RECIPIENT OF THE DC BLACK MBA ASSOCIATION 2023 LEGACY AWARD
Serving Our Community in the DMV
Vol 60 No 47
September 4 - 10, 2025
Roots PCS: A Roadmap to Black Liberation for D.C. Youth
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, as Told by Those Who Know Her District Residents Reflect on D.C.’s ‘Warrior on the Hill’
By Sam P.K. Collins WI Staff Writer
As District officials, residents, activists, and everyone else in between, attempt to push back against the Trump administration’s blatant infringement on home rule, questions persist about D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton’s (D) whereabouts. Norton, now in her 18th term as the District’s non-voting congressional delegate, has been mostly silent since President Donald J. Trump’s federalization of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), other than press re-
Things To Do in the DMV Page 32
leases about her inquiries into National Guard deployment to the District and her introduction of a measure for body-worn cameras on federal officers. Despite The Washington Informer’s best efforts, Norton, via her director of communications Sharon Eliza Nichols, declined an interview. However there are many people with whom Norton worked and interacted with
By Jada Ingleton WI Content Editor
Between a national state of divisiveness, and federal interference in African American education, Roots Public Charter School (PCS) interim board chair Cameron Poles reckons the push for Black liberation is as critical now as in 1999, when the African-centered learning institution first blossomed as a pillar of “restoration” in Northwest, D.C. “Roots exists because we recognize that most public systems, including public edu-
NORTON Page 42 4Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton speaks at the District of Columbia Council swearing in January 2025. (WI File Photo/Robert R. Roberts)
ROOTS PCS Page 26
D.C. Seeks to Become ‘Capital of Creativity’
D.C. Honors Labor Day with Nationwide Campaign for Federal Workers
Launch of 2020 Creates Month, Hopes for an Entertainment District
By James Wright WI Staff Writer
Rally + March a push for workers’ rights, and justice for D.C., more than 30 organizations in Highlight a City Ready 5In the nation’s capital are partnering for a series of activations throughout September, kicking off the nationwide campaign with “Solidarity Season: A Labor Day Rally + for Change March” on Aug. 28. (Jada Ingleton/The Washington Informer)
By Jada Ingleton WI Content Editor With a nationwide movement afoot, and more than 30 D.C. organizations heeding the call, this year’s Labor Day paralleled the journey that fortified workers’ protections in the 19th century, particularly for Vilma Ruiz, who commenced the long weekend on the picket
lines of Le Diplomate in Northwest, D.C. An employee of the French café for four years, Ruiz joined hundreds of allies and labor unions in a call to action that began at DuPont Circle on Aug. 28, which also marked the 62nd anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington for Freedom and Jobs. On her list of demands: livable wages, affordable health insurance, a safe work environment, and the
MARCH Page 42
While Washington, D.C. is known as the nation’s capital and the political nerve of the Free World, if District Mayor Muriel Bowser has her way, the city will also be known as the country’s most vibrant entertainment hub, where tourists and residents can have a good time. “Arts, culture, film and entertainment, and sports are such a big part of our economic growth agenda because 5 D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and LaToya Foster, director they bring people together, of the Office of Cable, Television, Film, Music and Enterthey get people excited...and tainment at the 2025 launch of 202Creates Month at Planet World Museum in Northwest, D.C. on Aug. 29. (Demarco
ENTERTAINMENT Page 11 Rush/The Washington Informer)
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