An article in the November edition of Ebony magazine celebrates Prince George’s County as the richest African-American county in the nation, lauds County Executive Jack Johnson for brokering the National Harbor development deal and points to Johnson’s tree-planting “Gorgeous Prince George’s” programs as signs of progress in the county.
But at least one government official said Wednesday the magazine, which focuses on black Americans and issues facing the community, doesn’t have the whole story.
“Today, African-Americans in the suburban enclave east of Washington, D.C., are plantingtheir own seeds of power and wealth,” writes Ebony reporter Kevin Chappell, “enjoying — in numbers never before seen in this country — luxuries like championship golf courses, Olympic-size swimming pools, horseback-riding stables and ice-skating training centers.”
Johnson said that the article was just another sign that people have noticed significant changes underway in Prince George’s.
“They are saying to African-Americans all over the country that this is how some of your brothers and sisters live,” Johnson said after a news conference announcing the arrival of a PGA golf tournament to the county.
“It takes people a while to realize that we’re really on the move,” he said.
The mayor of District Heights said Prince George’s has real issues that Johnson did not address during his first four years as the county’s leader. James Walls Jr. said crime, which the article addresses in two sentences, still is a major problem for inside-the-Beltway communities and cooperation between county police and smaller departments is a struggle.
“When he talks about crime going down, where is he looking? Not in Prince George’s County, I don’t think,” Walls said. “The whole livable communities thing, I think, has been somewhat of a joke, especially with the inner Beltway communities. We have more important things than planting trees.”
