March 22, 2012 | 2:10 PM | By

Trayvon Martin And How ‘A Million Hoodies’ Began

Mario Tama / Getty Images

Supporters of Trayvon Martin rally in Union Square during a "Million Hoodie March" in Manhattan on March 21

The case of Trayvon Martin, a black teenager shot and killed Feb. 26 by a Neighborhood Watch volunteer in Sanford, Fla., has captured the nation’s attention. The shooter, George Zimmerman, claims self-defense and hasn’t been charged with a crime.

“This guy looks like he’s up to no good, or on drugs or something,” Zimmerman told a 911 dispatcher, adding that Martin was wearing “a dark hoodie, like a gray hoodie.” Moments later, Zimmerman shot an unarmed Martin in the chest, and claimed it was in self-defense.

Daniel Maree, 24, started the Million Hoodies for Trayvon Martin rally and social media campaign.

Federal authorities said Monday that they would take over* join the investigation. The announcement came on the same day that Daniel Maree, a 24-year-old digital strategist in New York City, wrote a blog post and uploaded a YouTube video, pushing for Zimmerman to be charged. Maree asked people to post photos of themselves wearing hoodies with the hashtag #millionhoodies, sign a petition calling for Zimmerman’s prosecution and for New Yorkers to march on Union Square Wednesday. The Million Hoodies for Trayvon Martin movement is now spreading to other cities, including D.C. (Disclosure: Maree used to be my neighbor and we’ve hung out a few times).

The Martin case resonated with Maree on a number of levels. He grew up in South Africa where “as a black person you feel like you’re at home” since the country is majority-black, Maree said.

“When you come to the States, when I came, it was kind of surprising. You actually do feel like a minority, because you are one. That feeling is tangible,” Maree said. “And then to have situations like this, which happened to Trayvon Martin, it shows it’s not just a feeling that we’re imagining. It’s real.” Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Media, A Million Hoodies for Trayvon Martin, Daniel Maree, Million Hoodies, Trayvon Martin
March 22, 2012 | 9:15 AM | By

Federal Worker Pay By Race: Asians, Whites Make The Most

The federal government is the single biggest industry in D.C., and how much employees earn varies by race, according to a new report by the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission.

Asian Americans earn an average of $53,401 a year. The average yearly salary for whites is $50,349; for Hispanics, the average is $49,873; and for African Americans, the average is $44,333. The average federal government salary among all races is $45,771 a year. Pay depends on General Schedule levels, and those groups who make more tend to hold higher pay grades.

Job cuts in the public sector have particularly hurt the black middle class, since African Americans hold a disproportionately high number of government jobs.

The EEOC report found diversity hiring generally held study from fiscal 2009 to fiscal 2010. Progress has been slightly more marked with women, Latinos, blacks and Asians have making the biggest gains in securing senior-level positions, according to an EEOC release. However, hiring of Latinos, multiracial men and white women remains below the overall national workforce averages, the release said.

Also, in the last decade, the percentage of blacks in the federal workforce has decreased, from 8.11 percent of black men in 2001 to 7.68 percent in 2010, and from 10.63 percent of black women in 2001 to 10.26 percent in 2010.

“This report shows that while the federal government is a leader in employing a diverse workforce, specific areas for improvement remain,” said EEOC Chair Jacqueline Berrien in a statement.

Read more at: www.federalnewsradio.com

March 21, 2012 | 12:42 PM | By

All D.C. High School Students Have To Apply To College

A new D.C. measure requires all public high school students to take a college admission exam and apply to college in order to graduate from high school. The bill also gives $10,000 to top teachers who relocate to struggling schools in low-income neighborhoods.

The measure could make a dent in D.C.’s unemployment disparity. Joblessness is high in D.C. neighborhoods where few adults hold bachelor’s degrees, partially because so many of the available jobs in the District require higher education credentials.

Critics of the new measure say it may backfire by making it more difficult for students to graduate high school. At least 20 to 30 percent of D.C. students don’t graduate high school. Maybe even more.

One of the intentions behind the move is to change the expectations of those students who don’t view college as an option. But will mandating taking the SATs change that?


D.C. students would be required to apply to college or trade school and take the SAT or ACT under the most sweeping education legislation passed by the D.C. Council since a 2007 law set the stage for former Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s aggressive reforms.

Under the Raising the Expectations for Education Outcomes Omnibus Act of 2012, the District is set to become the first “state” in the nation to require students to apply to a postsecondary institution, according to council staff.

Read more at: washingtonexaminer.com

March 20, 2012 | 11:28 AM | By

Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman And Beyond Black And White

Werth Media / Flickr

A photo of Trayvon Martin appears on a protester's sign during a March 19 rally in Sanford, Fla.

A national debate about racism in the criminal justice system has been reignited by the Feb. 26 killing of an unarmed black teenager in Florida by a non-black man who hasn’t been charged with a crime.

Here’s what happened, according to news reports and newly-released 911 recordings: Trayvon Martin, 17, was walking from a convenience store to his father’s house in a gated community in Sanford, Fla. That’s when Neighborhood Watch volunteer George Zimmerman, 28, spotted him. Zimmerman called 911, reporting a seeing a suspicious person. “This guy looks like he’s up to no good or he’s on drugs or something,” Zimmerman said to the dispatcher, and began following Martin. A struggle ensued and Martin, unarmed, was fatally shot in the chest. Zimmerman claims self defense and hasn’t been charged with a crime. Federal authorities announced late Monday that they would launch a full-scale criminal investigation following protests over local police’s handling of the case.

The narrative appears to be a sadly familiar one, of seemingly double standards, of little to no punishment when the shooter is white and when the person shot is black. Benjamin Crump, the Martin family’s lawyer, has said that if the roles were reversed and Trayvon Martin was the shooter of a white man, an arrest would have been made immediately.

Orange County Jail

A 2005 photo of George Zimmerman.

But a letter from Zimmerman’s father, Robert Zimmerman, to the Orlando Sentinel complicates the narrative. Robert Zimmerman writes that his son, George, is “a Spanish speaking minority.” (He also goes on write that his son has black family members. “The media portrayal of George as a racist could not be further from the truth,” the letter states.).

Orlando Sentinel reporter Rene Stutzman has been closely following the case and had an exclusive interview with Robert Zimmerman. Stutzman tells DCentric that George Zimmerman’s father is white and his mother is Hispanic.

Does Zimmerman’s Hispanic heritage change the larger story? Maybe not, but it does demonstrate that America’s longstanding black-white debates about racism have been complicated by the country’s shifting demographics. Racial identity for Hispanics is much more fluid than for other groups. Many Hispanic immigrants feel they are accepted as white by larger society, but those with darker complexions still face plenty of discrimination, according to a 2010 American Sociological Association report. In other words, a light skinned Hispanic, such as Zimmerman, may be treated as a white man by larger society, while a darker Hispanic may be treated as black. And when it comes to racial profiling, anyone can discriminate against anyone else. A person can even be sued for racially discriminating against another person of the same race.

In the end, no matter how many debates about race this case spurs, one thing won’t change: a teenager who was carrying little more than a bag of Skittles and a can of iced tea is dead. And for now, a community is torn apart as so many questions remain unanswered.

FILED UNDER: Media, George Zimmerman, Public Safety, Racial identity, Racial Profiling, Trayvon Martin
March 20, 2012 | 9:24 AM | By

How Race Affects Opinions On Health Care Overhaul

Racial attitudes and health care policy are two seemingly unrelated topics, right? Not necessarily.

Opinions of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul are sharply divided among whites with conservative versus liberal racial attitudes, according to researcher and Brown University political science professor Michael Tesler.

Tesler’s study appears in the American Journal of Political Science. It’s part of a larger research project examining how identity issues such as race and religion affect public opinions on a range of political topics, such as war and crime, reports NPR’s Shots blog.

Another thing to keep in mind: many Americans without insurance are unaware of the specific provisions in the health care overhaul bill that could directly impact them, such as low- and middle-class tax credits. But that may simply be because such intended benefits haven’t been enacted yet, so the law is still not tangible — particularly for struggling Americans too busy with making ends meet to make time to read long and complex policies.


In an experiment, Tesler presents a health care overhaul policy to whites, telling some that the policy is advocated by Bill Clinton and telling others that it’s advocated by Barack Obama; Tesler finds that whites with liberal racial attitudes become more supportive of the policy when they think Obama is its chief advocate, while whites with a conservative attitude become less supportive of the policy when they think of health care as an Obama policy.

Read more at: www.npr.org

March 19, 2012 | 9:53 AM | By

Before The Apollo, There Was D.C.’s Howard Theatre

The U Street corridor became the cultural hub of the black community in segregation-era D.C., so much so that the neighborhood earned the moniker “Black Broadway.” But some of the landmarks of that time period had been left to disrepair. Now one of them — Howard Theatre — will be opening its doors for the first time in decades thanks to an extensive, $29 million restoration project. Howard Theatre was once billed as “the largest theater in the world for African Americans,” reports WAMU 88.5′s Metro Connection.


“Ella Fitzgerald was found here,” [the project's developer Chip] Ellis says, “before she went up to the Apollo and did the amateur show there.”

In fact, not only did Lady Ella, the First Lady of Song, get her start at the Howard, the whole concept of amateur night did, back in 1931, thanks to theater manager, Shep Allen.

“Then it later went up to New York, in 1935 when the Apollo opened up for African Americans in Harlem,” Ellis says. “But before that time, Billy Eckstine, Dr. Billy Taylor, The Clovers, Marvin Gaye, when he was with his doo-wop group, he was first found and won the amateur night here.”

Read more at: wamu.org

March 16, 2012 | 3:02 PM | By

Gentrification And The Upper-Class Cultural Bubble

zzub nik / Flickr

Author Charles Murray has been criticized and praised for his latest book, “Coming Apart,” in which he argues that white America is in crisis and that the country is divided primarily by class, not by race.

Murray’s argument is that “the super wealthy, super educated and super snobby live in so-called super-ZIP [codes]: cloistered together, with little to no exposure to American culture at large,” reports NewsHour. Murray’s book includes the “bubble quiz,” meant to determine just how out-of-touch respondents may be (and it’s presumably intended for whites).

A caveat to one of the questions may be of particular interest to our readers. The first question states, “Have you ever lived for at least a year in an American neighborhood in which the majority of your fifty nearest neighbors did not have college degrees?” But, the quiz qualifies, it doesn’t count if the neighborhood is gentrified and you’re one of the gentrifiers. In other words, Murray argues, gentrifiers are still in an upper-class bubble, even if they don’t technically live in one. Do you agree? It’s a salient question in D.C., given the number mixed-income neighborhoods.

And you can take the quiz here.

FILED UNDER: Around the City, Class, Gentrification
March 16, 2012 | 10:04 AM | By

Luxury Condos and Housing for the Homeless in One Neighborhood

Gentrification has transformed Logan Circle into one of the District’s pricier neighborhoods. But even as some social service groups have moved out of the neighborhood, Logan Circle is still home to resources for the city’s neediest residents.

A foreclosed apartment building in Logan Circle has been converted into permanent housing for 31 homeless women. Nonprofit N Street Village has just started moving women into the building at 1107 11th St. NW, which features “wrap-around” services, such as counseling and health care. It’ll cost the city about $300,000 a year to run the place, while N Street Village will cover $100,000 in yearly costs, the Washington Business Journal reports. The nonprofit’s headquarters, which houses homeless women as well, is located just a few blocks away. And what’s being built across the street from there? Luxury condos.

The District spends upward of $110 million a year on homeless services, Swan said. Homeless advocates say the most cost-effective solution is permanent supportive housing, like Erna’s House. Public safety, hospital, jail and ambulance costs are all slashed when homeless people are moved from an emergency shelter to apartments of their own — perhaps by as much as $16,000 a person.

Read more at: www.bizjournals.com

March 15, 2012 | 3:14 PM | By

The ‘Non-African-American’ Ethiopian Immigrant

Adrian Murphy / Flickr

Ethiopian flag

What does it really mean to be “African American?” Does the term refer to people with slaves as ancestors, or is it just as applicable to recent African immigrants?

It’s a conversation we’ve previously explored, and it’s front and center in an ongoing legal dispute involving a jazz club near Howard University.

Here’s the gist, according to the Washington City Paper: The Enterprise Theater & Jazz Lounge was opened by Charletta Lewis, who is now suing her landlord. She claims that landlord Michael Ressom racially discriminated against her by leasing her a building that wasn’t up to code, and therefore, she couldn’t legally open for business. Lewis is black, Ressom is an Ethiopian immigrant. Her complaint states that Ressom “is a non-African-American man.” Ressom and his lawyer declined to comment to the City Paper, while Lewis’ lawyer Jimmy Bell explained:

“He’s not African-American!” Bell says, when asked if Ressom’s ethnicity damages his case. “African-American means you are a descendant of a slave! This guy’s an Ethiopian immigrant, who wasn’t naturalized as a citizen until November 2010.”

General discrimination claims of this sort aren’t that all uncommon. Some taxicab complaints were officially filed with the D.C. Taxicab Commission by people who write they are black and claiming they were racially discriminated against by African cabbies. But for every story about animosity between D.C.’s black and Ethiopian communities, there is another about good will and unity between the groups.

Still, our question remains: is lumping everyone together as “African American” really the most accurate racial identifier?

FILED UNDER: Discrimination, Ethiopian Community, Racial identity, Washington City Paper
March 15, 2012 | 9:01 AM | By

D.C.-Area Has Fifth Largest Homeless Population

An estimated 13,205 homeless people live in the D.C.-metro area, making it the fifth largest homeless population in the country among large metro areas, according to a new report by the National Alliance to End Homelessness. The overall population in the D.C.-area is quite large — nearly 5.5 million people — so naturally there would be more homeless people here than in a smaller city. The Washington region ranks 21st when examining the rate of homelessness, a measure that controls for high overall populations. There are 24 homeless individuals for every 10,000 people living in the D.C.-area.

High homelessness rates in cities can be explained by a few factors, writes Atlantic Cities’ Richard Florida, including warm winters, unemployment and high housing costs. Crime is actually lower in areas with higher homelessness rates, he adds, but homelessness is more prevalent in cities with a greater share of Hispanics in the population.

 


An estimated 600,000 Americans are currently homeless, including nearly 70,000 veterans, according to the recently released The State of Homelessness in America from the National Alliance to End Homelessness. That’s a small drop-off from 2009, but U.S. rates are alarmingly high: 21 homeless per 10,000 people across the country.

The spread of homelessness is not uniform. Some cities have been hit much harder than others.

Read more at: www.theatlanticcities.com