WINNER OF FIVE SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS D.C. AWARDS Cicely Tyson, Film and Stage Legend, Dies at 96 Page 42 Vol. 56, No. 16 • February 4 - 10, 2021
Federal Government Looks at Curbing White Domestic Terror Groups after Coup Attempt
WINTER WONDERLAND
Barrington M. Salmon Special to The Informer
5 The Washington DC Snowball Fight Association held its first snowball fight in over two years on Sunday, Jan. 31, near the Smithsonian Castle in Southwest after several inches of snow fell over the weekend. (Anthony Tilghman/The Washington Informer)
The Jan.6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol came as no surprise to domestic terror experts and others who have been tracking the activities and the alarming growth of white nationalist, extremist organizations and individuals for more than a decade. In the days and weeks since the coup attempt, what’s becoming clearer are the links between the far-right insurrectionists and former President Donald Trump, his inner circle and administration agencies; the involvement of Republican Congressional
lawmakers and their aides; and the money that flowed from dark money sources, conservative groups and individuals. What we’re seeing, said domestic terrorism expert Michael German, is a culmination of years of America generally – and law enforcement and the federal government specifically – ignoring or sidestepping what is widely regarded as the greatest domestic threat to the United States. “For 10 years, law enforcement has underplayed the violence from domestic terrorists even though the level of violence we’ve seen is much high-
TERRORISTS Page 46
Post-COVID-19 Recovery Can be a Long and Winding Road
Scheduled Return to In-Person Learning Shrouded in Doubt
Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer
Sam P.K. Collins WI Contributing Writer
Safety Issues Pit Many Teachers and Officials at Opposite Ends of the Spectrum
Long Virus COVID Sufferers Face Unexpected and Often Fatal Challenges Chavez Adams, an otherwise healthy, 29-year-old lawyer, overcame a mild bout of COVID-19. Or so he thought. After a two-week quarantine, Chavez thought he was in the clear, but the battle was far from over. A newlywed, Chavez began experiencing fever and chills – symptoms that sent him scurrying to an urgent care facility. Once there, doctors told Chavez
about distinctive hazy patches on his lungs, presumably a result of his battle with COVID-19. An elevated heart rate, along with the alarming discovery on his lungs, landed Chavez back in the hospital, where he went into cardiogenic shock, a rare but often fatal condition in which the heart can’t pump enough blood. After implanting an Impella CP heart pump into Chavez, his heart eventually returned to normal func-
POST COVID Page 20
5 DCPS Chancellor Lewis Ferebee in a classroom at Bell Multicultural High School in Northwest on Tuesday, Feb.2. (Shevry Lassiter/The Washington Informer)
For months, D.C. Public Schools [DCPS] and the Washington Teachers’ Union [WTU] have clashed over whether thousands of students would return to in-person learning in the midst of the pandemic. The battle continued on Tuesday, Feb. 2 upon the reopening of the District’s public schools for Term 3 and the filing of an injunction by the D.C. government to prevent teachers from engaging in a strike and other activities
that would complicate DCPS’ plans. “The well-being of all school staff and students is of the utmost importance,” WTU President Elizabeth Davis said in a statement confirming that she urged every teacher to return to in-person learning. “That said, if the District of Columbia Public Schools continues to refuse to work with us to ensure the safety of our school facilities, we must continue to discuss ways to protect our health and that of our students. That would
LEARNING Page 32
Celebrating 55 Years of Service / Serving More Than 50,000 Readers Throughout The Metropolitan Area
