Washington Informer

Mayor Vincent C. Gray extends the following message to District residents as they celebrate the season's holidays and festivals:

"As we begin Hanukkah and approach Christmas and Kwanzaa, I want to wish a safe, joyous and happy holiday season to all District residents. For those of all faiths as well as those of no particular faith, this season is one of peace, goodwill, and family and community celebrations.

These holidays celebrate values universal to all people and shared across our city. Hanukkah commemorates the triumph of freedom over oppression and light over darkness; Christmas celebrates the advent of a prophet who preached about justice and challenged ruling authorities; and Kwanzaa promotes values like unity, self-determination, community and responsibility.

One of the joys of living in the District of Columbia is the broad diversity of faiths, cultures, ethnic backgrounds and ideological perspectives our residents embody while still sharing core beliefs in democracy, self-determination, civic responsibility and community service. I pray that we will live up to our highest ideals as a city in this season of celebration and charity as well as in the coming year."

President Barack Obama and his family flipped the switch that lit the National Christmas Tree on Thursday evening, bringing cheers from the huge crowd that gathered for a tradition that has been ongoing for nearly a century.

During the ceremony, which took place on the Ellipse near the White House, the president expressed hope that this year's tree -- a 28-feet blue spruce -- lasts longer than its predecessor, which died after just a year.

"Our tree has been having a hard time recently," said Obama, who was surrounded by his wife, two daughters and mother-in law. "This is our third one in as many years," he added, noting that a tree which stood near the White House for more than 30 years, was destroyed during a storm in early 2011. Its replacement didn't take hold.

"It just goes to show, nobody's job is safe here in Washington," Obama joked.

The ceremony was hosted by actor Neil Patrick Harris of CBS' "How I Met Your Mother. Performances that included a variety of holiday song favorites, was provided by recording artists Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, Ledisi, Jason Mraz, Colbie Caillat and James Taylor, along with the band The Fray.

The ceremony, which took place amid good weather, attracted crowd of about 17,000 people.

Source: Huffington Post

Black Women for Positive Change, a national social network of African-American women, joins in support of President Barack Obama and his policies of fairness for all Americans, by calling on selected Republican members of the United States Senate to cease their apparent "smear" campaign against Ambassador Susan E. Rice, a potential nominee for the position of Secretary of State.

"Ambassador Susan Rice is an outstanding United Nations Ambassador," Dr. Stephanie E. Myers and Hon. Daun S. Hester said in a joint statement. "She has impeccable credentials and deserves to be treated fairly in any consideration of her nomination as Secretary of State. Attacks by Republican Senators are, by all indications, totally political and without merit—this smear campaign must end."

Rice, the U.S. representative to the United Nations, graduated with honors from Stanford University, where she graduated junior Phi Beta Kappa and was a Truman Scholar. She holds master's and doctorate degrees in International Relations from Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar. Her awards include the Chatham House-British International Studies Association Prize for the most distinguished doctoral dissertation in the United Kingdom, in the field of international relations.

Rice's employment history includes working as special assistant to former President Bill Clinton and as senior director for African Affairs at the National Security Council at the White House.  At the Brookings Institution, Rice was a senior fellow and focused on U.S. foreign policy, transnational security threats, weak states, global poverty and development. Under Ambassador Rice's leadership, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations established the stiffest UN sanctions ever against Iran and North Korea. In 2009, Rice was confirmed unanimously by the U. S. Senate.

"Targeting Ambassador Rice for the incident that resulted in the death of a U.S. Ambassador in Libya in unconscionable," said Ruth Marshall/DC Affiliate and Faye Morrison/Massachusetts Affiliate of Black Women for Positive Change. "Dr. Rice has repeatedly stated that she reported information prepared and edited by members of the intelligence community."

Source: Black Women for Positive Change

The father of pop icon Michael Jackson, who recently suffered a mild stroke, was expected to be released after a few days at a Las Vegas hospital.

The 83-year-old Jackson family patriarch had complained of feeling weak while walking in a park near his home, He later called a friend who drove him to the hospital.

Jackson was reportedly joined at the hospital by his wife Katherine, who lives in Los Angeles where she cares for the late singer's three children.

Reports also state that the elder Jackson has had minor strokes at least twice in the past.

Farewell to an Activist

I just read Barrington Salmon's story about the passing of Civil Rights legend Lawrence Guyot online. Mr. Salmon is to be commended for the great job he did in capturing the essence of this man for those of us who didn't know him. I read the story several times and shared it with friends.

Mr. Guyot's death is a reminder that the young lions of the Civil Rights era are passing into history. We would do well to keep their memories alive and not make the dedication and sacrifices they exhibited be in vain. We owe Lawrence Guyot a debt of gratitude.

Kudos to Mr. Salmon and to the Washington Informer for their fine work.

Catherine Ames,

Washington, D.C.

Guyot Remembered

Barrington Salmon's stories on the death of Lawrence Guyot remind me of the importance of the Washington Informer to our community. I appreciated both stories because they gave readers two distinct sides of a man who appeared to be so many different things to different people.

Lawrence Guyot had the heart of a warrior and an acute sense of fair play that often put him in very dangerous positions as a young man. He is a disappearing breed in a world where people are more concerned with what's on their IPODs and on TIVO than with fighting against the many problems and issues that we in the black community face every day.

I hope the city sees fit to honor Mr. Guyot with a park, a building, or a scholarship in his honor. Better still, Mr. Guyot's life and work should be required reading for every D.C. student. We cannot afford to forget this great man or his significant contributions. If we do, we do so at our own peril.

Brian Brown

Hyattsville, Md.

Seat Pleasant Elementary School in Maryland was honored in a ceremony on Thursday, Dec. 6 as the recipient of a Title 1 Superlative Award. Maryland State Superintendent Dr. Lillian Lowery was a participant in the event, which began at 11:45 a.m. at the school, located at 6411 G St.

Several categories fall under recognition for Title I Reward Schools. Listed among them are Distinguished Highest Performing Reward Schools, Superlative Highest Performing Reward Schools and Highest Progress Reward Schools.

Seat Pleasant Elementary School was identified as a "Reward School" based on criteria that was evident from student performance from 2007-2011.

Mayor Eugene W. Grant has joined the school's principal, Olga Pabon, in expressing admiration for the students' achievement.

Mayor Vincent. C. Gray and Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier have announced availability of a new tool that fights against smart phone theft known as "bricking."

"Smart-phone theft has unfortunately been on the rise in the District and, as part of my One City Action plan, I laid out clear actions to ensure that every neighborhood in this city is safe," said Mayor Gray. "The ability to 'brick' -- by rendering one's phone inoperable -- sends a clear message to phone thieves and those who fence these phones, that the [rightful owners] will not stand idle and let this type of crime continue in our neighborhoods."

In the District, New York and other large American cities, roughly 40 percent of all robberies now involve smart phones – endangering the physical safety of victims, as well as the security of the personal information on the stolen devices.

In addition to the loss and injury experienced during the initial crime, there is an added risk of identity theft if the stolen smart phone isn't password-protected to prevent a thief from getting access to private information on the device.

If a person's smart phone is lost or stolen, he or she may now contact the carrier and ask to have that device remotely disabled. If a smart phone is rendered inactive in such a manner, it's often considered to be as useful as a brick.

However, "bricked" phones are of little use to thieves because they can't be reactivated after being sold on the black market. The Metropolitan Police Department is encouraging victims of smart phone thefts to call their carriers and to "brick it."

More information is available at www.brickit.dc.gov

Source: D.C. Mayor's Office