April 1, 2011 | 10:31 AM | By

Scurlock and Sons: Beautiful Black D.C.

Flickr: Libenne

Young ladies watching a football game at Griffith stadium, from the 2009 Scurlock exhibit at the Smithsonian. The Scurlock family operated a famed U Street studio, which was known for its elegant work.

It feels appropriate to look at black and white pictures of Washington’s past, when it is so gray outside. Luckily, the Left for LeDroit blog is offering up a series of fascinating images, taken by esteemed African American photographer Addison Scurlock, who, with his sons Robert and George, ran a successful studio on U Street NW, which was “one of the longest-running black businesses in Washington”.

The National Museum of American History is working hard to protect the vast Scurlock collection of pictures, many of which captured important parts of D.C.’s black history. Left for LeDroit deserves much credit for inspiring a delightful online journey which taught me a lot about this family and their beautiful work.
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FILED UNDER: History, Delightful City, Race and Class, U Street
April 1, 2011 | 8:44 AM | By

Tasty Morning Bytes – Taxi Reform Tumult, Henderson Seals Test Answers and Brash Everywhere But SE

Good morning, DCentric readers! A foolish Friday to you, and may every prank or joke be a gentle one. On to our links!

The changing colour of cities: Black flight | SIR – We are delighted to see that issues like race and migration are being covered by your venerable publication. – DCentric  | “From Oakland to Chicago to Washington, DC, blacks are surging from the central cities to the suburbs. Analysis of 2010 census data by William Frey, chief demographer for the Brookings Institution, shows that more than half the cities with large concentrations of blacks have seen significant declines in their black populations. About half of black Americans now live in the suburbs, up from 43% in 2000.” (Economist)

DC Taxicab Owners Call for Reform of Industry On Wednesday, a rally at the Wilson Building in support of medallions was “overtaken by scores of cabdrivers who oppose the bill.” A reporter on the scene noted that while the crowd of cab drivers shouted, “Shame on you.”, Mayor-for-life Marion Barry responded to them by saying “Many of you are not from America…we do things differently here.” If you’re wondering why drivers are outraged, read The Afro: “In a July 10, 2010 letter to taxicab organizations, Gray wrote he would honor the 1985 law that gives power to the commission as a whole rather than one individual or the office of the mayor. But cabdrivers said Gray has not lived up to that pledge. “He just used us to get elected,” said longtime taxicab owner, William Lucas, 71.” (Afro.com)

Changes to DCCAS Following Testing Concerns While Valerie Strauss over at the Post argues that we should subpoena everyone in D.C. who was potentially involved with or knew about what happened to those much-erased, standardized answer sheets and points out that “high-stakes testing” explains why some might be tempted to cheat, WUSA 9 reports that current schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson took action to prevent future test-tampering: after D.C. students finish the DCCAS (D.C. Comprehensive Assessment System) tests, their booklets will be sealed. (WUSA Washington, DC)
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March 31, 2011 | 4:09 PM | By

Race, Class and Lululemon

Flickr: ehpien

Pictures, flowers and stuffed animals surround the entrance to the Bethesda outpost of Lululemon, after Jayna Murray's murder.

Over at The Root, Latoya Peterson explores the race and class angles of the Lululemon case, which was initially thought to be a double rape and murder. Jayna Murray and Brittany Norwood returned to the upscale yoga store in Bethesda after hours; when a coworker showed up to open the store the next day, Murray was dead and Norwood was bound.

Norwood told police that two men had raped both her and Murray and then killed her coworker. That story unraveled as police investigated the case. Now, Norwood, who is black, is accused of killing Murray, who was white over a dispute involving potentially stolen merchandise. There was no sexual assault. Here’s Peterson on the media coverage:

Interestingly, though, both class and race had an indirect hand in why this story made national headlines. Slate touches on this: “The media does its part, of course. Murders don’t typically make headline news, unless there’s something unusual about them — for example, that they occur in an upper-middle-class suburb. (Slate’s Timothy Noah calls this genre of news coverage ‘When Bad Things Happen to White People.’)”

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FILED UNDER: Media, Crime, Race and Class
March 31, 2011 | 3:01 PM | By

Parents Come Forward About DCPS Testing Irregularities

Flickr: Shannan Muskopf

The USA Today investigation into test score irregularities in D.C. public schools has inspired concerned parents to come forward, according to WUSA Channel 9. One parent, the mother of a student at JC Nalle Elementary in Southeast, said that her son was prodded to alter his answers until they were the correct ones:

She says her child’s teacher would tell the student to change his answer until he got it right.

“I feel they’ve been cheated I feel disappointed,” said the mother, who does not want to be identified…she is speaking out for her child and others “because it’s not fair to our children. It’s not fair of them to get pushed along to help bring the numbers up.”

Her 11-year-old has always been an honor roll student. Charts sent home from school show he scores well above the school and district average for children his age.

She tells us she wants to hear the truth but now she doubts the grades on his report car and the credibility of his teacher. She says she doesn’t trust his teacher.

DCPS said it would investigate the woman’s claims about JC Nalle Elementary School.

FILED UNDER: Education, Children, Schools
March 31, 2011 | 1:01 PM | By

“A New Era of Polarizing Racial Politics in the District”

Flickr: dharmabumx

Adidas shoes, Chocolate City-edition

Now reading: “Will white identity politics come to post-post-racial D.C.?“, by Adam Serwer at the City Paper.

But just as the browning of America has awoken a novel white identity politics nationally, the demographic forces that framed D.C.’s last mayoral election may prove to be the prologue to a new era of polarizing racial politics in the District, one in which explicitly catering to its most affluent white residents is a path to victory rather than a route to an ignominious defeat.

The Census numbers released last week showed that D.C.’s black residents have been fleeing the city in even larger numbers than expected, leaving blacks with a bare 50 percent majority of the population. The raw racial and cultural divide exposed by the contest between Gray and Fenty is also exacerbated by which residents are leaving. In 2009, the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute noted that “while incomes have risen for white households and those with the most advanced educations, incomes have been stagnant or falling for others.” The exodus of the city’s black middle class only exacerbates the trend. Playing to a base of black voters, now more than ever, also means playing to a base of poor voters.

FILED UNDER: Elections, 2010 Elections, Fenty, Politics, Race and Class, Racial Divide, Vince Gray
March 31, 2011 | 10:53 AM | By

D.C. Census: Our multiracial residents

Flickr: The White House

President Obama, filling out his 2010 Census form last March.

Much has been made of D.C.’s losing its Chocolate City status, but as one person rightly pointed out, the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau statistic of D.C.’s black population being 50.7 percent doesn’t include people who checked black and another race.

Nationwide there has been a significant increase — almost 50 percent among children — of people reporting multiple races in the 2010 Census. But how big of a jump was there in D.C., and how do multiracial residents fit into the District’s changing image of a majority-black city?

A look at the numbers leads us to believe this population isn’t making that much of an impact in a debate that’s largely white-black: in 2010, 17,316 people, or 2.9 percent of the District’s population, reported being of two or more races. That’s an increase from 2.4 percent in 2000. Not a phenomenal boost, no, but it is growing slightly.

In 2010, the largest number of multiracial residents were white and Asian (3,736), followed closely by people reporting to be white and black (3,476). But the number of people reporting to be black and  any other race was 7,436. Are those folks part of Chocolate City? If so, the statistical contribution would be a small one, said demographer Roderick J. Harrison, a senior fellow at the Joint Center and a Howard University associate professor. D.C. lost 39,000 black residents since 2000.

President Barack Obama most likely checked both the white and black boxes under race on his Census form. And yet many refer to President Obama as America’s first black president. Seldom do we hear “first biracial president.” The legacy behind that is a long one indeed, but there are also individuals who, while acknowledging their multiracial backgrounds, more closely identify with one over the other.
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FILED UNDER: The People, Census, Multiracial
March 31, 2011 | 9:49 AM | By

Tasty Morning Bytes – MetroAccess Drivers Pay for the Poor, More Grade-doctoring Allegations and Watching a Man Die at Smithsonian Metro

Good morning, DCentric readers! It may be chilly outside but these morning links are sizzling.

One of District’s Deadliest Shootings Leads To New Legislation Bill would reorganize truancy and mental health services. Four of 13 council members support it: “But this is not a crime bill. Catania’s proposed legislation would create a comprehensive system to provide mental and behavior health screenings for children in the District’s head start and early head start program, as well as public and charter schools. It would create a Behavioral Health Ombudsman to act as an advocate for residents seeking behavioral and mental health services.” (myfoxdc.com)

MetroAccess drivers paying out of pocket for disabled riders “The transit agency has been trying to find ways to limit a massive surge in ridership: tightening the eligibility rules for riders, limiting the service area and raising fares. Driver Carla Brooks said she’s paid for riders three times recently. “It comes from my money, which comes out of my kids’ mouths,” said the single mother of four. But she said she’ll keep doing it, especially when riders have dialysis treatments. “That’s life-threatening. They need this treatment to be able to live,” she said. “I’m not going to keep them from going.” (Washington Examiner )

Marion Barry driving with ‘inactive’ D.C. license tags, records show The silver Jaguar is not registered with the DMV, has inactive tags and was booted this month after accumulating more than $700 worth of unpaid parking tickets. Barry initially refused to comment, saying he had “better things to talk about”, but last night, he communicated that the car’s dealer was to blame for the lack of title, and as soon as that is resolved, the car will be registered. The Post says the records it examined “raise questions about how Barry has continued to use his vehicle without it being scrutinized by police or city parking control officers. (The Washington Post)

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March 30, 2011 | 4:38 PM | By

Why so many black residents left D.C. and Marion Barry on diversity

D.C. Councilman Marion Barry (Ward 8 ) spoke with Michel Martin on NPR’s Tell Me More program today about D.C.’s dropping black population. Martin tried to get Barry to explain his call to stop gentrification as quoted in a Washington Post article from last week.

Flickr: Tom Bridge

The exchange itself is worth a listen, but here are some choice moments:

“What gentrification does is that it displaces longtime residents, longtime people who have been here 10, 20, 25 years and have been renters,” Barry said.

Barry also mentioned that “the Hispanic population grew by 9 percent and we welcome that kind of growth, but this city and other cities have to deal with gentrification.” He goes on to say that “white people… are displacing African American renters, gentrifying the city. I’m not afraid to speak up and say that’s something we have got to deal with.”

Later, Martin tells Barry “what’s interesting about your perspective here is that you were elected initially as part of a multicultural campaign. With your initial campaign you had strong support from a number of multiracial communities, including the gay community which often has been on the leading edge of revitalizing neighborhoods that have previously been in disrepair. So for some people, it’s why all of a sudden now you’re critical of the very people who supported you initially.”

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FILED UNDER: Government, Media, The People, Diversity, Gentrification, Marion Barry, Michel Martin, NPR
March 30, 2011 | 1:08 PM | By

Aldi versus Walmart in D.C.

Aldi

Flickr: Laura Mary

Walmart is trying its darnedest to open up stores in New York City (sound familiar?). In light of their fight, The New York Times has this piece today examining how little talk there has been about discount grocer Aldi opening stores throughout the city.

Even though Aldi, like Wal-Mart, is nonunion, it has faced little resistance, compared with the heated opposition often headed by unions and politicians that Wal-Marts have encountered in larger markets.

“There’s no reason to oppose an Aldi — it’s a small format, and they usually get space from an existing landowner or landlord, a small guy who’s plugged into the community, not a big guy like a Forest City Ratner,” Mr. Johnson said. “Wal-Mart has sort of become a bad guy that there’s a concerted effort against. I’m not sure that Aldi has really gotten on anyone’s radar screen.”

Same story in D.C., for the most part. Aldi broke ground in September 2010 on its first D.C. store, slated for a site in Northeast close to a shuttered Safeway. No mass protests against bringing a nonunion Aldi to town; rather, much of the talk was oozing with references to what class of folks this Aldi would cater to and what that would do to the gentrifying neighborhood’s image.

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FILED UNDER: Around the City, Aldi, Food, Walmart