The Washington Informer - January 12, 2017

VOL. 52, NO. 13 • JANUARY 12 - 18, 2017

Bowser: ACA Repeal Could Cost City over $500 million a Year - Hot Topics / Page 4

Talladega Band Agrees to Perform at Inauguration

By Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer It took much debate and endless soul-searching, but in the end, the historically black Talladega College's marching band will perform at President Donald Trump's inauguration on Friday, Jan. 20.

"We respect and appreciate how our students and alumni feel about our participation in this parade," Talladega President Billy Hawkins said in a news release announcing the decision to participate. "As many of those who chose to participate in the parade have said, we feel the inauguration of a new president is not a political event but a civil ceremony celebrating the transfer of power."

To a number of Talladega alumni, the announcement late last month that the band would march in the parade was an insult to the very principles of

BAND Page 38

John Lewis Asserts the Right to Dissent GOP Creates Rule to ‘Muzzle’ Objections

By D. Kevin McNeir WI Editor The right to reasonably and peacefully dissent has long been one of our country’s most guarded and fundamental ways of life.

But now it appears that House Republicans want to control what the means by which other members of

LEWIS DISSENT Page 11

MLK Day! Page 5

Yes, He Did!

Obama Rallies America in Farewell Speech

By Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer

5 President Barack Obama delivered his final speech on Tuesday, Jan. 10 as the leader of the free world during his visit to Chicago, the city in which he cut his teeth as a young Congressman. / Photo by Travis Riddick

SECURITY IS THE NAME OF THE GAME:

Mayor Muriel Bowser, along with local and federal law enforcement agencies, most notably the Secret Service, met with members of the media on Friday, Jan. 6, answering questions about public safety plans for the upcoming presidential inauguration. Officials emphasized that from Jan. 19 to Jan. 21, a wide section of downtown D.C. will be closed, as will several Metro stations: Archives, Mount Vernon Square, Federal Triangle, Smithsonian and Pentagon. However, Metro will offer extended hours of service. Dozens of groups have applied for permits to participate in a march the day after the inauguration to voice their opposition to the President-elect. And there will be several protests on the day of the inauguration as well. Law enforcement officials and the Mayor say they’re confident that they’ll be able to maintain the peace. National Guard troops, 5,000 in total, and 3,000 extra police will be deployed to the District joining law enforcement already stationed in the Greater Washington Area. / Photo by Khalid Naji-Allah

“Yes, we did!”

Those were the words that Barack Hussein Obama ended his farewell speech to America on Tuesday, Jan. 10 – eight years after he captured the presidency, campaigning on the slogan, “Yes, we can!”

For nearly an hour, the nation’s 44th commander-in-chief reminded everyone that history will not only show him to be the first – and perhaps only – Black president, but time will reveal just how well a job Obama did after inheriting a nation at war, reeling in debt and cowering in fear every time Homeland Security raised the threat level.

Just the passing of the baton to Donald Trump has revealed a large swath of Americans who already understand that they’ll miss Obama.

“It’s easy to lose sight of that in the blizzard of our minute-to-minute Washington news cycles. But America is a story told not minute to minute, but generation to generation,” Obama told the more than 4,200 spectators who crammed into Chicago’s McCormick Place Lakeside Center to see him deliver his farewell address, while tens of millions more watched on television.

“We’ve made America a better, stronger place for the generations that will follow. We’ve run our leg in a long relay of progress, knowing that our work will always be unfinished,” the president said.

Obama noted that he fulfilled his goal of making quality, affordable health care not a privilege, but a right.

OBAMA Page 44

Celebrating 52 Years of Service / Serving More Than 50,000 African American Readers Throughout The Metropolitan Area

Now Published by Dr. Charles Vincent

Her Legacy Continues.

In memory of Mickey Thompson Vincent, Founder and Publisher.

Dr. Charles & “Mickey” Vincent

The 31st Annual Olender Foundation Awards

L-R: Martha MItchell, Bill Mitchell, Michele Hagans, Jeanine Carr

Darnella C. Burnett, Esq. and Judge Alex Manuel

L-R: Atty. Katherine Broderick (Presenter), Annamaria Steward (Assoc. Dean, UDC Clarke School of Law & Pres. of DC Bar), Melissa Rhea, Shirley Higuchi, Lesley Zork.

L-R: Terrell Webster, Terrance Webster Sr.. Terrance Webster, Jr.

Dr. Tanya Roane (Presenter & Principal of Francis Cardozo Ed Campus) and Lynda Norris

Debra Tidwell Performing

T

he Olender Foundation (Founders Jack and Lovell Olender) each year awards scholarships to students and lends support to a wide variety of organizations that serve the residents of the District of Columbia. This year the honorees include: Aaron “Cliff “Webster (Children’s Advocate Award 2017), Greg Twombley (Children’s Advocate Award 2017), and Kenneth Holbert, Esq. (Advocate for Justice Award 2017). Twelve students from the Howard University School of Law and the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law received Earl H. Davis scholarships.

Paul Berry was Master of Ceremonies and music was provided by Debra Tidwell and Greg Twombley and the Washingtonians. For further Information go to: www.olender.com

Harvey Feldstein and Carey Oler

Mr. Paul Berry, Master of Ceremonies

Atty Annamaria Steward (Presenter and Assoc. Dean of Students at the UDC David A. Clarke School of Law.)

Aaron “Cliff” Webster (Children”s Advocate Award 2017), Charles Eugene Allen (presenter), Jack Olender (Pres. Olender Foundation)

Kenneth F. Holbert, Esq. (Advocate for Justice Award 2017), Hon. Alex Manuel (presenter), Jack Olender (Pres. Olender Foundation)

Dean Katherine S. Broderick (Univ. of DC David A. Clarke School of Law) and Dean Danielle Holley-Walker (Howard Univ. School of Law) present the Earl H. Davis Memorial Prizes to the recipients. (here to Michael Wilk: UDC David A. Clarke School of Law)

Atty Jack H. Olender (President and C-Founder with his wife Lovell of the Olender Foundation Greg Twombley (Children’s Advocate Award 2017) with Performers Michael Bosman, Max Nelson, Tim Hintz, Matthew McVeigh, Brendan Hughes and Dr. Tanya Roane (Presenter)

Social Sightings - THE MAGAZINE Subscribe www.SocialSightings.com Kendra Handy/Editor Dr. Charles Vincent/Photographer Brian Young/Graphic Designer l

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around the region

W I HBreak O T the T OCycle P I C of S Women Domestic Violence

SOMETHING NEW EVERYDAY

COMPILED BY D. KEVIN MCNIER / WI EDITOR WILLIAM J. FORD / CONTRIBUTOR

Prince George’s County Appoints Interim FiresheChief law enforcement.

She said they threat,” said.

By Tia Carol Jones

www.washingtoninformer.com

WI Staff Writer

Visit our updated Web site and give us your comments for a chance to win a gift from The Washington Informer Email comments to: rburke@ washingtoninformer.com

had come together to bring a Among the programs Marlow Prince George’s County Executivesense Rushern L. Baker IIIinapof uniformity the way wants to see implemented are pointed Deputy Chief Benjamin Friday, Jan. 6 as and stricter restraining order policies, When L.Y. Marlow's 23-year- Barksdale domesticon violence victims thedaughter interim leader of the father county’s Fire Department replacing old told her survivors are treated. more rights for victim's families ofMarc her daughter threatened Bashoor. Bashoor, 51,her served as“She's fire chief years usingfor hersixown personal to intervene on behalf of a viclife, of theirfrom child, afterand his the first life retirement the department then con-pain to tim, a domestic violence assessstory, her which own personal she knewa career something had to 30 be years push forward,” Davis-Nickens ment unit coupled with further cluded of more than of service.

Barksdale, 52, done.

Outwith of the herdepartment frustrationsincesaid about training for law enforcement has been June 2011Marlow. after working with law enforcement's handlingas an assistant Davis-Nickens saidwillanyone agencies, a Child's Life Protecin Arlington County, Virginia chief. Baker ofsubmit the situation, shename decided to who readsforMarlow's book will tion Act and mandatory counselBarksdale’s to County Council confirmation start the Saving Promise cam- “get it.” She said she “puts the ing for batterers. to lead the 2,200 full- and part-time firefighters, civilian perpaign. case in such a way, the average “If we are ever going to eradisonnel andto volunteers.

Deputycate Chief Benjaminviolence, Barksdalewe must “It seems be a vicious cycle person can get it.” She said at5the domestic that won't turn my family end of the day, the book will look at both sides of the coin. loose,” Marlow said. Marlow help people begin to have a dia- We need to address both the vicshared her story with the audi- logue about domestic violence. tim and the batterer,” Marlow ence at the District Heights Also present at the event was said.

While Republican leadersthe in Congress remain committed repealing Domestic Violence Symposium Mildred Muhammad, exMarlow would alsotolike to see the Care Allen Act, some U.S. city andprograms state officials, includingtoD.C. Mayor on May 7 at the District Heights Affordable wife of John Muhammad, designed raise Muriel Bowser, say stripping health insurance from tens of thousands of Municipal Center. The sympo- who was sentenced to six consec- awareness among children in resicould theirwithout cities millions sium was sponsored by the dents utive life cost terms paroleof dollars publicannually. and private schools. She Bowser, in a letter to House McCarthy Family and Youth Services by a Maryland juryrecently for his sent role in feelsMajority children Leader need toKevin be educatCenter of the city of District (R-CA), said dismantling the health coulddomestic cost D.C. more than $500 the Beltway Sniper attacks in careedlaw about violence.

Heights and the National Hook- million 2002.a year.

Mildred Muhammad is “We have to stop being pasUp of Black Women. the of After Andrew the Trauma, sive-aggressive withweek poor Newfounder York Governor M. Cuomo said earlier this thatchilhis state Marlow has written a book, stands an organization helps about domestic to lose $595 that million this the year indren federal money that hasviolence,” been used to “Color Me Butterfly,” which is a expand survivors of domestic violence Marlow said.itself forced to create and Medicaid.

Meanwhile, the District may find story about four generations of and their children. worked to break fund a plan for residents left without healthMarlow insurancehas should the current law be domestic violence. The book is “I lived in fear for six years.

Six the cycle of abuse in her family, dismantled. inspired by her own experiences, years in fear is a long time. It is and is confident the policies she Based on data from D.C.’s Department of Health Care Finance, 19,000 peoand those of her grandmother, not an easy thing to come out is pushing for will start that have individual marketplace with an addiher mother and her daughter. pleof,” shehealth said. care policies through theprocess.

60,000 covered under the said small-business marketplace.

Under the current She said every time she reads tionalMildred Muhammad “I plan to take these policies to law, the District estimates that by the 2018 fiscal year, 90,000 residents would excerpts from her book, she still people who want to help a Congress and implore them to have health insurance at an annual cost of $623 million, the majority of can not believe the words came domestic violence victim must change our laws,” Marlow said. that 5 Muriel Bowser from her. “Color Me Butterfly” amount paid for thethey federal be careful of by how gogovernment. into “I will not stop until these poliwon the 2007 National “Best the victim's life, and understand cies are passed.”

Books” Award. that she may be in “survival Tia Carol Jones can be reached “I was just 16-years-old when mode”. at tiacaroljones@sbcglobal.net my eye first blackened and my “Before you get to 'I'm going Once Marlow again, a said. federal official wants insert the business lips bled,” to killtoyou,' it himself started asinto a verbal WIof the District – this time attempting to use congressional authority to block a Elaine Davis-Nickens, presinewly-passed D.C. law. dent of the National Hook-Up Jason said Chaffetz says he fundamentally disapproves of the of BlackRep Women, there (R-Utah) is no consistency in the way doctors domesticto help end the lives of terminally ill patients bill that now allows violence issues are dealt by revision bill to Congress for a 30-day review. in the District and has with sent his Mayor Bowser signed legislation last December that would make D.C. the seventh jurisdiction in the U.S. to authorize doctors to prescribe life-ending drugs to patients at their request.

The D.C. Council voted 11 to 2 to pass the legislation last November following public hearings and extensive debate. Bowser says the District “is a self-sufficient government” adding that the federal government should “leave us alone.” Meanwhile the author of the law, Councilmember Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3, said Chaffetz should not interfere. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) has promised to “fight all efforts to block the bill 5 Eleanor Holmes Norton and to prevail.”

Bowser: ACA Repeal Could Cost City over $500 million a Year

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

Periodicals paid at Washington, D.C. and additional Periodicals Washingmailing postage offices. paid Newsat and advertising deadline is Monday prior to publication. ton,Announcements D.C. and additional mailing of- twoSTAFF must be received weeks prior to event. Copyright 2000 by The fices.Washington News andInformer. advertising All deadline rights reserved.

POST McNeir, MASTER:Editor Send change of addressD. Kevin is Monday to publication.

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Nobe partreceived of this publication may be reproduced without writtenDirector permisnouncements must two Shevry Lassiter, Photo Editor the return of sionprior fromto the publisher.

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Copyright Subscription rates All are $30Lafayette per year, two years $45. willPhoto be received by photographs.

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Make checks payable to: rights POSTMASTER: Send John E. De Freitas, Sports Photo Editor change of addresses to The WashDorothyINFORMER Rowley, Online Editor THE WASHINGTON ington Informer, 3117 Martin Luther 3117 Luther King, Ave., S.E. • Washington, D.C.&20032 Design Layout King, Jr. Ave., S.E.Martin Washington, D.C. Jr. ZebraDesigns.net, Phone: 202 • Fax: 202 574-3785 20032. No part of this publication may561-4100 Mable Neville, Bookkeeper E-mail: news@washingtoninformer.com be reproduced without written permisMickey Thompson, Social Sightings columnist www.washingtoninformer.com sion from the publisher. The Informer Tatiana Moten, Social Media Specialist Newspaper cannot guarantee the return Angie Johnson, Circulation of photographs. Subscription rates are PUBLISHER $45 per year, two years $60. Papers will Denise Rolark Barnes be received not more than a week after REPORTERS STAFF REPORTERS publication.

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Stacy Brown (Senior Writer), Brooke N. Garner Managing Editor Tia C. Jones, Ed Laiscell,Will Ford Carla Peay Assistant Managing Editor Odell B. Ruffin, Saxton, (Prince George’s CountyLarry Writer), THE WASHINGTON INFORMER Ron Burke Advertising and Marketing Mary Wells, Joseph Young 3117Mable Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave., S.E Hamil Harris, Tatyana Hopkins, D. Kevin Whittaker Bookkeeper Washington, D.C. 20032 LaNita Wrenn Administration McNeir, Lauren Poteat, Dorothy Rowley, PHOTOGRAPHERS Phone: 202De561-4100 John E. Freitas Sports Editor Lafayette(General Barnes, IV,Assignment Writer) Sarafina Wright Fax:Victor 202 Holt 574-3785 Photo Editor John E. De Freitas, Maurice Fitzgerald, news@washingtoninformer.com Zebra Designs, Inc. Layout & Graphic Design Joanne Jackson, Roy Lewis, Robert Ken Harris /www.scsworks.com Webmaster www.washingtoninformer.com Ridley, Victor Holt

Utah Republican Seeks to Block D.C.’s Assisted-suicide Law

“

We have to stop being passive-aggressive with poor children about domestic violence. I plan to take these policies to Congress and implore them to change our New D.C. Chancellor Leaves Oakland Schools with Budget Shortfall laws.

I will stop untilhighMayor Muriel Bowser and members of the not D.C. council have collectively lighted the successful tenure, albeit brief, of Antwan Wilson who formerly headed policies passed. the Oakland Unifiedthese School District in California, are prior to his recent selection as

“

In Memoriam The Washington Informer Dr. CalvinNewspaper W. Rolark, Sr.

the new chancellor for D.C. Public Schools.

Marlow However, with his first day on the job quickly approaching,L.Y. questions and conPaul Trantham cerns have been raised about a significant projected budget shortfall for next year Roy Lewis, Patricia Little, Travis Riddick that he apparently left estimated to be at least $25 million. The amount appears to be a result of both declining enrollment and increased costs for special education, nutrition and several other programs, according to a San Francisco Chron4 / May 15 - 21, 2008 The Washington Informer / www.washingtoninformer.com icle report. It also points to the California school system currently operating at a $500,000 deficit with a total budget of $405.3 million. Wilson said earlier that the shortfall would only occur if the school system keeps all of its programs fully 5 Antwan Wilson funded and does not make any budget cuts.

PHOTOGRAPHERS

John E. DeFreitas, CIRCULATION Shevry Lassiter,

4 JANUARY 12 - 18, 2017

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MLK Day Organizers Spurred

by Tradition and Honor

By D.R. Barnes WI Staff Writer It’s either too long or too short; too many hills or not enough spectators; headed in the wrong direction or just too cold. No matter the complaints, the grassroots organizers of the MLK Holiday DC Peace Walk and Parade refuse to be discouraged and their relentless enthusiasm appears to be contagious.

In early September, the all-volunteer parade committee began meeting in a small office space offered by The Washington Informer or the United Black Fund, two established Ward 8 businesses that have occupied the Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue corridor for more than 30 years.

Last Saturday, with only nine days remaining before the arrival of the ML King Holiday, the national observance of the life and legacy of the slain civil rights leader, nearly 100 volunteers crammed into the computer lab of the R.I.S.E. Center at St. Elizabeth’s. They came to finalize plans for this year’s Peace Walk and Parade and could barely restrain themselves from celebrating their efforts, once again, to honor one of America’s greatest heroes.

“Just 11 years ago, there were only three of us who decided to march for peace in honor of Dr. King,” said Yango Sawyer, one of the founders of the annual Martin Luther King Peace Walk and one of this year’s grand marshals.

Nearly 30 anti-gang and mentoring organizations joined Sawyer, along with community activist and former Ward 6 ANC Commissioner Keith Silver and Washington Informer Publisher Denise Rolark Barnes, a resident of Ward 8, to plan a peace walk. They believed it would fill the void left by several years of delays and cancellations of the parade then led by the late Councilmember Marion Barry.

They also wanted to address the nagging problem of violence plaguing neighborhoods across the city.

“We were shocked and proud to see buses that morning bringing about 30 white students from Virginia to march with us for Dr. King,” Sawyer said. “Only about 350 marched on that day. It was amazing, and look at us now.”

The peace walk continued for several more years but under a great deal of pressure from residents throughout the D.C. area wanting to bring back the parade. And so it began again just five years ago. Now both events are held in conjunction but with two distinct routes and separate programs.

“We are One!” is the overall theme of this year’s peace walk and parade that will be held on Monday, January 16. Over 60 groups have registered to participate so far including Mayor Muriel Bowser who will march with members of her executive office staff.

“The annual MLK parade is a significant event to our city, as well as the great Ward 8,” Bowser said in a statement. “The District has honored Dr. King’s sacrifices even before the national holiday was signed into law. I’ve marched in each parade and look forward to marching again this year and supporting the long standing tradition in our great city.”

Trayon White, who remembers watching and marching in the parade as a child growing up in Ward 8, will now participate as the newly-minted councilmember from Ward 8. It is a role he fought hard for and one that was inspired by his appreciation for Dr. King’s legacy.

“On what would have been the 88th birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we pause to remember, pay tribute and say thank you to one who was often referred to as a ‘Drum Major for Peace’ and ‘Apostle for Non-Violence.’ In our beloved city where currently economic prosperity is only being experienced by a select few, each of us must rededicate our lives to making the dream of Dr. King a reality not only for the residents of Ward 8, but also across the District,” White said.

The U.S. Coast Guard Honor Guard, along with the MPD Honor Guard and ROTC teams from area high schools, will lead the parade. Observers can expect to see a host of organizations, District government agencies and area sports teams represented, but most important, several local marching bands from area schools are scheduled to be there including Woodson SHS, Eastern SHS, the Friendship PCS,

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AROUND THE REGION

5 Members of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. are among the dozens of organizations that participate in the annual MLK Holiday DC Parade. / WI Archives the Potomac Gardens Drum Corp and the celebrated Ballou SHS Majestic Marching Band.

The peace walk will begin at 10 a.m. at 2500 ML King Ave SE and will proceed to the R.I.S.E. Center at St. Elizabeth’s. The

parade will begin at noon and Washington proceed on MLK Informer Avenue SE through Downtown Anacostia past the iconic Big Chair and into Anacostia Park where it will end with a5.65” Health Fair and Festival under a heated tent.

NewsChannel 8 will broadcast the parade live. The hosts will be WJLA reporter Sam Ford and Denise Rolark Barnes.

For more information visit www.mlkholidaydc.org WI

6.5

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JANUARY 12 - 18, 2017 5

AROUND THE REGION

WEEK OF JAN 12 - 18, 2017 JAN. 12

1910 – Famed U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves dies of Bright's disease in Muskogee, Oklahoma, at 71.

1948 – Supreme Court rules that blacks have the right to study law at state institutions.

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BUYING RECORDS

JAN. 13

JAN. 16

1871 – Jefferson Long becomes the first African-American from Georgia to be elected to the United States House of Representatives.

1920 – Sorority Zeta Phi Beta is founded at Howard University.

1941 – The War Department announces the creation of an all-black fighter squadron to train at an airfield in Tuskegee, Alabama.

1967 – Lucius D. Amerson, first black sheriff in the South in the 20th century, is sworn in at Tuskegee, Alabama.

James Farmer BUILD YOUR IMAGE, ONE SIGN AT A TIME

1929 – Iconic civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. is born in Atlanta.

1998 – Civil rights activist James Farmer is awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Clinton.

JAN. 17

1835 – Isaac Myers, pioneer of the African-American trade union movement, is born in Baltimore.

1869 – The Colored National Labor Union, the nation's first black labor union, is founded in Washington, D.C. 1873 – P.B.S. Pinchback ends service as Louisiana governor.

1913 – Sorority Delta Sigma Theta is founded at Howard University.

1953 – Don Barksdale becomes the first black to play in the NBA All-Star Game.

1989 – Poet and literary critic Sterling A. Brown, D.C. native and longtime Howard University professor, dies in Tacoma Park, Maryland, at 87.

1759 – Quaker businessman and abolitionist Paul Cuffee is born in Cuttyhunk Island, Massachusetts.

1942 – Boxing legend and civil rights activist Muhammad Ali is born Cassius Clay in Louisville, Kentucky.

JAN. 18

1966 – Robert Weaver is sworn in as the first Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, becoming the first African-American to be appointed to a U.S. Cabinet-level position.

WI

JAN. 14

1916 – Fiction writer John Oliver Killens is born in Macon, Georgia.

1940 – Famed civil rights leader Julian Bond is born in Nashville, Tennessee.

JAN. 15 Buying Vinyl Records from 1950 to 1986, Jazz, Rock-n-Roll, R&B, Disco, Soul, Reggae, Blues, Gospel, and record format 33 1/3, 45s, and some of the older 78s.

Prefer larger collections of at least 100.

CALL JOHN @ 301-596-6201 6 JANUARY 12 - 18, 2017

1908 – Alpha Kappa Alpha, the first black Greek-letter sorority, is founded at Howard University.

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. THE WASHINGTON INFORMER

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AROUND THE REGION

By Sarafina Wright

Should Talladega College's marching band perform at Donald Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20?

ELLIOTT DAVIS /

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI

With all that's going on in the world it seems like there are more important things to worry about than where some college kids perform.

No doubt, performing at a presidential inauguration, no matter who the president is, has to be the highlight of a college band, as it is an event watched on the international stage. There are issues like terrorism to focus on, and the economy, and poverty, and the soaring crime that's claiming thousands of innocent lives across the country.

TODD A. SMITH / HOUSTON, TEXAS

If Talladega College's band uses the platform of Trump's inauguration to shine light on black issues like singer Rebecca Ferguson intends to, performing is a good idea.

SHEILA SAWYER / WASHINGTON, D.C.

Simply put, what Talladega's band is doing is an insult to the long, rich history of the historically black colleges and universities. If you don't understand that, then you just really have no clue.

GILBERT GILES /

MISSOURI CITY, TEXAS

Trump is the president! Ten million blacks voted for him and 15 million failed to vote for any candidate, which is a vote for Trump.

Black people have a right to support our elected president. We live in America and Trump is no more racist than the other 43 presidents we have had. We are still on the plantation.

MONROE FRAZIER / BAY CITY, LOUISIANA

It's very disgraceful to see a Southern HBCU take on such an endeavor. There was a reason Trump had to go all the way to Alabama to find a black band to shuck and jive, because everyone else had enough common sense not to sell out. Your legacy will forever be tarnished, Talladega College.

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If Your Ad Were Here Someone Would Be Reading It! Contact me, Ron Burke, at 202-561-4100 or rburke@washingtoninformer.com THE WASHINGTON INFORMER

JANUARY 12 - 18, 2017 7

AROUND THE REGION

By D. Kevin McNeir / WI Editor

The World According to Dominic

“Kim Burrell’s Anti-Gay Tirade: Act of Love or Simply Words of Hate?”

Popular gospel singer Kim Burrell, who has earned millions during her award-winning career, recently showed a different face and perhaps her true colors during her sermon at the Houston-based Love & Liberty Fellowship Church. The Houston native apparently decided to focus her address to members of the LGBT community who we can assume are also practicing Christians.

Perhaps given the propensity for Blacks to be more conservative than liberal in their views, her decision to describe gays and lesbians and their (assumed) homosexual acts as “perverted” should come as no surprise and should not cause us any consternation.

But I have to say I was “troubled.”

(Other words describing my initial feelings would be inappropriate for public sharing). At the same time I wondered what led Burrell to focus her remarks on the LGBT community, particularly given the number of other serious issues Blacks face: poverty, racism, gentrification, police assaults, disproportionate numbers in the country’s incarceration rates, wide differences in health care access, subpar schools … the list goes on.

But Burrell chose to deal with

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homosexuality in the Black community, pointing to “the spirit of delusion and confusion” that has “deceived many men and women.”

If she wanted to elicit responses, she achieved her goal as social media exploded with comments on both sides of the spectrum.

Soon, after public outcry could no longer be ignored, the self-proclaimed Christian singer and evangelist responded in a video saying she would offer “no excuses or apologies” for her comments.

At the same time her words seem to have prompted KTSU-FM, a Texas Southern University radio station on which she hosted a weekly broadcast, to separate themselves from her and to cancel her talk show.

Meanwhile, TV talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, who just last week was preparing for Burrell and Pharrell Williams to appear on her show to sing a duet from the recently-released film “Hidden Figures,” decided to eliminate Burrell from the lineup, opting to only have songwriter and singer Pharrell appear.

Pharrell commented briefly saying “There’s no space, there’s no room for any kind of prejudice in 2017

and moving on.” DeGeneres, a wellknown advocate of gay rights and a lesbian in a committed relationship, said she had would not give Burrell a platform on her show after “saying not very nice things about homosexuals . . . after she was saying things about me.”

I just wonder why Blacks find it so easy to beat their brothers and sisters, especially those who have long been marginalized, rather than helping to build bridges among us and to promote unity that just might help us overcome the generations-long impact of prejudice and racism. In truth, if those who either publically or privately participate in the alternative, LGBT lifestyle, were eliminated from our churches, pews, choir stands, musician seats and even pulpits, many churches would find their numbers seriously depleted.

I’m not sure about Burrell’s motivation, but I do know that casting stones and finger pointing were not what I was taught to be the best examples of Christian behavior during my youth in Sunday school classes or later, during my matriculation in seminary. It’s a good thing God has the final say. WI

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THE WASHINGTON INFORMER

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Homelessness Plagues the District

By Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer

On any given night, there are 8,350 homeless individuals in the District.

Approximately 6,259 live in emergency shelters and 1,773 are located in transitional housing facilities, and 318 people are living on the streets of D.C., according to the Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness, a northeast D.C.based independent nonprofit that coordinates the District's Continuum of Care on behalf of the city.

A glance outside of the numbers reveal that more than 17 percent of residents in the District live in poverty, based on recent census data.

The news is all the more sobering because, although there remains too many without permanent shelter or none at all, coalition officials said the statistics involve a great deal of families who simply don't have the means to better themselves.

"In the District, there was a general decline in the number of homeless individuals in January 2016 versus an increase in the number of persons in families," said Michael Ferrell, the executive director of the Coalition for Homeless, a northeast D.C.based nonprofit organization that provides shelter and supportive services to more than 500 homeless individuals and families who are city residents.

The Coalition works on activities and solutions in the community to help eliminate homelessness.

"The increase in family homelessness in the District was primarily driven by a policy change in the District allowing families year round access to shelter," Ferrell said. "Prior to April 2016, access to family shelters in the District was limited to the winter months, November through March."

Additionally, more than 70 percent of the homeless families in the District are on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and have incomes of less than $5,000 annually, woefully inadequate to afford any type of housing in the nation's capital without some form of subsidy,

Ferrell said.

"Finally, the supply of affordable housing for low-income households in the District has declined over the past 10 years," Ferrell said. "The issue of affordable housing is a regional issue that needs to be addressed in order to help reduce the level of homelessness in the area."

Since her election in 2014, Mayor Muriel Bowser has made homelessness a high priority, extending the availability of shelters beyond the cold-weather months, when there is a threat of hypothermia.

A survey reported by The New York Times pointed out that the Bowser administration had done especially well sheltering homeless children and veterans. In 2016, the city had the lowest percentage of unsheltered homeless among the study's cities.

Adjacent to the suffering is prodigious wealth.

Census data released in December showed four of Washington's neighboring communities as the richest in the nation — Loudoun County, Falls Church, and Fairfax and Howard Counties — while the District of Columbia maintained a median household income of over $70,000, The Times reported.

The "Point in Time" numbers also exposed a generational calamity. The average age of adults in homeless families is 27.

In December, the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute, an organization that researches budgets and taxes that affect needy residents in the city, revealed in a report that with rising rent, the poorest Washington residents faced spending more than half their income on housing.

Median rents in Washington are reportedly more than $1,300, yet only a third of what the institute calls 26,000 "extremely low-income" households can afford rent above $200 per month.

Only 9 percent of this group actually has housing at that rate.

Last month, activists held vigils around the country to remember the thousands of homeless people who died in 2016, many of them prematurely. In D.C., that included 46 homeless individuals who died last year — many of them in their 40s or 50s, according to NPR.

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AROUND THE REGION

5 More than 17 percent of District residents are homeless. / Courtesy photo "Being without housing is just, it's like a spiral. You're just kind of spiraling down," said Robert Warren, who was homeless during two stretches of time in the nation's capital.

He's become an organizer of the city's homeless memorial service, held each year to recognize people like his friend Kanell Washington, who was homeless for almost 30 years.

Washington was supposed to be helping with the 2016 service, but he died suddenly in October of kidney failure. At age 60, he was one of the older ones, NPR reported.

"To lose him, you know, just like that — you know, it's like, he was just gone," Warren said.

"It was kind of hard."

But it's not that unusual. Studies have found that the mortality

rate for homeless individuals is three to four times greater than the overall U.S. population. And life expectancy is at least 12 years shorter than for those who are not homeless.

Many of those living on the streets have problems such as diabetes, heart disease, mental illness and substance abuse. And

being homeless only makes matters worse.

"What do we want? Housing!

When do we want it? Now!" the marchers chanted at the December vigil, as they made their way toward an outdoor plaza one block from the White House, where they planned to spend the night in a tent. WI

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THE WASHINGTON INFORMER

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GETTING FIT!

Zumba and Fitness with Press Play and Friends display fitness routines for all ages during the 24th annual NBC4 Health & Fitness EXPO held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, on Saturday, Jan. 7 in Northwest. / Photo by Roy Lewis

Who’s Reading the Informer?

Edna L. Baker, 86, the mother of WI Editor D. Kevin McNeir, is a diehard fan of the Washington Informer. She still reads and collects every edition and has told her son and other family members and friends, that it’s the best paper she’s ever read. No surprise, one could say, given her connection to our fearless editor. / Photo by Roy Lewis

WORDS TO LIVE BY

Ellis Cose

“Racial discussions tend to be conducted at one of two levels – either shouts or whispers. The shouters are generally so twisted by pain or ignorance that spectators tune them out. The whisperers are so afraid of the sting of truth that they avoid saying much of anything at all.”

“Rage of a Privileged Class” 10 JANUARY 12 - 18, 2017

THE WASHINGTON INFORMER

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LEWIS DISSENT from Page 1 Congress object to questionable legislation. And so a new battle has begun – and on the very day of the new Congress with Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) leading the way.

“We have a right to dissent,” said the Civil Rights icon during his recent speech as he urged the House to reject a new rule that would hamper efforts by members of Congress, primarily Democrats in this instance, to live-stream from the House floor, take still photographs and record audio and video.

The rule allows for House members to be fined up to $2,500 should they violate the new rule.

Some see the rule as a response to the sit-in Democrats held last year in efforts to pressure Republicans to vote on gun control legislation. When the GOP leaders had the official cameras shut down, the Democrats turned to social media, live-streaming their actions from their phones.

Lewis, an integral force behind the sit-in last summer, stated that fines will not deter him from his duty to speak out if the House of Representatives takes actions that fail to reflect the will of the American people.

“We have the right to protest for what is right,” Lewis further said. “Regardless of rule or no rule, we cannot and will not be silenced.”

A spokesperson for the Republican House leadership, in an interview with a reporter for Mother Jones, said the creation of the rule was meant to “ensure that order and decorum are preserved in the House of Representatives so lawmakers can do the people’s work.”

But in a statement released in late December when the fine was first proposed, several Democrats, including senior Congressman John Conyers from Michigan, referred to the GOP effort as an “unconstitutional gay rule” of “unprecedented” proportions.

The statement went on to say that they saw the rule as a means to “undermine the rights of members in the Minority to

freely express their views on the House floor, which is a critical means by which Members communicate to the American public.”

“It is particularly egregious that such a controversial and potentially unlawful change is being implemented in the complete absence of hearings or input from legal experts, let alone the Minority,” Conyers and his colleagues conclude.

After some debate and in a response to the sharp criticisms of the Democratic leaders, Republicans revised the proposal to allow members of Congress to appeal the fine to the House Ethics Committee.

Still, it remains to be seen if the rule will even stand up in court when challenged for its legality.

One member of Congress and an ardent supporter and leading member of the Congressional Black Caucus, called for the elimination of the rule noting the importance of more, not less, transparency.

“Freedom of speech is one of our nation’s most sacred tenets.

Levying fines on members in response to our sitting in and speaking out on gun violence, an issue about which we are extremely passionate and that has so adversely affected too many of our communities, goes against the very spirit of what it means to live in the land of the brave and the free,” said Congresswoman Frederica S. Wilson (D-Fla.) “This is the ‘people’s house.’

Threatening to fine us is an attempt to suppress our ability to exercise freedom of expression that in turn suppresses the voices of the very people who sent us to Washington to advocate on their behalf.”

“I have built a career on being a voice for the voiceless.

There are many battles to come – from saving Obamacare to passing sensible immigration and gun control measures. This is not the time to be silent and we will continue to do whatever we must to be heard,” Wilson said.

WI

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AROUND THE REGION

5 Congressman John Lewis was among a large group of Democrats who participated in a sit-in last year on the Floor to express their discontent with continued Republican efforts to delay and block legislation aimed at gun control. / Courtesy photo

“We may all have come on different ships. . .

But we’re in the same boat now.”

-Martin LUTHER KING, JR.

We Are One

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Visit www.MLKHolidayDC.org for more info

Monday, January 16, 2017

Take Metro: AnacosƟa StaƟon (Peace Walk) or Congress Heights (Parade)

11th Annual MLK Peace Walk & Parade

Commemorating the Rev. Dr.‐Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday PEACE WALK: 10AM 11:30AM

Assembly | 7:30 AM | Next to United Black Fund | 2500 MLK, Jr. Ave., SE Prayer Service | 8 AM ▪ Peace Walk Line‐Up | 9:40 AM

PEACE WALK: 10AM PARADE: 12PM ‐ 11:30AM 2PM

Assembly AM| |R.I.S.E. Next to Fund | 2700 2500 MLK, Jr. Ave., SE Assembly ||7:30 10 AM CtrUnited at St. Black Elizabeth’s Prayer Service | 8 AM ▪ Peace Walk Line‐Up | 9:40 AM DESTINATION

PARADE: 12PM ‐ Park 2PM 2PM | Anacos�a

Assembly | 10 AM | R.I.S.E. Ctr at St. Elizabeth’s | 2700 MLK, Jr. Ave., SE

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Visit www.MLKHolidayDC.org for more info JANUARY 12 - 18, 2017 11 Take Metro: AnacosƟa (Peace Walk) or Congress Heights (Parade)

THE WASHINGTON INFORMER

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY Property Values Up in Prince George's but Foreclosures Still High

By William J. Ford WI Staff Writer @jabariwill Property values have risen in Prince George's County, so says the Maryland tax assessment department.

The 2017 assessments on residential and commercial properties in the county increased by 13.5 percent, the largest increase in the state. However, the hike stems from those properties labeled "Group 2," or a geographical area in each of the state's 23 counties and Baltimore City.

The county's properties in this section are mostly outside the Beltway that include homes and businesses in parts of Upper Marlboro, Bowie and Brandywine. Based on the assessments completed three

years ago, residential properties rose by 14.2 percent and commercial parcels by 11.5 percent.

"We were one of the leaders in decreases back in 2011 and 2012, so we have seen that kind of roller coaster ride," said Dan Puma, who supervises assessments in Prince George's for the state's Department of Assessments and Taxation office in Upper Marlboro. "We've had some ups and downs the last six to eight years in Prince George's County."

Homeowners could receive a tax credit based on certain criteria that include the property not being transferred to another owner, no change in zoning and vacated the home to complete major renovations. More information on the appraisal known as the Homestead Tax Credit, go to http://bit.ly/2jc38e7.

5Although a group of residential and commercial properties in Prince George's County had the highest increase

in property values in Maryland, this home in Upper Marlboro and thousands of others listed on realtytrac.com are foreclosed homes for sale, or under a foreclosure listing for real estate as of Jan. 8. / Photo by William J. Ford The state mailed out tax notices to property owners Dec. 28.

Nearly 40 years ago, the state passed a law to separate areas into three groups to assess tax parcels every three years.

Today, the state has nearly 300 field accessors to evaluate 2.3 million tax parcels.

In Prince George's, properties in "Group 1" are close to the D.C. border in the southern and northern part of the county that include Fort Washington, Hyattsville and Oxon Hill. Those will be reassessed Jan. 1, 2019.

"Group 3" properties in the central portion of the county are in communities such as Capitol Heights,

District Heights and Suitland and reassessed Jan. 1, 2018.

Prince George's County Executive Rushern L. Baker III said one main reason property values increased are thanks to new businesses such as MGM National Harbor that will bring millions of dollars in commercial tax revenue and nearly 4.000 permanent jobs.

"In my administration, we have pushed to make sure our commercial tax base gets stronger that increases the overall property values in the county," Baker said Jan. 3 before a ceremony at the James Madison Memorial Building in Southeast to honor Anthony Brown to Congress.

Riders Slam Metro Budget Proposal at Union Town Hall

By William J. Ford WI Staff Writer @jabariwill Amber Woods doesn't own a vehicle, so she relies on public transportation to shop, visit friends and attend meetings at the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland's National Harbor chapter.

But she said a service reduction as part of Metro's proposed $1.8 billion fiscal 2018 budget would take away more than just her means of getting around — it would take away her livelihood.

"I just got employed at the [Environmental Protection Agency in northwest D.C.] as a contractor," said Woods, who rides to work the W13 bus line that runs on Bock Road in Fort Washington. "Take away the W13 [and] it's like a having an artery blockage. I need that service."

Woods and several others spoke at a town hall-style meeting Thurs-

12 JANUARY 12 - 18, 2017

day at the UFCW Local 400 building in Landover. The UFCW and two other unions affiliated with Metro organized the meeting to receive comments from transit riders on what they would like to include in, or eliminate from, the budget.

Union leaders will take the comments from commuters and present them at a Metro public hearing to develop what they call the "Public Agenda for Metro's Future."

For instance, Lessie Henderson of Oxon Hill disapproves of Metro's plan to reduce the more than dozen bus routes that include the P17, P18 and P19 buses on the Oxon Hill-Fort Washington line.

That route services nearly 1,200 daily weekday riders.

"This is how we will form the people's agenda," said ATU Local 689 President Jackie Jeter. "Since Metro [officials] will not come to this community to listen, we will

METRO Page 44

5About 200 public-transit commuters, Metro workers and state officials attend a discussion in Landover about the transit agency's proposed $1.8 billion fiscal 2018 budget on Jan. 5. /Photo by William J. Ford

THE WASHINGTON INFORMER

Baker did admit the county faces one major housing concern: foreclosures.

According to RealtyTrac, a nationwide real estate firm that lists housing data, Maryland ranked fifth in the nation in November in foreclosure rates with one in every 976 units. The number of foreclosures actually decreased from the previous month of around 3,500 in October to more than 2,000.

Also in November, Prince George's County ranked third in the state behind Baltimore City and Charles County.

To help abate foreclosures, the county's Department of Housing and Community Development lists phone numbers and other resources for homeowners at http://bit. ly/2hULVE8.

There's even a four-minute video from housing director Eric C. Brown talking about foreclosures and a link to the RealtyTrac website for additional information.

Baker said the best option to fight foreclosure rests with the federal government.

"The federal level is where the pressure's going to be put on the banking communities and mortgage companies," he said. "The federal leadership will work with the banks to actually give people the ability to renegotiate their mortgage payments, or take a lesser amount. We know Anthony Brown will help us with that."

Brown said last week any proposal, even a moratorium, would be examined to eradicate foreclosures in the county.

Foreclosed, or distressed, properties aren't analyzed in the statewide assessments because some may have a lesser value than others, Puma said.

"It wouldn't be fair to cherry-pick the good ones," he said. "The hope is that [the real estate market] is stabilizing now." WI

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PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY

Metro Whistleblower Claims Firing 'Retaliatory'

By William J. Ford WI Staff Writer @jabariwill A former Metro employee who was fired last week said his termination was in retaliation for a whistleblower case he brought out of safety concerns.

Trap Thomas, who worked as a track inspector with Metro for nine years, said he was fired for falsifying documents of inspections, a charge he denied during a lengthy Jan. 4 news conference held by the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689 to provide recommendations on improving Metrorail safety.

"There's a culture of retaliation," he told reporters at the AFL-CIO headquarters in northwest D.C. "Management for me, from the bottom to the top, is not about safety. We hear safety trumps service and that's absolutely not true."

Thomas's name was mentioned last month in a transcript released by the National Transportation Safety Board with him being interviewed by a Metro safety officer investigating a train derailment in July near the East Falls Church station in Northern Virginia in July.

However, his termination isn't connected with the derailment.

Thomas, who resides in Alexandria and came to Metro after working in New York City's transit system for nine years, said he raised complaints in 2011 about damaged rail ties between the East Falls Church and Ballston-MU stations.

He also has a pending whistleblower case with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, claiming that he placed speed restrictions, but supervisors lifted them.

Asked if anything has changed since the arrival of Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld in November 2015 and subsequent new supervisors, Thomas said, "Nothing. Just an appearance."

Last month, Wiedefeld informed the agency's board of directors that 28 employees with the track inspection department faced disciplinary actions.

Union President Jackie Jeter said three of those people were fired Wednesday. In total, seven workers and at least five supervisors have been fired so far.

Metro officials declined to comment on disciplinary measures taken against individual employees, but Wiedefeld issued a statement

Wednesday defending the agency's actions.

"It's important to remember that thousands of Metro employees do a great job and routinely put safety first," he said. "However, a true culture of safety requires that we hold ourselves and each other accountable. We cannot condone falsification of documents and I stand by the actions we have taken that hold both front-line and management employees accountable."

Jeter said the union continues to wait on correspondence from Metro officials to explain why the seven employees represented by the union were fired, per contract regulations between the union and the transit agency.

"Specifically, what did they do?" she said. "You can't discipline someone by painting a broadbrush picture. You have to be specific in how you discipline and what they did. That's what we are asking [Metro]."

ATU officials asked former transit workers and safety consul-

5Trap Thomas (left), a former Metro track inspector, speaks during a Jan. 4 news conference at the AFL-CIO

headquarters in Northwest after being fired earlier in the day, which he said was retaliation for a whistleblower case. Thomas is joined by Roger Toussaint, a former New York City transit worker who moderated the event. / Photo by William J. Ford tants to review documents from the union, Metro, NTSB and the Federal Transit Administration.

They all agreed Metro has a safety problem.

Regarding the East Falls Church derailment, Robin Gillespie, who

manages her own firm called RMGillespie Consulting in New York City, said the blame doesn't rest with the track inspectors.

"All these deficiencies are the responsibility of management, not hourly workers," she wrote in

a 10-page report. "The schedule of inspections, the number of interlocks assigned, the response to restrictions and defects report are all under control of track supervision."

WI

Beginning December 26, 2016 through January 30, 2017, residents with Yard Waste Collection may place their undecorated, unbagged, live Christmas trees at the curb by 6:30 a.m. on their regularly scheduled yard waste collection day.

Residents may also bring unadorned trees, free of charge, to the following locations for recycling: BROWN STATION ROAD PUBLIC CONVENIENCE CENTER 3501 Brown Station Road Upper Marlboro, Maryland

PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY YARD WASTE COMPOSTING FACILITY 6550 SE Crain Highway Upper Marlboro, Maryland (follow Maude Savoy

Monday through Saturday, 7 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Brown Road to the facility)

Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

For more information, please call

WWW.WASHINGTONINFORMER.COM

SOURCE REDUCTION TIP: Save bows, paper and boxes for future gift wrapping!

*Please remove all plastic bags, tinsel and decorations. No artificial trees

THE WASHINGTON INFORMER

JANUARY 12 - 18, 2017 13

BUSINESS Hotel Rooms Expensive and Scarce for Inauguration

By Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer Those planning to visit Washington, D.C. for the presidential inauguration of Donald Trump can expect to spend a lot of money on their accommodations.

The latest survey conducted by CheapHotels.org revealed that hotel rates are reaching record rates in the nation’s capital for Inauguration Day. Currently, about 15 percent of hotels in central Washington are still offering available rooms for January 20, the day Trump will be sworn in as the country’s 45th president, the organization noted. On average, District hotels

are charging guests 367 percent more than usual.

Some hotels are hiking up their rates even more.

For example, the Kimpton Hotel Palomar, which is located less than a 5-minute walk from Dupont Circle, is charging $1,419 for a room on Inauguration Day. That figure represents an increase of more than 800 percent compared to its regular rates.

An even bigger price gouger is the Liaison Hotel Capitol Hill, which is located less than one mile from the United States Capitol Building.

The hotel is charging guests $1,499 for a room, a price tag that is almost 1000 percent

5 It will be difficult to find an affordable hotel room during the inauguration weekend . / Courtesy photo

more than is typical of the establishment, based on figures provided by CheapHotels.org.

For the cheapest available room in the center of Washington on January 20, inauguration-goers must spend around $500.

If arriving a day earlier on Jan. 19 and individuals are willing to stay two nights, they will spend at least $90.

Slightly more affordable hotels are available only on the outskirts of the city, around Ronald Reagan Airport and in the suburbs.

“Never have hotel rates been pricier in the history of Washington, D.C. So attendees will have to spend even slightly more than for Obama’s inaugurations in 2009 and 2013,” said Barbara Adams of CheapHotels.org.

For the last inauguration in 2013, hotels in D.C. had a 66.8 percent occupancy rate and an average room rate of $444 from Jan. 18 to Jan. 20, according to the hotel industry group STR. Over that same period, hotels in the D.C. area had a 64.1 percent occupancy rate and the aver-

National Urban League Lauds Obama Presidency

By Sarafina Wright WI Staff Writer One of the nation's oldest civil rights organizations rated President Barack Obama's tenure and administration as excellent — their second-highest rating.

The National Urban League (NUL) issued on Monday, Jan. 9 its first presidential scorecard, hearkening back to Ronald Reagan's "Are you better off than you were four years ago?"

"Throughout our history, the National Urban League has taken seriously our responsibility to hold the President of the United States accountable to the needs of urban America and communities of color," said NUL President Marc H. Morial. "The National Urban League has regarded the first African-American Presidency with special significance, not simply because of its trailblazing status, but also because of the unique conditions under which President Barack Obama took office and served his two terms.

"He inherited the worst econ-

14 JANUARY 12 - 18, 2017

5 / Courtesy of National Urban League

omy since the Great Depression, and was faced with Congressional opposition unprecedented in its intensity and sinister nature," Morial said. "Is the nation better off than it was eight years ago? And is Black America better off than it was eight years ago? The answer to both ques-

tions is, unequivocally, yes."

The organization used a scorecard to evaluate the Obama administration's successes and shortcomings in education, health, housing, economic development and civil rights.

After factoring in accomplish-

THE WASHINGTON INFORMER

ments, outright failures, and the conditions under which he served, the NUL has given the Obama Administration an overall rating of "excellent."

"President Obama's tenure as

URBAN LEAGUE Page 45

age room rate was $232.

The numbers were way up for Obama’s first inauguration in 2009, when hotels in D.C. had a 96.8 percent occupancy rate with an average room rate of $602.

Hotels in the metro area saw an 86 percent occupancy rate with an average room rate of $333.

“That’s worth somewhere, a little bit more than a billion dollars to the Washington economy … could be $1.4 billion depending on the mix of visitors and where they stay,” said Stephen Fuller, a Dwight Schar faculty chair and professor at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.

Fuller told WTOP that he believes up to 400,000 people are likely to be in the District on Jan. 20, which falls on a Friday, for Trump’s swearing-in.

“The economic impacts will spread to Baltimore; there aren’t enough hotel rooms to accommodate all of these [people],” Fuller said.

There will also be large protests.

“Many different demonstrations are expected; 500,000 is a reasonable planning number – some people are using as high as one million,” Fuller said.

Organizers of the Women’s March on Washington are hoping to draw large numbers, as is the ANSWER Coalition, a group founded to oppose the 2003 Iraq War, which is planning a protest on Inauguration Day. There’s also an offsetting economic effect for the presidential inauguration, Fuller added, which has never been measured or quantified: “A lot of people who are residents leave Washington at times like these, and so there is a displacement effect, and nobody’s figured out what that is,” he said.

WI

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BUSINESS Business Exchange What Blacks Can Expect from the Trump Administration

by William Reed Ask anyone what they think of Donald Trump and you are guaranteed one of two reactions: "great" (admire his guts, love his strength and honesty) or "awful" (disgusting, self-serving bigot and demagogue).

When Trump asked blacks during his campaign what they had to lose by voting for him, he connected with few of them, garnering roughly 8 percent of the black vote, compared to Hillary Clinton's 88 percent.

So what can African-Americans expect from a Trump administration? Who is helping Trump set goals and strategy that affect black America? Why aren't there more blacks speaking to and about "black issues"?

With black Americans' suspicions of Trump, will he seek to reach, or exceed, the "diversity levels" of the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations?

It's time blacks ignore paid Democratic operatives and engage "new thinking." As Trump moves into the Oval Office, Republicans predict he will be a sort of CEO-president, setting grand strategy for the country.

Blacks in business and entrepreneurial ventures expect low taxes, light regulation and free markets where capitalists can start and thrive with a minimum of government involvement. But who has Trump's ear to set strategy toward his "new deal for black America"? The billionaire rarely risks out to talk with blacks.

During his campaign, Trump

talked about blacks' plight, criticizing years of Democratic rule for leaving black America behind: "American politics is caught in a time loop. We keep electing the same people over and over and over."

Addressing black issues, Trump said his deal "is grounded in three promises: safe communities, great education and high-paying jobs." He called for incentives to move companies into blighted neighborhoods to bolster employment, help African-Americans get better access to credit and push cities to declare "blighted communities" disaster areas to help rebuild infrastructure.

Trump dissed the black/Democratic alliance: "And every day, the same people, getting rich off our broken system, say we can't change and we can't try anything new, because it's not good for them. I have a message for all the doubters in Washington: America's future belongs to the dreamers, not the cynics and not the critics. Too many African-Americans have been left behind."

Nevertheless, Americans are far more pessimistic about progress in race relations under Donald Trump. Nearly half of U.S. voters (46 percent) expect Trump's election will lead to worse race relations, while just 25 percent say they will improve and 26 percent say there will be no difference. And roughly three-quarters of blacks (74 percent) expect race relations to worsen under Trump's presidency, while just 5 percent expect them to improve.

Recently, the HNIC in the Trump clique brought football great Jim Brown to Trump Tower for a discussion with the president-elect about issues facing the African-American community. Cleveland Pastor Darrell Scott orchestrated the meeting, attended by former "Apprentice" star Omarosa Manigault and in which Trump gave a "verbal commitment" to Brown's Amer-I-Can inner-city program.

But while Jim Brown and Don King are great photo ops, Trump needs some Jesse Lee Peterson, J.C. Watts and Claude

WWW.WASHINGTONINFORMER.COM

Anderson types, too.

If Trump is smart, he'll do all he can to erase the stigma of the racially divisive 2016 campaign. One way of dealing with that image will be deploying

African-American surrogates in high-profile positions that signal diversity. Republicans have to cultivate blacks that embrace Trump's "try something new" philosophy, scuttle the myth

that race is irrelevant and employ "pro-black" messages, acknowledging that race plays a major role in how people live their lives.

WI

Even Facebook wants you to plan! Digital Assets!

By Aimee D. Griffin Digital Assets are a relatively new phenomenon that many of us don’t take into consideration when completing estate planning. Many of us have online bank accounts, social media accounts and cloud based data storage. Some of us have businesses that hold our intellectual property in the cloud.

When you pass away or if you become incapacitated would there be access to the assets? In this time where we live with so many things in the cloud or on the web for “easy” access for us is there a plan to enable someone else to manage the assets upon your death or incapacity? I have supported families who were challenged by this reality when bank accounts were not accessible and bills needed to be paid but the financial provider didn’t have a power of attorney in place.

The Griffin Firm has worked with people who are struggling to apply for benefits but are unable to because availability of information about the assets of their loved ones is private and their loved one is incompetent to appoint a power or attorney. In this circumstance a court procedure of securing guardianship is necessary to gain access and control which takes considerable time and expense. This expense and distress can be eliminated by planning ahead with a Durable Power of Attorney.

I am happy to say that Facebook has encountered this problem and handled it in a way that seems to make sense while being supportive and caring yet maintaining the privacy of the Facebook account holder.

Those of us who have a presence of Facebook have had the experience of a friend who passes away and their page is still visible. Sometimes “friends” will continue to post onto their page without knowing that this person has made a transition. Facebook has made a way to create a plan. This is not only distressful for those people who post and later found out that their “friend” is no longer living, it is difficult for loved ones to see the continuous posting and are compelled to reach out to the author to again share the sad news.

Facebook has created the capacity to Memorialize the Account. Memorialized accounts are a place for friends and family to gather and share memories after a person has passed away. Memorializing an account also helps keep it secure by preventing anyone from logging into it.

If Facebook is made aware that a person has passed away, it's the policy to memorialize the account. Please keep in mind that Facebook can't provide login information for someone else's account even under these circumstances. The word Remembering will be shown next to the person’s name on their profile. Depending on privacy settings of the account, friends can share memories. Also, verified immediate family members may request the removal of a loved one’s account from Facebook.

While it may be difficult to try and remember all of the ways to manage assets and information having a conversation and taking action is the first step to preparedness. The creation of a comprehensive estate plan is the answer. Now that you know take action and Just do it!

Aimee D. Griffin, Esq., The Griffin Firm, PLLC 5335 Wisconsin Ave NW Suite 440 Washington DC 20015 www.thegriffinfirm-PLLC.com 202-379-4738

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JANUARY 12 - 18, 2017 15

NATIONAL Do Macy’s Closings Signal the Death of Retail?

By Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer, D. Kevin McNeir WI Editor For Macy’s, the past Christmas wasn’t a season to be jolly.

The retail giant has announced plans to close 15 percent of its stores – 100 in total – this year, including its store in the Landmark Mall in Alexandria, Virginia where 120 associates will lose their jobs.

Macy’s officials realized a massive sales drop during the holidays and they’ve reacted decisively and, for some, drastically as more than 10,000 employees will be terminated.

With consumers opting to shop online and at discount retailers like T.J. Maxx and Marshalls, Macy’s,

Sears, Kmart and even CVS have experienced a steep decline in business.

Late last month, it was announced that at least 30 Sears and Kmart stores would close by the spring and CVS said it planned to shut down 70 locations.

“We continue to experience declining traffic in our stores where the majority of our business is still transacted,” Terry Lundgren, Macy’s CEO said in a statement.

“We are closing locations that are unproductive or are no longer robust shopping destinations due to changes in the local retail shopping landscape. These are never easy decisions,” Lundgren said.

The real culprit behind the shuttering of Macy’s and other stores was underlined by Fortune Magazine, which noted that, after some 20

years of relentlessly assaulting Barnes & Noble and bankrupting Borders, Tower Records and Circuit City, Amazon has proved that consumers are more than eager to make the bulk of their purchases online.

More worrisome, perhaps, is the prospect of a future of joblessness.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, cashiers constitute the occupation with the second-largest number of employees – 3.5 million in the U.S. Macy’s alone will be shedding 10,000 jobs.

Complicating the matter further is last month’s debut of Amazon Go – a 7 Eleven look-alike grocery store without a checkout line. Customers walk in, pick up what they want, and walk right out.

There are no cashiers. All purchases are charged automatically.

In an exposé for Fortune.com, Dr. Howard Yu, professor of strategy and innovation at IMD Business School in Switzerland, wrote that before the appearance of department stores and supermarkets, general stores, small shops, and itinerant peddlers sold many household items – such as soap, garments, paint, and perfume – locally.

For centuries, face-to-face selling was dominant, with customers making repeated purchases from craftspeople. It wasn’t until mass manufacturing gathered steam, fueled by the national railroad and wider transportation networks, that the concept of a department store became viable, Yu wrote.

Omarosa Joins Trump's White House Staff

By Hamil R. Harris WI Contributing Writer

5 Omarosa Manigault on the

2013 “All-Star Celebrity Apprentice.” / Courtesy photo

16 JANUARY 12 - 18, 2017

Three years ago, Omarosa Manigault was one of the most disliked people on television, and seated across from her in a New York boardroom was billionaire Donald Trump, who had just fired her from his "Apprentice" reality TV show for a third time.

As Omarosa left the boardroom, Trump told his daughter Ivanka and son Donald Jr., "that was an easy one."

But as Omarosa strutted out of Trump Tower wearing white boots and a matching hat, she seemed to love every moment. In the cab she quoted New Thought spiritual leader Florence Scovel Shinn: "No man is your friend, no man is your enemy, but every man is your teacher."

Today, President-elect Donald Trump is a week away from becoming the 45th president of the United States and Omarosa is conducting meetings as the next director of communications for the Office of Public Liason.

"We are headed the 1600 Penn!"

tweeted Omarosa on the day her appointment was announced.

Ironically, this is not her first tour of duty in the White House. She worked for Vice President Gore and was an early supporter of President Barack Obama.

Last week, Omarosa was one of conveners of a diverse group of African-American leaders of organizations that included the NAACP, Jack and Jill of America, the Urban League and the National Bar Association.

Bishop Harry Jackson, pastor of Hope Christian Church, noted that more Democrats were in the room than Republicans.

"Even though she might not have recent government experience, you can't argue that she [isn't] connected with grass-roots leaders and historically black colleges," Jackson said of Omarosa. "She is showing that [she] is going to reach out to the black community."

DeeDee Bass, whose sister Deena was campaign spokesman for Ben Carson's presidential bid, joined her sister at the meeting. She said the time has come for people to realize that Af-

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5 Macy's stores will eliminate 10,000 jobs. / Courtesy photo

John Wanamaker, whom many generally regard as the pioneer of marketing, opened the first department store in Philadelphia in 1876.

Unlike small shops at the time, Wanamaker’s made use of price tags and a money-back guarantee. Out went constant haggling with smalltime proprietors, and with it, various cottage industries.

Just as Wanamaker and its progeny – Macy’s, Lord & Taylor, Nordstrom, Saks and others – forever changed the retail landscape in dense cities, Sears made a dent in sparsely populated rural areas.

Sears, Roebuck & Co.’s mail-order business flourished at a time when farmers in rural America were selling their crops for cash and buying what they needed from rural general stores.

Truly the Amazon of its day, Sears leveraged its buying volume and rican-Americans are not all lifelong Democrats.

"Everybody thinks that all blacks have to be Democrats," Bass said.

"We were raised in Columbus Georgia, and the first black woman on the city council was a Republican, she was also a Delta and she was strong."

Born in Youngstown Ohio, Omarosa Manigault's father was killed when she was 7 but early in her life she learned to fight and win against the odds. After graduating from Central State University, she went on to earn a master's and doctorate from Howard University.

Omarosa appeared in three different iterations of "The Apprentice" in 2004, 2008 and 2013. She was a professor of Business Development at Howard, an ordained minister and was engaged to actor Michael Clarke Duncan before his death in 2012.

When Trump decided to run for president, she returned to the man who launched her TV career, becoming his director of minority outreach at a time when no one gave Trump a chance.

Now Omarosa heads to the White House for the next installment of her reality-starlit life.

WI

ruthlessly cut out the middleman— the much-hated, high-priced rural stores.

“From Macy’s to Sears, the world of retail has been an epic race to the bottom: As the economy grew, consumers became more familiar with everyday items. When the novelty wore off, store ambience and friendly staff members became less important, if not downright frivolous,” Yu said.

“Today, low prices reign supreme.

Little wonder that only discount retailers such as T. J. Maxx and Marshalls managed to escape unscathed during the holiday season.”

One former Macy’s employee in a local store, said Black shoppers and employees will be hit hardest by the closings.

“The majority of our Black customers were impulse shoppers so they didn’t tend to shop online,” said Jason Suggs, 38, a sales associate for four years and a resident of Silver Spring.

“They would come in for a quick gift or something to wear later that day. Some customers still like to see and feel the item they’re purchasing, like a shirt, a jacket or pants. But convenience of online shopping and one-day delivery have taken hold of the American shopper.”

“Unfortunately, holiday and summer jobs will be harder to come by for youth who in the past could always count on opportunities at stores like Macy’s, Sears and Saks where they could put a few dollars in their pockets and gain invaluable job experience.”

As for one young Hispanic woman and a Macy’s sales associate, she said she’s concerned about whether there will be more store closings and if she will be impacted.

“I work full-time for Macy’s and I like it a lot. I followed my sister who was here before me and I now have almost three years under my belt. But I have to admit, I am a bit worried.

Will more stores be shut down in the future? Will I have a job?” said Tania Rodriguez, 22, who lives in Silver Spring.

WI

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Ghana President Accused of Plagiarizing Clinton, Bush Speeches

Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo is under fire for his Jan. 7 inaugural address, in which he is accused of aping speeches from other world leaders.

The passages in question, reportedly plagiarized from speeches by U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, experienced heavy backlash on social and national media outlets, where the former opposition leader was suspected of purposely attempting to draw attention away from his auspicious triumph after twice losing battles for the presidency.

Two parts of Akufo-Addo's speech virtually mirrored lines from Clinton's inaugural speech in 1993 and Bush's inaugural address in 2001: "I ask you to be citizens, citizens not spectators, citizens not subjects, responsible citizens building your communities and our nation.

Though our challenges are fearsome, so are our strengths. Ghanaians 5 Nana Akufo-Addo takes the oath of office have ever been a restless, questing, hopeful people and we must bring as he is sworn in as President of Ghana / Photo to our task today the vision and will of those who came before us." courtesy of Cristina Aldehuela Clinton in 1993: "Though our challenges are fearsome, so are our strengths. And Americans have ever been a restless, questing, hopeful people. We must bring to our task today the vision and will of those who came before us."

Akufo-Addo later added: "I ask you to be citizens: citizens, not spectators; citizens, not subjects; responsible citizens building your communities and our nation."

Compared to Bush's speech: "I ask you to be citizens: Citizens, not spectators; citizens, not subjects; responsible citizens building communities of service and a nation of character." WI

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Ancient Mummy Amazes UK Scientists

After a comprehensive computerized tomography scan, U.K. scientists were shocked to find a baby fetus inside of a very tiny mummy.

If scientists find that the mummy, which is at least 2,300 years old, did in fact miscarry a child, this will be one of the youngest human mummies recorded anywhere in the world, said Samantha Harris, collections manager at Maidstone Museum in the U.K. Additional studies have revealed that mummy more than likely died somewhere in her mid-20s.

Some scientists have speculated that the fetus may have been a love child of a pharaoh; however, there are no forms of concrete evidence to yet 5 Mummified child dating from 80AD in the Ashmolean support such a theory. WI Museum / Photo courtesy Of Oli Scarff

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British Hairstylist Pays Homage to African Roots In tribute to women empowerment and modern African culture, award-winning hairstylist Lisa Farrall has released shots of her latest collection, Armour.

The collection, which won in three categories at the Black Hair Awards and was a finalist in the famous British Hair Awards of 2016, features intricate hairstyles evoking the shapes, patterns and colors of Africa.

Known for working with celebrities and music artists including Steve Aoki and Busted, Farrall continues to push boundaries and inspire what many are calling a revolution in the hair industry. WI 3Lisa Farrall continues to make high impact within the

fashion and hair industry. / Photo courtesy of Lisa Farrall

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JANUARY 12 - 18, 2017 17

H E A LT H Opioid Addiction: A Matter of Black and White?

By Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer The rate of heroin-related overdose deaths nationwide has nearly quadrupled since 2002 as an estimated 30,000 people die every year from opioid overdoses.

However, unlike drug epidemics of the past, minority populations have seen a less dramatic increase in drug addiction and deaths compared to young white adults.

Minority patients use fewer opioids, researchers say, and a 2016 study found that black patients are significantly less likely to receive opioids when they visit an emergency room for non-definitive abdominal or back pain.

Pain researcher Adam Hirsh at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis said doctors may falsely believe black patients are more likely to abuse drugs.

Also, they may empathize less with patients of a different race and underestimate how severe their pain is, as just 4 percent of American doctors are black, Hirsh said.

Unlike drug epidemics of the past, minority populations have seen a less dramatic increase in drug addiction and deaths compared to young white adults, according to modernhealthcare.com.

The rate of heroin use among white adults increased by 114 percent between 2004 and 2013, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rate among nonwhite adults remained relatively unchanged during that same period.

Dr. David Rosenbloom, professor of health policy and management at Boston University's School of Public Health, told modernhealthcare.com that he thinks he

5 Blacks are prescribed less opioids than whites, often because of unfounded speculation. / Courtesy of Everyday Health

knows why.

"Blacks have been undertreated for pain for decades," he said.

The stark rise in addiction can be traced back to the increased use of prescription pain relievers such as OxyContin and Vicodin.

Prescriptions for opioid analgesic medications have skyrocketed since the introduction of OxyContin in the mid-1990s. In 2012, the number of prescriptions written for opioid drugs reached 259 million.

Regulators only a few years ago began implementing stricter limits on the number of pain pills doctors could prescribe, which resulted in lower prescribing rates for opioids, but also led to a subsequent rise in heroin use, a cheaper and easier alternative to prescription pain medicines.

A 2008 JAMA study found mi-

norities were less likely to receive opioids for pain in an emergency department compared to whites.

Some say physician prejudice leads many to prescribe opioids less frequently for black and Latino patients than for whites.

"It would appear that the prescriber may be more concerned about the possibility of the patient getting addicted or maybe the possibility that the pills will be diverted and sold on the street if the patient is black," said Dr. Andrew Kolodny, executive director of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing. "If the patient is white, they may feel like there's nothing to worry about."

Still, others contend the problem may have more to do with white patients having traditionally had greater access to health care services compared to minority pa-

Grant to Help U.S. Principals Better Address Bullying

By Susan E. Sagarra Urban News Service With a $4.1 million grant to research bullying, researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia may be better equipped to help principals battle the age-old scourge of schools.

The grant is controversial because some scholars believe that some anti-bullying programs actually can go too far.

"Bullying was undeniably a problem that needed to be brought out of obscurity, but the issue has arguably now gotten too much attention," wrote Christopher Ferguson, an associate professor of psychology at Stetson University in Florida. "Such hype can lead to other problems such as the use of bullying accusations themselves as weapons in peer conflicts and overly harsh 'zero tolerance' policies that over-punish minor infractions

18 JANUARY 12 - 18, 2017

and may exacerbate the isolation that can lead to bullying in the first place."

Keith Herman, co-director of the Missouri Prevention Center and a professor in the university's department of educational, school and counseling psychology, will lead a team of five researchers.

If proven successful, the program could be recommended to the U.S. Office of Elementary and Secondary Education and individual state education departments as a standard model of anti-bullying training for principals across the country.

"Training for principals and educators varies across the country," Herman said. "Some receive a three-hour class while others have ongoing training. There are a lot of training programs for principals, but as far as I know, they have never been evaluated beyond people's perception of how well the pro-

grams work."

More than 22 percent of children ages 12-18 say they have been bullied in school within the last month, while 17 percent of high school students say they have seriously considered attempting suicide within the last year, according to a Nov. 14 University of Missouri press release.

"The education system hasn't done a great job of training principals to manage all aspects of school safety," Herman said. "Our goal is to identify a program that improves school safety. By applying scientific methods, we can determine if this program is effective and worth implementing in schools across the country."

Herman said he does not anticipate getting the program mandated via federal and state education laws. Rather, he said, he hopes the program can be presented to educators as a best-practices model.

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"I want to make the information from the study widely available for others to make decisions in terms of education policy, whether it proves to be good or bad," Herman said. "I don't think we would ever try to legislate it and say that all public schools have to use this program. But I would love to be able to show that it works and why it does and show how to get it implemented. If it makes a positive impact on students, and we give adults and students the skills and tools to make good decisions, it's a win-win for society."

Still, even critics acknowledge the harms that bullying can do, and credit the intentions of anti-bullying efforts.

One such, the St. Louis-based Megan Meier Foundation, was founded in 2007 by Tina Meier, whose daughter took her own life after being cyber-bullied by class-

tients, increasing their likelihood of receiving pain treatment.

Many believe the changing face of drug abuse is behind the urgent call to action among presidential candidates, lawmakers and law enforcement officials.

That could also be true for the increased call for treatment rather than the previous "war on drugs," which concentrated on mass arrests and incarceration.

"I think it was pretty clear that our response during the crack cocaine epidemic was largely a criminal justice response," Kolodny said. "Whenever you hear people talking about our opioid crisis, within the first few minutes you hear someone say something to the effect that we can't arrest our way out of this problem."

Go to washingtoninformer.com for the full version of this story. WI mates. Meier and the foundation have spent the last decade trying to create positive change around the country to end bullying, cyber-bullying and suicide among students.

There is no federal law, but all 50 states have some kind of anti-bullying law.

Alex King, program manager for the foundation, said she could not comment specifically about the university's study. However, she said anti-bullying programs need to take a comprehensive approach to the problem.

"Any prevention program needs to take a comprehensive approach," King said. "It needs to involve the youths, parents, educators, counselors, school nurses, the janitor and cafeteria monitors.

It's a community approach. A janitor or cafeteria monitor might see more than others so they need to be trained. Whether it's cyber or physical, bully prevention requires a comprehensive effort."

WI

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January Greetings From DC Office on Aging

Laura Newland DC Office on Aging Executive Director Happy New Year and welcome to 2017! It was great to see so many of you last month at the Mayor’s Annual Senior Holiday Celebration. I hope everyone got some much needed rest over the holidays because it’s a brand new year and we have a lot of work to do!

You may have heard me say that in order for the Office on Aging to be the best in its class, we need your input. Last year, we asked you all to participate in our needs assessment study. I want to thank all of you who were willing to share your experiences with us. Your feedback is helping us shape our vision for an age-friendly D.C. and how DCOA can better meet you where you are.

One of the biggest themes that came out of the assessment was seniors want more input on programs and the services they receive. This is something we knew, but it’s reaffirming to have the data to back it up.

Over the past year, I’ve really focused on listening

more. I experimented with a new town hall format where seniors had the opportunity to present to me. The town halls are a great forum for us to connect with you in the community and this year we will continue to focus on more dialogue and more opportunities for you to lead the conversation. Check out our website at www.dcoa.gov or give us a call at 202-724-5626 to find out when the next town hall will be in your ward.

The needs assessment also highlighted a concern shared by so many seniors in our community — the risk of falls and other accidents. In fact, it was a top concern among all seniors surveyed. We know that healthy living and regular physical activity can help reduce falls risks as well as being aware of physical hazards throughout your home and community. But there are so many more factors that contribute to falls, both individual and environmental.

Last year, we held falls prevention workshops in all eight wards, and we plan to build on this in the coming year. Mayor Muriel Bowser has been hard at work reducing hazards in the community through the Vision Zero initiative, which seeks to eliminate serious injuries and fatalities by making the city’s streets and sidewalks safer for all commuters. Continue to engage with us and keep us informed about the risks in your community, and let us know how we can work together to help keep you safe in your homes and in your neighborhood.

There was also some encouraging news — seniors in the District want to engage more with the Office on Aging! I take this as a compliment because I thought by now you’d be tired of hearing from me! We know we need to do a better job getting the information you need to support you in taking charge of your longterm goals. My External Affairs

team has been hard at work in coming up with new and innovative ways to connect with you in the community to keep you engaged and informed. We want to make sure that we are amplifying your voices so that government, community organizations, and service providers continue to work together to support healthy aging in D.C. I invite you to review the needs assessment available on our website at www.dcoa.gov and share your thoughts with us. Do the results reflect your personal experience? What

ideas do you have for us as we continue to move towards an age-friendly D.C. for all residents?

You can email your feedback askthedirect o r. d c o a @ dc.gov or call us at 202724-5626.

I’m excited for our future and looking forward to working with you to make D.C. the best place in the world to age!

Congratulations!

Idriys Abdullah, consumer protection advocate for the Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking, and member of the Elder Abuse Prevention Committee, receives an award for exemplary service for his commitment to educating District seniors on how to protect themselves against financial exploitation. In one year, Abdullah trained more than 700 seniors in all eight wards through the Money Smart for Older Adults workshops. The Money Smart program provides awareness among older adults and their caregivers on how to prevent elder financial exploitation and to encourage advance planning and informed financial decision making.

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THE WASHINGTON INFORMER

JANUARY 12 - 18, 2017 19

HEALTH New York Life under Fire for Insuring Slaves more abundantly clear after the New York Times uncovered documents last month that revealed that one of the country's foremost insurance companies sold policies covering slaves.

New York Life, the nation's third-largest life insurance company — which opened in Man-

By Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer Slaves essentially built America — although they were bought and sold like cattle — and the unwilling servants proved much more valuable than ever given credit.

That fact could not have been made

hattan's financial district in 1845 and had a board of trustees populated by some of the wealthiest merchants, bankers and railroad magnates — had found sales to be sluggish and decided to look south.

There, in Richmond, Virginia, the documents showed an enterprising New York Life agent sold more

KEEPING

New Year’s Resolutions We’re so passionate about being healthier on January 1st, but by April (or earlier!) we often find ourselves back to our old habits.

Not this year! Follow these 8 quick tips to make your resolutions stick!

Be focused and start small.

One of the main reasons people lose motivation is that they take on too much too soon and get overwhelmed. Baby steps will lead you where you want to go. Be patient.

Focus on the positive.

Concentrate on new behaviors you can start, like eating breakfast, rather than ones you have to stop, like eating fewer sweets.

One thing at a time.

Don’t beat yourself up!

Minor missteps are normal and ok! Don’t give up just because you ate a brownie or skipped the gym because you were busy.

Recover from your mistakes and get back on track.

Talk about it!

Having someone to share your struggles and successes with can make your journey to a healthier lifestyle easier.

Unhealthy behaviors develop over the course of time. So, replacing them with healthy ones will take time, too. Work toward changing one thing at a time.

Find a buddy.

Post it!

UMC offers many opportunities for help on your journey, including classes and programs that target the most common of New Year’s resolutions.

Tweet/Facebook/Instagram/Snapchat your goal so that you can feel accountable. Not on social media? Get a journal or notepad and write down your goals and progress.

You can motivate each other and hold each other accountable.

Seek guidance and assistance.

Visit www.united-medicalcenter.org for events, tips and resources to stay healthy in 2017 and beyond!

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than 30 policies in a single day in February 1846.

Soon, advertisements began appearing in newspapers from Wilmington, North Carolina, to Louisville as the New York-based company encouraged Southerners to buy insurance to protect their slaves — their most precious commodity.

Alive, slaves were among a white man's most prized assets. Dead, they were considered virtually worthless. Life insurance changed that calculus, allowing slave owners to recoup three-quarters of a slave's value in the event of an untimely death.

The revelation has many — including organizations that have worked for reparations — calling for New York Life to pay for their unconscionable actions.

"New York Life, like many other American corporations profited from the enslavement of Africans forcibly brought to this country," said Raymond Winbush, a research professor and director of the Institute for Urban Research at Morgan State University in Baltimore.

"Like the recent events at Georgetown University, their current obligation is to create a system of restitution for the descendants of those enslaved by their masters as a matter of compensatory 'historical justice,'" Winbush said.

Last September, Georgetown University President John J. DeGioia announced that the school would compensate the descendants of its former slaves, including those descended from the 272 slaves it sold to prevent financial ruin.

The university said it would issue an apology, name two buildings and a memorial in their honor, and offer slave descendants the same admission preference that the children and grandchildren of alumni receive.

The school did not offer scholarships, but based the compensation in part on the recommendations of a university committee, which the nearly 600 descendants underscored that they were not invited to participate.

"We appreciate the gestures of a proposed memorial to our enslaved ancestors on Georgetown's campus and President John DeGioia's visits with some descendants, but recommendations developed without the meaningful participation of descendants can only be seen as pre-

liminary," Sandra Green Thomas, one of the slave descendants, said in a statement.

More than a dozen universities, including Brown, Harvard and the University of Virginia, have publicly recognized their ties to slavery and the slave trade.

But Craig Steven Wilder and Alfred L. Brophy, two historians who have studied universities and slavery, said they knew of none that had offered preferential status in admissions to the descendants of slaves.

Further, banks absorbed by JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo allowed Southerners seeking loans to use their slaves as collateral and took possession of some of them when their owners defaulted.

Like New York Life, Aetna and US Life also sold insurance policies to slave owners, particularly those whose laborers engaged in hazardous work in mines, lumber mills, turpentine factories and steamboats in the industrializing sectors of the South, according to the New York Times report.

US Life, a subsidiary of AIG, declined to comment on its slave policy sales. Wachovia, one of Wells Fargo's predecessor companies, has apologized for its historic ties to slavery, as have JPMorgan Chase and Aetna.

More than 40 other firms, mostly based in the South, sold such policies, too, though documentation is scarce and most closed their doors generations ago.

New York Life survived.

"The National African-American Reparations Commission, which is convened and administered by the Institute of the Black World 21st Century, will be sending a letter to the president and CEO and chairman of the board of New York Life requesting a meeting to discuss this matter," said Ron Daniels, president of the Institute of the Black World, which convenes a State of the Black World Conference.

Daniels and his organization has continued to push for legislation on reparations and has requested that Democratic New York state Sen. James Sanders and Democratic state Assemblyman Charles Barron convene a public hearing on the New York Life insurance matter.

"As these types of revelations are increasingly resurfacing, it would seem appropriate that the National African American Reparations Commission play a role in addressing them," Daniels said. "This is a matter for longer and deeper discussion." WI

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EDUCATION DCPS

BRIEFS Compiled by Dorothy Rowley WI Staff Writer Holiday - No School Monday, Jan. 16 Martin Luther King Jr. Day Term 2 Midterms/Finals End Wednesday, Jan. 18

FELLOWSHIP GRADUATE

Heather Hairston is an all-star graduate of the Mary Jane Patterson Fellowship and principal at C.W. Harris Elementary School in Southeast.

This DCPS-inspired leadership program prepares talented, resilient, high-potential DCPS employees for

PGCPS BRIEFS

Compiled by Dorothy Rowley WI Staff Writer

SCHOLARS OF THE WEEK

Fawziyah Alebiosu and Tyler Dent have been honored as the school system's Scholars of the Week.

Fawziyah, a senior at Bladensburg High School, has a 3.85 grade point average and has taken several honors courses throughout her academic career, including English 10, geometry, Algebra 2 and gov-

22 JANUARY 12 - 18, 2017

one of the most important roles of the time: school principalship.

BILINGUAL EDUCATION FAIR

D.C.'s first Bilingual Education Fair aims to provide information for fostering bilingualism in children, how to support and encourage bilingualism even when parents are monolinguals, and where to find bilingual programs and resources.

The event, co-hosted by the D.C. Public Library and D.C. State Board of Education, takes place Saturday, Jan. 14 at the Francis Gregory Library, 3660 Alabama Ave. SE from 10 a.m.-1 p.m Parents will have the opportunity to participate with their child in one of four story time sessions in Hebrew, French, Mandarin and Spanish, and discover why children are such born linguists.

Presentations will follow on the cognitive and economic benefits of being bilingual, and on tools and resources to foster bilingualism.

POSSE SCHOLARSHIP WINNER

Trashawna Herbert is one of 17 DCPS students who will receive full ernment.

Fawziyah has been accepted at Robert Morris University with applications pending at Columbia University, University of Maryland College Park, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Pomona College, University of Pennsylvania, Macalester College and Tufts University.

She plans to major in computer science and mathematics and wants to become a college professor.

Tyler, a senior at Dr. Henry A. Wise High School, knew long ago that she wanted to own her own business. As a student in the Academy of Finance program at Wise, Tyler has had the opportunity to study accounting and prepare for college and the financial services industry.

She has already earned a Certificate in Accounting and Finance from the Morgan University Summer Program.

Tyler, who in her spare time enjoys cheering, singing and dancing, plans to attend the University of Maryland College Park or New

5 D.C. children enjoy learning each day. / Courtesy photo

tuition scholarships from the Posse Foundation.

According to her interview with WJLA-TV (Channel 7), Trashawna, who's not at all intimidated by the male-dominated field of engineering, said she dreams of someday improving space telecommunications for NASA. "Women are always the dominant ones," she said. "And they always end up being the bosses."

Trashawna, who has a 4.3 grade point average, added that while math does not come naturally to her, she decided to focus on engineering York University and major in accounting.

LOTTERY, SPECIALTY PROGRAMS

The 2017-18 application process for specialty programs enrollment is available through March 13.

The school system offers several programs that provide a range of unique subjects, activities and learning opportunities as an enhancement of choice students and their families.

Through the PGCPS lottery process, parents and students have an opportunity to secure an available seat.

Due to space limitations, admission is determined by a random placement lottery.

Applications are available to all students who reside in Prince George's County. While the specialty programs have specific boundaries, school assignments through the lottery are based on a student's home address.

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and transfer to Phelps ACE High School to challenge herself.

"It was definitely a skill that took a lot of studying, hard work and dedication to the criteria," she said.

CHILDREN MATTER

"We want to create a space where kids feel welcome and important.

We want to make sure every kid feels like they're just as smart as the next person — that they are just as important and they have a right to a great education." — Jackie Wozniak, early childhood teacher at Wheatley Education Camp

FRENCH IMMERSION PROGRAM RECOGNIZED

Two French Immersion schools, Maya Angelou in Temple Hills and Dora Kennedy in Greenbelt, are the first in the state to receive the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs'

"The most important things in early childhood are the social skills.

Early childhood teaches kids how to get along, how to work together, how to solve problems." — Jennifer Allen, early-childhood teacher and alumna of LaSalle-Backus Education Campus

SCHOOL LOTTERY

The My School DC lottery is now open for the 2017-18 school year.

For more information, go to www.myschooldc.org. To locate your in-boundary school, visit dcatlas.dcgis.dc.gov/schools. WI LabelFrancÉducation award.

The recognition is given to schools that offer enhanced instruction and meet the standards for quality bilingual education in France and another language as part of their curriculum.

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5 Additional learning opportunities are available to families though PGCPS' specialty programs. / Courtesy of PGCPS via Facebook

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EDUCATION

Teacher Contract, Pay Raises Loom for New School's Chief

By Dorothy Rowley WI Staff Writer When Antwan Wilson takes the helm of D.C.'s public schools on Feb. 1, he'll likely have to hit the ground running as he builds on a list of critical administration plans and objectives.

Not only will the new chancellor have to deal with a bucket of new problems sure to be tossed his way, Wilson also faces ongoing issues that include reducing teacher turnover, maintaining an upward spiral in enrollment and, maybe most importantly, settling a years-long dispute over the teachers' contract and teacher pay raises.

The last contract expired in 2012, resulting in D.C. public schoolteachers having to work since 2011 without a salary increase.

"The truth of the matter is that DCPS teachers have not received a pay raise going on six years," said Washington Teachers' Union President Elizabeth Davis. "I [have] data showing the percentages of pay raises given to the schools' Central Office staff, and they show that D.C. has

the highest Central Office administration overhead than any state in the nation.

"So, as someone who has been in the negotiating room through [former Chancellor] Kaya Henderson and now [interim Chancellor] John Davis, the bottom line is [DCPS] simply want a lot of concessions — which they already have from the last contract — and there is nothing else the union can give them along those lines," she said.

Davis said that considering D.C. has a top-heavy Central Office, "a school district that receives almost $900 million, and a city that's boasting about surplus," it makes no sense that teachers haven't received a raise.

"What we have is a school district that's negotiating with the union mainly because [DCPS's team] has rejected every proposal — the ones that have nothing to do with money or compensation," she said.

"They've simply wanted more managerial rights, more power and more control. Our proposals were to help students and teachers do better, and they rejected every one of them."

While most of the members on

the chancellor's negotiating team have been full-time principals, WTU's team has consisted of Davis and a roster of full-time teachers, and when the pay issue was brought up again in 2013, the resulting 1 percent pay hike proposed over a sixyear period was rejected by WTU as a slap in the face.

Two years later, after teachers accused Henderson and her team of walking away from the contract, the then-chancellor issued a statement saying while she was disappointed an agreement had yet to be met, she remained hopeful the talks would soon resume.

Some seven months passed since May, when teachers at Thompson Elementary School in Northwest took to the streets to demand a new contract and higher pay, and the negotiations remains stalemated.

Laura Fuchs, who's taught for 10 years at H.D. Woodson High School in Northeast, believes one reason the negotiations have lingered is because it's been DCPS's way of trying to undermine the union's effectiveness.

"At this point, they have been trying to work around every single

5Washington Teachers' Union President Elizabeth Davis. / Courtesy photo line of our contract … hoping that if they could stall in making the annual payment effective, that maybe in time [it would be] changed again to buy them more time," Fuchs said.

She added, however, that since most of the negotiations have been completed, it's possible for the matter to be resolved by the time Wilson takes over.

"Teachers have done what's been asked of them, so why shouldn't

they be rewarded?" she asked. "Although I don't think it's likely everything will be settled soon, I do think it's possible."

David Tansey, a DCPS veteran teacher in his first year at McKinley Technology High School in Northeast, said much of the delay in reaching a new contrast lies in the difference between the last two

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EDITORIAL

OPINIONS/EDITORIALS

In Search of the Radical Martin Luther King On Monday, Jan. 16, Americans will be joined by people around the world as we observe the birthday of the “Drum Major for Peace,” the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It may be hard to believe but a year from now, King will have been dead for 50 years – an entire generation ago. Yet, his spirit continues to live on as we press forward in our quest for justice for all Americans.

There will be marches, parades, forums and quiet reflections that will honor his memory, his sacrifices and his leadership. His sermons and speeches will be spoken by children and adults, preachers and teachers.

And we will hold hands, as he once did, singing timeless spirituals that have inspired the Black community during our most troubling times.

One has to wonder what Dr. King would say about the current state of affairs if he were with us today. We often point to the early days of the Civil Rights Movement when he believed in the goodness of mankind. In those years between the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the March on Washington, King remained optimistic and hopeful, confident that his “Beloved Community” could be achieved through peaceful means.

King anticipated a time when our differences would not serve as a wedge that separated us but rather as a reminder that in God’s garden, even with the many diverse flowers that bloom, we are still more alike than unalike.

But then he was forced to deal with mounting examples of man’s inhumanity to man. He witnessed the devastating power and crushing impact of poverty, ignorance and prejudice. And he spoke out on issues that many Americans had tried to ignore. A more radical Martin Luther King, in the later years of his life, emerged.

He found himself wondering “where do we go from here – chaos or community?”

Perhaps he knew that the likelihood of our country moving toward a chaotic state was inevitable, unless serious changes were made. Unless “I” could be replaced with “We.” We need a radical King today. We need a new cadre of drum majors to step forward. Some already have. And one day, we will overcome.

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Maureen Bunyan – D.C.’s First Lady of TV News We were shocked and saddened to hear that veteran television news anchor Maureen Bunyan will no longer be informing us about local and world events effective the end of next month.

It seems that her employer, Sinclair Broadcast Group, has decided that they can do without the services and expertise of one of the most talented Black women to ever anchor the evening news.

We remember the thousands of times that the 40-year veteran brought us breaking news – news that we needed to hear. We recall her quite, yet constant acts that illustrated her unwavering commitment both to the citizens of the District and to members of the Black community.

We have not spoken with her employer who as many readers may recall, owns WJLA Channel 7, Bunyan’s TV home since 1999. But it appears that based on the needs of “the business,” Sinclair Broadcast Group has been moving in a different direction for the past several years, nudging those members of the old vanguard, including Arch Campbell, Tim Brant, Leon Harris, Gordon Peterson and now Maureen Bunyan, off the air and out the door.

Could it be examples of ageism – the decision to remove older employees and to replace them with more youthful men and women? Or are they simply victims of a change of format?

Whatever the reason, one thing is for certain. Maureen Bunyan will be missed. WI WWW.WASHINGTONINFORMER.COM

TO THE EDITOR Museum Visit a LifeAltering Experience

D.C. Must Stop Shunning Black Churches

I can remember reading many articles in The Informer about the new National Museum of African American History and Culture. Most talked about how beautiful it is and how much information there is to see and how good the food is. I even remember way back years ago when you wrote articles about the design of the building and selecting the architects that would eventually build it. But after visiting the NMAAHC for the first time, I feel my life has been changed. I have always felt a sense of pride of knowing my history and the history of our people, but to see it on display and be able to walk that long road and see and read about the victories we won and the ones we lost was a life-changing moment for me. No longer will African-Americans be an afterthought in the history of this country — our history is there for the whole world to see, and it makes me very proud to be who I am. I hope and pray that when our young people visit the NMAAHC, they, too, will have a life-changing moment.

When will this mayor and city council do something to stop the forcing of black congregations out of D.C.! Your article by Hamil R. Harris, "D.C. Church Makes Long-Awaited Move; Leaves City for Maryland" (Jan. 5, 2017), is another example of the D.C. government turning its back on black churches. The D.C. government should be ashamed of itself using parking revenue as the weapon to push these congregations out. They ticket the churchgoers, the churchgoers stop coming, the church can't survive so the church has to move and developers get the properties. The mayor and the council are doing nothing but the devil's work!

Brenda Blair Washington, D.C.

Jerome Manns Washington, D.C.

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JANUARY 12 - 18, 2017 25

OPINIONS/EDITORIALS Guest Columnist

By Julianne Malveaux

Why Black Women Must Be Involved in the Women's March on Washington

"Ain't I a Woman? I have ploughed and planted and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman!

I could work as much and eat as much as a man — when I could get it — and bear the lash as well.

And ain't I a woman? I've borne thirteen children and seen most all sold off and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?"

— Sojourner Truth

The similarities and differences between black and white women are captured in Sojourner Truth's famous December 1851 speech.

She movingly talks about the men who say women should be "helped into carriages, and moved over ditches, and have the best place everywhere," while "nobody ever helps me into carriages or over mud puddles, or gives me any best place." Both black and white women cry a mother's grief for the loss of a child, and both endure labor pains. Black women's lives,

while similar, are different and often disadvantaged, because they lack the privilege that white women so easily take for granted and often fail to notice or remedy.

Thus, it did not surprise me that a white woman in Hawaii called for a "Million Women's March" on Washington, D.C., on the day after the Presidential inauguration.

And it did not surprise me, when white women took up the call.

Too bad these same white women did not advocate more forcefully against the man who won the Electoral College vote for the presiden-

Guest Columnist

cy.

My first inclination was to ignore this women's march. The organizers have repeatedly struck me as tone-deaf and indifferent to the diverse needs of women. But when I talked to Tamika Mallory, the dynamic young woman activist who was once executive director of Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network, I shifted my perspective.

Tamika shared that, just a few days after the initial call to march was issued, organizers reached out to her asking for help. She said they said they "needed to ensure that wom-

en of color were involved."

Now, there are four co-chairs of the Women's March on Washington, including African-American leader Tamika Mallory, Latina activist and part of Harry Belafonte's Gathering for Justice, Carmen Perez, a white woman entrepreneur whose T-shirts have been galvanizing, Bob Bland, and Palestinian activist Linda Sarsour. I applaud the diversity in leadership, but wonder how many women of color will turn out on Jan. 21. Tens of thou-

MALVEAUX Page 45

By Bill Fletcher Jr.

Why Some People Will Always Believe 'Fake News' I have been thinking about the controversy surrounding so-called fake news, much of which has been discussed in connection with the November elections. It is important to understand that "fake news" is a form of propaganda called "black propaganda." Black propaganda refers to information that is manufactured to appear as if it is coming from one source when it is, in reality, coming from somewhere else.

In the early 1970s, during the height of the Black Panther Party,

a children's coloring book surfaced that was inspired by the Black Panther Party. It was targeted at children and was available in offices of the Black Panther Party. I remember looking at it once and noticing that one of the "stories" in it had children shooting police. I thought that was a bit intense, but it was only years later that I discovered that the coloring book had not been created by the Panthers at all. It was a creature of the COINTELPRO operation of the FBI, which utilized such techniques in order to discredit and destroy the Panthers. This was an example of "black propaganda."

In 2016, it became clear that there have been internet sites that have circulated an immense amount of false information. These are not from official news agencies.

A dramatic example of this was the false allegation that the Clinton campaign had a pedophile ring in Washington, D.C. Someone who believed this story went so far as to show up with a rifle to "investigate" the allegation.

Fake news is not new. What we should have learned over the years is that the best defense against socalled fake news is to question what you read. The fact that something

Guest Columnist

appears on the internet, even from what appear to be reliable sources, does not mean that it is true or accurate. Further, even very sincere people can fall prey to a hoax, as I am sure most of us will admit.

I was doing a training recently and the matter of accurate information came up. The basic question facing the class was, how can one know what is true? That is not a new question but the answer remains the same. In the face of any information, you must identify and validate the source. Check to see whether there is independent corroboration, then determine whether

you believe that it is consistent with other information that you know to be accurate.

In all cases, there will be debates around how to interpret any information or data. But interpretation is completely different from agreeing on the facts themselves. The suggestion, for example, that there were masses of Muslims in New Jersey cheering the 9/11 terrorist attacks was backed up by NO facts. Nevertheless, it was spread around the internet, because of the person who claimed to have seen it. Fake news, indeed.

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By Marian Wright Edelman

Keep Your Hand on the Plow

I begin each year with a women's spiritual retreat led by Rev. Shannon Daley-Harris, our Religious Affairs Advisor, at Children's Defense Fund (CDF) Haley Farm in Tennessee. This year, the Rev. Dr. Janet Wolf, director of CDF Haley Farm and Nonviolent Organizing, shared a meditation based on Langston Hughes' brilliant 1943 poem "Freedom's Plow," which she had been using in her ministry on Tennessee's death row

26 JANUARY 12 - 18, 2017

and maximum security prison. All of us were caught up in the poem's descriptions of centuries of American struggle against oppression and for America's promised dream of freedom and justice for all.

Excerpts Plow":

from

"Freedom's

. . . A long time ago, but not too long ago, Ships came from across the sea Bringing the Pilgrims and prayer-makers, Adventurers and booty seekers,

Free men and indentured servants, Slave men and slave masters, all newTo a new world, America!

With billowing sails the galleons came Bringing men and dreams, women and dreams.

In little bands together, Heart reaching out to heart, Hand reaching out to hand, They began to build our land.

Some were free hands Seeking a greater freedom,

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Some were indentured hands Hoping to find their freedom, Some were slave hands Guarding in their hearts the seed of freedom, But the word was there always: Freedom.

Down into the earth went the plow In the free hands and the slave hands, In indentured hands and adventurous hands, Turning the rich soil went the plow in many hands

That planted and harvested the food that fed And the cotton that clothed America.

Clang against the trees went the ax into many hands That hewed and shaped the rooftops of America.

Splash into the rivers and the seas went the boat-hulls That moved and transported America.

Crack went the whips that drove the horses

EDELMAN Page 45

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OPINIONS/EDITORIALS Guest Columnist

By Raynard Jackson

NAACP Stoops to New Low With Sessions Protest

Once again, the radical liberal National Association for the Advancement of "Certain" People has proven that blacks can indeed sell out their own people and even be extremely hypocritical.

The NAACP's perpetual promotion to the black community of radical Democratic policies in recent years has caused more harm to the black community than any white man with a sheet over his face.

Like in the Bible, the handwriting is on the wall for the NAACP. I am calling for all people of good conscience to withhold any and all support for this organization, whether monetary or otherwise.

Why am I being so hard on this group, you might be asking? Well, last week the NAACP once again showed their total lack of relevance, and they continue to find new ways to further embarrass the black community.

Cornell Brooks, the national president of the NAACP, was so bored

Guest Columnist

that he decided to gather a few of his cronies to fly down to Mobile, Alabama, and hijack Sen. Jeff Sessions' office as an act of civil disobedience.

They demanded that Sessions withdraw his name from consideration for United States attorney general, because in their perverted minds, he is supposed to be a racist.

As I wrote recently, I worked Sessions' first Senate campaign and you will not find a more decent person on Earth. The radical, liberal NAACP claims that Sessions made what they consider to be "racist"

statements 30 years ago.

Oh, really? You want to go there?

All right, then let's go there.

No one has ever accused Sessions of being a member of the KKK or serving in a leadership capacity in the hate group. So, I find it quite ironic that when former West Virginia U.S. Sen. Robert Byrd died in 2010, the NAACP "mourned" his death.

Byrd was not only a member of the KKK, but he also served as Exalted Cyclops, which meant he was basically CEO of his local chapter.

Byrd also has the distinction of being the only U.S. senator to have voted against both black Supreme Court nominees (Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Thomas). And that's who the NAACP mourned?

So they mourn the person with a track record of being a racist and attempt to malign the person with no "credible" evidence of being a racist?

Brooks also claimed that he wanted to "bring attention to issues like the continuing debate over police

JACKSON Page 46

By Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr.

Civil Rights at Risk Under Sessions

Confirmation hearings for Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, named

by Donald Trump to be attorney general of the United States, began on Jan. 10, before Trump is even inaugurated. The rush and insistence on only two days of hearings reflect Republican efforts to cram the nomination through before Americans understand what is at stake.

Sessions will, no doubt, present himself as a humble, genial

and reasonable public servant.

In reality, Sessions is an outlier, an unimaginable nominee as attorney general, an implacable opponent of the very rights and liberties that the attorney general is supposed to defend. As more than 200 civil rights, human rights and women's groups noted in a unified statement: "Sen. Sessions has a 30-year record of racial insensitivity, bias against immigrants, disregard for the rule of law and hostility to the protection of civil rights that makes him unfit to serve as the attorney general of the United States."

Askia-At-Large

Three decades ago, a Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee rejected Ronald Reagan's nomination of Sessions to a federal judgeship. It deemed him unfit for the bench due to his repeated racially biased remarks, his intemperate dismissal of the ACLU and the NAACP as "un-American," and his open opposition to the Voting Rights Act, which he scorned as "intrusive." Republicans agreed that no person with such extreme views should adjudicate the laws that he clearly disdained. That was then. Now Donald Trump and

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) are intent on putting Sessions in charge of enforcing those very laws.

The attorney general of the United States is a powerful position. The person who holds this office has immense discretion in how the law is enforced — which cases the office chooses to prosecute and which it does not. The attorney general heads several agencies, including the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the immigration courts.

Given his views and that power, there is no question that Sessions

would put fundamental rights at risk as attorney general: • Voting rights: Since the gang of five right-wing justices on the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, states across the country have passed various impediments to voting, with disproportionate effect on people of color, the poor and the young.

Under President Barack Obama, the Justice Department has consistently defended the right to vote. Sessions has stated that he believes these voting changes,

JACKSON Page 46

By Askia Muhammad

Congressional Black Caucus, Larger than Ever (Yawn) We must be having a "dream," because what passes, in my way of thinking, for the Black "mis-leadership" class certainly appears to be sleeping.

Once a militant voice on behalf of African-Americans, Africa and the Caribbean, the Congressional Black Caucus is now larger than ever. But now, in the face of the impending tea party, alt-right, makeAmerica-white-again Trumpism, vocal black opposition suddenly seems nearly invisible.

The number of blacks in Congress is now 49, including three Republicans, an all-time high. But even with two black senators — Corey Brooks (D-N.J.) and newly-elected Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) — we have no real clout. And two GOP members, Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.) and Rep. William Hurd (Texas) — aren't even caucus members.

What is the name of the chair of the CBC? When was the last time you saw a national headline about a CBC member like Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) raising Cain somewhere? I rest my case.

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(FYI Democratic Rep. Cedric L. Richmond of Louisiana is the new chairman. Democratic Rep. G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina served as chair the past two years.)

Things have gotten so glum for black members of Congress that one member, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), is campaigning for the dead-end job (for him) as chairman of the Democratic National Committee. That's a bad fit.

It's a bad fit because Ellison has promised to resign his House seat if he gets the DNC post. How long could he last at the DNC? Before long he'll end up like former DNC

Chair and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, or former Rep. Harold Ford of Tennessee. He'll be like those guys and like Mike Huckabee (R), the former governor of Arkansas — that is, a cable news analyst.

He already denounced and renounced Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, after smear photos surfaced of Ellison selling the NOI newspaper, The Final Call.

Rather than denouncing Farrakhan as though the Minister is the cause of this country's problems, rather than as the answer to those problems is a major error in judgement

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which holds the country back.

The neoliberal, Kumbaya, black mis-leadership ideology, whose orthodoxy has held sway since Reconstruction has led the exploited black masses into a dead-end. We were on the right street to freedom, we were just headed in the wrong direction. Closer to our tormentor, instead of away from him.

Instead of trying to blame the victims of American hate and oppression, and exonerate the evil doers for their crimes, Ellison, the neoliberals, and practically all the

ASKIA Page 46 JANUARY 12 - 18, 2017 27

LIFESTYLE Democrats Search for the Next Obama

By Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer She's a lawyer by trade and an accomplished politician who in November became just the second African-American woman to become a U.S. senator.

He's considered a favorite to become the next head of the Democratic National Committee.

Kamala Harris of California and Keith Ellison of Minnesota are among the new movers and shakers of the Democratic Party. But are either of them the next Barack Obama?

That's what many Democrats are wondering — most even hoping for.

Obama's meteoric rise was first detected in 2004, four years before stunning the world to become the first black president. He'd given a powerful keynote at the Democratic Na-

tional Convention and then went on to win election to the Senate later that year.

America's 44th president is now completing his second and final term in the Oval Office and his party is in a state of disarray after Hillary Clinton's disappointing loss to Donald Trump in November.

The morale deflating loss means that Democrats have four years to come up with the right candidate, someone who might just be African-American or a woman.

Harris and Ellison are among the names political watchers have bandied about, along with New Jersey's Corey Booker and even CNN contributor and former White House aide Van Jones.

"Barack Obama will be a hard act to follow," said Riley H. Rogers, mayor of Dolton, Illinois, just south of the president's hometown of Chicago. "Everything came into alignment and facilitated Obama's

5 Kamala Harris of California could be the next Barack Obama, according to political watchers. / Courtesy photo

victory."

Rogers, who was selected as a floor delegate at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, said Obama is a brilliant and unique individual who came at the right time, but he believes there are others who can ascend to the national stage and become leaders.

"There are some bright stars in the Democratic Party such as Sen. Napoleon Harris and Congresswoman Robin Kelly," Rogers said.

The 6-foot-3, 250-pound Harris, a former pro football player and current Illinois state senator, made news recently when he was ambushed by four men at a pizzeria he owns and survived a chokehold and eventu-

5 Mykel Jenkins of "The Bold and the Beautiful". / Courtesy photo 5 Minnesota's Keith Ellison is seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party. / Courtesy photo

28 JANUARY 12 - 18, 2017

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ally tracked down his assailants.

Police even found evidence of a murder that may have involved those suspects.

Kelly succeeded Jesse Jackson Jr. as an Illinois representative in the House and she's been mentioned throughout the Chicago area for more than a decade as a potential star.

Rogers, a member of the African American Mayors Association, said there's a need for someone with new ideas and leaders with a vision.

"Not just the same ideas of the past — the next elected official who captures that energy can be successful, but it won't be easy," he said.

Several others noted that Corey Booker, who was on the short

list for vice president under Clinton before she chose Tim Kaine, has to be considered as a rising star.

"There's Kamala Harris and Sen. Corey Booker who has rose to fame because of his youth, fresh ideas and political intellect," said Jasmine Burney, a Florida-based political consultant and founder of the online community, "Chicks 'n Politics."

"Booker possesses the same hope that Obama had when he was first introduced to us during his first DNC speech, which mirrored a speech Booker gave this past summer at the DNC." Booker has proven to have the political stamina needed to take on a seat in the United States Congress, where there have only been a total of nine African-Americans in U.S. history, she said.

"Now, there are 10 with the addition of Sen. Kamala Harris, who is only the second African-American woman in United States history to hold that seat," Burney said. "Harris is paving the way for many minorities to follow as she currently employs the only African-American Legislative Director in the Senate.

She's reaching back as she climbs and training a team around her for a successful term and possibly a move to the next level of leadership."

Much is to be said about rising stars who aren't already holding an office, Burney noted, adding that Van Jones and Angela Rye both fit that mold.

"Both are political commentators and they each lead political firms that focus on an array of issues from technology to environmental justice," she said. "Their depth on the issues make them a real asset as advisers, cabinet members or even high-profile seats in the future." WI

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LIFESTYLE

Centric's 'Queen Boss' Stars D.C. Skin Care Maven Business Competition Series Airs Saturday

By Sarafina Wright WI Staff Writer D.C. native and local entrepreneur Rahama Wright got the opportunity to take her skin care empire to another level on a Centric reality show.

On Saturday, Jan. 14, the Centric network will air "Queen Boss," its first business competition reality series for African American women, at 10 p.m.

EST, when Wright will compete for the crown.

She will be featured on the first episode of the series hosted

by TV personality and businesswoman Tracey Edmonds.

"I heard that Centric was doing a new show featuring entrepreneurs and it was an opportunity for women of color to pitch their ideas," Wright said. "First you pitch, the judges then give you a task, and if you perform well at the task then you move to the next round. It's a mix between 'Shark Tank' and 'The Apprentice.'"

Wright first applied to compete on the show, and after a successful casting interview she became one of the 18 contestants offered a spot on the series.

As the founder of Shea Yeleen, a natural, organic, fair-trade skin care company currently on the shelves of over 100 Whole Foods, she joined the show for added publicity.

"I applied primarily for the exposure for my company and then two I thought it would be an amazing opportunity to be mentored by the judges and women who have been very successful in their own right in running businesses," Wright said.

The panel of judges for the show include celebrities such as Vanessa Simmons, Lauren Lake, Kandi Burruss, Carla Hall, Mikki Taylor, Lisa Price, Rakia Reynolds, Angela Benton and Robin Wilson.

"I expect that people will see a group of black women who have amazing ideas, who are at different levels in terms of where the business is at. They will have a very competitive attitude trying to get the title of Queen Boss."

Wright started Shea Yeleen in her early 20s, finding inspiration

in her Ghanian heritage and being a Peace Corps volunteer stationed in West Africa.

"I never would have thought in a million years I would be running a skin care business," she said. "My career path was very much focused on international affairs. I was groomed to become a foreign service officer and work at American embassies globally, that was my initial plan."

Wright asserted that, as half-Ghanaian, she always had an affinity for Africa and women's issues, particularly because of her mother's story as an immigrant woman.

"My mother had a lot of challenges growing up in a conservative community in northern Ghana," she said. "So she wasn't afforded a lot of opportunities and resources, for example she wasn't able to go to school.

"A lot of the challenges I heard my mom share with my growing up, I actually witnessed as a Peace Corp volunteer," Wright said. "I felt like I want to do something to make a difference. I want to do something to help women."

Wright claims that her relationship formed with the women on the ground through living in the villages and making connections with them.

"A lot of people don't know women are the traditional harvesters of Shea," she said. "There is not a Shea product anywhere in the world that doesn't touch a woman in Africa, because the tree only grows in Africa in 19 countries and women are the only ones who harvest the fruit."

"Whether it's a high-end product in Nordstrom or someone selling it on the street, a woman was a part of that supply chain and she could have been negatively impacted or, [as] in Shea Yeleen's case, positively," she said.

Wright said she developed relationships with many of the women through volunteer work and living in the community. Her company provides the women with living wages and training, development skills and access to capital, she said.

In December, Wright saw another boost to her business by partnering with the MGM National Harbor Spa to create a luxury line under the Shea Yeleen brand. She hopes that those who tune into "Queen Boss" will be inspired by her story.

"I expect people who haven't heard of Shea Yeleen, to know my story and here more about the business that very much has a huge social impact," she said. WI

5 Rahama Wright, founder of the skin-care line Shea Yeleen, will star as a contestant on Centric's business competition reality show "Queen Boss," airing on Jan. 14. / Courtesy photo

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Oldest Black Fraternal Organization Makes History

By Lauren Poteat WI Contributing Writer

5 Washington D.C. celebrates 85th Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia

Inauguration / Photo by Hamil Harris

30 JANUARY 12 - 18, 2017

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One of D.C.'s oldest and largest black community service-based organizations recently rang in a new era of development and change.

As the oldest black fraternal organization in D.C., the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia celebrated a unique 2017 inauguration, with the installment of their first Grand Worthy Matron with no Masonic affiliations and with the installment of one of their youngest Worshipful Masters in recent memory.

Defying traditional law set before the 1990s that once required all women wishing to become an Eastern Star (the female counterpart of Masonry) to be a blood relative or a wife of a Master Mason, the newly elected Grand Matron expressed her sentiments on why the Jan. 7 event represented something much larger than just an inauguration.

"I am the first Grand Worthy Matron from the Window of Opportunity, which means that I had no Masonic affiliation that allowed me to come in," Patricia L. Young said. "But with the sisters, mothers and wives and daughters of master masons that have been around for over 200 years, who still still care enough about the bond between their family, friends and community to keep this organization going is very important.

"Aside from talk of history and legacy, never forget the community," she said. "Children are our future. That is why we work so hard turning them into great men and great women by providing them with activities like chess, golf and educational trips and embarking on Breast Cancer walks with Howard University and partnering with St. Jude's Children's Hospital."

A highlight of the historic event was the newly elected 85th Grand Master of the same lodge, who made it a point to lay down organizational fabrics for the upcoming year.

"My vision and direction for the jurisdiction is going to be a little different from what I think this group is use to," Phillip L. David said. "With that being said, I'm really focusing on strengthen-

“I am the first Grand Worthy Matron from the Window of Opportunity which means that I had no Masonic affiliation that allowed me to come in.�

RPATRICIA L. YOUNG

ing our organization internally by concentrating on retaining and increasing membership in the lodge, growing membership among females and heavily focusing on the outside community.

"I have plans to become more involved in the District's Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC), seeking new partnerships and establishing better relationships with the community," David said. "For instance, on Saturday, January 14, we will hold a prayer breakfast at our lodge and on Feb. 4, we also plan to host a community blood drive."

Founded under the precedent of Prince Hall, a freed slave who founded the first (African) Freemason Lodge, the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia contains over 4,000 men and women within the jurisdiction, striving to provide additional community service events within the community.

"When times become hard and decisions will be tough, please direct me in the right way to make the correct decisions for the betterment of this jurisdiction," David said during a prayer at the start of his address. "In approximately 13 days we will inaugurate the next president of the United States, Donald J. Trump. President Trump constantly alienated many ethnic groups and women while on the campaign trail but still won the election." WI

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LIFESTYLE D.C. Braces for Inauguration Gridlock

By Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer In New York, the locust of rippling slowdowns is in midtown Manhattan.

"All storeowners were all blocked up," Jonathan, a construction superintendent, told the Guardian.

He couldn't help noticing that since Donald Trump's election win, his Trump Tower had become a fortress-like impediment on a major crosstown thoroughfare, forcing the city's politicians, police, pedestrians and all things on wheels to adjust to the new normal.

"The first couple of days, it was impossible," he said.

It’s a scene D.C. knows all too well.

For District residents, traffic snarls, commuter slowdowns and Metro delays are particularly epic during inaugurations.

"This will be my sixth inauguration since I moved to D.C. and I'm just not looking forward to it," said Marjorie Sellers, a marketing consultant who works on F Street in Northwest, just blocks from the White House.

This year, Sellers said she's leaving town, getting away from the gridlock, if just for the day.

"I would go to New York, but I understand that because of his buildings there, it'll be a headache there too, so maybe I'll just stay with friends in Baltimore," Sellers said.

While the typical inaugural festivities are sufficient to create commuting nightmares, the swearing-in of Trump as the nation's 45th president brings even more

unique challenges.

Several protests, including one led by the Rev. Al Sharpton, are scheduled to take place.

"When you have such a controversial president-elect who has insulted and angered just about every minority group in existence, you are going to have some pushback," said Landon Shumpert, a certified public accountant who works in Northwest. "The presence of Sharpton in this case was to be expected, but it also means that security will be even more heightened and the authorities will probably be all the more vigilant."

While crowd control and the protection of the new president and other dignitaries are paramount, officials in the District also are likely finalizing the city's evacuation plan to be used in emergencies.

Yue Liu, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's College of Engineering & Applied Science, was key in developing the D.C. area's official evacuation plan implemented for the 2009 presidential inauguration of Barack Obama.

In a news release, Liu said the plan included using 50,000 Metro and school buses to evacuate the area.

Since Hurricane Katrina, many U.S. cities have implemented evacuation plans to manage natural and man-made disasters, including earthquakes, acts of terrorism and recurring civic events such as sporting events.

City evacuations have been Liu's area of expertise for a decade and

he was key in creating official evacuation plans for several U.S. cities and regions, including Baltimore; Ocean City, Maryland; the state of Maryland; and the East Coast from Delaware to North Carolina - to use in the event of a hurricane.

During Obama's second inauguration, police shut down dozens of downtown Washington streets and closed major arteries into the city, CNN reported.

For Trump's inauguration, parking is expected to be tighter than usual and bags will be inspected. Tickets, as per usual, will be required to get close to the ceremonies.

The inauguration weekend National Special Security Event will have the Secret Service leading a web of agencies pulling together security and transportation to handle the throng expected to see Trump take the oath of office.

The Secret Service, Metropolitan Police Department, Capitol Police and Park Police are expected to shut down major and minor roads alike around Capitol Hill, where the ceremony will take place.

They'll secure the National Mall and the Memorial Bridge, which connects the Virginia side of the Potomac to Washington near the Lincoln Memorial, will be open to foot traffic only.

It's not New York, but the Big Apple mayor's advice for his residents may as well be told to District dwellers.

"To the extent that you can avoid the immediate area … that will make your own life easier, and everyone's life easier," said New York Mayor Bill de Blasio. WI

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Mosaic Theater Hits a Homerun with New Season Opener

‘CHARM’ Poignantly Shows Challenges Facing Trans Community D. Kevin McNeir WI Editor Sitting in my seat on Sunday, Jan. 8 as part of an audience viewing the Mosaic Theater’s season opening of the play “CHARM,” I initially believed that I would “exit stage left” during or before intermission.

That was before I allowed the playwright Philip Dawkins’ comedic drama to take shape.

Luckily, I reconsidered my decision and witnessed the full story about Mama Darleena Andrews, a 67-year-old transgender woman, portrayed with skill, emotion and conviction

by B’Ellana Duquesne, a transgender actress who continues to garner well-deserved accolades.

The role, inspired by the life and work of Chicago transgender activist Gloria Allen, recalls Allen’s nationally-touted efforts in the development of a unique etiquette class for LGBTQ youth at Chicago’s Center on Halsted.

The play continues through Jan. 8 at the Atlas Performing Arts Center in Northeast and is the latest production in the innovative theater company’s

5 The cast of CHARM. / Courtesy photo

“Clamorous Encounters Series: Coming-of-Age in America.”

As the star of the show, Mama Darleena heads an etiquette class for transgender and gender nonconforming youth with a style of mentoring that meets her students at their own vulnerabilities and weaknesses, giving them the tools they need to both overcome prejudice and to love themselves in the midst of their often criticized differences.

Meanwhile, we are emotionally and intellectually challenged by this work and its themes that address the fears and pain of the transgender community that includes both youth and seniors and which has recently emerged as one of the nation’s newest groups of marginalized citizens.

I was taken aback by the raucous laugher, boisterous words of affirmation and then the keenly audible crying that emanated by members of audience throughout the performance.

As the play came to a conclusion, I realized that I have tended to view the transgender community, some with whom I am closely connected, through

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a fractured lens. The play’s subtle yet powerful message hit me at the core: “We deserve to be treated with dignity and respect just like any other human being.”

Hats off to the play’s director, Natsu Onoa Power, a D.C.-based playwright, director and set designer of the finest caliber.

As for the youthful cast, I similarly applaud their performances which were often so well done that I forgot I was watching a play. It began to feel like I was a silent observer in the real life drama of young adults seeking to find where they can fit in a society that shuns their very existence.

Look out for Nyla Rose in the role of Ariella, Kimberly Gilbert who plays the role of the Center’s director “D,” a character who herself faces difficulties associated with her own gender identification and thespian Clayton Pelham, Jr. whose portrayal of former gang-banger Beta, once part of a gay-described group of hooligans who target members of the trans community, is just outstanding.

Mama Darleena in one of her most poignant moments, describes what it’s like as she faces her own mortality as an aging, transgender woman: “I’m faced with the reality that while once everyone was looking at me, now I feel like no one is looking at me – no one sees me.”

Other powerful words from members of the cast include: “Sometimes you gotta kill yourself to survive” and “I just wish there was someone who thought I was enough for them.”

“CHARM” is a play that I highly recommend. Just be sure to bring your handkerchief and to be receptive to the strong possibility that your perspective about America’s transgender community will be challenged, confronted and even changed for the better.

For ticket information, go to mosaictheater.org or call 202399-7993, ext. 2.

WI

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LIFESTYLE

Bowser Closes Loophole for GPS Monitors

Consequences Now the Same for All Violators

By Sarafina Wright WI Staff Writer D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser signed the Omnibus Public Safety & Justice Amendment Act of 2016 to crack down on criminals that tamper with their GPS monitoring devices.

On Wednesday, Jan. 4, as part of the mayor's Safer Stronger DC initiative, she closed a critical loophole that allowed individuals who were ordered to wear electronic monitoring devices to go unpunished after removing, disabling or tampering with the device.

"Last year, the District of Columbia saw significant decreases in the numbers of homicides, burglaries and robberies," Bowser said. "Violent and property crimes are down in our first two years in office, but we can and must do better.

"This legislation is a strong step to remedy a critical shortcoming in our criminal justice system," she said. "In 2017, we will con-

tinue to use all available tools to create a safer, stronger D.C. Our residents and visitors deserve nothing less."

Under the new law, any agency that can order a person on supervised release to wear a GPS monitoring device, such as the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency, the Pretrial Services Agency and the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, can enforce attempts at tampering with the device.

Individuals found guilty of tampering with their GPS monitoring devices can face up to six months in jail.

The mayor said GPS monitoring devices are a significant tool in monitoring compliance by persons on supervised release. They can also deter reoffending and aid law enforcement in criminal investigations.

Law enforcement agencies have been able to make arrests in violent crimes where participants were wearing a GPS monitoring device while committing the

crime, such as a 2013 drive-by shooting on North Capitol Street in Northeast that wounded 13 people.

Under previous District law, anyone under supervised release, such as an individual on release pending trial, probation, parole, or ordered by a supervision agency to wear a GPS device, should have been held criminally responsible for tampering with the device — including any attempt to remove it, failure to charge it, or trying to mask its signal.

However, because of a decision by the Court of Appeals, the law had been interpreted to mean that prosecutions could only be done when the individual had been ordered to wear a GPS device by the U.S. Parole Commission or a judge, the mayor said.

Joining Bowser at the bill signing were U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Channing Phillips, D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine, interim Police Chief Peter Newsham and Council members Charles Allen (Ward 6)

5 D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is joined U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Channing Phillips, D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine, Council members Charles Allen and Kenyan McDuffie and interim D.C. police Chief Peter Newsham on Jan. 4 as she signs legislation closing a loophole in the city's law against GPS tampering by criminals. / Courtesy of Karl Racine

and Kenyan McDuffie (Ward 5).

McDuffie, chair of the Committee on the Judiciary, said this new provision "makes enforcement consistent."

"This law makes MPD more nimble in its recruiting and hiring in order to maintain appro-

priate staffing, it outlaws one of the most predatory crimes in our Latino community and makes sure those people who are required to wear a GPS device can be penalized for tampering with that device," he said.

WI

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Robert Battle, Artistic Director Masazumi Chaya, Associate Artistic Director

Yannick Lebrun. Photo by Andrew Eccles

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Martin Luther King III and Dick Gregory were among the nation's top leaders who joined District residents at the R.I.S.E. Center in Southeast on Monday, Jan. 9 to share words of inspiration with city youth (above).

Youth (pictured below) received honors for their commitment to peace and justice later that day in a program developed by activist Ron Moten. / Photo by Travis Riddick

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The Winter in Lisbon Awakening (Robert Battle) Revelations Sat., Feb. 11 at 7:30 p.m.

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The Winter in Lisbon r-Evolution, Dream.

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agreements.

"For one, pay raises somehow, are always lowest on the list and those are just numbers to be crunched and squabbled over," Tansey said. "This latest contract will largely be about the

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role of the teacher making decisions, and I suspect the harder arguments will be about how much of a leadership role a teacher has in their school."

But Davis, who's gone on record stating she and everyone on her negotiation team would like to have both the teacher pay and contract

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issues resolved prior to Wilson's arrival, said she sees no reason why that can't be achieved now.

She alluded to the contract's language, saying, "even though they did not accept any of our proposals, I agreed to leave the language that was already there so that we could get to the compensation."

As for money for pay raises, it's readily available from untapped city funds, she said.

"Of course it can be done now," Davis said. "The issue is not the whole contract, but with just one part of the contract — which is compensation."

On the other hand, WTU local 6 member Candi Peterson isn't so sure Davis can negotiate the contract within a matter of weeks.

"That's the million-dollar question," Peterson said, adding that teachers have been waiting three and a half years for a contract under Davis and that many are doubtful she will deliver anytime soon.

"Certainly it would be the new chancellor's job to negotiate a contract with WTU when he starts the new position," she said. "It has little to do with being fair — it's what Chancellor Wilson signed up for.

It's his responsibility to work with all unions."

WI

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LIFESTYLE

wi book reviewA

Horoscopes

JAN 12 - 18, 2017

ARIES Although you may be eager to fully engage with your responsibilities, another part of you could feel like running away. The key is to pace yourself and arrange for times to get out and have some fun. The January 12 Full Moon might be better handled if you take some time out for a massage or other health treatment. Lucky Numbers: 4, 5, 40

"Writing to Save a Life: The Louis Till File"

TAURUS The cosmos suggests that there's nothing to fear from striking out into the unknown. At the same time, you could be excited about the possibilities it holds for you.

With a focus on expanding your horizons, events may conspire to take you in a new direction. You don't have to rush, though. A leisurely pace is just fine. Lucky Numbers: 39, 47, 52

by John Edgar Wideman c.2016, Scribner $25 ($34 Canada) 195 pages

GEMINI With the present picture revealing a powerful emphasis on a more intense sector of your chart, you might need to face issues that involve some powerful emotions.

And while it would be easier to do anything but confront them, once you do, you might find that layers of anxiety and buried tension begin to peel away. Easy does it, though!

Lucky Numbers: 4, 9, 16 CANCER You may feel someone else is pulling the strings and controlling aspects of

your life that you'd prefer to manage yourself. However, the Full Moon phase can be a time when you overreact. When you do approach this person, you'll want to do so in a measured and thoughtful way. Lucky Numbers: 26, 28, 29

Writing to Save a Life

LEO Although you might like to drop your responsibilities and take some time off, it

By Terri Schlichenmeyer WI Contributing Writer

may not be possible just yet. You may enjoy dwelling on thoughts of a vacation that can offers you a change of scenery. You may insist that you don't have time, but if you delegate some of your tasks, you could find that you can do it after all. Lucky Numbers: 2, 22, 38

Even if you wanted to, you couldn't escape your father.

For most of your life, you were known as Little Him. Junior. Insert-your-father'sname-here's kid. You're a chip off the ol' block, maybe named after your pops, forever known as your dad's offspring. But, as John Edgar Wideman indicates in "Writing to Save a Life: The Louis Till File," that doesn't mean that the supposed sins of a father should be laid at the feet of his child.

On a hot Chicago summer day in 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till took a train south to visit family in Mississippi. He left with a sense of excitement and came home in a special-ordered, glass-lidded coffin, because his mother wanted "the world" to know what had happened to him.

There was, of course, a trial for his murder, and fourteen-year-old John Edgar Wideman watched it unfold. He'd always wanted to write "Emmett Till fiction" but real life turned out to be more compelling: two weeks before the Grand Jury convened, someone leaked Emmett's father's confidential military records, revealing that Pvt. Louis Till had been hanged in Italy a decade earlier for the crimes of rape and murder.

The revelation changed the expected outcome of the trial.

In that same summer of 1955, Wideman fell in love, became broken-hearted, and saw pictures of dead Emmett in Jet magazine. That summer, he was sad, confused, angry, and so was his father, he says. There were other parallels, too; so many lines drawn from fathers to sons that made Wideman and his dad "afraid of each other."

With that in mind, Wideman requested Louis Till's file and discovered "helter-skelter" papers and a "hodgepodge of this and that." Till had been just "a kid" when hanged, the probable victim of an "ugly story." Had he been around to "school his son … about the South," would Emmett have come home alive? Can a man change the outcome of his child's existence?

Though "Writing to Save a Life" is an intriguing, even provocative book, it may be a struggle to read. For sure, it's going to take some getting used to.

In with news clips, files, history, current events, and reconstructions of what might have happened decades ago to Louis, Mamie and Emmett Till, author John Edgar Wideman melts his own experiences and his imagination. That's a great method of storytelling, and it lends urgency and relevancy but it's not very well delineated here — meaning that it sometimes takes a minute to understand when this book takes a fictional turn and when it turns back again. That can be a distraction, even as those switch-and-switch-backs add to the emotional feel of the story. Purists may also find an occasional lack of punctuation to be quite irritating.

But keep reading. This is a hard-hitting, raw-spirited tale that ultimately gets under your skin, and it'll make you think about fathers, sons and what they might leave one another. Keep reading — because "Writing to Save a Life" will become a book you can't forget, even if you wanted to. WI

VIRGO If you have responsibilities at home that demand a lot of your time and energy, a positive alignment hints that you may already have found a way around this. This is good news for you, especially if you have your heart set on making one idea a complete success. Indeed, it may feel like a burden is gradually lifting from your shoulders. Lucky Numbers: 25, 30, 54

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LIBRA You and another may clash over very different ideas on how to tackle a family situation. Discuss this in a more rational and productive way. Tthere's a chance that one or both of you could overreact. Allow time for your feelings to settle. It will be easier to find common ground if you do. Lucky Numbers: 28, 33, 41 SCORPIO Plans you thought were set in stone could be disrupted, yet you might be pleased about this. If you must attend to responsibilities, you could feel like rebelling and doing your own thing instead. You might need to knuckle down and get those things done. You'll be free to enjoy yourself once they're out of the way. Lucky Numbers: 10, 15, 18 SAGITTARIUS A focus on your home and family zone can be a time to stand back

from life and enjoy spending time with those you love most. While you may have big plans in the offing, you should still take the opportunity for some nurturing and self-care.

This is your time to be good to yourself. Those projects you must finish will still be there after you've had a chance to recharge. Lucky Numbers: 3, 6, 29

CAPRICORN What you want and what your family wants may be two different things. This week, others could expect to be involved in key discussions regarding important decisions. And with a Full Moon complicating events and possibly creating some drama, emotions may be running high. However, this could allow for a release of tension.

Once everyone has had their say and things have calmed down, you may find that you can find a harmonious solution that works for all. Lucky Numbers: 4, 47, 48 AQUARIUS Your instincts can play a part in helping you make the right decisions.

With head and heart potentially clashing, you may feel pulled in two directions. You may find it almost impossible to know what your next steps should be. If you wait until you feel calmer and more centered, you may be able to hear the voice of your intuition loud and clear. Lucky Numbers: 41, 43, 50 PISCES You should feel in your element with enhanced vitality and confidence. With your social life still very active now, you could be the star attraction at any event as your charisma sparkles more than usual. Go easy with the cash if you're out and about in the coming days. Lucky Numbers: 11, 24, 30

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JANUARY 12 - 18, 2017 35

SPORTS Wizards Hang on Against T'Wolves, 112-105

5 Washington Wizards guard John Wall takes on Minnesota Timberwolves guard Ricky Rubio during the first quarter of the Wizards' 112-105 win at Verizon Center in Northwest on Friday, Jan. 6. / Photo by John E. De Freitas

3Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal is double-teamed by Minnesota Timberwolves guards Ricky Rubio (left) and Zach LaVine during the second quarter of the Wizards' 112-105 win at Verizon Center in Northwest on Friday, Jan. 6. / Photo by John E. De Freitas

Wizards Win Ninth Straight Home Game William J. Ford WI Staff Writer @jabariwill The Washington Wizards were in need of some home cooking after an 0-2 Texas road trip last week. They got it Friday night, returning to Verizon Center to knock off the upstart Minnesota Timberwolves, 112-105.

The Wizards, led by John Wall's 18 points and season-high 18 assists, recorded their ninth straight home win, their longest such streak in nearly four years.

"I don't think we've ever won nine [home games] in a row" during his Wizards tenure, Wall said. "There is a lot of excitement and it's great to know that when they call our names the crowd is there cheering for us."

Late in the fourth quarter while Wall stood at the free-throw line, the crowd chanted "MVP!" several times.

"I heard them. I was just trying not to miss. That's embarrassing when you hear it and then you miss," he said with a smile.

Bradley Beal led the Wizards in scoring with 22 points, 5-7 from the 3-point line. The team shot 58 per-

36 JANUARY 12 - 18, 2017

cent from the floor, including 12 of 22 beyond the arc.

Washington pushed the lead to 14 in the third quarter and seemed ready to pull away, but Timberwolves forward Andrew Wiggins heated up with 16 points in the quarter, leading a 20-6 run to cut the deficit to 74-72.

The Timberwolves actually were up 85-80 going into the fourth, but the Wizards defense picked up at the beginning of the quarter, and a quick 9-0 spurt gave them a lead they wouldn't relinquish.

Wiggins, who averages nearly 22 points per game, finished with a game-high 41, which was of little consolation to the third-year forward.

"What we did offensively doesn't mean anything at the end of the day," Wiggins said. "Defense is what wins games."

Wizards head coach Scott Brooks would agree.

"We got out to the 14-point lead because we were defending … and we were getting out in transition, which is when we're at our best," Brooks said. "Then we relaxed. Then

Wiggins got extremely hot and it was hard to turn him off."

Brooks praised Beal's defense on Timberwolves guard Zach LaVine, who missed his first eight shots and finished with eight points, 13 off his season average.

"I just changed the way I guarded him," Beal said. "Went over screens.

Went under screens. Contested everything. I gave him a few pushes here and there [and] was a little physical with him to get him off his spots."

The Wizards say the trick is now learning to make such winning plays outside Verizon Center.

"We got to find a way to win on the road," Wall said. "When we can do that, we will be a team over .500."

Washington (18-18) picked up its fourth road victory of the season Sunday with a 107-101 win over the Milwaukee Bucks, which blew out Washington at home by 27 points on Dec. 23.

Giannis Antetokounmpo, who leads the Bucks in scoring at 24 points per game and assists at nearly six per contest, didn't play due to an illness. WI

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5 Minnesota Timberwolves guard Ricky Rubio drives past Washington Wiz-

ards guard John Wall during the third quarter of the Wizards' 112-105 win at Verizon Center in Northwest on Friday, Jan. 6. / Photo by John E. De Freitas

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SPORTS Butler Needs OT to Down Georgetown, 85-76 3 Georgetown Hoyas forward Marcus Derrickson drives past Butler Bulldogs guard Kethan Savage during the third quarter of Butler's 85-76 OT win at Verizon Center in Northwest on Saturday, Jan. 7. / Photo by John E. De Freitas

6 Georgetown Hoyas center Bradley Hayes grabs a rebound over Butler Bulldogs forward Andrew Chrabascz during the third quarter of Butler's 85-76 OT win at Verizon Center in Northwest on Saturday, Jan. 7. / Photo by John E. De Freitas

4 Butler Bulldogs

guard Kamar Baldwin shoots over Georgetown Hoyas guard Rodney Pryor during the first quarter of Butler's 8576 OT win at Verizon Center in Northwest on Saturday, Jan. 7. / Photo

by John E. De Freitas

3 Butler Bull-

dogs forward Tyler Wideman is stymied by three Georgetown defenders during the first quarter of Butler's 85-76 OT win at Verizon Center in Northwest on Saturday, Jan. 7. / wPhoto by John E. De Freitas

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JANUARY 12 - 18, 2017 37

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the college, which was established two years after the end of the Civil War. The school is affiliated with the United Church of Christ, a liberal Protestant denomination that was deeply involved in the civil rights movement, and for decades it served as an incubator for theories and practices of social justice.

Nikky Finney, a poet and Talladega graduate who is now a professor at the University of South Carolina, said in a statement published by The New York Times that the band should not help celebrate Trump, who, she said, has maligned women and Mexican immigrants and has proposed barring all Muslims from entering the country.

In an interview this week, Finney, channeling a James Brown lyric, said the college had "sold out the history of Talladega College for chicken change" and "maybe a tin star on a hatemonger's parade route."

The newspaper reported that an online petition had be launched calling for the band to withdraw from the inaugural parade. The petition had attracted more than

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"We have a reputation of fighting for freedom and equal rights and justice and he doesn't stand for any."

SHIRLEY FERRIL / 1974 Alumnus 1,900 signers, some of them supporters of the college who have threatened to withhold future contributions.

Similar issues have been raised about other entertainers scheduled to perform, among them the Radio City Rockettes and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. But because of Talladega's history, the issues have been especially intense, with calls for the college to reverse its decision to take part in the festivities.

Talladega was founded in 1867 by former slaves and has 800 students. It is Alabama's oldest private historically black liberal arts college, CNN reported.

Shirley Ferrill, a 1974 alumnus who started the petition calling for the band to withdraw, said she was most offended by Trump's November 2015 rally in Birmingham, in which a Black Lives Matter protester was beaten, punched and kicked by white men in the crowd.

"We have a reputation of fighting for freedom and equal rights and justice and he doesn't stand for any.

Hawkins said the school's administration did not rush to accept the invitation because it wanted to "hear and consider the thoughts and feelings of the Talladega College community."

He noted that while the event is considered a "once-in-a-lifetime experience for the students," the

school must now raise more than $60,000 to cover the expense of the trip to Washington, CNN said.

That has raised even more ire from those who said the college shouldn't participate.

"There's a great deal of fear in this country that the Voting Rights Act is going to be abolished, that the Affordable Care Act is going to be abolished, that Planned Parenthood is going to be cut off from funding, that Medicaid is going be cut off from funding," said J. Mason Davis, a Birmingham lawyer who graduated from the college in 1956.

"Don't you understand why we have a fear of the man?"

Yet, Donavon Jackson, 24, a former trumpet player in the band who graduated last year, told The Times that performing as part of the inauguration would be particularly special for a college of about 1,000 students whose band program is only about five years old.

The school does not have a football team, which makes parade invitations all the more importan "I'm honored to go to a school that can say they marched in an inauguration parade," said Jackson, who received a chemistry degree and now lives in Houston.

"Not necessarily for the person — and that's not necessarily saying he's a bad person." WI

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RELIGION THE RELIGION CORNER

The Griffin Firm, PLLC

The 13th Amendment and Impact of Incarceration Join Former Ward 5 Council member Harry Thomas Jr. at the African American Civil War Museum with a panel of speakers, as they watch Ava Duvernay's film "13."

The Breaking Chains Panel and "13" preview is being held in celebration of the Martin Luther King holiday on Monday, Jan. 16 from 4 p.m.-6 p.m. Special emphasis will be placed on the impact of incarceration on our community as the panel discusses voter disenfranchisement and its social impacts.

Joining moderator Thomas are panelists, Roach Brown, Natasha Dasher and Frank Smith, founding director of the museum, located at 1925 Vermont Avenue NW in D.C. A column by New York Daily News's Shaun King, titled "How the 13th Amendment didn't really abolish slavery, but let it live on in U.S. prisons," gets right to the problem that still exists to this day!

The article shared how it is hard for us to accept that this amendment goes against everything we were ever taught about the history of this country. We have been duped. The history has taken place over the past 150 years.

The 13th Amendment reads, "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

Scripture reminds us this way: Turning Hearts Church

"For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." (Galatians 5:1) The 13th Amendment did not end slavery. It was not abolished once and for all, as we were taught, rather given the constitutional protection that has maintained the practice of American slavery in various forms to this very day.

It is why the American prison population is the largest in the world! Men and women inside of those prisons are effectively slaves, working for free or next to nothing, generating a $2 billion a year industry that employs nearly 900,000 prisoners while paying them a few cents an hour, and often, nothing at all.

"In addition to work for private companies, prisoners also cook, clean, and work on maintenance and construction in the prisons themselves — forcing officials to pay staff to carry out those tasks in response to work stoppages. We must demand the end to prison slavery by ceasing to be slaves.

This nation was literally and figuratively built on the backs of hundreds of years of free labor.

After the Civil War, which was the bloodiest war in this nation's history and cost the country as many as 750,000 lives in combat, the Emancipation Proclamation effectively freed over 3 million enslaved men, women and children from forced plantation bondage.

Following that, the 13th

The Rev. E. Bernard Anderson Priest

4275 4th Street, S.E. Washington, DC 20034 Phone: 202-746-0113 Fax: 301-843-2445

Foggy Bottom - Founded in 1867 728 23rd Street, NW - Washington, DC 20037 Church office: 202-333-3985 - Fax : 202-338-4958

Motto : “A Great Commitment to the Great Commandment” Website: www.turningheartschurchdc.org Email: faithdefender@verizon.net

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with Lyndia Grant Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified in 1865 to end the institution of slavery as we knew it, but it fell far short of offering the nation a full, complete and true ban of the practice of slavery. Instead, the institution shape-shifted and morphed in peculiar ways — still primarily on black backs, but inside of less offensive systems and structures which made it a much more complicated and nebulous target.

Forty-seven words. The entire 13th Amendment, one of the most well-known of our entire Constitution, is just 47 words long. Those words aren't about ending slavery, but are shockingly about how and when slavery could receive a wink and a nod to continue.

It is with this in mind that you are invited to attend this celebration. Join Harry Thomas Jr. and Frank Smith for your MLK holiday, and support this new movement for change!

WI

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Historic St. Mary’s Episcopal Church

Virgil K. Thomas, Sr. Senior Pastor/ Teacher

Service and Times Sunday School 8 – 9 AM Worship Service 9 – 11 AM Tuesday Night Bible Study 6:30 – 8:00 PM Wednesday Daytime Bible Study 11 AM – 12:30 PM

Committed to providing services and supports to increase the capacity of individuals, businesses, and communities.

Service and Times Sundays: 10 a.m. Holy Eucharist with Music and Hymns Wednesdays: 12:10 p.m. - Holy Eucharist www.stmarysfoggybottom.org Email: stmarysoffice@stmarysfoggybottom.org All are welcome to St. Mary’s to Learn, Worship, and Grow.

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JANUARY 12 - 18, 2017 39

RELIGION The Miracle Center of Faith Missionary Baptist Church

Pilgrim Baptist Church Rev. Louis B. Jones II Pastor

Bishop Michael C. Turner, Sr. Senior Pastor 9161 Hampton Overlook Capitol Heights, MD 20743 Phone: 301-350-2200 Fax: 301-499-8724

700 I Street, N.E. Washington, D.C. 20002 (202) 547-8849 Service and Times Worship Sundays: 7:30 & 11:00am 5th Sundays: 9:30am 3rd Sundays: Baptism & Holy Communion Prayer & Praise: Wednesdays @ Noon & 6:30pm

Service and Times Sunday Worship Times : 7:30 a.m. 7 10:00 a.m.

Communion: 1st Sunday Sunday School: 9:00 a.m.

Bible Study: Wednesday, 12 Noon Bible Study in homes: Tuesday 7:00 p.m.

Website: www.themiraclecenterFMBC.com Email: Miraclecenterfmbs@gmail.com Motto: “We Walk by Faith, Not by Sight”

www.pilgrimbaptistdc.org

Church of Living Waters

Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church

Crusader Baptist Church

Rev. Paul Carrette Senior Pastor

Rev. Dr. Michael E. Bell, Sr., Pastor

Rev. Dr. Alton W. Jordan Pastor

Reverend Dr. Calvin L. Matthews Senior Pastor

Harold Andrew Assistant Pastor

2498 Alabama Ave., SE - Washington D.C. 20020 Office: (202) 889-7296 Fax: (202) 889-2198 - www.acamec.org

800 I Street, NE - Washington, DC 20002 202-548-0707 - Fax No. 202-548-0703

4915 Wheeler Road Oxon Hill, MD 20745 301-894-6464

Service and Times Sunday Worship Services: 8:00am and 11:00am Sunday Church School - 9:15am & Sunday Adult Forum Bible Study - 10:30am 2nd & 4th Monday Women’s Bible Study: 6:30pm Tuesday Jr./Sr. Bible Study: 10:00am Tuesday Topical Bible Study: 6:30pm Tuesday New Beginnings Bible Study: 6:30pm Wednesday Pastoral Bible Study: 6:30pm Wednesday Children’s Bible Study: 6:30pm Thursday Men’s Bible Study: 6:30pm Friday before 1st Sunday Praise & Worship Service: 6:30pm Saturday Adult Bible Study: 10:00am “The Amazing, Awesome, Audacious Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church”

Service and Times Sunday Morning Worship: 11:00am Holy Communion: 1st Sunday Sunday School: 9:45am Men’s Monday Bible Study: 7:00pm Wednesday Night Bible Study: 7:00pm Women’s Ministry Bible Study: 3rd Friday -7:00pm Computer Classes: Announced Family and Marital Counseling by appointment

1200 Isle of Patmos Plaza, Northeast Washington, DC 20018 Office: (202) 529-6767 - Fax: (202) 526-1661

Service and Times Sunday Service: 8:30am& 11:00am Bible Study: Wednesday 7:30pm Communion Service: First Sunday www.livingwatersmd.org

E-mail: Crusadersbaptistchurch@verizon.net www.CrusadersBaptistChurch.org “God is Love”

Covenant Baptist United Church of Christ

St. Stephen Baptist Church

Third Street Church of God

Dr. Dekontee L. & Dr. Ayele A. Johnson Pastors

Drs. Dennis W. & Christine Y. Wiley Pastors

Bishop Lanier C. Twyman, Sr. Senior Pastor

Rev. Cheryl J. Sanders, Th.D. Senior Pastor

Bishop Alfred A. Owens, Jr.; Senior Bishop & Evangelist Susie C. Owens – Co-Pastor

4001 14th Street, NW Washington, DC 20011 (202) 265-6147 Office 1-800 576-1047 Voicemail/Fax

3845 South Capitol Street Washington, DC 20032 (202) 562-5576 (Office) (202) 562-4219 (Fax)

5757 Temple Hill Road, Temple Hills, MD 20748 Office 301-899-8885 – fax 301-899-2555

1204 Third Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 202-347-5889 office 202-638-1803 fax

610 Rhode Island Avenue, NE Washington, DC 20002 (202) 529-4547 office • (202) 529-4495 fax

Service and Times Sunday School: 9:30am Sunday Morning Worship Service: 11:00am Communion Service: First Sunday Prayer Service/Bible Study: Tuesday, 6:30pm

Services and Times Sundays: 10:00am Worship Services Bible Study: Wonderful Wednesdays in Worship and the Word Bible Study Wednesdays 12:00 Noon; 6:30pm (dinner @ 5:30pm) Sunday School: 9:00am – Hour of Power

Blessed Word of Life Church

www.blessedwordoflifechurch.org E-mail: church@blessedwordoflifechurch.org

“An inclusive ministry where all are welcomed and affirmed.” www.covenantbaptistdc.org

Campbell AME Church

Service and Times Sunday Worship Service: 10:00 am Sunday Church School: 8:45 am Bible Study Wednesday: 12:00 Noon Wednesday: 7:00 pm Thursday: 7: pm “Reaching Up To Reach Out” Mailing Address Campbell AME Church 2502 Stanton Road SE - Washington, DC 20020

Services and Times Sunday School: 9:30am Sunday Worship: 11:00am Prayer Meeting and Bible Study: Wed. 7:30pm

“We are one in the Spirit” www.ssbc5757.org E-mail: ssbc5757@verizon.net

www.thirdstreet.org

“Ambassadors for Christ to the Nation’s Capital”

Sunday Worship Service: 8 AM and 10:45am Sunday Youth Worship Services: 1st & 4th 10:45am; 804 R.I. Ave., NE 5th 8 AM & 10:45am; Main Church Prayer Services Tuesday – Noon, Wednesday 6am & 6:30pm Calvary Bible Institute: Year-Round Contact Church Communion Every 3rd Sunday The Church in The Hood that will do you Good! www.gmchc.org

St Marks Baptist Come Worship with us...

Dr. Raymond T. Matthews Pastor and First Lady Marcia Matthews St. Mark's Baptist Church 624 Underwood Street, NW Washington, dc 20011 Services and Times Sunday School: 9:00am Worship Service: 10:00am Wed. Noon Day prayer service Thur. Prayer service: 6:45pm Thur. Bible Study: 7:15pm

Reverend Dr. Paul H. Saddler Senior Pastor (Disciples of Christ) 1812 12th Street, NW - Washington, DC 20009 Phone: 202-265-4494 Fax: 202 265 4340 Service and Times Sunday Worship Service: 11:00 am Communion every Sunday: 11:00 am Sunday School: 10:00 am Bible Study Tuesday: 12 Noon Pastor’s Bible Study Tuesday: 6:30 pm Motto: “Discover Something Wonderful” Website: 12thscc.org Email: Twelfthstcc@aol.com

Mt. Zion Baptist Church

Mount Carmel Baptist Church

Rev. John W. Davis Pastor

Joseph N. Evans, Ph.D Senior Pastor

5101 14th Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20011 202-726-2220/ 202-726-9089

901 Third Street N.W. Washington, DC. 20001 Phone (202) 842-3411 Fax (202) 682-9423

Service and Times Sunday Worship Service: 8:00am and 11:00am Sunday School: 9:15am Holy Communion 4th Sunday 10:00am Prayer and Bible Study Wednesday 7:00pm TV Ministry –Channel 6 Wednesday 10:00pm

Services and Times Sunday Early Morning Worship: 7:45am Church School: 9:30am Sunday Morning Worship: 10:45am Tuesday: 7:00pm/Kingdom Building Bible Institute Wednesday: Prayer/Praise/Bible Study-7:30 pm Baptism & Communion Service: 4th Sunday – 10:30am

Greater Mt. Calvary Holy Church

Service and Times Sunday Worship Services: 7:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.

Holy Communion: 2nd Sunday at 7:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.

Sunday Church School: 9:20 a.m.

Seniors Bible Study: Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m.

Noon Day Prayer Service: Tuesdays at Noon Bible Study: Tuesdays at 7 p.m.

Motto: “A Ministry of Reconciliation Where Everybody is Somebody!”

Website: http://isleofpatmosbc.org Church Email: ipbcsecretary@verizon.net

Twelfth Street Christian Church

Rev. Dr. Henry Y. White 2562 MLK Jr. Ave., SE - Washington, DC 20020 Adm. Office 202-678-2263 Email: Campbell@mycame.org

Isle of Patmos Baptist Church

Service and Times Sunday Church School : 9:00am Sunday Morning Worship: 10:10am Bible Study Tuesday: 6: 00pm Prayer Service Tuesday: 7:00pm Holy Communion: 3rd Sunday 10:10am themcbc.org

gsccm.administration@verizon.net

40 JANUARY 12 - 18, 2017

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RELIGION Shabbath Commandment Church

All Nations Baptist Church

King Emmanuel Baptist Church

Bishop Adrian A. Taylor, Sr. Pastor

Rev. Dr. James Coleman Pastor

Rev. Daryl F. Bell Pastor

7801 Livingston Road Oxon Hill, MD 20745 301-534-5471

2001 North Capitol St, N.E. - Washington, DC 20002 Phone (202) 832-9591

2324 Ontario Road, NW Washington, DC 20009 (202) 232-1730

Service and Times Sabbath School 9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

Service 11:00 a.m. Praise & Worship Preaching 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Motto: “A Church Keeping It Real for Real.”

Website: Shabbathcommandmentchruch.org Email: Praisebetoyhwh@gmail.com

Zion Baptist Church Rev. Keith W. Byrd, Sr. Pastor 4850 Blagdon Ave, NW - Washington D.C 20011 Phone (202) 722-4940 - Fax (202) 291-3773 Service and Times Sunday Worship Service: 10:15AM Sunday School: 9:00am Monday: Noon Bible School Wednesday: Noon & 7PM: Pastor’s Bible Study Ordinance of Baptism 2nd Holy Communion 4th Sunday Mission Zion Baptist Church Shall; Enlist Sinners, Educate Students, Empower the Suffering, Encourage the Saints, and Exalt Our Savior. (Acts 2:41-47) www.zionbaptistchurchdc.org

St. Luke Baptist Church Rev. Aubrey C. Lewis Pastor 1415 Gallatin Street, NW Washington, DC 20011-3851 P: (202) 726-5940 Service and Times Sunday Worship: 11:00 a.m.

Sunday School: 9:15 a.m.

Holy Communion: 11:00 a.m., 3rd Sun. Bible Institute: Wednesday - 1:30 pm Prayer Meeting: Wednesday - 12:00 Noon

Service and Times Sunday Church School – 9:30 AM Sunday Worship Service – 11:00 AM Holy Communion – 1st Sunday at 11:00 AM Prayer – Wednesdays, 6:00 PM Bible Study – Wednesdays, 7:00 PM Christian Education School of Biblical Knowledge Saturdays, 9:30 AM – 11:00 AM, Call for Registration Website: www.allnationsbaptistchurch.com All Nations Baptist Church – A Church of Standards

Israel Baptist Church

Dr. Earl D. Trent Senior Pastor

Rev. Dr. George C. Gilbert Senior Pastor

2409 Ainger Pl.,SE – WDC 20020 (202) 678-0884 – Office - (202) 678-0885 – Fax “Come Grow With Us and Establish a Blessed Family”

623 Florida Ave.. NW - WDC. 20001 Church (202) 667-3409 Study (202) 265-0836 Home Study (301) 464-8211 Fax (202) 483-4009

4504 Gault Place, N.E. Washington, D.C 20019 202-397-7775 – 7184

Service and Times Sunday Worship: 7:30am & 10:45am Baptism/Holy Communion: 3rd Sunday Family Bible Study Tuesdays – 6:30pm Prayer Service: Tuesdays – 8:00pm www.emmanuelbaptistchurchdc.org

“Where Jesus is the King”

Lincoln Park United Methodist Church

Sermon On The Mount Temple Of Joy Apostolic Faith

Rev. Dr. Diane Dixon Proctor Pastor

Elder Herman L. Simms Pastor

1251 Saratoga Ave., NE Washington, DC 20018 (202) 269-0288

1301 North Carolina Ave. N E Washington, D C 20002 202 543 1318 - lpumconthegrow@gmail.com www.lpumcdc.org

5606 Marlboro Pike District Heights, MD 20747 301-735-6005

Service and Times Sunday Worship Service: 10:00 A.M. Sunday School: 8:30 A.M. Holy Communion1st Sunday: 10:00 A.M. Prayer Service: Wednesday at 6:30 P.M. Bible Study: Wednesday at 7:00 P.M.

Service and Times Sunday Worship: 10: am Holy Communion: First Sunday 10: am Sunday School: 9: am Bible Study: Wednesday @ 12 noon and 6:30pm Motto: “A CHURCH ON THE GROW”.

Mount Moriah Baptist Church

Eastern Community Baptist Church

Service and Times Sunday Apostolic Worship Services 11:00 A.M and 5:00 P.M Communion and Feet Wash 4th Sunday at 5:00 P.M Prayer/Seeking: Wednesday at 8:00 P.M. Apostolic in Doctrine, Pentecostal in Experience, Holiness in Living, Uncompromised and Unchanged.

The Apostolic Faith is still alive –Acts 2:42

New Commandment Baptist Church

Dr. Lucius M. Dalton Senior Pastor

Damion M. Briggs Pastor

Rev. Stephen E. Tucker Senior Pastor

1636 East Capitol Street, NE Washington, DC 20003 Telephone: 202-544-5588 - Fax: 202-544-2964

8213 Manson Street Landover, MD 20785 Tel: (301) 322-9787 Fax: (301) 322-9240

13701 Old Jericho Park Road Bowie, MD. 20720 (301) 262-0560

Service and Times Sunday Worship Services: 7:45 am and 10:45 am Holy Communion: 1st Sundays at 7:45 am & 10:45 am Sunday School: 9:30 am Prayer & Praise Service: Tuesdays at 12 noon & 6:30 pm Bible Study: Tuesdays at 1 pm and 7 pm Youth Bible Study: Fridays at 7 pm

Service and Times Early Morning Message: 7:30 AM Sunday Morning Worship Service: 10:00 AM Sunday Church School: 9:00 AM Holy Communion: 1st Sunday 7:30 AM & 10:00 AM Prayer, Praise and Testimony: Wednesday 7:00 PM Bible Study: Wednesday 7:30 PM

Service and Times Sunday Worship: 11 AM Sunday School: 10 AM Wednesday Mid-Week Worship, Prayer & Bible Study: Wed. 7 PM

Rehoboth Baptist Church

“Real Worship for Real People” Website: www.easterncommunity.org Email: ecc@easterncommunity.org

Salem Baptist Church

Holy Trinity United Baptist Church

Florida Avenue Baptist Church

Rev. Dr. Clinton W. Austin Pastor

Rev. Dr. Morris L Shearin, Sr. Pastor

Web: www.mountmoriahchurch.org Email: mtmoriah@mountmoriahchurch.org

St. Matthews Baptist Church

Service and Times Sunday School: 9:30 am Sunday Worship Service: 11:00 am Baptismal Service: 1st Sunday – 9:30 am Holy Communion: 1st Sunday – 11:00 am Prayer Meeting & Bible Study: Wednesday -7:30 pm

Emmanuel Baptist Church

“A Church Where Love Is Essential and Praise is Intentional”

Service and Times Sunday Worship Services: 10:00 a.m.

Sunday Church School: 8:45 – 9:45 a.m.

Holy Communion: Every First Sunday Intercessory Prayer: Monday – 7:00-8:00 p.m.

Pastor’s Bible Study: Wednesday –7:45 p.m.

Midweek Prayer: Wednesday – 7:00 p.m.

Noonday Prayer Every Thursday

Matthews Memorial Baptist Church

Service and Times 9:30AM. Sunday Church School 11:00 Am. Sunday Worship Service The Lord’s Supper 1st Sunday Wednesday 7:00pm Prayer & Praise Services 7:30pm. Bible Study Saturday before 4th Sunday Men, Women, Youth Discipleship Ministries 10:30am A Christ Centered Church htubc@comcast.net

Christ Embassy DC

Dr. C. Matthew Hudson, Jr, Pastor 2616 MLK Ave., SE - Washington, DC 20020 Office 202-889-3709 - Fax 202-678-3304 Service and Times Early Worship Service: 7:30a.m Worship Service: 10:45a.m.

New Members Class: 9:30a.m.

Holy Communion : 1st Sunday -10:45a.m Church School: 9:30a.m.

Prayer, Praise and Bible Study: Wednesday 7p.m Bible Study : Saturday: 11a.m.

Baptism: 4th Sunday – 10:45a.m “Empowered to love and Challenged to Lead a Multitude of Souls to Christ”

Peace Baptist Church

Kelechi Ajieren Coordinator 6839 Eastern Avenue, R1 Takoma Park, MD 20912 (202) 556-7065 Service and Times Sunday Worship Service: 10:00 A.M. Wednesday Bible Study: 7:00 P.M. Friday Evening Service: 7:00 P.M. ; Last Friday “…Giving Your Life a Meaning” www.Christembassydc.org Christ.embassy.dc@hotmail.com

Pennsylvania Ave. Baptist Church

Rev. Dr. Michael T. Bell 712 18th Street, NE Washington, DC 20002 Phone 202-399-3450/ Fax 202-398-8836 Service and Times Sunday Morning Worship Service: 7:15 am & 10:50 am Sunday School: 9:30am Wednesday Prayer & Testimonies Service: 7:30pm Wednesday School of the Bible: 8:00pm Wednesday - Midweek Prayer Service: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Rev. Dr. Kendrick E. Curry Pastor 3000 Pennsylvania Ave.. S.E Washington, DC 20020 202 581-1500 Service and Times Sunday Church School: 9:30 A.M. Sunday Worship Service: 11:00 A.M. Monday Adult Bible Study: 7:00 P.M. Wednesday Youth & Adult Activities: 6:30 P.M. Prayer Service Bible Study

“The Loving Church of the living lord “ Email Address pbcexec@verizon.net

Shiloh Baptist Church

First Rising Mt. Zion Baptist Church

Mt. Horeb Baptist Church

Rev. Dr. Maxwell M. Washington Pastor

Rev. Curtis l. Staley Pastor

Rev. Alonzo Hart Pastor

Rev. Dr. Wallace Charles Smith Pastor

Rev. Oran W. Young Pastor

Rev. Dr. H. B. Sampson, III Pastor

Worshiping Location Knights of Columbus - 1633 Tucker Road Fort Washington, MD 20744 (240) 838-7074

621 Alabama Ave., S.E.- Washington, D.C. 20032 P: (202) 561-1111 - F: (202) 561-1112

917 N St. NW - Washington, DC 20001 (202) 232-4294

9th & P Street, N.W. - W. D.C. 20001 (202) 232-4288

Service and Times Sunday Service: 10 am Sunday School for all ages: 8:30 am 1st Sunday Baptism: 10: am 2nd Sunday Holy Communion:10 am Tuesday: Bible Study: 6:30 pm Prayer Meeting: 7:45 pm

Service and Times Sunday Morning Prayer Service: 8:00 a.m.

Sunday Church School: 9:15 a.m.

Sunday Morning Worship: 10:40 a.m.

Third Sunday Baptismal & Holy Communion:10:30 a.m.

Tuesday Church At Study Prayer & Praise: 6:30 p.m.

Service and Times First Sunday Worship Service (one service): 10:00 a.m.

Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Sunday Worship service: 7:45 a.m. and 10:55 a.m.

Sunday Church School/Bible Study: 9:30 a.m.

Thursday Prayer Service: 6:30 p.m.

602 N Street NW - Washington, D.C. 20001 Office:(202) 289-4480 Fax: (202) 289-4595

2914 Bladensburg Road, NE Wash., DC 20018 Office: (202) 529-3180 - Fax: (202) 529-7738 Service and Times Worship Service: 7:30 a.m.

Sunday School: 9:00 a.m.

Worship Service: 10:30 a.m.

Holy Communion: 4th Sunday 7:30 a.m. & 10:30a.m.

Prayer Services:Tuesday 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday 12 Noon

Motto: “Where God is First and Where Friendly People Worship”

The Church Where GOD Is Working....

And We Are Working With GOD

Service and Times Sunday Worship Services: 10:00 am Sunday School: 9:00 am Holy Communion 3rd Sunday Morning Prayer / Bible Study: 6:15 pm - 7:20 pm (Tuesday) Theme: “The Kingdom Focused Church” Matthew 6:33 and Mathew 28:18-20, KJV Email: stmatthewsbaptist@msn.com Website: www.stmatthewsbaptist.org

WWW.WASHINGTONINFORMER.COM

Email: sbc@shilohbaptist.org Website: shilohbaptist.org

THE WASHINGTON INFORMER

Service and Times Sunday School for All Ages: 8:00 a.m.

Sunday Worship Services: 9:30 a.m.

Midday Prayer & Bible Study: Wednesday 11:30 a.m.

Evening Prayer & Bible Study: Wednesday 7:00 p.m.

Laymen's League: Thursday 7:00 p.m.

Email: Froffice@firstrising.org Website: www.firstrising.org “Changing Lives On Purpose “

Email:mthoreb@mthoreb.org Website:www.mthoreb.org For further information, please contact me at (202) 529-3180.

JANUARY 12 - 18, 2017 41

LEGAL NOTICES

LEGAL NOTICES

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Probate Division Washington, D.C. 20001-2131

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Probate Division Washington, D.C. 20001-2131

Administration No. 2016 ADM 1475

Administration No. 2016 ADM 1466

Martha M. Lonon Decedent

Rufus Harding Ratcliff, Sr. Decedent

NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS

NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS

Kathleen L. Lonon, whose address is 6300 Stevenson Avenue, #519, Alexandria, VA 22304, was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of Martha M. Lonon who died on September 20, 2012 without a Will, and will serve without Court supervision. All unknown heirs and heirs whose whereabouts are unknown shall enter their appearance in this proceeding. Objections to such appointment shall be filed with the Register of Wills, D.C., 515 5th Street, N.W., Building A, Third Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before July 5, 2017. Claims against the decedent shall be presented to the undersigned with a copy to the Register of Wills or filed with the Register of Wills with a copy to the undersigned, on or before July 5, 2017, or be forever barred.

Persons believed to be heirs or legatees of the decedent who do not receive a copy of this notice by mail within 25 days of its first publication shall so inform the Register of Wills, including name, address, and relationship.

Patricia Diane Ratliff, whose address is 5015 4th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20011, was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of Rufus Harding Ratcliff, Sr. who died on March 28, 2003 with a Will, and will serve with Court supervision. All unknown heirs and heirs whose whereabouts are unknown shall enter their appearance in this proceeding.

Objections to such appointment (or to the probate of decedent’s Will) shall be filed with the Register of Wills, D.C., 515 5th Street, N.W., Building A, Third Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before July 5, 2017. Claims against the decedent shall be presented to the undersigned with a copy to the Register of Wills or filed with the Register of Wills with a copy to the undersigned, on or before July 5, 2017, or be forever barred. Persons believed to be heirs or legatees of the decedent who do not receive a copy of this notice by mail within 25 days of its first publication shall so inform the Register of Wills, including name, address, and relationship.

Date of first publication: January 5, 2017

Date of first publication: January 5, 2017

Kathleen L. Lonon Personal Representative

Patricia Diane Ratcliff Personal Representative

TRUE TEST COPY

Anne Meister Register of Wills

Washington Informer

Washington Informer

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF

Estate of

Mignon K. Jackson aka Mignon Karen Jackson

Henry Cornelius Carmon aka Henry Carmon aka Henry C. Carmon Decedent

NOTICE OF STANDARD PROBATE

NOTICE OF AFTER DISCOVERED WILL AND NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT

been filed in this Court by Derek E. Slocum for

standard probate, including the appointment of one or more personal representative. Unless

a complaint or an objection in accordance with Superior Court Probate Division Rule 407 is

filed in this Court within 30 days from the date

of first publication of this notice, the Court may take the action hereinafter set forth.

In the absence of a will or proof satisfactory

to the Court of due execution, enter an order determining that the decedent died intestate

appoint a supervised personal representative.

Date of first publication: December 29, 2016 Derek E. Slocum

Personal Representative

TRUE TEST COPY

Elmira Carmon Gwynn and Henrietta Carmon Mays, whose addresses are 9810 Hill Street, Kensington, MD and 2704 Cator Dr. Ft. Washington, MD 20744, were appointed Personal Representatives of the estate of Henry Cornelius Carmon aka Henry Carmon aka Henry C. Carmon, who died on April 3, 2012 with a Will. Objections to such appointment or to the probate of decedent’s Will shall be filed with the Register of Wills, D.C., 515 5th Street, N.W., Building A, Third Floor Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before July 12, 2017.

Date of first publication: January 12, 2017 Personal Representatives Elmira Carmon Gwynn Henrietta Carmon Mays TRUE TEST COPY Anne Meister Register of Wills

Admit to probate the will dated January 9, 2012 exhibited with the petition upon proof satisfactory to the Court of due execution by affidavit of witnesses

Date of first publication: January 12, 2017

Washington Informer

Administration No. 2016 ADM 436

Notice is hereby given that a petition has

Notice is hereby given that a petition has been filed in this Court by Elmira Carmon Gwynn and Henrietta Carmon Mays for standard probate, including the appointment of one or more personal representative. Unless a complaint or an objection in accordance with Superior Court Probate Division Rule 407 is filed in this Court within 30 days from the date of first publication of this notice, the Court may take the action hereinafter set forth.

Anne Meister Register of Wills

Administration Number 2016 ADM 1462

Deceased

NOTICE OF STANDARD PROBATE

TRUE TEST COPY

Washington, D.C. 20001-2131

Probate Division

Estate of Henry Cornelius Carmon aka Henry Carmon aka Henry C. Carmon Deceased

Personal Representatives: Elmira Carmon Gwynn Henrietta Carmon Mays

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Probate Division Washington, D.C. 20001-2131

COLUMBIA

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Probate Division Washington, D.C. 20001-2131 Administration Number 2016 ADM 436

TRUE TEST COPY

Anne Meister Register of Wills

LEGAL NOTICES

LEGAL NOTICES

services here: call Ron Burke at

202-561-4100 or email

rburke@washingtoninformer.com

Anne Meister

Register of Wills Washington Informer

42 JANUARY 12 - 18, 2017

Washington Informer

THE WASHINGTON INFORMER

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JANUARY 12 - 18, 2017 43

INTRODUCING THE NEW

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5 President Barack Obama, joined by his family and Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, say farewell to America on Tuesday, Jan. 10 during their visit to Chicago. / Photo by Travis Riddick

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After nearly 100 years of talk and decades of trying by presidents of both parties, that’s exactly what he did, administration officials said.

Obama said the hardscrabble streets of cities like Chicago is where change happens.

“After eight years as your President, I still believe that. And it’s not just my belief. It’s the beating heart of our American idea – our bold experiment in self-government,” he said.

“It’s the conviction that we are all created equal, endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It’s the insistence that these rights, while self-evident, have never been self-executing; that We, the People, through the instrument of our democracy, can form a more perfect union,” he said.

The president highlighted some historic achievements during his two-term tenure, noting that Amer-

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44 JANUARY 12 - 18, 2017

bring the concerns of the community to them."

Malcolm Augustine, who represents Prince George's County on the agency's board of directors, did attend and informed the audience that a Jan. 30 public hearing on the budget will start at 5 p.m. at the agency's headquarters in Northwest.

He also said discussions are underway to possibly restructure the W and P bus lines and the B30 route that runs between Greenbelt and Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.

Augustine said the specific bus routes were chosen because they are the most expensive. In addi-

THE WASHINGTON INFORMER

ica is safer.

He mentioned the dismantling of al Qaeda’s leadership, including the operation that killed Osama bin Laden.

Also, Obama spoke of pushing through historic and sweeping rights and protections for LGBT Americans, and making the country’s immigration system fairer and safer while also tackling poverty and investing in communities.

Expanding voting rights, increasing transparency in government and reversing electoral gerrymandering that have contributed to increased polarization in Congress, were also among the issues the president tackled in his farewell.

In speaking of his successor, Obama vowed a peaceful transition.

However, he also told Americans not to simply go along with Trump.

“Democracy does not require uniformity. Our founders quarreled and comprised, and expected us to do the same,” he said. “But they knew that democracy does require

a basic sense of solidarity; the idea that for all our outward differences, we are all in this together; that we rise or fall as one.”

The president received some of the loudest cheers of the night when he spoke about the racial tensions in the country.

“After my election, there was talk of a post-racial America,” he said.

“Such a vision, however well-intended, was never realistic. For race remains a potent and often divisive force in our society.”

While progress has been made, Obama said, “we’re not where we need to be.”

“All of us have more work to do,” he said. “After all, if every economic issue is framed as a struggle between a hardworking white middle class and undeserving minorities, then workers of all shades will be left fighting for scraps while the wealthy withdraw further into their private enclaves.”

For a transcript of the full speech, visit https://www.whitehouse.gov/ farewell. WI

tion, the proposed fare increases and requests for more money from Maryland, Virginia and D.C. stem from a nearly $300 million budget gap.

"The intent is we not strand anyone," he said. "I don't want any cuts. Will that happen? I don't know, but I'm doing the best I can."

Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld proposed in the budget that the three jurisdictions contribute more money. Only the District has been willing to put forth additional funding.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has said he doesn’t support any increase to the state’s subsidy of $500 million until the agency improves in safety.

State Sen. Joanne Benson (D-District 24) of Landover urged

everyone in attendance to make their complaints heard in Annapolis. The Maryland General Assembly began its 2017 session Wednesday, Jan. 11.

"Bring your babies, dogs that don’t bite," she said. "Bring everybody so we can make a clear statement … that we don't want any cuts in the budget relative to bus transportation. We have ways to encourage the governor to do the right thing. So when you are called to Annapolis and lobby, we want you to respond. There is strength in numbers."

The unions will hold two other sessions Jan. 18 at the Montgomery County Executive Office Building in Rockville and Jan. 24 at St. George's Episcopal Church in Arlington.

WI

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volvement was unwelcome. They reminded the Women's Suffrage Association that black women were also women, and we would not be excluded.

Now, white women are at it again, but strong, brave, black women, the descendants of Ida B. Wells, aren't willing to sit on the sidelines. The march is to remind all watching that "women's rights are human rights." Black women's rights will be considered in this gathering because some Black women dared place themselves in an uncomfortable space (working with privileged, white women is never easy) in order to make a difference.

Information on the women's march is available at www.womensmarch.com. WI

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sands of women from all over the country are expected, with more than 100,000 saying they plan to be there. But many African-American women have looked askance, perhaps with distaste from the cultural appropriation of the initial organizing descriptive, "Million Women's March," perhaps because we recoil from the strong support white women gave the president-elect, choosing race loyalty over gender, class, or personal interest.

I applaud Tamika Mallory. She told me, "I was not willing to let this convening come together without having black women involved." In other words, white women cannot speak for all wom-

en. If white women had their way, the march and rally would probably focus only on equal pay and reproductive rights. Thanks to Tamika and her colleagues, a statement of principles, to be issued next week, will also address racial justice, police brutality, criminal justice reform and mass incarceration.

Absent the involvement of young black women like Tamika, it would be extremely easy for me to ignore this march. But because some women have drawn a line in the sand and insisted on space for black women in this march, they deserve support. They remind me of the women of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., who in 1913 elbowed their way into the Women's Suffrage March when their in-

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EDELMAN from Page 26 Across the plains of America.

Free hands and slave hands, Indentured hands, adventurous hands, White hands and black hands Held the plow handles, Ax handles, hammer handles, Launched the boats and whipped the horses That fed and housed and moved America.

Thus together through labor, All these hands made America… …America is a dream.

The poet says it was promises.

The people say it is promises — that will come true.

The people do not always say things out loud, Nor write them down on paper.

The people often hold Great thoughts in their deepest hearts And sometimes only blunder-

URBAN LEAGUE from Page 14 a whole had shortcomings due to some notable missed opportunities and outright failures, such as the economic development of urban centers, gun violence and the foreclosure rate and bank closure rate in communities of color and low-income neighborhoods," Morial said.

Some of the marked failures and missed opportunities included lack of economic development in urban centers, non-appointment of an African American to the Supreme Court, addressing urban gun violence, roll out of the Affordable Care Act and rate of foreclosures in communities of color.

The NUL said that during Obama's presidency, the economy has added 15 million new jobs, and the jobless rate has dropped from

ingly express them, Haltingly and stumblingly say them, And faultily put them into practice.

The people do not always understand each other.

But there is, somewhere there, Always the trying to understand, And the trying to say, 'You are a (wo)man.* Together we are building our land.'

America!

Land created in common, Dream nourished in common, KEEP YOUR HAND ON THE PLOW! HOLD ON! If the house is not yet finished, Don't be discouraged, builder!

If the fight is not yet won, Don't be weary, soldier!

The plan and the pattern is here, Woven from the beginning Into the warp and woof of America: ALL (WO)MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL. 7.6 percent to 4.7 percent — and from 12.7 percent to 7.8 percent for African-Americans. The high school graduation rate for African-Americans has increased from 66.1 percent to 85 percent.

More than 16 million Americans who were uninsured now have health care coverage, with the uninsured rate for African-Americans cut by more than half.

"Barack Obama's passion and steady hand made a huge difference in charting a progressive course and positively impacted the lives of ordinary Americans," Morial said.

"Black Americans felt both the pride of his accomplishments and the pain when it was clear his opponents sought to diminish a great American. I am confident the long arc of history will judge him favorably." WI

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NO (WO)MAN IS GOOD ENOUGH TO GOVERN ANOTHER (WO)MAN WITHOUT HER CONSENT. BETTER DIE FREE, THAN TO LIVE SLAVES. Who said those things? Americans!

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To the enemy who would conquer us from without, We say, NO! To the enemy who would divide And conquer us from within, We say, NO! FREEDOM! BROTHER/SISTERHOOD! DEMOCRACY! To all the enemies of these great words: We say, NO!

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From that seed a tree grew, is growing, will ever grow.

That tree is for everybody, For all America, for all the world.

May its branches spread and shelter grow Until all races and all peoples know its shade.

KEEP YOUR HAND ON THE PLOW! HOLD ON! *For the Women's Spiritual Retreat we added (wo)men in solidarity.

WI

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46 JANUARY 12 - 18, 2017

killings of unarmed civilians, mostly blacks" of which Sessions had nothing to do with.

Let me point out a few other examples of the NAACP's hypocrisy in action.

Why didn't Brooks and his cronies hijack Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel's office after the murder of Laquan McDonald at the hands of the Chicago police department?

Emmanuel intentionally withheld the video of the murder until after his re-election, because he knew that releasing the video before the election would have guaranteed his defeat.

Why didn't the NAACP hijack Education Secretary Arne Duncan's office for the policies he unleashed that devastated historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs)?

Why didn't they hijack Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's office in Baltimore, when the Justice De-

primarily in the South, were not intended to hurt minorities, despite numerous court decisions knocking down the laws for that very reason. In this vital area, he embraces the Jim Crow doctrine of "states rights," and he will no doubt weaken federal enforcement of voting rights.

• Women's rights: Sessions has consistently opposed every measure designed to enforce equal rights for women. He refused to condemn Trump's remarks about grabbing a woman by the genitals, saying he wasn't certain that constituted sexual assault. (For the record, it is, without question, assault). He voted against reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, voted to block increased protections for females in the military from sexual assaults and has consistently voted against access to reproductive health services, even opposing funding to combat violence against clinics, which is on the rise. He voted against equal pay for women, against paycheck fairness and against raising the minimum wage, which benefits

ASKIA from Page 27 members of the CBC should re-examine their roles, and then call on God (Allah) — as the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Dr. Michael Eric Dyson do — to "convict" America.

"May this land know Your displeasure, taste Your Holy Wrath, for killing us like pigs," Dyson writes in his new book, "Tears We Cannot Stop," a sermon to his "dear white friends."

THE WASHINGTON INFORMER

partment issued its scathing report in the aftermath of the protests and riots sparked by the police killing of Freddie Gray? Justice Department officials found that Baltimore's police department was rampant with racism and all sorts of civil rights violations.

Finally, why didn't they hijack the offices of the Democratic House and Senate leadership over the recently released report about the lack of black staffers?

So, it seems like the National Association for the Advancement of "Certain" People is only interested in racism when it involves Republicans. They never hold Democrats to the same standard, because they are too busy trying to curry favor; not standing up for those who have truly been aggrieved.

This group's hypocrisy stinks so much that I believe their days are numbered. They have been weighed in the balances and have been found grossly wanting —

wanting for relevance and wanting for money.

They claim to be a nonpartisan group, but, in my opinion, the group is nothing more than an arm of the Democratic National Committee. This is why I am asking my readers to refrain from this day forward from giving them any form of support. Let them continue to wither on the vine.

They have brought total dishonor to the likes of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks.

They have also brought shame to the hard work and dedication to lifetime Republicans and lifetime NAACP members like Bob Brown and Bill Coleman.

I am asking this new Congress to convene hearings on the possibility of forcing the IRS to strip groups like these of their tax-exempt status for promoting the Democratic Party.

Would this not be a great way to honor Dr. King's upcoming birthday? I'm just asking. WI

women the most.

• LGBT rights: Sessions has consistently voted against equal rights for gays and lesbians. He opposed amending the Hate Crimes Prevention Act to include violence based on bias against gender, sexual orientation and disability. He voted for the constitutional amendment to define marriage as between one man and one woman.

• Immigrant rights: Sessions has been an implacable opponent of any immigration reforms, supports mass deportation of undocumented workers and embraces Trump's proposal to build a wall across the Mexican border. While many Republicans disavowed Trump's outrageous proposal to ban all immigration of Muslims, Sessions said he was open to the idea.

• Drug reform: More than 60 percent of Americans now live in states where medical or recreational use of marijuana is legal.

Sessions, an advocate of state's rights when it comes to civil and voting rights, favors a federal crackdown on drugs, arguing, "Good people don't smoke marijuana." Under Sessions, the

war on drugs will be escalated, and probably tied to the war on immigrants, with drug laws used to search and harass immigrants, looking for the undocumented who could be deported for violating drug laws.

Over the past 50 years, America has made progress toward equal protection under the law.

The civil rights laws, the Voting Rights Act, equal protections for women, for gays and lesbians, the first steps toward police and sentencing reform are central to that progress. All Americans have benefited. The country is far stronger as a result. Yet these are the very laws and rights that Sessions rejects.

He was one of the first and few Republican senators to endorse Donald Trump. His nomination is no doubt a return favor. But as attorney general, Sessions will drive this country apart, exacerbate racial tensions, trample basic rights and endanger the public belief in the rule of law.

Senators in both parties should make it clear that this country has no desire to turn its back on five decade of progress.

WI

The U.S. Constitution says explicitly "there shall be no religious test" for any position in the U.S. government. That's good enough for me. So if there is ever a position, a board, any nomination for which I might be remotely considered, if it calls for a repudiation of Minister Farrakhan (or a variety of others) by the candidate, then I am certainly not a good candidate for you. But that's just me. I wish that

was the prevailing view of CBC members, and of all the neoliberal establishment.

There is no leadership position available which should be paid for by the candidate with his or her integrity.

The CBC has been, and remains today, the "conscience of the Congress," but it seems hardly prepared to be a steady bulwark against the oncoming tide of Trumpism. Time will tell. WI

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Be King.

A new generation now holds the torch ignited by his dream. Comcast NBCUniversal celebrates Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day by saluting him and all of those who work together to love and serve one another and the world.

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48 JANUARY 12 - 18, 2017

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