Response to JUTP: Safe Silver Spring Summit Recap

Dan Reed posted a recap of the Safe Silver Spring Summit by Hans Riemer, who ran against Valerie Ervin for the District 5 seat on the Montgomery County Council in 2006, and who later went on to join Barack Obama's presidential campaign as its National Youth Vote Director.

Apparently there was a lot of conversation at the Safe Silver Spring Summit about kids not having any space downtown. This is my response, which I posted in the comments section of Dan's blog. I wanted to say it a little bit louder so I'm also posting it here, and adding a few more comments.

Many years ago when Downtown Silver Spring was just an idea, I said repeatedly, to anyone who would listen, that we needed recreation for young people downtown.

Again and again, I was shot down. The reason given? That would draw all the poor black kids from DC. So-called progressive people actually said that.

When DTSS was being planned, the needs of kids were simply not part of the conversation...not for very long anyway. It wasn't a priority, either by the powers that be or by the community.

Could that be the reason that everything kids ever loved downtown was only "interim" and ultimately destroyed?

The East of Maui Skatepark, the Interim Playground, the turf, skating on Ellsworth -- all were taken away.

And even after 935 Bonifant was demolished and Montgomery County spent a small fortune on leveling and sodding that field, making sure to make it nice for someone, did anyone consider doing something creative for kids there?

I know it's important for doggies to have a place to poo, but I think kids are a little bit more important.

I'm just saying. I mean, the doggies do like that field.

Having spaces for kids to be is important. But kids also need things to do, and not just the kids who can afford the $200-$300 a week for Montgomery County Rec Department camps.

Malcolm X said...

"If violence is wrong in America, violence is wrong abroad."

Americans are outraged about violence in our streets, while our country has brought horrible violence to others abroad. No one knows, and we may never know, how many civilians died in Iraq as a result of a war that was premised on a lie, and on greed. Countless babies, children, young people, old people suffered and died, at our hands, in our name.

We tortured people. We many never know how many, or who the victims are, or what the legacy of that depravity has been. But it would be reasonable to assume that lives were destroyed, and that there were some who survived physically but lost their minds.

America did that. We intentionally inflicted extreme pain, and we did it again and again. One guy was waterboarded 183 times in one month.

Concurrent with the escalation of our violence abroad, the streets in America's ghettos were getting hotter. The war on terror drained all of our resources, and the neglect and disregard for the kids in the hood was exactly as depicted on The Wire, when Mayor O'Malley, oops I meant Carcetti, couldn't get a dollar out of the FBI to help with a boatload of murders in Baltimore, because everything was about the war on terror.

Effective programs were shut down in favor of faith-based funding, and many of the kinds of programs that I saw turn lives around in the 70s, could no longer get funding, and as doors were shut and opportunities dried up, people in the ghetto were pushed into creating their own economies, whether they were legal or illegal.

With more neglect, fewer opportunities, (virtually no opportunities for felons), and more people being pushed into underground economies, more competition was created, resulting in more violence.

And as things were getting hotter in America's ghettos, no one knew, no one paid attention. Because here is where we see the depth of the racial divide in this country — the fact that large numbers of people live in environments filled with such challenges and issues and suffering that most of those Americans who are more fortunate, don't even have a clue about.

And the press can't report on the hood intelligently, because they have no understanding of it and no connections in it. And so they don't go. They stay safely on the outside, peeking in every now and then, when there's bloodshed to report.

And through an almost complete lack of context in reporting, limiting stories to who shot who, who got stabbed, and how long someone's going to jail for, America gets to remain comfortably unaware of the root causes, and sees only the end results, of the suffering that engenders more suffering. 

Whether it's neglect or abuse, or other forms of emotional trauma, or repeated exposure to violence, ghetto kids suffer greatly, and few receive any help or counseling of any kind. 

But even more difficult to negotiate than the benign neglect that allows this suffering to continue (and to in effect, perpetuate itself), is alienation. Being that FARMs kid. Being that renter. Being that kid who can't be in the same programs. Or that kid who doesn't have a home.

That happened just today, when a local kid sent out an email viciously attacking another student.

Some kids face so many difficulties in their young lives, with no way to process or heal their pain, and yet, they're expected to grow up and be just fine.

But human beings aren't made like that. 

I started this post with a quote from Malcolm X, and I'll end it with another.

"You break a man's legs, and then wonder why he can't walk."

My Prayer

Dear Lord, I ask that you keep all of our children safe. Those who are not in gangs, and those who are.

Hey Dude, Where's My Privilege? Race and Lawbreaking in Black and White

Racists hate Tim Wise...for the same reason I adore him. It isn't easy finding a white man who speaks so forcefully, truthfully, and brilliantly about race. And it's impossible for racists to refute him.

by Tim Wise
May 11, 2009, 9:34 am

Envision the following, if you can.

Imagine that a group of black youth were to descend upon a college town, take to an open field and proceed to smoke pot--lots of it--just as they had announced they would, at the very time they had promised to be there. Thousands of them, lighting up, virtually daring police to enforce the law and arrest them.

Now, in such a scenario as this, how long do you think it would take for the cops to call their bluff?

If you've paid any attention whatsoever to the so-called war on drugs, you'll almost instinctively know the answer. It is people of color who have always borne the brunt of drug crackdowns, even though whites use drugs at rates that are equal to or higher than the rates for the black and brown. So, for instance, although whites comprise more than 70 percent of all drug users (slightly higher than our share of the population), and blacks and Latinos combined make up about 25 percent of users (less than their combined share of the population), it is the latter two groups whose members comprise about 9 in 10 persons incarcerated for a possession offense in the U.S. No, black and brown youth couldn't get away with mass lawbreaking of this type for very long.

But when a bunch of white stoners announce their plans for a big pot-fest, known alternately (depending on which of several such events we're talking about) as 420 Smoke-Out, or the 420 Festival (the 420 being a not-so-secret code for cannabis consumption), and then proceed to break the laws against such an event just as promised, nothing happens. No arrests, no citations, no wading into the crowd by overzealous cops intent on bashing the heads of the hooligans arrayed before them. Of course not. 

Just like there is very little in the way of law enforcement response when white college students riot on their campuses, as they have done over 150 times in the past fifteen years, and never over important political matters of social injustice, or war, but rather, because of the outcomes of sporting events or crackdowns on underage drinking. White folks, you see, get pissed when you interrupt our right to party.

And so in Boulder, Colorado and Santa Cruz, California just a few weeks ago (on April 20th, 4/20 get it? No irony here, just maddeningly predictable pothead behavior), thousands of people--statistically speaking, nearly all of them white, and with virtually no black folks, other than perhaps an occasional Bob Marley pic on a t-shirt--showed up to spark up: part of an annual pot pilgrimage that has been going on for several years now, always with the same, unarrested result.

Now don't misunderstand, I've indulged my fair share of weed, and I'm not one to advocate the criminalization of such activity, as I think it both a waste of justice system resources and overly punitive. Yet none of that is the point. The point is this: people of color simply could not get away with such a flagrant disrespect for the law, no matter how stupid that law may be. But white hacky-sack kickin' hippies who continue to believe--against all evidence to the contrary--that patchouli can actually cover up body odor? Well, they can get away with damned near anything. 

Oh sure, to read the headline in the student paper at UC Santa Cruz, you might think there had been some jackbooted overreaction by the cops to such behavior. After all, "UCSC Cracks Down on 4/20 Festival," makes it seem as though perhaps the administration had decided to actually arrest people, or even suspend or expel them for engaging in blatantly illegal behavior. But no. Upon reading the article one learns that by "cracking down" the author meant that the campus would erect barricades, enforce parking rules, limit use of school shuttles and ban students from having friends crash at their dorms overnight. Damn pigs, what a police state! Apparently the folks at Santa Cruz haven't gotten the memo on how to deal with scofflaws such as these. To wit, the reaction by Colorado-Boulder officials who sprayed them down with water from a sprinkler system a few years back. Although some among the assembled may have experienced the dousing as oppressive--after all, it might almost constitute a bath if one were to get wet enough--for most, the occasion was likely viewed as a welcome respite from an otherwise hot day.

Though I tend to agree with those who claim pot has very little negative health effect upon its users, it does appear to have rather serious consequences for cognitive function, which would normally be, ya know, a problem at a college. Indeed, at the big Boulder smoke-out in 2008, white users demonstrated a drug-induced vapidity that would be viewed as culturally pathological were it exhibited by students of color. So, for instance, despite CU Boulder being a highly selective university, they managed to admit the likes of Emily Benson, who told a reporter she actually came to the school "for the weed atmosphere," and to be part of the pot legalization movement. Not for an education, mind you, but to get high. And for this, she took a spot that could have been given to a hard-working black or brown kid instead, or a working class white kid for that matter with more serious daily concerns than the munchies. Call it, stoner affirmative action: a form of preferential treatment extended to many of the whites at Boulder apparently, including one young woman who expressed her disappointment upon learning that the cookies and muffins being handed out by one of her classmates at the 4/20 fest weren't "magical," as in, filled with even more of the drugs she had already ingested. Bummer: now she'll have to make do with that one blunt and some Adderall. How will she survive such an indignity as this?

Meanwhile, as the aforementioned Ms. Benson (from the Kansas City area, and whose parents must be so proud of her) indulges her habit, and as thousands of her white classmates do too--many of them styling each other's hair in dreadlocks, because nothing goes better with white privilege than cultural appropriation--it is students of color who continue to be told they are the unqualified ones, that they are the ones who are unjustly taking up space at elite schools, that their acceptance into such places is "lowering standards" and cheapening the value of a college degree.

The irony of it all couldn't be more perfect: a bunch of white college students clamoring for the legalization of pot, not realizing that for them it already is, in effect, legal. 

Continue reading » 

Safe Silver Spring

The Orwellianly named Safe Silver Spring summit will be held tomorrow at Montgomery College. 

I'll be waiting for the obligatory follow-up article from the Gazette next week, on how Silver Spring is so much safer than everyone thinks.

Apparently, the organizers of this event only think of kids as sources of threats to the community's safety, since the only mention I saw of youth in the entire program is Youth: Schools, Truants and Kids Hanging Out.

Montgomery County Rec Center Camps

I went to the Montgomery County Department of Recreation web site to see what kinds of activities they're offering for kids this summer. Lots of fun and lots of camps — science camps, nature camps, arts camps, all kinds of camps...that most poor kids are pretty much shut out from.

Below are some screenshots from the PDF of MoCo's summer camps brochure. The first screenshot was included to give you an idea of the incredible variety of camps available, and the second was to give you a sense of how unaffordable they are for many families, particularly minorities — even many families who are not low-income (I am not poor, but I can't pay these prices.) And on the Arts & Performing page, where you see prices of $248 and $305...those prices are for one week of camp.

These camps were clearly not set up to serve many of our children, particularly our at-risk youth. And that's why many of them will likely look like this promo photo from MoCo's web site, (and the same as most magnet programs in MCPS) where you see one black kid:

So many choices indeed.

I know lots of kids who would love to do some of the camps in the screenshot below. But with these prices, it isn't gonna happen.

On Neighborhoods, Kids, and Summer

Before my family moved to the projects when I was a kid, we lived in an area of DC that was a black neighborhood, and most people were poor, but it was by no means a ghetto.

This was back in the Black Power days of the 70s, and the Black Power movement was strong in DC. We lived in the Dupont Circle area, and back in the day, much of that area was all black. You didn't see white people unless you walked West past Connecticut Avenue.

It wasn't just a matter of fashion that you would see red, black and green, the colors of black liberation, everywhere, and dashikis and natural hair.

But the area wasn't defined by what people wore or how they styled their hair. It was a real community. People knew each other, cared for each other. There was a toy lending library, regular clothes give-aways (there was a parking lot that would often be covered with clothes to be given away), and an active rec center with paddle tennis, soccer, and other activities for kids.

It seemed that almost every kid in my neighborhood was involved with an arts program that mostly got girls into dancing, and boys into playing djembes and conga drums. Several of their performances were held at the Kennedy Center, and the program was a huge source of pride for the kids in the area.

When I was about 12, we moved from that neighborhood to the projects -- a barren, godforsaken hell-hole overrun with crime, and absolutely nothing for kids to do.

In Montgomery County, some kids will spend this summer and others in various camps, having their days filled with fun activities. 

Many other children in Montgomery County, those whose parents can't afford hundreds of dollars a week for camps, will have pretty much nothing to do.

Back in the day, Jim Crow in MoCo

I recently tried to get my father to share his memories of Jim Crow in Montgomery County in the 1950s and 60s, but when I asked him about it he got real quiet and his mood changed, and his tone became strange, and I sensed it was a bad idea to press him any further. All he would say is that it was the usual type of exclusion, i.e., restaurants, water fountains, etc.

But I know it was more than that because while my father seems to be forgetting, he has told me more in the past, like about getting us kicked out of some Chesapeake beach, and I can't remember the details, but apparently something happened at Glen Echo. More beaches used to be private back then, and I think my parents planned for my mother (who is white) to go in first with the kids, knowing we were less likely to have a problem without my father. And then I guess the plan was for him to come a little later, hopefully without attracting attention. But the plan didn't work and once my father got there, we all got kicked out.

And I know that things like finding a place to live was bad enough in DC (and DC was considered the least racist among any area jurisdiction), and that he didn't even consider trying to move us to Montgomery County.

My father was trying to move us away from Jim Crow. And to do that, he put us on a plane and traveled thousands of miles away, to a place where everyone spoke a language we didn't know, because he believed it was a kinder place. A more enlightened place.

It wasn't. Jim Crow's ugly cousin was raising hell over there, and within a few years we were back in the States.

Now in his seventies, I see in his spirit a weariness, that owes its existence to him having to struggle so hard to keep his head up. That Jim Crow stuff, it steadily chipped away at his pride, little by little.

Regarding the City Place problem. If groups of white children can regularly go in that mall without ever even hearing from the security guard in question (they do), there is just no reason for so many black children to be having problems. And this treatment of black children, and the negative expectations before a child even gets in the door, can't continue.

Why I'm not posting right now

I'm not posting anything new right now because I want to keep the City Place story near the top. This is too important, and I don't want anyone to miss it.

UPDATED: Jim Crow in Silver Spring

If you don't believe me that kids in general, and minority kids in particular, have reason to not feel welcomed in Silver Spring, check out what four black boys say happened to them when they tried to go into City Place Mall on May 7th, 2009. Some background on this story below the video.

UPDATE 5/10: Click here to read the email sent to City Place Manager Gary Brewer on February 18th — in which I complained about similar incidents three months before these boys say it happened to them.

In case you didn't follow all of that, the boys said they entered the mall and were first told they had to leave because they were wet (it was raining), and then because they were carrying a ball. They left the mall and dried off, stashed the ball and went back to try to get into the mall. According to the boys, the security guard told them they still couldn't go in and started yelling at them to get out.

At some point the boys came across another security guy, and that dude told them they could be in the mall. When the kids told the first security guy what the other one said, he told the boys he didn't care what the other security guy said, and they needed to get out of the mall.

Minority kids at City Place Mall

On Tuesday February 10th, one of my children and I witnessed a group of black boys coming into City Place Mall through the Ellsworth Street entrance. A security guard stopped them and told them they couldn't go into the mall...because one of them was carrying a ball. (The kid was carrying a basketball, but he was only carrying it -- it hadn't been bounced at all.) The boys told the security guard that they'd put the ball in a backpack, and at first he continued to say they couldn't go in, but at that point it seemed as if he became aware that I was watching him, and he told the kids they could go in.

A few days later, I was eating in the City Place food court and a group of young black people were sitting next to me. They were complaining vehemently about that same security guard, and about being harassed for no reason. I don't know the specifics of their story, but I found it interesting that I just happened to sit next to some people who had problems with the same security guard.

Over the next week, I saw 5 different groups of people being harassed by this security guard, and they all happened to be young and black.

On Tuesday, February 17th, I watched as the 19 year-old son of a close friend was being harassed by the same guard. This young man is a freshman in college, has lived here his whole life and has contributed to this community in many ways, and has even done activism work abroad. He was carrying a scooter -- a kid's toy -- and the guard had a problem with that. The guard told the young man he had to close it up, and that in the future, he could not come into the mall with the scooter. I was behind the guard listening to what was going on, and at that point I spoke up and asked him where the "no scooter" signs were. He insisted they had them, but of course, they don't exist. It seems this guy makes up mall rules as he goes along, and whatever he says to young people, is what the rule is at any given point. And apparently, mall management allows him to do this.

Also on February 17th, I spoke with a number of young people who work for Gandhi Brigade, which has a space inside City Place Mall. All of those I spoke with are minorities, and they told me they had been harassed by this guy for years.

On February 18th, I wrote to Gary Brewer, Manager of City Place, and relayed to him the harassment that I had witnessed and had reported to me.

I never got a reply.

On Thursday, May 7th, I saw a group of four black boys being yelled at by the security guard. I spoke with two security guards who gave me conflicting accounts of what happened, and the one who allegedly told the boys they couldn't go in the mall, the same one who was the object of all of the other complaints, basically said he didn't do it — he said the boys were playing with the ball and that's why he told them they couldn't go in the mall. But I had previously witnessed him telling a different group of black boys they couldn't enter the mall because they were carrying a ball, and I saw that entire incident and I know they weren't playing with the ball.

5/10 Update: Email sent to Gary Brewer

to garybrewer@cityplacemd.com
date Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 3:04 PM
subject Abusive behavior by security


Mr. Brewer,

In the past week, I've seen more than 5 incidents of one of your security guards, aggressively harrassing people coming into your mall. They all happen to be young, and they all happen to be minorities.

Why can't young minorities go into City Place without being harrassed? Why can't I carry a child's toy, a scooter into the mall? You used to sell them. And if I can't carry a scooter into the mall, why is there not a very visible sign letting me know that BEFORE I come into the mall? Why is your security guard regularly threatening your customers, and threatening to confiscate their belongings? That's against the law, and he should not be threatening any such thing. Why can't I, or a young person, particularly a young minority, carry a ball into the mall? Will I be harrassed and hassled if I happen to be playing ball with my child, and we choose to stop into City Place for a bite to eat?

Every single minority young person I've talked to in the past few days has a story about being harrassed by this security guard. His behavior reflects extremely poorly on City Place Mall management. I intend to discuss this serious issue with other members of my community.

Interesting Comment About MoCo Cop Who Lied in Court

Rspeed makes an important observation — Officer Hoffman says her testimony conflicts with the video because the events in question happened a year ago, and she's not remembering them clearly. But, if what she wrote in the police report is the same as her testimony, seems to me that's pretty clear evidence that the inconsistencies had nothing to do with her memory.

rspeed said...

Disgusting. Does anyone have the police report? I'm sure that excuse about the case being old will fall apart as soon as we find that it has an identical description of the event.

MAY 9, 2009 2:08 AM

Baltimore: Police Investigated for Leaving Boy in State Park

BALTIMORE, Md. - Baltimore police have suspended two detectives accused of driving a teenage boy to Patapsco Valley State Park in Ellicott City and leaving him there.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi says Milton Smith III and Tyrone Francis, members of the Violent Crimes Impact Division, have been assigned to administrative duties, as is customary when officers are under investigation.

Howard County police say officers were called around 8 p.m. Monday to the 8300 block of Baltimore National Pike, which runs through the state park, where officers met a teenage boy. Howard police say officers took the boy to his home in Baltimore.

Guglielmi says the internal affairs was notified Tuesday and immediately requested an investigation and the city state's attorney's office was also notified.

About that violence in area schools...

If this much violence is going on in schools, what will happen when schools let out for the summer, and all of those same kids have time on their hands and nothing to do?

Wouldn't it be more logical to be proactive and give them something to do?

Danger zones: Violence a daily fact of life in area schools

By: LEAH FABEL
Examiner Staff Writer
05/07/09 12:05 AM

Students get into a fight, commit a sexual offense or are caught with a deadly weapon an average of almost once a day at some area high schools, according to recent data compiled from suburban public school districts.

And surprisingly, middle schoolers are involved in even more violent episodes than students in high schools, according to the data.

At Suitland High School in Prince George’s County, nearly 250 suspensions were handed out for fighting in 2007-08 and a dozen for bringing weapons on campus. At Alexandria’s George Washington Middle School, officials reported 168 incidents of fights or serious personal offenses, such as bullying or sexual harassment, averaging nearly one incident per school day.

More than 140 suspensions were issued to students at Montgomery's Francis Scott Key Middle School in Silver Spring for attacks, threats and fights — the most in the county. Following close behind was neighboring White Oak Middle School, with 123.

Both Key and White Oak feed into Springbrook High School, where last week two students were charged with arson and conspiracy to commit murder in an alleged plot against their principal and a guidance counselor.

"The reason kids assault other kids is because they think they can get away with it," said Lisa Snell, director of education at the Reason Foundation. "There are places where that doesn't happen because adults take seriously enforcing rules when things go wrong."

More at WashingtonExaminer.com »

Visitors to this blog

Most of the visitors to this site are home users, and in my statistics software, all of those people are lumped together under whoever their internet provider is, i.e., Verizon, Comcast, etc. But when people view the site from certain kinds of organizations, I can see that someone from that organization has been to my site. For instance, the Washington Post owns its own servers, so when someone visits from there, I'll see that in my traffic reports.

Also, if someone visits my site by clicking a link at another site, i.e., Google or Facebook, I'll see the name of the site where they clicked the link (but I won't know the exact page.) And in my reports I've been consistently seeing that beyond home users, the majority of my visitors come from educational institutions. I'm happy about that because it means either students or educators are visiting the site.

Here are a few from the past week:

montgomery county public schools

baltimore county public schools

university of maryland

american university

duke university

fairfax county public schools

harford community college

howard university

montgomery college

morgan state university

mount saint mary s college

orange county department of education

alabama a&m university

alamo community college

austin independent school district

baltimore city community college

Most of the remaining traffic comes from Google and Facebook. The Facebook traffic is of course, more intentional, in that they're looking for this site, whereas with Google it's just people stumbling into this site after searching on keywords.

Because of the story about ex-bangers working with kids in Bermuda, I've gotten hits from there. And because of the Yonata Getachew story (that's the kid who wanted to kill/maim his principal and counselor), I've gotten hits from Ethiopia.

"The Power of Youth"

I saw that phrase in a headline for an article and I noticed that I immediately felt a negative reaction. It's a worn-out catchphrase that people use when they're trying to con you. Most people who say it don't believe in it. They believe in the power of the symbology of youth, politically speaking, but they don't really believe kids have much power, in and of themselves.

And the truth is in our society, that phrase, is utter bullshit. Youth do not have power, politically speaking. Youth cannot vote and so politicians pay them no mind. The lives of children are completely controlled by parents, teachers, school administrators, and few children have any real say about what they do or when they do it. Legally, they have almost none. Parents can force just about anything. Parents whine about not being able to hit their children (as if that's the only way to discipline a child) but other than hitting a kid, there isn't a whole lot a parent can't do.

So where is all this power of youth? In photo opps? In that sense kids do have power. It looks great to have cheery photos of smiling kids to help you sell whatever it is you're selling. But that's not real power. That's mere imagery.

Kids should have power. But power means being able to make decisions. And that means, we as adults have to learn how to listen to what they're saying.

Kids in this community have been talking very loudly lately. But I'm not so sure anyone's listening.

MoCo Cop Lied in Court

56 year-old George Zaliev of Rockville, might have spent a year in jail — for being drunk while sleeping in the back seat of his car.

I don't get this story. I don't understand why Officer Dina Hoffman testified 11 times that she found Zaliev in the front driver's seat, and charged him with DUI, when this man did absolutely nothing wrong.

The implications of this story are mind-boggling. Who else did Officer Hoffman lie about? Who might be in jail now, wrongfully, because of her testimony?

And, the most mind-boggling part of this story — as the investigation into Hoffman's actions continues...she continues to work.

A Montgomery County Police officer faces a perjury investigation after she testified in April that she found a man arrested for driving under the influence behind the wheel of a parked car. A recording from a security camera showed he was in the back seat, lying down, with his feet out the open passenger side door when she approached him.

"We are aware of the allegation and will be conducting an investigation," Montgomery County Police spokeswoman Lucille Baur said Wednesday.

The Montgomery County State's Attorney's Office referred the case to the Howard County State's Attorney's Office because county prosecutors might be questioned, said Seth Zucker, a spokesman for the Montgomery County State's Attorney's Office.

George Zaliev, 56, of Rockville, was arrested about 7:30 p.m. May 3, 2008, for DUI at the parking lot of Sarkissian Interiors at 8537 Atlas Drive in Gaithersburg. A preliminary breath test showed a blood alcohol content of 0.15, nearly twice the legal limit.

At his Montgomery County District Court trial, Officer II Dina Hoffman testified 11 times that she found Zaliev in the front driver's seat. She said shook him awake and he was not cooperative in doing field sobriety tests.

Zaliev's attorney, Paul E. Mack of Columbia, used a laptop computer to show a video from a security camera at Sarkissian that recorded the arrest.

The security tape, reviewed by The Gazette, shows Hoffman arrived and immediately walked up to Zaliev lying in the back seat.

A message left for Hoffman was not returned immediately. A three-year veteran, she continues to work while the allegation is investigated.

More at Gazette.net »

I Don't Want No Scrub

This mess is hilarious. A few of my favorites from Top 10 Signs the Man You're Dating is A Certified Scrub. 

I don't want no scrub
a scrub is a guy that can't get no love from me
hangin' on the passenger's side
of his best friend's ride
tryin' to holler at me

1. He is in "transition."
Sistas hate to hear that dreaded word, which translates to unemployed. If a man says he's in "transition" then he has no job and more than likely can't name a profession, skill or trade that he's practiced for more than 3 years, consecutively. If he is an able body and free of felony convictions, he should be working, end of story.

3. He has trouble explaining/verifying his living situation.
If you've been seeing a guy for more than 90 days and you have yet to be invited his place, you have a bonafide live-in ex situation. Run. Or, if your dude is squatting at various family members pads and can hardly remember where he last left his toothbrush and toiletries, not only is he a scrub, he's a scrub with no direction. Run fast.

6. He's dropping an album.
Eww. If you're man spends most of his time in the studio rapping about things he's never done and doesn't have, he has to go. If one more dude says he does music and bears no fruits of this labor, other than a beat up chain and party flyers, it'll be too soon. How long has he been dropping this album again?

8. He hollers broke but frequents the booty club.
If your man says he "ain't got no dough" but still finds the cash flow to tip them h*@s, he needs to get his priorities straight. Ladies, buy a stripper pole for the crib; fellas, make it rain at home, problem solved.

9. He hollers broke in designer fabrics.
If the man you're dating rocks premium denims, the latest J's and a fresh line-up, and never has any money to contribute to the bar tab or dinner dates, chances are he didn't buy half of what he's wearing. Now he's trying to cake you. Run away, quickly.

10. He hollers broke, again.
If homeboy says he's running low on cash, but has every video game system with a closet full of cartridges and joysticks to boot, he's not the one. No one wants to completely do away with the testosterone release of Madden, but the line has got be drawn somewhere. His game collection should not be the only small fortune he's acquired.

More at LiveSteez.com »

Investigative Voice: MS-13 Gang member who threatened police in the country illegally

An MS-13 gang member who allegedlly threated to kill a Baltimore City police officer is in the country illegally, authorities have determined.

Sources have told Investigative Voice that the gang member, who told a city police officer he had killed a police officer in his native country of El Salvaldor and would do the same to him, is now being processed for deportation, sources said.

Authorties have yet to determine if a second man alleged to have threatened the officer is also an illiegal immigrant.

Courtland Milloy: A Law That Tears Black Families Apart

I know you betta preach.

The lowest-level drug offenders convicted for crack, are punished 300 times more harshly than kingpins.

Such blatant, boldfaced racism in 2009, and some people are still confused enough to think we're now "postracial."

There's a law that some experts say contributes mightily to the destruction of low-income African American families and neighborhoods. It's not a law that specifically prohibits them from getting a job or a loan or buying a home or voting. But the effect is often the same.

The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 doesn't sound as onerous as, say, the Black Codes of the late 1800s, which legalized arbitrary imprisonment to limit the movement of newly freed slaves. But when it comes to ruthless incarceration, nothing compares with this federal drug law: It has subjected tens of thousands of black people to lengthy prison terms for possessing ridiculously small amounts of crack cocaine.

"If you want to know why black children are overrepresented in foster care at four times the rate of the national population, then look no further than the mass incarceration of black people," Ben Jealous, president of the NAACP, told me recently. "The vast majority of them are nonviolent drug users, many first-time offenders. Instead of providing them with the treatment they need, we send them to prison, often breaking up their families in the process."

More at WashingtonPost.com »