DCentric

Good morning, DCentric readers! Why not ease back in to the week with some links?

Coptic Christians torn over Egypt’s future “Over the past 30 years, the area’s Copts — a proud but insular group of about 3,000 Orthodox Christian immigrants from Egypt — have worked hard, educating their children, building quiet, mostly suburban lives, and establishing a solid niche in government and professional work. Close-knit and church-centered, they have clung to an ancient faith and bewailed the suffering of family and friends back in Egypt, where Copts have long been a harassed minority in a nation that is 95 percent Muslim.” (The Washington Post)

Close Read: Are We Poor? “And who are the poor? Disproportionately, they are children: twenty-two per cent of American children live below the poverty line. Does having children make parents poor? Would the balance be different, though the children no less deprived, if Social Security really were dismantled, and their grandparents were poor, too? Those are interesting questions, and there are many more—including the large one of what and who we hope these children will become—but first we have to recognize that we are dealing with a slow-moving crisis that will take a generation to unfold.” (The New Yorker)

Poverty Rate Hits New High As Racial Inequality Deepens Article has infographs, too: “Last year, over 46 million people lived in poverty nationwide…one if five children in the U.S. is living in poverty; many of those are kids of color and the children of immigrants. What’s clear is that racial inequality is deepening at a time when meaningful political discourse on Capitol Hill has all but vanished.” (colorlines.com)

Josef Palermo on CHARTS and Vestibule “One afternoon, I was sitting in Columbia Heights with a friend who was a music teacher at a prestigious school in Cleveland Park. She told me how upset she was to walk through her neighborhood on the way to her fancy school, knowing that the kids she passed would not get an arts education. I am not a musician or an artist, but I saw that as an opportunity to make an impact, so I started fundraising and organizing.” (peoplesdistrict.com)

Ask DCist: Pay (Your Parking) Forward Q: “Am I allowed to hand those parking meter receipts to someone else if there’s still time left on it?” A: “It’s not DDOT that enforces parking rules, though — that’s left to the D.C. Department of Public Works. According to spokeswoman Linda Grant, there’s no need to be worried. ‘DPW views the transfer of a parking meter receipt the same as a vehicle parking in a space where there’s still time on the meter,’ she told DCist. So, go ahead — pay that parking forward.” (DCist)

Back when Columbia Heights had a professional basketball team: go Palace Five Laundrymen!!! “Our neighborhood used to be the home of pro basketball team called the Palace Five Laundrymen. Not the most fear-inspiring nickname, but we’ll get to that…Interestingly, Palace Laundry was owned by George Preston Marshall, the first owner of the Redskins. The team folded and/or was sold, becoming the Brooklyn Visitations. Maybe the the Laundrymen whetted Marshall’s appetite for more successful pro teams? If so, Redskins fans should thank our local team. The Palace 5ive skate shop at 14th and Florida named itself after the team too.” (New Columbia Heights)