DCentric

Good morning, DCentric readers. Ready to get back to work after the Memorial Day weekend? Here are some links to get you started with your week:

D.C. Kids Prep For A Summer With Far Fewer City Programs Summer youth programs are facing funding cuts due to D.C’s budget shortfall. “For the past three years, approximately 20,000 teens have been employed through D.C.’s summer jobs program. This year that number is 12,000. And that frustrates students such as 16 year old Michael Burrell. He’s had summer jobs through the city that paid more than $7 an hour. Not this year. ‘It’s been very difficult. They told me it was full… at capacity,’ he says. ‘I really wanted to work this summer. It would be nice to have something to do in the summer rather than just laying around.’” (WAMU)

U Street: ‘Buffalo Thunder’ Honors African American Soldiers “Thousands of members of Buffalo Soldiers and Troopers from chapters across the country from gathered Sunday at the African American Civil War Memorial on U Street. They were there for ‘Buffalo Thunder,’ which honored African Americans who served in the U.S. military.” (Borderstan)

Musician Gil Scott-Heron Dies At 62 In the wake of legendary musician and poet Gil Scott-Heron’s death, NPR reflects on his notable body of work. “Scott-Heron’s 1970 debut album included the song many critics call his masterpiece, ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.’ It’s a diatribe, a clarion calling out to a black community that seemed paralyzed by what he saw as the mass media’s trivialization of the social upheaval, poverty and other challenges affecting people of color. In 1985, he told NPR, ‘Well, I always thought if a song wasn’t going to say anything it ought to be an instrumental.’” (NPR)

Feeling inspired but not getting hired “Even as the economy continues to improve for some, the percentage of black men with jobs last month dropped to its lowest point in 40 years. The situation is worse for teenagers, worse again in the South and worst of all in late May as graduates swell the job market. The result for black men ages 16 to 19 is a fate that now resembles a coin toss. Of those seeking work, 54.6 percent find jobs. More than 45 percent do not.” (Washington Post)

Counterprotesters confront Westboro Baptist Church at Arlington It was a protest-off at Arlington National Cemetery between the Westboro Baptist Church, known for anti-gay messages, and the Ku Klux Klan. “Among those counter-protesting at the cemetery’s main entrance: About 10 members of a group that claims to be a branch of the Ku Klux Klan from Virginia called the Knights of the Southern Cross. They were cordoned off separately in a nearby area, but drew little attention as they gave out small American flags behind a banner that read ‘POW-MIA.’ They said they were there to object to the Westboro Baptist Church’s anti-troop message.” (CNN)