OpEd

Talk to any resident that rents or owns a home in the District, and it is increasingly evident that homelessness is a growing fear that dominates every waking hour due to COVID-19. In what many described as a severe housing crisis before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic last March, thousands of residents face the very real possibility that they will be homeless before it all ends.

Due to massive job losses and the end of emergency benefits paid by the federal government, rents are not overdue, and mortgages are no longer affordable. It’s a sad reality that the federal government and local officials are trying to head off.

A national moratorium on evictions was recently extended, and local municipalities followed suit. Still, inevitably, the restrictions will be lifted, and it is predicted that as many as 1.65 million people will be at risk of losing their homes.

While their fate is a problem that we all will have to contend with, it is necessary to acknowledge that some, maybe many, take advantage of the crisis at hand. With the resources to fulfill their monthly commitment, they are not doing so, while not understanding that back rent and late fees will be due when the moratorium is lifted. An eviction moratorium does not mean freedom from paying your financial obligations. It only means what’s due now can be paid later. Unless officials grant unrestricted relief, everyone will be expected to pay up or get out. And, who will blame the landlords for making those the hard decisions?

We admonish residents not to wait until it is too late. If you can pay your rent, pay it, and avoid paying it late. But if doing so presents a hardship, and you’ve fallen behind, start now looking for programs set up to help. Millions of dollars in aid are being set aside for COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Programs, and non-profit organizations are providing rental and utility assistance. Seek help today, if for no other reason than to avoid another sleepless night. WI

Earlier this week, the District witnessed another example of the devastating effect that COVID-19 continues to have on local businesses. Restaurants and bars have found it especially tough to weather the storm – many having already reduced staff while ramping up amenities including carryout, home delivery or outdoor dining just to keep their doors open.

But with the announcement on Tuesday, Sept. 15 that seven popular bars and restaurants along the U Street and 14th corridors will close up shop on Oct. 31, what’s more foreboding for others within the food and beverage industry, and the District, may rest more with the names of the owners and the locations than the fact that these businesses will soon join an ever-growing list of venues already closed – unable to survive the pandemic.

The Hilton brothers and their company, H2 Collective, have been credited with helping the U Street corridor – once referred to as “Black Broadway” and the epicenter of Black culture in D.C. since the 1920s until it fell into ruin after the 1968 riots – remake itself and regain economic prosperity following the opening of the U Street metro station in 1991. But not even the Hilton’s, long heralded as leaders within the District’s food and beverage industry, could overcome the financial setbacks they’ve suffered over the last six months.

“While we have done our very best to meet [the] challenges, we no longer have the capability to keep that fight going,” the company owners wrote in a statement. “Day after day, we and our staff are operating at loss, under duress and with little relief in sight.” In reference to the difficult decision they have made, closing “for the foreseeable future,” the Hiltons wrote, “we believe it’s the right one.”

The seven impacted bars and restaurants represent some of the most financially successful venues in a gentrified neighborhood that, since 2013, has ushered in thousands of “newbies” – mostly white millennials financially able to take up residence in swanky, new apartment buildings while indulging in all that the area’s refurbished and stylish

I couldn’t believe that there has never been a Latino elected to the D.C. city council. There are so many Latinos in the District and the fact that they’ve never had representation on the council is a shame. I hope that changes this election season!

ly-eclectic dining and shopping venues have to offer.

The restaurant and bar industry has seen 100,000 businesses close nationwide within the last six months. Three million former employees across the U.S. remain out of work and experts predict that by year end, the losses owners will suffer could exceed $240 billion. Maryland’s first-ever statewide restaurant week, which runs Sept. 18 – 27, and the return of the D.C. region’s Black Restaurant Week, which will operate during the same timeframe, both indicate that owners are still looking for creative ways to jumpstart their sales and remain in business.

I’m glad the perspective of single mothers is being shared with maintaining employment and distance learning at home. It’s more of a struggle than people know and it’s not easy. If you can lend a hand to a family with small children that needs help, please do.

But as one member of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington said Tuesday to a WJLA-TV reporter, “We need more [financial] relief – not just from the city but from the federal government.”

Winter’s coming and with colder weather in store, the outlook for restaurants and bars appears grim. With many owners having already depleted their reserves, the continued refusal of nation’s leaders to be honest and to confront this pandemic head-on, and with more partisan-based tug-of-wars still going on – holding up legislation that would provide sorely needed financial assistance for entrepreneurs, we shudder to imagine what lies ahead. WI

By Ben Jealous

One of the most exciting parts of this year’s Democratic National Convention for me was the keynote speech delivered collectively by a group of young progressive elected officials, many of them Black. They showed us the potential for a promising future once we have gotten past the presidency of Donald Trump.

They also showed us how to get there. One way to make sure we

It’s so easy to blame somebody else. Donald Trump blames everything on somebody else while he takes responsibility for nothing.

Everything has to satisfy his ego or, in his mind, it’s fake news. So he lies to keep the American people from panicking! He fails at that because no matter what he comes up with every day causes

Maintaining the American public’s trust in the FDA is vital. If the agency’s credibility is lost because of real or perceived interference, people will not rely on the agency’s safety warnings. Erosion of public trust will leave consumers and patients doubting our recommendations, less likely to enroll in clinical studies or to use FDA-regulated products when they should to remove Donald Trump from the White House and his enablers from Congress is to support exciting candidates at all levels who can energize Democratic voters — especially progressive young people — to vote.

The mass mobilization we have seen in the Black Lives Matter protests is an essential tool for turning energy into political will and bringing pressure on public officials. Ultimately, though, voting is the only tool we have for putting people who are committed to making the changes our country urgently needs into many American people to panic. He thinks it was Bob Woodward’s responsibility to tell the truth to the American people. So what is his idea of presidential responsibilities?

With Trump, there’s something new every day, but it all works the same way. He’s like those kids who say the darndest things. The only difference in him and those kids is they’re not president! He’s a very chronologically advanced man who says dangerous things that maintain or improve their health. This is problematic under normal circumstances but especially if we are to ultimately overcome COVID-19. Protecting the FDA’s independence is essential if we are to do the best possible job of protecting public health and saving lives. — Senior FDA executives Patrizia Cavazzoni, Peter Marks, Susan Mayne, Judy McMeekin, Jeff Shuren, Steven Solomon, Janet Woodcock and Mitch Zeller

It’s no secret that the White House believes the approv

positions of power.

Many of the problems that have been with us for far longer than the current administration — including systemic inequity in health care, education, housing, and policing--can and must be addressed at local and state levels.

That’s why transformational local candidates are a key to building progressive power and making progressive change. And getting elected and serving successfully in local office is often the first step to higher office.

Look at Virginia, where intense make no sense while he thinks he’s really smart!

He has no sense of decency. The thing he does best is distort the truth to the point that no one believes anything he says. Those who follow him religiously can’t possibly be doing so because they believe he’s telling the truth or telling them anything that is going to help them. The people who follow him are either not paying attention to what he says or they never listen to real news.

By Marc H. Morial

al of a vaccine or treatment for COVID-19 would be a boon for the president’s reelection campaign. From the moment the novel coronavirus first reached America’s shores in January, he has regarded it first and foremost as a political inconvenience.

Without evidence, has portrayed anything that delays the “magic bullet” he believes will end the pandemic — or at least appear to end it — as the result of a conspiracy to damage his candidacy. This includes the U.S. Food and organizing over the past few election cycles turned the former capital of the Confederacy blue. Candidates from underrepresented communities — young people, people of color, women, immigrants, LGBTQ candidates — helped Democrats take control of both chambers of the state’s General Assembly. And that has meant the power to make huge changes for the people of Virginia — expanding access to health care, addressing gun violence and more.

Opposition to President Trump

By E. Faye Williams

helped drive change in Virginia and

I think he gets up every morning and figures out what lie he can tell that sounds more preposterous than the many he told the day before. Real reporters listen to him and can hardly wait to translate what they just heard. More often than not, they’re pointing out his lies. He doesn’t even know how to keep his lies straight. He’ll give one answer today, and answer the exact opposite the next day.

He’s almost at the end of his painful four-year term, and he Drug Administration approvals process.

If we have any hope of developing a safe, effective vaccine that brings the virus under control, it depends entirely on the FDA’s resolve to resist this shameful political pressure.

In an encouraging move, eight top FDA officials and doctors recently published an op-ed in USA Today pledging that all “decisions will continue to be guided by the best science” and maintain independence from political pressure. will motivate many people to get to the polls in November. But energy doesn’t come just from the top of the ticket. It runs both ways. In fact, exciting local candidates can generate enthusiasm among people who might see national politics and candidates as far removed from their lives and concerns.

People For the American Way’s Next Up! project supports young candidates running at the state and local level, many of them from com

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hasn’t yet realized he was president of the United States! He still doesn’t realize it’s the responsibility of the president who’s currently in the White House to fix whatever he thinks is broken.

He undermined everything scientists were telling him and kept the truth about what was really going on. He knew how danger

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ous the pandemic was and still is.

Their statement came a day after executives representing nine companies working on coronavirus vaccines pledged to submit the vaccines for FDA approval only after they’re shown to be safe and effective in large clinical studies.

“We believe this pledge will help ensure public confidence in the rigorous scientific and regulatory process by which COVID-19 vaccines are evaluated and may ultimately be approved.” The pledge

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By Del. Gabriel Acevero

I remember being in the tear-gassed streets of Baltimore in 2015 following the announcement that Freddie Gray had died from injuries sustained while in police custody. The city had finally erupted. Like many who took to the streets, I was angry. Angry at a system of racialized policing that renders Black lives disposable. And angry at the people in power who couldn’t care enough

As the presidential campaigns heat up, Americans are provided with a stark choice of leaders. The visits to Kenosha of Donald Trump and Joe Biden provide clear contrasts for all to see. Kenosha erupted after a white policeman shot an unarmed Black man, Jacob Blake, seven times in the back, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. Demonstrators have marched night after night demanding justice.

The protests were marred by van

The secret to Donald J. Trump’s unwavering “popularity,” despite his flaws which would cripple a conventional politician, is that he has perfected and mainstreamed “how to be white.”

The Donald, a New Yorker, is the ideal blend of the ideological, but non-whiteness of Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater — the Godfather of the to enact the policies that our communities have been demanding for decades. For weeks we occupied streets, shouted “Black Lives Matter” and lobbied state legislators on police accountability legislation.

Since then there have been five legislative sessions in Annapolis. Altogether, state legislators deliberated for over 430 days and passed over 4,000 bills; yet not one of those bills squarely addresses the issue of police violence. As a result, the system that supports our brutalization remains intact. And as we are bomdalism, with some stores looted and burned. Informally organized, armed, right-wing militia groups came in looking for a fight. President Trump came to Kenosha despite the objections of local officials that his presence would be provocative. That didn’t deter him because he came to provoke. He met with local police, toured some of the businesses that were burned down, and condemned the demonstrators. He refused to meet with the mother of Jacob Blake or to talk with Blake himself. Asked about the scourge of racism in our criminal justice system that has sparked unprecedented demonstraU.S. swing to the white-right — and Alabama Gov. George Wallace and Louisiana state Sen. David Duke, who were just too Southern, just too much “redneck” for them to be true national contenders.

The Texan and two-term President George W. Bush didn’t play his White Card. His daddy, President George H.W. Bush, was a “Connecticut Yankee” who tried to take to the White House “traditional American values,” says his White House bio. So, even though he was officially a “Texan,” barded with the heart-wrenching images of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Elijah McClain and Daniel Prude, Black America is forced once again to have this traumatic conversation about racialized policing. Meanwhile, Black people continue to die.

Police violence is not new to American discourse nor are our demands to end it. Before the Black Lives Matter movement sprung up in 2015, and even before the 1992 Los Angeles uprising, leaders such as Ida B. Wells, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Paul tions across the country, he dismissed that as “the opposite subject.”

That wasn’t his message. He wanted to focus on “the kind of violence we’ve seen in Portland and here and other places. The fact is that we’ve seen tremendous violence and we will put it out very, very quickly if given the chance.”

He attributed the repeated police killings to the notion that the police “choke” under pressure, like a golfer choking and missing a short putt. For George Floyd or Eric Garner, the only choking came from the chokeholds police used to take their lives. Trump W. still had those Kennebunkport, Maine, patrician roots, and never espoused the openly racist views that it takes to be the “White President,” the way Trump has done.

Trump pulls no punches. He minces no words. He says what the White, Alt-Right, Proud Boys, Boogaloo Boys, Tea Party folks have been whispering for decades — he’s unabashedly for white folks, and their sad agenda.

Trump calls Black athletes “sons of bitches.” And in new books by Trump “fixer” Michael Cohen and famed Robeson were calling attention to police violence, and the lack of justice for victims and their families. Dr. King, during his address at the March on Washington, said that “we can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of unspeakable horror of police brutality.” Paul Robeson and the Civil Rights Congress presented a report to the United Nations detailing incidents of police brutality against Black people in America from 1945 to 1951 titled “We Charge Genocide.” Meanwhile, Black people continue to die. bizarrely points to the chaos engulfing the country on his watch and warns that this is what will happen if his opponent is elected.

While scorning the governor and local officials as weak, Trump took credit for ordering in the National Guard, though he had nothing to do with it. Trump offers no hope for reform. He acts only to fan fears and division in the hope it will help him in the election.

Joe Biden came to Kenosha two days later. He met in a church with representatives of the community, with firefighters and with local officials. He heard the pain of those living with fears journalist Bob Woodward (with recorded interviews to back him up), Trump is quoted saying totally ungodly things about Barack Obama and even Nelson Mandela that no other prominent national politician would dare to say. The white tribal instinct laps it up.

Trump always knows the white thing to do — and always does it.

The United States is wantonly skewed in favor of loving that White Narrative. For example, although he was a terrible military leader with his

Fast forward to now, with the availability of social media, the rest of America is witnessing what Black people have been living and saying for decades: “we can’t breathe.” In Maryland, we witnessed the killing of Anton Black, a 19-year-old college student who was beloved by his community in the small town of Greensboro. Anton was smart, funny and a gifted athlete on the verge of becoming a father. His life, however, was tragically cut short after

By Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr.

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By Askia Muhammad

of police violence in the Black community and expressed his concern at the systemic racism in our criminal justice system. He spent an hour with Blake’s family and talked with Jacob Blake on the phone. He promised that he would work to bring reform, to address the scourge of racism that still scars our nation. He has condemned the violence, the vandals and the vigilantes, even as he praised those peacefully demonstrating for justice. He called for reform of the police, even as he distinguished the

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large number of dedicated police from golden hair and outsized ego, Gen. George Custer (really a lieutenant colonel who claimed the “breveted” rank because of bravery during the Civil War) is viewed by most Americans as a sympathetic figure, a martyr who was slaughtered by Sitting Bull and the Lakota at the Battle of Little Big Horn — or as the Natives called it, the Battle of Greasy Grass — Custer’s Last Stand.

Custer was wrong. He underesti

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