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 »

Baron Davis: Breaking the Cycle of Inner-City Gang Violence

If you've been reading this blog, you may have noticed a pattern in some of the stories I've posted — most of the people I've written about who are actually doing something to make a difference in the lives of at-risk youth, are black. Skateboarder Stacy Peralta, creator of the Bloods and Crips documentary that Baron Davis helped to make a reality, is one of the few who is not.

I grew up in South Central LA. It's where my family is, it's where many of my friends are and it's where I learned to play basketball. Having grown up in this area, I know what it's like to be surrounded by gang violence, so when Stacy Peralta approached me to produce his documentary, Crips and Bloods: Made in America, I jumped at the chance to get involved. I had two goals for the film. First, I wanted to show people about why we have gangs in our inner cities, because unless you understand the history you can't address the issue. And second, I wanted to show people what we can do to resolve this.

Until we stop looking at these kids as monsters we will never break the cycle of gang violence. People need to understand that in communities in which family units have broken apart and there are few, if any, economic opportunities, gangs become like surrogate families, identities.

Throwing people in jail is not going to solve this problem. As NFL great and youth advocate Jim Brown says in our film, "If more police or jails were the solution, the problem would have been fixed 30 years ago." If we are going to address this issue in a meaningful way, we need a new approach.

More at HuffingtonPost.com »

Seriously Long Sentences

24 year-old Patrick A. Byers Jr. got life with no parole for the murder-for-hire of witness Carl Lackl. Will the state get time too, since the state allowed Byers to have access to Lackl's address? Is Maryland going to jail for that?

And 30 year-old MS-13 member Victor Ramirez got 60 years for racketeering (and that includes 3 murders.) Ramirez had been sent here from El Salvador to strengthen MS-13 in Maryland.

NY school evacuated after boy's bathroom suicide

I know what it feels like to want to check out. I just wish we didn't have so many kids feeling the same thing.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- A high school student with ammunition and homemade explosives in his locker used a sawed-off shotgun to kill himself in a campus bathroom while classes were in session, forcing police to evacuate the school while they checked to see if the shooting was part of a more sinister plot.

After a gunshot rang out around lunchtime Tuesday, officers raced to the Canandaigua Academy, where students were being told over the intercom system to remain in their classrooms. The officers later evacuated the school in Canandaigua, a city of 11,000 residents just southeast of Rochester, taking the students to a nearby middle school.
The shooter, 17-year-old senior Thomas Kane, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police Chief Jonathan Welch said. An investigation would determine if other students were involved, he said.

More at WashingtonPost.com »

Many of county's blacks, Hispanics ineligible for after-school activities

Administrators have been "examining" this problem for years, and it's the same as it ever was. And the students who are shut out from what they need most — after-school activities, are more likely to get involved with crime and become truants. We know that. But in this community the have-nots aren't high on our list of priorities, and year after year we continue to write these children off to the streets.

Rather than focusing on our children in crisis, our government considers it more important to worry about how people park their cars.

Administrators examining the problem, official says

Gazette.net
by Marcus Moore | Staff Writer

School system administrators are working to get more black and Hispanic students involved in after-school activities, after a recent report showed that those pupils were chronically ineligible.

The disparity is alarming, because students who are chronically ineligible for extracurricular activities — defined as ineligible for two marking periods —are more likely to be disinterested in programs that prepare them for college and the workforce, according to the report, released in December by the school system's Office of Shared Accountability.

Also, ineligible students run a greater risk of dropping out of high school, researchers wrote in the report.

Under school board policy, students with a grade-point average of less than 2.0 are ineligible for after-school activities, which include sports, band and clubs.

Continue reading at Gazette.net »

Safe Summer Youth Crime Prevention Initiative: 40 Days of Increased Peace

DC did it. Montgomery County needs to do it.

If we really want to have a Safe Silver Spring, we need to start by having a Safe Summer. Here's a 2006 DC press release.

June 13, 2006

Safe Summer Youth Crime Prevention Initiative: 40 Days of Increased Peace

Press Conference & Kickoff with Special Police Announcement

Join Chief Charles H. Ramsey, Assistant Chiefs Willie E. Dandridge (East, 6th & 7th Districts), Brian Jordan (Central, 1st & 5th Districts), Peter Newsham (North, 2nd, 3rd & 4th Districts), along with members of the clergy, the community, parents and students, who will come together at a local Boys and Girls club to announce the city's largest crime prevention partnership of the summer, with a special police announcement.

When: Wednesday, June 14, 2006
(last day of school for DC's public schools students ½ day)

Where: #14 Boys & Girls Clubhouse of Greater Washington
(Richard England Clubhouse, 4103 Benning Road, NE (next door to 6D)

When: 2 pm (Press Conference), 3-6 pm (Kickoff events)

Information: Yvonne Smith, yvonne.smith@dc.gov, (202) 645-5333 / (202) 645-5568

Details about this year's unique press conference: On the very last day of school, which will be the first day of the summer break for DC's youth and young adults, the Metropolitan Police Department and their community partners in crime prevention will hold a press conference, followed by a series of more than 300 events around the city for more than 40 consecutive days, designed to promote the safest summer yet.

Over 40 partners, including the city's Department of Parks and Recreation, Children's National Medical Center, Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington, Court Services and Offender Supervision, US Department of Justice, East of the River and ROC-Central's Clergy Police Community Partnerships, Boys and Girls Club of Greater Washington, and many more will support the summer initiative with a focus on crime prevention and intervention among the city's youth, specifically to reduce juvenile arrests, which, oftentimes, result from poor supervision and boredom among youth during the summer months. Events will target all areas of the city with a focus on saturating the city's crime hotspot neighborhoods, with a concentration on educational and recreational outreach, which will include visits from the Department of Parks and Recreation's Skate Mobile and the citys Mobile Library.

Immediately following the press conference, the first events of the summer will take place, inside and outside the facility, with summer camp registration, arts and crafts, construction of a quilt for peace, volleyball, live entertainment with a famous local radio and television personality, free giveaways, and much more. Summer master calendars will be distributed, as well as safety pledge cards for youth, along with a "40 Days" hotline for people to call each day to obtain a listing of free summer events. The hotline is (202) IM Bored (462-6733).

The citywide effort hopes to celebrate its safe summer success at this year's National Night Out events, Tuesday, August 1. For a complete list of "40 Days" events in all seven police districts, visit the MPDC website.

When the Cellphone Teaches Sex Education

We can't emphasizes safe-sex messages enough. This program that answers teens' questions about sexual health via text messages, was started with a $5,000 grant and advertising from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

THE special cellphone, set on vibrate, begins to whir. Throughout North Carolina, anonymous teenagers are texting questions to it about sex.

“If you take a shower before you have sex, are you less likely to get pregnant?” asks one.

Another: “Does a normal penis have wrinkles?”

A young girl types: “If my BF doesn’t like me to be loud during sex but I can’t help it, what am I supposed to do?”

Within 24 hours, each will receive a cautious, nonjudgmental reply, texted directly to their cellphones, from a nameless, faceless adult at the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Campaign of North Carolina, based in Durham.

There goes the phone again.

“Why do guys think it’s cool to sleep with a girl and tell their friends?”

James Martin, the staff member who has text-line duty this week, is 31, married and the father of a toddling son. He hesitates. How to offer comfort, clarity and hope in just a few sentences? He texts back. “Mostly it’s because they believe that having sex makes them cool,” he types, adding, “Most guys outgrow that phase.”

The Birds and Bees Text Line, which the center started Feb. 1, directing its MySpace ads and fliers at North Carolinians ages 14 to 19, is among the latest efforts by health educators to reach teenagers through technology — sex ed on their turf.

More at New York Times »

Maryland in Top 20 for highest rates of STDs

Wrap it up people.

Capital News Service
May 3, 2009

WASHINGTON - Maryland ranked in the Top 20 states for a second year with the highest rates of chlamydia and gonorrhea and placed fourth for syphilis, according to the latest data from the Maryland health department.

"We've been hovering in the top five [for syphilis] for the past few years," said Barbara Conrad, sexually transmitted disease prevention division chief for the Maryland Health Department, who expects 2008 data in the next month.

Maryland ranked fifth for primary and secondary syphilis, second for congenital syphilis, 14th for chlamydia and 18th for gonorrhea in 2006.

In 2007, Maryland had 345 cases of primary and secondary syphilis with a high concentration of cases in Baltimore City and Prince George's County.

More at BaltimoreSun.com »

DiamonbackOnline Guest Column: From prison to college

KENNY BRIDGERS

Issue date: 4/21/09
Section: Opinion

Educational institutions are relying more and more on disciplinary methods to suppress what many consider typical adolescent behavior. In so doing, some youth are guided directly from school suspensions or expulsions to a path of convictions and prison sentences. These are the characteristics of what researchers have termed the "school-to-prison pipeline," through which young people are increasingly funneled into the juvenile justice system. The non-profit student organization Justice for D.C. Youth's mission is to advocate a fairer and more effective juvenile justice system in Washington with the goal of shifting the city's priorities from incarceration to education. Through my work with JDCY, I attended a conference about this issue where we learned that, in the United States, a black man born in 2001 has a one in three chance of going to prison in his lifetime and a Latino man has a one in six chance.

Since spring 2007, in an effort to combat such startling statistics, JDCY has been constructing a new pipeline. The Prison to College Pipeline is a political education and leadership development program designed to work with youth who've been directly impacted by Washington's juvenile justice system. JDCY trains students from this and other universities to volunteers to tutor, facilitate workshops and coordinate other events using a pedagogical approach that emphasizes popular education and arts activism. Once a week, volunteers go to Oak Hill Youth Center, located just more than 10 miles away from the campus, to assist youth in cultivating the skills and knowledge needed to serve as positive leaders in their communities. Youth who participate in the P2CP build and express awareness of social, cultural and political issues while increasing academic skills and social supports in preparation for college and other post-secondary educational institutions.

More at DiamondbackOnline »

California's Juvenile Injustice System

This can't continue.

State sentences children as young as 14 to life without parole. A state Senate bill would bring some sanity to the situation

LA Times
April 30, 2009

Children, even really bad ones, are different from adults. That basic truth is the foundation of our juvenile justice system, which seeks to protect society from violent youth while recognizing that they haven't yet developed an adult's brainpower, resistance to peer pressure, judgment and thus moral capacity. It's the underpinning of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2005 ruling in Roper vs. Simmons, which banned execution of inmates for crimes they committed as children.

That doesn't stop California from locking up children as young as 14 for life without even the most remote possibility of parole. There are more than 200 such offenders living out their lives in prison here, with no chance -- despite any maturing, any repentance, any burgeoning awareness of the wrongness of their actions -- of asking for parole, even decades into adulthood. That's costly, cruel and foolish.

Knowing they will live and die in prison, people who acted in the rashness of youth have no hope of returning to society, and therefore no reason to learn, or grow, or mature, or reform. But surely their example will dissuade other youth from crime? Nonsense. Kids who can't imagine next year can't imagine life in prison and can't be expected to make decisions based on something as obscure to them as parole.

More at LA Times »

Gangs vs. Wannabes

Interesting comments on why neighborhood cliques can be more of a problem than actual gangs.

• • •

Neighborhood groups can be even more dangerous than street gangs because financial interests dominate street gangs. They have an incentive to stay off law enforcement's radar.

But neighborhood "cliques" don't. They imitate the gang culture they get from TV, music and the Internet. They want to avenge every insult.

"An organized gang with a hierarchy has colors and meetings and stuff," said Pinellas sheriff's Detective Anthony Gentile. "But what we see in these neighborhood cliques is they just get out of control, they go crazy."

Some of it is age, said former gang prosecutor Aaron Slavin. There's a word for neighborhood teens who imagine themselves in a gang: "wanna-bes."

"That's the kid that has the problems, who wants the attention, who wants the glorification," Slavin said. "I'd be more scared of that person doing something stupid than the actual true gang member."

• • •

More at St. Petersburg Times »

Off-Topic News: Kelis Files for Divorce From Nas

I don't know if any of those "irreconcilable differences" has a name, but I've done some work in the music industry and I know someone with the success, money, and fame that Nas has will have much more sexual opportunity than what's good for him.

The Associated Press
3:31 PM EDT, May 1, 2009

LOS ANGELES - The milkshake has gone sour between Kelis (KEL-ees) and Nas (NAHZ).

Kelis Rogers filed for divorce Thursday in Los Angeles. She's expecting the couple's first child in July.

Documents show the couple was married in July 2003 and separated in April. Rogers is seeking to have her hip-hop husband pay her attorney's fees and spousal support.

She cited "irreconcilable differences" as the reason for the split.

More at BaltimoreSun.com »

Shame: Pregnant Mother With Sick Children Forced to Wait and Wait for Food Stamps, Medicaid

Miracyle Thompson is the mother of two small boys -- and both have Sickle Cell Anemia. She first applied for Medicaid in November, and when she didn't have a response after 3 months, she applied again on March 3rd (she did receive Medicaid shortly after that — but for herself only, not for her boys.) And yet in April, this:

Then, on April 5, according to the lawsuit, she received a letter that her family's applications had been held up because of an "agency delay beyond our control."

Why did Miracyle Thompson have to wait so long to get benefits she was eligible for, and that federal and state law says she should have had much sooner:

Federal law says food stamps should be provided to eligible families within 30 days of application and Medicaid within 45 days. State law says food stamps should be provided within seven days and Medicaid within 30 days.

This story is so heartbreaking because Sickle Cell Anemia is a brutal disease that causes intense, recurring pain attacks. The attacks can come at any point and can last for days, and the pain has been likened to terminal cancer or childbirth. Sickle Cell can attack any part of the body — any of the organs, and even the brain, which can lead to stroke. 

Because the sickling is caused by a mutation of the hemoglobin gene, the most a doctor can do when a patient has an attack is to hydrate them and medicate the pain. They cannot stop the sickling process, in which blood cells that are normally round become sickle shaped and sticky, and unable to smoothly flow through arteries to oxygenate the organs and the limbs. The blocked blood vessels can cause infections, organ damage, necrosis, and other serious problems.

Why would the state allow those precious little boys to suffer without treatment and medication when they've been struggling with such a devastating disease?

I don't understand how anyone could let those kids go without the care they needed for so long.

More at WashingtonPost.com »

Smart Communities: Crime and Summer

I found this year-old post on a great blog called Smart Communities that has lots of creative advice on how to bring about civic change in communities. The post is old, but it brings up issues we need to be thinking about in our community.

Unless something is done, thousands of mostly-minority kids will have absolutely nothing to do this summer. That's so unfortunate because we could direct these kids into activities that can help them develop and grow, mentally, physically, and creatively. And regardless of the activity, interactions with teens always present opportunities to teach them — not school lessons, but things like how to love themselves, and how to express and maintain their ethnic identities in positive, creative ways, and how to see beyond the environments many of them find themselves in now. There's so much opportunity to help our kids and contribute something positive to their lives. And when you make those kinds of efforts, and accept them exactly as they are, change will happen. Transformation is inevitable in a community where everyone feels accepted.

And it's really very simple. Kids need activities. They need to have skateboarding, midnight basketball, swimming, soccer — athletic and artistic activities. Chief Bratton from LA has been pimping his "Summer of Success" program lately, but his story really is very convincing, of how the program drastically reduced violence. And the program was pretty simple — lots and lots of activities for kids. And if we don't give kids positive things to be involved in, we could end up having a very long, hot summer.

June 20, 2008

Tomorrow is the first day of summer. Along with the mosquitoes invariably comes an increase in crime--youth crime to be exact. Just this week a promising athlete was shot outside his high school graduation while we were in Philadelphia. In an interesting article recently in The Economist, the writer profiles the increase in crime and what Chicago is or isn't doing about it. That city had 36 shootings during the April 18-20 weekend. America had 37% more gang-related murders in 2006 than in 2000 while the overall crime rates are lower. Essentially gang violence heats up in the summer as members have time on their hands and feuds are fueled. The typical response more police and more summer jobs is hampered this year by the economy. So what to do on this eve of summer? The article suggests that Boston has done a very good job getting a handle on the problem. In the 1990s Boston targeted gang violence by offering services and help to gang members but assured them that gang violence would be met with the severest penalties. If there was a gang murder, the police would go after the killer and the gang. In other words the gang business was at risk. This strategy has worked. Youth murders have dropped significantly.

Arts and Enrichment

For many kids in Montgomery County, the only exposure they have to arts and enrichment is what they get in school. (And in recent years, a lot of enrichment activities such as field trips have been reduced because of No Child Left Behind.) I've known kids who cycled all the way through from kindergarten to senior year, and almost never participated in an after-school activity. And I've seen many children who spend their summers with no structured activities at all.

All of the children I've known over the years who were unable to participate in activities, were minorities. They couldn't participate because of costs and transportation issues. And there are far too many minority children who could be excellent dancers, musicians, painters, actors, writers, if only they had a chance to develop those skills through access to instruction.

I believe that when a child develops an artistic talent, the whole person grows and evolves, and the child becomes more aware, more conscious, and grows into a more thoughtful human being. I think we should encourage more kids to become artists, and help them find ways to do that.

DOD Analyst Gets Robbed Tryin' To Get His Freak On

LOL.

I grew up next door to a woman who referred to herself as a "trick ho'". She stood out on the corners looking for dates like the actual prostitutes...but she wasn't selling a thing. She carried a large pair of scissors and used them to rob her 'clients'.

It began as a hot date through one those the phone chat lines, but ended in extortion, kidnapping and robbery, prosecutors said.

Mexico captures powerful Gulf cartel hitman

MATAMOROS, Mexico (Reuters) - Mexico captured a suspected leader of the ruthless Gulf cartel who is wanted in the United States, the latest arrest in its army-led war against drug gangs, the government said.

Police and soldiers on Wednesday caught Gregorio Sauceda, a former policeman turned drug smuggler who had a $2 million reward on his head, in a house in the border city of Matamoros near Texas, along with his wife and an arsenal of weapons that included a rocket launcher, the public security ministry said.

Sauceda, 44, is considered to be a founder of the Gulf cartel's brutal armed wing, the Zetas, which is notorious for beheading rival smugglers. He was flown to the capital, Mexico City, after his arrest.

More at WashingtonPost.com »

Ontario, Canada: Immigrant boy charged for hitting bully

So a Korean boy says that a white kid shoved him, called him a "(expletive) Chinese", and punched him in the mouth. The problem for the bully was, the kid he punched had been taught how to fight by his father who was a highly trained martial artist. The boy must have been good, because his father told him to only punch with his left hand. He did that — and with one punch, the bully's nose was broken.

The really cool thing about this story is that 400 mostly white students walked out of school, protesting the Korean boy's treatment and the fact that he was charged with a crime. After their protest, the police reopened the case.

I don't believe in advocating violence. But I say the bully had it coming.

KESWICK, Ontario, April 30 (UPI) -- A small Canadian town in southern Ontario is divided over charges against an Asian immigrant youth who responded to a bully's punch with one of his own.

The confrontation occurred April 21 in Keswick, 40 miles north of Toronto, between two 15-year-old boys during a game in the high school gymnasium. Neither boy can be identified, The Globe and Mail said.

More from UPI »

Tai Lam's Killer Pleads Guilty

I don't imagine it was Hector Hernandez' conscience that compelled him to suddenly come clean. My guess is that his boy flipped, and the police used that to pressure him to cop a plea, while threatening to throw the proverbial book at him if he didn't. (There are plenty of other charges he could have gotten along with murder two.)

A man suspected of being an illegal immigrant pleaded guilty today to charges that he fatally shot a 14-year-old honors student aboard a Montgomery County transit bus in Silver Spring, officials said.

The shooting last fall fueled a debate that led to a new policy for how Montgomery police handle potentially illegal immigrants.

Hector Hernandez, 21, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Tai Lam. State guidelines call for Hernandez to receive a sentence of between 15 and 45 years, prosecutors said.

About a month before the Nov. 1 shooting, Hernandez was arrested for possession of a switchblade and threatening a student at Northwood High School in Silver Spring. His status as an alleged illegal immigrant went undetected at the time.

Since that time, Montgomery police have adopted a policy of referring to immigration officials the names of all suspects arrested for violent crimes and handgun offenses.

Baltimore: Two High School Students Arrested for Concealed Deadly Weapons

Baltimore Sun: Students face weapons charges

by Jonathan Pitts
May 1, 2009

Two Fallston High School seniors were arrested and charged with possession of a concealed deadly weapon when Harford County sheriff's deputies found each with a fixed-blade knife at the school Monday, authorities said. Nathan Gee and Victor Gee of Fallston, twin brothers who are 18, were released on their own recognizance Monday afternoon. Police said administrators called the county sheriff at 9:30 a.m. with a report that Nathan Gee had been seen with a weapon. A deputy pulling the student from class found a 7-inch fixed-blade knife on him, along with two smaller knives, police said. A similar 7-inch knife was found in Victor Gee's locker, said Sgt. David Betz. The Gees described themselves as knife collectors who brought the weapons to school for protection, Betz said. Police turned up "no credible threat" to the brothers. Betz said rumors the brothers possessed bomb-making instructions at the time of arrest were false, as were reports that either had made threats to the school. Spokeswoman Teri Kranefeld said the school system's policy in weapons-possession cases is an automatic 10-day suspension.

Poet Maya Angelou Visits Youth at Oak Hill Detention Center

Wow. More of this, please.

The Future, Not Past, Is What Counts, Poet Advises Oak Hill Center Youths

By Robert E. Pierre
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 1, 2009

Maya Angelou has dozens of honorary doctorate degrees, speaks several languages and is recognized all over the world for the more than 30 books she's written.

But when she visited the Oak Hill Youth Center in Laurel yesterday, Angelou told dozens of young men that she was not all that different from them. She was abandoned as a child, raped at age 7 by her mother's boyfriend and became a teenage prostitute.

Life isn't about taking back, she said, but adding to what already exists. "Be yourself," she told the teens, who have all been deemed delinquent. "Try to be the real you, a man or woman who can do more than you think you can do."

Angelou, in town for a fundraiser for a charter school bearing her name, spent more than half an hour lecturing and listening to students such as Darius Watts, a 10th-grader at Oak Hill Academy, who said that he's reading "Animal Farm" and studying the Russian Revolution. At his previous school, outside Oak Hill, no one forced him to do class work, much less read the classics and study world history.

"No one seemed to care about us," Watts said. "We were never held accountable."

Oak Hill Academy, the school at the Oak Hill center, is run by the See Forever Foundation, the nonprofit that manages Maya Angelou Public Charter School in the District. Vincent N. Schiraldi, director of the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, which oversees Oak Hill, has made it a point during his four-year tenure to expose many of the city's most delinquent youths to what many don't get at home: arts, culture and activities such as hiking and canoeing.

"You're smart enough and deep enough to understand Dr. Angelou," he told the youths in introducing her. "People always underestimate you."

Angelou said she know what it is like to be underestimated and judged dumb. After she was raped, Angelou said, she didn't speak for years, and many wondered what was wrong with her.

More at WashingtonPost.com »

Rockville: School Closed Over Swine Flu

(WUSA) -- Montgomery County Public Schools have announced that Rockville High School will be closed Friday by order order of State of Maryland and Montgomery County health officials.

9NEWS Now has learned from Montgomery County Public School officials that a learning disabled student who attends Rockville High School has a probable case of H1N1 flu. The student is the ninth probable case to have been reported in Maryland.

Rockville High School will remain closed until further notice.

A press conference with more details on this latest probable case of H1N1 flu will take place at 10:30 am Friday at the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services.