February 2, 2011 | 8:33 AM | By Anna
Good morning, DCentric readers! We’re linking in the rain…just linking in the rain!
How do you solve a problem like North Capitol and Florida? “…it’s a situation Bates Area Civic Association president Geovani Bonilla believes won’t really go away unless the city addresses what he sees as a confluence of forces all converging at this single geographic point. “We’ve got 13 social programs and service providers, and five liquor stores. And that’s just in this small area,” Bonilla says. Those populations are now regularly running into the gentrification wave, he adds, the younger couples and families who are buying up the area’s bountiful rowhouses at an ever more rapid pace. “The new people to the neighborhood end up creating more targets” for crime, he says.” (tbd.com)
José Serrano Just Gets It “…DC Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member José E. Serrano told (House Republicans) Monday to “lay off DC.”…“Over the past four years we spent many long hours fighting to free DC of the harsh impositions of past Congresses, and did so with great success,” said Serrano. “From syringe exchange to medical marijuana and local power over school choice, we enabled the District and its leaders to chart their own course. My colleagues and I saw no point in imposing our views on the 500,000 citizens of DC. How could we presume to know better than them what they should use their local funds for?” (DCist)
Racial Divides in a Multicultural America. “I’ve said this before, but it remains true that “black/non-black” is the main racial divide in American life…Of course, the American racial landscape goes beyond white/black/Latino/Asian. Which is why it’s important to understand the significance of a black/non-black divide. On nearly every measure — from income and education to housing and health — the distance between blacks and everyone else is large and enduring. Upwardly mobile immigrant groups have always counterpoised themselves against the descendants of slaves in an effort to attain the privileges of whiteness.” (The American Prospect)
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February 1, 2011 | 11:21 PM | By Anna
It’s “Tweet of the Day”-time, but we are doing something different tonight. This picture was sent to me via Twitter, so it still counts, but instead of embedding the tweet it arrived in, I’m going to post this image. It feels right, considering what is happening now:
Kelli Shewmaker
Taken at Georgia & W st nw, earlier today.
February 1, 2011 | 5:55 PM | By Anna
DCentric
Organic Onions at Whole Foods. Not to be confused with Organic Funyuns.
For those of you who are passionate about Organic food or examining issues like privilege, access and health– make sure you listen to tomorrow’s edition of The Kojo Nnamdi Show, which will “explore where chains like Walmart and Whole Foods fit into the healthy food movement and how their strategies compare with government efforts”.
The first hour of the show is devoted to “The Walmart Diet”; panelists include WaPo Reporter Lyndsey Layton and Corby Kummer, a Senior editor at The Atlantic.
After writing two posts about how Organic Food is often out of reach for many Americans, I’m looking forward to Kojo’s thoughtful take on the politics of buying pesticide-free food.
If you are outside of the D.C. area or you can’t tune in to hear the discussion live at Noon, look for the “Listen” link here, and enjoy it whenever.
February 1, 2011 | 3:49 PM | By Anna
Flickr: xcode
Oh, *you* try and find an appropriate image for this post which won't anger someone.
I try to encourage commenting on DCentric because when readers share their perspectives, it can be edifying. For example, check out the comment Molly W. left under my last post, “Gray, Lanier and Thomas Tour North Capitol After Murders“. It deserves to be seen (emphasis mine):
In my own neighborhood (east of Capitol Hill), crime against white residents consistently seem to provoke an outcry that we just don’t hear when there are crimes against black residents.
However, it often comes across poorly to imply people are overreacting to a crime against a white person — it seems like an attempt to dismiss the white victim. Ideally, instead of making less fuss about white victims, we’d make just as much fuss about black victims. Sadly, I don’t see that happening any time soon.
I think a small part of it is access — I hear about many of these crimes on the neighborhood e-mail list, which seems to be whiter than the community at large (though that’s just my guess, I can’t say for sure).
More than that, I think it’s a lot easier for white residents to imagine that black victims of crime are somehow complicit — attacked b/c they’re in the drug trade or dating criminals or whatever. When a white person (or even someone who isn’t white, as long as s/he isn’t black) is attacked, there seems to be a much stronger, visceral sense of “that could’ve been *me*” among white neighbors.
(I’m white myself, don’t know if that makes a difference.)
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February 1, 2011 | 12:33 PM | By Anna
Flickr: CarfreeDC
Intersection of North Capitol and Florida.
A little more information on the video I included in my morning roundup, for those of you who can’t access such things, via TBD:
D.C. Mayor Vince Gray, Councilman Harry ‘Tommy’ Thomas and police Chief Cathy Lanier toured the troubled North Capitol Street neighborhood that has seen two shootings in the past two weeks…The intersection of two busy thoroughfares has historically been a spot for day and night drinking, drugs, and crime.
The mayor and other city officials pledged more police and better lighting.
One of those two shooting victims, William Mitchell, was trying to help a woman he saw being attacked when he was shot. Mitchell had planted trees in and helped clean the park where he was killed.
Police have not identified a suspect in Mitchell’s murder and fliers seeking the killer’s identity are posted around the area. The city’s response to the murder of a white man has sparked controversy in what some describe as a gentrifying neighborhood.
According to Northeast resident Pari Parker, “They just doing that because he was white. If it was a black person they wouldn’t have done none of that. How many black people die around here every day?”
February 1, 2011 | 10:47 AM | By Anna
It’s a little early for “Tweet of the Day“, but we had to share this bit of news from our colleague, Patrick:
Is the D.C. Council 'bustin' loose'? Council to pass resolution calling Chuck Brown and Soul Searchers Band as "True Originators of Go-Go"
February 1, 2011 | 8:35 AM | By Anna
Good morning, DCentric readers! Here are your breakfast links:
The District Curmudgeon: Credit where credit’s due at our local CVS “Jim was the security guard working the area near the front door. He was doing the work of a guard, as well as a greeter and a customer service representative. I had stopped in to purchase some salt in anticipation of the forecasted nasty weather…He reached down, lifted a bag, and walked it over to the scanner next to the aisle end-cap to let me know how much one cost. There were two women standing in front of the scanner, and Jim politely asked them to move so he could scan the bag. He was greeted with anything but politeness.” (distcurm.blogspot.com)
All Opinions Are Local – How Sarles can leave his mark on Metro “Expand Metrorail capacity. Metrorail will be at capacity by 2030, and some sections, such as the Orange Line in Virginia or the western Red Line, are already stuffed. Yet you removed from the capital plan new power substations that are necessary to run more eight-car trains because you needed that money to fix signals and replace old railcars. Your staff rejected having more doors on each car and seating arrangements that fit more people standing in the new railcar designs…what is Metro going to do to keep overcrowded platforms from becoming the safety issue of the next generation? ” (voices.washingtonpost.com)
Friends of Takoma Park Bank Robber Speak Out “Police say Espinoza Arcia took a female bank employee hostage during the robbery Friday morning and used her as a shield…After a dye pack exploded, he slipped on some ice and the hostage broke free. Espinoza Arcia chased her with his gun drawn, and three Takoma Park officers and three Prince George’s County officers opened fire, killing him. His co-workers and friends are painting a different picture of this bank robber. They call him a gentle man, who read the bible and who had a full time job at a retirement home. On Friday, his day off he robbed a bank. His best friend is stunned and still in disbelief.” (myfoxdc.com)
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January 31, 2011 | 6:45 PM | By Anna
Flickr: ghbrett
"Hugs": a word I don't associate with Michelle A. Rhee.
Interim Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson is a friend of Michelle Rhee’s; Rhee, the controversial former broom-wielder, is also Henderson’s mentor. And yet, Henderson does things a little differently:
Since becoming interim chancellor after Rhee’s abrupt departure in October, Henderson has brought a more naturally accessible style to the job. At meetings around town, her entrance often comes with a broad smile and a round of hugs. “She wasn’t a hugger,” Henderson said of her predecessor.
Some skeptics have already suggested that Henderson is simply “Rhee-light.” But friends say those who who doubt her toughness, or her resolve to preserve Rhee’s emphasis on teacher quality and accountability, are underestimating Henderson.
“People are just starting to learn about her because she was under such a shadow with Michelle Rhee,” said Jacques Patterson, chairman of the Ward 8 Democrats and project director at the Federal City Council, an influential group of business and civic leaders active in education reform. “Kaya is very focused, very clear thinking and knows where she wants to go. She can be as hard charging as Michelle Rhee but she won’t be a bull in a china shop, breaking china.”
See? She’s a “hugger”. As for “closer”, this is what happened after a meeting with students, staff members and parents from River Terrace Elementary in Northeast, a school marked for closure:
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January 31, 2011 | 4:47 PM | By Anna
Washington Humane Society
WHS President Lisa LaFontaine and her lovely dog, Lila.
On Friday, I mentioned that I had interviewed Lisa LaFontaine, the President and CEO of the Washington Humane Society (WHS). We discussed several topics, most notably the stigmatization of Pit Bulls, which is a compelling and divisive issue. If I were a gambler, I’d wager that the reason why my “teaser” of a post was shared 20 times on Facebook (not typical for DCentric, no matter how many eyelashes or shooting stars I wish on) has more to do with America’s scariest dog than humane education or your kind support of my dream job writing for WAMU.
Lisa was so generous, she spent twice the allotted time speaking with me and for that I am grateful. Because we covered so much information, I’m splitting the interview in to two posts; part two will be up Wednesday morning.
Some of you may be wondering, what do dogs have to do with race and class; interestingly enough, this weekend and earlier today, whenever I was speaking with people involved with animals, their immediate response was, “Everything”. A colleague added, “Unfortunately, the stereotype is that the only people who own Pit Bulls are either white rednecks or Black drug dealers.” After speaking to Lisa LaFontaine, I know that such assumptions are inaccurate– and dangerous for a breed which was once affectionately referred to as a “Nanny dog”.
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