B4 EZ M2 THE WASHINGTON POST.MONDAY, AUGUST 19 , 2019
who pose a danger often are sim-
ply violent, not mentally ill.
“Ultimately this reflects the
stranglehold the gun lobby has on
the Republicans,” Moran said.
“They would rather incarcerate an
individual than confiscate the fire-
arm. They’re placing gun rights
above an individual’s freedom.”
The commission has 13 mem-
bers, seven of whom are either
Democratic legislators or appoin-
tees of the Democratic governor
and the attorney general. Only the
members who are legislators get
to vote on whether to recommend
a certain piece of legislation to the
General Assembly.
Of the nine commission mem-
bers who are also legislators, six
are Republicans, three Demo-
crats.
One of the three, Sen. Janet D.
Howell (D-Fairfax), will be absent
as she recovers from a broken
ankle and bypass surgery. She
said she will be watching the live
stream.
“I’m going to push and ask
questions, and [I’m] hopeful we
take in everything from both sides
of the argument, and that we
don’t let it just go in some black
hole,” said Del. Charniele L. Her-
ring (D-Alexandria), a commis-
sion member.
Monday’s hearing will run
from 10 a.m. to 5:15 p.m., Tues-
day’s from noon to 8 p.m. With
dozens of speakers lined up, time
will be strictly limited.
“I have an assault weapons ban
bill that also deals with high-
capacity magazines and silencers.
And I will be allotted 180 seconds
to present that important policy
to Virginia, during what the Re-
publicans promised would be a
comprehensive study,” said Sen.
Adam P. Ebbin (D-Alexandria).
“And 180 seconds shows how seri-
ous they are.”
[email protected]the U.S. Senate could take up the
measure when it returns from its
August recess. He also mentioned
considering “red flag” laws, which
the Trump administration has en-
dorsed and which have been en-
acted in 17 states.
Last week, Del. Tim Hugo (R-
Fairfax) got on board with a so-
called red flag bill proposed by
Del. Jason S. Miyares (R-Virginia
Beach), which would allow police
to take a person into custody if
that individual is deemed an im-
minent danger to themselves or
others.
Haas and other gun-control ad-
vocates say it makes more sense to
take guns away from individuals
who are a danger than to lock up
those people, noting that peopleprograms aimed at increasing law
enforcement in violent urban
neighborhoods and helping young
people extract themselves from
street gangs, with education and
job training to start better lives.
Pressure on Republicans has
mounted since President Trump
and Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) signaled
a willingness to act after back-to-
back shootings in El Paso and
Dayton, Ohio, which left 31 people
dead and dozens more wounded.
In the aftermath, Trump tweet-
ed, “Common sense things can be
done that are good for everyone!”
He later said he was confident he
could rally Republicans around
legislation to strengthen back-
ground checks. McConnell said“There are things that can be
done to make people safe, things
like getting rid of gun-free zones,”
he said.
Virginia Republicans have
staunchly resisted gun-control
measures in recent years, saying
they favor increasing criminal
penalties for gun violations in-
stead and addressing mental-
health issues.
House Majority Leader Todd
Gilbert (R-Shenandoah) has pro-
posed creating two state grantwe’re going to adopt meaningful
proposals at the end of this proc-
ess that are going to keep commu-
nities safe across Virginia,” he
said.
But Lori Haas, senior director
of the Coalition to Stop Gun Vio-
lence, was bluntly pessimistic
about the proceedings.
“It’s an absolute farce on the
part of Republicans,” said Haas,
whose daughter was wounded in
the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre.
“I personally have been advocat-
ing and presenting them with
reports, and data, and research
for 12 years. They were just look-
ing for a way to kick the can down
the road when all eyes were on
them during the special session.”
Michael Kelly, spokesman for
Attorney General Mark R. Her-
ring (D), shared that view.
“We see this meeting as exactly
what it is: a way for Republicans
to pretend to be busy and respon-
sive to Virginians’ demands for
action on gun violence while they
avoid doing the effective things
that should be easy to support,
like universal background checks,
a red flag law, disarming domestic
abusers and white supremacists,
and restricting assault weapons,
high capacity magazines, silenc-
ers, and bump stocks,” Kelly said
in an email.
A spokeswoman for the Nation-
al Rifle Association did not re-
spond to a request for comment.
Philip Van Cleave, head of the
pro-gun Virginia Citizens Defense
League, said “it’s hard to antici-
pate” what will come out of the
hearings but hopes his side can
get its point across.studies — something Northam
and some fellow Democrats say is
unnecessary but perhaps not un-
helpful to their cause.
“The time for studies and ex-
cuses is over — Virginians deserve
action, and that is exactly what
Governor Northam asked for
when he called the legislature
back in July. While the governor
rejects the idea that his proposed
gun safety measures need further
study, he is confident that the
Crime Commission hearing will
once again show these common-
sense measures to be just that —
common-sense, bipartisan, and
effective,” Northam spokeswom-
an Alena Yarmosky said in an
email. “These measures have al-
ready saved lives, where imple-
mented.”
Brian Moran, Northam’s secre-
tary of public safety and home-
land security, said the commis-
sion hearing will put a spotlight
on the issue, which only took on
more urgency after mass shoot-
ings this month in El Paso and
Dayton, Ohio.
“It does serve to delay, but we’ll
use it as an opportunity to demon-
strate that these are common-
sense, constitutional and effec-
tive pieces of legislation,” Moran
said.
Sen. Mark D. Obenshain (R-
Rockingham), chairman of the
commission, said he expects the
panel to overcome “philosophical
divides” to find solutions.
“There are those that are skep-
tical, but I’m here to tell you that it
is my hope and expectation that
GUNS FROM B
run BeatZone. This year, she will
keep making her way to schools
while teaching at the Dent House.
At the beginning of the school
year, Hawkins asks her students
to think of topics for songs they
could write. She wants to know:
What bothers you about your
community? What’s the most im-
portant thing in your community
right now?
Last year, the group came up
with two full tracks with music
videos: “Friends,” about the im-
portance of friendship, and
“Open Your Eyes,” about brutality
against the black community.
“These songs send a message, a
strong message, to the communi-
ty,” Jermaine Jackson Jr. said.
Jackson, 18, is one of four main
members of last year’s group.
Jackson, who jokes that he
learned to beatbox before he
could talk, has been playing mu-
sic for as long as he can remem-
ber. He never thought he could
produce his own tracks.
“I’m proud of myself,” Jackson
said. “I never thought I’d be capa-
ble of putting myself out there.”
For Tyrell Cole, BeatZone
taught him everything about mu-
sic production. Before he joined,
the 15-year-old would write lyrics
or come up with beats, but he
never knew how to put them
together. Now, he does.
The Dent House, Cole said, is a
place where the city’s young peo-
ple can express themselves,
where they can come together to
do what they love to do — wheth-
er it’s music, art or robotics.
“It brings everybody who likes
different things together in this
one house, to show how creative
the youth in D.C. can be,” Cole
said, “to show that we’re actually
bringing something to the table.”
It’s a place, Cole said, where
they can all feel at home.
[email protected]ing into the Dent House is the
BeatZone after-school music pro-
gram. Hawkins, of Living Class-
rooms, helps students of all ages
write and produce music.
Music is an outlet for kids to
express themselves, Hawkins
said. It’s also a way to expose the
community to more of the world.
“I want to give these kids hope,”
Hawkins said. “They, too, can
understand music and how it’s
made. They, too, can follow their
dreams.”
Last year, Hawkins went to two
D.C. schools twice a week to helphomes from an earlier era razed.
The Dent House endured.
Campbell said she wanted to
help the neighborhood preserve
what’s important while offering
more resources.
“It’s just as much theirs as it is
ours,” Campbell said. “We’re there
to serve.”
Many of the organization’s pro-
grams will be housed in the Dent
House, including workforce de-
velopment, a robotics initiative
and the Queen Beez female em-
powerment program.
One of the programs expand-For many, it was the first time
seeing the inside of the building,
but it wasn’t the first time many
of them became involved in the
creation of the center.
Bond and Jasmine Campbell,
director of the Dent House, knew
that before they could do any-
thing, they had to get to know the
people they were serving. South-
west Washington has a long his-
tory of its own, Campbell said.
And people know the history of
the Dent House, a source of pride.
The neighborhood has changed
drastically, Campbell said, withcelebrated the ribbon-cutting for
the community center. With a
backdrop of Juneteenth — the
holiday commemorating the abo-
lition of slavery — the guests
honored Dent and celebrated a
new beginning for the house.
About 50 community members
came to listen to speeches and to
tour the renovated home from the
turn of the 20th century, a bright-
ly hued beacon at Second and Q
streets SW. They strolled up the
tall staircase and onto the wrap-
around porch. Inside, the smell of
fresh paint hung in the air.The organization, with its
headquarters in Baltimore, an-
nounced its expansion into
Southwest Washington this year.
Organizers at the new communi-
ty center said they hope to contin-
ue providing music, STEM (sci-
ence, technology, engineering
and mathematics) education and
workforce development opportu-
nities to the people of Ward 6 —
something many residents might
not have access to otherwise.
Living Classrooms’ mission is
to help low-income D.C. residents
by encouraging children to stay in
school and by expanding adult
education and providing job
training, said president and chief
executive James Bond.
“Our job is to go out and create
and support the community,”
Bond said.
Living Classrooms was looking
to open a community center for a
while, Bond said. The utility com-
pany Pepco, which owned a Buz-
zard Point property called the
Dent House, was looking for a
way to give back to the communi-
ty. A match was made.
The Dent House was built in
1906 as the home of the Rev.
James Clinton Dent, a pastor who
had been enslaved. In 2010, it
became a historic landmark.
As part of its commitment to
powering communities, the utili-
ty said in a statement, Pepco
restored the Dent House and
turned it into a community cen-
ter.
“Knowing the historical signif-
icance of the James C. Dent
House, it was important for us to
find a way to again make it a
central part of the community,”
David M. Velazquez, president
and chief executive of Pepco
Holdings, said in a statement.
In June, the two organizations
CENTER FROM B
Va. commission kicks off hearings on mass shootings, gun-control proposals
Center encourages young people to express themselves and create something
MARVIN JOSEPH/THE WASHINGTON POST
Deanna Hawkins, D.C. music program coordinator for Living Classrooms, helps students build their own tracks through the BeatZone
program when they visit the community center in Southwest Washington.MATT MCCLAIN/THE WASHINGTON POST
Del. Kelly K. Convirs-Fowler (D-Virginia Beach) embraces her daughter, Sophie Fowler, 6, center, in
June at a memorial for the victims of the mass shooting May 31 at the Virginia Beach Municipal Center.BY MARTIN WEILThe retired college professor
remembered the D.C. firefighter
dropping into the stalled eleva-
tor in the District on Sunday and
saying, “This is not going to be
pretty.”
As it turned out, the former
history professor at Indiana Uni-
versity of Pennsylvania, W.
Wayne Smith, his wife and their
granddaughter spent about two
hours in the cab of the stalled
elevator at the John F. Kennedy
Center for the Performing Arts
before being hoisted to safety.
And, after praising the work —
and honesty — of the rescuers
from the D.C. Fire and Emergen-
cy Medical Services Department,
Wayne Smith said, “It wasn’t as
bad as we had thought.”Of course, it was not what
Smith, 82, wife June T. Smith, 80,
and granddaughter Solana Sil-
verman, 12, had come for. They
had tickets to see “Aladdin,” had
arrived early and were on their
way up to the Terrace Level for
lunch before the show.
After about 30 seconds, Wayne
Smith said, the elevator stopped.
They phoned for help almost
immediately, he said.
When the firefighter dropped
in through the small emergency
hatch in the elevator ceiling, it
became a question of the order of
escape. The family was schooled
in the chivalric tradition. Women
and children first.
But, Smith said, he had recent-
ly had knee replacement surgery.
Under those circumstances, he
said, his wife told him to go first.Although, he said he “felt very
guilty,” he did.
He wondered if he could fit
through the ceiling exit the res-
cuer had used. But, he “squeezed
through it.” Harnessed and
roped, he was pulled up. When
he looked up, he said, it appeared
to be about 40 feet to the top of
the shaft. He said he thought:
“That’s a long way.”
But he made it. All three did,
he said. And his granddaughter
aided in her own rescue with her
rock-climbing skills, he said.
“They did not get to see the
magic carpet, but got a unique
ride of their own,” a fire depart-
ment spokesman said.
A relative said they were given
tickets for an “Aladdin” show
next month.
[email protected]THE DISTRICT3 freed from Kennedy Center elevator
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