Social justice

Black residents of the Deal Island peninsula endure hardships to cling to the land where their enslaved ancestors once lived, says Rona Kobell, a Banner contributor and co-founder of the Environmental Justice Journalism Initiative, which produced the film “Eroding History.”

Book-banning and other censorship efforts were a threat to journalistic freedom 100 years ago, and they still are today, DeWayne Wickham, The Banner’s public editor, says.

Organizers asked me to moderate a panel on racial and social justice because I’ve been reporting on these ideas for much of my career as a journalist. But listening to people who focus on this issue daily provided some revelations worth sharing.

Baltimore needs to establish a Land Bank Authority to bring more investment to underserved neighborhoods, says Krystle Okafor, director of policy and planning at SHARE Baltimore.

Deep within the litany of outrages by the Catholic Church documented by the Maryland Office of the Attorney General report, there is a revelation as shocking as the predatory priests or the religious bureaucracy eager to hide its sins.

Baltimore and Maryland school officials need to reverse course and keep Steuart Hill Academic Academy open, a leader of a community activist group says. Cecilia Gonzalez says children and families of the West Baltimore neighborhood surrounding Steuart Hill have been well-served by the elementary school.

Black people in Maryland would still be more likely to face prosecution under the state's current marijuana reform legislation, defense attorneys J. Wyndal Gordon and Warren A. Brown say.

Segregation remains a reality in Baltimore County schools, a parent of a county school student says; lack of an effective inclusionary housing policy reinforces a system that subsidizes segregation in Baltimore, a policy analyst says; families can take steps to ease the transition of people with developmental disabilities into adulthood, a services coordinator says.

A boisterous crowd gathered at the State House to celebrate significant progress this year — a new law will expand coverage for gender-affirming care for people with Medicaid insurance — but they noted that much more work is ahead in making the state safe and inclusive for trans Marylanders.

Baltimore must find ways to rightfully honor writer, orator and abolitionist Frances Ellen Watkins Harper and the power of her legacy, author and Johns Hopkins History Professor Martha S. Jones says.

Housing redevelopment in Baltimore’s distressed neighborhoods would pay for itself with economic benefits such as tax revenues and construction jobs, says Paul C. Brophy, a principal with Brophy & Reilly LLC who specializes in neighborhood revitalization.

Harassment and vandalism accounted for most of the spike, which gave the state the 10th highest number of antisemitic incidents in the country in 2022.

The Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission probably won’t consider the case of Hattie Carroll, but it should, DeWayne Wickham, public editor for The Baltimore Banner, says.

The Environmental Protection Agency needs a stronger rule to reduce particle air pollution and to protect people with chronic lung disease and the broader community in places like Baltimore, says Dr. Panagis Galiatsatos, a physician with the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center and community engagement co-director of the Baltimore Breathe Center.

Baltimore entrepreneurs are well-positioned for a breakthrough on tech startups, despite challenges nationwide from events such as the SVB crisis, says Jamie McDonald, chief executive officer of UpSurge, which is focused on making Baltimore the country’s first "equitech city."

The Moore-Miller transition team gathered input from more than 5,000 Marylanders to identify the state’s biggest challenges, develop solutions and help set priorities, says Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller, who chaired the transition team.

A scholarship program for kindergarten to 12th-grade students is the target of selective outrage, Tony Campbell, a Towson University faculty member, says. Loss of Medicare Advantage plans is putting the health of Maryland seniors at risk, Rev. Alvin Hathaway Sr., president and founder of Beloved Community Services, says. Promising and rewarding careers are available at facilities serving seniors, Allison Roenigk Ciborowski, president and CEO of LeadingAge Maryland, says.

Prosecution of children in adult court, which expanded as some Black and brown youths were being singled out as “super predators,” must end in Maryland and elsewhere, Adnan Syed and defense attorney Melissa Miller say.

Persistent stigma and misunderstanding of ADHD may be contributing to an apparent lack of political will to resolve the shortage of medications to treat it.

Emergency allotments for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is ending Wednesday, resulting in cuts that experts say could affect over 360,000 Maryland households.