For those who were not able to attend either of the Barack Obama rallies here in Maryland yesterday, here is a clip from his speech in Baltimore yesterday. I was one in the number as 13,000 people cheered him on.
You can view the rest of this video and all of my other vids on my youtube page.
Here’s video from the Obama Rally at the University of Maryland College Park. Thanks to Chip Dizard from Absolute Presence for providing this great piece.
I used to be one of those people that had a lacksadaisical attitude toward politics. Yea - I saw it on the news, but I didn’t pay it much mind. But for the past two years, I have really developed a strong passion for community organizing, advocacy, and public policy. Once I learned that I could manipulate my environment (I got two bills passed last year in Maryland); my appetite to be involved in more systemic change quickly developed. I began learning A LOT! And finding out that so much was being HIDDEN from the general public concerning the political process like where the money is going, and who really makes up the Power Structure. Let me give you an example.
See this guy?
At least that’s what “they” want you to think. Who’s “they?” - the politically powerful, the well-financed, the mainstream media. They want the public to think, “what’s the use in opposing slots? It’s coming whether we want it or not. ”
O’Malley’s flip flop change of heart on the matter of using slots to fund education has signaled to all who a part of his machine that it’s time for them to get in line as well. Mayor Sheila Dixon has done her part. She sent out an e-blast last week letting everyone know that she supports slots “under certain conditions.” The money, “they” say will help close the state budget deficit, save the horse-racing industry, and fund education. Word is Baltimore Ravens Middle Linebacker, Ray Lewis, is in on the deal. Apparently, he’ll be part owner of the casino that they’re talking about bringing to Baltimore just south of downtown.  (He must be getting ready for his post-football career because they got their butts whupped last night for the world to see on Monday Night Football against the Pittsburgh Steelers.)
Today I will join members of the Baltimore Algebra Project and their many allies as we march for jobs and quality education for Baltimore City’s youth. These committed students are extremely frustrated with a government that seems to be more concerned with criminalizing them and/or locking them up than it is providing a quality education for them and securing avenues to gainful employment. While “gang enforcement” is the buzz word in Baltimore and other cities in the nation, fewer people are talking about the root causes that help to cultivate the growth and expansion of these street organizations. What many will find is that at the root is social injustice - concentrated poverty, substandard educational systems, aggressive policing, blight, and divestment by the business sector coupled with fragmented families and shotty social support (i.e. unconcerned Faith institutions, dirth of recreational opportunities, etc.) create the perfect storm that propels the disconnected and marginalized to fashion their own “community.”
I join the Baltimore Algebra Project (BAP) in calling on Governor Martin O’Malley, Mayor Sheila Dixon, and all other elected officials (especially the Baltimore delegation) to provide Baltimore City youth with a quality education as mandated by the Maryland State Constitution (and as requested in this 2006 Baltimore City Council Resolution) and to create job opportunities so that the city’s younger population can become members of the city’s workforce.
Today the march will begin at Baltimore’s City Hall, 3:30PM. For those in Baltimore, I pray to see you there.
Enjoy this rap video by a couple of members of BAP as they offer lyrical expression to their desires. (This video features some of my pictures - Chris! X! Can a brotha get some credit?!)
After a season of strategic separation, Martin O’Malley and Sheila Dixon are back together again - this time to help Sheila become the Mayor of Baltimore City.
Today, O’Malley and Kweisi Mfume (who also has been mysteriously absent from the public sphere since facing allegations of his involvement in the ouster of Tyrone Powers from the airwaves of 88.9FM in January) endorsed Sheila Dixon at the War Memorial Plaza downtown.
A large crowd of luminaries were on stage in support of Dixon and today’s endorsement including : Sen. Nathaniel McFadden, Sen. Catherine Pugh, Delegates Maggie McIntosh, Curt Anderson, Melvin Stukes, Cheryl Glenn, City Council President Stephanie Rawlings Blake, City Council Vice President Robert Curran, and even Dr. Frank Reid, pastor of Bethel AME Church.
Interestingly enough, Martin O’Malley called Dixon “a constant advocate for the best interest of the majority of the people of the city.” However, that view is far from a consensus. Creators of the accountability site: The Truth About Sheila Dixon, want to remind voters that Dixon has often looked out for her best interest and the interest of her “Boss”- Martin O’Malley.
Hat Tip: Stephen Janis/Baltimore Examiner
“They were at each other’s throats,†said Clerk of the Court and mayoral candidate Frank M. Conaway Sr. “It wasn’t nice. They were getting at it. I had to spread my hands to keep them apart.â€
I read Dan Rodericks’ lastest piece in The Baltimore Sun and I had to stop. Dan wrote about Christopher Clarke - an 18 year old senior at Patterson Senior High School who was caught between a gun battle and shot in my old neighborhood. Police found his body under a car.Â
Chris wasn’t a drug dealer. He wasn’t a gangbanger. He wasn’t “asking for trouble”. He stopped by a friend’s house on the way home from work and was caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was a good student, an athlete, a loved member of his church, and a mother’s pride and joy. He was looking forward to joining the Baltimore City Police Department.
This story and the many many many more like them in Baltimore breaks my heart.
