The Washington Informer 50th Anniversary Special Edition - October 16, 2014

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In Memoriam Dr. Calvin W. Rolark, Sr. Wilhelmina J. Rolark THE WASHINGTON INFORMER NEWSPAPER (ISSN#0741-9414) is published weekly on each Thursday.

Periodicals postage paid at Washington, D.C. and additional mailing offices. News and advertising deadline is Monday prior to publication. Announcements must be received two weeks prior to event. Copyright 2013

by The Washington Informer. All rights reserved. POSTMASTER: Send change of addresses to The Washington Informer, 3117 Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave., S.E. Washington, D.C. 20032. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. The Informer Newspaper cannot guarantee the return of photographs. Subscription rates are $45 per year, two years $60. Papers will be received not more than a week after publication. Make checks payable to: THE WASHINGTON INFORMER 3117 Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave., S.E Washington, D.C. 20032 Phone: 202 561-4100 Fax: 202 574-3785 news@washingtoninformer.com www.washingtoninformer.com

PUBLISHER Denise Rolark Barnes STAFF Denise W. Barnes, Editor Ron Burke, Advertising/ Marketing Director Lafayette Barnes, IV, Assistant Photo Editor John E. De Freitas, Sports Photo Editor Dorothy Rowley, Online Editor Brian Young, Design & Layout Mable Neville, Bookkeeper Mickey Thompson, Social Sightings columnist Stacey Palmer, Social Media Specialist Angie Johnson, Circulation REPORTERS Stacy Brown, Sam P.K. Collins, Eve Ferguson, Elton Hayes, Kevin D. McNeir, Dorothy Rowley, Barrington Salmon, James Wright

PHOTOGRAPHERS John E. DeFreitas, Shevry Lassiter, Roy Lewis, Nancy Shia INTERNS Roger Brown-Perryman; Capricia Galloway

The Washington Informer Celebrates Golden Anniversary T

oday marks the 50th anniversary of The Washington Informer.

There is no more appropriate expression to share at this moment than, “Thank You!” When my dad, Dr. Calvin W. Rolark, started the newspaper in 1964, his mission was to establish an institution for, and about, Black people that would record our history as it happened. He deeply wanted to ignite and instill pride in a race of people who would be able to read about their considerable sacrifices and contributions to create a better society.

And he aspired to provide a tool to spur the economic growth of the community, as well as provide a means of support for his family. As his daughter and now publisher, I have strived to ensure that his mission continues and thrives.

So, it is necessary to begin by saying “Thank You,” to my dad who built a solid foundation beginning with a $300 contribution to start the paper from his wife, Attorney Wilhelmina J. Rolark, who supported him and encouraged him through the very difficult early days. She shared his vision, and they both leveraged the influence of The Washington Informer to win a seat for her on the District’s second-elected city Council in 1974.

What a powerhouse couple they were: he, a consummate businessman, with incredible public relations skills and her, a lawyer, civil and women’s rights leader and politician. What they shared was a “fire in the belly” for righteousness, respect, dignity and service which they targeted at the community at-large but focused a laser beam on the greatly neglected and maligned community they called home – Ward 8.

My dad’s focus shifted slightly in 1970 when he established the United Black Fund (UBF). UBF is a philanthropic organization that provides funding, technical assistance and other support to local non-profit organizations serving the District’s diverse and most vulnerable populations, including returning citizens, persons with special needs, the elderly and non-English speaking communities.

Always, he used his newspaper to tell their stories and as a bully pulpit to deliver his rallying cries: “If it is to be it is up to me!” And, “No one can save us for us but us!”

In return, The Washington Informer received tacit support. Paid subscribers increased, businesses were spending much-needed advertising dollars in the newspaper, vendors welcomed the newspapers into their doors to distribute to their customers and The Washington Informer began to win awards for its look as well as its content. To the community that supported us, I say, “Thank You!” As I reflect over those years, I realize that the District is a much different place. It was much easier for business executives at companies like Hecht’s, Giant Food, Safeway, People’s Drugs and others to see our value because they were a part of, and played a vital role, in the community, too. Today, most companies’ decision-makers are no longer a part of the community, thus, it is more difficult to get their attention and convince them of our worth.

Even so, a special “Thank You,” along with my deep-felt gratitude, goes out to several of our oldest advertisers, including Pepco, Washington Gas, Attorney Jack H. Olender, Macy’s, Champion Trophy and Probate lawyers Matthew

See GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY on Page 3 WS-2 WASHINGTON INFORMER 50TH ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATIVE ISSUE | OCTOBER 2014 | WWW.WASHINGTONINFORMER.COM

“Like all newspapers, the struggle to survive, but less thrive, is growing more difficult …

But we are accustomed to challenges and face them more determined to hold our ground and fulfill the vision my father and stepmother had for this newspaper.”

Dr. Calvin and Wilhemina Rolark at the dedication of the bust created in Dr. Rolark’s honor, commissioned by the Luke C. Moore Academy in Northeast. /WI Archives

GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY continued from Page 2 Shannon, Deborah Boddie, Larry Frazier, Larry Williams and several others who have stuck with us for decades.

Their confidence in The Washington Informer and the readers we serve speaks volumes about their commitment to the entire Washington, D.C. community.

History shows that it was the Black Church, along with the Black Press that supported, inspired and directed formerly enslaved people seeking freedom and opportunities prior to slavery’s abolition in 1865. The Black Church and the Black Press were the pillars of the Civil Rights movement and today they continue to work closely seeking economic parity and justice for the Black community. Each church ad in The Washington Informer is a testament to that continued camaraderie and deep commitment to coalesce around issues that lead to the betterment of our community as a whole.

“Thank You” clergy and congregants, for your ongoing support.

Finally, (but only due to space limitations) the biggest, loudest and most heart-felt “Thank You” is extended to the most dedicated, hard-working, soldiers, otherwise known as ad managers, editors, writers, photographers, designers, social media editors, distributors, office managers, assistants, interns and volunteers who made it possible for The Washington Informer to publish 2,600 editions over the past 50 years.

To the editors, including Oswald Brown, Alvin Peabody, Njuguna Kabugi, Shantella Sherman and Rahiel Tesfamariam, who moved on to build other successful careers, “Thank You” for your service. I continue to wish you well. You have created a firm foundation upon which I stand for those who have stepped into your footsteps and taken The Washington Informer further… including into cyberspace with a growing number of friends and fans on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Like all newspapers, the struggle

to survive, but less thrive, is growing more difficult, as Advertising Manager Ron Burke can attest. But we are accustomed to challenges and face them more determined to hold our ground and fulfill the vision my father and stepmother had for this newspaper.

Editor Denise W. Barnes, a former Washington Times reporter, also understands the mission established by Dr. Rolark many years ago, and she has adopted it as her own, thank God. So, as The Washington Informer staff and I take this special movement to look back, I say “Thank You,” to my husband Lafayette Barnes, my sons, Desmond and Lafayette, my brother Calvin, other family members and the entire community for what you have done to make sure the Informer made it to this treasured 50year mark. I, along with the Informer staff, am looking and moving forward to better serve you for many more years to come.

To that, I say “Thank You” in advance, for your continued support. WS

On the Cover

The first edition of The Washington Informer published on Oct. 16, 1964.

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Congratulations on 50 years of service to the residents of the DMV! The US Africa Sister Cities Foundation and DC-Dakar are grass root volunteer advocate organizations with over 30 years of addressing issues that affect African people and promoting public awareness.

Contact us: srs-usasc@rcn.com, 202-635-3138, www.usasc.org.

The Edgar Lomax Company Proudly Salutes The Washington Informer 50th Anniversary Issue

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Manages “Large-Cap Value” Stock Portfolios For: Institutions Mutual Funds Randall R. Eley President 6564 Loisdale Court, Suite 310 • Springfield, VA 22150 703•719•0026 www.edgarlomax.com

THE WASHINGTON INFORMER CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR

As an 18-year-old with very little journalism chops, The Washington Informer gave me my first shot as a sports writer. I met the likes of Caron Butler and Hank Haney and learned daily from an experienced staff. That internship in the summer of 2008 allowed me to figure out if sports journalism was the career for me. Six years later I am a high school sportswriter with The Washington Post, and much of that is due to this terrific paper opening its doors to me, an 18-year-old. I want to thank you for allowing me to work for your paper and I wish The Washington Informer another 50 amazing years.

Thank you, Tariq Lee and my Godfather Cliff Barnes

The majority of the District’s first elected members of the D.C. City Council were firebrand activists focused on rebuilding a city wrecked by the 1968 riots and a local economy devastated by the flight of white and Blacks to the surrounding suburbs. (L-R) Council Chairman Sterling Tucker, Willie J. Hardy (D-Ward 7), the Rev. Douglas E. Moore (D-At-Large), Hilda “Grandmother of the World” Mason, (Statehood-At-Large) and Nadine P. Winter (D-Ward 6). /WI Archives

Washington Informer’s Information

Mission: from Day One

By Avis Thomas-Lester WI Editor at Large The year Dr. Calvin W. Rolark, Sr. founded the Washington Informer, civil rights workers James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman were killed by racists in Mississippi; the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. won the Nobel Peace Prize; and President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Overseas, war was raging in Vietnam, the People’s Republic of China conducted its first nuclear test and a South African freedom fighter named Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life in prison for protesting his country’s racist apartheid system.

In the District, Rolark, who had worked as the editor of the Washington New Observer, a black-owned newspaper heavily peppered with social and entertainment news, was plan-

ning a publication that would provide news for and about African-Americans. On Oct. 16, 1964, the Washington Informer was born.

“He was often considered the dean of the Black Press,” former D.C. mayor Sharon Pratt said of Rolark after his death in 1994.

“It was his mission to inform our community about the social, political and economic affairs impacting African-Americans.”

Civil rights activist Joe Madison, host of the Joe Madison Show on SiriusXM radio, said he read the Washington Informer even before he relocated to the District in 1990 from Detroit, where he headed the NAACP chapter for years.

“I had worked in and out of Washington for years and I was well aware of the Informer and, more importantly, of the founder,” Madison said. “He was more than a publisher. He was an activist. You knew exactly, editori-

ally, where he was coming from and the importance of the Informer.”

Whether reporting on the riots that erupted in the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis in 1968, the election of D.C.’s first home rule mayor, Walter E. Washington, in 1974, Mandela’s first trip to the U.S. in 1990, or the historic election of Barack Obama as president of the United States in 2008 and his reelection in 2012, the Washington Informer’s top priority has always been informing the community, said Publisher Denise Rolark Barnes.

Early on, her father, a Southerner by birth, was concerned that blacks were not well represented or well served by the city’s leadership and government agencies.

“This led him to realize that if black people were equipped with

See WI HISTORY on Page 6

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Congratulations TO THE WASHINGTON INFORMER FOR

50

YEARS OF SERVICE!

HOWARD UNIVERSITY Founded in 1867, Howard University is a private, research university that is comprised of 13 schools and colleges. Students pursue studies in more than 120 areas leading to undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees. Since 1998, the University has produced two Rhodes Scholars, two Truman Scholars, a Marshall Scholar, 30 Fulbright Scholars and 11 Pickering Fellows. Howard also produces more on campus African-American Ph.D. recipients than any other university in the United States. For more information on Howard University, call 202-238-2330, or visit the University's Web site at www.howard.edu.

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WI HISTORY continued from Page 4 information about who were the powers to be in this city and how to push for greater representation among their ranks, maybe it would help to address the issues of poverty, police brutality and discrimination in employment, housing and many other issues,” she said.

Politicians, business leaders, educators and anyone else who went afoul of what was right soon found themselves challenged by Rolark and his newspaper.

When Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) called for an investigation in June 1972 in the wake of revelations that former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover spied on citizens, the Washington Informer carried the story on its front page under the headline “Conyers Demands Congressional Investigation of the FBI.” “Of particular concern to Congressman Conyers and the Congressional Black Caucus is the disproportionate surveillance by the FBI and the Secret

Former Congressman Walter E. Fauntroy (l) who served nearly 20 years in Congress (1970-1990) as the District’s first non-voting delegate, stepped down from his congressional seat in 1990 to join a crowded field of contenders running for D.C. mayor. Fauntroy, seen with campaign supporters, returned to New Bethel Church in Northwest where he retired after 50 years as pastor. /WI Archives

Service of black citizens,” the story said. “It has been known for some time that Mr. Hoover ordered a thorough investigation T:5.65” of black student unions and or-

WE SALUTE THE WASHINGTON INFORMER.

See what we’re doing to help our community at aarp.org/dc

ran a series of stories. “Protest Continues Against Carryout” was the lead story in the Oct. 9-15, 1986 edition.

“Angered over the treatment of an elderly Black woman by proprietors of an Asian-owned takeout restaurant in the community, close to 300 residents of the lower Good Hope Road area in Southeast Washington staged a massive demonstration last Saturday outside the carryout,” the story said.

A piece that ran in the Dec. 25-31, 1986 edition discussed the involvement of the Rev. Willie Wilson, pastor of Union Temple Baptist Church in Anacostia, who called for the protests.

“The spirit of Christmas apparently has cooled down one of the city’s most heated disputes as the principal players in the Good Hope Carryout controversy late last week extended olive branches to each other,” the story said.

Carryout owner Cheung Hung Chan agreed to let merchants from a new organization formed

by Wilson, the African American Development Fund, sell Christmas trees on his parking lot. Wilson invited the presidents of two Asian business groups to attend the church’s annual Kwanzaa celebration.

That front page also featured “Revlon Products Are ‘Laid to Rest,’” a story about mock funeral protests held across the country after a Revlon executive made “disrespectful” comments about blacks.

T:6.1”

Congratulations to The Washington Informer on 50 years of excellence. Thanks for being a trusted source of information for generations of Metropolitan Washington residents. Your commitment to educating and informing the public has made our city a better place.

ganizations…”

When an Asian restaurant owner in Southeast pulled a gun on an elderly black woman in 1986, the Washington Informer

“Revlon has died at the O.K. Corral of disrespect of customers and humankind,” the Rev. Jesse Jackson told the audience at a mock funeral held at D.C.’s New Bethel Baptist Church. A photo shows Jackson and Fauntroy putting Revlon products in a casket as part of the event.

The newspaper fought big battles and celebrated small victories. When District Building elevator operator Merline A. Johnson, then 58, was presented a certificate by Mayor Walter E. Washington in 1972, the newspaper carried a photo on the front page. Scholarships and school commendations made news. Promotions and awards made news.

So did stories that white media agencies ignored.

“I always look at newspapers like the Informer as the drum beat of the community,” Madison said. “Before we had the Internet, Facebook, Twitter and all this technology that people have now, we got our information from newspapers like the Informer. Oftentimes, that was the only place [where] those stories would get printed.”

Madison said the newspaper came to his defense in 1996 when he, other activists and black politicians urged investigations into allegations that CIA-supported Nicaraguan contra rebels during the 1980s had brought cocaine into the United States,

See WI HISTORY on Page 8

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You deserve a round of applause.

You inspire us. FedEx is proud to recognize The Washington Informer for a job well done.

©2014 FedEx. All rights reserved.

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“The Washington Informer is the community perspective in the nation’s capital that gives voice to black/AfricanAmerican people who are often marginalized and unheard by other media publications.”

– Lawyer and poet CeLillianne Green

Simeon Booker (center), Washington Bureau Chief for Johnson Publishing Company’s Jet Magazine, presents awards recognizing the outstanding careers of (l-r) Washington Informer Publisher and Found Dr. Calvin W. Rolark, U.S. Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, Olympic medal winner Mal Whitfield, and Champ Products Inc. President Imam Ali Khan. /WI Archives

WI HISTORY continued from Page 6 sold it and used the proceeds to fund their activities. During the height of the crack epidemic, San Jose Mercury News reporter

Gary Webb had broken the story, Madison said. He checked it out and took up the cause, interviewing Webb and later demanding answers from government officials in Washington.

“I had been arrested leading protests in front of the CIA, along with Dick Gregory and the Washington Post attacked us.

The mainstream media … tried to discredit us, saying there was no such issue. It was the Informer that wrote those stories. You can go back and look at the stories that they ran. It was because of the Black Press that that story got legs … Eventually the truth came out. We were always supported by the Informer.”

Readers said the newspaper has spoken for them for 50 years.

“The Washington Informer is the community perspective in the nation’s capital that gives voice to black/African-American people who are often marginalized and unheard by other media publications,” said lawyer and poet CeLillianne Green, who has read the paper for 25 years. “The esteem generated from seeing the Informer news and articles, which value your community and the people in it, is immeasurable.

“The vision of its founder, Dr. Calvin Rolark, and the legacy which has been carried forward by his daughter, Denise Rolark Barnes, are to be commended.” WS

Former Ward 8 Councilmember Wilhemina F. Rolark address the audience at Covenant Baptist Church in Southwest following the District’s Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Parade held in 1978. Rolark along with her husband Dr. Calvin W. Rolark and radio talk show host Ralph Waldo “Petey” Green organized the first King parade before the national holiday was established in 1983. /WI Archives

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YEARS

C E L E B R AT I N G A L E G A C Y

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Congratulations to The Washington Informer!

To be able to celebrate dedicated and committed service is a privilege. To be able to celebrate 50 years of dedicated and committed service is an honor.

The Washington Informer has been a beacon of truth, insight and inspiration to the community for half a century.

With the history of a long and productive partnership, Industrial Bank is proud to help celebrate the 50th Anniversary of The Washington Informer and we are very much looking forward to the next 50.

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Decades of Accomplishments

The Washington Informer throughout the Years

By Stacy M. Brown WI Contributing Writer Dr. Calvin Rolark, a native of Texarkana, Texas, often talked about the treatment of blacks in the south and the remnants of it, which he later witnessed in the District after relocating in 1952.

And, Dr. Rolark, the founder of the Washington Informer, rode into town with the winds of change blowing.

The tumultuous 1960s would follow a decade in which African-Americans stood at a crossroad where hope existed and a taste of power began to take hold.

“In Washington, D.C., while we certainly were a hotbed of activity in part because of the civil rights movement, locally we had home rule staring us in the face,” said Mark Diggs, a Northeast resident and retired child psychiatrist. “It was no rest for the weary because there was much to fight for,” said Diggs, 72.

The Washington Informer opened in 1964, in small office located at 7th

& G Streets, in the downtown area of the District. Immediately the coverage of the civil rights movement and home rule took center stage. While Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination ultimately hurt the progress of the movement, home rule eventually passed in 1973, but the debate has raged on for decades.

Dr. Rolark’s focus shifted in the 1970s to philanthropy and charitable giving.

“He challenged the then-United Giver’s Fund, which is now United Way, to open the door for nonprofit organizations that were run by blacks and other ethnic groups and that supported those communities,” said his daughter and Informer Publisher Denise Rolark Barnes. And, in 1969, he established the United Black Fund.

“Many were excluded from the federal government’s Combined Federal Campaign, and he fought hard to change that by not only steering the United Black Fund, but providing funding, legal and technical assistance to smaller organizations to help them

meet unserved needs, which was the United Black Fund’s [hallmark],” Rolark Barnes said.

In 1972, Dr. Rolark, who was actively engaged in District politics, threw his support behind Shirley Chisholm’s run for president. Vociferous in his support of Chisholm, Dr. Rolark counted among the many angered that the congresswoman had been denied entry in many of the national debates.

The fiery congresswoman petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to finally force her way into a televised Democratic debate.

At the party’s convention, Chisholm captured 152 delegates and, despite George McGovern receiving the Democratic nomination, she declared her campaign a success.

“I ran because somebody had to do it first,” said Chisholm at the time. She died in 2005.

Dr. Rolark also became heavily involved in another, more personal election campaign that of his wife, Wilhelmina Rolark, who ran for the D.C.

A publisher in the making -- a young Denise Rolark , learned the business first-hand from her father, Dr. Calvin Rolark. Prepared to capture the moment with the camera, the up-and-coming publisher would eventually assume the helm of The Washington Informer. The photograph depicts Dr. Rolark and Mayor Marion Barry. /WI Archives

Council seat in Ward 8 in Southeast.

While she lost by less than 100 votes in her initial attempt, Wilhelmina Rolark captured the seat in 1976 and served for 16 years.

“He was by my stepmother’s side when she ran and during the three subsequent elections,” Rolark Barnes said. “He also supported her in establishing the National Association of Black Women Attorneys.”

Rolark was also a staunch supporter of D.C. Mayor Marion Barry until Barry’s arrest for possession of crack cocaine at the Vista International Hotel in 1990. When Barry went to prison, Rolark rallied support for former D.C. Delegate Walter E. Fauntroy who ran an unsuccessful mayoral candidacy in 1990. She served one term from 1991-1995. When Barry returned from prison he successfully defeated Rolark’s wife for the Ward 8 council seat and served for two years before leading a successful bid for mayor against a host of candidates including former D.C. Delegate Walter E. Fauntroy, who Rolark supported. Rolark also used his newspaper to support Rev. Jesse Jackson’s unsuccessful bid for president in 1988.

The newspaper’s focus expanded in the 1980s, thanks to Dr. Rolark’s interest in Africa. He founded the International United Black Fund with affiliates established in Israel, Cameroon, the Ivory Coast and Ghana.

The 1980s also forced Rolark and other black news organizations to focus on two devastating epidemics, crack cocaine and AIDS, both of which destroyed African-American communities around the nation and certainly in the District.

The Informer covered both epidemics, allowing African-Americans to read the stories from a black perspective, something that they didn’t receive from other media.

At the dawn of the 1990s, Dr. Ro-

lark remained entrenched in politics, one of the means he saw in which the election of the right individuals could help African-Americans and all of the underserved communities in the District.

Dr. Rolark promoted mentorship for young black males, establishing the “I Love Life and I Want to Live” campaign to address the violence and carnage enveloping youth throughout the District.

“He became a bridge-builder in Washington’s growing and diverse community until his death on October 23, 1994,” Rolark Barnes said.

“Even on his death bed at Howard University Hospital, I found a letter addressed to him from the Rev. Jesse Jackson soliciting my father’s support for a young student who needed funds to continue her higher education. He was known for reaching into his pocket or the coffers of the United Black Fund to help those who needed it,” she said.

Upon Dr. Rolark’s death, his daughter picked up his mantle, something she continues to carry in a manner that those who knew her father said would make him proud.

“It’s been quite amazing what Denise Rolark Barnes has been able to do,” said Dr. Benjamin Chavis, a longtime civil rights activist, former NAACP president and the CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association.

“She has done more than a great job in carrying Dr. Rolark’s legacy and those who read the Washington Informer, those who have read it since Dr. Rolark’s death, I mean in the 1990s, the new millennium and today, can’t argue that it’s one of the top five newspapers in the country and that’s a testament to Dr. Rolark and Denise Rolark Barnes.”WS

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Events DC congratulates the Washington Informer on 50 years of educating, empowering, and informing the District of Columbia community!

eventsdc.com

Dr. Calvin R. Rolark, May 18, 1927 – October 23, 1994 /WI Archives

Remembering

Dr. Calvin Rolark

Friends Recall Informer Founder

By Stacy M. Brown WI Contributing Writer The Rev. Jesse Jackson, who writes a weekly column that runs in The Washington Informer, simply couldn’t find the right words.

Jackson, who marched alongside Martin Luther King Jr., twice ran for president of the United States and has met with leaders the world over, proved unable to come up with a phrase sufficient to describe how he felt about Washington Informer founder the late Dr. Calvin Rolark.

“He really wants to, Dr. Rolark meant so much,” Jackson’s chief of staff John Mitchell said.

While the reverend struggled to offer his thoughts on the 50th anniversary of the newspaper’s founding, others like Radio One founder and Chairperson Cathy Hughes allowed some of the fondest of words to roll right

off of her tongue.

“Dr. Calvin Rolark was bold, brave and brilliant. He showed me firsthand what is expected of a D.C. media outlet if they are to remain relevant,” said Hughes, 67, who in 1980 started Radio One and has since turned the company into one of the nation’s premier media empires.

“Dr. Rolark was a committed visionary, and the 50th anniversary of The Washington Informer is a living testimony to his legacy,” Hughes said. “I am eternally grateful for the lessons he taught me and the example he set for all media professionals.”

A spokeswoman for legendary comedian Bill Cosby said the entertainer had been touring, and while she couldn’t reach him for comment, she said part of Cosby’s fondness for the District has to do with “men like Dr. Rolark.”

Dr. Benjamin Chavis Jr., the former president of the Nation-

See REMEMBERING on Page 14

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The dishes spicing up the whole neighborhood.

A native Ethiopian, Meseret Bekel dreamed of combining her family recipes with her fondness for entertaining. Thanks to a loan from Enterprise Development Group, Meseret opened Ethiopic — a restaurant that reflects her love of sharing with dishes that bring every table of patrons together. Not to mention the whole community. Her growing business is contributing to the economic prosperity of the neighborhood she’s proud to be a part of. And Wells Fargo is just as honored to support Meseret and the many businesses getting their start at EDG. Little by little we can do a lot. Because – Small is Huge SM. Visit wellsfargo.com/stories to see how big small can be.

© 2014 Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. All rights reserved. Member FDIC.

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REMEMBERING continued from Page 12 al Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said Rolark proved to be a “comrade in arms during the civil rights struggle.”

Chavis, 66, a former assistant to King who now serves as president of the 200-plus-member National Newspapers Publishers Association, said his admiration for Dr. Rolark runs deep.

“He was an outstanding civic leader and freedom fighter.

There was no question that the residents of Washington, D.C., not only had a strong advocate, but I remember how he would push the envelope particularly in the cases of those who were on the margins of society and who had no one to speak for them,” Chavis said.

“For a long period of time, Dr. Calvin Rolark was the voice of D.C., and I’m a witness to when the baton was passed from father to daughter. And Denise Rolark Barnes has picked up that torch and run with it, and we are all proud of her. And I’m sure Dr. Rolark would be as well.”

Cloves Campbell, the publisher of the Arizona Informant and chairman of the NNPA, echoed Chavis’ comments.

He said Dr. Rolark, who attended Prairie View College and Tennessee State, Michigan State and Cornell universities, left behind quite the legacy and nearly impossible shoes to fill.

Dr. Rolark died in 1994 at the age of 67.

“Dr. Rolark provided D.C. with phenomenal feats,” said Campbell, 51. “Now, Denise Rolark Barnes has done an excellent job in continuing his legacy, and, make no mistake about it, Dr. Rolark was an incredible newsperson.”

Rolark Barnes, who desires one day to write a book about her father, said Dr. Rolark used The Washington Informer to help fight for important causes, including civil rights.

She said her father had memorable encounters with Cosby, Chavis and many others, and although she concedes not all of the memories may have been pleasant, there were lessons learned. “When he thought he was right, he didn’t mince his words or opinions,” said Rolark Barnes, who has been at the helm of the newspaper since 1994.

Still, Rolark Barnes recalled that before starting The Informer in 1964, her father once served as editor of the Washington New Observer, a black-owned newspaper

once located at 911 Florida Ave. in Northwest.

“That was during a time when most of the District’s black professionals worked along the U Street, Ninth Street and Florida Avenue corridors. A lot of the newspapers’ attention had been focused on the black community’s social life, and the Observer, as did several of the other black newspapers, dealt a lot with entertainment,” she said.

“U Street was D.C.’s black Broadway with the Howard, Lincoln and Republic theaters located there. But my dad found himself venturing to City Hall and finding that the black community was not represented or well-served by the District’s appointed leaders or by the heads of the government agencies.”

Understanding that the District Building proved the place where decisions were made that affected the lives of D.C.’s sizable black population, Dr. Rolark discerned that if blacks were equipped with information about Washington’s powerbrokers and how to push for greater representation, it could lead to officials addressing issues like poverty, police brutality, employment and housing discrimination, and many other concerns, Rolark Barnes said.

With the assistance of his wife, Wilhelmina Jackson Rolark, a respected lawyer who invested at least $300 to his cause, Dr. Rolark founded The Washington Informer on Oct. 16, 1964.

Wilhelmina Rolark moved her office from Ninth Street to the couple’s new suite of offices at 715 G St. in Northwest, where they were joined by, among others, the William S. Walker Realty Company and a notary public.

“My father became a bridge-builder in Washington’s growing and diverse communities until his death on Oct. 23, 1994,” Rolark Barnes said.

Many of D.C.’s leaders agreed.

Former D.C. Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly, whom Dr. Rolark frequently advised during her run for office and while she occupied the mayor’s seat, called The Informer’s founder “a towering figure.”

“Calvin Rolark was not a public official,” D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, 77, said following Dr. Rolark’s death. “The District was his life, and there was virtually no part of his life which he did not give his multiple talents and inexhaustible energy,” she said. WS

WS-14 WASHINGTON INFORMER 50TH ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATIVE ISSUE | OCTOBER 2014 | WWW.WASHINGTONINFORMER.COM

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Informer, Black Newspapers Thrive

By Stacy M. Brown WI Contributing Writer

As the Washington Informer reaches its milestone 50th anniversary at a time when the business model has changed dramatically for newspapers around the globe, many mainstream outlets have fallen on hard times, and several have folded.

However, the state of black newspapers suggests that, while all isn’t exactly well and there remain many challenges, the future still holds promise.

“Look what Denise Rolark Barnes and The Washington Informer have been able to do as well as any black newspaper, which is to bring local content consistently to the community it serves,” said Cloves Campbell, the publisher of the Arizona Informant and the chairman of the National Newspaper Publishers Association.

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“We’ve always provided local content, and now you see all of the [mainstream] media doing

the same because they finally recognized that our way, the way black papers have been doing it,

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is the best way because people want to read about themselves.

And they want to know what is going on in their community,” said Campbell, 51.

“If they want other news, then they can turn on CNN.” For 50 years, The Informer has provided coverage of the District and its surrounding jurisdictions, having overcome many of the challenges faced by publications that don’t possess the resources of major newspaper companies like Gannett, The Washington Post, and others.

In an overview of the state of the media, the Pew Research Center in Northwest reported that in many ways 2013 and the early part of 2014 have brought a level of energy to the news industry not seen in a long time.

Pew Research editors said even as the challenges of the past several years continue and new ones have emerged, the activities in 2014 have created a new sense of optimism, or perhaps hope, for the future of American journalism, which has witnessed major downsizing at such noted publications as the USA Today, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and other mainstream newspapers across the country.

However, Pew Research Center editors cited several trends that led to an optimistic view of the future, including the social media boom newspapers are

taking advantage of, the dramatic change in the American population with a growing minority component, and the increased attention afforded to local news.

The fact that media outlets have devoted major resources to community coverage has proven to be a boon for black newspapers in general because local residents are likely to read more about stories that directly affect or are important to them.

Also, with black-owned newspapers, African-Americans don’t always have to read about murders, robberies or other crimes as if it’s the only news worth covering in the community.

“Blacks only made the headlines when they were wanted or found guilty of robbery, rape or murder. Never for anything positive,” Rolark Barnes said.

“My father, Dr. Calvin Rolark, who founded the paper, wanted The Washington Informer to be different. If we were going to take over this city, we first had to believe in ourselves. It was important to celebrate the achievements and victories of black residents and to help build confidence within ourselves that we were capable of holding leadership positions,” she said.

This method proved to be Dr. Rolark’s way of fighting against a long-held belief that the white man’s ice is colder and that their

See NEWSPAPERS on Page 18

WS-16 WASHINGTON INFORMER 50TH ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATIVE ISSUE | OCTOBER 2014 | WWW.WASHINGTONINFORMER.COM

AmeriHealth District of Columbia congratulates

The Washington Informer!

The challenge of a great organization is whether it can attain longevity, sustain relevance and become a tower of strength for the people it serves. It’s being able to become a beacon rather than cast a shadow. Fifty years ago The Washington Informer set out to become such an organization; today we write you to say congratulations on a job well done!

Congratulations again!

All the best,

Karen M. Dale

www.amerihealthdc.com

WWW.WASHINGTONINFORMER.COM | OCTOBER 2014 | WASHINGTON INFORMER 50TH ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATIVE ISSUE WS-17

The William O. Lockridge Community Foundation salutes the Washington Informer on 50 years of outstanding community service and reporting. As Dr. Calvin W. Rolark, Founder and Publisher, often said: “If it’s to be, it’s up to me.”

Congratulations to Denise Rolark Barnes and the dedicated team at the Washington Informer!

Wanda D. Lockridge Chairwoman/Executive Director

National Newspaper Publishers Association President and CEO Benjamin Chavis with Board of Directors Chair Cloves Campbell Jr. /Courtesy Photo

Washington Informer Publisher Denise Rolark Barnes received a first place Merit Award for Best Layout and Design from Mississippi Link Publisher Jackie Hampton during the National Newspaper Publishers Association 74th Annual Conference held June 25-28 in Portland, Oregon. The Washington Informer was also honored for its 2013 Special Edition honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, as well as first place for Best Use of Photos and third place for Best News Pictures. (Courtesy of NNPA)

NEWSPAPERS continued from Page 16 words and leadership are better, Rolark Barnes said.

Pew Center editors said that in many ways maintaining African-American newspapers still remains difficult.

“There are a lot of barriers these days to black newspapers surviving and being successful,” Dr. Clint C. Wilson, professor of journalism at Howard University in Northwest, told editors at the Pew Center.

One of those barriers, Wilson said, came as a result of desegregation when African-Americans dispersed more broadly, making it difficult to distribute newspa-

pers.

However, despite various challenges, including advertising slights by major companies, Pew editors concluded that black publications have managed to hold on.

The largest black press association, the National Newspaper Publishers Association, lists more than 200 newspapers in its membership, including The Washington Informer.

Founded in 1964, The Informer continues to serve metropolitan Washington, D.C., and the newspaper now reaches more than 50,000 readers each week through its print edition, a weekly average of 20,500 unique visitors to its website, 7,500 weekly

subscribers through its weekly email newsletter, and potentially 300,000 viewers through The Washington Informer TV show.

“My father wanted a newspaper that would challenge institutions that would not open their doors of opportunities to blacks, including the Metropolitan Police Department, the fire department and the local media, especially the local television stations,” Rolark Barnes said.

“It was soon after starting the paper … that he began using the phrases, ‘If it is to be, it is up to me’ and ‘No one can save us from us but us.’ He had everyone repeat those words whenever he spoke all across the world.” WS

WS-18 WASHINGTON INFORMER 50TH ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATIVE ISSUE | OCTOBER 2014 | WWW.WASHINGTONINFORMER.COM

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Informer

Readers Share Their Views Congratulations

50

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By Stacy M. Brown WI Contributing Writer

Lydia Pyles started reading The Washington Informer about 10 years ago when she came across a story about rap and business mogul Russell Simmons.

“It was the first thing he said in that story that impressed me,” said Pyles, 48, who lives in Northeast. “He talked about young black people being entrepreneurs. I thought it was amazing to see that so prominent in a newspaper, and then I thought about how white papers wouldn’t have given him the space for that.”

Simmons appeared in the District to deliver the keynote for the 125th anniversary of the now-defunct Southeastern University.

Earlier this year, 10 years after

Simmons’ appearance, The Informer covered Howard University’s 146th commencement, an event that featured rap impresario Sean “Diddy” Combs as the keynote speaker.

“I think that choosing Mr. Combs brings that ‘oomph’ to a commencement where the speech might otherwise have been delivered by yet another boring academic,” said reader Chelsea Jones.

Memories of reader Marques Thomas, of Southeast, go back even further.

Thomas recalled another Howard University graduation featured in The Washington Informer, which took place in 1994 and had retired general and future Secretary of State Colin Powell as the keynote speaker for the historically black college in Northwest.

Thomas said Howard officials

had experienced a tremendous amount of controversy because of their previous selections of commencement speakers.

He said Powell seized upon the controversy in his speech.

“He talked about how Nelson Mandela had invited his jailers to his inauguration as president of South Africa. Powell said that Mandela had used his liberation to work with those who had tormented him, and he told the students and the faculty that it was a good example for all of us,” said Thomas, 51.

Since reading that account in 1994, Thomas said he rarely misses picking up the paper at a location near Ben’s Chili Bowl in Northwest.

Throughout its 50 years of existence, The Informer has covered much more than just com-

WS-20 WASHINGTON INFORMER 50TH ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATIVE ISSUE | OCTOBER 2014 | WWW.WASHINGTONINFORMER.COM

See READERS on Page 22

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WWW.WASHINGTONINFORMER.COM | OCTOBER 2014 | WASHINGTON INFORMER 50TH ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATIVE ISSUE WS-21

READER continued from Page 20 mencement addresses.

Guy Wilson, a longtime reader from Lanham, Maryland, said he regularly reads about health, entertainment, politics and sports in The Informer.

“You’re just not going to read about the positive accomplishments of black people in The Washington Post,” said Wilson, 56, who works in Northeast.

“I get to read about the good things that black health care professionals are doing, that Presi-

dent Obama is doing or what [U.S. Attorney General] Eric Holder is up to,” he said. “In the Informer, I also get to know what things are going on in the black community without having to worry about what negative slant the media is putting on it.”

Isabel Thompson, who has read the paper regularly since the late 1990s, said she particularly enjoyed reading reporter Barrington Salmon’s recent story on the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri.

She said the story didn’t glorify the violence that’s taken place in the aftermath of the shooting

of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson.

Instead, Thompson, 44, of Northwest, said Salmon’s reporting allowed District readers to better understand and to feel what those in Ferguson might be experiencing.

“The story mentioned the concern we all have about the killing of black men and women, and, in the story, there was a really good sentence about how these peaceful people who are only seeking justice mobilized because of disgust and anger,”

Thompson said.

“That’s really what it is all about. We are disgusted by the way police officers and law enforcement in general look at black people and treat black people. On CNN or in the other newspapers, you don’t get that.

All we’re told or shown are angry black folk with no truthful explanation as to why we’re angry.”

Arnell Gaines, of Southeast, said he’s a loyal reader of The Washington Informer for many reasons, but since he’s an educator, he particularly appreciates the coverage of education.

“I go back a long time, and I remember, in 2000 or maybe 2001, I read in The Informer about how young black people were taking advantage of opportunities afforded by higher education and how that was trans-

lating into more wealth in our community,” said Gaines, 49.

“The story proved that we weren’t all high school dropouts and we weren’t all poor. But I remember at the same time reading a story in the Post which, without sourcing the information, had the exact opposite statistics.”

Gaines said he conducted his own research at the time and found The Informer’s coverage to be accurate.

“I can imagine that it would be hard for any black newspaper, especially one that tells the truth and one that keeps it real, to survive for 50 years,” he said.

“I hope that the paper will enjoy [another] 50 years and keep doing what it has been doing, and I think if it does, we will all be better served because of it.”WS

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WS-22 WASHINGTON INFORMER 50TH ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATIVE ISSUE | OCTOBER 2014 | WWW.WASHINGTONINFORMER.COM

for knowing community means everything.

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Congratulations on 50 years of service to

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WASHINGTON INFORMER

50TH ANNIVERSARY

REFLECTION Elton Hayes

D. Kevin McNeir

I want to congratulate the Washington Informer for providing 50 years of exemplary service to its readers around the Washington metropolitan area. Countless newspapers have sadly fallen victim to the changing of the times that the Digital Age has wrought. But the Washington Informer has managed to remain relevant.

I first began to write for the Informer several years ago after one of my college professors suggested that I reach out to Denise W. Barnes, the paper’s outstanding editor. I cannot even begin to describe how fruitful my experience has been.

I will say, however, that my time as a reporter for the newspaper has given me countless journalistic skills that I know without a shadow of a doubt would not have gained at most other publications.

To work as a reporter for the Washington Informer means working hand-in-hand with the local community. Long before I arrived, it was established by the paper’s founder, Calvin Rolark, that the Washington Informer would only be as good as its reporters’ relationship with the community. Mr. Rolark’s vision for the paper remains just a clear today.

Building sincere, robust relationships with the local community is something the paper’s publisher, Denise Rolark-Barnes, hammers home to every reporter and photographer on staff.

I am not only thankful, but also fortunate, to have the opportunity to write for such an outstanding publication that refuses to compromise its integrity.

I wish to again congratulate to Washington Informer on its 50th anniversary. May its next 50 years be as successful as its first 50.

“I had the tremendous opportunity to join the staff as one of the contributing writers for The Washington Informer last spring after leaving The Miami Times in South Florida where I served as their award-winning senior editor for the past four years. Coming to D.C. was bittersweet as I moved here to help my mom take care of my father who died in June. But working the education, business, entertainment and political beats for our publisher, Denise Rolark-Barnes, has been a delight every day. I have been a member of the black press for almost 20 years in cities including Detroit, Chicago, Atlanta, Grand Rapids and Miami and remain convinced that the work we do – sharing a more balanced, objective view of our community and telling stories that the mainstream press chooses to ignore – continues to validate the need for our existence.

The first person to encourage me to write was the great poet Gwendolyn Brooks. Since then, I have always known that I wanted to become a journalist.

Now, as a beat reporter in the U.S. Capitol, I have the opportunity to be on the frontline, to meet people from all countries and walks of life – allowing their voices, challenges and fears to be heard and transmitted to our readers. I am a proud, card-carrying member of the black press in America. And here at The Washington Informer, I can truly say, in all humility, that our photographers, editor, writers and staff, are every bit as capable, if not more so, as those who work for any daily or weekly publication in the country. While we are small in number, our experience and our skills enable us to go to press every week knowing that what we do matters to the black community of the Greater Washington Area.”

Kevin McNeir is a graduate of the University of Michigan, Emory University and Princeton Theological Seminary and a native of Detroit, Michigan, 54 who now lives in Alexandria, Virginia.

WI Contributing Writer

Building a Healthier Community The Washington Informer 50th Anniversary Celebration CareFirst is proud to partner with the Washington Informer as it celebrates 50 years of educating, empowering, and informing the Washington, D.C. community.

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WI Contributing Writer

WS-24 WASHINGTON INFORMER 50TH ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATIVE ISSUE | OCTOBER 2014 | WWW.WASHINGTONINFORMER.COM

blacks and associate blacks and Latinos with criminality – beliefs that are widespread and, horrifyingly are held by whites who work in the criminal justice system.

I could go on, but space will only allow me to say simply that I’m proud to ply my trade in the black press generally and The Washington Informer in particular.

Stacy M. Brown

Happy 50th Anniversary to Denise Rolark Barnes and The Washington Informer!!!

Steve Monroe SAMProductions www.jazzavenues.com

WI Contributing Writer Having worked at so-called mainstream newspapers for about 20 years and even enjoying a more than three-year stint on television as a special correspondent for MSNBC and NBC News, the black press had always intrigued me.

I’m not a “Fight the Power” kind of person and I don’t habitually blame mainstream or white-owned media for the plight of our communities. I know that as a black journalist, I feel a weighty but welcome responsibility to tell accurate and compelling stories about those who look like me in a manner that CNN, MSNBC and Fox News will not.

When I spoke with the twin Denise Barnes (Informer Publisher Denise Rolark-Barnes and the paper’s editor Denise W. Barnes) in December 2012, it seemed like we were on the same page. There were stories, plenty of them, that we don’t see in the mainstream press, print, TV or other mediums. We felt that these stories had to be told and presented in a way befitting blacks and other minorities inside and outside of the District.

Some of the stories we’ve been able to bring to our readers have made a difference. Among them, we’ve continued to report on the disparities in health and mental illness care. The editor Barnes and I sometimes make light – because the topic proves so sad – that “everybody’s got problems, everybody’s crazy.” The truth is, many African-Americans walk around the District and the nation with mental illnesses and most either haven’t been diagnosed or have not received treatment. But mainstream media won’t focus on that.

Mainstream also hasn’t focused on the school-to-prison pipeline so prevalent in our community. There’s also been a glossing over of Attorney General Eric Holder’s strong stand against mandatory minimum prison sentences that’s decimated the black community.

And, a quick Google search reveals that few, if any, mainstream media touched our story on the report by the Sentencing Project that whites often overestimate the amount of crime committed by

Sam P.K. Collins

WI Contributing Writer @SamPKCollins Today, few jobs exist where one can talk to people from all walks of life and document history as it unfolds. The Washington Informer has allowed me to do that and more under the tutelage of veteran journalists of color who have between them more than 80 years of experience.

Since joining the local paper, my writing has improved, my knowledge of the D.C. Metropolitan area has increased, and my Rolodex has grown tremendously. As an Informer Contributing Writer, I’ve been given a platform to address issues of concern to young people and shine light on the movers and shakers in the community. Out in the field, I summarize key events and collect the thoughts of everyday people, many of whom don’t think they have a voice. Each of my bylines educates readers and better prepares them for today’s war for true civil rights.

There’s little doubt in my mind that Dr. Calvin Rolark’s vision lives on in me and every young writer of color who has written for The Washington Informer. At a time when a cloud of mystery surrounds the future of the black press, it’s great to work for a paper that operates in the people’s interest, especially when “mainstream” publications continue to drop the ball.

Many thanks to The Washington Informer for equipping me with the tools needed to truly flourish when other publications wouldn’t even let me through the door.

WWW.WASHINGTONINFORMER.COM | OCTOBER 2014 | WASHINGTON INFORMER 50TH ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATIVE ISSUE WS-25

Businesses Connect to Benefit Black Community

Executives Agree on Significance of The Washington Informer

By D. Kevin McNeir WI Contributing Writer Advertising still serves as the financial engine of any media outlet – whether large or small.

However, it’s not just the dollars and cents that matter – the key remains the kinds of relationships that develop between the two sides of the business equation. Now, as The Washington Informer continues to celebrate its 50th year of service in the Greater Washington Metropolitan Area, several business leaders discussed their relationship with the newspaper, their connection to the black community and clarified their goals for the future.

“I have been friends with Denise [Rolark Barnes] since coming to D.C. 25 years ago and quickly became acquainted

with the publication because I was then working for a minority-owned business that utilized the services of the Informer for advertising,” said Craig Muckle, manager of public affairs and government relations, Safeway Inc. “We have many stores whose communities are covered by the Informer so getting our message on the pages makes good business sense. Many blacks still have an inherent distrust of mainstream media. Our company believes that both our message and our information will be more objectively presented in publications like The Washington Informer,” said Muckle, a 17-year employee with Safeway Inc. who spends many of his hours at the company’s division headquarters in Lanham, Maryland.

Safeway, the second-largest supermarket chain in North

Attorney Jack Olender /Photo by Shevry Lassiter

America with 1,335 stores in the U.S. and 195 in Mexico, has provided service to the D.C. area for 85 years.

“We’re proud to serve those communities who were once without a full-service grocery store and we intend to provide that service for many years to come,” Muckle added.

One money management ex-

ecutive said he recognizes the longtime contributions of The Washington Informer to D.C. area residents – black and white alike.

“I’ve known about the paper for years but only recently became connected in terms of advertising after I received a call from colleagues in the area who were committed to supporting

the Informer’s 50th anniversary celebration,” said Randall R. Eley, CEO, The Edgar Lomax Company. “We wanted to be part of their history and a part of history.”

Eley heads an investment management firm based in

See BUSINESSES on Page 27

Walmart congratulates the Washington Informer on their 50th Anniversary! Walmart is proud to be in Washington, DC and we look forward to continuing to make a positive impact in our community!

We are honoring our commitments: $13.6 million in philanthropic giving has beneeted DC non-proots 600 new jobs with career advancement opportunities were created; 68% of these jobs were lled by DC residents 41% of our contractors were Certiied Business Enterprises to build our rst 2 DC stores 700+ meetings have been held with communities city-wide To learn more, visit WalmartWashingtonDC.com.

The “Spark” Design

, Walmart and Save money. Live better. are marks and/or registered marks of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

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WS-26 WASHINGTON INFORMER 50TH ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATIVE ISSUE | OCTOBER 2014 | WWW.WASHINGTONINFORMER.COM

BUSINESSES continued from Page 26 Springfield, Virginia, that invests in stocks primarily represented on the S&P 500 for institutional investors, pension funds, college endowments and foundations.

The company has been in operation since 1986 and today manages approximately $1.5 billion in assets.

“I’ve witnessed great progress within our community during my lifetime and appreciate the Informer being there to tell our stories, to document the steps we’ve taken and to share our trials, tribulations and triumphs. We still have much to do if we are to achieve a meaningful degree of equality economically, business-wise and politically. And the Informer is poised to extend its coverage beyond the black community and assert itself as a mainstream publication. There’s no reason for it to be limited to simply chronicling the livelihood and life of black America. Either way, we’ll be there to give them our support,” said Eley, 62, a native of Norfolk who now lives in Northern Virginia.

One friend of the Informer’s founder and first publisher, Dr. Calvin Rolark, said he’s long supported the newspaper and its mission.

“It didn’t take long for me and Calvin to become good friends back in the 60s and we often teamed up on projects related to civil rights and economic development – I knew him well and greatly respected him,” said Jack H. Olender, a resident of Northwest and president of The Malpractice Law Firm, Jack H. Olender & Associates, PC. “I’ve advertised with Calvin and now his daughter, Denise, for 40 years. I wouldn’t have continued that relationship if I weren’t convinced that the Informer is a good paper. It’s great for the community because it tells our stories and [focuses on] our issues. Both publishers have been real assets to the black community and we have to make sure that this newspaper remains successful – they are our voice,” said Olender, 79.

Olender founded his law firm in the 1960s because of what he refers to as his “duty” to champion justice for the catastrophically injured throughout the metropolitan area. The firm has won – through verdict or settlement – awards of more than $1 million each in more than 200

cases and evolved into a medical malpractice and personal injury powerhouse.

“The Informer plays a major role not only in the black community but for the District in general. Its excellent coverage of the news is obvious – but I believe the paper distinguishes itself because of its involvement in social activism – something to which it’s been committed since Dr. Rolark was at the helm. Elections have been determined due to the editorial content of The Washington Informer and today it has a lot more news. Denise has extended its reach with both wider circulation and a team of outstanding reporters and photographers. Deciding to advertise has been an easy decision,” said Olender who grew up in a small mill town just outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

One entrepreneur whose full-service strategic communications agency recently marked its 24th year of service in the Greater Washington Metropolitan Area and New York City weighed-in on the continued relevance of The Washington Informer.

“I’ve known Denise more than 20 years, initially meeting her through the D.C. Chamber of Commerce when I served as chair of the Women in Business Committee beginning in 1995,” said Sheila Brooks, founder, president and CEO, SRB Communications, LLC. “My relationship with The Washington Informer in the past decade has been one of the most rewarding partnerships as a resource for community outreach, advertising and marketing services to our energy and university clients. Advertising in the paper helps to educate customers of utility companies about energy efficient programs and reliability initiatives so they can be aware of transparency and cost savings our clients provide,” said Brooks, a resident of Montgomery County for the past 15 years.

Brooks founded SRB Communication in 1990 and assists clients in the development of brand identity, positioning and strategies in advertising, marketing and public relations through cross-platform media formats in video production, print and multimedia. The agency has an impressive list of clients including: Washington Gas, Pepco Holdings, Inc., TV One and the National Association of Black Journalists. Prior to starting her

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The District of Columbia Office of the People’s Counsel Congratulates The Washington Informer Randall R. Eley, CEO, The Edgar Lomax Company Photo by Joseph Davis Clipper

in Celebration of 50 years of Sharing Positive News and Images of the Greater Washington Community.

The Legacy of Dr. Calvin Rolark’s Dream Lives on through Publisher Denise Rolark Barnes and her Staff.

Sandra Mattavous-Frye, People’s Counsel D.C. Office of the People’s Counsel 1133 15th Street, NW, Suite 500 | Washington, DC 20005 Phone: 202.727.3071 | Fax: 202.727.1014 | TTY\TDD: 202.727.2876

Craig Muckle Photo by Omar Davis

Website: www.opc-dc.gov | Email: ccceo@opc-dc.gov

firm, Brooks distinguished herself in the television and communications industry during an award-winning 36-year career.

“Over the years, the Black Press has become a critical source of news and commentary on social, economic and political issues that influence race consciousness, ultimately making significant contributions to the black community and the black agenda. Our employees at SRB Communication support my commitment to the black community and support many initiatives through volunteerism and philanthropic contributions,” said Brooks who has established her brand throughout the District, Prince George’s County, and other parts of Maryland and beyond. WS

WWW.WASHINGTONINFORMER.COM | OCTOBER 2014 | WASHINGTON INFORMER 50TH ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATIVE ISSUE WS-27

WI Publisher Denise Rolark Barnes interviewing Ward 8 Council member and former Mayor Marion Barry during a Conversation with Marion Barry hosted by the Informer at the Old Congress Heights School in Southeast this past June. /Photo by Shevry Lassiter

BLUES ALLEY PROUDLY CONGRATULATES THE WASHINGTON INFORMER ON ITS 50 YEARS OF SERVICE TO THE WASHINGTON, DC AREA. WHAT A WONDERFUL ACHIEVEMENT!

WE ALSO INVITE YOU TO JOIN US AT BLUES ALLEY AS WE CELEBRATE OUR 50TH YEAR IN BUSINESS IN 2015!

CHEERS AND CONGRATULATIONS! WWW.BLUESALLEY.COM. PH: (202) 337-4141

HARRIET FROST, PRESIDENT OF THE ROSEWOOD IDELLA CARRIER FOUNDATION EXTENDS A CONGRATULATIONS! TO THE WASHINGTON INFORMER ON YOUR 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF SERVING THE WASHINGTON DC COMMUNITY.

Washington Informer:

The Involved Weekly Barrington M. Salmon WI Staff Writer@bsalmondc In the early 1970s, announcers on the local WOL 1450-AM radio station provided the voiceovers in daily ads declaring The Washington Informer “The involved weekly.”

The acclamation was the brainchild of Washington Informer publisher Dr. Calvin W. Rolark, who used his newspaper as the impetus for action during the District’s struggle for self-determination.

Publisher Denise Rolark-Barnes, Dr. Rolark’s daughter, said often times her father not only reported the news, “He was the news.”

“When the story broke about six young girls from Southeast were abducted, raped and murdered and their bodies found along I-295, it was my dad who was on the news offering a $25,000 reward for the arrest and prosecution of the serial killer called The Freeway Phantom,” Rolark-Barnes recalled.

“He was the person who held a press conference in front of the Channel 9 studios in Northwest demanding that the contract for news anchor J.C. Hayward be renewed back in the late ‘80s. And, he was the person who garnered media attention when students protested over discrimination at Glen Echo Park in the late

1960s, and when violence broke out at Human Kindness Day on the National Mall in 1975. The media followed Dr. Rolark and listened to the things said about what was happening and what needed to be done in the District,” Rolark-Barnes said.

When Rolark died in 1994, many District residents said they were going to miss his voice, which they were able to hear three nights a week for nearly 14 years on “Sound-Off ”, a radio talk show he hosted on WYCB-AM. The two-hour public affairs program addressed a myriad of issues that had an impact on residents throughout the region and Rolark used it as his bully pulpit.

But when he died, Rolark-Barnes said she knew she could not entirely fill her father’s footsteps. Staying “involved” as a newspaper, she said, would have to take on new meaning.

Peace Walk In 2008, Rolark-Barnes decided to pick-up the mantle to revive the annual Martin Luther King Holiday Parade, started by her dad, and his wife, Ward 8 Councilmember Wilhelmina J. Rolark, and the late community activist Ralph Waldo “Petey” Green in 1978. She, along with community activists Keith Silver and Yango Sawyer, established the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Peace Walk held the

third Monday in January, marking the official MLK Holiday.

“America will always remember the work of Martin Luther King, Jr. Each year, on the third Monday in January, we celebrate his birthday, said former Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Keith Silver. “This is the first national holiday to honor an individual black American. The legacy of Dr. King lives in each of us and we are responsible to promote, teach and live the American Dream.”

The committee, which also includes nearly 20 organizations that promote peace, mentorship, jobs, housing and D.C. Statehood, have held several peace walks and officially brought back the renowned parade in Ward 8.

“The MLK Parade is back!” declared Silver. “With the permanent re-installation of the MLK parade component, we now will return to the District one of the foremost efforts in the country to recognize the contributions of the single-most important man with the single-most important message of non-violence and equality in the second half of the 20th century!”

Heritage Tours The newspaper has also sponsored events and partnered with organizations to address issues such as financial literacy, predatory lending and media training for

See INVOLVED on Page 29

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HEARTFELT CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WASHINGTON INFORMER FOR ACHIEVING THIS EXTRAORDINARY MILESTONE. KUDOS TO DENISE ROLARK BARNES, RON BURKE AND YOUR DEDICATED STAFF WHO CONTINUE TO OFFER A WONDERFUL FORUM FOR OUR COMMUNITY’S VOICES TO BE HEARD. THANK YOU FOR GIVING US REASONS TO FEEL PROUD OF WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE ARE ACCOMPLISHING TOGETHER! SUMMIT HEALTH INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION, INC.

Supporters listen to the African American Civil War Memorial and Museum Founding Director Dr. Frank Smith during the 2012 African American Heritage Tour in Northwest sponsored by the Washington Informer. /Photo by Shevry Lassiter

CONGRATULATIONS TO DENISE ROLARK BARNES AND THE ENTIRE WASHINGTON INFORMER STAFF ON YOUR 50TH ANNIVERSARY! FROM PATRICIA AND DWIGHT James A. Dula, PhD

Chief Administrative Officer

JAMES DULA CONSULTING SERVICES Congrats to The Washington Informer on 50 Years!!!

Your business is OUR business let us help you With your vision and movement forward!

Phone: 301-203-0293 Fax: (301) 203-1411

Calvin Rolark and Wilhelmina Rolark along with TV and radio personality Ralph Waldo Petey Greene, started the MLK holiday parade tradition in 1977. /WI Archives

INVOLVED continued from Page 28 small businesses and non-profits seeking how to learn how to use the media to promote their programs and projects.

Five years ago, the Informer established the Annual African-American Heritage Tour, held in February during Black History Month. Sites in the D.C. metropolitan area are selected based on the tour’s theme, which has included The Life of Frederick Douglass, Blacks in the Civil War, the Five Historic Black Townships in Prince George’s County and Black History of Alexandria.

“Our history is deep in the African-American community,” said John Best, president of Capitol Entertainment Services, which provides tour buses and drivers each year. “I commend The Washington Informer’s publisher, Denise Rolark Barnes, for organizing this tour.”

“This tour was helpful in showing many of us how to ‘pass the

torch’ by providing information about things that are so close to us,” Ibrahim Mumin told the Informer this year after visiting several historic Alexandria landmarks.

The tour included Freedom House Museum, the building that once housed a slave “holding pen” and a slave sale and transport business, and now houses the museum and, ironically, the Northern Virginia Urban League, a leading civil rights organization.

“I believe these tours are important because the remind generations that change happened because we were all involved,” Rolark-Barnes said. “It is particularly gratifying to see parents bringing their children and their friends, along with scout troops and mentoring organizations that bring young people on the tour, as well.”

Assata Armstrong, 16, of Lanham, Md., said the tour proved inspirational.

“It made me want to pay back my ancestors for all that they went through. It made me want to be a

stronger person, the best that I can be,” she said.

Conversations The Washington Informer also produces “Conversations,” a two-hour dialogue between Rolark-Barnes, dignitaries and luminaries. So far, the newspaper has conducted two, including one with civil rights activist and Georgia Congressman John Lewis, held at THEARC in Southeast. In August, former four-time Mayor and Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry sat before an audience of nearly 300 people at the Old Congress Heights School in Southeast to discuss his book released this summer, Mayor for Life: Marion S. Barry.

Charles Motte, of Greenbelt, MD, who was in the audience as Barry told his story, called the conversation “excellent.”

“It really gave me an opportunity to appreciate a slice of history and see a legend in a very personal form.” WS

Email: jadula@verizon.net

THANK YOU FOR PUBLISHING ABOUT OUR 1964 CIVIL RIGHTS IN PUBLIC PLACES AND VOTING RIGHTS THROUGH THE YEAR 2014 OWNING PUBLIC PLACES AND WINNING THE HIGHEST OFFICES IN ELECTIONS. LOOK FORWARD TO THE NEXT 50 YEARS. CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR PUBLISHING DEDICATION!!!

BRENDA ALFORD, MSW, CGMS GRANTS MANAGER & STRATEGIST BZALFORD@BRASMANCOMPANY.COM

CONGRATULATIONS ON 50 YEARS! VALENCIA CAMPBELL, PRESIDENT PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY DRUG POLICY COALITION, INC. WWW.PGCDPC.COM CFC# 58612 (301) 341-2247

WWW.WASHINGTONINFORMER.COM | OCTOBER 2014 | WASHINGTON INFORMER 50TH ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATIVE ISSUE WS-29

Thank you to our sponsors, supporters and subscribers for allowing us to serve you over the past 50 years. We look forward to serving you for many more years to come.

Anniversary Sponsors FedEx AmeriHealth DC CareFirst Buick PNC Bank Macy’s

MillerCoors Gallery O on H Southwest Airlines Wal Mart Edgar Lomax Company WC Smith Bold & Fearless Consulting Gobi Consulting

Anniversary Supporters Silver Spring Signarama Giant MGM Industrial Bank Jack H. Olender and Associates Washington Gas

Humanities Council of DC Sodexo Attorney William P. Lightfoot MLK Memorial Foundation AARP Pepco Edison Gallery Marie and Wendell Johns

WS-30 WASHINGTON INFORMER 50TH ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATIVE ISSUE | OCTOBER 2014 | WWW.WASHINGTONINFORMER.COM

The CoLumn

The Washington Informer Fifty 50 Lens Exhibit

Atty. Denise Rolark Barnes (Publisher of the Washington Informer Newspaper with the News Girls - from the Richard Wright Public Charter School

In celebrating their 50th Anniversary, the Wash­ ington Informer Newspaper hosted a Fifty 50 Lens Photo Exhibit at Gallery O on H. Marie Johns was the events chair of the host commit­ tee. Ron Burke (Event’s Vice Chair) & Informer Director of Marketing and Advertising,. De­ nise Rolark Barnes (Publisher Washington In­ former Publisher and Chair of the Washington Informer Charities, Inc. Music was provided by Allen King Band. For more information about the Washington Informer Charities, Inc. go to www:WashingtonInformercharities.org

Keith Silver, Charles Hicks, Denise Rolark Barnes & Lafayette Barnes Charles Hicks & Steven Hessler (Gallery O)

Desmond Barnes & Denise Rolark Barnes (Publisher of Washington Informer Newspaper (L-R) Louis Davis Jr., Avis Thomas Lester, Xina Eiland & Ron Burke

Marie Johns )Pres. Leftwich & Ludaway Consulting) Chair of Washington Informer Host Committee)

Helen Compton & Dolly Vehlow

Jan Du Plain (Cultural Tourism DC Embassy Liaison)

Taylor Thomas (WHUR) & Jade Yates (Richard Wright Student Ambassador)

The Lesters

Victor Holt, Roy Lewis & Maurice Ftizgerald

(L-R) Khalid Naji-Allah, & Danielle Naji-Allah

Janice E. Smith, Sterling Tucker & Dr. Rickey Payton (L-R) Roy Lewis, Akmal Mauwwakkil, & Milton Williams

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Guest Photographer • Kurt Pommonths, Sr, Graphic Designer Social Sightings The CoLumn is published in the Washington Informer Newspaper, Hill Rag, DC Mid City, East of the River 2003 © SOCIAL SIGHTINGS ALL RIGHTS RESERVED — DUPLICATION IN ANY FORM REQUIRES WRITTEN PERMISSION | E-mail SocialSightings@aol.com

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