Tasty Morning Bytes – RIP Reverend Shuttlesworth, Hunger on Sesame Street and Cupcakes in Ward 8
Good morning, DCentric readers! Here are some of the stories we’re reading, right now:
Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth, Civil Rights Leader, Dies at 89 “He was Martin Luther King’s most effective and insistent foil: blunt where King was soothing, driven where King was leisurely, and most important, confrontational where King was conciliatory — meaning, critically, that he was more upsetting than King in the eyes of the white public.” (The New York Times)
Sesame Street Takes On Hunger | ThinkProgress “There may be two Americas, but it’s not as if they’re on opposite sides of a wall. Teaching kids not to assume that everyone has the same level of resources is a valuable lesson in social awareness. So many signifiers of coolness — clothes, birthdays, activities, cars, housing — are really signifiers of wealth, and in a deep and prolonged recession, poverty makes you socially as well as materially vulnerable.” (Think Progress)
The safety gap: David Kennedy talks fighting violent crime | The Informant “The ‘safety gap’ is akin to the ‘wealth gap,’ [author David M.] Kennedy explained. As our society has become more economically prosperous, the gap between the haves and the have-nots has grown wider, leaving certain communities behind. Similarly, while much of the country has gotten safer, in certain neighborhoods and certain communities, things have gotten worse.” (The Informant)
At Coolidge High, Student Election Serves As Lesson “Between teaching students at Calvin Coolidge High School in Takoma about the civic responsibilities they’d eventually face, third-year social studies teacher Lauren McKenzie placed a call to the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics with what could have been thought of as a stretch of an pitch — would the District’s election authority want to run the student election at Coolidge?” (DCist)
It’s No iPhone 5, But Ward 8 Finally Gets Some Cupcakes “The opening confirms a simple fact: The desire for overpriced flour, butter and sugar knows no bounds of race, geography, or economics. And even better, the line has got to be shorter than the one at Georgetown Cupcakes.” (Washington City Paper)
Too big for Mount Pleasant, Fiesta D.C. eyes Columbia Heights “Although Mount Pleasant has historically been the center of the District’s Latino community, the city’s growing Hispanic population has dispersed east over the past decade to include much of Columbia Heights and Petworth.” (The Washington Post)