Democrats eye Rushern L. Baker III for No. 2 on ticket�-�Metropolitan�-�The Washington Times, America's Newspaper
Democrats eye blacks for No. 2 on ticket�-�Metropolitan�-�The Washington Times, America's Newspaper: "The Washington Times
www.washingtontimes.com
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Democrats eye blacks for No. 2 on ticket
By S.A. Miller
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published October 24, 2005
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Maryland Democratic leaders say their gubernatorial hopefuls are considering black running mates almost exclusively to shore up minority support after Republicans broke the color barrier to statewide office with the election of Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele.
"The Democratic leadership is very concerned about African-American males being on the top of that ticket in some way, shape or form," said Anne Arundel County Executive Janet S. Owens, a Democrat. "There is real, genuine pressure that it is time for the Democratic Party to do something on that front."
The two leading Democratic candidates for governor, Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan and Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, are expected to heed the advice -- and Democrats are speculating about lieutenant governor picks.
Democrats say the most likely running mates for Mr. Duncan and Mr. O'Malley are current and former leaders from Prince George's County and Baltimore, two party strongholds with large black constituencies.
Prince George's Democrats on the list are former County Executive Wayne K. Curry, former Delegate Rushern L. Baker III, Delegate Anthony G. Brown, State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey and County Executive Jack B. Johnson.
In Baltimore, possible black running mates include state Sen. Lisa A. Gladden, City Council members Kenneth N. Harris Sr. and Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr., State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy and state Sen. Verna L. Jones.
For Mr. Duncan and Mr. O'Malley, the selection will reflect their strategy for the primary contest, with Mr. Duncan likely to pick a running mate from the mayor's city and Mr. O'Malley probably teaming up with someone from suburban Washington.
For the party, however, the move is more important for healing black voters' resentment that it took Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a Republican, to first tap a black running mate -- in 2002 -- and force Democrats to follow suit.
The Democratic Party has long controlled state politics and relied on a large bloc of loyal black Democrats to deliver elections, but the party has never offered a black candidate on a statewide ticket.
"That's an issue that has been hard for African-Americans to swallow," said Ike Leggett, Democratic candidate for Montgomery County executive and former Maryland Democratic Party chairman.
In 2002, Mr. Leggett was considered a front-runner for Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend's pick for her No. 2 in the contest with Mr. Ehrlich. However, Mrs. Townsend tapped retired Adm. Charles R. Larson, a white, middle-aged Republican who switched parties for the race.
"One could make the argument that [Democrats] took the African-American vote for granted," Mr. Leggett said. "If there is no African-American in a significant position for the party this time, it will certainly have a negative impact [for Democrats] in the general election."
Mr. Duncan, who officially announced his run Thursday, has not started looking for a running mate but "believes strongly that there should be diversity on the ticket," said campaign manager Scott B. Arceneaux.
He said Mr. Duncan was "not under any pressure at all" to pick a black running mate.
Mr. O'Malley has not publicly committed to choosing a minority running mate, but O'Malley campaign manager Jonathan A. Epstein has said the mayor is cognizant of Maryland's many "talented" black politicians who would be an asset to the ticket.
However, Mr. Steele did more than enhance the Republican ticket in 2002. He transformed himself from a relative unknown to a rising star in the national Republican Party.
Republicans consider Mr. Steele their most promising candidate for the seat of retiring Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes, Maryland Democrat.
Democrats vying for the open seat are Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin, political activist A. Robert Kaufman, American University professor Alan Lichtman, former Congress member Kweisi Mfume and forensic psychiatrist Lise Van Susteren.
Mr. Steele's rise also has transformed the expectations of some black Democrats, which could complicate Mr. Duncan's and Mr. O'Malley's choice. Some of the black Democratic leaders with the highest profiles -- including Mr. Ivey, Mr. Johnson and Mrs. Jessamy -- may have their sights set on more prestigious jobs, such as attorney general or governor."
Baker running early, hard - and uphill
"Baker running early, hard - and uphill
09/01/05
By Pete Pichaske
Laurel Leader.com
If this is Thursday, Rushern Baker is probably campaigning for Prince George's County executive.
Or if it's Friday. Or Saturday. Or Sunday or Monday or just about any day of the week, for that matter.
Twelve months before the 2006 primary election and 14 months before the general, the former state delegate from Cheverly, who finished fourth in a field of five county-executive candidates in the 2002 Democratic primary, is running again for the county's top elected position.
And he's doing it with a passion and zeal that make him impossible to ignore - and with endless, pointed attacks on the incumbent, fellow Democrat Jack Johnson.
In a recent news release, for example, Baker took aim at what he called Johnson's chief failure: controlling crime in Prince George's County.
"Johnson has been focused on public relations rather than public safety," he said in a statement last month, the day after the number of county murders for the year topped 100. "Johnson has pointed fingers everywhere except where it belongs: his own administration. ... We have worked too hard for too long to let Johnson undo our progress in this county."
In an interview, Baker made no apologies for his attacks.
"Nothing personal against Jack, but he's not getting the job done," Baker said. "We're going to be very aggressive about educating the public about that. We're going to hold him accountable for his failures."
Johnson spokesman James Keary dismissed Baker's campaign as "negative" and his arguments "based on fabrications."
"He has not offered one solution to any issue," Keary said. "All he does is criticize, and it's easy to criticize."
Keary added, "The county executive has always said that he welcomes any opposition. He will stand on his record."
Uphill battle
Fellow politicians agree on a few things about Baker: that he is bright, able and driven to public service; that his nascent campaign for county executive (Baker has not yet formally declared, although he said he will soon) is likely to be the only substantive challenge Johnson faces; and, that the campaign will be based on wooing voters dissatisfied with the incumbent, especially in the areas of crime and education.
They also agree that Baker faces a difficult task.
"Jack's going to be tough to beat because he's the incumbent and he's got so much money," said Prince George's County State's Attorney Glenn Ivey, who has been rumored to be interested in the job himself but has ruled out running next year. "It's going to be a challenge. Rushern's got an uphill climb."
...State Sen. Paul Pinsky, a University Park Democrat who supported Baker's 2002 campaign, agreed Baker faces an uphill climb, calling Johnson "a formidable opponent."
But he noted that Baker has been campaigning for executive for a year already and is unlikely to slow down.
"The thing about Rushern is, he really wants to be a public servant," Pinsky said. "He really feels guided to serve others, and I think that's very valiant."
State Del. Brian Moe of Laurel, who supported Jim Estepp for county executive in 2002, called Baker "a very talented individual, very bright," but agreed he faces a tough battle.
"The county executive has his problems; every county executive has his problems," Moe said. "But I think Rushern ought to keep all his irons in the fire before he jumps in what would certainly be an uphill battle."
Observers also say that while Baker might benefit from concerns about crime in Prince George's, especially the murder rate, Johnson, as the incumbent, will benefit from a healthy local and national economy, which keeps dissatisfaction down.
Baker undaunted
Baker said that in the past year he has received numerous calls from county residents urging him into the campaign. He spent time talking to individuals and groups, he said, to determine if Johnson was vulnerable.
"There is an interest in changing leadership in Prince George's County," Baker said.
He agreed that Johnson has a big edge in name recognition, especially in the south county, and said his early campaigning is designed to help overcome that disadvantage.
"Jack's got very high name recognition, but that doesn't mean people don't want a change," Baker added.
Born in Valdosta, Ga., the son of a career military man, Baker moved to the Washington area in the 1980s to attend Howard University and, later, Howard University Law School. Beginning in 1994, he served two terms in the House of Delegates, including four years as the county's House delegation chairman.
As chairman, he was perhaps best known for leading the fight to revamp the Prince George's Board of Education during the troubled term of former schools Superintendent Iris Metts.
Baker admits his leadership in temporarily replacing an elected board with an appointed board earned him some enemies. But he said many give him high marks for tackling a difficult problem.
"The system had imploded," he said.
Besides giving him leadership experience, Baker said, his term as delegation chairman made him familiar with the entire county, not just the Cheverly area he represented.
Still, that did him little good in 2002, when he spurned the chance to be elected to the state Senate in a new district - drawn with him in mind - in favor of running for executive.
Little known outside his district, Baker captured only 12.5 percent of the vote. Johnson, who had spent the previous eight years in the county's high-profile State's Attorney's Office, won the primary with 37 percent and went on to handily beat his GOP opponent in the general election.
Baker now works as executive director for the Community Teachers Institute, a non-profit agency that works to recruit more minority teachers in the Washington area.
It is a position that leaves Baker with time and energy for his other job: running for county executive.
On the campaign trail
Baker has been in Laurel twice during the past month. He was at Famous Dave's restaurant in early August when U.S. Rep. Ben Cardin spoke to the Greater Laurel Beltsville Democratic Club. More recently, he was at the golf course community of Patuxent Greens on a warm weekday evening, knocking on doors and handing out campaign literature.
"Hi, I'm Rushern Baker and I'm running for county executive," he tells one homeowner who answers the door.
When the homeowner, somewhat mystified, asks if this is for next year's election, Baker tells him it is. "We want to get started early," he says.
In his standard pitch, Baker argues that Prince George's, under Johnson, leads the state in six major crime categories: rape, robbery, arson, larceny, carjacking and car theft. He said his own teenage son was robbed at gunpoint last year at a Metrorail station.
"He (Johnson) has not only dropped the ball on fighting crime, he's not even there - he's missing in action," Baker said. "It's his greatest
fault."
To deal with rising crime, Baker recommends beefing up the force with retired officers and hiring more civilians to do jobs now done by uniformed officers, thus putting those officers back on the street.
Johnson's rebuttal
Johnson spokesman Keary countered that the county executive already is hiring civilians for the Police Department, as well as hiring more officers. Keary ridiculed as unrealistic the idea of hiring retired officers.
He also argued that crime began to rise in the county in 1999, before Johnson took office, and that Johnson has raised spending on public safety every year since he became executive.
Johnson, in a speech last month to new police recruits, conceded that murders had climbed dramatically during the first four months of this year. But he said the rate has slowed since then, which he said shows that his efforts at reducing crime are working.
"It takes a long, hard effort and sustained determination to reduce crime," Johnson said. "We will stay the course and we are confident that the numbers will continue to go down."
Whether Baker can carry public concern about crime all the way to the county executive's office in Upper Marlboro remains to be seen, but he shows no sign of giving up the fight.
"Right now, there's a low point in the county that needs to be filled in terms of public safety, and Rushern sees that," Moe said. "Will that be an in for him? I don't know."
E-mail Pete Pichaske at Pete Pichaske@patuxent.com"
Laurel Leader: Baker running early, hard - and uphill
Laurel Leader: "Baker running early, hard - and uphill
09/01/05
By Pete Pichaske
Rushern Baker, left, tells Patuxent Greens resident Wes Tracy why he is qualified to be Prince George's County executive. Staff Photo By Andrew Henderson.
... If this is Thursday, Rushern Baker is probably campaigning for Prince George's County executive.
Or if it's Friday. Or Saturday. Or Sunday or Monday or just about any day of the week, for that matter.
Twelve months before the 2006 primary election and 14 months before the general, the former state delegate from Cheverly, who finished fourth in a field of five county-executive candidates in the 2002 Democratic primary, is running again for the county's top elected position.
And he's doing it with a passion and zeal that make him impossible to ignore - and with endless, pointed attacks on the incumbent, fellow Democrat Jack Johnson.
In a recent news release, for example, Baker took aim at what he called Johnson's chief failure: controlling crime in Prince George's County.
"Johnson has been focused on public relations rather than public safety," he said in a statement last month, the day after the number of county murders for the year topped 100. "JohnsRushern Baker
on has pointed fingers everywhere except where it belongs: his own administration. ... We have worked too hard for too long to let Johnson undo our progress in this county."
In an interview, Baker made no apologies for his attacks.
"Nothing personal against Jack, but he's not getting the job done," Baker said. "We're going to be very aggressive about educating the public about that. We're going to hold him accountable for his failures."
Johnson spokesman James Keary dismissed Baker's campaign as "negative" and his arguments "based on fabrications."
"He has not offered one solution to any issue," Keary said. "All he does is criticize, and it's easy to criticize."
Keary added, "The county executive has always said that he welcomes any opposition. He will stand on his record."
Uphill battle
Fellow politicians agree on a few things about Baker: that he is bright, able and driven to public service; that his nascent campaign for county executive (Baker has not yet formally declared, although he said he will soon) is likely to be the only substantive challenge Johnson faces; and, that the campaign will be based on wooing voters dissatisfied with the incumbent, especially in the areas of crime and education.
They also agree that Baker faces a difficult task.
"Jack's going to be tough to beat because he's the incumbent and he's got so much money," said Prince George's County State's Attorney Glenn Ivey, who has been rumored to be interested in the job himself but has ruled out running next year. "It's going to be a challenge. Rushern's got an uphill climb."
According to recent campaign finance reports, Johnson has some $700,000 already in his campaign warchest, while Baker has about $100,000, according to campaign chairman Chris Lawson. Baker has wiped out a previous campaign debt of about $100,000, said another aide.
State Sen. Paul Pinsky, a University Park Democrat who supported Baker's 2002 campaign, agreed Baker faces an uphill climb, calling Johnson "a formidable opponent."
But he noted that Baker has been campaigning for executive for a year already and is unlikely to slow down.
"The thing about Rushern is, he really wants to be a public servant," Pinsky said. "He really feels guided to serve others, and I think that's very valiant."
State Del. Brian Moe of Laurel, who supported Jim Estepp for county executive in 2002, called Baker "a very talented individual, very bright," but agreed he faces a tough battle.
"The county executive has his problems; every county executive has his problems," Moe said. "But I think Rushern ought to keep all his irons in the fire before he jumps in what would certainly be an uphill battle."
Observers also say that while Baker might benefit from concerns about crime in Prince George's, especially the murder rate, Johnson, as the incumbent, will benefit from a healthy local and national economy, which keeps dissatisfaction down.
Baker undaunted
Baker said that in the past year he has received numerous calls from county residents urging him into the campaign. He spent time talking to individuals and groups, he said, to determine if Johnson was vulnerable.
"There is an interest in changing leadership in Prince George's County," Baker said.
He agreed that Johnson has a big edge in name recognition, especially in the south county, and said his early campaigning is designed to help overcome that disadvantage.
"Jack's got very high name recognition, but that doesn't mean people don't want a change," Baker added.
Born in Valdosta, Ga., the son of a career military man, Baker moved to the Washington area in the 1980s to attend Howard University and, later, Howard University Law School. Beginning in 1994, he served two terms in the House of Delegates, including four years as the county's House delegation chairman.
As chairman, he was perhaps best known for leading the fight to revamp the Prince George's Board of Education during the troubled term of former schools Superintendent Iris Metts.
Baker admits his leadership in temporarily replacing an elected board with an appointed board earned him some enemies. But he said many give him high marks for tackling a difficult problem.
"The system had imploded," he said.
Besides giving him leadership experience, Baker said, his term as delegation chairman made him familiar with the entire county, not just the Cheverly area he represented.
Still, that did him little good in 2002, when he spurned the chance to be elected to the state Senate in a new district - drawn with him in mind - in favor of running for executive.
Little known outside his district, Baker captured only 12.5 percent of the vote. Johnson, who had spent the previous eight years in the county's high-profile State's Attorney's Office, won the primary with 37 percent and went on to handily beat his GOP opponent in the general election.
Baker now works as executive director for the Community Teachers Institute, a non-profit agency that works to recruit more minority teachers in the Washington area.
It is a position that leaves Baker with time and energy for his other job: running for county executive.
On the campaign trail
Baker has been in Laurel twice during the past month. He was at Famous Dave's restaurant in early August when U.S. Rep. Ben Cardin spoke to the Greater Laurel Beltsville Democratic Club. More recently, he was at the golf course community of Patuxent Greens on a warm weekday evening, knocking on doors and handing out campaign literature.
"Hi, I'm Rushern Baker and I'm running for county executive," he tells one homeowner who answers the door.
When the homeowner, somewhat mystified, asks if this is for next year's election, Baker tells him it is. "We want to get started early," he says.
In his standard pitch, Baker argues that Prince George's, under Johnson, leads the state in six major crime categories: rape, robbery, arson, larceny, carjacking and car theft. He said his own teenage son was robbed at gunpoint last year at a Metrorail station.
"He (Johnson) has not only dropped the ball on fighting crime, he's not even there - he's missing in action," Baker said. "It's his greatest fault."
To deal with rising crime, Baker recommends beefing up the force with retired officers and hiring more civilians to do jobs now done by uniformed officers, thus putting those officers back on the street.
Johnson's rebuttal
Johnson spokesman Keary countered that the county executive already is hiring civilians for the Police Department, as well as hiring more officers. Keary ridiculed as unrealistic the idea of hiring retired officers.
He also argued that crime began to rise in the county in 1999, before Johnson took office, and that Johnson has raised spending on public safety every year since he became executive.
Johnson, in a speech last month to new police recruits, conceded that murders had climbed dramatically during the first four months of this year. But he said the rate has slowed since then, which he said shows that his efforts at reducing crime are working.
"It takes a long, hard effort and sustained determination to reduce crime," Johnson said. "We will stay the course and we are confident that the numbers will continue to go down."
Whether Baker can carry public concern about crime all the way to the county executive's office in Upper Marlboro remains to be seen, but he shows no sign of giving up the fight.
"Right now, there's a low point in the county that needs to be filled in terms of public safety, and Rushern sees that," Moe said. "Will that be an in for him? I don't know."
E-mail Pete Pichaske at Pete Pichaske@patuxent.com"
Johnson Panics and Tries to Strong Arm PG Senate Delegation
Johnson talks turkey with Dems:
Jack Johnson is running scared. Not surprising from a man too scared to drive himself to KFC.
"Johnson talks turkey with Dems
Aug. 18, 2005
County Executive Jack B. Johnson recently held a meeting with members of the state senate delegation. His message: "If anyone ran the slate with Rushern [Baker], he would run someone against him," a source in county government told the Gazette.
Baker, a former state delegate, announced an exploratory committee for the county's top job in June.
Sen. John A. Gianetti, Jr. (D-Dist. 21) of Laurel said Johnson never made any threats.
"What he said was, 'We're going to stick together as Democrats, put aside our differences and run as a team." Johnson said the incumbents are welcome to stay on the team, Gianetti said.
All of the county's state senators were present though some left early, according to Gianetti.
"The basic theme was Democratic party unity," said John Erzen, a Johnson spokesman.
Baker said three or four people, including one person who was in the room, described a more ominous tone to him.
Anytime you have to go strong arm politicians, it shows you're scared," Baker said chuckling."
Prince George's struggles with crime spike - baltimoresun.com
Prince George's struggles with crime spike - baltimoresun.com: "As of Friday, county police were investigating 97 homicides, compared with 80 at this time last year. It's a tally that rivals Washington's, though it's still far below Baltimore's body count of 163.
County police statistics show that robberies have more than doubled since this time last year, rape is up 20 percent and attempted rape is up 70 percent.
Carjackings have increased from about 215 in the first six months of last year to more than 300 so far this year.
And Prince George's County leads the state - and is among the highest in the nation - in vehicle theft.
"Prince George's County - we have money. We're highly educated. We're not losing population. These are not problems that we should be having," says Rushern L. Baker III, a former delegate who says he'll challenge County Executive Jack B. Johnson in the 2006 Democratic primary."
The Failure of Jack Johnson - Pr. George's Crime, Prices Send Residents to Charles County
Pr. George's Crime, Prices Send Residents to Charles: "Pr. George's Crime, Prices Send Residents to Charles
By Ann E. Marimow
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 21, 2005; Page A01
Lawrence Bryant was fed up with the skid marks on Tunic Avenue from drivers using his Capitol Heights street as a speedway. His wife, Chicquita, gave up when the chrome rims were lifted from the Cadillac parked in the driveway of their bungalow.
Seven miles away in Temple Hills, Michelle Jiggetts was loyal to the county that taught her daughter to ice skate, and excited for the arrival of upscale shopping at a planned waterfront complex. She and her husband, Kevin, became discouraged only after losing 10 house bidding wars.
Friends Wayne Grimes, left, and Ken Arnold, right, help Kevin Jiggetts, behind Grimes, move into his family's new home in Waldorf. The Jiggettses moved from Prince George's because of rising real estate prices. (By Susan Biddle -- The Washington Post)
The Bryants and the Jiggettses had different motivations for leaving Prince George's County -- in one case increasing crime, in the other rising home prices -- but they had the same destination: Charles County.
The couples, both black, represent thousands of Prince George's residents moving across the county's southern border and fueling the once-rural area's transformation into Southern Maryland's most diverse suburb.
Between 2000 and 2003, more people from Prince George's moved into Charles than from any other state or neighboring county. Like other outer suburbs, such as Frederick and Calvert, the growth in Charles is being driven by residents moving from other parts of the state.
In Charles, 81 percent of what demographers call "net migration" -- the term for people moving in, minus people moving out -- came from Prince George's, according to an analysis of federal tax returns by the Maryland Department of Planning.
During the same period, the black population in Charles increased 22 percent, and African Americans now account for 30 percent of county residents, compared with 18 percent in 1990, according to 2003 Census Bureau estimates.
Although the Internal Revenue Service figures do not provide a complete picture of the migration to Charles -- first-time filers, for instance, are not included -- they are a "good indicator of the magnitude and origin and destination of the movement," said Mark Goldstein, a planning department economist.
Such newcomers as the Bryants and the Jiggettses are pulled south for a range of reasons, from the relatively low crime rate and good reputation of the public schools to the stock of new, relatively inexpensive homes.
'You Could Be at Home Here'
To Lawrence Bryant, Tunic Avenue in Capitol Heights is cursing, fighting, drinking and screeching tires. He tried unsuccessfully to petition the mayor's office to install speed bumps.
On his first visit back to the street he left last August, Bryant pointed to the jungle gym and bright yellow slide in the park one-half block from his old house. He said he never let his children play there, not once in 10 years.
"No one hangs out here but adults," Bryant said, shaking his head, then letting out a laugh, not because he thinks it's funny, but because he can get in his car and leave.
The stocky 35-year-old's nickname is "Big L," but he said, "From my house to my driveway was as far as I was willing to walk."
Frustrated, Bryant turned to co-workers for advice. During contract jobs at the Pentagon and State Department, where he supervises the installation of telecommunications equipment, they suggested Virginia, Baltimore County and Charles. He looked at one four-bedroom home in Fairfax County. Half a million dollars was too much.
Friends Wayne Grimes, left, and Ken Arnold, right, help Kevin Jiggetts, behind Grimes, move into his family's new home in Waldorf. The Jiggettses moved from Prince George's because of rising real estate prices. (By Susan Biddle -- The Washington Post)
The Bryants had shopped and dined in Waldorf's vast strip malls. When their real estate agent showed them a four-bedroom, split-level, brick-front house nearby for $279,000, they were sold.
"When I came out here, the taste of the air was different. That may sound corny, but you just knew you could be at home here," he said.
"We'd come from so much confusion and uproar, and I wanted to be somewhere where my kids could be at peace."
In summers past, the Bryant family escaped to airy, quiet rental cottages in North Carolina with screened porches for crab feasts so the smell didn't linger. This summer, Bryant is hosting crab dinners from his own porch. The loudest noise, he said with a smile, is the neighbor's son taking batting practice.
Instead of hustling from the driveway to the front door, Chicquita and Lawrence walk miles around the White Oak Village neighborhood for exercise. He lets his eldest son take off on a bike and his 16-year-old daughter practice driving on the road leading into the subdivision.
Bryant can measure the difference in dollars and police statistics.
During the 12-month period that ended in May, the Prince George's County Police Department reported 22 homicides and 1,736 stolen cars in Bryant's old Zip code. The Charles County Sheriff's Office reported one homicide and 163 stolen vehicles in Bryant's new neighborhood for the same period.
Bryant's car insurance payments dropped from roughly $450 a month in Prince George's to $250. Homeowner's insurance on the 900-square-foot bungalow he sold for $165,000 was $2,000 a year. Twenty miles south, Bryant pays $1,200 for a home that is twice the size.
As much as the Bryants were eager to leave Prince George's, Michelle Jiggetts was determined to stay. Even with boxes lining the hallways of her townhouse this month, she seemed reluctant.
A health care company manager and community college instructor, Jiggetts had visions of shopping at Prince George's County's planned National Harbor development instead of driving to Tysons Corner. Her 8-year-old daughter Courtney is thriving in county-run summer camps for ice skating, basketball and soccer and at a Montessori school in Temple Hills.
When Michelle and Kevin married in 1995, the two-bedroom townhouse with a finished basement was spacious. Now there are ice skates, guinea pigs and bicycles in what Michelle calls "Courtney's house."
In a familiar house-hunting tale, the longer the Jiggettses looked for more space in Prince George's, the more the prices increased. Last October, they stretched to bid $315,000. By January, they were offering $430,000 and still no house.
Friends Wayne Grimes, left, and Ken Arnold, right, help Kevin Jiggetts, behind Grimes, move into his family's new home in Waldorf. The Jiggettses moved from Prince George's because of rising real estate prices. (By Susan Biddle -- The Washington Post)
After 10 heartbreaking bids, the kind that still sting, the Jiggettses were drawn to the blank canvas of a brand-new home. Instead of the Jiggettses begging to pay the seller's closing costs in Prince George's, the builders in Charles from Patriot Homes offered to pay thousands of dollars in closing costs.
"You're not competing against anyone," said Kevin Jiggetts, 42. "Instead, it's 'Pick a lot, pick a style.' "
Like a proud father, he pulled out a photo album that chronicles the birth of their $388,000 home in the Sheffield neighborhood. Four bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths, a two-car garage, plus a little extra for Corian countertops, hardwood floors and a hot tub in the master bathroom. Similar homes were selling for $50,000 more in Prince George's and $75,000 more in Howard, according to the Jiggettses' research.
As the Jiggettses prepared to move in last week, they had conflicting emotions. Michelle, 41, worried about the long, congested commute from Waldorf to Washington. Friends and family will be farther away in Fort Washington and Upper Marlboro.
Kevin Jiggetts, an actor, was more upbeat. He is excited about raising Courtney in a more diverse neighborhood.
"Don't get me wrong, I love black people, but I love other people, too," he said.
The Jiggettses have heard about racial tensions in predominantly white Charles, especially after last December's much-publicized arson in the Hunters Brooke development.
One of the men who pleaded guilty said he targeted the homes because they were bought by African Americans, although no one has been charged with a hate crime and prosecutors say there could have been several motives.
"We're moving to a county that is moving in a different direction," Kevin said. "It's our hope that Charles County is becoming more educated in terms of race relations."
"Hopefully," Michelle interjected.
Her concern is for Courtney. "If she is in a school with predominantly white students, I hope she isn't treated differently, because I won't tolerate that."
Michelle has not yet investigated Charles County schools, which are now majority-minority, with African-Americans accounting for 43 percent of the population, and have a district committee dedicated to minority achievement.
Even so, for the first year, at least, Michelle plans to drive Courtney back to her Temple Hills school.
"There are enough changes going on.""
Rushern L. Baker III Making A Difference in Our Schools - The Washington Times, America's Newspaper
Teachers take culture lessons�-�Metropolitan�-�The Washington Times, America's Newspaper: "Teachers take culture lessons
By Keyonna Summersand Ayla Kremen
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
July 21, 2005
Arletha McSwain was shocked when her high school guidance counselor suggested that she enroll in trade school because her ACT score indicated that she was not college material.
Looking back, she said she realizes the counselor had not taken the time to understand her capabilities.
"Had my parents not been educators and believers in us doing what we wanted to, I may have listened to" the guidance counselor, said Ms. McSwain, who is now department chairwoman of early childhood and elementary education at Norfolk State University.
Such experiences are fuel for the Summer Institute for Urban Educators, a weeklong intensive training program that teaches educators how to bond with their students and their families so they can foster "cultural connectivity" and push the students to succeed, program officials said.
"We're giving [the teachers] the ability to reach kids that are hard to reach. The ultimate goal is to make kids life-long learners," said Rushern L. Baker III, executive director of the Community Teachers Institute (CTI), which hosted the program.
The program, held at the University of Maryland at College Park, concludes today. More than a dozen local educators are taking part in the program.
The program's sessions focused on race, urban literacy and integration of hip-hop and language into the urban curriculum.
Some students, especially minorities in urban settings, are misunderstood because their teachers cannot identify with their ethnic or generational cultures. As a result, the students might lose interest in school or act out, program officials said.
The most effective teachers immerse themselves in their students' cultures so they can become part of the children's dynamic and get to know the students' families on a personal level, said Ms. McSwain, who was one of the presenters.
One seminar stressed that one has to be comfortable with their own ethnicity in order to embrace that of others, she said.
"This is a specific, strategic process. It's not just about liking everybody. It's about knowing what works with this child, this ethnicity and this disability," Ms. McSwain said. "When a teacher is culturally connected, there is nothing that a child won't do for that teacher."
More than half the students in urban schools do not graduate from high school, and they are three times more likely to be unemployed and 10 times more likely to be incarcerated than their counterparts in the suburbs, program officials said.
One seminar focused on creating successful literacy environments in school. The region's urban literacy programs need much improvement, said Jennifer Turner, assistant professor of education at the University of Maryland.
"It's really distressing in terms of low rates of literacy, particularly for African-American kids," Miss Turner said. "So often the teaching conditions of urban schools in urban communities can make them feel they can't make a difference."
By the end, the seminars inspired local teachers to reach out and develop a bond with their students this fall.
"What I learned is that students want meaningful connections between the subject matter and the work," said Carol Fraser, an 11th- and 12th-grade teacher at Northwestern High School in Prince George's County. "They want it to connect to their lives. They want it to be realistic.""
Rushern Baker: "Juneteenth is something very important to us."
County celebrates another Juneteenth anniversary: "County celebrates another Juneteenth anniversary
by Alan King
Staff Writer
June 23, 2005
The Maryland Juneteenth Committee held its first countywide Juneteenth celebration in Prince George's on Saturday. The event, celebrating the end of slavery in the United States, was held at the Brooke Road Recreation Center in Capitol Heights.
The emancipation proclamation to free African-American slaves was made on June 19, 1865, but it was not until two years later that all the slaves were freed.
"I think it is a great idea to expand the idea of Black history beyond the traditional month," Congressman Albert Wynn (D-Dist. 4) of Mitchellville told The Gazette, in an interview a day before the event.
"[It's also important] to talk about events in history at the time they are actually commemorated and to broaden the discussion of the role of African Americans in history," he said.
This 140th anniversary event featured a Verizon booth, fragrant oil and incense stands, and food vendors.
A lady was selling designer pillows, printed with various NFL team logos. A merchant, a few feet away, sold African gowns, straw fedoras and leather belts. Capitol Heights police officers walked around, shaking hands with people in the park.
Children were either on the monkey bars or roller skating on the ball court, where the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission's "Skate Mobil" was parked with its sliding backdoor raised.
"This is a day when we remember the struggles and sacrifices African Americans have made throughout our history," Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-Dist. 8) of Kensington, said.
"[We should] dedicate ... ourselves to building a more perfect union [and] a stronger community," Van Hollen said.
County Chairman Samuel H. Dean (D-Dist. 6) of Mitchellville invited the congressman to the event.
The parking lot contained a makeshift sound booth and stage, where the Renaissance Gospel Group performed before a small crowd, rocking along.
Rushern Baker, a former state delegate, appeared to be enjoying the festivities with his three children.
Baker, who majored in history at Howard University, said, "Juneteenth is something very important to us."
He referred to Prince George's as the wealthiest majority African-American county in the country, with one of the highest concentration of educated African Americans.
"We have an obligation to take a leading role in making sure our history is preserved and the younger generations understand how important this is," he said.
Planning for the event began in February 2005, according to founder and committee chairman Richard Bingham.
"I probably will be the chair of next year's event. What we are going to be doing is starting in July," Bingham said, referring to the need for early planning.
"Timing is everything. This was a short time from February to June. It takes like a whole year to plan it."
Bingham wants to get the youth more involved in next year's celebration.
"That's why Juneteenth has survived over 140 years, because the ancestors and the youth from those ancestors [have been involved], he said.
The committee, established this year, will become a resource for the community.
"We want to start sharing information about the history of Juneteenth and the importance of the event," Bingham said.
E-mail Alan King at aking@gazette.net."
