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Residents of Ward 5D upset with structure of ANC Meetings

Located in Ward 5 on 371 Morse Street N.E., the monthly 5D ANC meeting took place on June 13 at 7:00 pm. 

The meeting followed the given itinerary until Commissioner Kathy Henderson got into a heated exchange with a resident of Ward 5 saying, “I vote to not give out any money because plenty of times money was stolen out of the account.”

“She says she won’t let people steal money, yet she was the main one doing it to buy her daughter and herself a new laptop and cell phone,” said resident Sydelle Moore.

Henderson was asked about these allegations and claimed they were false. “People lie, it’s in their nature,” Henderson said.

The meeting continued for nearly three hours. Some community members were hesitant to express their concerns, however, Juanita Diggs was not.

After D.C. Police Captain Duncan Bedlion finished giving updates on the neighborhood, Diggs immediately responded. Diggs is a resident of the area who has consistently complained about trespassing in her neighborhood without any help from local police. “They held a block party from 4:30 pm to 4:30 am with loud music and hundreds of people. There were so many people in the street cars could not get by, and I called twice, and nobody came,” she said.

Diggs expressed her concerns about the lack of policing because of a disabled neighbor who frequently requires medical assistance. She then expressed, “I dare you to do what you say you’re going to do because my concerns are never addressed properly,” directly to Captain Bedlion. 

Commissioner Bernice Blacknell was also concerned by the number of times Metro Police Department had allegedly ignored them because she had also experienced trespassing in her neighborhood.

Although many of the residents were taken aback by the meeting's heated exchanges, many were glad to end the session off with brighter news.

The District of Columbia Delta Housing Development Organization presented to the commissioners and residents of Ward 5, a new location of the Delta Towers, the senior community housing. The Delta Towers currently house 150 senior citizens and provides affordable housing in Northeast Washington.

The President, Antoinette White-Richardson stated that it was vital for them to present this to the residents of Ward 5 because “we are concerned about this community and we want to continue to provide affordable long-term housing to residents of the District of Columbia.”

The new location will be located at 1400 Florida Ave NE. It will house 170 residents with additional recreational rooms. Construction is set to begin in August.

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Mentally Ill Are Gun Violence Victims, Not the Culprits

Experts Say Finger Unfairly Pointed at Mentally Ill

Jason Harrison is an example of how the mentally ill are often victims of gun violence, instead of perpetrators.  Harrison, 39, was shot and killed after his mother called police to take him to a mental hospital when he was having a psychotic episode.  Five seconds after Harrison and mother met polilce the door of his home, he was shot when he didn't follow commands to put down a screwdriver.  Photo courtesy Atlanta Black Star.

 

WASHINGTON –When the mother of a mentally ill man called 911 for help from her home in Dallas a few years ago, she did not expect him to be shot to death by police right in front of her.  When she called in, she specifically requested officers with mental health training and told them her son, Jason Harrison, 39, was suffering from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.  

He needed to go to the hospital, she said.  Her son’s erratic behavior was nothing new. She had called for help before.  So, when she opened her door, she casually informed them of her son’s current state.

“He’s just off the chain, she told the officers as her son ambled out the door just behind her.  “Incoherent, talking about chopping up people.” 

Harrison seemed calm.  He was twiddling with a screwdriver.  Immediately, the officers began shouting at Harrison to drop the screwdriver.  He didn’t.  Five seconds later, he was dead after being shot five times.  He lay dying in the driveway of the well-kept, middle-class home as officers continued to yell at him to drop the screw driver.

What happened to Harrison in 2014, even according to police, happens far too often when the mentally ill encounter police.   Additionally, it is a startling example of the relationship of mentally ill when it comes to guns and shooting. 

Despite statements by President Donald Trump and others regarding mentally ill Americans and guns, they are most likely the victims instead of the shooters, statistics show.

According to a study by the Treatment Advocacy Center, for example, at least half of the people shot and killed by police each year have mental health problems.  

Research suggests that the rhetoric around mass shootings can supports an invalid stereotype that people with mental illness are responsible.  The mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., where 17 people were murdered, is an example.

While students and others focused on gun reform, President Trump’s initial reactions to the shooting were a commentary on the shooter’s mental health and the failure of school officials, friends, family and others who knew him to report him.

In a tweet sent out the day after the shooting, Trump said, “So many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior. Neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities, again and again!”

Ironically, while Trump has recommended an improved mental healthcare system as a solution to this nation’s gun problem, he signed a bill last year that makes it easier for mentally ill people to purchase guns.  Additionally, his latest budget proposal would cut public funds for mental health treatment as well as cut funds for an educational department program that is supposed to support safer schools.   

The constant focus on a shooter’s mental stability in mass shooting creates a false image of mentally ill people, experts say. According to the American Mental Health Counselor’s Association, less than 5 percent of all violence in America is attributable to the mentally ill.  

Instead, mentally ill people are more likely to be victims of violence than to commit violence, researchers found.  A study in 2014 by researchers at North Carolina State University, RTI International, the University of California, Davis, Simon Fraser University and Duke University found through their study group of mentally ill individuals, only 2.6 percent of the violent acts they committed were in school or workplace settings.

According to the Treatment Advocacy Center, people with untreated mental
illness are 16 times more likely to be shot by police than other civilians.
Photo courtesy Flickr.

Instead, the researchers reported, 31 percent of the mentally ill individuals had been victims of violence in the same time period.

Dr. Tanya Alim, a psychiatrist at Howard University Hospital and associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, said while some point to the mentally ill regarding gun violence, the nation is not providing the care the mentally ill need.

According to the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, more than half of adults with mental illness in the U.S do not receive mental healthcare treatment.

 “We need better access to care,” Alim said.  “We need to decrease the stigmatization related to mental health treatment, and we need prevention, meaning helping children at an early age and identifying illnesses early on before things get out of hand.”

Dr. Harold Koplwicz, the founding president of the Child Mind Institute and one of the nation’s leading child and adolescent psychiatrists, said early care may have an impact on gun violence. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 75 percent of all psychiatric illness occurs before the age of 24 and 50 percent before the age of 14.

“If we change the system so that people are better able to recognize it, you can treat something a lot more effectively if it’s only a year old or two years old, than someone who gets psychiatric illness after 25 or 30 years like any of us,” Koplwicz told CBS News.

Jeffrey Swanson, a professor of psychiatry at Duke University has done extensive research on guns and mental illness and argues the two subjects should be separate parts of the public debate. He was the lead author in a study that says Americans with severe anger issues are more likely to be the cause of shootings, not mentally ill people.

 “Gun violence and serious mental illness are two very important, but distinct public health issues that intersect only at their edges,” he said in a discussion of his study.

Brian Hepburn, program director at the National Association of State Mental Health, agrees and says better mental health care is desperately needed, but it would have little effect on gun violence.

“Gun violence statistics in general would not be impacted, because in general, there is not a relationship between gun violence and mental illness,” Hepburn said.  

Still, there is a link between mental illness and crime, if only because when the mentally ill do not proper treatment and medication, they commit acts that are deemed criminal and they are arrested and locked away.  

The National Alliance on Mental Health estimates that between 25 percent and 40 percent of mentally ill Americans will be jailed or incarcerated at some point in their lives. Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons

 

The National Alliance on Mental Health estimates that between 25 percent and 40 percent of mentally ill Americans will be jailed or incarcerated at some point in their lives. The most glaring example is Cook County Jail in Chicago.

Cook County is the largest single jail in the U.S, housing about 6,500 prisoners. According to the National Alliance on Mental Health, an estimated one in three of its inmates has a form of mental illness. Consequently, every morning, correctional officers hand out thousands of doses of anti-depressants, anti-anxiety medication and other anti-psychotics.

Those who have untreated mental illness and are not incarcerated run the risk of being shot and killed during any interaction with police. According to the Treatment Advocacy Center, people with untreated mental illness are 16 times more likely to be shot by police than other civilians. By comparison, African Americans are three times more likely to be shot by police.

Family members of these victims call for better training of police officers to de-escalate potentially violent situations with mentally ill people. In addition, experts say the traditional tactics officers use in these situations are the opposite of what they should be doing.

For example, instead of yelling and encroaching on a mentally ill person’s space, they should speak calmly and give them space.

One of the keys, law enforcement officials say, is Crisis Intervention Training, which trains officers in how to deal with the mentally ill and others during intense interactions. Only about 3,000 of the nation’s 18,000 police departments, however, have their officers go through Crisis Intervention Training, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

 

 

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D.C’s Youngest Mayoral Candidate Will Make Big Changes within DCPS if Elected

Washington’s youngest mayoral candidate, Michael Christian Woods, has plans to implement a series of programs within DC Public Schools (DCPS) that will help K-12 students to develop life skills, social skills and a familiarity with entrepreneurship.

Michael Christian Woods, 19, is the youngest candidate in D.C.'s Mayoral Elections.

"These programs are designed to help students to feel comfortable at school, and to prepare students for the world after graduation," he said.

Woods, 19, who is a political science and Africana studies double major at George Washington University, believes that an effort must be made to ensure that DCPS students become more engaged in school.

“I want to introduce life skills courses,” said Woods, “these would be adaptive and restorative programs that would be a part of the curriculum.”

Woods wants students to take courses that will prepare them for the real world by teaching them how to create resumes and cover letters. The courses will also teach job interview skills and college preparedness skills. Woods believes that students should have lessons on how to navigate the Common Application program before applying to college.

Woods also addressed the increase in truancy rates amongst DCPS students between 2016 and 2017. DCPS truancy rates increased from 26 percent in 2016 to 31 percent in 2017. In response, Mayor Muriel Bowser initiated a city wide effort to increase school attendance by bringing together the entire community to support students and families through a public awareness campaign, and a taskforce coordinating public agencies and stakeholders, and investments in data-driven strategies to increase attendance.

Woods believes that low attendance rates in Washington D.C public schools can be attributed to a lack of student interest in school courses.

“I don’t think that the problem is attendance,” said Woods, “The current administration is saying that every day counts, I think it’s more of an issue of student engagement because students can attend class but really not pay attention. What we need to do is figure out how we can make students want to go to school.”

Woods also addressed gun violence in schools. He wants to incorporate “circle sessions” into elementary school curriculums in order to foster positive relationships between students and their peers, and students and their teachers. Woods believes that circle sessions, where students and teachers sit in a circle,  will help teachers and therapists to recognize students with antisocial and dangerous behaviors at a young age.

Woods believes that school shootings like the one that occured in Parkland, Florida, on February 14, 2018, can be prevented with circle sessions.

“What I want to do is implement circle sessions starting in preschool and kindergarten,” Woods said, “these are focused on socializing kids and developing kids so that they can feel like school is a safe environment. Circle sessions will foster better relationships between students and peers and students and teachers, and it could also help us figure out which students might need therapy or other emotional assistance.”

As mayor, Woods plans to introduce DCPS students to entrepreneurship through a series of Shark Tank competitions. Woods plans to teach middle school students about marketing and entrepreneurship through a citywide Shark Tank-like competition that will incorporate local business owners. After judging a citywide entrepreneurship competition, local business owners will have a chance to invest in products created by DCPS middle school students. Woods believes that underserved youth should be exposed to more opportunities to develop business acumen and entrepreneurship skills.      

“The competition will definitely help to maintain student engagement,” Woods said.

Woods will also address the lack of grocery stores in Wards 7 and 8. Woods believes that access to healthy food will help DCPS students to perform better.

Residents living within Wards 7 and 8, which also have the city’s highest obesity rates and are home to the largest food deserts within D.C., have access to only seven full-service grocery stores. Woods plans to build grocery stores in Wards 7 and 8. Of the city’s 43 full-service grocery stores, only four are located in Ward 7, and three in Ward 8. By contrast, Ward 3 – the highest income Ward– has 11 full-service grocery stores.

Woods believes that the next mayor- whoever it may be- should focus on addressing the issues in Washington D.C.’s most impoverished communities.

“Washington D.C. is only as strong as its weakest ward.” Woods said.

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NewsVision Newscast Spring 2018

Students in the Spring 2018 capstone multimedia journalism course, "NewsVision" smile with their section's instructor,
Prof. Jennifer Thomas, following completion of their final 30-minute newscast.

 

This Spring 2018 newscast is produced by students in the senior capstone multimedia journalism class at Howard University's Cathy Hughes School of Communications. NewsVision prepares students for careers in front of, and behind the camera. All content, including promos, was produced by the students in Prof. Jennifer Thomas' section. They also assumed all technical and editorial roles. We hope you enjoy! Follow us on Twitter: @NewsVisionHU , and Instagram: HUNewsVision.

 

 

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Black Millennials Say Student Loan Debt Crippling Their Chances to Advance

Higher Education

For the first time ever, young adults with student debt have a negative net wealth

For the first time ever, young adults with student debt have a negative net wealth, according to a recently released study.  The study says college graduates with student loans owe $1,900 more than than all of their assets.   Photo courtesy Flickr

 

WASHINGTON– When Danielle Douglas began her career after graduating with a bachelor’s degree from Howard University, things were tough.

Danielle Douglas received a pay raise and a promotion after receiving her
master's degree, but she also is spending $290 a month to pay off a $28,000
student loan, which has hampered her mobility. Courtesy Photo

“I was living paycheck to paycheck, just breaking even,” said Douglas, 27, who began working immediately after graduation at Meridian Charter Public School in Washington. “At first, I was in the ‘hood’ for three years, because I couldn’t afford to live anywhere else. Then, I finished my masters and moved to a better neighborhood.”

After receiving her master’s degree in 2016, however, Douglas, was promoted to sports director at Meridian.  Her new income, which was “abundantly

better,” she said, allowed her to move from Southeast Washington, to Silver Springs, Md.

Her new degree also came with a price tag, $28,000 in student loan debt. Now, she must pay a minimum of $290 every month on her student loan, she said, so she has had to cut back on some of her favorite activities, such as traveling.

She said often she pays even more than required in order to retire her debt earlier. 

“I try to pay more than the minimum per month because I’d be paying for 10 years, which I’m not trying to do. It has definitely put a strain on me. There’s no extra money.”

Douglas’ plight is a familiar one for millennials, according to a recent report by Young Invincibles, a non-profit organization in Washington.   Millennials, according to the report, are struggling more than their parent’s generation financially, in large part because of student debt, the study said.  Even as the economy has been improving in terms of wages, home ownership, and jobs, millennials are not keeping up with the trend in terms of net wealth and home ownership, the study said. 

For the first time ever, the study said, young adults with student debt have a negative net wealth, meaning they have more debt than they have financial assets. Their median net wealth today is a negative $1,900 compared to a plus $9,000 in 2013.

Tom Allison, author of the report, as well as deputy policy and research director at Young Invincibles, explained the disparity.

“If [it is] five years after graduation and you’re trying to build assets and save money, it’s so much harder to do that if you have to write a check of $500 every month for college loans,” Allison said. “Your assets are going to stay low and your debt is going to stay high. This gives us an idea of the financial decline.”

According to a report by the Young Invincibles, young adults now have considerably lower net wealth than young adults 25 years ago. Young adults with college debt, specifically, are doing the worst out of all millennials today, being the only category with a negative net wealth according to the chart.    Photo courtesy Young Invincibles

In addition to net wealth, home ownership among young adults with college debt has also declined, the study showed. Between 2013 and 2016, homeownership dropped 3 percent. Veronika Williams, 32, says she accumulated $150,000 in loan debt while at Howard University Law School, an amount so large she said she’ll probably spend much of her life paying it off.

She currently works as an attorney in Washington where she rents an apartment. For now, she said, owning a home is largely outside of her grasp because of her student debt. 

“The issue is a down payment for purchasing a house,” she said. “They want 20 percent. I don’t have the excess income, so I can’t give them $20,000. There are some programs that will pay the down payment, but my income is too high, so I don’t qualify. I’m just stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

Williams said she can see the impact of student loan debt when compared to some of the other well-paid attorneys she works with at her law firm. Some of her black and white co-workers do not share the same financial concerns she does because they don’t carry the stress of loan debt, she said.

“I make a decent salary, but I feel like I can’t compete with people who don’t have student loan debt, because I have to consider a $1,300 loan payment per month,” she said. “It limits me financially to what I can and cannot do. I don’t have the luxuries of vacationing and some stuff compared to other attorneys who had doctors and judges as parents [and consequently] don’t have student debt.”

 

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Marijuana activists want less restriction in D.C.

The implicit national marijuana "holiday," 4/20, has passed and it’s left some people with a contact high and others with a headache over the District's weed rules.

The National Cannabis Policy Summit was held at The Newseum, and festivalgoers there felt as though the police were overly eager to find a reason to make a marijuana-related arrest. 

According to The Washington Post, arrests for public use of marijuana nearly tripled in 2016. The District decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana in 2015, but it's still illegal to sell it.

However, Pro-marijuana activist and D.C.M.J. (Pro-Cannabis organization) coordinator, Adam Eidinger, took exception to what he characterized as excessive policing and called a town meeting at Petworth Library on April 25.

At the meeting, Eidinger met with other members of the organization and created a list of laws to present to Democratic politicians before the July 25 primary election. 

On that list, Eidinger emphasized the importance of marijuana smoking zones for public housing residents. For people on welfare or Section 8, Eidinger said, “they’re not given the same freedoms as people who aren’t on government assistance. Everyone should have the right to smoke marijuana, recreationally or medicinally, regardless of where they live.”

"If people are permitted to have cigarette zones; which are proven to kill you in the long run. Then we should be allowed to have marijuana zones," said dispensary owner and D.C.M.J. volunteer Leslie Jones. "If not because of equality, because marijuana has been proven to have healing effects and some people do rely on it medicinally.”

Co-coordinator Nikolas Schiller added that it was important to highlight the community discomfort with the overbearing police presence at marijuana events. 

"Police officers scare people away with their presence and they come to bars and pop-up sessions, to try and catch people walking with more than two grams of weed. It’s like babysitting grown people. That is a violation of rights all within itself,” Schiller added.

D.C. police have cracked down on marijuana-related events and parties in the past. Metropolitan police tweeted in March that officers had shut down a "marijuana vendors" event in Adams Morgan.

After the consistent conversation about what to add to the proposal, Eidinger closed the meeting by reminding the organization members that before the primary election, they would be going door to door to ensure people are registered. He stated, “The more people that are registered, the better. If we get enough people to vote, we can pass a bill that provides opportunities for people who live in government-owned buildings, as well as loosen the reigns on how and when we smoke marijuana.

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Alexandria black history museum pays homage to past and present

The city of Alexandria, Va., located in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan region, has many African American historical sites to be seen by all.

One such site is the Alexandria’s Black History Museum. Audrey Davis is the director of Alexandria’s Black History Museum, and she has worked for the city of Alexandria for over 25 years. Davis noted that the museum would be celebrating their 35th anniversary this year.

Davis said, “Right now, we have a painting exhibit that will be up for another month called Before the Spirits are Swept Away."

Lilian Patterson is a retired curator for the museum and now a part-time employee.

 “Before the Spirits are Swept Away is an interesting exhibit. It shows some sites that have existed around the country that are now disappearing,” Patterson said.

The artist of the exhibit, Sherry Sanabria, was a local artist in Alexandria who passed away in 2014. Her family donated the paintings to the museum. The artwork represents different African American heritage sites across the United States.

Davis said, “We are very lucky in Alexandria that we have so much of the original fabric of history in tack.”

These are just a few of the historic African American sites in Alexandria to visit. The city has many more sites to be seen for tourist.

If you would like to visit the Alexandria’s Black History Museum located in Old Town Alexandria, the address is 902 Wythe Street, Alexandria, VA. The museum hours are Tuesday through Saturday 10 am to 4 pm. The museum is closed on Sunday and Monday.

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2018 Winter Olympians, Paralympians Visit White House, Speak of American Pride

Photo courtesy Chanique Rochester

Members of the 2018 Winter Olympics and Paralympics visited the White House on Friday, April 27 where they were greeted by President Donald Trump. Several olympians opted out of the trip, including skier Lindsey Von, ice skater Adam Rippon, and snowboarder Chloe Kim. Those who did attend the festive event said now is the time for then to share their American pride. NewsVision reporter Chanique Rochester was there.

 

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Does Music Promote Pill Popping?

One night at the popular exotic dancing club in Washington, the song titled Rock Star by Post Malone and 21 Savage began to play. “Ayy, I've been f***in’ h*es and poppin' pillies man, I feel just like a rock star.”

            Within the first few seconds of the song, popping pills was mentioned. A few people danced and rapped along as the song played. Keith Beverly, 37, was one of them. He said he doesn’t take the song literally: “It’s just music.”

            “I don’t pop pills myself,” he said, “but people in that lifestyle probably do and they just want to rap about their life.”   

Drug references in music are nothing new. In fact, the number of drug references in music spiked between 1970 and the mid-2000s, according to www.addictions.com, an addiction help site. But these drug references combined with the fact that the opioid crisis is killing 115 young people each day is raising a number of questions. Does pill-popping in real life influence music, or does pill-popping music shape real life?

            Beverly is one of many people who will enjoy lyrics filled with drug references, but does not live by it. In an interview with Clique Magazine, the rapper Future discussed the drug mentions in his music, saying that his music does not reflect his real life. He said he raps about drugs because it’s what “everybody likes to talk about.”

            Last November, rapper Lil Peep died of a generic Xanax and fentanyl overdose at the age of 21. Lil Peep not only rapped about drugs in his music but specifically mentioned taking Xanax in a song titled “Praying to the Sky.” The use of the pill fentanyl caused the sharpest increase in drug overdoses, according to DrugAbuse.gov.

            In the hit “Mask Off” by Atlanta rapper Future, the song’s chorus focuses on pills with the words “percocets .. molly ..  percosets" repeated over and over. Musicians such as Post Malone, Lil Pump, Lil Uzi, Trinidad James are just a few names that also promote pill-popping in their music.

            Although rap is known for its drug infused lyrics, music lovers might be surprised to find that the most drug references are found in country music, with rap actually coming in last for its drug references (www.addictions.com). Marijuana apparently is the illicit substance of choice in music. It is followed by cocaine, pills, acid and heroin. Although pills are not mentioned as much as marijuana, references to pills have been increasing.

            Of course, being a musician is a form of expression and the artists have a right to be free within their craft to tell their stories. But artists also hold powerful platforms and can influence many young people. But experts say science has has not been proven this correlation.

            Addiction specialist Dr. FIRST NAME Nzinga says that drug references in music, have some correlation to drug and alcohol use, but it is not a simple cause and effect.

            “The literature does not draw a straight line from drug references in music to rates of addiction,” Harrison says.

            It is more likely that the higher rates of exposure to the music and the lifestyle is what helps to fuel addiction, she explained, because it reduces the stigma that comes with using drugs.

            “Consistent exposure to music with references to drug use probably correlates to higher rates of addiction through the mechanisms of decreasing stigma of use and thereby increasing the frequency of use,” Harrison said.

            But the increase of drug references, has pushed more and more influential artists to speak out against glamorizing pill-popping. Rapper OG Maco took to Twitter to criticize Future for te glorification of drugs in his music.

            “I love Future but I also understand Future has destroyed countless lives by making it cool to be a drug addict,” OG Maco tweeted.

            But not all pill lyrics in music promote drug use. Some artists use their music to oppose prescription drug use. For example, “Pill Popping Music” by artist Cognito disses pill popping and the musicians who promote it.

             In the song “Tom Ford,” Jay-Z boasts” “I don't pop molly, I rock Tom Ford.” The musician Russ has worn a shirt condemning the use of Xanax as a recreational drug. These cases demonstrate how music can support remaining drug free.

            In the meantime, the ubiquity of the pill-popping lyrics means that music lovers have

to decide how they feel about it. While pill-popping may be a way of life for some people, club-goer Keith Beverly said, “when it comes to the kids, I think music like that shouldn’t be played.”

            A few feet away, another club-goer who wanted to remain nameless said he does pop pills but he doesn’t think it should be glorified in music. “It’s kind of lame to talk about that in your music,” he said. “Keep it to yourself.”