Washington Informer

It's time for some Blacks leaders to end their narrow thinking about the issue of sustainability and the green economy.

Mayor Vincent Gray is not among them. He recently released a forward-thinking plan, which he calls the Sustainable DC Plan (www.sustainable.dc.gov) which includes 32 goals, 31 targets, and 143 specific action items in the areas of the environment, energy, food, nature, transportation, waste and water. In the end, Gray hopes to make the District of Columbia the healthiest, greenest and most livable city in the nation over the next 20 years.

It's a plan that allows the District to catch up with many cities on the west coast that lead the nation on environmental issues, and it puts the District on par with the environmental movement that's sweeping the country.

President Barack Obama talked about a national plan for sustainability in his State of the Union Address. In the next 20 years, he wants to end the wasteful use of energy and create new sources of energy that are cheaper and more environmentally friendly, as well.

But Gray has his critics. Chief among them is Ward 8 Council member Marion Barry who was quoted in a Washington Post article written by Tim Craig as saying, "Black folks are concerned about the environment, but they are also concerned about jobs. Gardens on roofs are fine, but if you are hungry, it's not enough. You might have clean air to breathe, but it doesn't matter if you are also broke."

Mr. Barry's point is well taken, but it's not well thought through. Gray's plan, as does the president's, calls for jobs and job training which is essential to the success of this drastic environmental overhaul. And, while we respect and acknowledge the role Mr. Barry played in filling hundreds of jobs during his tenure as mayor, the jobs he filled no longer exist. The future for job seekers, including "Black folks" will hinge on the creation of a new green economy.

The focus of any sustainable plan should be in neighborhoods like the ones Mr. Barry represents. Poorer neighborhoods are the ones in which environmental and civil rights advocates have identified as sites where environmental racism is predominant. They tend to be the closest to hazardous waste facilities and other "toxic spots" and where children have the greatest exposure to lead – the areas where asthma among children and adults is rampant.

We encourage Mr. Barry to get on board with this new movement and begin to plant seeds in the schools and communities he serves. His constituents deserve a healthy, green and livable community. They also deserve the jobs it will take to build it.

Ward 1 Council member Jim Graham received a reprimand from his colleagues on the D.C. Council last week. As a result, he was stripped of his authority to oversee the issuance of liquor licenses after it was discovered that he had improperly intervened in a D.C. Lottery contract dispute nearly four years ago.

The bomb that dropped on Graham had been hanging over his head for quite some time. District residents had become frustrated by Graham's apparent escape from justice, unlike his counterparts who include former Ward 5 Council member Harry Thomas and At-Large Council member Kwame Brown. Thomas is currently serving 38 months in prison for misusing city funds, and Brown has been sentenced to six months of house arrest for lying on a mortgage application.

Questions about Graham's judgment and involvement in this current debacle, coupled with concerns over another incident involving a payment received by his chief of staff, and whether or not Graham accepted [the money] as a "bribe" continues to circulate throughout the District.

The action the council has taken raises the respect of a collective community frustrated over the lapse in ethical decision making on the part of each council member, and it helps to improve the confidence District residents have for their city leaders.

However, there's reason to celebrate.

Voters have lost faith in their elected officials. Even the willingness by some to police others, comes too late to eliminate the damage done in part by Graham, and others. Without defending himself, Graham essentially said, that he's relieved that it's over but in fact, that's far from the truth. It's not over until voters decide. That day is quickly approaching.

United Way of the National Capital Area (United Way NCA) is awarding 22 grants totaling $185,000 to 22 member organizations serving Prince George's County.

The funds came through designations to the Prince George's County Community Impact Fund in United Way NCA's annual workplace giving campaign. Each of the grants directly addresses United Way NCA's focus areas of education, health and financial stability.

In total, nearly $1.65 million was raised through Community Impact Funds in United Way NCA's eight regions thanks to the support of employees from over 800 workplaces with more than 3,000 locations throughout the Washington region.

Specifically, the Prince George's County grantees are: Adoptions Together, American Red Cross, Arts for the Aging, Ayuda, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the National Capital Area, Campfire, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington, Class Acts Arts, Community Support Systems Inc., End Time Harvest Ministries, Inc., FAME - Foundation for the Advancement of Music & Education, Inc., Family Crisis Center of Prince George's County, Inc., Forestville Pregnancy Center, House of Ruth Maryland, Inc., KEYS for the Homeless Foundation, Inc., Latin American Youth Center, Lt. Joseph Kennedy Institute, Inc., Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area, Neediest Kids, Prince George's Child Resource Center, SHARE Food Network, and St. Ann's Center for Children, Youth, and Families.

The community impact grant awarded to FAME - Foundation for the Advancement of Music and Education will support the Music Technology Program which "provides middle and high school students living and attending school in underserved areas with a comprehensive modern, technology-rich, creativity-based learning environment that they otherwise would not have access to," said A. Toni Lewis, FAME founder and executive director. "Classes are hosted in a university setting – which encourages students to 'see' the possibilities of getting a higher education – and are taught by college professors and professional musicians with state-of-the-art software, equipment and materials found in professional recording studios."

At the end of the program students receive a Certificate in Music Technology which enables them to apply for internships, advance placement in school, and jobs in music studios and stores.

The grant awarded to End Time Harvest Ministries will be used to help fund the Wellness Ambassadors FIT 4 Success program, a health advocacy program where students learn in non-traditional academic ways how to make healthy eating and active living choices for themselves and how to teach their families and others in their community to do the same.

"Thanks to this grant, we can enroll 67 students in our Youth Wellness Leadership Institute," said Rev. Gail Addison, president, End Time Harvest Ministries. "As part of their wellness ambassador training, the students' experiential learning activities include visiting a local urban farm to learn about growing organic foods, learning about local fish and plant life, and working as a team to develop recommendations to improve the health and safety of their community."

Each year, United Way NCA solicits funding proposals from its member nonprofit organizations for specific programs and work in these communities. This year, Prince George's County member organizations submitted 79 proposals totaling $1,543,500. Funding decisions are made by a volunteer, citizen-led task force that works together with area nonprofits, governments, and business leaders to determine where there are gaps in services and where the funds will do the most good.

Mary Dade, President/CEO of Personal Finance Solutions, LLC, served on the Prince George's Community Impact grants selection committee as the team leader for the financial stability focus area.

"This was a great way for me to be involved with health, education and financial stability efforts, as all three are very important to economic development in the county and there is a slice of our population who require services beyond what the government is able to provide," said Dade. "United Way NCA is one funding source that does more than provide funding. I was impressed with the length and breadth of the help provided to the nonprofits including grant writing boot camps and other development and capacity building help."

"The generous contributions from the Prince George's County community, the teamwork of the selection committee volunteers, and the localized, collective power of the Community Impact Fund showcase what Living United is all about," said Bill Hanbury, President and CEO, United Way NCA.

Mary J. Corey, whose personal warmth was matched by a drive that led her to become the first woman in The Baltimore Sun's 176-year history to head its newsroom, died Tuesday of breast cancer.

The Sun's senior vice president and director of content, who was 49, essentially grew up at her hometown paper, joining it as a college intern and rising through its reporting and editing ranks. She led The Sun to regional Newspaper of the Year honors during the past two years and spearheaded new print and digital sections while building on its tradition of investigative journalism.

"Mary was an outstanding colleague and a wonderful person," said Timothy E. Ryan, publisher, president and CEO of The Baltimore Sun. "When I had the opportunity to select her as editor in 2010, I knew she would be an extraordinary leader for our team. Amid an unprecedented information revolution, Mary used her leadership and creativity to position The Sun for the future. She was exceptionally adept at driving the vital work of the newsroom while embracing opportunities for growth in the digital age.

"She was a friend and mentor to many here, and I will miss her both as a colleague and a friend."

(The Baltimore Sun)

See more at: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/obituaries/bs-md-corey-obituary-20130226,0,4878616,full.story#sthash.puXCEr70.dpuf

Under leadership of the Rev. Dr. Frank D. Tucker, First Baptist Church in Northwest hosted a 150th anniversary celebration featuring iconic gospel article Shirley Caesar. The event was held Saturday Feb. 23 at the Lincoln Theatre on historic U Street.

Pastor Shirley Caesar has traveled the world spreading the Word and breaking down barriers for other gospel artists. The 11-time Grammy Award winner has truly exemplified gospel music to the core. She has performed for U.S. presidents and world leaders, yet is also at home pastoring to a thriving church in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina.

Shirley Caesar started out in the early 1960s singing with the gospel group "The Caravans," before going on to become a solo artist in 1966. During her stellar career, Caesar has released more than 30 solo albums.

After 150 years of holding up the banner of Christ, the congregation at First Baptist Church in Northwest paused to celebrate the great things God has done.

The desire was to make known the struggles and blessings of our amazing "Journey of Faith" that began in 1861, when a group of former slaves from Caroline, Spotsylvania, Louisa and Orange counties, Va., assembled on the government camp grounds at 6th and B Streets in Southwest Washington.

Aided by white ministers from the Freedmen's Bureau, the group held meetings and prayed. A council of white and colored ministers was called to recognize this body of Christians as a church.

As the first organized Baptist church in Southwest, we were named the "First Baptist Church of Southwest Washington" in1863. Throughout the years, the church has grown tremendously in membership and ministries. There have been 13 pastors and three church homes in our history.

In 1958, the First Baptist Church of Southwest moved to its present location at 712 Randolph St. in Northwest.

In addition to the beautiful edifice of worship, the church has acquired four properties and extended their ministries to include a Child Development Center, Senior Center, and Community Health and Outreach Services (Church Association for Community Services, Alcoholic Anonymous meetings, and the AIDS Conversation Center), to name a few.

The church began 2013 with a season of praying and fasting. The year-long celebration will feature concerts, fashions from different periods, gospel proclamations, and reflections on the journey.

They will also publish the history of the fellowship and a pictorial directory of current members and highlight First Baptist's worldwide influence through a foreign mission conference and support service.

DIASPORA CHALLENGE

1. Between 1500 and 1807, how many Black Britons were believed to have lived in England?

a) Between 5,000 – 10,000

b) Between 10,000 – 20,000

c) More than 50,000

2. The Nigerian film industry is the second largest in the world. What is it affectionately known as?

a) Nigerialand

b) Dream Cinema

c) Bollywood

3. In 1948, first generation of migrant workers from the Caribbean traveled to England, and played an integral part in the origins of multi-cultural Britain. What was the name of the steamship upon which they traveled?

a) SS Empire Windrush

b) SS Queen Elizabeth II

c) SS Southampton

4. Haiti's Founding Fathers are made up of four legendary men: Francois Dominique Toussaint Louverture, Henri Christophe, Alexandre Petion and _______________?

a) Michel Jacques

b) Jean Jacques Dessalines

c) Etienne Joseph

5. Under the system of South African apartheid, white landowners moved the Khosian people from their homes into shantytowns and took possession of what percentage of the land?

a) 60 percent

b) 72 percent

c) 87 percent

Answers:

1. 10,000 – 20,000

2. Bollywood

3. SS Empire Windrush

4. Jean Jacques Dessalines

5. 87 percent

"I hate history because you can only go so far back in time before all of the black people are in chains and despair. It's embarrassing," was among the comments I often encountered as a graduate teaching assistant at both the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, and Jackson State University in Mississippi. Even as elders and members of the black literati collectively admonish that not knowing ones past, preemptively obscures their futures, the reality of blackness does not validate one's existence, vindicate one's condition, or embolden greatness among the present-day kindred of ancestors, however brilliant.

But in a space where people of color are at once exotic, the meat of cultural voyeurism, and competition for folks whose imperial expansion adulterated mother-tongues and mores, the Diasporic black experience continues to most aptly be defined as varying manifestations of the white man's burden. So how best to affirm the everyday accomplishments, the intellectual prowess, and the sheer resilience of blacks around the globe, while acknowledging the vile, racist, and dehumanizing malaise through which those things were achieved? Simple: With truth and parity.

There are few absolutes. Not all black people were disenfranchised; nor were all slaves. There were many whites who had both an aversion to slavery and a sincere belief in racial and social equality. African people around the world developed the very arts, languages and sciences for which they are now stereotyped as inherently unable to master. They are the skeletons, the arteries, and the DNA of every civilization under the sun, but hidden in plain view. This Black History Month, our goal at the Informer was to introduce readers to their foremothers and forefathers, as decidedly human, resilient, and exceptional. In our final Black History Month special section, we spotlight a few of the many cultures that encompass Diasporic Black History. Similarities abound and subtle cultural nuances suggest kinships across superficial geographic and language barriers.

One exercise with which my students were challenged when trying to determine how race or blackness functioned on a global scale entailed examining the relationship between the island nation of Haiti and the U.S. from its independence until the death of President John F. Kennedy. The students found that with almost every economic and cultural leap forward by Haiti, there was an equally defiant show of racist maneuvering – including gunboat diplomacy, American-funded attempts to overthrow the government, and constant cultural interventions that disrupted the customs of her people and marginalized Haiti's independence. The people, even after natural disasters and foreign exploitation, remain proud, vibrant and steadfast. Lola Poisson Joseph, founder and executive director of the Children and Families Global Development Fund, and wife of former Haitian Ambassador to the United Stated Raymond Joseph, graciously shares her insight into the Haiti few recognize or acknowledge in this edition.

And while Haiti fought to maintain her identity, other nations, including Guyana, quickly absorbed the English branding of imperial rule – its people becoming (in some cases) more English than the British themselves. When the Crown called upon its numbers to fight in World War II, people of color from the Caribbean to India, answered. At the close of the war, educational and economic opportunities opened in the "Mother Country," and thousands migrated or sent their children to areas in and around London, Cardiff, and Leeds. By the 1960s, the children of these migrants had forged collective identities that merged the best of their parents' and grandparents' cultures with that of their adopted homeland. In this edition of the Informer, journalist and motivational speaker Sherry Ann Dixon details her own migration from British Guyana to London.

At times the formation of racial and cultural identity rested solely in the interpretations of others. Such proved true for thousands of mixed-raced children – generally the product of black American servicemen and non-black women abroad. Barrington Salmon speaks with broadcast journalist Doris McMillon and other German-born children of such unions, who were known collectively as Brown Babies and became part of a trans-Atlantic immigration movement that paired them with African-American adoptive parents.

Please use the Informer Black History special editions as a springboard to additional learning. With the abundance of rich and positive black experiences worldwide, we hope you find something more in the past – no matter how far back you look, besides chains and despair.

Read & Enjoy,

Shantella Y, Sherman

Editor, Special Editions

A firestorm of criticism has erupted involving Cardinal Peter Turkson, who could be next in line to succeed Pope Benedict XVI, all because he has publicly suggested that gay priests are in part to blame for the child sexual abuse scandals within the Catholic Church that have broken and rippled worldwide.

Turkson,64, who was recently interviewed by CNN about possibly stepping into the highly revered papal spot, discussed the sex scandals and their outreach across the U.S. and Europe — and whether there was a possibility of it reaching African shores.

"Not in the same proportion as we have seen in Europe," Turkson said. "Probably because African traditional systems kind of protect or have protected its population against this tendency. Because in several communities, in several cultures in Africa, homosexuality, or for that matter, any affair between two sexes of the same kind are not countenanced in our society. So, that cultural 'taboo,' that tradition has been there. It's helped to keep this out."

As soon as Turkson made his statement about the Catholic Church sex scandals, he was immediately slammed by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "We hear less about clergy sex crimes and cover ups in Africa for the same reasons we do throughout the developing world — there tends to be lesser funding for law enforcement, less vigorous civil justice systems, less independent journalism, and an even greater power and wealth difference between church officials and their congregants," a spokesperson for the organization said in a statement via the Daily Mail.

(Source: Ruth Manuel-Logan for CNN)

A prominent state assemblyman from Brooklyn who wore blackface to a party he hosted to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Purim, said on Monday that he did not mean to hurt anyone.

Dov Hikind, a Democrat and a longtime power broker in the Orthodox Jewish community, donned an Afro wig, brown makeup, an orange jersey and sunglasses as part of a costume that he said represented a "black basketball player," according to the New Times.

"The main objective that I have is not to be recognizable," Mr. Hikind said in an interview. "Of course the intention was not to offend anyone. That's the last thing that I ever imagined that would happen, to be very honest. It never crossed my mind."

The Post further reported that Hikind had hundreds of guests to his home on Sunday, and as he said he had done in past years, he enlisted a professional makeup artist to help him with his costume. When his grown son, Yoni, asked him if he could post a photograph of the outfit on Facebook, Hikind said saw no problem with it.

But on Monday Hikind, who was quoted as saying, "there is not a prejudiced bone in my body," found himself at the center of an upheaval. He initially brushed off the commotion following The New York Observer's report on the matter, explaining in a blog that it was a product of "political correctness to the absurd."

(Source: New York Times)