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Volume 122 No. 46
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June 21, 2014 - JUNE 27, 2014
Freedom Summer 1964 Hill Harper Brings Youth Empowerment Foundation to D.C. Story on A3
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Remembering Fannie Lou Hamer – Part I By Marsha Rose Joyner Special to the AFRO “History does not refer merely, or even principally, to the past. On the contrary, the great force of history comes from the fact that we carry it within us, are unconsciously controlled by it in many ways, and history is literally present in all that we do.” –James Baldwin (June 15, 2014) Since “winners” write the history, and they are usually male, very little is written about the women who played an important part in our struggle. Everyone knows about Rosa Parks and Coretta Scott King. In Baltimore, there was Juanita Mitchell and Lillie Mae Carroll Jackson. Every January and February, the media fills us with the stories of Martin Luther King Jr. as if he was the lone star in the movement. But it was Black women who sacrificed the most in the bus boycott. The women who worked in the
Continued on A4
Former D.C. Mayor and current Councilman Marion S. Barry is still standing following a spate of health problems during his political career, and shared his story amid the release of his memoirs. “I’ve had a miraculous life,” said Barry as he gave a chronology of his health problems in a conversation with the AFRO. “At 78, I realize that lots of ailments come and go.” Barry said he has remained cancer-free –Marion Barry after his 1995 diagnosis of and treatment for prostate cancer. “Do you know more Black men have this curable disease than any other group of men? I want to tell them, look at me,” he said. “Get screened, tested and get surgery if you need it. But just don’t sit there and do nothing.” Born in Mississippi, Barry said he and his four sisters also inherited diabetes from his grandmother. “It’s not always a matter of diet,” he said. “I eat healthy. My
“I’ve had a miraculous life…”
Continued on A3
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First Two of Three Black Inmate Executions Carried out within An Hour of Each Other
Fannie Lou Hamer became the inspiration to millions in the poverty-stricken towns of Mississippi, the Civil Rights struggle and the women’s political movement.
By Jim Salter and Kate Brumback Associated Press AFRO File Photo
Urban League and Walgreens Health Tour Starts in D.C. The Greater Washington Urban League and Walgreens kicked off a nationwide healthcare tour targeted to urban and minority communities June 11 to provide them with free access to health care resources. “I’m delighted to be in the partnership with Walgreens,” George Lambert Jr., president and CEO of the Urban League told the AFRO after the kickoff presentation. “I’m a strong believer in partnerships and this is a very strong one, because they do put a spotlight on health.” The “Way to Well Health” tour began its eighth year at the Urban League’s headquarters in Northwest D.C. The tour included hearthealthy fitness routines; healthy food demonstrations; Audrey Epperson, director of education & training for free health tests to detect the GWUL; Rodney King, senior policy advisor for the chronic illnesses such as heart D.C. Council; Korey Paff, community leader for Walgreens; disease, cancer and diabetes; George Lambert Jr., president and CEO of the GWUL Continued on A3
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ST. LOUIS (AP) — Within an hour, Georgia, then Missouri carried out the nation’s first executions since a botched lethal injection in Oklahoma in April raised new concerns about capital punishment. Neither execution had any noticeable complications. At press time, another execution, the third in a 24-hour span, was scheduled for June 18 in Florida. Georgia inmate Marcus Wellons, 59, who was convicted of the 1989 rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl, received a single-drug injection June 17 after the U.S. Supreme Court denied his late appeals. HIs sentence was carried out about an hour before John Winfield, who was convicted of the 1996 killing two women, was executed early June 18 in Bonne Terre, Missouri. Nine executions nationwide have been stayed or postponed since late April, when Oklahoma prison officials halted the execution of Clayton Lockett after noting that the lethal injection drugs weren’t being administered into his vein properly. Lockett’s punishment was halted and he died of a heart attack several minutes later. Georgia, Missouri and Florida all refuse to say where they obtain their drugs, or if they are tested. Florida inmate John Ruthell Henry, 63, who was convicted of killing his estranged wife and her son in 1985, was scheduled to be executed at 6 p.m. EDT June 18 at a prison in Starke, Florida.
Traditional Parental Roles are Changing By Jazelle Hunt Washington Correspondent
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Marion Barry Discusses Health, D.C. By Valencia Mohammed Special to the AFRO
By LaTrina Antoine Special to the AFRO
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An AFRO Scoop
WASHINGTON (NNPA) – A cache of new research from the Pew Center paints a picture of the modern American family—a picture in which the historically rigid roles and responsibilities of moms and dads are meeting in the middle. But that picture has always been a bit different for Black moms and dads, and the ways this cultural shift is unfolding reflects those
differences. “As such roles change, African Americans are included too,” says George Garrow Jr., executive director of Concerned Black Men. The nonprofit seeks to uplift children and families by building Black male role models. “I would point out there’s an uncounted group of fathers who are staying at home with their children, or they have custody,” Garrow continues. “We focus so much on fathers who are not with their children—and admittedly, Black fathers are
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disproportionately not in the home—but that group of fathers with primary care is not an insignificant number.” In fact, those dads are now being counted. According to Pew research, Black fathers account for 16 percent of stay-at-home dads, and 9 percent of fathers who both work and live with all their children. The number of stay-at-home dads has nearly doubled since 1989, with 2 million fathers comprising 16 percent of stay-at-home Continued on A4