By Mark F. Gray AFRO Staff Writer mgray@afro.com While President Donald Trump continues to boast that he’s done more for Black Americans than any Commander In Chief in history, the month of May’s unemployment figures make a strong case otherwise. According to Stateline, a nonprofit news service that provides reporting and analysis of trends in […]
Author Archives: Mark F. Gray
Posted inAfro Briefs
Black America Still Feels the Noose
By Mark F. Gray AFRO Staff Writer mgray@afro.com With countless examples of police brutality and killings, continued systemic racism and symbols of segregation being toppled and challenged by demonstrators around the United States, the opposition, angst and concern for Black lives continues to linger. A rise in hangings in Texas, New York, and California have […]
Posted inD.C. Community
AFRO EXCLUSIVE: New Carrollton Elects First Black Woman Mayor
By Mark F. Gray AFRO Staff Writer mgray@afro.com For more than 20 years, as a resident of New Carrollton, Maryland, Phelecia Nembhard has been committed to her city. Nembhard began as a humble grassroots organizer helping feed the hungry people of the community and ultimately won a write-in campaign to earn her place on the […]
Posted in!Front Page
Evers Fight Against Injustice Lives Through Current Athletes
By Mark F. Gray AFRO Staff Writer mgray@afro.com In many respects Medgar Evers’ life has been defined more by his death than his impact on the fight against systemic racism in the United States. If Evers hadn’t been assassinated in 1963 – the same year Camelot ended with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy […]
Posted inBUSINESS, Coronavirus, Health, NEWS, Prince George's County News, Washington D.C. News
Prince George’s County Opens Small Businesses
By Mark F. Gray AFRO Staff Writer mgray@afro.com The lights of commerce started coming back on again as Prince George’s County entered Phase Two of the slow return to normal business following the COVID-19 shutdown. After nearly three months of silence, “non essential businesses” such as barber shops, nail salons and retail stores opened with […]
Posted inArts & Culture, ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT, ENTERTAINMENT, NEWS, Washington D.C. News
Anacostia Juneteenth Rally Brings Hope To Ward 8
By Mark F. Gray AFRO Staff Writer mgray@afro.com The Anacostia community in Washington has a reputation that dwarfs its place in Black America’s legacy. Although great Black leaders such as Frederick Douglass were said to have walked the Anacostia streets, contemporary images of the historic area are those of what represent the vestiges of institutional […]
Posted inNEWS, POLITICS, Prince George's County News
Stawinski Resigns As Prince George’s County Police Chief
By Mark F. Gray AFRO Staff Writer mgray@afro.com Despite his best attempts at masking the troubles beneath the surface of his Department, former Prince George’s County Police Chief Hank Stawinski couldn’t avoid the lack of confidence his community lost in him. Stawinski, abruptly resigned, June 18 after a report by the American Civil Liberties Union […]
Posted inArts & Culture, ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT, D.C. Community, ENTERTAINMENT, NEWS, Washington D.C. News
“Virtual Vibe” Launches March to Charm City CIAA
By Mark F. Gray AFRO Staff Write mgray@afro.com Four of America’s hottest deejays will help the nation’s oldest HBCU athletic conference begin the countdown to it’s march to Charm City with a day party in cyberspace. Visit Baltimore and the CIAA, the nation’s first Black athletic conference, will host the CIAA Virtual Vibe day party […]
Posted inCoronavirus, NEWS, Washington D.C. News
Investments Into Labor Force Change Lives
By Mark F. Gray AFRO Staff Writer mgray@afro.com In trying to combat unemployment and homelessness a company is making investments in human capital. A company called R Investments is working on the two major crises that America is facing today, systemic racism and COVID-19, by transforming the process of education and preparing a new workforce […]
Posted inHBCU, NEWS, Prince George's County News, Washington D.C. News
Young Black Men Share Discomfort In Dealing With Police
By Mark F. Gray AFRO Staff Writer mgray@afro.com Trauma from the effects of watching the deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta has local Black male college students coming to grips with their mortality after being bombarded with images of those who look like them being killed on social media. Recent […]
Posted inNational News, NEWS
AFRO Exclusive!: Leon Optimistic Floyd’s Death Will Spark Change
By Mark F. Gray AFRO Staff Writer mgray@afro.com For over 30 years satellite radio political commentator and author Dr. Wilmer Leon has witnessed protests surrounding racism– from the Rodney King verdict, to the uproar over the acquittal of George Zimmerman who killed Trayvon Martin and now the most recent uprising following the death of George […]
Posted inAfro Briefs, NEWS, Prince George's County News
Virtual Town Hall Meeting Begins Healing In Prince George’s
By Mark F. Gray AFRO Staff Writer mgray@afro.com The next evolution of the Civil Rights Movement is literally zooming into action. After the early contentious moments of organized, well choreographed, non violent protests following the death of George Floyd, last week Prince George’s County took the lead in trying to begin the process of social […]