WI Bridge - December 2015

VOL. 1, NO. 11

DEC. 2015

TAKING A LOOK BACK

Web : http://washingtoninformer.com/news/wi-bridge/

Facebook : www.facebook.com/wibridgecommunity

Email : wibridge@washingtoninformer.com

Twitter : @InformerBridge www.twitter.com/informerbridge Instagram : WashInformerBridge www.instagram.com/washinformerbridge

CONTENTS

EDITOR’S LETTER

PUBLISHER

Kwanza: A Week of Unity and Reflection 3

Peace and Blessings WI Bridge Readers,

Denise Rolark Barnes

2015 has been a year of prosperity for WI Bridge. Since our launch in February, readers across the D.C. area have seen a millennial perspective unlike that they would see anywhere else. We’re here to stay and we have much to offer the world at a time when the tide is changing.

STAFF

Year in Review: 2015 4-5 Vic Mensa is Hip Hop’s Future 6 2015, Distilled 7 WI Bridge Viewpoints 8

ON THE COVER

For now, we’re going to take this moment to reflect on what has been a whirlwind of a year. In this issue, our contributing writer Elton Hayes outlines the top 10 stories from 2015. We also feature poetry that speaks to the anguish and hope that black millennials felt amid the injustice and chaos in the United States and abroad.

For those celebrating Kwanzaa, we’ve also included a primer that outlines its purpose along with some important vocabulary. Finally, no issue of WI Bridge would be complete without an in-depth review of a rising black musical artist.

Sam P.K. Collins Editor-in-Chief

REPORTERS

We hope you enjoy our latest project. As always, we’re on the lookout for submissions and new writers. If interested, please send an email to sam.collins.89@gmail. com with “WI Bridge” in the subject heading.

Loren B. Coleman, Ph.D.

Yours in the Struggle, Sam P.K. Collins

MISSION STATEMENT Earlier this month, Sankofa Video Books & Cafe in Northwest unveiled its assortment of handmade cards, candles, wares, and African fabrics in time for Kwanzaa, a week-long Pan-African holiday celebration that starts on the day after Christmas. More information about Kwanzaa is on Page 2. / Photo by Dejah Greene

PHOTOGRAPHER

The WI Bridge sets out to highlight contemporary issues through the experiences of youth and capture the progressive, entrepreneurial spirit of the Millennial generation other publications gloss over. Writers will take to streets and feature people, programs, initiatives, and movements that uniquely address prominent youth issues.

This hard-hitting coverage will lay to rest misconceptions of Generation Y and bring all to an understanding of diverse youth experiences.

Dejah Greene

LAYOUT Kelcey Abney

2| WI BRIDGE

KWANZAA: A WEEK OF UNITY AND REFLECTION

By Sam P.K. Collins

WI Bridge Editor-in-Chief @SamPKCollins As 2015 comes to a close, black people across the diaspora gather in their homes and communities to reaffirm their commitment to Nguzo Saba, better known as the “Seven Principles of Kwanzaa.” The seven-day cultural celebration of Kwanzaa, modeled after the first fruits celebrations in ancient African civilizations, speaks to the needs of Africans living in the West to connect to a stolen past and foster a sense of community like what they would find in their ancestral homes.

Since Pan-African activist and author Maulana Karenga created Kwanzaa in the mid-1960s, millions of the Africans across the globe have taken part in the annual celebration. In the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, they set up kinaras (candle holders) fully stocked with red, black, and green candles. Participants also pour libations for ancestors, exchange gifts, sing songs of praise, and wave the Garvey flag. As a cultural holiday, Kwanzaa crosses religious boundaries, making it a true celebration of African Unification.

On each day of Kwanzaa, a greeter says “Habari Gani?” a Swahili phrase that means “What news?” The reply would be the principle for the day. Below are the seven values, each of which count as piece of a puzzle to true African communalism in the 21st century.

These values are needed now, more than ever, as we go into a New Year and take on new challenges.

NGUZO SABA (THE SEVEN PRINCIPLES) Umoja (unity) to strive for and to maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race

Kujichagulia (self - determination) To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves, and speak for ourselves

Ujima (collective work and responsibility)

to build and maintain our community together and make our brothers’ and sisters’ problems our problems, and to solve them together

Ujamaa (cooperative economics)

to build and maintain our own stores, shops, and other businesses and to profit from them together

Nia (purpose) to make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.

Kuumba (creativity)

To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it

Imani (faith)

to believe with all our hearts in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.

3 | WI BRIDGE

YEAR IN REVIEW: 2015

Elton Hayes WI Bridge Contributing Writer @ehdc12

Simply put, a lot happened in 2015. There were many defining moments—some we will fondly recall, and others we will back upon with sadness and sorrow. So as we bid farewell to one year and welcome another, here are 10 stories that helped define America in 2015 in no particular order of significance.

1. UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI PRESIDENT TIM WOLFE RESIGNS Already steeped in racial tensions after multiple incidents against AfricanAmerican students at the University of Missouri, Columbia, the fracture between students and the university’s administration was thrust into the national spotlight after Missouri student body government president Payton Head, an African American, took to social media to voice his frustrations and share his story.

Head chronicled his personal experiences with on-campus racism and the higher ups’ underwhelming response to his and others’ repeated complaints. What ensued was a whirlwind of activity and protests that spanned racial lines and ended with the resignation of then-president Tim Wolfe and chancellor R. Bowen Loftin.

Its domino effect tipped over to Yale, Princeton, Claremont McKenna College, Syracuse and a number of other institutions of higher learning where students of color claim campus leadership doesn’t do enough to foster positive racial climates.

The impact of the University of Missouri protests have been felt locally.

Students at nearby Georgetown University protested and staged sitins over the school’s Mulledy and McSherry Halls, both named after slave owners. University officials announced the school will change the buildings’ names, and have named them Freedom and Remembrance Hall, respectively, in the interim. Maryland regents voted in December to change the name of the University of Maryland, College Park’s Byrd Stadium, named after segregationist and former University of Maryland president Harry Clifton “Curley” Byrd, to Maryland Stadium.

4 | WI BRIDGE

2. STUART SCOTT SUCCUMBS TO CANCER After an eight-year battle with appendiceal cancer, ESPN analyst and broadcasting icon Stuart Scott passed away at his home in Avon, Connecticut, on January 4, 2015. Widely regarded as one of sports broadcasting’s most revered figures, Scott started his sports broadcasting career at Florence, South Carolina’s WPDE-TV. It was while at WPDE-TV that Scott first used his famous “Cooler than the other side of the pillow” phrase that became synonymous with him.

After successful stops in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Orlando, Florida, Scott joined ESPN2 in 1993 as a host of the channel’s now-defunct SportsSmash program. Scott’s unique style and ability to blend pop and hip-hop references and sports grew his popularity at ESPN and gained him scores of followers. He became a fixture as host of the popular Sportscenter and regularly starred in commercials for the channel.

With his career already on a steep trajectory, Scott became the studio host for ESPN’s NBA on ESPN in 2002.

Arguably the station’s most recognized personality, Scott’s assignments ranged from appearing on NFL Primetime and Monday Night Football, to interviewing and playing a one-on-one basketball game with President Barack Obama in 2008. Scott’s final television appearance was in 2014, when he delivered an inspirational ESPY Award speech after winning the Jim Valvano Award for Perseverance.

3. SANDRA BLAND’S DEATH

4. 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF BLOODY SUNDAY

Three days after an early July arrest for an improper lane change, activist Sandra Bland was found hanging in her Texas jail cell. Waller County, Texas officials ruled the death a suicide, claiming the 28-year-old Chicago-area native was distraught after not being able to locate family or friends to post the $500 bail attached to her charge.

On the 50th anniversary of the infamous Bloody Sunday civil rights march that left scores of demonstrators hospitalized after being brutalized by local law enforcement, tens of thousands of activists and prominent American and international political figures descended on Selma, Alabama to commemorate the event.

The death and ensuing investigation ignited an already simmering debate about the frequency of deaths of unarmed citizens by law enforcement officials.

The Waller County coroner’s office concluded that Bland used a plastic bag to assist with the asphyxiation because she was distressed that her family and friends were unable or unwilling to pay her bail fee. But Bland’s friends and family questioned those claim’s, saying they intended to post her bail once they collected the sufficient funds, and suggested that it was unlikely that she took her own life as she had recently relocated to Texas to begin a new job at Prairie View A&M University.

Staged on the same Edmund Pettus Bridge that carried activists across the Alabama River in 1965, President Barack Obama, Georgia Congressman John Lewis—an organizer of the original Bloody Sunday march—and former President George W. Bush joined others who marched hand-in-hand across the iconic structure that bears the name of the former Confederate general who went on to become a U.S. Senator and a Grand Dragon in the Ku Klux Klan.

Brian Encinia, the state trooper who arrested Bland, was placed on desk duty following the arrest after investigations uncovered that he violated procedures during the traffic stop. The Houston unit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation also launched an investigation. The Bland family has since filed a wrongful death suit against Encinia, Waller County, the Texas Department of Public Safety and two Waller County jail employees. A grand jury is currently in the process of determining whether or not to issue criminal indictments.

President Barack Obama used the event as an opportunity to speak about the racial progress the country has achieved over the past five decades, but also reminded celebrants to remain vigilant in the fight and injustice and inequality.

The march not only attracted highprofile guests, but those personally involved in and affected by the original march.

The president also added his signature to legislation that awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to the “foot soldiers” involved in the series of 1965 marches surrounding the Montgomery Voting Rights March.

5. HIP HOP 2015

6. ROBERT GRIFFIN III IS BENCHED FOR KIRK COUSINS

Entering 2015, optimism abounded for hip-hop fans. With rap titans Dr. Dre, Kendrick Lamar and Lupe Fiasco scheduled to release heavily anticipated albums, fans of the genre would have plenty of exceptional selections to whet their musical appetite. For the most part, 2015 didn’t disappoint.

In 2012, Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III’s arm and legs helped carry his team to an NFC East division title and a spot in the playoffs. Though just three years ago, it feels like an eternity. After a series of injuries, the much-maligned quarterback was benched in favor of quarterback Kirk Cousins on the last day of August.

Lupe Fiasco kicked off the year with his Jan. 20 release of Tetsuo & Youth, and the album was widely regarded as a success. It earned 4-out-of-5 starts by hip-hop magazine XXL, and a 7.2 of 10 stars by music magazine Pitchfork.

Kendrick Lamar followed Lupe Fiasco and dropped To Pimp a Butterfly on March 15. Lamar’s second studio album exceeded expectations. Spin Magazine rated it a perfect 10 and Rolling Stone gave it 4-and-a-half out of 5 stars. On the day of its release, To Pimp a Butterfly was streamed 9.6 million times on Spotify. Spin magazine reviewer Dan Weiss went as far as to call it the “Great American Hip-Hop album.”

The veteran of the group, Los Angeles rapper and living legend Dr. Dre, released Compton, his first album in 14 years, in August. The 16-track album featured just over 60 minutes of feature-packed songs and boasted production from iconic producer DJ Premier and D.C.’s Best Kept Secret.

7. SOUTH CAROLINA REMOVES CONFEDERATE BATTLE FLAG FROM STATE CAPITOL BLDNG Following the racially motivated shooting deaths of nine churchgoers at Charleston, South Carolina’s Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, South Carolina state legislators in July voted 94 to 20 to remove the Confederate battle flag from statehouse grounds. The gesture was the culmination of a vocal campaign that called for the removal of the flag and other divisive Civil War-era symbols and statues on display from state properties.

But that was just the beginning.

Its impact was felt nationwide as dialogue surrounding the controversy of the Civil War-era symbols and statues swept across the country. Supporters of the artifacts argued that they are a part of our nation’s history that we should embrace, while proponents countered that the relics are divisive and represent a chapter of history that should not be celebrated.

Facing mounting pressure, some states followed South Carolina’s lead.

Alabama governor Robert Bentley, under the cloak of the early morning, removed the flag from state grounds in Montgomery. In Tennessee, Governor Bill Haslam this summer has said he believes his state’s legislators should move to replace a statue of Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan founder Nathan Bedford Forrest that is currently on display at the Tennessee state Capitol. A number of other states are considered removing controversial relics, as well.

8. POPE FRANCIS VISITS THE UNITED STATES Pope Francis’ first United States visit produced fanfare and commotion rarely seen in this region. His first stop brought him to Washington, D.C., where he met with President Barack Obama and addressed Congress and the nation during a speech he delivered on the floor of the United States House of Representatives.

Although African Americans make up just a small percentage of participating Catholics in the United States, Pope Francis’ message during his six-day trip revolved around social justice, income equality and brotherly love -ideas relevant to the African-American community. The Pope made several mentions of civil rights martyr Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during his joint address to Congress, and suggested that although the country has made racial strides since King’s death, attitudes and thoughts regarding race in America must evolve further before his destiny be finally fulfilled.

Pope Francis’ visit didn’t just lead him to America’s leaders. He also visited Philadelphia and New York City to meet with members of those communities.

One of his stops in New York City took him to Harlem’s Our Lady Queen of Angels School, comprised mostly of African-American and Latino students, where he met with overjoyed students who greeted him with songs.

After a shaky start to the season, Cousins found his groove. And thanks to an underwhelming cast of characters in the NFC East, the Redskins now find themselves in control of their own playoff destiny. Regardless if they make playoffs or miss out, it appears that Griffin’s tumultuous time in D.C. has come to an end. And with the current shortage of sure bets at quarterback in the National Football League, it’s likely that a few teams will show interest in acquiring the former Heisman Trophy award winner at the end of the season.

Although many D.C.-area Redskins fans fondly recall Griffin’s time as a starter, general sentiment among the contingent is that it’s probably best for both parties to move on. Griffin’s 2012 success wasn’t an aberration, and barring a careerthreatening injury, he still has a lot of good football left in his future.

9. SERENA WILLIAMS NAMED SPORTS ILLUSTRATED SPORTSPERSON OF THE YEAR It’s been a great year for Serena Williams, even by her lofty standards.

In addition to beginning her 2015 season with a 24-0 record, she notched her 700th career victory, won 53 of 56 matches and was named the Women’s Tennis Association’s player of the year. She even graced the tabloid pages as she stunned the fashion world when she introduced her HSN Signature Statement collection at New York Fashion Week. And if those achievements weren’t enough, she also collected $10 million in earnings on the tennis court during the year.

But her defining moment, perhaps, came in December when Sports Illustrated named her its 2015 Sportsperson of the Year. Deceased African-American tennis great Arthur Ashe also won the award in 1992. Williams is the first woman to receive the award since track athlete Mary Decker earned the honor in 1983.

The sports magazine unveiled its coveted Sportsperson of the Year cover, which showed a sultry Williams sitting on a gold chair—closely resembling a throne—decked out in a lacy black leotard and high heels. Unsurprisingly, Williams’ cover elicited outrage and criticism, as does most everything she does.

10. VIOLA DAVIS MAKES HISTORY 2015 was a great year for AfricanAmerican television. After its January 7, 2015 series premiere, FOX’s Empire ascended to unprecedented heights.

Starz’s Power followed-up its successful first season in June with yet another batch of intriguing episodes. One show in particular, however, produced the first African-American woman to win a prestigious Emmy Award.

How to Get Away with Murder’s Viola Davis took home the 2015 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama for her role as Annalise Keating in the hit ABC sitcom. Empire’s Taraji P. Henson was also nominated in the same category.

Davis, who has won two Tony Awards and a Screen Actors’ Guild Award, offered a riveting acceptance speech where she touched on the lack of diversity in the entertainment industry, and paid homage to Harriet Tubman by reciting one of her quotes. It was no sooner than Davis left the podium with her cherished award that a firestorm of activity engulfed the Internet as people of all backgrounds praised her emotional speech.

But Davis’ speech wasn’t without its detractors—most notably, General Hospital’s Nancy Lee Grahn, who took to Twitter to voice her displeasure about Davis using the Emmys as her platform to preach racial equality.

5 | WI BRIDGE

VIC MENSA IS HIP HOP’S FUTURE

Photograph courtesy of The Come Up Show, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

By Adolf Alzuphar

WI Bridge Contributing Writer @alzuphar For years, Vic Mensa has shown promise as an artist from Chicago, a city with periods of highs and lows, droughts even, of black artistic production.

Before him, Common, Kanye West and others had finally put the Windy City on a Hip-Hop map that, at the time, seemed to mostly highlight the east and west coasts and the south. There were, however, no immediate up and comers until Chicago’s south side found its way onto dance floors with Drill music and its many practitioners, such as Chief Keef.

Mensa, like Kanye and Chief Keef, openly reps the south side of Chicago, even sporting a tattoo on his neck. He was born in Hyde Park to a Ghanaian father and a white mother. Last month, he supported his fellow Chicagoans by protesting in the aftermath of Laquan McDonald’s horrific shooting and alleged cover up by city officials. Very little of his fight is in his lyrics but he’s an open activist and it matches his 6 | WI BRIDGE

musical direction.

Mensa was a musician that many had taken seriously before Chief Keef’s emergence. Though he’s still without an album, his talent seems to make him the true torch bearer of the HipHop respect that Chicago came to know with West, Common, and much less with Rhymefest. Like them, he is not an overnight success, his talent is irrefutable, and his flow is profoundly art.

In 2009, five years after the release of The College Dropout, Mensa and a few friends formed the interracial HipHop group Kids These Days, which provided a mix of punk hip-hop, rock and roll, and trap music. Despite being unknown by most, Kids These Days played Lollapalooza and even Conan O’Brian’s late night talk show. Their first and only album Traphouse Cuts was released in 2012. It was album of reckless juvenilia that didn’t see much success, even receiving a C- from music website Consequence of Sound.

The group disbanded shortly after, leaving Mensa to go his own way. He

released a gem of avant-garde Hip Hop Innanetape, collaborated with Kanye, formed a new crew by the name of SAVEMONEY and signed to Roc Nation within two years. With all of this, he is now, because of his flow and his beat choice, at the very top of the list of musicians to take seriously.

The Oxford Dictionary defines art as “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.” Very few hiphop songs can be appreciated for their potency, lyrics, and delivery because most of them fit the model of pop music.

Rappers rarely get to be themselves so their work can’t be considered High Art. This isn’t the case with Mensa’s solo releases. He has incredible flow that can be compared that of Lil Wayne’s, though he isn’t at the New Orleans megastar’s level. All of his songs surprise. Though his lyrics are pretty simple, the art is in his delivery, seemingly influenced by rock, jazz improvisation, and other

musical forms. Listening to Mensa rap is hearing “potent delivery” to quote Jay Z, the man who signed him.

But herein lies the issue. Mensa could write better lyrics. Like Lil Wayne, he has a certain taste for expressing the autobiographical reckless and the illicit that can be his downfall. Born in a city that produced Richard Wright and Gwendolyn Brooks, lines like “Don’t fly too high / Your wings might melt, you’re much too good to be true” could be informed by reading and intellectual conversation. It’s a shame that this much flow isn’t followed by better lyrics.

Mensa’s first album, Traffic, will be released soon. It will most likely be an avant-garde album featuring both Mensa’s flow and his great taste in beats.

This project will differentiate himself from the crowd and pave the way for the coming of an artist who can be our time’s Lil Wayne, both in delivery and in debauchery. Will History go as planned? No one knows. It has a way of writing itself. However, for the time being, Mensa’s next up.

2015, DISTILLED Mother Gwendolyn Brooks once said, “Poetry is life distilled.” It’s the recognition of our common heartbeat, our guiding rhythm, one of our most sentient forms of spoken or written communication. It’s the marriage of words to experience giving birth to art, and an opportunity to share with those we hold dear.

At its close, we reflect on what this year brought us – laughter, redirection disguised as failure, intimacy, knowledge, new levels of understanding; heartache and suffering, maturation, development, and community. We meditate on moments that brought us into heightened awareness of the connections we share, and occasions we gathered to celebrate individuality while denouncing the falsity of individualism.

As we work toward security and justice in a nation that views our disenfranchisement as tradition, we

also call out the names of our slain sisters and brothers – Kris Jackson, Natasha McKenna, Janisha Fonville, Sandra Bland, Paul Castaway, Walter Scott, William Chapman, Phillip White, Meagan Hockaday, Freddie Gray, Mya Hall, and many others.

We give thanks to our ancestors, who guided us into this year, lit our paths as we journeyed from season to season, and now stand by our side as we transition into a new rotation around the sun.

We recall relationships that tested our fortitude and made us reevaluate our definitions of love, those that lifted us up while we learned how not to fight our own greatness. We remember who we were one year ago today, and engage in conversation to craft who we’ll be and what we’ll do in the year to come.

-Kristina Jacobs

NO LOVE Song by TheCultureGod @TheCultureGod Rebelling from the system I find it grimey sadistic and nihilistic So fight I rip it If you hold hammer and fire biscuits I’d like to sick with the trifling clique splitting the dividends Who live life on the riches they strip from working citizens They erased the division between freedom and independence And taught you to be too ignorant to call the difference Just part the lie we’ve all been given But sho nuff, no love, come from a snake in the garden slithering.

With no regard for our women Killin niggas or, put em all in prison And yall in submission to godless religion Giving a fuck about yo feelins n how its hurtin the children the way they trick us to learn this bullshit But it’s the world that we livin in Vexing inside of mental imprisonment Submitting to shiesty distinguished demented gentleman Since the beginnings it’s been Battling till the finish The challenge I bear to witness Them savages wanna kill us.

That’s why they fill us with poison and watch us diminish The populace rather get caught in it than fight to get rid of it It’s ridiculous Just gettin me pissed and I’m sick of it I guess the populace predominantly ignorant Switch it The ignorant populace is ridiculous Cuz instead of fighting to get rid of the venomous they get caught in it Watch them lock the consensus behind a radical politician Who gets elected then shuts the fuck up and follows tradition

FROM A BLACK GIRLS WORTH Song by HIPHOPMOMMA Princess Best @PB_Speaks What’s a black girl’s worth these days, I can’t tell Tossed like a lost penny in a wishing well Facing rape cases on a regular basis, Black girls go missing; no one even looks for traces Molestation, a constant conversation Your silence kills and repeats with generations AND generations, this is no sensation This occurs every day out and day in Pad to the pen, time restore order Ink is loaded for protection of our daughters We get shot on porches, no one goes straight to jail Hijacking our wombs for reproductive cells Take 60 years to tell, be like sorry, oh well But you birthed a billion babies off one black female I’mma give em hell, ooh I’m ‘bout to tell Break these girls free like Assata’s cell

BLACK WOMAN À LA CARTE

DONALD TRUMP AND FRIENDS

If I gave you my mind on a silver platter, could you bear the taste?

The tang and crunchiness of my spirit The spice of my desires The gourmet of my existence My thoughts a meat so tender, your very breath could cut me in two A salad fork for my innocence The steak knife for my dreams Complemented by a fine wine, I lay my soul before you And await your first bite.

Be careful of mice Spreading disease with each squeak Multiplying filth No doubt, they are foul Shitting where you rest your head Just out of your reach Cleanse your space of them Recall often that the worst Do walk on two legs

Both By Kristina Jacobs @Qn_Tiye

I AND I

By Daniel Ivory @eye.rise There’s a space that you’ve carved out of me simply by having such a sharp existence.

The passion between us could burn so fiercely from the inside out, that the people around us would be charred.

After conceiving and birthing galaxies in our past lives we find ourselves on 2 separate sides of a crystal clear, impenetrable glass.. face to face, yet so out of reach. This was conspired by the universe, only to spare those around us from being swallowed up by the flames. For now.

But an active volcano will inevitably erupt...spewing the richest of liquid fire, creating scalding hot waters and an apocalyptic chaos for anyone unprepared to evacuate..

But when the waters cool, and the lava dries...new land is birthed... fertile ground for a new beginning. Lacking nothing but green thumbs to lay seed, willing spirits to speak life, and working hands to reap a long awaited harvest of life giving herbs and new firsts.

7 | WI BRIDGE

WI BRIDGE VIEWPOINTS

Each month, a WI Bridge reporter hits the streets, asks the questions that matter, and compiles the best responses for readers to see. Do you have a suggestion for a Viewpoints question? Email wibridge@ washingtoninformer.com and you might see your inquiry in a future issue.

What’s your New Year’s Resolution?

“I want to accept that some people are in my life for a season and that I have to move on without them.”

Keeshona Whitfield, 37, Atlanta

“I want to better myself mentally, physically, and spiritually. I also want to take the next step in meeting my career goals and get into medical school.”

Amber Calhoun, 23, Cleveland

“I want to be more consistent in this upcoming year. There were many things that I said I was going to do, but I didn’t stay consistent enough to get it done. A whole year went by and I did not accomplish some of my goals.”

Timothy Hargett, 22, Kinston, North Carolina

Compiled by Brianna Nicole Rhodes

“I want to visit Germany, write a spring play, and finally visit Disneyland.”

Robert Hill, 27, Los Angeles

“I want to lose weight. I also want to continue to find myself and love me more.”

Danyelle Ray, 22, Charlotte, North Carolina

SAM P.K. COLLINS & ALLEYESONDC PRESENT A Night of News & Music Friday, Jan. 15th, 2016, 8pm - 10pm Sankofa Video Books & Cafe 2714 Georgia Ave. NW Washington, D.C. 20001 8 | WI BRIDGE