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Commercial anti-discrimination
mirroring a battle from last years session. Much of the contention centered on a House of Delegates bill backed by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and co-sponsored by over 40 delegates - that would add 10 additional Continued on A9
ported by the entire Maryland Legislative Black Caucus. The legislation, introduced by Baltimore City Del. Talmadge Branch in the House and Prince Georges County Sen. Gloria Lawlah in the Senate, prohibits businesses that contract with the state from discriminating based on race, age, sex, national origin or disability in their solicitation or selection of subcontractors, vendors and suppliers. The legislation also empowers the attorney generals office to investigate allegations of discrimination against state contractors and creates a pool of 15 volunteer experts available to testify during investigations. If allegations of discrimination are upheld, businesses are subject
to penalties that include the termination of existing contracts, the suspension of their right to bid on state contracts for three years or permanent debarment. Branch, who introduced a similar bill last year that eventually was withdrawn, said the state should not Continued on A9
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Harold Seaborne
By Leonard Sparks AFRO Staff Writer
68%
Is a worldwide failure to encourage participation of people of color in the Winter Olympic sport categories?
Dramatizes an Olympics point of view that Winter Olympic sports can only involve snow or ice?
The above results may not reflect the actual opinions of AFRO readers.
20% 12%
Shani Davis of the United States competes against Jeremy Wotherspoon of Canada (not seen) during the mens 1,000 meter speedskating race at Oval Lingotto during the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, Feb. 18. Davis won the gold medal.
AP Photo/Dusan Vranic
Harold A. Seaborne, who in 1933 became the first in a series of applicants to challenge the University of Maryland Law Schools refusal to admit Black students and later became a junior high school principal, died Feb. 2 at Long Green Center in Baltimore. He was 94. He was a man with great dignity, said Katherine Richardson, a former student and employee of Seabornes who became his longtime friend. We will miss him.
Seaborne was born Feb. 12, 1911, in Baltimore, Md., the third of six children of Samuel and Sallie Seaborne. He grew up in West Baltimore and attended Baltimore City public schools. After graduating as an honors student from Frederick Douglass High School, he enrolled at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, where he attended school with future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and future civil rights warrior Clarence Mitchell Jr. He graduated with Continued on A2
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Character Education Listen to First Edition
bronze in the 5,000. While Fabris and Davis skated a victory lap together, an irritated Hedrick plopped down and took off his skates. Americans Joey Cheek and Derek Parra, the defending Olympic champion, were ninth and 19th. Im a little surprised, Cheek said. I had thought it would be between Shani and Chad, but if I knew what was going to happen, Id be a gambler.
sent its final telegram, ending its more than 150 years of telegraphic messaging since its inception in 1851. The move, officials said, was part of the companys metamorphosis. Believe me it was not an easy decision for us to make because the telegram was part of our heritage, said Amy Fischer, Western Unions cor-
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This is the sixth of an 8-part series of stories about the Gulf Coast and the road to recovery after Hurricane Katrina. This project is a cooperative effort between the Baltimore AFRO and National Newspaper Publishers Association. GULFPORT, Miss. Hezekiah Hezzie Watts stood in the glare of the midday sun looking at the shattered remains of his lifes dream, H.W. Marine Repair, a boat repair and service company that he started 15 years before. It was not a large company; it comprised just him and an assistant, but it was his. This was a dream of mine and it was going well, Watts said. But that was before Hurricane Katrina tore through the Gulf coast, leaving destruction and mayhem in its wake. Now, H.W. Marine Repair was nothing but a hollow shell. Its a total loss. Because of
by one of the worst storms of the century. To the west, in the Crescent City, the situation is even worse. Of the 9,747 Black firms in New Orleans recorded by the last U.S. Economic
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A reproduction of an actual telegram sent to the AFRO Newspapers by AFRO reporters covering the Scottsboro Boys case, which was held in Alabama in April 1931 and March 1933.
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More than three years ago, twenty 12- and 13-year-old at risk young Black men from the inner city of Baltimore left home to attend the 7th and 8th grade at Baraka, a boarding school located in Kenya, East Africa. Now that the film, The Boys of Baraka, has been produced and released in theaters across the country, theater goers and philanthropists wonder where we go from here. At a special screening held by the Greater Baltimore Urban Leagues Young Professionals
organization, patrons expressed both relief and frustration concerning the issues raised by the documentary. I dont understand why we cant have something like this in Baltimore, said Sarah Mitchell, theater patron. Films are good for many things, especially for exposing ills in our community, but this is a problem everyone in Baltimore was aware of. If being in Africa didnt have any real significance then why not start a school in rural Maryland? At Baraka, the young men were faced with a strict aca-
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Above, Hezekiah Watts stands in the remains of his marine repair business which he started from scratch 10 years before. Right, all that is left of H.W. Marine Repair is the tattered frame of the building.
tracts being canceled or put on hold. Part of the problem is that all of FEMAs $1.8 billion clean up and rebuilding contracts were pounced upon and divvied up among politically connected fat cats such as Haliburton and its subsidiaries,
up and construction is going to a lot of companies from out of town, Washington said. You see people from all over the country that are coming here to participate in clean up and rebuilding. I have not seen any significant involvement of African-American firms.
been in contact with everybody from funeral homes to contractors, a lot of equipment is under water, they dont have the ability to get new equipment to participate in the rebuilding effort right now, Washington said. Its hard to compete when you have to
did return. And the insurance adjustor cannot be found and has not responded to calls, so he cannot even depend on insurance compensation to repair the damage to his building. In the meantime, Washington said, he is trying to come up with a plan to
When I met the kids, I was charmed by them. They were funny and smart. The thing about Baltimore is that there is no delusion about the plight of the city. However, sometimes after shooting, Im not proud to say that I was relieved to go home.
second grade reading level, but anybody that heard him speak knew he was a genius. We think we have it all when it comes to measuring someones ability, but a young man like Richard proves otherwise. However, some patrons felt the trip to Africa was a waste of time, considering that the young men were not introduced to African culture throughout. One of the things that I would have really like to have seen in the movie was the cultural aspect of going to Africa, Adrian Miller, a patron from Seattle, Wash. It seemed more they were at a camp. They never got a chance to experience the African culture at all. I think that could have helped the boys reevaluate their lives in America. The Boys of Baraka is Loki Films first production and has already been nominated for an never been to Baltimore prior to starting filming. Grady was familiar with Baltimore. Both filmmakers, young White women, said this first project was a true revelation of societal ills existing in the Black community. I thought the whole concept of sending American children to a developing country to be educated was so strange, Heidi Ewing told the AFRO in an earlier interview. What happens to someone if they are removed from their reality of a toxic environment and a broken public school system and are allowed to start over? Thats an interesting experiment for atrisk prepubescent kids. Both Ewing and Grady have produced and directed documentaries for The Discovery Channel and other nationally recognized stations. Grady, a private investigator turned film-
maker, has produced and directed a wide variety of documentaries. At Loki, we want to make films that evoke a deeper understanding of the human experience with all its complexities, high stakes and humor, said Ewing. Obtaining permission to film took the two young directors over a year and another three and a half years to complete filming. I called them every month
The Boys of Baraka is Loki Films first production and has already been nominated for an Academy Award.
for a year, said Ewing. They finally relented and allowed us to make the film. She said she was charmed by the students when she met them. They were funny and smart. The thing about Baltimore is that there is no delusion about the plight of the city. However, sometimes after shooting, Im not proud to say that I was relieved to go home. Although the kids rejected the discipline at the beginning, the directors saw grown men in the young boys that were allowed to be kids again in Africa. They were extremely mature and had a lot to say for their age, said Ewing. I guess the fact that it was in Africa was a coincidence, said Ewing. They were just looking for an economically good place to put a school. In no way was it any sort of back to Africa concept, but I think the fact that it was in Africa added a new dimension for the kids. In Africa, these kids were suddenly the rich kids. Devon Brown, 16, one of the four boys featured in the documentary, is now a sophomore at the Academy for College and Career Exploration in Baltimore and became student-body president during his freshman year. He delivers sermons sometimes at Zion Baptist Church in East Baltimore. Devon writes and sings gospel and has recorded a demo CD. While in Africa, Devon, who was 12 during the filming and now is 16, says he learned something about himself that everybody around him has always known. I learned that I was smart while at the Baraka school, said Devon. Once I had that confidence it was as if every-
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thing was fundamental. Before, I wanted to be the class clown and goof off. When I became focused, I knew what I was capable of. He also learned the importance of keeping a positive attitude. In Africa, we used what we had to get along. There werent many resources, he said. I became a man in Africa. Although Africas a developing country they focus on education all day long. In our culture, there are a lot of distractions that are not helpful to learning. Montrey Moore, 16, scored high enough on his Maryland School Assessment math exams to be accepted to City College, where he is currently a sophomore. Montrey says the experience at Baraka not only opened his eyes to what a good education is, but he also witnessed how real brotherhood feels. In Africa, everyone watches out for each other, said Montrey, because the concept of materialism doesnt exist. In Africa, we were like the rich kids from East Baltimore. But they have something we dont have in America - a sense of community. At Baraka, I was a student, said Montrey. Before, I was just another Black kid.