[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 76 (Wednesday, May 8, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E557-E558]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              RECOGNIZING THE 29TH ANNUAL D.C. BLACK PRIDE

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the District of Columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Wednesday, May 8, 2019

  Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I rise today to ask the House of 
Representatives to join me in recognizing the 29th annual D.C. Black 
Pride and the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.
  This Memorial Day week the National Capital Region welcomes members 
of the African American LGBTQ community to celebrate ``Our Truths In 
Harmony'' at the 29th annual D.C. Black Pride.
  The festivities begin May 20th at 5:00 p.m. with the Damian 
Ministries' Black Pride Kick Off Reception and they close at 6:00 p.m. 
May 27th with Helping Us People Into Living's ``Pride In the Park'' 
festival at Fort DuPont Park.
  On May 21st, D.C. Black Pride honors its 2019 award winners at the 
D.C. Black Pride Awards Reception. The National Association for the 
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) President and Chief Executive 
Derrick Johnson receives the President's Award. The 2019 Welmore Cook 
Awards go to Bishop Allyson Nelson Abrams, founder prelate and pastor 
of Empowerment Liberation Cathedral, her spouse, Bishop Emerita Diana 
Williams, and Dr. Dii-Quartelai Quartey of the National Association of 
Retired Persons (NAARP) and the Robert H. Smith School of Business.
  Steven ``Kahos'' Wilson, Founder and CEO of Ovah the Top Productions 
and Executive Director of the OASIS Dance Company, receives the Unsung 
Hero Award. Black Pride recognizes True Colors United Senior Program 
Officer Kahlib Barton with the Leadership Award. Shi-Queeta Lee, noted 
DMV Drag Entertainer and costume designer, is honored with the Earline 
Budd Award.
  Black Pride acknowledges U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 
Health Impact Specialist Derrick Caomei ``Strawberry'' Cox as the 
Charlotte Smallwood Volunteer of the Year for 2019. Gail Oliver and 
Nana Amuah-Afenyi VI (born Peggielene Bartles, known informally as 
``King Peggy''), chief of Tatum Ghana, receive the Curtis L. Etherly, 
Jr., Ally Award. Michael Beale of Mb Staffing Services, LLC, receives 
the D.C. Black Pride Small Business Award.
  This year, Black Pride initiates the Alan Sharpe Award for 
contributions to art by awarding it to its namesake, Alan Sharpe, 
Founding Artistic Director of Washington, D.C.'s African-American 
Collective Theater.
  Black Pride continues through Memorial Day with town halls, 
educational workshops, a poetry slam hosted by Mary Bowman, an 
interfaith worship service, and social events, including breakfasts, 
brunches, dinners and happy hours.
  D.C. Black and Lesbian Gay Pride Day began my first year in Congress. 
On Sunday, May 26, 1991, 800 people gathered at Banneker Field on 
Georgia Avenue. I have watched it mature from an ad hoc event to one of 
the world's preeminent Black Pride celebrations. Now D.C. Black Pride 
draws more than 50,000 participants from the United States, Africa, 
Europe and the Americas to our nation's capital.
  D.C. Black Pride fostered the beginning of the Center for Black 
Equity (formerly known as the International Federation of Black Prides, 
Inc.) and the ``Black Pride Movement,'' which now consists of 53 Black 
Prides on four continents. I commend the volunteer Advisory Board that 
assists Earl D. Fowlkes, Jr., Jeffrey Richardson, Michael S. Hinson, 
Jr., C. Hawkins, Kenya Hutton and Genise Chamber-Woods in the planning 
and execution of D.C. Black Pride.
  As Black Pride comes to town, I also take this opportunity to inform 
the celebrants and to

[[Page E558]]

remind my colleagues of the various limitations Congress has placed on 
the District of Columbia. Despite paying more federal taxes than 22 
states and paying the highest per capita federal taxes in the United 
States, the residents of Washington, D.C. still do not have full voting 
representation in Congress.
  I ask the House to join me in welcoming all attending the 29th annual 
D.C. Black Pride celebration.

                          ____________________