OpEd

EDITORIAL

Repairing Infrastructure Should be Our No. 1 Priority

As rescuers continue to search for survivors in the rubble of a partially collapsed 12- story condominium in Surfside, Fla., Americans remain on edge as the country’s infrastructure issue comes to a head.

As of Tuesday, June 29, 11 people have been confirmed dead and upwards of 150 residents are missing.

Amid the horror of search teams removing slabs of concrete and debris day and night looking for survivors, reports are surfacing that the building was cited for “structural damage” years ago.

Just a few months earlier, the board president of Champlain Towers South warned, in a letter to tenants, of a worsening condition of the building, saying “the concrete deterioration is accelerating.”

Even with very serious concerns being raised, no one took any action. Now, with countless people dead, grieving families ask: How did this happen?

For decades, America has ignored its aging roadways, waterways, buildings and deteriorating bridges.

In March, The American Society of Civil Engineers [ASCE] released its 2021 Report Card for America's Infrastructure, giving the nation an overall C- grade, up from a D+ in 2017.

The study, conducted every four years, evaluated 17 categories of infrastructure with the U.S. receiving grades ranging from a B for rail to a D- for transit. Eleven of the 17 categories in the report card received a grade in the D range including: aviation, dams, hazardous waste, inland waterways, levees, public parks, roads, schools, stormwater, transit and wastewater.

Several months prior to the tragic events in Florida and the pedestrian walkway collapse over I-295 here in D.C., ASCE Executive Director Thomas Smith issued a troubling prediction: “America’s infrastructure is in trouble.”

“This not a report card anyone would be proud to take home. We have not made significant enough investments to maintain infrastructure that in some cases was built more than 50 years ago,” Smith said.

“As this study shows, we risk significant economic losses, higher costs to consumers, businesses and manufacturers – and our quality of life – if we don't act urgently. When we fail to invest in infrastructure, we pay the price.”

We can no longer ignore the health of these crucial systems in the U.S. The richest country in the world should not endure the prospect of citizens being killed while the building in which they sleep collapses, nor should they fear being crushed while driving underneath a bridge.

Make America safe again. WI

Be Smart and Safe for July 4th Festivities

During the July 4th weekend, we typically see an increase in BOTH fireworks-related accidents and reports of injuries or deaths from stray bullets that strike innocent victims because of revelers shooting their firearms.

This year, we hope that residents in the District and around the region will be more prudent in the ways they celebrate the holiday.

Certainly, we have many reasons to spread our wings, enjoy the sunshine and even gather with a small, select group of family members and friends during the holiday weekend.

After all, it’s been one heck of a year with the pandemic putting a halt on our lives. But with variants of COVID-19 spreading, the threat of more infections and deaths have health officials concerned. So, we should still maintain protocols established by the CDC including wearing masks, keeping safe distances from others and being sure you and those around you are fully vaccinated.

Many Americans plan to take to the roads for the long weekend, anxious to get out of their homes and enjoy the fresh air. Others will hold small cookouts in local parks on in their backyards. And in many cities, there will be parades or firework displays.

No matter what your plans, we urge citizens to remember to be smart and to be safe.

Children playing with fireworks don’t need to lose a finger, an eye or their lives.

And no one deserves to be struck by an errant bullet because someone was foolish enough to shoot off a round of bullets into the air. Remember, what goes up must come down.

Happy July 4th to all. But don’t use the holiday as an excuse for being irresponsible or outright foolish. WI

It’s Not Enough

It was good to read about the housing progress in Ward 7 with the new Skyland Tower in your paper last week. But when I got to the part where there will be 263 new homes and only 53 will be affordable, I was disappointed. While I know there is no easy answer to address this housing crisis, what dent will 53 units make when thousands need affordable housing?

Keiny Thomas Washington, D.C.

TO THE EDITOR

Mystics Take on the World

Congrats to the two Washington Mystics players that are headed to Tokyo to represent Team USA in the Olympics! Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve enjoyed watching the Olympics with all the athletes competing from around the world. I also support our local WNBA team to the fullest. Let’s go, Mystics!

Dionne Marten Washington, D.C

Readers' Mailbox The Washington Informer welcomes letters to the editor about articles we publish or issues affecting the community. Write to: lsaxton@washingtoninformer. com or send to: 3117 Martin Luther King Jr Ave., SE, Washington, D.C. 20032. Please note that we are unable to publish letters that do not include a full name, address and phone number. We look forward to hearing from you.

We are African American elders, and we are deeply concerned about our community's future. When we heard that 8 out of 10 new COVID-19 cases in the District of Columbia are Black people, we were shaken to the core. Even more distressing was reading that 865 African Americans have died in D.C. from the virus, compared with 111 whites although Black people make up less than half of the D.C. population. These statistics make it clear

Guest Columnist

Ruth T. Perot and Canary Girardeau

Getting Vaccinated Proves That Black Lives Matter

why D.C. officials and health experts are warning of a Black COVID-19 pandemic in the District.

It is all too well known that African Americans have gotten sick and have died sooner and more often than other groups. But the ratio has never been 8 out of 10. These statistics are truly cause for alarm.

Each of us has worked to promote the health and well-being of African Americans for over 65 years. We are not prepared to accept these numbers as our new reality. So, we looked for answers. One explanation came into focus right away — vaccination rates. In Ward 3, the percentage of fully vaccinated adults is 44% while in Ward 8, the percentage is 19%. While there may be other reasons for the 8 out of 10 disparity, one fact cannot be denied. Everyone hospitalized because of COVID-19 has not been vaccinated.

We have heard from over 100 D.C. residents who have not been vaccinated and we have heard their many reasons. As we listen, we hear a theme that rings loud and clear: "This is my personal choice." That answer may be expected since we all make personal choices every day. But this response also conveys something else. It appears to reflect a way of thinking that is new in our people's history and experience — a total focus on "me" instead of "we."

Key to the survival of the Black community for over 400 years in this nation has been our commitment to each other. We survived or escaped from slavery together. We built and defended our churches, our schools, and our Black Wall Streets as a community. We filled the jails and gave our lives to set each other free. Under the banner of "Black Lives Matter" we have confronted systemic racism as a unified force.

Tragically, our community's response to COVID-19 has been very different. Many of us — too many — are making personal choices about vaccination without regard to the impact on others, even our own family members. Fathers are choosing not to be vaccinated, putting their families at risk of losing their support and protector. Young people influenced by unknown social media sources are saying "no" and putting their grandparents in danger.

Fear of the unknown is often offered as the reason for refusal. But some facts are known. We know for

GIRARDEAU Page 41

Guest Columnist

It's Official

And it's long overdue! Juneteenth has been officially recognized and designated a national holiday! On June 15th, the U.S. Senate unanimously approved the measure and on June 16, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly did the same. This bill was signed into law by President Biden on June 17 and codified an event long observed among African Americans. OUR celebration has been expanded into the consciousness of the entire nation.

I am genuinely unable to fully grasp the emotions of those blessed with the news of freedom. Whatever their age, they had spent their entire lives in bondage — the legal property of "inhuman" beings.

I imagine that freedmen could finally see freedom of movement without a note from the "massa" (which most of the slave patrollers

E. Faye Williams

couldn't read anyway). I imagine the thoughts of the men believing that they would no longer be subject to beatings or, for maximum humiliation, sexually abused at the whim and will of a "massa" who could react brutally with the slightest provocation.

I imagine thoughts of the women who were relieved of the nightly fear of being raped and sexually abused by "massa" or any other white man so inclined. I can imagine the mothers who believed they no longer had to live with the fear that, without notice or warning, "massa" or "missus" could contrive to sell their child to another slave holder — separating mother and child forever.

I can see men and women, so allowed to marry, no longer in fear of separation from their mates or loss of their children. They no longer had to admonish their children to be good little pick-a-ninnies so as not to anger "massa" or "missus" and risk being sold off. Little children could envision a time when, before they grew old enough to be sent to the field, they would no longer be treated as pets or playthings of "massa's" children.

They could all imagine themselves in their natural state — FREE!

While impossible to replicate their emotions with the news of freedom, I can fully understand the frustration of the descendants

WILLIAMS Page 41

Guest Columnist

Nina Turner The Black Press: Vanguards of Our History, Guardians of Our Future

For decades, the Black Press has been the vanguards of the Black community's history and the guardians of our future. They have been one of the few institutions that have acknowledged our pain while making space for our promise. Both the journalists and the publishers who employ them have been critical in telling our stories in an accurate and balanced way. They have also forced larger outlets to pay attention to the issues of importance to our communities.

And now, as we sit at the crossroads of progress and retrogression, our hope lies in strengthening this storied institution. The challenges facing our community are serious. In multiple states there are attempts to roll back access to the ballot. In communities across the country, Black and poor people live under the daily threat of gun violence. Even in education, Black people and other marginalized groups are fighting for high quality instruction. Black educators and others are also being told that they cannot discuss this nation's complicated history with race and racism with bans on Critical Race Theory. The hope for our future lies, in part, on a thriving Black Press.

What I am saying comes as no surprise to honest students of history. It is also not lost on Black people, who have long seen the arcs of their lives traced and covered by an activist-oriented Black Press.

It is not just in the juxtaposition of the Black media and larger, nonBlack media institutions that one sees the value of institutions that are anti-racist, culturally aware and committed to truth. But every community benefits when the people within it, become the architects of narratives that emerge about said group's own past, present and future

For too long, Black communities and other marginalized groups have suffered when the people who tell their stories do not look like them. In fact, in seeking to understand the origins of the race riots in the summer of 1967, the Kerner Commission found that the lack of diversity in the news media was a contributing factor.

TURNER Page 41

Guest Columnist

Marc H. Morial

The Goals of Our Civil Rights Movement Will Not Be Realized Until D.C. Statehood is

"Congress has both the moral obligation and the constitutional authority to pass the D.C. statehood bill. This country was founded on the principles of no taxation without representation and consent of the governed, but D.C. residents are taxed without representation and cannot consent to the laws under which they, as American citizens, must live." — Eleanor Holmes Norton, Delegate to United States House of Representatives representing the District of Columbia

Earlier this month, I had the honor of testifying to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs in support of statehood for the District of Columbia.

While in law school in Washington, D.C., I grew to love the community and made the city my second home. As a member of the D.C. Statehood Commission from 2006 to 2010, I advocated for D.C. statehood.

As the former mayor of New Orleans, I have deep experience in running a busy and thriving city with a diverse population. Residents of these cities, like Americans across the country, must have representation in Congress to meet their needs and protect their rights. Yet the citizens of the District of Columbia continue to be denied this representation and are relegated to second-class citizenship.

The international community agrees. The United Nations Human Rights Committee, Organization of American States, and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe all have recognized the injustice of D.C.'s status.

Nearly 700,000 Americans live in the District of Columbia and suffer under the daily injustice of "Taxation without Representation." They pay the highest per capita federal income taxes in the country, serve on juries, and fight and die in wars, yet they are denied full democratic rights. They are unable to bring grievances to influential federal officials, reap the benefits available to other congressional constituents, or have a say in the important issues of war and peace that confront this nation.

As a civil rights and human services organization, the National Urban League is in a unique position to see how this lack of representation directly impacts the populations we serve — most extremely over the past year. Black and brown communities suffered higher rates of infections, deaths, and unemployment due to Covid-19. Racial inequities in education, housing, employment, health care and household wealth are worse than they were before the pandemic struck.

Nowhere is this tragedy more evident than in the District of Columbia. D.C. residents, including

MORIAL Page 42

Guest Columnist

A. Peter Bailey

Too Many Black Folks Succumb to Psychological Warfare

In his must-read 1926 book, "The Miseducation of the Negro," Dr. Carter G. Woodson stated, "… Starting out after the Civil War, opponents of freedom and social justice decided to work out a program which would enslave the Negro's mind, in as much as the freedom of the body had to be conceded." That is psychological warfare.

It is distressing to have to admit that descendants of those opponents of freedom and justice cited by Dr. Woodson have had a great deal of success in enslaving the minds of way too many Black folks today. This factor continues to make it very difficult for us to promote and protect our vital individual and group interests in this country.

Examples of their successful psychological warfare are reflected in Black folks who use black as an epithet, who believe in white standards of beauty and attractiveness, who consistently use the "N-word" when talking about our people, who only have images of a white Jesus in their churches and homes, who relish being the only Black person in an otherwise all white organization, school or neighborhood, who only have white art in their homes or apartments, who are dyed or bewigged blondes, who believe that an all-Black school or other institution is inherently inferior, who believe that striving for academic excellence is trying to be "white," who use the word "classical" only for European music, who smile with gratitude when a white person tells him or her "you are different from other Blacks," who wreak havoc in Black neighborhoods, who say that a Black person has "good" or "bad" hair, who believes that a Black person romantically involved with or married to a white person has enhanced his or her social status, who believe that a degree from Harvard, Yale, Princeton or any other overwhelmingly white college or university automatically makes them superior to Black folks with degrees from historically Black colleges and universities, whose buffoonish professional names carry on the demeaning tradition of Stepin' Fechit, Mantan Mooreland, and Scatman Crothers, and those who have built lucrative careers in the academic, journalistic, political and cultural arenas by, to the delight of white supremacists, consistently attacking other Black folks.

Black folks guilty of the above are basically allies of those who falsely believe they are superior to us. Anyone wanting to know what can be done about this must read the writings of Brother Malcolm X, Dr. C. DeLores Tucker and Dr. Frances Cress Welsing. WI

Askia-At-Large

The 'Bipartisan' Myth

Let me tell you something. The notion of true "bipartisanship" in American politics is a pure myth. It's fake. It's make-believe. The two "parties" in the system are now, and have always been, divided along the lines of one side demanding radical changes in the governing system, and the other side (whatever they may be — Whig, Tory, Dixiecrat, Republican, QAnon, Tea Party, Progressive) opposing the changes.

Sadly, all of the political formations these days favor the White Perspective. To wit: the U.S. Revolution itself was declared to preserve slavery in some of the colonies. From the "three/fifths" compromise to the Senate's very composition, along with the Electoral College and the filibuster, are all stacked in favor of ceding power to the white ruling class, and the White Ruling Class' Prime Direc-

Askia Muhammad

tive is "protect and defend whiteness."

When people rationalize to themselves that their current-day adversaries are "well-meaning patriots" with a slightly different viewpoint. No. They mean nothing but harm for decent folks.

The demographics are rapidly changing, and white people know it. Their birthrate is declining. Furthermore, according to Dr. Frances Cress-Welsing's "Cress Theory of Color Confrontation," whites are genetically recessive, and they know it. White folks realize that not only are their numbers declining, but that their traits — fair hair, skin and eye color — are recessive. In reproduction, blondness recedes to brownness. Everything artificial, however, recedes to bottle-blondes. Here we are today in a world where we boast "blondes have more fun," and sunny blondness too often means whiteness, Caucasian-ness. What this means as far as future elections are concerned is that the white voting pool literally gets smaller with each succeeding election. Ergo, whites must cheat in order for the governing system that tilts in favor of whiteness to prevail. The white tribe is employing every dirty trick in the book — voter suppression, election restrictions, stringent identification requirements, you name it — in order to preserve the façade of free and fair elections, but their principal aim

ASKIA Page 42