FEBRUARY 2021
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K c A L B • 1 1 To RY H i ST h MOn
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THE SUMMER OF OUR DISCONTENT
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BLACK HISTORY LOCAL EVENTS
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NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS 20
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IN EVERY ISSUE What’s on Washington The Crossword The Classifieds
Meet Robbie Woodland: From Neighborhood Menace to Community Activist
Jury Suspension Strands DC Jail Defendants: COVID Scrambles the District System of Justice by Gavrielle Jacobovitz
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The Old Man of Anacostia: A Shameful Day in US History
KIDS & FAMILY
by Philip Pannell
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Ward 8 Welcomes New ANC Commissioners by Sarah Payne
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Bulletin Board by Kathleen Donner
by Anthony D. Diallo
Changing Hands compiled by Don Denton
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Notebook by Kathleen Donner
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Tall in the Saddle with Serve Your City by Elizabeth Nelson
EAST WASHINGTON LIFE 36
Asha Elana Casey: Artwork Reflects Her Transformative Spiritual Awakening by Phil Hutinet
Capital Community News, Inc. Publisher of: Capital Community News, Inc. PO Box 15477, Washington, DC 20003 202.543.8300 www.capitalcommunitynews.com www.hillrag.com
ON THE COVER: Asha and Ori. 2020. Mixed Media. by Asha Elana Casey (see pg. 36)
MIDCITY
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EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Melissa Ashabranner • melissa.ashabranner@gmail.com MANAGING EDITOR: Andrew Lightman • andrew@hillrag.com PUBLISHER: Jean-Keith Fagon • fagon@hillrag.com Copyright © 2021 by Capital Community News. All Rights Reserved.
We welcome suggestions for stories. Send queries to andrew@hillrag.com. We are also interested in your views on community issues which are published in the Last Word. Please limit your comments to 250 words. Letters may be edited for space. Please include your name, address and phone number. Send Last Word submissions to lastword@hillrag.com. For employment opportunities email jobs@hillrag.com.
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PLUNGE FROM HOME
WHAT’S ON
Special Olympics DC is inviting its community of supporters to”Take the Plunge” this year from the comfort of their own homes. Through Feb. 14, participants can virtually plunge anytime and submit a video to social media. It will culminate in a virtual celebration event on Feb. 27 with a highlight reel of the submitted plunge videos and announcement of top fundraisers. To participate, individuals must raise a minimum of $100 to receive the commemorative 2021 Polar Plunge T-shirt, or mask and hand sanitizer. Participants can submit a video “taking the plunge” for a chance to win even bigger prizes through Feb. 14. These videos can range from individuals or families plunging into their pools, bathtubs filled with ice, or bodies of water of all sizes. Submit your videos to fundraising@specialolympicsdc.org. To learn more and to register, visit dcpolarplunge.org.
W A S H I N G T O N WE HAPPY FEW’S THE MYSTERY OF THE DRAWN DAGGERS IN SERIES’ STORMY WEATHER INspired by Shakespeare’s The Tempest, the story of colonization and subjugation is retold from the perspective of Sycorax, mother of Caliban and mistress of Ariel. Told with the music of Billie Holiday (My Man, Strange Fruit, Don’t Explain, God Bless the Child), in poetic-prose written by Sybil Williams, this cabaret-club evening of song, word and beat explores the experience of peoples enslaved by privilege and even love. It’s a free access production—you just have to register, for free. Watch it and other full features on invision.inseries.org/full-feature/stormy-weather. Photo: rx Loft
Heralded as “The Female Sherlock Holmes,” Loveday Brooke is the original Lady Detective. In The Mystery of the Drawn Daggers, Loveday is faced with one of the most complicated and intriguing puzzles of her career. Reverend Hawke is the unwitting victim of a dastardly scheme. He has received an anonymous communication in the mail: a drawing of a single dagger. Days later he receives a second envelope, this time with two daggers. Fearful that a third dagger means death, Mr. Hawke hires Loveday Brooke and the Lynch Street office to solve the case. Presented as an audio drama, The Mystery of the Drawn Daggers is accompanied by a mail-out experience that puts you on the case with the famous detective. $32. wehappyfewdc.com/lovedaybrooke. Debora Crabbe as Loveday Brooke
SCIENCE FICTION AT AIR AND SPACE
This model of the fictional starship Enterprise was used in the weekly hour-long “Star Trek” TV show (NBC-TV), which aired from September 1966 until June 1969. Despite its short initial run, Star Trek became one of the most influential shows in the history of television. Photo: Dane Penland
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Science fiction allows one to imagine what happened a long, long time ago in a galaxy far far away, or to boldly go where no one has gone before. Through science fiction, we’re able to explore new frontiers in science, innovation, and society. Learn about Restoring the Enterprise Studio Model; Star Wars: The Magic of the Myth; and see A Space Odyssey Immersive Art Exhibit. airandspace.si.edu/learn/ highlighted-topics-/science-fiction.
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WHAT’S ON WASHINGTON
“The Godfather of Go-Go” Chuck Brown, 2011. Photo: Mark Taylor
Photo: Bill Lee
A YEAR TO REMEMBER AND FORGET Bill Lee’s A Year to Remember and Forget is an ode to the ups and downs of 2020. The social isolation stemming from COVID 19, civil unrest in response to anti-Black police brutality, and an election marred by conspiracy theories have marked 2020 as one of the worst years in recent memory. Baptisms, Go-gos, and protests are captured from Lee’s perspective--bringing them to life in this black and white photography exhibition. A Year to Remember and Forget is at the Anacostia Arts Center, 1241 Good Hope Rd. SE, through March 7. The Center is open Tuesdays through Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. anacostiaartscenter.com.
MUSIC CITY DC Washington, DC has given much to the musical world beyond its best-known exports Duke Ellington and the punk and gogo scenes. Join musician, broadcaster, and historian Ken Avis as he explores the area’s lesser-known, remarkable, and fascinating musical avenues and why they could only have developed here. Film and recordings bring legendary musicians to life as Avis examines how social change, technological development, and business innovation shaped the sounds that emerged from DC—a political town with a serious music habit. There are three sessions: Feb.8, Jazzing the Capital; Feb. 22, The Country Music Capital; and March 8, Rocking the Capital. $30 each. smithsonianassociates.org.
MONDAY NIGHT NEW PLAY READINGS SigWorks is Signature Theatre’s program dedicated to developing the future of theater works and artists. In 2021, all readings are virtual and recordings are available on YouTube. Each play will remain online for three weeks following the premier date. Next up is One Shot by Andrew Rosendorf on March 8 at 7 p.m. In 1999, a bigoted slur is spray painted onto a video store in McLean, Virginia, disturbing and possibly outing the owner and his high school employees. A life changing film scholarship hangs in the balance as secrets are thrust into the open in a riveting examination of race, sexuality and identity in a world on the cusp of the digital age. sigtheatre.org/about/sigworks. Andrew Rosendorf. Photo: Ryan Ripley
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ICE SKATING AT CAMERON RUN Through February, the ice rink at Cameron Run, 4001 Eisenhower Ave. in Alexandria, is open with ticket sales reduced to provide adequate social distancing on the ice. Skate sessions are limited to one hour, starting with your ticket time. Days and hours of operation are weekends and holidays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Skating is $16.88 which includes skate rental. Tickets sales are online only— no walk-ups. novaparks.com/ events/ice-lights
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WHAT’S ON WASHINGTON
Photo: Margot Schulman
CREATIVITY JUMPSTART: DE-STRESS WITH ART UNITY | PEACE | FORWARD AT THE REACH Through Feb. 28, following a year when differences and divisions have dominated headlines, the Kennedy Center’s REACH campus is home to a free outdoor art installation. The campus’s 130,000 square feet of green space is a place where visitors can reflect on our common humanity and be inspired by expressions of unity, harmony, and peace. A video featuring quotes from artists and writers the world over is projected on the REACH Video Wall on Fridays and Saturdays from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. during the exhibit and can be viewed online anytime. kennedycenter.org/whats-on/explore-by-genre/international/unity-peace-forward.
The Georgetown Lombardi Arts and Humanities Program presents Creativity Jumpstart: De-Stress with Art each Monday through March 1, at 2 to 3 p.m., via Zoom. AHP Artist-in-Residence Jennifer Wilkin Penick will guide you through a free one-hour art project, art technique, or creative prompt. No experience is required and you will need only very basic supplies: scissors, glue, paper, and some sort of color media (paint, paint pens, markers, colored pencils, etc.). Each week you will make art that encourages you to relax and to recharge creatively. culturaltourismdc.org/portal/events_calendar. Jennifer Wilkin Pence. Photo: Morgan Kudesza
DEAR JACK, DEAR LOUISE When two strangers meet by letter during World War II, a love story begins. US Army Captain Jack Ludwig, a military doctor stationed in Oregon, begins writing to Louise Rabiner, an aspiring actress and dancer in New York City, hoping to meet her someday if the war will allow. But as the war continues, it threatens to end their relationship before it even starts. Tony Award-winning playwright Ken Ludwig tells the joyous, heart-warming story of his parents’ courtship during World War II and the results are anything but expected. Arena Stage has produced a unique storytelling experience delivered directly to mailboxes across the country. Patrons will receive a series of nine letters in the mail that follow the love story of Ludwig’s parents. $35 to $50, depending. arenastage.org/ lovelettersexperience. (L to R) Jake Epstein (Jack Ludwig) and Amelia Pedlow (Louise Rabiner) in Ken Ludwig’s Dear Jack, Dear Louise which ran Nov. 21 through 29, 2019 at Arena Stage. Photo by C. Stanley Photography.
SACRED CHORAL MUSIC ONLINE FESTIVAL AT THE NATIONAL CATHEDRAL The Sacred Choral Music Online Festival, Feb. 26 to 28, celebrates the Washington National Cathedral’s broad musical heritage and serves to uplift new music. The festival weekend includes opportunities for rehearsals, performances, workshops, lectures, discussions, fellowship, and their national worship service broadcast. Singers, directors, organists, and clergy are welcome to register at cathedral.org/sacredmusic. In advance of the festival weekend, participants can help collaborate with a virtual choir recording that will be released as part of the Cathedral’s blended worship service on Feb. 28. $85. cathedral.org. On Sunday, Feb. 28, 4 p.m., watch the four winning compositions of the King’s Singers New Music Composition Prize performed by the King’s Singers and the Washington National Cathedral Choir. Advance registration is required. $10. This event is included in the full festival registrations.
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The Summer of Our Discontent June 1 protests in front of the White House. Photo: Andrew Lightman BELOW: National Guard massing minutes before violently clearing Lafayette Park and H Street NW of protesters on June 1. Photo: Andrew Lightman
Black Lives Matter DMV closes down Maine Avenue SW on May 30, 2020. Photo: Andrew Lightman
DC’s Black Lives Matter Protests “Say Their Names!” chanted protesters who thronged the streets of the District of Columbia in June of 2020. Thousands gathered peacefully in historic demonstrations in the wake of the tragic police murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. On June 1, nonviolent protesters endured rubber bullets and tear gas on H Street NW in front of Lafayette Park. The following day their numbers swelled. In recognition of the movement, Mayor Muriel Bowser had the words “Black Lives Matter” painted on a two-block long stretch of 16th Street NW just north of the White House. Protesters gathered in neighborhood parks to show their support.
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A policeman guards the June protests. Phthe ALF-CIO headquarters during oto: Andrew Lightm an
A father and son pay homage on Black Lives Matter Plaza. Photo: Katie Yen
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K B L A cR Y o T S H i O nT h M
Protesters close down I695 on June 15. Photo: Andrew Lightman
Glen and Stacey Yonkers, Jr. and their family have been protesting together since the death of George Floyd. Photo: Liz O’Gorek
Protesters head to the US Capitol on June
Protesters outside the Wh June 7. Photo: Jason Yen ite House on
6. Photo: Andrew Lightman
Children lead a #DCProtest at Lincoln Park June 6, chanting “No Justice, No Peace” and “Say Their Names.” Photo: Liz O’Gorek
Bailey John Adams, Chanelle Dumas, and re. Squa yette Lafa at 31 May on Adams
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Chanelle Dumas holds up her handmade protest sign referencing Colin Kaepernick’s silent protests.
On June 23, 2020 hood leader Glen, crowds listen to Freedom Ne to protest the Emn Foster speak in a Lincoln Pa ighborwould come do ancipation statue. He vowed rk event wn. Photo: Liz O’ the statue Gorek
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black history LOCAL EVENTS From the Continent to the Americas: Foodways, Culture and Traditions in the African American Family. Feb. 6, noon to 2 PM. The panel is on the study of how food influences and drives culture. Free. asalh.org/festival.
Nine Days: The Race to Save Martin Luther King Jr.’s Life and Win the 1960 Election. Feb. 11, 5 PM. Less than three weeks before the 1960 Presidential election, 31-year-old Martin Luther King, Jr., was arrested at a sit-in at Rich’s Department Store in Atlanta. Stephen and Paul Kendrick’s Nine Days tells the story of the ultimate October surprise: an emerging and controversial civil rights leader was languishing behind bars, and the two Presidential campaigns raced to decide whether, and how, to respond. Free. https://www.archivesfoundation.org/event/nine-days.
#BlackOwned: Black History in the Making
The Anacostia Arts Center and The HIVE 2.0 are celebrating Black History with the #BHM series, #BlackOwned: Black History In The Making. This is a workshop series curated to celebrate the power and influence of Black entrepreneurs in Washington, DC. The workshops create opportunities for Black leaders to give back to their communities through programming that is relatable and inspiring. Programs include Creating Black Space: Real Estate and Placemaking in The Diamond District (hosted by Suite Nation/Culture House Founder), Black Men in Creative Directorship (featuring Ron Moton and The Black Creative Group), and Safe Inside (wellness workshop presented by Eaton Workshop). To sign up go to anacostiaartscenter.com under the Event tab. Free.
I will tell you the truth about this: Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War.
Race in America, Unifying Our Communities. Feb. 19, 6 PM. This program will focus on issues of race, inequity and justice and explore how Americans currently understand, experience and confront racism, its impact on communities and how that impact is shaping America and its values. Free. americanhistory.si.edu/day-of-remembrance.
Slavery and the American Revolution.
Walk the Anacostia Heritage Trail
Anacostia is a study in contrasts. Today's neighborhood started as two 19thcentury villages, one white and one African American, that remained separate for a century. The mid-20th century brought great upheaval, still playing out in the 21st century. culturaltourismdc.org/portal/991. 16
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Feb. 20, 10 AM to 4 PM. The American Revolution was a transformative moment in African American history, a war for freedom second only to the Civil War in significance. $90. smithsonianassociates.org.
Finding Our Roots in African American History With Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. Feb. 20, 1 to 3 PM. In dialogue with his Harvard colleague and ASALH’s national
Do you need mortgage assistance due to the effects of COVID-19? DC MAP (Mortgage Assistance Program) COVID-19 is here to help District homeowners stay in their homes during this pandemic. As businesses in the Washington, D.C. region have had to close or reduce staff, the District of Columbia Housing Finance Agency (DCHFA) recognizes the need to provide assistance to those impacted by the pandemic. DC MAP COVID-19 provides zero- interest monthly mortgage assistance loans that now include the coverage of condo and homeowner association fees up to $5,000 for up to six months for qualified homeowners.
Borrower Qualifications: • Must be borrower’s primary residence and must be located in the District of Columbia • Must have been current as of the March 1st payment (prior to being affected by COVID-19) • Must be able to document income affected due to COVID-19 • Borrower must be the borrower on the home loan, not just a member of the household • Must show proof that the borrower is not eligible for forbearance or other types of relief offered through the servicer and/or Hardest Hit Funds • If borrower is still affected after the CARES Act ends, then relief may be offered at that time (See additional terms)
For a full list of borrower qualifications and loan terms, visit
www.dchfa.org/homeownership
compiled by Ka DC MAP COVID-19 financial assistance will be granted on a first come, first served basis until the program allocation has been exhausted. Homeowners seeking assistance through DC MAP COVID-19 should call 1-833-429-0537 to begin the process of applying. Questions regarding DC MAP COVID-19 may also be emailed to DCMAP@dchfa.org.
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Lives Bound Together: Slavery at George Washington’s Mount Vernon.
Through July 11, 2021. This exhibition explores the personal stories of the people enslaved at Mount Vernon while providing insight into George Washington’s evolving opposition to slavery. Admission to exhibition included in Mount Vernon admission. mountvernon.org.
Interior of the reconstructed greenhouse slave quarter at Mount Vernon. Photo: Russ Flint, Courtesy of Mount Vernon Ladies' Association
president Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Professor Gates will discuss the practice of genealogy and genetic testing as tools for excavating Black History through the heritage of African American families. $50. asalh.org/festival.
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Historically Speaking: COVID-19 and The Economy. Feb. 23, 7 PM. This panel explores the impact of COVID -19 on the housing, jobs, education and entrepreneurial sectors by exploring the question: What aid could all levels of government bring to the American people? Free. nmaahc.si.edu.
Diving with a Purpose. Feb. 24, 6:30 PM. A panel will tell of their remarkable efforts to preserve the heritage of Black people through discovering and in-
vestigating wreckages of slave ships and salvageable artifacts. Free. asalh.org/festival.
The Black Family: Representation, Identity, and Diversity. Feb. 25, 7 PM. The Black family has been a topic of study across disciplines—history, literature, the visual arts, film, sociology, anthropology, and social policy. A panel will discuss these ideas and perspectives including family traditions, brothers and sisters, power-couples, and community. archivesfoundation.org/ event/the-black-family.
The Visionary Genius of Frederick Douglass – Contradiction and Change. Feb. 25, 6:45 PM. His talents were nothing short of extraordinary and he put his exceptional gifts to use in the service of freedom, helping to drive American slavery into oblivion. $25. smithsonianassociates.org.
Charlie Parker Centennial. Feb. 26, 7 to 8:30 PM. In his short life, legendary jazz saxophonist Charlie “Bird” Parker changed the world of music, creating with a small group of innovators the musical style called bop or bebop. $30. smithsonianassociates.org
Double Victory: The African American Military Experience conveys a sense of appreciation and respect for the military service of African Americans. Online exhibition at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. nmaahc.si.edu.
Tour President Lincoln’s Cottage. Explore Abraham Lincoln’s seasonal home on interior, self-guided tours, Wednesday through Monday, 9:30 AM to 4:15 PM (schedule online). Admission is $5 to $15. Here he made some of his most critical decisions about freedom, the Union, and the presidency. 140 Rock Creek Church Rd. NW. lincolncottage.org. u E ast
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Jury Suspension Strands DC Jail Defendants COVID Scrambles the District System of Justice by Gavrielle Jacobovitz
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n May 2020, a 20-year-old man was arrested for armed carjacking and robbery. In April, a 19year old man was arrested for an assault with a dangerous weapon. Months later, the two have yet to be been indicted. Both remain held in DC Jail, awaiting trial. Their extended detention is far from unique, as the coronavirus pandemic has upended the DC court system.
On March 18, 2020, the DC Superior Court suspended juries due to the dangers posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. By Jan. 22, 2021, 751 people are confined in DC Jail pretrial, a 57 percent increase from the 478 held at the end of March.
The DC Jail. Photo: Andrew Lightman
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On March 18, 2020, the DC Superior Court suspended juries due to the dangers posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. By Jan. 22, 2021, 751 people are confined in DC Jail pre-trial, a 57 percent increase from the 478 held at the end of March. Under the Code of the District of Columbia, a person arrested and detained on a felony charge must be tried within a hundred days or released. In March, the Court paused this requirement. “It’s unconstitutional,” said Attorney Elizabeth Weller, who represents the two jailed defendants. Weller has appealed their extended detention in the DC Court of Appeals, one of several attorneys in the District to do so. “It violates the protections we have for people who have not been convicted of a crime—people who are by default not guilty because they haven’t been proven guilty. And their liberty is being taken from them without ever having a true finding of ‘guilty’,” Weller stated. In its examination of the extended detention of pre-trial defendants during the pandemic, Capital Community News interviewed over two dozen defense attorneys, DC Superior Court’s Chief Judge of the Criminal Division, Chief of the Superior Court Division for the US Attorney’s Office of DC, a city council staffer, people currently and formerly incarcerated in DC Jail and criminal justice and jury experts. The suspension of juries has reduced the options for detained defendants to obtain a resolution of their predicament to: filing a bond review motion, taking a plea deal, requesting a bench trial or successfully securing a dismissal. For defendants unsuccessful at petitioning for their release, who seek to argue their innocence before a jury, these options provide inadequate relief. In the meantime, detention itself imposes tremendous personal costs on defendants.
COVID Suspends Juries For most felonies, the DC Code requires defendants to be indicted within 90 days of their detention and tried within 100 days of that same date. Otherwise, barring extensions, defendants must be released. “There are some occasions where those hundred days become a little loose and flexible,” as there could be additional days added for continuances for a valid reason, but in the past there was at least a framework for when a defendant’s case would go to trial, said Car-
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rie Weletz, a DC defense attorney. On March 18, DC Superior Court’s then Chief Judge Robert Morin suspended court proceedings due to safety concerns amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. The 100-day trial clock was “tolled,” meaning it was paused. Jury trials in progress proceeded, but new trials were not scheduled. Grand juries were also suspended. On May 14, 2020, the DC Superior Court formally suspended all criminal trials. It continued its suspension of the 100-day clock, as it would again in subsequent orders, the most recent of which was issued on Jan. 13. Under DC statute, the Chief Judge may suspend statutory and rules-based timelines in the event of natural disasters and emergencies. The Court determined COVID to be such an emergency. “Because when the pandemic began, we were not in a position to summon jurors into the building, it was obviously necessary to suspend that hundred-day trial clock,” Superior Court’s Criminal Division Presiding Judge Juliet McKenna told CCN. In December, the Court resumed bench trials. However, the chances of acquittal are greater with jury trials than with bench trials, according to Attorney Henry Escoto. “You’d rather have twelve people deciding your fate than one,” Escoto said. Notably, in 2019, less than half of felony defendants were delivered a guilty verdict in jury trials, compared to 80 percent in bench trials. For defendants who want their day in court before their peers, the wait continues. This month the Court announced its intention to resume some felony trials beginning on March 22. These would be limited to defendants who had trial dates set before the pandemic charged with certain felonies, excluding, for instance, Weller’s clients. The heavy backlog of cases and limited trial capacity will extend delays, especially for people who were arrested since the onset of the pandemic. “A lot of decisions that the Court has made have been responsible decisions for the pandemic or for the public health at large and they’re not in an easy position,” said Joseph Scrofano, a DC defense attorney.
“But the one area that’s most problematic about what’s happening with this delay are people who are held without bond having very little recourse or mechanism to get out of jail while they are presumed innocent,” Scrofano stated. The District releases the majority of defendants after their initial court appearance. In 2019, 94 percent of all defendants and 75 percent of defendants with felony charges were released. In 2020, 76 percent of felony defendants were released. Beyond the pause in jury trials, some defendants have still not been formally charged with a crime. Typically, an average of five grand juries are seated, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia (USAO-DC). Since October, when grand juries resumed, only one has been sitting intermittently. Prosecutors were unable to empanel new grand juries before the New Year. While 1,477 felony cases have been filed in Superior Court between March 18 and Nov. 30, federal prosecutors had only obtained 61 indictments during that time. As a result, many defendants remain detained in the absence of formal charges. In the meantime, COVID’s scrambling of the jury system imposes costs on those detained in DC Jail, considered innocent until proven guilty.
“It violates the protections we have for people who have not been convicted of a crime — people who are by default not guilty because they haven’t been proven guilty.” - Elizabeth Weller, a DC criminal defense attorney.
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“A lot of individuals want their day in court. They are innocent until proven guilty and they’ve maintained their innocence,” said Sweta Patel, a DC criminal defense attorney. Detention’s Costs As of Jan. 21, 232 residents of DC Department of Corrections (DC DOC) facilities had tested positive for the virus. Yet less than 40 percent of residents reporting symptoms had been tested, and sometimes even weeks later according to a brief filed as part of a lawsuit from American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU-DC) and the Public Defender Service (PDS) of DC challenging conditions at the jail. Experts, cited by the brief, found around 100 examples of violations of COVID regulations in a single shift. This was after a June preliminary injunction in the case ordered the Jail to improve access to medical care, increase health resources and alter their COVID-19 policies. Since April, most residents in DC are confined to their cells 23 hours a day. Also, in an effort to stem infection, the jail has eliminated visitation from family and friends. Anthony Petty spent the last months of a 30-year sentence at the DC Jail until his recent release. As a mentor with the Young Men Emerging Program, Petty witnessed how the pandemic affected people held in the jail awaiting trials and indictments. “Problems really come [with] some of the mental things people go through 23 hours for months and months at a time [when they] are being locked in the cell,” said Petty. Residents of the Jail haven’t been outside since March, as part of the lockdown, Petty said. The pandemic is exacerbating the difficulties of being jailed. Detained defendants may lose their jobs, income which their families may rely on, Petty said. They may have rent to pay and children who they need to take care of. “So now it’s [detention] affecting the whole family structure,” he explained. Petty is an Advisory board member of Neighbors for Justice, an organization founded this summer supporting residents of the DC Jail. “So it’s a lot of aspects of this pandemic that really messed everything up,” Petty added, characterizing the situation as “cruel and unusual punishment.” The DC Dept. of Corrections (DOC) did not respond when asked to comment. “Potentially, you have clients who have cases that
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they certainly could prove their innocence beyond a reasonable doubt before a jury and they’re sitting incarcerated during a pandemic at a jail that currently has its fair share of cases of COVID-19,” said Attorney Stephen LoGerfo. “A lot of individuals want their day in court. They are innocent until proven guilty and they’ve maintained their innocence,” said Sweta Patel, a DC criminal defense attorney. She does not fault the court system or judges for the situation. However, Patel termed extended detention beyond the amount of time defendants would typically serve a “miscarriage of justice” that would “take a toll on someone really wanting to fight for their innocence.”
Petitioning for Release In response to a flurry of COVID-19-related bond review motions filed and more anticipated, a few days after it suspended juries, the Superior Court instituted procedures for filing these motions. Almost every defendant being held pretrial in DC Jail has filed at least one, if not multiple motions for such relief, according to the USAO-DC. Between March 15 and Dec. 5, 2020, DC Superior Court received 1,365 bond review motions for 1,033 individual defendants held for felony and misdemeanor charges. “Almost all of them included some basis for relief due to the pandemic,” said Judge McKenna. Judges granted only 33 percent of those motions. 16 percent were pending, as of Dec. 5. However, for felony defendants, the approval percent dropped to 26 percent. Understanding the reluctance of judges to release defendants charged with certain felonies, Attorney Julie Swaney believes judges are becoming “immune to the arguments about how unsafe the jail is.” While there have not been many reports of increasing COVID-19 at the Jail, this “still doesn’t erase the risk for our clients to be congregated with other people and especially the staff to be coming in and out from their communities,” Swaney added. For defendants unsuccessful at securing release, few options remain.
Pleading Guilty In 2019, almost 95 percent of cases ended without a trial. Indeed, the majority of cases are resolved through the negotiated plea agreements between defense attorneys and prosecutors. In these deals, an admission of guilt is often exchanged for a reduction in charges or a lighter sentence. The pandemic threw a wrench in the plea system. During the pandemic, the number of plea deals for both detained and non-detained defendants significantly trails pre-pandemic rates. In 2019, the Superior Court approved an average of 170 plea agreements per month, including guilty pleas and dismissal plea agreements. Between March 18 and Nov. 30, 2020, only 491 plea agreements were accepted. Before COVID, the Superior Court did not explicitly allow defendants to virtually plead guilty to felonies. This past summer, the Court commenced virtual proceedings for felony guilty pleas and sentencing. Even with the recent increase compared to the start of the pandemic, the number of plea deals is “still a shadow of what it would be during normal times,” stated the USAO-DC’s Chief of the Superior Court Division John Hill. There are other reasons for the continued decrease in plea deals. Before the pandemic, if an attorney and the government decided on a plea, they could schedule a court hearing the next day, explained Attorney John Machado. Now, scheduling is much more complicated and can require as much as two to three weeks notice, he said, since judges cannot move from case to case as quickly in a virtual setting. “Getting time before a judge is a much more challenging commodity to get,” said Machado, though he acknowledged that judges are trying up to open up more courtrooms. Beyond logistical barriers, Escoto explained other reasons for the drop in pleas. These include the need during the pandemic to file a motion to request a hearing and increased difficulty meeting with incarcerated clients to research and analyze cases. Still, Escoto noted, detained clients “are more willing to not challenge the allegations at trial and plead out their cases to reduce incarceration.”
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Despite the drop in plea deals, defense attorneys remain worried that the lack of jury trials has or could increase pressure on those under pretrial detention to offer an admission of guilt to expedite the disposition of their case. There is “no doubt in my mind” that individuals are taking offers due to the delay in jury trials, Attorney Patel said. Swaney has clients who had been released, she said, and were “very eager to exercise their right to trial,” who are now detained for a pretrial violation or re-arrest for something relatively minor, but who had a pending felony. “That has completely changed the calculation for them,” she said, regarding plea offers. For crimes without mandatory sentences, a plea can be more appealing to defendants if they think they will be released, said AJ Amissah, a defense attorney who practices in Superior Court. “We do our best to counsel our clients” that they do not have to plead guilty, Amissah said. “But it’s almost hard not to understand why they take a plea even if they think they’re innocent because the likelihood is that they’re going to be held for a long time,” he pointed out. Asked about the increased pressure on detained defendants to take plea offers, US Attorney Hill stressed the importance placed by his office and court on the voluntary element of such deals. “We certainly understand that these are unprecedented times and that presents new challenges for defendants and that many are being held beyond the time they would normally be held before they would have an opportunity for a trial,” said Hill, adding that many defendants wanted to plead guilty earlier, but did not have the opportunity to do so. While Judge McKenna hopes the pandemic has not placed additional pressure on defendants to take pleas,
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“I would be naïve if I said that it is impossible,” she observed. “That is one of the very reasons that we thought it was imperative to resume the jury trials for those defendants being held in jail pending trial.” “We do not want there to be a situation in which any individual is facing any possible risk of being detained beyond the statutory maximum that they could face at the time of sentencing,” said McKenna. “We wanted to avoid imposing that sort of pressure or onus by offering up the opportunity to resolve cases by actually being able to exercise the right to have a trial.” The Superior Court and USAO-DC plan to reboot jury trials and grand jury proceedings in 2021.
Looking Forward Several defense attorneys have challenged the constitutionality and legality of their client’s detention in the DC Court of Appeals. “It’s well established that liberty is the norm and that detention prior to trial is supposed to be the carefully limited exception and we have case law and we have statutes designed to make it the carefully limited exception,” said Attorney Anna Scanlon, who represented a defendant in one such appeal. That appeal has since been ended after her client took a plea deal contingent on its dismissal. “Even though there is no doubt that the problem that COVID presents is vexing, that doesn’t mean we can just throw up our hands and say these people just have to sit in jail who are presumed innocent and that there’s nothing we can do about it,” explained Scanlon. Weller has filed appeals on behalf of two clients. Their continued imprisonment “violates the most basic tenet of liberty” in the Constitution, she wrote in her bond review motions. One of Weller’s appeals is pending. The Appeals Court returned the other to the lower court instructing the judge to reevaluate her client’s detention. Weletz has also appealed the detention of a client indicted for burglary and armed kidnapping. It was consolidated with another case brought by the Public Defenders Service of DC. On Dec. 15, 2020, the DC Court of Appeals heard the attorneys’ statutory and constitutional arguments. Both defendants, Judge McKenna, and Hill declined to comment on the pending appeal. “The court’s ruling on the application of the statute and the constitutionality of indefinite detention is likely to impact a large number of people current-
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ly who are being held pretrial with no trial date in sight,” Scanlon said. While the DC Superior Court intends to commence jury trials for Felony 2 cases with previously scheduled hearings, the one hundred day trial clock remains paused for other detained defendants. Jury summons have not yet been mailed, according to a court spokesperson. The public health challenges of resuming jury trials are not insignificant. “Two months is a reasonable deadline to get all of the protections that need to be in place, and all of the procedures that need to be in place, for this to proceed safely on a small scale,” said Dr. Anne Monroe, an associate professor of epidemiology at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. Given the rate of vaccinations in the city, Monroe emphasized that proceedings in March would need to be on a “limited scale.” “Even once jury trials resume, in order to be able to safely and competently work through the backlog of cases, those timelines are going to have to remain suspended [tolled) for an additional period of time,” Judge McKenna said. The wait for a jury trial could be much longer than March 2021, especially for those arrested after the pandemic began. As for grand juries, the USAO-DC began the first of the year to empanel one a week the first two weeks of January, the office stated. Prosecutors are prioritizing detained defendants. Even if new grand juries are empaneled in 2021, “[t]he judicial system is still only able to safely accommodate a fraction of the grand juries that were operational pre-pandemic,” Hill stated. The Dec. 15 consolidated appeal will soon answer whether the city has statutory and constitutional authority to continue this practice in the midst of the ensuing pandemic. DC is not alone in facing such challenges. A number of jurisdictions that resumed jury trials were forced to reverse course. A North Carolina county saw its first jury trial end in a mistrial, due to pandemic health concerns. On Dec. 21, Maryland courts, which had resumed proceedings, suspended jury trials until April. In York County, PA, criminal trials resumed in July only to be suspended on Nov. 30. According to Center for Juries Studies Director Paula Hannaford-Agor, “with a couple of rare exceptions most large urban courts that would be the most similar to the DC Superior Court have done few or no
jury trials.” In rural areas, there have been more such proceedings, she added. “The pandemic took us all by surprise back in March so it’s understandable that it’s taken some time for the system to catch up,” said DC defense attorney Lee Smith at the end of December. Cases are starting to move, Smith continued, but not as fast as they should. “We’ve got to figure out a way to either get jury trials started again safely but much more quickly or [...] figure out some relief for clients who are detained,” said Smith. For instance, Smith referenced the High Intensity Supervision Program of the Pretrial Services Agency of the District of Columbia, potentially combined with home confinement. “Given the severe risk of the spread of COVID-19 inside courtrooms, the Court had to take unprecedented steps to suspend jury trials to protect public health,” said Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen (D), chair of the DC Council’s Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety, in a statement. “While it remains the right call, we can’t overlook the hardship and challenges it has placed on anyone who is awaiting their day in court and seeking justice,” Allen stated. DC Witness, a non-profit dedicated to creating transparency in the District’s justice system, is providing data on criminal cases for this project. For more information, visit www.dcwitness.org. This article was supported by a grant from Spotlight DC: Capitol City Fund for Investigative Journalism. Spotlight DC encourages the submission for proposals by independent journalists. For more information, visit www.spotlightdc.org. Gavrielle Jacobovitz is a recent graduate of Columbia University and a reporter at Capital Community News. She has previously interned with HuffPost Politics and NBC Owned TV Stations. u
The Old Man of Anacostia A Shameful Day in US History
J
by Philip Pannell
anuary 6, 2021 was a shameful day in U.S. history with the pro-Trump invasion and desecration of the Capitol. Because of that disgraceful incident, the positive and progressive history that was made in Georgia the day before was overshadowed. Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock won the Georgia U.S. Senate seats. Senator Ossoff, a 33-year-old investigative reporter, film producer and Georgetown University alumnus is Georgia’s first Jewish senator and the first Jewish senator from the Deep South since 1879. Senator Warnock, the 51-year-old Morehouse College graduate and pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church (where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was co-pastor) became Georgia’s first African American senator. During the past four years when Donald Trump nurtured an environment where people could feel comfortable with their prejudices and expressive with their bigotry, it was uplifting and inspiring to see a Jewish millennial campaigning arm-in-arm with a Black pastor and winning in the state that is home to the largest monument to White supremacy: Stone Mountain. There was much history and symbolism intertwined in campaigns and victories of that dynamic duo. Ossoff grew up among Holocaust survivors and interned in the congressional office of the late civil rights icon John Lewis. Warnock grew up in Savannah’s public housing and pastors the church where the funerals of John Lewis and Martin Luther King Jr. were held. This is another example of the Black-Jewish coalition at its best. Civil rights history is replete with examples of Blacks and Jews coalesc-
ing to fight injustice. Last year we lost the young and super-talented actor Chadwick Boseman whose film Marshall focuses on future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall in his early legal career teaming up with a Jewish lawyer in a 1941 case of a Black man accused of raping a White woman. The 1964 Freedom Summer murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner shocked the nation. The latter two Jewish activists from New York had gone to Mississippi to help register Blacks to vote. Given this historical alliance, we Blacks should and must condemn anti-Semitism in all its forms. To me hatred is the same be it swathed in a swastika, wrapped in a white sheet or clothed in a clerical collar. Also, our Jewish sisters and brothers should also be vigilantly opposed to racism whether it manifests as populist political demagoguery or the systemic status quo. I have never understood or appreciated the anti-Semitism of some of our Black leaders. As a Christian, I along with many of my fellow African Americans have been investing my hopes, dreams and prayers in Jesus Christ – a Jew. Therefore, being anti-Semitic is not only hateful, it is counterintuitive. Many DC political activists wanted to go to Georgia to knock on doors for Ossoff and Warnock, but the COVID pandemic prevented that. But there were many DC activists who donated, raised funds and made phone calls for those two candidates who both support statehood for the District of Columbia. And that is what keeps Georgia on my mind. Philip Pannell is a long time Ward 8 community activist. He can be contacted at philippannell@comcast.net. u E ast
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Ward 8 Welcomes New ANC Commissioners by Sarah Payne
T
he November general election brought significant political change to the nation and the District, including 17 new commissioners elected to the Ward 8 Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC). ANCs are a non-partisan body of elected officials that represent local community members. The commissioners serve two-year terms without pay. Each commissioner represents a Single Member District (SMD) of approximately 2,000 residents. The ANCs main role in the District is to be their neighborhood’s official voice in advising the District government on things that affect their neighborhoods. Commissioners Holly Muhammad (8A01), Barbara Clark (8A02), Brian Thonmpson (8A03), Paul Trantham (8B02), Charles Wilson (8B03), Humam Abdulmalik (8B06), Mustafa Abdul-Salaam (8C05), Rhonda Edwards-Hines (8C06), Salim Adofo (8C07), Patricia Carmon (8D01), Olivia Henderson (8D02), Absalom Jordan (8D03), Monique T. Diop (8D04), Ellen Armstead (8D05), Cheryl Moore (8E02) and Kendall Simmons (8E04) were all re-elected to their single member districts (SMD) last year.
ANC 8A
Laneice Moore (8A04) is a native Washingtonian who has been living in Ward 8 for 46 years. Moore attended Kimball Elementary, J Hayden Johnson Jr. High and Ballou Senior High Schools. She received her GED from Delaware Valley School of Trades where she became a certified nursing assistant and home health aide. In 2000, Moore began
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abusing street drugs, but has been clean and sober for more than five years. In 2015, however, Moore moved to Green Street which was a drug infested environment. As she started putting her life back together, the things happening in her community and the women’s rights movement became clearer and more important to her. Moore decided to run for a seat in the commission to do something to help bring the spirit back to her community. Moore said she realized that she needed to lead by example. She hopes to show the young people that there’s another world out there, waiting for them to conquer and overcome their adversities. More believes that her educational and life experiences will make her a strong leader and proponent of change in Ward 8 and the District as a whole. (anc.dc.gov/page/advisory-neighborhood-commission-8a)
Jamila White
cial justice activism in DC. White saw that 80,000 Ward 8 residents have access to just one major grocery store, one hospital, and live in an area of concentrated poverty despite being in the seventh richest city worldwide. She ran for ANC because she saw this as a moment of reclaiming power and embracing potential. She believes that increasing access to quality education, affordable housing, economic opportunities, food, elderly services, community-led healing and crime prevention efforts must be guided by community input.
Jamila White (8A05) believes in solving the big problems to give her neighbors the life they deserve. She said the COVID-19 pandemic was what led her down her ‘unexpected’ path to the ANC. White’s work as a humanitarian first responder had her serving on the front lines of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas. White said when COVID hit the US she immediately realized that local response efforts were not robust enough to get ahead of the virus, and would increase inequities in Ward 8. White holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from Hampton University and a master’s in public administration with a concentration in economic development and international affairs from Indiana University. She currently serves her community by mentoring students through the College Bound program, through volunteer work with her church and other local organizations in Ward 8, and racial equity and raRobin McKinney
Robin McKinney (8A06) is a lifelong Washingtonian who did not grow up dreaming of being an elected official. McKinney’s goals for herself and her children were never about being successful; she simply wanted them to survive. McKinney began to realize how much her hometown of Washington was changing, and she realized she was watching from sidelines. McKinney said she could no longer wait for her life to change but had to be the change that her family needed. Her journey has been full of challeng-
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es including the struggles of homelessness, but now she is comfortable in the foundation she has provided to her children as a homeowner. McKinney dreams about the success of her family and community and emphasizes that she strives to be and represent the change she wants to see in her community and for her family. Moore invites all neighbors who live in Ward 8 to join her on this journey to keep the greatness and history of Anacostia while making a path toward a brighter future and is excited about the opportunity to utilize her vast experiences to serve her community.
ANC 8B
Kevin Coleman (8B04) is a Ward 8 ‘original’ who was born, raised and educated in Southeast DC. Coleman decided to run for the commission because he was tired of talking about the issues he saw in his community and not taking action. Coleman is a convicted felon and was previously incarcerated from 2003 through 2008. Coleman remembers the challenging experience of returning home after being incarcerated and hopes that his success will be beneficial to others in a similar situation. He hopes to help previously incarcerated individuals and second chance offenders get stable jobs and get their lives back together through education and assis-
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tance programs. Coleman coaches youth sports and is passionate about mentorship to children. Coleman’s focus in taking office is serving as an advocate for youth. Specifically, his goal is to increase the amount of educational programming such as trips and after-school services for the community. He also hopes to expand and improve local recreation centers and provide additional programming and educational services. (anc.dc.gov/ page/advisory-neighborhood-commission-8b)
ANC 8C
Victoria Akinseye (8C02) is a long-time Washingtonian who serves as a government information specialist in the U.S. Department of State and a mother. Akinseye decided to run for the ANC in order to serve the public and be a voice for the people in her community. She is advocating for cleaner and safer streets, community policing and community development for her neighborhood. Specifically, Akinseye wants to fix illegal dumping and littering around the community to make it a cleaner, safer place for residents. Skinseye frequently participates in city clean up events such as cleaning up roadside litter. She believes that her communication skills will help her serve her single member district and keep her neighbors informed. She will keep “one foot in the present and one in the future” as she seeks to provide realistic, innovative change to benefit Ward 8 community members. Aside from advocacy and activism, she is a mother and results-driven leader who values reliability, honesty, and environmentalism. (anc.dc.gov/page/advisoryneighborhood-commission-8c) Tasha Powell (8C03) was born in Fort Worth, Texas and relocated to the District in hopes of finding connection with culture, progress and a history of strength and resolve; all of which she says she found in her neighborhood of Congress Heights. She served eight years in the U.S. Navy as an IT Specialist. Powell believes that the residents of her SMD want to experience what has been systematically denied to them: a beautiful neighborhood, growing opportunities and a supportive and connected community. She believes that the community deserves a representative that puts the neighborhood first and can work with the various DC agencies to bring long-term results to improve the lives of all residents in the ANC. She was inspired to run for a seat on the commission because she felt that the lack of community awareness concerning development, public safety, access to public transportation, jobs and lack of community resources was unacceptable. Powell pledges to keep the community informed on all matters to ensure that decisions are made in the best interest of the community.
ANC 8D
decided to campaign for a seat in the ANC because she believed that through responsible action she could provide opportunities for her community. Hudson was first involved with civic duties in the community in 2016 as an intern for Capitol Services Management, Inc. in Ward 8. She served as the executive assistant for Phinis Jones, the President of Capitol Services Management, Inc. Hudson plans to continue to raise the bar to a standard of excellence as a newly elected commissioner.
Alyse Newhouse (8D06) is a graduate of Howard University and resident of the Bellevue neighborhood. She has been a community advocate for over 16 years. Her passion for the advancement of black women and girls led her to mentor countless young women in the District. Newhouse has worked to serve her community through her leadership efforts with the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Metropolitan Washington. Additionally, over the Brittany Cummings past four years, Alyse has raised Brittany Cummings (8E06) is more than $60,000 to support a community advocate who is passionate about giving black women and girls health, economic empowerment back. Since relocating to DC, Cummings has served as a and education. With a focus on communities East of board member of the Greater Washington Urban League the River, Alyse has supported policies to enhance the Young Professionals. She is a member of the CommuDC Student Empowerment and Equity Programs with nity Advisory Council for A Wider Circle, an organizafunding and resources. She has also supported legislation that is focused on bringing a family success center tion to improve perinatal health and address racial disto Washington Highlands, as a part of DC Mayor Muriel parities in birth outcomes for mothers east of the rivBowser’s Family First initiative. Cummings is an experier. In 2015, Alyse began working with the U.S. Census enced marketing and communications professional and Bureau to provide recommendations to enhance the plans to bring her expertise to her work with the ANC 2020. Newhouse’s experiences have afforded her to be to ensure better communication between the commisat the intersection of corporate and nonprofit, garnersion and Ward 8 residents. She believes that her experiing results that matter. Newhouse wants to help provide ence and dedication to her work will allow her to serve health and safety resources and make the community as a meaningful advocate for her neighbors. Cummings aware of resources already available to Ward 8 residents. said she has learned from residents in her SMD lack of She also plans to work with District officials on street connection is their biggest issue. Unand city garbage cleanup. Newhouse fortunately in an area where internet aims to support black owned and access is inconsistent, posting inforoperated businesses as well as busimation online only is not enough and nesses that hire residents of Ward 8. Cummings believes that a concerted (anc.dc.gov/page/advisory-neighboreffort needs to be made to share ophood-commission-8d) portunities for education, entrepreneurship and enrichment with residents of Ward 8. ANC 8E Shaquan Hudson (8E05) has been a Jeannina Williams (8E07) has lived Ward 8 resident for eight years and is in Ward 8 most of her life and has alexcited to provide for her neighbors ways been an advocate for her comas a newly elected ANC commissionmunity. She has noticed that Ward 8 is er. She is a single parent who attended moving in a ‘different’ direction than the DC public schools, was a first-genin years past and wants all residents eration college graduate of the UDC to be included in that process. Genwith a degree in administration of justrification is an issue that is constantly tice. She is a member of the Nationraised by residents, and it has strengthal Black United Front Organization, ened her resolve to work closely with and is a community activist. Hudson Jeannina Williams
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DC leadership in the best interest of the neighborhood. Williams wants to ensure that all of her constituents have a voice in their communities. Most important to Williams: she makes it her business to create a positive and safe environment for all. Williams hopes to assist in bringing more peopleoriented programs to the community such as job training, affordable housing, senior housing and dwelling programs, opportunities for community residents to engage in public safety programs, food and clothing pantries, youth-based programs for at-risk children and adolescents and supporting businesses that hire community residents. Williams also hopes to have more constituent involvement as she takes office this year. (anc.dc.gov/page/advisory-neighborhood-commission-8e) Commissioners Steven Tiller (8A07), Khadijah Watson (8B01), Michelle Kiah (8B05), Kwasi Seitu (8C01), Trayvon Hawkins (8C04), Patricia Janifer (8D07) and Shekita “Ki-Ki� McBroom (8E01) did not respond with a statement in time for publication. East of the River requested statements from all new ANC Ward 8 candidates. If you are a newly elected commissioner representing Ward 8 and want your statement included, please email SarahP@HillRag.com Sarah Payne is a History and Neuroscience student at The University of Michigan interning with HillRag. She writes for and serves as an assistant news editor for Michigan’s student newspaper, The Michigan Daily. You can reach her at sarahp@hillrag.com. u
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DCHFA Finances First Development of 2021 in Anacostia
The District of Columbia Housing Finance Agency has funded its first development of the new year with the issuance of $27 million in tax-exempt bond financing and the underwriting of $20.6 million in four percent low income housing tax credits for the construction of a new affordable rental development at 2442 Martin Luther King Ave. SE. The construction will add 112 new apartments priced at 30 to 50 percent of area median income to Ward 8’s Anacostia neighborhood. dchfa.org.
Take Time Thursdays at ACM
Take Time Thursdays with the Anacostia Community Museum gives participants a chance to take time for wellness, health, and creativity with artists, thought leaders, performers, wellness practitioners and others. Take a 30-minute break (online) with them from 2:30 to 3 p.m. each Thursday and boost your mind, body and spirit. Here’s the upcoming schedule: Feb. 11, Finding the Harriet in You; Feb. 18, The Man, The Movement, The Museum: A Look into the Life of John Kinard; Feb. 25, One-Woman Performance: “Ms. Sarah’s Wedding Dress”. Free. Tickets are at anacostia.si.edu/Events.
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Ward Specific DPR Ready2Play Meetings
Upcoming Clean Waterways Cleanup
DPR is conducting a series of virtual meetings that will focus on individual wards, and DPR’s long-term plans for services, operations, and amenities in those communities. These meetings are your opportunity to focus on particular recreation centers and parks in your ward that you want to see prioritized for capital improvements and/ or new programming. You’ll also have a chance to suggest new sites for recreation amenities and identify needs for future facilities. At each meeting, DPR will share findings from their recent citywide survey and senior staff will be present to hear from you. The Ward 7 meeting is on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 6:30 to 8 p.m. Ward 8 meeting is Thursday, Feb. 18, 6:30 to 8 p.m. RSVP at ready2playdc.com. You’ll receive a calendar invite with all of the appropriate meeting information. To reach out with specific questions or comments, email them at ready2play@dc.gov.
Help Preserve DC’s Culture Barry Farm-Hilldale in Anacostia: A Historic African American Community
Barry Farm-Hillsdale was created under the auspices of the Freedmen’s Bureau in 1867, in what was then the outskirts of the nation’s capital. On Monday, Feb. 8, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., join curator and historian, Alcione M. Amos (online) as she discusses her newly released book “Barry Farm-Hillsdale in Anacostia: A History African American Community.” Free. anacostia.si.edu/Events.
MOVING: Ward 8 Home Buyers Club
The Ward 8 Home Buyers Club is moving to Wednesday evenings. Join them and their partners at MANNA for this free virtual monthly workshop for Ward 8 residents on the 32
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HumanitiesDC volunteer reviewers assist in reading and evaluating the hundreds of project applications for grant funding HumanitiesDC receives every year. This shortterm volunteer assignment is a great opportunity to use your skills to improve the community and meet other people who share your passion for the District’s heritage and preservation activities. If you’re interested, complete an online application form. They accept applications year-round so that they have talented teams in place by review time. humanitiesdc.org/get-involved/become-a-grant-reviewer.
Tax Considerations for Small Businesses: A Legal Perspective
On Feb. 10 and 24, noon to 1:15 p.m., join the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center, the law firm Dechert LLP, and the DC Office
Anacostia Riverkeeper’s next cleanup is on March 27, 9 a.m. to noon. Location TBD. Sign up at anacostiariverkeeper.org.
Ward 8 Woods Volunteer Opportunity
Ward 8 Woods engages residents and visitors in volunteer experiences. Most volunteers work in the woods removing trash and cutting invasive vines. If you like to be physically active, spend time in nature, and immediately see the results of your work, you might enjoy working with them. Remaining 2021 volunteer days are March 6, April 3, May 1, June 5, July 3, Aug. 7, Sept. 4, Oct. 2, Nov. 6, and Dec. 4. Volunteer days are every first Saturday of the month from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Ft. Stanton Park. Meet at Ft. Stanton Recreation Center, 1812 Erie St. SE. To allow for social distancing, attendance at each event is limited to 10 people. Reserve your spot at ward8woods.org/volunteer.
Eastland Gardens Civic Association Meeting
Eastland Gardens Civic Association meets monthly on the third Tuesday, 6:30 to 8 p.m., at Kenilworth Recreation Center, 4321 Ord St. NE. Contact Ms. Junel Jeffrey at egcapresident@gmail.com for details.
Construction Opportunities at The Wharf
The Wharf encourages DC residents, particularly residents of Southwest DC and Wards 5, 6, 7 and 8, to take advantage of current construction job, apprenticeship and training opportunities at The Wharf. Three companies—Balfour-Beatty, Donohoe Construction, and DPR Construction—are constructing six new buildings as part of the second phase of The Wharf in Southwest. To apply for a job, visit wharfdc.com/jobs and follow the links to the prime contractors’ and subcontractors’ hiring websites for information. To sign up for a pre-apprenticeship training program operated by
WASHINGTON YU YING PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
Onsite Covid-19 Testing
Onsite Covid-19 Testing: Washington Yu Ying PCS is seeking competitive bids from a laboratory, licensed by the state/Federal government to perform onsite, weekly collection and testing for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 virus - for both students and staff members. The total number of tests per week will likely range from about 80 to 250. The vendor will ensure the following: • Specimen collection service following social distancing guidelines, PPE, hand sanitizers, tissues, etc. • Courier service of specimens to the laboratory • Secure reporting of results to Washington Yu Ying’s leadership • A turnaround time of 24-48 hours for results
The vendor will provide all labor and materials. Bids must include evidence of experience in field, qualifications, and estimated fees. Please provide estimates per test / individual based upon the weekly estimates stated above. Deadline for submissions is close of business on February 24, 2021. Please e-mail proposals and supporting documents to RFP@washingtonyuying.org. Please specify “RFP for Covid-19 Testing” in the subject line. E ast
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“Is Justice for All” by Jimise Winston
Building Futures, with new classes starting regularly, visit wharfdc.com/building-futures or contact Sylvia Casaro at scasaro@dclabor.org or 202-506-0398. Another source for life skills and pre-apprenticeship/construction training East of the River is the Skyland Workforce Center (skylandworkforcecenter.org, 202-793-2141). DC residents seeking jobs should also register with the Department of Employment Services (dc-
networks.org), which connects employers with qualified job candidates, and helps job seekers find jobs. To date, including Phase 1, a total of 895 DC residents have been employed in the construction of The Wharf (51% of total hires); 300 DC residents (57% of total) have worked as apprentices. For general information, contact Elinor Bacon at The Wharf, ebacon@erbacondevelopment.com.
Read About Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with DC Public Schools
In recognition of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., DC Public Schools has curated a list of recommended books and content resources. Families can access the list through dcps.instructure.com/courses/211378/pages/dr-martin-luther-king-jr-day.
Take DC Outdoor Dining Survey
Gbenga Ogunjimi, Story Coach and Executive producer
Anacostia Business Owners Celebrate Black History Month with Documentary on Amazon Prime
Good to Great Stories: A Small Business Documentary chronicles the entrepreneurial journeys of seven business owners primarily in Anacostia, one of the District’s most historic neighborhoods. The documentary shows how these entrepreneurs are changing the narrative of Anacostia from struggle and scarcity to that of opportunity and growth through their stories. The men and women featured have helped to economically empower residents in their community while embracing their own struggle to thrive. Good to Great Stories recognizes their leadership and shows other business owners how to harness the power of their stories. The documentary is available on Amazon Prime for free throughout the month of February. Here’s the link. amazon.com/ Good-Great-Stories-Business-Documentary/dp/B08R3TZ7H4.
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The Office of Planning invites you to complete a short survey, designed to assess the experience of patrons of outdoor dining and retail establishments in Washington, DC during the COVID-19 public health emergency. Established in June 2020 through a joint District Department of Transportation, Office of Planning, and Department of Health effort, the outdoor dining and retail pickup program initially aimed to uplift small businesses following the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak and the resulting public health emergency status. The survey will be available until Feb. 14. publicinput.com/W4624.
Become an Arena Stage Usher
Arena Stage’s volunteer ushers are responsible for the comfort, safety and overall experience their patrons. There are over 1,500 members of Arena Stage’s ushering staff. Volunteers receive complimentary ticket offers to Arena Stage shows, invitations to special staff and audience enrichment events, an invitation to the Annual Usher Appreciation party, an opportunity to attend Arena Stage productions for free, and discounted parking in the on-site garage. Read more at arenastage.org/opportunities.
Mighty Justice: Meet Civil Rights Lawyer Dovey Johnson Roundtree
For those people not familiar with Dovey Johnson Roundtree, on Wednesday, Feb. 10 at 4 p.m., you are invited to learn about a great woman who dedicated her life to service, justice and lifting up the most oppressed among us. Raised in the Jim Crow South, through sheer will and determination, she became a civil rights lawyer who was pivotal in dismantling racially segregated interstate bus travel in the early 1950s. She took clients that other lawyers ignored, saying of those she helped, “I make my clients my children. I can see stars when there is nothing but clay.” Never letting herself be beaten down by racism, Dovey Johnson Roundtree was a proud American who believed in the power of public service. Learn more and RSVP at dclibrary.org/node/67693.
How to Build an Accessory Apartment or Second Dwelling in DC
The United Planning Organization and Coalition for Smarter Growth has released ADU DC Homeowner’s Manual: How to Build an Accessory Apartment or Second Dwelling in the District of Columbia, to give homeowners the guidance they need to create an accessory or second dwelling unit on their property. The new guide will make it easier for homeowners to add in-
“Distance Learning” Virtual Art Exhibit In response to the toll COVID-19 has taken on artist educators, DC based curator and fine artist Zsudayka Nzinga Terrell presents “Distance Learning,” a poignant and compelling virtual art exhibition featuring the work of 21 art teachers from the Washington DC Metropolitan area. The artists examine themes of isolation and mental health during the 2020 pandemic and social unrest--from the closure of schools in March to the killing of George Floyd through the presidential election. Using the genres of portraiture, sculpture, print, digital and abstract art, and spoken word, the artists convey their observations of culture, how they managed the time in quarantine after schools closed in person learning, their continued connection to the youth and communities they teach, and the importance of having this opportunity to focus on creating their art. The virtual opening reception is Feb. 11, 6 to 8 p.m. RSVP at DCTeacherArtShow.com. Free adult painting workshops with teachers are 6 to 8 p.m. on Feb. 18 and 25; March 4, 10, 11 and 18. come-producing units to their homes. The manual is designed to assist both homeowners and professionals, including architects and contractors. It covers project planning, zoning, design options, cost considerations, financing, permitting, hiring professionals and managing the rental unit. Download the manual at smartergrowth.net/resources/adu-d-c-homeowners-manual.
Cupid’s Viral Undie Run
This year, because of the pandemic, instead of meeting for a mile(ish) run at your local bar, they’re giving
WE TREAT YOUR PETS LIKE FAMILY! you creative control--bike a mile, run backward, eat a mile-long sandwich? Anything goes! Then submit your video at cupidsawards.secure-platform.com/a/organizations/main/home and enter in one of five categories (Most Creative Mile, Thirstiest Mile, Most Hilarious Mile, Most Heartfelt Mile, Best Cupid’s Spirit) for a chance to win prizes. And don’t forget to share your video on social media with your fundraising link so that all your friends can virtually cheer you on. cupids.org. Cupid’s Undie Run funds research for neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder that causes tumors to grow on nerves throughout the body and affects one in every 3,000 births.
Mellon Foundation and National Archives Support Expansion of Cultural Diversity in American History
With support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the National Archives will offer new grants aimed at expanding cultural diversity in American history. The goals of this program, titled Start-Up Grants for Collaborative Digital Editions in African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, and Native American History, include: Reaching out to minority researchers, especially those currently studying history and ethnic studies, and providing specialized training and support in documentary editing; Encouraging and supporting innovative and collaborative re-thinking of American History— how it is conceived, whose voices it centers, and for what purposes; Promoting planning and development of digital projects rooted in African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, and Native American history and ethnic studies; and Bridging longstanding institutional inequities by promoting resource sharing and capacity building at all levels. The initial call for proposals deadline is June 9, 2021. Application information, including details and eligibility, is available at archives.gov/ nhprc/announcement/digitaleditions
Lunar New Year Virtual Celebration
On Saturday, Feb. 13, 10 a.m., ring in the Year of the Ox! Celebrate the Lunar New Year online with the Smithsonian Amer-
ican Art Museum, the Chinese Cultural Institute, and the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China. Enjoy streamed performances, including traditional Chinese acrobatics and an “awakening the lion” ceremony. Visit their SAAM Family Zone online for crafts, coloring pages, and other Lunar New Year activities. Free; Registration required at eventbrite. com/e/lunar-new-year-virtual-celebrationtickets-131604824573?aff=.
¡Printing the Revolution! Virtual Conversation Series: From Black and Brown Solidarity to Afro-Latinidad
The activist and the cultural dimensions of the civil rights–era fueled solidarity movements between Black and Latinx artists, leaving a visible imprint in the graphic arts that continues to reverberate today. On Thursday, Feb. 18, 6:30 p.m., this panel features three artists from ¡Printing the Revolution! who have engaged with these concerns across the decades. Participants include Malaquias Montoya, a prolific strike poster artist whose artwork defines the 1960s social serigraphy movement of the Bay Area. His artwork supports international solidarity, criminal justice reform, and the ongoing struggle for social justice. Favianna Rodriguez, an interdisciplinary artist, cultural strategist, and activist based in Oakland, California. Her art and praxis address migration, gender justice, climate change, racial equity, and sexual freedom. Moses RosSuárez, an artist, printmaker, architect, and a member of the Dominican York Proyecto GRAFICA, a collective of Dominican American graphic artists. The panel will be moderated by Kaelyn Rodríguez, assistant professor in art history at Santa Monica College. Free; registration required at eventbrite.com/e/printing-the-revolution-virtual-conversation-series-tickets131957296827?aff=
Food & Friends Seeks Volunteers
Food & Friends seeks volunteers to deliver meals or work in the kitchen. New volunteers must sign-up for and attend an orientation and undergo a criminal background (Continued on pg. 39)
ANIMAL CLINIC OF ANACOSTIA Candace A. Ashley, DVM
Serving the East of the River community for over 40 years! 2210 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave, SE
202.889.8900 I doctorashleydvm.com
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Asha Elana Casey Artwork Reflects Her Transformative Spiritual Awakening
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ost-independence Senegalese playwright Abdou Anta Kâ deftly wrote that “one had to find inspiration in myth to write today and tomorrow’s histories. Men have a tendency to change but not the gods--the gods are eternal.” It is within this framework of renewed interest about their cultural origins and ancestry that many writers and artists of African descent, whether living in post-colonial Africa or in the diaspora, have sought to rediscover and reexamine their identity. Artist and educator Asha Elana Casey connected with the following words of American playwright, poet and Black feminist Ntozake Shange so strongly that it has become the underlying theme of her artistic practice: “I found God in myself and I love her fiercely.” Inspired by a desire to connect with her ancestors, Casey discovered Ifa, the religion of the Yoruba people who live in the West
Orisha Rowu’s Realm. 2020. Mixed Media.
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African nations of Nigeria, Togo, Ghana and Benin. Their belief system is one which she has come to espouse as her own. A DC native, Casey grew up in one of the verdant neighborhoods abutting the sprawling forests of Fort Dupont Park and later moved to Hillcrest. An avid drawer since childhood, when it came time to look for high schools, her mother’s co-worker recommended she attend Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Georgetown, which has been a magnet school for cultivating excellence in the fine arts since the early 1970s. While the immersive arts education at Ellington allowed Casey to flourish, what solidified Casey’s calling as an artist was a residency at Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Aspen, Colorado. “I decided that maybe I could be an artist,” she concluded after her time in the Rockies. While Casey credits the skills she learned at Ellington for laying the foundation for her artistic career, she recalls having a very different experience in college. “At the Corcoran, I learned how to be an intellectual. I felt I had to over-explain my work and defend my intelligence. I got a taste of what it meant to be a Black artist in America.” She remembers that “it wasn’t until college that I started reading Black Asha and Ori. 2020. Mixed Media. feminist literature and looking into African spiritual systems. My journey started after reading an article about going exploration into Yoruba mythology and the Ifa relithe artist Laolu Senbanjo’s work. Then I read gion which connect her to the divine and to her ancestors. the book ‘Flash of the Spirit’ by Robert Farris At the Corcoran, one of her peers encouraged her conThompson. From there, I sought out communect with her African heritage and to shy away from using nity resources to learn more about the tradition. Christian religious forms to portray Black women. TurnBut again, I know next to nothing still. It is a lifeing to Yoruba mythology, Casey discovered Orishas who long journey of discovery.” are similar to saints or the Virgin Mary in the Catholic Casey has shown extensively in her five tradition or Bodhisattvas in Buddhism. In all three reliyears since graduating from the Corcoran, in gions, these beings act as intermediaries between humans both solo and group exhibitions in Martha’s and the divine realms. Vineyard, Baltimore and in galleries across the Ever since, Casey’s paintings have taken on a religious DC region. Currently, her work is on view at tone. “I started to build a story particularly around my Honfleur Gallery in a two-person exhibition spiritual journey as I was learning more about this spiritual titled “Down in My Soul: Ancestors, Rituals, system. My artworks soon became self-portraits, because and Contemporary Practice” with Lionel FraI knew I had the most freedom with my vessel. So each zier White. Casey’s six works are part of an ontime I painted myself, I researched their energy and read
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Asha Elana Casey
their stories. I asked for guidance and it helped me to create an image of how they may exist within me.” As her journey progressed, Casey described her palette as undergoing a transformation, becoming cooler in tone, incorporating elements of silver, white and even embossing mirrors in mosaic forms to reflect the viewer. Casey explains how she followed this path: “In the Ifa tradition, you can seek out a reading to learn who rules your head. This informs your destiny. When I received my reading and learned which deity walked with me, I changed
my palette to reflect that. Maybe that’s why I use mirrors because I’m literally reflecting my spirit. The rhinestones I use come from a Zora Neale Hurston folkloric story. To paraphrase the story, it was said that the souls shined like diamonds. That’s where God kept them because the humans’ clay wasn’t dry.” While studying art at the Corcoran, Casey worked as a teacher’s assistant at the prestigious ArtReach program at THEARC. Presently, she has come full circle and teaches visual art at her alma mater, Duke Ellington High School. However, Casey senses a greater calling both as an artist and as a teacher, one in which her artistic practice continues while simultaneously deepening her affirmation of who she is as an African-American woman. Casey plans to earn a Master’s of Fine Art, a degree that will allow her to teach at the college and graduate level. She specifically would like to teachart at an HBCU (Historically Black College and University). Casey explains that, “An MFA gives you multiple things including validation and connections. So, I keep thinking about institutions and Black centers of learning—how do I contribute to institutions holding the arts to the highest standard. What does it look like when HBCUs are funded and promoted to young Black artists like the Ivy Leagues? I’d like to see that future for schools for us by us. I always thought it would be great to create, encourage, and facilitate more Black spaces for professionals to be emotionally and intellectually safe.”
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Read more about Asha at http:// ashaelanacasey.com/. Phil Hutinet is the publisher of East City Art, DC’s alternative art source. For more information visit www. eastcityart.com. ◆ Egbe’s Realm (detail showing mirorred mosaic). 2020. Mixed Media.
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Meet Robbie Woodland From Neighborhood Menace to Community Activist
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obbie Woodland is a product of her environment and her family’s upbringing. The Ward 8 resident and one-time scrappy street hustler is now a devoted mother and dedicated community activist. Woodland, like many living in Ward 8 and Southeast, came from the most humble and modest beginnings. In fact, Woodland’s family had a decidedly negative reputation on their block and community for being undesirables.
Early Family Life
“I grew up in a family of criminals. My family was not your average family in any way. They did not do the right thing! They did not keep up with their credit score or do anything middle-class like that,” Woodland said matter of factly. “I spent a lot of time with my grandmother who helped raise me. She was one of the very few in my family who wasn’t about that life!” The family was involved in the narcotics trade and many other nefarious things. Woodland learned the family business at a young age and started peddling cocaine and drugs in her teens. She spent time at a receiving home on Mount Olivet Road and was a resident at the Sasha Bruce Youth Services on Maryland Avenue. By the age of 17 Woodland had been moved to a transitional living program and then later, between the ages of 19 and 21, to an independent living program for young, troubled adults. “Later as a young adult I began to go back and forth in and out of DC Jail. I probably spent a total of two years of stay through all of my stints.” Woodland, now 47, completely changed her life after coming to the aid of her younger brother, June, and his stalking paramour. In a jeal38
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ous rage, the brother’s lover stabbed him for a perceived slight in Woodland’s presence. She then wrestled the knife out of her hand and stabbed the woman. Luckily for her the deadly but non-fatal conflict resulted in Woodland only receiving probation for four years, scores of community service hours and paying $250 of restitution. It was a wake-up call and a pivotal time in Woodland’s life since she was initially facing a 10-year prison sentence for the violent altercation. The resilient woman who reports to being a sexual abuse survivor describes herself as lucky because she was able to break away from the family’s legacy by changing her lifestyle and making sure that her two daughters, ages 16 and 5, were not around criminals. “One of my earliest childhood memories I remember was being locked inside my mother’s car. I can remember it being hot and sitting on the right side of the car and my mother coming by the window and saying, ‘Baby we’re going to get you out.’ That happened with me being locked inside the car more than once,” Woodland said.
Turnaround
Woodland went from “negative to positive,” as the hip-hop icon Notorious B.I.G. once rapped, after she completed her metamorphosis from petty thug to viable activist. She invested in herself by earning credits at Kaplan University and taking a satellite course from Cornell University. The attractive woman with the gregarious smile started working in the field of social work and outreach for the Families United of the Metropolitan Area in Temple Hills before starting her current position with the District of Columbia Government’s Office of Unified Communications as a
Non-Emergency Operations Division (311) Customer Service Representative. Her primary duty is to receive and evaluate calls from internal and external customers requesting information from city agencies like the Department of Motor Vehicles, Department of Public Works, Department of Energy and Environment, Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs and the Department of Transportation. She gets daily calls regarding parking tickets, trash collection, requests for lead and asbestos inspections, illegal construction and parking enforcement.
Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner
Maybe it was her job or simply “because I was once a participant in the dysfunction and wanted to help solve it at the other end” that motivated Woodland to seek and become an advisory neighborhood commissioner. An Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) is a non-partisan, neighborhood body made up of locally elected representatives called commissioners. The ANC was created in 1974 through a District referendum in the District of Columbia Home Rule Act. The commissioners, who serve two-year terms without pay, are elected at DC Elections in November in even-numbered years. “She was my ANC commissioner and I miss her,” said Pamela Brown a District of Columbia Government employee who lives in Ward 8 in Congress Heights. “Commissioner Woodland went beyond the call of duty. She did more than she had to. She really cared. She did many good things like (arrange to) give senior citizens breakfast and lunch on a regular basis.”
Health Issues & Plans
Woodland decided not to seek reelection as an ANC due largely because of her health crises. Two days after her last birthday in September, she had a mini stroke. In addition, Woodland learnt that she had scoliosis in her back and high blood pressure. “The majority of people in Ward 8 do report crimes but nothing seems to get done about it. It is like good versus evil. You have people who want to live their best life and want to do the right thing, but then you have people who are absolutely hopeless and comfortable in their circumstances. Sometimes it makes you feel that the criminals are protected. I am being led by God. I am focusing on rebuilding the community one action at a time.” u
(Continued from pg. 35) check (paid for by Food & Friends). As a new volunteer, you will be asked to make a six month or 20-hour commitment. foodandfriends.org/volunteer.
moveDC 2021 Update Public Meetings
The District Department of Transportation is updating its long-range, multimodal transportation plan, moveDC, to determine the agency’s priorities over the next two decades. DDOT will host two virtual public meetings—Feb. 9, 6:30 p.m. and Feb. 11, 1:30 p.m.-- to review how the goals and policies identified in the first round of the survey released in October 2020 will be potentially implemented. The same information will be presented at both meetings. Sign up at rebrand.ly/moveDC-Feb2021 . Materials from this meeting will be made available on wemoveDC.org within 24 hours of meeting conclusion. Those who would like to leave a comment about the study can do so by leaving a comment on the project website. For more information about moveDC, contact DDOT Project Manager Lezlie Rupert at move.dc@ dc.gov or 202-599-7371 or visit the study website at wemoveDC.org.
DC Electronic Equipment Recycling
Below is a list of February and early March collection events where DC consumers (residents, small business and non-profits) can drop off electronic equipment for recycling, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., rain or shine: Feb. 20, collection vehicle on Van Ness and 45th Streets NW (near Friendship Recreation Center); Feb. 27, collection vehicle on corner of Van Buren and Fourth Streets NW (near Takoma Community Center); March 6, collection vehicle on Rand Place NE, east of 24th Street (near Arboretum Community Center). rlgamericas.com/DCecycling.
Get Covid Vaccination Appointments and Alerts
Sign up for vaccine availability alerts or to schedule an appointment at coronavirus. dc.gov/vaccinatedc. u
Changing Hands Changing hands is a list of most residential sales in the District of Columbia from the previous month. A feature of every issue, this list, based on the MRIs, is provided courtesy of Don Denton, manager of the Coldwell Banker office on Capitol Hill. The list includes address, sales price and number of bedrooms.
NEIGHBORHOOD
PRICE BR
FEE SIMPLE ANACOSTIA 1624 U St SE 1413 18th Pl SE 1438 18th Pl SE 1768 W St SE
$535,000 $503,600 $420,000 $280,000
BARRY FARMS 1530 Howard Rd SE 1450 Howard Rd SE
$300,000 $275,000
BENNING HEIGHTS 5024 Hanna Pl SE
$560,000
CAPITOL GATEWAY 236 58th St NE
$507,500
CONGRESS HEIGHTS 3020 7th St SE 844 Yuma St SE 477 Valley Ave SE 921 Barnaby St SE 1208 Barnaby Ter SE 332 Raleigh St SE
$567,001 $449,500 $433,000 $415,000 $400,000 $385,000
3 3 6 2 2 2 4 3 4 3 3 3 3 2
DEANWOOD 5907 Eads St NE 57 46th St NE 918 49th St NE 308 62nd St NE 14 53rd St SE 4041 Clay Pl NE 4924 Fitch Pl NE 5818 Field Pl NE 308 57th St NE 71 55th St SE 4655 Hayes St NE 5321 Blaine St NE 4508 Foote St NE 5365 Hayes St NE 5126 Just St NE 5100 Just St NE 4404 Clay St NE 4812 Hayes St NE 5904 Eads St NE
$611,000 $575,000 $535,000 $535,000 $510,000 $505,000 $487,500 $480,000 $470,000 $469,000 $418,000 $414,900 $390,000 $369,900 $330,000 $325,000 $302,500 $271,000 $241,791
FORT DUPONT PARK 4312 E St SE 918 Hilltop Ter SE 3326 Croffut Pl SE 4324 Alabama Ave SE 4201 Massachusetts Ave SE
$552,500 $470,000 $440,000 $420,000 $325,000
HILL CREST 3031 K St SE
$464,900
LILY PONDS 241 33rd St NE
$455,000
4 4 3 4 3 4 3 3 4 4 3 2 2 3 2 3 3 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 2
MARSHALL HEIGHTS 5021 Ivory Walters Ln SE 5214 Queens Stroll Pl SE 5040 Kimi Gray Ct SE 4708 B St SE 23 54th St SE 846 51st St SE 5123 A St SE 4654 A St SE 5518 C St SE 4809 B St SE
$470,000 $440,000 $440,000 $425,000 $420,000 $415,000 $410,000 $397,786 $365,000 $340,000
RANDLE HEIGHTS 1902 U Pl SE 3470 24th St SE
$430,000 $389,000
VILLAGES AT DAKOTA CROSSING 3806 Fort Lincoln Dr NE
$665,000
3 4 3 2 3 3 5 2 2 2 3 3
CONGRESS HEIGHTS 2911 8th SE #1101 3870 9th St SE #101
$335,000 $215,000
2 3
DEANWOOD 4407 Gault Pl NE #2
$234,000
FAIRFAX VILLAGE 2111 Suitland Ter SE #302
$200,000
FORT LINCOLN 3464 Summit Ct NE #3464
$349,900
HILL CREST 2032 Fort Davis St SE #A 2012 Fort Davis St SE #202
$272,500 $140,000
2 2 2 3 1
NOMA 4
504 M St NW #2
$590,000
RANDLE HEIGHTS
WASHINGTON HIGHLANDS
1616 26th Pl SE #2 893 Bellevue St SE $425,000 4 1618 26th Pl SE #2 1610 26th Pl SE #1 1616 26th Pl SE #1 CONDO u
$535,000 $515,000 $500,000 $485,000
2 4 4 4 4
ANACOSTIA 2607 Douglass Rd SE #301
$249,000
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by Kathleen Donner
Kids on Ice Winter 2021
Kids on Ice Winter 2021, brought to you by the Fort Dupont Ice Arena, is three sessions for ages five to seventeen with unique at-home virtual challenges over six weeks. Through March 7, choose a session and complete a task or complete them all--It’ s up to you. Earn points by submitting a picture of your work to either bgreene@fdia.org or tagging Fort Dupont Ice Arena in a photo on social media. Prizes awarded. Read more and register at bit.ly/koiwinter21.
Introducing... Stokely Carmichael and Adam Clayton Powell Jr.
Each week the National Portrait Gallery shines a light on some of this country’s lesser-known history makers
and their portraits. Join them on YouTube every Wednesday at 11 a.m. for Introducing… with a Portrait Gallery educator. Children will learn more about art, hear the stories behind the portraits, and even learn some new vocabulary. Select story times will be in Spanish. For children ages three and up and their families. On Wednesday, Feb. 24, 11 a.m., learn about Stokely Carmichael and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Free. npg.si.edu/event/introducing-20.
Arena Stage’s Winter Classes for Kids
Write the next hit musical. Get ready for your close-up or get up and dance. Online classes at Arena Stage allow young Young Artists Gallery: Junk Art Club people to try something The Hill Center has a Young Artists Gallery that features rotating exhibits new or explore a favorfrom local schools. They’ve teamed up with the Junk Art Club from Eliotite artform more deepHine Middle School to stage their first Young Artists virtual art show. The ly. Classes offered are Junk Art Club’s work speaks to climate change and the effect of human acActing for the Camera, tivity on the environment. Each piece is designed to convey the serious enHip-Hop Dance, Fashvironmental impacts of climate change, or to show hope that climate change ion Design, Mini Musican be slowed or reversed. For materials, the students relied on recycling a cal, and Sign and Song. diverse array of discarded items. While the public won’t be able to enjoy it Classes are $120. Needin person, they’re pleased to open this virtual gallery. hillcenterdc.org/artist/ based scholarships are young-artists-gallery. available. No experience is required. Classes are one hour and meet once a week for eight weeks via Zoom. Zoom links are emailed to registered participants. arenastage.org/education/202021-winter-classes.
Arena Stage’s Family Creativity Workshops
Club members Jackson Sanders and Marcus McQueen with their project “Plant a Broken Tree”.
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On Saturdays, Feb. 20 and March 13, 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., create and play as a team in this interactive drama workshop designed for families. Using theater games, visual art and imagination, family members will build connections while they explore what makes
Lighting up Lanterns for Tet
On Sunday, Feb. 21, 10 to 11 a.m., celebrate Tet, Vietnamese Lunar New Year, in this family workshop. Honoring the power of hope in dark times, this holiday reminds us that the light of a lantern can offer cheer and the promise of better times ahead. This program, led by artist Khánh H. Lê, will include an interactive lantern-making workshop and information about how the holiday is celebrated in Vietnam. Designed for children six and older with adult companions, one registration per family. A Zoom link and a list of suggested materials will be sent to registered participants 24 to 48 hours in advance of the workshop. This program is part of Lunar New Year DC, organized by the Freer and Sackler Galleries and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. asia.si.edu/eventsoverview/kids. Emma Natalya Stein, Hoi An Lanterns
their family unique. This workshop is open to participants ages five to adult. Though the workshop is virtual, family members should be in the same physical space. Space is limited to six families. Registration is available up until the day of class based upon availability. $25 to $30 per family. arenastage.org/education/202021-family-workshops.
Artists on the Rise Exhibition Call for Entry
Montpelier Arts Center presents Artists on the Rise, an annual juried teen exhibition held in the galleries of Montpelier, designed to provide teens with an opportunity to showcase their work in a professional setting. They welcome students in public or private middle and high school or home school who are residents of Maryland, Virginia, or the District of Columbia to enter one piece of origi-
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nal artwork online. Awards are given for first ($200), second ($150), and third place ($100). Submission deadline is Feb. 21. montpelierartscenter.submittable.com/submit.
White House Historical Association Student Art Competition
The White House Historical Association has established a student-driven art competition inspired by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy’s vision of the White House as a national symbol. The theme of the competition is “The White House: An American Story,” and will solicit two-dimensional submissions from all kindergarten through twelve US students. The competition will be judged by Simmie Knox, who painted the Clintons’ portraits and was the first Black artist to paint official White House portraits, Betty Monkman, former White House curator, and Katherine Gilliland, the docent manager at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. The competition will run from February to May 2021 and winners will be announced on or around Mrs. Kennedy’s birthday--July 28. WhiteHouseHistory.org.
Art & Me: Lunar New Year
DC Library Virtual Story Time
On Weekdays at 10:30 a.m., grab your shakers, bells or anything that makes a fun noise and join the DC Library for Virtual Story Time at facebook.com/dclibrary. This story time is recommended for kids ages birth to five. dclibrary.org.
DC Library Family Learning
Weekdays at 4 p.m., tune in to DC Public Library’s Youtube for fun and educational after-school live events and videos. Programs and content will cover themes related to STEM/STEAM, history, culture and so much more. These programs are recommended for schoolaged children and teens and their families. dclibrary.org.
Students Empowered to Tackle Climate Crisis
Washington, DC has joined 17 cities to launch Students Reinventing Cities, a pioneering competition that will enable students and universities from across the globe to share their vision for green and thriving neighborhoods. The District is inviting students to share their creative vision and fresh ideas in line with the city’s climate and housing priorities. Mayor Bowser’s Comprehensive Plan proposal has identified the area of New York Avenue, NE as a key location for future planning and analysis. Interested students can visit c40reinventingcities.org. The deadline is March 2021. Finalists will be selected and invited to submit their final proposals by May 2021. A panel of judges from the District and C40 Cities will select a winner for each city site, which will be announced at a ceremony in July 2021.
On Saturday, Feb. 20, 10 to 10:45 a.m., celebrate the Year of the Ox with the art doctors in this virtual workshop. From toys to tiles, see how artists have been inspired by oxen for generations and how Smithsonian conservators preserve these artworks. Then create your own ox masterpiece to ring in the new year. This hands-on, art-making preservation workshop is designed for children ages three to eight and their caretakers. The program is part of a yearlong series cohosted by the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art. One registration per family. A Zoom link and a list of suggested materials will be sent to registered participants 24 to 48 hours in advance. asia.si.edu/events-overview/kids. 42
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Nationals Youth Baseball Academy and DC Public Library Launch Books & Baseball
The Washington Nationals Youth Baseball Academy, in partnership with DC Public Library, has launched a new season of the Books & Baseball program, a free, non-competitive, co-ed lit-
Social Studies in a Box
At President Lincoln’s Cottage, 140 Rock Creek Church Rd. NW, they use Lincoln’s life to inspire their work. The stories of what happened there historically have the power to bring out the leader in any person today. Their new activity packages, Social Studies in a Box, created for families with early learners (two to eight), provide at-home programming that encourages the development of social and emotional intelligence through games, interactive play, and stories. $50. lincolncottagestore.com/social-studies-boxes.
erature and baseball program for children ages three to five. Mondays at 5 p.m., through Feb. 22, 35-minute session includes the reading of a children’s book by a DC Public Librarian, followed by a beginner-level baseball clinic led by YBA coaches. Virtual clinic activities are easy to complete at home and focus on enhancing motor skills and learning the fundamentals of baseball. To learn more and register for the Books & Baseball program, visit nats4good.org/BooksAndBaseball.
National Museum of African Art Student Gallery
The National Museum of African Art (currently closed), 950 Independence Ave. SW, Student Gallery displays student artworks (K through 12) that were created in the classroom in response to virtual field trips, museum visits, or inspired by African art. Go to africa.si.edu/education/student-gallery and click on a school name to view student masterpieces. u
100 Gallatin St. NE Washington, DC 20011
Pre-K 3 through 5th grade Building a strong foundation for learning
APPLICATIONS BEING ACCEPTED FOR ALL GRADES FOR 2021-2022 SCHOOL YEAR ADDITIONAL LOTTERY FOR STUDENTS WITH HIGH LEVEL SPECIAL EDUCATION NEEDS.
Apply for admissions at:
www.myschooldc.org or call (202) 888-6336 Lottery Deadline March 1, 2021
Open Houses School Year 2021-2022 *All sessions will be virtual using ZOOM video conferencing. To register please call (202) 695-2393 or email info@bridgespcs.org to get information on how to join the session.
English
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Tuesday 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm February 16th
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Tuesday 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm February 16th
Tuesday 10:00 am - 11:00 am February 23 w w w. br i d g e sp c s . org I 2 0 2 . 6 9 5 . 2 3 9 3 Accredited by Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools.
DC Prep campuses now accepting applications for the 21-22 school year in ward 5, 7 & 8. We’re the highest performing public charter schools serving PK3 – 8th grade.
Call 202-780-5126 for more information or visit:
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Tall in the Saddle with Serve Your City by Elizabeth Nelson; Photos: Maurice Cook
S
erve Your City (SYC) has recently received well deserved attention for its work with Ward 6 Mutual Aid (W6MA), providing food and supplies since the pandemic began in March. But SYC has been in operation for almost twenty years, offering non-traditional sports programming to youth from under-resourced families. All too often activities such as rowing, swimming, scuba diving, tennis and yoga are not available to these children – or are experienced by them, especially Black and Brown children, as exclusive, unwelcoming spaces. This past fall, SYC expanded to include a partnership with Sprout Therapeutic Riding & Education Center to provide a comprehensive five-week program at their location. On 27 bucolic acres in Aldie VA, Sprout offers therapeutic riding lessons and programming, primarily to students with special needs, so they customized the curriculum for SYC participants.
Each child was paired with a horse or pony and developed a real relationship, learning how to care for their special friend and take responsibility for their well-being – not just hopping on for a ride. Under the guidance of a team of instructors, each session began with basic grooming tasks (brushing, cleaning hooves), followed by anything needing to be done after the ride, to get their mount cooled down and 44
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cleaned up. They also learned how to do basic barn chores such as cleaning stalls, feeding, and watering. As Winston Churchill famously observed, “There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.” Or in this case, a child. It’s a real confidence-booster to manage an animal umpteen times your size. SYC volunteer Jackie Cook shared this example: “A few weeks in, one of our SYC students was asked to help with a lesson they were doing for a client with special needs. It was incredible to see our student (who had never interacted with a horse prior to the program), to be able to serve with confidence in a teaching assistant role.“ In addition to learning basic riding mechanics, veterinary science
TLC from a SYC equestrian
SERVING GRADES 6-12
PAUL PCS IS MORE THAN A 6-12 SCHOOL Special bond between child and pony
and horse communication skills, the program included a lot of interesting and fun components such as trail rides, dressage, gymkhana (competitive games on horseback), and driving a pony cart. Not to be discounted: the peace and serenity of the farm environment, a much-appreciated change of pace for these urban kids. The program took a break for the winter holidays, but will start up again in January 2021 with the same group of kids. Everyone had a great time and loved the horses, the farm and the whole experience. So the focus for the next session will be on extending their skills. SYC is guided by the principle of “Solidarity, not Charity” and the belief that “We, the community, keep us safe for our common survival and well-being and share a common responsibility.” SYC Executive Director Maurice Cook accepted a 2020 Brickie Award from City Councilmember Charles Allen’s office on behalf of W6MA. To learn more about SYC, W6MA, and many ways you can help support your community, please visit https://www. serveyourcitydc.org/ ◆
We have a 90-year-old legacy of community and connection! Our faculty and staff know and care for every scholar with small class sizes and expertly customized learning plans!
Your legacy starts here. Apply today for School Year 2021-22. Seats are limited. Complete the application online through MySchoolDC.org. Increase your chances of being matched with Paul PCS by making us your #1 selection.
Deadlines:
February 1 – Grades 9-12 March 1 – Grades 6-8
WHY PAUL PCS? • Tier 1 High School • Free SAT prep and Honors Classes Dual Enrollment, AP for College Credit • Study Abroad Program • Varsity Athletics and Extracurricular Programming in the Arts
Visit www.paulcharter.org to schedule a tour and learn more. 5800 8th Street NW Washington, DC | (202) 291-7499
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www.themecrosswords.com • www.mylesmellorconcepts.com
XWORD “Hill Concerns” by Myles Mellor Across:
1. Northwest ___ (abbr.) 5. Trifle 10. Headbands of light 15. Jacked up the pot 19. Words of confidence 20. Kitchen gadget 21. Skyward 22. Bog lime 23. Free speech, e.g. 27. St. Lucia and Martinique, for two 28. Schoolteacher Krabappel of “The Simpsons” 29. Roentgen’s discovery 30. Schooner 34. Buzzing pests in the kitchen 36. Family pooch, for example 38. ___ facto 39. Abroad 41. Ivans’ girls 46. Hanoi resident 49. Tending to annoy 51. Gray’s subj. 52. Actress, Long 53. Comparative word 54. Cardinal’s title 61. Too 65. Fussy, in slang 66. Certain something 68. Fulmar’s kin 69. Slip in the pot 72. Disregard popular feelings 79. Much of “Deck the Halls” 80. One of Chekhov’s “Three Sisters” 81. Prepare for publication 82. Valley 83. Open the door 85. Alps flowers 90. Move with a humming sound 93. Cut down 95. Bellow 96. Nonsense 100. Jump the line in swimming
106. Alaskan islander 107. Completely committed 109. Celtic singer 110. The good cholesterol 111. Drummer Ringo 112. Suspended 114. Reject 118. Spots 119. Starting 121. Offensive in some people’s eyes 130. Provo neighbor 131. 1970 World’s Fair site 132. Link 133. Seeding org. 134. Gershwin heroine 135. Sharpen 136. Staff symbols 137. Set of problems
Down:
1. Twitch 2. “The Name of the Rose” writer 3. Emulated Forrest Gump 4. E.R. personnel 5. Pleated material 6. Dieter’s label word 7. Critical hosp. areas 8. Retired, briefly 9. Three way 10. Submitted 11. Actors Alda and Ladd 12. Classic Kinks song 13. Out of sync 14. Orchestration abbreviation 15. US abbr. 16. Bubkes 17. Kind of weight 18. Tree types 24. Place for a clasp 25. Coup d’___ (quick glance) 26. Bonus 30. The Pretty Things drummer, Prince 31. Pen starter
Look for this months answers at labyrinthgameshop.com 32. Skipper’s dir. 33. Drunk 34. Grafton’s “___ for Fugitive” 35. Bruce of martial arts films 36. Telekinesis, e.g. 37. Gnaw at 39. “___ Called Horse” 40. Celebration 41. Go places 42. ___-bitty 43. Health org. 44. Polynesian beverage 45. Capitol V.I.P. 47. Hated war, for short 48. DiFranco of folk rock 50. Lead-in for ‘’Bravo’’ 54. Salute 55. Swenson of “Benson” 56. Word with souci or serif 57. Rock group from the 70s 58. Power or cat
59. Medical breakthrough 60. Slip away 62. Lapse 63. It’s stranded 64. Rent out 67. Enthusiastic 69. Suffixes with czar and signor 70. Eye flirtatiously 71. Partakes of 73. Palillo of “Welcome Back, Kotter” 74. Right angle shape 75. In times past 76. Video game 77. Dined 78. Psyche divisions 83. Language of Pakistan 84. Floors 86. Singer Lovett 87. Stinger 88. Mrs. sheep
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89. Internet addresses 90. Ring org. 91. Name of a killer computer 92. Project conclusion? 94. Type of wave 97. Prefix with biology 98. Free (of) 99. Indian lentil dish 100. New Deal pres. 101. ___ Lingus (Ireland’s national airline) 102. Wallet bill, perhaps 103. “The Ice Storm” director Lee 104. Bread or whiskey 105. Bit 108. Shuttle home 111. Watch brand 112. B-ball 113. Atlas Mtns. locale 114. Name-dropper 115. Skin opening 116. Western tribe 117. Tach readings 118. Top banana 119. Roll call calls 120. Short tail 122. LAPD part 123. Believer, suffix 124. P.O. box item, for short 125. Tell untruths 126. Groove or routine 127. Compass direction 128. Diamond meas. 129. Trim a doily
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