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THE WASHINGTON INFORMER NEWSPAPER (ISSN#0741-9414) is published weekly on each Thursday. PeriodiPUBLISHER Denise Rolark Barnes STAFF cals postage paid at Washington, D.C. and additional mailing offices. News and adTheWashington Informer Newspaper D. Kevin McNeir, Editor Ron Burke, Advertising/ Marketing Director vertising deadline is Monday prior to publication. Announcements must be received two weeks prior to event. Copyright 2016 In Memoriam Dr. Calvin W. Rolark, Sr. Shevry Lassiter,by The Washington Informer. All rights Wilhelmina J. Rolark Photo Editor reserved. POSTMASTER: Send change Lafayette Barnes, IV, Assistant Photo Editor Dorothy Rowley, Online Editor ZebraDesigns.net, Design & Layout Mable Neville, Bookkeeper of addresses to The Washington Informer, 3117 Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave., S.E. Washington, D.C. 20032. No part of this publication may be reproduced without THE WASHINGTON INFORMER NEWSPAPER (ISSN#0741-9414) is published weekly on Thursday. Periodicals postage paid at Washington, D.C. and additional mailing offices. News and advertising deadline is Monday prior to publication. Ron Taylor, Copy Editor Tatiana Moten, Social Media Specialist Angie Johnson, Circulation REPORTERS written permission from the publisher. The Informer Newspaper cannot guarantee the return of photographs. Subscription rates are $45 per year, two years $60. Papers will be received not more than a week after publication. Make checks payable to: Announcements must be received two weeks prior to event. Copyright 2000 by The Washington Informer. All rights reserved. POSTMASTER:Send change of addresses to The Washington Informer, 3117 Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave., S.E. Washington, D.C. 20032. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. The Informer Newspaper cannot guarantee the return of photographs. Subscription rates are $30 per year, two years $45. Papers will be received Stacy Brown (Senior Writer), Sam P.K. THE WASHINGTON INFORMERnot more than a week after publication. Make checks payable to: 3117 Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave., S.E Collins, Timothy Cox, Will Ford (Prince Washington, D.C. 20032 George’s County Writer), Hamil Harris, THE WASHINGTON INFORMER Curtis Knowles, Daniel Kucin, D. Kevin Phone: 202 561-4100 Fax: 202 574-37853117 Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave., S.E. • Washington, D.C. 20032 McNeir, Dorothy Rowley, Brenda Siler, news@washingtoninformer.comPhone: 202 561-4100 • Fax: 202 574-3785 Lindiwe Vilakazi, Sarafina Wright, James www.washingtoninformer.com E-mail: news@washingtoninformer.com Wright www.washingtoninformer.com
PHOTOGRAPHERSPUBLISHER Shevry Lassiter, Roy Lewis, Jr., Robert R. Denise Rolark Barnes STAFF Roberts, Anthony Tilghman REPORTERS Brooke N. Garner Managing Editor Tia C. Jones, Ed Laiscell, Carla Peay Assistant Managing Editor Odell B. Ruffin, Larry Saxton, Ron Burke Advertising and Marketing Mary Wells, Joseph Young Mable Whittaker Bookkeeper LaNita Wrenn Administration John E. DeFreitas Sports Editor Victor Holt Photo Editor Zebra Designs, Inc. Layout & Graphic Design 4 - FEBRUARY 11 - 17, 2021 Ken Harris /www.scsworks.com Webmaster PHOTOGRAPHERS Lafayette Barnes, IV, John E. De Freitas, Maurice Fitzgerald, Joanne Jackson, Roy Lewis, Robert Ridley, Victor Holt Women Break the Cycle of wi hot topics COMPILED BY D. KEVIN MCNEIR, WI EDITOR
Domestic Violence Alexandria Black History Trump's Second
By Tia Carol Jones law enforcement. She said they threat,” she said. Museum Announces BHM Impeachment Trial Begins WI Staff Writer had come together to bring a sense of uniformity in the way Among the programs Marlow wants to see implemented areThe second impeachment trial of former President Trump Events When L.Y. Marlow's 23-yearold daughter told her the father of her daughter threatened her life, and the life of their child, she knew something had to be done. Out of her frustration with law enforcement's handling of the situation, she decided to start the Saving Promise campaign. “It seems to be a vicious cycle that won't turn my family loose,” Marlow said. Marlow shared her story with the audience at the District Heights domestic violence victims and survivors are treated. “She's using her own personal story, her own personal pain to push forward,” Davis-Nickens said about Marlow. Davis-Nickens said anyone who reads Marlow's book will “get it.” She said she “puts the case in such a way, the average person can get it.” She said at the end of the day, the book will help people begin to have a dialogue about domestic violence. Also present at the event was stricter restraining order policies, more rights for victim's families to intervene on behalf of a victim, a domestic violence assessment unit coupled with further training for law enforcement agencies, a Child's Life Protection Act and mandatory counseling for batterers. “If we are ever going to eradicate domestic violence, we must look at both sides of the coin. We need to address both the victim and the batterer,” Marlow said. began Feb. 9 in the Senate after the House charged Trump with "incitement of insurrection" for his role in the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot and voted to impeach him on Jan. 13 on one charge of inciting an insurrection. The historic vote came one week before Trump left office, making him the only president in U.S. history to be impeached twice. Trump's lawyers and the House impeachment managers exchanged another round of pretrial legal briefs on Feb. 8 as Democrats pushed back on the Trump team's claims that the trial is unconstitutional. Senate leaders reached an agreement that gives each side up to 16 hours to present their cases and the potential for a debate and voting on calling witnesses. And Trump has rejected a request to testify in the trial. Those familiar with the conversations suggest that Trump remains The Alexandria Black History Museum recently announced a series of events in celebration of Black History Month 2021. They also invite history buffs to test their knowledge of Alexandria’s Black History with a short quiz. Events include: Symposium: The Ramsey Homes, Feb. 11 with topics that feature the history of public housing and Ramsey Homes; genealogy of early residents; architecture and engineering; and the process Domestic Violence Symposium Mildred Muhammad, the ex- Marlow would also like to seeconvinced that there won't be enough Republican senators of documenting construction techniques. on May 7 at the District Heights who'll vote to convict him. wife of John Allen Muhammad, programs designed to raise Lecture: Hidden in Plain Sight: Moss Kendrix and Municipal Center. The sympo- who was sentenced to six consec- awareness among children inHowever, since leaving office, Trump has been keen to the Enterprise to Sell Black Citizenship, Feb. 17. Dr. sium was sponsored by the utive life terms without parole public and private schools. Shepunish Republican lawmakers who voted to impeach him Brenna Wynn Greer will trace how Black public relaFamily and Youth Services by a Maryland jury for his role in feels children need to be educat-in the House, including Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming. Ten tions guru Moss Hyles Kendrix enlisted white corpoCenter of the city of District the Beltway Sniper attacks in ed about domestic violence.Republicans, including Cheney, voted to impeach Trump. rate America in a campaign to redefine Black citizenHeights and the National Hook- 2002. Mildred Muhammad is “We have to stop being pas-Allegedly, several Trump advisers believe the former presi- ship after World War II. Up of Black Women. the founder of After the Trauma, sive-aggressive with poor chil-dent wants to secure "accountability" for Republican House Concert: Washington Revels Jubilee Voices, Feb. 20.
Marlow has written a book, an organization that helps the dren about domestic violence,”members who turned "against the people" while he remains The ensemble is committed to the preservation of Afri“Color Me Butterfly,” which is a survivors of domestic violence Marlow said.unwilling to accept what detractors see as the more realistic can-American history and traditions, presenting songs story about four generations of and their children. perspective: that the former president actively sought to over- Marlow has worked to break and stories of struggle and perseverance, trials, and tridomestic violence. The book is turn the will of the voters. “I lived in fear for six years. Six the cycle of abuse in her family, umphs, as expressed through a cappella music, drama, inspired by her own experiences, years in fear is a long time. It is and is confident the policies sheTrump's legal team said in a statement Feb. 8 that it is and dance. and those of her grandmother, not an easy thing to come out is pushing for will start thatpleased with the structure of the trial. The statement also Lecture: You Will Find it Handy – Traveling Safely her mother and her daughter. of,” she said. praised Senate Republican leadership for securing "a struc- process. in the Old Dominion with The Green Book, Feb. 24. She said every time she reads Mildred Muhammad said “I plan to take these policies toture that is consistent with past precedent." As automobile travel increased in the 20th century, reNorton to Introduce Bill Banning Permanent Fencing at U.S. Capitol Complex “We have to stop being passive-aggressive with poor children about domestic violence. I plan to take these excerpts from her book, she still can not believe the words came from her. “Color Me Butterfly” won the 2007 National “Best Books” Award. “I was just 16-years-old when my eye first blackened and my lips bled,” Marlow said. Elaine Davis-Nickens, president of the National Hook-Up of Black Women, said there is no consistency in the way domestic violence issues are dealt with by people who want to help a domestic violence victim must be careful of how they go into the victim's life, and understand that she may be in “survival mode”. “Before you get to 'I'm going to kill you,' it started as a verbal Congress and implore them to change our laws,” Marlow said. “I will not stop until these policies are passed.” Tia Carol Jones can be reached at tiacaroljones@sbcglobal.net WI "This process will provide us with an opportunity to explain to Senators why it is absurd and unconstitutional to hold an impeachment trial against a private citizen," the team said. No matter the outcome, much remains at stake for both Democrats and Republicans. Democrats say they must move forward in order to ensure that the former president will be ineligible from ever running or public office again. As for Republicans, theirs remains a party in shambles as some want to salvage what’s left of a divided house while others fear backlash from Trump, who still has considerable leverage within the party, and his still ardent supporters. fusal of service and other threats made travel extremely difficult for African Americans. In response, Victor H. Green began publishing The Green Book, which provided a safety net with its listings for services such as garages, barbers, beauty parlors, hotels and guest houses, tailors, restaurants, and drug stores that welcomed African Americans. Susan Hellman, Principal Planner with the City of Alexandria Planning & Zoning Historic Preservation division, will explore Virginia businesses listed in The Green Book during this lecture. Visit the City of Alexandria, Virginia website for more information. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) recently announced that she will introduce legislation to prohibit the installation of new permanent fencing at the U.S. Capitol complex. Norton has strongly opposed efforts to build permanent structures separating the Capitol policies to Congress andcomplex from the rest of the nation’s capital in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack. “I’ve been in touch with Acting U.S. Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman over the phone THE WASHINGTON INFORMER / WWW.WASHINGTONINFORMER.COM implore them to change our laws. I will not stop until these policies are passed. “ L.Y. Marlow and in writing strongly opposing her recommendation for permanent fencing,” Norton said. “In the year 2021, we should not be relying on security theater based on 19th-century ideas when state-of-the-art options and old-fashioned preparation and cooperation among security forces could have prevented the events of January 6. My bill banning permanent fencing will help put the needed focus back on security options that don’t wall off the Capitol like a fortress that needs to be protected from the people we represent,” Norton said.
D.C. Teacher Dies of COVID-19, Fuels Union Battle Over Schools Reopening
Sam P.K. Collins WI Contributing Writer
The ongoing battle between D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) and the Washington Teachers’ Union (WTU) about reopening schools centers on whether protocols put in place could curb the spread of COVID-19.
A week into Term 3 in-person learning, WTU leaders say they remain resolute in expressing their misgivings, especially after the coronavirus-related death of Ballou STAY cosmetology teacher Helen M. White.
“What I’m concerned about is that some of the principals are taking liberty and playing with fire by denying teachers from continuing virtually and causing people to get sick,” WTU President Elizabeth Davis told The Informer on Monday.
White, a Ballou STAY teacher of 14 years and mother of five, died over the weekend. She contracted the coronavirus last month while teaching in a CARE classroom and spent her final weeks fighting the virus.
WTU leaders allege that administrators didn’t immediately notify the school about the positive coronavirus case.
“Why is it that we haven’t heard anything from that school about a case and the individuals who came into contact with her?” Davis said. “There are a number of principals who feel pressured to follow the directions of the chancellor and will do anything to make it work. The process by which cases are reported [by DCPS] is slow and secretive. This puts everyone at risk.”
5 Washington Teachers' Union President Elizabeth Davis (on screen) speaks during a recent meeting regarding in-person learning in D.C. Public Schools. (Courtesy of WTU via Twitter)
Apply today to DCPS and public charter schools for school year 2021-22 at MySchoolDC.org.
THE BIGGER PICTURE
DCPS guidelines stipulate that when students or personnel contract COVID-19, administrators have to notify community members and the D.C. Department of Health.
Positive individuals would have to work from home and contact their health care provider. At the same time, administrators disinfect the premises and guide people who’ve been in close contact through the quarantine process.
DCPS would also have to consult the health department about situations warranting the shutdown of school buildings.
In response to an Informer inquiry about the circumstances surrounding White’s death, DCPS cited a Jan. 22 letter from Ballou STAY Principal Cara Fuller notifying students, parents, and community members about a positive coronavirus case.
A Monday communique to the Ballou STAY community obtained by The Informer announced White’s death and encouraged grief-stricken students to seek school-sponsored support.
Over the past few weeks, COVID-19 cases among participants of in-person school activities have steadily increased. As of Friday, the number of cases reported among DCPS personnel working on school campuses had reached 105, while the total number of students who have tested positive has surpassed 30.
In total, 100 DCPS students and personnel are in quarantine.
Despite reservations from some teachers and parents, most of the District’s public schools reopened earlier this month with varying student and teacher attendance levels in each building.
Capitol Hill Montessori, Coolidge High School, and Watkins Elementary School started in-person learning days later than planned after school administrators conducted a second safety walkthrough, as mandated by an arbitrator during a hearing in January.
Meanwhile, School-Within-School at Goding in Northeast and Johnson Middle School in Southeast also reopened later because of building repairs and a gas leak, respectively.
While DCPS survey data estimates student demand for in-person learning to stand among 6,000 and 9,000, WTU leadership says that attendance last week doesn’t reflect such a demand.
FOLLOWING PROTOCOL
Similar debates about when and how to reopen schools are taking place in other districts across the country.
Earlier this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that school districts collaborate with local and state health officials to determine how to promote behaviors that reduce the spread of COVID-19. Other considerations focus on maintaining healthy environments and operations and preparing for when someone gets sick.
Health department guidelines require schools to conduct daily health screenings of students and staff members. They must also have a process in place to isolate those who feel sick during the school day. Additionally, schools must encourage hygienic practices and have sufficient amounts of soaps, disinfectants, alcohol-based sanitizer, paper towels, and tissues.
Students and staff with pre-existing medical conditions are urged to consult with their health care provider before participating in in-person activities.
Long before the pandemic, however, some students of White, including a woman named Ashley P., often questioned whether Ballou STAY could have been more sensitive to a medical condition that often required White to leave the campus early or take off some days.
Under White’s tutelage, legions of students, including Ashley, completed Ballou STAY’s Career & Technical Education program and acquired a cosmetology operator certification. Ashley, who asked that her full name not be used, said White cared deeply about her students’ academic, social and emotional well-being.
In the weeks before White’s death, Ashley recounted learning from a friend that White contracted COVID-19 and had been absent from the CARE classroom for more than two weeks. By that time, White’s students, including Ashley’s mother, completed their work independently during in-person sessions.
Ashley said her revelation not only angered her mother but compelled her and other students to demand a meeting with school administrators.
“Ballou STAY didn’t tell anyone that students were exposed to COVID,” said Ashley, an alumna of Ballou STAY’s cosmetology program and a certified cosmetologist of one year.
“Not only is my mom in the school, but she watches my children,” Ashley said. “If the administration had let us know that a teacher got exposed to COVID, my mom would’ve gotten tested, but my children were exposed, and that’s a big problem for me. Ballou STAY put a lot of lives in jeopardy, and they haven’t told students to this day.” WI
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black facts FEB 11 - 17, 2021 SOURCE: BLACK AMERICA WEB
FEB 11
1920 – U.S. Air Force fighter pilot Daniel "Chappie" James Jr., the first African American to reach the rank of four-star general, is born in Pensacola, Florida. 1977 – Clifford Alexander Jr. is confirmed as the first Black secretary of the U.S. Army. 1990 – Human rights activist Nelson Mandela is released from a South African prison after serving 27 years.
FEB. 12
1909 – The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or NAACP, is founded after race riots in Springfield, Illinois. 1926 – Historian Carter G. Woodson founds Negro History Week, the precursor to Black History Month. 1983 – Famed pianist Eubie Blake dies in New York City at 96.
FEB. 13
1920 – Baseball player Andrew "Rube" Foster founds the Negro National League.
1923 – The New York Renaissance, an all-Black professional basketball team, is founded.
1970 – Joseph L. Searles III
becomes the first Black floor member and floor broker in the New York Stock Exchange.
FEB. 14
1867 – Morehouse College is founded in Georgia. 1946 – Actor, singer and dancer Gregory Hines is born in New York City. 1965 – The New York home of civil rights activist Malcolm X is firebombed with him and his family inside.
FEB. 15
1965 – Famed singer Nat King Cole (top) dies in Santa Monica, California, of lung cancer at 45. 1968 – Henry Lewis becomes the first Black to head a major U.S. symphony orchestra when he takes over the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.
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MICHAEL JORDAN FEB. 16
1857 – Frederick Douglass is elected president of Freedman's Savings and Trust Company. 1923 – Blues singer Bessie Smith (above right) records her first single, "Down Hearted Blues," which was later included in the inaugural National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress. 1972 – Wilt Chamberlain becomes the first player in NBA history to score 30,000 points.
FEB. 17
1891 – Black inventor A.C. Richardson patents an improved butter churn. 1936 – Pro football great and civil rights advocate Jim Brown is born in St. Simons, Georgia. 1942 – Political activist and Black Panther Party co-founder Huey P. Newton is born in Monroe, Louisiana. 1963 – Basketball legend Michael Jordan is born in Brooklyn, New York. 1982 – Influential jazz pianist Thelonious Monk dies of a stroke in Englewood, New Jersey, at 64.
WI
view P INT
BY SARAFINA WRIGHT
Given the pandemic, how are you spending Valentine’s Day this year?
BILLE MOUTRA /
MISSOURI CITY, TEXAS My hubby and I are spending time together talking about the good times we’ve had for the 41 years. Happy Valentine’s Day to all!
BRANDON PIERRE /
CAPETOWN, SOUTH AFRICA I will be spending Valentine’s Day as usual with my wife and daughter.
MARC WALKER /
AUSTIN, TEXAS I didn't think I could care less about Valentine’s Day, but COVID-19 proved me wrong.
NAIROBI SARAY /
LONDON, UK I will be spending Valentine’s Day in the hospital working. I will leave it to the other single people to feel the heat on the street that day.
RASHAWN MCCRANEY /
WASHINGTON, D.C. I’m newly single during a pandemic…It’s rough out here.
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Notes to a Young Black Warrior and High School Senior – My Grandson Jordon
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It has been almost a year since life as we knew it, both here in the U.S. and across the glove, changed in dramatic proportions with the news that a mysterious health pandemic was within our midst: COVID-19.
As many recall, America’s leaders, most notably then President Donald Trump, assured us that our shining nation on the hill was immune to this virus.
We were told that this 21st century version of Edgar Allan Poe’s mysterious, contagious disease, as told to readers his masterful short story, “The Masque of the Red Death,” was something that could never extend its talons from China to the U.S.
We were assured that we had nothing to fear and that things would return to normal in record time.
“Trust me” we were told.
Of course, history has shown that we were fed a quiver of lies, misstatements and conclusions based not on scientific evidence but on wishful thinking.
For me, as a father of two adult children and a grandfather of two Black boys, 6 and 18, I remember feeling powerless in ways that I had never felt before. While I could speak with my children and grandchildren on Facebook live or Zoom teleconference calls, my plans to visit them in their respective cities of New York, Detroit and Atlanta were suddenly both impossible and improbable.
Still, given the reports from the White House in those early days, I, like many others, held fast to the rhetoric that this too would pass, as my mother used to say – and that it would pass swiftly.
As the days became weeks and weeks became months, I fought to avoid becoming like a growing number of Americans who began to allow depression, anxiety and fear to overwhelm them. As best I could, I put on a brave front for my children – but especially for my two grandsons.
But when left alone, I cried for them – for the experiences that would allude them and my opportunity to be with them as they took those traditional steps toward adulthood.
As my youngest grandson, Jackson, began first grade, I could only witness this significant step in his development by watching videos that my daughter had taken. Even then, he would not have the chance to forge a memory that I will never forget when I first started elementary school at Louis Pasteur on the Westside of Detroit more than 50 years ago.
His first day would be a virtual event without the heart-warming trappings of playing with new classmates, meeting his first-grade teacher and getting a warm hug, how to stand in line before bathroom breaks or as lunchtime approached, writing his first poem for Daddy or drawing Valentines with his friends for their Moms and Grandmothers.
Further, I was not so naïve as to believe that after looking forward to finally starting his educational journey, that he wasn’t more than a little disappointed. I know I would have been devastated.
I then remembered my four years at a college preparatory, all-boys Catholic school in Detroit where I matriculated and received my high school diploma. Every day at the University of Detroit Jesuit High School & Academy was a day of discovery and wonder. I remember arriving early every morning for band practice and staying late each night for a plethora of extra-curricular activities.
Even without the joys or distractions, depending on how you looked at it, of our school being bereft of girls, we were kept so busy and required to work so hard that I cannot remember ever missing them – at least not much. (Still, I made up for lost time once I moved on to college).
Closing my eyes, I can see the Saturday night dances when our campus became coed for the evening and we danced away the hours to the sounds of Chicago, Stevie Wonder and Parliament/Funkadelic.
I remember the hay rides at apple orchards that took me and my classmates miles away from the city. I smile as I think about our basketball team taking the Catholic League title as the varsity team warmed up to “We Are the Champions.”
I recall how proud my parents, my sister and many other family members were as I crossed the stage with my classmates to accept my diploma with honors.
I want all of this and more for my oldest grandson, Jordon. But I don’t see how he’ll ever have the chance to celebrate in the numerous ways in
DOMINIC Page 9
D.C. Workers Lend Support to $15 Minimum Wage, Raise the Wage Act
Rallies Held Nationwide Led by Dr. William J. Barber, II and SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry
WI Staff Report
As part of weekly Moral Mondays initiated by the Poor People’s Campaign, on Monday, Feb. 8, essential workers across the country held socially distanced rallies in celebration of the Raise the Wage Act – legislation that would end the subminimum wage for tipped workers and raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour that’s included in President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 package.
The event was organized by One Fair Wage, a national nonprofit organization representing subminimum wage workers, SEIU International and the Poor People’s Campaign.
The live programs celebrated the inclusion of the Raise the Wage Act in the COVID-19 relief package, thanked supportive U.S. senators for listening to the needs of millions of workers and supportive small businesses and called on their peers to do the same.
Supportive locally-based. small business restaurant owners provided free meals, musicians and bands who entertained participants.
Meanwhile, essential workers shared stories about why both raising the wage to $15 an hour and ending the subminimum wage for tipped workers – a legacy of slavery and source of both poverty and sexual harassment for a majority female industry – remains critical in efforts to ensure that they and their families can survive the pandemic.
In the District, celebrity Chef Jose Andres provided 100 free meals to rally participants.
Speakers for the digital event, which included a brief live-stream from all local events, included: Mary Kay Henry, president, Service Employees International Union; Saru Jayaraman, president, One Fair Wage; the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II and The Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, co-chairs, Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call For Moral Revival; and Andy Shallal, owner, Busboys & Poets in D.C.
In the District, speakers were joined by two gigantic statues of “Elena the Essential Worker” and a local go-go band.
D.C. speakers included: Andy Hooper, president of &Pizza; Ifeoma Ezimako, an essential restaurant worker based out of D.C.; Tizoc Zarate, a Spanish-speaking 22-year-old Mexican-American man with aspirations of opening up his own taco stand and someday becoming a politician; Saba Tshibaka, an advocate for the socioeconomic empowerment of women and girls who spent a year as a manager at the College Park Black-owned business, Milk & Honey and who has worked at both the Department of Treasury and Google; Dia King, a native Washingtonian with nearly 30 years of hospitality service under his belt; and Veronica Tucker, another native Washingtonian who has worked most of her life in the District as a banquet waiter/bartender.
In the District, the event took place on the National Mall.
WI
5 D.C. workers protest for a higher minimum wage. (Anthony Tilghman/The Washington Infomrer)
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DOMINIC from Page 8
which I was so fortunate.
Somehow, he seems to be keeping a stiff upper lip – my young warrior. But I cannot help but wonder what thoughts are really pervading his young mind as he attends classes virtually or attempts to be slightly mannish while flirting with a young lassie on social media.
After all, you can’t get your first kiss by placing your lips on a cold screen, can you?
When my parents were alive and I was just a teenager anxious to become an adult, my mother would often tell me that some experiences were better gained through vicarious means. In short, she wanted me to understand that we can get a sense of the joy or pain of the world by “witnessing” such events through the eyes of others instead of actually experiencing them and that sometimes it was for the best.
In many cases – most in fact, she was far from wrong.
But for my little man and my young man-child, first grade and senior year in high school just aren’t meant to be experienced in any other way but live and in living color.
Somehow, with God’s grace and given my creative mind, I will discover ways to help them get a sense of what they have been unable to experience – what they have tragically been denied by no fault of their own.
Somehow! Some day! Some way!
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CAPTURE THE MOMENT
THE RICH HISTORY OF AFRICAN AMERICANS IN MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD The Sandy Spring Slave Museum celebrates the heritage of Blacks from their origin through the Middle Passage, the salvation the Underground Railroad provided, the struggle for civil rights and their accomplishments in the U.S. and African Diaspora. On display is the rich and significant contributions that Africans and African Americans have made in the building of America. The Slave Museum is on a one-acre site in historic Sandy Spring. It features a cross-section of a slaving clipper ship, a log cabin, the Arts Pavilion and the Great Hall. It also features two pieces of public art imported from Ghana. (Robert R. Roberts/The Washington Informer)
Who’s Reading the Informer?
WI photographer Robert Roberts says reading the Washington Informer gives him all the information he needs to find out what’s happening in and around the city. (Robert R. Roberts/The Washington Informer)
WORDS TO LIVE BY
– W.E.B. DuBois John Brown [1909] (top quote) - To the Nations of the World. Address to Pan-African Conference, London [1900] (bottom quote) In 1908, a deadly race riot rocked the city of Springfield, the capital of Illinois and resting place of President Abraham Lincoln. Such eruptions of anti-black violence, particularly lynching, were commonplace. But the Springfield riot was the final tipping point that led to the creation of the NAACP on Feb. 12, 1909. A group of appalled, white liberals that included Mary White Ovington and Oswald Garrison Villard (both the descendants of famous abolitionists), issued a call for a meeting to discuss racial justice. Some 60 people, seven of whom were African American (including W. E. B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells-Barnett and Mary Church Terrell), signed the call, which was released on the centennial of Lincoln’s birth.
D.C. Statehood Passage Requires Complex Congressional Calculus
Committees in Congress to Play Key Roles
James Wright WI Staff Writer
While congressional leaders of both chambers have indicated their support for D.C. statehood legislation passage of the bill will require key committee action within this session of Congress.
“It is at the committee level where the rubber hits the road,” Paul Brathwaite, a former executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus, said. “D.C. statehood legislation will need to get through very important, key committees. In the House, it will be the Oversight and Reform Committee, and in the Senate, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. The key to any success D.C. statehood legislation has will start with those committees.”
D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D)--the author of “The Washington, D.C. Admission Act of 2021” legislation with 210 co-sponsors--ranks second in seniority on the House’s Oversight and Reform Committee that will consider her bill during this session of Congress. She also ranks second in seniority on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and on Feb. 3 won re-election as the chair of its Highways and Transit Subcommittee.
NORTON PLANS TO USE COMMITTEE SENIORITY TO ACCELERATE NATIONAL PROJECTS
The subcommittee deals with the nation’s transportation and infrastructure projects and the delegate expressed satisfaction serving at the helm of it once again.
“Transportation and infrastructure issues are among the most bipartisan in the House and the Senate,” Norton said. “I look forward to focusing particularly on rising issues, among them, reducing congestion, addressing climate change, and encouraging innovation, while continuing to prioritize investment in infrastructure for D.C., the national capital region and the country.”
Brathwaite said Norton will use her seniority on both committees and her chairmanship of the Highways and Transit subcommittee to assist members with projects in their districts and they in turn can support District transportation and infrastructure plans and statehood.
In the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Norton can count on all of the Democrats to support her statehood bill especially the chairwoman of the committee, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and her colleagues Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.), Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Danny Davis (D-Ill.), Robin Kelly (D-Ill.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and District-born Hank Johnson (D-Ga.).
In addition, if Norton’s bill clears the Oversight and Reform committee, it will need to go to the House Rules Committee where the guidelines of the bill’s presentation on the floor will be considered, an aide to the delegate told the Informer. Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.), an African American and supporter of D.C. statehood, serves as the second highest ranking member of the Rules Committee.
While Norton won re-election to her subcommittee post, the Senate changed from being a Republican-run chamber to one managed by the Democrats that day. New Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) wants to bring Sen. Thomas Carper’s (D-Del.) D.C. statehood bill to the floor for a vote.
5 Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) is the new chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs that has jurisdiction over D.C. statehood legislation. (Courtesy Photo)
BILL NEEDS TO CLEAR HURDLES BY 2022
Democrats will chair the committees and Carper serves on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, where his D.C. statehood legislation will be considered. Carper ranks second in seniority on the committee behind chairman, Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), who supports D.C. statehood, too.
On the Republican side of the Homeland Security committee, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) have been identified by Josh Burch, organizer of the Neighbors United for D.C. Statehood, as being open to considering supporting Carper’s bill.
Dr. Ravi Perry, the chairman of the political science department at Howard University, said Republican support will be needed for Carper’s legislation to get on the Senate floor.
“I don’t see a problem Carper’s bill getting out of committee now that the Democrats are in control,” Perry said. “However, they will need 60 votes to kill a likely Republican filibuster and will need Republican votes to do that given the Democrats only have 50 votes. Right now, that’s a slim possibility.”
Both Brathwaite and Perry said District residents and statehood advocates need to pay attention to the committee process.
“It is my opinion that a D.C. statehood bill needs to pass and be on President Biden’s desk within the next two years,” Perry said. “Who knows what will happen in the 2022 election? Statehood supporters should let their family and friends know about their cause and tell them to contact their lawmakers, especially those on the committees. Emails, letter and phone calls have been known to make a difference in getting legislation passed.” WI @JamesDCWrighter
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