VOL. 53, NO. 22 • MARCH 15 - 21, 2018
We Welcome our NNPA Colleagues for Black Press Week, March 14 – 16
Black Bookstore Opens in SE / Page 9
White, Residents Say Bozzuto Protests ‘Just the Beginning’ D.C. Officials Demand Withdrawal of Gun Bill
By Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer After two days of loud protests sparked by fliers distributed throughout the community, Southeast residents and others are demanding that officials cease construction of Bozzuto’s Maple View Flats development until job guarantees and other concessions are met. Among those concessions, residents want promises to halt depopulation, gentrification and unfair development. Ultimately, protesters have asked for a citywide moratorium on all development. Mayor Muriel Bowser is at least publicly attempting to tackle one of the issues, but Ward 8 Councilman Trayon White and others said that’s not enough. Bowser planned a Maple View Flats Jobs Fair, a four-hour event on Wednesday, March 14 at the
BOZZUTO Page 38
FL Senator’s Plan Would Decimate Local Weapons Laws By D. Kevin McNeir, WI Editor and Sarafina Wright, WI Staff Writer
5 Benji Little (center) holding a cell phone and microphone, along with a group of demonstrators at the Big Chair in Southeast, confront a Bozzuto construction manager on Thursday, March 8 in an effort to stop what many Ward 8 residents see as unfair development in the ward. The demonstrators, including Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White, were able to shut down construction on the Maple View Flats project for half a day. /Photo by Brigette White
D.C. Women Earn Well, But Could Do Better, Report Says By Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer In 2018, women in some parts of America still get the short end of the stick — even as they outnumber men in most states, according to the District-based financial website, WalletHub. For instance, women represent nearly two-thirds of all minimum-wage workers in the U.S. Their political representation also suffers, as women make up 51 percent of the U.S. population but only 22 percent of the Senate and 19.3 percent of the
House of Representatives. And the prevalence of sexual harassment has become a prominent issue in 2018’s political landscape, from #MeToo to #TimesUp. To determine how women are faring and where they can find the best opportunities relative to where they live, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 23 key indicators of living standards for women. The data ranged from median earnings for female workers to women’s preventive health care to female homicide rate.
WOMEN Page 45
5 The District topped all in the category of highest median earnings for female workers. / Photo by Mogul
Once again, a U.S. senator elected to serve voters and residents thousands of miles from the District seeks to disrupt the lives, safety and general welfare of D.C.’s citizens, sponsoring a bill that would eliminate nearly all of the District’s gun safety laws. And to voice their discontent, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV) Executive Director Josh Horwitz and Congressman Ted Deutch (D-FL), who represents Parkland, FL, recently spoke out demanding that Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) withdraw his controversial, if not contentious, bill. During a CNN town hall held last month and with emotions still raw following the Parkland massacre, Rubio abruptly shifted gears from his previously-held stance. “I absolutely believe that in this country, if you are 18 years of age, you should not be able to buy a rifle, and I will support a law that takes that right away,” he said.
GUNS Page 16
Celebrating 53 Years of Service / Serving More Than 50,000 African American Readers Throughout The Metropolitan Area