VOL. 52, NO. 20 • MARCH 2 - 8, 2017
Join Us in Celebrating Women's History Month!
African American Heritage Tour Pages 8 and 34
‘Village’ Unites for Memorable WI Heritage Tour
Participants Visit New Museum, Witnessing a Treasure Trove of Black History By D. Kevin McNeir WI Editor
Each year during the month of February, the Washington Informer [WI], under the auspices of its nonprofit arm, Washington Informer Charities, sponsors its Heritage Tour – exposing the community to educational, informative venues dedicated to the rich, powerful annals and contributions of African Americans – past and present. That commitment continued this year on Sunday, Feb. 25 as just under 200 WI supporters including men, women and children of all ages, along with corpo-
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5 WI Staff join community memebers for a visit to the Smithsonian's new African-American museum. / Photo by Lateef
Trump Vows Obamacare Repeal, Immigration Reform
Trump Signs Executive Order, Targets Nation's Black Colleges
Speech to Congress Asks for Nation to Unify By Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer President Donald Trump delivered a coherent outline of his campaign promises Tuesday to a joint session of Congress, mapping out a course for his short-term policy agenda, which includes the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Still, the address could easily have been dubbed a State of the Union because Trump appeared as comfortable as ever and confident that America is on the right path. Trump began his night by addressing the "recent evils" and
acts of vandalism against Jewish properties in Philadelphia and other areas. "I'm here tonight to deliver a message of unity and strength," he said. "A new chapter of American greatness is now beginning – international pride is sweeping across our nation.” He spoke about the ills of violence in the inner cities and all America's demand that it must put its citizens first while calling education the "the civil rights issue of our time." "We've financed and built one global project after another, but
Mangum
HBCU Presidents Seek $25 Billion for Assistance By Lauren Victoria Burke NNPA Newswire Contributor
ignored the fates of our children in the inner cities of Chicago, Baltimore, Detroit," Trump said. "To protect our citizens, I have directed the Department of Justice to form a task force on reducing violent crime." The president said he's begun
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President Trump signed an executive order to focus more attention on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) on Tuesday, Feb. 28. Although HBCUs only account for about three percent of higher education institutions in the U.S., “[they] contributed 19 percent of the nearly 9 percent of all bachelor’s degrees in science and engineering awarded to Blacks in 2010,” said a spokesperson for the American Insti-
tutes for Research (AIR). AIR also reported that “by 2010, approximately 33 percent of all Black students who earned bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and statistics attended HBCUs and HBCUs produced nearly 37 percent of all Black undergraduates who received bachelor’s degrees in the physical sciences.” Every president since Jimmy Carter has issued an Executive Order establishing a White House Initiative on HBCUs. Trump’s order has a key difference: It will move the White House Initiative
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Celebrating 52 Years of Service / Serving More Than 50,000 African American Readers Throughout The Metropolitan Area