WINNER OF SIX SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS D.C. AWARDS FOR 2022 Don't Miss Our Martin Luther King Jr. Supplement Center Section Celebrating 58 Years - Vol. 58, No. 14 • January 19-25, 2023
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King Holiday Events Mark Legacy and a Call to End Gun Violence James Wright WI Staff Writer
5 Mayor Muriel Bowser led residents of the District of Columbia in the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade in Southeast on January 16. (Ja'Mon Jackson/The Washington Informer)
Hundreds of people lined up Martin Luther King Jr., Avenue in Southeast to commemorate the federal and local holiday of the thoroughfare’s namesake and support the call for the end to gun violence in the District during the annual peace walk and parade on Jan. 16. “My family and I watch the parade every year,” said Anaysia Owens, who stood with her family near the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr., and Pomeroy Avenues to watch the procession. “This is a tradition for us. It is really beautiful this year, seeing all of the cars and people marching.” The peace walk and rally occurred at Shepherd Park near the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X Avenues. After, participants marched north on Martin Luther King Jr., Avenue to the entrance of the R.I.S.E. Demonstration Center located on the campus of St. Elizabeths East. The marshals let D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s large contingent of marchers wearing green t-shirts on the avenue march before letting the peace rally and walkers merge with the pa-
Elderly Tenants Allege Mistreatment by Property Management Company Sam P.K. Collins WI Staff Writer Nearly three years ago, Assegid Merin, a resident of the Paul Laurence Dunbar Apartments in Northwest, slipped and fell on his bathroom floor. In the months before that incident, he repeatedly requested repairs to a shower grab bar that would help him safely enter and exit his bathtub. Merin, an Ethiopian immigrant who had been living in the Paul Laurence Dunbar Apartment for years, w e n t
on to recount how his bathtub often got backed up with water, to the point where water spilled onto the bathroom floor. He said the broken shower grab bar and wet floor played a significant part in the fall that cracked his ribs and kept him at George Washington University Hospital for several weeks. Since the fall, Merin has sought compensation that will help him mitigate the lingering effects of his injuries, including his strained breathing and discomfort while sleeping. He said he also contacted what was then known as the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA), along with the District of Columbia Office
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Keenan Anderson, D.C. Father and Teacher, Killed during Police Encounter in L.A. Sam P.K. Collins WI Staff Writer
5 On Jan. 3, Keenan Anderson, a 10th grade English and Language Arts instructor at Digital Pioneers Academy PCS, died in a Los Angeles hospital hours after officers with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) repeatedly tased and arrested him at the scene of a car accident. ( Courtesy Photo/ Patricia Cullors, Instagram)
Students, faculty and community members at Digital Pioneers Academy Public Charter School (PCS) in Southeast continue to mourn the loss of a teacher who died from cardiac arrest after an encounter with police officers in Los Angeles. On Jan. 3, Keenan Anderson, a 10th grade English and Language Arts instructor at Digital Pioneers Academy PCS, died in a Los Angeles hospital hours after officers with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) repeatedly tased and arrested him at the
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