A pair of advocacy groups staged a protest outside rapper Jay-Z’s Jan. 16 show at the Verizon Center in the District to oppose his use of lyrics demeaning Black women and to urge the star to use his influence to get young people to sign up for health care. Rocky Twyman, founder of the local […]
Author Archives: Maria Adebola
Special to the AFRO
Posted inAfro Briefs
Documentary ‘Brown Babies: The Mischlingskinder Story’ Tells Untold Stories of Bi-Racial World War II Era Children
Emmy-winning journalist Regina Griffin was inspired to tell a story and that’s how her film, Brown Babies: The Mischlingskinder Story was born. A family friend, entrepreneur Doris McMillon, had told stories about growing up the half-Black, half-White child of a Black G.I. and White German woman and the story was horrifying. Unwanted by both nations, […]
Posted inWashington D.C. News
D.C. National Guard Unit Returns Home for the Holidays
Approximately 50 soldiers of the D.C. National Guard’s 372nd Military Police Battalion returned home, on Dec. 17. After a 10-month deployment to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba the citizen-soldiers will get to spend the holidays with family. Inside the D.C. Armory, families, friends, and fellow National Guardsmen swarmed, “Welcome Home” signs at the ready, in anticipation for […]
Posted inWashington D.C. News
Anita Bonds Hosts Community Action Summit
D.C. Councilmember Anita Bonds (D-At-Large) held a so-called Community Action Summit on Dec. 7, bringing residents and community activists from wards 1, 5, 7 and 8 together for a discussion on D.C. housing and unemployment. The first phase of the summit included experts from non-profit sectors and educational institutions who spoke about the long-standing problem […]
Posted inWashington D.C. News
‘Black Nativity’ Star Luke James Visits Students at Duke Ellington School of Arts
Two days before his film debut , Luke James, an R&B singer and songwriter who is part of the cast of Black Nativity, visited the Duke Ellington School of Arts just north of Georgetown in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 25 to talk to students who are about to stage their own production of the play. […]
Posted inWashington D.C. News
Bullying Prevention, Control Weighed at Norton Roundtable
Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) and the Commission on Black Men and Boys, led by former D.C. Police Chief Isaac Fulwood, listened to harrowing stories about childhood bullying Nov. 20. For Christian Phillips-Gilbert, 15, now a sophomore at Eastern High School, bullying began in middle school and is just now subsiding. “They would call me […]
Posted inAfro Briefs
Lockheed Martin’s Stephanie Hill Looks to Make a Difference Among Women of Color
(Update 11/30/2013) Although Stephanie C. Hill describes herself as an “accidental” engineer, a glance at her background shows it’s no surprise that she has risen to become president of Lockheed Martin’s Information Systems & Global Solutions’ Civil Division. Engineering wasn’t in her family background, but achievement is no stranger in the Hill household. Her mother, […]
Posted inWashington D.C. News
D.C. Executives Sleep Out for Homeless Youth
On most nights, local leaders go home to hot dinners and warm beds. But on the night of Nov. 21, as the temperature dipped into the low 40s, local political and business leaders traded in their creature comforts to raise awareness and funds for homeless children at Covenant House D.C. in Northeast Washington. Bundled into […]
Posted inPrince George's County News
Homeowners Vent About Foreclosures
The Prince George’s County chapter of the NAACP held a town hall meeting on Nov. 16 at Jericho City Praise Church in Landover to hear complaints from Maryland homeowners facing foreclosure and to rally support for its lobbying effort to get Gov. Martin J. O’Malley (D) to place a statewide moratorium on foreclosures. The meeting, […]
Posted inWashington D.C. News
Howard University Celebrates Nelson Mandela’s Legacy through Photo Exhibit
From prisoner to president, Nelson Mandela is credited with spearheading the movement that led to the dismantling of the racist apartheid system in South Africa. Not only is he an inspiration to millions of people around the world, he is also one of the most respected leaders of our time. In celebration of the civil […]
Posted inWashington D.C. News
It’s Not Your Parent’s School Cafeteria Anymore
On first hearing, it sounds like a mistake. But it’s true. A school chef’s dish-pulled chicken- chard tacos with chile queso fresco and cilantro-lime sauce- prepared with locally-grown produce, won first place in a D.C. school chef competition this week. Lauren Williams, a chef who prepares food for Chartwell-Thompson, the firm that provides meals to […]