Maryland Shaw

Thankfully, the “Ella Baker” tradition lives on in Baltimore through young women like Maryland Shaw.

It was in the Baltimore Algebra Project (BAP) that now 22-year-old, Maryland Shaw, got her start in local activism. While a sophomore in high school, she was drawn to BAP after being frustrated by dated and tattered textbooks in high school that she was not allowed to take home to study from. Initially believing that she could do nothing about her problem; she learned of a student-led advocacy group that rejected the notion that youth were powerless to positively impact their own conditions. She joined BAP and not soon after she was helping to organize a three-day strike against educational inequality in the state.

Since that time, Maryland has deepened and broadened her participation in educational activism. In addition to fighting for equal resources for city schools; she is among the leaders of the campaign to halt the construction of a multi-million dollar youth jail in East Baltimore. She has done it all – from organizing community meetings with Baltimore residents about the youth jail to directly confronting Governor O’Malley as he campainged for re-election in 2010.

Today, Shaw is a student at Morgan State University with plans to study Early Childhood Education. She serves as a mentor and volunteer at the Urban Youth Initiative Project (UYIP) – a program of the Pan-Afrikan Liberation Movement. She is committed to nurturing the next generation of youth activists. When asked about the state of youth activism in the city, Maryland observed, “the more I hear about how we need to look to the youth [for leadership] the less I see it.”

Maryland Shaw is a descendant of Ella Baker in more ways than one and in an activist arena that remains dominated by high-powered and often prideful male egos; Shaw is leaving her own mark on Baltimore City and beyond.

Habari Gani? Ujamma – Cooperative Economics

To build and maintain our own stores, shops, and other businesses and to profit from them together.

It was a little more than three years ago when I giving particular attention to the development of the early Christian church as described in the book of Acts. Scripture says that after the departure of Jesus, the Holy Spirit of God descended in mass upon his followers imbuing them with confidence, power, and the ability to speak in foreign languages so that others nearby could understand. Not only that, but the Spirit also was the fuel which re-organized this infant community around daily fellowship and shared meals. Remarkably, another feature of this new community of Faith was that they rejected personal possessions and sold their belongings in order to provide for anyone’s needs. [You can read the full biblical account by Clicking Here]

My excitement of that scriptural vision at that time pushed me to proclaim that the early Christians were Socialists and to suggest that today’s Christians should be as well.

And while I’m not sure that I would so hastily draw the same conclusion today, at the very least I still maintain that scripture presents the early Church as embracing an inspiring COMMUNALISM. There was a certain and celebrated interconnectedness that characterized the early Christian community. And when I think about that interconnectedness and strong sense of communalism, I think about today’s Kwanzaa principle – Ujamaa: Cooperative Economics.

Many have spoken on the importance of the Black Community handling money with greater intentionality and for purposes that would uplift our community. Brother Malcolm X spoke plainly about the importance of us having a hand in the economics of our own neighborhoods, owning the businesses in our neighborhoods and thereby being in a position to employ our own people. Tied to Bro. Malcolm’s position, research shows that Black businesses are more likely than White businesses to hire Black people. Given the stark unemployment rate today for American Africans (15.5% among those still looking for work), supporting Black Businesses must become a priority in our community for in many cases when we support Black Businesses, we support ourselves.

I’m so thankful to live in a city with so many industrious American Africans who are running their own businesses and I make it my business to support them in many ways.

For example, like many of you, I have tons of meetings to attend every month and many of these meetings happen over some kind of meal. Whenever I can, I recommend the “meeting over a meal” to take place at a Black cafe’ or restaurant. Baltimore has many of them, but two of my favorites are the Darker Than Blue Cafe on Greenmount Avenue and Terra Cafe on 25th Street. These two award-winning restaurants are led by inspiring Black Men – Bro. Casey Jenkins (Darker Than Blue) and Bro. Terence Dickson (Terra Cafe) respectively. They’ve created a “down home” atmosphere and serve good food at reasonable prices.

Rev. Heber Brown, III pictured with Brother Nati of Everyone's Place African Cultural Center

You can also get great books and Afrocentric DVD’s from Reality Speaks Bookstore and Media Center. Bro. Jabari and Sista Yaa are longtime advocates for an Afrocentric way of life for African people in Tubman City (Baltimore) and should be supported.

When it comes to apparel, I tend to head to Sankofa African & World Bazaar on North Charles Street.

But for the past month or so, I’ve been excited though because the clothing brand, Alkebu-Lan Gear, has had a kiosk at Towson Mall now located on the third floor. Bro. Darron Waller, (a fellow Morganite!) has created an exciting and fashionable brand that is worn by people all over the world – including on Sesame Street. Bro. Waller has a special sale running until Saturday, December 31, 2011 – buy one shirt, get two free!

I could go on, but you get the point. For all the unseemly and parasitic businesses that drain life and resources from the Black community (with our support!); there are many many more inspiring and empowering Black-owned establishments that stand as beacons of our industrious history, champions of our culture, and founding stones of the 21st-Century Black Wall Street that we have yet to rebuild.

No matter what city or state you’re reading this from; I’d love to know what Black-owned, community-supportive businesses that you frequent or know of. Let’s connect the dots and share. Please provide a website or physical address where possible.

Ashe.

Habari Gani? Kujichagulia! which means Self Determination – To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves, and speak for ourselves.

Self-Determination is such a beautiful principle which speaks to the freedom that all individuals and people-groups should be able to rightly exercise. Though not always using the term, I have been writing about “kujichagulia” on this site for a long time.

In early 2008, I was blessed to be a part of the Park Heights Community “Dry Out” campaign that sought to expel liquor stores and predatory businesses from the 5100 block of Park Heights Avenue in Baltimore. It’s beyond shameful that there are 4 liquor stores in that one block! It’s also telling that in this overwhelmingly Black community; all of those liquor stores are owned by non-Black people. Under the leadership of Derrick Compton and with the support of others like now-councilman Brandon Scott, Al Watson, and Pastor Kevin Brooks; we put weekly pressure on these establishments to let them know they were being monitored for infractions and targeted for eventual expulsion.

In November 2009, I critiqued the Emerging Christian Movement in the spirit of self-determination, for its exclusion of non-white voices as it presented theological dynamics and features as if they created them while all the while People of Color of other Faith traditions and denominations have been practicing different “emerging” principles for generations.

I wrote about “kujichagulia” back in August 2010 when I proclaimed that “Black People Should Control The Baltimore City Public School System” on the grounds that Afrikan youth make up about 98% of the student population and the city is somewhere around 65% Afrikan. This notwithstanding, Black folks are regularly begging and pleading to have substantive say in the education of their own youth.

Self-determination pushed me back in April 2011 when I talked about the general “whiteness” of the Urban Farming/Healthy Food Movement and the need for people of color to be at the lead of the food revolution just as we are in most cases the ones suffering under the brunt of America’s food deserts.

And of course, my involvement in the struggle against Governor O’Malley’s plan to build a new youth jail in East Baltimore has been fueled by my firm belief that the Black Community should decide what institutions we want or don’t want in our community just like White people and Jewish people decide what will or won’t come in their communities. If White people don’t want a business or even a church to come into their community; chances are it won’t come. If Jewish people don’t want a business to come in their community; chances are it doesn’t come. Why should it be any different for Afrikan people? We don’t want O’Malley’s multi-million dollar youth jail and many of us have committed ourselves to organize, agitate, and protest – even if it means physically impeding the path of construction trucks – until O’Malley bends to our wishes.

This, my friends, is self-determination and in different ways it’s happening all over the world.

I pray that the flames of “Kujichagulia” burn even brighter in the new year for the Global Afrikan Family. As Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. reminded us – “No one can ride your back unless its bent.” No more hunched-backness in the Black community! May we stand up straight like righteous women and men and commit to “define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves, and speak for ourselves” without timidity or apology.

Ashe.

“I think I have some sense of what neighborhoods in Baltimore are like and what they need.” That was, in part, M.J. Brodie’s response to my critique of his agency’s impact on Baltimore’s Black Community. He knows what our neighborhoods are like and he knows what we need. Really?

In an open-air, public meeting with him organized by Another BDC Is Possible (an offshoot of Occupy Baltimore) I, along with others challenged him on the lack of participation, lack of transparency, and lack of commitment to economic justice within the Baltimore Development Corporation. I told Mr. Brodie that his agency operates from a “just trust us to do what’s best for you” mentality, however, that unearned trusts that the Black Community has given the BDC and other Baltimore agencies has produced some strange fruit.

I used that line in my words to Brodie – “strange fruit” – and I almost wished I hadn’t now because he seemed more concerned about proving to me that he knew where the reference came from rather than addressing the central concern of my challenge to him in that the majority demographic of Baltimore – the Black Community – has in essence an extremely limited “official” role in helping to give voice to the vision and future of the city.

I spoke at the mic that night feeling a certain responsibility to the silent workers of Baltimore who clean the skyscrapers downtown while smiling at “Boss” and enduring dehumanizing dynamics because of the economic dependence on less than suitable wages. I spoke with responsibility to the folks who are bused into the Inner Harbor to make sure tables are clean, doors are opened, food is warm, and a pleasurable experience is created for the monied, and privileged “upper economic class” that are said to be so key to the advancement of this Black City. I spoke with responsibility for the Black Youth whose very presence at the Inner Harbor is a protest against a city that creates enjoyable spaces for tourists while closing schools and threatening to shutter recreational centers. I spoke to Brodie with responsibility to 80 acres of a Black Community in East Baltimore that was summarily moved out of their homes in a gentrification project to make way for “other people” who are treated as if they are the promise of a “better” East Baltimore – and those grandmothers, grandfathers, and Black Families that they replaced were a curse that caused the dilapidation of the infrastructure around the behemoth that is Johns Hopkins.

Just trust us, he says. “I know what’s best for you.”

That night I left the polished skyscrapers of the Inner Harbor which stand like monuments to White privilege and power in this Black town and went back to my community where there are about four liquor stores and a dingy Murry’s that serves as the community’s food depot. “Tobacco and Groceries” reads the banner announcing the latest business coming to the block. Vacant buildings, liquor, check cashing, and stale food are the staples of the area of the community where I live which is just south of Belvedere Square – a posh, boutique, and restaurant area partly financed by the Baltimore Development Corporation and definitely designed with the local higher income, White community in mind. To see it and then look at the businesses and buildings in my immediate neighborhood, one would think you’re looking at two different cities – not two pictures of the very same street!

With the BDC’s support, some get high-end food, dining, furnishing, and events and others get….this:

STRANGE FRUIT INDEED

It’s said that a budget is a moral document which lets others know how much or how little you value something. And if that holds true, then the Mayor of Baltimore has some serious problems with city youth. In her FY’12 budget proposal, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has allocated more than $260 Million on crime control (police, prosecutors, blue light cameras, S.W.A.T. teams, K-9 units, etc.) while only spending $24 million on youth and family development (prenatal care, early learning, sports, arts, internships, community service, and jobs).

Crime control got an increase of more than $8 million dollars in this budget while youth/family development’s budget was slashed by $2.2 million.

A budget that seeks to spend 11 times more on crime control than on supporting youth and families is a formula for disaster.

It’s almost as if city government is banking on the failure of its citizens not investing in our success. While Mayor Rawlings-Blake prepares to tout the bright spots of our city to those visiting mayors who are coming here for the 79th Annual Meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors; you can be sure that she won’t be sharing the minority report of the real state of Baltimore for the most vulnerable of our neighbors and children.

But there is a growing tide of people who understand that the “math don’t add up.” More police on the streets plus less support for the youth doesn’t equal a Baltimore that’s fitted for a bright future.

People like Councilman Bill Henry, Councilman Warren Branch, and Councilwoman Belinda Conaway know that. That’s why they voted against the Mayor’s budget on June 13th. (Thank you Councilmembers Henry, Branch, and Conaway!)

On Monday, June 20, 2011 at 3PM and then at 5PM; the City Council will take a final vote on the Mayor’s budget. It is my hope that Baltimore City Councilmembers do right by the youth of Baltimore and reject this budget until there is greater parity between public safety and the promise of our future – our youth.

Follow this link to email Baltimore City Council members or call them TODAY with a simple message: “VOTE NO ON THE MAYOR’S BUDGET UNTIL THE BUDGET DOES RIGHT BY OUR CHILDREN! More funding for youth and families. Less funding for crime control!”

I’ll be sharing insight related to what has been a focal point of my activism for the past year – state plans to build a new youth jail in Baltimore. At this season in my “activist life”; I’ve made the decision to focus my limited energy on a small handful of issues as opposed to my former approach of jumping on any and every item of interest that came across my desk. There are a lot of important issues out there – many of which I hope to hear about on Thursday evening – however, there is something to be said about strategically focusing on two to three issues for the long haul and relentlessly working for change in those areas. I’m excited to be one of the presenters for the Ignite Baltimore event and I hope to see some of you there.

For more information click here

House Bill 1011, entitled the Democracy in Education Act 2011, would have empowered city voters to decide the issue of a partially elected school board at the November 2011 election.

The Baltimore City House Delegation, during its weekly Annapolis meeting this past Friday, March 25, 2011, considered the bill and voted on whether or not to give it their support. Though 10 of the 18 city delegates sponsored the measure, the bill was voted unfavorable by a vote of 7 to 5 essentially sealing its fate for the year.

Here is video from the hearing and vote:

From L to R: Senator Catherine Pugh, Delegate Barbara Robinson, Delegate Shawn Tarrant, Delegate Frank Conaway, Jr., City Councilman Carl Stokes

The fight for the destiny of Black Children in Baltimore has intensified as hundreds of city residents, including high school students, college students, clergy, community activists, and many others, are voicing their firm opposition to Governor Martin O’Malley’s plan to build a $104 Million Dollar Youth Jail at 600 E. Monument Street in a community already saturated with “correctional” facilities.

In overwhelming fashion, community members agree that this is not the best use of state tax dollars and there are more productive ways to engage issues surrounding youth offenders specifically and public safety generally. The truth of the matter is that 40% of all prison and correctional facilities in the state of Maryland are found in Baltimore City. Given that, outside observers might be led to conclude that Baltimore City has to be one of the safest places in the state given the mountain of resources that have been thrown into building barns with bars for all the “bad guys”. Those closer to the situation know differently and even without the statistical data or the political polish, most Black Baltimoreans especially know instinctively that building more jails does not mean increasing public safety. We also know that if resources are invested on the front-end of life; then the need for these types of facilities diminishes greatly.

Despite this common wisdom that permeates many Black communities in Baltimore; there seems to be a disconnect between the will of Black Baltimoreans and the actions of Black politicians. While community members and grassroots activists have been vocal in stating and demonstrating their opposition to Governor Martin O’Malley’s $104 Million Dollar Youth Jail; far too many Black Politicians in Baltimore have offered up only muted support or worse. The majority of Black elected officials in Baltimore City have been virtually silent on this issue causing many to believe that they have made a pact with the devil (so to speak) to gain political favor in exchange for their betrayal of their own community. (Delegate Jill Carter from District 41 being the notable and laudable exception. Thank you, Del. Carter!)

In the throes of a contentious gubernatorial election, rumors abound that Governor Martin O’Malley’s campaign team has been contacting youth-serving organizations, advocacy groups, and politicians in the city requesting their silence on the issue of the youth jail scheduled to be built in East Baltimore. While these claims have yet to be fully substantiated; one wonders how else it can be explained that persons who are accustomed to being “in the know” and on top of the latest and largest things going on in the city have yet to say much at all about a $100 million dollar-plus project coming to East Baltimore. It is almost as if the project doesn’t exist.

Of particular interest are the elected officials who represent the district where this Youth Jail is slated to be built. While the area is represented by Congressman Elijah Cummings and Senators Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin on the federal level; it’s the state and local elected officials who are of particular concern. These are the individuals whom one would think have a greater finger on the pulse of the community and a greater readiness to respond to the will of those they were elected to serve. These are the ones who meet the neighbors, attend community meetings, get to know families, receive calls from those in need, and are invited to community events, pushed to the microphone and applauded. Surely, one would assume that they are in lock-step with the souls of Black Folks in District 40 (councilmanic district 12) – knowing their yearnings, their unmet needs, and being in tune with the community desire for itself. However, this does not seem to be the case.

SENATOR CATHERINE PUGH

The State Senator for District 40, Senator Catherine Pugh, is in the position of traditional legislative leadership for that district and there is no published comment anywhere that she offers up in relation to the $104 Million Dollar Youth Jail. She’s not publicly spoken on the project either way. This is particularly unsettling because she is also the Chair of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland which is holding its Annual Conference beginning two days after next week’s mid-term election. One of the primary objectives of the caucus is to “act as a legislative body on behalf of the Black community” and advocate policies that serve the best interest of the Black community. One wonders if she thinks that building this Youth Jail serve the interest of the Black community. Her deafening silence belies her complicity in O’Malley’s dastardly plot to yet again secure political advantage and curry corporate favor on the backs of Black children. Pugh’s lack of leadership on this issue not only undermines the destiny of her district, but also gives heads up as to what we can expect from the Black Caucus in the coming years.

DELEGATE BARBARA ROBINSON

Much of the same can be said for Delegate Barbara Robinson who also “represents” District 40 and “serves” as the 2nd Vice Chair of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland along with Pugh. After repeated attempts to contact her for comment on the issue of the youth jail being built in her district, she offers no comment.

DELEGATE SHAWN TARRANT

To the credit of Delegate Shawn Tarrant, he was interviewed on the Marc Steiner show on WEAA 88.9FM over the summer and came out against the project, however, since that time has not publicly demonstrated his opposition to O’Malley’s Youth Jail. While his verbal support is appreciated and is much more than his colleagues have offered up; what you say on the radio only takes us so far. With all the talk radio shows in Baltimore, thousands of people have the opportunity everyday to pick up the phone and voice their opinion. But in this town “radio revolutionaries” come a dime a dozen. We need more people who hang up the phone, get off the radio, and get in the streets.

DELEGATE FRANK CONAWAY, JR.

Delegate Frank Conaway, Jr. is puzzling in terms of his lack of attention to this issue. Though he comes from a political family known for speaking out on controversial issues,he too has been publicly silent. His father in particular, Frank Conaway, Sr. who is Clerk of City Courts, is remembered for his public clashes and critique of Martin O’Malley when he was Mayor of Baltimore. Frank “The Son”, however, has not followed in Dad’s footsteps on this point.

CITY COUNCILMAN CARL STOKES

Finally, City Councilman and former Baltimore Mayoral Candidate, Carl Stokes who represents the same neighborhood as his state-level colleagues listed above, has not publicly spoken out either. Private emails convey his disagreement with the project, but one would think that he would seize the opportunity to publicly demonstrate his commitment to the community particularly given the speculation around town that he’s considering a run for Mayor next year.

IN CLOSING

All in all, the entire team receives a failing grade on this issue for their convenient silence and in some cases outright complicity in partnering with Governor Martin O’Malley to build a $104 Million Dollar Youth Jail in their community. Many conclude that the Prison Industrial Complex and the “School-to-Prison Pipeline” represents the 21st Century version of slavery in this country for American Africans and Latinos in particular. If that is true, then a brand new slave ship is being built in East Baltimore and those whom Bro. Malcolm X might characterize as “House Negroes” are standing by and letting it happen.

In addressing the Vietnam War, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “there comes a time when silence is betrayal.” These Black Politicians (and their silent colleagues) are in danger of tarnishing their would-be legacies and becoming known as the ones who were curiously and conveniently asleep at the switch at a time when Black Youth needed them most.