9 minute read
Business
A New Black Renaissance Popping in Prince George’s
By William J. Ford WI Staff Writer @jabariwill
Leon Chapman slowly walked alongside a table covered with handmade soaps, colorful earrings and other accessories.
But the Capitol Heights resident wanted a specific item from Malik’s Fashion Boutique: a lightly scented oil called “Amber White.”
“I just got this little bottle that will last me for a month,” Chapman said Saturday, Sept. 5 outside Everlasting Life Restaurant in Capitol Heights. “It is very important for the community to have something like this [during COVID-19 pandemic]. It is nice to see people being able to survive and still make a living.”
Chapman purchased his small ounce bottle of oil during the first day of the Black Wall Street Renaissance pop-up shopping bazaar at Everlasting Life. The free community event will last a week until Saturday, Sept. 12 for almost a dozen Black vendors to showcase art, African garb, books and other merchandise.
The week-long exhibit held every first Saturday of the month is designed to become a commercial fixture aimed at circulating cash locally, especially in majority-Black Prince George’s County.
The idea is emulate the bustling commercial district that thrived a century ago in Tulsa, Okla.’s Green
Dental Insurance
Get dental insurance from Physicians Mutual Insurance Company to help cover the services you’re most likely to use –
Cleanings X-rays Fillings Crowns Dentures
1-855-337-5228 Call now to get this FREE Information Kit! dental50plus.com/MDDC
Product not available in all states. Acceptance guaranteed for one insurance policy/certifi cate of this type. Contact us for complete details about this insurance solicitation. This specifi c offer is not available in CO, NY; call 1-888-799-4433 or respond for similar offer. Certifi cate C250A (ID: C250E; PA: C250Q); Insurance Policy P150 (GA: P150GA; NY: P150NY; OK: P150OK; TN: P150TN). 6154-0120
Prepare for unexpected power outages with a Generac home standby generator
SCHEDULE YOUR FREE IN-HOME ASSESSMENT TODAY! 855-993-0969 FREE 7-Year Extended Warranty* A $695 Value!
O er valid March 16, 2020 - Sept 6, 2020
Special Financing Available Subject to Credit Approval
*Terms & Conditions Apply 5 Lark Dixon, left, owner of Finding All the Chakras, listens to customers Sept. 5 during Black Wall Street Renaissance at Everlasting Life Restaurant in Capitol Heights. (Anthony Tilghman/The Washington Informer)
wood district where an estimated 10,000 African Americans settled and established commercial hub that included grocery and clothing stores, barbershops and hair salons, a bank and even a Black newspaper called The Tulsa Star.
“We just decided a couple of years ago to help support small and local vendors,” said Al-Qamar Malik, owner of Malik’s Fashion Boutique and who helped organize the event in Capitol Heights. “This is to circulate our dollars within the community. What better way to do it than through a renaissance?”
Baruch Ben-Yehubah, owner and founder of Everlasting Life, opened his health-conscious business 20 years ago in Prince George’s. He launched similar businesses five years earlier in the District with two other establishments at the Anacostia Arts Center in Southeast and Takoma area in Northwest. Ben-Yehubah said plans are in the works to open a fourth location by next year.
Also available was an eatery with a vegan menu that offered chopped chicken salad, seaweed wrapped fish, green cabbage and a variety of smoothies.
Besides the various vendors, the restaurant presented a cold salad
bar Saturday that included olives, salsa, guacamole, and non-dairy cheese.
Although Prince George’s 2018 health data showed improvements in the state of health care facilities, both primary care and dental care, the county ranked last among the state of Maryland’s 24 jurisdictions for residents uninsured and near the bottom of diabetes monitoring.
“Even though this community has changed quite a bit at least economically, the health disparity is still prevalent,” Ben-Yehubah said. “We, as a business, are established to have an alternative to what is contributing to the problem. We want to contribute to the solution.”
Some vendors such as Emeka and Deneshia Oruada link its merchandise back to Africa.
The couple from Oxon Hill sell colorful $15 masks for children and adults with fabric from Emeka Oruada’s homeland of Nigeria. Each mask has a small, clear visor attached that can be flipped up to cover the eyes.
“We’re connecting on the continent to have them designed and made there and bring them here to all of our people,” said Deneshia Oruada, an intelligence analyst for the federal government who established Black Travel Brand with her husband last year. “We have about 4,000 on stock. We can protect an army.”
WI
Prospering During Pandemic, is Zoom Here to Stay?
By Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer @StacyBrownMedia
Remember when Bill Gates started Microsoft and Mark Zuckerberg opened Facebook?
While it’s widely known Microsoft and Facebook started respectively in the 1980s and 2000s, not a lot of significance was given to the opening of these now multi-billion-dollar companies.
It appears Zoom will follow in their footsteps.
The nine-year-old virtual platform became popular when the coronavirus pandemic began as its not only the home for business meetings, but social and religious gatherings, education, and events like weddings and funerals.
MSN reported that Zoom has a market capitalization of $129 billion and is now worth more than IBM and twice as valuable as VMware. In 2019, CEO Eric Yuan had a net worth of about $3 billion. Today, Forbes places Yuan’s value at approximately $20 billion.
In its most recent earnings report, the company said revenue over the last quarter increased a whopping 355 percent from a year earlier, as many companies struggle to stay afloat with the deadly pandemic still raging.
And, if there were any doubt that Zoom is here to stay, business owners and many users in and around the District said they are committed for the long haul.
“Even after the pandemic, Zoom will be a part of everyone’s daily life. It’s a convenient way to reach out to people, especially those who are far from you,” stated Dennis Bell, the founder, and CEO of Byblos Coffee.
“Regardless of the time zone differences, you can easily communicate effectively. It provides a lot of opportunities to interact virtually with your team. Zoom can also record videos that allow you to store and have access to it whenever needed. It is also a convenient way to replay a part of your meetings for recording purposes. Zoom was here even before the pandemic, and it is likely here to stay and be a part of the business and people’s lives,” Bell said.
Erik Rivera, the CEO of the online telehealth platform, ThriveTalk, said he currently attends as many as 20 Zoom meetings per week. Rivera said the video chat platform is facilitating his business.
“As we have moved our operations model entirely online, moving forward, I can only predict that this number will stay high,” Rivera said.
Mark Hayes, the head of marketing at the advice and tutoring company, Kintell, said he’s also attending countless Zoom meetings and believes they’re here to stay. “At this point, it went from a novelty to standard procedure,” Hayes declared. “In my view, the coronavirus taught the world that a lot of roles could be carried out remotely, for better or for worse.”
There are skeptics, however.
ZOOM Page 52
Children and Property
Aimee D. Griffin, Esq
I previously outlined the schedule of topics I want to discuss each article, but often my experiences compel me to deviate from the plan. This summer, we have had too many cases where an issue with real property has presented itself. We know that there is a correlation between generational wealth and property ownership. Historically, there has been strategic obstacles placed to hinder ownership as a method to oppress a community of people. When a married couple buys a property together, it is owned as Tenants by the Entirety. Subsequently, when one spouse passes away, the other spouse is able to automatically receive the other’s interest in the property. The tenancy by the entirety can be terminated by death of one spouse (as in the previous example), divorce or by mutual agreement by the couple. When the tenancy by the entirety is terminated through divorce or mutual agreement, the property is then owned as tenants in common. Each interest is passed at death to the decedent’s heirs. Too often, I have seen couples who have experienced a divorce and the real property deed has not been adjusted to reflect the change in ownership. In two very recent cases, shares of ownership has passed to minors. Minors do not have legal capacity to enter into contract. The law considers them as being in a disabled state. We have recently supported a family who has lost their mom. She and the father are divorced, but are both on the deed for the family home. The mom passed away without a Will. The father lives in the home with the minor children. There will need to be a guardian appointed for the children, even though the father will be the guardian. He will have to report to the court to make sure that their assets are protected. When we have minor children, we should be thoughtful about how to provide for them. Although it may seem logical that the father is the natural and legal custodian of the property, the court needs to protect the children from misappropriation of the assets. The truth is, the remaining parent is not always the most responsible. In many cases, a divorce happens due to the financial concerns of one parent. We must take the steps to protect our children and the assets of our children. Laws concerning how property passes upon death differs state to state. In Virginia, property drops like a rock to descendants. This is a great benefit for many adult beneficiaries. However, if there is no Will, the drop can become quite complicated. Heir property is often lost because of the number of people who become “owners” of the property without the ability to control and manage the property. Too many times, people are not willing to continue to pay the taxes without receiving the benefit.
As the Center for Heir property states “Generations pass, seasons change, but the land remains”. We should position our land so that the future generations will grow with the land and the land provides a legacy for the future of our families.
The Griffin Firm, PLLC www.yourestateplanningattorney.com (202)379-4738 5335 Wisconsin Ave NW, Suite 440 Washington DC 20015 1401 Mercantile Lane, Suite 383 Upper Marlboro MD 20774 100 International Drive, 23rd Floor Baltimore MD 21202 1100 Peachtree ST NE, Suite 200, Atlanta GA 30309 2530 Meridian Parkway, Suite 300, Durham NC 27713
5 Is Zoom here to stay? (Photo courtesy of Vanessa Julye via Friends Journal)
