VOL. 54, NO. 44 • AUGUST 15 - 21, 2019
Talking Won’t Stop Gun Violence; ‘What Are YOU Going to Do About It?’
Back to School Supplement Center Section
College Students, Parents Fight to Overcome Financial Burdens
D.C. Students Gear up For New School Year By Sam P.K. Collins WI Contributing Writer @SamPKCollins
Rising Tuition Affecting Black Students Nationwide By Sam P.K. Collins WI Contributing Writer @SamPKCollins Southeast resident and college student Cairo Pondexter said the anxiety over how she would finance her education increased upon learning that at least five of her classmates wouldn’t return to Delaware State University in the fall because of delinquent payments. Pondexter, a sophomore, said she spent much of the spring semester and summer break securing tax documents needed for financial assistance and paying the $500 balance that would allow her to move back on campus in late August. With the help of her mother, she and her brother Jeffrey launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise the remaining funds needed to tackle her fall semester bill. For the full-time psychology student, these minor inconveniences pale in comparison to what she described as a life of unfulfilling minimum-wage employment. “I didn’t have any scholarships so I had to depend on the D.C Col-
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FUN IN THE SUN
5 A couple enjoys the day during The Montgomery County Agricultural Fair 2019 which continues through Sunday, Aug. 18 in Gaithersburg. (Anthony Tilghman/The Washington Informer). See CTM, page 38 for more photos
This week, summer break came to a close for some young people in the District. By early September, most of them will have returned to, or gotten settled in, schools under new leadership, amid transformation, or a combination of both. The focus for some, like Jarmar Jenkins, however, remains on putting their best foot forward. Jarmar, a District resident and
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Upcoming Cookout to Launch Moratorium on District Murders By Sam P.K. Collins WI Contributing Writer @SamPKCollins
The 12th annual Cease Fire Don’t Smoke the Brothers and Sisters cookout and amateur boxing tournament, scheduled to take place at the end of August at Upshur Park in Northwest, will mark the beginning of a sixmonth moratorium on murders in the District, as agreed upon by event organizers and participants pledging to spread that message throughout their communities. Thus continues a longtime tradition, initially propelled by several grassroots anti-violence activists in the
wake of Mayor Marion Barry’s transition out of public office in 1998. Al-Malik Farrakhan, key coordinator of those efforts, recalled that moment in history as one marked both by constant violence and a burning desire for peace among what he described as some of D.C.’s most organized gangs. “The youth of the city wanted to honor Mayor Barry and one of the ways of doing that was a six-month moratorium on killings,” said Farrakhan, founder of anti-violence nonprofit Cease Fire Don’t Smoke the Brothers and Sisters. By the turn of the century, the Dis-
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5 Incoming freshman at Howard University in Northwest kick off their school year with an event at Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel on Aug. 11. (Roy Lewis/The Washington Informer)
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