RECIPIENT OF THE DC BLACK MBA ASSOCIATION 2023 LEGACY AWARD
Serving Our Community in the DMV
Vol 60 No 31
May 15 - 21, 2025
Ward 8 Special Election Candidates Give it All at Candidate Forum
3Howard University celebrates its largest graduating class with the 157th commencement ceremony, held on the institution’s main campus for the first time since 2019. (Jacques Benvoli/The Washington Informer)
Trayon White Absent, Disillusioned Resident Salutes Mike Austin By Sam P.K. Collins WI Staff Writer Ward 8 residents who attended the first forum of the special election season asked several questions about economic development, education, public safety, public health and other topics of relevance. However, it was an inquiry from forum moderator and 5Candidate Sheila Bunn addresses the room during the Ward 8 Special Ward 8 resident Stephanie Election Candidate Forum at Southeast’s Sycamore & Oak on May 12, Foo that sparked cheers and where audiences also heard from Mike Austin (left) and Salim Adofo (right). (Ja’Mon Jackson/The Washington Informer) hand claps from audience members moved by her demands that the next cial election candidates on May 12 during Ward 8 council member not only support constit- a forum that The Capital News, Congress Heights Partnership, and Congress Heights uents mired in criminality. “It’s like the only way to get seen in Ward 8 is if you get in trouble,” Foo told three Ward 8 speWARD 8 Page 31
Looking Back: A Mother’s Day for the Justice Involved By Sam P.K. Collins and Mya Trujillo WI Staff Writer and WI Contributing Writer
MOTHER’S DAY Page 30
Howard University’s Class of 2025: Emerging the Next Leaders of the New Age Renaissance
Commencement Highlights ‘Purpose, Community’ as Key to the School’s Largest Graduating Class By Jada Ingleton WI Content Editor In the face of a global pandemic, taunted with racial and socioeconomic adversity, Mississippi native Deanna Hayden knew Howard University was the right place to effect change when she entered the institution’s hallowed grounds in
spring 2021. Amid the fallout of COVID-19 and a massive resurgence in the Black Lives Matter Movement, Hayden sought after the knowledge and support to champion the realities of the Black experience, diving head first into the intersec-
HU GRADUATION Page 30
Barrier-Breaking Pope Leo XIV: The First American Pontiff has Black Roots
Black Mothers March to White House for Fourth Consecutive Year
Last weekend, Qiana Johnson spent much of her time with friends, family and comrades during what turned out to be another Mother’s Day where she didn’t have to bail a Black mother out of a Prince George’s County detention facility. With newly formed Mother’s Day memories on her mind, Johnson beamed as she spoke about several dozen local mothers she’s met since 2017, when she launched the
Capture the Moment Page 35
By Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer
5Yvonne Pollard and her family have been fighting to reverse the adoption of her granddaughter Ty’Ava, who was taken into social services six years ago and has since been adopted due to the termination of her mother’s parental rights. (Mya Trujillo/ The Washington Informer)
For the first time in the history of the Roman Catholic Church, an American— with Black and Creole ancestry to boot– has been elected pope. On May 8, the second day of the conclave, Cardinal Robert Prevost, a native of Chicago, was chosen to succeed Pope Francis and will now be known as Pope Leo XIV. After the white smoke emerged from the
Celebrating 60 years. Your credible and trusted source for Black news and information.
Vatican chimney, Cardinal Dominique Mamberti made the announcement from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, following centuries-old tradition, delivering the proclamation in Latin: “Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum — Habemus Papam!”
POPE LEO Page 36