DCentric

Good morning, DCentric readers! We’re linking in the rain…just linking in the rain!

How do you solve a problem like North Capitol and Florida? “…it’s a situation Bates Area Civic Association president Geovani Bonilla believes won’t really go away unless the city addresses what he sees as a confluence of forces all converging at this single geographic point. “We’ve got 13 social programs and service providers, and five liquor stores. And that’s just in this small area,” Bonilla says. Those populations are now regularly running into the gentrification wave, he adds, the younger couples and families who are buying up the area’s bountiful rowhouses at an ever more rapid pace. “The new people to the neighborhood end up creating more targets” for crime, he says.” (tbd.com)

José Serrano Just Gets It “…DC Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member José E. Serrano told (House Republicans) Monday to “lay off DC.”…“Over the past four years we spent many long hours fighting to free DC of the harsh impositions of past Congresses, and did so with great success,” said Serrano. “From syringe exchange to medical marijuana and local power over school choice, we enabled the District and its leaders to chart their own course. My colleagues and I saw no point in imposing our views on the 500,000 citizens of DC. How could we presume to know better than them what they should use their local funds for?” (DCist)

Racial Divides in a Multicultural America. “I’ve said this before, but it remains true that “black/non-black” is the main racial divide in American life…Of course, the American racial landscape goes beyond white/black/Latino/Asian. Which is why it’s important to understand the significance of a black/non-black divide. On nearly every measure — from income and education to housing and health — the distance between blacks and everyone else is large and enduring. Upwardly mobile immigrant groups have always counterpoised themselves against the descendants of slaves in an effort to attain the privileges of whiteness.” (The American Prospect)

Miscegenation Ball – Ta-Nehisi Coates “The first thing to understand is that race, as we know it, is an invention and a re-invention. You need not go back but a century to see people referring to the “Irish Race” or the “Italian Race.” or the “Hebrew Race.” Indeed, by the standards of the 19th century racialism, today’s “white people” are an unholy, mongrel mix. And so it has long been with “blacks,” an ethnic group whose members range in appearance from Beyonce and Charlie Rangel to Yaphet Kotto and India Arie…It should not be forgotten that both America’s president and First Lady have “white” ancestry.” (The Atlantic)

Teacher Tenure Targeted by G.O.P. Governors “…Michelle Rhee, who campaigned against tenure as early as 2007, has made abolishing it a cornerstone of a new advocacy group, Students First, which has advised the governors of Florida, Nevada and New Jersey. All are Republicans, but Ms. Rhee, a Democrat, insisted that the movement was bipartisan. “There’s a willingness to confront these issues that has never before been in play,” she said, noting that some influential Democratic mayors, including Cory A. Booker in Newark and Antonio R. Villaraigosa in Los Angeles, have also called for making it easier to dismiss ineffective teachers.” (The New York Times)

‘Being Elmo’ Documentary Celebrates Black Puppeteer Kevin Clash “The puppeteer got his start at 7 years old in his parents’ Baltimore-area home. He’d create his own puppets from things he found around the house and put on backyard shows for neighborhood kids. The film made its premiere at this year’s Sundance festival. According to many reviews it’s got a lot of potential to bring different cultures together by changing perceptions that people may have of black men—especially if you consider people whose only interactions with black men have been with those portrayed poorly on television.” (colorlines.com)