“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Serving More Than 50,000 African American Readers Throughout The Metropolitan Area / Vol. 49, No.14 Jan. 16 - Jan. 22, 2014
Belafonte offers Sigmas Sage Advice!
Harry Belafonte served as the keynote speaker at Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity’s Centennial Founder’s Day Gala held at the Renaissance Hotel on Saturday, Jan. 11. Belafonte also challenged the crowd to fight vigorously against violence directed toward women. See Story on Page 14. /Photo by Roy Lewis
City Officials Crack Down on Sale of “Loosies” By Barrington M. Salmon WI Staff Writer
The District’s Office of Tax and Revenue (OTR) has been busy cracking down on owners and employees of retail businesses which sell single cigarettes. Customarily, OTR inspectors
conduct random cigarette inspections of District businesses at least two to three days per week throughout the year. In 2013, OTR revenue officers performed 563 inspections. OTR Spokesman Natalie Wilson said her department bears the responsibility for inspecting retail businesses across the Dis-
trict to ensure cigarette license requirements are met and to enforce cigarette stamp compliance. The department monitors the sales of unstamped cigarettes, sales of cigarettes with stamps from other states and the sale of loose cigarettes. Last month, revenue officers levied a $5,000 fine on a retail
establishment located along the 3100 block of Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave., S.E., after they caught a store clerk selling single cigarettes. Wilson said she couldn’t release the name of the store for privacy reasons but spoke of another case. “While we were at a store a
Visit us online for daily updates and much more @ www.washingtoninformer.com Proposed Tobacco Settlement Excludes Black Media Page 12
Braveboy Introduces Bill to Raise Minimum Wage Page 13
woman came in and asked for loose cigarettes, the merchant got really nervous, said they don’t do that at the store and got into a confrontation with the customer,” she said. While the Office of Tax and Revenue focuses on the law en-
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And the Race Has Started! DC Mayor Vincent C. Gray held his kick off reelection campaign at THEARC in SE DC. “HAPPY SIGHTINGS!”
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2 January 16, - January 22, 2014
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FLASHBACK
1/16/2014 – 1/22/2014 Former Ward 8 Councilmember Wilhelmina J. Rolark addresses the audience at Covenant Baptist
AROUND THE REGION Black Facts Page 6
Church in Southwest following the District’s Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Parade held in 1978. Rolark, along with her husband, Dr. Calvin W. Rolark and radio talk show host Ralph Waldo
PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY Page 13 BUSINESS William Reed’s Business Exchange Page 16
“Petey” Green organized the first King parade before the national holiday was established in 1983. The King Holiday Parade and Peace Walk in Southeast is now in its 37th year. /WI Archives
COMMENTARIES Pages 31-32 SPORTS Pages 37-38 RELIGION Lyndia Grant’s Religion Column Page 39
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How to make your voice heard: • Complete an online survey at wmata.com/budgetsurvey or send written comments to writtentestimony@wmata.com before 5 p.m. on February 11, 2014. • Attend a public hearing held on the dates and at the locations listed below. Each public hearing will begin at 6:30 p.m., with a half hour information session starting at 6 p.m. You can register to speak at a public hearing by emailing speak@wmata.com. If the meetings are cancelled due to bad weather, see wmata.com for new dates, times and locations.
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AROUND THEBreak REGION the Cycle of Women Domestic Violence By Tia Carol Jones
law enforcement. She said they threat,” she said. had come together to bring a Among the programs Marlow sense of uniformity in the way wants to see implemented are When L.Y. Marlow's 23-year- domestic violence victims and stricter restraining order policies, old daughter told her the father survivors are treated. more rights for victim's families of her daughter threatened her “She's using her own personal to intervene on behalf of a viclife, and the life of their child, story, her own personal pain to tim, a domestic violence assessshe knew something had to be push forward,” Davis-Nickens ment unit coupled with further done. Out of her frustration said about Marlow. training for law enforcement with law enforcement's handling Davis-Nickens said anyone agencies, a Child's Life Protecof the situation, she decided to who reads Marlow's book will tion Act and mandatory counselstart the Saving Promise cam- “get it.” She said she “puts the ing for batterers. paign. in such way, the average “IftheweMetropolitan are ever going to eradiBob Bates, left, and Delores Short, right,case participate in aa candle-light vigil outside of AME “It seems to be a after vicious can of getAction it.” She said at theViolence cate summit domestic violence, weNamust Church in Northwest the cycle Nationalperson Youth Day Against Gun sponsored by the that Action won'tNetwork turn on myJanuary family8. /Photo end byofKhalid the day, the book will look at both sides of the coin. tional Naji-Allah loose,” Marlow said. Marlow help people begin to have a dia- We need to address both the vicshared her story with the audi- logue about domestic violence. tim and the batterer,” Marlow ence at the District Heights Also present at the event was said. Domestic Violence Symposium Mildred Muhammad, the exMarlow would also like to see on May 7 at the District Heights wife of John Allen Muhammad, programs designed to raise Municipal Center. The sympo- who was sentenced to six consec- awareness among children in sium was sponsored by the utive life terms without parole public and private schools. She members ofhis gun vichave to giveneed individuals opFamily Youth Services with Sam P.K.and Collins by a family Maryland jury for role in We feels children to be the educattims, trauma survivors, and repreportunity to learn about how they Center of the city of District the Beltway Sniper attacks in ed about domestic violence. WI Staff Writer Heights and the National Hook- sentatives of NAN, the Nationalis cope the have best. You havebeing to change 2002. Mildred Muhammad “We to stop pas@sampkcollins Up of Black Women. Association the Advancement dynamic,” saidwith Killebrew the founderfor of After the Trauma, the sive-aggressive poor who chilMarlow Amendment has written enthusia book, of Colored People Atlanta.domestic violence,” an organization that (NAACP) helps the lives dreninabout Second “Color Me Butterfly,” which is a and survivors domestic After said. the panel discussion, Black ofWomen for violence Positive Marlow asts secured several statewide and story about four generations of Change, and their children. Marlow has worked gathered to break community members a national organization national legislative victories last domestic violence. The book is dedicated “I lived in fear for six years. Six the cycle of abuse in her family, on the front steps of the church to changing the culture year, undermining the Obama adinspired by her own experiences, years in fear long time. It is where and isthey confident the paid policies she lit candles, tribute violence in isthea United States. ministration’s efforts to strengthen of and those of her grandmother, not an easy thing to come out is pushing for will start that to others, whispered prayers, and Panelist Nardyne Jefferies rebackground and daughter. impose a her motherchecks and her of,” she said. process.to do their part in ending federal gun ban. The issue gun counted the surge of emotions that pledged She said every time sheofreads Mildredher Muhammad said gun“Iviolence. plan to take these policies to Samantha Master, overcame when she learned violence the inner city gave excerpts infrom her book, she way still that people who want to help a Congress and implore them to her daughter, Brishell, 16, suf- youth and campus assistant at to of other even as cana series not believe thetopics words came domestic violence victim must change our laws,” Marlow said. fatal gun wounds during a the Human Rights Campaign, a nearly suc- fered from 10 her.children “Colornationwide Me Butterfly” be careful of how into Northwest-based “I will not stop until these polinational LGBT drive-by shooting onthey SouthgoCapicumbed to acts of gun violence won the 2007 National “Best the victim's life, and understand cies are passed.” tol Street in 2010. The peace advo- civil rights advocacy group, exevery dayAward. in 2013. Books” thatexpressed she mayherbe in “survival pressed Tia Carol Jonesthat can future be reached her hope discate disappointment The National Action Network “I was just 16-years-old when mode”. at tiacaroljones@sbcglobal.net cussions would include the marin what she described as a lack of (NAN) renewed its grassroots my eye first blackened and my “Before you get to 'I'm going support for children ginalized group. mobilization against said. gun violence community lips bled,” Marlow to kill you,' it started as a verbal WI “I’m always struck by who is that’s essential to deterring future in Elaine urban communities during its Davis-Nickens, presinot at the table,” said Master, 25. National Youth Day ofHook-Up Action acts of violence. dent of the National “We need the queer voices as “There was a time when everyagainst Gun Violence in the Disof Black Women, said there is no trict as well asininthe Atlanta and Chi- one in the community looked out well as the perpetrators of gun consistency way domestic cago. violence issues are dealt with by for one another,” said Jefferies, violence. There is an important The Jan. 8 day of action com- 43. “It’s good to have that person conversation that we need to have memorated the third anniversary looking [out for you] because you to stop the flow of violence from of a mass shooting in Tucson, don’t know when you’re going to identifiable social causes like povAriz. that critically injured then- need help. Everyone can have a erty, trauma, and abuse,” said MasRep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) voice by being vocal about what ter who lives in North East, Md. Lennox Abrigo, president of as well as 12 others, and killed they do not like [in their neighborsix. Activities at the Metropoli- hoods],” said Jefferies who lives in the D.C. chapter of NAN, led a short prayer at the vigil. He said tan AME Church in Northwest Southeast. William Kellibrew, a trauma that the peaceful gathering of attracted more than 30 community members and public figures survivor, reflected on his struggle dedicated anti-gun advocates sigincluding D.C. Council member to cope with memories of sexual naled what has yet to come for the abuse and the execution-style mur- civil rights organization’s crusade Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6). “This is an opportunity to put der of his mother and brother. He against inner-city gun violence. “This church reaches out to the the spotlight on an issue that gets said those painful memories led pushed to the back burner,” said him to the brink of suicide and community so [seeing] the candle Janaye Ingram, 35, NAN’s acting later compelled him to tell his sto- light vigil take place on these steps is beautiful,” said Abrigo, 60, also national director. “I don’t think ry to others. “Trauma is the germ of the senior pastor at Seventh-Day New anyone including gun rights advoMarlow in Germancates want to see innocent people 21st century,” said Kellibrew, 39, Covenant MinistriesL.Y. get killed. We need to figure out who lectures and organizes youth town, Md. “NAN’s D.C. chapter how to address the illegal traffick- events with the William Kelli- is made up of [District residents]. ing of guns, mental illness and brew Foundation, a D.C.-based They are the grassroots arm of more if we want to see change,” nonprofit dedicated to ending the this organization. This is the besaid Ingram who lives in Silver cycle of violence and poverty in ginning of an intervention of / www.washingtoninformer.com Spring, Md. inner-city communities. “When gun violence that will take place in The evening kicked off with a you’ve been affected by trauma, this city,” said Abrigo who lives in short film and a panel discussion you lose your voice and choice. Germantown, Md. wi WI Staff Writer
National Action Network Rejuvenates Anti-Gun Movement
The Washington Informer Newspaper THE WASHINGTON INFORMER InPUBLISHER Memoriam NEWSPAPER (ISSN#0741-9414)Dr.isCalvin Denise Rolark Sr. Barnes W. Rolark, published weekly on each Thursday. Wilhelmina J. Rolark STAFF Periodicals postage paid at WashingWASHINGTON INFORMER (ISSN#0741-9414) is published ton,THE D.C. and additional mailing of- NEWSPAPER Denise W. Barnes, Editor weekly Thursday. Periodicals fices. Newsonand advertising deadlinepostage paid at Washington, D.C. and additional mailing offices. News and advertising deadlineY.isSherman, Monday prior to publication. Shantella Assistant Editor is Monday prior to publication. AnAnnouncements must be received two weeks prior to event. Copyright 2000 by The nouncements must be received two RonPOST Burke,MASTER: Advertising/ Marketing Director Washington Informer. All rights reserved. Send change of addressweeks event. Copyright 2013 es toprior The to Washington Informer, 3117 Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave., S.E. Washington, Lafayette Barnes, IV, Assistant Photo Editor by D.C. The 20032. Washington Informer. All No part of this publication may be reproduced without written permisrights reserved. POSTMASTER: Send sion from the publisher. The Informer Newspaper cannotStaff guarantee the return of Khalid Naji-Allah, Photographer change of addresses to The rates Washphotographs. Subscription are $30 per year, two years $45. Papers will be received John E. De Freitas, Sports Photo Editor not more than 3117 a weekMartin after publication. Make checks payable to: ington Informer, Luther King, Jr. Ave., S.E. Washington, D.C. Dorothy Rowley, Online Editor THE WASHINGTON INFORMER 20032. No part of this publication may Young, Design & Layout 3117 Martin Luther King, Jr.Brian Ave., S.E. • Washington, D.C. 20032 be reproduced without written permisPhone: 202 561-4100 • Fax: 202 574-3785 sion from the publisher. The Informer Mable Neville, Bookkeeper E-mail: news@washingtoninformer.com Newspaper cannot guarantee the return www.washingtoninformer.com Mickey Thompson, Social Sightings columnist of photographs. Subscription rates are $45 per year, two years $60. Papers will Stacey Palmer, Social Media Specialist PUBLISHER be received not more than a week after Angie Denise RolarkJohnson, Barnes Circulation publication. Make checks payable to: STAFF REPORTERS THE WASHINGTON Brooke N. Garner INFORMER Managing REPORTERS Editor Tia C. Jones, Ed Laiscell, Carla PeayLuther King, Assistant Managing Editor Odell B. Ruffin, Larry Saxton, 3117 Martin Jr. Ave., S.E Ron BurkeD.C. 20032 Advertising and Marketing MarySam Wells, Joseph YoungMichelle Stacy Brown, P.K. Collins, Washington, Mable Whittaker Bookkeeper Phipps-Evans, Eve Ferguson, Gale Horton Phone: 202 561-4100 LaNita Wrenn Administration Gay, EltonPHOTOGRAPHERS J. Hayes, Njunga Kabugi, Stacey Fax:John 202 574-3785 E. De Freitas Sports Editor Lafayette Barnes, IV, Palmer, Dorothy Rowley, Barrington Salmon, news@washingtoninformer.com Victor Holt Photo Editor John E. De Freitas, Maurice Fitzgerald, Summers, Charles E. Sutton, www.washingtoninformer.com Zebra Designs, Inc. Layout & Graphic Margaret Design Joanne Jackson, Roy Lewis, RobertJames Ken Harris /www.scsworks.com Webmaster Wright Ridley, Victor Holt CIRCULATION Paul Trantham PHOTOGRAPHERS John E. De Freitas, Roy Lewis, Khalid Naji-Allah, Shevry Lassiter
4 / May 15 - 21, 2008 The Washington Informer
4 January 16, - January 22, 2014
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We have to stop being passive-aggressive with poor children about domestic violence. I plan to take these policies to Congress and implore them to change our laws. I will not stop until these policies are passed.
The Washington Informer
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In Memoriam Dr. Calvin W. Rolark, Sr. Wilhelmina J. Rolark
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D.C. Political Roundup By James Wright WI Staff Writer
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Bennett-Fleming Seeks Seat on D.C. Council The District’s shadow representative has decided that he can serve the city best in a paying gig, so he recently declared his candidacy for the Democratic Party nomination for one of the two at-large positions on the D.C. Council that’s up for grabs this year. Nate Bennett-Fleming, 29, and a resident of Ward 8, said that he’s running to represent all District residents, including those living east of the Anacostia River. “There is no at-large representation on the council that lives east of the river,” he said. “We have some tough challenges in our backyard and I will be a strong advocate for Wards 7 and 8 and will address those challenges.” Bennett-Fleming won his 2012 election as the shadow representative and went to work to secure co-sponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate for bills that would grant the District statehood. Bennett-Fleming said that his efforts, along with assistance from interns and activists, have paid off. “There are currently 76 co-sponsors of D.C. statehood bills,” he said. “We have 64 in the House including the majority of the members of the Congressional Black Caucus and in the Senate; we have the majority leader and two of Maryland’s senators as co-sponsors.” Bennett-Fleming said that he will bring that same level of passion and urgency to the D.C. Council. He said he can serve the people better than incumbent D.C. Council member Anita Bonds (D-At Large). “We have been in office the same amount of time and I have gotten more done than she has with limited resources and authority,” he said. “I have gotten things done.” When in office, Bennett-Fleming said that he will work to improve the District’s public education system by retaining good teachers, promoting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) for middle and feeder schools and using tests as a means of measuring academic progress. He wants to stimulate economic development in Wards 7 and 8 by encouraging residents to become job creators. “I want to promote entrepreneurship,” he said. “This is especially a good route for our returning citizens who may not be able to get certain jobs because they have a felony. I will also work to set up a state-run ven-
AROUND THE REGION
Ward 8 resident Nate Bennett-Fleming is the District’s shadow representative to the U.S. Congress. /Courtesy Photo provided by the Nate Bennett-Fleming campaign
C O M M U N I C AT I O N S
301.292.9141/FAX 301.292.9142/Mobile 703.819.0920 doris@mcmilloncommunications.com/www.mcmilloncommunications.com
Kimberly Perry is the executive director of DC Vote. /Courtesy Photo
ture capital fund that will help entrepreneurs get the money they need to start a business.” Bennett-Fleming said that his 14 years working in politics and public policy on the D.C. Council, for private law firms and on Capitol Hill, has prepared him to take on the sometime rough and tumble antics that occurs in the John A. Wilson Building in Northwest. “I am prepared to be a legislator,” he said. “I will be prepared from Day One to get results for the people.” Perry Praises District Budget Autonomy The District’s quest to become a state became closer to reality on New Year’s Day when the new D.C. budget law that passed in April 2013 took effect. The District, as of Jan.1, can now appropriate and spend local tax dollars without waiting for a federal D.C. spending bill to pass the U.S. Congress. Kimberly Perry, the executive director of DC Vote of Northwest, said that District residents are closer to becoming full American citizens.
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“This is a milestone in our fight for self-determination that shows the power of the people still means something,” said Perry, 42. “The new law changes an illogical budget arrangement with Congress that allowed partisan battles at the federal level to prevent the District from spending local tax revenues on critical needs. Our elected D.C. leaders and residents deserve credit for moving to rescind this unjust process.” The city can now spend its own money during federal government shutdowns to continue operating. There has been no active legislative effort by the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives to stop the budget autonomy measure. D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) wants her colleagues to pass a bill granting ‡ Please set all copy in upper and lowercase, flush left as indicated on artwork at these point sizes: Consultant name in 11-point Helvetica Neue Bo budget autonomy without anyin 9-point con- Helvetica Neue Light; Web site or e-mail address in 9-point Helvetica Neue Light; phone number in 9-point Helvetica Beauty Consultant To the Independent Beauty Consultant: Only Company-approved Web sites obtained through the Mary Kay® Personal Web Site program may gressional interference this year and she recently introduced legislation that would give the District power to enact its own laws without congressional approval.wi The Washington Informer January 16, - January 22, 2014 5
WEEK OF jan 16 TO jan 22
Black Facts January 16
1901 – Hiram R. Revels, the first African American elected to the United States Senate, dies on this day in Aberdeen, Mississippi. Revels, a politician, minister and educator was of black and Cherokee decent. 1950 – Dancer-producer Debbie Allen is born on this day in Houston, Texas.
January 17
1927 – Multi-lingual singer, dancer, and actress Eartha Kitt is born in a small plantation town called North, South Carolina. Kitt died in December 2008 at the age of 81.
January 18
1856 – Daniel Hale Williams is born in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. He becomes a pioneering surgeon and is generally credited with performing the first open heart surgery. He was a strong advocate of the emerging antiseptic and sterilization procedures of his day. He believed that many patients died or became ill in the hospital because of the lack of cleanliness of doctors and facilities. Williams’ open-heart surgery feat occurred on July 10, 1893 when he repaired a knife wound to the chest of James Cornish.
businessman William Abernathy. Johnson died in 2008. His wife Eunice Johnson died a year later.
January 20
1900 – Black North Carolina Congressman George H. White introduced legislation to make lynching any American a federal crime. But opponents allowed the bill to die in committee and thus it never came up for a vote. It is estimated that 105 blacks were lynched that year. 1947 – Josh Gibson, perhaps the most famous and outstanding athlete to play in the old Negro Baseball, League dies on this day in 1947. 1986 – The first national holiday in honor of civil rights legend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is celebrated.
January 21
1963 – Former professional basketball great Hakeem Olajuwon is born in the West African
nation of Nigeria. 1971 – Twelve members of the Congressional Black Caucus boycotted President Richard Nixon’s State of the Union Address to protest his refusal to meet with them or address issues of concern to African Americans.
January 22:
1931 –Sam Cooke is born in Clarksdale, Mississippi. The son of a minister, Cooke began his career with a Gospel group known as the “Singing Children.” He became a member of the famous “Soul Stirrers” but switched to secular music, combining gospel and the blues to produce Soul. Among his hits were “You Send Me” and “Twisting the Night Away.” 1948 – Two-time heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman is born on this day in Marshall, Texas.
Debbie Allen
January 19
BUYING RECORDS
1918 – The founder of Ebony and Jet magazines, John H. Johnson, is born on this day in rural Arkansas City, Arkansas. Shortly after the death of his father, Johnson’s mother moved the family to Chicago where Johnson attended high school during the day and read self-help books at night laying the intellectual and motivational foundations for the eventual building of his publishing empire. Interestingly, among Johnson’s classmates at Chicago’s DuSable High School were Nate King Cole, Redd Foxx and future
Buying Vinyl Records from 1950 to 1986, Jazz, Rock-n-Roll, R&B, Disco, Soul, Reggae, Blues, Gospel, and record format 33 1/3, 45s, and some of the older 78s. Prefer larger collections of at least 100.
CALL JOHN @ 301-596-6201 6 January 16, - January 22, 2014
The Washington Informer
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around the region INTERVIEWS AND PHOTOS BY TIMOTHY LINDEN
Viewp int Eric Dia
Woodbridge, Va. Jay Gruden is a good coach, but the Redskins’ problems don’t lie with its coaches – it lies with the players on the team. While the team has a good quarterback, better players need to be brought in. The Redskins need better receivers; they need better, younger players on defense who are excited to play. The team has had issues with its players not wanting to perform. The Redskins can hire the best coach out there, but it’s ultimately up to the players to perform on the field.
Cheta Black
Washington, D.C. I think the hire was a good one. I think the team needed to bring in a coach who would work well with the team’s offensive players. The pieces are already there, and they needed someone who could make it work and who could help the offense score more points in the redzone. He’s a player-friendly coach who will relate to the players and show excitement and enthusiasm from the sideline. We haven’t had that in a while. I think we’ll see an atmosphere similar to the one Pete Carroll has with the Seattle Seahawks.
LAST WEEK THE WASHINGTON REDSKINS HIRED FORMER CINCINNATI BENGALS OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR JAY GRUDEN TO REPLACE MIKE SHANAHAN. DO YOU APPLAUD THE MOVE, AND WILL IT MAKE THE REDSKINS A MORE COMPETITIVE TEAM?
Nicole Malloy
Hyattsville, Md. The Redskins have brought in qualified and competent head coaches in the past, who were unable to be successful. I think the team should start with changing its name, which would help boost the morale of its fans. I don’t think the Gruden hire will make a difference, in part because of the restrictions owner Dan Snyder places on coaches. I think the team should change its name and start fresh.
Reginald McCloud
Washington, D.C. I think we’re a couple of years away from seeing if Gruden can develop into a good head coach. He’ll have to bring in other coaches and players who fit his system. No matter how good of a coach he is, he won’t be able to succeed if he doesn’t have quality players on his team. If he’s allowed to participate in drafting the players he feels will fit into his system, then there’s a chance he’ll do well. I’m glad that he was a former quarterback, because he will be able to work with quarterback Robert Griffin III and the offense.
Marcus Hurley
Washington, D.C. I don’t really know too much about Gruden, so maybe that’s a good thing – it gives the team a fresh start with a coach who doesn’t have too much baggage. He’s fairly young, so hopefully he can deal with the many backroom issues that always seem to plague the team. He’s a former quarterback, and the NFL is a quarterback’s league, and the root of the team’s problems is its offense. So the best person to bring in and fix that issue is someone who can talk and work with the quarterback from his point of view.
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January 16, - January 22, 2014
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AROUND THE REGION FINES continued from Page 1
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8 January 16, - January 22, 2014
forcement side, some like Susan Marsiglia Gray primarily focused on the health implications. “In general, we know that all users start in young adulthood. Ninety percent first smoke by age 18 and all do so by age 26,” said Marsiglia Gray, national SYNAR program coordinator for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSA). “Young people are unlikely to be addicted if they aren’t encouraged to start. “Loosies” are more attractive because they’re cheaper. Youth are more price- sensitive so buying loose cigarettes is more attractive.” The SYNAR program gets its name from the late Oklahoma Congressman Mike Synar who proposed legislation to curb smoking. Marsiglia Gray said the sale of single cigarettes is outlawed on the federal level and state laws do the same. She said SAMSA remains committed to its efforts to change the way the public thinks about cigarette use. “There are lot of different things that have to be part of a comprehensive program such as increasing the price, excise taxes, having a hard-hitting media campaign, reducing retailing access (which is one of the things we work on at SAMSA) and improving the Indoor Air Act.” “We’re contributing to creating a new norm.” Yet not everyone is convinced that OTR monitoring is the right way to go. “The city’s starting to become a nanny state. Forcing people to buy a whole pack instead of one, why?” asked Ward 8 ANC Commissioner Anthony Lorenzo Green. “If (people) want one, why are we doing that? People are doing it for political reasons. How is it protecting kids if they can buy a whole pack? I’m not buying. It makes no sense to me.” “If there are kids who are buying, we need to address the direct issues. It’s always been a problem. Some retailers are willing to break the law.” While health advocates and others campaigners are concerned about the health of the entire community, activists such as the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, like SAMSA seeks to pull out cigarette addiction by the root. Research conducted by Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids staff indicates that more than half of all young smokers usually buy the cigarettes they smoke, either directly from retailers or vending The Washington Informer
/Courtesy Photo
machines, from other young people, or by giving money to others to buy for them. About a third of them typically get their cigarettes from others (usually other youth) for free, and a small but significant percentage of minors get their cigarettes by shoplifting or stealing. Where and how young smokers get their cigarettes varies from state to state or city to city depending on such factors as whether the jurisdiction strictly enforces the laws prohibiting tobacco sales to minors, requires retailers to keep cigarettes behind the counter, or has banned cigarette vending machines or restricted them to adult-only locations. Across the nation, older young smokers are more likely to buy their cigarettes directly than younger smokers, who are more likely to get their cigarettes from others or by stealing. Some of this difference is because older kids typically find it easier to buy cigarettes than younger kids. But another powerful factor, Campaign staff point out, is that older youth smokers are more likely to be regular smokers, and regular smokers are much more likely to purchase their own cigarettes than kids who smoke less frequently or are only “experimenting.” Not surprisingly, older or regular youth smokers who buy their own cigarettes are also major suppliers for kids who do not purchase their own cigarettes but instead rely on getting them from others. The good news, said Susan M. Liss, executive director of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, is that youth smoking fell to record lows in 2013 for all three grades surveyed (grades 8, 10 and 12). There has been a significant annual decline over the course of the last three years which Liss said is a development that is highly encouraging after several years in which progress had nearly stalled. The flipside, Liss pointed out, is a 2012 National Youth Tobac-
co Survey released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) which shows that these declines in youth cigarette smoking are being partially offset by the growing popularity of other tobacco products, including cigars, electronic cigarettes and hookahs. In addition, there has been a significant increase in cigar smoking among African-American high school students since 2009; in 2012, 16.7 percent of African-American high school students smoked cigars, while 9.6 percent smoked cigarettes. Marsiglia Gray said that while the 2009 Tobacco Control Act bans flavored cigarettes, there is no federal law banning flavored cigars. In 2012, Mayor Vincent C. Gray, community activists and residents descended on local retail businesses in Ward 8 to encourage clerks and owners to stop selling drug paraphernalia. The group saw dozens of boxes of flavored cigars, which some customers use to smoke marijuana, loose cigarettes and hookah pipes, often used to smoke tobacco or marijuana. “For the sake of a few pennies, they are selling the souls of our children to the devil,” said former D.C. Department of Health Director Dr. Mohammad N. Akhter. “Once they start smoking, they start using drugs and get involved in criminal activity, and then they end up in the justice [system] and in jail. And the community pays for all of those things in addition to what happens to the individuals themselves.” “It’s much simpler for us to be able to prevent people from smoking and from doing drugs than it is to reach them when they are already in the middle of it.”wi
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Gray Swears in MLK Commission By Barrington M. Salmon @bsalmondc WI Staff Writer Although it’s cutting it really close to organize happenings and events for this year’s MLK holiday, over the next three years, the District’s Secretary of State and Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) expect a newly constituted commission to develop and implement a number of such activities. On Monday, Jan. 6, Gray swore in 17 new members to the District of Columbia Commission on the Martin Luther King, Jr.Holiday Commission. During brief remarks at the John A. Wilson Building, the mayor said he wants to see programs that reflect not just King’s teachings and examples, but also the legacy of former South African President Nelson R. Mandela. “I expect to receive recommendations for signature activities every year, encourage educational programs related to a national day of service and institutionalizing the effort so that D.C. residents know what’s going on every year to celebrate the King Holiday,” said Gray. “I want to incorporate Mandela into all our activities because both men were freedom fighters. “We need to do these things with a purpose – to free the people of the District, in
the same way that King and Mandela did. One of the many characteristics of both individuals was that they were undaunted. They didn’t allow themselves to be overwhelmed by the enormity of problems they faced and were absolutely undaunted even though it would have been easy to give up.” “That’s what bringing justice is about – making the sacrifice. I ask you to make the sacrifice to bring the city forward.” Cynthia Brock-Smith, secretary of the District of Columbia, will chair the commission whose members will serve terms slated to end on Dec. 23, 2015. Private citizens appointed to the board are: Denise Rolark Barnes; Charlie Hicks; Dr. Wendell Moore; Earl Fowlkes; Judith Terra; Aaron Jones; and Douglas Sloan. Ex officio members are Smith; Rev. Dexter Nutall, director of the D.C. Office of Religious Affairs; and Stephen Glaude, director of the Office of Community Affairs. In addition, ex officio voting members are Jamila Felton; Lionell Thomas; Burnell Holland; Monica Palacio; Clarence Fluker; Cedric Jennings; and Crispus Gordon. Gray invited Brock-Smith to join him at the podium.
“It’s my honor and pleasure to be appointed chair. I worked on the March on Washington Committee. I asked the members to get together quickly to plan something for King’s birthday on the 15th,” she said. “The One City – One Dream program is next week. It connects the legacy of King and Mandela. The committee will come together and make something happen. The ultimate goal is self-determination.” “It’s our hope that we get people with knowledge and who were around when King and Mandela were involved in their quest for self-determination. I am a native Washingtonian and it’s [also] important the young people learn the history and move the agenda forward. We need them to understand democracy for the city. Education is important.” Brock-Smith wasted no time and after the swearing in, she chaired the board’s first meeting. Gray praised the composition of the commission. “You represent racial and gender diversity, age diversity. We also have
around AROUND the THE region REGION activists, religious leaders, the media, cultural leaders – real diversity in this room,” Gray said. “I want to recognize the significant contributions of people making a contribution to the city.” “You are and will continue engaging in activism from 2014-2016. And in case you’re wondering, I plan to be around to be a part of that.” Felton, coordinator of the DC Library’s Teen Programs and Partnerships, agreed with Gray. “As a member of the commission, I think it will be a great opportunity for me to get youth more engaged in organizing and celebrating events around the holiday and all year round,” she said. “I think that all civil and human rights issues are important for youth. They must understand past and present struggles for self-determination especially as they get older and become eligible voters. It’s key they have a full knowledge of what happened in the past. It’s very important.” “It’s a great opportunity for the commission to bring youth to the forefront of planning for events and
let people know about the resources available to learn more about Dr. King and his legacy. As the partnership coordinator, I will make that one of my priorities on the commission.” Gray said the reconstitution of the MLK board represents a push by him to revive them so they can help enhance different aspects of the District’s growth and development. Many boards under former Mayor Adrian Fenty were rendered obsolete, and since 2012, local attorney Darryl Gorham, head of the Office of Boards and Commissions, has identified qualified residents and vetted them to fill hundreds of board slots. “I don’t know why, but a lot of boards and commissions were not considered important,” said Gray. “There were 900 vacancies in the Office of Boards and Commissions and he’s worked it down to where we are current. These boards and commissions are very important and we should not miss the opportunity.”wi WI Staff Writer Sam P.K. Collins contributed to this story.
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Members of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus introducing their 2014 legislative agenda at a news events are, from left, Delegate Rosalyn R. Dance (D-63rd district), Delegate and caucus chair Mamie E. Locke (D-2nd district), Delegate Delores L. McQuinn (D-70th District) and State Senator Henry L. Marsh (D-16th district). /Courtesy Photo
Va. Legislative Black Caucus Introduces 2014 Legislative Agenda
Antonio Douthit-Boyd. Photo by Andrew Eccles
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Reproductive rights, Medicaid expansion and limits on “celebratory” gunfire are among the items on the Va. Legislative Black Caucus 2014 agenda. Several African-American delegates and senators marked the first day of this year’s General Assembly session by introducing their agenda at a news event. The group is hopeful its agenda will break through any efforts to block it in the majority-Republican House of Delegates. “We are going into this year’s session with optimism because we will have a Democratic governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general,” said Second District Senator Mamie E. Locke (D-Hampton), who chairs the caucus. “We think this year we may have a better chance of our bills being passed.” The 18-member Va. Legislative Black Caucus works to improve political, social, educational and economic conditions for the Commonwealth’s African-Americans and other underrepresented groups. Its annual legislative agenda results from researching the status of these constituents, and seeking ways to bring about social change legThe Washington Informer
islatively. Locke, 59, said not all of the measures it supports are authored by African-American delegates and senators. “But they are bills we are adamant about passing, and they are high up on our agenda.” One such bill, said Locke, is Medicaid expansion, which was also supported by Democratic gubernatorial candidate and now Governor Terry McAuliffe. Under the federal Affordable Care Act, states can opt for Medicaid expansion. In Virginia, it would mean 400,000 low-income residents would have health care. “The federal government will pay for expansion for three years,” said Locke. “If Virginia doesn’t accept Medicaid expansion, affected Virginians could move to those states which have it, taking Virginia’s tax dollars with them. That makes no sense.” The agenda calls for repeal of laws and policies that place restrictions on Virginia women’s reproductive rights, said Locke. Among them is the “TRAP” or Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers, requiring first trimester abortion clinics to meet the same construction specifications as newly built hospitals, and the mandatory ultrasound law, requiring women to undergo
an ultrasound procedure before having an abortion. Job creation, workforce development and training, and small business development, are among the economic items on the agenda. “Either these or other economic measures pass legislatively, or by executive order from the governor,” said Locke. An agenda item calling for restrictions on celebratory gunfire in Va.’s cities was prompted by incidents of individuals being injured by bullets from guns fired in the air. “A boy in my district who was hit by gunfire on New Year’s Eve had to go to a hospital for surgery,” said Locke. “A child, who lived in the district of State Senator Henry L. Marsh (D-16th), was killed by a ‘celebratory’ stray bullet.” To ensure that these and other agenda items pass during this year’s legislative session, which ends in March, Locke encourages grassroots participation in the legislative process. “I always tell constituents I address in my district’s town meetings that they have a right to come to Richmond and voice their opinions,” she said. “We (caucus members) tell our constituents to attend General Assembly gatherings in large numbers.”wi
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African-American Heritage Tour Visits Alexandria Fourth Annual Event to Explore City’s Historic Black Sites
By Stacy M. Brown WI Contributing Writer The District of Columbia and its surrounding areas enjoy a rich and diverse history, said Washington Informer Publisher Denise Rolark Barnes. “Sadly, however, too few Washingtonians, especially African Americans, take advantage of the opportunities to explore all Washington has to offer despite the fact that many places are accessible and free,” said Barnes, who four years ago decided she would do her part in helping local residents and others experience the unique culture of Washington, Maryland and Northern Virginia. In 2011, Barnes started an African-American Heritage Tour, in which she and several sponsors invited adults and children to spend the day visiting some of the region’s historical and memorable sites. Held annually during Black History Month, the tours have entertained hundreds of individuals who’ve been treated to visits to such landmarks as the Frederick Douglass House in Anacostia and the African American Civil War Museum in Northwest. Last year, the sold out event took participants on a tour of the historically black townships of Prince George’s County, Md., where the county’s African American Museum and Cultural Center installed an exhibit celebrating the pioneering spirit of the people who founded the four original majority black municipalities incorporated there. This year, the one-day extravaganza will take place on Saturday, Feb. 8, and will tour historic Alexandria, Va., a city which recently received attention because of the Golden Globes-winning film, “12 Years a Slave.” Those on the tour will be able to explore the Freedom House slave pen, once owned by the same slave trader who sold Solomon Northup into slavery and one in which officials said mirrors the pens featured in “12 Years a Slave,” a movie based on Northup’s autobiography. “There’s a lot of buzz about the Washington Informer’s African-American Heritage Tour here in Alexandria,” said Patricia Washington, president and CEO of the Alexandria Convention and Visitors Association. “I approached the Informer to
come to Alexandria because of our history. This year, the attention on Alexandria was heightened because of the ‘12 Years a Slave,’ movie and Alexandria is one of the only places where the public can see a real slave pen and jail and experience the history,” Washington said. Additionally, tour goers will be able to experience the role Alexandria played in the Civil War and they will learn about the many abolitionists stationed in the city, Washington said. Tour guides will proudly show off the Alexandria Black History Museum, which houses a reading room that provides an environment for learning about the diversity of African-American cultural traditions and an African-American Heritage Park, a nine-acre green space and wetland that officials said offers a place for celebration, commemoration and quiet reflection. “I’m excited about the tour because we have a story to be told, a story that includes Alexandria as George Washington’s boyhood home and the historic Old Town,” said the city’s first African-American mayor, William Euille, who’s served in that capacity since winning the election in 2003. “A lot of African Americans contributed to the history of this city,” said Euille, who noted that he often looks outside the window from his City Hall office to the town’s public square where century’s ago a slave trading post stood. “We’ve had black people over the years contribute to the economic growth of this city and there have also been a lot of bricklayers who helped build the properties we have today,” Euille said. Excitement about the heritage tour continues to grow because it comes during a year in which the city plans to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the famous 1939 Sit-in, said Audrey Davis, acting director of the Alexandria Black History Museum. The Sit-in took place on August 21 at the Queen Street Library. Organized by attorney Samuel Tucker, the event helped to usher in the very early days of the Civil Rights movement. “People should go on this tour,” Davis said. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to network with people who are involved in preserving history. It’s fun and educational, the cost is reasonable and it’s a great way to
spend a Saturday.” Barnes said the tour has already exceeded her expectations in many ways. The tour averages more than 200 people each year, including generations of family members. She said when the tours first began, she held out hope that many would be interested enough in African-American history and culture to brave February’s wintry weather to hop aboard and visit the historic sites and network with others. “It’s been great to realize all of the things people already know, but it’s greater to be told, ‘thank you,’ for sharing many more significant [details] that they didn’t know, such as Frederick Douglass managed the Freedom Bank which was located directly across the street from the White House,” Barnes said. “Or, sharing that nearly 100
years after the Lincoln Statue was erected in Lincoln Park that it was turned around so that it faced the newly erected Mary McLeod Bethune statue, or that there is a historic school house built for Black children right off of Central Avenue in the historic black township of District Heights, Md., that is being staffed and maintained by members of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.” Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children. The tour, which is sponsored by the Alexandria Convention and Visitors Association, Industrial Bank, Pepco, Southwest Airlines, THEARC, D.C. Lottery, and Capital Entertainment Services, departs from THEARC, at 1901 Mississippi Avenue in Southeast. Registration starts at 8 a.m. and a continental breakfast and lunch are included. For more information, call 202-5614100.
The Freedom House slave pen, once owned by the same dealer who sold Solomon Northup into slavery, is remarkably similar to that which is featured in the award-winning film “12 Years a Slave.” /Photo courtesy of R Kennedy for ACVA
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January 16, - January 22, 2014
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Proposed Tobacco Settlement Excludes Black Media By George E. Curry NNPA Editor-in-Chief WASHINGTON – The U.S. Justice Department and the Tobacco-Free Kids Action Fund have reached an agreement with the four major tobacco companies that requires them to spend more than $30 million advertising with the three major television networks and run full-page ads in 35 White and Hispanic newspapers as well as purchasing space on their respective websites but not make a single purchase from a Black print or broadcast media company. The 24-page proposed con-
sent agreement, reached Friday, was expected to go before U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Wednesday, Jan. 15, for final approval. “We are shocked and deeply disappointed that the Justice Department, the Tobacco-Free Action Fund and the tobacco industry would all agree to sign off on an advertising plan that totally disrespects the Black community,” said Cloves C. Campbell, chairman of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), a federation of nearly 200 Black newspapers. The in-
12 January 16, - January 22, 2014
U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler. /Courtesy Photo
dustry’s past efforts to target African-American consumers have been thoroughly documented. It is sad that an industry that sought to exploit our community with a product that is harmful to our health now seeks to further devalue African-Americans by ignoring the Black media when it is being forced to atone what a federal judge determined was a deliberate effort to deceive the American public.”
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Peter S. Hamm, director of communications for the Tobacco-Free Kids Action Fund, said on Monday that the media outlets were selected by Judge Kessler and disclosed in an order issued Aug. 17, 2006. Hamm said he did not know how she determined what media outlets would be utilized to carry the newspaper ads and television commercials. A telephone call Monday requesting comment from the Justice Department was not returned. The story of the agreement was first disclosed by Target Market News, published by Ken Smikle. The Chicago-based publication said an advertising source placed the value of the total buy at $30 million to $45 million. The advertising campaign, which won’t go into effect until all appeals have been exhausted by the tobacco companies, was agreed to as part of a settlement that found tobacco companies mislead the public about the dangers of smoking. The four defendants are: Altria, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, Lorillard and Philip Morris USA. The U.S. Justice Department filed suit against the cigarette manufacturers on Sept. 22, 1999 charging that they had violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corruption Organizations Act (RICO). They were found guilty at the conclusion of a trial that lasted from Dec. 21, 2004 to June 9, 2005. Judge Kessler wrote a stinging opinion saying, that the case “is about an industry, and in particular these Defendants, that survives, and profits, from selling a highly addictive product which causes diseases that lead to a staggering number of deaths per year, an immeasurable amount of human suffering and economic loss, and a profound burden on our national health care system. Defendants have known these facts for at least 50 years or more. Despite that knowl-
edge, they have consistently, repeatedly, and with enormous skill and sophistication, denied these facts to the public, to the Government, and to the public health community... In short, Defendants have marketed and sold their lethal products with zeal, with deception, with a single-minded focus on their financial success, and without regard for the human tragedy or social costs that success exacted.” The judge prohibited the companies from committing similar acts going forward and ordered them to make “corrective statements” about the lies they had told about the dangers of smoking. Kessler’s ruling was unanimously upheld March 22, 2009 by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. On June 28, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear appeals. Carefully-crafted “corrective statements” that include the wording, placement and timing of TV commercials and the content, type and size of fonts to be used in newspaper ads were covered in the agreement reached Friday. The statements will acknowledge that the advertising is being done under court order and that companies had misled the public on the health effects of smoking, the addictiveness of smoking and nicotine and the health effects of secondhand smoke. The companies will also admit that they falsely sold and advertised low-tar and light cigarettes as less harmful than regular cigarettes and designed cigarettes to enhance the delivery of nicotine. Under the agreement, each company will decide whether to place ads on CBS, ABC or NBC. For newspapers, the tobacco companies are required to purchase a full-page ad in the first section of the Sunday edition of each newspaper. Each ad will contain one of the five corrective statements in their entirety. The companies are also required to advertise on the newspapers’ web sites. Those same requirements will run in Spanish in Spanish-language newspapers.wi To read the story in its entirety, go to www.washingtoninformer.com
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Del. Aisha Braveboy is introducing a bill to raise the state’s minimum wage to $10.10 by 2016. /Courtesy Photo
Push to Raise Minimum Gains Momentum
Braveboy Introduces Bill to Raise Minimum Wage to $10.10 By Joshua Garner WI Staff Writer @JoshuaGarnerDC A Maryland lawmaker is poised this week to introduce legislation that would raise the state’s minimum wage to $10.10 by 2016. Del. Aisha Braveboy, 39, (D-Dist. 25) of Mitchellville said she is introducing the legislation in the Maryland House Economic Matters Committee, a subcommittee in the Maryland General Assembly, which would renew attempts by state democrats to raise the minimum wage. Efforts to raise the minimum wage stalled last year in the state Senate Finance Committee after being voted down. “There was a desire to have it happen this year and not last year,” said Braveboy, who is also running for the attorney general’s office. As state legislators head back to Annapolis this month to start the 2014 legislative year, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) said he would seek an increase in the state’s minimum wage, which is set at $7.25 per hour “There’s still many families in Maryland who have not come through those hard times,” O’Malley said at a state luncheon last week. A push to raise the national
minimum wage, also set at $7.25 an hour, has been gaining momentum. Locally, jurisdictions have formed coalitions to address low wages. In November, the Prince George’s County Council unanimously approved legislation to bump the wage to $11.50 by 2017. The law mirrored similar legislation in Montgomery County and the District to phase in gradual hikes to current wages by more than a dollar a year in the next four years. Though Maryland has the nation’s highest median household income, according the U.S. Census Bureau, the District and 21 other states have higher state minimum wages. Last year, Prince George’s County Council members said they couldn’t wait on state legislators to raise the minimum wage. “We can’t guarantee what [the state legislature] is going to do, anything can happen between now and April so why wait?” said Councilwoman Andrea Harrison, 50, (D-Dist. 5) of Glenarden in November. Braveboy said despite progress in Prince George’s and Montgomery counties, other jurisdictions in the state could still benefit from raising minimum wage. “I knew we needed to do this before it was popular,” she said.
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“There are 20 more jurisdictions in the state – the work is hardly over.” Still, not everyone is in a rush to have the minimum wage raised on the state level. Octavia Caldwell of Fort Washington said she is part of a group of business owners in Prince George’s County. She said raising the state’s minimum wage could make Maryland less competitive. “I do feel there is a need to raise the minimum wage. I’m not sure the time [is right],” she said. “My preference as a business owner is that it happens at the federal level … As a business owner, I look at the cost of doing business in Maryland.” Others said that raising the state’s minimum wage is long overdue. “I think they need to raise the state’s minimum wage, who can live off of $7.25?” said Ivory Smith, 24, of Randallstown who was a hiring manager at Abercrombie & Fitch in Towson. Still, Smith said paying $10.10 could force some retailers to lower their staffing goals. “I don’t think [employers] would lay people off but rather cut back on hours and have less people work [during shifts].”wi The Washington Informer
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MACEO Belafonte and PARKER Civil Rights Icons Honored JANUARY 26
And Phi Beta Sigma Celebrates Centennial Barrington M. Salmon WI Staff Writer @bsalmondc
FUNK ALL-STAR from the bands of James Brown and George Clinton
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The Phi Beta Sigma fraternity’s Centennial Founders Ball had a distinctive Civil Rights flavor as more than 1,000 fraternity members and supporters celebrated the organization’s first 100 years. The honorees – who organizers described as living history pioneers – represent a spectrum of Civil Rights pioneers and public servants. Singer, activist and ac-
14 January 16, - January 22, 2014
tor Harry Belafonte regaled and challenged the audience as the event’s keynote speaker and other honorees, the Rev. Al. Sharpton; Freedom Rider Hank Thomas; former New York Congressmen Edolphus Townes; Martin Luther King, Jr., confidantes Congressman John Lewis and minister, author and Civil Rights leader C.T. Vivian; Elizabeth Williams-Omilami, president of Hosea Williams Feed the Homeless and Hungry; and Clayola Brown, president of the A. Philip Randolph Institute, challenged the crowd to work for
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and help the poor and the vulnerable. Prior to the dinner at the Renaissance Hotel downtown, International President Jonathan A. Mason, Jr. and other Sigma brothers inducted the 86-year-old Belafonte as an honorary member. Belafonte didn’t disappoint, dared the audience to reach out and rescue young people who’re casting about seeking guidance. “I appreciate your words, artistry and spirit and for giving me the forum and honor to be inducted into this fraternity,” said Belafonte, the first singer to sell one million records. “It is an honor that I am pleased to bear. My only regret is that my mom didn’t see this.” His Jamaican mother, Belafonte recalled, made peace with the fact that poverty was her life. “But she tended to the needs of her children and helped them be the beneficiaries of her loss,” said Belafonte, a friend and confidante of King and King family benefactor. “I was also touched by a medical disorder called dyslexia. Seventy-five years ago, there was no name for this; no one knew what it was and what caused it.” “We wrestled with the Devil and I dropped out. Thousands of children are confined to prisons, dealing with hurdles and are also touched by something they couldn’t overcome. Often, I’m asked what happened to our children why they haven’t understood the legacy and move into the space of Hamer, King, Vivian.” In a world that throws a lot at parents, there is often too little time or energy to concentrate on children, Belafonte explained. “As we hunt for answers, I have come to believe what is a fundamental truth: what did you say to your children at the dinner table?” asked Belafonte, who for decades has been a strident voice against social and racial injustice. “You’re tired. You give them something to distract them from your responsibility.” “The world has put an awful lot on us. An awful lot of people are poor and black ... We’re tired and overworked, and don’t know where the next meal will come from.” In one sense too, Belafonte said, parents have been too protective, to the young people’s detriment. “Why did I leave my child untouched to that which numbed and gnarled their lives from what they desire to be and what we’ve impeded them from becoming?” he asked. “We must take time out and ask what are we doing to our children specifically? It’s not just giving to the United Negro College Fund. That’s not the full
extent of your obligation and responsibility.” The crowd stood up and applauded when Belafonte challenged them to fight vigorously against violence against women. “My contribution as a new member of the fraternity is to sucker all of you into coming with me and man up and stand up. When the time comes, we will be in touch and you will be informed to join us in this movement in the 21st century,” Belafonte said to cheers and sustained applause. “Let us use this century to be the century where we say we started the mission to end the violence and oppression of women.” Activists around the world are preparing to kick off a global project against domestic violence. And on Father’s Day this year, he said, activists in South Africa, Angola, Congo, Nigeria, Berlin, London and Paris will be “stepping up into this moment.” “We will accept the responsibility for what we have done in the abuse of women and we acknowledge that abuse and we are here to declare ourselves as the tenders to the future to never, ever let our children be the abusers of women in our lifetime,” said Belafonte. “ … The 21st century mission to focus on the plight of the savagery and brutalization of women in some parts of the world – not only the brutalization of those in war – but the brutalization of domestic application, brutalizing women continually. It is men who created violence against women. It is men who should end the violence against women.” Mason quickly and gladly accepted the challenge. Vivian reminded guests that they had to make a difference in the community and that politics by itself is not enough. “You have that thing that’s about politics and depth, but you have to know that politics won’t get it by itself, if it hasn’t a moral and spiritual component,” said the veteran Civil Rights activist who founded Upward Bound. “… The reason why we have any organization is to save the rest of us. Save those worth saving because they’re gonna save someone else.” And with 2.3 million Americans behind bars, Vivian said fraternity members had to do more to help the incarcerated. “We’ve got a million black men in jail, and we don’t seem to be doing anything about it. Are you the people who will allow one million black men to fade? Some of them belong there, but if you’re serious about freedom, you don’t lie about this situation.”wi
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Kiara Molina spoke before President Obama and members of the White House staff concerning the benefits she has encountered as a member of the Harlem Children’s Zone Promise Academy. / Photos by Mark Mahoney
President Obama Announces First Five “Promise Zones” For decades before the economic crisis, local communities were transformed as jobs were sent overseas and middle class Americans worked harder and harder but found it more difficult to get ahead. Announced in last year’s State of the Union Address, the Promise Zone Initiative is part of the President’s plan to create a better bargain for the middle-class by partnering with local communities and businesses to create jobs, increase economic security, expand educational opportunities, increase access to quality, affordable housing and improve public safety. Recently, the President announced the next step in those efforts by naming the first five “Promise Zones.”
The first five Zones, located in San Antonio, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Southeastern Kentucky, and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, have each put forward a plan on how they will partner with local business and community leaders to make investments that reward hard work and expand opportunity. In exchange, these designees will receive the resources and flexibility they need to achieve their goals. Each of these designees knows and has demonstrated that it takes a collaborative effort – between private business and federal, state, tribal and local officials; faith-based and non-profit organizations; children and parents – to ensure that hard work leads to a decent living for
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every American, in every community. Joined by students from the Harlem Children’s Zone -- a 17 year undertaking that found children will do better if those around them are doing better -the President spoke in the East Room of the White House on the importance of making sure everyone who works hard has a fair shot at success, no matter where they come from or who they are. “A child’s course in life should be determined not by the zip code she’s born in, but by the strength of her work ethic and the scope of her dreams,” the President said. wi The Washington Informer
dc proud We Need a Fresh Start We need a fresh start in the Mayor’s office and your vote on April 1 can make that happen. Together we can get back to improving our schools, restoring our faith in DC Government and building a future for our city that will make us proud. DC Needs Muriel Bowser for Mayor
VOTE APRIL 1 www.murielformayor.com Paid for by Muriel Bowser for Mayor, PO Box 60385, Washington DC 20039. Ben Soto, Treasurer. A copy of our report is filed with the Director of Campaign Finance.
January 16, - January 22, 2014
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Think of it like this, the first time anyone begins their academic education; they usually do not start at a college or high school level class. The usual route is to begin at preschool or kindergarten. The reason for this is to allow the learning process to be an evolutionary, cumulative experience. One in which certain fundamental concepts must be learned and mastered to serve as the foundation for future learning. The same is true for acquiring financial education and it does not take much. Financial education can begin with an act as simple as opening a savings account or a checking account. Another reasonable option to be considered would be to participate in your employer’s 401(k) plan as a way of preparing for retirement. By taking these actions, the excitement will come with tracking the growth of your investments and quantifying your investment success. Think of the confidence you will gain from participating in this process. Watching your savings account or your 401(k) account grow, and having the ability to pay bills out of a checking account that bears your name, can be remarkably liberating and empowering. Why? Because it gives you a sense of control over your present day finances, as well as your future finances. If you do not have a banking relationship and are in the market for a bank partner, know that Industrial Bank is ready to support you as you look to invest in yourself, invest in your dreams, and invest in your future.
16 January 16, - January 22, 2014
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The President’s “Promise Zones” The Obama White House continues a pattern of attacking symptoms instead of the underlying disease, one rehashed progressive ploy at a time. President Barack Obama’s Promise Zones initiative is aimed at lifting up some of the America’s poorest communities. At a White House press conference Obama told the story of his time organizing in Chicago and highlighted the work local communities do to support their neighbors and prepare them to be contributors to the economy. In his Promise Zones program, Obama proposes to invest more than $750 million in hard-hit communities to provide a tax incentive to help build homes and create jobs. The first five are: San Antonio, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Southeastern Kentucky and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. “There are communities in this country where no matter how hard you work, it is virtually impossible to get ahead,” Obama said in his speech. “America is not a place where the chance of birth or circumstance should decide our destiny. And that’s why we need to build new ladders of opportunity into the middle class for all who are willing to climb them.” The Obama administration is designating “promise zones” by looking for areas where local officials can make strategic, targeted investments. For instance, a “promise zone” may be interested in reducing violent crime with increased Justice Department funding for local law enforcement. Alternatively, a region may want to leverage Housing and Urban Development grants to attract private real estate investors to high-poverty neighborhoods. The president’s plan also includes tax credits for hiring workers and tax write-offs for capital investments within the “promise zones.” President Obama has called income inequality, “the defining challenge of our time”, and is pushing to raise the minimum wage and “find new ways to help poor children break out of the cycle of poverty.” Obama says the “Promise” programs are part of his pledge to narrow the gap between rich and poor in America. The White House says the programs “will target job creation, housing, law enforcement and education.” This latest big-government stimulus initiative is going to formulate yet another front for Democrats’ big “income inequality” campaign. The Democrats are full of expensive and ultimately unsustainable ideas
By William Reed for helping people temporarily cope with poverty (i.e., the welfare state), but are pretty much intellectually bankrupt when it comes to actually creating opportunities for people to lift themselves out of that poverty (i.e., economic growth and job creation). Income inequality is one way the White House seeks to address the larger problem of economic mobility. The problem is that this “promise zone” initiative actually doesn’t address economic mobility in any real, lasting, or widespread way. The Obama administration is once again using more bureaucracy – via the Departments of Education, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Health and Human Services, Agriculture, and Commerce – to create top-down faux-collaboration in which the feds will decide upon “targeted investments” with “free money” the U.S. Treasury does not have. The ineffectiveness of the Congress in the 50 years since Lyndon Baines Johnson introduced the “War on Poverty” makes the probability of sane and soon federal legislation to address income inequality a pipe dream. Shifting responsibility for economic development away from the dysfunctional legislative branch and toward local communities could evolve into a good thing. Obama’s presidency never became the Promised Land many Blacks had hoped. Instead of the prosperity most of the nation realized large populations of Blacks have struggled economically under Obama. Overall, 25.6 percent of Blacks in urban areas live in poverty. Recent estimates put the figures at 17.9 percent in Atlanta, 19.3 percent in Charlotte and Los Angeles and 26.5 percent in Chicago. Twothirds of Black children who were raised in the poorest of U.S. neighborhoods a generation ago now raise their own children in similarly poor neighborhoods. What the whole of the country really needs to fight poverty are streamlined regulations, less red tape, fewer taxes, less prohibitive labor laws, less government spending, and less national debt at the macro level. wi William Reed is publisher of “Who’s Who in Black Corporate America” and available for projects via the BaileyGroup.org
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Myth of Minimum Wage as Job Killer Persists By Earl Ofari Hutchinson Special to the Informer from New America Media The GOP has ruthlessly sold the outlandish myth to millions that a hike in the minimum wage is a huge job killer. It has been so effective in its hard sell that President Obama and Congressional Democrats have repeatedly been stymied and frustrated in every effort they’ve made to boost the minimum wage nationally. And almost certainly, Obama in his State of the Union Address later this month will again demand that Congress, meaning House and Senate Republicans, immediately raise the minimum wage. Some states have hiked the old, archaic, and pitifully low standard minimum wage from $7.25 to a double digit figure that faintly resembles a living wage. The current federal minimum wage amounts to slightly more than $15,000 in annual income. That’s not even close to the amount needed to keep a family of four out of the soup lines. You’d have to go back more than four decades, to 1968, to find the last year that the minimum wage actually kept pace with inflation for workers. House Speaker John Boehner in a pithy, horribly simplistic, but effectual retort to the cry for a minimum wage increase, said, “When you raise the price of employment, you get less of it.” Boehner and Congressional Republicans cherry pick a few dated studies and some anecdotal employment figures in some low wage, low unemployment states such as North Dakota to make the case that the minimum wage hurts the economy. At first glance, that seems compelling enough. But it ignores other low wage states that have boosted the minimum wage and where there’s been no plunge in employment, or wholesale flight of employers from those states to low wage states that
won’t boost their minimum wage a penny higher than the federal minimum wage. Boehner also ignores recent studies that found that states that have boosted their minimum wage have not had a plunge in hiring. It doesn’t take a course in Economics 101 to figure out that employers increase production and sales when there’s demand. Demand increases when workers have enough cash in their pockets to buy more goods and services. It also doesn’t take a seat in the same Econ class to know that lower job turnover boosts productivity and reduces business costs. This adds tens of billions more to the economy which translates out to job growth. So studies overwhelmingly back up a huge bump up to the economy from a decent minimum wage. Polls show that the overwhelming majority of Americans support a minimum wage hike, and that includes a significant number of Republicans. Yet, the GOP despite its unpopular, bogus argument against a minimum wage increase has still managed to get its way. It comes down to two things. One is the millions that buy the notion that a minimum wage hike is a bad thing. This belief is based in part on blind adherence to Republican dogma, in part on kneejerk opposition to anything that Obama and the Democrats propose, just as reflexive knee jerk opposition to labor unions that have traditionally been in the forefront of the fight for a minimum wage hikes, as well as the legitimate fear that business owners will simply pass along any wage increase to consumers by boosting prices on goods. The other reason for formidable resistance to a minimum wage boost is the perception of who the boost will help. They are the poor. When the minimum wage is fixated as a sop to the poor, even the working poor, the issue gets muddled, and becomes a political flash point issue. With
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few exceptions, in years past, talk of poverty was not just missing from the nation’s political plate, but was a dirty word. The existence of millions of poor in America flew in the face of the embedded laissez faire notion that the poor aren’t poor because of the hyper concentration of wealth, or worse, any failing of the system, but because of their personal failings. Surveys bore this out. Even many among the poor were as apt as many of those in the middle-class, and the well-to-do, to self-debase themselves for their poverty. They blame it on their misfortune, bad luck, lack of education and skills, or alcohol, and drug problems. These are certainly reasons why some fall into poverty or remain chronically poor. They, however, are at best peripheral to the real cause of the poverty rise, and that’s the control by a relatively handful of the bulk of the nation’s income, resources and productive wealth. A minimum wage increase would in very limited part redress the grotesque income inequality between rich and poor. And it’s that fear of big and small business and the rich that GOP is the designated mouthpiece for that insures it will dig its heels in and continue to wage a furious fight against Obama’s call for a minimum wage increase. That means continuing to peddle hard the myth that it’s a job killer. wi Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. He is a frequent MSNBC contributor. He is an associate editor of New America Media. He is a weekly co-host of the Al Sharpton Show on American Urban Radio Network. He is the host of the weekly Hutchinson Report on KTYM 1460 AM Radio Los Angeles and KPFK-Radio and the Pacifica Network. Follow Earl Ofari Hutchinson on Twitter: http://twitter.com/earlhutchinson The Washington Informer
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January 16, - January 22, 2014
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limited edition canvases offered at $99 to $199
health
FAMOUS ARTIST
Charitable Art Sale THIS SUNDAY
/Photo courtesy of the National Eye Health Education Program
Glaucoma Awareness Month Observed in the District By Stacy M. Brown WI Contributing Writer
Authorized works from more than 20 of America’s top artists including local artists Kevin Henderson and Jerry Prettyman will be on SALE at Church of the Great Commission this SUNDAY
& MONDAY BETWEEN NOON & 6PM.
Originals are usually priced well into the thousands of dollars but these artist-authorized, high quality canvases will be offered at $99 to $199. A significant portion of the proceeds of each sale will be donated to fund charitable Church activities. Choose from over 400 works including hand painted and framed oils. All art will be gallery wrapped or framed and ready for hanging. Everyone is welcome. FREE admission & FREE refreshments. Take advantage of this unique opportunity to enrich your home or office with beautiful art and help charitable causes.
Church of the Great Commission 5050 Allentown Road Camp Springs, MD
18 January 16, - January 22, 2014
The Washington Informer
Glaucoma silently steals eyesight from more than 2.7 million Americans each year and officials at the National Eye Institute in Bethesda, Md., project that more than 4.2 million will have the disease by 2030. Further, nine to 10 percent of those with the dreaded disease ultimately go blind, said officials at the Glaucoma Research Foundation in San Francisco. Glaucoma, defined as a group of eye diseases that gradually steal sight without warning and it has no cure, counts as the second leading cause of blindness in the world. After cataracts, it’s the leading cause of blindness among the African-American community in which it’s six to eight times more common for blacks to go blind from the disease than whites. Statistics from several health organizations show that African Americans are 15 times more likely to be visually impaired from glaucoma than whites. “Glaucoma does not typically show symptoms until it has reached more serious stages, which make it necessary to have routine eye exams to detect the condition before it gets worse,” said Dr. Hylton R. Mayer, an ophthalmologist at Eye Doctors of Washington in Northwest, who recently performed the first iStent Trabecular Micro-Bypass Stent – an implant procedure that’s done during cataract surgery – in the metropolitan area to treat glaucoma in cataract surgery patients.
Several in the local health community are calling on individuals, particularly African Americans, 40 years and older to get checked for glaucoma and other potential eye-related issues. “It’s something that I had to push my father, my uncle and one of my cousins to do,” said Leslie Dyer, a physician’s assistant in District Heights, Md. “As African Americans, there are many things we have to be concerned about when it comes to our health, and glaucoma is certainly one of those concerns,” said Dyer, 51. Glaucoma strikes earlier and progresses faster in blacks, according to statistics provided by the Glaucoma Research Foundation. The risk for glaucoma proves 20 percent greater for those who have family members with the disease and for African Americans over 40, with extreme nearsightedness, diabetes, hypertension and those who have had prolonged steroid use. Although the most common forms primarily affect the middle-age and the elderly, glaucoma can affect individuals of all ages, officials said. “Black people should get a thorough check for glaucoma every one to two years after they turn 35,” said Dyer, echoing what’s recommended by the research foundation, which notes the reason for the higher rate of the illness in African Americans remains unknown. Studies performed by several institutions, including the Bal-
See GLAUCOMA on Page 19
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health GLAUCOMA continued from Page 18 timore Eye Survey, noted that one way to attack glaucoma is through treatment and early detection. Officials said there are two primary types of glaucoma – the primary open-angle glaucoma and the angle-closure glaucoma – and the appropriate treatment depends upon the type and other factors. “The most common type of glaucoma, which is chronic open angle glaucoma, really has no symptoms and sneaks up on patients, causing slow but progressive damage to their field of vision,” said Dr. Brad Spagnolo, an
ophthalmologist at the Baltimore Washington Eye Center in Baltimore. “Thus the need for routine eye exams to establish early detections, diagnosis and treatment,” Spagnolo said. The doctor and other health providers said baby boomers and seniors should note the risk of developing glaucoma increases for those over the age of 40 and it’s six times greater once a person reaches 60. Officials said there’s now a perception that prolonged use of oral contraceptive birth control pills as well as the early onset of menopause may increase glaucoma risk in women.
Also, anyone suffering from sleep apnea should be carefully examined because that condition significantly increases the risk of glaucoma, Spagnolo said. Glaucoma also comes with a steep price tag. Officials at the Chicago-based, Prevent Blindness Organization, said the economic burden of vision loss and eye disorders in America totals $5.8 billion annually, with a yearly per-person treatment cost of $2,170. “The news is both disconcerting but very useful, especially for someone with a history of glaucoma in their family,” said Marvin White, a Northeast resident and computer technician. “We know that it’s important
for all of us [African Americans] to get checked on a regular basis when we reach into our mid-30s and 40s,” said White, 49. “I’m sure that there are too many of us who don’t get checked, so this information and the fact that it is Glaucoma Awareness Month should help to remind people, especially stubborn people like myself, that we should get checked out and take this seriously.” A comprehensive dilated eye exam is a painless procedure. Drops are placed in the eyes to dilate, or widen, the pupils. This allows an eye care professional to see inside the eye and examine the optic nerve for signs of glaucoma and other vision problems.
Some individuals may be eligible for a low-cost, comprehensive dilated eye exam. Call 1-800-MEDICARE or visit www.medicare.gov for more information. To find out about other possible financial assistance for eye care, visit www.nei.nih. gov/health/financialaid.asp. wi
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HORSE WORLD EXPO January 17 - 19
MD State Fairgrounds • Timonium, MD Over 450 booths of products & services for horse owners and horse lovers. Multi-breed demonstrations, Stallion Avenue, Breed Row & more!! Seminars by National Clinicians and Family Friendly Entertainment
www.horseworldexpo.com • Information: 301-916-0852
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Fiduciary Panel Attorney - Superior Court of the District of Columbia - Probate Division Former DC Fraud Bureau Examiner - Insurance Administration Former Law Clerk for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
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January 16, - January 22, 2014
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MLK Lecester Johnson, Academy of Hope Director and graduates. /Photos courtesy of Academy of Hope
Georgetown Celebrates MLK with Dream Award Academy of Hope Director to be Honored by University
By Stacy M. Brown WI Contributing Writer Lecester Johnson wasn’t quite sure what to think when representatives of Georgetown University in Northwest informed her that she’d be this year’s recipient of the John Thompson Jr. Legacy of a Dream Award. Once she overcame the initial shock of the honor, Johnson, the executive director of the Academy of Hope in Northeast, said she realized the award provided her an opportunity to put the plight of adult literacy under a microscope. “You do this work and you’re not expecting any recognition and you never think that you’re anywhere near where you want to be,” said Johnson, 47. “I’m excited because this will help put the lens on adults with low literacy in D.C., which is a huge issue but gets very little attention.” Founded in 1985, the Academy of Hope seeks to help provide an education to those most marginalized in Washington. The academy provides basic education and adult literacy services to men and women, ages 18 and older and prepares individuals for the General Ed-
Lecester Johnson, Academy of Hope Director stands with her graduates.
ucation Development test and transition into post-secondary education. Named after its legendary men’s basketball coach, Georgetown awards the John Thompson Jr. Legacy of a Dream
20 January 16, - January 22, 2014
Award each year to emerging local leaders in an effort to reinforce the school’s commitment to engagement within D.C., officials said. The award’s purpose is also to identify talent among the city’s The Washington Informer
most inspirational community leaders who are working to solve key issues that are responsible for shaping the city and the people who live in it. “It’s a privilege to recognize Lecester for her outstanding
work,” said Georgetown University President John J. DeGioia. “She embodies the very spirit of service and she has a commitment toward social and economic injustice, which we seek to
See JOHNSON on Page 21
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MLK
“Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement was part of my every day life as a child and I remember how close my parents were to the movement. They never understood what I did, but if they were still alive to see me get this honor, they would.” -Lecester Johnson
Lecester Johnson, Academy of Hope Director addresses her charges. /Photo courtesy of Academy of Hope
JOHNSON continued from Page 20 honor with this award and which defines our tradition here at Georgetown,” said DeGioia, 56. Georgetown officials plan to present Johnson with the award on Monday, Jan. 20, during the university’s annual Martin Luther King Day celebration at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Northwest. Grammy Award winner Dionne Warwick will perform a musical tribute honoring the late civil rights leader with the Let Freedom Ring Choir led by Rev. Nolan Williams, Jr. Warwick follows a long list of legendary performers, including Motown great Smokey Robinson, who performed at last year’s award ceremonies, which honored Mary Brown and her Northeast-based organization, Life Pieces to Masterpieces, which provides disadvantaged African-American boys and young men with opportunities for self-expression through academic enrichment and art. The 2014 award presentation will begin an intensive yearlong partnership between Georgetown University and the Academy of Hope, Johnson said. “The expertise associated with Georgetown in the way of workforce development and policy alone could not only be a great benefit to Academy of Hope’s work, but the issue of adult low literacy in general,” Johnson said, citing a 2011 survey that found
64,000 individuals in D.C., did not have a high school diploma. Georgetown officials said this year’s activities will also shine a special spotlight on the iconic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Many in the District and around the nation marked the 50th anniversary of the famous march in August and Georgetown will continue to pay homage to the historical event with various performances and activities this year, including a “Teach the March” initiative this month through which a number of professors will incorporate the March on Washington into their classroom curricula. “Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement was part of my every day life as a child and I remember how close my parents were to the movement. They never understood what I did, but if they were still alive to see me get this honor, they would,” said Johnson, who also praised Thompson, the former Hoya coach who led the team to the National Championship in 1984. “Coach Thompson wasn’t just a coach, he was a mentor and he focused on life in general and was very much involved in the community,” she said. “This is such a tremendous honor for me.” wi
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The Washington Informer
January 16, - January 22, 2014
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mlk
Last year’s Peace Walk in the District replicated Dr. King’s march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala. /Photo courtesy of the United Black Fund
Hundreds Expected for District Peace Walk By Dorothy Rowley WI Staff Writer In keeping with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s rich vision of equality, justice and peace, thousands of people from communities and organizations will soon gather in cities across the country for their annual Peace Walks in commemoration of the slain civil rights icon. The walks which are touted as a “Day of Peace,” will be held on Monday, Jan. 20 and include parades while also paying homage to other civil rights leaders. In addition, the events will feature a host of speakers and community outreach activities to communicate the importance of celebrating the national Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. “This is our seventh year of involvement with the Peace Walk,” said Wessita McKinley founder of Sistas United, one of several community organizations
participating in the District’s celebration. “Last year, along with students from the University of the District of Columbia, we also created a Freedom Walk where we replicated Dr. King’s march across the [Edmund] Pettus Bridge [in Selma, Ala.,] by walking across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge [in nearby Northern Virginia].” Mayor Vincent C. Gray said in a previous interview that King – who would have turned 85 on Jan. 15 – would be among the front-liners in the District’s struggle for statehood. “He would be deeply disappointed and depressed about the gun violence in our society,” said Gray, 71. “It is a travesty what is going on in our country but the question is what are we going to do about it?” Locally, the march to honor King began in the 1970s by Calvin and Wilhelmina Rolark, co-founders of The Washington
22 January 16, - January 22, 2014
Informer, along with television and radio talk-show host Petey Greene. It has since evolved into an annual event that’s attracted support from national civil rights leaders and film and television personalities such as Nick Cannon, who served as grand marshal for last year’s parade. This year however, marks the District’s seventh annual presentation of King’s historic protest from Selma to Montgomery. The march begins at the United Black Fund building on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue in Southeast, with the parade of marchers winding their way to Covenant Baptist Church several blocks away. “Martin Luther King Jr. was a peacemaker for mankind,” said McKinley, 48. “Therefore, this year we’re celebrating global peacemaking, which will include tributes to Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai, The Washington Informer
“Martin Luther King Jr. was a peacemaker for mankind . . . We just want mankind to come together collectively to show homage to Dr. King and all that he’s done, as well as to try to create peace in a world that’s in so much disarray; [and in doing so,] we want to bring attention to the thousands of people without jobs, reductions in food stamp benefits, increased crime rates and other matters that are ongoing in this country.” - Wessita McKinley founder Sistas United
and Malala Yousafzai, the defiant 16-year-old Pakistani girl whose advocacy for education made her the target a year ago of a Taliban assassination attempt. McKinley said that about 1,000 people of all races, genders and economic backgrounds are expected to participate in the District’s walk. “We just want mankind to come together collectively to
show homage to Dr. King and all that he’s done, as well as to try to create peace in a world that’s in so much disarray,” McKinley said, referring to issues of ongoing concern. “We want to bring attention to the thousands of people without jobs, reductions in food stamp benefits, increased crime rates and other matters that are ongoing in this country.”wi
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January 16, - January 22, 2014
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King Event Empathizes with Downtrodden in India By Stacy M. Brown WI Contributing Writer Martin Luther King Jr. possessed more than just a dream. The civil rights champion displayed empathy not just for fellow African Americans, but any individual or group weighed down by oppression. To honor King’s legacy and what would have been his 85th birthday on Wednesday, Jan. 15, a prominent group of African Americans are calling for an end to the oppression of those known as Dalits in India with a “Declaration of Empathy” signing event at the U.S. Capitol in Southeast. “The Quander family, like other African-American families, still feels the pain and sting that institutional discrimination visited upon us,” said Rohulamin Quander, 70, president of the Quander Historical Society, in Northwest.
“With this, ‘Declaration of Years a Slave.” of dead animals and discarding “Despite numerous laws en- human waste. Empathy,’ we stand in solidarity with the oppressed Dalit peo- acted for the protection and As a result, many Dalits are ple in India. Until they are free, betterment of the Dalits, they impoverished, uneducated, and none of us is, indeed, free,” said are still considered outcasts in illiterate. Quander, a retired administrative Indian society and treated as “The principals of untouchjudge who worked at the Office such,” said Rep. Eleanor Holmes ability and purity and pollution of Employee Appeals in South- Norton (D-D.C.), who in 2007 dictate what Dalits are and are west. Quander’s family can trace help sponsor a House resolution not allowed to do,” said Dr. Viits lineage back 300 years in expressing a sense that the Unit- nod Sonkar, one of the rare DalMaryland and Virginia and are ed States should address the on- it community members to find considered to be the oldest free going problem of what is called, career success. African-American family whose “untouchability,” in India. “Unfortunately, the Indian “In practice, Dalits are fre- government, made up of the ancestors once were slaves. equalNA treatment upper castesRegion: The Jan.Client: 15, Allstate event also will quently denied Bleed: (wealthy), has conUS Campaign: Insurance/AA Trim: Norton, 9.5” x 6.5” 76. Language: English under the law,” said include other African-American vinced the international commuAgency Job #: 610-ALAAMNP4001 Live: NA Notes: None AD #/AD ID: AHAA0422who Dalits, who number 167 mil- nity that caste discrimination is legacy families, descendants Date Modified: 01/9/14 2:54 PM Keyline Scale: 1”= 1” of the popu- an internal, cultural issue. But, directly experienced unspeakable lion or 16 percent CR: Output at: 100% Round: are restricted on the truth is, it affects the very degradationADand brutality during lation in India, Page: 1 of 1 where they can live and what way this country is run,” Sonkar the dark days of U.S. slavery. said. FOR COLOR APPROVAL The participating families jobs they can have. NOT TO BE USED AD: S. Block P: E. Garber AM: J. Norman BM: M. Reynolds A human rights defender, Within the Dalit communiinclude relatives of Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washing- ty, they are divided into leather King visited India in 1959 and ton, Thomas Jefferson, Ben- workers, street sweepers, cob- reportedly the trip deeply affectjamin Banneker and Solomon blers, agricultural workers, and ed his understanding of civil reNorthrup, whose autobiography manual scavengers, who are sistance. At that time, the civil rights became the subject of the crit- considered only for tasks such as ically-acclaimed 2013 film, “12 digging village graves, disposing leader told the media that he’d
become more convinced than ever before that the method of nonviolent resistance counted as the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for justice and human dignity. As lead-in to the Jan. 15 event, Howard University’s African American Studies Department planned a round table discussion where topics explored included prior efforts of Dalit individuals and organizations to reach out to black Americans. Each of the participants in the “Declaration of Empathy” signing is hoping to magnify and draw upon the courage and conviction of King, Quander said. “Dr. King reflected upon his journey to India, and acknowledged the parallel between African Americans and the Dalits,” he said. wi
Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Washington, D.C.
Let’s #GiveItUpForGood This #MLKDay
SometimeS it’S Good to Go off Script. The words “I have a dream” were never in Dr. King’s speech notes because sometimes the words on the page can’t match the words in your heart. Join Allstate in celebrating the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Share the good in the heart of your community. Let’s #GiveitUpforGood
See good. Share good. Allstate.com/giveitupforgood © 2014 Allstate Insurance Co.
24 January 16, - January 22, 2014
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MLK events Follow @MLKDay on Twitter and MLK Day on Facebook MLK day of service: http:// mlkday.gov/serve/register.php January 17 Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration - Ambassador Andrew Young: “A Continuing Legacy” January 17 - 8:00 pm The Alden - McLean Community Center at 8pm 1234 Ingleside Avenue Cost: $20, $10 for MCC district residents More Information: aldentheatre. org or call 703-790-0123, TTY: 711 January 18 United Planning Organization 30th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Breakfast January 18 JW Marriott Washington DC, 1331 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20004 8:00 am More information: https:// charityhappenings.org/ upomlkjrbreakfast2014.html January 20 Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Walk - “Global Peacemakers: I am a Peace Maker” January 20 - 9:45 am - 11:00 am Assembly: United Black Fund – 2500 MLK, Jr., Ave., SE ***Program immediately after the Peace Walk at Covenant Baptist UCC at 12:30 pm. More Information: mlkholidaydc.org *** Attendees are asked to bring socks toiletries for the homeless 33rd Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Breakfast - “The Role of Women in the Civil Rights Movement” - Congresswoman Donna F. Edwards, D-4th guest speaker. 7:30 a.m. (doors open) Program begins at 8 a.m. David S. Jenkins Gymnasium Arnold Campus, 101 College Parkway ***Attendees are asked to donate a nonperishable food item as part of a food drive sponsored by breakfast cosponsors, the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, for neighbors in need.
Cost: $35 More Information: Eugene Peterson at 301-538-0887 or Erica Matthews at 443-7619734 Martin Luther King Memorial
mlk kennedy-center.org Cost: Free - Tickets are required and will be distributed the day of the event in front of the Concert Hall beginning at 5 p.m. The 2014 concert features
five-time Grammy Award® -winning singer and recording artist Dionne Warwick. King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis
January 20 - 11:30 am AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, MD.
This weekend is a great time to visit the Memorial. National Park Service Rangers discuss King’s role in the Civil Rights movement daily. The National Park Service will host a wreathlaying service on January 20, 2014, 8-9 a.m. in observance of the birthdayanniversary for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. On January 1820, 2014, 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. a Junior Ranger program will be held for kids. A Celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day January 20 - 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm Washington National Cathedral Nave 3101 Wisconsin Ave., N.W. Washington, D.C. 20016 RSVP: (202) 537-8989 More Information: http:// www.nationalcathedral.org/ events/MLK2014.shtml#. UtIII55dUrV *** Attendees are asked to bring a new children’s book or non-perishable food item to donate. Celebrate Martin Luther King Day in a day of Song, Dance and Storytelling January 20 – 10:00am – 4:30pm Seekers Church 276 Carroll St NW, Washington, DC 20012 Cost: a suggested offering of $35 - $50 and a potluck dish to share More Information: katamoss@gmail.com or 301681-8860 “Let Freedom Ring” - Musical celebration featuring the Let Freedom Ring Choir and others Performance by five-time Grammy Award® -winning singer and recording artist Dionne Warwick January 20 - 6:00 pm John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts - Millennium Stage concert 2700 F. St. NW, Washington, DC More Information: www.
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January 16, - January 22, 2014
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1964: Freedom Fighter became Nobel Peace Prize Laureate By Charlene Crowell Special to the Washington Informer Although youth of nearly every generation have been advised – if not warned – to develop maturity with age, the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is testament that wisdom guided by principals can bring global achievement and progress -even in youth. At the age of 19, he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in sociology from Atlanta’s Morehouse College. In 1955 and at the age of 26, he earned a Ph.D. in Systematic Theology from Boston University. And on December 10, 1964 in Oslo, Norway, Dr. King at age 35 became a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. Today, nearly 50 years ago, Dr. King remains one of only 64 Laureates to singularly receive this esteemed honor. Prior to 1964, no Peace Prize had been awarded for 16 years since 1901
including during World Wars I (1914-1918) and II (1939-1945). Created through the 1895 last will and testament of Alfred Nobel, the Nobel Peace Prize honors “the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.” Gunnar Jahn, who presented the honor as chairman of the Nobel Committee, said of Dr. King, “He is the first person in the Western world to have shown us that a struggle can be waged without violence. He is the first to make the message of brotherly love a reality in the course of his struggle, and he has brought this message to all men, to all nations and races. “Today we pay tribute to Martin Luther King, the man who has never abandoned his faith in the unarmed struggle he is
waging, who has suffered for his faith, who has been imprisoned on many occasions, whose home has been subject to bomb attacks, whose life and the lives of his family have been threatened, and who nevertheless has never faltered.” Jahn’s remarks also spoke of Dr. King as “an undaunted champion of peace” and added that “his own struggle is a clarion call to all who work for peace.” In his acceptance remarks, the oratorical skills and Baptist cadence that characterized so many of Dr. King’s speeches emerged to reach yet another zenith. His words also hearkened back to the justice journey that began nine years earlier in Montgomery, Alabama. “I accept the Nobel Prize for Peace at a moment when 22 million Negroes of the United States of America are engaged in a creative battle to end the long night of racial injustice. I T:9.5” accept this award on behalf of S:9”
a civil rights movement which is moving with determination and a majestic scorn for risk and danger to establish a reign of freedom and a rule of justice.” “The tortuous road which has led from Montgomery, Alabama to Oslo bears witness to this truth”, continued Dr. King. “This is a road over which millions of Negroes are travelling to find a new sense of dignity. This same road has opened for all Americans a new era of progress and hope. It has led to a new Civil Rights Bill, and it will, I am convinced, be widened and lengthened into a super highway of justice as Negro and white men in increasing numbers create alliances to overcome their common problems.” Presented with a gold commemorative medallion, the Nobel Peace Prize also included a $54,600 check. Dr. King forfeited all of these funds to the continuing efforts of six organizations: the American
Foundation on Non-Violence, Congress on Racial Equality (CORE), NAACP, National Council of Negro Women, Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNNC) and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). The following day, January 11, 1964, Dr. King was a guest lecturer at the University of Oslo where his voice and dedication to the eradication of global poverty was raised once more. “The rich nations must use their vast resources of wealth to develop the under-developed, school the unschooled, and feed the unfed. Ultimately a great nation is a compassionate nation. No individual or nation can be great if it does not have a concern for ‘the least of these’”. wi Charlene Crowell is a freelance journalist based in Durham, NC. She is also a two-time honoree of the National Newspaper Publishers Association.
#HisDreamOurStories
He Organized All Of This Without A Single Tweet In 1963, one man’s words motivated others to change the world. Comcast® proudly presents “His Dream,
and the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Experience what it was like through more than 80 interviews with March attendees, Civil Rights pioneers and civic leaders. Plus, explore articles, photo galleries and video biographies that forever captured the moment that inspired us all. Visit CelebrateBlackTV.com.
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Editorial
opinions/editorials
Why the Delay in Reinstating Unemployment Benefits? It seems increasingly unlikely that the Senate Republicans will vote for an extension of long-term unemployment benefits unless President Obama and their Democratic counterparts make some key – and possibly painful – concessions. Since Congress’ session resumed last week, both sides have been wrangling over terms on which the Republicans would come to an agreement. So while 1.3 million long-term, unemployed Americans dangle in the breeze, Republicans continue to argue on policy grounds as if human beings’ lives aren’t being deeply affected by the choices politicians make. Some Congressional Republicans contend that by guaranteeing unemployment assistance for more than a year, those out of work will spend too much time trying to snag their dream job as opposed to settling on whatever they can find. Others argue that unemployment benefits weren’t supposed to be long-term anyway and in the interest of saving money, the benefits should end. Many Democrats have voiced their support for re-instituting the benefits but a bill won’t pass without GOP support. As we noted in an earlier editorial, Obama and Democrats miscalculated by not demanding funding the program as a condition of supporting the recently passed budget. While Senate Democrats fight to restore the program, Republicans want Democrats to somehow offset the $25 billion it would cost to restart the program. The hypocrisy of those ostensibly concerned about the federal deficit is evidenced by some numbers: in 2012, according to Taxpayers for Commonsense, the government spent about $50 billion on public service programs, including food assistance and social welfare operations. At the same time, the feds doled out corporate welfare – in the form of tax breaks, subsidies and grants – to the tune of $92 billion to some of America’s most prominent businesses. That included $4 billion in annual tax breaks to the top 5 oil companies such as Shell, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, BP and Conoco Phillips. The public is treated to the already discredited idea by conservatives and other politicians that the tax breaks trickle down to customers, but as noted by the Center for American Progress, gas prices continue to edge upwards and in 2012, the average American Household spent about $3,000 on gasoline. And for the last several years, every quarter, oil companies make record profits. In 2012, Taxpayers for Commonsense reported, the oil companies, together earned $118 billion in profits, with $72 billion in cash reserves. If the deficit hawks are so concerned about the federal deficit, they should start slashing rampant corporate welfare. But that’s not likely to happen because oil companies spend more than $300,000 a day lobbying Congress. The Center for Responsive Politics notes that the industry has spent $141 million for lobbying and that of the 728 lobbyists working for the oil industry, 445 of them are revolving door lobbyists – individuals who served in the House and Senate, the White House and the federal government before arriving at their lobbyist jobs. Further, during the 2012 election cycle, the oil and gas industry also spent $72.9 million on political contributions and millions more in campaign contributions in 2013. The most callous of our elected officials have no regard for people’s suffering and some have said the unemployed should just go look for a job but three to four people are competing for every available job, the after effects of the recession. It’s very likely that more discouraged job seekers will stop looking for work because they no longer receive benefits which will be a further drag on the economy. Some compassion, understanding and action from Congress is much needed but as Hamlet once said, “Something’s rotten in the state of Denmark.” The stench of corruption and complacency can be smelt all around Washington. It’s sad and disconcerting in what passes for a democracy, but very real.
30 January 16, - January 22, 2014
Can the GOP be Trusted?
I am a loyal reader of your paper, and one of my favorite columns is Business Exchange by William Reed. Every week he seems to write something that causes me to really take an in-depth look at how I would normally view political and social topics. Reed’s column in the January 9, 2014 edition, “Boosting GOP’s Black Outreach” is a prime example. As an African American who has always voted for the Democratic candidate in every election I’ve voted in, that article provides some interesting points to consider. When I look at the Republican Party and what they say they believe in, it’s very close to what I’ve always felt I believe in: strong religious faith, family, and a strong work ethic. I have always believed that one should work for what they get, but I also believe in being compassionate. That’s where the dominant voices coming from the GOP differ with me. They are just such
hardliners – small government and no taxes. Even the Black Republicans voice carries that same message. I am saying all of this to say I think a lot more blacks would vote for some of the Republican candidates if those candidates would show just a little more compassion, and believe in what they say. And that’s where the problem comes in: Can blacks trust what the GOP says? Jason Henderson Washington, D.C.
A County on the Rise
Congratulations to all the people who live and work in Prince George’s County. Your article by Joshua Garner, “Prince George’s Crime Reaches Record Low,” (January 9, 2014 edition) is a testament to what can be done if citizens and law enforcement work together. For years Prince George’s County had a level of mistrust between the black community
and its police department, and for some very legitimate reasons. But after reading Mr. Garner’s article, there seems to be a level of trust that has been built. It reminds me of Washington, D.C. back when Marion Barry first became mayor. He had to work hard to forge a relationship of trust between the community and the police force. That eventually led to downtown opening up, then people started coming back into town after dark, and the rest is history. Hopefully, the same will happen in Prince George’s County. Great things are happening in the county, and if it continues to progress, Prince George’s County will certainly be a shining star among our local counties. Paul Wright Suitland, Md.
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opinions/editorials
Guest Columnist
By Julianne Malveaux
My New Year Wishes Happy New Year! January first and second are the days when most think of the “new” year, yet with the first Monday in January falling on January 6, that’s probably when most people will return to their desks withy focused energy and ready to go. Post-its and scrawled notebook paper will trumpet “new” resolutions. Eat less, relax more, volunteer, tithe, save, all that good stuff. Some will even compose
a bucket list of things they’d like to do before the end of their lives. Others will have a list of wants and wishes, both realistic and unrealistic. My wish list focuses on public policy, since better public policy means a better 2014. I WANT JOBS, JOBS, JOBS FOR BLACK PEOPLE. With the last reported official unemployment rate for African Americans at 12.5 percent, and the unofficial rate exceeding 25 percent, I’d really like to see some more jobs in the African
American community. Joblessness leads to poverty leads to all kinds of maladies. While the stock market is soaring, is it too much to ask for a little job creation? Don’t Republicans, also, represent unemployed people? Help me, somebody. By the way, I’d like more jobs for everyone, but first things first. And while we’re at it, why not fairer (and more equal) wages. There is talk of raising the minimum wage to $10 or more by 2015, and some states are already moving to wage levels even high-
Guest Columnist
er. More than half of those now earning the minimum wage are raising children. If their employers don’t pay enough for them to live on, the government will end up subsidizing their employers’ (and them) with programs such as SNAP (food stamps) and Section 8. Ooops! Those programs are being cut as well. What is a poor person to do in a nation that is both hostile to poor people and also absolutely needs them? I want President Obama to say “Black” or “African Ameri-
can” sometime other than Black History Month. And I’d like him to say it enthusiastically, not reluctantly. His December 4th speech on poverty issues in Washington, D.C. went a long way toward addressing the concerns (education, housing, poverty) of the least and the left out, but his lips won’t be permanently puckered in a putrid position if he managed to give his most loyal constituency a shout out. I guess I’ve been wishing for this
See malveaux on Page 45
By Raynard Jackson
Bold Predictions for 2014 Now that a 2014 has come, I have decided to pull out my trusted crystal ball and give you some of my predictions for the year. I think the biggest thing to watch is on the political front. This year we will have congressional elections for the House and Senate. Republicans will keep the House. Even if Republicans have a total meltdown, they will still keep the House.
But their margins may shrink (currently the Republicans hold a 17-vote margin over the Democrats). The way congressional districts have been gerrymandered , that virtually guarantees minimum change in the composition of the House. Republicans have a better than even chance to take over the Senate if they nominate the best conservative candidate that is “electable.” The GOP should be able to pick up seats in Alaska, Arkansas, Louisiana, North
Carolina and West Virginia. Republicans need only a net of six seats to win the Senate. The Black vote could be the margin of victory in states such as Arkansas, Louisiana and North Carolina. Each has Black voters who thoroughly turned off by the Democrats and Obama. If these Republican candidates take their message to the Black community, Republicans will take over the Senate. I know many of my Democratic friends will laugh at me
Guest Columnist
and my Republican friends will continue to want to dismiss the Black vote; but I dare my Republican leaders to call my bluff if they really want to win the Senate. As I often say, I have been Black most of my life and I know the sentiments of my community very well. To prove my point, what was unthinkable just a month ago is going to happen more frequently going forward. Democrats, especially Blacks, for the first time are pub-
licly voicing their dissatisfaction with Obama. A group of very liberal Blacks are about to file a lawsuit against Obama for enacting policies that have decreased the number of Black students attending HBCUs. Civil Rights leaders such as Congressman John Lewis have publicly threatened to go to war with Obama over the lack of Black judges being nominated. On Black radio, there is huge vo-
See jackson on Page 45
By Dr. Wilmer J. Leon, III
You Have the Watches; They Have the Time “Time in jail and time in the jihad mean nothing to us…Your watch’s battery will run down, and its hands will stop. But our time in the struggle will never end. We will win.” Mujahid Rahman Afghan fighter Newsweek 2011
According to the BBC News and other sources, the US installed and backed government in Iraq has lost control of the city of Fallujah to
fighters aligned with al-Qaeda affiliated militants. According to the Wall Street Journal, “Residents and officials said U.S. weapons were pillaged from armories after fighters took control of Fallujah and skirmished with Iraqi government troops on the road to Baghdad.” After eight years of war, the lives of more than 4,000 American troops and approximately 134,000 Iraqi civilians; and close to $2 trillion in directly associated costs,
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armed rebels are regaining control of a major Iraqi city and using U.S. weapons to do it. Prominent Republicans are blaming the Obama administrations withdrawal from Iraq for these recent developments. Some have called it “predictable” Senators John McCain (RAZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) have jointly stated that these events are, “…as tragic as they were predictable.” They went on to accuse the Obama administration of The Washington Informer
misleading the American people into believing that Iraqi government officials wanted US forces out of their country. “The administration’s narrative that Iraq’s political leadership objected to U.S. forces remaining in Iraq after 2011 is patently false.” McCain and Graham are correct, these events are, “… as tragic as they were predictable.” The problem with their assessment is that their “predictions” come ten years, thousands of lives, and tril-
lions of dollars too late. President Obama merely extracted U.S. forces from the fool’s errand called “Operation Iraqi Freedom.” There was never a belief by any objective analyst that the U.S. could “win” a war in Iraq. The American people were never willing to invest the time, blood, and treasure necessary to “win” once American forces became bogged down in the predictable slog called Iraq. History See leon on Page 45
January 16, - January 22, 2014
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Guest Columnist
By George E. Curry
Race War’ at Fox News In 2013, race still mattered – especially at Fox News. According to MediaMatters, the watchdog group, last year was a banner period for race-baiting at Fox. “Viewers who spent 2013 absorbed in Fox News might be under the impression that an allout race war has erupted across the nation this year, thanks to the network’s coverage of everything from voter fraud to Santa Claus echoing one common
theme: white folks are being victimized in Obama’s America,” an analysis of coverage on the network concluded. The review showed that Fox, the nation’s top-rated cable network with 1.76 million daily viewers, routinely exploited racial fears to boost its ratings. “Fox became obsessed with black crime rates in the summer of 2013, when Floridian George Zimmerman went on trial for the 2012 murder of African-American teenager Trayvon Martin, whom Zimmerman shot
and killed while he was walking home from a convenience store. Zimmerman, identified as white Hispanic, alleged that he shot Martin in self-defense, and was not subsequently arrested or charged with any crime until a significant public outcry made the story national news,” MediaMatters noted. “Fox immediately began running defense for Zimmerman in what became a red meat story for the network – an opportunity to justify right-wing gun culture and stand your ground laws,
Guest Columnist
stoke fears about the dangers of black youth, and paint white-onblack crime as exceedingly rare and usually justified while black crime is exploding.” When Fox wasn’t fear mongering about Black crime, the report stated, it was supporting voter ID laws that suppress the African-American vote. “2013 marked a unique year with regard to free and fair elections in the United States. In June, the conservative bloc of the U.S. Supreme Court disregarded history, legal precedent,
and congressional intent in a 5-4 Shelby County decision that gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA). Weeks later, thousands of Americans gathered with civil rights leaders in the nation’s capital to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington – a 1963 march that featured Martin Luther King, Jr’s “I have a dream” speech and helped lead to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and aforementioned VRA,” the anal-
See curry on Page 46
By Lee A. Daniels
Conservatives Embrace Selective Stupidity A virus has been sweeping through the ranks of the conservative movement in recent years – and it seems to be getting worse with each passing week. By that I mean that in a number of areas conservatives have been deliberately rejecting widely-accepted facts in order to cling to old, or embrace new, bizarre notions that further their political agenda. In other words,
their behavior doesn’t stem from the kind of “ignorance” that is simply not knowing something. Rather, they willfully reject a particular knowledge because they just don’t want to believe it. For example, last week’s snowstorm that slashed across the northern Midwest and the northeast and, half a world away, the trapping in ice in the Antarctic of a research ship on a mission to investigate climate change provoked some conservatives to claim they represent-
ed damning evidence against assertions of global warming. “‘Global warming’ isn’t so warm these days,” Louisiana Republican Rep. John Fleming felt compelled to tweet. Erick Erickson, the widely-read conservative blogger, waxed theological: “The difference between people who believe in the 2nd coming of Jesus and those who believe in global warming is that Jesus will return.” Both ignored the obvious: that both incidents are the kind of things that usually happen
ASKIA-AT-LARGE
in the winter in the northern United States and in the frozen expanses of the Antarctic and thus aren’t likely to indicate anything, one way or the other, about decades- and centuries-long climatic patterns. Last year Paul Krugman, the Princeton professor and New York Times columnist, attributed such behavior to what he calls a “widening ‘wonk gap’ – the G.O.P.’s near-complete lack of expertise on anything substantive.” But Krugman and other po-
litical analysts have also noted something else behind this seeming selective stupidity – that the conservative movement’s political actions are being grounded more and more in religious belief. That development was underscored by the Pew Research Center’s late December release of their new survey of the “Public’s Views on Human Evolution.” What their research showed was that while
See daniels on Page 46
By Askia Muhammad
Courageous Attorney ‘Free at Last’ Free at last. Free at last. Courageous defense attorney Lynne Stewart is free at last! After months of demonstrations, public and private pleas to authorities, and prodding of Justice Department officials, attorney Lynne Stewart is home, free. She should never have been imprisoned in the first place. Her crime? She zealously represented her client – blind, Egyptian Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman –
by reading a press release after his 1995 conviction for the first bombing of New York’s World Trade Center. She was released from a federal prison in Texas Dec. 31, after a federal judge ordered her “compassionate release.” Lynne Stewart suffers from incurable stage 4 cancer, and has been told by her doctors she has less than 18 months to live. In 2005 Stewart was found to have breast cancer; in 2012, doctors determined that her cancer had spread to her lungs, lymph
32 January 16, - January 22, 2014
system and bones. Her spirits soared upon her release, but her physical condition remains grave. After the director of the Bureau of Prisons and the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York made formal requests on her behalf, U.S. District Court Judge John G. Koeltl agreed and ordered her compassionate release. I believe I may have personally had something to do with the decision by Justice Department officials. “It’s absolutely devastating The Washington Informer
really, because she has spent far too long in a federal prison medical facility with stage-4 lung cancer,” Noelle Hanrahan of the Prison Radio Project told me in an interview after Stewart was released. “Her prognosis is difficult and not good, and the conditions under which she received medical care for the last two years have been very, not appropriate,” Hanrahan said. “Her diagnosis occurred nine months before she was able to receive treatment. She had to go to all of her oncology appoint-
ments in chains – foot restraints, leg restraints – her ability to get care was greatly diminished. She should have been with her family far before this. “While we’re triumphant in some ways, we’re also very deeply saddened because her health conditions are grave,” Hanrahan continued. “Ten pounds of chains for a 74-year-old woman who had stage-4 lung cancer? Battling cancer is hard enough if you’re outside, but imagine do-
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Suggestive Appearances Make up for Lack of Talent Beyonce, Rihanna, Others Try to Compensate for Shortcomings
By Stacy M. Brown WI Contributing Writer Simply put, pop star Beyonce’s new album counts as another attempt to sell an age-old idea instead of substance in a world heavy on video vixens and extremely light on musical talent. Sure, at first glance and with heavy make-up, Beyonce scores a 10 on just about any man’s radar. There’s little question that many a man has done a double take at the sight of the former Destiny’s Child lead singer sashaying onto a stage, flaunting cleavage with a little sweat dripping from her T-shirt? However, just like the arguably lesser-talented Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Lady Gaga, and even those of questionable vocal talents, such as Miley Cyrus and Britney Spears; Beyonce has left absolutely nothing to the imagination. The cover of her latest CD, “The Visual Album,” virtually moons those who pick it up and the lyrics contained in the 17-song disc seem to belong not atop the Billboard charts, but in
/Courtesy Photos
the bowels of a gutter. It isn’t new when female performers use their god-given – or surgically-enhanced assets to draw more attention to them than whatever vocals they can lay down; we all know that Madonna became a superstar, in large part, because of her perceived sexiness and not necessarily because of any greatness associated with, “Like a Virgin,” her 1984 hit song. Today, there have been countless times when the public has seen Rihanna’s tattooed derriere or those of Lady Gaga, Nicki Mi-
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naj or Britney Spears. Through photos each has regularly provided to the media or posted on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, these women have shown little restraint in displaying all that the imagination could possibly conjure. “Calling this liberating is just another marketing ploy to rationalize the fact that sex sells,” said author and journalist Peter Bailey, host of NBC’s late night television show, “Nite Cap.” “But, it’s a lazy sell,” said Bai-
See BEYONCE on Page 34 The Washington Informer
UNIVERSAL PICTURES PRESENTS IN ASSOCIATION WITH RELATIVITY MEDIA A CUBEVISION/RAINFOREST FILMS PRODUCTION A TIM STORY FILM “RIDE ALONG” ICE CUBE KEVIN HART JOHN LEGUIZAMO BRUCE MCGILL TIKA SUMPTER EXECUTIVE NICOLAS STERN RON MUHAMMAD AND LAURENCE FISHBURNE MUSICBY CHRISTOPHER LENNERTZ PRODUCERS PRODUCED CHRIS BENDER JC SPISCREENPLAY NK BY WILL PACKER ICE CUBE MATT ALVAREZ LARRY BREZNER STORY BY GREG COOLIDGE BY GREG COOLIDGE AND JASON MANTZOUKAS AND PHIL HAY & MATT MANFREDI DIRECTED A UNIVERSAL PICTURE BY TIM STORY © 2013 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
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ley, 33. “I’ll bet my last dollar that women such as Michelle Obama, Maya Angelou, Oprah Winfrey and my mother would be offended if that message of female liberation is defined by Miley Cyrus twerking,” he said. Oddly enough, Bailey continued, it’s demeaning to men as well because it plays into an old myth that males are, by nature, slaves to their libido. “You get these beautiful young singers with amazing voices that start out squeaky clean and get a makeover and become vamps,” said Pippa Smith, founder of Safer Media, a Great Britain based organization that seeks to reduce the harmful effects of the entertainment media on children, families and society. In just one week, Beyonce sold about a million copies of her new CD, which contains lyrics that are more than just racy, but words that simply cannot be printed in a family newspaper. Instead of being recognized for their music, these women have gained more fame because of their bikini photos they place on the web and how vulgar their lyrics and videos can be. Fact is, how many Rihanna songs can a person name? How about a Minaj record or even one from Miley Cyrus, the barely legal former Hanna Montana star who’s obviously decided that suggestive antics can com-
34 January 16, - January 22, 2014
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“Calling this liberating is just another marketing ploy to rationalize the fact that sex sells. But, it’s a lazy sell. I’ll bet my last dollar that women such as Michelle Obama, Maya Angelou, Oprah Winfrey and my mother would be offended if that message of female liberation is defined by Miley Cyrus twerking.” – Peter Bailey, host of NBC’s late night television show, “Nite Cap.”
pensate for her obvious lack of talent. Minaj, 31, who briefly worked as a judge on, “American Idol,” has become this generation’s Lil’ Kim, who barely covered her breasts at a 1999 MTV awards show to which pop legend Diane Ross famously said, “Just wanted to see that I wasn’t imagining anything.” However, today’s pop stars have left nothing to the imagination. Rashida Jones, the daughter of legendary music producer Quincy Jones and star of the NBC television series, “Parks and Recreation,” implored the ladies of pop to “stop acting like [street walkers].” Jones isn’t alone. Rock stars “Kings of Leon,” also have criticized the behavior of today’s female pop stars, saying the women set a terrible example for young fans. “It’s not even music anymore,” said singer and bass guitarist Matthew Followill, 29. “It
feels like the end of the world.” Followill’s band mate and cousin, Jared Followill, said seeing the behavior of the women have literally made him ill. “They make me cringe,” said Jared Followill, 27. “Not even just because they’re taking their clothes off, it’s the whole thing, the dance moves, it’s not good.” Criticism also has even come from unlikely sources, such as singer Katy Perry, who’s known for racy performances and clothing. “Everybody is getting naked,” said Perry, 29. “I mean, I’ve been naked before but I don’t feel like I have to always get naked to be noticed. I’m talking about all of them. I mean, it’s like everybody’s so naked. Put it away and become an inspiration to female fans. We know you’ve got it. I’ve got it too. I’m just saying sometimes it’s nice to play that card but also it’s nice to play other cards.” wi
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Horo scopes
jan 16 - jan 22, 2014
ARIES Keep focused. Your energies are likely to be spread out this week. Your attention is likely to be pulled in many directions. Let yourself be seduced by the things that interest you most. Concentrate on your affairs. Others need you, but they can wait. Soul Affirmation: I find a source of strength in someone I love. Lucky Numbers: 7, 20, 21 TAURUS Hardly anyone alive learns new skills in an instant, so cut yourself some slack if you feel you’ve made a beginner’s mistake somewhere. Mistakes are part of the learning process that is called Life, so self-correct and proceed with happiness. Soul Affirmation: I let go and let the spirit take control. Lucky Numbers: 20, 42, 54 GEMINI This week will bring a tendency to dwell on a past betrayal. Your feelings of suspicion are well founded. However, do not personalize it. Work against the harmful act but not against the person who committed it. Soul Affirmation: I am what I consistently do. Lucky Numbers: 5, 6, 23 CANCER Look forward to excellent financial news based on something you’re likely to do this week. Wow! It’s about time. This week might be an excellent week to window shop for a dream vacation or luxury purchase. You can even window shop in your imagination for the best possible dream vacation location! Soul Affirmation: Smooth communications is the key to my success this week. Lucky Numbers: 8, 14, 44
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA HOUSING AUTHORITY SOLICITATION NO: 0007-2014 “Property Management Services for MetroTowns at Parkside” The District of Columbia Housing Authority (DCHA) is seeking an experienced property management company to provide property management services at the MetroTowns at Parkside community. Solicitation documents will be available at the Issuing Office located at 1133 North Capitol Street, NE, Suite 300, Administrative Services/Contracts, Washington, DC 20002-7599, between the hours of 9:00am and 4:00pm, Monday through Friday; and on our web site at: www.dchousing. org beginning Monday, January 13, 2014. SEALED PROPOSAL RESPONSES are due to the issuing office by COB (8:15am-4:45pm) on Thursday, February 13, 2014. Contact the Issuing Office, LaShawn Mizzell-McLeod on (202)535-1212 or by email at lmcleod@ dchousing.org for additional information.
THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA HOUSING AUTHORITY REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) For Development Project Management Consulting Services RFP NO. 0004-2014 The DISTISTRICT OF COLUMBIA HOUSING AUTHORITY (DCHA), The District of Columbia Housing Authority (DCHA) is seeking proposals from interested Professionals to provide Development Project Management Consulting Services for DCHA development and redevelopment projects.
LEO You’ll have a busy week, as the energy around you seems super-charged. With everyone rushing about, you’ll wonder how you’ll get anything done, much less the things you feel you must get done. Not to worry. Stay calm and flexible and a way will be found. Soul Affirmation: Slow and steady is an enjoyable way to go. Lucky Numbers: 1, 6, 55
SOLICITATION DOCUMENTS will be available at 1133 North Capitol Street, NE, Room 300, Contracts and Procurement Administration, Washington, D.C. 20002 between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, or on our website at www.dchousing.org beginning Monday, January 13, 2014.
VIRGO Stand up and get ready. Be a public speaker this week. Any subject you choose is ripe for your “rap.” Spin the tale. Tell the story. People will be fascinated by the way you see things. They’ll be impressed. Watch out for a jealous friend when attention is on you! Soul Affirmation: I make the first step and the universe will come to my aid. Lucky Numbers: 25, 32, 53
Contact the Issuing Office, Cheryl Moore on (202) 535-1212 or by e-mail on or chmoore@dchousing.org for additional information.
LIBRA Be as sharp as you can be this week. Make being alert a personal challenge. Watch carefully for details that might otherwise escape your notice as you search for the best way to get things done at work. Be steadfast in your determination and don’t be pulled into conflict with coworkers. Soul Affirmation: There are other fish in the sea waiting for me. Lucky Numbers: 17, 23, 27 SCORPIO You may feel a bit crabby about your health this early this week. If you feel you need a physical checkup, make the appointment this week. If you want to feel and look better this week, skip lunch and take a walk instead. Soul Affirmation: Truth is revealed in the smallest grain of sand. Lucky Numbers: 29, 41, 52 SAGITTARIUS Like-mindedness is going to be hard to achieve among your coworkers, but there are likely to be a few who see things as you do. Choose carefully and find someone to walk with you on this week’s journey. Some words of encouragement might be needed to enlist the person you choose. Soul Affirmation: My needs will be met if I just ask. Lucky Numbers: 3, 9, 43 CAPRICORN Where are you going in such a hurry? What you want you already have. Stop looking around yourself trying to find out what’s missing. Nothing is missing. The best kind of discovery this week is self-discovery. Soul Affirmation: I get because I give. Lucky Numbers: 3, 18, 45 AQUARIUS Get out and enjoy the sunshine this week. Remember that the sun is always shining somewhere in our big island home, so use your imagination if the weather isn’t perfect where you are. You can still enjoy your week and the sun that is shining whether you see it or not! Soul Affirmation: I enjoy the love that others have for me. Lucky Numbers: 6, 25, 47 PISCES Look for an increase in your personal prosperity this week, my little darlings. You’ll either be receiving a long-overdue debt, an unexpected bonus, a lucky lottery ticket, or you may just find cash laying at your feet as you are out for a stroll. Lucky! You love feathering your nest and this week the Universe is helping you. Soul Affirmation: Hope is future’s way of shining on me this week. Lucky Numbers: 12, 14, 21
SEALED PROPOSALS RESPONSES are due to the Issuing Office by 11:00 a.m. (ET) on Thursday, February 13, 2014.
THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA HOUSING AUTHORITY REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) For Real Estate Development & Finance Consulting Services RFP NO. 0008-2014 The DISTISTRICT OF COLUMBIA HOUSING AUTHORITY (DCHA), The District of Columbia Housing Authority (DCHA) is seeking proposals from interested Professionals to provide Real Estate Development & Finance Consulting Services for DCHA development and redevelopment projects. SOLICITATION DOCUMENTS will be available at 1133 North Capitol Street, NE, Room 300, Contracts and Procurement Administration, Washington, D.C. 20002 between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, or on our website at www.dchousing.org beginning Monday, January 13, 2014. SEALED PROPOSALS RESPONSES are due to the Issuing Office by 11:00 a.m. (ET) on Thursday, February 13, 2014. Contact the Issuing Office, Cheryl Moore on (202) 535-1212 or by e-mail on or chmoore@dchousing.org for additional information.
REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL NEW MARKETS TAX CREDIT AUDIT AND COMPLIANCE FINANCIAL SERVICES RFP No. - DCHE 2014-1 THE DC HOUSING ENTERPRISES (“DCHE”) is seeking to solicit proposals from qualified respondents to provide Audit and Compliance Financial Services that will include comprehensive professional services related to the organization and administration of the Audit, Tax Return, Underwriting and Closing responsibilities required for the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) Program to support DCHE staff, principal stakeholders, investors, CDFI Fund and borrowers. REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL DOCUMENTS will be available at the DC Housing Enterprises Procurement Office, 1133 North Capitol Street, N.E., Suite 300, Office of Administrative Services, Washington, D.C. 20002-7599 (Issuing Office); between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, beginning Monday, January 13, 2014. SEALED BIDS ARE DUE: Friday, February 14, 2014 @ 11:00 a.m. at the Issuing Office identified above. Please contact Lolita Washington, Contract Specialist at 202-535-1212 for additional information.
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The Washington Informer
January 16, - January 22, 2014
35
Jeep Patriot’s interior looks nice enough, if a little utilitarian. Its low price and decent off-road capability will appeal to drivers who crave weekend-warrior ruggedness. /Photo courtesy of Chrysler Group LLC
Jeep Patriot’s Low Price Makes it Compelling By Njuguna Kabugi WI Contributing Writer If your new year’s plans include acquiring a rugged fourwheel drive off-road marvel to subdue steep hills, ravines and boulders without a sweat, a Jeep may be a very wise choice. After all, Jeeps are the direct descendants of the World War II Willys MB – legendary solid vehicles that traversed just about every drivable surface imaginable. But before you sign the dotted line for that new Jeep keep in mind that as is the case in most families, there’s always the kid who’s unlike all the others. In Jeep’s case, the Patriot (and its clone, the Jeep Compass) is the odd kid. It may flaunt that unmistakable Jeep garage look – squared-off lines, seven-slot grille, and round headlights, but it lacks the essence of a Jeep’s DNA. Unlike the Jeep Wrangler or even the Cherokee, the Patriot is based on a car platform. In the world of off-road ruggedness, this makes the Patriot just a sheep in wolf ’s clothing. In a function where the Jeep family excels, the Patriot is only marginally better than Subaru’s and other 4x4 pretender crossovers that currently clog America’s roads. Born in the sad days preceding Chrysler’s descent into bankruptcy sometime during the waning days of the Bush administration, the Patriot is a child of compromises; a victim of corporate bungling that saddled the
36 January 16, - January 22, 2014
The Washington Informer
SUV with a bewildering choice of options and zero visibility in a hyper-competitive segment. The base trim lacks power windows, power door locks or air conditioning, which come standard on most rivals. The mid-range trim comes with cheap plastic interiors, less than adequate power for passing and merging, and no backup camera or navigation in an age when competitors offer these as standard. The Patriot also has mediocre fuel economy. EPA ratings range between 20 and 23 miles per gallon in city driving and 23 and 30 mpg on the highway, depending on the Patriot model. In comparison, the 2013 Mazda CX-5 with four cylinder and automatic transmission is rated at 26/32 mpg. But despite all the painful compromises forced on the Patriot, what is surprising is that it is still a viable alternative. For the driver, the Patriot’s visibility is a welcome relief in a class dominated by jelly bean competitors. Its boxy shape, with a fairly upright windshield shape, translates to a more spacious feeling inside because the roof doesn’t curl in on you. The interior is actually pretty good – rugged in a Jeep kind of way with everything bolted together solidly. There’s plenty of room for the passengers. Adults in the front and rear will appreciate the headroom and legroom. In addition, the
60/40-split rear seat folds flat when you need to haul big objects and the vertical rear end sheds snow and ice easier than the jelly bean’s bubble back. The Patriot is not particularly quick when merging to area highways but I found it nimble on twisty roads in the Virginia countryside and when maneuvering around the District of Columbia’s busy streets. The independent suspension works well, though there is quite a bit of tire noise as well as whiny engine noise when the Patriot is pushed hard. The Patriot’s low cost may be ideally suited for the price conscious driver. If you are on a small car budget, and you’d rather drive an SUV, you don’t have to settle for a small car. For less than what you can pay for a Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla or Ford Focus sedan, you can get a Patriot for less. The Jeep has the lowest manufacturer’s suggested retail price, including destination charge, of any new SUV on the market. The base 2013 Patriot with five-speed manual transmission starts at just $16,990, while the Patriot with four-wheel drive added, retails at $18,990. In comparison, the competing Kia Sportage retails at more than $19,800 for the two-wheel drive model. And the top-selling Honda CR-V has starting MSRPs of more than $23,600 for base, twowheel drive model. wi
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sports
Kingman Defeats Rita Bright 8-7
Events DC is soliciting proposals Events DC is soliciting proposals from qualified contractors to perform Marketing Services as specified in Request for Proposals No. (RFP) #14S-005-217. This is an Open Market Solicitation. Interested parties can obtain a copy of the RFP by accessing Events DC’s procurement website at https://www.wcsapex.com.
Rita Bright center Hasan Hill is double teamed by two opponents as he tries to get to the basket during the Kick-off Basketball Classic on Saturday, Jan.11 at the Rita Bright Family and Youth Center in Northwest. Kingman defeated Rita Bright 8-7. /Photo by John E. De Freitas
RFP Release Date: Proposal Due Date:
Thursday, January 9, 2014 Tuesday, January 28, 2014
View
Sports Photos by John De Freitas
at:
Rita Bright player Greg Lomax shields the basketball and drives past his Kingman opponent during the Kick-off Basketball Classic on Saturday, Jan.11 at the Rita Bright Family and Youth Center in Northwest. Kingman defeated Rita Bright 8-7. /Photo by John E. De Freitas
Kingman player Seth Owens is guarded by a Rita Bright defender during the second half of the Kick-off Basketball Classic on Saturday, Jan.11 at the Rita Bright Family and Youth Center in Northwest. Kingman defeated Rita Bright 8-7. /Photo by John E. De Freitas
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The Washington Informer
January 16, - January 22, 2014
37
sports
Houston Rockets Defeat Washington Wizards 114-107 FELD ENTERTAINMENT
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Washington Wizards guard John Wall goes between three Rockets defenders to score two of his 23 points on Saturday, Jan.11 at the Verizon Center in Northwest. The Rockets defeated the Wizards 114-107. /Photo by John E. De Freitas
Disney characters and artwork ©Disney, Disney/Pixar characters ©Disney/Pixar.
Houston Rockets center Dwight Howard shoots around Washington Wizards center Marcin Gortat and scores two of his 23 points on Saturday, Jan. 11 at the Verizon Center in Northwest. The Rockets defeated the Wizards 114-107. /Photo by John E. De Freitas
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Washington Wizards center Kevin Seraphin shoots over three Rockets defenders to score two of his 18 points on Saturday, Jan.11 at the Verizon Center in Northwest. The Rockets defeated the Wizards 114-107. /Photo by John E. De Freitas
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The Religion Corner
religion
A Day On, Not a Day Off The national holiday to honor the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is approaching, a time when the country, and perhaps the world reflects on what it would be like if we would live in peace around the world, without regard to our race, color or creed. We are reminded to help one another, coined “A Day on Not a Day Off!� In contrast, last week as I watched “12 Years a Slave� it was a reminder of how far African Americans have come. Wouldn’t it be a shame if we would forget to tell our younger generations from whence we’ve come? The movie was a true story, the events in the movie occurred, beginning in 1841, when slavery in America was in full force down south. There were, however, free Negro’s living in the northern states, above the Mason-Dixon Line. Solomon Northup was born a free man in Minerva, N.Y., in 1808. During the 1830s, Northup became locally known as an excellent fiddler, married and they had three children. Solomon’s wife and children had gone away for a three week trip where she would work as a cook to earn extra money for the family, two men offered Northup generous wages to join a traveling musical show, but soon after he accepted, they sold him into slavery. He was subsequently sold at auction in New Orleans. Northup served a number of masters – some brutally cruel and others whose humanity he praised. After years of bondage, he came into contact with an outspoken abolitionist
from Canada, who sent letters to notify Northup’s family of his whereabouts. An official state agent was sent to Louisiana to reclaim Northup, and he was successful through a number of coincidences. After he was freed, Northup filed kidnapping charges against the men who had defrauded him, but the lengthy trial that followed was ultimately dropped because of legal technicalities, and he received no remuneration. He did write the book about this ordeal, and the movie is based on this true story. One hundred years from 1863 from Northup’s death to 1963, African Americans here in America would suffer brutalities of remarkable proportions. It would take one woman to kick off a long campaign against injustices; Rosa Parks decided that she was tired of being treated unequally. She worked as a secretary for the NAACP, and she would not get up out of her seat for white riders one day. On December 5, 1955 everything changed. That is when Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. hit the national stage. The Montgomery Bus Boycott, in which African Americans refused to ride city buses in Montgomery, Ala., to protest segregated seating, took place from December 5, 1955, to December 20, 1956, and is regarded as the first large-scale demonstration against segregation in the U.S. The boycott of public buses by blacks in Montgomery began on the day of Parks’ court hearing and lasted 381 days. The U.S. Su-
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preme Court ultimately ordered Montgomery to integrate its bus system, and one of the leaders of the boycott, a young pastor named Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-68), emerged as a prominent national leader of the American civil rights movement in the wake of the action. Take time to see that your children and grandchildren know what has happened here in America. We don’t want this history to ever repeat itself. In the movie “12 Years a Slave� slave masters quote scriptures about why slaves should listen to their masters. I was honored that my pastor, the Rev. Dr. James Coleman asked me to head up Watch Night, where the committee shared this plight with the congregants.wi Lyndia Grant is an author, inspirational and motivational speaker, radio talk show host and columnist; visit her new website at www.lyndiagrant. com and, call 202-518-3192; email, lyndiagrant@gmail.com. Tune in Fridays at 6 p.m., to the radio talk show, 1340 AM, WYCB, a Radio One Station
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January 16, - January 22, 2014
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religion religion BAPTIST
african methodist episcopal
Historic St. Mary’s Episcopal Church The Reverend Lyndon Shakespeare Interim Priest Foggy Bottom • Founded in 1867 728 23rd Street, NW • Washington, DC 20037 Church office: 202-333-3985 • Fax : 202-338-4958 Worship Services Sundays: 10 a.m. Holy Eucharist with Music and Hymns Wednesdays: 12:10 p.m. - Holy Eucharist www.stmarysfoggybottom.org Email: stmarysoffice@stmarysfoggybottom.org All are welcome to St. Mary’s to Learn, Worship, and Grow.
Blessed Word of Life Church Dr. Dekontee L. & Dr. Ayele A. Johnson Pastors 4001 14th Street, NW Washington, DC 20011 (202) 265-6147 Office 1-800 576-1047 Voicemail/Fax Schedule of Services: Sunday School – 9:30 AM Sunday Morning Worship Service – 11:00 AM Communion Service – First Sunday Prayer Service/Bible Study – Tuesday, 6:30 PM www.blessedwordoflifechurch.org e-mail: church@blessedwordoflifechurch.org
Campbell AME Church Reverend Daryl K. Kearney, Pastor 2562 MLK Jr. Ave., S E Washington, DC 20020 Adm. Office 202-678-2263 Email:Campbell@mycame.org Sunday Worship Service 10: am Sunday Church School 8: 45 am Bible Study Wednesday 12:00 Noon Wednesday 7:00 pm Thursday 7: pm “Reaching Up To Reach Out” Mailing Address Campbell AME Church 2502 Stanton Road SE Washington, DC 20020
Mt. Zion Baptist Church Rev. John W. Davis, Pastor 5101 14th Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20011 202-726-2220/ 202-726-9089 Sunday Worship Service 8:00am and 11:00am Sunday School 9:15am Holy Communion 4th Sunday 10:00am Prayer and Bible Study Wednesday 7;00pm TV Ministry –Channel 6 Wednesday 10:00pm gsccm.administration@verizon.net
Pilgrim Baptist Church
700 I. Street, NE Washington, D.C. 20002 Pastor Louis B. Jones, II and Pilgrim invite you to join us during our July and August Summer schedule! Attire is Christian casual. Worship: Sundays@ 7:30 A.M. & 10:00 A.M. 3rd Sunday Holy Communion/Baptism/Consecration Prayer & Praise: Wednesdays @12:00 Noon @ 6:30 P.M. – One Hour of Power! (202) 547-8849 www.pilgrimbaptistdc.org
Covenant Baptist United Church of Christ Drs. Dennis W. and Christine Y. Wiley, Pastors 3845 South Capitol Street Washington, DC 20032 (202) 562-5576 (Office) (202) 562-4219 (Fax) SERVICES AND TIMES: SUNDAYS: 10:00 am AM Worship Services BIBLE STUDY: Wonderful Wednesdays in Worship and the Word Bible Study Wednesdays 12:00 Noon; 6:30 PM (dinner @ 5:30 PM) SUNDAY SCHOOL: 9:00 AM – Hour of Power “An inclusive ministry where all are welcomed and affirmed.” www.covenantbaptistdc.org
Twelfth Street Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) 1812 12th Street, NW Washington, DC 20009 Phone: 202-265-4494 Fax: 202 265 4340
Church of Living Waters
Rev. Paul Carrette Senior Pastor Harold Andrew, Assistant Pastor 4915 Wheeler Road Oxon Hill, MD 20745 301-894-6464 Schedule of Service Sunday Service: 8:30 AM & 11:00 AM Bible Study: Wednesday 7:30 PM Communion Service: First Sunday www.livingwatersmd.org
St. Stephen Baptist Church Lanier C. Twyman, Sr. Bishop 5757 Temple Hill Road, Temple Hills, MD 20748 Office 301-899-8885 – fax 301-899-2555 Sunday Early Morning Worship - 7:45 a.m. Church School - 9:30 a.m. Sunday Morning Worship – 10:45 a.m. Tuesday – Thursday - Kingdom Building Bible Institute – 7:30 p.m. Wednesday – Prayer/Praise/Bible Study – 7:30 p.m. Baptism & Communion Service- 4th Sunday – 10:30am Radio Broadcast WYCB -1340 AM-Sunday -6:00pm T.V. Broadcast - Channel 190 – Sunday -4:00pm/Tuesday 7:00am
“We are one in the Spirit” www.ssbc5757.org e-mail: ssbc5757@verizon.net
Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church Rev. Dr. Michael E. Bell, Sr., • Pastor 2498 Alabama Ave., SE • Washington D.C. 20020 Office: (202) 889-7296 Fax: (202) 889-2198 • www.acamec.org 2008: The Year of New Beginnings “Expect the Extraordinary”
Crusader Baptist Church
Sunday Morning Worship 11:00am Holy Communion – 1st Sunday Sunday School-9:45am Men’s Monday Bible Study – 7:00pm Wednesday Night Bible Study – 7:00pm Women’s Ministry Bible Study 3rd Friday -7:00pm Computer Classes- Announced Family and Marital Counseling by appointment E-mail: Crusadersbaptistchurch@verizon.net www.CrusadersBaptistChurch.org
“The Amazing, Awesome, Audacious Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church”
“God is Love”
Rev. Cheryl J. Sanders, Th.D. Senior Pastor 1204 Third Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 202.347.5889 office 202.638.1803 fax Sunday School: 9:30 a.m. Sunday Worship: 11:00 a.m. Prayer Meeting and Bible Study: Wed. 7:30 p.m. “Ambassadors for Christ to the Nation’s Capital” www.thirdstreet.org
Reverend Dr. Calvin L. Matthews • Senior Pastor 1200 Isle of Patmos Plaza, Northeast Washington, DC 20018 Office: (202) 529-6767 Fax: (202) 526-1661
Rev. Dr. Alton W. Jordan, Pastor 800 I Street, NE Washington, DC 20002 202-548-0707 Fax No. 202-548-0703
Sunday Worship Services: 8:00a.m. and 11:00a.m. Sunday Church School - 9:15a.m. & Sunday Adult Forum Bible Study - 10:30a.m. 2nd & 4th Monday Women’s Bible Study - 6:30p.m. Tuesday Jr./Sr. Bible Study - 10:00a.m. Tuesday Topical Bible Study - 6:30p.m. Tuesday New Beginnings Bible Study - 6:30p.m. Wednesday Pastoral Bible Study - 6:30p.m. Wednesday Children’s Bible Study - 6:30p.m. Thursday Men’s Bible Study - 6:30p.m. Friday before 1st Sunday Praise & Worship Service - 6:30p.m. Saturday Adult Bible Study - 10:00a.m.
Third Street Church of God
Isle of Patmos Baptist Church
Sunday Worship Services: 7:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Holy Communion: 2nd Sunday at 7:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Sunday Church School: 9:20 a.m. Seniors Bible Study: Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m. Noon Day Prayer Service: Tuesdays at Noon Bible Study: Tuesdays at 7 p.m. Motto: “A Ministry of Reconciliation Where Everybody is Somebody!” Website: http://isleofpatmosbc.org Church Email: ipbcsecretary@verizon.net
Greater Mt. Calvary Holy Church Bishop Alfred A. Owens, Jr.; Senior Bishop & Evangelist Susie C. Owens – Co-Pastor 610 Rhode Island Avenue, NE Washington, DC 20002 (202) 529-4547 office • (202) 529-4495 fax Sunday Worship Service: 8 AM and 10:45 AM Sunday Youth Worship Services: 1st & 4th 10:45 AM; 804 R.I. Ave., NE 5th 8 AM & 10:45 AM; Main Church Prayer Services Tuesday – Noon, Wednesday 6 AM & 6:30 PM Calvary Bible Institute: Year-Round Contact Church Communion Every 3rd Sunday The Church in The Hood that will do you Good! www.gmchc.org emailus@gmchc.org
ST Marks Baptist Come Worship with us... St. Mark's Baptist Church 624 Underwood Street, NW Washington, dc 20011 Dr. Raymond T. Matthews, Pastor and First Lady Marcia Matthews Sunday School 9:am Worship Service 10:am Wed. Noon Day prayer service Thur. Prayer service 6:45 pm Thur. Bible Study 7:15 pm
We are proud to provide the trophies for the Washington Informer Spelling Bee
Reverend Dr. Paul H. Saddler Senior Pastor Service and Times Sunday Worship Service 11:00 a.m. Communion every Sunday 11:00 a.m. Sunday School 10:00 a.m. Bible Study Tuesday 12Noon Pastor’s Bible Study Tuesday 6:30 p.m. Motto; “Discover Something Wonderful.” Website: 12thscc.org Email: Twelfthstcc@aol.com
Mount Carmel Baptist Church
52 Years of Expert Engraving Services
Joseph N. Evans, Ph.D Senior Pastor 901 Third Street N.W. Washington, DC. 20001 Phone (202) 842-3411 Fax (202) 682-9423 Sunday Church School : 9: 30am Sunday Morning Worship: 10: 45am Bible Study Tuesday: 6: 00pm Prayer Service Tuesday: 7:00pm Holy Communion: 3rd Sunday 10: 45am themcbc.org
40 January 16, - January 22, 2014
The Washington Informer
www.washingtoninformer.com
religion Baptist
Advertise Your Church services here: call Ron Burke at
202-561-4100 or email rburke@washingtoninformer.com Zion Baptist Church
All Nations Baptist Church Rev. Dr. James Coleman Pastor 2001 North Capitol St, N.E. • Washington, DC 20002 Phone (202) 832-9591
Website: www.allnationsbaptistchurch.com All Nations Baptist Church – A Church of Standards
“Where Jesus is the King”
Israel Baptist Church
4850 Blagdon Ave, NW • Washington D.C 20011 Phone (202) 722-4940 • Fax (202) 291-3773
1251 Saratoga Ave., NE Washington, DC 20018 (202) 269-0288
Rev. Aubrey C. Lewis Pastor 1415 Gallatin Street, NW Washington, DC 20011-3851 P: (202) 726-5940 Sunday Worship: 11:00 a.m. Sunday School: 9:15 a.m. Holy Communion: 11:00 a.m., 3rd Sun. Bible Study: Monday - 7:00 p.m. Prayer Meeting: Thursday - 7:00 p.m.
2324 Ontario Road, NW Washington, DC 20009 (202) 232-1730 Sunday School – 9:30 am Sunday Worship Service – 11:00 am Baptismal Service – 1st Sunday – 9:30 am Holy Communion – 1st Sunday – 11:00 am Prayer Meeting & Bible Study – Wednesday -7:30 pm
Rev. Dr. Morris L Shearin, Sr. Pastor
St. Luke Baptist Church
Rev. Daryl F. Bell Pastor
Sunday Church School – 9:30 AM Sunday Worship Service – 11:00 AM Holy Communion – 1st Sunday at 11:00 AM Prayer – Wednesdays, 6:00 PM Bible Study – Wednesdays, 7:00 PM Christian Education School of Biblical Knowledge Saturdays, 9:30 AM – 11:00 AM, Call for Registration
Rev. Keith W. Byrd, Sr. Pastor
Sunday Worship Service 10:15AM- Praise and Worship Services Sunday School 9:00am Monday: Noon Bible School Wednesday: Noon & 7PM: Pastor’s Bible Study Ordinance of Baptism 2nd Holy Communion 4th Sunday Mission Zion Baptist Church Shall; Enlist Sinners, Educate Students, Empower the Suffering, Encourage the Saints, and Exalt Our Savior. (Acts 2:41-47) www.zionbaptistchurchdc.org
King Emmanuel Baptist Church
Sunday Worship Service: 10:00 A.M. Sunday School: 8:30 A.M. Holy Communion1st Sunday: 10:00 A.M. Prayer Service: Wednesday at 6:30 P.M. Bible Study: Wednesday at 7:00 P.M.
Mount Moriah Baptist Church Dr. Lucius M. Dalton, Senior Pastor 1636 East Capitol Street, NE Washington, DC 20003 Telephone: 202-544-5588 Fax: 202-544-2964 Sunday Worship Services: 7:45 am and 10:45 am Holy Communion: 1st Sundays at 7:45 am and 10:45 am Sunday School: 9:30 am Prayer & Praise Service: Tuesdays at 12 noon and 6:30 pm Bible Study: Tuesdays at 1 pm and 7 pm Youth Bible Study: Fridays at 7 pm
Advertise Your Church services here: call Ron Burke at
202-561-4100 or email rburke@washingtoninformer.com
Advertise Your Church services here: call Ron Burke at
202-561-4100 or email rburke@washingtoninformer.com
Web: www.mountmoriahchurch.org Email: mtmoriah@mountmoriahchurch.org
St. Matthews Baptist Church Rev. Dr. Maxwell M. Washington Pastor 1105 New Jersey Ave, S.E • Washington, DC 20003 202 488-7298 Order of Services Sunday Worship Services: 9:05 A.M. Sunday School: 8:00 A.M. Holy Communion 3rd Sunday Morning Prayer Meeting: 7:00 P.M. (Tuesday) Bible Study: 7:30 P.M. (Tuesday) Theme: “Striving to be more like Jesus “Stewardship”. Philippians 3:12-14; Malachi 3:8-10 and 2 Corinthians 9:7 Email: stmatthewbaptist@msn.com Website: www.stmatthewsbaptist.com
Rehoboth Baptist Church
Salem Baptist Church
Emmanuel Baptist Church
Florida Avenue Baptist Church
Rev. Dr. Clinton W. Austin Pastor 2409 Ainger Pl.,SE – WDC 20020 (202) 678-0884 – Office (202) 678-0885 – Fax “Come Grow With Us and Establish a Blessed Family” Sunday Worship 7:30am & 10:45am Baptism/Holy Communion 3rd Sunday Family Bible Study Tuesdays – 6:30pm Prayer Service Tuesdays – 8:00pm www.emmanuelbaptistchurchdc.org
Dr. Earl D. Trent Senior Pastor
Rev. Dr. George C. Gilbert SR. Pastor
623 Florida Ave.. NW • WDC. 20001 Church (202) 667-3409 • Study (202) 265-0836 Home Study (301) 464-8211 • Fax (202) 483-4009
4504 Gault Place, N.E. Washington, D.C 20019 202-397-7775 – 7184
Sunday Worship Services: 10:00 a.m. Sunday Church School: 8:45 – 9:45 a.m. Holy Communion: Every First Sunday Intercessory Prayer: Monday – 7:00-8:00 p.m. Pastor’s Bible Study: Wednesday –7:45 p.m. Midweek Prayer: Wednesday – 7:00 p.m. Noonday Prayer Every Thursday
9:30AM. Sunday Church School 11:00 Am. Sunday Worship Service The Lord’s Supper 1st Sunday Wednesday 7:00pm Prayer & Praise Services 7:30pm. Bible Study Saturday before 4th Sunday Men, Women, Youth Discipleship Ministries 10:30am A Christ Centered Church htubc@comcast.net
Matthews Memorial Baptist Church
Sermon On The Mount Temple Of Joy Apostolic Faith 5606 Marlboro Pike District Heights, MD 20747 301-735-6005
Dr. C. Matthew Hudson, Jr, Pastor
Elder Herman L. Simms, Pastor
2616 MLK Ave., SE • Washington, DC 20020 Office 202-889-3709 • Fax 202-678-3304
Sunday Apostolic Worship Services 11:00 A.M and 5:00 P.M
Early Worship Service 7:30a.m Worship Service 10:45a.m. New Members Class 9:30a.m. Holy Communion : 1st Sunday -10:45a.m Church School 9:30a.m. Prayer, Praise and Bible Study: Wednesday 7p.m Bible Study : Saturday: 11a.m. Baptism: 4th Sunday – 10:45a.m “Empowered to love and Challenged to Lead a Multitude of Souls to Christ”
Communion and Feet Wash 4th Sunday at 5:00 P.M Prayer/Seeking Wednesday at 8:00 P.M. Apostolic in Doctrine, Pentecostal in Experience, Holiness in Living, Uncompromised and Unchanged. The Apostolic Faith is still alive –Acts 2:42
New Commandment Baptist Church
Peace Baptist Church
Rev. Stephen E. Tucker Senior Pastor
Rev. Dr. Michael T. Bell 712 18th Street, NE Washington, DC 20002 Phone 202-399-3450/ Fax 202-398-8836
13701 Old Jericho Park Road Bowie, MD. 20720 (301) 262-0560
Sunday Morning Worship Service 7:15 am & 10:50 am Sunday School 9:30am Sunday Morning Worship Service 10:50am Wednesday Prayer & Testimonies Service 7:30pm Wednesday School of the Bible 8:00pm Wednesday - Midweek Prayer Service 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Services: Sunday Worship 11 AM Sunday School 10 AM Wednesday Mid-Week Worship, Prayer & Bible Study - Wed. 7 PM “A Church Where Love Is Essential and Praise is Intentional”
“The Loving Church of the living lord “ Email Address pbcexec@verizon.net
Shiloh Baptist Church
First Rising Mt. Zion Baptist Church
1864-2014 150 Years of Service
Rev. Alonzo Hart Pastor
Rev. Dr. Wallace Charles Smith Pastor
Rev. Reginald M. Green, Sr., Interim Pastor
621 Alabama Avenue, S.E. • Washington, D.C. 20032 P: (202) 561-1111 F: (202) 561-1112
917 N St. NW • Washington, DC 20001 (202) 232-4294
9th & P Street, N.W. • W. D.C. 20001 (202) 232-4200
602 N Street NW • Washington, D.C. 20001 Office:(202) 289-4480 Fax: (202) 289-4595
The Church Where GOD Is Working.... And We Are Working With GOD
Sunrise Prayer Services - Sunday 7:00 a.m.
Sunday Morning Prayer Service: 8:00 a.m. Sunday Church School: 9:15 a.m. Sunday Morning Worship: 10:40 a.m. Third Sunday Baptismal & Holy Communion:10:30 a.m. Tuesday Church At Study Prayer & Praise: 6:30 p.m.
Morning Worship: 8:00 a.m Church School : 9:30 a.m. Morning Worship: 10:55 a.m. Bible Study, Thursday: 6:30 p.m. Prayer Meeting,Thursday : 7:30 p.m.
Sunday Service: 10 am Sunday School for all ages: 8:30 am 1st Sunday Baptism: 10: am 2nd Sunday Holy Communion: 10 am Tuesday: Bible Study: 6:30 pm Prayer Meeting: 7:45 pm Motto: God First
Sunday Worship Services: 7:45am & 11:00am Sunday school For All Ages 9:30am Prayer Services Wednesday 11:30am & 6:45pm Bible Institute Wednesday at Noon & 7:45pm “Changing Lives On Purpose “ Email: Froffice@firstrising.org Website: www.firstrising.org
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The Washington Informer
Holy Trinity United Baptist Church
Advertise Your Church services here: call Ron Burke at
202-561-4100 or email rburke@washingtoninformer.com
Pennsylvania Ave. Baptist Church Rev. Dr. Kendrick E. Curry Pastor 3000 Pennsylvania Ave.. S.E Washington, DC 20020 202 581-1500 Sunday Church School: 9:30 A.M. Sunday Worship Service: 11:00 A.M. Monday Adult Bible Study: 7:00 P.M. Wednesday Youth & Adult Activities: 6:30 P.M. Prayer Service Bible Study
Mt. Horeb Baptist Church Rev. Dr. H. B. Sampson, III Pastor 2914 Bladensburg Road, NE Wash., DC 20018 Office: (202) 529-3180 Fax: (202) 529-7738 Order of Services Worship Service: 7:30 a.m. Sunday School: 9:00 a.m. Worship Service: 10:30 a.m. Holy Communion: 4th Sunday 7:30 a.m. & 10:30a.m. Prayer Services: Tuesday 7:30 p.m. Wednesday 12 Noon Email:mthoreb@mthoreb.org Website:www.mthoreb.org For further information, please contact me at (202) 529-3180.
January 16, - January 22, 2014
41
legal notices
legal notices
legal notices
SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Probate Division Washington, D.C. 20001-2131
SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Probate Division Washington, D.C. 20001-2131
SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA PROBATE DIVISION Washington, D.C. 20001-2131
Administration No. 2013 ADM 1278 Virginia W. Love Decedent NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS Maxine Love Lowey, whose address is 6411 Country Club Court, Landover, MD 20785, was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of Virginia W. Love, who died on September 15, 2013 without a Will, and will serve without Court supervision. All unknown heirs and heirs whose whereabouts are unknown shall enter their appearance in this proceeding. Objections to such appointment shall be filed with the Register of Wills, D.C., 515 5th Street, N.W., Building A, Third Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before July 16, 2014. Claims against the decedent shall be presented to the undersigned with a copy to the Register of Wills or filed with the Register of Wills with a copy to the undersigned, on or before July 16, 2014, or be forever barred. Persons believed to be heirs or legatees of the decedent who do not receive a copy of this notice by mail within 25 days of its first publication shall so inform the Register of Wills, including name, address and relationship. Date of first publication: January 16, 2014 Maxine Love Lowey Personal Representative
Administration No. 2013 ADM 1273 Constance Mair Decedent James Larry Frazier, Esq. 918 Maryland Avenue, NE Washington, DC 20002 Attorney
Foreign No. 2013 FEP 147 March 18, 2007 Date of Death Garland Hudson Name of Decedent
NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS
NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT OF FOREIGN PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE AND NOTICE TO CREDITORS
Steven D. Mair, whose address is 8630 Gilroy Road, Nanjemoy, MD 20662, was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of Constance Mair, who died on November 1, 2013 without a Will, and will serve without Court supervision. All unknown heirs and heirs whose whereabouts are unknown shall enter their appearance in this proceeding. Objections to such appointment (or to the probate of decedent’s Will) shall be filed with the Register of Wills, D.C., 515 5th Street, N.W., Building A, Third Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before July 16, 2014. Claims against the decedent shall be presented to the undersigned with a copy to the Register of Wills or filed with the Register of Wills with a copy to the undersigned, on or before July 16, 2014, or be forever barred. Persons believed to be heirs or legatees of the decedent who do not receive a copy of this notice by mail within 25 days of its first publication shall so inform the Register of Wills, including name, address and relationship.
Brenda V. Harvey whose address is 3844 Halloway Circle, Upper Marlboro, MD 20772 was appointed personal representative of the estate of Garland Hudson, deceased, by the Orphan’s Court for Prince Georges County, State of Maryland, on September 5, 2013. Service of process may be made upon Harold W. Neal, 1622 Rosedale St. NE, Washington, DC whose designation as District of Columbia agent has been filed with the Register of Wills, D.C. The decedent owned the following District of Columbia real property: 1428 C St., SE Washington, DC. Claims against the decedent may be presented to the undersigned and filed with the Register of Wills of the District of Columbia, 515 5th Street, NW, Third Floor, Washington, D.C. 20001 within 6 months from the date of first publication of this notice.
Date of first publication: January 16, 2014 Steven D. Mair Personal Representative
TRUE TEST COPY
TRUE TEST COPY
Anne Meister Register of Wills Washington Informer
Anne Meister Register of Wills Washington Informer
Date of first publication: January 9, 2014 Brenda V. Harvey Personal Representative Anne Meister Register of Wills Washington Informer
legal notices SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Probate Division Washington, D.C. 20001-2131 Administration No. 2013 ADM 1312 Gabriel Benjamin, Jr. Decedent Jennifer E. Loud, Esquire The Loud Law Firm 7826 Eastern Avenue, NW. Suite 410 Washington, DC 20012 Attorney NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS
Foreign No. 2013 FEP 76 September 28, 2012 Date of Death Karen Matryce Minor Name of Decedent NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT OF FOREIGN PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE AND NOTICE TO CREDITORS Frank D. Dixon IV whose address is 2045 Rosewood Drive, Waldorf, MD 20601 was appointed personal representative of the estate of Karen Matryce Minor, deceased, by the Register of Wills Court for Prince Georges County, State of Maryland, on November 26, 2012. Service of process may be made upon Registered Agents Inc., 1150 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Ste., 900, Washington, DC 20036, whose designation as District of Columbia agent has been filed with the Register of Wills, D.C. The decedent owned the following District of Columbia real property: 1646 40th Street, SE, Washington, DC 20020. Claims against the decedent may be presented to the undersigned and filed with the Register of Wills of the District of Columbia, 515 5th Street, NW, Third Floor, Washington, D.C. 20001 within 6 months from the date of first publication of this notice. Date of first publication: January 16, 2014 Frank D. Dixon IV Personal Representative Anne Meister Register of Wills Washington Informer
SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Probate Division Washington, D.C. 20001-2131 Administration No. 2013 ADM 1231 Simon W. Melech Decedent Deborah D. Boddie, Esq. 1308 Ninth Street, NW, Suite 300 Washington, DC 20001 Attorney
SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA PROBATE DIVISION Washington, D.C. 20001-2131 Foreign No. 2013 FEP 146 June 16, 2013 Date of Death Jean Hudson Name of Decedent
NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS
NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT OF FOREIGN PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE AND NOTICE TO CREDITORS
Jaroslaw E. Melech, whose address is 3819 58th Avenue, Hyattsville, MD 20754, was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of Simon W. Melech, who died on November 5, 2006 with a Will, and will serve with Court supervision. All unknown heirs and heirs whose whereabouts are unknown shall enter their appearance in this proceeding. Objections to such appointment (or to the probate of decedent’s Will) shall be filed with the Register of Wills, D.C., 515 5th Street, N.W., Building A, Third Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before July 2, 2014. Claims against the decedent shall be presented to the undersigned with a copy to the Register of Wills or filed with the Register of Wills with a copy to the undersigned, on or before July 2, 2014, or be forever barred. Persons believed to be heirs or legatees of the decedent who do not receive a copy of this notice by mail within 25 days of its first publication shall so inform the Register of Wills, including name, address and relationship.
Brenda V. Harvey whose address is 3844 Halloway Circle, Upper Marlboro, MD 20773 was appointed personal representative of the estate of Garland Hudson, deceased, by the Orphan’s Court for Prince Georges County, State of Maryland, on August 28, 2013. Service of process may be made upon Harold W. Neal, 1622 Rosedale St. NE, Washington, DC, 20002 whose designation as District of Columbia agent has been filed with the Register of Wills, D.C. The decedent owned the following District of Columbia real property: 1428 C St., SE Washington, DC. Claims against the decedent may be presented to the undersigned and filed with the Register of Wills of the District of Columbia, 515 5th Street, NW, Third Floor, Washington, D.C. 20001 within 6 months from the date of first publication of this notice.
Date of first publication: January 2, 2014 Jaroslaw E. Melech Personal Representative TRUE TEST COPY Anne Meister Register of Wills Washington Informer
42 January 16, - January 22, 2014
Date of first publication: January 9, 2014 Brenda V. Harvey Personal Representative Anne Meister Register of Wills Washington Informer
The Washington Informer
CREDIT RESTORATION & DEBT ELIMINATION Restore your credit and change your life!!! Derrick Jason Smith (301) 383-1333 - Office (301) 744 - 7472 Direct derricksmith@remax.net www.vrtmg.com/kocredit
Regina D. Benjamin, whose address is 5228 4th Street, NW, #302, Washington, DC 200116369, was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of Gabriel Benjamin, Jr., who died on June 1, 2013 without a Will, and will serve without Court supervision. All unknown heirs and heirs whose whereabouts are unknown shall enter their appearance in this proceeding. Objections to such appointment shall be filed with the Register of Wills, D.C., 515 5th Street, N.W., Building A, Third Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before July 16, 2014. Claims against the decedent shall be presented to the undersigned with a copy to the Register of Wills or filed with the Register of Wills with a copy to the undersigned, on or before July 16, 2014, or be forever barred. Persons believed to be heirs or legatees of the decedent who do not receive a copy of this notice by mail within 25 days of its first publication shall so inform the Register of Wills, including name, address and relationship.
Reader Advisory: the National Trade Association we belong to has purchased the following classifieds. Determining the value of their service or product is advised by this publication. In order to avoid misunderstandings, some advertisers do not offer employment but rather supply the readers with manuals, directories and other materials designed to help their clients establish mail order selling and other businesses at home. Under NO circumstance should you send any money in advance or give the client your checking, license ID, or credit card numbers. Also beware of ads that claim to guarantee loans regardless of credit and note that if a credit repair company does business only over the phone it s illegal to request any money before delivering its service. All funds are based in US dollars. 800 numbers may or may not reach Canada.
Date of first publication: January 16, 2014
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like eating your seed corn while hearing that food must be saved for less plentiful times. I WANT CONGRESS TO THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX. As soon as another program is mentioned, recalcitrant Republicans and blue dog Democrats start worrying about cost. Here’s a thought – cut everything related to military spending except pensions. Or, how about getting rid of some of the hundreds of millions dollars spent on pork. What would happen if colleges such as Harvard and Yale (really, I’m not hating) got smaller grants or were required to partner with smaller schools when they get research grants, channeling a few dollars to those schools who really need them, and to the students who need more research opportunities.
I want Obamacare to work well. If affordable health care is part of the Obama legacy, then I want it to work, really work. It will take time for the president to live down the computer debacle, and heads should have rolled in response to the faulty rollout of the program. By the end of the first quarter of 2014, Obamacare should be working seamlessly, and people should really be able to see a difference because Obamacare exists. Bottom line – I’d like joy, peace, and economic justice by whatever means necessary. Happy New Year!wi Julianne Malveaux is a Washington, D.C.-based economist and writer. She is President Emerita of Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, N.C.
calization of dissatisfaction with Obama. This was unimaginable only a few weeks ago. Blacks turning away from Obama will be one of the top news stories of the year. The question is are Republicans prepared to take advantage of this opening within the Black community? Gun violence and mass shootings will continue, not because of the availability of guns; but because of the continued breakdown in our moral fabric. By 2016, I predict that morals and values will be in the top five issues of importance to voters. This liberal drift towards pluralism and relativism will begin to reverse itself with a lot of help from within the Black community. Republicans, are you listening? Look for a major reduction in corporate support for many of
the reality TV shows that have proliferated over the past several years. These corporations will find it increasingly more difficult to justify the expenditure of their corporate dollars from a cost/ benefit analysis. I expect to see more suicides from those who played professional football and hockey. The issue of trauma to the brain during violent sports is a lot worse than the public is being told. I think over the next few years, pro football will become unrecognizable as we know it today. There will be no comprehensive immigration reform. However, as a compromise, there will be a path to legalization, but not citizenship. Republicans who vote for citizenship will lose their next election and some will even be recalled before their next election (on the local level). Journalism will continue its downward spiral towards the cult of personality. Journalists will
continue down the path of becoming bigger than the story they are supposed to be covering. They will continue to put more emphasis on being famous versus being accurate. My final prediction is that Obamacare will be a huge albatross around the necks of the Democrats for the next three years and will make their retaining the White House very problematic. The issue will be are the Republicans prepared to address some the major problems facing America with policy solutions? If the answer is yes, then Republicans will win the White House. If the answer is no, we can kiss the America we know goodbye.wi Raynard Jackson is president & CEO of Raynard Jackson & Associates, LLC., a Washington, D.C.based public relations/government affairs firm. He can be reached through his Web site, http://www.raynardjackson.com. You can also follow him on Twitter at raynard1223.
leon continued from Page 31 is replete with examples of the difference in mindset between those who invade to steal resources and those who are willing to die to repel it. As was stated in Afghanistan applies to Iraq as well, “Americans have the watches; we have the time.” McCain and Gram are correct; the American people were misled by a narrative on the issue of Iraq but not by the Obama administration. They were misled by former President Bush, VP Cheney, Powell, Rice, Rumsfeld and a number of other officials in the Bush 41’ administration. Lest we forget the Office of Special Plans in the Pentagon led by Paul
Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith from September 2002 to June 2003? On March 19, 2003, U.S. forces began military operations in Iraq. President Bush stated: “The people of the United States and our friends and allies will not live at the mercy of an outlaw regime that threatens the peace with weapons of mass murder.” According to Representative Henry Waxman’s (DCA) report Iraq on the Record, Bush, Cheney, Powell, Rice, and Rumsfeld made 237 specific misleading statements about the threat posed by Iraq in 125 public appearances. These appearances consisted of “…40 speeches, 26 press conferences and briefings, 53 interviews, 4
written statements, and 2 congressional testimonies. Most of the statements in the database (report) were misleading because they expressed certainty where none existed or failed to acknowledge the doubts of intelligence officials. Ten of the statements were simply false.” According to the report, the statements began at least a year before the commencement of hostilities in Iraq, when Vice President Cheney stated on March 17, 2002: “We know they have biological and chemical weapons.” Bush and his cronies lied about Iraq’s nuclear capabilities, chemical and biological weapons, the relationship between Iraq and Al-Qaeda, and Iraq as an urgent threat.
malveaux continued from Page 31 for the past five years; I guess I’ll be wishing for the next few. (And don’t tell me that President Obama is president of everyone. He doesn’t cringe when saying Latino, women, or GBLT). I want our Congress to think long-term and provide more dollars for education, and for HBCUs, especially, because need more resources; most colleges that enroll fewer than 1,500 students with small endowments can use help. Many of these institutions are tuition-driven which means that cuts in financial aid, in Pell grants or Parent-Plus loans cut these colleges hard. Cutting education while suggesting the labor force should be more skills based is
jackson continued from Page 31
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They also lied about the possibility of a “mushroom cloud”, Iraq’s attempt to acquire uranium, and the relationship between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. McCain and Graham went on to say, “Thousands of brave Americans who fought, shed their blood, and lost their friends to bring peace to Fallujah and Iraq are now left to
wonder whether these sacrifices were in vain…” Again, they are correct but the confusion of our brave warriors is not due to President Obama’s withdrawing them from the conflict and removing them from harms way. Their consternation stems from the answers to four othSee leon on Page 46
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The Washington Informer
January 16, - January 22, 2014
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leon continued from Page 45 er questions. First, why did the Bush administration lie to Congress and the American people to get us into that ill advised, ill conceived, and reckless waist of blood and treasure in the first place? Second, why did irresponsible representatives such as McCain, Graham, et al fail curry continued from Page 32 ysis recounted. “The summer’s Shelby County decision paved the way for Republican-controlled state legislatures to continue pushing through voter ID laws, a movement purporting to fight voter fraud that in fact disenfranchises Democratic voting blocs, particularly minorities, by imposing stringent prerequisites to vote that many older and minority voters cannot easily meet. Previously, such measures – in states with a history of disenfranchising minorities – required approval from the Justice Department before being implemented.” The report noted that the Voting Rights Act’s preclearance provision had been invoked more than 700 times between 1982 and 2006 to prevent racially discriminatory voting proposals to go into effect. “Perhaps the one story that best encapsulates the way Fox News goes out of its way to paint a distorted image of the crossroads of race and crime in America, it’s the network’s coverage of the so-called ‘knockout
to stand up for the American people and real American interests and vote for the invasion of Iraq? They knew of should have known that the narrative provided by the administration was a lie? Third, why did President Obama forsake his obligation as President and give the perpetrators of this fraud a pass on their accountability by deciding to “turn the page”
and not investigate the obvious? Fourth, where has mainstream American media been in holding these war criminals accountable? The repercussions from the failures in Iraq are manifesting themselves in Syria, Afghanistan, Lebanon, and other parts of the world. Contrary to partisan foolishness and hype being touted by the likes of McCain
and Graham, it’s not due to an early withdrawal by President Obama. It’s due to the short-sighted perspective and arrogance of an overextended failing hegemon that never really understood its enemy to begin with. “Time in jail and time in the jihad mean nothing to us…Your watch’s battery will run down, and its hands will stop. But our time in the struggle will never
end. We will win.” America has the watches but the “enemy” has the time.wi Dr. Wilmer Leon is the Producer/ Host of the Sirius/XM Satellite radio channel 110 call-in talk radio program “Inside the Issues with Wilmer Leon” Go to www.wilmerleon.com or email:wjl3us@yahoo.com. www.twitter.com/drwleon and Dr. Leon’s Prescription at Facebook.com © 2013 InfoWave Communications, LLC
game,’” the report explained. “Fox described the knockout game as a violent and spreading trend primarily involving black youths assaulting unsuspecting and primarily white victims on the street for recreation. The network has run numerous segments on the alleged craze, and Fox’s Greta Van Susteren has dedicated a recurring segment to the phenomenon. “The primary take-away for viewers: Be afraid of young, black men and women, and don’t let yourself be an unsuspecting victim – black people could assault you at any time for no reason other than the fact that you’re white.” In fact, as the report states, “A New York Times piece on the knockout game cited police officials in several cities where attacks have been reported who concluded that the game ‘amounted to little more than an urban myth, and that the attacks in question might be nothing more than the sort of random assaults that have always occurred.’” wi
daniiels continued from Page 32
significant majorities Catholics, mainline Protestants, and those who identified themselves as religious but unaffiliated express a belief in evolution. However, it also found that 50 percent of Black Protestants believe in creationism, too. I’ll come back to this finding in a moment. Following the Pew survey’s release, Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank rhetorically asked whether the GOP’s “big tent [has] evolved into a house of worship” and suggested the findings indicate the GOP itself has increasingly become “a narrow group of conservatives who believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible – or partisans who regard evolution as a political question rather than science.” It’s that latter remark that offers a crucial insight. The GOP’s political leadership and operatives, sitting atop a party that is overwhelmingly White and becoming even more so, have become increasingly dependent on the religious fundamentalist group – White evangelical Protestants – in their
midst. That’s why, as Milbank writes, the “Republican Party is achieving the seemingly impossible feat of becoming even more theological.” That un-American development – the injection of an explicit religious creed into the political mainstream – is the opposite of how the 50 percent of Black Protestants who also believe in creationism have behaved. In sharp contrast, they’ve not tried to push their particular theological beliefs into the political realm. Instead, they, along with Black Americans and other Americans, have hewed to one of the pillars of the American political tradition: the separation of church and state. wi That’s a conservative principle today’s conservative movement would do well to follow. Lee A. Daniels is a longtime journalist based in New York City. His latest book is Last Chance: The Political Threat to Black America.
MUHAMMAD continued from Page 32
been given just months to live,” I said. “That’s something … I was not aware of that, and that is something I will be looking at when I get back to my office,” the Attorney General promised. Prisoner advocates have long joked and complained that President Barack Obama has pardoned nearly as many turkeys before Thanksgiving in an annual White House tradition, than he has pardoned deserving federal inmates. The week after the Trotter Group meeting, the White House announced that the president had pardoned three dozen inmates, though his total lags far behind even the most conservative of his predecessors. President Lyndon Johnson pardoned 1,187; Richard Nixon pardoned 926; and even Ronald Reagan gave clemency to 406 inmates. “Every time that we talk to people and hold them account-
able to our truths, and The Truth, and the truth of what we’re doing is super important,” Hanrahan said. “I want to connect even with the jailers, and the Holders, and the drone-strikeObamas. I want to connect with them and make them accountable really for what they’re doing. “Yes they have responsibility for leading and for doing more, and it’s our obligation at every moment to bring that forth, and that means, Askia, like you did, yes, I know it makes a difference. And we never know which tipping point. It might be the 30th person, it might be first person, it might be the 1,000th person. It might be one person standing in front of the White House. There are moments when consciousness is raised, and when accountability (even at the U.S. Supreme Court) follows the standards of human decency and popular will.” wi
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Americans’ views on evolution as a whole are about the same as four years ago, the proportion of Republicans who reject the theory of evolution and say human beings have always existed in their present form has sharply increased. The survey found that while 54 percent of Republicans said they believed in evolution four years ago, only 43 percent now do. Nearly half – 48 percent – now express a belief in creationism, compared with 39 percent four years ago. Those percentage swings differ sharply from the stability of views of the rest of the American public, regardless of how they’re differentiated: Overall, six in 10 Americans believe in evolution; one-third does not. Roughly two-thirds of both those who identify themselves as Democrats and those who identify themselves as Independents believe in evolution, findings essentially unchanged from 2009. The Pew study found that by
ing it in a Texas prison.” Stewart’s treatment will continue now at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Treatment Center in New York. One of the many nudges to federal officials on behalf of Stewart’s release came from this writer to Attorney General Eric Holder. In a White House meeting with members of The Trotter Group of African American Columnists and Commentators, I asked Holder about how few pardons and grants of clemency President Barack Obama has issued, and in particular about her appeal for compassionate release. “I’m not familiar with Ms. Stewart’s case … I know of her case, I’m not aware of the condition that you mention,” Holder said in response to my question. “She has stage-4 cancer and has The Washington Informer
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