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EBONY MAGAZINE GETS A NEW MANAGING EDITOR 3
Norton pushes for Federal government advertising in Black, Hispanic press Page 4 March 17 - March 23, 2016
Page 11 www.districtchronicles.com
Volume 15 Issue 29
Robert Eubanks/District Chronicles
6
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Donald Trump inches closer to Republican nomination, even with all the naysayers from the right and left.
By Marcia Pally Religion News Service The end is nigh! The apocalypse is coming, riding on the four elephants of the false Republican god, Donald Trump. Indeed, to hear the anti-Trump choir, you’d think the end days will arrive amid beasts and fire should he get elected. And the clamor will only grow, with Trump’s primary and caucus victories last Tuesday in Michigan, Mississippi and Hawaii. Does it not say in the Book of Daniel, Chapter 2, that a sign of Armageddon will be one whose “head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver?� Not for nothing has there been so much attention to Trump’s hair and money. Repent, cry out Mitt Romney and other prophets of the old Republican guard/god. Abandon your idolatrous ways! “What fault did your ancestors find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols.� Hard to tell if that’s Jeremiah 2:5 or the Republican National Committee. The opinion pages of USA Today warn about the “perils a Trump presidency would bring.� Romney called Trump a phony, a fraud, a business failure, greedy and a misogynist. Jeb Bush called him a bigot, a fraud, a false conservative, a loser and worse than Obama, Ba’al to the Republican faith. Cruz called him a Hillary sup-
porter – now that’s chasing after false gods if there ever was such a thing. Rubio accused him of “dirty tricks.â€? The political satirist John Oliver – on the other side of the aisle – compared Trump to a cancerous mole and a chimp that tears your limbs off. He then added that Trump was a serial liar, an advocate of war crimes and defrauder of the public. So a vote for Trump would not be just a poor political choice. It is “The End.â€? It would, as Romney said, give the election to Hillary, which is something like inviting the Babylonians, Greeks and Romans to desecrate the Holy Land. Funny thing is, Trump sounds pretty much the same. His jeremiad is that all the other candidates are not just poor choices on policy but false gods who are leading we, the chosen people of America, to ruin. He is the one true God, valuing himself at $3 billion, giving it the mysterious power of the Tetragrammaton. Echoing Genesis, he declares that which has his name on it will “be good.â€? As Amos castigates the Israelites for following the sins of Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon and Moab, so Trump taunts those who follow Romney, Bush and Rubio. The only way to salvation is to banish the altars of false gods and “return to me ‌ put your detestable idols out of my sight and no longer go astray.â€? (Jeremiah 4:1)
Political opponents lambaste each other, but this is not standard political fare. It’s politics through the narratives of America. And that, since Plymouth Rock, has been one of temptation by false gods, fellness unto apocalypse, repentance and redemption. In early American writings, comparisons between crossing the Red Sea and the Atlantic to enter the Promised Land were frequent and explicit. This was the ground for New England, the first and second Great Awakenings, the holiness movements and the last half-century of Christian and evangelical renewal. But, woven into our foundational self-understanding, it is also in the DNA of (secular) America, in our expectations, symbols and rhythms. It’s why we’re a country of optimism and fresh starts but also of apocalyptic scenarios. We the (chosen) people follow false idols and bring the end times near. But if we return and embrace God’s ways we will build the New Jerusalem and make God’s nation, America, great again. It all depends on what guide you think is true and what God you think is right. Marcia Pally teaches multilingual multicultural studies at New York University and is a regular guest professor at Humboldt University’s theology department in Berlin. Her latest book is “Commonwealth and Covenant: Economics, Politics, and Theologies of Relationality.�
Award-winning reporter, editor named Ebony managing editor
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athy Chaney, a wellknown, award-winning Chicago-based journalist, has been named managing editor of Johnson Publishing Company’s flagship, Ebony magazine. Her appointment became effective this week. The managing editor post has been vacant for a year following the departure of Wendy Wilson last April. It is the second editorial post to undergo a change of executives in a year’s time. Last February, Kierna Mayo assumed the position of Editor in Chief succeeding Mitzi Miller. Chaney will report to Mayo who is based in the company’s New York office. Chaney most recently was a reporter and producer for Chica-
go Public Media station, WBEZFM, where she was reportedly one of only four full-time AfricanAmericans in the newsroom. Experienced in covering African-American issues, Chaney served as senior executive producer for Chicago’s only Blackowned radio station, WVON-AM, which has a news/talk format. She also was managing editor of the Chicago Defender, one of the nation’s oldest Black newspapers. Chaney is currently the president of the National Association of Black Journalists - Chicago chapter, where she has a long-time record of activism and involvement. She is also a member of the Society of Professional Journalists
and Investigative Reporters and Editors. Among the other media outlets, Chaney has worked for the Chicago Tribune, Thomson Reuters, Associated Press and Crain’s Chicago Business. She attended Loyola University and Western Illinois University. Among the recognition she has earned for her journalism, Chaney received a George Polk Award for local reporting, a Cook County Crime Stoppers Media Award, the A. Philip Randolph Messenger Award and the Portrait of Achievers Award from the Probation Challenge organization. She also teaches journalism to middle school students in Chicago for the True Star Foundation.
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McDonald’s, American Black Film Festival announce 2016 contests OAK BROOK, Ill. – Back for its second year, McDonald’s USA and the American Black Film Festival invite emerging filmmakers to enter McDonald’s My Community Video Competition. Filmmakers are challenged to create one 90-second video that illustrates McDonald’s 365Black mantra, “Deeply Rooted in Your Community.” Aspiring filmmakers nationwide are encouraged to enter their best, original submissions by 11:59 p.m. EDT April 15, 2016, for their chance to win the grand prize. Three finalists will be selected to attend the 20th Annual American Black Film Festival in Miami, June 15 - 19 and have an exclusive opportunity to be mentored by critically-acclaimed film director Malcolm D. Lee “The Best Man,” “The Best Man Holiday,” “Barbershop: The Next Cut,” who will provide finalists with invaluable film industry tips and advice. The submissions will be judged by a panel of industry experts and the top three short videos will premiere at the festival. Submissions will be critiqued on creativity, implementation of concept and quality. One finalist will take home
the grand prize – a film equipment package valued at $2,500 and an opportunity to have their video featured on prominent websites, including McDonald’s 365Black. com and other media entities. More information about the competition can be found at www.abff.com. “We are proud to partner with McDonald’s on bringing this opportunity to emerging content creators. Without a doubt, this competition is a catalyst for introducing undiscovered talent to the industry-at-large,” said Jeff Friday, ABFF founder and CEO. “I look forward to returning as mentor to the finalists in the McDonald’s ‘My Community’ Video Competition,” said Malcolm D. Lee. “There is so much great talent out there in the film industry and it’s always inspiring to connect with them and hopefully do my part to support the next generation of great filmmakers.” McDonald’s 365Black mantra, Deeply Rooted in Your Community, will inspire what the brand does in 2016, extending to this video competition. By focusing on ‘my community’, the campaign provides an opportunity to show-
case various communities and allow consumers to celebrate the communities that they are part of. Not confined to just the neighborhood in which they live, “my community” includes shared passions, hobbies, interests, churches and social organizations. Last year’s winner, Richard T. Fields, won the competition with his short video “Puppy Love.” The competition and ABFF’s vision to promote diversity in the film and television industry align with McDonald’s 365Black platform – an initiative that celebrates the pride, heritage and achievements of African Americans year round. McDonald’s encourages those interested in the competition to follow @365Black on Twitter and join the conversation using #365BlackFilm. To learn more about the 365Black initiative, visit www.365Black.com. To learn more about the American Black Film Festival and the My Community Video Competition, visit www.abff.com. Follow @ ABFF on Twitter and @AmericanBlackFilmFestival on Instagram and join the conversation using #ABFF20.
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4 | Mar. 17 - Mar. 23, 2016 | District Chronicles
Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) has requested an investigation into federal government spending in Black and Hispanic-owned newspapers.
By Barrington Salmon (TriceEdneyWire.com) – The federal government, through its various agencies, spends considerable sums of money every year on advertising and representatives from two prominent newspaper organizations are pushing to find out exactly how much of these dollars flow to Hispanic and Black newspapers. Leaders of the National Association of Hispanic Publications (NAHP) and the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) are convinced that federal agencies aren’t fulfilling their mandate to direct advertising dollars to their member newspapers and businesses. An investigation, they assert, will provide concrete evidence of their suspicions and allow them to push hard for their fair share. The publishers were in the District last week attending Black Press Week activities. The annual Black Press Week, led by NNPA, celebrates the founding of the first Black newspaper, Freedom’s Journal, in 1827 and the legacy of the modern Black Press. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton held a press conference on the front steps of the U.S. Capitol announcing that she would call for an investigation by the Government Accounting Office (GAO). “I’m requesting a report from an objective arm of the federal government, the GAO. We’re asking them to conduct a study of the federal agencies whose outreach is to
people of color,” said Norton. “We don’t want our federal agencies to forego their mandate and responsibilities. There is a mandate to engage small businesses. We want to discuss if that is, in fact, taking place. There’s no more authentic or trusted way to do so than to engage the Black and Hispanic press.” Norton and other publishers said no one can accurately pinpoint a dollar figure of what the federal government spends. “We have no sense of the numbers,” explained Norton. “If you don’t even know what they do, you can’t know what they spend. We want to know how much they spend and with which press. We don’t even know if they (the federal government) have a strategy.” Despite this blind spot, Norton and several other speakers estimate that the federal government spends billions in advertising each year with little of that reaching Hispanic and Black media outlets or advertising agencies. “We’ve been saying it and writing about this. We’ve done all we can to this point. What the report is going to show is an outrageous disparity affecting all our publications,” said Denise Rolark Barnes, NNPA chair and publisher of the Washington Informer. “Our organizations have a combined readership of 40 million people. We want to do and continue to carry out our mission and I think this report will make a great difference for us.” This joint initiative, seeking answers from the federal govern-
ment, is the result of the comingtogether of both parties. The NNPA represents 205 African-Americanowned community newspapers nationally, and NAHP, also a nonpartisan trade advocacy organization, represents America’s largest Spanish language publications. Chavis, NNPA president and CEO, hailed what he characterized as a monumental partnership. “This historic media alliance is a gigantic step for our two organizations,” he said. “We believe our working together has tremendous potential mutual benefits in today’s marketplace. We are grateful that Congresswoman Norton will ask the GAO to conduct timely research and to issue a report on advertising contracting and subcontracting with African-American and Hispanic-American-owned newspapers and media companies by all federal agencies. We salute and appreciate her leadership and service to our communities.” Chavis said he looks forward to seeing what the report produces. “Calling for the report is itself hugely significant because the call presupposes that there are legitimate questions that need to be raised,” he said. “The federal government should practice what it preaches. We have very lofty language about freedom and equality. The GAO report will put facts on the table. We expect to see inequities, unfairness and wide disparities in how the government procures and does business with businesses, large and small, majority and minority owned.”
Divine Intervention
‘A purpose to everything under the sun, including marijuana’ By Steve Rabey Religion News Service
F
our years ago, an evangelical Christian family entered Colorado’s booming medical marijuana marketplace and developed an extract called Charlotte’s Web. The Stanley brothers, all six of whom attended Colorado Springs Christian School, saw God’s hand at work when some local parents found that giving the dark oil to their epileptic children ended their violent seizures. “That’s when it really sank in,” said Joel Stanley, the eldest of the brothers. “This is not a fluke. This is not going away. There is a purpose to everything under the sun, including the marijuana plant.” Word got out, and over the next year and a half, more than 500 families relocated to Colorado. These “medical refugees” strained family bonds and budgets to give their kids Charlotte’s Web, not available legally in many states. As the successes mounted, said Stanley, “it was a transformation for me, and I was angry that I had been told marijuana was evil and of no medical benefit. At that point, it was very easy for me to reconcile marijuana with my Christian faith.” The Stanleys, along with two of the initial parents, Paige Figi and Heather Jackson, founded a nonprofit called Realm of Caring to help the relocated families. Most of Realm’s $600,000-plus annual budget is funded with profits from the family business, CW Botanicals. Jackson, who said her Christian faith is everything to her, talked to her minister as she wrestled with the morality of marijuana. “I’m a byproduct of the 1980s and ‘Just Say No,’ so I grew up thinking this was evil,” she said. Stacey Mobley, minister of the church of Christ of Colorado Springs, an independent, Biblebased congregation, said members support Jackson’s work. “God made the plant, and said in Genesis 1:31 that everything he made was very good,” said Mobley, who opposes recreational marijuana. “We are firsthand wit-
nesses of its benefits in the providential healing of Zaki, and I believe Heather is driven by obligation because she is a Christian to do good to all.” Their initial victory came in Utah, home to some of the nation’s most restrictive alcohol laws. Jackson quickly won over the Legislature’s conservative caucus, and the two moms worked with parents of epileptic children and supporters of medical marijuana to pressure politicians. Charlee’s Law, named after a Utah child with epilepsy, was signed into law in March 2014, a century after the state outlawed marijuana. “This was our first indication that we can actually do this,” said Jackson, a churchgoing Christian who will speak this April at Q, a national conference in Denver designed to help Christian leaders address contemporary culture. Federal drug laws dating to the Nixon administration group marijuana with other Schedule I drugs such as heroin and LSD that have “a high potential for abuse” and “no currently accepted medical use.” Charlotte’s Web doesn’t make patients “high.” It’s low in THC, the psychoactive ingredient that gives pot its buzz, but is high in CBD, which has healing properties. The needed CBD can be extracted from hemp, marijuana’s
non-druggy industrial cousin, so Peake has introduced legislation to allow Georgia to grow hemp. Many Protestant groups, including mainline Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans and Episcopalians, support some form of medical marijuana, but most evangelicals remain pot prohibitionists, like their anti-alcohol ancestors of a century ago. Colorado’s medical marijuana moms now aim to change federal law. Last May, U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, Republican of Colorado, introduced the Coalition for Access Now’s Therapeutic Hemp Medical Access Act of 2015 in the U.S. Senate. Senate bill 1333 has already attracted dozens of co-sponsors on both sides of the aisle. “We’re not promoting recreational marijuana,” said Paige Figi. “We’re trying to fix a mistake in our laws. This is how the American system of government works.” Meanwhile, new medical refugees keep arriving. Danette Bussey and daughter Alexa recently visited Realm of Caring from New Jersey, where medical marijuana is available, but not CBD oil. “Our doctor told us our best hope is to go to Colorado,” said Bussey. Steve Rabey is a contributor to RNS.
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District Chronicles | Mar. 17 - Mar. 23, 2016 | 5
Cover Black press brings robots, drones to Howard Tatyana Hopkins
T
Politics By Aysha Khan Religion News Service Salim Jaffer moved to the U.S. when he was 14 years old. His family, along with the rest of the Indian community, had been expelled from Uganda in 1972 under the violent dictator Idi Amin and sought a respite in America. But he said he’s never felt in danger until this year. “As a Muslim, I feel threatened,” said Jaffer, a gastroenterologist living in Lansing, Michigan. “It’s as if someone is trying to take away my civil rights. Think about it. Donald Trump thinks we should stop immigration of Muslims coming into this country. Marco Rubio, he wants to close down mosques. Ted Cruz, he wants to see if ‘sand glows’ in Syria.” That’s why Jaffer participated in his first-ever presidential primary last Tuesday, casting his vote for Democratic candidate
STEM Reach 2020. STEM jobs are growing faster than any other U.S. sector. According to the U.S. Bureau for of Labor Statistics, jobs in STEM are set to grow by 17 percent by 2024, while non-STEM jobs will only grow by 12 percent. Technology companies will need 650,000 new workers by 2018. Though nearly half of the children in the United States are minorities, they will most likely remain underrepresented in STEM fields. African-American and Latino workers represent 29 percent of the general workforce, but only 12 percent of the engineering workforce, 16 percent of the advanced manufacturing workforce, and 15 percent of the computing workforce. According to the 2015 U.S. News/Raytheon STEM Index, though there was increased minority employment activity, interest, and degrees earned in STEM fields continue to be white and Asian male dominated, leaving minorities and women lagging. Auli Young, 10, a fifth grader at School without Walls at Francis Stevens, got up close and personal
Robert Eubanks/District Chronicles
he third graders got a taste of what it means to be a scientist or engineer. You invent fiber optics that makes smart phones and other modern technological wonders, including the High Speed Internet Platforms work the way they work. You design robots that go to Mars to bring photos from the Red Planet, and expand human understanding of other planets in the universe. You manufacture drones that keep an eye on what goes on at a rancher’s farm. You design Humanoid robots that respond to voice command. That is what nearly 100 thirdgrade, middle and high school students from DC schools got to see and experience on a balmy Friday morning at the sparkling new Howard University Interdisciplinary Research Center on Georgia Avenue on March 11. Dr. Thomas Mensah, inventor of fiber optics and NNPA Foundation STEM ambassador to K-12 students, brought three other topnotch Black scientists and an all women’s team of robots designers
from Spellman College to a panel discussion and demonstration of their inventions. The event, the second of a series of events the NNPA Foundation is sponsoring across the nation, was sponsored by the American Petroleum Institute. The foundation’s goal is to engage, diversify and increase Black participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, said Al McFarlane, chairman of NNPA Foundation. THE NNPA, popularly known as the black press, is a trade association of nearly 200 black-owned community newspapers in the country. It hopes to stimulate a national conversation about the importance of STEM education and employment to its 20 million readers through its member newspapers and social platforms and other non-member media. “It’s the first time the black press has convened an audience of this kind — scientists, college students and seven-year-olds,” said McFarlane. “We want you to dream and imagine yourselves in space. I bet there are people in this room who will be on Mars,” McFarlane told the future scientists at
A member of the all female African American robotics team from Spelman College sets up Lego robot Spice for demonstration for the NNPA Foundation event held at Howard University’s new Interdisciplinary Research building.
with Spice, a Lego robot designed by Spelman College students as his classmates frantically tapped its front end to prevent it from falling off the table. “How does it turn,” Young asked NASA Mars Lander designer, Dr. Edward Tunstel, a graduate of Howard University’s department of mechanical engineering. Tunstel is a senior roboticist at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. He explained
that the two-wheeled bot turned to avoid hitting the ground using differential drives. “The best way to talk about STEM is one-on-one,” said Dr. Ashitey Trebi-Ollennu, designer and robotic expert at NASA Jet Propulsion Lab at California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, CA. “Let the young people ask you questions.” See STEM, page 12
Trump is getting out the Muslim vote - against him! Hillary Clinton. And it’s the reason he, a doctor who only superficially followed politics for most of his life, has just submitted paperwork to register a new nonprofit organization aimed at getting Midwestern Muslims to vote in November. “From a Muslim standpoint, we’ve got to make sure we get somebody who is sympathetic to our cause and understands the sociology, the theology, the anthropology and the history of Islam,” said Jaffer. With Trump leading the Republican race, Muslim groups are launching voter registration drives in a push to ensure that the Islamophobic rhetoric of the election campaign is rejected at the polls. “Anti-Muslim rhetoric is motivating Muslim Americans across the country to engage in the political process like never before,” Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress,
6 | Mar. 17 - Mar. 23, 2016 | District Chronicles
told RNS. “This is true in Minnesota, as well as in swing states like Virginia and Florida where Muslim Americans will play a critical role on Election Day.” Almost three-quarters of Muslim voters plan to vote in state primaries this year, according to data from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). “If you as a political candidate chose to spew hatred, bigotry and to vilify Muslim Americans, you do so at your own political risk,” Altaf Husain, vice president of the Islamic Society of North America, declared at a press conference in December. “We will use every democratic means and political strategy to ensure your candidacy never succeeds.” Earlier this month, Trump said Islam had a “tremendous hatred” of the West. In December, he called for a “total and complete” shutdown of Muslim immigration to the U.S. He has claimed that American Muslims
celebrated the attacks on Sept. 9, 2011, and said Muslims should carry a special ID. Last month, he recounted as fact an old debunked myth about a general executing Muslims with bullets dipped in pigs’ blood. And he’s won primaries or caucuses in 15 states so far. Younger and more liberal Muslim voters are overwhelmingly in favor of Sanders, who has campaigned strategically with Muslim and Arab communities by visiting mosques, giving an hour-long speech against Islamophobia and airing Arabiclanguage ads in the city with the highest Arab concentration. Civic leaders are harnessing this energy to mobilize voters. Teams in Los Angeles; San Diego, California; New York City; San Francisco and tens of other cities are organizing electoral engagement on the ground. Organizing platform MPower Change’s new campaign urges
supporters to pledge “to make sure that this election will no longer be about us, without us,” through media and voter engagement. “Turn your centers, Islamic centers, mosques into registration centers for voters, into polling stations during the election time,” CAIR’s Nihad Awad said on stage at a major Islamic conference in Chicago. “We have to register every single Muslim to vote in 2016.” “Trump is using the rhetoric of fear and bigotry to mobilize support around him in a time of economic uncertainty,” explained Safi, who has endorsed Sanders. “Many Muslims are starting to recognize that it’s not about persuading people that Muslims are human. It’s ultimately about building the beloved community here in America, as Dr. King used to say.” Aysha Khan reports for RNS.
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District Chronicles | Mar. 17 - Mar. 23, 2016 | 7
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In some of Chicago’s lowest income neighborhoods, African-American teenage boys are overcoming their challenging surroundings. They are the young men of Urban Prep Academy, an all-male charter high school with a 100 percent graduation rate. All of its students earn college scholarships. It all starts each morning with a sort of pep rally in the school’s gym. There is blaring music with inspirational messages. A fivepiece drum band performs African-themed beats. The students – about 125 Black teen boys – line up in rows, dressed in blue blazers, white shirts, red neckties and khakis. A video appears, featuring Black trailblazers from various disciplines around the world. A student leads his classmates in a punctuality pledge. In the bleachers, Principal Dion Steele grips a microphone. “You are Black, proud, beautiful young men,” he tells the students. “There is a battle out there, and the battle is yours to win.” When Steele says, “It’s time to show some love,” the students greet each other with handshakes, hugs and laughs. When they line back up, Steele updates them on the highest-scoring groups in particular classes. They cheer each other on. Then, in unison, they recite the school’s creed – a 17-line treatise that begins and ends with “We believe.” In between, its principles
champion success, integrity, selfcommitment, community and family. This daily wake-up lasts about 30 minutes. It ends with Steele directing the young men to their first period class at 9 a.m. “Exit through the Door of Solidarity,” says Steele as they disperse through various parts of the gym. “Exit through the Door of Integrity. Exit through the Door of Resiliency.” This display represents one of this dynamic charter school’s guiding principles: elevating students’ self-esteem while focusing on test scores. Eighty-five percent of the students come from singlemom homes in impoverished areas, according to Roosevelt Moneyham III, the school’s student recruitment chief. The only admissions requirement is to be a Windy City resident. A lottery selects 450 students among some 1,500 applicants to attend one of Urban Prep Academy’s three campuses in inner-city Chicago. The faculty at these schools brims with Black men, a rarity in U.S. education systems. The Englewood campus of Urban Prep is its original location, in one of this city’s most impoverished and violent regions. NBA stars Derrick Rose, Anthony Davis and Jabari Parker and singer and actress Jennifer Hudson hail from southwest Chicago, which has a 44 percent poverty rate – quadruple the 10.4 percent average across Chicago, according to the Illinois Commission on the Elimination of Poverty. “The neighborhood doesn’t ex-
actly inspire future success,” said Nakkia Burn, whose son, Trevon Lucas, 15, is an Urban Prep student. “He has Black male mentors that really care, so the students feel connected to them … And they don’t just push them to get to college; they emphasize getting their degree.” Jessie Mack, a member of the school’s first graduating class in 2010, earned a communications degree from Denison University and now works as an assistant to Urban Prep’s CEO. “My time here as a student made up for what I missed by not having a father growing up,” said Mack. That parental element permeates the school. “It’s a personal connection many of us have,” said Steele. “We try to fill in the gaps, with positive reinforcement about their strengths as a key part of our message.” “I was always curious about the school because I would see how the guys were dressed, in their jackets and ties,” said Malik Johnson, 16, who lives in Englewood. “You just didn’t see that in my neighborhood … And it’s turned out to be a great place. We love each other, but are too manly to say it. But we’re put in a position to pursue success.” Moneyham adds: “The unbelievable part is watching some of them walk in as [kids] who don’t want to be here … and years later watching them walk across that stage at commencement as mature young men about to go off to college … It’s a powerful thing.”
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In the Neighborhood
HU students spend spring break in Flint distributing water
Howard University News Service Howard University News Service
Howard University News Service
Howard University Students spent their first day of spring break handing out bottled water to help the residents of Flint, Mich., as they struggle with the city’s water crisis.
By Tatyana Hopkins Howard University News Service FLINT -- Like thousands of other college students, Jaquan Blackwell spent last spring break at the beach, his on the shores of Panama City Beach, Fla., indulging in “too much drinking” and partying with hundreds of other students into the early morning.
This year, Blackwell, a junior at Howard University, was getting soaked Monday by a chilly Flint rain as he and a dozen other Howard students manned the corner of Fifth and Martin Luther King avenues and helped residents struggling with the city’s water crises by loading cases of donated water into the backs of cars. And as he placed water into
the back of a crowded minivan, he smiled. “I’m not missing Florida,” the New Yorker said. “I can go anytime. That costs me money. I’m here for free, giving back.” Blackwell, 20, and 45 Howard University students and advisors are in Flint as part of the school’s annual Alternative Spring Break (ASB) program, during which students forgo the fun and sun to help others.
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Call 202-806-3039 to advertise in the District Chronicles. districtchronicles.com District Chronicles | Mar. 17 - Mar. 23, 2016 | 11
In the Neighborhood
DC 3rd graders can’t get enough of robots, drones
Continued from page 6
Robert Eubanks/District Chronicles
Robert Eubanks/DistrictChronicles
Robert Eubanks/District Chronicles
12 | Mar. 17 - Mar. 23, 2016 | District Chronicles
tually lead him to be one of four inventors that developed technology that is now the basis for today’s telecommunications. Dr. Mensah was elated by the kids’ enthusiasm for robots and drones. “This is good. It’s historic,” he declared. “We have decorated scientists, college students, and third graders talking and experiencing science. The 82 kids in the Nations Capital were the luckiest In the country to interact with the Designers of The Mars Rover Lander, the robot that landed on The Red Planet and brought photos that the news papers, TV Stations, blogs and other social platforms reported on around the world. “These Kids were taught how to assemble and Command robots by these NASA experts that look like them, I mean African Americans. The Kids in their curiosity rushed to the front of the program to see the humanoid robot built by the Spelman students and interacted with them, asking tough questions.” Howard University Provost Anthony Wutoh and Associate Provost for Research and Graduate Studies Gary Harris welcomed the kids and scientists to Howard, not knowing what to expect. But at the end of it all, the two top executives of Howard University were pleasantly surprised at how the kids took to the commercial robots and drone with gusto.
Robert Eubanks/District Chronicles
The kids obliged. They fired commands at Spice, the humanoid robot that won Spelman students 3rd place in a robotics competition last year. The mission of Spelman College’s robotics team, SpelBots, is to encourage students and young women of African descent to explore robotics and computer science. The team made history in 2005 as the first all-female undergraduate entry in the International RoboCup soccer competition. “Raise your hand!!” commanded one of the third graders. Spice obliged, raising her hand like any intelligent human being would at the command of his or her superior. “Bend your leg!” yelled another third grader! Again Spice obliged. “Do a flip!” yet another future scientist commanded. “No. No. We have not programmed him to do flips!” protested one of the Spellman scientists. “Because, I am a girl people will tell me no, you can’t do,” said Tatia Jahen, 12. Jahen, who has a love for science, enjoyed the panel discussion with the robotics team from Atlanta’s Spelman College. She said she is the only girl in her sixth grade advanced math class at School without Walls. She said
the demonstration and talk gave her ideas for her school’s upcoming science fair. She said she would like to see more opportunities to explore STEM outside of field trips. The kids couldn’t get enough of Spice, but there was more fun at tables in the main lobby of the Interdisciplinary Research Center where they crowded the tables. At one table, Bill Blackwelder, president of Delta Southern Space UAS and Dr. Mensah demonstrated a small commercial drone to the young and eager scholars. At two other tables, Dr. Tunstel and Dr. Trebi-Ollennu showed off their creations to the excited and boisterous future scientists. “This should happen every day,” declared an elated Fernando Hernandez, director of Microsoft Supplier Diversity. “ Everyone should have equal opportunity to participate in STEM. We owe it to society.” Microsoft sponsored the Spelman team’s participation in the event. “The right stuff comes in black too. Black people have been doing great things,” Thomas Mensah, inventor of fiber optics and NNPA Foundation STEM 2020 Ambassador said to the nation’s Black youth. Mensah told those at the March 11 event that seeing Neal Armstrong on black and white colored television inspired him to pursue a career that would even-
Robert Eubanks/DistrictChronicles
STEM
From top right clockwise: The event had a panel of big names in STEM, including Dr. Mensah, John Hopkins’ Dr. Tunstel, Microsoft’s Fernando Hernandez and NASA’s Dr. TrebiOllennu. Area students from high school to third graders packed the event. Bill Blackwelder of Delta Southern Space UAS shows off a drone. Participants were all hands on later, playing with all the technology including these small robots (Credit: Robert Eubanks).