Zeina Mohammed - ��Ӱ��

Maryland’s vaccine allocation is ‘not enough’ to cover frontline workers: governor

Zeina Mohammed — Tue, 08 Dec 2020 17:45:55 +0000

Maryland is set to receive 155,000 doses of coronavirus vaccine but needs to vaccinate over 320,000 frontline healthcare workers, according to Governor Larry Hogan.

Officials prioritized 855,580 people in various high risk groups in the , including 322,380 healthcare workers and 41260 first responders. The plan, which was made public in October, says officials will also prioritize people in prisons, the elderly and those with underlying conditions that place them at “significantly higher risk” of contracting COVID-19.

“We’re asking for patience. The good news is the cavalry is on the way, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel,” Hogan said in a Good Morning America on Thursday. “But we’ve still got some pain to go through before we get this under control.”

Broad concerns about vaccination acceptance

One pain for government officials is convincing Americans that the vaccines are safe to take. Even though the vaccine is close to approval in the U.S., many Americans remain skeptical.

However, estimates that vaccine acceptance in the U.S. has increased to 63% from a low of 50% in September. Part of public distrust concerning the vaccine stems from a and the comments he has made about the vaccine.

Hogan that a change in administration will affect the efficiency of vaccine distribution plans, but is reassured now that the Biden administration is being included in Operation Warpspeed conversations.

“There can be no politics in this vaccine,” he said.

show that Black and Latino communities are especially hesitant to trust the vaccine, partially due to the historical use of African-Americans for involuntary medical experimentation and forced sterilization.

State and local officials are particularly focused on increasing vaccine acceptance in Black and Latino communities. Two , Tom Hucker and Gabe Albornoz, said the health initiatives to instill public trust will include community leaders and “influencers.”

Hucker that county officials have been working to increase trust in medical initiatives for years, giving them valuable experience to promote confidence in COVID vaccines.

The Maryland Department of Health is developing a comprehensive communication plan, including social media campaigns and public service announcements, according to MDH spokesperson Charles Gischlar. The state is also partnering with employers to encourage their employees to get vaccinated.

“The primary goal of our vaccine awareness campaign is to communicate the safety, effectiveness, phased-in delivery and importance of the vaccine to all Marylanders and to effectively communicate with every county and demographic in the state,” Hogan .

Hogan said at least 70% or more need to get vaccinated in order for things to get back to normal.

It is a start

As state officials work on increasing vaccine acceptance, the federal government is focused on vaccine approval and nationwide distribution.

Pfizer and Moderna both applied for by the FDA in November and are awaiting approval for distribution in the U.S. The FDA the safety and effectiveness of Pfizer’s vaccine on Dec. 8, while Moderna waits for trials to corroborate its 90% efficacy.

Pfizer has already been approved for distribution in the U.K., which became the first country to administer the vaccines Tuesday. Among the group of first volunteers was a man named William Shakespeare and a 91-year-old woman who she was excited at the prospect of seeing her family again.

Maryland is slated to receive 50,700 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 104,300 doses of the Moderna vaccine, according to Gischlar.

“Although this is not a large number, it is a start,” Gischlar said.

The governor will livestream a press conference on Tuesday at 4 p.m. to discuss vaccine acceptance and distribution plans.

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Black restaurant owners need tech and each other, panelists say

Zeina Mohammed — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 19:46:50 +0000

Panelists stressed the importance of innovation and collaboration to Black-owned business during the COVID-19 pandemic during DMV Black Restaurant Week’s third annual .

The five-day conference equipped business owners with strategies and tools to adapt to the pandemic, focusing on collaboration between businesses. Free and open to the public, it was held virtually Nov. 10-14.

Collaboration is ‘imperative’

Marketing strategist Johnny Bailey knows better than most the importance of technology in growing small, minority-owned businesses. As D.C.’s Grow, he provides digital skills workshops to help Black and Latinx small businesses boost their digital presence in order to grow. He is also the founder of the , which aims to eliminate the racial wealth gap by empowering Black entrepreneurs.

Bailey moderated the conference’s “Embracing Technology – Food + Tech,” a conversation about the importance of technology for Black-owned restaurants and bars in D.C.

“Black businesses are behind in our ability to leverage technology to reach new audiences or communicate to current customers new hours of operation or business practices [during COVID],” Bailey said. “Some of the things that seem easy to do are also easy not to do.”

He said it is “imperative” for the Black community to patronize business within their community to the same extent that other racial and ethnic groups support their businesses.

“We need to encourage Black entrepreneurs to occupy spaces in the marketplace so there are places for Black customers to spend their dollar,” Bailey said.

Bailey also argues there is an “over-saturation” of Black ownership in certain businesses and that more diversity would benefit the community as there would be a greater “Black presence” on every ladder of the supply chain. He said Black-owned grocery stores are important, but it is equally important for there to be Black farmers to supply them with produce.

Bailey also talked about how the information era can help Black entrepreneurs understand and adapt to challenges, and operate in a shared group interest.

‘Bridging the virtual with real life’

When the pandemic struck, it made April Johnson’s app “useless” overnight. The D.C.-based platform connected consumers to happy hours to “build community around food and drink, while exploring new restaurants and bars,” but traditional happy hours ceased as bars closed and people began to socially distance.

“We had to quickly think about how we could continue to provide that same sense of community to the thousands of people that use our app and to the restaurant and bar community,” Johnson said.

Appearing on the DMV BRW panel, Johnson explained how her team quickly redefined their business model and the technology they relied on.

Happied began hosting virtual mixology classes for a $10 fee, helping to keep “displaced bartenders” employed while providing “community-like experiences.” They’ve also partnered with third parties to deliver the necessary ingredients to participants and also now offer their own .

Realizing the potential for corporate collaboration, Johnson began to offer these events to companies that wanted to “keep their team connected or clients engaged.” She reached out to law firms she had connections with and now primarily organizes corporate events, where participants get kits sent to their homes and follow along on Zoom.

“The goal is to create seamless events that bridge the virtual with real life as much as possible,” Johnson said. “We want to keep people connected and teams engaged, which also helps the bottom line for the businesses at the same time.”

Her advice to other businesses who are rethinking their business model is to think about how to continue fulfilling their core mission in new circumstances.

Johnson’s biggest focus when it comes to technology is integration, how to connect all the parts of the new services. She uses for bookings, to interact with customers, to host events and to link all of the programs into a single workflow.

‘Everyone can eat and win’

In 2017, David Cabello and his twin decided to drop out of college at 22 to build something to help connect their community.

Two years later, Cabello launched . Serving Atlanta, Detroit and Philadelphia, it is the first Black-owned delivery service that partners solely with Black-owned restaurants to increase their exposure.

According to Cabello, Black & Mobile hosts over 3,600 restaurants and has 300,000 users.

He said he noticed it was difficult to intentionally find Black-owned restaurants because Google didn’t cater to searches like that at the time, so he decided to create one.

“We know where everyone else’s businesses are but don’t know where ours are,” Cabello said during the panel.

In addition to hosting businesses on his app, Cabello encourages collaboration between the business owners to help build websites, apps and a robust online presence that he said many Black-owned businesses lack.

Kristal Willaims, co-owner of the Shaw restaurant FishScale, expressed Black business owners need more support in technological literacy. FishScale was one of 86 restaurants, catering services, food trucks and beverage businesses participating in DMV Black Restaurant Week.

The rise of the Black Lives Matter movement has inspired an increased interest in supporting Black-owned businesses across the country. It has also prompted other food delivery services to spotlight Black-owned businesses on their platforms.

However, Cabello said that Black & Mobile remains the best choice because they are invested in the success of the businesses.

“[On Black & Mobile], they aren’t competing with McDonalds or against other Black businesses,” Cabello said during the panel. “Everyone is bringing in their traffic so everyone can eat and win.”

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Latino voters seem to rebuke Trump in Arizona as Cuban Americans back him in Florida

Zeina Mohammed — Thu, 05 Nov 2020 02:00:00 +0000

When Donald Trump won Florida — and its 29 electoral college votes — on Election Night, it came as a shock to the national Democratic establishment, which spent millions on its presence in the battleground state.

But Betina Cutaia Wilkinson, a political science professor at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, wasn’t surprised.

Wilkinson, who studies Latinx voters in the South, said that Cuban Americans have a history of voting for Republican candidates.

“These last few years though, we have seen more Cubans support Democratic candidates, especially among young Cubans in the Florida area,” Wilkinson said. “But it’s important to recognize that there are some Cubans who really were attracted to Trump because of his antisocialist messaging.”

Jose Irastorza, 81, who is a Cuban American living in Atlanta, voted for Trump. “Not as much for Trump,” Irastorza said. “I really don’t care about Trump one way or the other.”

Irastorza, who is retired, voted with an absentee ballot. That’s how he’s voted for a few years; he has moved between Florida and Georgia and did not know where he would be located when voting.

He voted for Trump, he said, because he’s concerned about Biden’s health and the possibility that the people around Biden end up ruling the country.

Singers, socialists and a ‘caudillo’

Donald Trump spent the last four years crisscrossing Florida. Trump, whose Mar-a-Lago resort is in Palm Beach, is registered to vote in the state. He won Florida in 2016 by around 113,000 votes.

Democrats’ outreach this year was extensive and expensive, with former Vice President Joe Biden former President Barack Obama; Biden’s running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif.; and singer Luis Fonsi, who was born in Puerto Rico, to the battleground state this week. Biden’s campaign even released Spanish-language in recent days.

But the Biden campaign’s efforts in the Sunshine State were for naught. The Trump campaign surged to victory with more than 5.6 million votes — nearly 400,000 more votes than Biden. Trump received and got 55% of the Cuban American vote.

Biden Miami-Dade County — the site of three-fourths of Trump’s net gains across the state — by just 7 percentage points, a disastrous performance compared to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 run. Clinton carried the county by 30 percentage points.

The Biden campaign evoked Trump “as a kind of Latin American dictator, or caudillo,” which failed to resonate as much with U.S.-born Latinos who “aren’t immigrants themselves who are more concerned about jobs or COVID,” said Bernard Fraga, an associate professor of political science at Emory University.

“Trump, on the other hand, tried to use the message of painting the Democrats as socialists: appealing to Cuban Americans who are heavily Republican already, compared to other Latino national origin groups,” Fraga said. “That was more effective, coupled with his messaging about law and order.”

Trump also tried to appeal to young Latino voters with glitzy music videos by bands like Los 3 de la Habana. In a for the group’s “Trump Song,” the band dances on a boat replete with Trump flags and a painted bald eagle. Trump used the song in a — complete with dancers, food and smiling families — that has been viewed by more than 370,000 people on YouTube.

The battle for the Grand Canyon State

While Republicans gained ground in Florida, Democrats made massive gains in Arizona, flipping a Senate seat belonging to Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz.

The state will likely turn blue for the first time since 1996.

Trump, who has campaigned for years to build a wall on the US-Mexico border and restrict legal and illegal immigration, is down in the Grand Canyon State by just over three percentage points, underperforming himself in 2016 when he beat Clinton by three-and-a-half percentage points.

Some 71% of Latino people in the state voted for Biden this time around, according to a report by , a Latino political opinion research firm.

“Arizona’s Latino community is 90% Mexican Americans,” Stephen Nuño-Perez, a senior analyst at the firm, said. “In Arizona, Latinos have largely been vilified, so working within the Republican Party is just not an option” for Latinos in the state.

Moreover, “in Arizona, restrictive immigration and immigrant laws are very much more salient and present in the mind of Latino voters,” Fraga, the political scientist, said.

A supporter holds a “Finish the Wall” sign at a Make America Great Again campaign rally for US President Donald Trump in Mesa, Arizona on Oct. 19, 2018 (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)

That contrasts with nationwide Latino sentiment, according to Wilkinson, the political scientist, in which the top issues are “jobs and the economy, health care — given the fact that many were overwhelmingly impacted by the pandemic — and systemic racism against black and brown individuals.”

Donovan Carr, the outreach coordinator at the Arizona Secretary of State’s office, said he interacts with Latino outreach organizations like and the through an advisory committee that meets monthly. He said the office made sure to be “prepared ahead of time” to stay in touch with the groups.

Outreach will be a monumental task going forward.

“The future is bright in terms of the power that the Latino community will have in shifting election results in North Carolina, Georgia, Texas and other states in the South,” Wilkinson said.

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GW students and nearby businesses prepare for potential election unrest

Zeina Mohammed — Wed, 04 Nov 2020 04:58:07 +0000

Less than a mile from the White House, some businesses on the George Washington University campus have boarded up windows in case of unrest after election results are reported. In an , students were advised to purchase groceries and medicine, in anticipation of the election results.

Businesses on I Street, across the street from university dorms, have boarded their windows to avoid any property damage over the week. Monét Whitaker, manager of Sweetgreen, said they boarded their windows in case of riots and plan to leave them until the end of the week. Whole Foods and the Residences on the Avenue are other businesses that have taken the same precaution.

Graduate Student Josh Ingersoll expressed concern on Twitter after receiving the email from GWU warning of “possible election related disruptions.”

https://twitter.com/JoshEIngersoll/status/1322206590452355072

‘A mix of worry and fear’

When Sochibeze Akaneme read the email Sunday night, he decided the smartest thing to do was follow GWU’s advice and stalk up on food and other necessities. The next day, he spent over an hour commuting from his Foggy Bottom apartment to the Costco in Alexandria, Virginia.

Akaneme said he’s used to university alerts about potential political activity that could disrupt student life, but he took these warnings more seriously because the pandemic means less support from GWU.

“It’s scary to think of unrest happening around you,” he said.

He also said it was a sad reminder to him of how divided the country is that violence is a real possibility no matter which candidate wins. But, he’s determined to be calm on election day.

“I’ve been stressed and worried about Election Day for the past few months so my goal for today is to focus on destressing,” Akaneme said. “I’ve disconnected from social media and the bubble of the election.”

He said he will not worry about the things outside of his control until there is something to worry about. With enough food to last two weeks, he said he is taking advantage of the school holiday to catch up on homework and stay safe at home.

‘Not surprised, but a little scared’

The email was a deciding factor in Enku Negussie’s decision to leave campus and spend the week in Maryland with her aunt’s family.

Negussie, who’s parents live in Ethiopia, was one of about 400 students during the remote semester. She said she had already planned to spend Election Day itself with her relatives, but the email prompted her to leave sooner.

“My aunt came to pick me up on Saturday,” she said. “I packed a week’s supply of clothes and my books and left immediately.”

Negussie said reading the email left her “not surprised but a little scared and concerned.” She said she understands that the university has to “overprepare” its students, but the email was unnecessarily “dramatic” and offered no actual resources or aid.

“They told us to prepare as if it’s a blizzard, but didn’t really offer any help,” Negussie said. “They said ‘buy groceries,’ but what about the students who can’t afford to stock up?”

Election Day has not disrupted routine for all students. For Diing Manyang, it’s “business as usual.” The junior said she has made no special adjustments for the day and will be in her dorm working on schoolwork.

One thing all interviewees had in common: they said this election is not one they’re likely to forget.

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DC Council candidates map out lines on police defunding

Zeina Mohammed — Mon, 02 Nov 2020 19:02:32 +0000

The movement to has gained both support and criticism from Washington, D.C., residents as police reform continues to dominate politics.

D.C. Council candidates are voicing their opinions to appeal to voters on all sides of police reform ahead of Tuesday’s elections.

The so-called defunding movement, which is not the same as abolishing the police, pushes for repurposing some police funding to other social services, such as mental health and addiction services.

Valerie Wexler is a spokesperson for , a D.C.-based organization pushing for policing reform. She said that the city’s response to protesters has been “inadequate and entirely ineffective.”

She wrote in an email that “D.C. residents have continued to demand fundamental structural change,” including removing police officers from schools, banning stop-and-frisk, and defunding the department.

Ward 2 candidates across the spectrum

Political newcomer is running as an independent to replace Ward 2 Councilmember Brooke Pinto, who currently represents many of D.C.’s downton neighborhoods like Georgetown, Foggy Bottom, Logan Circle and Dupont Circle. Fernandez described the Ward 2 race as reflecting a “spectrum” when it comes to divesting from the MPD, with him pointing to Pinto as the conservative candidate and himself on the “most progressive” end.

He released a for policing in the District, including rerouting funds to other crisis response organizations and removing police from schools. He said that many residents probably agree with the theory of defunding the police but are scared away by the language.

“Some people may agree with the actual principle behind it, but the language becomes a barrier to them adopting it as a position,” Fernandez said. “So, the language my campaign has used is “divesting” and ‘decoupling’ from police.”

The Independent candidate said his position offers a “stark contrast” to Pinto, a Democrat, who is “certainly not interested in any level of substantial police reform.”

He suggested that Pinto, like any Democrat, must publicly support the Black Lives Matter movement to avoid “political suicide,” but he says she has contradicted her commitment by from public schools and to respond to a Dupont Circle shooting.

“I think the wind has shifted and it’s forcing a lot of people to take positions that they aren’t super comfortable with or familiar with just yet,” Fernandez said.

Pinto, 28, by becoming the city’s in the Ward 2 special election in June. Since then, Pinto, new to DC, has faced critical questions about her campaign funding and political views. A spokesperson did not respond to a query about the criticism for this story.

Her sudden victory about contributions to her campaign, her qualifications and charges that she is not as progressive as she claims to be.

Pinto, who sits on the , supported that banned chokeholds and tear gas against protesters. She has not supported reducing the police budget, arguing instead for reducing police responsibilities.

“Criminal justice is a top priority of mine,” said Pinto in an email. “When it comes to topics like making body-worn-camera footage more accessible to victims and families or prohibiting the use of excessive force, I am fully supportive.”

Her office was not available to respond to the criticism made by Fernandez.

At-large candidates say police need less responsibility

At-large candidates and independents Mónica Palacio and Chander Jayaraman differ on the issue of police reform, but they agree on one thing: the police have too much responsibility.

Palacio is the former director of the D.C. Office of Human Rights and said she has real-world experience changing “law enforcement culture.” She said she supports reinvesting resources from the Metropolitan Police Department to create other response teams.

“I don’t agree with removing law enforcement as an option, but I support reducing the size of the Metropolitan Police Department and creating other crisis response agencies as a new balanced approach that I think most residents can get behind,” Palacio said.

Unlike Palacio, Ward 6’s Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Chander Jayaraman advocates for . However, Jayaraman agrees that the MPD is responsible for too many types of emergencies that should be redirected to other services, but does not believe issues rest in the size of the force.

“The operator will ask, ‘Do you need fire or ambulance?’ and for everything else it’s the police, which I think is rather unfair,” he said. “They do receive some training, but I’m not sure that they are the best equipped to handle all these kinds of situations.”

Jayaraman said he supports increasing the budget of other response agencies, but whether or not he believes that money should come from the MPD budget is unclear.

He said that the police should be reduced to their core functions and “whatever savings there are should go to other agencies.” However, he also said in the same interview that the city has a large budget “so to say the police is the only place that money can come from doesn’t make sense.”

Jayaraman’s position on the movement to defund police, however, was clear.

“It makes for a good bumper sticker, but I don’t think that it’s the right approach,” he said.

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International observers — and the Carter Center — turn eyes on U.S. elections

Zeina Mohammed — Thu, 29 Oct 2020 21:01:23 +0000

Concerned about and , international and nonprofit organizations are monitoring Tuesday’s elections in what they call an effort to restore voter confidence in the outcome.

At the same time, officials in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area have issued reassuring their voters that they will be safeguarded from voter intimidation.

The efforts follow Trump’s encouragement in the first presidential debate in September that his supporters observe the election as independent “.”

Nothing major in the metropolitan area has happened yet, although there was a outside a Fairfax, Va., polling place in September.

But officials are on the lookout.

“Up to this point, the Office of the Attorney General has not received complaints alleging such unlawful activity — but we will remain vigilant until every District resident has their chance to cast a ballot,” said a spokesperson for the attorney general’s office for the District of Columbia in an email.

Voter suppression is “paramount concern”

Experts say there is reason for their worries.

Jennifer Safstrom, counsel for the at Georgetown University Law Center, said that voter suppression is of “paramount concern in this election.” She says citizens should be prepared to confront intimidation before going to vote and know where to find help.

“Be informed about what constitutes intimidation and what you should be documenting if you see it,” Safstrom said in a phone call. “Have a plan of action so you’re not figuring out how to respond in that moment.”

Carter Center turns attention to U.S. election

Citing a decrease in public confidence in elections and increased polarization across the nation, the Carter Center has launched a ahead of Election Day. The center, launched by Former President Jimmy Carter in 1982, has monitored elections in 39 elections to date, but has never observed an American election.

Carter Center CEO Paige Alexander that the U.S. has long fallen short of international election standards, but obstacles to voting faced by minority groups and other factors make this year’s elections particularly “worrying.”

Colleagues agree.

“The public is more concerned than ever before about whether results can be trusted and whether the process can be rigged,” said David Carroll, director of the at the Carter Center.

“That’s partly because political polarization is on the rise, and there is more misinformation and disinformation out there, which confuses voters and undermines their trust in the U.S. election process.”

The center’s campaign, which features animated videos and fact sheets, seeks to increase transparency between election officials and American voters. Carroll has observed 100 elections worldwide. He said the organization has learned that “one way to help ensure good elections is to increase public knowledge of electoral processes.”

International groups to monitor, too.

Outsiders are coming to observe, as well.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, of which the U.S. is a member, is sending delegations of its to monitor the upcoming elections for the ninth time. The human rights group is a non-partisan institution that observes elections in member states.

Spokesperson Katya Andrusz said that analysts will conduct a series of meetings with election officials and campaign spokespeople, and observe voting in several states before releasing findings and recommendations about two months after the election. So far, she said that new voting technologies, voter disenfranchisement, and voter suppression have been major topics in the conversations.

“Unfortunately, political polarization and political division is a challenge that we see in many countries” they follow, Andrusz said. “It often comes with an increase in hate speech and intolerance that has sometimes been amplified by political leaders,” which violates commitments made by member states.

An “unusual” election

Another part of the organization, the , also will observe the election. Spokesperson Nat Perry noted that Trump’s about the election’s fairness raised eyebrows at the organization.

“It’s the only election where the incumbent was raising questions about the legitimacy of the relations before the election has taken place,” Perry said. “It’s not unusual for contestants to question the results, but for the incumbent to raise such concerns is something that, as observers, we take seriously. It’s certainly unusual in that way.”

The two institutions will hold a joint press conference on Nov. 4, and hope to release their findings within two months of the release of the election results.

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DC Council considers three police reform bills, advocates say it isn’t enough

Zeina Mohammed — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 17:53:21 +0000

A D.C. Council committee will soon vote on whether the emergency police reform passed in June should become permanent law in D.C., measures that some believe are not strong enough to reform the Metropolitan Police Department.

On June 10, in response to Black Lives Matters protests and a national outcry against police brutality, the council passed a temporary bill that banned the use of chokeholds by police, outlawed the use of tear gas against protesters and created the . The legislation remained in effect for 90 days, until Sept. 8, but organizations like argue that it changed nothing.

“The emergency bill supposedly banned the use of tear gas and other chemical weapons, yet D.C. police have repeatedly used them on protesters since the legislation was passed,” said Valerie Wexler, a spokesperson for SPTDC. “It even turned out that D.C. police had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to stockpile it.”

The D.C. Judiciary & Public Safety Committee held a Oct. 15 to consider three bills that offer more permanent iterations of the emergency legislation passed over the summer.

: The Judiciary & Public Safety hearing held a nine-hour public hearing Oct. 15 to discuss Bills , and .

Patrice Sulton, founder of and committee member of the , said legislators have “tremendous authority to limit police powers” but are not exercising the full extent of their oversight. She said the first step in real police reform is for the D.C. Council and other legislative bodies to fully utilize their authority over the MPD.

“It’s one thing to tinker around the edges and make suggestions about how the executive should train and discipline and recruit officers,” she said. “It’s another thing to say, ‘We’re going to regulate how you police because you’ve demonstrated over many years that you can’t figure out when it’s appropriate and when it’s not to stop someone, to search someone, to arrest someone, to violate someone.’”

Her project, , proposes a number of reforms for the MPD to “go beyond mere performative gestures and do something meaningful about policing in the district.” Among them is a ban on drug raids, which she said are generally “ineffective” and overwhelmingly target Black residents.

“We have federal law enforcement that can step in if El Chapo comes to DC,” Sulton said. “We don’t really need state-level police doing drug raids at all.”

Mónica Palacio, , said the legislation was a “great first step” in responding to the crises of the summer, but that more comprehensive laws are needed to “restructure and demilitarize policing.” The former director of the D.C. said the legislation should include stricter restrictions on the lethal use of force by police and create other crisis response agencies to handle emergencies.

“We just can’t keep adding bureaucracy on top of bureaucracy to solve the problems, we have to get to the core of police practices and standards,” Palacio said.

Ward 2 said she supported the temporary legislation over the summer and is glad to see it considered as permanent law. She said it will bring necessary change regarding making body-worn-camera footage more accessible to victims and families, establishing independent police oversight bodies and limiting consent searches.

“This legislation is an important step and I am looking forward to receiving the recommendations of the Police Reform Commission to expand on these critical changes,” Pinto said in an email.

The bills will remain “under council review” until councilmembers vote on the legislation at the first reading of the bill.

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Crowd rallies at Nigerian Embassy to decry police brutality

Zeina Mohammed — Tue, 20 Oct 2020 17:51:49 +0000

When Shabi Adejumoke found out that an #EndSARS protest was being held, she immediately got in her car and drove straight to the Nigerian Embassy in Northwest D.C. On the way there, she called her boss and clients to inform them that she would be a few hours late to work.

“Even if it doesn’t really change anything, there’s a satisfaction I have in my heart that I did my part for change and justice for the lives that have been lost,” Adejumoke said. “That’s why I did what I did. That’s why this means the world to me.”

Adejumoke is one of hundreds that congregated in front of the embassy gates Sunday in support of the #EndSARS movement, a series of protests against Nigeria’s Special Anti-Robbery Squad currently spreading across Nigeria and its diasporas.

Shabi Adejumoke holds a sign that playfully criticizes Buhari. The phrase “Soro Soke,” meaning “speak louder” in Yoruba has become a common phrase in the anti-SARS movement.

‘We are tired. Nigeria needs help.’

Calls to disband the undercover unit of the Nigerian Police Force started on Twitter in 2017 after of SARS agents abusing their power to extort money and terrorize citizens. Created in 1992 to investigate violent crimes, the unit was “” by Inspector General Ibrahim Idris following the 2017 demonstrations and pressure from Amnesty International.

The movement revitalized on Oct. 3 after a showed SARS agents fatally shooting a young man in Delta State. This sparked a series of mass demonstrations in Nigerian cities as citizens shared their experiences with SARS officers extorting bribes, sexually assaulting women, brutalizing young men and other abuses of power.

When Aminat Adedeyinbo and her cousin found out about the protests from relatives in Nigeria, they were inspired to bring the movement to D.C. They decided to contact the club promoters that typically sponsor parties in the DMV area to help mobilize the Nigerian-American community.

“The DMV is full of Nigerians and we figured if they can come out for parties, they can come out to this,” said Nonye Emecheta, one of the organizers.

Fellow organizer Emma Samuel said the American diaspora has a responsibility to use its visibility in the West to raise awareness for serious issues back in Nigeria. Adedeyinbo echoed this sentiment and said she hopes that demonstrations in the West inspire foreign governments to intervene.

“This fight is beyond Nigeria now, we’re calling on international bodies to intervene,” she said. “We are tired. Nigeria needs help.”

To date, protests have also taken place at embassies in London, Dublin, New York City, Waterloo and Southfield, Michigan.

‘Now they want to shoot us.’

Abiodun Durosinmi sees police misconduct as one of many “symptoms” of Nigeria’s bad governance, “not the root of it.” He attended the protest to express support for the movement and spontaneously decided to the crowd.

Durosinmi said the battle against corruption is an inherited fight that past generations have been fighting — one that started as a war on the British colonial regime and became a battle against the neocolonial structures that continue to oppress the Nigerian people.

Speaking for over 10 minutes, he advocated for decreasing the salaries of senior government officials and redistributing it to other civil servants, like policemen. Durosinmi argued that police officers resort to bribes and other forms of corruption “as a result of poverty and low standard of living.”

“Police personnel are like you and I. They are as hungry as I am. They are as angry as I am,” Durosinmi said. “If you don’t give quality of life to the man wearing the uniform, the man carrying the weapon, you will never see the desired change.”

This sentiment has been across the movement as and other senior officials continues to increase. Buhari announced the disbandment of SARS in a on Oct. 11, but protests continue as many argue that, without structural change, the disbandment of the unit will change very little for Nigerian citizens.

PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE: The Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigeria Police Force has been dissolved WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT.

The Inspector General of Police will communicate further developments in this regard.

— Presidency Nigeria (@NGRPresident)

Adedeyinbo and other organizers said that they will continue to organize protests in D.C. on a weekly basis until “people start to really listen.” Sunday’s demonstration was the second protest held at the embassy.

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Maryland judge temporarily blocks ICE deportation of man detained on church property

Zeina Mohammed — Tue, 13 Oct 2020 15:29:28 +0000

U.S. District Judge Paul Grimm ruled Oct. 9 that a Silver Spring resident cannot be deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement until a court processes his religious asylum request.

Binsar Siahaan, an undocumented immigrant from Indonesia, was detained by ICE agents at Glenmont United Methodist Church in Silver Spring, where he lives with his wife and two children. His arrest has sparked outrage from several faith-based groups in the D.C. area who argue that ICE violated policy by conducting an arrest on church grounds and for falsely claiming to be there to check his ankle monitor.

“ICE cannot simply proceed with removal while Siahaan has pending a motion to exercise his statutory right to seek reopening of his asylum claim,” Grimm wrote in a . “Removal in this instance, thwarting his ability to realize any benefit from a successful motion, is very likely arbitrary and capricious”

Siahaan, who immigrated to the U.S. on a work visa in 1989 and remained after it expired, was denied asylum when he first filed in 2003. His attorneys said this was due to bad advice from an “ineffective attorney who was later disbarred” and that the devout Christian would face persecution in Muslim-majority Indonesia if forced to return.

Upon his arrest on Sept. 10, Siahaan was swiftly transported to the Lumpkin County Detention Center in Georgia, which has recently due to . Grimm’s decision gives ICE two days to move Siahaan to a detention center in Maryland, where his lawyers hope to make a case for his release.

“ICE has expressed a callous disregard for the well-being of human beings that they are detaining,” said Patrick Taurel, Siahaan’s attorney. “I’m worried about Mr. Siahaan just like I’m worried about everybody else who’s in ICE custody right now.”

Rev. Kara Scroggins, who works at the church where Siahaan lives and works as a caretaker, said she will continue to organize for Siahaan’s release from custody. Scroggins also said she plans to use this momentum to advocate for a law prohibiting ICE arrests in places of worship, schools and other “sanctuary” places.

“Being a safe space, a sacred space, and offering hospitality are pretty basic to the calling, as well as standing with people who are victims of injustice,” Scorggins said.

Following Siahaan’s arrest, Scroggins partnered with organizations like and the to organize calls to Congress members, distribute petitions and organize two protests to advocate for Siahaan’s release.

Rep. Raskin, Sens. Van Hollen and David Trone, D-M.D., have all released statements expressing concern about Siahaan’s arrest. Scroggins said they have also been helpful “behind the scenes,” offering support to Siahaan’s defense team and following up with her via phone.

“They’ve been helping to get information from their inner ICE contacts,” Scroggins said. “They’ve been supportive and we’re keeping pressure on them to put themselves on the line, politically. “

Alexa Klein-Mayer, a fellow at Congressional Action Network, said Siahaan’s case has “national implications” and could set a dangerous precedent of ICE agents disregarding policy to arrest people “in sanctuary.” She said her team is currently on standby to ensure that ICE honors its obligations to return Siahaan.

“Our next step is to see if ICE returns him to Maryland before evaluating what more we can do to get him out of detention,” Klein-Mayer said. “Right now, we’re on standby.”

Taurel and Scroggins both said they are waiting for Siahaan’s return so they can make a case for his release back to his family. Taurel said he hopes that ICE voluntarily releases Siahaan due to “public pressure,” but is prepared to make a case for it in the event that they don’t.

“The whole purpose of detaining somebody like Siahaan is to make sure that they are present at the moment of removal,” Taurel said. “The moment of removal for him is not imminent, because we have a judge’s order saying they can’t remove him until we get a decision and God knows when that will come.”

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Promotional events fail to boost business for Black-owned Shaw restaurants

Zeina Mohammed — Tue, 29 Sep 2020 16:50:57 +0000

Kristal Williams was hopeful that the D.C. Black-Owned Restaurant Sweepstake would drive customers to her Florida Avenue restaurant for fishburger to-go. Unfortunately, a month after the promotion ended, is still in a rocky position.

“I did not see the kind of foot traffic or increase in sales that I had hoped to,” Williams said, who co-owns the restaurant.

FishScale is one of nine restaurants that participated in the promotion created by the Shaw restaurant , food blogger and startup . Running from Aug. 3-16, it drew about 150 participants to the businesses and gifted four winners with prizes, such as gift cards to the restaurants and a Washington Wizards jersey.

Julie André, the sales and events manager at HalfSmoke, said there was a surge of patrons wanting to support Black-owned businesses following the Black Lives Matter protest, but that it had since died down. The sweepstakes was meant to be a way to revitalize the momentum to “eat Black.”

Williams said she is pleased with the increase in social media followers brought by the promotion, which she hopes will convert into customers. She describes FishScale, which she runs with her brother, as a smaller business that “people are still discovering” and wishes she had more time to devote to social media marketing to attract new customers.

“Participating in group activities is a good way to let people who dine out know we exist,” Williams said. “Unfortunately, we are short-staffed, and I have been working more in the business than on it, so I wasn’t able to devote as much time to promoting our business online.”

Williams stressed the value of collaboration and networking for black businesses, especially for ones like hers with smaller social media reaches. She said that while “competitiveness is sometimes an underlining barrier,” she is actively working toward networking with other restaurants for more events like the sweepstakes.

Like Williams, André said that HalfSmoke did receive a little extra business due to the sweepstakes but was surprised there wasn’t a bigger impact given the local news coverage of the promotion.

Additionally, both reported that the recently-held Black Restaurant Week was also unsuccessful in generating new business. This marks the first year of D.C.’s inclusion in , a series of rolling promotions at Black-owned restaurants in different cities, from Sept. 18-27.

HalfSmoke is self-described as a well-known “giant pillar in the Shaw area.” And unlike FishScale, André reported that their restaurant is still getting regular customers and is usually booked on the weekends.

The biggest challenge for her and her team is how to continue hosting events while observing CDC guidelines. HalfSmoke regularly hosts events ranging from networking events to collaborations with charities.

“We have to look at this restaurant and have an open mind about what the venue can be,” André said. “Can it be a voter registration sign-up area? Can it be a place where people can adopt dogs?”

However, she now struggles to plan events around social distancing guidelines. Given the need for space, events now generally need to be held outside, leaving them at the mercy of the weather.

As summer ends, winter will bring new challenges to restaurants and bars which have largely capitalized on the warm weather to host outdoor seating. For businesses like HalfSmoke whose outdoor patios don’t have roofs, the race to winterize is on.

To help businesses face this challenge, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office $4 million to create the Streatery Winter Ready Grant program. Grant winners receive $6,000 to winterize outdoor dining areas during colder months.

“We don’t have a backup space, so if it rains, we’re screwed,” André said. “So that’s really sad, I have been worried about that.”

While HalfSmoke customers are still filing in to eat, the need for social distancing has meant that the bar area is closed to customers. André said it has altered the casual vibe of the restaurant and is something patrons miss.

“People come in and they want to feel back to normal, and we can’t provide that at the moment,” André said. “You can’t just go up to the bar and grab a drink from the bartender like you used to.”

Both FishScale and HalfSmoke will participate in the DMV Black Restaurant Week () in November, an initiative by local entrepreneurs that intends to inspire community growth within the local Black communities.

In its third year, DMVbrw is a year-round initiative that supports Black food and beverage businesses by connecting them with other businesses, training and resources.

“We’re not just a week where we come in and do promotion, we’re on the ground with our partners year-round,” said DMVbrw co-founder Erinn Tucker.

In addition to the week-long promotion Nov. 8-15, DMVbrw will virtually host its annual Business of Food + Beverage Education Conference. This year’s main themes are the power of collaboration and COVID-19 recovery.

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Zeina Mohammed - ��������Ӱ��