Commentary

When Tom Tugendhat was about 20, he felt he needed a better understanding of North Africa. So he traveled overland from Morocco to Israel, skipping only Libya because it wouldn’t let him in. Much of the journey he did on foot. “Why North Africa?” I asked when we spoke by phone Sunday. “Because it’s … there?” he replied half-jokingly, an echo of George Mallory’s line about climbing Mount Everest. Unlike Mallory, Mr. Tugendhat survived the trip. He mastered Arabic in Yemen and worked as a journalist in Lebanon before turning to soldiery a few years later.

As native Baltimoreans, my brother Shawn and I had a dream of starting a business that would create a positive impact in the city that we love. In 2016 we launched Connie’s Chicken and Waffles at Lexington Market, here in Baltimore. Our goal was simple: to use food as a medium to create community, and to share the love that our mom (affectionately known as Miss Connie), has shared with our family for decades. With the dedication of our team members and the support of our Baltimore community, Connie’s has been fortunate to grow to serve the needs of our customers by expanding into new Baltimore locations in Charles Plaza, Broadway Market and into an out of state location, DECO, which is located in Wilmington, Delaware.

The monkeypox outbreak is spreading with alarming speed. Ideally, it should have been nipped in the bud when the first cases appeared in May and June outside West and Central Africa, where monkeypox has been endemic for decades. Now the caseload has expanded to more than 11,000, including 1,470 in the United States, and is expected to increase in the weeks ahead. The lessons of the coronavirus pandemic should be taken to heart and should result in a more rapid response.

Today Maryland’s interstate highways, I-495 and I-270, still belong to the public. Our taxes paid for them, we depend on them, and we expect that any changes to them will be made in the public interest by accountable representatives of the citizens of Maryland. But something new and disturbing is happening. When the Board of Public Works approved private toll lanes for I-495 and I-270, they said ‘yes’ to the idea of surrendering control of our public highways for the next 50 years to a private conglomerate whose mission — to maximize its own profit — may well come at the public’s expense and long-term interests.

Baltimore, we have been here before. A high-profile act of violence that seems to shake the foundation of our city to the core and seemingly has the potential to destroy Baltimore all together. Fate would have it that this tragedy happened as our city and country continue to deal with a spike in violence that we have not seen since the 1990s. Adding in the potentially explosive facts that this tragedy is a result of a conflict between a white man and Black youth who squeegee, and you have the perfect storm.

The news was jarring: Andy Harris, the incumbent Republican in Maryland’s 1st Congressional District, is trying to do something that will be beneficial to the Chesapeake Bay and those who make a living harvesting the invasive blue catfish from its waters. You thought I was going to say something else, right? You thought I’d been jarred by news that Harris was part of a group of Republican lawmakers who met at the White House in December 2020 to discuss a plan to overturn Joe Biden’s election and keep Donald Trump in office.

From schools to Starbucks, and Apple to Amazon, labor unions are experiencing a powerful, public resurgence across the region and the nation. The movement is fueled by workers who, in the wake of the Great Resignation, more clearly recognize their power and the value of collective advocacy in the workplace. We must capitalize on this moment to unravel the systemic inequities embedded in our society. As SEIU Local 500 president, I have witnessed this resurgence firsthand.