Author Archives: Adrienne T. Washington

Twelve million dollars? Now who could get twisted about media mogul Oprah Winfrey donating $12 million to the Smithsonian Institution’s African American History Museum, being erected prominently on the National Mall? Surprisingly a number of silly souls do, if you troll the web. Ah, the web: A miraculous minefield for all manner of mindless misinformation. […]

Preeminent Harvard Law Professor Charles Ogletree, said the Supreme Court’s ruling Monday legitimizing Maryland law enforcement’s use of an overreaching procedure of collecting genetic data in serious crimes will likely lead the way to more troubling privacy violations of the 4th Amendment’s protection against “unreasonable search and seizure.” ‘This opens up a Pandora’s Box on […]

Many Black Alexandrians are calling it “our local Trayvon Martin case.” And, they won’t rest until they get “Justice for Julian.” The promising 22-year-old Julian Dawkins, a driver for PBS’ Newshour, was shot and killed May 22 in the 100 block of Lynhaven Drive, apparently after an argument with off-duty Arlington County Sherriff’s Deputy Craig […]

Del. Charniele Herring has traveled around this country, but the first African American woman to chair the Democratic Party of Virginia says, “I just love Virginia; it’s been very good to me,” Ironic words coming from this great-great-granddaughter of a Lynchburg slave who today leads the state’s political party that once upheld segregation in the […]

A Philadelphia prosecutor called it a “house of horrors.” But it was no amusement day at Hershey Park for the unsuspecting women who entered the Women’s Medical Society in West Philly for more than 15 years. In fact, one Black conservative group called the frightening atrocities and crimes that occurred against vulnerable poor women, “Black […]

Post-racial politics? The issue of race in 2014, particularly in the local Democratic primaries, is already a determining factor. The rapidly changing demographics in the DMV—D.C., Maryland and Virginia—are not only redrawing the landscape but also restrucuturing the political playing fields. And all are reading those color-coded 2012 election results like tea leaves. Take a […]

Democrat Anita Bonds, who beat back five challengers and a biased media campaign to win her at-large seat on the D.C. Council in April 23 special election, attributed her win to “people who know me” all across the city. Those last-minute robocalls by her council colleagues, especially Ward 8 Council Member Marion Barry, Ward 5 […]

Anytime anyone attempts to discuss or defuse misunderstandings about intractable racism in America, which is still unable to reconcile its historic and hidden affects even today, they better be prepared for some backlash. To mention racism is to tiptoe into a minefield, and all too often it is the present practice to blame the victim […]

What prompted former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin to tweet “unflippingbelieveable,” about MSNBC’s host Melissa Harris-Perry? Gun control, gay marriage, or immigration? No, it’s public education. Nothing triggers our passions or hits us as close to home as what does or does not happen inside the schoolhouse doors where our children and grandchildren spend most […]

Will “This Girl is on Fire,” be the rallying cry for African American women candidates in the upcoming campaign season? It’s already been adopted by one Democratic candidate, D.C. Ward 4 Councilmember Muriel Bowser, who wants to broaden the thin ranks of female African American mayors in the country. Currently, only Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Baltimore Democrat, […]

As anticipated, we watched the famed Dr. Ben Carson, Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon, attempt to transform his “Gifted Hands” magic into a hocus-pocus parlor trick at the recent Conservative Action Political Committee (CPAC) meeting at National Harbor. “Let’s say you magically put me in the White House,” said the charming doctor, curiously waving his fingers in […]