“We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.” – Nelson Mandela Malveaux Celebrates Mandela’s Road to Freedom See Page 26 •
C e l e b r a t i n g 4 9 Ye a r s o f S e r v i c e
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Serving More Than 50,000 African American Readers Throughout The Metropolitan Area / Vol. 49, No.10 Dec. 19 - Dec. 25, 2013
Happy Holidays
There’s plenty fun to be had among the holiday lights at the James Center in Richmond, Va. See Story on Page 16. /Photo courtesy of Beth Furgurson, www.Virginia.org. Virginia Tourism Corporation
Concerned Residents Decry Gentrification By Barrington M. Salmon WI Staff Writer @bsalmondc
Until a few years ago, black District residents proudly called their city “Chocolate City,” at a time when more than 70 percent of the 528,000 residents were African American. In the last few years, however,
gentrification has spread across Washington, D.C. with a vengeance, transforming the city with a steady influx of 1,100 new residents a month. The complexion of neighborhoods have or are in the process of shifting from black to white and multi-ethnic; meanwhile, longtime and middle-class residents,
and others with more modest means, struggle to pay soaring rents, the cost of living continues to spiral upward and affordable housing for the most part is a pipe dream. While Mayor Vincent C. Gray, Deputy Mayor Victor Hoskins and city leaders crow about the city’s growth, the booming econ-
omy and the upward movement, beneath the surface, tensions between old and new residents, blacks and whites, elites and the working class, simmer. On Saturday evening, a number of these and other issues manifested themselves at Union Temple Baptist Church during an emergency meeting convened
Visit us online for daily updates and much more @ www.washingtoninformer.com. Official Washington Honors Mandela Page 12
Student Group Tackles ACA Problems Page 14
by the church’s pastor the Rev. Willie Wilson, Malik Zulu Shabbazz of Black Lawyers for Justice, and Al-Malik Farrakhan, founder of Cease Fire, Don’t Smoke the Brothers and Sisters, Inc. The town hall and public hear-
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