John Lewis Documentary Page 30 Vol. 55, No. 34 • June 4 - 10, 2020
The District and America Burn with Anger, Disgust By Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer @StacyBrownMedia
5 Police officers from the Montgomery County’s 2nd District take a knee with protestors during a peaceful protest on June 2nd in Bethesda, Maryland against racism and police. (Brigette Squire/The Washington Informer)
As protesters burned the American flag and the White House went on lockdown, thousands of District residents took to the streets to express their outrage over the killing of a Black man, George Floyd, at the hands of officers entrusted to “protect and serve” the citizens of Minneapolis. The District counted among more than 30 U.S. cities in which large demonstrations have continued for nearly a week after Derek Chauvin, the recently fired policeman videotaped as he pressed his knee into a handcuffed and defenseless Floyd for nine minutes,
was arrested on the relatively minor charges of third-degree murder and manslaughter. Protests have erupted in the Twins Cities since the May 25 incident and have spilled over enforce in U.S. strongholds including Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Atlanta, Baltimore and Philadelphia. Beyoncé, Oprah, and former President Barack Obama remain among the higher-profile Americans who have publicly denounced Floyd’s murder, while Jamie Foxx and former basketball star Stephen Jackson, attended a rally days ago held in Minneapolis. “We are standing in solidarity
UPRISING Page 43
George Upsets Todd in Ward 4 as Other Incumbents Hold On By James Wright WI Staff Writer @Jamesdcwrighter
5 The unofficial results for the District of Columbia election show Janeese Lewis George defeating Brandon Todd for Ward 4 councilmember by almost 1,500 votes. (Shevry Lassiter/The Washington Informer)
District voters stood in long lines practicing social distancing at voting centers in the backdrop of a city dealing with a curfew, a coronavirus pandemic and delays in getting mail-in ballots forcing some to wait hours in line to cast their ballot in the June 2 primary. With the fate of four D.C. Councilmembers hanging in the balance, the incumbents prevailed with the exception of Brandon Todd of Ward 4 who lost his seat to political newcomer Janeese Lewis George according to unofficial data by the D.C. Board of Elections early on June 3. “The people of Ward 4 are ready for a leader who will put people first,” George tweeted on Twitter on June 3. “All D.C. voting centers are reporting results as of early this morning and the current returns show a decisive majority.
D.C. ELECTIONS Page 38
5 Sherman Hardy wearing prison garb displays a “I Can’t Breathe” sign during a demonstration at Eastover Shopping Center in Oxon Hill protesting the killing of George Floyd. (Anthony Tilghman/The Washington Informer)
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Women the Cycle of wi hotBreak topics Domestic Violence Police Accountability Kevin Durant Foundation
Group in Maryland Provides Food forlawFamilies enforcement. She said they Formed threat,” she said.
By Tia Carol Jones WI Staff Writer
had come together to bring a Among the programs Marlow Maryland will convene sense of uniformity in theA group way ofwants to lawmakers see implemented are this summer to discuss law enforcement policies and other issues. When L.Y. Marlow's 23-year- domestic violence victims and stricter restraining order policies, represent a formal unit called old daughter told her the father survivors are treated. The legislators more rights for victim's familiesthe Work to Address and Police of her daughter threatened her “She's using her own Group personal to intervene onReform behalf and of aAccountability. vicmeet in the fall butassessrecent ongoing life, and the life of their child, story, her own personalThe paingroup to planned tim, a to domestic violence protests led the lawmakers to meetwith sooner. Goals for the she knew something had to be push forward,” Davis-Nickens ment unit coupled further group include: reviewing and procedures related done. Out of her frustration said about Marlow. training forpolicies law enforcement with law enforcement's handling investigations of police misconduct; analyzing use of Davis-Nickens said toanyone agencies, a Child's Life Protecof the situation, she decided to who reads Marlow's book force will policiestion and Act arrest andprocedures; mandatoryreviewing counsel-the use of start the Saving Promise cam- “get it.” She said she “puts body cameras andfordisclosure of body camera footage; and the ing batterers. paign. case in such a way, theidentifying average best“If practices prosecution regards to law we areofever going toineradi“It seems to be a vicious cycle person can get it.” She said at the cate domestic enforcement related crimes. violence, we must that won't turn my family end of the day, the bookParticipating will look at bothappointed sides of tothe lawmakers thecoin. group include: loose,” Marlow said. Marlow help people begin to have We need to address25) both vic-Marlboro, Del.a diaDarryl Barnes (D-District of the Upper shared her story with the audi- logue about domestic violence. the batterer,” MarlowDel. Wanchair of the tim state’sand Legislative Black Caucus; ence at the District Heights Also present at the event was (D-District said. ika Fisher 47B) of Hyattsville; and Minority Domestic Symposium Mildred Muhammad, the exMarlow would also like to see portions 5 WandaViolence Durant, mother of NBA superstar Kevin DuWhip Kathy Szeliga, a Republican who represents onrant, Maychats 7 atwith the District wife ofTilghman/ John Allen Muhammad, programs designed to raise has been a student Heights May 30. (Anthony of Baltimore and Harford counties. The group Municipal Center. The sympo- who was sentenced to sixinstructed consec- toawareness among children in the 2021 The Washington Informer) formulate recommendations for sium was sponsored by the utive life terms withoutlegislative parole session. public and private schools. She The and Kevin Youth DurantServices Charity Foundation helped Family by a Maryland jury for his role in in feels children need toWhile be educat“Policing America is broken. we have taken a provideof boxes of food for more the thanBeltway 500 families Center the city of District Sniper attacks in ed about domestic violence. number of positive steps in Maryland, we can’t be satisfied Saturday, 30 at Bishop McNamara School Heights andMay the National Hook2002. High Mildred Muhammad is citizen “Wehashave to stopinbeing pasuntil every confidence their police departWanda Durant, mother of NBA su- the Trauma, sive-aggressive with poor chilUpinofForestville. Black Women. the founder of After ment,” House Speaker Adrienne Jones said in a statement. perstar Durant,a led volunteers to hand out MarlowKevin has written book, an organization that helps the dren about domestic violence,” “As the mother of two sons, accountability in policing is food for Princeis George’s County. “Color Me residents Butterfly,”inwhich a survivors of Since domestic violence Marlow said. not just philosophical, it is personal.” story about four generations ofthe and the coronavirus pandemic hit majority-Black jutheir children. Marlow has worked to break 3 House domestic violence. TheWorld book isFood Kitchen, risdiction in March, “I lived inCounty fear for six years. Six the cycle of abuse in her family, inspired bymembers, her own experiences, Council municipal officials nonprofyears and in fear is a long time. It is and is confident the policiesSpeaker she Adrienne Jones and those of her have grandmother, not an food easy drives thing to come out is pushing for will start that it organizations organized similar giving testiherto mother her daughter. she said.Prince process. provide and thousands of meals forof,” residents. mony She said every time she reads Mildred Muhammad said “I plan to take these policies to Jan. 23 George’s continues to lead the state of Maryland in Annapolis. excerpts from her book, she still people who want to help a Congress and implore them to with the most confirmed COVID-19 cases. Capital (File: William can not believe the words came domestic violence victim must change our laws,” Marlow said. Area Food Bank, which offers food and other serJ. Ford/The from Me Butterfly” be atcareful of how they go into “I will not stop until these polivicesher. for “Color Prince George’s, estimated least 400,000 Washington won the 2007 National “Best the victim's life, and people in the D.C. area remain “food insecure,” or understand cies are passed.” Informer) Books” Award. that she may be in “survival Tia Carol Jones can be reached lack the financial means or resources to purchase “I wasAbout just 16-years-old mode”. total reside at tiacaroljones@sbcglobal.net food. 120,000 ofwhen that estimated myin eye first blackened and my “Before you get to 'I'm going Prince George’s, the highest of the 10 jurisdictions lips bled,” Marlow said. to kill you,' it started as a verbal WI the food bank serves. Elaine Davis-Nickens, president of the National Hook-Up of Black Women, said there is no consistency in the way domestic violence issues are dealt with by D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine recently released the following statement [edited for length] regarding President Trump’s decision to direct federal law enforcement and military police to attack peaceful protestors demonstrating against police brutality outside of the White House on Monday night: “Today, as the District reels from a night of chaos sparked by a tyrannical president, local government must offer a promise to all residents: we are with you and we will protect you.” “The entire country watched as Donald Trump ordered federal law enforcement and military police to assault peaceful protesters and clergy exercising their constitutional rights – unconscionably, for a photo opportunity. He intended to shift the conversation away from police brutality. Instead, he gave it a primetime screening.” “No resident should be subject to use of force of any kind over a nonviolent offense like a curfew violation, especially during a protest over police brutality. These interactions should be opportunities to model calm, respectful police-civilian interactions.” “Not too long ago, mobs of white Americans regularly lynched Blacks in broad daylight. Today’s extrajudicial killings are documented with cell phone cameras. These incidents deserve our outrage. And that outrage, properly channeled, is where we can find hope for a more just future. We must encourage our citizens to peacefully demand solutions. We must listen to their calls. And we must act to break the cycle.”
“
AG Racine Calls Trump’s Order Against Protesters ‘Police Brutality’
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.
“
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L.Y. Marlow
AROUND THE REGION Washington Highlands Marks One Year Without Fatal Shootings
Other Gun Crimes, Viability of Violence Interrupter Program Remain Areas of Concern By Sam P.K. Collins WI Contributing Writer @SamPKCollins Amid a global pandemic, the gun-related death of a local grandmother, and an uprising against racialized police violence, some residents of Washington Highlands are quietly acknowledging the recent passing of a year without a gun-related homicide in their community. The milestone, for which a celebration is pending, has been largely credited to Cure the Streets, a violence interrupter program in the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) that operates between 3rd and 6th streets, and Barnaby Road and Atlantic Street in Southeast — much of which is considered Washington Highlands. Julia Tutt, a Washington Highlands community member of 12 years, reflected on the significance of the occurrence while on her way to work at the polls. “My residents are happy and the kids who come out don’t have to worry about kids getting shot,” said Tutt, who has served as resident council president at Highland Additions on 8th and Xenia Streets in Southeast for nearly four years. The last time the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) documented a homicide at Washington Highlands was on the evening of May 9, 2019, when officers responded to reports of gunshots. Upon arrival, they found an unconscious Mark Milline Jr., 28, who would later be seen on camera running away from his assailants just minutes before his death. In the year since, a 48-year-old man lost his life on the nearby 700 block of Brandywine Street, in an area just outside of this Cure the Streets group’s purview. However, Washington Highland residents endured at least four incidents of gun-related assault. The fear of gunshots had often prevented Tutt, and her daughter and grandson, from taking brief walks around the corner or up the street. In 2016, out of what she said was a yearning to curb
violence, Tutt assumed a role as Highland Additions’ resident council president. That year, the MPD documented eight gun-related assaults. By August of the following year, the violence interrupters and outreach workers of Cure the Streets — oftentimes sporting blue, yellow and white varsity jackets — had started using their rapport with Washington Highlands residents in their attempt to prevent acts of gun violence and settle disputes — independent of the police, a Cure the Streets official told The Informer. In addition to Washington Highlands, that particular Cure the Streets group, composed of members of the National Association for the Advancement of
Returning Citizens, developed ties with residents at Trenton Park and Wahler Place — part of what’s designated by the MPD as cluster 39. “Cure the Streets was always around. They posted up, and they walked the block and talked to the guys that hang out in the cuts,” Tutt said. “They make us feel comfortable. [Cure the Streets] being with the guys and de-escalating situations helps. I hope that it continues to be like this.” Mayor Muriel Bowser’s fiscal 2021 budget proposal doesn’t renew Cure the Streets’ access to the City Litigation Fund and removes more than $3 million from Cure the Streets — half of what Attorney General Karl Racine reportedly committed to allocating. It also includes a decrease of more than
10 percent in funding for the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement. This happens as Cure the Streets cohorts dispatched throughout Wards 5, 7 and 8 respond to coronavirus-related food and resource gaps activists said have exacerbated the violence in recent months. While some D.C. Council members and crime-reduction advocates have raised their concerns about the proposed funding cuts, others such as Washington Highlands resident Olivia Henderson
have been vocal in demanding violence interrupters either strongly confront those using guns or cease operations altogether. For Henderson, a homeowner and community leader of 12 years, MPD, not Cure the Streets, has been the leading force behind the reduction in gun-related homicides. “The violence interrupters in the community are being part of the problem instead of the solu-
ONE YEAR Page 43
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5 Julia Tutt, resident council president at Highland Additions, prepares to feed those in need in the neighborhood each day from noon to 2 p.m. (Brigette Squire/The Washington Informer)
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black facts
JUNE 4 - 10, 2020 SOURCE: BLACK AMERICA WEB
JUNE 4
1961 – Soul crooner El DeBarge, who became a star with his siblings in the early 1980s before enjoying a successful solo career, is born. 1972 – Angela Davis, famed civil rights activist and Black Panther Party affiliate, is acquitted by an all-white jury in San Jose, California, of conspiracy charges stemming from a 1970 courtroom shootout.
JUNE 5
1945 – John Carlos, a Black American track and field athlete best known for raising a black gloved fist alongside Tommie Smith at the 1968 Olympics during the American national anthem after winning a bronze medal, is born. 1973 – Doris A. Davis is elected as mayor of Compton, California, making her the first-ever African American woman elected mayor of a metropolitan city.
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shot in Mississippi by a white man during a civil rights march. 2004 – Phylicia Rashad of “The Cosby Show” fame becomes the first Black actress to win a Tony for a JUNE 6 leading dramatic role 1944 – Tommie Smith, an American track and for her turn as Lena field gold medalist at the 1968 Olympics who raised Younger in “A Raisin a black gloved fist with fellow Black American John in the Sun.” Carlos, is born. 1966 – James Meredith, the first African American JUNE 7 student admit1943 – Nikki Giovanni, renowned poet, writer, comted to the mentator, activist and educator, is born in Knoxville, segregated University Tennessee. of Missis- 1958 – Music legend Prince, who released 39 albums, won seven Grammy Awards, an Oscar and was insippi, is ducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, is born in Minneapolis.
JUNE 8
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1953 – The Supreme Court rules that restaurants and bars in Washington, D.C., are required to serve African American customers.
JUNE 9
1845 – Businessman and politician James Napier, who served as Register of the U.S. Treasury under President William Taft, is born. 1934 – Legendary soul singer Jackie Wilson is born in Detroit.
JUNE 10
ANGELA DAVIS 6 - JUNE 4 - 10, 2020
1895 – Actress Hattie McDaniel, who in 1940 was the first African American to win an Oscar for her role as Mammy in “Gone With the Wind,” is born. 1946 – Famed boxer Jack Johnson, the first African American world heavyweight champion, dies. WI
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It doesn’t matter, it’s about making a point. What happened is wrong and it happens a lot! So people aren’t going to stop ‘til they feel heard. We should not be scared of the police.
PATRICIA PETERSON / NEW YORK CITY
That’s not the answer to burn where you live. I do feel angry too, more than angry … can’t put it into words. We as a people have to come together in unity.
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The World According to Dominic BY D. KEVIN MCNEIR / WI EDITOR / @DKEVINMCNEIR
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The more things change, the more they remain the same. In 1903, W. E. B. Du Bois prophetically stated: “The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line.” It is a well-known sentence that is rarely quoted completely. Du Bois goes on to describe the color line as “the question of how far differences of race . . . will hereafter be made the basis of denying to over half the world the right of sharing to their utmost ability the opportunities and privileges of modern civilization.” In “The Souls of Black Folk,” he goes on to say it is “the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea,” later adding, “it was a phase of this problem that caused the Civil War.” Yes, the more things change, the more they remain the same. Since the news first broke of the police-involved murder of George Floyd on May 25, cities across the U.S. have erupted with protests, riots, burnings, prayer vigils and incessant cries for justice. Justice for all. Ever the optimist, until perhaps his last days of life, the Rev. Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. exclaimed in his incomparable “‘I Have A Dream”, ‘I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.’ That was the crux of his speech which he delivered at the March on Washington on August 28, 1963. And still we await the day when Dr. King’s prayer – his hope for tomorrow – will become our reality. Here in the District just a few nights ago, I watched in horror as over 1,000 mostly-peaceful protesters were corralled into dead end streets, beaten with batons, subjected to tear gas and arrested as the Trump Administration unjustly flexed its muscles. On June 3, reports now indicate that the decision to pounce aggressively on a crowd of protesters – citizens exercising their fundamental rights – came upon the bequest of Attorney General William P. Barr who personally ordered law enforcement officials to clear the streets around Lafayette Square. It seems that once again, the president has passed the buck. Still, one must question if clearing the streets so that Trump could pose with a Bible in hand on the steps of St. John’s Episcopal Church merited the doling out of incalculable pain and suffering experienced by a throng of protesters on the evening of June 1. In an interview earlier on June 1, Benjamin Crump, the attorney for the family of George Floyd, shared the following with this reporter and other members of the Black Press. “The family of George Floyd, seeing what has taken place since his tragic death, wants me to ask America to take a breath,” Crump said. “Take a breath for peace, take a breath for justice, take a breath in order to heal out country and take a breath for George.” “Before his death, he [George] prayed for peace in Ferguson, Baltimore – even in Sacramento. As
we prepare to bury George, let’s all take a breath to heal our country – let’s take a breath for George,” Crump said. Breathing, or the inability to do so, has become a fundamental concern here in the U.S. and around the globe, given the health pandemic we continue to face and to battle. Prior to COVID-19, maybe we all took for granted how important the routine practice of inhaling and exhaling remain to keeping us alive. The murder of George Floyd, following a long string of other Black men and women whose lives were prematurely snuffed out at the hands of police or want-to-be police officers, reminds us how important – how vital – it is to maintain the right to breathe. I called my youngest child, my son Jared who’s 26 and lives in Harlem last night. After a few perfunctory hellos and how are you doings, I asked him if he had been out protesting with others in New York City. He told he had not. Then I asked him to stay out of the mix – away from the skirmishes. I know that some of his friends are following their hearts and participating in acts of public protest. Yes, they are within their rights. But I only have one son. And I do not want to lose him like the mother of George Floyd who must now, somehow, deal with this recent, senseless tragedy. With his dying breath, we know Floyd called out to his mother one last time, hoping she could alleviate his pain and supply him with life – with breath. I do not want to lose my son like Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin lost theirs, Trayvon White. Tracy would say, years ago, “if he had been white this would not have happened,” referring to the murder of his 17-year-old son. The more things change, the more they stay the same. But everything must change – somehow, someway, someday. WI
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COVID-19 Changes District’s Summer High-Profile Events
AROUND THE REGION
By James Wright WI Staff Writer @Jamesdcwrighter
The coronavirus pandemic has changed the District’s summer season with such high-profile events as Fourth of July parades and Juneteenth celebrations having been postponed, cancelled or changed to virtual affairs. The July 4 parades have drawn thousands of people to the District for years, but this summer will be an exception because of the public health emergency Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) declared in March. While the District partially reopened on May 29, with restrictions that no more than 10 people can gather in one place, the mayor made it clear earlier that week that activities such as parades won’t take place in the city anytime soon. “No permits for parades will be granted under Phase One,” Bowser said at a May 26 news conference. As a result, the Barracks Row July Fourth parade will not take place, The Informer has learned. “I have been told that the police can’t support a parade this year so we will cancel this year’s event,” Philip Guire, organizer of the event, said in an email. Neither will the July Fourth parade sponsored by the Palisades Citizens Association, an event that dates back to 1966. “We will not hold the parade this summer because of the mayor’s order,” said Avi Green, president of the Palisades Citizens Association. “We are looking at having a virtual parade. It will be different and creative.” For many years, the National Independence Day parade has taken place on July 4th but the National Park Service has indicated that the event, which takes place largely along Constitution Avenue NW, has been canceled. However, the Trump administration has made it clear that the second annual “Salute to America” Independence Day event will take place, which has drawn the ire of several D.C.-area lawmakers. Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) penned a letter to the secretaries of Defense and Interior on May 26 expressing
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5 The District of Columbia has canceled parade permits for this summer. (WI File Photo/Roy Lewis)
concerns about a gathering on the National Mall. The letter received the support of D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), Reps. Anthony Brown (D-Md.), Jamie Raskin (DMd.), David Trone (D-Md.), Gerald Connally (D-Va.) and Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.), and Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Chris Van Hollen (DMd.), who all requested the administration cancel the event. “Given the number of individuals that want to try to attend such an event, logistically such an event would be impossible to put on safely,” an excerpt of the letter said. While July 4th celebrates America’s independence as a nation, many African Americans in the District view Juneteenth, or June 19th, as a day feting freedom also. On June 19, 1865 Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Tex., and proclaimed slavery illegal in the state, making the Lone Star State the last to get the word about the demise of the practice. Since then, June 19th has been celebrated in the city at some level but according to the Juneteenth in DC website, all activities have been postponed. “Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, our 2020 Juneteenth in DC Festival and Community Learning events will not go forward as planned. We will provide more information about how we plan to observe Juneteenth as the situation changes,” the website said.
The Celebration 2020-Capital Pride Alliance indicated on its website that its June 5-June 14 calendar of activities have been postponed. “In lieu of traditional Pride events and in-person gatherings, Pride 2020 Reimagined will include new programming for Pride Month this June, ongoing monthly programs and potential events for later this Fall dependent on social distancing requirements at that time, the website said. The 28th annual Giant National Capital Barbecue won’t have its usual booths of food and information on Pennsylvania and Constitution avenues in Northwest this year. Instead, the event will be virtual, said Ira Kress, interim president at Giant Food. “The [event] is a tradition that we look forward to every year with over 100,000 visitors gathering together to celebrate food, fun and summer while raising money and awareness for USO-Metro and the Capital Food Bank,” Kress said. “With the change in what this new normal looks like, our team was committed to finding a way to maintain all that while creating a truly unique virtual experience we can all take part in safely from home.” Norton supports Giant’s approach this summer. “I am grateful that this year Giant is refusing to give into COVID-19 but instead promises an unprecedented monthlong virtual BBQ Battle experience,” she said. WI
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AROUND THE REGION CAPTURE THE MOMENT Families from all over the DMV, for an evening of food and drinks, hurried to “ALERO” Restaurant following two months of lockdown on Friday May 29 2020 in Northwest DC. (Roy Lewis/Washington Informer)
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AROUND THE REGION Bowser Criticizes Trump’s Excessive Use of Force Orders Protesters Cite Unjustified Attacks at Hands of Law Enforcement Officials
By Sam P.K. Collins WI Contributing Writer @SamPKCollins While nearly a week of mass protests continue following the death of George Floyd, activists and elected officials alike now cite what they’ve described as President Donald Trump’s increasingly confrontational rhetoric toward protesters and the in appropriate use of physical force by law enforcement officials under his directive which have dominated the American scene. On Tuesday morning, one day after federal police officers shot cans of tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters gathered in front of the White House, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) joined the chorus of those vocally opposed to Trump and his assertion as the “president of law and order.”
On Twitter, and in a later news broadcast, Bowser drew a stark contrast between Trump’s approach and her attempts to mitigate conflict with a citywide curfew. “We were very shocked and quite frankly outraged that people who were not violating the curfew and who did not seem to have provoked [the] attack were attacked and moved out by the federal law enforcement officials who were directed to clear the way for the president,” Bowser said during a CNN broadcast. On June 1, shortly after federal law officials unleashed such force on the protesters, Trump, took a photo in front of nearby St. John’s Episcopal Church with a Bible in hand. These events unfolded just hours after a teleconference where Trump he admonished state governors for not aggressively quell-
ing civil unrest which has grown in intensity across the U.S. Since footage of Floyd’s on-camera death in police custody has circulated online, activist groups of various ethnicities have organized protests throughout the country and abroad out of frustration with racialized police brutality. However, last weekend, some participants in the District and in other cities, have taken to destroying property and looting businesses. That aspect of the social unrest has proven polarizing, with people debating the efficacy of protesters engaging in such acts. While supporters have pointed to the loss of human life as the catalyst, Trump has remained consistent in his pledge to dispatch military forces into U.S. cities. A few days into the protests which in some cases have resulted
in violent clashes between vocal citizens and police, some overtaking portions of the District, Bowser administration officials said they too have felt pressured to act harshly and swiftly. On Tuesday, Chief of Staff John Falcicchio confirmed that the White House and other federal officials inquired about taking over the Metropolitan Police Department [MPD], saying that Bowser had refused and threatened to issue a legal challenge if an attempt was made. Falccichio made the announcement just hours after dozens of protesters emerged from hiding in a resident’s home on Swann Street in Northwest on Tuesday after an overnight confrontation with MPD during which police officers allegedly pepper sprayed and beat hundreds of people violating curfew.
In response to the public outcry to what transpired on Swann Street, D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen (D-Ward 6) pledged accountability while reminding District residents about the significance of statehood in matters of engaging the White House and federal law enforcement. “I want D.C. residents to know that as the Chair of the D.C. Council’s Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety, my office will be conducting oversight of incidents where individual rights or personal safety may have been violated by law enforcement, keeping in mind that the committee maintains jurisdiction only over local police,” Allen said Tuesday evening. “This specifically includes a review into the activities last night along Swann St., NW.” WI
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JUNE 4 - 10, 2020 11
PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY Biden Wins Maryland Primary, Brown Re-Elected By William J. Ford WI Staff Writer @jabariwill
Although Maryland conducted its presidential primary election primarily by mail-in ballots, long lines late in the day Tuesday, June 2 caused a delay in counting ballots. It didn’t matter because former Vice President Joe Biden easily wins the Democratic presidential primary with 418,524 votes, according to unofficial results. The second-place finisher, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), garnered 28,590 votes. Because Sanders dropped out of the Democratic presidential race, Biden will be the presumptive nominee at the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee in August. Democrats are helping to prepare Biden to challenge Republican President Donald Trump in the November general election. According to the state board of elec-
tions, unofficial results don’t include ballots postmarked and those slipped in drop box ballots Tuesday. The state mailed more than three million ballots to registered voters in Maryland’s first election conducted primarily by mail. On Tuesday, about 38,000 voters in-person statewide before 8 p.m. Locally, Prince George’s County had nearly 629,000 registered voters by April 30. As of Tuesday morning, the county’s Board of Elections received almost 126,170 vote-by-mail ballots and 6,405 absentee ballots. As of 8 a.m. Wednesday, June 3, the results from those who voted Tuesday aren’t tallied on the county Board of Elections website. In addition, election officials must still count ballots postmarked by June 2 that may take a few days to receive. Unofficial results show the two Congressional incumbents with large margins and declared winners of the
Democratic nomination. Longtime Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Maryland) easily won the Democratic nomination for the 5th Congressional district with 28,553 votes. The district includes Southern Maryland’s three counties and portions of Prince George’s and Anne Arundel counties. “I am honored that Democrats in Maryland’s Fifth Congressional District have once again selected me to be their nominee, and I thank all those who worked hard to ensure that voters in Maryland could cast their ballots and have them counted amid the unprecedented circumstances of this pandemic,” Hoyer said in a statement. “I will continue to fight every day for the values of our party and our District, for equality, justice, and opportunity for all.” Hoyer will face Republican Doug Sayers in the general election, but Democrats outnumber Republicans in the state by a 2-to-1 ratio. Rep. Anthony Brown (D-Maryland), who represents the 4th Congressional district in portions of Prince George’s and Anne Arundel counties, won the Democratic nomination with 56,733 votes. Slightly more than 45,000 came from Prince George’s with municipalities and communities that include District Heights, Glenarden and Largo. The other candidates, Shelia Bryant, received 8,740 votes and Kim A. Shelton with 2,278 votes. Brown will face Republican challenger George McDermott. With Prince George’s housing the most Democratic voters in Maryland, Brown anticipates retaining his seat. In a rare judicial contest, Prince
Prince George’s Reopens With Restrictions By William J. Ford WI Staff Writer @jabariwill
Dozens of Prince George’s County businesses reopened Monday, June
1 as coronavirus-related shutdowns slowly lift, with county restaurants again offering curbside pickup and outdoor seating and motorists able to give their vehicles a shine at automated car washes.
5 From left: Richard and Angela Melton Fray and their children, Morgan and Richie, run the family-owned business of Dat Jerk Caribbean Chargrill in Glenarden. (Anthony Tilghman/The Washington Informer
12 - JUNE 4 - 10, 2020
“Prince George’s County enters a modified phase one reopening,” County Executive Angela Alsobrooks tweeted Monday. “Please remember to limit nonessential trips, and if you do leave your home, practice social distancing and use a face covering.” Some restaurants such as Dat Jerk Caribbean Chargrill in Glenarden remained open for carryout services. The Black-owned family operation closed for about three weeks and reopened April 20. The business managed by Richard and Angela Melton Fray, their children Richie and Morgan, and Patricia Powell, Richard Fray’s sister, incorporated safety measures due to the coronavirus pandemic. Blue tape on the floor marked spots to ensure customers stand six feet apart, while plexiglass was placed above
5 Congressman Anthony G. Brown greeted voters at the polls on election day in Prince George’s County, June 2nd. (Anthony Tilghman/The Washington Informer)
George’s voters had to select five Circuit Court judges. Judge races are nonpartisan, so all seven candidates ran on the Democratic and Republican ballots. The top five vote-getters on either ballot will appear on the November general election ballot. The winners will serve 15-year terms. So far, incumbent Wytonja Curry received the most votes on the Democratic ballot with 61,536 votes, but did not make the top five candidates on the Republican ballot. The other four candidates with the top votes on the Democratic ballot are incumbents ShaRon M. Grayson with 59,880, Cathy H. Serrette with 53,413 and Jared Michael McCarthy with 47,812. Gladys Weatherspoon, a defense attorney who ran an independent campaign, garnered 47,564 votes. Weatherspoon also received the fourth highest number of votes on the Republican ballot with 2,430 votes, acthe registers for customer and employee protection. A stanchion kept the line of customers from the food preparation area behind glass. Besides masks and gloves for the employees, the Frays purchased automated hand sanitizer and paper towels dispensers “to eliminate all the touching and unnecessary germs that could spread,” said Morgan Fray, 22, who not only manages the Glenarden restaurant but also provides employee training there and at the restaurant’s Waldorf location in neighboring Charles County. The Waldorf locale provides outdoor dining, but the Glenarden one does not. That didn’t stop customers such as Kia Proctor of Upper Marlboro from purchasing food Monday. One of her favorite dishes is honey lime jerk sauce on salmon and shrimp.
REOPEN Page 44
cording to unofficial results. The other candidates who received the other top four spots on the Republican ballot are Serrette with 3,348 votes; McCarthy with 3,327; incumbent Byron Seth Bereano with 2,931; and Grayson with 2,301. April Ademiluyi, an attorney who practices real estate and intellectual property and ran an independent campaign, received the lowest vote total on both the Democratic and Republican ballots with 41,596 and 1,857, respectively. Two Prince George’s political novices are on top of the two school board races. In District 4, Shayla Adams-Stafford has 3,508 votes. Adams-Stafford, who received the only non-incumbent endorsement from Progressive Maryland, works as an instructional coach training teachers. She also runs a nonprofit organization called “RemixEducation,” which seeks to provide resources for first-generation college students. Incumbent Bryan Swann stands in second place with 1,952 votes. Mohammed Ali garnered 1,100 votes. Trina D. Brown with 905 votes and Alethia J. Simmons with 449. District 4 schools include Beacon Heights Elementary in Riverdale, Kenmoor Middle in Landover and Bladensburg High. Kenneth F. Harris II, a graduate of Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt who works as a mechanical engineer at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, sits as the top vote-getter for the District 7 school board seat with 4,693. District 7 schools include Arrowhead Elementary in Upper Marlboro, Benjamin Stoddert Middle in Temple Hills and Suitland High in Forestville. Alexis Branch, a 2019 graduate from Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina, garnered 3,104 votes and incumbent K. Alexander Wallace with 1,336 votes. WI
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PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY
Prince George’s Approves FY21 Budget By William J. Ford WI Staff Writer @jabariwill Prince George’s County unanimously approved a fiscal year 2021 budget with an uncertain future amid the coronavirus pandemic. The nearly $4.5 billion budget will keep essential services intact, but the pandemic has ravaged the majority-Black jurisdiction with at least 86,000 residents filing for unemployment and numerous small businesses temporarily shutting down. Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsbrooks presented a revised budget last month that showed the virus created a $134 million decrease in revenues, including income, transfer and recordation taxes and licenses and permit fees. To close the revenue gap, the
county will use $30 million from the fund balance and implement a hiring and salary freeze. However, budget doesn’t call for any employee layoffs or tax increases. “[The coronavirus] has changed life as we know it,” Council president Todd Turner (D-District 4) of Bowie, said Friday, May 29. “At least for now, it has also changed the way this county council and this government operates.” Education takes up the bulk of the spending plan, at nearly $2.8 billion, or 66 percent. According to a revised plan, Board of Education funding decreased by $7.7 million, including $2.6 million in instructional salaries and $1 million toward special education. The county’s contribution of $460,000 to education exceeds the maintenance of effort, a state provision that requires county governments to provide a share
toward school funding. The pandemic will also affect The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, the $4 billion education plan state lawmakers approved last month to increase teacher salaries, expand early childhood and hire additional mental health providers and guidance counselors. The plan represents recommendations from the Commission on Innovation and Excellence in Education, nicknamed the Kirwan Commission after its chair, former University of Maryland system chancellor William E. “Brit” Kirwan. Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, vetoed the plan but the Democratic-controlled legislature expects to override his veto when the General Assembly reconvenes in January. Although state revenues remain uncertain, Prince George’s will
5 A revised budget to reflect the decrease in revenue due to the coronavirus pandemic was introduced by Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks last month and approved by the Council on Friday, May 31. (Courtesy photo/PGCountymd.gov
receive about $158 million form the federal Education Stabilization Fund through the CARES, an economic stimulus package approved by Congress to help state
Goldson: ‘Confront and Challenge Our Own Biases’ County Public Schools CEO Speaks for Students of Color Special to The Washington Informer Prince George’s County Public Schools CEO Monica Goldson released a letter Monday, June 1 in response to the recent police-involved death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The message to the school community referenced the fact that 124,000 of the system’s 136,000 students identify as Black or Latino, adding her belief that educators remain essential in paving a more amenable path of righteousness for students. Goldson’s letter follow below in its entirety: From Ahmaud Arbery to Breonna Taylor to George Floyd, the sequence of recent racially-charged events has exacerbated the trauma that our communities are experiencing. This is true for our students, their families and our staff members. I watched the video of George Floyd’s last moments with horror and disbelief as he cried for help while others watched without ac-
tion. I immediately switched to the mindset of a mother and pondered how I can protect my children from the injustice they may inevitably experience because of the color of their skin. As a parent of two young men and leader of a diverse school system, I implore all of us to work together to ensure we treat one another with dignity, respect and value the diverse views we bring to create our community spaces. Prince George’s County Public Schools [PGCPS] enrolls predominantly black and brown children – more than 124,200 students of color – in the most affluent African-American county in the nation. While these events occurred in different parts of the United States to men and women who represent a cross-section of our nation, what they have in common is their race. Our PGCPS community has been inundated with videos, statements and images depicting anger, violence and calls for change. We have witnessed an outpouring of uprisings globally, nationally, regionally and
locally where diverse groups have converged to affirm that they want their voices heard. Public education occupies a unique place in our society. We cannot ignore the reality that students look to educators for clarity, understanding and empathy. However, we are not without our own challenges as a school community. We must confront and challenge our own biases when it comes to who can and does achieve. We must guard against collective complacency and act with fierce urgency in our pursuit of equity. In PGCPS, we believe that all staff share the responsibility for a safe and supportive school environment that contributes to excellence in education. Today, we reaffirm our understanding of the need for educators to help chart the path forward when uprisings occur. We underscore our commitment, as a school system, to equity, social justice, diversity and inclusion among our core values. As we close this school year and transition to planning for
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the next, we aim to ensure our students and staff have the tools they need to contribute to communities confronting institutional racism, bias and discrimination. While we will always emphasize the importance of academic excellence, each of our students, regardless of race or ethnicity, must feel affirmed, valued and cared for within our school system in order to achieve that goal. That work starts with each of us, every day in every neighborhood for every child. WI
From Ahmaud Arbery to Breonna Taylor to George Floyd, the sequence of recent racially-charged events has exacerbated the trauma that our communities are experiencing.
with budgetary problems due to the pandemic. The money must be spent on items from March 13 through December. Alsobrooks proposed some of the money go toward $24 million for coronavirus testing, $15 million in grants for municipalities and almost $4 million to delivery meals for seniors and those with disabilities. Because the virus hit the county the hardest in Maryland, residents have received thousands of donations in meals. Team Takeover, a local youth organization in the Amateur Athletic Union basketball program, donated $75,000 to help with food insecurity. Alsobrooks filmed a short video to announce the donation alongside Team Takeover founder and head coach Keith Stevens, Denver Nuggets forward Jerami Grant and former unified middleweight boxing champion Jarrett “Swift” Hurd. Even as Prince George’s permitted a modified reopening of some businesses Monday, June 1, the county’s financial future remains uncertain. “While we cannot foresee the timing and circumstance of the eventual pandemic recovery, it is clear that Prince George’s County will grapple with the fiscal impact for years to come,” Turner said. “The fiscal year 2021 budget adopted [Friday], and effective with the new fiscal year on July 1, will change, and there will still be much work for us to do.” WI
JUNE 4 - 10, 2020 13
BUSINESS Local Real Estate Guru Joseph Asamoah to Engage Shark Tank’s Barbara Corcoran WI Staff Report Dr. Joseph Asamoah, an undisputed expert on finance and real estate investment, also recently featured in Fortune Magazine, will interview ABC’s “Shark
Tank” master investor, Barbara Corcoran on Thursday, June 4, 1 p.m. EST on the @BiggerPockets Podcast. The topic for discussion will be “Turning $1,000 into a Billion-Dollar Business Even in A Crisis Climate.
Asamoah, a native of Ghana, came to the U.S. with $100 in his pocket. As for Corcoran, she built an empire with $1,000. They will offer key advice for small business owners and investors. Look for our interview in the coming weeks with Asamoah as he shares the strategy he continues to employ including how he has achieved significant inroads as a property investor throughout the Greater Washington Area including Ward 8. Asamoah (Dr. Joe), is a business thought leader, successful investor and real estate expert, born in Ghana and raised in England, who has lived in the DMV for over 30 years. He has advice for renters, landlords or business owners, part of his Five Tips for survival in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. For more information, visit www. joeasamoah.com. WI 4 Joseph Asamoah stays in the news. (Photo courtesy Joseph Asamoah)
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D.C. Board of Elections Strikes Down Measure Promoting AfricanAmerican ‘Recovery’ Supporters Vow to Appeal, Start Write-In Campaign By Sam P.K. Collins WI Contributing Writer @SamPKCollins The authors of the United States Adjustment and Recovery Act for the District of Columbia wrote the would-be ballot measure as a means of providing 250 years of tax abatements and payments of lost wages and damages to D.C. residents who descended from U.S. enslavement. These funds, not to be doled out by taxpayers, would instead come from the financial and industrial institutions, religious organizations, and foreign countries that profited from chattel slavery. Much to the chagrin of those who call themselves recovery advocates, such provisions wouldn’t suffice for the D.C. Board of Elections (BOE), which recently declined to include the freestanding bill for consideration on the general election ballot. During a special emergency teleconference on May 28, board members cited the BOE’s general counsel’s interpretation that the U.S. Adjustment and Recovery Act violated the D.C. Home Rule Act and U.S. Constitution, a point that attendees immediately countered. “When you have over 200,000 people that this recovery bill would directly help, I see nothing wrong with it,” John Cheeks, proposer of the bill and president of the United States Citizens Recovery Initiative Alliance (USCRIA), told BOE Chairman D. Michael Bennett and board members Michael D. Gill and Karyn Greenfield. “A lot of our people of Afro descent have been enslaved,” Cheeks said. “I want you to have a principled measure, not a legal measure to further stop the rights of Afro
Americans. My committee and I are going to file an appeal on this decision. It’s absolutely degrading and embarrassing for you all to decide that descendants of enslaved people don’t have rights.” In addition to an appeal, USCRIA members have launched a write-in campaign that would encourage voters to scribble “recovery” as their choice for U.S. president in November. These plans have gelled together in the days leading up to, and during, mass protests in the District and across the world in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd, a Black man killed during an encounter with a police officer in Minneapolis. For many who took to the streets last weekend, the pandemonium surrounding Floyd’s death represented the apex of frustration about the conditions Black people in the United States had endured long before the coronavirus exacerbated health and economic inequities in majority-Black communities. Supporters of the United States Adjustment and Recovery Act argue that the spirit of that movement speaks to what they’re attempting to achieve for African Americans who’ve suffered institutional racism. Other aspects of the freestanding bill, drafted over the course of three years and submitted to the BOE twice within that timespan, include the removal of public statutes and fixtures, African-American housing ownership, business aid, identify repair, and judicial adjustments and protections. Among the criteria for eligibility are birth in the United States and the DNA proof of 40 percent ancestry. In iterating their endorsement
of the bill, some people such as Dr. Roussan Etienne Jr. have presented it not as reparations but a means of recovery designed to hold the proper parties accountable for what has been documented in the legislation as 190 wrongs committed against African Americans. “Some of our leaders don’t have any solutions,” said Etienne, co-proposer of the ballot measure and a key figure in USCRIA. “We have to take this to paper and pen. We need to go after their pockets and strategically present this bill. It’s not just injuries, but lost wages. This benefits everyone, and we’re going to do whatever we’re going to have to do to get it passed as a write-in.” WI
BUSINESS
5 John Cheeks, president of the United States Citizens Recovery Initiative Alliane (USCRIA), introduced a bill for 250 years of tax abatements and wage payments to DC residents who were descendants of the enslaved. (Courtesy photo/YouTube grab)
The Black Coalition Against COVID-19 Presents
#iMask4DC A Video Festival and Competition
• Produce a thirty second video on your smart phone • Learn how via online workshops
Submission deadline — noon: June 20th Cash prizes — 3 winners Open to All — individuals and families
• Show and say “why you wear a mask”
Help reduce the community spread of COVID-19.
For details, go to www.blackcoalitionagainstcovid.org
It ain’t over!
In partnership with THEARC Theater, Howard University Department of Theatre Arts, The Washington Informer Newspaper, WHUR and WPFW radio stations
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JUNE 4 - 10, 2020 15
NATIONAL Trump Policies Lead Many to Say, ‘Vote Like our Lives Depend on It’
By Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer @StacyBrownMedia The Republican National Committee and those who work with President Donald Trump have made a big deal over presumptive Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden’s misstep during a controversial interview with The Breakfast Club. Biden famously told the show’s African-American host, “You ain’t Black if you vote for Trump.” The comment drew outrage and the GOP seized upon it, unleashing so-called free-thinking African-American supporters of Trump who called Biden a racist. However, many responded with the old adage of “those who live
in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.” Several District residents told the Washington Informer that the president’s policies have hurt most Americans – particularly Black people. “As business coaches, we knew the election of Trump was going to affect our business economically but had no idea it would affect it in a moral way,” Hank Yuloff, of Yuloff Creative Marketing Solutions, stated in an email. “It had been our easily followed policy to keep our business and politics separate. But at some point, you have to stand up against what you see as the dismantling of the value system, the environment and the economic forces which do not favor the small business entrepre-
5 President Trump’s policies have caused great grief among minorities. (Photo courtesy Houston Forward Times)
neur trying to make a living and follow their dreams.” “We no longer accept some business owners into our coaching program. We have found it difficult in some cases to give our best advice to business owners who have targeted their business to support the president. We will vote as if our lives depend on it,” Yuloff said. The president’s “incessant assaults on the rule of law makes me worry about the health of our democracy,” said Mike Arnan, a city employee. “Trump’s disdain for anyone who knows more than he does about anything – which is pretty much anyone – makes me wonder if anyone will listen to experts ever again. His crude attacks on his political opponents make
me concerned about the viability of free and fair elections.” Stan Kimer, the president of Total Engagement Consulting by KimerHome, said his work as a diversity consultant had been his greatest passion – until Trump took office. “I have had the largest impact by President Trump’s continued rolling back and cutting of diversity and non-discrimination policies and practices,” Kimer said. “This has now emboldened opponents of diversity to speak out and trash all diversity work in direct confrontational ways. Now, when I write blogs on the importance of addressing issues like Islamophobia, racism and homophobia, I receive dozens of extremely nasty comments and
Church Leaders Chide Donald Trump for Photo-Op By William J. Ford WI Staff Writer @jabariwill President Donald Trump provides weekly criticism against Democrats, American citizens who oppose his views and even some allies. On Tuesday, Trump’s visit to Saint John Paul II National Shrine 3 The Washington Archbishop and church officials denounced the appearance of President Trump at St. John’s Episcopal Church for a photo-op in Northwest after he commanded the National Guard and Secret Service to disperse peaceful protesters using tear gas, rubber bullets, and flash bangs. (Anthony Tilghman/The Washington Informer)
16 - JUNE 4 - 10, 2020
in Northeast received criticism from church leaders. The words against Trump come one day after the Republican president walked from the White House and stood in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Northwest and posed with a Bible. This happened after federal police used munitions to clear peaceful protesters from Lafayette Park near the church to clear a path for the president. The demonstrators were protesting the death of George Floyd, who died at the hands of Minneapolis police on May 25. His death sparked nationwide protests against police brutality and the killing of Black people. “I find it baffling and reprehensible that any Catholic facility would
allow itself to be so egregiously misused and manipulated in a fashion that violates our religious principles,” Washington Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory said in a statement Tuesday. “Saint Pope John Paull III was an ardent defender of the rights and dignity of human beings. His legacy bears vivid witness to that truth. He certainly would not condone the use of tear gas and other deterrents to silence, scatter or intimidate them for a photo opportunity in front of place of worship.” According to a statement from the shrine, Trump and first lady Melania Trump visited the shrine for the president to sign an executive order for
TRUMP Page 28
personal attacks. “This rarely happened before Trump took office and started routinely attacking and dismantling diversity and nondiscrimination programs. The increased hate and division I am now experiencing is having a profound negative and sad impact on my life as well as on our country as a whole, he said. Margaret Huang, president, and chief executive officer of the Southern Poverty Law Center said the organization joins its allies in condemning the recent police killings of George Floyd, Tony McDade, Sean Reed and Breonna Taylor. Huang said its imperative that local police departments and district attorneys investigate, arrest and prosecute officers and all who violate the rights of the people who live in the communities they are charged to serve. “Equally important, law enforcement must stop responding to peaceful protest of police killings with more violence. Police are obligated to protect those in the community, and punishing peaceful protest is a gross abuse of human rights,” she said. Huang then turned her ire toward the president. “We stand with millions of people across the country who are rightfully outraged by the killing of unarmed Black people, the lack of responsiveness, the lack of action and President Trump calling for violence against those demanding justice for Mr. Floyd’s death,” Huang stated. WI
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NATIONAL
Former Bullet Star Wes Unseld Dead at 74
Hall of Fame Center Led Washington in 1978 to Sole NBA Title D. Kevin McNeir WI Editor Wes Unseld, an NBA Hall of Famer who played center for the then-Washington Bullets, recently died following after a bout with pneumonia, complicated by years of health challenges, at the age of 74. His family shared their thoughts about his many contributions and sacrifices. “He was the rock of our family – an extremely devoted patriarch who reveled in being with his wife, children, friends and teammates,” the family’s statement read. “He was our hero and loved playing and working around the game of basketball for the cities of Baltimore and Washington D.C. – cities he proudly wore on his chest for so many years.”
Unseld spent all of his 13-year career with Washington. The fivetime All Star remains just one of only two players to ever receive the Rookie of the Year and MVP awards in the same season (196869). The other – another Hall of Famer, Wilt Chamberlain. “On behalf of the Wizards organization and the entire MSE Family, I would like to extend our deepest sympathies and condolences to the Unseld family, including his wife Connie, daughter Kimberly, son Wes Jr. and his two grandchildren as well as his large number of extended family and friends,” Wizards owner Ted Leonsis said in a statement. “We all admired Wes as the pillar of this franchise for so long but it was his work off the court that will truly leave an impactful legacy and live on through
the many people he touched and influenced throughout his life of basketball and beyond.” During his career, Unseld averaged 10.8 points and 14.0 rebounds while establishing an essential foundation for the team as the then-Bullets developed into contenders in the 1970s. “Those of us who were fortunate enough to spend time with Wes knew him as a generous and thoughtful man whose strong will was matched only by his passion and drive for uplifting others,” Wizards General Manager Tommy Sheppard said. “His physical prowess, undeniable talent and on-court demeanor may have struck fear in opponents throughout the NBA but he will be remembered best as a mentor, leader and friend.” WI
5 Wes Unseld (Courtesy photo)
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Ethiopia, Sudan Urge Cooperation to Stop Border Violence Ethiopia says recent violence that flared up along the border with Sudan should be addressed by diplomatic discussions. For its part, Sudan’s military says that the two countries should deploy a joint force to patrol the border to prevent any violence, reported The Republic, an Addis Ababa-based outlet. The statements from Ethiopia and Sudan came Sunday after Sudan summoned Ethiopia’s diplomat in Khartoum over the cross-border attack last week that was allegedly carried out by a militia backed by Ethiopia’s military. At least one Sudanese army officer and one child were killed in a May 28 attack by an Ethiopian militia group in Sudan’s eastern al-Qadarif province, according to Sudan’s military. Another Sudanese officer and three civilians were wounded in the incident, according to the Sudanese statement. Ethiopia’s foreign ministry issued a statement Sunday saying that “the two countries should work together through existing military mechanisms to address and jointly investigate circumstances surrounding the incident,” adding that the two countries should not descend into hostility. “We are of the view that such incidents are best addressed through diplomatic discussion based on the cordial and friendly relations and peaceful coexistence between the two countries,” the Ethiopian statement said. Brig. Amer Mohammed al-Hassan, (right) a spokesman for Sudan’s military, on Sunday called for Ethiopian forces to stop their alleged support to the militias and to prevent them from entering Sudanese territory. He suggested deploying a joint force to the border area. “This could solve the issue,” he said, reported the Arabic-language version of Sky News. Sudan’s foreign ministry had earlier urged Ethiopia’s government to “take necessary measures to stop these attacks.” Ethiopian farmers have for years planted crops in Sudan’s al-Fashqa border area and that was tolerated by the government of former President Omar al-Bashir. But Sudanese transitional authorities, who took over after the military’s ouster of al-Bashir last year, have recently engaged in talks with Ethiopia to encourage Ethiopian farmers to withdraw from Sudanese territory. Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head of Sudan’s ruling sovereign council, toured the border area last month after an attack. Since the visit, Khartoum has deployed more troops to its eastern border with Ethiopia to stop incursions.
caribbean now Protocols to Reopen Jamaica’s Tourism Industry Being Reviewed Jamaica’s tourism minister says protocols to facilitate the reopening of the tourism industry, which was adversely affected by the coronavirus pandemic, have been drafted and are being reviewed by the Ministry of Health and Wellness. According to a Jamaica Information Services press release, the minister, Edmund Bartlett, made the announcement during Friday’s virtual ceremony at the Ministry’s offices in New Kingston to hand out 10,000 masks to front-line industry workers. Tourism is among the sectors hardest hit by the pandemic, with several hotels and attractions having to scale down or close operations. The protocols, which are contained in an 88-page document, will target all segments of the industry including accommodation, attractions, water sports, craft shops, shopping, cruise ports, airports, contract carriage, restaurants and bars. Bartlett said once the document is finalized and signed off on, “we would have, perhaps, the most rigorous set of protocols that could be available anywhere in the world to protect, not just the workers … but the whole country, as we [look to reopen] the industry when the prime minister announces [that date].” He also advised that the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the World Tourism and Travel Counsel (WTTC) will be briefed on the protocols.
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Eating Healthy on a Budget Submitted by AmeriHealth Caritas District of Columbia We are all taking care to limit our time in grocery stores during the social distancing required by coronavirus disease (COVID-19), and perhaps even picking up groceries curbside or choosing delivery. As you continue to protect yourself and your family, it’s more important than ever to eat healthy foods. Remember to wash your hands often, including after you put groceries away. Staying on a budget is important during these uncertain times. While healthy whole foods can be expensive, with planning and the right choices, you can eat well without overspending. Here are money-saving tricks for wholesome, tasty meals: • Have a plan. Check store sales flyers, and plan meals around what’s on sale. You might stock up on sale items you use regularly. Items that take up less space in the freezer, such as whole wheat pitas or tortillas, could be handy in place of bread.
• Use vegetables to “bulk up” dishes such as stews, casseroles, stirfries, burritos, and omelets. Shop for produce that’s in season to save money, or use frozen veggies (and fruits). Long-lasting foods like carrots and sweet potatoes are low-cost year round and taste great in most dishes. Be sure to wash fresh produce well. • Add beans, lentils, and peas. These protein-rich foods are inexpensive, healthy, easy to prepare, and taste great added to pasta sauce, rice, soups, and sauces. • Try nuts. Peanuts, almonds, and other nuts affordably add protein, crunch, and texture to dishes including stir-fries, sandwiches, rice and noodle dishes, and yogurt. • Skip convenience foods. Items like individual yogurts, shredded cheese, and bagged salad tend to cost more. You can save money if you can do a little prep work. • Avoid junk food. Soda, fruit juice, chips, cookies, and other processed foods can be pricey and low on nutrition. • Cook large portions and use leftovers. For example, you could
cook chicken with fresh or frozen vegetables in a crock pot as meal one. For meal two, you might add the cooked, chopped chicken and veggies to tortillas along with fajita seasoning, sour cream, salsa, or avocado. For meal three, create fried rice by combining cooked brown rice and a scrambled egg to the rest of the chicken and veggies along with Asian spices. You can also freeze leftovers in smaller portions for future meals. • Use takeout as a treat. Delivered meals can burn up your budget. When you cook meals yourself, you tend to eat healthier. Sources: U.S. Department of Agriculture, “Plan Your Weekly Meals,” choosemyplate-prod.azureedge.net/sites/default/ files/budget/PlanPurchasePrepare.pdf, accessed Jan. 20, 2019. National Institute on Aging, “10 Tips for Eating Healthy on a Budget,” www.nia.nih.gov/health/10-tips-eatinghealthy-budget, accessed Jan. 20, 2019. Rush University Medical Center, “5 Tips for a Healthier Morning,” www.rush.edu/health-wellness/discov-
#BestMe
Five Tips for Easier Mornings
A morning routine can help you start your day off right. Here’s how to ease into your morning with more control: 1. The best morning routines start at night. It helps to make a list of things you need to do in the morning. It might help to prep your lunch and load the coffee maker. Make sure you have what you need for the next day. Try to go to bed at a decent time. 2. Getting up 15 to 20 minutes
earlier is hard for most of us, but try it for a week and see if it changes the rhythm of your day. If it helps create a gentler start, consider doing it another week, then another, until it becomes routine. 3. Stretch. Stretching increases oxygen flow to the brain to help you wake up. Try the yoga “plank” pose to warm up your body fast. 4. Drink some water. Our bodies can get dehydrated during the night. Put off checking your phone right away. Consider moving it out of your bedroom. This could help you keep that relaxed, morning level of calm.
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AmeriHealth Caritas District of Columbia complies with applicable federal civil rights laws and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex. English: ATTENTION: If you speak English, language assistance services, at no cost, are available to you. Call 1-800-408-7511 (TTY/TDD: 202-216-9885 or 1-800-570-1190). Spanish: ATENCIÓN: si habla español, tiene a su disposición servicios gratuitos de asistencia lingüística. Llame al 1-800-408-7511 (TTY/TDD: 202-216-9885 o 1-800-570-1190). Amharic: ማሳሰቢያ፡ አማርኛ መናገር የሚችሉ ከሆነ፣ ከከፍያ ነጻ የሆነ የቋንቋ ድጋፍ አገልግሎት ይቀርብልዎታል፡፡ በስልክ ቁጥር 1-800-408-7511 (TTY/TDD: 202-216-9885 ወይም 1-800-570-1190) ይደውሉ. 1-800-408-7511 اﺗﺼﻞ ﺑﺮﻗﻢ.ﺎن ﻓﺈن ﺧﺪﻣﺎت اﳌﺴﺎﻋﺪة اﻟﻠﻐﻮﻳﺔ ﺗﺘﻮاﻓﺮ ﻟﻚ ﺑﺎ، إذا ﻛﻨﺖ ﺗﺘﺤﺪث اﻟﻠﻐﺔ اﻟﻌﺮﺑﻴﺔ: ﻣﻠﺤﻮﻇﺔ: Arabic .(1-800-570-1190 أوTTY/TDD: 202-216-9885 )رﻗﻢ ﻫﺎﺗﻒ اﻟﺼﻢ واﻟﺒﻜﻢ
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JUNE 4 - 10, 2020 19
HEALTH A CONTINUING SERIES
COVID 19 UPDATE Strategies to Survive, Sustain and Succeed
COVID-19 Hits African Americans Hardest due to ‘Legacy of Inequality’ By Rhea Warren, Sierra Lewter and Madeleine Voth Urban Health Medical Project and D. Kevin McNeir WI Editor The coronavirus pandemic has exposed long-persisting racial disparities in health and health care. African-American patients with COVID-19 remain 2.7 times more likely than Non-Hispanic white COVID-19 patients to be hospitalized and with more severe symptoms, per a recent study in the medical journal Health Affairs.
Meanwhile, even those Blacks with health insurance remain less likely to seek coronavirus testing and more likely to wait until it became an emergency to go to the hospital, the study of Northern California patients found. Further, not only are a disproportionate share of African Americans and Hispanics dying of COVID-19 but the hospitals that continue to treat them often have far lower safety ratings, especially when it comes to deadly infections. “The [Black] community always seems to get the bottom of the list care,” said Thomas Hegens, CEO of Phenom Surgical,
African-American patients with COVID-19 remain 2.7 times more likely than Non-Hispanic white COVID-19 patients to be hospitalized and with more severe symptoms, per a recent study in the medical journal Health Affairs. 20 - JUNE 4 - 10, 2020
5 Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association (left) with former Urban Health Media Project intern Sierra Lewter, now a student at NYU. (Courtesy photo by Antonio Hardy)
a District-based medical staffing company. “It’s one of those things where you walk into a facility where you’re looking for that pristine care and you don’t get it and see it in the waiting room and in the offices where you feel like you are being rushed in and out.” African Americans and Hispanics are more likely to have one or more of the chronic health conditions that dramatically increase the risk of serious illness or death if they are infected with coronavirus. Obesity serves as a major driver of COVID-19 morbidity and mortality and enhances vulnerability to other chronic conditions and is now considered nearly as bad as smoking when it comes to risk factors for emphysema and cancer. Anyone who needed a real jolt of motivation to lose weight, should have it now. Given COVID-19’s expected resurgence in the fall, it is quite literally a matter of life and death. “It will not only help prevent severe COVID-19 disease but will also lessen the severity of the other COVID-19 risk factors such as diabetes, hypertension and heart disease,” said Dr. Kevin Kavanagh, a physician and patient safety expert who heads the nonprofit HealthWatch USA. The chronic conditions that are more common in the African-American and Latino communities dramatically increase the risk of hospital transmissible infection when patients are undergoing surgery of any type. Infection is
also much more likely in a hospital with a poor record of infection control. Rates of some hospital infections can be found on Hospital Compare and other rating sites including the Leapfrog Group. This makes it even more important for people of color to do their research before choosing a hospital. In Washington D.C., only MedStar Georgetown University and Sibley Memorial hospitals received a B rating by the Leapfrog Group. None received an A. Howard University Hospital received the lowest rating in the nation’s capital with a D. “There’s no reason to be trapped in bad medicine,” said Dr. Talal Munasifi, a clinical professor at Georgetown University.
RACE MATTERS IN DEATH RATES FROM COVID-19
Hospitals often blame patients’ socioeconomic conditions for low ratings but patient safety experts say it doesn’t have to be that way. Still, as a recent Georgetown University report shows, a “legacy of inequality is to blame, in part, for Black District residents living fewer years than whites and for a higher rate of African-American deaths linked to COVID-19. The report, “Health Disparities in the Black Community: An Imperative for Racial Equity in the District of Columbia,” while prepared before the pandemic, indicates that “high rates of chronic
diseases, coupled with high-risk socioeconomic conditions,” contribute to the higher rate of coronavirus-related deaths among minorities. The report reveals that residents in Ward 8, the city’s poorest area which is primarily Black, had a life expectancy of 72 years versus 87 years for those living in Ward 8 which is mostly white. “Health disparities [such as cancer, diabetes, heart and respiratory diseases and obesity] result from long-standing injustices and make the African-American community much more vulnerable to a highly infectious virus like COVID-19,” said Christopher J. King, chair of Georgetown’s department of health systems administration. “Only go to the hospital if you need to,” said Kavanagh. “Many ailments can be taken care of through telemedicine or at a doctor’s office, both of which are safer alternatives.” Because of COVID-19’s disproportionate effect on minority communities, it’s especially important that people of color “develop trust with a health care provider” who also treats them well, said Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. “It’s not surprising African Americans don’t trust health care providers,” said Hegens, who grew up in Southeast. “That mistrust has been built over years of not getting fair treatment at particular venues.” WI
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HEALTH
Leading Pharmacist Advocates COVID-19 Drug Savviness By James Wright WI Staff Writer @Jamesdcwrighter A leading D.C. pharmacist says people should be educated on the well-known drugs that have been linked to treating the coronavirus and offers tips for those who are suffering from the disease or wish to avoid it. Since the coronavirus became widespread in the United States in March, there are some drugs that have gained attention that may be the best to treat the affliction. Abimola A. Ogunsunlade, the director of pharmacy services at Howard University Hospital, has become familiar with two of those drugs — hydroxychlo-
roquine and remdesivir — and their impact on the human body, especially in relation to the coronavirus. “The antiviral drug, hydroxychloroquine, has been used for many decades to treat malaria and autoimmune conditions like rheumatoid arthritis and lupus,” Ogunsunlade told The Informer. “In vitro studies have shown that hydroxychloroquine has antiviral properties against SARS-CoV2, the virus that causes COVID-19.” Ogunsunlade said hydroxychloroquine blocks the virus from entering and multiplying inside the cells. She said hydroxychloroquine’s safeness or helpfulness in fighting the coronavirus isn’t yet clear to doctors and scientists.
“Sometimes new treatment ideas turn out to help and sometimes they are actually proven to be harmful,” Ogunsunlade said. She noted that medical evidence has surfaced that hydroxychloroquine has been linked to abnormal heart rhythms and “dangerous rapid heart rates.” In addition, Dr. Sherrol Reynolds, the president of the National Optometric Association, the trade association of Black optometrists, told the Informer hydroxychloroquine has been linked to vision problems that if used over a long term may lead to blindness. Ogunsunlade said the Food and
HEALTH Page 30
5 Too many risks and unknowns remain about the use of hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19. (Courtesy photo/clevelandclinic.org)
Virginia: Open with care. COVID-19 isn’t over. We’re making progress, but we can’t leave behind all the safety measures we’ve been taking. They’re working! That’s why, when you visit your local stores, restaurants, and places of worship, they’ll only allow in half as many people as before. And they need all of us to do our part to keep them safe. Please continue to:
6 ft.
Wear a mask in public.
Stay 6 feet away. from others.
Wash your hands often.
Get tested if you’re sick!
More at vdh.virginia.gov, or call 2-1-1 for help with food, shelter or safety. WWW.WASHINGTONINFORMER.COM / THE WASHINGTON INFORMER
JUNE 4 - 10, 2020 21
EDUCATION Maryland Woman Named Valedictorian of Spelman College By Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer @StacyBrownMedia Through hard work, determination and balance, Kendra Grissom has excelled and achieved high honors during her academic career.
Now the Baltimore native can add Spelman College valedictorian to her long list of academic achievements. Being named valedictorian is especially significant for Grissom, according to Spelman officials. A product of West Baltimore, the history major said
5 Kendra Grissom (Spelman College)
people discounted her and made assumptions about her abilities because of her origin. Being named valedictorian
confirms for her that how one begins does not determine how one ends, Grissom said in a statement released by the college.
Former Football Star Helping Students, Teachers with Online STEM Lessons By Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer @StacyBrownMedia When John Urschel announced two years ago that he was retiring from the Baltimore Ravens to pursue a doctorate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, it caught many by surprise. Urschel was just 26 and hadn’t yet carved out the reputation linebackers in the league usually do: the pursuit of tackling quarterbacks. Instead, he pursued science. Now, Urschel is helping to provide free lessons in STEM via YouTube as part of the recently announced National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI). The initiative is a set of free video lessons in math, science and English to help educators as they continue to adjust to online teaching. “While teachers and students continue to adjust to online learning, we knew we could help by providing high-quality, ready-to-use lessons,” NMSI CEO Bernard Harris said in a statement. Harris noted that NMSI’s mission is to increase access and achievement in rigorous STEM
22 - JUNE 4 - 10, 2020
education for all students. “I’m grateful to our outstanding trainers and to John Urschel for helping us do this small part for our country’s education system,” Harris said. Urschel said he provided a video for high school students because he wants to inspire more students to understand and appreciate math. “Math is foundational to everything in our lives, and I’m happy to do what I can to show young people that they can be successful in it,” said Urschel, who has also authored the book “Mind and Matter: A Life in Math and Football.” “I’m also happy to provide help to teachers and to families struggling to deliver online education. It’s a challenging time, but we’ll get through it together.” Urschel is in his fifth year as a doctoral student at MIT. He was a standout offensive lineman at Penn State University and earned the William V. Campbell Trophy for academic and athletic success and community service. The Ravens drafted Urschel in 2014 and he retired in 2017 to focus on his doctoral work. In addition to Urschel, the NMSI’s video lessons come from teachers across the country who each have a
5 John Urschel (Ccourtesy of MIT Alumni)
record of successfully preparing students for college. Those and hundreds of other teachers help the NMSI deliver two of the nonprofit’s primary programs. The Laying the Foundation program helps grades three to 12 teachers prepare students for rigorous high school courses, such as those under the College Board’s Advanced Placement program, officials noted in the release. The flagship College Readiness Program supports AP teachers and students and helps school systems reform how they manage access to advanced courses. In addition to LTF and CRP, the
NMSI supports students of military members through its Military Families Mission. It also increases access to computer science education in grades K-12 and helps prepare preservice STEM teachers through a partnership with the UTeach Institute at the University of Texas at Austin. “The heart of our efforts is dedicated to school districts and systems, teachers and students who are supported by our programs,” Harris said. “At the same time, we felt called to help more teachers, students and families, and we’re happy to provide these free lessons.” WI
“I am incredibly proud of my Baltimore roots and I hope this moment serves as evidence that inner city youth should not be underestimated,” she said. “As a first-generation college student, I am incredibly blessed to have a village of amazing mentors, teachers, family members, friends, neighbors, professors and church members who have supported me throughout my life’s journey. I would not be where I am today without them, and this honor is as much theirs as it is mine.” Michelle Hite, associate professor of English and director of the Honors Program, is one of those mentors, Spelman officials said. Even though Grissom was never one of her students, Hite’s mentorship helped shape her intellectual life at Spelman. “Kendra sought me out after hearing me speak and wanted to learn more about my intellectual journey and how to build a life rooted in ideas,” Hite said. “Through Kendra’s example, students can observe the intellectual sovereignty that serious academic work demands. Though no instructor gave Kendra an assignment to seek me out or to create rich and meaningful intellectual experiences for herself, she did it anyway. “Grad school is built for just such a renegade,” she said. “I’m proud of her and look forward to having her as a professional peer one day soon.” The recipient of the Clio Outstanding History Graduating Senior Award, Grissom is a member of the Phi Alpha Theta and Phi Beta Kappa Honor Societies and a UNCF Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow. She served as a mentor in the Ford First Gen Scholars Program, was an ambassador of the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art and worked with the Spelman College Glee Club. Following graduation, Grissom plans to continue her studies at Johns Hopkins University, where she plans to pursue a doctorate in history. Grissom said her overall goal is to become a professor at a historically Black college or university, “making history more accessible while actively working to impact change in public education.” WI
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EDUCATION
Statistics Show Minnesota Cops Habitually Step on Necks of Blacks By Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer @StacyBrownMedia
In the years leading up to George Floyd’s death with his neck beneath the knee of a Minneapolis policeman, at least 58 people lost consciousness after the city’s officers put them in neck restraints, according to CNN, which analyzed use of force data from the police department. Officers used neck restraints on 428 people since 2012, and 14 percent lost consciousness, the data showed. That means the procedure, which is restricted or banned in many large police departments around the country, was used an average of about once a week in the city according to CNN. About two-thirds of the people placed in neck restraints by Minneapolis officers were Black
in a city where Black residents make up 19 percent of the population, according to Census data. That information and the rampant police shootings of African Americans was at the heart of an address Tuesday, June 2, given by presumptive Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden. After going out to personally meet with demonstrators in Delaware, Biden has taken a firm stand against the police murder of George Floyd and the overall plight of African Americans who’ve been targeted, brutalized and killed by law enforcement officers. “I can’t breathe.” “I can’t breathe,” Biden said in a lengthy address. “George Floyd’s last words,” Biden explained. “But they didn’t die with him. They’re still being heard.
They’re echoing across this nation. They speak to a nation where too often just the color of your skin puts your life at risk,” he said. Between 2013 and 2019, police in the U.S. killed 7,666 people according to data provided by Mapping Police Violence, a research and advocacy group. The number of police killings in America disproportionately affects African Americans who despite only making up 13 percent of the U.S. population are two-and-a-half times as likely as whites to be killed by police. Biden’s address comes as uprisings continue throughout the country and as viral video and news reports show police using tear gas to disburse peaceful demonstrators gathered near a church where President Donald Trump visited.
POLICE Page 44
5 A Minneapolis policeman just minutes before the death of George Floyd. (Courtesy photo)
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OPINIONS/EDITORIALS
EDITORIAL
The D.C. School Year Ended May 29 and Few Seemed to Notice
When D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced a few months ago that the District’s public schools, due to COVID-19, would close for the rest of the year, most citizens agreed with the decision. Some parents even voiced encouragement given Bowser’s promised commitment to ensure the education of our youth with remote learning. Meanwhile, neighboring school districts in Virginia and Maryland followed suit under the directive of Governors Ralph Northam and Larry Hogan, respectively. Bowser said the District would work to ensure that students would be properly equipped for distance learning with plans to distribute up to 16,000 devices and 5000 hotspots, as well as continuing the distribution of meals for students who needed them. Whether that goal was achieved has yet to be officially determined. Nonetheless, with school doors officially shuttered until the fall as of Friday, May 29, we fear that those youth with the greatest intellectual, emotional and economical challenges will bear the brunt of the over two-month interruption to their daily, in-class instruction. Even with summer school – a program that has yet to be formally configured – many students will enter the fall, if in-class instruction can even safely resume given the impact of the health pandemic, facing an almost six-month hiatus from daily interaction with and support from their teachers and counselors. Said another way, both the digital divide and the achievement gap – already proven to be huge, gaping holes when comparing students of color to their white counterparts – will inevitably grow even wider. So far little has been said about how far back children in school districts where significantly fewer dollars are available for instruction, support and upgrades will find themselves. In fact, the end of the school year remained little more than a footnote given other news reports including the police-involved death of George Floyd, Donald Trump’s outrageous response including his photo opp on the grounds of a local Episcopal church and what has grown into almost a week of protests and additional deaths. Yes, school’s out for the summer. But will our leaders have a game plan ready in the fall? WI
History Repeating Itself All Over Again
In the early morning hours of Sunday, June 26, officer John Sobolewski saw Wallace McKnight walking north on 15th Street near Massachusetts Avenue NW carrying a package under his arm. According to Sobolewski’s testimony, he stopped McKnight and questioned him. During the interrogation, McKnight ran away, according to Sobolewski, and he [Sobolewski] opened fire. McKnight was shot in the back, the bullet passing through his liver, and he died the next day. The package contained a chicken, a pound of butter, a dozen oranges, two pounds of bacon, a dozen bananas, several dozen eggs and some other fruit. McKnight worked at a restaurant on the 1700 block of K Street NW not far from where he was shot. In mid-July, the grand jury indicted Sobolewski for manslaughter. The Afro American reported it was the first time in D.C. history that a white policeman was charged in the death of a black person. As hundreds march the streets in Minneapolis, New York, D.C., across the U.S. and countries across the globe to protest the murder of George Floyd by a white police officer, history shows that police shootings of Black men date back decades, centuries, in the U.S. This is nothing new, and the protests joined by Black and white alike, are not new either. The account of Mr. McKnight’s murder, detailed above by the Washington Area Spark and the Afro newspaper, took place in 1938. McKnight’s murder was one among dozens. In Oct. 1936, the Afro published a list of Black people killed by white police officers under a headline: “Cops Kill Five Every Year in D.C, All Freed.” Thousands marched through the streets of D.C. to protest these wanton murders. Not only is this problem of untrained law enforcement officers, but it is a deep-seated system of discrimination and racism that gives cart-blanche to police to commit these atrocities without repercussions. Black people know that this goes beyond the police and that racism impacts every single aspect of Black life from cradle to grave. Today’s marches will be documented in the history books and by new media calling them peaceful and violent, as well as unifying and divisive. When generations from now look back on today, we join those who hope they will see a positive outcome that resulted in change, and not see history repeating itself all over again. WI
TO THE EDITOR Is It 2021 Yet?
COVID-19 Musings
Has this been the worst year on record? I know I may be exaggerating, but I can’t remember a year with this much terrible going on from every angle. The year opens with Kobe Bryant dying in a helicopter crash, then a pandemic killing thousands and now riots happening everywhere. We all need to hide under a rock and pray.
A few things are on my mind. First, I know that there is apprehension about the District opening up, but this really is a lose-lose situation. Things at some point have to go back to normal, although it’s a big risk. Second, I know the kids are sad they couldn’t graduate in person, but I think this is the most attention a graduating class has ever got. I mean, Obama gave all of them a speech twice!
Tommy Jefferson Washington, D.C.
Millie James Laurel, Md.
Readers' Mailbox
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The Washington Informer welcomes letters to the editor about articles we publish or issues affecting the community. Write to: lsaxton@washingtoninformer. com or send to: 3117 Martin Luther King Jr Ave., SE, Washington, D.C. 20032. Please note that we are unable to publish letters that do not include a full name, address and phone number. We look forward to hearing from you. JUNE 4 - 10, 2020 25
OPINIONS/EDITORIALS Guest Columnist
By Julianne Malveaux
Andrea Harris and the Fight for Minority Business
Andrea Harris was not wellknown, but she should have been. She was the co-founder of the North Carolina Institute of Minority Business Development, an advocate for social and economic justice, a champion for historically Black colleges and universities, and a Bennett Belle (Class of 1970) who passionately loved her college.
After a brief illness and a stroke, she made her transition on May 20. The death of the well-connected woman who made it her business to link others together has drawn tributes and accolades from former North Carolina Congresswoman Eva Clayton, from other North Carolina legislators, from many of her Delta Sigma Theta sorority sisters, from her alma mater, Bennett College, from the Minority Business Development Agency and from her beloved Institute. A community organizer before
Guest Columnist
she was a minority business advocate, Harris was a little woman with a big voice that she did not mind using for advocacy. For many years, she convinced the North Carolina legislature to fund the Institute of Minority Business Development. At 5’1”, Andrea was a compact hurricane, a force to be reckoned with. And she was a friend. I was so sorry to hear of transition. We talked at least a couple of times a week when she was a trustee at Bennett College and I
was its President. More recently, we might spoke infrequently and no matter how much time passed between our conversations, either of us felt free, at any time, to pick up the phone to chat or ask for a favor. The news about the ways the coronavirus has affected Black and other minority business would undoubtedly have prompted a conversation with brainstorming, commiseration, advocacy, action possibilities, and possible solutions. When I read the news that the
corona-imposed recession has wiped out more than 40 percent of Black-owned businesses nationally, I thought about Harris and passion she brought to her advocacy. And I thought about the “bailout” has shortchanged minority-owned businesses, many who saw their requests for funding through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) be declined. I imagined that Andrea would have called her friend, former Bennett
MALVEAUX Page 45
By A. Peter Bailey
OWN, TV One and BET Ignore Functions of the Black Press
As a child growing up in Tuskegee, Alabama, in the 1950s, my only connections with the national Black community was the Pittsburgh Courier newspaper and Jet magazine. I could hardly wait for them to be delivered every week. That’s why no one has ever had to convince me of the importance of
the Black Press. When hearing Black pontificators from the broadcast press so cavalierly predict the demise of Black newspapers, I get extremely agitated. If they are right, then we, as a people, are in much more trouble than even I thought, because Black-owned TV One and OWN and Black-oriented BET are not up to the job. I came to this conclusion after watching them religiously during the home-boundness brought on
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by the COVID-19 virus. I enjoy programs such as “Living Single,” “Martin” and a couple of Tyler Perry films, but they present not one second of news coverage or one second of discussion focusing on issues such as COVID-19 and the lynching of George Floyd. In fact, the only program on the three that one can say has any cultural relevance is “Unsung” on TV One. The late Dr. Lionel C. Barrow Jr., a friend and onetime dean of Howard University’s School of Commu-
nications, defined the role of the early Black Press in a 1977 handbook that celebrated the sesquicentennial of the Black Press. He stated that it has four major functions — “to perform as a watchdog function for the Black community that the white press was either are unable or unwilling to perform, to answer the attacks published in the white press, to present a viewpoint that differed even from that of liberal whites and to be a carrier and preserver of Black culture.”
I am not saying that Black newspapers are all that they can and should be in carrying out the functions cited by Dr. Barrow, but at least many of them make an effort to do so. TV One, OWN and BET do none of the first three functions and very little of the fourth. That’s why we, as a people, are in deep you-know-what if the predictors of the demise of Black newspapers are on target. It’s up to us to prove them wrong. WI
By Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr.
Americans Have United Before to Defeat an External Enemy and We Can Again We live in a time of bitter divisions. Today, even the wearing of masks has become a partisan question. Yet, as this Memorial Day weekend reminds us, this country has united before to meet external threats. The calamity that has been wrought by the coronavirus is the result of an external attack — this time by a virus rather than an armed
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enemy. It too should be a time of national unity, of rallying together to share the sacrifices, to help one another through the crisis, and to rebuild the country afterward. Today, however, it is too easy to slip into small-minded partisanship, or to hold onto ideological blinders, even when it has never been more important to revive the better angels of our spirit. Consider that about 35 million people have filed for unemployment benefits, with millions more unemployed but not counted.
Hundreds of thousands of small businesses have closed, never to open again. Major retailers like JC Penny and J. Crew are declaring bankruptcy. Manufacturing plants like Ford that reopened have had to close again as workers got struck by the virus. Major industries like the airlines are alive primarily because of assistance from the government and the Federal Reserve. This stunning reality — beyond anything suffered since the Great Depression itself — takes mas-
sive human causalities. More than 90,000 people now have died from the virus itself, with tens of thousands more weakened or crippled from its ravages. But the casualties are far greater. Homeowners and renters can’t pay their mortgages or rent. Graduates can’t stay up with their student loans. Small businesses exhaust their reserves and are forced to lay off the team of workers they have assembled. Front-line workers deal with staggering stress, while at constant risk of infection. States and
localities faced with plummeting revenues and rising costs have started to lay off vital workers and cut vital services. People are sensibly scared, worried and angry because of plans and hopes that were suddenly dashed through no fault of their own. At this time, as in wartime, the government must act. It must act to organize our collective response to the attack, to organize needed medical and protective gear, to
JACKSON Page 45
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OPINIONS/EDITORIALS Guest Columnist
By Rev. Dr. George E. Holmes
Getting Souls to the Polls for Election of a Lifetime
DEAR CITIZENS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA:
Tuesday, June 2 was the 2020 District of Columbia Democratic presidential primary and local election. By casting a vote, it is more than about electing someone who will carry a title. This election is about who will carry
the baton of justice for all of our citizens. This election is about who can carry the baton for causes like elementary, secondary, vocational and college education, for public safety, health care, workforce equality and opportunities for small and large businesses. This election is about who can carry the baton for housing. Not just for public housing, but for housing that is affordable, for all the public. This election is about someone who can carry the baton for equality in the work-
force, ensuring that equal job duties carry equal pay. This election is about someone who can carry the baton for all of our Wards 1 through 8 and our nation. This election is about someone who can cast a protective shield for our city’s most vulnerable population, including our youth and senior citizens, our homeless population and those who are disenfranchised needing better opportunities in the civic arena. To many in the spiritual arena, this election can be translated to being my
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brothers and sisters’ keeper, literally. In a city that is known as the nation’s capital, we must protect the vitality of growth and development for our citizens which means we must get out to vote because our vote will represent that which will hold the fabric of our city and nation together with a common thread of care and compassion. Care and compassion for our veterans, as well as our disabled, care and compassion for the trying to do as well as the well to do, care and
compassion for those that have and those who aspire to have, care and compassion for the sick as well as those who are in good health, in other words, care and compassion for all our neighborhoods and cities, for all of God’s creation. As chaplain and religious chair of the District of Columbia Democratic State Committee, my prayer is that we vote to have both a more united city
HOLMES Page 46
By Austin R. Cooper Jr.
Mama Could Not Save Him
George Floyd’s life ended while handcuffed and under the knee of former officer Derek Chauvin, and four other cops stood idly by, taunting him. Someone bravely recorded the murder as Chauvin calmly and smugly looked directly at her, with no care in the world. As life left him, Floyd could be heard saying, “I can’t breathe, officer” and “Mama.” Floyd’s mother passed in 2019.
In under 12 minutes, Floyd joined a list of Black men who have wrongfully died at the hands of the police: Freddie Gray, Sam Dubose, Philando Castile, Alton Sterling, Jamar Clark, James Chaney and countless others, including Eric Garner, whose last words, “I cannot breathe,” were also made to his arresting police officers. As a 57-year-old Black male, I am blessed to have never had a confrontation with the police. Like many, I have received traffic tickets, and the officers were always courteous. However, I have
Askia-At-Large
always feared appearing nervous or threatening in any way or coming across as confrontational. Therefore, I kept my hands clearly visible to the officer and made direct eye contact, lest I be perceived in any way as a threat. Yet, I also recognize that when pulled over, I was wearing a suit and in the suburbs. What about those brothers not in a suit who are pulled over? Suppose I had been wearing jeans and a sweatshirt? Would I have been treated differently? Did the suit save me or was I just lucky? Most cops are good men and
women. But there are bad ones, and they remain a problem. What kind of a person, much less a police officer, would kneel on the neck of a handcuffed person until he dies? Chauvin, whose personnel file includes 18 reports of abusing the very same citizens he took an oath to protect, weighs at least 200 lbs. What crime could Floyd have possibly committed to deserve such treatment? How much of a threat can one be lying face down and handcuffed on the pavement? All of these cops are sons, brothers, fathers and uncles. So were their
victims. Why did none of the Minneapolis officers feel any compassion or basic human instinct as Floyd could barely say, “I can’t breathe,” ask for water, lose his bladder, and cry for his mama? Because to each of these cops, he was nothing but another nigger. Truthfully, such insensitivity is not limited to white cops. Amazingly, it also includes minorities who have also, no doubt, experienced racism, even from fellow officers. At least one minority
COOPER Page 46
By Askia Muhammad
Justice Demands a New Trial for H. Rap Brown
These dangerous times in which we now proceed cause me to recall heroes who led us in times like these before. None is more heroic than H. Rap Brown, former chairman of the militant Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). He is now known as Jamil Al-Amin, and he is a Muslim Imam who has been incarcerated for more than 20 years for a crime
he did not commit. As dozens of cities around this country are in flames as protestors confront civil authorities, I am reminded that back in the day, after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., H. Rap Brown famously reminded us, holding up a lit match stick: “It only takes a penny.” In those days, a penny, now an almost obsolete copper U.S. coin worth a hundredth of a dollar, was the cost of a book of matches. Like today, cities were burning, and
Rap’s shorthand reference meant that for just a penny, anyone could ignite the revolution, so to speak, wherever they were. That steadfastness earned Brown an eternal hostility from the political and legal establishment. His conversion to Islam while in prison decades ago, and his vigorous work to rid his hometown Atlanta’s West End of drugs and crime, only deepened the hostility the establishment held for him. In March 2000, they conspired against this targeted leader, and despite
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compelling evidence of his innocence, and a series of gross constitutional violations at his trial, he was convicted of killing Deputy Ricky Kinchen and wounding Deputy Aldranon English in a concocted March 16, 2000, incident and sentenced to life in prison, plus 35 years. There were glaring inconsistencies in the prosecution, including statements that both deputies, who were rated as “marksmen,” insisted that they wounded their attacker (Al-Amin was unhurt when he was captured a few
days after the shooting); the deputies described their assailant as having “gray” eyes, and that he was 5-foot 8-inches tall (the imam has brown eyes and is 6’5”). On top of that, another man, who fits the description of the assailant given by the deputies and was treated for a gunshot wound at the time of the shooting, has confessed numerous times — including in a courtroom in 2017 — that he shot the officer.
ASKIA Page 46 JUNE 4 - 10, 2020 27
LIFESTYLE Some D.C. Residents Still Without Stimulus Funds By Sam P.K. Collins WI Contributing Writer @SamPKCollins
Nearly two months after the U.S. Treasury began doling out coronavirus stimulus checks for as much as $1,200, Marsha Williams is among those still waiting for what they
thought had been promised to American taxpayers. In her precarious financial state, Williams, an elderly retiree from Southeast, said she has little else but the grace of her landlord and niece to rely on during a public health state of emergency that brought economic and social activity to a standstill, while
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exacerbating her long-standing economic woes. “All I have are my stamps at $200 [a month], and now it’s at $194. I can’t get my retirement and Social Security, and that’s been happening since 2017,” Williams told The Informer on Tuesday after unsuccessfully attempting to tap into Social Security and retirement funds that have accumulated for more than two decades. Last month, Williams counted among more than four dozen homeless or socioeconomically disadvantaged people who filed their 2019 tax return during workshops at So Others Might Eat in Northwest coordinated by former mayoral candidate James Butler. Williams, retired since 2017 and without tax returns for 2018, said she signed up as a non-filer in accordance with what the IRS requested for the disbursement of her funds. Even though she received confirmation that her return had been accepted, Williams recounted follow-up emails from the IRS prompting her to alter certain parts of her document, and eventually declining her return altogether. “I’m trying to find a way to get my money so I can get what’s mine,” said Williams, a onetime branch manager of a check cashing franchise. “The older I get, the harder it’s been to get some work. There’s nothing that I’m asking for. All I want is what I worked for.” If passed, a bill under consideration in the Republican-controlled Senate would give another round of economic relief to those who lost their jobs during the pandemic, couldn’t work because of the stay-at-home order, or suffered other setbacks. The legislation, titled the HEROES Act, came amid increasing unemployment and calls among officials in the Federal Reserve for an infusion of additional funds into the economy. As Williams and an untold number of others in the District and
TRUMP from Page 16 religious freedom. The John Paul II shrine represents a holy space maintained by the Knights of Columbus since 2011. As for the more than 200-yearold St. John’s church in Northwest, looters damaged part of the building Sunday. The Rev. Rob Fisher, rector at St. John’s church, said in a statement Trump’s visit came at a “surprise.” “We at St. John’s Church were … even more appalled at the violent
5 (Courtesy photo/invisiblepeople.tv)
across the country keep searching for answers about their stimulus checks, reports are surfacing about additional stimulus payments scheduled for later this year, and the IRS’s need for more information from some applicants. Todd Jones, a local accountant who helped Williams and others file their taxes, mentioned other conditions endemic to economically insecure D.C. residents who have yet to receive their check. “Some hurdles that people face in getting stimulus funds are not retaining tax documents or payroll documents, and not having a fixed address or bank account,” Jones said. “Those with a disability or mental behavior/ health issues are [also] not receiving any guidance from their social worker or mental health professional around their stimulus funds that are guaranteed to them.” In the District, housing insecurity and mental and physical disabilities go hand in hand, so much so that the Department of Behavioral Health has been tasked with helping homeless people, particularly those battling mental illness and drug abuse, with
treatment and housing. The agency’s proposed fiscal 2021 budget of $319 million represents a 10 percent increase geared toward strengthening a unit that works around the clock in homeless outreach, arrest diversion, and crisis prevention. Butler, a former ANC commissioner, said he organized the tax assistance for vulnerable Washingtonians after calling local service providers to see what, if anything, had been put in place to help that population acquire their stimulus funds. After what he described as the success of one twoweek endeavor, Butler expressed his intention of coordinating another workshop at a location east of the Anacostia River later this month. “We were able to help a lot of people, but because of limited administrative power, there are still many people who haven’t been helped,” Butler said. “People need this money. Some are hurting because they don’t have a D.C. ID or they experienced temporary homelessness. Until they get that ID, it’s impossible to put them in the system. They wouldn’t have to do anything [else], just file as a non-filer and get that check.” WI
clearing of Lafayette Square to make the visit possible,” Fisher said. “St. John’s is a community that welcomes all — from the powerful presidents to the homeless — to worship God.” Other religious leaders in the D.C. area expressed outrage at Trump, especially using a Bible as a prop. “I think that it is unjust for the president of the United States to stand in front of a D.C. church and hold up a Bible when he is not demonstrating the principles of the Bible in the White House.” said the Rev. L.K. Floyd, pastor of Heart Changers Bap-
tist Church and president of the Coalition of Churches and Community. “Because of institutional racism and oppression our youth are expressing themselves through rioting and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said rioting is the language of the voiceless, but in addition to protesting there needs to be organizing.” The Rev. William Lamar, pastor of Metropolitan AME Church in Northwest, said churches must not be controlled by “kleptocratic capitalists and imperialists.”
TRUMP Page 34
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LIFESTYLE
Historians Finally Give Just Due to Black Women of the Suffrage Movement By Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer @StacyBrownMedia This is part of an ongoing Washington Informer series about the Women’s Suffrage Movement and an initiative that includes Informer Publisher Denise Rolark Barnes that will use the lens of history, the fabric of art and culture and the venue of the public square to shine a light into dark places, equipping all with a compass to chart the way forward. The initiative lives in the institutional home of the Washington Informer Charities. Black women are finally getting their due for the significant role they played in the suffrage movement. An ABC “Good Morning America” segment noted that many historians are rewriting the history
books on the role of Black women in the movement. “What if Black women, it turned out, really always have been at the forefront of the struggles over American women’s voting rights, and what if we as a nation are just catching up to that?” posited Martha S. Jones, one of the many historians now rewriting the history books on the role Black women played in the women’s suffrage movement. “Historians of African American women, like me, on the one hand, have known many parts of this story for a very long time,” Jones, a history professor at Johns Hopkins University, told “Good Morning America.” “Like with a lot of subjects, how we get that from our classrooms and our professional journals and our books and into the pop-
ular mind is always a challenge.” The Washington Informer began a series nearly one year ago to spotlight the achievements of Black women of the suffrage movement, including Ida B. Wells, Mary McLeod Bethune, Frances Harper, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Maria W. Stewart, Henrietta Purvis, Harriet Forten Purvis, Sarah Remond and Mary Ann Shadd Cary. “I have to say that we owe everything to our forefathers and mothers,” said Deborah Pretty, president of PYTalkBiz. “I greatly appreciate their courage, bravery, and persistent pursuit for equal rights for all. “The adage is true if we don’t know our history, we will repeat it,” Pretty said. “And that knowledge and knowing is power. Just to know that people that walk, talk
5 Ida B. Wells (Poynter Institute)
and look like us inspires us to keep moving.” Monique Lewis of ML Management said the suffrage movement is why she’s not a feminist. “As a Black woman of this current century, I certainly did not grow up without hearing stories of
misogyny, discrimination and racism, particularly the intersection of all three when it came to Black women,” Lewis said. “I understood from a young age what the feminist movements did. Equality, voting rights, equal pay, and more. “What was hidden from me, quite intentionally, were the stories of women who looked like me leading or participating in these movements,” Lewis continued. “We literally were the hidden figures, and often, when white and non-Black women reached their success, they never reached back to pull us up along with them. “We were utilized and discarded at a whim,” she said. “This is why I vehemently state that I am not a feminist, I am a womanist who stands for and with other Black women. Being the most maligned, degraded, and abused, I soon realized that we are forced to rely on each other as we lack support from other women.” WI
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John Lewis Doc Premieres By Brenda C. Siler WI Contributing Writer “John Lewis: Good Trouble,” the greatly anticipated documentary, premiered July 3 in theaters and on streaming platforms. The film follows the life of the 79-year-old Lewis from his hometown in Troy, Ala., to his rise as one of the most respected voices for justice in America. The documentary is directed by Dawn Porter, produced by Trilogy Films with Color Farm Media, and executive-produced by CNN Films, AGC Studios and TIME Studios. View the trailer at https://youtu. be/z_oEkOdIXdo. WI
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Drug Administration has warned COVID-19 patients against using hydroxychloroquine outside of clinical trials and in hospital settings, due to the heart rhythm problems. While hydroxychloroquine qualities for fighting the coronavirus are questionable, according to Ogunsunlade, she has more confidence in remdesivir. Remdesivir, an antiviral drug that gained notoriety as a drug to treat Ebola. She said while remdesivir didn’t work well against Ebola, “it has proven to be promising treating some COVID-19 related diseases.” Remdesivir has been proven to stop the virus from multiplying and infecting more cells in the body, Ogunsunlade said. “It is the best treatment against the coronavirus and can speed up the recovery of patients,” she said. While hydroxychloroquine and remdesivir possesses properties that can be used against the coronavirus, Ogunsunlade stresses that the virus has no cure. “There are no proven treatments for COVID-19 and there is no vaccine,” she said. “It is important to acknowledge that there is no known therapeutic intervention that has unequivocally been proven to improve the outcome of COVID-19.” Ogunsunlade said while a cure doesn’t exist for the coronavirus,
5 A documentary about the life of John Lewis produced and financed by TIME Studios will premiere on July 3, 2020. (Courtesy photo/time.com)
people who are suffering from it should be able to recover at home. She said COVID-19 patients should get proper rest, stay well-hydrated and take prescribed medications for fever, aches and pains. If it appears that more severe symptoms set in, Ogunsunlade said immediate medical attention should be sought. “If you have trouble breathing, call 911,” she said. For those who wish to avoid getting the virus, she said certain vitamins and zinc could possibly keep one healthy. “Vitamin C has qualities in it that boosts healthy immune functions and reduces the severity of symptoms,” Ogunsunlade said. “There is speculation that vitamin D may be able to reduce the spread of the disease.” She also said zinc may have qualities that will help stop the spread of the virus if it exists in the body. However, she strongly advises using over-the-counter medications to fight the coronavirus. “Before taking any vitamins or other anything else, a pharmacist or physician should be consulted,” Ogunsunlade said. “If someone wants to remain healthy, they should avoid exposure to the virus. They can do that by cleaning everywhere they are, staying six feet from people and washing their hands often.” WI
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Greater Washington, D.C., we’re committed to helping you through this At Bank of America, we recognize this health and humanitarian crisis has impacted everyone in different ways. Across our company, we’re focused on supporting the well-being of our teammates, providing the essential financial services our clients need, and helping communities across the country move forward. We know small businesses have been especially impacted. We feel a deep sense of responsibility for helping them navigate the current environment, and to secure vital funding to stay operational and be able to pay their employees. This includes our around-the-clock efforts to support clients through the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Our teammates are also focused on helping customers access additional resources. Through our Client Assistance Program, we’ve provided more than 1.6 million deferrals of mortgage, credit card and auto loan payments. I am inspired and proud of the way all of us in Greater Washington, D.C. have come together during this difficult time. Please stay safe.
Over 300,000 of our small business clients have received PPP funding for more than $25 billion in relief. Of the funded PPP loans to date, • 98% are for companies with fewer than 100 employees. • 81% are for companies with 10 or fewer employees. • 23% are from low- to moderateincome neighborhoods. In Washington, D.C., this includes funding for 1,393 of our small business clients totaling $216 million.
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LIFESTYLE
Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum: Envisioning a More Equitable Future By Melanie Adams, PhD, Director of the Anacostia Community Museum
“Ultimately, the reason we have not yet told the truth about this history of Black and White America is that telling an ordered history of this nation would mean finally naming America’s commitment to violent, abusive, exploitative, immoral white supremacy, which seeks the absolute control of Black bodies. It would mean doing something about it.” Austin Channing Brown, author and speaker on racial justice This weekend I saw many cities I’ve once called home explode with unresolved tensions brought on by our country’s repeated inability to deal with race and its lasting legacy of inequality. From my time in Los Angeles after the Rodney King incident, to twenty years in St. Louis and the killing of Michael Brown, to my arrival in Minnesota just months after the killing of Philando Castile, I have witnessed the unrest that takes place when the voice of the people is not only ignored but dismissed. In all of these cities, I‘ve worked within my professional field to find ways to
address racial inequality by bringing people together in dialogue to help them discover each other’s humanity and hoping it leads to change. Now almost 30 years later and more tragedies that I dare count, I have come to realize that museums need to do more. In one of my first columns in the Washington Informer, I spoke of my excitement about becoming the director of the Anacostia Community Museum (ACM) and joining the Southeast D.C. community as a resident. During this period of racial unrest, I am even more committed to the work of the museum and its mission to illuminate and amplify the community’s collective power. This mission distinguishes ACM from traditional museums whose mission is usually focused on “collect, preserve, and share.” ACM does these things as well, but we center our work on the people of the community and allow them to be the authors of their own stories. While most organizations focus on their mission, I would like to focus on ACM’s vision. In general, an organization’s mission statement tells you what they are currently doing. In the case of the Anacostia Community Museum, this would be “illuminating and amplifying the community’s collective power.” The vision statement serves as the ultimate goal of the organization, what they would like to accomplish. For ACM, the vision is to “inspire urban communities to activate their collective power for a more equitable future.” A vision is a far reaching goal that is ambitious and usually unattainable. In today’s climate of discord
5 Protests that took place in Baltimore after Freddie Gray was shot. Credit: Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution, photo by (c)Alejandro Orengo.
32 - JUNE 4 - 10, 2020
5 Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum is located at 1901 Fort Place SE - Washington, DC 20020
caused by racial inequality, it is vital for ACM to adopt a sense of urgency to make its vision a reality. What would a museum like ACM do to create a more equitable future? For over fifty years we have fought against the idea of a single narrative by moving the stories of people of color from the margins of history to the center of the page. We have given voice and humanity to people and experiences in order to illustrate their value and worth within the larger context of our country’s history. We have worked to make society recognize that the experiences of people of color are equal to the experiences of white people and should be treated with the same amount of respect. As ACM moves into its next fifty years, we need to move beyond just giving voice to communities, but to find ways to move towards an equitable future for all. The people that have taken to the streets over the past week are using their voice (and physical presence) to call for change and to demand equality. As a museum, we can use our resources to begin addressing and dismantling the barriers put in place that prevent true equality from being achieved. We can and should call out examples of inequalities based on race, whether it is in education, housing, policing or our country’s food systems. We should not only share the stories of inequalities, but also partner with organizations that are working to eliminate them. Through strategic partnerships and a commitment to racial equality, the Anacostia Community Museum can create and implement programs that go beyond encouraging dialogue, but providing communities with the tools to act and create a more equitable future for all.
5 Former NFL wide receiver Darnerian McCants takes what he learned as an HBCU athlete at Delaware State who played pro football and pushes his literacy program by reading online to elementary school children every Thursday through his Finding Me Foundation. (Courtesy of Darnerian McCants)
Darnerien McCants Realizes Dream of Educating Children Former NFL Great Trades in Cleats for Books and Story Time with Youth By Mark Gray Zenger News From the moment he stepped on the yard at Delaware State University, Darnerien McCants was a game-changer. He wanted to play basketball at the only historically black college and university in America’s first state but it was football that came easily and gave him the platform achieve in education. “Playing in the NFL was never a dream of mine,” McCants said. “I don’t really watch sports that much on TV. I’ve met legends of the game and didn’t know who they were.” McCants, a fifth-round draft pick in 2001 by the National Football League’s Washington Redskins, has taken reading time into the world of distance learning to help young children develop a passion for the fundamental necessity that is a key to personal and social success during the pandemic. He recently launched his nonprofit Finding Me Foundation just as U.S. schools were forced into distance learning and stay-at-home measures. Through mobile devices and video conferencing, he made the adjustment to the new normal
of teaching for those who are used to working in a classroom while capitulating to social distancing policies. “Every week has been a learning experience for me,” McCants said. “I’ve had to learn to teach a whole different way while getting better at using technology. This is the future of education we’re living now.” The foundation’s mission is to combat juvenile delinquency by introducing children to reading. On Thursdays, McCants connects with elementary-aged students through the organization’s website as he reads some of his favorite children’s books. Unlike most pro athletes, who saw heroes from the game as professional role models, McCants’ drive to stress the importance of reading began during his elementary years, when he was introduced to actor LeVar Burton’s “Reading Rainbow” series as a part of the curriculum “I wasn’t born when he acted in ‘Roots,’ but I do remember him a little bit from ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation,’” said McCants. who is an alternative education instructor in the Howard County, Maryland
CHILDREN Page 44
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Washington Gas – Serving Our Customers and our Community Submitted by Washington Gas We are now several weeks into the pandemic and continue to work every day as an essential service provider to make sure our customers have natural gas service, all while ensuring safety and reliability every step of the way. We thank you for your patience as we continue to work together through the challenges and stress we all face every day. And, as an essential service provider, our work must continue in these trying times so that you can continue to use natural gas as an energy source for your daily needs. That means we continue to perform critical system maintenance and construction out in the field where needed. Additionally, as of June 1, we will no longer limit our service orders to emergencies and service turn-on requests and will resume responding to all service request orders. In delivering gas safely— our number one priority—we take every step to ensure our infrastructure is maintained to improve system reliability and minimize disruptions, all while meeting or exceeding the highest standards of safety and quality to better serve our customers. With the vast majority if our customers remaining at home, we know that our essential work in your neighborhood can be disruptive. We will do all we can to minimize the impact. Most of the infrastructure work we perform in your neighborhood does not require entry into the home and should not result in an interruption of service. When inside work is required, to protect our technicians, we ask that you let us know if anyone in your home is ill before we arrive. Our crews and contractors follow precautionary protocols such as wearing masks, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), and practicing safe social distancing of at least 6 feet when performing
work on location. We cannot overstate the importance of our crews and contractors who practice safe social distancing at all times when conducting work in neighborhoods to reduce risk. Our team is committed to preserving your well-being at every turn, with an emphasis on social distancing, to protect both yourself and our workers. We ask that you to give our crews the space they need to work by maintaining an appropriate distance of 6 feet or more from them at all times. We will continue to stay connected with our customers to inform you of the latest information, provide access to resources and offer assistance. Our practice of waiving late payment fees, suspending disconnections and offering payment arrangements continues to be in effect until we get past this crisis. We encourage you to visit our Coronavirus Alert webpage at washingtongas.com for timely updates and developments. As always, if you think you smell gas or are experiencing a natural gas-related emergency at any time, please call 911 and then call us at 1-844-WASHGAS (9274427). We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to respond to emergency calls. We’ve called the DC-area home for more than 172 years and we have always been there to support our community through good times and bad. We know that if we remain united and support each other, we will emerge from the pandemic even stronger.
GET HELP WITH YOUR ENERGY BILLS Washington Gas is committed to helping our customers in these uncertain times. Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) Helps to pay for families’ heating and cooling bills. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, states were provided additional funds to the amount of $900 million to provide payment assistance for qualified applicants. For more information on how to apply, call 311 or go to www.washingtongas.com/liheap where there are many resource and links to agencies. Washington Area Fuel Fund (WAFF) Created by Washington Gas and The Salvation Army to help pay the heating bills of community members in need regardless of the fuel type used to heat your home. WAFF applications have been extended through July 31 due to COVID-19 and the greater need to assist local families. A family of four earning less than $75,050 may be eligible. Applications are being accepted at https://salvationarmynca.org/gethelp Washington Gas Cares Washington Gas is suspending disconnections and waiving late fees until we get past this crisis. These actions are automatically in place and do not need to be requested. Washington Gas is also offering payment arrangements to customers in need of extra time to pay their bills. You don’t need to show financial hardship. You just have to let us know how we can help.
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Lukewarm Leads and Little Laughter in ‘Lovebirds’
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Remember comedy? Remember romance? Remember when movies made you believe in love? Eight minutes into “The Lovebirds,” it’s clear the new Netflix offering is the type of romantic comedy two unmarried, middle-aged Canadians would write for a major studio. But Paramount Pictures sold the rights to Netflix to avoid being on the hook for a $16 million dollar bust, a decision that likely has the studio laughing to the bank. When you have a film industry that fundamentally lacks the understanding of how comedy works and mixes that in with their inability to create a believable romance, you get “The Lovebirds.” Set in New Orleans, Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani star as couple Leilani and Jibran whose honeymoon phase ended long ago. After four years of dating, the love is gone – if it was ever there to begin with. But before the couple can cut their losses and call it quits, they are framed for a murder they didn’t commit. On the run from the law, Jibran and Leilani get tangled up with a criminal syndicate with information that can clear them. Together, they must find the real killer or risk spending the rest of their lives in prison. In a good movie, physical comedy can be the special ingredient to a gut-busting good time. In a bad comedy – where the written jokes miss the mark more than Ray
TRUMP from Page 28 “We must build power to topple regimes that work against the flourishing of humans and the earth. God’s wind and fire seek to create something new in us and in the world,” he said. “Will we bold enough to abandon the mendacity of the American myth and to embrace the reign of God? That is the question.” Political leaders such as D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser called it “shameful” that federal police used tear
34 - JUNE 4 - 10, 2020
5 Kumail Nanjiani and Issa Rae in “The Lovebirds.” (Photo courtesy Netflix)
Charles at a gun range, and he’s dead – it becomes the only humor on offer. The film manages to get right that Rae and Nanjiani have no chemistry on screen as a couple. At no point does the viewer believe their relationship, so they make that shortcoming part of the story. Jibran and Leilani are separated from the beginning; all they do is fight and within the first five minutes they come to the realization that they make a terrible couple. Their on-screen relationship has no shred of realism, nor does it attempt to – making “The Lovebirds” a rom-com with no rom or com. Had the coronavirus outbreak not have happened, perhaps this film would have gotten away as a date-night flick. But two months into quarantines and stay-at-home orders, and there’s no duping the audience.
Nanjiani is tasked with carrying the comedic load but much like last year’s financial and critical flop “Stuber,” he simply isn’t the right guy for the job. Rae makes the film somewhat tolerable but she also suffers from not having the ability to make any of the cringe-inducing lines she is given – including a “Who Let the Dogs Out?” reference – humorous. The only winners in this project is CBS show “The Amazing Race,” which got a nice chunk of advertising for the upcoming season of their show thanks to the Paramount connection. There aren’t many other ways to slam a film without taking it up to a tall building and tossing it from the roof against its will. “The Lovebirds” is a bullet dodged for Paramount and a cinematic flop for everyone else. WI
gas to move protesters out the way for Trump to walk from the White House to St. John’s Church. Rep. Anthony Brown (D-Maryland) said in an interview Tuesday the country faces an assault not only by the Trump administration, but also by “rogue and lawless police” against Blacks. Brown said one activity that can help improve lives is voting. Maryland and D.C. both held their respective primary elections on Tuesday. “People are looking for ways to be
active and I’ve always said it begins with the most fundamental, civic activity which is voting,” he said outside the Southern Regional Technology and Recreation Complex in Fort Washington. “I think the protest is good and it’s constructive that we’re seeing in cities around the country. But if you’re not coming out to vote, you’re not doing the one thing that’s going to ensure your voice is heard in elected offices up and down the ballot.” Hamil Harris contributed to this story. WI
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LIFESTYLE
wi book review “To Me, He Was Just Dad: Stories of Growing Up with Famous Fathers” By Joshua David Stein c.2020, Artisan Books $22.95 192 pages By Terri Schlichenmeyer WI Contributing Writer When you were growing up, your dad was called many different names. His boss sometimes used his last one. He was “Mister” to the kid next door, and “Buddy” to the guy at the gas station; Mom called him one thing, Grandma called him another. And yet, as in the new book “To Me, He Was Just Dad” by Joshua David Stein, he seemed to like your choice the best. Growing up, you thought your Daddy was the fastest, the strongest, the smartest man alive. If something needed fixing or making, he was your guy. Everybody knew your pops — and what if that was because he was famous? Joshua David Stein and his colleagues at Fatherly asked that question of more than three dozen children of notable dads whose names were in the news, sometimes daily for awhile. People saw their fathers’ public faces — but what were those dads like in private? Habiba Alcindor remembers spending summers with her dad, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and trying “to play … basketball with him, but he wouldn’t let us get the ball.” Samuel L. Jackson’s daughter says Jackson is “a big nerd,” while Garry Trudeau’s son recalls the awe he felt when inside his father’s studio. Evel Knievel’s son was warned never to be a chip off the old block, while Bruce Lee’s son says that his father has been absent for years but is still a guiding force. Brandon Jenner’s “Dad remained distant for much of my life.” Pablo Escobar’s son admits that his father was “100 percent responsible for his crimes,” but he was also “a wonderful father.” Lucion Gygax writes of his dad, the game-maker who held many jobs in order to take care of his family. Erin Davis remembers the honor of playing onstage with his father Miles and being treated as a peer. And Jim Sullivan writes of a mystery solved and a shocking, heartbreaking truth: the father he never knew was also a Father. There’s a lot to like about “To Me, He Was Just Dad,” starting with the length of its offerings: the tales in here are each about three pages long and ultra-to-the-point. This makes them very no-nonsense and that’s great for readers who don’t want fluff. Just FYI, though: this wide variety of succinctly-told tales stands out, in part, because author Joshua David Stein includes essays that are less-than-complimentary. That should tell you firmly that this book is not a particularly sunny paean to fatherhood; instead, it’s sometimes emotionally raw, funny, sometimes a bit on the competitive side, and sometimes an awful lot sad. Even so, those warts absolutely belong in this book, as an underscore, to balance it, and to keep it from becoming needlessly saccharine. Don’t misunderstand: it’s still a sweet book; still a great gift for kids over 25 or dads of any age; still a quick, enjoyable read. It’s just a little sharp sometimes, and that’s a good thing. “To Me, He Was Just Dad” is great for Pops, Papa, Daddy or whatever you call him. WI
horoscopes
JUNE 4 - 10, 2020
ARIES Over the next month, you may want to step out of your comfort zone and make some footprints in areas you haven’t been. If you’re sticking close to home, this could be finding local hiking trails and bike paths. If you tend to shun technology, this aspect could have you e-viting people to an online party. If you’re shy about expressing yourself, this could be time to convey your thoughts through writing. Lucky Numbers: 18, 21, 29 TAURUS Promised help may not come through, at least with the timing you were expecting. It’s going to take a little bit more effort and focus to get what you want (and deserve). This aspect can bring revolutionary ideas you can apply directly to assisting in removing the blocks standing between you and the resources you want. Lucky Numbers: 3, 13, 36 GEMINI The right set of circumstances is lining up to bring you a potential new beginning. However, it’s taking a form that you either did not expect or are not recognizing. You may have to make some adjustments to your expectations. As the opportunity arrives, take a moment to see how this could be the kickoff of something great in your life. Lucky Numbers: 17, 18, 43 CANCER It is likely you are changing a routine you have had in your life for years, perhaps even decades. This could indicate a radical change in diet or quitting a habit that makes a big difference in your daily life. You have the power to make a change cold turkey. Lucky Numbers: 20, 33, 35 LEO Communication comes through when you practice a spiritual modality. Look at automatic writing, mediumship, or start a dream journal. Reach out to friends and ask about what they’ve been envisioning. Compare what you all see for the future. Remarkable insights can occur. Lucky Numbers: 5, 6, 12 VIRGO Today you can take chances with your career. Make a connection with the boss and see if you are able to secure a meeting to discuss a promotion or transfer possibility. If you own a business, consider promoting yourself by reaching out to people you admire to see if you can reach a deal. Jupiter will be transiting this house for several months, and so you will have more than one opportunity. Lucky Numbers: 10, 22, 45 LIBRA Time to indulge in your favorite things, whether that be binge-watching an old TV show, diving into a box of chocolates or spending time in nature. This planetary combination harmonizes with your own Libra energy. For today, allow yourself what you would willingly give your friends and family. Treat yourself with as much loving kindness as you would a close friend or treasured pet. Lucky Numbers: 3, 5, 18 SCORPIO The lunar eclipse is June 5 at 15° of Sagittarius in your house of money. Eclipses bring change. This is something you may have been wanting for some time. You’ve been asking the Universe for a change of finances and now changes are happening with or without your control. It’s really good to grab the helm and steer this boat in the direction you want to go. Lucky Numbers: 2, 10, 21 SAGITTARIUS If you’re dating someone who your family doesn’t approve of, it’s time to sit down and have a deep discussion about the amount of support you’re receiving. Likewise, if your partner cannot stand your parents, it’s time for an intervention. And where things are irreconcilable, it’s time to expand your “family” by finding more friends. Lucky Numbers: 14, 39, 49 CAPRICORN Consider something you’ve always wanted to do and now find a way to start that activity. Take up the guitar, find an online class in oil painting, or try out for the local improv comedy group over a video conference. Eclipses bring change and you can guide this rare energy by planting a seed today. Lucky Numbers: 3, 7, 23 AQUARIUS There’s a focus on friendships this week and expanding the circle of those people you care about. It’s good to meet the friends of your friends. Reach out to people you haven’t heard from in a while. You can look at selling items you have around the house, or going online to look for opportunities to make passive income. A poor use of today is to argue with someone about money. Lucky Numbers: 30, 35, 44 PISCES There may be big changes going on with your company, or with the industry as a whole. It’s a good idea to look at what forecasters are saying about your career trajectory. See if you should, over the next six months or so, look for a different job. There will be new opportunities opening up for you, perhaps as early as next week. Dust off your resume and get ready. Lucky Numbers: 13, 17, 36
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JUNE 4 - 10, 2020 35
CAPTURE the moment
For more photos, visit www.washingtoninformer.com
PROTESTERS DEMAND AN END TO THE DISTURBING LEGACY OF POLICE BRUTALITY
Peaceful protests that took place throughout the DMV over the past few days captured in photos by Washington Informer photographers Anthony Tilghman, Brigette Squire and Roy Lewis.
5 Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks watches a peaceful protest with council members. (Anthony Tilghman/The Washington Informer)
5 The DC National Guard block demonstrators protesting the death of George Floyd from entering a downtown intersection on Sunday, May 31 in Northwest after a 7 p.m. curfew imposed by Mayor Muriel Bowser. (Anthony Tilghman/The Washington Informer)
5 A young protester raises a fist during a peaceful protest of the death of George Floyd in Bethesda on June 2. (Brigette Squire/The Washington Informer)
5 A diverse group of people protest the police killing of George Floyd and demand swift justice during a peaceful demonstration. (Roy Lewis/The Washington Informer)
36 - JUNE 4 - 10, 2020
5 Protesters gathered at 14th and U Streets, NW to express their frustration over the killing of several Black men and women over the years and demand racial justice. (Roy Lewis/The Washington Informer)
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D.C. ELECTIONS from Page 1 We expect this lead will stay safe or grow slightly as the remaining data arrives.” George must wait, like the other candidates in the other races, for the rest of the mail-in ballots to be made a part of the official tabulation, which elections officials say could take up to 10 days. She received 54 percent of the vote while Todd received 43 percent. Community activist Marlene D. Edwards lagged far behind with 2.12 percent. George, a Ward 4 native who graduated from the School Without Walls, St. John’s University and the Howard University School of Law, challenged Todd after leaving her job as an assistant attorney general for the Office of the D.C. Attorney General. D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine endorsed her council bid as did D.C. Councilmember Elissa Silverman (I-At Large) and many progressive organizations. Despite the backing of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, Todd failed to convince Ward 4 voters to return him to the John A. Wilson Building for a second full term. Renee Bowser, an advisory neighborhood commissioner who previously ran for the Ward 4 seat, said George stressed the need for change in the ward with a progressive agenda. “I think she won because she mainly pledged to pay attention to every Ward 4 resident,” Renee Bowser (no relation to the mayor) said. “There is a perception that Brandon Todd only pays attention to certain sections of the ward. I don’t know, though, whether it was about liking her more or if we’ve had enough of him.”
OTHER INCUMBENTS FARED BETTER
D.C. Councilmember Trayon White (D-Ward 8) fought back a challenge from 8C advisory neighborhood commission chair Mike Austin, 58.87 percent to 26.18 percent, while other challengers, Yaida Ford and Stuart Anderson brought up the rear. Salim Adofo, a Ward 8 advisory neighborhood commissioner, said White worked hard to win the primary. “Trayon was better organized than the other candidates,” Adofo said. “He had a stronger base in the community. The other candidates didn’t show what they had accomplished in the community that merited becoming a councilmember.”
5 Robert White (Courtesy photo)
5 Trayon White (Courtesy photo)
In neighboring Ward 7, D.C. Councilmember Vincent Gray easily sailed to re-nomination with 45.69 percent of the vote. Ward 7 advisory neighborhood commissioner Veda Rasheed trailed with 22.72 percent. Ward 7 resident Anthony Wright said Gray has the experience to help the District face a fiscal shortfall, the coronavirus and uneasiness in the ward due to inequalities. “Vincent Gray has the name rec- 5 Vincent Gray (Courtesy photo) ognition while the others didn’t,” Wright said. “He had all of the ad- heal, but we cannot rest,” Gray said. Brooke Pinto, a political newcomvantages of being an incumbent and er, received 27.71 percent of the vote he had the biggest name in the race.” In a statement following his reelec- to take a major step in becoming Ward 2’s new legislator. Pinto edged tion, Gray shared the following: “Today, after an election unlike out Ward 2 advisory neighborhood any that preceded it, the task of re- commissioner Patrick Kennedy, 27.71 percent to 26.39 percent. Former Ward 2 D.C. Councilmember “Trayon was better Jack Evans, who served decades on the District’s legislative body before organized than the stepping down in January in light of other candidates,” Adofo ethics violations and possible criminal charges, received only 3.78 persaid. “He had a stronger cent of the vote. to Evans’s resignation, on June base in the community. 16Due voters will have the chance to select The other candidates his immediate successor on the council who will serve until January 2021. didn’t show what they D.C. Councilmember Robert White faced no opposition in the had accomplished in the Democratic party primary and will vie for one of two at-large council community that seats in the Nov. 3 general election. merited becoming D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and Shadow Senator Paul a councilmember.” Strauss won Democratic re-nomination unopposed and Ward 8 advisory building, healing and improving the neighborhood commissioner Oye District of Columbia continues. I am Owokewa ran without opposition as grateful to everyone who participat- the shadow representative. ed in this election. You endured and For president of the U.S., former overcame great challenges.” Vice President Joe Biden easily won “While we take on the task of re- the Democratic primary despite the covering from the coronavirus crisis, fact that some of his former challengwe must at the same time focus our ers remained on the ballot while Presattention on the November election. ident Trump took the GOP contest. Nothing could be more important The Republican, Statehood Green for our country than to defeat Don- and Libertarian parties held primaald Trump. He is tearing apart our ries but because the Democrats comnation. Indeed, he is tearing apart our mand 75.81 percent of all registered city. The events of these past few days voters in the city as of April 2020, the are tragic, but they must also steel our party will likely win all contested racresolve. We must be united. We will es in the Nov. 3 general election. WI
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RELIGION the religion corner WITH LYNDIA GRANT
A Modern-Day Lynching, Filmed For the World to See
In a country with hundreds of years of having enslaved African Americans, we still suffer from the repercussions of that history. Amid a historic, worldwide pandemic, with more than 100,000 Americans having died from the coronavirus, yet another Black man was murdered by white police. Likened to a modern-day lynching, recorded by several onlookers, Minneapolis resident George Floyd, known as the “Gentle Giant” and “Big Floyd,” was murdered by Minneapolis police, in such a dreadful manner. I found myself covering my eyes to keep from seeing him tortured to death! Killed by a white police officer with three officers assisting, and while they kept the ambulance service on the scene from saving Floyd’s life. The officer kept his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes. It is extremely difficult to put myself in Floyd’s shoes, con-
sidering the fact that I suffer from merinthophobia, a fear of being bound, tied up or handcuffed. Floyd’s death has sparked protests in Minneapolis and in more than 20 other cities from coast to coast, including New York, Chicago, D.C., Los Angeles and Fayetteville, N.C., where Floyd was born. Who was George Floyd? After moving to Houston as a youth, he had difficulty finding employment. After serving a few years in prison for burglary, he decided to relocate to Minneapolis, hoping to find more job opportunities. He did find work, changed his life, volunteered to help children and was beloved by his community. So why exactly are cities rioting the way they did when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed? As the saying goes, Floyd’s death was the straw that broke the camel’s back. The Washington Post cites that Black Americans are disproportionately killed by police. Although half of the people shot and killed by police are white, Black Americans are shot at a disproportionate rate. They account for only 13 percent of the U.S. population, but more than a quarter of police shooting victims. The disparity is even more pronounced among unarmed victims, of whom more than a third
Mt. Zion Baptist Church
are Black, the article stated. A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences recently drew controversy for publishing another study on police killing disparities. Here in America, African Americans are 2.5 times more likely to be killed by police than white people. That’s according to a new study conducted by Rutgers University’s School of Criminal Justice, Washington University in St. Louis’s Department of Sociology and the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research. The researchers, using verified data on police killings from 2013 to 2018 compiled by the website Fatal Encounters, found that roughly 1 in 1,000 Black boys and men will be killed by police in their lifetime. According to 2015 report by The Guardian, Blacks in the U.S. were killed by police at a rate five times higher than white men of the same age — 1,134 in that year alone. I have two sons and three grandsons. We must teach them how to survive in America, just living while Black. It is as important as teaching them to brush their teeth. This is something they must do every day! WI
John F. Johnson Reverend Dr.
5101 14th Street, NW / Washington, DC 20011 Phone: 202-726-2220 Fax: 202-726-9089
1306 Vermont Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20005
“A Church with a past to remember – and a future to mold” www.mtzbcdc.org
EMPLOYMENT LAWYERS MCCOLLUM & ASSOCIATES, LLC ADA, Age Discrimination, Benefits, Civil Rights, COBRA, Contracts, Deaf Law, Defamation, Disability Law, Discipline, Discrimination, FMLA, FLSA, FOIA, Family Responsibility, Harassment, HIPPA, OSHA, National Origin Discrimination, Non-Compete, Race Discrimination, Rehabilitation Act, Retaliation, Severance Agreements, Sexual Harassment, Torts, Whistleblowing, Wage-and-Hour, Wrongful Discharge SERVING MARYLAND, DC, & NORTH CAROLINA
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Mount Olivet Lutheran Church
Reverend John W. Davis Pastor
Service and Times Sunday Worship Service - 8:00 a.m. & 11:00 a.m. Children’s Church - 11:00 a.m. (1st & 3rd Sundays) Communion - 10 a.m. 4th Sunday Sunday School - 9:15 a.m. (4th Sunday 8:15 a.m.) Prayer Meeting & Bible Study - Wednesday 7:00 p.m.
(301) 864-6070
Service and Times Divine Worship, Sunday 10:00 a.m. Communion 1st and 3rd Sunday “Friendliest Church in the City” Website: mountolivetdc.org Email: mtolivedc@gmail.com
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JUNE 4 - 10, 2020 39
RELIGION The Miracle Center of Faith Missionary Baptist Church
Pilgrim Baptist Church
Bishop Michael C. Turner, Sr. Senior Pastor
Rev. Louis B. Jones II Pastor
9161 Hampton Overlook Capitol Heights, MD 20743 Phone: 301-350-2200 / Fax: 301-499-8724
700 I Street, N.E. Washington, D.C. 20002 (202) 547-8849
Service and Times Sunday Worship Times : 7:30 AM 7 10:00 AM Communion: 1st Sunday Sunday School: 9:00 AM Bible Study: Wednesday, 12 Noon Bible Study in homes: Tuesday 7:00 PM Website: www.themiraclecenterFMBC.com Email: Miraclecenterfmbs@gmail.com Motto: “We Walk by Faith, Not by Sight”
Blessed Word of Life Church
Service and Times Worship Sundays: 7:30 & 11:00 AM 5th Sundays: 9:30 AM 3rd Sundays: Baptism & Holy Communion Prayer & Praise: Wednesdays @ Noon & 6:30 PM www.pilgrimbaptistdc.org
Covenant Baptist United Church of Christ
Church of Living Waters
Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church
Rev. Paul Carrette Senior Pastor Harold Andrew Assistant Pastor 4915 Wheeler Road Oxon Hill, MD 20745 301-894-6464 Service and Times Sunday Service: 8:30am& 11:00 AM Bible Study: Wednesday 7:30 PM Communion Service: First Sunday www.livingwatersmd.org
St. Stephen Baptist 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 Service and Times Sunday Worship Services: 8:00am and 11:00 AM Sunday Church School - 9:15am & Sunday Adult Forum Bible Study - 10:30 AM 2nd & 4th Monday Women’s Bible Study: 6:30 PM Tuesday Jr./Sr. Bible Study: 10:00 AM Tuesday Topical Bible Study: 6:30 PM Tuesday New Beginnings Bible Study: 6:30 PM Wednesday Pastoral Bible Study: 6:30 PM Wednesday Children’s Bible Study: 6:30 PM Thursday Men’s Bible Study: 6:30 PM Friday before 1st Sunday Praise & Worship Service: 6:30 PM Saturday Adult Bible Study: 10:00 AM “The Amazing, Awesome, Audacious Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church”
Third Street Church of God
Dr. Dekontee L. & Dr. Ayele A. Johnson Pastors
Rev. Dr. Alice Greene Interim Pastor
Bishop Lanier C. Twyman, Sr. Senior Pastor
Rev. Cheryl J. Sanders, Th.D. Senior Pastor
4001 14th Street, NW Washington, DC 20011 (202) 265-6147 Office 1-800 576-1047 Voicemail/Fax
3845 South Capitol Street Washington, DC 20032 (202) 562-5576 (Office) / (202) 562-4219 (Fax)
5757 Temple Hill Road, Temple Hills, MD 20748 Office 301-899-8885 – fax 301-899-2555 Services and Times Sunday Early Morning Worship: 7:45 AM Church School: 9:30 AM Sunday Morning Worship: 10:45 AM Tuesday: 7:00pm/Kingdom Building Bible Institute Wednesday , 12:30 PM Mid-Day Bible Study Wednesday: Prayer/Praise/Bible Study-7:30 PM Baptism & Communion Service: 4th Sunday – 10:30 AM
1204 Third Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 202-347-5889 office / 202-638-1803 fax
Service and Times 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 Rev. Dr. Henry Y. White 2562 MLK Jr. Ave., SE - Washington, DC 20020 Adm. Office 202-678-2263 Email: Campbell@mycame.org Service and Times Sunday Worship Service: 10:00 AM Sunday Church School: 8:45 AM Bible Study Wednesday: 12:00 Noon Wednesday: 7:00 PM Thursday: 7:00 PM “Reaching Up To Reach Out” Mailing Address : Campbell AME Church 2502 Stanton Road SE - Washington, DC 20020
Turning Hearts Church Virgil K. Thomas, Sr. Senior Pastor/ Teacher 421 Alabama Ave. SE Washington, DC 20032 Phone: 202-746-0113 Fax: 301-843-2445 Service and Times Sunday School: 10:15 AM Sunday Worship Service: 11;15 AM Children’s Church: 11:15 AM Tuesday Bible Study: 6:30 PM Motto : “A Great Commitment to the Great Commandment” Website: www.turningheartschurchdc.org Email: gr8luv4u2@gmail.com
40 - JUNE 4 - 10, 2020
Services and Times Sundays: 10:00am 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.covenantdc.org
“We are one in the Spirit” www.ssbc5757.org / E-mail: ssbc5757@verizon.net
Services and Times Sunday School: 9:30 AM Sunday Worship: 11:00 AM Sunday Community Worship Service: 8:30 AM “Ambassadors for Christ to the Nation’s Capital” www.thirdstreet.org Live Stream Sunday Worship Service begins @ 12:00 noon www.thirdstreet.org
Crusader Baptist Church Rev. Dr. Alton W. Jordan Pastor 800 I Street, NE - Washington, DC 20002 202-548-0707 - Fax No. 202-548-0703 Service and Times Sunday Morning Worship: 11:00 AM Holy Communion: 1st Sunday Sunday School: 9:45 AM Men’s Monday Bible Study: 7:00 PM Wednesday Night Bible Study: 7:00 PM Women’s Ministry Bible Study: 3rd Friday -7:00 PM Computer Classes: Announced Family and Marital Counseling by appointment E-mail: Crusadersbaptistchurch@verizon.net www.CrusadersBaptistChurch.org / “God is Love”
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: 8:00 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 6:00 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
Isle of Patmos Baptist Church Reverend Dr. Calvin L. Matthews Senior Pastor 1200 Isle of Patmos Plaza, Northeast Washington, DC 20018 Office: (202) 529-6767 - Fax: (202) 526-1661 Service and Times Sunday Worship Services: 7:30 AM and 10:30 AM Holy Communion: 2nd Sunday at 7:30 AM and 10:30 AM Sunday Church School: 9:20 AM Seniors Bible Study: Tuesdays at 10:30 AM Noon Day Prayer Service: Tuesdays at Noon Bible Study: Tuesdays at 7 PM Motto: “A Ministry of Reconciliation Where Everybody is Somebody!” Website: http://isleofpatmosbc.org Church Email: ipbcsecretary@verizon.net
St Marks Baptist Come Worship with us... Dr. Raymond T. Matthews Pastor and First Lady Marcia Matthews St. Mark's Baptist Church 624 Underwood Street, NW Washington, dc 20011 Services and Times Sunday School: 9:00 AM Worship Service: 10:00 AM Wed. Noon Day prayer service Thur. Prayer service: 6:45 PM Thur. Bible Study: 7:15 PM
Twelfth Street Christian Church Reverend Dr. Paul H. Saddler Senior Pastor (Disciples of Christ) 1812 12th Street, NW - Washington, DC 20009 Phone: 202-265-4494 Fax: 202 265 4340 Service and Times Sunday Worship Service: 11:00 AM Communion every Sunday: 11:00 AM Sunday School: 10:00 AM Bible Study Tuesday: 12 Noon Pastor’s Bible Study Tuesday: 6:30 PM Motto: “Discover Something Wonderful” Website: 12thscc.org / Email: Twelfthstcc@aol.com
Mount Carmel Baptist Church Reverend Dr. Paris L Smith, Sr. Senior Pastor 901 Third Street N.W. Washington, DC. 20001 Phone (202) 842-3411 Fax (202) 682-9423 Service and Times Sunday Church School : 9:00 AM Sunday Morning Worship: 10:10 AM Bible Study Tuesday: 6: 00 PM Prayer Service Tuesday: 7:00 PM Holy Communion: 3rd Sunday 10:10 AM themcbc.org
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RELIGION Shabbath Commandment Church Bishop Adrian A. Taylor, Sr. Pastor 7801 Livingston Road Oxon Hill, MD 20745 301-534-5471 Service and Times Sabbath School 9:30 a.m. – 10:30 AM Service 11:00 AM Praise & Worship Preaching 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM Motto: “A Church Keeping It Real for Real.” Website: Shabbathcommandmentchruch.org Email: Praisebetoyhwh@gmail.com
Zion Baptist Church Rev. Keith W. Byrd, Sr. Pastor 4850 Blagdon Ave, NW - Washington D.C 20011 Phone (202) 722-4940 - Fax (202) 291-3773 Service and Times 9:00 a.m. – Sunday School 10:15 a.m. – Worship Service Wed. Noon: Dea. Robert Owens Bible Study 7 PM Pastor’s Bible Study Ordinance of Baptism 2nd Sunday, Holy Communion 4th Sunday Mission: Zion shall: Enlist Sinners, Educate Students, Empower the Suffering, Encourage the Saints, And Exalt our Savior. (Acts 2: 41-47) www.zionbaptistchurchdc.org
St. Luke Baptist Church Rev. Aubrey C. Lewis Pastor 1415 Gallatin Street, NW Washington, DC 20011-3851 P: (202) 726-5940 Service and Times Sunday Worship: 11:00 AM Sunday School: 9:15 AM Holy Communion: 11:00 a.m., 3rd Sun. Bible Institute: Wednesday - 1:30 PM Prayer Meeting: Wednesday - 12:00 Noon
All Nations Baptist Church Rev. Dr. James Coleman Pastor 2001 North Capitol St, N.E. - Washington, DC 20002 Phone (202) 832-9591 Service and Times 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 Website: www.allnationsbaptistchurch.com All Nations Baptist Church – A Church of Standards
Israel Baptist Church
Rev. Daryl F. Bell Pastor 2324 Ontario Road, NW Washington, DC 20009 (202) 232-1730 Service and Times 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 “Where Jesus is the King”
Dr. Earl D. Trent Senior Pastor
2409 Ainger Pl.,SE – WDC 20020 (202) 678-0884 – Office / (202) 678-0885 – Fax “Moving Faith Forward” 0% Perfect . . . 100% Forgiven!
623 Florida Ave.. NW - WDC. 20001 Church (202) 667-3409 / Study (202) 265-0836 Home Study (301) 464-8211 / Fax (202) 483-4009
Service and Times Sunday Worship: 8:00 AM & 10:45 AM Baptism/Holy Communion: 3rd Sunday Family Bible Study Tuesdays – 6:30 PM Prayer Service: Tuesdays – 8:00 PM www.emmanuelbaptistchurchdc.org
Sermon On The Mount Temple Of Joy Apostolic Faith
Lincoln Park United Methodist Church Rev. Richard B. Black Pastor
Elder Herman L. Simms Pastor
1251 Saratoga Ave., NE Washington, DC 20018 (202) 269-0288
1301 North Carolina Ave. N E Washington, D C 20002 202 543 1318 - lincolnpark@lpumcdc.org www.lpumcdc.org
5606 Marlboro Pike District Heights, MD 20747 301-735-6005
Service and Times Sunday Worship Service: 10:45 AM Sunday School: 9:15 AM Holy Communion1st Sunday: 10:45 AM Prayer Service: Wednesday at 6:30 PM Bible Study: Wednesday at 7:00 PM Bible Study: Tuesday at 10:30 AM
Mount Moriah Baptist Church Dr. Lucius M. Dalton Senior Pastor
Service and Times Sunday Worship: 10:00 AM Holy Communion: First Sunday 10:00 AM Sunday School: 9:00 AM Bible Study: Wednesday @ 12 noon and 6:30 PM Motto: "Faith On The Hill"
Service and Times Sunday Apostolic Worship Services 11:00 A.M and 5:00 PM Communion and Feet Wash 4th Sunday at 5:00 PM Prayer/Seeking: Wednesday at 8:00 PM 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
Eastern Community Baptist Church Damion M. Briggs Pastor
Rev. Stephen E. Tucker Senior Pastor
1636 East Capitol Street, NE Washington, DC 20003 Telephone: 202-544-5588 - Fax: 202-544-2964
8213 Manson Street Landover, MD 20785 Tel: (301) 322-9787 Fax: (301) 322-9240
13701 Old Jericho Park Road Bowie, MD. 20720 (301) 262-0560
Service and Times Sunday Worship Services: 7:45 AM and 10:45 AM Holy Communion: 1st Sundays at 7:45 AM & 10:45 AM Sunday School: 9:30 AM Prayer & Praise Service: Tuesdays at 12 noon & 6:30 PM Bible Study: Tuesdays at 1 pm and 7 PM Youth Bible Study: Fridays at 7 PM
Service and Times Early Morning Message: 7:30 AM Sunday Morning Worship Service: 10:00 AM Sunday Church School: 9:00 AM Holy Communion: 1st Sunday 7:30 AM & 10:00 AM Prayer, Praise and Testimony: Wednesday 7:00 PM Bible Study: Wednesday 7:30 PM
Service and Times Sunday Worship: 11 AM Sunday School: 10 AM Wednesday Mid-Week Worship, Prayer & Bible Study: Wed. 7 PM
Rehoboth Baptist Church
Reverend Peter R. Blue Sr. Pastor
Rev. Curtis l. Staley Pastor
2001 Brooks Drive District Heights MD. 20744 240.838.7074
621 Alabama Ave., S.E.- Washington, D.C. 20032 P: (202) 561-1111 - F: (202) 561-1112
Service and Times Sunday Worship Experience: 10:15am Sunday School: 9:00am Holy Communion: 3rd Sunday Morning Noontime Bible Study: Tuesday @ 12:00pm Prayer Meeting/Bible Study: Tuesday @7:00pm Theme: "Building On A Firm Foundation"
Service and Times Sunday Service: 10:00 AM Sunday School for all ages: 8:30 AM 1st Sunday Baptism: 10:00 AM 2nd Sunday Holy Communion:10:00 AM Tuesday: Bible Study: 6:30 PM Prayer Meeting: 7:45 PM
Email: revprbstmbc@gmail.com Website: www.stmatthewsbaptist.org
Motto: “Where God is First and Where Friendly People Worship”
“Real Worship for Real People” Website: www.easterncommunity.org Email: ecc@easterncommunity.org
“A Church Where Love Is Essential and Praise is Intentional”
Foggy Bottom - Founded in 1867 728 23rd Street, NW - Washington, DC 20037 Church office: 202-333-3985 - Fax : 202-338-4958
Shiloh Baptist Church
Matthews Memorial Baptist Church Dr. Joseph D. Turner / Senior Pastor 2616 MLK Ave., SE - Washington, DC 20020 Office 202-889-3709 - Fax 202-678-3304 Service and Times Early Worship Service: 8:00 AM Worship Service: 11:00 AM New Member’s Class: 9:45 AM Holy Communion: 1st Sunday, 11:00 AM Church School: 9:45 AM Wednesday 12:00pm Bible Study Prayer, Praise and Bible Study: 7:00 PM Saturday Bible Study: 11:00 AM Baptism 4th Sunday: 11:00 AM “Empowered to love and Challenged to Lead a Multitude of Souls to Christ”
Peace Baptist Church Rev. Dr. Michael T. Bell 712 18th Street, NE Washington, DC 20002 Phone 202-399-3450/ Fax 202-398-8836 Service and Times Sunday Early Morning Prayer & Bible Study Class: 8:00 AM Sunday School: 9:00 AM Sunday Morning Worship Service: 10:00 AM Wednesday Service: 12:00 PM “The Loving Church of the living lord “
4504 Gault Place, N.E. / Washington, D.C 20019 202-397-7775 – 7184 Service and Times Sunday Church School: 9:30 AM Sunday Worship Service : 11:00 AM The Lord’s Supper 1st Sunday Prayer & Praise Services: Wednesday 7:00 PM Bible Study: 7:30 PM Saturday before 4th Sunday Men, Women, Youth Discipleship Ministries: 10:30 AM A Christ Centered Church htubc@comcast.net
Christ Embassy DC
Kelechi Ajieren Coordinator 6839 Eastern Avenue, R1 Takoma Park, MD 20912 (202) 556-7065 Service and Times Sunday Worship Service: 10:00 AM Wednesday Bible Study: 7:00 PM Friday Evening Service: 7:00 PM ; Last Friday “…Giving Your Life a Meaning” www.Christembassydc.org Christ.embassy.dc@hotmail.com
Pennsylvania Ave. Baptist Church Rev. Dr. Kendrick E. Curry Pastor 3000 Pennsylvania Ave.. S.E Washington, DC 20020 202 581-1500 Service and Times Sunday Church School: 9:30 AM Sunday Worship Service: 11:00 AM Monday Adult Bible Study: 7:00 PM Wednesday Youth & Adult Activities: 6:30 PM Prayer Service Bible Study
First Rising Mt. Zion Baptist Church
Mt. Horeb Baptist Church
Rev. Dr. Wallace Charles Smith Pastor
Rev. Oran W. Young Pastor
Rev. Dr. H. B. Sampson, III Pastor
9th & P Street, N.W. - W. D.C. 20001 (202) 232-4288
602 N Street NW - Washington, D.C. 20001 Office:(202) 289-4480 Fax: (202) 289-4595
2914 Bladensburg Road, NE Wash., DC 20018 Office: (202) 529-3180 - Fax: (202) 529-7738 Service and Times Worship Service: 7:30 AM Sunday School: 9:00 AM Worship Service: 10:30 AM Holy Communion: 4th Sunday 7:30AM & 10:30 AM Prayer Services:Tuesday 7:30 PM. Wednesday 12 Noon
www.stmarysfoggybottom.org Email: stmarysoffice@stmarysfoggybottom.org
Service and Times First Sunday Worship Service (one service): 10:00 AM Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Sunday Worship service: 7:45 AM and 10:55 AM Sunday Church School/Bible Study: 9:30 AM Thursday Prayer Service: 6:30 PM
All are welcome to St. Mary’s to Learn, Worship, and Grow.
Email: sbc@shilohbaptist.org Website: shilohbaptist.org
Service and Times Sundays: 10 a.m. Holy Eucharist with Music and Hymns Wednesdays: 12:10 p.m. - Holy Eucharist
Service and Times Sunday Worship Services: 10:00 AM Sunday Church School: 8:45 – 9:45 AM Holy Communion: Every First Sunday Intercessory Prayer: Monday – 7:00-8:00 PM Pastor’s Bible Study: Wednesday –7:45 PM Midweek Prayer: Wednesday – 7:00 PM Noonday Prayer Every Thursday
Rev. Dr. George C. Gilbert Senior Pastor
Email Address: admin@pbc712.org
Historic St. Mary’s Episcopal Church The Rev. E. Bernard Anderson Priest
Holy Trinity United Baptist Church
Florida Avenue Baptist Church
Reverend Christopher L. Nichols Pastor
Rev. Dr. Jerryl V. Moody Pastor-Elect
Web: www.mountmoriahchurch.org Email: mtmoriah@mountmoriahchurch.org
St. Matthews Baptist Church
Emmanuel Baptist Church
King Emmanuel Baptist Church
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Service and Times Sunday School for All Ages: 8:00 AM Sunday Worship Services: 9:30 AM Midday Prayer & Bible Study: Wednesday 11:30AM Evening Prayer & Bible Study: Wednesday 7:00 PM Laymen's League: Thursday 7:00 PM Email: Froffice@firstrising.org Website: www.firstrising.org “Changing Lives On Purpose “
Email:mthoreb@mthoreb.org Website:www.mthoreb.org For further information, please contact me at (202) 529-3180.
JUNE 4 - 10, 2020 41
LEGAL NOTICES SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Probate Division Washington, D.C. 20001-2131 2020 ADM 000212 Bertha J. Alston Decedent Howard Haley, Esq. The Haley Firm, PC 7600 Georgia Ave., NW #405 Washington, DC 20012 Attorney NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS
LEGAL NOTICES SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Probate Division Washington, D.C. 20001-2131 2020 ADM 000247 Helen P. McCormick Decedent Bradley A. Thomas, Esq. 1629 K Street, NW Suite 300 Washington, DC 20006-1631 Attorney NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS
Janet Alston, whose address is 813 30th St. SE, Washington, DC 20019, was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of Bertha J. Alston who died on April 2, 2019 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., Building A, 515 5th Street, N.W., Third Floor, Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before 11/28/2020. 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 11/28/2020, 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.
Joseph P. McCormick, II, whose address is 6011 3rd Street, NE, Washington, DC 20011, was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of Helen P. McCormick who died on April 23, 2016 with 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., Building A, 515 5th Street, N.W., Third Floor, Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before 12/4/2020. 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 12/4/2020, 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: 5/28/2020
Date of first publication: 6/4/2020
Janet Alston Personal Representative
Joseph P. McCormick, II Personal Representative
TRUE TEST COPY
TRUE TEST COPY
Nicole Stevens Register of Wills
Nicole Stevens Register of Wills
Washington Informer
Washington Informer
CL ASSIFIEDS
CL ASSIFIEDS
CL ASSIFIEDS
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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
2019 ADM 000226
2020 ADM 000100
Sharon K. Foster Decedent
Annabelle Humes Decedent
Aimee Griffin, Esq. 5335 Wisconsin Ave. NW Ste. 440 Washington, DC 20015 Attorney
Brett Cohen 7910 Woodmont Avenue, # 1430 Bethesda, Maryland 20814-7047 Attorney
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NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS
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NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS Aimee D. Griffin, whose address is 1210 Congress St. SE, Washington, DC 20032, was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of Sharon K. Foster who died on September 21, 2017 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., Building A, 515 5th Street, N.W., Third Floor, Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before 11/21/2020. 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 11/21/2020, 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: 5/21/2020 Aimee D. Griffin Personal Representative TRUE TEST COPY Nicole Stevens Register of Wills Washington Informer
42 - JUNE 4 - 10, 2020
Brett Cohen, whose address is 7910 Woodmont Avenue, Suite 1430, Bethesda, Maryland 20814-7047, was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of Annabelle Humes who died on July 17, 2019 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., Building A, 515 5th Street, N.W., Third Floor, Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before 11/21/2020. 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 11/21/2020, 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: 5/21/2020 Brett Cohen Personal Representative TRUE TEST COPY Nicole Stevens Register of Wills Washington Informer
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UPRISING from Page 1 with our people in Minneapolis,” said Joella Roberts, who organized a rally in the District. “I want to remind you that the system that George Floyd was heading to was just as deadly,” she said, referring to the criminal justice system. City officials in Minneapolis and St. Paul called on the National Guard while state police lined the streets sporting full riot gear. An 8 p.m. curfew was ordered and an African-American CNN reporter was arrested while giving a live report from a hotspot of protests. In California, demonstrators closed the 101 freeway in San Jose as marchers took to the streets in San Francisco and Oakland. Police vehicles and buildings were torched in Atlanta and Philadelphia. Meanwhile, in New York, where the novel coronavirus hat hit America the hardest and where residents have remained reluctant to gather outdoors, angry protestors jammed city streets. New York’s Gov. Andrew Cuomo joined an extensive list of politicians condemning the action of Chauvin, 44, who, along with three other officers, were videotaped using excessive force on Floyd. On Friday, May 29, Chauvin was arrested and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter. He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted. “This is not a new story, this is a continuing narrative,” Cuomo stated. “This is just another chapter in the book called: Injustice
ONE YEAR from Page 5 tion,” said Henderson, commissioner of ANC 8D02 and head of the recently developed Washington Highlands Civic Association. “If we know these individuals are hanging out and partying, I don’t think you should chill with them with your violence interrupter jacket,” added Henderson. “There should be something done to move this group of individuals along so they can stop loitering. The violence interrupters stand out there and talk as if they’re among them.” Supporters of Cure the Streets however tout it as a public health response to violence that enables returning citizens and other credible messengers to quell potentially violent neighborhood conflicts. In total, at least 60 front-line staff
Obama released a statement weighing in on the injustice regularly experienced by African Americans. “This shouldn’t be ‘normal’ in 2020 America. It can’t be ‘normal,’” Obama stated. and inequality in America.” Obama released a statement weighing in on the injustice regularly experienced by African Americans. “This shouldn’t be ‘normal’ in 2020 America. It can’t be ‘normal,’” Obama stated. “If we want our children to grow up in a nation that lives up to its highest ideals, we can and must be better. It will fall mainly on the officials of Minnesota to ensure that the circumstances surrounding George Floyd’s death are investigated thoroughly and that justice is ultimately done.” “But it falls on all of us, regardless of our race or station – including the majority of men and women in law enforcement who take pride in doing their tough job the right way, every day – to work together to create a new normal in which the legacy of bigotry and unequal treatment no longer infects our institutions or our hearts.” Margaret Huang, president, and chief executive officer of the Southern Poverty Law Center, said the organization joins with its allies in workers, employed throughout the District, play a part in preventing retaliations, organizing vigils, settling disputes and hosting anti-violence forums. While Ronald Whaley, a Cure the Streets operations/program manager of two years who works in Washington Highlands, contends that there are bounds still to be leapt in organizing residents around the nonviolence, he affirms that there’s no better people to take on the job than those who are of the community. “The wonderful thing about this model is that we hire people from the neighborhoods we work in [so they can] reach out [as] someone from the community who is credible and the people would listen to,” Whaley said. “We also do a lot of community engagement activities,
condemning the recent police killings of Floyd, Tony McDade, Sean Reed and Breonna Taylor. “Following the tragic killing of Ahmaud Arbery by a former police officer, the impact of these murders reaches across the country and there must be accountability,” she said. “It is absolutely imperative that local police departments and district attorneys investigate, arrest and prosecute officers and all who violate the rights of the people who live in the communities they are charged to serve.” “Equally important, law enforcement must stop responding to peaceful protest of police killings with more violence. Police are obligated to protect those in the community, and punishing peaceful protest is a gross abuse of human rights. We stand with millions of people across the country who are rightfully outraged by the killing of unarmed Black people, the lack of responsiveness, the lack of action and President Trump calling for violence against those demanding justice for Mr. Floyd’s death,” Huang said. Florida Rep. Val Demings, an African American and a former Orlando police chief, wrote an oped which said, “as a former woman in blue, let me begin with my brothers and sisters in blue: What in the hell are you doing?” “As law enforcement officers, we took an oath to protect and serve. And those who forgot – or who never understood that oath in the first place – must go. That includes those who would stand by as they witness misconduct by a fellow ofand raise awareness about gun violence. We also talk to more people, and find out when there’s beef. We’re doing our best to mediate.” WI
... Ronald Whaley, a Cure the Streets operations/ program manager... contends that there are bounds still to be leapt in organizing residents around the nonviolence, he affirms that there’s no better people to take on the job than those who are of the community.
WWW.WASHINGTONINFORMER.COM / THE WASHINGTON INFORMER
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18+ JUNE 4 - 10, 2020 43
REOPEN from Page 12 “The service is always nice and the food is good,” she said. “It’s always fresh. I’ve never had any complaints. I got some extra for my cousin so she can try it.” Although the county plans to return to some form of normalcy, it currently has the most confirmed coronavirus cases in the state with more than 16,000. Prince George’s and Montgomery counties, located in the D.C. suburbs, were the last two jurisdictions in the state to reopen. Prince George’s, a majority-Black jurisdiction, still requires each business allowed to open to follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including: - Restaurants can provide outdoor dining with six people at a table, with each table six feet apart, and employees must wear masks and gloves. - Churches and houses of worship may allow no more than 10 parishioners inside.
POLICE from Page 23 Trump has also suggested that police shoot demonstrators and he continues to publicly consider using U.S. Armed Forces to combat protesters. A new ABC News/Washington Post poll shows Biden up nationally by a 53 percent to 43 percent margin among registered voters. CNN reported that the context of individual polls continues to show Biden is in one of the best positions for any challenger since scientific polling began in the 1930s. “There were more than 40 national public polls taken at least
44 - JUNE 4 - 10, 2020
- Automated car washes may reopen, but customers must remain inside the vehicle. - Customers at barbershops and salons can enter with appointments only. - Employees returning to work at reopened businesses may take their children to child care centers. Community centers, basketball courts, swimming pools and playgrounds will remain closed. The majority of outdoor basketball rims and nets have been removed from courts at schools and property managed by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. However, at least one court remained intact Monday within a townhouse development called Kings Grant in Upper Marlboro. Alsobrooks had a message for young people itching to play basketball. “Young people are surviving COVID-19, although some are very sick from it,” she said. “This is about saving your mother’s, father’s and your grandparents’ lives. This is the time as a community there are certain rules
to put in place so that we survive as a community.” To help analyze data and provide future recommendations for the county’s economy, education and health, a 42-member task force will create a report on how to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. Charlene Dukes, president of Prince George’s Community College and will co-chair the group alongside William Von Hoene, senior vice president and chief strategy officer of Exelon. The group will be divided into five subcommittees — government operations, economic development, education, health and human services. The other group members include former Gov. Martin O’Malley, who will chair the government operations subcommittee, Joseph Wright, senior vice president and chief medical officer of the University of Maryland Capital Region Health, who will chair the health subcommittee, and Darryll Pines, who begins July 1 as president of the University of Maryland in College Park and will chair the education sub-
partially in the month of May that asked about the BidenTrump matchup,” CNN reported. “Biden led in every single one of them. He’s the first challenger to be ahead of the incumbent in every May poll since Jimmy Carter did so in 1976. Carter, of course, won the 1976 election. Biden’s the only challenger to have the advantage in every May poll over an elected incumbent in the polling era.” In his address, Biden expressed concerned for African Americans and other minorities who have suffered under oppressive government policies.
He said Floyd’s last words speak to a nation “where more than 100,000 people have lost their lives to a virus and 40 million Americans have filed for unemployment – with a disproportionate number of these deaths and job losses concentrated in the Black and minority communities.” “And they speak to a nation where every day millions of people – not at the moment of losing their life – but in the course of living their life – are saying to themselves, ‘I can’t breathe.’” “It’s a wake-up call for our nation. For all of us,” Biden said. WI
5 Richie Fray showcases the back of a Dat Jerk Caribbean Chargrill T-shirt. (Anthony Tilghman/The Washington Informer)
committee. Meanwhile, County Council member Deni Taveras (D-District 2) of Adelphi expressed reservation about reopening the county. The zip code of 20783, which is in Taveras’ district, has recorded the highest number of confirmed cases in the entire state. She also oversees the coun-
CHILDREN from Page 32 school system. “But when I saw him on ‘Reading Rainbow’ as a child, it really stressed just how important reading is and the message was coming from someone who looks like me.” “It was like my son living the first eight years of his life and seeing a Black president. That lets him know he could aspire to hold that office one day. When I grew up, all I saw were pictures of presidents who were white men with wigs on and that was never going to be me.” That McCants played pro football gives him credibility with his students. Most of the youngsters he teachers remain boys consumed by media-hyped role models who create unrealistic expectations for professional success. As a teacher, it can be harder for him to stress reading as the most important life skill they will learn while the children are bombarded with images of athletes and rappers flashing jewelry and promoting lifestyles of the rich and gangster. “Boys are visual and kinetic learners and it has been statistically proven that if you engage them by 8 or 9, it will promote learning and cut down on delinquency,” McCants said. “We have to overcome the slave tradition of dumbing down our kids because if they were too smart, they would be taken away from us.” McCants’s raw athleticism remains legendary at Delaware State. He was
ty’s largest Latino population and the jurisdiction’s most densely populated area. The state closed a coronavirus testing site at a vehicle emissions station in Hyattsville last week, but opened another one in Clinton. Residents can also receive free testing at a converted site at Six Flags America in Upper Marlboro starting Friday. The county plans to open two more testing sites by Monday and another on June 15. A testing site at Rollingcrest-Chillum Community Center, located in Taveras’ district, opened Monday and will be managed by the county’s health department. “With all due respect, if my community were Mitchellville or Bowie, we wouldn’t have had this problem,” she said. “I think [state officials] are making a mistake by not addressing the high need in this district because a pandemic … affects us all. It’s not just a political enclave that is responsible to the governor. A pandemic affects every single person in society.” WI
a better basketball player than he was at football. But basketball coach Greg Jackson wouldn’t allow him to play for the Hornets despite his routine domination of team members in offseason pickup games. “It was like watching a man against boys playing those games,” said Omarr Bashir, president and CEO of Heritage Sports Radio Network and former assistant sports information director at the university. “The guys he was playing against were on scholarship and they couldn’t stop him.” Football came so easily to him to play at the college level he was drafted despite not being invited to the NFL combine. During his senior year, McCants played tight end and led NCAA Division I-AA with 18 touchdowns, a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference record. He played 41 games in the NFL for Washington and Philadelphia during a career that lasted four seasons. McCants caught 58 passes while averaging 13.3 yards and scored eight touchdowns. He also played with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League before he was released by his hometown Baltimore Ravens. “Football was just the platform,” said McCants who holds degrees in art and education. “Educating was always my dream. I’ve always known there was something greater than me since I was 13 years old.” WI
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starts, the shooting starts.” So much for presidential leadership on Minneapolis, or on the COVID-19 pandemic with over 105,000 dead Americans, and 40 million unemployed all under his watch. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “A riot is the language of the unheard.” While I do not condone such violence and destruction, I do understand and
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cop remained silent as Floyd breathed his last. As Eric Garner was being killed, several Black cops watched. Recently, I have made it a point, whenever I see a cop, especially a white one, to say, “Thank you, officer, for all you do.” Why? Because It is my prayer that whenever they are in a situation involving another Black
person, my simple gesture may force them to see not just another nigger, but someone’s son, daughter, mother or father, before they pull the trigger or kneel on someone’s neck. No one was surprised by the response of a divisive president to Minneapolis and related protests following George Floyd’s murder. In one tweet, demonstrators were referred to as “THUGS.” In another, he tweeted, “When the looting
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that would support small business owners to pay their employees even when their businesses are locked down. That would enable workers to keep their benefits, get their pay, and owners to sustain their teams. That is neither a blue nor a red program, it is common sense. Similarly, most Americans would agree that we have to ensure that everyone can get treatment and testing without worrying about how to pay for it. Most would agree that we shouldn’t bankrupt the post office. Most would agree that we have to make voting safe in the fall. Voting by mail is not a partisan agenda; it is a safety agenda. This is a time when leaders must emerge, move beyond their comfort zone, and offer bold responses to a stark crisis. This is not a moment for posturing. It is a time for patriotism, for solidarity, for action. Let us hope that Memorial Day celebrations may help our leaders remember that challenge. WI
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figure out testing and tracing strategies, to distribute health resources, to galvanize an all-out press for a remedy It must also act to limit the damage — to keep families in their homes, small businesses in their offices or stores, workers in their jobs. This cannot descend into partisan posturing. In recent days, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has stated that he feels no “urgency” to aid states and localities, suggesting that states could go bankrupt, and that the crisis was largely one of “bluestate” mismanagement. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham has stated that any extension of supplemental unemployment benefits would occur only over “our dead bodies.” McConnell dismissed the rescue package passed through the House as simply “aspirational” and adjourned the Senate until June. The casualties are not partisan.
They are Republican and Democrat, liberal and conservative, small business owners and small farmers, meat packers and more. They are disproportionately the most vulnerable: middle- and low-income families, the poor, the old, the sick. They are in red states and blue states. McConnell knows this. Just as the causalities are not partisan, the response cannot be. Let us hope he is using this holiday break to think through a response that is of the scale necessary to meet the crisis. Let us hope that he can move from obstruction to negotiation, figuring out the compromises needed to move legislation through the Senate. Most Americans would agree that aiding those who are unemployed through no fault of their own is not controversial. Some conservative Senate Republicans have joined with the most progressive House Democrats to champion a paycheck guarantee program
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status, housing status, and more. While the Small Business Administration did not initially collect demographic data on who got bailout money, instinctively, we know that Black-owned businesses were less likely than others to get funding. Andrea Harris’s life work was about promoting Black business. As these businesses are being harder hit than others by the corona recession, many of us know that our feisty friend would roll her sleeves up and dig in to offer advocacy and provide solutions for Black-owned business. Amid a national pandemic, some don’t think we should talk much about race. But if we are all in the same boat, some folks are riding, while others are rowing. Harris would be one of those who would focus on the rowers. In tribute to her, we should all be advocates for Black-owned businesses, and direct some of our dollars their way. WI
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faculty member and Congresswoman Alma Adams to push for set-asides for minority business. I imagined her calling another mutual friend, Rev. William Barber, to weave the minority business cause into his advocacy for social and economic justice. Harris would not be surprised, just as I am not, that Black-owned and other minority businesses got the short stick of bailout funds and that such a large number of Blackowned businesses (more than any other racial or ethnic group) are imperiled by the coronavirus recession. The massive hit Black-owned businesses took is partly a function of the industries, including personal services, that minority businesses are concentrated in. It is also a function of the precarious position of minority businesses, many of which are underfunded, with un-
equal access to capital and market discrimination. People like Andrea Harris fought hard for the right of minority businesses to thrive. And she believed in helping young women, especially her Bennett Belles, to learn about entrepreneurship. She helped us set up a summer entrepreneurship program for high school students, helped establish an entrepreneurship minor, and took many fledgling businesses under her wing. We need more advocates for minority business. Most Black-owned businesses have but one employee. Many are unable to provide essential job benefits — health care, sick leave and more. More Black-owned businesses need more access to capital. Coronavirus has heightened our awareness of inequality in employment, income, occupational status (22 percent of nurses’ assistants are Black women, and another 22 percent are Latina), health
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and United States, not a city and nation that is divided by economic, racial, social and cultural barriers. Some have been more fortunate, and others need to know that there are resources for their development and growth in this city and our nation. Let us galvanize with our faith institutions, community groups, civic associations, businesses, government officials, universities and schools, fellow co-workers and colleagues, sororities and fraternities, family and friends and many of our other institutions and groups, as we vote to support positive and progressive change in Washington, D.C., and the United States of America. We must strive like Nehemiah on the wall, like Moses for the people, and like Deborah and Esther for her country as they worked towards their quest to have a better and brighter day. Therefore, as the Book of James illustrates, “faith without works is dead,” and our work is to help others to get “Souls to the Polls” and ensure that those who have voted have not
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appreciate the frustration and anger behind it. I can only hope that those protesting will have the same anger when they go to the polls in November. No protest is more powerful than the ballot. When Chauvin pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck, I suspect it was not his first time doing so.
ASKIA from Page 27 “We would just like him to have the opportunity to fairly prove his innocence to everyone,” attorney Kairi Al-Amin, son of the famed civil rights leader, told this writer. “And the court of appeals, up and down the federal and state courts, they’ve all condemned the prosecution for their gross misconduct and constitutional violations of the imam. And so that alone is grounds for a mistrial and a retrial. It’s ridiculous.” A mountain of support has grown for him in the 20 years he’s been behind bars after being unjustly convicted. His supporters now include former U.N. Ambassador and former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, who insists Al-Amin was falsely accused of killing the deputy sheriff and convicted because of his outspoken political views. The imam’s conviction “weighs heavily on my heart because I really
been hindered in the process and to make sure that everyone in our reach votes. So my fellow citizens, let us rise up with a new and greater readiness and coalesce and consecrate our desires and efforts to Get Out The Vote, from the Big Chair to the Kennedy Center from City Hall to the Community Halls from Georgia Avenue to Wisconsin Avenue from Benning Road to River Road from the Temple of Praise to the National Cathedral but not only that, from Los Angeles to New York from Detroit to El Paso from Chicago to Miami from Atlanta to Minneapolis from Phoenix to Las Vegas from Boston to Philadelphia from Charlottesville to Pittsburgh from all parts of our powerful nation, let us get out to vote! Therefore, let us come closer together as one city and as one nation as we Get Out To Vote, knowing that in our great city and our great nation, that “Our Best ‘Together’ is Yet to Come.” Thank you for being such a wonderful blessing to our citizens in the
District of Columbia and to this remarkable nation of ours. Please continue to make a positive difference in our city. Please continue to be impactful. Please continue to believe that, your one vote can change Washington, D.C., and America! In this challenging season as we ReOpen DC, as we were and are currently forced to wrestle with this global coronavirus pandemic, and our many brothers and sisters who found and finds themselves and their households so unfortunately unemployed, along with the bankruptcy of many of our small businesses, I want to thank you for continuing to be DC STRONG! May God continue to Bless our great Mayor Muriel E. Bower and her administration, our great elected officials, our first responders, our health care workers, our faith leaders, our educators, our brothers and sisters working on the front line, you, your family, all of Washington, D.C., and the United States of America always. With great appreciation and admiration for the great works you have been called to do … WI
But since he is now under arrest, it will, hopefully, be his last. I say “hopefully” because the sin of racism, too often for Blacks, has carried greater weight in the criminal justice system than live recordings of murders. Chauvin’s knee was not only on Floyd’s neck, but on the necks of all Black men. I am blessed to still have my
mother, and thank God for all mothers, both alive and deceased. Floyd’s mama, unfortunately, could not save her son. However, each of those cops could have. George Floyd is dead for no reason other than they chose not to. He was just another nigger. Shame on them and an American society that ignores and thereby accepts such behavior. WI
think he was wrongfully convicted,” Young told Fulton County, Georgia’s new Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU) — established to help free those wrongfully convicted or to help shorten inordinately long prison sentences — earlier this year, according to published reports. “I’m talking about Jamil Al-Amin, H. Rap Brown,” said Young, adding that Al-Amin had helped “clean up” Atlanta’s West End. “I think it’s time to rejudge,” Young continued. “He’s been dying of cancer and has been suffering away from his family in the worst prisons of this nation. We must stand for justice, but we must never forget mercy.” In late May, supporters of Al-Amin submitted an application to the CIU, demanding a retrial. “We must now show the establishment that we care more about justice than they do about corruption and injustice,” attorney Al-Amin said. “The proof of misdeeds is clear, the proof of
innocence is clear, a retrial or release are the only acceptable options.” On top of the numerous glaring inconsistencies, contradictions and constitutional violations, there are repeated confessions by Otis Jackson, a self-proclaimed leader of the Almighty Vice Lord Nation in Chicago who was a parolee at the time of the incident. “I was on house arrest,” living in southwest Atlanta at the time of the shooting, Jackson — also known as James Santos — testified during a separate trial in 2017. “I was shot, March 17, 2000.” “My mind was gone, so I really wasn’t paying attention,” Jackson recalls of the night of the shooting, when he stood over Kinchen and shot him four times as the man pleaded for his life, before then shooting English, who was fleeing for help. Imam Jamil Al-Amin — an innocent man who deserves justice from the courts and, above all, mercy. WI
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