Faith in Action

According to the Baltimore City NAACP’s report card on the city delegation, Del. Jill P. Carter received a 95 out of 100 - the highest grade of all of her colleagues!

Without a doubt she is the principled freedom fighter that society usually celebrates only after they leave the scene.

However, I opt to give her her flowers while she can yet smell them so HAPPY BIRTHDAY Del. Carter and please continue to honor the legacy of your father and so many others who fought for positive social change for those on the margins of society.

Internet surfing on Saturday revealed that the NAACP had elected its new leader - Benjamin Todd Jealous, a Rhodes Scholar and Human Rights Activist. Jealous at age 35 is the youngest President and CEO in the 99 year history of the organization.

Not knowing Mr. Jealous, there are two things that struck me at first glance when I read the news. First, his age. I thought it was a bold and encouraging move by the organization to elect a young man to lead the organization forward. It sends a signal that the NAACP is serious about recruiting more youth to the organization to be true partners in determining future steps. It’s no secret that the NAACP - like other “old guard” civil rights organizations/figureheads- has struggled to remain relevant in quickly changing times. Hopefully, Jealous will help.

The second thing that struck me was his image. To be quite honest, when I first saw his picture I thought that he was caucasian. I was shocked to think that the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People had elected a White man to lead the organization into the future! Now I know that this wouldn’t have been a first for the NAACP (White people have always been involved with the leadership and funding of the organization), but let’s just say I would have considered it a very surprising move. I can hear Jasmyne Cannick already saying that White people are not stealing our cultural distinctives - WE’RE GIVING THEM AWAY!

Thank goodness I kept reading the article.

Jealous’ mother is Black and his father is White. Jean Marbella from the Baltimore Sun calls him “very Obama” - with the parallels of ivy league credentials, biracial parentage, lawyer spouses, and contentious battles to win versus older, established candidates.

One of the other candidates for the presidency - Dr. Freddy Haynes, pastor of Friendship West Baptist Church in Dallas, was my choice. Knowing him personally and his rootage in the Black Church experience would have poised the organization to continue blowing the trumpet for justice no matter how unpopular it would be. (I would be curious to learn how Haynes connection to Dr. Jeremiah Wright impacted the Board’s decision. It’s no secret that Haynes is a protege of Wright and is doing a fantastic job continuing in the Black Liberation Theology tradition.)

Well apparently, the “social justice” trumpet won’t be the bugle nearest Benjamin Jealous’ hand - his top priority is fundraising. According to a Baltimore Sun article:

Jealous said he will make financial stability a priority for the organization and plans to use his personal relationships with top foundations around the country to build fund-raising.

This is of great concern to me because I do not believe that the nation’s foundations are going to make contributions without strings attached. My boy “E Double” shared a Haki Madhubuti quote with me sometime ago that went something like, “It is generally understood that he who butters your bread dictates your appetite.”

Toward that end, I recently finished reading a fascinating book entitled, The Revolution Will Not Be Funded: Beyond The Non-Profit Industrial Complex edited by Incite! Women of Color Against Violence. The book demands your eyes to be opened to the fact that Foundations and other Grantmaking Institutions have historically been used to indirectly control the activities of organizations that claim social change as their goal. Nonprofit organizations are, by and large, used to dissiminate crumbs to the poor, oppressed masses and manage their dissent as opposed to nourishing the seeds of revolution that are present in their souls. It is the blossoming of those seeds that is needed to bring this system of government which is unjust at its core to an end. According to this must-read book, the Non-profit Industrial Complex (NPIC) is used to:

If these concepts hold to be true, and I suspect they will, we can look forward to a NAACP that becomes further “americanized” and absorbed into the corporate realm rendering it unable to truly challenge an unjust power structure that it will rely so heavily on for financial support. They won’t bark too loud - lest the hand that feeds them gets offended.

Not only will the revolution not be televised, but I agree with argument of the book, the revolution will not be funded either!

Tell ‘em Gil Scott Heron.

Bro. Malcolm X is one of the chief examples of Black Manhood for me. It was upon reading his Autobiography that I really learned about his life’s story and legacy beyond the state-endorsed soundbytes that present him unfavorably.

While flipping the pages of the book, I felt like I was in conversation with him. We have more in common than I initially thought - even down to small things like letting our beards grow while back in the Motherland.

He is as alive today as he was during his human experience. His ideas, speeches, and liberating activity inspire millions across the world. While it is unfortunate that the Baltimore City Public Conditioning System will not include the story of Bro. Malcolm as a standard component of the curriculum; all is not lost. It is our job as a community to reclaim ownership of our children’s education and prevent those who are ignorant or negatively biased to Ourstory from infecting the minds of the youth. (Toward that end, please Educators take a look at this exciting curriculum.)

For the parents and/or youth-serving adults out there today. I encourage you to take some moments today to talk to your children about the true legacy of Bro. Malcolm X.

Happy Birthday, Bro. Malcolm.

Hat Tip: Baltimore Examiner

Len Lazarick, The Examiner

Annapolis -
Wider collection of DNA samples from anyone charged with a violent crime tentatively passed the Maryland Senate on Tuesday.

But seven of the 10 African-American senators voted against the measure despite concessions they won from Gov. Martin O’Malley on a key component of his anti-crime agenda. Many black lawmakers said O’Malley’s proposal had potential to create another kind of racial profiling, with little knowledge of how genetic information could be used in the future.

Despite misgivings, Sen. Verna Jones, chairwoman of the General Assembly’s Legislative Black Caucus, voted for the bill initially — “a vote that’s very difficult for me” — then switched her vote after the measure passed on a preliminary 36-to-11 vote. She asked to have her name removed as a co-sponsor.

“I do have a problem with this bill, but I wanted to be supportive,” Jones told The Examiner. “I don’t think it’s as tight as it should be.”

The Senate amended the bill to make it similar to the one passed by the House last Wednesday. DNA samples would only be collected after a person was charged with a crime of violence, not after arrest, as O’Malley originally proposed.

The DNA would be tested after conviction, and it would be automatically expunged if the suspect was acquitted. In an important difference with the House, the Senate version “sunsets” the law — automatically repeals it — in five years.

“I had worked very diligently with the governor’s bill,” said Sen. Lisa Gladden, vice chairwoman of the Judicial Proceedings Committee and a public defender in Baltimore. “I still think it’s a bad bill.”

“I know who’s going to be in the database,” Gladden said — “poor people, African-American people.”

Sen. Delores Kelley, D-Baltimore County, said the bill was “premature” since O’Malley has neither provided the funding, created a commission of experts nor set up the regulations to be make sure the laboratories doing the testing were credentialed.

Four conservative Republicans joined in the opposition. “These are innocent people” from whom the DNA will be collected, said Sen. Alex Mooney. “We don’t know what they can do with DNA yet.”

Both sides expect the measure to be sent to a conference committee to work out differences between the two houses.

HERE IS HOW THE SENATE VOTED:

Nays (11):

Joan Carter Conway, D, Baltimore City
Ulysses Currie, D, Prince George’s County
Nathaniel Exum, D, Prince George’s County
Lisa A. Gladden, D, Baltimore City
Janet Greenip, R, Anne Arundel County
David C. Harrington, D, Prince George’s County
Andrew P. Harris, R, Baltimore County & Harford County
Delores G. Kelley, D, Baltimore County
Allan H. Kittleman, R, Carroll & Howard Counties
Alex X. Mooney, R, Frederick & Washington Counties
C. Anthony Muse, D, Prince George’s County
E.J. Pipkin, R, Caroline, Cecil, Kent & Queen Anne’s Counties

Yeas (36):

John C. Astle, D, Anne Arundel County
David R. Brinkley, R, Frederick & Carroll Counties
James Brochin, D, Baltimore County
Richard F. Colburn, R, Caroline, Dorchester, Talbot & Wicomico Counties
James E. DeGrange, Sr., D, Anne Arundel County
George W. Della, Jr., D, Baltimore City
Roy P. Dyson, D, Calvert, Charles & St. Mary’s Counties
George C. Edwards, R, Allegany, Garrett & Washington Counties
Jennie M. Forehand, D, Montgomery County
Brian E. Frosh, D, Montgomery County
Robert J. Garagiola, D, Montgomery County
Barry Glassman, R, Harford County
Larry E. Haines, R, Baltimore County & Carroll Counties
Nancy Jacobs, R, Cecil & Harford Counties
Verna L. Jones, D, Baltimore City
Edward J. Kasemeyer, D, Baltimore County & Howard County
Nancy J. King, D, Montgomery County
Katherine A. Klausmeier, D, Baltimore County
Rona E. Kramer, D, Montgomery County
Mike Lennett, D, Montgomery County
Richard S. Madaleno, Jr., D, Montgomery County
Nathaniel J. McFadden, D, Baltimore City
Thomas M. Middleton, D, Charles County
Thomas V. Mike Miller, Jr., D, Calvert & Prince George’s Counties
Donald F. Munson, R, Washington County
Douglas J.J. Peters, D, Prince George’s County
Paul G. Pinsky, D, Prince George’s County
Catherine E. Pugh, D, Baltimore City
Jamie Raskin, D, Montgomery County
James N. Robey, D, Howard County
Jim Rosapepe, D, Anne Arundel & Prince George’s Counties
Bryan W. Simonaire, R, Anne Arundel County
J. Lowell Stoltzfus, R, Somerset, Wicomico & Worcester Counties
Norman R. Stone, Jr., D, Baltimore County
Bobby A. Zirkin, D, Baltimore County

Since this mainstream media report, the House of Delegates has voted on the bill and everyone voted in favor of it except Del. Jill Carter (D-41), Del. Michael Smigiel (R-36), Del. Richard Sossi (R-36) and Del. Donna Stifler (R-35A).

Del. Frank Conaway, Jr. (D-40) - who we initially identified as being one of the misguided African American delegates in a previous post - chose not to vote at all.

Hat Tip: Baltimore Examiner

By BRIAN WITTE, The Associated Press
2008-03-18

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -
A measure to expand the collection of DNA samples from people arrested for violent crimes and burglary has run into strong resistance from the NAACP and members of the Maryland Legislative Black Caucus, who walked out of a House caucus meeting Tuesday in frustration.

Opponents are fighting the bill because they say it’s too broad and requires DNA collections from innocent people who haven’t been convicted of any crimes. Initially the bill, which is one of Gov. Martin O’Malley’s priorities this session, would have required that DNA samples be kept by law enforcement - even if people ended up being exonerated.

The measure has been amended so that authorities would have to inform someone of the right to expunge the sample, if the charges are dropped or the person is acquitted.

When the bill was brought up on the House floor Tuesday morning, Delegate Joseph F. Vallario Jr., the Judiciary Committee Chairman, told lawmakers to “feel free” to bring more amendments to the committee.

“Our door is always open,” Vallario said, shortly before action on the bill was put off until Thursday.

Read More

This has been a long day of phone calling, emailing, and article writing. I have done everything that I could do today to pressure elected officials who “serve” on the Judiciary Committee to VOTE NO on Governor Martin O’Malley’s Statewide DNA Database legislation. This bill will authorize the state to take DNA samples from individuals who have been arrested and charged, BUT NOT CONVICTED of any crime. And as many of us know, it is possible to be arrested and even charged only later to have a trial exonerate you of any wrongdoing.

If this bill passes, the DNA of those arrested and charged would be stored in a database and if the courts find them innocent then they would have to go through a long and complicated process to get their DNA expunged from the database. Given the disproportionate rates at which African Americans and Latinos are arrested in this state and country, what the bill will likely do is create a racially-biased, genetic dragnet program. A supposed “public safety” program with a more than $1.3 million dollar price tag. Though Prince George’s County State’s Attorney, Glenn Ivey would disagree, I am of the opinion that this bill would threaten to violate individual’s rights in the name of public safety - a practice that the Federal Government has mastered…using fear to get the public to surrender their constitutional rights. Other states have seen the great danger in this type of program. In 2007, 25 states introduced bills to expand DNA sampling to arrestees and only 4 passed this legislation. (SOURCE)

As it is with many other state legislatures, when a bill is introduced it is assigned to a committee that will consider it. That committee then will either give it a favorable or unfavorable report. If the bill receives an unfavorable report then it doesn’t make it out of committee (it dies). If the bill receives a favorable report (possibly with some amendments) it is sent back to the floor for a full house vote.

I just received notification that the Governor’s DNA bill has just received a favorable report from the Judiciary Committee.

There are 4 African Americans that serve on that committee and I was counting on these 4 to hold the line and slow this bill down. I was hoping that they would possess a greater sensitivity to potential abuse that could strike their community if this bill is passed. After talking to the Chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, Senator Verna Jones, this afternoon, I hung up hoping that members of the Black Caucus would hold the position of the Caucus and oppose the bill as written and refuse a vote on the bill until further consideration can be taken. I was wrong.

Three out of the four African American members of the Judiciary Committee voted “yes” to this detestable bill. They are:

Delegate Gerron S. Levi (D-23A) representing Prince George’s County

I’m told that when the the Judiciary Committee almost agreed to take the Black Caucus’ position and hold off on the bill, it was Del. Gerron S. Levi who played the role of the divisive, dastardly delegate and shot this option down. In her eagerness to prove her loyalty to the Power Structure during her first term in office, she may have just opened the door for the rights of many of her own constituents to be violated.

Delegate Frank M. Conaway, Jr. (D-40) representing Baltimore City

I called Delegate Conaway’s office myself and told the woman who answered the phone that we had just brought Conaway’s name up on the Larry Young Morning show (WOLB 1010AM) as one of legislators who rightly voted against one of the tax increases. It’s unfortunate that now I have to go back on the radio on Monday and let everyone know that Conaway sold out his own community in voting for this bill. Another first term delegate looking to ingratiate himself to the status quo Power Structure.

Delegate Curt Anderson (D-43) representing Baltimore City

As Chairman of the Baltimore City Delegation, one would assume that Anderson has enough clout to take a strong stand and refuse to budge on such an important bill. I guess what they say about “assuming” is right. As one who consistently portrays himself as being concerned about the most vulnerable segments of our society, I am appalled that Delegate Anderson would vote in favor of this bill. I vehemently disagree with him on this.

Three out of the four African American delegates were major disappoints on this. They refused to take a stand. They chose to be silent when righteousness begged their cooperation. And now they must be held accountable. Understand Family that if there are no consequences when elected officials vote against the will of the people then they will continue to ingratiate themselves to their political overlords and will check back in with their constituents when the next election rolls around.

I’m not having it! No more. I’m tired of being ignored. I will not be apathetic. I will ring their phones, flood their inboxes, and show up in person if need be to let them know that this betrayal will be remembered for a long time.

Just in case you get the itch to pick up the phone and voice your displeasure:

Del. Gerron S. Levi
(410) 841-3101

Del. Frank Conaway
(410) 841-3189

Del Curt Anderson
(410) 841-3291

P.S. - Who’s the one African American delegate who rightly voted “No” against the Governor’s DNA bill you ask?

Why Delegate Jill P. Carter (D-41) of Baltimore City of course. THANK YOU DELEGATE JILL CARTER FOR YOUR CONSISTENT AND PRINCIPLED SERVICE TO OUR COMMUNITY!

Picture this - one day you are arrested, but not convicted of a crime. Nonetheless, prior to any conviction, a DNA sample is taken from you to be included in a statewide criminal database. After your trial you are found innocent of all charges and yet the state still has your DNA in its criminal database. You then must go through a long and complicated process to get your DNA expunged from the criminal database - that is if and only if you meet certain criteria.

So what’s the problem? There are many, but the one that really gets me centers on the fact that the judicial system of this country and the state of Maryland is supposed to presume a person innocent until proven guilty. However, the collection of your DNA right away implicates you as GUILTY BEFORE TRIAL!

Governor Martin O’Malley is chomping at the bits to make this nightmare a reality with a bill that he is pushing through the state legislature entitled STATEWIDE DNA DATA BASE SYSTEM. (HB370 / SB211)

Under the guise of increasing public safety, O’Malley will essentially create a racially-biased genetic dragnet program which will disproportionally impact the African American and Latino communities. He is attempting to rush the bill to a vote before the general public has time to scrutinize it further.

O’Malley is pushing this bill so hard that even legislators don’t fully understand it.

Delegate Sandy Rosenberg (D-41) admits as much on his website:

I chaired the first meeting of the work group on the Governor’s bill to take DNA samples from people arrested for serious crimes.

Around the table were members of the Judiciary Committee, a delegate representing the Black Caucus, the lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union, and two of the Governor’s lobbyists…

Don’t ask me the details of what we agreed to during five hours of meetings today on the Governor’s DNA bill.

“I’m no good at science,” I once told my parents. Forty plus years later, my knowledge of biology isn’t much better. Plus, I’m no scholar when it comes to Maryland criminal procedure.

So I used my political science skills to chair three work sessions with delegates, legislative and executive branch staff, and prosecutors and defense lawyers. Shortly after 7 pm, we left smiling. When someone proposes an amendment, you can accept it, modify it, study it this summer, or reject it. We did some of each today. Sometimes, I proposed one of those options at the start of the discussion of a certain issue. More often, I waited for a consensus to develop and someone else to propose a solution.

I’ll bone up on the details of the bill by Thursday night or Friday afternoon. That’s when the Judiciary Committee will be voting on it.

Though Maryland is currently grappling with a $1.4 billion dollar deficit, Governor O’Malley is willing to devote more than $1.4 million dollars to create this DNA registry that rebuts the Fourth Amendment (prohibiting unreasonable searches and seizures), the Eighth Amendment (prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment) and the presumption of innocence before guilt. What’s more local police departments will likely have trouble implementing this thing anyway! (according to state fiscal & policy notes)

In a city that has historically had problems with illegal arrests, the implications of this orwellian crime fighting strategy is abominable to say the least.

I join the Maryland NAACP, the Baltimore City Branch of the NAACP, the Prince George’s County Branch of the NAACP, the Maryland Chapter of the National Organization for Women, the Maryland Innocence Coalition, the ACLU of Maryland, the Coalition of Maryland Ministerial Alliances, and the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland in OPPOSING THE GOVERNOR’S DNA DATABASE BILL!

IMMEDIATE ACTION IS NEEDED ON THIS BILL.

I ask you to join me in opposition. You can help by doing any number of the following.

Kudos to my Baltimore Algebra Project comrades.

Dear supporters of the Algebra Project:

We mourn the loss of Zachariah Hallback, a wonderful young man who had participated in many Algebra Project events, and who was helping to organize for the action below. Zach was shot Wednesday, Jan. 9 during a robbery while he waited with other Algebra Project youth for a bus across the street from City College High School. He was pronounced dead on Friday, Jan. 11. The students have decided to continue with this action in his memory.

STUDENT ACTION –CSI ANNAPOLIS– NOW SCHEDULED FOR FEB. 6
Please join them, Silent March to the State House begins at 1:00 p.m., Wednesday, Feb 6, from Asbury United Methodist Church, 87 West Street, Annapolis.
RIDES NEEDED FOR PARENTS–PLEASE CALL 410-338-0679 TO HELP.

DEMANDS INCLUDE:

Reverse cuts to Thornton Funding — school system must currently cut $50 million to balance 2009 budget

Jobs in the knowledge-based economy for all youth
$800 million for Baltimore schools as ordered by court
Arts for all students; Buildings repaired, not closed; Class sizes capped at 20.

Quality Education as a Constitutional Right.

Some students will perform a die-in to dramatize the cost of inadequate education, and the Governor’s Mansion will be wrapped in crime-scene tape.

For more information, Call 410-338-0679

Jay