KAMALA AND ANGELA: SISTERS IN BLACK AND WHITE

State Farm has nothing on Kamala Harris and Angela Alsobrooks when it comes to “Good Neighbors.” From Angie’s house in Prince Georges County, Maryland to Kamala’s White House in Washington, DC, it only takes minutes and not hours.

Where and how did these two dynamic women become “Good Neighbors and Good Friends” with one living on the East Coast and the other living on the West Coast?

The story goes according to WTOP Radio, “Alsobrooks won her election in 2010 — the same year Harris elevated her profile by winning the race to become California attorney general. One of the first calls Alsobrooks received after the election was from Harris.

“Congratulations,” Harris told her. “How can I help you?”

Despite the old saying that has been floating around in our community for decades, “Crabs in the Barrel”, Kamala Harris decided she was not going to play that game and pulled a Diana Ross. She reached out and touched Angela Alsobrooks, unheard of in our community especially, among black men.

In 1970 Diana Ross, had just left the Supremes after a decade as the group’s lead singer. She went through difficult times trying to piece a solo album together, with Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson writing  and producing for her.

Ross recorded “Reach Out and Touch”, which carried a heavy gospel influence, and was one of the few songs the singer recorded to express her social conscience, previously experimented with the Supreme’ s singles such as “Love Child” and “I’m Living in Shame.” While the song’s initial success fell short of expectations, “Reach Out and Touch” became one of Ross’ most popular and notable songs.

During her concert performances of the song, Ross often had the whole crowd turn to their neighbors, and “Reach out and touch hands.”

“Angela said, “I was totally floored, “I didn’t know this woman when she reached out to touch me!”

From that point on, they kept in regular touch, Alsobrooks said. Frequently, when Harris came to Washington, D.C. for official business and for political fundraisers, the two would get together.

“It’s been a mutually supportive relationship ever since,” Alsobrooks said.

On the weekend before the 2016 California primary, Alsobrooks traveled to Golden State to stump for her friend, who was competing in the race for U.S. Senate. She toured the state by bus with a group that included Harris, her husband, Douglas Emhoff, and U.S. Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.), visiting businesses, churches and community meetings.

To Alsobrooks’ surprise, Harris invited her to sit next to her on the bus between every stop, but instead of talking about the California race, “she really grilled me — and I mean grilled — to find out what I was doing here.”

Shortly after Harris was sworn in to the Senate, she and Alsobrooks got together at a Mexican restaurant on Capitol Hill, as Alsobrooks contemplated running for Prince George’s County executive in 2018. Sitting together in a booth, with Harris scribbling on a yellow legal pad, “we sketched out my race, issue by issue,” Alsobrooks said. Throughout that campaign, Harris continued to dispense advice, recommending consultants and talking strategy.

When Harris launched her campaign for president, it was inevitable that Alsobrooks — now county executive — would help her. She traveled to Detroit to lend moral support during one of the televised presidential debates last winter, bringing her teenage daughter along. This is what friends are for!

“When I see her out there, people have no idea” how supportive Harris can be for her friends. “She’s very focused on helping women — especially minority women in elected leadership.”

OUR HOPE-SISTER TO SISTER IN THE STRUGGLE TO WIN IN 2024

Alsobrooks said she is now ready to be dispatched wherever Harris, whom she describes as “the quintessential big sister,” needs her. But it may turn out that she’s needed at home.

Every presidential election year, it’s assumed that Democrats in Maryland, a Democratic stronghold in federal elections, will be traveling out of state to help their nominee. This time, Alsobrooks isn’t so sure.

She’s been publicly critical of Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr.’s decision to hold a facsimile of a standard election this fall — “I’m very irate about it,” she says — instead of sending ballots to every voter’s home. And with questions being raised about the U.S. Postal Service’s ability to deliver completed ballots to elections officials on time, Alsobrooks believes leading Maryland Democrats need to be vigilant and work to ensure that their constituents vote.

“We have to make sure we oversee a fair election, here in Prince George’s County, here in Maryland,” she said. “This time it’s a real thing, it’s not a ceremony.”

Angela while making her national debut at the DNC Convention. As a speaker during the convention she repeated how the surprised telephone call from Kamala asking, “How can I help?”

The call is similar to the one I received from the Heavyweight Champion of the World late one night in 1974, Muhammad Ali. The question, “Do you still want to do that interview?” Sounds like, how can I help!

Prince George County Executive Angela Alsobrooks at Q Ball’s Pool Room on Central Avenue in District Heights, Md. Looking on as she takes aim, L-R ?-Toya Blake-HBell and proprietor Larry Steele. She is no stranger to a pool room. She was hanging out in the poolroom on Benning Road in NE DC with her father at the age of 7.

Angela Alsobrooks has roots in ‘The Hood,’ her father, James ‘Mac’ Alsobrooks grew up in Langston Terrace in NE DC.

Langston Terrace Dwellings opened in 1938 as one of the nation’s earliest federally funded public housing projects for lower income residents and only the second one to be built for African Americans. Planned during the Depression, with its housing shortages,

Langston Terrace offered working-class families a decent and affordable place to live at a time when the federal government, court system, real estate industry, and banks all denied African Americans equal opportunities in housing. Barry Farms in SE DC was built in 1941 and Parkside was built in 1943.

The common denominator for Mac and me, I grew up in Parkside in NE DC, both were historical housing projects built off of Benning Road with the Anacostia River separating the two. The only difference, there is no history that Parkside ever existed in the 1940s.

You GOOGLE Mayfair Mansions it reads, “Mayfair Mansions is an apartment complex in Washington, DC that was built between 1942 and 1946 and is considered a significant development in fair housing for African Americans. The complex was designed by Albert I. Cassell, one of Washington’s first professionally trained African American architects, in the Colonial Revival style. 

The 17 three-story buildings are arranged around a central mall space on 28 acres of land, with the remaining space dedicated to landscaped areas, courts, and play areas. Mayfair Mansions was one of the first federally subsidized housing projects for African Americans in the United States and was built on the site of the former Benning Race Track.  Mayfair Mansions was not a Federal Funded Subsidized Housing Project.

When my mother and my brother Earl left Grandma Bell’s house in 1945 for the Parkside Housing Project, there was no Mayfair Manions in sight. I remember Hayes Street leading into Parkside was a dirt road. It was built on a former race track in the middle of a dump. If you are looking for a history essay for Parkside there is none. The only reminder is Naval Thomas Elementary School. How does one lose the history of entire community? In 1945 there was no Mayfair Mansions until around 1948.

The question, who is writing our history, middle class Black Americans were living in my Parkside Housing neighborhood before Mayfair was built?

I remember the architect for Mayfair Mansion, Mr. Cassell riding around the community in his chauffeur driven black limosine. His driver’s name was “Peanuts.” We gave him the name, he often shared his peanuts with the kids, while Mr. Cassell was taking care of the business of building Mayfair Mansions.

Sudsidizing housing like Parkside gave the city the great Maury Wills of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He revolutionize MLB in the 60s and 70s with the stolen base, he made the homerun obselete, while leading the Dodgers to the World series. He was named the MVP in 1962. He stole a record 104 bases to break the old modern era mark of 96, set by Ty Cobb in 1915.

He has been “Blackballed” from MLB Hall of Fame along with Curt Flood, Dick Allen, and Barry Bonds. Detroit sports talk show host, Rod Parker was recently given a “Seat at the Table” on the Basebal Hall of Fame Election Committee. It is the only sports hall of fame committee that votes by “Secret Ballot?”

The question, does Rod Parker become a part of this “Politics as Usual Mentality” while pioneers like Wills, Flood, Allen, and Bonds remain on the outside looking in?

Bannecker Field is now named Maury Wills Field

Parkside also gave us a trailblazing radio sports talk show pioneer, Harold Bell. Inside Sports changed the way we report and talk sports world-wide. Muhammad Ali made him “The Chosen One” in sports media.

Dave Chappelle and his mother, Yvonne during a tribute to comedian Dick Gregory.

Mayfair Mansions gave us his father my friend, William Chappelle. William is a graduate of Spingarn High School class of 1957. William and his wife Yvonne were educators much like Williams’ father. William Chappelle lll, was the President of Allen University in Orangeburg, SC. Dave broke the mold and became a comedian.

William was a nerd and the bullies in the Parkside neighborhood would try to pick fights with him on the bus ride to school in the mornings-until I stepped in.

Federal subsidizing housing like Langston Terrace, Barry Farms and Parkside has produced residents who have made a difference in the way we walk and talk in America.

In Parkside there were teachers, postal workers, lawyers, government workers living next door to many of us. My mother after losing her good government job, she iron clothes for one of my teachers, Ms. Margaret Selden. She later became a member of the DC Board of Education.

We owe many thanks to the DC Recreation Department, it was housed in Naval Thomas. The Playground/Rec Directors, Bootsey Harris, Nick Turner, Walter Brooks and Jaky Mathews were excellent coaches. We traveled in and out of Langston, playing 12 and under and 13 and 14 baseball.

After graduating from Naval Thomas, I attended Brown Middle and Spingarn High SchoolS in the Langston Terrace neighborhood.

“The Hill” was the most unique education plot of land in America. No other city could claim they had four public schools in walking distance of each other. Spingarn High School was located at the bottom of 24th and Benning Road, Phelps Vocational High School was in the back of Charles Young Elementary and Brown Middle School was the anchor of the “Big Four.” The outdoor basketball court across from Brown was the home of legends.

Some of my life-time friends and teammates came out of Langston Terrace, Andrew Johnson, John Edwards, Irving Brown, Teddy Atcherson, Mickey Freeman, Hobo, Jimmy Reid, and Rhoma Battle to name a few. There were older guys who led the way and kept the peace on the basketball court, like Chester Beck, Sandy Freeman, Bob Grier, Earl Richards, Henry Gill, Glasses, Louie Carroll and Gerald ‘Tapole’ Little.

James ‘Mac’ Alsobrooks, was one of younger guys who would hangout around the basketball court and baseball diamond–he understood it was okay to be seen and not heard.

He came out of LangstonTerrace. I remember him as a teenager, his mentor Henry ‘Dog’ Haywood was was the bagman for Rips’ Poolroom. He was like a big brother to me. ‘The pool room was a popular hangout for Spingarn and Phelps students. It was adjacent to Langston Terrace and “The Hill.”

Mac, hungout with some knuckleheads, but he managed to stay above the fray, thanks to ‘Dog’ and a concerned look and kind word from me. I never knew until years later I played a small role in his young life.

The lessons he learned growing up in Langston Terrace and hanging out in the pool room served him well in The Game Called Life. Mac, worked for the Washington Post for a couple decades as a distributor.

The time he spend in the trenches in Langston Terrace, in the pool room on Benning Road and as a distributor in the different corridors of the city prepared him for his most important role to date, helping guild his daughter Angela through the turbalent political waters in her campaign for the U. S. Senate.

His legendary role as a member “The Alliance of Concerned Black Men” is known and respected through out the DMV. He and Pat give Angela the upper-hand when comes to reaching out and back into the grassroots community.

We need to wake up and smell the flowers. Do we understand the November 2024 election is a matter of life and death in our community. Donald Trump and Larry Hogan are not options.

For example, if Larry Hogan wins who will he turn to when there is a crisis in our community and there will be times when there will be a crisis. How great it will be to know we can look to Kamala Harris, Governor Wes Moore, Angela Alsobrooks and Steny Hoyer on “The Hill” to make sure there is Justice and not Just-Us.. Kamala pointed out in her acceptance speech, there will be no “Guard Rails” when it comes to people of color in a Larry Hogan and Trump Administration.

There have been times that Mac and I were like passing ships in the night, we would blow our horns. We have not always been on the same page when it came to trying to curve youth violence. Still we were never too busy to reach out via a late night phone call to talk shop when it came to our children.

We must remember, no one is playing fair but us, especially the Republicans, and Larry Hogan is a Republica sitting on the fence pretending to be a Democrat.

There are times in our community when we cannot “See the Forest For The Trees.” For example, the problems we are having with our children, starts and stops in our homes.

I remember in the 1970s I had NBA Hall of Fame player, Spencer Haywood on my Inside Sports talk radio show. The discussion centered around youth gangs and kids in trouble.

He said, “If a child has to look beyond their dinner table for their heroes and sheroes, you can bet they are going to be kids in trouble.”

Angela Alsobrooks did not have to look beyond her dinner table, when she stumbled and fell as a child or as a young woman, her parents sat across the dinner table in front of her–sometimes with Hard Truths.

The proud family of Angela Alsobrooks, Mac,Pat and Alex.

It was Easter Sunday and Hattie was traveling south to have dinner with her family. Mac called to wish us a Happy Easter. I told him I was home alone and I was going to have my favorite goumet meal-hot dogs and beans. He said, “No way, come and join us for dinner,” I tried to take a ‘Rain Check’ he insisted. I joined him, Pat, Angela, Alex and several other friends and family. It was an enjoyable and relaxing evening. What I enjoyed most, was watching Angela relaxing on the floor and playing with a friend’s baby. It was great to know during stressful times, her family would be just across the table.

Hogan during stressful times will have his family sitting across the table. None of them will look like us and none has ever walked in our shoes.

I remember Larry Hogan well, on September 10, 2015, I wrote the Governor requesting help with “Cowboy Cops” patroling the streets of Suitland, Maryland. In broad daylight they could be seen harassing people of color. Sometimes there were two cars and other times three.

I have been living in Prince George County for 50+ years and I have never seen a county cop stop and pull over a white driver until three years ago. It was on Suitland Road on a hot summer day. The guy was on the ground in handcuffs and one of the officers was giving him a cold drink of water, it was that hot.

Several days later I am in the McDonald’s on Silver Hill Road ordering hotcakes for breakfast when I heard a customer shout, “There goes those cowboy cops again.” There were two cars in front of the 7-11 with a black motorist pulled over. I asked the customer why he called them “Cowboys?” He said, “This what they do when they get bored. They have gotten bolder, harassment is no longer a nightime thing.”

One week later, I stop at the Esso Gas Station on the corner of Silver Hill and Suitland, Road to check my tires out for air. I notice there were two cop cars and they had pulled over a black man in the station. The brother did not seem stressed and the officers were not out of line from my advantage point.

They got my undivided attention when they open the trunk of his car. I was not sure the driver had given them permission to search his car. I pulled out my cell phone and started to record the incident.

The manager of the station came over and told me, if I did not watch myself they would arrest me. I kept recording and one of the officers pulled out his cell phone and started to record me recording them.

They wrote the brother a ticket and pulled off without incident. I went over and spoke with him, and he told me he was from Mississippi and was visiting family when they pulled him over. It sounded like they had called in his license plate and discovered he had a expired registration. The ticket was $140.00.

Prince Georges County cops have a long and brutal police history when it comes to minorities.

The brutality continues, Officer Steven Tucker in 2020 was caught on camera (2024) brutally punching a drunken handcuffed suspect for spitting on him. The suspect was riding in the front seat with the officer. Not good judgement. What happen to paddy wagons to transport prisoners?

I find it difficult to blame the officer, but Tucker has had 37 incidents in the last two years of physical force (Red flag). Tucker’s was fined 5 days without pay. Just when I thought the new Chief, Malik Aziz had things under control-he is avoiding the media-that spells trouble. The media has no clue, what it takes to be a cop, regardless, the chief cannot say one thing and do another.

My Priority Mail letter with a requested signature to Larry Hogan never got a response, I spoke with his PR Department and they confirmed he had received my letter and the Governor would be contacting me sooner than later, famous last words.

The racism was so bad in the department, cops were scared to show their faces and wore mask to protect their ID, just to go on television to discuss how bad the racism was they had to face 24/7.

If police officers with guns and badges are scare of their colleagues-what chance do we have?

Several millions of dollars were paid out for wrongful death at the hands of the cops. Everyone was suing the department within, Blacks, Hispanics and women officers.

County Executive Alsobrooks said, “Enough was enough,” and the problem chief retired.

In November, hopefully we all will be able look back and claim a one of a kind Langston Terrace history. Angela Alsobrooks, becomes the first black female Senator in the state of Maryland. Her father grew up in Langston Terrace. She is the daughter of James and Pat Alsobrooks.

All we need to do is “Reach Out and Touch Someone” and remind them to vote for the dynamic duo of Angela Alsobrooks and Kamala Harris. As we prepare to vote in November, remember who we are and where we came from, too often we have forgotten!

Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day, the State of Maryland could usher in 2025 with the most dynamac group of politicians representing the state in its history on “The Hill,” Governor Wes Moore, Steny Hoyer, Angela Alsobrooks and Point Guard, President Kamala Harris. I will see you at the polls.

DNC MICHELLE OBAMA IN THE WORDS OF MUHAMMAD ALI 1974 HITS IT OUT OF THE PARK!

https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/20/politics/video/michelle-obama-speech-dnc-chicago-digvid

P. S. Steny get well soon.