Getting to the bottom of whether Johns Hopkins founder enslaved people matters, but addressing today’s injustices matters more

From its earliest days, Maryland’s prosperity was built on the backs of enslaved people, and the burden of that unequal treatment has been shouldered by African Americans for generations. From the lynchings of nearly a century ago across this state to postwar redlining and the segregation of Black neighborhoods to the more contemporary recognition that the criminal justice system has disproportionately incarcerated people of color, it does not require a doctorate in history to recognize this sad inheritance.