A Maryland man died after being shot in a Southeast parking lot on April 27. District authorities are looking for the suspected killers. Christopher Devin Heard, 37, Oxon Hill, Md. in Prince George’s County, was fatally shot around 4 a.m. April 27. Police said officials were called to the scene after receiving reports about a […]
Author Archives: Special to the AFRO
Posted inNational News
How Blacks Fared After 100 Days of Trump
When Donald Trump was inaugurated as 45th President of the United States, the Congressional Black Caucus didn’t have much of an official strategic response plan. Nor, for that matter, did any umbrella organization of Black elected officials on the local, state and federal level. Beyond being collectively stunned and some consensus that most of its […]
Posted inBaltimore News
‘LA 92’ Documentary Connects Watts to Compton to Here and Now
It’s been 25 years since the 1992 Los Angeles riots, and at least six films chronicling those events will be released this year. One film, “LA 92,” screened at the University of Baltimore on April 22. FILE – This March 3, 1991 image made from video provided by KTLA Los Angeles shows police officers beating […]
Posted inCommentary
Bowser’s Budget Shortchanges Kids
In April, Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser released her proposed FY 2018 budget. Her overall budget increased city spending by 3.4%. However, when it comes to the most direct way city funding reaches our students in their classrooms — the “per student spending” — she only included a 1.5% increase. At less than inflation, this […]
Posted inCommentary
Cannabis in the NFL is Medicine
I was only 16 when I was told no more contact sports. When I was 19, I was informed I had osteoarthritis in my left knee. At that point, I was told no more sports period. This made sense because that was the leg most weakened by my polio. Did I listen? Heck no, I […]
Posted inBaltimore News
Within 45 Minutes; Two Dead And Two Injured In Baltimore.
Within a 45 minute span, two people were killed and two more people were injured in separate shootings over the weekend. On April 29 at around 10 p.m., in the 1800 block of Prestbury Street in the Sandtown-Winchester area of Baltimore, a 26-year old man was shot in the back while sitting in a car. […]
Posted inBaltimore News
Brittney Young Wants to Make Baltimore’s Dirt Bike Culture Respectable
Brittney Young embraces the contradictions that make Baltimore unique. A chemical engineer by training, and graduate of the city’s Polytechnic Institute, Young is also a proud product of Baltimore’s dirt bike culture. She is challenging the city of Baltimore to own rather than criminalize a sport that is part of the charm and grit that […]
Posted inARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Pulitzer Prize Winner Lynn Nottage on Black Women Fighting Erasure
If anyone in the world was destined for greatness, Lynn Nottage would certainly fall into that category. Born in Brooklyn, New York to a child psychologist and schoolteacher, Nottage attended the prestigious St. Anns School before moving on to world renowned LaGuardia High School of Music and Art then Brown University for undergraduate followed by […]
Posted inARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
W. Kamau Bell’s Book ‘Awkwardly’ Explains Present-day America
While there has been a turbulent shift in America’s societal climate with the election of Donald Trump to the presidency, W. Kamau Bell’s is doing his best to understand what the cause of that shift was. None of this is new to him, because everything that the comedian and host of CNN’s “United Shades of […]
Posted inBaltimore News
Singing Pastor’s Celebrate the Legacy of Baltimore Talented Teen Electrocuted in Druid Hill Park
On May 5th 2006, 14-year-old Deanna Camille Green died from electrocution when a ball field fence she was stretching on in Baltimore’s Druid Hill Park, came in contact with an underground power line while she was playing a game with a Christian softball league. Almost 11 years to the day of that tragedy, her family […]
Posted inWashington D.C. News
Retiring D.C. Assistant Police Chief Groomes Praised as a Community-Oriented Law Enforcement Official
A high-ranking police official who was known throughout the District of Columbia for her sensitivity to the community recently decided to leave public law enforcement. Diane Groomes, who has served as the Metropolitan Police Department’s (MPD) assistant police chief since 2007, announced her retirement from the department on April 19. Reaction to her announcement was […]
Posted inNational News
After Months Away, Obama Returns to Political Spotlight
After a three-month hiatus from the political spotlight, former President Barack Obama returned to his home city of Chicago on April 24 to discuss community and civic engagement with student leaders. Former President Barack Obama listens to Ramuel Figueroa, second from left, as Kelsey McClear, left, and Tiffany Brown participate in a conversation on civic […]