April 15, 2011 | 3:31 PM | By

Emancipation Without Representation

Flickr: Elvert Barnes

From the DC Emancipation Day Voting Rights March 2007

Tomorrow is Emancipation Day in the District; for most, that means an extra weekend for tax preparation, but it’s worth considering why tax day was delayed this year (and every year when the holiday falls on a Saturday). On April 16th, 1862, slavery ended in the District nine months before President Lincoln would go on to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.

The District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act freed almost 3,000 enslaved people while compensating their former masters for the loss of their human property– the only example of compensation by our federal government to former slave-owners.

From the National Archives:

The act brought to a conclusion decades of agitation aimed at ending what antislavery advocates called “the national shame” of slavery in the nation’s capital. It provided for immediate emancipation, compensation to former owners who were loyal to the Union of up to $300 for each freed slave, voluntary colonization of former slaves to locations outside the United States, and payments of up to $100 for each person choosing emigration. Over the next 9 months, the Board of Commissioners appointed to administer the act approved 930 petitions, completely or in part, from former owners for the freedom of 2,989 former slaves.

The act fundamentally altered D.C., where previously, all free and enslaved black residents had to adhere to a strict 10pm curfew or face arrest and torture.

No longer downtrodden, the first freed slaves in the country created the city we know today:

Escaped slaves from Maryland, Virginia, and beyond—as many as 40,000—poured in, colonizing the neighborhoods and building the institutions that would form the foundations of today’s black community.

Less than a decade after the Civil War, an African-American newspaper—hailing the participation of blacks in local government, the passage of civil-rights laws, the founding of Howard University, and the establishment of thriving (though segregated) public schools—would declare: “Probably to a greater extent than elsewhere in the country is the equality of citizens in the matter of public rights accorded in the District of Columbia.” The sounds of the curfew bell and the slave auctioneer’s hammer were fading memories.

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FILED UNDER: History, D.C. Statehood, Voting Rights
April 15, 2011 | 12:11 PM | By

Huge Rooftop Vegetable Garden Coming to D.C.

Anna John

Bread for the City expanded its northwest center, reopening in January.

No room to grow a vegetable garden? Just go to your roof.

That’s what nonprofit Bread for the City will begin building this weekend on top of its recently renovated Northwest center, creating one of the largest rooftop produce gardens in D.C.

The idea came out of an initiative by a couple of employees at the organization’s Southeast center, where they had planted some herbs and vegetables on the patio. Development Associate in Communications Greg Bloom says the organization then decided to turn the Northwest center’s new green garden into one that grew more than just plants that absorb rain water.

DC Greenworks will provide assistance and clients will help maintain the garden.

The Bread for the City garden will be 3,500 square ft. large with 30 raised beds, and all the more poignant for Bloom is the fact this garden is going on the roof of a building that houses a medical clinic and food pantry at 7th street NW between P and Q streets.

“D.C. is notorious for really bad food deserts, especially in low income parts of the city,” Bloom says.

Bloom says the problem of food insecurity and malnutrition is “more complicated than where can you find food in your neighborhood, and the solutions to it are also more complicated than, ‘we can’t grow all the food we need.’”

Produce will be planted in raised beds on the roof.

Courtesy of Bread for the City

And indeed, this garden won’t be able to feed all Bread for the City clients (the organization serves 4,500 families a month — that’s a lot of food for a roof to produce). Instead, it will primarily serve as a way to educate clients and the community about food justice and also serve as a green space “to foster reflection” and spur dialogue between and among clients, community organizers and donors about food sustainability.

“All too often the question of food sustainability and environmental sustainability, it’s actually a really elitist conversation in that the people who are talking about it are the ones with the resources to experiment and buy high-end produce,” Bloom says. “We don’t think it has to be that way…. And it’s important for us to create at least one space for that.”

Work on the garden will begin Saturday (weather permitting) and ramp up, continuing April 23. And, yes, you can help.

FILED UNDER: Delightful City, Education, Bread for the City, Sustainability
April 15, 2011 | 9:59 AM | By

Tasty Morning Bytes – Transit and Truancy, Education Without Representation and About Anacostia H.S.

Good morning, DCentric readers! Hooray for Friday! Let’s celebrate with some links:

The District’s civil rights problem Mike DeBonis calls Randall Terry, the infamous antiabortion crusader, to ask if the recent arrests of city leaders including our Mayor could inspire a legitimate movement? Short answer: no. Terry says that D.C. needs incendiary images, gripping rhetoric and martyrs, whether alive or dead. We have the the rhetoric. That’s it. And that is why: “While city leaders have treated District autonomy and voting rights as a moral struggle on par with the movements for civil rights, women’s suffrage or abolition, it has been difficult for the average American to relate to the city’s sacrifices.” (The Washington Post)

Report: Domestic problems, safety concerns lead to truancy “The closing of some area schools has led to longer, more complicated commutes for the 20,000 who use Metro to get to school…Students now cross paths with rivals, leading to theft, violence and hostility, so they often choose to skip school rather than deal with the unsafe daily transit. Schools have staggered their start and end times to combat the problem, but students continue to have problems in commuting safely, if they are able to afford to the commute at all.” (Washington Examiner )

Throwing D.C. Under the Bus D.C. is a guinea pig, it’s the only city where private school is paid for by Congress: “This “market” approach to education has rendered it nearly impossible for a critical mass of motivated parents to focus their efforts around improving a single system. To wit: My oldest child entered kindergarten six years ago. In that time, our local neighborhood school has closed or been moved three times. We have not moved; we have watched the District’s public school system being yanked out from beneath us…Most infuriating as a parent: These are policies, paid for with our tax dollars, over which we have no control or influence.” (The Root)

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April 14, 2011 | 2:08 PM | By

D.C. a Plantation, Congress its ‘Massuh?’ Councilman Explains.

D.C. Councilman Michael A. Brown appeared on conservative talk radio WMAL, and as noted by Mike DeBonis and DCist, offered these thoughts:

“They can treat us as their guinea pigs, they can treat us as a petri dish, and as I called it, they treat us as a colony or a plantation,” said Michael A. Brown, DC council member at-large. Brown was one of six council members arrested along with Mayor Vincent Gray at a protest fueled by anger at the federal government’s budget deal.

“What’s next, we have to call them ‘massuh’?” said Brown.

Flickr: Andrew Bossi

D.C. Councilman Michael A. Brown was arrested April 11, along with other city officials, during a protest against the Congressional budget deal.

We asked Councilman Brown to explain his comment further after his appearance on the Kojo Nnamdi Show today, and he said it was “a little taken out of context.”

“I definitely said it, and I’ve said it before. But in context, some of the folks on the Hill treat us like a plantation here in the District of Columbia,” he said. “And when you use the term plantation it means, in context, it means folks want us to call them massuhs. But it’s in context of the plantation discussion as to how we’re treated on the Hill.”

The rhetoric surrounding D.C. statehood has been growing more and more heated in recent weeks, most notably with Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton saying Congress’ budget actions were the equivalent of “bombing innocent civilians.” It also isn’t new to use the history and legacy of slavery power dynamics when talking about D.C. independence. In 2007, then-Mayor Adrian Fenty declared that D.C. Emancipation Day would be dedicated to “the continued pursuit for full democracy” with a voting rights march to the U.S. Capitol to demand representation in Congress.

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FILED UNDER: Government, History, Media, D.C. Statehood, Michael Brown, Slavery
April 14, 2011 | 11:56 AM | By

May “H-Street” the Sitcom be Just as Creative

Flickr: Kate Mereand

Next week on H-Street, Mitch and his bowtie take in the Palace of Wonders, where the fire breathers inspire him to get heated!

On Monday, Elahe posted about about an open casting call for a new, local, low-budget television show, which is named after its setting: “H-Street”.

The roles include some male and female characters in their 20s who are all D.C.-transplants. Some are out to save the world, others work on the Hill, and others are completely oblivious of politics and play kickball (!).

And one wears a bowtie while being abrasive! The City Paper is having some fun with this “news”:

Yes, the producers of H Street should be very publicly shamed for concocting such lazy stereotypes. Still, if they must go ahead with their show—and really, only if they must—we hope the first few episodes look something like this…

“Brad, late for his Ultimate game and straddling his Bianchi Pista, sends himself flying when his bike gets caught in streetcar tracks. His roommate Cammy, in a rare day off from phone-banking, helps him to the hospital, where he learns a valuable lesson about universal health care. He’s discharged, only to end up back in the emergency room after falling ill during a kickball game. He learns he has a rubber allergy, and despondent, heads to Charles’ bar, which, being packed with guilt-struck kickballers, is quickly destroyed by gentrification.”

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FILED UNDER: Media, Gentrification, H Street NE
April 14, 2011 | 9:19 AM | By

Tasty Morning Bytes – Answering Gentrification, An Unaware Mayor and Wearing the Veil

Good morning, DCentric readers! Plan on eating your lunch al fresco– today is shaping up to be a perfect, 70 degree spring day.

How the G-Word Advances Statehood Uninspired by the responses candidates had to cram into a 30-second time limit, Lydia DePillis writes her ideal answer to the "gentrification" question: "In the (mercifully short) audience question section of last night's at-large Council debate, someone launched into a sermon on social justice, and ended with this awkward double query: How would you 'stop gentrification,' and what's your plan to push for statehood for Washington D.C.?" (Washington City Paper)

Mayor Gray’s Former Chief of Staff Admits Wrongdoings, Conflicting Statements Seems the Mayor was unaware that Sulaimon Brown was hired, or that his staff had engaged in nepotism. Eleven people who were called before the Committee on Government Operations and Environment testified about "a tangled web of missteps in vetting, called-in favors and specially handled hires and conflicting reports that will prove difficult to unravel. But there was at least one common thread in several of the accounts—Gerri Mason Hall. Mason Hall, the mayor’s hired—then fired—chief of staff, admitted to wrongly setting salaries above acceptable caps among other missteps." (afro.com)

Bullet ended federal witness's plan to 'go legit' Local witness had been part of the D.C. "criminal underworld", but later worked on drug cases and with the counterterrorism division of the FBI: "Bethlehem Ayele figured she would quit selling cocaine at age 30, take her money and start a legitimate business. By all appearances, things seemed to be going according to plan. At 34, Ayele ran a popular restaurant on H Street that was getting good reviews. She also obtained her real estate license and worked for a broker in Virginia. But Ayele’s past caught up with her…" (Washington Times)

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April 13, 2011 | 4:33 PM | By

First Generation, Second Generation, American

Flickr: Rakkhi Samarasekera

"Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand, glows world-wide welcome..."

One of you kindly asked about my use of the term “second generation” in my last post, about perception and privilege. Here’s what I wrote:

I may classify myself as a second generation, South Asian American of Malayalee Christian descent, but that is almost never what others see.

When I type “second generation”, I’m referring to the fact that I am the child of immigrants, and though no one ever assumes this about me, I was born here, in the United States; I consider my parents “first generation” Americans. This understanding of generations is similar to the Japanese method of classifying immigrants and their offspring (Issei, Nisei, etc).

Others disagree, and think that the children of immigrants are “first”, but where would that leave the actual immigrants? At zero? Second, it is.

Interestingly enough, another Project Argo site, KPCC’s Multi-American (tagline: Immigration and cultural fusion in the new Southern California) recently posted about such terms while starting a new feature– the cultural mashup dictionary. Why?
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FILED UNDER: Media, DCentric, Immigrants
April 13, 2011 | 3:11 PM | By

D.C. Needle Exchange: What a Budget Axe Could Have Done

Flickr: Staxnet

D.C. needle exchange providers are breathing a collective sigh of relief after news broke yesterday that the impending temporary budget bill wouldn’t cut their funding after all.

But the possible loss of such funding spurred us to ask: how do needle exchanges work, anyway and who would be most affected if such a cut went through?

A few organizations in the District run needle exchange programs, including Helping Individual Prostitutes Service (HIPS), which works with commercial and informal sex workers in the District. Executive director Cyndee Clay says her group works with about 1,000 people a year, exchanged 8,000 syringes in March and about 65,000 in 2010.

Different providers handle needle exchange differently. For HIPS, clients register and then can exchange dirty needles for an equal number of sterile ones. In addition to the exchange, HIPS workers often take the opportunity to provide health counseling and other drug intervention services.

The majority of clients are African Americans and they are about evenly divided among women, men and transgender men and women, says Clay.

“These populations often never go through the door of a social agency, so those people would effectively be cut off from any services except for law enforcement” if needle exchanges ceased, Clay says.

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FILED UNDER: Government, The People, Budget, Needle exchanges
April 13, 2011 | 11:59 AM | By

Who is Tagging the Red Line?

Red Line D.C. Project/Katrina Paz

Saaret Yoseph has been riding the Red Line since she was a kid, and for years she casually observed the graffiti scrawled along the route from Silver Spring to Union Station. But then she became curious about it. Who was doing this?

“Around last spring or last summer, I kept seeing this one name, Ju,” she says. “He would always have images next to his tags, like Fresh Prince of Bel-Air or Kanye West bears, and I just got really, really curious about this one tag. It became kind of a personal hunt but at the same time I became very curious as to what other people thought about it.”

She started talking with a variety of folks: graffiti writers, artists, community organizers, D.C. officials and others, and the conversations weren’t just about art. Discussions about public space, access, revitalization versus blight and D.C.’s changing neighborhoods were all intertwined with the graffiti seen on the Red Line. Thus began The Red Line D.C. Project, Yoseph’s documentary project and associated blog that proclaims “in Washington, D.C., the most accessible art form isn’t in the museums. it’s on the Metro.”

“I’m hoping I’m representative of other commuters who want to have a talk back. The way graffiti is, it’s kind of this one-way conversation,” Yoseph says.

She is now using the project as a way to launch a dialogue (it’s partially funded by nonprofit Words Beats & Life) and she has even folded it into her master’s coursework at Georgetown University, where she is earning a degree in communication, culture and technology.

Yoseph sees graffiti “almost in the same way I look at street signs. For me, it’s what’s the difference between this and looking at Ben Ali Way? It’s really just a marker of the people who have been there and existing in that space.”

One of the things that has most surprised Yoseph is the demographic profile of many — but not all — of the Red Line’s most prominent graffiti writers: white teens or young adults living in Maryland suburbs.

As for why that’s the case, Yoseph isn’t so sure.

“There’s plenty more people to talk to, and more graffiti writers I want to chat with. I’m kind of an outsider coming into it,” she says. “For me, it’s almost about asking ‘why?’ to everything.”

FILED UNDER: Culture, Public Transportation, The People, Graffiti, Metro, Public Art, Red Line
April 13, 2011 | 10:15 AM | By

The Power of Perception, the Privilege of Passing

On Friday, Elahe published a post about how fluid racial identity is for people who identify as Hispanic or Latino. Recently, the New York Times unintentionally reminded us of such fluidity when it profiled four local pundits who’ve “made it” despite their youth and facility with new media–all of them were male, “white” and friends with each other. The well-circulated piece, which starred Ezra Klein, Brian Beutler, Dave Weigel and Matt Yglesias touched a nerve:

Rebranding myself as Matteo Iglesias to help evade mockery for all-white, all-male NYT profile of "young" pundits.
March 25, 2011 7:21 pm via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite
@mattyglesias
mattyglesias

But wait, there was more, as Elahe pointed out when she quoted Yglesias in her post:

When the New York Times recently did a piece on me, Ezra Klein, Brian Beutler, and Dave Weigel exactly zero people complained about the massive over-representation of people of Latin American ancestry that reflected. People saw it as a profile of four white dudes. Which is what it was. But my dad’s family is from Cuba, Ezra’s dad’s family is from Brazil, and Brian’s mom’s family is from Chile.

DCentric reader Keith posed an interesting question, in response to that clarification:

Isn’t there a difference between being a White-skinned Latino who identifies as Latino first and foremost and having a Latino and White parent and being White-skinned? I don’t know that any of these bloggers self-identify as Latino…

My initial reaction to Keith’s query: “not really”. Every day I am reminded that how I choose to identify myself is largely irrelevant to the people I encounter, because their perception of my appearance trumps–and thus influences–my reality. I may classify myself as a second-generation, South Asian American of Malayalee Christian descent, but that is almost never what others see.
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FILED UNDER: The People, Privilege, Race and Class, Race and Ethnicity