“They enjoy interacting with other blacks,” Karyn Lacy, a sociologist at the University of Michigan, wrote in her book “Blue-Chip Black,” for which she interviewed dozens of parents in Prince George’s. “Scholars have focused so much on the burden of blackness that they have devoted scant attention to the possibility that there is something enjoyable about being black and participating in a community of blacks.”

Residential integration is not a goal, particularly for younger black professionals born after the civil rights struggles of the 1950s and 1960s, said Bart Landry, a sociologist at the University of Maryland who has returned to Prince George’s for an update to his 1987 book, “The New Black Middle Class.” He said many residents find comfort, after spending the day in a predominantly white workplace, in returning to a home where all their neighbors are other African American professionals.

“They’re where they want to be,” Landry said. “They’re not thinking about integration. It’s not on their radar screen. . . . Their goal is to live in a community of like-minded, like-valued people, and these are other middle-class blacks.”

Whoa, black people are just like other people. Anyway, the only real issue I had with the story is that it seemed to paint too rosy a picture. It was a good study of the black upper-middle class, but had only one mention of the downsides of living in "Ward 9"—bad public schools—and no interviews with the poor folks living in the county.

Photo by ElvertBarnes via Flickr/Creative Commons Attribution Generic 2.0 License

The Los Angeles Times reported that Johnson, who made Prince George's County one of his early targets along the way to developing his post-NBA pro-minority-business-ownership persona, sold his 105 Starbucks franchises back to the corporation. He has owned at least four Starbucks in the D.C. market.

Johnson opened his first Starbucks in P.G. County in Hyattsville in March 2000, and subsequently put franchises in Largo, The Boulevard at the Capital Centre (on the site of impoded arena where he and the Lakers used to crush the Bullets once a year)  and Rivertown Commons.

The NBA all-timer also opened up a Washington Mutual Home Loan Center and an eponymous movie megaplex in Prince George's. He's made frequent appearances over the years promoting the county with its chief executive, Jack Johnson.

Former Bullets/Wizards owner Abe Pollin was a big supporter of Johnson's local efforts. Johnson became the first tenant to sign a lease when Pollin's Capital Centre site was developed for retail.

The Starbucks divestiture comes right after Johnson unloaded his stake in the Los Angeles Lakers to a well-heeled fan, and as Johnson is rumored to be drumming up cash while he's on the prowl for an NBA team or some other sports franchise to buy. He still owns AMC Magic Johnson Theaters and the home loan outfit in the county.

For now.

Yes, Virginia, There Is a Space Program: Look out, Florida—the Old Dominion is coming after you. NASA officials will launch a "suborbital rocket" from a facility on the Eastern Shore next week, complete with a safety system that will cause the rocket to self-destruct if it strays from its expected flight path. (Fun!) Might this to kick off a new space race? If so, expect Mayor Adrian Fenty to announce over the weekend that the District has launched a satellite—but that it'll come crashing down to Earth if Vince Gray is elected. +2

911 Is a Joke: Police in Hyattsville endure a five-hour standoff outside an auto shop before realizing the building was empty. Evidently, someone told officials that someone else had told him that a group of people with weapons might be inside. Which led to the building's perimeter being secured and a protracted wait for a confrontation with... nobody. In other news, Hyattsville police apparently have very little real crime to worry about. +3

99 Problems, But a Bus Ain't One: Metro pulls 99 buses from the region's roads, after an Orion IV model diesel-powered bus burst into flames on the Beltway yesterday. A hydraulic pump may have caused the fire. The bad news: Fewer buses may mean longer waits on some routes. The good news: You're already used to waiting an absurdly long time for most Metro routes. The really good news: Fewer buses means your chances of getting hit by one decrease. +2

Justin Bieber Is Not a Crook: Maryland authorities won't press charges against the Canadian teen heartthrob for throwing water balloons at state troopers last week during a performance. A bodyguard apparently kept the cops from arresting Bieber up on the spot. Which raises a good question from a marketing standpoint: at what age would it be better for his career to have done some time? (Yes, that joke was kind of lame. So is this entire item. We're only running it to get some of the Google search traffic; we don't actually even know what "Justin Bieber" is.) -3

Yesterday's Needle rating: 45 Today's score: +4 Friday bonus: +2 Today's Needle rating: 51