Photo by Rich Dennison/The Daily Record

That’s the question I would ask Donald Fry (pictured), head of the influential Greater Baltimore Committee and Governor-appointed Chair of the Video Lottery Facility Location Commission.

The Baltimore Business Journal reported last week that the 7 member commission voted to “ease” [read: ignore] state requirements which would call for 25% of the casino construction project to go to MBE (minority-business enterprise) or WBE (women-business enterprise) certified firms. Likewise, successful licensees won’t have to bother with the Baltimore City requirement that calls for 37% minority-owned or woman-owned business participation either.

Apparently, it’s just that easy to make a state and city requirement – “optional.”

The interim-Mayor of Baltimore, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, didn’t seem to know that the Video Lottery Facility Location Commission “eased” the MBE/WBE requirement on the city slots construction project when she was asked about it on the Marc Steiner Show on the evening of Thursday, August 18th – the day after the controversial vote. However, she did say that she takes the MBE/WBE goals very seriously and that many bidding firms are disqualified if their proposals don’t meet them.

Despite her proclaimed convictions related to including minorities and women in state contracts, it’s doubtful that she’ll challenge the ruling of the slots commission given that she’s in the midst of a contentious election and the head of the commission was chosen by her political ally, Governor Martin O’Malley.

She’ll take one for the team on this one.

However, The Baltimore City branch of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) isn’t laying down so quietly. In the following open letter, Rev. C.D. Witherspoon, President of the Baltimore Branch of the SCLC, challenged Mr. Fry to explain why the state MBE/WBE requirements were removed from the city casino construction project:

Rev. Cortly “C.D.” Witherspoon, Sr.
President,
Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
Baltimore City Chapter

The recent political endorsement of current Mayor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, by the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance has caused quite a stir and rightly so. Mayoral candidate, Senator Cathy Pugh in disrupting the endorsement forum last week at Friendship Baptist Church did more than reveal an egregious departure from tradition and fair process that would have allowed all candidates to vie for the IMA’s endorsement; her action pulled back the covers on an organization that has lost its way.

Like many civil rights-era organizations; the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance is struggling to find its footing in a world that is vastly different from the one which it knew in its heyday. In its prime, the Alliance was a force to deal with particularly between the ’50′s – ’70′s especially – addressing pressing matters over the years like employment for African Americans and social justice for the most vulnerable in Baltimore. The Alliance demanded respect from political leaders and helped to secure much needed legislation and programs for those who otherwise had no voice with the powerbrokers. Its strength was, in part, found within the strong personalities that served as magnetic forces attracting other pastors and concerned residents to, as James Brown would say, “get up, get into it, and get involved.”

However, the IMA is now far past its prime and struggling to regain its vigor.

The endorsement forum last week caused a tremendous blow to the credibility of the organization and its debatable as to whether or not the Alliance can fully recover if things remain the same. The endorsement of Stephanie Rawlings-Blake by the Alliance should be thrown out and summarily disregarded by the public. It did not represent the input of the full membership and many clergy members did not even know that it was scheduled to take place. Furthermore, the endorsement is deficient because it was not predicated upon alignment with any clear IMA agenda.

The truth is that the endorsement was just the first public example of the Alliance’s struggles. For at least the past 4 years, the Alliance has been faltering. It’s leadership process is questionable and its public action is largely symbolic and absent of substance or follow up. It has no agenda to hold anyone accountable to and its past-strength was wrapped around larger-than-life clergy personalities and through the example of Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. and others we’ve seen that that model is not sustainable for the longterm. The membership has shriveled from 250 active members at one point to now just about 10-15 pastors (a good number of them retired) who regularly come to the monthly meetings.

Despite the current troubles of the IMA; as a past Vice President of the group, I believe that there is still hope for the organization. Not only do I believe that, but I pray for a revival of the group. The legacy of the IMA is too rich and too important to the history of Baltimore to discard now just because it has made a very public mistake. Should the Alliance be held accountable? Most definitely and it deserves every bit of criticism that it has received because of the endorsement “process.”  However, there’s an old saying: “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.” Anybody who wonders about the irrevocable importance of the IMA should read books like Harold McDougall’s Black Baltimore: A New Theory of Community or pay a visit to the Reginald F. Lewis Museum or the African American Department at the Enoch Pratt Central Library and review the burgeoning vertical files which detail the commendable actions of this group over the years.

No people of sound mind would throw away such a magnificent aspect of their story on the timeline of history.

Nevertheless things do need to change with the Alliance if it wants to be around in a meaningful way for the next generation and for this city. If the bulk of your accomplishments can only be found in museums and libraries, then that should be a sign that the health of the organization is suspect. Here are a few of my recommendations related to how the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance can be revived and revitalized.

1. The IMA should shelve its practice of endorsing candidates for office at this time.

An endorsement is based on the strength of the endorsers connection with a constituency. Many would argue that these clergy-activist have become disconnected from those whom they ultimately purport to represent so the endorsement doesn’t mean much in the end.

2. The IMA should go on a Listening Tour to decipher a clear agenda that is connected to the community

Preachers are used to talking. We’re celebrated and compensated for our oratorical ability. However, there comes a time when listening is preferred and needed. The IMA says it speaks for the “voiceless,” but if it sits and listens, it just might find out that the “voiceless” do have a voice worth paying attention to. Go listen and from what you hear, craft an agenda for this time.

3. The IMA should re-introduce itself to Baltimore

Most people 45 and under have little clue about who the IMA is and what it has been about. It can’t just rely on the seniors to remember their heyday. They must educate those who weren’t around during its prime. It’s hard to appreciate a history that you know nothing about. In partnership with the Great Black in Wax Museum, the Reginald F. Lewis Museum, Universities, and others; the IMA should travel to various churches and other sites around the city presenting on its history and having its past members/leadership talk about the triumphs and challenges of the group.

4. The IMA should reconsider the makeup of its membership

There was a time when preachers were more likely to be the most respected and educated members of the Black community. However, that has changed. There are so many lay people (non-clergy) who have degrees, experiences, insight, and education that need to be involved with partnering with the clergy to address pressing concerns. Currently, the IMA is made up of just clergy. Perhaps it’s time to change that.

5. The IMA should dedicate resources to an aggressive recruitment campaign to attract younger members

Many organizations are struggling to attract younger professionals to its ranks. Sometimes this is because the organization really doesn’t want young people involved and other times they just want young people to be tokens for their group photo. Young professionals will not tolerate either. They’ll much rather go and start their own organization with their peers than to partner with elders who patronize them. IMA is overwhelmingly made up of clergy 55 and older. If nothing changes and you add 15 years to the current active members; the IMA will be in an even worse state of decline if it exists at all! Young professionals (clergy and otherwise) need to be engaged, invited, and welcomed into meaningful leadership roles within the group. They need to help cast vision for today and tomorrow and be empowered to provide the tools needed to be effective in todays world. The fact that the IMA doesn’t have a website, facebook page, or twitter account should be sign enough that it needs the expertise and energy of youth.

I love the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance. It has been an invaluable resource to the development of this preacher and I’m a better pastor today because of the group. However, it has lost its way and now the question is will the leadership do what’s necessary to revive this spectacular association of social justice-minded clergy.

I pray so, but only time will tell.

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!”

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:

It’s a message that resonates well within the American Afrikan community of Baltimore. We have long understood and experienced the minority community’s strategy as it relates to “public safety.” Their strategy has primarily focused on incarceration and the criminalization of Black people. The majority community experienced this most recently under the regime of former Baltimore mayor, Martin O’Malley. His “zero-tolerance” policy saw thousands of people illegally arrested in Baltimore. Thanks to the courageous leadership of Delegate Jill P. Carter (D-41), Dr. Marvin Cheatham (former president of the Baltimore City Branch of the NAACP), and others, advocates won an illegal arrest lawsuit against the Baltimore City Police Department earlier this year.

However, Martin O’Malley’s push for more incarceration of Baltimore’s majority community continues. Currently, he is preparing to build a $104 million dollar prison for Baltimore’s Afrikan youth with construction slated to begin on Friday, October 1, 2010; just two weeks after primary elections in Maryland. (He is counting on the Afrikan community in Baltimore to march around in Irish green and vote for him anyway despite the fact that he wishes to lock up their children!)

To many in Baltimore’s American Afrikan community, Gregg Bernstein represents a continuation and extension of O’Malley’s reach in the city. With a Bernstein win, O’Malley would have another ally to add to his Baltimore political machine – already having the unconditional support of Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. The fact that Gregg Bernstein’s wife, Sheryl Bernstein, is the Director of Criminal Justice in the Baltimore Mayor’s Office is just another disconcerting feature of this election race. [SOURCE: Jewish Times] A Governor who has the Mayor, many city council members, members of the Mayor’s Office, many of the city’s pastors, and the City’s State’s Attorney all in his pocket spells more bad news for Baltimore’s Black community.

Instead of addressing the root causes of crime in Baltimore as Jessamy recommends; Bernstein would be another arrow in the quiver of Martin O’Malley’s “lock ‘em all up” strategy.

The Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance of Baltimore & Vicinity is expected to endorse Patricia Jessamy for Baltimore City State’s Attorney and will join many others in encouraging Baltimore’s Black community in particular to do the same.

However, that’s what African American students are likely to believe while matriculating through many of this nation’s public schools. Their miseducation instills in them the view that they are an inferior people whose historical heritage starts in slavery. Their miseducation proliferates while at the same time planting within them the seeds of white supremacy.

Many African American students are suited to assimilate to this poisonous program and press on to graduate anyhow. However, without focused intervention many of them -even with degrees – are rendered useless to the uplift of their community. Other students are blessed along their academic journey with African American teachers in the system who understand the fundamental flaws of the European-American education system and attempt to shield and/or support African American students who are marching like sheep to the slaughter. The majority of African American students, however, in public schools across the country struggle tremendously and many of them drop out and don’t make it to graduation day.

Baltimore City’s Public School System (BCPSS) has had its share of negative spotlight on its inability to inspire all of its students to personal and academic excellence. According to the BCPSS website, last year nearly 40% of seniors did not graduate! Last year’s high non-graduation rate is not an anomaly. This has been the average (if not higher) of non-graduates from Baltimore City Public Schools for the past ten years easily! Add to that percentage the more than 9,000 students who have dropped out of school since 2006 and you get a pretty good picture of the state of emergency that our community is in.

Where do thousands of high school drop outs and non-graduates go every year? They don’t just disappear. Where do you think they end up? And who benefits from this arrangement?

Some of them go to work and without a high school degree, they likely end up in low-paying, dead-end jobs. Some engage in self and community-destructive behaviors like the underground economy of Baltimore – the drug trade. Some of them end up caught up in the school-to-prison pipeline which our city and state government keeps well-oiled. Incarcerating African American youth is big business in Baltimore and a failing school system helps to ensure that business is booming. It’s booming so much that Governor Martin O’Malley is pushing a plan to build a new $100 million dollar youth jail in East Baltimore slated to begin construction this Fall.

It is criminal that the youth of Baltimore are getting the unrequested gift of a new prison from “their” Governor (in cooperation with Mayor Rawlings-Blake and other city legislators) in a time when the city hasn’t seen a new school built in nearly 30 years or more!

Our community is in a state of emergency! If anywhere near half of city students don’t graduate every school year for a decade or more, you have a recipe for the rapid destruction of our community. I say “our” community – speaking of the African American community because our children make up the majority of the school system.

Nearly 90% of students enrolled in Baltimore City Public Schools are African American children. Despite this fact, African Americans do not control the school system. Some might ask why does control matter? Well, I believe that all children are capable of learning and achieving. African American students are no different. They are born with the God-given ability to learn and grow like all other children. If they were born with the raw potential and its not nurtured in the classroom, I don’t blame the students. (though that’s pretty popular with some scapegoating, cowardly, adults). THE CHILDREN ARE NOT THE PROBLEM!

Does the home have some responsibility? Sure it does, but don’t stop there. Do teachers share some responsibility? According to this MD State Dept. of Education Report which speaks of cultural disconnects, sure they do, but don’t stop there. Does Administration have responsibility? Sure it does, but keep going.

Once you move past all of the people involved, I believe that the fundamental issue regarding the underachievement of our students in Baltimore, centers on a school system that was never designed to foster the holistic development of African American children.

People, in the grand scheme of things, are temporary actors on the stage of life. We move relatively quickly from the womb to the tomb. The systems of our world, however, have a longer lifespan and built-in resistance to substantive reform.

As far back as the mid-1960′s, African American students in the Baltimore City Public System have been hampered by a system philosophy which believes that education is a generic and universal package that fits every student regardless of their particular makeup. So since the years following the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court decision which was the precursor to the integration of public schools in this country; African American students have been filing into European-American school systems with contentious results at best. In fact, a report by Dr. Orlando F. Furno, research director of the Baltimore City Public School System at the time, revealed that in the immediate years following racial integration in Baltimore’s public schools, the IQ scores of Black students was found to be declining while the IQ scores of White students was increasing. [The report was referenced on the BCPS website, but after initial publication of this article, it mysteriously disappeared. You can find a reference to this report on page 73 at this link.]

Furno suggested that the decline in Black IQ’s was a result of the inferior schools that the Black students came from. However, I suspect a causality that points in the opposite direction.

The season of social and educational reform in Baltimore surrounding the 50′s and 60′s was based on the assumption that just putting African American students in the same classroom with European-American students would produce the same result – an educated student properly prepared for the next stages of her or his life and equipped with a sound sense of self. This assumption willfully ignored the reality that while the students – both Black and White – were (and are) physiologically very similar; they come from two distinct cultural realities. In the years following the 50′s in Baltimore and many other cities, “White flight” began which saw European-Americans heading for the suburbs leaving the city and the school system behind. By 1960, the Baltimore City Public School System’s student population was for the first time ever, majority African American.

But remember what I said about systems. Unlike people, systems tend to persevere. And though the European-Americans left the schools in Baltimore creating a de facto segregation environment that persists to this day, the educational system that they created initially for the holistic development of their children was left behind and was now filled with Black Children.

What do you get when you take the children of one cultural group and place them in an educational environment that was not designed for them – and in fact was constructed by the mentality, philosophies, historical perspective, and world view of their community’s oppressors?

That’s what I’ll begin to discuss in Part 2 of this series.

Apparently, Maryland isn’t the only state opening the door for more gambling. Check out this piece from CNN:

It’s situations like these that remind me of the fact that politicians are generally not the ones who come up with progressive ideas to engage challenging or transformative times. Elected officials all around the country are pushing this “old idea” in a time where many people are searching for a new vision for the future. As the world’s social structures continue to crumble, people are realizing that the kingdoms of this world have long been promoting a way of life that is at best unsustainable and at worst criminal. The gig is up.

While the national and state governments continue grasping for straws; the truly progressive and sustainable ideas are coming from everyday people. That’s right. Not the corporate heads, not the TV talking heads, and not the politicians – but the people.

Even a surface study of contemporary American history will reveal that many of the best and most progressive ideas were NOT born in the halls of Congress or in the committees of City Hall. But the best ideas were often born in the bosom of the community that was most directly impacted by whatever the challenge was at that time. Our celebrity culture helps to mislead the masses into believing in their own inferiority when it comes to proposing ideas for the now and the future. However, it is everyday folks that have what it takes to lay the groundwork for what tomorrow needs to look like. Everyday folks need only have two important ingredients: imagination and at the very least an ambivalence toward the existing political arrangement.

Take for instance what’s going on in Ohio. The CNN video above spotlights the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Dan Gilbert, who along with his partners spent $50 million to convince voters to put another casino in Ohio – using the same ol’ tired casino-justifications: the money will be used for public education, horse racing, and will bring in jobs.

Now in that same state, while Gilbert and his guys are pushing the old idea, the community has come together to give birth to a progressive, forward-looking idea: Evergreen Cooperatives; a new model of economic development that created a network of employee-owned businesses.

As the Mayor of Cleveland, Frank Jackson, said at the end of the Evergreen video, “Cleveland wants to be where the world is going, not where the world is.” That’s the type of visionary ideas and ideals that we need in Baltimore, Detroit, and many other cities as well.

As Mario Osava says in his article – Another Kind of Economics is possible. And it’s up to us – regular folks to organize, become more informed, and transform our communities from below instead of waiting for help to come down from the top of the political hierarchy. (Here’s a secret: most of them don’t have a clue!)

For more ideas and stories about how communities are coming up with democratic, community-based, economic development options, check out this resource-rich website: Community-Wealth.org.

Call it serendipity. Call it providential. Call it a second chance. Who knows what it is. All I know is that one day after pushing the “publish” button on my article about receiving an invitation to pray for the Mayor, (an invitation that I eventually declined), I received a call from my city councilman inviting me to come and pray at a regularly scheduled City Council meeting.

I had to laugh out loud.

For a minute there, I began to wonder if God was giving JONAH me! another chance to fulfill my duty and stand up to the challenge of denying myself and embracing God’s Will in every circumstance – even the circumstances that I don’t care for.

I immediately accepted the invitation from my city councilman. I felt differently about it compared to the invitation to pray at the Mayor’s function. The Mayor’s event felt contrived. Disingenuous. It felt like a political event covered in spiritual wrapping paper – cheap wrapping paper. And I’ve finally gotten to a point in my life where I can call a spade a spade with little worry about political fallout. (I’ve been calling out spades to a degree for a while now, but that activity didn’t come without thoughts about if my job would be in jeopardy for doing so. Now, as a pastor – I’m really free. I can’t recall where I read it right at this moment, but a classic book talks about how the pastor is one of the most “free” individuals in the Black Community…maybe along with artists. It’s true…and I love it!)

I felt absolutely no angst about accepting the invitation to pray at the City Council meeting. I think a number of factors played into my peace with this one. First, I think God would have sent my spiritual “spidey sense” scrambling if this was not the way to go. After conversing with The Almighty about it, I remained at peace. Second, I actually know my city councilman. We have a relationship and were connected even before he was elected. And as a local pastor is known to say, “If you don’t have relationship, you don’t have nothing.” I don’t have a relationship with Mayor Sheila Dixon. We’ve never met. Does that mean that I can only pray for those that I know. Not at all. But if we met and developed a relationship beyond politics and one day she asked me to pray at a function for her, it might be a different story….because of the relationship even if there were controversy over her head, but now? no, thanks. I would feel like I was being used for political purposes. Finally, having religious servants pray at City Council meetings in Baltimore (and many other municipalities across the nation) is no odd thing. I’m one of those city residents that actually watch the council meetings on Channel 25 if I can’t make it in person and I’ve seen my colleagues go and offer ecumenical invocations. I’ll follow in their footsteps, they’ll call me “herber“, I’ll offer a prayer, and keep it moving.

I was asked to submit my prayer for review and keep it within a certain time frame. After my first version was rejected because of length, the version below was accepted. This was the 60 second prayer that I shared before the council and all assembled last night:

Almighty God we bow with humble hearts to thank You for the blessing of this day and this gathering. Because we know You to be a God of purpose, open all of our eyes to what You would have us to embrace tonight. I pray for every councilperson present this evening. Lord, you know the weight and burden of their service. When the cameras are off, the media has left, and the business of the day is done; you know those things that hover most heavy around their hearts. Show them the path to peace in private moments. Also give them what they need to serve faithfully in public office. Grant them wisdom beyond their capacity so that as they surrender to Your Will; justice and righteousness will flow freely in Baltimore. Soften their hearts to the plight of the poor, the sick, the elders, the youth, and the prisoner – being reminded by your Word that whatever they do to the least among us they have done it unto You as well. Finally, your prophet bears witness to what you require of us all: to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with You. May we never stray far from that. In Your name we pray. Amen.

Too tired right now, but my full take on this is forthcoming. Stay tuned.

Some of you know by now that I’m working on an initiative in Park Heights to close the liquor stores in that community. Research shows that there is a direct connection between the abundance of liquor establishments and crime in a particular neighborhood. The more liquor – the more crime. The brothers that I am working with on this initiative believe that an intoxicated people can never be a liberated people. We are looking for other people of like mind and spirit to join in on this.

Currently, we meet every Tuesday at 3PM at the Park Heights Barbershop – 5114 Park Heights Ave.,Baltimore 21215.

This week is slightly different. We’re meeting tomorrow – Wednesday, January 16th at 3PM at the Barbershop because Baltimore City Council President, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake will be coming to meet with us and take a look at some of the liquor establishments that we are targeting.

I know that some of you either work near Park Heights or have a flexible job that will allow you to move about in the community. You are welcome to come tomorrow. If you can get there at about 2:45PM that would be great. We should be no longer than 30/45 minutes.

If you have any questions feel free to hit me back on this site. Also, you can watch a video that I did of this initiative on my youtube page. www.youtube.com/franktalk

Justice!

Heber Brown, III