On one street in Jennings, Missouri, 8 of the 16 households, including the household of the mayor, were being sued for a debt they owed. This was one of several findings revealed during a discussion on the debt collection system in the United States and how it affects the racial wealth gap.

Ann Price, Managing Program Director and Chief Asset Building Officer at the Insight Center for Community Economic Development, believes the problem cannot be solved just be emphasizing personal responsibility, but by changing the structure which allows people to get into debt and stay there. Some of the panelist compared the current debt collection system to the police ticket practices in Ferguson, Missouri where police often target Blacks for minor offenses and ticket them.

Part of the practices highlighted needed for change is the practice of allowing debt collection companies to buy your debt for as little as three percent of what you owe the original loaner. Another portion of the debt collection system highlighted for change was how judgments are rendered. Studies indicate that debt judgements were two times higher in majority Black areas versus White areas.

Debt judgments in turn affect your paycheck via garnishments - - often further financially crippling Black debtors. Judgments also affect your credit rating, which it turn leads to a higher cost for future borrowing.

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“While financial education is important,” says Price, “it is not enough.” 

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“While financial education is important,” says Price, “it is not enough.” However, none of the panelist expected policy changes to come quickly, “everything is slow on The Hill,” said Jeanette Quick of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

Note:  Have you been sued over a debt? If so, ProPublica wants to hear from you as it continues its investigations.  Click here and complete the form. ProPublica promises to not publish any identifying information.

I never read the book or saw the movie, but was eager to see “Akeelah and the Bee” on stage at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. The performance with a multi-cultural cast, was worth my time, and would be a great theater experience for young adults - - especially those in need of inspiration.

While Johannah Easley as Akeelah Anderson gave one of the best, most memorable, and believable portrayals I have ever seen, the story itself was a bit daunting.

Most of the male characters are of your pathetic type. Even the Black women seem to be missing something that kept them in the “hood.” At times, I was not sure if we should explore the mental conditions of the characters to better understand poverty in America or just accept them as characters that make Akeelah the community stand out.

In reality, the inaugural African American National Spelling Bee Championships took place in Houston. Organizers of the May 2015 event hoped to get more Blacks excited about spelling, a critical building block to teaching children how to read. They also hoped to inspire the first African-American child to win the prestigious Scripps National Spelling Bee, an occurrence that has not happened in the event’s 85-year history.

Though Akeelah at Arena Stage is fictional, it is great entertainment and can be a great inspiration and/or chance to reflect on the struggles to create real Black academic super players.

It has become a Washington holiday tradition.  First held in 1990, the BZB Black Gift & Art Show returns to the Shiloh Family Life Center for Black Friday & Saturday, November 27-28 and continues for the next three Saturdays before Christmas - December 5, 12, & 19, 2015.  The Shiloh Family Life Center, 1510 9th Street, NW, is two blocks north of the  Washington Convention Center in the nation’s capital.

“Our goal is to attract customers to shop with the businesses and artisans in their communities. People are having second thoughts about shopping in this economy along with the added stress and inconvenience of suburban malls," says Juanita Britton,  Retail Marketing Specialist and the show’s producer.

Shoppers will find specialties at the event including fine jewelry of gold, diamonds, and silver by local master goldsmith, Shukri Goldsmith; bath and beauty products from a Washington favorite, ZURESH; colorful kente shawls and weaving demonstrations from Ghana’s own master weaver, Kwasi Asare.  Baltimore’s Larry “Poncho” Brown, with prints and originals for sale join, the vendors as well as Washington’s couture designer Damali.

He was a child.  He was playing with toy gun. In a Cleveland park.

“Timothy Loehmann, an officer in training, shot and killed Tamir within two seconds of arriving at the park. The police car hadn’t even fully stopped before he began shooting,” says his cousin LaTonya Goldsby.

It was 20 years ago when Port Of Harlem first appeared. We distributed the first issue as a collectible item at the Black Memorabilia and Collectible Show. The original intention was to simply fulfil our plans to release a “collectible” product every year.  Other yearly collectibles included coffee cups and pencils with our name on it.

Over the years, Port Of Harlem changed as new technology and lower cost allowed us to go from a black and white annual publication to a full color quarterly publication. Today, we are fully green, online, and delivered via e-mail, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and on Pinterest.

You can help us continue making history by:

1.  signing up for Port Of Harlem, it’s free
2.  asking friends to sign up for Port Of Harlem
3.  liking us on Facebook
4.  inviting friends to like us on Facebook
5.  clicking on our ads, learning about our advertisers, and letting them have the opportunity to serve you

The Graham Collection, which is no longer is business, was our first advertiser. Click here for a list of our current advertisers, including Ivan Brown Realty, who was in the first issue and every issue since. All of our advertiser make Port of Harlem free to you.

Thanks for reading,

Wayne

Washington
The Apple Family Circle
Studio Theater
14th and P Streets, NW
Now through Sun, Dec 13, $

25th annual BZB Gift Show
Shiloh Baptist Church
9th and P Streets, NW
Fri, Nov 27-Sat, Nov 28, 10a-7p, free

Zawadi Artist Ornament Event
1524 U Street, NW
Fri, Nov 27–Sun, Nov 29, 12p-5p, free

29th-Annual Winter Festival of Lights
Watkins Regional Park
301 Watkins Park Drive
Upper Marlboro, MD
Fri, Nov. 27-Fri, Jan, 1, 5p-9:30p
$5 cars or minivans; $10 multi-visit pass;
$15 minibuses (13-24 passengers) and limos; $25 buses
(25 or more passengers)
free on Dec. 25; cash only

Housing, Inclusion, and Social Equity:
A Global Perspective
Brookings Institute
1775 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
Mon, Nov 30, 8a-2:30p, free

Holiday Art Show
Millee Spears of Khismet Wearable Art
Cindy Williams and many more
6025 North Dakota Ave., N.W.
(202) 288-2364
Sat, Dec 5, 2p-10p, free

16th Annual Alexandria Holiday
Boat Parade of Lights
Alexandria's waterfront
Cameron Street
near the Torpedo Factory Art Center
105 N. Union St.
Alexandria, VA
Sat, Dec 5, 5:30p, free



Chicago/Gary
Railcats Seventh Annual Yard Sale
U.S. Steel Yard
Sat, Dec 5, 10:30a-1:30p,free

Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
Swahili Fashion Week
Fri, Dec 4-Sun, Dec 6

New York
Target Free Sundays
at The Studio Museum in Harlem
The Studio Museum in Harlem
144 W. 125th St.
Every Sunday, free

Orlando Patterson on
“Between Obama And Ferguson:
The Paradoxes of Race in Contemporary America.”
NYU Law School
Vanderbilt Hall (Room: Greenberg Lounge, 1st floor)
40 Washington Square South (between Sullivan and Macdougal Streets)
Tue, Dec 8, 6:30p