Washington, D.C. National Children’s Center Demonstration

On March 22 at 3 p.m., Safety Nest for the Disabled will hold a march in front of the National Children’s Center, 6200 Second Street N.W. Although not the first time, demonstrators will march to share their displeasure with the scandal-plagued organization for alleged maltreatment of the disabled. For more information, contact Thalia Wood at 907-441-0850 or through email: thalia@snfd.org.

Trinity Episcopal Church Revival

Trinity Episcopal Church located on 7005 Piney Branch Road, NW, will hold a revival on March 26 and 27. The revival is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. The guest preacher will be Rev. Dr. Duanet T. Kay, senior pastor at First Baptist Church in North Brentwood. The event is free and open to all. For more information, call 202 726-7036.

Hundreds of women from around the country will convene on March 26 and March 28 for the Black Women’s Roundtable Women of Power “Healthy, Wealthy, Wise” National Summit. The three-day summit to celebrate Women’s History Month will include a wide range of activities with participants, including meeting with lawmakers on Capitol Hill on March 26 as well as

AMF and Negro League Legends Hall of Fame will host a “Bowling For Our Communities” event at the Laurel AMF Bowling Lanes, 15013 Baltimore Avenue North from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on March 28. April Watts from Magic 102.3 is the guest co-host for the event. All attendees must RSVP. To RSVP call 240.353.1748 or email Legends@nllhof.org.

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The Afro-American, March 21, 2015 - March 27, 2015

Dissertation Explores Trauma Experienced by Spouses of Convicted Felons

By LaTrina Antoine Washington D. C. Editor

Convicted felons are not the only ones who feel the isolation of physical imprisonment while incarcerated. According to Avon Hart-Johnson, a Walden University doctoral program graduate, the families of the convicted felon suffer similarly, and not just the grief of the loss.

The sentence, Hart-Johnson said, separates the families through a psychological and physiological imprisonment that perpetuates a loss of productivity and health problems, including stress, hair loss, migraines, and weight fluctuations. This is magnified by the state of isolation and grief of losing a loved one through forced separation. She said this grief is not socially acceptable. “I found when you hide that kind of pain, it has a tendency to manifest itself,” she said.

Hart-Johnson stumbled upon this undiscovered impact of the American prison system during her research study for her doctoral dissertation titled, Symbolic Imprisonment, Grief, and Coping Theory: African American Women With Incarcerated Mates.

Her work focused on mostly women, in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, with incarcerated spouses and lovers.

Part of the problem in D.C. is that the criminal justice system has a disproportionately high number of AfricanAmericans convicts. A 2014 Prison Policy Initiative report said, “Blacks are incarcerated five times more than Whites are, and Hispanics

are nearly twice as likely to be incarcerated as Whites.”

According to Hart-Johnson’s dissertation abstract, 90 percent of felons sent to prison from D.C. are African American. There have been no local prisons in the area since Lorton Correctional Complex closed in 2001, in adherence with the National Capital Revitalization and Self Government Improvement Act of 1997. The act stipulates that sentenced prisoners from D.C. are transferred to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, where they can be placed within any correctional institution within the country.

This isolation goes farther than the loss of a male lover. It expands to the woman’s family and other individuals. These women also face coping with the household expenses alone – including the additional cost of traveling long distances to see their loved one in prison – a loss of safety and security, and a feeling of stigmatization for the entire family. “These women are walking around with all of this,” Hart-Johnson said.

“We were an incarcerated family,” one of Hart-Johnson’s subjects told her during the study. Another woman said “[It feels] like I’m grieving over someone [who] died. You know, he’s right there, he is alive. But that’s how I feel sometimes. I do feel like in essence he is gone.”

Hart-Johnson said she embarked on answering why African-American women were affected by consequences of mass incarceration. “I knew then, that my current and future commitment would be to first

“[It feels] like I’m grieving over someone [who] died. You know, he’s right there, he is alive. But that’s how I feel sometimes. I do feel like in essence he is gone.”

Courtesy Photo

Avon Hart-Johnson’s research looks at the effect of imprisonment on the entire family. understand the problem, and second to advocate for these women through my continued research in the future,” she said.

From her research results, Hart-Johnson plans to provide the information at various conferences, churches, and other venues to raise awareness about the familial consequences of long distance incarceration.

“We’ve got a phenomenon that may be bigger than what we think,” Hart-Johnson said.

She also wants to conduct a post-doctorate study to explore how other populations are affected by non-death related grief due to separation. “My hope is that the world will begin to not hold the family and the children accountable for a sin that they did not commit,” she said.

To read Hart-Johnson’s dissertation, visit http://gradworks.umi.com/36/70/3670212. html.

Brown Family Attorney Responds to Recent Ferguson Shooting and More

The “Ferguson” Interview with Kam Williams

Ben Crump is the attorney of record in many high-profile, civil rights cases, most notably representing the families of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Tamir Rice, the 12 yearold boy shot by a Cleveland, Ohio police officer a second after he got out of his patrol car.

Kam Williams: Hi Ben, I appreciate the time. I know how busy you are.

Ben Crump: You’re very, very welcome, Kam. KW: What is your response to the recent shooting of the two police officers in Ferguson, Missouri?

BC: Together with the Brown family, I condemn the shootings and make an immediate appeal for nonviolence, as we have from the inception of this movement. The heinous act of this individual does not reflect or forward the peaceful and non-violent movement that has emerged in our nation to confront police brutality and to ensure equality for all people. An act of violence against any innocent person eludes moral justification, disgraces the millions of Americans and people throughout the world who have united in peaceful protest against police brutality, and dishonors our proud inheritance of nonviolent resistance. We support the imposition of the full extent of the law on the perpetrator, and our prayers are with the officers and their families.

KW: What do you make of Attorney General Holder’s recently declining to indict Officer Darren Wilson for the shooting of Michael Brown?

BC: I just think that the Department of Justice has to stop sanitizing all these killings of unarmed people of color.

When you look at the Justice Department’s report talking about the Ferguson Police Department’s rampant pattern of discrimination and its excessive use of force against AfricanAmerican citizens, it’s hard to try to rationalize how this cesspool of racism doesn’t spill over onto the individual officers. For instance, Sergeant Mudd, the first officer on the scene after Darren Wilson killed Michael Brown. He was Wilson’s mentor and supervisor. He was one of the primary witnesses and main advocates for Darren Wilson in front of the grand jury. We now know that this was the individual who sent the racist email that was repeatedly forwarded around the Ferguson Police Department saying that Crimestoppers paid a black woman $3,000 to get an abortion. So you have this cesspool of racism, yet they’re trying to suggest that it’s not going to affect individual officers. The Attorney General says that you have this high standard that you have to show that at the time of the shooting the individual was thinking hateful or racist thoughts. That’s an almost impossible standard. It should be enough to show implicit bias, given all the attendant circumstances. If there’s a pattern and practice of discrimination and excessive force, you should be able to hold these officers accountable for killing unarmed citizens.

The reason I say that, Kam, is because, if there are no real

Courtesy Photo

Benjamin L. Crump consequences for their actions, we won’t get any different results. We need real consequences to get real results. There’s no deterrent to these officers’ behavior when they continue to see the local and federal governments under the Obama Administration sanitizing the killings of unarmed black and brown people.

KW: Holder’s also just announced that there will be no arrest of George Zimmerman for violating the civil rights of Trayvon Martin. That shocked me because everyone heard the recording of the 911 operator ordering Zimmerman to stay in his car and to wait for the police to arrive. But he ignored the instructions and killed an innocent teen innocently walking down the street, just yards from home. And even that’s not considered a violation of the child’s rights? How insane is that?

BC: Absolutely! We keep seeing a reoccurrence of their sanitizing these killings. It almost encourages people to conclude that they did nothing wrong, since the government didn’t press any charges. We’ve got to somehow send a message to deter this conduct. Otherwise, we’re going to see it over and over and over again. It’s becoming almost like an epidemic.

KW: No kidding. Just since you and I last spoke, we’ve had police shootings of Jerome Reid getting out of a car with his hands up in New Jersey, a homeless man in Los Angeles, 19 year-old Tony Robinson in Madison, Wisconsin, and Antonio Zambrano-Montes in Spokane, Washington.

BC: We’re representing Antonio Zambrano-Montes’ family.

KW: Great! And there’s also Sureshbhai Patel, an elderly tourist from India who was left paralyzed by a cop in Alabama who thought he was a black man prowling around a white neighborhood. These incidents are happening about once a week now. What about the Tamir Rice case? The chief of police in Cleveland is a black man, so I was stunned when the city said the boy’s death was directly caused by his own acts, not by police officer Timothy Loehmann. How did you react to that conclusion?

BC: It was literally shocking that, based on what we see in that surveillance video, this 12 year-old child could be called responsible for his own death because he wasn’t being careful, versus what we see and know happened there; how these officers violated all their procedures, training and department regulations, and drove up to the scene recklessly in a way which escalated the situation. Tamir Rice was killed in less than one second which was totally disrespectful. And the pattern of disrespect continued when his 14 year-old sister ran up crying, “You killed my baby brother!” Instead of showing her any compassion, they tackled her, handcuffed her, manhandled her, dragged her through the snow and threw her into the back of the police car where she had to sit helplessly 4 to 5 feet away from where her brother lay kicking as he died. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the pattern of disrespect continued with how they treated their mother when she arrived. They told her she could either get in the police car with her daughter to go to the station or get in the ambulance to go to the hospital with her son. And now the pattern of disrespect to the Rice family continues with blaming Tamir for his own death in the answer to the complaint of wrongful death we filed. That was shocking and sends a loud message not only to the people of Cleveland but to people all over America.

KW: I’d also like to know how you feel about the video that surfaced of that Oklahoma fraternity singing that racist song on the bus.

BC: They may kick the fraternity off campus, but the thing that’s so unfortunate is that, no matter what they do, those students still felt it was okay to say what they said. So, you can’t help but wonder whether that’s how they really feel in their hearts. It reminded me of my personal hero, Thurgood Marshall. I’m reading Gilbert King’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book about the Groveland, Florida rape cases called “Devil in the Grove.”

In it, he talks about Marshall, saying he had two fears. First, how big a celebration there was going to be the day racists lynched him and hung him from a tree. But his second and worst fear, after seeing so many young children in pictures of lynchings, was knowing that one day they would grow up to be running society. And that’s what I thought about watching the video on that bus. That in 20 years or so, those fraternity and sorority members will be running corporations, city governments and other institutions. And I wondered, what will their mentality be like? How does this bode for the future?

KW: I agree. It’s very scary. Thanks again, Ben, and keep fighting the good fight.

BC: Thanks so much Kam. Call anytime.

March 21, 2015 - March 27, 2015 The Afro-American

COMMENTARY

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When the GOP Had Integrity One of the many questions provoked by the “open letter” 47 Republican Senators published last week to try to wreck the multinational effort led by the Obama administration to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons is this: Do they understand their obligation to the rule of law?

As scholar Daniel W. Drezner of Tufts University Lee A. Daniels and other commentators quickly pointed out in an article in the Washington Post, the administration is the lead negotiator of a coalition involving the four other members of the United Nations Security Council—Britain, China, France, and Russia—as well as Germany. So, Drezner wrote, “If a deal is reached, it’s a deal that has the support of all the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany.”

That means Congress could not alter any resulting agreement in any way without violating international law by committing “a material breach of U.S. obligations.”

Of course, the real purpose of the letter was to further pander to the deranged anti-Obama passions of the GOP base, and to be the political coming-out of the letter cabal’s ringleader, frosh Senator Tom Cotton, of Arkansas. Indeed, no sooner had it appeared than Cotton supporters let it be known he’s eyeing a run for the Presidency in 2020.

Pardon me, but haven’t we seen this “reality show” in the Senate before—with Kentucky’s Rand Paul, and then Texas’ Ted Cruz in the starring role? What does it say about the GOP that it’s now continually producing these new-kid-on-theblock types for Congress’ once-hallowed upper chamber who ostentatiously smash protocol and tradition in order to alert the far-right of their goal of running for President?

Against that tawdry backdrop, the March 10th memorial service in Washington, D.C. for former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke of Massachusetts, who died in January, was like a flash of lightning illuminating a nighttime landscape.

Brooke’s two terms in the Senate, from 1967 to 1979 marked a time when it wasn’t rare for Republicans inside and outside of Congress to show that political conservatism and political integrity weren’t mutually exclusive elements and that there was room in the party for centrist-conservatives like Brooke.

Indeed, Brooke’s life and his climb up the political ladder in a state with a miniscule Black population to become the first Black American popularly elected to the U.S. Senate and the first to sit there in nearly a century said something remarkable about him, as well as the state and the nation he represented.

As Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia’s non-voting delegate to Congress, pointedly noted in her remarks at the Washington National Cathedral, Brooke, a native Washingtonian, grew up in a time when the District—then, as now— did not have the voting rights other American citizens enjoyed. Even if Washington, D.C. had a voting delegate at that time, Black Washingtonians would have been denied their voting rights by the racist code Congress then followed for the jurisdiction.

Brooke’s achievements before and during his Senate career are a testament not only to his value, but also to the immense loss White America imposed on the nation by the regime of official and de facto racism it followed until the 1960s. From the beginning, he made it quite clear he was proud to be a Republican and was not in politics to represent exclusively “Black interests,” but the interests of all the people of his state and the United States. But those beliefs also never prevented him from criticizing his party when he felt it necessary.

For example, in 1964, two years before his Senate victory, Brooke refused to endorse Republican Senator Barry Goldwater’s presidential candidacy (Goldwater had voted

against the Civil Rights Act of 1964), commenting later, “You can’t say the Negro left the Republican Party; the Negro feels he was evicted from the Republican Party.”

Four decades later, in a 2007 interview for the just-released book, “Memorable Quotations from Edward W. Brooke,” he declared, “Unfortunately the Republican Party has not fared well—it has disintegrated to an extent. Not demised, but certainly has not lived up to its responsibilities to the electorate.”

What would Edward W. Brooke say of the Republican Party now?

NNPA Columnist Lee A. Daniels’ new collection of columns, Race Forward, is available at amazon.com.

#BlackGirlsMatter Right Here in America

Walter Fields

Every morning, when I fix my teenage daughter breakfast and drop her off to school, she reminds me that #BlackGirlsMatter. Her journey has not been easy; made all the more difficult by an experience, beginning in middle school and persisting to high school, that threatened to crush her dreams by denying her access to classes education professionals deem critical to demonstrate college readiness. Had it not been for the advocacy of her parents, and the threat of litigation, my daughter would have been cast aside and surrendered to a curriculum that was not simply less challenging, but inadequate by the standards of competitive colleges and an increasingly analytical and technical workforce. Today, in her junior year, she remains one of only a handful of Black girls enrolled in advanced honors and advanced placement classes in her public high school, Columbia Senior High School in suburban

Maplewood, N.J. My daughter’s story is neither unique or an aberration. It is the reality facing Black girls in America. This is what the recently released report Black Girls Matter: Pushed Out, Overpoliced and Underprotected confirms. The Center for Intersectional and Social Policy Studies at Columbia University and the African American Policy Forum, authors of the report, have provided the nation with a powerful narrative of the dilemma of Black girls in our country. The report describes the disproportionate punishment meted out to Black girls in school, with data showing that they are suspended six times the rate of white girls as ‘zero tolerance’ policies hit with racial precision. Black girls also receive more severe sentences than other girls when they enter the juvenile justice system and are the fasting growing population in the criminal justice system. They are also victims of bullying, sexual harassment and violence in school. Our girls are being pushed out but there is little public alarm, policy focus or media attention to their marginalization. Unlike our understandable focus on Black boys, as seen in President Obama’s ‘My Brother’s Keeper’ initiative, our girls are being left to fend for themselves. And we are losing them.

Black girls suffer the discriminatory equivalent of hypertension. Racially based gender bias is a silent killer. It infests the spirits of girls with self-doubt and feelings of inadequacy, and early on narrows their possibilities. Black girls mostly suffer in silence, absorbing the blows, but incurring significant psychological damage along the way. Bright lights are extinguished early as Black girls encounter institutional bias in school buildings where their uniqueness, in

everything from hair to dress to personality, is deemed anti-social and popular culture bombards them with stereotypes of Black females ranging from helpless to raging anger or hypersexualized. The intelligent, inquisitive, creative, caring and beautiful Black girl is virtually an urban myth in America when the imagery of them on the cultural landscape is surveyed.

Making matters worse is a nation that hides the suffering of Black girls from public view.

Perhaps that is why I find President Obama’s recently announced ‘Let the Girls Learn’ initiative so disappointing. The White House looked beyond the shores of this nation to launch a global offensive for girls when if they simply Googled a zip code in Washington D.C., they would find Black girls deserving of its attention and policy focus. This might simply be the result of an African-American father who has not had to wrestle with his daughters feeling inadequate or experienced seeing pained expressions of silent suffering given that his children have been fortunate to be shielded by much, given the President’s privilege and position. It is, however, a glaring omission by the Obama administration that defies what we know to be the experiences of Black girls in America. We need not search the world for girls in need when our children stand before us broken, rejected and yearning for recognition.

What I desire for our community of Black girls is what I wish for my daughter. I want us to embrace their individuality and celebrate their expressiveness and cultural dynamism. We must recognize their intelligence and support their intellectual curiosity while also encouraging their socializing and affirming their right to be different from boys, yet equal in standing. It is our responsibility to root out gender bias and make certain that our institutions are not simply diverse but gender-inclusive, meaning opportunity is rooted in equity and not guided by male dominated definitions of worth and success. And, we must hold accountable those who trade in misogynist imagery that limits Black girls’ imaginations to the stripper pole, video vixen or reality TV villains. There is a ‘Black is Beautiful’ canvas for Black girlhood that we must paint so our daughters can see the full expression of God’s intent for their lives.

It is with this conviction that we must embrace the mantra #BlackGirlsMatter; because they do, and without the benefit of the full expression of their humanity we suffer as a people. There is no ‘better day’ for Black America if we persist on wearing gender blinders and if Black men, fathers or not, do not come to terms with the reality of shared suffering and become champions for gender equity. When I look in the mirror I have to see my daughter and make certain the reflection is one of strength, hope, faith and confidence that her life will have meaning and she will be given the opportunity to direct and fulfill her purpose in life.

Walter Fields is a father, husband and executive editor of NorthStarNews.com

Understand the Past, Empower the Future This past February, students across the country celebrated Black History Month. They read books by Black authors, wrote research papers on civil rights activists, memorized Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, or watched videos about the Underground Railroad. And if they are being taught honestly, as they learn about the struggle of the past, they’ll begin to recognize it in their own present – when a cashier squints suspiciously when they walk into a store, when they turn on the news and see another person who looks like them lose his life to senseless violence. These lessons are anything but history but it doesn’t have to be that way.

While teaching, my students experienced the sting of these stereotypes on what should have been a day filled with nothing but excitement. We were out on a field trip, excited to be Sabrina Dawson visiting a nearby college and think about our own academic future. But as we walked around, the excitement quickly turned into something else. While they were like any other tour group that came to visit, they happened to be Black, and were shushed around every corner, warned by the tour guide not to touch or take anything. My kids looked around at each other uncomfortably. They had done absolutely nothing to indicate they were going to be rowdy or obnoxious – except look the way society has taught us disruptive people generally look.

As students of color combat these prejudices, it is more urgent than ever that our generation overcome. This school year marked the first in which the majority of public school students are minorities. As educated young adults, we have a responsibility to work to ensure that each and every one of them is moving through a system that affirms their identities, shows them they’re valued, and allows them access to the opportunities they have been denied for far too long.

I joined Teach For America because I wanted to make an impact and help people – and I

have. But my impact can’t compare to the ones my kids have had on me. They’ve taught me so much about tenacity, overcoming odds, and what it really means to be relentless. Our kids are our future, and we should rest assured that our future will be in good hands – but only if we commit to giving each and every one of our students the same opportunities to be the brightest versions of themselves that they can be. We have a long way to go as a country before we truly achieve justice for all. I continue to see this today, working for the District’s Child and Family Services Agency’s Office of Youth Empowerment, providing young adults in foster care with vocational training, internships, employment opportunities, and experiences that will prepare him/her for the workforce. Being a former Teach For America Corps member has forever shaped the lense with which I approach my work. Even if I am not in a classroom, I know it is my job and more importantly, my responsibility to look out for the best interests of the youth I serve.

To fix the systemic oppression that has created the gross inequality of the present will take the hard, dedicated work of countless leaders and change-makers – many who have experienced it first-hand, others who bear witness to it from further away. We must work toward these longterm changes as well as the immediate, urgent opportunities to change the way our students view themselves and their future.

As teachers and leaders, we can play a central role in this. Our history is our future and education is the great equalizer, and teaching the past helps inform our children of the important role they play today. Every day, we can remind our kids that their thoughts, ideas, identities and opinions are important. We can share our own stories so that when our kids look to the front of the room, they see a little bit of themselves reflected back. We can remind them that they matter, that they always have and that they always will.

Sabrina Dawson is a 2006 alum of FSU and Teach For America-Baltimore. She is a supervisory career pathways specialist in the Office of Youth Empowerment at the Child and Family Services Agency in Washington, DC.

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The Afro-American, March 21, 2015 - March 27, 2015

PEPCO AND EXELON:

Empowering The District We are a diverse collection of nonprofit and business groups that represent and serve the people of the District of Columbia.

We believe the proposed merger of Pepco and Exelon will benefit the District’s residents, communities, civic life and business environment.

If approved, this merger will create savings that will be passed on in customers’ utility bills, saving families and businesses more of their hardearned money every month. It means honoring and maintaining Pepco’s strong commitment to workforce-and supplier-diversity programs. It means more jobs for District workers. That’s good for families, local businesses, and the District’s workforce.

It means millions of dollars more that could be used for programs such as bill credits, low-income assistance and energy efficiency programs through a $33.75 million Customer Investment Fund. It also means continued annual charitable contributions and local community support – exceeding Pepco’s 2013 level of $1.6 million for 10 years following the merger. And it means $168 million to $260 million in economic benefits to the District.

That’s good for communities and those most in need.

It also means enhanced reliability of our electric grid and additional resources to speed storm restoration. It means a commitment to sustainability and corporate citizenship. It means continued local presence and local leadership.

And it means millions of dollars more invested in our local economy.

That’s good for all of us.

WE SUPPORT THE PROPOSED PEPCO AND EXELON MERGER.

OF GREATER GREA W WASHINGT ON

LEARN MORE AND LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD. VISIT WWW.PHITOMORROW.COM PA I D FO R BY E X E LO N S H A R E H O L D E R S

March 21, 2015 - March 27, 2015, The Afro-American

The Country Club at Woodmore in Mitchellville, Md. was the venue for the annual 105 Voices of History HBCU National Choir Concert where the audience was treated to musical offerings of classical, spiritual, gospel, jazz, broadway and Motown sounds. The Howard University Concert Band along with students from Alabama A&M University, Delaware State University, Central State University, The Lincoln University, Morgan State University, North Caroline A&T State University and Tennessee State University provided soloists. Sponsors included Northrup Grumman Corporation, Aetna, Geico, IAM Solutions and Men’s Wearhouse. Key supporters included The Links, Old Dominion Chapter (VA); Woodmore House Assisted Living; Sidney Strickland and Gloria Johnson, Esq. Toni Roy orchestrated the concert.

Howard University concert band in performance

Debbie Harrison, consul assistant; Paulette Zonicle, consul general; The Bahamas and Sabrina Hare, Couture Cakes by Sabrina

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Dr. Dianne Whitfield-Lock, art collector and Misty Brown, Art entrepreneur

Toni Roy with Dr. Alotta Taylor Chinenya Onuk Wugha, student at Lincoln University

Three Mo’ Tenors; soloist LaVonte Heard, Central State University and soloist George Edwards, Alabama State University

Top soloists from participating HBCU choirs

William Jones, tenor, Terrance Tarver, tenor and emcee/Howard University Ph.D student and Edmond Charles, pianist

Sponsors with student performers Deborah Lewis-Thornton and Elizabeth Foster, The Links

Tanya Penny Woods and Sharon Collins Photos by Rob Roberts

By Shari L. McCoy The Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge and the Georgiana Thomas Grand Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star, PHA, in partnership with the Prince Hall Freemason and Eastern Star Charitable Foundation held its 3rd Annual D.C. Prince Hall Masonic Classic on Feb. 1, at Howard University Burr Gymnasium. Howard University Bison played Morgan State University Bears.

The D.C. Prince Hall Masonic Classic is one of the signature charitable activities of the Most Grand Worthy Matron of Worshipful Grand Master Norman L. Campbell. Grand Worthy Matron Venecia C. Bessellieu, Maryland Carol D. Simon, Grand Worthy Patron Albert Pope as well as Most Worshipful Grand Master Lee Taylor and Most Worshipful Grand Master of Maryland Lee Grand Worthy Matron Carol S. Simon of the Jurisdiction of Maryland. The honorary chairman Masonic Classic Chairman Thomas L. A. Taylor Jr. was Basketball Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas, who attended the festivities and assisted in Coleman being presented a plaque for presenting the scholarships to two Howard University students.. “This is an important leadership, along with Vice Chairman Dr. Marjay D. Anderson and Lady Bison mascot event because education is the back bone of our society and our youth are the back bone of our society,” said Thomas, who is also a Master Mason. “Anytime we can use sports to bring our community together, we try to use any tools to get our youth on the right page.” During half-time festivities, Isiah Thomas, Grand Master Campbell, Grand Worthy Matron Bessellieu, Grand Worthy Patron Pope and Foundation President George C. Lacey awarded $5,000 scholarships to Denisha Dempster and Ngozi Burrell before university officials, Isiah Thomas, center, with Georgiana Thomas Grand Chapter Officers Grand Conductress Eunice J. Dingle, Grand Worthy faculty, students, Masonic Classic Executive Committee: Thomas Gore, James Parker, Patron Albert Pope, Grand Worthy Matron Venecia C. Shari L. McCoy, Corey Satterwhite, Past Grand Master John T. Doles family and friends, Bessellieu, Associate Grand Matron Patricia L. Young and Sr., Grand Master Norman L. Campbell, Dr. Marjay Anderson, Thomas as well as the Masonic Associate Grand Conductress Sheila Smith L. Coleman, Kelli J. McCoy-Burkett and Rasii Elliot Family.

Masonic Classic Executive Committee: Rasii Elliott, James Parker, Shari L. McCoy, Grand Master Norman L. Campbell, Honorary Chairman Isiah Thomas, Grand Matron Venecia C. Bessellieu, Dr. Marjay D. Anderson, Thomas L. Coleman, Kelli J. McCoy-Burkett, Thomas Gore

Scholarship Awardees Denisha Dempster, Ngozi Burrell and their families receiving their ceremonial checks

Grand Worthy Matron Venecia C. Bessellieu, Most Worshipful Grand Master Norman L. Campbell, Grand Worthy Patron Albert Pope, Foundation Vice President Kelli J. McCoy-Burkett and Foundation President George C. Lacey presenting Honorary Chairman Isiah Thomas a plaque of appreciation Courtesy Photos

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The Afro-American, March 21, 2015 - March 27, 2015

Insurgent

Shailene Woodley Radiates Chemistry Aplenty as Heroine of Satisfying Sequel The ancient artifact is rumored to contain an important message from Chicago’s Insurgent is the second in the actionfounding fathers. However, the box can only oriented series of screen adaptations based on be accessed by a Divergent who succeeds at Veronica Roth’s blockbuster Divergent trilogy. surviving an ordeal testing for all five of the This installment represents a rarity for a commonwealth’s designated virtues. Sure, cinematic sequel in that it’s actually better than it’s obvious that Tris is bright, fearless and the first episode. altruistic. But she could perish in the process In case you’re unfamiliar with the of attempting to prove herself a pacifist and franchise’s basic premise, the post-apocalyptic truthful, too. sci-fi is set amidst the crumbling ruins of Fans of the source material will a walled-in Chicago where what’s left of undoubtedly be surprised by this complicated humanity has been strictly divided into box challenge which wasn’t in the book. five factions based on personality types, Nevertheless, the seamlessly-interwoven plot namely, Abnegation (the selfless); Amity (the device works in terms of ratcheting up the peaceful); Candor (the honest); Dauntless (the tension. brave); and Erudite (the intelligent).

The film features an A-list supporting cast Our intrepid heroine, Tris (Shailene that includes Oscar-winners Kate Winslet and Woodley) was deemed a threat to society Octavia Spencer and nominee Naomi Watts, after testing positive for several of the along with effective performances on the part aforementioned qualities since that makes of Theo James, Ansel Elgort, Zoe Kravitz and her a Divergent, one of the handful of Miles Teller. Still, make no mistake. Insurgent nonconformists whose minds the government is a Shailene Woodley vehicle from beginning Theo James and Shailene Woodley in this Divergent trilogy. cannot control. Consequently, the headstrong to end. rebel ended up orphaned and roaming the And the rising young star exhibits an streets with fellow faction-less rogues by the end of the original. impressive acting range in a physically as well as emotionally-demanding role promising to do Insurgent picks up right where Divergent left off, though upping the ante in terms of for her what The Hunger Games did for Jennifer Lawrence. intensity and visually-captivating special f/x. At the point of departure, we find Tris on the run with her boyfriend Four (Theo James), her brother Caleb (Ansel Elgort) and the duplicitous Very Good (3 stars) Peter Hayes (Miles Teller). The fugitives are being sought by Jeanine (Kate Winslet), the Rated PG-13 for sensuality, pervasive violence, intense action, mature themes and brief monomaniacal Erudite leader who has seized control of the city by commandeering the profanity Dauntless warrior class.

Running time: 119 minutes The Machiavellian despot has declared martial law until all threats to her power have been Distributor: Lions Gate Films neutralized. Meanwhile, Tris and company proceed to elude apprehension as they search for a sacred talisman supposedly hidden somewhere by her late mom (Ashley Judd).

To see a trailer for Insurgent, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suZcGoRLXkU Film Review by Kam Williams

Shailene Woodley

Shailene! Shailene!

The “Insurgent” Interview Kam Williams Shailene Woodley skyrocketed to fame on the strength of her powerful performance opposite George Clooney in The Descendants. Among the many accolades she landed for her work in that Academy Award-nominated film were the Independent Spirit and National Board of Review Awards for Best Supporting Actress, in addition to Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice Award nominations in the same category.

Last fall, Shailene starred in the coming-of-age drama White Bird in a Blizzard, directed by Gregg Araki. And she further solidified her stature as a talented and versatile actress in the critically-acclaimed The Fault in Our Stars, the big screen adaption of John Green’s best-selling novel.

Prior to that, she starred opposite Miles Teller in The Spectacular Now. The co-stars shared the Special Jury Prize for Dramatic Acting at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2013. Shailene’s star status was firmly established by response to the big screen version of Divergent, the sci-fi thriller based on the popular Young Adult novel of the same name by Veronica Roth.

She is currently in production playing the female lead opposite Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Oliver Stone’s Snowden, the real-life story of the Edward Snowden, the 28 year-old hackerturned-whistleblower who leaked classified information from the NSA about surveillance programs run by the U.S. Shailene began her career at the age of 5 soon after being spotted by an agent who recognized her potential. She cut her teeth in commercials before landing her first TV role in the 1999 made-for-TV movie, “Replacing Dad.” Shailene has some rather ethnically-diverse roots, being of British extraction on her father’s side, and a mix of AfricanAmerican, Creole, French, Spanish, Swiss and German on her mother’s. When not on a set, she spends as much time as possible outdoors, thinking of ways she can help keep the environment beautiful and healthy for future generations.

Here, she talks about reprising the role of Tris in Insurgent, the eagerly-anticipated sequel to Divergent co-starring Kate Winslet, Octavia Spencer, Naomi Watts and Zoe Kravitz.

Kam Williams: Hi Shailene, thanks for the interview. I’m honored to have this opportunity to speak with you.

Shailene Woodley: Omigosh, Kam, thank you for talking to me.

KW: Well, I’ve been so impressed with your acting abilities over the course of your brief career, from The Descendants to The Spectacular Now to 2014 when you really exhibited your versatility in Divergent, The Fault in Our Stars and White Bird in a Blizzard.

SW: Thank you!

KW Just so you know, I’m going to mix in questions from fans with some of my own.

SW: Great!

KW Children’s book author Irene Smalls asks: How do you prepare for such a physically-demanding role?

SW:There was definitely some training involved, but there wasn’t anything too gnarly, as far as preparation goes.

The most physical thing we had to do in this film was a lot of running.

KW Irene also asks: What do you most want to communicate to the audience about Tris in this installment?

SW: I think in this movie Tris is really able to utilize and showcase the strengths that she gained from being “Dauntless” in the last movie.

KW: Larry Greenberg says: From the trailer, Insurgent looks like the kind of sci-fi action I want to fully immerse myself in. I don’t just want to see it in 3D; I want to see it in 3D IMAX while floating in an isolation chamber.

SW: Wow! KW: Larry does have a question: Were there any special directions Robert Schwentke gave you that enabled you to be so convincing as Tris?

SW: Special directions. The thing with Robert is that he was very keen on getting a sense of what my opinion was of who Tris is, and how she exists in the world. It was really exciting to work with someone who was so willing to collaborate.

KW: Sangeetha Subramanian says: Shailene, Divergent was one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time! Can’t wait to see Insurgent. What was it like on set in between serious takes?

SW: It was great on set. Luckily, nobody took themselves too seriously, so even if there was a serious scene, there were never any stakes that felt very high.

KW: Harriet Pakula-Teweles asks: How is your approach to acting altered by whether you’re performing for TV versus the big screen?

SW:I don’t know that it’s any different except that with TV you have a limited amount of time to get certain shots. So, there seems to be a sense of rushing, while with movies you have more time to get the shots that you need.

KW: Harriet also asks: How much of the real Shailene is in Tris, and to what extent did you allow yourself to just get lost in the role?

SW: There is a lot of me in Tris, definitely. I really admire her bravery and her courage. But as far as getting lost in the role, it was more about calling upon my own bravery and courage, and reacting based on how Tris would react in any given situation KW: Her last question: With so many classic films being redone, is there a remake you’d like to star in?

SW: I don’t want to star in a remake. I don’t think they should be remaking a lot of classics, because so many of them are great on their own.

KW: Environmental activist Grace Sinden says: You’ve already had a phenomenal career at a young age. Were you nervous about working with George Clooney in The Descendants?

SW: No, I wasn’t nervous. I was really excited, because I really admired him and admired his work, and was very, very keen on learning from him.

KW: You’re presently shooting Snowden with Oscar-

winner Oliver Stone. How’s that experience thus far?

SW:It’s amazing!

KW: The Ling-Ju Yen question: What is your earliest childhood memory?

SW: Hmm… [Pauses to think] Probably, of my brother being born when I was about 3.

KW: What is your favorite dish to cook?

SW: Ooh, any kind of meat. I’m a big stew person, like a meat stew.

KW: : The Uduak Oduok question: Who is your favorite clothes designer?

SW: I don’t have one favorite.

KW: When you look in the mirror, what do you see?

SW: I see a lot of opportunity for growth.

KW: If you could have one wish instantly granted, what would that be for?

SW: The eradication of big corporations.

KW: The bookworm Troy Johnson question: What was the last book you read?

SW: The last book I read was called “Dear Lover”

by David Deida. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ ASIN/1591792606/ref=nosim/thslfofire-20 KW: The Viola Davis question: What’s the biggest difference between who you are at home as opposed to the person we see on the red carpet?

SW: At home, I never have makeup on.

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March 21, 2015 - March 27, 2015, The Afro-American

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ARTS & CULTURE

See, Speak, Feel Performance and Arts Unveils Local Talents to D.C.

By Maria Adebola AFRO Staff Writer

place for her. “This platform that Tyece provided I feel was very liberating for me.

To be able to have an opportunity like this to share moments and experiences that people can relate to is refreshing,� Goodwin

Poets, painters, vocalists, and writers gathered at the Anacostia Arts Center in southeast D.C. on March 7 to lend their voices, and insights to unsung stories and issues conflicting their community.

Tyece Wilkins, is the founder and director of the annual See. Speak. Feel. Night of Performance and Arts.

Since premiering the show last year, Wilkins has embarked on a mission to lend a platform to today’s artists and truth seekers. “I think it’s a strong conviction that [these] things are supposed to be in the universe,� Wilkins said. “I am just the vessel that they come through.�

The sold out event encouraged the audience to listen, feel, and be healed through poems, songs, and visual artistry that touched on experiences, the good ones as well as nail-biting ones.

It was a first for some of the artists who performed at the showcase that night.

Jazmin Goodwin, a 19-yearold Howard University freshman stage named The Photos by Jazz Lyrical Jaz, premiered a spoken word piece about The Lyricist Jaz recites a poem about female assault sexual assault, which at the performance showcase stemmed from a personal

Visual artists, poets, bloggers, and musicians each performed at the second annual ‘See. Speak. Feel. Night of Performance and Art’

explained. “I would say as an artist, every day is a challenge, but it is a beautiful challenge�

Wilkins hopes the show left the audience energized and inspired to go and live by their own truths. “There are so many underground talents that just need an outlet. They just want their voice to be heard,� Wilkins said. “Even though this show only captures voices of 14 artists, I just think that there are so many people in here tonight who were inspired by the piece they heard.�

Female vocalist Karis Baker, 22, said she was immensely captivated by the crowds receptivity to her musical performance. Baker believes she heals people through her music. “I know that the sound of music is very powerful,� she said. “I use my magic and voice to help others.�

“Anytime you’re on a platform, whether it’s a singing platform or a spoken platform, you’re giving voice to something else that somebody else feels, thinks, is dealing with, is going through, and they just don’t have the words or the same platform to say it. These artists are connecting with someone else in the audience when they step up to perform.� said Wilkins.

Wilkins, an artist herself, has been on a constant mission to find her place and voice in a world where young voices can easily get lost. Since 2012, Wilkins has been chronicling her twenties through her blog called Twenties Unscripted. This is how she lends her voice to and connects connects women to the untold stories of other women in the community.

Karis Baker, female vocalist and vibration healer captivates the audience with her original ensemble

The National Endowment for the Humanities presents

“On the Road: A Search for American Character�

Anna Deavere Smith

Actress, Playwright, Professor, and the 2015 Jefferson Lecturer in the Humanities Followed by a Q & A with Jeffrey Brown of PBS NewsHour.

Monday, April 6, 2015 at 7:30 p.m.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Concert Hall 2700 F Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. EVENT IS FREE; tickets are required.Visit www.neh.gov

National Endowment for the Humanities

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The Afro-American, March 21, 2015 - March 27, 2015

Is ‘white’ the only color of success?

A tribute to Alice Augusta Ball: a scientist whose work with leprosy was overshadowed by a white successor.

By Marsha Rose Joyner Special to the AFRO.

T

he world is regularly misled by the way history is written which is often a fraud. The colonizer will redefine the “local culture” and romanticize it for a feel good purpose.

History is supposed to provide knowledge of the larger context within which our lives take place. By understanding the reality of the people who came before us, we can see why we look at the world the way we do, and what our contribution is toward further progress.

Since the winner writes history, that is usually White males and in English. Therefore we have come to understand that so much of our history is invisible.

Father Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina’s Catholic Church said the United States needed to reexamine its soul and confront racism.

“The country’s long history of institutional racism still lingered, despite the advances of the past century, because racism is in the DNA of America,” Father Pfleger said.

To cover the failures, we need only forget the past. Once people are firmly entrenched in the luminal existence of living for the moment, the past becomes almost as seemingly inconsequential for them as the future.

In 1977, University of Hawaii professor Dr. Kathryn Takara was beginning her research on Black women in Hawaii when she came across the name of Alice Augusta Ball.

“Bit by bit, I began to uncover information about her,” Takara recalled.

When Takara began her research about Ball, she realized how little information there was about the Black scholar.

“I had to dig really hard for it,” she said.

Upon Ball’s untimely death, University of Hawaii president, Dr. Arthur Lyman Dean, continued Ball’s research. He became the namesake of the “Dean Method” and was credited with the discovery of chaulmoogra oil.

“She (Ball) really did all the research,” Takara said. “The Ball Method became his method.”

Dean Hall on the University of Hawaii campus was named after him, and Ball was forgotten.

Beverly Mendheim, an aficionado of Hawaii’s history, was also wondering why she never heard of Alice Augusta Ball. “But after browsing through the Internet, I discovered a story that needs to be told, for Hawaii” Mendheim continued.

James Presley Ball Sr. a respected 19th century photographer. Ball Sr. resided briefly in Montana, and then moved his family to Seattle where Alice was born on July 24, 1892. She was the third of four children to James Presley Ball Jr., an attorney and his wife Laura. The family lived in Seattle until 1902, when they moved to Hawaii.

They lived in downtown Honolulu, first on Fort Street, then on Nu’uanu Avenue, walking distance to the Iolani Palace and “Washington Place,” the residence of Queen Lili’uokalani.

Dr. Kathryn Takara

Alice Augusta Ball

University of Hawaii president, Dr. Arthur Lyman Dean continued Ball’s research after her death.

Alice and her sister Adelaide, attended school at Central Grammar (now Central Intermediate), the former site of Hale Keoua, the residence of Princess Ruth Ke’elikolani.

When her grandfather, James P Ball Sr. died, Alice and her family moved back to the mainland where she attended high school in Seattle. Alice Ball graduated with undergraduate degrees in pharmaceutical chemistry in 1912 and science in 1914, both from the University of Washington She was offered two scholarships in the master’s program—the University of California, Berkeley, and the College of Hawaii (now UH). She chose the latter, perhaps because she was familiar with the Islands. Ball returned to Oahu where she attended the College of Hawaii [Now University of Hawai’i] as its first graduate student.

It is safe to say Alice was a brilliant self-assured young woman. Travelling 2,600 miles alone across the ocean to go to the University of Hawaii at a time when women hardly ventured to town alone. Having attended elementary school in Hawaii, she probably had made many friends on

Oahu.

She was not only the first Black student to receive a master’s from the institute, but she was also the first Black woman to graduate with that distinction.

“At the College, Alice met Dr. Hollman, acting director of the leprosy clinic in Kalihi, the initial check off point before relocation to Kalaupapa, Moloka’i.” Beverly Mendheim

The Ball family home in Hawaii.

wrote. “Alice’s thesis focused mainly on the awa root, (also called kava). Ball was attempting to extract its active ingredients when Dr. Hollman suggested she also investigate chaulmoogra oil (from the tree native to India). She isolated the ethyl ester of chaulmoogra oil which, when injected, proved extremely effective on leprosy symptoms,” Mendheim continued. “Her chemistry professors were so impressed that upon graduation in June, 1915, she was assigned to teach chemistry at the College. By all accounts, she was the first woman to teach any science at the University of Hawaii.”

In 1916 WWI broke out and everyone in Hawaii had to learn how to use a gas mask.

While giving a demonstration to her class, Alice inhaled chlorine gas, used for chemical warfare.

She returned to Seattle for medical treatment and returned to Hawaii in the fall to resume teaching. However, the side effects were so severe that she had to return to Seattle in October where, on Dec. 31, 1916 at the tender age of 24, Alice died.

Her obituary appeared in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin Jan. 1, 1917 where she was remembered by students and faculty as “helpful, cheery, patient, yet optimistic.”

Thanks in part to the exceptional work of Dr. Takara, On Feb. 29, 2000; the University of Hawaii honored the accomplished young woman with a plaque by the chaulmoogra tree that still stands on campus.

Lt. Governor, now Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii named Feb. 29th “Alice Ball Day.” The chemist is now celebrated every four years.

In 2007, Alice Ball was awarded posthumously with the University of Hawaii’s Regents’ Medal of Distinction.

“It’s quite the prestigious award,” Takara said.

Despite Ball’s recent recognition, many believe that more should be done. Students and faculty alike have talked about renaming Dean Hall to Ball Hall.

Dr. Takara remains positive that Ball will soon get her due respect.

W.E.B. Du Bois, an American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, author and editor identified “white supremacy” as a global phenomenon, affecting the social conditions across the world by means of colonialism. His cause included people of color everywhere, particularly Africans and Asians in their struggles against colonialism and imperialism.

“In the first three decades of the 20th Century, American corporate philanthropy combined with prestigious academic fraud to create the pseudoscience eugenics that institutionalized race politics as national policy. The goal: create a superior, white, Nordic race and obliterate the viability of everyone else.’ – “War Against the Weak” by Edwin Black Black Americans have been making contributions to America from the start, but like countless other Americans whose achievements have altered and enriched our lives, these Black Americans remain unknown.

It’s important, to point out their contributions because too often people don’t realize that Black Americans have been making contributions to our country from its inception.

March 21, 2015 - March 27, 2015, The Afro-American

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Reel-ality TV Talk

Gossip in the Air

By Marquesa LaDawn NNPA Columnist This week in Atlanta it was all about friendships, complicated love and lots of gossip…RHOA’s Kandi just wants a happy marriage, not an unreasonable goal for a newlywed. The challenge for the Buress marriage, however, is they are not “handling” their issues. Why is it that smart businesswomen are not so smart in love? Todd admitted during the counseling session that he’s not excited about the Marquesa LaDawn marriage, which is now showing up in the bedroom. He loves Kandi – or so he says – but between Mama Joyce’s insults and lack of accountability along with the pre-nuptial agreement wedding ultimatum, he’s not happy. He actually said being out of Atlanta and working feels better. Ouch! You could see the embarrassment and shock on Kandi’s face as she heard this. But Kandi, at least he’s talking and wants to work things out.

On another front, Kandi, you need to talk to your friends, let them know you are focused on your married life right now and need space. This secretive nature is biting you in the butt!

Phaedra, Porsha and Nene are feeling like you do not have Phaedra’s back as you normally do. On top of that, you are not being honest. I get not repeating Apollo’s accusations regarding infidelity as his wife. But, to say you didn’t know anything about that or hadn’t heard anything at the same time your husband confirms that you heard it, looks bad. But, I will compliment you on not talking to Mama Joyce about anything personal. This may be the biggest lesson for her yet!

Speaking of the ladies talking, Cynthia reached out to Phaedra to clear things up. I knew this was not a good idea; it’s too soon. You can’t out the rumor in one dinner and apologize for outing it in another. Anyway, Phaedra showed up looking for an apology, which was unrealistic.

I agree with Cynthia that the rumor was not started by her so she should not own it. But, I do think her not taking responsibility for sharing it, and expecting Phaedra to understand was crazy. I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that I love the new Cynthia. Yes, she’s being messy, but outspoken. She has a right to her opinion and she’s sharing it. Why is it that folks have selfinduced amnesia? Phaedra has always been outspoken and shared her opinion without “fact checking.” Do I think some of Cynthia’s behavior comes from her anger toward the demise

of her friendship with Nene? Yes. But, I also think she was tired of the criticism of not having an opinion and changing her limited views on a dime. I will say this, Cynthia is not going anywhere – she’s solidified her housewives spot by constantly surprising us!

The episode ended with the ladies agreeing to a session with Dr. Jeff.

In RHBH land, Yolanda realizes even her dear home of Amsterdam cannot calm the housewives. Only problem, Lisa R, who claimed she would never engage Kim again (even post-apology) decides to go shopping with Kim and Brandi. Really Next scene, the boat became “the love boat.” The ladies start off in an awkward way, just sitting and looking, not sure what to say. Then, Kyle and Yolanda head over to the bar and are joined by Lisa V. and begin talking about the awkwardness. Left at the table are Kim, Brandi, Eileen & Yolanda, being step ford like, for a bit a least.

Then, Brandi opens her mouth and the awkward flag is lifted! Irked, Eileen defends herself against comments by Brandi, very well I should say. Eileen speaks the truth, Kim and Brandi speak well – they speak something. Eileen says Brandi is mean and I was shocked to see that Brandi accepted it.

Then the other housewives return … Brandi’s familiar behavior returns and Kim jumps in with her “defensive” comments. Eileen says to Kim, “Kim sue me for giving a damn” was priceless.

The shocker was Brandi revealing a past transgression of Eileen’s – an affair. Kim is loving it! Then, the fight is on! Yolanda leaves and goes to the other table and decides to eat. Yolanda, I love you, but, if you do not like drama – get off of reality TV Then Lisa V. joins her while the other ladies are still going at it!

Kyle reminds Brandi, get out of sisters’ business, but her words fall on deaf ears and everyone leaves the table except Brandi, Kyle and Kim. The new very vocal Kyle, tells Brandi, I do not want to be your friend and she leaves. Brandi wants to jump in the water and Kim starts crying a river! This is a moment! Peacemaker Yolanda, invites Brandi and Kim to eat and they begin to eat! Then, it turns into the ‘love boat,” a bunch of insincere compliments, with a few real ones thrown in.

It ends with a love fest! I love the drama and at times, I love the peace.

Marquesa LaDawn is a professional businesswoman who escapes the pressures of living in New York City by retreating into the real world of reality TV. Visit her at www.Realitytvgirl.com.

Praedamus: Let Us Prey

Selling Heaven (It’s All an Illusion)

By Don Spears Professional Publishing House • Paperback, $24.95 • 424 pages, Illustrated • ISBN: 978-0-692-34921-2 of their inferiority and powerlessness.” Spears’ ultimate aim, here, is ostensibly to undo the ongoing brainwashing of the black masses by the time they finish reading his incendiary arguments.

A whole new look at the Good Book arguably bordering on blasphemy.

Book Review by Kam Williams “Religion plays an important part in most people’s lives… Many of us have absolute and often blind faith in the churches we attend. But is such dedication and unconditional loyalty well-founded, or even smart? Is it good for people to live their fragile lives based on stories told to them by someone who is not an informed, trusted family member, or a loyal and devoted friend?

Why have Christian churches kept their members in the dark for over 2,000 years? What did the church hierarchy actually know that wasn’t being shared? And why does the church continue to keep secrets, and will that always be the case?

Let Us Prey takes a brief look at organized religion and its attendant, ominous consequences. It is an attempt to help you understand and appreciate how and why your secular world and spiritual world work, or do not work.”

-- Excerpted from the Preface (pages 11-12) Televangelist Creflo Dollar recently asked members of his congregation to tithe the $60 million he needs to buy himself a luxurious Gulfstream jet so he could travel in style while spreading the word of the Lord around the world. Is the popular prosperity preacher sincere or just another hustler in a collar?

Before you answer, you might want to read “Praedamus: Let Us Prey,“ a jaw dropping expose’ written

by Don Spears, a brother who is not one to mince words while making a full frontal assault on organized religion.

This very timely tome represents the culmination of 9 years of research in religious history stretching back centuries from the present.

The erudite author tackles an impressive range of topics, including racism, homosexuality, Jesus, slavery, Shakespeare, lynching, Sir Francis Bacon and the ethnic cleansing of Native Americans by European colonists, to name a few. Despite the diverse subject-matter, the book adds up to make a cohesive point, since every discussion relates directly to religion.

For example, he talks about how the evil institution of slavery was made respectable by Christianity. This enabled slave masters to pass themselves off as moral pillars of the community while committing serial rapes on black females whose private parts they literally owned. Spears goes so far as to speculate that the reason the Confederates were willing to secede from the Union and die in the hundreds of

To order a copy of Praedamus: Let Us Prey, visit: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0692349219/ ref%3dnosim/thslfofire-20

Enter for your chance to win admit 2 pass to the special advance screening of

thousands rather than abolish slavery was because of the sex on demand they had become so addicted to.

Elsewhere in the text, the author questions the wisdom of adopting the faith of one’s enslavers, before offering Black Liberation Theology as a viable alternative. That progressive philosophy indicts “un-Christian” white racists for pushing a different brand of their religion on blacks than the one they practiced. Consequently, to this day, most African-Americans “stake their whole existence on heaven,” as opposed to the way whites focus on faring well, materially, in this life.

Other chapters explore whether Jesus was gay, if Shakespeare ghostwrote the King James Version of the Bible, and how lynching functioned “as a way of reminding blacks

afro.com • Your History • Your Community • Your News

Visit http://www.gofobo.com/AFRODC to register to win tickets to this exclusive event on March 25th!

Seating is first-come, first-served. Passes do not guarantee entrance.

Seating is limited to theatre capacity.

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The Afro-American, March 21, 2015 - March 27, 2015

The Reader’s Corner

Fate’s Destiny

Kyle S. Taylor • Release Date: Dec. 1, 2014

Kyle S. Taylor is a 2001 graduate of Loyola Blakefield High School in Towson, Md., and graduated from Morgan State University in 2005 with a B.A. in English/Journalism. He has a professional background in communications and journalism, and has had articles published in several newspapers including The Baltimore Sun, The Afro American Newspaper, The Baltimore Times, and The Baltimore Business Journal. His debut novel “Fate’s Destiny” is currently available as an e-book on Amazon, iBooks, Google Play, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo Books. The paperback is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Books-AMillion. Find out more about Kyle and his book on his blog www.kylestaylor.blogspot.com.

What was the impetus for writing this book?

The main plot of this book came to me many years ago. It revolves around God being in Kyle S. Taylor dismay at the state of the world and debating destroying it. Instead mankind is given one last chance, with its fate put in the hands of three individuals who are tested, and have no clue that they are essentially on trial for the sins of the world. I felt that it was an original and unique story, and one that could also be both entertaining and enlightening.

Lexus GS 350 F Sport

By Frank S. Washington NNPA Columnist HOUSTON – After more than a week, it felt like we drove the Lexus GS 350 F Sport sedan through every one of the 600 square miles that comprise this city. And we only found a few irks to complain about.

Actually, we drove the Lexus GS 350 F Sport to New Orleans and back here.

After 10 days and almost 1,000 miles, we came away with a healthy respect for the road worthiness of the midsize luxury sedan. Except for going over some rather spacious expansion joints on the causeways that slice through southern Louisiana, not once did any road noise make its way into the cabin.

Although the Lexus GS F Sport has an available rear-wheel-biased all-wheel-drive system, how often are you going to get inclement weather beyond heavy rain in this region? Anyway, that is a long-winded way of saying that we had a rear-wheel-drive model of the F Sport and it was just fine.

Still, the car had what Lexus called an adaptable variable suspension that came with its sport package. Settings were normal, sport, sport +, eco and snow. Even though regional gas prices ranged from $2.47 to $2.62, they were cheaper with cash, we set the car in Eco mode because of the distances involved on the trip.

That mode set throttle mapping and seat heating and climate control systems for optimal fuel economy. In ECO mode, the instrument meter lighting changed to blue. But the sport package is more than an extra setting, sport +, in the drive mode selector. We had a full tank of fuel when we left, we filled the tank again once we arrived and we filled it once more for the return trip. The visit to New Orleans included a side trip to Hammond, just North of Lake Pontchartrain, and the place we gassed up the second time.

Our test car had an EPA rating of 19 mpg in the city and 20 mpg on the highway.

Considering the 1,000 miles we drove, it was relatively easy on fuel.

The sport package was comprised of chassis enhancements, a sport tuned suspension, 19inch alloy wheels with summer tires, larger front brakes that were appreciated with all the sudden slowdowns from Interstate speeds because of traffic congestion and high friction brake pads. Our test car also had lane keep assist and a rearview camera.

Of course there were firmer springs, thicker stabilizer bars and special bushings.

Although our test car was not equipped with it, the Lexus GS 350 F Sport has available dynamic rear steer that can add up to two degrees of rear wheel turn that enhances cornering and lane changes.

No matter whether we were traveling at 80 mph or 8 mph, our 3.5-liter engine performed flawlessly. It generated 308 horsepower, 277 pound-feet of torque and it was mated to an eight-speed transmission. There was no herking or jerking, no searching for the correct gear and the car accelerated swiftly when needed.

We thought the side view mirrors could have been shaped differently; they didn’t provide a wide enough view of what was on the side of the car. But the blind spot alert system made up for that lack. And in an age of portable electronic gadgets, we thought the car could have used more than one USB jack.

However, these gripes were mere inconveniences that were more than offset by the driver experience of the Lexus GS 350 F Sport. Our test car was swathed with a black perforated leather interior. The front seats were heated as well as cooled and the driver’s seat was 18-way power. Aluminum pedals and brushed aluminum trim completed the interior’s sport motif.

The car featured Lexus’ 12.3 inch dual information screen. We spent a lot of time in navigation mode and that gets us to our third quibble. The navigation system will not mute the audio system when giving directions to the driver. A moderate decibel level when playing the radio will drown out the directions being giving by the voice of the navigation system. Yes, there is a map with a designated route but you can miss those directions as well, if your eyes are on the road where they are supposed to be.

Still, the system had predictive traffic information that included detour preview, ETA calculation and low-fuel coordination with available fuel stations. We didn’t avail ourselves of the traffic information in the navigation system and ended up getting it off the traffic app in the Enform App Suite.

Either or, this trips marks the last time will travel back to Houston from the Big Easy on the Sunday after Turkey Day. The traffic was as thick as molasses in some places.

The information system had the usual compliment of stuff: Bluetooth, satellite radio, media capability, meaning it would and did play stations off the Pandora app on our smartphone and there were voice controls.

Other equipment on the Lexus GS 350 F Sport included adaptive cruise control, land departure warning, pre-collision warning, a 17-speaker 835-watt premium audio system, a rearview camera and folding side mirrors.

Our Lexus GS 350 F Sport was a quality midsize sedan in one of the most competitive segments of the luxury market. The car had a base price of $47,700. Add options that included the sport package and a $910 freight charge and the final tab was $60,784.

Frank S. Washington is editor of AboutThatCar.com.

What’s the overall theme?

Choice. Many of the characters in the book are confronted with an issue—either an internal one, or an external decision they must make. Their choices play a huge role in determining their personal fate as well as mankind’s fate.

What surprised you about the development of the book?

I was surprised at how many changes I applied to different scenes and characters from my initial concept. The initial concept of the main characters is vastly different than the final version that appears in the book, though the main plot itself didn’t change much.

What one thing do you want the reader to remember forever?

After reading this, I would wish for the reader to remember that life is all about choices, and that every day we wake up, we make a choice of determining the person we want to be. The choice you make today may positively or negatively affect the person you will be tomorrow.

What did you learn during the writing process?

I learned the difficulty in describing a scene in detail as it’s shaped in your mind. You only have words to use to describe whatever emotion and tension is present, and that is easier said than done at times.

Any advice for aspiring writers?

If I could give advice to any aspiring writer, it would be to hone your craft. Write on a regular basis and constantly work at becoming better. Read as often as possible. And edit, edit, EDIT! What’s next on the horizon for you?

Next on the horizon for me is a follow up to this novel, as well as a few short stories.

Hopefully these can be published at different points throughout 2015.

Meet Kyle Taylor at a book signing, 2 to 4 p.m., April 11 at St. Ignatius Loyola Academy, 300 E. Gittings Street, in Baltimore.

March 21, 2015 - March 27, 2015, The Afro-American

B7

SPORTS

Is Suh Worth the Money in Miami?

AFRO Sports Desk Faceoff

for quarterbacks–that’s it. Shelling out that much cash to a defensive lineman doesn’t leave much left to account for the other premier positions like quarterback, wide receiver, pass rusher and cornerback. Miami finished third in the AFC East last year so it isn’t like they’re just one player away. Landing Suh crushed the headlines, but I doubt it’ll be enough to overtake the two teams that finished ahead of them last season, New England and Buffalo. And if paying a guy over $100 million doesn’t automatically make you a favorite in your own division then maybe it was bad money spent.

By Perry Green and Stephen D. Riley AFRO Sports Writers

When NFL free agency begins Tuesday, March 10, 2015, lots of players will get lots of money. Some will even earn it throughout those massive contracts. Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh and Cowboys running back DeMarco Murray, the AP Offensive Player of the Year and league’s leading rusher, will be available.

Pro-Bowl defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh signed the richest NFL contract ever for a defensive player when he inked his $114 million contract Riley: Considering Buffalo with the Miami Dolphins just landed LeSean McCoy AP Photo, File earlier this week. The former and Tom Brady still pilots In this Nov. 9, 2014, file photo, Detroit Lions defensive Detroit Lions star tackle took the New England franchise tackle Ndamukong Suh (90) is shown before an NFL his talents to South Beach that’s enough reason for the football game against the Miami Dolphins at Ford Field in where he’ll anchor a Dolphins team to splurge on Suh. Even Detroit. team void on big names. the New York Jets have made After terrorizing opposing some strides this offseason in quarterbacks for the last five commitment to getting better. years in Detroit, Suh earned a reputation as one of the best, Having that defensive chess piece across the ball is going to if not the best defensive player in the league. Commanding a elevate Miami’s defense in so many ways. And yes, it is a double team on each defensive snap, Suh can rush the passer, good thing that NFL contracts aren’t guaranteed, making Suh’s stop the run, drop back in zone coverage and control the line signing an even more genius one. Miami could easily get all of scrimmage from his position. While he may be the best they want out of Suh over the next few years then restructure defensive player in the league, is he worth over $100 million to his deal if they have to or cut him altogether. Suh, however, prove it? Perry Green and Stephen D. Riley of the AFRO Sports is dominant enough that he could sustain a high level of play Desk debate the question. for years to come. It’s the ultimate win-win situation Riley: You’re not going to for the Dolphins and they’ll find a much better player than come away as a better team Suh to anchor a defensive unit. than they’ve been in previous At only 28 years old, Suh still seasons. has several more years left of prime time play, and he’ll be Green: If Miami was just the face of the franchise for a looking for a player to spend –Riley team that hasn’t had one in a a large amount of money while. Richie Incognito and on before releasing him Ricky Williams were the last then maybe they should’ve Dolphin players to receive gone after some of the highmajor media coverage and profile offensive free agents both times were because of or even swung for a trade. career-killing decisions. Suh’s history is littered with some I just don’t understand what Miami is doing. That type of “dirty player” labels but for the most part, he’s known for his free agent acquisition should put a team over the top, but work on the field and that’s why the Dolphins are paying him we can’t even say definitively that the Dolphins will even a king’s ransom. The defensive line position controls so much make the postseason next year. Suh is a great player but he about the game of football, and Miami just picked up the most nearly missed his team’s lone playoff game against the Dallas disruptive defensive lineman in the league. The price was high Cowboys this January after a stomping incident the week prior. but the Dolphins are banking that their win count will rise as Availability is a big trait and there’s nothing more antagonizing well. than a great player missing time due to bone-headed mistakes on the field. Suh’s still combustible and untrustworthy. If I’m Green: The great thing about the NFL is that contracts a franchise and I’m signing over those type of checks I want aren’t guaranteed, because if they were, the Lions would be some more reassurance from the player I’m paying. There’s kicking themselves after the first season of this new mega still so many question marks surrounding this deal that they contract. Suh is a fantastic player but a team simply can’t make me think the Lions knew what they were doing by pay that much money to a player who doesn’t have the ball dividing most of their big money to their core offensive guys in in his hands all the time. Hundred-million-plus contracts are Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson.

“Suh’s history is littered with some ‘dirty player’ labels…”

It Was Only a Dream This past weekend I found myself among a host of friends. We were at Arlington for the interment of a departed friend, Commander Stanley Carter. Stanley was a classmate of my wife, and one of the early African-American entrants at the Naval Academy. There was enough Naval brass at this event to storm the beaches at Normandy.

After the event, there was the usual social gathering which gave the out-of-towners the opportunity to visit with old classmates. My wife’s high school classmates have remained friends over the years, and I have been fortunate enough to share this friendship. One of the ladies asked me if I had retired because she hasn’t seen my work in the paper recently. This opened the discussion on the life and times of Sam Lacy (my current project). I had no idea so many friends found this work worthwhile and amusing.

I have said this many times in the past, “I am techno stupid.” If I turn on my computer and Sam Lacy something is awry, I call on my 12-year-old computer tech, Maddie.

So, with this in mind, I attempted to explain that my column can be found online. Then came the question, “How do I find it?” All I could do was stand there and grin. This question was right in my wheelhouse because Jake (AFRO publisher) took a minute to explain it to me. After explaining that the work can be found at AFRO.com, I was done. However, after discovering this interest and with that kind of support I will carry on with the story of Sam Lacy.

On many occasion, he would wander off into a tale of his early life or childhood. He once told me of the time he lost his bike. Finding his bike missing, he set out on a search to find it. After checking the usual place, he searched the backyard, the woodshed and the garage where Aunt Rachel kept her car.

He was not willing to accept the fact that the bike might have been stolen so he went to his buddy’s house to check.

He and his buddy Nijji were joined at the hip, and spent most of their free time together, and this included riding their bikes. They once set out to ride to Baltimore, but fatigue and better judgment pointed out that this was not a good idea.

His searching efforts were futile at Nijji’s house, so he collected Nijji and they ventured out together. It was suggested that Sam’s older brother (Erskine) may have borrowed the bike so they went to Duke’s (Duke Ellington) house to find Erskine. Duke was Erskine’s buddy, and they were often together, but not that day.

After checking more of the obvious places, they were tired and decided to return to their respective homes. Upon finding his bike under the porch where he always kept it, Sam realized that there was something wrong with this picture. It was then that he woke up. It was all a dream.

This whole story has a familiar ring to it. It has happened to me, and I am sure some of you can relate.

Washington Rounding Back into Form for Playoff Push Wizards Weekly – 20

By Stephen D. Riley Special to AFRO

AP Photo

Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal (3) attempts to shoot over Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins (15) in the second half of an NBA basketball game March 14, 2015, in Washington. The Wizards won 113-97.

There isn’t much time left in the NBA regular season, and the Washington Wizards are starting to find their sense of urgency. It took nearly two months for the team to show some signs of life but three straight blowout wins have Washington’s pulse active again. Trying to maintain position inside the NBA Eastern Conference playoff standings, Washington used a solid week to rebuild confidence and get back to the things that worked so well for them in the early part of the year. The Wizards continue to fight their way out of a post All-Star break slump as the postseason nears but they have to be careful as their current standing (fifth in the East) could perhaps

raise or drop depending on how well they play over the next few weeks. The Wizards are healthy for the most part so now appears to be the team’s best opportunity for a late season run. The AFRO recaps the week that was for the Washington Wizards.

March 9: Wizards Beat Hornets in Blowout Victory Washington opened their week on the road Monday against the Charlotte Hornets and basically ended the game before it could even start.

Washington ran off to a 36-21 first quarter and never looked back as they routed Charlotte 95-69 in a pretty impressive victory. The Wizards capped the game by allowing just nine points in the final period and just 23 in the second half, overall. Marcin Gortat led the way with 20 points and seven

rebounds, and Wall filled in the gaps with 15 points, nine assists and five rebounds as Washington controlled the game throughout. The Wizards out-rebounded Charlotte 49-37 and held the home team to just 32 percent from the field.

March 12: Washington Beats Memphis in Tainted Win An ESPN-televised homestand against the Southwest division-leading Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday night lost a lot of luster when it was learned that the Grizzlies would rest a bulk of its starters. The result wasn’t pretty for the visiting Grizzlies as Washington used a huge second quarter to ride the wave to a 107-87 victory in front of a delighted Verizon Center crowd. Washington trailed by seven points after the opening quarter but

stormed back quickly in the ensuing period, outscoring Memphis 34-14 in the second quarter. Wall (21 points, six assists, seven rebounds) and Gortat (22 points, nine rebounds) paced the club as four players scored in double figures and two others scored nine points apiece.

March 14: Wizards Trounce Kings 113-97 Washington continued to roll to success on March 14 with a convincing home win over the Sacramento Kings. DeMarcus Cousins scored 30 points for the Kings, but his former University of Kentucky teammate John Wall topped him with 31 points and 12 assists to lead the Wizards to a 113-97 victory.

Five other players scored double digits for Washington, including Paul Pierce with 17 points and Brad Beal with 14.

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AKA Dorothy White Decedent NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS Sheila C. White, whose address is 615 L. Street, N E , Wa s h i n g t o n , D C 20002 was appointed personal representative of the estate of Dorothy E White, AKA Dorothy White who died on October 11, 2014 with a will, and will serve without Court supervision. All unknown heirs and heirs whose whereabouts are unknown shall enter their appearance in this proceeding. Objections to such appointment (or to the probate of decedent´s will) shall be filed with the Register of Wills, D.C., 515 5th Street, N.W., 3rd Floor Wa s h i n g t o n , D . C .

20001, on or before September 6, 2015.

Claims against the decedent shall be presented to the undersigned with a copy to the Register of Wills or filed with the Register of Wills with a copy to the undersigned, on or before September 6, 2015, or be forever barred. Persons believed to be heirs or legatees of the decedent who do not receive a copy of this notice by mail within 25 days of its first publication shall so inform the Register of Wills, including name, address and relationship.

Date of Publication: March 6, 2015 Name of newspaper: Afro-American Washington Law Reporter Sheila C. White Personal Representative TRUE TEST COPY REGISTER OF WILLS 03/06, 03/13, 03/20/15

TYPESET: Tue Mar 10 LEGAL NOTICES Superior Court of the District of District of Columbia PROBATE DIVISION Washington, D.C. 20001-2131 Administration No. 2013ADM1328 Carletha T. Bell AKA Carletha T. Kelly-Bell AKA Carletha K. Bell Decedent NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS Michael O. Middleton and Lester L. Oates Sr. , whose addresses are 14909 Health Center Drive, Apt 435, Bowie, MD 20716 and 11504 Dundee Drive, Bowie , MD 20721were appointed personal representatives of the estate of Carletha T. Bell AKA Carletha T. Kelly-Bell AKA Carletha K. Bell, who died on August 15, 2003 with a Will, and will serve without Court supervision. All unknown heirs and heirs whose whereabouts are unknown shall enter their appearance in this proceeding. Objections to such appointment (or to the probate of decedent´s will) shall be filed with the Register of Wills, D.C., 515 5th Street, N.W., 3rd Floor Wa s h i n g t o n , D . C .

20001, on or before September 13, 2015.

Claims against the decedent shall be presented to the undersigned with a copy to the Register of Wills or filed with the Register of Wills with a copy to the undersigned, on or before September 13, 2015, or be forever barred. Persons believed to be heirs or legatees of the decedent who do not receive a copy of this notice by mail within 25 days of its first publication shall so inform the Register of Wills, including name, address and relationship.

Date of Publication: March 13, 2015 Name of newspaper: Afro-American Washington Law Reporter Micheal O. Middleton Lester L. Oates Sr. Personal Representatives TRUE TEST COPY

10:31:15 EST REGISTER OF 2015 WILLS

TYPESET: Tue Mar 03 03/13, 03/20, 03/27/15

Superior Court of the District of District of Columbia PROBATE DIVISION Washington, D.C. 20001-2131 Administration No. 2015ADM172 Michael A Greene Decedent NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS Shirley A. Deyo, whose address is 6652 High Valley Lane, Alexandria, VA 22315 was appointed personal representative of the estate of Michael A. Greene, who died on January 14, 2015 without a will, and will serve without Court supervision. All unknown heirs and heirs whose whereabouts are unknown shall enter their appearance in this proceeding. Objections to such appointment shall be filed with the Register of Wills, D.C., 515 5th Street, N.W., 3rd Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before September 6, 2015.

Claims against the decedent shall be presented to the undersigned with a copy to the Register of Wills or filed with the Register of Wills with a copy to the undersigned, on or before September 6, 2015, or be forever barred. Persons believed to be heirs or legatees of the decedent who do not receive a copy of this notice by mail within 25 days of its first publication shall so inform the Register of Wills, including name, address and relationship.

Date of Publication: March 6, 2015 Name of newspaper: Afro-American Washington Law Reporter Shirley A. Deyo Personal Representative TRUE TEST COPY REGISTER OF WILLS 03/06, 03/13, 03/20/15

Superior Court of the District of District of Columbia PROBATE DIVISION Washington, D.C. 20001-2131 Administration No. 2011ADM644 14:00:41 2015 Audrey S.EDT Douglas Decedent Bradley A. Thomas Esq 4201 Connecticut Ave., NW Suite 400 Washington, DC 20008-1128 Attorney NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS K e v i n W. D o u g l a s , whose address is 1035 Lake Shore Dr, Mitchellville, MD 20721 was appointed personal representative of the estate of Audrey S. Douglas, who died on April 16, 2009 without a will, and will serve without Court supervision. All unknown heirs and heirs whose whereabouts are unknown shall enter their appearance in this proceeding. Objections to such appointment (or to the probate of decedent´s will) shall be filed with the Register of Wills, D.C., 515 5th Street, N.W., 3rd Floor Wa s h i n g t o n , D . C .

20001, on or before September 13, 2015.

Claims against the decedent shall be presented to the undersigned with a copy to the Register of Wills or filed with the Register of Wills with a copy to the undersigned, on or before September 13, 2015, or be forever barred. Persons believed to be heirs or legatees of the decedent who do not receive a copy of this notice by mail within 25 days of its first publication shall so inform the Register of Wills, including name, address and relationship.

Date of Publication: March 13, 2015 Name of newspaper: Afro-American Washington Law Reporter Kevin W. Douglas Personal Representative TRUE TEST COPY REGISTER OF WILLS

TYPESET: Tue Mar 10 03/13, 03/20, 03/27/15

Superior Court of the District of District of Columbia PROBATE DIVISION Washington, D.C. 20001-2131 Administration No. 2014ADM658 Linwood Chisholm Decedent Jamison B. Taylor 1218 11th St. NW Washington, DC 20001 Attorney 16:59:21 EST 2015 NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS H a z e l V. C h i s h o l m , whose address is 2604 Monroe St. NE, Washington, DC 20018, was appointed personal representative of the estate of Linwood Chisholm, who died on January 18, 2014 without a will, and will serve without Court supervision. All unknown heirs and heirs whose whereabouts are unknown shall enter their appearance in this proceeding. Objections to such appointment shall be filed with the Register of Wills, D.C., 515 5th Street, N.W., 3rd Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before September 13, 2015.

Claims against the decedent shall be presented to the undersigned with a copy to the Register of Wills or filed with the Register of Wills with a copy to the undersigned, on or before September 13, 2015, or be forever barred. Persons believed to be heirs or legatees of the decedent who do not receive a copy of this notice by mail within 25 days of its first publication shall so inform the Register of Wills, including name, address and relationship.

Date of Publication: March 13, 2015 Name of newspaper: Afro-American Washington Law Reporter Hazel V. Chisholm Personal Representative TRUE TEST COPY REGISTER OF WILLS 03/13, 03/20, 03/27/15

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Superior Court of the District of District of Columbia PROBATE DIVISION Washington, D.C. 20001-2131 Administration No. 2015ADM200 John Gilliam Decedent NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS Keith Gilliam, whose address is 1223 Rock Creek Ford Road,NW, Washington, DC 20011 was appointed personal representative of the estate of John Gilliam, who died on May 4, 2000 without a will, and will serve with Court supervision. All unknown heirs and heirs whose whereabouts are unknown shall enter their appearance in this proceeding. Objections to such appointment shall be filed with the Register of Wills, D.C., 515 5th Street, N.W., 3rd Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before September 13, 2015.

Claims against the decedent shall be presented to the undersigned with a copy to the Register of Wills or filed with the Register of Wills with a copy to the undersigned, on or before September 13, 2015, or be forever barred. Persons believed to be heirs or legatees of the decedent who do not receive a copy of this notice by mail within 25 days of its first publication shall so inform the Register of Wills, including name, address and relationship.

Date of Publication: March 13, 2015 Name of newspaper: Afro-American Washington Law Reporter Keith Gilliam Personal Representative TRUE TEST COPY REGISTER OF WILLS 3/13, 03/20, 03/27/2015 TYPESET: Tue Mar 10 Superior Court of the District of District of Columbia PROBATE DIVISION 14:02:46 EDT 2015 Washington, D.C. 20001-2131 Administration No. 2015ADM215 Tammy Louise WhiteSmiley Decedent NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS Isaiah Deshaun Smiley, whose address is 312 P e a b o d y S t , N W, Washington, DC 20011, was appointed personal representative of the estate of Tammy Louise White-Smiley, who died on December 26, 2014 without a will, and will serve without Court supervision. All unknown heirs and heirs whose whereabouts are unknown shall enter their appearance in this proceeding. Objections to such appointment shall be filed with the Register of Wills, D.C., 515 5th Street, N.W., 3rd Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before September 13, 2015.

Claims against the decedent shall be presented to the undersigned with a copy to the Register of Wills or filed with the Register of Wills with a copy to the undersigned, on or before September 13, 2015, or be forever barred. Persons believed to be heirs or legatees of the decedent who do not receive a copy of this notice by mail within 25 days of its first publication shall so inform the Register of Wills, including name, address and relationship.

Date of Publication: March 13, 2015 Name of newspaper: Afro-American Washington Law Reporter Iasaih Deshaun Smiley Personal Representative TRUE TEST COPY REGISTER OF WILLS 03/13, 03/20, 03/27/115

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Legal Advertising Rates Superior Court of the District of Effective October 1, 2008 District of Columbia PROBATE DIVISION Washington, D.C. PROBATE DIVISION 20001-2131 Administration No. (Estates) 2015ADM162 L e s t e r N a t h202-332-0080 aniel Crockett PROBATE NOTICES AKA Lester Nathaniel Crockett Sr. a. Order Nisi $ 60 per insertion $180.00 per 3 weeks Decedent NOTICE OF$ 60 per insertion b. Small Estates (single publication APPOINTMENT, c. Notice to Creditors TYPESET: Tue Mar 03 16:56:36 EST 2015 NOTICE TO CREDITORS$ 60 per insertion 1. Domestic $180.00 per 3 weeks AND NOTICE TO 2. Foreign $ 60 per insertion UNKNOWN HEIRS Superior Court of $180.00 per 3 weeks Cheryl Leslie Crockett, the District of d. Escheated Estates $ 60 per insertion $360.00 per 6 weeks whose address is 124 InDistrict of Columbia e. Standard Probates g r a h a m S t , N W, PROBATE DIVISION $125.00 Washington, DC 20011 Washington, D.C. was appointed personal 20001-2131 14:03:11 EDT 2015 CIVIL NOTICES representative of the Administration No. estate of Lester Nathan2014ADM215 a. Name Changes 202-879-1133 iel Crockett AKA Lester Cloastellie Tilghman $ 80.00 Nathaniel Crockett, Sr., AKA b. Real Property $ 200.00 who died on October 11, Cloastellie M. 2014 with a will, and will Tilghman serve without Court su- AKA FAMILY COURT pervision. All unknown Cloastellie S. heirs and heirs202-879-1212 whose Tilghman whereabouts are un- Decedent DOMESTIC known shall enter their RELATIONS Sharon M. Graysona p p e a r a n c e i202-879-0157 n t h i s Kelsey proceeding. Objections 3034 Mitchellville RD. to such appointment (or Bowie, MD 20716 to the probate of de- Attorney a. Absent Defendant $ 150.00 cedent´s will) shall be NOTICE OF filed with the Register of APPOINTMENT, b. Absolute Divorce $ 150.00 Wills, D.C., 515 5th NOTICE TO TYPESET: Tue Mar 03 16:57:22 c. Custody Divorce $150.00 Street, N.W., 3rd Floor CREDITORS Wa s h i n g t o n , D . C .

AND NOTICE TO 20001, on or before UNKNOWN HEIRS Court Sepetmber 6, 2015. ext.

Joeseph To place your ad, call 1-800-237-6892, 262, Francis Public TilgNotices Superior $50.00 & upof the District of Claims against the de- hman, whose address is depending oncedent size, Baltimore Legal Notices are $24.84 per inch.

District of Columbia shall be pre- 1002 Donnington Court, DIVISION sented to the under- Bowie, MD 20721 was 892 personal re- PROBATE Washington, D.C. signed with a1-800 copy to(AFRO) the appointed 20001-2131 of Wills orplease filed presentative of the estate ext. 244 For Proof ofRegister Publication, call 1-800-237-6892, Administration No. with the Register of Wills of Cloastellie Tilghman, 2014ADM1186 with a copy to the under- AKA Cloastellie M. Tilgsigned, on or before hman AKA Cloastellie S. Eunice Marie Minor September 6, 2015, or be Tilghman who died on Decedent forever barred. Persons September 7, 2013 with Peggy A. Miller, Esq believed to be heirs or a will, and will serve with 5130-7th St. NE legatees of the decedent Court supervision. All un- Washington, DC 20011 who do not receive a known heirs and heirs Attorney NOTICE OF copy of this notice by mailNOTICES TYPESET: Tue Mar 03 16:57:02 EST 2015 whose whereabouts are LEGAL APPOINTMENT, within 25 days of its first unknown shall enter their NOTICE TO publication shall so in- a p p e a r a n c e i n t h i s CREDITORS form the Register of proceeding. Objections Superior Court of AND NOTICE TO Wills, including name, to such appointment (or the District of UNKNOWN HEIRS address and relation- to the probate of deDistrict of Columbia Diamond McGee, whose ship. cedent´s will) shall be PROBATE DIVISION Date of Publication: filed with the Register of address is 4552 KinWashington, D.C. mount Road, Lanham, March 6, 2015 Wills, D.C., 515 5th 20001-2131 Name of newspaper: Street, N.W., 3rd Floor MD 20706 was apAdministration No. pointed personal repAfro-American Wa s h i n g t o n , D . C .

2015ADM162 resentativ of the estate of 20001, on or before L e s t e r N a t h a n i e l Washington Law Reporter September 6, 2015. Eunice Marie Minor, who Crockett died on October 3, 2009 Cheryl Leslie Crockett Claims against the deAKA cedent shall be pre- without a Will, and will L e s t e r N a t h a n i e l Personal Representative sented to the under- serve without Court suCrockett Sr. signed with a copy to the pervision. All unknown Decedent TRUE TEST COPY Register of Wills or filed heirs and heirs whose NOTICE OF REGISTER OF WILLS with the Register of Wills whereabouts are unAPPOINTMENT, TYPESET: Tue Mar 03 16:56:36 EST 2015 with a copy to the under- known shall enter their NOTICE TO appearance in this 03/06, 03/13, 03/20/15 signed, on or before CREDITORS September 6, 2015, or be proceeding. Objections AND NOTICE TO forever barred. Persons to such appointment (or Superior Court of UNKNOWN HEIRS believed to be heirs or to the probate of dethe District of Cheryl Leslie Crockett, legatees of the decedent cedent´s will) shall be District of Columbia whose address is 124 Inwho do not receive a filed with the Register of PROBATE DIVISION g r a h a m S t , N W, copy of this notice by mail Wills, D.C., 515 5th Washington, D.C. Washington, DC 20011 within 25 days of its first Street, N.W., 3rd Floor 20001-2131 was appointed personal publication shall so in- W a s h i n g t o n , D . C .

Administration No. representative of the 20001, on or before form the Register of 2014ADM215 estate of Lester NathanWills, including name, September 6 ,2015. iel Crockett AKA Lester Cloastellie Tilghman address and relation- Claims against the deNathaniel Crockett, Sr., AKA cedent shall be preship. who died on October 11, Cloastellie M. sented to the underDate of Publication: 2014 with a will, and will Tilghman signed with a copy to the March 6, 2015 serve without Court su- AKA Register of Wills or filed Name of newspaper: pervision. All unknown Cloastellie S. with the Register of Wills Afro-American heirs and heirs whose Tilghman with a copy to the underWashington whereabouts are un- Decedent signed, on or before SepLaw Reporter known shall enter their Sharon M. GraysonJoseph Francis temeber 6, 2015 , or be Kelsey appearance in this Tilghman forever barred. Persons proceeding. Objections 3034 Mitchellville RD. Personal believed to be heirs or to such appointment (or Bowie, MD 20716 Representative legatees of the decedent to the probate of de- Attorney who do not receive a NOTICE OF cedent´s will) shall be copy of this notice by mail TRUE TEST COPY APPOINTMENT, filed with the Register of within 25 days of its first REGISTER OF WILLS NOTICE TO Wills, D.C., 515 5th publication shall so inCREDITORS Street, N.W., 3rd Floor TYPESET: Tue Mar 03 16:57:22 EST 2015 form the Register of 03/06, 03/13, 03/20/15 AND NOTICE TO Wa s h i n g t o n , D . C .

Wills, including name, UNKNOWN HEIRS 20001, on or before address and relationSepetmber 6, 2015. Joeseph Francis TilgSuperior Court of ship.

Claims against the de- hman, whose address is the District of Date of Publication: cedent shall be pre- 1002 Donnington Court, District of Columbia March 6, 2015 sented to the under- Bowie, MD 20721 was PROBATE DIVISION Name of newspaper: signed with a copy to the appointed personal reWashington, D.C. Afro-American Register of Wills or filed presentative of the estate 20001-2131 Washington with the Register of Wills of Cloastellie Tilghman, Administration No. Law Reporter with a copy to the under- AKA Cloastellie M. Tilg2014ADM1186 Diamond McGee hman AKA Cloastellie S. Eunice Marie Minor signed, on or before Personal September 6, 2015, or be Tilghman who died on Decedent Representative forever barred. Persons September 7, 2013 with Peggy A. Miller, Esq believed to be heirs or a will, and will serve with 5130-7th St. NE legatees of the decedent Court supervision. All un- Washington, DC 20011 TRUE TEST COPY REGISTER OF WILLS who do not receive a known heirs and heirs Attorney copy of this notice by mail whose whereabouts are NOTICE OF 03/06, 03/13, 03/20/15 within 25 days of its first unknown shall enter their APPOINTMENT, publication shall so in- a p p e a r a n c e i n t h i s NOTICE TO proceeding. Objections form the Register of CREDITORS Wills, including name, to such appointment (or AND NOTICE TO address and relation- to the probate of deUNKNOWN HEIRS cedent´s will) shall be Diamond McGee, whose ship. filed with the Register of address is 4552 KinDate of Publication:

March 21, 2015 - March 27, 2015, The Afro-American

TYPESET: Tue Mar 03 16:58:06 2015 LEGAL NOTICES TYPESET: Tue Mar 17 16:56:19 TYPESET: Tue Mar 03 16:59:00 2015 TYPESET: Tue2015 Mar 10 14:03:30 TYPESET: Tue 2015 Mar 10 17:06:54 TYPESET: Tue2015 Mar 10 17:07:53 LEGALEST NOTICES LEGALEST NOTICES LEGALEDT NOTICES LEGALEDT NOTICES LEGALEDT NOTICES

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA WATER AND SEWER AUTHORITY INVITATION TO BID INVITATION NO. 140050 REHABILITATION OF SEWERS UNDER BUILDINGS PHASE 2 The District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (DC Water) is soliciting bids for Invitation No. 140050: Rehabilitation of Sewers Under Buildings Phase 2The following listing enumerates the major items of work included in the contract: *Structural repair of sanitary sewer, combined sewer and stormwater pipes under buildings at 19 specific sites including installation of CIPP lining; chemical grout injection; shotcrete; and man entry grout (spot repairs).

Pipes are circular, horseshoe, and egg shape ranging from 10 inch diameter to 108 inch height. Pipe materials include brick, RCP, and VCP. *Installation of new manholes *CCTV inspection and cleaning of sewers including root and debris removal *Site 17 Sewer Investigation including CCTV with inclinometer, field survey, potholes *Patching of holes and damaged pipe walls *Flow monitoring and flow control including plug and release and bypass pumping *Maintenance and control of traffic *Excavation *pavement and other surface restoration The project requires completion within 403 consecutive calendar days.

This project is estimated to cost between $1,000,000 and $5,000,000.

DC Water will receive Bids until 2:00 p.m., local standard time on April 15, 2015.

No Pre-Bid Conference will be conducted.

This project may be funded in part by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). A Fair Share Objective for Minority and Women’s Business Enterprises participation in this work of 32% and 6%, respectively, has been established. The program requirements are fully defined in USEPA’s ”Participation by Disadvantaged Enterprises in Procurement under EPA Financial Assistant Agreements - May 27, 2008”. The Davis-Bacon wage determinations shall apply.

DC Water Owner Controlled Insurance Program will provide insurance.Bid documents are available at the Department of Procurement, 5000 Overlook Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20032. Sets of Bidding Documents can be procured for a non-refundable $100 purchase price each, payable to DC Water. Payment must be in the form of a money order, certified check or a company check. Documents can be shipped to Bidders providing a Federal Express account number.

The DC Water Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant is a secured facility. Persons intending to pick-up Bidding Documents are to contact the Department of Procurement at 202 787 2020 for access authorization.

For procurement information contact Mrs. DeNerika Johnson; email Procurement ConstructionInquiry@dcwater.com, (Voice: 202 787 2113).

For technical information contact: DETS-Construction.Bid.Inquiry@ dcwater.com. Please insert the IFB No. in the Subject Line.

Superior Court of the District of District of Columbia PROBATE DIVISION Washington, D.C. 20001-2131 Administration No. 2015ADM176 Winston O. James Decedent Tina Smith Nelson 601 E Street NW Washington, DC 20049 Attorney NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS Patricia Ward, whose address is 763 Grescham Place, NW, DC 20001 was appointed personal representative of the estate of Winston O. James, who died on September 9, 2014 without a will, and will serve without Court supervision. All unknown heirs and heirs whose whereabouts are unknown shall enter their appearance in this proceeding. Objections to such appointment shall be filed with the Register of Wills, D.C., 515 5th Street, N.W., 3rd Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before Sepetember 6, 2015.

Claims against the decedent shall be presented to the undersigned with a copy to the Register of Wills or filed with the Register of Wills with a copy to the undersigned, on or before September 6, 2015, or be forever barred. Persons believed to be heirs or legatees of the decedent who do not receive a copy of this notice by mail within 25 days of its first publication shall so inform the Register of Wills, including name, address and relationship.

Date of Publication: March 6, 2015 Name of newspaper: Afro-American Washington Law Reporter Patricia Ward Personal Representative

View DC Water’s website at www.dcwater.com for current and up coming TRUE TEST COPY TYPESET: Tue Mar 17 16:56:02 EDT TYPESET: Tue2015 Mar 10 14:02:20 EDTTue2015 TYPESET: Mar 03 16:57:40 EST solicitations.

REGISTER OF2015 WILLS

03/13, 03/20, 03/27/15

TRUE TEST COPY REGISTER OF WILLS

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA PROBATE DIVISION Washington, D.C. 20001-2131 Foreign No. 2014FEP95 Date of Death September 8, 2009 Susie Weader Colbert Decedent NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT OF FOREIGN PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE AND NOTICE TO CREDITORS Benita Colbert whose address is 5529 Cardiff C o u r t , H e n r i c o , VA 23227 was appointed personal representative of the estate of Susie Weader Colbert, deceased by the Circuit Court for Henrico County, State of Virginia., on February 19, 2010, , Service of process may be made upon Christopher Hauser 8 0 0 1 1 4 t h S T, N W, Washington DC 20018 whose designation as District of Columbia agent has been filed with the Register of Wills, D.C. The decedent owned the following District of Colombia real property: 4/5 interest in 1269 Owen Place, NE, Washington, DC 20002 (square 4060 lot 201) Claims against the decedent may be presented to the undersigned and filed with the Register of Wills for the District of Columbia, 500 Indiana Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20001 within 6 months from the date of first publication of this notice. (Strike preceding sentence if no real estate.)

Benita Colbert Personal Representative(s) TRUE TEST COPY REGISTER OF WILLS Date of first publication: March 6, 2015 Name of newspapers and/or periodical: The Daily Washington Law Reporter The Afro-American 03/06, 03/13, 03/20/15

03/06, 03/13, 03/20/15

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03/20, 03/27, 04/3/15

TRUE TEST COPY REGISTER OF WILLS

Superior Court of the District of District of Columbia PROBATE DIVISION Washington, D.C. 20001-2131 Administration No. 2015ADM160 Mary M. Miller Decedent Elise A. Joyner 1730 Rhode Island Ave. NW Washington, DC 20036 Attorney NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS Martha M Robison, whose address is 10607 SW 71st St, Gainesville, FL 32608 was appointed personal representative of the estate of Mary M. Miller, who died on August 6, 2014 without a will, and will serve without Court supervision. All unknown heirs and heirs whose whereabouts are unknown shall enter their appearance in this proceeding. Objections to such appointment shall be filed with the Register of Wills, D.C., 515 5th Street, N.W., 3rd Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before September 6, 2015.

Claims against the decedent shall be presented to the undersigned with a copy to the Register of Wills or filed with the Register of Wills with a copy to the undersigned, on or before September 6, 2015, or be forever barred. Persons believed to be heirs or legatees of the decedent who do not receive a copy of this notice by mail within 25 days of its first publication shall so inform the Register of Wills, including name, address and relationship.

Date of Publication: March 6, 2015 Name of newspaper: Afro-American Washington Law Reporter Martha M. Robinson Personal Representative

Superior Court of the District of District of Columbia PROBATE DIVISION Washington, D.C. 20001-2131 Administration No. 2015ADM253 Ralph Y. Poole A.K.A. Ralph Yancy Poole Decedent NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS Boyd Poole, whose address is 11807 Parallel Road, Bowie MD 20720 was appointed personal representative of the estate of Ralph Y. Poole A.K.A. Ralph Yancy Poole, who died on February 5, 2015 with a will, and will serve without Court supervision. All unknown heirs and heirs whose whereabouts are unknown shall enter their appearance in this proceeding. Objections to such appointment shall be filed with the Register of Wills, D.C., 515 5th Street, N.W., 3rd Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before September 20, 2015.

Claims against the decedent shall be presented to the undersigned with a copy to the Register of Wills or filed with the Register of Wills with a copy to the undersigned, on or before September 20, 2015, or be forever barred. Persons believed to be heirs or legatees of the decedent who do not receive a copy of this notice by mail within 25 days of its first publication shall so inform the Register of Wills, including name, address and relationship.

Date of Publication: March 20, 2015 Name of newspaper: Afro-American Washington Law Reporter Boyd Poole Personal Representative

Superior Court of the District of District of Columbia PROBATE DIVISION Washington, D.C. 20001-2131 Administration No. 2015ADM192 Christine R. Ali Decedent NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS Daryl K. Roberson, whose address is 2011 Sandlake Drive SW, Atlanta, GA 30331 was appointed personal representative(s) of the estate of Christine R. Ali, who died on January 27, 2015 with a will, and will serve without Court supervision. All unknown heirs and heirs whose whereabouts are unknown shall enter their appearance in this proceeding. Objections to such appointment (or to the probate of decedent´s will) shall be filed with the Register of Wills, D.C., 515 5th Street, N.W., 3rd Floor Wa s h i n g t o n , D . C .

20001, on or before September 13, 2015.

Claims against the decedent shall be presented to the undersigned with a copy to the Register of Wills or filed with the Register of Wills with a copy to the undersigned, on or before September 13, 2015, or be forever barred. Persons believed to be heirs or legatees of the decedent who do not receive a copy of this notice by mail within 25 days of its first publication shall so inform the Register of Wills, including name, address and relationship.

Date of Publication: March 13, 2015 Name of newspaper: Afro-American Washington Law Reporter Daryl K. Roberson Personal Representative

Superior Court of the District of District of Columbia PROBATE DIVISION Washington, D.C. 20001-2131 Administration No. 2015ADM91 Wilbert Bradley Decedent NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS Alberta B Merriwether , whose address is 2636 10th Street, NE Washington, DC 20018 was appointed personal representative of the estate of Wilbert Bradley , who died on October 18, 2014 without a will, and will serve without Court supervision. All unknown heirs and heirs whose whereabouts are unknown shall enter their appearance in this proceeding. Objections to such appointment (or to the probate of decedent´s will) shall be filed with the Register of Wills, D.C., 515 5th Street, N.W., 3rd Floor Wa s h i n g t o n , D . C .

20001, on or before September 13, 2015.

Claims against the decedent shall be presented to the undersigned with a copy to the Register of Wills or filed with the Register of Wills with a copy to the undersigned, on or before September 13, 2015, or be forever barred. Persons believed to be heirs or legatees of the decedent who do not receive a copy of this notice by mail within 25 days of its first publication shall so inform the Register of Wills, including name, address and relationship.

Date of Publication: March 13, 2015 Name of newspaper: Afro-American Washington Law Reporter Alberta B. Merriwether Personal Representative

TRUE TEST COPY REGISTER OF WILLS

TRUE TEST COPY REGISTER OF WILLS

TRUE TEST COPY REGISTER OF WILLS

TRUE TEST COPY REGISTER OF WILLS

03/20, 03/26Wed & 04/03/15 03/13, 03/20, TYPESET: Mar 18 10:58:25 EDT03/27/15 2015

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afro.com

TRUE TEST COPY REGISTER OF WILLS

Superior Court of the District of District of Columbia PROBATE DIVISION Washington, D.C. 20001-2131 Administration No. 2015ADM216 Dorothy V. Rush Decedent Philip N. Margolius 4201 Connecticut Ave, NW Washington, DC 20008 Attorney NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS Veronica E. Rush, whose address is 1358 Tucke r m a n S t r e e t N W, Washington, DC 20011 was appointed personal representative of the estate of Dorothy V. Rush, who died on January 23, 2015 with a will, and will serve without Court supervision. All unknown heirs and heirs whose where-abouts are unknown shall enter their appearance in this proceeding. Objections to such appointment (or to the probate of decedent´s will) shall be filed with the Register of Wills, D.C., 515 5th Street, N.W., 3rd Floor Wa s h i n g t o n , D . C .

20001, on or before September 13, 2015.

Claims against the decedent shall be presented to the undersigned with a copy to the Register of Wills or filed with the Register of Wills with a copy to the undersigned, on or before September 13, 2015, or be forever barred. Persons believed to be heirs or legatees of the decedent who do not receive a copy of this notice by mail within 25 days of its first publication shall so inform the Register of Wills, including name, address and relationship.

Date of Publication: March 13, 2015 Name of newspaper: Afro-American Washington Law Reporter Veronica E. Rush Personal Representative

Superior Court of the District of District of Columbia PROBATE DIVISION Washington, D.C. 20001-2131 Administration No. 2015ADM166 Mary Cooper Decedent NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS Barbara Ann Boyd , whose address 526 Nicholson Street, NE, Washington DC 20011 was appointed personal representative of the estate of Mary Cooper, who died on September 8, 2014 with a will, and will serve without Court supervision. All unknown heirs and heirs whose whereabouts are unknown shall enter their appearance in this proceeding. Objections to such appointment (or to the probate of decedent´s will) shall be filed with the Register of Wills, D.C., 515 5th Street, N.W., 3rd Floor Wa s h i n g t o n , D . C .

20001, on or before September 6, 2015.

Claims against the decedent shall be presented to the undersigned with a copy to the Register of Wills or filed with the Register of Wills with a copy to the undersigned, on or before September 6, 2015 , or be forever barred. Persons believed to be heirs or legatees of the decedent who do not receive a copy of this notice by mail within 25 days of its first publication shall so inform the Register of Wills, including name, address and relationship.

Date of Publication: March 6, 2015 Name of newspaper: Afro-American Washington Law Reporter Barbara Ann Boyd Personal Representative

Superior Court of the District of District of Columbia PROBATE DIVISION Washington, D.C. 20001-2131 Administration No. 2015ADM198 Roland F. Rogers Decedent Thomas H. Queen, Esq 7 9 6 1 E a s t e r n Av e , Suite 304 Silver Spring, MD 20910 Attorney NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS June Layton, whose address is 2859 Sheppert o n Te r r a c e , S i l v e r Spring, MD 20904 was appointed personal representative of the estate of Roland F. Rogers, who died on January 9, 2015 with a will, and will serve without Court supervision. All unknown heirs and heirs whose whereabouts are unknown shall enter their appearance in this proceeding.

Objections to such appointment (or to the probate of decedent´s will) shall be filed with the Register of Wills, D.C., 515 5th Street, N.W., 3rd Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before September 13, 2015.

Claims against the decedent shall be presented to the undersigned with a copy to the Register of Wills or filed with the Register of Wills with a copy to the undersigned, on or before September 13, 2015, or be forever barred. Persons believed to be heirs or legatees of the decedent who do not receive a copy of this notice by mail within 25 days of its first publication shall so inform the Register of Wills, including name, address and relationship.

Date of Publication: March 13, 2015 Name of newspaper: Afro-American Washington Law Reporter June Layton Personal Representative

IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIVIL DIVISION Civil Action No. 2014CA7023 R (RP) Calendar 12 Judge Brian F. Holeman Nikita Petties PLAINTIFF v.

ESTATE OF GEORGE MARTIN. III, et al.

ORDER OF PUBLICATION

Upon consideration of (1) the Court’s Order, entered on December 8, 2014, requiring Plaintiff to file a praecipe identifying by name frequency of circulation two (2) legal newspapers or periodicals in which it intends to run the Notice of Publication; and (2) Plaintiff’s Proposed Order Conditioning Service by Publication, filed on January 30, 2015, it is this 17th February 2015, hereby ORDERED, that Plaintiff’s Proposed Order Conditioners Service

by Publcation is; GRANTED; and it is further ORDERED, that notice be given, by the insertion of a copy of this Order in The Daily Washington Law Reporter and the Washington Afro-American, newspapers having a general circulation in the District of Columbia, once per week for three (3) successive weeks, commencing as soon as praticable; and it is furtherORDERED that the following Notice be published to provide notice to unknown heirs and creditors of George Martin III in these proceedings:NOTICE TO ANY UNKNOWN HEIRS OR CREDITORS OF GEORGE MARTIN III AND TO ANY CLAIMANTS TO AN INTEREST IN THE PREMI S E S C O M M O N LY KNOWN AS 419 NEWTO N P L A C E , N W, WASHINGTON , DC LOT 57 IN SQUARE 3035 Nikita Petties has filed a lawsuit in the Superior court for the District of Columbia, Case No. 2014 CA 7023 R (RP). This lawsuit TRUE TEST COPY seeks to quiet the title to REGISTER OF WILLS premises commonly known as 417 Newton 03/13, 03/20, 03/27/15 Place NW, Washington, DC. George Martin III appears as a grantee on a deed to said premises dated March 17, 2011, which was recorded among the land records of the District of Columbia on April 7, 2011.

Nikita Petties’ lawsuit claims that this deed is invalid. In the event that you wish to assert a claim against George Martin III, or against premTYPESET: Wed Mar 18 10:58:25 EDT the 2015 ises, you are advised to contact the attorney for Plaintiff, Thomas IN THE SUPERIOR Decaro, Decaro & Howell COURT PC Suite 201, 14406 Old OF THE DISTRICT OF Mill Rd., Upper Marlboro, COLUMBIA MD 20772/ phone: CIVIL DIVISION 301-464-1400/ fax: 301Civil Action No. 464-4776/email:tfd@ 2014CA7023 R (RP) erols.com, on or before Calendar 12 Clerk of the Court Judge Brian F. Holeman A TRUE TEST COPY: XXXX Nikita Petties Clerk, Superior Court of PLAINTIFF the District of Columbia v.

By Deputy Clerk ESTATE OF GEORGE XXXXi MARTIN. III, et al.

ORDER OF PUBLICATION

SUBSCRIBE TODAY

LEGALEDT NOTICES TYPESET: Tue Mar 17 16:55:44 2015

Superior Court of the District of District of Columbia PROBATE DIVISION Washington, D.C. 20001-2131 Administration No. 2015ADM229 Juliana Esther Parker Decedent Theodore H. Brown Esq Law Office o Theodora H. Brown, PLLC 3127 Cherry Road, NE, Washington, DC 20018-1611 Attorney NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS Maria Waters and Julian L. Parker, whose address is, are 3502 Scotts Lane,#A-9, Philadelphia, PA, 19129 & 844 Olgethorpe St., NE, Washington, DC 20011 were appointed personal representatives of the estate of Juliana Esther Parker, who died on December 27, 2014 without a will, and will serve without Court supervision. All unknown heirs and heirs whose whereabouts are unknown shall enter their appearance in this proceeding. Objections to such appointment shall be filed with the Register of Wills, D.C., 515 5th Street, N.W., 3rd Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before September 20, 2015.

Claims against the decedent shall be presented to the undersigned with a copy to the Register of Wills or filed with the Register of Wills with a copy to the undersigned, on or before September 20, 2015, or be forever barred. Persons believed to be heirs or legatees of the decedent who do not receive a copy of this notice by mail within 25 days of its first publication shall so inform the Register of Wills, including name, address and relationship.

Date of Publication: March 20, 2015 Name of newspaper: Afro-American Washington Law Reporter Maria Waters Julian L.Parker Personal Representative

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Upon consideration of (1) the Court’s Order, en-

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contact the attorney for Plaintiff, Thomas Decaro, Decaro & Howell PC Suite 201, 14406 Old Mill Rd., Upper Marlboro, MD 20772/ phone: 301-464-1400/ fax: 301464-4776/email:tfd@ erols.com, on or before Clerk of the Court A TRUE TEST COPY: XXXX Clerk, Superior Court of the District of Columbia

By Deputy Clerk XXXXi

Superior Court of the District of District of Columbia PROBATE DIVISION Washington, D.C. 20001-2131 Administration No. 2015ADM242 Julia Mae Cooper Harris Decedent NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS Samaria Harris-Pitts, whose address is 906 James Ridge Road, Bowie, Maryland, 20721 was appointed personal representative of the estate of Julia Mae Cooper Harris, who died on February 3, 2015 with a will, and will serve without Court supervision. All unknown heirs and heirs whose where-abouts are unknown shall enter their appearance in this proceeding. Objections to such appointment (or to the probate of decedent´s will) shall be filed with the Register of Wills, D.C., 515 5th Street, N.W., 3rd Floor Wa s h i n g t o n , D . C .

20001, on or before September 13, 2015.

Claims against the decedent shall be presented to the undersigned with a copy to the Register of Wills or filed with the Register of Wills with a copy to the undersigned, on or before September 13, 2015, or be forever barred. Persons believed to be heirs or legatees of the decedent who do not receive a copy of this notice by mail within 25 days of its first publication shall so inform the Register of Wills, including name, address and relationship.

Date of Publication: March 13, 2015 Name of newspaper: Afro-American Washington Law Reporter Samaria Harris-Pitts Personal Representative TRUE TEST COPY REGISTER OF WILLS 03/13, 03/20, 03/27/15

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The Afro-American, March 21, 2015 - March 27, 2015

PEPCO AND EXELON:

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If approved, this merger will create savings that will be passed on in customers’ utility bills, saving families and businesses more of their hard-earned money every month. It means honoring and maintaining Pepco and Delmarva Power’s strong commitment to workforce- and supplier-diversity programs. It means more jobs for Maryland workers.

That’s good for families, local businesses, and Maryland’s workforce.

It means millions of dollars more that could be used for programs such as bill credits, low-income assistance and energy efficiency programs through a $94.4 million Customer Investment Fund. It also means continued annual charitable contributions and local community support – exceeding Pepco and Delmarva Power’s 2013 level of $623,000 for 10 years following the merger. And it means at least $542 million to $623 million in economic benefits to Maryland.

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WE SUPPORT THE PROPOSED PEPCO AND EXELON MERGER. OF GREATER WASHINGTON

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